Zim Agency Appeals to UK for
Aid
Financial Gazette (Harare)
August 29,
2002
Posted to the web August 28, 2002
Staff
Reporter
Harare
THE Agricultural Ethics Association of Zimbabwe (AEAZ)
is seeking one
million pounds sterling from Britain's Department for
International
Development (DFID) to assist Zimbabwe's small-scale
horticulture farmers to
grow export produce that could enable them to break
into the lucrative
international markets.
Kennedy Chakanyuka, an
official of the AEAZ which promotes high standard and
quality in Zimbabwe's
horticulture, says the aid will be used as seed money
to start a revolving
fund from which small growers will borrow funds to pay
for farm improvements
that meet European standards.
Part of the DFID money will be used to pay
for education and training in
improved production methods by the small-scale
farmers.
"We have approached the DFID to help us with one million pound
sterling to
train our small-scale farmers to comply with these standards so
that they
can export their commodities,"Chakanyuka told the Financial Gazette
this
week.
The AEAZ had also approached other donors for funding to
improve quality in
the industry. The agency is also looking at linking up
small and large-scale
growers as part of efforts to help improve both quality
and production
capacity.
The European Union (EU) is the largest
importer of Zimbabwe's horticulture
goods.
Last year Zimbabwe earned
US$65 million from horticulture exports, most of
them to Europe.
In
2000, when the government embarked on its controversial land reforms
that
have disrupted agriculture, Zimbabwe earned US$70 million from
horticulture
exports.
But according to Chakanyuka, some European
buyers of Zimbabwean horticulture
produce have given growers from the
southern African nation up to the end of
2003 to comply with the EU's high
quality standards or orders will be
cancelled.
For example,London's
Sainsbury supermarket, a well-known stocker of Zimbabwe
horticultural
produce, has already made clear that by the end of next year
it will no
longer accept produce that does not conform to EU standards.
"Zimbabwe's
small-scale farmers have to comply with market regulations if
they are to
export to these markets," Chakanyuka said.
He said the AEAZ had links
with several major standards associations in
Europe and the organisation was
able to give advice to farmers on quality
issues as well as certify farm
produce if it is in compliance with EU and
international quality
standards.
Chakanyuka said there was growing emphasis among European
consumers for
commodities to have been produced through acceptable and
ethical methods.
He said the Ethical Trading Initiative, first introduced
by British
supermarkets about four years ago but now enforced across the EU,
emphasised
"acceptable methods" to be used in the production of food
commodities.
There is also the EU's Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point under which
farmers have to ensure that their pack houses are well
maintained to avoid
any contamination of exports and abide by the EU's food
safety standards.
Producers are also required to practise sound
environmental policies during
the production process and have to come up with
clear product identification
methods to enable easier tracing of
horticultural commodities back to the
country of their origin.
While
most of Zimbabwe's mostly white large-scale farmers have grown flowers
and
allied crops for years in compliance with EU standards, small-scale
growers
need aid and training to meet the tough rules before they can
competitively
enter the market.
Chakanyuka said: "Contrary to public perceptions that
there is easy money to
be made from horticulture, there is a lot of work that
has to be done to be
able to meet the minimum requirements of the market.
"
Nothing New About Zanu-PF's Media
Strategy
Financial Gazette (Harare)
August 29,
2002
Posted to the web August 28, 2002
Yvonne
Mahlunge-Marizani
Harare
"Not only did African interests remain
unheard, as they had been in the
past; even white opinion critical of
policies of apartheid and police-state
repression was suppressed by the
Rhodesian Front's control of broadcasting
and censorship of the
press.
"Nor was any attempt ever made by the news media to understand the
goals
sought by the African liberation movement. Instead, the purpose of the
armed
struggle was distorted and misrepresented and the forces of
liberation
maligned as 'communist terrorists'.
"Furthermore, what
clearly emerges from this account of government
manipulation of the media is
that the press, although initially intimidated
and harassed into conformity
by a Ministry of Information dominated by
Rhodesian Front racists and their
South African allies, came around to
serving as an apologist for the Ian
Smith regime and a willing purveyor of
the propaganda devised by the
officials of the Ministry of Information."
Makes interesting reading does
it not? Especially when one knows that the
author of this paragraph was none
other than Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwe's
first Minister of Information and
the current Zanu PF secretary for
information and
publicity.
Shamuyarira made this comment by way of a foreword to a book
written by
Elaine Windrich titled "The Mass Media in the Struggle for
Zimbabwe"
Now read this paragraph: " Not only did Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
interests remain unheard, as they had been since September 1999,
even the
opinion of Zanu PF members critical of the government's policies and
its
police-state repression was suppressed by the Zanu PF control
of
broadcasting and censorship of the press.
"Nor was any attempt made
by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
news team to understand the
goals sought by the MDC. Instead, the policies
of the MDC were distorted and
misrepresented and the MDC and its leaders
were maligned as agents of
imperialism and neo-colonialism.
"Furthermore, what clearly emerged from
this account of government
manipulation of the media is that the press,
although initially coerced by
the necessity of marketing the draft
constitution, came around to serving as
an apologist for the Mugabe regime
and a willing purveyor of the propaganda
devised by the officials of the
Ministry of Information and Publicity."
Soon a time will come when a
critique such as this will be made, when like
all things the present
government is doing come to pass.
In my opinion there will be no need to
make pain-staking analyses of the
Zanu PF media strategy. It is in my
analysis a mere regurgitation of
propaganda campaigns used the world
over.
What is more shocking though is the striking similarity of the
antics
between the professor and crew and what took place in our
long-suffering
country not too long ago.
The current onslaught on the
MDC is similar to that which the liberation
movement suffered at the hands of
Rhodesia's chief propagandist PK Van der
Byl.
The Rhodesian Ministry
of Information under Van der Byl, used specially
targeted radio and
television programmes geared at ensuring that the
ordinary person's thinking
was conditioned.
Programmes such as "From Rhodesia to Rhodesia" and
"Padare" on the African
service of the Rhodesian Broadcasting
Corporation(RBC) were intended to make
Africans think that Zipra and Zanla
forces were a threat to their lives.
Goebbels-style, the Rhodesian
Ministry of Information was a firm believer in
the concept that if a
falsehood was repeated often enough it would
eventually be accepted as a
fact.
Thus in Rhodesian Front films like "Pamwe chete" on the Selous
Scouts; "They
who dare" on the special air service, and even the use of
church leaders
through "Chaplains to the Forces", the leaders of the
liberation struggle
were depicted as "Marxist terrorists".
The ZBC has
learnt this lesson well and has utilised programmes such as
"National Ethos"
and "Media Watch" including the main news and special
programmes
commemorating Independence Day, Heroes day and so on to blow Zanu
PF's
trumpet while trashing the MDC.
Regrettably the lesson belatedly learnt
by Van der Byl appears lost to Zanu
PF's chief propagandist. That is, the
urban populace that have access to the
electronic and print media are not
easily fooled.
They are well informed and can easily spot a sheep in
wolf's clothing.
Hence this investment did not produce a good return for
Van der Byl -
another aspect which is repeating itself.
Consequently
ZBC has had to resort to such tactics as cutting out completely
live
broadcasts of interviews with the MDC or live coverage of MDC rallies
and
"telling" its viewers what MDC officials say at rallies through the use
of
voice overs.
Interestingly, the result of this abuse of the public media
by the Rhodesian
Front led to the formation of Radio Zimbabwe which
transmitted from
Mozambique, beyond the borders of Rhodesia, in the same way
that SW Radio
manned by Zimbabweans in the Diaspora operates. The moral being
that the
truth will not only set you free but also set itself
free.
The Smith regime's information ministry successfully capitalised
on
international phobia of communism, Marxism and socialism to demonise
the
Patriotic Front leaders as socialist terrorists and other such
names.
Even on the eve of independence, the Rhodesian Front continued to
produce
material aimed at giving the impression that all was well in Rhodesia
and
that the illegitimate regime was invincible, through the production
of
materials like "Rhodesia Unafraid" and "What a time".
One
immediately recalls the embarrassingly lame attempts to link the MDC
to
terrorist activities such as the alleged plans to bomb the
country's
high-rise buildings, anthrax laced envelopes at Munhumutapa;
military
training in Uganda and the Eastern Highlands and even the ludicrous
attempt
to liquidate Tafataona Mahoso - as nauseating as his articles may be
to
some, one is more inclined to leave that duty to his Creator or let
nature
take its course.
Returning to Shamuyarira, he adds: "Zimbabwe
under white minority rule never
experienced genuinely free media. All the
main newspapers were owned by one
company - Rhodesian Printing and Publishing
Limited. Nor were these
newspapers Zimbabwean in the sense of reflecting the
views and aspirations
of the majority of the population, since they were
designed from the outset
to promote the cause of white settler colonialism
and business interests in
South Africa.
While controversy and dissent,
essential elements of a free media, were
permitted within the narrowly
defined limits set by the white Rhodesian
establishment and the South African
connection, this tolerance did not
extend to African political parties, which
were repeatedly silenced by the
banning of their publications and detention
of their leadership.
How well the lesson was learnt. Not only were the
colonial laws used, but
also when they became too weak for the task at hand,
hampered by judgments
of a then completely independent Supreme Court bench,
they were improved
upon by the introduction of gutter laws like the Public
Order and Security
Act (POSA).
However, in the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA),
the rocket scientist has outplayed Van
der Byl, at least at face value.
In one fell swoop of the legislative
pen, he appears to have extended his
control beyond the public media domain
to the arena of the private media.
He has spread his tentacles through
the Media and Information Commission
appointed by him in terms of section 40
of the Act.
The current commission predictably does not have a single
member of the
private or independent media.
Come December 31 this
year, barring the success of legal challenges mounted
by the Independent
Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ) and Media
Institute of Southern
Africa (MISA) and one or two journalists, the full
effect of parts XI and XII
will be felt.
However, even without delving into the jurisprudential
analysis of the
likely judgment to be handed by the Supreme Court bench, it's
unlikely that
the Supreme Court has the administrative capacity to set these
matters down,
have them heard and hand down the judgment within the third and
final term
of this year's Supreme Court calendar, especially after refusing
to hear an
application challenging the constitutionality of section 79 and 80
on an
urgent basis.
In the meantime it is the private media that will
be the main target of the
enforcement of sections 69(1) and 79(5) created
through the use of the word
"may" in both sections.
In fact, one gets
the distinct feeling that the current prosecutions are a
forerunner of things
to come and are intended to give the media commission
ammunition to deny
registration to certain specified journalists.
Even if it is argued that
this is not a correct interpretation of the
objects and purpose of AIPPA, the
selective application of this law begs an
explanation from the office of the
attorney-general.
The attorney-general should explain how journalists
employed by the public
media who author patently false stories with the sole
purpose of maligning
the MDC leadership and membership have not been
prosecuted, even in
instances where the attorney-general's office itself has
been a victim.
Smith and his Rhodesian Front had to admit that the game
was up when the
lies could no longer be sustained.
There comes a time
when the truth prevails, as per the wise Shona saying,
rine manyanga
hariputirwe veduwe.
Yvonne Mahlu-nge-Marizani is a Ha-rare based lawyer
and a member of the MDC
national executive
MDC Threatens Court Action Over Forex
Receipts
Financial Gazette (Harare)
August 29,
2002
Posted to the web August 28, 2002
Staff
Reporter
Harare
THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
this week said it had
given new Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa a seven-day
ultimatum to sanction
the release of Zimbabwe's 2001 foreign currency
receipts or face court
action.
MDC's economic affairs secretary Eddie
Cross said the ultimatum had been
dispatched this week by the party's
lawyers, who had been instructed to take
legal action against the Ministry of
Finance and Economic Development if
there was no favourable
response.
This follows a request by the opposition party in June for
the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe to release the country's foreign currency
receipts for the
financial year ended December 31 2001.
The MDC asked
for the information under Section Six of the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which allows a person or
organisation to
make a written request to a public body for information.
Cross told the
Financial Gazette: "(The Governor of the Reserve Bank) wrote
back to me and
said this had nothing to do with the Reserve Bank because it
just acted as an
agent of government.
"He said we must write to the Ministry of Finance.
We have written to the
Ministry of Finance and they have not bothered to
respond. This morning
(Tuesday), I instructed a firm of lawyers to take legal
action against the
Ministry of Finance. We are giving the new Minister of
Finance seven days to
respond, failure of which our lawyers are instructed to
take appropriate
action."
Simba Makoni, the Finance Minister since
July 2000, has been replaced by his
predecessor Herbert Murerwa, who was
serving as Minister of Industry and
International Trade until a Cabinet
reshuffle at the weekend.
According to the AIPPA, Murerwa can refuse to
sanction the release of last
year's hard currency receipts if he feels this
will harm his ministry's or
the central bank's planning, their financial and
economic interests or those
of Zimbabwe.
Cross said the MDC wanted
last year's forex receipts because of fears that
the hard cash had been
mismanaged at a time Zimbabwe is facing critical
shortages of
forex.
"What we are asking for is full transparency from the government
on the
purchase and utilisation of foreign exchange. We are convinced there
is
massive corruption in the utilisation of foreign exchange," he
said.
The MDC's economic affairs committee estimates that the central
bank
received US$1.1 billion in hard currency in the financial year
ended
December 31 2001 and that it will receive US$870 million this
year.
"Sight is often lost of the fact that the state buys the majority
of the
foreign exchange inflows to the country at controlled exchange rates,"
the
committee said in a review of the Zimbabwean economy.
"In the
current year, it is estimated the state will buy approximately
US$870 million
at fixed exchange rates. This will cost them on average $100
to US$1 at
present exchange rates. These low-cost funds will be used to
support the war
in the Congo, the patronage system and lavish lifestyle of
the ZANU PF
elite."
$1.64 Required to Produce 10-Cent
Coin
Financial Gazette (Harare)
August 29,
2002
Posted to the web August 28, 2002
Staff
Reporter
Harare
THE cost of producing a 10-cent coin is 16 times more
than the face value of
the denomination while a 20-cent coin costs nearly 10
times its value,
according to a report released by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) this
week.
According to the RBZ's annual report for
2001, it costs about $1.64 to
manufacture a 10-cent coin or 16.44 times its
face value.
Each 20-cent coin is estimated to cost more than $1.93 or
9.66 times its
face value while the face values of the 50 cents, $1, $2
denominations are
at least 4.46, 2.54 and 1.24 times lower than the cost of
minting the coins.
"Except for the $5 coin, most of Zimbabwe's coins are
currently in negative
seigniorage," the central bank said.
Seigniorage
is the difference between the cost of producing a currency
denomination and
its face value.
"The magnitude by which costs of production exceed face
value of coins
however declined in 2002, particularly when compared to year
2000 levels,"
the RBZ said.
"A tool and die-making project, currently
at tender stage, will further
enhance benefits achieved so far."
The
difference between the face value and cost of manufacturing the 10-cent
coin
was 22.4 times, followed by 15.5 times for the 20-cent coins, 8.1 times
for
the 50-cent coin and 5.5 times for the $1 denomination.
The news of the
high cost of manufacturing small denomination coins comes
against the
backdrop of massive money printing by the
cash-strapped
government.
The Harare authorities need to raise more
than US$300 million ($16.5
billion) this year to import food and fund drought
relief programmes.
Figures from the RBZ show that the amount of notes and
coin in circulation
rose from about $8.6 billion in January 2001 to more than
$33.3 billion in
May this year despite the drop in economic
activity.
Agriculture Inputs Suppliers Set to Lose
$100b in Revenue
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
August 29, 2002
Posted to the web August 28,
2002
Nqobile Nyathi
Harare
ZIMBABWEAN industries providing
inputs to the agriculture sector could be
prejudiced of more than $100
billion in revenue in the coming farming season
because of the government's
land reforms, a development that could have
far-reaching consequences for the
country's already troubled economy.
Analysts this week said demand for
farm inputs in a normal season amount to
$150 billion, most of it coming from
the large-scale commercial farming
sector.
They said demand would fall
significantly in the 2002-2003 agricultural
season, which begins in November,
because of the eviction of white
commercial farmers by the government to
resettle its black supporters.
More than 90 percent of Zimbabwe's 4 500
commercial farmers are expected to
have left their farms by the start of the
rainy season in November.
"It's difficult to say exactly how much demand
for inputs will fall by when
this whole thing is over," a commercial bank
economist said.
"But if normal demand is around $150 billion and only 10
percent of
large-scale farmers are still farming, demand could fall to only
$15
billion.
"These are only estimates, but it would mean that around
$135 billion in
revenue that would have been earned by these input suppliers
would be lost.
I would say definitely that at least $100 billion will be
lost by those
companies that provide inputs, equipment and things like
that."
The prejudice would affect companies which provide inputs such as
seeds,
fertilisers and chemicals used to control pests and crop
diseases.
Also prejudiced would be equipment suppliers as well as those
firms that
might have been paid to service and maintain farm
equipment.
Service providers that might have been hired to build barns,
dams and
install and maintain irrigation equipment might also be affected by
the
decline in large-scale commercial farming activity.
Economic
consultant John Robertson told the Financial Gazette: "The seed,
fertiliser
and chemicals would make up quite a bit of that $150 billion.
But it
might also have gone towards the maintenance of tractors and putting
in and
running irrigation equipment.
"I think that the government has the
fanciful belief that in the end,
small-scale growers will become customers of
similar importance to these
suppliers, but that won't happen because most of
them will be growing for
subsistence."
The analysts said most
beneficiaries of the government's resettlement
programme would not have the
money to spend on inputs on the same scale as
large commercial
farmers.
The government says it has set aside about $8.5 billion to
finance the work
of the resettled farmers.
But opposition Movement for
Democratic Change shadow minister for
agriculture Renson Gasela estimates
that it will cost at least $70 billion
for the new farmers to grow just one
hectare each for subsistence.
"Where are the farmers going to get the
money to plant just one hectare of
food for themselves?" he said.
The
analysts said the drop in demand would be the last straw for most
input
suppliers, many of which are already experiencing declining sales
because of
the instability in the agricultural sector, the backbone of
Zimbabwe's
economy.
They said a further fall in the purchase of inputs
was also likely to result
in a decline in output across the agricultural
sector.
In the tobacco sector for instance, a fall in seed sales has
already caused
the industry to revise downwards next year's potential
crop.
NMB Bank said in its latest market commentary: "Seed sales by 9
August were
reported to be down 27 percent at 222.8 kilogrammes when compared
to 304.3
kgs during the same period in 2001.
"According to the ZTA
(Zimbabwe Tobacco Association), this would translate
to potential hectarage
of 44 563 hectares against 58 855 hectares the
previous
season.
"Small-scale farmers account for 53.1 kgs to date compared to
43.0kgs in
total in 2001. The reduction in area planted would result in
significant
declines in tobacco, which is a major foreign currency earner for
the
country. The country is already facing severe foreign currency shortages
and
while these shortages will not be solved by tobacco exports alone,
every
effort should be made to avoid further reductions in
exports."
The resettlement scheme is expected to have adverse
implications for
manufacturers directly dependent on agricultural output as
well as other
industries, which would be indirectly affected by a decline in
agricultural
output and exports.
According to statistics from the
agricultural pressure group Justice for
Agriculture, the sector contributes
US$765 million or 38 percent of
Zimbabwe's total exports.
If 90
percent of commercial farmers stop farming, the country will lose
US$689
million.
Robertson said: "Manufacturers will lose their customers and the
raw
materials coming from agriculture. Then there is a set of industries
that
are not related to agriculture but will also be affected.
"The
textile industry for instance is closely linked to the clothing
industry and
once you lose the cotton that clothing depends on, you put in
danger the
industries that depend on this.
"We are generating a mess of
inconsiderable proportions that reaches into so
many different areas. The
whole thing is so wrong and we are only beginning
to see the fringes of the
difficulties that are still to come."
Strategies in Economic
Growth
Financial Gazette (Harare)
August 29,
2002
Posted to the web August 28, 2002
Harare
Financial factors
have been assigned strategic importance in economic
development. But
different factors have been isolated for different regions.
In Asia the
role of an unrepressed financial market in mobilising savings
and allocating
investments is emphasised while in Latin America emphasis is
on the role of
inflationary finance - the scope for using deficits to
enhance growth and,
increasingly, the connection between high and unstable
inflation and poor
economic performance.
In Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular it
seems the emphasis lie on
both factors - the financial sector is repressed
with consequent negative
real interest rates that have discouraged savings on
the one hand.
Efforts by government to establish a scientific research
centre (SIRDC) to
enhance technology development should be applauded, but
noted that the
efficient use of resources does not only depend on the
application of
superior techniques but also on policies and
institutions.
It is against this background that I note the importance of
financial
factors in influencing economic development and look at the
consequences of
repressing the financial sector.
Financial repression
is a major impediment to economic development. It
exists through the
unnecessary regulation of the financial system. To
understand the effects of
financial policies on economic development, one
must distinguish conceptually
between regulation, restriction and repression
of financial
activities.
Regulation is always necessary in financial markets. Banks
participate in
money creation through a process called multiple credit
expansion process,
which involves offering loans to their customers using
deposits from the
public.
By regulating the ability of banks to create
money ,monetary authorities
maintain the solvency of banks hence stability of
the monetary system.
Authorities establish rules concerning bank capital
and requirements for the
relationship between debt and capital or between
deposits and reserves.
They supervise risk taking by controlling the
quality of loans and requiring
set-asides when loan quality
deteriorates.
At times, however, regulation of financial activity can
become excessive,
that is, costly in terms of efficiency and welfare. For
example, in Zimbabwe
insurance companies are required to hold 45 percent of
their investments in
low yielding government stocks while banks are required
to keep 50 percent
their deposits in the form of statutory reserves with the
RBZ. This affects
free flow of resources to economic sectors and financial
available to the
private sector.
Financial restriction becomes
financial repression when regulations that
limit competition in the financial
are combined with high and growing
inflation.
Therefore, the
difference between a regime that is merely restrictive and
the one that is
repressive depends less on the quality of the measures than
on the effect
that the measures exert on real variables, such as the real
rate of interest
or real demand for money that depend on inflation.
The major effect of
financial repression is on savings and investment and
therefore growth.
Despite the arguments supporting low interest rates it has
been realised that
this often leads to negative real interest rates because
of the escalating
inflation.
It should be noted that this hope of increasing investment by
lowering
interest rates in a bid to increase investment would not succeed
because the
source of these investment funds (savings) will have been
discouraged
through negative real interest rates. Investment funds come from
savings and
for savings to be boosted interest rates must be increased
otherwise it will
not be profitable for savers to deposit their money with
financial
institutions. This is very evident in Zimbabwe. Reflecting the
high
inflation environment and low nominal interest rates, overall savings
have
declined from about 25 percent of GDP in 1997 to current levels of
below
10percent. This is bad development for the country because high
domestic
savings are a prerequisite for investment and sustained economic
growth.
The fall in savings rates have, therefore, denied the economy
resources for
productive investment. As a result, the investment ratio
declined to around
8.7 percent in 2001 from levels of around 15 percent in
the 1990s, which is
below the 25 percent minimum thresholds recommended by
the African
Development Bank. As a result the country has stagnated from 10.4
percent
1996 to -7.3percent in 2001. This year the economy is expected to
fall by a
significant 11.1 percent.
It is against this background that
the Government need to remove constraints
by the authorities on the financial
instruments especially the interest
rate, that is, financial liberalisation.
The argument is that controlling
interest rates repress the financial sector,
stunts growth and results in
the misallocation of resources. The policy
prescription here is to raise
institutional interest rates and\or reduce the
rate of inflation.
The optimal result is to abolish interest rate
ceilings altogether to
maximise investment and raise further the average
efficiency of investment.
It should be noted that the issue of interest
rates is just one aspect of
the many issues that the Government need to
address to put the economy on a
sustainable growth path. Equally important is
the issue of the exchange
rate. Given that the exchange rate is a central
price linking the economy to
the rest of the world, it undermines development
when it is misaligned like
is currently the case. Managing the exchange rate
along simple, stable rules
is critical. These stable rules must ensure that
cumulative overvaluation is
ruled out by a policy of devaluation that keeps
in line with domestic
inflation. The rate system should also be uniform as it
applies to
commercial transactions. Although, in isolated circumstances,
there can be a
case for taxes or subsidies to promote specific economic or
non-economic
objectives, using explicit taxes and subsidies rather than the
disguised
form of multiple exchange rates is almost always
preferable.
FinGaz
Zim corruption
worsens
- Staff Reporter
8/29/02 3:52:13 AM (GMT
+2)
CORRUPTION in Zimbabwe worsened
markedly this year, according to
international investors who ranked the
country as the world's 76th most
corrupt nation in 2002 versus last year's
ranking of 68.
An annual survey by the
world's anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International (TI) released
this week shows that Zimbabwe's corruption
perception index (CPI) worsened by
0.2 CPI points this year from last year's
figure of 2.9 CPI points, chalking
an overall figure of 2.7 points.
Included
in this list of corrupt nations are Tanzania, Honduras, the
Ivory Coast,
Russia and India.
Last year TI's
corruption survey covered 91 countries compared to 102
this
year.
Under the CPI index, the least
corrupt country gets 10 points and the
points decrease as a country is
perceived to be more corrupt.
Of the 102
nations covered this year, about 70 of them - including
many of the world's
poorest - scored less than five points, with countries
such as Nigeria,
Bangladesh, Angola and Kenya scoring less than two
points.
"Political elites and their
cronies continue to take kickbacks at
every opportunity. Hand-in-glove with
corrupt business people, they are
trapping whole nations in poverty and
hampering sustainable development," TI
head Peter Eigen says in the
report.
"Corruption is perceived to be
dangerously high in poor parts of the
world, but also in many countries whose
firms invest in developing
countries," he
notes.
Compared to its neighbours listed
in the survey, Zimbabwe is only
better than Zambia, which is ranked number
80, down from 76 last year.
Botswana, the
least corrupt country in Africa, moved two positions up
from 26 last year to
24 this year while Namibia also gained ground, moving
from number 30 to
28.
South Africa and Mauritius moved one
position up each to 38 and 42
this year
respectively.
FinGaz
Farmers' lawyer gets
death threat
- Staff Reporter
8/29/02 3:49:20 AM (GMT
+2)
JEREMY Callow, the Harare lawyer who
has successfully helped hundreds
of embattled commercial farmers challenge
the seizure of their farms by
President Robert Mugabe's government, yesterday
said he feared for his life
after receiving a death threat from an anonymous
caller this week.
Callow, a senior lawyer
with Stumbles & Rowe, a Harare law firm, told
High Court judge Justice
Benjamin Paradza when he appeared in the court to
represent more farmers that
he had been warned that if he goes to Karoi
again he would be
killed.
"Someone called me at about 06:25
am on Monday and told me that if
they see me going to Karoi, they will kill
me," Callow told the court after
successfully securing a court order
invalidating the government's Section 8
orders issued to about 50
farmers.
He said he was worried about the
threat in the light of a case where
three weeks ago ruling ZANU PF's militant
war veterans openly attacked court
officials in
Chipinge.
The mob accused the court
officials of being lenient to people
suspected of burning down three tractors
owned by the government's District
Development Fund by granting them
bail.
Callow said he travels to Karoi
frequently to represent his clients in
court, the bulk of whom own farms in
the Hurungwe-Tengwe-Karoi area.
He said he
is writing a report, which he would give to the police and
the Law Society of
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile Justice Paradza issued
a consent order invalidating Section
8 orders issued against 54 farmers, most
of them from Mashonaland West
province.
Nelson Mutsonziwa, from the Attorney-General's Office and representing
the
government, said the state conceded that proper procedures were not
followed
in issuing the orders so they were of no force and
effect.
In all the cases, the government's
initial Section 5 orders indicating
its intention to seize the farms were
only served on the farmers and not on
the registered property rights holders,
making all subsequent orders
technically
invalid.
Mutsonziwa said in such cases,
where the orders have been struck down
as invalid, the government will have
to re-start the whole process
once
more.
But some of the farmers
involved have already been evicted from their
properties while those who
tried to resist have been arrested.
FinGaz
EU to plug travel ban
loopholes for Zim chefs
Staff Reporter
8/29/02 3:53:28 AM
(GMT +2)
AN emergency motion will be
tabled before Europe's Parliament next
week to tighten a European Union (EU)
travel ban on Zimbabwean government
and ruling ZANU PF party officials,
according to a member of the
European
Parliament.
The motion will be
tabled by Geoffrey Van Orden, the vice-chairman of
the European Parliament's
foreign affairs committee. It seeks to plug
loopholes that have enabled
several Zimbabwean officials to travel to EU
member states despite the
economic bloc's smart sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe's leadership for its
promotion of lawlessness.
Van Orden's
motion follows widespread protests this week against a
visit by Zimbabwean
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to France to
attend a meeting of the
International Police Organisation (Interpol), of
which he is a committee
member.
Chihuri is on the original list of
20 Zimbabwean political leaders and
officials forbidden from travelling to EU
countries since February.
The EU's
sanctions, which include the freezing of assets of the
affected officials and
an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, were extended in July to
include 52 other
officials in response to worsening human rights violations
in
Zimbabwe.
"We have been very keen to
ensure that international measures against
(President Robert) Mugabe's regime
in Zimbabwe are effective," Van Orden
told the Financial
Gazette.
"Among the EU measures is a
travel ban on individuals of the Mugabe
hierarchy, these include the
commissioner of police.
"The commissioner
of police is at the moment in an EU member state,
namely France. Clearly the
EU travel ban is not working very effectively.
What we will be insisting on
is that further measures are taken to ensure
that these loopholes are
blocked. We don't expect Mugabe and his ministers
to take the EU seriously if
they can travel quite freely."
He said the
"small print" of EU regulations would have to be
scrutinised to ensure that
any loopholes are closed.
But attempts to
deal with the loopholes might be hampered by rules
governing other
international organisations, which might oblige the EU to
allow even banned
officials to attend meetings there.
Zimbabwean officials on the EU's banned list are, for instance,
allowed to
travel to the EU to attend meetings of the United Nations.
President Robert
Mugabe and several of his officials were earlier this year
allowed to enter
Rome because of this regulation.
Interpol,
whose headquarters are in Lyon in the south of France, is
also an independent
global body with diplomatic status similar to the UN
headquarters in New
York.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman
Francois Rivasseau this week said
Chihuri was allowed to participate in the
Interpol meeting because of a
"special rule" that allows members normal
access to Interpol's headquarters.
He
added: "In this case, we have both the right and the obligation to
allow
Interpol members to participate in the organisation's
meetings."
Van Orden admitted that the
status of organisations such as the UN
might hamper the effectiveness of the
EU's travel ban but said the bloc had
to close as many of the loopholes as
possible.
"The UN business is a real
problem and I don't think we will be able
to get over that," he said. "Fidel
Castro has been allowed to travel to New
York to attend the UN General
Assembly meeting, that's an indication of how
difficult it would be. But what
we have to do is close down as many of these
loopholes as
possible."
In response to France's
statement over Chihuri, he said: "If France is
saying that, our answer is
that it is a disgrace that such a person has a
position in Interpol. As the
commissioner of police, he is head of an
organisation that is an instrument
of oppression in Zimbabwe and the fact
that he turns up at an Interpol
meeting is a real disgrace."
Van Orden
said he was also trying to persuade South African President
Thabo Mbeki to
toughen his stance against Mugabe.
Mbeki
has been criticised for failing to vigorously condemn the
Zimbabwean
government's human rights abuses and its economically
destructive
policies.
"I'm calling upon
him to take more serious measures and join the
international community in
measures against Mugabe," the MP said.
FinGaz
Govt continues crackdown on defiant
farmers
Staff
Reporter
8/29/02 3:54:05 AM (GMT
+2)
TWENTY-NINE more white commercial
farmers had been arrested in the 24
hours up to yesterday as the government
continued with its crackdown on
farmers who are refusing to leave their farms
following the expiry of the
August 10
deadline.
The evictions continued as it
emerged that a meeting between the
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) leadership
and state Vice President Joseph
Msika last Wednesday aimed at halting the
evictions had failed to yield
anything.
CFU officials who attended the meeting said Msika had directed them to
meet
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made and Local Government Minister
Ignatius
Chombo, who are in charge of the government's controversial land
reforms.
The farmers had hoped that the
meeting, a follow up to the one they
held with Msika last month, would result
in the government extending its
deadline to forcibly evict 2 900 farmers from
their properties.
Before the evictions
started, Zimbabwe had about 4 500 white
commercial farmers, most of them
nationals of the country.
"We held the
meeting with Vice President Msika but nothing came out of
it," CFU president
Colin Cloete told the Financial Gazette.
"He told us to meet with ministers Chombo and Made. Even the issue of
policy
never came up. There are still cases of farmers being arrested but
the
situation is a little bit better compared to last
week."
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
said yesterday afternoon that 29
farmers had been arrested on Monday and
Tuesday to bring the total held so
far to
306.
"The total number of those arrested
as of Tuesday is 306 from 277 on
Sunday," he said. "The arrests will continue
as long as the farmers are
breaking the
law."
Jenni Williams, spokeswoman for
Justice for Agriculture group which is
seeking to challenge the evictions in
court, said she was still to receive
any reports of arrests or violence on
the affected farms this week.
Cloete said
the CFU would however meet Chombo this week to deliberate
on the evictions
but ruled out meeting Made who he said was uncooperative.
Made has on several
occasions spurned meetings with the CFU.
But even as the CFU sought to talk to Chombo, any hope of halting
the
evictions and reaching a compromise was dealt a severe blow by
President
Robert Mugabe who declared on Tuesday this week that such talks
served no
purpose.
"There is no room
for talks, there is no room for any negotiations
because the real owners of
this land are asserting their rights and
reclaiming their land," Mugabe was
quoted as saying by state television.
"If
you (the white farmers) want to live with us, to farm alongside
us, we the
rightful owners of our ancestral land will carve out some land
for you ...
but you cannot decide what you will have in our country,"
he
said.
Mugabe in June snubbed the
farmers' offer for dialogue saying they
should instead meet Msika, which
makes Chombo's pending talks with the
farmers
irrelevant
FinGaz
Mugabe has not heard
message: Canada PM
8/29/02
3:54:42 AM (GMT +2)
OTTAWA - Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien wants to hold
discussions with international
partners about the deteriorating situation in
Zimbabwe when he is in
Johannesburg at an environmental summit next week,
officials said this
week.
The troubled African country is
plunging into ever deeper chaos as the
government of President Robert Mugabe
presses ahead with a plan to force 2
900 of the remaining 4 500 white
commercial farmers to quit their land
without
compensation.
Britain, the United States
and Australia have all expressed dismay at
events in Zimbabwe, where an
estimated six million people face starvation
over the next six months as
drought, mismanagement and political turmoil
slash food
output.
Leaders of the Commonwealth of
mainly former British colonies
suspended Zimbabwe in March for holding what
were widely seen as rigged
elections.
It set up a troika of the leaders of Australia, South Africa and
Nigeria to
decide what more action might be taken.
"The prime minister is more and more concerned. We have not seen
many
positive developments since we last spoke about our concerns (in
March)...he
will wish to use the opportunity (World Summit) to discuss
Zimbabwe," a
Chretien aide told
reporters.
Chretien will be in South
Africa from September 1-3 to take part in
the World Summit on Sustainable
Development, where many other world leaders
will be
present.
"If at all possible in
Johannesburg, the prime minister would wish to
sit down with some of his
partners, maybe the troika members, and look
perhaps at what the
Commonwealth, the European Union and the Americans can
do," the aide
said.
"The prime minister does not feel
that President Mugabe has heard the
message," he added, saying there were no
plans at present for a meeting
between Chretien and
Mugabe.
Although Chretien generally takes
little interest in foreign affairs,
he has a strong commitment to Africa and
persuaded world leaders at a summit
in June to devote more effort to solving
the continent's woes.
Stockwell Day,
foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition
Canadian Alliance party,
called on Chretien to crack down on
Mugabe.
"The (Canadian) government's
actions to date have done little more
than tap Mugabe on the wrist. Given the
magnitude of the crisis that has
been provoked in southern Africa, this is
simply inadequate," Day said in
a
statement.
Mugabe has been in power
since Zimbabwe gained independence from
Britain in 1980. He says his land
drive is aimed at correcting colonial
injustices which left 70 percent of the
country's best farmland in the hands
of white
farmers.
Aides to British Prime Minister
Tony Blair - another major player in
the Commonwealth - said on Sunday he
would refuse to let Britain's argument
with Zimbabwe overshadow the
summit.
-
Reuter
FinGaz
Farmers need $10.5 bln for exit
packages
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
8/29/02 4:00:17 AM (GMT
+2)
ZIMBABWE'S white commercial farmers,
battling to continue with farming
in the face of forced evictions by the
government, need up to $10.5 billion
to pay exit packages to thousands of
farm workers, most of whom have only
lived on farms, it was established this
week.
But the farmers' ability to pay
their workers is hamstrung by the
stoppage of farming operations in the past
24 months because of disruptions
caused by militant ruling ZANU PF party
loyalists who occupied farms in the
name of land
hunger.
There were however contrasting
figures this week on the number of farm
workers who will be hit by the
eviction of at least 2 900 white farmers out
of a total of 4 500 in the
country.
The evictions started after
August 10 and are continuing.
The Justice
for Agriculture Group (JAG), a splinter union representing
commercial farmers
who are challenging the evictions, said 232 000 farm
workers employed by the
2 900 farmers needed to be paid retrenchment
packages before leaving the
farms.
But the General Agriculture
Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe
(GAPWUZ), which groups farm workers,
said 150 000 members needed
exit
packages.
GAPWUZ secretary-general
Clemence Sungai said the 232 000 announced by
JAG included casual
workers.
Sungai said the majority of the
150 000 workers would however receive
between $50 000 and $70 000, which
would add up to between $7.5 billion and
$10.5
billion.
He said the highest retrenchment
package paid to any worker to date
was $164
000.
"It is difficult to say how much each
worker is being paid on average
because this depends with the number of years
served by each worker but most
are receiving between $50 000 and $70 000,"
Sungai told the Financial
Gazette.
According to a bargaining agreement between the Agriculture Labour
Bureau
(ALB) and GAPWUZ last year, the lowest paid worker in the
agriculture
industry is paid $4 300 a month and the highest paid worker gets
$11 550.
There was no comment this week
from the ALB, which represents farmers
in labour issues. ALB chief executive
Ewen Rodger was said to be busy and
had not responded to questions sent to
him by this newspaper last week.
The
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), the umbrella group for the white
farmers,
last December said the commercial farming sector which used to
employ 300 000
workers had a total annual wage bill of $15.1
billion.
Sungai said farm workers had been
sidelined as the farmers and the
government continued to haggle over the
issue of compensation. He noted that
the farmers had recourse to legal action
but workers could not afford this.
The 150
000 farm workers, plus their families, make up half a million
people who will
become homeless if the evictions stand.
Sungai said GAPWUZ had approached donors and the union's
international
secretariat to address the critical issue of food security for
the displaced
workers, most of whom have nowhere to go because many are from
neighbouring
countries.
"We have
approached donors and our international secretariat to help
us address the
issue of food security for the displaced. But we still
continue to talk to
the government so that our members can get land to
address the problem of
displacement."
According to Sungai, about
1 000 workers have been resettled under the
government's controversial land
reforms.
He said so far requests to have
land set aside for other affected farm
workers had been snubbed by the
government, which argues that farm workers
have to apply for land just like
anyone else.
Sungai said some farm workers
had thus migrated into urban centres and
more were expected to join them in
the next few weeks.
"Many workers cannot
afford the rent in big cities like Harare and so
what we are seeing is an
explosion of squatter camps on the outskirts of the
major cities. This is
becoming the only alternative."
He said
GAPWUZ was having weekly meetings with the government to
update it on the
number of farmers who were being partially compensated by
the state for their
seized land so that his union could make a follow up to
ensure that workers
were paid.
But some farmers say they owe
loans to local banks, which makes it
difficult for them to pay their workers
unless they get fair compensation
from the
government.
The CFU says only 106 farmers
have received partial compensation for
their properties since the fast-track
land reforms started in June 2000. The
government has refused to pay for the
land but for improvements such as
houses on the
farms.
A senior CFU official said: "While
farmers are not against paying
workers retrenchment packages, most of them
have to get compensation from
the government to meet such
expenditures.
"It is no secret that a
majority of the farms have not been operating
at full capacity due to
disruptions by illegal ZANU PF occupiers and this
again has impacted on the
farmers' ability to pay retrenchment packages."
FinGaz
'War Cabinet'
lacks clout to save Zim
By Abel
Mutsakani News Editor
8/29/02 4:01:11 AM (GMT
+2)
BESIEGED President Robert Mugabe
barricaded himself behind loyalists
and radicals in his "war Cabinet" this
week but analysts say the ageing
leader has too many battles on too many
fronts to win the fight to save his
political
life.
The analysts, surveying Mugabe's
Cabinet announced at the weekend,
said growing international pressure,
especially after South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki last week made known he
was in favour of tougher
action against Mugabe by the Commonwealth, would
eventually wear down the
veteran leader and his so-called 'war
council'.
University of Zimbabwe (UZ)
business studies professor Tony Hawkins
said Mugabe's new team was unable to
reverse the deepening economic malaise
unless Mugabe reversed his land
reforms to win back international aid vital
to resuscitate the crumbling
economy.
In due course, Hawkins warned,
popular discontent caused by worsening
economic hardships could explode into
a popular uprising against the
78-year-old Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's
independence from Britain in
1980.
Regional economic superpower South Africa has been Mugabe's most
critical
ally so far, resisting moves by the 54-nation Commonwealth to
impose
sanctions against Harare.
But Mbeki said
last week he now agreed with Australian Prime Minister
John Howard, who heads
a special Commonwealth committee on Zimbabwe, on the
need to "vigorously
address the present state of affairs in
Zimbabwe".
Howard favours the imposition
of trade sanctions against Zimbabwe and
its expulsion from the Commonwealth -
in the same way Fiji was chucked out
of the club of Britain and its former
colonies when the Pacific nation was
plunged into crisis by a military coup
two years ago.
"International pressure is
once again mounting against Mugabe and this
time it is not just the European
Union (EU) or the United States of America,
but from the Commonwealth as
well," said Brian Raftopoulos, an associate
professor at UZ's Institute of
Development Studies.
He added: "By
appointing radicals into the Cabinet, Mugabe is sending
a clear message that
he is committed to riding out the crisis but he is
treading on increasingly
fragile ground at home and
internationally."
He said Mugabe's
favourite land reforms were most likely to end in
unprecedented disaster,
with even worse food shortages than is the case
now.
Nearly nine million Zimbabweans -
more than half the population -
require food aid this year after Mugabe's
land reforms and a drought
combined to slash food output by more than 60
percent.
"Mugabe will be forced to resort
to more repression but in the process
will incur more wrath from the
international community," Raftopoulos
noted.
The respected analyst spoke as
Australia this week stepped up its
criticism of Mugabe, accusing the former
socialist guerrilla leader of
conducting ethnic cleansing against white
farmers whose land he is seizing
without compensation for redistribution to
some blacks.
Washington's State Department
weighed in against Mugabe by dismissing
his war Cabinet as a commitment not
to steer Zimbabwe out of its crisis.
Last
week the US said it was working with Mozambique, Botswana and
South Africa on
isolating Mugabe but later appeared to backtrack on the
statement after the
three African countries denied any
involvement.
Raftopoulus said Mbeki had in
the past given mixed messages on
Zimbabwe only because the South African
leader did not want to antagonise
some of his pro-Mugabe colleagues in the
14-nation Southern Africa
Development
Community.
He said Commonwealth sanctions
would cut off Zimbabwe from the rest of
the world because the country is
encircled by mostly Commonwealth members.
The 15-nation EU, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland have
already
imposed targeted financial and travel sanctions on Mugabe and his
top
officials for their alleged promotion of violence in Zimbabwe and
stealing a
presidential election in March.
Hawkins
said because the newly appointed Cabinet lacked individuals
with enough clout
to control Mugabe, Zimbabwe - which already has a fixed
exchange rate and
price controls on most goods - would see more Soviet
Union-type command
economics.
"As a result, the decline of
the economy can only accelerate,"
he
said.
"There will be more shortages
of goods, inflation will continue to
rise and so will poverty, unemployment
and national debt.
In short, the economy
will collapse and only God knows what happens
after
that."
FinGaz
Mugabe clears the decks for
Mnangagwa
By Sydney Masamvu
Political Editor
8/29/02 4:03:25 AM (GMT
+2)
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has appointed
nine non-elected ZANU PF
politicians as Cabinet ministers in a reshuffle
which cleared the decks for
the takeover as head of state of Parliamentary
Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa,
long Mugabe's heir
apparent.
The 27-member Cabinet saw Mugabe
loyalists Witness Mangwende and Amos
Midzi being given full ministerial
portfolios, bringing the complement of
non-elected ministers to nine from
seven previously.
Other ministers in this
category are Vice President Joseph Msika,
Presidential Special Affairs
Minister John Nkomo, Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo, Justice Minister
Patrick Chinama-sa, Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made, Health Minister David
Parirenya-twa and Sithembiso Nyoni, who
is in charge of small-scale
industries.
Political analysts this week
said Mugabe's upping of the number of
non-elected officials in his Cabinet
was tailor-made to consolidate his
power
base.
Masipula Sithole, a political
analyst at the University of Zimbabwe
(UZ), said the fact that non-elected
ministers were at the forefront of the
critical decision-making process both
in the government and ZANU PF's
Politburo meant that Mugabe was consolidating
his power as well as
allegiance to
himself.
"These non-elected ministers are
appointed into Cabinet by Mugabe and
they owe their allegiance to him first
and foremost," he said.
"By having more of
these, Mugabe is simply consolidating his political
power base and
influence."
The analysts spoke as ZANU PF
insiders said the new Cabinet was
structured in such a way that most of its
members would promote Mnanga-gwa's
candidature to take over the leadership of
the party and government.
Sources said
most of those in the new Cabinet from Masvingo, the
Midlands, Mashonaland
Central and West provinces were linked to
Mnangagwa's
camp.
Mnangagwa, helped by
Mugabe to land the Speaker's job after Politburo
members led by retired army
chief Solomom Mujuru had opted for Cyril
Ndebele, was conspicuous by his
presence at the swearing-in ceremony of the
new Cabinet at State House on
Monday.
The insiders said although
Mnangagwa was not a Cabinet member, he was
heavily involved in crucial
decisions taken by the government, using his
role as ZANU PF's boss for
administration.
Mnangagwa, long touted as
Mugabe's blue-eyed boy and preferred choice
of successor, has in public
denied harbouring any presidential
ambitions.
The sources said the departure
from the political scene of former
finance minister Simba Makoni, considered
a threat to Mnangagwa's ambitions,
had left the Speaker virtually
unchallenged in ZANU PF as
Mugabe's
successor.
Makoni had been
often mentioned as a possible Mugabe successor and is
understood to have
enjoyed the support of Mujuru's powerful
camp.
The insiders said Mnangagwa was now
the only ZANU PF veteran among
possible successors left, holding influential
positions both in the party
and the state
apparatus.
They said the re-assignment of
John Nkomo to take charge of Special
Affairs duties in the President's Office
had been a result of hard lobbying
by hawks in ZANU PF, who want a hardliner
to be in control of the Ministry
of Home Affairs to crack down on political
opponents in the country.
The purge
currently taking place in the upper echelons of the Central
Intelligence
Organisation is a also grand plan aimed at promoting
Mnanga-gwa's candidature
and in the process neutralise Mujuru's influence
there, they
said.
Apart from Mugabe, Vice President
Simon Muzenda also backs Mnangagwa's
candidature. Both see Mnangagwa as their
personal assistant and are
confident that their security and lavish lifestyle
are secure with him at
the helm.
Although backed by ZANU PF's two powerful men, Mnangagwa himself has
not been
sitting idle in his sleek campaign to position himself for an
eventual
takeover.
A shrewd politician, Mnangagwa
has lately been raising his public
profile by addressing rallies and
officiating at many important party and
government
functions.
The insiders say Mnangagwa has
also been going around the country
holding workshops within the party
structures in a move they say is designed
to silently sell his candidature
and image.
FinGaz
Sanctions hit Mnangagwa
By Sydney Masamvu Political Editor
8/29/02
3:48:38 AM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S Speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa has abruptly
cancelled an official trip to
Switzerland, it was established this week, as
it emerged that the government
has frozen trips to Western countries by
officials targeted under smart
sanctions slapped on President Robert Mugabe
and his top
hierarchy.
Mnangagwa was supposed to lead a
four-member parliamentary delegation
to an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
conference scheduled for September 23
to 27 in
Geneva.
The IPU talks will attract 147
parliamentary delegations from around
the
world.
Official sources yesterday said
Mnangagwa had cancelled the trip,
visas for which were supposed to be
approved in Berne, fearing possible
embarrassment on arrival in
Switzerland.
The speaker of Parliament is
one of 72 government and ruling ZANU PF
party officials barred from
travelling to the 15-nation European Union (EU)
as part of smart sanctions
imposed by the economic bloc because of the
government's human rights abuses,
attacks on a free Press and
bad
governance.
Switzerland, which is
not an EU member, has also imposed similar
individual sanctions to plug
potential loopholes. Canada, New Zealand and
the United States have also
taken similar measures against Zimbabwe's ruling
elite, which include a
freeze on their assets and an arms embargo on
the
country.
The cancellation of
Mnangagwa's trip comes barely a month after
another parliamentary delegation
comprising ZANU PF women legislators,
including deputy speaker Edna
Madzongwe, was denied entry into Sweden to
attend a
conference.
Last month Britain denied
entry to ZANU PF's secretary for the
disabled Joshua Malinga, who had tried
to fly from London to New York for
a
conference.
Official sources said the
government had frozen all official trips to
the West for those on the
sanctions list because of fears of
further
embarrassment.
Almost all
government ministers, except those appointed in a Cabinet
reshuffle at the
weekend, and members of ZANU PF's supreme policy-making
Politburo organ are
on the black list.
"There are virtually no
trips being undertaken to Europe now by any
government ministers and
politicians on the list," a senior official in the
Ministry of Foreign
Affairs told the Financial Gazette.
"There
is a freeze on that side because of the current
circumstances."
The sources said senior
officials at permanent secretary-level, with
the help of Zimbabwean diplomats
abroad, were now undertaking most overseas
trips and handling government
business there.
They said since the
sanctions were imposed at the beginning of the
year, not more than 10 trips
had been undertaken by government ministers for
the purposes of attending
international conferences.
None of the
trips had been for the purpose of attending
bilateral
meetings.
The sources said
Mugabe, who has been using United Nations-sponsored
conferences to sneak into
Europe and the United States, had not attempted to
travel on official
bilateral visits to any EU member states or other
Western
countries.
Although not
supposed to affect ordinary Zimbabweans, analysts say
Western smart sanctions
have adversely impacted on the country's already
tottering economy, beset by
mismanagement, corruption and a recession.
They say this is because Zimbabwe has been excluded from virtually all
the
international community's initiatives supposed to deal with Africa's
grinding
poverty and underdevelopment.
They noted
that calls by the international community for the
tightening of the sanctions
because of Zimbabwe's deteriorating political
climate and human rights abuses
could only compound the country's
problems.
The Zimbabwe government has
meanwhile said it is working on
comprehensive retaliatory measures that could
include the introduction of
exit and entry visas for both its domestic and
foreign foes
FinGaz
Letter
Time to
stand up is now
8/29/02 1:12:06 AM (GMT +2)
EDITOR -
Ladies and gentlemen, for how long shall we stand and watch? For
how long
shall we endure the pain?
For how long shall we be tortured? And for how
long shall we be skinned
alive?
The calls are louder for all to hear:
let us now stand up and reclaim what
it ours.
In a few days' time,
ladies and gentlemen, we will all have real extended
families. Our cousins,
brothers and sisters who have been fending for
themselves doing business with
the farming communities will soon join us.
Remember that even if you are
in an urban area, you do business with the
farming communities. It is either
you work at a farm implements shop, a
seedling company or a tractor firm, but
tomorrow you will be on the streets.
Why is this happening to us
Zimbabweans?
We all know they all have bank accounts in Asia now. They
all are watching
satellite television. They all own farms; they all have
access to petrol and
we are left to die because we are being
sacrificed.
Sacrificed not because it's our wish, but because they want
to stay in power
forever. They want to feed on our sweat forever and they
want to continue
turning us against our business partners in life.
Is
Muammar Gaddafi black? Is Fidel Castro black? Are all his friends Black?
No!
So why should we be told that it is a black-white issue? Why, why,
why?
Let's look around ourselves. None but ourselves shall liberate
our
motherland. Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, through
the
so-called "quiet diplomacy", are now getting the skills of our farmers
onto
their lands.
They all know that no sane leadership can dispense
of these skills. These
farming skills are well sought after. Imagine 200
years of farming skills
being emptied into the coffers of other countries in
a single bout of
madness.
Is it because since his days are numbered he
doesn't care? No one has the
right to be there?
To all the white
community, don't despair. They might throw you into jails,
they might beat
you up, but remember one thing: the masses of Zimbabwe need
you.
We
all need you. You are one of us. You belong with us. Find temporary
shelter
within urban
centres, but we want you back on the farms; we want you to share
your
experience with your black brothers in a logical set-up where there is
rule
of law.
To Mugabe, Patrick Chinamasa, Jonathan Moyo and Joseph
Made, remember what
quiet diplomacy from your African brothers means: chase
the farming skills
and we get them. After
that we the Zimbabwean populace
are reduced to beggars. We beg for jobs in
South Africa, Botswana and now
Angola. They spit on us, they tell us to go
back and farm.
Now is the
time - we have to stand and reclaim what is ours, ours and
ours.
Tichatonga
Zvedu,
Harare.
FinGaz
The project requires
national consensus, Your
Excellency
Masipula
Sithole
8/29/02 1:02:57 AM (GMT
+2)
I DON'T mean the project to evict
white farmers from their farms. I
mean the project to defy the international
community.
This should be the first task
of the so-called "war Cabinet" announced
by the President last weekend: its
first order of business should be to
create a national consensus on the
objectives and strategy of the "war"
against the international
community.
Even if the project had been to
evict the white farmers from their
farms, it would still have been prudent to
have first created a national
consensus on how to approach the land reform
issue.
That would have minimised the
present polarisation, not only on racial
lines but - and more importantly -
on party and even family lines, right
across the country. We have been
polarised since 2000, except that the
situation has moved from bad to
worse.
What many had delightfully thought
was a "Cabinet of technocrats"
announced by the President after the June 2000
parliamentary elections was
in fact dominated by "hawks" who have finally
triumphed in the "war Cabinet"
announced last weekend. If this "war Cabinet"
does not quickly stop and
reflect, it will lead us to catastrophic
disaster.
In fact, the country needs a
"peace Cabinet"; the "hawks" should
quickly turn into "doves". The country
needs consensus-builders
not
polarisers.
We need a national
consensus if we are going to engage the
international community in an
adversarial stance, as we seem to be doing.
Even so, are we sure we can win
the battle, let alone the war?
Ian Smith
had the requisite national consensus of at least his white
constituency. But
he later failed and blamed it on the "great betrayal" by
Britain and the
international community.
But it is this
national consensus which sustained the Smith regime for
15 years. Lack of it
in our circumstances won't take us very far, starting,
as we do, from an
economy near collapse.
Moreover, it is
doubtful whether there is consensus among ZANU PF
supporters on this project.
The Cabinet reshuffle partially speaks to this
point. What is worse, not too
many of our people believe we can go it alone.
Ask
around.
Not only do we need a national
consensus for this project, but also we
need a regional approach and
strategy. We need regional consensus. Many in
the region don't agree with the
way we have carried out the land reforms.
Moreover, they know we are deeply divided and polarised. This is why
some in
the region and beyond wanted to assist us to "talk" to each other.
In our
typical arrogance, we rebuked them.
We
cannot continue this way. Let us stop and reflect and do the right
thing
while we can.
As it is, we face expulsion
from the Commonwealth in March next year,
if not before this year is over. So
far we have dismally failed to fulfil
the conditions for the lifting of our
suspension from the Commonwealth. Next
is the likely suspension from the
Southern Africa Development Community, and
probably the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa as well.
As we
speak, we are the showcase for the New Partnership for Africa's
Development's
success; as such we may be "peer-reviewed" out of the African
Union if we
continue behaving out of step with the international community.
If human
rights conditions deteriorate and the violation of international
law begins
to be cited as in the case of Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic, we
even risk
being suspended from the United Nations.
Maybe it does not matter, since we are an "independent" and
"sovereign"
state.
I have not even talked about the
possibility of mandatory economic
sanctions against us by our neighbours and
the international community. It
is naïve to think our neighbours will never
impose economic sanctions
against us; hence the wisdom of consulting them
before our actions.
Likewise, military
action against us is an option, particularly when
we start talking of and
setting up "war Cabinets", be it
figuratively.
Our neighbours could respond
by setting up "war Cabinets" of their
own. Given tense borders, this could
cease being a figure of speech.
Common
sense should tell us we couldn't win against these odds, even
if we may be
right and our military is the most experienced in the region.
As it is, we
have no choice but to cooperate with the international
community and cut our
losses while we can. The situation will continue to
get
worse.
Governance should be about creating
national consensus. Yet our
government, at least for the past three years
running, has been combative
and confrontational with its citizenry and with
the international community.
The ZANU PF regime has behaved in the manner of
a liberation movement
instead of a governing
party.
Governing is about building
national consensus. The question is: can
ZANU PF make this
transition?
Professor Masipula Sithole is
a lecturer of political science at the
University of Zimbabwe and director of
the Harare-based Mass Public
Opinion
Institute.
FinGaz
Government arrears on IMF debt rise to US$134
million
Staff
Reporter
8/29/02 1:32:33 AM (GMT
+2)
ZIMBABWE'S outstanding commitments to
the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) have risen to more than US$134 million
in the past two months, with
the government paying only US$3.15 million or
0.37 percent of budgeted
interest
payments.
Figures released by the IMF this
week reveal that Zimbabwe's
outstanding commitments to the Bretton Woods
institution stood at 102.1
special drawing rights (SDRs) at the end of
July.
An SDR is an artificial currency
unit made up of a basket of national
currencies used by the IMF and other
international bodies in transactions
with their
members.
It is an international reserve
asset also used as the unit of account
by several other international
organisations, including the World Bank.
Zimbabwe was suspended from receiving IMF technical assistance in June
after
failing to meet arrears on its debt to the Fund, which then stood at
US$132
million.
The Ministry of Finance this week
conceded that it had failed to pay
interest on its external debt during the
first five months of this year due
to an acute shortage of foreign
currency.
"Only $173.4 million or about
one percent was paid against a target of
$46 billion," the ministry said in
its latest Treasury Bulletin.
Total
interest on both the domestic and external debt paid between
January and May
2002 was $22.4 billion against a target of $46 billion,
which resulted in
"savings" of more than $23 billion.
Zimbabwe has since 1999 skipped payments on its foreign commercial
and
concessional loan payments because of an acute shortage of foreign
currency.
The first time was in April 1999
when the cash-strapped government
missed payments on a loan from the World
Bank, a development that blocked
the release of funds from other key backers
of the country's stalled
economic
reforms.
The external debt repayments have
been affected by the erratic inflows
of hard cash, which are presently
estimated at about US$50 million a month,
well below the country's normal
monthly requirements of about
US$200
million.
Former finance minister
Simba Makoni had early last year indicated
that the government had set aside
almost US$500 million for servicing its
total external commitments although
analysts had at the time dismissed the
target as optimistic because of the
country's deteriorating
economic
fundamentals.
The Zimbabwean
authorities owe more than US$4.5 billion to several
multilateral institutions
and Western countries.
These include the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the
African Development Bank,
the European Investment Bank, the United States of
America, Britain, France
and Germany.
The defaults on the external
loan commitments have cost Zimbabwe
crucial economic aid worth millions of
American dollars, triggering a
crippling balance-of-payments crisis and
severe shortages of fuel and other
essential
commodities.
FinGaz
It's Mugabe who needs to be
reshuffled
Sydney
Masamvu
8/29/02 1:18:15 AM (GMT
+2)
SINCE Zimbabwe's independence in 1980,
President Robert Mugabe has
made countless reshuffles, all purportedly to
improve the fortunes of the
country.
And yet in all the past 22 years, we have seen more or less the same
leaders
from the ruling ZANU PF party holding different portfolios in
the
government.
Every time there has
been a reshuffle, Mugabe has been quick to point
out that he has assembled an
action-oriented and result-driven team to push
Zimbabwe to
prosperity.
The state of the economy in
the year 2002 reveals that the men
mandated to take the stewardship of the
economy especially have all failed
to achieve this
goal.
Enos Nkala, the late Bernard
Chidzero, Ariston Chambati, Herbert
Murerwa and Simba Makoni have failed to
deliver.
This brings out the real question
which begs an honest answer: who and
what is the problem in
Zimbabwe?
I personally believe without any
doubt that Mugabe is the chief
problem of Zimbabwe. Any sane human being
would agree with me that none but
Mugabe is the source of all our
problems.
We need to look no further than
Mugabe or beyond Zimbabwe's borders to
get to know why we are failing as a
country or to find scapegoats. We need
not look for saboteurs in Europe
because the real saboteurs are here
in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's problems centre
on sound leadership. The problem is Mugabe
because he is at the core of the
leadership issues.
The problem is
certainly not Makoni, not the devaluation of the local
dollar, not the land,
not Britain, not Tony Blair, not America nor George
Bush, not the EU, not the
MDC, not Morgan Tsvangirai and not the private
media which is only doing its
job and an honest job at that, given all the
state's impediments to stifle
us.
It's the leadership
stupid!
No amount of reshuffles without
addressing the issue of Mugabe being
at the helm of the country will get
Zimbabwe back on its feet.
We can even
have reshuffles on a daily basis but as long as they skirt
the issue of
Mugabe continuing to be in charge, then this is an exercise
in
futility.
Any day longer that Mugabe
spends presiding over the affairs of the
state means that the more we are
sinking as a country.
I have said this
before and I will repeat it: this country has the
capacity to at least get
back to some form of normalcy and start afresh with
anyone at the helm but
Mugabe.
Mugabe has caused the problems
that we face and has compounded them
each day he has remained in office,
hence the mess that our country has
become in just 22
years.
The bottom line is that the
policies of this country evolve around one
man, Mugabe, no matter how
unworkable they are.
What he thinks and
feels has to be implemented, no matter
how
impossible.
Nothing drives the
point home that Mugabe has run out of ideas than
his recall of Herbert
Murerwa to head the Finance Ministry from which the
minister had been booted
out barely two years ago.
At the Industry
and International Trade Ministry, where Murerwa was in
charge before his
weekend promotion, nothing of any use to the nation was
ever done but the
imposition of price controls on essential goods which are
now in short
supply.
You wonder what has now changed
which will make Murerwa deliver. If
anything, the conditions on the ground
for bringing about results as finance
minister have worsened than when he
failed in the same capacity years back.
Does anyone remember what Mugabe himself once said about Murerwa while
on a
visit to Botswana? Mugabe said Murerwa was running his ministry like
a
funeral parlour.
I just hope that two
years down the line, Murerwa has bounced back to
run his ministry as a
maternity home. We wait with bated breath for
results.
What Mugabe actually did this
weekend was assembling a team of clowns
for the ultimate circus to take
place.
It was an exercise of assembling
more stooges, more puppets and more
boot-lickers, never mind the statement
that it is a war Cabinet, whatever
war he is fighting and against
who.
Mugabe should have spared us the
faked "dissolution" of the Cabinet by
simply firing Makoni, for essentially
that was the purpose of the
entire
exercise.
When failed
politicians such as Witness Mangwende are dragged back
from the political
wilderness of the past seven years, you should know that
Mugabe has indeed
run out of ideas or credible individuals to steer this
country out of
collapse.
As for others who were appointed
and re-assigned, it is a sheer waste
of time and public money to have them.
In fact, it is nonsensical even to
acknowledge them. They are mere stooges
and jay walkers in ZANU PF, that's
all.
Mangwende's bungling and blundering at Foreign Affairs in
post-independent
Zimbabwe, in Agriculture during the 1992 drought and in
Sport during his
visit to Cameroun are well documented issues - even
in
pubs.
I hope that this time round he
has sobered up, which no doubt will be
helped by the fact that there will be
no more foreign or European trips,
thanks to the Western sanctions on the
country's leadership.
But if you honestly
believe that Mangwende can deliver anything to
ease the crisis, as Mugabe
thinks, then you can believe that Joseph
Chinotimba will be the next head of
state of Zimbabwe.
In short, as long as
the principal cause of the crisis remains
unshuffled - that is Mugabe - then
Zimbabwe's circus will continue and
only
worsen.
MSNBC
Britain's Short says Mugabe policy
''unforgivable''
LONDON, Aug. 28 — Britain's
development minister Clare Short said on Wednesday the world must do all it
could to help Zimbabweans facing catastrophic famine caused by the ''gross and
unforgivable'' policies of President Robert
Mugabe.
But she said the
crisis in Zimbabwe could not be allowed to derail a summit in neighbouring South
Africa which aims to set a course for sustainable global development.
''You cannot let each international
U.N. meeting be hijacked by the latest crisis in the world, or the country that
is most grossly misbehaving,'' Short told Reuters in an interview.
''We must all do all we can to help the
Zimbabwean people and what Mugabe has done to his country is gross and
unforgivable. But to let that hijack a crucial international conference would be
wrong,'' she said.
Zimbabwe is plunging
into ever deeper chaos as Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain
in 1980, presses ahead with a plan to force 2,900 of the remaining 4,500 white
commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation.
An estimated six million people face
starvation over the next six months as drought, mismanagement and political
turmoil slash food output in a country which was once the breadbasket of the
region.
The crisis prompted Canadian
Prime Minister Jean Chretien to call this week for discussions with
international partners about the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe when he
attends the Johannesburg summit next week.
But Short reiterated Britain's
insistence that delegates in South Africa should focus their efforts on the
wider picture.
''Hijacking a conference
on sustainable development for future generations would be an error. It wouldn't
do anything for Zimbabwe and would throw away something else.''
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has
come under pressure from political opponents to take a stand in Johannesburg by
refusing to share a platform with Mugabe and pressing African leaders to get
tough with Zimbabwe.
Short said the
world had little chance of influencing the veteran leader.
''We will continue to use every forum
to try to get progress. But the situation is that President Mugabe doesn't
listen to anyone including his neighbours,'' she said.
Mugabe has said the land reforms are
designed to correct nearly a century of colonial injustice that left 70 percent
of the best farmland in the hands of white farmers.
Opponents in Zimbabwe and abroad allege
that the best farms are being given to Mugabe's friends and allies, including
his wife Grace, and not to landless peasants.
''It could all end in a catastrophic
famine. That's the way it's pointing,'' Short said.