Washington Post
Reuters
Saturday, August 2, 2008; 3:39 PM
HARARE (Reuters) -
An explosion rocked the main police station in Zimbabwe's
capital Harare on
Saturday, but there was no immediate word of any injuries.
"They (the
bomb squad) are investigating. The office where the explosion
occurred was
not manned and so far there is no indication that anyone was
injured," a
police official at the scene, who declined to be named, told
Reuters.
He could not say what had caused the explosion. Police
sealed off the area.
Bombs are rare in Zimbabwe despite political
upheaval in recent years, but
last year the government accused opposition
activists of throwing petrol
bombs at some police stations though no one was
ever convicted.
The explosion hit the criminal investigations department
of the building
which is in the centre of the city.
Zimbabwe
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday he was fairly
satisfied
with talks with President Robert Mugabe's party to end a political
crisis.
Tsvangirai said talks would resume as planned on Sunday with
Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party. Power-sharing negotiations began last week under
international pressure after Mugabe's unopposed re-election in a poll
dismissed around the world as a sham.
(Reporting by MacDonald
Dzirutwe, edited by Richard Meares)
nasdaq
SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe was in Singapore
Saturday and scheduled to see a physician during his
trip, a person close to
the city-state's government said.
Mugabe's
medical appointment was with a doctor in Singapore's Orchard Road
area, the
person said. The person said the 84-year-old president visits
Singapore
regularly to see physicans.
His visit to Singapore was strictly private,
and he wasn't on official
business, the person added.
It wasn't clear
when he would leave Singapore.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-02-080834ET
iafrica.com
Article By:
Sat, 02 Aug 2008
08:34
Zimbabwean opposition politicians have accused hardline backers of
President
Robert Mugabe of harassment and attacks against them and others in
the
country's east, a rights group said on Friday.
Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights said an urgent High Court application had
been filed by a
lawmaker and five local councillors from the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) related to the alleged attacks.
The five local
councillors had been forced from their homes and have sought
refuge outside
of the Nyanga constituency, the rights group said, citing the
court
case.
The lawmaker is Douglas Mwonzora and the councillors are Edith
Baipai,
Thenia Nyanhongo, Fidelis Katerere, Munyaradzi Mwonzora and Passmore
Mandikuvadza.
Their court filing requests that the alleged harassment
and assault of
opposition members and supporters, as well as the theft of
their livestock,
be stopped immediately.
They are also seeking the
dismantling of what they called illegal roadblocks
and semi-military
bases.
The rights group expressed "serious concern over the continued
politically-motivated violence and violation of the fundamental rights of
perceived and confirmed members of the MDC by war veterans."
The
so-called war veterans are hardline supporters of Mugabe, who won a new
term
as president in June in a one-man election widely condemned as a
sham.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the 27 June run-off days
ahead of
the poll, citing rising violence against supporters that had left
dozens
dead and thousands injured.
The rights group also criticised
police "inaction" in reported cases of
violence and
intimidation.
Mugabe and MDC leaders signed an accord on 21 July to begin
talks with a
two-week deadline on sharing power after the one-man
election.
In the document, the political rivals agreed to take "all
necessary measures
to eliminate all forms of political
violence".
AFP
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=1899
August 2, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The president of Zimbabwe's United People's Party
(UPP) says he is
challenging in the Pretoria and the Harare High Courts, the
exclusion of his
party from the ongoing power-sharing talks in the South
African capital,
Pretoria.
UPP president Dr Daniel Shumba's lawsuit,
which is being handled by a
prominent South African law firm, registered in
both countries, charges that
the talks have violated Zimbabwe's Constitution
by refusing other political
players the right to be heard.
The talks,
facilitated by South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, which resume
on Monday,
the same day they are scheduled to end, involve the two MDC
factions and
President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
Shumba's lawsuit cites the SADC
executive secretary, Tomaz Salamao, as the
first respondent, the
SADC-appointed mediator, President Mbeki, as the
second respondent, as well
as both Zanu-PF and the two MDC parties. South
Africa, as host of the
negotiations, which adjourned on Tuesday, and as
represented by the Foreign
Affairs ministry, is not spared either.
Shumba wants the two High Courts
to declare that whatever outcome the talks
achieve will have no force and
democratic effect whatsoever on Zimbabwe.
The plaintiff charges that the
bilateral talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC
are not inclusive or
representative. He says he wants them to reflect the
broader sector of
Zimbabwean society such as labour, the women, churches and
other political
parties, including his UPP.
A former Zanu-PF provincial chairman in
Masvingo, Shumba formed the UPP in
2005 after he was suspended from the
party. Shumba did not contest the March
29 presidential election after he
failed to lodge his nomination papers
within the stipulated time.
His
lawsuits states that the ongoing SADC-brokered bilateral talks between
the
MDC and Zanu-PF are "partisan, unrepresentative and undemocratic," and
wants
the courts to compel the convener of the talks to involve more
stakeholders
or declare the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding last
week null and
void.
The talks, which began on Thursday, July 24, adjourned on Tuesday
and
parties are expected to reconvene Sunday.
The negotiations were
adjourned to allow party representatives to return to
Zimbabwe to consult
their principals.
The negotiations reportedly broke off after reaching a
deadlock over Mugabe's
insistence that he retain the presidency in any new
government, while
offering the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, the position
of third deputy.
The MDC reportedly rejected the offer out of
hand.
The negotiations are shrouded in secrecy.
From The Cape Argus (SA), 1 August
Lavern de Vries
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony
Ehrenreich last night warned that, should
embattled Zimbabwean president
Robert Mugabe ever set foot in South Africa,
South Africans would perform a
citizen's arrest. The statement was met by
applause from a 500-strong crowd
at St George's Cathedral who had gathered
for a civil society rally in
support of the plight of Zimbabwean citizens.
Ehrenreich said that scores of
trade union members' hearts bled with their
brothers and sisters of Africa.
"It is only through solidarity that we
brought our own country from the
brink of disaster to the brink of
possibilities . we can't be the aggressor
against our own people and expect
to have a shred of credibility," he said,
referring to the recent xenophobic
attacks as well as President Thabo
Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" approach to
Zimbabwe's crisis. "We assure you, our
people will rise up against
government if they don't speak up . drastic
action must be taken to bring an
end to the atrocities in Zimbabwe," he
said. TAC leader Zackie Achmat
pledged TAC's support. He also voiced concern
for Zimbabweans living with
HIV/Aids, and about the life expectancy of
Zimbabweans - 34 years for women
and 37 for men. Author and activist Eleanor
Sisulu apologised to the
Zimbabwean youth for not offering them what was
expected - a democratic
country with a thriving economy. Referring to South
Africa's quiet
diplomacy, she said to more applause: "We cannot condemn the
thugs who
committed the xenophobic acts but then not condemn the thugs who
sit in
State House and perpetrate violence." For many foreign nationals
present,
the highlight of the night was the address by MDC vice-chairperson
Thokozane
Khupe who updated them on the negotiations. "When Zimbabweans went
to the
polls they gave Morgan Tsvangirai a mandate to run the country. That
is
something that will not be negotiated - the will of the people," she
said.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=1896
August 2, 2008
IN THE Western world where I have
now decided to set up home, income
generated from the taxes as well as from
the countries' natural resources is
used to develop public facilities such
as nurseries, schools, universities,
roads and transport
systems.
Such income is also used to provide social benefits for those at
the lower
end of the scale, such as housing, tax credits, child benefits, to
mention
some. Because of that there is not much real poverty in the Western
world.
In Zimbabwe taxes and income from the country's resources is used to
fund
the life style of the elite and those in power.
Imagine the RBZ
buying numerous top of the range cars, plasma TVs,
generators, satellite
dishes for the judges as was reported in the Herald
yesterday? If it was in
the Western democratic countries the public or
someone would take the RBZ to
court. It would actually cause an outcry and
people would be forced to
resign.
Mr Editor, why don't your papers lobby the civil society to take
the RBZ to
court? When you see things like this happening in Zimbabwe it's
just a tip
of the iceberg. You can rest assured the same items have been
bought for
whoever matters in Zanu-PF. I don't think my family will ever
settle again
in our mother country.
Some might say this is bribery of
the judiciary but I would say this is pure
corruption. The bribery took
place when most of these judges were appointed
corruptly to the bench. Why
do our people keep quiet when such things
happen?
Where is the civil
society?
Immigrant
http://zimbabwemetro.com/featured/gonos-cosmetic-reforms-do-not-address-the-zimbabwean-crisis/
By Elton Mangoma ⋅ ©
zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ August 1, 2008 ⋅
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono lopped
off 10 zeroes from the country’s
bearer cheques yesterday in a desperate
attempt to cure the symptoms rather
than the root cause of the economic
crisis.
This will definitely not work, given that the last time the
zeroes were
removed, they came back with a vengeance barely three months
after the
monetary policy measures were taken.
In any case, it would
have been easier to remove either three zeroes, six
zeroes, nine zeroes or
12 zeroes to make the mathematics of the changeover
easier and better for
the public.
The latest measures, once again, will fall flat and will
cause serious
confusion among the public. The announcement that old coins
are coming back
into circulation will benefit people who do not have a
banking culture,
which will send a wrong signal to the market at a time when
confidence
building should be top priority to the central bank.
We
believe that any central bank should know the amount of money that is in
circulation and clearly, allowing people to scrounge for old money from
their drawers will make it impossible to know how much currency is on the
market. It could further push up inflation, which has now hit stratospheric
levels of over 10 million percent.
Moreover, the token increase of
withdrawal limits from $100 billion (now
$10) to $2 trillion (or $200) will
not bring any relief to the public at
time when that amount can hardly buy
you two bars of soap.
The performance of our mining and agricultural
sectors has significantly
declined. The monetary statement also paints a
gloomy picture of Zimbabwe’s
export performance. Exporters were retaining 65
percent of their proceeds
and selling 35 percent to the RBZ. The increase in
the RBZ share to 45
percent as announced yesterday will make it harder for
industry to operate
at a time when our expert performance needs to be
boosted for the good of
our economy.
The MDC believes that no amount
of tinkering with currency denominations
will address the Zimbabwean crisis.
As long as there is no production, we
will continue to move in circles as a
country. The supply side of the
economy should be addressed by confronting
Zimbabweans real crisis, which is
the crisis of governance and
legitimacy.
The dialogue currently taking place between the country’s
political players
is the best way forward as long as there is sincerity from
all the players.
Ordinary Zimbabweans have been brutalised, their houses
have been burnt.
Others have been killed.
They want to start
afresh.They want food, jobs, better education and health
care. They want the
outcome of the dialogue process to bring back their
dignity, which has been
lost because of many years of corruption and
patronage.
We must not
fail the nation.
Elton Mangoma is the MDC Secretary for Economic Affairs
and Member of
Parliament Elect for Makoni North
Afrique en ligne
Harare, Zimbabwe - With a virtually collapsed economy, the press in
Zimba
bwe this week focused on the central bank's monetary policy statement
delivered Wednesday in anticiation of a possible economic
salvation.
The press urged central bank governor Gideon Gono to confront,
with all
available force, the multi-faceted challenges facing the economy,
primarily
high inflati on and a collapsed currency.
It highlighted
the problems the public faced with daily price increases for
basic goods and
the difficulties related to shortage of cash in the banks,
made worse by
restrictions on cash withdrawals imposed by the central bank.
The press
also dwelt on transacting difficulties associated with the
mounting zeros on
the national currency, particularly among the less
educated.
The bank
introduced a Z$100 billion bank note a week earlier, in response to
ris ing
inflation.
The press urged the bank to slash the zeros to make life
easier for the
public to trade, a point which the central bank took into
account and
removed ten zeros on the Zimbabwe dollar.
Hailing the
move, the media said it would count for nothing if monetary and
fiscal
authorities did not introduce other belt-tightening measures to reign
in
inflation, among other economic ills.
It also focused on the start of
distribution of food hampers among the urban
poo r by the government in
response to rising poverty, a move that followed
the introduction of food
hampers for the rural folks, who have been
devastated by Zimbabwe's economic
melt-down.
Media views differed on the programme, with state-owned
newspapers praising
the move as helping to ease the pain of the urban poor,
while urging the
authorities to ensure tight security over distribution, to
avoid leakages to
the untargeted rich.
The private press, however,
saw the programme as a vindication of its
long-held view that the
authorities were bankrupt of ideas to turn around
the economy.
"How
do you distribute food hampers to the whole country?" was the most
common
question asked by the private press, wondering "How sustainable is
this?"
Harare - 02/08/2008
Pana
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=58147
Saturday , 02 August
2008
Zimbabwe's independent media say it is in no one's
interests for crucial
talks to take place out of the public eye.
By
Jabu Shoko in Harare (ZCR No. 157, 30-Jul-08)
Journalists in Zimbabwe are
seething with anger at a blanket ban on
negotiators talking to the media
while talks are under way between President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
MDC.
The talks, scheduled
to last a fortnight, opened in Pretoria, South Africa
on July 24, but the
memorandum of understanding signed three days earlier
made it clear the
dialogue was to remain confidential.
Clause 8 of the document says
specifically states that as long as the talks
are going on, neither side
should "directly or indirectly communicate the
substance of the discussion"
to the media, nor should they use the media as
a negotiating
platform.
Media representatives who spoke to IWPR complained that this
provision was
tantamount to stifling freedom of expression, as well as
denying Zimbabweans
the right to information about a process that could
decide their future.
Iden Wetherell, chairman of the Zimbabwe National
Editors' Forum, said
denying reporters access to information about the talks
was "unhealthy and
unacceptable".
"There should be intense debate in
the media around the issues contained on
the MoU," he said. "The MoU has
been made public, so as editors we believe
it should be debated in public.
There should be frequent briefings on what
is going on behind closed doors.
The public have a right to comment on it
and on other
issues."
Wetherell said the editors' forum believed reporters should not
be shut out,
especially since the agenda for the talks suggested that a new
government
look at media as a priority issue. Current legislation covering
media and
communications is restrictive so any change will be a matter of
interest to
journalists themselves.
"The media has legitimate
concerns, for instance the tough media laws and
the issue of the public
media, which has a duty to inform the nation but
abuses it. Currently the
public media parrots only the voice of the
incumbent," he
said.
Foster Dongozi, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists, ZUJ,
agreed, saying, "The media is being denied access to
information. It is
totally unacceptable. We will not be able to know what
they are plotting
about our future as journalists and the
media."
During negotiations late last year, the MDC and ZANU-PF agreed
amendments
slightly softening the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act -
a tough law used to restrict media rights since 2001. But as
Dongozi said,
there was no consultation with media stakeholders when the
parties agreed
this deal.
In the current round of talks, he said, "We
need to know what's going on,
especially if there are discussions on media
law reform."
In 2003, the information and privacy law was used to close
down the popular
Daily News and its sister paper The Daily News on Sunday,
The Tribune and
The Weekly Times.
The closure of these newspapers
dealt a severe blow to the MDC, which is
covered unfavourably in the
state-owned newspapers and the public Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation. The
Broadcasting Services Act has allowed
government to perpetuate the monopoly
enjoyed by ZBC, an institution the
opposition accuses of naked
bias.
Loughty Dube, who heads the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute
of
Southern Africa, a regional watchdog, welcomed the signing of the MoU but
insisted that negotiators should ensure the "transitional process" enjoyed
public confidence.
"This can only be achieved in an environment that
immediately allows
citizens to enjoy their fundamental right to freedom of
expression,
association, assembly, access to information and media freedom,"
said Dube.
Citing the need to end harassment, arrest and assaults against
journalists,
to repeal repressive laws and to allow unrestricted reporting
in Zimbabwe,
Dube said media freedom must in future be enshrined in a new
constitution.
Despite attempts to starve them of infomation, journalists
working for
independent media in Zimbabwe look set to continue reporting on
the talks
process as best they can.
"The parties to the negotiations
want to turn journalists and the media into
fiction writers," said Nelson
Chenga, a journalist with the privately owned
Financial Gazette "Naturally
we will speculate due to the gravity of the
talks, which is a historic event
that holds the key to the Zimbabwe crisis."
According to Wetherall,
"Nothing should be hidden from the public. The media
have a duty to inform
the population of what is happening behind those
closed doors in
Pretoria.
Attempting to silence the media, he said, would merely
encourage
"disinformation, half-truths and speculation, which is not very
helpful at
all".
Jabu Shoko is the pseudonym of a reporter in
Zimbabwe.
August 02, 2008
http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2416159.0.0.php
REALPOLITIK: Trevor Royle
YOU CAN KNOCK ANY AMOUNT of
noughts off a nation's banknotes, butreadjusting thefigures won't get rid of the
basic problem. When Zimbabwe's head banking
honcho Gideon Gono announced
that every 10 billion zimdollar note would be
revalued at one zimdollar, he
was acting with the best of intentions.Hyper-inflationhas made a nonsense of the
nation's economy and it was patently absurd to
print more supplies of the
new $100 billion banknotes now that they can be
revalued at 10 zimdollars
and everyone can have lighter wallets.
It's not a new idea and it can
only offer a sticking plaster to a gaping
wound. Weimar Germany tried the
same ploy when its economy spun out of
control in the 1920s but it hardly
helped matters and left a situation which
the Nazis were later to exploit.
With inflation running at 2.2 million per
cent in Zimbabwe it's unlikely if
Gono's intervention will do very much
better. What is needed is an immediate
political solution to the impasse
which has bedevilled the country since the
elections earlier this year.
Tomorrow will see the first deadline in the
power-sharing talks between
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) but even if it comes and
goes, as well it might,
hopes are still reasonably high that some kind of
accommodation can be
found. In the past any hint of stalling would have sent
the talks into
freefall, but now there seems to be a new willingness to
compromise. It's
not impossible that the vexed question of leadership roles
will finally be
solved, thus opening the door to a workable power-sharing
arrangement.
advertisement
That much became clear last week when
Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade
acted as an intermediary, thereby taking
the talks beyond the southern
African nexus which has largely been run by
President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa. Asked if the west African leader's
intervention was a snub to the
main mediator, Tsvangirai responded with a
quick denial, adding that it was
simply a case of the more the merrier. I
don't think he was being diplomatic
or merely offering a soundbite; he was
just being realistic.
For the first time in many a long year there's a
real possibility that an
African solution will be found to this hitherto
intractable African problem.
All along that has been the key. While it is
true to say that Mbeki's "quiet
diplomacy" has been canny to the point of
inaudibility, he should be
applauded for his persistence in encouraging
Mugabe and Tsvangirai to put
their names to the accord that led to this
weekend's final push. The silence
from the West has also been
helpful.
As ever in dealing with post- colonial problems, it is useful to
try to see
the issue from the other side's point of view. Mugabe might
over-egg the
pudding when he blames all his country's woes on what went
wrong during the
Rhodesian period, but there are still lingering suspicions
that Britain has
to accept some of the blame for what happened in 1980 when
Zimbabwe came
into being.
Not only did Britain back the wrong horse
in Mugabe, but the land issue was
never resolved satisfactorily. The first
blunder led indirectly to the
demise of Mugabe's rival, Joshua Nkomo, and
then to the massacre of
thousands of his supporters in Matabeleland; the
second paved the way for
the illegal land grabs of the past few years.
Throughout that period Western
critics argued that as the white-owned farms
generated most of the country's
income they should be protected, but it was
not the whole story. Yes, the
white farmers were excellent at working the
land and it's undoubtedly true
that they helped make Zimbabwe southern
Africa's breadbasket, but there is
no gainsaying that the wealth came at a
cost to social cohesion.
Under the terms of the Lancaster House Agreement
of 1979, legislation was
enacted to allow land to be sold on the "willing
seller, willing buyer"
principle, but the funds were insufficient and most
land reform went by the
board. There was much dragging of feet, with the
result that Mugabe used
land as a weapon and Zimbabwe quickly went to hell
on a handcart. Farms that
were once productive fell into disuse as land
passed into the hands of
Mugabe's cronies, who in turn became just another
elite.
Complaints from the West were dismissed as post-colonial rants and
even
those Zimbabweans who did not like Mugabe bridled when they heard him
being
attacked. In the next few days we'll know if he is capable of changing
his
tune and working with Tsvangirai. Threatening sanctions hasn't helped
matters but simply made things worse.
If there is any hint of a
workable solution, the best thing would be for
London and Washington to put
their weight behind it. It will be a darned
sight better than removing
another fistful of zeroes.
http://zimbabwemetro.com/financial-news/job-sikhala-showers-gono-with-praise/
By Roy Chinamano ⋅ © zimbabwemetro.com ⋅
August 2, 2008
Losing St Marys MP Job Sikhala showered Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono
with praise and is reported to have hailed the monetary reforms
announced by
Gono, ZTV’s Newsnet reported last night. Read the ZTV story
here.
The controversial former MDC legislator who is also MDC
(Mutambara)’s
Secretary for defence and Security is quoted saying,MDC and
ZANU should set
aside their differences and work towards finding a lasting
solution to the
challenges facing the nation.
The MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai together with other respected Economic
analyists have already
dismissed Gono ’s monetary policy
“The MDC believes that no amount of
tinkering with currency denominations
will address the Zimbabwean crisis,”
the party’s secretary for economic
affairs Elton Mangoma, MDC-Makoni East.,
said in a statement.
“As long as there is no production, we will continue
to move in circles as a
country.”
Sikhala together with three
Mutambara faction MPs in the capital lost their
re-election bids in
March,the rest are Trudy Stevenson(Harare North), Edwin
Mushoriwa
(Dzivarasekwa)and Priscilla Misihayirambwi Mushonga(Glen Norah)
who is
representing the faction in talks in South Africa.
Sikhala who
represented the impoverished St Marys constituency is a former
student
leader he lost to another student leader Marvellous Khumalo.