• The prosecution of presidents
• Attempt to free Harare Three
• Zimbabwe a case of no money to print money
• MDC Weekly Briefing Note
• MDC sets agenda for talks
• Talks meaningless if ZANU PF doesn’t change
• Ignoring internal refugees short-sighted
• Time to tighten screws on Mugabe – top SA unionist
• Health system in intensive care unit
• Foreign tourists shun Great Zimbabwe
• ZESA officials warned management of disaster
• ZANU PF stepping up violent campaign: MDC
• High Commission installs water pumps in Manicaland
• Everyone blames someone for worsening crisis
• Zimbabwe opposition trims anti-Mugabe stance
• Musicians face exile for Mugabe attacks
• JAG Legal Communique
• JAG PR Communique
• The Grey Zone
• JAG Open Letters Forum No. 125

How far are heads of state responsible for widespread corruption under them?
"They are totally responsible," Lewis says. The tone and attitude about
corruption start at the very top, in the first hour they are sworn in.

"There is a legal, prosecutorial standard, the famous line about the abuse
of power during Watergate in the US: What did they know and when did they
know it," he says. "But there is a moral and political standard that is less
literal. With the first whiff of corruption, did the leader act decisively
to cleanse the situation? Inaction and silence speak volumes."

The establishment of the Scorpions unit five years ago has thrown public and
private sector corruption into the spotlight, with the netting of leading
political figures like African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni and
MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. That they have been successfully prosecuted is
symbolic of an ability to deal with corruption. The looming case against
Zuma sets a new milestone.

Says Eigen: "A head of state or government must demonstrate the political
will to fight corruption, but success requires a broad base of support and
engagement. For instance, in Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo is
fiercely committed to fighting corruption, but he cannot achieve that on his
own. He needs the engagement of the political parties, the civil service and
ordinary Nigerians."

Of the 10 countries seen as the most corrupt in the Transparency
International index of last year, half are in Africa. Taking the worst
first, they are Bangladesh, Nigeria, Paraguay, Madagascar, Angola, Kenya,
Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Uganda, Moldova. But few African presidents have been
prosecuted. Are corrupt presidents more likely to escape in Africa?

"The widespread corruption of the regime of Sani Abacha in Nigeria or Daniel
Arap Moi in Kenya is widely recognised, but corruption has been so
pernicious in both countries that it would be wrong to focus on the heads of
state alone," says Eigen.

Or on Africa alone. France and Germany have seen a president and a former
chancellor investigated for corruption: Jacques Chirac for his involvement
in the Elf scandal and for funding for his election when he was mayor of
Paris, and Helmut Köhl for unlawful political donations.

"Democracy without accountability is not much of a democracy at all," says
Lewis. "The sad truth is that the most powerful, venal interests relatively
easily manipulate whomever is in power, whether ... a repressive
dictatorship or a democracy."

Many former presidents, like Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet, at
least face accusations now instead of dying of old age or retiring at some
beach resort on stolen billions.

"It is an encouraging sign to me," says Lewis. "But the world still has far
too much pervasive corruption that is never prosecuted." - IPS

Miren Gutiérrez is editor-in-chief of the Inter Press Service. Additional
reporting by Ferial Haffajee.

Cape Town - Western Cape premier, Marthinus van Schalkwyk at the weekend
launched a renewed attempt to place the release of the Harare Three - Kevin
Woods, Philip Conjwayo and Michael Smith - on the agenda.

The three former agents of the then South African Defence Force have been
held in the Chrikurubi prison in Harare for the past 16 years for the death
of a Zimbabwean citizen in an attack on an African National Congress house
in Bulawayo.

Van Schalkwyk, who referred to the three as "the forgotten soldiers from our
history", visited Woods in prison on Friday.

He said their case deserved to remain on the political agenda, because "the
cases of all the others involved have been finalised - irrespective of which
side they were on.

"They appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and received
amnesty. People such as Robert Mcbride, who planted the bomb at Magoo's Bar,
these days have high positions in the civil service; Barend Strydom, who
shot and killed people on the streets of Pretoria, is a free man; and there
are others."

Van Schalkwyk said "the first prize would be their release, the second that
they could be transferred to a South African prison where Woods (who is
suffering from a heart condition) could receive the necessary medical
treatment".

He stressed that this wasn't an anti-Mugabe or anti-Zimbabwe drive. "We have
had excellent co-operation from the Zimbabwean department of foreign
affairs, as well as from our own department of foreign affairs and our high
commissioner in Harare."

A visit of more than 30 minutes was granted and Woods was allowed to inform
his colleagues of the details afterwards.

Woods was also given messages and parcels from friends and families.

Zimbabwe a case of no money to print money

By Chege Mbitiru

It’s a truism that official currency indicates the pulse rate of a nation’s
top political pump and its effort to flush out clots from the national blood
stream. Hopefully, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s national number one
pump isn’t about to knock. Last week there were a few, as Mr Mugabe would
gloat, unruly and disgruntled elements out to discredit his long struggle to
eject white domination from his country. The disgruntled lot, he would say,
were very busy trying to undermine his wise leadership.

Usually when a currency doesn’t buy what it should, which happens now and
then, governments - largely made of individuals wallowing in egoism - come
along. They resort to measures that would drive to the verge of suicide
serious first-year university students of economics. A favourite move is to
order central banks to retrieve old notes, which should have been shredded
because they were filthy, illegible and carriers of germs but were saved for
some nebulous national good. When the notes are depleted, central bank
governors, or rather centrally glorified clerks, get orders from above to
print more notes and mint coins of varied sizes and billions-worth tin foil.
Citizens then need wheelbarrows, if they had any in the first place, to
carry money to buy a loaf of bread. That’s assuming the baker had a truck to
carry the money to the miller, the miller more trucks to get the money to
the farmers and the latter donkeys, bullocks and, in Africa, many wives and
children to clear the land, plant and tend the crop. Again that’s if the
land and all on it hadn’t been grabbed overnight on orders from above. No
wheat. No bread. No maize. No ugali. No fufu. No sukumawiki. The list is
endless.

Zimbabwe, under Mr Mugabe’s 23-year-old leadership, has added an interesting
twist to that old story: The government isn’t saying print more notes or
mint more coins. That’s why last week there were very unhappy people in
Zimbabwe. Some of them broke a few things in and around banks. Figures
showed these people had money in banks. The banks had precious little. It
takes production to produce money and manufacture currency. It appears the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe can’t print or mint even fake notes and coins. That
’s worse than being bankrupt. That’s not all. According to the Financial
Gazette of Harare, the country’s external debt arrears stand at $1.6
billion. A young Zimbabwean couple, white or black, with some saleable
knowledge or muscle, won’t hang around watching Ian Douglas Smith snigger,
probably saying: "I told you these ....... won’t amount to nothing.''
Anyway, who would want their great great-grandchildren to pay debts incurred
when they themselves went to jail, if lucky, for saying: Please, Sir. I want
some more and there is plenty on your and your friends’ tables? Mr Mugabe
said he was fighting to ensure that wouldn’t happen again. It’s happening
and, like they say in any navy: During his watch.

In all fairness, Mr Mugabe’s credentials as a nationalist are beyond
reproach. Personal sacrifices, at least those publicly known, are
gargantuan. Like all mortals, Mr Mugabe seems to have forgotten that it isn’
t worth a dollar, even a Zimbabwean one, to expect to see fruits of the good
things one does in his or her lifetime. Egoists are lucky to be historical
commas. In May this year, Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president, defended Mr
Mugabe. Mr Mbeki went through Africa’s liberation route. Compared with
Mugabe’s trek, Mr Mbeki’s was a vanilla ice cream sort of thing. So Mr
Mbeki, dutifully respectful of Mzee, can only wish away the 79-year-old
biltong. Mr Mbeki explained why Mr Mugabe isn’t to blame for all Zimbabwe’s
problems. There was a rider. Mr Mbeki said, referring to Zimbabwe, that "the
state will have to emphasise law and order". Mr Mugabe would say: The state
is Me. That is guerrilla mentality at State House. Mr Mugabe has a string of
university degrees, most obtained while he was in jail. He isn’t stupid. But
university degrees and AK47s don’t necessarily amount to common sense. A lot
of people are telling Mr Mugabe and his opponent, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai: Have
a little talk. It might help if the two had a cup or glass of their
favourite liquids. Who knows, it might be useful if after that, they might
pay Mr Smith a visit. He knows something about ignominiously keeping a
country under siege going.

Mr Mbitiru, a freelance journalist, is a former 'Sunday Nation' Managing
editor

      An MDC High Court challenge of Mugabe’s March 2002 re-election will,
however, go ahead.

      The MDC last Friday handed in submissions requested by church leaders
who are pressing for the resumption of dialogue between Zimbabwe’s main
political parties. The church leaders have separately held meetings with
both Mugabe and MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai in the past two weeks.

      "It is the MDC’s view that the current crisis in the country is
multi-faceted and has political, economic, social and humanitarian aspects
to it," the opposition party said in its submission, titled MDC Issues for
Dialogue Between MDC and ZANU PF Presented to Zimbabwean Church Leaders.

      "However, at the core of the crisis are issues of governance and the
people’s freedoms and liberties to determine their destiny through free,
fair and open elections. We need to return to a situation where we can hold
elections whose results are not contested (and) are palpably

      a reflection of the will of the people."

      To promote such an environment, the MDC is insisting on:

      - restoration of political liberties;

      - cessation of all political prosecutions;

      - restoration of economic stability;

      - stopping torture;

      - depoliticisation of food relief and general provision of state
services;

      - establishment of a fair, just and equitable electoral framework;

      - restoration of law and order;

      - restoring Zimbabwe into the comity of nations;

      -constitutional reform; and

      - food security.

      According to the submissions, the restoration of political liberties
should involve the restoration of freedoms of association, assembly,
movement, demonstration, expression or speech, as well as the end of all
forms of political violence "against persons and property".

      Ruling ZANU PF militia should be disbanded and war veterans restored
to a civilian role, while repressive legislation should be repealed and the
public media must abandon its partisan stance.

      The opposition party, several of whose officials are being prosecuted
on various charges, also said all political prisoners must be released and
political arrests and detention must cease.

      Tsvangirai, MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube and the party’s
shadow agriculture minister Renson Gasela are facing treason charges for
allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe in the run-up to last year’s
presidential election.

      On the issue of constitutional reform, the MDC says: "A programme for
comprehensive constitutional reform is necessary and must be agreed upon so
as to remove one of the major sources of political instability and
contestation in the country.

      "Such constitutional reform should guide us in returning to full
political legitimacy."

      Sources in the MDC said there was consensus within the party to chart
the course of the talks beyond Mugabe and push an agenda that should lead to
fresh elections in the "immediate short-term", thereby avoiding dealing
directly with the issue of Mugabe’s legitimacy.

      The opposition party has disputed Mugabe’s legitimacy, saying he won
re-election last year using unorthodox means.

      Mugabe, in turn, has in the past insisted that the MDC must recognise
his legitimacy before the resumption of talks that stalled last year when
the opposition party filed its court challenge of the 2002 presidential
election. Analysts said by not giving prominence the issue of Mugabe’s
legitimacy, the opposition party’s submission could contribute to a
breakthrough in the political impasse that has adversely affected an
embattled Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, ZANU PF is expected to soon give its own
submission to the church leaders, but ruling party officials say a split in
the leadership on how to proceed could delay the hand-over. ZANU PF insiders
say there is division over how to respond to the churches’ initiative and
also on how to manage Mugabe’s exit from active politics. Some senior party
officials are said to favour a pact with the MDC to immediately push for
constitutional amendments, while others prefer a prolonged exit that would
coincide with the 2005 parliamentary elections. Party insiders said factions
within ZANU PF were jostling to manage the dialogue process, with confusion
over which official forum should be tasked with brokering the proposed
talks. According to sources, ZANU PF hawks led by Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa prefer direct contact with the MDC, without churches acting as
mediators. On the other hand, the party’s national chairman, John Nkomo, and
information and publicity secretary Nathan Shamuyarira are said to prefer
the church route. Father Fidelis Mukonori, who is close to Mugabe and is one
of his spiritual advisers, is said to have been involved in a separate
mission under which he has held three meetings with Tsvangirai aimed at
bringing the two leaders to the negotiating table. The sources said the role
of South Africa, which has also been working to revive the stalled dialogue,
is now hazy. But sources said the South African government, through its High
Commissioner in Harare, Jeremiah Ndou, had been involved in shuttle
diplomacy between ZANU PF and the MDC. Its point men, the sources added,
have been Chinamasa in ZANU PF and the MDC’s Ncube, who were leaders of the
teams involved in initial talks last year. By Sydney Masamvu Assistant
Editor

      I beg to differ with this kind of thinking. Mere co-operation between
them without a change of heart on the part of the party in power will not
change much.

      To put things right in this country, it does not really require a
meeting between ZANU PF and the MDC, but doing things differently on the
part of those in power.

      Talks will not necessarily stop violence, a partisan judicial system,
selective justice, a partisan police force, a flawed electoral system,
politically-inspired decision-making, wastefulness, corruption, cronyism,
ineptitude or dismantle a vicious propaganda machinery.

      But ZANU PF can.

      The MDC was not there when we invaded the Democratic Republic of
Congo. It was not there when farms were invaded in the name of agrarian
reform, or when we squeezed an unbudgeted $5 billion to pay compensation to
restless war vets. These are the very things that have brought our country
to its knees and caused the formation of MDC in the first place.

      To correct these maladies, it only requires ZANU PF – and ZANU PF
alone – doing things differently, unless we are saying ZANU PF can come to
its senses only in the presence of the MDC.

      This is nonsensical. If they cannot change themselves, for goodness
sake they must get out!

      It stands to reason then that with or without the MDC, this country
can come around, but it requires a realisation by ZANU PF that there is a
need to change its ways. If the ruling party begins today to say and act
correctly, things will start to change.

      If President Robert Mugabe starts to look at things squarely and not
scapegoat every unwholesome development to the MDC and foreigners, Zimbabwe
will come back to life.

      Job Munyai (Jnr)

      Harare

      A document prepared by the Norwegian Refugee Council, which we
reported last Wednesday, notes that a large number of people have been
internally displaced in Zimbabwe in the past three years.

      The internal refugees have been forced out of their homes by political
violence, the seizure of white-owned land by government supporters and the
country’s worsening economic crisis.

      Forced to leave gainful employment and the support of their
communities at a time Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages and its worst
economic crisis in 23 years, most internal refugees are destitute and are
unable to gain access to humanitarian assistance.

      Although several local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are
attempting to avert a serious humanitarian crisis by assisting whatever
internal refugees they can, it is worrying that the government, and indeed
ordinary Zimbabweans, have remained silent about the situation.

      And it is not as if they are ignorant about the crisis.

      There are few families that have not had to take in relatives who have
fled the chaos on former commercial farms taken over by ruling ZANU PF
supporters or politically motivated violence in the rural areas.

      Every day, Zimbabweans are confronted by the growing number of
so-called "street people", many of them internally displaced people who have
fled to urban and peri-urban areas to escape violence and starvation.

      We fully appreciate that in the past three years, most Zimbabweans
have become focused on bread and butter issues in an increasingly harsh
environment of food insecurity, soaring inflation and falling living
standards.

      But we hope it is apparent to the citizens of this nation that it is
in their best interests to demand an urgent and sustainable resolution to
the internal refugee crisis, whose consequences could be devastating to the
entire country.

      First and most importantly, the government and humanitarian agencies
should undertake an urgent survey to determine the number of internally
displaced people in Zimbabwe.

      According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, by the end of 2002, it was
estimated that more than 100 000 people were internally displaced in
Zimbabwe. The number is likely to have risen significantly by now.

      An assessment of the situation will make it easier to determine the
humanitarian needs of internal refugees, many of who have not benefited from
food aid programmes because humanitarian agencies are unaware of them.

      It is also important that the government and NGOs work together to
find long-term solutions to the problem, including re-integrating the
internal refugees into society and ensuring that they can fend for
themselves again.

      This will not be possible if the government does not acknowledge and
put to an end the violence perpetrated by its supporters.

      The consequences of failing to adequately resolve the internal refugee
crisis should be obvious to most observers.

      Already, there is a large population of people who are living on the
fringes of the main society, a group of people with no prospects and who are
forced to scavenge like animals through trash cans for discarded, left-over
food.

      It would be naive to ignore the feelings of anger, resentment and
hostility that could be growing in these people towards those they perceive
to be better off than themselves.

      It should worry all Zimbabweans that these people have nothing to lose
and everything to gain.

      It is only a matter of time before the destitutes we ignore on the
streets every day abandon their pitiful begging and take by force what they
need to survive. This can only be a recipe for chaos and anarchy.

      But we will only have ourselves to blame if we do not act swiftly
enough to avert such a disastrous situation.

      Western Cape regional secretary Tony Ehrenreich also said South
African President Thabo Mbeki’s silent diplomacy on Zimbabwe must end.

      According to South Africa’s News24, Ehrenreich on Friday held talks
with leaders of the Zimbabwean trade union movement and indicated that it
was time for Mugabe to step down.

      He is quoted as saying: "Robert Mugabe himself is a man whose time has
come; he must leave politics. If you are using the machinery of state to
defend your own position then you are no longer driven by the best interests
of your people.

      "While many of us understand the battle against colonialism, what is
unfolding in Zimbabwe now is having a more negative effect . . . 350 000
workers have been displaced on farms. We want to make calls on the South
African government to start applying pressure on the Zimbabwe government."

      He added: "We sell fuel and a number of materials to Zimbabwe; we must
start applying pressure. Sanctions was a tool used to end apartheid (in
South Africa), it must be used to end other unjust forms of rule (in
Zimbabwe)."

      Officials of Zimbabwe’s government and ruling ZANU PF have already
been slapped with smart sanctions by the European Union, the United States
of America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

      Analysts say Mugabe’s government, which is blamed for Zimbabwe’s worst
economic crisis in 23 years, has managed to hold on to power partly because
of the continuing solidarity of South Africa and other countries on the
continent.

      Neighbouring countries have, for instance, continued to supply
electricity to Zimbabwe even though the country is in arrears that it is
struggling to settle because of severe foreign currency shortages.

      Referring to Mbeki’s silent diplomacy, Ehrenreich said: "The time for
quiet diplomacy in the face of human rights abuses is past. We can’t be
quiet when women are raped and men of the country are being killed."

      Lovemore Matombo, president of Zimbabwe’s labour watchdog, the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), told the Daily News yesterday that
he and ZCTU vice-president Lucia Matibenga had met COSATU officials last
Friday to seek solidarity.

      "I went to South Africa to sensitise COSATU and other labour unions on
the Zimbabwean problems with regard to the basic commodities. I told my
counterparts that something had to be done to cushion workers against these
harsh economic conditions and they were very supportive," he said.

      Among the problems facing workers are severe food shortages,
escalating prices that are driven by soaring inflation and a serious cash
crisis.

      The ZCTU has given the government 14 days to resolve the cash crisis
or face unspecified action from workers. The labour watchdog is also
demanding fresh free and fair elections and a constitution that protects
workers’ interests.

      Matombo would not indicate what action workers might take if the ZCTU’
s demands were not met, saying: "The general council will meet and decide on
what actions to take if the situation does not improve."

      He said workers should be apolitical in their response to Zimbabwe’s
economic crisis and the problems resulting from the crisis.

      "The cash crisis cuts across political boundaries, every person from
top to bottom will have to take heed to our call for action," he said.

      "I, therefore, urge workers in the MDC and ZANU PF to join hands with
ZCTU for a process of transformation with economic plans which are socially
responsible in mind."

      Matombo added that his organisation, an ally of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), supported proposed talks between the
country’s main political parties and said they should lead to a political
and economic transformation.

      Zimbabwean churches are mediating between the MDC and ZANU PF to
encourage the resumption of dialogue between the two parties, which analysts
say could be the first step in breaking the political impasse in the
country.

      "The talks should lead to the transformation of Zimbabwe and ZANU PF’s
neo-liberal economic policies should not be followed," he said. Staff
Reporter

      Outside visiting hours, the relatives of the patients wander the
grounds. Many spend all day at the hospital, simply because they cannot
afford the bus fare to make more than one journey. Chido Rugare is typical
of those whiling away the time before she can again visit her sick daughter,
Maria, in the ward.

      A round-trip bus ride from her home in the high-density suburb of
Mufakose is far too expensive, so each day she walks the 17 km to be with
her daughter. Maria has meningitis and can no longer look after herself
unassisted.

      "Every day, I have to prepare food from home and come and feed my
daughter. I also have to bath her, since she can longer do that on her own,"
said Rugare.

      What she also cannot do is afford the $257 000 worth of drugs
prescribed by the doctors.

      Zimbabwe has entered its fifth successive year of economic decline,
which has whittled away the ability of households to make ends meet. The
country faces critical shortages of foreign exchange, inflation has reached
364 percent and is forecast to hit over 500 percent by the end of the year.

      Five million Zimbabweans, more than half of the population, are in
need of food aid. Even if Rugare could afford the drugs her daughter needs,
there is no guarantee they would be available in the poorly-stocked hospital
pharmacy.

      Harare Central is where the city’s poor, who cannot afford health
insurance, are forced to come. Within its morale-sapping walls, there seems
to be more dying than curing. The high death rate is linked in part to AIDS.

      Recent estimates indicate that around 34 percent of Zimbabwe’s 15 to
40 age group is HIV-positive, and more than 2 500 people die every week of
AIDS-related causes. Poverty and poor nutrition accelerate the process.

      "Most of our beds are occupied by people suffering from AIDS. In the
children’s wards, there are children who are suffering from kwashiorkor,"
said a senior matron who asked not to be named. She noted that most of the
children with kwashiorkor are from Mbare and Epworth, the poorest suburbs of
the capital.

      The morgue at Harare Central receives the daily toll of the dead. It
is overflowing and the stench is inescapable.

      "The refrigerators sometimes do not work and they also have no
capacity to keep the bodies well," said an attendant who declined to be
identified.

      "We no longer go inside there. If you bring your relative, you have to
find somewhere to put them yourself, or we will charge you if you want us to
do that," he added, leaning on the wall outside the morgue as he ate his
lunch.

      The morgue is also a place of business for a number of undertakers who
hang around waiting for clients. When relatives come to claim the body of
their deceased, they are immediately propositioned with offers of cheap
coffins, body dressings and transport.

      Harare Central, like most other health institutions in the country, is
in dire need of medicines, equipment and medical supplies. In addition,
there is a serious shortage of professional staff, from nurses and doctors
to pharmacists.

      Nurses at the hospital complain that their working conditions are
deteriorating. Apart from salary disputes causing walk-outs, the nurses say
they are fed up with seeing their patients die as a result of the shortages.

      "Almost on a daily basis we lose at least three babies in our ward,"
said nurse Maude Chitambo. "Sometimes we work without gloves, sometimes
there are no drugs for patients and food is rationed. When we see patients
dying, this affects us as well. Most of the time there is only one qualified
nurse for each ward and the rest will be students. When we face emergencies,
students sometimes have to take over duties normally done by qualified
staff," she explained.

      Almost half the nurses trained in Zimbabwe are lost annually to better
paying jobs in South Africa, Britain, Australia and the United States.
Harare Central and Parirenyatwa, the country’s two biggest hospitals, share
a single neurologist and other specialised staff.

      The problems at the health institution seem to affect all departments.
In the laundry room, the steam cleaners had not been working for a week.

      "The laundry is just piling and now relatives have been asked to bring
clothes from home," a matron said.

      Heaps of rubbish mount up around the hospital. To cut costs, the
hospital retrenched a number of cleaning staff and hired a private company,
but the company’s workers often strike. Last month, junior doctors were
again on a work stoppage. Their demand, like the nurses’, was that their
conditions must be improved. Zimbabwe’s Parliament has acknowledged the
impact of staff shortages at the country’s health centres. But Health
Minister David Parirenyatwa has argued that the country’s economic crisis
makes it difficult for the government to invest in health. He concedes that
the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future, and the haemorrhage
of skilled staff abroad will continue. – IRIN

      He told the Daily News that the number of foreign tourists who visited
the area between April and June this year had fallen from 3 586 during the
same period last year.

      Mumpande said: "The number of tourists visiting Masvingo has fallen.
It is during this period that we normally expect tourists to flock into the
country, but the situation is different."

      Tourism industry operators attribute the drop in foreign tourist
arrivals to the image of Zimbabwe as an unsafe tourist destination, which
has prevailed for the past three years.

      Foreign tourist arrivals are said to have fallen by more than 50
percent since ruling ZANU PF supporters began occupying white-owned farms in
2000, an exercise that was accompanied by sporadic violence.

      Political violence over the same period has also contributed to
keeping foreign tourists away, with many of them now opting to visit
Zimbabwe’s neighbours, which are seen as more stable.

      The decline in tourist arrivals has adversely affected tourism
operators, who have recorded a slump in earnings at a time they are
grappling with severe fuel shortages and inflation-driven rising operating
costs.

      Several tourism companies have also closed down because they were no
longer viable.

      In Masvingo, the drop in the number of foreign tourists has hit hard
on a once-thriving sculpture industry.

      A large number of people were relying for their income on the sale –
mostly to foreign tourists – of stone and wood carvings, which they sold to
tourists from South Africa and as far afield as the United States of
America.

      But the industry has been operating at below capacity for the past
three years.

      A Masvingo sculptor, Addwell Nhongo, told the Daily News: "Businesses
has gone down as tourists rarely visit craft centres these days. We used to
get over 90 percent of our revenue from foreign tourists."

      He said it was necessary for local sculptors to vigorously market
themselves to remain in business.

      "We just have to market ourselves in order to revert back to the old
days", said Nhongo.

      Masvingo Executive Mayor Alois Chaimiti added: "Masvingo city should
be a shopping window for tourists. We should market our city and the
monuments and in the long-run, we will get investors.

      "It is regrettable that both the tourism and sculpture industry are on
the verge of collapse. However, it is never too late. I think we have to do
something to keep the two industries afloat."

      But David Kite, a foreign tourist who recently visited the Great
Zimbabwe monument, pointed out that continued lawlessness, human rights
abuses and political violence would continue to keep foreign tourists away
from Zimbabwe.

      "No one wants to risk his life," said Kite. "We have read about
violence, torture and lawlessness in the country and the selective
application of the law.

      "I was supposed to come with my family but decided otherwise because I
knew my family would not be safe in the country."

   By Own Correspondent

      Sources at the central stores told the Daily News that the division’s
administrator, Wellington Kazuva, had written several memos to ZESA
management between April and June, indicating his concerns about security at
the Ardbennie premises.

      Kazuva would yesterday neither confirm nor deny that he had written
the memos, saying: "I am not allowed to speak to the papers to give comments
like that."

      But ZESA insiders said there had been no positive response to the
memos, which were primarily requesting additional staff to maintain and
provide security at the site on which the central stores are located.

      "All that they did was to respond with a memorandum from the salaries
department questioning Kazuva’s demands for additional manpower," an
official at the ZESA central stores told the Daily News.

      "What he was simply saying was that additional manpower was required
to boost the security of the area."

      The official said the national power utility’s central stores had 22
employees, including 12 casual labourers, who were responsible for
maintaining equipment valued at around $16 billion.

      The source said up to 80 full-time workers were needed in the area,
but nearly 60 people had in fact been sacked since January under unclear
circumstances.

      "There is need to maintain the grass cut to the ground," the source
said. "There was also supposed to be a security guard manning the main
entrance to the ZESA service station, but there was none for too long.

      "When these people outside our southern wall started their fire, which
sneaked through the main gate, there was no one to raise the alarm and
everything went wrong," the official added.

      When this reporter toured the scene of Saturday’s fire yesterday,
there was tall grass growing both inside and outside the wall that surrounds
the ZESA central stores.

      ZESA officials have denied that negligence by management could have
contributed to the damage on Saturday.

      ZESA spokesman Shepherd Mandizvidza yesterday said the power utility’s
risk control division had launched investigations to establish the causes of
the blaze and a report was expected today.

      He said: "Following the inferno which gutted ZESA equipment, the power
utility, together with other arms of security, have started investigations
to ascertain the cause of the fire.

      "However, since the investigations are underway, it is not feasible to
confirm any conclusive evidence pointing to the cause of the destruction."

      Eyewitnesses said the fire was allegedly started by a woman who was
preparing her land for planting outside the central stores’ southern wall.
The woman is reported to have been digging along the wall and decided to
clear the tall grass by setting it on fire.

      Because of the strong winds prevailing on Saturday, the fire sneaked
through the sliding gate to the central stores garage, setting the interior
grass alight and raging beyond control.

      An eyewitness to Saturday’s fire told the Daily News yesterday that
for some time, there had been no security guard to man the gate to the
garage.

      The eyewitness said: "This fire was first seen by people at the front
entrance, who raised an alarm to the yard to inform superiors about the
impending danger."

      By the time someone went to raise the alarm, the fire was already
burning down the grass around the copper and aluminium cables.

      "By the time some ZESA employees arrived to try and put out the fire,
it was too late as the dry grass made it difficult to control the blaze,"
the eyewitness added. The Harare Fire Brigade struggled with the fire until
about 3 am yesterday. "There is no fire guard to protect this equipment
inside or outside the walls," the eyewitness said. "If there was a fire
guard, the fire would not have caused this extensive damage." Sources said
among the equipment destroyed were about 40 stacks of 33 KVa treated gum
cross-arms (poles). Each was stacked with 100 poles worth about $50 000
each, bringing the total to $200 million. They said 30 stacks of 25 KVa
treated gum cross-arms worth $120 million were also burnt. About 40 drums of
insulated aluminium PXL cables of 600 000 metres and 17 drums of 255 000
metre cables were also burnt, bringing the total cables burnt to around $1
billion. By Precious Shumba Senior Reporter

      Kagurabadza told the Daily News yesterday that ZANU PF supporters
allegedly bussed in from farms surrounding Mutare had begun harassing
targeted MDC officials and followers.

      The violent campaign, Kagurabadza said, had intensified over the past
week, when hordes of ruling party supporters stormed several houses
belonging to MDC candidates and provincial officials.

      "They have been bringing in thugs from nearby farms to intimidate our
supporters. Just this past week, they destroyed property worth millions of
dollars and harassed a number of our officials and candidates. It is also
disappointing that the police were not responsive whenever we called them to
handle the situation," said Kagurabadza.

      "These people have no knowledge of the city and they have set up bases
from where they are operating. We have identified a few local people who are
showing them where our officials live," he added.

      The charges were, however, denied by ZANU PF provincial chairman Mike
Madiro, who said the ruling party did not have sufficient resources to bus
in supporters to Mutare.

      "Kagurabadza has never been popular in Mutare and he is only realising
that now. What he is doing is preparing for an honourable defeat," said
Madiro.

      "As a party, we don’t have resources to bus in and feed supporters
from outside the city. We have a strong campaign strategy in place. Why
should we use violence when we have adequate support in the town?"

      Ruling party mayoral candidate Ellen Gwaradzimba added: "I do not know
of any violence that has taken place. Everyone is campaigning freely and as
a party, we deplore violence and our supporters are aware of that."

      Police in Mutare refused to comment on the matter.

      Kagurabadza, a businessman, will battle it out with Gwaradzimba, Rajab
Maeresera, a ZANU PF rebel standing as an independent candidate, and another
independent candidate, Patrick Matsanga.

      Kagurabadza said more than 300 armed ZANU PF supporters caused havoc
in Dangamvura, Sakubva and Chikanga suburbs, where they invaded the homes
and shops of MDC officials, looting and destroying property worth over $2
million.

      Kagurabadza said the ruling party supporters also allegedly raided the
Dangamvura home of Pishayi Muchauraya, the MDC provincial spokesman, where
they stole cash, a video camera, books and groceries.

      The ruling party in June admitted that it had bussed in supporters
from rural areas, who ZANU PF officials said would assist the police in
quelling MDC-organised demonstrations during the week-long mass action.

   Staff Reporter

      The project was a joint venture with Pump Aid, an international
non-governmental organisation which designed and developed the pumps.

      "Their installation has provided 50 villages and schools with access
to a dependable source of water for everyday use as well as irrigation,"
British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Brian Donnelly said.

      Donnelly officially commissioned one of the borehole pumps at Murehwa
Primary School in Marange on Friday.

      He also visited two boreholes at Musabayana Primary School and at a
pre-school in Zimunya district.

      "The elephant pumps are designed to increase the area which users are
able to irrigate, providing a valuable and reliable means of extracting
water during the dry season," he said.

      The pumps were funded through the high commission’s small grants
scheme, which is run by the British High Commission to help communities
around Zimbabwe with development projects that they identify as important to
them.

      Over the past year, the British High Commission has supported more
than 40 community-based projects around the country, contributing over $188
440 000.

      Donnelly said the British government continued to provide humanitarian
assistance to Zimbabwe, contributing more than £51 million ($68 646 000 000)
since September 2001 to fight hunger and meet basic humanitarian needs.

      Britain is also contributing £26 million over five years to HIV/AIDS
programmes in Zimbabwe.

   By Own Correspondent

      Everyone from local councillors to provincial administrators,
policemen and Cabinet ministers say they are not the ones. They are not the
ones responsible for food, fuel and bank note shortages.

      They are not the ones responsible for the man-made famine which has
left us begging for international food aid for the last three years.

      They are not the ones responsible for the 365 percent inflation, over
70 percent unemployment and half a million destitute ex-farm workers.

      Like a group of little junior school children who have just broken a
window with a ball, all the men and women who lead and govern our country
have become masters of the art of blaming someone else.

      The shortage – or to be accurate I should say the non-existence – of
bank notes in the country for the past month has produced an extremely
confusing reaction from the government of Zimbabwe.

      First, there has been the establishment of the now predictable "task
force" made up of a peculiar assortment of Cabinet ministers.

      Why the junior Minister of Information, or the Minister of Defence
should be involved in finding out where all the money’s gone, I’m not sure.

      If they are going to follow the usual procedure, the task force will
now probably have to hold workshops and seminars before they can tell us why
we can’t get our own money out of the banks.

      Then they’ll present a preliminary report which will have to be
"audited" by another commission and then maybe they’ll tell us what we
already know – there just isn’t any money left in the banks.

      Aside from the task force, the Minister of Finance has announced a ban
on the hoarding of money. I wonder if there’s going to be an amount pegged
to the ban. Will it be $20 000, or perhaps $100 000?

      Will it now be a crime for an employer to hold enough cash back from
his daily takings so that he can pay the wages of his workers?

      While the investigations are being made and the bans imposed, the
Minister of Finance tells us that we should all rush to the banks and hand
in our red $500 notes because they will soon cease to be legal tender.

      What are they going to be exchanged for though? How can the people of
Zimbabwe be expected to hand in the red note before being offered something
to exchange it with?

      Then the Minister of Finance tells us that after all the red notes
have been withdrawn, the government will introduce another colour bank note
also worth $500.

      I can’t see the sense of this when just a few weeks ago, the Reserve
Bank said they didn’t have enough foreign currency to import the security
paper on which money is printed.

      If the government didn’t have the forex a month ago to print the much
talked about $1 000 notes, how are they suddenly going to find the money to
print two new notes?

      Most confusing of all, though, is the reaction by the government and
the flurry of activity to resolve the problem of the non-existence of bank
notes. When we completely ran out of petrol and diesel two months ago, there
was no flurry and no hurry.

      While we’ve staggered on for weeks and been forced to walk, cycle or
simply not move around, the government of Zimbabwe has done absolutely
nothing.

      Everyone knows that some petrol and diesel supplies are continuing to
come into the country through various means, but that every drop of every
litre is being sold on the black market and yet the government does nothing
to stop it.

      There is an old saying which goes: "I’m alright Jack, so pull up the
ladder." This saying is never more true than in Zimbabwe today. While our
government and its supporters are alright, while they are able to get fuel,
bread, maize-meal, sugar and cooking oil, they are alright and have pulled
up the ladder which hangs down into the dark hole in which the rest of us
are writhing. But now, when there are no bank notes for the wheeler dealers
and the men and women who continue to control the black market, there is a
flurry of activity. Why has there not been a similar response to a country
being run entirely by a black market? Why are these people who run the black
market and who are holding the nation to ransom, not being arrested, charged
and imprisoned? Could it be that they use their political connections to
stay in business or could it be the fact the police too are "not the ones"
because "it is political" ? The Minister of Finance has not admitted that he
is "The One" responsible for the non-existent $500 note. The government have
led us to believe that that there are huge warehouses over the border
stacked to the roof with $500 notes. They have not said that when something
like a loaf of bread costs $300 one day and $1 000 the next, it makes sense
to even the simplest of simpletons that we will need a heap of extra notes
in circulation. I do not have a degree in economics, so I know in this case
I can say in all conscience: I am not the one. I believe that our President
has a degree in economics, I’m sure Herbert Murerwa has too. Maybe they can
make more sense of this than me. By Cathy Buckle

HARARE, Aug. 4 — Zimbabwe's opposition says it will stop questioning the
legitimacy of President Robert Mugabe even though it has not dropped a court
challenge to his re-election, in a move analysts say is aimed at reviving
stalled talks.
       Zimbabwe is grappling with a political crisis and the meltdown of
what was once one of Africa's most prosperous economies. Talks between the
government and opposition are widely viewed as crucial to pulling the
country out of its impasse.
       The opposition Movement for Democratic Change outlined its position
in an ''agenda for dialogue'' that it gave on Friday to church leaders
trying to broker talks between it and the government, but made available to
the media only on Monday.
       The MDC said there must be agreement on new electoral laws, a repeal
of tough security and media laws, and the disbanding of pro-government
militias, among other issues.
       The MDC declined to comment on why it had dropped the issue of
Mugabe's legitimacy, or on its calls for a re-run of the 2002 presidential
polls, which it says Mugabe won fraudulently.
       ''The MDC has an opportunity to raise some of the contentious issues
once the negotiations get off the ground. The difficulty at the moment has
been to get (the ruling) ZANU-PF to the negotiating table and that is what
the MDC is working on,'' said Brian Kagoro, the coordinator of an NGO called
Crisis Zimbabwe.
       In its agenda, the MDC said Mugabe's government should accept that
the issues of governance and lack of political freedoms were at the core of
Zimbabwe's crisis.
       ''We need to return to a situation where we can hold elections whose
results are not contested and are palpably a reflection of the will of the
people,'' it said.
       The MDC filed a court petition against Mugabe in April 2002 saying he
had won the election the previous month unfairly against MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
       Mugabe has said his government will not talk to the MDC unless they
recognise him as Zimbabwe's legitimate president and drop their legal
challenge.
       The MDC says Mugabe, 79, has mismanaged the economy during his rule
over the last 23 years.
       Unemployment is at a record high of more than 70 percent, inflation
is at 365 percent and there is an acute shortage of currency that has led to
long queues at most banks.

A GROUP of musicians from Zimbabwe have vowed to go ahead with their Fringe
show, Zimbabwe Ruins, despite warnings that it could have them banned from
going home.

Mann Friday, performing at the C Central venue, say they fear their show’s
criticism of Robert Mugabe’s government could make them a target for the
troubled regime, which has cracked down on dissidents in recent months and
expelled foreign journalists.

But the group’s leader, 25-year-old singer-songwriter Robbie Burrell, has
said that they will go ahead with an anti-Mugabe protest involving a giant
flag they hope to unveil in the centre of Edinburgh to promote the show.

The group’s songs tell the story of Burrell, a white Zimbabwean who grew up
in comfortable circumstances in Harare. He said: "It’s the story of my life
told through glimpses of my perceptions as I grew up in this strange idyllic
lifestyle with a maid, a gardener and a big house. But in my teens I started
to notice that things weren’t as rosy as they appeared.

"I’m not an activist or a member of a political party, I’m just a musician,
but my songs are about what’s happening to the country.

"In the last six months the media attention has moved to the Middle East,
but things in Zimbabwe have got worse. The show puts a spotlight on the
situation there currently, using photographs and film to show what’s going
on. People suffering the most are poor blacks who are now homeless and
jobless because of the farm takeovers."

Over the last week, inflation in Zimbabwe has soared to 360 per cent and a
run on banks has led to street battles between people desperate to withdraw
their money and riot police. President Mugabe has agreed to talks with
opposition leaders in a bid to stave off an upcoming threat to expel the
country from the Commonwealth in December.

The mixed-race group, who say they are unable to perform their songs at home
because of potential reprisals, first played them in London where they were
warned that they could be risking exile. There, staff of independent radio
station SW Radio Africa, which broadcasts anti-government programmes on
short-wave to the country from the UK, have already been told they will be
arrested if they return and say they believe Mann Friday could be next.

A worker for the station, who did not want to be publicly named, said: "At
the moment, anybody who attacks the regime is taken to task, not just
verbally but physically. Under the Public Order and Security Act anyone who
criticises Mugabe can be thrown in jail. The freedom of the press has been
destroyed.

"When we first heard that this group were doing this we were very pleased
but they have to be absolutely clear that they are running the risk of
retaliation back in Zimbabwe. In this country it’s no big deal to stand up
and say anything about a politician but for anybody from that regime to come
over here and do this is dangerous. We do need people to highlight the
abuses that are going on."

Burrell holds a British passport but says that despite his criticisms, he
hopes to be able to return to Zimbabwe. He said: "I’m in love with the
country, it’s given me so much and it’s the most beautiful place on earth.

"We are hoping to slip under the radar but we realise that the chances of
some comeback for the images and messages we are putting forth is pretty
high. But the only way to get people to notice what’s going on there is to
use an international platform like the Fringe."