http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=df9dea33-9c07-48e5-93cf-20a969eabf3d
Michael Georgy,
Reuters
Published: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's
ruling party and the opposition are close to a
power-sharing deal that would
turn Robert Mugabe into a ceremonial
president, a South African newspaper
reported on Tuesday.
The report came as Zimbabwean state media reported
ZANU-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change had agreed to
expand their
negotiating teams in a move the ruling party called a "good
omen."
The report in The Star newspaper cited unnamed sources close to
the
negotiations as saying the agreement would make MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
executive prime minister.
Zimbabwean government and MDC
officials were not immediately available for
comment.
"They are down to
detail now," the newspaper quoted one source as saying.
"Although how long
that will take is still unclear. But a deal is not far
off. Not at
all."
Mugabe's ZANU-PF began power-sharing talks with the MDC two weeks
ago in
South Africa after Mugabe was re-elected in a widely condemned poll
boycotted by the opposition.
The two sides are under heavy
international pressure, including from within
Africa, to resolve a crisis
that has ruined the once prosperous economy and
flooded neighboring states
with millions of refugees.
The opposition says only Tsvangirai can lead a
new government because he won
a first-round presidential vote in March
before pulling out of the June 27
run-off because of violence he says killed
122 of his supporters.
ZANU-PF has said it will not accept any deal that
fails to recognize
Mugabe's re-election.
Zimbabwe's official Herald
newspaper reported on Tuesday that ZANU-PF and
the MDC had agreed to expand
their negotiating teams after the parties
adjourned last week before
resuming talks in South Africa on Sunday.
They had originally set
themselves a deadline of Monday to reach a deal, but
both sides have said
the timeline is flexible.
Commenting on the extension of the talks,
Christopher Mutsvangwa of
ZANU-PF's information and publicity committee told
the Herald: "That shows
progress. The extension is aimed at overcoming all
the issues on the agenda.
The omen is very good."
University of
Zimbabwe political science lecturer John Makumbe had a
cautious
interpretation of the expansion of the negotiating teams.
"If a
breakthrough is near, it might not necessarily be because more people
are
now involved. If anything, I think the more the people, the more
difficult
it might be to reach an agreement," he said.
"But nothing is obvious in
politics. Remember, the original six negotiators
have been at it for over a
year now and have grown familiar, which could
cloud their views on certain
issues and impinge on their efficiency."
South African President Thabo
Mbeki has been mediating between the rival
Zimbabwean parties since last
year.
The parties have also disagreed over how long a national unity
government
should remain in power.
The MDC wants new elections held
as soon as possible while Mugabe, who has
ruled since 1980, wants to carry
on with his new five-year mandate.
With files from Michael Georgy and
MacDonald Dzirutwe
VOA
By VOA
News
05 August 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
are to begin face-to-face
negotiations on Thursday in what could be the
closing phase of power-sharing
talks.
Sources in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, and South Africa's
capital, Pretoria,
tell VOA that South African President Thabo Mbeki will go
to Harare to
facilitate the dialogue.
Sources close to the talks, now
underway in Pretoria, say the two leaders
must decide whether Tsvangirai
will hold executive powers as prime minister.
They say another issue is who
will appoint the governors of Zimbabwe's 10
provinces.
Earlier
Tuesday, a South African newspaper reported the sides are close to a
power-sharing deal. The Star reported that President Robert Mugabe would
remain in office but assume a ceremonial role.
The talks in South
Africa began two weeks ago after Mr. Mugabe was
re-elected in a poll that
the opposition and many international observers
dismissed as a
sham.
Tsvangirai pulled out of the June 29 runoff vote, citing what he
said was a
campaign of state-sponsored violence against his supporters. The
Movement
for Democratic Change leader finished ahead of Mr. Mugabe in the
first round
of voting in March but fell short of a majority.
The
ruling ZANU-PF party has said that any agreement must recognize Mr.
Mugabe's
re-election.
Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that
the parties are
expanding their negotiating teams after extending the talks
on Monday. The
paper quotes the ruling party's information minister
Christopher Mutsvangwa
as saying "the omen is good."
The sides are
under intense international pressure to reach an agreement so
Zimbabwe can
start recovering from its prolonged political and economic
crisis.
The country suffers from 80 percent unemployment and an
inflation rate
officially pegged at 2.2 million percent. Millions of
Zimbabweans have fled
the country in recent years, with the bulk of them
going to South Africa.
President Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the
country won independence from
Britain in 1980.
By Alex
Bell
05 August 2008
The Africa Liberal Network has slammed the
proposed resolution that a
dialogue be established between Robert Mugabe and
Morgan Tsvangirai - saying
it sets a wrong precedence in Africa - this
statement came as the talks
between the ZANU-PF and MDC negotiating members
continued past their
deadline in South Africa.
The Network is made up
of 17 parties from 15 African countries, and is an
associated organisation
of Liberal International, the political family to
which Liberal Democratic
parties belong.
The newly elected president of the Network, Dr Mamadou
Lamine Ba, who is
also an advisor to the Senegalese President, said on
Monday that it was
unacceptable for parties that won elections through
manipulation or rigging
to be rewarded with equal status to those parties
that lost unjustly -
resulting in forced coalition governments.
Dr
Lamine Ba said: "Coalition governments could only be allowed when the
parties involved have respect for freedom of expression, not in a situation
like Zimbabwe where one party has been involved in massive killing, leading
to the continued suffering of the people of Zimbabwe." He also called on the
global community to do everything in it's power to end the crisis in
Zimbabwe in order to stop the ongoing suffering there, and said a government
of national unity must only be agreed within the framework of transparent
and democratic elections.
At the same time the Network's former
president, Aly Toure from Cote D'Voure
in Liberia, said it was unacceptable
to allow despotic leaders to remain in
power, and called on the
international community to bring such dictators to
justice. He likened
Mugabe to Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir who was
accused by the prosecutor
of the International Criminal Court in July of
genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Toure said: "I
totally agree with the
resolution to bring leaders like Robert Mugabe and
Omar al-Bashir to the
Court of Justice to answer to the atrocities
perpetrated by their regimes,"
and added this was the only way such leaders
could be made accountable for
their actions.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Nation
(Nairobi)
5 August 2008
Posted to the web 5 August
2008
Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare
Zimbabwe's opposition has broken
silence on its demands at the ongoing
power-sharing talks with President
Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF saying it
will not accept anything short of
executive powers for its leader.
The two factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu PF
resumed negotiations on Sunday after a
short break and indications are that
the proposal to have the opposition
leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai as prime
minister is top on the
agenda.
The protagonists had made a commitment not to discuss the
progress of the
talks in public but the outbursts by senior MDC officials
could signal
serious disagreements on the way forward.
Monday was the
deadline to conclude the talks but both sides have indicated
that more time
would be needed to thrash out the stick points.
"The MDC will not accept
any deal that denies Tsvangirai executive powers,"
said Mr Sam Sipepa Nkomo,
an MDC executive member. "The talks would rather
collapse or not move
forward unless Mugabe is offered a ceremonial post or
forced to
retire.
"We have said if Mugabe refuses to give in we will just say 'go
ahead and
govern."
Mr Tsvangirai's deputy, Mrs Thokozani Khuphe was
also quoted by the
international media expressing similar sentiments during
an address to the
Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU).
Observers say the issue of who would wield "real" power in the
negotiated
settlement was one of the contentious issues that led to the
reported
breakdown of the talks last week.
Mr Mugabe last week
accused Western countries of using "local puppets" to
demand that he step
down despite winning elections. The veteran leader has
in the past labelled
the MDC a creation of Western imperialists pushing for
a regime change in
Zimbabwe.
By Violet Gonda
5
August 2008
Activists are extremely uneasy about the media blackout and
the rumours that
are surfacing concerning the talks between the Zimbabwean
political parties.
The public and media are having difficulties
penetrating the web of secrecy
and many people are concerned that the future
of the country is being carved
out by a few politicians, leaving Zimbabweans
with nothing to rely on but
rumour.
Journalist Tanonoka Joseph Whande
asks in an article this week: "But why?
Look what's happening now. Look at
the confusion! And I, whose life and
future is being debated, can only wait
anxiously to know if I have been
thrown to the crocodiles, or whether I
remain in the same pool with a
cautioned and warned croc. And what, may I
ask, will I do, if I find out
after they have signed more agreements, shook
hands and toasted each other,
that my life and future have been made
worse?"
Arnold Tsunga from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says:
"Exclusion of
CSOs (civil society) and the wider society in the mediation
process, gives
the impression that the problem in Zimbabwe is between Zanu
(PF) and the
MDC. It ignores the fact that the crisis is one of governance
and therefore
an issue for all Zimbabweans."
Furthermore Tsunga said
the Mugabe regime is negotiating in bad faith and
has no intention of
transferring power to the MDC. He said institutions of
checks and balances,
like the parliament and judiciary, have been crippled.
Parliament has not
sat since the elections, which is a breach of the
constitution. Tsunga said
there is no political will on the part of the
government to shut down the
institutions of violence and to offer internally
displaced people
protection, especially while the talks are taking place.
Dr. Douglas
Gwatidzo, the chairperson of the Doctors for Human Rights,
believes it will
be a sad development if the politicians only focused on the
power games. He
said Zimbabwe needs an outcome that will genuinely bring an
end to the
economic and political crisis that is ripping the country apart.
Dr.
Gwatidzo said cases of political violence have decreased, but victims
who
were attacked during the run off election are still being found. "Indeed
we
are seeing patients, not many of them are fresh injuries - they are old
injuries that are coming out. Probably before the June 27th election they
were afraid to come out for fear of further victimisation. but sadly they
are presenting us with complications which are difficult to
correct."
Most hospitals in the country are also failing to cope, as
equipment and
medication are in seriously short supply. Dr Gwatidzo said
hospitals don't
even have the capacity to take x-rays, because there is no
film for the
x-rays. There isn't even any foreign currency to buy specimen
bottles to
collect samples.
Whatever is happening at the talks,
Zimbabweans have to pray that the
leaders have their concerns genuinely to
heart and if a real solution isn't
found soon, there won't be a country left
to save.
.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Yahoo News
1 hour, 4 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN troubleshooter
Haile Menkerios flew back to South
Africa Tuesday to monitor the South
African-mediated talks on resolving
Zimbabwe's political crisis, UN
spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
She told a press briefing that
Menkerios, a UN assistant secretary general
for political affairs, was first
heading to Pretoria for consultations on
the mediation process but also
planned to visit Zimbabwe before returning to
New York this
weekend.
Power-sharing talks between representatives of Zimbabwean
President Robert
Mugabe and of his opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai
resumed in a secret
location in South Africa on Sunday after a nearly
week-long pause to allow
negotiators to return home and consult with their
leaders.
The talks had broken up last Tuesday amid suggestions from
Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that the two sides were
deadlocked in
their bid to resolve the crisis spawned by Mugabe's disputed
one-man
re-election win in June.
Menkerios is serving as the UN
high-level representative on a so-called
"reference group" -- which also
includes the African Union and a security
panel of the Southern African
Development Community -- set up to assist the
South African mediators and
provide regular progress updates.
The MDC had insisted on widening the
South African mediation to other
representatives after accusing Mbeki of
being biased towards Mugabe.
Monday, a South African official said
bargaining between Zimbabwe's rival
parties was likely to stretch several
days beyond the two-week deadline,
which expired Monday, set to conclude the
power-sharing talks.
Mugabe won a one-man presidential run-off last
month, widely denounced as a
sham after Tsvangirai pulled out of the race
due to a wave of deadly attacks
on his supporters.
The 84-year-old
Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since
independence in 1980,
has for his part insisted that the MDC has to
acknowledge his victory in the
runoff if there is to be any kind of
power-sharing deal.
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk
An atrocity of 25 years ago may still wreck the
talks
One of Mugabe's first and most appalling crimes against the people
of
Zimbabwe, when some 25,000 people lost their lives in the early eighties,
may now prove to be the stumbling block to success at the current talks in
Pretoria.
The Gukurahundi - the massacre of the people of
Matabeleland, which has
never received the recognition or condemnation from
the West that it
deserves - has led the opposition MDC negotiators to demand
that any
transitional government must set up a Truth and Justice Commission
to
investigate this and other Zanu-PF atrocities.
Mugabe's men at the
talks, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour
minister Nicholas
Goche, are adamant that the mass persecution of the
Ndebele people be left
in the past.
But MDC Morgan Tsvangirai's negotiators, party chairman
Lovemore Moyo and
secretary-general Tendai Biti have both told mediator
Thabo Mbeki that the
people responsible should be brought to
book.
The genocidal action began in 1982, when Mugabe's Army 5th Brigade,
freshly
trained in terror tactics by North Korean instructors, set out to
kill,
torture and maim so many people in Matabeleland that they would never
dare
oppose the Zanu-PF regime in the future.
The action was termed
Gukurahundi, which literally and chillingly means "The
early rain that
washes away the chaff before the spring rains." Today, at
the talks in
Pretoria, the phrase still rings ominously in the ears of all
concerned.
Of course, other major stumbling blocks remain between the
two sets of
negotiators. Zanu-PF still refuse to consider the proposition
that Mugabe
take only a ceremonial role in government. And the MDC are
refusing to
accept any deal that denies Morgan Tsvangirai executive powers.
Observers
believe another talks breakdown is imminent.
Sipepa Nkomo,
a leading MDC official, explained that, if Zanu-PF refused to
negotiate on
these key points, his party would simply respond with two
words, in both
Shona and Ndebele - "Busa Sibone" and "Tonga Tione." The
meaning of the
phrase, for those whose Shona and Ndebele is a little rusty,
is
this:
"Go ahead and rule on your own. Let's see where it gets
you."
Posted on Tuesday, 05 August 2008 at 09:55
By Lance Guma
05
August 2008
The MDC have requested that South African President Thabo
Mbeki hold
separate talks with Zimbabwean military junta to see if they will
endorse a
proposed unity government and it's set up. Party officials told
Newsreel
Tuesday that Mbeki will most likely have to engage in talks with
members of
the Joint Operations Command (JOC) who, under Emerson Mnangagwa,
led the
wave of political violence that killed over 120 MDC activists and
has
injured and tortured tens of thousands since the March 29 poll. The
grouping
of military, police, prison and spy chiefs have vowed never to
serve under
Tsvangirai, worried a new government will leave them open to
prosecution.
MDC negotiators expressed concern that any deal thrashed out
might come to
nothing if the security chiefs are not brought onboard. With
sources saying
the MDC might be given the Home Affairs Ministry in a new
government
analysts have interpreted the alleged bomb blast at Harare
Central Police
station as a reminder of the power wielded by members of the
JOC. Some media
outlets speculating on the blast have blamed a faction
within Zanu PF led by
Mnangagwa, who are said to be unhappy at the
concessions being made at the
talks. Speculation is rife the attack might
have been an attempt to scuttle
the talks.
It is against this
background that Mbeki will ultimately have to engage this
rogue group of
security people. It is conceivable they could over-rule
Mugabe, should they
choose to. The same individuals helped save his skin
after the March 29
electoral defeat to Tsvangirai and the Zanu PF leader is
only too aware of
that.
Zimbabweans seem to have to deal with confusion about everything,
from two
currencies circulating at the same time to a mass of confusing
information
coming out of the talks.
Reports have suggested Mugabe
will become a ceremonial President and retain
two Vice Presidents in Joseph
Msika and Joyce Mujuru. Tsvangirai will become
Executive Prime Minister,
with Zanu PF's Emerson Mnangagwa and MDC second in
command Thokozani Kuphe
becoming the two deputy Prime Ministers. There was
even a suggestion there
could be a 3rd Vice President added to the mix. That
would mean an
incredible 6 leaders for the country. A senior MDC official
dismissed this
speculation as nonsense, adding that Zanu PF officials were
throwing false
stories to the media to deliberately confuse people.
There is growing
concern Mbeki might be trying to rush through a deal so as
to present his
mediation as a success before the August 16th SADC summit set
for South
Africa. Mbeki will also be assuming the Presidency of the grouping
and would
rather have resolved the crisis by then than have to supervise his
own work.
Zwelinzima Vavi, the head of South Africa's main labour union
COSATU, has
already warned they will call for a demonstration next week, on
the eve of
the summit, if a deal is not concluded. The Botswana government
has also
made it clear they will boycott the summit if Mugabe is still
President by
virtue of a flawed process.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
5 August 2008
Posted to the web 5 August
2008
Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg
ZIMBABWE's rival political
parties yesterday entered the second day in the
latest round of talks for a
power-sharing deal debating the model of a new
government to end the
country's drawn-out political impasse.
Informed sources close to the
negotiations taking place in Pretoria said
Zanu (PF) and opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
representatives were locked in delicate
discussions on the system of
government needed to ensure power-sharing and
economic recovery.
This followed close consultations between the
negotiators and their party
leaders last week. President Thabo Mbeki,
facilitator of the talks, met the
negotiating parties and their leaders last
week in Pretoria and Harare to
clear the last hurdles.
Mbeki met
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and MDC faction leader Arthur
Mutambara
in Harare last Wednesday after meeting the main MDC faction leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai in Pretoria the previous day.
Sources said negotiators were
focusing on a consolidated proposal, which
included aspects of Zanu (PF) and
MDC initiatives. The proposal resembled
the hybrid French system which has
positions of president and prime
minister. Apart from the framework for a
new government, it also deals with
implementation mechanisms and global
political engagement.
Sources said Mbeki was anxious to ensure the final
deal would be endorsed
not just by Zimbabweans - including negotiating
parties and their leaders -
but also the international community, especially
western powers. The US and
European Union (EU) have expressed scepticism
about the talks.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said although he
would personally not
speak to Mugabe because of his appalling record of
human rights abuses, he
backed Mbeki's mediation. He said there was
"consensus" in the EU that Mbeki
needed more time to finish his
facilitation.
It was becoming increasingly likely, sources said, that
Tsvangirai would
become prime minister, while Mugabe would remain president
in a
power-sharing pact. There would be at least two vice-presidents, and
this
may be increased to three, and two deputy prime ministers drawn from
the
three negotiating parties.
The structure would include Mugabe,
his present vice-presidents Joseph Msika
and Joyce Mujuru.
The MDC's
second-in-command, Thokozani Khupe, and Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Mugabe's
loyalist, would become deputy prime ministers.
The other alternative
being debated has Mugabe at the top with Msika, Mujuru
and Khupe as
vice-presidents. Tsvangirai becomes prime minister with
Mutambara and Zanu
(PF) chairman John Nkomo as deputy prime ministers.
Tsvangirai had
initially proposed he become prime minister, while Mugabe
would be
ceremonial president in a move which would return the country to
the
parliamentary system of the 1980s. However, Mugabe's hardline Zanu (PF)
politburo resolved that his position was "non-negotiable". It is said Mugabe
is only prepared to shed some of his imperial powers to Tsvangirai, and not
all of them, as the MDC wanted.
If the proposal being debated
succeeds, Mugabe would appoint the cabinet and
the prime minister.
Tsvangirai might be allowed to preside over the cabinet
and legislature, but
the problem is that his party does not command a clear
majority in
parliament.
Sources said if Tsvangirai had sealed a coalition deal with
Mutambara to
firmly take control of parliament in an unassailable way, he
would have been
almost guaranteed the post of premier -- head of government
-- without
hassles, with Mugabe remaining as ceremonial head of state. A
prime minister
is usually drawn from the majority party in
parliament.
However, this was not done despite a coalition deal after the
March 29
elections and so a parliament hung. None of the negotiating parties
control
parliament on their own.
Sources said the disputed
presidential election result and hung parliament
necessitated a compromise
agreement. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai are now
talking the language of a
give-and-take situation, not defiance and lack of
co-operation.
"The
talks are now focused on a consolidated, hybrid proposal which has
elements
from Zanu (PF) and MDC ideas," a source said. "The proposal is
basically a
French-style, hybrid system which Zimbabwe almost got into
during the
constitutional reform process between 1999 and 2000."
http://www.eni.ch/news/item.php?id=2152
5
August 2008 | 08-0626 |
Harare (ENI). A coalition of church groups in Zimbabwe
has warned that talks
to solve the country's economic and political crises
will be in vain if they
culminate only in the sharing of political posts
between the negotiating
parties.
http://www.upi.com
Published: Aug. 5, 2008 at 1:07 PM
HARARE, Zimbabwe,
Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Zimbabweans say economic conditions in the
African country
are worsening and their personal well-being has fallen, a
Gallup Poll
released Tuesday indicates.
Respondents thought their personal well-being
declined fell from a mean
score of 3.8 to 3.2 between 2006 and 2008, a
meaningful change, the poll
found.
As inflation and political
repression mounted and economic conditions
deteriorated, pollsters for the
Princeton, N.J., firm said it wasn't
surprising dissatisfaction with the
standard of living had increased since
2006. In 2006, 77 percent of
Zimbabweans expressed dissatisfaction, compared
with 88 percent who said the
same about a year later. In 2008, more than 91
percent said they were
dissatisfied with their standard of living.
In addition, 68 percent of
people 15 years of age or older, indicated in the
latest poll they didn't
have a job.
Zimbabweans were nearly unanimous in their negative
assessments of their
country's economy, Gallup said. Ninety-nine percent
said they thought
current economic conditions weren't good and 97 percent
said they thought
conditions were getting worse.
Results were based
on face-to-face interviews conducted in March with 1,000
adults, aged 15 and
older, in Zimbabwe. The sampling has a margin of error
of plus or minus 5
percentage points.
http://sundaystandard.info/news/news_item.php?NewsID=3559&GroupID=3
by TANONOKA
JOSEPH WHANDE
05.08.2008 9:16:20 A
A few years ago, the United Nations
published a list of Zimbabwean
politicians and businessmen that it accused
of plundering the riches of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC).
On the list were Robert Mugabe's powerful cronies who then stood the
possibility of being tried for their activities of plunder in the
DRC.
When the assassinated DRC president Laurent Kabila was about to be
driven
out of office by rebels, he appealed to Robert Mugabe for
assistance.
Mugabe sent his army into the DRC and effectively saved Kabila
from being
overrun. In appreciation, Zimbabwe was granted access to mines,
forestry,
land and other highly productive business concessions. They were
granted
licenses to run banks, supermarkets and all sorts of
businesses.
But the plunder was noted and a United Nations panel produced
a report
detailing how the seven countries involved in the war in the DRC
plundered
that country's natural resources.
"Criminal groups linked
to the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe and the
Government of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo have benefited from the
micro conflicts,"
said the report. "Those groups will not disband
voluntarily even as the
foreign military forces continue their withdrawals.
They have built up a
self-financing war economy centered on mineral
exploitation."
The
report went on to say that the army withdrawals were unlikely to alter
the
determination of Rwanda and Zimbabwe, and Ugandan individuals, "to
exercise
economic control over portions of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo".
"The departure of their forces will do little to reduce economic
control, or
the means of achieving it, since the use of national armies is
only one
among many means for exercising it."
Towards the end of its
mandate, the UN panel received a copy of a memorandum
dated August 2002 from
the Zimbabwe Defence Minister, Sydney Sekeramayi,
proposing that "a joint
Zimbabwe-Democratic Republic of the Congo company be
set up in Mauritius to
disguise the continuing economic interests of the
Zimbabwe Defence Force in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo".
The UN named Emerson Munangagwa as
the leader of a group of Zimbabwean
elites who ran businesses, mostly
diamond trading, in the DRC. Other
Zimbabweans named were General Zvinavashe
(now retired), Air Vice Marshal
Perence Shiri, General Busi Moyo and a horde
of other senior Zimbabwean army
personnel.
And, once again, last week,
Africa Confidential reported that as talks
between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
were uninspiringly dragging along
in South Africa, members of Mugabe's elite
were busy hiding millions of US
dollars in offshore accounts.
"Leading members of President Mugabe's
regime and their business allies are
transferring tens of millions of US
dollars out of Zimbabwe to safe havens
to avoid the threat of tightening
sanctions and the possibility of financial
scrutiny by a power-sharing
government," reported Africa Confidential.
"Almost all of these transactions
are illegal under Zimbabwe's foreign
exchange laws and Africa Confidential
has seen bank documents that the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Gideon
Gono, has violated the monetary
rules he claims to enforce."
The
paper went on to say that most of the politicians and businesses taking
out
the money use established Western banks and insurance companies to make
the
transfers.
"The money is drained out of Zimbabwe to either Britain or
South Africa with
minimal institutional scrutiny, after which it is
transferred to even safer,
offshore jurisdictions or to financial centers in
East Asia.
The paper says, within the region, the most farvoured
destinations are
Namibia and South Africa, "where the ruling elite have
invested heavily in
property, usually registered in the names of their
spouses or children.
"As opinion on the legitimacy of Mugabe's regime changes
in the SADC, we
hear that senior members of the ruling ZANU-PF now prefer to
move their
money to financial institutions in Malaysia and China through
large trading
companies or multinational banks."
And there to receive
and guide the money into safe quarters is reported to
be Zimbabwean banker
and Mugabe's business ally, Enoch Kamushinda, "who now
lives in Malaysia and
who recently sold 60% of his shareholding in
Metropolitan Bank to the wholly
respectable Nairobi-based Loita Capital
Partner International, allowing him
to open his financial investment firm in
Kuala Lumpur - where Mugabe
holidayed earlier this year".
Additional reporting: The Insider, Africa
Confidential
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Militiamen of
Zimbabwe's ruling party have been filmed beating opposition
supporters five
days after a political agreement to discuss power sharing
and end the
post-election violence.
Last Updated: 8:20PM BST 05 Aug 2008
The
footage, shown by Channel 4 news, was shot at one of the Zanu-PF torture
camps used after the elections to coerce opposition supporters into voting
for President Robert Mugabe.
It was filmed at the invitation of camp
guards several days after Mr Mugabe
had signed a memorandum of understanding
with the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
That agreement
committed the two sides to enter talks aimed at finding a
power sharing
agreement and to try to end the violence.
Sources inside Zimbabwe say the
violence has mostly stopped in recent weeks
as Zanu-PF and the MDC have
engaged in the negotiations.
One of the men on the film said the reason
he was so opposed to the MDC
gaining power was that he feared he would be
punished for the campaign of
terror in which he took part.
Located in
a rural primary school near the capital Harare, the camp is run
by a man who
boasted on film of maiming and killing opposition supporters.
"Some we
aim to cut off their limbs, some we remove their [sex] organs,"
said the
man.
"The MDC will never rule this country," he added.
The film
showed a man cowering as a group of thugs brandishing machetes and
clubs
pulled him by his clothes and stamped on him.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aEX_.YsP3r5s&refer=africa
By Brian
Latham
Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A lawmaker from Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change asked the High Court for an injunction to
free MDC
supporters he alleged have been tortured at government-backed camps
in his
eastern district.
``The destruction of homes, the harassment
and beating of MDC members and
organizers has been extended throughout the
district,'' Douglas Mwonzora
said today in a telephone interview from
Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
``Self-styled war veterans are demanding food
and money from villages in an
organized protection racket. People have been
forced from their homes and
are seeking protection elsewhere.''
No
date has been set for the hearing, said Mwonzora, former spokesman for
the
National Constitutional Alliance, a group that campaigns to change the
country's constitution. He was elected March 29 to represent Nyanga North.
Nyanga, in the Eastern Highlands, is one of Zimbabwe's main tourism
destinations.
Mwonzora's court petition comes as negotiators for
President Robert Mugabe's
African National Union-Patriotic Front and the MDC
are meeting in
neighboring South Africa in an attempt to end a political
crisis prompted by
an election.
The MDC says at least 120 of its
supporters have been killed by Zanu-PF war
veterans, youth militia and state
agents since the March election gave
control of the National Assembly to the
MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mugabe extended his 28- year rule in a June
27 presidential runoff in which
he was the sole candidate. Tsvangirai
withdrew from the poll after alleging
his backers were the victims of
state-orchestrated violence.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai may meet face to face
in an effort to reach a
negotiated settlement to determine who will lead
Zimbabwe, the
Johannesburg-based Star newspaper reported.
BULAWAYO, 5 August 2008 (IRIN) - Political
violence, routine power cuts and fertiliser shortages are all but putting paid
to any chance of Zimbabwe harvesting a winter wheat crop that will ease its
chronic food shortages.
Photo:
Save the Children
Bleak
prospects
Once the bread basket of southern Africa,
Zimbabwe has become dependent on donor food in a few short years. A recent UN
report estimates that by early 2009 more than 5 million of Zimbabwe's estimated
12 million people will require food assistance, with the winter wheat harvest
unlikely to make any significant difference.
One of the few remaining
white farmers in the prime Nyamandlovu farming area, in Matabeleland North
Province, who declined to be identified, told IRIN: "The crop that I planted was
severely damaged after war veterans ordered my workers off the land as they
campaigned for President [Robert] Mugabe in the June presidential elections, and
the little that survived is still facing many challenges, which include
persistent power cuts and shortages of fertiliser."
In 2000 Mugabe's
ZANU-PF government launched the fast-track land reform programme, expropriating,
often violently, nearly 4,500 white-owned farms to be distributed amongst
landless blacks. The government failed to provide agricultural inputs to the new
farmers, while in other cases the farms were handed out to government ministers,
party members and army and intelligence officers, who often left their land
fallow.
The white farmer, who planted 60 hectares of wheat and 10
hectares of barley, said outside events disrupted agricultural planning in the
period leading up to the second round of presidential voting on 27 June.
"Power cuts are becoming frequent and as a result the load-shedding schedule
that the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) had availed is not being
followed ... on most days we get electricity during the night and it is
impossible to do any meaningful irrigation at that time," he said.
"Most
of the wheat and maize I planted has died off, and I will realise far less than
what I was supposed to get if electricity was supplied continuously," the farmer
said.
"Close to half of the wheat
I planted is damaged and the one [field] I am tending now is of poor quality due
to the water shortage, and I have cancelled any future plans of growing any
winter crop," he said. "If I had not got any interruptions on the farm I would
have put over 100 hectares under irrigation, but the country's politics is
affecting current production."
This is my first winter wheat crop, but most of it
has been destroyed because I have not been able to draw enough water to irrigate
the crop, and the power outages have been frequent of late
It is a tale repeated across some of
the country's prime agricultural areas. The white farmer's neighbour, a
beneficiary of Mugabe's land redistribution, who declined to be identified, told
IRIN that his attempt to farm winter wheat has been a disaster.
"This
is my first winter wheat crop, but most of it has been destroyed because I have
not been able to draw enough water to irrigate the crop, and the power outages
have been very frequent of late ... the harvest I will get will be far below my
expectations," the new farmer said.
The new farmer planted 40 hectares
of wheat, but said he would be lucky to harvest more than five metric tonnes; in
future he would not plant crops that required irrigation and would rely on
seasonal rainfall if he grew any crops during winter.
"The crop was
damaged at an early stage, as we used to have power for about three days a week,
but now electricity supplies are being cut almost daily and this is disturbing
irrigation cycles ... most of the wheat is now facing problems," he said.
The government estimates that about 8,900 hectares of winter wheat was
planted, or 13 percent of the area required to produce the more than 400,000
metric tonnes the country needs to meet its annual requirement.
Politics is the cause of food shortages
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was reported as saying, "The
projected wheat winter crop is not good, but we have learnt a lesson and already
we are now preparing for the summer crop.
"We are making sure that seed
companies are getting seed and fertiliser ready for the season, and already we
have imported 30,000 tonnes of seed for the 2008/09 season. The country needs
50,000 tonnes [of seed] for planting two million hectares of maize and the rest
will be supplied by local manufacturers," Gumbo said.
Renson Gasela,
former chief executive officer of the state controlled Grain Marketing Board
(GMB), said Zimbabwe would probably produce about a fifth of its consumption
needs.
"Zimbabwe requires 400,000 tonnes of wheat per annum but this
year we will hardly get 80,000 tonnes, and the reasons are several: power
shortages, and a serious shortage of Compound D fertiliser, which was nowhere to
be seen in the country, and as a result many farmers reduced the amount of land
they ... [planted]," he said.
"We will get the smallest crop of wheat
that has been produced in this country this year, and the only solution to the
current farming crisis is to have a political settlement that will address the
current problems ... anything else is just a stopgap measure," Gasela said.
The President of the Zimbabwe Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union
(ZICFU), Wilson Nyabonda, said ZESA was to blame for the disastrous crop.
"Farmers will not get any meaningful wheat harvest this year because of
electricity shortages, and most of the wheat died due to moisture stress, so
there is not much to talk about."
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
http://www.moneybiz.co.za
Tuesday, 05 Aug 2008
with Kumbirai Mafunda
ZIMBABWE could
continue grappling with a severe grain shortage as the
government has only
secured 60 percent of the country's seed maize
requirements for use in this
year's agricultural season.
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo made the
startling revelations when he
addressed farmers at the Commercial Farmers
Union (CFU) annual congress held
in Harare yesterday.
With less than
two months before the start of the 2008-09 agricultural
season which gets
underway in October Gumbo disclosed that the government
has only secured 30
000 tonnes of maize seed out of a required 50 000
tonnes.
Gumbo said
the government had committed scarce foreign currency resources to
import the
bulk of the 30 000 tonnes of maize seed. He said only 11 300
tonnes of maize
seed was sourced from local seed houses while 18 700 tonnes
was imported
from neighbouring countries.
"We are intensifying our farming
preparations and so far we have bought 30
000 tonnes of maize seed out of
the 50 000 tonnes required to plant two
million hectares of maize," said
Gumbo.
Gumbo said the government would move with haste to import the
remaining 20
000 tonnes of maize seed before the start of the planting
season which could
once again turn out into a disaster.
Critics among
them the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) have always
blamed the government for its poor preparations in
sourcing critical inputs
such as seeds and fertiliser before each and every
farming season for the
current grain shortages.
Zimbabwe's seed houses among them Seedco and
Pioneer have in recent years
been failing to produce enough maize seed owing
to reduced hectarage to grow
maize in the country after most of their seed
producing farms were seized by
veterans of the liberation war and supporters
loyal to President Mugabe's
ZANU PF party under a government backed land
seizure exercise.
Since the widely condemned farm seizures, which
President Mugabe defends as
aimed at correcting colonial imbalances which
favoured white commercial
farmers with fertile soils Zimbabwe has grappled
with severe food shortages
which has forced the government to commit some
scarce foreign currency for
the importationn of maize to close a growing
food deficit in the country.
In the 2007-08 farming season Zimbabwe only
harvested 850 000 tonnes of
maize out of an annual domestic consumption of 2
million tonnes resulting in
severe food shortages across the
country.
Owing to the perennial food shortages western countries among
them Britain
and the USA, which President Mugabe frequently lashes out at
have helped
alleviate massive starvation through food handouts to the
troubled country.
So, Harare is a city of over a million and half, and the government intends to feed all households through the curruption ridden BACCOSI programme
Harare-- Picture this: A government that has failed to provide basic services such as healthcare, water provision, education and infrastructure. A government that operates companies like NOCZIM, ZESA, NRZ, GMB, companies synonymous with corruption, incompetence, embarks on a herculean plan to feed all the residents of Harare.
That is exactly what the ZANU-PF government is planning to do through the BACCOSI programme. Already, reports have come out that the programme is ridden with corruption (the standard) where only the ZANU-PF connected are getting the goods.
Harare Metropolitan Province
Governor Cde David Karimanzira, brimming with confidence, said officials had
started listing the names of beneficiaries from high-density areas at the
weekend.
“In the low-density suburbs they will start with domestic
workers only. Maybe it is because some of the house owners can afford to buy
most of the commodities.
“But the issue will be looked into so that they
(low density house owners) would also benefit,” he said
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, now
getting involved in food distribution-- that is how the RBZ has sunk-- teams
started listing names of beneficiaries in Harare on Saturday, beginning with the
high-density areas.
“In the low-density suburbs, only the gardeners and
housemaids will benefit. House owners in the low-density suburbs would start
benefiting during the next phase. Currently there are no teams on the ground who
are collecting the names of the housemaids and gardeners but they will be there
soon,” said a central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
This is Gono and ZANU-PF's master plan after failing to revive Agriculture, which they killed over the last eight years.
Instead of investing in the education of agric officers who would help the new farmers, the government, true its pupulist tendencies, opts for a quick fix solution.
Rather, instead of giving the people a fishing rod so they can fish themselves, the government gives them the fish, already cooked, and salted, it appears.
How long will such populist programmes last? BACCOSI is reflective of Gono's incompetence and ZANU-PF's desparation. --Harare Tribune News
As ZANU-PF negotiates with the MDC, its militia torture camps are
still open for business, torturing and rapping MDC activists across the
country Harare-- ZANU-PF still has its militia torture camps operating across the
country. An MDC official has made an urgent application to the high court in a
bid to force ZANU-PF to close these torture camps. For example in Gutu District, Gutu Central, Ward 40 at a base headed by,
Wilson Gadzu in Chief Mugombedzi's area, all people who had previously left the
area because of violence are taken to task at the bases where they are made to
pay fines before being readmitted. There are over 55 bases still operationational across the country. For more
names of the bases and what ZANU-PF militia at these bases are doing, please
consult the attached .pdf file.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2085
August 5, 2008
Ambassador
Xavier Marchal
By Our Correspondent
HARARE - The EU is holding
onto its purse until there is an acceptable
outcome of the current
inter-party talks in South African and a legitimate
government is formed
Head of Delegation of the European Commission to
Zimbabwe, Ambassador Xavier
Marchal says.
The EU is ready to assist Zimbabwe avert the unfolding
humanitarian crisis
when and if normality and legitimacy are re-established
as a result of a
fair political agreement, endorsed by the European
grouping. Marchal told
the annual congress of the Commercial Farmers Union
on Monday.
An acceptable agreement would unlock funds to turn round the
agricultural
industry, he said.
Marchal said Zimbabwe was on the
brink of a humanitarian disaster, with
extremely poor prospects for the next
agricultural season. But his grouping
of European countries was ready to
revive Zimbabwe's collapsed agricultural
industry and help feed a starving
population.
"Yet as we speak, partners involved in key food aid and food
security
activities can still not operate properly, and I call again on
Government to
immediately and totally lift restrictions imposed on them," he
said.
President Robert Mugabe banned non-governmental agencies involved
in food
distribution to starving communities in rural Zimbabwe accusing them
of
campaigning for the Movement for Democratic Change after he lost the
presidential poll and his party surrendered a Parliamentary majority to the
opposition for the first time since independence in 1980.
The ban
triggered off an international outcry from international and
regional food
distribution agencies as well as from local civic groups.
"Agriculture
has collapsed. This year's harvest of the key crops has been
catastrophic.
The 'mother of all agricultural season' has miscarried,"
Marchal told the
commercial farmers meeting.
He said land has always been at the core of
the tensions that have prevented
Zimbabwe from gaining full benefit from its
potential, instead bringing it
down to its knees.
"After all,
agriculture is one of the three main vertebras of the economic
spinal cord
of Zimbabwe, together with natural resources and mining. It has
significantly contributed to making Zimbabwe what it was. And it can again
rapidly become the engine of its recovery," the diplomat
said.
Marchal told farmers the European Commission remained ready to
engage as
long as Zimbabwe proved it had a business plan providing for
genuine
agricultural policies, in which all farmers are desired
stakeholders; in
which private sector and property rights are respected, and
in which all the
skills of Zimbabwe are brought to work for the common
cause.
He said any government that emerges from the current talks needed
to provide
a business plan to the EU in which a very much needed land reform
programme
was conducted for its real purpose, not for political reasons or
simply for
patronage: in which the true asset of Zimbabwe in term of land
and
agriculture was fully valued and highlighted
He said once
legitimacy is restored the EU could then quickly move towards
implementing
the 10th European Development Fund, of which one of the two
targeted sectors
would be land, agriculture, food security and the
environment, all estimated
at 50 million Euros.
Zimbabwe would also take full advantage of an
EC-funded Sugar Adaptation
Strategy, aimed at bringing back her sugar
industry from abyss to world
class level again, with the best yields
worldwide. The amount possible for
this could reach 45 million Euros over
six years.
"We could move swiftly to implement a vast EC-funded Stabex
programme,
through the main Unions, the CFU, the ZFU, and the ZCFU. The
amount possible
for this programme reaches 20 million euros," Marchal said,
adding that the
EU could implement all recommendations of studies it is
currently
conducting, on land reform, on the compensation issue and on the
best
strategies for a commercial agriculture.
More importantly there
is the potential prospect of Zimbabwe benefiting from
a new initiative from
the Commission, aimed at farmers in Africa, to help
them tackle high food
prices and boost output. This is a massive scheme,
provided with one billion
Euros (US$1.6 billion), with 750 million Euros
earmarked for 2008 and the
remainder for 2009.
These funds will be funneled to developing countries
through international
organisations, such as the Food and Agriculture
Organisation and the World
Food Programme, focusing on improving access to
farming inputs such as
fertilisers and seeds, as well as ways to improve
agricultural capacity and
production.
"We are also proceeding with
supporting rural populations, through various
projects aimed at building
food security, through UN agencies and Non
Government Organisations. This
includes a programme to support small scale
irrigation totaling about 45
million Euros.
"An amount of 15 million euros in emergency food aid
earmarked for the
coming months, hence the need for government to immediate
lift the ban on
NGOs that distribute food aid to address the humanitarian
crisis," Marchal
said.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
5th
Aug 2008 18:04 GMT
By John Fenandes
VILLA DE MANICA, Mozambique -
Mozambican police officers have been accused
of ill-treating Zimbabweans
crossing into their country to shop for basic
commodities or conducting
business.
The latest action by the Mozambican law enforcement agents come
just a few
weeks after Maputo cut significantly the quantity of foodstuffs
and other
commodities that restive Zimbabweans can buy from the neighboring
country.
Police in Mozambique are reportedly arresting and confiscating
goods bought
by Zimbabweans on fimsly grounds.
Zimbabweans who fell
prey to the Mozambican police say they lost thousands
of Meticas, the
Mozambican currency, and groceries to the police who would
have "arrested"
them on petty issues.
The police also subject Zimbabweans to humiliating
"punishments" such as
denial to cross the Machipanda Border Post until it is
almost time for the
Forbes Border Post on the Zimbabwean side to be
closed.
Others, especially women, have been forced to offer sexual
favours to some
male police officers to be immune to ill-treatment by the
unscrupulous
officers.
"They are arresting Zimbabweans and taking
away their goods for very petty
reasons such as being drunk even when you
are not driving," said Tawanda
Madondo, from Harare. "I sipped a bottle of
an alcoholic beverage as we were
crossing the Mozambican border into
Zimbabwe and we were stopped and told
that it was a 'serious' crime to drink
beer in front of a police officer."
"Despite the fact that I was a
passenger everyone was ordered out of the
vehicle and told we were not going
to proceed. We could not do anything
because the officer was armed with a
pistol so we had to part with crates of
beer we had bought from Mozambique,"
Madondo said.
Mozambican police are notorious for being trigger happy.
The Mozambicans
apparently have a very liberal drinking
policy.
Another Zimbabwean who fell victim, Tonderai Sithole of
Dangamvura, said he
was suspected of being a diamond dealer searching for
buyers in Manica Town
and was searched but they found nothing on
him.
"When they found no diamonds on me they took away all the money I
had in
Mozambican currency which ran into thousands."
Beer lovers
have suffered much of the brunt as Mozambican police appear to
be "thirsty"
each time they see any Zimbabwean carrying crates of beer.
"If you do not
voluntarily give them some of the beer they will create a
case for you and
they end up taking all of it."
Beer is in short supply in Zimbabwe. Where
it is available the prices are
far beyond the reach of many, business and
company executives included. A
beer now costs about US$10 in average hotels.
That amount is enough to buy
two six pack beers across the
border.
Officials from the Mozambican consulate in Mutare refused to
comment saying
they needed to investigate first.
The hostile attitude
by the Mozambican police towards Zimbabweans has been
linked to a collective
action by the international community towards
President Mugabe's Zanu PF
government.
Immediately after the controversial June 27 election
neighbouring countries
joined other African nations and the international
community in condemning
Mugabe's re-election in a poll in which he was the
sole candidate.
But Mozambique did not publicly make its position known,
stoking speculation
that officials in Maputo were reluctant to condemn a
long time ally.
However, sources said the Mozambican government responded
quietly by
tightening controls on the importation of foodstuffs from the
country by
Zimbabwean citizens.
Mugabe has enjoyed cordial relations
with Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party
officials dating back to the days of
the liberation war when his party's
Zanla guerilla army was allowed to set
up training camps and bases for
combatants fighting the white minority
Rhodesian government of Ian Smith.
After independence Zanu PF paid back
by helping the Mozambican government to
fight off an armed insurgency by the
Mozambique National Resistance
Movement, a rebel army supported by apartheid
South Africa back in the
1980s.
This was ended in 1996 after a peace
deal was signed in Rome, Italy.
Fresh from demanding cabinet posts from Mugabe, the militant war vets have told the people that they should remember that the war counts.
Harare-- War Vets, who recently told Mugabe that he must allocate them cabinet posts in recognition of their work "mobilizing" the people in the run-up to the June 27 election, said Zimbabweans should remember their history, especially during the upcoming Heroes Day.
Zimbabweans should take time to reflect on the values and ideals that we fought for against the Ian Smith regime, the war vets said.
War Vets, credited with being an integral part of the ZANU-PF machine that saw Mugabe win the one man race on June 27 with a landslide of 85%, have become an indespensible part of ZANU-PF and government.
Unlike other Zimbabweans who sweat everyday for their salaries, war vets earn monthly incomes on par with serving soldiers, way higher than that of other civil servants.
War veteran, "Cde" Andy Mhlanga
and Senator Monica Mutsvangwa concurred that Zimbabweans should never forget
thousands of compatriots whose remains lie scattered in and outside the
country.
"Cde" Mhlanga said as the country commemorates heroes day on the
11th of this month, all Zimbabweans must acknowledge the gallant fighters who
lie buried at various camps including Nyadzonya, Chimoio, Tembwe, Freedom camp
and Mulungushi.
The war veterans leader, Cde. Chinotimba, was not available for comment as he is still leading ZANU-PF malitia units on the field, in Buhera District, Manicaland Province.
War vets recognize noone else as the leader of the country, other than Robert Mugabe, their patron. In 2000, names like "Black Jesus," "Chenjerai 'Hitler' Hunzvi," "Border Gezi," found their place in history books as these war vets formed the vanguard force that invaded white owned commercial farms.
Recently, War Vets threatened to form another organization, dubbed "Revolutional Council," with Grace Mugabe its their patron.
This new organization, according to members, was being formed to safegaurd the interests of war veterans against counter-revolutionaries epitomized by Morgan Tsvangirai.--Harare Tribune News
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/1451
A friend went to the bank today to withdraw money
$200. He got paid out in
50c coins because the bank had no paper money to
give him. So I decided to
weigh them, that is 2kg of coins.
Store
tellers in Zimbabwe are going mad as they cannot cope with the number
of
coins they are having to process. To buy a packet of milk, a loaf of
bread,
a few tomatoes and a dozen eggs is around $124 revalued currency or
$1 240
000 000 000 old money. Now you have to work it out in 50c coins, the
most
common available currency at the moment. That comes to 248 x 50c
coins!
At one particular store visited they could not find enough
containers to
hold all the coins, so they resorted to chucking them on the
floor. By the
end of the day there was an area approximately 4sq metres,
10cm deep. Now
this is a small shop, just imagine the chaos at a large
supermarket!
At the small shop, they had to have their computer system
adjusted to reduce
it by 10 zeroes, so they only opened at noon. By 6pm the
shop's entire
contents were wiped out. Another larger store that opened at
normal time
closed their doors at noon because they could not handle the
volume of
coins.
One guy today bought a satellite dish with the coins
he had stashed in
buckets that were being used as doorstops.
An
impoverished vendor bought an entire house full of furniture and hired a
truck to take it home, all from coins he had hidden under a bed.
The
big joke is the brilliant governor of the reserve bank has absolutely no
idea how many old coins are actually in circulation.
This
entry was written by Still Here on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
http://www.sowetan.co.za
05 August 2008
Book: Tekere: A lifetime of
struggle
Author: Ibbo Mandaza
Two decades ago during a heated
central committee meeting of the Zimbabwe
African National Union (Zanu),
Edgar Tekere warned that new president Robert
Mugabe would lead the newly
independent country to ruin.
Tekere was fighting for his
political life as moves were afoot to expel him
from the party. Under
Mugabe's leadership, Zimbabwe is today battling for
survival.
This
startling revelation appears in Tekere' s biography authored by the
eminent
Zimbabwean scholar Dr Ibbo Mandaza.
At the meeting Tekere accused Mugabe
of orchestrating plots to have him
killed. At the end of a speech he told
Mugabe: "If I am going to leave, this
party will roll like a rock. Under
your leadership this country is going
down a precipice.''
We should
be cautious as Tekere may be inventing history, taking advantage
of the
current crisis in Zimbabwe. This is a no-holds-barred book about
Tekere's
controversial life. It is about his life as a youth, involvement in
the
nationalist movement and liberation struggle.
But most importantly, it
gives an insight into the uneasy relationship
between him and Mugabe.
Although the two men seemed to have been close
during the liberation
struggle, they did not seem to like one another.
Tekere mentions various
incidences where he was not comfortable with Mugabe's
conduct. He takes a
dig at Mugabe, whom he says was a loner.
Mandaza brings to the open
Tekere's chaotic life - he was both a juvenile
and adult delinquent. He was
unruly, fearless, nonconformist and always in
trouble.
He started
smoking at the age of 13, became a heavy drinker and was expelled
from
school. He got married to four wives, all of whom died in tragic
circumstances.
This is what Tekere says about his rebellious nature:
"I have always been a
rebel. I was a bright child, but was impossible. I
would organise the other
children so that the class became
unteachable."
Tekere details his involvement in the liberation
struggle which started when
he was still at school. He was at the heart of
the formation of all the
nationalist movements, which included factionalism,
splits and mergers.
He was detained several times by the Rhodesian
authorities. It was during
one of his spells in detention that he gained a
Bachelor of Commerce degree
from Unisa.
Tekere and Mugabe left
together for exile in Mozambique, where Tekere earned
the respect of all
cadres. He was very fond of Josiah Tongogara, whom he
regarded as a brave
soldier. He confirms that Tongogara died in a road
accident and that there
was nothing untoward about his death. He also
reveals a number of issues
hitherto unknown about Zanu.
He says Mugabe's speech about reconciliation
was not discussed with the
party leadership.
Tekere also points out
that Mugabe did not wrest the leadership of the party
from Ndabaningi
Sithole as he wants people to believe. Mugabe became head of
the party by
virtue of being secretary general after Leopold Takawira's
death.
Tekere says Mugabe was not comfortable with Zanu's decision
not to fight the
elections as the Patriotic Front alongside Joshua Nkomo.
Had they done so,
Zanu would have lost as Nkomo was a liability, he says.
The book
characterises Mugabe as a devious and calculating person.