From The Star (SA), 4 October

Zim police raid week-old radio station

Harare - Zimbabwean police and secret-service agents raided the studios of the nation's first independent radio station and the homes of people linked to the station on Wednesday, only days after it began broadcasting. Police and agents from the CIO along with the Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) raided the studios of Capital Radio, located in a hotel in central Harare. The police had search warrants, but lawyers for the station had served notices to the police, the PTC, the attorney-general and the information ministry prohibiting them from interfering in the station's operations. A lawyer for the station, Johnathon Samkange, said the warrants were invalid because they were not signed and stamped by a magistrate and because they failed to identify the addresses to be searched.

"They want to dismantle the equipment and confiscate it," Samkange said, adding that the station would seek a court order to force the police out of the studio and homes. No one was in the office at the Crowne Plaza hotel when police arrived, said one officer. So far, no arrests have been made. Police also went to the homes of Mike Auret, a human-rights activist, three other founders of the station, and the Bulawayo home of an opposition lawmaker, David Coltart. Coltart was on his way home from Harare when police arrived at his house with a warrant to search for broadcasting equipment, he said. Coltart was one of the station's co-founders, but had sold his interest in the company. The station was broadcasting recorded music when the raid began, and more than two hours later it was still on the air. It had begun broadcasting on Friday, a week after winning a Supreme Court case that broke the government's monopoly on the airwaves.

Since then, the information minister, Jonathan Moyo, has said the station still needed a licence to broadcast and would not be allowed on the airwaves until new regulations are in place. The station has repeatedly said it would return to the Supreme Court if the government tried to shut it down illegally. Capital Radio had kept secret the location of its offices, but on Wednesday, the state-run Herald newspaper published the name of the hotel from where the station was broadcasting. Managers at the hotel said police had presented a warrant to search the room, located in an office labelled "loss control". Until last week, the state-run ZBC was the only company allowed to broadcast from Zimbabwe, although stations broadcasting from outside the country can be received.

The Supreme Court dismantled that monopoly on September 22, saying the government was wrong to refuse Capital Radio a broadcasting licence. The government has yet to publish new broadcasting regulations that would comply with the Supreme Court ruling, but reports have said it could ban foreign ownership of stations and impose stiff fines for comments deemed to denigrate President Robert Mugabe.

From The Financial Gazette, 5 October

Independent broadcasters go into hiding

Capital Radio owners suspect dreaded CIO after them

ZIMBABWE’S first independent broadcasters Mike Auret (Jnr) and Gerry Jackson have gone into hiding, saying they fear for their lives after being tracked by unidentified men who they suspect to be agents of the CIO. Auret, speaking from a hideout, said this week he had abandoned his home and could no longer visit his offices or the Capital Radio studios, while Jackson, who earlier this week found a huge "beware" sign placed on the gate to her house, has sought refuge with friends and well-wishers.

"I am living in a place where no one knows about," Auret told the Financial Gazette. "I cannot go to my office and my staff has to meet me at different safe venues so that I can sign papers and cheques that need to be signed." Auret is a business partner of Jackson, who has also been forced to adopt a new routine for safety’s sake. The CIO has in the past been accused of causing the disappearances of some opponents of the government. Auret said he and Jackson had, through their lawyers, already written to Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, Attorney-General Andrew Chigovera and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo about their safety and that of their equipment.

State Security Minister Nicholas Goche under whose portfolio the CIO falls could not be reached for comment yesterday. Chigovera’s office said it had not received the letter from Auret and Jackson’s lawyers by yesterday. But Moyo said: "There is nothing wrong with the CIO following anyone doing illegal things. Allocating yourself a frequency and broadcasting without a licence is illegal. We hope that the police not only follow them but find them and their equipment."

Auret said: "We know that those guys are capable of acting even outside the law and we have written to the relevant people to warn them that we would sue for wrongful arrest and harassment if we are arrested or our equipment is seized." Auret and Jackson, who jointly own Capital Radio, were two weeks ago granted the right to operate a broadcasting service by the Supreme Court which nullified the state-run ZBC’s monopoly on the national airwaves. Capital Radio had challenged the ZBC’s broadcasting monopoly on the grounds that it contravened Section 20 (1) of the Constitution, which guarantees Zimbabweans freedom of expression and the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

The government welcomed the court ruling but warned that no broadcaster should operate until the state had appointed a regulatory mechanism to govern the operations of broadcasters. A new broadcasting authority will issue licences and allocate frequencies to operators. But Auret and Jackson said Capital Radio could not wait for the government. Their radio station started broadcasting last week. "We are law-abiding people but we cannot wait for the government which was supposed to ensure that the broadcasting laws were consistent with the Constitution long ago and should have put in place these regulations years back," Auret said.

Capital Radio is now beaming mostly musical programmes to listeners in the Harare area. When fully operational, Auret said Capital Radio would broadcast across Zimbabwe offering a variety of programme choices such as talk shows, news and music from Zimbabwe, Africa and the international stage. National culture would also be promoted while coverage of national issues and events would be decided purely on professional considerations.

Meanwhile the Bulawayo-based cultural group Amakhosi Theatre Productions and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) said this week they would also launch broadcasting stations once the government appointed a regulatory authority. The EFZ, with a membership of three million, said it wanted to launch two religious stations, one in Harare and another in Bulawayo, while Amakhosi would start by offering broadcasting services in Matabeleland and the Midlands before going national

From The Daily News, 4 October

Zanu PF militias threaten farmer

WAR veterans and suspected Zanu PF militias have threatened to kill Karoi farmer, Peter Straaup, if he refuses to vacate his property, while an ex-combatant allegedly shot and killed six dogs at a farm in the Tengwe area yesterday. CFU regional executive, David Rockingham-Hill, said last night Straaup received a letter from the invaders on Monday threatening him with death if he refused to vacate the farm. Straaup owns Dearwood Park Farm. Police in Karoi confirmed the incident but said they had not yet found suspects.

Rockingham-Hill said: "The invaders told Mr Straaup that he would get worse treatment than Mr Marshall Roper if he continues to farm." The invaders were referring to Roper, the owner of Peveril Farm, who was brutally assaulted by invaders on Monday last week. Police spokesperson, Ernest Muchenjekwa, said the police were still looking for suspects in connection with Roper's assault. "The situation is volatile here," Rockingham-Hill said. "We have got to have law and order. Without law and order we cannot do anything." He said a suspected ex-combatant shot and killed six dogs at Helwin Farm. The invaders left some spears as they retreated to their camp, he said. A group of suspected war veterans armed with .303 rifles allegedly shot at the Laughing Hills farmhouse on Monday and assaulted Grant Pilcher, a farmer.

CFU said yesterday that the owner of San Fernando Farm near Chegutu lost 80 tonnes of maize in a fire suspected to have been started by invaders. Farmers said 30 villagers descended on Fair Adventure Farm in Hwedza on Saturday and started planting in a prepared maize field. They ordered workers to stop working.

From The Star (SA), 4 October

MDC fears that Tsvangirai could be charged

Zimbabwe opposition officials have expressed concern that the government could charge their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai could face charges of treason for remarks warning that President Robert Mugabe risked a violent overthrow if he did not leave office voluntarily. At the weekend, Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, told a rally celebrating the party's first anniversary: "What we want to tell Mugabe today is to please go peacefully. If you don't want to go, we will remove you violently." Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaker of parliament and a hard-line Mugabe supporter, said: "I have no doubt that the police and the attorney-general's office will act on this unconstitutional deed."

Zimbabwe police say they want to interview Tsvangirai when he returns from a trip to Belgium on Thursday. MDC party officials expressed regret over Tsvangirai's remarks. Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the MDC, described the statements as "a slip of the tongue" not aimed at inciting violence, but pointing out the risk faced by leaders around the world who overstay their welcome. However, he conceded that under a hardline interpretation of the nation's treason laws or the colonial era Law and Order Maintenance Act, never repealed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai could be charged. With treason carrying the death penalty, a charge against Tsvangirai could spark a political explosion, compounding the already dire economic situation gripping Zimbabwe. "We hope wise counsel in (the ruling party) Zanu-PF will prevail," Ncube said.

From The Star (SA), 4 October

World Bank blocks loans to bad-debt Zimbabwe

Washington - The World Bank on Tuesday said Zimbabwe would not be able to borrow more money from the global lending agency until the African country improved its repayment record on its $889-million worth of loans. The global development agency said repayments of $47-million were overdue by six months and it had therefore placed its credits on a "non-accrual" status, meaning Zimbabwe will not be able to borrow until it clears its arrears. The World Bank's decision will make it more difficult and expensive for the country to borrow money from other lenders as it struggles to recover from its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. The decision also means the World Bank, which announced the decision in a statement, will increase its loan loss provisions by $115-million and will suffer a $133-million cut in its net income for the first quarter, ending on September 30.

Zimbabwe has been at loggerheads with its donors for much of this and last year. They have criticised President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF government for mismanaging the economy and have threatened to block aid in response to land seizures of white-owned farms by black Zimbabwean war veterans. The seizures have dented Zimbabwe's key farm sector, which contributes about 20 percent of gross domestic product. Another drain on the country's economy has been its involvement in the two-year old DRC war, where Mugabe deployed 11 000 troops to prop up President Laurent Kabila against a rebellion. Complaints of mismanagement and the involvement in the war were prime reasons for the IMF, a sister institution to the World Bank, to suspend a $193 million lending programme last year. IMF teams who have since visited the country have complained that it has deviated significantly from budgetary and monetary goals set by the global lender in 1999. A resumption of international aid is widely seen by analysts as essential for an economic turnaround in Zimbabwe.

From The Financial Gazette, 5 October

Muzenda guns for presidency

VICE PRESIDENT Simon Muzenda has told senior officials of the ruling ZANU PF that he intends to succeed President Robert Mugabe, but party insiders warn that his ambitions could scuttle plans to groom a younger leader to ward off a stiff challenge from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the 2002 presidential election. Several ZANU PF provincial chairmen and other top party officials interviewed by the Financial Gazette this week confirmed information that Muzenda, 78, had started to make known in the party his wish to succeed Mugabe and "have his own time at the helm of ZANU PF and the government".

But Muzenda said yesterday his future plans in politics had nothing to do with the Financial Gazette and this newspaper had no business inquiring about his plans. "Is this your kind of journalism? Where is your information coming from? I am hearing what you are saying for the first time and I don’t go to newspapers to discuss my future," said Muzenda in a brief telephone interview from his rural home in Gutu. Some party officials nonetheless said Muzenda had in fact confided in them his wish to succeed Mugabe and at times had openly spoken about it to his trusted lieutenants.

Other officials said the information had reached them second-hand, but nonetheless believed it was accurate because it was being widely deliberated within the party. One official said Muzenda felt that he was still popular among voters and that if Mugabe bowed down to pressure to retire, he should be "the natural successor". "Muzenda has confided in me and other party people that, as a senior vice president, he should be the natural successor to Mugabe. He has also said that he is popular within the party and it’s Mugabe himself who is no longer popular," a member of ZANU PF’s supreme Politburo organ told the Financial Gazette…

From The Star (SA), 4 October

We're living hand-to-mouth, says Zim minister

Harare - Zimbabwe is in a dire economic crisis, admitted Simba Makoni, the finance minister, on Wednesday, saying the country was living "from hand to mouth". Makoni, appointed in July, said the economy was shrinking and increasingly unable to generate foreign currency. "We are in a very critical balance of payment situation, and we have not been able to meet our payment obligations on time to a number of creditors including the World Bank," Makoni told a news conference. "We are in a serious external payment position," he said.

On Tuesday, the World Bank said it had placed Zimbabwe on non-payment status as the country owes arrears of $47-million to the institution. Makoni said the country's import cover was critically low at a time when foreign currency inflow is normally at its peak. "We are living from hand to mouth. It's not enough," he said in answer to a question. Makoni said Zimbabwe's crisis went beyond economics, manifesting itself in a rising crime rate and other social ills stemming from an escalating cost of living and spreading poverty.

From The Financial Gazette, 5 October

Businesses plot tax boycott

PRESSURE mounted on President Robert Mugabe to act on the disregard of the rule of law by this supporters this week as it also emerged that some local industrialists are planning to boycott the payment of taxes in a bid to force him to restore confidence in the tottering economy. Manufacturing industry sources told the Financial Gazette that some Harare business leaders were lobbying their organisations for support to boycott the payment of taxes to the government. "It is the feeling among most industrialists that our main problem in the fight for a better economic future has been the private sector which has continued to allow the government to act with impunity," said one Harare-based industrialist who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The industrialists said they did not want to continue bankrolling an administration that ignored its own laws and openly supported lawlessness. The sources said the industrialists were incensed by Mugabe’s open support for the violent seizure of white-owned farmland by self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war and other supporters of his ZANU PF party. The plot to boycott taxes was confirmed by David Govere, president of the Mashonaland Chamber of Industries, who said in a statement this week that his organisation did not support illegal means to force the government to act on the country’s deteriorating political and economic problems. "We do not agree with the radical suggestions by some members in industry that companies should not pay taxes so as to put pressure on government because we do not promote illegal activities," he said.

Analysts say the boycott of corporate and individual taxes could widen the rift between the government and the private sector, already at each other’s throats because of the government’s accusation that business is supporting the opposition MDC. "A boycott of taxes is illegal in terms of the law and could force the government to withdraw licences of particular companies," economist Witness Chinyama said.