Zim Online
Tuesday 12 December
2006
HARARE - Economic analysts say it will take
more than mere economic
dexterity to pluck Zimbabwe out of the rut as
confidence-sapping bickering
within the government continues to further blur
prospects of a quick
recovery.
The analysts said embarrassing
mudslinging in the past two weeks
between the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
and its parent Ministry of
Finance over off-budget expenditure had the
potential of damaging any
remaining traces of confidence and orderliness in
Zimbabwe's economic
management systems.
University of Zimbabwe
graduate business school lecturer Tony Hawkins
said the public brawl between
the fiscal and monetary authorities was
particularly disastrous at a time
the country was under the international
spotlight and battling to contain
speculative practices.
"I wouldn't trust either of them (the RBZ
and the Ministry of Finance)
and wouldn't trust the CPI figure either,
particularly given what the
consumer index says is the cost of living," said
Hawkins.
Zimbabwe's annual inflation shot to 1098.8 percent in
November, a 28.6
percentage points increase from the October figure of
1070.2 percent.
A public row has erupted between Zimbabwe's two top
financial leaders
over the printing of money to keep the government afloat,
thereby worsening
the nation's already disastrous inflation.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono at the weekend responded angrily to
accusations by
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa two weeks ago that the
central bank was to
blame for fuelling money supply growth, which currently
stands at more than
1 000 percent.
Gono, a close ally of President Robert Mugabe,
described as sickening
the extent to which "public figures and officials are
keen to misinform the
nation".
In his national budget proposals
for 2007 made on 30 November, Murerwa
said the central bank's quasi-fiscal
operations, including paying freshly
printed money to the government and
loss-making state enterprises, fuelled
inflation and contributed to a
massive 43 percent budget deficit in spending
against revenues received by
the state.
But Gono released a 16-page statement on Sunday that
included
confidential memos ordering the reserve bank to provide cash to
ministries
and government departments that overspent on their annual budgets
this year.
Gono rejected accusations by Murerwa that he made
unbudgeted,
unauthorised and allegedly illegal disbursements of
money.
Analysts yesterday said the public brawl between Gono and
Murerwa was
ill-timed as it came at a time an International Monetary Fund
(IMF) mission
was in the country to assess economic
performance.
"The public bickering will obviously make easy the
work of the IMF
team which has been in the country for the past week to
assess Zimbabwe's
compliance with recommendations made at the last
assessment six months ago,"
said an investment analyst with a Harare-based
commercial bank.
At its last review around July, the IMF had
cautioned the government
against printing money which is not backed by an
increase in production.
Apart from battling out of control
inflation, Zimbabweans also have to
grapple with shortages of medicines,
fuel, electricity, hard cash and just
about every basic survival commodity
as the southern African nation's
economy teeters on the brink of total
collapse. - ZimOnline
Reuters
Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:00
PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation quickened to 1,098.8
percent
in November from 1,070.2 percent previously, highlighting an
eight-year
economic recession critics blame on government
incompetence.
The country's inflation rate is the highest in the world
and is the clearest
sign of an economic and political crisis also shown in
unemployment above 80
percent, shrinking gross domestic product and
shortages of foreign currency,
food and fuel.
The Central Statistical
Office also said on Monday month-on-month inflation
rose to 30.1 percent
compared to 27.5 percent previously.
President Robert Mugabe's government
has projected that inflation -- which
it has labelled the country's number
one enemy -- would slow to between
350-400 percent by the end of next year
although analysts are wary of the
forecast.
Analysts say only drastic
measures such as curbing excessive state spending
and halting the practice
of handing cheap funds to farmers and state
enterprises -- which has been
blamed for driving money supply growth --
would help bring inflation
down.
Zimbabwean workers have borne the brunt of inflation as they
grapple with
escalating increases in the price of basic commodities,
transport fares,
education and medical fees while salaries have legged
behind.
The government has accused businesses of profiteering at the
expense of
ordinary citizens and is working on a law that will effectively
require
manufacturers to justify raising prices.
Last week it set
maximum fees for private schools.
Critics blame Mugabe's politics for
plunging the former bread basket of
southern Africa into crisis,
particularly his government's drive to seize
land from white commercial
farmers for landless blacks.
But Mugabe says Zimbabwe has fallen victim
to a Western campaign of sabotage
to punish him for the land
seizures.
IOL
December 11
2006 at 12:53PM
Cape Town - Zimbabwe's political and economic
crises show no sign of
abating, Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon
said in Cape Town on
Monday.
"We would all like to think there
could be productive change in
Zimbabwe to see all these economic indicators
move the other way, but there
is no sign of that happening at all," he told
reporters on the fringes of a
Commonwealth education ministers'
meeting.
On leadership, too, there were few signs of President
Robert Mugabe,
who has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from
Britain, being
replaced.
"A lot of people talk about a
post-Mugabe plan. We certainly have
ideas. But we don't see anything coming
out that suggests change is really
imminent."
McKinnon referred to plans to postpone Zimbabwean presidential
elections by
two years to 2010 and underscored that repeated efforts by the
Commonwealth,
the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community
and nations
such as Britain and the United States had failed to stem
Zimbabwe's economic
slide.
"Everyone has tried and all of us have failed," he said.
"With all the
effort we put into it we didn't get any result at
all."
Asked if he had given up, McKinnon said: "We would like to
see them
come back into the Commonwealth. I'm looking for ... new
ideas."
McKinnon said he had evidence that every African leader of
a
Commonwealth nation had publicly criticised Mugabe at one time or another,
including South Africa, which has been repeatedly chastised over its policy
of "silent diplomacy" towards its northern neighbour.
"The
anxiety is there but clearly no one was going to want to take him
head on
publicly," he said, adding Mugabe's popularity on the continent
should not
be under-estimated.
Zimbabwe's collapse was putting pressure on its
neighbours, McKinnon
added, with an estimated three million expatriates
thought to be living in
South Africa.
Zimbabwe currently faces
four-digit inflation, massive joblessness,
and growing poverty.
Once a regional breadbasket, the country has increasingly relied on
food aid
and imports since 2000 when the government launched controversial
land
reforms evicting white farmers to make way for landless blacks.
Mail and Guardian
MacDonald Dzirutwe | Harare, Zimbabwe
11 December 2006 05:01
United Nations Special Envoy James
Morris on Monday told
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe it is important to
ensure food security
if the country's battered economy is to rebound from a
deepening recession.
Morris, who steps down as head of the
World Food Programme (WFP)
in January, gave few details of his meeting in
Harare. He is one of the most
senior UN visitors to see Mugabe since last
year's stand-off over Zimbabwe's
devastating slum-clearance
campaign.
"President Mugabe and I had a very cordial
conversation," Morris
told reporters. "We talked about issues of food
security and how important
that is to a country's ability to sustain itself
and to be economically
strong."
The slum-clearance
exercise, officially dubbed "Operation
Restore Order", was seen by senior UN
officials as drastically worsening
Zimbabwe's already precarious food
situation as police and government
bulldozers destroyed the homes or
livelihoods of more than three million
people.
Mugabe
defended the campaign, which he said was aimed at rooting
out crime, and
branded UN Humanitarian and Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland a
"hypocrite and
a liar" for voicing concern over the policy.
Morris, whose
own agency has had sometimes strained relations
with Mugabe's government,
said UN agencies will continue to work with
Zimbabwe.
"I
affirmed the commitment of UN agencies to be a partner with
Zimbabwe, to be
as helpful as we can in matters related to food security and
matters related
to the HIV pandemic across the region," he said. "It was a
useful
conversation and a hopeful conversation."
Mugabe has in the
past accused aid groups of using food to turn
the people against his
government, at one point saying the agencies were
trying to "foist food" on
Zimbabweans.
Morris is on his final tour of Southern Africa,
hoping to
highlight the region's twin humanitarian crises of regular food
shortages
and the world's worst HIV/Aids pandemic.
Zimbabwe is particularly hard hit. The country is in the grips
of its worst
political and economic crisis since independence in 1980 with
inflation of
more than 1 000 percent, a surging unemployment rate and
crippling shortages
of food, fuel and foreign currency.
Critics say Mugabe's
seizure of white-owned farms for black
people has gutted the key agriculture
sector and accelerated the crisis,
which has coincided with five years of
drought that have left millions of
people surviving on food
aid.
The WFP has set aside $5-million to feed 1,9 million
people in
Zimbabwe through to April, but has said the figure could
rise.
The government, on the other hand, has forecast a
1,8-million
tonne harvest of the staple maize crop during the 2005/6 season,
enough to
cover its requirements.
But aid agencies doubt
the figure. Half of the harvest was
expected to be sold to the state grain
agency, but it says only 500 000
tonnes were delivered. -- Reuters
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: December 11,
2006
HARARE, Zimbabwe: An alliance of 16 independent
human rights groups said
Monday its records of torture, assault, unlawful
arrests and political
discrimination showed the nation's police force has
been the main
perpetrator of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe since
2000.
In six years of political turmoil and economic meltdown, the
Zimbabwe
Republic Police, or ZRP, changed from a generally professional
force to a
politicized one used by the ruling party to suppress all
perceived
opposition and retain power, said the Human Rights
Forum.
"The police have been named as torturers and police premises as
places of
torture and other abuse in hundreds of cases recorded by the
forum," it
said.
To victims of violence and political intimidation,
the police, the military
and law enforcement agencies including the Central
Intelligence Organization
spy agency "became instruments of violence rather
than institutions that
offered protection," the forum said in a report
released Monday entitled
"Who Guards the Guards?"
It said at
least 20,642 cases of human rights violations mostly orchestrated
by the
state were documented since July 2001, when the independent rights
organizations began compiling accounts of abuse.
"These are the
number of cases, and in many there are several people abused,
so the number
of people suffering abuse could be considerably higher," the
forum
said.
Over 5,000 rights violations blamed on state agents were
independently
documented in the first nine months of this year, mostly
against perceived
government opponents.
The alliance documented 2,656
cases of violations in 2004.
"2006 may record nearly 7,000 violations by
the end of the year. Most
disturbing is that in 2006 torture has increased
markedly," it said.
Torture included assaults and beatings, whippings on
the soles of the feet
and deprivation of food, medical care and
sleep.
"The situation continues to deteriorate. The police and other
perpetrators
operate with impunity, not facing any legal responsibility for
their
actions. This impunity allows abuses to continue," Noel Kututwa, head
of the
forum, told reporters in Harare.
He said Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi, in charge of police, announced
the doubling of police manpower
from the present force of about 23,000 to
some 50,000 next year. Some were
being recruited from militant ruling party
youth groups.
"This means
there are more hands to carry out these violations," Kututwa
said.
He
said the police were also likely preparing themselves for any backlash
against ruling party proposals to extend 82-year-old authoritarian President
Robert Mugabe's term of office to 2010.
Kututwa said the alliance
data was gathered from actual cases verified by
lawyers and medical
personnel.
Police routinely do no comment on allegations by human rights
groups.
Government officials frequently accuse the groups of fabricating
allegations
of abuse to discredit security forces.
Kututwa said few
police officers still wore lapel badges giving their force
identity numbers
and officers frequently refused to identify themselves.
But senior
officers of sergeant and above have been personally identified by
torture
victims.
"This refutes government excuses that occasional abuses have
been carried
out by overzealous low-level officers," Kututwa said.
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 11 Dec
2006 (IRIN/PLUSNEWS) - Zimbabwe's deteriorating health
services have made
room for a thriving parallel market for drugs, many of
them counterfeit,
warn concerned health professionals.
The sale of genuine as well as fake
medicines on the streets was "big,
booming business," said Dr Paul Chimedza,
the president of the Zimbabwe
Medical Association (ZIMA). "The health system
has been adversely affected
by the poorly performing economy. There is a
general shortage of drugs
within the country and unscrupulous dealers are
capitalising on the
situation by selling medical drugs on the
streets."
Among health professionals the overriding concern is that there
is no
quality control of the drugs available on the streets.
Drugs
are much cheaper in the parallel market - Zimbabweans pay between five
and
eight times less than they would for any drug from a registered
pharmacy. A
month's course of antiretroviral medication could cost anywhere
from US$200
to $400 in the parallel market, against almost $1,200 from a
legitimate
source.
But with the low prices comes high risk. "In some of the cases,
those who
need the drugs are not even aware of the dangers that are posed by
buying
from the streets. Even where the drugs are genuine, they pose great
danger
to the sick because they are not stored under prescribed conditions
and can
cause side effects," said Chimedza.
Galloping inflation, now
hovering around 1,200 percent annually, and a
scarcity of foreign currency
have crippled the health sector, creating
shortages of drugs, medical
equipment and even medical personnel, who have
migrated in search of better
salaries and living conditions.
"There is also a growing trend whereby
unregistered practitioners are
opening surgeries and administering wrong
injections on patients, in
addition to prescribing incorrect drugs," added
Chimedza. "But this is a
very cruel and immoral way of trying to earn a
living."
Most of the medicines on the parallel market were smuggled from
neighbouring
countries, particularly Zambia and Botswana, where they were
cheaper,
Chimedza said, but the employees of pharmaceutical companies and
hospitals
also stole drugs and sold them to street traders.
He
suggested that the health ministry and medical doctors carry out
campaigns
at health centres to educate people about the dangers of buying
drugs from
unregistered dealers. ZIMA also urged law enforcement agencies to
be more
aware of the problem and to crackdown on the smuggling of medicines.
The
flourishing illegal drug market is not limited to conventional medicine.
Jason Siyachitema, 40, has AIDS. He was showing signs of recovering from
tuberculosis after being put on ARV therapy two years ago, until it became
unaffordable. Unemployed and unable to spend $1,200 a month on ARVs, he
sought the help of a self-proclaimed herbalist.
"It was desperation
that drove me to the traditional healer. His medicine
was much cheaper, but
it turned out that he was selling me a powder ground
from common tree
leaves," Siyachitema told IRIN. "As a result, my condition
deteriorated to
the extent that I thought that I was going to die any time."
Timely
intervention by a nongovernmental organisation helped him to obtain
free
ARVs, which saved his life.
Exnevia Gomo, director of traditional
medicine in the Health Ministry,
admitted that the number of fake herbalists
has grown. "Traditional medicine
is considered much cheaper, and is becoming
more credible and popular
following the government's decision to officially
recognise it ... in direct
proportion, there are more cases of people
selling fake drugs to desperate
patients," Gomo told IRIN.
Minister
of Health David Parirenyatwa said in October that the government
did not
have enough resources to roll out free ARVs to more people. Only
42,000 of
an estimated 310,000 Zimbabweans in need of ARVs are receiving the
drugs
from state institutions.
The Herald
(Harare)
December 9, 2006
Posted to the web December 11,
2006
Harare
THE Registrar-General's Office has a backlog of 300
000 passport
applications but can only process 20 passports a day owing to a
critical
shortage of resources.
Chairperson of the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home
Affairs Cde Claudius Makova told the
House that the critical shortage of
resources was crippling the department's
operations.
Cde Makova, who is the Zanu-PF MP for Bikita West, was
presenting the
committee's report on the 2007 Budget overview.
"The
department introduced the new polythene/synthetic identity document and
it
is saddening to note that the shortage of resources has not spared the
new
ID. The issuance of the IDs has therefore been suspended," he said.
Cde
Makova said the RG's Office was heavily under-funded.
The department made
a bid for $75,1 billion in the 2007 Budget but was only
allocated $21,7
billion, equivalent to 29 percent of the bid.
"By March 2007, the
allocated money will be fully exhausted. Fourteen
district offices were
expected to be completed and opened by March 2007, but
this is no longer
possible," Cde Makova said.
Earlier this week, the Registrar-General's
Office suspended the processing
of new passport application forms to enable
them to clear the backlog.
Passports applied for within the last 15 months
are yet to be processed. The
Herald understands that the last batch of
passports released was for people
who submitted their applications in May
last year.
The Registrar-General, Mr Tobaiwa Mudede, recently attributed
the backlog of
passports to lack of foreign currency.
Turning to the
defence forces budget, Cde Makova said funds allocated to
some of the
operations were insufficient.
Out of a bid for $129 billion, the Air
Force of Zimbabwe was allocated $49
billion while the Zimbabwe National Army
got $166 billion against a bid of
$130 billion, almost 71 percent of the
defence ministry's total allocation.
Cde Makova said there was need for
strategic reserves for fuel and oils to
cater for national
disasters.
The ZNA was allocated $2,5 billion against a bid of $14,4
billion for fuel
and lubricants.
"This allocation falls far short of
the department's requirements. The
ministry uses fuel for its day-to-day
operations and when offering
assistance to civilians," he said.
The
MP said the allocation of $4,7 billion against a bid of $11,1 billion
for
ZNA military procurement also fell short of requirements.
He said it was
necessary to bear in mind that the army had not been able to
recapitalise
for the past few years due to the unavailability of foreign
currency.
This, Cde Makova said, had made it extremely difficult for
the force to
proceed with its training and operational tasks.
The AFZ
was allocated $718,1 million for military procurement against a bid
of $6,2
billion. Cde Makova said the lack of funding would force the defence
forces
to revise its plans. "Your committee is cognisant of the difficulties
the
economy is facing. However, the under-funding of a sensitive and
critical
institution like the ZDF is not in the best interests of any
nation," said
Cde Makova, a retired colonel.
The Herald (Harare)
December 9,
2006
Posted to the web December 11, 2006
Harare
HARARE
residents should brace for quarterly increases in service charges
next year
after the commission running the capital yesterday adopted for
approval by
Government the 2007 annual budget estimates.
The estimates -- totalling
$94,53 billion -- were adopted on the eve of the
expiry of the commission's
term.
The commission was appointed exactly two years today to replace the
council
once led by dismissed Engineer Elias Mudzuri, which the Government
felt had
failed to perform.
The budget estimates were worked out
using a projected inflation rate of 600
percent by September
2007.
The staggered increases will see high-density residents, who are
currently
being charged $350 for weekly refuse collection, paying $19 140 by
September
with low-density residents being charged $22 970 and industrial,
commercial
and medical institutions paying up to $45 940.
In January,
the refuse collection fee for high-density areas will be $1 225,
increasing
to $3 060 in April and $7 660 in July.
If the proposed rates are
approved, the waste management department would
have a surplus of $10,55
billion by the end of next year.
Residents will pay a total of $6 737 in
January, $16 844 in April, $21 437
in July and $32 922 by September for
supplementary charges and refuse
collection fees.
The charges exclude
water and sewerage tariffs whose billing has been taken
over by Zinwa
beginning this month.
Ambulance fees will in January increase to $50 000,
up from $5 000. The rate
will go up to $70 000 in April, $80 000 in July and
$100 000 in September.
An emergency levy of $400 will be charged per
low-density household for the
whole year while the amount will be $200 for
high-density areas .
The cost of dying in Harare has also gone up.
Cremation for Hindus will rise
to $40 000 by July next year while cremation
by gas, which is currently at
$60 000, will go up to $600 000 over the same
period.
Burial in the B area will go up to $45 000 in July while in the A
area it
will go up to $200 000 and in the A+ sites it will be $400
000.
Presently the charges are $11 000 for B, $17 000 for A and $30 000
for A+.
The cost of registering vehicles has also gone up with light
vehicles being
charged an annual registration fee of $90 000 from the
current $2 400. Heavy
vehicles will be registered at a cost of $378 873 from
the present $9 840.
Hospital fees have also shot up by differing margins.
Adult clinic fees,
presently at $1 125, go up to $2 800 in January and rise
further to $9 500
by September.
Child fees, which are currently
pegged at $563, will increase to $4 800 by
September while adult hospital
fees will go up to $84 000 from the present
$10 000 with children paying
half the amount.
Maternity fees, presently set at $16 875, go up to $42
000 in January, $63
000 in April, $94 900 in July and $144 400 in
September.
The cost of renting council houses doubles in January with
further increases
of 50 percent in April, 50 percent in July and 50 percent
in September.
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
11 December 2006
Residents in the
Tafara high density suburb of Harare have had no
consistent running water
for over 3 years now and have been struggling with
random availability. Last
week the situation got worse when electric cables
under a local pub snapped
and exposed live wires to a wet environment. Our
resident Tafara contact
reports that many people got very strong electric
shocks when they touched
water taps and other metal appliances. She said no
warning was issued by
local council officials or the Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority (ZESA),
which is responsible for power supplies and
repairs.
Our
contact said the local council told residents to report the
problem to ZESA.
But numerous calls to the power company by many yielded no
results. The
electric shocks went on for about 7 days before anything was
done.
Information on the danger was spread by local activists who told
residents
to make sure they wore shoes with rubber soles. No major injuries
were
reported but some Tafara residents who had open wounds told our contact
the
shocks were so strong they were thrown to the ground.
Our contact
has also been monitoring the availability of running
water. She said there
are still no regular hours when the water is turned on
and people are
relying on unsafe water from a little stream in an area
called "kwa Gosden".
This stream flows through Mabvuku and is reported to be
so polluted that
human waste can be seen floating on the surface. Our
contact said the dead
body of a child was found in the stream earlier this
month. The naked body
of a dead adult male was also discovered nearby the
week before
last.
Water and power problems have been at a critical level
countrywide for
years now as the relevant authorities failed to secure
foreign currency for
spare parts and repairs. They have also been riddled
with corruption and
mismanagement. The International Monetary Fund
recommended that the
government privatise the parastatals as part of an
effort leading to
economic recovery. But none of the measures it urged have
been put in place.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
Cape Times
December 11, 2006 Edition 2
HARARE: Zimbabwe's central
bank chief, Gideon Gono, yesterday hit out at
critics who have accused him
of worsening the country's economic crisis by
dishing out huge illegal
payments to struggling government companies and
departments.
In the
latest instalment of what appears to be a deepening spat between
Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa and Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank
published a 16-page statement in Sunday newspapers defending his bank's
practice of making payments outside the national budget.
In a budget
presentation last month, Murerwa said government ministries
would no longer
be allowed to continue accessing funds from the central
bank, but would have
to make do with what they were given under his budget.
Murerwa said
"quasi-fiscal" expenditures by the central bank were boosting
money supply
growth and fuelling Zimbabwe's inflation, currently the highest
in the world
at more than 1 070%.
But yesterday Gono said the payments were "a necessary
response to economies
in crisis, where ordinary ways of doing things have
failed". - Sapa-dpa
Mail and Guardian
Godwin
Gandu
11 December 2006 11:59
There
are rumours that treasury boss Dr Herbert Murerwa and
central bank chief Dr
Gideon Gono are at one each other's throats. They
reportedly regularly have
SMS wars, with a defiant Gono reminding his boss
that they are "working for
the same government, and that he [Murerwa] should
be patriotic and listen to
him," treasury insiders say.
During his budget presentation,
Murerwa told President Robert
Mugabe and Parliament that Gono would present
his monetary policy statement
this week. Two days later, Gono announced that
he wouldn't deliver the
monetary policy statement until next
January.
"It is critical that the monetary policy statement
be reconciled
not only with the budget, but with sentiments, advice and
opinions from our
interaction with the IMF [International Monetary Fund] ...
as well as views
emanating from the forthcoming people's conference of the
ruling Zanu-PF
party," Gono said.
"Ignoring these two
important stakeholders while there is still
a window of opportunity ... will
be a fundamental omission on our part as
the Central Bank," Gono retorted in
a state-owned weekly newspaper.
Murerwa was reportedly angry
about Gono's statement. "Murerwa is
being portrayed as insensitive and Gono
is sending a message in a subtle way
that he's the sensitive one," treasury
officials told the Mail & Guardian.
While Murerwa and
Gono might have issues with each another, a
six-member IMF team visiting the
country this week has issues with both of
them.
The IMF
will find that none of the recommendations it made three
months ago have
been addressed. In its last visit in September, the global
money lender told
Mugabe's government to stop printing money in order to
reign in inflation,
remove the fixed exchange rate, privatise its ailing
parastatals that have
been bleeding the fiscus and cut the budget deficit.
"Nothing
has changed," says John Robertson, an economic
consultant. "None of the
parastatals have been privatised. The government
seems to want to retain
total control over them. There are no takers for any
equity in our presently
loss-making organisations," he said. Robertson added
that the much-touted
Chinese investments in electricity and railways also
haven't
materialised.
"It's a huge embarrassment," says Dr Daniel
Ndlela, an economic
consultant. "The exchange rate is still fixed, thumbing
its nose at the IMF
to whom they are going cap-in-hand for the
balance-of-payments support. We
don't want Gono's speech [on monetary
policy], he should just devalue the
Zim dollar and keep quiet," Ndlela
said.
The official exchange rate is still fixed at Zimbabwe
$250
against the greenback. "It's the widest gap ever between the official
rate
and the parallel rate, where the greenback is now fetching $2500 to the
Zim
dollar," says Ndlela.
The IMF will be "disappointed
with both Gono and Murerwa", a
banker noted.
Mugabe has
recently tried to address the contentious property
rights issue by granting
over 100 new farmers with 99-year leases on seized
commercial farmlands.
"The government think they made a major step by
issuing out 99-year leases
on the farms, but the institutions I spoke to say
there is no possibility
[of the forms] being acceptable as collateral for
bank loans because there
is no tradability for assets prescribed by 99-year
leases," says
Robertson.
"The current situation will get worse. Scarcity of
foreign
currency will probably get worse, we are going to import more food
than we
did this year and we have no prospect for investment inflows," he
said.
Zimbabwe still owes the IMF US$125-million. Zimbabwe's
voting
rights and balance-of-payments support were suspended by the IMF
seven years
ago. What the IMF team can see as it strolls through Harare's
streets is
doom and gloom. "The prices are shooting through the roof," says
Ndlela. "It's
gloomy. There are shortages already. You can't get sugar in
shops either and
visiting the countryside for holidays is an impossibility,"
Ndlela said.
The only reminders of the upcoming holiday
season are the
traditional lustrous Christmas lights around Harare's Africa
Unity Square,
which were lit by an unelected government-imposed mayor last
week.
In supermarkets, prices have increased dramatically.
The prices
of 300ml soft drinks went up by 50% while commuter omnibus fares
increased
by 40%.
"Prices are going up every day, it's
very difficult for us to
cope," said a middle-aged shopper at Newlands TM
supermarket. "Looking at
the way the prices are going up, we will only be
able to buy the basics;
drinks are a luxury this festive season," says
44-year-old Paul.
By Lance Guma
11 December 2006
The Students Representative
Council President at the Bulawayo
Polytechnic, Blessing Vava, says he was
abducted by state security agents in
Bulawayo on Saturday. Writing in an
e-mail sent out to various news
agencies, Vava said four men bundled him
into a Jeep vehicle and drove along
the Gwanda road. The men allegedly
interrogated him inside the vehicle while
accusing him of being on the
payroll of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Vava alleges they
warned him he risked dying like former student
leader and MDC spokesman
Learnmore Jongwe, whose death in prison sparked
intense speculation. 'They
took turns assaulting me indiscriminately telling
me that I should resign as
a student leader and accusing me of being used by
Tony Blair,' Vava wrote.
He says what sparked the whole episode was a beer
drink at Killarney bar
where in the company of Clever Bere, another student
leader, he remarked
that Mugabe had killed the country. Bere is said to have
joined in saying,
'as students we will make the country ungovernable if
Mugabe dares to hang
on to power.'
This apparently is what led to the four men trailing
Vava soon after
he left the bar. Meanwhile Promise Mkwananzi the President
of the Zimbabwe
National Students Union (ZINASU) says he was thrown out of
an examination
room at the University of Zimbabwe by authorities there. The
removals also
affected several other student leaders like Tinei Mukweva and
Zwelithini
Viki. In Masvingo ZINASU Vice President Gideon Chitanga and his
colleagues
were also thrown out of examination rooms. University authorities
say they
no longer recognise them as students following suspension and
expulsion
letters issued a few months ago. This is despite court orders
overturning
these.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
11 December 2006
Exiled MDC treasurer-general Roy
Bennett on Sunday met with a group of
Zimbabwean refugees sheltered at the
central Methodist church in
Johannesburg , South Africa . Bennett who
relocated to South Africa early
this year fearing for his safety in Zimbabwe
, became the first senior
member of the MDC to visit the refugees in
Johannesburg . 'My visit to the
church was to show solidarity with the
refugees, to show them that we are
together in this struggle to fight Zanu
(PF) and Robert Mugabe,' Bennett
said.
More than 100 refugees
are sheltered at the central Methodist church
and the visit by Bennett was a
morale booster to most of the refugees who
have struggled to make ends meet
since fleeing persecution in Zimbabwe .
Solomon Chikohwero,
vice-chairman of Zimbabwe 's civic society
organisation in South Africa said
there were scenes of emotion when Bennett
visited the church, with many of
the refugees shedding some tears when they
saw the former MDC MP for
Chimanimani.
A number of the refugees wanted to know from Bennett
what the party
was doing to help them attain refugee status. There were also
questions
raised from the floor on what the MDC was going to do amid reports
that Zanu
(PF) wanted to extend Mugabe's presidential term by two more
years.
'Basically what I told them was that the MDC fully supports anyone
who fled
Zimbabwe because of persecution or threats to life and limb. We
have a clear
policy on that as a party that genuine asylum seekers would get
all the help
they need from the party,' he said.
On reports
that Mugabe might rule until 2010, Bennett said the MDC
would make noise
about the issue because people no longer want to be
suppressed. 'Instead of
discussing ways of bringing back sanity, we hear
reports that they want
Mugabe for life. As the MDC we will say no. Its high
time everyone said we
need democratic space, a new constitution because
people are tired of Mugabe
and his party,' he said.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
By
Dr. Stanford Mukasa
11 DECEMBER 2006
The big news in
the United States this past week was the report by a
group of concerned
Americans on the situation in Iraq . Known as the study
group on Iraq , the
team spent months studying the situation in, as well as
the US policy, on
Iraq .
The way this study group was formed, its membership and how
it went
about its work should offer a model for what is needed now in
Zimbabwe ,
given the deteriorating conditions created by bad
governance.
The study group on Iraq made 79 recommendations on how
the Bush
administration should deal with the situation in Iraq , which
according to
daily reports appears be escalating into what one network now
calls a civil
war.
The study group was made up of an equal
number of Democrats and
Republicans. It also consisted of senators,
government officials and a
judge, all of them retired.
The most
significant thing about this group was it was formed out of
an increasing
concern about the military involvement in Iraq which has cost
the United
States $400 billion so far.
The members of the team reviewed the
situation in, and the US policy
and strategies on, Iraq , not as senators or
members of the political
parties, but as ordinary citizens. Republicans and
Democrats took a sober
look at what new directions or strategies should be
undertaken in Iraq .
One of the team leaders stressed that the team
members did not
participate in this group as representatives of political
parties but as
ordinary citizens. Such a non partisan approach and teamwork
paid some
dividends. The group produced a series of recommendations which
are now
under discussion at all levels of society in the United States
.
When the team published its report, it received widespread
publicity
in the mass media, notably television. The team members also met
with
lawmakers as well as President Bush. The team also won praise for the
bipartisan effort they had put into this daunting task.
It was
argued that there had been many reports on Iraq , but one of
the team
leaders said theirs was the only truly bipartisan report. The
implication
was it would unite all concerned Americans on a non partisan
basis in
focusing on how to resolve the Iraq dilemma.
Perhaps most
significant is the debate the report has generated across
the country. The
report has involved both the president and the general
public in a fierce
debate. The study group and the mass media have created
an environment where
members of the public have been given a chance to
participate and,
hopefully, some national consensus on the US policy on Iraq
can
emerge.
Zimbabweans could well learn a lesson on the benefits of
collaboration
when addressing or searching for strategies to resolve the
pressing national
issues caused by bad governance.
It may be
argued that there are already reports and recommendations
which have been
made on the situation in Zimbabwe . A variety of civic,
political and
church groups have taken the initiative in suggesting the way
forward in
Zimbabwe . There have also been reports and recommendations from
outside
agencies and groups. But Mugabe and ZANU PF have largely ignored all
these
reports which are probably gathering dust in some offices.
What is
probably missing right now is a report modelled along the
study group in
Iraq that was researched and written by a non-partisan group
of concerned
citizens whose interest is not so much to win at the next
elections but to
encourage public debate on national issues.
Just as the Iraq war is
taking its toll on both Iraqis and Americans
the situation in Zimbabwe is
affecting ordinary citizens across party or
ethnic or tribal lines. Both
members of ZANU PF and the opposition movement
are suffering from the
economic meltdown in the country.
It has been reported that
Zimbabwe 's standards of living have
declined by 150 percent. Another report
a few years ago noted that life
itself in Zimbabwe has regressed 50 years.
The slide has not stopped. The
cost of living has in recent times gone up by
50 percent. Massive
unemployment of over 70 percent continues unabated as
the economy continues
to shrink up to the current estimate of 40
percent.
Life expectancy for women is now at an all- time low of
between 35 and
38. Zimbabwe has the highest number of orphans per capita in
the world.
Poverty, unemployment, starvation and the decline in
living standards
all cut across a wide spectrum of the Zimbabwean
population. The rank and
file of ZANU PF members suffers as much as members
of the opposition
parties.
The people who are surviving this
scourge are the top cronies of
Mugabe who are living very affluent
lifestyles. It is reported that Harare
in particular is a haven for the most
modern vehicles and luxurious homes.
But only a handful of Mugabe cronies
are benefiting from this windfall.
Given this pathetic poverty and
repression that define life for most
Zimbabweans it is only logical that a
new coalition that will reflect
Zimbabweans from all parties, and other
social formations, put together a
new study group on Zimbabwe .
Zimbabwe now needs a group of dedicated men and women who will rise
above
party, ideological and ethnic loyalties and put together a blueprint
for
recovering Zimbabwe from this abyss that Mugabe has recklessly plunged
it
into. This blueprint will not reflect any political party's policies or
ideology or ethnic agendas, but must be an expression of the national anger
and disgust at the state of affairs in the country as well as the way
forward.
Partisan or ideological politics are
counterproductive. As long as the
opposition movement wastes its time and
energies lambasting each other they
will not be able to spearhead an
onslaught against Mugabe. Some members of
the civic society are now getting
too comfortable because they are
strategically positioned to receive
breadcrumbs from Mugabe's table. Others
are now getting fatigued because
they feel the struggle has been going on
for too long and they will rather
settle for whatever Mugabe can toss into
their mouths.
A case
can be made at this point that by dangling Parliament and
Senate elections
Mugabe was trying to entice a middle class formation from
both ZANUPF
members and the opposition who, in turn, would form a buffer
against the
people who are really suffering. Other members of the opposition
like
Welshman Ncube, have enthusiastically accepted the 99- year leases that
Mugabe has been doling out.
Obviously, these breadcrumbs come
at a great cost because the same
leadership that is expected to launch a
vigorous campaign against Mugabe is
now showing signs of wear and tear. Yet
they will not relinquish their
leadership positions. They are participating
in these Mugabe political
games on the pretext this is what the people want
them to do.
But there is still within the opposition leadership,
and maybe in the
lower ranks in ZANUPF, men and women of goodwill, who, at
the end of the
day, still have that commitment to turn Zimbabwe around and
work for a
better future for all.
What is needed is for them to
join forces and form a study group on
Zimbabwe that will show Mugabe, and
indeed the world, that Zimbabweans from
different walks of life are united
and determined in moving forward and away
from the disastrous path Mugabe is
talking the country along.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo
Nkatazo
Last updated: 12/12/2006 03:00:42
ZIMBABWE plans to cash in on the
2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa by
constructing two new stadiums,
including one in the tourist resort town of
Victoria Falls, to be offered to
visiting teams for practice sessions.
The Zimbabweans will also be making
proposals to the South Africans to host
some of the World Cup matches if an
opportunity is offered -- although this
is highly
unlikely.
Education, Sport and Culture Minister Aeneas Chigwedere
revealed the plans
to Parliament this week.
He said: "Apart from
renovating a few stadiums, we are toying with the idea
of constructing one
or two new ones altogether, including one in Victoria
Falls."
South
Africa is expecting up of 55 000 fans for the 2010 football showpiece,
but
authorities say the country can only accommodate19 000 which has alerted
their northern neighbours.
Said Chigwedere: "The rest have to be
accommodated in the neighbouring
countries, including us."
The
minister added that the government has set up a committee combining his
ministry and that of Environment and Tourism. The committee is set to meet
with South African organisers before Christmas to discuss how the country
can take advantage of the World Cup.
In September, the European Union
(EU) parliament passed a number of
resolutions against Zimbabwe, one of
which said the country must not derive
any benefits from the World
Cup.
"The Mugabe regime must derive absolutely no financial benefit or
propaganda
value from either the run-up to the 2010 World Cup or the
tournament
itself," said the resolution.
President Robert Mugabe has
been slapped with travel sanctions and an asset
freeze by the European
Union, the United States, New Zealand and Australia
over alleged human
rights abuses.
Most of those countries are likely to deliberately advise
against their
citizens traveling to the crisis hit country.
Steven Price
in Harare
December 11, 2006
Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe Cricket's
managing director, has tried to cool
temperatures after Zimbabwe's
humiliation in Bangladesh, saying the board
will take its time to act on the
series whitewash.
The series whitewash has sparked widespread
condemnation back home, and
stirred up debate on the future of the team's
management staff and
under-performing players. But Bvute told Zimbabwe's
Standard newspaper that
the board would not be making any rush decisions
with regards to the team's
future.
"Obviously we are disappointed
by the team's overall performance. The
players have not been able to
acclimatise and again, there was always
apprehension before the tour started
that Zimbabwe would struggle against
their spinners. But there will be a
post-mortem when the team returns, where
the technical committee will be
meeting with the coaches to make a review of
the tour and decide on the way
forward.
"Whatever comes out of that meeting would then be tabled
before the ZC board
in early January. If there are going to be any changes,
that would have to
be decided by the board, after full consultation with the
technical
committee."
Bvute added that no dates had been set for
either of the two meeting or for
the ZC board elections, which were
postponed last month, following a
directive from the Sports and Recreation
Commission. But he added that ZC
has set December 29 as the interim date for
the board elections which are
expected to grant Peter Chingoka yet another
term, despite his having been
in charge at a time the game inside Zimbabwe
has sunk to new lows both
domestically and internationally.
©
Cricinfo
anarkismo.net
by
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation Monday, Dec 11 2006, 2:46pm
international@zabalaza.net address:
www.zabalaza.net
This was a
speech made by a ZACF member at the "Freedom in our Lifetime"
resistance
festival in Newtown, Johannesburg, 10
December
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xenophobia,
Solidarity and the Struggle for Zimbabwe
How to fight for freedom in
Zimbabwe? How to avoid another Mugabe coming
into power? How to fight
poverty, inequality, unemployment? How to create
equality and decent lives
for all? These are the burning questions we must
face.
There are two
main issues we have been asked to talk about today: xenophobia
and
solidarity. Let's look at each of these, and then explore them, and look
for
answers to the burning questions.
Xenophobia
Around the world, millions of
people are moving between countries. Some move
to find jobs and a better
life. Some flee repressive, murderous regimes. And
some just want to see
more of the world: nothing wrong with that.
What is a problem is that the
States, the governments, of the host
countries, seek to divide the
immigrants from the local working class and
peasants. Let me be more
precise. Rich immigrants are left alone. Their
money brings them access to
the charmed circles of the wealthy and powerful
elites. The ruling class of
one country recognises its fellows from other
countries.
The elite
knows the elite, and they know that they have something in common:
their
wealth, their power, are based on keeping the mass of the people - the
working class, the peasants and the poor - in their "place." And what place
is that? Working for masters, earning low incomes, being told what to do:
suffering through domination and exploitation from above.
But the
situation is different for working class and peasant immigrants. The
ruling
elites - using the States and governments, which are their property,
their
tools - promote xenophobia. They promote hatred by local working class
and
peasant people towards the immigrants. The immigrants are blamed for
unemployment, for crime, for everything imaginable.
The South African
ruling class - which is generally happy to join its elite
brothers and
sisters from abroad - want the masses to believe that all their
problems are
caused by the immigrants - people who face exactly the same
problems as the
local working class and peasantry, like unemployment,
exploitation,
domination and crime. In short, the ruling classes everywhere
tries to teach
the masses to hate people - and blame people, and scapegoat
people - who are
exactly the same as them, their brothers and sisters,
people with whom they
should unite to fight the ruling classes, the ruling
classes of every
country.
Take South Africa. Not a day goes by when the press does not
claim that
Nigerians and Zimbabweans peddle drugs and steal. Police reports
list their
successes: capturing hijackers, rapist and murderers - and
illegal
immigrants. And if you have refugee status, or a work permit, and
you left
it at home, too bad: you'll spend the next few weeks at prisons
like
Lindela.
To be an immigrant becomes a criminal offence. The
ruling classes tell the
local working class and peasantry that it shares
more in common with its own
exploiters and oppressors than with working
class and peasant people who
happened to be born somewhere else. Can
anything be more ridiculous? The
ruling classes welcomes foreigners with
money - and labels foreigners
without money as criminals, and tells local
people without money to chase
and oppress them.
And why do they do
this? The immigrants become the scapegoat for the very
problems of
unemployment and poverty the ruling class has created. The
immigrants are
divided from the local masses, forced to live in the shadows,
unprotected by
unions, lacking human rights.
This is exactly the situation here in South
Africa, where we are told to be
"Proudly South African," blame everything on
immigrants, and cheer our local
ruling class for persecuting the immigrants
- all the while we are supposed
to forget what that ruling class - which is
now brown, black and white -
does to the masses everyday. 1 million jobs
have been lost in 10 years, new
jobs are mostly casual jobs, old jobs are
increasingly unprotected,
industrial accidents soar, 500,000 people are
evicted off the farms, 10
million people have electricity cut-off - all by
the local ruling class -
and yet we are supposed to think poor immigrants
are to blame! It is a
disgrace, and an insult to our
intelligence.
And here we come to the second big reason for xenophobia:
the conditions of
the immigrants make them into cheap labour, which benefits
the local ruling
class. Then the immigrants get blamed for being cheap
labour, and accused of
stealing jobs! The working class is divided between
national and foreigner,
and unable to fight back against the elite, which
orchestrates the whole
situation. Immigrants do become cheap labour, but
this is the result of the
actions of the local elite, and believe you me,
the ruling class benefits.
There is one final issue: nationalism.
Nationalism is the ideology that all
people born in one country - regardless
of class - have something in common,
and share a government that represents
their will. This is a powerful weapon
in the hands of the ruling class. On
the one hand, it hides the class
divisions in society, and presents the
local exploiters and oppressors as
friends of the people; their crimes
against the working class and peasantry
are hidden. On the other hand, it
confuses people: the State and government
appear as defenders of the masses,
when the opposite is true, for these
institutions are always - always -
controlled by the ruling class.
The ruling class promotes nationalism to
divide the masses, and their
struggles, and to label popular movements as
foreign-controlled. There are
two more problems with
nationalism.
First, elites use this to hijack power. We are for national
liberation, but
we know the elites try to infiltrate national liberation
struggles to take
them over, and to take State power. They then replace the
old oppressors
with new oppressors, and create new forms of national
oppression, against
other nationalities.
You have an example before
your very eyes. The South African working class
fought apartheid, but the
black elite, through the ANC, hijacked the
struggle, and took State power,
which they now use to create a black
capitalist class. This is called "Black
Economic Empowerment": the proper
term is black elite enrichment. And this
so-called empowerment goes hand in
hand with neoliberal policies -
privatising, casualising, union-busting,
cutting spending on hospitals and
schools - which hits the African working
class hardest. It is a black
empowerment for a minority of blacks, who now
join the old white ruling
class in oppressing all South African workers:
Africans, Coloureds, Indians
and whites.
But there is another example: Robert Mugabe. Using
negotiations and the ZANU
structures, Mugabe got into power. From 1980-1982
there was a big strike
wave in Zimbabwe. It was the biggest strike wave
since the strikes of 1948,
and organised from below. Mugabe condemned the
strikes as "quite
inexcusable" and "nothing short of criminal", the army
and police moved in
to arrest militants, protect strike-breakers and
installations, enabling
dismissals of militants. Kumbirai Kangai, the new
Labour Minister, insisted
that workers make use of the "established
procedures" and threatened: "I
will crack my whip if they do not get back to
work" Then Mugabe placed the
unions under government control: the new head
of the unions was his nephew,
Alfred Mugabe. His crimes continued after that
every year: the Matabeleland
massacre, the arrests of dissident unionists,
the repression of the 1990s,
and finally, the Green Bombers and the attacks
on May Day rallies.
Secondly, nationalism is used in struggles among the
elite. Above we said
that the ruling class tends to practice international
solidarity amongst
itself. This is true, in general, but we must add that
the ruling class is
also divided internally. The interests of the elite are
basically unified in
support of the class system. But divisions also
arise.
The ruling classes of very powerful countries often try to
dominate the
ruling classes of weaker countries. Let us think of Iraq. In
the 1980s, the
American ruling class was very pleased indeed with the
dictator, Saddam
Hussein: they armed him with weapons, training and money,
because they
wished him to fight against regimes like that of Iran. The
American, Iraqi
and Iranian ruling classes were all agreed on one thing:
keeping a class
system in place, and keep the working class peasantry in
their "place."
But the American ruling class felt the Iranian regime
would destabilise the
Middle East. They did not care the regime of the
Ayatollah Khomeini had come
to power through crushing the Iranian revolution
of 1979-1981, or that it
viciously oppressed workers, trade unions, women
and national and religious
minorities. They did care that it wanted to
expand its own capitalism at the
expense of American interests, and that
other Arab ruling classes might do
the same. So they backed Hussein, another
butcher of the masses, a man who
used nerve gas against the Kurdish
minority, tortured trade unionists,
repressed free speech.
In 1991,
though, Hussein felt strong enough to make himself a little empire
of his
own, starting with invading Kuwait to grab its oil fields. Then the
American
ruling class got angry, invaded in 1991 and again a few years back,
finally
giving Hussein the death penalty. And here is where nationalism
comes in:
the American ruling class promoted American nationalism to
strengthen its
campaign, and mislead the American workers (who after all,
gain nothing but
more taxes, higher petrol prices, less democracy and death
in the army from
this clash between ruling classes). Iraq promoted variants
of Arab
nationalism, and spoke of freedom while he crushed uprisings in his
country
during the two Gulf Wars, and did his best to stay in power.
To go back
to Zimbabwe, we have the same thing. There was a long-standing
split between
the African sector of the ruling class, based mostly in the
State machinery
and organised through ZANU, and the old white capitalist
farmers. In the
1990s, three factors made this division deepen to the point
of crisis. A
section of the African elite began to promote a strident
"indigenisation"
programme, aiming to use the State to transfer white wealth
to elite
Africans. The economy went into a crisis with Structural
Adjustment, and the
State started to go bankrupt, and saw the farms as a
resource that could be
used to reward loyal ZANU followers. And the mass
democratic movement grew
into a powerful force. In this context, Mugabe and
ZANU moved against the
White farmers, promoting the crudest racism against
Whites, while cracking
down heavily on the democratic movement. The land
could be used to reward
his cronies; the racism could be used to discredit
groups like the
MDC.
Solidarity
What does this mean? First, we need to recognise that we
live in a class
system. There is the ruling class - generals, politicians,
directors of
State departments and State companies, the big capitalists - on
the one
side. There are the masses on the other: the working class (by which
we mean
those who work for wages and lack control of their lives, including
the
unemployed) and peasants (small family farmers who work for
themselves).
Between the ruling class and the lower classes, there is
nothing in common:
the ruling class exploits the masses, enriching itself at
their expense; the
ruling class dominates the lower classes, telling them
where to live, what
to do, even what to think, who to hate and who to
persecute. The ruling
class, on the one hand, and the lower classes, the
working class, peasantry,
the poor, on the other hand, are locked in
struggle. Everything the ruling
class has comes from the lower classes: a
higher wage means less profit for
the elite; insubordination means less
power for that elite.
The only way out of this situation is to unite the
working class and
peasantry to fight back, whether through unions or through
community
struggles or through movements in the schools and army. Only a
mass movement
from below can start to change the situation, fighting for
better living
conditions, higher wages, lower rents, lower charges, more
rights, more
freedom, more space to live our lives as people, as human
beings.
And only such a movement can start to make fundamental changes in
society:
not just improving our lives in the here and now, but challenging
the whole
inequitable class system. Only through a mass movement from below
can the
masses start to build organs of counter-power that can defeat the
instruments of the ruling class - the State, the companies - and create a
new society, based on equality and freedom. Such a society we call
libertarian socialism, or anarchism: a society based on distribution by
need, grassroots control (self-management) of the community and the
workplace, with an economy planned from below to meet human needs rather
than satisfy the lust for wealth and power. It would be a universal human
community, not a world divided into different States, with endless war and
oppression.
And when we say a mass movement from below of the working
class and
peasants, we do not mean a movement in one country only, or of one
nationality, or of one race, or of one gender. We mean a movement that
refuses to recognise the divisions imposed from above by the ruling class, a
movement that opposes all States, a movement that really stands for the
principle "Workers of the World - Unite!"
So, we are for class
struggle, not for race struggle. We are for the masses
everywhere, whether
African, Asian, or white, whether black, yellow or
brown, whether South
African, Zimbabwe, Brazilian, Yemenese, Russian or
British. We do not hate a
man because he is Chinese, or Indian, or Zulu, or
Afrikaner, or Arab or a
Jew. We fight the ruling class because it is a
ruling class, because it
exploits and oppresses, not because of what it
looks like- and we know the
ruling class is also international and drawn
from all peoples. There are
European politicians and capitalists, as there
are also American politicians
and capitalists, also Arab politicians and
capitalists, also African
politicians and capitalists.
We stand for a movement of the masses of all
countries, against the elites
of all countries. And nationalism is poison to
such a struggle, an
international class struggle. Let's take two examples.
One is xenophobia:
dividing working classes and peasantries between locals
and foreigners,
which often also means pitting ordinary people against each
other because of
their culture, or their race, or even their
religion.
Another is racial hatred: you have seen how Robert Mugabe used
the issue of
white land ownership in Zimbabwe to label the democratic
movement as the
tool of the British, and to hide his own crimes. Above we
said So Mugabe
said the MDC was the tool of Tony Blair, and that anyone who
opposed him
wanted Ian Smith back! What nonsense. The people were struggling
for
justice, in their own interests.
Conclusion
To sum up this talk on
xenophobia and solidarity, we suggest the following:
We live in a class
system - we must wage a class struggle
The working class and peasantry of all
countries have common interests in
fighting the ruling class: we are for
international solidarity:
We are against xenophobia and nationalism, and we
are for the principle,
"Workers of the World - Unite!"
There must be a
mass movement from below to fight immediate struggles and
move towards
creating a new type of society by building institutions of
counter-power
through the daily struggle. Therefore, we say, "Tomorrow is
Built
Today."
Such a mass movement must be driven by struggles on the ground, and
through
the self-activity and grassroots democratic movements of the masses:
"Only
the Workers can Free the Workers."
Now, in terms of the
Zimbabwe struggle, we suggest:
There must be support from the South
African working class for the struggles
in Zimbabwe and other countries
suffering from terrible regimes. COSATU has
taken this position: what is
needed is action, not just words.
What is also needed is to challenge
xenophobia and divisions between the
South African masses and the ordinary
Zimbabwean people in exile in South
Africa.
The key task in Zimbabwe is
to overthrow Mugabe. This can only be done
through struggle from below:
through general strikes, struggles around food
and housing, struggles
against evictions, against cut-offs, against
retrenchments.
Even an MDC
government would be better than Mugabe's regime: there must be
no illusions
that ZANU-PF can become a better, nicer, kinder party. We can
work with any
forces opposed to Mugabe, so long as we do not compromise our
principles, or
sacrifice our objectives.
Even so, we must be revolutionary watchdogs against
the emergence of new
elites in these struggles, elites that aim only to
replace Mugabe's regime,
with their own. As Mugabe's regime shows, the new
bosses are as bad as the
old bosses: the forms of oppression have changed,
but the old evils -
inequality, oppression, and suffering - remain.
So,
the key tasks are to fight neoliberalism and dictatorship - but this is
not
enough. There must be a struggle for a new world: a world of solidarity,
equality, grassroots democracy, a world freed of capitalism There are those
who say there is no alternative to globalisation and neoliberalism: we say a
"New World is Possible." There are those who say the choice is between
Mugabe and Blair: we say we don't want either of them. The masses deserve
better than an endless parade of tyrants. The African masses, like the
masses elsewhere, want a better world, and they deserve it.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
The decision by the majority of
ZANU PF provinces to use their
self-serving conference to be held in
Mashonaland East province from
December 13 to 17 to postpone the 2008
Presidential election to 2010 under
the guise of fiscal prudence has no
precedence in the party's management of
the national economy since
independence in 1980.
Instead, the agenda of ZANU PF which
opposition forces and civic
organizations should unite to resist should be
located in the party's
succession wars, Mugabe's unquenchable thirsty for
power and the economic
meltdown that will not assist ZANU PF's cause in
2008.
The argument that ZANU PF wants to synchronize
presidential and
parliamentary polls as a way of saving tax-payers money
does not convince
Zimbabweans who know how the party has been abusing
national funds in the
past 26 years. The holding of senatorial elections on
26 November 2005 eight
months after the parliamentary poll in March
vindicates the Coalition's
cynicism about the fiscal discipline
argument.
Zimbabweans are aware about how the War Victims
Compensation Fund was
looted by ZANU PF and government officials; the ZUPCO
saga, the Pay For Your
House Scheme, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(NOCZIM) and Willowgate
scandals. These cases indicate that the ZANU PF
government should not
mislead Zimbabweans into believing their propaganda of
attempting to
postpone the presidential election under the guise of saving
money.
It should be noted that in 1987 ZANU PF brought
about the executive
presidency through Constitutional amendment Number 7
without a referendum to
get the views of the citizens. What is about to
happen if not resisted is
similar to that scenario where the ruling party
consults itself and
determines the destiny of millions of Zimbabweans
without their consent.
This is inline with Mugabe and his party's one-party
state ideology and the
"dear leader" mentality.
Secondly, this attempt to delay the presidential election is a
reflection of
the succession battles raging in ZANU PF. The party now wants
to delay a
constitutional poll in order to resolve its succession
cannibalism. If the
idea is to have both the presidential and parliamentary
polls together, why
not cutting the life of parliament to 2008 ? It is our
submission that Zanu
PF has no candidate to succeed Robert Gabriel Mugabe
hence another reason
for delaying the presidential poll.
Tinkering with the
constitution by introducing another amendment
without introducing
fundamental changes in the administration of elections
is undemocratic and
will not assist to resolve the governance crisis in the
country. In fact
these cosmetic changes clearly indicate the urgent need of
a comprehensive,
new, democratic and people-driven constitution in Zimbabwe.
Any other way
will not assist ZANU PF or anyone to return the country to
democratic
legitimacy.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is a
conglomeration of civil society
organizations whose vision is a democratic
Zimbabwe. Contact: P.O Box CY
434, Causeway, Harare; Telefax: + 263 4 788
135
Email: info@crisis.co.zw
Website: www.crisiszimbabwe.org
Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)
Date: 11 Dec
2006
Food
supplies tighten
as hunger season begins
Summary and
implications
The food security status of many households across the
region remains
stable, although there are signs that household food supplies
are now
tightening as the hunger season sets in. Food prices have generally
remained
stable and below last year and the past five years' average, but
prices
noticeably increased in November in select markets, indicating
decreasing
market supplies and raising concerns about growing food access
problems
among vulnerable populations. This is particularly true in
Zimbabwe, where
markets are generally inadequately supplied following
below-normal harvests
and a slow import program. Elsewhere, intra-regional
trade (formal and
informal) continues to play an important role in filling
import
requirements, though delivery rates are currently quite
low.
The Updated Rainfall Outlook issued by the SADC Drought Monitoring
Centre
for December to February suggests an enhanced likelihood of normal or
reduced rainfall in much of Botswana, southwestern Zambia, southeastern
Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Madagascar, western Swaziland, most of South
Africa, Lesotho and Namibia. The rest of the SADC region is forecast to have
enhanced chances of normal or above-normal rainfall. In comparison,
forecasts from IRI for December to February suggest weakening forecast
signals, and much of southern Africa has a forecast of climatology, while
the northern half of Tanzania and the eastern half of DRC are forecast to
have above-normal rainfall. These forecasts come in the context of an El
Niño that is currently active in the Pacific Ocean, which is traditionally
associated with poor rains in many parts of southern Africa. Areas most
vulnerable to drought include central and southern Zimbabwe, adjacent parts
of South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and northern Namibia. Since specific
impacts of any single El Niño vary from incidence to incidence depending on
the prevailing atmospheric and oceanic conditions, it is important to
monitor the situation closely as the season progresses.
Food security
summary
The food security status of many rural households across the
region remains
stable, although there are signs that household food supplies
are now
tightening as the hunger season of November through February sets
in.
In Mozambique, the latest food security assessment conducted by the
SETSAN/GAV in September indicated that food and nutrition security was
stable throughout the country. Household access and market availability were
found to be satisfactory, due to good performance of the first and second
production seasons, improved livestock conditions and stable market prices.
Localized cases of problematic access among the more vulnerable poorer
households were assessed in some parts of the country, especially in the
drought-prone south. As the hunger season sets in, many of the most
vulnerable will require targeted assistance to carry them through the
period, and close monitoring of the situation will be required. The
April/May GAV assessment established the number of food insecure people
requiring assistance between October 2006 and March 2007 at 121,500.
However, this number has been revised upwards to 240,000 following the
September assessment. WFP will continue to provide most of the targeted
assistance through the regional protracted relief and recovery operation
(PRRO), but the agency reports that the operation is seriously
under-resourced.
In Malawi, access to staple foods remains stable for
the majority of the
households assessed as food secure by the MVAC April/May
assessment.
Furthermore, food aid interventions targeted at food insecure
households
expanded in October following agreement between humanitarian
agencies and
the government on the level of response required. This has
brought some
respite to vulnerable households in the worst-affected areas
where the
mid-season dry spells caused widespread crop failure. Improved
household
food stocks have reduced the pressure on markets as a result of
winter maize
harvests and food aid distributions, causing retail maize
prices to decrease
from September to November in many markets. For example,
the November price
of 26.75 MK per kg in the Kasungu market-in one of the
districts worst
affected by the long dry spells-is 12 percent lower than the
September price
of 30.38 MK per kg. Informal cross-border imports from
Mozambique into
southern Malawi continue to play an important role in
supplying maize to
local markets, despite a national maize surplus in
Malawi.
In Zimbabwe, food insecurity across the country is increasing
because of
severe shortage of supplies in most markets, very high market
prices and the
continued erosion of purchasing power. Despite an improvement
in staple food
harvests this past season compared to the past few years, the
country is
still facing a large deficit of about 800,000 MT of maize since
the harvest
was insufficient to meet national consumption requirements. As
the harvest
has been almost completely drawn down, most households are
relying on
purchases. However, shortages of food supplies on the markets
have driven up
prices and the continued erosion of purchasing power (the
October
year-on-year inflation rate was 1,070 percent) means access to
adequate food
supplies cannot be assured, particularly for households in
grain-deficit
areas and urban centers. Maize prices on the parallel markets
(relative to
Grain Marketing Board depots) increased significantly between
September and
October in both rural and urban areas-an average of 20 percent
for Bulawayo
and Harare.
In Angola, a rapid assessment by FEWS NET
conducted in September in the
drought-affected areas of Huambo, Benguela and
Huila provinces established
that crop failure resulting from the
December/January dry spell has
increased the risk of food insecurity for
some households over the coming
months. However, analysis of current and
trailing indicators suggest that
the drop in production did not result in a
significant food crisis requiring
a large-scale emergency response. For
example, at the time of the
assessment, food prices in municipalities
visited were stable, exhibiting
trends that are normal for the time of the
year. Maize prices were within 5
percent of the average price for the
province, suggesting adequate market
supplies. Some households were found to
have cultivated on nacas during the
winter, while others had good harvests
of other crops such as
sorghum/millet, cassava and sweet potatoes.
Nonetheless, targeted seed and
food assistance is warranted especially for
those households reported to
have already exhausted their meager harvests at
the time of the assessment.
Government and some NGOs are providing food
support to some of the affected
people. Close monitoring of food prices,
rainfall performance and access to
seed will be necessary in the next few
months of the hungry season to review
and update the situation
accordingly.
In Tanzania, despite the improved harvest realized in most
of the country, a
Rapid Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) conducted in August
estimates that
between November and February, more than 651,600 people in 50
districts of
the country will face food access problems, and will require
more than
15,600 MT of food assistance. The RVA recommended that the
government supply
maize at a subsidized price of 100 TShs per kg (or US
$0.08 per kg) to about
293,000 beneficiaries, while an additional 360,000
more-vulnerable people be
provided with two months worth of free food. This
will enable the food
insecure households to engage in normal seasonal
livelihood activities
including working their own fields during the vuli
season instead of
engaging in off-farm paid labor. For most households, food
availability is
not expected to be problematic given the overall surplus
production.
Although maize price levels remain above-average for this time
of the year,
they have dropped significantly in recent months following the
harvest. The
drop in cereal prices has resulted in an improvement in the
livestock terms
of trade, although this too is still below last year's price
levels.
In Zambia, the food security of many rural households remains
stable as a
result of the good maize harvests this past season. Nonetheless,
as is
normal for the time of the year, on-farm stocks are increasingly being
drawn
down while market demand has started to increase. Consequently, though
prices remain relatively stable and well below last year's levels, increases
have been recorded in some markets between September and November. The Food
Reserve Agency's maize procurement program has been a huge success - by the
end of September, the agency had purchased a total of 350,000 MT of surplus
maize from farmers, 75 percent more than the initial target of 200,000 MT.
Consequently, the agency extended the program for a further two weeks at the
beginning of October with the intention to purchase an additional 50,000 MT.
However, funding constraints have dogged the program and the farmers'
response to this recent campaign has been varied as they are unhappy about
not being paid up front.
News24
11/12/2006 22:27 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe held discussions on
Monday with
the head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), telling him
foreign aid was
welcome as long as it comes without political conditions,
state radio
reported.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader met James Morris
- who is also UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's humanitarian envoy for
southern Africa - in
the capital Harare for closed door discussions, said
the report.
Mugabe expressed willingness to accept assistance offered by
the
international organization, but only if there is no interference in the
internal affairs of Zimbabwe, said sources.
Morris, who has already
visited Zambia and Malawi on a farewell tour of the
food-strapped region,
has been trying to urge donor nations to dig deep into
their pockets to fund
feeding programmes.
Reduced harvests
Last month the WFP warned
funding shortfalls meant it would have to cut back
on vital urban and school
feeding schemes in Zimbabwe, as well as suspend
mobile feeding units in
rural areas.
The world food body believes that almost two million of
Zimbabwe's 12
million people require emergency food aid ahead of the next
maize harvest
due in April.
Zimbabwe's inflation, now the world's
highest at over 1 000%, combined with
reduced harvests is contributing to
chronic hunger as many are unable to
afford nutritious food.
The
struggling southern African country, once labelled the region's
breadbasket,
has experienced six successive years of declining agricultural
output.
Critics link this to the government's controversial seizure
of productive
white-owned farms for redistribution to new black
farmers.
Harare blames the decline on drought and a drying up of
financial aid from
Western nations.