Mugabe Gears Up For Fresh Polls

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 22:00

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday said he was prepared for fresh
elections to settle the current political impasse which has stalled the
formation of a government since his disputed re-election in June.

Mugabe's remarks yesterday - which follow hard on the heels of similar
pronouncements last week - demonstrate a tacit admission that his
re-election in the June 27 one-man presidential election run-off was a sham.
They are also seen as a bid to force the opposition MDC into a unity
government.

African election observers, including Sadc, the Pan African Parliament
and AU, among others, rejected his re-election as illegitimate. The outcome
was widely-rejected by the international community on the grounds that he
won through a campaign of violence. More than 100 people were killed prior
to the run-off.

Mugabe fought back after he was defeated in the first round of voting
by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai who however fell short of the required
majority to win outright. Tsvangirai's MDC also defeated Zanu PF and ended
its 28-year control of parliament.

The combined opposition MPs in parliament mean that Zanu PF can no
longer pass legislation on its own. As a result, Mugabe has been forced into
talks with Tsvangirai and the other MDC smaller faction leader Arthur
Mutambara to resolve the political impasse.

The talks however appear to be faltering and Mugabe has been
indicating publicly since last week that he was prepared for fresh elections
to break the impasse.

Botswana President Ian Khama has said if the power-sharing talks
between Zanu PF and the MDC factions fail, there should be fresh elections
under international supervision.

Speaking at the burial of the late Zanu PF political commissar Elliot
Manyika at Heroes Acre in Harare yesterday, Mugabe said elections might be
looming. Manyika died in a car crash on Saturday.

A unity government deal Mugabe signed with leaders of the MDC
formations - Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara - has failed to take off
because of haggling over the allocation of ministerial portfolios,
provincial governors, permanent secretaries and ambassadors, among others.

Mugabe attacked Tsvangirai for frustrating the implementation of the
pact, describing him as a "political prostitute" for travelling abroad
instead of dealing with problems at home.

"We are Zimbabweans. We have our own laws. We have our own courts.
What can stop us from sitting together to solve our problems?  Why then
would one globetrot to Germany, to the Netherlands, to
Botswana, to Senegal, visiting all these countries?" Mugabe
questioned.

"We don't want that prostitution. It is prostitution in politics. We
don't want politics driven by that kind of prostitution, let's settle things
here. We can go to an election if elections are desirable and the people are
the deciders and we will never reject their verdict. We have always accepted
their verdict."

Last week, Mugabe told his supporters at the Zanu PF headquarters that
the country could go for elections in the next one-and-a-half to two years
if the inclusive government fails to work.

"We agreed to give them 13 ministries while we share the Ministry of
Home Affairs, but if the arrangement fails to work in the next
one-and-a-half years to two years then we would go for elections," Mugabe
said.

"The MDC should say no if they do not want to be part of an inclusive
government."

Yesterday, Mugabe said the MDC-Tsvangirai should not fool itself that
it won the March 29 presidential election.

"The MDC did not win the elections. They led. That's what the law
says. If you don't get more than 50%, you do not win," he said.

Mugabe said he was waiting to hear what the "Westerners will say"
since there is no outright winner in the elections held in Ghana where a
run-off has been called.

He said there was no more reason for Western countries to invade
Zimbabwe because cholera had been "arrested" at a time the UN says the
disease had killed nearly 800 people and was spreading.

BY WONGAI ZHANGAZHA

Zim Probe Team Returns To Botswana

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 21:38

ZIMBABWE has sent a team of investigators to Botswana to probe an
alleged plot of banditry involving Botswana authorities and opposition MDC
activists for the second time in as many weeks as it seeks to substantiate
claims which have angered its neighbour.

Zimbabwe and Botswana - uneasy neighbours since 1980 due to political
and trade disputes - have been on a collision course since the
widely-disputed June presidential election run-off.

Botswana President Ian Khama has refused to recognise President Robert
Mugabe as a legitimate head of state, saying he retained power through a
campaign of violence.

The Botswana leader has said if power-sharing talks between Zanu PF
and the MDC factions fail, there should be fresh elections under
international supervision.

Government initially reacted angrily, claiming this was an "extreme
act of provocation" although Mugabe now says he is ready for elections.

The investigation into claimed acts of destabilisation came at a time
when Mugabe was under pressure to quit as a result of the economic meltdown.

Diplomatic sources said yesterday Zimbabwe's investigation team led by
Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Joey Bimha returned to Botswana on
Wednesday to further its probe into the issue.
The sources said the mission includes other Foreign Affairs officials
and officers from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

Botswana government spokesman Dr Jeff Ramsay referred questions to
Sadc.

"We believe that it would for now be better for you to direct your
questions to the Sadc Organ Troika who are responsible for carrying out the
investigation," he said. Efforts to get comment from Sadc yesterday were
unsuccessful.

Allegations of destabilisation emerged prior to the recent Sadc summit
in Johannesburg.

Zimbabwe first officially made the allegations at the extraordinary
meeting of the Interstate Defence and Security Committee held in Mozambique
on November 5, a few days before the summit.

Just before the Sadc meeting a group of MDC activists were arrested
and were apparently linked to the allegations, but no evidence was available
to incriminate them, sources said.

It is said the MDC activists were later released, but were reportedly
later abducted by state security agents and have not been seen or heard of
for several weeks now.

There have been a series of abductions in recent weeks of mainly MDC
and civil society activists.

The latest to be seized was Gandhi Mudzingwa, Tsvangirai's personal
aide who was forced off the road while driving to his party's "logistics"
meeting late on Monday. He was taken to a waiting vehicle by nine men.

Last week a civil society activist, Jestina Mukoko, a former ZBC news
presenter, was abducted from her home in Norton. Mukoko, the director of the
Zimbabwe Peace Project, was seized by a group of 15 men in plain clothes and
driven away. She has not been seen since. Two of her colleagues have since
been abducted.

Two weeks ago Tsvangirai's MDC director of security, Chris Dlamini,
was seized from his

BY DUMISANI MULEYA

New Pressure For Unity Govt

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 21:24
SOUTH African facilitators in Zimbabwe's political dialogue this week
resumed their push for the formation of an inclusive government to tackle
the country's deteriorating humanitarian and political crisis.

The facilitators, among them South Africa's director of the presidency
Frank Chikane and former local government minister Sydney Mufamadi, met on
Wednesday with the leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, Arthur
Mutambara, and were today scheduled to hold talks with negotiators from Zanu
PF and the MDC-Tsvangirai.

Diplomatic sources said the facilitators were in the capital to
impress upon Zanu PF and the two MDC formations the need to quickly form a
new unity government outlined under a September 15 power-sharing deal
brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.

But hopes of a quick blueprint for a unity government were dashed
yesterday after MDC-Tsvangirai accused Zanu PF of "killing" the
power-sharing negotiations through the state's alleged acts of abductions of
civil society and opposition activists.

Sources said the facilitators wanted the immediate gazetting of
Constitutional Amendment 19 Bill the political protagonists agreed on in
South Africa a fortnight ago.

The Bill gives legal effect to the power-sharing pact that would see
Morgan Tsvangirai becoming prime minister and Mutambara one of his two
deputies. The other deputy would come from the MDC-Tsvangirai.

The government is yet to gazette the Bill after the MDC-Tsvangirai
threatened not to support the amendment in parliament if what it calls
outstanding issues of the pact were not resolved.

Among the sticking issues, according to the MDC-T, were the
allocations of ministerial portfolios, the appointment of provincial
governors and the constitution and composition of the National Security
Council, among others.

Mutambara confirmed to the Zimbabwe Independent that he had met the
facilitators and told them that the inclusive government should be formed
immediately to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
"I told them that Amendment No19 should be gazetted immediately so
that we can work on addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in the
country," Mutambara said. "We can only deal with the cholera crisis, the
political crisis, the hunger crisis if we have an inclusive framework."

The robotics professor said he also told the facilitators that the
call by the international community and other African leaders to oust Mugabe
was misplaced.

"The call by the international community for Mugabe to leave is
stupid. How is he going to leave and under what law? Who is going to replace
him? We need an inclusive government. A government that will craft a
people-driven democratic constitution that will create room for free and
fair elections. Once that is done then Mugabe can go."

Zanu PF chief negotiator Patrick Chinamasa yesterday said he could not
comment on the latest mission of the facilitators because he had been out of
Harare. He referred questions to Labour minister Nicholas Goche who was not
reachable on his mobile phone.

Earlier this week, Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the
state media that the facilitators were due in Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

The inclusive government is seen as the only avenue for Zimbabwe to
extricate itself from a decade-long political crisis that has now been
compounded by the outbreak of cholera that has claimed at least 600 lives.
The situation is made worse by food shortages affecting over five million
Zimbabweans.

The government has since declared cholera a national disaster and
appealed for global assistance.

BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE

PF Zapu Revivalists To Forge Ahead With Convention

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 21:00
DISGRUNTLED Zanu PF rebels yesterday said they will this weekend forge
ahead with their convention in Bulawayo to revive PF Zapu with the aim of
"settling the country's political future".

The convention comes against a backdrop of alleged moves by Zanu PF in
the city to mislead people that it had been postponed.

Spokesperson of the revived PF Zapu, Effort Nkomo, told the Zimbabwe
Independent that delegates to the convention would be drawn from the country's
10 provinces and that the modalities were in place for the gathering.

"We are going ahead with our plans. There are some mischievous people
who have been going around telling people that the convention has been
postponed to a later date, but I can confirm that nothing has changed," said
Nkomo.

Although he could not provide the estimated number of delegates to the
convention, Nkomo said they were expecting to be joined by people from
different political parties, ethnic and tribal groupings.

"This is not a regional party. It is a party that has a national
outlook so we are expecting a lot of people to attend," Nkomo said. "We are
not inviting people on political, ethnic or tribal lines but we are inviting
everyone to attend the convention."

He said PF Zapu was ready to merge with smaller opposition parties to
form a strong force to challenge Zanu PF.

Nkomo said there were multitudes of Zanu PF cadres who have shown
interest and are willing to join PF Zapu.

He said: "There are people who are still tied up in the Zanu PF
machinery who will attend and I am sure many of them will join us. It is the
duty of all those who desire and aspire for peace and prosperity to work
together towards the success of the country. That is why we are inviting all
those parties who share the same vision with us to join us and move the
country forward."

Nkomo said the convention would allow free discussion and debate on
issues affecting the country.
"We are responding to the wishes and aspirations of the people who
called for the revival of the party. The people have been waiting for this
moment for a long time, and the time has come and we are not going back," he
added.

The convention is expected to come up with an interim structure that
would lead the party up until next year when a congress will be held to
elect a substantive executive.

Nkomo said they had no apologies or regrets for leaving Zanu PF adding
that the current crop of the party's leaders had failed to bring meaningful
development to the Matabeleland region.

Analysts said, should the convention take place without any hitches,
the beleaguered Zanu PF would have been dealt a severe blow as it has been
battling to play a balancing act in line with the 1987 Unity Accord.
PF Zapu said it was ready to declare a divorce with Zanu PF under the
unity accord because it was a marriage of convenience that has failed to
work since it was solemnised in December 1987.

A fortnight ago, Vice-president Joseph Msika was dispatched by Zanu PF
to Bulawayo to meet the rebels and try to propitiate them, but the PF Zapu
revivalists snubbed him.

The defiant group is accusing Zanu PF of failing to equitably
distribute power under the Unity Accord, which was preceded by the bloody
Gukurahundi era which claimed more than 20 000 people in Matabeleland and
the Midlands.

BY HENRY MHARA

'Leadership Failure' Costly For Zimbabwe

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 20:23
THE failure to "forthwith" form an inclusive government in Zimbabwe to
deal with the country's decade-long crisis as directed by Sadc has less to
do with what the MDC-Tsvangirai says are outstanding issues than the
animosity between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, political
analysts have said.

The animosity, the analysts observed, has resulted in Mugabe and
Tsvangirai removing themselves from the real circumstances of the people
they purport to represent, resulting in the worsening humanitarian and
political crisis with no immediate solution in sight.

An extraordinary Sadc Summit last month ruled that Mugabe should
constitute a unity government in line with the September 15 agreement
between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.

The summit also adjudged that Mugabe and Tsvangirai should co-manage
the Home Affairs ministry, but Tsvangirai rejected the ruling as "a nullity"
and argued there were other outstanding issues -- appointment of governors,
ambassadors and senior government officials and the composition of the
National Security Council.

Tsvangirai also said there was need to finalise the Constitutional
Amendment No 19 Bill to give legal effect to the deal and resolve the
arbitrary alteration of the pact signed on September 11.

Zanu PF and the two MDC formations' negotiators have since agreed on
the constitutional amendment, which now awaits gazetting.

Despite this the MDC-Tsvangirai has threatened to oppose the Bill in
parliament and scuttle the formation of an inclusive government if what it
said are "sticking points" are not resolved.

The party said if the sticking points were not dealt with to its
satisfaction, it would join civil society and embark on mass demonstrations
to press for a two-year transitional authority to be set up.

The authority's mandate would be to craft a people-driven
constitution, carry out institutional reforms and prepare for free and fair
elections to be internationally monitored.

But political analysts this week dismissed the reasons being given for
the failure so far to constitute the inclusive government and argued that
politicians talk in tongues that only they can understand.

"The issues of ministries, governors, etc are internal matters that
could have been dealt with after creating the (unity government) framework,"
observed Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean lawyer based in Canterbury, England.
"The main handicap is the extreme animosity between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. I
doubt that Mugabe will ever forgive Tsvangirai for daring to challenge him
and I fear that Tsvangirai is uncomfortable with the amount of animosity
towards him."

Magaisa argued that the current impasse was worsening the plight of
ordinary people in the country and scoffed at suggestions that Zimbabwe
should outsource a solution to the crisis.Tsvangirai has since the November
9 Sadc Summit in South Africa been globetrotting asking for international
intervention in the country. He has visited France, Germany, Senegal and
Kenya, among other countries.

Speaking in Senegal last week, Tsvangirai said he had officially asked
the African Union to assume the mediation role in the Zimbabwe crisis from
Sadc because the regional bloc had failed.

Britain, the United States and some African leaders have since called
for the forceful removal of Mugabe from office saying the cholera outbreak
that has claimed at least 600 lives was an illustration of the 84-year-old
leader's poor governance style. The African Union on Tuesday said there was
no need for military intervention in Zimbabwe and insisted that dialogue was
needed to avert a civil war.

Magaisa said the oppressed people of Zimbabwe have to decide their own
destiny at the end of the day.

"You cannot rely on outsiders to provide help. Most likely they will
help when you have shown that you are willing to help yourself," he argued.
"Zimbabweans have to be frank with all politicians, even those that they
religiously support. Poverty does not discriminate between Zanu PF and MDC
supporters."

Magaisa said there was a view that Zimbabwe would eventually collapse.

"But that is not guaranteed and worse, there is no guarantee that when
it collapses the leadership will vacate and the MDC-T will take over
seamlessly," he said. "It could collapse completely and become another
Somalia, if not worse."

Political scientist Michael Mhike said an inclusive government offered
the only glimmer of hope, if only the respective parties would give priority
to the interests of ordinary people and respect each other.

"They have to look at the bigger picture and determine what's right
for their long-suffering fellow citizens," Mhike said. "The inclusive
government is still a long shot, yes, but other than the complete removal of
the current regime, I see no other viable option to stop the slide."

Another political scientist who asked for anonymity said the problem
with political leaders was that "because of their elevated stations, they
tend to be removed from the real circumstances of the people" they purport
to represent.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday blamed leadership
failure in Zimbabwe for putting the country on a slide to become a
"full-blown failed state".

Annan blamed the country's deepening humanitarian crisis on the
"abject failure of its leadership".

"Due to the abject failure of its leadership, it (Zimbabwe) is now
moving rapidly to becoming a full-blown failed state," Annan said in a
speech at The Hague in which the former UN chief urged the international
community to do more to save fragile states from becoming failed ones.

Brian Kagoro, a human rights activist, said because of the
intransigence of the political actors and the deepening human crisis, there
was need for the formation of a transitional authority.

"The dramatic alteration of the situation, with the humanitarian
crisis worsening, and the state for once conceding that it neither has the
capacity nor resources to resolve this issue --- an acceptance that
Zimbabwean health and other crises are becoming regionalised in the sense
that Zimbabweans are now going to Malawi, to Mozambique, to South Africa for
treatment whether legally or illegally and that the cholera outbreak or
epidemic is now spreading to the region --- suggests that perhaps what you
now need is a system, an authority with a capacity to arrest the decay and
the humanitarian crisis," Kagoro told an international radio this week.

He anticipated resistance from the government to the proposal, but
said it would not be much given the changing circumstances.

"There will be resistance, but that resistance I think is much weaker
than it was eight weeks ago or even six months ago," Kagoro said. "Partly
because there is no military solution to cholera, there's no military
solution to hunger, you need effective policy and you need international a
reengagement."

He said the sort of support Zimbabwe had received from the
international community was "band-aid to a haemorrhaging economy that will
not resolve the problem".

BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE

Electoral Framework Not Ripe For Polls - Analysts

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:30
"OH God, not again," exclaimed Harare resident Tendai Zvipo after
hearing from fellow Zanu PF supporters that President Robert Mugabe said the
party should be ready for fresh elections if an inclusive government that he
agreed to with the two MDC formations fails.

Mugabe made the pronouncement last week when he addressed Zanu PF
supporters gathered at the party's headquarters ahead of an extra-ordinary
session of the politburo.

Zvipo had a picture in her mind of violence, intimidation, abductions,
delays in announcement of results, and above all a run-off.

Her friends who were among the supporters addressed by Mugabe seemed
to be content with the president's announcement and were waiting for a
signal from him to start mobilising support for Zanu PF.

One of Zvipo's friends blamed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the
political and economic crisis in the country that has seen the Zimbabwe
dollar crash against major currencies, cash shortages and poor service
delivery.

"If the need be for an election we will be prepared," one of the
friends said. "This time, unlike during the negotiations, VaMugabe vanenge
vari kwavo and Tsvangirai kwake (Mugabe will be at his own side and
Tsvangirai at his own as well)."

In his address, Mugabe challenged the MDC-T to come out clearly
whether they wanted to be part of the unity government or, if not, Zanu PF
could go it alone and form the next government.

He said the country could go for elections in the next two years if
the inclusive government fails to work.

"We agreed to give them 13 ministries while we share the Ministry of
Home Affairs, but if the arrangement fails to work in the next one and a
half year to two years then we would go for elections," Mugabe said.  "The
MDC should say no if they do not want to be part of an inclusive
 government."

But the questions that ring in Zvipo's mind are: will the proposed
elections solve the current problems that Zimbabweans are facing.

Do we still need the elections? Will the polls not be characterised by
violence like what happened in the countdown to the June 27 presidential
election run-off, which left a number of people dead, thousands of families
displaced and thousands more seriously injured.

The level of political violence sent jitters down the spine of many
Zimbabweans when they hear of new elections.

Political analysts this week said it would not be ideal to have fresh
elections if the establishment of an inclusive government fails.

 They said the polls would only be relevant if conducted in a
democratic way and after the crafting and enactment of a people-driven
constitution.

Lawyer and political commentator Alex Magaisa said the most ideal way
forward might be an internationally supervised election to solve the
political crisis once and for all.

Magaisa said: "But having said that, such a scenario is very unlikely
not least because Mugabe knows he would not win an election in Zimbabwe
whatever the time of day.

"When he speaks of elections, it is more likely the same charade that
the world saw on June 27 and worse, the violence and abductions that have
resumed are ominous signs of what's likely to come. Mugabe might say he
wants an election, but such a contest is likely to be the same as all the
sham elections we have seen so far and it will solve absolutely nothing."

Political analyst Eldred Masunungure was of the view that elections
were not going to solve Zimbabwe's problems, especially if they were to be
held under the same circumstances as the previous election in June.

"No, not under the circumstances because the dispute over the
controversial elections that led to the signing of the agreement has not
been addressed," Masunungure said. "The circumstances are still where they
are. We have to remove the thorn before elections can be held."

He said if the elections were to be held they should be conducted
under a people- driven constitution.
"Zimbabweans have to make their constitution and this will drive the
elections. Otherwise a credible or fair outcome under the present electoral
framework will not be possible to produce. Violence is likely to resurface
and this will only deepen and prolong problems in the country," Masunungure
added.

But Zimbabwe-born South Africa-based businessman Mutumwa Mawere was of
the opinion that Zimbabweans were more wary of the future with no political
consensus.

"The inclusive government agreement has failed to create a centre of
political gravity and every democrat accepts that an election can provide a
better instrument for allocating political power," Mawere said. "In the
circumstances, there appears to be no alternative than to go for another
election."

While Mugabe showed his willingness to take part in fresh elections,
the United States and Western countries have since last week been breathing
fire demanding the immediate removal of Mugabe from power.

On Tuesday, US President George Bush urged African leaders to step up
and "join the growing chorus of voices for an end to Mugabe's tyranny".

He added: "It is time for Robert Mugabe to go."

Bush said the US would continue to work with its partners around the
world to halt the violence and stem the humanitarian disaster that the
Mugabe regime was inflicting on its people.
"We stand ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe once a legitimate government
has been formed that reflects the results of the March elections."

The European Union (EU) also called for Mugabe's ouster with French
president and current president of the 27-member club Nicolas Sarkozy
accusing the 84-year-old leader of holding Zimbabweans hostage.
"I say today President Mugabe must go. Zimbabwe has suffered enough,"
said Sarkozy.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga last weekend challenged the
African Union (AU) to deploy a peacekeeping force to Zimbabwe.

He said: "If no troops are available, then the AU must allow the UN to
send its forces into Zimbabwe with immediate effect, to take over control of
the country and ensure urgent humanitarian assistance to the people dying of
cholera."

However, the AU rejected the tough calls on Zimbabwe, while
Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Mugabe was going nowhere.

"I don't have kind words for all heads of state who have made
utterances against Zimbabwe one by one, and I hope this is the last time
they open their dirty mouths on Zimbabwe," Ndlovu said.

The spokesperson for AU chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya
Kikwete, Salva Rweyemamu, said: "Only dialogue between the Zimbabwean
parties, supported by the AU and other regional actors can restore peace and
stability to that country.

"We have a serious humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. We have cholera.
Do they think that we can eradicate cholera with guns?"

The United Nations said as of December 9, the death toll from cholera
in the country has risen to 746, with 15 572 suspected cases reported across
the country.

Masunungure said it was not easy to push for the removal of Mugabe.

"Agitating for the departure of Mugabe is problematic especially if AU
and Sadc are against the stance of the Western countries. However, to a
certain extent it would exert pressure on Mugabe and the regime and soften
them on their move of taking all the juicy ministries," said Masunungure.

"For the moment, the political limbo is bound to continue for the next
few weeks. There is no sense of direction and it's difficult to predict
where Zimbabwe is going. Things will perhaps be clearer after the Zanu PF
conference."

BY WONGAI ZHANGAZHA

Economic Recovery Document Exposes Food Insecurity

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 18:56
A GOVERNMENT economic recovery plan proposed for the yet-to-be formed
new inclusive government between President Robert Mugabe and leaders of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations - Morgan Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara - has revealed that at least 8,2 million people of the
estimated 12 million population are in dire need of food aid.

According to a draft, short to medium term economic blueprint, The
Proposed Economic Recovery Package for Zimbabwe, government now requires
donor support to import at least 900 000 tonnes of maize and an additional
150 000 tonnes of wheat in an emergency rescue package that seeks to provide
food aid to more than half of the population facing starvation.

With the agricultural sector producing below national consumption on
the back of ill-advised policies and acute shortages of inputs, government
now requires an estimated US$648 million from international financiers to
procure inputs under the "Self Financing Farming" programme.

"The decline in agricultural production during the last farming
season, largely due to the adverse weather conditions, has left an estimated
8,2 million people in both rural and urban areas being food insecure," reads
the document.

The new figure is however more than the United Nations (UN) estimates
of five million people.

"The extent of this year's food deficit, however, requires further
support towards augmenting government efforts to mobilise external
resources, as well as the logistics to bring in an additional 150 000 tonnes
of wheat imports in the country," the report read.

The 106-page document comes barely three weeks after the government
denied a team of world leaders - former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan,
ex-United States President Jimmy Carter and Graca Machel, wife of former
South African President Nelson Mandela, entry into the country to assess the
topsy-turvy economic and humanitarian crises.

The recovery plan also seeks to tame runaway annual inflation now over
231 million percent through a "credible and comprehensive" dis-inflation
programme that ceases money supply growth despite warning that this would
result in government cutting expenditure on subsidies.

This year, government relied heavily on the Reserve Bank to print
money in order to finance quasi-fiscal activities for farmers and other
loss-making parastatals.

The dis-inflation measures, according to the proposal, targets double
digit levels by next December and single digit a year later.

"In this regard, it is imperative that the dis-inflation programme
puts in place a fiscal and monetary policy framework with measures to
immediately arrest money supply growth and progressively reduce it to levels
consistent with low and stable inflation," read the draft.

The recovery programme, which the government said would require
"sacrifice and endurance of pain", also proposes the withdrawal of
expenditure on subsidies, which critics have blamed for paralysing public
entities and parastatals.

Government, the report further stated, would also require at least
US$900 million to resuscitate low-performing manufacturing sector to at
least 80% capacity utilisation from current levels estimated at 10%.
Analysts however doubt the current government's capacity to generate the
funds against the backdrop of declining export growth.

Turning to foreign exchange, the draft planned proposed an "implicitly
managed" floating exchange rate that is underpinned by fiscal and monetary
austerity. Currently the country's foreign exchange control regulations are
governed by the interbank rate that has been widely criticised by exporters
and tobacco farmers.

Government according to the document also proposed to widen revenue
collection by widening the tax base to cover the thriving informal sector
understood to be evading tax.

The rescue package, which came three months after the signing of the
September 15 power-sharing deal, also underscored the re-engagement of
external financiers to bankroll the government.

BY BERNARD MPOFU

Jokonya Defends Controversial Decision

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 18:51
THE immediate past president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) Calisto Jokonya has defended his controversial decision to
request a donation of vehicles from the Reserve Bank amid reports of a
shake-up within the industrial lobby group after his term ended.

Jokonya's response came after this week's launch of Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono's book that blasted some unnamed members of CZI for
attempting to "discredit" him through a proposed repayment plan for eight
vehicles the central bank donated to the organisation.

"I made the request to the governor because I believed the Reserve
Bank had the capacity to do so," Jokonya said. "I am not worried about
anything. The CZI resolution to allow parliament to participate in
quasi-fiscal policies undertaken by the central bank was in no way a
personal attack on the governor. The decision at the annual conference was
meant to provide checks and balances to the system."

The new CZI leadership, sources said, criticised Jokonya's request to
the central bank made in July.
The sources said the new CZI presidium headed by Ariston Holdings
chief executive Kumbirai Katsande would undergo a "re-orientation"
programme.

"Jokonya made a unilateral decision to request vehicles from the RBZ,"
said the source. "The CZI new presidium will soon undergo a programme
educating them about the organisation's protocol and method of operations.
These changes will see the two new vice presidents (Joseph Kanyekanye and
Happymore Mapara) rotating their administrative roles and liaising with the
external public and members."

Controversy dogged the donation when CZI took delivery of the vehicles
from thae central bank on September 11.

Then acting CZI president Phillip Chigumira wrote a letter to Gono
seeking clarification on the "terms and conditions" of the use of the
vehicles.

"On behalf of CZI, I would like to enquire about the terms and
conditions  if any - attached to this generous facilitation. We are anxious
to comply with these in our use of the vehicles," read Chigumira's letter
dated September 12.

This letter sources said resulted in the CZI calling for the repayment
of the vehicles at the annual general conference in October. Following the
resolution to repay the cars, the Reserve Bank allegedly declined to meet
the new CZI leadership over the proposed repayment scheme.

In what sources said was an attempt to pacify relations with the
central bank, Jokonya wrote a letter of gratitude to Gono on September 15.

The letter, however, did not mention the industrial lobby group's
plans to pay for the cars.

"I was out of the country recently, and returned on 14 September 2008.
I was delighted to be informed that the Reserve Bank, through your good
offices, had made available seven twin cabs and a delivery truck to the
 CZI," Jokonya wrote.

Gono's book, Zimbabwe's Casino Economy - Extraordinary Measures for
Extraordinary Challenges, launched on Monday criticised unnamed members of
CZI for countering Jokonya's request supposedly to discredit his office.

Referring to an article published by the Zimbabwe Independent in
October, Gono accused the CZI of playing the "invisible hands dirty
 politics".

"A case in point is how some elements in the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries used a newspaper to seek to discredit me by claiming to distance
their organisation from a request for a donation of vehicles which they made
to me and which I had honoured," Gono wrote.

Gono's book also blasted some unnamed Zanu PF members for allegedly
siding with "agents of regime change in the MDC" to undermine the central
bank's "successful" interventions.

Efforts to get comment from Katsande were in vain as he was reportedly
out of the country.

BY BERNARD MPOFU

Is The NIPC Of Any Help?

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 18:38
THE National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC) has been accused of
being a toothless bulldog or an extension of Zanu PF which only makes
statements without producing results. businessdigest reporter Jesilyn
Dendere this week spoke to NIPC chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa (GM) on
the latest developments. The NIPC recently ordered business to revert to
prices prior to December 3.

JD: Tell us more on what for the NIPC has been your highlight this
year? It seems like you have suddenly gone quiet.

GM: We have been working very hard and that is why prior to December 3
prices prevailing on the market were fairly reasonable but what happened on
December 4 was complete madness. When the business community got to know
that individuals and corporates were now going to withdraw $100 million and
$50 million respectively, they unilaterally increased prices without
consultations with the NIPC. It is shocking when one looks at the excessive
prices but we have been around, still monitoring prices and doing our
duties.

JD: Earlier this month, NIPC instructed business to go back to
November 26 prices but we never saw that happening. What makes you think
business will listen to you this time around?

GM: They did, they complied but we are not saying when one reverts
back, they remain static forever, they can then apply for new prices. At the
moment we are saying go back to December 3 then make applications to justify
any price increases.

JD: Has there been any communication with the central bank to solve
the problem because every time withdrawal limits are increased, businesses
respond by adjusting their prices

GM: They respond negatively by increasing prices but we are saying
enough is enough. Our hope was that business would behave responsibly and
charge fairly even after a (cash withdrawal) review.
Those 25 fold price increases are beyond being reasonable, a point
that has been concurred by some business leaders. The recent directive is
for the entire economic spectrum including newspapers and mobile phone
service providers because we woke up one morning to find out that the money
in our cell-phones could not even send a text message.

JD: What action is the NIPC taking besides simply advising
businesspeople to reduce prices?

GM: We are not only advising, our teams are on the ground as I speak,
monitoring the situation and causing the arrest of those who are caught
breaking the law.
We have now received assistance from the government in terms of
resources, and our inspectors will be covering all provinces effectively
come this Thursday (yesterday). Remember withdrawal limits are going up on
Friday (today) and already we are seeing the desire to effect new prices. We
are seeing ridiculous applications, for example an application to sell a 2
litre bottle of cooking oil for $200 million, they want to make sure the
$500 million becomes meaningless.

JD: Does it only apply to retailers?

GM: The whole supply chain will be affected from the manufacturer or
the importer if there are imported goods.

JD: Is the NIPC also involved in monitoring Foliwars?

GM: Our approach to Foliwars has been that it is a new phenomenon. We
are saying to them, clear the goods with the central bank so that you apply
the appropriate margins which in this case is 30%. We have been monitoring
and ensuring that it is not about profiteering. We do not want a situation
of markups which are over 100%. All we are saying is that if you are having
operational difficulties go to the central bank and clear those difficulties
whatever they may be before we come in. We will then liaise with the Reserve
Bank, we cannot just move into Foliwars without liaising with the central
bank.

JD: Have you received complaints with regards to Foliwars?

GM: We have heard complaints from members of the public that their
prices are very high as compared to those in the region and that some
locally produced products are very expensive here than across the borders
and we are investigating the causes why businesspeople want to profiteer
here in Zimbabwe and not across the borders.

JD: The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has always clashed with NIPC over the
latter's grip on controlling prices, how has been the relationship between
the two with regards to Foliwars.

GM: We have an excellent working relationship; we are exchanging notes
with the hope of moving forward and eventually getting Foliwars to apply
reasonable margins at the same time making reasonable profits. Besides the
Foliwars concept, what we are observing are people still going out to buy
outside the country because the goods there are still cheaper.
Our appeal to Foliwars is that why allow the foreign currency to go to
other countries. Reduce profit margins, move larger volumes. When our people
are happy we also make huge profits from improved sales.

JD: By allowing shops to trade in foreign currency and local
manufacturers to put their goods into Foliwars, the government and the
central bank wanted manufacturers to earn foreign currency so that they can
acquire raw materials: The business community has always quarreled with your
organisation; do they ever listen to anything that you say?

GM: Prior to the increase in the withdrawal limit, we were now having
an amicable, reasonable relationship coupled with compliance. I do not know
what went wrong on  December 4, they just woke up on the wrong side of the
bed. We met them and the general belief was that the increased withdrawal
limit pushed the parallel market rates up and our answer is that the NIPC
does not know what happens on the parallel market, we cannot use it as a
barometer to peg prices because it is illegal in the first place.

JD: As an Incomes and Pricing Commission, what has the NIPC done to
lobby for workers to be paid in foreign currency to so that they can also
buy from the Foliwars.

GM: We need to clear the confusion, Zimbabwe does not print foreign
currency, our legal tender is the Zimbabwean dollar, that is why we call
other currencies foreign. There is not enough foreign currency with which to
pay workers. It is impossible. The reason why government and the central
bank decided to open Foliwars was to capture the foreign currency so as to
increase capacity utilisation, it was not generally about dollarisation of
the economy because the government cannot afford to pay everyone in foreign
currency.

JD: What has the NIPC done to the ever rising commuter fares?

GM: We have pegged fares for urban transportation, although we have
not been able to enforce these largely because of resource constraints but
now that we are resourced you will see more of the NIPC coming not only in
transport but into commercial rentals as well.  With greater resource
capacity that we now have we will see more of the NIPC on the ground
effectively monitoring prices of goods and services at the same time
ensuring compliance.

Guilty As Charged Or A Miscarriage Of Justice?

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 18:24
GUILTY as charged or a miscarriage of justice could have been how some
lawyers interpreted the Reserve Bank's decision to effect the arrest of
several bank employees and officials on allegations of violating the Reserve
Bank Act.

Nine employees from NMB Bank, CFX Bank and POSB this week appeared
before the courts on allegations of offloading trillions of dollars of the
new money on the parallel market a day before the issuance of the higher
currency denominations.

Management at the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) were also
accused of the same "crime".

However, legal practitioners and economic analysts alike have
questioned the central bank's actions that were subsequently followed by the
lifting of an earlier jointly imposed five year ban it had imposed on the
CFX Bank executive and non-executive directors.

Gono had earlier publicly criticised the team for being unfit to run
the bank only to retract the statement saying "they were not responsible for
the day-to-day running of the bank".

This, analysts said raised questions about the relevant regulations,
which ostensibly sought to ensure good corporate governance at financial
institutions. The bank's executive directors and top management however
remain banned for five years.

POSB withdrew $4 trillion from the Reserve Bank and is alleged to have
diverted $50 billion onto the parallel market before the money became legal
tender. NMB was given $2 trillion and is said to have channelled $20 billion
onto the parallel market. ZABG was given $5 trillion and is alleged to have
released $400 billion onto the parallel market.

CFX is said to have received a total of $900 billion and diverted $260
billion on the parallel market.

While what the banks did was not justified analysts said it was not a
question of whether Gono could fire the board of a financial institution,
rather it is whether the process has been followed in reaching that
decision.

"It is normal for a financial services regulator, which RBZ is, to
have powers to bar or remove undesirable persons from involvement in the
financial sector if it considers that they are not fit and proper.
Nevertheless, the exercise of the regulator's powers must at all times meet
the requirements of due process," analyst Alex Magaisa said.

Magaisa said his understanding was that in such cases, the Reserve
Bank gathers evidence and can invoke its "many" powers to get information
from the accused persons and other sources.

Thereafter, it should give due notice of the allegations to the
accused, affording him the right to be heard and to be defended by a lawyer
of his choice. That, in a nutshell conforms to the requirements of due
process.

"But as so often happens in Zimbabwe, someone can make a decision in
the middle of the night whilst recovering from a nightmare. The accused is
given no fair hearing at all. As it is, the governor's decision is prone to
challenge on the ground that it failed to adhere to the normal standards of
natural justice.

"Whatever good intention he might have had is therefore defeated in
the end because of a failure to do the most basic and simple things in
enforcing the Reserve Bank's powers," said Magaisa.

Bank executives who spoke to the Independent on condition of anonymity
said while what happened at the four financial institutions was
unacceptable, the Reserve Bank was also guilty of the same crime.

"The most important tasks of any new government is to revamp the
Reserve Bank and transform a culture of impunity that seems to be the
hallmark of its regulatory enforcement activities," said a commercial bank
board member.

Bankers said Zimbabwe needs a strong regulator to curtail the
admittedly unethical and immoral activities in the financial sector but a
strong regulator was not necessarily an oppressive one that does not respect
due process.

"It must be able to enforce the law in a fair and just manner,
respecting the rights of individuals and corporate persons. The Reserve Bank
does not lack powers. It has a lot of them. They seem to be just used
irresponsibly most of the times," the board member said.

Bankers said they looked forward to a day when there was leadership at
the Reserve Bank whose modus operandi was not characterised by
grandstanding.

"The efficient ones do their work and command the respect, not fear,
of those whom they regulate. I am certain that day will come as there are
many good men and women at the Reserve Bank of who with the right captain,
can help steer the ship properly and more efficiently," a banker said.

Market watchers said the Reserve Bank should have reported the case to
the police for further investigations and hearing all the accused's side of
the story before making a public announcement that it had fired an entire
board and management only to reinstate them the following day.

Said Magaisa: "My experience and understanding of enforcing financial
regulations is that whenever a matter involves both a criminal and a
regulatory offence the normal course is to liaise with the police
authorities to determine the gravity of the offence and whether it is
necessary to give priority to police investigations or to allow the
regulator to pursue the regulatory offence."

He said the rationale was that where the matter is sufficiently grave
to require police investigation, and then the regulatory authority would
work to ensure that its own regulatory process did not undermine the
criminal matter.

"There is nothing however to stop the regulator from pursuing the
regulatory offence, to the extent that in liaison with the police, pursuance
of that matter does not undermine police investigations," he said.
But was Gono justified? A corporate lawyer told the Independent that
the justification of the governor's actions could only be determined on the
basis of information that was not at present fully available.

"He may well have sufficient evidence to justify his conduct in this
matter but then again he may not and without the benefit of what is
available, it would be preposterous to pass judgment on the merits of his
actions," the lawyer said. "Nevertheless, I find the manner in which the
powers were exercised rather hasty and ill-considered, given that the
requirements of due process do not appear to have been satisfied," he added.

He questioned if the executives had been given a fair hearing.  "I
would not be surprised if the executives launch legal action challenging the
manner in which the governor's decision was made.

There is a mechanism called judicial review, whereby the
decision-making process of an administrative organ or public authority, such
as the Reserve Bank, can be challenged in a court of law," the lawyer said.

BY PAUL NYAKAZEYA

Zimbabwe Diasporans Destiny Self-determined

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 21:17
ZIMBABWEANS in the diaspora, particularly in neighbouring South
Africa, are toying with a plethora of opportunities that could bring an end
to the struggles of many nationals battling to survive in Zimbabwe.

It has been difficult to appeal to the emotions of Zimbabweans in the
diaspora. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono tried to appease Zimbabweans
through the Homelink project but came out with lukewarm results.

This is because Zimbabweans in the diaspora simply do not trust each
other, are suspicious of each other, are jealous of each other, are envious
of each other and thus have no culture of collaboration.

A curable malady has ravaged many diasporans who focus selfishly on
immediate individual benefits.

Whatever happened to teamwork? Whatever happened to unity of purpose
or to progressive development? Never before has the adage "divided we fall"
been so manifest as it presently is among cynical Zimbabweans.

Even in the midst of xenophobic attacks earlier this year the
diasporans failed to come together to assist the affected, instead looking
to the South African public and NGOs to come to their aid. Golf games and
pretentiousness continued in the midst of this tragedy.

Typical diasporans are divided into groups of "pure migrants", those
people who in the eighties came from the West of the country and went on to
work after a couple of years in Botswana and later migrated to South Africa
or Bantustans.

This group has no emotional attachment whatsoever to Zimbabwe. Then
you have those who migrated prior to 1994, many of who have become citizens.
This group has some modicum of interest in what happens in Zimbabwe.

The third group is those transferred as professionals to South Africa,
but lately opportunities for this group have fizzled away due to black
economic empowerment programmes for which they do not qualify. This group
tends to be residents and citizens.

Their attachment to Zimbabwe is ambivalent at best, quick to
dissociate themselves from Zimbabwe and criticise it.

The last group consists of those on various work permits, recent
immigrants who tend to be professionals and small business owners (traders).
They have a significant attachment to Zimbabwe but are suspicious of any
organisation which they quickly label as a Zanu PF agent.

These are a very politically charged lot.

In this bleak and bleary system of things for the Zimbabweans, a small
group of Zimbabweans in the diaspora has unveiled what could be the best
answer to overcoming the misery that has engulfed a nation whose citizens
are now dogged by their own disunity, mistrust and disrespect. "God helps
those who help themselves".

This group is arranging an investment mission in Zimbabwe once the GNU
is in place, to empower Zimbabweans in South Africa via various activities
that include creation of jobs for diasporans through Zimbabwean-run SMEs.

In a whisper, this is the bone and marrow of Batanai Bambanani
Zimbabwe Association (BBZA), a non-profit, non-political registered
organisation which promotes the interests of Zimbabweans in South Africa
through business, professional, social and legal activities.

BBZA wants to create a value system based on selflessness, tolerance,
respect, honesty, hard work and unity of purpose that endure over time by
assisting to create a business friendly climate for Zimbabweans in the
diaspora and at home.

There might not be any success stories to tell or an enormous database
to boast of at the moment but there are a number of initiatives BBZA can do
for any Zimbabwean who becomes a member.

Imagine duty free exports of vehicles to Zimbabwe for members or local
currency rates in hotels in Zimbabwe or changing driver regulations when one
brings his or her vehicle to Zimbabwe and as a member of BBZA is allowed to
let his or her friends and relatives assist in driving his South African
registered vehicle in Zimbabwe!

If we are inspired by such wonderful prospects, we should be motivated
and moved to join and be involved in the activities that BBZA can offer. The
association's business activities promote the interests of business members
through lobbying and propositions to governments and other institutions.
This means creating strong business linkages with Zimbabwean businesses and
creating a diasporan economy by assisting with business opportunities and
investments.

On the professional front, BBZA's well-oiled pledges aim to improve
professionalism through educational programmes that span insights on
immigration and immigration laws.

This will in turn promote self-reliance through mentorship programmes
that will provide Zimbabweans in the diaspora with a distinct and
sustainable advantage in South Africa and the world. An association such as
BBZA could easily encourage and propagate the participation of diasporan
professionals in playing their part in revamping the Zimbabwean economy.

One way in which the professionals could play their crucial role is on
the provision of legal advice, advice on immigration services and laws and
advice on immigration requirements specific to Zimbabweans in order for them
to carry out their business ventures with almost no legal impediments.

This legal branch could well ensure that the activities of BBZA are in
accordance with the constitution of the host countries and hence ensure the
smooth flow of businesses run by Zimbabweans in the diaspora.

Vukani Madoda writes from South Africa.

ANC Breakaway Scores Poll Upset

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 21:14
DISSIDENTS who left South Africa's governing ANC have taken a third of
the seats in the Western Cape by-elections. The Congress of the People won
10 of 27 wards. As it is not formally registered as a political party, its
candidates ran as independents. The ANC won three.

The electoral commission barred the ANC from contesting 12 of the
seats because it did not register candidates in time. The Congress of the
People was created this year when ANC members split over the ousting of
ex-President Mbeki.

It was the first electoral test for the breakaway party, which plans
to challenge the African National Congress (ANC) that has dominated politics
since the fall of apartheid in 1994 at next year's general elections. The
Congress of the People (Cope) will be officially launched along with its
official policy platform on Tuesday. Altogether 41 seats in five provinces
were contested in Wednesday's municipal by-elections and other results are
expected later.

But the main poll battle took place in Western Cape province, where
the ANC has never won an outright majority. The Democratic Alliance (DA),
currently the main opposition, said it was shaking off its reputation as a
white party after winning nine seats from the ANC in the province.

Of the eight wards in the city of Cape Town, six were won by
independent candidates of Cope and two were won by the DA.

ANC spokesman Jessie Duarte told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme:
"The ANC's support base in the Western Cape has always been weak, but it's
not weak in eight out of nine provinces in the country."
Political analyst Dr Fredrick Van Zyl Slabbert told the programme:
"[The ANC has] under-estimated the extent to which there's been
dissatisfaction within the ANC at grassroots level."

But he added that it was not clear how Cope would raise the vast sums
of money it needs to contest next year's national elections.

Led by former Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, the breakaway is made
up of senior ANC members who left the party after Thabo Mbeki stepped down
as president in September, following a power struggle with ANC leader Jacob
Zuma. -- BBC.

Opinion: Bloch's Revisionism On Land Reform Misses Point

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:00
ZIMBABWE Independent columnist Eric Bloch recently wrote an article on
what he considers to be the changes necessary to get Zimbabwe's land reform
back on track to revive agriculture.

Bloch was responding to the ruling of the Sadc Tribunal based in
Namibia in favour of a number of evicted white Zimbabwean farmers who
petitioned it for relief.  The farmers went to the recently established
regional court for redress after unfavourable rulings in Zimbabwe's own
court system.

The Sadc court ruled that the farm seizures were racially
discriminatory and violated international law.

It ordered the Zimbabwean government to stop further farm takeovers,
as well as to pay compensation for those already taken. Predictably, the
Mugabe government scoffed at the court's ruling and has made it clear it has
no intention to abide by it.

Bloch's overall conclusion is hard to fault. He ends his article with,
"It (the government) should work vigorously towards the creation of
harmonious inter-racial relationships and support to bring about the revival
of the agricultural sector. If it would constructively reform its land
reform, Zimbabwe would again become the region's breadbasket, and its
economy would be positively set upon the path to real recovery and growth."

It is how Bloch leads up to his conclusion that is preposterous. He
goes out of his way to admit that Zimbabwe has had a long pre-independence
history of aggressive laws to make the African majority population occupiers
of only the most marginal lands. And he is careful to say that he accepts
that the legacy of racially-based wealth and land-holding patterns had to be
corrected.

But something rankles Bloch about how the origins of Zimbabwe's land
issue is framed:
"At the time of government initiating its programme of land reform,
resettlement and redistribution, it justified doing so upon the fact that
for a prolonged period of time the black population had been legislatively
barred from ownership of agricultural lands, and upon a specious contention
that such lands had been "stolen" from the black population by the British
colonialists of more than a century ago."

Bloch then embarks on an ingenious but utterly dishonest argument, one
he has made many times before in his Independent column, about how the
widely-held view that the land was indeed stolen from the natives by British
settlers is actually wrong.

No, you see, says Bloch, the natives' population density was extremely
low at the time of the arrival of the British visitors who then invited
themselves to stay and dominate the natives.

Citing population statistics of that late 19th century period, Bloch
says, "Based upon the 1880s/1890s population of 250 000, if the entirety of
the lands were stolen from that population, each member of the population,
be they adult or child, male or female, elderly or young would, on average,
have been  possessed of 156 28 acres! That could not possibly have been the
case."

There you have it, the masterful exoneration of the early British
settlers' reputation as usurpers of African land by Eric Bloch! They could
not have stolen the land because at the time (1890s) there were just a
handful of natives roaming around mostly vastly empty space that belonged to
nobody.

Oh sure, admits Bloch, the settlers may have then gone on to mistreat
the Africans in all sorts of ways, but at the beginning they just helped
themselves to all the vast open spaces that had just been sitting there
waiting for somebody clever to come along and stake Western-legal claim to
it. It was not the settlers' fault that the natives couldn't produce title
deeds, effectively says the intrepid Bloch.

If I sound sarcastic and contemptuous of Bloch's argument, it's
because I am. It is not only a historically and intellectually dishonest
argument, it borders on meeting the standards of that oft-abused, over-used
concept -- racist.

As Bloch damn well knows, the concepts of ownership of the two
clashing cultures were completely different. In the African setting land was
communally held. There was no personal "title" to land, but there was a
consensual understanding of territories belonging to different levels of
groups.

This is why when what was understood to be an "outgroup" invaded an
area, the result was war.

It was not, "Fine, help yourself to that vast open space over there,
we don't have title deeds to it so we can't prove it is ours."

Bloch is valiantly fighting an ideas war with an argument that is not
just culturally, historically and intellectually dishonest.

On a purely practical level, he is continuing to fight a battle that
in Zimbabwe has clearly been lost. The almost universal feeling amongst
black Zimbabweans about the "stealing" of their land is one major reason why
they pretty much unanimously agreed with the idea of waging a long and
brutal war against the colonial system.

It is also why the idea of radical land reform was quite popular even
as some warned about the consequences of doing it the way it was done.

It is also why even as many Zimbabweans today would like to see the
back of Robert Mugabe for being a repressive despot and for the overall mess
he has presided over, the idea of land reform remains widely popular, even
if many would agree with Bloch's broad idea that the reform itself now needs
to be reformed.

Each time Bloch has argued the way he has done again in this article,
after getting over my initial astonishment, I have often wondered if he
could be really naive enough to believe it could have any currency beyond
perhaps a handful of people in his circles.

Bloch has every right to repeat this argument, but he stands
approximately zero chance of convincing either any Zimbabwean government or
a significant proportion of the Zimbabwean public of his fantastically
revisionist view of the country's colonial history.

In different contexts, I have heard people fighting the fight that
Bloch does so poorly here argue the following: The Africans (Indians,
Aborigines, Native Americans, whatever) were indeed dispossessed of what was
rightfully theirs by subterfuge and force of arms, but hey, every people has
gone through such unhappy experiences. Get over it and move on.

Many would find even this argument a provocative and controversial
white-washing of history and of peoples' legitimate grievances and rights to
the same kind of redress today's white farmers are seeking.

Yet I believe this argument has more validity than Bloch's crude
attempt to re-write history to absolve the early white settlers of their
many pretexts for dispossessing Africans. Bloch's one century-later public
relations effort on their behalf is a lost cause in modern day Zimbabwe.

To frankly admit the messy and painful events that have helped bring
the society to its present pass is to respect the full historical record and
its effects on people in the past and the present, rather than a
reductionist resort to misuse of statistics.

Zimbabwe has continued under its present post-independence
dispensation to be in denial about the ugliest parts of its violent present,
the same way people like Bloch are in denial about the reality of its ugly,
violent past.

Part of our moving forward as a society is to learn to look at
ourselves, past and present, with brutal honesty so that the many aggrieved
can feel the validity of their grievances have at least been recognised in a
way that allows forgiveness and moving on. Bloch's crude article reminds us
how far we still have to go in this regard by its virtual mocking of a
central cause of African pain and anger about the colonial past.

It is not just a waste of time of an argument, it also illustrates the
huge gap in how blacks and whites in southern Africa in general explain how
they arrived at the tense multi-layered adjustments their societies are
undergoing to get over a past that was certainly painful for the natives, if
not for the likes of Eric Bloch.

Bloch's "clever" attempts at historical revision also work against his
expressed noble desire for the society to "vigorously work towards the
creation of harmonious inter-racial relationships". His regular recycling of
this crooked attempt at colonial absolution does not help to achieve his
expressed aim.

By Chido Makunike  a Zimbabwean social commentator based in Senegal.

Muckraker: American Dollar vs Zim dollar

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:08
WHEN the history of this period is written there may be one unsung
hero who deserves acknowledgement. That is the US dollar.

Yes, it has led to a harmful dichotomy between the haves and the have
nots. But that was already manifesting itself in Zanu PF's corrupt rule.
What the US dollar has done is to introduce a measure of stability just when
things were getting out of control with the local unit. And above all it has
demonstrated that there will be no going back - economically or politically.

President Mugabe and his collaborators can't print US dollars. They
can only print local dollars to keep up. And the more they print, the faster
the Zimdollar loses its value.

Yes, that leaves the army, police, and civil servants on the margins
and potentially disaffected. But that's a headache Mugabe and Co have
created for themselves. They can't manipulate the US dollar like they have
everything else. It's a currency, not an election.

Mugabe was last week telling the politburo that Zanu PF will go it
alone if the MDC-T doesn't want to join an inclusive government. They can
take it or leave it, he suggested.

"We agreed to work with the MDC so we push government programmes
together as a country," he told the party faithful. "But when elections are
announced we go against each other."

So there it is. The MDC's role will be to "push government programmes",
not formulate policy. They will be coopted to dig Mugabe out of the hole he
has excavated for the country. Government programmes, let us recall,
suffered unambiguous rejection in the March poll.

Meanwhile, opposition members and civic activists are being abducted
with no admission as to their whereabouts despite court orders for the
police to disclose where they are being held.

The MDC needs to say yes to elections - elections under international
supervision and with a free press. But it cannot join a government where
abductions and repression remain the order of the day and the public media
is instructed to lie. The MDC will in that situation be complicit in Zanu PF's
misrule.

Didymus Mutasa has helpfully admitted that this is a regime that holds
the law in open contempt. While insisting that the MDC-T adheres to Sadc's
call to join an inclusive government, Zanu PF declines to adhere to the rule
of law in regard to the Sadc Tribunal.

Why should the MDC be associated with a government that refuses to
obey court orders; that not only refuses to obey the orders of a regional
court but insults the judges that sit on that bench?

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki of course has not uttered a
word of reproach. Instead he writes an ill-advised letter to Morgan
Tsvangirai denouncing Tendai Biti for "insulting" regional heads. Zimbabwe's
future lay with Sadc, not the EU and North America, he fulminated.

But the most disingenuous piece of his bad-tempered missive was that
which suggested South Africa had opened its doors to thousands of Zimbabwean
refugees who had imposed a heavy burden on their hosts.

This is not a burden borne by Western nations, he claimed, which have
benefited from Zimbabwean skills.
What he forgot to add is that when those refugees came under murderous
attack in the townships of Johannesburg, he declined to visit the victims
and only late in the day denounced the perpetrators of violence.

And while it is true Western countries have benefited from Zimbabwean
skills, so has South Africa.

Those same Western countries have been quick to respond to calls for
their help in combating cholera and starvation in Zimbabwe when the region,
with the notable exception of Namibia, has dragged its heels. As Raila
Odinga pointed out, Sadc has been unforgivably slow in dealing with the
crisis in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe would never share the same neighbourhood as Western Europe
and North America, Mbeki lectured Tsvangirai.

But what Mbeki misses in all this is the increasingly inter-connected
global village. Sadc countries may choose to find friendships around the
world and not just in the region. Zimbabwe is currently reaching out to
China and previously had a close relationship with Malaysia.

Botswana's view of the Zimbabwe crisis is currently closer to that of
the UK and US than South Africa.
Mbeki was isolated, let us remember, when he tried to lift Zimbabwe's
Commonwealth suspension in the teeth of opposition from other African
states, most notably Nigeria.

If it is true that Biti holds Southern African leaders in contempt,
that may have something to do with the contempt they hold for Zimbabwean
voters! Now Mugabe is using another flawed election as a threat.

Botswana has supplied an appropriate response there: Elections under
international supervision. With a democratic constitution, we should add.

Let Mugabe go ahead and form a dead-wood government. What confidence
does the country have in Mutasa, Made and Msika? And can you imagine what a
spur to inflation electoral money-printing will prove?
And what makes Mugabe think the international community, which
declined to recognise his legitimacy last time around, will endorse another
poll outcome marred by chicanery and violence?

Zanu PF should get real. It is them against whom the tide is clearly
turning, not Morgan Tsvangirai as the Sunday Mail pathetically hopes. There
can be no renewal for that clueless bunch of losers as Bindura will soon
reveal.

And which businessmen have been foolish enough to contribute to the
Bindura shindig? How can you fund your own demise?

This is a meeting of people who have no idea of how a modern economy
is run. Yet they hold out the begging bowl to those whose prospects they
have ruined by their ignorant policies. And some business people are stupid
enough to give.

Now they have another "economic recovery plan" in the pipeline which,
we can be sure, will meet the same fate as all the rest. In response to the
obvious question: Why don't they just give up and spare the country any more
suffering, the obvious answer is that such a sacrifice would remove a large
number of snouts from the feeding trough. Zimbabwe's Animal Farm is not
going to exit easily.

By the way, somebody writing in the Voice recently thought 1984 was a
defence of socialism. As we said a couple of weeks ago, it's good for a
laugh.

Please could Econet communicate with its customers. Why is it
impossible to reach a South African cell number or indeed any other number
outside the country? Has it got something to do with termination fees? Why
aren't we told?

Do you recall all those ambitious statements from Econet that it was
adding thousands of new subscribers to its network? We said at the time,
please could it just concentrate on providing a service to its existing
customers.

Those seem like halcyon days now. Econet and the two smaller networks
are just not coping with inflation. Their prepaid cards run out after a
couple of calls.

Customer complaints go unheeded. Nothing seems to get Zimbabweans more
worked up than talking about their cellphone hassles. We just wish the
companies, having made a fortune at our expense, could think of ways to make
life a bit easier for their customers. Like going back to contracts.

DRC ambassador Mawampanga Mwana Nanga thinks Zimbabweans should have
pride in their local brands like Air Zimbabwe. He said the DRC would
continue to support the Zimbabwean "cause" and assist with the restoration
of the economy.

He didn't say what he thought the Zimbabwean "cause" was or what
assistance a country like the Congo could give to the restoration of the
economy.

At the same awards ceremony, AirZim CEO Peter Chikumba said although
the national airline was faced with certain challenges, "its reliability had
been proven and there was room to improve next year".

Is this a statement AirZim passengers can identify with? Do they
generally regard the airline as reliable? Or is Chikumba living in the same
delusional world that ZTA chief Karikoga Kaseke inhabits where everything is
about "perception management"?

It would be interesting to know how profitable AirZim's Congo service
is as their flights commute between Kinshasa, Mbuji-Mayi, and Lubumbashi.

This is a strange itinerary for a Zimbabwean airline!

In 1960 the Congo was traversed by a sophisticated road and rail
network carrying the riches of its mines to the River Congo at Leopoldville
(Kinshasa).

Now it is impossible to travel by road and there is little left of the
rail network. The Congolese have reverted to their river system when they
need to travel. Meanwhile their rich forest resources in the east are under
siege as are their once abundant wildlife. The mountain gorillas are a
notable casualty of the current civil war.

The DRC ambassador called on Zimbabweans to have pride in their
national brands like Air Zimbabwe. But he didn't say what brands could be
found in the Congo or what aspects of transportation in that country its
citizens could currently be proud of. What perhaps he meant is that the DRC,
once under the iron fist of Mobutu Sese Seko, provides a lesson for Zimbabwe
in the consequences of misrule.

Candid Comment: Ironies And Paradoxes Of Zim Crisis

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 20:02
LIFE is full of ironies, dilemmas and paradoxes.

US president George Bush wants President Robert Mugabe's head for his
valedictory party and as a Christmas turkey for his Republican and European
supporters to cap his bloody legacy; ahistorical lawyers and reporters are
deployed to make fateful decisions on the causes and solutions to Zimbabwe's
problems while Sadc and African Union leaders are cajoled to back the first
American-engineered military coup in the region!

There is a desperate urgency in Bush's call. He has been rejected by
the Americans and leaves the US mired in unwinnable deadly conflicts in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Getting rid of President Mugabe would be a victory, no
matter how pyrrhic; it should be the silver lining on his dark reign which
everyone wants to forget very quickly.

It's no less devilish that this despicable agenda is cloaked as a
democracy campaign (remember Iraq!), with the cholera outbreak as the casus
belli. We have become vermin to be culled through a military operation
before the disease can be contained. And blood-sucking idiots like Raila
Odinga want Africa to bless this diabolical act!

The dilemma Zimbabwe faces is not helped by a phoney and fawning
eurocentric media most of whose callow practitioners can't grasp concepts
such as "social justice" and "universal human rights" as enshrined in the UN
Human Rights Charter of 1948.

While they are happy to cite convenient sections from it, nobody dares
interrupt the bandwagon by pointing out that as late as 1970, 10 years
before Zimbabwe's Independence, the Rhodesian Front government was kicking
Chief Rekayi Tangwena and his people off Gairesi Ranch.

Their single crime was that no indigenous African had title to land,
so they could not have human rights without legal rights.

That's the context of the Sadc Tribunal's ruling on Zimbabwe's vexed
land issue. It dovetails with the usual rhetoric: the need to correct past
wrongs is not disputed -- so long as there is prompt "market-related"
compensation "in foreign currency". None of those saying so wants to part
with "his" land much of it measured in thousands of hectares and lying
fallow.

They know no African government can raise the foreign currency they
demand. Listen to the ruckus in South Africa.

We all know there was corruption in land redistribution and rampant
abuse of resources allocated by government. But what I cannot understand is
the claim by the Tribunal that implementation of "the land reform programme
might be legitimate if and when all lands under the programme were .
distributed to poor, landless and other disadvantaged and marginalised
individuals or groups".

This is strange logic demanding of Zimbabwe something without
precedent in the world. So correcting a colonial property ownership
injustice must be limited only to the poor and vagrants and not include any
who fought for the land if they have so improved themselves that they now
own a house? Who said this was the aim of the liberation war?

Fortunately most Sadc and AU leaders have pierced this veil of unjust
legality.

The dispute in Zimbabwe is not purely about human rights, democracy
and the rule of law. These ideals can't be enjoyed in a vacuum.

Americans know this from their independence war, and the civil war a
century later. Europeans know this from the French Revolution.

Those struggles were about property ownership rights, and there were a
lot of expropriations from those who lost the war. Zimbabweans want no less,
no more than ownership and control of their natural resources, starting with
land.

If this had been let to run its course like in America and France, I
am sure it would have been wrapped up in five years and deserving farmers
compensated and spared us the current racist acrimony.

This leads me to the biggest paradox in this saga. It is a paradox
which has confounded the denialists of the centrality of land in our crisis
and why most Europeans cannot understand why African leaders respond with
icy resentment to external goading to "deal" with Mugabe.

Put crudely: the political party purportedly seeking to establish the
rule of law in Zimbabwe is viewed in African eyes as trying to achieve this
by restoring and entrenching the status quo ante 1998 in land ownership
patterns while a weary incumbent regime is pioneering a revolutionary
post-colonial property ownership pattern on the continent.

A cursory reading of John Stuart Mill's theory of the greatest
happiness to the greatest number makes this self-evident.

If one cannot understand this paradox, it is impossible one can
understand why Thabo Mbeki was forced to leave power before President
Mugabe, the main target of the onslaught in the region.

Having failed to execute his task as Bush's pointman to dislodge
Mugabe, Mbeki was portrayed in the South African media and abroad as the
archetypal evil who could not call Mugabe devil. The campaign of
vilification and calumny worked insidiously, creating chinks in the
governing ANC and quickly found concrete expression in Jacob Zuma's vaulting
ambition.

Too late, Zuma is realising how he has been used to undermine the
party which should have carried him to power and fortified his empowerment
policies among SA's marginalised urban and rural poor.

In the context, Bush's requested Christmas present is the ultimate
insult to Africans who loathe the West's condescending attitude. Under
military attack, given its geographical location, Zimbabwe would create a
flaming vortex worse than the DRC war in 1999 and kill the raison d'etre of
Sadc as a political and economic bloc and the benefits therefrom.

These are the ingredients of regional instability in which no nation
can guarantee the security of its own interests. White capital flight will
hit staggering proportions overnight, hitting hardest Sadc countries calling
for a military solution to what is clearly a political problem.

BY JORAM NYATHI

Comment: It's Political Delinquency

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:59
CHRISTMAS, which all over the world is described as the festive
season, is upon us. Unfortunately for Zimbabweans there are no festivities
to speak of. As memories of the September 15 signing of the power-sharing
agreement between Zimbabwe's three main parties fade, and for some turn into
a nightmare, ordinary people now wonder aloud: What went wrong?

As the promises of economic recovery and national renewal politicians
made ahead of the March 29 elections fade into the mists, ordinary people
wonder what happened.

As hunger and a devastating cholera epidemic stalk the land without
any indications of urgent action on the part of government, people
understandably ask: Does anyone care?

Needless to say, in Zimbabwe's badly polarised and poisoned political
environment the answer one gets to these many questions depends on their
vantage point on the political divide. We have become past-masters at the
blame game without anyone accepting responsibility for the debilitating
political stalemate in the country which is taking a huge toll in human
lives.

There is also no doubt that more Zimbabweans have been trying to leave
the country since it became evident that there was no meeting of minds
between the major political players, President Robert Mugabe and
MDC-Tsvangirai leader Morgan Tsvangirai. To us that is a vote of no
confidence in those who had promised to serve and save the nation from the
current state of economic and social collapse.

What has also become evident beyond question is that what is at stake
in the stalled negotiations to form an inclusive government has nothing to
do with meeting people's needs but the desire by the political leadership
for dominance. There have been more efforts expended in trying to accentuate
the differences between Zanu PF and the MDC-Tsvangirai than what the two
parties share as representatives of the people of Zimbabwe.

In this regard it is futile to keep referring to the March 29
elections as the magic wand to unlock the political deadlock as if there
were a decisive winner in the presidential race. In fact, the outcome of the
vote in both the presidential and House of Assembly tallies points to the
need for an inclusive government. It is therefore dishonest for either party
to demand in the negotiations a dominance it failed to achieve through the
ballot.

Another convenient argument has been that Tsvangirai and the MDC
deserve to rule because Zanu PF and Mugabe have been at the helm for the
past 28 years and have in fact precipitated and presided over the collapse
of Zimbabwe's economy and social services.

This argument misses the point that politics is about gaining power
and retaining it. It is not about entitlement merely because the incumbent
regime has failed. Power has to be won in an open contest, which is what
both parties failed to do in March according to Zimbabwe's electoral laws.

Most damaging however has been Zanu PF's use of force to coerce voters
to see things its way.

Democracy dictates that a political party seeking power must win the
hearts and minds of the electorate by the force of its message. It was in
this respect that the ruling party lost the contest in March and it must
accept the need for compromise and sharing of the power it has held alone
for nearly three decades.

To us the solution to the country's woes does not lie in the blame
game. This is a betrayal of the people.

The answer lies in the leaders of the two main political parties
examining and accepting their limitations and agreeing to work together.
What is needed urgently is to alleviate people's suffering, not who wields
what power in an inclusive government. This is an entirely selfish agenda
which can only deepen, or lead to another, dictatorship.

While there is clear merit in the MDC's demand for a fresh election as
another way to resolve the stalemate on who should lead the country, this
exposes a disturbing detachment from the ordinary people and urgency of the
issues affecting them such as hunger, the cholera pandemic and shortages of
basic commodities all round.

It also shows an inability to evaluate the actual state of the economy
and whether it can sustain further elections whose outcomes are not
guaranteed to yield an enduring solution.

If anything, this option is dependent on foreigners funding the
elections and then deciding on their own terms who the victors are. It bears
the same political barrenness which dictates that economic recovery in
Zimbabwe can be achieved solely with foreign aid while Zimbabweans
themselves quibble over ministerial portfolios.

We believe an election can wait while politicians attend to the urgent
needs of the people and also work on new electoral institutions to remove
the anomalies which have led to electoral disputes in the past. Anyone who
cannot appreciate the daily suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans while he
pursues personal glory doesn't deserve to rule this country.

Editor Memo: Blame Mugabe

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:19
A LOT of debate has been generated both within and outside Zimbabwe's
borders on whether or not the country's major protagonists - President
Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai - understand the state the nation is in
and the urgent need for a political solution.

The most striking question on that matter has been that if Mugabe and
Tsvangirai understand the enormity of the country's problems, why are they
not ready to compromise for the common good of the toiling Zimbabweans?

The signing of the September 15 power-sharing agreement gave
Zimbabweans hope of a better future, but that hope has been turned into a
nightmare as Mugabe and Tsvangirai continue to haggle on issues that have
nothing to do with delivering on their parties' electoral promises.

The crisis has taken a new twist with the outbreak of cholera that has
claimed about 600 lives and serious shortages of basic food faced by about
five million people.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai are worried about who between them should have
"real power" in the unity government instead of putting the country's
national interest above self.

Unfortunately regional pressure has been piled on Tsvangirai to set
aside what his party terms outstanding issues of the September 15 deal and
be part of the inclusive government.

Tsvangirai's concerns have been reduced to nothing except the
allocation of posts, but more significantly they are a battle of ideas and
philosophy.

I have no doubt that Mugabe's idea is to cling to power at all costs
and I suggest that must be resisted. Instead, his role should be to inspire
people and he must above all unite them.

Mugabe has failed to provide leadership even during the last mile of
his journey in power.

An inclusive government must offer a glimmer of hope and not
contribute to darkness and confusion.

With Mugabe at the helm and his thinking intact no progress can
realistically be expected.  Zimbabwe needs change and urgently.

The challenge is for Zimbabweans to start speaking about the kind of
Zimbabwe they want to see. The likes of Desmond Tutu and Ian Khama have been
providing their views and it is time that opinions start emanating from
Zimbabweans voicing the shared concern that leadership change is necessary.

People have been afraid for too long and the people in the diaspora
have chosen to be spectators while their national brand is being murdered.

Mugabe has contributed much in contaminating the Zimbabwean brand and
this injury cannot be rectified through a manufactured outcome of an
inclusive government.

The credibility of any government has to be based on its record and
Mugabe has refused to run on his record or even be judged by his own
actions, choosing instead to be judged by the actions of other people.

I strongly believe that it is Mugabe, not Tsvangirai, who is holding
the country to ransom.

He has been in power for 28 years and he simply has run out of ideas.
Mugabe promises nothing new and he must accept that time for change has
arrived.

He continues to look in the rear-view mirror instead of looking into
the future and what is needed now.
Those asking for compromise from Tsvangirai's side should know that
you could only compromise when the times and conditions require compromise.

Zimbabwe is in an uncompromising mood and the injury is so great that
action is required. Mugabe has demonstrated in the post-election period that
he does not know what time it is.

The ageing Mugabe is still playing the power game in its classical
sense and is not moved by the pain and suffering people are going through.
People of Zimbabwe have to register their own distaste at what is taking
place.

Mugabe has 24 hours in a day so has Tsvangirai and people who say
nothing and do nothing about the situation have themselves to blame.

It cannot be right to say that only two people are responsible for the
Zimbabwean condition. We are all responsible. We have to ask ourselves what
have we done to resolve the crisis?

Mugabe continues to believe that he is the last defender of the
revolution and it is time to tell him that he is not.

Editor's Memo with Constantine Chimakure

Zim Independent Letters

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/

Govt Has Lost Charge

Thursday, 11 December 2008 20:36
PRESIDENT George W Bush recently denounced the illegitimate Mugabe
regime and once again called for a government that would end repression and
express the will of the Zimbabwean people.

On March 29, the citizens of Zimbabwe voted decisively to change their
leaders.

They demanded better government. Yet their demands have been largely
ignored by the losers of the election, which is why the president called
this regime illegitimate. However, the Mugabe regime continues to forfeit
its legitimacy on a daily basis by failing to meet the most basic obligation
of a government -- to care for its people.

Governments are created to protect and care for their citizens.  The
current regime has largely abdicated this responsibility. Today the work of
caring for the many suffering Zimbabweans has fallen to the international
community.

I am proud of the leading role the United States is playing in this
regard, but we should not lose sight of the fact that we are doing what the
government of Zimbabwe should do, but chooses not to do.

In the past year the US has provided over US$218 million in
humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe.

We are the leading food donor, providing US$211 million in food
commodities to address this food emergency.

The United States provides nearly 70% of all international food aid
distributed in Zimbabwe through NGOs and the UN World Food Programme.

We spent nearly US$30 million last year on HIV/Aids programmes, in
addition to paying for 33% of the Global Fund's programmes. We are currently
putting in place an additional US$600 000 in emergency aid to combat the
cholera epidemic currently devastating Zimbabwe.

What is the Mugabe regime doing? It is buying hundreds cars so that
every minister and governor can have multiple vehicles.  It is buying plasma
televisions for judges.  It is stifling the private sector so that mines and
factories are forced to close, laying off workers, while harassing the
nongovernmental organisations that try to provide support to suffering
Zimbabweans.

The widespread hunger in Zimbabwe, the cholera epidemic and the
collapse of education and health care systems are not the result of any
targeted sanctions.  These disastrous failures result from decisions by a
few Zimbabwean leaders to put personal interests ahead of the public
interest.

Instead of spending scarce resources on water purification chemicals
that might stop the cholera epidemic, they are manipulating currency to make
a personal profit. Instead of ensuring that hospitals and clinics remain
open, staffed and supplied, they enjoy lives of luxury in gated compounds.
Instead of paying teachers a living wage so that the next generation can
learn, they fly around the world on shopping sprees. In the meantime, their
people suffer and die.

I challenge the leaders of this country to set aside their personal
greed and commit to spending even a quarter of what the US and other donors
will spend this year to meet the humanitarian needs of Zimbabwe's citizens.

The amount of aid the US gives Zimbabwe is openly available. The
Mugabe regime should open its books and tell the world how much it is
spending on the people of Zimbabwe, and how much they are spending on luxury
vehicles, the campaign of brutal violence against their own people, and the
desperate struggle to stay in power at all costs.

The bottom line is that the so-called leaders of this country need to
stop feeding their insatiable greed and take care of the poor and deserving
Zimbabweans languishing because of this corruption. Up to five million
people will need food aid in the coming months. Over 15 500 have suffered
from cholera, with 746 deaths, and the epidemic is just starting.

Untold thousands have suffered or died because they cannot access
medical care. We remain ready to help. However, right now the international
community isn't just helping; we're being forced to lead by the Mugabe
regime's criminal negligence. It's time for the Mugabe regime to take
responsibility for these problems it has created, and fix them.

Zimbabweans deserve better. They have asked for better through their
votes. How long must they suffer before their government responds?

James D McGee is US Ambassador to Zimbabwe.

--------------------
What Has Happened To Investigative Journalism?
Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:53
I RESPECT your paper for its principle of telling it as it is, for
this is the only way our nation can start to climb out of our current
malaise.

I hope you are going to expose the truth on the issue of the clampdown
on some stockbrokers, banks, companies and individuals by the central bank
governor Gideon Gono.

This action convinced most of us that there were elements in our midst
who were making this country suffer.
Most of us -- I believe -- would really want to know what has since
happened to the saboteurs especially if you consider the way this was aired
on our ever "reliable" ZTV with the Attorney-General officials present.

What is strange is about the whole affair is that we learn through the
rumour mill that the deemed saboteurs have since been cleared and removed
from the "blacklist".

Can someone explain why this has been done secretly? Is it because the
governor misinformed the public or that he had not done his homework?

Or maybe he is just trying to show us that since he has been given
five more years he is doing something to arrest the deteriorating situation?

My question to you is what has happened to investigative journalism?
We definitely need some answers especially from Gono who made this an issue
of national interest by beaming it on ZTV.

On another note, the only good bank in the country, Stanbic Bank, has
been unable to generate a statements of my account for the past four weeks.

They keep telling me that their system is offline or that it is being
upgraded. They need to take us customers more seriously.

Pindukai Rakabopa,
Harare.

---------
Government Must Account For Anti-cholera Resources
Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:27
THE Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is dismayed by the
failure of the Zimbabwean de facto government and its parastatals to account
for the funds which were designated for the control of cholera and provision
of clean water to the residents of Harare.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe allocated large sums of money and
vehicles to Zinwa towards the production and supply of water and sewer
reticulation in the city some three weeks ago, but up to date nothing
substantial has been seen on the ground. The cholera-infested areas are
still without water. Raw sewage is still abundantly flowing through the
residential areas and homes while burst sewers are still largely unattended
and the cholera scourge is on the rise.

Meanwhile, the cholera scourge is unrelenting as it continues to claim
more lives in Harare, across the country and rapidly sprawling beyond the
Zimbabwean borders.

While there are reports that the UN aid agencies have stepped up
efforts to fight cholera in Zimbabwe; CHRA still fears that the aid directed
towards  fighting cholera might be usurped by the authorities and find its
way to bankrolling some of the dishonest and insensitive government populist
projects.
Zimbabwe desperately needs transparent and accountable  leadership.
CHRA demands transparent, accountable and responsible leadership. Harare
residents and Zimbabweans deserve better.

CHRA,Harare.

--------------
Zimbabwe Independent SMSES
Thursday, 11 December 2008 19:22
YOUR crossword puzzles are too Euro-centric. Can you make an effort to
make the content more global?
 Puzzled.

SO Robert Mugabe is now giving the MDC an ultimatum to comply with a
half-baked agreement? I believe that the MDC should not be pestered in their
decisions especially by a man whose own decisions have made Zimbabwe
disintegrate since 1980. Tsvangirai should agree to a deal that is
practically workable.
Sphinx J, Bindura.

IS Robert Mugabe still in total control? I think not! Rampaging
soldiers, a cholera epidemic exposing his disastrous policies -- and now he
has to ask for help from abroad -- an economy on a free fall and lastly (but
not least) despite parading himself as a winner he still has not instituted
a government!
Tonderai, Dzivarasekwa.

HOW many more Zimbabweans must die of curable diseases such as cholera
and suffer from malnutrition? How many Zimbabweans must vote with their feet
in emigrating from Zimbabwe before Zanu PF realises that it is way past its
expiry date?
Matswane.

BOTH Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe are useless because they have
allowed us to suffer with hunger. Come elections in five years people will
definitely vote for a third force, probably Simba Makoni or whoever will be
the next opposition.
Walter.

WHY are people like Thabo Mbeki and The Post of Zambia (Zimbabwe
Independent December 5, Tsvangirai pushing his luck too far) busy lambasting
Tsvangirai? Instead they should knock sense into Mugabe and Zanu PF. If they
want to know who carries the real mandate of the people they should poll
even a small cross-section of Zimbabweans and it will be evident.

Rudo.

IT is a travesty of Himalayan proportions in my view that Thabo Mbeki
and The Post of Zambia are saying that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T must
subject themselves to what they call "African solutions". This is a fallacy
when most African leaders, namely
Omar Bongo, Muammar Qaddafi, Hosni Mubarak to name a few,
consider the word democracy to
be a dirty word. We want true democracy in Zimbabwe and the majority
in Zimbabwe are behind Tsvangirai.
Do.

WHEN Didymus Mutasa insults the Sadc Tribunal on the land judgement
does that portray your "African" culture and values Thabo Mbeki? Mugabe lost
in March and needs to accept this reality and you should assist him to get
to grips with that fact.
Future elder.

THABO Mbeki is an accomplice to the chaos that reigns in Zimbabwe.
Mbeki has deliberately misled the world as to the plight of Zimbabweans.
Morgan Tsvangirai is the people's leader.
Stanley Tapfumaneyi Tapera, Harare.

CAN you believe that buses from our rural area of Zhombe are now
accepting goats and chickens as bus fare? God help us all, somebody is
dragging us back to the stone age barter system.
Bhero.

JORAM Nyathi seems to have lost the plot in the sanctions issue. They
were brought about  by the brutalisation of the opposition by the Zanu PF
regime. So the international community could not stand and watch as if
nothing was going on. Sanctions are the just dessert.
Analyst.

GOD is not all blind that he cannot see the wickedness amongst us. He
will bring to book all those who choose the path of brutality. Politicians
should turn their hearts to God; you are not too far removed from God to
repent your sins. He can still forgive you.
Knowledge Munenge.

I AM trying to trace my roots and place of origin and require
assistance in that regard. Our family surname is Ngungumbana, my first name
is Mkhonji. Fasi, Motase, Makhaya, Dumase, Mphaanle and Sokoambata are the
names of my fellow family members. Most of our elders died when I was young
and I have had no chance to get the details of my ancestry from them. Anyone
with knowledge about the aforementioned names and their roots should kindly
shed light to me on this number 023 392 887 or through my favourite weekly
newspaper, the Zimbabwe Independent.
Mkhonji Ngungumbana.

WHO is to blame for the increase in the prices of goods charged in
foreign currency? What is causing this?
Perplexed.

CONGRATULATIONS to Gideon Gono for a new five-year term. He must be
given the time and opportunity to watch as the zeros keep growing and
growing.
Observer.

Zimbabwe Commuters Struggle to Afford Public Transport

http://www.voanews.com/



By Loirdham Moyo
Mutare, Zimbabwe
11 December 2008

In Zimbabwe's city, Mutare, residents are shunning regular commuter
operators and using other forms of transport - like open lorries - saying
buses are simply too expensive. Trucks usually travel to the city center
daily to hire laborers. Now, however, drivers say their business has picked
up dramatically since they began ferrying residents to and from work. Voice
of America English to Africa Service reporter Loirdham Moyo says commuter
operators charge anything from $ 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars (about $12.00 US)
for a one-way trip. That's the maximum amount individuals are allowed to
withdraw from banks daily. Consumers say if they pay that much for
transport, they've nothing left to feed their families.

But a few innovative locals have found a way around the transport nightmare;
they're hitching rides with lorry- and truck drivers who charge half of what
operators want.

Brighton Chichakara says he's more than comfortable using other forms of
transport. However he says when it rains he won't be able to jump onto the
back of an open lorry; then he'll have to hitch a ride in a combi:

"The trucks are a dependable and cheap way of going and back from town. At
the banks we get $500, 000 and operators charge that same amount meaning
that one will have no other means of getting back to work if they rely on
withdrawals from the bank. It is only sad now that the rains are imminent
that we are forced to go for them."

Another commuter Silvia Sithole says the trucks give consumers much-needed
relief. She explains when one makes a trip to the city, returning is a
problem because it costs too much.

"We are finding it hard to travel daily into town and back on the $500,000
we withdraw which ends up paying for one trip. Life is now hard and the
trucks are a welcome development to most of us."

Chikanga resident Farai Mudzinge says truckers' presence has eased many
commuters' financial burdens.

"Many of us are using trucks to get to work and back. We pray they continue
serving us as commuter operators are now bent on hiking fares as they please
forgetting we only get money enough to cater for one way trip by their
current charges."

A truck driver, who identified himself only as Peter, explains he waits in
the hope of being hired for a quick day job. But on his way to the city
center he's begun transporting commuters. and doing a roaring trade. He says
it's extra cash for him as he has to travel to town regardless of whether
he's transporting people or not. Peter explains his truck is usually hired
to ferry cement, poles and other building materials.

But commuter omnibus operator Edward Pasipamire, of Dangamvura, complains of
losing business to truckers. He says he currently earns fewer trips than
previously. Edward says he makes as little as 10-million daily, which is
less than half of what he usually nets.

Commuter fares have been going up twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.

Q&A - What is the world doing about Zimbabwe?

Reuters Foundation

Date: 09 Dec 2008

By Matthew Tostevin

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The African Union has rejected tougher steps
against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe despite demands from Western
leaders and some African statesmen that he quit over the growing
humanitarian crisis.

Below are answers to some questions on diplomacy over Zimbabwe:

Why don't African countries do more?

Zimbabwe's neighbours are divided over the approach to take, but Mugabe is
still seen by many as a hero for the role he played in liberating his
country from white minority rule.

Some also favour dialogue as a more traditionally African approach to
solving problems and resist the idea of foreign interference, particularly
by former colonial powers.

African leaders have stressed the importance of dialogue between Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who are deadlocked over a power-sharing
agreement brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki in
September.

The agreement has been hailed by supporters as a triumph for African
diplomacy in the face of calls for tougher action from Western countries
that also strongly opposed Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to give to
black Zimbabweans.

Non-interference in the affairs of neighbouring countries, no matter how
dire their internal problems, was long a principle of the Organisation of
African Unity, which preceded the African Union.

Some African leaders cannot boast of having much better democratic
credentials than Mugabe. Forcing Mugabe from power over elections like
Zimbabwe's widely condemned ballots earlier this year could set an unwelcome
precedent.

What are the divisions in Africa?

Botswana has taken a much tougher stand than most of Zimbabwe's neighbours
and its foreign minister has said Mugabe should be forced out. Zambia has
also been critical of Mugabe. But their influence is relatively limited.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a former opposition leader who says he
was cheated of victory in a presidential election a year ago, has become one
of the most outspoken leaders in his criticism of Mugabe.

Countries in west and east Africa, further from Zimbabwe, tend to take a
tougher stand. Some fear that Zimbabwe's problems ruin the image of the
continent and will discourage investors.

Some African statesmen, including Nobel peace laureate and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu have been harsh in their condemnation. Former U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian, is another member of a global group known as
The Elders that has described its "bitter disappointment at the failure of
the regime."

What about South Africa?

As the continent's biggest power and a neighbour, South Africa is in a
position to do more than any other country.

There is also pressure to act because of the millions of Zimbabweans who
have fled over the border in search of jobs, now joined by hundreds seeking
treatment for cholera and bringing the highly infectious disease with them.

South African unions, with a strong voice in the ruling African National
Congress, are also opposed to Mugabe and have close links to Tsvangirai's
opposition.

After Mbeki was forced from power by the ANC in September, the South African
government has taken a slightly tougher stand -- withholding some aid
symbolically.

But ANC leader Jacob Zuma, widely tipped to be elected president next year,
has made clear his support for Mbeki's continued mediation efforts and
dialogue between Zimbabwe's rivals.

What about the rest of the world?

Western countries such as the United States and former colonial power
Britain have been raising the volume and demanding that Mugabe step down
since the cholera epidemic took Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis to a new
level.

But their voices count for little in Zimbabwe.

They make clear they want to see African states take the lead and are
unlikely to consider intervention by force themselves.

Attempts by Western countries to get U.N. sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe were
also blocked by China and Russia, its friends on the Security Council.

The measures so far imposed by Western countries themselves -- visa bans and
asset freezes -- have had little impact on the political situation but are
cited by Mugabe's government as the reasons for Zimbabwe's economic
collapse.

Western critics blame Mugabe's policies.

Despite China's diplomatic opposition to sanctions, it has done little
concrete to support Mugabe. In a sign of a possible toughening in the stand
of Mugabe's strongest ally outside Africa, it has stressed the need for a
unity government.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

Pragmatism and bitter pills the only way to end crisis

http://www.businessday.co.za

11 December 2008

Francis Kornegay and Aubrey Matshiqi

ZIMBABWE has now collapsed. Could intervention be close behind? Not
necessarily, though the situation clearly demands it, if for no other reason
than to establish a "responsibility-to-protect" humanitarian rescue of the
country's hapless citizens and to contain the already unfolding spillover
effects in the region.

Now, however, Zimbabwe's emergency appeal for international help in coping
with its out-of-control cholera epidemic could provide a window of
opportunity for leveraging nonmilitary external intervention. Nonmilitary
intervention should include an internationally co-ordinated humanitarian aid
programme aimed at offering immediate relief to suffering Zimbabwean
citizens.

This package must also be part of a comprehensive diplomatic and political
response to the deepening social, political and economic crisis facing that
nation. While it might be tempting to see the current phase of the crisis as
an opportunity to impose conditions on the Zanu (PF) government, there needs
to be a realisation on the part of all external actors that a pragmatic
approach offers the best chance for an effective resolution.

Interventions must, therefore, be driven by a sense of pragmatism regarding
the conditions to be attached to the humanitarian aid programme . This
should be done with the aim of preventing Robert Mugabe and the Joint
Operations Command (JOC) from using the attachment of conditions as an
excuse for obstructionist behaviour of the kind that might cost more lives.

On the other hand, a conditions-free approach will send the wrong message to
Mugabe and his cronies and might, at the same time, undermine international
unity as one of the key ingredients for an effective response. There might,
therefore, be a need to split the aid package between measures that require
preconditions and those that prioritise the preservation of human life
without them.

Fortunately, the days of emotion-driven media analysis are nearly a thing of
the past, if two recent examples are anything to go by. There have emerged
two commendable proposals which, combined in a carefully crafted diplomatic
strategy, could open the way for much-needed, long overdue humanitarian
intervention in Zimbabwe. Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya has called for
the establishment of an "international authority comprising the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), the United Nations (UN), and the
African Union (AU)" to stabilise the country, "feed the people and restore
some sense of order to the society".

The tripartite SADC-UN-AU consortium would also "put in place a mechanism -
as soon as the nation is back on its feet - for an internationally
supervised and policed election".

Meanwhile, Moshoeshoe Monare, writing in The Sunday Independent, proposes
that instead of military intervention, calls for which are gaining currency
even with Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, "there should be a form of
a verification or monitoring force to leash the security forces, while
politically imposing a SADC-sponsored transitional government for a
constitutional arrangement within a year". What Monare is calling for could
easily form part of the terms of reference for the SADC-UN-AU authority
proposed by Makhanya.

These are perfectly reasonable proposals given the fact that the only thing
that can be achieved by proposals for military intervention are further
divisions and, as a result, inertia within SADC and the AU. We must avoid
the extravagance of proposals that will simply add more flies to the
ointment of the dismal lack of political will in the SADC and the South
African government's fear of departing from the "quiet diplomacy" script
that has not only clearly failed, but is also placing the entire region in
peril.

To its credit, the Kgalema Motlanthe administration is already showing
interventionist initiative by going to Zimbabweans' aid with its offer to
distribute food and other relief through nongovernmental organisations,
churches and international donors already operating in the country. What is
more important is the fact that the South African government has stipulated
that this help cannot be used as a political weapon. This implies the need
for verifiable oversight. Given Motlanthe's chairmanship of the SADC, this
initiative could logically serve as the leveraging point for opening the way
for the international aid Zimbabwe is calling for, making such aid
conditional on Zimbabwe accepting the oversight of the type of mechanism
Makhanya and Monare are suggesting.

As we argued earlier, the attachment of conditions must be done judiciously
and strategically. The proposals of Makhanya and Monare, after all, place SA
and the SADC at the centre of whatever international strategy would unfold.
This would not constitute "western intervention", the rejection of which has
up to now served as the disingenuous pretext for preserving Mugabe and his
military junta. Nor would this constitute "regime change", since there is no
legitimately constituted government in place in Harare.

What is in place would qualify as an "unconstitutional change" of government
under the strictures of the AU Constitutive Act. If Motlanthe, as chairman
of the SADC, can go beyond SA's opening wedge of conditional humanitarian
assistance by enlisting the involvement of the AU and the UN, this could
serve as the formula for forcing Zanu (PF) and the two factions of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into a transitional government of
national unity under the tripartite oversight suggested by Monare and
Makhanya. Otherwise, as commendable as the current South African
humanitarian initiative is, it can serve only as a "holding action"
palliative in containing Zimbabwe's crisis and its regional spillover.

The best response to this emergency is the speedy resolution of Zimbabwe's
governance crisis. That conditions in Zimbabwe have been allowed to
deteriorate to this point constitutes a moral and political indictment of
African leadership. Only decisive action towards a South African and
SADC-led international humanitarian intervention in Zimbabwe will redress
this situation. SA and SADC have everything to gain in rescuing the people
of Zimbabwe from the hostage predicament they find themselves in under the
JOC. It is hard to imagine a down-side to such a scenario.

This notwithstanding, an effective solution can come only from a clearer
understanding of the current phase of the Zimbabwean crisis. So far, the
most popular explanations have been those revolving around the view that
Mugabe is the main obstacle. Yet, after the March elections, there were
reports that Mugabe had communicated his willingness to step down to the JOC
and some senior leaders in Zanu (PF). Apparently, the JOC was concerned that
it would be easy for the world and the MDC to accept the idea of an amnesty
for Mugabe, since according to conventional wisdom, the problems of Zimbabwe
would be solved by his departure. Furthermore, reports suggested then that
the members of the JOC were afraid that amnesty would not be extended to
them. It seems to us that this is the higher-order issue that must be
addressed by any intervention. Without amnesty for those in the upper
echelons of the security establishment, it will be difficult to weaken the
veto the JOC continues to exercise over the negotiation process. While the
idea of an amnesty for Mugabe and the generals may be difficult to swallow,
it may be the only way to prevent a situation where the JOC tries to avoid
the inevitable through a campaign of state terror against ordinary
Zimbabweans.

*Kornegay is senior researcher and Matshiqi is senior associate political
analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies.

Act now on Zimbabwe

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com

Published Date: 11 December 2008
In the last year the people of Zimbabwe have struggled to maintain their
dignity despite the chaos around them. When their government beat and
tortured them, they went quietly and determinedly to the polls and voted for
change. When their government mismanaged the economy, leaving the money in
their pockets worthless, they struggled to do their best to feed their
families and to survive. They did this despite the government in Harare and
their henchmen in the towns and villages.
They did this even when people were disappearing and homes were being
destroyed.

We have heard the stories of intimidation, political violence and brutality.
And still the people of Zimbabwe have carried on, doing the best they can.

Even now, with so many people affected by the cholera outbreak, they are
struggling to survive. Their government has apparently been watching while
the situation grew worse. The people of Zimbabwe need our help and the
intervention of the international community. If the first duty of government
is to protect its people, then Robert Mugabe and his regime have surely
failed, and lost any claim to legitimacy they ever had.

We support the call made by the prime minister of Kenya for an emergency
summit of the African Union (AU). As cholera spreads, chaos and mayhem in
Zimbabwe are starting to threaten the stability of the entire region. The
time for words is fast coming to an end. The AU and the Southern African
Development Community must find a solution. For the sake of the people of
Zimbabwe and the whole region, they must act decisively.

(RT REV) DAVID LUNAN

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

George Street, Edinburgh

Zimbabweans pay dearly for world's failure

http://www.theage.com.au

Daniel Flitton
December 12, 2008
Mugabe has destroyed his country and we have allowed him to do it.

THE death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is already put at more than
700, while the United Nations fears an outbreak of 60,000 cases in the weeks
ahead. On top of this, nearly 6 million people desperately need emergency
food aid.

This is bad enough, yet to properly capture the scale of this human tragedy,
you must look beyond these staggering numbers. This is merely the latest
catastrophe to afflict what should be Africa's bread basket, but is widely
seen as the continent's basket case.

What makes Zimbabwe's troubles all the more depressing is how it reflects an
absolute failure of the international system, which is based on the division
of the world among sovereign governments, each formally independent, each
supposedly in control of a demarcated territory.

For the most part, this system works for the betterment of humanity. A
government's ultimate purpose is to ensure the physical safety of its
citizens. The state allows for secure possession of property and a legal
framework to enforce contracts, essential ingredients of a capitalist
economy.

Yet on each of these elementary measures, Zimbabwe fails. And the rest of
the world is apparently powerless to stop Robert Mugabe dragging his country
deeper into the abyss.

Zimbabwe's current predicament is the cost of dividing the planet with thick
lines on a map, fortifying those borders and demanding (and in return,
recognising) a right of non-interference.

Mugabe has ruthlessly exploited this sense of national self-determination to
hold on to power. Britain is blamed for its past sins and accused of a
hidden agenda to re-colonise the country. The strongman preaches this same
hysteria to deflect any and all criticism. His chief political opponent,
Morgan Tsvangirai, is derided as a white man's "condom" and a stooge for the
West.

Mugabe justified a campaign of forcible farm seizures that have crippled the
Zimbabwe economy by blaming Britain, after Tony Blair's government refused a
decade ago to pay compensation for land redistribution.

With the local inflation rate now measured in the millions, Mugabe responds
by printing ever more 100 billion dollar notes. He has stacked the courts
and the army in his favour, and rants about international conspiracies to
end his rule.

It may be crude politics, but it has worked to keep him in power.

Through a mix of incredible stubbornness and violence, he has
comprehensively out-maneuvered his opponents. And all the global
condemnation of his despotic rule has come to nothing. Zimbabwe has fallen
through the cracks.

The Commonwealth has tried to mediate the crisis, and failed. The regional
group, the Southern African Development Community, has failed. Both the
African Union and the United Nations have failed. No one has hauled Mugabe
off to the International Criminal Court.

The world can loudly express its outrage, but as the situation in Zimbabwe
has shown, this amounts to mere noise if the target chooses to be deaf.
Other than hoping the 84-year-old tyrant drops dead, there seems no
solution.

The notion of a "responsibility to protect" offers a thin hope. This is the
idea that rather than a right of non-interference, governments actually have
an obligation to protect people from systematic violence.

Where a local regime fails in that duty, the responsibility to act and
protect human rights, by military force if necessary, passes to the
international community. After the idea was refined among academics and
international jurists over many years, in 2005 world leaders offered
support. Zimbabwe seems an obvious candidate to test this resolve.

But generating sufficient political will remains the biggest obstacle.
Acting on this supposed responsibility means finding outsiders willing to
bear the cost - in blood, by sending a military force into harm's way, and
in treasure, by paying the enormous and long-term cost of having to prop up
the entire country.

No outside government has so far volunteered to fulfil this apparent
international responsibility, and none seems likely to.

Zimbabwe illustrates the weakness of the responsibility-to-protect idea -
the difficulty of getting governments to recognise wider interests to
humanity outside their own sphere of control. Where would such
responsibility end? In Somalia? Congo? Sudan?

The governments most likely to act are those with direct interests at stake.
In Zimbabwe's case, its neighbours, for instance, which bear the brunt of
refugee flows and now the risk of a rapid spread of disease.

Special expectations fall on South Africa. So far Pretoria has absorbed the
pain emanating from next door and hoped to encourage a political solution.
Nor has South Africa always taken a constructive approach to efforts to
remove Mugabe.

The next step - a military intervention - would be almost impossible to
manage given South Africa's growing list of domestic problems. Can the rest
of the world really demand more, without showing more willingness to carry
the burden itself?

Of course Mugabe should go. He is the Zimbabwe's biggest problem. But the
larger failing is a world system of governance that permits such a disaster
to occur.

Daniel Flitton is diplomatic editor.

Why is Mugabe's bafoonery

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/664138

Thursday, 11th December, 2008
JERRY OKUNGU
An East african perspective

Outgoing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has spoken. Kenya's Prime
Minister Raila Odinga, along with Botswana Foreign Minister concur that
Mugabe has reached his sell by date. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has minced no
words about Robert Mugabe while the South African Acting President is ready
to send a team to assess the death toll already rising.

We are being told that thousands will starve or die of cholera unless the
outside world ends Mugabe's madness. Yes, we are being told that Zimbabwe's
tragic implosion is gaining momentum. Media sources are quoting government
sources that announced a national health emergency late last week that a
cholera epidemic was spreading rapidly, having so far killed at least 500
people and infected more than 12,000.

The same source talked of the complete breakdown of water and sewage systems
in Harare; that hospitals have virtually ceased to function.

Because of this, now the United Nations and aid groups say that hundreds of
thousands of people are at immediate risk let alone the five million who
will need international food aid by next month to avoid starvation. They say
Zimbabwe's economy has ground to a halt with only 10% of the workforce on
duty and that most schools are closed while commodity prices are doubling
every 24 hours.

Suddenly, alarm bells are ringing which should set us on a panic mode!

When I read Condoleezza Rice's statement, I thought she was doing a
commercial for the international humanitarian groups; the Lords of Poverty
that have ravaged the continent in equal measure.

Suddenly, they now know that Zimbabwe has reached crisis levels and it is
now politically correct to compare him with Idi Amin and Mobutu Sese Seko
and that, now it is politically correct to remove the 84- year old author of
this calamity! Now they are blaming Thabo Mbeki for this mess while invoking
the military intervention of Julius Nyerere when Amin had become a rabid dog
in the region. They are unanimous that Mugabe is a good candidate for the
same remedy.

Why are they talking now when more Zimbabweans have lost their lives and are
now in deeper misery? Where were they when Mugabe refused to vacate office
after losing elections in March? Where were these voices when Mugabe
clobbered opposition supporters into exile to pave way for his win during
rerun of the elections in June?

On another note; is this not the callousness that the international
community showed to Rwanda when Tutsis were being massacred when Bill
Clinton and Boutros Boutros Ghali decided to pull out UN troops from Rwanda
at the height of the massacre!

Since the Rwanda Massacre, Africa has continued to witness death and mayhem
in Somalia and Darfur. Despite several humanitarian reports that genocide
was in progress in Darfur, the world-the so- called free and civilised
society has been reluctant to intervene militarily.

A recent attempt to extradite El Bashir of Sudan to The Hague for crimes
against humanity has been met with stiff opposition from the African Union.
Can someone tell me the lives of Zimbabweans are more precious than those of
Darfurians?

Since 1994, that geographical piece of the earth called Somalia has never
known peace. Now its warlords have graduated into international pirates
ruling the international waters of the Indian Ocean!

Several half-hearted AU attempts to install an illegitimate government of
Abdulahi Yusuf have come to nothing with only Ethiopian and Ugandan troops
left there to die. Yes, Botswana may be politically vocal about getting rid
of Mugabe but unfortunately it has no military might to effect the required
regime change. South Africa, with the necessary resources to do so, is a
reluctant partner.

Kenya may feel strongly about Mugabe's humanitarian catastrophe but it too,
like Botswana, lacks the wherewithal to take a military action. After all,
it has failed to decisively deal with Somali insurgents that have turned
northern Kenya into a play ground. Yes, let Kenya deal with a group of
bandits called Somali pirates on its waters before it thinks of finding a
solution to the people of Zimbabwe.

For the emerging radical African leaders yearning to bring change to the
continent; they have to first get rid of the likes of Jakaya Kikwete at the
helm of the African Union before they can effect meaningful changes. With
Mugabe comrades in power; it will be a pipe dream making Africa a safer
place to be in.

Please do something-but what?

Dec 11th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Africans, Europeans and Americans must together rescue a dying country

THE Zimbabwe crisis has reached a new level that is both hideous and,
paradoxically, hopeful. The hideous part is that people are dying-indeed,
Zimbabwe as a country is dying-at an even faster rate than before, as
cholera sweeps across the country. Mass hunger looms: the UN's World Food
Programme reckons that, in the new year, it must provide food for 5.5m in a
population that has shrunk, through disease and emigration, from about 12m
probably to less than 9m.

Despite a power-sharing deal that Robert Mugabe signed in mid-September with
the leader of the opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, who defied the stacked odds
to win both a general election and the first round of a presidential one in
March, government violence continues apace. Mr Mugabe shows no sign of
wanting to compromise. Even in the past fortnight, leading human-rights
campaigners and people prominent in Mr Tsvangirai's party have been
abducted. The local currency is worthless, so swathes of public services
have ceased to function. Zimbabweans have been reduced to subsistence (some
survive on roots and berries), barter, and remittances and handouts from
abroad. A true humanitarian disaster beckons.

The hopeful angle in this horror is that cracks are widening both in Mr
Mugabe's regime and among his backers elsewhere in Africa. Riots by unpaid
junior soldiers have yet to spread to the middle ranks but may do so. South
Africa and the Southern African Development Community, the 15-country
regional club, continue to wobble and waffle, with South Africa's ousted
president, Thabo Mbeki, as feeble as ever in his mandated role as mediator.
But the spread of cholera across the Limpopo river into South Africa has
intensified the debate there. Talk in high places about removing Mr Mugabe,
perhaps even by force, is no longer deemed outlandish. Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, an icon of the anti-apartheid movement, has called for just that.
Voices elsewhere in Africa, such as those of Botswana's president, Ian
Khama, and Kenya's prime minister, Raila Odinga, have become louder in
calling for Mr Mugabe's demise. Botswana's foreign minister wants sanctions
against Zimbabwe to include stopping oil supplies.

In July a UN Security Council resolution to impose targeted sanctions
(travel bans and asset freezes) against Mr Mugabe and his acolytes was
blocked by China and Russia, with South Africa also dissenting, on the
ground that Zimbabwe posed no threat to international stability. The
blocking duo can hardly still argue that case with a straight face.
Moreover, Zimbabwe is close to meeting the criteria for invoking the
declaration endorsed at the UN in 2005 that there is an international
"responsibility to protect" people facing, among other things, crimes
against humanity. A group of peacemakers known as "the Elders", including
Jimmy Carter, a former American president, and Kofi Annan, the UN's former
head, having been refused entry into Zimbabwe, may help to push the issue up
the UN's agenda. Though Mr Mugabe would try to resist such a move, Mr Annan
is quietly standing by to assume the mediator's job in place of Mr Mbeki, an
appointment devoutly to be wished.

Calling for military intervention before wider sanctions have been applied
is premature, even though it may come to force in the end. And economic
sanctions are themselves a blunt instrument that sometimes harm the people
more than the rulers. Stopping oil supplies may have just that effect. But
UN sanctions focused tightly on Mr Mugabe and his coterie, and supported by
South Africa, could have a big impact. The leader of South Africa's ruling
party, Jacob Zuma, likely to be the country's president next year, must
surely respond to the crescendo of outrage. The power-sharing deal is being
overtaken by events. Mr Tsvangirai is right to reject the one-sided
conditions under which Mr Mugabe says he will implement it. As cholera and
refugees threaten to destabilise South Africa itself, its rulers must start
to consider drastic measures to rescue the benighted country that Zimbabwe
has now become.

ZIMBABWE: Tracking the descent

JOHANNESBURG, 11 December 2008 (IRIN) - A power-sharing deal - brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki, appointed as negotiator by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) - and signed on 15 September, was heralded as a new dawn for Zimbabwe. Instead, it has become a marker for Zimbabwe's rapid descent into collapse. Below is a timeline tracing the events in recent months.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won a majority of parliamentary seats in the general election on 29 March 2008, but failed to garner the 50 percent plus one vote required to take the presidency.

15 September - Robert Mugabe, leader of the ZANU-PF party, and the two MDC formations, led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, sign a power-sharing agreement witnessed by heads of state and government of the SADC, the African Union (AU) and other international dignitaries. Tsvangirai (as prime minister) to share executive powers with Mugabe (as president with reduced authority).

Tsvangirai calls on the international community to assist with aid as inflation shoots over  11 million percent, unemployment above 80 percent, and shortages of fuel, electricity, food and foreign currency. Oxfam echoes his call. The European Union (EU), United States (US) and Australia maintain targeted sanctions against Mugabe and upper echelon members of ZANU-PF with a 'wait and see' approach. ZANU-PF and MDC supporters clash outside the venue.

16 September - Aid workers estimate up to 6,000 Zimbabweans are crossing the border into South Africa every day.

17 September - Rebellion within ZANU-PF over appointment of cabinet ministers under the power-sharing deal.

18 September - The UN children's fund, UNICEF, to continue providing humanitarian assistance. The African Development Bank and World Bank indicate they will provide help. Coalition talks hit deadlock over allocation of ministries. Water shortages in Harare, with a lack of water treatment chemicals because of fuel shortages.

19 September - Leaders fail to break deadlock; 15 cabinet posts to go to ZANU-PF, 13 to MDC, 3 to MDC faction. Disagreement over powerful ministries of home affairs, information, finance, foreign affairs and local government.

22 September - Drought exacerbates acute food shortages. Aid agencies step in to assist - Mugabe imposed a ban on NGO operations ahead of the presidential run-off in June until 28 August. UN estimates more than 5 million will require food aid in beginning of 2009. ZANU-PF youth militia continue violence against MDC supporters.

25 September - Children discouraged from going to school because of teacher shortage. National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), Zimbabwe's leading civil society group of trade unions, human rights organisations and churches, rejects deal amid continued violence. ZANU-PF torture bases not being dismantled. EU boosts aid to Zimbabwe by 10 million euros.

26 September - Save the Children, an international NGO, warns that many children are being forced to eat poisonous roots and rats to stave off hunger. Mugabe lashes out at the West at the UN General Assembly, praising Mbeki and appealing for sanctions to be lifted. Power-sharing deal appears to be disintegrating. Cholera claims 20 lives.

27 September - Zimbabweans start using foreign currency as legal tender, an acknowledgement of the collapse of its own currency, the Zimbabwean dollar (Z$).

28 September - South African department of home affairs withdraws asylum from Zimbabweans – extensions not granted and some deportations occur.

29 September - Zimbabwe's central bank issues large denomination bank notes – Z$10,000 and Z$20,000 - a further sign of hyperinflation worsening.

30 September - Zimbabweans exchanging livestock for food. Banking authorities raise the daily withdrawal limit to Z$20,000, prompting tens of thousands of desperate Zimbabweans to line up in the hopes of buying food before the currency depreciates further. Deadlock over allocation of ministries continues.

5 October - The political rivals resume talks but immediately disagree, as Mbeki agrees to resume his role as mediator.

7 October - Renewed power-sharing talks again fail to end the deadlock.

8 October - Urgent call from the UN for aid to avert an impending humanitarian disaster as a result of the ailing agricultural industry and conditions in the country. Power-sharing deal on the brink of collapse.

9 October - UN World Food Programme (WFP) says emergency food aid could run out at the peak of the crisis if US$140 million is not provided, and that 83 percent of Zimbabweans live on less than US$2 a day, with 45 percent malnutrition plaguing the population. Reports confirm that annual inflation has soared to 231 million percent.

10 October - Political rivals agree to fresh mediation by Thabo Mbeki to break the 4-week deadlock.

12 October - Mugabe unilaterally allocates key ministries to himself, including defence, home affairs, foreign affairs, local government, justice and legal affairs, prompting Tsvangirai to threaten pulling out of the power-sharing deal.

13 October - Mugabe swears in two vice-presidents. EU threatens more sanctions, which already target about 160 of the ruling elite, including a travel ban and freezing of assets.

16 October - MDC is given finance ministry. Police beat up more protestors.

19 October - Government makes it impossible for aid agencies to provide humanitarian assistance as their Zimbabwean bank accounts have been frozen.

20 October - Tsvangirai not able to attend regional crisis summit to save power-sharing deal because he does not have the necessary travel documents to go through South Africa to Swaziland. ZANU-PF is blamed, sparking a boycott of the summit by the MDC. SADC postpones the summit until 27 October. UN reports 120 deaths from cholera. State-owned Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) pumping untreated sewage into Lake Chivero, the main water source of Harare, the capital. 10 cases of anthrax reported north of Harare.

21 October - Teaching and schooling has virtually ground to a halt, school graduation pass rate of 3 percent expected; 45,000 teachers estimated to have left the system since 2004. Catastrophic breakdown in water supply and sanitation services set to cause thousands of cholera infections.

23 October - Government centralises distribution of agricultural inputs, giving a military official the responsibility of determining the beneficiaries of agricultural inputs. Parliament announces food shortages as a national disaster.

28 October - Regional summit fails to break political deadlock; SADC calls for full-scale summit on the crisis. Many Zimbabweans surviving on wild fruits and roots.

29 October - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for rivals to resolve the political impasse.

30 October – Cholera hits Harare.

31 October – Amnesty International, an NGO working to protect human rights, reports that rights abuses are worsening and going unpunished, and the food crisis is worsening.

3 November – Zimbabwe will soon introduce bank notes of up to Z$1 million to ease cash shortages.

4 November – Zimbabwe AIDS organisations condemn the government for holding back US$7 million provided by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Gold mining industry on the brink of collapse as the central bank owes private mining companies US$30-million.

5 November – The Civil Protection Unit, Zimbabwe's national disaster response agency, deployed to contain the cholera outbreak.

8 November – Regional leaders gather to try to resolve the political impasse but fail, while Human Rights Watch, a global organisation, reports that 163 people have been killed in political violence.

11 November – Mugabe announces he will form a new government. The WFP announces it will have to cut rations to Zimbabwe due to lack of funding.

12 November – MDC refuses to join the new government with Mugabe.

13 November – A new wave of attacks is launched on the MDC as ZANU-PF torture camps are set up around the country.

14 November – MDC officially withdraws from the power-sharing deal. Warning of cholera catastrophe.

19 November – The rival parties draft a constitutional amendment creating the post of prime minister, but they differ. Cholera sufferers forced across the border into South Africa because medical facilities in Zimbabwe are struggling to cope.

20 November – Zimbabwe announces a new round of power-sharing talks. Cholera death toll rises. South Africa withholds aid to Zimbabwe until a representative government is set up.

22 November – The Elders - former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former US President Jimmy Carter, advocate of women's and children's rights Graca Machel - part of a group of distinguished people working for peace and human rights, are banned from entering Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission.

24 November – Anthrax claims the lives of villagers and about 200 livestock north of Bulawayo.

25 November – Feuding political parties meet once again in South Africa to revive negotiations.

26 November – Gideon Gono appointed for another 5-year term as governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank. Talks near collapse.

28 November – MDC officially withdraws from talks with ZANU-PF until Mbeki returns as mediator. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns of an alarming spread of cholera throughout the region; over 9,000 infected in Zimbabwe and numbers rising in neighbouring countries South Africa and Botswana. Disgruntled uniformed Zimbabwean soldiers raid some informal foreign currency traders in Harare after being unable to withdraw money at a bank.

29 November – Political parties agree on a draft constitutional amendment that will lead to the formation of a power-sharing government. Warnings that the rainy season, which has begun, will worsen the cholera epidemic.

1 December – water supplies to Harare cut off due to ZINWA's lack of chemicals to treat the water supply. Police and soldiers from Mugabe's presidential guard battle in Harare as soldiers resort to robbery out of desperation.

3 December – Limpopo River, on border between South Africa and Zimbabwe, tests positive for cholera. UN reports 565 cholera deaths and over 12,000 infected in Zimbabwe.

4 December – Zimbabwean government announces cholera a national emergency and appeals for international aid to tackle the epidemic. Human rights activist and journalist Jestina Mukoko abducted from her house at gunpoint.

5 December – Botswana says it will close its embassy in Harare. EU plans more sanctions unless progress is made on the political impasse.

9 December – EU extends travel ban to 11 more officials and puts pressure on Mugabe to step down. UNICEF announces it needs US$17.5 million to tackle the cholera epidemic.

10 December – Gandhi Mudzingwa, former personal assistant to Tsvangirai, is abducted, bringing to 19 the number of missing abducted MDC supporters and civil society activists in recent weeks. Reports indicate 746 cholera deaths in Zimbabwe, with 15,572 infected.

11 December - South Africa declares a cholera disaster area on its border with Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe Cricket fires national team coach

ZC told to open books after mismanagement claims

http://www.iht.com

The Associated PressPublished: December 11, 2008

HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Cricket has been ordered to open its books
following claims by former national captain Tatenda Taibu that assault
charges he is facing are a part of a strategy to silence him for questioning
the management of funds.

Taibu appeared in a Harare court Thursday on charges of assaulting ZC
finance manager Esther Lupepe in September over outstanding payments owed to
him. Taibu said the charges are meant to embarrass and punish him for his
criticism of the board.

The court ordered ZC to submit documents showing its payroll, sponsorship
deals and grants from the International Cricket Council.

The 25-year-old Taibu said he had raised concern over the handling of board
funds, dubious employment of staff members and poor remuneration of players
just a few days before he was arrested on Sept. 30.

The case was adjourned to Feb. 6.

Economy halts work on Zimbabwe's Academy

Cricinfo staff

December 11, 2008

	A victim of Zimbabwe's shredded economy: the shell of the Cricket Academy where work was suspended in April © Cricinfo

Cricinfo has learned that the reconstruction of Zimbabwe's Academy, which was burned down in an arson attack in late 2006, has stalled since work was suspended by the board in April.

In February, reacting to a Cricinfo report that little had been done since the fire, a Zimbabwe Cricket spokesman said: "The tender for the building was awarded at the end of last year and construction work is underway now. The contractors are doing the brick work. Subject to weather and the availability of materials, we expect the construction to be through by the end of April."

Lovemore Banda, ZC's media manager, told Cricinfo that work had been halted as a consequence of the country's dire economy. "We started the building operations with the hope that the economic situation would improve," he said. "We had expected, all things being equal, to have the reconstruction of the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy completed by April. However, that has not been possible, because of the hyper inflationary state of our economy.

"Faced with critical shortages of crucial building resources and the ever-spiralling costs of those available, ZC was left with no option but to ask the contractor to leave the site until such a time as the material supply situation is stable. We decided to put the project on hold and watch the economic trend in the country and then resume once the financial climate is conducive."

Banda scotched suggestions that work had been halted because of ZC's own financial situation. "Of course, it cannot be denied that ZC is struggling financially. We are not immune to the harsh economic situation in the country. The most important point though is that we will not sink."

The Academy is little more than a shell, with the second story hardly started. However, the nets and pitch itself remain in use and appeared this week to be in a good condition.

Local sources also paint a gloomy picture about the state of grounds around Zimbabwe, with many reported to be overgrown, as reported by Cricinfo earlier this year, and even some of those which were in use then have fallen into disrepair in recent months. The rampant inflation and shortage of basics such as fuel, machine parts and fertilisers means that ZC is increasingly powerless to intervene.

Chronic and well-publicised water shortages are only likely to exacerbate the situation. A few venues, such as Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club, have their own boreholes and so can continue functioning for the time being, but the general situation continues to deteriorate.

© Cricinfo