HUMAN RIGHTS DEMO in LONDONwww.7millionriskstarvation.freeservers.com
was
launched this weekend, and links to a short video clip
@ www.geocities.com/hear_mdc.
Daily News
Leader Page
President couldn't be more out of
touch
12/16/2002 7:55:12 AM (GMT +2)
THAT Zanu
PF's conference in Chinhoyi at the weekend, much like the
one at Victoria
Falls last year, was going to be nothing more than the one
huge feast for the
party's leadership that it turned out to be was never in
doubt.
In fact, it came as no surprise that, as has come to be expected from
such
"conferences", all it did was to endorse the suicidal course President
Mugabe
is force-marching all of us along - apart, of course, from providing
a
platform for the party president to exercise his gift of the gab,
blaming
everyone else except the real culprit for the mess in which the
country is
now in.
There was one notable surprise, though. And
that was Mugabe's
unrepentant, hate-filled and racist speech which, it must
be pointed out
again for the umpteenth time, was the exact antithesis of the
kind of model
non-tribal and non-racial society he told the world he was
creating when he
first took office as head of government in
1980.
At that time he made national reconciliation the bedrock of
his
government's social policy in a Zimbabwe in which the past would be
buried
forever, never to be revisited.
Now, as he keeps harping
upon the past, encouraging division and
threatening whites at every given
opportunity, it is becoming difficult to
tell which is the real Mugabe
between the one that spoke so admirably in
1980 and the promoter of hatred we
are seeing today.
It is even harder to tell whether it was a policy
of convenience, or
that changed circumstances have forced him to genuinely
revise that policy
or, even more worrying, that the nation has a
schizophrenic case on its
hands.
The temptation among observers
to conclude the truth could probably be
the last of the three possibilities
has been the strongest over the past
three years. It has now been made
stronger by some of his utterances at the
Chinhoyi gathering which must have
left everyone, except Mugabe's most
ardent sycophants, convinced that the
President could never be more out of
touch with reality.
When he
launched his onslaught on white commercial farmers, letting
loose on them,
under the command of the late Chenjerai Hunzvi and Joseph
Chinotimba,
vagrants and common criminals glorified as war veterans,
everyone saw it for
what it was: a last-ditch attempt to hang on to power.
It was
apparent he had correctly read the mood of the nation and
concluded that his
party stood no chance of winning in a fairly contested
election against the
infant MDC, hence the need to resort to violence to
achieve that end. But
then again, everyone had hoped that as soon as that
end had been achieved, he
would order a return to the rule of law. To date
he has not.
As
he himself confessed at Chinhoyi when he told delegates that white
farmers
had "committed the unforgivable sin of supporting the MDC", there
was no
doubt that the farmers were being both punished and discouraged
from
bankrolling the new party.
Mugabe has a perfectly genuine
fear of losing power, a fear which he,
no doubt, shares with all those who
have ever held high posts in his party
and government. Thus, his need to hold
on to power by any means, though
totally unacceptable, is nevertheless
understandable.
But for him to say that from the moment white
farmers showed support
for the MDC "we started treating them as enemies of
our government and our
people" is to grossly misrepresent the
truth.
Enemies of his government, yes. Enemies of the people,
no.
All that the farmers were doing by donating funds to the MDC
was to
show their solidarity with the majority blacks who had sent
unmistakable
signals to Zanu PF that they had had enough of its misrule and
its leaders'
patronising attitude. In other words, the farmers were merely
playing their
patriotic role in empowering the majority against a black
minority ruling
elite.
There was absolutely nothing sinister in
that since democracy is all
about creating optimum conditions for people to
freely choose who will
govern them, which is precisely what the white farmers
were trying to do.
And for the President to say "we don't accept
this cover that people
are fighting for democracy and human rights" is the
height of illusion.
That, Mr President, is exactly what the people
are fighting for and
not, as you seem to think, to remove Robert Mugabe from
power just because
he is Robert Mugabe.
Daily News
Leader Page
Let Mugabe keep his starving
Zimbabwe
12/16/2002 7:59:03 AM (GMT +2)
THE
first census results are out and they tell us what we all knew: a
lot of
people have left the country.
The census says there were 11,6
million people in Zimbabwe at the end
of August. That agrees very well with
the Zimbabwe Election Support Network
(ZESN)'s estimate in February that
there were then 11,9 million.
Their estimate was based on two
assumptions:
- that as many people are dying every year as are born,
because of
Aids. Many experts agree with this estimate, including those in
the Ministry
of Health who were quoted by Dr Timothy Stamps late last year;
and,
- that a lot of people are leaving the country. We all know
that.
Because so many people are leaving the country, the ZESN estimate
and
the census figures agree very closely.
It is quite likely
that 300 000 people left the country between
February and August and,
therefore, the population dropped by 300 000 in
that time.
It is
possible another 300 000 have left since August, so that there
may now be
only 11, 3 million people in Zimbabwe. We all know why they are
leaving.
There are no jobs, there is no food and no one wants their
daughters to be
called up into the youth brigades.
Those who have left made the
best choice they could see. We might
argue that they would have been able to
do more to make the changes we need
by staying at home and working for them,
but neither decision is easy.
Maybe we should all be planning to
follow them while we still have the
strength to walk to the border.
It's no good waiting until you are too weak with hunger to make
the
journey.
We have it on the highest authority that President
Mugabe doesn't want
anyone here who disagrees with him. Foreigners must keep
their countries and
he will keep "his Zimbabwe".
One of his
senior sidekicks has said: "We would be better off if we
had only six million
people, as long as they were totally loyal to the
revolution" - meaning our
leadership and their party's interpretation of
"the revolution".
He's being optimistic if he thinks he's still got six million totally
loyal
followers, but it is obvious to us all by now that they don't mind how
the
less loyal ones get out of their way: they can emigrate, they can stay
and
starve or die in any of the quicker ways that people with degrees in
violence
know all about. But the message is clear: they must get out of
the
way.
So why don't we leave him his Zimbabwe? When it comes
to a choice
between starving here or going to queue for food where people
would at least
try to find us some, there's a lot to be said for joining the
queues there.
We'd better make the decision before we find there is no food
or fuel here
and we are too hungry to walk to the border. That situation is
near now, so
we'd better not leave it too late.
If we did make
that choice, we would be creating problems for our new
hosts. Our neighbours
already have a lot of hungry people to feed and eight
million or more extra
will make their problem worse. But they try to share
out what food they have
fairly. We'd be more likely to get something from
them.
It might
be good to show them just how bad things are here. If we all
let Mugabe have
"his Zimbabwe", there is a slight chance that the neighbours
might decide
that Zimbabwe is a bit too big to be one man's private farm.
They
might decide that another land reform is needed, one that gives
enough of us
a share so that we don't all go begging to them. They might, or
they might
not, but at least we would have a better chance of getting a bit
of food to
eat.
We have heard that ours is an African problem and we should
not be
looking for help from the man named after a toilet (you know who I
mean: the
women's league all talk about him so much he must be their
boyfriend) or the
one who spends all his time looking for terrorists to
fight, because they
won't help us.
They have other problems they
think are more urgent. Our problem is an
African problem. Let's show some
other Africans that it does affect them.
It won't be an easy choice
for them. They probably remember that when
that peaceable man Julius Nyerere
decided the only way to solve his problem
with a difficult neighbour was to
send his army to remove Idi Amin, those
rich people who talk so much about
human rights didn't give him a cent to
compensate his pitiably poor people
for the expense they suffered in order
to remove a threat to everyone's peace
and security.
The West won't lift a finger, perhaps because we
don't have oil, like
Iraq. If our landlord was removed, they would probably
heave a great sigh of
relief that he wouldn't be going to international
conferences to insult
them.
But then if we all died quietly and
he ran out of fuel to go to those
conferences, they would heave the same sigh
of relief.
But if we showed that we prefer to starve to death in
peace on their
territories rather than being harassed all the way to the
grave, then the
landlords of our neighbourhood might do something to prevent
us crossing
into their countries.
They might not do the right
thing, but it would be better than letting
them get away with doing
nothing.
Financial Times
Zimbabwe and Libya fail to secure fuel
deal
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Published: December 17 2002
4:00 | Last Updated: December 17 2002 4:00
Zimbabwe and Libya have
failed to reach an agreement on a new formula
to end Zimbabwe's fuel supply
crisis, as President Robert Mugabe pledged to
"acquire the distribution
points owned by multinational companies" so that
the government could
distribute fuel itself.
A Libyan delegation left the country at
the weekend, after officials
failed to agree a new formula for financing fuel
imports. However, the
state-owned Herald newspaper said further meetings
would be held before the
end of the month.
Five multinationals
currently have downstream petroleum operations in
Zimbabwe -BP, Shell, Mobil,
Total and Caltex. A senior executive of one of
the companies, who declined to
be named, said: "We are not concerned. We
have heard these threats before.
Our main worry is that our Zimbabwe
operations are increasingly unprofitable
because of the absurdly low petrol
price and the collapse in volumes that are
now little more than 50 per cent
of pre-1999 levels."
At current
parallel market exchange rates, petrol in Zimbabwe is the
cheapest in the
world, retailing at around 5 US cents a litre. Economists
say prices would
have to be increased at least five-fold to make the fuel
importing business
viable.
Addressing delegates at the ruling Zanu-PF party conference
on
Saturday, President Mugabe criticised officials responsible for
fuel
procurement, saying he had personally negotiated the supply agreement
with
Libya's president Muammer Gadaffi.
"Col Gadaffi ordered the
Libyans to supply us with fuel, not in US
dollars, but in our dollars," he
said. The Libyans would use the local
currency to establish joint ventures
with Zimbabweans. But government
officials say the Libyans had found few
attractive investments in Zimbabwe.
Over the last few weeks fuel
queues have again become the norm across
the country. One filling station in
Harare's Mount Pleasant suburb said
yesterday it had last received fuel on
November 29, while another in the
same area said it had received just 9,000
litres of petrol rather than its
normal delivery of 60,000
litres.
Official statistics released yesterday show that inflation
surged 30
points in November to a new high of 175.5 per cent. The figure,
compiled
before price controls were imposed in mid- November, suggests that
on an
annualised basis, inflation in Zimbabwe now exceeds 540 per cent.
The Herald
Mystery over fuel funds
Herald Reporters
MYSTERY
surrounds the whereabouts of the US$16 million provided by the
Government to
Noczim last Friday for the procurement of fuel to ease the
worst fuel crisis
to hit Zimbabwe.
No fresh supplies were purchased by the sole oil
procurer resulting in the
fuel situation remaining desperate.
Sources
said yesterday Noczim officials were pressing ahead with cash deals
and had
used the US$16 million to pay outstanding fuel debts.
International fuel
suppliers who demand cash upfront will only provide fresh
supplies when
Noczim substantially reduces its debts.
However, Noczim managing director
Engineer Webster Muriritirwa professed
ignorance about the foreign currency
from the Government.
"What money?" said Eng Muriritirwa.
"I do not
know anything about it. Where was it coming from? Maybe it is
still with the
Ministry (of Energy and Power Development)."
Eng Muriritirwa could not
talk about the fuel crisis, referring all
questions to the Minister of Energy
and Power Development, Cde Amos Midzi,
who could not be reached for
comment.
As the crisis worsens, Cde Midzi no longer wants to comment on
fuel matters.
His deputy, Cde Reuben Marumahoko said yesterday he needed
to be briefed
first since he was out of office for the whole day.
The
veil of secrecy is infuriating motorists who bear the brunt of
the
crisis.
There are deliberate efforts by Noczim officials to ditch
reliable oil
procurement deals in favour of shoddy and uncertain deals that
can condemn
the country to permanent fuel shortages.
Noczim is
planning to cut ties with the Libyan international oil supplying
company,
Tamoil Trading, which charged for fuel in local currency under a
deal sealed
by the Government.
Instead, the company intends to go into cash deals
with other international
companies that demand foreign currency up front,
upsetting the Libyan deal
in the process.
A delegation from Tamoil
left the country on Saturday after abortive talks
with Noczim.
The
delegation had been in the country for a week.
Sources said Noczim had
also soured its relations with the Commercial Bank
of Zimbabwe (CBZ),
although details of the differences were not available
yesterday.
CBZ
helped broker the fuel deal between Zimbabwe and Libya last year and
renewed
in September this year under which Tamoil supplied 70 percent of
the
country's fuel needs.
It is understood Noczim withdrew $15 billion
from CBZ and deposited it with
two other local commercial
banks.
Sources said the move was carried out on the understanding that
the two
banks would help Noczim source foreign currency to import
fuel.
The fuel shortages that had vanished in the last two years after
surfacing
in late 1999, resurfaced last week.
The shortages have
grounded operations in crucial industries and important
service delivery
departments, impacting negatively on the country's image.
President
Mugabe at the weekend promised to personally look into the
fuel
problems.
He told the Zanu-PF Annual People's Conference at the
weekend that he would
look personally look into the fuel crisis.
"I am
going into this matter in a serious way," he said in his closing
remarks at
the end of the conference on Saturday.
Meanwhile, police recovered 20
drums of diesel and 15 drums of paraffin
after a raid on premises in an area
popularly known as Greentrees in Harare'
s Aspindale industrial
area.
Police spokesman Inspector Andrew Phiri said two people were
arrested and
were assisting the police with investigations.
He said
the police raided the spot after a tip-off from the public.
The culprits
were selling diesel for $16 000 for a 20-litre container and
paraffin for an
undisclosed amount which was obviously above the controlled
price.
A
drum can hold 200 litres of diesel or paraffin.
Black market dealers were
capitalising on the critical shortages of fuel by
selling petrol for up to $1
000 a litre and diesel for $800 a litre to
desperate motorists.
The
police warned members of the public not keep highly flammable liquids
in
their homes as this was dangerous to people and property.
"The love
of money should not go beyond the sanctity of life," Inspector
Phiri
said.
The fuel crisis has forced transport operators to withdraw their
vehicles
from the road, leaving thousands of workers stranded at pick up
points
throughout the city.
The situation is so serious in some areas
that the workers were seen waiting
for transport to take them to work as late
as 9am or 10am. The situation was
the same after work and the workers were
getting back very late.
Some of the worst affected areas are Budiriro,
Glen View, Highfield,
Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana, Mufakose and Tynwald
North.
The commuter trains and long buses, which ply the City-Mufakose
and
City-Kuwadzana routes are now failing to cope with the increased
demand.
Mr Felix Nyagumbo, a rank marshall at the Canaan/Western Triangle
rank along
Mbuya Nehanda Street, said the situation had been bad since the
end of last
week.
He said the situation was likely to worsen if an
urgent solution was not
found soon.
"We usually have kombis and buses
on this route but now most of the kombis
are off the road because they use
petrol, which is proving very difficult to
find.
"The few buses on the
route now have to cater for all the residents of
Canaan/Western Triangle,
including those who used to board the kombis.
Unless fuel becomes readily
available soon, people are going to continue
suffering," said the rank
marshall.
Ms Martha Chinhengo of Kambuzuma, a businesswoman said she had
suffered so
much over the last couple of days that she would stay at home for
the
remainder of the week.
"I am tired of going through hassles every
morning when going to the office
and every evening when going home so I will
just leave it until after the
holidays.
"Do you know that last week
some people were getting home as late as 10pm?
"This is a sad state of
affairs because whether or not you have your own car
or not, we are all
suffering," she said.
Motorists have, in the past weeks been leaving
their cars at home or in fuel
queues while others resorted to using public
transport.
Operators in Mufakose, Mabvuku and Tafara have taken advantage
of the
transport crisis by charging high fares during peak
hours.
Commuters in these areas are paying between $100-$200 for a
journey to and
from town, instead of $80.
The crisis has not spared
emergency areas such as fire and ambulance
services in the City of Harare,
according to Ziana.
"It is definitely a problem when it comes to fuel,
though we have not had a
fire emergency in the past few weeks, ambulance
services have been
affected," Ziana quoted a council official as
saying.
"At times the emergency service department gets fuel from Mobil
or the
municipal depot, but it is not enough because there has been a
serious
shortage."
The official told Ziana that the City of Harare
ordered fuel for emergency
services and delivery was done directly to them,
but for the past two months
no delivery had been made.
"They end up
getting their fuel from the municipal depot which does not
operate 24-hours a
day. Since they are a 24-hour service, their operations
are affected if there
is no fuel," he said.
Fuel Talks Aborted
The Herald (Harare)
December 16,
2002
Posted to the web December 16, 2002
Harare
PetrolL
supplies remained critical yesterday as it emerged that a delegation
of
Libyan oil company Tamoil left the country on Saturday after abortive
talks
with the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.
Oil industry sources yesterday
said the delegation was in the country for
about a week for negotiations with
Noczim on the fuel deal between Zimbabwe
and Libya.
The
sources said "nothing came out of the negotiations although there are
still
hopes that something could be salvaged".
"The Libyans remain committed to
helping us," the sources said.
A meeting of parties to the fuel deal is
expected to be held by the end of
this month as part of regular reviews of
the agreement between the two
countries.
The sources also revealed
that relations between Noczim and the Jewel Bank
(Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe) "were no longer as cordial as before" although
finer details of the
differences were not readily available.
The Jewel Bank helped broker the
fuel deal, signed between Zimbabwe and
Libya last year and renewed in
September this year, under which Tamoil
supplied 70 percent of the country's
fuel needs.
Zimbabwe was paying for the fuel in local currency into a
trust and
collection account at Jewel Bank on behalf of the Libya Foreign
Bank and its
syndicate of lenders.
It is understood that Noczim
withdrew $15 billion from the Jewel Bank and
deposited it with two other
local commercial banks.
The sources said the move was carried out on the
understanding that the two
banks would help Noczim source foreign currency to
import fuel.
However, the deal flopped and the Government has been upset
by the
developments.
Noczim has been reportedly pushing for cash deals
with other international
companies to profit from illegal foreign currency
transactions.
The sources said the Jewel Bank was not involved in the
negotiations between
Noczim and Tamoil, although the bank has been acting as
the oil procurement
company's financial adviser.
"It was rather
surprising that CBZ, a crucial player in the matter, was not
part of the
talks," the sources said.
When contacted for comment yesterday, Jewel
Bank managing director Dr Gideon
Gono said: "I only got to know that there
was a Tamoil delegation when it
was leaving the country. I will have to find
out more about that."
On the current fuel problems, Dr Gono declined to
comment and referred
questions to Noczim and the Ministry of Energy and Power
Development.
"What I can only say is that fuel procurement is a process
which requires
focus, commitment and undivided attention," said Dr
Gono.
Both the ministry and Noczim have been silent on the matter and no
comment
could be obtained from them yesterday.
President Mugabe told
the Zanu-PF Sixth Annual People's Conference in
Chinhoyi on Saturday that he
would personally look into the matter.
"The people we are working with
are not happy that we agreed to enter into
this deal without foreign
currency.
"They go to these companies like IPG where they need foreign
currency, but
on Libya they drag their feet. That's nonsensical. Why offend
the Libyans?
What for? What is it? I am going into this matter in a serious
way," he
said.
Industry sources also blamed the fuel crisis on
attempts to involve more
local banks in fuel procurement.
"There are
grumblings that CBZ has monopolised fuel procurement and there
are arguments
that the task should be spread to more banks," according to
the
sources.
Petrol shortages remained critical yesterday although a few
filling stations
received supplies in Harare as fuel continued to trickle
into the city.
Diesel is still readily available.
Long winding
queues could be seen at the few service stations, which
received
deliveries.
However, the queues were frequently chaotic as desperate
motorists jostled
to be at the front.
Shortages have now reportedly
hit small towns and growth points where
supplies had been normal.
The
volume of vehicles on the roads has dropped significantly as motorists
have
been forced to leave their cars either at home or in queues at
filling
stations.
Business was brisk for commuter operators with fuel
and some were allegedly
overcharging passengers.
Operators are
charging $150 for a single trip to Mabvuku, Tafara, and
Chitungwiza during
peak periods and up to $200 for trips to Mufakose
and
Kambuzuma.
Commuters to northern and western suburbs were paying
$100 for a single trip
instead of the gazetted fares of between $65 and
$70.
The Government has admitted that there were problems in the supply
of fuel.
Motorists, industrialists and many other people now fear that
the fuel
crisis could jeorpadise their travel plans for the Christmas
holidays.
Most companies have parked their petrol cars and were now using
diesel
trucks for deliveries and other tasks.
Industrialists say the
fuel crisis has deepened and many businesses have
been grounded owing to the
fuel shortages.
A filling station in Mt Pleasant only received 9 000
litres instead of about
60 000 litres which it receives under normal
circumstances.
Chaos was the order of the day at a filling station along
Robert Mugabe and
another along Mbuya Nehanda Street where petrol and diesel
were available.
Motorists and commuter crews jostled to fill in their
cars.
Others traded insults, which often degenerated into
fistfights.
A litre of petrol continues to be sold at between $800 and $1
000 on the
black market, a price that has been stable for a week suggesting
that while
supplies are not improving, they are not getting any
worse.
Resolute Mbeki sees off his leftwing critics
President's attack takes
fight out of 'disloyal' dissidents in battle for
the soul of the
ANC
Rory Carroll in Stellenbosch
Tuesday December 17, 2002
The
Guardian
President Thabo Mbeki laid bare a resolve to rule South Africa
for the next
seven years yesterday after rallying the African National
Congress around
his leadership and cowing party critics who wanted to loosen
his control.
Addressing the first day of the party conference, he made it
evident that he
will crush potential challengers, and promised to accelerate
the transfer of
economic resources to black people.
He was upstaged by
the rapturous welcome given to his predecessor, Nelson
Mandela, but ANC
officials said he had shown that he was dominating the
approach to the 2004
general election, when the ANC is expected to win
another five years in
office.
An expectation that allies in the trade unions and Communist
party will use
the five-day conference to "battle for the party's soul" by
confronting the
leadership on its policies on unemployment, poverty and Aids
faded yesterday
when they gave a guarded welcome to Mr Mbeki's speech,
apparently accepting
that they are too marginal to resist.
Held every
five years, the conference of 3,000 delegates has the task of
electing new
leaders and debating government policy, but no significant
change to strategy
or challenge to the leadership is expected this year,
despite the tension
between the president and what he calls the
"ultra-left".
A national
strike and street rallies were called before the conference in
protest at
economic policies which have balanced the budget and kept
inflation low but
failed to check the deepening poverty and unemployment.
For its 51st
conference the ANC chose Stellenbosch, an Afrikaner university
town in the
Western Cape considered the intellectual cradle of the apartheid
policy which
was swept away by the ANC victory in 1994 and its return to
office with
nearly two-thirds of the vote five years later.
Mr Mbeki called his
critics in the party disloyal, and accused them of
accepting foreign funds
and "other forms of persuasion" to act as an
opposition. "We must continue to
rely on our membership and the masses of
our people to defeat these
careerists who naturally are the heroes and
heroines of those who are opposed
to our movement," he said.
"A manifestation of this has been the
persistent practice among some of our
people to bad-mouth our country as
loudly and as often as they can."
Referring apparently to the Eastern
Cape, where the ANC left has been
accused of mismanagement, he said people
had used money to buy votes and had
corrupted party procedures to capture
power.
He blamed civil servants and their unions for not implementing
government
policies. "Our national conference will have to improve the
internal
accountability of our leadership as a whole."
Mr Mbeki, 60,
is not a dynamic speaker and was greeted with polite applause,
and towards
the end of his two-hour speech the delegates sang and danced
when Mr Mandela,
84, entered the hall and moved slowly to join those seated
on the
podium.
Visibly vexed, Mr Mbeki did not smile when he attempted what
aides said was
a joke: "Hurry up and sit down Tata," he said. Tata, which can
be loosely
translated as "uncle", expresses affection or derision depending
on tone and
context.
Relations between the two men have grown sour in
the past year since Mr
Mandela supported those prodding the government into
distributing free and
cheap drugs to poor people with HIV. Mr Mbeki, who has
questioned the link
between the virus and Aids, made two glancing references
to the pandemic in
a list of diseases he linked to poverty.
He
emphasised continuity with his popular predecessor by quoting repeatedly
from
Mr Mandela's presidential address at the 1997 conference. But that text
is
believed to have been written by Mr Mbeki, then deputy
president.
Promising to continue the privatisation of state assets and
other
market-friendly economic policies, he expressed hope for
Africa's
"renaissance" and said an over-arching empowerment charter was
needed to
give a bigger stake to black people.
"The bulk of our
economy, including the land, remains predominantly
white-owned. Wealth,
income, opportunity and skills continue to be
distributed according to racial
patterns," he said.
He voiced hope of solving the "controversial issues"
relating to President
Robert Mugabe, whose farm seizures have devastated the
Zimbabwean economy.
"Like the leadership of the people of Zimbabwe," he
said, "we are interested
that everything is done to address the challenge of
ensuring a better life
for all the people of this sister country, both black
and white."
STELLENBOSCH
Mbeki attacks agents of division
Posted Tue, 17 Dec
2002
President Thabo Mbeki launched a two-pronged attack on Monday on
those
trying to sow divisions within the African National Congress-led
alliance
and those preventing nation building in South Africa as a
whole.
"Foreign actors" with significant resources were backing
domestic
organisations in an offensive against the mass democratic movement
and the
government, he said in his report to the ANC's 51st conference
in
Stellenbosch.
Some so-called watchdog groups had been enticed by
funding and "other forms
of persuasion" to act as an opposition, Mbeki
said.
According to the president, both the rightwing and the extreme
left, at home
and abroad, hoped to build allied formations of political
organisations to
mount a more effective offensive against the movement and
the government.
"We have to wage a determined struggle to defeat all
these manoeuvres as
part of everything we have to do further to strengthen
the broad front for
reconstruction and development."
Although he did
not mention any names, it seems likely that the far-left
Anti-Privatisation
Forum, which has been volubly pushing a socialist agenda,
and the Landless
People's Movement, were two of the organisations he had in
mind.
Mbeki
attacks ANC careerists
In an apparent reference to the Eastern Cape,
where the ANC's provincial
elections were recently nullified, he said people
had used money to buy
votes and had corrupted the ANC procedures to capture
power.
Mbeki hit out at what he described as the constant resort to lies
to advance
immoral purposes, as well as the use of the mass media to
camouflage corrupt
practices.
"We must continue to rely on our
membership and the masses of our people to
defeat these careerists who
naturally are the heroes and heroines of those
who are opposed to our
movement."
Mbeki wants improved internal accountability
Another
target for Mbeki's criticism were public servants and their unions
who were
responsible for some of government's failures and whose conduct
undermined
the attainment of the ANC's goals.
The failures included the embezzlement
of public funds, lack of proper
control mechanisms and non-distribution of
social grants.
"Our national conference will... have... to improve the
internal
accountability of our leadership as a whole."
Mbeki dismisses
notion of 'white marginalisation'
Turning to the recent spate of
right-wing bomb attacks, he said: "The bombs
are but a delayed echo of a
desperate struggle that failed, which sought to
perpetuate a social order
that was doomed to extinction...
"It is clear that the forces of extreme
racism have no possibility to
capture state power or to play a decisive role
in the our national life."
Organs of the state would protect the people
from all criminal violence and
defend the constitutional order from all
unconstitutional acts, regardless
of who the perpetrators might be, the
president said.
While preaching reconciliation, Mbeki made it clear that
the wheels towards
a non-racial South Africa would not stop
rolling.
Referring to "alleged white marginalisation", he said whites
continued to
dominate the professions, management and the skilled section of
the
population.
This called for the intensification of the struggle
for non-racialism.
"We must work to defeat the ideas that the
transformation of our country
constitutes the opposite of and is inimical to
national reconciliation, and
vice versa. These processes are interdependent
and mutually reinforcing."
Mbeki calls for charter to explain BEE
goals
He called for the adoption of a global transformation charter to
explain
black economic empowerment (BEE) goals. This should form part of a
more
systematic approach to transformation to help avoid the
"unnecessary
investor panic" that followed the leakage of the draft Mining
Charter.
Mbeki said the ANC would have to work to spread the
understanding that BEE
was not a synonym for a less efficient economy, nor
for less returns
relative to investment made.
"To combine the
objectives of both deracialising our economy and achieving
its growth and
development, we have to focus on the creation of new wealth
and productive
capacity."
The president emphasised the need to transform the
judiciary.
"We can neither afford nor allow the situation that our
judicial system
loses credibility with our people as a whole, arising out of
our failure
openly to consider the challenges that face the judiciary and the
magistracy
in the context of the national transformation
process."
Mbeki issues IFP a warning and talks tougher on
Zimbabwe
The ANC remained committed to the rule of law and the
independence of the
judiciary, he said.
In an apparent reference to
the tension between the ANC and Inkatha Freedom
Party, Mbeki had this barely
veiled warning: "...We could govern the country
on our own."
And in
one of his strongest pronouncements on Zimbabwe yet, he said: "We
are...
convinced that it is necessary to bring to a close the controversial
issues
relating to our important neighbour, Zimbabwe."
The ANC would engage the
Zimbabwe's ruling party, Zanu-PF, in this regard.
"In this regard, we are
ready to engage both our ally and fellow liberation
movement, Zanu-PF (the
Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front), and
all others concerned to
help resolve the various issues in a constructive
manner."
Mbeki
repeated that the ANC favoured the current proportional electoral
system,
despite the fact that a commission headed by Dr Van Zyl Slabbert
still had to
report back on this.
Sapa
SABC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Zimbabwe's
problems must end now: Mbeki
December 16, 2002,
10:00
Zimbabwe's problems must be brought to
an end, President Thabo
Mbeki said today.
"We are...
convinced that it is necessary to bring to a close
the controversial issues
relating to our important neighbour, Zimbabwe," he
told delegates at the
ANC's 51st conference in Stellenbosch.
"In this regard, we
are ready to engage both our ally and fellow
liberation movement, Zanu-PF
(the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic
Front), and all others
concerned to help resolve the various issues in a
constructive
manner."
While putting a strong emphasis on reconciliation in
his
political report to the conference, Mbeki made it clear that
right-wing
terror campaigns and the undermining of the government by the left
would not
be tolerated.
In the wake of tension with the
Inkatha Freedom Party, which has
axed two ANC members as MECs recently, he
warned: "Both from a political and
constitutional point of view, we could
govern the country on our own."
Mbeki also said all South
Africans need to take a stand against
those who seek to undermine the
democracy of South Africa. In a direct
reference to the recent incidents
involving the Boeramag he also touched on
the need to deal with the issue of
global terror, especially in the light of
the recent Bali and Mombassa
attacks.
The judiciary is also high on the list where Mbeki
says it has
lagged behind in keeping up with transformation in the country.
He also
added that Afrikaans needs to be looked at and treated with respect
as a
language of the country. - Sapa
News24
Mugabe arrives at conference
Cape Town -
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has arrived at the ANC's
national
conference in Stellenbosch on Monday morning flanked by a big
convoy of
motorcycles and cars, amid tight security.
The attendance of Mugabe will
be a surprise to the ANC. At a news conference
on the eve of the conference,
ANC deputy secretary-general Thenjiwe Mtintso
said Mugabe's party - the
Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front -
had been invited, not the
president as such.
Beeld's Jan-Jan Joubert told News24 that Mugabe
arrived at 08:30 amid tight
security. "His convey of about 12 cars was
accompanied by six motorcycles.
"The bridge over Eerste River was closed
to public traffic as the president
passed through. Once through the venue
gates, the president moved inside and
access to the building was off limits
to the media."
Other parties invited to the conference included Namibia's
Swapo, Frelimo
from Mozambique, the Chinese Communist Party and the Cuban
Communist Party.
Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was also invited, but
there had been no
confirmation on whether he would attend.
Of the
local parties, the Democratic Alliance and the Pan Africanist
Congress were
not invited.
ANC president Thabo Mbeki will open the conference on
Monday.
Daily News
ANC defends Zanu PF invitation
12/16/2002
8:35:21 AM (GMT +2)
From Chris Gande in
Johannesburg
THE African National Congress (ANC) has shrugged off
accusations that
it is legitimising the lawlessness in Zimbabwe by inviting
President Mugabe'
s Zanu PF to its congress this week.
Smuts
Ngonyama, the ANC spokesman, said Zanu PF had always been
invited to its
congresses in the past.
"Our position is very clear. We have a
relationship with Zanu PF as a
party and that is a historic relationship
which dates back to the days of
the struggle," he said. The main opposition
party in Zimbabwe, the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), has sharply
criticised the invitation of Zanu
PF to the ANC congress.
Paul
Themba Nyathi, the MDC spokesman said:
"We are surprised by people who
keep on referring to South Africa's
'quiet' diplomacy. They are not engaged
in quiet diplomacy. The ANC has
brazenly and openly supported
Mugabe."
The MDC, which has posed the greatest challenge to
Mugabe's
22-year-old rule, was formed by labour union leaders and
intellectuals more
than three years ago. Ngonyama, however, said the ANC also
had a cordial
relationship with the MDC.After the disputed March 2002
presidential
election in Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki tried to get Mugabe and the
opposition
leader, Morgan Tsvangirai to talk of a government of national
unity but the
talks collapsed.
Ngonyama said: "Although we have
a relationship with the MDC, we don'
t, however, know the opposition party in
the manner that we know Zanu PF."
He said the ANC would continue
trying to bring the two parties
together to solve their differences for the
good of the country.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a serious
economic meltdown with acute
shortages of basic commodities, foreign currency
and fuel.
Asked whether there was any hope that the two parties
would iron out
their differences, Ngonyama said: "It is difficult because it
all depends on
Zanu-PF and the MDC."
CNN
Gadhafi exerts influence in Africa
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Posted: 6:26 AM HKT (2226 GMT)
.
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) -- The soldiers
Moammar Gadhafi sent
to this African backwater speak no French or tribal
languages -- nothing the
locals can understand.
When the Libyan troops
want to make a point, they ram the safety off their
AK-47s and let the
"click" speak for them.
Most visibly in the Central African Republic, the
Libyan leader is putting
guns and money behind his decision to set his sights
south of the Sahara.
Since deploying here in May 2001, Gadhafi's forces
have saved the unpopular
Central African Republic president, Ange-Felix
Patasse, from coup attempts
three times. Libya's prize: a monopoly on mining
the country's lodes of
gold, diamonds and uranium -- although Patasse's
government has denied it.
Covert Gadhafi roles are also alleged, and
denied by Libya and its partners,
in the gravest wars now roiling
Africa.
The embattled Ivory Coast government complains of outside backing
in a
3-month-old rebellion shattering what was once West Africa's most stable
and
prosperous nation.
Leaders of Liberia and Burkina Faso, both
Gadhafi proteges, are accused of
funneling arms, cash -- and in Liberia's
case, fighters to Ivory Coast
rebels.
In Congo, where armed U.N.
forces are trying to wind down a four-year,
six-nation war, the government
says Libyan planes in recent weeks have flown
in arms, ammunition and tanks
to a pet rebel group there.
"Liars," Libyan African Affairs Minister Ali
al-Treiki responded over the
weekend.
John Stremlau, director of the
Center for Africa's International Relations
in Johannesburg, South Africa,
says "Gadhafi has become a quixotic figure --
he's decided Africa is going to
be his playground now that the Arab world
has ignored him."
"But he's
not so loony that he gives troops away for free. He's not a
charitable
organization," Stremlau added.
The conflicts are only the latest in
Gadhafi's long African adventures. He
started them in 1969, with his own
officers' coup in Libya, on the tip of
North Africa.
Alleged
sponsorship of 1980s Arab terrorism led to international sanctions.
But
Gadhafi has found himself free to dally for decades in his role as
Africa's
godfather, without too much Western objection.
At times, he's fought
African wars directly, as in Libya's invasion of
neighboring
Chad.
More often, he's fought them indirectly, cosseting fledgling rebels
into
full-grown fighters.
Wannabe-warlords Charles Taylor of Liberia,
Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso
and Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone all got
their starts in Gadhafi
guerrilla-training camps of the 1980s.
Taylor,
who went on to launch a seven-year civil war in Liberia, remains in
power to
this day.
So does Compaore, who ordered his best friend killed to take
power. Sankoh,
a doped babbler who waged a 10-year terror campaign to win
Sierra Leone and
its diamond mines, lost out, and awaits an expected war
crimes trial from
jail.
At the same time, a generation of African
leaders who have fallen out with
the West could turn to Gadhafi for money,
guns and friendship.
The Libyan leader turned his back on Arab leaders in
October, after the Arab
League refused to join African heads of state in
condemning U.N. sanctions
on Libya for the 1988 Lockerbie airline
bombing.
Now, the 60-year-old leader is throwing his energy and oil
wealth into the
African Union, which he prodded into being in July,
succeeding the old
dictators' club of the Organization of African
Unity.
Gadhafi today has switched his Arab Bedouin robes for the
African
gentleman's bou-bou.
The stream of African heads of state
traveling to Tripoli has surged in step
with Gadhafi's African ambitions.
Since September, 12 African leaders have
made the trip.
The
Libyan-African friendships have paid off in promises of military
training for
Mozambique; a $360 million economic lifeline thrown to
President Robert
Mugabe's Zimbabwe, which receives 70 percent of its oil
from
Libya.
Gadhafi's coveted returns: The respect denied him in the Arab
world, a shot
at a statesman's role a la Nelson Mandela, and shares of the
wealth knocking
around unstable, resource-rich
Africa.
Gadhafi-watchers say they note a change in the aging, African
Union-era
Gadhafi, who seems more focused now on propping up African leaders
than
toppling them.
"If you look at Libya's foreign policy, Gadhafi
has turned 180 degrees from
being this troublemaker trying to overthrow
governments to someone who
protects the status quo," said a senior Western
analyst. He spoke on
condition of anonymity for fear Libyan authorities could
limit his access in
future.
The Central African Republic is pointed to
as prime evidence of that
theory -- although the alleged Libyan roles in
Ivory Coast and Congo
rebellions would seem to shoot it down.
In
Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, Gadhafi's mustachioed
soldiers
man anti-aircraft guns. Libyan forces listen to Arab pop music in
front of
rocket-launchers on the main road leading to the airport, where two
Libyan
fighter jets stand ready.
Gadhafi's interest in Central African Republic
dates to 1976, when he
explored uranium and other mining projects with
self-styled emperor
Jean-Bedel Bokassa.
The deals fell through,
despite a one-day conversion to Islam by Bokassa.
But there are
indications Central African Republic's new leader, Patasse,
has revived the
agreements. Earlier this year, his mining minister was
widely quoted as
saying Libya was granted a 99-year monopoly on the
country's massive mineral
reserves, including gold, diamonds and uranium.
The government
subsequently denied the reports and banned all mining
ministry staff from
speaking to reporters.
"I am not saying anything," was all Libya's most
senior official in Bangui,
envoy Issa Moammar Baruni, would offer when asked
about his country's
interest here.
Among locals, sentiments against
Patasse's Libyan allies have swelled since
a November 2001 coup
attempt.
Then, Libyans shelled northern neighborhoods of Bangui to stop
the rebel
advance, said Gbossokotto Maka, editor of the Le Citoyen
newspaper.
Residents show lone flip-flops, pools of dried blood and other
debris --
evidence of loved ones killed by their Libyan allies, they
say.
"Ever since the bombardment, Central Africans have had a grudge
against
them. We refuse to accept them," Maka said. "These Libyans are
mercenaries.
Even if the population is in front of them, they will fire. It
means nothing
to them."
Daily News
New anti-Aids project aimed at youths
begins
12/16/2002 8:37:05 AM (GMT +2)
By Henry
Makiwa
THE Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) has
launched a
new community-oriented project to curb the spread of
HIV/Aids.
The project, known as the Adolescent Sexual and
Reproductive Health
(ASRH) was set up at Magunje growth point in Hurungwe
district in 1998 as a
pilot programme.
It targets youths between
the ages of 10 and 24 so that they can
access gender sensitive services and
raise their HIV/Aids awareness.The
project urges people to have HIV tests and
start constructive interventions
to curb the spread of HIV/Aids.
Alford Phiri, the ZNFPC acting assistant director, said the youths
were the
"window of hope" as research showed that the HIV/Aids prevalence
was least
within the 10-24 age bracket.
"The ASRH programme targets the
youths most because they are the
embodiment of the country's hope and future
in the face of the HIV/Aids
scourge," Phiri said recently.
"There is need to educate the youths about responsible reproductive
health so
that they can stay free of the incurable, deadly HIV/Aids. We have
noted that
cultural barriers have often hampered dialogue on reproductive
health between
parents and young adults and that youth generally lack
appropriate
information on sexuality, hence we have devised the ASRH
programme to educate
the youths."
The programme employs trained cadres known as sahwiras
who educate
youths in their communities about reproductive health and assist
them in
making informed decisions about their sexuality.
A
sahwira in the Shona culture, is a very close (personal/family)
friend in
whom one can confide. Sithokozile Simba, the ZNFPC assistant
service delivery
director, said: "The ZNFPC provides bicycles for sahwiras
to assist them
reach all corners of the district so that all youths are
educated about Aids.
They also provide contraceptives and condoms though we
encourage abstinence
among the youths.
"Most young adults are not at liberty to talk
with their parents about
sex and matters pertaining to sexually transmitted
diseases because they are
considered culturally taboo. We therefore believe
that if they can confide
in sahwiras, we can make some headway in fighting
the spread of HIV/Aids."
The ASRH programme is administered from
the ZNFPC headquarters at
Magunje growth point which provides a clinic, study
and recreational
facilities for the youths in Hurungwe district.
Daily News
Media accused of not giving AIDS prominence
12/16/2002 8:28:17 AM (GMT +2)
By Henry Makiwa
THE
Harare Junior City Council has accused the Zimbabwean media of
concentrating
on political issues while HIV/Aids ravages the country.
The council,
which is made up of high school students in Harare, last
week said they had
set up a programme to place anti-HIV/Aids advertisements
in the Press and
start artistic activities to raise awareness against the
use of
condoms.
Prudence Mazanhi, a Lower Sixth student at Mabelreign High
School and
a Harare Junior Council member, said: "We know grown-ups may look
down upon
us and refuse to listen to our advice because we are only children,
but for
us saving the life of just one individual would be a great
victory.
"We also feel that the media has not played its role to
its full
capability in fighting HIV/Aids. Lately they have been entangled
in
political issues when Aids is clearly the country's worst nemesis at
the
moment."
She said when the media does talk about the
disease, they do not
depict the true picture of how HIV/Aids has affected
Zimbabwean society.
"Our council is working with the Zimbabwe Aids Network
and, through our
partnership, we have observed the desolate work HIV/Aids has
made out of our
country. Such pictures are unfortunately 'censored' in our
media."
Violet Karidza, another Harare junior councillor who is at
Christ
Ministries College, said the advertisements and commercials they
intend to
place in the media will encourage abstinence and self-control. She
said:
"Our advice to the people is to abstain as condoms have been known to
burst.
Our advertisements will consist of before and after pictures of people
when
they are in good health and when they are emaciated and sickly
after
contracting HIV/Aids. Others will show broken condoms."
The Australian
Cricket in Zimbabwe out: MPs
By Julian Guyer in
London
December 17, 2002
POLITICAL opposition to England's
participation in World Cup cricket matches
in Zimbabwe is hardening,
according to a survey reported by the BBC.
It polled 100 MPs from
Britain's governing Labour party and found that 66
per cent thought England
should refuse to play in Zimbabwe, which is
co-hosting February's tournament
with South Africa and Kenya.
Only 18 MPs said England should go ahead with
its matches in Zimbabwe, while
the remainder abstained.
Last week
Britain's Foreign Office expressed its concern about what it said
was the
growing humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe caused by the policies of
President
Robert Mugabe.
Michael Ancram, foreign affairs spokesman for Britain's
opposition
Conservative party urged world cricket's governing body, the
International
Cricket Council (ICC), to strip Zimbabwe of its host
status.
However, Britain's sports minister Richard Caborn
has always maintained that
the ICC, not politicians, should make the final
decision on Zimbabwe.
The ICC sent a delegation to Zimbabwe last month,
including its chief
executve Malcolm Speed and the chief executive of the
England and Wales
Cricket Board, Tim Lamb, to inspect security
arrangements.
The delegation's report was circulated to the ICC's 15-strong
executive
board on Friday and its decision on Zimbabwe is due to be made
public later
this week.
"The report from the security council delegation
that went to Zimbabwe has
been circulated to all the member countries and we
are collecting their
comments," said an ICC spokesman, who declined to
comment on the BBC
findings.
"At the moment, until a decision is made, it
would be inappropriate to
comment on whether a team should be travelling to
Zimbabwe."
Harold Best, one of the Labour MPs surveyed, said: "I thought
there should
be opposition to such a tour taking place in
Zimbabwe.
"Cricket, the game of all games, calls for fair play and openness,
and they
are not playing cricket in Zimbabwe, they are playing a kind of
politics
which does not make any sense."
However former England opening
batsman Chris Broad, who went on a rebel tour
to South Africa during the
apartheid era, said cricketers should not be
forced to take a stand when
British companies continued to trade with
Zimbabwe.
"It is not right what
is going on there, but why should England's cricketers
be singled out when
there is so much other business going on in Zimbabwe,"
he said.
"If
backbench MPs feel so strongly about it they should have a a word with
their
colleagues who make the decisions and say 'We really feel it
shouldn't
happen', and not only pull out England's cricketers but British
Airways and
all other businesses who have dealings with Zimbabwe.
"It is
incredibly unfair to single out cricketers just because they occupy
the back
pages."
Pakistan played two Tests and five one-day games in Zimbawbe last
month.
India, Kenya, Namibia and Pakistan have shown no hesitation at playing
in
Zimbabwe, but Australia and England, the other visiting nations scheduled
to
play World Cup games in Zimbabwe, have voiced concern.
Both the
Australian and British governments have been severely critical of
Mugabe's
policies.
Zimbabwe has come under international scrutiny over the forcible
eviction of
white farmers, who owned more than 30 per cent of the country's
most fertile
land before the policy to move them was launched in 2000 with
Mugabe's
blessing.
Economic, technical agreement signed between China,
Zimbabwe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xinhuanet 2002-12-17 01:54:38
HARARE, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) --
An economic and technical agreement
was signed here on Monday between the
governments of China and Zimbabwe.
The agreement was signed at
brief ceremony in Harare where the
Minister of Finance and Development,
Hebert Murerwa, signed on behalf of the
Zimbabwe government while the Chinese
Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary, Hou Qingru, signed on behalf of
Chinese government.
According the agreement, the Chinese
government would extend a grant
of some 5 million US dollars to the
government of Zimbabwe, which will be
used in alleviating some of the
difficulties the country is experiencing.
Murerwa expressed his
government's appreciation of the Chinese
assistance, which he said would be
directed towards developing agriculture
as well as supplementing government
efforts to acquire food for its people.
"As you are aware we have
had a drought. We need funds to buy food
for our people who are facing food
shortages," said Murerwa.
"We also want to develop our
agriculture to build the capacity of
our economy to face the prospect of an
extended drought," he said.
Murerwa said a large portion of the
grant would be used to procure
irrigation equipment to develop the viability
of the agricultural sector.
"We worry that the drought may
continue until the next year so we
want to be prepared for that," he
said.
Qingru said as a traditional friend, China was obliged to
come to
the assistance of Zimbabwe during the difficult times it was going
through.
"It is a small assistance to help you overcome this
challenge you
are facing. You can either use the money for importing
Chineseequipment or
you can use it to purchase food from China to feed your
people," he said.
Qingru expressed optimism that the
difficulties, which Zimbabwe was
going through were temporary and that it
would be able to overcome them.
"It is a challenge for the
government and the people of Zimbabwe and
we are convinced that under the
leadership of President (Robert) Mugabe you
will overcome them," he
said.
He said his country had provided numerous grants to the
government
of Zimbabwe in the past 22 years and it was satisfied with the
manner in
which these had been used.
Qingru took the
opportunity to reveal that 4,500 tons of yellowmaize
from his country were
already at the Port of Durban in SouthAfrica and would
be arriving in the
country soon.
China and Zimbabwe enjoy strong bilateral
relations, which dateto
the struggle for the liberation of
Zimbabwe.
A significant amount of trade takes place between the
two countries
with Zimbabwe exporting the bulk of its tobacco to
China.Enditem
JAG Sitrep December 16,
2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEATRICE
Johan
Muller of Silver Oak Farm and his sister and mother were barricaded
into
their homestead on Saturday morning by 50 war veterans and settlers
from
neighbouring farms. The settlers had been attempting to incite the
workforce
on the farm to strike for SI6 retrenchment packages, but they
refused.
Consequently, the foreman was forced off the farm.
The settlers padlocked
the main gate with their own locks, then cut the
back fence and attempted to
herd in the Muller's cattle. Johan came out of
the building and chased them
off with a handgun. The settlers then rounded
up the remaining farm employees
and spent several hours "re-educating" them
before ushering them through the
security fence and locking them in. The
labour were forced to spend the
night there, and were threatened with the
burning down of their
village.
ZRP Beatrice, despite promising to respond at 07h30 in the
morning, had not
appeared by the following day, and even turned down a lift
from a
neighbouring farmer on the grounds that they "could not be seen
arriving
in the vehicle of a white man". At 10am this morning the settlers
demanded
to use Muller's tractor to do their ploughing, but he refused. They
began
to remove the vehicle from the shed in any case, and when he tried to
stop
them, he was assaulted. Muller was kicked in the ribs, thrown in a
puddle
and smeared with cow dung, whilst being threatened with a knobkerrie.
The
police and a number of farmers arrived at this point and rescued him,
but
the situation is not yet defused.
Muller does not have a crop in
the ground, but does not want to leave the
farm because of his herd of
several hundred cattle, most with calves.
ERRATA
Please disregard
Question and Answer 12 in the legal communiqué sent out on
the 12th December.
This information is not substantially
correct.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
Hotlines:
(091) 317 264 If you are in trouble or need
advice,
(011) 205 374 please don't hesitate to contact us -
(011) 863 354 we're here to
help
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MDC Warns of Popular Uprising
The Daily News
(Harare)
December 16, 2002
Posted to the web December 16,
2002
Ntungamili Nkomo
Bulawayo
The MDC has warned of a mass
uprising against the government, which could
lead to serious civil strife.The
warning comes after a nationwide survey
conducted by the MDC which showed
people were determined to take any action
possible to end what they called
Zanu PF's oppressive rule.
Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC spokesperson, said
in an interview the survey,
carried out recently, indicated the masses were
furious and fed up with Zanu
PF's dictatorship and were prepared to undertake
any necessary action to
effect change.
Nyathi said: "In a nationwide
survey, we established that people were geared
to take any necessary steps to
bring about change, and as one looks around
the country, there are signs of
resistance to Zanu PF tyranny.
"Mass action manifests itself in many
ways, and the people are actually
ready for it," Nyathi said. The MDC cites
mainly the lawlessness in the
country and the "deliberate starvation" of some
people by Zanu PF, the party
in power, as the driving factors feulling
anti-Zanu PF sentiment. MDC says
the government has shown no interest in the
welfare of the people, most of
whom are seriously threatened by
starvation.
The MDC has condemned President Mugabe and Zanu PF for
allegedly sanctioning
brutal killings and attacks on innocent people by the
youth brigade.
"We are seeing a regime that does not care about the
plight of the people,"
Nyathi said. "They only care about funding the Border
Gezi youth militia to
kill and intimidate peace-loving Zimbabweans." The MDC
says for peace,
prosperity and the rule of law to prevail in the country, the
people, as
indicated by the survey, will have to take action which might come
in the
form of a civil war.
"The fat cats have feasted on what we have
toiled, sweated and suffered for.
Let's all prepare for action, and we must
come up with strategies. "Let the
fire burn because none but ourselves will
bring about a better Zimbabwe for
us all."
This development comes
against a background of calls for stayaways."It's
simply not true to say
demonstrations have flopped. A revolution is, in
fact, a process. People must
not gauge the success of a demonstration by
whether or not the demonstrators
have dragged Mugabe out of office."Nyathi
said any action that had the
support of the people could not be suppressed
by the forces of oppression,
and that the MDC was synonymous with the
people, which meant that when the
people took to the streets, it would be
the sign of an MDC-inspired
revolution.
Daily News
Skeletons of MDC supporters found
12/16/2002 9:04:45 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
FIVE
skeletons, four of them suspected to be the remains of MDC
supporters, were
recovered by the police on Tuesday last week.
The MDC supporters
were abducted and believed murdered a few days
before the presidential
election in March this year and their bodies thrown
into a disused dip tank
in Lukona village, Nkayi.MDC officials who witnessed
the retrieval of the
remains by the police from Matabeleland North said at
the weekend the police
were led to the abandoned dip tank the previous
Saturday by the Zanu PF youth
militia.
The youths are alleged to have killed one of their Zanu PF
colleagues
after a dispute. After the murder, the youths were traumatised by
memories
of the crime, which they said kept haunting them. Community leaders
in Nkayi
interrogated the youths, who confessed to killing their colleague,
who was
only identified as Mazolo.
"The information that we got
from some of the villagers is that the
elders then reported the incident to
the officers at Nkayi Police Station,"
an MDC official said. A war veteran
leader in Nkayi, identified only as
Khiwa, accompanied the police to the
spot.The MDC's security department
yesterday confirmed the discovery of the
skeletons and said they had
photographic evidence showing the place where the
skeletons were recovered.
The department said it would use the
photographs in their presidential
election petition.
The British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) last week reported the
findings and said the
skeletons of the MDC members were retrieved by Nkayi
residents and the
police.
The BBC said after the disappearance of the Zanu PF youth,
villagers
in Lukona began looking for him and questioned other militia
members.
The militia members admitted that the body was thrown into
the
derelict dip tank, but this was only after villagers had forced a
confession
out of them by beating them up.
The villagers then
alerted the police who carried out an
investigation, leading to the discovery
of the skeletons of the four MDC
members.
When interrogated by the
police, the youths allegedly linked war
veterans in Nkayi to the murder of
other MDC supporters in secret camps
established early this year ahead of the
March presidential election.
Abednico Bhebhe, the MP for Nkayi, confirmed the
discovery of the bodies and
the arrests, adding that he wanted to meet the
police to discuss the case.
Bhebhe, a member of the MDC, was
himself abducted and severely
tortured by war veterans in Nkayi during the
presidential election campaign.
Inspector Mthokozisi Moyo, the police
spokesman in Matabeleland North based
in Hwange, could not be reached for
comment yesterday.
Zanu-PF Gears to Lure Back Urban Voters
The Herald
(Harare)
December 16, 2002
Posted to the web December 16,
2002
Munyaradzi Huni And Innocent Madonko
Harare
ZANU-PF is
gearing itself up to woo back the urban electorate so that it
wins the
impending parliamentary by-elections in Kuwadzana and Highfield.
The
ruling party also intends to make a strong showing in the 2003 urban
council
elections, the party's Secretary for Administration Cde Emmerson
Mnangagwa
has said.
In a report on the state of the party presented at the Sixth
Annual National
People's conference, Cde Mnangagwa said the party's greatest
task was to
devise an effective election campaign strategy.
"We need a
think-tank and strong field-research unit that can gather
information on how
to meaningfully reach out to the urban electorate.
"The party is
revamping its commissariat work with a view to addressing the
real needs of
the electorate.
"Our success in the presidential and rural district
council elections is
testimony to the efforts of the commissariat," he
said.
He said the party should not be lulled into a false sense of
security
because the western world was still trying to remove the Government
from
power.
"We should not be lulled into a false sense of security
for the western
world is not sleeping but has the sole objective of removing
our
democratically elected President from power in favour of their stooges
like
the MDC.
"The agenda of such western sponsored proteges is to
reverse the current
agrarian revolution which we have dubbed The Third
Chimurenga.
"It is therefore incumbent upon us to look seriously at the
state of the
party in order to win the urban council elections in 2003," said
Cde
Mnangagwa.
He said the urban council elections were very crucial
for the party, as they
would be a barometer of the party's strength and
weakness in the urban
areas.
"For us to score resounding victories
like what we did in Kadoma (mayoral
election), the party needs to be worker
friendly, putting into place
cushioning mechanisms against transport blues,
mealie-meal shortages, high
cost of living, unemployment, inadequate
accommodation, fuel shortages and
so on.
"If the above problems are
rectified, the party will win most of the 2003
urban council elections," he
said.
Cde Mnangagwa said there was need for vibrant structures at all
levels of
the party in both the urban and rural areas.
"In most
provinces, structures are there from province to district but they
are non
existent in branches and cells/villages.
"In Harare for example, there
are structures only from province to the DCC.
This is not a healthy situation
considering the fact that there are
by-elections around the corner in both
Kuwadzana and Highfield," said Cde
Mnangagwa.
He said the March
presidential election was a milestone achievement for the
total emancipation
of Zimbabwe.
Cde Mnangagwa said there was need for Zanu-PF to have a
strong linkage with
the Government so that the party plays a supervisory role
to the Government.
" . . . it will not be an exaggeration to moot the
idea for the
establishment of a strategic think-tank for the party, which
will be tasked
with issues like research, evaluation, advice and
identification of critical
areas for implementation," he said.
On the
land issue, Cde Mnangagwa said in the minds of many people, land
allocations
were not done transparently.
"This should not cloud the great
achievements made throughout 2002 as
highlighted in the Central Committee
report.
"However, we need to address the issue of favouritism in land
allocation in
order to retain the sympathy and support of our
electorate.
"This issue needs to be tackled with the urgency and openness
it deserves,"
he said.
"We need to be extremely careful because the
enemy is devising all forms of
subterfuge to penetrate the party and rock the
revolutionary boat."
The party was aware that some of the electoral
promises had not been
fulfilled and would strive to honour
them.
Meanwhile, the party raised close to $100 million in revenue from
the sale
of cards and subscriptions between January and August this
year.
Zanu-PF's credit rating has risen and its balance sheet is
strong.
It has interests in various companies.
The party's
secretary for finance, Cde David Karimanzira, told the
conference that there
was a tremendous rush for party membership cards
before and after the
Presidential election in March.
This was because of the massive
membership and mobilisation drive conducted
prior to the
poll.
Mashonaland East was the party's cash cow, generating $26 million
in revenue
from subscriptions and the sale of cards.
It was followed
by the Midlands Province with $18 million, Harare Province
($12 million),
Manicaland Province ($10 million), Matabeleland South ($8
million), and
Mashonaland West ($6,3 million).
Masvingo, Matabeleland North and
Bulawayo provinces each generated $4
million from subscriptions and the sale
of cards.
However, Mashonaland Central Province generated the least
revenue of $2,7
million.
Cde Karimanzira said the revenue from the
sale of cards was expected to drop
drastically because most members had
bought cards, which would expire in
2006.
The grants received from
Government under provisions of the Political
Parties (Finances) Act increased
from $50,4 million in 2001, to $76 million
in the current
year.
Donations from friends and well wishers were the major source of
funds for
the party.
They donated more than $406 million.
The
party raised more than $974 million in 2002.
It spent $968,3
million.
Cde Karimanzira said the major expenditure items were the
Presidential
election ($215 million) and acquisition of new
vehicles.
The party purchased 65 vehicles worth $165 million.
It
disposed of 27 old vehicles through a public auction and raised
$5,3
million.
Daily News
Epworth family feud turns ugly
12/16/2002
9:00:36 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
THE Mumba
family of Epworth allegedly destroyed a block of flats
belonging to the
Sibanda family following a dispute over the ownership of
the land in the
high-density suburb on Thursday.
The land on which the flats were
built has been at the centre of a
long-standing ownership dispute between the
two families. Leonard Sibanda of
Stand 5103 Overspill in Epworth, alleges
that the family of Dunmore Mumba
acting in cahoots with a hired gang, last
week contrived to raze down the
flats in an attempt to evict Sibanda's family
from their home of nearly ten
years.
Sibanda said on Saturday:
"I was away at work for a week when my wife
called me to say our house had
been knocked down by Mumba and his gang."When
I first came here, this place
was virgin land and I had to work hard,
bulldozing the big rocks scattered
around here and connecting the expensive
water systems for it to be a
habitable site. It is so infuriating that Mumba
's gang just came and
stripped down my fence and even cut down my fruit
trees." Sibanda says the
improvements he had made on the site during his
stay were worth over $300
000.
He argued that he lawfully bought the disputed stand from one
Steven
Hwete for $17 000 in July 1992 and when he tried to change the
stand's
ownership at the Epworth Local Board, he was told that he had to
first
develop the premises by constructing a principal residential
building.
"I first built some cottages that I used to let out to
raise enough
money to build the required principal residential building.All
this time I
was paying for the rates and water to the local board, never ever
did the
seller (Hwete) use a single cent," Sibanda said.
He
alleges that the police refused to arrest the culprits who
demolished his
house because Mumba is an influential figure in Epworth.The
police officer
investigating the matter, who was named only as Chemhere,
could not be
reached for comment on Saturday. Mumba could also not be
reached for comment
on Saturday.
However, his brother Lazarus, said Sibanda was only
staying at the
premises for free because he had been allowed to by Hwete. He
challenged
Sibanda to produce the title deeds for the stand if he was the
legitimate
owner. He said: "Sibanda has no legal papers to claim this place,
neither do
we because this place was donated to us by our uncle
Hwete.
"After deliberations in the courts we were instructed by the
messenger
of court to demolish Sibanda's structures so we can't really be at
fault for
carrying out a directive from an arm of the law."
Wheat Imports Urgently Needed Following Poor Harvest
UN
Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 16, 2002
Posted to
the web December 16, 2002
Johannesburg
Zimbabwe would run out of
wheat by the end of February unless 240,000 mt of
the grain was imported to
cover this year's lower-than-expected wheat
harvest, the Famine Early Warning
Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its
latest report.
And NGOs and
relief agencies have to step up efforts to provide relief food
to the 6,7
million people in Zimbabwe whose food security is under threat,
it
warned.
FEWS NET researchers found that total maize imports of 748,773 mt
by World
Food Programme (WFP), NGOs, the private sector and the government
had
reduced the national food gap to about 600,000 mt.
According to
official figures, a total of 1.2 million mt of maize had been
available in
the country since 1 April, and on average the maize available
for the seven
and a half months of the 2002/03 marketing year was 23 percent
greater than
the national requirement, estimated to be between 1 million and
1.1 million
mt for the period.
FEWS NET said if the import figures were correct, then
Zimbabwe would have
available about 153,000 mt per month, which should have
been adequate for
nutritional requirements. However, food shortages on the
ground did not
reflect this analysis.
Reasons put forward for this
discrepancy were that the distribution of
available maize had been
inadequate, or many households did not have money
to buy maize even if it was
available.
Wheat production this year had been 30 percent lower than
expected and the
country needed imports urgently to avoid running out by
February.
Some of the country's food shortages are due to disruptions to
farming under
the controversial land reform programme and analysts have
previously warned
that wheat shortages could be exacerbated by households
turning to the
commodity as a substitute for maize.
Food aid
distributions by WFP and NGOs had increased from 21 to 36 of the
country's 57
districts. WFP had planned to reach 3 million by November, 5.5
million people
in January 2003 and 5.8 million people in February. However,
they were
experiencing pipeline problems as some of the food pledged by the
United
States had not been promptly cleared by government, FEWS NET said.
If all
went according to plan, 86 percent of the population identified as
food
insecure in the August assessment would be reached by the end of
February,
with total coverage by March 2003.
This would only be possible though if
both WFP and the NGOs received
outstanding grain imports of 216,000 mt before
January. As of mid-November,
WFP had only 50 percent of its required funding
and was still waiting to get
98,000 mt of cereals. The current food aid
stocks could only feed 3.3
million people at the full ration.
The
rainy season finally began late in October and farmers had started
planting,
but were still constrained by limited seed availability, the
report said.
They took advantage of the good rains and, using the limited
quantities of
seed they had, planted most crops but a shortage of maize,
sorghum, millet,
ground nuts and pulse seed on the market limited the
potential area that
could have been planted.
While maize seed stocks available for the
2002/2003 production season were
enough to cover "normal" national demands of
40,000 mt, they were still
inadequate following the unprecedented demand set
off by last's season's
drought and demand for the seed was estimated to be
over 50,000 mt.
Although a recent televised announcement said the
government was considering
importing maize seed from South Africa, this may
not translate into
increased maize seed sales as the government's input
programs have, in the
past, been too slow to reach the intended beneficiaries
on time for
planting, FEWS NET said.
The fertiliser shortage also
continued to be of great concern.
Both the government and NGO programmes
had not yet delivered the bulk of
their seed support to the farmers earmarked
for agricultural support, the
report said.
However, while the rains
started well, predictions were for normal to below
normal rainfall until
March 2003. As this coincided with the reproductive
stages of most of the
cereal crop, crop yields were expected to be
depressed, researchers
warned.
Food security in most rural areas was still critical as supply
from the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) remained erratic and was not adequate to
meet
consumption requirements and, just as importantly, many poorer
households
had run out of cash to buy available grain.
In urban areas,
inflation rates, currently estimated at 144 percent,
continued to rise,
increasing the cost of living for the urban poor at a
rate which far exceeded
their income. Price controls had not helped as
affected commodities were not
readily available in the formal market and
were sold instead on the parallel
market where shortages continued to push
prices up.
One indication of
the effect on urban households was that 22.4 percent of
households in the
capital Harare failed to pay for their water between
January and October
2002, FEWS NET said.
Low-income households needed to employ all
able-bodied members in some kind
of informal sector activities such as
vending, hawking, gold panning, brick
moulding and selling firewood in order
to make ends meet and some were even
forced to engage in illegal activities
such as robbery, prostitution and
selling controlled commodities on the
parallel market.
Poor urban households unable to increase their incomes
were forced to reduce
the number and size of meals, and sometimes to forego
them entirely.
From The Times (UK), 16 December
Mugabe may seize oil giants'
assets
From Jan Raath in Harare
President Mugabe of
Zimbabwe has threatened to seize the facilities of
leading oil companies
operating in the country and use them to distribute
fuel. At the annual
congress of his ruling Zanu PF party, Mr Mugabe said
that the Government
could "acquire" service stations and storage facilities,
compensate the
companies to which they belonged and dispense the fuel. There
are five
multinational oil firms with a presence in Zimbabwe - BP, Shell,
Mobil, Total
and Caltex - and their assets there are worth millions of
pounds. Lawyers
said that such a move would be illegal. One lawyer, who did
not wish to be
identified, said: "It would be patently unconstitutional.
Besides, most of
the International oil companies are covered by bilateral
treaties from this
kind of nationalisation." The President's remarks came
two weeks after the
Government said that it was drafting a new policy within
its so-called
indigenisation programme to allocate fuel supplies to the 24
"independent"
companies licensed to retail fuel, nearly all of which are
owned by senior
Zanu PF officials. Fuel reserves in the country have reached
their lowest
levels in three years, since leading oil companies cut off
supplies to the
state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) when
the Government
failed to pay arrears for imports.
In the past week the queues of drivers
have lengthened and more service
stations have been putting up "no fuel"
signs. Vehicles abandoned at the
roadside for lack of fuel have become
commonplace. In Chinhoyi, the venue of
the conference, fuel was available
only for party officials. A journalist
was told at a Mobil service station
that he could buy petrol only if he
could prove that he was a delegate. Mr
Mugabe said that the oil companies
were making huge profits while the
Government made losses from importing
fuel via Noczim, which sells it on -
for just 3p a litre, making Zimbabwean
fuel among the world's cheapest - to
the multinationals to distribute.
Economists say that total state control
over fuel distribution would condemn
the industry to the same failure
affecting much of the country's
agriculture, transport, mining,
telecommunications, railways and power
industries. "Mugabe's thinking is that
taps make water," a Western diplomat
said. "If he goes ahead (with the
takeover of multinational service
stations), the country will dry up far
quicker than it is doing already."
From The New York Times, 16
December
Market booms while Zimbabwe prepares
for the bust
By Rachel L. Swarns
Harare, Dec 13 – The ministers tending Zimbabwe's ailing
economy have proposed a quick-fix remedy of price controls, wage freezes and the
creation of collective farms, even though price controls are exacerbating food
shortages, and a chaotic land redistribution program has devastated commercial
agriculture. Meanwhile, hundreds of companies have gone broke, unemployment is
soaring, and the country is teetering at the edge of famine. So, with the
economy in shambles, why is business booming at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange? In
recent months, the market has reached record heights. This year, while the
economy was contracting by about 12 percent, the stock exchange's market
capitalization was doubling, surging to its highest level since it was
established in 1896. What's more, sales of middle-income and luxury homes in the
country's wealthy suburbs are surging. People with cash are snapping up
televisions, luxury cars and stereos. The paradox stems from distortions in the
controlled economy. With inflation at more than 144 percent and currency values
plummeting, Zimbabweans are putting their money into assets they believe will
increase in value - stocks, real estate, foreign currency, even refrigerators -
rather than bank accounts. The government has kept interest rates low, so
borrowing has been relatively cheap. And these days, many Zimbabweans are buying
whatever they can, betting that they can sell the items later at a higher price,
often on the black market. "It's unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable," said
Emmanuel Munyukwi, the chief executive of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. "People
think there's no economy in Zimbabwe. It's actually embarrassing when you have
to tell them that we're doing very, very well."
The contradictions abound. While supermarkets routinely run out
of bread, milk and sugar, the city's most expensive restaurants are packed,
offering imported seafood and wines. Mercedes-Benzes cruise on potholed roads
with broken street lights. Houses on prosperous tree-lined streets are selling
quickly, and real estate brokers are scrambling to keep up with the demand.
"People are not necessarily buying houses to live in," said Patson Mtare, a
broker whose company has sold about 200 houses this year, compared with 100
houses in a normal year. "People are buying to sell." People with access to
foreign currency are buying even more. The government insists that $1 is
equivalent to 57 Zimbabwe dollars, even though $1 goes for as much as 1,600
Zimbabwe dollars on the black market these days. So even some government
officials ignore the official exchange rate and change money on the street to
make huge profits. Callisto Jonkonya, who manufactures and exports
refrigerators, has bought a new house and several apartments. Raymond Chamba,
who runs an employment agency in the United States, bought one 52-inch
television, three 43-inch flat-screen televisions and a DVD player all in one
day. He carried his cash in a suitcase. "Serious money you don't keep in the
bank in Zimbabwe," said Mr. Chamba, who has spent the last six months with
family in Zimbabwe. "My televisions, they're my bank here." Most Zimbabweans,
however, are too poor to hoard televisions or cars. Over the last three years,
the economy has contracted by more than 20 percent. More than 500 companies have
closed. Unemployment stands at 60 percent. Most struggling citizens wait for
hours in long lines to buy scarce gasoline or bread.
The combination of drought and land reform has left about 6
million people - roughly half the population - in need of emergency food aid.
Foreign donors have contributed food but refuse to offer financial assistance to
the government, which has condoned violence and land seizures. President Robert
Mugabe insists that his controlled economic policy will fix the problem. He has
called on the police to crack down on hoarding and black market sales. But
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa disagreed with this strategy last month when he
told Parliament that price controls were leading to "shortages of critical basic
necessities on the formal market" because they failed to address the rising
costs of production. Mr. Murerwa said black-market dealers were the chief
beneficiaries of price controls, while the poor were suffering. The government
has acknowledged that corrupt officials are hoarding and then selling
price-controlled goods on the black market. There are few indications, how-ever,
that Mr. Mugabe plans to change course. So Mr. Munyukwi has decided to delay the
celebration for his stock exchange's success. "It's very difficult to celebrate
when your country is hungry," he said. "The stock market is supposed to reflect
what's happening in the economy. But we know our economy is in shambles."
