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- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Natal Witness

Here's to Moyo, the patron of southern African journalists

On Valentine's Day

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It is either too late or too early to choose a Newsmaker of the Year.
Instead I propose a Valentine's Day toast to the Patron of Journalists in
southern Africa, the man who makes us laugh, groan, and queue for a visa, he
who always giveth us a juicy quote, headline and story. I mean Jonathan
Moyo, Zimbabwe's Minister of Information.

He is the best thing that can happen on a slow news day. Moyo opens his
mouth and, bingo!, he's made our day.

A strong runner-up for Best Quote for the Year is his recent description of
South Africans as "uncouth, savages, unfit to lead the African Renaissance".

Children, drunks and angry people speak their true feelings. I don't know if
Moyo was drunk but he was angry at being caught on camera loading goodies on
his Pajero-cum-trailer after a shopping spree in Johannesburg while Zimbabwe
starves.

His were harsh words for a government that has bent over backwards to
accommodate Moyo's boss, President Robert Mugabe. For the country that keeps
the lights on in Zim by supplying "use now, pay later" electricity. For
President Thabo Mbeki, who won't smell what's rotting north of the Limpopo,
and it ain't dead fish.

Ooo, la la. Horror, anger, fury. South African politicians, MPs and media
pundits rushed to defend the hurt national pride. How dare Moyo offend our
government and our president?

A diplomatic tiff ensued. Moyo was reined in. No offence, he meant the
white-owned racist South African media. He wined and dined the South African
Foreign Affairs minister in Harare. Won't happen again. We are buddies.
Thanks for the support, the electricity on credit, for lobbying on our
behalf and keeping your eyes wide shut. Keep it coming. Will you be my
Valentine's?

There was more noise in South Africa about Moyo's outburst and the cricket
matches than about the latest wave of repression sweeping Zimbabwe.

While Moyo ranted, Job Sikhala, an elected representative of a township in
Harare, was tortured by police. Medical reports confirmed the nasty routine:
electrical shocks on tongue and genitals, beatings on the soles of the feet,
being urinated on.

Where was the solidarity of South African parliamentarians with their fellow
MP, or with two other MDC MPs arrested last Saturday - seven so far this
year?

Or with a respected veteran of the liberation struggle, Fletcher Ndulini,
now an MDC top official, arrested and tortured last year. A diabetic, he was
denied medicine in jail and consequently lost an eye.

It's a long list. In 2000, in the middle of the night, militiamen broke into
the humble home of the MDC MP for Mabvuku, a Harare township, and severely
assaulted him and his wife. When pictures of their bums beaten into a bloody
pulp were shown in parliament, Zanu-PF legislator Joyce Mjuru objected to
the gruesome photos because nudity is against Shona culture. Check the
Hansard (parliamentary record). I did.

For all their yak-yak about democracy and human rights in the new African
Union, the honourable MPs south of the Limpopo don't seem to care much for
the dignity and safety of fellow MPs across the Limpopo. Maybe they were
busy planning their stunning outfits for tomorrow's opening of Parliament in
Cape Town.

Such attitudes make a good case for seating the future AU parliament in
dictatorial Libya. Even better, in the voodoo republic of Equatorial Guinea.

Speaking of voodoo, a bit of it might help the United Nations agencies
trying to guess how much food Zimbabwe needs.

How can the UN assess relief needs if the amount of food imported and
distributed by the government is not known? If Mugabe chooses to drip-feed
his nation, this increases the number of people who need relief food.

Two weeks ago the UN offered to investigate accusations of food abuse. This,
says the UN, will help restore Zimbabwe's credibility.

More useful would be to demand true and verifiable figures of how much food
is coming and where is it going. Note the word: demand. A combination of
carrot and stick.

A tricky issue. To reveal these figures would expose the illegal forex deals
in the black market, the corruption and the political manipulation of
hunger.

It would show how the Green Bombers militia are paid with maize to resell to
the hungry - a diabolical scheme whereby the oppressed pay their oppressors
or starve.

One could also look into local sugar production; where does it go since
there is no sugar on the shelves? Or at the milling industry, where
well-connected businesspeople have squeezed out the small hammer millers
that cut down costs for the poor. Or at ownership (especially ministers'
wives) of new truck fleets ready to snatch lucrative UN tenders to transport
relief food. Who is profiting from Zimbabwe' hunger?

The government is mulling over the kind offer from the UN.

Meanwhile, Moyo could not resist playing a trick on the head of the World
Food Programme - distorting his words in The Herald. Never mind that WFP is
feeding five million people.

Classic Moyo. Another story, another storm. Later, a retraction. No offence,
sorry. Thanks for the food. Keep it coming.

Recently the Japanese ambassador complained of being misquoted. Will
everyone who has been misquoted in The Herald please line up in an orderly
fashion, if not engaged in another queue (for mealie meal, fuel, forex,
sugar, cooking oil, land, food aid, torture, et al).

What would we do without the dear minister?

I know what I'd do. I'd be living in Zimbabwe.

Exactly two years ago today, Moyo revoked my valid work permit and threw my
young daughter and me out of Zimbabwe, where we had lived for 10 years.

It broke our hearts to leave a country we had grown to love. Worse, it
breaks my heart every day to read the news from Zim, to see it sink into
poverty, lawlessness and dictatorship.

I don't want to end on a sad note because no one will ever send me a
Valentine if I sound so grim. I will end with a joke.

When God was creating the world, he figured that for humans to prosper he
would grant them two virtues.

So he made the Swiss neat and law-abiding. Ghanaians, lively and musical.
Brazilians, easygoing and sexy. Japanese, hard-working and patient.
Italians, happy and romantic. And so on.

When Zimbabwe's turn came, God told the Helper Angel who was taking notes:
"Zimbabweans shall be good, bright, and Zanu-PF supporters."

When the world was finished, the Helper Angel reminded God: "My Lord, you
have given every nation two virtues but three to Zimbabweans. This is not
fair."

God thought about it. "You are right. Divine virtues, however, cannot be
taken away. But there is a way out. Zimbabweans shall keep all three but not
at the same time.

"The Zimbabwean who is good and Zanu-PF cannot be bright.

"The Zimbabwean who is bright and Zanu-PF cannot be good.

"And the Zimbabwean who is bright and good cannot be Zanu-PF."

Happy Valentine's!


a.. Mercedes Sayagues is a freelance journalist.
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Guardian
5.15pm update



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England snub Zimbabwe

Sean Ingle
Tuesday February 11, 2003

After days of meetings, deadlines and death-threats, England have finally
decided not to play their World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Harare.
However there remains a possibility that the match could yet be played -
perhaps in South Africa - later on in the tournament.
"The ECB has told us they will not play match in Harare on Thursday," ICC
chief executive Malcolm Speed told a highly-charged press conference in Cape
Town this afternoon. "The ECB cited safety concerns for the players as their
reason for not fulfilling that commitment."

Outlining how the decision had been made, Speed added: "The ICC gave a
direction to the ECB to comply and play the match in Zimbabwe, but the ECB
said that it does not believe that direction is reasonable.

"Accordingly the ICC has moved to cancel the match which is scheduled for
Thursday. The ICC is disappointed that the match will not go ahead."

The ECB are still hopeful that the game might be played elsewhere at a later
date - and have asked the ICC's technical committee to consider new evidence
of security problems which have come to light since their appeal to Justice
Sachs failed last week. However Speed was not conclusive.

"The ECB has asked the ICC to consider relocating the match to a venue
outside Zimbabwe at a later date," he said. "That process won't be something
that will be resolved today.

"I certainly would not assume that the match will be relocated."

The ECB responded at a separate press conference, with chairman David Morgan
insisting - to audible gasps - that: "This has not been a sordid squabble
about money."

"We are concerned for the cricket fraternity in Zimbabwe and particularly
those who would have been spectators at the match on the 13th," he
continued. "Throughout this process we have been trying desperately to keep
the world of cricket united and are mindful of our responsibility in this
regard.

"Although this process been lengthy we have not dithered or been guilty of
procrastination."

For several weeks now England's players have been worried about security and
social unrest in Zimbabwe, but news of death threats over the weekend
racheted up concerns.

With one organisation - the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe - warning them:
"Come to Harare and you will die", the reluctance of Nasser Hussain's men to
fulfil Thursday's fixture has grown more apparent by the day.

Now that the ECB have decided to boycott Zimbabwe, the implications could be
far-reaching. England have sacrificed what little goodwill they had left
going into the tournament, face the potential for huge legal costs, and also
risk the disruption of next summer's Test programme and the loss of
influence on the ICC board.

Earlier today, South Africa's top cricket chief Percy Sonn warned England
that pulling out of their match against Zimbabwe would be considered a
"major snub".

"It is our tournament and they are obliged to follow their commitments, so
if they do pull out, they will snub us as hosts of the tournament, and we
will definitely have to look at that," he warned.

Sonn, president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, also insisted
that South Africa might have to apply similar standards when considering
their scheduled tour of England.

"England talk of security fears (in Zimbabwe) but the ICC and the World Cup
organising committee have investigated it and said it is safe," said Sonn.

"On the other hand, there are a lot of problems in England - they have found
terror cells there with poisonous gas planning attacks and they consider
themselves a terror target.

"So we will have to look at their security as well. We will not send our
boys into a place we consider to be unsafe for them."
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Opposition lawmaker held
11/02/2003 15:51  - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwe police Monday arrested a prominent opposition lawmaker,
the fourth to be held in three days, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) said in a statement.

Reasons for Trudy Stevenson's arrest were unclear but the MDC said it
suspected she was arrested after she and other activists "submitted a
petition to the Namibian High Commission" ahead of Zimbabwe-Namibia's World
Cup cricket fixture.

Stevenson's arrest follows the arrests of MDC lawmakers Gabriel Chaibva,
Tendai Biti and Paul Madzore on Saturday.

Eight opposition lawmakers have been arrested so far this year. The MDC
claims the government has launched a systematic programme of repression
against its members.

Police have not confirmed the arrest. - Sapa-AFP
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Australia

Wednesday, February  12, 2003. Posted: 08:08:26 (AEDT)

Zimbabwe faces million-tonne grain deficit: study
Zimbabwe faces a million-tonne cereal deficit after the next harvest,
prolonging severe food shortages already affecting more than half its
population, an international famine watchdog says.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) says food security
prospects for the year 2003-2004 are "gloomy due to the low harvest
prospects".

"A deficit of one million MT (metric tonnes) is expected," it said.

Faced with erratic grain supplies, many rural households are using
"last-resort survival options such as prostitution, increased gold panning,
theft and wild food sales to supplement food aid", the report says.

Aid agencies say agricultural yields in Zimbabwe have fallen after the
introduction of the Government's controversial land redistribution program.

The Government blames drought for the shortages threatening more than half
the country's 11.6 million people.

Fews Net says land reform has had "a negative impact on production" and the
area planted with crops has decreased.

Up to one million former workers on once white-owned commercial farms have
been adversely affected by the resettlement program, it says.

Previous estimates put the number of farm workers affected at half this
figure but Fews Net says more farms have been affected since.

Fews Net, a US development agency, says foreign currency shortages mean the
Zimbabwean Government will have difficulty relying on imports to make up for
the looming cereal shortfalls.

Agricultural production this year will be higher than last year "but still
well below average".
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JAG Sitrep February 11, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr B Barry of Beersheba farm has recently had his 24ha centre pivot
irrigation system stolen. The pivot was valued at approximately US$24,000.
It was stolen from Norton by Mr Zvirongwe with the help of Doré and Pitt
for Minister Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Public
Works and National Housing. Minister Chombo illegally evicted Mr Hannes
Swan on the 31st August 2002 and has since taken over Allen Grange Farm,
Raffingora, where we understand the centre pivot is destined.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE JAG TEAM

JAG Hotlines:
(011) 612 595 If you are in trouble or need advice,
    (011) 205 374
       (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us -
       (091) 317 264
    (011)207 860 we're here to help!
(011) 431 068

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Justice for Agriculture mailing list
To subscribe/unsubscribe: Please write to jag-list-admin@mango.zw

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Dispute Could Splinter Commonwealth Along Racial Lines



Business Day (Johannesburg)

February 11, 2003
Posted to the web February 11, 2003

Jacob Dlaminiand Jonathan Katzenellenbogen
Johannesburg

A ROW within the Commonwealth group of nations over Zimbabwe has exposed
deepening cracks between black and white members of the organisation.

The dispute broke out yesterday after Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
who is also the chairman of the Commonwealth, went public with details of a
confidential tete-à-tete with President Thabo Mbeki at the weekend.

Howard accused SA and Nigeria of planning to let Zimbabwe off the hook by
allowing a year-long suspension from the Commonwealth imposed on Zimbabwe by
the three leaders last year to lapse next month.

The SA presidency, which denies Howard's claims that it plans to go easy on
Zimbabwe, is displeased with what it sees as a "breach of confidentiality".

Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, said yesterday that Mbeki was
"disappointed that Howard made public the contents of a private
conversation".

The clash comes as SA threatens to retaliate against England's apparent
refusal to honour its Cricket World Cup fixture in Zimbabwe on Thursday by
cancelling SA's fivetest tour of England after the world cup.

Although there was some confusion yesterday about the validity of its
statement, the International Cricket Council said last night that England
would not play its match in Zimbabwe because of security concerns.

United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn is reported to have told his
British counterpart, David Morgan, that SA might refuse to tour England
later this year if the England match in Zimbabwe was called off.

And in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwean cricketers Andy Flower and Henry Olonga
drew attention to their country's plight by wearing black arm bands in their
opening world cup match against Namibia, saying they were "mourning the
death of democracy" in Zimbabwe.

SA, Australia and Nigeria are part of a troika set up by Commonwealth
leaders last year to probe the political situation in Zimbabwe and recommend
action.

Howard cited SA's and Nigeria's refusal to meet next month to review the
situation in Zimbabwe and call for fresh sanctions against President Robert
Mugabe's regime as proof of the African countries' refusal to punish Harare
for its repressive practices.

Khumalo said: "SA is mindful of the need for the troika to deal with the
Zimbabwean situation as per the mandate given to it by the Commonwealth."

Their move could effectively mean that Zimbabwean membership of the
Commonwealth will be restored on March 19, a year after it was suspended.

The development could split the Commonwealth as it would allow Mugabe to
attend the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Nigeria in November.

David Monyae, an International Relations expert at Wits University, said
yesterday he was not surprised by Mbeki's and Obasanjo's stance.

Monyae said: "Howard has been behaving unilaterally over the Zimbabwean
issue, and the fight between the members of the troika has now reached its
peak.

"This dispute has the potential of breaking up the Commonwealth along racial
lines."

Howard has publicly called for harsher sanctions against Zimbabwe, but Mbeki
and Obasanjo are reported to think that would require a fresh mandate from
the Commonwealth's heads of government.

Mbeki and Obasanjo are also said to have been displeased by Howard's
go-it-alone attitude. Australia was among the first countries to slap
sanctions on Zimbabwe last year after the troika called for

Continued on Page 2The farce drags on: Back Page

Commonwealth crisis

Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth.

An SA government official said: "Howard violated the Commonwealth's spirit
of multilateralism when he acted outside of its conventions by unilaterally
imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe."

Howard said yesterday, to the fury of SA officials, that Mbeki and
"President Obasanjo felt that they didn't want to have another meeting of
the troika because in their view there wouldn't be agreement between SA and
Nigeria and Australia in relation to what would happen after the current
period of 12 months of Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth ran out".

Howard said it would be a "breach in the spirit" of the decision to suspend
Zimbabwe if Harare was allowed back into the Commonwealth. He said he
intended to write to Commonwealth members to report the SA-Nigeria decision
and to suggest that the suspension continue until November's heads of
government meeting.

Mugabe's attendance at the meeting could cause division between the "white"
Commonwealth countries which have been toughest on Mugabe and their "black"
counterparts.

The troika suspended Zimbabwe in March after a Commonwealth observer group
found that Zimbabwe's presidential elections last year were unfair.

As the suspension was for a year, it was widely understood, although now
disputed by SA and Nigeria, that the troika would meet before March 19 this
year to review the situation. While the communique issued in September after
the midterm review by the troika of the suspension does not mention another
meeting, it does provide for a review.

Meanwhile, the UK rejected yesterday suggestions by Mbeki that it sought to
cast doubt about security in Africa as far back as December.

British High Commission spokesman Nick Sheppard said: "We are not part of
any conspiracy to sabotage the World Cup Cricket tournament or to portray SA
as a dangerous place." Mbeki suggested on Friday in ANC Today, the African
National Congress' web-based journal, that the UK might have long been
seeking "to convey a global message of general African insecurity".

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Is SA Using Iraq for Power Bid At UN



Business Day (Johannesburg)

OPINION
February 11, 2003
Posted to the web February 11, 2003

Kane Berman
Johannesburg

WHAT exactly is SA up to with Iraq? We are obviously not on the side of the
US. But are we on the side of the United Nations (UN)? Do our real
sympathies lie with Saddam Hussein? Or are we using the Iraqi issue as a bid
for power at the UN?

President Thabo Mbeki has again sent Aziz Pahad, the deputy foreign
minister, to tell Saddam to obey UN Security Council orders to give up his
mass murder weapons. This presumably is a form of the "quiet" diplomacy we
favour over "megaphone diplomacy" for dealing with Robert Mugabe in
Zimbabwe.

When it comes to the US, however, we deploy the megaphones. The African
National Congress (ANC) says their Secretary of State Colin Powell
"fabricates" evidence, and it starts mobilising marches against US
diplomatic missions in Cape Town and Pretoria.

Calling for a "struggle for peace", Mbeki repudiates neither the attack on
Powell nor the anti-US demonstrations.

SA claims to be acting to back the UN. But if we are marching to demand that
the US act only with UN sanction, why are we not also marching on the Iraqi
embassy to demand that Saddam comply with the UN's demands?

Given their one-sidedness, the planned demonstrations suggest our
government's real sympathies lie with Saddam, just as they lie with Mugabe.

What will Pahad then do when he meets Saddam? Tell him to disarm but give
him a wink when he says it?

Saddam has defied the UN for more than a decade. His mind will now be
changed only by the threat of his own elimination. Our government is busy
undermining that threat by mobilising action against the US in the guise of
peace movements. This is unlikely to end Saddam's defiance. So the security
council will almost certainly be called upon to authorise the US-led use of
force against the Iraqi leader.

Assuming that it does so, how will SA react? Will we switch sides and back
UNauthorised force? Or will we seek to prevent multilateral action just as
we have ensured that the Commonwealth has so far done no more to Mugabe than
tap him on the wrist?

Mbeki has indicated that he may try to get action against Saddam delayed yet
again. He thus admits that "the matter at issue is more than a decade old",
but he still wants Iraq to be given "necessary space" to resolve it
"expeditiously".

He has also hinted at shifting the goalposts. Iraq should obey the UN, he
says, but "the matter does not, and cannot, end there" since the US and
Israel also possess weapons of mass destruction.

Furthermore, Mbeki wants to "intensify the struggle for the strengthening of
the multilateral system of governance" so that the "voice of the weak" can
be heard.

As represented by SA, this voice does not inspire confidence. While we use
quiet diplomacy vis-à-vis both Saddam and Mugabe, the megaphones are out
against those who would confront them, including Commonwealth members whom
Mbeki last year accused of being white supremacists (just as Nelson Mandela
now says Bush is a racist).

We have so far also used our supposed ability to "punch above our weight" in
the global arena less to stand up for human rights than to defend tyrants or
even to elevate them to positions of prominence as we did when we recently
helped to ensure the election of Muammar Gaddafi's Libya to the chair of the
UN Human Rights Commission.

This action means SA has already undermined a UN body. It raises questions
about the use to which this country would put any veto it might obtain
through the membership of the security council to which it aspires.

Kane-Berman is CE of the SA Institute of Race Relations.
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Reuters

      Zimbabwe sanctions meeting cancelled
      (Reuters) - February 11 2003 13:18

      LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria and South Africa have effectively killed off
a special Commonwealth committee considering further sanctions against
Zimbabwe by cancelling a key meeting next month.

      A senior Nigerian official told Reuters on Tuesday the meeting of the
Commonwealth troika of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa would not take
place.

      Leaders of the three countries were to have met in March to review
Zimbabwe's Commonwealth suspension and sanctions imposed last year after
President Robert Mugabe was re-elected in a vote his main rival and many
Western nations say was rigged.

      "The mandate of the troika is expired," the presidency official said.
This was the view of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and South African
President Thabo Mbeki, he said.

      "They decided between them that the meeting will not hold. And as this
was to be the last meeting of the troika, its mandate is effectively
expired," said the official, who asked not to be named.

      He said the reasons for the decision would be made clear in a letter
from Obasanjo to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was due to meet
British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London on Wednesday.

      Western powers have isolated Mugabe because of the March elections and
his controversial policies, including the seizure of many white-owned farms
for redistribution to landless blacks.

      The southern African country is gripped by its worst economic crisis
since independence from Britain in 1980, with nearly half of the nation's 14
million people facing starvation.

      But both South Africa and Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa's most powerful
and influential nations, have been widely seen as sympathetic to Mugabe, one
of Africa's longest serving rulers.

      They advocate a less confrontational approach to Zimbabwe than
Australia and Britain in a dispute that has split the Commonwealth on
roughly racial lines.

      While Obasanjo has mediated between Britain and Zimbabwe since Mugabe
adopted his policy of farm seizures, he has privately accused Britain of
failing to honour its commitments to help Zimbabwe finance land reform,
Nigerian officials say.

      Howard said this week Mbeki telephoned him to say he and Obasanjo
wanted the troika meeting cancelled because they did not agree with Howard's
view that Zimbabwe's suspension should be extended.

      Howard said Zimbabwe had done nothing to warrant being re-admitted to
the body grouping mainly former British colonies.

      "If anything the situation appears to have deteriorated and I
certainly wouldn't be supporting any notion that Zimbabwe should be
readmitted to full membership," he said, according to a transcript of his
remarks released in Canberra.

      Howard said he would write to all the other members of the 54-member
Commonwealth to recommend the suspension remains in force until a full
meeting of the group in Nigeria in December.
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BBC
 
Zimbabwe duo await fate
Olonga risked his career by protesting

Zimbabwe's Andy Flower and Henry Olonga are waiting to discover how they will be punished over their black armband protest.

The team-mates issued a statement condemning the Mugabe regime before Monday's World Cup match in Harare against Namibia.

They then wore the armbands during the game to symbolise what they called "the death of democracy" in their country.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) denied reports on Tuesday that leading batsman Flower and strike bowler Olonga have already been suspended from the national team.

Lovemore Banda, the ZCU communications manager, said: "The committee, considering our response to their statement has still not concluded its deliberations.

Olonga has already been suspended by Takashinga, his club in Harare.

Taking politics onto the playing field is something that the ICC and other sporting bodies, including the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, have been avoiding
Givemore Makoni
Takashinga club chairman

President Robert Mugabe is the patron of the ZCU and his residence is just across the street from the Harare Sports Club where Flower and Olonga made their protest.

The chairman of the ZCU Peter Chingoka said there would be no statement on the matter on Tuesday.

In an interview with BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Olonga, the first black cricketer to play in the national team, urged others taking part in the World Cup to take a "brave stance".

Correspondents say this is being interpreted as a plea to the England cricket team to forfeit Thursday's match in Harare.

"At the end of the day, this decision was based on moral convictions and a sense of a deep belief in that we had to do what was right to appease our conscience," Olonga said.

"Obviously we had to weigh up the possible consequences not only to ourselves, but to the Cricket World Cup and to cricket in Zimbabwe," he said.

"We will have to deal with whatever repercussions come along our way in the best way that we can, but we believe in the greater good."

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   ZIMBABWE: Neighbouring rail networks blamed for maize delays
      IRINnews Africa, Tue 11 Feb 2003

      ©

      Landlocked Zimbabwe is forced to use neighbouring countries' harbours
and rail networks

      JOHANNESBURG, - Zimbabwe has blamed logistical problems by
neighbouring rail networks for delaying the arrival of much-need maize
supplies.

      The state-controlled Herald newspaper on Tuesday reported a Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) official as saying: "Maize running into thousands of
tonnes imported by the government is piling up at ports in both Mozambique
and South Africa because Mozambican, South African and Botswana railway
authorities are failing to move the grain to the Zimbabwean border."

      However, a spokesman for South Africa's rail transporter Spoornet said
the parastatal had no backlogs to Zimbabwe and had recently achieved record
turnaround times for a delivery to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city.

      "We are very happy with the rate at which [deliveries] are going and
we are not aware of any hold-ups from our side," Mike Asefovitz told IRIN.

      He said that in anticipation of increased deliveries to Zimbabwe from
South Africa this year, Spoornet had decided to refurbish about 400
mothballed grain wagons to cope with extra deliveries in the region and
these should be functioning within six weeks.

      A source in Maputo confirmed that there were hold-ups affecting about
90,000 mt of maize in Maputo and Beira ports destined for the state-run GMB
due to turnaround delays in Zimbabwe and a lack of extra wagons in
Mozambique.

      A humanitarian official connected with the regional food aid effort
said: "It's easy to blame the other administrations but it's not the whole
truth. There are operational problems, but they are not necessarily due to
neighbouring railway administrations.

      "There is a sequence of problems which include the National Railways
of Zimbabwe having shunting and offloading problems which affect the
turnaround of their wagons."

      The Botswana rail authority was not available to comment on the
situation in that country.

      Food shortages have left 7.2 million people in Zimbabwe dependent on
food aid.
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