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Police probe gold barons

Zim Independent

Dumisani Muleya

SUPER-RICH illegal gold barons - who have practically taken over the
mining of the precious mineral and are salting away millions of United
States dollars in offshore bank accounts - are now running scared as the
police net closes in on them.

Police and mining sources said this week the gold magnates, who
include influential politicians, ministers, MPs and business tycoons, were
quaking in their boots as law enforcement agents intensify their crackdown
on illegal mining activities.

Government has also enlisted the services of Israeli consultants to
fight the underworld gold barons who operate like the mafia. The looting of
different sorts of precious minerals by politicians and their syndicates is
rampant in Zimbabwe.

Although no one has had the guts to name them so far, gold dealers are
said to be feeling the heat. The ongoing police blitz has put them under
intense pressure and they have of late been scrambling to stash their
millions in offshore bank accounts as they fear their funds could be
impounded.

Sources said most of the illegal gold proceeds are squirrelled away in
South African and overseas banks, this at a time when the country is reeling
from chronic shortages of foreign currency and critical imports such as
fuel, electricity, food, spares, chemicals, drugs, and inputs.

Sources said a police raid on a workshop in a Kwekwe industrial area
last year, not made public, showed the gold barons were well-organised.

At least $250 million, modern equipment for melting gold concentrates,
purification and elution, 315 gold bangles which had been fabricated, 600
grammes of gold concentrate for fabrication, gold amalgamation barrels used
for the separation of gold from gold concentrate amalgam, and 70 000 litres
of fuel were confiscated.

The fuel consignment was bought from South Africa using illicit gold
proceeds.

Investigations by the Zimbabwe Independent, which included visits to
the places where illegal gold mining is rampant, clearly show that most of
the gold lords and their syndicates include powerful politicians.
Verification of their names is still underway and these will be revealed
soon.

Last week a group of small-scale miners told a parliamentary portfolio
committee on mines, environment and tourism that top politicians were deeply
involved in unlawful gold extraction and smuggling.

Members of the Gold Miners' Association of Zimbabwe, however, said
they could not risk naming the "untouchable" politicians because "you will
be killed as soon as you expose them".

Prior to this, Police Deputy Commissioner Godwin Matanga had told the
same parliamentary committee that MPs were involved in illegal gold mining
but ministers were interfering with investigations. Since last year police
have been investigating and clamping down on illegal gold mining syndicates.

Although small-scale miners and Matanga have refused to disclose the
names of top politicians involved in illegal gold dealing, police officers
and miners interviewed this week threatened to spill the beans.

"We are going to catch up with them, name and shame them. They can run
but they cannot hide," a police source said this week. "They are now running
scared because they can see that the net is closing in on them."

More than 100 illegal gold panners - who largely deal with big mining
houses and small-scale producers on behalf of the "untouchable" gold
barons - have been arrested. However, police have only been picking up small
fish. They appear scared of the big shots.

"Part of the problem is that some police officers are not only afraid
of the politicians, but are also corrupt. They either work with the
politicians who deal in gold or accept bribes from them," a source said.


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Mobile operators to cut international calls

Zim Independent

CELLULAR phone service providers have virtually cut access to
international calls because of unsustainable tariffs, dealing a further blow
to the crumbling service industry in the country.

As the economy continues to deteriorate the telecommunications sector
has of late been offering a shoddy service which has been blamed on failure
to access foreign currency and red-tape at the Post and Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority which determines tariffs.

Failure to connect to other countries, especially South Africa, is
likely to affect businesses, including travellers and SME traders who rely
on cellphones to communicate with suppliers and markets in the region.

Telecommunications Operators Association chairman Douglas Mboweni
yesterday confirmed the "impending suspension" of calls saying Zimbabwe had
become a net-payer of foreign currency to foreign operators as subscribers
were taking advantage of the cheap tariffs to make calls abroad thereby
clogging international links.

He said an assessment of calling patterns has shown that people were
spending as long as three hours a day on international calls.

This week however it was virtually impossible to make international
calls from a cellphone as networks were not processing calls.

"Every time a subscriber makes an international call, local operators
are billed for the call by the foreign operator on which the call was
received, and the local operator, be it Econet, Net*One or Telecel, is
required to pay the international firm in foreign exchange for this call,"
said Mboweni who is Econet CEO. "We normally
pay for these calls from money we receive from other operators for
calls to Zimbabwe."

"We have however observed during the last few months that due to the
low tariffs we charge, some people have naturally taken advantage of this
situation and are making very long international calls, some lasting as long
as three hours a day," he said.

He said this practice had now created a situation where outgoing
traffic had increased dramatically, and as a result, the outgoing links to
international destinations were invariably congested. This situation, he
said, was unsustainably increasing local operators' foreign
currency obligations to their foreign counterparts.

Mboweni said the industry had notified the relevant authorities of the
need to charge a viable termination rate for international calls to maximise
foreign currency earnings of the telecommunications industry. - Staff
Writer.


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Massive price hikes loom

Zim Independent

Augustine Mukaro

MASSIVE price escalations are looming for virtually all basic goods
and services as government hurtles to scrap subsidies from most essential
commodities.

The scrapping of subsidies, set to trigger a wave of fresh price
increases across the board, is reportedly meant to remove pricing
distortions cited by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono in his monetary
policy statement two weeks ago.

Government this week increased the selling price of maize from the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to millers by over 9 500% in a move that will
push the price of the staple maize-meal to unaffordable levels. The price of
maize to millers jumped from $600/tonne to $58 000 on Wednesday.

The GMB also silently removed subsidies on wheat, forcing millers to
raise a 50kg bag of flour from $12 000 to $33 000 two weeks ago. The
increase resulted in bakers demanding an increase in the price of bread from
the current $825 to $1 800.

Government has in recent weeks arrested businessmen for increasing
prices of goods without approval.

The double-dealing exposes confusion and lack of a policy framework to
deal with the economic meltdown the country is experiencing.

Previously, government was buying maize from farmers at $52 500/tonne,
and selling it to the millers for $600/tonne.

Millers projected that a 10kg bag of mealie-meal, currently priced at
$800, would jump to around $4 000.

Earlier in the week transport operators warned commuters to brace
themselves for a sharp increase in transport costs as government had agreed
in principle to a fare hike following the removal of subsidies on fuel.

Fuel on the black market is ranging between $4 500 and $5 000 per
litre while government was selling it to transporters and farmers at $330.
Operators are proposing fares that cushion them against the ever-rising fuel
prices and spare parts.

A trip into town from Chitungwiza, currently pegged at $2 000, would
rise to $5 000, while fares for shorter distances such as Houghton Park and
Glen Norah to town currently at $1 500, would go up to $4 000.

Gono said the distortions had created a haven of corruption as millers
and other unscrupulous businessmen made mountains of wealth through
re-trading the same grain obtained from the GMB whilst farmers found it more
profitable to trade fuel on the parallel market instead of producing crops.

Observers said the lifting of subsidies would soon be extended to
other utilities and services provided by parastatals where there have been
startling unsustainable price distortions. The scrapping of subsidies is
anticipated to push up prices of virtually everything.

Gono blamed the lower-than-cost-of-service-delivery pricing in the
municipalities and other public utilities for crippling the economy. He said
the parastatals were to be allowed to operate within parameters that make
economic sense.


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$70b lost since January, say bakers

Zim Independent

Dumisani Ndlela

ZIMBABWE lurches towards bread shortages after producers this week
threatened to stop baking with effect from today, saying they had incurred a
cumulative loss of close to $70 billion since January.

The move could spell disaster for consumers, already grappling with
shortages of other basic commodities like cooking oil and sugar.

Reports suggested there were already bread shortages in Bulawayo and
these were spreading to other towns and cities around the country.

The shortages have pushed bread to the black market, where it is
selling for $3 000 per loaf against the official price of $825.

The National Bakers Association (NBA) convened a meeting on Wednesday
at which members vowed to cease all bread production today, saying they were
"no longer in a position to continue" because of government price controls,
a source who attended the meeting told the Zimbabwe Independent.

Stakeholders who attended the meeting said bakers were angry over
Industry and International Trade minister Obert Mpofu's failure to table
their demands for a price hike at cabinet. The price has not been reviewed
since December.

They said despite Mpofu being furnished with a cost build-up analysis
for making a loaf of bread, he had refused to acknowledge that the bakers
were incurring losses.

The source suggested that Mpofu was afraid of confronting cabinet
colleagues with proposals for a review of bread prices.

"The minister has been hesitant to present our case to cabinet," an
industry player said.

Industry sources said inputs to produce a standard loaf stood at over
$1 700 per loaf when the selling prices was $825. This had resulted in
bakers incurring huge losses.

"Many bakers have closed down," an industry player said, indicating
that NBA's membership had dropped from nearly 700 members "to just over 300
due to closures".

"People should understand that it's not the bakers that initiate price
increases; they merely respond to increases from other quarters,
particularly the raw materials," one baker said.

"The current problem was triggered by government when it silently
removed subsidies on wheat to millers. The costs were forwarded to the
bakers who were however not allowed to pass the cost on to consumers," an
executive with one confectionery company said.

The acting chairman of the NBA, Vincent Mangoma, yesterday refused to
talk about issues discussed at the association's meeting, but dismissed
reports that bakers had threatened to stop bread production.


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Murambatsvina destitutes too obvious for govt to hide

Zim Independent

Lucia Makamure

SOPHIA Kaodza will always remember Friday, July 15 2005 as one of the
most dreadful moments in her life when she lost the place she fondly called
home in Mbare.

Armed police came with bulldozers and razed her shack which took her
five years and all her life's savings to complete.

The shack was deemed an illegal structure that had to be demolished as
government unleashed the police in a clean up exercise code-named Operation
Murambatsvina.

Sophia is one of an estimated 700 000 people left homeless after the
blitz that transformed many of the victims into instant beggars.

The government has long disputed the figure of those left homeless but
today the evidence is becoming too obvious to hide. The victims who were
promised housing under Operation Garikai are still homeless. They have taken
to begging on the streets for sustenance.

Today Sophia prowls Samora Machel and Leopold Takawira Avenues holding
her sick baby begging for alms.

She is among a new breed of tramps found in the streets of Harare.

And their numbers are growing by the day.

Unlike ordinary street kids who roam around the streets because they
have no place to call home, Sophia has a home at Hopley Farm.

But the streets became her source of survival after her husband got
arrested for stealing at his workplace.

"My husband was arrested when I was still pregnant so I had to find
ways of earning money," says Sophia.

"I realised that sitting at home and crying over my misery was not
going to put food on the table for me and my child. I searched for a job but
could not find any so I decided to come to this spot," she said.

"Every morning I come to this spot and beg from as early as 7 am and
leave around 5 pm. On a good day I take home $10 000 which I use to buy
food," she said.

The Zimbabwe Independent found out that Sophia uses her sickly baby to
gain compassion from passersby.

"I have to bring my sick baby with me as his condition is likely to
make passersby feel sorry for us. Only yesterday a businesswoman who saw us
felt sorry for us and gave me a bottle of paraffin and some money to buy
bread," she said.

The baby in question is four month old Fatima Sithole whose body is
covered in scabies and has to endure the scorching heat of a February
afternoon so that her mother can get money.

Ten-year-old Tatenda of Epworth and his grandmother are also surviving
from begging.

He dropped out of school when his parents died and his grandmother
cannot afford to pay his school fees.

"I lost my parents in 2005 and from that time I have been living with
my grandmother," Tatenda said.

"I wake up very early every morning so that I get to my usual spot
before 7:30am as that is the time when many people are going to work," he
said.

To attract public sympathy, Tatenda has entered a partnership with a
mother who gives him her small baby to strap on my back.

"When passersby see us they feel sorry for the baby and me and often
give generous donations. At the end of the day I share my alms with the baby's
mother and take my share home to my old grandmother."

A random survey of people on the streets indicates mixed feelings
about begging.

People who spoke to the Independent said the economic situation in the
country was to blame for reducing decent people to beggars.

"I do not blame these destitutes. At least they are begging instead of
stealing," said Edith Mangwanda of Glen View suburb.

Jonathan Musoro of Glen Norah condemned the use of children as a form
of child abuse.

"These people want money without working for it. The responsible
authorities have to do something about this because we cannot have young
children begging instead of going to school," he said.

Duduzile Moyo, the director of Streets Ahead, a welfare organisation,
said making children beggars was unacceptable.

"They are teaching these children to earn a living through begging
instead of working," Moyo said.

She said it was because begging was an easy way of earning money that
the number of people coming from home to beg was growing by the day.

Moyo said that the Department of Social Welfare should get more
involved in some of the organisation's programmes.

"Some of these kids come to our drop-in centre for toilet and bathroom
facilities and our fear is that they will get used to life on the streets
and may never return home."

Harare City Council spokesperson Percy Toriro said council had
realised the issue of destitute people needed a holistic solution. He said
council was trying to engage stakeholders in order to come up with a
comprehensive and sustainable programme.

"We have realised that simply chasing people away from the streets
does not solve the problem as they keep coming back."

The economic decline in the country has left more than 75% of the
population unemployed and many are being forced to beg in order to survive.


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Gukurahundi era back to haunt tormentors

Zim Independent

Loughty Dube recently in Lupane

WHEN it became apparent that death was staring him in the face after
constant visits from soldiers who accused every villager in the area of
harbouring "dissidents", Lucas Khumalo sneaked out of his hut in the dead of
night and escaped to neighbouring Zambia via the Victoria Falls border post
leaving behind his family.

They were not so lucky.

When rumour spread that the soldiers were planning to round up
villagers for punishment on allegations of feeding dissidents Khumalo's
wife, Hleziphi, felt enough was enough and together with her two daughters,
daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren packed their clothes and headed
towards Kabela village, 40 kilometres away, where her husband had relatives.

But they did not get far. As they were cutting through the forest they
met a group of soldiers. All six were made to lie down and instantly came
under a hail of bullets from the soldiers. Five of the family members died
on the spot. But five-year-old Nhlanhla who was shot in the stomach
survived.

After playing dead for a while Nhlanhla crawled until he was rescued
by villagers who took him to hospital.

When the soldiers returned they shoved all the seven members of the
Khumalo family into an anthill and covered the mass grave with shrubs. That
was in 1983.

Nhlanhla, now 29 years old, lived to tell the tale, albeit
reluctantly.

"The grave over there is where my mother, my grandmother, my two aunts
and my young sister are buried," said Nhlanhla. "Whenever I walk through the
bush, I get nightmares when I remember the day," he said.

The Khumalos are part of thousands of families in Matabeleland and the
Midlands who had relatives butchered by a military crack unit that killed
over 20 000 unarmed civilians including women and children during the 1980s
disturbances referred to as the Gukurahundi era.

The events occurred in the St Paul's area of Lupane, one of the three
districts worst affected by the atrocities in April 1983.

The other two districts are Tsholotsho and Matopo. The three districts
are littered with mass graves of people murdered by the North Korean-trained
Fifth Brigade.

At St Paul's secondary school, about 43 kilometres from Lupane centre,
a monument erected by Roman Catholic priests in the school grounds reminds
villagers of the sad events that occurred there 24 years ago.

On a fine Sunday morning a group of teachers were rounded up and lined
against the wall after they were accused of supporting dissidents. A verdict
was reached without delay and they were condemned to their death by
shooting. The villagers who watched the horror were forced to dig a mass
grave where all the 20 teachers were buried.

The horrific tales of the period have created emotive debate as
government would rather look the other way while survivors and victims are
still looking for justice. Tsholotsho MP Jonathan Moyo has decided to mark
this sad episode by sponsoring a Gukurahundi Memorial Bill that he intends
to table before parliament. This has divided the leadership in Matabeleland
with some backing the Bill while others say it will reopen old wounds.

The proposed Bill has caused consternation in government circles with
the official media labelling Moyo an opportunist seeking cheap publicity by
bringing the issue before parliament.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) compiled a report
in 1997 outlining the atrocities carried out by the Fifth Brigade but the
Catholic bishops refused to make the report public. The CCJP and their
research partners, the Legal Resources Foundation, went ahead and published
it.

Moyo's Bill seeks to criminalise denial of the existence of
Gukurahundi and to also record what transpired during the period.

The Bill will also set provisions for the compensation of those
affected by the genocide.

However, it emerged this week that there are divisions amongst leaders
in Matabeleland over the Bill with those close to government arguing that
the issue has been resolved while others are arguing that the healing
process can only take place after official acknowledgement of the
atrocities.

A former Zipra cadre and now Alderman of the city of Bulawayo, Charles
Mpofu, said he supports the Bill because it will reveal what transpired
during the Gukurahundi period and expose how evil Zanu PF is as a political
party.

"We in Matabeleland fully support the Gukurahundi Memorial Bill which
Jonathan Moyo is pushing in parliament," said Mpofu. "It is a great idea
that will help the affected people to get compensation. It should have been
put forward a long time ago," he said.

Zanu PF national chairman and Speaker of Parliament, John Nkomo, has
however said bringing up the issue will open healing wounds and attacked
Moyo as a bitter person after he was fired as Information minister.

"The issue of Gukurahundi was resolved when we signed the Unity Accord
and it should be left like it is. There is no need to open healing wounds,"
Nkomo said.

President Mugabe has acknowledged the Matabeleland disturbances but
has refused to apologise for the genocide which he has only referred to as
"a moment of madness".

Former PF-Zapu supremo, Dumiso Dabengwa, supported Nkomo and said the
Gukurahundi issue was resolved amicably when the two feuding parties united
in 1987.

"There is need for people to be careful when dealing with that issue
because it is very sensitive," said Dabengwa. "People died but there was a
resolution and that is why President Mugabe passed a resolution that there
should be an amnesty for those who were involved in those atrocities,"
Dabengwa said.

Paul Siwela, the leader of Zapu, said the idea of tabling a Bill
before parliament was noble but said it was important for the people of
Matabeleland to see the draft Bill before it goes to parliament.

Bulawayo political activist Jethro Mpofu, said the Bill was welcome.

"The Bill is welcome and long overdue to the long suffering people of
Matabeleland. The Bill will open a can of worms over what happened during
that time and the new generation should know the truth," Mpofu said.


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Army abandons Kondozi Estate

Zim Independent

Augustine Mukaro

THE Zimbabwe National Army has abandoned its Operation Maguta project
at the controversial Kondozi Estate in Odzi after failing to recover
equipment reportedly looted by government ministers, thus paralysing
operations and efforts to resuscitate the former horticultural exporting
concern.

The military took over the farm following the Agricultural and Rural
Development Authority (Arda)'s failure to breathe back life into the
enterprise expropriated by the state under the land reform programme three
years ago.

The army could not irrigate the wilting maize crop on the farm because
water pumps and other irrigation facilities had been vandalised or taken
away in 2004.

Realising that it had bungled on Kondozi and that attempts to revive
the enterprise were failing dismally, government tried to lure back the
former Kondozi owners. But they turned down the offer demanding that all
looted equipment be returned before they could consider coming back.

Former Kondozi majority shareholder Edwin Moyo confirmed that they
could not go back to the estate considering the level of vandalism that had
taken place on the farm.

"We opted to move to Cashel Valley instead of going back to Kondozi,"
Moyo said.

"We moved onto Cashel Valley in July last year and started exporting
in October of the same year. Currently six tonnes of fresh produce are being
exported monthly to European markets and there is tremendous potential to
increase production," he said.

Moyo said the Cashel Valley venture had the capacity to expand more
than Kondozi in both hectarage and output because of the huge number of
small-scale farmers as outgrowers.

"Our projection for the Cashel Valley project is that at full capacity
we would have 450 hectares under different crops earning around US$20
million annually, compared to Kondozi's 224 hectares which had an annual
turnover of US$15 million," he said.

The seizure of Kondozi divided the Zanu PF leadership with several
ministers who included Joseph Made and Christopher Mushohwe initially said
to have taken over the lucrative property.

The ministers only relented after Vice-President Joseph Msika spoke
out against the take-over. Kondozi was later allocated to Arda, then to the
army. Now it has been given to Mushohwe.

Observers have blamed the failure to revive the project to massive
looting of equipment and mismanagement. Five ministers were fingered in the
looting of Kondozi farm equipment, hampering its efforts to fully utilise
the land.

The violent seizure of Kondozi farm by Zanu PF through Arda and the
closure of the horticultural concern adversely affected the company's
financiers, Barclays-Fincor, Zimbank-Syfrets, and the African Banking
Corporation which together had invested about $37 billion in the project.

When Kondozi was invaded it lost billions of dollars' worth of
equipment which included 48 tractors, four Scania trucks, five UD trucks,
several T35 trucks and 26 motorbikes. Tonnes of fertiliser and chemicals
were also lost.

Even when equipped with a High Court order, Barclays failed to
repossess the farming equipment at Kondozi due to political meddling.


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Byo moves to recycle water

Zim Independent

Loughty Dube

The Bulawayo city council - battling a takeover bid for its water
supply infrastructure by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) - is
awaiting an executive committee meeting decision to approve the recycling of
city water in a move to save dwindling supplies.

The council has already awarded a tender to a private company,
Masiyephambili Water Company, to purify the water before sending it to
consumers.

The decision to reclaim water comes at a time when council has
decommissioned two dams - Umzingwane and Lower Ncema - due to dwindling
water levels.

Bulawayo council public relations manager, Phathisa Nyathi, confirmed
that the city would soon begin recycling water.

"The issue will first have to go to the executive committee of council
to make a decision," said Nyathi. "According to our original plan, the
programme of recycling water should have begun in March this year but with
the confusion that has been brought on by Zinwa, we will have to wait,"
Nyathi said.

He said there was nothing wrong with recycled water as Johannesburg
and London were also recycling their water.

However, the decision on whether to go ahead or shelve the project
will depend on the success of Zinwa's bid to run the city's water supply
infrastructure.

This week, Zanu PF's provincial co-ordinating committee, which
includes members of the central committee and the politburo, defied a
government directive over the water takeover issue.

Party members were unanimous that Zinwa should not be allowed to take
over water and referred the matter to the central committee and cabinet for
further deliberations.

The issue of the takeover of Bulawayo's water supplies by Zinwa has
been raised at politburo level and has caused a lot of anger in Bulawayo.

The Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity in Bulawayo,
Effort Nkomo, confirmed that the party wanted the council to be allowed to
continue with water provision in the city.

"There was no consultation on this issue from government and we are
saying the government is there because of the people so they should listen
to the people," Nkomo said.

"The politburo will have to listen to input from the party in Bulawayo
and the minister (of Water Development) was told all that at the meeting,"
he said.

The council last week sent a document to government protesting the
water takeover.

The council document projected that council would lose close to $40
billion if Zinwa was allowed to take over water supplies. The council
implored government to allow it to continue with water provision while Zinwa
maintained its role of bulk water supplies.

"To date the division of functions between Zinwa and the city council
has worked well as the former provides bulk water and the latter
reticulates. We have no quarrel with Zinwa but we have problems with their
track record," says the letter sent to government last week.


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Police, politicians in illegal gold mining

Zim Independent

Ray Matikinye

SENIOR police officers and politicians are alleged to have ganged up
to mine gold illegally in the gold-rich Patchway and Chakari gold reef near
Kadoma, prompting a probe by the police internal investigations unit into
activities of a gold smuggling syndicate involved.

Sources say a syndicate comprising politicians and state officials has
blossomed in the area despite a blitz on illegal gold mining activities
launched last November ostensibly "to bring sanity into the mining sector".

On Thursday a team from the police unit visited Kadoma to probe the
goings-on.

A staff officer in the department on Wednesday this week confirmed the
visit to the Zimbabwe Independent but could not shed light on the team's
findings. He said the leader of the investigating team, Chief of Staff
(Internal Investigation) Senior Assistant Commissioner Moyo, had gone to
Chiredzi and would only be back in the office on Monday.

Police spokesman Inspector Oliver Mandipaka, however, denied the visit
by a police team.

"There is nothing like that," Mandipaka said.

On being told that a staff officer in the investigations unit had
confirmed the visit, Mandipaka said: "Perhaps you are speculating that a
probe team visited Kadoma.

As I said earlier, there is nothing of that sort."

A fortnight ago, deputy Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga accused
senators, MPs and other politicians of abetting illegal gold mining and
smuggling that the on-going Operation Chikorokoza Chapera seeks to curb.

"Some of the MPs and senators are implicated in this illegal mining
and smuggling.

They have something illegal to protect and try to interfere with
police work," Matanga told a parliamentary committee on Mines, Environment
and Tourism.

In response to Bikita West legislator, Claudius Makova, who had asked
whether politicians and MPs were involved in illegal mining activities,
Matanga said: "Yes," without naming names.

MP for Kadoma West, Zacharia Ziyambi, pleaded with the police to lift
their embargo on mining activities in his constituency, saying it had
disadvantaged registered miners.

The police have justified the blitz "to bring sanity and discipline in
the mining sector" according to officer commanding the operation, Assistant
Commissioner Charles Mufandaedza.

He said people accusing the police of high-handedness in dealing with
illegal miners were making those claims "with dirty hands".

"It is a standard practice worldwide to cordon and secure an area with
precious minerals," Mufandaedza said, in response to Ziyambi who had pleaded
with police to allow some closed mines to resume operations.

"Some of the people who accuse police of high-handedness in dealing
with illegal mining activities do so with "dirty hands", Mufandaedza said.

But sources said this week police and CIO operatives in the mining
town have taken the closure of several gold milling companies who had no
valid environmental impact assessment reports to mine the gold clandestinely
and export it illegally through Zambia.

Sources say a syndicate comprising politicians and state officials has
blossomed in the area despite a blitz on illegal gold mining activities
launched last November ostensibly "to bring sanity into the mining sector".

On Thursday a team from the police unit visited Kadoma to probe the
goings-on.

A staff officer in the department on Wednesday this week confirmed the
visit to the Zimbabwe Independent but could not shed light on the team's
findings. He said the leader of the investigating team, Chief of Staff
(Internal Investigation) Senior Assistant Commissioner Moyo, had gone to
Chiredzi and would only be back in the office on Monday.

Police spokesman Inspector Oliver Mandipaka, however, denied the visit
by a police team.

"There is nothing like that," Mandipaka said.

On being told that a staff officer in the investigations unit had
confirmed the visit, Mandipaka said: "Perhaps you are speculating that a
probe team visited Kadoma.

As I said earlier, there is nothing of that sort."

A fortnight ago, deputy Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga accused
senators, MPs and other politicians of abetting illegal gold mining and
smuggling that the on-going Operation Chikorokoza Chapera seeks to curb.

"Some of the MPs and senators are implicated in this illegal mining
and smuggling.

They have something illegal to protect and try to interfere with
police work," Matanga told a parliamentary committee on Mines, Environment
and Tourism.

In response to Bikita West legislator, Claudius Makova, who had asked
whether politicians and MPs were involved in illegal mining activities,
Matanga said: "Yes," without naming names.

MP for Kadoma West, Zacharia Ziyambi, pleaded with the police to lift
their embargo on mining activities in his constituency, saying it had
disadvantaged registered miners.

The police have justified the blitz "to bring sanity and discipline in
the mining sector" according to officer commanding the operation, Assistant
Commissioner Charles Mufandaedza.

He said people accusing the police of high-handedness in dealing with
illegal miners were making those claims "with dirty hands".

"It is a standard practice worldwide to cordon and secure an area with
precious minerals," Mufandaedza said, in response to Ziyambi who had pleaded
with police to allow some closed mines to resume operations.

"Some of the people who accuse police of high-handedness in dealing
with illegal mining activities do so with "dirty hands", Mufandaedza said.

But sources said this week police and CIO operatives in the mining
town have taken the closure of several gold milling companies who had no
valid environmental impact assessment reports to mine the gold clandestinely
and export it illegally through Zambia.


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Promises and lies as parties battle for Chiredzi South's heart and soul

Zim Independent

Augustine Mukaro

POLITICAL parties contesting the Chiredzi South by-election scheduled
for this weekend are promising the impoverished electorate heaven on earth
in a bid to win the hearts and minds of villagers in the remote
drought-stricken district.

Zanu PF is promising infrastructure development in the forgotten
constituency while other parties have urged the electorate to reject the
violence and marginalisation they have experienced under the ruling party
over the past 26 years.

The Chiredzi South seat fell vacant late last year following the death
of Zanu PF legislator Aaron Baloyi.

Zanu PF candidate Kallisto Gwanetsa will fight it out with Immaculate
Makondo (MDC-Tsvangirai), Nehemiah Zenamwe (MDC-Mutambara) and Savious
Chauke of United Peoples' Party (UPP).

Chiredzi district is among the least-developed areas in the country.
The contesting parties are promising to turn around the fortunes of the area
with Zanu PF leading the pack despite having held the constituency for the
past 26 years.

Gwanetsa is understood to be promising to build dip-tanks, sink
boreholes, resuscitate irrigation schemes and improve communication
networks.

Critics have questioned whether the promises are genuine or political
rhetoric designed to win the election.

The road network in the constituency is in a dilapidated state with
the bridge across Runde River yet to be repaired after Cyclone Eline damaged
it in 2000. People use boats to cross the river.

Sources in Chiredzi said Zanu PF had even stepped up its bid to retain
the constituency and flooded the constituency with grain.

"Government vehicles have over the past week been moving tonnes of
grain and other foodstuffs to the constituency, raising suspicion that it
might be used for political purposes," a source said.

"The food is being taken to growth points such as Chikombedzi,
Malipati, Chilonga and other small business centres where distribution is
done."

Reports coming in claim that many people seen going to MDC rallies are
being denied the right to purchase food in their areas.

Zanu PF is also accused of using traditional leaders to intimidate the
electorate to vote for the ruling party candidate.

Two weeks ago, president of the Zimbabwe's Council of Chiefs, Chief
Fortune Charumbira, ordered traditional leaders in rural Chiredzi to deny
state-supplied food aid to opposition supporters. Charumbira told a rally in
the constituency that chiefs had also been instructed to campaign for the
ruling party.

"We have advised all chiefs in Chiredzi South to campaign for the
ruling party," said Charumbira. "We have also ordered them that they should
consider only Zanu PF supporters on programmes initiated by the government.
We cannot afford to continue feeding the enemy because they are sell-outs."

Villagers from Chiredzi and opposition officials said chiefs were
ordering supporters of the MDC and UPP to denounce their parties first
before they could get food aid. Traditional leaders wield immense influence
in rural areas.

Not to be outdone, opposition parties are blaming the continued
marginalisation and underdevelopment of the constituency on Zanu PF's
misrule.

"Our participation in the Chiredzi by-election is part of the broader
struggle to deliver the country back to the people," MDC-Tsvangirai faction
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

"Our message to the people of Chiredzi is 'let us put a full-stop to
Zanu PF's ugly dispensation of violence, turmoil and total disregard of the
ordinary person'.

"We are encouraging them to vote for a leadership that is not only
visible when it's time for an election but a leadership that is accountable
and always available to listen to their concerns."

Chamisa said hunger and underdevelopment were not a once-off problem
in the area so people should not be fooled by food handouts and short-term
projects designed only for election times.

"We are promising the people of Chiredzi an encompassing approach that
would see a concerted effort on developmental projects to ensure that the
constituency develops together with the rest of the country," he said.

MDC-Mutambara faction spokesman Gabriel Chaibva said his party was the
party of the future with a proven record of democracy hence it was
encouraging the people in Chiredzi to vote for the future.

"Participation in Chiredzi is simply an entrenchment of a democratic
process as we prepare for the future as a government," Chaibva said.

"Our message to the whole country and Chiredzi South constituency in
particular is that start now to create the future you want for this
country."

UPP coordinator Antony Pedzisa said his party was not promising the
electorate "honey when there are no bees".

"Chiredzi people have been marginalised for too long so they need a
leader whom they interact with on a day-to-day basis; understanding their
concerns. We are providing such a candidate," Pedzisa said.

"Chiredzi people are disgruntled because Zanu PF has never represented
them. The purpose of our participation in this election is to show that
people are tired of Zanu PF's failure to provide practical solutions."

Pedzisa said he was encouraging his party to provide the electorate
with practical alternatives.

"These people have a culture which someone needs to understand before
you can represent them. It is that understanding which we will use to our
advantage," he said.


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Tsvangirai fights police over rally

Zim Independent

THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai will today go to court to fight police attempts to ban its
leader's launch of his 2008 presidential election campaign on Sunday at
Zimbabwe Grounds.

Efforts to prevent Tsvangirai's rally follows the arrest of 284 women
who staged anti-government protests on Tuesday in Harare and Bulawayo. At
least 15 students were also arrested on the same day for demonstrations
against the government.

There is mounting social discontent and unrest in Zimbabwe due to the
current political and economic crisis. The country is rocked by a chain of
sit-ins and strikes by doctors, nurses and teachers over low salaries and
poor working conditions. Nearly 200 000 civil servants have threatened to go
on strike today. Government claims the strikes are political.

Fearing the Sunday rally could be a platform for Tsvangirai to
instigate mass anti-government protests, police have invoked Posa to block
the gathering. Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, who leads the other MDC
camp, have threatened a nationwide campaign of defiance against President
Robert Mugabe's regime.

Mugabe said last week opposition leaders threatening to oust him from
power were "deranged". He said he would crush the protests.

Tsvangirai's is trying to launch his presidential election campaign
for the scheduled 2008 poll despite evidence Mugabe wants to extend his term
of office by two more years to 2010.

Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the Tsvangirai faction, said yesterday
they would pursue every avenue to ensure the rally goes ahead.

"The police are busy trying to cancel our rally but we are going ahead
whether they like it or
not. We are not under any obligation to stop campaigning because Zanu
PF does not want us to do so," he said.

Chamisa said Tsvangirai would launch his presidential bid, while at
the same time pushing for constitutional reforms to ensure that the election
is fought on new electoral rules. The MDC has in the past accused Zanu PF of
rigging elections.

"Entering into elections under the same electoral rules and political
conditions will yield the similar rigged outcomes as we saw in the 2000
parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections. We need to change the
situation to ensure free and fair elections."

Mugabe is currently working hard to amend the constitution to postpone
the 2008 presidential election to 2010 despite stiff internal resistance.


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Portugal under pressure to bar Mugabe

Zim Independent

FOLLOWING European Union pressure on France not to invite President
Robert Mugabe to attend the Africa-France summit in Cannes this week, trade
unionists in Europe have now turned up pressure on Portugal not to invite
Zimbabwe to the EU-Africa Summit to be held in Lisbon in April.

In an unprecedented move this week, three main French trade union
federations called on their government to uphold the EU sanctions regime and
bar President Mugabe from the summit or face action on the streets of
Cannes.

Now trade unionists have focused their attention on Portugal which
hosts the EU-Africa Summit in April.

The trade unions in statements this week warned Portugal against
inviting Zimbabwe.

"As the crisis in Zimbabwe worsens on a daily basis, the lead taken by
the French trade union movement has shown that no EU country should be a
haven for Mugabe and his brutal regime, and that no EU leader will again get
away with sanctions-busting," they said. "As this campaign grows we hope it
will ensure that Portugal doesn't even consider issuing an invitation."

The pressure from the trade unions, which work closely with political
parties in Europe, particularly the Socialist and Communist parties, is
likely to further isolate Zimbabwe which has been busy peddling the myth
that there are European countries which are sympathetic to its cause.

The EU is scheduled to meet on Monday to extend targeted sanctions
against Zimbabwean officials by another year. The sanctions list is also
likely to include new names following last week's cabinet reshuffle.

Meanwhile, a senior French diplomat in Harare has said his country
stands in solidarity with the EU's travel ban on President Robert Mugabe and
his top lieutenants.

Deputy French ambassador to Zimbabwe, Stephane Toulet, said on
Wednesday that France was in full support of the EU stance on Zimbabwe,
contrary to state media reports suggesting that it appeared keen to lobby
for the relaxation of sanctions.

"France, which is a founding member of the EU, fully supports the EU
common position issued by the European Council in Brussels, including the
stance on Zimbabwe," said Toulet.

"The common position is reviewed every year by the European Council in
Brussels in the light of developments in Zimbabwe. The European Council will
therefore take the decision on the renewal of the travel ban in the next few
days. This embassy cannot anticipate that decision."

While France has in the past tried to open dialogue with Mugabe, there
is now a reluctance in Paris to be seen embracing a failing state, observers
say.

The EU is widely expected to extend its targeted sanctions on Monday
when the European Council meets to review developments that have transpired
in Zimbabwe over the past year.

French president Jacques Chirac invited Mugabe to Paris for the same
summit in 2003 in a move that sparked outrage from Britain and other EU
members.

Other EU members have banned Mugabe and his top aides from venturing
into Western capitals or conducting business in their countries over
Zimbabwe's electoral fraud, human rights violations and repressive
legislation.

Mugabe banned an EU mission from observing the 2002 presidential
election.

Apart from the EU, the United States has also moved to tighten the
screws on ruling party officials it accuses of blocking democratic processes
under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. Government has
blamed the EU and American targeted sanctions for the country's economic
collapse. - Staff Writer.


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Cabinet shuns Gono's social contract initiative

Zim Independent

Dumisani Ndlela

RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono's crusade for a social contract has
failed to win the backing of President Robert Mugabe's cabinet, raising
fears it could crumble and force Gono into drastic policy measures in March,
businessdigest learnt this week.

Sources indicated that there was growing resistance from Mugabe's
cabinet to the proposal, and various government ministers were cringing from
buying into several targets Gono had prescribed for them under a holistic
turnaround package announced in a monetary policy presentation two weeks
ago.

Mugabe, who backs Gono's proposals, was reportedly swinging between
opposition and support because of increasing concerns of the possibility of
calls to address issues of governance and alleged human rights violations by
his government that might arise from discussions of a social contract
between social partners.

Sources indicated that intense bickering around the issue, which has
been convoluted by a succession battle between feuding camps in Mugabe's
cabinet, had resulted in Mugabe sidelining Nicholas Goche, the Minister of
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare who should traditionally spearhead
the campaign for the social contract.

Goche is reportedly aligned to a faction led by retired General
Solomon Mujuru, husband to Vice-President Joice Mujuru. The other faction is
reportedly led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Rural Housing and
Social Amenities.

Plans for the social contract were now being handled directly by
Mugabe's office under the supervision of Misheck Sibanda, the Chief
Secretary to the President and Cabinet.

Sources said Sibanda had already appointed Mike Bimha, the
past-president of the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) and
Lancester Museka, the permanent secretary in Goche's ministry, to constitute
a sub-committee expected to champion negotiations for a social contract.

"We're amazed at their way of doing things," a source in the business
community familiar with the developments said, indicating that no
consultations around the issue of starting discussions for a social contract
had been made with representatives of business and labour.

Labour is represented by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
whose president, Lovemore Matombo, said yesterday they had not yet been
approached on the issue.

Business is represented by Emcoz, whose president, Johnson Manyakara,
could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Gono has suggested the inclusion of churches, non-governmental
organisations and the diplomatic community in the establishment of a social
contract.

Sources said government ministers were angry with Gono's prescriptions
to ministries, saying any suggestion for ministerial targets should have
been made in private consultations rather than through a monetary policy
statement.

"There's certainly no buy-in from government ministers," a source
confirmed to businessdigest.

He confirmed reports swirling in the market suggesting that cabinet
perceived Gono's prescription of targets to ministries as "supervision of
ministries by the governor, giving ministers directives" which he said was
being widely viewed as confirming reports of Gono's ambitions for a prime
ministerial position under constitutional reforms suggested by Mugabe to
harmonise presidential and parliamentary elections.

Sources indicated that Gono, who was increasingly growing agitated by
opposition from Mugabe's cabinet, could surprise the market with severe
policy measures that could even go against the grain of political thinking
within the ruling party to rescue his score card in the face of escalating
inflation which this week touched an all-time high of 1 593,6% year-on-year.

"We feel he might move if central government does not move. Gono is a
creature of habit; if he sees no movement from central government, he'll
move himself," a market watcher closely following the developments said.


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Price freeze stirs discord in CZI

Zim Independent

Shame Makoshori

THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) yesterday made a veiled
rejection of suggestions for a price freeze, saying input costs are likely
to continue rising because of foreign currency shortages.

The CZI statement, issued through a published press release, suggested
growing hostilities from members over their leadership's endorsement of
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono's monetary policy statement calling for a
social pact with economic stakeholders.

"CZI supports the concept of a social contract but not a blanket price
and wage freeze," the CZI said in the statement.

"Even if every company in Zimbabwe froze prices and wages voluntarily,
it would be faced with input costs that continue to rise because of foreign
currency shortages."

Businessdigest understands that the CZI leadership had faced a barrage
of criticism from its members on its position regarding the monetary policy
which denounced devaluation and called for a prize freeze under holistic
economic reform proposals.

The CZI statement, addressed to members and the general public, said
misconceptions had "arisen from people's misinterpretation of the January
2007 monetary policy statement" which "correctly identifies distortions as
'the real millstone around our economy'".

"CZI fully endorses the view that only a holistic approach that deals
with all major issues can succeed in turning our economy around," CZI said,
but warned that a proposed social contract would "not cure inflation" and
that "only dealing with fundamental causes will cure inflation".

"A social contract can only assist once the major causes of inflation
have been dealt with. A price and wage freeze in the absence of dealing with
the fundamental causes of inflation will only accelerate the decline of the
Zimbabwean economy and make it more difficult for Zimbabwe to turn around
its economy," the group said.

CZI president Callisto Jokonya, had thrown his weight behind Gono's
proposals for a price freeze, discounting concerns from the press that CZI
members were opposed to such proposals.


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Social contract: is it worth your thoughts?

Zim Independent

By Admire Mavolwane

PARAGRAPH 9.1 of the monetary policy statement announced recently
reads: "Resolution of the current socio-economic crisis will require nothing
short of a full package, made up of well sequenced, simultaneous adjustment
actions across the board; in government; at the central bank; in the
financial sector; in the private sector; by labour, civic society; NGOs,
embassies and International Organisations, here at home as well as our
embassies abroad."

This paragraph sets the tone for what currently has become the most
discussed issue, the social contract. In introducing it, the RBZ governor
termed it a Prices and Income Restraint Social Contract, and its first step
is a transitional freeze of all prices; wages; salaries; fees; etc for an
initial period of four months.

According to academics and philosophers, normative social contracts
like the one proposed are by their nature both an admission that the nation
is in a bad state and proof of fallibility of those who thought they could
individually influence the course of history.

Rousseau in his 1762 thesis argued that a social contract is meant to
respond to the sorry state of affairs and to remedy the social and moral
ills that have been produced by developments in society. The basic premise
of a social contract is that although we ought not to ignore history or the
causes of the problems we face; the problems - challenges - must be resolved
through our capacity to choose and our knowledge of how we ought to live.

Conceptually the idea social contract in itself is a noble idea except
that, as many have argued, local conditions are not ripe for a successful
implementation of one. As the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
recently pointed out in a press, or is it position statement; a social
contract does not and will not eliminate the number one enemy: inflation.
Neither will it result in a sudden torrential inflow of foreign currency,
nor will it put an end to the real and imagined causes of inflation.

The organisation further elaborated that while it supports the
concept, it is not of like mind when it comes to a freeze of prices and
wages. It is of the opinion that "a social contract can only assist once the
major causes of inflation have been dealt with". A price and wage freeze in
the absence of dealing with the fundamental causes of inflation will only
accelerate the decline of the Zimbabwean economy and make it more difficult
for Zimbabwe to turn around its economy, CZI states with guarded finality.

This is probably the first official reaction by one of the "social
partners". There has been a deafening silence from the "crucial" social
partner, government, on its willingness or lack of it to enter into the
social contract. With February 14 marking the half way mark of the period in
which the central bank had proposed that partners hammer out the details of
the contract, it would appear that there will be no social contract.

But one cannot rule out the price and wage freeze, though, because as
far as one can read into it, certain quarters are agitating for the freeze
without the contract. In other words, to them the social contract is not a
necessary condition for a price freeze but a price freeze could be a
necessary condition for a social contract.

In a social contract, like any other contract, each of the parties has
reason to honour his/her responsibilities under the terms of the contract
either on account of his/her agreement to do so, or, perhaps, on account of
its being reasonable that he/she do so. For the CZI, the rationalistic side
of the social contract is missing. In other words the reasonability of the
whole exercise is being questioned.

Away from the contentious social contract, resourceful cross border
traders have in the meantime engaged in their own contract with African
Distillers Limited (Afdis) the terms of which are very simple. Afdis
supplies the product, and they export it. It is a win-win situation with the
"exporters" eking out a living whilst Afdis's distillery runs at full
throttle.

For the six months to December 2006, Afdis volumes went up by 22% on
the back of buoyant demand from imbibers and exporters as well as improved
spirit supplies. With unit sales on the go, a certain amount of latitude to
increase prices was gained, and consequently fully exploited. The end result
was a growth in revenues of 2 074% to $7,6
billion.

On the back of strict overhead controls and replacement cost pricing
strategies, operating margins increased from 44% to 66%. Concomitantly,
operating profits grew by 3 179% to $5 billion. After accounting for net
finance income of $29 million and a tax provision of $1,6 billion,
attributable earnings of $3,4 billion were realised.

This represents a return of 2 782% over the comparative period. Going
forward, management expects exports to South Africa to alleviate foreign
currency shortages. On the other hand, the supply of bottles will be a key
concern. Not surprising as the bottles exported informally rarely find their
way back into the country for recycling.

Apex, on the other hand, released a fairly tepid set of results for
the full year to October 31, 2006 reflecting a sales growth of a
sub-inflation 984% to $3,9 billion. Volumes continued southward bound whilst
erratic supplies of coke from Hwange Colliery and sharp increases in pig
iron from Ziscosteel compounded the group's woes.

Operating profits rose by 1 291% to $1,6 billion as a result of
improved efficiencies and economies of scale emanating from an expanded
foundry division. Also benefiting from the attainment of critical mass were
operating margins which increased by eight percentage points to 41%.

The interest expense bill ballooned to $227 million as more borrowings
were accessed in order to meet increased working capital requirements at
Zimcast. Income from associate Gulliver, of $65 million, in no small way
contributed to the 2 625% leap in attributable profits. In number terms a
bottom line of $763 million was achieved.

Being a manufacturer, the outlook is not promising for Apex but
management remain unfazed. The group pledges to continue managing costs and
the volume drop whilst at the same time exploring new opportunities and
other ways of enhancing shareholder value.

We salute this never say die attitude but will the share price do the
same?


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Tobacco growers push for floors to open early

Zim Independent

Paul Nyakazeya

GROWERS of tobacco are pushing for an early opening of the tobacco
auction floors, fearing rampant inflation could wipe off profits should the
harvested crop stay in the barns for too long.

Growers who spoke to businessdigest said they crop had been harvested
between November and December last year.

As a result, they said it was illogical to keep the harvested tobacco
until the opening of floors in April because of rising interest rates on
loans secured to finance tobacco growing.

Most of the tobacco crop is irrigated.

The growers said input costs had soared unabated, with the cost of
fertiliser and chemicals having gone up 75% since December.

They fear surging input costs could curtail preparations for the next
season if they failed to buy the inputs early.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association (ZTGA) president Julius Ngorima
said stakeholders had agreed to have floors opened early because of the rate
at which the local currency was losing value and the continuous increase of
inputs.

"Once a farmer harvests his crop, the next thing they want is to sell
their crop, to prepare for the next farming season," Ngorima said.

"They need money to pay back loans whose interest is rising. Input
costs are rising weekly and so will be preparation of the land for the next
season," Ngorima said.

About 13 300 hectares of irrigated tobacco has been harvested so far.
Seedlings for irrigated tobacco are normally planted in June. Transplanting
is done in September, while harvesting in carried out in December.

The Tobacco Industry Marketing Board has already agreed to an early
opening of the tobacco auction floors.

Floors will open March 14, TIMB said.

Bookings for delivery are expected a week before floors open.

The early opening of the auction floors comes at a time when the
central bank was proposing zero balance foreign currency accounts for
tobacco growers with local banks.

Negotiations between tobacco growers and the bankers are said to have
already commenced.

The zero balance foreign currency accounts will allow growers, who are
now expected to retain 15% of their earnings in foreign currency, to open
the accounts without a deposit.

TIMB deputy general manager Godfrey Buka said growers wanted to sell
their crop early so that they could pay off their debts in time before
accruing interest.

"Growers as well as merchants want to recover their money now before
it is eroded by hyper-inflation," said Buka.

According to ZTGA a total of 40 000 hectares of tobacco was planted
this season, out of the targeted 80 000 hectares. The low hectarage was due
to the shortage of essential inputs such as fertiliser and diesel for
tillage equipment.

Tobacco production in Zimbabwe has declined by a total of 170,63
million kg between 2000 and 2006, from an all-time high of 236,13 million kg
recorded in 2000 to 55,5 million kg last year.

The average price last year was US$1,99 per kg.

Ngorima said a significant number of farmers had prepared seed beds
for transplanting, but the shortage of inputs and financial resources had
restricted them from planting more tobacco during the season.

He said it was unlikely the 70 million kg target would be achieved
during the current season.


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Govt domestic debt hits new high

Zim Independent

Paul Nyakazeya

GOVERNMENT'S domestic debt has risen to a new high of $195,1 billion
after marginally declining to $175,7 billion in January from a previous
all-time high of $178 billion reached in December last year.

Statistics from the Reserve Bank this week showed that the domestic
debt stock, which consists of government stocks, treasury bills and central
bank advances, had risen by $19,5 billion inside a month to $195, 176
billion by the second day of this month.

The central bank's advances to government, which amounted to $72,5
billion on January 2, had declined to $26,3 billion on February 2, with
treasury bills accounting for $59,1 billion and interest amounting to $114,9
billion.

Outstanding government stocks amounted to $2,1 billion, up on the
January figure of $1,6 billion.

Economic analysts warned that accelerating inflation was likely to
push government domestic debt to new record levels every month.

The budget deficit out-turn for last year was expected to reach over
20% of Gross Domestic Product. (GDP).

This excludes quasi-fiscal operations, which pushed the budget deficit
to over 60% in 2005.

The budget deficit, excluding quasi-fiscal operation, was 3% in 2005.

The absence of foreign financing was also likely to affect domestic
debt level, commentators said.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono acknowledged during his monetary
policy presentation there was need to control government debt.

"The increased borrowing had tied up a high percentage of the nation's
savings. The country's domestic debt could continue to soar due to the
necessity to fund various imports such as electricity and sourcing money to
buy foreign currency," Gono said. Gono said Zimbabwe's treasury and monetary
authorities and the private sector had to engage in active discussions over
ring-fencing the debt and coming up with innovative instruments of dealing
with the entire outstanding domestic debt in line with a proposed social
contract.

Last year, government borrowed aggressively from the local market to
finance a huge budget deficit, stoking inflation, which this week touched an
all-time high of1 593,6% year-on-year.

Analysts said high interest rates had also swelled government debt,
forcing a major restructuring of debt last year from short term to long term
debt.

The restructuring exercise, they said, had little prospects of success
because of the market's lack of appetite for long term investments.

"High interest rates would continue to be a burden on the fiscus. The
debt would continue to soar during the year due to the necessity to fund
various imports such as electricity, fuel and food," a bank economist told
businessdigest.


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ZNCC under fire

Zim Independent

Shame Makoshori

ZIMBABWE National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) executives last week came
under fire from journalists who blamed them for the escalating economic
crisis in the country through abetting government's mismanagement by their
silence.

The journalists said business had been complicit with government by
not taking a strong position on critical issues like interest and exchange
rates.

At a discussion with journalists held just before a press conference
condemning the arrest of two prominent millers for allegedly increasing
wheat prices illegally, the ZNCC executives got caught up in a heated debate
with business journalists who queried why they had suddenly come out in full
support of central bank governor Gideon Gono for not devaluing the dollar
when they were agitating for a drastic devaluation in private discussions.

Prior to the announcement of the monetary policy by Gono, ZNCC and
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries leaders had called for a drastic
devaluation of the local currency, saying the skewed exchange rate regime
had left exporters in the lurch and affected the viability of the tourism
industry.

Surprisingly, they swung to full support for Gono when he refused to
devalue, saying devaluation would not result in "planeloads" of foreign
currency coming into the country.

This was a double standard, the scribes said.

"In public you pretend to be agreeing with government yet when we talk
to you in private most of you will be
complaining that government and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
policies are not conducive for operations," a journalist charged.

"Why are you so timid and confused. You keep quiet when government
prescribes wrong policies instead of frankly telling them that the policies
would not work," he said.

"Government is justified in arresting your members because you have
kept quiet when wrong policies were suggested, and you are now crying foul
because you have been arrested," another journalist charged.

"A minister takes over a farm belonging to a company and you keep
quiet. But when there are shortages of produce that company grows, and you
increase prices, they arrest you and you start crying instead of pointing
out that these problems are emanating from government actions," said another
journalist.

He added: "You have contributed to the downfall of this economy
because you seem to be undermining your influence to change policies."

ZNCC president Mara Hativagone, who had initially defended the actions
of business, arguing that they could not change the situation overnight,
looked to her deputy Obert Sibanda and whispered "vana havanzwe ava".

But Luxon Zembe, the past president for the ZNCC who remains its
executive member, was to tell the journalists later: "You have given us good
feedback and we will consider that in our discussions."

Zembe was apparently given a thumbs up by the journalists who said he
had been the "only forthright member giving more objective analysis of
government policies" among a new crop of hypocritical business leaders.


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Unqualified consultants still masquerade as investors

Zim Independent

Shame Makoshori

MEASURES barring unqualified consultants from operating as agents for
investors seeking registration of companies have failed to stop the
practice, amid reports qualified consultants were charging exorbitant fees
for services.

The Registrar of Companies invoked laws barring unqualified
individuals from practising as consultants in the registration of companies
last year, although these had been practising before.

Officials from the registrar said the move had been prompted by an
increasing number of pseudo consultants who had made the office of the
registrar too busy and turned it into a hive of illegal business deals.

Most of the unqualified consultants were also reportedly fuelling
corruption at the registrar's office through payments to officers for speedy
processing of their applications.

About 75% of the consultants were not qualified to carry out
consultancy work.

Information obtained by businessdigest indicates that the registrar
now required consultants to have professional qualifications like the
Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators (CIS), the Association
of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) among other business
qualifications.

The consultants are also compelled to be members of professional
organisations to qualify as consultants.

Chief Registrar, Fidelis Maredza, confirmed the new requirements,
adding that practising lawyers were also allowed to work as consultants in
the registration of companies.

The registration of companies has become a lucrative enterprise in
Zimbabwe due to high unemployment levels of 80% which have forced many
people to resort to self-employment, in the process registering companies to
enable them to open bank accounts and trade with other companies.

Consultants who spoke to businessdigest indicated that demand for
services in the registration of companies was high.

The cost of registering a company ranged between $50 000 and $65 000
with the smaller consultancy firms, but the cost of buying a shelf company
was lower.

Several of the consultancy firms had an average 50 shelf companies.

Industry sources said there were still hundreds of illegal consultants
still practising, and most were being abetted by officials in the registrar's
department.

"Others act as if they would be registering their own companies when
they will be consulting. Officials at the registrar of companies know them
but they keep entertaining them," a source said.

Maredza said it was difficult to completely eradicate unqualified
consultants, but said stringent registration requirements by his office
meant that no unqualified individuals were registered to deal directly with
the Registrar of Companies.

He said those who dealt directly with the registrar without the
necessary qualifications were assumed to be doing the registration of their
own companies.

"We assume that there will be individuals registering their own
companies, that is allowed. But if we find out that they are consulting
without the right qualifications we will call the police because they would
be violating the law," Maredza said.

"It is difficult to find out until someone brings this to our
attention," he said.

The rest would be shelf companies.

Maredza said they had about 60 qualified consultants on their books.

Between 20 000 and 25 000 companies are registered annually, he said.

It takes an average of three weeks for a company registration to be
approved after satisfying the requirements of the registrar of companies.

But approved consultants complained that scores of the disqualified
agents still thronging the registrar's office were circumventing procedures
working in cahoots with some officials to jump queues and register companies
in three or four days at high fees.


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Falgold won't open closed mine

Zim Independent

Pindai Dube

FALCON Gold of Zimbabwe (Falgold) is not ready to open its closed gold
mine because of an unprofitable gold pricing regime in the country, an
executive told businessdigest last week.

Falgold financial director, Gary Perrotti, said the gold mining firm
was not expecting to open Venice Mine in Kadoma soon because of low price
and delayed payments for deliveries by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

"We are not going to open Venice Mine soon.the gold prices are very
low and it is difficult for us to stay in business," said Perrotti.

"As gold producers we were expecting the RBZ governor to do something
but he came up with nothing and currently the gold price stands at $16 000
per gram and it is not even enough for us to break-even," said Perotti.

Besides the closed Venice Mine in Kadoma, Falgold also runs Dalny Mine
in Chakari and Golden Quarry Mine in Shurugwi.

Venice mine was closed in 2002 and left hundreds of workers jobless.

Perrotti said delayed payments for gold deliveries had affected
Falghold's operations to the extent of threatening the mining company's
viability.

Fidelity Printers and Refineries, a subsidiary of the RBZ is the sole
buyer of gold produced in Zimbabwe.

Businessdigest reported last week that Fidelity had outstanding
payments for gold deliveries made in December and November, although the
central bank had paid close to US$10 million for outstanding payments for
deliveries made between August and November.

Gold producers had expected a review of gold prices when Gono
presented his monetary policy statement a fortnight ago.


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Forestry Commission engages police, Zimra

Zim Independent

Pindai Dube

THE Forestry Commission has engaged the police and the revenue
authority to curb the rampant export of raw or unprocessed timber,
businessdigest established this week.

The export of raw timber is outlawed through Statutory Instrument 112
of 2001 which amended the Forestry Act of 1996.

Sources said that the country was losing potential foreign currency
revenue through the illegal export of raw timber.

Forestry officials said neighbouring countries were buying large
amounts of unprocessed timber from Zimbabwe for
a song which they later resold in the country and exorbitant prices.

Businessdigest established that the Forestry Commission, which
regulates the forestry industry, was now working together with the Zimbabwe
Republic Police (ZRP) and the Zimbabwe revenue Authority (Zimra) to curb the
illegal exports.

Forestry Commission general manager, Darlington Duwa, said they were
"tightening screws" around the export of raw timber, adding that a
truck-load of raw timber had been impounded last week by Zimra.

"This is because timber processing companies preferred to export
unfinished, raw, hard wood timber, which is not allowed in this country as
spelt out in the Forestry Act. This results in the timber industry and the
country losing a lot of foreign currency because the timber they export is
actually classified as raw material and is sold at a low cost," said Duwa

Timber processing companies were exporting raw or unprocessed timber
to offset processing, labour and time costs in a bid to make quick profits,
a market source indicated.

According to the Forestry Act, timber processing companies are only
allowed to export processed hardwood, referred to as "decking timber", which
fetches higher prices on the outside market.

Duwa added: "We are facing problems with local companies who are
selling this raw timber as decking timber. Timber producers export
semi-processed timber as they feel that the whole process would take them
more time and labour."

As a result, Duwa said, this has impacted negatively on the industry
and employees in the sector who were being laid off since they had been made
redundant because of the system.


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MTAs now awash with forex

Zim Independent

Shame Makoshori

MONEY Transfer Agencies (MTAs), who were last week reportedly strapped
for hard currency, this week said they had built up significant cash piles
for payment to transfer recipients wishing to get their money in foreign
currency.

Businessdigest reported last week that MTAs had been scrambling for
hard currency to pay recipients of foreign cash.

Some foreign currency recipients had for over two weeks not received
cash sent through the MTAs as they battled to raise the foreign currency in
a strapped market.

The hardest hit clients were those receiving their money through
transfer agencies without links to formal banking institutions dealing in
foreign currency.

But market sources said this week most of the MTAs were awash with
foreign currency and there were few problems in making payouts transfer
recipients.

A central bank official said there had been a boom in transactions
through the formal banking system since central bank governor Gideon Gono
directed that transfer recipients could receive their money in foreign
currency.

"There has been a significant increase in the number of foreign
currency of transactions. (Money is coming from) Zimbabweans in various
parts of the world," a central bank official told businessdigest.

Some Zimbabweans were sending money to relatives through the normal
banking channels, but transfers through this channel were taking up to three
days before recipients could access their money.

MTAs can give recipients their money within minutes of a transfer
being initiated by the sending agency.

Gono said two weeks ago that recipients of transfers from the Diaspora
could receive their money in foreign currency "without limitations", saying
this was meant to promote the free flow of foreign currency in the economy.

"This way, stakeholders with relatives abroad, who to this point were
shunning the safe, legal, authorised dealers and money transfer avenues of
receiving funds can now transact through the formal system," Gono said.

Before the policy announcement, most transfers were taking place on
the informal market, with allegations some of the foreign currency was not
even coming into the country.

People were evading the official MTAs because they were receiving
their money in local currency at an official exchange rate of $250 to a US
unit.

Money sent through the unofficial channels was fetching $5 000 per US
dollar.

Business was brisk at Stanbic and NMB Bank. Both banks have
partnerships with international agency MoneyGram.

 


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Arrests: business pays for unholy alliance

Zim Independent

Shakeman Mugari

BUSINESS leaders last week finally woke up from their long slumber
when they reacted angrily to the arrest of two colleagues for allegedly
increasing the price of their commodities without government approval.

They were responding to the arrests of Mike Manga of Blue Ribbon
Industries and Ian Kind of National Foods who have since been charged with
increasing the price of flour without government approval. In fact, the two
had simply sought permission to raise the price and were yet to do so.

In a statement quite rare for its frankness, Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce (ZNCC) president Mara Hativagone said the business body
"strongly condemned the arrests of the managers as it is too high-handed and
unwarranted".

The immediate past-president of the organisation Luxon Zembe was
equally forthright, saying the arrests showed that government was not acting
in good faith with the business sector.

"We have come to a stage where we are saying this (harassment) has to
stop," Zembe said.

But in their dismay at the state's heavy handedness, one could not
help but feel that not only had the leaders woken up to reality too late,
but they were responding to symptoms of a poisoned environment that they
could have avoided had they taken a bold stance from the onset.

It was a cry too late and there are very slim chances that government
will relent from prosecuting the business leaders.

It was unfortunate however that instead of taking that opportunity to
tell government home-truths about the real causes of the economic collapse,
the ZNCC leadership once again spiced their statement with the same
apologetic undertones in their dealings with the state. It was clear that
although they were unhappy with the arrests, they were being careful not to
antagonise their cosy relationship with the authorities.

Apart from that expression of concern by Hativagone and what Zembe
said after questions from journalists, the rest was the same timid account
of how they were prepared to work with government and their commitment to
the proposed social contract. Part of the statement described the arrests as
"unfortunate and regrettable" adding that they did not augur well for the
proposed social contract.

Beyond that, the statement was silent on the fact that the arrests
were a clear sign that government did not have any real interest in a social
contract nor did it have any interest in restoring investor confidence,
either local or foreign.

It did not tell government that business was operating in a toxic
environment and that its actions would make the situation worse.

They were conspicuous by their silence on the fundamental issues such
as the rule of law and the need for a conducive political environment where
business would operate profitably without the state trying to impose price
controls, a policy that has failed everywhere it has been tried - including
here.

Analysts say business' response to the arrests is coming too late when
government has already entrenched a culture of aggression against the
business sector.

They point to the arrest and eventual conviction of Lobels Bakeries
managing director Burombo Mudumo for increasing the price of bread last
year. There are genuine fears in the market that the crackdown on the
business community will continue for as along as the sector does not take a
strong position against government to stop the repression.

Judging by their timid attitude when dealing with government, it is
highly unlikely that business will stand up to protect their interests. For
seven years, business leaders have stood by and watched while government
destroyed the economy through its damaging policies like land seizures and
price controls. They have stood by arms akimbo while government harassed
fellow business people.

Economic consultant Daniel Ndlela said it was shocking that business
had since 2000 pretended that all was well when the economy was burning.

"For as long as they are silent, businesses will continue to be
victims of a vicious state," said Ndlela. "They will eventually pay for
their cosy relationship with the government."

It seems they are paying already.

Perhaps the main reason business leaders are completely unable to
criticise government is that they have become trapped in the web of
patronage and clientelism that political leaders have elevated to a national
policy.

They have bought into Zanu PF's warped definition of patriotism which
encourages silence on national issues.

The result is that the leaders and their organisations become
concerned with being politically correct instead of protecting their
interests and those of the country. It's no longer about the economy and
business but the farm in Norton, Marondera and Macheke.

Most business leaders including those of listed companies are
beneficiaries of the land reform and are therefore too compromised to
criticise government policies.

That is why they remained mum when companies like Ariston, Interfresh,
Border Timbers, Triangle and Hippo Valley were losing their farms to
invaders and with them key export markets. They were silent when companies
like Zimsun and Rainbow Tourism Group's farms were invaded. The reason is
not difficult to find: they were beneficiaries of the state pillaging of
private property.

The issue is not that they didn't deserve the farms but that they
certainly used their political connections to get land especially in the
prime areas. The fact that they were collaborating with government means
that they are equally culpable in the random vandalism of other businesses.

"They are now faced with a situation where government is making their
businesses unviable by damaging the economy but they are too compromised to
speak," Ndlela said.

This culture of patronage has also manifested itself through the
allocation of farming inputs and concessionary loans from which the business
leaders have benefited.

It has become a common but embarrassing sight to see the leaders
falling over each other to shower praise on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) governor Gideon Gono after every monetary policy statement even if
some of the decisions hurt their businesses.

The best they can say is that "the governor tried his best under
difficult conditions". They dare not mention that by "difficult conditions"
they mean government policies.

In private, the same leaders are vocal about the damage that
government policies like price controls, fixed exchange rates and the land
reform have dealt on the economy.

Dairibord for example, cannot get enough milk because dairy farms have
been invaded and looted.

The latest case of this ambivalence came from the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries president Calisto Jokonya who was in the media a few
weeks before the monetary policy pushing for devaluation.

Jokonya told the Independent that devaluation was long overdue. It is
therefore surprising that the CZI did not include this issue in the final
recommendations given to Gono for inclusion in his monetary policy. The
document signed by Jokonya mentions nothing about devaluation. This is
despite the fact that the majority of CZI members are bleeding from the
effects of the overvalued Zimbabwean dollar.

After failing to get devaluation from government, they turn the heat
on the same consumers who have sustained their companies for years.

An economist with the Labour and Economic Development Research
Institute of Zimbabwe, Prosper Chitambara, said businesses were "paying for
joining the unholy alliance with government in the first place".

"The relationship is too comfortable especially at this time when
government policies are threatening the very existence of business,"
Chitambara said.


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Protect your buying power from inflation

Zim Independent

By Martin Tarusenga

WE are living in an economic environment where the buying power of any
cash that you stand to receive at a later date or time loses that power by
the hour.

It is the order of the day that a short-term loan of $30 000 that you
advanced to a friend or relative, capable of buying two items of a commodity
in the morning, will buy only one item of this same commodity or sometimes
none at all when it is returned later on in the day.

Your salary or wage pegged at $80 000, enough for 20 return bus trips
to work at the beginning of the month, can buy you only 10 such trips when
your employer gets round to paying you the same amount; that your rental
earnings from your residential property investment pegged at $200 000
capable of supporting half of your family groceries at the beginning of the
month, can support only a quarter of the same groceries by the end of the
month.

The list is almost endless, but to summarise, it's just not worth one's
while to form contracts that pay you money at a later date, whether they are
formal contracts as in a lease agreement or informal, unless in the latter
regard you have committed to help the other party to the deal.

Shame Makoshori's article, "Hourly price hikes on the way, analysts
warn" (Zimbabwe Independent, February 9-15), confirms this forming pattern
in the loss of buying power of your money.

But such contracts are unavoidable. They are an intrinsic way of doing
things in any given economy, of course all things being equal.

For how else can an employer remunerate you for a job well done over a
month or week: hourly, daily? No, that's impractical.

How else can a tenant pay you for use of your residential property:
hourly, daily? No, impractical again.

Other than through borrowing from a friend or relative or through your
bank current account, how else can one meet short-term cash requirements,
for example, on the untimely death of a family member, or when you need to
top up family groceries mid-month when there was an unexpected higher than
normal consumption?

But then the Catch-22 is that in any one of these cash returning or
cash providing methods someone loses out big time in this hyperinflationary
environment.

It is therefore clearly imperative and urgent that we devise and adopt
new ways of forming contracts that return us money at a later date such that
this returned money can still buy us the same volumes of commodities that it
could buy when we formed the agreement earlier.

Clearly the solution lies in tying the amount that you stand to
receive at the specified later date to the rate, speed or frequency with
which prices of commodities are increasing. In our case this speed is
approaching "hourly" price increases! And by fairly huge jumps.

The trick lies in estimating by how much the price of the commodities
that you will buy with this money to be received later will have increased,
taking into account the frequency of price increases and the amount of
increases at each change.

If, for instance, the price of a commodity changes weekly by say $1
000 each week, then the total increase in a month of four weeks will be $4
000. This in fact is the buying power that you will have lost on any money
that you are holding or you stand to receive for the purposes of buying this
particular commodity.

You will need to do this for all the items that you expect to buy in
order to aggregate that buying power that you will lose on the items that
you expect to buy - some kind a feat!

If we are going to calculate the loss of buying power in the manner
suggested above, the estimation can very quickly become a headache. For one,
you could never be sure exactly what you will buy and, for the other, the
computations can become intractable if you get the information and data
necessary in the very first place.

But don't worry; this in fact is the realm of index construction, the
construction in question being inflation index construction. Indices that
can closely match your purposes abound, and you could use these with some
adjustments so they match your purposes.

Your choice of the index that is appropriate for your purposes will
depend on the consumption bracket of commodities that you buy from week to
week, and from month to month.

You may not be sure exactly what you will buy, but you will however be
certain of your broad consumption bracket, eg two heads of cabbage, 20
emergency taxi trips, 2kg brisket etc. This can easily give you a feel of
how prices for this basket of commodities increases in a day, a week, a
month, etc.

That's the basket 'sense' of goods that financial engineers and
economists talk about in reference to inflation index construction - so now
you can easily assess whether this basket and the inflation index derived
thereof works for you.

This feel in turn can point to an index that roughly increases in a
similar manner to prices of commodities in your basket. An exchange rate of
some currency could in fact serve as a proxy to this index. As already
mentioned you will need to make appropriate adjustments to the index to suit
your purposes.

Having chosen and adjusted your index, it is an easy matter to fix the
amount that the other party should pay you so you will still be able to buy
the same volume of goods as when you entered into the agreement.

Note that from an investment perspective you might want to charge some
interest on loans advanced for having afforded the other party use of your
money - that's up to you!

Back to hyperinflation, there are two main ways in which you can fix
the money that stands to be returned to you such that it maintains at least
the buying power.

You could fix it in terms of money unit value terms at the time and
date of agreeing on the contract, so on pay back date you notionally get
units of money whose buying power is referenced to the buying power
prevailing on the day of the original agreement.

Alternatively you could increase the money that you are advancing in
line with the way in which your chosen index is increasing, so on pay back
date you get an amount of money equal to the sum of the initially advanced
amount and an increased amount reflecting the buying power that has been
lost.

The first approach is what is referred to as keeping your money in
constant real terms - it is a notional money unit of account which
indirectly refers to the volume of goods that could be bought at the date of
agreeing. The money returned should still be able to buy the same volume of
goods.

The second approach is a matter of common sense if the notion of the
inflation index has been appreciated.

Each method has it merits and demerits, but they all certainly cushion
buying power of your returns. The merits/demerits can be classified into
ease of computing, ease of accounting, appeal to common sense and hence
practicality, availability of data and effectiveness in meeting the
objective of cushioning the buying power.

Don't let anyone bluff you into entering any term contracts without
inflation protection clauses.

Avoid losing your hard-earned money through the vicious workings of
hyperinflation. Organise your money inflows and outflows to be linked to
appropriate inflation index, be it pensions receipts or contributions,
premiums on insurance policies, your salary etc.

Always ask your pension manager, your investment manager, stockbroker,
your insurance agent how the money promised to you under these products will
be protected from inflation. At the very least they must guarantee and
commit, ideally in writing, to return any money that you entrust with them
with the buying power that it had at the time entering the agreement.

Yes, if your pension fund manager or insurance company is not already
doing this to the $10 000 worth insurance premium monies you entrusted with
him many years ago for the purposes of buying you a house and when this
money could buy a house or secure you a deposit of the same house, get them
to do so.

* Tarusenga is principal consultant with Systemics Consulting.


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No Chinese reward for Mugabe's spirited bluster

Zim Independent

Editor's Memo

By Vincent Kahiya

TWO key issues last week, albeit happening outside our borders, should
have removed the scales from the eyes of our leaders on what needs to be
done to this economy.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was in the region where he signed economic
deals in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia.

He avoided Zimbabwe for reasons that have not yet been given official
explanation. Then Britain announced a US$550 million aid package to Malawi,
which has also benefited from International Monetary Fund debt relief
because of the country's commitment to reform and fighting corruption.

China and Britain are both involved with President Mugabe's Zimbabwe;
the former as a bosom buddy and the latter as the enemy responsible for all
the country's woes. Zimbabwe has watched both friend and foe co-operating
with other regional countries in arrangements that have created employment
and wealth.

Birthday Boy Mugabe and his cheerleaders do not seem to notice the
developments around them. President Mugabe is shouting louder than any of
his brethren in the region in support of China's expansionist designs in
Africa but gets nothing for his bluster.

He has remained cocooned in a defeatist paradigm that romanticises
relations with the East and abhors the West. That makes him feel good of
course but then inflation is 1 600%.

In 2003 during a visit to Singapore when he opened a trade fair there,
he basked in the glow of this romanticism.

"The age-old reflex and tradition of exporting to Europe, which we
seek to challenge through this initiative, will be at veritable odds against
this endeavour. We need to vindicate it by showing continuous trade and just
rewards," he said.

"The fiery and beautifully multi-coloured entrepreneurial spirit of
the tiger surely connects so well with the awesome roar of the African lion
in a way destined to make a mark on the world."

This is the problem with President Mugabe today. He is aware of the
attraction presented by the stripes of a tiger. It is a beautiful animal.

To counterbalance this, he sees himself as a lion - perhaps one
roaring menacingly from deep within its territory and scaring away would-be
investors!

There was more idealism from our lion; this time yearning for real
romance.

"It is clear we have to look at each other, at ourselves, to develop
markets and to build investments," he said.

"Until now, we had very modest results to show in this wished-for
relationship, where the prospective lovers share the same bed but enjoy
different dreams." Hmm.

That's X-rated stuff but at the same time very prophetic too by
President Mugabe. I will not venture to ask what exactly the lion dreams
about when it is in the clutches of the tiger but I can hazard a guess the
king of the jungle wakes up in the dead of night dripping cold sweat.

But President Mugabe felt at the time that time was nigh for the
relationship to be fruitful.

"It would appear now that the time is ripe and this initiative ignites
what promises to be the way and direction of future business," he said.

This country will not readily enjoy the benefits of tying up with the
East as long as our rulers fail to master one very key concept that is
common in any serious investor whether from the East or from the West.

Productivity and high performance have become directly linked to good
governance, an ideal to which Zimbabwe is yet to commit itself.

Gone are the Cold War days when African countries could afford to sit
back and hope to receive handouts from eastern Europe on the back of
allegiance to leftist ideals.

President Mugabe's government - it appears -suddenly decided to look
East in order to demonstrate its disgust with the West. The new groom
however appears warm in public but a bit frigid in bed hence he avoided this
particular "small house" during his roaming last week.


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One law for the poor, another for politicians

Zim Independent

Muckraker

LIKE the state we were equally "incensed" by the refusal of "three
senior government officials" to have their statements recorded by police as
part of evidence in a corruption case involving two civil servants in
Harare.

The Herald reported on Monday that Science and Technology deputy
minister Patrick Zhuwawo, Harare governor David Karimanzira and Harare
Commission chair Sekesai Makwavarara were stonewalling.

Prosecutor Obi Mabahwana told the court that the corruption trial of
Harare provincial administrator Justin Chivavaya and Harare West district
administrator Nelson Mawomo could not begin because the "three senior
officials" were withholding key evidence.

The two council administrators are accused of corruptly allocating 415
residential stands and houses at Whitecliff Farm. The prosecutor said
Karimanzira's evidence was particularly vital as he authorised the
distribution of the stands and attended the occasion when the houses were
allocated.

Then came the gem: "This is the third time the state has complained
about the conduct of the three politicians" over the case.

This is the same government that has been posturing about fighting
corruption and has set up a whole ministry now sounding completely helpless
in dealing with what can only be described as an attempt to defeat the
course of justice.

We were immediately reminded of Zisco. Paul Mangwana who had promised
to arrest ministers and MPs involved in that looting frenzy must have sighed
heavily when he was moved before he could embarrass himself.

Contrast this arrogant behaviour of "senior officials" with the
swiftness with which the police arrested nearly 30 000 "illegal" gold
panners under Chikorokoza Chapera two weeks ago and you know we have one law
for the poor and another for fat politicians. Is this the way to fight
corruption Mr President?

A cartoon in the Herald on Friday showed two MDC candidates fighting
it out ahead of the Chiredzi by-election. It was obviously designed to
emphasise divisions in the opposition ranks.

Nothing wrong there. The MDC needs to be lampooned for its inability
to see the importance of unity in confronting the dictatorship.

But the Herald, needless to say, is unable to expose the divisions in
government's ranks. Just as Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono is declaring
the importance of a social contract to rescue the country from collapse, the
police are arresting the country's top millers whose participation is
fundamental to the success of the project. The millers were guilty of
nothing more than seeking ministerial approval to raise prices.

Whoever is behind this persecution evidently opposes recovery. That is
because we now have a kleptocratic leadership that has an investment in the
status quo. But it was good to hear the ZNCC finally finding its voice.

"It does not augur well for mutual and constructive dialogue between
the key stakeholders in the economy," the ZNCC's Mara Hativagone politely
pointed out.

"They were arrested despite the fact they never increased prices," she
said. "We wonder why government rushes to have business leaders arrested for
no good cause."

Hativagone accused the government of double standards. State-run
institutions were effecting huge price increases without consultation yet
there had been no arrests, she noted.

Somebody writing to the Herald as "Pachedu", obviously an imposter,
claims that "only an unpatriotic and opportunistic opposition bent on
exploiting the suffering of the people for political ends will ignore the
governor's call for the closing of ranks, so that all citizens work together
for the good of the nation".

Why doesn't he tell that to the wreckers who are ordering the arrests
of businessmen trying to recover their costs; those in government who have
set their faces against national dialogue or re-engagement with the
international community?

By the way, have you noticed how quiet the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe has been over the arrests and over the ZBH licence hikes? A bought
organisation if ever there was one!

Nothing more clearly signals the regime's determination to thwart Gono's
social contract project than the latest cabinet line-up. We see here not
only a forest of deadwood but individuals who have failed in the past and
are determined to fail again.

Samuel Mumbengegwi at Finance will do nothing to support Gono's
attempts to re-engage with the Bretton Woods institutions. Instead he will
engage in the stale hope that the regime's problems can be solved by looking
East.

Along with his colleagues, he failed to notice that the Chinese
president gave Zimbabwe a wide berth on his recent African tour. That's
because while rhetoric about solidarity sounds good, it doesn't satisfy
economic needs.

China wants to see Zimbabwe's private sector partner Chinese firms. It
wants corporate partnerships across the board. How can that happen in
Zimbabwe where the corporate sector is under constant attack?

Our leaders simply don't get it. China is looking West for trade and
investment. Africa will supply the minerals.

But even for that to work there has to be a healthy relationship
between the state and business and properly maintained infrastructure. As in
South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia where Hu Jintao went.

And how can President Mugabe be serious in entrusting agricultural
recovery to Joseph Made who has got his growth projections wrong on just
about every occasion and who presided over the demechanisation of Zimbabwean
agriculture? How many tractors were there in 2000 and how many are there
now?

The answer to all this is very simple. Mugabe wants people who reflect
his own octogenarian prejudices and beliefs. If that means a cabinet which
cannot solve profound structural problems or help the president to see the
light then so be it. That is the price we pay for allowing one individual to
think he is indispensable; that he needs just a few more years to go on
getting it wrong!

At least with Herbert Murerwa we had an intelligent and sophisticated
Finance minister who was respected abroad. The same is true of Simba Makoni.
But they have gone, unable to make their mark upon policy. Instead we have a
chorus of yes-men who see the damage all around them but prefer to believe
it is someone else's doing. The ignorant and the dishonest are all that is
left.

The crisis that they refuse to address is unfolding all around us. The
official inflation rate at 1 593,6% is bad enough but the real rate of 3
000% is scary. This paper carried last week the views of economists that
prices would change daily soon and then hourly. There are shades of Weimar
Germany here, but no sign of the wheelbarrows yet!

And still there is no plan to combat the scourge. Nothing business or
the public can recognise or endorse.

Instead billions will be spent celebrating the birthday of the author
of our misery and lining up to pledge their loyalty will be state
corporations like TelOne that cannot connect us to Bulawayo let alone South
Africa; the Zimbabwe Prison Services where conditions, as exposed by Judge
President Rita Makarau are appalling; the GMB which, as exposed by Gono, has
presided over massive distortions in the buying and selling of grain; and
other patriotic "public" companies that have made a signal contribution to
national collapse.

But at least there is a dawning recognition of where Zimbabwe's
problems start and finish. Mugabe is no longer afforded a platform to engage
in populist demagoguery at the AU, and when he does so at the UN the only
person applauding is Hugo Chavez, who for some mysterious reason doesn't
seem to want to come here bearing gifts!

The French who for so long have been wringing their hands and saying
"where have sanctions got us?" now concede their diplomacy hasn't got us
anywhere either.

This week's announcement that Mugabe has not been invited to the
Franco-African summit in Cannes is a huge setback for the regime and a
recognition that Zimbabwe's few remaining friends in European capitals can
no longer help.

An unambiguous signal has been sent that blatant misrule and human
rights violations cannot be tolerated. Nothing has changed since Paris in
2003.

Which is why remarks this week by Greek ambassador Dimitri
Alexandrakis are puzzling. Accompanying visiting Greek Orthodox patriarch
Teodoro II to Zimbabwe House, Alexandrakis said Greece would work to improve
relations with Zimbabwe despite the EU's common position.

He said there was a difference between EU policy and the reality on
the ground and he hoped that "future events" would "favour Zimbabwe".

What reality on the ground? A day after Alexandrakis made these
remarks police were firing teargas at Woza women seeking social justice in
the centre of Harare. Since 2003 Posa has been used indiscriminately to
break up civic protests. Trade union leaders have been assaulted in
detention. And those responsible for political killings continue to walk
free.

As this newspaper has pointed out in a series of articles over the
past few weeks, Joseph Mwale, wanted in connection with the murder of MDC
activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya, roams free, as do the killers
of David Stevens and Martin Olds and his mother.

Why is the Greek ambassador ignorant of these facts, or if not
ignorant why does he suggest Greece doesn't give a damn about human rights?

We all hope "future events" will "favour" Zimbabwe. But what does the
record say? And how likely is it that President Mugabe will lend himself to
dialogue?

We suspect Pope Teodoro is an agent of Greek diplomacy. Let's see how
far he gets.

He was full of praise for Zimbabwe, a rarity these days when friends
are few and far between.

"Zimbabwe is the diamond of Africa," enthused His Holiness after
meeting President Mugabe. As if to extend the import of the diamond
metaphor, the Pope could only "wish prosperity and joy" to the people of
Zimbabwe.

The obstacle to that dream stood beside him like a shadow and, without
turning to face our nemesis, the pontiff nevertheless hit the nail on the
head: "There is a lot of future for Zimbabwe." Amen.


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Government starving Zimbabwe

Zim Independent

By Eric Bloch

THE Zimbabwean population is progressively and distressingly rapidly
becoming emaciated. More and more of the oppressed Zimbabwean people
resemble the millions that suffered extreme malnutrition in the despicable
Nazi concentration death camps of the Second World War, or the
scarcecrow-like famished populace of Darfur. Despite recurrent, vociferous
government denials, there is little doubt that hundreds, if not thousands,
are perishing weekly, as a direct consequence of under-nourishment,
compounded by an inability to access requisite healthcare. Even more are
suffering intensely, struggling to survive on gleanings from rubbish bins
and refuse heaps or, at best, on one inadequate meal each day.

In the immediate post-Independence era, Zimbabwe fast became renowned
for its dynamic improvement of the well-being of its inhabitants. The
economy, which had been severely contracted during the period of the
Liberation War and the Rhodesian UDI, grew dramatically, fuelled by very
considerable international aid, by substantial domestic and foreign
investment, and by dynamic, vigorous, constructive governmental policies.
Numbers in formal employment increased markedly, concurrently with very
considerable informal sector development. Agricultural output increased
exponentially, mining operations expanded considerably, there was great
development in the tourism sector, and manufacturing developed and grew
tremendously. As a result, numbers in employment rose spectacularly and,
although still of relatively limited substance, there was a significant rise
in per capita income. A direct consequence of these developments, reinforced
by most impressive enhancement of health services, was that over a period of
ten years the average life expectancy of Zimbabweans more than doubled, and
yet since 1990s the average life expectancy level has fallen to below that
prevailing in 1980!

The tragedy is that the appalling deterioration in the living
circumstances of most Zimbabweans is not due to uncontrollable
circumstances, to acts of God, to the ravages of nature, or the consequences
of fate. The pronounced poverty that is now near endemic in Zimbabwe has
undeniably been occasioned by government, and is being intensified and
exacerbated by government's arrogant rejection of culpability, its continued
pursuit of destructive policies, and its rigid resistance to any changes of
policy which are either recommended by others (for none can know better than
government itself!), or which could be construed as an admission that
prevailing and past polices were erroneous and ill-advised.

First and foremost, government destroyed agriculture, which was
Zimbabwe's economic foundation. Twenty years ago, Zimbabwe was the region's
grain-basket, feeding not only its own population, but providing much of the
maize needs of its neighbours. Today, its maize production is less than half
of the national need, and only a little more than a third of its previous
production. Twenty years ago, agriculture provided employment to over 300
000 workers. They and their families represented more than a quarter of
Zimbabwe's population, and their livelihoods were fully provided for. Today,
there are less than 50 000 farm workers, and their incomes are well below
the Poverty Datum Line. Agriculture of yesteryear was Zimbabwe's greatest
generator of foreign exchange. Today that generation is comparatively
minimal, with tobacco production only a quarter of previous levels, the
national herd shrunk by two-thirds, and sugar, coffee, and tea production
sharply reduced.

The decline of agriculture is primarily due to the foolhardy, racist
and negative land reform, redistribution and resettlement polices of
government. None can credibly dispute that there was a great need for land
reform, but government could not have pursued it more destructively even if
it had been its intent to destroy. And government exacerbated the ruination
of agriculture by a blatant disregard for the fundamental principles of law,
order, justice and equity, and by gross mismanagement (as evidenced by
repeated non-timeous availability of agricultural inputs).

Government's creation of extreme, widespread, poverty has not,
however, been restricted to its disastrous agricultural policies. It has
been destructive in countless ways. Probably the foremost of all is that not
only has government been the primary trigger of extreme hyperinflation,
presently at the highest levels prevailing anywhere in the world, and
soaring endlessly upwards, but that government is doing nothing constructive
to contain the inflation. The magnitude of Zimbabwean inflation, which is
fast collapsing all economic sectors, and is the biggest trigger of the
nationwide poverty, is almost entirely the fault of government. It is
government that continuously incurs untenably high, unsustainable deficits,
making no attempts whatsoever to curb its expenditures (as evidenced yet
again last week when once again the President increased the number of
Ministers and Deputy Ministers, with concomitant support infrastructures,
notwithstanding that Zimbabwe has more Ministers and Deputy Ministers than
almost any other country, even though it has a population of little more
than eleven million). It is government that has fuelled excessive,
highly-inflationary, printing of money.

Government is also the culprit for the massive fall in manufacturing
productivity, for its rigid resistance to realistic exchange rate adjustment
has almost totally destroyed export viability. And it is government that has
fuelled the highly inflationary alternative (parallel and black) currency
markets, not only by the creation of foreign currency shortages due to its
destruction of export operations, but also by its alienation of the
international community, and consequential marked absence of balance of
payments support, lines of credit, developmental aid, and foreign direct
investment.

As ever greater volumes of imports have to be funded through the
alternative markets, exchange rates surge upwards, intensively increasing
the costs of imports, and therefore fuelling intense increases in inflation.
(Illustrative of this inflationary disaster, the street price of petrol has
risen from $2 300 per litre to $4 800 per litre in less than two months!).
With falling volumes of production, and increased costs of imports, commerce
and industry has no alternative other than major, ongoing, price increases,
or closure of the business, and this is wholly the fault of government.

Yet another very great stimulant of inflation, and therefore economic
decline and of growing poverty, is the intense extent of corruption that
prevails in both the public and private sectors. Government has long claimed
intent to contain corruption energetically, but as yet there has been
virtually no delivery other than talk. The number of prosecutions can
virtually be counted on one hand and, significantly appear to have been only
of those who have fallen from political favour. Notwithstanding
constitutional provisions for the containment of corruption, and
notwithstanding the existence, for a considerable period of time, of a
Minister of State for State Enterprises, Anti-Monopolies and
Anti-Corruption, real actions to minimise corruption are few and far
between. The costs of corruption are gargantuan, are inevitably recovered in
prices in instances of private sector corruption, and are part of the
gigantic state deficits in instances of public sector corruption, and thus
are major contributions to inflation.

Government is also one of the biggest drivers of the black market. By
dogmatically persisting with its policies of price controls, it destroys
viable industrial and commercial operations, causing intense product
shortages, which in turn creates vast demand within the black markets, where
prices are not controlled, and are very substantially greater than the
prices decreed by government. Those prices are not recognised in the
Consumer Price Index and, therefore in official inflation data, but are
nevertheless intensely inflationary, adding further to the woes of the
poverty-stricken Zimbabweans.

Recently government has stimulated the black markets even further. Its
greatly excessive heavy-handedness enforcement of its destructive price
controls, with numerous arrests of executives, and irrationally severe
prosecutions, is motivating the disappearance of essential commodities from
the shelves, rather than that they be sold at a loss, thereby increasing
black market demand, is inducing many to consider closure of their
businesses (to the prejudice of employees, other stakeholders, and the
decimated economy), and is yet another deterrent to investment.

Starvation is reigning supreme in Zimbabwe, and almost wholly because
of government's obdurate refusal to recognise that it is the primary cause
thereof, and of Zimbabwe's near-total collapse, and its consequential
failure to abandon its devastating policies, and instead pursue constructive
ones.


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Fix the cause and not fiddle with symptoms

Zim Independent

Comment

ANOTHER glaring anomaly that is encouraging and deepening the
continued diversion of precious minerals and foreign exchange into the
wasteful hands of parallel markets is the total insignificance of and
inconsistencies in some of the penalties against economic crimes," said
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono in his latest monetary policy statement on
January 31.

His prescription was predictable: "Until and unless the deterrent
framework is put in place and is consistent across the board, the country
risks continuing to engage in disruptive and unwieldy 'cat-and-mouse' brawls
with perpetrators of economic crimes to no avail or benefit to the country."

We resisted the initial impulse to comment on this faulty diagnosis
because there were other more valuable political observations that the
governor made, such as the need for a political settlement in the country.
Now we notice that the same refrain on derisory penalties has been taken up
by members of parliament.

Unfortunately, Gono is wrong both in his diagnosis and his
prescription just as he was when he popularised the myth that inflation is
the country's number one enemy. We also recall in 2005 the governor's appeal
to government to build more jails in order to reduce criminal behaviour in
society. There is no scientific evidence of that anywhere in the world.

It might be true that there are senior government officials who change
their foreign currency on the black market out of greed. But their behaviour
is consistent with everyone's quest to achieve maximum profit from their
financial transaction. Nobody wants to be arrested and therefore the
question of "deterrent penalties" does not arise.

On the other hand, for the majority of Zimbabweans who receive funds
from their relatives in the diaspora, the parallel market is as much a
matter of commonsense as it is a matter of survival. The official exchange
rate of $250 to the United States dollar is a sick joke even for the most
patriotic Zimbabwean.

We were therefore alarmed this week when the parliamentary committee
on Foreign Affairs, Industry and International Trade chaired by Enock
Porusingazi adopted Gono's defective approach in addressing the issue of
rising prices of basic commodities.

Without bothering to look at the supply side of production,
Porusingazi said retailers continued to hike prices of goods because the
penalties for doing so were no deterrent.

His comments followed the recent arrest of business leaders for
seeking to increase the price of bread, which government unilaterally
controls without paying attention to production costs and the sustainability
of the enterprise. The committee recommended stiffer sentences for offenders
as the solution.

This is nothing short of self-serving populism that has in the past
tended to hurt more those it purported to protect. We have noticed in the
past that such controls lead to food shortages and people end up paying more
for the same quantities on the black market.

Official red-tape does not help matters either. When manufacturers
apply for a price review bureaucrats behave as though the world has come to
a standstill while they ponder their responses. By the time an increase is
granted the price would have become totally inadequate to cover costs, let
alone break even.

At the current inflation rate of around 1 600% business cannot wait
for more than a week for a government response. Business people respond to
the demands of the environment under which they operate yet government
appears to have remained in the lackadaisical mode of the plentiful '80s. It
can't be business as usual anymore.

As with Gono and his hopeless battle against inflation, price controls
only address symptoms of a deep-seated malady. A recent survey by the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries revealed that most companies were
operating at around 30% of capacity due to lack of foreign currency to
import raw materials, lack of fuel or intermittent power supplies.

What government needs to do is to create a conducive environment for
companies to increase productivity. Blaming business for doing what is
rational for their enterprises to remain operational and preserve the few
remaining jobs and pay taxes is shortsighted in the extreme. It is to put
politics before the economy, a mentality that has become the hallmark of
Zanu PF's culture of self-preservation and a major cause of the economy's
decline.


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Let Tekere's peers give own accounts

Zim Independent

Candid Comment

By Dumisani Muleya

OBVIOUSLY choreographed indignation by President Robert Mugabe and his
supporters in response to former Zanu PF secretary-general Edgar Tekere's
autobiography, A Lifetime of Struggle, has exposed the rage of political
dinosaurs acting as thought police.

Since Tekere's top-selling book was released in January, there has
been a frenzied campaign by agents of thought repression to discredit it.
However, the campaign has failed in a dramatic way. Instead of discouraging
people from reading the book, it has only succeeded in marketing the
memoirs.

The crusade against Tekere reached a crescendo two weeks ago when
Mugabe himself reportedly led the charge in a politburo meeting. Insiders
say Mugabe complained that Tekere "distorted" the history of the liberation
struggle (as if he is the custodian and only authority on it) and had been
attacking him in public.

Many politburo members were said to have been indifferent to the
protest, although Mugabe loyalists were angry on his behalf.

Subsequently, the Zanu PF mouthpiece, The Voice, reported the
politburo resolved to expel Tekere who was readmitted to the party only last
year after his initial expulsion in 1988. Tekere says Mugabe was at the
forefront of his dismissal in 1988.

Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira, subject of criticism in the
book, came out in The Voice railing against Tekere, saying he had made
"frequent attacks on the personality of the president" - as if that were a
hanging offence - and also shown "disloyalty and denigration of the party
leadership".

The fury against Tekere for merely writing his autobiography - no
matter how flawed it may be - has left many observers wondering what this
hullabaloo all about.

The claim is Tekere has distorted the history of the liberation
struggle which some Zanu PF elements clearly think is their monopoly.

It is not explained how exactly he did this, except that he allegedly
said he was responsible for elevating Mugabe to power.

Of course, in the book Tekere does not say this, beyond that he moved
a motion in Kwekwe Prison in 1973 for the ousting of former Zanu leader
Ndabaningi Sithole after he was dealt with by Special Branch operatives and
later changed course from the confrontational to the negotiation path.

Tekere says Mugabe was reluctant to take over from Sithole just as he
had been reluctant to join Zanu's precursor, the National Democratic Party,
in 1961.

The book - a welcome addition to our political literature despite its
flaws - deals with, among many other things, Mugabe's political case-history
and personal life. It also illuminates dark corners of the struggle,
including the cold and calculated savagery by both sides in the liberation
war.

The book portrays Mugabe as a somewhat reluctant and unenthusiastic
leader who rose to power via political coups and counter-coups, as well as a
conspiracy of historical events. Mugabe comes out as an accident of history.

Tekere's memoirs also seek to debunk myths about Mugabe and depicts
him as a dubious revolutionary who at one time following the Chomoio
bombings asked whether it was "worth it" to continue fighting.

The book says Mugabe failed to carry himself like a soldier by
refusing to wear combat gear even if it was provided to him and also engage
in serious military training. Instead, he preferred donning Western suits
all the time, the book says, including when he was inspecting dead bodies of
fallen comrades!

Mugabe is also painted as an untrustworthy leader whom neither Samora
Machel nor Josiah Tongogara had confidence in. Tekere points out Mugabe was
excluded from strategic meetings by Machel. He says at one time Tongogara
described him as a "sell-out".

Against this background, official anger against Tekere is
understandable. This explains the ongoing spirited campaign against the
book.

This is not to say his book is not flawless - far from it. It has
serious structural weaknesses, questionable disclosures and ironically shows
why Tekere himself would not have been a good leader.

One cannot fail to detect a tinge of bitterness in Tekere's account of
Mugabe. Tekere also demonstrates smoldering resentment of Zapu and its
leader Joshua Nkomo and the late vice-president Simon Muzenda whom he
describes as a "bootlicker".

By contrast, Tekere shows great respect for Tongogara, Solomon Mujuru,
his wife Joice, whom he describes as the "founding mother of the armed
struggle", and other Zanla commanders.

Whatever criticisms we might have of the book, we must remember it's
an autobiography. It's Tekere's personal account of the liberation struggle.
It represents only his corner of experience.

As the publisher rightly said, autobiographies, although useful in
some cases, may sometimes have "convenient and expedient interpretations of
one's experiences and interactions".

There is clearly that element in Tekere's account. Its subjective
dimensions and the pride and prejudice of the author border at times on
narcissism.

However, the book gives valuable insights into Tekere's life and the
politics of the era. If Tekere's contemporaries are unhappy with the book,
they should write their own.


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Zim Independent Letters

Wrong doc to cure Zim's economic ills

THE recent monetary policy and the new cabinet left the country with
no hope of an improvement to the economic crisis besetting our country in
the immediate future.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, in his statement chose to do
nothing and laid the blame on Zanu PF and government.

While there is consensus that Zanu PF and government are the root
causes of our economic crisis, the deepening economic crisis that we see
today has simply been caused by the RBZ.

The governor no doubt wants to see a quick economic turnaround but his
biggest challenge is himself. He simply lacks depth and foresight.

Gono is the wrong doctor to cure the economic ills of this country. He
has made numerous miscalculations and blunders on policy matters which none
of his predecessors would ever have contemplated for a split second.

It is his incapacity to conceptualise the effects of his action or
lack of action that has downgraded our economy from an out-patient to one
confined to the intensive care unit.

The corruption and distortions that he highlighted in his monetary
statement are merely a manifestation of the wrong diagnosis and
prescriptions that he has been administering to our economy. This is amid
mounting evidence and advice that was tabled before him which he chose to
ignore, calling his critics cry babies, prophets of doom, detractors etc.

Besides dabbling in quasi-fiscal activities, some of Gono's blunders
include:

* Printing money to pay the IMF when the fund viewed our economic
problems as political; and

* Distorted and unmanageable interest rate regimes, allowing one to
borrow at 50% from Agribank to invest in OMO bills at 550% or
inflation-indexed bonds at 1 200%+.

In his statement, Gono picked out, among others, Zesa, GMB and Noczim
for charging sub-economic prices for their services and goods.

Former Zesa executive chairman, Sydney Gata, fought battles with Gono
for tariff increases for more than three years but Gono used his political
clout to block him.

Gono also castigated the GMB for price disparities, but where does the
GMB get its money from? Is it not Gono who prints it under instructions from
the Ministry of Finance? Why did he not challenge this?

Even government-controlled newspapers exposed this anomaly on several
occasions. There is nothing wrong at all with the pricing mechanism used by
Noczim for fuel. Gono has the price build-up on his desk and very well knows
that to get the price right all he needs to do is adjust the exchange rate.

It is for this same reason that gold miners and panners are resorting
to smuggling and risking arrest than take their gold to Fidelity. The onus
to stabilise this economy rests on the governor.

Ther need for political will and support does not stop the RBZ from
cleaning its house. This alone would halt the roller-coaster fall of our
economy.

To talk of price and wage freezes and a social contract is a
non-starter at this stage. Gono should know better.

What we have is a patient bleeding to death, and before we can talk of
complicated surgical procedures, let's get the basics right first. To wait
for the so-called holistic approach from Zanu PF and the new cabinet is like
waiting for a drunken surgeon to get sober before attending to our patient.

Gono should for the sake of the country devalue the local currency.
Our main source of forex, like tobacco farmers, are crying and
disillusioned. The longer we wait the less forex that is made available and
the greater the shortage which leads to a higher rate on the parallel market
and the more expensive goods and services get, and up goes inflation, our
number one enemy.

On the other hand productivity levels drop and companies close while
Zimra's revenue from duties and import taxes suffer, meaning no money to
increase the doctors' wages and a return to the printing press. Yet still we
blame the Ministry of Finance!

The chain reaction is long, what does it take for Gono to see this?

He should seek advice from the likes of Leonard Tsumba, Elisha
Mushayakarara and Kombo Moyana.

Tendai Manhanga,

Harare.

 --------
Shabbily treated by British Airways

By M Cox

WHEN I flew from Harare to Europe on December 24, my two suitcases did
not arrive.

On my return to Harare on January 10, I assumed that British Airways
would assist me in locating them, but only received a semi-literate,
incorrectly spelt e-mail referring me to the lost luggage section at Harare
Airport and a note saying, whilst they regretted my lost baggage, they hoped
when I flew with British Airways in the future I would not have the same
problem!

Mysteriously, Fedex later contacted me advising that one of my
suit-cases had been located. Zimra released it on payment of $25 000 though
how Fedex got involved, I will never know!

The other piece of luggage is still missing and I can't get any
response from British Airways both in the UK and Harare, or the lost luggage
section at Harare Airport.

Now Fedex say the weight shown on the weigh bill was a mistake and
should have been in pounds and not kgs!

Strange!

I was under the impression that airlines reimbursed customers whose
luggage they either lost or mislaid, but this apparently does not apply to
British Airways.

I feel I was shabbily treated as one pays a considerable sum in
foreign currency to travel on an airline and in return expects a fair deal.

* M Cox writes from Harare.

A spokesperson for British Airways' Harare office responds:

We understand that both items of missing baggage have now been found
and returned to Mrs Cox and hope this settles the matter.

However, we apologise most sincerely for the problems experienced by
her and other customers during the extended period of baggage handling
problems at Heathrow Airport.

We know how frustrating this can be and sincerely regret problems
experienced during that time. We also understand that our customer relations
personnel in London were in communication with Mrs Cox, as was our airport
office.

With regard to the customs duties, we are unable to offer payment
towards customs duties charged to our passengers.

 --------------
Zifa men should shape up or ship out
FAILURE by the perennial under-achievers at Zifa to bankroll the trip
to Maseru, Lesotho, should be condemned in the strongest of terms.

Does anyone need to be a robotics scientist to understand that the
match was of paramount significance?

Coach Charles Mhlauri now has a mammoth task ahead because of their
administrative failures. The match had a bearing on our 2010 World Cup
campaign. Why should officials at Zifa choose to run around like headless
chickens at the eleventh hour?

It seems the men at Zifa have reached intellectual menopause.

Bickering day-in day-out and having a Tsikamutanda (witch-hunting)
approach to administrative issues does us no good. They have irredeemably
failed and appear to be devoid of visionary leadership that is vital to the
prosperity of soccer.

How could officials at Zifa fail to learn from what transpired during
disturbances at the aborted Shooting Stars/Dynamos match to avert the ugly
scene witnessed last Wednesday?

When shall these men stop running football like a tuck shop? I feel
the time is now propitious for the authorities at the relevant ministry to
launch a forensic audit of the real state of affairs and modus operandi at
Zifa.

Zifa has been doing the nation a huge disservice since time immemorial
and there is need for an urgent paradigm shift and ideological redefinition.

They have to be told in no uncertain terms that they have to shape up
or ship out. Otherwise any prospects of the Warriors gracing the soccer
jamboree in 2010 are sheer hogwash.

Herbert Kazonda,

Bindura.

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

      Averse to giving Moyo a voice
      I AM in total opposition to Jonathan Moyo being given space in
the Zimbabwe Independent to express his views.

      This evil practitioner of the greatest of double standards
should limit himself to writing for that "proponent of truth and
integrity" - the Herald.

      Moyo is a disgrace to himself and Zimbabwe and an enemy of press
freedom, a Judas who long ago sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver!

      Shut up Jonathan, your opinions are not worth the paper they're
written on. May you one day rot in hell with your "Dear Leader".

      Charles Cochrane,

      Auckland, New Zealand.

      -----------------

            Under Zanu PF, contract unworkable
            By Don Sahayi

            THERE is no doubt that Zimbabweans urgently want a
workable solution from whoever, that would release us from the economic,
social and political predicament we are in.

            However, by suggesting that business, labour and civic
society enter into some social contract with the chief culprit and bully -
the Zanu PF government - Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono is surely being
insincere.

            For the record, President Robert Mugabe's government has
over the years consistently and dismally failed to revive the economy.

            Why then should our time be wasted in allowing it to
attempt to fail for the umpteenth time?

            Only a morally-challenged Zanu PF kleptomaniac or a
mentally-challenged person would believe that the proposed social contract
under the Zanu PF regime will provide a panacea to our economic disaster.

            We all know from our history that the previous tripartite
negotiations yielded little or nothing.

            Involvement of the Zanu PF government in a social contract
will only transform such a contract into a "social contrast".

            A total change of government, preceded by a new
people-driven constitution and free and fair elections is the only
            solution.

            Any other devious attempts to buy time for this regime
such as the "social contrast" and recycling of deadwood should be dismissed
with the contempt they deserve.

            With the lowest paid civil servant reportedly earning $30
000, one should not be surprised by the high level of corruption in
government.

            What surprises many of us is the existence of many state
departments and ministries such as Anti-corruption whose main contribution
has been to increase government's recurrent expenditure, thereby gobbling
funds that should be paid to deserving civil servants like teachers and
doctors.

            Why should civil servants accept a wage freeze for three
months when inflation is not frozen for the same period?

            As an economically-battered populace, our contribution in
support of civil servants and the betterment of our country's governance is
to raise the tempo of the Defiance and Save Zimbabwe campaigns.

            We will fight for the presidential poll to be held in the
stipulated 2008 and fight for a new people-driven constitution. That is
where our only hope lies!

            * Don Sahayi (Senior) writes from Harare.

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