Zim Online
Wed 22
February 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe police on Tuesday arrested 73 women
for protesting
against plans by President Robert Mugabe to hold a lavish
party to celebrate
his 82nd birthday saying the President cannot feast and
spoil himself with
food while the rest of Zimbabweans are
suffering.
The women, who were part of a larger group that was
marching to
Mugabe's Munhumutapa offices in central Harare before being
broken up by
armed police, were still detained at the notorious Harare
central police
station by late last night.
"The aim was to get
to Munhumutapa and tell Mugabe to stop lavish
birthday parties when
Zimbabweans are suffering. It is unfortunate that the
police arrested the
marchers," chairman of the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA) civic
alliance Lovemore Madhuku told ZimOnline.
All the
detained are members of the NCA, a coalition of churches,
civic and women's
rights groups, opposition parties, the student and labour
movement that
campaigns for a new and democratic constitution for Zimbabwe.
Madhuku said another 12 NCA activists were admitted to a private
clinic in
Harare where they were receiving treatment after they were
severely beaten
and injured by the police during the march.
Harare police spokesman
Loveless Rupere last night refused to take
questions on the matter. "I am
not prepared to comment on that NCA
demonstration," he said when contacted
by phone.
Mugabe, who turned 82 on Tuesday, will hold his annual
birthday feast
in the city of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe on Saturday.
Although the
President's birthday is not a formal state occasion, it has
however attained
that status over the years. Thousands of youths selected
from all the
country's districts are expected to attend the lavish party
that is
organised by the 21st February Movement that is named after Mugabe's
date of
birth.
The NCA, the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change party and
Western governments blame Mugabe - who has ruled Zimbabwe
since independence
from Britain 25 years ago - for ruining the country's
once vibrant economy
through repression and wrong policies, in particular
his seizure of
productive farms from whites for redistribution to landless
blacks.
The farm seizures have destabilised the mainstay
agricultural sector,
slashing food production by about 60 percent to leave
once food self
sufficient Zimbabwe dependent on food handouts from
international relief
agencies. At least a quarter of the 12 million
Zimbabweans require urgent
food aid between now and the next harvest around
April or they will starve.
In addition to food, other basic
survival commodities such as
electricity, fuel and essential medical drugs
are also in critical short
supply as Zimbabwe grapples a six-year economic
recession described by the
World Bank as unseen in a country not at
war.
Mugabe however denies ruining Zimbabwe saying the country's
problems
are because of economic sabotage by Western governments opposed to
his
seizure of white owned land for redistribution to blacks. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wed 22 February 2006
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe
could have lost agricultural inputs and equipment
worth over Z$50 billion in
a smuggling scam involving some Zambian traders
and workers of the state-run
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), ZimOnline
has learnt.
Farm
inputs and equipment are in critical short supply in Zimbabwe, a
factor
President Robert Mugabe said during an interview on state television
this
week would see the country having a poor harvest despite good rains
this
season.
Authoritative sources said NRZ workers, who as part of
their benefits
are issued with vouchers entitling them to transport personal
goods by rail
at 20 percent of normal cost, would take these vouchers and
sell them at an
inflated price to Zambian traders wishing to move goods
mostly fertilizers
and farm equipment from Zimbabwe.
The
government has banned the exportation of fertilizer and farm
equipment in a
bid to ensure local farmers have enough supplies to produce
food for the
country.
The NRZ workers would help the Zambians smuggle the farm
inputs out of
Zimbabwe mostly through the Victoria Falls border in rail
wagons falsely
marked "on NRZ business" in order to escape detection by
customs officers.
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) officers do
not normally check the
contents of such marked wagons.
"The
scam was only discovered after suspicious ZIMRA officials decided
to open
one of the wagons marked 'on NRZ business' only to find several
tonnes of
ammonium nitrate fertilizer and over 100 ploughs that were being
illegally
moved out of the country," said a source at NRZ.
According to the
source, the scam, unearthed about two weeks ago, is
believed to have been
running for three years and included about 400 NRZ
workers, among them
senior and middle managers of the state company.
An NRZ
spokesperson said investigations into the smuggling racket
were still in
progress but added that more than 400 employees could be fired
for
involvement in the scam.
"There are about 200 people who are being
investigated over this
matter in Bulawayo alone while 120 are being
investigated in Harare and in
Gweru 100 employees are being investigated.
There are also a few other
people from smaller centres who are being
investigated," said the
spokesperson, who however refused to disclose
further details saying doing
so could be detrimental to the
investigations.
Like all the big state-owned companies, the NRZ is
filthily corrupt
and inefficient. But its top executives are rarely
criticised or punished
because they enjoy support and protection from
powerful politicians in
Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party and government. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wed 22 February 2006
EPWORTH - Twenty-year old Chiwoniso
Gurajena dips her bucket into the
deep, dark stagnant pool of water in
Epworth, a poor, derelict semi-rural
settlement situated about 20 kilometres
east of Harare.
With a deftness of hand, no doubt the result of
many hours of
experience, she carefully sweeps the floating dirt with one
hand while
lifting with the other the bucket-full of water out of the
pond.
Soon, the young woman carefully lifts the 20-litre bucket
onto her
head and begins her two kilometre walk back to her family's house -
a
dilapidated hovel.
"We are thankful for the recent rains
because we can now find water
almost everywhere. But of course one has to
choose the cleanest pool," she
says, completely oblivious of the attendant
dangers the water could pose to
her family.
Epworth, like most
areas of Harare, has experienced persistent water
cuts because the Harare
city council does not have foreign currency to
import spares for broken down
pumps or enough water treatment chemicals.
The acute foreign
currency crunch gripping Zimbabwe for the last six
years has also spawned
shortages of food, electricity, essential medicines
and just about every
basic commodity because there is no hard cash to pay
foreign
suppliers.
While Gurajena and other residents of Epworth, just like
every
Zimbabwean these days, can rely on the illegal but thriving
black-market for
essential commodities, they say with water they have no
option but to resort
to the unprotected pools despite the obvious
dangers.
This, despite a vicious cholera outbreak in Harare that
has claimed at
least six lives in Epworth alone!
And for
Gurajena and other residents here the solution to the cholera
fears lies in
Jik - a washing detergent readily available on the streets of
Harare.
According to the manufacturers of Jik, the detergent
has
anti-bacterial qualities. But there is no scientific evidence to prove
that
it can kill the cholera bacteria.
There are also fears
that it can be poisonous if ingested in larger
quantities.
All
that is however besides the point for Maria Gumba, a mother of
two, who opts
to draw water from a different pool about 20 meters away
saying the one from
where Gurajena fetched water was dirty.
"That is why we buy Jik,"
she says, when asked if the water she was
collecting for her family was
safe.
Even though Gumba admits she has no proof to back her claims,
she
still insists with much conviction: "A cap-full of Jik is enough to
kill
off the germs making the water safe to drink . besides what are we
supposed
to do if no one wants to help us with clean water?"
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa admitted that there maybe some
families
still relying on untreated water but he insisted the ministry was
doing all
it can to distribute water purification tablets to residents as it
battles
to curb the spread of cholera.
"We have deployed teams to deal with
the outbreak and are encouraging
residents to be more cautious and ensure
they eat food prepared in hygienic
environments," said Parirenyatwa, himself
a medical doctor.
But a civic group that fights for the rights of
residents in Harare,
the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), said
water purification
tablets alone would not rid the decaying capital city of
cholera or other
communicable diseases.
CHRA spokesman,
Precious Shumba, said the recent outbreak of cholera
in Harare was
symptomatic of the general collapse of the country's economy
and the
clearest sign yet that the centre was failing to hold.
"The cholera
outbreak signifies a collapse of health services in the
capital and its
surrounding areas," said Shumba.
Zimbabwe's social services
delivery system has virtually collapsed
after years of under-funding and
mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's
government.
The
outbreak of cholera in Harare is the first time since independence
from
Britain 25 years ago that the disease has been reported in the
capital - a
fact not lost on critics of Mugabe who accuse him of ruining the
country
through repression and wrong economic policies.
But the President,
who turned 82 this week, denies wrecking Zimbabwe
saying the country's
problems are because of economic sabotage by Britain
and its Westren allies
out to fix his government for seizing land from
whites and giving it over to
landless blacks. - ZimOnline
The Herald
(Harare)
February 20, 2006
Posted to the web February 21,
2006
Harare
PARIRENYATWA Group of Hospitals is demanding cash
upfront from Government
workers and patients on welfare following the
failure by the department of
social welfare to pay over $100 billion owed to
the hospital since 2003.
Among those having problems accessing treatment
are the uniformed forces,
including the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and
Zimbabwe Prison Services
(ZPS).
Parirenyatwa Hospital chief executive
officer Mr Thomas Zigora last week
confirmed that the institution was owed
large sums of money by several
Government departments.
"We are owed
several billions of dollars by some Government departments and
thousands of
cash paying patients. The more than 100 billion we are
estimating is far too
low to what we are actually owed.
"We are following up on our money and
have been in touch with Government
departments that owe us. We are currently
negotiating with them," Mr Zigora
said.
He said the army, prison
services and the police had a facility that allowed
their members to access
treatment with the money being paid directly to the
hospital at a later
stage.
"It does not make sense that those we offer services and later
send bills
to, turn around and claim that they have no money. How do they
expect us to
perform if they do not pay?" Mr Zigora asked.
He said
the 36 percent increase in last year's budget was not enough to make
hospital operations viable while turning a blind eye to what it was
owed.
"We will be tougher on payments this year and for those who do not
pay we
will just have to agree on some sort of payment scheme before we
render our
services."
He said money paid to them by patients was
injected directly into the
running of the hospital.
"We use the money
for the core business of the hospital that includes
purchasing drugs, drips
and a variety of other medical equipment that should
be found in a hospital.
This money supplements the grant we get from
treasury," Mr Zigora
said.
Sources at Parirenyatwa Hospital said the ZRP owed the hospital
more than $5
billion and had last week promised to make a payment of $1
billion while ZPS
owed them $1,4 billion for the period 2003 to November
2005. ZPS is also
still to pay up the December 2005 bill of $136
million.
Mr Zigora said social welfare patients, even with their assisted
medical
treatment orders, were not being admitted until the department of
social
welfare had made up some payment. Most hospitals in the country are
reeling
under critical shortages of staff and the unavailability of drugs
and other
essential equipment.
Council clinics are the worst affected
with reports that patients pay up to
$200 000 to just have their temperature
and blood pressure checked before
they are asked to buy drugs from privately
owned pharmacies.
Sydney Morning Herald
By Ian Nhuka
in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
February 22, 2006
TAIMON MATHE clearly
remembers the day when armed police, backed by
bulldozers, razed his house
at a farm just outside Harare last June.
The 44-year-old was a member of
a housing union that seized a formerly
white-owned White Cliff farm on the
outskirts of the capital in 2000.
The 15-member co-operative soon built
houses, with tacit approval from
President Robert Mugabe's
government.
"We registered the union with the local authority," he said.
"I thought I
had found a home. But I discovered that I was
wrong."
After the Government flattened his four-roomed house in a scheme
code-named
Operation Murambatsvina (vernacular for drive out filth) he was
told another
one would be built for him.
He registered for a
government- sponsored rebuilding scheme, but that was
the last he heard of
it and he is now homeless and staying with a relative
in Mbare, a sprawling
working class suburb in Harare.
Mr Mathe is one of about 700,000 people
whose homes were destroyed by the
Government with promises that decent
housing would be provided later. The
United Nations estimates that another
2.4 million others were indirectly
affected.
Mr Mugabe, who marked
his 82nd birthday yesterday with a lavish celebration
costing up to $US1
million ($1.3 million), has defended the demolitions,
saying the buildings
were illegal and the scheme was designed to create
order. The Housing
Minister, Ignatius Chombo, told Parliament last week that
of a target of
5000 houses due to be built between June and December last
year, 3144 have
been completed.
Mr Chombo said he was happy with the work but said a lack
of building
materials was hampering progress. About 300 of the houses have
been
allocated, but none are occupied because they were built without
electricity
or water and sewerage systems.
Manuel Mangoro, 34, used
to run a street corner kiosk in Kambuzuma suburb in
Harare. Mr Mangoro said
his livelihood was destroyed and attempts to salvage
it are proving
impossible. ''I lost everything," said the unemployed father
of
four.
"Even if I get a business stand, I have no money to re-start since
my shop
and everything that was in it was destroyed."
Other victims
of the clean-up campaign are still surviving in squalid
conditions. Maria
Guebuza, a widowed mother of three, lived in a backyard
shelter in the high
density Harare suburb of Highfield. Home for her and
about 5000 others is
now a tent at the Hatcliffe holding camp, a muddy
shanty
settlement.
"Conditions here are worse than in Highfield. There are no
medical drugs and
food is usually short," she said.
The United
Nations is helping the Government speed up the resettlement by
building
permanent houses and providing temporary shelter for about 23,000
people.
Reuters
Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:10 PM GMT
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe turned 82 on Tuesday,
but
analysts said the country he sometimes refers to as "my Zimbabwe" had
little
to cheer after plunging into deep economic crisis under his
rule.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence from Britain in
1980 and
one of Africa's longest-serving leaders, is struggling with an
economic
meltdown that includes the highest inflation rate in the
world.
Government officials said Mugabe was expected to celebrate his
birthday
privately with his family on Tuesday night, but would work as usual
during
the day.
He chaired a weekly cabinet meeting at his offices in
central Harare,
walking into the cabinet room to the beat of music played by
a traditional
Zimbabwean group, they said.
Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF
party, which hailed him on Tuesday as a "shining
beacon", is due to host a
huge birthday party for him on Saturday in the
eastern border city of
Mutare, where 30,000 people are expected.
The public bash, however, comes
as Zimbabweans struggle with economic
problems many blame on Mugabe -- food,
fuel, foreign currency, transport,
electricity and water shortages as well
as crumbling health services.
"In reality these are very artificial
celebrations. The majority of the
population is struggling ... and I think
for many people they would rather
the money was spent on other things --
books, medicines or scholarships,"
said Professor Heneri Dzinotyiwei of
Harare's University of Zimbabwe.
BIRTHDAY NATIONAL EVENT
"In an
environment of rising poverty and unemployment, it is natural that
people
expect their governments to focus on the basics of life, and
birthdays do
not fall into that category," Dzinotyiwei said.
ZANU-PF has turned
Mugabe's birthday into a national event, naming it the
21st February
Movement where youths, including schoolchildren, glorify the
president's
"revolutionary virtues".
Critics say the ruling party routinely forces
companies to donate money for
the celebrations, which are held in different
towns each year.
ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira has repeatedly
denied these charges. He
was unavailable for comment on this year's
celebrations.
On Tuesday, the party led a chorus of congratulations to
Mugabe and was
joined by private and public organisations in placing about
20 pages of
colourful newspaper adverts to mark the event.
"We salute
you for making Zimbabwe what it is today in the socio-economic
and political
domain," ZANU-PF's Harare provincial leadership said.
"You are a shining
beacon and ... we are always proud of you and your
leadership which has
witnessed the region, Africa and the entire world
acknowledging that you are
the true and leading proponent of Africa and its
interests."
The
official Herald newspaper referred to Mugabe as "the greatest hero ever
to
grace Zimbabwe and Africa".
Mugabe co-led Zimbabwe's national liberation
war in the 1970s, but critics
say he has ruined a once-prosperous country.
Unemployment stands at 70
percent, while inflation hovers above 600
percent.
Key Western donors, including the European Union and the United
States, have
imposed travel sanctions on Mugabe and his associates, accusing
his
government of rigging elections and causing chaos by seizing white-owned
land for redistribution to landless blacks.
Mugabe denies the charges
and accuses the West of seeking to replace him
with a puppet
government.
IOL
Basildon
Peta
February 21 2006 at 10:02AM
His critics call it
"the mother of all ironies".
Robert Mugabe celebrates his 82nd
birthday today with Zimbabwe's
economy in tatters. Inflation stands at 613
percent. Unemployment is a
staggering 80 percent. Chronic food, fuel and
power shortages have become
the order of the day.
In any other
normal society, Robert Mugabe would be history - either
via the ballot or by
other means.
Yet he is celebrating his birthday today firmly
ensconced in power.
The stiff opposition he once faced from the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) has all but evaporated.
Regional
leaders who have tried to rein in Mugabe have all been
wrestled to the
ground. Which perhaps explains Mugabe's birthday wish: "82
more years in
power".
But how does anyone explain this puzzle: Do Zimbabweans
vote for
misery? Do they really like a leader who has brought them untold
suffering?
Do they vote for high inflation, high unemployment and other
vices that
Mugabe's legendary misrule has brought them? Surely, that cannot
be their
preference.
As University of Zimbabwe
political scientist Eldred Masunungure put
it: "Zimbabweans are rational
enough to know how to butter their bread".
So how do they assure
Mugabe's lengthy term in power in the face of
ever-growing misery. Will
there ever come a time when they will say enough
is enough?
Or
will they remain spectators while their country is being ruined
until - as
Collin Powell put it - "there is nothing left to ruin".
Masunungure
attributes Mugabe's longevity in power to a culture of
deference to older
people by Zimbabweans.
"This great irony or puzzle has its roots in
our political culture of
obedience to political authority even if you are
unhappy with it," he says.
"There is certainly a high threshold of
anger in Zimbabwe against
Mugabe's mismanagement but he has survived because
of the culture of
subservience to authority by the people here," says
Masunungure.
Another UZ political scientist John Makumbe begs to
differ.
"Mugabe has survived in power for too long because
Zimbabweans sleep
for too long," says Makumbe. "But they are beginning to
wake up.
"In fact, Zimbabweans have no choice but to wake
up."
Makumbe is adamant that 2006 will be the year that Mugabe will
realise
that Zimbabweans cannot take it anymore.
The country is
enjoying its best rainy season in memory, but is
expecting its worst crop
output ever. The rains are nourishing grass on
large tracts of farms lying
fallow after violent land seizures. Shortages of
basic inputs like seed,
fertilisers and fuel have meant that even those
farmers not affected by
seizures cannot farm.
"Supermarket shelves are empty. Zimbabwe has
become hell on earth,"
says Makumbe.
"Everyone is unhappy, the
army, the police, the general population.
It's a matter of time," warns
Makumbe.
He argues the people will not even need the benefit of an
organised
opposition to make life miserable for Mugabe.
But
worse things have come and gone in Zimbabwe.
When people could not
access their cash in banks in 2003/04 because
the central bank had run out
of foreign currency to import the special paper
needed to print money, many
felt Mugabe's misrule had peaked. People would
not take it anymore. That
came and passed.
Lawyer Lovemore Madhuku attributes Mugabe's
longevity to his
systematic destruction of all key institutions that could
have played an
effective watchdog role.
The judiciary has been
"prostituted", the independent media
obliterated, the army and police
heavily compromised. State security
agencies and ruling party militias have
been abused to beat people into
submission.
"Mugabe is a tyrant
in all respects and uses force to remain in power.
It seems to have worked,"
said Madhuku.
Masunungure agrees and says Zimbabweans are now so
bewildered that
some would rather vote for Mugabe so that they can live in
peace, especially
in view of his repeated threats to stage another bush war
if he loses power.
But if the academics are not convincing in their
explanations, an
ordinary man like Bromley Masenda gives some
insight.
Masenda, who works as a general hand in a Harare factory,
believes the
opportunity to challenge Mugabe is now lost.
That
Mugabe rigs elections is common cause. But it's the opposition's
response
that worries Masenda.
When Mugabe stole the 2002 presidential
elections, causing his
suspension from the Commonwealth, the people were
fully psyched up to
challenge him in the streets, says Masenda. But they
were let down by
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who urged them to avoid
confrontation,
preferring to fight the matter in the courts.
Since then Mugabe has consolidated his instruments of repression and
beaten
the people into submission. They are now too enmeshed in their daily
survival battles to worry about challenging Mugabe, reasons Masenda. The
turmoil in the opposition means Mugabe is now firmly
entrenched.
In fact he is not only celebrating a birthday, but
enjoying the
pleasure of deciding when he wants to quit.
His
party has signalled it would change the constitution to extend the
presidential term from 2008 to 2010 so that presidential elections and
parliamentary elections run concurrently in 2010. Mugabe has a choice to
stay in power and celebrate more birthdays when his term ends in
2008.
"The tragedy is that with each day he stays in power,
Zimbabwe sinks
deeper," says Madhuku. Zimbabweans seem powerless to stop
him. In fact, they
have afforded him an opportunity to do things no other
leader could possibly
have got away with.
This article was
originally published on page 11 of Pretoria News on
February 21, 2006
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 21 Feb
2006 (IRIN) - President Robert Mugabe has called on
neighbouring countries
not to interfere in Zimbabwe's internal affairs,
while signalling that
constitutional reform was on the cards, possibly to
smooth the way for a
chosen successor.
Speaking in a televised interview to commemorate his
82nd birthday over the
weekend, Mugabe said: "We have tolerated some of them
because they are our
friends. We hope in future they will keep away." He was
responding to a
question on what he thought of diplomatic interventions by
South Africa and
Nigeria in Zimbabwe's political crisis.
Mugabe
sneered at his colleagues in the African Union, suggesting their
interest in
resolving Zimbabwe's problems was more to do with pressure from
western
governments deemed hostile to his ruling ZANU-PF.
Mugabe also said the
country's constitution would be amended as many times
as was necessary. He
is due to retire in 2008.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister, Patrick Chinamasa
immediately hinted there were several
possibilities for constitutional
reform. One option was the current
parliamentary term, which expires in
2010, could be reduced to 2008 so that
presidential and parliamentary
elections could be held that
year.
Another possibility would be to have a president elected to serve a
seven-year term from 2008 to 2015, so that parliamentary and presidential
polls could be synchronised in 2015. A third, believed to be favoured by
Mugabe, is to have his successor elected by parliament in 2008 to serve for
two years before joint elections are held in 2010.
Political
commentator and conflict resolution expert, Webster Zambara, said
that
scenario would give Mugabe's chosen successor, most likely
Vice-President
Joyce Mujuru, time to entrench herself in power.
"That option is ideal
for Mugabe in that when parliament is whipped into
choosing his preferred
candidate, that person would have two years to
establish himself or herself
and to weed out potential opponents. That would
ensure that the succession
issue is much smoother," he commented.
The weekend also added a new twist
to the split in the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
with Arthur Mutambara returning to the
country to lead the pro-Senate
faction ahead of their congress in Bulawayo
this weekend.
Mutambara,
an academic who was a former militant leader of the University of
Zimbabwe
Student Representative Council, has been living abroad. The
official Herald
newspaper quoted a statement by Mutambara in which he said
he had witnessed
with distress the split in the MDC over the past four
months.
The
rump of the party has remained loyal to MDC leader and former unionist
Morgan Tsvangirai, which is set to hold its own congress next month.
"Mutambara's advantage could be that he has an activism background, just
like Tsvangirai, but his slight advantage could be that he also has a very
strong academic background to eclipse that of Mugabe," said Zambara.
News24
21/02/2006 19:14 -
(SA)
Zinkie Sithole
Musina - A Zimbabwean ivory-smuggling
syndicate may be getting help from
South Africans.
Police are
investigating a possible cross-border operation after two
Zimbabweans and a
South African were arrested and charged with the
possession of ivory at the
Beit Bridge border post on February 18.
They were nabbed when South
African Revenue Services (SARS) officials were
tipped off. The men appeared
in Musina magistrate's court on Monday.
The Zimbabweans - Dumisani
Sibandaand Sibusiso Sibanda, both 20 - were
denied bail because they were
considered a flight risk.
The South African, Frans Tshimbulani, 33, was
released on R10 000 bail.
The Zimbabweans are accused of crossing the
Limpopo River illegally with
eight bags of ivory worth R163 000.
The
bags were handed to a South African and loaded in the boot of his
vehicle.
The three men are due to appear in court again on October
3.
Inspector Jacques du Buisson of Musina police station in Limpopo said
on
Tuesday that ivory smuggling was usually rare at the border post. He said
cigarette trafficking was more common.
One suspected cigarette
smuggler, Jumba Basonia, 20, of Zimbabwe, pleaded
guilty in Musina
magistrate's court on Monday to charges of trying to
smuggle cigarettes
worth R69 000 through the Beit Bridge border into
Zimbabwe.
He was
sentenced to 18 months imprisonment or a R10 000 fine. His two
Zimbabwean
co-accused were released because of lack of evidence.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
21 February 2006 05:13
President Robert Mugabe turned 82 on Tuesday and was showered
with praise
and birthday wishes despite Zimbabwe's mounting economic
woes.
The state daily Herald published a 16-page supplement
of
pictures of the long-serving leader and congratulatory messages from
government departments and private companies while the private Daily Mirror
dedicated eight pages to his birthday.
"We wish you many
more years and hope you will continue to steer
the country with your wise
leadership," said a message from Absolom
Sikhosana, who heads the youth
league of Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe National
African Union-Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF) that was published in two dailies on
Tuesday.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, winning
re-election in
2002 in a vote that western observers and the opposition said
was flawed. He
has said that he would be ready to step down when his term
ends in
2008.
"Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a true statesman and an
icon who
has carved a niche in the history books of our nation Zimbabwe,
Africa and
the world over," the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority said in its
birthday
greeting in the Herald.
Zimbabwe's Parliament
praised him as "a living legend" while the
Farmers Union expressed the wish
that Mugabe's "visionary selflessness,
dedication and shrewd acumen continue
to inspire us".
A lavish birthday party is planned for Mugabe
in the eastern
city of Mutare on Saturday with thousands of Zanu-PF
supporters expected to
attend.
Mugabe has come under
criticism in recent years for presiding
over a failed economy characterised
by triple-digit inflation, 70%
unemployment and chronic shortages of goods
like fuel and the staple
cornmeal.
State radio on Tuesday
played songs praising Mugabe including
one, popular in the late 1980s with
lyrics that went: "Let's praise
President Mugabe. One day he will liberate
the whole of Africa."
In an interview broadcast ahead of his
birthday, Mugabe scoffed
at Western powers and the media that have labelled
him a despot.
"Those who say I am wrong, I am a dictator if
you look at them,
are our erstwhile enemies, the colonial power Britain,
supported by
America," Mugabe said in an interview aired on Sunday on state
television.
"They never supported us from day one of our
independence. The
image of Mugabe in the British media was as ugly as it is
today. I don't
look nice to them but I look nice and handsome to my
people.
"My people say I am right in the things I do and
that's what I
listen to."
Hungry
More than
two-thirds of Zimbabweans consider food shortages as
one of the most
important problems they are facing, according to findings of
a private
survey released on Tuesday.
A total of 46% of Zimbabweans
surveyed said they had gone
without food often in the past year, according
to the poll from the
Afrobarometer public opinion
institute.
"Food insecurity is by far the most troublesome
problem for
Zimbabweans and has in between mid-2004 and late 2005 ...
dethroned economic
management as the number one problem," according to the
findings.
The survey was conducted from October 9 to 26,
covering both
urban and rural areas with a sampling of 1 112 respondents
carried out by
the Mass Public Opinion Institute, a Zimbabwean
non-governmental research
organisation.
United Nations
aid agencies estimate that four million
Zimbabweans out of a population of
11-million are in need of food aid
following years of poor agricultural
yields.
Asked to list their top three worst problems, about
45% of
respondents listed management of the economy at the top while 39%
chose
transportation and 35% unemployment.
Health,
HIV/Aids and education came in at the lower end of the
list of the 10 top
problems, with eight percent of respondents choosing
those areas as their
worst headache.
About 79% of respondents said they knew
someone who had died of
HIV/Aids.
The survey also
revealed widespread pessimism about the economy,
with 82% of Zimbabweans
saying that they expect living conditions to be
"much worse" in the year
ahead. - AFP
By Lance
Guma
21 February 2006
The ongoing countrywide
demonstrations by students spread to Masvingo
Polytechnic on Tuesday, as
police briefly arrested 15 students before
releasing them later in the day.
The Zimbabwe National Students Union
(ZINASU) is leading the protests and
has warned of more demonstrations to
come if the government does not reverse
a tenfold hike in tuition and
boarding fees. Mfundo Mlilo the spokesman of
the Committee coordinating the
strikes told Newsreel they spent the day
addressing students in different
lecture rooms at the
Polytechnic.
At midday all students converged on the main dining
hall before they
started marching around campus chanting protest songs.
Masvingo police
responded by sending truckloads of riot squads to crush the
demonstration.
According to Mlilo 15 students were arrested in the
skirmishes. These
include ZINASU president Washington Katema, Secretary
General Promise
Mkwananzi, Academic and legal affairs secretary Wellington
Mahohoma and
Mlilo himself. They were only released because the police could
not facially
recognise the ZINASU leadership.
On Tuesday last
week the National University of Science and Technology
(NUST) closed down
after violent demonstrations that saw the destruction of
windows and cars on
the campus. The Bulawayo Polytechnic has also been shut
down following
similar protests. Students from the Medical School at the
University of
Zimbabwe also took to the streets around Parirenyatwa hospital
and have
refused to attend to patients in the wards.
Last week government
announced a shocking fee hike for colleges and
universities. Average fees
rocketed from Z$3,5 million to around Z$35
million a year and this is in
spite support grants being around Z$11,5
million per year, far below student
requirements. ZINASU meanwhile say they
are moving to Masvingo, Morgenster
and Bondolfi Teachers Colleges to
instigate more demonstrations. They say
dialogue with government has already
broken down and the only language
Mugabe's government understands is
confrontation.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
Angola Press
Harare, Zimbabwe, 02/21 - The Central Bank of Zimbabwe Monday raised
interest rates by over 100 percent to 650 percent, in a renewed attempt to
subdue rising inflation.
The Bank said secured borrowing would
attract 650 percent interest,
while unsecured borrowing would be at 655
percent with immediate effect.
The announcement comes a week after
the national statistics agency
said year-on-year inflation in January jumped
27 percentage points to 613
percent.
Angola Press
Harare,
Zimbabwe, 02/21 - A top agriculture official in Zimbabwe said on
Monday that
the output of the country`s main export, tobacco, will drop by
30 percent
this year to 50 million kg owing to production difficulties
farmers have
faced during the growing season.
Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA)
president James Delafargue said farmers
lacked funding, inputs and faced
exchange rate-related viability problems in
the 2005/2006 season.
He
said continuing seizures of white-owned farms, under the government`s
controversial land reforms, had also negatively impacted on tobacco
production in the season.
Last year Zimbabwe produced 73 million kg
of tobacco, the country`s main
export, and had projected an increase in
production to 160 million kg this
year.
"Farmers did not have inputs
and had problems raising the required funding
for the crop which has reduced
the crop size. They have also faced viability
problems from last season`s
crop," Delafargue said.
Tobacco production in Zimbabwe, dominated by
white farmers, has dropped from
a peak of over 250 million kg five years ago
after the government drove off
whites from the farms to pave way for the
resettlement of landless black
peasants.
As a result, the country has
suffered chronic shortages of foreign currency,
the bulk of which was earned
from tobacco sales.