The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Zimbabwe Chapter) has set up a Daily News Appeal Fund. The fund will be managed by an independent firm of auditors. The appeal comes as a result of the bombing of The Daily News printing press factory on 28 of January between 1.30am and 1.45am causing extensive damage to the Z$100 million printing press and the building. No arrests have so far been made. MISA - Zimbabwe works to foster free, independent and diverse media throughout Zimbabwe.

Account details: Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, Africa Unity Square Branch, MISA DAILY NEWS FUND, Account Number 0100206942100

Outside Zimbabwe

c/o The Sunday Times Foreign Desk, 1 Pennington Street, London, E1 9XW, telephone 020 7782 5700, email foreign@sunday-times.co.uk

From The Financial Times (UK), 6 February

Zimbabwe to put price controls across economy

Harare - Zimbabwe is gearing up for the imposition of price controls "on all commodities, goods and services, produced wholly or substantially" within the country. Price and wage restraint is part of a social contract the government hopes will be adopted by labour unions and employers. It is part of a new populist strategy it hopes will enable President Robert Mugabe to win the next presidential election, scheduled for April next year. Some aspects of the plan are already in place and others are taking shape.

Interest rates have been so set that the yield on money market instruments is at least 45 percentage points below the inflation rate of 55 per cent. Bank lending rates are also hugely negative and the government is trying to finance its growing domestic debt by issuing five-year government loan stock at an interest rate of about 25 per cent - or less than half the inflation rate. The plan includes doubling minimum pay for urban employees to about Z$6,300 (£78) a month, while imposing price controls on basic items. These include the staple food, maize meal, cooking oil, bread, flour, milk, meat and paraffin. Bus fares, rents and water charges are also listed for a form of "price restraint".

Despite these populist measures, the trade unions have rejected the contract, while employers make little secret of their opposition to a plan they say cannot work. The government's part of the bargain is to cut inflation to 40 per cent within the time-frame of the accord, to cut the budget deficit from 23 per cent of gross domestic product last year to 3 per cent by 2003, and to "continually introduce tax incentives - especially for exports - and boost disposable incomes". The government also promises to continue to manage the exchange rate and "maintain purchasing power parity with our trading partners". This promise was first made last August, since when the exchange rate has been pegged to the US dollar, becoming increasingly overvalued by the week.

Political analysts describe the contract as part of the government's wider plan to win another term in office for the 77-year-old president. Since few in business believe the social contract can work, there is speculation that Mr Mugabe may call a snap presidential election to try and exploit the wage award and price freeze, before the plan unravels. Almost all economic forecasters expect the pace of economic decline to accelerate as the year wears on, but the government insists that the economy will bottom out this year and start to recover before the 2002 poll.

From The Star (SA), 4 February

Harare - Opposition politician Job Sikhala said 50 Zimbabwean soldiers arrived at his home early on Monday and beat him and his family with chains after trying to question him about next year's presidential campaign. Three armoured cars drove over the fence around his home about 4am, Sikhala said from the hospital where he was receiving treatment for his wounds. The soldiers broke down the doors and said they had orders to kill him if he did not answer their questions, he said. He was told: "We have orders to extract this information from you, or kill you."

The soldiers asked him about the presidential strategies of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and asked if the MDC had sent youths to Finland to receive military training, said Sikhala. "I told them frankly, I was not the presidential candidate. If you want to know about the campaign, you can ask Morgan Tsvangirai," he said. "Then they started to beat me with chains and gun butts, and they were very serious," said Sikhala. As the soldiers chased him through the house, Sikhala said they slipped on the floor and he managed to escape by jumping over his neighbour's fence and hiding in a bathroom. The soldiers also beat Sikhala's wife, who is three months pregnant, his sister, and their housekeeper, he said. Government officials could not be reached for comment.

Police had accused Sikhala of inciting violence during the January 13-14 parliamentary by-election in the remote district of Bikita-West, but his case was remanded until March 28. The MDC became Zimbabwe's first significant opposition party in June, when it won nearly half the contested seats in legislative elections, but the poll was marred by widespread political violence in which at least 34 people died and thousands more were beaten. The MDC has challenged the results of the June elections in 40 constituencies, where they say electoral fraud, violence and intimidation of voters compromised the returns.