The Zimbabwean
HARARE -
President Robert Mugabe and his 30-strong delegation, flatly
refused to
travel in one of the accident-prone MA60 Chinese planes to
Malaysia for his
annual holiday, aviation sources confirmed this week.
Mugabe, who left the
capital two weeks ago, chartered a 197-seater Air
Zimbabwe B767 from Harare
to Johannesburg for his delegation, which included
his wife, children and at
least 20 intelligence operatives despite the fact
that it was a holiday.
They connected with an intercontinental flight from
there to
Singapore.
Aviation sources said Mugabe was scheduled to travel in one of the
three
MA60 planes because his favourite 103-seater B737 was grounded because
of a
"planned maintenance schedule."
However in correspondence to Air
Zimbabwe, the President's Office protested
the plan to have Mugabe travel in
the MA60 plane ostensibly because "it
would put the President's life in
danger." The short lifespan of the planes
has been fraught with breakdowns
and operational nightmares.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was
unavailable for comment. But an
official who spoke to us from the
President's Office said Mugabe's travel
arrangements were not for public
consumption.
He however said the holiday was essentially for Mugabe's family
"but the
President would be working through and through."
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The broad
alliance - a coalition of 23 Zimbabwean civic and main
political groups -
have raised the stakes by calling on President Robert
Mugabe and his Zanu
(PF) party to abandon the idea of joint polls in 2010 or
face widespread
resistance to their "oppressive rule" very soon.
A spokesman of the broad
alliance, a brainchild of the Christian Alliance,
which give birth to the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign, is demanding a new
democratic constitution for the
country. The spokesman said Mugabe's
surrender of his illegal plan would
pave the way for a national
constitutional conference.
Failure by Mugabe
to make a national statement of surrender will leave us
with no option but
to intensify our multifaceted resistance to oppressive
rule, a spokesman of
the alliance told The Zimbabwean this week.
"Save Zimbabwe will do all that
is possible in a democratic society to
challenge the ruling Zanu (PF)
party's intentions to refuse the people of
Zimbabwe the right to select
leaders of their choice under a democratic
constitutional
dispensation."
The spokesman said the broad alliance would soon organize
prayer session as
a prelude to the planned protests.
The broad alliance,
which over the past month organized highly successful
lunch hour "pots and
pans" or "noise demonstrations" said it was harnessing
a critical mass to
confront Zanu (PF) over the joint poll plan which they
described as
"undemocratic."
Official sources said President Mugabe was taking the broad
alliance threats
seriously and was well aware that previous national strikes
by the
opposition had been an overwhelming success.
Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa warned that the planned demonstrations,
illegal under the
country's strict security laws, would be met with "the
full wrath of the
law."
He said the opposition's call for Zimbabweans to take to the streets
meant
they were bent on a campaign of violence and anarchy against the
government
intended to result in the overthrow of Mugabe's
office.
National Constitutional Assembly chairman Dr Lovemore Madhuku, who
escaped
an assassination attempt on his life last week after his house was
firebombed by suspected State agents, reaffirmed his support for the strike
against the "harmonization" of elections.
Promise Mkwananzi, the
president of the Zimbabwe National Students Union
said students fully backed
the planned protests against Mugabe.
The Tsvangirai led MDC, the Democratic
Party, United People's Movement,
United People's Party, Zanu Ndonga, Zapu
FP, Christian Alliance, ZimRights,
ZCTU, ZESN, Crisis Coalition, Bulawayo
Agenda, MISA, MMPZ, Bulawayo Dialogue
and many other civic groups said they
would heed calls for the anti-Mugabe
protests.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - President
Robert Mugabe's plan to postpone the presidential
election timetable from
2008 and 2010 has quickened the flight of skilled
workers from Zimbabwe with
many others committed to emigrating within the
next six months.
According
to labour experts and a snap survey carried out this week, most
skilled
workers were leaving not only because they were discontented with
domestic
economic and social conditions, but they were extremely pessimistic
about
the possibility of positive change within the next two years. Most of
those
interviewed said Zanu (PF)'s ploy to extend Mugabe's mandate with
another
two years was "the final straw that broke the camel's back."
The exodus will
mainly comprise technical staff such as software
specialists, technicians,
both mechanical and electrical engineers, doctors,
nurses and apprentice
journeymen.
Richard Makoni, a managing consultant with labour organisation
Lorimark said
Zimbabwe's brain drain had quickened massively due to
"inflation
differentials that were too high." He said there were "push
factors such as
the politics back home and the economic meltdown" and pull
factors such as
better pay and working conditions.
According to the
survey, there were extremely high levels of dissatisfaction
relating to
economic matters such as the cost of living, taxation,
availability of
goods, and salaries as well as social issues including
housing, medical
services, education and a viable future for children.
The quickening pace of
the brain drain is set to cripple the civil service,
particularly
parastatals such as Tel*One and ZESA, which are losing skilled
technicians
and engineers to New Zealand, Australia and lately Birmingham in
the UK
where demand for skilled technical staff is extremely high.
A senior manager
at Tel*One said more than 80 percent of skilled staff had
left over the past
year alone and that about 15 technicians had tendered
their resignation this
month alone. He said most of them were "leaving for
greener
pastures."
"It is possible to point to political events over the past month
as the
primary cause for emigration," said the senior manager who declined
to be
named.
Sources spoke of an "unprecedented brain drain" at ZESA,
whose workers had
been on strike over the past week protesting for better
salaries.
According to a 2006 UNDP report, out of Zimbabwe's 14 million
people, almost
3 million, mainly skilled staff, are living outside the
country.
The Zimbabwean
OWN
CORRESPONDENT
HARARE - Business in Zimbabwe is urging a devaluation of the
local currency
against the greenback when the Reserve Bank governor
announces a new
monetary policy before the end of the month. Exporters
insist that the
current rate of $250 to the US dollar is unviable. On the
parallel market
the dollar is trading above $3000 to the US
dollar.
Depressed investment interest rates and high inflation (1098,8%)
powered the
stock market's key industrial index to fresh record highs at 633
391,06
points last Friday, as rioting stock prices doused any monetary
policy
scares after opening the year at 569 984,08 points.
Minings,
however, plunged deeper into misery, as the index slid a mammoth
6,5% to 347
321,73 points from 354 464,10 points at the opening of trade
this year, as
profit takers locked in rich pickings from earlier gains. The
stock
market's annual turnover for 2006 rose sharply to US$767,2 million (or
Z$191,8 billion), about 1 100% up on 2005 numbers at US$64 million (or Z$6,4
billion). Total market capitalisation surged to $6,7 trillion from just
under $200 million in 2005. The money market would in January receive more
than $30 billion in Treasury Bill and CPI coupon bond maturities.
The
total amount of maturities would be $34,031,296,666.51 of which
$14,617,537,807.79 would be CPI coupon bond maturities. January was likely
to be liquid from various cash deposits and civil servants salaries before
taking a slight dip mid month due to tax payments. The money market had
opened the year $14,3 billion down and was forecast to end $4,7 billion in
deficit due to cash deposits from commercial banks and building
societies.
As a result 90 day NCDs and Bas were being quoted at 70% and 100%
respectively, with call rates ranging between 3% and 5% while the interbank
was 15%.
The RBZ was on the market with two 365-day treasury bill tenders
and the
first was subscribed to the tune of $4 billion with $3 billion being
allotted at 325%.
The highest bid was 400% and lowest 300%. The second
tender attracted $1
billion which was fully allotted at 337,5%. The highest
bid was 340% and
lowest 335%.
The first week of the year saw commercial
banks hiking their minimum lending
rates in a bid to put a damper on
speculative borrowing. High borrowing
rates have long been used as a way to
smother consumptive and speculative
borrowing by investors.
MBCA Bank was
the first to announce that it was increasing its Minimum
Lending Rate to
500%.
The first week of the year saw financial institutions increasing the
minimum
thresholds for investments as they strive to find optimal returns
for
investors in the year 2007.
Hyperinflation has meant that the return
on smaller amounts invested is
minimal, as brokerage costs will take up most
of the gains. It is also to
the advantage of investors if they can set
aside bigger sums of money as
gains on such amounts as $9 000 are no longer
sufficient to buy even 2 kg of
rice.
Kingdom Stockbrokers increased its
minimum investment in shares to $300,000
per counter. Kingdom Asset Managers
and Unit Trusts have now hiked their
minimum investment levels to
$50,000.
Money market investments now require at least $500,000. The
National Social
Security Authority (NSSA), increased pension benefits under
the National
Pension Scheme with effect from January 1, as it seeks to align
benefits
with changes in the macro-economic environment. The reviews are
for the
retirement, invalidity, survivors' and funeral grant schemes which
fall
under the pension scheme.
Monthly benefits for the retirement scheme
have more than doubled from $5
000 effected in July last year to $12 900,
while beneficiaries under the
invalidity and survivors' schemes would get $5
700. The funeral grant has
been increased to $65 000 from $25 000. NSSA
has also reviewed upwards the
Insurable Earnings Ceiling from $50 000 per
month to $130 000.
Employees earning below $130 000 would have their
contributions based on 3%
of total earnings, of which the employer would
contribute at least half of
the total.
The Reserve Bank further extended
the curatorship period of Royal Bank and
Trust Bank from December 31 to
March 31, 2007 to enable the finalisation of
their cases before the courts.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Police are refusing to
release 81 packets of sanitary pads valued
at Z$129,200 impounded at a
roadblock along the Bindura highway last month,
saying because they fear the
pads are poisoned and are aimed at harming the
reproductive health of
peasant farmers.
The ridiculous excuse has shocked the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions
(ZCTU), which sourced the pads from and NGO, Action for
Southern Africa.
The sanitary pads were seized en route to Docking Farm in
Concession were
they were to be distributed to farm workers.
Police
manning a search and seize operation along the Harare/Bindura Highway
stopped a car belonging to the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers
Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), an affiliate of ZCTU, and seized the pads
alleging that former commercial farmers had poisoned them.
Police
allegedly took the sanitary pads to the police station and later
forwarded
them to the Ministry of Health for "inspection."
Repeated efforts by GAPWUZ
to recover them have so far been fruitless. The
police have also raided
GAPWUZ offices in Mvurwi where they again seized 189
packets of sanitary
pads with a market value of Z$302,400; which they
claimed, were also
poisoned.
"There exists no tangible proof, which shows that the pads were
'poisoned',"
said an NGO spokesman. "It is a ploy by the government to smear
and
disregard the good works being done by NGOs."
The Zimbabwean
BINGA - President Robert
Mugabe's governing Zanu (PF) party has tightened
control over food supplies
in Binga, starving opponents and manipulating
relief aid to enforce it's
hold on power, opposition and human rights groups
have said.
The
marginalized Tonga people voted for the Movement for Democratic Change
in
legislative polls held in March 2005. They voted for the opposition again
during rural district council elections in October last year. They are now
being starved as punishment.
"We are gravely worried about what's going
on here," Joel Gabuzza, an MP in
the area said. "If we do not get food
supplies into my area soon, starvation
and eventually death will occur along
party political lines," he said.
Gabuzza is the latest to allege that Mugabe
has cut off food to opponents
who have challenged the power of his ruling
Zanu (PF) party.
Earlier in November the European Union accused Mugabe of
using foreign food
aid as a political weapon, while the United States has
said it might
consider measures to guarantee that food aid deliveries are
free from
political interference.
A quarter of Zimbabwe's 12,5 million
people are at risk of starvation,
according to the United Nations' World
Food Programme (WFP). Zanu (PF),
which blames the country's food crisis on
drought, denies it has politicised
food distribution and has accused some
aid agencies of sending more relief
to opposition strongholds.
Gabuzza
alleged that the government began tightening control over food
supplies
ahead of the October rural district council election which saw
Mugabe's
ruling Zanu (PF) clinch almost three quarters of all the contested
seats in
the widely disputed poll which was mired in rigging and
manipulation.
Only card carrying ruling party members were being given
access to food,
with intelligence operatives enforcing the policy at almost
all the depots
in Binga and surrounding areas, Gabuzza said.
The Zimbabwean
JOHN MAKUMBE
For
most Zimbabweans, the year 2006 was harsh. The economy continued to
slide
into a bottomless pit. The social sector has become a pale shadow of
its
former self, with both schools and hospitals performing well below
previous
standards. At the political level, there was more gloom and doom as
both
factions of the MDC sought to outdo each other in various ways. The
ruling
Zanu (PF) continued to disintegrate into what Mugabe himself
described as
"shambles". The gloom was exacerbated by Mugabe's futile
attempt to extend
his tenure of office by another two years.
The year 2007 promises to be even
tougher and more inhospitable than 2006.
The cost of living is escalating
relentlessly, and most families are now
living well below the poverty datum
line. Unemployment is likely to reach a
record 90% before the end of the
year, while the school and college dropout
rate is likely to exceed 50% Most
schools and colleges have increased fees
to levels that can only be afforded
by middle and high-income earners, and
this will force the majority of the
children to drop out of formal
education. Naturally, the dropouts will have
to resort to a life of crime in
order to stay alive.
Medical fees have
also been raised to astronomical levels, forcing the
majority to resort to
traditional and faith healers as the only viable
option. Zimbabweans are
slowly becoming what MDC President, Morgan
Tsvangirai, once called "Stone
Age scavengers", thanks to Mugabe and his
bunch of hooligans. Meanwhile the
dictator and his minions continue to loot
the national resources with
impunity. The political will to fight against
corruption remains a very
scarce commodity, except in the form of Paul
Mangwana's (tomorrow) empty
rhetoric. Perhaps his surname says it all.
The feuding MDC factions need to
take serious measures to resolve their
differences and either re-unite or
formalise their differences by one of
them changing its name. There must
only be one MDC, for goodness' sake. Zanu
(PF) is undoubtedly at its weakest
level right now. Mugabe's beleaguered
party can be tackled most effectively
this year since it has lost virtually
all its popular support. Sadly,
however, the opposition "MDCs" seem to be
more interested in what the other
faction is doing rather than in what Zanu
(PF) is not doing for the benefit
of this country.
At the civic level, the slumber seems to continue unabated.
Steam seems to
have gone out of the euphoria that greeted the launch of the
National Vision
Document (NVD) by the pro-state clergy a few weeks ago.
Perhaps the pastors
are still on Christmas break. The Christian Alliance
promised to continue
its civic activities, if not intensify them. So this
year should see several
work boycotts organised by the Christian Alliance,
the ZCTU and other civic
groupings.
There is a serious need to make the
governance of this country prohibitively
costly for the dictator. Work
boycotts and other forms of industrial action
will go a long way to make the
regime divert considerable resources towards
maintaining a semblance of
control and political stability. The proposed
Constitutional Amendment
(Number 18), which will seek to give Mugabe two
additional years of national
devastation must be fought very strenuously.
The role of civil society in
this regard will be crucial. Mugabe must be
left in no doubt at all that he
is now very unwanted, if not hated, by all
Zimbabweans other than the small
minority of thiefocrats profiting from his
mis-rule.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The Zimbabwe
dollar has plunged yet further as a result of high
importer demand and
locals seeking hard currency as a hedge against rampant
inflation.
By
close of business on Monday, one US$ traded for Z$3,200 and one British
Pound for Z$5,300, while one South African Rand fetched Z$390. The
Zimbabwean dollar was pegged at 250 to the US$.
"There are huge pressures
on the dollar already," said one market analyst
here. "Companies have
reopened and a lot of importers have come on to the
market to buy foreign
currency and there have been some speculation on the
dollar."
Charles
Gurney, a leading market analyst said: "There appears to be no end
in sight
at this stage."
Analysts said Monday the dollar could fall further given the
level of import
cover.
"The Reserve Bank needs to do quite a lot, as they
also appear to be
confused just as we are," said an economist with a leading
financial house.
Economic consultant John Robertson said there was widespread
expectation in
the market that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono would
devalue the exchange
rate significantly when he presents his monetary policy
review in two weeks
time.
In its latest analysis, economic research and
consultancy firm, Techfin
Research forecast Zimbabwe's embattled domestic
currency's fair value by
December last year at $814.15 to the US dollar,
against the fixed $250 to
the greenback pegged by the central bank since
August last year.
Techfin further noted that the hapless Zimdollar would race
to a "fair
value" of $1,058.39 to the US unit this month and close 2007 at a
massive
$16,588.73 to the US dollar.
Techfin's projections are in tandem
with forecasts made by the IMF last year
predicting inflation to top 4,500
percent this year with the Gross Domestic
Product shrinking 4,7 percent.
The Zimbabwean
BY THABO KUNENE
BEIRA -
Hundreds of hungry Zimbabweans from the eastern province of
Manicaland are
reported flocking to the Mozambican port city of Beira in
search of jobs
foodstuffs no longer available in their once prosperous
country.
The once
proud and prosperous Zimbabweans have become a laughing stock in
southern
Africa. In the 1980s Zimbabweans used to laugh at Mozambicans and
Zambians
who crossed into their country to buy goods that were expensive or
not
available in their own countries.
Now it's the other way round. Zimbabweans
never thought they would be in
this situation and today they are seen as a
nuisance by their neighbours
whose economies have recovered owing to
economic reform, political stability
and investor confidence.
Tourism in
now booming in Mozambique and the country is expected to earn
US$150 million
this year. The excellent beaches attract thousands of western
and African
tourists every year.
Mozambique might also benefit from the influx of
tourists during the world
cup in 2010 in South Africa because of its
investor-friendly policies.
The former Portuguese colony has one of the
fastest growing economies in
Africa. Farai Mudzuri, a Zimbabwean working in
Beira, says hundreds of
Zimbabweans arrive every day to look for menial
jobs.
"I have seen people who were teachers in Zimbabwe who now work as
security
guards here because some companies pay in American dollars,"said
Mudzuri,
who once worked as a clerk at a Harare law firm.
He says he will
not return to Zimbabwe until Mugabe goes.
"That man has ruined our beautiful
country. I would rather be a slave here
in Mozambique than to go back to
starve in Zimbabwe."
Two weeks ago the South African press reported that
hundreds of Zimbabwean
border jumpers risk being mauled by lions at the
Kruger National Park trying
to enter South Africa illegally.
The Zimbabwean
BY FRANCO
HENWOOD
LONDON - It is all too easy to slide into despondency, doubt and
disenchantment at the prospects for change in Zimbabwe. But to listen to
Jenni Williams, coordinator of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, (WOZA) is to be put
to shame for ever entertaining such thoughts.
Williams was speaking to a
London forum meeting in central London. WOZA
defies easy, neat description.
It is not a political party. It seeks change
not by force of arms but by the
force of non-violent example. It seeks to
empower rather than seize power -
by forcing a change of heart on the part
of individuals. This is no soft
option. Such a course entails serious risks.
At its outset, sceptics gave
the movement three months. That was four years
ago. WOZA remains unbowed
despite the government's efforts to (literally)
stamp it out.
Towards the
end of 2006 it was time to take stock - notably the problem of
numbers. Why
weren't hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans taking to the
streets? The
non-violent expression of people power will one day remove the
regime. But
what will motivate the people to do so? By widespread
consultation
countrywide with over 10,000 Zimbabweans, WOZA set out to find
out. The
result was the People's Charter - a distillation of the aspirations
and
demands of rank and file Zimbabweans.
The Charter's launch in Bulawayo on 29
November 2006 was met with a
particularly brutal instance of police
violence, with over 60 - 70 injuries
sustained. Nonetheless external
scrutiny ensures her own and her comrades'
survival. Letters and phone calls
from sympathisers to police stations where
the women are held provide a
salutary reminder to police officers that the
outside world knows and cares
about what happens inside their holding cells.
And one day there will be a
calling to account.
The objective in 2007 will be to find political leaders
ready to stand up
and deliver the Charter. These may not necessarily be
prominent
personalities in the public eye - they may emerge from the ranks
of the
political 'nobodies'. As Williams reminded her audience: 'No one owns
freedom, but everyone enjoys it.' - Franco Henwood writes in his personal
capacity. The WOZA charter is available in Shona, English and Ndebele on
www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
The Zimbabwean
When is a Zimbabwean not a
Zimbabwean?
Johannesburg-based newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube is the latest
in a long
line of Zimbabweans to be caught in the sticky and convoluted web
of the
Mugabe regime's tangled and self-serving legislation.
Law and
order no longer exist in Zimbabwe. And yet the government continues
to
perform mental gymnastics of remarkable complexity in an absurd attempt
to
legislate the gross abuse of human rights and legalise criminal
behaviour -
as long as it is perpetrated only by those in power.
What is happening to
Ncube is nothing but a carefully orchestrated plan by
government to harass
independent journalists in a futile effort to control
the hearts and minds
of Zimbabweans.
Faced with unprecedented shortages resulting from the
collapse of the
economy and increased human rights abuses - necessitated by
the need to
subdue an angry and restless people - the government is
desperate to silence
any criticism, and to deny the opposition any
opportunity to communicate
effectively with the populace through the mass
media.
As rumblings of discontent even within Zanu (PF) grow louder, the
various
factions shadow-box themselves into position to mount a serious
challenge
for succession to Mugabe's throne. It is obvious to everyone that
his days
are numbered.
Ncube's publications, The Independent and The
Standard, are the only
locally-based independent newspapers remaining in
Zimbabwe. Instead of just
banning or bombing them, it is fascinating in a
sense to observe the Mugabe
regime's convoluted, a, efforts to shut them
down or take them over.
Ncube has owned and run the papers for more than a
decade. Yet now, after
all these years, government brings up the question of
citizenship in a
pathetically transparent ploy to take advantage of a
hare-brained decree
that limits participation in the media to citizens
only.
The recent government action in refusing to renew Ncube's passport,
forcing
him to take costly and time-consuming legal action to compel
registrar
general, Tobaiwa Mudede, to restore his birthright, raises
fundamental
questions about citizenship rights.
This is just another step
in the Zanu (PF) regime's abuse of its powers in
regard to the systematic
abrogation of human rights. Ncube joins millions
of Zimbabweans whose
rights have been arbitrarily and illegally trampled
upon, and who have no
recourse to the law.
For example, communities in Gokwe and Mberengwa have had
their shortwave
radios confiscated recently by the CIO. For many, this was
their only means
of accessing information. At the time of going to press,
the CIO continues
to ignore a court order declaring the seizures
illegal.
This is a clear indication of the hopelessness of the situation in
Zimbabwe
with regard to law and order. To whom should the people now turn?
Where do
we go from here?
Fellow Zimbabweans, I wish to recognise the difficulties in
the last few days of 2006 and into the New Year. I note that 2007 began on an
even harsher scale as we face rising prices of basic commodities, escalating
transport costs and huge bills for school fees.
My heart goes out to those
families still in grief over the loss of loved ones because of the collapse of
our health delivery system and the shortage of food and live-saving HIV
drugs.
Special mention must go to our embattled business community, harassed
and arrested almost daily for trying to save their beleaguered investments and
entrepreneurial operations.
The year ahead of us presents even greater
challenges to pensioners, small-scale miners and cross-border traders as they
grapple with the rising cost of living in a hyper-inflationary
environment.
Our transition to a New Zimbabwe has been long and hard. We have
come a long way. We are encouraged by your determination and unwavering stance
against this dictatorship.
Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) are on the verge of
collapse. Recent developments in that party show a growing disenchantment with
the ruling elite. Within Zanu PF, a significant body of opinion today is in
favour of a solution to the national crisis.
I thank you for weakening the
nerve centre of the dictatorship through your refusal to legitimize the plunder
of our national resources and rapacious acts of misrule. Things have begun to
fall apart.
We are ready to co-operate and work with committed patriots who
see sense in what we seek to achieve. We need to realign our positions and
embrace those willing to join hands with us and save Zimbabwe from further
damage.
Mugabe and Zanu (PF) must be stopped from continuously abusing
well-meaning Zimbabweans, regardless of their political persuasion, whose
patriotic desire is to chart an all inclusive way forward.
The shameful
attack on the home and family of constitutional expert and activist Dr Lovemore
Madhuku is a symptom of the general panic within the establishment over a
definite shift towards a national consensus on Zimbabwe's future.
Robert
Mugabe and some elements in Zanu (PF) are terrified of tomorrow. They are trying
to find an escape route out of a house already on fire. They shall target
progressive groups and individuals to divert attention and to frustrate and
intimidate them away from making a contribution to the realization of a New
Zimbabwe and a new society.
The regime shall employ desperate tactics to
silence those from within its ranks who are against Mugabe bid to extend his
rule to 2010. The regime will confront all of us in the forlorn hope of imposing
its will onto the people.
At our second Congress in March 2006, we charted a
roadmap out of the national crisis. We agreed on a path to re-assert our
political future and Save Zimbabwe. We set out to confront what is before us and
I made a public call reflecting the same.
Despite the initial hitches and
process impediments, our plan to be heard is clear to all.
Today, I repeat
that call and advise the nation to maintain open options and to keep its ear on
the ground. The year 2007 has abundant opportunities. We must exploit them to
help ourselves.
We have solutions to the national crisis.
With the
fast-shifting opinion in Zanu (PF) and the resolute feeling in civil society,
let us build a national consensus and work together to complete the
transition.
The Zimbabwean
BY FRANCIS SIBANDA
BULAWAYO -
The cash-strapped Bulawayo City Council's health department
refuse
collection and disposal has virtually collapsed in the face of
critical
shortages of fuel and spare parts.
Currently, there are 15 vehicles servicing
the entire city, instead of the
27 vehicles required. Ten of these are
compressor-type vehicles, which
usually cover the high density areas, while
the five box-type vehicles
service the low density areas.
Refuse
collection has dwindled to only once a fortnight.
The City Council is on
record for complaining that residents and Government
departments owe it a
huge amount of money. It has proposed a tough budget
for 2007, which is
awaiting approval by the Ministry of Local Government and
Urban Development.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The
cash-strapped Zimbabwe government has moved to restore its
fiscal
credibility and patch up relations with the International Monetary
Fund
(IMF) by allowing it to publish a searing analysis of Harare's "fiscal
profligacy" and "governance problems" over the past year.
The report was
prepared for Zimbabwe's latest two-week annual consultation
with a
six-member IMF delegation in December. It warns that without a
fundamental
policy turnaround, Zimbabwe faces a precipitous decline in
activity and
employment, hyperinflation and a rapid deterioration of bank
loan portfolios
that could worsen an already dire financial crisis. There is
a serious risk
of regional contagion, the Bretton Woods institution said.
The Zimbabwean
authorities were grateful for the IMF's "constructive role",
and considered
the Article IV assessment fair, accurate and candid, Peter
Gakunu, IMF
executive director who led the consultative talks, said this
week. Gakunu
represents the African voting bloc, which includes Zimbabwe, on
the fund's
board.
The report holds out hope that Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and
his team
can reverse the economy's decline if the government could muster
the broad
political consensus needed to stabilise the economy.
"It is
still possible for Zimbabwe to regain its rightful status as an
anchor of
stability and prosperity in southern Africa". Murerwa is applauded
for
"raising the awareness of public opinion about the size of the fiscal
deficit and its root causes".
The IMF said efforts were "hamstrung by
continued policy weaknesses,
dislocations and uncertainties related to the
fast-track land resettlement
programme, price and exchange rate
distortions".
The IMF has begun to push member states to permit the release
of staff
reports, but most countries still exercise their right to keep the
documents
confidential. Gakunu said Murerwa had authorised publication as
part of his
drive to enhance transparency.
Released with the report were
the government's responses to its
recommendations, which include a return to
the rule of law in implementing a
land reform programme designed to garner
domestic and international support.
In reply, Zimbabwean authorities stopped
short of promising to uphold the
law. They said enforcing the law would be
facilitated if local commercial
farmers and bankers, and international
donors, provided concrete assistance
for land acquisition, resettlement, and
"broad agrarian reform". Government
also stated the issue of 99-year leases
to farmers meant the land reform was
now a "done deal."
The IMF predicts
that Zimbabwe's real GDP will shrink by 10 percent this
year and inflation
will close the year at 4,500 percent. With changes
factored in, they foresee
a smaller, 6,5 percent contraction. With reform,
they expect the economy to
rebound in the coming years, with growth rising
to about 5 percent in
subsequent years.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The Reserve Bank has
not yet established the much-awaited Exchange
Rate Impact Assessment Board
(ERIAB), six months after central bank governor
Gideon Gono announced plans
to set up the institution. ERIAB was expected
to regularly review the
exchange rate in line with inflation.
The local currency has been under
sustained pressure due to hyperinflation,
currently at 1 098,8%.
ERIAB
was expected to monitor and review the exchange rate monthly and make
recommendations to the Reserve Bank on the fair value rate for the currency
on the foreign exchange market.
In August last year, Gono devalued the
local unit by about 60% to $250
against the benchmark US dollar from
$101.
While the local currency is pegged at $250 to the US dollar it is
trading
above $3 000 on the parallel market.
In a bid to raise Z$160
billion to finance government capital projects, the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) has issued its first trunk of long term paper
this year that has a
three-year tenure.
Economists interviewed said the issuing of the paper
signals that the
Reserve Bank might yet come up with more measures to help
shift the current
debt profile in favour of long-term commitments as opposed
to short term.
Zimbabwe is saddled with a huge foreign and domestic debt
after it stopped
receiving balance of payments support from multi-lateral
institutions in
2000. The government has been increasingly turning to
borrowing aggressively
on the local money market in order to finance its
projects.
"Variable but fixed coupon rate of 350% in year 2007; 250% in year
2008 and
100% in year 2009 is payable at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,
Harare, half
yearly on the dates to be indicated on the stock certificates
by remittance
to the credit of a bank or building society," the Reserve Bank
said in a
statement. - Business reporter
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Hundreds
of tertiary, primary and secondary school students failed
to return to
school as the new term opened Tuesday due to a combination of
steep fees
increases, extremely high bus fare for boarders and a massive
shortage in
enrolment places.
Most schools hiked their tuition by an average 100 percent,
citing
inflationary pressures. At Lusitania Primary School in Greendale for
example, school fees for a Grade One pupil shot from Z$145,000 last year to
Z$277,000 this term.
A parent who had a pupil going to Grade 3 at the
school told The Zimbabwean
that she had pulled out her child from the school
and registered her at a
township day school in Sunningdale.
Day schools
in the townships were overwhelmed with students seeking
placements.
At
Harare High in Mbare, the school officials said they could not meet the
demand for enrolment places and had sought permission from the education
ministry to take in more than the stipulated maximum of 60 students per
class. There is already "hot seating" at the school, with two sets of
classes each day, the morning and afternoon class.
At Mbare Musika bus
terminus, hundreds of students were still stranded on
Tuesday after long
distance bus operators took advantage of the huge demand
in transport by
hiking their fares to astronomical levels. A student who
wanted to travel to
Gokomere High School in Masvingo said he had been at the
terminus since
Monday hoping to get a cheaper bus. The regulated fare for
travel to
Masvingo is $7,000 but bus operators were charging $25,000 for a
trip.
Weighed down by a collapsing economy, most parents said they could
no longer
afford boarding fees and transferred their children to local
schools, which
are usually cheap. Even local schools hiked their fares with
tuition at
Kuwadzana High 1 for example shooting to $30,000 up from $20,000.
Levies
also went up by the same margin. This was on top of a massive surge
in the
prices of school uniforms and books.
Hundreds of Form One students
also failed to secure places at the relatively
cheaper schools. However,
Form One places were available in Mufakose and
Mbare at Number 3 and 4 High
Schools, St Peters, Mbare High and George Stark
which are considered the
worst schools in Harare due to their appallingly
low pass rate. However most
parents were reluctant to enroll their children
at these
schools.
Meanwhile, students at tertiary institutions were girding their
loins,
preparing to confront government through "jambanja" after a steep
rise in
tuition.
Most students failed to enroll for class on Monday at
Harare Polytechnic
after a sharp rise in tuition from $11,000 to $350,000
per term. While
President Mugabe is on record saying no students should be
turned away from
school because they have failed to raise fees, students who
had not paid
tuition at the Polytechnic in Harare were barred from attending
class.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union
of
Zimbabwe said President Mugabe's "Education For All" policy, which he
declared when he first took office in 1980, was becoming an ever more
distant memory.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is set to crack
the whip on
the truant opposition party's UK branch leadership today at the
first
meeting of the National Executive in Harare this year.
The MDC UK branch
leadership, which has attempted to usurp the power vested
in leader Morgan
Tsvangirai by engaging in diplomatic activities without a
mandate from the
President, has openly defied warnings by International
Relations chief
Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro to stop engaging British and
European
diplomats on behalf of the party.
The errant branch, led by chairman Ephraim
Tapa and secretary Julius
Dewa-Mutyambizi, has taken the tussle into the
public domain, leaking
private correspondence between the UK branch and
President Tsvangirai to the
press.
Mukonoweshuro has described the two as
"dangerous loose canons" and the
opposition party's executive will seal
their fate in Harare today. A
resolution is expected to be passed by the
party's Standing Committee, which
will meet at Harvest House on
Friday.
While Mukonoweshuro instructed the two to stop meddling in diplomatic
activities after being directed by Tsvangirai because this was outside the
scope of their responsibilities, the two responded in a letter that was
unrestrained and not couched in temperate and professional terms. In their
response they described the warning as "rubbish" and went on to circulate
the letter to everyone who cared to read, dragging a matter involving
diplomacy into the public domain.
The MDC cannot accept such "gross
insubordination verging on outright
rebellion."
The Zimbabwean
BY STANFORD MUKASA
Born 1820 -
still going strong
For people who drink the Johnnie Walker whisky, the label:
"Born 1820 -
Still going Strong!" will be familiar. In a similar vein, when
Robert
Mugabe ordered the invasion of commercial farms in 2000 few people
ever
imagined his regime could still be in power nearly seven years
later.
If one reviews media headlines about Mugabe in the past seven years
the
predictions were for a regime that was about to fall anytime because of
the
economic meltdown.
Indeed, all the conditions for the fall of the
Mugabe regime exist in
Zimbabwe today. The situation has deteriorated to a
point where Mugabe's
greatest accomplishment is the near total destruction
of the social and
economical infrastructure.
Zimbabwe has, to all intents
and purposes, now hit rock bottom. Things
cannot get any worse than this.
Zimbabweans have had more than their share
of life in Hell. In their state
of atrophy, Zimbabweans appear resigned to
their fate: sitting, weeping,
singing and praying by the Rivers of Babylon
in the hope that someone,
anyone, will come to their rescue.
The lifeline that is keeping many afloat
are remittances from those in the
diaspora. Zimbabweans abroad send an
estimated US$100 million home every
month.
The vast majority of
Zimbabweans have lost almost everything. Only a few
elite Zanu (PF)
supporters have gained materially. Mugabe's cronies are
bursting with
wealth looted from state resources. Mugabe has created a
lifeboat of
affluence for his cronies.
Several years ago a travel writer visited what
used to be called
Stanleyville in the then Belgian Congo. He noticed that
the once thriving
city in the middle of nowhere had now degenerated into
abandoned buildings
that were systematically being choked by thick shrubs.
His conclusion was
that the jungle was claiming the city, soon there would
be few signs that a
city was ever there.
This analogy is very similar to
the descriptions of today's Zimbabwe by many
people who recently visited the
country. One visitor said she saw a Tsunami
type of social environment. It
was like the nation had been hit by an
earthquake, a civil war or some
natural disaster.
A journalist noted that many Zimbabweans have been reduced
to eating rats.
That report, incidentally, was attacked on the grounds that
rats or mbeva
are a delicacy in Zimbabwe in as much as dogs, frog's legs,
monkeys and
snakes are delicacies in other cultures.
But what critics of
the report missed in their haste to attack the
journalist was that rats are
not a mainstream or staple food for most
Zimbabweans. Yes, they are eaten
among some of the rural population, but
they are universally shunned by
modern Zimbabweans. There are some
traditional foods that modern
Zimbabweans no longer touch. A Zimbabwean
musician composed a song in which
a boss fired an employee and told him to
go back to the rural areas to grow
sweet potatoes!
The people's poverty and misery have sustained the Mugabe
regime.
Zimbabweans are like a sick person who has not sought medical
treatment to
cure himself of the disease - ZANUPFitis. Unlike HIV/AIDS,
there is a
potent cure for ZANUPFitis.
The cure is also available for
free. It is called mass action. This cure has
been tried, tested and worked
in several countries around the world. Yet
people are in a state of denial
that this cure could work for them as well.
They are hoping this disease,
will go away and they will recover.
In postponing any action to deal with the
disease right now Zimbabweans are
bequeathing future generations a legacy of
a dilapidated country that will
be very expensive to repair.
What is
needed is for the opposition to evaluate critically their strategies
of the
past seven years and learn from their mistakes. To make hollow
promises and
then repeat the same ineffectual activities is a reflection of
poor
leadership.
The opposition leadership and the Zimbabweans could learn
something from
Bishop Desmond Tutu's non-violent strategies against South
Africa's
apartheid regime.
When the apartheid regime was intensifying its
repression of South Africans,
Tutu planned a protest march.
Despite the
ruthlessness of the apartheid police and army who were brought
in to deal
forcefully with the opposition movement, the march took place
with thousands
of the people on the streets. Asked whether people were
prepared to
participate in nonviolent action that did not show immediate
promise Tutu
said the people of South Africa, just like slaves in America,
had always had
a spiritual hope for salvation regardless of how long it
would take. And
when the South Africans took to the streets they were not
necessarily
expecting immediate results.
Many Zimbabweans today shy away from mass
protests because they do not think
they will bring immediate results. They
are missing the philosophy of mass
protests. When thousands of unarmed
citizens take to the streets and
confront their armed oppressors they are
actually exposing the violence. And
that exposure can have a profound
impact, both nationally and
internationally.
While many people have given
up on mass action this form of protest remains
Zimbabweans' strongest weapon
against Mugabe. It has not been tried and
tested in the manner it should.
Previous calls for mass action have met with
little enthusiasm, and poor
coordination.
It must be remembered that Mugabe, unlike Johnnie Walker
whisky, is a mere
mortal.
The Zimbabwean
BY CHIKWAPURO
The
skills drain that is a plague in Africa at present has hit Zimbabwe very
hard. The statistics for the number of people who have left the country and
the skills lost are staggering. The people at home are left in desperate
need of health care and health professionals equally desperate for resources
to treat people, teach and train more health workers with.
In the past we
had good infrastructure for training health workers. Now
there are more
Zimbabwean doctors outside Zimbabwe than in, more
radiographers and
pharmacists in UK that in Zimbabwe etc. The people who
should be producing
the health professionals of tomorrow in Zimbabwe are
busy struggling for
survival at home and away.mostly away.
Zimbabwe Health Training Support
[ZHTS] fulfils a need by those who have
left to support colleagues at home.
This support will mostly be in the field
of health worker training at all
levels: community, nurse, and all
professions allied to medicine. To date we
have been able to send one person
to give a set of lectures for the Masters
in Medicine course at the College
of Health Sciences at the University of
Zimbabwe. With the support of the
British Medical Association and the
British Medical Journal we expect to
send some books to the College.
For
2007 we have set ourselves some challenges. Zimbabwe has some of the
worst
death rates among pregnant women or those who have recently given
birth. The
reason is poor access to health care. The availability of
maternity care has
decreased with loss of midwives as care givers and
trainers of others.
Maternal health is one of the Millennium Development
Goals [MDG] of the
World Health Organisation. Is there anything we can do to
help..from
outside?
Many models of support for developing countries show that it is
often the
little things that act on peoples' morale and motivation to
achieve more
than they would normally. The little things are teaching
materials that they
need that make teaching a joy rather than a burden, easy
access to
information that enhances their own knowledge base and confidence,
professional contact and support from other people in the same
field.
People abroad have much easier access to these types of resources and
they
can make a big difference by making them accessible to colleagues left
holding up what is left of the health care system. Where people with skills
can and want to go to Zimbabwe to teach or do clinical work to support, we
are keen to help with organisational support so that people do not just
'turn up' wanting to do something. 'Turning up' disrupts working schedules
and ends up costing local people more time than they have.
We are a
membership organisation for anyone, Zimbabwean or British, health
professional or not, interested in supporting the training needs of health
professions and supporting their work. Already there are individual people
sending equipment, books, or using their holidays to give lectures etc in
Zimbabwe. Any nurse, doctor, pharmacist, laboratory scientist or anyone in
the UK wanting to support such activities through the combined efforts of
colleagues and friends can join us. - ZHTS e-mail: faratose@hotmail.com
Jan 10 2007 10:14PM
http://sayanythingblog.com/index.php
Zimbabwe's
Robert Mugabe has conducted a massive campaign of theft against
gold panners
in his nation, arresting as many as 20,000 of them over the
last few weeks.
Mugabe wants to seize control of gold supplies from people
that have already
been dislocated once, from the farms that used to produce
both food and
labor opportunities:
Mugabe's government forces the
miners to sell the ore they capture at the
fixed currency rate, a policy
which means that they can only get a tenth of
the real value of the gold.
Many do sell on the black market, and others
have to mine and pan more
agressively in order to make enough money to
survive. As a result of these
raids, families on the edge of survival even
with the panning will probably
not live very much longer.
Who are the panners? They
are the people who worked the farms of Zimbabwe
when they were under white
ownership. After Mugabe seized most of the farms,
the farming system fell
apart, and most of the workers had no opportunities
for jobs in Zimbabwe's
collapsing economy.
At some point, the West will have
to get over being embarrassed by its
colonial history and deal with the
damage done by the monsters that filled
the vacuum of their departures. All
of the Live Aids in the world will not
touch the underlying causes of famine
and misery in such a fertile land.
OhMyNews
Economic woes
forces women to sell sex
Nelson G. Katsande (NELKA)
Published 2007-01-11 11:57 (KST)
A group of prostitutes marched through
the streets of Harare on Tuesday
denouncing the incumbent government. The
protest, the first of its kind in
the troubled Southern African country,
marked a new era for President
Mugabe.
The group numbering 50, waved
placards calling on the government to
recognize them as a legitimate sex
industry. The peaceful demonstration
started at noon and shoppers were
stunned to see a young girl in school
uniform among the demonstrators. Her
mother, Rosemary is an unlicensed
brothel operator.
The women, clad
in skimpy dresses and miniskirts, also denounced the police,
who they
accused of abusing and robbing them. Prostitution is illegal in
Zimbabwe and
prostitutes are regularly rounded up by police officers and
arrested. They
are then made to pay various amounts in fines for their
release. But once
released they get back to the streets.
Rosemary told OhmyNews that she
has worked as a prostitute for eight years
and that throughout that time had
witnessed some of her colleagues being
abused by the police. She alleged
that some corrupt officers ask for sexual
favors and cash from prostitutes
in order to release them. Among her clients
are senior police officers and
high profile politicians.
Sex workers are the most vulnerable group in
Zimbabwe. They are often
exposed to violence and sexual health problems. In
spite of these dangers,
the number of women turning to prostitution has
increased. In the outskirts
of Harare prostitutes are said to be demanding
diesel and petrol from
prospective clients in return for sexual
services.
The prostitutes would then sell the fuel on the black market at
seven times
its market value. Petrol is in short supply in the country and
is seen as a
better payment method. The women demand 30 liters of fuel for
unprotected
sex and 20 liters for protected sex.
While authorities
ignore the plight of prostitutes, more and more cases of
sexually
transmitted diseases are reported at health institutions. A nurse
at Harare
hospital said the number of women seeking medical treatment for
sexually
transmitted diseases has increased in the last six months.
Many women
have been forced into prostitution as a result of the country's
economic
meltdown. Some are reported to be crossing into neighboring Zambia
to sell
sex in exchange for Zambian currency.
Although the Zimbabwean government
fails to recognize prostitution in the
country, the voices of the women are
well worth listening to. They need
protection!