The Times
January 17, 2008
Jan
Raath in Harare and Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg
President Mbeki of South
Africa flew into Harare yesterday amid reports of
an imminent deal between
President Mugabe and the Zimbabwean opposition to
end the country's
political and economic crisis.
Mr Mbeki, who was mandated last year to
try to mediate a solution to a
crisis threatening the stability of the
entire southern African region,
arrived to find the country's opposition in
an unexpectedly defiant mood.
Both factions of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) have called for
mass rallies and marches to demand a
postponement of presidential and
parliamentary elections that Mr Mugabe
scheduled unilaterally for March.
“It's as if they were inspired by
[opposition leader] Raila Odinga's call to
the streets in Kenya,” a Western
envoy said. Political analysts in Southern
Africa, however, voiced
scepticism over reports of a breakthrough.
“What we are seeing here is
classic spin. The fact is Mugabe won't give up
real power and that is what
needs to be done to make progress,” one
Johannesburg-based regional expert
said.
Mr Mugabe, who is 83 next month and has ruled since independence in
1980,
has vowed to run for another five-year term despite human rights
abuses and
a ruined economy that has sent millions of Zimbabweans to seek a
living in
neighbouring countries. Annual inflation is now officially higher
than 8,000
per cent.
Diplomats in Harare agreed that Mr Mbeki's
assurances to Bertie Ahern, the
Irish Prime Minister, in Pretoria this week
that a deal was “within days”
would prove unfounded.
After nine
months of talks overseen by Mr Mbeki, the ruling Zanu (PF) party
and
delegations from the two MDC factions have inched towards an accord on a
new
constitution and reforms to electoral, security and media laws. The
talks
stalled in October, when the MDC factions demanded that a new
constitution
be introduced before the elections and rejected most of the
reforms as
cosmetic. Last weekend Mr Mbeki, who announced this month that he
was taking
personal charge of the talks, broke the deadlock when he called
negotiators
from the ruling party and the MDC factions to Pretoria to
restart
discussions.
The MDC has declared that it will hold a march in Harare
next Wednesday to
press demands for a postponement of the elections, risking
a repeat of the
brutal suppression meted out by police last year to Mr
Mugabe's opponents.
Among the concessions granted by Mr Mugabe has been a
law effectively
allowing public demonstrations.
The MDC is taking Mr
Mugabe at his word. “Our march is a statement against a
failed state,” said
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai,
the former trade union leader. “We have to test the
sincerity of Zanu
(PF).”
Yesterday armoured cars and Israeli-made police water cannon
vehicles were
patrolling the streets of Harare.
Civic groups
indicated recently that Mr Mugabe had already put in place
conditions for an
election as contrived as the last three he has fought -
and won - since
2000. One of Mr Mugabe's tricks has been to manipulate the
voters' roll to
pour thousands of ruling party worker into opposition
strongholds. His
regime also retains control of television and radio and an
“independent”
electoral commission is packed with Zanu (PF) stalwarts.
From today the
central bank will be issuing Zimbabwe dollar notes to the
value of one
million, five million and ten million. The biggest note is
worth about £1.70
on the black market, the only real measure of the
currency's value, and can
buy ten bananas. Cash is in short supply because
prices have been going up
faster than the central bank has been able to
print money.
Zim Online
by Own
Correspondent Friday 18 January 2008
HARARE – South Africa’s
President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday failed to break
Zimbabwe’s political
stalemate but told reporters that the search for a
solution was still
on.
Mbeki emerged from a meeting with Mugabe at the State House
presidential
palace in Harare that lasted several hours to tell reporters
nothing had
been concluded and that the dialogue process was still much a
“work in
progress.”
“We have’nt concluded anything we are still trying to
find a solution,” said
Mbeki, who arrived in Harare earlier in the day amid
reports from South
Africa that a breakthrough on the Zimbabwe crisis was
imminent.
Leaders of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party
whose leaders met Mbeki earlier in the day were not immediately
available
for comment on the matter.
Mbeki, has since last April led
efforts by the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to find a
negotiated solution to Zimbabwe’s eight-year
crisis by facilitating talks
between Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party and the
MDC.
The South African
leader said he had brifed Mugabe, MDC leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara on the talks, which he said were continuing.
“We are going to
continue the process, it’s work in progress,” said Mbeki,
as Mugabe stood
silently by his side.
After a surprisingly fruitful start to dialogue
which saw the parties
reaching several agreements including a key
constitutional amendment
allowing the holding of parliamentary and
presidential elections this year,
the talks appear in danger of
collapse.
The talks have hit a deadlock over demands by the MDC that a
new
constitution drafted by negotiators be enacted before the elections and
that
the polls be pushed back to June to allow political reforms agreed
between
the two parties to take root.
Mugabe has flatly rejected the
MDC demands insisting that the elections will
be held in March “without
fail.”
The government-owned Herald newspaper reported Thursday that ZANU
PF was
also insisting that the MDC call on its “Western handlers” to lift
targeted
sanctions imposed about six years ago on Mugabe’s lieutenants in an
attempt
to nudge them towards political reforms.
Mugabe and ZANU PF
have often portrayed the MDC as a puppet of the West, a
charge the
opposition party denies.
The MDC however says it does not have powers to
call on Britain, the United
States and the European Union to lift the
sanctions that Harare says have
contributed to Zimbabwe’s economic
woes.
Mbeki’s visit to Harare comes a few weeks after he was asked to
directly
intervene in the talks following fears last December that the talks
were in
real danger of total collapse.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a
severe economic recession that has manifested
itself in hyperinflation, a
rapidly contracting GDP, the fastest for a
country not at war according to
the World Bank and shortages of basically
every essential
commodity.
Political analysts say truly democratic elections are a
prerequisite to any
plans to resuscitate Zimbabwe’s comatose economy. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Dakarayi Mawoyo Friday 18 January
2008
HARARE – Zimbabwe is hurtling towards total collapse
with the country’s
public infrastructure fast collapsing, while a severe
cash shortage has
drained a population grappling with the world’s fastest
rising prices and
that has fed growing anger against President Robert
Mugabe’s government.
Zimbabwe has in the past eight years hopped from
crisis to crisis - mainly
marked by shortages of foreign currency, food and
fuel and the highest
inflation rate in the world - and at the weekend
residents in the capital
Harare woke up to find their water taps had run
dry.
Since then, residents have come to a reality that water shortages
could be a
permanent feature of their lives.
Although some suburbs
have gone for weeks, some even months without water,
this is the first time
that the entire capital city has been hit by water
shortages because of an
acute shortage of foreign currency to import key
treatment chemicals and
power to pump water.
“The government has without doubt lost control,”
consultant economist John
Robertson said, noting that although the
government had taken over water
management from Harare city council, this
had only worsened the situation.
“This is a reflection of the state of
Zimbabwe’s economy that it has
collapsed. I am not sure they (government)
know what to do next,” said
Robertson.
Even when the water finally
comes, it is usually rusty and has raised
concern among residents who charge
that authorities are not properly
purifying the water, which could lead to a
major disease outbreak.
The southern African state is mired in a
debilitating economic crisis
largely blamed on Mugabe’s style of governance,
which has seen him labelled
a dictator by his critics after forcibly seizing
land from whites in 2000
and lately plans to nationalise foreign-owned
companies like mines and
banks.
The 83-year-old Mugabe is a combative
and ruthless politician who denies
dragging the economy into the abyss but
argues that his policies are meant
to redress inequality brought about by a
century of colonialism.
Although the veteran leader says Zimbabwe will
never collapse, events in the
past month have shown he may have lost
control.
Thousands of people have besieged banks, wasting valuable
working hours
queuing for cash which is in short supply - thanks to runaway
inflation
officially at close to 8 000 percent but which independent
analysts say
could be anything above 24 000 percent.
Inflation, which
Mugabe has labelled Zimbabwe’s number one enemy, has meant
basic goods such
as a standard loaf of bread cost more than a million
dollars and consumers
often have to carry sacks of cash to go shopping for
basic household
goods.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Wednesday reacted to the
cash crisis
the only way it has for the past five years, by printing more
and higher
denominated bearer cheques, with the highest cheque worth Z$10
million.
Bearer cheques are not money but promissory notes first
introduced by RBZ at
the height of cash shortages in 2003. They function the
same as actual
money.
RBZ chief Gideon Gono - who insisted the bank
was “in full control of the
currency situation in the country” - blames
currency shortages on cash
barons he says have siphoned off huge amounts of
cash from banks to the
lucrative black market to fund fuel deals and foreign
currency trade.
But analysts have dismissed this, finding fault with the
government’s
economic policies, which have created a fertile ground for
corrupt and
illegal business practices by a minority while the majority
suffers.
“Some of us have given up, we don’t know what to do anymore,” a
despondent
Maria Chikuhwa told ZimOnline outside a building society she had
gone to
withdraw money without success. “I don’t think things will improve
soon,
maybe they will get worse,” she said.
Indeed things will get
worse!
Incessant rains pounding Zimbabwe and the southern Africa region
have washed
away crops in many parts of the country and any hope of a bumper
harvest
have vanished, which could force the government to dig deeper for
scarce
foreign currency to import food.
Power cuts continue to hit
residents while potholes widen, making roads
death traps for
drivers.
However, as many worry about the effects of the economic crisis,
political
temperature is heating up as Mugabe seeks re-election for another
five-year
term, which analysts warn would seal Zimbabwe’s fate as a
pariah.
Years of discontent within the ruling ZANU-PF could lead to an
internal
rebellion against Mugabe as some senior officials in his party are
rumoured
to be plotting to form a splinter party to challenge his
27-year-old hold on
power.
“Mugabe is fighting on several fronts but
the biggest loser is Zimbabwe
which will be in paralysis when all has been
said and done,” Eldred
Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the
University of Zimbabwe
said. – ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Daniel Molokele Friday 18 January
2008
JOHANNESBURG - In 1997, I decided to pass on a
chance to attain the status
of being 'one of the founding members' of
Zimbabwe’s main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party.
Since then I have never joined any other political party up to
today. I had
several reasons for all this. I intend to highlight them in my
forthcoming
book on my role and contribution to the student movement in
Zimbabwe.
But for the purposes of this present debate, I will immediately
highlight
one of them.
I decided not to join the MDC because I knew
that it had the ultimate duty
to engage the status quo and help to move the
Zimbabwean political
dispensation forward.
Inevitably, such a task
involved two asymmetrical processes of engagement
with ZANU PF. The first
option was an outright victory over the ruling
party. (Witness the MMD's
experience with UNIP in Zambia)
The second one was by way for compromise
in the event of a failure by the
MDC to completely dislodge the ruling
party.
The elections of both 2000 and 2002 were clearly dominated by high
hopes and
expectations of an outright victory on the part of the
MDC.
Unfortunately as history would have it, it was not to be. ZANU PF
managed to
survive the MDC juggernaut by hook or crook. The rest as they say
is
history.
Be that as it may, a last ditch effort was further
presented to the MDC in
March 2005 but as we might all recall, the MDC
proved by then that it had
lost much of its original venom and ZANU PF this
time had an easier task of
brushing off the challenge from the
MDC.
The issue of the Senate elections then had the effect of further
dividing
the MDC and in the final analysis gave the upper hand to ZANU
PF.
Since the October 2005 debacle, it was always going to be harder for
the MDC
to stick to the first option. It is thus hardly a BIG surprise that
as I
write today, the dominant process at the moment is now option
B.
Both MDC and ZANU PF need to compromise in order to move
forward.
Zimbabwe has virtually come to a standstill. The difference
between the two
political parties has narrowed up so much that they are both
presently
facing the risk of political irrelevance.
Neither of the
two can honestly claim to have the full confidence of the
electorate, let
alone the greater Zimbabwean populace.
The fact that at least three
million adults and the majority of the
electorate are now based outside the
country as the so-called Diaspora
further underline the failure of the
Zimbabwean political process in the
past decade.
The public
confidence in the electoral system of Zimbabwe is now at an all
time
low.
It is doubtful that given the recent history of lack of credibility
to the
national polls, the forthcoming ones will even be able to garner
sufficient
interest from a weary electorate.
The reality is that the
voters are suffering from a serious bout of election
fatigue and apathy
could prove to be the decisive winner.
Something then ought to
give!
In this regard, one should seriously take note of the words given
to
Parliament by the likes of Patrick Chinamasa, Joram Gumbo, Thokozani
Khupe,
Gibson Sibanda and Welshman Ncube on the eve of the 18th
Constitutional
Amendment.
They all clearly held the notion that as
long as the political impasse
continued to persist, then both ZANU PF and
MDC risked being accused of
political sterility and stagnation.
They
both risked outright rejection by the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe
who
have borne the brunt of the failure of the national electoral system to
produce a clear political leadership for our people.
Here are some
excerpts from the reports of the parliamentary debate at that
time:
“This (agreement by Zanu-PF and the MDC on the amendments)
should be
regarded as the first step of a holistic resolution to the
Zimbabwe crisis,"
said Ms Khupe.
She said the negotiating teams
should deliberate further on other important
aspects, including the overhaul
of the security, media and electoral laws.
Bulawayo North-East MP and
secretary general of the Mutambara faction
Professor Welshmen Ncube also
supported the Bill.
"I fully and unconditionally endorse the remarks made
by my colleague (Ms
Khupe). I confirm what the Honourable Minister of
Justice has said in his
statement in respect of the process and content of
the negotiations between
the Government and Zanu-PF on one hand, and the MDC
in its collective
sense," Prof Ncube said.
He said the two parties
had taken the right steps to address the
socio-economic challenges and the
two leaders of the MDC factions were
impressed with the progress being made
by the dialogue.
"As the negotiating teams move on with the rest of the
agenda (of the
talks), electoral laws, AIPPA (Access to Information and
Protection of
Privacy Act) and, indeed, the question of sanctions, they are
on the agenda
and we will deal with them. We hope to find each
other.
"We believe we cannot continue to conduct politics for the sake of
politics.
We should begin to conduct politics for the service of the
people," Prof
Ncube said.
Nkulumane legislator and deputy leader in
the Mutambara faction Mr Gibson
Sibanda also welcomed the landmark
development, saying the nation should now
collectively find a lasting
solution to its problems.
"Today is the beginning of a historic moment in
this House. Indeed, I find
today that between the two parties represented
here we can find the solution
to the crisis in Zimbabwe . We are in the
process of making history and
finding solutions to the crisis," he
said.
Mr Sibanda said despite the divisions between Zanu-PF and the MDC,
the two
parties were showing maturity and addressing their
differences.
"I support and add my voice to the smooth passage of the
Constitution
Amendment Number 18 Bill and continued dialogue between Zanu-PF
and MDC.
Indeed, we are united as Zimbabweans," he said.
Zanu-PF
Chief Whip and MP for Mberengwa West Cde Joram Gumbo said
yesterday's events
showed Zimbabweans were level-minded people who could sit
together and
resolve their own problems internally.
"We from this side of the House
want to say the chickens have come to roost.
We realise now that we are
Zimbabweans. We, as Zimbabweans, are able to come
together and solve our
issues," said Cde Gumbo.
On the other hand, other leadership paradigms
such as the notion of a “third
force” were already being whispered around
the darker alleys of the
corridors of power at the expense of both the
political parties.
ZANU PF could not decisively defeat the MDC and the
MDC could not decisively
dislodge ZANU PF and so as political logic demands,
the two had no option
but to reach out for some form of
compromise.
This is not a unique political experience at all.
Here
in South Africa, we all know that in the late 1980s, a process of
engagement
between the apartheid regime and the nationalist movement was
begun against
all odds.
By 1990, the process had led to the unbanning of such crucial
‘terrorist’
organizations such as the ANC, SACP and the PAC.
Not only
that, political activists returned from exile and those that were
in
solitary confinement were released to actively lead the process of
political
engagement between the hitherto bitterest of political enemies.
Need I
say more about the process of CODESA and the setting up of the
Constitutional Assembly that culminated in the process of the certification
of the 1996 democratic Constitution of South Africa?
But let me bring
the above point further home.
We all know that the Patriotic Front (as
represented in the battlefield by
Zanla and Zipra) had to engage the powers
that be in the Rhodesian
government.
We all know that Lord Carrington
had to lead the process of negotiation that
took several months at Lancaster
House. We all know that in the final
analysis a new nation called Zimbabwe
was born on the mortal bedside of
another one called Rhodesia in April
1980.
It was compromise that led to such kind of a breakthrough amid the
internecine nature of the armed liberation movement. Over 40 000 innocent
civilians lost their lives in that bloody national political
conflict.
After the euphoria of independence we all know that all hell
broke loose in
Midlands and Matabeleland as the struggle for political
hegemony between the
two former Patriotic Front allies
escalated.
Between 1982 and 1987, over 20 000 innocent civilians lost
their precious
lives in a political struggle that had huge tribalistic or
ethnic overtones.
(The great Ndebele versus Shona debate)
But still
in December 1987, after several months of secret negotiations, as
facilitated by the late President Canaan Banana, Zimbabweans and indeed the
rest of the international community were pleasantly shocked to see Mugabe
and Nkomo sign the Unity Accord that ended the many years of senseless
bloody conflict.
To the extent that the ANC managed to compromise
with the Nationalist Party,
the Patriotic Front with the Rhodesian Front and
Zapu with ZANU PF, it
should thus not come as a surprise that both MDC and
ZANU PF are now on the
verge of coming up with a political compromise that
might initiate the
process of unlocking the political deadlock that has
crippled the nation’s
once thriving economy.
Both MDC and ZANU PF owe
the people of Zimbabwe a form of compromise that
will help heal the nation
and open up the society for a broader national
discourse.
Compromise,
in whatever form, is the necessary evil that both parties have
to face. It
is a bitter pill that will ultimately prove to be part of a
political
panacea to heal the socio-economic malaise that has bedeviled our
once
prosperous country.
Just last week, I passed by some desperate fellow
countrymen at Marabstad
Home Affairs Department in Pretoria and also, as
usual met the desperate
hand of Zimbabwean blind beggars at several traffic
lights and thought to
myself; why are we as Zimbabweans allowing this
humiliation and indignity of
out people to continue unabated?
Yes,
there is the necessary national ideological debate that needs to
continue.
We cannot avoid it at all. But it belongs to those that have
access to
resources such as the internet and its concomitant discussion
groups or
forums.
But how about those of us that are presently wallowing up at the
Lindela
Deportation Center, Marabstad, Hillbrow, Sun City prison complex
etcetera.
Don’t they deserve a better chance of a peaceful life back home
in Zimbabwe
at all?
I verily believe that if the leading politicians
cast their petty
differences aside and focus on nation building, those long
suffering
Zimbabweans will get another chance to be willingly associated
with the once
‘Proudly Zimbabwean’ brand.
Last but not least, let me
end by quoting Morgan Tsvangirai when he said
these immortal words to the
delegates at the launch of the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign.
“Let us as
politicians not listen to our voices but that of the people. Our
people are
saying stop dividing us and start uniting us.”
So if it means that ZANU
PF and MDC have to agree to a form of political
compromise to end the
crippling impasse, then let it be. The time for that
has come. The time for
that is NOW!
The MDC has not been Zanunised. Neither has ZANU PF been
MDCised!
The political reality we all have to face is that the inevitable
process of
compromise has eventually dawned yet again on the Zimbabwean
political
landscape and hopefully it will ultimately prove to be for our own
good.
Daniel Molokele is a human rights lawyer and civic society leader
who is
based in South Africa
Engineering News
By:
Felix Njini
Published: 18 Jan 08 - 0:00
Namibia's power utility, NamPower,
says that it is to fork out an additional
$10-million for the refurbishment
of the Hwange power station, in Zimbabwe,
in return for more electricity
supplies.
NamPower MD Paulinus Shilamba says that the refurbishment of
electricity
generators at the power station is on track and electricity
would start
flowing this month, as agreed with the
Zimbabweans.
Namibia agreed early last year to provide $40-million for
the refurbishment
of generators at Hwange, in return for a guaranteed flow
of electricity.
Under the initial agreement, Namibia was to receive about
40 MW monthly, but
Shilamba says that the new agreement provides for an
additional 30 MW.
Shilamba says that the deal – which has been the
subject of negative media
reports – is the best form of Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
inter-country cooperation under the Southern
African Power Pool (SAPP).
"We are very confident about this project and
I personally want to prove
critics wrong. This is one of the best deals we
have ever had, and we are
going to have power for the next five to seven
years," Shilamba says in an
interview.
"I know that there has been a
lot of criticism of this cooperation – many
people don't want SADC countries
to co-operate and they do not want us to do
business deals with Zimbabwe,
but we are going to prove critics wrong,"
Shilamba adds.
The NamPower
head says that structures have been put in place at Hwange,
adding that most
of the spare parts are already on site.
Namibia's Minister of Mines and
Energy, Erkki Nghimtina, and his Zimbabwean
counterpart, Mike Nyambuya,
toured the Hwange power station in November to
familiarise themselves with
progress on the project.
"The project is on track and we expect to
receive the first 40 MW from
Zimbabwe [this month].
"At closer
inspection of the units to be refurbished, we realised that an
additional
$10-million needs to be invested in exchange for more megawatts,"
he
adds.
NamPower has also announced a raft of projects, among them the
Caprivi Link
interconnector.
The N$3,2-billion Caprivi Link power
project is a 350-kV, 300-MW
transmission aimed at interconnecting the
electricity networks of Namibia,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Mozambique and South
Africa to create an alternative route for
power imports and exports to and
from neighbouring
countries.
NamPower has hinted that it is going to upgrade the link to
600 MW.
The first stage of the project comprise of a 970-km, 350-kV
high-voltage
direct-current bipolar transmission line with 300 MW monopole
converter
stations and associated alternating current substation extensions
at Zambezi
and Gerus.
Construction will start towards the end of
2009.
Swiss company ABB Namibia was recently awarded a N$1-billion tender
to
construct two converter stations at the Zambezi and Gerus
substations.
Indian firm KEC won the tender for the construction of
transmission lines
from the Zambezi substation to inland
substations.
The transmission line will be fitted with an optical fibre
which will, apart
from providing essential transmission communication,
expand NamPower's
communication capacity.
The second stage of the
project will comprise of the upgrading of converter
stations at the Zambezi
and Gerus substations to 600 MW bipolar, a 285 400
kV AC transmission line
from Gerus to Auas and associated substations at
Auas and Gerus with a
possible interconnection to Omburu.
This will be implemented when the
need arises, Shilamba says.
NamPower says that a 300-MW capacity will be
dedicated to Namibia alone,
whereas the 600-MW design will have to rely on
other offtake agreements.
NamPower and Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean
utilities are expected to sign
an agreement for a power project which
involves the construction of a 330-kV
high-voltage alternating current power
line from Hwange, through Victoria
Falls, to the Zambezi
substation.
This phase is expected to increase the capacity of the
project to 600 MW.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
17 January
2008
Hyperinflation is ravaging the purchasing power of
Zimbabweans but U.S.
economist Steve Hanke, an expert on monetary systems
and how to fix them,
found Zimbabwe's plight so interest he has written a
whole book about it.
"Zimbabwe, Hyperinflation to Growth," to be released in
Harare in a few
weeks, offers possible solutions.
Hanke has long been
practicing hands-on, high-level economics: he served on
the Council of
Economic Advisors of President Ronald Reagan, and has given
counsel to a
number of countries in distress, including Kazakhstan,
Indonesia, Venezuela
and the former Yugoslavia, whose inflation was even
higher than
Zimbabwe's.
The last official data from Harare put inflation at around
8,000%, but many
economists say it has topped 50,000% - higher than that
seen in Weimar
Germany after World War I but less than Yugoslavia in the
early 1990s, at
over 300 million percent.
Hanke says that in order to
halt its hyperinflationary spiral, Zimbabwe must
replace the Reserve Bank
with a new monetary regime imposing discipline on
money supply.
In an
exclusive interview with reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe, Hanke notes that hyperinflation is a rare occurrence, and that
Zimbabwe is the first country this century to experience it.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
17 January
2008
Water shortages in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare
continued and in some
areas worsened on Thursday despite earlier assurances
by authorities that
the disruption which began on Monday would be resolved
before the end of the
week.
Sources in various parts of Harare said
most of the city had no water, and
even areas which seemed to have a good
supply earlier in the week have seen
taps dry up.
Mbare, one of the
city’s most populous residential areas, has been without
water for six days
though it had enjoyed a steady supply for the past three
months. The
satellite city of Chitungwiza has had no water for two weeks,
sources there
said.
Efforts to obtain comment from relevant water authorities were
unsuccessful,
and the real reasons behind the water shortage in the capital
remained
unclear.
When water was first cut off early this week,
authorities blamed power
outages which damaged pumping equipment at the
Morton Jaffray Water
Treatment Plan, but other sources have suggested the
national water utility
is out of purifying chemicals.
Opposition
lawmaker Gift Chimanikire, who represents Mbare for the Movement
for
Democratic Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai and sits on parliament's
committee on local government told Patience Rusere that the crisis
demonstrates the inability of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to
manage and deliver water.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
17 January
2008
With national elections possibly less than 10 weeks
off, one grouping of
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change
has cited "anomalies"
in a redistricting report given to parliament
Wednesday by the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission.
The first
reservations about the report were expressed by the MDC formation
led by
Arthur Mutambara, which has said it is ready and willing to contest
March
elections.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa urged parliamentarians to
“study the
report diligently,” but most members had yet to be issued copies
of the full
report Thursday, 24 hours after it was officially tabled in the
lower house.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper declared that “there
is no need for
debate over the report as the commission says it has
consulted all parties
during the preparation of the report," a contention
disputed by commission
critics.
With 60 house seats being added for a
total of 210, metropolitan Harare has
been redivided into 29 constituencies,
Bulawayo and environs into 12,
Midlands into 28, Mashonaland Central 18,
Mashonaland East 23, Mashonaland
West 22, Masvingo 26, Matebeleland South
and Matebeleland North 13 apiece
and Manicaland 26.
Those bare
numbers raise certain questions immediately, such as whether the
largely
rural provinces of Manicaland and Masvingo have populations
sufficient to
justify an allocation nearly as large as the province around
Harare, the
main urban center.
The introduction to the redistricting or delimitation
report says it
includes 10 chapters, one for each province in the country,
but VOA was
unable to locate any sources who had obtained the full report
including
annexes and maps. Many are concerned that the redistricting may
have been
politically steered, resulting in gerrymandering.
Spokesman
Gabriel Chaibva of the MDC formation led by Arthur Mutambara told
reporter
Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that what his
grouping has
seen so far indicates that the electoral commission failed to
adhere to the
terms of last year's 18th constitutional amendment which
authorized the
redistricting.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Njabulo Ncube
Zanu PF is using farm equipment and threats
to sway voters ahead of
elections to be held in March, a report by a
pressure group says.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which
is monitoring the
pre-election period, reports numerous cases of
politicisation of state and
public functions and programmes in rural
areas.
ZESN has deployed 120 long-term observers that are monitoring
election
related events in the existing 120 parliamentary
constituencies.
The pressure group has produced a report covering events
that took place
between November 24 and December 14, 2007.
The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is likely to seize on the report as
evidence of what it says is continuing ZANU-PF intimidation of its
supporters and the use of state resources to influence the outcome of the
March polls.
ZESN says its observers found that in the Midlands
province, traditional
leaders in Silobela, particularly Chiefs Gobo and
Ruya, have banned all
opposition activity in their areas.
In
Manicaland, ZESN observers in Nyanga noted that Chief Chifodya has been
openly campaigning for the ruling ZANU-PF party.
In Hwedza and
Chiredzi North, villagers called to a meeting for the
distribution of
ox-drawn ploughs under the Reserve Bank's Farm Mechanisation
Programme were
made to chant ZANU-PF slogans before they could benefit.
In Masvingo
Central, at Roger Howmann Hall, the ploughs were only allocated
to people
who held a fully paid up ZANU-PF membership card and could chant
at least
three of the party's slogans correctly.
ZESN observers also established
that the District Administrator for Gokwe
Nembudziya, one Mr Mutikizizi,
assured people who had been given ploughs at
Mutora that they would not
repay their loans if the ruling party won the
elections
Masvingo
Provincial Governor Willard Chiwewe is alleged to have stated that
the
ox-drawn ploughs donated to poor peasants would be withdrawn if ZANU-PF
lost
in the elections.
Under the mechanisation programme, beneficiaries are,
in fact required to
pay for the implements they receive.
Observers in
Gokwe Sengwa, Chivi North, and Mutare South have witnessed the
partisan
distribution of agricultural inputs under Operation Maguta, a
government
farming programme coordinated by the Zimbabwe National Army to
members of
the ruling party.
In Zaka West, a councillor allegedly warned villagers
they would be "bitten
by dogs" if they supported the MDC.
In Hopley,
Harare South, the pressure group's observers reported an incident
in which
at least one person was assaulted after he refused to attend the
"million-man" march.
Police reportedly stood by as youths in ZANU-PF
regalia tried to force
residents to join the march.
Talks between the
opposition and the ruling party have stalled as the MDC
presses for a
postponement to allow a level playing field to be put in place
before any
elections can be held.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Synodia Bhasera
Harare
THE government has rejected demands
by doctors to be paid in foreign
currency, saying such a move was
illegal.
Sources involved in talks between the Ministry of Health and
striking state
doctors said health professionals had proposed that they
should be paid in
foreign currency.
However, Health and Child
Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa said
government would continue reviewing
salaries but would never pay its workers
in hard currency. "We will always
top up the salary and we will always do so
in local currency. There are
certain partners wishing to assist us in the
retention of staff. However, if
the money comes in foreign currency, we
cannot give them in foreign
currency. We cannot do that, " said
Parirenyatwa.
Doctors working at
state hospitals have since last year gone on strike
frequently to press for
better salaries and working conditions.
At one time, the government
resorted to roping in army health personnel to
fill the gap left by striking
doctors and nurses, but they could not cope
with the large number of
patients seeking care.
Numerous previous attempts to resolve the
long-running dispute have ended in
an impasse as the striking doctors have
continued to defy government calls
to return to work while their grievances
are being addressed.
The health sector is among those hardest hit by the
drain of skills from the
country, and government has resorted to bonding
newly qualified
professionals to stem the exodus. The country trains 4 500
nurses and 149
doctors every year, but three quarters of these find their
way into private
service industries or leave the country once they complete
the mandatory
bonding period.
Last year, the director of Preventive
Services in the Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare told a parliamentary
portfolio committee that the country had
738 doctors instead of an
establishment of 1 570. Standards in the health
sector have deteriorated
drastically due to the economic meltdown, leading
to a mass exodus of senior
health specialists to countries such as South
Africa, Britain, the United
States, Australia and New Zealand.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
ZIMBABWE'S economic recovery
prospects faded this week following projections
of yet another dismal
tobacco season.
In yet another blow to government, the Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association (ZTA)
projected that this year's tobacco crop would plummet
after last year's
rebound, owing to challenges ranging from input shortages
and a sudden shift
by some farmers into the production of less
capital-intensive crops.
The ZTA said tobacco production, which
rebounded to 73 million kgs and raked
an estimated US$170 million last year,
would tumble below 70 million
kilogrammes this year.
Andrew Ferreira,
the ZTA president, said the irrigated tobacco crop had been
affected by last
year's water shortages while the current wet season would
affect average
yields for the dry land tobacco crop.
"There have been some growers who
have opted out because of inputs and the
difficult nature of the season. So
we are looking forward to a crop of at
least 65 to 70 million kgs," said
Ferreira.
The ZTA chief however said prices could firm for the quality
tobacco crop,
which was planted under the water shortage.
Some
growers reported that they had already lost significant volumes of
their
crop, which had been damaged after farmers went for several hours
without
electricity to cure the tobacco.
Farmers said they were only receiving
limited supplies of power daily, and
usually during the night, instead of
getting a whole day's supply to cure
their crop.
Economic analysts
warned this week that the drop in tobacco production could
further hasten
the economic meltdown marked by out of control inflation and
shortages of
essentials.
With Zimbabwe's nine-year-old foreign currency crisis
increasingly choking
its frail economy, a boost in tobacco output, a crucial
earner of hard
currency in the troubled economy, was expected to bring
relief to the
government.
But with the drastic drop in tobacco
output, Zimbabwe could experience an
acceleration of its economic meltdown,
with merchants reportedly
shifting their attention to nascent regional
tobacco growing countries such
as Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, which are
taking steps to boost output.
Zimbabwe's dramatic tobacco plunge is
attributed to the effects of the
unsystematic seizure of white-owned farms
by the government ostensibly for
redistribution to landless
blacks.
At its peak in 2000, the country produced a record 237 million
kgs of the
golden leaf, raking in US$400 million.
But earnings have
been falling since then, recording an estimated US$170
million last
year.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Shame Makoshori
Harare
ZIMBABWE could this year lose
exclusive rights to sell gold directly to the
international markets after
failing to produce a benchmark output of 10
tonnes of gold last year
required to maintain membership with the
influential London Bullion Market
Association (LBMA).
Preliminary figures obtained by The Financial Gazette
indicate that the
country's embattled gold mines failed to produce enough to
meet the target.
LBMA accreditation is the recognised surety of
quality international gold
buyers considered before purchasing the metal
from any refinery or country.
To be admitted into membership, countries
have to produce at least 10 tonnes
of gold per year.
A loss of the
LBMA membership would mean Zimbabwe would be forced to sell
gold through
intermediaries who charge exorbitant fees to facilitate the
trade, reports
have indicated.
Thabani Ndlovu, a Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development permanent
secretary, said in December that the country needed to
produce an additional
3.5 tonnes of gold to meet the minimum
target.
"The government is concerned about the decline in amounts of gold
being
remitted to Fidelity Printers," Ndlovu told a stakeholders
meeting.
Mines Minister Ambassador Amos Midzi could not be reached for
comment at the
time of going to print.
Fidelity Printers and
Refiners, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), the sole buyer
of all gold produced in the country, is a member of
the
LBMA.
Provisional gold output figures for 2007 compiled by the Chamber of
Mines
shows that output for the year fell short of meeting the minimum
threshold
imposed by the LBMA on members.
Chamber of Mines chief
executive Douglas Verden recently said in an
interview that the chamber
estimated gold output to plunge by 33 percent to
7.5 tonnes in
2007.
"Nearly all minerals have shown a decline, these are just
estimates," Verden
told The Financial Gazette.
"We project gold to
decline by 33 percent to 7.5 tonnes in 2007. The only
areas where we expect
improvements will be those that are not important," he
said.
Platinum
output is also expected to have declined by between three and four
percent,
the chamber's figures suggest, while chrome output is seen down 12
percent.
The major factors that have contributed to the decline of
production in the
gold mining sector include erratic power supplies, foreign
currency
shortages and erratic payments.
The chamber estimated that
the industry was owed US$20 million by Fidelity
Refiners in December 2007
for gold deliveries made last year.
Erratic payments to gold producers
began in September 2006 but intensified
in 2007.
Production output
for most minerals have also been affected by the
uncertainty that shrouds
the economy, which has been fueled by hostile laws
proposed by the
government to enable it to expropriate shareholding in
foreign owned
mines.
With agricultural output during the 2007/2008 seasons expected to
decline
due to high rainfalls and input shortages, the plunge in gold output
could
deal a further blow to an economy that is already struggling to create
opportunities for job seekers due to high inflation.
About 40 000
workers are estimated to have lost employment in mines in the
past
decade.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Harare
China-Africa Development Fund (CADF) is expected to
inject part of US$90
million earmarked for four African projects into a
joint venture ferrochrome
plant being built by the state-owned Sinosteel
Corp in Zimbabwe, reports
this week indicated.
This is part of the
first investment plan by the CADF, a government-backed
institution created
to help Chinese firms invest in Africa.
The fund is financed by
policy lender, China Development Bank and was
launched in June to honour a
promise made by Chinese President Hu Jintao at
a summit with African nations
in Beijing in November 2006, reports said.
In one of the four projects,
the fund will work with Shenzhen Energy
Investment Co Ltd to finance a power
station in Ghana, the fund said in a
statement.
Another of the
projects will fund a glass factory in Ethiopia, and a third
will support a
joint venture ferrochrome plant being built by state-owned
Sinosteel in
Zimbabwe, it added.
The other will help China National Building Material
Co invest in cement and
glass production facilities around
Africa.
The fund has initial capital of $1 billion, which will eventually
expand to
$5 billion.
Beijing says the fund will focus on industries
that are important to the
development of African nations and the welfare of
their people, including
infrastructure, agriculture and
manufacturing.
Sinosteel became a controlling shareholder of Zimasco
Consolidated
Enterprises, the Mauritius-based holding company of Zimasco
Holdings Limited
of Zimbabwe after buying off a 73 percent stake in the
company in a deal
closed on December 13, 2007.
Sinosteel, China's
second largest iron ore importer had initially earmarked
taking up a 50
percent stake in Zimasco but later gained approval for the
acquisition of a
much bigger state in the Zimbabwean ferrochrome miner.
Sinosteel had
entered into an agreement with Zimasco Consolidated
Enterprises shareholder,
Exultate Limited, for the purchase much earlier in
the year, and the two had
consummated the deal after all the conditions
precedent to the sale and
purchase agreement entered into between themselves
had been met.
The
agreement had been signed on September 19, 2007.
Sinosteel is also said
to have agreed to invest in a US$230 million
ferrochrome mine and smelter
project with South Africa's Samancor Limited.
Zimasco, with an annual
production capacity of 180,000 tons of ferrochrome,
was once the fifth
largest ferrochrome producer in the world.
A statement from company
representatives said: "Sinosteel has recognised the
importance of retaining
the existing management team in the company's mining
and smelting operations
in Zimbabwe and intends growing the company to the
extent made possible by
prevailing conditions."
"Sinosteel will market the output through the
appropriate channel, with due
regard to existing contractual obligations,
the present customer base, and
the need to maximise company
profitability."
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Shame Makoshori
Harare
ZIMBABWE could this year lose
exclusive rights to sell gold directly to the
international markets after
failing to produce a benchmark output of 10
tonnes of gold last year
required to maintain membership with the
influential London Bullion Market
Association (LBMA).
Preliminary figures obtained by The Financial Gazette
indicate that the
country's embattled gold mines failed to produce enough to
meet the target.
LBMA accreditation is the recognised surety of
quality international gold
buyers considered before purchasing the metal
from any refinery or country.
To be admitted into membership, countries
have to produce at least 10 tonnes
of gold per year.
A loss of the
LBMA membership would mean Zimbabwe would be forced to sell
gold through
intermediaries who charge exorbitant fees to facilitate the
trade, reports
have indicated.
Thabani Ndlovu, a Ministry of Mines and Mining
Development permanent
secretary, said in December that the country needed to
produce an additional
3.5 tonnes of gold to meet the minimum
target.
"The government is concerned about the decline in amounts of gold
being
remitted to Fidelity Printers," Ndlovu told a stakeholders
meeting.
Mines Minister Ambassador Amos Midzi could not be reached for
comment at the
time of going to print.
Fidelity Printers and
Refiners, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), the sole buyer
of all gold produced in the country, is a member of
the
LBMA.
Provisional gold output figures for 2007 compiled by the Chamber of
Mines
shows that output for the year fell short of meeting the minimum
threshold
imposed by the LBMA on members.
Chamber of Mines chief
executive Douglas Verden recently said in an
interview that the chamber
estimated gold output to plunge by 33 percent to
7.5 tonnes in
2007.
"Nearly all minerals have shown a decline, these are just
estimates," Verden
told The Financial Gazette.
"We project gold to
decline by 33 percent to 7.5 tonnes in 2007. The only
areas where we expect
improvements will be those that are not important," he
said.
Platinum
output is also expected to have declined by between three and four
percent,
the chamber's figures suggest, while chrome output is seen down 12
percent.
The major factors that have contributed to the decline of
production in the
gold mining sector include erratic power supplies, foreign
currency
shortages and erratic payments.
The chamber estimated that
the industry was owed US$20 million by Fidelity
Refiners in December 2007
for gold deliveries made last year.
Erratic payments to gold producers
began in September 2006 but intensified
in 2007.
Production output
for most minerals have also been affected by the
uncertainty that shrouds
the economy, which has been fueled by hostile laws
proposed by the
government to enable it to expropriate shareholding in
foreign owned
mines.
With agricultural output during the 2007/2008 seasons expected to
decline
due to high rainfalls and input shortages, the plunge in gold output
could
deal a further blow to an economy that is already struggling to create
opportunities for job seekers due to high inflation.
About 40 000
workers are estimated to have lost employment in mines in the
past
decade.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Kumbirai Mafunda
Harare
ZIMBABWE'S battered and bruised
industrialists yesterday wrote off chances
of an economic recovery and came
out with guns blazing over the punitive
price controls imposed by the
government.
Government introduced prices controls on almost all
commodities last June
after forcing manufacturers and retailers to slash
prices by 50 percent in a
desperate bid to reign-in out of control
inflation. It accused entrepreneurs
of frequently hiking prices of goods and
services to foment anger against
President Robert Mugabe's
administration.
Despite the marked effects of widespread shortages of
staple foods and basic
commodities spawned by the ill-fated price controls,
the government still
maintains and enforces its unfriendly and uneconomic
price regime on almost
every commodity and service.
The country's
industrial lobby group, the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI),
yesterday came out of its closet and fired a broadside at
the price
enforcement body, the National Incomes and Pricing Commission
(NIPC), for
imposing controls on goods and foreign currency.
The industrial
representative body condemned the imposition of price
controls and equated
them to sanctions.
"It (price controls) is an imposition of sanctions on
ourselves," the CZI
president, Callisto Jokonya, said.
He added:
"Price controls have no economic benefit. To impose price controls
is not
different from imposing sanctions. We are imposing sanctions on the
lifeblood of the economy. Business is the lifeblood of the
economy."
"There are issues in our economy. There is a fundamental need
to understand
how the economy should be and is run. People need to
understand how to run
the whole economy."
Jokonya said the
government, through the NIPC, should not unnecessarily
dictate prices but
should leave the determination of prices of goods and
services to the forces
of demand and supply.
"Whom are we protecting by not allowing a free
market economy? We are not
protecting the man on the street, as there are no
goods in supermarkets.
Controls haven't achieved us anything," charged
Jokonya, who is also the
chief executive officer of Imperial
Refrigeration.
Jokonya's counterpart at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce (ZNCC)
last year lambasted the NIPC, describing its attitude
towards business as
disturbing.
"What we do not want to see is this
bullying (attitude) because one of us is
more powerful," said Mara
Hativagone, president of the ZNCC.
"Government can only do well if
business is doing well because the private
sector is running the wheels of
this economy. We do not want to create a
situation where we end up thinking
it is no longer useful to be in
business," Hativagone said.
Jokonya
spoke yesterday as Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced
plans to
expand the number of commissioners serving in the NIPC from six to
12.
The government, which has always suspected an alliance between
business and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, has since 2001
maintained
Soviet modelled price controls, which it reasons are vital to
keep under
control rising inflation and "profiteers".
But the
communist-styled and populist policy, which the Soviets dumped
decades ago,
has fanned the flames of an economic crisis now in its ninth
consecutive
year.
Companies have halted production of basic goods and services while
retailers
have been unable to restock because the artificially low prices
have eroded
profit margins and made operations financially
unviable.
Jokonya ruled out any chances of economic recovery as long as
the government
maintains price controls and continues to shun counsel from
the business
lobby groups.
"It (price controls) will continue to be
just a dream. We will continue to
dream (of recovery). Price controls have
no economic benefits. They are
purely for government or politicians,"
Jokonya said.
The CZI boss said price controls had turned most Zimbabwean
companies and
consumers into net importers.
"Price controls have made
us key importers. We are boosting the
manufacturing industries in South
Africa, Zambia and Botswana yet our
manufacturing industry is collapsing,"
Jokonya said.
He also called for the scrapping of controls on the
exchange rate, which is
currently pegged at a ridiculous $30 000 to the
greenback, against between
$3 million and $5 million to the US dollar on the
parallel market.
"To keep holding the price of foreign currency at where
it is today is
purely to cultivate corruption in our economy and to
encourage bad business
practice which breeds queues of currency and cash
barons," Jokonya said.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Mavis Makuni
Harare
In a speech to mark the official
opening of the 2008 legal year, Bulawayo
High Court judge, Justice Maphios
Cheda, made a familiar call on the need to
stamp out corruption in the
police force.
He said while the police were to be commended for their
general devotion to
duty, which had resulted in the reduction of the crime
rate within the
region, corruption was still a cancer within the force. Said
the judge:
"However, while a lot has been done by the police, there is still
more to be
done , particularly in those areas which relate to traffic
offences. It is
now common knowledge that most police officers manning
roadblocks are now
concentrating on public transporters and
foreign-registered vehicles."
The reason was obvious, said Justice
Cheda. The culprits were doing it to
get foreign currency to supplement
their meagre earnings. "While we live in
difficult economic times, it is
important that those who are charged with
public duties should not
unlawfully enrich themselves to the prejudice of
the public fiscus." I have
no problem with the judge warning traffic police
not to take bribes at
roadblocks or demanding payment from motorists for
dubious offences. I just
happen to think this is now a tired theme that has
been repeated ad nauseam
over the years.
I am not saying the misdemeanours of traffic policemen
should be condoned. I
am simply saying such themes should not be used
exclusively in speeches by
government and judiciary officials to avoid
speaking out on the more serious
charges levelled against the police force.
These include police brutality
and selective interpretation and enforcement
of the law, which are a serious
problem, particularly as the country
prepares to hold harmonized elections
in March.
The selective
enforcement of the law has been exposed in the past through
complaints by
opposition parties and civic groups over the problems they
face in trying to
obtain police clearance and authorization to hold rallies
or peaceful
demonstrations. The police have been accused of outright bias in
this regard
in that while they would never dream of banning a ruling party
rally or
meeting, they will do everything in their power to thwart attempts
by other
groups to enjoy the same freedom of speech and assembly. Opposition
parties
have complained in the past about meetings or rallies previously
cleared by
the police being banned at the last minute for tenuous reasons.
The most
famous of these fabricated excuses is that the police do not have
enough
manpower and the almost mystical one of police having "reason to
believe"
that the holding of an event would lead to a breach of the peace.
Some
events organised by opposition and civic groups have indeed led to a
breach
of the peace -- by the police themselves when they have unleashed
violence
on unarmed citizens. Before the battering of Morgan Tsvangirai of
the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Lovemore Madhuku of the
National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in March last year, the police had
perpetrated
similar atrocities against trade union leaders towards the end
of 2006. And
despite the worldwide condemnation that the attack on
opposition politicians
sparked last year, the police subsequently subjected
a group of lawyers,
including the president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe,
Beatrice Mtetwa, to
similar abuse. On all these occasions, the judiciary,
which is supposed to
be the custodian of the law, reacted with thunderous
silence.
It is
ironic that the harmonised elections should be held in March, which is
the
anniversary of one of the darkest periods in the country's political
history. This is when opposition and civil society organisation leaders
referred to above were battered by the police after being arrested at
Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield in Harare. They had gone there to attend a
prayer meeting of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. The brutal handiwork of
Zimbabwe's police force was displayed throughout the world when the swollen
faces, bandaged heads and broken bodies of the victims, who included women
activists, were splashed in newspapers and on television screens.
The
hypocrisy of the police in banning events organised by opposition
parties
and civil society groups while allowing those of the ruling party to
go
ahead was demonstrated most clearly in the run-up to the ZANU PF special
congress held in December last year. During that period, war veterans
organised a series of marches to show solidarity with President Robert
Mugabe in his quest to win endorsement as the ruling party's presidential
candidate in the harmonised elections. These events culminated in the
million-man march in the capital city.
Suddenly, the police, who have
been known to treat a peaceful demonstration
by small numbers of members of
the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) pressure
group like a major disturbance
calling for the deployment of the riot squad,
were suddenly ready to
co-operate and cope with the much bigger procession.
This partisan
approach within the police force is unethical and
unprofessional and should
be among unacceptable practices to be regularly
condemned by public
officials such as judges. But what happens because of
the abnormal political
culture prevailing in this country is that officials
choose "safe" subjects
and themes when they speak in public so as to avoid
rocking the boat. They
seem to forget that all it takes for evil to prevail
is for good men and
women to remain silent.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Charles Rukuni Bureau Chief
Bulawayo
- Election 2008
debates will kick off in Bulawayo this weekend with
representatives of at
least three political parties thrashing out issues at
a public debate
organised by Bulawayo Agenda, a civic organisation that
promotes debate,
discussions and dialogue on critical issues affecting the
nation.
Speakers will include Tsholotsho Member of Parliament,
Jonathan Moyo; Eddie
Cross of the Movement for Democratic Change (Tsvangirai
faction); Paul
Themba Nyathi of the Mutambara faction of the MDC and Paul
Siwela of
ZAPU-FP. Activist Jennie Williams of Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) will
share the platform.
Moyo is a former government
spin-doctor but parted ways with the ruling
party when he decided to stand
as an independent candidate. He was
reportedly associated with a group
within the ruling party opposed to the
appointment of Joyce Mujuru as
vice-president.
Other reports linked him to a new political party, the
United People's
Movement but he has remained as an independent
candidate.
Eddie Cross is a former general manager of the Cold Storage
Company and is
the MDC's economic adviser.
Nyathi is the Mutambara
faction's director of elections. He was a Member of
Parliament for Gwanda
before losing in 2005 and was also the MDC spokesman
before the party
split.
Siwela contested the 2002 presidential elections but lost. His
party has
been advocating a federal government but he said last week he was
going to
join forces with the Tsvangirai faction of the MDC because they
shared the
same views. Some members of his party have been trying to oust
him without
success.
Williams is the national coordinator of WOZA, a
civic movement famous for
its protest matches during which its members are
inevitably arrested.
The Public Order and Security Act under which the
women were arrested has
since been amended.
National polls, which
will include presidential, parliamentary and local
government elections, are
scheduled for March though there have been calls
for them to be postponed to
level the political playing field.
Bulawayo Agenda says this weekend's
meeting will be the first of a series of
debates lined up in preparation for
the March elections.
President Robert Mugabe has already been endorsed as
the ruling ZANU-PF
candidate though there are increasing reports that the
party could split
before the elections.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Harare
AFTER weeks of hesitation, the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Budget
and Finance has resolved to call Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
Gideon Gono to provide information on high-ranking
government officials he
accuses of corruption.
Zhombe legislator
Daniel Mackenzie Ncube told The Financial Gazette after
his appointment as
chairman of the committee this week that his team would
on Monday hear from
the RBZ boss on the goings-on surrounding the hoarding
of cash and other
corrupt activities.
He said: "We have taken up the governor's request
and have invited him to
appear before the committee on Monday afternoon."
"In fact, we are availing
ourselves at his open invitation to us. He invited
himself to the
committee."
Critics said the committee, whose former
chairman David Butau skipped the
country last month after the police dragnet
started closing in on him would
face Gono at its weakest point.
Its
former chairman had indicated that the committee was in no hurry to call
Gono, who invited the committee first to summon him to Parliament so he
could disclose the names of senior officials he labelled "cash
barons".
Butau, who is said to be on the RBZ list, is now on the police
wanted list
in connection with various economic crimes.
While
vindicating Gono, the Butau affair has cast new light on the extent of
the
involvement of senior ZANU-PF officials in the hoarding of cash.
But the
public will wait for Gono's appearance before the portfolio
committee with
bated breath. The timing of the invitation might however,
present problems
for the RBZ chief.
Several weeks have already passed after Gono had
invited the committee to
quiz him and in the interim, a number of
developments related to the issue
have taken place.
For instance,
several executives are appearing before the courts on charges
ranging from
the hoarding of cash to exchange control violations. Legal
experts say Gono
might subvert the due processes of the law by referring to
these and other
cases, which are now being investigated by the police.
Critics said it
would be interesting to see which giant would prevail at the
end of the day,
the committee or the monetary authorities.
"It will be an interesting
test for the giants," said an observer.
Gono has also accused officials
in ZANU-PF and the government of fuelling
trade on the black market for
foreign currency.
But while Gono's disclosures have won him support among
the ordinary people,
they have courted the anger of top figures in
government.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
17 January
2008
Posted to the web 17 January 2008
Shame
Makoshori
Harare
THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has sprung a
surprise by being awarded
the gold prize by the France-based Business
Initiative Directions (BID) for
its aggressive campaign that has resulted in
increased tourist traffic
despite an economic and political turmoil that has
courted bad publicity in
key markets.
The World Quality Commitment
(WQC) awards are among the biggest awards given
to companies and business
organisations by the French firm.
A delegation from the ZTA is due to
travel to France in March to receive the
prize, according to ZTA chief
executive officer (CEO), Karikoga Kaseke.
About 17 international media
houses, including Business Week, China Daily,
CNN, the Economist, Forbes
Magazine, and Newsweek, sponsored the awards,
"given to leaders by
leaders."
"The BID world congress, with meetings in Paris, London,
Madrid, Geneva,
Frankfurt and New York, gathered companies from 93 countries
over 10
months," a statement released by BID, a copy of which was shown to
The
Financial Gazette, said.
"Throughout the congress, participating
leaders were requested to submit
their proposals for the annual WQC awards.
On the basis of the WQC
regulations and criteria, the ZTA has been
designated to receive the WQC
award in the Gold category in Paris," the
statement said.
BID said the selected companies, including medium and
large as well as those
listed in the Global Fortune 500, had demonstrated
"leadership excellence
within each designated industry, increased market
share, improved results as
well as sustainability".
In an interview,
the ZTA CEO Karikoga Kaseke told The Financial Gazette this
week that the
BID award, which come from a European country had helped
consolidate their
arguments that Zimbabwe's tourism industry was back on a
growth path after
nearly collapsing as a result of a serious plunge in
arrivals due to the bad
publicity.
"We have defeated the British," Kaseke told The Financial
Gazette on
Tuesday.
"They can cover as much acres as they want in
their print media with the bad
publicity, but we have defeated them," he
said.
Provisional statistics for the year 2007 from the ZTA indicate that
tourist
arrivals in Zimbabwe had increased by 18 percent in 2007 to 2,7
million, up
from 2,228 million in 2006.
The highest number of
tourists the country ever registered was 2,286 million
in
2003.
Critics, who say the situation on the ground depicted a totally
different
picture, have previously viewed the ZTA statistics
suspiciously.
The numbers, the critics argue, do not reflect in hotel
occupancies.
But Kaseke denied the perception this week.
"The ZTA
cannot go to the boarders and tell tourists that you go to (a
specific
hotel)...we just market the destination. The United Nations has a
definition
that it uses when calculating arrivals, and that is what we use,"
he
said.
He said the figures used by BID had been sourced from the UN's
World Tourism
Organisation.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
COLUMN
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Vote Muza
Harare
The current cash crisis gripping the
financial sector that has persisted for
the past two months without any sign
of relenting calls for discussion in
order to find any legal implications be
it on depositors or banks.
To start with, I studied the banking statutes,
and that is to say the
Reserve Bank Act as well as the Banking Act to
explore the true position of
the law as regards rights and obligations visa
vis banks and their clients.
The Banking Act did not provide much
help since it does not spell out the
duties of banks towards their
clients.
However, the Reserve Bank Act does provide some insight into its
responsibilities towards other banks and their clients.
Thus, some
key functions of the Central Bank are to "foster the proper
functioning of
the Zimbabwe's financial system", and to provide for the
"smooth operation"
of the payment system.
Looking at the nature of the cash crisis, how it
has unfolded and the manner
in which prescribed solutions have failed to
arrest its tenacity, one is
left in no doubt that the Central Bank has
failed in one its it's uppermost
duties, and that is to "foster the proper
functioning", of our financial
sector.
Rather than being "proper"-
meaning that the financial system among many
other things must be convenient
to the public, many have evidently lamented
the excruciating experiences
that have been brought to bear on depositors
desperate for their cash who
have had to endure long and winding queues in
oeder to access their
cash.
Such cash being required for their day to day requirements, and
meeting
other basic responsibilities like paying school fees. On the same
note, the
payment system can not presently be said to be "smooth" as is
dictated by
section 6(e) of the Reserve Bank Act. Rather, it has been very
rough as
evidenced by the numerous queues forming at banks that appear to be
growing
longer by the day.
In addition to these statutory
responsibilities of the Reserve Bank towards
banks and depositors, the
common law also provides for the nature of the
relationship between these
parties.
But to understand this relationship better, it is paramount that
a banker be
defined. A banker is a dealer in money and credit in all their
forms. As,
the ordinary trader lays in a stock of goods to meet the
requirements of his
customers, so the banker accumulates money and rights to
money in the shape
of cheques and bills of exchange, and on that basis
creates credit to supply
the needs of trade and industry.
With the
aid of their extensive branch systems, and their reputation for
stability,
banks collect large and small deposits, which would otherwise
remain
unproductive in the hands of individuals.
By lending out these sums to be
used in the development of legitimate
enterprise, the baker confers a real
service on the community and at the
same time he engages in profitable
business.
In terms of common law, the banker is not in a position of
trustee of the
money deposited with him. The basic relationship is that of
debtor and
creditor, but with the proviso that whereas an ordinary debtor
has to repay
the whole or any part of the amount due at any time on the
customer making
the necessary demand.
Therefore, when millions of
depositors who daily queue for some of their
money fail to get it, then by
law, such banks who default will be in breach
of contract. For this breach
of contract, it is possible for a client to sue
for payment of the sum
deposited in whole or in part.
However, this proposition may in reality
just be academic since the overall
circumstances of our economy and judicial
system make the launching of such
a legal suit an insurmountable task. This
leaves depositors with no remedy
other than to pursue other legitimate means
of protest.
The onus is therefore on the RBZ and other players in the
financial sector
to devise lasting solutions to the on-going cash crisis
that is obviously
causing unbearable inconvenience to the public without
rank or status.
I believe, as it everyone else should that these cash
shortages are not
beyond solution as if they are a natural calamity beyond
the control of
humankind.
A holistic, honest assessment of this
crisis needs to be urgently undertaken
in order to prescribe a lasting
solution so that our financial sector does
not lose its credibility that is
fast being eroded with each day that passes
with no action being
taken.
The financial sector is the backbone of every modern economy. It
is delicate
and if mishandled it has the potential to ruin the entire fabric
of an
economy.
Most importantly, depositors who contribute immensely
to the well-being of
this sector need not have their confidence eroded for
when that occurs, the
seed for the collapse of the financial system would
have been planted.
Amidst any crisis, the effectiveness of leaders is
judged by their
promptness to meet the public's expectations in addition to
being constantly
in touch with them to report about measures being taken to
address the
challenge.
Vote Muza is partner at Muza & Nyapadi
Legal Practitioners
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
EDITORIAL
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Harare
A VERY disturbing incident occurred in Nyanyadzi,
Manicaland, recently when
a rowdy mob stoned to death an undercover police
officer.
Detective Sergeant Robert Katini of the CID Minerals Section met
his tragic
death while attempting to arrest suspected illegal diamond
dealers. May his
soul rest in eternal peace.
As the nation
struggles to come to grips with this barbaric incident a
number of questions
remain unanswered. How ordinary men and women, including
an army officer for
that matter, could conspire to snuff life out of an
innocent policeman
performing his duties to safeguard their interests defies
conventional
wisdom.
Zimbabweans are known for being God-fearing and law-abiding and
so what
could it be that got into the minds of those behind this gruesome
murder?
Could there be something missing from the facts presented to the
public?
While we unreservedly condemn all forms of violence and strongly
urge the
police to descend heavily on those behind the officer's needless
death, we
believe that this incident should not be treated as just one of
those
occupational hazards. It is not!
We are convinced that it is
one of those tell-tale signs pointing to a
potentially damaging breakdown in
society that is not confined to Nyanyadzi
alone. It is vital, therefore, for
government to get to the bottom of this
incident before rushing to
conclusions.
The gruesome murder of Katini in the full glare of the
public might be a
macrocosm of wider cracks developing in our society for
various reasons, one
being that the country has been at the crossroads for a
long time, with no
easy solutions to lift it out of economic
ruin.
The economic meltdown, now in its ninth year, has had serious
psychological
and emotional effects on the increasingly restive population.
It could be
that society, disillusioned by government's failure to come to
its rescue,
is beginning to weigh rebellion among several options to get out
of the
dilemma.
Unemployment is fast hitting the roof and the nation
is in the throes of a
frightening scale of deprivation. The HIV/Aids
pandemic is wreaking havoc on
productive members of society while the
economic contraction has left
hundreds of thousands jobless, with school
leavers failing to secure
employment.
In order to survive, people are
turning to all forms of activities -- gold
panning, diamond mining, vending
and trading in currencies -- putting them
at odds with the law.
Those
who cannot withstand the rigours of such life are joining the mass
exodus of
skills into the diaspora.
At the same time, the law enforcement agents
have been out in full force to
root out corruption and other malpractices
now pervading the country's
economy.
Unfortunately, government has
not been able to create new opportunities to
absorb the unemployed who are
finding it difficult to make ends meet. It has
also done little in response
to criticism that its anti-corruption dragnet
and several of its operations,
such as Operation Chikorokoza Chapera and
Operation Murambatsvina only
netted small timers feeding into an intricate
web of dealers said to be
well-heeled members of society and government.
But because of these
conflicting pressures, most people are finding
themselves trapped between a
rock and a hard place, with public
disenchantment rising inexorably against
the system.
And as pressure rises, so does the desperation to extinguish
bottled anger
and frustration. This was the case with the Svosve people who,
in 1998,
forced government into publishing the first list of farms to be
compulsorily
acquired after they invaded white-owned farms in Mashonaland
East, angered
by the slow pace of the land reforms. Up to today, government
has struggled
to restore order on the farms.
After several years of
empty promises, patience is wearing thin among the
people. The volatile
conditions created by the economic meltdown and the
standoff between the
main political parties only needs the slightest
provocation to ignite
pandemonium, which will be bad for the country.
As it is, farmers are
spending long hours queuing for diesel.
Parents are still unable to
access cash in the banks to pay for school fees,
buy school uniforms and pay
for their children's bus fares. Godwills
Masimirembwa's National Incomes and
Pricing Commission, which regulates
prices, has also contributed to the
chaos by failing to resolve the
confusion surrounding school fees on
time.
The cash shortages have persisted beyond the festive break and are
likely to
get worse as workers are paid their January salaries.
With
heavy rains pouring across the country, there has been widespread
leaching
and farmers have not been able to replace lost nutrients due to
fertiliser
shortages.
While showing signs of easing, food shortages -- again a
direct result of
government's flawed policies -- are still far from
over.
In short, Zimbabweans have been traumatised by these economic
hardships, and
need urgent physiological relief. They have waited long
enough for the
government to show urgency in correcting the anomalies but
unfortunately,
all they can see is sheer arrogance on the part of the
politicians.
Zimbabwe cannot afford Kenya's recent experience and the
only way to avoid
such tragedies is for the powers-that-be to create a
conducive political and
economic environment.
Financial Gazette (Harare)
17
January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January 2008
Stanley
Kwenda
Harare
THE United States government has pledged to increase its
aid to Zimbabwe
this year, from the US$220 million it gave in
2007.
US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, told reporters this week
that the
American government continued to be concerned about the escalating
economic
deterioration in Zimbabwe and was considering reviewing its aid
grant to
Zimbabwe.
"The American government contributed US$220
million to Zimbabwe in aid in
2007. The prospects are there for a slight
improvement this year, especially
to include other areas where Zimbabwe
needs help, such as medical drugs and
concentration on killer diseases such
as malaria."
The US government last year availed US$171 million for food
aid and US$40
million for medicines, especially HIV and AIDS related
drugs.
McGee said many Zimbabweans including professional workers, were
suffering
as a result of the economic meltdown.
"The economic
situation is deteriorating, unemployment is high and the rate
of inflation
is extremely high. These are facts on the ground , something
has to be done
and things have to be negotiated."
He said the declining economic
situation in Zimbabwe was one of the factors
that left many Zimbabweans
frightened about the future, citing the exodus of
Zimbabwean professionals
from the country.
"If there is anything that frightens me in Zimbabwe, it
is the economy,"
said McGee.
His offer of cooperation to help end the
economic crisis had been spurned,
he said.
"I am extending an olive
branch to everyone in government, but there is no
feedback. I would,
however, want to encourage the government to get away
from the habit of
conducting business in the newspapers. Since I came here,
no one has sat
down with me to understand who I am, we need to sit down and
talk," said
McGee.
He emphasised the need for free and fair elections in
March.
"The elections should reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
They
should be free and fair. The government should forget what the
international
community says and satisfy the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
The elections
should not make the people in South Africa or Washington
happy, but reflect
what Zimbabweans want," said McGee. He said he had
reservations on whether
the conditions were right for free polls.
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
OPINION
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Mavis Makuni
Harare
As Zimbabwe prepares to stage
elections in the next two months, according to
the government, it continues
to be instructive to watch electoral processes
in other countries so as to
avoid certain pitfalls and adopt transparent
practices that remove barriers
to the genuine expression of the will of the
people.
The debacle in
Kenya has many lessons for Zimbabweans, who are already
familiar with the
ramifications of political violence and disputed election
results.
What is so excruciating about the Kenyan situation is
that it was not
supposed to happen under a government headed by a man who
was swept to power
on a tidal wave of the people's hunger for
change.
Mwai Kibaki's government came to power with the promise of moving
the
country forward after decades of Daniel Arap Moi's autocratic and
corrupt
governance. Regrettably, once ensconced in Kenya's state house,
Kibaki has
betrayed the people by condoning and entrenching the abuses of
the previous
administration.
A lesson for opposition parties such as
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic
Change and the one expected to emerge
after a breakaway from ZANU PF, is
that when the people agitate for change,
they desire genuine change, not the
mere supplanting of the visage of one
authoritarian leader for that of a
political clone equally afflicted with
imperviousness to their aspirations.
Ruling parties in turn must realize
that regardless of how long it takes,
hard-nosed intransigence characterized
by a resort to subterfuge is a recipe
for inevitable disaster. Trickery and
cosmetic changes in response to deeply
felt national grievances and
perceived injustices can only work for so long.
At some point, the dam will
burst, with tragic consequences such as the
unnecessary loss of life in
Kenya.
Moi's administration was criticized for its poor human rights
record and the
use of the legal system to harass government critics. Under
Moi, opposition
leaders and pro-democracy activists were subjected to
arbitrary arrest,
detention without trial and abuse in custody.
These
and rampant corruption such as that which manifested itself in the
Goldenberg scandal, which cost the equivalent of Kenya's gross domestic
product, resulted in international donors withdrawing aid and countries like
the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Norway breaking off
diplomatic relations.
Under Kibaki, politically motivated human
rights abuses abated but the
security forces, particularly the police, were
still accused of perpetrating
atrocities against innocent citizens. The
police force has been described as
the most corrupt entity in Kenya, accused
of demanding bribes, using
excessive force and complicity in criminal
activities. Most of these
unacceptable traits which Kibaki allowed to remain
unchecked have become
evident in the current crisis.
The Kibaki
government's disproportionate show of force in recent weeks using
an
organisation already notorious for being trigger-happy has resulted in
the
death so far of 700 Kenyans for whom voting should have been an
empowering
rather than fatal experience.
But despite the escalating bloodbath,
Kibaki continues to exhibit the
unmistakable symptoms of the "African
disease"- a single-minded
unwillingness to yield power under any
circumstances.
Zimbabwe has similar problems. Its police force is
notorious for its
brutality and the authorities are accused of condoning
widespread abuse of
police power.
The police force openly enforces
laws selectively, including those
pertaining to freedom of speech and
assembly which ultimately impact on the
integrity of the electoral process
and its outcome.
The Kibaki government was reported this week to have
rejected a bid by
former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, to
help end the harvest
of death.
The Minister of Roads and Public
Works, John Michuki declared: "If Kofi
Annan is coming, he is coming not at
our invitation. We won the elections so
do not see the point of anyone
coming to mediate power sharing."
It is clear that despite knowing the
election results were disputed, all
that those in power are now worried
about is safeguarding their positions
and sinecures. They are not bothered
that hundreds of the very people they
are supposed to have been elected to
serve are losing their lives.
African governments have yet to accept the
fact that disputed election
results are not cast in stone. Out of
self-interest, officials stubbornly
refuse to acknowledge that the simplest
way to deal with these disputes is
to open the electoral process up to
scrutiny. If the victorious party won
legitimately, it should have nothing
to fear from a re-rerun of the polls or
a recount of the
ballots.
Some ruling parties that have held sway in Africa since the end
of
colonialism have simply refused to accept that it is impossible to have
fair
and valid results from elections conducted in a flawed environment
openly
tilted in the sitting government's favour.
This was a factor
in Kenya where Kibaki's main challenger and losing
presidential candidate,
Raila Odinga, charged that the Electoral Commission
of Kenya was dominated
by Kibaki's cronies and was therefore biased and
prone to manipulation. The
government has neither disputed this serious
charge nor explained why the
integrity of the electoral body has been
compromised by inundating it with
government apologists and beneficiaries of
state patronage.
The role
and composition of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has equally
been a bone
of contention because of charges that it is stuffed with ruling
party
loyalists and military /security operatives.
As this country's dreaded
elections loom, official calls for non-violence
are reaching a crescendo,
the latest being made by judge president, Justice
Rita Makarau who said this
week : "We, as the courts stand ready to play our
part in ensuring that the
rights of individuals enshrined in the
constitution of Zimbabwe will be
given legal expression to, before, during
and after the
elections."
She called on the people of Zimbabwe to accept the results of
the harmonized
polls to be held in March. But how sincere are these calls in
the midst of
all else that is wrong in the country?
Me thinks the
learned judge doth protest too much - in the wrong vein. The
authorities
cannot call for the acceptance of election results without
taking any
measures to ensure the existence of a level electoral playing
field.
Justice Makarau knows this has been a contentious issue for
many years but
the judiciary has been conspicuous by its deafening silence
even when
blatant abuses and irregularities have been exposed.
A
disturbing report is published elsewhere in this issue about the alleged
intimidation of rural voters that is already in full swing as reported by
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) observers.
The methods of
coercion range from threats of repercussions if the ruling
party loses to
using government handouts to "buy votes" even before polling
day.
The
declaration by Justice Makarau that the judiciary stands ready to defend
the
constitutional rights of Zimbabweans is therefore as hollow as her
exhortation on the acceptance of the results is insincere. This plea is
analogous to a criminal who declares: "I did not kill Mr X" before he or she
has been charged with any crime.
There would be no need for any
trepidation about the reaction of Zimbabweans
to election results if polls
were conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.
The results would speak for
themselves.
The unease betrayed by a need to campaign for the acceptance
of the outcome
beforehand implies that the winner is already
known.
But electoral victory should reflect an expression of the will of
the
people, not the wishes of a particular party.
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
17 January 2008
Posted to the web 17 January
2008
Harare
Journalists and supporting staff at Zimbabwe
Independent and The Standard
yesterday downed tools demanding an urgent
salary review.
ZimInd chief executive Mr Raphael Khumalo confirmed the
industrial action
but said it was illegal.
The workers went on
strike after they failed to reach an agreement with
their employer, who
offered a 200 percent salary increment for the lowest
paid worker reportedly
earning $20 million and junior reporters earning $30
million a month. They
are demanding $400 million for the least paid worker
and transport
allowances. Mr Khumalo said the workers felt the percentage
increase was too
little to cushion them from the current economic
challenges.
"We are,
however, working on a formula taking all those things into
consideration,"
said Mr Khumalo.