- West must act to prevent a bloodbath in Zimbabwe
- 58 days or sooner - Zimbabwe needs you & we need your support
- Opposition Looks to SADC
- 'Thankful for $500 note' (letter)
- Army spoils Xmas for Matabeleland folk
- Anger over urban terror
- Mugabe approves 100% pay hike for armed forces
- Govt pleads for US$100m urgent food assistance
- WFP emergency operation delayed
- From the MDC
- Defections hit Zanu PF
Desperate Zanu PF digging its own grave
- Fifth Zimbabwe judge quits after Mugabe criticism
- Likely scenarios after the presidential poll
- Annual money supply growth surges to 84%
- Merchants of death unleashed on nation
- Presidential election is being rigged: activist
- Zimbabwe among top media freedom violators
- Mugabe to scrap poll
- Moyo’s law signals death of journalism
- Govt land grab targets Mukuyu winery
Toronto Star
West must act to prevent a bloodbath in
Zimbabwe
Fearful of losing power, Robert Mugabe has unleashed a campaign
of terror on
his countrymen
Keith Martin
While the world's
attention is focused on Afghanistan, Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe, has
been inflicting a campaign of terror on his country.
Although portrayed as a
conflict over the redistribution of land from a few
white commercial farmers
to the landless black majority, nothing could be
further from the
truth.
Mugabe has been blaming whites for the country's devastated
economy and
social ills. He has been violating them accordingly, their
suffering hitting
the international press. But the real target of Mugabe's
brutality is the
rural black population.
For the first time in his
21-year history as leader of the country, Mugabe
and his Zanu-PF party are
faced with the strong possibility of losing next
spring's presidential
election. Fed up with the state-sponsored violence,
corruption and gross
violations of their basic human rights, the general
population has finally
mobilized into a new opposition party, the MDC, led
by the young, dynamic
Morgan Tsangaviri.
Fearful of losing his grip on power, Mugabe has
unleashed a campaign of
terror on his fellow countrymen. Earlier this year he
threatened and
intimidated three Supreme Court justices, forcing them to step
down, and
appointed his own lackeys to replace them. This has enabled him to
write the
laws of the land as he sees fit — or to ignore them. With the
police and
army firmly under his thumb, he has sanctioned rapes, beatings and
arson to
maintain his hold on power.
Of course, none of this is
surprising to anyone who has watched the
president operate. After he gained
power in 1980, Mugabe ordered his North
Korean-trained 5th Brigade to murder
16,000 civilians of the minority
Matabele tribe in western Zimbabwe. An act
of violence intended to
consolidate his power that the international
community simply ignored.
Recently I met with dozens of black farm
workers in rural Zimbabwe. It was
déjà vu listening to their chilling
accounts of being beaten, raped, having
their homes pillaged and their crops
destroyed. The perpetrators, who are
mainly referred to as "war veterans" in
the press, are really thugs hired by
the ruling party to terrorize the
population. Witness after witness told of
extreme violence meted out by these
gangs, committed in full view of the
police, who have been ordered by the
government not to interfere. The
objective of this exercise is not to
redistribute land, but to intimidate
the farm workers into voting for the
ruling party or not at all. Many flee
their farms, which are either taken
over by supporters of Mugabe or left
derelict. The animals are slaughtered.
Deforestation follows. Top soil is
lost, the farms are rendered useless.
Beyond losing their land, livelihood
and possessions, the rural black
majority face mass starvation as the war
veterans have forbidden the planting
of new crops. Mugabe's henchmen have
also forced the rural black population
to attend political rallies in
support of the ruling party. Those who resist,
or who are suspected of being
opposition supporters, are often beaten or
murdered.
To further hide this state-sponsored violence, Mugabe has
banned foreign
journalists from his country and has been intimidating the
independent
press. The state-sponsored Herald newspaper spews out violent,
anti-white
and anti-opposition rhetoric, a dangerous precursor to mass
violence.
Zimbabwe is caught in a deadly downward spiral. Given the
president's
murderous history, there is little doubt the killings will
escalate and
could number in the tens of thousands. Mugabe, says an editor of
a leading
independent Zimbabwean newspaper, "will listen to no
one".
Thus, if we do not want Zimbabwe to implode like so many African
countries
before it, the international community must act quickly and firmly.
We must
insist that:
The election monitors that Mugabe agreed to have
in the country have
immediate access to all regions of Zimbabwe.
There
is an immediate return to the rule of law and that land reform take
place
according to the Abuja accord to which Zimbabwe agreed in September.
All
farm invaders must be immediately removed.
If the government of Zimbabwe
does not comply with these stipulations, the
following sanctions must be
applied:
The personal assets of Mugabe and his administration must be
frozen.
An international travel ban must be placed on Mugabe and his
ministers.
Zimbabwe should be suspended from the Commonwealth.
An
arms embargo should be imposed on the country.
The only hope for
preventing a slaughter in Zimbabwe is if the international
community stands
firm in its demands and has the courage to implement
punitive measures if
those demands are not met.
We cannot soft pedal this issue, nor
compromise on the rule of law and the
upholding of basic human rights. If we
do, Mugabe will take full advantage
of our indecision.
If we fail to
act, many thousands of innocent lives will be lost. We saw
what happened in
Rwanda. Will we allow a similar tragedy to unfold in
Zimbabwe ?
ZIMBABWE
HUMAN RIGHTS PROTESTS
Venue: American Embassy
24 Grovenor Square
London
WAI1AF
(Nearest tube Bond Street or Marble Arch)
Date: Saturday 19 January 2002
Time: 12.00hrs - 14.00hrs
**** Group 1
****
Venue: Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London
SW1 H9AT
(Nearest tube St James Park Station - Broadway
exit)
Date: Saturday 19 January 2002
Time: 12.00hrs - 14.00hrs
**** Group 2 ****
Venue: Zimbabwe High Commission
429 Strand Street
London
(Nearest tube Charring Cross).
Date: Saturday 19 January 2002
Time: 12.00hrs - 14.00hrs Protest
Vigil: 24 hours Starting 12.00hrs Sat 19th to 12.00hrs
Sun 20th
**** Group 3 ****
This will be followed by a 24 hour vigil outside Zimbabwe
House, ending at
12:00 with the singing of the National Anthem. Red ribbons
will be placed
on the trees outside Zimbabwe House representing those known
to have been
killed for trying to bring about political change in Zimbabwe.
With months to
go before the critical 2002 presidential elections in Zimbabwe it is essential
that the international community uses all its resources to ensure that the
election not only takes place but will also be free and fair. The presidential
election in March is not just about choosing a new government, it is also about
choosing a new society for the people of Zimbabwe, a society based on core
democratic
principles.
Opposition Looks to SADC
UN Integrated Regional Information
Networks
January 2, 2002
Posted to the web January 2,
2002
Civic organisations in Zimbabwe see regional and international
pressure as
the last hope for ending the country's worsening political
violence, despite
the failure so far of southern African leaders to take
effective action to
stem the political crisis.
Advocacy groups are
planning to lobby regional leaders at an extraordinary
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit on Zimbabwe in Malawi
later this month,
Brian Raftopoulos of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee told
IRIN on Wednesday.
Raftopoulos, an associate professor at the University of
Zimbabwe, said that
civic representatives would also visit key countries in
the region in a bid
to persuade their governments that sustained pressure on
Harare was needed to
ensure free and fair presidential elections in March.
The two-day SADC
summit, called by the organisation's chair and Malawian
President Bakili
Muluzi, is expected to take place from 13-15 January in
Blantyre, Malawi's
Daily Times reported. It will follow a meeting in Harare
last month by a SADC
ministerial task team that refused to call the
Zimbabwean government - widely
blamed for the political violence - to order.
The regional grouping was
labelled as irrelevant by Zimbabwe's main
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Raftopoulos, whose organisation provided testimony to an
earlier SADC
meeting on Zimbabwe, said he did not at the moment foresee the
regional body
taking action against President Robert Mugabe - a key figure
within SADC.
But, SADC could be spurred into action by the European Union
and the United
States who have threatened sanctions against Zimbabwe's ruling
party, but
would need to work in consultation with Harare's neighbours,
Raftopoulos
said. He added that minimum measures by SADC, such as setting
preconditions
for what it would deem a free and fair election, would be "a
huge step for
the region".
According to Bidi Munyaradzi, director of
the human rights group ZimRights,
"we have already dismissed all domestic
channels of appeal. As civil society
we can only revert to international and
regional bodies for support".
He told IRIN in a recent interview that
"although ZimRights does not
actually support general sanctions, the
Commonwealth and SADC should put
pressure on the Zimbabwean government to
ensure the immediate restoration of
the rule of law. [Election] observers
should be here now, instead of later."
In the worsening political
violence, the MDC has accused ruling ZANU-PF
party militants of the murder of
four of its members over the Christmas
period. At least one ZANU-PF supporter
was also killed. Last week, Sekai
Holland, a senior MDC official, brought
three severely injured supporters to
hospital in Harare whom she claimed had
been kidnapped and tortured by
national service officers.
"Some of
them had their hamstrings and tendons cut, others have been chopped
all over
their bodies," Holland was quoted by the London-based Daily
Telegraph as
saying.
The government has touted its national service scheme as an
initiative to
provide unemployed youths with skills training. However,
critics allege that
instead, the Border Gezi training camp in Mount Darwin -
named posthumously
after one of Mugabe's most loyal ministers - is turning
out politically
indoctrinated "shock troops" for ZANU-PF. They, the war
veterans and the
police, are expected to spearhead Mugabe's recent call for
"war" against the
opposition.
Meanwhile, Britain's Observer reported
on Sunday that a Zimbabwean dissident
who was refused asylum and sent home
was beaten and tortured by security
police.
Gerald Muketiwa, an MDC
supporter, had his asylum claim turned down and was
deported on 16 December.
He arrived in Zimbabwe a day later despite protests
from human rights groups.
Muketiwa was picked up at the airport by secret
police, but later managed to
escape through a police station window.
Muketiwa has since fled to a
neighbouring country and relatives who helped
him flee have been beaten by
security officers looking for the activist, the
newspaper said.
It
reported that other Zimbabwean asylum seekers with links to the MDC are
also
awaiting deportation from Britain after having their claims turned
down,
despite evidence of the killing of opposition figures. It
interviewed
dissidents in detention awaiting deportation who said they were
scared to
return home.
"We are expecting to see an escalation in
violence in areas that are
considered contested," Raftopoulos said. "There is
no doubt MDC will not be
able to restrain their people indefinitely," he
added.
Concern by the opposition that the government would respond to
retaliation
by MDC militants with a state of emergency, has to an extent been
superseded
by the fear surrounding a series of draconian pieces of
legislation awaiting
parliamentary approval.
Raftopoulos and
Munyaradzi said that when passed, Zimbabwe's opposition
would effectively be
operating under emergency regulations. The Public Order
and Security Bill,
the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Labour Relations
Bill and the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Bill would
"outlaw all opposition",
Raftopoulos said.
Quite depressing - forwarded to me by a
Darwendale farmer friend
Dear All, As I have yet another slow down on the
farm I have been thinking of more pleasant things like next years holiday at
golden beach destinations, and I wonder how I am going to raise the forex for
it, so I doodle on Excel.
If you think a pack of marauding and looting
war-vets is enough to send a shiver down your spine think of
this...
The exchange rate in August 2000 was 50:1 The
exchange rate in August 2001 is 300:1 (an increase of
16% per
month)
The exchange rate in August 2002 could be 1800:1
(an increase of 16% per month)
But in the last three months the exchange rate has
increased at a rate of
40% per month, if this trend continues
then...
The exchange rate in August 2002 will be 17 000:1
The exchange rate in December 2002 will be 65 000:1 I guess that puts a bit of a
damper on my August holiday plans where I might need my US$ 5 000 holiday
allowance for my family of 6.......
Zim $ 510 million.
Well I suppose it could be worse, four months
later, that Xmas holiday will need...
Zim $ 1 960 million.....(Enough in 1980 to purchase
rather a large country)
I will thank Bob for the $500 note when I
surreptitiously reverse my 8 tonne lorry (with only 15 cubic meters of notes
aboard) up to a street dealer and negotiate the best rate.
The flaw in my logic is that the exchange rate will
increase at a constant rate, which of course it does not, this past year it
accelerated!
Excel does not have column widths wide
enough....... now where are those war-vets.
J*
FinGaz
Army spoils Xmas for Matabeleland folk
From Njabulo Ncube
Bulawayo Bureau Chief
1/4/02 2:07:44 AM (GMT +2)
LUPANE, Matabeleland
North — In normal times during Christmas and New Year
holidays here, villager
Levy Ndlovu and his peasantry neighbours usually
slaughter a goat or sheep
before holding drunken and noisy parties just to
be in the festive mood. But
not this past festive season.
"We can’t party as we usually do," says
a frail-looking Ndlovu, speaking in
a hushed tone. "You know why we are not
having our all-night gigs to
celebrate Christmas and the dawn of a new
year?
"It is not because of the economic hardships but there are
soldiers
patrolling the villages here . . . they don’t want any
noise."
Ndlovu, pleading with this reporter not to blow his cover, points
westwards
where, he says, the army has established a base deep in the dense
forest.
"These are abnormal times. Most villagers are terrified as we
suspect we are
back to the Gukurahundi days until after the elections," the
50-year-old
villager says.
"Some villagers have been beaten up in the
past few weeks by youth brigades
and the soldiers for staying out at night,"
he adds, referring to the heavy
presence of armed soldiers who were unleashed
on the rural folk by President
Robert Mugabe’s government ostensibly to
protect villagers from terrorism
and white
farmers.
Gukurahundi
"We are living in fear, my
son. These people seem to be out on a revenge
mission. I might be alive today
but you never know about tomorrow. We saw it
during the Gukurahundi. I think
it (Gukurahundi) has come in another
fashion. Only God knows if some of us
are going to survive this second
coming," Ndlovu adds.
The presence of
the army, according to the villagers, was noticed soon after
the deaths of
ruling ZANU PF members Limukani Luphahla and Cain Nkala
last
November.
This reporter could not immediately get comment from
the spokesman of the
Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) on the alleged assault and
harassment of
villagers here. The ZNA public relations office said those
authorised to
talk to the media were still on Christmas holiday and would
only be back
next week.
But a ZNA insider, while acknowledging that
some soldiers had been sent to
Lupane and other districts of Matabeleland
North, said the soldiers meant no
harm.
"Our army is very
professional. We are not there just to kill or harm people
but instead to
protect these villagers. The army only shoots when necessary
and this is
after firm orders have been given. I don’t think it’s true
speculation that
our boys are shooting in the air," said the ZNA official,
denying reports
from nearby Tsholotsho that some soldiers had been seen
indiscriminately
firing shots into the air.
Apart from the armed soldiers, hordes of ZANU
PF-trained youth brigades are
understood to be on the rampage in and around
villages in Lupane, Tsholotsho
and Nkayi districts of Matabeleland
North.
Curfew
Most villagers who spoke to this
reporter alleged that since the arrival of
armed soldiers, there had been an
impromptu curfew in and around the
villages.
Themba Phulu, another
villager met by this reporter hawking wild vegetables
at the dusty Lupane
Business Centre along the Victoria Falls highway, openly
said the presence of
the armed soldiers had brought memories of the
mid-1980s grisly activities of
the Fifth Brigade here.
"We are fearing for the worst," said Phulu, 51.
"The last time the armed
soldiers were here, they left a trail of
destruction. People were killed
here . . . remember we were supporters of
Joshua Nkomo."
Phulu, casting a glance at an approaching government car
as it stopped at
the business centre, said: "We are very afraid. We pray that
this election
comes now and we revert to our normal daily
activities."
Political commentators and analysts say the soldiers have
been deployed by
the ruling party to cow the unsophisticated villagers into
abandoning the
main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose
president Morgan
Tsvangirai is tipped to wrest power from a deeply unpopular
Mugabe.
The entire Matabeleland region is a stronghold of the
MDC.
In last year’s parliamentary elections, the villagers here
overwhelmingly
voted for the MDC, much to the chagrin of ZANU PF which all
along viewed
rural areas as its undisputed powerbase. The MDC won 21 of the
23 contested
seats in the region.
Phulu said: "The soldiers are about
five kilometres from the business centre
and we dare not walk at night. They
have not beaten up anyone I know but the
mere fact that they are armed and
only came here after the death of Luphahla
makes us fear for the
worst."
As the villagers spoke, other reports of the presence of armed
soldiers and
militia were received from Tsholotsho, about 120 kms from
Bulawayo, and from
Matopo, about 80 kms from
Bulawayo.
Heavy
casualties
Lovemore Moyo, the
MDC legislator for Matobo, said: "I have heard reports
that there are
soldiers in my constituency and I wonder what they are
doing
there."
Moyo, whose area suffered heavy casualties during the
Gukurahundi era in
Matabeleland South, went on: "By bringing in soldiers, the
government is
opening old wounds."
Abednigo Bhebhe, the MDC legislator
for Nkayi who also doubles up as the
party’s vice chairman for Matabeleland
North, added his voice to the growing
concern of Matabeleland’s residents
over the presence of the army in the
region.
"I saw the soldiers just
before St Luke’s Hospital in the bushes along the
Falls Highway. They were
not in cars but moving in the bush while others sat
under shadows of trees. I
saw them with my own eyes," Bhebhe said, noting
that rural Matabeleand is
teeming with ZANU PF’s militant war veterans and
state security
agents.
"We have also heard of their presence in my constituency in Nkayi
but I have
not seen them there as I am afraid of venturing into the area
because the
war veterans are after my head," he said.
Personnel at the
Catholic-run mission hospital nearby were mum when asked
about the activities
of the army in the area.
Bhekithemba Sibindi, a political analyst based
in Matabeleland, said
villagers in the region had been struck with fear.
"This is sheer
intimidation by ZANU PF, " he said.
"Mugabe is running
scared but he has nowhere to hide. People have learnt and
cannot be
intimidated by these soldiers who also don’t want him anymore.
People are
clamouring for change."
FinGaz
Anger over urban terror
Staff Reporter
1/4/02 2:39:02 AM
(GMT +2)
HUMAN rights and civic bodies, lawyers and ordinary Zimbabweans
this week
roundly condemned a fresh wave of terror unleashed on urban areas
by ruling
ZANU PF party militias.
Days after President Robert
Mugabe called on his ZANU PF party during its
annual conference last month to
wage a "real war" against the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), the militias have descended on
residential areas in Harare and other
urban centres hunting down MDC leaders
and terrorising residents
willy-nilly.
The human rights and civic groups said the violence being
perpetrated by
youths ostensibly on national service was yet another tactic
by Mugabe to
try to intimidate the opposition’s urban power base ahead of
presidential
elections in March.
Most analysts say Mugabe is likely to
lose the election to the MDC’s Morgan
Tsvangirai if the presidential ballot
is peaceful, free and fair.
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association director
Munyaradzi Bidi said the violence
by the youths trained by the government
ostensibly for national service was
an attempt to recreate a culture of fear
among Zimbabweans.
"This is a deliberate to re-establish a culture of
fear and intimidation in
the electorate in the urban centres before the
presidential election," he
said.
Violence by marauding bands of
self-styled war veterans has so far kept
rural areas and commercial farms
largely a no-go area for the opposition.
The same mobs briefly raided
companies and factories last year before
several countries, notably South
Africa, threatened to close some of their
businesses in
Zimbabwe.
Constitutional law expert and head of the National
Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) Lovemore Madhuku said members of his
organisation in Harare’s
high-density suburbs of Mbare and Mbvuku had also
been attacked by the ZANU
PF militia in the past two weeks.
"The
motive is simply to intimidate people and make sure they do not vote.
But
this is a stupid strategy which will not work," Madhuku, whose NCA
is
campaigning for a new democratic constitution for Zimbabwe, told
the
Financial Gazette.
Several residents interviewed by this
newspaper in the Harare suburbs of
Budiriro, Mabvuku, Glenview, Kuwadzana,
Mbare Warren Park and Epworth told
of how police officers stood by while the
mobs clad in green military
fatigues wreaked havoc by beating up defenceless
women and children.
The youths are often ferried from place to place in
buses or sometimes in
vehicles bearing government number
plates.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena however insisted that the
police had moved
in to control the violence. He said the police had so far
arrested six
youths in connection with the political violence.
He
could not deny or confirm whether the youths were part of the
youths
undergoing national service at the so-called Border Gezi Training
centre in
the ZANU PF stronghold of Mashonaland central province.
"So
far we have arrested six people and our investigations so far indicate
that
the attacks are politically-motivated," he said.
Most of the residents
interviewed, many of whom vowed the attacks would not
change their
allegiance, were adamant that the militia belonged to ZANU PF.
" It is
not a crime to chose a political party of your choice. What they are
doing is
like forcing a donkey to drink water and we would like to see if
they will
succeed," said one Harare resident, Nesbert Muchemenyi.
Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace director Tarcissius Zimbiti said:
"This is
an attempt by politicians to force voters to vote for ZANU PF. We
are now
having cases of people being forced to buy the party’s cards for the
sake of
their own security."
The youths have repeatedly clashed with Harare
residents, some of whom have
retaliated, in the past two weeks. Property
worth hundreds of thousands of
dollars has been destroyed by the rampaging
mobs.
Another Harare resident said: "Zimbabweans have tolerated too
much
officially sanctioned violence for too long. If these attacks by
these
militia don’t stop immediately, the people will have no choice but to
give
them the same medicine. We cannot go on like this any longer."
At
least 40 people, most of them opposition followers, were killed by ZANU
PF
supporters in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections last
year
narrowly won by the ruling party.
Analysts say ZANU PF would have
lost the polls had it not resorted to the
violence, which they say the party
has now launched again before the
presidential ballot.
FinGaz
Mugabe approves 100% pay hike for armed forces
Staff
Reporter
1/4/02 2:37:56 AM (GMT +2)
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe, who is
the commander-in-chief of Zimbabwe’s defence
forces, personally sanctioned a
whopping 100 percent pay increase for all
uniformed forces this year,
authoritative official sources said this week.
The salary hike for
the uniformed forces was not handled by the Public
Service Commission, which
deals with salaries of the rest of the public
service.
The sources
said the decision to double the salaries of the uniformed
forces — the
increase takes effect this month — was reached at a Joint
Operation Command
meeting held in November last year chaired by Mugabe.
The ministers of
defence, state security and home affairs also attended the
meeting, which
draws in Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Vitalis
Zvinavashe, army chief
Constantine Chiwenga, air force commander Perence
Shiri, police head
Augustine Chihuri and Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) boss Elisha
Muzonzini.
Those to benefit from the pay increase are members of the army
and the
airforce and of the police and prison services. It could not be
ascertained
this week whether the spy CIO had benefited from the hike but
sources said
they believed they were.
Members of the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans’ Association, who
are now controlled by the Ministry
of Defence, will also have their monthly
allowances hiked by 100
percent.
"All the uniformed forces in essence have been given a 100
percent salary
hike," a Ministry of Finance official told the Financial
Gazette this week.
Other official sources said the pay increase was meant
to lift morale within
the defence forces, who have for years complained of
low salaries and poor
working conditions and accommodation.
The
sources said the latest pay rise for the uniformed forces is their
highest in
post-independent Zimbabwe.
The rest of the workers in the public service
will be awarded a paltry 55
percent pay increase this year, far below
Zimbabwe’s annual November
inflation of 103.8 percent.
In the 2002
budget, the salary bill for the Zimbabwe National Army was hiked
to $12.6
billion from $6.7 billion in 2001 while that of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police
surged from $3.9 billion to $8.8 billion.
The salary budget for the air
force was raised from $837 million in 2001 to
$3 billion in 2002 while that
of the prison service is now pegged at $2.6
billion from $790 million in
2001.
Political analysts say the timing of the pay rise is a calculated
effort by
Mugabe to buy the loyalty of the uniformed forces ahead of a
crucial
presidential poll in March which most analysts and opinion polls
indicate he
is likely to lose.
"This is a clear move to keep the
loyalty of the armed forces ahead of the
coming presidential election," Brian
Raftopolous, a researcher at the
Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies,
told the Financial Gazette.
Mugabe faces the stiffest challenge of his
political career from opposition
Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai in that ballot.
Masipula Sithole, Zimbabwe’s leading political
commentator, said a desperate
Mugabe did not want to leave anything to
chance.
"It is a clear sign of buying loyalty of the armed forces ahead
of the
election— that is the motive for granting this huge salary increase,"
he
said.
The top brass of the Zimbabwe’s armed forces is packed with
ZANU PF
loyalists.
Chihuri has openly stated that he is a staunch
member and supporter of
Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF, a declaration which runs
counter to the provisions
of the Police Act.
The MDC has said
professionals in the uniformed services who are willing to
impartially serve
Zimbabweans will be retained should Tsvangirai win the
ballot.
FinGaz
Govt pleads for US$100m urgent food assistance
Staff
Reporter
1/4/02 2:36:56 AM (GMT +2)
THE Zimbabwe government has
requested emergency food aid worth more than
US$100 million from the
international community to feed more than two
million Zimbabweans it says
face starvation in the next few weeks, it was
learnt this week.
In
an appeal to the United Nations (UN) for help made in mid-October last
year,
the government — which had continued to falsely insist in public that
there
would be no food shortages — indicated it had wanted the aid shipped
into the
country last month.
Labour and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo and
Agriculture Minister Joseph
Made could not be reached for comment on the
issue by the time of going to
print last night.
Made was said to be
busy attending meetings outside his office yesterday
while Moyo was said to
be off from work.
UN resident coordinator in Harare Victor Angelo told
the Financial Gazette
the government had formally asked the UN to organise a
massive maize
importation programme worth US$103 408 450
million.
Initially the government had put the figure of people requiring
aid at 4 058
943 or about a third of Zimbabwe’s population of 12 million. The
figure was
finally reduced to 2 500 000 after consultations between the
government and
the UN team, Angelo said this week.
While the maize to
be bought under the US$100 million maize importation
programme will be used
to replenish depleted national stocks so that
Zimbabweans with purchasing
power can access it, the government has also
asked for a further Z$7 billion
worth of food assistance to be distributed
free of charge to poor and
vulnerable groups such as children, women and the
elderly.
Of that Z$7
billion worth of free food handouts, the government has
indicated that it
will chip in with aid worth Z$3.2 billion.
Violent farm invasions by
government supporters which have disrupted
agriculture, plus an erratic
2000/2001 rainy season, have been blamed for
the food crisis in Zimbabwe,
which only a few years ago was a major regional
exporter of
food.
Angelo, who on receiving the government’s appeal immediately
organised a
meeting last November between Moyo and Finance Minister Simba
Makoni for
them to explain their case directly to the international
community, said the
response by donors had been so far
encouraging.
President Robert Mugabe and his government have alienated
themselves from
the rest of the international community because of their
controversial
policies and failure to uphold the rule of law and
democracy.
The United States government has already imposed sanctions on
Mugabe and his
administration for their refusal to uphold human rights and
guarantee a free
and fair presidential election in March.
Angelo said
donors had only put one condition on their assistance ¾ that the
food aid be
distributed through transparent and non-partisan channels such
as churches,
non-governmental organisations, local associations
and
authorities.
The government had all along insisted that it would
not allow local and
international non-governmental bodies to distribute food
to hungry
Zimbabweans, saying they would use the opportunity to campaign
for
opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Analysts say Tsvangirai, whose party weathered unprecedented
political
violence by ruling ZANU PF supporters to lose the 2000
parliamentary ballot
by only four seats, could easily defeat Mugabe in a free
and fair
presidential ballot.
Besides backtracking to allow
non-governmental agencies to help distribute
food relief, the government also
agreed in writing that World Food Programme
staff who will be stationed in
all districts across the country to supervise
the food aid will be protected
from ruling party militias and their
self-styled war veterans terrorising
rural areas.
Besides the food, the UN will provide vital drugs and
medicines to sick
Zimbabweans as well as help rebuild infrastructure
destroyed by Cyclone
Eline two years ago.
ZIMBABWE: WFP emergency operation delayed
JOHANNESBURG, 3 January (IRIN)
- Poor donor responses have delayed the launch of a World Food Programme (WFP)
emergency feeding operation in Zimbabwe.
With more than 550,000
Zimbabweans considered to be at risk of hunger and starvation, WFP launched an
appeal in December for US $60 million to buy about 117 mt of food. It was hoped
that food distributions would be under way, with the help of local
non-governmental organisations, by the beginning of January.
WFP deputy
regional director Nicholas Siwingwa told IRIN on Thursday that "responses have
been extremely slow". He said WFP had already purchased about 5,200 mt of maize
meal from suppliers in South Africa and hoped to begin distributing the food by
the beginning of February - more than a month late.
However, it is clear
that unless more contributions are received soon, the feeding operation could
fail to reach those in need. A combination of flooding, drought, severe
disruptions on farms and a shortage of foreign currency have caused food
shortages in the country. The government has ordered about 150,000 mt of maize
from South Africa for its commercial market, but will have to import much more
to replenish its reserves.
"The initial parcel we are purchasing in South
Africa is coming from our own standby facilities so that we can at least start
off the emergency operation, which will require roughly about 10,000 mt of food
a month. The more we delay, the more we will be putting many lives in danger ...
We need these food resources very urgently. If we don't get this food now, we
will begin to see very stressful situations in the areas where we want to begin
this operation," Siwingwa said.
"We are now in January. This is normally
the lean season. The harvest is not expected until about April or May and we are
already receiving a lot of information to the effect that food security is
worsening the rural areas of Matabeleland North and South. We are actually
making very urgent appeals to our donors to contribute so we are able to launch
this operation as soon as possible," he added.
When the appeal was
launched in December, WFP regional director Judith Lewis appealed to the donor
community for cash contributions, saying that this would help secure food stocks
rapidly and locally. It takes about three months from the time a donor pledges
money towards an appeal to the time food is purchased, transported and
distributed to the needy.
She said at the time that WFP believed that a
complex emergency was developing in Zimbabwe, with a "variety of serious
problems which when added up, gravely threaten the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people". WFP said in a statement that already many Zimbabweans were
averaging only one meal a day, or were going without food for the entire
day.
What little grain many rural families managed to harvest last year
was consumed long ago and their ability to buy food on the market was hindered
by increasingly high prices, and limited opportunities to either earn cash
through casual labour, or receive money from family or friends who worked in
urban areas or in South Africa, the statement had said.
On Thursday
Siwingwa said that the 116,651 mt of food the agency was looking for comprised
of cereals, vegetable oil, pulses, corn soya blend and ground nuts. He said
contributions in kind would be welcome too as they could be more rapidly
transported and distributed.
The operation was expected to target the
most vulnerable, including female-headed households, the terminally ill without
support, households with low food crop harvests and households without any
income.
While some believe the sluggish donor response to the WFP appeal
is a result of the crisis facing Afghanistan, one diplomatic source said it was
also possible that donors were concerned about political developments in
Zimbabwe, especially since campaigning for the presidential elections in March
has already been marred by violence.
Many local non-governmental
organisations voiced concern about a month ago that food aid could be used as a
political tool by the government in the run-up to the presidential polls.
President Robert Mugabe, facing the stiffest opposition he's had since assuming
power in 1980, will contest the election.
Meanwhile, according to a
report in the state-controlled Herald, the government has finally put in place
mechanisms for the importation of about 150,000 mt of maize from South Africa.
The report said that the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had cancelled a tender
awarded earlier amid debate over whether going to tender was necessary given the
strategic importance of maize and wheat - both controlled products, with GMB
being the sole buyer.
"The bottom line is that we are talking about a
strategic interest which should supersede everything else. Accordingly, it
should be prudent for the GMB to import maize in its own right as a national
interest. This should reduce overhead costs and minimise the risk of sabotage,"
an unnamed government official was quoted as saying.
GMB acting general
manager Joan Mutukwa told the newspaper that maize imports were being finalised,
but that more details would be released soon.
In this mailing:
1. Zanu PF mob destroy MDC official’s house
2.
Bindura Police arrest MDC provincial chairperson
3. Moffat Soko Chivaura
still missing
4. Zanu seeks to frame the MDC
5. Harare elections must not
be delayed
Zanu PF mob destroy MDC official’s house
A Zanu PF
mob led by militias from the Border Gezi Training Camp today at
10am attacked
the house belonging to MDC losing candidate for Mutoko South
Derrick Mzira in
Glen Norah and destroyed property worth well over $500 000.
The mob of at
least 50 rowdy youths who were wielding axes, knobkerries and
stones
destroyed household property, which included a television set,
refrigerator,
VCR, radio and two display units, beds and wardrobes. The
thugs also looted
foodstuffs belonging to the Mzira family. The attack was
unprovoked and adds
to the growing list of acts of Zanu PF thuggery and
murder against the
MDC.
Bindura Police arrest MDC provincial chairperson
MDC
provincial chairperson for Mashonaland Central, Tapera Macheka and about
10
other MDC youths were arrested in Bindura. They were rounded up between
3am
and 5am this morning. Some of the party youths were guarding the house
and
property of Aniko Chikuwanyanga. Chikuwanyanga is Trymore Midzi
father.
Midzi is the former MDC vice-chairman for Bindura district who was
killed by
Zanu PF supporters on Saturday 29 December 2001.
In less
than ten days, four MDC members have been killed in cold blood by
Zanu PF
thugs with the aid of graduates from the Border Gezi Training
Centre. Moffat
Soko Chivaura is feared dead after failing to escape from
axe-wielding Zanu
PF supporters. The police have not arrested anyone. They
say they are still
investigating. They have instead arrested mourning MDC
supporters. This
flies in the face of morality.
The MDC demands justice. We want peace.
We condemn violence and call upon
all those entrusted with maintaining peace
and order to see to it that
justice is done. One day justice will come, if
not from the law of the land
then from God himself.
Moffat Soko
Chivaura still missing
Moffat Soko Chivaura, who went missing on Saturday
29 December 2001 has
still not been found. Chivaura had accompanied Aniko
Chikuwanyanga (Midzi’s
father) to Trymore Midzi’s grave to perform some
family rites when they were
attacked by Zanu PF supporters. Midzi had died
at the Avenues Clinic in
Harare after an attack by Zanu PF supporters and the
products of the Border
Gezi Youth Training Centre.
Chikuwanyanga and
some family members who included Chivaura were attacked at
the cemetery in
Bindura by Zanu PF supporters wielding hoes, knobkerries and
machetes. All
the family members managed to escape except Chivaura who is
in his early
50’s. This incident was reported at Chiwaridzo Police Station
but up to now
we have not found Chivaura. An Assistant Inspector known only
as Tsohwe
continues to insist that they have handed over the matter to CID
public Order
Bindura. The police there say we should contact
Officer-in-Charge CID
Bindura, Mr Tsvarai. In short, the police are evasive
and generally
unhelpful.
We would like to urge the police to resist the unprofessional
interference
that is giving the hard working force a bad name. We
unreservedly condemn
violence, and remind the people of Zimbabwe that one day
justice will come.
Zanu PF seeks to frame MDC
We have received
information from our intelligence unit that, having been
exposed for the
violent thugs that they are, Zanu PF has now hatched a plan
to give its
supporters MDC t-shirts to continue with their violent campaign.
This is
meant to give the impression that MDC supporters are violent and use
this as
a pretext for cracking down on the party. We understand that these
Zanu PF
thugs will move around townships assaulting people and chanting
MDC
slogans.
We have been informed that those involved in the planning
of these violent
acts include the following individuals only identified as
Machisi, Banda and
Kuchele. We understand that these individuals are in the
Zanu PF Harare
Province.
The MDC calls on the police to arrest all
perpetrators of violence without
fear or favour. People are being assaulted
daily by Zanu PF thugs while the
police maintain a business-as-usual
attitude.
The MDC unreservedly condemns all acts of violence. Under an
MDC government,
no one will be above the law. Most importantly, no one will
be persecuted
for belonging to a political party of their
choice.
Harare Elections must not be delayed
We note that the
government has re-appointed the Harare Commission today.
While the legality
of this move is questionable, government argues that it
is necessary to
ensure the continued functioning of the city.
The Supreme Court has shown
that the government acted illegally in its
failure to hold Harare elections
for two years. It has set a deadline and
said that mayoral elections must be
held by 11 February. The Registrar
General’s office assures us that they are
busy making the necessary
preparations for this election, but only time will
tell.
Given the timeline set forth in the Urban Councils Act, the
election date
must be announced by 13 January. Thus we await that day to
confirm the
actions and intentions of the government. We hope that the
ruling party has
for a change decided to live by the laws of this
country.
Daily News
Defections hit Zanu PF
1/3/02 2:29:02 PM (GMT
+2)
By Collin Chiwanza
ANGRY Zanu PF supporters in Harare's
Kuwadzana Extension suburb, outraged by
attacks on their houses by Zanu PF
militia, on Monday afternoon said they
had cut off ties with the party and
joined the MDC.
The supporters also criticised Judith Makwanya, a
reporter with the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), for what they said
was a "blatantly false
report which shamelessly sought to blame the MDC for
the chaos".
One supporter, an elderly woman, said: "All along we have been
campaigning
for Zanu PF here in Kuwadzana. We were trying to convince people
to vote for
Zanu PF, but we are now at a loss for words. Zanu PF has
de-campaigned
itself and they should not blame anyone because they are
definitely going to
lose this election. We will vote for the MDC." The
residents, numbering more
than 20, said they would demand a public apology
from Zanu PF for the
damages.
They said they wanted their houses
repaired urgently by Zanu PF. Michael
Chitura, another angry Zanu PF
supporter, said: "We were busy campaigning
for Zanu PF, but they have
destroyed our houses. How can they attack the
very people who are supposed to
vote for them? We know that the people who
destroyed our houses are Zanu PF
members and no amount of lies can ever
change the truth that we all know."
The residents said until Zanu PF youths
descended on their properties,
supporters of both parties co-existed
peacefully and had even set up soccer
teams.
The MP for Kuwadzana, Learnmore Jongwe of the MDC, said yesterday
the ZBC
report on the terror in his constituency was disturbing. He said:
"The
people of Kuwadzana are extremely disturbed by the manner in which the
ZBC
elected to report acts of barbarism perpetrated by Zanu PF hoodlums."
Jongwe
said the ZBC reporter unsuccessfully attempted to imply that it may
have
been the MDC which was involved "in this madness". "However, the
ZBC
unwittingly gave itself away by describing the perpetrators as
unknown
assailants. Zimbabweans now know that in the vocabulary of
the
government-controlled media, the phrase 'unknown assailants' refers to
Zanu
PF militia," the MP said.
He said Zanu PF's terror campaign would
not stop the tide of change that had
gripped the people of Zimbabwe. The
Zimbabwe United Passenger Company
(Zupco) on Monday confirmed that Zanu PF
had hired five of its buses. The
youths were transported in the Zupco buses
while four trucks carried members
of the Zanu PF militia to Kuwadzana
Extension to terrorise the residents.
They looted property worth millions of
dollars in an orgy that lasted for
about four hours.
Daily News - Feature
Desperate Zanu PF digging its own
grave
1/3/02 2:53:16 PM (GMT +2)
A View from
Matopos
THE Zanu PF Victoria Falls conference last month endorsed the
candidacy of
77-year-old President Mugabe in the March 2002 presidential
election.
That was expected of course and, in fact, there was
little use, if any at
all, to do so because there was no rival
candidate.
What was of much interest to the people of Zimbabwe were other
matters
discussed and decided by the gathering.
These included land
distribution, national security (terrorism), the need to
revive the national
economy, and the state in which Zanu PF currently finds
itself. Much has been
said about the land issue, but it is obvious that Zanu
PF would like to be
regarded as the one and only champion of the
repossession of land from the
white community and for equitably
redistributing it among the disadvantaged
black majority.
For the sake of emphasis and for the record, we should
all remember that the
armed liberation war was basically a struggle against
the grossly unfair
laws of Rhodesia on land. That is a historical fact. What
a large number of
both local and foreign people criticise about the Zanu PF
land distribution
programme is the disorderly way in which it is being
carried out. According
to Zimbabwean tradition, chiefs are the custodians of
land. It is they who
should compile a list of names of people to be resettled
in close liaison
with various district administration officials to demarcate
land for
resettlement in their respective areas. The current land-grab
exercise can
be linked to the 2000 referendum on the draft constitution,
which the people
roundly rejected. In a vengeful spirit, President Mugabe
then launched the
land-grab exercise using some liberation war veterans and
some Zanu PF
functionaries.
The country's legal system was trampled
under-foot, the reason given being
that when the white settlers led by Cecil
John Rhodes seized the country
from our ancestors in the early 1890s, they
did not respect our ancestors
and the laws of the land.
But for our part,
we violated our own laws and constitutional provisions not
because it was
necessary, but because it was politically expedient to do so.
It is this
political expediency that is being referred to by some observers
as
"politicisation" of the Zimbabwe land issue by Zanu PF.
The haphazard
manner in which the national asset is being currently grabbed
and distributed
will have extremely negative socio-political and economic
repercussions when
the current population trebles. By then there will be no
Zanu PF or war
veterans to explain what happened and why. Such inevitable
negative
repercussions could be averted if only Zimbabwe's leaders could
calmly debate
the issue instead of using outdated confrontational methods.
It is most
unfortunate that in Zimbabwe, national leaders representing
various groups do
not debate issues peacefully, but use primitive methods.
If everybody
adopted such chicanery to our national issues, there would be
utter chaos in
this country. And that brings us to national security, what
Zanu PF now calls
terrorism. I, for one, do not understand how Zanu PF can
seriously expect the
people of Zimbabwe to take it seriously on this matter
after its
functionaries killed at least 35 people during the June 2000
election. Could
it be that Zanu PF members are honestly unaware that the
police are under the
order of senior Zanu PF leaders not to act
professionally by
protecting
all the people of Zimbabwe against political violence from any
source except
the MDC? If there is terrorism in this country it is, without
any doubt,
brewed by Zanu PF as part of its electioneering campaign. At the
Victoria
Falls conference, President Mugabe put it very clearly when he said
delegates
should henceforth regard themselves as soldiers.
He said they must make
sure on their return to their respective provinces
that "the trajectory of
the bullet is always straight".
These words, by a head of state, to a large
gathering comprising former
guerrillas some of whom are obvious Zanu PF
fanatics, can generate nothing
but terror against those perceived to be
"enemies".
The words were not anti- but pro-terrorism. In any case, it is
irresponsible
to call one's political rivals enemies, a term always used by
Zanu PF
leaders to refer to their political opponents. The word "enemy" has
war
connotations, and war is associated with physical injuries, blood and
death;
all those are results of violence and terror. It would be so much
better to
use the word kwikwidzana (contest or competition) than enemy. It
has also
been said before, and let it be said over and over again that Zanu
PF's loss
of popularity is deeply rooted in the economic decline of Zimbabwe.
That
decline is characterised by two factors: one is inflation now hovering
at a
choking 103 percent, and the other is unemployment, presently standing
at an
alarming 70 percent.
If Zanu PF realistically wants electoral
support in the country, the best
way to do so is to generate
jobs.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe needs must be dealt with by
analysing
administrative units such as districts, identifying their
strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, as well as possible threats. Such a
national
employment creating programme, had it been carried out before the
2000
constitutional referendum, could have most likely saved Zanu PF from
its
failures. As it is now, the recent Chegutu MDC mayoral election victory
was
an indication of the direction and velocity of the country's political
winds
of change, with or without the well known
government-sanctioned
anti-opposition terror.
MSNBC
Fifth Zimbabwe judge quits after Mugabe
criticism
HARARE, Jan. 3 — Another senior judge has resigned from
Zimbabwe's High
Court, the fifth to leave the bench after President Robert
Mugabe's
government forced the head of the judiciary to quit, court officials
said on
Thursday.
In a letter of resignation delivered to Mugabe on
Monday, Justice
David Bartlett said he would leave the High Court at the end
of March.
Bartlett was unavailable for comment, but court officials
said he did
not give a reason for his resignation in the letter.
The 49-year-old judge was appointed to the High Court in 1992.
His
resignation, which coincides with the statutory retirement of Supreme
Court
Judge Nicholas McNally, leaves only two white judges on the
Zimbabwean
bench.
Last year, Bartlett said the government should
investigate the
circumstances under which the Speaker of Parliament Emmerson
Mnangagwa, one
of Mugabe's closest associates, ordered the early release of
an armed robber
while he was justice minister.
With Bartlett, five
senior judges -- three whites and two blacks --
have now left the bench in
the past eight months after the government forced
Chief Justice Anthony
Gubbay into early retirement for declaring Mugabe's
controversial land
seizure drive illegal.
After his forced resignation, Gubbay accused
Mugabe's government of
''blatant and contemptuous disrespect of the
judiciary'' and abuse of human
rights.
The government has rejected
the accusations and in turn accused
Gubbay and other judges of working to
defend white minority interests.
Mugabe replaced Gubbay as head of the
country's highest court with
Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, his political ally
and a former deputy minister
in his government.
The government has
also appointed about a dozen new judges to the
High Court and Supreme Court,
but denies charges that it has compromised the
independence of the
judiciary.
In December, Chidyausiku and three other newly-appointed
Supreme
Court judges overturned a previous Supreme Court ruling and
endorsed
Mugabe's seizures of white-owned farms as legal.
Nine
white farmers have been killed and scores of black farm workers
assaulted
during the invasion of hundreds of white farms in the past 18
months by
militant supporters of Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.
Daily News - Leader Page
Likely scenarios after the presidential
poll
1/3/02 2:26:36 PM (GMT +2)
By Takura Zhangazha
THE
year 2002 comes with a lot of possibilities and fears for Zimbabwean
citizens
across the political divide. Naturally the most significant of
events that
will shape part of Zimbabwe's future as well as give 2002 a
revered place in
the history of our nation is the presidential election due
in
March.
It is also this event that has split Zimbabwe into distinct
political camps:
those that want a change in government leaders and those
that desire to
maintain the status quo. These two camps are manifest in the
contest between
the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition MDC. Because both
parties not only
want to win but claim that they will win the election, it
becomes the right
of the ordinary citizen to try and find out what is most
likely to be the
political situation in Zimbabwe after the presidential
election where Zanu
PF or the MDC wins.
This can be done by examining
two scenarios, the first being possible events
if Zanu PF wins, the second
being possible events if the MDC wins. In the
first scenario where we
hypothesise a Zanu PF victory, it is most likely
that the first thing that
the newly mandated Mugabe government will do is to
call for an acceptance of
the results and ask the opposition to put
differences aside in order to work
to build Zimbabwe. It will, however, not
form a government of national unity.
Instead, it will, while offering the
usual hand of reconciliation to the
opposition, embark on a "we-told-you-so"
campaign in the international
community as well as with the urban
electorate.
The urban voters will,
however, be subject to the arbitrary beatings by the
army and police that
have been occurring in bars and major shopping centres
in the high-density
suburbs, while the rural electorate will be revered for
its endurance against
the "forces of imperialism and terrorism". The only
exception to extolling
the peasantry will be the rural constituencies in
Matabeleland. They might
face a repeat of the Gukurahundi period where there
will be a heavy army
presence under the lame excuse of fighting terrorism.
In this same
scenario, the war veterans will become much more powerful and
some of them
will land Cabinet posts as due reward for their relentless
efforts.
Individual ministers such as Professor Jonathan Moyo and Patrick
Chinamasa
will no doubt become much more powerful politicians and their
influence
within the ruling party will range far and wide because they will
be
perceived as among the chief architects of the victory.
The land reform
programme will be slowed down because the sense of urgency
will have been
satisfied by the electoral victory and the Joint Resettlement
Initiative that
was proffered by the Commercial Farmers' Union will be
followed through to
the letter.
Other farmers that previously had sympathised with the opposition
will flee
the country and go to South Africa, Australia and the United
Kingdom for
their own personal security, while those that did not antagonise
the Zanu PF
war veterans during their Third Chimurenga will still be subject
to the
whims of the same persons that threatened and bribed them
endlessly.
Another important aspect in this likely scenario is how the
opposition will
react. The MDC will immediately declare the election
fraudulent, but there
will be division as to what course of action to take to
redress the unfair
state of affairs.
There will be two main possibilities
that the opposition will have problems
agreeing upon, these being mass action
or to take the matter to the courts
and then perhaps to the International
Court of Justice in The Hague.
Our assessment is that mass action will
prevail not necessarily because the
leaders will decide for it, but more
because the ordinary members of the
party will take issue if there is no
decisive political action.
This mass action will probably be organised
along the lines of the Ivory
Coast protest where people are urged to come
into the streets and claim
their victory. There will be attempts to make sure
it is a sustainable form
of protest to render the country ungovernable unless
the people get what
they want. The second scenario deals with the possibility
of the MDC
emerging the victor.
Similarly to the ruling party, the new
MDC government will call for
reconciliation but, unlike the ruling party,
will probably go further and
seek to form a government of national unity.
Most likely to feature in this
government of national unity as Cabinet
ministers are Dr Simba Makoni and Dr
Eddison Zvobgo.
The opposition,
however, will also ensure some form of atonement for the
murders and
atrocities during the June 2000 and March 2002 elections will be
carried out
in a form similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
South
Africa.
It is a reasonable possibility that the MDC government will declare
an
unofficial state of emergency in the country because of its wariness of
a
militarised war veterans' body that is sympathetic to Zanu PF, as well
as
the worry about the loyalty of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the
police.
It is, however, unlikely that the army will resort to a coup
d'etat because
most of the leading officers in the army realise that it would
be nigh
impossible for a military government to exist in the Southern
African
Development Community (Sadc) region without some military reaction
from
Mozambique and South Africa under the Sadc Organ on Politics, Security
and
Defence now chaired by President Joaquim Chissano.
It will also
undertake a significant reshuffle of the Central Intelligence
Organisation
because of the natural suspicion that has grown between the two
bodies since
the murder of Patrick Nabanyama and Cain Nkala. It is also in
this vein that
the MDC will not immediately repeal repressive laws that are
in effect at the
present moment and at that time. They will keep them in
order to maintain
control over the running of the country during the
transition period and will
not hesitate to use these laws where it deems
necessary. The rural electorate
will react with initial fear at this news
because of the threats that will
have been issued by war veterans and Zanu
PF supporters of what will happen
in the event of an MDC victory.
The war veterans will call for a mass
uprising along the lines of a
guerrilla war, but the army will be reluctant
to back such a move if not for
political reasons, then for the problem with
the logistics of supplies and
mobility of such an undertaking.
Overall,
these two scenarios are fairly strong possibilities come March
2002. But
there is still room for non-preferable situations to be avoided by
those that
intend to govern. The citizens of Zimbabwe should, however, brace
for various
possibilities and thus be able to rise to the challenges that
will confront
them no matter who wins the mandate to become Zimbabwe's
next
President.
FinGaz
Annual money supply growth surges to 84%
1/4/02 1:41:01
AM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE’S annual broad money supply (M3) growth surged to
83.5 percent in
September but analysts expected it to top 100 percent by the
end of last
month as the government continues to borrow heavily from the
domestic
market.
According to statistics released this week by the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ), September’s M3 growth rose four percentage
points from 79.5 percent
in August, underpinned by a staggering 124.3 percent
and 53.6 percent
increases in narrow and quasi-money
respectively.
Narrow money or M1 comprises notes and coins in
circulation, plus demand
deposits, while quasi-money refers to instruments
that act as a store of
value but are not immediately acceptable as a medium
of exchange.
These include savings accounts, money market investments and
building
society deposits.
"Growth in narrow money emanated from
increases in demand deposits of $45
094 million and notes and coin in
circulation and notes and coin in
circulation of $12 178 million," the RBZ
said in its Monthly Review for
October 2001.
Deposits with maturities
below 30 days shot up by $3.2 billion to $27
billion, largely due to
increases of $3.9 billion and $835.3 million at
commercial banks and finance
houses.
Net credit to the government rose by $53.6 billion, largely from
commercial
banks, which lent Treasury over $32.5 billion during September and
the RBZ
overdraft facility whose outstanding balance stood at $17.7
billion.
Analysts have already warned that Zimbabwe’s money supply growth
could hit
100 percent by the end of December 2001 and the upward trend would
continue
this year unless the government drastically reduced its borrowing
from the
domestic sector.
"The underlying factor is that government
has resorted to domestic borrowing
to fund its domestic debt and this fuels
the growth in money supply," said
economist Witness Chinyama.
"It will
continue to rise because the government has no other sources to
finance its
budget deficit."
Finance Minister Simba Makoni has already said he will
borrow more than $138
billion from the domestic market this year to finance
the budget deficit.
Makoni has budgeted to spend $390 billion in 2002 but
anticipates to raise
about $251 billion in revenues.
Analysts say
Makoni is overly optimistic in his revenue projections because
the Treasury
has in the past few years dismally failed to meet its targets.
Zimbabwe’s
gross domestic product (GDP) — the sum of goods and services
produced by the
country annually — is officially forecast to decline by 5.3
percent this
year, which means Makoni will have a smaller base from which to
raise
revenue.
Most analysts see Zimbabwe’s GDP in 2002 falling by as much as
10 percent
versus a decline of nearly eight percent last year. — Staff
Reporter
FinGaz - Comment
Merchants of death unleashed on nation
1/4/02
2:08:34 AM (GMT +2)
FOUR officials of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) were
murdered in cold blood in just one week before
New Year, sending a clear
signal to Zimbabweans of what to expect ahead of
the landmark March
presidential election.
Earlier, two members of
the ruling ZANU PF party were killed in Matabeleland
and just as the year
closed, another was reported murdered in Chipinge.
The murder of these
innocents, whatever the provocation, cannot and must not
be tolerated, coming
as they do in addition to the deaths of more than 40
other Zimbabweans killed
in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary ballot.
The merchants of death
who have once again been unleashed on Zimbabweans
must be stopped at once by
those whose duty it is to keep law and order.
With the country’s
political temperature rising dangerously because of these
callous killings,
we are most disturbed that the police force has not acted
firmly against
clearly identifiable gangs who have been terrorising some
Harare residents in
the past two weeks.
Mobs clad in fading green military fatigues issued
only to those who have
been trained by ZANU PF under the guise of a national
youth service have
descended upon Harare residents in Budiriro, Kuwadzana and
Mabvuku with
impunity.
They have viciously assaulted innocent people
going about their daily
business, ordering some to shout slogans of the
ruling party and forcing
others to attend the party’s meetings in violence
meant to test the people’s
patience.
During the attacks in which
valuable property was also destroyed, witnesses
reported that the police
force either did nothing or responded too late
after the mobs had
disappeared.
In fact in one instance during the attack on Budiriro two
weeks ago, some
members of the public who retaliated against the gangsters
were reportedly
arrested.
While members of the public cannot and
should not be allowed to take the law
into their own hands, it is imperative
that the police force, which is paid
by long-suffering Zimbabweans, always
intervenes swiftly on the side of the
victims.
The police’s failure
for whatever reason to act with speed in the face of
this undeclared war
against innocent Zimbabweans can only lead to much worse
violence and even
loss of life as the public acts to protect itself from
organised
chaos.
It is crucial that Zimbabwe’s police, already widely accused of
favouring
ZANU PF and of implementing selective justice that targets MDC
members, does
all in its power and more during the run-up to the presidential
ballot to
ensure that this perception is corrected without delay or risk
having a
serious public backlash.
The police must act without fear or
favour against anyone found to be on the
wrong side of the law, more so
against common thugs who have been hired
solely to instil terror in those who
hold different political views.
Zimbabwe’s political landscape is already
too uneven ahead of such a crucial
ballot because it has been deliberately
made to favour the ruling party, and
the police — as an impartial force —
cannot afford to be seen to be
exacerbating this outrage.
Indeed, it
is difficult to see how a free and fair election can be held when
innocent
people are being tortured, raped and killed for their views every
other week
while no visible action is being taken against offenders.
Add to this the
state media’s total news blackout on activities of the MDC
except when
trashing the party, it becomes clear even to the blind that the
upcoming poll
can only be a sham, whose result is likely to be rejected by
both Zimbabweans
and the international community.
As a start, the police force must
therefore get its act together rapidly,
otherwise it will be difficult and
immoral to blame innocent Zimbabweans who
only respond to physical attacks by
protecting themselves by whatever means
they have.
In other words,
either the police force acts and is seen to be acting
against these hired
agents of death and violence or the citizens themselves
will be forced to do
so, with ghastly consequences for a country already on
the brink.
FinGaz
Presidential election is being rigged: activist
Staff
Reporter
1/4/02 2:53:40 AM (GMT +2)
MUTARE —A member of the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (ZESN), an
umbrella group for 40 civic bodies
campaigning for free and fair elections,
says the government is rigging the
March presidential ballot by preventing
millions of Zimbabweans from
voting.
Elijah Chiwota, a ZESN representative from the Popular
Education Network,
said civic bodies are dismayed by the government’s new
demand that voters
should produce proof of residence or that they have credit
accounts with
service providers before being registered.
"Some of
these conditions given by the government make it appear like the
elections
are being rigged before they are even conducted," he told a ZESN
camapign
meeting held in this eastern border city.
"More than 55 percent of
Zimbabweans are unemployed so how can they have
credit accounts for them to
register to vote? The elections are being rigged
before they are conducted,"
he said.
Chiwota said election rules and standards adopted by the
Southern Africa
Development Community and Zimbabwe had been trashed by the
Zimbabwe
government, putting in serious doubt the credibility of the
upcoming
presidential vote.
"Under these norms, an independent
electoral commission is one of the
minimum conditions for a free and fair
election, but here it is not even
there. Our Electoral Supervisory Commission
is not even qualified to do this
job," he said.
Chiwota said every
Zimbabwean had the responsibility to ensure that the
country is run in a
manner that benefits the majority.
"When leaders behave as if they are
running military regimes, it is the duty
of civil society to stop them. The
role of civil society is to be involved
in issues that affect their lives and
one way of doing this is through
voting," he said.
Catholic Bishop
Patrick Mutume, who also spoke during the meeting, said:
"Voter education is
not only about elections but about how to make civil
society aware that those
elected are not masters but servants, and a servant
is not greater than his
master.
"It is therefore important that voters are not only educated that
they
should vote, but also that they should follow up on those people they
elect
to see if they are implementing their promises."
The ZESN has
rejected a government ban on civic bodies conducting voter
education by
embarking on a nationwide campaign to educate voters on
their
rights.
Mutume, a member of the Catholic Commission for Justice
and Peace, spoke
strongly against the government’s reluctance to make the
presidential poll
easily accessible to Zimbabweans.
"People should be
able to vote because it is through voting that their
wishes can be known.
Sloganeering does not produce results," he said.
"Twenty-one years after
independence and after giving people education,
people can no longer be
spoon-fed. Tying to think for them and telling them
what to do will only
serve to make them angry and this type of politics does
not work in a
civilised society."
He added: "If civil society asks for a good
government, they deserve it and
they should get it. There are only two ways
of changing things in your
country: it is either through taking up a gun or
through the use of the
ballot paper, and we are saying do not take up the gun
but use the paper
because it is there and can make things go the way you
want."
FinGaz
Zimbabwe among top media freedom violators
1/4/02
2:41:52 AM (GMT +2)
PARIS — Thirty-one journalists were killed in the
line of duty in 2001 and
there was a sharp rise in curbs on reporting
worldwide, a media watchdog
said this week.
The number of
journalists jailed or attacked for their work rose
dramatically last year,
the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters
Without Borders) said in
its annual assessment of press freedom.
The number killed was almost the
same as in 2000 when the death toll was 32,
it said.
But arrests
soared by almost 50 percent to 489 while threats and physical
attacks on
reporters jumped around 40 percent to 716.
"More and more journalists are
in jail across the world," the group said in
a statement. "There are
currently 110 behind bars. Whereas this number had
steadily decreased since
1995, it suddenly started rising again in 2001."
The situation sharply
deteriorated in states including Bangladesh, Eritrea,
Haiti, Nepal and
Zimbabwe. Few countries recorded progress in granting the
media greater
freedom, Reporters Without Borders said.
"Every day, a new media outlet
is censored somewhere in the world and close
to a third of the global
population lives in a country where there is no
freedom of the press," it
added.
Asia was the most dangerous place for reporters, with 14 deaths
recorded
last year. This included eight correspondents killed covering the
US
military campaign in Afghanistan.
Reuters journalists Harry Burton,
an Australian television cameraman, and
Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan-born
photographer, both 33, were among a group
of journalists murdered by gunmen
in an ambush near Kabul in November.
One journalist and eight media
technicians lost their lives in the September
11 attack on the World Trade
Centre in New York. Another US journalist died
from anthrax in Florida after
receiving a letter laced with the bacteria.
Journalists were assassinated
for what they wrote in Haiti, Colombia,
Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Spain and
Yugoslavia. No reporters were killed in
Africa or the Middle East last
year.
— Reuter
FinGaz
Mugabe to scrap poll
By Sydney Masamvu Political
Editor
1/4/02 2:35:02 AM (GMT +2)
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is expected
to use his sweeping powers next week to
postpone indefinitely Harare’s
mayoral and council elections, which were
ordered to be held next month by
Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court, official sources
said
yesterday.
Mugabe’s expected action would follow a decision this week
by Local
Government Minister Ignatius Chombo to extend by six months the
tenure of
the state-appointed caretaker commission which has been running the
affairs
of Harare City since 1999.
The sources said Chombo’s decision
to renew the mandate of Elijah Chanakira’
s panel until June this year was in
line with a plan crafted and agreed by
the Politburo — the supreme organ — of
Mugabe’s ZANU PF after the Supreme
Court ruling a month ago.
The
12-member commission’s tenure had expired on Monday this week.
The
Supreme Court ruled that Harare’s mayoral and municipal polls must be
held on
February 11 after embittered Harare residents, represented by the
Combined
Harare Residents’ Association, challenged the legality and tenure
of the
hand-picked commission.
Harare has been without an elected mayor and
council since 1999 when the
government sacked a ZANU PF-dominated council
that was led by businessman
and party cadre Solomon Tawengwa for alleged
gross mismanagement and
corruption.
The sources said Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa is crafting a statutory
instrument under the Presidential
(Temporary) Powers Act which Mugabe would
use to amend the Urban Councils Act
and postpone the eagerly awaited ballot
in Zimbabwe’s capital.
"A
statutory instrument issued under presidential powers amending the
Urban
Councils Act should be released in the coming week or so which will
postpone
the mayoral elections," an official in the Ministry of Justice told
the
Financial Gazette yesterday.
Other sources said the government’s
legal officers were already busy
cobbling up the statutory instrument that
could see the municipal polls
moved to a date well after a landmark
presidential ballot due in March.
In the March plebiscite, Mugabe — in
power since Zimbabwe’s independence
from Britain in 1980 — faces the stiffest
challenge to his autocratic rule
from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) who enjoys massive support in
all urban centres, crucially
Harare.
ZANU PF has already lost three
mayoral elections to the MDC this year in the
cities of Masvingo, Bulawayo
and Chegutu.
The sources said ZANU PF’s leadership and Mugabe had been
briefed by the
government’s spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) on
the need to
postpone the mayoral ballot because, the CIO argued, its timing
and outcome
would lift the MDC’s political momentum ahead of the presidential
poll.
ZANU PF insiders said the CIO had concluded that the ruling party
will lose
heavily in the Harare mayoral elections.
"The decision to
postpone the elections was reached after we received
adverse intelligence
reports on our projected performance," a ZANU PF
Politburo member said
yesterday.
"We decided to hold the municipal elections after the
presidential poll
because the outcome and campaign itself for the mayoral
elections would
derail our momentum," the official added.
The
Chitungwiza municipal elections which are scheduled to be held later
this
month are also likely to be postponed under the proposed
presidential
amendments.
The sources said the government would also
claim that the postponements were
necessary for the office of
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, a ZANU PF
member, to adequately prepare for
the presidential election.
The MDC yesterday blasted the extension of the
tenure of the Harare
commission, saying it was a deliberate move by the
government to delay the
mayoral ballot it knew it would lose.
"The
people of Zimbabwe fought a war of liberation where, among other
things, they
sought the right to be governed by their own elected
representatives and not
to have leaders imposed on them," said Paul Themba
Nyathi, the party’s shadow
minister of local government.
"The Supreme Court has shown that the
government acted illegally in its
failure to hold the Harare elections for
two years. We hope that the
government will, for a change, learn to live by
the laws of the country," he
said.
MDC legislator Tendai Biti said
were the municipal elections to be postponed
as suggested, this would not
surprise him because "it would be the usual
executive hooliganism against the
judiciary", a reference to the government’
s flouting of the rule of
law.
Washington has already imposed smart sanctions on Mugabe, which
include
banning him and his officials from travelling to the US and freezing
their
overseas assets, for their persistent refusal to restore law and order,
in
suspension since 2000 when ZANU PF militants were allowed to seize
farms
nationwide with Mugabe’s open approval.
The 15-nation European
Union, the world’s biggest trading bloc, is expected
to take similar action
shortly.
FinGaz
Moyo’s law signals death of journalism
Jurist
Gweta
1/4/02 1:22:59 AM (GMT +2)
"FOUR hostile newspapers are more to
be feared than a thousand bayonets."
— Napoleon (1769-1821)
THE
media industry is in for very hard times. This is so for the privately
owned
media houses. Journalists employed by these media houses face a bleak
future.
So do some aspiring journalists.
The media will never be the same again
if the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Bill is passed into
law, and the prospects of such an
event are very real. This article deals
with the Bill only as it relates to
the media industry.
The government
has decided to "regulate" the media. Actually "regulate" is
misleading in
this context. The proper word might be to "police".
In the Bill, the
government has recognised journalism as a profession,
putting the calling in
the same bracket as those ancient professions:
medicine, the law,
etc.
But the difference between journalism and these professions is
ominous. The
Minister of Health does not "regulate" the medical profession,
nor does the
Minister of Justice regulate the legal profession.
The
impending legislation places the media industry firmly in the hands
of
Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo!
Provisions which
affect journalists and their employers cornfirm what
appears on the surface
to be an alarmist interpretation of the Bill.
The problem does not end
there. Whatever problems the Bill will cause for
the journalists and their
employers will also affect this nation at large.
Political control of the
media means political control of what the public
sees and hears. The Bill is
reminiscent ofthe apartheid-era Press laws such
as provisions of the Internal
Security Act 1982, Newspaper Imprint
Registration Act
1971.
Establishment of media and information
commission
Section 39 of the Bill establishes a media and
information commission. The
commission is empowered by Section 40 to perform
certain functions. For the
purpose of this article, the following powers of
the commission are
pertinent:
lTo advise the minister on the
adoption and establishment of standards and
codes relating to the operation
of mass media services.
lTo receive, evaluate and consider
applications for registration as a
journalist.
lTo accredit
journalists.
lTo monitor the media and raise user awareness of the
media.
lTo register mass media services in
Zimbabwe.
Appointment and composition of media and information
commission
Surprisingly, the Bill does not even say what
qualification a person should
possess to be eligible for appointment to the
commission. It does not
provide for the number of commissioners. It does not
provide for a class of
people from whom commissioners will be
chosen.
The board
All one is told is that "the
operations of the commission shall be
controlled and managed by a board". And
in terms of Section 41(2), "the
board shall consist of no fewer than five
members and not more than nine
members appointed by the minister after
consultation with the President in
accordance with any directions that the
President might give him".
While Section 41(3) directs one to the fifth
schedule for the qualifications
for eligibility for appointment to the
commission and the board, that
schedule is of no assistance whatsoever. It
speaks only in the negative - of
disqualifications, that is.
The
conclusion here is that it is up to the minister and the President
to
handpick board members and, further, the commissioners. A board member or
a
commissioner is not required by the Bill to have any semblance
ofexperience
in the media industry. These are the kind of people expected to
carry out
the governance of the industry!
Ownership of mass
media services
Section 70 of the Bill is a drastic provision as
far as media ownership is
concerned. Zimbabwean citizenship is the essential
requirement for the
ownership of a mass media service.
Foreigners and
stateless persons are prohibited from owning or co-owning a
mass media
service. The section will put to an end any investment by
foreigners in the
media industry. Any company with some members who are not
citizens of
Zimbabwe is barred from owning or co-owning a mass media
service.
One
of the drastic provisions is that a person who is serving a sentence
of
imprisonment cannot own or co-own a media service. The provision is wide
-
it does not matter what offence the person is in jail
for.
Registration of mass media service
A mass
media owner can only operate as such after registering and receiving
a
certificate of registration. The commission is empowered to grant or
reject
applications for registration. A certificate of registration issued
in terms
of Section 71 of the Bill is valid for only two years. The
commission has a
discretion to renew such a certificate.
Only mass media services founded
under an Act of Parliament and those giving
out free mass media products are
exempt from registration.
Cancellation of a
registration
certificate
A media house's registration
certificate can be cancelled by the commission
at any time under Section
77.
A variety of reasons are given for such cancellation. One example is
Section
77 (d), that is, if the mass media owner fails to comply with an
order or
directive of the commission. As this is not enough punishment,
Section 77(3)
adds that "a mass media service whose certificate of
registration is
cancelled shall cease to operate forthwith and may not
reapply for
registration until after the expiration of a period of two
years.
It is however worth noting that the Bill does not say what happens
if
persons subject to a cancellation order apply for registration under
a
different name before the expiration of the two-year
period.
Termination and suspension of activity
The
insecurity of media houses is worsened by the commission's power to
terminate
or suspend that mass media service. For example, in terms of
Section 78 (3),
the commission may, upon the determination of a complaint
against any mass
media service, either suspend, terminate or conserve that
mass media
service.
Offences in terms of Section 79
It is an
offence to operate a mass media service without a valid
registration
certificate. The offence is punishable by a fine not exceeding
$1 million or
to imprisonment for a period of not more than two years or to
both such fine
and such imprisonment.
If the minister has reasonable grounds to believe
that a mass media service
is being operated in contravention of this Act, he
is empowered to seize the
media's products, for example equipment, and
impound them pending the
finalisation of criminal prosecution.
This
power is drastic. In some cases it can amount to punishment before a
finding
of guilty by a competent court. Besides, the use of such powers by
the
minister can put a company out of business for an indefinite period as
the
pace of prosecutions in this country is very slow.
News
agencies
News agencies are also subject to strict regulatory
requirements which are
similar in substance to mass media
services.
Provisions
pertaining
to
journalists
To the question "what is a journalist?", the Bill
practically leaves it up
to the minister and the commission to define. It is
a sad scenario. If the
Bill is passed as it is many honest and hardworking
citizens of this country
who have toiled for the industry will lose their
jobs. Not because their
employers want it but because the government says
so.
Accreditation
of journalists
Section 86
of the Bill is a minefield planted against what we have known to
be
journalists. No journalist will he allowed to work in Zimbabwe without
being
accredited by the commission. And it is the minister who shall
prescribe the
form and the manner in which journalists should be accredited.
The
commission is not obliged to accredit a journalist. It may refuse to do
so.
It may accredit an applicant if it is satisfied that he has the
prescribed
qualifications. But these qualifications are not defined.
No foreign
citizen can be a journalist in Zimbabwe. The era of the Joseph
Winters, etc,
will be over.
A journalist's accreditation certificate is not permanent.
It is valid for
only one year. The commission may or may not decide to renew
it.
Appeals
The Bill is completely mute as to whom
a mass media service, a news agency
or a journalist can turn in the event of,
for example, the commission's
refusal to grant an application for
registration. The commission can
terminate a media service's certificate
overnight and leave the affected
party at a loss as to what to do.
It
is submitted here that the only option open in such a scenario is
an
application to the High Court for review. But that is no relief. Courts
are
loath to set aside decisions of administrative bodies unless, for
example,
it is proved that such decisions were activated by malice or
gross
irregularities in procedure.
Abuses
One
further provision necessitates comment. Section 69 creates offences
known as
"abuse of freedom of expression". One of them reads:
"denigrating,
bringing into hatred or contempt or ridicule or exciting
disaffection against
the President, the law enforcement agents or the
administration of justice in
Zimbabwe".
Such an offence is punishable by a fine not exceeding $100 000
or to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
Clearly, this
offence is meant to stifle any criticism of the President. So
much for the
Bill purporting to be a protector of the freedom of expression!
The offence
can even cause disaster for a newspaper just because it has
published a
cartoon image of the President. This is the end of journalism as
we know
it.
Jurist Gweta is a concerned Zimbabwean
FinGaz
Govt land grab targets Mukuyu winery
Staff
Reporter
1/4/02 1:44:30 AM (GMT +2)
MUKUYU Estate, one of Zimbabwe’s
largest wine-making farms, has been
targeted for compulsory acquisition by
the government but the farm owners
this week vowed to oppose the listing of
the Marondera property.
The estate, which measures more than 854.68
hectares and is registered in
the name of Willards Foods Limited, was among
267 commercial farms gazetted
for acquisition by Agriculture Minister Joseph
Made on December 14 last
year.
Willards Foods is a subsidiary of
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed
Cairns Holdings Limited.
Other
properties also targeted for expropriation by the state include three
farms
owned by the Anglo American Rhodesian Development Corporation Limited
in
Mazoe and part of Triangle Ranch, whose owner is listed as
Triangle
Limited.
Cairns Holdings chief executive Philip Chigumira
last week confirmed the
listing of Mukuyu Estate but said the group would
contest the decision to
acquire the farm for resettlement.
"We are
opposing the acquisition," he told the Financial Gazette but did not
say if
the group had already approached Made over the issue.
Cairns Holdings
manufactures a range of food products through its Cairns
Foods subsidiary and
the winery contributes seven percent of the company’s
turnover.
The
decision to acquire the farm comes at a time when Cairns has been trying
to
increase exports of wines and when volume sales for almost all products
has
plummeted due to weak domestic demand.
"We have just become stronger in
Zambia and we are working on growing our
exports regionally and
internationally," Chigumira said.
The government is currently the largest
single shareholder in Cairns
Holdings, with a 66.53 percent stake in the
company.
The 267 farms are the latest victims of the government’s
controversial land
reform programme that has so far seen more than 4 000
largely white-owned
properties being listed for compulsory
acquisition.
The programme, under which the government officially wants
to resettle
landless people but benefits its cronies, has disrupted activity
in Zimbabwe
’s key agricultural sector.
Agriculture employs more than
350 000 workers and contributes about 15
percent of Zimbabwe’s annual gross
domestic product while over 60 percent of
local industry is
agro-based.
Zimbabwe’s agricultural output is estimated to have declined
by 25 percent
during the 2000/01 season and the country faces deficits of 593
000 tonnes
of the staple maize, 150 000 tonnes of wheat and 11 000 tonnes of
rice.