• Zimbabwe leadership in crisis over Mugabe's successor
• Harare sees support for talks as 'loud climbdown' by Bush
• Southern African press review
• Zim talks are denied, but they're on agenda
• Bush needs to match words with deeds
• The Camel and the straw.
• Bringing regime change to Africa
• International Criminal Court or International Mischief?
• Powell Interview on CNN s Larry King Live
• Elephants leave Bushes blushing
• Bush backpedals in Africa
• Libyan fuel deal held up
• Inflation gallops towards 400% mark
• Zim on the brink of dramatic change
• MDC slams delays
• Govt blamed for thriving black market
• Land audit reveals arbitrary seizures
• Tsvangirai reads riot act to acting mayor
• Call to review land policy
• Indigenisation train bypasses Zim’s marginalised
• Only man afraid of Bush is Mugabe
• Bank managers come under pressure
• Death knell for tobacco
• We are surviving by the grace of God
• Land of plenty reduced to desert
• Hoax and fantasy - from land to bank notes
• Purpose of Bush's visit deliberately distorted
• Government has no shortage of scapegoats

            Zimbabwe's ruling party stalwarts are locking horns over the
succession of Robert Mugabe. Counter-accusations are emerging and inquiries
about the loyalty of others at disciplinary hearings are being set up.

            Eddison Zvobgo, the Zanu-PF's prominent politician, is being
summoned to appear before the party's disciplinary committee to answer
charges that he decampaigned President Mugabe in the last presidential
election. He denies the charges and accuses colleagues of tarnishing his
name as the succession debate hots up.

            There was no doubt in 1980 that Robert Mugabe was the victor and
the head of state. A bitter-armed struggle and subsequently landslide
electoral victory had preceded his ascent to power. Today, the debate on who
takes over from this man is threatening to divide his ruling (Zanu-PF)
party.

            Other senior Zanu PF politicians have thrown in their names
declaring their candidacy for the first job in the country. Joseph Msika,
his ageing vice, John Nkomo, the ruling party's national chairperson, are
among them. The maverick Edison Zvobgo is being dragged into a disciplinary
party hearing for allegedly decampaigning President Mugabe during
presidential elections last year. This week he has been telling the SABC
that it is the beginning of the struggles for President Mugabe's seat.

            Many in Zimbabwe say these grey-haired politicians are now to
old for the political game and should instead consider retiring. They
believe front runners for Mugabe's post are yet to stand up.

            Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a political analyst, said Zimbabweans can
only be kept guessing. There are no front runners-but dark horses. The issue
of Mugabe's successor is now a case of cloaks and daggers. Senior
politicians smearing each other as the succession debate hots up. Succeeding
Mugabe is proving costly for aspirants.

By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

    The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said yesterday that
President Bush's endorsement of low-key diplomacy to resolve the country's
political crisis was a "loud climbdown" from previous U.S. demands for
out-and-out regime change.
    The Mugabe government said Mr. Bush's strong statement in support of
South African efforts to broker a deal with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) amounted to a repudiation of the MDC's tactics and
of the more confrontational approach pushed by Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell last month.
    Mr. Bush, talking to reporters in Botswana yesterday, said he remained
committed to democratic reform in Zimbabwe, blaming the country's economic
and political crises on "bad governance."
    But Mr. Bush's tone during a press conference Wednesday with South
African President Thabo Mbeki was sharply muted compared with that adopted
by Mr. Powell in a New York Times editorial late last month.
    Mr. Powell said the time of the "violent misrule" of the Mugabe regime
"had come and gone," and called on South Africa and other regional powers to
play a role "that reflects the urgency of the situation."
    The MDC has been sharply critical of South Africa's failure to take a
more activist role in Zimbabwe's crisis. Britain, the former colonial power
in Zimbabwe, also has pressed Washington and European countries to isolate
and sanction Mr. Mugabe and his top aides.
    But Zimbabwe's Department of Information and Publicity said in a
statement that Mr. Bush's "fleeting and perfunctory reference" to Zimbabwe
during the press conference Wednesday was "a loud climbdown by a president
all along misled, but who now leaves the region better enlightened about the
issues at stake."
    Appearing with Mr. Mbeki in the middle of a five-day Africa trip, Mr.
Bush offered a surprisingly effusive endorsement of the South African
leader's cautious efforts in neighboring Zimbabwe.
    Mr. Bush called Mr. Mbeki an "honest broker" and the international
"point man" in resolving Zimbabwe's political standoff, even though Mr.
Mbeki's government has rejected any suggestion of ousting Mr. Mugabe and has
come under sharp criticism from MDC leaders for failing to condemn the
Harare government's attacks on civil liberties and its mishandling of the
collapsing economy.
    "I don't have any intention of second-guessing [Mr. Mbeki´s] tactics,"
Mr. Bush said. "We want the same outcome."
    MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces treason charges lodged by the
government, said yesterday that Mr. Bush had been "misled" by Mr. Mbeki's
assurances that real negotiations were under way in Zimbabwe.
    "Statements claiming that there is dialogue going on are patently false
and mischievous," he told reporters in Harare, the capital.
    "The Mugabe regime has remained intractable and sustained an arrogant
and defiant program of violence, torture, murder, rape and all manner of
crimes against humanity," he added.
    The MDC leader, however, softened his criticism in a later statement,
saying the opposition was "heartened by the sense of urgency displayed by
President Mbeki and Bush" in breaking Zimbabwe's political impasse.
    British Prime Minister Tony Blair also has worked to rally international
opposition to the Mugabe regime.
    "We must deal with the problem in Zimbabwe, because it threatens to
blight and destroy the lives of many people, not only in that country, but
all over south of Africa," Mr. Blair recently told Parliament.
    Mr. Bush and Mr. Powell, in separate press briefings yesterday, insisted
that the U.S. demand for political overhaul in Zimbabwe had not diminished.
    "It's a shame that the [Zimbabwean economy] has gotten so weak and
soft," Mr. Bush said.
    "It's a shame for southern Africa, and the weakness in the economy is
directly attributable to bad governance. Therefore, we will continue to
speak out for democracy in Zimbabwe," he added.
    John Prendergast, a Zimbabwe expert for the International Crisis Group,
said Mr. Bush's praise of Mr. Mbeki was a calculated gamble that Pretoria
will take a more activist approach if the United States pulls back.
    "Essentially, we're betting that if we tone it down, they'll turn it
up," he said.
    Bill Fletcher, president of the TransAfrica Forum, said the harsh
criticism by Britain and the United States in the past had proven
counterproductive.
    "Their comments ended up polarizing the situation in Zimbabwe," he said.
"They were used by Mugabe to paint the opposition as in the pocket of
Western interests."
    He said Mr. Bush was only recognizing reality in calling Mr. Mbeki the
point man for a diplomatic solution. But Mr. Fletcher added that he doubted
the soothing words at the press conference had papered over wide differences
between the two leaders on how to handle the crisis in Zimbabwe.
    Mr. Prendergast said it was still not clear whether South Africa was
prepared to take a tougher approach toward Mr. Mugabe, or whether Mr. Mbeki
could overcome his doubts about the MDC.
    "If the Bush administration truly supports the current South African
policy on Zimbabwe, nothing is going to happen," Mr. Prendergast said.
    He said Mr. Bush's "over-the-top" praise of Mr. Mbeki's role in the
region reflected in part tensions between advisers in the National Security
Council and the State Department, with the former skeptical of the latter's
tougher line against Mr. Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front.
    In what appeared to be the first test of South Africa's new line, Mr.
Mbeki failed even to mention the Zimbabwe crisis in a speech yesterday at a
summit of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique.
    With Mr. Mugabe seated in the audience, Mr. Mbeki called on African
governments to take a more active role in resolving the continent's many
conflicts, but did not name Zimbabwe as one of the countries requiring
attention.

      Friday, July 11, 2003

       George Bush’s arrival in    Africa this week is a historic one. His
steps will be the first made by a sitting Republican president on African
soil. For this act alone Mr Bush deserves credit. Pitching up on Senegal’s
Goree island, where Africans were held before being shipped as slaves to
America, Mr Bush casts himself as successor to President Clinton’s ambitious
engagement with the continent. For many years, Africa barely counted in US
foreign policy - beyond being a battlefield during the cold war. Mr Clinton’
s 1998 visit changed all this. He soothed African resentment with American
rapprochement not least with an apology for inaction during the Rwandan
genocide. Like his Democratic predecessor, Mr Bush will promote political
reform and peace-building. True, the Bush White House has sometimes
cynically pushed the continent’s concerns to the top of the international
agenda. Sure, West Africa’s large oil reserves have helped attract the
attention of the president. And of course, the US is increasingly wary of
failed states, of which Africa has too many, becoming breeding grounds for
terrorists.

      But Mr Bush’s optimistic view is of an Africa prepared to pull itself
out of poverty. His refreshingly sunny assessments of Africa’s untapped
potential are welcome. There is no doubt of the scale of the task presented
by the globe’s second biggest continent. The misgovernment of Zimbabwe and
the civil war in Liberia indicate starkly the size of the acute problems
Africa presents to the rest of the world. This should not obscure Africa’s
chronic difficulties. African incomes have stagnated and even declined,
while other poor nations have risen. Lifespans are shortening, in part due
to the relentless advance of Aids across the continent. While the rest of
the planet globalises, Africa appears to be collapsing in upon itself. It
contains more than a tenth of the world’s population, but little less than
2% of its income. Here Mr Bush’s answers have promised a lot but furnished
little in the way of results. Not much has emerged from Mr Bush’s Millennium
Challenge Accounts, which would have seen developing countries compete
against each other for $5bn of new American aid, announced a year ago. The
administration’s ambitious commitment to treating Aids in Africa looks to be
going the same way - with new cash not being made available quickly enough.
This is partly because of the White House’s suspicion of the United Nations
and its fund to fight Aids, TB and malaria, which has proved effective in
combating diseases but lacks cash - especially from America - to do so.

      Even worse has been the Republican administration’s constant siding
with the pharmaceutical industry over the issue of cheap medicines for the
developing world. Blocking the right of poor countries to get access to
inexpensive medicines means cutting short the life expectancy of Africa’s
workforce. Mr Bush has also not done enough to make America’s trade and aid
policies fairer. Washington remains the meanest donor in the world. Too much
US cash is “tied” to the purchase of American goods and services. And much
aid is bent to strategic rather than developmental goals. America’s generous
handouts and subsidies to its vast agribusinesses push African farmers out
of global and local markets, depriving poor economies of income and
employment. All this drains President Bush’s rhetoric of its good intent.
America needs to present Africa with real opportunities, not just
photo-opportunities, to make a difference. In an interdependent world,
America cannot afford to ignore Africa’s problems.

      By Ugochukwu Ejinkkeonye
      Friday, July 11, 2003

      AS President George  Bush begins his tour of Africa, he is demanding
that Liberia”s President Charles Taylor step down, and preparing a possible
military intervention. America is also putting pressure on Zimbabwe”s
leader, Robert Mugabe, to resign. Some thought North Korea or Iran or maybe
Syria might be next on President George Bush”s list for regime change, after
Iraq. But it now seems likely that the strife-torn former American colony of
Liberia, whose 14-year civil war has inflamed conflicts across West Africa,
will be the next to undergo American-led military intervention to bring
about a change of government. On Monday July 7th, as Mr Bush was setting out
on his first official visit to Africa, a 20-strong American military team
flew in by helicopter to the heavily fortified American embassy in the
Liberian capital, Monrovia, to assess the security situation. On Tuesday,
arriving in Senegal, Mr Bush said he had still not decided whether to send a
larger contingent, of up to 2,000 troops, to restore order——and, if
necessary, to remove Liberia’s president, Charles Taylor. As he was
speaking, troops loyal to Mr Taylor prevented the American military
observers from visiting a refugee camp outside Monrovia.

      Last week, Mr Bush told Mr Taylor he must step down immediately. Mr
Taylor said over the weekend that he would accept a proposal to go into
exile in Nigeria but that he wanted to wait for America’s troops to arrive
before resigning. He has offered to resign before, only to continue clinging
to power. Unlike in the case of Iraq, American armed intervention in Liberia
has the full backing of both the United Nations and France. The French, and
several West African states, have offered to contribute to a peacekeeping
force for Liberia. West African leaders on Tuesday renewed their calls on Mr
Bush to intervene.

      MR Taylor emerged in the 1980s from the training camps of his
friend——and America's foe——the Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, with the aim
of spreading rebellion around West Africa. He certainly achieved it. After
launching a revolt in his own country and establishing himself as its chief
rebel warlord, in 1997 Mr Taylor won an election for president, and started
sponsoring uprisings in neighbouring countries. He backed Foday Sankoh, a
Sierra Leonean rebel (also Libyan-trained) whose troops hacked off the limbs
of thousands of civilians, and with whom Mr Taylor traded guns for diamonds.
In 1999, the two men backed a rebellion in Guinea. Both uprisings were
abruptly stopped when Britain sent troops into Sierra Leone in 2000.
Liberians have fought on both sides in the uprising in Côôte d”Ivoire. Last
year, France sent troops there to keep the peace.

      Mr Taylor”s moment of reckoning has been coming for some time now:
though they deny it, his neighbours have been backing Liberian rebel groups,
which have taken more than half the country in recent weeks and are
besieging Monrovia. In June, as he was attending peace talks in Ghana, a UN
tribunal investigating atrocities in Sierra Leone”s civil war issued an
arrest warrant for Mr Taylor on war-crimes charges. This forced him to flee
back to Monrovia, whereupon the rebels launched attacks to try to dislodge
him. Amid the worst bloodshed since the civil war”s early days in
1990——which is continuing despite a supposed ceasefire——Liberians have been
demonstrating outside the American embassy in Monrovia, between dodging
bullets and grenades, to plead with Mr Bush to intervene.

      America has been   reluctant to intervene militarily in Africa since
its humiliating withdrawal from Somalia in 1993, after 18 American troops
were killed. But the success of the British and French interventions in
Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire shows that a fairly small number of
well-armed, professional soldiers can quickly overcome ill-disciplined
rebels. Liberia's various groups of drugged-up, drunken fighters ought, on
paper at least, to be no match for even a modest American-led force.
Liberia's troubles threaten to re-ignite the conflicts in neighbouring
countries, which is why France, Britain and the UN are pressing America to
intervene.

      Though American troops may soon arrive in force in Liberia, Mr Bush
and his secretary of state, Colin Powell, will not be visiting the country
on their tour of Africa this week. Nor will they visit Zimbabwe, whose
state-controlled media have attacked Mr Powell for putting pressure on the
country’s dictatorial president, Robert Mugabe, to resign, by promising that
massive American aid would be sent to the impoverished country as soon as he
is gone. Zimbabwe's main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), is widely believed to have been the true winner of last year”s
elections, though Mr Mugabe declared himself re-elected. The MDC is
challenging the official election result in the courts. Mr Mugabe has
responded by putting the MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on trial for
treason. Mr Bush will discuss Zimbabwe's deep political and economic crisis
with other African leaders, and MDC officials will lobby him to step up the
pressure on Mr Mugabe to quit. On Tuesday, police dispersed protesters in
Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, who had called on Mr Bush to force Mr Mugabe out
of office.

      Mr Bush and Mr Powell will be bombarded with demands for attention as
they tour Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria——from
governments and oppositions, from charities and pressure groups, from
businesses and from the UN. Besides pressing Mr Bush to intervene militarily
in Liberia, Kofi Annan, the UN”s secretary-general, is urging him to
contribute troops to a French-led peacekeeping force in the even bloodier
conflict in Congo, in which up to 4.7m people have been killed in the past
five years. In Sudan”s religious conflict, between a Muslim government and
Christian and animist separatists, more than 2m have died since the early
1980s, though progress towards peace is now being made, through American and
African diplomatic efforts. Even in Uganda, one of the continent”s
relatively peaceful countries, rebels are terrorising villages and
kidnapping children to serve as soldiers.

      Africa has so many grave problems that not even the world”s superpower
has the resources to solve all of them. At least Mr Bush, contrary to
initial expectations, is showing resolve to try to tackle some: before
setting out for his Africa trip, he announced extra food aid to help avert
mass starvation in Ethiopia; and a $100m anti-terrorism programme to improve
security at East Africa”s ports and airports. Most importantly, Mr Bush will
use his trip to promote his $15 billion plan to fight AIDS in Africa and the
Caribbean. Congress has yet to approve the spending on the project but Mr
Bush says he hopes his African trip will help raise awareness in America
about the scale of the continent”s AIDS crisis.

      As Mr Bush said in an interview with African journalists ahead of his
trip, ““It”s in our national interests that Africa become a prosperous
place, it”s in our interest that people will continue to fight terror
together……It”s in our interest that when we find suffering, we deal with
 it.”” Given that the president has his hands full trying to rebuild Iraq,
brokering the peace talks in the Middle East and facing down North Korea and
Iran over their nuclear ambitions, it is rather surprising that he has found
the time to tackle some of Africa”s problems. Surprising but welcome.

      Culled from The Economist

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese Report and
President of the American Policy Center, a grassroots, activist think tank
headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. The Center maintains an Internet site
at www.americanpolicy.org.
      Copyright, Tom DeWeese, 2003

Elephants leave Bushes blushing
By Bill Sammon
Published July 11, 2003

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

    GABORONE, Botswana — It was supposed to be a priceless photo-op,
showcasing the first family marveling at African wildlife on a pristine game
preserve. It turned into a sexually awkward moment of elephantine
proportions.
    President Bush and first lady Laura Bush took daughter Barbara, 21, on a
tour of the Mokolodi Nature Reserve in Botswana yesterday.
    "It looks a lot like Crawford," said Mr. Bush, referring to the Texas
town he calls home, as he gazed across the 10,000-acre savanna.
    White House press wranglers then hustled a gaggle of journalists to
positions for the day's photo opportunity. Four elephants stood in a
clearing and munched the top leaves of an acacia tree.
    The presidential vehicle pulled up two minutes later and parked 15 feet
in front of the pachyderms. Mr. Bush leaned over to shake the hand of
elephant trainer Uttum Corea with an affable "How you doing?"
    As news cameras began clicking and whirring to record the moment for
posterity, a male elephant named Shaka reared up and tried to mount a female
elephant named Thandi.
    The journalists convulsed with laughter as Mr. Bush turned to the
cameras and smiled sheepishly. Miss Bush threw back her head in
embarrassment and covered her face with her hands.
    Then Mr. Bush pulled his cap over his face to shield himself from the
impending union, which turned out to be unsuccessful.
    In an attempt to relieve the tension, Mr. Corea told the president:
"Shaka has been practicing this since he was five years old. This is how
elephants learn about the birds and the bees."
    After Shaka's passions had cooled, Mr. Corea said he "looked into the
elephants' eyes" and decided it was safe to approach them. One of Mr.
Corea's trainers walked over and climbed onto Shaka's back.
    "Any volunteers?" Mr. Corea asked the Bushes. The president jumped out
of his truck, followed by Barbara and a Secret Service agent.
    "Sir, do you really want to do that?" the agent was overheard murmuring
in an urgent tone.
    Unfazed, Mr. Bush approached the elephants, stroked their tusks and
turned to face the cameras. He gestured for his daughter to come closer,
although she moved behind the president when an elephant raised a tusk.
    "Good boy," Mr. Bush said as he patted a pachyderm.
    "OK, darling, that's enough," called out Mrs. Bush.
    "Bye, Shaka," the president said as he walked back to the truck.
    Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was as diplomatic as ever when asked
whether the symbols of the Republican Party had wandered off message.
    "The elephants were on message," Mr. Powell deadpanned. "We were all on
message."

Government sources this week said Harare, which had a US$90 million
financing facility with the Libyan Arab Bank, owes the institution US$43
million. It also owes Libyan oil company Tamoil US$67 million, Independent
Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait US$65 million, and Engen of South Africa
US$25 million. IPG cut supplies three months ago, resulting in the current
crippling shortages.

The ballooning of the Noczim debt comes amid reports this week that the
Libyan delegation agreed on a price tag of US$60 million with the government
for the Mutare to Harare pipeline and storage facilities.

The Libyan delegation, which includes officials from Tamoil, arrived in the
country last Monday and have been holding discussions with officials from
Noczim, fuel pipeline company Petrozim and the Ministry of Energy and Power
Development.

Energy minister Amos Midzi confirmed the Libyans were in the country to
continue fuel negotiations.

"They came and are still here and we are discussing," he said. "The
announcement on fuel was made (in Libya) and there has been no change to
that. What we are waiting for are dates and times of when the fuel will be
coming."

But sources said there were many loose ends to be tied.

Government sources said the new fuel deal should be signed in the next two
weeks after the carrying out of a due diligence study and drawing up of
contract documents.

This week government and Libyan negotiators agreed that the total value of
the pipeline should be US$60 million. The government has agreed to sell off
half of its 50% stake in Petrozim and ancillary facilities. This effectively
means the Libyans would claim a 25% stake in the pipeline. The other 50%
stake is owned by Lonrho, which is winding up business in Zimbabwe. The
shareholding in the pipeline is believed to be Lonrho's largest investment
in the country.

"The most likely scenario is that if Lonrho decides to sell off its
shareholding in Petrozim the Libyans would be ready to snap it up," a
government source said. "That means the Libyans would have an effective 75%
in Petrozim."

The Libyans would like to establish a joint venture company,
Tamoil-Zimbabwe, with Noczim. The conclusion of the deal is crucial to fuel
supplies from Libya.

There are fears that the Libyans would create a monopoly in the country if
it acquires the pipeline. This has been heightened by allegations this week
that they also wanted to control rail loading facilities at the Feruka depot
in Mutare.

Zimbabwe gets fuel through short-term and long-term credit financing and
cash. Before the collapse of the Libyan deal, the long-term payment plan was
through a 90-day credit financing facility provided by the Libyan Arab Bank.
The revolving facility was drawn up with stand-by letters of credit.

There was also a clearing agreement between the Reserve Bank and Bank Negara
of Malaysia. Both these facilities had back-to-back arrangements of
commodity and service exports to Libya and Malaysia.

Analyst Eric Bloc said his calculation showed that inflation was currently
320% but forecast it would reach 400% by month-end.

"Official inflation is always 20% less than the real inflation rate because
the CSO uses spending patterns of the past and controlled prices of goods
whereas most basic commodities are pegged on black market rates," Bloch
said.

"It is inevitable that inflation will continue to rise unabated while the
government fools itself by using outdated measurements to suppress the
inflation numbers."

Analysts said the current inflation rate did not reflect reality because it
ignored the sprawling black market. They said it overlooked the fact that
the economy was virtually operating in the underworld where prices were
almost double the controlled ones.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last October forecast that Zimbabwe's
inflation would soar to 522,2% this year. At the time inflation was 139,9%
but has since risen in leaps and bounds.

A German economic expert who visited the country last year to assess the
economic situation on behalf of the Bundesagentur fur Aussenwirschaft, a
business forum that deals with imports and exports, also estimated that
inflation this year would shoot above 500%.

Inflation has become a major problem in Zimbabwe. It is reversing the
economic gains of the past 22 years and, by gnawing at the fabric of
society, fuelling social instability.

Recent studies show at least 60% of Zimbabwe's population now lives below
the poverty datum line due to inflation. The worst-affected people are the
unemployed and those on low and fixed incomes such as pensioners.

Even middle-class income earners, who constitute a significant component of
aggregate demand, are struggling to survive.

Inflation is eroding real incomes, investment, business confidence, output,
and employment.

It is also eating away at national savings. It is arguably the biggest
single threat facing Zimbabwe today.

In a normal economy, domestic savings are supposed to be at least 25% of the
GDP but in Zimbabwe savings have fallen to less that 9% due to fiscal
deficits, declining economic activity and inflation.

The destruction of national savings has led to a reduction in domestic
investment and economic development. In addition to inflation, low interest
rates have wiped out savings. The spread between real interest rates and
inflation continues to widen, thus discouraging savings.

Increased demand for credit and parallel market activities fuelled by the
availability of cheap money have intensified the problem. This has been
compounded by a pattern of reckless government borrowing and spending.

Low interest rates, coupled with increasing money supply, have created
inflationary asset-price bubbles and artificial property market values,
especially in housing.

Stock and property asset market prices keep rising as people avoid low
interest rates on the money market and hedge their fluid assets by
converting them into real estate.

This means government's policy of trying to stimulate production and exports
through low interest rates will not work as the source of domestic capital -
savings - that create investment has effectively been eroded.

Finance minister Herbert Mure-rwa admitted in his budget presentation last
year that inflation had become the single most challenging problem for
Zimbabwe.

"Inflation has become an interactive process - self-perpetuating and
generating a perilous momentum of its own," Murerwa said.

"When economic agents expect inflation to persist, implicit indexation and
discretionary pricing become inevitable. This leads to more inflation as
adaptive expectations force past inflation trends to influence current and
future, as is the case now."

Government has over the years sustained huge budget deficits that it
finances through borrowing from the Reserve Bank. This expenditure of money
on consumption rather than on productive sectors has sabotaged investment.

With its gargantuan appetite to borrow and spend on non-productive areas,
government has also crowded out the private sector from the money market and
thus undermined private investment.

The current massive printing of money, which will result in the injection of
$24 billion into the economy by next month, will also intensify inflation.

Kingdom Financial analyst Witness Chinyama said increasing money supply
without a corresponding increase in economic output was highly inflationary.

"In fact, Zimbabwe is currently experiencing stagflation - a combination of
declining economic activity and very high levels of inflation," he said.

The dramatic rise in inflation to three digits has been accompanied by
similar growth rates in money supply. At the moment money supply growth is
160% and this is highly inflationary.

"Change is in the air in Zimbabwe," the ICG says. "Its citizens no longer
talk about whether it will come, but rather when. All acknowledge, however,
that the road will be dangerous, possibly violent.

"Zimbabwe's internal situation has continued to worsen," it says, "producing
increasingly destabilising effects in southern Africa through refugees and
economic chaos and damaging the entire continent's efforts to establish new
political and trade relations with the rest of the world through the New
Partnership for Africa's Development initiative."

The ICG, a Brussels-based multinational organisation that monitors conflicts
around the world, says South Africa has an important role to play in
unscrambling the Zimbabwe crisis.

It says efforts by the European Union, Southern African Development
Community, African Union, and the Commonwealth, as well as the US and South
Africa could resolve the problem.

"There is a way forward for Zimbabwe, if the international community -
especially and most directly the US - works with South Africa," ICG adviser
for Africa, John Prendergast, said.

"Acting separately and at variance ensures the crisis will continue
indefinitely, with increasingly grave repercussions in the country and the
region."

The ICG says an urgent solution is needed to avoid the spread of the
contagion.

The MDC challenged 39 seats won by Zanu PF in the June 2000 parliamentary
election, alleging harassment and intimidation of its supporters. It has
been successful in six of the cases. These are Buhera North, Hurungwe East,
Mutoko South, Chiredzi North, Gokwe North and Gokwe South. It lost 31
challenges.

Judge President Paddington Garwe is yet to deliver judgement in the Makoni
East case. In the Goromonzi election petition Justice Ben Hlatshwayo
dismissed the MDC petition without giving his reason.

The six Zanu PF candidates who lost their cases immediately appealed to the
Supreme Court and their cases are still to be heard.

Ncube said three years to decide an electoral matter means there is need to
re-visit the electoral rules.

Most of the MPs under challenge are almost three fifths into their terms, he
pointed out.

Constitutional law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku said the delays cast a shadow
over the country's judicial system.

"An electoral challenge is an urgent matter," said Madhuku who called for
election tribunals to deal with urgent matters.

"Government has targeted the wrong end of things," a miller said this week.

"It should have increased its buying price as a way of encouraging farmers
to bring in more grain. This would have increased its intake as well as
killing off the black market."

An industry source said millers would respond to the new price regime by
going directly to farmers and offering them slightly higher prices thereby
cutting off the already thin delivery currently going to the GMB.

"Millers and other grain dealers will offer gate prices of between $150 000
and $180 000 a tonne which will entice farmers," the source said.

The GMB pays farmers $130 000 a tonne and it takes up to two weeks for
farmers to receive payment. Grain dealers buying maize straight from farmers
usually pay cash on the spot.

Industry sources said millers had already written to the Ministry of
Industry asking to revise the prices for both wheat and maize products.

"Millers want to increase the prices of mealie-meal and bread by between
700% and 1 000%," a source said.

Bread went up to $1000 a loaf this week. Under the proposal, a 5kg packet of
mealie-meal would jump from $380 to $2 925, the source said.

Blue Ribbon Foods managing director Mike Manga confirmed that they had
submitted proposals for price reviews to the ministry.

"We have submitted our proposals and it's premature to comment," Manga said.

Opposition Movement for Demo-cratic Change Agriculture spokesman Renson
Gasela said the new selling price of grain would dry-up deliveries to the
GMB whose prices have always been lower than those charged on the black
market.

"Farmers are already selling their maize to millers for $250 000," Gasela
said. "The price of $130 000 is far too low to entice a farmer to sell to
the GMB. Prices of inputs have gone up such that the two cannot be
reconciled."

Instead of solving the prevailing food crisis, the increases have resulted
in prices of basic commodities, particularly mealie-meal and bread, going up
sharply this week.

The preliminary report is said to be similar in form and content to Minister
of State for Land Reform, Flora Bhuka's report that unearthed gross
irregularities and multiple-farm-ownership in the land redistribution
exercise.

"There is already a preliminary report that details the abuses by ministers,
top government officials, senior Zanu PF members and higher ranking civil
servants," a source said referring to the Utete committee.

"Mugabe's comments last week-end in Chivi that those who have amassed land
would lose the extra farms were based on that report."

The Bhuka report, which was suppressed in the corridors of power in March,
named ministers, governors, senior military officers and civil servants as
having grabbed more than one farm in violation of government's own
one-man-one-farm policy.

The report of the parliamentary portfolio committee on Lands, Agriculture,
Water Development, Rural Resources and Resettlement also exposed grave
abuses in the land reform programme.

The report, presented to parliament last month, was compiled between January
and March.

"Regarding aspects of land acquisition, planning and allocation, the review
acknowledges the unprecedented levels of property gazetting which are,
however, proceeding against sluggish legal confirmation amidst a flurry of
contestations," the report says.

The report noted that politicians usurped the powers of the executive and
management institutions tasked with implementing the programme and seized
many farms and parcelled them out to their families and friends.

Although not identifying names, it said "prominent government leaders and
politicians" were involved. The report alludes to the issue of abuse of
political power and multiple farm ownership.

"It is very clear that senior politicians do not respect these institutions
resulting in some of these politicians appropriating the functions of the
Identification Committees by deciding what farm must be settled," it says.

"In some cases, they also decided who must be settled even on properties not
identified for resettlement."

The report gives the example of Matabeleland South province where a
prominent politician directed that small pieces of land owned and used by a
businessman as a filling station and hotel should be acquired for settlement
by his spouse.

It also refers to newspaper publisher and businessman Ibbo Mandaza's five
farms that he controversially acquired in Matabeleland North province for
private projects. Mandaza also appears in the Bhuka report.

The report highlights the environmental and wildlife destruction caused by
the land reform programme, which it describes as "a ticking time bomb".

Makwavarara on Wed-nesday issued dismissal letters to Mudzuri's bodyguards,
aides and a protocol officer and sent his driver on forced leave on the
orders of Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo.

Makwavarara's actions caused a furore in the MDC-dominated council which
prompted Tsvangirai to intervene.

The MDC took a decision in May not to recognise mayor Elias Mudzuri's
suspension, the Zimbabwe Independent heard.

Tsvangirai yesterday summoned all Harare councillors to an urgent meeting at
which Makwavarara's decisions were declared null and void.

One of the councillors who attended the two-hour meeting said Makwavarara's
actions were unprocedural and did not represent council's position.

"A full council (meeting) should be given time to deliberate on the issue
and it is only after those deliberations that such a decision can be taken.
Her decisions were by a one-man band and therefore null and void."

The councillor also said the directive to withdraw the mayoral benefits were
unconstitutional because they were not spelt out anywhere in the Urban
Councils Act.

"The Act says the minister can only suspend the mayor but it is silent on
his benefits. This leaves the directive subject to challenge in court," he
said.

Mudzuri's lawyer Beat-rice Mtetwa said the suspension of privileges was
unprocedural.

"If the minister wants to withdraw those benefits he must first have a court
order," said Mtetwa.

"The mayor will not vacate the mayoral mansion since the original order
sought by Chombo did not include that," she said.

Mudzuri was arrested twice this week for turning up for work at Town House
after the expiry of his official leave. On both occasions he was released
without charge.

"During the second arrest police warned me that I should not report for work
saying that I would cause commotion. I will always be reporting for work
until the court makes a ruling and I have actually ordered council officials
to bring all my work to me," said Mudzuri on Wednesday.

Mudzuri said he was sent a copy of the letter written by Chombo to council
ordering his eviction from the official residence and the withdrawal of his
official vehicle.

"Most of our members are no longer farming but are prepared to offer their
services," Taylor-Freeme said.

"We want to urge government to hold a policy review which will allow our
members to return to their properties and produce for the country."

Unlike in its heyday when the CFU congress was a grand affair hosted at five
star hotels, only a handful of members are expected to attend this year's
event at Art Farm outside Harare on August 8.

The CFU's membership has been decimated by the resettlement programme which
has left only 15% of its original members still active.

According to the latest CFU impact assessment survey, an estimated 485
commercial farmers out of about 3 291 operating in the country as of January
2000 have remained on the land.

Officials at the CFU said the union now has about 2 050 paid up members, the
majority of whom are not on the farms but are trying to return.

"About 483 farmers are operational in one way or another while 1 567 are not
certain about their future but prepared to come back to their farms and
start the business all over again," said one official.

The officials alleged that some ministers were visiting bank heads seeking
foreign currency or local cash for their obligations at a time when the
country was facing serious shortages.

They said failure to comply was resulting in some of them being labelled
members of "the opposition".

Zimbabwe's major opposition is the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
which government regularly accuses of sabotaging the economy in a bid to
topple President Robert Mugabe's 23-year-old rule.

The officials said representation had been made to President Mugabe to
remove some banking heads deemed members of the opposition.

Several ministers have family members including their children based in
first world countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom,
Australia and South Africa studying at prestigious universities.

Back home however the same ministers continuously give the Western countries
regular tongue-lashings, accusing their governments of sabotaging Zimbabwe.

The ministers, who also operate offshore accounts, are allegedly bullying
bank managers whenever it is time to pay up the fees for their offspring.

Zimbabwe is facing a foreign currency shortage caused by low exports and
dwindling inflows from all sectors of the economy such as agriculture,
mining, tourism, as well as manufacturing.

The bankers said another worrying development on the financial crisis was
that the RBZ was dishing out the same amount of funds to all commercial
banks yet their requirements differed.

They alleged that this scenario was leading to a scam within the banking
sector where some banks were now "selling" money to clients because their
allocation was more than they needed.

On the other hand, it was leading to bad blood developing between some
leading banks and their top clients who required large sums of money
especially for wages at monthends.

The bankers said the cash crisis was being further worsened by the fact that
Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Pvt) Ltd, an RBZ subsidiary, were
experiencing nightmares trying to print money for the financial sector.

The RBZ promised to inject $24 billion into the collapsing financial sector
but this was proving extremely difficult because the Zimbabwe Electricity
Supply Authority (Zesa) was introducing loadshedding in Msasa, regularly
disrupting operations at the mill.

A Fidelity official yesterday confirmed that load shedding had been on and
off in Msasa, including at the printing firm, and this had led to stoppages
to the print run.

Zesa introduced load shedding because suppliers were reducing supplies to
Zimbabwe citing the country's failure to make timely payments to them.

Mozambique's Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB)'s supplies were curtailed from 400
megawatts to 250 megawatts for peak period.

The company has also given notice to terminate its supply contract unless a
payment plan is put in place.

South Africa's Eskom now demands advance payment for their power and have
classified Zesa an interruptible customer due to payment problems.

Eskom is now charging a 12% penalty per month for defaulting on payments.

"We have had load shedding, but the last time was about a week ago," the
Fidelity official said. "However, I think arrangements have now been made
whereby we are being spared by Zesa because of the serious need for money."

Zesa is facing problems paying its US$109,7 million arrears to South
Africa's Eskom (US$11 million), HCB (US$22 million), Zambia's Zesco (US$4
million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Snel (US$5 million).

Most commercial farmers who grew the tobacco have now been served with
Section 8 Notices, ejecting them from the land.

"Most of the crop that is currently being delivered to the auction floors
was grown by commercial farmers before they were served with Section 8
Notices," said a banker. "We definitely will witness less tobacco being
delivered to the auction floors next year when another season begins.

Tobacco is very expensive to grow and commercial banks are very cautious
about loans to that sector right now."

The banking sector has reduced lending to agriculture, citing its high risk
because of the uncertainty surrounding ownership of the commercial farms.

On the other hand, some new farmers allocated tobacco-growing farms have
decided to diversify into maize production, with the blessing of President
Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe has addressed several rallies urging farmers not to abandon maize
production in order to feed the nation.

In its report for June 2003 released this week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) said as of May 30, cumulative tobacco sales amounted to 7,7 million
kilogrammes, at an average price of US$1,87 per kilogramme.

The RBZ said this compared to 15,6 million kg sold at the same average price
of US$1,82 per kilogramme, during the corresponding period last year.

Tobacco is Zimbabwe's largest foreign currency earner but less earnings are
expected this year due to fewer deliveries to the Tobacco Sales Floors, the
Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Company and the Burley Marketing Zimbabwe Floors.

Last week tobacco heavyweight firm, Tobacco Sales Ltd (TSL) said urgent
attempts needed to be made to revitalise tobacco production over the next
few months.

The company said latest estimates of this year's tobacco crop indicated a
volume of approximately 80 million kilogrammes, less than half of last
year's production.

"The prospects for next year's crop are similarly poor," TSL said. "However,
TSL is pursuing strategies to stimulate tobacco production. A successful
outcome will obviously have a major beneficial impact on the fortunes of
many group companies."

Bankers said they were astounded by "impressive tobacco figures" being
thrown around by government when the situation on the ground pointed to
dwindling production levels.

They said the tobacco issue could be likened to that of maize where the
Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Joseph Made assured
the nation that he had taken a flight and saw large tracts of land with lots
of maize.

This, however, proved to be untrue and the nation is currently importing
maize from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Zambia.

Insiders said on the back of constraints such as inputs shortages,
inhibitive input costs and inadequate financial resources for infrastructure
development and working capital, agricultural production was expected to
remain well below normal levels in 2003.

Last year agricultural production declined by an estimated 25%.

It does look like his flock of cronies is not at all prepared to rescue him
but is only interested in feathering its nests.

My own analysis of the Zanu PF fiasco of breeding lawlessness meant partly
to ease their land-grabbing, as their greed surpasses imagined heights, is
that it leaves us with but one sound resolve - that of gleefully watching
the moribund Zanu PF monster crumble into oblivion as predicted by none
other than "Johnny The Moyo" about a decade or so back. It is all unfolding
and no-one will bail them out this time round.

As a poor but typically resilient teacher, for some good old years, my
family today survive by the grace of the Lord, unamused by my
presidentially-publicised civil service salary to be effected in July which
rampant inflation will have eroded then, leaving the poor fiscus void.

Zimbabweans should have nothing to fear anymore but God, for that which we
feared most in this land is just on the verge of self-termination.

My conviction is that expressed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell
(surprisingly somewhat clearly quoted in the Herald, June 26), that Zimbabwe
will take its place among the progressive states, but if and only if the
people of this land have spoken through democratically transparent means -
the ballot. It can not be long from now.

Mange Ndebele,

Plumtree.

I entered this Shangri-La in 1970 intending to work, pay my taxes, prosper
and see my days out.

In 1980 Independence came along and thanks to a then perceived enlightened
government, life improved and the majority of Zimbabweans prospered. A new
enigma for Africa. Opportunity for all despite the Marxist-Leninist doctrine
which thankfully was only half-heartedly embraced.

There were a few hiccups such as Willowgate scandal which was dealt with in
the legal framework and the world looked upon us as a new example for
Africa. Apartheid still reared its ugly head but we overcame that and
business flourished, farmers were given letters of no interest, crime was
relatively low, work was available, salaries were equitable to the cost of
living and we were happy.

Unknown to most of us, clouds were gathering on the horizon. Government was
living beyond its means, chefs were ageing but were not wealthy enough, and
the unenfranchised wanted businesses. But except for a few, they had not the
gumption, know-how or patience to start from scratch despite government
hand-outs.

Half the population was under 15 and would require jobs and pressure was
mounting. Panic and fighting fires instead of order and planning became the
order of the day.

However, more serious problems were about and two devastating diseases: Aids
and corruption were about to take their toll, followed closely by a
catastrophic wake-up call to the hierachy, the constitutional referendum.

The chefs who had paid little heed to their people discovered their
vulnerability and massed their war machine against the very people who had
entrusted them with their well-being. The rest is for the historians to
write.

I now stand on the south bank of the Zambezi looking enviously north. Our
deposed farmers have promised us food and our tourists flock there.

Electricity, fuel and living necessities are available and in abundance.

Too old to start again, I sit in the sunshine (something the government are
unable to regulate), my pension diminishing by the hour wondering how I
could have been so deceived.

Disillusioned,

Harare.

It was not until 1998 that the Western diplomatic world was forced to face
the fact that, in Zanu PF, it was dealing with a political entity that was
something between a con-artist and a pathological fantasist. At a specially
convened conference in Harare, the Zimbabwean government accepted a UN
Development Programme plan for reviving land redistribution, backed by
Western funding. The agreement, freely signed by Mugabe's government,
recognised that the main cost of successful reform was providing
infrastructure for incoming settlers, not compensating the departing white
landowners.

Mugabe's administration also implicitly conceded that efforts since 1980,
which had received £47 million, had faltered due to diversion to the urban
elite of land bought by donors for the rural poor. However, Zanu PF, in
tones of passionate sincerity, continues to tell the world that Britain
"reneged on 1980 promises to support land reform"- and many, especially in
South Africa, still unthinkingly accept this.

Again, apologists accept Zanu PF information secretary Nathan Shamuyarira's
claim, repeated last week, that Zimbabwe's shortages and rapidly
accelerating inflation arise from American, British and European Union
"sanctions". The fact is that Western agencies, the United States and
Britain, are pouring food and other humanitarian aid into the country.

Only the foreign bank accounts of the political elite have been frozen,
together with their right to travel. The "sanctions" alibi is thus a
downright fraud. The latest deliberate official hoax was a warning issued
through the state-run media that the largest denomination bank-note - $500 -
was being withdrawn from circulation ahead of the release of new $1 000 and
$10 000 notes. The public was urged to surrender $500 notes before they
ceased to be legal tender.

Bank notes, especially $500 ones, have been in desperately short supply
since May as the regime ran out of imported paper and ink to produce
sufficient to keep up with runaway inflation. Many banks have limited
clients to withdrawing $10 000 (10 loaves of bread, in real terms), and riot
police were called to control angry people who waited all day, vainly hoping
to cash their June pay cheques.

Bank executives went to the back doors of supermarkets pleading to "buy"
their cash takings for more than the face value. In other words, even money
is being traded on the black market. The $500 hoax was perpetrated, with
complicity of the state media, just as the presses were printing the first
$4 billion of $24 billion in new $500 notes.

The prosecution of retired High Court judge Fergus Blackie was a similar
criminal fraud, finally exposed last week. Last September, police snatched
the 65-year-old jurist from his Harare home in the early hours and forced
him to spend three nights in a filthy cell. The pretext was a spurious
charge that he showed racial bias in upholding a white woman's appeal
against a year-long prison sentence for theft.

The regime's motive was revenge. Lies were invented that the judge had an
affair with the woman (whom he had never met, and who was not in court when
her appeal was argued). These allegations were contained in a remand docket
which was leaked to the state-controlled media. The charges, withdrawn last
week in the presence of international observers, were utterly without
substance. The persecution of the retired judge was as unlawful and
unconstitutional as the three-year state-sponsored reign of terror which has
claimed the lives of at least 200 opposition supporters.

Ex-policemen who have fled to Britain have started telling newspapers there
how they were ordered to pervert evidence to make victims look like
criminals. In much the same vein, the state media last week claimed that US
Secretary of State Colin Powell's article on the Zimbabwean crisis, printed
in the New York Times ahead of President Bush's African trip this week, was
written by Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Walter Kansteiner "to
protect white farmers". As well as carrying a tirade of racial abuse against
Powell, the state media also alleged that Kansteiner's wife was "a Rhodesian
with links to the notorious Selous Scouts". This fabrication may have been
inspired by some vague memory that Chester Crocker, Kansteiner's predecessor
in the post from 1981 to 1989, is married to a member of the well-respected
Baron family of Bulawayo lawyers. - ZWNews.

l Michael hartnack is a veteran Zimbabwean journalist and foreign
correspondent.

Most of sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa constitutes a politically
and economically "dying" continent, with calamitous levels of poverty and
human suffering, accompanied by political and economic repression of the
powerless by the ruling elite.

Countries like Zimbabwe are already in free fall. All that powerful
industrial nations like the US and Britain would need to do, if they really
had grand imperialist and neo-colonialist designs on them, is simply to be
as indecisive as institutions like the United Nations and the African Union.
Simply sit back and do nothing.

Left to their own designs in total "sovereignty", most of these African
states will simply self-destruct. All the imperialists would need to do then
is move in and reconstruct the countries in the Western image. Or they could
just sit back and let Africa's inter-party, inter-tribal, and cross-border
wars decimate millions whilst famine and disease mop up the rest.

One does not want to sound like an apologist for the West. The West is far
from perfect and, in my opinion, there remains a significant imperialist and
hegemonic streak in their outlook. But they are increasingly aware of the
contradictions in their stances and are confronting these, struggling with
them and agonising over them continuously.

Tony Blair's "scar on the conscience of the world" speech represents real
soul-searching rather than a trick to "con", let alone force, Africa into
some subservient position to the West. Too many African countries are
already over-dependent on the benevolence of Western countries for their
survival in spite of their grandstanding and theatrics at various
international fora.

Many Africanists and other watchers had expressed the fear that since the US
was tied up in Iraq and the Middle East, it would not devote much attention
and resources to Africa.

It is indeed remarkable, as President Festus Mogae of Botswana has noted,
that even as America is under threat in Iraq, with American soldiers coming
under attack almost daily, the US president has still taken time to attend
to African issues. Indeed, the UN, with Ecowas' urging, has requested that
the US leads any UN peace-keeping forces in Liberia.

George Bush has made clear his government's position on problems faced by
Zimbabwe, Sudan, the DRC and Liberia. It is serious business when an
American president commits his country to a war situation. He has to justify
the war not only to Congress, but to the general public. He has to justify
it, not only before commitment, but literally every day during engagement.
The death of every single American soldier sends shock waves throughout the
establishment. This is a far cry from what obtains in some African
countries.

Here the president can simply wake up one morning and order the army into
some multi-billion dollar war in a foreign country. Worse still, the
president can declare war against his own people and send the national army
against them.

It is critical that Africa views the Bush visit in its fullest context.
There is nothing wrong with African analysts pointing out whatever hegemonic
undertones they might reasonably read in the visit. This trip is part of a
radical change in America's approach to foreign relations and Africa needs
to take note.

An objective reading of on-going processes and the internal dynamics at
major Western think-tanks and strategy centres like the British Foreign
Policy Centre and the US Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
particularly in the post-September 11 era, will be educative to Africanists.
It reveals an eagerness on the part of some Western thinkers to re-order the
world for the benefit of all humanity.

Most inspiring is Tony Blair's persistent theme that Western approaches to
international relations should no longer be exclusively determined by narrow
Western national interests, but should take into account broader human
interests in a rapidly globalising world.

This new Anglo-American interest, and its associated initiatives in
"reordering" the world is a fact. The question is how, we, as thinking
Africans, should interpret it.

Rather than being an imperialist trick, it is, hopefully, a new realisation
by the West of the commonality of all humanity, compelling a more
humanitarian approach to global management. At worst it can simply be a
realisation by the US and the UK, following September 11, that Western
national interests can only be assured by addressing the interests and
security of all humanity.

Whether the motive is humanitarian or realpolitik, it is necessary that
African think tanks, where these may exist, constructively engage with the
Western effort.

African governments, in spite of their sharp differences with the West,
should still constructively engage with the US and the UK. There is
something sinister in some African governments' insistence that current
Western interests regarding Africa are all imperialist and ill-intended.

Certainly the notion that "only Africans can resolve African problems", or
"only Zimbabweans have the solution to their problems" are only correct to
the extent that they mean Africans must be an active part of any workable
solutions to their problems. It is not sustainable beyond that point in much
of sub-Saharan Africa in its current state.

It is a fact that the modern nation state that Zimbabwe aspires to be is
modelled on a concept that has its origins in the West.

Paradoxically the African ruling elite, particularly Zimbabwe's, in spite of
their constant vilification of the West, simply adore things Western. Many
Zimbabwean government officials' children have studied or are studying in
the US or in the UK.

There are two fundamental truths regarding the African and the Zimbabwean
condition today.

The first is that our rulers' psyche is "sick". It suffers from endemic
corruption, from an insatiable lust for personal political and economic
power, from an amazing preparedness to inflict immeasurable pain on fellow
Zimbabweans who stand in their rulers' way to personal gain.

The second is that countries like Zimbabwe cannot improve the living
standards of their people in the way that such improvement is understood
today without the cooperation and partnership of developed, industrialised
Western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States.

It is in this context that Zimbabweans should view George Bush's visit to
Africa. His insistence on good governance and the observance of Zimbabwean
citizens' human rights should all be seen in this context. Even his call for
regime change through a process in which Zimbabweans (not Americans or
anybody else) select their rulers in a free and fair election should be seen
in the light of the above.

l Dr Obediah Mazombwe is a lecturer in languages, literature and media
studies at Zimbabwe Open University.