Financial Times
By Tony Hawkins in
Harare
Published: July 13 2007 18:53 | Last updated: July 13 2007
18:53
Senior government ministers responsible for Zimbabwe's price
control
campaign want President Robert Mugabe to sack his close confidant,
Gideon
Gono, the Reserve Bank governor.
Pressure for Mr Gono's
dismissal is mounting following the leaking of a
letter to the cabinet
taskforce responsible for price controls in which Mr
Gono likened the price
campaign to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
He said the government had
exposed itself to "unintended consequences" that
could lead to economic
implosion while endangering political and social
stability.
Senior
sources within Zanu-PF, the ruling party, said that Nicholas Goche,
labour
minister, and Elliot Manyika, minister without portfolio, were
calling for
Mr Gono's head. Both men are in the taskforce on price
stabilisation and are
cabinet heavyweights.
Two weeks ago, the Mugabe government ordered
businesses to cut prices by
half, threatening businesspeople with
imprisonment if they failed to comply
and warning that factories that closed
or retrenched workers would be
nationalised. Since then 1,500 businesspeople
have been arrested and fined
for profiteering, while petrol and basic
foodstuff have become scarce or
disappeared from the shelves.
Mr Gono
warned ministers, in this letter, that their policies risked
fulfilling
doomsday prophecies such as those predicting economic collapse
within six
months. He called for an exit strategy from the price campaign.
Mr Gono,
who in the past has publicly defended huge increases in government
spending
including subsidies to exporters to maintain an overvalued exchange
rate,
has had a change of heart.
He now calls for reduced government spending
and fiscal discipline along
with new policies to protect property rights and
attract investment. He says
"while our backs are against the wall", the
government could still implement
its policies without threatening the
survival of businesses.
Mr Gono has long been perceived as arrogant by
some in the ruling party. But
he has remained close to Mr Mugabe.
VOA
By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
13 July
2007
Zimbabwe's Central Bank governor, Gideon Gono, is reported
to have sent his
government a lengthy reminder of policy suggestions he has
offered since
2003 to try to halt the collapse of the country's economy.
VOA's Delia
Robertson reports from our southern Africa bureau in
Johannesburg.
South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper has published
a document it says
was written by Zimbabwe central bank governor Gideon
Gono. The document
catalogues the economic advice he apparently gave to the
Zimbabwean
government in repeated attempts to persuade officials to adopt
measures
aimed at arresting the spiraling decline in the economy. The
newspaper says
the advice was ignored.
One of the major complaints in
the 59-page document, which is available on
the newspaper's Web site, is the
central banker's advice to do away with
price controls. Against this
advice, the government has imposed 50 percent
price cuts in recent weeks.
Professor Tony Hawkins, of the University of
Zimbabwe's Graduate School of
Management, earlier told VOA, there had, in
fact, been an agreement on such
measures.
"Remember in January we were going to have a social contract
and we were all
[government, business and labor] going to agree on price
controls and wage
controls and so on," he said. "In June there is no such a
contract,
although the government claims there is one, but there isn't, and
government
imposes price controls."
Other recommendations in the
document include bringing an end to government
land seizures, protection of
private property, and the privatization of key
state owned enterprises. It
also urges the government to act vigorously
against corruption, to provide
subsidies for agricultural production and to
get rid of policy
inconsistencies.
Economist Hawkins highlighted the difficulties for
Zimbabweans face because
of the actions of their government.
"Again I
think one needs to stress the point, that this is a government that
does not
tell the truth about anything," he added. "It is very difficult
for anyone
to try and assess what is actually happening, because the
government is in
control of all the information, and it won't even publish
its money supply
figures or inflation figures any longer because it is so
defensive."
At the week's end, the government continued its crackdown
on businesses that
are defying its order to cut prices by half. Some 3,000
people have been
arrested, including employees of the cafeteria at the
magistrates' court in
Harare. Hawkins and other analysts say these measures
will ensure that
stores are unable to replenish stocks.
iafrica.com
Godfrey
Marawanyika
Fri, 13 Jul 2007
Authorities in Zimbabwe announced the arrest
of hundreds more retailers and
executives as part of an ongoing price
crackdown on Friday as it emerged the
head of the central bank had warned
against the blitz.
Among the latest arrests were four police officers
accused of looting from
shops which are fast running out of stocks while the
total number of
executives to have been detained was approaching the 3000
mark.
A further 272 commuter buses had also been impounded after the
operators
were accused of overcharging passengers, a police spokesman
said.
"Two of our officers were arrested in Harare and two others in
Bulawayo for
taking advantage of the on-going operation to steal from
shops," Chief
Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka told AFP.
Over 2000
arrested
"We have so far arrested 2776 business people and shop owners
who have been
violating the government pricing structures since the start of
the
operation."
The figure means that nearly 1000 more have been
arrested since the last
tally was announced on Tuesday.
Teams from
Zimbabwe's security forces and a price-monitoring commission were
deployed
two weeks ago to ensure compliance after Industry Minister Obert
Mpofu
ordered businesses to halve the prices of their goods and services.
Mpofu
accused businesses of rampant profiteering and colluding with
President
Robert Mugabe's foes in the West to plot the regime's downfall
following a
spate of almost daily price hikes.
Many manufacturers however say the
government-set prices mean they cannot
cover their costs and have stopped
production, with inflation now believed
to be well beyond the 5000 percent
mark.
Although the price cuts have enabled households to afford goods
that had
become luxuries, many analysts have warned the move will ultimately
backfire
as stores run dry and goods instead end up on the more expensive
black
market.
According to a report in a privately-owned weekly, the
head of the central
bank is among those who believe the move will blow up in
the government's
face and has compared the blitz to the US-led invasion of
Iraq.
"Let's avoid the law of unintended consequences in the action
government has
taken which will leave the country in a worse-off position
than now," the
Zimbabwe Independent quoted Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor
Gideon Gono as
saying in a leaked letter to the government.
Blitz
could backfire
Gono, one of Mugabe's top lieutenants, said the government
should "avoid the
trap of temporary victory and instant gratification that
backfires with
consuming return-fire from both the business community and
consumers alike".
"Let's avoid what in contemporary strategy has become
known as the US/Iraq
syndrome where the US, backed by its allies went into
Iraq without an exit
strategy," he added.
Mpofu meanwhile warned
companies against trying to cut costs by reducing
their workers'
salaries.
"They have been benefiting from the unrealistic pricing all
along. Why
should they cry foul now?" he told AFP.
"They are not
being prejudiced in any way, in fact workers are the ones whom
have been
prejudiced all along by these people as they were charging high
prices.
Government will never allow people's salaries to be reduced."
Mpofu said
that the government planned to revive the defunct State Trading
Corporation
to run firms that have either collapsed or were seized.
Mugabe has warned
that his government will seize and nationalise companies
that refuse to toe
the line.
Sapa
Daily Mail, UK
Last updated at 15:34pm on 13th July
2007
Sweeping under the carpet: Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's
government
is considering a black-out on inflation figures as they are so
high
Zimbabwe may stop publishing inflation data for one year, an effort
economists say is aimed at shielding the government from embarrassment over
its failure to rein in soaring prices in the economically depressed
nation.
President Robert Mugabe's government has failed to release inflation
figures
for May and June - it usually does so on the 10th day each month -
prompting
speculation the numbers were too shocking to reveal to Zimbabweans
struggling to feed themselves amid worsening food shortages and
unemployment.
Unofficial reports have put inflation for May at 4,500
per cent, a sharp
increase from the 3,720 per cent reported by the
government for April.
Either figure gives Zimbabwe the world's highest
inflation rate.
The Central Statistical Office (CSO) said on Friday it
was working on a
one-year survey that would study how events between 2001,
when an economic
slide escalated, and 2007 had affected inflation and
whether the data was an
accurate reflection of the situation in
Zimbabwe.
"That's just one aspect of what we're doing ... we are also
coming up with a
new basket. Both are a long way off and I'm reluctant to
give a time frame,"
Moffat Nyoni, the acting CSO director, said. He declined
to provide further
details.
Mugabe's government has branded inflation
its main enemy but has
consistently missed targets to rein in rising prices
that have pinched
consumers and stoked political tensions in the former
British colony in
southern Africa.
Officials two weeks ago ordered a
rollback of all prices to June 18 levels,
accusing some businesses of
seeking to overthrow the government through
unjustified price hikes that
were designed to fuel anger among Zimbabweans.
The price freeze has been
vigorously enforced by a crack team of police,
military and intelligence
officials, leading to arrests and fines for more
than 2,000 business
executives and companies accused of overpricing.
"They (government) are
very embarrassed with the inflation statistics, and I
imagine they will not
be published again until maybe the CSO comes up with
figures acceptable to
the authorities," said John Robertson, a leading
private
economist.
While the price crackdown has brought relief to hard-pressed
consumers who
can find goods in the stores, basic foodstuffs, such as
maize-meal, sugar
and cooking oil, have disappeared from shops as a result
of panic buying.
The government has also seized 100 public commuter buses
for defying a
forced fare cut, forcing operators to pull their fleets off
the roads and
stranding thousands of commuters.
Economic analysts
warn that many businesses could shut their doors rather
than continue
producing at a loss, which would further choke an economy the
World Bank
says is the fastest contracting for a country not at war.
Moneyweb
13 July
2007
Democratic Alliance
There is now no doubt in Samuel Beckett's
famous expression, that we have
reached the endgame in Zimbabwe. No doubt,
except in the minds of the
governments of both South Africa and that unhappy
country. Our task now is
to turn the endgame into a bold new beginning, as
speedily and as
intelligently as possible.
By any definition of a
modern state - a functioning economy, effective
public service, distinct
civil society comprising media, courts and related
institutions - Zimbabwe
barely exists. The empty supermarket shelves and
marauding militias we saw
are final, unavoidable proof: the self-destructive
policies set in motion
seven years ago by President Robert Mugabe have
destroyed the
country.
Mugabe's desperate attempts since 2000 to stave off his own
defeat at the
polls, via land-grabs, constitutional gerrymandering and
police-state
thuggery, have sent the economy into freefall while eclipsing
any vestiges
of a free and democratic process.
It is hard to
overstate what that ruination means for those who live there.
In effect,
Zimbabwe today is a vampire state that has turned on its own
people.
Inflation stands at 4 500% - the world's highest - though
independent
analysts push this figure closer to 9 000%. Mugabe's "solution"
has been to
print more money - thus escalating the cycle of inflation - and
to order
retailers to slash prices by 50%.
This latest ploy, which
has hastened the rush to endgame, is a shocking
instance of vampirism at its
worst: the selfsame militias enforcing the
price-slashes seize goods, and
resell them on the black market. The Mail &
Guardian's Trevor Ncube (in
an interview with Moneyweb Radio this week)
calls this "looting by those who
happen to be privileged" - a frankly
military operation intended to scuttle
the hostile business community.
It is the same with the land invasions,
the destruction of urban squatter
camps, and the repression of the country's
media, political opposition and
trade unions. "Politics in Zimbabwe", says
long-time Mugabe critic
Archbishop Pius Ncube, "is all about Mugabe's
survival."
The crisis has been developing for many years. As long ago as
the mid-'80s,
Mugabe masterminded the killing of thousands of opponents in
Matabeleland,
foreshadowing today's wanton destruction.
As a result,
the apocalypse - mass starvation and a headlong flight from the
country,
chiefly into South Africa - has arrived. According to the United
Nations,
South Africa must now brace itself for "arguably the most
extraordinary
exodus of people from a country not at war."
How has our government
reacted? After all, in his dealings with our northern
neighbour President
Mbeki has long echoed the famed "special relationship"
of Britain and the
USA, maintaining economic links, staving off
international criticism and
maintaining warm fraternal ties with ZANU-PF.
When SADC tasked President
Mbeki last year with brokering talks between
Mugabe and the opposition MDC,
it was a covert admission that our
government's policy of "quiet diplomacy"
had failed to set Zimbabwe on the
right course. Mugabe's contempt for the
subsequent talks in Pretoria - which
the South African tax-payer is funding
- was confirmed this week, when
ZANU-PF failed to appear.
Our Foreign
Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, previously "concerned", now
added: "There
must be a good reason why they did not turn up. I don't think
it was a sign
of wanting to pull out because they are committed to
mediation". In fact, it
is almost certain Mugabe ordered the pull-out
himself.
Faced with
this humiliating rejection of our mediation efforts, and the
unfolding
collapse which has seen our nationals arrested for failing to
reduce prices,
the Foreign Minister jetted off on a state visit to - of all
places - Cuba.
Thus has Mbeki's government once more washed its hands of
responsibility,
and abetted Mugabe's survival programme.
Another aspect of our
government's neglect, not to say dereliction, was
highlighted by the DA this
week. A Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement between our
two countries, which would have protected
our investments and South
African-owned farms from take-over, still awaits
government's signature
after five long years.
While The Citizen labelled our cop-out "pathetic",
and Die Burger described
it as "beyond pathetic", columnist Xolela Mangcu
was more scathing. The
ANC-led government's aiding of Mugabe, out of
misplaced "racial
nationalism", is "shameful. we have squandered our moral
authority in
defence of an irredeemable monster."
The question
remains: what can South Africa do to salvage from the wreckage
a new start
for Zimbabwe? I want to argue that the stronger and more widely
supported
the international case to arraign him, the stronger the threat of
such
prosecution can be used to prise Mugabe out of office.
International
pressure does impact on Mugabe's hold on power. Firstly, one
way to confirm
Mugabe's pariah status is to bar him from international
gatherings and so
embolden his associates to urge his resignation.
This week, I accordingly
wrote to the Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose
Socrates, urging that his
country rescind its recent invitation to the
Zimbabwean President to attend
a joint EU/AU Summit in Lisbon later this
year. Such invitations give
credence to Mugabe's actions, when what is
needed is a concerted
international effort that such behaviour - and
Mugabe's rule in general -
will no longer be tolerated.
Yet it is as important to pressurise the
international community to consider
charging Mugabe for crimes against
humanity at the International Criminal
Court.
According to the Rome
Statute - founding document of the International
Criminal Court - the
definition of crimes against humanity includes murder,
forcible transfer of
a population, imprisonment or deprivation of physical
liberty, torture,
persecution, and other inhumane acts causing great
suffering or injury to
the health of a civilian population.
If we survey his record
dispassionately, Mugabe can be found guilty of all
of these. He has
committed murder, caused hundreds of thousands of people to
be displaced,
persecuted, imprisoned and tortured those who have opposed him
and subjected
his people to mass starvation.
Another Commonwealth country has taken
this necessary step. Last year, the
Canadian Parliament set in motion a
probe to try Mugabe for crimes against
humanity, should he ever set foot on
Canadian soil. Their Justice Minister
found the only thing hindering them
was the diplomatic immunity - a hallmark
of international law - afforded to
heads of state.
However, should Mugabe cease to head Zimbabwe, his
immunity against
prosecution will fall away. The dossier stands; like
dictators before him,
such as Argentina's Augusto Pinochet or Slobodan
Milosevic of the former
Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe's ruler can be called to
account for his actions while
head of state.
While a year ago it may
have been credibly argued that the option of asylum
and freedom from
prosecution might have enticed Mugabe from office, this is
no longer an
option. Mugabe has snubbed all previous attempts to resolve the
crisis in
Zimbabwe and therefore no longer deserves to be offered this or
any other
alternative: he has run out of time and must now face the full
consequences
for his actions.
Ultimately, the strength of the case to try must be
advanced as loudly and
persuasively as possible, in order to bring salvation
to the citizens of our
stricken neighbour. What is critical is that Mugabe
and his inner circle be
forced to step down.
We need to act
vigorously and unambiguously if we are begin the long,
painful process of
restoring a shattered country to life. The endgame is
over; beginning anew
will call for all our courage as well as our
compassion.
Monsters and Critics
Jul 13, 2007, 13:19 GMT
Harare - As shortages of basic
goods worsen in crisis-hit Zimbabwe,
President Robert Mugabe's government
has decided to ban the import of
groceries for resale, it emerged
Friday.
The ban, which will come into effect on August 1, will cripple
the
businesses of thousands of cross-border traders who make a living out of
buying and selling goods currently in short supply in Zimbabwe.
Under
new government regulations published earlier this month, it will no
longer
be possible to import groceries like beef, butter, cooking oil, tea,
flour
and sugar without a permit, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper
said.
Individuals and companies wanting to import groceries will have to
apply to
the Industry Ministry for a permit.
Mugabe's government has
until now had little control over cross- border
traders, who stock up in
neighbouring countries like South Africa and
Botswana and resell their stock
to desperate Zimbabweans.
Because much of the trade is done from
door-to-door or on flea markets, the
Zimbabwean authorities have not been
able to control prices at which the
goods are sold.
Police last month
launched a blitz on soaring prices in Zimbabwe, forcing
businesses to
off-load their stock at half-price or less to the delight of
many
inflation-weary Zimbabweans.
The Zimbabwe Independent said Friday there
were stampedes in downtown Harare
when police and price inspectors forced
electrical shops to sell televisions
at 2 million Zimbabwe dollars down from
50 million.
But the blitz has provoked a storm of controversy as shop
shelves steadily
empty and there's no sign of restocking.
Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono, a close Mugabe ally, has reportedly
ruffled
feathers in government by warning that the blitz could have
unintended
consequences in the shape of shortages and political instability.
'Let's
avoid the law of unintended consequences in the action government has
taken
which will leave the country in a worse-off position than now,' the
Zimbabwe
Independent quoted Gono as saying.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
Monsters and Critics
By Clare Byrne Jul 13, 2007, 14:41 GMT
Johannesburg -
If the worsening food shortages in Zimbabwe sparked by
government-imposed
price cuts have not yet prompted serious unrest, it is
because the
population is being drip fed by the millions of Zimbabweans
living in
exile.
While Zimbabwean exiles in Britain turn to the internet to
organize
shipments of supplies to family members, passenger buses provide a
vital
lifeline for the relatives of the estimated three million Zimbabwean
refugees living in South Africa.
At least three bus companies operate
daily coach services to Zimbabwe from
the streets around Park Station in
central Johannesburg.
A young man with a whip guards the entrance to a
yard where two rickety
orange buses are preparing for departure on
Thursday.
The ground around the buses is swamped in large checked carrier
bags filled
with some of the items that are fast becoming luxury items in
Zimbabwe -
soap, cooking oil, bread, maize meal and rice.
A Jumbo
pack of toilet rolls, a television and bike are among the other
goods that
are hoisted onto the roof rack of the bus and covered with
tarpaulin. Inside
the bus more bags occupy empty seats.
'They (Zimbabeans living in South
Africa) generally don't go. They just send
the supplies,' the driver of one
of the buses which is bound for the
south-eastern town of Masvingo
says.
Zimbabweans in South Africa, most of whom are in the country
illegally, are
under huge pressure to come to the aid of family at home,
says Archbishop
Paul Verryn of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg,
which provides
a place to sleep for about 900 Zimbabwean
refugees.
'Many of them come here and work like crazy to send money
home,' he says.
Analysts say remittances from exiles have keeping the
tottering Zimbabwean
economy on its feet, through hyperinflation of over
3,500 per cent and
unemployment of around 80 per cent.
The buses have
become a trusted vehicle for ferrying both goods and cash to
Zimbabwe. On
cash shipments the drivers take around 10 per cent commission,
users say.
The cost of shipping goods varies from company to company.
Mavis, a
domestic worker from the mining village of Mashava, expects to pay
about 50
rands to ship 10 kilogrammes of flour and 5 kilos of rice that cost
her 200
rand (28 dollars).
In total the bag of supplies for her husband and two
children has cost her
more than half her weekly wage of 350
rand.
'They are suffering. They cannot afford to get food. I do not know
how they
are surviving,' she says.
In Zimbabwe the driver checks the
recipient's name, telephone number and
description of the goods against
details provided by the sender before
handing over the
supplies.
'It's good business,' a bus driver says of the freight
business, refusing to
reveal how much his company makes from the shipments,
but estimating at over
100 kilos the quantities carried by a single bus on a
daily basis.
The buses, and minibus taxis, are also used by the thousands
of of
cross-border traders who dip in and out of South Africa to buy
commodities
such as soap and cooking oil for resale in Zimbabwe.
But
an announcement by the Zimbabwean government Friday looked set to end to
that business, one of the few ways currently of eking out a living in the
country.
In a bid to exert further control over prices and dampen
inflation the
government announced that the import of groceries for resale
without a
permit would be banned from August 1.
© 2007 dpa -
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
By Tichaona
Sibanda
13 July 2007
High court Judge Charles Hungwe on Friday ruled
that the brutal eviction of
more than 5 000 University of Zimbabwe students
by riot police on Monday was
illegal.
The Zimbabwe National Students
Association on Wednesday filed an urgent High
court application challenging
the eviction. Heavily armed police gave
students 30 minutes to remove their
possessions from the hostels. ZINASU
President Promise Mkwananzi told
Newsreel they have already started working
on returning the students back to
campus. He said they will not wait for the
authorities to comply with the
order.
Mkwananzi blamed the eviction fiasco on the UZ Vice Chancellor
Professor
Levi Nyagura whom he accused of taking orders from Zanu (PF)
officials.
'We know Nyagura has a history of not complying with High
court orders but
if he decides to do the same with the latest order, he will
go down in
history as the chancellor who contributed to the deterioration of
standards
at the University,' Mkwananzi said.
On Sunday there was
destruction of property at the campus following violent
protests by students
who were resisting moves to make them pay an extra Z$1
million for a
semester extension, caused by a lecturers strike over poor
pay.
The
majority of those who stay on campus have no homes, friends or relatives
in
Harare and so were forced to sleep in the open, while the Catholic
Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe has been battling to find food
to give the students a meal a day while they take exams.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
African Path
July 13, 2007
12:59 PM
Ntandoyenkosi Ncube
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Union (ZCTU) on Friday called on the Minister
of Higher and Tertiary
Education, Stan Gorerazvo Mudenge to probe the
looting of students' property
by Harare armed riot police and ensure that
normalcy is restored at the
University of Zimbabwe campus students resuming
lecturers.
ZCTU
made this call subsequent to outrageous revelations that armed riot
police
looted students' property during raids at the campus last
month.
"With all these evils by the government ZCTU calls on the
Ministry of Higher
and Tertiary Education to ensure that normalcy is
restored at the UZ campus
and students resume lectures. We also demand that
a probe be carried out on
the torture of the students and looting of
students' property during the
evictions", ZCTU Information Officer
Khumbulani Ndlovu said in a statement
released by South Africa Congress of
Trade Union (COSATU) on Friday.
For the past seven years
repressions of all kinds have been on the increase
in Zimbabwe with the
latest being the unjustifiable evictions of students
from the UZ
campus.
"We are more shocked with recent revelations that
students were
indiscriminately beaten up by armed riot police who also
looted the poor
students' property", Ndlovu said.
The labour
body expressed shock over the level of heavy-handedness that has
been used
by state security agencies against the students in Zimbabwe and
accused the
government for depriving its citizens their basic right
including, the right
to education.
ZCTU urged the government to address problems
bedeviling the education
system in the country to avoid looming protests and
resistance by students.
?
"We demand the government to address
problems paralysing the education
sector in the country. The issues of high
fees at tertiary institutions, a
decline in education standards and
continued harassment of student leaders
remain unsolved as government turns
a deaf ear to these. As long as these
issues remain unsolved student leaders
will organize for more serious
strikes and resistance against the government
and we will stand by them",
Ndlovu said.
Last month, UZ
students demonstrated over continued deterioration of
education standards,
health, accommodation, food and social standards
currently bedeviling the
nation at large.
During demonstration students denouncing the university
Chancellor President
Robert Mugabe and his vice, Chancellor Levy
Nyagura
Riot police armed with sophisticated artillery descended
on the campus and
fired several gunshots and teargas after which they
started beating up
students indiscriminately. Two vicious dogs were
unleashed on the
defenceless students which resulted in four students being
mauled.
Afrique en ligne
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) The United Nations said on Friday that
current
economic problems Zimbabwe is facing could reverse gains in the
education
sector, warning that the country may miss the Millennium
Development Goal
target of universal primary education.
UN
resident coordinator for Zimbabwe, Augustino Zacharias, said gains
towards
attaining universal primary education were being threatened by the
ongoing
economic problems, which are forcing most families to withdraw their
children from school.
"In order to arrest this trend, the UN
country team is supporting
household livelihood projects targeted at
sustaining household capabilities
to keep children in school," Zacharias
said during a roundtable discussion
with Zimbabwean journalists in the
capital Harare.
Zimbabwe is in the eighth year of an economic
crisis that has crippled
the country's industry. The country's inflation is
estimated at more than
4,500 per cent and it is the highest in the world,
while unemployment is
more than 80 per cent.
With support from
the UN Children's Fund, Zimbabwe is working on a
National Plan of Action for
Orphans and Vulnerable Children in order to
reduce the number of school
dropouts.
JN/nm/APA
2007-07-13
International Herald Tribune
By David
Coltart Published: July 13, 2007
BULAWAYO,
Zimbabwe:
As I marched in protest with a handful of fellow Zimbabwean
lawyers in
Bulawayo recently, I looked into the eyes of the riot police and
believed
that I saw the beginning of cracks in the regime.
The Law
Society of Zimbabwe called a strike in protest against recent
attacks on and
arrests of members of the legal profession, so we gathered
here at the High
Court on June 27th to march to the offices of the governor
of Bulawayo to
present a petition.
The riot police stood on the steps of the High Court
and told us that the
march was illegal and that we had to move away.
Approximately 15 of us then
started a three-block march to the governor's
office - followed by a stately
procession of police vehicles that included
members of the "Law and Order"
political section.
As we - the 15
dangerous lawyers - arrived at the governor's office, the
riot police spread
out, with shields raised and batons drawn. We were
ordered to stop, told
that our march was illegal and that we should disperse
immediately or be
dispersed by force.
We explained that we wanted to deliver a petition
protesting against the
persecution of our colleagues in Harare. The
commanding officer was not
interested. He threatened us again, called for
reinforcements and ordered us
to disperse. Further detachments of riot
police officers and other policemen
had arrived, bringing the strength of
their forces to around 40. We asked
the commanding officer to take our
petition to the governor, but he refused.
So we left our letter at his feet
and turned to march back to the High
Court. Once more, we were ordered to
disperse, and once more we ignored the
order. Shortly after that, another
truck-load of about 20 policemen arrived,
armed with shotguns and FN
military rifles. Our group walked a block,
followed by this truck and the
other riot policemen. Then we were stopped
again and told to disperse under
threat of force.
Again we ignored the order and walked a further block,
almost as far as the
High Court building. At this juncture we noticed
further reinforcements
arriving and, having decided that we had made our
point, we dispersed to our
offices.
Let me remind readers that our
march could not be filmed by any television
station because there are no
independent TV stations in Zimbabwe. Nor was it
covered by any independent
journalists because there are no independent
daily newspapers left and
foreign reporters are severely constrained.
Our march was conducted with
the knowledge that, over the last seven years,
not a single police officer
has been prosecuted for any of their assaults
against law-abiding
Zimbabweans exercising their constitutional right to
demonstrate
peaceably.
We knew that the police officers who recently attacked the Law
Society's
president, Beatrice Mtetwa, have not been arrested or prosecuted,
nor will
they be. We all knew that the police know that they have absolute
license to
bash whomever they like as hard as they like.
As President
Robert Mugabe said in September after the arrests of labor
union activists:
"Some are crying that they were beaten. Yes, you will be
thoroughly beaten.
When the police say move, you move. If you don't move,
you invite the police
to use force."
Nearly all the lawyers who took part in the march have
represented many
exceptionally brave political and civic activists who have
been
demonstrating for years and who have been brutally assaulted and
tortured by
the police. To that extent the actions of this band of lawyers
is not
remarkable. But it still took great courage to go outside the
relative
security of their offices show solidarity with others who have
stood for
their rights and the rights of all the people of
Zimbabwe.
My abiding memory of the events is the expressions on the faces
of the riot
police. Although they were brandishing batons and could have
harmed us, when
I looked into their eyes I saw no enthusiasm for what they
had been ordered
to do. In fact, if I sensed any emotion it was pity. The
officer in charge
was hesitant and almost apologetic. Most of his men were
in tattered
uniforms and many looked malnourished. When we avoided a violent
confrontation they looked relieved and when they followed us they were not
menacing.
On the other hand, the police reinforcements were
threatening, but they were
probably core loyalists. It struck me that we now
may be up against a paper
tiger, that the regime is only protected by a thin
veneer of die-hard
loyalists, and that the vast majority of the police
officers understand that
change is coming.
I remembered Arthur Hugh
Clough's "Say not the struggle naught availeth:"
For while the tired
waves, vainly breaking, Seem here no painful inch to
gain, Far back, through
creeks and inlets making, Comes silent, flooding in,
the main."
Despite
all the fear and depression in Zimbabwe today, I sense that the tide
of
popular opinion is silently flooding in and that this dreadful regime
will
find itself overwhelmed from within.
David Coltart is the shadow minister
of justice in Zimbabwe's Parliament and
a member of the Movement for
Democratic Change. He has been a human rights
lawyer there since
1983.
Times Online
July 13, 2007
Nico Hines, and Jan Raath in Harare
Shops across
Zimbabwe were surrounded by thousands of shoppers today as
enforced price
cuts led to panic buying and empty shelves.
The desperate scenes came as
it emerged that President Mugabe's Government
has told businesses on the
verge of collapse that they must increase wages
for their staff.
The
nation has been plunged deeper into a humanitarian crisis by a crackdown
on
price increases, which has brought the economy close to total collapse.
Mr
Mugabe branded inflation the country's main enemy and slashed prices for
food, supplies and fuel two weeks ago.
The President has accused
shops and services of profiteering and banned them
from raising prices. As a
result of the cuts, a wave of panic buying has
swept the country leaving
many businesses on the verge of collapse, with no
money to buy new
stock.
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Obert Mpofu, chairman of the Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and
Stabilisation, told businessmen that despite being forced to halve their
prices and sell at a loss, they were expected to increase their workers'
wages. Business owners refusing to cut prices for bus journeys, supplies and
services have faced arrest and fines.
Supermarkets are empty, dozens
of buses have been impounded and more than
2,700 managers have been arrested
in the past fortnight after the government
sent out inspectors to ensure
that prices were maintained.
The Zimbabwean middle classes have joined
the rush to the shops. At the
South African store Makro in Harare, people
loaded multiple trolleys with
goods, like fashionable shoes cut to about 25p
and new television sets for
£12. They loaded their purchases into the luxury
4X4s they had abandoned in
the road outside in their bid to beat the
queues.
"This is not going to last," said a company executive who asked
not to be
named. "Fuel is going to run out and there will be no deliveries,
no
services. The people who are benefiting from this legalised looting will
be
the same people throwing stones in a few weeks."
The Government
has also published new edicts banning the commercial import
of groceries
without a permit at the end of the month.
The move will end business for
thousands of informal traders who flock to
hypermarkets in neighbouring
South Africa and Botswana for cheap goods for
resale here. The cross-border
trade is a major source of basic and luxury
items to replace the locally
manufactured goods that have dried up in the
last five years.
Mr
Mugabe's move to halt price increases has been seen as a response to
repeated forecasts that Zimbabwe's wild inflation will bring the economy to
a halt and cause civil upheaval.
Violence in Zimbabwe has already
reached endemic levels with opposition
politicians and anti-government
protesters suffering regular attacks.
The crackdown on prices has
reportedly been criticised by the chief of
Zimbabwe's central bank. The
Zimbabwe Independent, a private newspaper,
claimed to have obtained a copy
of a letter the head banker had sent to the
government.
"Let's avoid
the law of unintended consequences in the action government has
taken which
will leave the country in a worse-off position than now," Gideon
Gono
wrote.
The governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe compared the "instant
gratification" of price-freezes to the war in Iraq. "Let's avoid what in
contemporary strategy has become known as the US/Iraq syndrome where the US,
backed by its allies went into Iraq without an exit strategy," he
added.
Unofficial estimates put the May inflation figure at 4,500 per
cent up from
3,720 per cent in April, a figure that already gave Zimbabwe
comfortably the
world's highest rate of inflation.
The true inflation
figures are a mystery. Economists suggest the rates have
become so
embarrassing for the Zimbabwean government that they stopped
publishing
them.
The Zimbabwean Central Statistical Office has failed to release the
inflation figures for the past two months. They have announced that a
year-long study will discover if there is a better way to measure
inflation.
"They are very embarrassed with the inflation statistics, and
I imagine they
will not be published again until maybe the CSO comes up with
figures
acceptable to the authorities," John Robertson, a leading economist,
told
Reuters.
A quarter of Zimbabwe's population has fled the country
since the economy
began to fall apart, up to four million people have left a
country where 80
per cent of the compatriots were unemployed.
Once
the bread basket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe's economy is approaching
total
collapse. Last month the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said: "It
can no
longer be said that the health service is 'near collapse', It has
collapsed." The World Bank says Zimbabwe has the globe's fastest contracting
peacetime economy and life expectancy has slumped to 39.
Santa Barbara News Press
STEPHANIE NOLEN
July 13, 2007 12:09 PM
Scripps
Howard News Service
Toronto Globe and Mail
JOHANNESBURG - Crowds
of people burst through supermarket doors while
terrified clerks fled out
the back. Police in riot gear stood guard over the
menu in takeout chicken
joints. And nearly two thousand of the country's top
business people were
stuffed into jail cells, as the macabre theatre of
Zimbabwe's economic
collapse took a bizarre new turn over the past few days.
Inflation in
Zimbabwe has been running at an official rate of nearly 5,000
per cent, and
at least double that in the estimation of independent
economists. That means
that people are now paying more for toothpaste, when
they can find it, than
they did to buy a two-bedroom house four years ago.
Late last week,
the government accused businesses of ''colluding with the
West'' to try to
destabilize the country by charging inflated prices, and
ordered all shop
owners and managers to cut the prices of all goods by 50
percent, to
counteract inflation. Some stores didn't open on Monday -- their
owners said
there was no point; they would lose massively selling at these
prices -- but
at those locations that did, there were scenes that nearly
resembled
looting.
Every able-bodied person who could get to a store dove into the
crowds to
snatch up what they could. Petrified clerks fled in the face of an
onslaught
of frenzied shoppers and soldiers were deployed to try to restore
order. If
shoppers couldn't get through the hordes around the cooking oil,
they bought
toilet paper, or salt, as much as they could carry: Most of the
economy runs
on barter now in any case.
Then the government deployed
police to make sure the halved prices were
being charged. The owners and
directors of businesses that didn't comply, or
didn't open, were
arrested.
''So far, we have arrested a further 468 violators countrywide
in the last
24 hours, bringing the total of those arrested to 1,768 since
the start of
Operation Reduce Prices,'' Police Chief Superintendent Oliver
Mandipaka said
on Tuesday. ''We have beefed up our crack team. There will be
more police in
the central business district and other residential
areas.''
That meant police standing guard to make sure menus were not
surreptitiously
rewritten, or new stickers added on at the
tills.
Most business people have been released from jail after paying
hefty fines.
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe said he would nationalize
any business
that did not remain open, a statement that contributed to the
nearly 20
percent loss of value on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange this
week.
Within days, of course, supplies of virtually everything had run
out.
Zimbabweans said there were no staples available nationwide, such as
cooking
oil or salt, as imports had stopped and all existing supplies were
hoarded.
Meanwhile, there is now no fuel to be had, even for those paying in
precious
foreign exchange. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions warned of
imminent
mass layoffs -- in a country that already has 80-per-cent
unemployment --
because there is no fuel to keep industry
running.
One of Mugabe's foremost critics, Pius Ncube, Archbishop of
Bulawayo, told
reporters in Johannesburg that the West must get involved,
because domestic
opponents of the regime have lost heart.
''It may be
that Zimbabweans solve their problems themselves, but right now
people are
extremely demoralized,'' he said. ''Mugabe is a very violent
person. He will
look for any opportunity to stay in power ... I don't think
we can do it on
our own, without international pressure or assistance.''
He added that he
was not looking for military intervention, but rather
concerted Western
support for the mediation efforts being led by Zimbabwe's
neighboring
states.
Zimbabwe's opposition parties and . Mugabe's ZANU-PF are meeting
in South
Africa this week in an effort to negotiate some sort of resolution
to the
crisis that has destroyed what was once one of the continent's most
vibrant
economies, and sent more than a quarter of the population into
exile.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
From The Cape Argus (SA), 12 July
Food and fuel disappear as government controls take
effect
"Someone is going to save us. Mbeki won't let us go down. If
not him, then
someone, maybe China or Libya," a top Zanu PF businessman told
a lunch date
in Harare last Friday. Steak was not available at that lunch.
The only red
meat was some stringy goat. Chicken bits were still on the menu
as producers
have some stock feed in their warehouses. Zimbabwe has been
unable to
produce stock feeds for the last six years. Chicken producers have
had to
source rands from the black market to buy grain from South Africa,
which is
delivered by rail to Bulawayo and then taken by truck to Harare.
When the
present stock feed runs out, and even if the huge chicken battery
operations
around Harare are nationalised, who will find the foreign
currency to import
the grain to keep the chickens fed, asked the businessman
at lunch with his
Zanu PF friend? Using a flattering black market exchange
rate, some of the
prices for staple foods in Zimbabwe would make South
African housewives
green with envy. Chickens are selling, under the new
price regime, at about
R16 each. Red meat, the preserve of the middle
classes in urban areas for
the last three years, is no longer available.
Abattoirs have been unable to
find cattle cheap enough to process for the
enforced sale of R7.50/kg. If
shoppers can still find bread (and it's going
to get worse as wheat farmers
had so little electricity for irrigation this
season), now pay the
equivalent of R1.30 for a loaf. A 10kg pack of mealie
meal - no longer
available in the shops - is selling, in theory, at R2.42. A
standard 750ml
bottle of cooking oil - also not available - now costs R1.28,
while a litre
of milk is R1.64.
And these are the rand prices at
an exchange rate which is actually
improving, ironically, from the Zimbabwe
dollar perspective, as foreign
currency is less in demand because there's
very little to buy with it. When
manufacturers run out of stock and the
importers refuse to import more goods
because it would be financial suicide
to do so, even Zimbabwe's
sophisticated black market will dry up, most
Zimbabweans predict. "We will
have to eat prawns to get some protein," said
a garage owner, before hopping
on a plane bound for Oliver Tambo
International Airport on Tuesday. He had
28 000 litres of fuel stored
underground. On Monday the price police arrived
and ordered attendants to
sell at the new price, about R3 per litre
(compared to R9 before). They said
the garage was closed, that they didn't
have the keys and ran away. The
garage owner, a former farmer trying to earn
enough money to live in Harare
since he was evicted from his home and land
four years ago, gave up the
struggle and left the country, taking the keys
to the underground tanks with
him.
Yesterday, price boss Obert Mpofu, Minister of Industry and
International
Trade, said it was now illegal for any abattoir other than the
state-owned
Cold Storage Commission (CSC) to slaughter animals. So all
private abattoirs
where most slaughtering was taking place will be
immediately out of
business. "Who is going to sell cattle to the CSC at the
prices they are
offering in order to sell meat at the controlled price? No
one, so the beef
isn't going to come back to the shops," said a Harare
industrialist who,
like almost everyone else, doesn't want to be named.
Pharmacies are next in
line to slash prices. Deputy Minister of Health and
Child Welfare Dr Edwin
Muguti said on Monday that the task force had begun
to examine essential
drugs such as insulin and anti-retrovirals. So
diabetics, and those with
HIV/Aids will soon find that their essential drugs
have disappeared.
Inflation calculated by the Central Statistical Office for
July will show a
huge decrease, calculating prices of goods not available.
It is presently at
nearly 5 000% a year.
Sokwanele Report: 13 July 2007
Zimbabwe is about to become embroiled in yet another election. Or rather two simultaneous elections, one Presidential and the other Parliamentary, according to the wishes of ZANU PF which is moving to change the Constitution in order to bring about this "harmonization" of two polls which hitherto have not coincided. No dates have been given for the electoral exercise though the indications are that it will take place at some time during the first quarter of 2008. Already political events in the country are beginning to move around this new centre of gravity.
The regime of Robert Mugabe claims to respect the democratic principle and to secure its political legitimacy from the consent of the majority of those it governs. Its opponents contend that it is profoundly undemocratic and now, following a succession of rigged elections between the years 2000 and 2005, without a popular mandate. The 2008 elections therefore provide the opportunity to assess these competing claims and decide where the truth lies. However we shall only discover where the truth lies if we are able to assess the conduct of the electoral process against a credible and agreed set of standards.
Fortunately there is to hand just such a set of agreed standards and, if there is any difference between the standards that apply in Africa and those that are accepted elsewhere in the world (though heaven knows why they should not be the same), then these must be taken to be truly indigenous, African standards because they were adopted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2004. We refer to the "SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections", adopted by the SADC leaders on 17th August 2004 in Mauritius. As a member of SADC, Zimbabwe was a signatory to these benchmark principles, and therefore it is entirely fitting that the regime's performance in relation to the forthcoming elections should be measured against this standard.
As has often been pointed out and with good reason, an election is a process rather than an event. It follows that the compliance of any government staging an election must be measured over the whole course of the process, beginning as in this case from before the date of the election has been given and on through to after the vote has been counted and the official results delivered. Only so can one truly say whether or not the process has been "fair and free". Indeed this principle is acknowledged within the SADC guidelines themselves where attention is paid to what is happening on the ground from long before to long after the actual vote.
In relation to the Parliamentary Elections of March 2005, Sokwanele
undertook a regular weekly feature, entitled "Mauritius Watch", which tracked
the performance of the Mugabe regime against the same SADC guidelines. Readers
are referred to those articles, and to our considered summary of evidence which
can be seen in the archives section of our website
(www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/mwatch_archive.html)
Two years down the line, as the country gears up for yet another momentous event in its history, the need arises to undertake a similar service for the benefit of those reporters, writers, commentators, diplomats and others who wish to be well informed about events on the ground but who perhaps lack the time or resources to track events themselves on a daily basis. We trust our new regular feature, Zimbabwe Election Watch, will serve this purpose. While we certainly cannot hope to provide an exhaustive description of every event that relates to or has a bearing on the 2008 elections, we intend to provide a representative sample, enabling our readers to discern the trends and providing enough by way of our summaries and links to other news sources, to obtain the specific details any might require.
It should go without saying that we for our part will be doing all in our power to ensure that events are covered in an objective and non-partisan manner. We are quite content that the facts should speak for themselves - but at the very least let Zimbabwe and the world know what the facts are.
Zimbabwe Election Watch
Issue 1 : 13 July
2005
Government turning a blind eye to police intimidation and
corruption
Source Date: 10-07-2007
Sokwanele
received information today (10th July, 2007) from an activist that while a
well-known shop in Harare was refusing to sell bread to the general public it
was supplying Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Air Force Zimbabwe (AFZ), out
the back door.
Further enquiries revealed that the manager and owner of
the shop concerned were among those arrested last week in the ZANU PF
nation-wide purge of the business community.
Our sources on the ground in
Zimbabwe confirm that, as a result of the recent orchestrated campaign of
violence and intimidation, a number of shop owners and managers have reluctantly
agreed to prioritise the sale of scarce goods to security forces. Those who have
been "roughed up" by the police and Mugabe's youth militia were among the first
to yield to the pressure.
Many commentators believe that the police are
being allowed to get away with this sort of harassment and ill-treatment of the
civilian population because the regime is no longer able to provide them with a
livable salary. It is understood that the regime is deliberately turning a blind
eye to looting, regarding it as a form of 'payment in kind' or reward to those
in the security services.
Source: Sokwanele (activist information)
SADC standards breached
Zimbabweans trying to register to vote experience delays,
problems
Source Date: 08-07-2007
Despite the
poor publicity of the voter registration exercise, the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (ZESN) has said Zimbabweans are coming out in their numbers to register
for the 2008 elections.
"When the ZESN team visited the Mbare Netball
grounds registration centre on Monday 2 July there were over 300 people queuing
to register as voters as well as to obtain other identification documents," said
ZESN in the update.
The organisatin said turnout was however low in
Harare as evidenced at Glen Norah District Office when the ZESN team visited the
centre on Wednesday 4 July 2007.
"Most people at these centers claimed
that they had not seen the newspaper adverts that publicized the voter
registration exercise. This was particularly the case at Nyachuru Secondary
School, Copley Farm and Mhandu Primary School in Zvimba District, Mashonaland
West," said ZESN, revealing that only five people at Mbare Netball Grounds
claimed to have seen adverts in the newspaper.
"The people were
pessimistic that they would be registered at the centers considering the slow
pace at which they were being served. Some claimed that they had been at their
centres for two days and were yet to be served."
Although registration
for those aged between 16 and 18 years was free, said ZESN, all those above 18
were supposed to pay $25 000-00. "Those seeking to replace lost identity cards
were expected to pay $30 000-00. Some people who spoke to ZESN, at Copley Farm
and Nyachuru Secondary School on this issue expressed concern that the amount
was too exorbitant considering that they were poor and unemployed
peasants".
Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to source:
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?id=5115&linkid=1&linkcategoryid=36&siteid=1
SADC standards breached
Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC
standards:
At the time of writing this entry, inflation in Zimbabwe stands at an
estimated 10-15,000 per cent, and is escalating fast. Unemployment exceeds 80
per cent. Asking people who are struggling to survive to pay for paperwork
necessary to register to vote will inevitably lead to
disenfranchisement.
Gwanda
Chief threatens village heads
Source Date: 08-07-2007
A Gwanda chief
last week allegedly threatened to banish from her area village heads who support
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), sparking fears of intensified
"political cleansing" in Matabeleland ahead of elections next year.
Chief
Ketso Mathe of Bulamba communal lands controls Tshoboyi and Lushongwe, in which
there are allegedly three village heads linked to the MDC – namely Batang Moyo
of Tshoboyi, and Zondelwa Dube and Jackson Ndlovu from Lushongwe respectively.
It is reported that Chief Mathe issued serious threats against the three
village heads on account of their political affiliation. As a result the three
now fear for their lives.
In recent weeks MDC leaders have claimed that
the police were directing them to first seek clearance with the traditional
leaders before they could hold meetings in areas under their jurisdiction. The
opposition in Zimbabwe have long complained of the politicization of traditional
leaders by Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.
Identified perpetrators: Chief Ketso Mathe of Bulamba
communal lands, Gwanda
Identified victims: Village heads - Batang
Moyo of Tshoboyi, Zondelwa Dube and Jackson Ndlovu of Lushongwe
Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/
SADC standards breached
Voter
registration process criticised
Source Date: 06-07-2007
Zimbabwe's
main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)says it is not
happy about the government's ongoing voter registration exercise ahead of next
year's presidential and parliamentary elections. The
MDC has described the
exercise as "fraudulent and opaque". It says not only was the opposition not
informed about the exercise, but that it was aware of several malpractices in
the voter registration process.
The general secretary of the
Tsvangirai-led faction of the MDC, Tendai Biti, complained about the current
programme of voter registration by mobile units. “The process is not
transparent”, he said. “these guys just wake up one morning and they decide to
get out this opaque process across the country. We don't know where, how and
when it is being done.”
The National Director, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, of
the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, which fielded thousands of monitors
during the last general election in 2005, said the process was flawed because it
started late and was not well publicized.
Mr Biti of the MDC also
complained about the use of the present voters' roll in the exercise, a register
which is, in his words, “irredeemably defective.”
Mr Biti again
expressed the opposition party’s complete lack of confidence in any election
process presided over by Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar General appointed by
Robert Mugabe. Not only the opposition party but many independent election
observers have in the past accused Mr Mudede of bias towards Mugabe’s ZANU PF.
Identified perpetrators: Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar General
Source: VOANews (USA)
Link to source: http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-07-06-voa2.cfm
SADC standards breached
Murder
suspect protected from justice
Source Date: 05-07-2007
Joseph Mwale,
the elusive Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative, controversially
embroiled in the gruesome murder back in 2000 of two opposition MDC activists,
is now safely ensconced in the Zimbabwe mission in Lusaka, the Zambian
capital.
Sources in the CIO say Mwale was transferred to Lusaka last year
and has become an official at the Zimbabwean embassy since then. Mwale's posting
in Lusaka effectively scuttles efforts to bring the much feared intelligence
operative to book for the alleged gruesome murder of Talent Mabika and
Tichaona Chiminya.
The two MDC activists were burnt alive in a callous
petrol-bomb attack at Murambinda Growth Point in Manicaland as they campaigned
for their party ahead of the 2000 parliamentary elections, amid an orgy of
state-sponsored violence targeting opposition candidates and their supporters.
Efforts to bring Mwale to book through prosecution have proved futile
over the years, amid reports that he enjoys massive political support from top
ruling party politicians as well as government officials.
Efforts by
former Manicaland prosecutor, Levison Chikafu, to bring Mwale to justice were
frustrated. On September 23, 2006, Chikafu wrote to the then police chief in
Manicaland Province saying: "The accused faces a charge of murder which was
committed in the year 2000. The docket was referred to your office with
instructions that you arrest Joseph Mwale and bring him for initial remand." The
docket disappeared from the police station immediately, and now Chikafu himself
has been arrested and faces a number of what he asserts are trumped up charges.
Meanwhile nothing further has been heard of the Mwale murder case, and
now it appears the fugitive from justice has quietly slipped across the border
into neighbouring Zambia to take up a government posting.
Identified perpetrators: Joseph Mwale
Identified
victims: Talent Mabika, Tichaona Chiminya
Source: Zimbabwe Times, The (ZW)
Link to source:
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1100&Itemid=2
SADC standards breached
Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC
standards:
This event undermines any remaining confidence for the security of
opposition campaigners in the current process
Voter
registration process criticised
Source Date: 28-06-2007
The
government's voter registration exercise began on the 18th of June and is due to
end on August 17 this year. Meanwhile the Registrar General’s department already
stands accused of political bias in opening fewer voter registration centres in
urban areas, which in the past have proved to be opposition strongholds. Both
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the smaller United People’s Party
(UPP) have said they regard this as a deliberate ploy to ensure that fewer
opposition supporters are able to register to vote.
The MDC also charges
that in the rural areas, chiefs and other traditional leaders, who are well
known for their loyalty to President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, had
been tasked to screen and vet people wishing to register.
At the same
time there appears to be widespread confusion about the purpose of the exercise
in the minds of many people. Member of Parliament, Abednico Bhebhe, who is also
deputy spokesman for the Mutambara faction of the MDC, said in his constituency
of Nkayi in Matabeleland North province, some registration officials were
telling villagers that the current exercise was to register people wanting
national identity documents and not voters.
The UPP’s director of
elections, Anthony Kundishora, registered a strong complaint.
"Scores of
our supporters," he said, "particularly youths who have just turned 18 have
approached our offices complaining that they have been denied the chance to
register."
Identified perpetrators: Registrar General Tobaiwa
Mudede
Identified victims: MDC UPP
Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1596
SADC standards breached
ZESN
condemns short voter registration period
Source Date:
18-06-2007
Mobile
registration of voters started on Monday 18th June and, according to government
sources, will continue up to the 17th of August 2007. However the Zimbabwe
Election Support Network (ZESN) which has been monitoring the electoral process
in Zimbabwe for many years, believes that this time is inadequate and proposes
that it be extended to at least four months.
The Network is also deeply
concerned that the exercise has not been adequately publicised which might
result in most of prospective voters being unable to register.
ZESN
believes that advertisements in the print media are not an appropriate and
sufficient medium of communication of this strategic component of the electoral
process. This is especially so when considering that the targeted audience is
usually the impoverished peasants who live in remote areas where they have
little, if any, access to newspapers or are too poor to afford them.
The
Registrar General has set up a number of registration centres throughout the
country. However, the amount of time spent at some of the centers is so
ridiculously short as to render the whole exercise a sham, says ZESN. For
instance they cite the example of Kawondera Primary School and Dzikamidzi
Primary School in Zvimba District, where the Registrar General's team will be
visiting for only one day which, they say, makes a mockery of what should be a
carefully planned and executed exercise.
The majority of the teams are
due to spend an average of three days at most of the centres. According to ZESN
the time allowed is insufficient, and they fear that not all eligible voters
will get the opportunity to register if the exercise is to be ‘fast-tracked’, as
intended.
Identified perpetrators: Tobaiwa Mudede - The Registrar General
Source: Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
Link to source:
http://www.zesn.org.zw/docs/pdf/Press_Statement_voter_registration07.pdf
SADC standards breached
NCA
activists abducted, others arrested after Harare demo
Source Date:
15-06-2007
On 15th June
the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)reported that at least 50 of their
activists had not been accounted for and six were then in police custody a day
after plain-clothes and uniformed police officers blocked a planned
demonstration in Harare. Tapera Kapuya, a spokesperson for the group, said
police had not allowed the detained activists access to lawyers. No charges had
been brought against them either. Kapuya said the NCA suspected the 50 missing
activists were taken from their homes by government agents after the banning of
the demonstration.
The six detained were taken from the Central Business
District in Harare as police violently dispersed activists who had gathered for
the demonstration.
Kapuya later explained that the police used excessive
force and several injuries were reported. He said: "Police were quite vicious in
their treatment of those who were participating in the protest. And several
innocent ordinary people going about their business were caught in the chaos."
The NCA spokesperson expressed concern for the welfare of the missing
activists, saying there has been a brutal ongoing campaign by the government
against the NCA. He added: "It seems very organised, because they have been
identifying our people, abducting, torturing and then dumping them in remote
areas."
The NCA is campaigning for a new, democratic and people-driven
Constitution ahead of any further elections in Zimbabwe.
The opposition
parties have reported that their officials and supporters are also being
kidnapped by government agents who torture and then dump them miles away from
home.
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news150607/nca150607.htm
SADC standards breached
Opposition activists under violent attack
Source Date:
01-06-2007
In recent
months officials of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)and other pro-democracy activists have been subjected to
a barrage of violent assaults, abductions and torture by agents of the state. In
March the world was shocked by television images of bloodied and battered party
leaders emerging from police custody. Since that time, though not so well
covered by the world media, the violent assaults have continued and intensified
against all levels of leadership in the MDC and those perceived to represent the
opposition.
The MDC’s deputy national organising secretary, Morgan
Komichi, is one of those on the receiving end of such brutality. It was reported
on 1st June that he was battling for life in remand prison as authorities
continued to block him from receiving specialist medical treatment. Harare
Magistrate, Gloria Takundwa, had earlier ordered Komichi to be taken straight
back to a prison hospital when he appeared before her for a remand hearing.
Komichi is one of several activists who were savagely tortured in police
custody, according to Jessie Majome, the MDC’s deputy secretary for Legal
Affairs.
At the time of Komichi's appearance in court Majome expressed
deep concern about the state of his health. He suffers from hypertension and it
was feared that his condition had become life threatening.
The
magistrate also ordered the police to investigate the alleged torture of the
political prisoners after some of them appeared in court with fresh wounds and
bruises. Among those who were having difficulties walking were Philip Mabika,
Shame Wakatama, Piniel Denga and Komichi.
Identified victims: Morgan Komichi, Philip Mabika, Shame Wakatama, Piniel Denga
Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/News010607/MDC010607.htm
SADC standards breached
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Monsters and Critics
Jul 13, 2007, 7:27 GMT
Harare - Four
policemen have so far been arrested in Zimbabwe for allegedly
looting shops
under the guise of enforcing controversial price controls, a
newspaper said
Friday.
The arrests come after police on Thursday warned that some
criminals and
ex-police officers are also masquerading as price inspectors
in a bid to
take advantage of this month' blitz on prices.
'So far,
two policemen from Bulawayo (the second largest city) and two
others in
Harare have been arrested for corruption while attached to the
price control
section, police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said.
'We are aware that some
bogus elements with the sole objective of looting
from retailers are now
masquerading as police officers, Mandipaka told the
official Herald
daily.
For the past week Zimbabwean police have been roaming stores
across the
country demanding owners and store managers reduce their prices
by at least
half, to the delight of inflation-weary shoppers.
The
blitz has angered the business community, which says it has incurred
huge
losses and will not be able to restock shop shelves.
So far more than
1,700 shop owners and company officials have been arrested
and many of them
fined for defying the price cuts or hoarding scarce
commodities.
Mandipaka said businesses had the right to demand
identification papers from
inspectors carrying out raids.
'We urge
both retailers and shoppers to report any cases of suspected
criminal
activity by officers,' he added.
There are witness reports from the
border city of Mutare that in some cases
police and inspectors have summoned
their relatives, friends and colleagues
to cherry-pick goods like cement and
fuel at knockdown prices.
Meanwhile police have since Wednesday impounded
100 commuter vehicles in the
capital Harare and arrested their drivers for
defying a state directive to
reduce fares, said the Herald.
Transport
operators say the fares imposed by the government are not viable
given
escalating costs of fuel and spares.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
Cape Times
Editorial
July 13, 2007
Edition 1
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's behaviour has now
become so irrational
that it is hard to discern how he imagines it could
benefit even himself,
let alone the country, which became irrelevant to him
a long time ago.
By forcing businesses to halve prices at peril of arrest
and by threatening
to nationalise those businesses which close down rather
than continuing to
operate at a loss, Mugabe has of course superficially
"curbed inflation".
And, partly because prices have come down, and partly
because foreign
exchange is no longer in such demand, the black market
exchange rates of the
Zimbabwe dollar has also dropped, according to
reports.
So perhaps Mugabe's inflation-busting storm troopers are
reporting back to
him that his campaign is succeeding.
The small but
important flaw in his strategy, though, is that goods are fast
disappearing
from the shelves and are unlikely to be replaced because
merchants
understandably don't want to produce goods at a loss.
Some of these goods
will reappear on the black market at inflated prices and
then, it seems, the
people will face hunger and even starvation.
That is likely to be the moment
of truth for Mugabe when he could face bread
riots. His only options appear
to be the deployment of force, either to
force bakers and other food
manufacturers to keep producing at gunpoint - or
to put down the hungry mobs
with violence.
Or both. Perhaps Mugabe, faced with the options of real
political and
economic reforms to resolve the crisis or continued oppression
has chosen
the latter in the belief that, even if forlorn, it is his best
hope of
clinging to power. The economic and political crises are so
intertwined that
he cannot reform the economy without also making political
reforms which
would threaten his power. So more repression is
likely.
For President Thabo Mbeki the critical question is whether he has
time to
pursue his tentative efforts to mediate a rational, negotiated
solution to
the crisis? Or will those efforts be overtaken by the backlash
to Mugabe's
drastic destruction of the economy?
Moneyweb
Ramaphosa's candidacy for
ANC president, and a dodgy crime statistic
debunked
James
Myburgh
13 July 2007
In much of the writing about South Africa's
policy towards Zimbabwe, there
continues to be an implicit assumption that
our government is acting
rationally and working towards reasonable goals.
This truly represents the
triumph of hope over experience, for the ANC has
remained unwavering in its
support for ZANU-PF - regardless of the
ever-worsening situation in that
country.
A standard riposte to
criticism of the government on this issue, is to
suggest that there is no
real alternative to the softly-softly approach,
that nothing else really
could have been done. The ANC is thus painted as
the innocent bystander
silently watching a robbery in progress - helpless to
intervene - rather
than as the accomplice acting as look-out for the gang.
For instance, it
is not clear what the goal of Thabo Mbeki's "mediation
effort" is, other
than to fob off Western pressure. For as long as the ANC
government remains
opposed to a change of regime across the Limpopo it is
difficult to see what
it can ever achieve.
For obvious reasons the Movement for Democratic
Change wants free and fair
elections next year. The current ruling elite in
Zimbabwe will not willingly
acquiesce to this demand - for the simple reason
that it would result in
their rapid exit from power. Does anyone really
believe that the Zimbabwean
people would voluntarily re-elect the agents of
their utter immiseration?
The unseriousness with which ZANU-PF regards
the whole enterprise was
illustrated by their failure to turn up for a
scheduled meeting last
weekend. Zimbabwe's Financial Gazette notes that this
was the third meeting
they had "not bothered to attend since March 1, when
SADC tasked the South
African leader to mediate between ZANU PF and the
fractured opposition
party."
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosazana
Zuma, did not seem too perturbed by
their absence, stating that there "must
have been a good reason as to why
they did not turn up. I will find out
because they are committed to that
mediation. I don't think it was any sign
of them wanting to pull out or
anything."
When South Africa has an
opportunity to act against Mugabe, it chooses not
to. It could, for one,
stop demanding his inclusion in the African Union's
delegation to the
European Union's Africa Summit in Portugal later this
year. As The Economist
noted in an editorial last week: "It is shameful that
African leaders
continue not only to shield but also positively to promote
Mr Mugabe in this
way."
There is no sign of this happening. At a press briefing on July 5
Deputy
Foreign Affairs Minister, Aziz Pahad, reiterated that: "Africa will
not move
from its position that you cannot determine what constitutes the
African
delegation. There's a lot of fear. Today its Zimbabwe, tomorrow it
could be
us and the next week it could be someone
else."
I
There is an interesting assessment of Cyril Ramaphosa's
as yet undeclared
candidacy for the ANC presidency in the latest edition of
the usually
well-informed - if not always wholly reliable - London-based
newsletter
Africa Confidential.
The article takes it as given that
Ramaphosa will run for the position; and
it makes a number of interesting
points about his candidacy. One is that
when Thabo Mbeki was chosen as
Mandela's successor, back in the mid-1990s,
Ramaphosa was "assured that he
was still young and that his turn would come
immediately after Mbeki's;
Ramaphosa's supporters say this means he has a
right to the
candidacy."
It also suggests, but does not state outright, that Ramaphosa
would enjoy
the support of Nelson Mandela. It notes cryptically, "Amid the
turmoil,
there is increasingly an acceptance that party elders could ease
tensions
and ensure a smooth transfer. Some of those elders think tradition
would be
well served by handing the baton to Ramaphosa."
The article
states that Ramaphosa enjoys the support of the old UDF
leadership, as well
as three former provincial premiers. It adds that the
ANC's Secretary
General, Kgalema Motlanthe, "often defers to Ramaphosa, his
predecessor as
NUM Secretary-General."
The article claims that "despite many past
fall-outs, Ramaphosa has mended
his fences with Mbeki, who would accept him
as president if the alternative
was Zuma." However, there seems to be some
nervousness among the Mbeki-ites
at the prospect a Ramaphosa presidency:
"Mbeki's advisors say Mbeki suspects
that, if elected, Ramaphosa might
restrict his influence" (whatever that
means).
"Those close to both
Mbeki and Ramaphosa say that [in 2001] the two struck a
pact whose broad
terms were that they would stay out of each other's
pastures; Ramaphosa
would not interfere in the presidency and Mbeki would
leave Ramaphosa to his
business career. The same sources claim that Mbeki
agreed not to stand in
Ramaphosa's way if he sought to pursue the presidency
[in 2007]."
If
the article is to be believed it is Jacob Zuma, not Mbeki, who is
Ramaphosa's main rival and enemy. It claims the two men have been "opposed
since 1991, when Zuma's job was to keep Ramaphosa out of office on behalf of
some ambitious antagonists." Zuma's supporters also see Ramaphosa as the
biggest threat to their man.
II
Late last year the 2005/2006
annual report [PDF] of the South African Police
Service stated that the
Crime Information Analysis Centre (CIAC) had
conducted a survey of 9 623
dockets covering crimes such as murder,
attempted murder, rape, assault with
intent, and common assault. This
analysis had found that in 81,5% of murders
the perpetrators were known to
the victim. (41,8% of perpetrators were
friends or acquaintances of the
victim, and 20,1% family
members.)
Since then this 81,5% statistic has been regularly cited by the
Minister of
Safety & Security, Charles Nqakula, and other government
leaders, including
President Mbeki. It was repeated again earlier this
month on the release of
the latest crime statistics.
Yet, there was
always something fishy about this statistic. After all, it is
impossible to
ask a victim of murder if they knew their killer, and a very
small
proportion of murders are actually ever solved in this country. And in
Business Day yesterday Antony Altbeker thoroughly debunks it.
He
points out that - according to the fine print - in only 72,5% of the
murder
dockets analysed could the relationship between victims and
perpetrators be
established. This meant that that the CIAS could actually
establish "that
someone known to the victim committed the murder in only 59%
of the cases
they looked at." They, or at least their political masters,
simply assumed
that the 81,5% figure - derived from the cases where the
perpetrators were
known - applied equally to those cases where they were
not.
Altbeker
comments, "This is preposterous: it is obviously significantly
easier to
establish the identity of the killer if he is known to the victim.
It is
much more likely, therefore, that only a small minority of the 28% of
unidentified killers were known to the victim."
Moreover, the police
were analysing closed dockets, which meant that in most
cases they were
looking at solved crimes. This created a further bias, as it
"is far, far
easier to solve crimes in which the perpetrator is linked to
the victim...
Anyone who doubts this conclusion needs to ask themselves only
one question:
if the police know that 80% of murder victims know their
killers, why do
conviction rates hover around 20%?" Altbeker suggests that
the true figure
is likely to be much closer to 50%.
Supporting evidence for his estimate
is provided by the figures, from the
same analysis, for attempted murder - a
crime where the victim is still
alive to identify the perpetrator. The CIAS
found that in these cases only
59.4% of victims knew their attackers. (32.3%
of perpetrators were friends
or acquaintances; and only 8.8% were
relatives.)
Moneyweb
'Power tends to
corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is once
again being
confirmed in Zimbabwe.
Eustace Davie
13 July 2007
Lord Acton's
famous observation that, 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power
corrupts absolutely' is once again being confirmed in Zimbabwe. The
President has usurped all the power, none is left with the people, and all
the institutions of democratic governance have been corrupted.
Why,
then, should anyone thank him for acting in such an autocratic, brutal,
unprincipled and economically ludicrous manner? Why when he has pulverised
the Zimbabwean economy, destroyed its agriculture, caused famine in a
country that was once called 'the bread basket of Africa', and inflicted
terrible harm on its people? Why when those of us with any humanity in our
souls are filled with horror at the consequences, with compassion for the
children, women and men who are caught up in this ghastly decades-long
tragedy, and with frustration at our inability to do anything about
it?
We must thank Mugabe because he is graphically illustrating for us
once
again the consequences, not of adopting really bad policies, but of
taking
bad policies to extremes. It is only in their extreme state that the
foolishness of bad policies becomes crystal clear.
Examples of the
destructive consequences of debasing currencies are easily
forgotten. We are
being reminded at the expense of the unfortunate
Zimbabwean people.
A
stable currency played an important role in the growth of the Roman Empire
but in 54-98 AD Emperor Nero began debasing the currency by reducing the
silver content of the denarius to 90 per cent and slightly reducing the size
of the gold aureus. Debasement continued under successive emperors until the
silver content of the denarius was reduced to 0.02 per cent by the third
century AD. During this time price inflation accelerated and the empire
became increasingly unstable.
Emperor Diocletian (284-305 AD) decided
to try and stop the inflation, which
is estimated to have been about 15,000
per cent in the third century.
Diocletian, like Mugabe, blamed suppliers for
the rising prices and set
maximum prices for a vast number of goods and
services, with penalties for
disobeying the law which included death. The
merchants fled into the country
with their goods and great shortages ensued.
Currency debasement and high
taxes destroyed productive enterprise and was a
major cause of the
disintegration of the Roman Empire.
Successive
Roman governments expected the suppliers to provide the same
quantity of
goods and services for a coinage bearing the same name but with
a radically
reduced precious metal content. Today, theft of currency value
by stealth is
not as easy to detect; biting paper money does not provide the
answers the
ancients got when they bit gold coins.
To pay for the excesses of
government, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the
custodian of the Zimbabwean
dollar, printed more and more notes, of larger
and larger denomination,
stealthily appropriating and spending the wealth of
the unsuspecting holders
of the currency, to the point where its purchasing
power halved in April,
the CPI rising 100.7 per cent in one month. Shameful,
is it not? Shameful,
yes, but not unique! Debasing the currency, the modern
equivalent of which
is printing too much money, is the fundamental cause of
all general price
increases.
When the extreme is reached and the consequences of bad
government are
revealed for all to see, the dictator becomes frenzied. As
Winston Churchill
said, 'Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they
dare not dismount.
And the tigers are getting hungry.' The consequence of
extreme debasement of
the Zimbabwe dollar is that merchants have demanded
more and more of the
devaluing currency in exchange for their goods. And
acting exactly as
Diocletian did, President Mugabe blamed the suppliers and
instituted price
controls and extreme penalties. As happened with
Diocletian, Mugabe's
tyrannical action will not only fail, it will make the
situation infinitely
worse. It is increasingly worthless money that is at
the root of the
problem.
In the Economic Freedom of the World report
(EFW), co-published by the
Fraser Institute and the Economic Freedom
Network, Zimbabwe was ranked 130th
of the 130 countries rated for their
levels of economic freedom. The Index
of Economic Freedom co-published by
the Heritage Foundation and the Wall
Street Journal placed Zimbabwe at 154th
out of the 157 countries measured.
Libya, Cuba and North Korea are the three
countries with the dubious
distinction of being less free.
The EFW
report describes the cornerstones of economic freedom as 'personal
choice,
voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and security of privately
owned
property. Zimbabwe's ranking indicates that the country's people enjoy
very
few of these freedoms. In fact their economic freedom was measured at a
level of 2.8 out of 10; by contrast the rating of the world's freest
territory, Hong Kong, was 8.7 and SA 's 6.7.
Next door to Zimbabwe we
find Botswana, which is the most economically free
country in Africa. On
'access to sound money' Botswana has a rating of 9.4,
with SA at 8.2 and
Zimbabwe, not surprisingly at 0.0. Botswana's economy has
grown at an annual
compound rate of 5.8 per cent and achieved a per capita
GDP of USD 10,000
(PPP) while Zimbabwe's has shrunk at 5.7 per cent per
annum over the same
period and achieved a per capita GDP of USD 2,000. The
1.8 million Batswana
produce a total GDP that is two-thirds that of the 12.9
million Zimbabweans.
The stark difference between these two countries is the
direct result of
their divergent government policy decisions.
Zimbabwe's CPI at the end of
April of each year shows a startling
progression: 2001 - 84.5, 2002 - 180.8,
2003 -- 667.5, 2004 - 4038.8, 2005 -
9251.2, 2006 - 105,734.3 and 2007 -
4,032,633.7. It provides a record of an
imploding economy and a culmination
of all the human rights transgressions,
the autocratic decisions and
actions, and the erosion of the freedoms of the
citizens of Zimbabwe. If
others learn from the Zimbabwe example not to
commit the same travesties of
justice, liberty will gain.
Author: Eustace Davie is a director of the
Free Market Foundation.
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
July 13, 2007
The deepening crisis in Zimbabwe
has raised fear in South Africa, where the
umbrella labour and business
unions expressed deep concern for the people of
Zimbabwe and the threat
posed to South African businesses. The Congress of
South African Trade
Unions (COSATU) and the Business Unity South Africa
(BUSA) released separate
statements this week expressing concern for South
African owned companies in
the country and struggling Zimbabweans dealing
with shortages. Both
confirmed their support for the mediation efforts being
led by their
president Thabo Mbeki, and urged him to ensure a speedy
solution to the
deteriorating economic crisis.
Business Unity Chief Executive Jerry
Vilakazi said the group hoped Zimbabwe
would reach a mediated settlement and
urged Mbeki to ensure that dialogue
between the ruling party and opposition
continues. Referring to the Zimbabwe
government's ongoing campaign of
forcing businesses to reduce prices,
Vilakazi said: "We understand that
inflation has skyrocketed in the last few
months but we do not believe the
solution lies in cutting prices
arbitrarily." The statement from the
business group said they will be
sending a high level delegation to consult
their members in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile the labour union COSATU said it was
particularly concerned that
the worst victims of Zimbabwe's deepening crisis
were the poor workers, and
not the ruling elite. Reports quote Union
officials as saying: "The worst
victims are not the ruling elite and their
friends, but the ordinary people
of Zimbabwe, the workers and the poor in
particular, for whom this is a
human and socio-economic disaster. More and
more are now living in abject
poverty."
COSATU has supported workers in
Zimbabwe over the last few years as
unemployment and prices skyrocketed. The
group has consistently criticised
the Mugabe regime's human rights record
and has sent delegations to Zimbabwe
that were deported by force.
COSATU
also said they are concerned about the secrecy surrounding the talks
being
mediated by Mbeki. They urged the South African leader to include
civic
society in the dialogue.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Washington Post
By Craig
Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 13, 2007; Page
A01
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe -- It's not only the prices of bread and
eggs that are
out of control in Zimbabwe, land of 4,000 percent inflation.
For the man
inclined to cheat on his wife, these are trying times. Keeping a
mistress,
visiting a prostitute or even taking a girlfriend out for beers is
simply
becoming too expensive, men say.
But their strain is
Zimbabwe's gain in its fight against AIDS. Alone among
southern African
countries, Zimbabwe has shown a significant drop in its HIV
rate in recent
years. A major reason, researchers say, is the changing
sexual habits of men
forced to abandon costly multiple relationships.
"Those extramarital
relationships, they're getting tough to sustain," said
Thomas Muza, 37, who
is struggling to support his wife and a mistress on the
shrinking value of a
math teacher's paycheck. Worth $50 a month at the
beginning of June, it's
now worth $17 and falling almost every day.
AIDS activists and some
researchers long blamed the continent's high poverty
rates for its unusually
widespread HIV epidemics, arguing that poor medical
care and hunger made
Africans especially vulnerable to the virus, while
financial need
accelerated its spread by pushing women into prostitution.
Yet Zimbabwe's
experience shows that the connection between AIDS and
economics is not
nearly so straightforward. The country has made strides
against HIV during
eight years of steep recession. Wealthier neighbors such
as South Africa and
Botswana, meanwhile, have struggled to curb new
infections despite much
higher levels of development and massive spending on
the
disease.
Many researchers now suspect that economic vitality -- expressed
in rising
truck traffic, burgeoning bar scenes and widening income disparity
--
encourage the behaviors that fuel a sexually transmitted epidemic. But
as
men get poorer, they pare back their relationships, making them less
likely
to contract or spread HIV.
AIDS remains severe here, with an
estimated one in five Zimbabwean adults
infected with the virus that causes
the disease, but surveys show that the
number of new infections has fallen.
Men report fewer girlfriends, fewer
visits to prostitutes and less casual
sex -- all indicators that in other
countries have accompanied a retreating
epidemic.
Nightclubs, cinemas and brothels have closed in Harare, the
capital, and in
some cases evangelical churches have taken over the
buildings. Less visibly,
men say they are abandoning what Zimbabweans call
"small houses," a legacy
of the polygamous marriages once common
here.
In these relationships, married men pay rent and other living
expenses for a
second or even third regular sex partner. As in marriages,
condoms rarely
are used, creating webs of unprotected sex easily infiltrated
by HIV if the
man or any of the women become infected.
"Having a lot
of girlfriends or having 'small houses,' you've got to have a
degree of
disposable income," said Godfrey Woelk, an epidemiologist at the
University
of Zimbabwe. "Being poor and being in love does not really work,
no matter
what the romantics say."
Muza, who has a long face and a thin beard, was
not poor when he started
teaching. He was part of Zimbabwe's broad middle
class that also included
the bureaucrats, engineers and factory managers
whom the country's schools,
once the best in Africa, turned out by the tens
of thousands.
Now these same men find their paychecks tripling or
quadrupling some months.
But prices are rising so much faster that many are
slipping below the
poverty line. Some joke bitterly that with a roll of
toilet paper costing
about 30,000 Zimbabwean dollars, it would be cheaper to
stack 100-dollar
bills in their bathrooms.
Muza earns 2.5 million
Zimbabwean dollars a month teaching, and about half
goes to the rent,
groceries and other expenses of his "small house."
"It's very difficult,"
Muza said softly, his voice trailing off.
Changing
Behavior
With rich reddish soil, steady sunshine and seemingly
enlightened
governance, Zimbabwe for two decades was regarded as the
economic miracle of
southern Africa.
President Robert Mugabe, who
took over in 1980 from a white-supremacist
government, invested heavily in
education. Plentiful commercial farms made
Zimbabwe an exporter of food. A
steady flow of foreign tourists visited the
country's unspoiled game parks
and Victoria Falls, a mile-wide torrent of
water considered one of the
world's natural wonders.
But faced with rising political opposition,
Mugabe in 2000 endorsed
invasions of white-owned commercial farms by
landless black peasants. The
move won him some support but led to economic
ruin and growing political
repression. Zimbabwe became one of the world's
biggest recipients of
international food aid. Its currency tumbled so fast
that the money used to
buy a new car in 2000 would be worth less than a U.S.
penny now.
Many AIDS experts feared this turmoil would worsen an epidemic
that already
was among the most severe in the world.
Yet in 2005, the
U.N. AIDS agency reported that the country had experienced
southern Africa's
first major decline in HIV. The drop was clearest among
pregnant women who
attended prenatal clinics, but studies of other groups
showed similar
trends.
The most recent nationwide survey, conducted in 2005 and 2006,
put
Zimbabwe's HIV rate for adults at 18.1 percent, still higher than in all
but
five other countries in the world. Researchers believe it peaked a few
years
earlier at about 25 percent.
This shift came despite Zimbabwe's
pariah status at a time when growing
international funding has allowed other
African countries to dramatically
expand their efforts to combat the
epidemic. When President Bush created his
$15 billion anti-AIDS program, all
of Zimbabwe's neighbors -- South Africa,
Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia --
were cited as "focus countries" worthy of
extra support.
Zimbabwe,
which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled an "outpost of
tyranny,"
was not, making it one of Africa's least popular recipients of
foreign aid.
Botswana and Uganda have received 10 times more annual
financial support for
each person living with HIV than has Zimbabwe, a U.N.
analysis
showed.
Among the initial skeptics about the falling HIV rate was
Zimbabwean AIDS
researcher Exnevia Gomo. He recalled the early speculation:
Perhaps it was
caused by a surge of death in the absence of effective
treatment. Or maybe
the exodus of young, well-educated people to other
countries explained the
trend.
But several studies show that shifts
in sexual behavior drove the HIV
decline in Zimbabwe. This finding echoes
the changes experienced in Uganda
during the early 1990s, when its rate of
new infections fell sharply.
"That behavior is changing significantly is
clear," Gomo said from Blantyre,
Malawi, where he recently joined the
medical school faculty at the
University of Malawi. "The question is: What
has caused that change?"
Inflation and Fear
With
unemployment estimated at 80 percent, trading sex for money remains an
appealing choice for some women, said Tsitsi, a sassy 23-year-old wearing
designer jeans and a red, scooped-neck top. She spoke about personal matters
on the condition that her last name not be used.
A 40-year-old
businessman pays Tsitsi about $75 a month to be his
girlfriend. She said the
man also takes her out to dinner and buys groceries
for her
parents.
Tsitsi said that, though she is not in love, she regards the
relationship as
better than many marriages. The man agrees to use condoms,
and there is no
possibility of betrayal if she does not expect sexual
fidelity, she said.
"He's like an ATM," Tsitsi said. "You just go and
punch money and it comes
out."
Several of her friends have similar
relationships, she said, but they are
becoming harder to find and maintain.
When a man gets low on cash, Tsitsi
said, "he'll just take care of his
wife."
Pastor Elliot Mandaza of New Life Covenant Church in Harare has
noticed a
similar trend. As the capital's night spots have closed -- the
church uses a
former cinema for Bible classes -- pews have filled with
financially
troubled newcomers seeking divine solace. Few of these men can
afford
several sex partners.
"That's by and large now the preserve of
the wealthy. You have a 'small
house' if you have the money," Mandaza said.
"It's hard enough to look after
number one."
Business is down as well
in bars and liquor stores in the dense bedroom
community of Chitungwiza, 15
miles south of Harare. Weeknights are
especially slow as customers hoard
money for the weekend. Every time prices
jump, the crowds dwindle again. A
brewery truck that once arrived twice a
week has stopped coming; bottles now
arrive by wheelbarrow because bar
owners keep stocks low to hedge against
inflation.
The changes are not only economic. Most Zimbabweans have
watched a family
member or a close friend wither away before their eyes. And
unlike
Zimbabwe's neighbors, which have used international funding to create
increasingly extensive treatment programs, AIDS means almost certain death
here.
Brighton Ndlovu, 35, a trader in computer hardware who wore a
dapper black
suit on a recent visit to a popular Chitungwiza pub, has lost
three brothers
to AIDS. Each one got thin, lost his hair and sweated his way
through
terrible fevers, he recalled.
Ndlovu said he uses condoms
faithfully, and he made several changes likely
to reduce his risk of
infection: He avoids prostitutes, cut back on
girlfriends and broke up with
a "small house" woman whose living expenses he
paid.
Driving those
decisions was a combination of financial stress and fear of
AIDS.
"I
know the consequences," he said.
This potent combination has changed
business calculations as well. Frank
Muhamba, 64, who owns the building that
houses Ghetto Blues nightclub in
Chitungwiza, said the club no longer
employs a night shift of cleaning women
who double as prostitutes. Muhamba
said that contributing to the death of
customers was wrong, and bad for the
bottom line, too.
"Before, we could go to a bar," he recalled, "and we'd
find 10 women wanting
us."
Now, Muhamba said, "We will go home
without talking to any of those girls. .
. . They will kill us."
Business Report
July 6,
2007
Edward Osborn states that the Lancaster House constitution enshrined
the
rights of pensioners both in and out of Zimbabwe ("Don't forget pensions
in
sorting out Zimbabwe", July 4).
I recently watched a BBC2
documentary on the events that led to Zimbabwe's
independence, hosted by
David Dimbleby and produced circa 1982.
There were interviews with all
stakeholders (lovely word that) and a member
of President Robert Mugabe's
group openly admitted that they had agreed to
Lancaster House terms, some of
which they had no intention of honouring.
This does not bode well for
anyone doing business in Africa.
Tony Ball Durban
Globe and Mail, Canada
NEIL
REYNOLDS
July 13, 2007
OTTAWA -- Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe is
officially a socialist state,
predictably complete with a Politburo and
worthless money. (Currency traders
will now quote only the black market rate
of exchange: 300,000 Zimbabwean
dollars for one U.S. dollar, a depreciation
of 30 per cent in the past week
alone.) Zimbabwe is a classic morality play,
made hypnotic by its tragic
ending. We are watching the final act, in which
state coercion (wage and
price controls, enforced by soldiers) reinforces
state corruption. Tens of
thousands of people are hungry; tens of thousands
of people have fled the
country. Without a change in this script, the final
curtain appears
imminent - and awful.
To end inflation, Mr. Mugabe
last month summarily ordered all merchants and
manufacturers to return
prices to the level of June 18. In the edited and
abridged letter printed
below, a Zimbabwean opposition leader and
businessman named Eddie Cross (a
descendant of an Irish missionary from
Belfast) describes how this reform
has been implemented - and what it means
for Zimbabwe (all currency in
Zimbabwean dollars): "About two weeks ago
[June 21], Mr. Mugabe made a
speech at the funeral of a general who died
under mysterious circumstance.
In it, he attacked the private sector for
raising prices. He threatened
everyone, saying that if they did not come
into line with the Party, they
would be taken over.
"Since then, a shadowy organization known as the
'Joint Operational Command'
has taken up the call. Last week, it summoned
all business leaders to a
meeting and instructed them to roll back their
prices to the level they were
on June 18. The meeting was held with the
Commanders of the Army, Police,
Air Force and Prison Service. Since then,
all major retailers and
wholesalers, as well as the majority of
manufacturers, have reduced their
prices to the June 18 level.
"Last
weekend, smaller retailers were attacked. One by one, they were
approached
by small groups of officials, police and militia. The messages
were confused
and varied from store to store. Some said that the retailers
had to reduce
prices on a limited range of 18 items. Some instructed them to
roll back all
their prices to the June 18 level. Some were ordered to cut
prices by 50 per
cent.
"No opposition or arguments were tolerated. If the retailers
resisted, they
were arrested and taken to police stations. In other cases,
stores that were
closed had their doors smashed open and the public invited
to buy goods at
the reduced prices. Many businesses were faced with near
riots as people
scrambled for goods.
"Then the authorities started on the
fuel stations. Systematically, all
stations were visited. If they had
stocks, they were told to sell at $60,000
a litre or else. One station
operator in Bulawayo lost $3.4-billion in 12
hours on the sale of 47,000
litres of fuel (for which he had paid $132,000 a
litre).
"Today [July
5] there are long queues at all the filling stations that still
have stocks.
I think that, by Monday [July 9], there will be no fuel at all
in the city,
probably in the whole country. Worse still, the fuel importers
have stopped
imports. [Black market gas prices as high as $700,000 a litre
have been
reported this past week.]
"The butchers were told to sell meat at $90,000
a kilogram or, in some
cases, at $120,000 a kilogram. The stores quickly
sold out and closed.
Today, there is no butcher store open in the entire
city. Bakers are doing
the same thing.
"They were ordered to sell
bread for $22,000 a loaf. But they have stopped
buying raw materials and
bakeries are closing down across the country.
"Maize meal, the national
staple food, has disappeared from the stores. The
price of potatoes has
doubled again. The controlled price for rice is half
its actual cost and
rice supplies will run out by next week. The
supermarkets can't restock,
either because they cannot buy at the controlled
prices or the products are
simply not available at any price. All of our
basic foods will start to run
out next week.
"This morning, we watched a police raid on a small 'Spaza'
store, run by a
single woman with a teenage son. A seven-ton truck arrived
with four police
officers, who collected all of her stock and loaded it onto
the truck. The
woman was ordered to appear in court at 14:00 hours. In
court, she was
harangued and fined $40,000. Her goods were off-loaded into a
large
warehouse which was full of confiscated goods."
Mr. Cross
predicts "an economic crisis" of staggering proportions in
Zimbabwe.
You can follow his first-hand reports at his website:
eddiecross.africanherd.com.
nreynolds@xplornet.com
The
Herald (Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
13 July
2007
Posted to the web 13 July 2007
Harare
THE Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has contracted several local companies to
manufacture 700 000
ox-drawn farming implements for distribution to the
country's farmers in
preparation for the next farming season.
The farmers would be expected to
pay a nominal fee for the implements
following delivery.
The
implements include a consignment of 100 000 ploughs, harrows, scotch
carts,
knapsacks, cultivators and 200 000 chains.
By July 10, 86 000 of the
implements had been delivered while the remaining
614 000 were at various
stages of manufacture.
RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono announced the massive
farming project when he
addressed members of the Chiefs' Council in Harare
on Tuesday.
Dr Gono also announced that five agricultural training
institutions -
Chibero, Gwebi, Institute of Agricultural Engineering
Training Centre, Mlezu
and Esigodini colleges - had been identified to train
beneficiaries of the
mechanisation programme.
All the implements
should have been delivered by the end of September by
which time all the
beneficiaries were also expected to have received the
implements. Recently
the central bank, together with Ministry of
Agricultural Engineering and
Mechanisation teams, went on a tour to assess
the manufacture of the
implements.
In separate presentations to the assessment team, the
companies detailed a
number of issues hampering the speedy delivery of the
implements, chief
among them the shortage of items such as tyres, rims for
scotch carts, sheet
metal, and Zesa power cuts.
Dr Gono told the
chiefs that the central bank would in future consider
contracting the
manufacture of farming implements to rural-based smiths.
The manufacture
of the ox-drawn implements follows the distribution to
farmers of mechanised
implements that included tractors and combine
harvesters last
month.
President Mugabe launched the programme, which also saw leading
opposition
MDC figures benefiting.
Since Zimbabwe's economy is
agro-based, equipping farmers with the requisite
farming tools would greatly
boost the economy.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
13 July 2007
Posted to the web
13 July 2007
Harare
THE Chinhoyi farmer who destroyed 40 hectares
of 30-centimetre-high wheat
last month has justified his act, saying it was
a reasonable decision under
the circumstances.
Mr Doug Taylor-Freeme
of R/E Romsey Farm yesterday said he wanted to prepare
the land for another
crop as the wheat was a write-off due to poor
irrigation caused by constant
power cuts.
"I informed the Reserve Bank that had funded the wheat
crop and political
leaders in Mashonaland West that I wanted to do away with
40 hectares of the
wheat crop so that I could only be left with a manageable
210 hectares.
"Our local (Zesa power) transformer had been destroyed by
fire in May and
continuous power cuts contributed extensively to the wilting
of the wheat
crop as we could not properly manage our irrigation
scheme.
"I then ploughed down the crop so that I could quickly prepare
the land for
another crop. The wheat had already failed so I had to take
irrigation pipes
and use the little water I was getting for 210 hectares and
the crop is
doing very well," said Mr Taylor-Freeme.
He said he
wanted to quickly apply lime so that the potential of hydrogen
(pH) of the
soil improves when he plants another crop.
He said he assisted Zesa
repair the transformer when he engaged a friend to
hire transport to ferry a
replacement transformer that was in Mutorashanga.
"When we finally
brought the transformer, Zesa took two weeks to install it
while my crop was
wilting. My wheat was on 250 hectares of land. We use
power for irrigation
and that has to be done after every nine days while we
had to stretch for 27
days before watering the crop.
"If I had continued with 27-day intervals,
then the whole crop could have
been affected so I had to do away with 40
hectares. I had to take the
irrigation pipes to help irrigate the 210
hectares left so that we get wheat
to feed the nation," he said.
Mr
Taylor-Freeme said he did not know that Chief Nemakonde had been
allocated
his farm as he had not received any communication to that effect.
Makonde
Member of the House of Assembly Cde Leo Mugabe said the farm had not
been
allocated to Chief Nemakonde.
"The farm has not been allocated to anyone
and Mr Taylor-Freeme is doing
well as he produces wheat and other crops to
feed the nation and he fends
for a lot of families as he employs more than
200 workers.
"We want to deal with the land issue once and for all in
Makonde so that
there are no stories coming up that there were people going
to lose farms
again.
"Mr Taylor-Freeme's farm is of great benefit to
the nation," Cde Mugabe
said.
Mr Taylor-Freeme is alleged to have
destroyed 40 hectares of wheat crop
after receiving communication that his
farm had been listed to resettle
Chief Nemakonde.
The Herald
(Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
13 July 2007
Posted
to the web 13 July 2007
Harare
Three Zesa Holdings substations
were gutted by fire in Highfield at various
intervals in the last three
weeks, plunging parts of the suburb into
darkness.
The affected areas
include Engineering, Canaan, Jerusalem and Egypt.
Residents who spoke
to The Herald said the sub-stations blew up one after
the other, forcing the
residents to suspect politically motivated sabotage.
"The sub-station in
Engineering blew up three weeks ago, followed by the one
in Jerusalem a week
later. Last Sunday a substation in Egypt also went up in
smoke.
"We
are not aware of the problem behind all this, but we strongly suspect
some
acts of sabotage which are politically motivated," said Mr John Makura
of
Egypt.
He added that they were spending more than $200 000 a day on
firewood for
cooking, boiling bath water and keeping themselves warm given
the freezing
winter temperatures.
"We are being ripped off by vendors
who are overcharging us for firewood.
Thieves are also taking advantage of
the situation and breaking into our
homes in the darkness," added Mr
Makura.
Mrs Angeline Muzambi of Engineering urged the power utility to
deploy
security personnel at the sub-stations to keep acts of sabotage or
vandalism
to a minimum.
The residents also expressed concern at the
delays by Zesa in restoring
power supplies.
"Zesa workers came and
removed the charred remains of the sub-station two
weeks ago. We have not
seen them since then.
"They should not just sit in their offices and give
us assurances that
everything will be fine without evidence of progress on
the ground," said
Mrs Muzambi.
Residents who live close to the two
sub-stations in Jerusalem and Egypt said
the equipment could have been
vandalised as they were situated far away from
roads used by
vendors.
In a statement yesterday, Zesa Holdings, however, maintained
that the
sub-stations were gutted by fire caused by vandalism and undue care
by
vendors in the area operating near the sub-stations.
"Zesa
engineers are working round the clock to restore electricity in the
area,"
read part of the statement.
The power utility also advised its customers
that it had extended load
shedding from the beginning of this week due to
generation-related problems
at Hwange Power Station and would depart from
the normal load-shedding
schedule.
Last month, Zesa spokesperson Mr
Fullard Gwasira said several people were
arrested in 35 separate cases of
vandalism.
In January this year, 2 000 households in Harare were plunged
into darkness
after about 80 transformers were destroyed following a spate
of vandalism
and theft.
The Herald
(Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe
13 July 2007
Posted
to the web 13 July 2007
Harare
POLICE in Harare intensified the
clampdown on transport operators yesterday,
impounding 51 more commuter
omnibuses and arresting their drivers for
overcharging.
This brings
to 100 the number of commuter omnibuses impounded since the
operation began
on Wednesday.
The Government has gazetted fares and operators are
required to charge $10
000 for journeys under 10 kilometres, $15 000 for
distances of between
10,1km and 20km and $20 000 for up to
30km.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said most
of the
impounded vehicles ply the Southerton, Mbare, Highfield, Mufakose,
Glen
Norah and Glen View routes.
"We have impounded 51 more kombis
and arrested their drivers for
overcharging and the total number of
impounded buses is now 100.
"The operators are committing the offence in
protest at the fares stipulated
by the Government and their general argument
is that they were buying fuel
from the black market.
"That, of
course, is not a defence as we are working round-the-clock to curb
the black
market. The black market should not thrive at all.
"Fuel should be bought
from service stations at the pump price stipulated by
the Government," said
Chief Supt Mandipaka.
He said transport problems and inconvenience caused
during the operation
were meant to restore order and
affordability.
"Inconveniences faced now are calculated at creating
convenience and people
should not cry foul.
"Commuters are the ones
who complain about the unlawful hiking of fares and
they should not stop us
from dealing with such culprits. We are not going
back on the exercise and
we will not be deterred from dealing with
those operators," he
said.
Meanwhile, OK Zimbabwe chief executive Willard Zireva and Mbare
branch
manager James Peter Sayenda, accused of failing to comply with a
Government
order to reduce prices, yesterday appeared in court for flouting
the pricing
regulations.
The two, who were arrested on Tuesday and
detained at Marlborough Police
Station, were released on Wednesday following
negotiations between police
and their lawyers.
Zireva and Sayenda,
who are charged both in their representative capacities
and as individuals,
were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare
magistrate Mr
Tapuwa Godzi.
They were remanded out of custody to July 18 when their
lawyers Mr Denford
Halimani and Mr Edward Manikai are expected to challenge
their placement on
remand.
Harare area public prosecutor Mr Tawanda
Zvekare represented the State.
The lawyers said they would apply for
their clients' refusal of remand next
week and undertook to file the papers
today or on Monday.
"We are agreeable to have the matter remanded to next
week for convenience's
sake and we will be making our submissions in writing
tomorrow (today),"
said Mr Manikai.
"Our consent to the remand does
not mean we have agreed that an offence was
committed and this whole matter
is fatally defective," said Mr Manikai.
Zireva and Sayenda and their
company are being charged with two counts of
failing to comply with the
Government directive to freeze prices at June 18
levels.
Charges
against OK Zimbabwe and the two arose on Monday this week when the
price
control crack team, comprising police officers and price inspectors
from the
Ministry of Industry and International Trade, visited their Mbare
branch.
Upon arrival, the officials discovered that the supermarket
had defied the
order.
This led to the arrest of the two
officials.
The team found that 250g of Omo washing powder was being sold
for $263 000
instead of the approved $127 500, while a 1kg bar of Key
laundry soap was
being sold for $268 000 instead of $132 000.
It is
also the State's case that a 125g tablet of Jade bath soap was priced
at $78
000 instead of $40 200.
Greetings ,
The 2007 Victoria Falls
Marathon is to be held on 26 AUGUST 2007 . A full
marathon , fun run and a
half are on offer , with great waterpoints , t
shirts , medals etc and a
fantastic " after party " on the river . The
first event last year was a
great success , with over 250 runners - this
year will be bigger and better
.
This is one of the best race routes ever - over the bridge between
Zimbabwe
and Zambia , along the Zambezi and into the Zambezi National Park -
with a
good chance of seeing some game - as well as into the festive high
density
suburb of Chinotimba . Where else can you run in a National Park and
a World
Heritage site ??
Full IAAF approved race , with top
waterpoints , security etc .
Full packages , well as self drive or entry
only packages are available from
the organisers below .
John
Addison
Wild Frontiers (Pty) Ltd - The Africa Travel Specialist
P O Box
844, Halfway House, 1685, SA
Email: john@wildfrontiers.com
Skype User
Name: WILDFRONTIERSJOHNADDISON
Tel: +27-11 702 2035
Fax (SA residents
only): +27 86 689 6759
Alternative Fax (Intl and SA): +27-11 468
1655
Websites: www.wildfrontiers.com www.kilimanjaromarathon.com
www.gorilla-safaris.com
www.kilimanjaroclimb.com
www.vicfallsmarathon.com
Members
of SATOA & SATSA / AUTO / TATO
GSA for Peregrine Adventures & Gecko's
Adventures
E. & O.E. (c) Copyright WILD FRONTIERS 2007