Zim Online
Saturday 14 July 2007
By Hendricks
Chizhanje
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government on Friday said it had
temporarily stopped
publishing inflation figures, a move observers said was
meant to draw
attention away from runaway inflation which has come to
symbolise the
country's unprecedented economic meltdown.
Acting
director of the government's Central Statistical Office (CSO), Moffat
Nyoni,
told ZimOnline that new inflation figures could only be available
after
completion of survey to determine what items should be included in the
consumer basket.
He said: "There is a survey going on to determine
the items used in the
basket. So we are still assessing whether to work
(inflation figures) from
the old or new basket."
Nyoni, who had
previously told ZimOnline that new inflation figures were
delayed after a
virus affected computers at the CSO, did not say when
exactly the state data
department hoped to complete its survey.
The CSO has regularly released
the latest inflation figures on the 10th day
of each month but has failed to
release figures for the months of May and
June.
"It seems pretty
obvious that the government sees no political sense in
continuing to
advertise its own failure to turn around the economy by
releasing those
astronomical inflation figures," said an investment analyst
with a leading
Harare bank, who declined to be named.
Inflation is the most visible sign
of Zimbabwe's deep economic recession
that has left more than 80 percent of
the labour force without jobs and
shortages of food, fuel and foreign
currency.
President Robert Mugabe's government has branded inflation
Zimbabwe's number
one enemy and last month ordered manufacturers and
retailers to slash prices
by 50 percent, in a desperate attempt to stem
inflation, which at more than
4 500 percent is the highest in the
world.
Soldiers and police have raided several shops in Harare and
Bulawayo to
force owners to lower prices and yesterday extended the price
crackdown to
rural areas that are a bastion of government
support.
Police on Thursday said they had arrested more than 2 000
company owners and
executives for failing to reduce prices as directed by
the government.
While the lower price bonanza has been a welcome relief
to a majority of
long suffering consumers used to daily increases, it has
brought new
problems with basic goods, such as soap, sugar and cooking oil,
no longer
available except only on the illegal black market where prices are
extortionate.
Analysts say the government's latest effort to keep a
lid on prices was
meant to pacify angry workers ahead of next year's polls
but would come at a
heavy cost as this could force companies to shut down
and could bring
Zimbabwe's severely weakened economy to a complete halt. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Saturday 14 July 2007
By Tsungai
Murandu
HARARE - Britain says it will do all in its power to block the
controversial
invitation of President Robert Mugabe to this year's European
Union
(EU)-Africa summit scheduled for Portugal in December.
The
Under Secretary in the United Kingdom's Commonwealth and Foreign Office,
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon said the British government has recently
increased diplomatic initiatives in Europe aimed at securing the scrapping
of Mugabe's name from the list of invitees.
New British Prime Gordon
Brown recently spoke to Portuguese Prime Minister
over the
matter.
"The government's position is absolutely clear: we do not
believe that Mr
Mugabe should attend. We are doing everything possible,"
said Baroness
Royall during debate on Zimbabwe in the UK House of
Lords.
The 83-year-old Mugabe appeared to have won the right to attend
the crucial
summit after fellow African leaders endorsed his attendance
during this
month's African Union summit in Ghana.
But Baroness
Royall said December was still far away and that "a lot of
things could
happen before then".
The British legislators also wanted their government
to draft a rescue
package for Zimbabwe in the event that there was a total
collapse of the
country's economy under the weight of Mugabe's ill-conceived
policies.
Zimbabwe's once-boisterous economy is currently under siege
from a
government onslaught on prices, which has seen several businesses on
the
verge of closing and shop shelves being cleaned of goods by panicky
consumers.
Mugabe has during the past two weeks ordered producers to
slash prices by 50
percent in a move seen by his critics as a political
gimmick aimed at
placating a restive populace ahead of next year's
elections. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Saturday 14 July
2007
By Hendricks Chizhanje
HARARE - Zimbabwe police on Friday arrested a top executive of a
United
States (US)-controlled food and consumer goods maker, Olivine
Holdings, for
allegedly defying a government order to halve prices.
Olivine,
which is one of Zimbabwe's two biggest manufacturers of
cooking oil and
other household goods, is 51 percent owned by US
conglomerate H J Heinz and
49 percent owned by President Robert Mugabe's
government.
Officials at the manufacturing firm told ZimOnline that commercial
director
Phineas Chingono was picked up by the police on Friday for
allegedly
flouting government price controls. He was still in police custody
by late
yesterday afternoon.
"He (Chingono) is not yet back at work. They
(police) took him away in
the morning," said an official, who asked not to
be named because she is not
authorised to speak on behalf of the
company.
Police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka was not immediately
available for
comment on the matter.
Chingono joins a growing
list of business executives arrested and
fined for flouting a government
order to roll back prices of commodities to
June 18 levels. More than 2 700
company executives and managers have to date
been arrested in the
crackdown.
The Harare administration two weeks ago imposed a
blanket freeze on
prices, charging that manufacturers and retailers were
unjustifiably hiking
prices to foment public anger and incite revolt against
Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU PF party.
Police announced on Friday
that they had to date arrested more than 2
700 company executives and
managers.
Analysts have warned that the government's unusual
attempt to keep a
lid on prices is likely to force more companies to shut
down and could bring
Zimbabwe's severely weakened economy to a complete
halt.
H J Heinz announced early this year that it will dispose of
its
majority interest in Olivine after relations between the US conglomerate
and
the government soured over Harare's refusal to lift a price ceiling on
edible oils. - ZimOnline
Independent, UK
By Angus Shaw,
Associated Press Writer
Published: 14 July 2007
Harare police have
impounded minibus taxis and fined drivers who had not
complied with
government orders to cut fares, stranding commuters on the way
to
work.
At least 100 taxis had been impounded since Wednesday, state radio
said, in
the latest crackdown since the government ordered price cuts of
about 50
percent in response to the country's rampant inflation. Since the
order was
issued on 25 June, consumers have wrestled over sudden bargains,
staples
have disappeared from grocery shelves, and chief executives have
been hauled
into court for failing to cut prices.
Minibus taxi
drivers have been taken to court and fined between 400,000
Zimbabwe dollars
(US$27 at official rate; US$3 at the black-market rate) and
800,000 Zimbabwe
dollars.
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said drivers argued they were
still buying
gasoline at inflated prices on the illegal black market. "That,
of course,
is not a defence," Mandipaka said.
Drivers interviewed on
state television said they could not get
state-subsidized fuel. Gas stations
designated to sell cheap fuel to
licensed transporters either ran out of
gasoline subsidized to half the
importation cost or were besieged by long
and chaotic lines of minibuses.
Workers at one bus terminus said a
routine 30-minute trip into the city took
up to four hours of waiting in
impatient and volatile crowds for buses at
township bus stops. Many hitched
rides on trucks and in private cars, but
general traffic into the city also
diminished as acute gas shortages took a
toll.
Shelves in stores
across the country remained bare of cornmeal, bread, meat
and other
staples.
Riot police were called Thursday to a wholesale store to control
a stampede
of shoppers gathering up reduced goods. Extra police were posted
at downtown
clothing and shoe stores.
Earlier in the week, the
government withdrew the licenses of all private
slaughterhouses, accusing
them of defying orders to reduce meat prices.
Restaurants and fast food
outlets were also ordered to slash their prices.
Police told one restaurant
owner to "redesign the menu," to eliminate more
expensive gourmet
dishes.
In several restaurants, steak was out of stock, waiters
said.
Police even shut down the canteen at the Harare law courts, used by
court
officials, magistrates and police themselves, for failing to comply
with the
price order, state media reported Friday.
Butcheries,
stores, factories and gas stations were unable to replace
materials sold at
below the original cost since the prices edict.
The Zimbabwe Independent
newspaper, a respected privately owned business and
political weekly, on
Friday reported that central bank governor Gideon Gono
expressed concerns
over the prices crackdown, saying it likely would lead to
widescale closures
of businesses.
Gono also likened the crackdown to the U.S. military
campaign in Iraq that
was "launched into dangerous territory without an exit
strategy," the paper
reported.
State radio on Friday quoted Simon
Khaya Moyo, Zimbabwe's ambassador in
neighboring South Africa, dismissing
media reports there predicting a total
collapse of the economy, bringing
with it the downfall of longtime ruler
President Robert Mugabe.
He
repeated government allegations businesses deliberately raised prices to
create runaway inflation in a political and economic campaign government
opponents hoped would lead to regime change.
Official inflation is
running at 4,500 percent, the highest in the world,
though independent
financial institutions estimate real inflation is closer
to 9,000
percent.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change described the
price cuts as a
political gimmick to shore up support for Mugabe's
party.
The Times
July 14, 2007
Jan Raath in Harare
Zimbabwe's descent into chaos
gathered pace yesterday as many shops ran out
of food and thousands of
workers were left stranded when bus drivers were
arrested for allegedly
overcharging.
State-imposed price controls that force retailers to sell
goods for a
fraction of their value have left supermarket shelves bereft of
groceries.
The crisis deepened when the Government closed all private
abbatoirs in an
attempt to take control of the supply of meat. By yesterday
meat products
had vanished from sale around the country after the Government
cancelled the
licences of the private slaughterhouses because they had
stopped delivering
meat they had been ordered to sell at half
price.
Last night workers jostled at bus stops to squeeze into open
trucks to
return home after police arrested more than 100 drivers who
refused to cut
fares. The drivers claim that they cannot afford to buy
petrol, which is
mainly acquired on the black market because state-regulated
petrol stations
have run out of supplies.
Wide-ranging price controls
were imposed by President Mugabe two weeks ago
in an attempt to control
Zimbabwe's hyperinflation, which now exceeds 4,500
per cent. The controls,
which have been rigorously enforced, have resulted
in the arrest of more
than 2,000 businessmen, including executives from the
country's biggest
retailers, for refusing to cut their prices. The
executives also stand
accused of conspiring to bring down the Government in
cohorts with the
United States and Britain.
The Government's intervention has exacerbated an
already acute shortage of
essential goods. Many basic commodities that have
disappeared from
supermarket shelves have reappeared in street markets, even
more expensive
than they were before.
The Government has also banned
the commercial import of groceries without a
permit from the end of the
month. The move will end business for thousands
of informal traders who
flock to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana for
cheap goods for resale
in Zimbabwe.
Mr Mugabe says that the clamp-down is to restore the
people's right to an
affordable cost of living. But on Thursday it was men
in smart suits and
women with expensive hairstyles who had to be controlled
by riot police when
they stormed Makro, a discount store. "It was like a
plague of locusts,"
said an onlooker. "They grabbed everything they
could."
Inside they loaded trolleys with goods, like fashionable shoes
cut to about
25p, and television sets for £12, which they loaded into their
4X4s
abandoned in the road outside Makro in their rush to beat the
queue.
Thomson Marwire, who sells cell-phone cards on the street, said
that he had
not joined the rush. "I have no money," he said.
"This is
not going to last," said one company executive. "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."
Decline and fall
500,000 Zimbabwe's estimated agricultural
production this year in tonnes
44% Decrease in last year's production
levels 4m Zimbabweans expected to go
hungry next year
£196m Value of
cereal exported by Zimbabwe ten years ago
Source: United Nations Regional
InterAgency Coordination and Support Office
africasia.com
HARARE, July 14 (AFP)
Zimbabwe's central bank chief has urged the
government, business and labour
to reconvene talks to come up with a
solution over the recent crackdown on
prices by authorities, reports said
Saturday.
"It's not too late for us to go back to the framework of
understanding, a
framework of tolerance, a framework of accountability to
one another as
espoused in the Protocol on Pricing and Incomes
Stabilisation," the
state-run Herald quoted central bank governor Gideon
Gono as saying.
On June 1, government, business and labour signed three
protocols on pricing
and incomes stabilisation, productivity enhancement and
foreign currency
mobilisation, but these are yet to be implemented with the
three parties
counter-accusing each other of reneging on the commitments
made.
"There is need to reconvene soonest, take stock of what has
happened and as
partners, recommit ourselves to it by observing and
following the elements
of the protocols signed with each partner being in
full control of their
constituency," he said.
Supermarkets are
running empty, scores of commuter buses have been impounded
and more than
2,700 bosses arrested in the past fortnight since the
government deployed
inspectors to ensure compliance with an order to slash
prices.
Launching the crackdown, Industry Minister Obert Mpofu
accused some firms of
profiteering and colluding with President Robert
Mugabe's foes in the west
to plot his downfall by igniting popular revolts
by hungry Zimbabweans.
But Gono, said retailers and manufacturers must
learn that "no business can
ever thrive and make profit in an environment of
antagonism with
government," adding that "no government can hope to fulfil
the aspirations
of its citzens... in an environment of serious conflict such
it has with the
business community."
He added that when government
and business are fighting, it is the worker
who suffers.
New Vision
(Kampala)
EDITORIAL
13 July 2007
Posted to the web 13 July
2007
Kampala
President Robert Mugabe has unleashed thousands of
policemen on the business
community to enforce price controls. Desperate to
contain rising inflation,
the highest in the world at 4,500%, Mugabe ordered
a freeze on prices of
bread, milk, cooking oil and other consumer
items.
This is ridiculous because every nation has gone for
market-economy, and
Mugabe is unable to provide incentives to producers and
businesses. Already
shops and food stores are empty and there is no ray of
hope for supplies.
Zimbabwe has more problems.
There is no
respect for human rights and freedom of expression. Newspapers
critical of
the government, such as The Daily News, were forced to close in
violent
circumstances. The BBC and CNN have also been banned from filming or
reporting from Zimbabwe. And the public broadcaster (ZBC) is used as a state
propaganda tool.
The problems started with Zimbabwe's involvement in
the DRC war
(1998-2002)which drained the treasury. Mugabe had no justifiable
cause to
intervene given that Zimbabwe does not share a border with the
DRC.
And land reform is not a problem per se, but Mugabe's wish to cling
to
power. Otherwise why has South Africa, with similar land problems, not
collapsed economically?
Unlike South Africa, Mugabe rushed land
reforms because he had no other way
to win elections, having lost popularity
tremendously.
Still, elections have become a joke, and the latest one in
2002 was
characterised by vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud.
Yet
Mugabe is currently trying to amend the constitution in an attempt to
bypass
the 2008 scheduled elections and stay in power until
2010.
Zimbabweans are angry, hungry and in desperate need of help. May
the African
brothers and sisters help.
Taipei Times
Editorial
Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
With Minister of Foreign
Affairs James Huang (???) and Vice President
Annette Lu (???) taking
simultaneous trips to Africa and Central America to
consolidate ties with
the nation's allies, one might have expected no
shortage of faux pas for
critics to seize on -- and rhetoric-by-numbers that
would make even
supporters wince.
Yet the trips have proceeded smoothly. Instead, this
week it was the Holy
See, Taiwan's sole European ally, that continued to
provide lessons in
anti-diplomacy by sending hostile signals to its own
rivals: moderate
Catholics, Muslims, Jews and, thanks to Pope Benedict's
most recent
broadside, Protestants and Orthodox Christians.
For all
of its platitudes on peace, the Vatican is in a fighting mood. Such
a shame,
then, that it could not be more aggressive in combating genuine
tyranny. One
would have thought that failing states and dictators -- such as
Zimbabwe and
President Robert Mugabe -- might be more deserving of a papal
campaign than
the devout on the other side of the fence.
Apparently
not.
Zimbabwe, a former economic success story, is close to collapse now
that the
government has sunk to the point of arresting shopowners who heed
inflation.
A lot of innocent lives are on the line. But few governments seem
to be
taking the situation seriously to the extent that they would
act.
Among others, South African President Thabo Mbeki deserves contempt
for
giving years of solace to a sociopath who has torn his country apart.
South
Africa, for one, may yet rue the consequences of this moral outrage
and
tactical stupidity.
Indeed, the Zimbabwe debacle teaches us a
number of lessons about this part
of Africa. Perhaps the most fundamental is
that obvious omens for the
ruination of a country -- co-opting of the courts
by the government, an
unhinged military and police force, xenophobic
economic policy, rigged
elections -- can stare neighboring countries in the
face for years with nary
a complaint. Evicting whites from farms and other
locations seemed at the
time to be a political tactic to appeal to the
moronic element and even to
other governments; in retrospect, it seems to
have been the only tactic
available to a man who would prefer destroying his
country to relinquishing
power.
Second, Zimbabwe is another example
of just how fanciful the idea of a
United States of Africa is -- with or
without the likes of Libyan leader
Muammar Qaddafi at the helm.
Third
is the culpability of the UN. This organization continues to shield
tyrants
such as Mugabe from meaningful pressure because of the pervasive
influence
of despotic regimes -- in this case, the presence of a primary
Mugabe
benefactor, China, on the UN Security Council. Only a few years ago
we heard
top UN officials sighing that more should have been done in Rwanda
to save
the lives of the victims of genocide. But those people's successors
in
today's UN bureaucracy are silent on Zimbabwe as it prepares to commit
suicide.
Yet there is one courageous Catholic, Archbishop Pius Ncube,
who has shown
himself to have the stuff of heroes -- unlike his religious
masters and most
of the rest of the world's governments -- by putting his
life on the line in
calling for international intervention to remove Mugabe
and his thugs from
power.
If Taiwan can learn anything from this
disgraceful saga and from such
people, it is that commitment and honor offer
hope and inspiration in the
shadow of the worst oppression. Faced with
violence and terror, the good,
wise man speaks the truth and speaks firmly,
while carefully preparing for
the consequences.
From ZimbabweJournalists (UK), 13 July
By Nyasha Nyakunu
Harare - A photojournalist with
the independent Standard newspaper, Boldwin
Hungwe, was arrested by the
police Thursday while taking pictures as people
scrambled for goods at the
South African-owned Makro shop after an invasion
by the crack price control
police team. The Editor of the newspaper, Davison
Maruziva, told
MISA-Zimbabwe that Hungwe was arrested at the shop in the
afternoon while on
duty. Hungwe was arrested by two police officers who
seized his camera.
Maruziva informed MISA-Zimbabwe that the police were
incensed by the taking
of photos as they battled to contain a scramble at
the shop resulting in
police dogs being unleashed on prospective customers.
Tens of people were
injured in the process including soldiers and police
officers who had a
separate queue to buy goods from that of the general
public. Maruziva
informed MISA-Zimbabwe that he rushed to Makro and tried to
negotiate the
release of Hungwe without success. Hungwe was eventually taken
and detained
at the Harare Central Police Station for an hour before being
released on
the instructions of the Police Spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka.
His camera was
returned back.
Monsters and Critics
Jul 14, 2007, 17:03 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe claimed
Saturday US Ambassador Christopher Dell left the
country a disappointed man
because controversial leader Robert Mugabe had
not been ousted.
Dell
refused to talk to reporters as he left Zimbabwe at the end of a
three-year
tour of duty, state radio, which is closely controlled by the
Zimbabwe
government, claimed.
The radio said Dell had come to the southern African
nation as a man on a
mission to overthrow the Mugabe regime, in power in
Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980.
But three years down the line,
the 83-year-old president is still in place.
During his Zimbabwe posting,
Dell was an outspoken critic of alleged rights
abuses by Mugabe and his
ruling ZANU-PF party, earning himself the wrath of
the authorities and the
respect of local opposition parties and civic
groups.
Mugabe once
famously told Dell to go to hell.
The US envoy left Zimbabwe without
bidding the Zimbabwe president an
official farewell.
Dell recently
predicted that Zimbabwe's ballooning inflation rate would
reach 1.5 million
per cent and that Mugabe could be ousted within six
months.
© 2007
dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
The Zimbabwean
(14-07-07)
By Silas
Nkala
Many people in Zimbabwe now resorting to keeping their money in form of
forex in efforts to protect it from being eroded by the have been ever
running away inflation.
A snap survey done by this paper in Bulawayo
established that many people
here have been converting their cash into
either Botswana pulas or South
African rands in order to protect it from
losing value owing to the ever
escalating costs of goods and services. The
prices of goods and services
have been escalating to unaffordable levels
while workers salaries remained
stagnat for quite a long time, a situation
that has led many people in the
country surviving from hand to
mouth.However, many people said they are
nolonger keeping their money in the
banks as they fear that it will lose
value before they use it.
"I have
withdran all my money from the bank and converted it into rands so
that it
remains valuable. The situation has been so bad that keeping money
in local
currency mayresult to it failing to buy anything with itas it loses
value
any time" said Monica Phiri of Mzilikazi in Bulawayo.
Some burial societies
also echoed the same sentments as members said they
have also closed thewir
accounts with the banks owing to the crisis, as what
they could offer to
bereved members could not even accomplish quarter of the
burial
costs.
"We have closed our account with the Intermarket Bank after noticing
that
our money could be eroded by inflation while at the bank as prices og
goods
were keeping on escalating. So far our members are contributing in
form of
rands" said Sithu Dube a burial society treasurer in Pumula South
Bulawayo.
Illega foriegn currency dealers are currently faced by a bleak
future in
their business considering that their major deals were for the
rands, as
revelations here indicate that many people now have rands at their
disposal
and can also deal in rands as well.
A currency dealer, Mrs
Gumede said their business looks bleak this time due
to much availability of
rands in the black market and in individuals.
"Our competition is now very
stiff as many people have rands with them and
can deal in them from their
residence. As i speak i have a lot of rands with
me but no where to change
them. i do not even have the local money to feed
my children" said Mrs
Gumede.
For the past two months the rand has been skyrocketing to very
unaffordle
level against the local dollar, and had reached $ 2 million mark
for hundred
rands by the end of June. But due to its large abandence and the
currenct
enforced prices slash, at the beginning of July it started tumbling
down and
at the time of goping to press it had reached $700 000 for a R100.
The
currency dealers attributed their stalled business to the ever
escalating
costs and the much availability of the rand in the black markert
and
individuals, as people are saisd to be favouring keeping their money in
rands for security reasons.
Zimbabwean governemnt recently appointed an
incomes and pricing commission
that is entittle to monitor the prices and
workers incomes nation wide. The
Minister of Idustry and International trade
Mr Obert Mpofu chairs the task
force on prices and incomes
stabilisation.
Economic analysts here said governemnt shopuld have considered
that most
companies get foriegn currency from the black market as the banks
dont have
the currency.
"This alone puts the governemnt's ideal of prices
slashing out if the
production and supply of goods has to be maintained.
Definately this has led
to many companies to be out of business as they can
not afford operational
costs through the slashed prices. In this case it has
resultd to rampant
shortages especially of the basic goods hence that means
the suffering of
the innocent people on the streets. There is a rampant
shortage of goods in
Bulawayo prompting people to spend most of their time
on queues to buy the
scarce goods. So far the governemnt through its police
force and national
youth brigade has pounced on several shops to enforce the
prices slash
crippling the once has been normal businness although the good
were
expensive.
President Mugabe recently threatened companies that are
defient to his
orders that their companies will be taken if the continue to
defy the
directives, describing them as aimed at discrediting his government
is
support of the western countries.
SABC
July 14, 2007,
11:00
Vic van Vuuren, the Business Unity South Africa chief executive
officer,
says most small South African businesses have pulled out of
Zimbabwe and
large companies are now also heading out.
Van Vuuren
says foreign direct investors are also very reluctant to move
their
businesses into Zimbabwe. However, Van Vuuren says there is an urgent
need
to establish meaningful dialogue between Government and business.
Van
Vuuren said: "One small positive sign has been the Zimbabwe Chamber of
Commerce being able to get together and make a proposal to Government. What
we have done from South Africa is we have engaged our government to say look
we would like to send a high power delegation across to Zimbabwe.
"We
would like to go engage and to see what suggestion and proposals we can
come
up with in some form of compromise position."
SW
Radio Africa (London)
13 July 2007
Posted to the web 13 July
2007
Violet Gonda
17 political detainees who have been in
remand prison since the 26th of
March have still not received a trial date
from the state. Most of them are
in custody on charges of receiving
insurgency training in South Africa. The
detained, who include Glen View
Member of Parliament Paul Madzore, were
arrested shortly after the
government embarked on a vicious campaign against
the opposition four months
ago. The MDC says these are trumped up charges
and this is nothing more than
a ploy to cripple the opposition ahead of the
elections.
Defence
lawyer Alec Muchadehama said his clients are being treated like
bandits and
terrorists. He said: "There is no evidence to link the accused
persons, this
is why they are unable to be tried by the state and the state
is simply
forgetting them because they know that they are in custody and
they want
them to suffer like that in a sadistic way."
Rights groups and the
opposition have said the political detainees were
severely tortured whilst
in police custody. This resulted in one of the
accused, an MDC National
Executive Member, Morgan Komichi being hospitalised
in jail. Muchadehama
confirmed this saying: "He is still in hospital prison,
and today he was
unable to attend the remand proceeding because he is still
unwell." They
were further remanded in custody to 10 August.
Initially, 32 opposition
activists were arrested on terrorist charges. 15
people were released after
police dropped those charges due to lack of
evidence. They had spent more
than 60 days in police custody.
17 remain in custody facing various
allegations. They have been put into
categories in terms of how they are
going to be charged. Muchadehama said
Ishmael Kauzani is facing allegations
of petrol bombing places in and
outside Harare. Komichi and Dennis Murira
are facing allegations of
recruiting and training terrorists, bandits and
saboteurs. Phillip Katsande,
Shame Wakatama, Phillip Mabika and 11 others,
who include MP Paul Madzore,
are facing allegations of having undergone
military training for purposes of
terrorism, banditry and insurgency in
South Africa.
The MDC activists totally deny these charges and are
challenging the police
to prove these allegations in court. The lawyer said:
"And this is what the
police have been failing to do since the time that
they unlawfully arrested
these accused persons."
Meanwhile, the
defence team is still waiting for the ruling on a bail
application appeal
made to the High Court. Muchadehama said his clients are
very anxious. "They
actually ask us what is happening, so we tell them that
we are applying for
bail, we are asking for a trial date from the state, and
so on. But, you
see, that is not good enough for a person who is in
custody."
Police
refuse to comment.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 July 2007
Posted to the web
14 July 2007
Harare
CEMENT has disappeared from the formal market
since the launch of the
operation to reduce prices, but one of the country's
manufacturers, Circle
Cement, says it is producing up to 600 tonnes a
day.
On Thursday, the taskforce on price monitoring and stabilisation
visited
Circle Cement's factory in Manresa to seek an explanation from
company
officials.
The officials argued that the company was
producing more than enough for the
country but were equally worried that
people were not coming to buy the
cement.
They said they had 1 200
tonnes of uncollected cement in their silos.
Chairperson for the
taskforce Senior Assistant Commissioner Bothwell
Mugariri said they would
leave no stone unturned until they established
where the product was
going.
"We are moving to the manufacturers to establish how they are
operating. As
the taskforce mandated to analyse the situation and help bring
back sanity
to the economy, we are keen to understand all the industrial
processes for
us to grasp where things are going wrong and provide
solutions," he said.
He added that the taskforce was not a barbaric
entity but was taking a
professional approach and consulting experts in
various areas.
Snr Asst Comm Mugariri said the taskforce picked on Circle
Cement as it was
one of the key players in the development of the
construction sector, which
was facing problems of unavailability of
cement.
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
14 July 2007
Posted to the web
14 July 2007
Bulawayo
THE Cold Storage Company has begun supplying
butcheries with meat after the
Government cancelled the licences of all
private abattoirs.
Our Bulawayo Bureau visited the CSC headquarters
yesterday and found
butchers buying meat, which has been in short supply in
most parts of the
country of late.
CSC now has the sole
responsibility of buying and slaughtering livestock
after the Government
revoked licences of all private abattoirs for failing
to provide services to
the public after they deliberately stopped
slaughtering livestock in protest
against its directive to reduce prices.
In an interview, CSC chief
executive officer Mr Ngoni Chinogaramombe said
the selling of meat began in
earnest yesterday at about 7am although sales
were expected to improve next
week.
"The sales are still picking up because we are in a changeover
process. We
intend to cover more shops throughout the country by Wednesday
next week,"
he said.
"We opened to the public today and it's going on
well. Everything is
progressing smoothly with butchers getting their
requirements."
Mr Chinogaramombe said they were selling varying
quantities depending on the
size of the butchery.
For a start, the
parastatal slaughtered 100 cattle and is selling a
kilogramme of beef at
between $85 000 and $95 000.
The Government set the price of beef at $90
000 per kg depending on the
quality.
However, at full capacity, the
CSC can slaughter up to 800 cattle per day.
The company also runs Meat
Pride Butcheries, which sell meat.
Mr Chinogaramombe said the cattle were
sourced from communal and commercial
farmers.
Butchers expressed
concern over meat allocation, saying it was not enough to
meet demand. A
butcher who requested anonymity said CSC should increase the
number of
beasts slaughtered per day from 100 to 500.
"We appreciate that we have
resumed business, but we need more meat so that
we meet demand," said the
businessman.
Another butcher urged the CSC to speed up the sale of meat
to allow them to
supply consumers on time.
"We have been queuing
since 7am and it's now 10am but we haven't received
anything. That
negatively affects business because of time lost," he said.
In Harare, a
few supermarkets had meat, but a large number of retailers and
butcheries
did not have.
An official at Marondera CSC abattoir said they were
slaughtering cattle at
a low scale for both local and export
markets.
"We do not have meat at the moment, but expect something on
Monday from our
abattoirs in Marondera and Chinhoyi," a worker at CSC Harare
said.
Private abattoirs whose licences were cancelled on Tuesday have
started
reapplying.
In an interview yesterday, chairman of the
Cabinet Taskforce of on Price
Monitoring and Stabilisation Cde Obert Mpofu,
who is also the Minister of
Industry and International Trade, said numerous
applications had been
forwarded to the taskforce for scrutiny.
"We
have received several applications from abattoirs but private abattoirs
are
not a priority at the moment. We are focusing on capacitating the Cold
Storage Company," Cde Mpofu said.
All communal, A1, A2 and commercial
farmers are required to sell their
livestock to the CSC.
Cde Mpofu
urged producers to continue supplying CSC with livestock.
"We want all
producers of livestock to continue supplying the CSC so that we
eradicate
the artificial shortages of meat being experienced on the market,"
he said.
-- Bulawayo Bureau-Herald Reporters.
tvnz, New Zealand
Jul 14,
2007
A Zimbabwe freedom fighter turned High Court judge is now a humble
refugee
in New Zealand after he fled his homeland.
Benjamin Paradza
is one of Zimbabwe's most wanted men after falling out with
President Robert
Mugabe.
Trained as a lawyer, Paradza fought in Zimbabwe's war of
independence
alongside Mugabe.
"Robert Mugabe loves power, he is
addicted to power," he says.
Mugabe made him an offer he could not refuse
- a place on the High Court
bench. But Paradza's legal rulings made him
deeply unpopular.
"It was up to me as a judge to tell the government that
what you are doing
is illegal," says Paradza.
"They were hoping I
would decide for them (fall into line). But then when I
made decisions they
didn't like it made them extremely angry. That is why I,
in particular, was
targeted".
Trouble came when the government started throwing White
farmers off their
land. Most of Paradza's clients were White.
"I saw
no colour in people, I just looked at people as people," he says.
Judges
were offered confiscated farms if they turned a blind eye. Paradza
says if
he wanted a farm he could have easily got one, but he was not that
sort of
person.
"I just wanted to deal with people who were seeking justice and I
delivered
justice fair and square," he says.
Paradza's stance put his
life in immediate danger and his supporters
smuggled him out of the
country.
He eventually found himself in New Zealand as a refugee. His
wife, who used
to be a banker, works as a cleaner to help support their
three children.
Paradza is now a student at Victoria
University.
As he watches his country disintegrate from afar through
Mugabe's regime of
land confiscations, destruction and displacement of
opposition communities
and recent attacks on business, Paradza holds grave
fears for next year's
elections.
"They (the opposition) will be
killed. They will be eliminated".
IMPORTANT: FREE HELP, OPPORTUNITY FOR THE FARMING COMMUNITY
Living with
Hope
Farmers and their families are invited to a day entitled 'Living
with
Hope'.
This will take place on Saturday 21st July from 9am to
4pm at the Dominican
Convent Harare. Entry via Selous gate.
Father
Robert Igo who is a trained psychologist and therapist as well as
being a
Benedictine Monk and Abbot at Christ the Word Monastery at Monte
Casino
Mission will facilitate this. He has agreed to a initial day and we
hope
that the process can be extended to roughly monthly meetings.
This day is
aimed at assisting us in dealing with trauma, stress and also
looking
positively forward.
There is no charge for the day but teas and rolls
will be offered for
reasonable cost.
Please register with
JAG.
Telephone Nos: 799410, 730507 or email: jag@mango.zw or
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw