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Zimbabwe to compensate foreigners for
land
New Zealand Herald
1.25pm Thursday June 22, 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe will pay
compensation in foreign currency for land seized
from foreigners, but the
land owners could still challenge the seizures in
court, a cabinet minister
has said.
Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over
thousands of
white-owned commercial farms after backing often violent
invasions led by
veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white
rule.
The government last August passed laws that nationalised all such
farms,
barring farmers from challenging the seizure of their property in
courts.
Many economists and critics say the programme has ruined a
once-thriving
agricultural sector.
Some of the confiscated land
belonged to foreign countries despite being
protected under bilateral
agreements.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who heads land reform and
resettlement,
said those with farms covered by such deals would receive full
compensation
and have the right to contest the seizures in
court.
"Mutasa assured diplomats in Harare that the farms are not
acquired in
accordance with the recent Amendment 17 of 2005 as the farmers
will be
allowed to contest the acquisition in court unlike other farmers in
the
country," state television reported.
"In those unavoidable cases
where land has to be acquired, compensation has
to be paid in full and in
the currency of the owner's choice for both land
and improvements," it
quoted Mutasa as saying.
Mugabe's government has vowed not to pay white
farmers compensation for the
land but only for improvements, arguing that
former colonial power Britain
should pay for the land.
According to
state television, the issue of farms covered by bilateral
agreements has
been a contentious one, forcing the government to set up a
committee to look
into foreign land holdings.
Mugabe defends the the land reforms as
necessary to redress colonial
policies that put 70 per cent of the most
fertile land in the hands of a few
white farmers and accuses the West of
sabotaging the economy to punish him
for the land seizures.
-
REUTERS
Can Zimbabwe survive a sudden exit by President Mugabe?
June 22,
2006
By ANDnetwork
.com
AND Africa - Many a political analyst have predicted doom
should the
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe make a sudden exit, either
through death
or ill health. Some have predicted that there would be chaos
and a free for
all gung ho kind of situation. Others have argued the
possibility of a civil
war should President Mugabe's exit not be properly
managed.
Todd Moss & Steward Patrick, in their trilogy
contribution to The
Zimbabwean argue that the abrupt demise of the Mugabe
regime could trigger
serious disorder. They further suggest that the
possibility of this means
that the international community, probably led by
South Africa, should make
contingency plans for temporary military
intervention to ensure physical
safety and public order if necessary. For
anyone who has been following the
Zimbabwe situation and have reported and
visited Zimbabwe, this kind of
scenario is highly unlikely. As much as Zanu
PF is at its most divided state
because of the succession debate, the person
who is likely to take over in a
transition period is no kid
gloves.
Though there are two Vice Presidents in Zimbabwe at the
moment, Joyce
Mujuru, the first female Vice President in Africa is the most
favourable and
practical candidate to take over ahead of the ailing Joseph
Musika.
According to the Zimbabwe constitution Section 31 under the
Executive
summary, the Vice whenever the office of President is vacant or
the
President is absent from Zimbabwe or is unable to perform the functions
of
his office by reason of illness or any other cause, his functions shall
be
assumed and performed by the Vice President whom the President has
designated for such an eventuality.
So in this case, it means
by law, President Mugabe could have already
chosen his successor should
anything happen to him. We have seen the
ascension of VP Mujuru, a wife of a
very powerful former Army General,
Solomon Mujuru. Many have said Mujuru's
husband is known as the King maker
within the echelons of power in the
ruling Zanu PF. This can be seen in the
context of the events of 2004 where
6 out of 10 Zanu PF provinces had chosen
to back another candidate, only for
Joyce Mujuru to emerge and eventually
take over the Vice Presidency in the
last hours.
Although there was a fall-out with other Zanu PF
bigwigs on this
issue, the party remained intact with those opposing the
decision either
being singled out and fired or suspended. However, according
to the
constitution, the Vice President will have to organise and election
within
three months to choose a new President. The point of reference in
question
is whether Zimbabwe can survive the three months following the
sudden exit
of Mugabe. If there is such an eventuality, Mujuru who seems a
favourable
figure to negotiate with will take over.
Mujuru has
earned her stripes, having at one time occupied the
powerful post of Defence
Minister after the death of the incumbent, Moven
Mahachi in a car accident.
She was the youngest cabinet minister at the age
of 25 when Zimbabwe
attained independence in 1980 and she has been in
government ever since.
With the opposition pushing for dialogue, it will be
easier to negotiate
with her as she has never shown any signs of a person
trying to go it
alone.
The current problems being faced by Zimbabweans in trying to
bring
some normalcy to the country is that there is so much negative energy
created around President Mugabe's name. It is a foregone conclusion that any
future settlement seems to be pointing to President Mugabe's exit. As much
as he is part of any future settlement, a clear exit plan seems to be tow
line in many quarters. This is because the brand created around the name
'Mugabe' is no longer investor friendly.
Over the last year, we
have seen the international community trying to
find ways to bi-pass him and
talk to his colleagues. There is fertile ground
for a future acceptance by
the international community and investors of
anyone within Zanu PF other
than Mugabe. This means Joyce Mujuru's future
position in a transitional
power is already guaranteed. She has remained
quiet on international
diplomacy and has not been directly tainted by the
policies like the
Operation Clean out Trash which left thousands of
Zimbabweans homeless. The
operation was personified by President Mugabe
himself.
There
has also been talk of a possible army coup after Mugabe's sudden
departure
but again as former Defence Chief, it will be easy for Joyce
Mujuru to
assume the role of Commander in Chief. There is also talk that her
husband,
a former general and army commander himself is still very powerful
in army
circles, it will be impossible for his former subordinates to plot a
coup.
The last issue of civil war has already been overplayed. At the
formation of
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, there was much
talk of them
launching a guerrilla struggle to dislodge Mugabe.
The opposition
has in most cases refuted these claims and furthermore,
launching a
guerrilla attack after Mugabe's exit will be ill-informed and
illogically.
Chances of such a scenario have come and gone. History also
dictates that it
is highly impossible to launch a guerrilla attack in
Zimbabwe because of a
strict code within the Southern African community
which does not support
such an occurrence.
Most political parties in power in southern
African countries are
known allies of the Zanu PF regime because of the
historical importance of
the party personified by the Zimbabwe government to
help any country
attacked. These scenarios have played themselves out in
Mozambique, Angola
and the DRC. Finally, after the break-up of the
opposition, the
international community and interested parties seemed to
have resigned
themselves to dealing with a reformed Zanu PF other than
opposition parties
built on shaky foundations. If Mugabe was to go today,
the mood is set for
Vice President Mujuru to oversee a peaceful
transition.
by Peter Moyo AND Africa
Zimbabwe crisis takes centre stage at
ACP-EU parliamentary forum
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Lance Guma
LONDON -
THE crisis in Zimbabwe dominated proceedings at the 11th
African Caribbean
Pacific- European Union (ACPU-EU) joint parliamentary
assembly held in the
Austrian capital, Vienna this week. Several delegates
raised issues
concerning Zimbabwe in what analysts conclude is the
re-emergence of the
country on the international agenda.
The role of China in propping
up rogue states also came under the
spotlight with suggestions that Europe
should pressurise the Chinese
government to refrain from doing so. Specific
mention of the Chinese
involvement in Zimbabwe was raised as an example
during the meetings. The
Chinese recently signed a US$1,3 billion dollar
energy deal with the
Zimbabwe government to set up power plants, in exchange
for minerals still
underground.
Speaking to Newsreel from
Vienna, MDC spokesman and Kuwadzana MP
Nelson Chamisa said of concern to
some of the legislators who attended the
meeting was why countries like
Zimbabwe were harbouring fugitives like
Mengistu Haille Mariam.
The former Ethiopian dictator is wanted back in his home country for
crimes
against humanity. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor's arrest
and
extradition was used as an example of how the continent should be
treating
human rights violators. Chamisa says Zimbabwe kept popping up in
various
discussions.
Of the countries initially listed as hotspots, Sudan
and Zimbabwe
remained unchanged while Togo and Mauritania reported
improvements in their
human rights conditions.
Chamisa also
said the European Commissioner on Humanitarian Assistance
and Aid, Louis
Michel, was quizzed on why he met Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa despite
the Zimbabwean minister being placed under travel
restrictions. Germany's EU
parliamentarian Michael Galla raised the issue
during a question and answer
session.
Michel responded by insisting the meeting had been at the
insistence
of Murerwa who argued they needed to discuss his governments
'turnaround'
strategy. Michel told the meeting he made it clear they were
not impressed
by Zimbabwe's arrogance and continued stubbornness in the face
of mounting
criticism over human rights abuses.
SW
Radioafrica
Monitoring human rights? Get a
satellite
Christian Science Monitor
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Satellites can monitor volcanoes, map deforestation, and
help sell real estate. But can they document human-rights violations?
Yes, activists say.
Already, high-altitude images of Zimbabwe's destruction of
a settlement has increased pressure on the government to curb its abuses. Now,
human-rights groups are focusing on Darfur, Chad, and Burma. In eastern Burma,
for example, the government is accused of aggressively attacking an ethnic
minority.
Burma "is a black hole," says Jeremy Woodrum of the U.S.
Campaign for Burma. "Media and aid agencies can go into Darfur in Sudan, but
they can't get into eastern Burma; it's totally off limits."
Even in such closed countries, satellites can detect
military destruction, the movement of refugees, even their living conditions.
They may be able to show the scale of government rebuilding and whether some
groups are benefiting more than others.
The idea of using satellites has intrigued activists for
several years, notes Ariela Blätter, director of conflict prevention and
response for Amnesty International USA. Some organizations have used commercial
satellite images on rare occasions, she adds. "But this new, unimpeachable
technology has such a huge price tag" that the community has been slow to adopt
it.
A foundation grant and technical help from the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington could speed its use.
The effort has been underway since this past December, when the MacArthur
Foundation handed the AAAS a $110,000 check to help human rights groups use
commercial satellite images to document abuses.
The first results appeared May 31, when the AAAS and
Amnesty International released before-and-after photos of Porta Farm, a
settlement the Zimbabwean government destroyed last June.
The 16-year-old settlement had boasted schools, a
children's center, and a mosque, according to Amnesty International's Kolawole
Olaniyan. It was home to between 6,000 and 10,000 mostly poor Zimbabweans. The
new photos showed the entire settlement destroyed and abandoned. United Nations
monitors noted that during the demolition several people, including two
children, were killed. The government reportedly is trying to build new homes
for the more than 700,000 displaced nationwide by last June's operation, but aid
workers say the number of new houses is extremely small compared with the large
number of displaced Zimbabweans waiting for shelter, land, and jobs.
The satellite images, taken in June 2002 and again this
past April, offered key graphic evidence of what had happened. They "epitomize
the apex of a man-made disaster, and they can be of a phenomenal impact in
redressing such absurdities, now and in the future," noted Zimbabwe human-rights
attorney Otto Saki in a statement May 31. He and colleagues with the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights in Harare say the images could be valuable in a case
they are bringing against government officials accused of masterminding and
carrying out the operation.
In Burma (also called Myanmar), satellite images could also
help clinch the case that human rights groups have been building based on
refugee accounts, says Mr. Woodrum. His group hopes to present its images to
representatives of several countries that have relations with Burma. "They have
no idea" how serious the situation is, he says.
Last week, the satellite effort drew special mention in the
government-run Burmese press. It charged that the cofounder of Woodrum's group,
Burmese expatriate and former government prisoner Aung Din, is a "terrorist" in
his efforts to "fabricate [an] ethnic cleansing issue against [the] Myanmar
government."
So far, much of the AAAS's efforts have focused on
documenting past abuses, using archived images that a pair of companies are
making available for free, says Lars Bromley, with the science organization's
office of international initiatives. The ultimate goal is to develop an
early-warning capability that allows groups to focus the public eye on
relatively small-scale abuses before they become large-scale crises, he
adds.
In one case, groups in India have asked him to track the
construction of health care facilities there, he says. Statistical tests applied
to the data, Mr. Bromley says, can indicate the likelihood that government
officials are giving preference to certain classes or certain economic or ethnic
groups when they site new clinics.
Such efforts aren't cheap, he notes. The computer equipment
and software needed to process the images cost around $10,000 per workstation,
putting it out of reach of many human rights groups.
Still, several human-rights activists are enthusiastic
about the prospects for adding eyes on orbit to their expanding arsenal of
high-tech and low-tech tools.
Amid the newest "targets" for gathering orbital evidence:
eastern Chad. Amnesty International released a major report Tuesday on human
rights abuses in the conflict there and is collecting satellite photos to
bolster its case.
Copyright 2006, The Christian Science Monitor
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Backstory: In Zimbabwe, ragtag scouts vs. poachers
Christian Science Monitor
from the June 22, 2006 edition
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A WASTE:
Members of the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit
find a buffalo that, wounded by gunshot, had lived long enough to escape its
poachers but didn't survive.
JEFFREY
BARBEE/PULITZER CENTER ON CRISIS REPORTING
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On foot and with few resources, the Victoria Falls
Anti-Poaching Unit wields little but hope in its effort to save dwindling
wildlife.
By Stephanie Hanes | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
VICTORIA FALLS,
ZIMBABWE – We smell the buffalo before we see
him. When we find his massive body, it's clear he has been dead for some time.
Nobody has used his meat.
"It looks like the shooter was aiming for the heart, but he shot low and it
may have gotten the bottom of the lungs here," points out Charles Brightman,
coordinator of the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit. "That's why this buffalo's
been able to run so far, and then died later from its wounds. What a waste. It's
a nice old big bull, hey?"
What a waste. It's the story of Zimbabwe these days. Six years after
President Robert Mugabe encouraged the violent takeover of white-owned farmland,
the country is facing acute food shortages, massive emigration, increasing
political repression and more than 1,000 percent inflation. It is also facing
environmental devastation.
Poaching here, both commercial and subsistence, is on the rise. Around
Victoria Falls, once a top tourist destination, hungry locals are setting tens
of thousands of snares to catch protected animals. Poaching gangs with
high-caliber weapons are moving into the area. Bush-meat markets, where
entrepreneurs illegally sell meat from impala, buffalo, and elephant, are
sprouting in impoverished townships. Legal meat is too expensive.
The Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit is one small group of Zimbabweans -
black and white - trying to fight this environmentally deadly trend.
Here in Victoria Falls National Park, not far from the mile-long falls and
some of the fanciest safari lodges in the region, is where Mr. Brightman and the
unit's scouts found the buffalo. They'd tracked it from the dozens of vultures
overhead.
Brightman's rifle is cocked, and he gives one of his scouts a handgun.
Poaching has become a dangerous, high-stakes business in Zimbabwe.
In the past, the unit has discovered hidden butcheries where poachers skin
their catch and prepare meat for sale. The scouts have found dead rhinos with
their horns cut off - a telltale sign of an international poaching syndicate
that will make thousands of dollars selling horns as aphrodisiacs in Asia or as
dagger handles in Yemen.
Brightman turns to three other scouts, who've been guarding the carcass: "OK,
let's turn him over."
***
Seven years ago, when Brightman was working as a safari guide, he found
himself troubled by an increase in poaching here. When he discovered that the
park service had only 10 rangers to counter hundreds of poachers, he decided to
try to help. He came up with the idea of an independent antipoaching unit,
funded by local businesses and hotels, that would work with the park service. He
recruited scouts and convinced other players in the tourism industry to support
his efforts.
At first Brightman kept his safari company going. But as Zimbabwe's decline
continued, business slowed. Soon, he says, he realized that the anti-poaching
efforts were more important - if he succeeded in stopping, or reducing, the
killing, he'd always have a chance to restart his business. If he didn't
succeed, there'd be no business anyhow.
Today he has 13 scouts, two pairs of handcuffs, a collection of hand-held
radios, and an inoperable and battered 4x4 in his yard. With this, his unit
attempts to patrol 12,000 acres of bush around Victoria Falls. Though Brightman
often takes scouts around in his own 4x4, scouts often still have to walk to
their patrol points - a waste of time, and a problem when they find a poacher
deep in the bush, he says.
Brightman also tries to find alternative employment for subsistence poachers,
although now any job is hard to find.
So far, the group has removed more than 17,000 wire snares and has helped
authorities arrest more than 200 poachers.
"It's vital that we conserve these natural resources," Brightman says. "Not
only for our own heritage, but for tourism, too. Without visitors to Zimbabwe,
bringing in vital foreign currency, all these areas would lose their economic
value."
Pay is minimal. Because of inflation and because the unit is funded by local
hotels and businesses that are also suffering from the economic collapse, each
scout gets only about $25 a month. Brightman and his family are surviving on
dwindling savings.
Replacing equipment - whether boots or a Land Rover - is nearly impossible.
The value of the Zimbabwean dollar plummets by the day. Meanwhile, the hours are
long, the wildlife dangerous, and poachers decidedly unfriendly. One scout
needed 12 stitches after a poacher, who also happened to be a neighbor, slammed
a brick into his head. Still, Brightman says, there's a waiting list of men
eager to work for him.
"We find that most of the guys working are working on their own because they
want to help get rid of these poachers," says one scout, who asks that his name
not be used because he is afraid that Zimbabwean authorities will punish him for
talking to a foreign journalist.
***
Brightman is the first to grab onto a stiff buffalo leg. He has the tough but
relaxed gait of someone who has lived in southern Africa his whole life. His
face is boyish but weathered, the look Zimbabweans seem to get from working in
the sun and worrying about their country. The group pulls together, and the
animal rolls over. The flies crescendo into an angrier, louder cloud.
When they find a carcass, one scout tells me, they will set up an ambush and
wait for the poacher to return. They did this once on a Victoria Falls golf
course, where workers had found a snared impala. At night, two caddies came to
collect their meat, andthe anti-poaching unit pounced. They arrested the men,
who were fined.
Brightman pulls out his cellphone to call the park warden. Working with
government authorities is crucial for Brightman, even though many
conservationists allege that park officials themselves are involved in poaching.
If he gets on their bad side, they could easily shut down the unit.
He calls a number on his cellphone: "Hi, senior warden, how are you? I've got
a big buffalo bull and it looks like it's been shot with a heavy caliber through
the lungs ... it's not far from the safari lodge." He nods and hangs up.
"They're coming," he says.
After making his way out of the bush, through vines and thorns, keeping eyes
peeled for snakes and ill-tempered buffalos, Brightman sits in front of his
computer, showing slides of animals in various positions of death. These are
some of the other poached animals his unit has discovered. The buffalo will be
added to the list.
He leans back and sighs: "You know, if a gang of poachers that we arrest have
killed a buffalo and sold the meat in the communities illegally, they could make
millions of Zimbabwe dollars [$10 using the official exchange rate]. But for the
first offense, the fine is 250,000 Zimbabwe dollars.
"Of course," he adds, "it's meaningless to them. They're back in the
bush."
Still, he says, he and his scouts must keep working. "Zimbabwe," he says,
"she's a beautiful country."
• Travel for the reporter and photographer was funded by the Pulitzer
Center on Crisis Reporting (www.pulitzercenter.org). |
Torture - shocking stats
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - One in 10 Zimbabweans
need psychological help and one in 10 people
over the age of 30 in
Matabeleland is a survivor of torture. These shocking
statistics were
revealed this week by Amani Trust and ActionAid in the
lead-up to the June
26 UN international day in support of torture victims.
ActionAid, an NGO that
surveyed 824 people affected by Operation
Murambatsvina, found that 69% of
the victims were in need of clinical help
or psychological attention. The
group conservatively estimated that 820,000
people in Zimbabwe need
psychological assistance.
Rape, electrocution, severe beatings on the body
and the soles of the feet,
forced nakedness, witnessing the torture of
family members and friends and
mock executions are all part of a long list
of horrifying state-sanctioned
acts with which huge numbers of Zimbabweans
are all too familiar.
The implications are dire for Zimbabwean society as a
whole if the situation
is not dealt with immediately. According to a
spokesman from the Amani
Trust, Zimbabwe has a population that has been
exposed to "multiple traumas"
which, if untreated, will become "chronic
disorders".
The population of the country is estimated at 12 million, but at
least three
million, including most health professionals, live in
exile.
Tragically, the likelihood of any help for these people is
non-existent. "As
the government sanctions torture as a method of keeping
the population under
control and with the health sector having collapsed,
the hope of any of them
receiving the necessary treatment is out of the
question," said Amani.
The victims of Operation Murambatsvina are still
without shelter more than
12 months after bulldozers razed their homes to
the ground. Government has
refused NGOs permission to help them - even with
the basic necessities such
as food, clothing and medicines.
To add to
their misery, 85% are now unemployed. One in four are HIV
positive and have
no access to appropriate medication.
A number of Zimbabwean torture survivors
will share their experiences at a
service to be held at St
Martins-in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square, London at
5.30 pm on June
26.
One of them, Patson Muzuwa, who is also chairman of the Zimbabwe
Association, welcomed the service as a chance to "mourn what happened to us
in Zimbabwe, which we cannot say in public."
Muzuwa fled his homeland in
2001 after being severely tortured by the
police. He was electrocuted during
interrogation and severely beaten on the
ribs, arms and soles of his feet.
He sought asylum in Britain after being
beaten unconscious in his house in
front of his neighbours. He arrived at
the airport with stitches in his head
and two broken hands.
Since then he has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of
torture survivors,
speaking to the European Parliament in both 2003 and
2004. He will address
a closed meeting at the House of Lords on Monday.
Zimbabwe: a lesson in self destruction
The Zimbabwean
Craig J.
Richardson is associate professor of economics at Salem College,
USA. In
this first excerpt from an article for the American Enterprise
Institute, he
argues that the chaotic seizure of white-owned farms which
ended property
rights is the fundamental reason for Zimbabwe's spectacular
economic
collapse. Zimbabwe: a lesson in self-destruction, and a warning to
others
Over the past half decade. Zimbabwe has transformed from one of
Africa's
rare success stories into one of its worst economic and
humanitarian
disasters. Its destruction, like that of Nicaragua two decades
earlier,
offers important, cautionary lessons for other developing
countries. Since
2000 Zimbabwe has been in an economic tailspin. Reviewing
International
Monetary Fund reports, Zimbabwe simply appears to be a country
falling apart
under the collective weight of countless bad policies. But
how the country
lost 50 years of economic progress in only five years can be
traced to a
single policy: its fast track land reform programme, under which
the Mugabe
government, beginning in 2000, seized thousands of white-owned
commercial
farms. The other "inappropriate" policies adopted by the Mugabe
government
exacerbated the damage, but they were not the underlying cause. A
puzzle
remains: the farming sector was only 18 percent of the entire
economy. Other
sectors, such as banking, tourism, manufacturing, and mining,
also shrank
dramatically during this time, however. How, then, to explain
the
discrepancy? The damage done to property rights by the land reforms
caused a
series of ripple effects throughout Zimbabwe's other economic
sectors. The
destruction of Zimbabwe represents a grim "natural experiment"
that
illustrates the tremendous negative consequences of ignoring the rule
of law
and provides a cautionary lesson for other developing countries.
Unfortunately, the rebuilding of an economy after property rights have been
revoked is likely to be contentious and slow, akin to rebuilding trust in a
relationship after a serious betrayal. The case of Nicaragua with its
history of land expropriation under the Sandinistas, its resulting collapse,
and its long and difficult struggle toward recovery provide useful clues for
what a post-Mugabe future might hold. By the late 1990s, a broad consensus
had taken shape that land reforms in Zimbabwe were needed, and as late as
1998 the IMF predicted that the Zimbabwean government's land reform would
unfold in a fair and legal manner. However, the IMF - along with everyone
else who trusted the Mugabe government - was soon proven wrong. Beginning in
2000, Harare began seizing control of white-owned farmland, with no
compensation for its owners, and then redistributing it to political cronies
in the Zanu (PF)political party, rather than poor rural farmers. Land titles
were declared null and void, and all contracts and mortgages related to the
farmland were suddenly worthless. If the usual explanations for Zimbabwe's
implosion, such a drought or so-called 'sanctions' are insufficient, why do
the country's land reforms provide a better explanation? The argument here
is straightforward: the expropriation of land without compensation destroyed
property rights--the foundation of the economy--and led to a chain reaction,
which was exacerbated by additional actions of the Mugabe government.
Watching Zimbabwe's economic unravelling is chillingly reminiscent of
watching a building collapse in slow motion after a series of timed
explosions. The case study also reveals how the hidden yet fragile
architecture of capitalism can so quickly fall apart once its substructure
is substantially harmed. In 2000 the Zimbabwean Supreme Court declared the
fast track land reform unconstitutional. It was then, for the first time
that Mugabe openly ignored the rule of law. He replaced unfriendly judges
with cronies, securing his desired ruling in December 2001. Land titles and
private land ownership had become a thing of the past. Newly resettled
Zimbabweans were assigned plots of former commercial farmland but were
forced to lease it year to year from the government. With no means to borrow
against their land, the new farmers could not obtain loans. Moreover, their
knowledge of farming was often meagre. - Craig Richardson is the author of
The Collapse of Zimbabwe in the Wake of the 2000-2003 Land Reforms. (Edwin
Mellen Press, 2004) cjr@salem.edu www.aei.org
NEXT WEEK: In Part II Dr.
Richardson argues that South Africa and Namibia
should learn from the
Zimbabwe disaster.
Percentage of national economy in ZANU (PF)
hands
The Zimbabwean
GDP ZANU %of total
GDP
AGRICULTURE 15 80 12
INDUSTRY
18 20 3.6
MINING 8
15 1.2
TOURISM 5 25
1.25
SERVICE SECTOR 5 30 1.5
BANKING
6 25 1.5
GOVERNMEMENT 43 100 43
TOTALS 100 64.05
New global consensus gives hope
The Zimbabwean
BULAWAYO - The MDC
leadership has expressed hope concerning the emergence of
a new consensus
about Zimbabwe in the international community.
"This replaces the assumed
approach sculptured by Tony Blair at the G8
summit in mid 2005 when the G8
renewed its commitment to helping put the
Zimbabwe economy back on its feet
and its support for the approach proposed
by the South Africans. After the
Gleneagles summit, SA president Thabo Mbeki
has had a go at getting Mugabe
to step aside and allow reform and recovery
on three separate occasions and
on each occasion he was frustrated by the
local leadership," said a
political analyst.
"The MDC was never happy with the approach being adopted
for the resolution
of the crisis over the past year and is quite happy that
the Blair/Mbeki
approach has failed. In its place a much more principled and
robust approach
has now been crafted and seems to have suddenly gained
acceptance across the
globe," he said.
It is four years since US
President George Bush announced in Pretoria that
Mbeki was the "point man"
on the Zimbabwe crisis. It was a logical choice -
he had the power to coerce
the Zimbabwean leadership, and his own country
had just been through a
dramatic transition assisted by the global
community. Mbeki accepted the
role, but then tried to use his position to
secure an outcome that would
have left a so-called "sanitized Zanu PF
government" in power. The reasons
for this were purely domestic and had
little to do with what was best for
Zimbabwe.
"The country now lies in ruins. Mbeki has failed. But there are
hopeful
signs on the horizon," said the analyst. - Staff reporter
Embattled Mugabe steps up race-politics
The Zimbabwean
INSIZA -
President Robert Mugabe told a rally here at the weekend that
white people
in Zimbabwe are to be considered inferior to blacks but that
loyal white
farmers willing to cooperate with his government would not be
left
completely landless.
Mugabe, who has turned whites into a political scapegoat
as he struggles
with a severe political and economic crisis blamed on his
government, told a
predominantly peasant farming community in Matabeleland
South province that
Zimbabwean children should be taught that whites are
second or third class
citizens.
"Nguva yekunanzva varungu yakapera (Gone
are the days when we used to
bootlick the white man)," Mugabe told the timid
crowd. "We can't slave for
them, they should be our slaves. God gave us our
country. So we must not
lose that, it is a divine legacy."
He was
speaking during a perfunctory tour to assess progress on Maguta.
Having
thrown white farmers off their land, the military has taken over many
of the
farms in a move termed Operation Maguta. Military men have set up
camps on
the land of black farmers in Insiza and are ordering them to grow
maize to
avert widespread hunger. Teams of soldiers are forcing farmers to
plough up
other crops such as onions, tomatoes and potatoes without telling
them what
price they will be paid for compulsory acquisition of maize.
Mugabe promised
to end Zimbabwe's food shortages, provide jobs and end
foreign exchange
problems. He said he would do this by creating an
agricultural production
boom on former white-owned farms allocated to
264,000 black families. "The
land has finally come to its rightful owners,"
he told the crowd. "The soil
that we walk is ours - every grain is ours. The
white man is here as a
second citizen: you are number one."
Mugabe said the coming year would see
maximum government efforts to get
production going among 264,000 households
given land under his "fast track
reform programme" with distribution of seed
and chemicals. Farming experts
fear the near-bankrupt Mugabe government will
be unable to afford the
inputs.
A regional famine early warning unit
reports that up to 3.3 million need
food relief with 380,000 facing imminent
starvation. - CAJ News
Cyberspace blocked
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Interference with Internet
access could already be in place even
before the coming into law of the
controversial Interception of
Communications Bill, according to a statement
issued by one of Zimbabwe's
leading Internet service providers.
In a
statement issued Friday last week by MWEB, the interference has slowed
down
browsing speed and it is suspected "someone" is deliberately blocking
their
signal. The widely criticised Interception of Communications Bill
seeks to
monitor email and all electronic communication, including spying on
telephone conversations. Industry officials, human rights activists and
lawyers have criticised the Bill as seeking to encroach on civil liberties.
MWEB says "someone" has placed a powerful radio signal close their own
signal which is interfering with their link.
"We are doing the best we
can in somewhat limiting circumstances," MWEB says
in its statement in what
could be reference to the government's
determination to intercept electronic
communication in its continuing
efforts to stop information leaving the
country. Last year, the Zimbabwean
government attempted to force the
country's ISP's to spy on emails, a move
the ISP's resisted. These latest
reports come amid concerns that government
is also interfering with
short-wave radio broadcasts to Zimbabwe with
stations like Studio Seven and
SW Radio Africa laden with static. - MWEB
Forget Annan and Mbeki's kid-glove diplomacy
The Zimbabwean
BY
STANFORD MUKASA
'Mugabe may have offered Zimbabwe for sale to the Chinese as
a ploy to
attract western investments'
WASHINGTON - There appears to be a
new momentum, spearheaded by UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and South
African President Thabo Mbeki, to resolve the
Zimbabwean crisis. Despite
some denials, South Africa appears to be pushing
for a direct meeting
between Mbeki and Mugabe as well as with Annan.
The big question is: Why are
they trying to be more proactively engaged on
Zimbabwe now after so many
wasted years and when they are at the end of
their careers? Even Mugabe is
supposedly expected to retire in 2008.
Is this an attempt by Mbeki, in
particular, to redeem himself? When Mugabe
finally retires is Mbeki hoping
that the world will think he was
instrumental in pushing for Mugabe's
retirement?
Annan is to all intents and purposes a sitting duck, meaning that
not much
can be expected from his efforts since he is six months away from
retirement. Annan has not shown any active and robust efforts at pressuring
Mugabe.
In remarkable contrast, Annan has been very forceful in the
process that led
to former president of Liberia Charles Taylor being brought
to trial. He has
also played a frontline role in pushing for a solution in
the Darfur region
of Sudan.
Yet both men have always treated Mugabe with
kid gloves, even at the height
one of the world's worst humanitarian crises
- Operation Murambatsvina.
The report of the African Commission for People's
and Human rights
condemning human rights abuses in Zimbabwe has been treated
like a piece
trash by the leaders of the African Union. Efforts by the
United Nations
Human Rights Commission to condemn Mugabe were forcefully
blocked by African
countries led by South Africa.
Annan and Mbeki will
reportedly meet Mugabe on the sidelines of the African
Union summit in The
Gambia. Zimbabwe will not even be on the agenda for the
AU
summit.
Britain's inactivity can be largely explained by its economic
interests in
Zimbabwe. British Airways, for example, enjoys a profitable and
near
monopoly of the London to Harare route. As a matter of fact, it has
become
the most preferred airline for Mugabe's officials both in government
and
party.For Britain and the international community there is another turf
war
with the Chinese. In a replay of Cold War politics, there is growing
alarm
that China is increasing by leaps and bounds its investments in
Africa,
particularly inZimbabwe. If Africa were to fall under the influence
of the
Chinese the West fears that it may not have easy access to the
continent's
mineral and energy resources.
One way of containing the
rising Chinese influence in Africa is for the West
to make a counter offer
of hefty investments. Mugabe may well have
deliberately offered Zimbabwe for
sale to the Chinese as a ploy to attract
western investment.
The
opposition movement, especially the MDC, must not waver in its key and
non-
negotiable demands for free and fair elections supervised by the
international community, and held within a year.
Cry for freedom
The Zimbabwean
BY DANIEL MOLOKELE
This past
Saturday June 16, 2006 was celebrated as one of the most solemn
national
holidays in South Africa. The nation joined hands across all forms
of
divides, be it political, ethnic, class, race or creed and paid tribute
to
the class of June 16, 1976. This was the generation that said enough is
enough to the repressive minority Afrikaner regime in South Africa.
This
was the generation that refused to continue as silent unwilling
partners in
a national discourse that favoured their white counter parts
right from the
cradle to the grave.
In the final analysis, the very same generation decided
to die standing up
for their rights instead of living on bowing down to the
repressive laws of
apartheid. That chose to cry for their own freedom and
marched into the
dusty streets of Soweto chanting the revolutionary war cry;
'Amandla
ngawethu!' That preferred to sing their own song, a song that
demanded their
own freedom.
Today another generation lives in a different
country simply because they
decided to demand freedom.
I recently watched
the 1987 movie, 'Cry Freedom'. The story is inspiring,
but I was also
inspired by the fact that most of the movie's scenes were
shot in Zimbabwe.
I clearly identified some of the filming locations.
Specifically, I saw the
dilapidated block flats of Mbare, the streets of
Gweru and in particular,
the scene that was shot outside the Midlands Hotel.
As the memories of
Zimbabwe keep flowing back into my present set of
circumstances, I also
painfully remember that while the people of South
Africa are now free at
last, the same cannot be said of my own people.
Zimbabwe, which hosted almost
the entire shooting of the movie almost 20
years ago, is now a pale shadow
of the democracy it once aspired to be.
The same repressive monopolistic laws
that the apartheid regime relied upon
30 years ago are in place in Zimbabwe
today. Zimbabwe might be independent
but her people are still not free yet.
They are still bound - and by the
very same people who they once looked to
for freedom. The liberators of
yesteryear have become the oppressors of
today.
While the people of South Africa celebrate, I take time to think of my
people back home. I still cry for freedom. I am praying and hoping that one
day the people of Zimbabwe shall be free indeed. "Amandla nga wethu!
Mayibuye iZimbabwe entsha! Mayibuye!"
Wake up Britain - it's pay-back time
The Zimbabwean
Part I of a
three-part series in which PETI NYEMBA questions the extent of
Britain's
past responsibility in the evolution of Zimbabwe and its present
duty to its
former colony.
It is astonishing that Britain can stand innocently on the
side-lines and
watch a country and its people collapse into total
ruin.
We ex-citizens of Zimbabwe are viewed with indifference; hammering on
the
door of No. 10 Downing Street that stands firmly closed. The world is
doing
nothing about Zimbabwe simply because there is nothing of value left
in the
country and it is tired of stories about AIDs, famine, corruption and
violence.
How did this whole sorry mess evolve in Zimbabwe?
In 1884
England, France and Germany held The Congress of Berlin to discuss
how to
divide Africa between them. Not surprisingly, there were no African
representatives invited! France ended up with the biggest patch of land but
the English, largely thanks to the ruthless Cecil John Rhodes, eventually
captured a number of magnificent countries.
The greatest prize of all was
securing the Union of South Africa, where
Rhodes and his friends found some
of the world's largest deposits of gold
and diamonds. The pioneers drove the
stake of the Union Jack into South
African soil.
Rhodes was a man of
vision and soon turned his eyes northwards toward the
rich lands ruled by
Lobungula. A Charter Company was formed and in l890 the
Pioneer Column
marched through unknown territories to claim the country for
Britain.
Adventurers, miners, artisans and ambitious businessmen moved to
populate
the new country. Inevitably 'remittance men' arrived; 'British
black sheep'
sent by embarrassed titled families.
The good, the bad and
the ugly jostled down together. Their lifestyle was
reminiscent of early
days in the Wild West of America. In time the pioneer
look faded and little
Britain emerged; better roads were built, fine
buildings constructed and
eventually one of the finest and most efficient
civil services in the world
was established.
Soon a two-tier system was implemented; the whites were in
command and the
blacks, like children, were to be given health, education
and the continuity
of their tribal rule - provided they behaved themselves.
This system was
never discussed with the resident blacks; it was just
imposed with
everything neatly graded 'Blacks Only' and 'Whites
Only'.
Black tribes were moved from their traditional lands onto arid Tribal
Trust
Lands. They were bewildered; had they not helped the visiting whites
to find
the gold stones? It became apparent that the whites were determined
to stay;
there was nothing they could do about it. His Majesty Lobengula
died of a
broken heart.
The first Chimurenga (rebellion) began when
outspoken black leaders actively
stood against the imposed British way of
life. The Mashonaland Rebellion,
when many innocent whites were killed,
ended with the capture of the
ring-leader, Mbuya Nehanda.
Nehanda and
another leader, Kaguvi, were executed in Salisbury on 27 April
1898. Future
black leaders were beginning to rise up, one of them being
Robert
Mugabe.
Rumbles of discontent among the whites began in the 1950s and grew
louder in
the 1960s when their population rose to 269 000. Growing numbers
of liberal
whites stood up to challenge educated blacks.
Of course the
modern medical facilities ensured the survival of more rural
babies, mothers
and children. The school system was relatively nationwide,
but very often
distance prevented primary school children from attending and
enough senior
schools were built to offer a place to only 25% of those
Primary school
children! Deliberately planned or a financial constraint is a
question mark
- but it was a recipe for
disaster.
However a spark of hope was on the
horizon. Missionaries had arrived in the
country well before the Pioneer
Column and they had firmly established,
particularly in Matabeleland, the
doctrine of Jesus Christ who taught that
all men were equal. Alarm bells
rang in government offices as increasing
numbers of black secondary school
students slipped over the border in search
of tertiary education in places
like Fort Hare. Future Black leaders were on
their way. One of them was
called Robert Mugabe.
The rumbles of discontent commenced in the 1950s and
grew louder in the
1960s when the white population rose to 269 000, the
highest ever or 'was
ever to be in the future' as it happened. Growing
numbers of liberal whites
stood up on the side of educated blacks and were
isolated for it. - Next
week - the Second Chimurenga.
Unasked question: Who killed the fish?
The Zimbabwean
By a
Correspondent
HARARE - Were it not for the immense suffering of Zimbabweans,
the state
media's coverage of the economic crisis, including a new world
record of
1,193% inflation in May, would be laughable.
The Chronicle, in
an attack on Britain that was weird even by its distorted
standards,
criticised London for supporting humanitarian programmes with the
aim, the
paper said, of giving "a hungry person fish so they keep coming on
for more
instead of teaching them how to fish for themselves."
It did not, of course,
ask: "Who killed the fish?"
As usual, the regime's mouthpieces avoided
linking the economic downward
spiral to official mismanagement and
corruption, focussing instead on the
old canard of non-existent Western
sanctions and the new fig leaf - the
so-called economic revival programme.
It is the latest of many such revivals
all characterised by long sets of
initials - this one is NEDPP - and not
much else.
The state-run Sunday
Mail is so keen on NEDPP that it saw nothing to worry
about in an
acknowledgement by Economic Development Minister Rugare Gumbo
that the
authorities had raised just US$350 million (14%) of the targeted
US$2.5
billion in the three months since NEDPP's launch.
The Media Monitoring
Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), in its report covering June
5-11, highlighted other
examples of what it termed the state media's
"fixation with projecting NEDPP
as already working."
Spot FM and ZTV even described plans to grant Beitbridge
town status as part
of official efforts to fulfil "the objectives of NEDPP"
and "create a
favourable image of the country." The Herald wanted everyone
to rally behind
the programme and also - even more absurd given the
shortages of
commodities - to look for "affordable commodities or cheaper
substitutes."
Most of the state media buried the latest inflation news, while
The
Chronicle went one better and ignored it altogether. The monitors noted,
however, that the private media gave forthright coverage to the rapidly
deteriorating economy, and continued to blame it on the Mugabe regime's poor
policies.
The Zimbabwe Independent was particularly outspoken,
castigating the
authorities for criminalizing price increases when it was
the state itself
that had created the fertile ground for such
"illegality."
"Where would industry be without the forex black market," the
paper
declared. "Where did (reserve Bank Governor Giodeon) Gono get the
forex he
bought with the $46 trillion he printed last year? Is government
not the
chief distributor of fuel that finds its way onto the black market?
The
government raised the spectre of illegality. Now it must live with
it."
On international relations, MMPZ said the state media "continued to
gloss
over the country's pariah status and the international community's
efforts
to find a solution" by portraying Harare as generally having good
relations
with the rest of the world.
To bolster this slant, the
propagandists used sporadic business deals which
the regime allegedly signed
with companies in Asia or Africa as showing that
international concern over
Zimbabwe stemmed only from a British and US
agenda to remove Mugabe.
Fragments tell the story
The Zimbabwean
BY LITANY BIRD
Dear Family
and Friends,
Zimbabwe tells a very strange story to the casual passer by. We
are a
country so full of contradictions and extremes that sometimes just the
fragments tell their own story about the situation here.
Driving on the
main road through the town this week I noticed that two big
shops have just
suddenly gone. A couple of weeks ago they were there but now
they are
unexpectedly closed; windows bare, doors locked, iron bars and
grills
padlocked and protecting empty showrooms.
Three years ago during a
particularly bad fuel shortage I used to accompany
my son to a nearby junior
school by bicycle. There was no way to avoid a
short but steep hill and I
always had to get off and walk. My daily
challenge was to stay on the bike
until I reached a big boulder half way up
the hill. This week I saw with
sadness that the boulder has gone.
This big black rock, the size of a family
car, has been painstakingly
chipped into little stones by a man, a woman and
two children over the last
few months. We do have municipal police in our
town but it seems they are
more concerned with impounding unlicensed
bicycles than protecting the
environment for us and those who come after
us. Now a rock, thousands of
years old, is stacked in little piles on the
side of the road for sale to
builders.
On a recent journey there were six
police road-blocks in a distance of just
70 kilometres. This is another
fragment of Zimbabwean life where you are
left with more questions than
answers. As you repeatedly slow down for the
road-blocks you begin to feel
you are travelling in a country at war. You
keep asking yourself just
exactly what it is the police, who seem younger by
the day, are looking
for?
Another view of Zimbabwe is the display of wealth by the nouveau riche.
Luxury cars and extravagant four-wheel-drive vehicles worth multiple
billions of dollars fill car parks and block roads in shopping centres in
affluent parts of suburban Harare. The new super rich people of Zimbabwe
seem keen to show off their wealth and are keen to be seen. At the dirtiest
little beer hall or bar on the side of the road there is always at least one
Mercedes or one luxury double cab - more often though there is a whole line
of them.
Life in Zimbabwe is such a strange mixture of wildly contrasting
circumstances and these days almost nothing is as it seems. For the past
week only one thing has been certain: If the electricity is on there is a
world cup football game being shown on TV, if its off, then there's no game
being played.
I end with the very sad news that a man so many of us felt
we knew, passed
away this week. Wrex Tarr, a businessman, an entertainer,
newsreader, a
national archer and rifle shottist died aged 71 in East
London. Apparently
he died while entertaining a happy crowd of bowlers at
the club after the
day's play. Until next week, ndini shamwari yenyu.
The Zimbabwean Letters
Disgusted at police brutality
EDITOR - This is an open letter to express my
displeasure and disgust at the
brutality being perpetrated by the Zimbabwe
Republic Police, specifically
members of the Zipurisa Rinorova Povo (ZRP)
stationed at Glen Norah Police
station.
The incident happened on June 16,
2006 at around 1730hrs, when the 100%MDC
Ward 28 youth chairman, Charles
Muchena, Ward 28 youth organising secretary,
Enock Chikohora, and an
activist, Tonderai Matandiri, were brutally beaten
with clenched fists and
rubber batons by members of the ZRP as they tried to
protect vendors. The
vendors were being harrassed by the police, their wares
were being impounded
and loaded into police trucks. Some had babies on
their backs as they fled
to evade arrests at Glen Norah spaceman shopping
centre.
To my surprise
there were no Harare municipal police, who should have been
accompanying the
ZRP on such operations.
As they were shoved into the truck, the vendors were
told they were being
charged for breaching Harare municipal by laws c/s
4(a)(i) - an illegal
vending charge - and were forcibly fined Z$250,000
each. It was Sgt Tambo,
force number 055860R, who fabricated the charge at
the police station after
Muchena and Chikohora tried to tell Sgt Danha
112505M and Cst Katura 057104T
that they were not vendors but victims of
circumstances. Their forced
admission of guilt form numbers are 3045690A,
3045689A and 3045688A.
I would like to warn the police that the winds of
change are coming and
don't buy your vegetables from illegal vendors when
you knock off duty,
okay?
MR THUNDER, Glen
Norah
---------------
Where are prison farms?
EDITOR -
According to a Herald report in November 2003 the Commissioner of
Prisons,
Retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi, stated that the Zimbabwe
Prison
Services had acquired farms where it would build new prisons as part
of its
efforts to decongest prisons.
One wonders if the likes of a Parliamentary
Committee, The Red Cross, NGO's
and the United Nations have toured these
well overdue but apparently
well-hidden new premises.
Research has not
shown any budgeted expenditure for these facilities.
Perhaps the Retired
Major General should be interviewed to demystify the
situation.
In view
of the well overdue regime change now in sight, it is expected that
new
premises will be urgently needed for many of the 100.000 or so gangsters
now
robbing, raping and ruining the country.
KEVIN BLUNT,
Bloemfontein
------------------
Not long to go now
EDITOR -
Yesterday I travelled out to a communal area to visit some
desperate
people. People whose children cannot even go to school anymore
because they
are so malnourished and hungry. These are ex-commercial farm
workers who
were dispossessed, displaced and dumped in arid areas and marked
forever as
"enemies of the state" . As a result, when they queue for donor
maize meal
(delivered by government truck) they are told that they "are not
on the
list" and therefore not eligible. The fact of the matter is that
they do
not hold a Zanu (PF) party card.
There are some areas in Zimbabwe considered
"sensitive areas" by donors and
NGO's and therefore politically no-(n)go
areas. It is beside the point that
there are people starving by the
thousands. Quite frankly this sickens me.
They may have been confronted by
the state thugs, the CIO, and as a result
are then scared off. For Heaven's
sake, there are hundreds, if not
thousands of lives at stake, and they, the
NGO's, allow themselves to be
intimidated by a few thugs in dark glasses.
However this must not detract
from the many other non-sensitive areas where
NGO's are feeding
successfully.
My advice is "Face fear and it no longer
becomes fear, but a challenge."
Many of us Zimbabweans know that.
Time is
running out for this genocidal regime. The top dog might obtain
immunity
from prosecution, but there are thousands of state sponsored thugs
who will
face criminal prosecution, and there is a pile of evidence and
plenty of
witnesses to see justice is done. Not long to go now.
As one travels
through what was once a thriving, diversified and productive
commercial
farming area, there is little to see other than thousands of
acres of
nothing. Some huts, patches of rape and tomatoes. Citrus orchards,
that by
now would have been in full export production for over six years,
are full
of weeds and long grass. Two farms (out of 50) have wheat planted
(guess
the "chefs"?).
The "success" of Land Deform - while the people of Zimbabwe
starve? Perhaps
no-one was listening four years ago when I said "this is a
planned
genocide". The results are now here for public viewing, if anyone
is
interested?
AMBUYA WATSAMWA,
Harare
--------------------
Moved by their plight
EDITOR -
Although I am not from Africa I feel moved about my Black Brothers
who are
asylum seekers and want to settle in England. I am a Jamaican who
came to
this country in 1961. I do volunteer work with a group which helps
asylum
seekers, so I experience and understand what they are going through.
I am a
very caring genuine person, so if there is any people living in the
Manchester Area who are isolated, lonely and desperate I would be willing to
get in touch with any African brothers. I would take them out for a bit to
eat a drink or a coffee and a chat all at my cost. Any brothers can write to
me at L. Samuels, 25 Thorncombe Rd, Alexandra Park, Manachester M16
7YA.
L SAMUELS, Manchester
-----------
Life after Mugabe
EDITOR
- Despite the vaunted auspices of the Kennedy School of Government I
am sure
that many of your readers will find the no doubt well intentioned
outline by
Messrs. Moss and Patrick for Life After Mugabe namby-pamby and
platitudinous
and avoids the nitty-gritty.
"Recovery from crisis means seeking
accountability for past crimes and
abuses". They cite the example of the
Contact Group in Bosnia but are no
doubt mindful how the similar approach by
the heavily American coalition
policy in Iraq, not even mentioned, where the
failure to retain any of the
previous regime led to disaster and despite
millions appropriated still has
not led to a regular electricity supply
among other shortfalls.
There is no mention of the police or other
authorities who not only flouted
legal processes pursuing the Murambatsvina
but did not deign to reply to any
objections or complaints, not bearing any
personal liability. By contrast
Mrs. Tibaijuka's report to the UN, yet to
be reported in detail in The
Zimbabwean, was unequivocal: "The Government
of Zimbabwe is collectively
responsible for what has happened" How will
western taxpayers feel about
being liable to foot this bill?
SANDY KATZ,
Alton UK
--------------
Speak out young people
EDITOR - The
designation of 2001 - 2010 as the "International Decade for a
Culture of
Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World" is a clear
indication
in itself that young people will immensely benefit from this
global
movement. It is for this reason that I strongly feel that as young
people we
should be empowered to take a leading role in the creation of a
culture of
peace. This we can do partly by joining civil society
organizations in the
area of human rights, democracy and good governance to
make a quick, short
list which could be extended many times over. I also
recommend that we
receive training related to the aforesaid issues.
In other words, as young
people we should fully and actively participate in
public life since that is
what citizenship is all about. After all this is
our decade to show the
world what we are really made up of. This is the most
prime opportunity we
should take as a matter of urgency as if to compete
with time which is
moving faster. This has to be especially when taking
into cognisance the
fact the majority of us were quite ignorant about the
existence of such a
designation.
I have been forced to write this letter after the realisation
that as young
people we are more often than not inconspicuous, inarticulate
and
unorganized. Our voices are seldom heart at public meetings in
communities
where it is customary for only the big men to put their views.
Furthermore,
it is rare to find a body or institution that adequately
represents young
people (youth) in a certain community or area. As a result,
outsiders and
government officials invariable find it more profitable and
congenial to
converse with local influentials than with the uncommunicative
young people.
Young people, we are today a residual, the last in the line,
the most
difficult to find, and the hardest to learn from.
Young people,
let us show our deep commitment to promoting the dignity of
the person by
affirming the inviolable and inalienable dignity of the
person, defending
the intrinsic right to life, fostering a social climate
propitious to
integral development, solidarity and mutual respect. Above
all else, let us
refrain from using violence as a way of settling
differences of any
magnitude. This is so largely because violence is in the
words of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr "a descending spiral begetting the very
thing it seeks
to destroy". Violence adds deeper darkness to a night
already devoid of
stars. This is food for thought.
M MUTSA,
Bindura.
--------------
Not so smart sanctions
EDITOR - I would
like to highlight a few points about these so-called smart
sanctions. I used
to wonder how people like Patrick Chinamasa live under
such sanctions and
then I opened my eyes. All Pat did was virtually move out
of his Greystone
Park house and live on a farm. He doesn't care what you say
to him because
as Roy Bennett found out, even touching him can send you to
prison.
So
what I would like to suggest to the international world, is not to impose
sanctions on the leaders alone, but their whole family effectively. By this
I mean people like Kangai, Tinotenda and Chengetai Chinamasa must come home.
Some of them are using their mothers surname and that doesn't take too much
investigating to figure out. The same must apply to Gono's kids (Passion,
Praise and Pride) who are living a fabulous life in Australia.
Simba
Murerwa is in the states somewhere also having a good time. Mushowe
has a
few scattered, Mnagngwagwa has several daughters all over the world
too.
Parirenyatwa's step kids are also reaping the benefits. So open your
eyes
people, why should the children of hard working Zimbabweans suffer and
be
stuck in this country whilst those of the government officials get free
education (at bank rate, forex is almost free). Can you not see that the
money gained through the Reserve Bank is gained by oppressing normal people
and is now funding the education and upkeep of their children. MAKE THEM
COME HOME and study at Midlands State or make them go to Fort Hare or
something. It's only fair. WAKE UP!
MATICHII ZVANAKA,
Harare
--------------
How low can we go?
EDITOR - I noted with
great concern an article published on 09/06/06. It is
unheard of to use Holy
Bible pages in place of toilet paper. But in Prisons
this is what is
happening. Resources are being overstretched to cater for
large numbers of
prisoners - more than the maximum holding capacity of the
prison, resulting
in shortages of basic requirements like food, soap, toilet
paper, and dirty
blankets. Sickness is rampant. There is need for immediate
action from
responsible authorities. Zimbabwe deserves a better reputation
than
this.
DANFORD ZIMUTO, London
Zimbabwe, Ghana to strengthen bilateral ties
June 22,
2006
By ANDnetwork .com
Ghana is committed to
strengthening bilateral relations with Zimbabwe,
particularly in the
economic, cultural and agricultural sectors, a diplomat
said on
Wednesday.
"It is the desire of my government and the people of
Ghana that the
relations between us be improved," said Ghanaian Ambassador
to Zimbabwe John
Gbenah after paying a courtesy call on Zimbabwe Vice
President Joseph Msika
at his Munhumutapa office.
Gbenah
cited the economic, cultural and agricultural sectors as some
of the areas
in which the two countries could cooperate, and proposed the
setting up of a
joint commission to explore areas of cooperation between the
two African
countries whose relations date back to the liberation struggle.
Recently, the two countries would embark on student exchange programs
for
their mutual benefit, said Gbenah, who has been in the country since
February this year.
Last year the City of Harare, in
recognition of the role that the
first Ghanaian president Kwameh Nkrumah
played in the emancipation of
Africa, renamed Union Avenue after
him.
This is the highest honour a council can bestow on some
prominent
personalities for their meritorious service, either of a national
or local
character.
Source: Xinhua
Africa: Better off without us?
New Statesman
Cover
story
Robert Calderisi
Monday 26th June 2006
A year on from the G8 and Live 8, parts of Africa are making good
progress.
But it's not thanks to the money and the debt relief that often
prop up the
wrong kind of leader. By Robert Calderisi
Cameroon's president,
Paul Biya, looks at the world upside down. In
power for almost a
quarter-century and seen by almost no one except his
aide-de-camp, Biya
regards his country's saintly Catholic cleric Christian
Tumi as an
opposition leader because of his strong support for human rights.
"I was
born a Cameroonian," the down-to-earth cardinal told me, "and became
a
Christian and priest. Why can't I have views about what is happening in my
country?" On May Day this year, the international community voted for Biya
rather than Tumi by awarding the country $4.9bn in debt relief.
Another winner in the moral sweepstakes has been the small Republic of
Congo, run by a man who overthrew an elected government in 1997. The African
Union once vowed to shun anyone who took power militarily. Yet, five months
ago, the continent's supreme political body chose Congo's Denis
Sassou-Nguesso as its chairman. True, he was a compromise candidate, as it
was Sudan's turn to take charge and a last-minute sense of decency
prevailed. But the AU might as well have installed Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.
The world was also kind to Sassou-Nguesso, writing off $2.9bn of Congolese
debt in March. To his credit, the World Bank president, Paul Wolfowitz,
tried to block this measure on learning that Sassou-Nguesso had chalked up
an $81,000 bill at a New York hotel. He was overruled. The World Bank press
release said grudgingly that something would have to give if the money was
"not to be hijacked by vested interests".
Such stories show why
many Africans are disgusted with their
governments, and with the west's
well-meaning efforts to help. As many
sceptics predicted, progress towards
implementing the decisions taken at
last year's much-hyped G8 summit -
especially doubling aid by 2010 - has
been slow.
Africa has
made significant strides over the past year, but none of
them was a
consequence of Gleneagles.
The most important development was
probably also the dullest. In
February, Nigeria was given a formal credit
rating by international bond
agencies for the first time. This was due not
just to high oil prices, but
also to the determination of the finance
minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who
has reversed decades of economic
mismanagement. Nigeria still has a long way
to go to gain the full
confidence of the international community - and its
own people - but good
economic housekeeping in the continent's most populous
country is good news
for all.
Economic growth has been rising, too, giving African
governments
breathing space, after decades of being choked between
burgeoning
populations and falling markets. Unfortunately, most of that
growth was the
result of the oil boom rather than improvements in
agriculture, the source
of Africa's greatest wealth. Oil has also filled the
coffers of some
unsavoury regimes (Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of
Congo, Equatorial
Guinea), most of whose leaders have been in office for
more than 20 years.
The dean of the group, Omar Bongo of Gabon, came to
power when Harold Wilson
was managing a now-forgotten sterling crisis in
1967.
Over the past year, however, some of Africa's "big men" got
their
come-uppance - or at least an inkling of their limitations. Liberia's
Charles Taylor was arrested on the Nigeria-Cameroon border and taken into
custody by the international tribunal in Freetown, which will probe his role
in human-rights abuses in Sierra Leone's civil war era. Kenya's president,
Mwai Kibaki, suffered a humiliating defeat in the November referendum on a
revised constitution that would have given him more power. The Ethiopian
prime minister, Meles Zenawi, faced street battles over the dubious results
of the May 2005 elections. In Uganda, Yoweri Museveni settled for 59 per
cent of the vote. And in Nigeria, the senate, not western editorial writers,
killed President Obasanjo's chances of revising his country's constitution
and running for a third term.
Making way
The "big
men" also had to make way for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a
survivor of many
election campaigns and death threats in Liberia, whose main
rival for the
presidency was an international soccer star. At her
inauguration, she
instructed incoming ministers to open their bank accounts
to public scrutiny
- and promised to get the lights to stay on in Monrovia
by July this year.
Six hundred miles to the east, Benin, the first black
African country to
change ruling parties democratically in 1991, held its
fourth multi-party
presidential election in a row.
There was even encouragement on the
HIV/Aids front, with the World
Health Organisation estimating that 17 per
cent of those requiring
antiretroviral drugs were actually receiving them.
While still woefully
short of overall needs, the coverage was higher than
anyone could have
predicted just a few years ago.
But it is too
early to be upbeat about Africa. Like slowing the spread
of HIV/Aids,
progress in opening up the political debate has barely begun.
In 1983, the
novelist Chinua Achebe wrote, in a blistering essay called "The
Trouble with
Nigeria" that still applies to most of Africa: "There is
nothing basically
wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong
with the Nigerian
land or climate or water or air or anything else. The
Nigerian problem is
the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to
the responsibility,
to the challenge of personal example which are the
hallmarks of true
leadership."
Africans hoped that foreign aid could be used to make
their
governments more open and honest. But in many places, the opposite has
been
true, and in the one big showdown with a dictator this year, it was the
west
that backed down.
The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline was meant
to be different. It was the
largest private sector investment in Africa in a
decade when its principal
backer, ExxonMobil, invited the World Bank to help
design it properly.
Central to the effort was a law assigning most of the
oil revenues to
reducing poverty in Chad. Last December, the country changed
the law to
include spending on defence. The World Bank promptly shut down
its
operations in Chad and blocked the overseas account holding the money.
This
was a sound decision, even though some thought it an overreaction - as
if
bankers were expected to invite defaulters on mortgages for a friendly
drink.
Four months later, the bank backed off when Chad's
president, Idriss
Déby, threatened to close the pipeline altogether. The
geopolitics was
understandable: rebels supported by Chad's neighbour, Sudan,
had invaded the
capital that month, and few people wanted the Déby
government overthrown
while it was hosting 200,000 refugees from the Darfur
region next door. But
the political impact and moral consequences were
poisonous. Direct military
assistance would have been better than allowing
the government a free hand
with the oil revenues. Like Nigeria's success in
improving its public finan
ces, this damp squib of a showdown in Chad had
continent-wide implications -
but, in Chad's case, of a negative
kind.
Sticks and carrots
In other places, gangrene
lurks just below the surface. On 2 March
2006, Kenya's internal security
minister justified a raid on a major Nairobi
newspaper and television
station that had criticised the government: "When
you rattle a snake, you
must expect to be bitten." Certainly, the African
Union's feeble efforts to
corral Mugabe do not point to the "peer justice"
promised in the
much-heralded New Partnership for Africa's Development
(Nepad) that the
continent adopted in 2001.
Darfur's people continue to suffer
terribly. Although the
international community may not have been able to
stop the Rwandan genocide
in 1994, it could have done more to halt the
carnage in western Sudan. The
Rwandan killings lasted a hundred days. Darfur
has been going on for three
years. Despite the presence of AU troops and a
series of truces, the
murders, rapes and pillaging continue. Some people
question the importance
of "yet another" African crisis. But this is no
ordinary event. Most civil
conflicts in Africa, in places as diverse as Côte
d'Ivoire and the so-called
Democratic Republic of Congo, have been ended or
checked by a combination of
international sticks and carrots and the
presence of foreign peacekeepers.
The horrors of Liberia and Sierra Leone -
though not yet Somalia - are a
thing of the past. But Darfur is like a
seeping sore, reminding us every day
that no one has been crueller to
Africans in recent decades than Africans
themselves.
In the
past five years, western countries have taken great steps to
protect
themselves (in Afghanistan and Iraq), and have stirred up a hornet's
nest.
Africans may rightly ask how the west can respond so forcefully to the
deaths of 3,000 Americans in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania on 11
September 2001, and yet hesitate to send troops into Sudan after the killing
of 180,000 people and the displacement of two million others. US efforts to
stem international terrorism in Somalia by supporting local warlords have
fallen flat, as the wrong set of villains took Mogadishu this month.
International efforts to save the people of Darfur, who face daily
terrorism, might have proved more successful.
Which brings us
back to foreign aid. As long as dictatorship prevails
across much of Africa,
the objectives of the G8 leaders at Gleneagles will
remain a dead
letter.
Countries as canny as Ghana, Mali and Mozambique, which
have steadily
opened their economies to private investors and their politics
to different
opinions, do not receive enough aid, while others such as
Ethiopia and
Cameroon receive far too much. The west must start using more
sticks and
fewer carrots. And more aid should be targeted at specific
Africa-wide
causes, such as establishing regional universities and
researching new drugs
for malaria, rather than just dispersing it over many
countries, watering
weeds as well as flowers.
A year on from
the Live 8 concerts, energies should be aimed at other
causes - for
instance, barring western arms sales to unrepresentative
governments,
quarantining any state that imprisons journalists for
expressing personal
opinions, abolishing laws that make it a crime to
criticise African
presidents, focusing aid on the few countries that have
used it properly, or
seizing illicit African holdings in western banks, the
way the British navy
intercepted slaving ships on the high seas once the
abominable trade in
human beings was outlawed. Few African leaders would
understand that
parallel, but most of their citizens would.
Robert Calderisi's "The
Trouble With Africa: why foreign aid isn't
working" will be published by
Yale University Press in July (£18.99)
Since
Gleneagles
19 of the world's poorest countries have had their debt
cancelled
11 million children have died from conflict and disease
(or one child
every three seconds)
1 million HIV sufferers now
have access to treatment, with the aim to
have universal access by
2010
500,000 women have died in pregnancy or childbirth (or one
woman every
minute)
4,500 teachers can be recruited in Zambia
after the relief of national
debt from £7bn to £500m
300,000
children are able to go to school in Burundi thanks to the
removal of
education fees
Research from the Oxfam report "Gleneagles G8: one
year later"/Savita
Vij
This article first appeared in the New
Statesman.
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