The ZIMBABWE Situation
An extensive and up-to-date website containing views, views and links related to ZIMBABWE - a country in crisis
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Can you vote in 2008?



Did you register to vote, or did you check your name and details on the voter's roll?  Have you turned 18 and registered?

IF NOT, YOU CANNOT VOTE IN 2008!!

Please, friends, make the effort to check your details, to register and to make sure that all your family, your workers, your friends and neighbours are REGISTERED TO VOTE in 2008.  The 2008 election is critical. We can have a real, democratically elected government IF WE ALL VOTE.  But we will not all be able to vote IF WE DO NOT REGISTER!!

While the rules may change as a result of the Mbeki-led negotiations and other initiatives, this is not guaranteed.  We may go into the next election under the present election rules.  We could still WIN those elections if we are all registered and exercise our right to vote.  But we will certainly NOT WIN if we are not able to vote.

LET'S REGISTER, LET'S CHECK, LET'S VOTE THIS LOT OUT!! 
LET'S MAKE A DATE - 2008!!
....................................
Harare North and East Voter Registration Schedule
7 am to 5 pm daily
(take your ID and proof of residence)

Haig Park Primary 10.07 - 12.07
Hallingbury Primary 13.07 - 15,07
Marlborough District Office 16.07 - 18.07
Hatcliffe Community Centre 19.07 - 26.07
SIRDC Hatcliffe 27.07 - 30.07
Newmarch Farm 31.07 - 03.08
Borrowdale District Office 04.08 - 06.08
Gletwyn Farm 07.08 - 10.08
Courtney Selous PS 11.08 - 13.08
Zimphos 14.08 - 17.08

Mabvuku and Harare Central
..some already finished
Old Tafara Community Hall 24.06 - 29.06
David Livingstone Pr 30.06 - 03.07
Avondale PS 04.07 - 06.07
Belvedere Teachers College 07.07 - 09.07
...................................................................................
*PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO ALL INTERESTED IN POSITIVE CHANGE IN ZIMBABWE


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New border rules shock foreigners

Mmegi (Botswana), 26 June

Fraser Mpofu

Harare - Foreigners wishing to stay in Botswana for more than 30 days are
now required to submit applications and wait two weeks for a reply before
entering the country. The new requirement, contained in a circular from the
department of immigration, is most likely to affect Zimbabweans who
constitute the bulk of visitors to Botswana. According to the circular, with
effect from June 1, foreigners are no longer permitted to stay in Botswana
for three months without renewing their papers. In addition, visitors to
Botswana must deposit a P100 application fee and wait for a response in
their home countries. "With effect from June 1, 2007, foreign nationals
wishing to stay beyond 30 days will be required to submit their applications
to the regional immigration officer 14 days before the required period," the
circular says. The circular was posted at notice boards at the Ramokgwebana
border post.
Foreigners who want to extend their stay in Botswana beyond 30 days, adds
the circular, must give plausible reasons explaining why they want to stay
longer in the country. In addition, visitors must also provide support
letters from an individual or host organisation during their stay in
Botswana. The foreigners should submit four passport size photos and proof
of sufficient means of sustenance for the duration of their stay. In
addition, the visitor must show a letter from the host if he is a Botswana
citizen or a copy of his identity card. Otherwise, if the host is a
non-citizen the visitor must provide a copy of a valid residence permit or
exemption certificate, adds the document. Some Zimbabwean cross-border
traders have expressed shock at the new requirements saying they will make
it more difficult for them to do business. Many Batswana say the tighter
measures are justified considering the high number of Zimbabweans who travel
to Botswana, some of them travelling illegally or overstaying, resulting in
their deportation.
"It will make travelling more difficult for me, especially the requirement
for us to make applications first and wait for 14 days to get a reply. My
problem is the time that will pass whilst I wait for my application to be
processed. The question of pictures and everything else is not a big deal,"
says Mary Machaya, a Zimbabwean informal trader who spends about one and a
half months doing small jobs in Botswana. But Thomas Mlambo, an insurance
consultant who has contracts in Gaborone and Francistown, says the
requirements are good in so far as they regulate cross border movement
between the two countries. "There is an immigration problem which has to be
contained. More of us Zimbabweans are always on the road, looking for
survival, but some of us took advantage of the lax immigration formalities
between Botswana and Zimbabwe to travel and sometimes engage in criminal
activities. But I hope these requirements will not affect genuine travellers
and business people like me," he says.


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Basic commodities disappear in Zimbabwe

From Monsters and Critics.com

Business News

By DPA
Jun 27, 2007, 10:11 GMT

Harare - Basic commodities had all but disappeared from some shop shelves in Zimbabwe Wednesday, a day after the authorities ordered a drastic 50 percent price slash.

A snap survey in several supermarkets in Harare showed that bread, milk, flour and cooking oil were no longer on the shelves.

'There's no supplies,' a shop assistant said in a supermarket in Harare's Avondale suburb, popular with trendy young professionals, pensioners and business people.

'No bread, no milk, no flour, no cooking oil, no eggs. Its a big problem,' he told a shopper in the dimly-lit supermarket.

Avondale had been plunged into darkness by one of the capital's frequent power cuts.

In a last-ditch bid to halt the dizzying price increases that have swept Zimbabwe in the last few days, Industry Minister Obert Mpofu late Monday ordered that prices be slashed by around half.

Under government orders, bread, which had been selling for as much as 55,000 Zimbabwe dollars a loaf was to be reduced to 22,000 dollars. Milk was to be reduced from 30,000 Zimbabwe dollars per 500 ml to 27,000. A host of other new prices were also announced.

Mpofu said the price increases were due to unruly behaviour on the part of manufacturers and retailers. Business people however say they were forced to hike prices because of the sudden collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar.

The Zimbabwe dollar last week fell to 400,000 to the US for large transactions on the black market, against the official exchange rate of 15,000 to the US.

By Wednesday supermarkets and suppliers appeared to be getting round the government's decree by simply withdrawing their stock.

In a second supermarket, also in Avondale, there were empty shelves where stocks of a popular brand of soap should have been. Shoppers were scrabbling for a few remaining bread rolls.

By mid-morning, shop workers were lowering grills outside the shop as the stores alternative power supply finally died.

In Sam Nujoma Street - where no bread, fresh milk, flour or eggs were to be found - a shop assistant pointed angrily at expensively imported foods which are not covered by government controls.

That's all my salary, he said, pointing to a box of South African breakfast cereal priced at more than 700,000 Zimbabwe dollars.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

© Copyright 2006,2007 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.


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Mozambique, Zim to ease visa rules

Sapa, 27 June


Maputo - Mozambique and Zimbabwe will abolish stringent visa requirements
for its citizens by the end of this year, official media has reported.
Vicente Veloso, Mozambique's ambassador to Zimbabwe, was quoted in a
reported on Radio Mozambique on Wednesday as saying talks to lift the visa
requirements were at an advanced stage. He said an agreement would be signed
this week to facilitate the lifting of the visas by December, this year, a
move that is expected to facilitate the easier movement of people and goods
between the two countries. Currently citizens of Mozambique and Zimbabwe pay
as much as $30 (about R200) to enter each country on a single entry visa. In
the past two years Mozambique has signed visa waiver agreements with
Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Immigration authorities have
been quoted in the local media as saying the visa waivers had resulted in an
increased movement of people and goods.


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Soldiers to enforce Zimbabwe price ban

Zimonline

Wednesday 27 June 2007


DIDYMUS Mutasa . . . business is working with foreign enemies to effect regime change in Zimbabwe
By Farisai Gonye
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has drafted soldiers and police to help enforce a ban on price increases it says are unjustified and meant to incite popular revolt against President Robert Mugabe and his governing ZANU PF party.
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa on Tuesday told ZimOnline by telephone that an unprecedented spate of price increases that has seen prices of basic goods rising fourfold within the past week was the work of Harare’s foreign enemies bent on unseating the government.
Enforcing the price ban was a security matter that could not be left to the industry and economic ministries alone, said Mutasa, who is a top lieutenant of Mugabe and is considered among the hawks in the government.
"When business people work with foreign enemies to plan an uprising of the people by unjustifiably increasing prices of goods, it becomes a security matter," said Mutasa, who is also in charge of the government’s controversial farm seizure programme.
Prices of basic commodities have been on an upward spiral for the past three weeks, rising by more than 500 percent during the period.
Economists say price increases reflect a sharp depreciation in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar, which has lost more than 125 percent of its value over the past three weeks and continues sliding faster than any other currency on earth.
Mugabe’s government, which has in the past accused business of conniving with its western enemies by allegedly withholding commodities to create shortages in a bid to incite Zimbabweans to revolt, on Monday reacted to price increases by announcing a blanket freeze on prices.
Industry Minister Obert Mpofu, who chairs a Cabinet Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation, ordered the business sector to reduce prices to 18 June levels, threatening those failing to do so with unspecified action.
Mutasa, who also heads a joint security committee comprising the Ministries of State Security, Defence and Home Affairs said security forces would oversee an operation to force businesses to reduce prices as directed by Mpofu.
He said: "All ministries falling into the security category will be involved. Comrade Mpofu has done his job by announcing the prices that businesses must adhere to. We will now enforce those prices, and we are serious about it. We have to make sure that we avoid a price-induced revolt that our enemies are working on."
However economists warned that commando tactics favoured by the government would not work, saying what was required were comprehensive political and economic reforms to end Zimbabwe’s economic crisis and ensure stability of prices.
"You cannot use the gun to force businesses to operate at a loss. Industry will just stop producing in hostile circumstances as these, then the shortages (of basic goods) would worsen on the official market," said Harare-based economic analyst John Robertson.
Political analysts have said a total collapse of the economy could sweep Mugabe’s 27-year old government out of power, with outgoing United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, last week predicting the embattled Harare administration could collapse before year-end.
Dell, an outspoken critic of Mugabe’s administration, said no government throughout history had ever survived an economic crisis of the magnitude Zimbabwe was facing, with inflation nearing seven figure digits and the formal economy barely functioning.
Inflation - pegged at more than 4 500 percent and the highest in the world - is the most visible sign of Zimbabwe’s deep recession that has left more than 80 percent of workers without jobs and spawned severe shortages of food, fuel, hard cash and just about every basic survival commodity. – ZimOnline


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A New Plan for Zimbabwe

New York Times
 
June 27, 2007

JOHANNESBURG, June 26 — Zimbabwe’s government has put forward legislation that would require virtually all publicly traded companies to cede controlling interests to “indigenous” citizens, raising the possibility of a sizable redistribution of the country’s remaining wealth at a time when its economy is collapsing.

The draft legislation, which was published Monday, would mandate that a 51 percent stake in the companies be transferred to Zimbabweans who were “disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of his or her race” before April 1980, when the nation won independence from white rule.

The government calls it a plan for black empowerment, while critics label it a bid to shore up crumbling political support for Zimbabwe’s president, Robert G. Mugabe. Given that Mr. Mugabe’s party dominates Parliament, the measure will almost certainly pass.

The legislation would establish a government fund to help citizens buy stock in public companies, and would allow the government to reject any corporate mergers, acquisitions, investments and other transactions in which so-called indigenous Zimbabweans did not hold a 51 percent stake. It was unclear, however, how Zimbabwe’s bankrupt government, beset by hyperinflation and a currency crisis, would finance the transfers.

Nor was it apparent how the companies’ new controlling stakeholders would be chosen. The law apparently contemplates black workers at companies taking stakes in their employers, a move that would surely win Mr. Mugabe some public support as he prepares for what could be a difficult re-election campaign in early 2008.

Empowerment programs that transfer corporate stakes to black shareholders are not unusual. South Africa’s government sponsors a highly successful, but much criticized, program that has transferred large blocks of corporate stock to workers and managers, and has helped make multimillionaires of a handful of well-connected businessmen.

Mr. Mugabe’s critics, however, say the proposal is a scheme to loot the remainder of Zimbabwe’s economy for the benefit of political insiders and backers of the president. To them, the legislation evokes the specter of Mr. Mugabe’s seizure of thousands of white-owned farms early this decade, mostly without compensation, in what was then called a redistribution of land to poor blacks. Instead, many of the best farms were awarded to leading figures in Mr. Mugabe’s government and his ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

Rather than confiscating stakes in companies, however, the legislation envisions a more gradual, potentially compensated transfer of ownership.

At the same time, the government began an effort to rein in Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation, officially about 4,500 percent, but described by private economists as approaching 20,000 percent. A cabinet-level task force on price controls ordered factories and sellers to cut the prices of certain basic goods and services by as much as 50 percent — to levels that existed roughly one week ago.

Mr. Mugabe’s minister of industry and international trade, Obert Mpofu, said that increased prices were unjustified and that they were “a political ploy engineered by our detractors to effect an illegal regime change against the ruling party.”

Shopkeepers throughout the country ignored the decree, according to several Zimbabweans interviewed by telephone on Tuesday. “No one is even thinking about freezing prices,” said one member of the ruling party, on condition of anonymity because of a fear of retribution.

That person and others interviewed Tuesday suggested that both the price decree and the ownership legislation reflected an increasingly frantic effort by Zimbabwe’s rulers to contain the damage from an economy that has moved in recent weeks from steep decline to outright free fall.

Inflation is now so steep that Zimbabwe’s currency is virtually worthless. The plummeting Zimbabwe dollar, now trading on the black market at about 130,000 to one United States dollar, collapsed last week to as low as 400,000 to an American dollar before recovering. The drop was almost certainly the result of Zimbabwe’s reserve bank flooding the black market with freshly printed bills, seeking to buy scarce foreign currency to pay its own debts.

Prices change daily, if not hourly; one news report last week noted that golfers at a Harare country club were paying for their 19th-hole drinks before teeing off after discovering that prices were rising while they were on the course.

The nation’s industrial production, estimated to be running at only 30 percent of capacity, is grinding to a halt in many places. “The rapid rise in prices is a killer for all concerned,” said Iden Wetherell, an editor at the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper in Harare. “What you’re seeing now is people not bothering to go to work. It’s not worth it when their incomes are consumed entirely by transport costs. Things are deteriorating exponentially here.”

Mr. Mugabe’s critics and a Harare economist said Tuesday that the “indigenization” legislation would almost certainly make Zimbabwe’s economic havoc even more severe by driving away the few foreigners still willing to invest in the country. The flight of foreign capital has been a crucial element in Zimbabwe’s economic decline, and until the draft legislation was published, the government had been courting Chinese investors and other outsiders, albeit with little success.

“The investment environment here is very fragile, and this is the kind of stuff that, even if it were warming up, would kill it,” said the economist, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation by the government. “Obviously, it’s going to scare even more people away.”

Foreign firms with stakes in Zimbabwean businesses reacted cautiously to the proposal. “This is still a draft piece of legislation, which means it is open for general comment,” said Ross Linstrom, a spokesman for Standard Bank Group of South Africa, which has a subsidiary in Zimbabwe. Implats, a South African mining giant with a large platinum mine in Zimbabwe, said through a spokesman that it had already ceded part of its Zimbabwe reserves to the government and that it believed that it was already in compliance with the law.

The government has said that the law will apply to all companies, including the foreign banks and mining firms that power much of what is left of the economy. However, legislation that would have transferred a 51 percent stake in mining firms has lain dormant in Parliament for months, after mining firms protested that it could lead to chaos and steep drops in production. More recently, the government has indicated that it might nationalize some sectors of the industry, like coal and uranium mining, but that it would impose less stringent rules on some other sectors.

Some critics noted that one effect of the legislation would be to make a huge pool of corporate stock available for distribution to lucky Zimbabweans — factory workers and black managers, perhaps, but also those with political influence. Some of Mr. Mugabe’s closest allies have become fabulously rich, even by Western standards, during his 27 years in office, those critics say.

Moreover, Mr. Mugabe has frequently doled out patronage to ensure that his close allies remain close. Earlier this month, Mr. Mugabe handed out more than 1,000 Chinese tractors and some 30 harvesters to members of the ZANU-PF ruling party’s central committee, high-ranking officers in the army and air force, provincial and national officials in the Central Intelligence Organization, and ministers and deputy ministers in the government, among others.

Should the proposal become law, one member of the ruling party predicted, corporate stakes would follow suit. “The situation is desperate here,” that person said. “And so we are taking desperate measures.”


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Zimbabwe tries to curb 4,500% inflation


But most businesses ignore a government order to cut prices as monetary
values plunge.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 27, 2007

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's government announced sweeping price cuts in a
bid to curb inflation Tuesday and said it has set up a unit drawn from all
of its security agencies to enforce the cuts.
But most businesses ignored the government's directive, and there were no
reports of arrests.
Far from cutting prices, retailers have been struggling to keep up with the
falling value of the Zimbabwean dollar, in some cases curtailing their hours
of business to give employees time to put new, higher prices on goods.
Inflation is now so steep that Zimbabwe's currency is virtually worthless.
Prices change daily, if not hourly. One report last week said golfers at a
Harare country club were paying for their 19th-hole drinks before teeing off
after discovering that prices were rising while they were on the course.
Official inflation is running at 4, 500 percent, the highest rate in the
world, but independent financial institutions calculate real inflation on
essential goods at closer to 9, 000 percent.
Official inflation could be expected to drop dramatically in light of the
new official prices.
Industry Minister Obert Mpofu announced Tuesday the price cuts of up to
two-thirds on a range of basic goods and services, from commuter
transportation to bread, sugar, meat, milk, cornmeal and even newspapers,
state radio reported Tuesday.
Mpofu accused what he called "unscrupulous and insensitive economic players"
and "economic saboteurs" of profiteering and using price increases as a
political ploy in a campaign to bring down the government.
Mpofu ordered gasoline prices reduced from about $4 a gallon to about $1.20.
Prices of cooking oil, tires, soap and bus fares were to be cut by more than
half. State controlled newspapers were to reduce their cover prices by
one-third, Mpofu said.
President Robert Mugabe also recently moved to require that virtually all
public companies cede controlling interests to "indigenous citizens, " a
plan the government calls black empowerment and Mugabe's critics label a bid
to shore up his crumbling political support.
The proposal, issued in draft legislation published Monday, would transfer a
51 percent stake in the companies to Zimbabweans who were "disadvantaged by
unfair discrimination on the grounds of ... (their) race" before April 1980,
when the nation won independence from white rule.
The proposal would establish a government fund to help citizens finance
stock purchases, and it would allow the government to reject any corporate
mergers, acquisitions, investments and other transactions in which
Zimbabweans did not hold a 51 percent stake.
It was unclear, however, how Zimbabwe's bankrupt government would finance
the transfers. Nor was it apparent how the new owners of the companies would
be chosen.
Mugabe's critics called the proposal another scheme to loot what remains of
the economy for the benefit of government insiders.
Information from the New York Times was used in this report.


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Inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe orders prices slashed


Tue 26 Jun 2007, 13:27 GMT

By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, June 26 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's government has ordered
prices of basic goods and services to be slashed to protect Zimbabweans
battling with the world's highest inflation rate, official media reported on
Tuesday.
The measure is intended to return prices to the levels of June 18 -- since
when the price of many basic goods has risen by up to 300 percent.
But it will be only a limited help for consumers when prices of basic goods
such as cooking oil, flour and milk are marked up every day. Official data
put annual inflation at 3,700 percent in April, and the figure now is
certain to be far higher.
"Government is aware that these escalating price increases are a political
ploy engineered by our detractors to effect an illegal regime change against
the ruling party and the government following the failure of illegal
economic sanctions," International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted as
saying by the official Herald newspaper.
Zimbabwe, once one of Africa's most prosperous countries, is suffering not
only soaring inflation and poverty, but also high unemployment and chronic
shortages of fuel, food and foreign exchange.
Many of its 13 million people are unable to feed themselves or their
families.
SHOPS DEFY ORDER
On Tuesday, shops in central Harare seemed to be defying the new directive.
Instead of cutting prices, some supermarkets simply emptied their shelves of
goods such as sugar, salt, flour cooking oil, beef and fuel that would be
subject to the order.
"We have been instructed by management to remove some of the products from
the shelves for now," an assistant at a leading chain store said as shoppers
scrambled to buy bathing soap.
At another store there were long queues as people stocked up, saying they
feared basic goods would now be in even shorter supply. But for several
companies it was business as usual.
"We have not reduced our prices because that has not been communicated to us
by the owners ... In actual fact, some of the prices will go up tomorrow,"
said Sam Makaza, a manager at a supermarket in downtown Harare.
Producers, who are operating at a third of normal output, argue that the
price increases are justified because they must pass on the cost of
purchasing the foreign currency needed to import raw materials.
The value of the Zimbabwean dollar has tumbled on the thriving black market,
where it was trading recently between 170,000 and 200,000 to the U.S.
dollar. The official rate is 15,000.
Under the new directive, businesses must revert to the prices quoted on June
18 while a commission investigates whether the recent jump was justified,
the Herald said, quoting Mpofu.
"Government has directed manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers to reduce
prices of basic commodities ... by up to 50 percent with immediate effect as
it takes measures against the wave of unjustified price increases over the
past few weeks," it said.
Mugabe's government routinely blames the economic crisis on sabotage by
Britain and other Western governments, which it says are punishing Zimbabwe
for seizing thousands of white farms and redistributing the land to poor
blacks.
Critics argue that it is Mugabe's mismanagement that has led to economic
collapse.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved


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ACP-EU to discuss Zim but will pass no resolution

Zim Online

By Sebastian Nyamhangambiri in Wiesbaden
27 June

The African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) joint parliamentary
assembly will today debate the seven-year old political crisis in Zimbabwe
but will pass no formal resolution because the southern African country is
not represented at the meeting. Addressing a press conference at the start
of the meeting, leaders of the ACP-EU said although Zimbabwe remained on the
agenda, no resolution on the crisis was expected at the meeting because of
Harare's absence. Legislators from Ethiopia, Botswana and South Africa had
lobbied for the removal of Zimbabwe from the agenda altogether after Harare
failed to send a delegation to the ACP-EU parliamentary assembly after
claiming that its delegation headed by Zanu PF legislator Forbes Magadu had
been denied visas to travel to Germany under EU sanctions. "As the ACP we
have met and deemed that taking a position on Zimbabwe without giving it a
right of reply would not be a good thing," said Rene Radembino-Coniquent,
the ACP president. "But we will have a debate on Zimbabwe, of course."
Last week, the EU rejected as false claims by Zimbabwe that its
parliamentarians were denied visas to travel to Europe saying the two never
submitted their visa applications at the Germany embassy in Harare. On
Monday, Glenys Kinnock, the ACP-EU JPA co-president said the German
government did not deny a visa to Magadu as he was not on the list of senior
Zanu PF officials who are banned from visiting Europe. The EU imposed a
travel ban on President Robert Mugabe and his senior government officials
about five years ago in protest over the Zimbabwean leader's human rights
abuses and failure to respect democracy. "We have an agreement (within the
EU) that as long as the delegation is not on the list, it will be allowed to
come to the EU-ACP JPA. We sought clarification on the matter and the German
authorities have told us that they never received visa application from the
Zanu PF MP in question," said Kinnock. Some senior officials from the
Zimbabwe embassy in Belgium are attending the meeting in Wiesbaden as
observers.
Meanwhile, some civic groups calling themselves Zimbabwe Civil Society on
Tuesday urged the Joint Parliamentary Assembly to put more pressure on
President Thabo Mbeki who is leading efforts to broker a political
settlement in Zimbabwe. South African President Mbeki was last March tasked
by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to lead a fresh search
for a solution to Zimbabwe's eight-year old political crisis. "In light of
the planned elections in March 2008 the Zimbabwe Civil Society asserts that
the SADC initiative must be time-bound and that results must be reached
urgently to prevent any further collapse of the country," the civic groups
said in a statement.


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ALERT! ZINWA Lies to Residents

COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (CHRA)
 
P.O Box HR 7870
145 Robert Mugabe, Third Floor,  
Exploration House
Harare
Tel/Fax: +263 4 705114
            Cell: 011 862 012, 011 443 578
                  0912 249 430, 0912 924 151
Email: info@chra.co.zw            
                                                                                                        Website: www.chra.co.zw
 
27 June 2007                                           
 
ALERT! ZINWA Lies to Residents
 
Harare- THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has once again been caught in its own trap of lying to its consumers. A potential disease outbreak of diarrhoea and dysentery will have disastrous consequences.
 
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, the Ministry of Water and Infrastructural Development and the City of Harare have remained quite when they must be taking urgent precautionary measures to address the pending disaster before lives are lost. In 2005, nearly 26 lives were lost due to cholera and dysentery after both the health ministry and the City of Harare failed to take heed of CHRA’s recommendations.
 
Residents of Glen View, Glen Norah, Msasa Park, Budiriro, and Kuwadzana have still not got water for bathing and consumption, despite ‘assurances’ from the disgraced waster authority that water would be readily available by midnight.
 
In an interview with the State-controlled Newsnet on Monday evening, Lisben Chipfunde, the ZINWA General Manager said the water authority was in the process of repairing a pump which overheated last Saturday.
 
Chipfunde lied. The residents of the affected suburb have been drinking water from open water sources since Friday, creating a potential health crisis, while Chipfunde and the rest of the incompetent managers at ZINWA draft lies after lies to explain their gross failure to address the pertinent issue of water supply and administration.
 
CHRA remains shocked that ZINWA’s officials can still continue to offer explanations when it is apparent that they do not have the capacity to provide sewerage and water services to residents of Harare.
 
Zimbabwe’s Parliament and Senate have both recommended that President Mugabe’s Cabinet should revisit its ill-advised decision to allow ZINWA to take over water supply, administration, treatment and billing and sewer reticulation from local authorities.
 
Residents have run out of patience. The Association has been receiving calls from disgruntled residents who have indicated that they may be forced to go on the streets in protest against the continued failure by ZINWA and the City of Harare to provide clean and adequate water to residents, and also for their continued exposure to flowing sewerage in their homes. No to ZINWA!
 
“CHRA for Enhanced Civic Participation in Local Governance”
Ends
________________________________________________________________________
For further details please contact us on info@chra.co.zw, and on mobile 0912 924 151, 011 862 012, 011 443 578 and 011 612 860 or visit us at Exploration House, Third Floor, Corner Robert Mugabe Way and Fifth Street
 
Regards
 
Precious Shumba
Information Officer
Combined Harare Residents' Association
Mobile: 011 612 860 or 0912 869 294
Tel: 04-705114
Website: www.chra.co.zw
 
"Stand Firm. Be of Good Courage"


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Blair exit robs Zimbabwe opposition of sponsor: Mugabe

africasia
 
27/06/2007 11:58

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told his domestic opponents Wednesday they had lost their great mentor with the departure from office of his arch enemy, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Those among us ... who have teamed up with the Western governments to try and affect regime change, we have seen how paranoid they have become lately with the imminent departure of their mentor and sponsor Tony Blair," he said.

"They do not know which way to go and are busy right now visiting European captials, tyring to seek favours with the new leaders there.

"Our message to them is that they should come back home and taste their own medicine."

Mugabe, leader of the former British colony since independence in 1980, has been one of Blair's most virulent critics, telling him to "keep his pink nose" out of the troubled southern African nation's internal politics and accusing him of trying to topple his government.

Blair's government was the prime instigator behind a package of targetted sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle -- including a travel ban and freezing of bank accounts - following allegations that he rigged his re-election in 2002.

The British premier was due to hand in his seals of office later Wednesday after more than 10 years in power.



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Some reports about Zimbabwe false: SA judge

peoples daily


       

Visiting South African Judge Moses Mavundla has said some media were misinforming the world about the situation in Zimbabwe, The Chronicle reported on Wednesday.
Justice Mavundla said they had read stories in some newspapers peddling falsehoods about the situation in Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe is a beautiful country. We are surprised about the stories," Justice Mavundla said after a meeting with Supreme Court judges.
Justice Mavundla was part of the six-member team of judges from Pretoria High Court who were in Zimbabwe for the past three days to share experiences with their local counterparts.
Team leader and Deputy Judge President of the Pretoria High Court, Justice Jerry Shongwe said his team had a fruitful time with their counterparts over the past three days.
"We have learnt a lot from our counterparts. Indeed, we have been empowered and I hope to return to Zimbabwe. We also hope that our colleagues will visit us in South Africa to share our valuable experiences too," Justice Shongwe said.
This is the first time since 1980 that a team of judges from South Africa has visited Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean judges are also expected to travel to South Africa on a reciprocal visit.
Source: Xinhua


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LONDON SERVICE OF SOLIDARITY WITH TORTURE SURVIVORS OF ZIMBABWE

the zimbabwean (27-06-07)

“Mugabe must pay for his sins” said the Zimbabwean academic and human
 rights campaigner John Makumbe at a church service in London in solidarity
 with torture victims in Zimbabwe. Makumbe told the gathering in the historic
 St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden that the Zimbabwean regime had invented
 new forms of torture, new methods of inflicting pain. He went on: “There is
 a price to pay for freedom and Zimbabweans are paying the price”. Makumbe
 said that one day soon there would be a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
 under which those who had committed atrocities would be called to account,
 with justice.

The service marked the United Nations International Day in Support of
Victims of Torture and was conducted by the Rev Graham Shaw, a
 Methodist Minister formerly from Bulawayo now in Cumbria who said torture is now
considered routine in Zimbabwe but there would be a day of accounting.
  He said by our mere presence at the service we had shown that the
 suffering in Zimbabwe had not gone unnoticed and that another Zimbabwe was possible.

Brita Sydhoff, the Secretary General of the International
 Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture said that in the past six years 25,000
 human rights violations in Zimbabwe have been documented and the situation
 was worsening.  Ms Sydhoff said she wanted to record her respect for the
 dignity and courage of those suffering in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean poet and writer, Chenjerai Hove, said he had cried when
 he had seen pictures of the brutality meted out to opposition activists.

The congregation joined in lighting candles in solidarity with torture
victims, accompanied by the vibrant singing of the Zimbabwe Association
 Zimbabwe Vigil Choir accompanied by Sam and Fungayi on saxophone and
 Harriet on piano.

After the service, the congregation sang their way in procession to the
Zimbabwe Embassy to lay flowers on the doorstep in tribute to the
 bravery of Zimbabwean torture victims.


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Mugabe seriously off topic at Gunda's funeral

the zimbabwean
(27-06-07)

PRESI ENT Robert Mugabe said government would immediately take over companies which continue to raise prices without any justification.

Mugabe who does not miss any public gathering to denounce western countries also said te British priminister Tony Blair and American president George Bush should “mind their own business and leave Zimbabwe alone.”

Speaking and the burial of national hero and Commander of 1 Brigade, Brigadier General Armstrong Gunda at Heroes Arce today, Mugabe said government would ruthlessly take over companies which ignore their call to reduce prices.

 “We (government) would take over all companies which continue to increase prices. If they want to be rough, we will show them that we are even rougher,” Mugabe said.

“Prices should come down today. It is going to be a rough game to any companies that refuses to oblige,” he said.

Mugabe singled out bakers and manufactures as government’s major targets.
He said the ruling party Zanu PF was there to stay and would not be removed by “imperialists”.
He said that no-one should tell them what to do, including those who once colonized Zimbabwe. He advised Bush and Blair to mind their own business saying that people suffered in the bush during the liberation struggle and would letnot outsiders change this regime.

Gunda died last week on Thursday when his car was hit by a trains on his way to Marondera.
 BrigGen Gunda joins fellow military cadres interred at the national shrine, among them former Zanla Commander Josiah Tongogara, who died in a car accident in 1979, and Alfred Nikita Mangena and Lookout Masuku, former Minister of Indigenisation and Empowerment, Josiah Tungamirai, Charles Dauramanzi and Brigadier General Charles Gumbo.

BrigGen Gunda was born on 2 March 1957 and did his secondary education at St Killian Mission in Rusape before leaving the country for Mozambique in 1975 to join the liberation struggle.He received his military training at Tembwe in 1976 and later in China from 1977 to 1978.Upon his return from China, he was posted to Chitepo sector in Mashonaland Central province where he operated until the ceasefire in 1979.At independence, he was attested into the Zimbabwe National Army as an officer and in December 1981 he was commissioned a lieutenant after completing the Officer Standardisation Academy.

His promotion in the army progressed as follows: lieutenant (1981), captain (1984), major (1986), lieutenant colonel (1992), colonel (1996) and brigadier general (2004) the rank he held until his untimely death.

During his service, BrigGen Gunda attended the Command Staff Course No 1 at the Zimbabwe Staff College, the Human Rights for Peacekeeping at the Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre, Senior Officers’ All Arms Signals Course and the Executive Programme for Commanders in the United States of America, among other many courses.
Since attestation into the ZNA in 1980, he held several appointments with different units such as Officer Commanding B Company at 41 Infantry Battalion 19801982, Administration Staff Officer Grade 2 Facilities at the Directorate of Army Training 19841985, Command at All Arms Battle School 19961998, commander Presidential Guards 19982005 and Commander 1 Brigade until his death.

It was during his time as commander Presidential Guards that BrigGen Gunda displayed his versatility and extreme devotion to duty.His responsibilities included the highly sensitive duty protecting the President and visiting VVIPs and VIPs from other nations.
This was a highly demanding task taking into cognisance the politically sensitive nature of his responsibilities.
The responsibility required him to exercise extreme diligence, initiative, unfailing devotion and loyalty as well as the highest standards of command and foresight.
He was awarded the Independence liberation 10 years service award, Mozambique campaign, the Long and Exemplary award, and the Democratic Republic of Congo campaign medals, among others.
BrigGen Gunda was posted to head 1 Brigade, covering Matabeleland Province in 2005, a position he held until his death.


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Change of currency

the zimbabwean
(27-06-07)

FOREIGN currency dealers who had been reaping huge returns when the dollar crushed by and average of about 260% against major currencies since June 1 are panicking following reports that the government South African and Botswana want change their banknotes.
Due to the hyperinflationary environment, most Zimbabweans had resorted to keeping their money in foreign currency as a hedge against inflation.
Almost every Zimbabwean household had pula and rand in store with workers preferring to convert their bearer cheques to foreign currency. Some locals are also reportedly changing their money into either pula or rand soon after receiving their salaries.
The change of the countries two currencies was said would be made “soon” according to local bank sources.
“The transition is said to been at an advanced stage in both countries and an official announcement might be made soon to the countries major trading partners,” the source said.
The anxiety among the dealers has sent the pula tumbling down to P1:Z$20 000. Last week, it was trading between Z$25 000 and Z$27 000.
The rand fell from R1:Z$22 000 to between Z$17 000 and Z$19 000.
However, the official exchange rate for the pula is P1:Z$40 while the rand is pegged at R1:Z$35.
Last week the Botswana’s media expressed concern at the amount of its currency which was present in Zimbabwe.
Although a clear-cut decision has not been made, it appears the authorities in that country could eventually opt to phase out the existing banknotes. Should that happen, foreign currency dealers would be left stranded with worthless currency.
According to the media in South Africa, its government  was reported to be uncomfortable with the amount of money in the hands of Zimbabwean foreign currency dealers.


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Currency crashes, so barter's better

the zimbabwean
(27-06-07)

Zimbabweans are switching to barter, payment in kind and the use of foreign currencies, such as neighbouring South Africa 's rand, instead of the local dollar to survive hyperinflation and the accelerating economic meltdown.
Harare - Zimbabwe's currency is still officially pegged at Z$250 to one US dollar; early last week the informal market price was about Z$100,000 to US$1, but by yesterday, Monday 25 June it had crashed to Z$400,000 against the US dollar. In January this year US$1 was being traded for Z$3,000.
The country's inflation rate - the highest in the world - is officially at more than 3,700%, although independent economists believe the real rate of inflation is around 20,000% and could reach 1.5 million% by the end of 2007.
Purses and wallets have become redundant; Zimbabweans have been using shopping bags, suitcases, sacks and other large containers to carry cash. Bank tellers are hidden from view by huge piles of the increasingly worthless currency as long queues wait to withdraw as much as they can in an attempt to beat the galloping inflation that has crippled the country, once a regional economic powerhouse.
Conversations in banking halls are drowned out by the constant drone of money-counting machines - importing the machines is one of the few remaining growth industries, but this mini-boom could also be ending, as Zimbabweans are increasingly forced to resort to barter, payment in kind and using foreign currencies.
Barter
"We pay for soybeans and can swap one ton for a drum of fuel," said a recent advert in the state-sponsored daily newspaper, The Herald; bartering is becoming commonplace as individuals, traders and markets seek an alternative method of determining value.
Thomsen Siziba, a newly resettled farmer in the prime farming area of Chegutu, Mashonaland West Province , told IRIN that farm workers no longer wanted to be paid in cash, but rather in kind.
"The gazetted (monthly) wages for farm workers is about Z$70,000 (US$0.17 at the current parallel market exchange rate of Z$400,000 to US$1) - which basically is not enough to buy two litres of cooking oil, which costs Z$350,000 (US$0.87) - or a bar of soap, which costs Z$270,000 (US$0.67), or a bottle of beer which costs Z$75,000 (US$0.18)," he said.
Siziba said they knew the economy was collapsing and "a lot of the farm workers say they no longer want long-term contracts which would tie them to me; the farm workers say they would rather work for food and clothing handouts instead of money, which they say is now worthless".
More than a third of the population will require food assistance by early next year, according to a recent joint report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN World Food Programme.
Ditching the Zimbabwean dollar
Onward Chabvepi, a vegetable hawker in the capital, Harare , told IRIN he had lost confidence in both President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF government and the local currency.
"The prices of just about everything are increasing every day. I am not a sophisticated economist, but one thing that I know is that our currency is now worthless, and that it is safer to convert most of the money which I earn to South African rands, the US dollar or the Botswana pula, which are much more stable currencies."
A tenant in Belvedere, an up-market suburb of Harare, told IRIN his landlord had given him notice that from July his rent should not be paid in Zimbabwean dollars but in fuel, which currently sells for about Z$220,000 a litre. His monthly rent will now cost him 80 litres of petrol, or Z$17.6 million (US$44).
Analysts said the growing use of the South African rand or US dollar for day-to-day trading was a watershed in Zimbabwe 's economic malaise. "It's a clear sign that people no longer have confidence in the Zimbabwean dollar," said Prof Tony Hawkins of the Graduate School of Management at the University of Zimbabwe .
He said the hyperinflation cycle, fuelled by the government's printing of money, has led to too much currency in circulation and people were opting to keep their money in foreign currencies that were more secure.
"The key cause of inflation is government and the central bank printing money - they are no longer publishing the figures of the total money in circulation," he said.
Hawkins told IRIN that although some people were engaging in barter trade, the chances that it would become widespread were minimal. "Logically, you could see that happening, but on a wider scale people prefer to sell their products in foreign currency, which is more secure and does not lose its value."
Post-Mugabe era
Since 2000, more than a quarter of the population - over three million people - are believed to have migrated to neighbouring countries in search of work, or further afield to England and the United States. Only one in five people in Zimbabwe is employed.
Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu told IRIN: "As government, we are concerned about the daily price increases and we have set up a taskforce that will work with security ministries and curb the price increases. They will also investigate the causes of basic commodities shortages, which are only found on the black market." Cross-border buying has also increased.
The freefall of Zimbabwe 's economy has many commentators believing that the endgame of Mugabe's 27-year rule is at hand, and cite last week's talks in South Africa between the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, and represen tati ves of the ZANU-PF government as an indicator of this.
Donor countries, including Britain , the former colonial power until 1980, are reportedly compiling a list of Zimbabwe 's requirements in a post-Mugabe era, although there is no indication that Mugabe is contemplating stepping down from office and has publicly stated that he intends running in presidential elections scheduled for next year.
A US$3billion, five-year stabilisation programme, which includes food aid, land reform and health assistance, would be required, according to reports.
Article courtesy of IRIN


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Last kicks of dying horse – Khupe

the zimbabwean
(26-06-07)
BY CHIEF REPORTER
CHINHOYI - Opposition leaders brought their campaign to northern Zimbabwe Sunday, telling some 5,000 supporters in Chinhoyi that President Robert Mugabe’s days were numbered and that the dawn of a new Zimbabwe was nigh.
The MDC Liberation Team, led by deputy President Thoko Khupe and also comprising secretary general Tendai Biti, his deputy Tapiwa Mashakada and spokesman Nelson Chamisa; vowed that the MDC was the messiah which would redeem Zimbabweans from this economic and political quagmire. Khupe urged party faithful to remain resolute in the face of deepening hardships and an escalating State-sponsored terror campaign.
“These are the last kicks of a dying horse,” the fiery opposition deputy declared, as she lambasted the spate of abductions and vicious torture of opposition activists by security agents.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who was in Europe, will be fielded as the opposition presidential candidate next March. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is also contesting all 200 constituencies in Parliamentary elections next March and the 50 contestable Senate seats, but says that attacks by stalwarts of the ruling Zanu (PF) make it too dangerous for candidates to campaign in most of them.
At least five people have died in political violence since March 11, and squatters led by veterans of Zimbabwe’s independence war from Britain have continued to occupy 4,000 white-owned farms. The government has identified 220 more farms, some of them in Chinhoyi, which it will seize without payment and distribute to landless peasants by September.
Many in the crowd at a football stadium adjacent to the Orange Grove Hotel wore MDC T-shirts, but few T-shirts were visible on the streets outside after the rally ended - supporters generally take them off to avoid clashes with Zanu (PF) militants. An MDC Mash West official, claimed however that such attacks had stopped in Chinhoyi because the ruling party realised the MDC was now in a majority here.
“Some police and soldiers buy MDC membership cards in secret,” he told The Zimbabwean. Earlier, the Town Council had denied permission to the MDC to hold the rally in the Chinhoyi Stadium ostensibly because Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo had denied them permission. The rally was finally cleared at the last minute but at a much smaller stadium situated a relatively longer distance from the residential areas. Nevertheless, thousands turned up for the rally.
Marshals frisked supporters for weapons as they arrived, and police - some with bayonets fixed to their rifles - stood by in six Land Rovers and one truck, but the rally went off peacefully, although the rally scheduled for Gokwe the previous day failed to take off.
The good-humoured crowd chanted and performed toyi-toyis - victory shuffles - as Khupe and her officials arrived in unmarked cars.
The MDC has an uphill task, because the President appoints 44 of the 294 members of the bicameral parliament. But, Khupe told the cheering crowd, “We want an election that will not produce contestable outcomes. What we want is a free and fair election.”
She warned government against rigging elections and said the MDC will continue to push for the leveling of the playing field and the repeal of despotic laws favouring Zanu (PF). Everyone who was 18 and over should register and make sure they vote, she said.
But her main message was that the 83-year-old Mugabe, whose mandate expires in 2008, should leave office after ruling Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 – “he is too old to do anything” - and give power to the people.
Chamisa said there were deepening hardships and mounting poverty in the country. The situation was no longer sustainable. Zanu (PF) has vandalized the economy, said Chamisa.
Biti recounted distressing statistics of economic decay and the systematic plunder of national resources by the Zanu (PF) government. The opposition leader also warned against the dire consequences of indegenisation laws forcing foreign owned companies to cede majority shareholding to government. He said the MDC will unveil its new economic blueprint, RESTART 2, which contains a raft of measures that will heal the crisis-torn economy after the MDC government takes over from Mugabe.
One young MDC supporter told The Zimbabwean he regarded Mugabe as a “father,” but added: “He hasn’t done anything for us.... There are no jobs.”
Said another: “The politicians are stealing like hell.”
Both were too frightened to give their names, but later at Marumahoko Hotel in the ghetto, The Zimbabwean witnessed an unprecedented sight: young people wearing MDC and Zanu (PF) T-shirts drinking beer together in the tavern and obviously the best of friends.


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Zimbabwe: Gono ordered to print Z$1 Trillion for Civil servants and Army

 
http://www.zimdaily.com/
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:55:00
Zimbabwe: Gono ordered to print Z$1 Trillion for Civil servants and Army
 

HARARE – Central bank governor Gideon Gono has been ordered by President Robert Mugabe to print $1 trillion to cater for civil servants and soldiers salaries that were hiked by 600 percent and 900 percent respectively.
Munyaradzi Shonhayi
The move is set to trigger a massive jump in inflation, which independent analysts say is now above the 20 000 percent mark. The official figure is 4 500 percent.
The civil servants and soldiers salaries hikes this month were not budgeted for and Gono initially declined to print the money when he met Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi on June 4 arguing that it was inflationary.
However, Mumbengegwi took the case to cabinet on June 19 where Gono was summoned and told by Mugabe to print the money.
“When Gono met the finance minister he told him to go to hell. In fact, he walked out of the meeting and declared that he will never print money since his mission is to fight inflation. But last week Gono was forced to eat humble pie when the Mugabe told him to print the money,” a source in cabinet said on Tuesday.
The source said Mugabe emphasised that there was need to cushion civil servants and soldiers who are living in abject poverty.
“Gono was of the opinion that the government should find other sources of raising money to pay the civil servants and soldiers. He suggested that their pay increment should be factored in the forthcoming supplementary budget,” the source said.
The government increased salaries of civil servants after they threatened to go on strike, while soldiers expressed their disgruntlement with their remuneration to their leaders.
The order for Gono to print money came barely amid calls by captains of industry and commerce that money minting was the major drive for inflation and that the central bank must stop it.
However, Mugabe is on record saying his government would continue to print money to meet its requirements.
Mugabe fired ex-finance minister Herbert Murerwa early this year after he complained that Gono was printing money to finance quasi operations, which in turn was inflationary.
The ageing Mugabe said Murerwa was too much into “bookish economics.”
Gono, a teaboy-cum-accountant started his career with ZimBank, another Government Bank and eventually moved to the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe. He was appointed by Professor Jonathan Moyo to head the University of Zimbabwe Council and awarded himself with an honorary doctorate.

Those close to the Reserve Bank governor claim he lacks basic understanding of economics and relies on his advisor Munyaradzi Kereke who runs the show at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
"His biggest ‘achievement’ to date was to convert the Reserve Bank into Mugabe’s personal asset looting whatever foreign currency they lay their dirty hands on, said one analyst in Harare yesterday.

Meanwhile, the retail price of a loaf bread raced to $45,000 Sunday, driven mainly by increases in input costs, mainly fuel.
Before the increase, a standard loaf was selling for $23,000. Industry and International Trade minister Obert Mpofu immediately said the increase was illegal and threatened to jail executives who had unilaterally sanctioned the hike.
The increase came hardly a week after government announced it had set up a taskforce to clampdown on price increases. The ministerial taskforce was reportedly enforcing a protocol on prices and incomes ratified by labour, business and government recently. Bakers say the price of bread was pushed in the main by rising input costs.

Industry executives told ZimDaily that attempts to control the price of bread without curbing prices along the supply chain would cause economic dislocation.
A production manager at a City Bakery had this to say: “We are incurring heavy losses everyday and we had no choice except increase in price. Its the only way we can remain in business.” Since the beginning of this year, the price of flour has increased by an average 90 percent every month, he said.
“Our businesses are no longer profitable and the allegations of profiteering are baseless because of hyperinflation, now above 4,500 percent,” the manager said.
Another baker said: “There is massive demand for bread at the moment because not all bakeries are operational. We are producing limited quantities of bread and delivering it around town, but not to rural areas. This is because of the high delivery costs.”
Many in Zimbabwe have removed bread from their diet and resorted to mbambaira (sweet potatoes.)   


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Its time for opposition to act in unity

 
http://www.zimdaily.com/
Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:04:00
Zimbabwe:

The MDC membership has now been overdosed with Party unity talks and is fed up with reports of promises of unity instead of the integration of the so called factions.
Hatirebwi Nathaniel Masikati
At any other time the comical side of the Zanu PF divide and rule tactics that splintered the MDC Executive into two halves on 12 October 2005 would not elicit a wink of my eye let alone written comment. The gravity of the consequence of a Zanu PF electoral victory to the entire country’s fortunes and its peoples lives are too ghastly to contemplate.
Because of that the rational person in me forces me to once again plead the people’s plight to the leadership in either camp to thoroughly and critically examine their stance in contributing to the promotion of a two faced MDC to represent the unitary objective of liberating the country from the siege and haemorrhaging it suffers due to a unitary faced tyrannical Zanu PF with divergent objectives but glued together by a common personal fear in each of its leaders.
I strongly believe that very good and compelling grounds have been advanced by the apprehensive party grassroots for the MDC to disband its so called factions and unite to enhance its chances of attaining its formative goal of replacing Zanu PF as the ruling Party in Zimbabwe but alas the Zanu PF inspire division of the party still exists up to date and it appears it will be in place by the time 2008 elections will be held.
Causes and Effects
The causes of the 2005 splinter of the MDC Party Executive Council have been reduced to the following issues:-
1.                  Tribalism in the party
2.                  Zanu PF infiltration
3.                  Inter Party violence
4.                  Senate elections
5.                  Undemocratic practices of the Party’s President.
The effects of the split have been evident to every member and include:-
i.           Grassroots supporter confusion and despondency
ii.            Increased factional violence and mudslinging
iii.           Party assets fragmentation
iv.             Changed political focus
v.            Wasted Party time on re-unification dialogue
vi.            Increased tribal polarisation between factions
vii.            Faction defection
viii.           Increased Zanu PF infiltration of the opposition Party
ix.          Mistrust
The bottom line is that in the final analysis the split has not benefited the players but the architect of the Split Zanu PF and if this continues into the election Zanu PF and not MDC will have the last laugh.
Factionalism Perspectives
The tribal perspective has been given prominence by the split. The Zanu/Zapu divide in the 1987 coalition has been extended to the MDC by Matibili’s design. Zapu is defacto led by a Shona Joseph Msika in the 1987 Gukurahundi induced Zanu PF merger whereas in the 2005 split the Matabeleland segment of MDC is led a Shona robotics Professor Arthur Mutambara. The similarities don’t end there. Both the MDC split and Zanu Zapu marriage of convenience were for some reason timed to occur in an odd year maybe to symbolise their uniqueness.
Zanu PF infiltration of the MDC has found fertile ground in which to breed in the Mutambara led breakaway grouping in similar ways Zapu was swallowed by Zanu in the so called 1987 Unity accord. Consider the following excerpts from a recent Herald report in support of this view:-
Zanu PF baits the MDC at the Mutambara faction headquarters inn Bulawayo with the following statement after handing over tractors to MDC Functionaries and Executives named in the report;
"It's a national event . . . that realisation is important that there must be occasions when we must be together. After all, we eat together. Nyaya yekudya inyaya yedu tese, hapana asingararame nekudya. Kana toita politics dzekutukana tinenge taguta," the President said.
The MDC swallows the bait hook sinker ant line and is irreversibly trapped:-
 "I am surprised that some Honourable Members go on national television lambasting the Government and RBZ but these same members criticise the Government when we are in our parliamentary portfolio committees for not supporting farmers.
Now that the Government is doing exactly that, they then choose to lambast (it), I think they (MDC MPs) need to be examined by a medical doctor.
The tractor I got came late for me, but I will work hard to produce at a farm I inherited from my father in Matopos and I will be inviting the minister next year to see the wonders that I will be doing," said Sen Ndlovu. 
Zanu PF capitalizes on this political manna from the MDC and advances its agenda as follows:-
"Those who do not want the tractors they will be given to serious farmers," Minister Made said.
Although this infiltration of the MDC by Zanu PF is clean and has maximum electioneering impact for Zanu PF as it is given maximum press coverage by the State controlled media other more subtle acts before the split were conveniently not highlighted.
During Morgan Tsvangirai’s trumped up treason charges trial his initial accomplice and erstwhile secretary general had similar charges against him withdrawn at pre-trial conference level. No reasons were given for this.
The same Welshman Ncube was  allocated a Zanu PF expropriated farm immediately thereafter and he latently led the breakaway renegades and was on the list of the tractor beneficiaries together with his new president AGO Mutambara.
There is ample evidence to suggest that this breakaway is Zanu PF sponsored more so than has hitherto been admitted. Other reasons are mere smokescreens if you ask me.
Job Sikhala, Welshman Ncube, David Coltart, Edwin Mushoriwa, Priscilla Musihairambwi Trudy Stevenson and Gift Chimanikire were very vocal at the time of the split that Morgan Tsvangirai was more violent and repressive than Matibili and thus they could not work with him.
Gift Chimanikire’s Presidential ambitions of the renegade grouping were shattered when AGO Mutambara was brought in through the back door and installed leader of the renegades. He promptly realized that he had been used by a group with self serving interests and returned to the fold of the group he had deserted.
In hindsight the intra party violence was a Zanu PF brewed excuse for the split by Zanu PF rather than a conviction of the renegades.
The main reason for the split that was advanced and bought into by many was the ideological differences over participation in Senatorial Elections of 2005.  I refused to have wool pulled over my eyes by this trivia.
A month before, the MDC MP’s who made the Party’s executive council, had unanimously opposed the Senate formation by Zanu PF. When the Senate became a reality after their Parliamentary motion defeat we were sold this puerile that over half the MDC MPs that had opposed Senate formation were now seeing political opportunity and a chance to defend democratic space via this new political landscape. Utter crap.
I advance that the split was not over the intra party violence or the Senate participation differences but rather the insubordination of Tsvangirai by his intellectual think tank headed by Welshman Ncube. Welshman Ncube is an intellectual supremacist in the mould of AGO Mutambara, Robert Matibili Mugabe, Edison Zvobgo, Jonathan Moyo and Dzingai Mutumbuka. He is a tribal opportunistic puritan who realizes his chances of political success are limited by his tribal origins and thus he uses the Shona shield to derive maximum benefit in the background where he is not open to public scrutiny.
Many people do not know that Welshman Ncube is not a founder member of the MDC as he was only invited by the founders of the party viz Gibson Sibanda, Morgan Tsvangirai, Isaac Matongo Thokozile Khupe and a host of ZCTU Trade Union affiliate Executive Councilors who realized the need to have a sound and well educated think tank to galvanise their political ideas in a country where the majority wrongly think academic excellence is the benchmark for successful leadership.
The educated elite were invited and when they thought they had become established they decided to take over the Party but little did they realize why they were popular with the grassroots of the Party.
Finally we are told the split was script written by Tsvangirai’s undemocratic malfeasances that led to him overruling a 33-31 vote in favour of participation in Senatorial elections of 2005. What hogwash.
There had been numerous attempts to unseat Tsvangirai by the Matabeleland Axis of the MDC that had been resisted mainly by Gibson’s vote of confidence in his colleague of years in the ZCTU’s leadership.


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Zimbabwe's tax threshold to go up next month

http://www.zimdaily.com/
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:12:00
Gideon Gono doubles as Reserve Bank governor and Finance Minister
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's regime starring popular uprising will next month increase tax free threshold from $100 000 to $1,5 million to cushion workers wallowing in abject poverty as a result of government's poor political and economic policies.
Munyaradzi Shonhayi

In a notice on Monday, finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi said the threshold would go up on July 1.

"The tax free threshold, which has been pegged at $100 000 per month from January 2007, has not been adjusted in line with periodic review of salaries and wages. Consequently, salary and wage adjustments on account of inflation are now subject to higher rates of tax," Mumbengegwi said.

He added: "In order to cushion taxpayers and in particular low income earners from incidences of higher tax rates, as well as enhance disposable incomes, thereby raising aggregate demand for goods and services, government is availing the following tax relief measures - raising the tax free threshold from $100 000 to $1,5 million per month and widening the tax bands to end at $25 million from the current $5 million per month, above which income will be taxed at a rate of 47,5 percent."

However, the move will not be of any significance to most workers as they earn an average of $500 000.

There are fears in Zimbabwe that Mugabe's government would face a popular uprising as a result of galloping inflation which has seen prices of most basic commodities going up by over 100 percent in the last two weeks.

Inflation is officially pegged at 4 500 percent, but independent analysts say it is now over the 20 000 percentage mark.


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Zimbabwe's players aim at Wimbledon double titles

Updated:2007-06-27 From:Xinhuanet

HARARE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Two of Zimbabwe's top tennis players Cara Black and Kevin Ullyett are in London gunning for the women's and men's doubles titles, The Herald reported on Tuesday.

Although focus will be on the singles, there will also be interest in the doubles which have over the past years produced some exciting matches in both sections.

And the Zimbabwean flag will once again be flying at Wimbledon, hopefully for the next two weeks, as both Black and Ullyett fight for honors in the women's and men's doubles.

Black and her South African partner Liezel Huber, who won the 2005 Wimbledon women's doubles title, are back at their favorite hunting ground on grass in London where they are seeded second in this year's competition.

Winners of the doubles title at the Australian Open in January this year, Black and Huber are back in London searching for their second Grand Slam title of the season.

They open their campaign with a tricky first round tie against the unseeded French pair of seasoned campaigner Nathalie Dechy and Severine Bremond later this week.

Black and Huber moved to London on Sunday after playing in a warm-up grass court tournament in Eastbourne last week where they reached the semi-finals, losing to Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbsin a third set tie-break on Saturday.

They now hope to pick up the pieces and go all the way to the final at Wimbledon in a fortnight.

Black's fellow Zimbabwean Ullyett is partnering Australia's Paul Hanley in the men's doubles and the two are seeded sixth.

Like Black and Huber, Ullyett and Hanley also face French opponents, unseeded Nicola Devilder and Paul-Henri Mathieu, in their opening match.

Unlike Black and Huber, who have already collected four doubles crowns on the road this year, Ullyett and Hanley seem to be struggling with their game in this year's campaign where they have only won one title at the Sydney International tournament in Australia at the beginning of the year.

They are hoping for a change of fortunes at Wimbledon where most of the world's top doubles teams struggle to adapt to grass and fall by the wayside in the early stages of the competition.


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