Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Opinion
The Geoff Nyarota Column
I
normally have a jaundiced view of politicians who are in the habit of making
profound statements in the national interest while standing on podiums in
foreign lands.
President Robert Mugabe has become a past master in this
regard, as he occasionally makes known his new thinking on the sensitive but
pertinent issue of his retirement from office during trips abroad. He grants
interviews to foreign journalists while travelling in distant lands or to the
few foreign journalists fortunate enough to be allowed to interview him in his
office in Munhumutapa Building, much to the chagrin of local journalists.
Particularly embarrassed are those loyalists within the government’s media
juggernaut who tirelessly sing in praise of him. Through dispatches from such
distant capitals, Zimbabweans often get to know that their president is indeed
thinking about the prospect of either stepping down in the foreseeable future or
extending a little further his term of office.
The MDC appears to have taken
a leaf out of President Mugabe’s book in this regard, which is regrettable,
considering that the party should be striving to shake off the image, imaginary
or real, of an organisation manipulated by foreign interests.
During a
recent visit to the United Kingdom by the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, his
party’s new secretary general Tendai Biti, made a statement that made instant
headlines.
Biti was quoted by Reuters news agency as having disclosed that
the MDC had accepted in principle a proposal to grant to President Mugabe
immunity from prosecution for human rights violations, if that would help to
save the nation from further catastrophe.
Such a statement will no doubt
incur the wrath of our compatriots in the western regions of Zimbabwe,
especially those who suffered the consequences of the deployment of or witnessed
the atrocities perpetrated by Five Brigade during the Gukurahundi campaign of
the 1980s. Also likely to take umbrage at such a pronouncement are the hundreds
of thousands who have been victims of sporadic ZANU PF-sponsored political
violence since independence, including the infamous Operation Murambatsvina and
the millions who have been forced to relocate to the diaspora over the years as
political and/or economic refugees. They, as well as all upholders of democratic
values and principles, expect, understandably so, that President Mugabe be held
to account for the transgressions of his government.
The MDC’s proposal was,
in those circumstances, as daring as it was unexpected among Zimbabweans who, in
their frustration, now expect salvation or a solution to their nation’s
political and economic crisis from divine intervention or from the mediation of
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Surprisingly, Biti’s proposal is not
entirely original.
As one who has been a victim of both persecution and
excessive prosecution by the government, I was stunned, back on May 16 2005, to
read in British newspaper The Times an article by Richard Dowden. He suggested
that the government of President Mugabe’s nemesis, British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, eats humble pie and deals directly with the Zimbabwean leader.
“There
is a chance of an internal deal that may involve immunity for past crimes,”
Dowden postulated. “Zimbabwe may be one of the places where justice has to be
delayed — perhaps until the next world — for the sake of peace.”
Part of my
revulsion to Dowden’s proposal was that it was coming from a foreigner.
“Perfidious Albion,” I said to myself.
This time around, a year later and
with Zimbabwe’s inflation now well over the 1 000 percent mark, on the back of a
precipitous socio-economic meltdown, and with the same proposal now coming from
Zimbabwe’s most influential opposition party, I paid more attention.
I have
heard this proposal propounded by Zimbabweans in numerous private conversations,
but never in public, apart perhaps from the daring articulation of the late
university don and Financial Gazette columnist, Professor Masipula Sithole.
Zimbabweans are renowned for their magnanimity. In 1980 they pardoned Rhodesian
rebel Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith, whose security forces committed untold
atrocities inside the country and in Zambia and Mozambique during the war to
liberate our country.
Since independence a pervasive culture of endemic fear
has engulfed Zimbabwe. In fact, this terror has its roots in the violence
spawned by that war, which the rural population was forced to endure in the
operational zones of the brutal guerilla conflict.
The overwhelming sense of
fear that has become a common characteristic of Zimbabwe’s political ethos after
independence is a carry-over from that war. Virtually every Zimbabwean lives in
fear, prompting the uncharitable observation of the citizens of neighbouring
countries that we have become a nation of cowards. Ordinary citizens, whether
rural or urban, live in perpetual fear of the state security machinery — the
army and the CIO. They are terrified of ZANU PF and its own ruthless machinery
for spreading terror and instilling fear, the so-called Green Bombers.
In
reality, the ostensibly powerful ZANU PF politicians also live in morbid fear —
they are terrified of the CIO and the man to whom the organisation is ultimately
responsible, President Mugabe.
Rather paradoxically, the President himself,
meanwhile, also leads a terror-stricken existence. He is horrified by the
prospect of the people doing a Pinochet on him in retaliation for the years of
hardship, deprivation, cruel humiliation, violence and atrocity suffered by
millions as a result of his government’s retrogressive policies and actions. As
a result, President Mugabe believes his own safety and security can only be
guaranteed by his continued tenure of office. It can’t be sheer love for power
that has transformed him into a virtual prisoner at State House for the greater
part of the last quarter century.
While it is patently clear that government
has no solution to the nation’s many ills, notwithstanding an abundance of
resources, both natural and human, with potential to achieve an effective
turnaround of our economy and our fortunes, President Mugabe will not step down
because of a very real fear of the people. The increasingly elaborate security
arrangements around his person bear ample testimony to this
theory.
Meanwhile, our nation is held hostage to a problem that can be solved
quite expeditiously.
Every other initiative, from foreign-sponsored quiet
diplomacy to home-grown mass action, having failed dismally, the time may now
have arrived for the people of Zimbabwe to seriously consider the proposed
pardon for President Mugabe. Ideally, before it is implemented, Zimbabweans
would be asked in true democratic fashion and in the national interest to
indicate in some form of referendum whether the majority endorses such a
proposal.
Essentially, they would be requested to choose between holding
President Mugabe hostage at State House to the continuing detriment of the
nation while hoping to inflict punishment on him one day or releasing him on
some irrevocable guarantee of immunity so that we can get on with the momentous
task of rebuilding our nation and rehabilitating our wrecked economy.
Endorsement of the MDC proposal would result in a win-win situation; a
compromise in which President Mugabe would be reprieved while Zimbabweans
extricate their country from his relentless and devastating clutches. A
transitional government headed by whoever appears to be Zimbabwe’s most popular
politician currently, would then be put in place, with United Nations-supervised
elections being held at the earliest opportunity.
For President Mugabe, just
to be the beneficiary of leniency and clemency, when he himself is intolerant
and unforgiving and for him to witness the rebirth of a nation with vast
potential for prosperity and a new hope for future generations would be a form
of excruciating punishment.
Once in a while, President Mugabe would be
invited to tour places such as Kondozi Farm, with Edwin Moyo on hand to show him
thousands of happy employees once more working around the clock to meet growing
export orders. The former president would also be invited to tour Tsholotsho,
Lupane or other rural districts of Zimbabwe, there to witness new development
projects, with citizens, happily waving to him in nostalgic memory of the
triumphant guerrilla war hero that he was before the onset of Gukurahundi. In
this scenario, politicians such as Professor Jonathan Moyo would be reined in so
that their talents and boundless energy are tapped for the benefit of
Zimbabwe.
Incidentally, if President Mugabe dies in office, he will still
escape the punishment for which we all clamour so stridently and persistently.
Essentially the options are that President Mugabe either escapes punishment now
through a magnanimous grant of immunity while we proceed to rescue our nation or
that he escapes punishment through death in office after our country has
deteriorated even further.
In the final analysis, Zimbabweans carry on their
shoulders the responsibility to spearhead the search for a solution to the
current crisis. They cannot relegate this onerous duty to Thabo Mbeki, Kofi
Annan, Tony Blair or George Bush. Zimbabweans must have pride of proprietorship
over a homegrown solution. The issue of amnesty could be a pointer to such a
wholly Zimbabwean solution. The solution to the current crisis must emanate from
a spectacular prescription, requiring courage and determination. But then, as a
nation, we have become prisoners of fear. The majority of the population cannot
articulate their views or concerns openly on such sensitive but divisive issues
as Gukurahundi for fear of being branded tribalists or Mugabe-lovers. Ndebele
subjects who campaign for justice on this issue, however belatedly, do so away
from public platforms, their campaigns assuming the countenance of rebellious
plotting against the Shona majority.
Because they are accused en masse of
conspiring with or supporting the Gukurahundi atrocities, the Shona majority
have taken to adopting a negative attitude to any initiative that seeks to
address the issue of the atrocities. This has engendered inexorable ethnic
polarisation in the nation. The largely ethnic split within the MDC is a
veritable symptom of that schism.
Before we seek to distribute any funds in
compensation for government-inflicted hardship, let us first create the
conditions for the generation of wealth. Once our country is set on the road
back to prosperity and we have an abundance of resources we can then, acting
together as a nation, address a number of outstanding issues that are the cause
of disaffection among sections of the community. Such issues include the
prospect of reparation or compensation for those who suffered the ravages of
Gukurahundi, sporadic and murderous political violence, Operation Murambatsvina
as well as bombs that exploded under printing presses. Demanding compensation
today is a futile exercise, unless we expect Gideon Gono to print more money for
that purpose. This is the harsh reality; these are the hard facts.
Bad
timing and inappropriate strategy are the bane of even otherwise progressive
initiatives, as the illustrious Professor Arthur Mutambara may already be
lecturing to all who care to listen to him.
gnyarota@yahoo.com
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Mavis Makuni Own Correspondent
REACTING to the
re-emergence of former long-serving Kenyan president, Daniel Arap Moi, on the
political scene, opposition politician, Raila Odinga, is quoted as saying:
"There are people who have left the field — let them stay out there and leave
others to handle the country's political affairs."
Odinga of the Orange
Democratic Movement (ODM), which comprises a coalition of opposition parties,
made the remark after Moi, who was ousted in a humiliating electoral defeat in
2002, declared categorically that KANU, his former ruling party, should not go
into a merger with ODM, which is now the official opposition. The former
president maintained that KANU was already a national party which was strong
enough to stand on its own.
However, opposition politicians fear that Moi is
trying to position himself ahead of time so that he can influence the outcome of
the next general elections by making sure only his chosen candidate would win.
They feel that Moi, who was a founding member of KANU 56 years ago and was its
chairman for more than 20 years, has had his chance and should now enjoy his
retirement and stay in the background. "You had 24 years to do what you wanted,
what did you do?" Odinga challenged the former president.
While politicians
in Kenya are grappling with how to prevent a former president from staging a
political comeback, the converse side of the issue — how to get an incumbent
president to leave — was broached by South African President Thabo Mbeki at the
World Economic Forum in Cape Town.
Mbeki argued against unlimited terms for
presidents, saying it was inconceivable that incumbents would continue to enjoy
the support of their people if they clung to power for the rest of their
lives.
"For many countries on the continent, the big challenge is managing
developing multicultural, multi-faith, multiethnic, multilingual societies which
don't cohere naturally," the Sunday Times quotes Mbeki as saying. "All these
components of this society must get a true sense of belonging. That means access
to political power and access to resources in a manner that is equitable, that
communicates the message that all of us belong."
It is interesting that this
inclusive rather than exclusive approach should be advanced by Mbeki, who has
been accused during the ongoing controversy surrounding Jacob Zuma of resorting
to pre-emptive machinations to stop the former deputy president from ascending
to the top post.
Zuma's vociferous supporters, who are mainly Zulus, have
made a big issue of his dismissal by Mbeki last year and his trial on
allegations of raping a family friend this year as underhand attempts to rob him
of a chance to become South Africa's next president because of his ethnic
origins. The ruling ANC has sometimes been referred to as 'Xhosanostra' because
both Mbeki and his predecessor, the revered Nelson Mandela, are Xhosas. But in
his speech in Cape Town Mbeki, who has also been accused of secretly harbouring
ambitions for a third term after the expiry of his constitutionally limited
incumbency in 2009, stressed that life presidencies and ethnicity had no place
in a democracy. His stance will however, not elicit enthusiastic support from
most of his counterparts on the African continent, which has some of the
longest-serving presidents in the world. Some have been in power for periods
ranging from 26 to 40 years and are outdone only by Cuba's Fidel Castro, who has
been at the helm for a record 47 years.
While there is growing opposition to
this monopolisation of power, the incumbents often resort to arguments such as
the one advanced at the World Economic Forum by former Mozambican leader,
Joachim Chissano.
In response to Mbeki's criticism of the concept of life
presidencies, Chissano, who himself relinquished power a few years ago, said the
issue should be looked at in an "African context". He argued that two terms were
not enough for a leader to complete his programmes.
Critics would shoot down
Chissano's argument for several reasons. Experience in Africa has shown that the
longer a president remains in power the more dictatorial and tyrannical he
becomes. The only programme he is interested in promoting at this stage is his
own political survival and the repressive apparatus he needs to crush dissent
gobbles up resources that should benefit the rest of the population. There are
very few countries in Africa today that are better off under life presidents
than they were at the attainment of independence.
Most are characterised by
civil strife, dilapidated infrastructure, pauperised populations, ruined
economies and public institutions. The only oasis in this desert of misery and
suffering are the opulent lifestyles of those enjoying the patronage of the
dictator. Chissano said he supported unlimited presidential terms as long as
incumbents were elected in free and fair elections by people who said; "Okay,
this president is doing well, we want him to remain."
The trouble in many
African countries is that the people are saying, "We are tired of this brutal
dictator, we want change" and the incumbent resorts to repressive measures or
electoral fraud and rigging to thwart the demands of the electorate. Proponents
of the "African context" school of thought fail to appreciate that any country
on the planet is a work in progress which can never be completed by one person.
If it were possible for one leader to do everything that needs doing in a
country and solve all problems for all time, government would have to be
abolished, there would be no need for it.
Business Day (SA), 8 June
Harare
Correspondent
Controversial Zimbabwean tycoon John Bredenkamp - an erstwhile
ally of President Robert Mugabe’s government - has not fled the country,
although his business empire is under official investigation by the National
Economic Conduct Inspectorate for "economic crimes". A spokesman for Breco
International, Bredenkamp’s holding company, with interests in mining,
agriculture, manufacturing, leisure, real estate and sports, said yesterday the
prominent magnate had left for London on Tuesday on a "scheduled trip through
the normal channels of travel". This comes amid reports that Bredenkamp, who
government authorities claim holds a local, South African and Dutch passports,
"fled" in a private jet to escape a widening probe into alleged economic crimes.
Police have raided Bredenkamp’s businesses, investigating alleged flouting of
exchange control regulations, tax evasion and violation of the Citizenship Act.
However, a company spokesman, who requested anonymity, said that while it was
true that Bredenkamp’s businesses were under investigation, he had not fled the
country. "It’s true there are investigations at the moment into a number of
allegations, but it’s ridiculous to say the chairman fled the country," the
spokesman said.
Bredenkamp, named several times among Britain’s top 50
richest people, has a home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, in the UK. He also has
many other houses around the world. Asked whether the widely reported fallout
between Bredenkamp and Mugabe’s regime could be the cause of the probe, the
company spokesman said: "I just don’t know." Bredenkamp, who has business
interests around the world, including petroleum trading and aircraft
manufacturing, grew close to the Zimbabwean government after he was accepted
back into the country in 1982. He had been declared persona non grata in 1980
for unknown security reasons. Bredenkamp has been involved in Mugabe’s ruling
Zanu PF politics and sources say this is the "real reason behind the
investigation". It has also been widely reported that he brokered arms deals for
Zimbabwe when it was involved in the Congo war, where he had mining interests
before he was forced out in a fierce scramble for mineral concessions with
another controversial Zimbabwean mogul, Billy Rautenbach. Bredenkamp, a former
Rhodesian rugby captain, was born in SA in 1940 but moved to Zimbabwe as a
child.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Stanley Kwenda Own Correspondent
SIX priceless historical art pieces
were stolen from the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe (NAGZ) in Harare on
Tuesday afternoon, raising fears of the existence of a cartel on the prowl for
artefacts after an audit revealed the disappearance of a staggering 1 500 pieces
from the National Museum in Harare.
The pieces comprised four original
traditional Zimbabwean headdresses better known as Mutsago and two Makonde masks
from Mozambique. The artefacts were all made from wood and were kept in the
Northern section of the gallery as part of its permanent collection.
“I can
confirm that six unique and exquisite items were stolen from the Gallery on
Tuesday afternoon. The pieces define the Zimbabwean traditional way of life and
some of them are used as symbols of the Gallery and are very important in the
history of the country,” said Doreen Sibanda, the NAGZ Director.
News of the
theft follows an audit report revealing that some 1500 artifacts disappeared
from the National Museum of Human Sciences in Harare last year.
According to
the NAGZ official, a Caucasian man, who entered the gallery on the day in
question and refused to obey some standing rules, was the prime suspect.
“The pieces are also used by traditional researchers from around the world
because they contain the country’s exclusive and original handiwork. Although
some art pieces of such a nature are being done
for commercial purposes
these were the original ones done for purely
art purposes,” said
Sibanda.
“We are working very closely with the police and we have since
notified Interpol, these pieces cannot be valued but they are very valuables
pieces,” said Sibanda.
The NAGZ official said the pieces are usually taken to
European countries where they fetch high prices.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Chris Muronzi Staff Reporter
Government has hiked duty
on imported orange juice by 40 percent, up from five percent sparking an outcry
from the Beverage Manufacturers Association, which says the move would push
prices up.
The BMA deputy chairman B. Bushu said the industry was
currently experiencing supply constraints due to another poor season at Mazoe
Citrus Estates, the prime supplier of orange juice, whose operations have been
hamstrung by the occupation of a fifth of its land by ‘new farmers.’
Mazoe
Citrus Estates has recently increased the price of raw juice by 1000
percent.
“Orange juice is a very
popular dilutable drink enjoyed by
almost everyone in Zimbabwean society. The prices have been so reasonable over
the years that every dining table, every satchel could not go for long without
some orange juice,” Bushu said.
“The increase in duty is happening at a time
when Mazoe Citrus Estates, the sole supplier of orange juice increased the price
of the product by more than 1000 percent. It is also known that Mazoe will not
be able to meet the requirements of juice manufacturers due to a poor orange
season.
“Against a backdrop of increasing operational costs the increase in
duty comes as an unwelcome development that can only hurt the consumers’ pocket.
The Beverage Manufacturers Association has tasked its members to find
ways
and means of ensuring that the cost of orange crush does not soar beyond the
reach of the ordinary customer,” said Bushu.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Staff Reporter
THE Financial Gazette, which has
persistently maintained its leadership among the country’s business weeklies,
this week launches its first-ever multi-billion dollar promotion that has
already generated a lot of excitement.
Dubbed The Financial Gazette Mega
Promotion, the inaugural competition will run for a period of three months,
punctuated by two monthly draws in July and August with the climax being the
grand draw pencilled for September 15.
Pilate Machadu, the sales and
marketing manager for the pink paper - as the publication is affectionately
known - revealed yesterday that at least 38 lucky winners will walk away with
spectacular prizes between the first and final draws.
“We committed ourselves
to giving back something to our loyal readers who have stood by us regardless of
the turbulent economic times,” said Machadu. “While we cannot reward every
Fingaz reader for obvious reasons, we have laid a solid foundation for an
exciting future that will offer more prizes to our readers,” he
added.
Machadu, who doubles up as chairman of the powerful Advertising Media
Association said the promotion will become an annual event. The inaugural
competition has attracted some of the country’s top brands namely hospitality
concern Rainbow Tourism Group, financial behemoth Barclays Bank, national
airline Air Zimbabwe, Multichoice Zimbabwe and leading wholesaler Jaggers &
Trador.
“Fingaz is seeking unbridled brand loyalty, and so are our partners.
In the same vein, the partnership is promoting a reading culture in Zimbabwe. We
are glad to have RTG, Barclays, Multichoice, Jaggers & Trador as well as
AirZim as our pioneering partners and we are confident that the convergence of
these leading brands will offer something spectacular to our readers,” said
Machadu.
To participate in the competition, readers can buy any two
consecutive issues of The Financial Gazette between this week and August 31,
fill in the user-friendly form(s) inserted in the newspaper(s), attach the
completed form(s) to the Fingaz masthead/banner and send the entries to the
given address.
In order to make it easy for readers in outlying areas, at
least 25 outlets across the country have been designated as deposit or entry
form collection points.
A reader can enter the
competition as many times
as possible thereby enhancing his/her chances of winning.
“There will be
draws in July and August that would build up the excitement ahead of the grand
draw,” said Machadu.
The prizes include DSTV equipment and subscriptions,
shopping vouchers, air tickets, hotel accommodation, free Fingaz subscriptions
and school fees payments totalling $500 million.
Over the years, the Fingaz
has lived up to its reputation as a must read publication boasting specialised
and leisure sections such as the Companies & Markets, The Property Gazette
and The Weekend Gazette.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business Reporter
THE country’s second
largest mortgage lender, Beverley Building Society (BBS), has begun to show
signs of stress under the seven-year-old economic crisis by closing down four of
its branches in an unexpected escalation of its cost-cutting efforts.
Sources within Beverley disclosed this week that the building society
had by the end of last month wound up operations at four branches in Harare.
These include Kamfinsa, Market Square, Fourth Street and Westgate branches.
The bank’s clients said their accounts have already been transferred to nearby
branches. Some employees have also been transferred to other
branches.
Sources said the banking institution had implemented the measure as
part of a programme to cut mounting costs.
The move comes two years after
the building society closed down six of its branches in 2004, at the height of a
liquidity crisis that rocked the financial sector.
The sources also revealed
that following the branch rationalisation, management has asked workers to sign
up for voluntary retrenchment.
Beverley managing director Miccah Moyo had, by
the time of going to print, not responded to enquiries sent to him on Tuesday.
Telegraph (UK)
By Mike Pflanz, East
Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 08/06/2006)
Zimbabwean police yesterday
rescued a six-year-old British boy held hostage at a friend's farm for almost 24
hours by drum-beating supporters of President Robert Mugabe.
As the mob
pounded on doors and windows, James Mackenzie and his friend Ross Grinham, also
six, were barricaded into a room behind several locked internal gates by Ross's
mother, Chantelle Grinham.
The mob, members of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party,
kept up the drum-beating and chants for the farm's owners to leave throughout
the night and all yesterday morning.
Police finally mounted a rescue mission
after frantic calls from James's parents, Rob and Hilary Mackenzie.
At noon
yesterday, two dozen officers with machineguns arrived at the farm, near
Chinhoyi, 60 miles north of Harare. They forced the crowd back, burnt their
drums and freed Mrs Grinham and the two boys.
"James has been very quiet all
day. They all have," Mr Mackenzie, 45, said last night at the family home four
miles from Mrs Grinham's farm.
"They are choked up with the emotion of it
all. It was an immense relief to hear the police were going in but you couldn't
help worry it was going to turn sour. We thank God it went well.
"James has
decided now he wants to be a policeman when he grows up."
Mr Mackenzie, a
fully-trained voluntary paramedic, said the worst part of the ordeal was being
able to talk to his son by telephone as the mob were chanting outside.
"We
just told him to hang on, that there were some nasty men making a nuisance
outside but not to worry because help was coming," he said. "But I've attended
enough scenes where people have been beaten or killed, and one can't help but
fear the worst."
No shots were fired as the elite police unit took control of
the crowd. Several were arrested but it was unclear whether any charges would be
brought.
David Ashford, consul at the British High Commission in Harare,
said: "We rang the local police on Tuesday night and they eventually
responded.
"The family assure me the boy is emotional but unharmed. The
police are investigating. Any further action would depend on the
family."
James's parents, who are both Christians running an orphanage for
206 child victims of HIV and Aids, said last night that they had no plans to
leave the country, despite rising insecurity and the world's worst
inflation.
"We'll see how James settles down again but we have a lot of
long-term projects and work here we would not want to abandon," said Mr
Mackenzie.
He and his wife, 43, have promised James a trip to England in July
to visit Legoland and the Farnborough Air Show.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Investment Advisory with Nyasha Chasakara
DESPITE a number of
companies posting good results over the last few weeks, the steam has been taken
out of the market following a significant recovery in money market rates this
week.
Problems regarding the payment of value added tax had also
affected investor sentiment. Thankfully trade resumed after a week-long standoff
between stockbrokers and the country's revenue collectors. There is a lot of
room for counters to move in the medium term, especially as a result of the
weakening of our local currency and continued rise in inflation.
However the
future is not very exciting when one looks at the operating constraints that
companies are faced with. Declining volumes and falling disposable incomes have
begun to take their toll on operations and companies are starting to report
dropping volumes, some by as much as 30 percent in the last four months.
Once in a while however you do get some companies that surprise. ZSR, true
to its profit warning, did just that, posting results that proved that the group
is truly a defensive stock. It is not often that you get a handsome growth in
profits, supported by strong cash flows, underpinned by a good recovery in
operating margins. It is also interesting to note that the group now has
businesses that have significant critical mass in their respective market
segments.
On an operating income basis, 33 percent came from the food
business, 29 percent from packaging and 30 percent from the wholesale business,
with the balance coming from property and engineering. The transport business is
worrying and will need to be restructured to make some meaningful contributions
to bottom line.
Going forward, ZSR is looking very strong, barring a return
to price controls in the sugar business. With a bigger crop of sugar forecast
this year, things can only get better for the company and I maintain that
investors buy the counter, especially on price weakness. Together with Hippo,
ZSR are some of my top picks for this year.
Speaking of Hippo, a full
allocation of water is set to contribute to an overall improvement in sugar cane
production this year. Farming disruptions remain a worry on the Mkwasine Estate
but generally the sugar industry is in a better position than it has been over
the last two years. This should benefit both Hippo and ZSR.
Redstar did not
disappoint either, publishing results that were in line with market
expectations. The results expose the potential of the business, particularly in
the higher margin retail business where the company operates the Spar franchise
in the southern parts of the country.
Currently the business is earning low
margins because of its exposure to the cutthroat wholesale business and will do
well to increase its critical mass. Operating cash flows for the period were
over $191 billion and this is one of the company's major strengths, which should
put the business on a strong footing. With over $493 billion in cash at the end
of March, the company will also continue to benefit from the current high
interest rates.
Moving on to Rio Tinto, another favourite counter of mine.
The 2:1 bonus issue recommended by the board was last week approved by
shareholders and will see the tradability of the share improving. The company
has so much potential but is unfortunately being constrained by the shortage of
electricity in the country. It is the future of the company that I am more
interested in in an economy that is operating efficiently. The experience in the
mining sector and resources built over the years puts Rio Tinto in a good
position to benefit from a recovery in the economy. Gold prices remain strong
and appear to be benefiting from the weakness of the US dollar. The strength of
the price means that Rio can now mine marginal areas due to increased
profitability.
While short-term prospects for the market may look gloomy, I
see some good long-term plays, particularly given that in some cases, it really
looks like 2006 is showing some recovery in agricultural output, although we are
nowhere near where we want to be.
Due to the input/output relationship, we
certainly should have some improvement in our economy but sadly in the input
side of it remains worrying. Even as we are starting to prepare for the next
farming season, the exchange rate has already moved, making inputs expensive if
they are available. The shortage of foreign currency will continue to adversely
affect the supply of agricultural inputs and hence output unless there is a
significant inflow.
China Peoples Daily
Zimbabwe will face timber shortage within the next 10 years due to
over-harvesting and uncontrolled veld fire, experts on timber industry have
said.
Although the country still has substantial tracts of land with
commercial trees, the current harvesting levels and uncontrolled veld fire could
see it turning to other countries for its timber requirements, an expert with
the Forestry Commission said on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe could become a net
importer of timber within the next 10 years because there was unwarranted
cutting down of commercial trees with no replantation, the expert said.
Also, Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe's hub of commercial forest, last year
lost timer worth 20 trillion Zimbabwe dollars to veld fire. (One U.S. dollar
equals about 101,000 Zimbabwe dollars.)
According to statistics compiled by
the Timber Products' Federation, timber covering close to 10,000 hectare,
constituting 12 percent of the country's pine plantation, went up in smoke just
inside four months between July and November last year.
The area affected
was equivalent to the volume normally harvested over a three-year period.
Richard Kanyekanye, the federation chairman, said the industry was working
on a strategy to adopt sustainable forests management before the situation got
out of hand.
At the last count in 2004, Zimbabwe's commercial trees declined
from 12 million in 1998 to 6.5 million. The annual growth rate also took a dip
to 0.9 percent in 2004 from 3 percent in 2003.
The timber industry
contributes 3.9 percent to the country's gross domestic product.
Source:
Xinhua
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Personal Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
SCORCHED
earth policy, according to my trusty and well-thumbed dictionary, refers to "the
policy in warfare of removing or destroying everything that might be useful to
an invading enemy."
What my tattered dictionary does not say is what you
call it when the 'army' that is responding to the perceived invasion dynamites
even the most strategic 'bridges' and other structures that are crucial to its
own continued survival. How does it re-establish linkages over the abysses that
it not only created originally but continued to widen and deepen with great
menace and flourish long after the initial skirmish?
Growing reports and
indications that the sovereign government of Zimbabwe now thinks that British
Prime Minister, Tony Blair, whom it has cast as the villain responsible for all
this country's political and economic problems over the last six years, holds
the key to the re-establishment of relations with the European Union and the
United States suggests that it is about to tackle one of the most complicated
face-saving operations imaginable. Despite the go-it-alone bravado it has sought
to display all along, Zimbabwe may be discovering that finding a formula to call
a truce in a war of words in which it did all the shouting is not a walk in the
political park.
Press reports indicating that the overtures that the
powers-that-be have been making through mediators such as some Zimbabwean
religious leaders and former Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa, are not
exactly eliciting enthusiastic and grovelling responses from the British, the
Americans and the Europeans are therefore not surprising. These are the people
who until now have been portrayed as this country's worst enemies, saboteurs and
a threat to its sovereignty. British and American ambassadors to Zimbabwe such
as Sir Brian Donnelly and Christopher Dell have been vilified and ridiculed in
the most undiplomatic manner when they should have been treated as our guests
and bridge-builders.
The Zimbabwean government may be discovering too late
that it is almost a mission impossible after employing the most virulent,
all-pervading, anti-Western propaganda using the crudest and most intemperate
language, for it to be now taken seriously. It has lost credibility among the
foreign blocs it ruthlessly subjected to ridicule and unfounded accusations and
its own people, down whose throats it tried to push countless fallacies.
At
the height of this campaign during which the government tried to convince the
world that the 'revolutionary masses' of Zimbabwe were waging a struggle against
Western imperialism, anti-Blair, anti-British, anti-American and anti-EU
epithets and denunciations became an integral part of political oratory,
government jingles, and lyrics of songs by patriotic artists. It was the stuff
of a new brand of journalism in the state-controlled press. Elections were
fought and won on the basis of 'manifestos' whose main themes were 'to defeat
Blair' or some other enemies like American President George Bush or Australian
Prime Minister, 'Howard the Coward' as he was derisively described. Who can
forget the monotonous "Sendekera Mwana Wevhu" advertisements in which Blair was
ordered to make himself scarce because he 'smelt of Iraq." The propaganda was
breathtaking in its sheer volume, viciousness, stridency and faith in the myth
of the "mass mind", a concept under which all Zimbabweans were supposed to hold
the same opinions on everything. There was no shortage of labels for those who
saw things differently and pointed out that this massive culture of hate was
futile and counter-productive.
Now that its proponents are hoist with their
own petard and are ready to be helped to back down, the question to ask is, was
it worth all the commotion and ill will it generated? And if the covert attempts
the government is making to re-establish links with the international community
fail, what then? Will it be back to the macho denunciations of the British and
their allies or will the government make another face-saving U-turn and welcome
United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, whose planned visit it is
currently dismissing? We are definitely in for an intriguing political period
ahead.
But before the next chapter even unfolds, one group that will
definitely suffer an irreparable credibility gap are the religious leaders who
are said to be trying to broker a truce between President Robert Mugabe, the EU
and the United States. They are reported to be already getting the cold shoulder
from diplomats who have asked a question whose answer Zimbabweans would also be
interested to know: whose interests are they serving? They have definitely not
been galvanised into their current role by the plight of the ordinary people
whose suffering might have been eased if they had been courageous and principled
enough to speak out against government excesses before things became so dire.
It is significant that even as President Robert Mugabe continues to lay the
law at official functions that clergymen and women should not involve themselves
in politics, these “peacemakers” are being allowed to intervene in a diplomatic
row of the government's own making. Where were they over the last six years when
their moral leadership and guidance was needed to confront the political
intolerance, violence and killings that traumatised ordinary Zimbabweans? Why
was there a deafening silence from them at about this time last year when
hundreds of thousands of people were rendered homeless by the government's
Operation Murambatsvina?
Peoples Daily
The 101-year-old Victoria Falls Bridge that links
Zambia and Zimbabwe over the Chambezi River will be reopened on June 15 after
being closed to heavy traffic last year for repair work, an official said here
Wednesday.
Minister of Communication and Transport Abel Chambeshi told
parliament that the emergency repair works which were being carried out on the
bridge have been completed and trucks weighing 56 tons or below are now
permitted to travel over it.
Chambeshi said the bridge was closed last year
following recommendations by two foreign companies that the structure undergo
emergency repair works after they carried out studies in 1992 and 2005
respectively.
The two companies found that the bridge was excessively
vibrating every time heavy trucks passed through it.
The 152-meter bridge,
put into use in 1905 with life span of 100 years, was reconfigured in 1929 to
take vehicles weighing up to 46 tons.
The minister said the reopening of the
bridge would decongest two other entry points, Chirundu and Kazungula, where
traffic congestion was experienced when the bridge was closed.
He said the
emergency repair works were financed by the World Bank and another 1.7 million
U.S. dollars would be required for major repair works.
Located just below
the Victoria Falls, the bridge was designed by Ralph Freeman, the same engineer
who designed the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Constructed from steel, the arch
spans 156.50 meters, with a height of 128 meters above the valley floor. The
bridge carries cars, trains and foot traffic and plays host to the world-famous,
111-meter Shearwater Bungi Jump.
Source: Xinhua
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
National
Report
Kumbirai Mafunda
Senior Business Reporter
Zim grain harvest falls far short of requirements
AN international crop monitoring agency has said Zimbabwe will continue to
be one of a few pockets facing a food deficit in the southern African region
this year, despite above normal rains during the last agricultural season.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet) said although
Zimbabwe would register an improved grain harvest, it was highly unlikely to be
anywhere near the government’s optimistic projections.
Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made, who has previously misled the nation with overly optimistic staple
grain projections, has put Zimbabwe’s maize output from the 2005/2006 season at
1.8 million tonnes.
Fewsnet, which releases regular reports on African
countries’ food situations, said although Zimbabwe had received sufficient
rains, food security will remain precarious for most households in 2006.
The
network said although this year’s maize harvest is a significant improvement
compared to last year when the country harvested just over 500 000 metric
tonnes, it falls far short of domestic requirements and Zimbabwe will once again
have to import a significant amount of maize to augment domestic
harvests.
Fewsnet projects that the crisis-hit country will only harvest
between one million and 1.1 million metric tonnes of maize, leaving it with yet
another food deficit. It blamed agricultural disruption linked to the
government-sanctioned wholesale seizure of white-owned farms for distribution to
veterans of the liberation war and supporters of the ruling ZANU PF party and
shortages of critical inputs as having compounded the crop situation.
“In
Zimbabwe, Fewsnet agrees with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)
maize harvest estimate of 1 000 000 to 1 100 000 MT, a large improvement over
the estimated 650 000 MT last year,” said Fewsnet in its recent report. “After
successfully importing over one million MT in the marketing season just ending,
Zimbabwe will still face a major import challenge during the 2006/07 hunger
season (October 2006-March 2007),” it added.
Zimbabwe requires close to two
million tonnes of grain for its annual national requirements.
Last year,
Zimbabwe spent US$135 million to import grain, stretching the country’s meagre
hard currency reserves at a time when exports continue to decline
significantly.
Fewsnet’s projections are in tandem with those earlier
released by the USDA, which estimates a harvest of between 800 000 and 900 000
metric tonnes of maize. The USDA blames shortages of inputs such as fertiliser
and poor land preparation for the poor crop.
The crop forecast agency also
warned that inflation, which recently hurtled past the 1 000 percent mark to 1
042.9 percent would further erode consumers’ purchasing power, thus pushing more
households into poverty.
“Despite the improved harvest, hyperinflation
continues to restrict food access, especially in urban areas, and many
households depend on remittances from Zimbabweans abroad to secure their food
supplies. The threat of severe food insecurity will persist and could worsen
when the lean period sets in later in the year,” the food-monitoring agency
warned.
Fewsnet’s food deficit reports come at a time when the World Food
Programme (WFP) has begun scaling down aid to Zimbabwe.
Insiders in relief
agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also told The Financial
Gazette this week that an annual crop assessment survey carried out by the
Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZIMVAC), a multi-stakeholder body
comprising the WFP, Southern African Development Community institutions, NGOs,
Fewsnet and the government was completed last Friday with the results expected
next month.
Zimbabwe, once an exporter of maize and other agricultural
produce, has in the past six years been reduced to a net importer of the staple
commodity owing to the effects of an ill-advised nationalisation of rich
farmland and economic mismanagement which critics blame on President Robert
Mugabe’s administration. The government flatly denies the charges.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Perspectives with Jonathan Maphenduka
THERE
were two interesting developments during the past week: the Zesa-Eskom deal in
which US$37 million will be invested to expand and upgrade the power utility’s
Hwange Power Station (HPS) and the government’s announcement of a US$50 million
fuel import revolving facility due to start this month.
The fuel deal
with a French bank, BNP Paribas, becomes the first such arrangement since
government surrendered fuel imports to the private sector and individuals, an
act which is blamed for the current state of the economy which has been rudely
shoved to its knees, with inflation of over 1 000 percent.
The arrangement
has a strong link to the country’s mining industry, suggesting a possible
mortgaging of the nation’s mineral resources to guarantee
its success. This
was
quite clear from the emphasis placed on the mineral wealth of the
country.
This was further buttressed by Bindura Nickel Mine’s pledge of its
earnings to guarantee the success of servicing the deal.
A welcome part of
the arrangement is the dramatic shift in policy which now requires Noczim to
import fuels for all sectors of the economy, abandoning the disastrous
abdication of responsibility by government when it surrendered imports to the
black market about three years ago.
The two developments are interesting
because they have an inherent element of stabilising supplies to give a fillip
to the economy to begin to recover. This is particularly true of fuel, whose
scarcity has forced a sharp decline of the economy and other social services in
the past six years.
The economy needs stability in the supply of these
commodities to recover and stay on course. Its recovery to its pre-2000 levels
will be the yardstick with which to measure and determine its growth.
The
fuel import facility, hailed as a purely commercial arrangement as opposed to
political juggling, envisages a monthly draw down of US$40 million per month
renewable every 12 months.
The renewal will depend on Zimbabwe’s ability to
service the debt, and an important element of the facility is Noczim’s reversion
to being the sole importer of the commodity, a strategic function which should
not be left to private individuals whose only concern is profiteering.
If
servicing of the facility is sustained, it will give the economy the impetus to
recover sufficiently to begin to grow.
While the face value of the facility
is established, interest on the debt was not announced — a critical omission
from an arrangement involving public funds. But whether interest will be small
or big is not important: what is important is the ability to sustain the
facility.
Restoring fuel imports to Noczim for all sectors has the potential
to produce a laudable impetus to the economy to move towards recovery. But there
are conditions:
continuity of supplies and stability of consumer prices.
The first week of May saw a dramatic improvement in the flow of supplies
which sent pump prices plummeting to $185 000 per litre, the lowest level in
more than a year. This happened just at about the time when government announced
it was working towards stabilising fuel prices as part of its NEDPP
strategy.
But this decline was shortlived as prices rose to a new high of
$260 000 per litre, triggering a flurry of black market activity. Service
stations that had seen the appearance of queues taking advantage of a
comparatively cheap commodity price quickly increased prices beyond $200 000 per
litre.
The first impact of the increase on public spending was the
announcement by commuter bus operators of a new fare of $80 000 a trip against
the prevailing $50 000. Although the operators appeared to hesitate as the
police warned of dire consequences, some of this self-willed lot thumped their
noses at the police and forced the travelling public to pay the new fares.
As
a way of forcing the authorities to ignore
the culprits, the operators
withdrew their buses
last Wednesday, leaving thousands of commuters
stranded. They do this every time a new fare structure becomes imperative, and
get away it.
They do not waste time negotiating with the authorities for a
fare increase.
This is just one example of what instability of prices is
doing to the economy, and one of the imperatives to buoy the recovery programme
is to bring about stability of fuel prices. The government must aim at making
fuel prices affordable.
This will bring far-reaching benefits to the economy
in the first instance, and stability to the cost of living. The need to
alleviate the grinding poverty now affecting the majority of the population
needs to be tackled with the greatest of zeal.
You cannot deal with
widespread poverty without first dealing with its causes. The fuel deal
is
the first means to
enable the country to realise some of its goals, and
poverty-reduction must rank high on the government’s domestic priorities.
The
Zesa-Eskom deal, where the South African power utility will invest US$37 million
for the expansion of HPS, is a manifestation of how low the country’s economic
fortunes have declined, forcing the government to swallow its pride and
sanction a foreign investment which it could have avoided if its own
resources were available and its planning was not compromised by
negligence.
Zesa executive chairman Sydney Gata, in a statement shorn of
detail, said the deal was part of a strategy to ensure the country produced
enough electricity to address a projected “regional crisis in mid-2007.”
Put
in layman’s language, this means that the expansion and upgrading project will
be completed and ready to avert the projected crisis by this time next
year.
But there was a curious omission of the date of completion when
Hwange’s contribution to the national electricity bank will enable the country
to export 150 megawatts per week to South Africa to amortise Eskom’s
investment.
Recent public statements by divisions of Zesa have put completion
of refurbishment of HPS and Kariba South at between 24 and 42 months. If there
is anything in this connection that Zesa is keeping close to its chest, this can
only lead to public confusion.
If, as we are told, Zimbabwe’s demand is
projected to peak at 3 000 megawatts, perhaps this winter, and the country is
currently importing 35 percent of its requirements, when is the country likely
to reverse that import figure to a surplus of 150 megawatts for exports to
Eskom?
Gata admits that the shortage of coal has led to below capacity yield
from HPS, and this was compounded by persistent breakdowns of equipment. It is
common
knowledge also that the national power utility has suffered from
massive
vandalism which hit a record 4 600 cases last year alone.
How is
the power
utility dealing with the problem which appears to be running out
control,
and cannot be perpetrated by outsiders alone, to turn imports into
exports?
It is not enough for Gata to say the country is “in a dire
situation” and working “flat out” to avert a catastrophe in 2007 when
self-sufficiency and the time to complete various refurbishment projects are
irreconcilable.
Enough has been said by the company to reveal a deepening
crisis. At the same time, conflicting statements about the situation have been
recorded, leaving the public thoroughly confused and alarmed.
A public
investment drought in the sector is a euphemism for poor planning as evidenced
by the country’s failure to go it alone on the Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric
Project in 1993.
It is not enough to say the power problem in Zimbabwe is a
regional one when a country like Zambia is working to complete its lower Kafue
gorge scheme to avert a crisis while Zimbabwe is grappling with refurbishing
aged equipment.
UP until now, the South Africans have been wary of getting
involved in the expansion of Hwange Power Station while coal supplies were low,
erratic and could not be guaranteed.
This has cost the country dearly in
much-needed foreign currency, and dealt a crushing blow to the economy. The
government’s failure to invest in the power sector since 1993 has left the
economy submerged and gasping for air.
Has government learned a lesson from
this experience? When priorities are put back-to-front like the government did
by committing the army to the DRC conflict, only disaster can result.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
National
Report
Nelson Banya News
Editor
THE Parliamentary portfolio committee on transport and
communications has recommended that government bans media coverage of elections
at least two days before voting begins.
The committee, chaired by
Makonde House of Assembly representative Leo Mugabe, made the recommendation
following a probe into the state of the public media, whose findings were tabled
in Parliament last week.
“The committee observed that there were newspapers
that flood the Zimbabwean market a day or two before the elections. The
committee recommends that there should be a regulation that prohibits the
coverage of elections at least 48 hours prior to the elections just as in the
United Kingdom and the United States of America they have compliance laws,”
reads part of the report.
The recommendation follows submissions by Tafataona
Mahoso, head of the Media and Information Commission, who is pushing for control
over distributors of both local and foreign newspapers and magazines. Mahoso
told the Parliamentary committee the Danish cartoon furore made increased
regulation of publications originating from outside the country
necessary.
South African newspapers Sunday Times and the Mail & Guardian
have made in-roads into the Zimbabwean market, while the The Zimbabwean, a
weekly publication produced by non-resident Zimbabweans, has also established
itself. The Zimbabwean was launched in the run-up to the March 2005
Parliamentary elections.
State media editors Pikirai Deketeke of the Herald
and William Chikoto of the Sunday Mail also threw their weight behind the
proposed blackout on election coverage two days prior to voting.
“On the
issue of newspapers that flood the Zimbabwean market a day or two before the
elections, Mr Deketeke said that there should be a regulation that prohibits the
coverage of elections at least 48 hours prior to the elections. Mr Chikoto added
that in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America they
have compliance laws that foreign distributors of magazines and newspapers must
abide by before they publish,” the Parliamentary committee reported.
A US
embassy official yesterday dismissed the parallels drawn between compliance laws
in his country and the Parliamentary committee’s proposals.
“That description
displays total lack of knowledge of the compliance laws in the United States. We
do not have a media blackout prior to elections as suggested.
“There are
compliance laws, but they tend to differ from state to state, city to city and
even counties administer their own elections. These often relate to
electioneering cordons and not 48-hour media blackouts, which would violate the
First Amendment. That is totally false,” the official, who declined to be named,
said yesterday.
Zimbabwe currently has stringent legislation regulating the
media. Since the promulgation of the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act in 2002, no less than four newspaper titles, including the country’s
largest circulating independent Daily News, have been banned.
Meanwhile, the
Parliamentary committee has also recommended that the Broadcasting Services Act
be amended to allow more players in the broadcasting sector, where the state-run
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings enjoys monopoly status.
“Concerned that the
national broadcaster continues to enjoy the monopoly of airwaves despite the
Supreme Court ruling which opened the airwaves to other players; noting also the
deterioration of the quality of programming and programmes on radio and
television, and taking cognisance of the government’s call for maximum
utilisation of resources by parastatals, the committee resolved to adopt the
previous committee’s inquiries on the activities of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Holdings companies to review the process of the unbundling.
“The committee
was also informed by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe that the only
organisation licenced to provide transmission infrastucture, Transmedia, had no
resources to undertake the erection of transmitters. Therefore, your committee
recommends that the operating licence for Transmedia should be rescinded
forthwith as it has no resources to fulfil its mandate as the national signal
carrier.”
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business Reporter
ZIMNAT Wealth Managers
(ZWM) has appointed Tafadzwa Chinhamo, formerly of Kingdom Asset Managers, as
managing director.
Chinhamo left KAM, where he occupied a similar
position, last week to join Zimnat. He boasts of a wealth of experience in fund
management gained over 10 years.
“The change will do me good,” is all
Chinhamo could say when reached for comment this week.
Chinhamo, who chairs
the Association of Investment Managers, replaces Clive Mphambela who left ZWM
early in the year. Prior to Chinhamo’s appointment, parent company TA Holdings’
finance director Bothwell Nyajeka was doubling as acting managing
director.
Chinhamo spent nine years at KAM, with six of those at the helm of
the asset management firm. Before joining KAM he worked for the then Zimbabwe
Development Bank (ZDB).
Andrew Mhere is now the acting managing director at
KAM, a subsidiary of Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL).
TA Holdings
wholly owns ZWM. ZWM provides asset management services to a wide range of
individual and corporate clients.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
AFTER running Kondozi farm to the ground, government will now
partition what is left of one of the country’s most viable horticultural
projects to ‘capable’ farmers, after its erstwhile owners spurned overtures to
return to the decimated property, The Financial Gazette has established.
In
what amounts to admission of the government’s failure to run the Odzi farm,
State Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa
yesterday revealed plans to subdivide the farm for parcelling out to individual
farmers.
“We are going to subdivide Kondozi and parcel it out to
individuals,” said Mutasa.
Government seized Kondozi from businessman and
industrialist Edwin Moyo and the De Klerk family in 2004 and handed it to the
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), which however failed to
sustain operations. ARDA then ceded control of the farm to the Zimbabwe National
Army (ZNA) under its command agriculture Operation Maguta programme to grow
crops which has also failed to utilise the prime farm productively.
Army
details in charge of operations at Kondozi recently disclosed that farming
activities had been hamstrung by systematic looting of equipment by senior
government officials and ministers, including Mutasa.
Other ministers
implicated include Joseph Made (Agriculture), Michael Nyambuya (Energy and Power
Development), Chris Mushowe (Transport and Communications) and Munacho Mutezo
(Water and Infrastructural Development).
Government moves to partition
Kondozi come in the wake of reports that a plan to return the farm to its former
owners had collapsed after they insisted on the return of looted
equipment.
Although Moyo was not available to comment yesterday, sources
close to him said he had laid down conditions for the return of the farm.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Posted to the web June 8, 2006
Charles Rukuni
Byo Bureau Chief
Harare
The building boom in Bulawayo continued with the
city council approving plans valued at $87.2 billion in April.
This was more
than the total value of plans it approved in the first quarter of the year. The
council approved plans valued at $72.8 billion from January to March.
Most of
the development was concentrated in the low density suburbs of Burnside,
Matsheumhlope, Selborne Park and Suninghill. Approved plans in these suburbs
totalled $29.5 billion with town houses to be built in Matsheumhlope valued at
$4.9 billion.
Mahatshula, Killarney and Parklands fell in second place with
plans valued at $26.4 billion.
Cowdray Park, which hosts Operation
Hlalani Kuhle, dominated the building boom in the high density suburbs with
plans valued at $5.7 billion being approved.
It is likely to continue to rule
the roost as the government and the city council has given beneficiaries
deadlines to pay up for their stands.
For the first time in years the
approved plans also showed that developers were coming back into commerce and
industry. Five industrial plans valued at $1.6 billion and seven commercial
plans worth $8 billion were approved together with seven public works plans
valued at $7.3 billion.
Guardian
UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/outlook/story/0,,1792304,00.html#article_continue
Alain Faujas
Guardian Weekly
"Overall, the outlook for much of Africa continues to be more
favourable than it has been for many years". This sentence, taken from the fifth
African Economic Outlook 2005/2006 report, published by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development last month, may encourage the people of a
continent generally considered the least fortunate.
The authors of the report
naturally remind readers of the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Sudan and
Ethiopia, the instability still hampering Ivory Coast and the Democratic
Republic of Congo's eastern provinces, and the economic debacle in
Zimbabwe.
But the situation is improving, a point borne out by the review
of 30 African countries, which represent 86% of its population and 90% of
output.
Economic trends are certainly positive, with 4.9% growth in 2005 and
forecasts of 5.8% for this year and a further 5.5% in 2007. In North Africa
hydrocarbons are fuelling expansion (6.3% in 2006), with a special distinction
for Mauritania, which has just exported its first shipment of crude oil.
Fortunately the troubles in Ivory Coast are not affecting west Africa (5.3%) but
instability is holding back central Africa (5%).
The drought in Malawi
and Kenya has not prevented eastern Africa from making a good showing (5.6%). As
for southern Africa (5%) it is split between the recession in Zimbabwe (-4.8%)
and the oil-fed opulence of Angola (26.4%).
All Africa's economic
indicators are pointing in the right direction. Inflation is remarkably low
(7.3% in 2006) for countries coping with the rising cost of energy imports. Here
again Zimbabwe, with almost 1,000% inflation, is an exception. Elsewhere budget
surpluses are comfortable and trade surpluses impressive (6.3% of
GDP).
Such good results are largely due to the rising price of oil and
raw materials driven by global growth. Predictably oil exporters are growing
faster (5.5%) than the others (4.4%).
However, according to the OECD, the
increasing pace of growth is also the result of a rise in development aid,
primarily in the form of debt cancellation. Aid to Africa accounted for 36% of
the world total in 1999, rising to 46% in 2004 ($79.5bn). Another positive
factor is renewed foreign investment ($18bn in 2004), even if most of the funds
have gone into oil drilling.
The report points out that there are fewer
conflicts in Africa, consolidated by elections and referendums, particularly in
Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Cape Verde and São Tomé. Democracy is taking root and
countries such as Nigeria, Congo or Cameroon are taking measures to make the oil
industry more transparent.
But there is still a long way to go on the
road to development. The report notes that only six African countries - Algeria,
Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritius and Tunisia - are likely to halve the number of
people surviving on less than $1 a day [by 2015], in line with the millennium
goal set by the United Nations in 2000.
It is not so much the omnipresent
corruption that worries the OECD as the state of the continent's infrastructure
and transport systems. According to the report, Africa is hampered by a lack of
mobility, with the poorest people - witness South Africa's townships - unable to
travel.
Local authorities, international donors and private investors
should, it argues, join forces to improve the mobility of goods and persons.
Otherwise there will be neither social life, national identity, trade nor
development.
SW
Radio
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news070606/spying070606.htm
By Lance
Guma
07 June 2006
Neighbours Zimbabwe and South Africa have both
unveiled draft legislation meant to secure state authority for the interception
of phones and e-mails by their respective security agencies. In South Africa the
‘Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of
Communication-related Information Bill’ will require mobile phone operators in
that country to monitor and intercept communications if requested. Companies
will face fines of R100,000 if they don’t comply. Any customers who sell their
phones or sim cards and fail to relay the personal information of the recipients
can be imprisoned for up to 12 months. South Africa says it wants to crack down
on crime.
In Zimbabwe towards the end of May the government unveiled what it
called ‘The Interception of Communications Bill.’ Transport Minister Christopher
Mushowe said they would set up a ‘ communication centre to monitor and intercept
certain communications in the course of their transmission through a
telecommunication, postal or any other related service system.’ Robert Mugabe’s
regime argues that they need the law in order to protect national security.
Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa however called it an attempt to legalize
what they are probably already doing and that is spying on the communications of
ordinary citizens.
Meanwhile in South Africa the biggest mobile operator
Vodacom said it was not practical to get all the names and addresses of the 20
million pre-paid users in the country. Under the law they will be required to
cut services to those whose names are not in the database. Dr Handel Mlilo from
the Concerned Zimbabweans in North America group said both countries were simply
introducing laws meant to benefit politicians and that ‘if you give them an inch
they will take a mile.’ He said it was important to ensure that the judiciary is
involved in any of the proposed laws because without checks and balances the
legislation could be abused.
A South African columnist, Rebecah Kenda,l
who writes for I-Africa.com says of the new law, ‘on the one hand, it prohibits
anyone in the general public from intercepting communications…on the other hand,
it allows certain government organization, such as the South African Secret
Services , the South African Police Services, the National Intelligence Agency
and the South African National Defence Force, to intercept or monitor any
communication that they deem threatening to the safety and security of the
country.’ The anxiety in South Africa is felt even more in Zimbabwe, where
Mugabe’s critics know the new law is targeted at them.
Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
7 June 2006
Editor’s Note
Another
week, another cock-up on Zimbabwe. It's not funny anymore. We've become a
laughing stock. But more important, people are dying in Zimbabwe and we don't
care. I wonder what would have happened to the so-called Rainbow Nation had the
rest of the world washed its hands and urged us to get on with it. President
Thabo Mbeki made a much-publicised trip last week presumably to talk about
Africa over tea with Tony Blair. It's a year since the G8 met in Gleneagles.
What to do with Africa was a big story. Western masses, egged on by their
celebrities, marched in the streets and demanded action from their leaders. They
were dotting the i's and crossing the t's when everything went up in smoke.
Bombs in London ripped everything apart. And so Africa went back to where it
belongs - at the back of the queue. The G8 is meeting again in the next few
weeks in St Petersburg, Russia. Vladimir Putin has never been a friend of the
developing world. The Soviet Union was. Putin has bigger fish to fry. And, as
host, he's in charge of the agenda. In the past he's expressed some irritation
with the G8's preoccupation with Africa.
So Mbeki went to London presumably
to assess progress made with Blair's manful attempt to put Africa at the top of
the international agenda. It is not unreasonable to imagine that "how to handle
the host" was also on the agenda. But Mbeki knows that any discussion on Africa
is incomplete without a mention of the terrible situation in Zimbabwe. He came
prepared. Robert Mugabe, in an attempt to mollify the wrath of the international
community after Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Trash), last year invited UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan to Harare. In the past few weeks, Annan's office
made it known that his busy schedule would allow him finally to make the trip.
That little shield came in very handy for Mbeki in London, and he wielded it
with some vigour. So whenever the Zimbabwe question was posed, there was a stock
answer: Annan is going to Harare. Let's wait and see what happens. Suddenly a
low-key visit took on the mantle of a mission that would in one fell swoop solve
all Zimbabwe's problems. We're clutching at straws here. But all Mbeki wanted
was to simply get out of a jam. Unfortunately Mugabe, as always, did not play
ball. Mbeki had hardly finished talking up Annan's visit before Mugabe cancelled
it. It's not the first time that Mbeki has been so publicly humiliated by
Mugabe. How much of this can he continue to take?
Mbeki's lack of action on
Zimbabwe is as illogical, incomprehensible and insensitive as his views on Aids.
They are the issues which raise his hackles more than any other. Mistakes were
made, conceded Winnie Madikizela-Mandela rather reluctantly after much prompting
by Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Stompie Seipei affair at the Truth &
Reconciliation Commission. The non rapist has apologised, to no-one in
particular, for attributing medicinal qualities to a shower. Even the odd couple
- Tony Blair and George Bush - have publicly admitted what everybody knew all
along - that monumental blunders were made in the invasion of Iraq. You admit to
mistakes, learn from them and move on. As Mbeki approaches the sunset of his
political career, he should be thinking about his legacy: how history will judge
him. Unless he concedes that a mistake was made he won't be remembered as the
man who presided over the most sustained economic growth in a long time; or the
man who single-handedly put the developing world at the centre of the
international agenda. History won't be kind to him. He will be known or
remembered as the man who looked the other way as Zimbabwe burnt, or the man who
rested on his laurels as his people were devastated by the Aids pandemic. There
are stock answers for both - we have the best ARV programme in the world, and so
on. It just doesn't wash, Mr President. It is those who feel it who are the
final arbiter; the only ones whose views matter.
The SA government may have
decided to sit on its hands because it believed Mugabe's wrath was reserved for
the white farmers. In fact the majority of the victims of his brutality are
black people, most of whom had nothing. They are now in even worse straits. That
should call for a change of policy. Who are these poor that we're determined to
help if the poor of Zimbabwe don't fit the bill? Or are we just reciting the
mantra so that we can feel good about it? With his party turning against him,
Mbeki needs success, good news that would turn the headlines in his favour. He
needs to stay relevant. They are lining up to prematurely dance on his grave,
and that includes the ungrateful Mugabe, the biggest beneficiary of his
generosity. By changing tack on Zimbabwe, Mbeki will not be betraying his
beloved Africa project; he will be remaining true to its spirit. You can't
preach to others if you can't sweep your own backyard.
The Herald
(Harare)
June 7, 2006
Posted to the web June 7, 2006
Harare
There is
a general shortage of food in the country's police holding cells while the
living conditions for inmates need to be improved, Bikita West Member of the
House of Assembly Cde Claudius Makova (Zanu-PF) said yesterday.
Cde Makova,
who is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and
Home Affairs, was presenting the committee's report on the Ministry of Home
Affairs. He said in its findings, the committee noted that there was a general
shortage of food, erratic fuel supplies and staff accommodation shortages at
police stations.
Cde Makova said during the committee's visit to Highlands
Police Station it was disclosed that inmates in the holding cells had gone for
two days without food and this was attributed to the shortage of maize. "The
shortage of food was said to have been exacerbated by the shortage of maize.
Suspects were said to have gone for two days without food and some were relying
on food brought by relatives," he said.
The lawmaker said there was also a
shortage of tissue papers forcing inmates to tear blankets and using them as
tissues. The situation, Cde Makova said, was even worse at Harare Central Police
Station where the living conditions for suspects were appalling. He said the
cells were unfit for human habitation as the sewage system burst on a daily
basis thereby putting the inmates at risk of contracting diseases. The committee
recommended that the sewage system at the station should be overhauled as it had
outlived its life span.
It also recommended that suspects at police holding
cells should be treated in a manner befitting human dignity. Cde Makova said
officers at the station told the committee that they had gone for two years
without receiving new allocations of uniforms while there was no protective
clothing for cleaners. He said at Gweru Central Police Station there were 175
officers out of a staff establishment of 300 and this was affecting smooth
service delivery. There was also a shortage of accommodation at the station with
some married officers being housed in former horse stables.