STATEMENT BY MINISTER MANLEY AND SECRETARY OF STATE KILGOUR ON THE
SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE:
John Manley, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and David Kilgour, Secretary of
State (Latin America and Africa), issued a statement today expressing their
serious concern over the deteriorating political, social and economic situation
in Zimbabwe. "I am struck by the worsening of political and economic conditions,
the loss of respect for human rights and the violation of the rule of law in
Zimbabwe," said Minister Manley.
"Canada has been following, with increasing concern, the pressures exerted
on the independence and safety of judges leading to the resignation of the Chief
Justice and possible resignation of several other judges because of
intimidation." Canada notes that the current leaders are the very ones who led
the country to majority rule in 1979-80 under a banner of greater democracy for
all the people and more equitable economic conditions,including land reform.
Since January 2001, an independent newspaper has been bombed; the case
remains unsolved. In addition, reputable foreign journalists are being denied
work permits and being expelled. "I believe that the origins of turmoil in
Zimbabwe are wider than the land issue. One of the most far-reaching
declarations on the rights of citizens in Commonwealth countries was signed by
Commonwealth leaders in Harare in October 1991," said Secretary of State
Kilgour. "Within the framework of the Harare Declaration, we encourage the
government of President Mugabe to renew its commitment to respect for democratic
institutions, including the judiciary, and to human rights and the rule of law."
The Harare Declaration pledged the Commonwealth and its member countries to
work with renewed vigour for democracy, the rule of law and independence of the
judiciary, just and honest government, and respect for fundamental human rights.
Minister Manley will be in London on March 19 and 20 for the Commonwealth
Ministerial Action Group meeting.
Recent rumors that the United States Government is secretly
working to fund the Fast Track Land Resettlement Program are false. While the
United States Government strongly supports the need for land reform in Zimbabwe,
it must be done in a sustainable and transparent manner based on the principles
agreed to by the Government of Zimbabwe and other Zimbabwean stakeholders at the
1998 Donors Conference on Land Reform and Resettlement.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 16
March
'Highwaymen run the place, hitmen
keep control'
The farmhouses are deserted and the fields overgrown with
weeds. The scenic valley that once teemed with antelope is devoid of game.
Zimbabwean squatters have seized control of Calgary farm by forcing the owner
and the last remaining tenants to flee, in a vivid demonstration of the threat
hanging over white-owned farms.
The mobs who still occupy more than 900 properties and have
become the shock troops of President Robert Mugabe's regime now confront
landowners with a stark choice. Either they submit to the seizure of their
property by the government under the "fast track" resettlement scheme already
declared illegal by the Supreme Court, or the invaders will drive them away with
death threats and assaults. With the Commercial Farmers' Union scheduled to hold
a special congress next week, squatters are stepping up the pressure with the
aim of forcing landowners to seek an accommodation with the authorities. Some
farmers are cracking under the strain and believe that a compromise would allow
them to keep two thirds of their land, if they turn a blind eye to the illegal
seizure of the rest.
David Wheeler, the owner of Calgary farm, has refused to
acquiesce in breaking the law and his stand has drawn constant harassment. When
a mob surged on to his land last April, he was forced to flee in the face of
death threats. Mr Wheeler said: "During my absence they disrupted and harassed
my labourers. They whipped and assaulted a number of them. They harassed and
threatened my tenants working on the farm." The 14 squatters are led by a
serving NCO in the Zimbabwean army. Cpl Stanley Mapfumo works as a driver in
barracks in Harare and has taken advantage of Mr Mugabe's vendetta against white
farmers by deciding to seize Calgary for himself and a select group of
allies.
With eight houses and a turnover of more than £330,000, the
farm is a plum prize and its location barely 10 miles north of Harare puts it
within striking distance of Cpl Mapfumo's day job. Mr Wheeler returned to
Calgary last August and was subjected to constant threats and abuse as the
squatters mounted a concerted effort to prevent all work on the farm. He
obtained High Court orders evicting the invaders and a restraint order directed
at Cpl Mapfumo. But the police refuse to enforce them. Mr Wheeler was forced to
flee his home again last month after he was attacked by a mob of nine men, led
by Cpl Mapfumo, who beat him senseless with wooden planks and broomsticks. Mr
Wheeler's last tenant and his family fled last week, leaving Calgary to the
squatters.
Mr Wheeler said: "They let it be known that if he wasn't out in
24 hours, they would shoot him. You can't take any risks these days. Law and
order is non-existent here. You've got a bunch of highwaymen who are running the
place and they've got their hitmen to keep everyone else under control." With no
protection from the law, Mr Wheeler has been forced to abandon his property on
pain of death. This is the ultimate penalty for white farmers who fail to abide
with Mr Mugabe's stated objective of seizing two thirds of their land. When they
gather for the CFU congress next week, they will have to decide whether
demanding that the government must obey its own laws is worth the risk.
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 16
March
Parliament slams lawless
fast-track
The fast-track land resettlement programme has been hampered by
a shortage of staff, transport, fuel, and lack of infrastructure, the
parliamentary lands committee has reported. It also said the law should be
upheld. The first report of the Portfolio Committee on Resettlement, tabled last
month, said it was disturbing to learn that among the informal settlers were
people who had been on earlier re-settlement schemes but had abandoned their
plots.
The committee, which visited farms in Mashonaland East and
Mashonaland Central, said the absence of a specific budget to implement the
fast-track resettlement programme would hamper the implementation of the
exercise. The committee concluded that this, coupled with the shortage of fuel
and stationery, raised doubts whether Mashonaland Central would be able to
complete resettling people by July this year. More importantly, the committee
said the fast-track resettlement programme should be implemented in a lawful
manner.
"The committee strongly recommends that the fast-track
resettlement programme be implemented in a transparent manner in accordance with
the laws of the country," its report states. The committee noted that settlers
had disrupted farming operations at farms which had not been designated for
resettlement and the law enforcement agents were not doing anything to right the
situation.
At Dawmill Farm a senior employee of the University of Bindura
and an employee of Cottco had been allocated plots. "The situation at Dawmill
farm is quite tense. Farm operations have been severely disrupted. A network of
agricultural equipment is not being used," the committee said. The 12-member
committee said the potential to grow winter wheat at the farm should by all
means be reinstated. At Irenedale Farm (Chirobi) the report says part of the
farm was listed for acquisition but the informal settlers took over the whole
farm and ordered the farm owner to stop all operations. "As a result, only 14
hectares is currently under cultivation, while 700 hectares of fertile arable
land is lying idle together with sophisticated irrigation equipment," reads the
report.
The committee observed that the police seemed to doing nothing to restore law
and order on the occupied farms, a situation which is a cause for concern if the
land reform programme is to be successfully implemented. The committee
recommended that all the informal settlers be moved from the settled farms to
the properly acquired farms as a matter of urgency.
From BBC News, 15
March
EU parliament condemns
Zimbabwe
The European parliament has condemned the Zimbabwean president,
Robert Mugabe, for carrying out what it described as a sustained campaign of
murder, violence and intimidation against his opponents. In a resolution, the
parliament in Strasbourg urged the suspension of all development assistance to
the Zimbabwean government until democracy and the rule of law had been fully
restored. The parliament said it regretted the recent decision by a European
commissioner and the French and Belgian governments to hold talks with President
Mugabe. It went on to ask the European Commission to identify assets held
overseas by Mr Mugabe and his supporters.
From our own correspondent, 16
March
Fuel drought
With motorists queuing up to 12 hours on the off-chance of 20
litres of fuel, Zimbabwe's fuel crisis appears to have reached unprecedented
levels with the possibility of the country coming to a standstill this weekend.
The pumps have run dry and, according to garage operators, so have the fuel
depots. In Harare, familiar queues formed Thursday at petrol stations despite
"Sorry no fuel" boards displayed. Many cars were driverless, left by owners with
insufficient fuel to get home - and then back to a petrol station should fuel
arrive.
After more than a year of erratic supplies caused by acute
foreign currency shortages, Energy Minister Sydney Sekeramayi has admitted that
the government-owned fuel company, Noczim, could not pay its debts and the
country's main suppliers, the Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait, had
stopped all supplies because it was owed US$30 million. The IPG had been
supplying 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel needs with the rest coming from South
Africa.
A Harare filling station owner said he had not received any
supplies for a week. "Last week we had a clear indication of how serious the
situation had become when our suppliers were only able to give us one third of a
22 000-litre road tanker. Since then we've had nothing and no one can tell us
when we are going to be supplied," he said. "We phone every day, but our
suppliers now say they have no fuel stocks and that they don't know when any can
be expected. Up to now they have been able to tell us when stocks can be
expected, but they now say they don't have any information on re-supply.''
Sekeramayi said the South African Engen fuel company planned to
send a consignment in the next few days. But one garage owner said this was a
"drop in the ocean" when compared with the national need for 40 million litres a
day. In addition, Engen has only three filling stations in the country and it
was unclear whether any consignment would be shared with the other fuel
companies.
The fuel shortages have disrupted key sectors of the already
beleaguered economy and now threaten to paralyse essential services such as the
railways, commercial airlines, the national power company (ZESA), the Hwange
Colliery and commerce and industry. The effects are widespread: for example,
criminal suspects awaiting trial could not be transported to the courts this
week because the government vehicles had no fuel. The shortages have created an
illegal black market for fuel, while people with foreign currency have bought
direct from fuel depots by paying in US dollars. But even these sources are
likely to dry up according to the fuel industry.
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 16
March
Government seizes IPG
fuel
The Zimbabwe government, in an act of desperation, last month
forcibly extracted 16 million litres of Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) fuel
from BP tanks in Beira in a bid to alleviate shortages in the country. News of
the fuel seizure by Zimbabwean officials comes after information this week that
a US$8,6 million ($475 million) Jewel Bank cheque used to pay for the fuel was
dishonoured as there were no funds in the Jewel Bank's corresponding financial
institution in New York.
The hijacked fuel was however not distributed as Kuwaiti-owned
IPG managed to block it at Feruka in Mutare where it is now quarantined in
tanks. Sources at Beira said men with instructions from the government descended
on the holding tanks and forced open containers resulting in the pumping of 10
million litres of petrol and six million litres of diesel. Zimbabwe had not paid
for the fuel and IPG had refused to pump it. Sources said the Kuwaitis were
livid about Zimbabwe's action resulting in marathon meetings over four days as
IPG sought explanation from the Zimbabweans. The volumes pumped illegally were
also disputed and SGS auditors had to be called in to verify the amounts.
Sources said at one time IPG were contemplating enlisting the services of
Interpol to investigate the heist.
As the fuel sat at Feruka the nation waited in queues while the
government made frantic efforts to secure foreign currency. Last week the
Independent reported that Zimbabwe had paid US$8,6 million to IPG. The Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation, quoting unnamed sources, also reported that the Jewel
Bank had made available US$9 million for the purchase of fuel. The Independent
heard yesterday that the cheque bounced and IPG continued to hold back the fuel.
Had the cheque been honoured, the fuel situation in the country could have been
alleviated this week. Sources said the Zimbabwean authorities were hoping to
secure funding for the fuel today.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's problematic fuel deal with IPG expires
next week and indications on the ground point towards government being forced to
renew the contract. Sources in the fuel industry this week said the government
had not signed a replacement deal with any party. The Independent this week
heard that IPG had delivered at least 50 000 tonnes of fuel to the holding tanks
at Feruka, which the company hopes to sell to Zimbabwe despite the imminent
expiry of the deal.
The envisaged opening up of the fuel supply situation to
private sector players has still not been achieved despite assertions by
international companies that they had the capacity to import fuel to meet the
nation's needs. The groundwork for the formation of a fuel consortium to replace
the loss-making Noczim has already been done but the government is yet to sign
the agreement. The players in the fuel industry want the government to grant
them leeway to charge market rates for the commodity. The industry also wants
the government to reduce duty on fuel and to ensure that the industry is given
preferential treatment in the allocation of foreign currency.
Sources said IPG was keen to see a renewal of its contract
which has become a millstone around the necks of Zimbabwean motorists. Zimbabwe
currently has the most expensive fuel in the region because of the premiums and
surcharges. When the deal was originally signed in 1999, Noczim had been
promised a six-month grace period in which Noczim would get a breathing space
before paying for the fuel. IPG had hoped to obtain finance to pay for the fuel
to Zimbabwe. Because of this soft deal, IPG had put up the price of the
commodity to cushion it from the terms it had offered Zimbabwe.
The Kuwaitis were also hoping that Zimbabwe would utilise a
US$100 million line of credit which had been secured from Libya. But the deal
collapsed. IPG failed to secure the finance for the fuel and Libya refused to
release money to Zimbabwe to pay for Kuwaiti fuel. Zimbabwe agreed to continue
with the supply deal in the absence of Libyan funding and the six-month grace
period but the Kuwaitis refused to reduce the price. Jewel Bank CEO Gideon Gono
was unavailable yesterday.
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 16
March
Rautenbach planning to stage
dramatic comeback in the DRC
Controversial mining and transport tycoon Billy Rautenbach is
planning to stage a comeback at the DRC's Gecamines, a milking cow in the vast
diamond-rich African republic from which he was evicted by the late Laurent
Kabila, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. "Billy is trying to manoeuvre his
way back into Gecamines," said a South African intelligence officer
investigating the business mogul. "He is currently in the DRC challenging the
validity of the DRC ministerial decree which reverted all assets under the
Ridgepointe Overseas Development Ltd/Gecamines joint venture - known as the
Central Mining Group - back to Gecamines," he said.
Rautenbach, who is regarded by regional analysts as an
important link between the DRC government and President Robert Mugabe, was
appointed executive chairman of the Gecamines board in November 1998, only to be
unceremoniously replaced a year later as chairman by George Forrest. Since his
expulsion, former deputy chief executive officer Ignace Kitangu took over as
chief executive of the state-owned copper/cobalt producer. One executive from an
international mining company with interests in the DRC said Rautenbach's
comeback would dampen Gecamines' credibility in foreign mining circles. "There
will be a credibility crisis if Gecamines re-appoint Billy considering his
background," said the executive, who declined to be named. "One has to realise
that Billy's initial removal stemmed from non-performance, the problems in South
Africa and the fact that major mining companies will not have anything to do
with him," the executive said.
Rautenbach, who had been snared in a legal tug-of-war over his
assets in South Africa, was being investigated for cases involving fraud,
forgery and other criminal activities by the special economic offences squad.
Sources said Rautenbach started negotiating his comeback at Gecamines before the
death of the late DRC president. "He held talks with the late Kabila and now he
is again having marathon meetings with Congolese officials to find his way
back," sources said. Rautenbach is well-connected to Zimbabwean politicians, and
the Speaker of parliament and Zanu PF administration secretary, Emmerson
Mnangagwa, in 1999 publicly stated that he had facilitated Rautenbach's contacts
with the late Kabila.
The talks also come at a time when the country's Minister of
Defence, Moven Mahachi, asked the High Court on Monday for the postponement of a
court hearing citing an urgent and unspecified business visit to the DRC.
Rautenbach is shuttling between the Cayman Islands, where he fled after his
Johannesburg property was seized, and the DRC to win back the hearts of the
Congolese. "However, what might thwart his bid is the outcome of the
investigations by the South African authorities which are still underway," said
a source. "But his political linkages can act in his favour." Apart from mining
interests, Rautenbach controls about 70% of the cross-border transport business
in the 14-nation SADC through his Wheels of Africa transport group. But his
return would be greeted with concern by the consortium of banks involved in
rehabilitating the Congo's mining infrastructure.
From The Star (SA), 16
March
Congo peace looms as front lines
pull back
Gemena - The Congolese army, rebel forces and their allies
began a 15km pullback from their front lines on Thursday, their leaders said, in
an important step toward reviving a stalled peace process in the war-ruined
central African country. Rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba said his troops
completed the withdrawal on Tuesday, well ahead of schedule, after the UN agreed
to deploy military observers in several key towns.
Bemba, head of the Congolese Liberation Front, is the leader of
one of two main rebel groups that took up arms in August 1998 to overthrow the
late President Laurent Kabila. He is backed by the Ugandan army, and their
forces control most of northern Congo. "We are working for peace," Bemba told
reporters at his father's coffee plantation outside the north-western town of
Gemena. "It is our hope that we can engage in an inter-Congolese dialogue and
bring about the unification of the country."
As he spoke, the 7th Battalion of the Ugandan army gathered at
the Gemena airport, preparing to return home. The unit had spent the last two
years deep in the Congolese jungle, most recently defending the northern shore
of the Congo River from attack by government troops, said Uganda's Brigadier
Edward Katumba-Wamala. Congo's new president, Kabila's son, Joseph, "has sent a
lot of communications from Kinshasa that are very positive," said Katumba. "We
are optimistic that the peace process will go forward."
The 750 soldiers, dressed in dark-green fatigues, began singing
military songs and blowing traditional horns to celebrate the official end of
their mission in Congo. The troops will be ferried out in cargo planes during
the next two weeks, Katumba said. After they leave, 75 percent of Uganda's
forces in Congo will have withdrawn, he added, declining to give a specific
number. Rwandan-backed rebels also began pulling back troops from the
south-eastern town of Pweto, said UN military
observers.
Zimbabwe's government has accused British intelligence agents of creating doubts
about President Robert Mugabe's health.
The agents used Zimbabwean
journalists in a propaganda campaign to distribute false reports Mugabe's
health, a government statement said.
Britain denies plotting against
Mugabe, but has condemned violations of constitutional rights by his
government.
The independent Financial Gazette newspaper on Thursday
quoted unidentified senior staff in Mugabe's office saying the 77-year-old
politician had collapsed several times in recent months.
The government
dismissed the latest report on his health as "fiction typical of the unholy
partnership" between British agents, journalists in their pay and "gay
gangsters" opposed to Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe government has previously paid
little attention to speculation on Mugabe's health, even after he appeared
disoriented, drowsy and forgetful at public events.
Mugabe, an outspoken
critic of homosexuals, whom he has described as lower than pigs and dogs, has
accused gay activists of holding sway in a British-led international campaign
against him.
British gay activist Peter Tatchell was assaulted by
Mugabe's bodyguards in Brussels last week after he tried to carry out a
citizen's arrest of Mugabe to protest torture and rights violations in
Zimbabwe.
The Financial Gazette said staff in Mugabe's office reported he
was suffering from fits that made him collapse suddenly. The collapses had
become "a regular thing," it said, and Mugabe had stepped up efforts to groom a
successor.
The government Herald newspaper said the report was part of a
carefully orchestrated campaign at home and abroad to imply Mugabe was no longer
in control.
NICK Swanepoel, a former president of the Commercial Farmers’
Union (CFU), said this week a new leadership is required to
take charge of the farmers’ umbrella body to replace Tim
Henwood’s team and negotiate a settlement of the land dispute
with the government.
His comments come in the wake of
revelations this week that the government has mooted a plan
to ban the CFU and seize all white-owned land in
Zimbabwe if the Henwood executive is retained at the
union’s congress, which begins next
week.
The government this week said it had
closed negotiations with the CFU on the land
question because of what it described as broken promises
and unfulfilled pledges by the union.
It did not mention anything about its plan to ban the CFU,
which is understood to be a closely guarded secret pending
the outcome of the CFU congress.
Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made have
repeatedly accused the CFU of bankrolling the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a charge the union and
the MDC have rejected.
Authoritative
sources close to the Cabinet and other top officials in
Made’s office told the Financial Gazette this week that the
government was prepared to go out of its way to punish the
CFU if it retained the Henwood executive at the
congress.
"The Cabinet’s view is that the CFU led by
Henw-ood is actively working with groups which want to
topple the government," a senior official in the
Agriculture Ministry said.
"The
Cabinet is thus prepared to go out of its way to punish the
CFU. Banning the organisation altogether and nationa-lising
all white land in Zimbabwe has been mooted as one possible
way of punishing the union," the official said, preferring
not to be named.
Swanepoel, a respected figure in the
farming community who served as a two-term president of
the CFU before being succeeded by Henwood, said
time had arrived for all stakeholders to hold
frank discussions to find a lasting solution on the
land issue.
To facilitate the dialogue
for a negotiated settlement, he said a new team of leaders at
the CFU was vital and that there was also a need for the CFU
to be apolitical.
Swanepoel, who is
also co-chairman of the government-created National Economic
Consultative Forum task force on land, said he was now trying
to mediate and break the impasse between
the government and the CFU.
"I am
trying to break this deadlock. The only way to solve the land
issue in the best interests of the country is for all
Zimbabweans to sit down and discuss this issue with a view to
finding a win-win solution," he told the Financial
Gazette.
"Once an agreement is reached on the way
forward, there would be no need for court cases. My view
is that we can go to court week in and week out but
in the end fail to resolve anything."
Henwood was reported to be out of town this week but his
secretary said he was not making any comments to the media
now.
Made could also not be reached for comment on
the government’s reported intention to ban the CFU
and nationalise all white land.
Swanepoel said he had already communicated his initiative on
how to resolve the land question to both the government and
the current CFU leadership. The government had been receptive
while the CFU leadership had been non-committal, he
said.
He said his initiative is backed by a group
of concerned farmers and other established
commercial players in Zimbabwe.
The
initiative stresses that the CFU must be apolitical and
receptive to talks with the government.
Under the
initiative, Swanepoel said, there had to be acceptance
without reservation by the CFU of the government’s target to
acquire five million hectares of land for resettlement. There
would also be a need for the immediate placing of 20 000
families on plots of arable land ranging from two to five
hectares with free tillage, fertiliser and
seed.
The CFU would also have to accept that
compensation for compulsorily acquired land would only be
possible with the full cooperation of the government and
the support of the international
community.
Assuming that an agreement acceptable to
all stakeholders is reached under his plan, all
pending legal action by farmers against the government
would fall away.
A joint task force to
implement this agreement would be required as well as a major
public relations exercise to generate the support of the
international community in implementing the
accord.
Swanepoel stressed that his initiative was not
an attempt to create a splinter group of
farmers, although other farmers and analysts see it
as precisely that.
His plan had come
about because the moment of what he called an historic
initiative on the land issue had
arrived.
"My theory is that you can fight day in day out
but you won’t have a solution unless you sit down and
have open and frank dialogue," he
said.
"You can spend months or years in the courts
but again the best way to go forward is for us to sit
down as Zimbabweans, be frank with one another and find
a lasting solution to the land problem. The hour to
do this has now come and we should make use of it,"
he added.
IT'S not a good time to be a farmer in
Zimbabwe - or Europe, for that matter, though for quite different reasons. What
is sad is that while they're burning the corpses of thousands of animals across
Europe, Zimbabwean agriculture is in such a mess that even contemplating profit
out of Europe's calamity is impossible. Beef is decidedly off the menu in
Europe. A combination of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - mad cow
disease to most of us - and the latest outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)
have caused beef sales to plummet. French supermarkets, which sell two thirds of
all beef in the country, say that their sales are down by 40%. The picture is
much the same across Europe; understandably, after all, who wants to eat food
that turns their brains into Swiss cheese?
But there are exceptions to the rule.
Guaranteed BSE free beef, imported from outside Europe, and organically produced
beef are enjoying a surge in sales - as is game meat, everything from kangaroo
to crocodile, ostrich to impala is selling… well, better than hot cakes.
But Zimbabwe is doing little to exploit
these new markets. The country may have fulfilled its EU beef quota this year,
but for entirely the wrong reasons. Cattle are being slaughtered at an
unprecedented rate because State sponsored lawlessness has created grave concern
for the future - and pushed far too many farmers to the edge of bankruptcy.
Converting cattle into cash is a traditional safety net for organised
agriculture and smallholders alike.
Meanwhile Zimbabwe could be filling the
void left by Europe's own shortsighted agricultural policies. Instead the
country stands on the brink of losing its lucrative beef export quota - a quota
that may be patronising and unfair, but is the best we have. As it happened the
EU inspectors left Zimbabwe shocked and appalled, but allowed exports to
continue despite some weighty reservations.
As so often happens, poor governance
translates into poor marketing strategy. Europe will be hunting for beef for
years to come, and Zimbabwe, assuming a return to normality, will spend years
restocking the national herd. That means losses in a lucrative market that will,
instead, be filled by some other more deserving nation.
There are reasons not to downplay the
devastation illegal farm invasions have had on Zimbabwean beef. In their own
way, they've the potential to do as much damage as FMD or BSE ever did to
European producers, abattoirs, butchers and supermarkets. Zimbabweans like, for
inexplicable reasons, to emphasise the looming maize shortage, to ponder on the
alleged forward sale of as yet non-existent soya beans and the result that's
going to have on stock feeds - and to pretend that all's well in the beef
business. It isn't - and it hasn't been for a long time.
The country should be in a position to
fulfill its EU quota year in and year out. And it should be in a strong enough
position to lobby hard for an increased quota. Better still, it should be
challenging the restrictive trade practices that impose quotas in the first
place. But it isn't in a position to do any of these things. And it won't be for
years, now that so-called war veterans have hijacked agricultural policy and
reform in an effort to ensure another term of office for their leader.
None of this is the producers' fault -
though over the last few years livestock producers might have gained from
researching niche markets for specialised produce in Europe, just as
horticulture has done. (They're even doing a happy little trade in Zebra meat.)
But no, in fairness, the State has brought its own plague down on the meat trade
in Zimbabwe. Even poultry producers are affected by land invasions and
disruptions to production.
It's a more than a little sad that the
country once known as the breadbasket of Africa, the country with the
continent's most sophisticated organised agricultural sector, the country that
wasn't just feeding itself and the region but had started to export to the rest
of the world, now faces a food shortage. It just shows how tenuous the business
of farming can be when you consider that all this has happened in little over a
year: one agricultural season.
Why anyone would want to keep quiet
about this is hard to imagine. It amounts to wanton destruction, not just of
individual farmers and producers, but the entire nation. The time really has
come for all farmers, beef included, to tell the world just how much all this is
costing - and then to tell them that it will continue to cost even if law and
order is restored tomorrow. After all, we hear that the Zimbabwean government is
"concerned" about the number of heifers and pregnant cows being sent to
slaughter. Obviously, the government isn't quite concerned enough because
nothing has been done to solve the problem - or to remove the reasons leading to
this unprecedented slaughter.
Zimbabwe is headed for a bumpy ride up
until the presidential elections - and perhaps a little beyond those, too. It's
going to be particularly bumpy for farmers, who'd better hold on to their hats,
because the State may well turn around and, with the greatest hypocrisy
imaginable, blame food shortages on them. Not that anyone in Zimbabwe or abroad
will believe that for a minute, but the State-owned media, just like government,
needs its scapegoats. Inept or corrupt people always do, especially when their
master plans go quite as horribly wrong as this one has. The fact of the matter
is that the one thing farmers have done wrong in the government's eyes is the
one thing every other Zimbabwean is praising them for: staying on their farms
and getting on with the business of farming. It has been the most sensible
course of action so far and there's no reason to believe it won't continue to be
a sensible option.
Zimbabwe prepares to
import wheat as 2001
wheat plantings decline
AS preparations for the wheat crop for
2001 season begin, indications are that the crop may just make it to about 200
000 tonnes, a significant decline for the second year running. This is mainly
attributed to farm insecurity, non-availability of finance to those listed for
acquisition, and mounting viability problems with electricity charges now
accounting for about 32% of the total running costs of a farm producing
wheat.
Due to the inability by farmers to grow
sufficient wheat last season the country's current wheat stocks were expected to
run out in the next two months and failure to import could lead to
shortages.
Zimbabwe requires over 360 000 tonnes
for its annual consumption and in 1999 produced about 330 000 tonnes. However,
last year, owing to the disturbances on the farms in the run up to the general
elections, some farmers were unable to grow the crop resulting in a decline to
about 250 000 tonnes.
The decrease in last season's crop
would this year lead to a deficit on the local market and already plans were
said to be underway to import wheat to meet the shortfall. Imports would mean
that the retail prices of wheat products such as bread and flour would increase
significantly.
Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement
minister, Dr Joseph Made, recently told Parliament that wheat stocks were down
and would last for only four months.
A further decrease in plantings this
season would also imply that the country would have to import even larger
quantities next year.
Some farmers who would have wanted to
plant wheat this year may fail to do so as land invaders planted their maize on
the lands earmarked for wheat. Some of the maize was planted late and would not
be ready to be harvested in time to plant wheat.
It was expected that in the next two to
three months Zimbabwe's millers would start importing not only wheat for
gristling purposes but also cheap filler wheat to cover for the shortfall. There
was also likely to be a huge regional demand for wheat as both Zambia and South
Africa were expected to experience shortfalls. Zambia has always been a net
importer but the trade war between Zimbabwe and Zambia could intensify due to
Zimbabwe' alleged failure to comply with the COMESA trade agreement.
However, of particular concern to
Zimbabwean wheat producers this season were the electricity charges by Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) which now constitute about a third of total
variable costs.
According to the Zimbabwe Cereals
Producers' Association (ZCPA), several meetings were held with ZESA to discuss
agricultural tariffs. The Ministry of Industry and International Trade convened
one of the meetings. It is understood ZESA agreed to let the agricultural tariff
remain at the current level until the end of October.
ZCPA has also proposed the review of
the tariffs and of significance is the proposal to introduce a stop order
payment system by farmers to ZESA. Under this proposal farmers would pay their
electricity bills once after they sell their wheat crop.
Meanwhile, farmers interested in
growing barley have expressed concern over the delays in negotiations between
Natbrew and the ZGPA to decide on the producer price for this season's
crop.
Harare hosts
international flower show
"ZIMBABWE is alive and well and still
blooming" was this year's optimistic theme of the Agriflor Show, an exhibition
by the flower industry and its associates held in Harare this week.
The exhibition drew exhibitors from
among flower breeders, merchants, growers, freight and chemical companies from
different parts of the world but mainly from Europe.
At the time of going to press, some
visitors to the show described the turnout to the colourful exhibition "as
quieter than normal." However, there was still hope that the situation could
change for better in the last one and half days getting into the
weekend.
Mr Doug Pascoe, representative of a
French-Italian company, Laroco breeders, said the idea to exhibit was spurred by
a desire to expose growers to new varieties and to assist those who wanted to
expand their flower growing expertise by showing them new techniques.
Brand Etavard, representing a French
company, Meilland Star Roses, said the company was involved in trying to develop
new flower varieties suitable for different climatic conditions around the
world. "The idea is to match the market requirements and our main activity is to
create new rose varieties and expand them to as many countries as possible," he
said.
Mr Peter Bouma, Africa's area manager
for Flora Holland, said his company could not afford not to exhibit in Zimbabwe
because 86% of Zimbabwe's flowers were exported to Holland.
He said they still had faith in Africa
when looking at global production of flowers because other major players like
Spain and Israel were going down.
One of the exhibits featured South
Africa's Flower-traders.net, which provides e-commerce opportunities. Its
marketing director, Mr Adrian Sutton, said e-commerce was set to
"revolutionalise" the flower industry on a global scale utilising efficiencies
created by the Internet.
Location was no longer an issue as
people could access the market remotely from wherever they might be.
"The system or market space will allow
for greater operational and administrative efficiencies allowing all
participants in the supply chain to concentrate on their core competencies, thus
encouraging a service etiquette to dominate the market. These efficiencies will
lead to economies of scale, which will ensure better and more competitive prices
as well as increased quality product," he said.
EU still to debate
Zimbabwe's veterinary report
EUROPEAN Union (EU) veterinary experts
are expected to meet soon to debate a draft report on Zimbabwe's ability to meet
beef export requirement to their member States. The debate, which follows a
recent inspection in Zimbabwe, will take place late this month or early April.
It will centre Zimbabwe's ability to implement veterinary regulations and
controls.
In an interview with The Farmer
last week, Zimbabwe's Director of Veterinary Services, Dr Stuart Hargreaves,
said the story carried in the State-owned Herald recently needed
clarification. In a front page headline, The Herald announced "Zimbabwe's
animal disease control standards effective: EU." Dr Hargreaves said that
Zimbabwe still had to respond to the draft - and that the EU had to be satisfied
with Zimbabwe's response.
Hargreaves said the European Union's
veterinary committee would debate the draft and Zimbabwe's response before
coming up with a final report. However, it is not expected, at this time, that
the EU will put an end to Zimbabwe's beef exports to the union.
The draft report mentioned four major
concerns and made four recommendations. They noted that the Zimbabwean
veterinary services department lacked the necessary resources to do its
job.
But the EU inspectors also raised grave
concerns over developments in the Lowveld's Save Conservancy, an area where
self-styled war veterans and invaders continue to cause havoc by destroying
fences. This results in the free movement of game - which then mixes with
cattle. Buffalo, in particular, are blamed for the transmission of Foot and
Mouth Disease (FMD) to cattle.
The EU inspectors said that the
situation in the conservancy required urgent attention. They said that fences
required immediate action and that cattle be removed from buffalo areas without
delay.
The draft report also states that the
livestock industry and animal health development plan should be finalised and
time frame for implementation be given to the EU. The plan should include
safeguards on the control and movement of animals under permits - and a code of
practice for producers.
Hargreaves also said that there were
concerns raised about the control of meat, an issue of increasing concern to EU
legislators and consumers alike. However, the inspectors were satisfied with
standards of hygiene in Zimbabwe's abattoirs and said that Zimbabwe's
traceability scheme and disease surveillance came out very well in the draft
report.
DZL records 10%
decrease in profits
DAIRIBORD Zimbabwe Limited (DZL) has
for the year 2000 recorded a turnover of $4 billion, which is a 10% decrease in
profits compared to 1999 owing to the prevailing harsh economic environment in
the country. The group also recorded a 9% decline in sales volumes on the
domestic market.
In the announcement of the group's
audited results for the year ending 31 December 2000, DZL chairman, Mr Paddy
Millar, said the gross profit margin was reduced to 24% from 27% last year.
These declines were attributed to increases in electricity, coal, water, fuel
costs, high inflation foreign currency shortages and problems in the
agricultural sector.
"The year 2000 presented considerable
challenges most of which were related to the prevailing harsh economic
environment, in particular high inflation, fuel and foreign currency shortages,"
he said.
Mr Miller said 2001 was likely to
continue to present a difficult trading situation.
He said DZL's Malawi subsidiary also
faced an equally challenging environment, "typified by the massive" devaluation
of the Malawian Kwacha.
Mr Miller said these economic factors
were reflected in a 9% decline in sales volume. In order to maintain volumes as
high as possible, he said, the company decided to hold the consumer price
increases below the inflation level and concentrate on controlling
costs.
While the group was able to increase
export volumes by 46% in 1999, the managed exchange rate depressed the effect of
this real growth on turnover and profits, as exports were sold in highly
competitive markets.
DZL's milk intake volumes were
maintained at almost the same level as the previous year due to producers'
resilience against the background of many problems in the agricultural
sector.
For 2001 the group's growth strategies
would include local and regional expansion in dairy delights, dairy ingredients
and beverages.
The group also said it would pursue
acquisitions both locally and regionally. On the proposed acquisition of Lyons
Zimbabwe, the group said negotiations were now at an advanced stage.
The intended acquisition of its main
competitor, if successfull, would increase DZL's dominance on the market.
Rotate wheat with soya
not maize
WHEAT farmers have been urged to grow
wheat in rotation with soya beans as nitrogen levels in the soil are higher than
in any other commercially grown legume.
Soya beans retain nitrogen in the soil
and this build up of nitrogen holds protein that is needed by the wheat
crop.
Commercial Farmers' Union soil
scientist, Dr Penny Grant, told farmers in Kwekwe and Chegutu that farmers who
rotated maize with wheat tended to achieve a lower protein content than farmers
who rotated wheat with soyas.
Dr Grant said that in Banket, a prime
maize producing area, the protein content was generally low because maize and
wheat were rotated.
She said the strength of maize-wheat
rotation is "dubious", while cotton and tobacco are very bad.
Dr Penny Grant also said that early
irrigation and over irrigation resulted in decreases of nitrogen.
Discussing disease, Dr Grant said the
most common diseases in wheat were leaf rust and powdery mildew - and the
problem of falling numbers.
While a variety can be disease
resistant for two to three seasons, they eventually become vulnerable, she said.
Scope, which was resistant against leaf rust, became highly susceptible after
two seasons.
Farmers were also told of the centre
pivot irrigation trials on Art Farm. They were told that 70% of management,
effort and time on wheat should be spent on irrigation.
A researcher with ART Farm, Mr Dave
Lowe, told farmers of the wheat varieties available this year. He said Nduna,
Shangwa, Scan, and Kana carried a low risk factor in terms of disease in
Zimbabwe.
He said trials had shown that their
vulnerability to leaf rust was between 0 to 10% and powdery mildew between 2 to
3%, adding that spraying might be unnecessary if disease monitoring was dealt
with efficiently. He warned farmers against complacency in this regard.
Sceptre, Scope and Scarlet were
described as the most susceptible needing a lot of spraying.
Dr Grant said to farmers, "Do not spray
regardless because that's a waste of money. Only spray if there are signs of
attack."
GM food debate hits
Zimbabwe
While Europe shouldn't be seen as
providing the yardstick for GM crops and food consumption in Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwean consumers should be aware of the worldwide controversy these foods
are raising if they're going to make informed decisions. This was said last week
at a workshop held by the Biotechnology Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and the
Bio-safety Board of Zimbabwe (BBZ).
BAZ chairman, Dr Joseph Gopo, said that
most African countries accepted anything that came out of Europe.
But in Europe fierce debate over GM
food production rages, with activists targeting producers and vandalising crops.
Supermarkets throughout Europe report that consumer resistance to genetically
modified produce is strong on a continent where the move towards organically
farmed produce is growing faster than anywhere else on earth.
But Dr Gopo said that people in
Zimbabwe, "have left the debate to scientists and there's a need for greater
consumer participation."
Another serious question that needed to
be answered was whether there was any export potential for GM crops. With
agriculture ministers across Europe pushing to increase subsidies to organic
farmers, it is highly unlikely that the EU, currently Zimbabwe's prime export
market, would countenance GM imports.
Beefing about British beef
DAR ES SALAAM
IN a move described as "precautionary" the Tanzanian
government has banned the importation of all beef products, live animals and
semen from Britain.
The announcement, made last week,
follows the foot and mouth outbreak in the UK. Tanzania imports mainly canned
meat products from Europe and South Africa and the ban is not expected to
substantially worsen the British beef crisis.
Dumisani Muleya MINISTER of State
for Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo this week stepped up his campaign to
remove state editors and impose his own nominees as resistance to his plans
mounted.
Well-placed sources said Moyo, who was determined to impose
editorial changes, held several meetings with the editors, Zimpapers directors
and the Zimbabwe Mass Media Trust (ZMMT) to drum up support for his contentious
plans.
ZMMT trustees meet today to discuss state media issues. The
meeting will discuss Ziana, Comm-unity Newspapers Group (CNG) and Zimpapers’
problems. It will also consider the appointment of a new Zimpapers board chair
following the resignation of Tommy Sithole and his deputy Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.
Harare businessman and key Zanu PF ally Enoch Kamushinda is expected to
be appointed new board chair. Rainbow Tourism Group chief executive Herbert
Nkala, also a Zimpapers board member, is said to have turned down an offer.
There is also the issue of ex-Herald editor Born-well Chakaodza and his
former Sunday Mail cou-nterpart Pascal Muko- ndiwa. The two are still on the
Zimpapers payroll because their removal was not procedural. ZMMT is keen to
resolve the problem.
Moyo’s proposals have sparked a row in official
circles. Zanu PF officials, ministers and “diplomats friendly to government”
have been drawn into the controversy.
The Information minister resumed
his crusade against editors this week after a setback last Friday when the
Zimpapers board boycotted a meeting he had called. On Monday he summoned Herald
editor Ray Mungoshi to Munhumutapa Building.
Sources close to the
meeting said Moyo told Mungoshi that he wanted to “promote” him to
editor-in-chief of the new media group, a merger between Ziana, CNG and the
Zimbabwe Information Service.
But it is thought Mungoshi is only too
aware that he is being forced out and demoted in favour of a ministerial
nominee.
Moyo is reportedly keen to install his disciple Pikirayi
Deketeke, Mu-ngoshi’s deputy, as Herald editor. Chronicle news editor Makuwerere
Bwititi is due to be appointed Deketeke’s deputy.
However, insiders said
Deketeke suffered a serious reversal this week. He took flak for the Monday
edition of the Herald which carried what Moyo saw as a “slipshod” front-page
story on President Mugabe’s retention of the Sadc security organ and a weak
editorial inside.
Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge described the
story on a Sadc vote of confidence as “fiction”.
A source told the
Zimbabwe Independent that Moyo was disappointed that the editor-in-waiting did
not know the difference between “unanimity” and “consensus” at the Sadc meeting.
The Herald corrected its mistakes on Tuesday amid official outrage.
Sunday Mail editor Funny Mushava was also summoned on Monday to Munhumutapa
Building where his future was discussed.
Mushava met Presidential
spokesman George Charamba. He was told that he would be transferred to the new
media group under Mungoshi. It is understood that Zimpapers management and
board members are still resisting Moyo’s changes.
The directors are
threatening to resign if Moyo proceeds against their will.
Dumisani
Ndlela THE Reserve Bank is taking stern measures
to curb the parallel foreign currency market which analysts believe could push
the exchange rate against the US dollar to $200. Yawning discrepancies between
the inter- bank rate and the parallel rate has propelled the central bank to
re-introduce the dreaded fixed exchange rate system, senior bank executives said
this week.
“That is definite and they are only working out the rate at
which they should fix the dollar,” a banking source said.
This emerged
as the market yesterday was awash with reports of an imminent devaluation or
“crash” of the currency today. Speculators were pegging the dollar at 85 to the
greenback, up from 55.
The Reserve Bank has met bankers, who had also
engaged Finance minister Simba Makoni the previous week, and told them that the
government was not devaluing the local currency, banking sources said.
Amid heightened fears by administrators that the situation was spilling
into an exchange rate disaster, sources informed the Zimbabwe Independent that
the RBZ was now determined to crack down on the foreign currency market.
But that move, market watchers said, was likely to further boost the
black market and force rates through the roof, presenting the country with an
unimaginable crisis as both the interbank and the parallel market wou-ld
virtually dry up.
“That will not be in line with the new economic
order,” said Harare- based economist, Witness Chinyama. “Other economies are
moving on with a free-floating exchange rate or one that moves in line with
inflation differentials.”
Other analysts argued that this would only
work if Zimbabwe was operating a normal economy. Although in the- ory a black
market is the same as a parallel market, bank executives said a distinction had
emerged in Zimbabwe’s situation.
“What we now have are three rates of
exchange,” a bank executive told the Independent. “There is the interbank,
parallel and the black market rates. It is the last one which needs plugging
before this country plunges into an exchange rate crisis,” he warned.
Bankers were yesterday planning to register their complaint with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a breakfast meeting today with a mis- sion
sent to the country by the Bretton Woods institution’s board to examine fiscal
performance.
Talks are currently going on between the government and the
IMF mission which is reviewing the suspension of aid by the IMF in September
1999. The IMF is opposed to any forms of price controls. Fixing the exchange
rate is a form of control on the price of foreign currency.
Barnabas
Thondhlana ECONOMISTS have warned that if the
fuel crisis is not addressed with haste, the implications for industry, already
under severe stress, would be immense.
“It’s saying the obvious that
fuel is central to the successful implementation of business in this country,
but it still needs to be said,” Patterson Timba of Renaissance Asset Management
said.
“Business is slowly grinding to a standstill as the fuel crisis
continues unabated, and the apparent absence of an end to the crisis is
worrisome.” The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC)’s economist,
James Jowa, said it was difficult to quantify the effect of the fuel crisis on
industry because of the different factors involved.
“The shortage of
foreign currency is one of the ways in which companies are being affected, and
it is this shortage which has resulted in the fuel crisis,” Jowa said.
Jowa said business capacity had declined to below 40%, particularly for
those companies with no access to foreign currency, and depended on the local
market for business.
“The ripple effect of fuel price increases has
serious implications on the rest of the community, be they business or the
ordinary man in the street,” said one analyst who preferred anonymity.
“Fuel is central to business’ efficiency. Because the fuel crisis has
gone unabated for 18 months now, industry has been forced to develop survival
strategies. Some of these include downsizing, and increasing the cost of goods
and services. This has affected the ordinary man in the street. What more if
there is a fuel price increase?” he asked.
He said some quoted companies
were adversely affected by the fuel crisis as it impacted on the delivery of
products to the market.
“An increase in fuel costs will affect the
profitability of several companies. The repricing of products and services that
will follow a fuel price increase is likely to push up the rate of inflation.
This will affect the whole economy, particularly the investors who are currently
making negative real returns on their investments because the interest rates are
now significantly lower than the rate of inflation,” the analyst said.
Right across the board industry has been affected by the fuel shortage,
evidenced by the amount of time executives and the generality of workers spend
in queues.
Richard Makoni of Lorimark Human Resources Consultants said
this translated into millions of dollars in lost time and productivity, delivery
and performance.
“One just has to calculate the number of hours one
spends in a queue and subtract that from the eight working hours in a day. If
one multiplies the figures by the 22 working days in a month, thousands of
man-hours are being lost countrywide in unproductive work,” Makoni said.
“One obviously cannot concentrate on their gainful employment as one
spends hours just sitting at a service station — where there is no fuel but
delivery is expected — or phoning up friends and acquaintances looking for the
next refill. That translates into further losses in productivity,” he said.
Independent economic consultant John Robertson of John Robertson
Associates said the tourism industry was the worst affected by the fuel
shortage.
“The tourism industry has had an increasingly disproportionate
downturn. Of the little number of tourists trickling into the country, a 60-70%
drop has been experienced, mostly due to the fuel crisis. One does not want to
visit Zimbabwe on holiday, hire a vehicle to travel around and then spend the
rest of the holiday in a petrol queue,” Robertson said.
Another analyst
said the effect of the fuel shortage on the exchange rate was an aspect which
appeared secondary but was of primary concern. “Noczim is putting a high
demand on the market for the scarce foreign currency, and a number of financial
institutions have come together with structures to feed Noczim’s unsated
appetite for foreign currency. But what is the effect of this?
“The
foreign currency shortage is going to worsen because of the demand. The rate at
which the foreign currency becomes available is high and is going up,” the
analyst, who also preferred anonymity, said.
“Consequently, for us as a
country to survive there will be need to import fuel in bulk, and this demands a
lot more forex than we have at our disposal. This creates a mismatch between the
timing and cost of our imports and the timing and value of our exports as Noczim
creates a huge demand on the forex market.”
Other essential services
that depended on imports would likewise be affected as priority has been given
to Noczim’s requirements. Timba said Noczim had no choice but to source
money from the parallel market, in the process increasing its exposure.
“Noczim’s debt has now ballooned to levels which they cannot manage. The
strategy of increasing fuel prices periodically was discarded two years ago, but
this would have been the best way forward as everybody would be aware of the
increase,” he said.
One economist said the likelihood of government
taking over Noczim’s debt was very limited, which meant the fuel utility had to
come up with mechanisms which would enable it to survive and service its debt.
“Unfortunately there is no other option but to raise fuel prices,” the
analyst said.
Busani Bafana ACUTE foreign
currency shortages coupled with a poor marketing thrust have crippled the
delivery of freight and passenger services by the National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ).
Customers, mostly in industry and commerce, are concerned about
the deterioration in the quality of service delivery with some opting to use
road transportation. The major complaint has been that the NRZ was
short-changing its customers as a result of poor turnaround times for freight
and passenger trains.
The NRZ, the sole railway operation in the
country, could face viability problems unless it generates enough foreign
currency to meet its financial commitments. Besides, it needs a huge capital
injection to ensure operational efficiency, amd overhaul equipment and rolling
stock.
While the new NRZ board chaired by Chivarange Chimombe pledged to
focus on turning around the operations of the beleaguered state enterprise,
stakeholders have borne the brunt of poor service delivery.
NRZ
spokesman Gamaliel Rungani attributed train delays to the vandalism of
signalling and communication systems. He said this had resulted in lengthy
transit times for customer consignments and in meeting wagon commitments.
“The claim that half of our wagon fleet has been red-crossed (unusable)
is not true. Wagons out of service due to a variety of reasons stand at
approximately 18%,” Rungani said. “The shortage of foreign currency is impact-
ing negatively on the timeous procurement of requisite materials.”
“What
we find is that the railways is relatively unresponsive and inefficient compared
to the road hauliers,” a regular customer of the NRZ who is also an exporter
told the Independent.
“We have been using the NRZ for our exports to
South Africa and East Africa but have turned to 20-foot containers because it is
cheaper on the road. The NRZ needs to seriously look at itself if it is to be a
viable business,” he said.
Sources told the Independent last week that
NRZ general manager Sam Zumbika wrote to customers apologising for the poor
service delivery. He asked exporting customers to pay for freight services in
foreign currency. The request indicated the NRZ’s ability to generate the
much-needed forex from its operations, which now include a service to the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This is not a compulsory arrangement but
rather optional,” Rungani said. “This move has been made to facilitate the
purchase of spare parts for maintenance and repairs to our own infrastructure
and rolling stock.”
President of the Ma-tabeleland Chamber of Industries
(MCI), Tony Rowland, said the NRZ provided an essential service but was paying
the price for a delayed privatisation programme.
“On the whole there are
a lot of good people trying to run the NRZ effectively,” said Rowland.
“The sad fact is that it is still a parastatal and some decisions are
made from the top. We see people turning to road (transport),” he said.
One of the major customers of the NRZ, Wankie Colliery, said while it
was inconvenienced by the problems faced by railway operations, it was happy
with the open communication the NRZ had maintained. “The service has not
been that bad as we appreciate the problems the NRZ is facing with signalling
and the vandalism of infrastructure,” Wankie spokesman, Si-mukai Chihanga, said.
Another NRZ customer, the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, said the NRZ had
been forthcoming on current operational problems.
“They have been honest
with us and open with the problems they are facing. We are happy with that,” ZTA
production director, Roland Keith, said.
“The service is not as good as
can be expected but they have been good to us,” he said.
While freight
customers have expressed concern about the deteriorating service, passengers
have not been spared either. Three weeks ago passengers on the
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route had to endure an almost 15-hour train trip to the
resort town after the trains were delayed along the route.
Some
passengers who were on their way to Victoria Falls said the train was delayed in
Dete midway to Victoria Falls after the driver clocked his eight-hour shift and
“abandoned” the train. A replacement driver had to be called from Hwange to
complete the journey.
The NRZ is understood to have scrapped overtime
allowances for train drivers, a move that Rungani denied. He said the parastatal
had only stepped up efforts to “manage and minimise” the payment of such
allowances.
NOTHING more clearly
illustrates Zanu PF’s determination to suppress free expression than the
ridiculous motion currently before parliament to outlaw the opposition MDC’s
open-palm salute.
Apart from the sheer impracticality of preventing
people from greeting one another in any way they like, it is almost certainly in
conflict with constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.
The
argument, by Aeneas Chigwedere, one of the movers of the motion, that there is a
precedent, is groundless. Parties were prevented in the 1980s from adopting
symbols that were already in use by state agencies. They weren’t prevented from
holding up their hands!
It is useful to have the confessions of a number
of Zanu PF MPs on record that their followers are beating up people who use the
salute — but laughable when they then claim it should be abolished to prevent
such attacks.
If it is true, as they say, that Zimbabweans are suffering
“anguish and stress” over the symbol, it is because the ruling party has adopted
a strategy of brutality as a means of retaining power.
Chigwedere’s
claim, that whites had forced the symbol on the MDC having borrowed it from US
educationist Booker T Washington in an attempt to signify acceptance of racial
segregation, must be one of the most risible statements made in parliament for
several years, although admittedly the competition in this debate has been
strenuous.
More ominously, the courts have been hearing evidence over
the past two weeks of ministers threatening to kill opposition supporters.
Their own supporters were told that the government had ways of finding out
which way they voted.
None of these were idle threats. People were
indeed murdered for their political allegiance — some by state officials, it is
alleged, who continue to occupy senior posts. Farmers have been killed for
daring to remain on the land.
In today’s edition we carry on Page 12 a
harrowing account of the terror experienced by farmers and their workers in
recent months and the destruction wrought by people claiming to be war veterans.
The police in nearly every case have done nothing to prosecute the
well-documented perpetrators of violence nor have they obeyed court orders.
MDC MP for Bulawayo North David Coltart has accused Matabeleland North
governor Obert Mpofu of making statements inciting violence against white
farmers. He has also accused Border Gezi and Chenjerai Hunzvi of encouraging
political violence when they visited Matabeleland just over two weeks ago.
The ammunition which killed Gloria Olds can be traced back to the
government, according to the experts who investigated the site and members of
her family.
“By murdering Gloria Olds in such a brutal way, the
government is trying to intimidate the farming community and to get them to give
up,” Coltart told the London Guardian.
That appears to be a perfectly
reasonable conclusion. But how in the circumstances can Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa tell South Africans that Zimbabwe adheres to the rule of law? War
veterans, licensed by the state to abduct, kill and maim, are now involved in
settling business disputes as well.
Reports from Kambuzuma suggest they
have occupied houses belonging to Phyllis Ngwenya and evicted her lodgers after
people claiming to be the former owners appealed for help.
Then there is
the case of the taxi company owner of Asian descent who, locked in a dispute
with his drivers, found his fleet hijacked and parked at Zanu PF headquarters. A
transport company also had war veterans intervening on behalf of workers over a
wage dispute.
This represents an extension of the familiar politics of
patronage. Given the failure of the police to uphold the law a parallel
system has evolved, just as the parallel market has sprouted in the banking
sector.
Zanu PF may prefer this system because it has electoral
potential. But one can imagine the response of investors, the business community
and those few remaining countries still on good terms with our leadership when
they learn that disputes over property ownership or wages are solved not by the
law but by gun-toting militias directed by the ruling party!
Robert
Mugabe may claim to be the head of state. But we have a parallel president in
Chenjerai Hunzvi. Is this the Zimbabwe we want, reduced to the level of armed
gangsters where there is no law and no future? Because it is certainly the
Zimbabwe we are getting!
It is time to heed the words of UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan: “Africa must summon the will to take good
governance seriously, ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law,
strengthening democratisation, and promoting transparency and capability in
public administration.”
So long as Zimbabwe’s rulers ignore that advice
our country will continue to slide towards the abyss.
ATTEMPTS to put a
gloss on the president’s trip to Europe last week bordered on the farcical at
times. Official eulogist Stephen Ndlovu who accompanied President Mugabe was so
overcome with enthusiasm that he appeared confused as to where he was actually
filing from.
“President Mugabe scored two major points without saying
anything when he toured two European capitals, Paris and France last week,”
Ndlovu reported in the Sunday Mail.
What is France the capital of,
Stephen? And since when has Mugabe never said anything?
The president in
fact had quite a lot to say as Ndlovu’s article revealed. So did a number of
anonymous “diplomats” and “officials” who all sounded rather like the same
person. But the person who had the most to say in the course of his “report”
from Paris was Ndlovu himself.
A ceremonial guard of honour stood to
attention “in reverence of the Zimbabwean lead-er”, he reported in an emotional
state.
They marched into the Elysée Palace grounds “in a display of
reve- rence”, he repeated in case we hadn’t got the message the first time.
But curiously Ndlovu failed to tell us why President Jacques Chirac,
evidently in a less reverential mood, declined to greet our leader on the steps
of the Elysée as is customary. Just a few hours earlier Chirac had been on the
steps to publicly welcome the president of Equatorial Guinea, a state most
people would have difficulty locating on the map!
Having run out of
superlatives Ndlovu resorted to the following: “Back home the opposition MDC,
which many diplomats now call an extension of the British Foreign Office, is now
at sixes and sevens. History has shown that cowards and sellouts have always
derailed the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. During the liberation struggle
many people that had started off well ended up selling out for 30 pieces of
silver.”
Significantly Ndlovu didn’t mention journalists who sell out to
corrupt tyrants whose lies they repeat without any ethical worries.
In
Ndlovu’s case his employers are certainly not getting value for money with the
semi-literate hogwash appearing in the Sunday Mail. Perhaps the presidential
spokesman cited in Ndlovu’s report, and probably the source for much contained
therein, could have done a better job after taking 30 pieces of British silver
only a few years ago to improve his literary skills in Wales! The
president, we gather, was so delighted with his visit to France that he is
threatening to turn Zimbabwe into a Francophone state. Mugabe told his hosts
that he wished his countrymen were French-speaking so that “we would have
nothing in common with the British”.
This was of course music to
Chirac’s ear and we can expect French to suddenly find its way back into the
school curriculum. Mugabe already attends meetings of La Francophonie, the
French Commonwealth. But isn’t it typical that the president should choose to
champion a language that is everywhere in retreat because it is incapable of
adapting to global challenges? Fren-ch scientists now have to publish their
findings in English so they get read!
The official press has been
putting a brave face on Sadc’s decision last weekend to subordinate the organ on
security and defence to the Sadc heads of state. President Mugabe will continue
to head the outfit until August (not the end of the year as reported) but he
will then have to give it up altogether when it reverts to the rotational role
originally envisaged before he turned it into his private domain. In the
meantime he will not be able to take any unilateral action of the sort that
landed Zimbabwe in the Congo quagmire.
The decision by South Africa to
oppose Mugabe’s continued retention of the organ was inventively ascribed by our
state media to “Afri-kaners” continuing to run foreign affairs and security in
Pretoria. We can be sure Sipho Pityana and Lindiwe Sisulu enjoyed that
observation! And what about the Mozambicans? Is their foreign policy also run by
Afrikaners?
Meanwhile, Swaziland’s king and Lesotho’s prime minister
stayed away from Windhoek rather than face the horse-trading going on there.
But we liked Sam Nujoma’s comment that “all those people who thought
Namibia and Zimbabwe would go bankrupt because of the DRC conflict must be the
saddest people on earth because that didn’t happen”.
He either knows
nothing about the state of Zimbabwe’s public fina-nces or does know and is
determined to do the same thing to Namibia!
Muckraker is glad he was not
in the boots of the editor who transformed Sadc’s vote of confidence in Muga-be
into a vote of no confidence in Monday’s edition of the Herald. We bet there was
all hell to pay when the minister opened his paper that morning. It must have
quite ruined his breakfast and probably led to accusations of MDC moles
burrowing away at Herald House.
The minister also took exception, it
seems, to the treatment given to the heading “Retention of Sadc organ post nod
for President’s leadership”. Why was that in quotation marks, he demanded to
know?
The obvious answer — that they were not the Herald’s words — was
deemed insubordination of the highest order. The quotation marks have become
something of a habit in recent weeks, indicating where the Herald wishes to
distance itself from opi- nions dictated from Mu-nhumutapa Building.
Muckraker would re-commend to the Herald a more effective strategy
consisting of two words containing Anglo- Saxon — as distinct from French —
injunctions concerning travel arrangements.
It was Mark Twain who, on
reading his obituary published by a presumptuous American newspaper, remark- ed
that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated.
We are guilty of
the same presumption. Last week we observed that Anna Maria Maenzanise, the
alleged victim of a shooting by Joseph Chinotimba, had subsequently died. That
is not the case. Although bad-ly injured, she is still very much alive. We
apologise for the error.
Chinotimba is facing charges of attempted
murder. He was rema-nded on $5 000 bail and drives around in a Land Rover
Defender. We have yet to ascertain where he obtained that “perk”.
Chenjerai Hunzvi has been behaving badly again. During a one-day visit
to Harare recently, South African opposition leader Tony Leon met with a group
of farmers at Meikles Hotel. Entering the foyer, Hunzvi spotted the group and
planted himself nearby. The farmers suggested to Leon that they move to a more
private lounge. Hunzvi duly followed them in, sat himself down and proceeded to
stare menacingly at Leon.
“He plonked himself down and tried to stare us
out,” Leon told journalists on arrival back in Johannesburg. “I recognised the
world-famous face but did not react. We just carried on with our discussion.”
After a while, seeing he wasn’t getting anywhere, Hunzvi left.
This week he was accusing his rivals in the war veterans’ association of
being “ambitious, tribalistic regionalists that cannot work with anyone”.
This was after his plans for restructuring the association in his own
image hit a brick wall. Having denounced his colleagues in the usual intemperate
terms, he went on to warn about them “mudslinging and decampaigning others”!
‘Whine”Bvudzijena has been continuing to misinform the public.
Commenting on the increased incidences of hijackings which the police have
done little to control, he said the country was paying heavily due to dishonesty
by motorists who made false theft reports to enable them to claim from insurers.
No Whine. The country is paying heavily because weapons issued by the
police, the CIO and the army to war veterans have found their way into the hands
of criminals. Indeed, some of the recipients were probably criminals in the
first place. Why is it assumed that people who can loot millions of dollars from
funds entrusted to them by rank-and-file veterans won’t also sell weapons or
engage in other forms of criminal activity?
We can at least put to rest
the e-mail story doing the rounds that a vehicle stolen from the US embassy was
later traced to the President’s Office. That, like so many hijacking stories, is
an urban legend. So it seems are those involving the Johannesburg-based Transnet
satellite vehicle-tracking system that has allegedly traced cars being flown
from Manyame airbase to the Congo.
Hijacked vehicles are, as the police
readily admit, finding their way to the Congo. But what needs to be illuminated
is the circle of guilt connecting those master- minding farm invasions with the
subsequent violent-crime epidemic and the movement of vehicles to Kinshasa and
Lubumbashi. Meanwhile, Whine should stop bringing the police into disrepute
by making Jonathan Moyo-style statements. Last Saturday he was trying to blame
the opposition for the current spate of cop-killings.
“We cannot accept
a situation where our officers become targets of violent killings. This
development is disturbing, especially when one takes into consideration that
there have been calls by opposition politicians for their members to attack
policemen.”
Who has been attacking who? Is it not the police who have
been attacking the residents of Chitungwiza at random? Is it not the police who
have sided with Zanu PF in its campaign of systematic and brutal repression?
Whine must understand that when the police become spokesmen for an
unpopular and discredited regime, like he has, they lose all public confidence
and support, particularly when he makes daft statements about the opposition
using children as human shields!
In the same Herald report UZ social
science lecturer Dr Ishmael Magaisa was quoted as saying the Police Act needed
to be reviewed to give police officers greater powers.
“When the police
accidentally kill criminals or innocent civilians, they are blamed more than the
criminals. It is a common trend worldwide to sympathise (more) with the welfare
of the criminals than victims,” Magaisa complained.
One would expect to
hear this unenlightened claptrap from Augustine Chihuri or a Zanu PF
backbencher. But coming from a UZ social scientist it is rather disturbing.
Perhaps he was misquoted.
On the subject of un-enlightened claptrap we
had Aeneas Chigwedere in the Standard last Sunday explaining why he had
introduced a motion in parliament to outlaw the MDC’s open-palm salute.
“I’m simply proposing that they adopt a symbol which does not compromise
anyone,” he said, citing precedents from the 1980s when political parties were
forbidden to adopt certain symbols.
“We have a majority in parliament
and if it is necessary to vote we will win,” he confident-ly asserted.
Unfortunately he didn’t cite the precedent of unpopular regimes
attempting to maintain themselves in power by banning democratic for-ms of
expression. History is littered with attempts to suppress people’s liberties,
nearly all of them unsuccessful. He appeared not to know that.
Chigwedere is the author of eight books on Zimbabwean history. He says
he does most of his writing between 3am and 6am. The rest of the time he is
sitting in parliament. Asked whether he helps out in the kitchen when at home,
he replied emphatically that he was never trained to do that.
“My elders
would never have tolerated that,” he said firmly.
But he claims if he
had been trained in the culinary arts “there would be no reason for me not to
cook to prove that I was better than my wife and even teach her how to cook”.
This of course assumes that the “reason” he gave was a valid one in the first
place!
His wife Emilia was pictured looking content with these claims to
excellence in all fields by her boastful husband. It will be interesting to see
if university students are as enthusiastic when Chigwedere’s forthcoming book on
the first Chimurenga is introduced into their coursework. University students
are his target readership, he says. But they, together with their teachers, have
certainly not been among his target admirers!
Do the police know
something we don’t? They are advertising tenders for the supply and delivery of
tombstones. The closing date is March 22 and when delivered they will be kept at
the ZRP ordnance stores in Harare. Just what are they planning for?
Daniel Compagnon
LAST week President Jacques Chirac received the
Zimbabwe head of state at the Elysée. One can certainly understand that French
diplomacy deals with an African leader who is an active participant in the
conflict in the former Zaire, if the objective of this contact is to achieve a
rapid withdrawal of troops from the DRC; but this Realpolitik should not be
achieved on the backs of the Zimbabwean people who are subject to the yoke of
increasing oppression.
For a long time credited for political stability
— the false character of which was apparent from the mid-90s — and an apparently
healthy economy the Mugabe régime has revealed its true identity since the
referendum of February last year which was lost by the government. Initially it
was the violent occupation of the large commercial farms by a militia of the
ruling party involving war veterans and delinquent urban youths.
Then
the premeditated murders — encouraged by inflammatory declarations by the
president — of white farmers and several dozen activists and sympathisers of the
opposition MDC which to this day have gone unpunished. And finally the strategy
of terror in the populous areas of the large cities and particularly in the
countryside during the three months prior to the legislative election in June
2000.
This violent climate, courageously denounced at the time by the EU
observers, swayed sufficient votes in the targeted areas to ensure a narrow
“victory” for Mugabe. Since then two by-elections have been “won” by the same
methods.
We now witness an explosion of state-sponsored violence in the
townships of Harare — the 19 MPs for the capital are MDC — where every night
special police and army units are engaged in operations against defe- nceless
civilians. It is a general offensive against the opposition — MDC MPs assaulted
in their homes during the night and the party leaders pursued through the courts
by virtue of a law introduced by the Smith régime and never overturned.
White MDC MPs feature on a CIO hitlist. Add to this attempts to silence
the press by expelling foreign reporters and by blowing up the printing press of
the Daily News. But more serious in the long term is the attempt,
unconstitutionally, to purge the courts of judges perceived to be hostile, to be
replaced by servants of those in power, thus ending one of the peculiarities of
post-colonial Zimbabwe — a judiciary independent of the executive.
The
Chief Justice has thrown in the towel and it is now for the other judges to
submit to political pressure. For months the government has refused to respect
the decisions of the courts which are not favourable to it — and the explicit
threats of Mugabe’s henchmen.
This last one, a strategy of conservation
of power at all costs, prepares for his “triumphant re-election” at the
anticipated presidential ele- ction by leaving no hope of appeal for his
opponents.
Do these, then, have no other option, than violence? In
cities the poor are at the end of their patience; in a context of a social
crisis fuelled by the high cost of living and massive unemployment, the worst is
possible.
Is it right to wait for a bloodbath to deplore, in choice
terms, that Zimbabweans cannot settle their disputes peacefully? The famous pre-
ventative diplomacy, which we revel in, does this not consist of influencing the
situation before the country sinks into a spiral of violence? Contrary to
accepted wisdom disenchanted cynicism does not make good foreign policy.
The six months of the French presidency of the EU was characterised by
slowness in responding to events in Zimbabwe. The well-known mantra about
non-interference in the internal affairs of another country — a principle which
we know has a very variable geometry — was served up again for want of anything
better. The inflammatory diatribes by Mugabe and his accomplices against the
British, which do not always displease in Paris, the decoy of hypothetical
commercial contracts and our strategic interests in DRC are so many bad reasons
on which to base this passivity.
Nevertheless it is not about the
African “patch” of France, with its heavy historical obligations and dangerous
liaisons. It is more than time to support the efforts of the British and Swedish
within the EU, to firmly remind Mugabe that the respect of human rights and the
law which appear in the many inter- national commitments signed by his
government are a minimum requirement for him to be received as a head of state
and treated on an equal footing.
It is necessary to threaten, if need
be, a suspension of all economic aid, in conformance with Article 96 of the new
Cotonou ACP convention, and that’s without mentioning the suffering of the
people when food shortages are already the order of the day in a country which
traditionally exports agricultural produce. It is also necessary to think about
more targeted forms of sanctions, for example ban- ning international visits for
Mugabe and his family or freezing the bank- ing assets of the Mafia who surround
him.
Friendly pressure on South Africa, a key player in the region, is
also urgently needed, because the kindness shown to Mugabe by President Thabo
Mbeki since last April has fed the feeling of impunity of a cunning man who has
no scruples, who has never respected this kind of influence.
France, in
its turn, must clearly and publicly signify its total disapproval of the
evolving situation in his country, for example by formally receiving in Paris
the leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai — already the victim of an
assassination attempt. This confession, of calculated impotence, should not
serve once again to hide our cowardice and indifference.
l Compagnon is
professor of politics at the University of Bordea-ux. This article first
appeared in Le Monde.
CHAOS reigned yesterday
throughout the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Mt Pleasant campus as the strike by 3
000 non-academic staff entered its second day with no end in sight.
All services run by the
non-academic staff ground to a halt. The university library was closed.
Lecture rooms and the only clinic on campus were locked as technicians,
secretaries, security and laboratory staff downed tools to press for more money.
Brilliant Mhlanga, the secretary-general of the Students' Executive Council,
said: “The whole system is now paralysed. The strike has directly affected our
studies. We told the Vice-Chancellor this morning to urgently address the
workers’ grievances because some of the students are in final year class and
need an undisturbed learning environment.” The workers are demanding salary
increments of 20 percent after they rejected out of hand the 5 percent
increment offered by the UZ Council on Wednesday. The workers, whose
leaders were said to be locked in a meeting with th ðe UZ authorities
yesterday afternoon, said they would not accept anything less than 20
percent. Students yesterday held an emergency meeting to discuss the chaos
reigning at the university and dispersed without reaching a consensus.
While one faction wanted the students to demonstrate against the
administration another opted to give the authorities more time to negotiate with
the striking staff. UZ Vice-Chancellor, Graham Hill, said the university was
unable to pay more than a 5 percent salary adjustment. “While the
administration is sympathetic to the non-academic cause, paying more than 5
percent at this stage will result in diverting funds from the academic
allocation, thus compromising the quality of education.” Meanwhile, the
lecture boycott at the Bindura University of Science and Education also
continued yesterday after the students reached a deadlock with the
Vice-Chancellor. The university administration said it had no money to pay
the students allowances while on teaching practice.
War veterans illegally
occupying Goulay’s Farm near Nkayi have angered a group of worshippers by
turning the Victory Fellowship Church building into their base.
The farm is owned by
Richard Pascal. Last year, Pascal won a High Court order to prevent the
government from acquiring his 21 000-hectare farm where the church is situated.
But the war veterans have illegally occupied parts of the farm and the whole
church.
BRITAIN will never
consider leaving Zimbabwe because of the strong ties that exist between the two
countries; a spokesman of the British High Commission said last night.
The spokesman, Richard
Lindsay, was responding to statements made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Stan Mudenge on Wednesday when he told diplomats at a meeting in Harare that all
countries that shared Britain’s view that Zimbabwe should be isolated
internationally were free to close their embassies in Harare and leave. Said
Lindsay last night: “We are not going to leave Zimbabwe. What the Minister
said was pure rhetoric and clearly nonsensical. We don’t take it. Britain
and Zimbabwe have very strong ties and a very long-standing relationship.”
Lindsay said it was during Britain’s regular discussions with other members
of the European Union (EU) that concerns were raised about the deteriorating
situation in Zimbabwe. “We are in constant touch with our EU partners,” he
said. “And we think it is important for us, as members of the EU, to get our
concerns across and to have dialogue with President Mugabe wherever possible.”
He said as far as the British were concerned, Belgium and France shared
their concerns and were equally astounded by the developments in Zimbabwe,
particularly on the breakdown of the rule of law, violation of human rights and
the clampdown on opposition political parties and other sections of the society
whose views significantly differed from those of the ruling party. “We are
committed to helping Zimbabwe and we will not leave the country at this time,”
Lindsay said. Mudenge told the various diplomats that it was disturbing that
Britain had urged Paris and Brussels not to talk to the President during his
trip to France and Belgium last week. He said Britain’s behaviour was
tantamount to mobilising the EU against Zimbabwe. Mudenge said the
racial connotations of Britain’s actions would spill into the country, resulting
in the polarisation of race relations. But Lindsay said Britain was keen to
use every available opportunity to talk to Mugabe about the situation in
Zimbabwe and would continue to do so. Lately, there has been an
international outcry over Mugabe’s onslaught on the Judiciary, the media and
opposition parties. Four leaders of the opposition MDC were arrested last
month. Two MDC MPs and their families were also assaulted by Zanu PF supporters,
the police support unit and the army. On 28 January, the Daily News printing
press, worth $100 million was bombed by people still at large after a series of
verbal attacks by both Zanu PF and government officials.