http://www.mg.co.za
SIBONGILE KHUMALO | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 29 2009
07:04
Political unrest in Madagascar will take centre stage at a special
regional
summit on Monday in Swaziland where leaders are also set to
finalise an
economic recovery package for Zimbabwe.
The 15-nation
Southern African Development Community is expected to condemn
the ouster of
Madagascan President Marc Ravalomanana earlier this month
which saw the
country's membership of the African Union suspended.
Analysts say however
the regional body, traditionally loath to take serious
action against
members who step out of line, would probably issue a
statement urging the
return of power to the legitimately elected president.
"Apart from that,
they do not have much they can do to enforce their
objection to the coup,"
said Siphamandla Zondi, an analyst at the Institute
for Global
Dialogue.
SADC Secretary General Tomaz Salomao will lead deliberation on
proposals
developed to assist Madagascar to return to democracy, the rule of
law and
constitutionality.
Ravalomanana was forced out of office when
the army turned against him after
a bitter three-month struggle, and his
supporters have taken to the streets
in protest.
Zimbabwe's hopes
will be pinned on a package worth $2-billion which it
requested to help aid
its reconstruction after a year of political and
economic crisis.
The
embattled country was struck a blow this week when the International
Monetary Fund said it would only provide aid to Zimbabwe once the unity
government meets key conditions.
Independent political analyst
Laurence Caromba said SADC countries will
"certainly" not insist on
western-style preconditions before giving money to
Zimbabwe.
However
he questioned where countries would get the money from as their own
economies struggle under the effects of a global economic
crisis.
"Even if regional countries are willing to fund Zimbabwe, it's
not entirely
clear where they will get the money," said Caromba.
"The
wealthier countries such as South Africa are currently running budget
deficits as a result of the international financial crisis."
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who joined the unity government with his
rival
President Robert Mugabe in February had originally sought up to
$5-billion
in aid and investments to rebuild his country.
Zimbabwe's economy has
been in freefall for nearly a decade, with record
hyperinflation,
unemployment at 94% and a severe collapse of services which
resulted in a
deadly cholera epidemic.
In December, South Africa donated R300-million
worth of agricultural aid to
boost the country's struggling
farmers.
Other Western donors have said that they will not lend money to
Zimbabwe or
lift sanctions against Mugabe until the 85-year-old leader
demonstrates that
he is willing to make a fragile unity government
work.
"The region has invested a lot of its resources, image and
integrity in the
protracted peace-making process ... so they will definitely
decide to
provide assistance less stringently than others are doing," said
Zondi.
"The region will probably provide targeted aid, prioritising
specific
sectors of the economy like agriculture and provision of basic
social
services," said Zondi.
He added that the region had more
vested interest in the route that the
politics in Zimbabwe is taking than
the West and funding institutions like
the IMF.
SADC ministers of
finance and foreign affairs started arriving on Saturday
in the Swazi
administrative capital Mbabane.
The foreign ministry said in a statement:
"All member states except for
Madagascar have confirmed participation in
this all important
meeting. Ministers would hold a meeting on Sunday morning
at the Royal
Villas just a day before the heads of state summit on Monday."
- AFP
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14163
March 29, 2009
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -
Political unrest in Madagascar will take centre stage
at a special regional
summit on Monday in Swaziland where leaders are also
set to finalise an
economic recovery package for Zimbabwe
The 15-nation Southern African
Development Community is expected to condemn
the ouster of Madagascan
President Marc Ravalomanana earlier this month
which saw the country's
membership of the African Union suspended.
Analysts say however the
regional body, traditionally loath to take serious
action against members
who step out of line, would likely issue a statement
urging the return of
power to the legitimately elected president.
"Apart from that, they do
not have much they can do to enforce their
objection to the coup," said
Siphamandla Zondi, an analyst at the Institute
for Global
Dialogue.
SADC Secretary General Tomaz Salomao will lead deliberation on
proposals
developed to assist Madagascar to return to democracy, the rule of
law and
constitutionality.
Ravalomanana was forced out of office when
the army turned against him after
a bitter three-month struggle, and his
supporters have taken to the streets
in protest.
Zimbabwe's hopes
will be pinned on a package worth two billion dollars which
it requested to
help aid its reconstruction after a year of political and
economic
crisis.
The embattled country was struck a blow this week when the
International
Monetary Fund said it would only provide aid to Zimbabwe once
the unity
government meets key conditions.
Independent political
analyst Laurence Caromba said SADC countries will
"certainly" not insist on
western-style preconditions before giving money to
Zimbabwe.
However
he questioned where countries would get the money from as their own
economies struggle under the effects of a global economic
crisis.
"Even if regional countries are willing to fund Zimbabwe, it's
not entirely
clear where they will get the money," said Caromba.
"The
wealthier countries such as South Africa are currently running budget
deficits as a result of the international financial crisis."
SADC
ministers of finance and foreign affairs started arriving Saturday in
the
Swazi administrative capital Mbabane.
The foreign ministry said in a
statement: "All member states except for
Madagascar have confirmed
participation in this all important meeting.
Ministers would hold a meeting
on Sunday morning at the Royal Villas just a
day before the heads of state
summit on Monday."
http://www.apanews.net/
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwe has ordered a probe into allegations of fresh
farm invasions as the
country's new unity government moves to unlock
international economic aid
tied to the implementation of an orderly land
reform programme.
The
state media reported here on Sunday that a joint committee comprising
senior
members of the three parties represented in the unity government had
been
tasked to investigate cases of fresh farm invasions and present its
findings
to the government.
The probe would be undertaken by the Joint Monitoring
and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC), which is responsible for assessing the
implementation of
the September 2008 power-sharing agreement between
President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU PF and the two factions of the former
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
The investigation
comes in the wake of an alleged upsurge in the number of
illegal occupation
of white-owned farms since the formation of the coalition
government in
February.
Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa defended the new farm invasions
in an
interview with the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper, saying the illegal
occupants were actually issued with valid offer letters but who could not
take up the land since the original farmers were contesting the acquisitions
in the courts.
Murerwa said most of the disturbances were taking
place on farms once owned
by the 78 farmers who had refused to leave the
farms pending the
finalisation of their case against the Zimbabwe government
at the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) tribunal.
"These
beneficiaries are holders of valid offer letters. The government is
now,
through JOMIC, looking at the evidence of these reported invasions if
there
are any in any area," he said.
Murerwa contradicted Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai who on Friday said
there was an increase in new farm invasions
and said the police had been
ordered to arrest people behind the illegal
occupation of farms.
International donors and financiers have insisted on
the restoration of the
rule of law on commercial farms as one of the
conditions for the resumption
of economic aid to Zimbabwe.
JN/daj/APA 2009-03-29
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
March 29th, 2009
People in Zimbabwe need
to realise this is a bankrupt state and that they
can't just expect to be
paid ridiculous sums of money. Why? Because there is
no foreign
exchange.
During the struggle for democracy over the last nine years, it
was always
believed the economy would bring Zanu PF to its knees.
Now
that the MDC has joined the AIG, Zanu PF has successfully brought the
MDC
into its stable of blame, shifting the burden of their corruption and
looting onto the former-opposition's shoulders.
The people of
Zimbabwe had better brace themselves for further hardship as
there is
damning economic evidence that some of the major institutions
within the
overtraded banking industry face collapse, without any security
net for the
little wealth Zimbabweans have entrusted to them.
We thought 90%
unemployment was high; wait for it.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14156
March 29, 2009
By Mxolisi
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - An uncertain future awaits the 4 000 Zimbabwean
refugees
living at Johannesburg's Central Methodist Church, amid startling
revelations that leases for the six buildings, to which they are set to be
moved will expire within the next three months.
Apart from that, the
buildings, all said to be privately-owned, are also
said to have a carrying
capacity of only 300 people each, a total of 1 800,
which is a far cry from
the number of refugees living in and around the
church.
Gauteng Local
Government officials early this week started the registration
process for
the refugees, in preparation for their re-location from the
overcrowded
church and by Wednesday, about 1 800 had been registered and
will soon be
moved, while about 2 500 have been given tokens by the United
Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR).
However, what had initially come as a
relief to the refugees, whose future
at the church had become uncertain for
the past month after a court
application by a nearby law firm, the Pitje
Group, to have them evicted from
the church, has once again degenerated into
an atmosphere of despair,
following the new revelations.
The firm had
wanted the refugees to be moved on allegations that they were
committing
crime, creating a health hazard and killing business in the city
centre, and
after the Johannesburg High Court's ruling last week, that the
matter should
be resolved out of court, there is growing suspicion that the
local
government authorities might be using the temporary re-location as a
way of
removing the refugees from the church, after which they might be
evicted
into the open.
"We now fear that after the three months, we might be
evicted from the new
buildings into the streets, just like what happened
when refugee centres
that accommodated some of our colleagues were shut down
just recently," said
one of the refugees, who spoke to The Zimbabwe Times at
the church Saturday.
The South African government left thousands of
foreign nationals, who
included some victims of the xenophobic violence
which rocked Gauteng
Province last May and political and economic refugees
from neighbouring
Zimbabwe, in the open recently, when it shut down refugee
camps and asylum
centres that had been set up to accommodate
them.
The move drew the ire of some human rights organizations, resulting
in
Lawyers for Human Rights taking the country's Home Affairs Department to
court for alleged human rights abuses, after the police deported thousands
of the refugees.
Bishop Paul Verryn, who runs the Methodist Church
refugee centre, also
confirmed the refugees' fears to The Zimbabwe Times
Saturday.
"I also understand that the buildings will accommodate not more
than 300
people each," said the Bishop.
"The big question is what
will happen to the remainder of the 1 800 refugees
that have been registered
and are ready to be moved by the local
government."
He added that
the uncertainty over the lease, which has also leaked to the
refugees, has
led to most of them not volunteering to be moved.
"All the buildings are
privately-owned and their leases are running out in
three months'
time.
"It is also not clear what will be done to the refugees
afterwards."
However, Qedani Mahlangu, a Gauteng local government
official, denied that
the buildings were that small.
"That is not
true," said Mahlangu. "We expect at least 1 000 people to be
accommodated in
each those buildings."
She however, would not say what would happen at
the expiry of the lease. She
merely said government would deal with the
matter.
The refugees, some of them former opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) activists who fled persecution by Zimbabwean state
security agents and
supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party,
feared that they
might soon be evicted from the new centres and subsequently
be deported to
Zimbabwe, where their safety is still not guaranteed, despite
the formation
of a national unity government between Mugabe and the
splintered MDC.
"It is better that we continue living under the current
conditions at the
church than volunteer to be moved elsewhere and later be
handed back to
Mugabe," said another political exile.
It was also not
clear, by Saturday, what would happen to those that chose to
stay put at the
church and avoided registration, as well as to new arrivals
in
Johannesburg.
The relocation is set to begin anytime this week, according
to local
government officials.
http://www.ft.com
By William MacNamara in London
Published: March 29 2009
20:39 | Last updated: March 29 2009 20:39
Zimbabwe’s gold trade could be
reviving, making gold the first industrial
sector to benefit from recent
economic reforms in the country.
Mwana Africa, a mining group listed on
London’s Aim market, plans to reopen
the Freda Rebecca gold mine, one of
Zimbabwe’s largest, by September.
It has been closed for the past
three years, a period that was “impossible”
for gold producers, one sector
analyst said, as the central bank bought gold
but failed to pay producers in
either foreign currency or increasingly
worthless Zimbabwean
dollars.
Today’s buoyant gold price, above $900 an ounce, was an important
factor in
the decision to reopen the Freda Rebecca mine, said Kalaa Mpinga,
Mwana
chief executive.
More important, however, was a series of
economic reforms starting with the
“dollarisation” of the economy – or
substitution of foreign currency as a
medium of exchange – sanctioned by the
central bank in January, he said.
In February, the bank allowed gold
companies to market their own gold and
accept payment in foreign currency at
prevailing spot prices instead of
transferring gold to the central bank. In
March the new unity government cut
the tax on gold export revenues to zero
from 7.5 per cent, having halved it
from 15 per cent the previous
month.
Ian Saunders, chief executive of New Dawn Mining, a junior gold
miner in
Zimbabwe, said the prospects for the gold industry were so good
that he
expected all the big gold producers to restart operations in the
next few
months, eventually reaching an annual output of about 500,000
ounces of
gold.
He said: “Positive changes in economic policy in
Zimbabwe are occurring” .
The economic reforms, he said, “provide us with
greater visibility as we
move closer to resuming full-scale gold mining
operations and begin to
generate free cash flow in US
dollars.”
Problems that plagued Zimbabwe’s mining industry last year –
including high
electricity prices and shortage of skilled labour and
equipment – are likely
to endure.
Also, Mr Mpinga said, there was no
way to predict the effects of
“dollarisation”, which have led to deflation
in Zimbabwe over the past two
months. “There was no alternative,” he said.
“But no one has seen this
before.”
Gold producers are likely to find
few banks willing to lend to both a
sector – junior mining – and a country –
Zimbabwe – that remain associated
with high risk. Mwana is digging into its
own cash chest, which was $26m in
October, to fund Freda Rebecca’s
revival.
Zimbabwe’s gold industry is small compared to neighbouring South
Africa,
which produced 232 tonnes of gold in 2007. Zimbabwe produced only
eight
tonnes of gold in 2007, down from 27 tonnes in 1999.
Economic
reforms could create better prospects for the Zimbabwean platinum
industry,
an even more important segment of Zimbabwe’s industrial economy.
The
majority of the world’s mined platinum is divided between South Africa
and
Zimbabwe.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14177
March 29, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - Nkosana Moyo, who served for a brief period
as a minister
before walking out of the government of President Robert
Mugabe in 2001, has
become the vice president of African Development Bank
(AfDB).
He also becomes the chief operations officer of the bank. Moyo
holds a PhD
in Physics from Imperial College, London, and an MBA from
Cranfield School
of Management in the United Kingdom.
Moyo has vast
experience in the financial services sector. He served with
the
International Finance Corporation, Standard Chartered Bank, TA Holdings,
Botswana Capital, Actis Capital, World Bank and Batanai Capital Finance, a
company he founded in 1997. Batanai Capital Finance was one of the first
shareholders in Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of the now
banned Daily News. Moyo became the company's first chairman.
Prior to
his new appointment Moyo served as senior advisor and chairman of
Actis
Africa, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets that has
been
active on the African continent for more than 50 years.
Moyo also sits on
the boards of Diamond Bank in Nigeria, South African
Airways, Kumba Iron
Ore, an Anglo subsidiary in South Africa. He is the
chairman of the
Commercial Bank of Rwanda and the DFCU Bank Group of Uganda.
Moyo also
serves on the board of United African Company of Nigeria plc, a
company that
has distinguished itself as a major contributor to the Nigerian
economy,
with interests in manufacturing, services, logistics and
warehousing,
agricultural and real estate.
In announcing Moyo's appointment on
Saturday, AfDB said he would bring to
the bank vast and extensive managerial
and financial experience from the
private and public sectors in Africa and
international institutions.
Moyo was appointed to the Zimbabwe government
in 2000 amongf an infusion of
a new cadre of technocrats, along with Dr
Simba Makoni and Professor
Jonathan Moyo. Moyo was Minister of Industry and
International Trade. He,
however, suddenly resigned and immediately left for
South Africa, citing
"sharp differences" with Mugabe. He lived in the United
States and the
United Kingdom before settling in South Africa.
His
appointment is with effect from April 1.
http://sundaystandard.info/
by Bashi Letsididi
29.03.2009 9:31:57
A
When she says that for the sake of her business she hopes the
Zimbabwean
economic crisis lasts a while longer, a manager at a Francistown
bookshop is
only half-joking.
Just the previous day a Zimbabwean
businessman had bought up all vista foils
at her bookshop and taken them
back home where he runs a similar operation.
Francistown does indeed do a
lot of business with Zimbabwe. On a daily
basis, Zimbabweans pour in and out
of Francistown to buy all sorts of goods.
On some days, it is near
impossible to find rented accommodation in the city
because of patronage
from across the border. Some of the guests would be in
town to collect
remittances sent by relatives living and working abroad.
Former Botswana
Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower president,
Iqbal Ibrahim,
says that he has always held the view that the economic
crisis in Zimbabwe
has been good for the city that he was once mayor of.
"We have benefitted
from the misery of other people," Ibrahim says.
That view is echoed by
Mosalagae Sesupeng, another Francistown businessman
who happens to sit on
the all-powerful High Level Consultative Council.
Zimbabwe is Botswana's
second largest regional trading partner after South
Africa. In some months,
Botswana does more business with Zimbabwe than it
does with western nations
that agitate for southern African countries to be
more confrontational with
and punitive to Robert Mugabe.
The latest figures from the Central
Statistics Office show that in December
last year, Zimbabwe received a
monthly total of P53.6 million worth of
imports from Botswana. The goods
comprise mainly of salt and soda ash,
copper/nickel ores and concentrates,
bituminous coal, recovered (waste or
scrap) paper and paper board as well as
copper/nickel mattes.
However, for Francistown, the party may be coming
to an end. After a
months-long standoff, Zimbabwe has finally formed a
government of national
unity that has startled the mammoth task of
rebuilding the national economy.
The idea of adopting the South African rand
as official currency has been
mooted and endorsed by South African president
Kgalema Motlanthe. While that
has yet to happen, use of the currency is
already widespread in Zimbabwe and
there begins trouble for
Francistown.
Ibrahim, who still serves as a member in the BOCCIM council,
says that the
use of the rand is already having a negative impact on
cross-border trade.
"Zimbabweans find it cheaper to buy goods in rand in
their own country than
buy in Francistown. Speaking to some of them
personally, I learned that they
prefer to buy goods in Zimbabwe rather than
come to Botswana and experience
the hostility of customs officials," Ibrahim
said.
Anti-Zimbabwean xenophobia is nothing new and episodically strains
relations
between the two countries. In the early 1990s, a delegation that
included a
Zimbabwean cabinet minister and a television crew travelled all
the way from
Harare to Plumtree railway station to investigate allegations
of the
ill-treatment of their compatriots on Botswana Railways passenger
trains.
That was when the BR passenger train went up to Bulawayo.
A
camera pointed at him and microphone thrust in his face, a Botswana
immigration officer was asked: "Is it true that you harass Zimbabweans on
your train." Scared out of his wits, the man fled onto the train, objecting
as he did: "Hey, don't patrek me!" The latter verb is slang for springing a
surprise attack on an adversary.
The footage of the fleeing Botswana
officer and his words were replayed on
Zimbabwean national TV the following
day.
Such harassment reportedly still goes on and by Ibrahim's account,
its
victims have reached their tolerance level and are literally voting with
their feet.
Sesupeng's observation is that trade from across the
border is declining
rapidly as a result of big haulage trucks transporting
directly to Zimbabwe
what is available in Francistown.
Faced with
such situation, Ibrahim says that the local government and the
business
community should devise strategies of attracting cross-border
business in a
normalised Zimbabwe.
Sesupeng says that Francistown, a city that "has always
survived on its own",
will go back to what it was before. In the short term,
he considers taking
the city forward economically to be unrealistic because
of the severe global
recession.
The Vigil met as dark clouds swept past, spitting rain. When the skies brightened we took down our tarpaulin but within two minutes we were pelted by hail stones. The weather failed to deter demonstrators who took to the streets of London in a protest ahead of the G20 summit meeting. There is a lot of anger at the greed of bankers and the negligence of the financial authorities which have precipitated the global economic recession.
The Vigil engages every week with people passing by the Embassy, strategically situated near Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. By and large they are very supportive but we get the impression, certainly in the current economic climate, that it is unrealistic to expect tax payers here to bail out Zimbabwe when, instead of law and order, all they get from Harare is the threadbare rhetoric of entitlement from people who have made the country the poorest in the world (according to Forbes / Transparency International). Certainly, no one at the Vigil is making plans to return home and the word is that there has been a marked increase by Zimbabweans here applying for political asylum.
People at the Vigil happily sponsored a London teacher, Steve Garvey, who is running in the London Marathon next month to raise money for the Vigil.
Our sympathies to Luka Phiri of the Vigil management team. It’s not Luka’s year. After being nearly deported to Malawi he has now caught chickenpox! Luka asked us to pass on his condolences to one of the Deputy Prime Ministers, Thokozani Khupe, whose mother died recently. ‘I knew her mum and her loss is my loss too’ he says.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/
FOR THE RECORD: 285 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
· Central London Zimbabwe Forum. Monday 30th March at 7.30 pm. Tor Hugne Olsen of Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO speaks about the current state of human rights in Zimbabwe. Venue: Bell and Compass, 9-11 Villiers Street, London, WC2N 6NA, next to Charing Cross Station at the corner of Villiers Street and John Adam Street.
· Fundraising for the Vigil at the London Marathon. Sunday, 26th April. Steve Garvey, teacher at the Dolphin School, Battersea, is running in the London Marathon to raise money on behalf of the Vigil.
· Zimbabwe Association’s Women’s Weekly Drop-in Centre. Fridays 10.30 am – 4 pm. Venue: The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton Street, London N7 6QT, Tel: 020 7607 9764. Nearest underground: Finsbury Park. For more information contact the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Vigil Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
http://sundaystandard.info
by Pindai
Dube
29.03.2009 9:29:25 A
The decision to officially adopt multiple
currencies for transacting
business following a spectacular collapse of the
local Zimbabwean currency
has spelt the death of cross border traders and
informal money-changers that
cluttered the city's pavements.
Cross
border traders and informal money changers were evident with their
flashy
lifestyles, and used to live like diplomats, moving with loads of new
script
Zimbabwe dollars and foreign currency. They used to drive the latest
fast
flashy cars and frequented expensive food outlets and hotels for
breakfast
and lunch.
Denis Nyoni (30), a former cross border trader, now sits
expectantly among a
row of other men and women at the edge of a pavement
arranging packets of
biscuits into a stack and sweets imported from South
Africa in clutches on
plastic sheeting spread on the
ground.
Occasionally the women and men out shout one another to advertise
their
wares to passers-by.
"Only five rand (R5 or US$0, 50 cents) for
the biscuits and one rand for ten
sweets," they chorus in contrast to the
discreet approach they were
accustomed to, to evade the police while dealing
in exchanging hard
currency.
In late January this year, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) lost the
battle of trying to stem dollarisation of
the economy and let all companies
and individuals conduct transactions in
foreign currencies following the
collapse of the local
currency.
Until then, only authorized businesses were allowed to do so.
That decision
dealt a heavy blow to informal money changers and cross border
traders.
Business was booming for cross border traders when Zimbabwe
shops and
supermarkets were empty. They used to cross to Botswana to import
various
basic commodities and household goods for resell to desperate
Zimbabweans at
flee markets at three or four times their
cost.
Business also boomed for the illicit trader while the central bank
tried to
fight pesky currency shortages by printing money, accelerating the
devaluation of the local currency in relation to other hard
currencies.
Informal money changers often offered higher exchange rates
than commercial
banks, driving holders of hard currency to beat a path to
the illegal
currency dealers and money exchangers operating on street
corners.
But the decision has precipitated hard times for the cross
border traders
and informal money-changers that used to thrive on the back
of a volatile
local currency due to hyper-inflation. The daily erosion in
value of the
Zimbabwean dollar drove most people to seek better store of
value in foreign
currencies.
"I will be lucky to sell ten of these a
day," Nyoni, a father of four says,
reluctantly pointing at packets of
biscuits stacked near his feet and
adding: "Even if I do, it is hardly
enough to get me and my children going
for a week."
At the peak of
his business, Nyoni used to rake thousands of pulas every
week selling basic
goods and household property to Zimbabweans at a high
cost since the shops
and supermarkets were bare.
He had managed to also buy two cars, a BMW X5
vehicle and an Audi that he
has been forced to sell as he has been pushed
out of business by the shops
and supermarkets that are now allowed to charge
for their goods and services
in foreign currency, at a low price compared to
cross border traders.
Nyoni says it has become an uphill struggle to make
ends meet these days
compared to the past when she could comfortably fend
for himself and his son
and daughter from the income he generated from
commission as an informal
money-changer.
"As you can see for yourself
the competition for customers is stiff, with
all these shops and
supermarkets selling the same products at half price,"
Nyoni told the Sunday
Standard.
Like his many colleagues these days, Nyoni says he is now
struggling to
survive and can barely pay for his lodgings as they have been
turned to near
beggars following their sudden change of
fortunes.
According to investigations, most of the cross border traders
who had easy
access to foreign currency, have now resorted to selling their
property and
cars to make ends meet.
At the same time, most of them
have moved away from flats and low density
areas where they had flocked when
they had easy access to loads of Zimbabwe
dollars.
They are now
heading to high density areas where there is relatively cheap
accommodation
and are said to be withdrawing their children from expensive
private schools
and taking them to government schools following their change
of fortunes
since they now have no access to loads of cash like they used to
before the
dollarisation of the economy.
During their heydays, cross border traders
and informal money-changers lined
up the same pavements clutching handbags
bulging with wads of local currency
to exchange for hard currency.
Most
operated as agents for well-heeled cash barons in return for a
commission
while others, acting on their own, raked in thousands of dollars
daily which
enabled them to maintain comfortable lifestyles.
"My sister could not
withstand her changed circumstances, gave up and
returned home," says Gladys
Ncube (39). Both had drifted from rural Gokwe to
the city to join the
growing numbers of money changers.
Together, they had shared the rent for
lodgings in Njube working class
suburb of the city. "It was worthwhile
staying but if the situation persists
as it is, I might follow her
decision," Ncube says.
Hard times have befallen money changers and Ncube
says she finds it tough to
raise the rent from her new line of business.
Some of her former money
changers are drifting back to the rural areas after
discovering that the
going is getting tougher for the informal
trader.
Last month, she pawned her bedside radio in order to raise the
rent and pay
her share of municipal service charges with other
tenants.
Ncube fears she might be forced to sell off other assets she had
acquired
during her two year stint as an informal money changer to make ends
meet.
And the absence of money-changers particularly along Fort Street
has brought
mixed reactions from affected businesses on the same
street.
A fast-food restaurant manager, Desmond Moyo, says he had
experienced a
notable slump in business when cross border traders and
money-changers
deserted the pavements.
"They would linger along the
pavement and bring in their clients to
negotiate exchange rates over a snack
or a packet of chips away from the
probing eyes of the police," says Moyo.
"Now they are gone along with the
customers they brought in."
http://af.reuters.com
Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:21pm GMT
*
Immigrants in US tighten belts to keep up remittances
* Many still feel
obligation to help families overseas
* Reduced payments a threat to
development
By Rebekah Kebede
NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - The
meager pay Tembeni Fazo earns from
occasional housekeeping work was never
enough to support one household, let
alone two, but now the U.S. recession
is forcing the African immigrant to
make more sacrifices.
"If I don't
send money to my family, nobody will," said Fazo, 30, who
financially
supports her mother, brother and son in Zimbabwe, none of whom
have jobs in
a country where unemployment is around 90 percent.
The burden of
supporting family members abroad is weighing more heavily on
immigrants in
the United States, and many, like Fazo, are having to cut
costs to keep up
the remittances.
"Migrants are trying to stay on as long as possible and
skipping meals or
sharing accommodation with others to save money to send
remittances," said
Dilip Ratha, lead economist with the World Bank. "A lot
more hardship for
them, but then every dollar saved here can mean a meal for
many back home."
But remittances are dropping despite the
sacrifices.
The global rate of growth for such payments to developing
countries slowed
in 2008 after hitting double digits in 2007 and was
expected to fall between
5 and 8 percent this year, according to the World
Bank's recent projections.
Francisco Lopez moved into a shared apartment
with three other migrant
workers to save money after he was laid off from
his job at a power company
eight months ago in Phoenix,
Arizona.
Lopez, 43, has tried to find work as a day laborer but is barely
able to
scrape together $350 to send to his family in Mexico, a far cry from
the
$800 a month he would send during better times.
Jobs are
particularly hard to find in construction, an industry hard hit by
the
recession and one with a high proportion of migrant workers. According
to
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 17 percent of Latin American
immigrants work in the industry.
SENDING SAVINGS
For most
immigrants in the United States, remittances are an obligation in
good or
bad times.
"It's not an option not to send money," said Fatou Diop, a
Senegalese
immigrant who works as a community liaison at African Services
Committee, a
non-profit group in Harlem, New York. "When it's hard here,
it's horrible in
Africa."
Some immigrants appear to be dipping into
their savings to keep the
financial pipeline home going.
Cash savings
among Latin American immigrants, for instance, dropped from
$3,500 in 2007
to $2,500 in 2008, according to the Inter-American Dialogue,
a
Washington-based policy center.
"That's why you haven't seen as big of a
drop in remittances in the past two
quarters as you would have predicted
given the unemployment," said Francis
Calpotura, the executive director of
the Transnational Institute for
Grassroots Research and Action, another
non-profit group.
Audrene Rowe moved to Brooklyn, New York, from her
native Jamaica three
months ago in hopes of finding a job. But she has had
not luck despite
possessing a master's degree in human resources and health
services.
Rowe, 31, is using her savings to support herself and her
4-year-old
daughter, who is staying with relatives in
Jamaica.
Discontinued remittances can have dire consequences, including
less spent on
education and healthcare and other expenses that contribute to
development
and enhance quality of life.
"When there is a crisis like
there is now, people spend more money on the
daily necessities," said Robert
Meins, a remittances expert at the IDB.
Jose Pineda, 36, is among those
who have been unable to keep up payments
since losing his job as a
landscaper -- he used to send $200 a month to his
wife and four teenage
children in El Salvador.
"They have sold the car and they are now
thinking of selling the house,"
Pineda said. (Additional reporting by Tim
Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by Paul
Simao)
http://britavoice-zim-girl.blogspot.com/
29
March 2009
It is now a
couple of weeks since Zimbabwe's GNU took office. And noted is
that the
healing organs have a horrendous task ahead of them.
Under the Mugabe
regime which dates back to 1980 when he took office
following the liberation
war, every form of opposition to his governance has
been ruthlessly
repressed. And as a result, many Zimbabweans have suffered
both physically
and emotionally.
Many Zimbabweans have and continue to harbor bitterness,
anger and rage as a
result of the repression. With the coming in of the GNU,
there have been
reports of some Zimbabweans seeking retribution on the Zanu
pf perpetrators
of violence during the 2008 elections phase. An example is
the case in Mbare
where in 2008 some MDC members were ruthlessly displaced
through being
thrown out of their Council homes by Mugabe's Zanu pf thugs.
And now as
these displaced members seek to repossess their houses; violence
is erupting
again.
There are also some three men who reportedly,
'escaped death by a whisker
after a Movement for Democratic Change office at
Jerera Growth Point was
petrol bombed in June last year'; and are now
seeking state assistance to
enable them to look after their families.
The
three reported as 'Edison Gwenhure (28), Kudakwashe Tsumele (31) and
Isaac
Mbanje (29) were severely burnt and are no longer able to do anything
on
their own. The three were left crippled and still require medical
attention'.
Zimbabwe Times has published the plight that have befallen
some of the
victims to the 2008 election phase; who include the wife to the
late Gift
Tandare and a 'now bed-ridden' Noel Muguti, the former mainstream
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) parliamentary candidate for
Gokwe-Nembudziya.
Both Mrs Tandare and Muguti, are reportedly living like
destitutes in South
Africa.
Such cases are so many, such that amongst
these cases I quite consider Mrs
Tandare and Noel Muguti fortunate in that
at least they have been accorded
the forum to air their plight through The
Zimbabwe Times. This is against
the background that Zimbabwe now has many
rural based child headed
households. The children were orphaned when both
parents were killed by the
Mugabe regime. However, because of lack of any
coordinated structures to
look into these issues, their plight and scenario
remains unrecorded,
unknown and therefore is 'inexistent'.
The issue is
so grave and the plight of the few victims that has been
revealed is only
but a tip of an iceberg. This makes the work for the GNU
Healing organs
enormous and overwhelming. Because I hold it that, such
issues are the
responsibility of the Ministers of Healing in unison with the
Department of
Social Welfare. Against the background of the fresh incidences
of vengeful
violence, what however explains the silence and lack of
intervention by
these healing organs to date, since their assumption of
office? Are they
still drawing their work plans? Only time will tell.
Whichever way, there is
need for a Holistic Approach as opposed to a
piecemeal and haphazard
approach to the issues of Healing. Does this not
bounce us back to the calls
for an Independent Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, a Commission which
has for long been advocated for by some
Zimbabweans? I do not see how the
Healing Organs can achieve any meaningful
goals without such a Commission.
It is only an independent Commission which
can determine deserving cases for
state assistance.
To exert pressure on MDC for assistance when the party is
now in Government
sounds quite out of tune. Receiving once off payments from
well wishers
through publicity on news websites, may also not be the best
approach.
The failure to co-opt victims from the other phases in the
Zimbabwean
history may create more chaos. So this then brings back the issue
which has
for the longest time been evaded; the Gukurahundi issue; where the
Ndebeles
are also seeking compensation for the atrocities they suffered. All
the
election phases in Zimbabwe dating back to 1980; witnessed some victims
to
political violence. And also noted is that even outside the context of
Zimbabwe's election scenarios, many other people fell victim to the violence
by the Mugabe regime. Victims of the Operation Murambatsvina; torture
victims, abused for expressing their political opinions. Because under the
Mugabe regime, opponents victimized do not necessarily have to fall under a
political party umbrella; the basic 'crime' is opposing Mugabe's governance
even in an individual capacity.
I quite liked reading through the
analysis by a Lloyd Msipa under his
article; 'Zimbabwe Unity Government
needs to set up a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission'.
I however had
problems in his proposal for 'an urgent need to establish a
Truth Commission
to look into the atrocities that have taken place in the
last ten years or
so'. I cannot understand the basis for his trimming down
the phase to only
the past ten years or so. Dancing to his argument is
tantamount to
dismissing all the many victims since 1980 to 1999 thereabout.
Also of
concern to me was his unhidden silence on the biggest of the
perpetrators,
Mugabe himself. Lloyd only talks of referral of cases of
atrocities to our
domestic courts for possible prosecution, which to me
implies that Mugabe
will remain untouched.
With all the spoken and unspoken anger among
Zimbabweans, we wait to see how
the three Ministers responsible for Healing;
John Nkomo, Sekai Holland and
Gibson Sibanda will tackle the burning issues
and bring appeasement. What
are they going to offer? Is it state assistance
to the victims,
compensation, healing workshops, healing talks? If it is
State Assistance,
and compensation, can the already bloated government
sustain the
expenditure? And if it is about Healing Talks and workshops, is
the GNU
geared up to engage well equipped Psychologists to work on the
traumatized?
And can true Healing and appeasement be achieved without a
Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and the referral of perpetrators to
independent
courts for justice to reign?
The writer, Bridget Tapuwa
is based in Belgium and she can be reached at
britavoice@gmail.com
http://www.radionetherlands.nl
27-03-2009
Zimbabwe used to have one
of Africa's best educational systems. Now it's a
shambles. Teachers are
underpaid, sometimes unpaid. And, as a result of
political tension in the
country, some teachers have become the target of
threats and
violence.
Eric Beauchemin of The State We're In was in Zimbabwe earlier
this month and
saw how the in-fighting in the new coalition government
formed by President
Robert Mugabe's ruling party and its old opponent, the
MDC (Movement for
Democratic Change), is affecting teachers.
Teachers
threatened
"James", who doesn't want his identity revealed because he fears
reprisal,
has already been threatened several times. He comes from a rural
area near
Chivu, about 200 kms. from Harare, where Mugabe supporters believe
he and
other teachers are trying to turn students against
Mugabe.
He's had to alter his curriculum as a result,
especially when teaching
politics. He's been a teacher since 2002, but the
threats, coupled with no
resources and virtually no salary have left him
considering leaving not only
the profession but the country.
Teachers
in need
Eric also spoke with "Tadima" (who also doesn't want her identity
disclosed). She teaches English and Shona at a school 235 kms. from Harare.
She started teaching 5 years ago and is still committed to it, despite not
being able to earn enough to feed and clothe herself
properly.
Outspoken critic
The final person Eric
spoke to is Raymond Majungwe, secretary general of the
Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe. Raymond is outspoken in his
criticism of the Mugabe
legacy, declaring that the last decade will be
remembered as the worst in
the country's educational history. While entering
the building to do the,
Eric noticed an open pile of feminine hygiene pads.
Raymond Majungwe
explains:
Teachers, like many of our citizens, are victims. Sanitary pads
have
actually become very expensive.... Imagine a professional, failing to
buy
sanitary pads. This is the level Mugabe [lowered] his professionals.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14173
March 29, 2009
By Eddie Cross
IT
IS now five weeks since we went into the transitional government and I
think
the most frequently asked question that I hear is "Why are you still
in
there".
That is not an easy question to answer but let me have a go at it
here. Our
objectives, as set out in 1999 when we launched the MDC in Harare
were quite
simple. We set ourselves the goal of bringing in a new democratic
dispensation, which would transform the country into a caring, productive
and prosperous nation. We agreed that this goal would be secured by
democratic, peaceful and lawful means.
In 2006 when it became clear
that normal democratic action would not secure
these goals, we decided to
change the road map slightly. We agreed that we
would strive to achieve
change through a five-stage process: democratic
resistance; negotiations;
transitional regime; new constitution and then
democratic elections. In our
view we have completed phases one and two and
are now engaged in Phase Three
with the pathway to the completion of phase
four about to start.
We
had no illusions about setting up a transitional regime with Zanu-PF and
the
Mutambara group. We knew the former were devious and totally opposed to
the
new arrangements - they had been forced to go this route by the March
2008
defeat at the polls and subsequent international and regional pressure.
We
also know that Zanu-PF was unregenerate, had no ideas other than how to
loot
and steal and to use their positions in government to perpetuate their
hold
on power. We knew it would be a struggle.
So when we thought we had got
the best deal we were going to get, we stopped
arguing and negotiating and
simply went into the new partnership. The Zanu
hardliners were stunned and
had to fall back onto their reserve position,
which was to form a secret
cabal to replace the JOC and to continue the
fight even while they
participated in the new government. So they sought to
control key centers of
power - the security ministries, the Reserve Bank,
the Ministry of Justice
and the Attorney General's Office and the Public
Service Commission. Outside
of these immediate structures they set up
control and communication systems
in the police, the judiciary, the army and
in many other key areas of civic
life.
They carefully manipulated the whole system to ensure that all the
parastatals and State-controlled enterprises were controlled by Zanu-PF
elements - this was to ensure flows of resources and the use of patronage to
maintain political controls. Once the new administration was in place they
set about trying to limit its effectiveness and control and its degree of
influence. The spat between Webster Shamu and Nelson Chamisa over the
control of Tel One and Net One - both substantial cash cows, was and is
about this. The continuing battle to maintain their total control over the
governors, permanent secretaries and key posts is all about this secret
war.
The abductions, arbitrary arrests and the unsubstantiated
allegations of
treason, guerilla activities including recruitment and
training in Botswana,
are all about this. The farm invasions and the theft
of private property and
the flaunting of the rule of law as a political
weapon of control, is all
about this. Zanu-PF has no interest whatsoever in
"fixing" the problems of
Zimbabwe. They know that, come what may, the
international community (mainly
the USA and Europe) will feed the people and
thus prevent the humanitarian
crisis from spilling over into instability and
violence.
They feel confident they can subsist on what is left of the
economy and
maintain their lavish lifestyles. They also feel confident that
they can
control the process leading up to any future elections and in the
process
regain control of government. In all of this, President, Mugabe, is
an
essential stage prop - and will be disposed of as soon as the power base
of
Zanu-PF is secured and alternative leadership established.
The
past five weeks say it all. Where the MDC has control - health,
education
and finance, substantial, even dramatic progress has been made.
Where
Zanu-PF has control there has either been little progress or we have
regressed - the media, the judiciary and the rule of law, agriculture and
land reform. Only the Reserve Bank has been neutralized as a center of
power - the Ministry of Finance has cut off its funding and restricted its
activities and influence. This is hurting the flow of resources to the
clandestine cabal of criminals in Zanu-PF but they are developing
alternative sources of funds and using their accumulated resources to
support their activities.
Whoever imagined that this was going to be
anything but a struggle was
deceiving themselves. We knew that from day one.
But this process is the
only one in town if you reject, as we have, any
thought of an armed struggle
to eliminate and defeat this tyranny. Tyrants
do not give up power without a
fight and we are no different except that we
chose not to use armed conflict
to change the situation in Zimbabwe. This is
the toughest route. It is the
best for the country and is the only
principled way to achieve change by
peaceful, democratic and legal
means.
So we see ourselves doing the best that we can in the
circumstances. We are
pursuing three goals for this phase: stabilise the
situation and try to
restore some semblance of decency to the way people
live; write a new
national constitution which reflects the popular will and
will lay the
foundations for a new society; and prepare for the next
elections by
rebuilding the MDC as a political party; and keeping the people
informed of
what is happening and why there is little progress in some
sectors.
I think we can do all of these three things while we fight to
make the
transitional government work. If we can hold onto the beachhead
where we
landed in this invasion, we will be halfway there. If we can
actually make
progress during the drive inland, then we can do what we have
to do to
ensure V Day in 2011.
Perhaps then and only then will we be
able to create the Zimbabwe we all
want. Abandoning the beachhead is just
what the criminal cabal wants, we are
not going to give it to them. We are
their worst nightmare, we will not
quit, and we will not give up the fight
until we have secured our goal of a
free, democratic and just
State.
I am reminded of what Habakkuk wrote 2600 years ago in the Middle
East.
He said: "Woe to him who piles up stolen goods, Woe to him who
makes himself
wealthy by extortion. Woe to him who builds his realm by
unjust gain, who
have plotted to ruin many lives. Woe to him who builds a
city by bloodshed."
To these Habakkuk promises, "Your debtors will
suddenly arise and make you
tremble, then you will become their
victim."
As for us Habakkuk states, "Though it linger, wait for it, it
will certainly
come and will not delay. I heard and my heart pounded, decay
crept into my
bones, yet I will wait for the day of calamity to come upon
the nation
invading us. The Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the
feet of a
deer and enables me to go on the heights."
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14167
March 29, 2009
Ladies and
gentlemen!
Media reports indicate that MDC ministers are accepting
Mercedes Benz cars
as part of their ministerial package.
The nation
implores you to take this one chance to demonstrate that you are
with the
people and not with the Zanu-PF gravy train. The people will feel
betrayed
if you go ahead and they will tell you that they will not notice
the
difference between the past regime and the party delivering change!
Attitudes must change and here is our chance to prove that there is
leadership in this regard.
It is strongly suggested that these cars
are refused or sold and locally
assembled Mazda's are bought and the balance
of money donated to charities,
to fund a clinic in the Minister's respective
area and so on; whatever is
practical. This will have powerful and positive
implications that will
reverberate around the country.
There will be
immense celebration and the world's media will delight in
promoting this
principled action. Donors will be watching! Zimbabwe will
be seen to be
leading the way in people based governance, particularly in
Africa.
The nation cannot afford such luxury and the MDC cannot allow
its
credibility to be destroyed.
When asked for comment, Tsvangirai's
spokesman James Maridadi said the Prime
Minister was not keen to occupy the
State House. Maridadi said: "The last
time I spoke to the Prime Minister
about the issue of his residence, he said
Zimbabwe needs economic stability
and national healing and those are his
issues of priority. Not the kind of
house he is going to sleep in or the
kind of car he is going to
drive."
Simon Spooner