FinGaz
Donors tell Mugabe: no devaluation, no food aid
By Abel Mutsakani News Editor
5/9/02 3:11:41 AM (GMT +2)
INTERNATIONAL donors want President Robert Mugabe and his government
to
devalue the dollar and adopt sound economic policies, otherwise they will
not
give food aid to more than 2.5 million people facing starvation, it
was
established this week.
Aid agency sources said
representatives of the European Union, the US
and other major donors were
insisting that the unfolding famine in
Zimbabwe - previously a regional food
exporter - had been largely caused by
wrong economic polices, chiefly the
skewed exchange rate.
"The donors' position is that Zimbabwe's
humanitarian and food crisis
is two-thirds a result of wrong economic
policies," one source told the
Financial Gazette.
"As well as
other corrective measures, donors want to see the
government immediately
implement an exchange rate that truly reflects the
value of the dollar," the
source said.
The donors are said to have made their position clear
to United
Nations (UN) coordinator in Zimbabwe Victor Angelo during
discussions last
week at the UN's New York headquarters.
The
talks were held in part to try to narrow the gap between Harare
and
donors.
Angelo has led efforts to try to mobilise more than US$80
million from
international donors and aid agencies, which is critically
needed to avert
an unprecedented humanitarian and food crisis in
Zimbabwe.
But the donors are said to have told Angelo that unless
Harare moves
to implement a sound exchange rate policy, among other key
demands, then no
significant food aid will be given to Zimbabwe.
Angelo, who retuned to Zimbabwe earlier this week, refused to discuss
his
trip to New York or the fresh demands by the donors when contacted by
this
newspaper.
Finance Minister Simba Makoni was this week quoted by
the
state-controlled Herald newspaper as having told Parliament that
the
government did not have any plans to devalue the dollar.
As
well as implementing a sound exchange rate, donors are demanding
that the
government takes measures to reassure the international community
that
property rights are upheld in Zimbabwe.
The protection of these
rights, the donors said, was a prerequisite if
Zimbabwe was to lure back
foreign capital and investors.
Foreign investors abandoned Zimbabwe
in early 2000 when self-styled
war veterans began seizing private farms
ostensibly to pressure the
government to speed up the redistribution of land
to landless blacks.
The government's critics say the farm seizures,
which many Zimbabweans
largely blame for causing the current food shortages
because they disrupted
farming operations, were mere a ruse meant to take
away attention on the
deteriorating economy.
The government must
also take up proposals by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)
that it implements an economically and
agriculturally sound land reform plan
which can be supported by donors
instead of the present chaotic fast-track
land reforms.
The sources said issues of human rights, democracy
and the rule of law
were still prominent on the list of outstanding items
which the donors said
Harare must tackle before being given food
aid.
Of the US$83 million humanitarian appeal to the
international
community made by the UNDP on behalf of Harare late last year,
donors have
only given US$20.7 million, according to the government's own
figures.
Aid experts say the slow response to the humanitarian aid
appeal is a
reflection of Zimbabwe's strained relations with the
international community
over issues of governance and its human rights
record.
FinGaz
Civil unreast looms as govt fails to arrest
crisis
By Abel Mutsakani News Editor
5/9/02 3:17:03 AM
(GMT +2)
PENNILESS and isolated, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
and his
government are not doing much except to police a political and
economic
crisis which analysts warn could sooner rather than later explode
into civil
unrest.
Only the seemingly boundless patience of
Zimbabweans is so far saving
the day for Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, the
country's sole rulers since
independence from Britain 22 years ago, the
analysts said this week.
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Institute of
Development Studies associate
professor Brian Raftopoulos told the Financial
Gazette: "The government is
unsure what to do, all they are doing is just to
police the crisis. Of
course it is a bankrupt strategy."
He said
the government did not have an answer to the problem of
international
isolation and illegitimacy after the United States, the
15-nation European
Union (EU), the Southern Africa Development Community
Parliamentary Forum and
the Commonwealth all said it cheated in a
presidential election two months
ago.
Many Zimbabweans, including ZANU PF itself, have dismissed as
futile
ongoing talks between the ruling party and the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) that could offer the government a window to
gain
some semblance of international legitimacy were an agreement to be
reached
between the two parties.
The analysts also noted that
the foreign currency-starved government
did not have a solution to the fast
unfolding humanitarian and food crisis
in the country.
The World
Food Programme has received only a third of the cereals and
other aid it
appealed for from donors late last year to feed more than one
million
starving Zimbabweans.
Aid experts say the slow response to the
appeal for food relief is a
reflection of Zimbabwe's growing international
isolation over Mugabe's
controversial victory in the March ballot and over
his government's alleged
bloated human rights record.
The
government also did not have an answer to the fast deteriorating
economic
crisis, blamed on runaway state spending, and the hardships it
spawns both on
ordinary Zimbabweans and the business sector alike, the
analysts
noted.
When Harare commuter transport operators last week hiked
fares by
about 30 percent, the government responded not by tackling the high
costs of
importing vehicle spare parts, which were cited by the omnibus
operators as
the reason for their fare hike.
Instead the
government flooded the streets with the police who stopped
public buses at
roadblocks, ordering bus crews not to charge the new fares.
In a
similar fashion, when the National Constitutional Assembly called
public
protests last month to press the government to democratise Zimbabwe's
flawed
Constitution, the government again flooded the streets with armed
police and
soldiers.
It did not address the constitutional questions which
many Zimbabweans
and outsiders blame for the country's governance
problems.
A few months ago, state security agents and the army
placed milling
companies under surveillance as the maize shortage
worsened.
An army spokesman told this newspaper at the time that
the army was
only helping the private milling companies with transport and
security.
In fact the police and at times the army have from time
to time been
used to monitor and suppress sectors of society that are feared
might
attempt to question the government's handling of the economic and
political
crisis.
For example, the main labour movement - the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) - had to seek a court order to bar
the police from its
meetings.
The police had insisted they
should be allowed into ZCTU council
meetings to check on whether the powerful
umbrella union was only discussing
labour and not political
issues.
The question, according to Raftopoulos, is: how long will
the
government be able to hold back swelling public anger by using the
police
and army to prevent the NCA, the ZCTU and the MDC from organising
mass
action?
Masipula Sithole, another UZ political analyst,
said the deepening
economic hardships and food shortages could in fact soon
or later spark
civil unrest even without incitement from the agitating
groups.
''The country is going to face civil unrest whether Morgan
Tsvangirai
(the MDC leader) or anybody else likes it or not," Sithole
said.
"Conditions on the ground are such that the people will not
need
anyone to call them onto the streets."
As well as the
biting shortages of the staple maize meal, Zimbabweans
have to contend with
spiraling prices of virtually every other commodity on
the market. Inflation
is running at a high of 113.3 percent and could rise
further.
Unemployment is surging beyond 70 percent as the country's
beleaguered
businesses and factories fold up due to the worsening economic
climate.
More than 400 companies closed in 2000 alone, losing about
10 000 jobs
in the process. Figures of companies that shut down last year are
not
available.
A burgeoning HIV/AIDS crisis is killing at least
2 000 Zimbabweans
every week.
Independent economic analyst John
Robertson said the situation would
get worse in the coming
months.
"Because the government is not taking measures to address
the root
cause of the economic and political crisis, you can expect the
situation to
deteriorate further," he noted.
In this update:
a.. Mugabe's presence at UN Children Conference
shocking - Morgan
Tsvangirai, MDC President - May 09, 2002
b.. Press
Statement By Hon. Innocent Gonese, the chief whip of the
opposition in
Zimbabwe's Parliament - May 07, 2002
c.. Two more MDC supporters killed by
suspected Zanu PF activists - May
07, 2002
Mugabe's presence at UN
Children Conference shocking
Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC President
May
09, 2002
The Movement for Democratic Change is shocked that Mr Robert
Mugabe is in
New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly Special
Session for
Children Conference.
We are left wondering what message Mr
Mugabe can possibly have for the
children worldwide when his illegitimate
government in Zimbabwe is a living
example of how not to treat
children.
The party that he leads has set up militia bases countrywide
where people
with a different opinion to Zanu PF's are abducted and tortured.
Most of the
people in these camps are youngsters below the age of 20 who are
being
trained to brutalise their fellow Zimbabweans.
It is Mugabe's
disastrous policies that have displaced over 300 000 farm
workers and their
children. Stress and fear are widespread in schools as
militias sometimes
beat up teachers and parents in front of school children.
In most cases
there is no medication for children who are the victims of
Zanu PF's violence
in government hospitals. While private hospitals have
medication, they charge
fees which are not affordable which renders them a
useless option to affected
families.
Zimbabwe which was the bread basket of Africa is now a basket
case. Today
people are now eating roots and children are malnourished as they
struggle
to survive in a country whose economy is on auto-pilot.
The
current food crisis facing Zimbabwe is not as a result of drought
because the
crop affected by drought is still on the ground yet to be
harvested. This
food crisis is a result of Mugabe's misplaced policies.
We therefore find
it absurd that a leader who has demonstrated such
callousness against his
children can attend a children's conference. This
hypocrisy on the part of
the Zimbabwean leadership has been going on for too
long and must be exposed
for what it is.
Those who genuinely believe in human rights, and indeed
children's rights
have a duty to say no to Mugabe's violence. He must be told
in no uncertain
terms to disband Zanu PF militia camps and stop the violence
in Zimbabwe.
Morgan Tsvangirai,
MDC
President
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Press
Statement By Hon. Innocent Gonese, the chief whip of the opposition
in
Zimbabwe's Parliament
May 07, 2002
MDC members of parliament
met today and deliberated on a number of issues,
key of which was the recent
presidential election, which the Zanu PF
candidate Mr. Robert Mugabe claims
to have won.
The MDC parliamentary caucus restated and supported the
party position that
available, indisputable and credible independent evidence
demonstrate beyond
any doubt that the outcome of Zimbabwe's presidential
election does not
represent the true expression of the will of the people of
Zimbabwe.
MDC parliamentarians thus reject the poll outcome and do not
recognize Mr.
Robert Mugabe and his cabinet as the government of
Zimbabwe.
The sitting ministers who are purporting to execute executive
functions are
illegitimate because Zimbabwe's real cabinet ministers are yet
to be
appointed by a new and legitimate President of the Republic of
Zimbabwe.
MDC members of parliament will, however, continue to attend
parliament and
their presence in parliament does not in any way imply tacit
recognition of
the flawed presidential election outcome and the consequent
illegitimacy of
current regime.
Our submission is simply that, of the
three arms that make up government, it
is the executive arm that lacks
legitimacy and that has transformed itself
into a complete dictatorship. We
should however point out that this violent
dictatorship shall and indeed
should remain isolated for as long as it
continues to stand by its daylight
theft of elections.
As we return to parliament today, our constituencies
have given us a fresh
mandate to press for a re-run of the election under
free and fair
conditions. Our energies both in and outside parliament shall
thus be
concentrated on this issue until such time when the people's will is
allowed
to prevail.
Hon. Innocent Gonese
MDC Chief Whip in
Parliament
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Two
more MDC supporters killed by suspected Zanu PF activists
May 07,
2002
Two MDC supporters, one of them a polling agent in the March 9 and
10
presidential election, have been killed by suspected Zanu PF
militia.
Jenus Ngamira, an MDC activist in Bindura, was murdered by Zanu
PF militia
led by Munyaradzi Timoti in Chipadze Township of Bindura in the
early hours
of last Sunday, while his brother Christopher Ngamira was
seriously injured
and is recovering in hospital following an attack by the
same group.
After killing Jenus, Timoti rushed to his home to put on his
Zanu PF militia
uniform before surrendering himself to Bindura Police Station
(Phone 071
6911). Ngamira was buried in Bindura yesterday.
Remains of
MDC polling agent found
In Gokwe, the remains of Tiperson Madhobha, an MDC
polling agent in the
March 9 and 10 presidential elections who was abducted
by Zanu PF militia on
10 April, were found in a river last week.
A
police officer who identified himself as Sergeant Chikuni (phone
059
2222/5).
confirmed that the remains of Madhobha had been found and
that arrangements
for a postmortem were underway.
The police have of
late promised to follow up each and every case of death
reported by the MDC.
We hope that they are serious. The MDC condemns the
violence which is being
perpetrated by the illegitimate regime of Mr Robert
Mugabe.
The
ongoing violence has the tacit approval of Mugabe, that is why even to
date
Zanu PF's militia continues to have bases all over the country. As MDC
we
will continuously pray for an end to violence. We pray for peace and
calm. We
are confident that one day soon, justice will be done, if not from
the law of
the land then from God himself.
Letter to the Spectator
I'm no Zanu-PF crony
From Mr John A.
Bredenkamp
Sir: I am writing to express my concern about your recent article
('The
cowardly whites who help Mugabe', 13 April) that includes a number
of
statements and allegations in relation to me which are manifestly
false.
Your article appears to suggest that I am a silent - and cowardly
- white
collaborator who has somehow been responsible in part for keeping
President
Robert Mugabe in power. Nothing could be further from the
truth.
I am a Zimbabwean businessman and serious investor in a number of
countries
throughout the world. I have created employment for hundreds of
people in
Zimbabwe and continue to invest in the country at this difficult
time. As an
investor I have had a long business relationship with many
institutions
within Zimbabwe and consequently know a large number of
politicians. This
does not make me 'a Zanu-PF crony', as you choose to label
me.
I do not and never have provided funds to Zanu-PF. Furthermore, I
have been
critical of a number of government policies and initiatives, and
have
advocated and continue to advocate change. I have gone on the record on
this
issue. You peddle the perception that I am close to President Robert
Mugabe;
the reality is totally different. I have not met him or spoken to him
for
almost 18 years.
I am apolitical and believe that the white people
in Zimbabwe, who represent
less than 1 per cent of the population, should
remain apolitical. This does
not mean that I sit on the sidelines. Far from
it. I have been actively
promoting dialogue between the Commercial Farmers'
Union and the government
to try to resolve the land issue in Zimbabwe. A
blueprint for the resolution
of the problem was, in fact, accepted, based on
the Zimbabwe Joint
Resettlement Initiative (ZJRI), which I started. I remain
committed and
continue to give whatever input I can to try to resolve the
land issue.
The Bayleys' story is a tragic one. The irony is that during
the week in
which your article was published the Bayleys spent a number of
days in our
offices in Harare seeking my help and assistance, which I was
only too happy
to give. In a report of 21 April, Tommy Bayley wrote, 'We have
not given up
on the farm and livelihood and are very appreciative of the
assistance given
to us by family, friends, neighbours, the CFU and Jenni
Williams, charity
organisations, our lawyers and the executives of
Breco/Scottlee who have
spent many hours and cellphone calls, at all times of
the day and night,
working on resolving our problems.' Breco and Scottlee are
my companies.
I continue to help the Bayleys in any way I can and,
although not resolved,
progress with the authorities is being made. There are
over 185 other
farmers and their families who have sought our assistance in
approaching the
authorities. You must understand that I deplore the violence
and
intimidation occurring on the farms, which I find totally
reprehensible.
You should know that my farm, which was bought long before
the current
troubles, was listed, then de-listed and is now re-listed. As I
write, it
remains listed for compulsory acquisition. I have had war
veterans
threatening to take over the farm and, like the Bayleys, the
situation
remains unresolved. In these current circumstances I have
absolutely no
interest in buying further farmland in Zimbabwe. Your article
is mischievous
and it is plainly wrong to suggest otherwise.
It is
correct that a company within the group of which I am chairman is
involved in
a joint venture to mine cobalt and copper in the Democratic
Republic of Congo
(DRC). This is a transparent arrangement, which has been
legally validated by
the Mining Convention to which the DRC government is a
party and is supported
by presidential decree. These documents are public
documents. United Nations
Panel representatives have visited our mining
operations. We have had no
negative feedback from them.
It is incorrect to say that the Zimbabwean
government is a party to any of
these agreements. It is not and never has
been. Furthermore, the
continuation of the project in no way depends upon
Zimbabwe continuing to
have troops or any other presence in the DRC. The
mining operation has no
connection with Zanu-PF. It is a private
venture.
I wish to stress that I fully support press freedom and the
right to publish
articles involving sensitive or difficult issues. All I ask
is that you do
your homework and present a balanced view based on the
facts.
John A. Bredenkamp
Chairman,
Breco and Masters Group of
Companies,
Hurst, Berkshire
THERE MAY BE JUSTICE AFTER
ALL!
TODAY PATRICK NABANYAMA'S KIDNAPPERS AND POSSIBLE
MURDERERS (EIGHT IN ALL) WERE FORMALLY CHARGED WITH MURDER AND DETAINED IN
CUSTODY TO AWAIT TRIAL IN THE HIGH COURT LATER THIS MONTH.
PATRICK, AN MDC POLLING AGENT, WAS ABDUCTED IN JUNE
2000 PRIOR TO THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS AND HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE.
FOR THOSE WHO PATIENTLY MAINTAINED A VIGIL EVERY
FRIDAY LUNCHTIME ON THE CITY HALL STEPS FOR ALMOST A YEAR - YOUR EFFORTS WERE
NOT IN VAIN AND YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN HEARD.
FinGaz
War vets charged with murder of MDC
official
Staff Reporter
5/9/02 3:14:42 AM (GMT
+2)
BULAWAYO - Eight war veterans accused of kidnapping Patrick
Nabanyama,
an election agent of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) in
the run-up to parliamentary elections two years ago, are now facing
murder
charges.
Documents obtained by this newspaper this week
from the Bulawayo High
Court show that the trial of the eight is due to open
here on May 28 and
that the state is expected to call 15 witnesses, among
them the wife of
Nabanyama, Patricia, and their two children.
The documents indicate that the charges have been changed from
kidnapping,
previously levelled against the veterans, to murder.
The eight
suspects listed in the court roll are Ephraim Moyo, Simon
Rwodzi, Aleck Moyo,
Howard Ncube, Stanley Ncube, Julius Sibanda, Medicine
Ndebele and Thomas
Munyuki.
Reads part of the High Court roll: "The eight accused
kidnapped the
deceased to an unknown destination (and) up to now the
whereabouts of the
deceased are unknown."
Nabanyama, the
election agent for MDC legislator for Bulawayo South
David Coltart,
disappeared from his Nketa home here five days before the
parliamentary
vote.
According to witnesses at the time, Nabanyama was dragged out
of his
house and was last seen in the company of the war veterans, among them
Cain
Nkala, the slain leader of the Bulawayo branch of the Zimbabwe National
War
Veterans' Association.
The late Nkala had been jointly
charged with the eight.
Ironically the late Nkala was kidnapped
from his Magwegwe West home,
also in Bulawayo, in November last year. His
decomposed body was found two
days later buried in a shallow grave at Norwood
Farm in Solusi, about 50 kms
outside Bulawayo.
The ruling ZANU
PF has accused the MDC of being behind Nkala's murder
in retaliation for the
disappearance of Nabanyama, a charge denied by the
opposition.
Several MDC officials and supporters, including MDC legislator
Fletcher
Dulini Ncube, have been arrested in connection with Nkala's death.
They face
murder charges.
Apart from the Patrick Nabanyama murder case, the
trial involving
Albert Ncube, another war veteran facing a charge of
murdering Nyamandlovu
commercial farmer Gloria Olds in March last year, will
be heard during the
second session of the High Court which opened here on
Monday.
According to court documents, Ncube shot the late Olds 17
times with
an AK rifle.
The state is expected to call two
witnesses to testify in the case of
the cold-blooded murder which left the
Nyamandlovu farming community
traumatised.
Olds, a widow, was
gunned down barely a year after her son Martin was
riddled with bullets by
suspected war veterans at the start of the farm
invasions by ZANU PF
supporters in 2000.
Fuel Consumption Down 20 Pct
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
May 9, 2002
Posted to the web May 9, 2002
Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S fuel consumption has declined by 20 percent since
1999,
highlighting the economic and political crisis that has gripped the
country
in the past three years.
The Petroleum Marketers' Association of
Zimbabwe (PMAZ), which groups the
country's oil companies, says there is a
correlation between macroeconomic
stability and fuel usage.
PMAZ chairman
Masimba Kambarami notes that fuel consumption has tracked the
decline in
Zimbabwe's gross domestic product (GDP) since 2000 when the
country started
experiencing economic and political problems.
" . . . overall fuel
consumption was down by 20 percent from the peak point
in 1999 when GDP and
economic activity was high," Kambarami said in a
statement.
He however did
not provide statistics on trends in fuel usage in the past
three years,
although analysts estimate that Zimbabwe consumed more than 80
million litres
of fuel a month before the present economic crisis started at
the end of
1999.
The country currently consumes about 67 million litres of fuel a
month.
Zimbabwe's economy has on average shrunk by more than five percent
during
the past two years due to the disruption of activity in the key
agricultural
sector by self-styled veterans of the country's 1970s
independence war and
other ruling ZANU PF supporters.
The once-prosperous
southern African economy is expected to decline by 7.3
percent this year,
although analysts say the decline could be as high as 10
percent.
Simiso
Nzima, an analyst with Sagit Stockbrokers, said the collapse of
Zimbabwe's
agricultural sector and problems in the key mining industry were
some of the
reasons behind the decrease in fuel consumption.
More than 5 000 white-owned
commercial farms have been compulsorily acquired
by the government since
February 2000 while expansion in mineral production
has been constrained by
shortages of foreign currency, high production costs
and declining
international prices.
"We however expect consumption by the transport sector
to pick up in the
coming months because of the movement of food for drought
victims," Nzima
told the Financial Gazette this week.
Zimbabwe faces a
severe food crisis this year partly blamed on the drought
that hit southern
Africa this year and the acquisition by the government of
prime commercial
agricultural land.
The country needs to import between 1.5 and 2.2 million
tonnes of maize this
year to feed more than two million starving
villagers.
Mugabe beats US travel ban
Oliver Burkeman in New York
Thursday May 9,
2002
The Guardian
The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, will
address the UN summit on
children's rights in New York tomorrow, despite a
travel ban imposed by the
White House which forbids him to enter the United
States.
A state department official said government lawyers were being
consulted.
Mr Mugabe is prohibited from entering the US under the
targeted sanctions
announced by President George Bush in February. The
decision to permit his
presence at the UN reflects a longstanding policy
towards world leaders who
are otherwise persona non grata in
America.
But last night the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell
condemned his
presence in New York.
"[It] breaks the spirit if not the
precise letter of the US travel ban -
what's the point in banning him if,
under the guise of attending the United
Nations, he can come to US as he
pleases?" he said.
"He's attending to promote himself as an accepted and
respected world
leader."
FinGaz
Mugabe faces travel curbs in US
By Sydney
Masamvu Political Editor
5/9/02 3:08:28 AM (GMT +2)
THE
movement of President Robert Mugabe, who left Harare earlier this
week to
attend a United Nations (UN) conference in New York, will be
restricted in
distance to the confines of the UN, American government
sources said this
week.
The restrictions on Mugabe's travel in the United States are
in line
with sanctions slapped on him and members of his inner circle by the
US
government under the Zimbabwe Democracy Act.
US
administration sources said the movement of Mugabe, in the US to
attend a UN
Children's Conference, would be curtailed to the geographical
limitations of
the UN headquarters.
"His movement is restricted under geographical
limitation of the
United Nations headquarters and he enjoys freedom within
that limitation,"
an authoritative source said.
Another said:
"If for example he wants to go to San Francisco, even
for shopping or
sightseeing, that visa will not allow him that latitude."
It could
not be ascertained yesterday whether Mugabe intended to meet
any US
government official while at the UN.
Bruce Wharton, the US embassy
spokesman in Harare, declined any
comment. "I am not at liberty to discuss
specific visa cases," he said.
The sources said the terms and
conditions of Mugabe's visit to the UN
headquarters were similar to those
imposed on Cuban leader Fidel Castro,
under US sanctions for decades over his
policies on the Caribbean island
nation.
Mugabe's visit to the
US is his first one there since January 2000. It
is also his first since the
Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill
was signed into law by the Bush
administration earlier this year.
Sources said Mugabe is likely to
use the opportunity of the UN
conference to brief UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan on Zimbabwe's political
and economic situation in the aftermath of the
President's disputed
re-election in March.
The international
community, minus a few African states, has refused
to recognise Mugabe's win,
which has been branded by the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
as daylight robbery. The MDC is challenging the
poll result in
court.
As a consequence of the disputed ballot, Zimbabwe has been
suspended
from the 54-nation Commonwealth while the 15-nation European Union,
the US,
New Zealand and Switzerland have slapped travel sanctions on Mugabe
and his
inner circle.
The blacklist has included top bankers,
civil servants and army
generals who are accused of benefiting from Mugabe's
policies.
Washington says it is in consultation with western Europe
and other
countries to impose further measures against the targeted
individuals.
The EU has also cut contact with the Zimbabwe
government at
ministerial level, frozen the overseas assets of the targeted
officials and,
like the US, banned the sale of arms to Harare.
The sources said they believed Mugabe would use his trip to lobby
individual
nations against imposing sanctions on his administration at a
time when
Zimbabwe's economy is reeling from its worst ever crisis, shown
out by
crippling food and foreign currency shortages, runaway jobless and
inflation
(stagflation) and mass poverty.
IOL
Zimbabwe's teachers under seige, says union
May 09 2002 at
05:51PM
Harare - Teachers in Zimbabwe have fallen victim to murder,
rape, extortion,
assaults and kidnappings in ongoing political unrest, a
teachers' union said
on Thursday.
Figures released to reporters by the
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) record more than 107 503 cases
of extortion, 20 incidents of murder,
and 190 cases of rape between February
2001 and April 2002.
The number of cases of extortion is high because the
same teachers were
repeatedly targetted in some provinces, the union's report
said.
The alleged crimes against teachers countrywide are described by
the PTUZ as
"poltical violence".
'This organisation is a rival to
Zimta ... It's a way of making themselves
known'
The union said it
gathered the figures from reports made directly to the
organisation or its
regional offices, or by newspapers.
PTUZ says other crimes against
teachers, not all of them members of the
PTUZ, included death threats,
political kidnappings and "re-education",
assaults, burning and looting of
property, and torture.
Teachers here are widely perceived to be
supporters of the main opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
The MDC says significant numbers of its members have been
victimised by
supporters of the ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF).
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
dismissed PTUZ's figures. He said crimes
of such "magnitude" had not been
reported to police. He said he was aware of
only one teacher murdered
recently in northern Zimbabwe.
He challenged the PTUZ to substantiate the
figures, but remained sceptical
about their authenticity.
"This
organisation is a rival to Zimta (the Zimbabwe Teachers'
Association),"
Bvudzijena said. "It's a way of making themselves known."
The PTUZ said
it stood by its figures.
"As far as we're concerned, this is what
happened," said Raymond Majongwe,
secretary-general of PTUZ.
He said
some teachers belonging to Zanu-PF had been targetted by MDC
supporters, but
said "99 percent of the victims" were members of the MDC.
Rights groups
here said political violence and intimidation have continued
since the March
9-11 presidential poll that returned President Robert Mugabe
to
power.
The government dismisses the claims as part of a Western-backed
smear
campaign.
The PTUZ, which claims 12 000 members, was formed in
1997, it says, because
Zimta "was not fully representing the interests of
teachers." - Sapa-AFP
CNN
Zimbabwe threatens Africa - report
May 9, 2002 Posted:
7:56 AM EDT (1156
GMT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LONDON,
England (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe faces economic ruin unless President
Robert
Mugabe changes his policies, an influential report has said.
The
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) made the claim in
its
annual report on Africa, released on Thursday.
It sharply criticised
South African President Thabo Mbeki for failing to
take coherent action when
Mugabe was controversially reelected.
It added that the political and
economic disintegration of Somalia and Kenya
were causes for serious
alarm.
The London-based think-tank listed as positive developments in the
ravaged
continent the ceasefire in Angola, tentative peace in West Africa and
calm
in the Horn of Africa.
It said the biggest single threat to
regional security on a continent
plagued by AIDS, poverty and instability lay
in the political repression and
imminent economic collapse of Zimbabwe, where
famine is looming as inflation
runs wild and state-backed farm seizures slash
food production.
It said Mugabe, who has held power since independence
from Britain in 1980
and who won a new six-year term in March in what the
Commonwealth said were
deeply flawed elections, was practising "state
terrorism."
"Mugabe's re-election has created an unsustainable and deeply
damaging
situation in Zimbabwe, from which no escape route is
apparent.
"Unless he changes course, 2002 is likely to witness the
ultimate collapse
of Zimbabwe's economy and more food shortages, as well as
Mugabe's total
international isolation," IISS said.
The report was
scathing about the leaders of the neighbours of the former
Rhodesia who had
endorsed Mugabe's reelection even though refugees were
already pouring over
their borders.
But it was particularly savage about Mbeki's dithering
approach to the
problem.
"Mbeki has moved from tacitly supporting
Mugabe to having no identifiable
policy whatsoever," it said.
"He has
managed to endorse the reports of two election observer teams that
reached
diametrically opposing conclusions."
Kenya too was a cause for growing
concern as tribal unrest bubbles under the
surface ahead of elections due by
the end of the year at which President
Daniel arap Moi is constitutionally
bound to step down after 23 years in
power, IISS said.
On a positive
note, the IISS report said Africa might in the long term be an
unwitting
beneficiary of the September 11 attacks as nations backing the
U.S.-led "war
on terror" try to prevent militancy spreading to unstable and
poor
nations.
"The West's long-term strategic interest in depriving terrorists
of safe
havens may animate greater economic and political involvement in the
region
to remedy or forestall state failure," it said.
ZIMBABWE: Land Bill passed as farm violence increases
JOHANNESBURG, 9 May
(IRIN) - Zimbabwe's parliament has passed a controversial law aimed at speeding
up redistribution of land, as a local human rights group warned that illegal
farm invasions had increased.
With the Land Acquisition and Amendment
Bill being passed on Wednesday a constitutional lawyer, Greg Linnington of the
University of Zimbabwe, said the ramifications for farmers were "pretty grim".
The passing of the Bill made permanent temporary amendments to the land law by
President Robert Mugabe.
"Various restrictions that were once temporary
will now be made permanent. Restrictions that were imposed on farmers included
regulating how they could utilise their land and providing for the seizure by
the state of farm equipment and the like.
"It's designed to accelerate
land acquisition by the state. The whole thing is generally bad news for the
agricultural community," said Linnington.
He explained that Zimbabwe's
constitution was amended before the last parliamentary election in 2000. A new
section was added "that explicitly states that in the absence of the British
government providing funding for land reform, the government no longer had a
duty to pay compensation for land acquired" in the land reform programme. He
said it was unlikely any legal challenge to the law would be upheld in
court.
"There are certainly some good arguments that can be raised but
the way the Supreme Court is now [with many independent judges having resigned],
one can only feel pessimistic. There may also be various international pressures
that could be brought to bear. The food situation is drastic, any sane
government would not do what this government is doing. [Government's] policies
are taking a bad situation and making it worse," he said.
Meanwhile,
Zimbabwe's Human Rights NGO Forum (Human Rights Forum) warned that: "The attacks
on commercial farmers and their workers have intensified with incidents of
violence and evictions on the increase countrywide.
"These evictions are
illegal and are not being carried out by any government officials, which would
perhaps lend the processes some level of legitimacy, but are instead being
enforced by [ruling party] ZANU-PF militia and war veterans."
Farmers and
farm workers were sometimes given as little as one hour's notice. "The process
has involved high levels of intimidation, property damage and looting. The
police have taken no positive action to curb the evictions and have been
reported to merely observe evictions as they took place," the Human Rights Forum
alleged.
Having been evicted from farms, workers faced a desperate
situation. "Most have worked at their respective farms all their lives and have
no alternative rural homes to go to. They are essentially internal refugees with
no access to any essential resources, that is, food, water and shelter," the
organisation said.
The controversial ad hoc land redistribution programme
has plunged Zimbabwe into a political and economic crisis. President Mugabe has
declared a state of disaster due to critical food shortages brought about by
exceptionally low agricultural production due to drought and other factors. Many
claim the food crisis was exacerbated by the disruption of commercial farming by
land invasions and illegal evictions.
Agence France Presse reported on
Tuesday that Finance Minister Simba Makoni told parliament that the economy had
shrunk by 7.3 percent last year. He also reportedly urged the government to
"enable all farmers to farm without disruption".
The European Commission
announced on Wednesday that it had approved food aid worth (Euro) ?6.5 million
(about US $5.8 million) for Zimbabwe.
The European Commission
Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) said: "This decision is designed to ensure that
some of those in need have access to minimum food supplies in the coming months.
This assistance will fund the purchase of 8,070 mt of maize, 1,500 mt of pulses
(beans) if possible at the regional level and 600 mt of vegetable
oil."
The food aid would be distributed among the poorest families in 19
districts of the country severely affected by food shortages "due to climatic
problems faced in 2001 as well as the worst economic crisis Zimbabwe has ever
faced".
Said ECHO: "This initiative constitutes the contribution of the
EC to the emergency programme launched by the World Food Programme (WFP) in late
2001, as a consequence of the deterioration of the food security situation in
the country.
"With an estimated initial target population of 558,000
people for the overall programme, this contribution will provide relief to those
households that have become even more exposed to the risk of food
insecurity."
The food is scheduled to reach the struggling Zimbabwean
population within the next few weeks.
FinGaz
'Land law changes can be challenged'
Staff
Reporter
5/9/02 3:17:52 AM (GMT +2)
RULING ZANU PF
legislators were last night expected to use their
majority to bulldoze
through Parliament the Land Acquisition Act Amendment
Bill, but legal experts
warned that the procedures used to push the Bill
through could be
successfully challenged in court.
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa yesterday moved a motion to suspend
some of Parliament's standing
orders to fast-track amendments to the Land
Acquisition Act, which expire
today.
The Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC), which is supposed
to receive
a Bill 26 days before its first reading in Parliament, was only
given the
Bill this Tuesday.
The period in which the PLC is
supposed to report back to Parliament,
which resumed sitting two weeks early
on Tuesday, was also reduced to only
one hour.
Legal experts
said the handling by the government of the Land Act
amendments was similar to
the General Laws Amendment Bill, which was
fast-tracked through Parliament in
January but was struck down by the
Supreme Court in March.
"It
is similar in substance with the General Laws Amendment Bill," a
legal expert
told the Financial Gazette. "There is good reason for success
if challenging
the procedures in a competent court."
The Supreme Court in March
nullified the General Laws Amendment Act in
a case brought against Chinamasa
and Attorney-General Andrew Chigovera by
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
Member of Parliament Tendai Biti.
The court found that Chinamasa
had used improper procedures to push
the Bill through.
MDC
secretary-general Welshman Ncube, who is also a member of the PLC,
said the
presentation of the Land Act amendments was in violation of the
March Supreme
Court ruling.
"This is erroneous and in violation of the Supreme
Court ruling and I
have no doubt in my mind that anyone who will challenge it
will win," he
said. Biti agreed.
President Robert Mugabe used
his controversial Presidential Powers
(Temporary Measures) Act to make
amendments to the Land Acquisition Act last
November.
The
amendments, which have been in force for six months and expire
today, gave
the government full rights to land when an acquisition order has
been issued
to a farmer as part of its land reform programme.
As a result a
large number of farmers has been given 90 days to cease
work and vacate their
properties, further destabilising Zimbabwe's
agricultural
sector.
The sector, the backbone of the country's economy, has
experienced a
significant drop in output, especially that of
food.
The government this year has to import maize to feed more
than one
million people threatened with starvation because of the land
reforms and a
drought.
FinGaz
US$23 million required immediately for food
Staff Reporter
5/9/02 3:19:09 AM (GMT +2)
THE government
needs to raise more than US$23 million immediately to
import an additional
170 000 tonnes of maize and wheat to meet the shortfall
of food needed to
feed millions of starving Zimbabweans up to the end of
this
month.
Finance Minister Simba Makoni said Zimbabwe has only 230 000
tonnes of
grain out of the 400 000 tonnes required to meet food requirements
up to the
end of this month and the government was now scrounging for funds
for the
remaining 170 000 tonnes.
The food import is expected to
cost Zimbabwe, which is facing severe
foreign currency problems, about
US$23.5 million at current import prices.
It costs about US$137.40
to import a tonne of maize from South Africa.
"Projections are that
we need to import 400 000 tonnes of food up to
the end of May 2002 and of
that amount 230 000 tonnes has already been
purchased which means we still
need another 170 000 tonnes for which we are
still looking for funds," Makoni
told journalists yesterday.
So far, up to US$37 million has been
spent by the government on food
imports.
He said the country,
which is facing a severe food shortage caused by
disruptions of activity of
commercial farms and the drought, would also need
up to 1.2 million tonnes of
grain between June 2002 and May next year.
That would cost
cash-strapped Zimbabwe at least US$165 million at the
current import
prices.
Makoni would however not say where the government would get
the money
required to import the food, particularly against the backdrop of
strained
relations between Harare and the international
community.
International donors, led by the United Nations' World
Food Programme,
are however carrying out a separate relief effort and have so
far raised
about US$20.7 million or 25 percent of their initial target of
US$83.6
million.
This means that greater efforts by the
government and donors are
required to arrest a looming humanitarian crisis
that could plunge Zimbabwe
into social upheaval.
FinGaz
Farmers to meet banks over $30bln loan
Staff
Reporter
5/9/02 3:05:39 AM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S white
farmers will this month meet banks and other
financial institutions to
negotiate the rescheduling of an estimated $30
billion debt which the farmers
owe the finance industry, according to
Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU)
president Colin Cloete.
"We want to start discussion with banks so
that they can understand
the current situation on the farms," Cloete told the
Financial Gazette this
week.
"Farmers are being chased away and
are not allowed to sell their
agriculture equipment and yet they have to
repay banks. At the moment
farmers owe banks around $30 billion - that is the
money that they borrowed
last season."
Ruling ZANU PF supporters
have intensified a campaign to forcibly
evict the farmers from the land since
President Robert Mugabe's
controversial re-election last March.
The veterans say they are seizing the land to punish the farmers who
they
accuse of backing international sanctions on Mugabe, his officials and
their
families.
The CFU says 250 of its members have been chased off
their properties
since the March poll and says that some of the dispossessed
farmers may
default on the loan repayments.
In most cases the
veterans have prevented the farmers from removing
irrigation and other farm
equipment from farms they have seized.
While the government itself
has declared that it is illegal for
farmers to take away equipment and
implements from farms targeted for
seizure, there is no law empowering the
government to do this.
It is feared that if the affected farmers
are not allowed to sell
their equipment, crops or livestock, then they will
be forced to default on
their loans.
Cloete said the CFU was
still trying to talk to the government to
bring an end to the intimidation of
the farmers. But the organisation had
met with little success so
far.
An attempt by farmers to help resolve the land crisis by
voluntarily
offering land to the government under the Zimbabwe Joint
Resettlement
Initiative (ZJRI) virtually collapsed just before the
presidential
elections.
Cloete said the government now seemed
disinterested in the programme
under which 558 farms had already been given
to the government under ZJRI,
launched by farmers and the government last
year to end the long-running
dispute on land ownership.
"We have
to dialogue but it is not working at the moment because the
government shut
it (ZJRI) before the elections."
Mugabe says he wants the
fast-track land reforms completed by the end
of August this
year.
FinGaz
Suppressing dissent is inviting violence
Eunice
Mafundikwa
5/9/02 2:50:49 AM (GMT +2)
THE government's
continued harassment of some Zimbabweans and
near-successful attempts to
suppress all forms of dissent offers fertile
ground for breeding of
violence.
Today very few options remain for democratic means of
expressing
oneself.
All avenues of democratic and legitimate
forms of dissent have been
closed. The government has, through a plethora of
legislation, criminalised
normal political activities in its bid to retain
power.
The space for dissenters is shrinking with each day that
passes.
Police clearance has to be sought to hold a meeting deemed
political.
Recently the government arrested National Constitutional
Assembly
chairperson Lovemore Madhuku and two others from his office for
planning a
peaceful demonstration to pressure the government to adopt a
new
constitution. At this rate, it will not be surprising if people are
picked
up for imagining in their heads a new Zimbabwe without certain
figures.
Police
permission
On April 6 2002, about 400 NCA protesters,
including Madhuku, were
arrested on the streets of Harare under a section of
the draconian Public
Order and Security Act, which the police say compels
protesters to obtain
police permission before staging a
demonstration.
On the other hand, journalists continue to be
harassed almost on a
daily basis. Now even drivers who ferry reporters to
their assignments are
allegedly being taken in for
questioning.
Very few
choices
Such heavy-handedness leaves people with very few
choices. The African
National Congress once put it this way during the
struggle against
apartheid:
"The time comes in the life of any
nation when there remain only two
choices - submit or fight. That time has
now come to South Africa. We shall
not submit and we have no choice but to
hit back by all means in our power
in defence of our people, our future and
our freedom."
Speaking in the dock during the Rivonia Trial, Nelson
Mandela was not
ashamed to be identified with violence.
He said:
"It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of
peaceful protest
had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark
on violent forms
of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe. We
did so not because
we desired such a course, but solely because the
government had left us with
no other choice."
The danger of the present situation is that the
people of Zimbabwe may
soon feel they have no choice but to use force in
order to defend themselves
against force.
This, of course, will
offer an already desperate government a great
opportunity to indiscriminately
slaughter its own people it considers
dissidents. But with more than 100
innocent Zimbabweans already reportedly
murdered in the last two years for
holding a different political opinion,
many more are likely to be convinced
that violence would be the only way to
get rid of state violence. As they
say, forewarned is forearmed.
The continued wave of retribution,
burning down of houses belonging to
opposition supporters and more farm
seizures will make it seem justifiable
to return violence with
violence.
But even in this hour, there is need for government to
still exercise
control and stop further assaults if Zimbabwe is to be saved
from plunging
itself into a war zone.
Eunice Mafundikwa
is a Zimbabwean journalist currently on a
Transnational Justice and Human
Rights Fellowship Programme at the
University of Cape Town in South
Africa.
FinGaz
Journalists are Zimbabwe's endangered species
Canisio Mudzimu
5/9/02 2:49:14 AM (GMT +2)
SINGING about
the paradox of the power of truth, the talented South
African musician Lucky
Dube points out that the "truth about the truth is
that if you stand for the
truth, you will always stand alone".
Dube's assertions are very
true for Zimbabwe with the only variation
that if you stand for the truth in
Zimbabwe you run the risk of standing
trial or being dragged before the
courts for contravening the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy
Act.
If you stand for the truth in this country, you are on the
borderline
of joining a list of the most endangered species in the
country.
I am reminded of Haiti under the repressive and
iron-fisted rule of
the Duvaliers - Papa Doc and Baby Doc - who were
determined to turn Haiti
into a personal fiefdom through a myriad of policies
and rules most of which
defied logic and all reason.
Francois
(Papa Doc) in particular wanted to perpetuate his autocracy
and
totalitarianism by enacting a code in 1958 that allowed the state
machinery
to shoot any journalists found "guilty" of spreading "false news"!
When desperation for power reaches such horrendous heights then we
might be heading towards Armageddon!
I am equally reminded of
Malawi under the despotic rule of Hastings
Kamuzu Banda when dissent was
virtually crushed under the foot. Press
freedom was practically absent and
journalists were persecuted and routinely
detained.
Even novels
that were viewed to be a threat to the survival of the
one-party system were
banned and Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic
example.
Songs were not spared either from the axe as a song, Cecilia, was
banned
because its title coincided with the name of the official hostess
-
Cecilia
Kadzamira.
I would like to believe that
Zimbabwe is not heading in the Haitian
and Malawian direction as it leads to
the abyss of Press freedom
annihilation.
Speaking on the
importance of a constitution, Martin Luther King
Junior stated that "when the
architects of our republic wrote the
magnificent words of the constitution,
they were signing a promissory note
to which every American was to fall
heir".
I am compelled to reiterate these words today in Zimbabwe
because
there is freedom of expression as per our sacred constitution but
there are
conspicuous signs of diminishing freedom after
expression.
Journalists are living in constant fear of being
arrested for
contravening sections of the recently enacted Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, which has already made an imprint
on the media
fraternity. Some journalists have already sought asylum in
overseas and
neigh-bouring countries for fear of the unknown.
Press freedom in the country is heading towards the precipice of doom
and the
journalism profession has been made the most susceptible to risk in
Zimbabwe.
It is
worse for those journalists from the independent media who
are
perceived
to be critical of government policies and who
staunchly and fervently
believe that "open rebuke is better than secret
love", as the Bible
says.
Zimbabwe must take heed of Benjamin
Disraeli's advice that "no
government can be long secure without a
formidable opposition".
It should be acknowledged in this
landlocked southern African country
that it is impossible to frog-march every
Zimbabwean to dance to the
"Agirimende" tune. It should be loud and clear
that a free Press is
essential for democracy and instilling fear in
journalists in order to
cockpit them into writing "favourable" stories
is
counterproductive.
Zimbabwe must remember that it
signed the Universal Declaration of
Human and Peoples' Rights whose Article
19 advocates freedom of expression
and also the African Charter which has the
same provision.
The country must act in tandem with the provisions
of these charters,
and moreso its constitution. Sacrificing the lives of
journalists on an
altar of
political expediency defeats the whole
concept of liberal democracy.
The country's image is in desperate
need of a makeover. We cannot
afford to be the world's pariah once
more.
As the architects of this republic contemplate improving the
image of
the country, they must show that their zeal is not "full of sound
and fury,
signifying nothing". It does not do this country's image any good
if
journalists are incessantly being detained, cautioned and tried because
that
sends bad signals to the international community.
It is
high time we resorted to image-building. By "victimising"
journalists we
might be proving to the world that our determination to win
back its
confidence is in fact much ado about nothing.
Paulo Freire once
pointed out that one true word sets the entire world
free, just as the holy
book states that the truth shall set you free. The
government must not be
afraid of facing the truth because "open rebuke is
better than secret love",
as the book of Proverbs in the Bible says.
Instead of arresting
journalists and cautioning them perpetually, it
is high time the government
acknowledged that a free Press is necessary for
democracy and that for this
country to be perceived as a democracy, it must
behave as
one.
Canisio Mudzimu is a freelance writer. He can be
contacted on e-mail
address
cmudzimu@hotmail.com
FinGaz
US earmarks US$15m for Zim projects
Staff
Reporter
5/9/02 3:18:27 AM (GMT +2)
THE US government will
this year disburse more than US$15 million
($825 million) to Zimbabwe for
development projects, according to the
American embassy in
Harare.
"The United States is providing continuing assistance to
the people of
Zimbabwe in the areas of HIV/AIDS, micro enterprise
development, housing and
other development projects amounting to more than
US$15 million per year,"
the embassy said.
Washington, one of
the most vocal critics of President Robert Mugabe's
government, has already
set aside US$20 million ($1.1 billion) for 34 430
tonnes of maize meal and
other food commodities to feed 170 000 people
affected by food shortages in
Zimbabwe's rural areas.
The US has also provided a $650 000 grant
for an irrigation project at
the Jairos Jiri Centre in Gwanda, which will be
commissioned by US
ambassador Joseph Sullivan
today.
FinGaz
Mudzuri's nonsense
5/9/02 2:05:17 AM (GMT +2)
HARARE'S new mayor Elias
Mudzuri has gravely let down the
residents of Zimbabwe's capital and, because
of his membership of the MDC,
is unfortunately signposting an intolerable
manner in which the opposition
party could govern Zimbabwe should it win a
national vote.
That Mudzuri and his publicists should
today stand up in
defence of the odiously opulent mayoral mansion is an
insult to Harare's
hard-pressed ratepayers.
For the
mayor himself to move into the so-called guest
house of the symbol of
corruption and misrule, which have brought Zimbabwe
to its bended knees, is
an outrage.
But even more outrageous is the fact that
Mudzuri,
whatever the reason, has defied his own party's order not only to
shun the
monstrous mansion but not to accept an equally ostentatious car for
his own
official use, on top of an executive salary.
It matters little whether it was the full council, or its
security department
or even Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo who
may have recommended
that the mayor moves into the mansion.
Nor does it
matter really if it was the previous
government-appointed Harare commission
which bought the top-of-the-range
Mercedes-Benz limo, or that state
regulations specify that the mayor should
receive a monthly pay of $400
000.
At the end of the day, it is up to Mudzuri to
either
decline or accept all or part of these perks, weighing as he should
the
financial position of the city, which cries out for basics such as
working
street and traffic lights, toilets and refuse collection, among a
litany of
long-outstanding needs.
Are Harare
ratepayers to assume that Chombo would have
vetoed Mudzuri had the mayor
decided and then proceeded to live in a modest
house and to use an equally
modest car after the council sold off both the
mansion and the
Merc?
Are Harare residents to assume that Chombo would
have
refused to approve a request by Mudzuri and his council to take pay cuts
to
show that, under Zimbabwe's belt-tightening for most, they want to lead
by
example because theirs is a more caring and untainted
administration?
The nonsense that Mudzuri and his
officials are now
peddling in defence of the intolerable, notwithstanding the
politically
motivated directives from Chombo, cannot and must not be allowed
to stand.
Mudzuri must simply get out of the mansion
now and do
something about his other outlandish perks or he will drag the MDC
down the
familiar path of endless talks and consultations with "our people"
while
postponing the resolution of real issues that face the
nation.
Harare ratepayers - indeed most Zimbabweans -
are fed up
with officials who, upon their election into office, quickly
forget their
campaign promises and instead rush to join the gravy train that
starkly
offends amid withering human misery.
For the
MDC, Mudzuri represents the party's
highest-ranking local government official
whose actions are rightly under
the national spotlight for obvious
reasons.
By deeds and these alone, he must therefore
chart a new
era of sensitive and responsible governance if only because
Zimbabweans will
most likely judge the MDC's possible performance at national
level by what
its officials do at local level.
In
many ways, the MDC's aspirations for higher national
office are being tested
to the limit by the way its mayors across the
country run their cities and
towns. It is like an internship which must
result in the MDC outflanking its
political foes.
Thus either the MDC's mayors perform
now and lift further
the image of their party to deserve greater
responsibilities in future or
they fail and drag it down the road to
inevitable oblivion. The message
couldn't be that clearer.
Other News
Mudzuri's nonsense
FinGaz
Menashe cons Chiluba
By David Masunda Deputy
Editor-in-Chief
5/9/02 3:07:46 AM (GMT +2)
INTERNATIONAL
wheeler-dealer Ari Ben-Menashe, paid millions by the
Zimbabwe government to
spruce up its tattered image, conned the
administration of former Zambian
president Frederick Chiluba of more than
US$6 million (about $330 million at
the official exchange rate) three years
ago, it was established this
week.
The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), in
a
determination just made public, has ordered Ben-Menashe and his
Carlington
Sales Company to pay back US$6 108 822 plus interest for failing
to supply
impoverished Zambia with 50 000 tonnes of maize it paid for in
1998.
The judgment was made by arbitrator Axel H Baum after leading
South
African bank Nedcor Bank Limited, acting on behalf of the
Zambian
government, appealed to the international court because Ben-Menashe
had
refused to pay back the money after failing to deliver the
maize.
But the money trail might prove elusive and just as hazy as
the
underworld of international wheeling and dealing, as Nedcor has found
out.
Willem Kruger, the bank's head for legal affairs, told the
Financial
Gazette that Carlington has "liquidated itself" to avoid repaying
the money
it conned out of the Zambian authorities.
"We are
unable to effect our rights in terms of the arbitration
because Carlington
has liquidated itself," Kruger said by telephone from
Johannesburg
yesterday.
According to court documents, Zambia's Food Reserve
Agency was
introduced to Ben-Menashe in 1997. The agency then entered into an
agreement
with the former spy in Israel's Mossad agency to buy 50 000 tonnes
of maize
from Carlington, one of the businessman's firms.
Ben-Menashe, at the centre of a court case in Zimbabwe after
allegedly
trapping opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai into a plot to
assassinate
President Robert Mugabe, was initially paid US$2.4 million by the
Zambian
government in 1997 as a deposit for the maize.
He was
further paid other amounts to total US$7 746 108 by April 1999
after a new
contract was negotiated and the US$2.4 million was carried over
into the new
1998 corn contract.
But the controversial businessman began to
prevaricate when asked to
supply the maize saying part of the payment for the
maize deal was for the
"lobbying" work he did on behalf of Chiluba and the
Zambian government and
that the US$2.4 million was never meant to be carried
forward into the 1998
corn account.
He alleged that some of the
money meant for him for both the maize
deal and the lobby work had
disappeared because of rampant corruption
involving senior Zambian government
officials under Chiluba, including the
president's close
advisers.
Ben-Menashe said he was forced to bribe many influential
Zambians and
claimed that a former leading opposition politician, Paul Tembo,
was
brutally murdered in Lusaka around that time because he was going to
testify
on his behalf.
Baum, the sole arbitrator, dismissed
Ben-Menashe's defence and ruled
that the former spy's offer to provide
evidence of rampant corruption in
Chiluba's government was "clouded with
references to the need for prior
approval from some nebulous authorities" and
was only meant to delay
judgment.
The maize deal has attracted
immense media scrutiny in Zambia and
internationally because it allegedly
involves former senior members of the
Chiluba cabinet such as finance
minister Edith Nawakwi, now in opposition,
and Chiluba's special adviser
Donald Chanda.
The LCIA, whose investigations give a glimpse into
the murky
underworld of so-called international lobbyists such as
Ben-Menashe, was
instituted after the former Israeli spy tried to wriggle out
of his
obligations to deliver the maize by inferring that the money for the
deal
was diverted to "special projects" demanded by Chiluba.
In
the complex arrangement, Ben-Menashe - a self-proclaimed admirer of
Mugabe -
was also paid various sums by the Zambian government for
"international
lobbying" while at the same time collecting millions in hard
currency to
supply maize to the drought-stricken country.
Ben-Menashe's
Canadian-based Dickens and Madson public relations
company has since been
employed by the Zimbabwean government and the ruling
ZANU PF party to lobby
internationally to improve Zimbabwe's battered image.
Dickens and
Madson, which is supposed to have secretly recorded senior
Zimbabwean
opposition leaders plotting to kill Mugabe last year, is involved
in the
treason court case against Tsvangirai where its video tapes form the
key
evidence that might be presented by the prosecution.
The
Canada-based businessman, who has been in and out of Harare since
the video
tapes were broadcast leading to the charge against Tsvangirai and
two senior
members of his party, says he has now distanced himself from the
case because
he is preoccupied with lobbying for Zimbabwe.
The LCIA has ordered
Ben-Menashe to pay Nedcor US$4 988 508 for breach
of contract and interest of
US$1 120 313. The businessman will also pay the
costs of the arbitration
court amounting to 255 213 British pounds.
Kruger said Nedcor was
participating in Carlington's liquidation
process to try to recover some of
its money and did not rule out pursuing
Ben-Menashe himself.
"We
are certainly investigating whatever we can do . . . we are
looking for
alternative means to recover the money," Kruger said.
FinGaz
Invaded farms: Matter-of-fact
5/9/02
3:15:15 AM (GMT +2)
ONLY two out of the 44 farms leased by the
government to prominent
blacks for commercial farming in Marula Block in
Matabeleland South have
been invaded by war veterans and villagers, a
farmers' spokesman said this
week.
Spokesman Jonathan Maphenduka
was correcting a report in last week's
Financial Gazette which erroneously
said most of the farms had been invaded.
"The confusion appears to
have been caused by the fact that I said
poaching of valuable wildlife and
animals such as cattle was taking place on
virtually all the farms,"
Maphenduka said.
"Only my farm and that of Justice Misheck Cheda
have been invaded.
There is rampant poaching on virtually all the farms and
most farmers have
lost a lot of cattle," he said.
The
Editor-in-Chief of the Financial Gazette, Francis Mdlongwa,
apologised to the
newspaper's readers and said: "This is the kind of
journalism we cannot and
must not tolerate. The reporter concerned has been
warned sternly for gravely
impairing this newspaper's credibility and is on
notice that he will be
summarily dismissed should any such slip-up ever
occur again.
"We cannot countenance a situation where reporters, for whatever
reason, fail
to do their basic homework of checking and double-checking
facts and instead
file half-baked stories which lower the newspaper's
reputation in the eyes of
the paying public."
- Staff Reporter
FinGaz
Stamps still too ill for work
5/9/02
3:13:20 AM (GMT +2)
HEALTH Minister Timothy Stamps, who has been
suffering from an
undisclosed illness since last October, says he is on the
mend but not yet
ready to resume official duties.
Speaking to
the Financial Gazette this week through his wife Cindy,
Stamps said doctors
from the government's Parirenyatwa Hospital were
treating him at his Harare
home. He declined to be interviewed.
Stamps, one of the longest
serving Cabinet ministers in President
Robert Mugabe's Cabinet, collapsed in
Kwekwe last October while on his way
to an official engagement in
Nkayi.
He was said to have suffered brain damage at the time and
was at one
time admitted to Harare's St Giles Rehabilitation Centre for
physiotherapy.
He was initially expected to be back in office in
mid-January but his
family has not shed any light on whether Stamps, whose
ailment has not been
disclosed, has relapsed or is still merely
recuperating.
FinGaz
Urban transport faces collapse: operators
Staff
Reporter
5/9/02 3:12:16 AM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S urban
commuter transport operators, who are fighting
controls by the government,
this week warned that the country's urban
transport sector could collapse
unless the state lifts what they said were
unreasonable controls on the price
of fares.
Operators who spoke to the Financial Gazette said in the
past year the
cost of spare parts had gone up by more than 100 percent
without a
corresponding increase in revenue, threatening the survival of
their
businesses.
"We do not have problems with the government
controlling fares as long
as it controls the whole supply chain, otherwise if
this practice continues
there will hardly be any commuter buses on the roads
within the next few
months," one Harare operator said.
"Why
would the government want to control the fares when it is not
doing the same
to our suppliers? The cost of some spares has gone up by
nearly 300 percent
in the past one year when we did not even have a single
fare increase so how
do they (the government) think we should operate?"
The last urban
commuter fare hike was in June last year in response to
a shocking 70 percent
increase in the price of fuel.
Last week the operators tried to
introduce a 30 percent fare hike but
the government, which has reverted to
its price control policies of the
1980s, declared the hikes unjustified and
therefore illegal.
The government maintains that increasing
commuter fares in the absence
of a fuel price increase is profiteering by the
operators.
However the operators argue that in the distorted market
in which they
are operating in, the cost of spares and not of fuel is the
main threat to
their businesses. The government also controls the cost of
fuel.
The operators said the huge costs of spares were increasingly
pushing
most them out of business. Unless something was done urgently, they
noted,
urban commuters could suddenly find themselves without
transport.
"A year ago, our average daily costs were
around
$300 000, but they have now increased to between $1 million and
$1.5
million," said Everton Magagani, a Power Coach Express buyer. "The cost
of
spares has been going up almost on a daily basis."
Magagani,
whose firm runs a fleet of more than 50 buses - mainly as
commuter buses -
said barely 11 months ago in June last year one bus tyre
cost between $60 000
and $70 000 depending on the supplier and size, but
this had increased to
$158 000.
This, he said, was the same with other vehicle
consumables such as
bearings, brake drums, lubricators and bulbs, among other
necessities.
"We used to buy new spares altogether, but what we are
now doing is
trying to repair the damaged parts and fitting them back on the
buses but
they are not as good as the new ones," he said.
This,
he said, could only be done up to a certain point after which
new spares had
to be bought if the buses were to remain on the roads.
The runaway
increase in the cost of vehicle parts, fuelled mainly by
foreign currency
shortages and high import duties, has forced individual
operators who hardly
have enough financial resources to park their vehicles,
thus cutting the
number of buses on most roads.
Urban transport, once a preserve of
the state-controlled Zimbabwe
United Passenger Company, was opened up about
10 years ago in line with the
government's policy of economic
liberalisation.
This allowed private players to invest in the
sector, whose service
and efficiency seemed to improve.
But
recent events indicate that with the latest problems, some of the
players in
the sector are getting frustrated and moving their businesses to
neighbouring
countries which they perceive to be more conducive to
doing
business.
FinGaz
New famine threat for Zimbabwe
By Nqobile
Nyathi Assistant Editor
5/9/02 3:09:37 AM (GMT +2)
THE
Department of Meteorological Services said this week an El Nino
could hit
southern Africa at the end of this year, which analysts said could
cause
widespread famine in Zimbabwe, which already faces a food crisis
caused by a
drought and disruptions on commercial farms.
Meteorological
Department director Leonard Unganai said his
organisation was monitoring
developments in the Pacific, where the warming
of waters to above normal
temperatures usually triggers the El Nino
phenomenon.
Spanish
for "boy child", the El Nino can cause floods and droughts in
different
regions of the world, sometimes with serious
socio-economic
consequences.
Unganai told the Financial Gazette:
"We have already started
disseminating some information on that effect. We
have reasonable evidence
that we have an El Nino developing in the
Pacific.
"This is about the time of the year that it usually starts
to develop
and by the time we reach December, it will be evident. We are also
closely
monitoring developments in the Indian Ocean."
According
to weather experts, southern Africa in an El Nino year might
experience brief
rainfall at the end of winter and then receive nothing
during summer. The
region relies on summer rain at the end of the year and
into the new year,
mainly to support its maize crops through winter.
About the
possibility of a drought in Zimbabwe next year, Unganai
cautioned: "It's a
bit difficult to be deterministic about the effect, but
the current state of
the global weather system is not quite right in terms
of having a good
rainfall season. It's better to prepare for the worst."
He said an
El Nino warning expected to be issued by regional weather
experts at a
meeting in September would enable countries to come up with
contingency
measures to deal with the possible effects of the
weather
phenomenon.
Zimbabwe analysts said a severe El Nino
accompanied by a drought in
southern Africa would be disastrous for the
region, where 2.6 million people
are already receiving food aid because of
poor rainfall and inadequate crop
yields this year.
Zimbabwe
this year has to import at least 1.2 million tonnes of maize
to feed more
than one million people facing food shortages as a result of a
drought, farm
seizures by ruling ZANU PF supporters and a government land
reform plan which
has destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector.
Economic
consultant John Robertson said: "We are watching the same
sequence that we
saw in 1991 and that was followed by that very severe
drought in 1992. It
ties in with an 11-year cycle that we have seen in
Zimbabwe for some
time.
"The drought in 1992 was the worst that can be remembered and
the
damage done was severe. It wasn't apparent that it would happen
until
January of the same year. This year, there has been some warning and
the
country can start importing and building up stocks. The whole situation
is
disastrous for everyone."
The analysts said the consequences
of another El Nino-induced drought
would be worsened by the fact that
Zimbabwe, which has declared a state of
disaster because of the latest food
shortages, has no foreign currency for
imports.
The country has
also been alienated by the international community
because of the disputed
re-election in March of President Robert Mugabe and
his controversial
policies.
"The food situation is getting worse and we are agreed
with the donor
agencies that Zimbabwe could physically run out of both maize
and wheat
around the end of June or the beginning of July," a farming
industry
official said.
"The government has not yet responded to
donors' proposals on food aid
because it has to take a position on violence,
lawlessness and what's
happening in the farming sector. If there is no
response from the
government, then famine-type conditions are
inevitable."