Harare police clamp down on shop owners May 18 2005 at
07:54PM
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe have arrested scores of shop
owners in the central town of Murehwa for overcharging on basic foodstuffs,
the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The shop owners were arrested last week as the authorities battle to contain
rising prices and food shortages.
A police spokesperson said they
had broken price controls and were made to pay fines, the report
said.
"Some unscrupulous retailers are trying to get rich at the
expense of consumers, which is very unfortunate," police spokesperson
Lamington Mushawevato said.
"Gazetted prices remain in force
and in our role as police, we have re-organised ourselves into teams at
station levels and will continue pouncing on those overcharging or hoarding
basic commodities thereby creating artificial shortages," he
warned.
Food shortages resurfaced following parliamentary elections
at the end of March, which were won by President Robert Mugabe's
party.
Many vendors have been arrested for hoarding and
overcharging since then, and several Harare supermarkets have been
fined.
The government says the shortages are mostly "artificially
created", but manufacturers say they are operating at only 30
percent-capacity and are unable to import vital raw components due to biting
shortages of foreign currency.
They say the prices fixed by the
government on some basic foodstuffs are too low.
Shop owners
who repeatedly overcharge could have their operating licences revoked, the
Herald said. - Sapa-dpa
Mugabe 'will accept' food aid 18/05/2005 14:34 -
(SA)
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has agreed to meet
with the head of the World Food Programme (WFP), state-controlled Herald
newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Herald quoted Mugabe's
spokesperson George Charamba as saying the 81-year-old head of state had
agreed to a request by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to meet
WFP head James Morris when the UN official visits Southern Africa to assess
its emergency food aid needs.
Morris was expected in Zimbabwe and several
other southern African countries "soon", according to the Herald.
The
WFP official was last in Zimbabwe two years ago, when the WFP was involved
in feeding millions of people in the country.
However, last year Mugabe
ruled out receiving food aid, claiming the country has recorded a "bumper
harvest of 2.4 million tons of maize".
Mugabe's spokesperson said the
Southern African leader was now prepared to accept food aid as long as it
did not come with political strings attached.
"The president is very
clear that whilst Zimbabwe welcomes drought mitigating assistance from other
countries of goodwill, it remains firmly opposed to any food handouts that
are predicated on political conditionality," Charamba said.
"Equally,
the Zimbabwean government is clear that the primary responsibility of
ensuring Zimbabweans are provided with food is its own," he
added.
Zimbabwe says it needs to import 1.2 million tons of the staple
maize in order to make up for shortages.
Widespread shortages have
become the order of the day in most urban centres, where shops have run out
of basic commodities such as maize meal, bread, sugar, cooking oil and
milk.
The government blames recent poor harvests on drought, but aid
agencies and government opponents say the shortages are a direct result of a
controversial land reform programme.
That programme, launched five
years ago, saw most white-owned commercial farms seized for redistribution
to new black farmers.
The government says just 1.5 million of the
country's 11.6 million people are in need of food aid, but aid agencies put
the figure much higher.
Zimbabwe needs 1.8 million tons of food each year
to feed people and livestock. While official figures are not yet available,
this year's harvest could be as low as 500 000.
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 18 May
2005 (IRIN) - In a bid to boost foreign exchange reserves, the Zimbabwean
government has attempted to persuade its citizens abroad to channel their
remittances through formal transfer agencies.
It is estimated that over
the past five years, more than three million Zimbabweans have left the
country in search of greener pastures - mostly to the United Kingdom, the
United States, Canada, South Africa and Botswana - as the result of an
economic crisis that has created record unemployment and inflation
rates.
A recent study by the International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) on Zimbabwean expatriates in the UK and South Africa found that
"nearly everyone maintained regular social contact with family members in
Zimbabwe (96 percent)".
IOM noted that "Around three-quarters of
respondents (74 percent) sent economic remittances, and of those that sent
these remittances, 85 percent said the main reason was to support family
members."
The money was more likely to be fowarded via "the informal
routes of family, friends and personal visits to Zimbabwe than through
formal financial institutions", the survey found. Clothes (85 percent) and
food (43 percent) also ranked high as non-monetary gifts sent
home.
Eighteen percent of respondents said they remitted on average US
$565 per month from the UK and South Africa. Another 18 percent said they
sent between $377 and $563.
Thirty-seven percent were sending between
$188 and $375 a month, while 27 percent remitted less than
$188.
Because these remittances were being transferred informally or via
independent money brokers, rather than financial institutions, "they do not
become part of the balance of payments and foreign exchange reserves" of
Zimbabwe. [Expatriates an untapped development resource, IOM]
Last
year central bank governor Gideon Gono visited the US and UK, where he met
with Zimbabwean expatriates in an effort to persuade them to remit their
foreign currency through registered money transfer agencies (MTAs), using a
scheme called Homelink.
"The new money transfer system [Homelink] was
put in place to facilitate the transfer of funds from Zimbabweans living
abroad, many of whom want to send money home to help their families or to
invest for when they eventually return home themselves," the reserve bank
noted on its Homelink website.
The MTAs are located all over the world,
"although there is a greater choice in some [countries] than others", with
the UK having the largest spread of transfer agencies due to the high number
of Zimbabweans living there.
When he became governor in December 2003,
Gono acknowledged that there was a need to improve the foreign currency
reserves after years of biting shortages precipitated by the withdrawal of
financial support by the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank.
The foreign currency sent from abroad through the Homelink scheme
is not taxed in Zimbabwe and is payable to recipients at the official
exchange rate, but those with foreign currency accounts can receive it in
the form sent. Foreign currency coming in from remittances goes to the
currency exchange, where it is auctioned, and then used by the buyers to
import goods and essential raw materials.
The central bank said there
had been an overwhelming response from Zimbabweans abroad, resulting in an
increase in foreign currency reserves.
"Many people have been quick to
take advantage of the new MTA system. Already, the Reserve Bank has received
US $4.6 million from both bank and non-bank MTAs. There have been long
queues, at money transfer agencies, of people wanting to receive money sent
to them from abroad. There have been long queues, too, at banks, of people
wanting to change their foreign currency into local currency," the reserve
bank noted.
Various service providers, such as construction and funeral
insurance companies, "have expressed their desire to take advantage of the
benefits inherent in the money transfer mechanism", the bank
added.
Saviour Munyoro of Harare, a 60-year-old pensioner, said, "My sons
[a policeman and a former teacher in Zimbabwe] quit their jobs and went to
the UK [in 2002] because they felt they could earn a better living there.
Even though they complain that they work long hours and hardly have time to
rest, I am happy that they regularly send the money they earn to me," he
told IRIN.
"We are in the process of starting a chain store in the
central business district, while there is enough left for my wife and me,"
he said proudly.
In October 2004 the Reserve Bank started a scheme to
provide loans, in local currency, to Zimbabweans abroad to purchase or build
houses. The loans could be serviced in foreign currency - a move analysts
said was also meant to boost reserves.
Since its launch, the Homelink
Housing Development Scheme (HHDS) has received about 1,400 applications for
loans from Zimbabwean expatriates.
The official New Ziana agency quoted
the chairman of HHDS, Herbert Nkala, as saying the scheme had set up a
construction programme, which had resulted in 120 houses being built in
Harare, while more projects would be opened nationwide.
According to
the local government ministry, the country had a national housing backlog of
1.5 million in 2004, although analysts believe the number of people in need
of houses is much higher.
Economist John Robertson acknowledged that
ordinary Zimbabweans receiving money from the abroad were enjoying the
benefits, but said the central bank was not getting as much as it had
hoped.
"When you consider remittances going to ordinary Zimbabweans, you
would say they are benefiting. However, the same cannot be said about money
going to the currency exchange, since the reserve bank is failing to capture
enough foreign currency to boost its reserves," he commented.
"When
the programme started, there was an enthusiastic response from those living
abroad, but that zeal has lessened. The main reason is that there is a huge
gap between the official selling rate of forex and the parallel rate. It is
important for the government to devalue the local currency, in order to
narrow the gap between the two rates," Robertson told IRIN.
The official
exchange rate is currently Zim $6,200, while on the black market the US
dollar is being sold for Zim $15,000.
Millions of Zimbabweans need food aid - Ncube May 18
2005 at 07:54PM
Johannesburg - A fierce critic of Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, on Wednesday
lashed out at his "criminal" government for refusing to ask for food aid to
help at least two million needy Zimbabweans.
"The most criminal
thing which the Zimbabwe government is doing is that they have not declared
that we are in need of food," said Ncube, the archbishop of Bulawayo, at a
news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"If the government
does not allow food distribution, we are going to die this year, the people
are saying," said Ncube, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of
Mugabe's policies.
His remarks came amid reports in Harare that
Mugabe was ready to meet with the head of the United Nations World Food
Programme to discuss aid for his country where food and fuel shortages have
worsened in recent weeks along with power and water outages.
Ncube estimated that over two million Zimbabweans are in need of emergency
food aid.
He reported "gross shortages of basic foodstuffs", saying
that people were forced to purchase products such as sugar on the black
market at six times the shop price.
He said that Mugabe had
ensured that fuel supplies were available in the run-up to the March 31
elections that his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF) party won, but that the situation since had become
"disastrous."
"Such a hypocritical government," Ncube lamented:
"They tried to see to it that there was as much fuel as possible before the
elections because the journalists were there but soon after the elections,
the cars were waiting bumper to bumper."
Ncube, who is due to
travel to Scotland later this week where he has been nominated to receive
the Robert Burns humanitarian award, accused the government of waging a
campaign of revenge against regions, like Bulawayo, that elected opposition
lawmakers to parliament.
"There is a kind of revenge," he said,
citing as an example a township where a Zanu-PF lawmaker lost her seat that
was subjected to power cuts.
"Trucks of food are going to those
places where the government has got support while the people of Bulawayo are
not given any sugar and any mealie meal," he said, referring to cornmeal,
the national staple food.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in a tailspin
over the past five years due mostly to a collapse in agriculture production
caused by successive droughts and the seizure of thousands of white-owned
commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
Step up anti-Mugabe campaigns,says Zimbabwe
cleric
Wed May 18, 2005 5:30 PM GMT+02:00 By Gershwin
Wanneburg
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabweans should stand up more
to President Robert Mugabe as a deepening economic crisis blamed on the
ruling party's policies continues to take a devastating toll, a top cleric
said on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe's main opposition party said last
month it would consider "political action" in protest at the result of a
March general election won by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party but which the
opposition and several Western governments said were rigged.
But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) did not specify what
kind of action it might take over a poll result largely endorsed by regional
leaders and there have been few protests.
"It seems they (the MDC)
are expecting people will rise up without leadership and then they will just
follow on that," said Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the
country's second city Bulawayo and an outspoken Mugabe critic.
"There is a lot of fear, yet ... in Zambia, civil society, they were able to
tell (former President Frederick) Chiluba you will not have a third term.
They just need a bit more courage".
Ncube said legal bids to
reverse poll results were futile as challenges to past elections had yet to
be resolved.
A five-year-long economic crisis in Zimbabwe saw
inflation peak at 623 percent last year and international aid groups have
said four million people could suffer from food shortages this year, as
drought compounds the impact of a production slowdown.
Aid
agencies blame controversial land seizures for the sharp drop in food
production. Mugabe in turn accuses Western countries of sabotaging his
country's economy through sanctions, as payback for his drive to give the
farms to landless blacks.
Ncube said the situation in Zimbabwe
had deteriorated since March.
"After the elections it was clear
that they (the government) were trying to save face. There were a lot of
journalists around and the government did try and keep things in an
impressive state," Ncube told reporters.
"Immediately after the
elections prices had gone up by 70 percent all around ... There's no petrol
or diesel. All you find is a kilometre or so of cars waiting in a petrol
station."
Ncube said the MDC and ordinary Zimbabweans had been too
passive in the face of a crisis that critics blame on government
mismanagement and its seizure of white-owned farms.
He was
speaking as the South African-based Solidarity Peace Trust unveiled a film
documenting claims by Zimbabweans that food was used as a political tool in
the run-up to polls -- a charge made by rights groups which Mugabe's
government denies.
Ncube said this practice had continued after the
elections, which extended the 25-year rule of ZANU-PF.
"Now you
find trucks of food going to those places where the government got support
while people of (southern pro-opposition city) Bulawayo will not be given
any sugar or mealie meal".
Human Rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba, who was brutally tortured
by Zimbabwean police in 2003, took his case to the African Union Human
Rights Commission. In a shocking development, Shumba has learnt that his
case could now be heard in Zimbabwe where the Commssion's next sitting is
due to take place in November. Shumba, who is suing the government for
torture at the African Union Human Rights Commission, got the shock of his
life on Monday when he realized the next sitting for the court is in
Zimbabwe. Shumba, who was tortured by police in detention. Says the
government probably knew this and deliberately sought a postponement of the
hearing from April to November. The latest move is aimed at securing a
default judgement if he fails to attend. He fled to South Africa with his
wife and children after constant harassment and threats to his life by state
security agents. A furious Shumba says he is currently writing a letter of
protest to the African Union. He is convinced former Attorney General Andrew
Chigovera, who is now the special rapporteur on freedom of expression at the
AU, probably gave the government inside information on where the next
hearing was scheduled for. Asked what he would do if his protest failed, he
insisted he would travel to Zimbabwe provided the AU gave guarantees over
his safety and that of his lawyer and any journalists that wanted to cover
the case. He is amazed the accused in his case, the government, will be
providing the court room.
Harare runs dry as fuel crisis reaches unprecedented
levels Thu 19 May 2005
HARARE - Harare was virtually dry of fuel
yesterday as importers refrained from placing new orders with suppliers
until Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, announces his monetary
policy review statement today.
Fuel industry sources said
importers are hoping that Gono will devalue the local dollar to attract more
hard cash into the official market which they could tap to pay foreign
suppliers. A devaluation, coupled with a hiking of the pump price by the
government, would ensure profitability for fuel importers.
Alternatively, oil firms want Gono to revive a foreign currency support
facility for fuel importers that was abandoned last year amid allegations of
gross abuse of the facility.
.
"It is
difficult for private players to bring in fuel at the moment. We will be
forced to sell at a loss because of the exchange rates," said a senior
executive with one Harare-based fuel firm, who did not want to be
named.
He added: "For example, let's say one imports petrol
from South Africa where the pump price is about five rand or more, which
multiplies to about Z$5 000 at the official exchange rate, they will have to
sell the petrol here at not more than $4 000, which is a huge
loss."
An official of local garage chain, Exor, said the firm's
garages had last received petrol supplies a week ago. "All our garages have
no petrol and there are no indications that the situation will improve
immediately," he said.
In a survey of garages in and near
Harare central business district, ZimOnline could find no petrol at nearly
every filing station while only a handful of garages in the city's outer
suburbs were selling diesel yesterday.
Most of the illegal fuel
black-market traders, who usually provide a lifeline for stranded motorists,
also did not have petrol. The few illegal fuel traders who had the commodity
were charging 10 times more than the official pump price, as Zimbabwe's
five-year fuel crisis reached unprecedented levels.
One of the
fuel black-marketers operating along Leopold Takawira street in central
Harare offered to sell a five-litre gallon of petrol to our news crew at
$150 000, which translates to $30 000 a litre. The official pump price for a
litre of petrol is between $3 400 and $3 700.
Energy Minister Mike
Nyambuya refused to disclose measures his department was taking to ensure
fuel supplies to the country. Nyambuya, a former soldier, would only say:
"The government is working out solutions to the fuel problem and it will be
resolved soon."
Zimbabwe has grappled severe fuel shortages for the
last five years because the country has no hard cash to pay
suppliers.
Essential medical drugs, electricity, food and chemicals
to treat drinking water for city dwellers are among the vital commodities in
critical short supply in the country because of the lack of hard cash to pay
for imports. - ZimOnline
Newly-elected civic group leader vows to take struggle a step
further Thur 19 May 2005 HARARE - Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) secretary general Wellington Chibebe this week took over as chairman
of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC), a key alliance of more than 40
civic society groups campaigning for a democratic and peaceful solution to
Zimbabwe's crisis. ZimOnline yesterday spoke to the trade unionist to find
out what programme of action he intends to pursue to push the struggle for
democracy forward. Excerpts:
QUESTION: President Robert Mugabe
appears so much in control after their landslide victory last March, now
what is your programme of action as chairman of CZC? What specific steps are
you going to take to bring pressure on Mugabe and his government to change
course?
ANSWER: Well, the issue is that as a new leadership of CZC,
we have to understand what programmes were there before we were ushered into
office this week. We cannot simply declare as early as this week what
programmes or strategies we plan to implement. People have to appreciate
that we have to sit down as a new executive with the old executive and other
stakeholders, including the grassroots, to work out the new course of
action.
Q: But the perception is that since you took over at the
ZCTU you have failed to provide inspiring leadership - that the labour union
has lost the vibrancy and cutting edge it had under former secretary general
and now opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, and there is fear in some
quarters that you will bring the same contagious lethargy to the
CZC?
A: People that are talking like that do not know the political
situation on the ground. We as ZCTU have been in the CZC for a very long
time. ZCTU is part and parcel of this civil organisation. To say the ZCTU is
weak is missing the point. We are not afraid at ZCTU neither are we dormant.
We are also not cowards. What has been happening is that this regime is
using draconian laws to suppress us. We simply have not been given the space
to organise.
Q: Which is exactly the point, that the ZCTU is
not challenging the barriers created by the system as was the case during
the Tsvangirai era, what is your comment?
A: During the
Tsvangirai period at the ZCTU that you say people are saying the union was
more effective, the political situation was different. There was no Public
Order and Security Act (a security act used by the state to harass labour
and opposition leaders). People and organisations did not require permission
(from the police) to stage or hold meetings. There was no Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (restricting the media and freedom
of expression); newspapers reported trade union issues without fear or
favour.
It is people that are selfish that are raising such silly
comparisons. Everyone knows the situation then was very different from
today. The situation now requires that we find new strategies and ways of
confronting the regime. But as I have mentioned earlier, we cannot disclose
such (we have for the CZC) since we are still to sit down with the past and
present executive and other stakeholders to chart the way
forward.
Q: And how do you and your executive intend to do it
differently from the former Brian Kagoro-led executive that is credited by
many for helping raise the profile of the Zimbabwe crisis in the region and
international community at large?
A: Our intention is not to do
it differently from how the outgoing leadership used to do it but to
complement whatever they did during their reign. In the game of human rights
and in the struggle for democracy that we are pursuing, we do not want to
create enmity or rivalry between activists.
We do not need to
compete and say this executive failed here and we are going to succeed here
by taking this path to fight and push the struggle for democracy and human
rights forward. What we are going to do when there has been a smooth
handover and takeover process is to look into the strengths of the past
executive and possibly how we can improve on weaknesses, if there are any,
of which I doubt.
Q: In a nut shell how do you see Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis being ultimately resolved? Do you think there
is need for a negotiated settlement to the crisis?
A: We have
always been hoping that common sense will prevail one day, that all
stakeholders in Zimbabwe will come to realise that there is a crisis of high
proportions or magnitude. If people come to realise this, then the way to
resolve the political impasse and economic crisis would be for politicians
from both sides of the divide to swallow their pride and reach out for a
compromise that will benefit not only their political goals, but the
generality of the Zimbabwean population.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe to devalue currency -
analysts
Wed May 18, 2005 4:09 PM GMT+02:00 By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank looks set to
devalue the country's currency on Thursday to boost the fledgling export
sector in a desperate bid to raise foreign currency for food imports,
analysts said.
But they expect Governor Gideon Gono to stop short
of making a major change in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar when he
presents the central bank's monetary review, for fear of fuelling inflation
running at well over 100 percent.
"Exporter viability will top
the governor's priority which will enable him to raise money for food,
electricity and fuel," Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce head Luxon
Zembe said.
"We are going to get a higher exchange rate but managed
in a gradual manner....it's a question of how fast and how far because I
don't see any other choice."
The southern Africa nation has
been desperately short of foreign currency since being shunned by global
donors, including the International Monetary Fund, over policy differences
with President Robert Mugabe's government.
The economy has
contracted by more than 30 percent over the past five years.
Mugabe's critics blame the economic crisis on government mismanagement.
Mugabe says the economy is being sabotaged by opponents of his policy of
seizing of white-owned farms for redistribution to the landless black
majority.
The central bank's managed auctions have failed to meet
importer demand for foreign currency. The Zimbabwean dollar is pegged at
6,200 against the greenback. One U.S. dollar fetches up to 18,000 Zimbabwe
dollars on the black market.
Analysts reckon Gono will devalue
the currency to 8,000 per dollar.
Zimbabwe requires 1.2 million
tonnes of food imports at a cost of $250 million over the next 12 months. It
needs more foreign currency to boost erratic fuel and intermittent
electricity supplies.
Companies are operating far below capacity,
worsening the country's unemployment rate estimated at more than 70
percent.
Analysts expect Gono to relax the inflation target because
of wage pressures, increases in municipal fees and other price hikes, which
were delayed until after the March 31 parliamentary elections, won by
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
They said the 20-35 percent target for
this year was unrealistic. Zimbabwe's annual inflation quickened to 129
percent in April from 123 percent in March.
"Those (inflation)
targets will not be realised and as well as that envisaged economic growth
of 3 to 5 percent. There are many inflationary pressures," Kingdom Financial
Holdings chief economist Witness Chinyama said.
Adding to
inflationary pressures is the government's domestic debt which shot to 8.3
trillion Zimbabwe dollars in April from 2.7 trillion Zimbabwe dollars in
mid-January.
UN envoy on southern Africa's humanitarian needs begins fifth
trip 18 May 2005 - As Southern Africa moves into another year of intensified
deprivation because of drought and HIV/AIDS, the UN Special Envoy to
spotlight the region's humanitarian needs prepared to start his fifth trip
there on Sunday.
"It is already evident that in addition to regional
food shortages, funds for non-food items, such as medicines, health care,
education, water and sanitation supplies, will be critically needed in the
year ahead," said the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN's emergency feeding
agency.
During the mission, the schedule of James Morris, who is also WFP
Executive Director, will be 22 to 24 May in Zambia, 25 May in Johannesburg
for a review conference, 26 and 27 May in Malawi, 29 and 30 May in Botswana,
31 May back to Johannesburg for a donors' meeting, and 1 June in
Zimbabwe.
The new Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund ((UNICEF),
Ann Veneman, who will be taking her first field trip since taking the job at
the beginning of the month, will join him in Malawi, which is heavily
impacted by the drought, rising malnutrition rates and HIV/AIDS.
She
is scheduled to also visit Swaziland, said to have surpassed Botswana in
having the highest rate of HIV infection in the world.
Mr. Morris and
Ms. Veneman will hold the review meeting with the Executive Director of the
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Peter Piot, and 10 UN country
representatives in southern Africa about increasing the humanitarian
response as the competition for resources becomes more intense.
Mr.
Morris was appointed UN Special Envoy in July 2002 just three months after
becoming WFP head.
Excerpt from Fox: A positive, outward looking and optimistic foreign
policy
Queen's Speech debate on Foreign Affairs and Defence in the
House of Commons
[I have only included the bit where Zimbabwe
is mentioned...]
On the 12th of May 1997, the new Foreign Secretary, the
Right Honourable member for Livingstone, launched his mission statement. He
stated "the Labour government does not accept that political values can be
left behind when we check in our passports to travel on diplomatic business
... our foreign policy, must have an ethical dimension and must supported
the demands of other peoples for the democratic rights on which we insist
for ourselves. The Labour government will put human rights at the heart of
our foreign policy." To that Mr Speaker, I say just one word.
Zimbabwe.
On Africa, the many speeches and endless photo opportunities of
the Prime Minister and Chancellor have generated more heat than light. In
his speech launching the report of the commission for Africa on the 11th of
March, the Prime Minister managed to not mention Zimbabwe at all-yet it is
surely the greatest stain of all on Africa's fragile democratic record. For
all his talk, the Prime Minister has achieved little. When robust action was
required, the Prime Minister looked the other way. Robert Mugabe has
destroyed the rule of law, contravened human rights in the most appalling
way and destroyed his country's prosperity with a casual indifference. Yet
this British government has stood idly by. They have bottled out of
confronting President Mbeki over his tacit support for Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe depends upon South African energy supplies yet this Labour
government has seemed afraid to demand action from President Mbeki. The New
Partnership for African Development requires President Mbeki, to promote
democracy in southern Africa, and he should have been reminded of that. The
consequences of inactivity, have not only been continued suffering in
Zimbabwe, but tacit encouragement to other southern African countries to
consider similar land occupations, as we saw in Zimbabwe with such damaging
consequences.
Of course, none of this has been helped by consigning
the Commonwealth to the periphery of British foreign policy. It is one of
our most valuable resources for exerting influence in the world. Yet this
Labour government regard it with disdain.
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
RBZ purchase of new vehicles raises eyebrows By Bertha
Shoko
AT a time when nearly half of the country's population faces
widespread shortages of basic commodities, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) has purchased more than 50 new top-of - the range vehicles worth
billions of dollars The Standard can reveal.
The luxury vehicles,
which are presently kept under tight security at the RBZ's burning plant
along George Drive in Msasa, are meant for the central bank's top
management. The vehicles include expensive models such as Wolfs and
Mitsubishi Colts and Peugeot 406s.
When The Standard news crew
visited the premises, there was heavy security guarding the
cars.
Said one of the guards, when approached: "This is a no-go area, so
please say what you want quickly and go away." The guards threatened the
journalists with arrest for "intruding".
Critics last week accused
RBZ governor Gideon Gono of extravagance at a time when the country needed
to preserve the little financial resources available.
They said such
resources should be channelled towards more pressing issues such as maize
imports for starving Zimbabweans.
Economic analyst Peter Robinson said
such spending makes a mockery of the bank's objectives in so far as turning
around the economy is concerned.
Robinson said such extravagance was the
underlying cause of inflation and was not expected of Gono, who has been
preaching restraint on spending. "This squandering of national resources
through buying of individual vehicles makes a mockery of the RBZ's
objectives for the economy," he said.
Another economic analyst, Daniel
Ndlela, said it was wasteful and morally wrong for the RBZ to buy luxury
cars at a time when the economy is literally on its knees.
"Instead
of spending money on posh vehicles for an unproductive staff, at this point
what the RBZ should be focusing on is bringing food to the table for
Zimbabweans, ensuring petrol and oil is available and power supply is
guaranteed.
"RBZ put an end to such unproductive expenditure during
the 'asset management clampdown' and why is it now doing what it has
discouraged in the past?" questioned Ndlela.
However Eric Bloch, who
is also one of the advisers to the RBZ, said if there was genuine need for
the vehicles then it was justified.
Gono last week also defended the
purchases saying they were meant to give logistical support for new staff
employed to fight economic crimes.
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
Parents, educationists blast Zimsec By Nqobani
Ndlovu
THE Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) has not
announced the new examination fees, although it is less than a month before
students write their June Ordinary and Advanced level examinations, The
Standard has established.
Parents who spoke to The Standard said they
were disappointed at the way Zimsec was handling the issue. In the past
Zimsec used to announce the fees during the course of the first
term. Gift Mpofu, who intends to write examinations in June, said the late
announcement of the fees was a clear indication of the rot that has gripped
the education system in the county.
"This only shows the lack of
preparedness on the part of Zimsec to effectively run our examinations and
also the fact that our education has been destroyed," Mpofu said.
His
sentiments were echoed by Mrs B Sikhosana, who said some students could fail
to write their June examination.
"Abanye abazali balabantwana ababili
kumbe abathathu and bayabe bezayithola ngaphi imali yokubhadala amaexam fees
njengoba esedula (Tell me, where would parents with two or more children
writing their examinations get the money?)," Sikhosana
asked.
However, Aeneas Chigwedere the Minister of Education, Sport and
Culture, on Wednesday said he saw no peculiarity in the late announcement of
the examination fees.
Chigwedere said they were still consulting as a
Ministry and the examinations would not at all be disturbed by the
delay.
"The announcement is coming very soon and the start of the
examinations will not be delayed. We instructed the schools to register the
students before payment as we are still deciding on the amount," said
Chigwedere.
Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive
Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said the politicisation of the education
system was the reason why the ministry was delaying announcement of the new
examination fees.
"Education has been politicised by the government
and they realise that if they allow current market rates to dominate and
effect an increase in exam fees, they might commit political suicide. They
will make sure that they remain cheap," Majongwe said.
Fidelis
Mhashu, the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) shadow minister
for education, attributed the current fiasco to mismanagement and
incompetence.
He called for an overhaul of the education system.
"They are incapable of running our education system. It has been destroyed
beyond repair.
"First of all, it was disastrous for the Ministry to have
delayed the issuance of the 'O' Level certificates. The delay destroyed a
lot of opportunities for most children who had planned their
future.
"Secondly, the registration of the June exams was not officially
announced. That is not the way to run the ministry," said Mhashu, a former
lecturer at Seke Teachers' College in Chitungwiza.
Zimsec, which took
over from the Cambridge Examinations Board in 1999, saw the standard of
education in Zimbabwe plummeting, with the result that a few well-to-do
parents started sending their children abroad.
Since the localisation of
examination, Zimsec has lurched from one problem to the other. These range
from the issuance of wrong results, corruption and mix-up of examination
advisory slips.
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
Lawyers blast Zanu PF over retribution By Nqobani
Ndlovu
THE ruling Zanu PF party has come under fire from the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) over increasing cases of retribution against
supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the
aftermath of the 31 March parliamentary elections.
ZLHR said the
retribution, carried out using State resources around the country and
perpetrated against defenceless citizens, was a gross violation of human
rights. The lawyers blamed traditional chiefs and headmen, whom they
described as the "chief drivers of the retribution machinery".
The
rights organisation said: "ZLHR is deeply concerned by the retributions by
Zanu PF on MDC supporters going on around the country. It seems from the
incidences reported so far that the Zanu PF supporters have the support of
the government machinery in this sordid agenda.
"The use of State
machinery and resources towards these fanatical and bigoted activities by
overzealous chiefs bent at stripping fellow citizens of their humanity
should be condemned by all peace-loving Zimbabweans."
The lawyers said
Headman Samaringa of Hauna north of Mutare in Manicaland, summoned MDC
supporters to his homestead and quizzed them on their links with the
opposition party. The meeting is said to have been attended by two police
officers while other MDC members who wanted to attend were barred, the ZLHR
said.
"Ordinary Zimbabweans are deeply concerned by such rabid gross
violation of human rights perpetrated against a defenceless citizenry," said
the lawyers.
However Zanu PF spokesperson, Nathan Shamuyarira, last week
dismissed as false the allegations that their supporters in the rural areas
were hunting down MDC supporters.
"That's not true," Shamuyarira
said.
Assistant Commissioner, Wayne Bvudzijena, when contacted for
comment, said: "I'm sorry I'm not prepared to give you anything."
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
Worsening maize shortage exposed By our own
staff
BULAWAYO - Haulage truck drivers are spending several days queuing
for grain at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) in Bulawayo amid reports that
the depot has not been receiving enough maize to cater for the increasing
demand, The Standard has discovered.
A snap survey conducted by this
newspaper last week revealed that truck drivers were spending nights at the
depot in the hope of getting maize but to no avail. Truck drivers, who
spoke to The Standard on condition of anonymity, said they had spent days at
the depot, awaiting their turn.
"I spent the whole of Wednesday night in
a long queue. The maize is coming in, but in small quantities," said one of
the drivers, who refused to be identified for fear of
victimisation.
The drivers said they come from as far as Gwanda,
Esigodini, Mzingwane, Nkayi, Lupane and Plumtree.
Sources said the
grain delivered to the depot was quickly distributed, leaving the silos
empty.
The Standard was not able to establish the amount of grain in the
GMB silos because personnel at the depot insisted that they needed clearance
from their superiors in Harare.
The GMB Bulawayo assistant depot
manager, a Mrs Malango referred all questions to Harare.
The Bulawayo
Metropolitan Provincial Governor, Cain Mathema, refused to speak to The
Standard saying he was busy.
Both Bulawayo Provincial Administrator (PA)
Isaac Ndebele and Mathema had not responded to questions faxed to them by
the time of going to print.
But the World Food Programme (WFP) says it
assisted more than a million people in April alone as the food crisis
worsens.
Four months ago, the organisation provided food assistance to
about 900 000 people, mostly children and people living with HIV and AIDS
around the country.
The WFP said the neediest were children from the
dry region of Matabeleland, which is one of the drought-prone areas in the
country.
WFP spokesperson Makena Walker said Bulawayo, Matabeleland North
and South provinces, Masvingo and some parts of Manicaland and the Zambezi
Valley, were the worst affected areas.
Reports from international aid
agencies estimate that about five million people in the country need food
aid.
The Minister of Home Affairs and Zanu PF MP for Beitbridge Kembo
Mohadi told The Standard that thousands of villagers in his constituency
needed food aid.
"The drought is still on us and we are making do
with the little we have. Beitbridge has always been experiencing droughts,
and the government has always been assisting," said Mohadi in a telephone
interview.
The home affairs minister, however, refused to comment on
whether the government would allow Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to
start assisting people with food.
The government has banned NGOs from
distributing food saying they were using it to campaign for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Presently, food distribution to the
needy is being handled largely by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and
Social Welfare.
Bulawayo City Council is feeding more than 13 000 school
children a month and the figure is believed to have risen.
Several
villagers from Matabeleland region, who spoke to The Standard last week,
said they had run out of maize and sorghum.
Rodger Siziba of Tsholotsho
said the food situation was critical and there was need for urgent food
relief from the international donor community.
Patrick Ncube of Silobela
under Chief Malisa urged the government to ask for help from the
international relief agencies.
Meanwhile supporters of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) in Zaka district of Masvingo claim that Zanu PF
officials, who control the distribution of grain handouts, are denying them
food as punishment for voting for the opposition party in the 31 March
parliamentary elections.
They claimed that their names were deleted from
the list of grain beneficiaries, thereby exposing several villagers to
starvation.
The most affected wards in the constituency are
Mushandirapamwe, Muuyu and Masimbaevanhu in Zaka East.
The supporters
said a Zanu PF councillor and two Zanu PF officials were spearheading the
retribution.
An affected villager, identified as Makwindi, said he tried
to buy maize from the local grain distribution centre but his money was
returned allegedly because he was a known opposition supporter in the
area.
Another victim Jenika Chiringa said Zanu PF officials in charge of
grain distribution were victimising her because her son campaigned for the
MDC candidate.
The villagers said the situation was exacerbated by
the fact that there was a critical shortage of maize meal in the country.
When it is available, a 10 kg of maize meal sells for about $40
000.
Efforts to contact Tinos Rusere, Zaka East MP and losing MDC
candidate, Misheck Marava, were fruitless.
However, MDC spokesperson
Paul Themba-Nyathi said he has been receiving reports of politicisation of
food from various parts of the country.
Nyathi also added that his party
was pressuring the government into ensuring that Zanu PF stops partisan food
distribution.
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
MDC's mass action threat questionable
THE opposition
Movement for Democratic Change seems to be very fond of prescribing
solutions it does not believe should apply to its leadership.
The latest
such decision relates to yet another proposed mass action, even though it
announced recently that it was contesting the outcome of the 31 March
Parliamentary elections in court. The general view was that after trying for
five years and failing to have their challenge to the 2000 Parliamentary
elections finalised, there was no justification for the opposition to seek
recourse in the same courts. The proposed mass action can only have relevance
if there is belief within the opposition that it has a weaker case, which
begs the question why it bothered to take legal action if that is the case.
More significantly, this could mirror the extent and desperation within the
opposition. But this could also suggest signs of disagreements. There are
some people who are pushing certain agendas because they have no
constituencies they are answerable to, while others recognise that the
people who voted them into power would like to see representation and not
pursuit of failed strategies.
However, the fact that the opposition could
deliberate over two days and come up with a strategy that has failed in the
past, as its best strategy, suggests a serious deficit of creative thinking
or that the input of the best minds in the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) has been excluded.
The opposition's failure to draw up creative
responses to the crisis facing the country, lends credibility to suggestions
that perhaps it is time a third political force entered the
arena.
But the reason why mass action will fail is not just that people
have other priorities. It is simply that when the MDC's leadership calls for
mass action, they conveniently disappear.
The Viktor Yushchenko
revolution in the Ukraine that the MDC believes it can re-enact here will
fail because, unlike Zimbabwe, the Orange revolution in the Ukraine was led
from the front. Yushchenko was there in the trenches with the troops. Many
lives were lost in 2000 and 2002 because people believed there was something
to fight for, but the leadership of the opposition believes that is a role
that should be played out by the foot soldiers.
Whoever is advising
the opposition clearly wants them to stage the most humiliating defeat they
have ever suffered since September 1999 when the MDC was formed. Right now
people are concerned with bread and butter issues to engage in mass action
or ill-thought-out battles.
Last week the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries warned of a deepening crisis saying it will spawn a fresh round
of company closures. It meant more job losses on the way.
There is
still a cause, but perhaps the opposition has not thought this through in
appearing to overlook the impact mass action will have on the suffering that
people are enduring everyday. There can never be effective mass action -
thanks to a combination of factors - and little is likely to change, at
least as long as things remain as difficult as they are.
The plight of
one of the MDC MPs illustrates a point about the apparent lack of commitment
within the MDC. Roy Bennett, the former MP for Chimanimani continues to
languish in prison and yet the MDC or its leadership have been ambivalent in
raising hell about the injustice of his continued imprisonment, even as the
suspected mercenaries are being freed.
The MDC should have launched a
concerted "Free Bennett Campaign" and ensured they secured his release. The
fact that they have not is a measure of how caring the MDC can be about one
of its own. Therefore, it is important not to trust its leadership to care
more about ordinary people.
The MDC thrived and fed on the anger and
discontent people felt about the situation in the country. It is possible
the same people that rallied around it are disillusioned because none of the
leadership is prepared to move away from the protest politics.
The
MDC needs to define its response to the challenges of scarcities of basic
commodities, water, fuel, electricity, drugs and foreign currency. It
promised responses to these challenges during the run up to the 31 March
Parliamentary elections. Was the promise conditional upon
winning?
The MDC must push the government into implementing approaches
that will change the course of the history of this country. Zanu PF realises
that while it has won the elections it is clearly incapable of tackling the
enormous challenges ahead, on its own. Zanu PF probably requires the
opposition more now than it cares to admit publicly.
But the
opposition is failing to demonstrate that while it did not win the
elections, it still remains relevant to the search for solutions to a better
Zimbabwe. It is not the function of an opposition to help its competitor,
but neither is it to stand by while the country suffers.
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
ZNCC to assess ZESA power failures By our own
Staff
THE Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) is conducting a
research to assess the amount of losses suffered by industry over the past
few weeks due to the intermittent power cuts effected by the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
ZNCC CEO, Innocent Makwiramiti
said as industry they were concerned by the power and water shortages, which
had negatively impacted on the battered economy. "We are carrying out
assessments to find out how much was lost by industry due to the water and
power cuts and within a month we would be able to comment on how much we
lost or we are losing due to these water and power cuts," Makwiramiti
said.
The country's industry is estimated to have lost hundreds of
billions of dollars due to the heightened power cuts by ZESA over the past
month.
The shortage of foreign currency has resulted in regional
suppliers of power cutting supplies to ZESA resulting in a power deficit in
the country which has also been exacerbated by the break down of generators
at both Hwange Thermal Power Station and Kariba Hydro-Electricity Power
Station.
The Harare City Council has been effecting water cuts that have
severely affected industry, especially beverage manufacturers and
construction companies.
Makwiramiti also said his organisation was
worried by the biting foreign currency shortages and the unfavourable
foreign currency exchange rate which has seen exporters suspending
exports.
He said capacity utilisation in the local industry which was
around 60% before these fresh problems had been significantly reduced and
radical measures were needed to jumpstart the economy.
"The
government should bite the bullet and re-engage the international community
because the country's exports only generate 33% of our foreign currency
needs with the rest coming from international credit lines and balance of
payments support," Makwiramiti said.
The little foreign currency that is
trickling into the country is being diverted to import grain and also pay
for our energy needs.
The ZNCC CEO also said that the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe should devalue the local currency by more than 100% to close the
differential gap between Zimbabwe and its major trading partners such as
South Africa.
"Another option for the central bank if it does not want
devalue is to subsidise exporters to reduce lended costs of local products
and make them cheaper and favourable on the international
market."
Zim Standard (issue dated 15 May but only now available on the
internet)
RBZ comes to Hwange's rescue By Allen Tichaona
HWANGE
Colliery Company (HCC), the country's sole cole miner is to receive a US$4
million loan from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to replace ageing
equipment, Standard Business has learnt.
John Nkala, Hwange
spokesman, confirmed to StandardBusiness on Friday that that colliery is
expecting the money from the RBZ this week as the central bank had already
approved the loan. "We are going to get US$4million funding from the RBZ this
coming week and the money is going to be used to replace our ageing
equipment," Nkala said.
He said the money has been set aside by the RBZ
because of the strategic importance of HCC in the country's electricity
generation programme. Hwange Power Station (HPS), the country's biggest
thermal power station, is the biggest consumer of coal from HCC and this
makes the coal miner an important player in power generation.
The
money from the central bank to HCC is going to be used to purchase coal
haulers, among other equipment.
Zimbabwe has over the past few months
been hit by crippling electricity shortages due to a severe foreign currency
squeeze that has resulted in the country failing to pay for power
imports.
The break down of electricity generators at both the HPS and
Kariba Hydro-Electricity Power Station has also compounded the situation,
which has also severely handicapped commerce and industry.
Zimbabwe
generates 65% of its electricity needs and the rest comes from imports from
South Africa, Cahorra Bassa in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
HCC early this year also bought a $265 billion continuos miner
from South Africa which has now been installed at its new underground mine.
Nkala said HCC had managed to increase its monthly coal production by more
than 50 000 tonnes since the commissioning of the new underground
mine.
The US$98 million 3-M mine started full-scale operations early this
year and HCC said coal from the mine was attracting a lot of interest from
international buyers - especially coke manufacturers - because of its low
concentrations of phosphorous and sulphur.
"Some are even asking for
forward contracting but we turning down offers in case of a mishap at one of
our mines," Nkala said.
Before the new underground mine, HCC produced
around 300 000 tonnes of coal per month and total production this year is
now expected to exceed 2,5 million tonnes.
The country's main coal
miner embarked on a major turn-around strategy to revive its waning
fortunes. The government, which is the majority shareholder in the Zimbabwe,
Johannesburg and London Stock Exchange listed company, decontrolled coal
prices but is still monitoring coal price movements.
The controlled
prices were hurting HCC because it was being forced to sell coal at
non-viable prices and the decontrolling of prices was a major relief to the
company.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Turnaround effort backfires for Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE'S
business confidence has plumbed new lows as government's efforts to turn
around the embattled economy have sparked a fresh wave of food, fuel and
foreign currency shortages, analysts said Monday.
"The latest shortages
and government's response have knocked down business confidence to such a
low level, maybe the lowest level we have seen in the past year," private
economic consultant, John Robertson, said.
"It's extremely difficult
to have a positive outlook when things look so depressing and when the
responsible authorities spend most of their time blaming everyone
else."
The economy has been in recession for the last six years, a
decline critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's fiscal policies,
including the seizure of white-owned farms, which has disrupted the
country's commercial agricultural sector.
In the past year, the
economy seemed to be headed for recovery under a turnaround programme driven
by central bank governor Gideon Gono, which saw inflation slowing to 130% in
January from over 620 % the year before.
But analysts say in the last
two months, the southern African country - whose economy has contracted by
30% in the past five years - has suffered severe fuel and power supply
shortages blamed on a lack of foreign currency for imports.
The
central bank has said the latest round of fuel and electricity shortages,
which have crippled public transport and industrial operations, resulted
from state spending in the run-up to general parliamentary election on March
31.
Those polls were won by the ruling Zanu PF amid charges of
vote-rigging.
Mugabe, 81 and in power since Independence from Britain
in 1980, denies he has rigged the last two major parliamentary polls and the
2002 presidential election to stay in office against an opposition challenge
fuelled by the economic crisis.
Mugabe's government accuses its
domestic and foreign opponents of a "vicious economic sabotage" campaign to
undermine national confidence.
Last week his government accused "some
sections of the media" of spearheading a crusade against its economic
turnaround programme after reports that Gono was facing resistance from
Mugabe's cabinet over plans for a big devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar
against the US dollar.
A Ministry of Information statement said Gono
"enjoys the full and unstinted support" of the government, and negative
reporting on Zimbabwe's economic revival programme "is meant to dampen,
dishearten and divide through gossip".
Political and economic
analysts say Mugabe will struggle to turn around the economy without massive
external support from Western powers, which cut aid and imposed sanctions on
his government over Zimbabwe's election issues and land
seizures.
Mugabe said he has adopted a "Look East" policy and added
that his once-prosperous nation is poised for an economic rebound with
assistance from countries such as China, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia and
Thailand.
For now, Zimbabwe is struggling with food shortages,
affecting about a quarter of its 12 million population, caused by drought
and problems in its agricultural sector, and has seen a resurgence of a
black market in foreign currency and fuel.
The US dollar is
trading at about $20 000, compared with $6 200 on the official
market.
Zimbabwe's main business bodies, wary of the government's
sensitivity to criticism, have over the past two months been calling on "the
authorities" to step in to stop the slide.
"Both the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce know the political problems and cannot speak too loudly and openly
... but they will tell you privately that business confidence in the
turnaround programme has collapsed," one Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries member said. - Reuter.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Zanu PF studies graft report Conrad Dube ZANU PF is still
examining recommendations of the party's Committee on Party Investments
whose investigations unearthed gross mismanagement of the ruling party's
companies, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.
The report, which was
debated by the party's politburo last year, recommended that law enforcement
agents undertake further investigations to establish any prejudice to the
party on its investments.
Former administration secretary Emmerson
Mnangagwa, who supervised the party's companies, featured prominently in the
report, which revealed gross mismanagement.
Party spokesman
Nathan Shamuyarira said the matter was still under discussion and referred
further inquiries to finance secretary, David
Karimanzira.
Karimanzira refused to comment saying the
information contained in the report and the politburo's deliberations were
not for public consumption.
"It's confidential. It's an internal party
issue and not for public consumption," Karimanzira said.
The
report revealed that Zanu PF companies were riddled with managerial
corruption and incompetence, which could have prejudiced the ruling party of
billions of dollars in cash and assets.
The report said some of
the companies had virtually collapsed while others had not been audited for
years and their financial accounts were a complete mess.
For
instance, the report revealed, that a $650 million Tregers Holdings cheque
for dividend declared on February 18 2003 for the year ended December 31
2002 could not be accounted for.
The report said it was
"inconceivable" that Tregers, in which Zanu PF has a 41,96% shareholding,
managed to declare a $1,2 billion dividend in four years when its annual
turnover was about $150 billion.
There were further queries over the
murky investment of $120 million in the portfolio investment company,
M&S Investments, by Zanu PF's wholly-owned investment arm, M&S
Syndicate (Pvt) Ltd.
Zanu PF has interests in public and private
companies held through M&S Syndicate. The ruling party has invested in
Treger Holdings, Mike Appel, Catercraft, Fibrolite which closed down last
December, Zidlee, which failed to take over Delta in 1989 and now runs
duty-free shops, Southern African Re-Insurance Company, Zidco Holdings and
First Bank, whose Congo investments have collapsed.
Another
company, NamZim, was "closed due to mismanagement and the property was
looted by unknown people", the report says.
Zanu PF also had
interests in National Blankets, Woolworths and Ottawa Building, which were
disposed of in unclear circumstances.
Mnangagwa, who sits on nearly
all the party companies' boards, supervised M&S Syndicate with Manharlal
Chiunilal and Jayant Chiunilal Joshi. The party's secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa and former secretary-general Edgar Tekere
linked the two to Zanu PF in 1979.
However, the Joshi brothers and
Dipak Pandya fled the country in April last year shortly after the probe
began. Several Zanu PF officials were quizzed about their
escape.
Mutasa said the three ran way to avoid arrest and were in
regular contact with him. He said Jayant was believed to be in Dubai, while
Manharlal was in Manchester, England.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Land reform becomes Zim's curse Ray Matikinye WHEN
President Robert Mugabe retires, as he has promised to after 28 years in
office, he will bequeath to the country he led to Independence from Britain
in 1980 the heritage of a populist, yet calamitous agrarian reform
programme.
When he goes one of his notable legacies to posterity will
be a country shattered by an economic crisis that direly needs a latter-day
Marshall Plan to get it back on its feet.
At Independence,
Zimbabwe held a donor conference called Zimcord to rehabilitate the economy
after 15 years of sanctions.
But such goodwill from the international
community has shrunk owing to widely-documented human rights abuses and
lawlessness that accompanied the land occupation
programme.
Exactly a year ago this week, farmer organisations and
union leaders, agricultural economists and government, were all upbeat in
predicting a bumper 2,4 million-tonne maize harvest.
A year ago
this month, Agriculture minister Joseph Made broke a record in stretching
the truth beyond its trading limit by applauding the capability of
newly-resettled farmers to produce a harvest 15 times more than that of
2003.
Made's misplaced optimism stemmed from crop forecasts made
on the mathematical assumption that each hectare planted, including land in
marginal rainfall areas such as Matabeleland, Midlands and Masvingo
provinces, would yield 1,5 tonnes of crop.
Such skewed forecasts
fooled President Mugabe into telling international food agencies not to
"foist food on us" and to take their largesse elsewhere because Zimbabwe did
not need them.
The embellished forecast triggered a wave of delusory
enthusiasm from farmer organisations.
Said Silas Hungwe,
president of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU): "We are not going to import
maize despite the late rains. All crops -maize, millet sorghum - have done
well."
Cleophas Mandebvu of the Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union
(ICFU) parroted similar sentiments: "Even the late rains have not been a
hindrance," he enthused.
One year down the line and countless
financial resources poured out to shore up the chaotic land redistribution
programme, food experts estimate that 5,5 million people are in dire need of
food aid.
In its latest report on food, the US-based Famine Early
Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet) said the harvest will not be sufficient to
carry the nation through to the next harvest in 2006.
The current
food deficit can be traced to government's ill-conceived land redistribution
programme that has rendered, according to experts, an estimated $15 billion
in land capital worthless, as large tracts of agricultural farmland lie
fallow.
Along the nation's major highways evidence of a failed
agricultural revolution is commonplace.
Drive along the
Harare/Beitbridge highway or the Bulawayo/Harare trunk road and witness how
pole-and-mud huts squatting in the midst of a sad-looking maize patch have
blighted prime agricultural land.
Or agonise at the sight of a
scraggy herd dwarfed by tall grass wandering in what was once prime cattle
ranching land now transformed into a wasteland.
Zanu PF national
chairman John Nkomo, who presided over unsuccessful efforts to bring a
semblance of sanity to farm occupations, still believes land redistribution
in its current form remains the bedrock of economic
empowerment.
"We must create conditions that allow Zimbabweans to
participate in economic development and control in order to restore the
people's dignity and real sense of self-respect," he
says.
Unmoved by the disaster his party wrought on the land, Nkomo
adds in his weekly message to party supporters: "The same colonial hand we
defeated on the farmlands still holds significant leverage in commerce and
industry. We must move to domesticate the private
sector."
Nkomo's statements are a worrying demonstration of
liberation- war tenets that celebrated a philosophy of "destroying in order
to rebuild".
Few doubt that Zimbabwe's economy is agro-based but the
disorganised
redistribution programme has destroyed the source of raw
materials for industry to function properly and generate much-needed foreign
currency.
Shortages of beef, milk and other dairy products, bread and
sugar loom large as do other primary products that drive commerce and
industry.
Recently Mashonaland East governor Ray Kaukonde lamented
the marked decrease of dairy farmers in his province from 156 five years ago
to only 10 as a result of displacement to make way for new
farmers.
Principal director for the Department of Veterinary Services
Dr Stuart Hargreaves says Zimbabwe's livestock sector needs more than $10
trillion to rebuild the national herd that has dwindled over the years
mainly due to the slaughter of breeding stock for commercial
meat.
He told a local daily that if the vast grazing land lying idle
were utilised the country's potential to rebuild its stocks would be
realised.
Zimbabwe Herd Book still has about 45 registered cattle
breeders, which translates to a 90% decrease of what there was five years
ago. With the virtual collapse of the communal sale system, the authorities
are determined to control or prevent private cattle buyers from operating
freely in the communal areas, citing stock theft and the spread of disease
as the major reasons for this.
Government could have taken
seriously wise counsel from former minister Jonathan Moyo who attributed
part of the disaster unfolding on the land to inexperienced civil servants
who stampeded to grab land without the financial wherewithal to sustain
agricultural production.
Most exaggerated their financial status when
applying for land.
Moyo complains of the dereliction of duty and shoddy
services provided by public servants saying: "A majority leave their offices
unattended while they pursue personal business on their farms at the expense
of serving the public."
At Kintyre Estates, a few kilometers
outside Harare, an estate that used to be a lush green showcase, lies
mottled by dry patches and swathes of uncultivated land overgrown with
weeds. Idle irrigation equipment remains stacked on the road verges against
a backdrop of a stunted maize crop despite the availability of prolific
boreholes.
In sharp contrast, nestled behind the desolate part of the
estate, a thriving horticulture project run by an indigenous commercial
farmer stands out like a beacon of hope. "The owner has focus and the
resources to achieve what you see here," says one of the workers at the
horticultural project that came on stream last September.
Of the
more than 4 000 commercial farmers who were on the land in 2000, there are
now probably between 500 and 700 who are either fully or partially
operational. So far 6 897 farms with a total area of 11,6 million hectares
have been targeted for resettlement.
But with hindsight,
government is now intensifying efforts to reverse some of the damage by
inviting commercial farmers specialised in horticulture, wheat, barley,
dairy farming and seed-maize production to return to the land they were
evicted from.
Before eviction the specialist farmers produced
high-value crops for export that boosted foreign currency inflows into the
national coffers.
Economists say Zimbabwe's foreign currency reserves
are critically low at the moment, hence the widespread swoop on hotels and
other institutions that generate foreign currency to mop up any hard
currency in their possession.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Gono retreats from public limelight Dumisani
Muleya RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono, currently under intense political
and work-related pressure to quit his job, failed to attend two crucial
business meetings this week after snubbing the recent trade fair in
Bulawayo.
Gono, now entangled in Zanu PF factional politics, failed to
attend a Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries breakfast meeting with
economic ministries on Wednesday as the economy slips into new depths of
recession.
He was also unable to attend the Hospitality Association
of Zimbabwe annual congress in Bulawayo yesterday where he was expected to
share the platform with Vice-President Joice Mujuru.
Last month
Gono - due to present his delayed monetary policy review on May 19 -- failed
to attend the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair although the RBZ had booked
a stand there. None of the RBZ management team attended the country's
premier international business showcase.
These incidents have
increased fears Gono is disengaging from his duties due to sustained
pressure. When he came into office in December 2003 amid a blaze of
publicity, he was all over the media and held numerous public meetings. He
even visited fuel and foreign currency black markets to see the situation
for himself.
Contacted for comment, Gono said: "I'm busy at the
moment. I will speak to you as soon as possible." Asked when, he retorted:
"I said I'm busy!"
Gono has denied reports that he wants to resign.
Government has said it supports him "unstintingly" and blamed the media for
writing about his dilemma.
However, sources say Gono is under
growing pressure from a Zanu PF camp headed by retired army General Solomon
Mujuru, husband of the vice-president, to quit because of his alleged link
to a faction reportedly led by Rural Housing minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
Members of the Mujuru clique claim Gono - understood to be
related to Mnangagwa - has been associating with their rivals and has
undermined their business interests in various ways.
The CZI
meeting and the hospitality congress that Gono failed to attend came as the
economy lurched into a fully-fledged recession in the aftermath of a hotly
disputed general election in March that was supposed to resolve the
country's problems.
An upsurge of shortages of foreign currency,
fuel, electricity, water, food and basic commodities has dashed Gono's
claims that the economy is recovering and that it will grow by 5% this year
after a cumulative 30% contraction over the past five
years.
Gono, who recently declared there was no room for failure in
his job, has also made a series of other unsustainable assertions -
including that the wrecked agricultural sector will grow by 28% - as
evidence of recovery.
He is expected to reverse some of his more
optimistic predictions next week.
The CZI meeting would have provided
Gono with an opportunity to interact with captains of industry ahead of his
monetary policy review on Thursday, and face reality away from his comfort
zone.
The CZI warned Gono's achievements on inflation and foreign
exchange receipts were now being reversed by the current resurgence of
problems. It said more companies would close down unless decisive measures
were taken to address the foreign currency crisis.
Sources said
government also blocked the International Monetary Fund's visit last week
because economic fundamentals are now topsy-turvy after a temporary halt in
economic decline last year.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Mujuru tours hostile Tsholotsho Shakeman Mugari in
Bulawayo VICE-President Joice Mujuru yesterday visited Tsholotsho, the scene
of fierce Zanu PF factional infighting in the run-up to the ruling party
congress last December, supposedly to see Cuban doctors based in the
district.
Mujuru went to Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North, whose MP is
former Information minister Jonathan Moyo, after addressing the Hospitality
Association of Zimbabwe congress in Bulawayo.
She was initially
expected to travel to the district where Zanu PF got a severe drubbing in
the March 31 parliamentary election last Sunday but changed the visit to
yesterday.
Sources in Bulawayo said Mujuru, who was in a rival
faction to Moyo in the Zanu PF power struggle for the presidium which her
group won, was trying to widen her self-marketing campaign to build a
personal profile as a national leader.
"The Cuban doctors story
is just a cover-up for her visit which in reality is part of her roadshows
to raise her national profile," a source said.
"The Tsholotsho visit
is symbolic because Zanu PF is now intensely unpopular there and she is
offering an olive branch to the people in the area while
campaigning."
Zanu PF factions clashed last November over a
Tsholotsho meeting held at Dinyane high school by a faction reportedly led
by Rural Housing minister Emmerson Mnangwgwa, apparently to block Mujuru's
ascendency while promoting Mnangaga and his lieutenant's rise.
l
Meanwhile, Mujuru yesterday officially opened the Hospitality Association of
Zimbabwe congress where she admitted the tourism industry was in the
doldrums.
"Without doubt, the hospitality and tourism industry in
Zimbabwe today is among the most challenging industries to manage,
particularly because it is one driven by perceptions and image," Mujuru told
delegates.
She lashed out at the international media, claiming there
had been a "concerted war over the years to fuel negative publicity designed
to discourage visitors from coming to our country".
She, however,
said people should not concentrate on denials but work hard to address the
issue of negative publicity to ensure recovery of the sector.
"We
should not concentrate on denials as cases of travel bans and warnings
against visiting our country can be cited in certain key source markets,"
she said. "We must work together to address these issues."
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Tourism sector slumps 18% Susan Mateko & Shakeman
Mugari CONTRARY to official claims that the tourism industry is coming out of
the woods, statistics from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) indicate the
sector slumped by 18% last year alone.
ZTA officials revealed the
figures at the ongoing Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe congress in
Bulawayo. Givemore Chidzidzi, ZTA acting chief executive, told delegates
yesterday tourist arrivals suffered a 18% plunge last year and an attendant
loss of foreign exchange earnings.
He said there were significant
losses in tourist arrivals from the African and regional markets, showing
the sector remains badly depressed despite government claims that it was
recovering.
In his last monetary policy review, central bank governor
Gideon Gono said: "Hotel occupancy began to recover in 2004, with occupancy
rates ranging from 40% to 60%. Current efforts to market the country in East
Asia while not neglecting the traditional markets are expected to yield
positive cumulative results in 2005 and beyond."
The hospitality
industry accounts for 15,5% of GDP and 11% of the country's foreign exchange
earnings. Tourism on its own makes up 6,5% of GDP. Its receipts between
January and September 2004 were US$152 million.
While ZTA said there
was a 6% increase in international arrivals, this did not translate into
increased real earnings. It said there was an improvement in the first
quarter of this year with a 30% increase but this did not lead to improved
occupancies in the hotels around the country.
Chidzidzi admitted to
the delegates that there was "something wrong with the tourism numbers" that
they have produced because they were marred by inconsistencies and sometimes
confusion.
"There must be something wrong with the computation of our
figures. It is not clear how the arrivals could go up while hotel
occupancies remain depressed," Chidzidzi said.
Industry players
point out that arrivals and hotel occupancies in tourism do not logically
tally for various reasons including that some people recorded as tourists
are returning residents or visitors who stay with friends and
relatives.
The tourism industry has been on the slide since the
government launched violent land seizures five years ago. A number of
countries have warned their citizens not to travel to Zimbabwe because of
security concerns.
The sector plummeted by more than 60% over the
past five years as international tourists continue to shun the country
partly because of the country's battered image.
Although the
government says arrivals from China went up 392% as a result of its "Look
East" policy, official documents indicate that the rise was from a paltry 4
960 in 2003 to 24 437 last year.
The Malaysian market also grew from
1 030 in 2003 to close to 3 400 last year. The rest of Asia rose by about 3
500 arrivals from 428 in 2003, a huge rise in percentage terms but
insignificant in real earnings.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Politics plunge Zesa into darkness Vincent Kahiya AT the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa)'s Harare Power Station there
are three shifts of workers manning the plant which was built to ensure the
capital is not affected by power failure at the country's main generation
plants. There are also people working round the clock at smaller thermal
stations at Munyati in the Midlands and in Bulawayo. The three small
coal-powered plants have the potential to produce 375 megawatts (MW) of
power. That is almost 20% of the country's electricity requirements. But
the three power stations are not producing any energy of significance. In
fact, they have become monuments whose tall steaming chimneys are reminders
of a distant past when infrastructure was kept in functioning order. The
power stations have become shells which are a huge cost to the parastatal
and ultimately to the taxpayer. Zimbabwe today is faced with a power crisis.
Zesa has in the past three weeks been forced to effect load-shedding because
of a power deficit. The company last week said its generators at Kariba and
Hwange were down, resulting in the loss of 250 Megawatts and 220 MW
respectively. The generators will be out for the next six weeks during which
period the power utility is expected to find foreign currency to purchase
replacement parts and ship them to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has a peak power
demand of 2 100 MW while local generation stands at 1 200 MW, giving a
supply imbalance of 900 MW which is imported. Zesa's total installed
capacity is about 2 000 MW. Other than the small power stations, the country
also has two larger power stations; a hydro-electrical plant in Kariba (666
MW) and a thermal generator in Hwange (920 MW). The country's power stations
have the potential to produce more than 1 900 MW which is adequate at the
current depressed consumption. But the plants are not functioning at full
capacity and the country has to import to make up for the deficit. Zesa
has been forced to import 250 MW of power from Hydro Cahorra Bassa (HCB) of
Mozambique, 150 MW from Eskom of South Africa and 150 MW from Snel in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But in 2007, Eskom is expected to
terminate electricity exports to the region because the anticipated economic
boom in that country should result in increased demand. Zesa has said it
will need to set up new plants or expand existing ones in anticipation of
that gap. The country will need at an extra 1 200 MW to cope with the
demand. The need for new infrastructure can be lessened if Zesa can optimise
the use of existing facilities. The country, analysts say, will find it
difficult to source funding for new projects when it is failing to repair
and maintain existing plants. There have been plans to expand Kariba
power station so that it produces an extra 300 MW. Zesa entered an ill-fated
deal with Malaysia's YTL in the hope of expanding generation at Hwange by an
extra 333 MW but nothing came of it. There has been talk about developing two
new projects at Batoka HEP plant along the Zambezi River and the Gokwe North
thermal power station next to the vast Sengwa coalfields. The Batoka
project, with a potential of 800 MW, was expected to go on stream in 2010
but that will not happen now. Plans to develop the 1 400 MW Gokwe North
plant, in which Zesa was in partnership with Rio Tinto and government, has
also been deferred. The project, analysts say, is enmeshed in controversy as
government is reluctant to see the private sector constructing and running
such a strategic resource. "The power station should have been built 10
years ago," said economist John Robertson. "For Gokwe, Rio owns coal
deposits at Sengwe. If it is given the go-ahead, it will finance the cost of
the power station," he said. "Government fears that Rio will enjoy the
profits and externalise them. If Rio were to externalise the profits it
would be less than we are externalising every month paying Eskom, HCB and
Snel," he said. Investors shied away from the two projects because of the
uncertainty in the country wrought by the land invasions and President
Robert Mugabe's quarrel with the West. The failure of the two huge capital
projects to get off the ground typifies the state of industry in Zimbabwe.
There is no new investment of note coming into the country. The attempt
to sell part of Hwange Power Station to Malaysia's YTL, as part of an
earlier "Look East" - or rather South-South - policy was a disaster. It
scared away other potential investors in the country's power sector. This
was the first major show of the government's lack of foresight in developing
the country's power sources. As analysts forecast five years ago, demand
for electricity would outstrip supply unless new plants were commissioned.
Power stations require huge capital outlay to construct and vast sums of
foreign currency to maintain. Last week Zesa said it required US$2 billion to
put its house in order. That is a huge sum which will not be coming to
Zimbabwe soon as long as there is no balance of payments support. Pledges
from Zimbabwe's friends in the East have come in few and far between. The
power sector, like all major facets of the economy, has been hit by the
suspension of financial assistance from international organisations such as
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund because of concerns over
the erosion of the rule of law and property rights, as well as the
government's fiscal policy. Zesa is a victim of the country's bad
politics. Considering the strategic position electricity occupies in industry
and commerce, the energy deficit that has been exacerbated by the shortage
of petrol and diesel is a major threat to economic
regeneration. Piecemeal measures that have been proffered by the parastatals
and government have not made an impact. Zesa proposed that local exporters
pay for electricity in hard cash, a short-term measure that only increased
overhead costs for an already struggling export sector. With limited
resources to hand, the parastatal has been left to use its own limited
resources or wait for handouts from the fiscus resulting in inadequate
upgrades and network maintenance. The results are manifest in the
broken-down plant and equipment. Also, the company is unable to raise its
tariffs to meet rising operating costs, ostensibly because the government is
keen to protect consumers from further price increases and the rising cost
of living. But Zimbabwe's energy sector is not suffering simply because the
country is broke. The parastatal has been riddled with controversy since its
unbundling. It has gone on a huge rural electrification drive without
developing new power sources. It has sought deals with the Chinese, the
Malaysians and Iranians with very little to show for it. Zesa has become
a political playing field where prudent business decisions have been
superseded by political posturing. No energy minister in the last 15 years
has been able to solve the country's energy crisis. It is bound to get worse
and bring the economy down with it.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Watching DStv as the country burns By Rejoice
Ngwenya ELLEN G White, arguably one of the most prolific religious and health
writers of the 19th century and founder of the worldwide Adventist Movement,
says in her book, Education: " . the greatest want of the world is the want
of men . who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are
true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men
whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will
stand for the right though the heavens fall."
As I was writing this
item, I was holed up in a petrol queue for the third consecutive day - a
time when my family and I should be either relaxed at our city home or
socialising in rural Esigodini with in-laws. My life is in turmoil, a crisis
- no petrol, no cooking gas, no electricity and, most frighteningly, no
water for the past four weeks.
What difference, I ponder in the
chilly early morning breeze, is there between myself and the beautiful
person with breasts and long hair I abandoned in my bed? She sleeps in
passive serenity and I queue in passive stupidity - no resistance, no
change, no difference. Saka ndiri murume payi?
I am not alone in this
collective stupor - there are another hundred or so men freezing in their
cars, waiting and hoping that the Zanu PF government, one day in distant
time, will get its governance formula right and deliver on its electoral
promises.
King Solomon, the renowned architectural genius and wealthy
"multigamist" around 935 BC, writes in his Ecclesiastes: "I saw the tears of
the oppressed - and they have no comforter; power was on the side of the
oppressors - and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who
had already died, are happier than the living who are still
alive."
The question then being: when a nation is in crisis, who
wields the responsibility to emancipate people from the shackles of
repression. Moses, the Jewish captive who grew up in the stately home of
Pharaoh around 1530 BC remembers: "The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the
misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their
slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering."
Yet
divine intervention does not come when man shows no initiative in the desire
to set himself free. Moses first proved his mettle, potential and zeal for
freedom by defending the rights of the oppressed. More often than not, the
rest of five million Zimbabwean male adults have been routinely accused of
being lethargic cowards. We allow ourselves to be cowed into submission by a
dynasty that has entrenched its rule with a false sense of indispensability
- a Kamuzu Banda scenario.
The critical mass of anger, distress and
dissatisfaction is wasted on hours of patient and pseudo-intellectual
debates in queues of petrol, bread, sugar and water. My submission is that
this is no manifestation of a peace-loving male population, no! It is but
collective stupidity.
Perhaps, like the prophet Samuel wrote, we are
waiting for a judge: "Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was
with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as
the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under
those who oppressed and afflicted them."
The greatest want of the
world is the want of men . like Joshua: "Be strong and courageous, because
you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers
to give them."
Solomon reminds us: "If you see the poor oppressed in
a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such
things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are
others higher still."
The swansong of typical contemporary
Zimbabwean defeatism: "We have no leader, we need real leadership. Why was
there no Plan B? How come they are failing to deal with Zanu PF's political
chicanery?" What Plan B? There is only one plan, Plan A - freedom and
justice.
My heart bleeds. Why you and me? What wrong have Zimbabweans
done to deserve this, this barbaric treatment? Who gives this dynasty the
supreme right to dispense "liberty" as one act of gigantic benevolence? What
is it that is going to take you and me to wake up and realise that we are on
a trajectory to annihilation?
Yes, we all voted. They voted too
at UMP but they still remain poor, hungry and weak. Voting that does not
manifest itself in true liberty and effective democracy is all of it
meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
King David, the author and
musician, writes: "The Lord is refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in
times of trouble. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for
precious is their blood in his sight."
Perhaps I am asking for too
much. We are too busy surviving, trying to make ends meet. It's all
politics, not for us, but for them. It is a dirty game and we want to play
clean. That is what our parents said in the 70s: going to Zambia and
Mozambique is for them, the dull ones - madofo. Our children have to
continue with "real" education at Fletcher, University of Rhodesia and
Oxford. Leave the camps to them.
This self-delusion also continued in
the 80s: voting is for them, the women's league, we have professions and
businesses to run. Look at where we are now - hiding in our big cars,
ventilated offices and watching DStv as the country goes up in
flames.
Prophet Isaiah reminds us of our responsibility: "If you do
away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious
talk, and if you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the
needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in
darkness."
My submission is that most Zimbabweans are now too weak to
defend their liberty, but you and me can use the energy that we expend on
queuing for fuel and buying coupons to fight for justice. Only because we
deserve better than this.
I am tired of being spat at by Tswanas,
the Mozambicans and Malawians - who only a few years ago could only dream of
being like me. Now they jeer from the terraces while Zanu PF kicks you and
me like a human ball in the arena of political naivety. Brother, wake
up.
*Rejoice Ngwenya is a Harare-based freelance writer.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Comment
Can the MDC provide a lead? MABVUKU and
Tafara residents this week took to the streets to protest incessant water
cuts by the inept authorities running Harare. On Sunday at the National
Sports Stadium there were skirmishes after Harare soccer side Dynamos lost a
third league match on the trot. If popular mass action was ever going to grip
the capital, thirsty residents of Mabvuku and Tafara or angry Dynamos
supporters should have provided the trigger. It didn't happen because there
has not been sufficient popular support for the water or football
cause. Discontent with Zanu PF's suspected theft of the March 31 general
election did not provoke a spontaneous mass uprising either. Six weeks
after Zanu PF was declared the winner, the opposition MDC, it was reported
this week, are still brainstorming on the idea of mass action. A meeting held
by the party's leaders, we hear, did not come up with a definite position on
how popular discontent can be ratcheted up to drive people onto the
streets. There is definitely disenchantment with the present regime. The
March election, other than handing President Mugabe a two-thirds majority,
has not solved anything. In fact, the situation is degenerating fast, yet
people are not massing on the streets. The MDC would like to see the Zanu
PF government under some form of popular pressure; something akin to the
velvet revolution in Georgia. But this requires leadership and the capacity
to organise and direct. This is not apparent in the opposition set-up and
the so-called broad alliance encompassing civic groups. The fact that the
party is discussing mass action when the main impetus to trigger popular
response - a stolen election - has evaporated, does not inspire confidence
in the party's ability to take the lead in raising public
consciousness. Any attempt to pressure Mugabe and Zanu PF should focus on the
manifest shortcomings of the establishment. The MDC should identify the
chinks in Mugabe's armour. But no, the opposition would like to use its most
ineffectual weapon to tackle Zanu PF's strongest front - repression. No
amount of international condemnation and censure will stop Mugabe from
unleashing the army and paramilitary police onto demonstrators in the
high-density suburbs. Instruments for that exercise are available and honed
to perform the task effectively. The MDC, if it is indeed keen to use the
confrontational route, has to perform better than it did in the past. Mass
action in Zimbabwe has unfortunately taken the form of youths throwing
stones at the police and running away. The mass action of 1998 was hijacked
by criminals who looted supermarkets for food, clothes, television sets and
even beds. Any popular demonstration of discontent should be cleansed of
these actions which only give the police and the army justification to crush
skulls. Compare this with the 1980s protests in South Africa where
demonstrators linked arms and marched against the apartheid regime in a
well-organised and disciplined way led by bishops and other notables. Can
Zimbabweans achieve that level of commitment and discipline in expressing
their displeasure with Mugabe if there is no strong leadership? The
planned March on State House - dubbed the final push - two years ago did not
get very far. Repetition of that would be disastrous for the opposition as
it exposed inherent weaknesses in its structures which are in great need of
revamping and reorganisation so that the party remains relevant. In politics
the parties derive strength from the weaknesses of their opponents. A weak
opposition movement in Zimbabwe will hand Zanu PF the opportunity to
consolidate, sit back and do nothing. The opposition, which is scheduled to
hold its congress in the second half of this year, should start to think
strategically about leadership renewal. This should not just be an exercise
in shifting around personnel but putting together a team that can articulate
the party's position on key areas in-between elections. Successful
parties require people who can carry the vision of the leadership to the
voter. That is partly the reason why British premier Tony Blair reappointed
Gordon Brown as chancellor before the heat of the election campaign. But
for starters, the party requires vision. It needs to be more than just a
government-in-waiting. Sometimes we sense a lack of cohesion in the party's
"Top Six' and this reverberates through the party structures. The era of
a loose amalgam of students, trade unionists, civic activists, business
owners, academics and eccentrics glued together by their distaste for
Mugabe's rule is over. There is an aching need for leadership on how the
nation can move forward. Zanu PF evidently can't provide that. Can the
MDC?
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Eric Bloch Column
Command economy is not the
answer AFTER an immensely prolonged period of extolling and enthusing the
alleged tremendous success of Zimbabwe's land reform programme, the
government has finally begun to acknowledge that the agricultural sector is
in a state of great distress. For many decades that sector was the
foundation and mainstay of the economy. It employed more workers than any
other economic sector. It was the principal source of foreign currency
which, for a heavily import-dependent country, is its lifeblood. That
foreign currency was earned from the export of very considerable quantities
of high quality tobacco, of the world's foremost cotton, of maize and other
grains to neighbouring territories, of sugar, citrus and much other produce.
It generated vast amounts of expenditure into the downstream economy,
distributive, financial and services sectors. But all that was in years gone
past. Progressively, as the government pursued its programme of land
acquisition, redistribution and resettlement, and especially so as it
intensified its pursuit of that programme from 2000 onwards, agricultural
productivity declined more and more. Much of the previously very extensive
agricultural infrastructure was destroyed. While some new settlers had
genuine desires to work the lands acquired, to achieve economic empowerment
through agricultural production, and to play a meaningful role in the
advancement of the Zimbabwean economy, greater numbers either sought to "get
rich quick" by demolishing the improvements that former commercial farmers
had effected, at very great cost, or were without either skills or, in the
alternative, resources necessary for productive land usage. Those
desirous of rapid enrichment dismantled fencing, power lines, pumps, sheds,
irrigation systems and much else and sold them in complete disregard for the
negative consequences to the future usage of the lands they had
occupied. And those lacking the skills or resources required looked to
the farmers they had displaced, and to the government, to enable them to
prepare the lands, plant, cultivate and harvest crops. But most of the
displaced farmers had been deprived of the means to assist the new
settlers. Moreover, having been robbed of lands which they had lawfully
acquired, it was unrealistic in the extreme to expect their support. They
had been deprived of their source of livelihood and dispossessed of not only
lands they had legitimately obtained, but also of the improvements they had
effected to those lands, and of their machinery, equipment, irrigation
systems, stores and crops. The justification of the state for these
actions was the allegation that the lands had been stolen from the
indigenous population of yesteryear. This was almost wholly devoid of
substance and credibility for, when the colonial era commenced, the
indigenous population was of a size that most of the lands which are now
Zimbabwe were uncultivated, unutilised, and unoccupied. In such
circumstances, to expect evicted, poverty-stricken former farmers to aid the
new occupants of their lands was unrealistic in the extreme. But, year after
year, the government would not admit the failure of the programme and in
particular, the responsible minister and public servants for agriculture,
and the cabinet, dared not acknowledge that the programme, which they had so
loudly acclaimed, was a disaster. Instead, each year excuses were
imaginatively created to explain away the failure to produce the bountiful
crops that had been foreshadowed, but which had not materialised. So
great were the annual expectations that in 2004 the government grandiosely
informed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Food
Programme (WFP) that Zimbabwe no longer needed food aid, save for Aids
orphans, as it was wholly food sufficient. Projected crops were heralded of
at least 1,8 million tonnes of maize, and 600 000 tonnes of other grains,
being volumes not produced in any of the previous four years. Equally
far-fetched projections were ascribed to other crops, including a forecast
of a tobacco crop of at least 160 million kg (albeit early a third less than
the record 2000 crop of 237 million kg.) By early 2005 the government
admitted, with some embarrassment, that the crop would, for various specious
reasons, be between 120 million kg and 135 million kg. And, furthermore, at
least 60% of the crop is low "filler" quality. In like manner, Zimbabwe is
faced with chronic shortages of milk and other dairy products, necessitating
the imports by Dairibord. Many other agricultural scarcities exist,
including beef. However, being a past master at denying responsibility and
blame, and attributing fault to causes beyond its control, the government
has had no hesitation at ascribing the disasters of the latest agricultural
season to drought. A low quality tobacco crop of half the originally
projected size, a maize crop of about one-third only of the nation's need
and of prior assurances, and similarly great differentials between other
crop forecasts and actual outturn, are now attributed by the government to
drought. It cannot be denied that drought has had some significant effects,
but not to the extent that the government pretends, for substantial crops
could have been produced under irrigation if a sufficiency of seeds had been
planted, irrigated, fertilised, properly tended and brought to a harvestable
state. However, seeds that are not planted cannot grow, importation of
fertilisers after crops are fully grown and the like cannot yield
crops. The government should stop prevaricating and acknowledge facts. It
should vigorously pursue the very commendable and down-to-earth statements
of Vice President Joseph Msika that the government needs white and black
commercial farmers, working side-by-side, cooperating, and although not
specifically stated by him, that must be in an environment of security,
justice, equity and mutual respect. That would be the first and decisive
step towards restoring agriculture to its former glory. But doing so must be
timeously followed by compensating for destroyed infrastructure and
misappropriated equipment, and by equally timeous enablement of importation
of essential inputs as required for the 2005/2006 agricultural
season.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Workers' unrest at Mazowe Estates Roadwin Chirara MAZOWE
Estates, horticultural concern Interfresh's main subsidiary, is beset by
fresh problems after workers this week downed tools to protest poor
remuneration.
The workers are demanding a re-grading to a salary
range for agro-based employees instead of the current farm workers salary
classification.
Workers classified as general farm workers are paid
$192 000 per month while those employed in the agro-based sector are paid
$289 656,25 per month.
The stalemate between the employees and the
company is reported to have spilled over to the National Employment Council
who ruled in favour of the workers.
The decision, however, has
not gone down well with senior management at Interfresh, leading to an
appeal being lodged with the National Employment Council for
Agriculture.
Operations on the estate ground to a halt on Wednesday
over the salary dispute.
Interfresh chairman Lishon Chipango
confirmed the strike and the disruption to operations at the Mazowe
Estates.
"We are aware of the strike and we have sent the chief
operations officer with a labour relations officer to the estates," he
said.
Chipango said there was no reason for the employees resorting
to industrial action when the matter was before the National Employment
Council for arbitration.
"The matter is before the NEC and we are
awaiting the determination of the council on what action the company should
take next," said Chipango.
On whether the company had appealed an
earlier decision handed down by the employment council in favour of the
workers, Chipango said they were contesting the judgement.
He
however downplayed the action by the workers, saying only 25 employees were
involved in the industrial action.
"It's only the juicing factory
that is on strike as far as we know. This constitutes only 25 workers out of
over 3 000 employees on the estates," Chipango said.
Interfresh
was last week raided by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe amid allegations that
it had failed to account for thousands of dollars in foreign
currency.
The irregularities involving cash receipts have seen the
company's chief executive Evan Christophides leaving his
job.
Contrary to Chipango's claims that Christophides was staying on
for six months after tendering his resignation, he is said to have
immediately severed ties with the company.
The central bank has
for the past month been pursuing every outstanding foreign currency
remittance issue in a desperate bid to squeeze forex to buy fuel, food and
other imports.
Interfresh is heavily involved in citrus production
and marketing to the local and international markets. It also produces
flowers for the European market.
The company has however fallen
victim to the land reform programme, losing some of its productive land to
settlers in the Mazowe area where it has its main citrus
plantations.
The company has also undergone several board and
management changes since a consortium linked to former Kingdom Financial
Holdings executives took over the group.
Zim Independent (issue dated 13 May but only now available on the
internet)
Editor's Memo
Where's Chen?
I CAME across an
uninspiring essay by Chen Chimutengwende this week titled In Defence of
Pan-Africanism and Socialism.
It called for a second liberation struggle
to "transform Africa into being the main base for the total liberation of
the rest of the Black World".
In his Communist rant, Chimutengwende
proffered socialism as the most effective way of dealing with the
continent's problems.
"It is true that socialism is the only serious
alternative to capitalism," he wrote.
"It is also the only force
that can defeat neo-colonialism in economic, political, cultural and in all
other relevant fields.
"Socialism is the system which can seriously
be engaged in a planned and systematic movement for the speedy reduction and
eventual elimination of mass poverty, squalor, unemployment, illiteracy,
corruption, injustice, rural neglect and ethnic wars. It can decisively
confront HIV/Aids and other endemic diseases."
He added: "The
immediate objective of the second liberation struggle should be the urgent
establishment and the speedy socio-economic development of a socialist
united new Africa which is sometimes referred to as the United States of
Africa. This will transform Africa into being the main base for the total
liberation of the rest of the Black World."
Chen is the president of
an obscure organisation called the United New Africa Global Network. I have
also learnt that apart from being its leader, he is its
financier.
The network's activities are funded mainly from his
business, Africa Star Holdings Ltd. The network's website says Chen's line
of business is in agriculture, mining, telecommunications, trade and
business consultancy.
"These funds are provided to the network as a
family contribution to Pan-Africanism and the realisation of a United New
Africa," the website says.
I am sure we all still recall that
a month ago Chimutengwende was sworn in as Minister of Public and
Interactive Affairs. Was that a presidential thank-you to a committed cadre
who eschews all forms of neo-colonialism and imperialism?
But
what is Chen's day job? It's definitely not dancing to rhumba music and I
would like to believe that it is not authoring leftist literature for his
network.
Since his appointment he has not said a word on what his
ministry is all about. He has not uttered a policy statement. His portfolio
has remained an enigma. The silence is a loud confirmation that he is not
expected to do much or that he is still waiting for a job description from
the president.
Chen has to explain to us what interaction he is
involved in. Is he going to help the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the
current craze - the Look East policy - or how to forge closer ties with
Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez? Chen believes these two are
model states which African nations should emulate. Chen's portfolio could
also be an acculturation institute to replace the former Department of
Information which Jonathan Moyo used to cleanse the nation of neo-colonial
influence. Hopefully that does not entail Kanda Bongoman or Yondo Sister
replacing Hondo yeMinda.
Instead of the tired Pan-Africanist
rhetoric which most influential African countries have dropped in preference
to Nepad, Chimutengwende should be telling us how his ministry will
contribute to President Mugabe's development agenda. How does he plan to
stage his revolution this time and what was his contribution in the last
revolution? Someone is playing catch-up here.
Can Chen be more
interactive and tell us exactly what he does at the Office of the President
because at the moment he is a redundant appendage in Mugabe's
plot.
Remember the president also has other extras on his stage
in the form of Elliot Manyika who does not have a portfolio, Webster Shamu,
whose job is described as policy implementation, and Sithembiso Nyoni,
brought in to achieve gender balance in cabinet. Nyoni does not even have a
constituency.
This circus is happening right under the noses of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change and civic society groups which
have lost their voices after the election. To remain relevant, the
opposition in particular has to adopt a more robust position against these
political ills.
Parliament will be sitting soon and it is incumbent
upon the opposition to question the role of Chen and others. As Minister
without Portfolio, what does Manyika do for example other than compose songs
and push the party slogan?
What policies has Shamu implemented
since his appointment? Where is the Anti-Corruption Commission which we were
told last year would be appointed soon?
These are pertinent
issues which should concern opposition MPs, unless the MDC is contemplating
appointing a Shadow minister of Interactive Affairs!