-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE
FOLLOWING LISTINGS OF SECTION 8 orders of Compulsory Acquisition under the
recently amended Land Acquisition Act are the first orders to be listed under
the new Act.
Farmers must take note that it is no longer necessary under
the new law for the acquiring authority to serve Section 5 Notices, Section 8
orders or Section 7 admin court papers.
All Farmers listed below are
advised to avail themselves of the Section 8 orders from the acquiring
authority. Those farmers requiring legal advice as to how to proceed should
contact JAG as a matter of urgency or their legal practitioners, especially
those farmers still on their farms and particularly vulnerable.
Take
note also that the new acquiring authority is J L NKOMO, Minister of Special
Affairs in the Presidnet's Office in Charge of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement.
LAND ACQUISITION ACT (CHAPTER 20:10) Vesting of land,
taking of materials and exercise of rights over land
NOTICE is
hereby given, in terms of paragraph (iii) of subsection (1) of section 8 of
the Land Acquisition Act (Chapter 20:10), that the President has acquired
compulsorily the land described in the Schedule for resettlement
purposes.
J L NKOMO, Minister of Special Affairs in the President's
Office in Charge of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement.
DATE;
PAPER NO.; TITLE NO; OWNER; DISTRICT; FARM NAME; AREA; 30.04.2004. 1.
4771/80. Maynard Estates (Private) Limited: Hartley: Remaining Extent of
Subdivision A of Dorothy Hill: 478,2698 ha
30.04.2004. 2. 279/82. Just
Right Estates (Private) Limited: Hartley: Just Right Estates: 2 060,4990
ha
30.04.2004. 3. 2693/88. Just Right Estates (Private) Limited:
Hartley: Bexhill: 1 240,2381 ha
30.04.2004. 4. 779/72. Josias
Stephanis Du Toit: Hartley: Eureka of Alabama Extension: 506,9899
ha
30.04.2004. 5. 609/66. Matanda (Private) Limited: Hartley: Lot 1
of Orange Grove: 2 039,6170 acres
30.04.2004. 6. 847/98. Tom
Bearrie Family Farms: Hartley: Chigwell Estate: 4
756,7470ha
30.04.2004. 7. 4585/81. Jean McAlister Baldwin: Hartley:
Clevedon: 705,3369 ha
30.04.2004. 8. 4585/81. Jean McAlister
Baldwin: Hartley: The Remainder of Maratonga: 857,0166 ha
30.04.2004. 21. 2826/98. Tilland
Enterprises (Private) Limited: Hartley: Remainder of Farm Eastborne of Farm
of Lambourne of Railway Farm 16: 796,5620 ha
JAG Hotlines: (011) 612 595 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
Please send any job
opportunities for publication in this newsletter to: JAG Job Opportunities
<justice@telco.co.zw>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.
Repeat Advert Advert Received 20th April 2004
PART TIME BOOK KEEPING AND
OFFICE WORK POSITION, WITH HOUSE, AVAILABLE FOR COMPANY SITUATED AT MELFORT.
PLEASE PHONE FOR APPOINTMENT. TEL NOS. 073 2777 073 22595 CELL 011
615367 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.
Advert Received 24th April 2004 POSITION WANTED - Mornings Only Bookkeeper
with 30years experience. The lady has been doing books manually for
accountancy firms, commercial companies and for farmers. She is happy to
work at home and take in updated work to the employer as needed. Please
contact on 04- 304344 or email smonks@mango.zw ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We
have two farms with a total of 930ha in East Griqualand, Kwa-Zulu
Natal RSA.
Seed potatoes and eating potatoes are the main crops, with
a small amount of maize,
Beef and fat lamb production being secondary
enterprises.
We are looking for a manager who has an agricultural
qualification and must be a very practical hands on type of person, who is
interested in the above enterprises and has a working knowledge of
mechanics/building and general maintenance.
We can offer a house and
salary is negotiable
Please write or e-mail a cv to AFW
Scott --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.
Advert Received 25th April 2004 AVAILABLE - Executive lady in early 50's
looking for well paid position. Has owned her own business, office skills,
bookkeeper and manager in last position with company exporting textile
commodity to UK, computer literate, no dependants. Tel: Linda 091321640
evenings
251377 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.
Advert Received 28th April 2004 POSITION AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY FOR
EXPERIENCED HOUSEWORKER IN THE UMWINSIDALE AREA. GOOD REMUNERATION OFFERED -
ACCOMMODATION AVAILABLE. PLEASE CONTACT SUE OR SARAH ON 04
494848 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.
Advert Received 28th April 2004 We are looking for a suitable elderly or
retired (not necessary) man to supervise and maintain the smooth running of a
block of flats in the avenues.
Please can you advertise this
position.
My contact details are:
Sandy
Coggan Adminstrator 091 308826 499324 (pm) dhorizon@mweb.co.zw johnwild@zol.co.zw --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.
Advert Received 29th April 2004 Fuel Recorder Required to assist with fuel
deliveries/supplies Contact C McMillan on 091 352 225 or 04
660535 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.
Advert Received 29th April 2004 Cook and Houseworker looking for position in
Harare. Long time (35 years) honest, hardworking and cheerful family cook -
worked most of life on a farm and for the last 10 years in Harare. For
further details contact Charl Grobbelaar (308594 or 091220512) or Vereson
Phiri
(339428). --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The
Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals requests
that all cases of cruelty or abuse of animals, both domestic and livestock,
are reported to them.
Recently there has been an increase of deliberate
cruelty to livestock, but unfortunately many of these incidents are not
reported to ZNSCPA and we only get to hear about them through a third party
long after the abuse has taken place.
Cruelty to animals, including
wild life in captivity, is a punishable offence in Zimbabwe and we are
pleased to report that the Police and the Courts are dealing swiftly and
decisively with these cases when we present our dockets to
them.
Whilst ZNSPCA remains totally non-political, we continue to respond
quickly and professionally to requests for help on farms where the welfare
of animals is being compromised in any way.
Meryl Harrison Chief
Inspector ZNSPCA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
JAG Hotlines: (011) 612 595 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- JAG
OLF
262 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY
"The conduct of the just man is irritating, because it
resounds as a warning to the arrogant & perverse"
(Pope John Paul
II, 21st April 2004, at St Peter's
Square.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN
LETTER FORUM
Letter 1. Subject: Statesmanship &
Stewardship Editor,
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has hinted at
coming on to the world stage by commenting on the situation in Zimbabwe at a
most opportune moment. His pearls of wisdom are quoted from Mr. Mbeki's
sumptuous banquet in South Africa.
President Mwanawasa believed that
the situation in Zimbabwe was greatly misunderstood, particularly by the
West.
*"I refuse to accept that Britain, the EU and the US have role to
play."
*"We (Zambia) can now feed ourselves. This is one of the main
successes of MY administration."
*"When you ostracise Zimbabwe the
person you are punishing is not Robert Mugabe. You are punishing the ordinary
people of Zimbabwe."
It appears that the Third Chimurenga may well have
had an effect on Zambia. The maize production figures for Zambia are given
as:
Taking the fact that a significant number of displaced
farmers from Zimbabwe have moved to Zambia, I wonder how the West will feel
about Zimbabwe's monotonous cry about the drought being the chief problem
facing Zimbabwe in spite of four years of outstanding agricultural
stewardship under Dr. Made, ably assisted by the Green Bombers, and many more
aspiring agriculturalists in Zanu (PF) of course.
Mr. Mwanawasa is
particularly quick to acknowledge such an outstanding increase in production
is due to his administration and simultaneously give his support to Mr.
Mugabe's regime and its behaviour. Naturally it will be an awful shame if the
West was to misunderstand the Zambian President as well as the situation in
Zimbabwe. It could be that he needs to clarify the entire situation with the
West and that maybe the Zimbabwean Minister of Information would be the best
qualified to assist him. In the interim I will attempt to divulge the
truth.
Understanding
Foreigner. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter
2. Subject: Letters - A Suggestion Dear JAG people and
ex-farmers,
The most powerful weapon we have in our battle is the truth.
The enemy we face is ignorance and prejudice. That is why Mugabe's propaganda
has been so successful; mainly people believe what they want to believe, as
we have seen so clearly in the case of Mbeki and South Africa.
I feel
strongly that a targeted letter-writing campaign would be very effective,
directed at world leaders such as Khoffi Anan, all Commonwealth and African
heads of state and influential American senators and congress men and women.
Also local MP's, MEP's, newspapers, radio and TV stations and news services
such as CNN and Reuters need to receive factual information. It does work,
because I complained to CNN about an objectionable and incorrect phrase they
used and they stopped using it.
One letter received will probably not be
read, but if a hundred are received then some attention will be drawn.
Newspapers and the media may not publish anything, but the contents of the
letters will remain in the minds of those who read them. Emails are too
easily blocked to be effective. Actual posted paper letters are far
better.
What is needed is a pool of well-written and relevant letters
that can be copied, printed and posted. What is also essential is an
accessible list of people and their postal addresses. I believe that JAG has
these facilities and could set this up relatively easily.
I need
hardly say that the letters should address the facts and point out the
untruths that have been so widely propagated. Emotional rantings will do far
more harm than good.
Our national motto is indeed "I am not the one!" and
that's in a large measure why we are where we are today. To resolve any
problem requires action, and I would think that all the ex-farmers would see
the necessity of that action. Also, like me they no doubt feel pretty
strongly about losing a lifetime's work for no good reason.
Best
regards,
Charles Frizell (involuntarily in
UK)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter
3. Subject: Faith, Hope & Charity Dear Jag,
It is now apparent
that the Government of Zimbabwe has immense talent to take the centre of the
stage to draw international attention. The cricket and the Chris Kureneri
affairs are proving to be international flavours of interest at the moment,
and the Government are to be commended on attaining such a high
profile.
It seems logical that such attention will draw more focus to a
whole host of other unique and niche like activities that the Government has
perfected in its twenty four year tenure in office. What the Honourable
Minister of Information and his harem of Herald reporters will need to give
some serious thought to, is the manner in which these queries will be
answered.
Some years ago I had the privelege to meet a Dutch lady by the
name of Ciska, who had been in the underground movement against the Nazis.
The Nazis shot her fiance not long before the end of the war, she told me.
I asked her what it was like in Europe in that period. She said that it
was terrible because you did not know who you could faithfully
trust.
The general situation in Zimbabwe is indicative of a somewhat
similar environment that the then young Ciska encountered in a Nazi
governed Europe. Suspicion surrounding a series of what may be termed
"most unfortunate incidents" will inevitably lead to Zimbabweans not being
sure who they can trust. I am reliably informed that there is still
considerable uncertainty surrounding the untimely deaths of the likes of
Tongagara, Nyagumbo, Pamire, Mahachi, Gezi, Malunga, Pamire, Ushewokunze,
E.Sithole and of course that most unfortunate incident of drowning.
Clarification of the circumstances surrounding these incidents, and the
military operations in Matabeleland could well go a long way to restoring
some hope and faith within the country, and internationally.
Police
spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena has commented on an alleged US $ 1 100 000
externalisation of funds from the country by saying that "details on how the
the externalisation of the forex occurred are not available..." Mr.
Bvudzijena is to be commended for such circumspection but it seems likely
that there was more than one person involved in such a substantial mercantile
transaction. That being so, there must be a few others still loose with the
magic formula in their sticky paws. International law enforcement will
rightly contend that this is only the tip of the ice berg - particularly the
Canadian Police if a Canadian national is involved.
*The talk of
externalisation of such a magnitude implicating the Minister of Finance,
against the background of the displacement of nearly two million people on
the commercial farms and the ensuing suffering and starvation of half the
population, some how fails to portray an ethos of "Charity begins at home" to
the first world.
*When Charity does not begin at home, sadly, there can
be little Hope or Faith in
Government.
Hopeless. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice for
Agriculture. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
JAG Hotlines: (011) 612 595 If you are in trouble or need
advice, (011) 205 374 (011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us
- (011) 431 068 we're here to help! 263
4 799 410 Office Lines
Zimbabwe tour gets government green light Press
Association Friday April 30, 2004 8:27 PM
The Government has
opened the way for England's controversial tour of Zimbabwe to go ahead in
October.
In a letter to his Conservative opposite number, Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw said the Government did not like the idea of the tour
but did not believe the English game should be bankrupted by International
Cricket Council penalties if the tour was called off. The England and Wales
Cricket Board have long admitted they would prefer not to tour the
strife-torn African nation, but according to ICC rules agreed on in New
Zealand last month they need explicit Government advice to do so without
financial penalties.
In a reply to Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael
Ancram, Straw wrote: "We fully understand the very difficult decision the ECB
has to take, particularly in the light of the ICC's meeting in Auckland in
March. This meeting appears to have given the ECB a choice between a tour
which is difficult to defend on moral grounds and financial penalties which
might bankrupt the game. I do not like the idea of an England team
touring Zimbabwe any more than you do, but I do not believe that the future
of English cricket should be put in jeopardy as a result of the failure
of others to acknowledge the appalling situation there."
Ancram had
suggested a new Government statement might allow the ECB to claim to the ICC
they were being pressured into pulling out. But Straw said the Government had
no powers to ban any other sporting organisation from touring Zimbabwe or any
other country.
He added in the letter: "There is no evidence that any
ministerial statement would be sufficient for the International Cricket
Council to allow the ECB to postpone the tour. In those circumstances, I do
not believe it would be right that the British taxpayer should have to carry
the financial liability which could flow from cancellation of the
tour."
The letter effectively ends any uncertainty about whether the tour
will take place and ECB chairman David Morgan on Friday insisted England have
no choice but to tour.
Morgan said: "We have to look at what's
happening to international cricket at the moment. Sri Lanka are in Zimbabwe
and Australia are planning to go. Why shouldn't England go? Against that
background, the board members and directors of the ECB we believe that,
provided it is safe and secure, this tour has to go ahead. I do not believe
England touring or not touring will make any difference [to the situation in
Zimbabwe]."
A BOARD of inquiry appointed to look into allegations
of misappropriation of funds by the Zimbabwe National Network of People
Living with HIV and Aids (ZNNP+) has advised donor organisations to stop
funding the non-governmental organisation.
The board resolved that
donors should stop funding ZNNP+ until investigations into the alleged abuse
of funds are complete.
The board of inquiry was appointed by the Ministry
of Health and Child Welfare following media reports of alleged embezzlement
of public funds by the NGO run by people living with HIV and
Aids.
Preliminary investigations by the board of inquiry appointed on
Friday last week have so far revealed that ZNNP+ misappropriated at least
$126 million between October last year and February this year.
The
chairperson of the board of inquiry, Captain Revesai Mutede of the Zimbabwe
National Army, yesterday said organisations that were funding ZNNP+, which
include the National Aids Council and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC),
have been advised to stop availing monetary assistance with immediate
effect.
"We, the board of inquiry consisting of officials from the
Zimbabwe National Army, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Zimbabwe Aids
Network and the centre, have ordered the donor organisations to stop funding
ZNNP+ until investigations into the misappropriation of funds are complete,"
said Captain Mutede.
Vice-President Cde Joseph Msika this week
expressed concern over abuse of funds by ZNNP+.
He said funds should
be disbursed to the intended beneficiaries instead of benefiting undeserving
individuals.
Cde Msika also warned that Government would not tolerate
abuse of public funds by anyone.
"As you have already noticed,
Government now has a ministry that fights corruption and will not hesitate to
bring any abusers of public funds to book," Cde Msika was quoted as saying at
the official opening of the seventh annual ZNNP+ conference in Shamva this
week.
Harare - Namibia is ready to help defend Zimbabwe
militarily if it is attacked by "imperialists", President Sam Nujoma was
reported as saying on Friday.
"We want to tell colonialists that we
are ready 24 hours if they dare attack any of our countries, they will meet
us here," Nujoma was quoted as saying by the state-owned Herald and
Chronicle.
"We should never again allow Africa to fall into the hands of
imperialists. This is our land, we have no other land. Therefore we have
resolved to continue fighting whether the colonialists want it or not,"
Nujoma was quoted as saying.
Nujoma was in Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo to officially open an annual international trade
exhibition.
"Namibian forces, he said, would fight side by side with
their Zimbabwean counterparts as they did in the Democratic Republic of Congo
if colonialists attacked Zimbabwe," both newspapers quoted Nujoma as
saying.
Zimbabwe has in recent years slid deeper into isolation with
sanctions slapped on its leadership by the United States and the European
Union over alleged rights abuses.
President Robert Mugabe says he has
become a victim of British neo-colonialist tendencies after he embarked in
2000 on a controversial land reform program in which farms from whites of
mainly British descent were seized and given to landless
blacks.
Mugabe told Nujoma that his government was ready to share with
Namibia, its "experiences and expertise in the areas of land planning, land
evaluation and redisribution, as well as land tenure, land use and estate
management", the newspapers said.
Six Zimbabwean land experts went to
Namibia early this month to evaluate expropriated land and assist Windhoek's
farmland reform programme. - Sapa-AFP
Cricket: Scandalous confrontation in Zimbabwe
cricket
HARARE : A physical incident between Zimbabwe national selector
Stephen Mangongo and director Ozias Bvute has caused a scandal in Zimbabwe
cricket, it emerged.
The incident happened outside ZCU chairman Peter
Chingoka's executive rooms at Harare Sports Club just after the fifth and
final one-day international between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka on
Thursday.
There were several officials, guests and security staff
standing nearby who watched in astonishment at what was certainly some heavy
pushing and shoving between the two men.
One ZCU official, who did not
want to be named, said that he was told by several different people who were
there that punches had been thrown.
Witnesses at the scene said that the
argument between Mangongo and Bvute was about selection of the team for the
first Test against Sri Lanka, which starts here on Thursday next
week.
It centred on whether the striking white players, who were due to
return to practice, would take the majority of team places. Mangongo thought
it should be about eight, according to those standing nearby, and Bvute
advocated not more than three or four.
The argument became heated,
resulting in what some people saw as blows, but what Mangongo and Bvute
recall as a "physical confrontation."
The two ZCU figures issued a joint
statement later through the ZCU.
They said: "There were pertinent issues
on the agenda and both of us held divergent views on those issues. In the
heat of the argument obviously voices would be raised but the point remains
that we were each trying to push home our point.
"It is not true that
punches were thrown and we can categorically say that whatever physical
confrontation there was did not amount to fisticuffs. The relationship
between us remains cordial as it has always been."
Twelve of the 15 white
players who have been effectively on strike for the last four weeks turned up
for fitness tests followed by practice under national coach Geoff Marsh on
Friday.
The other three, Richard Sims, Neil Ferreira and Charles
Coventry, are in England discussing contracts with various clubs.
The
white players, who are trying to get former captain Heath Streak reinstated
and changes made to the national selection panel, had promised to practice
while the ZCU considers their new proposals for a deal, submitted in a letter
on Tuesday.
They have given the Union until Tuesday to accept these, or
they will quit practice, according to senior professional Grant
Flower.
Windhoek - Zimbabwe last year had the worst record in terms of
media freedom among ten southern African nations, a report by the
Windhoek-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) said on
Friday.
In its latest annual report "So This Is Democracy? State of media
freedom in Southern Africa", the body said 54% of the total 188 alerts issued
last year on possible violations of press freedoms concerned
Zimbabwe.
But Misa said in the report, issued ahead of World Press
Freedom Day on Monday, the 188 alerts in 2003 were nearly 10% lower than in
2002, when there were 208 alerts.
Author Jeanette Minnie said the
forced closure of Zimbabwe's private independent Daily News on September 12
2003 on charges that it was being published illegally "was undoubtedly the
worst news" of the year.
While the newspaper was allowed to publish
again, it has been off the newsstands since February 5, the day the Supreme
Court upheld a law stipulating that all journalists in the country must be
accredited with a state-appointed media commission.
The Daily News had
applied to the media commission for a licence but it was turned
down.
The survey said the "Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, like all
newspapers controlled by the state, has remained closed to any other voices
apart from the government and ruling party."
Assault on
privacy
It said the "assault on people's privacy and the right to receive
and impart information was confirmed in the revelation in the Daily Mirror of
9 December 2003 that the government intended to acquire ...
state-of-the-art equipment to monitor e-mail and internet traffic."
In
the 10 southern African countries, Misa reported that 33 journalists
were attacked in 2003, 53 were detained and 37 were censored.
The
media watchdog also cited eight victories for press freedoms, either through
the adoption of legislation strengthening media rights or by dropping charges
against journalists.
"No journalists were killed as a result of their
work in 2003," said Zoe Titus, the institute's regional programme manager in
charge of monitoring media freedom.
Countries monitored by Misa
include Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Misa is reviving its media freedom
monitoring activities in Angola.
It is the tenth straight year in which
Misa has issued an annual survey.
By Netsai Kembo Last
updated: 05/01/2004 04:18:16 MUTARE villagers along the border with
Mozambique are living in fear of a satanic activism group on the prowl in
their areas who forcibly suck blood from targeted victims they leave for
"dead", a sensational Daily Mirror newspaper report says.
Villagers
said the satanic activism extremists had descended in their areas a week ago
and usually prey on illegal border jumpers to and from Mozambique and the
locals by night, the paper said.
Police in Mutare could neither deny nor
confirm the report saying there was need for thorough investigations first to
avoid panic by the general public.
"We first need to thoroughly
investigate that as some people are just fond of fabricating issues that can
cause unrest and panic to members of the public," said acting Manicaland
provincial police spokesman assistant inspector Brian
Makomeke.
However, villagers said official reports have already been made
to both the Zimbabwean and Mozambican authorities who have since instituted a
joint manhunt for the culprits.
Since Thursday last week, the
villagers said, the group had preyed on four people in Timba village just
across the Honde River in Honde Valley and two others in Imbeza near
Penhalonga.
In all the cases they had allegedly first injected their
victims with an unknown drug that they became weak to resist. They then used
some syringes to suck blood into containers and left their victims
unconscious.
According to the villagers, the members of the group usually
move in pairs and are suspected to be operating from Mutare.
One
regular cross border to Mozambique, Charles Seza, said he had last Tuesday
miraculously escaped from the daring "blood suckers' at Imbeza on returning
from a business trip in Mozambique.
To avoid suspicion, he said, the duo
had approached him and asked him to help them replace a deflated tyre on
their Isuzu KB truck saying they did not have enough tools.
They had
also offered to give him a lift to town after helping them.
"I had at
first opted to help but my instincts instantly worked. On checking the tyre I
found out that it was just slightly deflated and without saying a word I
immediately started walking away. The two then ordered me to stop
and followed behind me holding some instruments resembling clinical
apparatus," said Seza.
South Africa has emerged with good marks in an
international report card on corruption, openness and accountability in 25
countries.
The Centre for Public Integrity (CPI) released its first
Global Integrity report this week and placed South Africa sixth overall,
making it the only developing country to score highly enough to enter the
group of states characterised as having "strong" levels of public
accountability.
Bottom of the list, which only considered countries at
least nominally regarded as democracies, came Zimbabwe, characterised,
together with Guatemala, as "very weak".
The CPI is an independent
organisation that does investigative reporting and research on public policy
issues in the United States and around the world. The Global Access project
that produced the report is led by South African researcher Marianne
Camerer.
The scoring is based on six areas identified as important for
supporting public integrity and preventing corruption: the vibrancy of civil
society, the freedom of the media and access to information and media;
electoral and political processes; the correct functioning of branches of
government; administration and civil service; the existence and independence
of oversight and regulatory mechanisms; and finally specific
anti-corruption measures and respect for the rule of law.
A closer
reading of the report, however, suggests little room for complacency as the
qualitative assessments, often written by leading national investigative
journalists, undercut the positive score attained by the formal architecture
of accountability in many countries. One is left with a global sense of what
the report calls "imperfect democracies", where the unifying norm is the
tendency of political and business elites to use the system to enrich
themselves.
What distinguishes the US from Zimbabwe is less the levels of
corruption and more the greater sophistication and restrained ruthlessness of
the grubbing at the public trough - as well as the greater ability of a very
rich country to sustain such abuse.
Thus, while the US scores highest
overall in supporting the formal institutions of democracy and
accountability, this assessment is tempered by a biting critical analysis of
the way in which vested interests have established a kind of "legal"
corruption in that country.
This critique, written by CPI founder Charles
Lewis, charts how the US has institutionalised a system of industry lobbyists
and election campaign funding that has virtually fused the interests of big
business and party politics, to the detriment of ordinary citizens.
In
a statement that carries more than a few echoes for South Africa, Lewis warns
that because the Republicans have managed to exert "tightly disciplined
control" over the entire national government "there is a powerful
disincentive against political independence, candour, or even curiosity, lest
it be misinterpreted as disloyal criticism".
He notes, for example, that
none of the US's much-touted institutions of oversight "held any hearings or
issued any reports regarding those highly publicised, controversial contracts
in Iraq [going] to major campaign contributors".
Similar caveats apply
to the generally upbeat South African assessment, written by
Camerer.
She notes that: "Almost a decade after transition to democratic
rule, South Africa has a vibrant and active civil society and progressive and
diverse media, unfettered in keeping vigilant watch over those in power. With
the right of access to information assured by the Constitution and the
Promotion of Access to Information Act, the safeguards to secure an open
society in which all citizens can enjoy their rights of freedom of expression
and association are guaranteed in law, and exercised in
practice."
However, she notes that government departments have responded
poorly to a recent test of access to information: 61% of public bodies polled
did not respond to requests filed under the Act, and the legal measures
required to enforce compliance are "both time-consuming and beyond the
financial means of most citizens".
Where South Africa falls down most
markedly compared with other states is in the category of electoral
processes, where the lack of rules for the receipt and disclosure of party
funding is the main area of failure.
However, in the latter case, given
the example of the US, where the deleterious effect of influence-buying has
arguably hardly been lessened by its open and public nature, it seems that
disclosure on its own is not enough.
Comments from South African
journalists and watch-dog NGOs -such as the Eastern Cape's Public Service
Accountability Monitor -which are appended to Camerer's assessment paint a
slightly more pessimistic picture.
Says one: "A number of developments
have arisen in this period, which represent cause for concern. These include:
the centralisation of state power within an expanded presidency and the
increasing concentration of political power within the ruling party's
executive committee; the weakening of parliamentary oversight committees and
increasing passivity of constitutional protection bodies [such as the Office
of the Public Protector], particularly in regard to cases of corruption and
impropriety involving members of the executive; the increasing reliance by
civil society and marginalised sectors of South African society on the
intervention of the Constitutional Court as a means of ensuring access to
public services and socio-economic rights; and an increasingly fragmented and
passive civil society."
While Camerer notes the freedom of civil
society organisations to mobilise, other commentators note with concern the
measures taken by the state to spy on and intimidate more radical
organisations such as the Landless People's Movement.
Both Camerer and
her peer-reviewers note the severe test placed on South Africa's institutions
of accountability by the arms deal imbroglio, including the decision not to
prosecute Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
However, a glance at other
countries, such as Italy, which scored higher than South Africa, is somewhat
reassuring - or perhaps equally dismaying.
A report by Italian journalist
Leo Sisti provides an absolutely scathing account of how Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi has shamelessly manipulated legal and political processes
to escape and postpone charges of corruption relating to the bribery of two
sets of judges - and to make further investigation and prosecution more
difficult.
Corruption, it seems, knows no national or cultural
boundaries.
STREAK BACK IN ACTION Former Zimbabwe captain Heath
Streak returns to action on Saturday when he plays for Zimbabwe A in a
three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka at Takashinga.
Streak was
included in the Zimbabwe A squad together with three other rebel players -
Sean Ervine, Raymond Price and Trevor Gripper - while the other 11 exiles
were overlooked despite having resumed training in Harare today.
Also
included in the team is Matabeleland top-order batsman Mark Vermeulen who was
not part of the rebel group and made himself available for selection earlier
this week in South Africa where he has been based since the home series
against Bangladesh in March.
Convenor of selectors Steven Mangongo
revealed the decision to include four rebels was made after looking at their
roles with the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in mind.
"Most
of these players haven't been active for the past six or so weeks and it will
be difficult for them to come straight back into the team," he
said.
"Streak is the best bowler we have. Ervine is the best all-rounder
we have, Price is the best spinner and Gripper had the best averages from the
Zim A team that travelled to Bangladesh in February.
"So these four
guys have good enough credentials to be in Zimbabwe's A side."
THE once green fields of Kintyre Estates have become a shadow
of their past glory after an ambitious project to turn the farm into
commercial and housing plots failed to materialise.
The farm, which
was a leading dairy producer, supplying up to 100 000 litres of milk per
month, was also a well-known wheat and soya bean producer. It was a major
fixture on the itinerary of visiting heads of state as its lush irrigated
fields and thriving herds were used to illustrate Zimbabwe's agricultural
success story.
All this ground to a halt in 1999 when the Kintyre Country
Project was launched amidst pomp and fanfare at the five-star Meikles Hotel.
To date, there has been no evidence of either farming or property development
on the farm 40 km west of Harare.
The only major activity is that of
contractors widening the Bulawayo highway in the area. The former dairy
project has an air of desolation about it.
Efforts to get clarification
on why the project has taken so long to get off the ground were unsuccessful
as this paper was referred from one office to another.
Kingdom Bank,
which in 1999 advanced a $425 million loan towards the implementation of the
project, briefly got involved on the basis of the capital provided. The bank
has since pulled out and has received its full refund.
The Zimbabwe
Independent contacted CB Richard Ellis, who were the project marketers, who
directed this paper to AMG Chartered Accountants. In turn the accountants
referred this paper to High Brass, the project managers. High Brass referred
the Independent to their chairman, Science and Technology permanent
secretary, Vincent Hungwe, for clarification. He was said to be away in
India.
CB Richard Ellis managing director Abraham Sadomba simply said:
"What we only did is that we sold 50 plots during phase one of the project.
We have not done anything on that project for the past 12 months. We do not
know what is happening there."
The project launched in 1999 was aimed
to create a horticultural hub and 10 000 jobs, but to date there is no sign
of activity taking place at the farm.
It is not clear who is supposed to
service the stands with AMG claiming that they were only responsible for
auditing accounts for Kintyre and restructuring High Brass which owns the
project.
High Brass is reported to be struggling to service and demarcate
a large chunk of the land with 50 stands ranging from 10 to17 hectares
earmarked for agriculture having been serviced.
An official of High
Brass, Peter Mashayamombe, said there were managerial structures being put in
place at the company and professed ignorance of any implementation
problems.
"There was some addition and subtraction of some land. This is
typical of any project. All infrastructure that had to be put in has been put
in," said Mashayamombe.
He blamed vandalism as the main cause for the
delay saying electrical and irrigation equipment had been damaged.
Ben
Kaschula, a provincial executive of the Commercial Farmers Union, said the
situation on the farm was symptomatic of what is happening
more generally.
"That was a productive farm and look what has come of
it. That's a typical example of productive land gone to waste," he
said.
"That farm had a good irrigation system, with hectares of land
under it but all that seems to have disappeared," said
Kaschula.
President Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania was taken there during
his state visit in 1983 amidst great publicity and presented with dairy cows.
Their fate is unknown.
Telford Vice in Cape Town Friday April 30,
2004 The Guardian
Zimbabwe's cricket crisis intensified again
yesterday when the 15 rebel players demanded that the Zimbabwe Cricket Union
either agree to arbitration by next Tuesday or face another walkout. The
move follows the players' decision to return to training today and to make
themselves available for selection for the Test series against Sri Lanka,
which starts in Harare next Thursday.
The players are at their wits' end
with a saga that burst into the open this month after smouldering in Zimbabwe
cricket circles for two years.
"We've tried to mediate for ages," one
player said. "Our lawyer tried to talk to the ZCU representatives and they
just went berserk. We've done that three times.
"We can't go back to
them and say we want to do it again. We've tried mediation, and it's been a
dog show. So let's get straight into it and go into arbitration."
He
was doubtful that the ZCU would agree to arbitration, which would force the
issue into court after a three-week period.
"Wait until they see some of
the dirt we've dug up on the board members," the player said.
The
players' terms of reference for arbitration are "selection
criteria", "transgressions by board members" and the "unlawful termination of
Heath Streak's captaincy".
The ZCU was handed the letter in the final
stages of Sri Lanka's 25-run win over Zimbabwe in the fifth and final one-day
international in Harare yesterday. Sri Lanka take the series 5-0.
"I
need time to discuss it with my colleagues on the board," said the
ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka.
The bombshell dropped at a ground that
had yawned through an utterly forgettable match, brightened only by Russel
Arnold's urgent unbeaten 51, and by Muttiah Muralitharan's incomparable
mastery.
Murali celebrated his return to the side with a haul of five for
23, and showed his usual immaculate control of prodigious turn.
Research conducted for Germany's influential
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has warned that eight million Zimbabweans -
three-quarters of the population - face severe food shortages this year as a
result of plunging grain production.
The researchers also argue that
shortages are being deliberately worsened by the Zimbabwean government and
its statutory monopoly, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), for political
purposes. They suggest that with an election looming, the government may not
ask donors for much-needed food aid this year.
"Initially people were
talking of food shortage, but 'famine' now seems a more appropriate term,"
says the research body, Zimconsult. "No one ever contemplated that Zimbabwe,
formerly the bread basket of Southern Africa, would be referred to in terms
of famine."
Based on a 10-day physical survey of Zimbabwe's
grain-producing areas, and crop forecasts from various sources, the study
projects a production shortfall of between 600 000 and 900 000 tonnes this
year. Projected demand is 1,9-million tonnes of maize and small grains, such
as rice.
However, it emphasises that the official information blackout on
production makes it difficult to quantify the projected shortfall with
certainty. "Donors, who must be thanked for saving the lives of well over six
million people over the past three years, are exasperated by the lack
of information."
The study lays the blame for the impending crisis
squarely on President Robert Mugabe's "fast-track resettlement programme",
which, it says, destroyed vital agricultural infrastructure, parcelled out
land to party loyalists who had no intention of farming, and was carried out
without planning.
It also criticises the government's manipulation of
food for political gain and apparent lack of concern for hungry
Zimbabweans.
In terms of Statutory Instrument 235A of 2001, all maize
must be sold to a "militarised" GMB, which then resells its stocks to
card-carrying members of the ruling Zanu-PF.
The government has never
disclosed how much maize was produced in the 2002/03 season or how much was
bought by the GMB, the study says. However, investigations revealed that the
board purchased 250 000 tonnes, which were not released on to the market,
despite "severe shortages of mealie meal in much of the country until
recently".
Raised to perhaps 400 000 tonnes by additional purchases this
year, these stocks will be used for election purposes.
With an
election in prospect and political control over food assuming greater
importance, the researchers raise questions about whether any government
request for food assistance will be submitted to aid organisations this
year.
They point out that last year the government delayed approaching
the United Nations development programme for food aid until July, long
after "well-documented concerns voiced by the opposition party and the
donor community".
The study also says that although planning for the
2004/05 growing season should be at an advanced stage, as recommended by
Parliament's agriculture committee, "it is common knowledge that nothing is
being done".
Zimconsult's report singles out three constraints on
production, which it traces directly to the fast-track land resettlement and
other government failures - shortages of seed and fertiliser and inadequate
tillage.
In implementing the programme, the government decreed seed
producers should not be expropriated, and classified them as agro-industries.
However, in practice Agriculture Minister Joseph Made has taken over all
white farms, including those growing for seed.
The study says newly
settled farmers produce an average of 0,4 tonnes of seed maize a hectare,
compared with the five tonnes a hectare produced by commercial farmers.
Available seed means that under optimal conditions a maximum of 960 000
tonnes of maize could have been grown this year. In addition, the shortage
means that seed is too expensive for many communal and resettled farmers,
with many buying enough only for subsistence.
On the fertiliser front,
producers told Parliament's agriculture committee that their operations have
been severely curtailed by the shortage of foreign currency needed for the
import of raw materials and spare parts. Securing only 30% of their
requirements, they had joined the "parallel market" for foreign exchange,
driving up their prices.
Aggravating this was the railways' delivery of
only 58% of required raw materials, forcing producers to use road hauliers
that are up to 15 times more expensive.
Despite these constraints, the
government has imposed strict price controls on fertilisers, which "had no
relationship with costs encountered in production."
The result is that
the fertiliser industry will produce 249 000 tonnes between January and
August this year - a deficit of 130 000 tonnes. The arrival of more farmers
on the land, through the resettlement programme, has served to heighten
demand.
The third production constraint highlighted by the researchers is
tillage, which District Development Fund (DDF) tractors are obliged to
provide for communal and resettled farmers in terms of govern- ment
policy.
However, the portfolio committee heard that 50% of DDF tractors
are grounded by a shortage of spare parts, forcing many farmers to rely on
their own draught power. Compounding this are acute shortages of
diesel.
Early rains in November last year encouraged many farmers to
plant maize. However, a subsequent dry spell has written off the early
plantings.
The Zimconsult report contains alarming accounts of the state
of crops in the ground in various producing areas.
In Mashonaland
West, traditionally Zimbabwe's largest maize grower, "the hectares being
cultivated are low and the yields well below historical levels". While more
than 300 000 tonnes of maize could have been expected, given seed
availability, overall production is unlikely to exceed 190
000 tonnes.
Zvimba communal area is described as "a complete disaster
yellow stunted stocks, already tasselling at two feet tall, exemplify the
maize crop".
The researchers place heavy emphasis on the plight of urban
Zimbabweans, saying 2,5-million of them are likely to suffer food shortages
this year.
"In urban areas, which are strongholds of the [opposition]
Movement for Democratic Change, the sale of maize by the GMB has been stopped
and maize is instead sold through Zanu-PF councillors," they say.
In
March the MDC mayor of Mutare tried to use money collected by his Christmas
Cheer Fund to buy maize from the GMB for distribution to the destitute. The
request was refused.
Fri April 30, 2004 1:56 AM HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe on
Thursday asked a British television crew to leave the country, saying it had
entered the country illegally without observing tough media laws on
registration of journalists. President Robert Mugabe's government
has largely banned foreign journalists from working permanently in Zimbabwe
and tightly controlled visiting journalists in the last two years as it
battles a political and economic crisis it blames on its
opponents.
In a statement on Thursday, Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo said a Sky television news crew had "arrogantly" flown into the
country without government authority or clearance from Zimbabwe's mission in
London.
In London, Sky was not immediately available for
comment.
"What makes the conduct of this crew appear deliberately
contemptuous and thus reprehensible is the fact that before leaving Britain,
the crew actually received a clear response from the department (of
information) outlining the government position and expectation before its
proposed visit," he said.
"Accordingly the department requires
that forthwith, the Sky News crew complies with our national laws...including
the requirement that foreign media applicants secure permission to fly into
the country for purposes ofaccreditation from their country of origin and
work."
"Failure to comply would, naturally, trigger a decisive
response from agencies whose duty it is to uphold the rule of law in the
country," he added.
Moyo and officials from his office were
unavailable for further comment on where the Sky News team was and how many
people it included.
Relations with British media have turned
particularly sour as the former colonial power has spearheaded international
sanctions targeted at Mugabe and senior members of his cabinet.
Mugabe's government has forced one of the country's leading daily newspaper
to shut and deported a number of foreign journalists under media laws
obliging journalists and media houses to register with a state information
commission.
The government insists the 2002 media laws are
necessary to restore professionalism in journalism. It accuses the private
media of leading a propaganda campaign by opponents of its policy of seizing
white-owned farms for landless blacks.
Business
Reporter THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), through the Jewel
Bank, has floated megawatt bills seeking to raise $30 billion for the purpose
of financing the expansion of the rural electrification programme.
The
bills, which opened yesterday, attracted interest rates on tender basis while
applications had to be in multiples of $10 million each.
The bills have
attractive security features such as irrevocable Government Guarantee and a
sinking fund managed by the Jewel Bank 'with ring-fenced revenue where issuer
will make contributions.'
The megawatt bills also had a tax exemption
status by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and could also be
accepted as collateral for overnight accommodation by the central
bank.
Zesa said the invited investors were not limited "to pension and
provident funds, insurance companies, life mutuals, commercial banks" but
other institutions as well as individuals are free subscribed.
The
programme is being spearheaded by Zesa executive chairman, Dr
Sydney Gata.
The Rural Electrification Scheme was mooted four years
ago but has made marginal progress ever since due to limited financial
resources.
The programme has been equipped towards the development of
growth points and rural areas in order to attract investments.
To date
$2 billion has been chewed in the electrification programme.
However,
Zesa has been scouting for major forms of investments under the policy at
points or targeted areas in order to attract a huge base of investors in
tourism, agriculture, construction, mining and banking among other
industries.
The
South African government will not intervene in Zimbabwe's extradition of a
70-strong alleged mercenary group, including 20 South Africans, to Equatorial
Guinea, the Foreign Affairs department said. "There is no legal basis for
South Africa to demand that its nationals should not be extradited to another
country," the department said in a statement.
However, the South
African government would continue to offer consular services to the
men.
The West African country's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has
previously said 15 men arrested in his country, who are alleged to have been
in cohorts with the 70, faced capital punishment, the AFP news agency
reported.
"If we have to kill them, we will kill them," said Obiang,
whose 25-year rule was allegedly to have been ended by the groups in a
coup.
The 70 men were all travelling on South African passports when they
were arrested in Harare on March 7.
They deny they were involved in a
plot to overthrow Obiang and take control of his oil-rich nation, allegedly
ahead of the reinstatement of Francisco Macias Nguema, who was deposed in a
coup by Obiang in the late 70s.
They claimed they were on their way to
the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard diamond mines.
Foreign
affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the government could not comment
further on the matter at this stage.
The AFP report quoted an unnamed
official who confirmed that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had has agreed
to hand the men over to Equatorial Guinea.
The decision was taken
following talks between Mugabe and Obiang in Zimbabwe's second city of
Bulawayo.
"The president agreed to extradite the 70 mercenaries so that
they could go and face trial in Equatorial Guinea," the official, anonymous
on request, said.
The South African foreign affairs department said
both Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were sovereign states with the necessary
legal capacity to take legal decisions regarding matters affecting their
states.
Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were parties to the Organisation
of African Union's Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa,
which demands that the signatories extradite, or punish on their own soil,
those who committed mercenary acts in the member countries.
HARARE
- The 15 rebel Zimbabwe cricketers demanding the reinstatement of former
captain Heath Streak want two international mediators to help end
the damaging deadlock with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.
The breakaway
group have submitted a letter to the ZCU outlining this and other suggestions
for what their lawyer Chris Venturas calls "a mechanism to resolve the
issue." This is not unlike the ZCU's proposal this week for a mediation
process to be established but which was rejected as taking too long to set up
by the players.
Two sticking points remain.
One is Heath
Streak's dismissal as captain. The players continue to demand his
reinstatement, which the ZCU refuses.
The other is the national selection
panel. The players want one of the four selectors removed. The union says
there is to be no further discussion on it.
Other details in the
letter are not being disclosed by their representative Chris Venturas. But he
did say that it was not a unanimous decision by the players to submit the
letter.
The ZCU has been given until Tuesday to accept or reject the
proposals but Venturas said: "I feel they will turn us down." ZCU chief
executive Vincent Hogg confirmed that the letter had been received but would
add nothing further.
The players say they will turn out for practice
on Friday with the second string players who lost by only 25 runs to Sri
Lanka at Harare Sports Club Thursday to go down 5-0 in the one-day
series.
They are also available for selection to the two Tests against
the Sri Lankans. But they will walk out again if their proposals are turned
down, said dissident batsman Grant Flower.
The ZCU has threatened to
"take action" against them all if the matter is not resolved in one week's
time. This could mean suspension or sacking.
On Tuesday this week, Mr. Thabo Mbeki was sworn
in as the President of South Africa for a second and final 5-year term. He
takes up his post after winning a sentinel election - his first real win as
the last time he was really just surfing in on the Mandela wave. This time
the victory is his and make no mistake about it, he is in charge.
In
charge of what? A country in the south of the African continent with 5 per
cent of the continents population and 30 per cent of its GDP. It is
the economic leader of Africa with a GDP driven by mining and industry that
is over three times the size of that of Nigeria. It is also a country with
an advanced private sector, which competes with the rest of the world
in technology and science and an administration that enables it to manage
its sophisticated state machinery.
Leadership carries with it
responsibility and for better or worse Mbeki is now both leader of his
country - with its myriad of problems, and also one of the main leaders of
the continent. They say you cannot choose your family. South Africa cannot
choose its neighbors. Mbeki may have chosen to intervene in the Congo, Rwanda
and elsewhere, he cannot make the same voluntary stand in respect to the
Zimbabwe crisis.
For better or worse President Mbeki takes up the cudgels
in South Africa with the crisis in Zimbabwe firmly in his back yard. It is
his responsibility because of geography and history. It is also his because
the rest of the world are tired of dealing with crisis after crisis in
Africa and are now demanding that we take charge of our own affairs.
Especially if we have the means to do so and they expect us to simply ask for
their support in the effort. They will not take leadership in the resolution
of the Zimbabwe crisis.
The full extent of the Zimbabwe crisis is
appreciated in South Africa but it worth summarising the issues so that
people can appreciate the full extent of President Mbeki's problems in regard
to the Zimbabwe situation.
In Zimbabwe we have a state that is now
totally isolated in international and continental terms. Mugabe has succeeded
in alienating just about everybody - even the UN and Obasanjo. The Zimbabwe
government is in violation of just about every norm laid down in both
regional (SADC) continental (AU) and global agreements specifying
internationally accepted criteria for human and political rights and
governance in general.
Inside Zimbabwe, the economy has collapsed - GDP
will be down 40 per cent this year, inflation is running at 600 per cent,
exports have declined two thirds, and employment is down by a third or more.
80 per cent of the population is in abject poverty; school enrollment has
fallen from 95 per cent to 65 per cent with two thirds of all girls no longer
in school. Deaths from poverty, HIV/Aids and other endemic diseases now claim
up to 300 000 lives a year and life expectancies have been reduced to a
miserable 36 years - down from 59 years in 1990. 70 per cent of the
population will need food aid this year for the 4th year in a row.
But
for President Mbeki the most serious aspect of the Zimbabwe crisis is not the
impact on Zimbabwe and its people. It is the direct knock-on effects in South
Africa itself. A third of the total population of Zimbabwe - probably close
to half its adult population has decamped and now lives in other countries.
70 per cent of all these economic and political refugees are in South Africa.
They constitute half the population in the squatter camps and account for a
substantial proportion of South Africa's burgeoning crime.
The impact
does not stop there - the constant negative press on Zimbabwe, the stories of
violations of property rights and worse, touch every investor where it hurts
most. Do they trust Africa with their investment dollars? Or do they look
elsewhere. No matter how conservative the ANC is in economic terms and how
carefully they control their own economy, the contagion of Zimbabwe cannot be
contained by the Limpopo. Estimates vary, but the consensus is the same -
Zimbabwe is costing South Africa dearly in terms of growth and
investment.
To make his mark on the history of his country and his
continent in the next five years Mbeki must strive to achieve the following:
-
1. Regional stability and political and economic cohesion within a
system that makes best use of South African regional hegemony without
exacerbating its regional dominance. 2. Domestic growth rates that range
around the 7 per cent per annum level that is required at the very least, to
reduce poverty and create jobs. 3. A programme of job and enterprise creation
that will spur industrial output and make South Africa a leading producer and
exporter of manufactured goods - for which the main markets will be in Africa
itself. 4. Translation of the NEPAD program and the objectives of the African
Union into tangible policy and programme initiatives designed to transform
the African continent into a region that can gradually pull itself into the
21st Century.
All that one can say about his first five years is that
a foundation was laid by the previous administration on which these broad
goals can be achieved in the next administrative period. There is no time to
waste and it is difficult to see how any of the above goals can be achieved
if the Zimbabwe crisis is not dealt with, and decisively.
There are
now only 10 months left before Zimbabweans go to the polls. If the next
elections are allowed to take place under the administrative and political
conditions now being laid down by the Mugabe regime then it will take the
rest of Mbeki's term of office to fix the problems created. He must move now
to ensure that the next elections comply in every way with the standards laid
down in the SADC protocols on democratic governance. Mugabe is the main
obstacle to progress, as it is his determined effort to retain power at any
price that is causing the crisis. Only Mbeki can deal with him - in tandem
with the region, or alone.