The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Reuters
Zimbabwe sees additional budget for food imports
Fri May 20, 2005 2:34 PM GMT+02:00

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's is planning to table a supplementary budget to fund food imports because of a severe drought which has seen the central bank cutting this year's growth targets, a government minister said on Friday.

Acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the additional budget would be tabled soon, but gave no date.

Zimbabwe needs to import 1.2 million tonnes of grain over the next 12 months at a cost of $250 million, but had only budgeted 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars.

"There will be a review and rationalising of expenditures. There will be prioritisation of expenditures with a view that drought mitigating measures will be implemented," Chinamasa said in response to a question during a post-monetary policy review.

Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980, blamed on mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's government. Mugabe denies the charges and accuses his domestic and international opponents of sabotaging the once prosperous country.

Central bank Governor Gideon Gono in his monetary policy statement on Thursday revised downwards growth forecasts for 2005 to 2-2.5 percent from 3-5 percent previously, citing the drought.

The country has a serious shortage of foreign currency, which has forced the government to divert resources for food imports. The central bank devalued the local currency by 31 percent to 9,000 to the U.S. dollar on Thursday, far short of the black market rate of 18,000/dollar.

Analysts said Zimbabwe , which has been without donor funding since 1999, should move fast to mend strained relations with the international community, adding that exporters had failed to generate enough foreign currency for the country.

"We need foreign capital to free local resources. The turbulence in the NGO (non governmental organisation) sector is not helpful for mending relations with external donors," Luxon Zembe, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president said.

Last year Mugabe said Zimbabwe had sufficient food to feed the country but later admitted the country faced food shortages, during campaigns for the March 31 parliamentary elections polls which were won by his ZANU-PF party.

The food shortages magnify Zimbabwe's long political and economic crisis which analysts say has been compounded by Mugabe's controversial seizures of white owned farms for blacks which disrupted the country's key agriculture sector.

Mugabe says drought, not land seizures, are to blame for food shortages but insists people will not starve.

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ZIMBABWE: Huge farming loan facility launched, but sceptics want to see the money

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]


JOHANNESBURG, 20 May (IRIN) - Analysts have welcomed the Zimbabwean government's announcement of loan facilities totalling over US $700 million for the agricultural sector, aimed at ensuring greater food security, but are questioning the sourcing of the funds.

"Zimbabwe has no money - we have no production," commented Dennis Nikisi, economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono announced an Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) of more than $500 million in his quarterly review of monetary policy on Thursday. Under the ASPEF, farmers will be able to access loans at 20 percent interest.

The governor also announced a facility of over $200 million to improve agricultural infrastructure. The official The Herald newspaper quoted Gono as saying that the success of agrarian reform strongly depended on the country's ability to revive its agricultural infrastructure.

"While we can appreciate the governor's concern, and attempts to capacitate the farmers ... where will we get that kind of money from?" asked Nikisi.

The Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU) said that if the funds were available, the initiative was very welcome.

"Many new farmers are trying to cope with farms where most of the infrastructure, like irrigation pipes and water pumps, were vandalised when the old owners left - we desperately need to improve our irrigation system," said Tafireyi Chamboro, ZFU's chief economist.

Gono reportedly announced that almost half the $200 million earmarked for agricultural infrastructure would be used to purchase irrigation equipment and replace water pipes.

With this intervention, government intends to plant maize on 300,000 hectares, devote 150,000 hectares to winter wheat and 100,000 hectares to other cash crops, such as tobacco, potatoes and paprika, said local reports.

Zimbabwe's agricultural sector was thrown into disarray by the controversial fast-track land redistribution programme that began in 2000, when white commercial farmers were removed from their farms to make way for black settlers, who received little government assistance.

The chaotic land reform programme accelerated Zimbabwe's economic decline, critics have noted.

According to UN agencies, when measured against a five-year average, food production in Zimbabwe has fallen by more than 50 percent, due partly to the effects of drought. The situation has been compounded by the marked reduction of the large-scale farming sector, which produced only about one-tenth of its 1990s output.

There has, however, been suggestions from government that former commercial farmers with skills, particularly in the dairy, horticulture and tobacco sector, would be asked to return to the land.

[ENDS]

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JAG PR COMMUNIQUÉ May 20, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today's Herald Friday 20/05/2005 contains New Listings of Section 5 Prelim
Notice to Compulsorily Acquire Land
under Lot No 168, Pertaining to 264 Properties.

These Listings are been typed up for send out on Monday
23/05/2005

------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE JAG TEAM

Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com

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 -
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(011) 207 860 we're here to help!
(011) 431 068
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Guardian
As country heads for disaster, Zimbabwe calls for return of white farmers

Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
Saturday May 21, 2005
The Guardian

White farmers may be allowed back on their land in Zimbabwe as part of a plan by the government of Robert Mugabe to solve the country's deepening economic crisis.

The president's key finance aide has called for some of the farmers whose properties were confiscated in a land seizure programme to be allowed to resume growing crops to boost the country's flagging agricultural output.

Gideon Gono, governor of the central bank and Mr Mugabe's main policy maker, made the proposal as he announced a 31% devaluation of the Zimbabwe currency.

"In order to ensure maximum productivity levels, there is great scope in the country promoting and supporting joint ventures between the new farmers with progressive-minded former operators," said Mr Gono in a state radio and television broadcast that lasted nearly three hours.

He added that the skilled whites and other new investors would be given special guarantees of uninterrupted tenure of five to 10 years, backed by government force to prevent any disruptions on the farms.

Mr Gono was careful to say that it would not reverse Mr Mugabe's redistribution of white-owned land to blacks.

However, observers say his plan would be an implicit admission that the land seizure policy has failed.

A Zimbabwean economist, John Robertson, said: "This shows the desperation of the government to improve the economy. They say it is not a reversal of their land seizures, but it is. It won't get very far.

"I don't think many farmers will take up the offer because they would have to give up their title deeds and lease their land back.

"The range of measures proposed by Gono and the government show that the economic situation is dire. But they are avoiding the fundamental changes needed because those would be opposed by Mugabe. These measures don't add up. The economy will continue to be a disaster area."

At the start of the land seizure policy in 2000, Zimbabwe had 4,500 white farmers, now about 400 remain on portions of their farms. Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria have welcomed some of the skilled white farmers.

The economy has also shrunk by more than 40% in five years.

Yesterday Mr Mugabe did not comment on Mr Gono's proposal.

During the election campaign in March, the president said he was disappointed that only 44% of the land seized from whites was being cultivated and that the remainder was lying fallow.

He has also had to admit that Zimbabwe, once called "the breadbasket of Africa", needs to import food to feed its population. For months he had boasted that the country had a bumper harvest and would "choke" if it was forced to take international food aid.

But Mr Mugabe said this week that his government would welcome food from the UN, as long as it came without any political conditions.

The government announced yesterday that it was busy redrawing its 2005 budget to fund food imports.

Drastic cuts to other parts of the budget will be needed to raise the money to import food, the acting finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said, according to Reuters.

On Thursday the government devalued its currency and banned imports of luxury goods to try to reduce the economic freefall. But the devaluation falls far short of the Z$25,000 that one US dollar (55p) fetches on Zimbabwe's thriving black market.

Mr Gono reduced by half his forecasts of the country's economic growth, to 2.5%. That figure is viewed as unrealistic by economists, who point out the five consecutive years of economic decline.

John Worsley-Worswick of Justice for Agriculture said: "This is a puppet show and it's not going to solve things. Gono is a master of spin and he is saying that he can fix things. But the reality is that the few farmers who have managed to stay on their land are being hammered by the military.

"This suggestion that white farmers could come back is an admission of their failure, but I don't know anyone who would take them up on their offer. The government's agriculture policy has failed abysmally. There is no maize, there is no wheat, people are hungry. It's a debacle."

· Eighty percent of black South Africans who responded to a survey believe Mr Mugabe is ruling badly.

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The Herald
RBZ to Scrap Loan Facility


The Herald (Harare)
May 20, 2005
Posted to the web May 20, 2005
Martin Kadzere
Harare
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will scrap the Productive Sector Facility (PSF) on June 30 2005 as indicated in January and will encourage companies to pursue other alternatives to raise funds.
The decision to wean the companies from cheap funds is part of bold new measures to rein in inflation, which is currently running at 129 percent, down from 622 percent in January 2004.

The diversion of PSF funds, which attracted a concessionary 50 percent interest rate, to non-core activity also irked the central bank.
Presenting his Post-Election and Drought Mitigation Monetary Policy Framework yesterday, RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono said some companies which benefited from the facility ended up financing non-core activities such as stock market acquisitions, plying the parallel markets or real estates markets in pursuit of super profits.
"This was not the equation. We expected Zimbabweans to behave more honourably than that. We expected our gestures and incentives to enhance productivity, to ameliorate the hardships that borrowers had earlier on reported with hysterical voices, to be suffering
"We did not expect our incentives and subsidies to fuel speculation and reverse the gains we had achieved with so much pain."
More than $2,87 trillion was disbursed under the PSF in all sectors of the economy. At least $1,38 trillion has since been repaid and as at March 31 a total of $1,49 trillion was still outstanding.
All borrowed corporates are required to have repaid their obligations to the central bank before the deadline. The prevailing market interests rates will apply to institutions that fail to meet their obligations by June 30, 2005.
He said it was up to companies to find alternatives to raise productivity by, for example, disposing of shares to the public.
"Redirect the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to be more supportive of the productive sector of the economy as opposed to being a hub of speculative trading of stocks which creates inflationary nominal wealth," said Dr Gono.
He said the local bourse should create favourable requirements for secondary listings which allow indigenous people to invest while those companies which are already trading on the stock exchange should raise funds by issuing rights offers.
"Owners and shareholders of business should be prepared to relinquish a portion of their shareholding to access cheap funds in the form of interest free equity finance," he said.
This will enable companies to access funds from the market for recapitalisation of their operations while at the same time economically empowering the black indigenous people.
"We thus believe that genuine shortages of working capital can be corrected by widening ownership through the ZSE, private placements or through disposal of non-core assets which are plenty in most of these companies that have borrowed from the PSF," said Dr Gono.
However, the Governor said although the central bank was encouraging companies to go public, the local bourse's operations will be scrutinised to rid it of unethical business practices.

He regretted that some dual-listed counters on the ZSE had become conduits for externalisation of foreign currency and parallel market dealings.
The difficulties which most companies are currently facing were as a result of high costs of raw materials driven by parallel market activities by some exporters and retailers.
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'Equip Hospitals With Dialysis Machines'


The Herald (Harare)
May 20, 2005
Posted to the web May 20, 2005
Harare
RENAL patients have called on the Government to urgently look into their plight by equipping all hospitals with dialysis machines so that they can access treatment cheaply.
They said they were spending long hours queuing for treatment at Harare Hospital, the only public institution offering haemodialysis in the capital.

Harare and Mpilo Hospitals in Bulawayo are offering dialysis treatment but cannot cope with the increasing number of renal patients.
Parirenyatwa closed its Kidney Centre following the breakdown of machinery last year.
Last year, Government imported 36 dialysis machines but these are still to be used.
This has worsened the plight of the thousands of renal patients in the country who need to undergo dialysis at least thrice a week.
"Our fate is terrible, can you imagine the number of kidney patients in the country and yet there are few centres offering dialysis treatment.
"We feel that the Government has forgotten that ours is a chronic and fatal condition if treatment is not given. They talk and pour in a lot of resources to HIV and Aids and forget there are other equally serious conditions," said Mr Aaron Ndhlovu of Harare.
He said if Government took the ailment seriously, it would ensure that every province was allocated machines so that all kidney patients access treatment.
A renal patient, Mr Joe Burusa, said having adequate dialysis machines at public health centres was the only way of ensuring that the poor access treatment.
"Private institutions like the Harare Dialysis Centre have the equipment but how many of us can afford to go there when costs are above $1,5 million per session?
"At least Government pegs its costs at a percentage much lower than private institutions, last year it was around $150 000 per month which many can run around and get if the need arises," he said.
Deputy Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr Edwin Muguti said his ministry was aware of the plight of renal patients and was concerned about their welfare.
"That is why we bought new machines. The machines, however, have to be commissioned properly before they are put to use so that they can function well and benefit many people over a long period of time," he said.
Dr Muguti said the Ministry took all health conditions seriously and there was no preferential treatment when it came to diseases.
"However, we have to bear in mind that some problems are more devastating than others.
"HIV and Aids has remained the biggest challenge of our time as it is killing people at an alarming rate and wreaking such havoc in our economic and social circles that we cannot help but be frantic in dealing with it," he said.
Of the 36 machines procured last year, 18 went to Parirenyatwa and hospital officials say they expect people to assist with installations to come in this week.
The other 18 went to Mpilo, whose old machines had also broken down.

If a person with kidney failure does not undergo regular dialysis, toxic material (mostly urea) accumulates in the body. When the urea rises beyond a certain level, the patient accumulates a lot of fluid, which in turn affects the heart and causes the body to swell.
The only other alternative is a kidney transplant, which can only be performed outside the country at prohibitive costs and hence remains a pipe dream for many.
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Hopes of Talks Get Dimmer By the Day

Financial Gazette (Harare)
ANALYSIS
May 20, 2005
Posted to the web May 20, 2005
Njabulo Ncube
Harare
WITH the political dust in Zimbabwe seemingly settling down after yet another hotly disputed and deeply divisive election, the search for a negotiated settlement to the country's political crisis is on again, but the prospects of a détente look dimmer by the day.
Members of the clergy are reportedly working behind the scenes to resuscitate the stalled dialogue between the ruling ZANU PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Agostinho Zacarias has reportedly also indicated his preparedness to resuscitate inter-party talks between the two parties aimed at finding a lasting solution to the political stalemate.

However, Zimbabwe's weary populace - battered by a deepening economic maelstrom - cannot place much hope in the latest round of "talks about talks".
This is despite statements emanating from the two parties in recent weeks that they stand ready for engagement to thrash out a political solution to a multi-faceted crisis whose genesis lies in a poisoned political environment.
To many, nothing has changed for the better, since the country's two major parties' abortive efforts at dialogue. If anything, the parliamentary poll held in March has had the effect of further polarising the nation.
ZANU PF has grown even more emboldened (some would say arrogant) at achieving a two-thirds majority in parliament, while the MDC has been sulking ever since. Hardly the dispositions of parties up for serious engagement on the negotiating table.
Sentiments coming from the ruling party reveal a widely held view that there was nothing to negotiate as the party has a clear mandate from the people to rule. This point, they buttress by pointing to the results of the election, in which ZANU PF took 78 seats out of the contested 120 parliamentary seats, against a combined 42 for the opposition.
The MDC, on the other hand, has to contend with the strongly held view within its ranks that the election was stolen and thus, has to deal with the unenviable task of negotiating with a ZANU PF it accuses of poll theft, not once, not twice, but in all the three major elections the six-year-old party has contested since its inception.
Efforts at talks after the 2000 parliamentary polls collapsed when the two protagonists failed to agree on an agenda for the inter-party talks while follow-up efforts by several brokers including local church leaders have been fruitless so far. Attempts by South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart General Olusegun Obasanjo to bring ZANU PF and the MDC to the negotiating table fizzled out with the ruling party insisting it could not talk to the opposition as long as it disputed President Mugabe's re-election. The MDC, on the other hand, accused ZANU PF of negotiating in bad faith.
Further, the MDC accuses ZANU PF of abandoning the negotiating table, where certain minimal constitutional amendments had been agreed, with the concurrence of Mbeki - who has fallen out of favour with the MDC - and pursuing a legislative route to establish key institutions such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), among other political innovations.
But hope springs eternal.
"We have always been a responsible political party that believes in dialogue. We leave our doors open for talks with anyone, including ZANU PF, because that is the only way we can find a solution to Zimbabwe's problems," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi says. "However, the problem is ZANU PF. History has it that wherever there is tension in the world, there are efforts to diffuse it. It does not help to have tension that does not come to an end. It appears we are the only country in the world that is not in a position to solve tension. If we have a quarrel it should come to an end," said Nyathi.
ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira said: "The President (Robert Mugabe) has also made it clear that ZANU PF was willing to work with the MDC in parliament."
Inevitably, doubts linger over ZANU PF's sincerity in talks with the MDC considering its overwhelming majority in parliament, which now allows it to tinker with the constitution, as has openly been suggested.
In fact, some of the proposed amendments will inevitably set the ruling party on a collision course with the opposition.
ZANU PF insiders say the party intends to fast-track three constitutional amendments when the Sixth Parliament opens in June, namely the nationalisation of all land, abolition of the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) - leaving the recently formed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to be the sole body to run all elections - and the re-establishment of a bicameral parliament to usher in a senate.
Insiders have also indicated other changes were on the way in the lifetime of the new parliament, among them plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections concurrently in 2010, thereby allowing the extension of President Mugabe's current term by a further two years.
President Mugabe, controversially re-elected in 2002 after a fierce challenge from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has indicated his desire to retire from office when his current term ends in 2008.
Analysts have warned that any efforts at turning around Zimbabwe's economic fortunes would come to nought as long as the two parties remained at loggerheads.

Zimbabwe faces a tough year ahead, with another drought having left the country with a massive food import bill. The post-election period has given a disconcerting indication of the tough times - most foodstuffs have disappeared off the supermarket shelves, largely due to the shortage of foreign currency.
Fuel and electricity shortages have also seen production levels falling and another inflation spiral appears to have started. Monthly inflation was recorded at 7.4 percent in April, while the annualised rate was over 5 percent higher, at 129.1 percent.
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IRIN

ZIMBABWE: Huge farming loan facility launched, but sceptics want to see the money


[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]



©  IRIN

Food production in Zimbabwe has fallen by more than 50 percent

JOHANNESBURG, 20 May 2005 (IRIN) - Analysts have welcomed the Zimbabwean government's announcement of loan facilities totalling over US $700 million for the agricultural sector, aimed at ensuring greater food security, but are questioning the sourcing of the funds.

"Zimbabwe has no money - we have no production," commented Dennis Nikisi, economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono announced an Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) of more than $500 million in his quarterly review of monetary policy on Thursday. Under the ASPEF, farmers will be able to access loans at 20 percent interest.

The governor also announced a facility of over $200 million to improve agricultural infrastructure. The official The Herald newspaper quoted Gono as saying that the success of agrarian reform strongly depended on the country's ability to revive its agricultural infrastructure.

"While we can appreciate the governor's concern, and attempts to capacitate the farmers ... where will we get that kind of money from?" asked Nikisi.

The Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU) said that if the funds were available, the initiative was very welcome.

"Many new farmers are trying to cope with farms where most of the infrastructure, like irrigation pipes and water pumps, were vandalised when the old owners left - we desperately need to improve our irrigation system," said Tafireyi Chamboro, ZFU's chief economist.

Gono reportedly announced that almost half the $200 million earmarked for agricultural infrastructure would be used to purchase irrigation equipment and replace water pipes.

With this intervention, government intends to plant maize on 300,000 hectares, devote 150,000 hectares to winter wheat and 100,000 hectares to other cash crops, such as tobacco, potatoes and paprika, said local reports.

Zimbabwe's agricultural sector was thrown into disarray by the controversial fast-track land redistribution programme that began in 2000, when white commercial farmers were removed from their farms to make way for black settlers, who received little government assistance.

The chaotic land reform programme accelerated Zimbabwe's economic decline, critics have noted.

According to UN agencies, when measured against a five-year average, food production in Zimbabwe has fallen by more than 50 percent, due partly to the effects of drought. The situation has been compounded by the marked reduction of the large-scale farming sector, which produced only about one-tenth of its 1990s output.

There has, however, been suggestions from government that former commercial farmers with skills, particularly in the dairy, horticulture and tobacco sector, would be asked to return to the land.

[ENDS]

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Gono Threatens to Name Corrupt Officials

Financial Gazette (Harare)
May 20, 2005
Posted to the web May 20, 2005
Rangarirai Mberi
Harare
A NEW Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) report has alleged massive corruption at law enforcement agencies and at other key regulatory state bodies, urging tougher action to end deepening graft across the country.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono, in a stinging report made public yesterday, says corruption has reached endemic proportions in Zimbabwe, proposing a new anti-corruption body and threatening to "name and shame" figures involved in sleaze.

Gono said investigations and consultations had revealed increased levels of corruption, both within law enforcement and in at least nine vital economic sectors. He specifically singled out sectors in energy, tourism, banking, agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, retail, transport and mining.
According to the RBZ chief's report, efforts to turnaround the economy were being weighed down by "the payment of bribes to law enforcement agents by fugitives in order to have their economic and other forms of crime quashed."
Gono said there had also been an increased incidence of corruption at the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), saying there was "payment of bribes by traders - individuals and corporate - to ZIMRA officials for underpayment of taxes and import duties, as well as under-invoicing of export shipments".
He also alleges abuse of political power by "certain well-known individuals to acquire tenders" from the State Procurement Board. "It is folly for us to hide behind black empowerment while we engage in self-destructive tendencies."
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID), the Immigration Department, and the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority are also cited for corruption.
Despite his stinging criticism of graft at ministries and in private business, Gono says that he has in fact held back on some information that he describes as sensitive.
"However, in listing the forms of corruption and listing possible correction mechanisms, it was necessary to omit certain information that is strategic and would undermine the process. Suffice it to say that we know more than we are stating in this paper!" Gono said.
The RBZ head is proposing stricter legislation to curb vice, and saying Government ministers must be held more accountable for the actions of their subordinates.
"In order to strengthen (existing anti-corruption efforts), we recommend the formation of a National Anti-Corruption
Commission, which would be appropriately empowered, to comb virtually all sectors of the economy of this ill vice."
An Anti-Corruption Charter, backed by a series of codes of conduct for business, is also proposed. An Anti-Corruption Bureau would also collate all information on corrupt practices, releasing these to the public in a punitive "name and shame" approach.

In one telling remark, Gono said one form of corruption was the release by public officials of statements intended to give citizens a false hope.
He is critical of "misrepresentation of facts by some government ministers with the effect of misdirecting public opinion and sentiment which, in turn, creates a false sense of security, particularly in the food and energy sectors of the economy".
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Govt Upped Domestics' Wages to Fix MDC


Financial Gazette (Harare)
May 20, 2005
Posted to the web May 20, 2005
Charles Rukuni
Bulawayo
In what critics see as a deliberate move to get back at the urban voters, most of whom are considered supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the government overrode a decision by the Wages and Salaries Advisory Board and announced a new minimum wage for domestic workers that was double that agreed on.
According to the minutes of the meeting of the advisory board held on March 1 2005, the board had agreed on a minimum wage of $400 000 a month, which was reached after averaging the proposals of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the government and employers.

But the government, which had initially suggested a minimum wage of $186 880, announced a new minimum wage of $800 000, double the figure agreed by the board.
Ironically the new wage was announced on April 1 as results of the parliamentary elections held on March 31 trickled in showing that the urban voter was still solidly behind the MDC. It was backdated to March 1.
The March 1 meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the ZCTU, the Zimbabwe Domestic and Allied Workers Union, the Public Service Commission, the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ), the Ministry of Industry and International Trade and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
The labour movement had suggested a minimum wage of $700 000, arguing that the current wage of $83 000 was 14 percent of the food poverty line, which stood at $565 626.37 in September.
The Food Poverty Line, which is compiled by the Central Statistics Office and represents the minimum consumption expenditure to ensure that each household member can consume a minimum food basket representing 2 100 kilo calories, stood at $816 183.92 for a family of five in February.
The labour movement said that it had taken into account costs like transport, food and rent in coming up with their figure.
Government representatives who were worried about the implications of high wages on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's efforts to curb inflation suggested that the new minimum wage should be increased by the rate of inflation for January, which was 133.6 percent.
They suggested that the new minimum wage should therefore be increased from $83 000 to $186 880.
EMCOZ did not have a position paper but it suggested a minimum wage of $350 000. It expressed concern at the implications a high minimum wage for domestic workers would have on the industrial sector.
When a member of the Public Service Commission asked what would happen in the case of an employer of a domestic worker who was earning just above the minimum wage proposed by the ZCTU, the labour movement said the rights of domestic workers should not be violated because not everyone could become a domestic employer.
The three negotiating partners, however, finally agreed on a monthly wage of $400 000 after taking into consideration the $700 000 proposed by the ZCTU, the $186 880 by the government and the $350 000 suggested by employers.
They also agreed on allowances of $100 000 for accommodation, $140 000 for transport, $20 000 for lights, $60 000 for fuel and $20 000 for water, making a total of $340 000, which brought the minimum wage plus allowances to $740 000.
The then Minister of labour, Paul Mangwana, was however, quoted a month later as having announced a new minimum wage of $800 000 backdated to March. He did not alter the allowances which still added up to $340 000, making a total of $1.1 million.
The new minimum wage was condemned by industry and commerce, as it was likely to backfire on their employees who were still on a minimum wage of below $1 million.

The government is since reported to have backtracked on the wage but has not announced a new figure.
The advisory board agreed at its meeting in March to meet for further negotiations in June, arguing that the "board needed to meet more often to negotiate better settlements by keeping in line with economic trends".
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Cincinnati Post

Bumper crop of hunger

 

Zimbabwe's dictator has graciously condescended to accept international food aid for his starving people - but, as Robert Mugabe cautioned a U.N. envoy, only if the food arrives with no political conditions.

The United Nations might suggest free elections, an unmuzzled press, even an end to the beating and imprisonment of political opponents, but it would probably settle for an honest distribution of the food.

It is unlikely to get even that.

Mugabe has a history of using food to reward his supporters and letting the rest of the citizens fend for themselves. In the run-up to the March parliamentary elections, Mugabe insisted that the country didn't need food because it was about to reap a bumper crop of corn.

There was no bumper crop, and because of Mugabe's horribly ill-advised confiscation of the nation's large and productive commercial farms, not much else either. In a once-prosperous, food-exporting nation, people waited in long lines for bread, flour and gasoline.

With the elections safely over, Mugabe's government has admitted that if it doesn't quickly receive 1.2 million tons of maize, almost half of its 11.6 million people will be in imminent danger of starvation.

The United Nations can't do it - too many lives are at stake - but it would be very satisfying for the international organization to tell Mugabe that for the food to come he must go.

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Mail & Guardian
Will Mugabe allow white farmers back?
White farmers may be allowed back on their land in Zimbabwe as part of a plan by the government of Robert Mugabe to solve the country's deepening economic crisis.

The president's key finance aide has called for some of the farmers whose properties were confiscated in a land-seizure programme to be allowed to resume growing crops to boost the country's flagging agricultural output.

Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank and Mugabe's main policy-maker, made the proposal as he announced a 31% devaluation of the Zimbabwe currency.

"In order to ensure maximum productivity levels, there is great scope in the country promoting and supporting joint ventures between the new farmers with progressive-minded former operators," said Gono in a state radio and television broadcast that lasted nearly three hours.

He added that the skilled whites and other new investors will be given special guarantees of uninterrupted tenure of five to 10 years, backed by government force to prevent any disruptions on the farms.

Gono was careful to say that the process will not reverse Mr Mugabe's redistribution of white-owned land to blacks.

However, observers say his plan will be an implicit admission that the land-seizure policy has failed.

A Zimbabwean economist, John Robertson, said: "This shows the desperation of the government to improve the economy. They say it is not a reversal of their land seizures, but it is. It won't get very far.

"I don't think many farmers will take up the offer because they would have to give up their title deeds and lease their land back.

"The range of measures proposed by Gono and the government show that the economic situation is dire. But they are avoiding the fundamental changes needed because those would be opposed by Mugabe. These measures don't add up. The economy will continue to be a disaster area."

At the start of the land seizure policy in 2000, Zimbabwe had 4 500 white farmers; now about 400 remain on portions of their farms. Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria have welcomed some of the skilled white farmers.

The economy has also shrunk by more than 40% in five years.

On Friday, Mugabe did not comment on Gono's proposal.

During the election campaign in March, the president said he was disappointed that only 44% of the land seized from whites was being cultivated and that the remainder was lying fallow.

He has also had to admit that Zimbabwe, once called "the breadbasket of Africa", needs to import food to feed its population. For months, he had boasted that the country had a bumper harvest and would "choke" if it was forced to take international food aid.

But Mugabe said this week that his government will welcome food from the United Nations, as long as it comes without any political conditions.

The government announced on Friday that it is busy redrawing its 2005 Budget to fund food imports.

Drastic cuts to other parts of the Budget will be needed to raise the money to import food, the acting Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, the government devalued its currency and banned imports of luxury goods to try to reduce the economic freefall. But the devaluation falls far short of the Z$25 000 that $1 fetches on Zimbabwe's thriving black market.

Gono reduced by half his forecasts of the country's economic growth, to 2,5%. That figure is viewed as unrealistic by economists, who point out the five consecutive years of economic decline.

John Worsley-Worswick, of Justice for Agriculture, said: "This is a puppet show and it's not going to solve things. Gono is a master of spin and he is saying that he can fix things. But the reality is that the few farmers who have managed to stay on their land are being hammered by the military.

"This suggestion that white farmers could come back is an admission of their failure, but I don't know anyone who would take them up on their offer. The government's agriculture policy has failed abysmally. There is no maize, there is no wheat, people are hungry. It's a debacle." -- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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