The Telegraph
By
Stephen Bevan in Pretoria and Michael Gwarizo in Harare, Sunday
Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:34am BST
27/05/2007
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
plans to seize majority stakes in
all the country's foreign-owned businesses
in what economists warn could be
a repeat of the regime's disastrous land
reform policy.
Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks
ago, all companies
will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their
shares for
allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous"
Zimbabweans.
There are signs that the government intends to use the
laws to attack
the commercial interests of countries such as Britain, the
former colonial
ruler, which Mugabe accuses of plotting to remove him from
power. However,
companies linked with friendly regimes, such as China and
Malaysia, will be
protected.
The hit list might include British
banks such as Standard Chartered
and Barclays. A minister told The Sunday
Telegraph that the banks were seen
as having "sabotaged" Mugabe's land
reform programme by refusing to extend
financial support to black
farmers.
"The president made it clear, when cabinet approved the
Bill to be
tabled before parliament, that the time had come to empower our
people.
"He said the indigenisation exercise must be undertaken in
the same
fashion as the land reform programme."
The minister
added that Mugabe had vowed that "imperialist companies"
would be targeted
as they had been operating with what the president
described as a "sinister,
regime-change agenda."
Standard Chartered, which has 26 offices
employing 900 people in
Zimbabwe, declined to comment. A spokesman for
Barclays, which has 29
branches and more than 1,000 staff in the country,
said: "We are currently
assessing the potential impact of the proposed
legislation on our business
in Zimbabwe. It is early days and the proposed
Bill may not become law."
Other British companies likely to be
targeted are BP, which has 37
service stations in Zimbabwe, British American
Tobacco and Unilever - which
is listed in both the UK and
Holland.
The proposed new law would give black -Zimbabweans
controlling stakes
in foreign companies and allow them to appoint their own
managers. They
would also be able to set pricing policy - a sensitive issue
in a country
battling with the highest inflation in the world, currently
exceeding 3,700
per cent.
Paul Mangwana, the minister for
"indigenisation and empowerment", said
the legislation, which is now before
parliament, would affect all sectors of
the economy from banking to
manufacturing. He added that companies would be
"free to look for partners
who are black", but that government would "make
suggestions" if they could
not find any. "The objective is to ensure that
black Zimbabweans take
control of the economy and the resources of their
country," he said. Mr
Mangwana said a special fund would be created to help
"indigenous" investors
pay for their stakes.
However, with the economy in free fall and
the government desperately
short of foreign currency, there is little
prospect that the companies will
ever receive the money.
As
with the land reform programme, many in business suspect the real
beneficiaries of the asset grab will be Mugabe's cronies and officials of
the ruling Zanu PF party, who will take control of the companies under the
guise of business consortiums.
"Mugabe operates on patronage,
and to try to bolster his position he
will hand over these companies to
people who support him. He's been
threatening it for a long time," said an
executive with a major British
firm.
While many British
interests are threatened, people close to the
businessman Nicholas Van
Hoogstraten, who is an ally of Mugabe, said that
they believed that he would
be spared. The British tycoon, whose farm in
Zimbabwe was exempted from
seizure in recognition of his financial support
for Zanu PF, has stakes in
NMB Bank, the Hwange Colliery and hotel company
Rainbow Tourism
Group.
With the country in crisis following the government's
seizure of
white-owned farms and the resulting collapse of commercial
agriculture,
economists warn that the new asset grab could be the final
straw. One
independent Harare economist, John Robertson, said the
legislation would be
a major blow to the country's manufacturing industry,
which once accounted
for 25 per cent of GDP but has shrunk to 15 per cent.
"Nearly all the big
commercial firms are already owned by Zimbabweans, but a
number of the
manufacturing operations are still owned by foreigners - some
of them by the
big multinationals like Unilever and Nestlé," he said. "I
imagine some of
these would close down, rather than relinquish
control."
Mr Mangwana said he was not concerned that foreign
companies might
pull out.
He denied that British or American
firms would be specifically
targeted, saying the government was "not that
petty".
Financial Times
By Tony
Hawkins in Harare
Published: May 27 2007 17:42 | Last updated: May 27
2007 17:42
While South African President Thabo Mbeki claims that "good
progress" is
being made in talks between President Robert Mugabe's
government in Zimbabwe
and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
the reality on the ground
is very different.
On Saturday, police
raided the MDC's head office in Harare arresting an
estimated 200 officials
and supporters. Mr Nelson Chamisa, party spokesman,
said three truckloads of
police had broken up a routine meeting of the
party. "They had no search
warrant. They gave no reasons but they have taken
in our members who were
holding meetings there."
A police spokesman said that "quite a number of
people" had been "picked up"
in connection with recent petrol bomb
attacks.
The government claims that the MDC launched a number of petrol
bomb attacks
on "state institutions" between March 12 and April 22, but the
MDC insists
that it was not responsible for any such attacks, accusing the
government of
trying to "frame" the political opposition by carrying out the
bomb attacks
itself.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said: "Our position
remains that this is a
campaign to destroy us before the elections, and that
the so-called MDC
violence is being stage-managed by the government to
justify this
crackdown."
The opposition says that the country is
under an effective state of
emergency and that serious political
negotiations to end the crisis are
simply impossible under such
conditions.
MDC officials fear that President Mbeki's comments about good
progress in
the negotiations are part of his strategy to blame the
opposition and civil
society for the inevitable breakdown in negotiations
and use this as grounds
for supporting President Robert Mugabe's government
in presidential and
parliamentary elections scheduled for March next
year.
Mail and Guardian
Cris Chinaka | Harare, Zimbabwe
27
May 2007 01:14
Zimbabwe police say more than 200 opposition
activists and
officials arrested on Saturday are suspects in recent
petrol-bomb attacks on
police stations, shops and some government
supporters.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) says
allegations that its supporters have launched a violent
campaign against
President Robert Mugabe's 27-year rule are designed to
justify a brutal
crackdown on its structures ahead of general elections next
year.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said riot police, armed
with
pistols and batons, raided the party's head office in Harare on
Saturday and
detained more than 200 people, and gave no reason for the move
at the time.
But on Sunday, police spokesperson Andrew Phiri
told Zimbabwe
state media they had detained MDC activists "suspected of
being involved in
a criminal bombing campaign". The activists will be taken
to court in the
coming days.
"A number of MDC activists
have been arrested as suspects in the
recent spate of bomb attacks across
the country -- criminal bombing
attacks," he said, without giving details on
the number of detentions.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF administration has
routinely deployed police
riot squads to crush anti-government rallies in
the Southern African country
that is suffering from severe shortages of food
and fuel.
An MDC MP and 31 other party activists were
detained in March
and are awaiting trial on charges of terrorism, banditry
and sabotage.
"We are hunting for more suspects following
leads supplied by
those who have already been arrested," Phiri
said.
But Chamisa said the arrests on Saturday were part of a
drive to
cripple the MDC ahead of parliamentary, presidential and local
council
elections due by March next year.
"Our position
remains that this is a campaign to destroy us
before the elections, and that
the so-called MDC violence is being
stage-managed by the government to
justify this crackdown," he said.
The Saturday arrests came a
day after Zimbabwe extended a ban on
political protests in Harare that the
country's embattled opposition has
likened to "a state of
emergency".
Veteran Zimbabwean leader Mugabe has come under
heavy criticism
for the new clampdown on the opposition, which he accuses of
trying to
organise "terrorist" government protests he says are bankrolled by
some
Western countries.
But Mugabe remains defiant,
blaming Zimbabwe's economic crisis
on sabotage by his opponents and
threatening to deal harshly with any
attempt to overthrow him
unconstitutionally.
The 83-year-old Mugabe accuses the MDC of
being stooges of
Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain in an effort to
oust his government
as punishment for seizing and redistributing white-owned
commercial farms to
landless blacks.
But critics say
Mugabe's economic policies have sent the
once-prosperous nation into a
crisis marked by inflation of more than 3 700%
and unemployment of more than
80%. -- Reuters
Yahoo News
Sun May 27, 11:27 AM ET
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwean police on
Sunday freed the bulk of 200 youth
opposition activists arrested in a raid
on their party headquarters, as a
police official said they were suspects in
a spate of recent firebombings.
Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer representing
the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) opposition members arrested on
Saturday, told AFP: "They (police) have
detained 41 MDC youth members out of
about 200 who were arrested."
"As far as we know they have not been charged
and the police say they are
only being questioned," he said.
Armed
police barged into a meeting at the MDC headquarters in central Harare
and
picked up scores of youth on Saturday, two days after Zimbabwean police
extended a ban on political rallies and processions in parts of the
capital.
Police spokesman Andrew Phiri was quoted on state radio as
saying that the
youths were suspects in a spate of firebombings across
Zimbabwe, adding that
they had been implicated by their colleagues during
interrogation.
MDC lawmaker Paul Madzore and 31 activists are in prison
on remand after
being arrested in March during a police crackdown on the
opposition and
charged with terrorism, banditry and sabotage.
They
were accused of undergoing training in neighbouring South Africa on how
to
make and use firebombs.
The MDC, which launched a campaign to pressure
the government to release its
members, said the charges were "mere
fabrication."
Dozens of MDC activists including leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
were detained by
members of veteran President Robert Mugabe's security
forces and assaulted
in March after they defied the ban on rallies and tried
to hold an
anti-government prayer meet.
CNN
POSTED: 1735 GMT
(0135 HKT), May 27, 2007
(CNN) -- Zimbabwe police had mistreated some of the
more than 200 opposition
party members detained on Saturday, an opposition
spokesman said Sunday.
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for Movement for Democratic
Change, Zimbabwe's
main opposition movement, said 115 opposition members had
been released,
leaving about 85 still in government custody.
Chamisa
denied a Reuters report citing police who said the detainees were
suspects
in recent petrol bomb attacks on police stations, shops and
government
supporters.
"It's propaganda; meant to justify their dictatorial
actions," Chamisa said,
adding that the detainees had reported being
mistreated, including one woman
who reportedly was forced to drink 10 liters
of water.
"There is always detention without trial; we don't know when
they're going
to be released; Mugabe is the rule of law," he said, referring
to Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe, who has maintained an iron grip on
power in his
country, long beset by economic problems. His security forces
have regularly
cracked down on MDC members.
Police did not respond to
requests for comment.
Chamisa said the arrests occurred Saturday in the
capital city of Harare,
where party members had gathered to "just discuss
political issues."
Police broke down doors and seized the people,
detaining them at the Central
Police Station.
The action was
reminiscent of the recent detention of opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai,
who was beaten after his arrest.
Saturday's detentions occurred a day
after police extended a ban on rallies
and protests in the
capital.
Chamisa likened the atmosphere in the capital to a state of
emergency and
said the detentions show the regime is
panicking.
Mugabe's government has accused the MDC of using brutal
tactics to oppose
the government.
CNN's Luciani Gomes contributed to
this report
Zim Online
Monday 28 May 2007
By Sebastian
Nyamhangambiri
HARARE - Zimbabwean police were on Sunday still detaining
about 40
supporters of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party
who were arrested on Saturday in Harare.
They were part
of 200 MDC supporters arrested while attending meetings at
the opposition
party's Harvest House headquarters in Harare.
Police spokesperson Andrew
Phiri told ZimOnline yesterday that the MDC
supporters are likely to appear
in court today facing public violence
charges.
Phiri said the police
suspected that the MDC supporters were behind a spate
of petrol bomb attacks
that began last March on police stations and other
state
institutions.
He also said the rest of the MDC supporters were released
yesterday without
charge.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the main
faction of the MDC, last month said at
least 600 of his supporters had been
arrested since March as President
Robert Mugabe intensifies a crackdown on
the resurgent opposition.
The MDC supporters join another group of about
30 other activists who have
been languishing in remand prison since March
after they were accused of
spearheading the petrol bomb attacks on
government institutions.
The MDC denies that its activists are behind the
petrol bomb incidents
saying Mugabe was using the charge to crack down on
the opposition in order
to decapitate and weaken the party ahead of next
year's key elections. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 28 May 2007
By Farisayi
Gonye
MUTARE - Veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war at the weekend
demanded
cash first before they could campaign for President Robert Mugabe
and his
government in crucial presidential and parliamentary elections next
year.
The veterans are the main cog of the government's campaign machine,
waging
violence and terror against the opposition to secure victory for the
government but they told former army commander Solomon Mujuru they would not
campaign unless they were paid because they were tired of being used by
Mugabe and his ruling elite.
Mujuru, himself a war veteran and who
commanded Zimbabwe's army at
independence, was tasked by Mugabe to mobilise
the ex-combatants and draft
them into a reserve force, in what analysts have
described as a bid to
bolster the government's hold on power and to clamp
down growing opposition.
Mujuru told the veterans at a Saturday meeting
in the eastern Mutare city:
"It has been agreed that you will undergo
military training. You are already
trained cadres, but this is just meant to
get you back into shape and
acquaint you with modern military techniques and
values as you will be
joining the army as a reserve
force."
Undercover ZimOnline reporters attended the meeting.
The
ex-combatants, who in 1997 staged violent protests to bully Mugabe into
giving them billions of dollars in gratuities and pensions - all
unbudgeted - told Mujuru to go and report to Mugabe that they were not
interested in campaigning for him and his ruling ZANU PF party unless they
were paid. They did not say how much exactly they wanted to be
paid.
"Mugabe has never consulted us on anything in a very long time. He
has
refused to address us over the years," said one visibly angry former
fighter. "Why does he (Mugabe) need us now? Tell him we are not interested,"
added the former guerilla, whose name ZimOnline reporters could not obtain
as this would have blown their cover.
"You have ignored us all this
time only to resurface because there is an
election tomorrow," another
veteran shouted from the back benches in the
Chiefs' Hall where the meeting
was taking place. He continued: "We are tired
of being used. We are not
going to campaign for the President or the party
(ZANU PF) until you give us
more money."
Yet, another veteran had to be held back by his colleagues
as he made a
charge towards Mujuru and Manicaland provincial governor Tinaye
Chigudu.
Struggling to free himself from his comrades' hands, the former
fighter
shouted abuse at Mujuru: "Look at you Rex (Mujuru's war name). You
are all
chubby meaning you are living a good life, And you want us to go
into the
trenches again to defend your positions, so that you can continue
to enjoy
the good life while we sink in poverty."
Efforts by Mujuru
to calm the war veterans by promising to fund income
generating projects met
with even more angry interjections, although the
former army commander
managed to calm down the veterans by promising to
personally ask Mugabe to
come and address the veterans before the end of the
year.
Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available to shed
light on
whether the Zimbabwean leader would agree to meet the veterans.
It was
from such a direct meeting between Mugabe and the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans Association that the President buckled under
pressure and agreed to award the veterans, then numbering about 50 000,
gratuity payments of $50 000 each and a host of other perks.
The
Zimbabwe dollar resultantly crashed on November 14 1997, driving up
inflation and setting off the economy on a downward spiral from which it is
yet to escape.
Withdrawal of balance-of-payments support by the
International Monetary Fund
in 1999 and chaotic government farm seizures
that began in 2000 only helped
quicken the pace of economic decline,
according to economic experts.
Without the backing of the war veterans,
Mugabe's government's
electioneering strategy would be thrown into disarray
just when political
analysts say it faces its toughest electoral challenge
yet because of a
bitter economic crisis that most Zimbabweans blame on
mismanagement by the
state.
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since its 1980
independence from Britain but his
controversial policies are widely blamed
for an economic meltdown, which has
left the majority of Zimbabweans mired
in poverty as unemployment rockets
and inflation surges to nearly 4 000
percent. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 28 May 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - Scores of people were injured at the weekend
when ruling ZANU PF
party youths clashed with opposition supporters at
Bvukururu business centre
two weeks before a low-key by-election in the Zaka
East constituency.
United People's Party (UPP) provincial co-ordinator
Anthony Kundishora told
ZimOnline that several of his party's supporters
were injured following the
violent clashes at the business centre last
Friday.
"We had a rally at the business centre on Friday afternoon. While
our rally
was on, ZANU PF youths raided the business centre and ordered all
shops to
close down.
"They (ZANU PF youths) started beating up
everyone and some of our officials
and supporters were injured," said
Kundishora.
Kundishora said ZANU PF had sought to shut out the opposition
party from
campaigning in Zaka East saying chiefs were under strict
instructions not to
allow any political party other than ZANU PF from
campaigning ahead of the
by-election on June 9.
"We are failing to
campaign effectively because traditional chiefs are under
strict
instructions not to allow any political party to campaign in the
area," he
added.
Police in Masvingo confirmed that there were political clashes in
Zaka last
Friday but sought to play down the incident saying it was
minor.
"We are just investigating a minor case in which ZANU PF and UPP
supporters
clashed at Bvukururu business centre," said Masvingo police
spokesperson
Inspector Phibion Nyambo.
"We have not arrested anyone
since it was a minor incident but the election
campaign period has generally
been peaceful," said Nyambo.
ZANU PF's Livingstone Chineka, will lock
horns with Sheila Zenga of the UPP
and Lameck Batsirai of the little-known
United People's Democratic Party in
the by-election that is being boycotted
by both factions of the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party.
The by-election was called to fill in a seat left vacant following
the death
of ZANU PF legislator Tinos Rusere last February.
Human
rights groups and Zimbabwean opposition parties have often accused
ZANU PF
of unleashing party youths and war veterans to beat up and harass
opposition
supporters during election times.
ZANU PF however denies the charge
saying the MDC and other opposition groups
are bad losers who refuse to
magnanimously accept defeat at the polls. -
ZimOnline
News24
27/05/2007 14:33 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - Two Zimbabwean cabinet ministers recently rushed
to South
Africa after they had been summoned by President Thabo Mbeki to
attend
talks, the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport said.
Zimbabwe's
justice minister Patrick Chinamasa left Accra for South Africa
while labour
minister Nicholas Goche flew out of Harare.
Rapport said Mbeki had
summoned them to attend secret talks outside Pretoria
to prepare for
Zimbabwe's elections in March.
Rapport said Mbeki was upset because they
had failed to arrive for the
discussions. A telephone call, probably to
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe, ensured their attendance.
Mbeki
was appointed by the Southern African Development Community as a
mediator to
resolve the Zimbabwean crisis, and has to report back on his
progress next
month, Rapport said.
Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said on
Sunday: "If it concerns the
Zimbabwean dialogue process we are not
commenting on it.
"We will not engage in the media about whatever talks
are happening."
IOL
May 27 2007
at 04:42PM
President Thabo Mbeki's mediation in Zimbabwe must
reflect fairness
and an understanding of both government and opposition in
that country, the
Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
Reports
that Mbeki had given pre-conditions to the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) before the dialogue could resume were
disturbing,
said DA spokesperson Joe Seremane.
"Unfortunately, there are no
conditions given to the other side
(government), and that is
unfair."
Mbeki was appointed by the Southern African Development
Community as a
mediator to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis.
According to Seremane, the MDC was required to accept and recognise
that
Robert Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe and that he won the 2002
elections.
"Mbeki is also asking the opposition
to denounce violence."
When that was done, an enabling environment
[for mediation] could be
created.
The MDC had to comply with
the conditions, while the ruling Zanu-PF
continued to brag about the free
rein given to Mugabe by Mbeki, said
Seremane.
"What Zimbabwe
needs so desperately is an even-handed approach by its
mediator, President
Mbeki.
"Both parties must be committed to designing a new road map
for
democracy in Zimbabwe, and the approach to the mediation and dialogue
taken
by Mbeki must reflect fairness and an understanding of both sides,"
said
Seremane.
He said it was widely known and accepted that
the 2002 elections,
during which Mugabe was re-elected as president of
Zimbabwe, were anything
but open and fair.
The MDC was engaged
in a daily struggle for survival in Zimbabwe,
submitted to extreme police
violence, arbitrary arrests and human rights
abuses.
"President
Mugabe has become increasingly dictatorial and undemocratic
in his reign.
The number of refugees from Zimbabwe to South Africa attest to
that.
"The situation in Zimbabwe cannot be turned around if the
opposition
is forced to accept and adhere to undemocratic elections and the
whims of a
dictatorial leader."
If Zimbabwe was to re-establish
democracy, then both sides should
commit to democratic principles and
practice, said Seremane. - Sapa
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 27 May
Peter Fabricius
President Thabo
Mbeki told southern African leaders in March that "the fight
against
Zimbabwe is a fight against us all", according to Zimbabwean
President
Robert Mugabe. Mugabe going public with Mbeki's alleged expression
of
solidarity has caused concern, even within South African government
circles,
raising fears that it might jeopardise Mbeki's impartiality as
mediator in
the Zimbabwe conflict. According to Mugabe, Mbeki made the
remarks at the
meeting in Dar es Salaam in March of the leaders of the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC), where Mbeki was appointed as
mediator in the
Zimbabwe conflict. Mugabe told the New African magazine in
an interview just
after the summit that the SADC leaders had all agreed that
Zimbabwe's cause
was also their cause. Mugabe said he had gone to the summit
to explain to
SADC leaders the assaults by Zimbabwean police on opposition
leaders
including Morgan Tsvangirai on March 11.
The SADC leaders had been
concerned about that, but he said he had convinced
them that Tsvangirai and
other members of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) had been involved
in a campaign orchestrated by Britain and the West
"to overthrow his
government". The SADC leaders had eventually shown
solidarity with Zimbabwe,
Mugabe told the New African. "And in Dar es
Salaam, President Thabo Mbeki
put it very clearly," Mugabe said. "He [Mbeki]
said: 'The fight against
Zimbabwe is a fight against us all. Today it is
Zimbabwe, tomorrow it will
be South Africa, it will be Mozambique, it will
be Angola, it will be any
other African country. And any government that is
perceived to be strong,
and to be resistant to imperialists, would be made a
target and would be
undermined. So let us not allow any point of weakness in
the solidarity of
SADC, because that weakness will also be transferred to
the rest of
Africa.'"
Mukoni Ratshitanga, Mbeki's spokesman, refused to confirm
or deny whether
Mbeki had made the remark. While sources close to the
government
acknowledged that Mbeki had said that or something similar, they
said Mugabe
had quoted him out of context. The sources said that Mbeki had
been trying
to say that Zimbabwe's problem must be sorted out internally,
with the help
of the neighbours, not through forcible regime- change backed
by the United
States or Britain. They said that Mbeki believed it was
important to get
SADC unanimity on Zimbabwe and would make whatever
arguments necessary to
achieve that. Mbeki's intervention at the SADC summit
was a good example of
his diplomatic approach and its pitfalls. To narrow
differences between
conflicting parties, Mbeki was prepared to go to great
lengths to couch his
messages to each side in ways they would find
reassuring and persuasive.
The danger is that the parties might use
his words to show he is biased,
leading to charges of bad faith. The same
method had destroyed Mbeki's
mediation in Ivory Coast, where he was also
accused of being biased in
favour of President Laurent Gbagbo in
negotiations with the latter's
opponents. Ratshitanga said he could not
recall Mbeki making the remarks
that Mugabe had attributed to him and that
there was no written speech
containing the remarks. He said that the
transcript of an interview, which
Mbeki gave to the British Financial Times
after the SADC summit, "is the
official position of the presidency and the
government with regard to the
issue of Zimbabwe". Mbeki said in that
interview that the SADC leaders had
"said, quite openly, they were very
disturbed to see these pictures of
people beaten up. So, let us do something
about it". Mbeki said in that
interview that the SADC mandate was to get
Zanu-PF and the MDC talking about
"what should be done . to create a climate
in which you have free and fair
elections whose outcome would not be
contested by anybody." Mbeki has
meanwhile persuaded Zanu PF and the MDC to
meet next month to begin formal
attempts to resolve their differences.
China Daily
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-05-27 20:35
More than 10 elephants
and an undisclosed number of smaller animals were
burnt to death in the
Hwange National Park, the largest of its kind in
Zimbabwe, after a veld fire
engulfed the game reserve last year, it has been
learnt, according to The
Sunday Mail.
This has been described as a serious threat to the country's
tourism sector,
amid calls by players in the industry to come up with
stringent measures,
including prosecution of those found liable of
contravening the Forest Act.
The National Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority's senior warden Trumber
Jura said elephants and other wild animals
were burnt to death by the blaze.
The fire affected the Matetsi, Zambezi
and Robins conservancies.
"Last year in Matetsi, Zambezi and Robins
conservancies many species died
including elephants which were more than 10,
whilst some had to be shot as
the animals were seriously burnt," said
Jura.
He would not disclose the number of jumbos that had to be
mercifully put
down.
Jura said wild animals play a pivotal role as
tourist attractions and also
contributed immensely to revenue generation in
the country through hunting
and photographic safari expeditions in the
western Zimbabwean province of
Matabeleland North.
The Parks official
said the Parks Authority had over the years been forced
to channel most of
its budget towards the prevention of veld fires and
stated that the inferno
was also a threat to the welfare of their workforce.
Senior Assistant
Commissioner Edmore Veterai said law enforcers would bring
to book all those
found liable of contravening the Forestry Act, citing that
igniting
unwarranted fires, especially in natural conservancies, is an act
of
sabotage against the government's initiatives.
The Governor of
Matabeleland North province Thokozile Mathuthu expressed
outrage at the rate
of veld fires that occurred in natural conservancies in
the past years,
stating that most wildlife-based tourism was developed in
national parks and
game reserves.
She said the destruction of the forests was a loss of
tourism revenue.
IOL
May 27
2007 at 04:46PM
Rents in crisis-ridden Zimbabwe have shot up by as
much as 1 500
percent since the authorities announced a record new inflation
figure last
week, it was reported on Sunday.
Landlords are now
demanding a host of other payments, including toilet
rolls, groceries and
compulsory dress codes, the state- controlled Sunday
Mail newspaper
said.
Inflation has been on a relentless upward climb in Zimbabwe
since the
turn of the century, linked, critics say, to President Robert
Mugabe's
controversial policies including his programme of white land
seizures.
Last week the Central Statistical Office said the figure
had reached 3
714 percent.
After reading about the new rate of
inflation, a number of landlords
hiked their rentals as a way of hedging
them against the negative effects of
inflation, Abraham Sadomba, a board
member of the Estate Agents' Council,
was quoted as
saying.
In the central Avenues area, popular with
trendy young professionals,
rentals have been hiked from around ZIM$300 000
(about R8 500) to
five-million dollars a month, the newspaper said. It said
the hikes were
illegal.
Mugabe's government is fighting what
appears to be a losing battle
against rising prices as retailers and
property owners peg their prices
against sliding parallel market rates for
the Zimbabwe dollar.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
painted a gloomy picture of
Zimbabwe's immediate recovery prospects,
forecasting inflation could exceed
6 000 percent next year. - Sapa-dpa
New Zimbabwe
By
Kuthula Matshazi
Last updated: 05/28/2007 04:57:24
NEUTRAL observers and
progressive elements are variously shocked and
delighted when Zimbabweans
engage in discourses aimed at solving problems in
our country because the
way we do it is laughable at best, and awry at
worst.
The neutral
observers are shocked because of our tendency to misrepresent
facts only to
satisfy our respective dialogical positions.
For instance, when
Zimbabweans discuss our preferred economic model, or
political issues, we
tend to depoliticise these subjects. We strip these
discussions of the
politics that is inherent and discuss them as if they
have no political
dimensions at all.
Two types of groups push this tendency. The first
group deliberately does it
as a strategy of smuggling their discredited
neoliberal project or ideas
that are alien to the Zimbabwe situation, which
of course would, if
introduced, work to their benefit. The second group is
simply ignorant.
Unfortunate to say, but very true, these people
sometimes know very little
or nothing and yet that little information or
total ignorance appeals to
their sensibilities.
Those from the first
group know quite well that there is such a group of
vulnerable people, and
therefore deliberately unleash their ideological
propaganda to win their
support. The ignorant, therefore become gullible,
not by choice but by their
unfortunate sheer ignorance.
It's unfortunate if we, as a country, are
going to try and build our nation
based on lies and deception. Such an
approach is unsustainable and is the
reason why neutral or progressive
elements would be shocked to see anyone
ever promoting such ideas for nation
building.
In fact, the interesting thing is that these very people who
prey on the
gullible claim to be trying to build a sustainable nation. Of
course, it
does not mean that the gullible consume the messages passively,
but they may
indeed resist or even try to make sense of the
messages.
Unfortunately these messages end up appealing to many. Part of
the reason
these message appeal is because of the limited understanding of
the much
deeper fundamental ideas that inform these positions that many of
the
gullible do not understand. And it is this lack of understanding that
these
people from the first group exploit.
Concrete examples would
help. Currently, we are discussing whether there are
economic sanctions in
Zimbabwe and yet many, especially in the opposition,
deny that. The
interesting thing is that while denying that there are
economic sanctions,
they still defend their positions using the very
features that constitute
economic sanctions. The trick has been that they do
not provide the
conceptual definition of economic sanctions, or if they do
(but rarely) they
give us half definitions that would not run counter to
their
positions.
Ironically, they will go on to blame the government for having
brought the
"restrictions" upon themselves. Well, firstly, in such a
statement, there is
acknowledgement that indeed there are economic sanctions
(termed
"restrictions") because those very restrictions are economic
sanctions, even
if being denied. Secondly, by not defining economic
sanctions, we are not
shown whether these people understand what economic
sanctions are.
A clear example of this strategy was used this past
Tuesday in a
British-based radio station which is run by Zimbabweans when
the
interviewees failed to give us a clear definition of economic sanctions,
but
went on to give us types of economic sanctions.
But there is a
difference between types of economic sanctions and the
definition of
economic sanctions. Prominent in that debate was the way the
interviewees
were picking and choosing the types of sanctions that they
wanted to use to
argue their case against the presence of economic sanctions
in
Zimbabwe.
Underlying that debate on economic sanctions is the suggestion
that these
measures - even if we are told they are non existent - is that
they are
based on nothing else but good nature of the West to see a Zimbabwe
that is
well administered. The politics that is around Zimbabwe - such as
the anger
by the West against the land reforms - is totally disregarded. To
argue that
there are ulterior motives by the West to get involved in
Zimbabwe is viewed
as crazy.
The fact that the West is involved in
Zimbabwe for their strategic national
interests is completely taken out of
the picture. The fact that the West is
using the Bretton Woods institutions
to apply pressure on Zimbabwe to
structure the economy in the manner
Zimbabweans would be disadvantaged and
foreigners benefit, is underplayed or
even completely dismissed. The fact
that an economy that is deeply
integrated into the global economy is a
disadvantage to the Zimbabweans is
discredited.
Instead, we are simplistically told how everything would be
good if we only
change the Zanu PF government. But we are not told how we
are going to
change the international economic system (a problem which has
persisted for
over 50 years), which has failed to progress on issues such as
the stalled
trade talks, the skewed political economy and closely linked
economic
injustice.
If a Zimbabwean would argue profoundly to
introduce a system that would
perpetuate the current skewed international
order, then certainly our
enemies are happy to sponsor those elements to
sustain such a discourse and
its attendant programmes.
On the other
hand, those neutral observers and progress elements are shocked
when
Zimbabweans relegate themselves to destructive discourses that have
affected
the country for individual benefit.
The remedy of destructive elements
going forth: more "individual
restrictions" for the government officials.
The subtext of that phrase is
"more economic
sanctions"!
Unfortunately, it is the ordinary people who feel the pinch
and not the
government officials.
Kuthula Matshazi is a Zimbabwean
journalist and blogger writing from Canada.
Visit his blog: http://kuthula.blogspot.com
New Zimbabwe
By Mutumwa D.
Mawere
Last updated: 05/28/2007 01:49:29
ZIMBABWE has never missed an
election since independence and one can
confidently say that the 2008
elections will be held on schedule
notwithstanding the sentiments expressed
by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
Only last
week, Africa celebrated the 44th anniversary of the founding of
the
Organisation of African Unity, which was in July 2002, succeeded by the
present Africa Union.
The leaders of the then independent Africa made
history and gave significant
impetus to the continent's collective but
incomplete struggle for
independence by establishing this pan-African
body.
More than four decades later, the dreams of the founding fathers of
the
Africa project have been realised only to the extent of decolonising the
continent from colonial hegemony.
Africa is still a victim of social
inequality, exclusion, bad governance and
corruption. Even with the end of
the Cold War, Africa remains a challenged
continent.
The hope that
foundation of Africa's post-colonial states would be based on
the
consolidation of democracy, the rule of law, good governance, respect of
constitutionalism and the observance of human rights has been sufficiently
discredited by Africa's founding fathers and their successors to give
credence to the observation that the continent is cursed.
From
renaissance Italy to Dubai, the development of the world's wealthy
nations
that are meeting in Germany this week has been driven by a
combination of
responsible and responsive government intervention coupled
with
strategically timed private sector investments.
History has shown
repeatedly that no amount of force can induce capital
investment in
environments where returns are not assured on a sustainable
and predictable
basis. No nation can ever be stronger than the strength of
its citizens who
often achieve the collective desire for progress through
self interest and
initiative.
The logic that one cannot strengthen the weak by weakening
the strong is
equally valid for Africa and yet Africa's leaders have made it
a habit to
target the rich countries at a global level and the business
sector at the
national level for ridicule in the misplaced hope that doing
so will
distract the attention of the governed from holding them accountable
for
condemning the continent to a lower standard of leaving.
I have
often observed that even if all the rich nations were tsunamied and
wiped
from the face of the earth, the condition of the poor will not
materially
change. Equally, even if the rich were to be eliminated, the poor
may remain
where they are and more importantly may have no hope for a better
life.
If the above is true, why would leaders with a demonstrated
track record of
failed policies and programs seek to entrench themselves in
power? It is
important that conversations be started among Africans on the
key
ideological questions that should inform the strategic options for the
continent.
Some often hold the position that the poor are poor
because of the rich or
the conspiracy of the rich nations and, therefore, it
is the responsibility
of the government to intervene in order to level the
playing field. At the
global level, the expectation is that multilateral
institutions should be
used as instruments for challenging and reforming the
governance model and
architecture while at a national level, the view is
that the state in the
name of the people must be the custodian of national
morality and economic
progress. There are many who see in the government a
friend of the masses
and in business a parasite of the people.
This
often leads one to wonder what, if any, is the role of business in
social
and economic progress. In Africa, the political elites often hold the
view
that it is a privilege to operate a business in the continent and not a
right. The logic advanced is that the output of any human endeavor
ultimately belongs to society and the state as a representative of the
nation has unfettered rights to private property under what ever
construction.
To the extent that most African states share a common
colonial heritage,
most of the continent's leaders often benefit from the
colonial legacy by
constantly reminding their subjects of the risks of
colonial resurrection
through opposition parties that are often labeled as
surrogates and puppets
of the rich and powerful nations.
Zimbabwe
provides a classic case study for anyone to better appreciate how
incumbent
parties that have liberation credentials can stay in power
indefinitely
using state power as a carrot and stick. I set out below my
observations of
how the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has now been
transformed into an
election agent for the decisive 2008 elections and how
the opposition may
not have any chance in hell to prevail.
On Wednesday last week, the
state-run Herald newspaper carried an article
entitled "RBZ in drive to
create jobs" which best illustrates the unfolding
drama in Zimbabwean
politics. It was reported that the RBZ had embarked on a
massive project
that will see it setting up institutions throughout the
country that
manufacture animal-drawn farming implements. It was also
reported that the
RBZ and not the government was conducting the project in
collaboration with
technical colleges under the mechanisation programme.
This is what the
RBZ governor Dr Gideon Gono was reported to have told
Zimbabwe's elected
representatives:
"We are going to set up the institutions in 62 districts
of the country as a
way to create employment for the youths as well as to
bolster agricultural
production. Communal farmers contribute to the
country's national food
security so we decided to recognise them and assist
them improve their
traditional way of farming through the provision of these
implements.
"We will provide them with the working capital and equipment
for them to
start running the businesses. It's time now that we stopped
importing maize
and even wheat, wasting the little foreign currency we have.
We have to
produce and this we can do as we have the capacity."
The
political import of the Governor's comments to a parliamentary portfolio
committee in an election season that has already begun in Zimbabwe requires
a critical evaluation. While it is evident that the role of the RBZ in
Zimbabwe is inconsistent with its charter, it is not clear what, if any, is
the role of the cabinet of Zimbabwe.
The President is the head of
state and government and one would expect that
he would be the one
responsible for overseeing the operation of the civil
service and government
agencies and would be at the centre of any new
initiative to expand the
services of the government to the people. It is
common cause that the RBZ
has been at the forefront of advancing the logic
that the end justifies the
means and, therefore, there is no rationale for
parliamentary oversight into
the allocation of national resources to certain
projects and
initiatives.
In this vein, one can understand the implications of the RBZ
confusing
voters with seemingly harmless infrastructural and hardware
support. Would
the beneficiaries of such irregular government interventions
be in any
position to punish the ruling party on election day?
On May
24, 2007, another article appeared in the Herald entitled: "No going
back on
forex surrender requirements" in which the Governor of the RBZ was
reported
in one of his on the spot guidance tours at Renco Mine to be saying
that the
RBZ would not succumb to any pressures seeking the revision of the
40
percent foreign exchange surrender requirements for exporters. This is
what
the Governor is reported to have said:
"The levelling of the playing
field in this regard seems to have jolted a
player or two in the platinum
sector and these seem to have chosen a
defiance route and are geared to
protect their entrenched position through
extensive lobbying of various
political figures, the international
community, certain banks and other
stakeholders to garner support for the
confrontational route they have
chosen.
"The management of our economic affairs will not be dictated to
us by
outsiders. To invite outsiders to intervene in domestic disputes such
as
that emanating from some requirements announced legitimately by a
legitimate
central bank, in legitimate circumstances, for legitimate
purposes, will
produce illegitimate results which this Governor will not
tolerate.
"I seem to have stepped on raw nerves of some of these guys.
When policies
are revised in their favour, they see nothing wrong but when
we announce
certain policies which may not go down well with them but are
for the good
of the economy, they become very defiant,"
"For
instance, this economy is facing drought conditions. This economy is
facing
shortages of medical drugs, this economy needs to retool in many
areas of
local authority, parastatal and government operations. This economy
requires
fuel, fertilizer and electricity among other foreign
exchange-driven
demands."
Those with genuine difficulties with the new foreign exchange
surrender
requirements would be engaged "in as sober a manner as possible
rather than
through antagonistic boardroom resolutions", he said.
On
May 27, 2007, the Herald reported that the platinum mining companies had
agreed to the extortion. To the extent that Gono's methods of inducing
demanded and expected economic behaviour seems to produce the results ahead
of the forthcoming elections, it is clearly unlikely that any pocket of
resistance to regime continuity will be left.
The platinum companies
like their brothers and sisters operating in an
environment where a Governor
of the central bank can issue public ultimatums
as an intimidation tactic
should naturally be in a state of shock and may
have been persuaded in
closed doors to accept the prescription on the
promise that they would be
beneficiaries of selectively determined exchange
rates that are often given
to compliant players at the sole discretion of
the Governor.
In such
an environment the playing field can never be expected to be level.
The
threats of the nature given by the Governor suggest that blind obedience
to
policy dictates is the order of the day.
In such an environment where
hyperinflation and associated economic
challenges are expected to be the
real variables to determine the continuity
of the incumbent, the role of an
activist and partisan Governor of the
central bank can be better understood.
Anyone who dares challenge the status
quo is assured of the consequences and
it will not be surprising that
citizens would like obedient sheep be
shepherded into political compliance
with a predetermined election
outcome.
Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column appears on New Zimbabwe.com
every Monday. You
can contact him at: mmawere@ahccouncil.com
Environmental policy
From
The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier
Once again an organization of the
United Nations has voted itself into
disrepute, this time by choosing
Zimbabwe's environmental minister to head
the Commission on Sustainable
Development, the main U.N. intergovernmental
body on the
environment.
Nothing quite matches the absurdity of the appointment of
the environmental
minister of a government that has destroyed its own
economy to guide
environmental policy for the world. Under the cruel,
capricious and
irrational rule of President Mugabe, Zimbabwe has gone
backwards.
Rogue members of the United Nations turned human rights into a
farce and are
now doing the same to international environmental policy.
From Bulawayo Morning Mirror
The media over the past few weeks in many parts of the world, has
been
totally obsessed
with wealthy playgirl Paris Hilton and her
impending jail sentence.... "poor
little Rich
Girl".... Such nightmares
await her in her 45 day (now reduced to 20 odd
days)
confinement away
from the Highlife...
Photographs of her impending jail cell show a neat,
pristine, although small
space with a
double bunk bed sporting a
substantial padded mattress, air conditioning and
a sparkling
clean
toilet.
Poor Paris will however not be allowed to wear makeup ...horrors
of all
horrors.... no hair
extensions are allowed...ghastly thought
..
She will be in an orange jump-suit and her cell phone, her
crystal-encrusted
trademark,
will be banned as well. But not being able
to text and talk with her
celebrity friends will be
the least of Hilton's
worries.
"She's going to be assigned a two-person cell, Hilton, like all
inmates,
would be confined
to her quarters 23 hours a day.
She will be
allowed out of her cell once a day for an hour to shower,
stretch her legs,
use
the telephone or watch television in a jail-house day room according to
reports.
Hilton's cellmate, if she gets one, will be another
individual serving time
for a serious
driving infraction or other
non-violent offence.
Paris will get three meals a day, all taken in her
cell, but like the jail's
furnishings, nothing
fancy - cereal or yoghurt
with fruit for breakfast, a sandwich or hamburger
for lunch, and
a hot
meal such as chicken for dinner!
The jail's schedule also will make it
hard for Hilton to keep the late hours
she is
accustomed to. Breakfast is
served between 6am and 7.30am, and lights are
turned out
at
10pm.
Hilton landed in hot water for driving her car without a valid
license
earlier this year while
on probation for an alcohol-related
reckless driving offence.
County officials stressed that Paris Hilton will be
equipped with protection
when she enters
jail. The hotel heiress will be
provided a panic button to alert jail guards
if she feels
threatened by
her fellow prison inmates.
Most educated people are just shaking their
heads at all the hype, she did
after all break
the law, and that's what
counts in civilised countries.
We Women of Zimbabwe are shaking our heads
in disgust at what the poor lass
has ahead
of her, someone should come to
Zimbabwe and interview one of our Gallant
Woza women
and ask them what
life in a Zimbabwe jail entails.
Jeni, Magodonga, Abigail and hundreds of
our brave WOZA women have spent
countless
days and nights in jails ...
and for reasons totally different to those of
Miss Hilton. Dare to
stage
a peaceful Valentines day march, handing out roses and kind words.
Dare to
sit
peacefully in front of an office protesting quietly and without any
violence, praying against
horrifying human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe.
Show one inch of spunk and the Zimbabwe Government gets into a
panic, sends
in its
police and riot troops, and our women, babies,
mothers and grandmothers are
badly
beaten and thrown into jail without
any recourse to legal representation,
without food and
water and without
doubt into the filthiest jail conditions the world over. I
quote a
reporter
from the London Times who dared to fall foul of the
authorities.
" After five days in a concrete and iron-bar tank, with no
food and only a
few sips of water,
my skin was flaking and my clothes
were slipping off. A prison blanket had
given me lice.
The water I had
palmed from a rusty tap in the shower had given me
diarrhoea. Under
a
24-hour strip light, I hadn't slept more than a few minutes at a time. And
I
stank. So many
men had passed through Cell 6 that they had left their
smell on the walls,
and while I was
making my own stink, the walls were
also passing theirs onto me."
The journalist was one of the lucky
Zimbabwean prisoners, he had a cell to
himself, most
Zimbabwean detainees
are not so lucky. They are usually crowded into cells
where there
is
standing room only, where if one needs to lie down the rest must stand.
Where the
latrine is overflowing onto the floor ....... where there are
no blankets,
where there is no
food, edible or inedible.
Its June
in Zimbabwe and our temperatures can get below freezing at night
.... but
then i
suppose when there are forty of you in a cell meant for two, cold is
not an
issue !
Sadly the world has its priorities all
wrong.......
The Herald - published by the government of Zimbabwe
Bulawayo Bureau
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police has
established a committee to spearhead
preparations for next year's
presidential and parliamentary elections and
envisages increasing the number
of police officers from the current 29 000
to 50 000 before the polls, a
senior officer has said.
The committee started operating on May 7 and is
based at the Police General
Headquarters in Harare.
In an interview
during a passout parade at Ntabazinduna on Thursday, the
chairman of the
committee, Senior Assistant Commissioner Faustino Mazango,
said his
committee's role was to create a peaceful environment, before,
after and
during the elections to guarantee a credible election process.
The
committee will also supervise resource mobilisation and the deployment
of
both human and material resources.
The country will next year hold
presidential and parliamentary elections
simultaneously in a bid to cut down
on costs. The development will also see
presidential and parliamentary terms
running concurrently.
"As ZRP, we have already started preparations for
the elections and are in
the process of mobilising manpower.
"We have
started a massive recruitment exercise so that we have a minimum of
50 000
police officers by the time we have elections," he said.
"If we fail to
get those numbers, we will use members of the police
constabulary because
right now we have about 29 000 police officers, which
falls short of our
requirements."
Snr Asst Comm Mazango said the ZRP had also requested the
Government to
assist with the acquisition of vehicles, which would be used
during
deployment.
"But I must point out that even with the available
resources, we can still
deploy effectively especially if the deployments are
carried out on time,"
he said.
Snr Asst Comm Mazango said police were
not ruling out the possibility of
violence erupting ahead of and during the
elections, given the politically
motivated violence which gripped the
country in March.
Several police stations, business premises, buses and a
train were
petrol-bombed in the orgy of violence.
He, however, said
police would be pro-active to ensure that the elections
were held in a
peaceful environment.
"But in the event that violence does indeed occur,
we are still capable of
dealing with the situation just as we managed to
contain the violence which
broke out a few months back.
"We have the
capacity to deal with any situation although our priority is to
ensure that
there is calm before, during and after the elections," he said.