FinGaz
ZSE seen retreating after 2003 budget
Mcdonald
Dzirutwe
11/20/02 9:00:00 PM (GMT +2)
SHARE prices on the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) are expected to
decline in the last few weeks
of 2002 as edgy investors bail out following
the announcement of new
government regulations on foreign currency and
interest rates.
Stockbrokers said the announcement last Thursday that exporters would
have to
surrender 100 percent of their foreign currency earnings to the
Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had caused panic selling on the stock market.
Previously, exporters had to remit 40 percent of their earnings to
the
central bank and could trade the remainder on the parallel market
for
foreign currency, where rates are more lucrative than at the fixed
exchange
rates on the official market.
Following Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa's presentation of the 2003
national budget last
Thursday, the ZSE's industrial index, the key indicator
of share prices, shed
6 238.08 points or 4.84 percent to 122 698.38 points
on Friday.
It tumbled a further 9.55 percent to 110 000 points at the end of
trading on
Monday.
The index had reached a record high of 130 899.60 points on
November
11.
Market watchers said there was panic selling of
export and financial
stocks when trading opened on Monday and this was
expected to continue in
the next few weeks.
"There is a lot of
panic selling especially in export counters which
have been badly exposed by
the new Reserve Bank regulations," a Harare-based
stockbroker told the
Financial Gazette.
"There are more sellers of export and
financial counters and this is
going to see weakness in the industrial
index."
An analyst at Sagit Stockbrokers said: "The situation is
bleak because
all counters that traded (on Monday) were down and the market
is still
assessing the exact impact of the forex regulations until the end of
the
year."
Some of the counters that lost ground on Monday
include Delta, CFI,
Econet, Edgars, Interfresh TA Holdings, First Bank,
Kingdom, PG Industries,
Truworths and Zimsun.
Analysts said the
stock market was also awaiting an announcement by
the central bank of an
increase in interest rates, although they said they
were not expecting a
substantial rise that would draw investors away from
the equities market and
back to the money market.
Murerwa announced during his presentation
of the 2003 national budget
that interest rates would rise under a new
monetary policy to be announced
by the RBZ.
Low interest rates,
which crashed to 10-year lows in January 2001 and
have remained soft, have
fuelled a bull-run in the stock market in the past
two years.
The analysts forecast a staggered interest rate increase of up to 70
percent
by the end of next year, although they anticipated no major movement
in
treasury bill (TB) rates because the government is depending on TBs to
borrow
funds cheaply from the domestic market.
First Mutual Life fund
manager Nyasha Chasakara said the stock market
would still offer a safe haven
for investors unless interest rates were
hiked to more than 150 percent,
above the October inflation level of 144.2
percent.
He said the
decline in the industrial index signified lack of
confidence in the stock
market, which has seen prices ballooning in the last
23 months because of low
money market rates and high inflation.
Chasakara predicted that the
industrial index was likely to end the
year below 110 000 points, saying this
would still offer positive returns to
investors.
A Harare
stockbroker said: "There is going to be a weakness in the
industrial index,
which will go down to between 60 000 and 80 000 points
before things sort
themselves out."
Meanwhile there was no trade on Monday in TH
Zimbabwe, which ZSE chief
executive Emmanuel Munyukwi said was suspended to
protect investors as the
company completed the demerger of its
divisions.
On the money market, dealers said Murerwa's budget
announcement had
had little impact, with the market estimated to have opened
between $5 and
$6 billion short on Monday.
Call and seven-day
rates were quoted above 50 percent this week, while
30-day TBs and bankers'
acceptances were yielding between 33 and 35 percent
per annum.
Foreign currency dealers said the Zimbabwe dollar gained against
major
currencies on the parallel market on Monday this week following a
government
announcement that all bureaux de change will be shut down by the
end of this
month.
The US dollar was selling at between $1 300
and $1 500, up from $1 800
before the budget announcement on Thursday. The
British pound was selling at
between $1 800 and $2 000, up from $2
400.
Rates on the parallel market, where the bulk of Zimbabwe's
foreign
currency transactions take place, have devalued by more than 50
percent in
the past four weeks, pushing up commodity prices and
inflation.
Tourists: come and experience a total ‘eclipse’
11/20/02 7:40:12 PM (GMT +2)
EDITOR — Tourists, come and experience a total "eclipsed Zimbabwe" but do
take note of the following drawbacks: severe food and fuel shortages and the
dreaded foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in cattle.
Crime is rife.
Police do not react as they could either be classed as "political" or they would
have to wait for "orders from the top" as well as "we do not have transport".
Cameras are a "no-no" — you could be classed as a foreign journalist.
Photos of so-called war vets, squatters or settlers are forbidden, as these
axe-wielding people might attack you.
Racial and ethnic hatred is rife. You might be accused of being a
"colonialist", "imperialist", "Blair puppet" or "British pig".
The axe-wielding militants will demand that you "go back to Britain as you
are stealing the country blind".
There is a severe shortage of foreign currency.
Bring a map or global positioning system as most town and river signs have
been vandalised.
Game has been decimated by poachers, but numerous tame cattle, donkeys,
goats, dogs and chickens can be viewed as you travel along the main roads.
Numerous beautiful trees are now chopped down to create areas where maize
crops will be grown. Thatched roof mud huts sprouting like mushrooms are now
where once pristine mopani trees existed.
Some holiday lodges on farms are occupied by "war vets". Be sure to book
your accommodation where you would be safe.
Enjoy your eclipsed holiday, and be patient in the queue.
Eclipsed Veteran,
Mwenezi.
FinGaz
Muzenda to quit in April?
By Sydney Masamvu
Assistant Editor
11/20/02 8:48:28 PM (GMT +2)
VICE
President Simon Muzenda plans to retire from active politics in
April next
year, setting in motion the long-awaited leadership succession in
Zimbabwe's
ruling ZANU PF, insiders in the governing party said this week.
They said the 80-year-old Muzenda, citing "ill health and fatigue",
had
indicated to some top members of ZANU PF's supreme Politburo organ that
he
wanted to retire by April, when Zimbabwe celebrates its 23rd
independence
anniversary.
President Robert Mugabe is aware of
Muzenda's intentions to retire,
according to the insiders.
Muzenda's plans to retire are widely expected to be announced at the
party's
2002 conference to be held in Chinhoyi next month.
The insiders
said government officials were working on a comprehensive
retirement package
for Muzenda - Mugabe's deputy since Zimbabwe's
independence from Britain in
1980 - a development which had led to the
recent revision of the presidency's
perks.
Muzenda, unwell for much of this year, had his request to
quit active
politics before the March presidential election shot down by
Mugabe, who
described the period then as a critical phase in ZANU PF's
22-year rule.
The vice president then shelved his plans and said he
would retire
after the conclusion of the government's land reforms, which
ZANU PF says it
has done.
Neither Muzenda nor his spokesman
could be reached for comment this
week. Officials in the vice president's
Harare office repeatedly said he was
away.
The insiders said
while Muzenda's retirement was not on the official
agenda of ZANU PF's annual
conference, it was expected to come up during
deliberations.
"Vice President Muzenda has made his intentions clear that he wants
to
retire," a senior Politburo member told the Financial
Gazette.
"President Mugabe and other senior Politburo members close
to him are
in the know. What has been the subject of discussion within the
top party
ranks has been the timing, but the issue will become clearer at
the
conference. Muzenda has hinted he wants to go in April," the
Politburo
member said.
In an interview with ZANU PF's official
People's Voice newspaper on
the eve of his 80th birthday four weeks ago,
Muzenda said his retirement
plans were on the cards but that these would only
be made known at an
appropriate time.
Official sources say most
of Muzenda's duties, who now spends most of
his time at his rural home in
Gutu, are being handled by Special
Presidential Affairs Minister John
Nkomo.
They say the elevation of Nkomo to a special affairs
ministry in the
President's Office is apparently to prepare for Muzenda's
retirement.
ZANU PF insiders say while Nkomo's elevation to replace
Muzenda is
imminent, Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also
the party's
administration boss, remains Mugabe's number one choice of
successor.
Mnangagwa is thus expected to take over from Msika in a
phased
retirement plan.
In elevating Nkomo, party insiders say
ZANU PF wanted to break the
tradition of allocating positions on tribal and
party lines.
Mugabe, controversially re-elected in a March vote
criticised as
flawed by the international community, says he has not decided
on when
exactly he will himself quit the state presidency because a successor
has
not been identified and groomed.
He also says he wants to
retire after completing his agrarian reforms,
under which the government has
seized about 10 million hectares of prime
land that used to be run by 4 500
white farmers to resettle landless blacks.
Mugabe has been
generally reluctant to discuss the succession issue.
He also
declined to allow Joshua Nkomo, a vice president who died from
prostate
cancer in July 1999, to retire after Nkomo had expressed a wish to
go.
FinGaz
And now to the Notebook . . . Is it a funeral parlour
budget?
11/20/02 7:48:10 PM (GMT +2)
Somebody has
drawn Mukanya's attention to words uttered by one Robert
Gabriel Mugabe
during the Southern African International Dialogue on Smart
Partnership held
in Kasane, Botswana, in May 1997.
We quote: "The finance ministry
is being accused of running a kind of
a funeral parlour. I do not know what
makes the ministry resist
implementation of decisions. Maybe it's the fear of
being asked to be
accountable for what they would have done."
Mukanya has a humble request to make to comrades Jona and George.
Could they
please check with His Excellency, on our behalf of course,
whether his
opinion on Comrade Herbert Murerwa is still the same?
But more
importantly, can they also check what His Excellency thinks
of Murerwa's
budget released on November 14?
Does the budget read like it was
prepared by the director of some
funeral home, presumably with the intentions
of turning the whole country
into a funeral parlour, which Mukanya reckons
should not be too difficult to
achieve given the way things are
already?
Ex-convicts & fugitives from
justice
One umafikizolo (Johnie-come-late) in
ZANU PF loves to remind anybody
who cares to hear how National Constitutional
Assembly chairman Lovemore
Madhuku was once jailed for abusing clients'
funds, which is true.
Mukanya was wondering whether any of you
readers out there remember
the name of one gentleman who was accused of
snatching children and of
running away with some of them to some east African
country, even after a
court ruling awarded custody of the children to his
ex-wife.
We remember the then justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa
saying the
said fugitive from justice would be arrested the day he landed at
Harare
Airport.
Even to this day journalists - of course this
does not include
Munyaradzi Huni of the Sunday Mail - are still trying to
establish what
became of this important case.
How times change.
Mukanya would like to remind the gentleman, who now
happens to be a senior
government official: those who live in glass houses
should not throw
stones.
Of discs and phantom
interviews
The propaganda war has reached
alarming proportions. Now we hear
allegations that one official does not even
trust his mouthpieces at one of
the local weeklies that he has resorted to
interviewing himself and sending
a disc over to the newspaper where a
reporter or is it a political editor's
name is added onto the story to give
the impression the unfortunate guy was
the one who actually did the
story.
Mukanya even hears of countless trips by a 405 vehicle to
the
newspaper's head office, especially on Saturday afternoons, to
deliver
stories done by the said official.
Talk of people
singing for their supper!
FinGaz
Zimbabwe's tourism revenue drops 44%
Staff
Reporter
11/20/02 9:04:12 PM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S tourism
receipts dropped by 44.3 percent to US$24.1 million
in the first half of this
year but a ministerial task force on tourism says
the completion of the
government's controversial land reforms will result in
the sector generating
as much as 11 percent of the country's total export
receipts.
Zimbabwe's export receipts are expected to decline to US$1.4 billion
this
year from US$1.7 billion in 2001.
In its October economic update
report released this week, Intermarket
Holdings says tourist arrivals in
Zimbabwe in the first six months of 2002
declined by 48 percent.
"Perceived insecurity of tourists on the back of political violence
has
compromised Zimbabwe's image, hence negatively impacting on tourist
traffic,"
it said.
"During the first half of 2002 tourism receipts dropped by
44.3
percent over last year from US$43.3 million to US$24.1
million."
But Intermarket said the sector was projected to register
a major
rebound in the last quarter of this year due to anticipated
revenue
windfalls from the Solar Eclipse, which will be experienced in the
southern
parts of Zimbabwe on December 4 2002.
A ministerial
task force on tourism, which is working on ways to
revitalise Zimbabwe as a
safe tourism destination, said the government
should provide a timetable for
the completion of its fast-track land reforms
under which hundreds of white
farmers have been expelled from their
properties to make way for
blacks.
The task force also said the private sector should invite
the
diplomatic community to work with stakeholders in the tourism industry
to
remove the negative perception by inviting influential people from
their
countries to visit Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has lost more than
US$582 million in tourism receipts in the
past three years due to the
unstable operating climate and poor strategies
used to revive the ailing
industry.
The country's tourism recovery programme has been
hindered by a
barrage of negative publicity accompanying the government's
land reforms and
political violence during the run-up to the June 2000
parliamentary
elections and the March 2002 presidential
elections.
The Central Statistics Office says only US$80 million
was generated
from tourism the whole of last year.
But the
ministerial team was however optimistic that tourism could
contribute more
than six percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 11
percent of Zimbabwe's
export earnings.
"The sector (has the) potential to contribute 6.5
percent of GDP and
earn as much as 11 percent of total export receipts," the
task force said.
It noted that presently there was no coherent
strategy to promote
Zimbabwe's tourist resorts in new markets by both the
government and the
private sector.
Tourist arrivals from
traditional markets such as Europe and the US
have nose-dived by 68.2 percent
since 2000 while direct flights to Zimbabwe
by virtually all major airlines
have been halted.
FinGaz
Govt accused of causing costly delays
Staff
Reporter
11/20/02 8:56:55 PM (GMT +2)
WHITE commercial
farmers this week accused the Ministry of Lands of
causing costly delays in
approving compensation funds for their farms seized
by the government under
controversial agrarian reforms to resettle blacks.
Commercial
Farmers' Union (CFU) director David Hasluck said the
ministry was dragging
its feet in approving and disbursing the compensation
funds.
"It
is the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture which has the final say
on the
disbursement of compensation funds," he told the Financial Gazette.
"What
this means is that it (the compensation) is not a priority at all."
The government set aside $4 billion to compensate the farmers in the
2002
budget. But up to September this year, only $1.7 billion had been paid
out.
Most farmers complained that the painstakingly slow process showed that
the
government did not want to compensate them.
The government has set
aside $4.5 billion as compensation for the
farmers next year, although the
unused $2.3 billion from last year will be
forfeited.
Patson
Mbiriri, principal director of Lands, Resettlement and
Technical Services in
the Lands Ministry, conceded this week that there were
indeed delays but said
these were caused by the slow legal process involved
in the land
reforms.
There are currently hundreds of cases being heard in
the
administration courts, where farmers are contesting the seizure of
their
properties by the government, which says it will only pay for
improvements
made on farms and not for the land itself.
Mbiriri
however said where there was a mutual agreement between the
government and
the farmer, payment of compensation was prompt.
Although there were
no updated figures of the number of farmers paid
compensation, the CFU this
August said just over 106 farmers had been paid
out since 2000.
"The legal process is somewhat slow, especially in administrative
courts, and
that really explains the utilisation of the funds allocated
for
compensation," Mbiriri said.
Hasluck said the lands ministry
did not have adequate staff to deal
with the farmers' compensation,
especially land valuers.
Mbiriri said his ministry had initially
received help from the
Ministry of Local Government and National Housing to
complement its valuers
but this had now been stopped, placing more pressure
on his department to
expedite the valuation of farms.
Although
the ministry did not have the capacity to train valuers, it
would soon
recruit people with some background in valuation to understudy
its own
valuers.
Hasluck said the CFU had appointed a consortium of valuers
who were
busy evaluating acquired farms for CFU members to come up with
models to
determine the value of improvements made on the farms.
He said according to a donors' land conference held in Harare in
1998,
Zimbabwe's 4 500 farms owned by CFU members were then valued at
US$865
million ($47.57 billion at today's official rate). The amount was for
both
the land and improvements.
He could not put a time frame
during which the consortium would
complete its evaluations although he said
this was likely to be completed by
the second half of next year.
Meanwhile a post-budget meeting held in Harare this week to debate
the
financial votes of the lands and water development ministries in
last
Thursday's budget noted with concern that the funds allocated to the
two
ministries were far below what had been agreed with the Ministry of
Finance
prior to the budget.
Former agriculture minister
Kumbirai Kangai said the finance ministry
should commit itself to a
supplementary budget because the allocated funds
were
inadequate.
For example, he said the lands ministry had bid for $40
billion for
farm inputs. After meetings with finance ministry officials
before the
budget, the figure of $29.9 billion had been agreed upon. But in
the budget,
the farm inputs vote was slashed to $12.5 billion.
"We need to put pressure on the Ministry of Finance for a
supplementary
budget for this ministry (Lands and Agriculture)," Kangai
said.
"We should get a commitment that officials from this ministry will not
be
charged if they exceed the figures because this was not what was
agreed
upon."
FinGaz
Blanket price freeze heralds more pain
By Abel
Mutsakani Deputy Editor-in-Chief
11/20/02 8:56:13 PM (GMT
+2)
A BLANKET freeze imposed on prices of goods by the government
will
inflict more pain on Zimbabweans as more businesses are driven into
the
black market and consumers are forced to cough up more money for their
food
basket, analysts said this week.
They said the Soviet-style
price clampdown announced by the government
last weekend was largely
motivated by political considerations but also
highlighted the desperation of
President Robert Mugabe and his
administration in the face of dwindling
supplies of food, fuel and foreign
currency, among several crises afflicting
the country.
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) business studies professor
Tony Hawkins
said besides fuelling the black market, the latest freeze on
prices by
Industry and International Trade Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi would
kill many
more companies in a country where unemployment in the formal sector
is
already above 60 percent.
The respected UZ don said the price
freeze would discourage the few
investors who still had a heart to do
business in the troubled southern
African country.
"It (the
price controls) is an unworkable idea. Price controls have
never worked
before and there is no reason to think they will work this time
round,"
Hawkins said.
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa himself admitted
last week that
attempts in the past 12 months to fix prices of basic goods
had failed.
Nevertheless, the government went on to widen price regulations
to cover
goods from basic foodstuffs to electronic gadgets such as
calculators and
photocopying machines.
The retail prices of
newspapers were also placed under state controls
for the very first time,
just when the cost of newsprint is skyrocketing
almost every
month.
Cooking oil, bread, sugar and other essential goods, whose
prices the
government controls, are either in very short supply or have
disappeared
from supermarket shelves. The goods are now mostly found on the
black
market, where sellers charge more than treble the official
prices.
In some cases, manufacturers have easily evaded state
regulated prices
by merely re-branding or repackaging their
commodities.
Sources at the Industry and International Trade
Ministry said the
government planned to keep the blanket price freeze only
for six months
after which a new system that allows companies some
flexibility in
determining their selling prices would be agreed, although the
state would
still set maximum prices.
Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce economist James Jowa said the
price control plan appeared aimed
at controlling prices throughout the
production chain.
"The
government appears to think the reason price controls failed on
basic
commodities was because they had not controlled the whole production
chain
and it appears that is what they are trying to do now," he told the
Financial
Gazette.
"But it is impossible to control prices throughout the
whole process
because there are too many external factors involved. For
example, the issue
of the availability of foreign currency."
Most manufacturers say because of the acute foreign currency shortage,
they
have had to mobilise forex from the black market - whose exorbitant
rates are
not controlled by the government - to pay for machinery, spare
parts and raw
material bought from foreign suppliers.
Officially the Zimbabwe
dollar trades at $55 to the American unit but
changes hands at anything
upwards of $1 400 to the green back on the black
market, where most hard cash
transactions now take place.
Industrialists say businesses would
collapse were the private sector
to use the government's official and
overvalued exchange rate to determine
the prices of goods.
Hawkins said the government was misdirecting its efforts by tinkering
with
the prices of the few goods that were still available instead of
addressing
the economic and political fundamentals that have hit
productivity in the
entire economy.
He said Mugabe and his government were better
advised to address the
underlying cause of Zimbabwe's crisis, which he said
was the government's
high expenditure that is pushing up the huge budget
deficit, which in turn
is fuelling inflation.
Zimbabwe's
inflation has now hit an all time high of 144.2 percent.
The
government projects a budget deficit of 14.1 percent of gross
domestic
product for this year but independent economists say the figure
could be more
than 20 percent.
The government must also address the concerns of
the international
community about its controversial land reforms, bloated
human rights and
democracy record and show its commitment to the rule of law
in order to
unlock blocked international aid.
The International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank have suspended aid
to Harare while the
European Union, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and Switzerland have
imposed targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his
officials over governance
issues.
Hawkins said it was clear that the government had decided
it would not
confront the "real issues" facing it on the political and
economic fronts
because of the high political risks involved.
"This is a case of political interest preventing rational decisions
from
being made so you end up with the irrational prevailing," the UZ
business
professor said.
FinGaz
Comment
New foreign currency rules to worsen
crisis
11/20/02 7:06:51 PM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S
foreign currency crisis will worsen markedly after the
government's decision
last week to outlaw foreign currency bureaux and
commandeer all forex in the
name of resolving a long-festering and
self-created problem.
Far
from addressing the fundamental causes of the crisis, the new
measures will
only exacerbate the forex shortages because, as shown by all
previous state
controls, exporters and others with hard cash will simply
go
underground.
The little forex that is available will
disappear.
The solution to the hard cash squeeze lies in Zimbabwe
earning more
forex and not in coercing the few exporters still keeping the
country afloat
into giving up all their hard-earned money at the ridiculously
overvalued
and fixed exchange rate.
The government's capacity to
do the wrong thing almost all the time
and its perennial refusal to learn
from past mistakes is truly astonishing.
In this particular
instance, Zimbabweans can be certain that they will
hear more and louder
cries of economic sabotage emanating from the
government when the results of
its latest measures finally take their toll:
the drying up of all forex and
the total collapse of an already sinking
economy.
Instead of
imposing these counter-productive measures, Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa
should have come up with meaningful incentives to
encourage the few remaining
exporters to increase their exports and thus
earn more hard cash for
Zimbabwe.
Because Zimbabwe's record high inflation has inevitably
made local
companies less competitive against rivals in neighbouring
countries where
inflation is in single digits, the incentives should have
focused on
lessening the burden of spiralling production costs faced by
Zimbabwean
exporting firms.
Whether Murerwa did this by giving
them tax holidays or lowering their
corporate tax levels is something the
minister needed to give much thought
to because, as Zimbabwe's fundamentals
now stand, local companies can hardly
export at a profit.
The
seizure of all the firms' forex earnings, thus giving the central
bank the
sole authority to decide the import needs of these firms, is
certainly not
the right way of doing things.
Not only does this decision increase
red tape, which delays decisions
that need to be made quickly by firms when
importing inputs, but it exposes
the central bank's control systems to
possible corruption, already an
endemic problem in Zimbabwe.
Assuming some incentives had been given to exporters, the question of
the
exchange rate of the Zimbabwe dollar versus the currencies of the
country's
major trading partners still needs to be addressed.
There is simply
no way that Zimbabwe can pretend it is living in
isolation of the global
village and that therefore it can go it alone by
fixing the value of the
local dollar regardless of the inflation
differentials which exist between it
and its trading partners.
In other words, the overvalued Zimbabwe
dollar has to be allowed to
depreciate significantly to its perceived market
value not only because this
is the right thing to do but because this also
kills speculation in the
foreign exchange market and encourages exporters to
work harder and earn
more forex for themselves and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe needs to look no further than neighbouring Botswana for an
exemplary
management of a country's foreign exchange resources.
Not only has
Botswana done well to manage its forex, but it has gone a
step further to
abolish all forex controls, thus making itself a haven for
foreign direct
investment which has contributed significantly to Botswana's
impressive
economic growth.
The abolition of exchange controls removes the
temptation for any
company or individual to be dishonest in forex dealings,
another reason why
open systems such as this one - as opposed to a closed and
controlled
system - need to be encouraged.
FinGaz
Church leaders back Pius Ncube
Staff
Reporter
11/20/02 8:57:32 PM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO -Senior
clergy in and around Matabeleland this week rallied
around outspoken Roman
Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, who has accused the
government of denying
food to starving opposition supporters to cynically
try to win their
support.
Seven church leaders in and around Matabeleland said they
agreed with
Ncube that government food aid had been politicised to the
detriment of
opposition MDC followers.
The one-page statement
was signed by Bishop Dube of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Bishop Wilson
Sitshebo of the Anglican Church Diocese, the
Reverend Graham Show of the
Methodist Church, the Reverend Kevin Thompson of
the Presbyterian Church, the
Reverend Noel Scott of the Anglican Church in
Bulawayo, Kingsley Dube of the
Church of Christ and Pastor Ray Motsi of the
Baptist Church.
"We, the church leaders, fully support Archbishop Pius Ncube's
statement of
the 6th November 2002 as reported on the BBC (the British
Broadcasting
Corporation). We hear the cries of the suffering, the harassed
and starving
people of our country for help," the statement said.
"We condemn in
the strongest terms the actions of (President Robert)
Mugabe and his
government in hijacking food supplies and distributing them
in a partisan way
and in hindering the work of non-governmental
organisations and other
concerned bodies in their efforts to feed the hungry
and suffering people in
our midst," it said.
Ncube, accused by the government of being an
MDC supporter, told
church leaders in Durban last week that about 160
villagers had starved to
death in Matabeleland because the government was
allegedly denying them food
aid.
"We face an absolutely
desperate situation in Zimbabwe and the
government is lying to the world
about it. Our government continues to
engage lies, propaganda, the twisting
of facts, half-truths, downright
untruths and gross misinformation because
they are fascists," Ncube charged.
"Mugabe is using the food crisis
in Zimbabwe to force people to vote
for his party," he added.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has denied Ncube's charge and
accused him
of being mad.
"When a bishop is mad, he is mad and I don't think it
is fair to
comment," Moyo told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
Last
month the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) suspended
famine relief
aid in the southwestern district of Insiza after ruling ZANU
PF militants
seized three tonnes of WFP maize and gave it to ZANU PF
supporters ahead of a
parliamentary by-election there.
ZANU PF subsequently won the
poll.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst famine after crops
failed last
season because of a devastating drought and the government's
controversial
land seizures. About half of the country's 14 million people
are threatened
with starvation.
In their statement, the seven
church leaders said they were aware that
villagers and other people suspected
to be MDC supporters were being denied
food.
They condemned what
they said was the government's orchestrated
campaign of violence,
intimidation and torture "that adds to the suffering
of our freedom and
peace- loving people".
They stated: "We commit ourselves to do all
we can to serve the people
and to co-operate with other caring bodies in
bringing urgent relief to all
those who desperately need food and
help.
"We call the government to repentance and a change of heart,
to listen
to the cries of the people and to return to the path of justice,
peace and
governance."
Analysts said the statement by the clergy
was certain to put them on a
collision path with the government, which has
repeatedly urged the church to
keep out of politics.
FinGaz
Coltart remanded in election shooting case
Staff Reporter
11/20/02 9:00:04 PM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO - A
Bulawayo magistrate has remanded to February 2003
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) legislator David Coltart,
who is accused of shooting
at ZANU PF supporters in the run up to the March
presidential
election.
Magistrate Fadzai Mthombeni ordered Coltart, the Member
of Parliament
for Bulawayo North, to appear in court again on February 10
next year.
Coltart's lawyer, Nicholas Mathonsi of Bulawayo law firm
Webb, Low and
Barrow, said he would ask the state to withdraw its case
against his client
when he next appears in court. He said the prosecution had
failed to clearly
indicate what charges Coltart was facing.
The
state alleges that on February 15 this year, Coltart was driving
along Mapie
Road in Bulawayo when he saw ZANU PF supporters putting up
election campaign
posters of Robert Mugabe, that party's candidate in the
presidential
election.
Coltart allegedly fired two shots into the air from a
pistol to scare
away the ruling party supporters.
Coltart denies
owning a gun or any of the cars, a Mazda double cab
truck or Toyota Venture,
which the state alleges he was driving on the day
in question.
The MDC parliamentarian says he was actually in a different part of
town
during the time he is supposed to have fired the gun along Mapie
road.
Mathonsi said: "The state has also failed to investigate my
client's
alibi. We feel there is no basis to prosecute my client and the
behaviour of
the state bears testimony to that. The prosecutors know that
there is no
case but are afraid to withdraw the charges against my
client."
FinGaz
Byo council moves to acquire 133 farms
Staff
Reporter
11/20/02 8:55:32 PM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO - The
government is finalising the acquisition of 133 farms
in Umguza for the
Bulawayo City Council to undertake urban agricultural
projects, but officials
in the area say the fate of at least 10 000 people
occupying properties in
the constituency is unclear.
Lennox Mhlanga, a spokesman for the
Bulawayo municipality, said the
acquisition of the 133 farms, measuring 138
000 hectares in total, was
likely to be completed before the end of this
year.
He told the Financial Gazette that the farms had been
identified by
city council officials and had been under the control of the
Umguza Rural
District Council since the government took them over from white
farmers
under the land reform programme.
It was however not
clear if the government, which has yet to
compensate white farmers for land
seized under its agrarian reforms, would
pay the Umguza council cash for the
farms.
"The government is facilitating the acquisition of these
farms," said
Mhlanga. "In the meantime, we are in talks with officials from
Umguza as
most of the farms identified by us are under their
jurisdiction."
He said as well as urban agriculture projects, the
land would be
useful in future if the city of Bulawayo, home to nearly two
million people,
decided to expand by creating new residential suburbs and
commercial and
industrial areas.
"The land is also for our
future development. We are negotiating with
all the concerned parties, with
the government being the facilitator,"
Mhlanga said.
The city
council spokesman would not provide further details on the
133 farms, but
opposition Movement for Democratic Change legislator for
Bubi-Umguza Jacob
Thabane said thousands of people already lived on
those
properties.
At least 10 000 people are said to have moved
into the area since
ruling ZANU PF supporters began occupying white-owned
farms in February
2000, while others have been resettled under the
government's land reforms.
Bulawayo City Council officials were
unable to shed light on what
provisions were being made for these people,
saying negotiations were still
in progress and the fate of the settlers would
become clearer in the
process.
Thabane, who claims there is a
ruling party plot to unseat him, said
plans to pass the farms over to the
Bulawayo City Council could be used to
ZANU PF's advantage.
"The
whole idea is to dilute my constituency. ZANU PF wants to bus
their people
into my constituency under the pretext of establishing
urban
agriculture.
"I agree that the council needs land for
expansion and Umguza is
adjacent to Bulawayo. But I can foresee this being
used by ZANU PF to its
advantage."
But Mhlanga shot down these
claims. "As the city continues to grow, we
will continue to seek land outside
the city for our future growth," he said.
SABC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe journalists challenge media laws
November 21, 2002,
12:00
Zimbabwe's highest court was due to hear a
challenge by
independent journalists today questioning the constitutional
validity of
tough new media laws which critics say are aimed at muzzling
dissent.
The Independent Journalists' Association of Zimbabwe
(IJAZ)
filed papers with the Supreme Court in July challenging the Access
to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act which President Robert
Mugabe
signed into law in March.
Critics say the
legislation is aimed at stifling opposition in
the face of the country's
worst political and economic crisis since Mugabe
took power at independence
from Britain in 1980.
Abel Mutsakani, the IJAZ president,
said: "The main argument we
are putting forward is that we want the court to
strike down as
unconstitutional the requirement that journalists should be
registered to
work in this country.
"This is the first of
a series of court challenges that we want
to bring against this
law."
Media laws necessary to restore ethics
The government argues the media law was necessary to restore
ethics in the
private media, which it accuses of spreading Western
propaganda against
Zimbabwe in retaliation for Mugabe's seizure of
white-owned farms for
redistribution among landless blacks.
The law punishes "abuse
of journalistic privilege", such as
publishing falsehoods, with fines and up
to two years in prison and also
bans foreigners from working in the country
as correspondents for foreign
media.
Twelve journalists
have been charged under the new act,
including a US citizen and correspondent
for Britain's Guardian newspaper,
Andrew Meldrum, who was acquitted in July
of charges of reproducing a false
story.
In September, the
government refused to renew the work permit of
an American journalist working
for French news agency Agence France Presse's
(AFP) Harare office, citing the
clause barring foreigners from working as
correspondents in Zimbabwe. -
Reuters
VOA
US Accuses Mugabe Government of Fabricating Story on Embassy
Employees
David Gollust
State Department
21 Nov 2002, 00:07
UTC
There was more angry U.S. criticism of Zimbabwe's government
Wednesday over
an incident last week in which two U.S. embassy employees and
others were
accosted by pro-government activists while trying to assess
hunger
conditions outside the capital Harare. The State Department is
accusing
President Robert Mugabe's government of fabricating a story that the
embassy
employees provoked the incident.
The relationship between the
Bush administration and the Mugabe government,
already troubled, appears to
be deteriorating further amid conflicting
accounts of what U.S. officials say
was an unprovoked attack on two U.S.
embassy employees and others last Friday
southeast of Harare.
According to the State Department, a U.S. diplomat,
a Zimbabwean employee of
the U.S. embassy, a British United Nations official
and a Zimbabwean serving
as a guide for the group, were stopped in their car
by a group of pro-Mugabe
activists, so-called "war veterans", as they tried
to assess hunger
conditions at a farm compound about 25 kilometers from the
capital.
The two Zimbabweans were said to have been severely beaten,
while the others
were subjected to what was termed "hostile interrogation"
and their vehicle
looted of personal and official items this, as Zimbabwean
police ignored
telephone calls for help from the U.S. diplomat.
The
State Department earlier this week expressed "outrage" over the
incident. But
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said Wednesday U.S.
anger has been
magnified by false accounts of the affair in
government-controlled newspapers
claiming the embassy employees provoked the
confrontation.
"The
assertion that the Zimbabwean government has made in these press
reports that
embassy staff created and filmed a scramble for food among farm
workers are
complete fabrications, utterly without foundation and clearly,
once again
betray the cynicism of the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe," he said.
"The United
States regards the unprovoked attack on our personnel as a
serious breach of
the Zimbabwe government's responsibility to safeguard
diplomatic personnel in
Zimbabwe. The breach cannot be hidden behind the
Zimbabwe government's
fabrication of a nonsensical story to justify the
lawless actions of its
supporters."
Spokesman Reeker said the treatment of the officials
contravened the Vienna
Conventions on diplomatic protocol. He suggested that
United States might
withdraw personnel and warn Americans against travelling
to Zimbabwe unless
authorities respond to U.S. complaints over the affair,
and punish those
responsible.
As reported by the government-run Herald
newspaper, the U.S. embassy
employees sparked the incident by repeatedly
throwing food at farm workers
from their car and filming the resulting
commotion. Zimbabwe's Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo had earlier accused
the United States of "intrusive
and interventionist" behavior concerning the
regional food crisis.
The Bush administration, a persistent critic of the
Harare government's
human rights performance, has accused it of making the
country's
drought-related food problems much worse through "ill-considered"
economic
policies, including the confiscation of white-owned commercial
farms.
Despite the political conflict, the United States has been a key
supplier of
food aid to Zimbabwe and other hard hit countries in the region,
and
spokesman Reeker said the Bush administration's decisions on aid to
the
people of Zimbabwe will not be affected by its attitude toward the
Mugabe
government.
HIV/Aids Scourge Ravages Varsities
Vanguard
(Lagos)
November 21, 2002
Posted to the web November 21,
2002
Emmanuel Edukugho
The AIDS epidemic is ravaging Nigerian
ivory towers with thousands of
university students already afflicted by the
killer ailment. If you are one
of those sceptics who believed AIDS had not
yet arrived on our campuses,
then hold it!
Former Senior Special
Assistant to the President on HIV/AIDS and Chairman
National Action Committee
against AIDS (NACA), Professor Ibironke Akinsete,
has declared that the
dreaded disease is now very much around in the
universities, citing
University of Lagos as an example.
"I have seen a lot of AIDS patients
from the University of Lagos," said
Professor Akinsete of the Department of
Haematology and Blood Transfusion,
Unilag.
She lamented: "Nothing is
going on in the universities on AIDS. Absolutely
nothing. The disease is
devastating our university population. In respect of
the larger national
population, 3.8 million Nigerians have AIDS."
Tracing the onset of the
epidemic in Nigeria and initial response, she
recalled that the first case
was reported in 1986. Initial response was not
robust and hampered by denial.
HIV/AIDS considered a problem of the health
sector and even then a minor
segment. There was very limited funding and
political support. Insufficient
capacity and understanding to effectively
respond to challenges imposed by
the epidemic.
Shortcomings of the initial response included limited
contribution and
ownership of response by all possible stakeholders, very
narrow funding base
(health sector and donors), poor planning, co-ordination,
monitoring and
evaluation. Efforts did not lead to reduction in prevalence,
behaviour
change or improved knowledge.
As regards current national
response, Professor Akinsete acknowledged that
there is now political
commitment present at the highest level.
Establishment of new multi-sectoral
structures and broader funding base.
Democracy has brought on more
partners and a better understanding of the
epidemic and what
works.
She listed the multi-factorial causations of AIDS. These are
socio-economic
determinants, behavioral determinants, biological determinants
and system
factors (blood supply, contaminated instruments).
There had
been paradigm shifts which was described as a series of shifts in
fundamental
thinking about the epidemic. These are: The realisation that the
HIV/AIDS
epidemic is at an early stage of development and that its long term
evolution
is still unclear.
That successful proven approaches to HIV prevention
have been identified,
and the need for a particular emphasis on young people
has been recognised.
That community mobilisation is the core strategy on
which success against
HIV has been built.
That access to comprehensive
care and treatment for HIV/AIDS is not an
optional luxury in global
responses.
That addressing the economic, political, social and cultural
factors that
render individuals vulnerable to HIV/AIDS is crucial to a
sustainable and
expanded international response.
That lack of capacity
to absorb increased resources allocated for HIV/AIDS,
while posing
challenges, is no reason to delay the boosting of responses in
countries
expressing commitment to an expanded response.
According to her,
generally speaking, about half of all new infections occur
in young people
aged 15-24. In Nigeria, young girls carry several fold the
HIV burden of boys
of corresponding age due to asymmetry in sexual
partnerships, etc. Girls
become infected younger and die earlier.
Professor Akinsete, in a graphic
presentation on African higher education
institutions, responding to the
challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic (case
studies, best practices) to mark
African University Day, listed the impact
on the education sector. These are:
Increased absenteeism in schools, loss
of concentration/poor performance
exclusion from international training,
loss of teachers, e.g. Zimbabwe lost
1,300 teachers to AIDS in 10 months
(1998) and 10% of teachers in Africa will
die of AIDS in the next five
years. Disruption of teacher/pupil ratio, note
long term impact.
With the ravaging AIDS scourge, more students are not
likely to be present
in lecture rooms. Even those who manage to attend
lectures with the ailment
will suffer from impaired concentration and
extremely poor academic
performance. They will not be able to make excellent
grades.
In respect of international training, Professor Akinsete referred
to a case
in which about 200 people sent abroad for training, over 10 of them
tested
positive to HIV/AIDS and were sent back to Nigeria. Consequently, AIDS
can
cause the loss of opportunities to study abroad by our students either
for
first degree or masters.
With the projection that 10% of teachers
in Africa are likely to die of AIDS
in the next five years, the implication
will be grave and tragic for
Nigeria's education system. In a country where
teaching has become a mere
stepping stone to other lucrative professions, the
situation will be more
pathetic when AIDS begin to take its toll on
teachers.
Disruption of teacher/pupil ratio means that we are going to
have more and
more pupils to few and fewer number of
teachers.
According to the situation analysis, the epidemic is still in
its early
stages. That effective responses are possible but only when there
is
political will at all levels.
That unless more is done today and
tomorrow, the epidemic will continue to
grow.
Inaction has proved to
be a deadly mistake. Evidence has never been stronger
that action against
AIDS gets positive results.
Half measures and piecemeal responses do not
work. There must be an agenda
for change which has been embraced by the Abuja
declaration of commitment by
all nations of the world at the UN General
Assembly special session on
HIV/AIDS in June 2001.
The important thing
is to act and act now.
Professor Akinsete wants lecturers, students,
faculties and departments to
form a committee that will take the campaign to
all the universities.
"The universities should set up a think tank. I am
appealing to them to sit
down and do something. They should sit down and
write proposals and
strategies to address the problem. Nigerian universities
have done nothing.
In Botswana, Zimbabwe, they have taken the bull by the
horn. Every one is
active. But not so in Nigeria."
The Professor of
Haematology said we should aim at changing the mindset of
Nigerian university
students who are behaving as if AIDS does not exist.
"We must take the
campaign on HIV/AIDS to them in their respective campuses,
in their hostels,
cafetaria, peer groups, social clubs, etc. We should reach
them anywhere they
are."
There is the need to raise awareness and sustain it. Asked why the
TV and
radio stations are not used to convey AIDS messages to the people,
Professor
Akinsete answered:
"Our TV stations are highly commercial.
You have to pay a lot of money
because they are all interested in income
generation. In other countries, it
is mandatory for television stations to
show AIDS programmes on a daily
basis. But not so in Nigeria. Money is the
bottom line."
She advocated something called ABCD. A for Abstinence, B
for Being faithful,
C for Condom and D for Death.
"It is your choice
to pick any of them. You can Abstain, or Be faithful, or
use Condom or
Death," adding that, "we should put heads together and do
something."
CFU REPORT 21 NOVEMBER
2002
GENERAL
INFORMATION.
Most of the under mentioned Trusts
and databases have been in operation for some time and have assisted many of our
members and their families. This is to serve as a reminder of services
available.
CFU Database of Accommodation,
Storage Space and Job Opportunities
The CFU has a database of
accommodation, storage space and job opportunities. This is a very large
document and is, therefore, issued to members on request. Categories cover
accommodation on offer in Zimbabwe and other countries. Job opportunities – by
country – Regional and others. A limited amount of storage space is on offer as
most of this has already been taken up.
Should you require a copy of this,
contact the undersigned, Lisa Fulton or Anita
Briggs.
Farm Families
Trust
Following the brutal murder of CFU
members the Union set up a Widows Fund to assist the widows of these members
with financial commitments such as school fees, medical bills etc. The Fund was
eventually expanded into the Farm Families Trust and the first meeting took
place on Thursday 5th June, 2000. The elected Chairman and Vice
Chairman are Anthony Swire-Thompson, Chairman, and Richard Winkfield, Vice
Chairman.
The objects of the Trust are for the
purpose of alleviating hardship amongst Zimbabwean farmers and their families
whose lives have been affected by any form of violence or dispossession and
attending to the health, financial needs and general welfare of such persons and
their families. Any member in need can apply to the Trust for assistance.
Contact details Mr A J
Swire-Thompson 04 883173 swires@pci.co.zw
Mr R Winkfield 04 300632 venetia@africaonline.co.zw.
Flame Lily
Foundation – South Africa
The Flame Likely Foundation in South
Africa can put distressed farmers in touch with well-wishers in South Africa who
have offered temporary accommodation. Please direct enquiries to John or Mary
Redfern on rasa@africa.com.
Stress
Management
Following the Stress Management
Seminars at the Commercial Farmers’ Union, the Farm Families Trust initiated an
outreach programme to bring qualified speakers to the farming areas. As the
illegal invasion of commercial farmland escalated and the use of extortion and
violence by war vets to intimidate landowners and their employees became more
common many farmers and their wives and families reached breaking point. As a
result of this Farm Families Trust decided to expand its role to help deal with
the crisis. It developed a network of skilled people who can help farmers and
their wives to cope with and reduce the mental anguish and trauma that they are
experiencing. A number of seminars have been held in the
districts.
The CFU or the Farm Families Trust
can provide a list of Counsellors on request.
Info Regarding
The Farm Worker Relief Fund
The National Employment Council for
the Agricultural Industry comprising of the ALB and GAPWUZ resolved to establish
a Relief Fund to assist farm workers and their families who have lost property
and been maimed or injured as a result of the current spate of lawlessness
prevailing in Zimbabwe.
In this connection an account was
opened at Barclays Bank, Westgate Branch in the name of The Farm Workers Relief
Fund.
The account number is : 2144 -
3286926
The National Employment Council has
made an initial deposit of $100,000.00.
Monies donated will be used to
purchase necessities.
The National Employment Council for
the Agricultural Industry 6 Cottenham Avenue P O Box WGT 312 (Off Lomagundi
Road) Westgate Telephone No: 334472/3 and 303669
The Zimbabwe
Farmers’ Trust Fund
Aims And Objects
Of The Trust
Ø To raise funds to assist those
Zimbabwean farming families who are under threat to have a short holiday in the
United Kingdom.
Ø To help these families pay for
certain quantifiable costs, most notably travel from the point of entry into the
country – say London Heathrow International Airport – to the hosts, which
may number more than one, with whom they will be staying.
Ø To help hosting families to a very
limited degree, with the cost of providing ongoing support for their guests
should all this become burdensome and only if alternative
accommodation cannot be found – say in the event of illness and hospitalisation
of a Zimbabwean guest.
D. Wolseley-Brinton Tel 01776
705316
Fax 01776
889488
e-mail WolseleyBrinton@aolc
Chlenry
Castle
Kennedy
Stranraer
DG9 8SL
Zimbabwe
Agricultural Welfare Trust
Extract From
Appeal:
This email is an urgent appeal, on
behalf of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust (ZAWT) to all Zimbabweans,
ex-Zimbabweans (and anyone with a love of the country).
Please read it, make a donation and
forward it to all Zimbabweans you know, wherever in the World they
are.
Over recent months, we have
witnessed unprecedented change and turmoil in our country. As expected the
people hardest hit by the recent upheavals have been the farmers and their
workers (The two are dependent upon each other and are facing the same crushing
pressure).
We have spent the last few months
working in close contact with farmers groups, the workers communities, human
rights organisations and NGOs to establish a workable plan to help the people
who are battling it out on the ground. Our plan is called Project Survival. It
aims to support those who without help would lose everything: and it depends
upon people like you to succeed.
The biggest problem facing the
farmers, and by extension the communities that they support is keeping up with
the costs associated with maintaining a labour force whilst unable to produce.
To this end, one of the most recent focuses of Project Survival is to help
farmers to cover the costs of their labour force, who will benefit by being able
to stay in their homes and their communities in relative safety. We normally
offer this support for 3-month periods.
This support is vital to keep
farmers going. For the workers it can literally be the difference between life
and death, as starvation haunts the country.
We are reliant upon the Zimbabwe
community around the world to fund our work. We are currently receiving no other
support.
We are now able to receive online
Visa donations through our totally secure website. This is the quickest way for
you to help. Failing that, please send a cheque (payable to ZAWT) to the address
at the bottom of this email.
Click here for more details of
Project Survival and how you can help.
http://www.zawt.org/currentappeal.htm.
ZAWT is a charity registered in the UK.
Please don’t delay. Forward this
email today and dig as deep as you can.
Thank
you.
Lao
Watson-Smith
Administrator
Zawt (Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare
Trust)
P O Box
168
Woodbridge
Suffolk
IP 13
8WE
United
Kingdom
Website : http://www.zawt.org
If you would like to contact us
please email us at admin@zawt.org
Registered in the UK as a Charity
No. 1091003
Patron: The Most Reverend Desmond M
Tutu O.M.S.G.
D.D.
F.K.C.
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape
Town
Society For The
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
SPCA have assisted many farmers
with removal of their PRT animals and other services. Ms M Harrison has appealed
to farmers not to leave farm horses abandoned on farm because the cost of
putting them down\retrieving them is prohibitive and stretching the resources of
the society. She estimates there are + 10 000 horses on farms, many of
which will have to be put down, as there is no market for these animals (save
the crocodile farm and lion and cheetah park). The Society is quite prepared to
assist farmers dispose of these animals but would require some support
(fuel\transport\payment of veterinary fees) from the
farmer.
Jan
Wentworth
Agricultural Ethics
Assurance Association of Zimbabwe - building competencies and promoting food
quality and worker safety in global food
chains.
Background
Global
food chains are the enabling environment for both international companies
engaged in trade and commerce and for local exporters supplying international
consumer markets. Consumers in the developed world have become accustomed to
increasingly high standards of quality and uniformity of agricultural produce.
Retailers have translated this expectation into ever greater pressure on their
suppliers for higher quality, larger volumes, year-round supplies and at lower
cost, to satisfy their customers’ needs and to increase their own market share
in a highly competitive trading environment.
Fortunately,
progressive Zimbabwean producers and exporters decided to be proactive by
introducing a Code of Practice for Exporters that establishes a common minimum
standard across the Zimbabwean agricultural industry. This enables Zimbabwean
exporters to speak with a common purpose and show our customers, both old and
new, that Zimbabweans are responsible producers who recognise and accept the
concept of ethical trading. The Code combines the expectation of our major
markets with existing national legislation and is managed by the Agricultural
Ethics Assurance Association of Zimbabwe.
Mission
statement
The
mission of the Agricultural Ethics Assurance Association of Zimbabwe is “To
develop, promote and encourage the widespread adoption of the
Code of Practice
by exporters of agricultural products in order to improve the quality and
competitiveness of Zimbabwean products, safe guard the health and safety of the
workers and consumers, protect the environment and encourage sustainable
agricultural production.”
Objectives
¨
To formulate, adopt,
periodically review, modify and improve a CODE OF PRACTICE governing the
production, processing and packing of all agricultural products, particularly
those destined for export from Zimbabwe;
¨
To secure and maintain
recognition of this CODE OF PRACTICE amongst the importers of agricultural
products exported from Zimbabwe and the foreign agencies or bodies representing
the interests of workers involved in the aforesaid production, processing and
packing, the people sharing the environment in which this is done and the
consumers of such products abroad;
¨
To promote the adoption of
and adherence to the CODE OF PRACTICE amongst all persons who, within Zimbabwe,
are producing, processing and packing agricultural products particularly those
intended for export and consumption abroad;
¨
To promote responsible and
ethical practices throughout the agricultural community of Zimbabwe, the
production of wholesome food stuffs and a recognition and respect for the people
involved in these processes and natural environment in which the products are
grown, processed and packed;
¨
To design, adopt or
otherwise make or acquire, a stamp, badge, label or other such device bearing a
logo or other sign of approval by the Association of the acceptance and
implementation of the provisions of the CODE OF PRACTICE by that producer,
processor or packer;
¨
To secure and maintain
recognition of that sign of approval as an indication of the observance of
responsible standards by the growers, processors and packers of the produce that
is to stamped;
¨
To appoint independent
auditors or monitors to ensure that the Association's sign is not abused and
that all members of the Association do strictly observe and implement the CODE
OF PRACTICE.
Membership
§
Membership of the
Association is open to all growers, producers and organisations
involved:
a)
in the production,
processing and packing of agricultural products within
Zimbabwe;
b)
in the production or
provision of inputs for such activities;
c)
in servicing those
activities through their labour and in sharing the environment with those who
produce, process and pack agricultural products.
§
Membership is also open to
organisations operating within Zimbabwe or abroad who have an interest in
promoting the objects of this Association.
For more
details, contact:
Kennedy
Chakanyuka
A.E.A.A.Z.
P O Box
WGT290
Westgate,
Harare
Tel: 04
309 800/309 868
Fax: 04
309 868
E-mail: hpcproject@cfu.co.zw or
kennedy@zol.co.zw
If
you require any further information on any of the above issues please contact
Tel 04 -309800 ext. 255 or e–mail aisd1@cfu.co.zw and we will endeavor to supply
prompt answers.
Daily News
Zimbabwean wins crucial rights case in SA
11/21/02 8:41:40 AM (GMT +2)
From Japhet Ncube in Port
Elizabeth,South Africa
A Zimbabwean asylum seeker in Cape Town has
won herself and the rest
of the continent's displaced nationals a crucial
court battle allowing
refugees to work and live in South Africa while their
status is being
ascertained, and their applications processed.
The ruling has brought a deep sigh of relief to thousands of
Zimbabweans
fleeing their crumbling economy and the political crisis in
their
country.
But the biggest challenge now is to prove they fall under
the
definition of refugees, legal experts said on Monday.
The
ruling in the Cape High Court gives the refugees the right to work
and live
in the country while their applications are being processed. It may
take up
to a year for applications to be processed. And all refugees fleeing
African
tyrants have Zimbabwean Murial Millie Wachenuka to thank. Lawyers
for
Wachenuka, her disabled son Sipho Mlagisi and the Cape Town-based
Refugee
Centre, which looks after jobless refugees while they wait to be
granted
asylum seeker status, took the Department of Home Affairs to court
to
challenge the constitutionality of the Refugees Act.
They argued
that it was an infringement of refugees' constitutional
rights to equality,
human dignity, life and just administrative action, not
to allow asylum
seekers to work or study while waiting for their
applications to be
processed.
Every month South Africa deports thousands of illegal
immigrants,
mostly from neighbouring states, particularly Zimbabwe and
Mozambique.
But the Cape Town court found that a ministerial
blunder in the
regulations that created the ban meant the regulations were
unlawful and
unconstitutional. This meant that it was unnecessary for the
court to rule
on the infringement of fundamental rights.
The
battle started in February. Wachenuka and her son applied for
asylum in Cape
Town, and they were not allowed to work and study
respectively.
The fiery Zimbabwean enlisted the services of the Legal Resources
Centre and
took on the Minister of Home Affairs, the director-general and
the
chairperson of the standing committee on refugee affairs, demanding she
be
allowed to work, and her son to study.
In his judgment, Justice
Hennie Erasmus noted that the standing
committee consisted entirely of Home
Affairs officials, and was headed by
the deputy director of refugee
affairs.
Justice Erasmus said it was unnecessary to find that the
standing
committee was appointed unlawfully as he had already set aside the
ban on
working and studying because of the mistake in the issuing of
regulations.
The Refugees Act, which came into effect in April 2000, was
created to give
effect to international conventions relating to asylum
seekers.
But barely five days after it became law, the Minister of
Home Affairs
passed a set of regulations that would allow asylum seekers to
stay in the
country but prohibited them from working or
studying.
But the passing of the regulations failed to recognise
that the legal
requirement that the standing committee on refugee affairs
should determine
whether or not refugees could study or work.
South Africa has been battling the influx of illegal immigrants since
the
country's first ever democratic elections in 1994. It loses millions
each
year repatriating illegal immigrants, most of whom return to what they
see as
the land of milk and honey.
According to the Act, refugees are
people and their dependants who
have fled their countries of origin or can't
return home because of the
well-founded fear of being persecuted by reason of
their race, religion,
nationality, political opinion or membership of a
particular social group.
Wachenuka and many other Zimbabweans fall
into this description.
Political violence and the general collapse in the
rule of law are driving
Zimbabweans into exile in South Africa.
Although there was no comment from Wachenuka or her legal
representatives on
Monday, it was clear the ruling would be cause for
celebration among many
refugees in South Africa, which boasts the best
constitution in the world,
and democracy.
Daily News
DRC recalls envoy
11/21/02 8:22:37 AM (GMT
+2)
By Luke Tamborinyoka Political Editor
THE
Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to
Zimbabwe,
Mwanananga Mwawapanga, has been recalled.
President Joseph Kabila
last week launched a crackdown on senior
government officials linked to the
plunder of diamonds and other mineral
wealth during the four-year civil war
in his country.
Senior government and army officials in Zimbabwe
were named in a
United Nations' report for plundering the resources of the
DRC. But the
government of President Mugabe has dismissed the report
as
British-orchestrated "malicious rumours". It emerged yesterday that
while
the Zimbabwean government was dithering over the detailed corruption
and
plunder report, Kabila had suspended his Harare representative and
recalled
him to Kinshasa.
Yesterday, the consul at the DRC
embassy in Harare, Richard Biladi,
confirmed Mwawapanga's suspension. "He was
recalled home about a week ago
following the inclusion of his name in the
report by the UN panel. The
ambassador was one of the officials suspended by
President Kabila," Biladi
said.
Kabila's actions are in sharp
contrast to the inaction by his allies
in Harare, who have said they will not
investigate the officials linked to
the looting of "blood diamonds" during
the four years which Zimbabwe
committed nearly 11 000 troops to the
Congo.
Speaking from Kinshasa yesterday, Kikaya bin Karubi, the DRC
Minister
of Information, said five officials had been suspended,
including
Mwawapanga, who was then Minister of Finance. "The DRC government
is
conducting its own investigations. Our ambassador to Harare was mentioned
in
the UN report and he is on suspension pending finalisation of that matter
-
that is all I can tell you," said Bin Karubi The Speaker of
Parliament,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Minister of Defence, Sydney Sekeramayi,
and some of
the country's top military brass were implicated in the
scandal.
The two senior Zanu PF officials allegedly received
payments from the
playboy son of an Omani oil minister who is chief executive
officer of Oryx
Natural Resources, which jointly owns a diamond mining
concession in
Mbuji-Mayi with Zimbabwe.
Last week, Patrick
Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs,
completely dismissed the UN report. He said the
government would not
investigate the senior government officials named in
the report. But Kabila
is reportedly not happy that the DRC's allies
connived with DRC government
officials to loot the country's resources,
taking advantage of their presence
in the war-torn country to ward off
rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Last
week, Kabila fired three key
government officials over the UN report. The
suspended officials include
National Security Minister Mwenze Kongolo, the
government's key negotiator
at the peace talks, Katumba Mwanke, and the head
of the national security
agency, Didier Kazadi Nyembwe.
Mnangagwa, the alleged mastermind of the transfer of "blood diamonds"
and
cash through couriers who bypassed customs officials at Harare
International
Airport, has confirmed he once dealt with Kongolo in order to
facilitate the
release of an Oryx employee from a prison in the DRC but
denied being
involved in any shady deals.
Daily News - Feature
Is Munyaradzi Gwisai an MDC or ISO
MP?
11/21/02 8:19:55 AM (GMT +2)
Saul Gwakuba
Ndlovu
The Highfield Member of Parliament, Munyaradzi Gwisai,
reportedly
snubbed a disciplinary committee of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
tasked to hear his case over alleged anti-MDC public
pronouncements.
Gwisai has been reported on several occasions
before publicly
criticising the MDC for allegedly losing ideological
direction by siding
with employers at the expense of the workers, and also
for becoming an
"elitist" organisation.
Gwisai also represents
the International Socialist Organisation (ISO)
whose objectives, he feels,
have been betrayed by the MDC.
It is obvious that Gwisai's public
remarks have caused the MDC some
embarrassment, hence the decision to take
disciplinary action against him.
I do not know what the MDC
constitution stipulates on such matters,
but I am sure that the decision to
hold such a hearing (on Gwisai's
sentiments) was based on the belief that he
is constitutionally bound to
respect the MDC's rules and
regulations.
If that understanding is not correct, one wonders how
the MDC thinks
it can discipline a person who is not bound by its
constitutional
provisions.
If Gwisai is an MDC member, I wonder
why he does not voice his
sentiments to the policy-making body of that
organisation rather than to the
public through the mass media.
It would appear that Gwisai owes more loyalty to the ISO than to
the
MDC.
Should that be the case, one wonders whether the
Highfield voters are
also more loyal to the ISO than to the MDC.
The question that has to be answered is: Did Gwisai win the Highfield
seat as
an ISO or as an MDC representative?
I do not know much, if anything
at all, about ISO. But I can state
that I have more than an academic
understanding of socialism: a political
and economic system or theory in
which the means of production, exchange and
distribution are collectively
owned by the community, usually through the
state.
It would be
most interesting to find out how Gwisai has implemented
socialism in
Highfield, his constituency.
That apart, I have always struggled to
understand why he is a member
of an international organisation whose local
affiliate is to me completely
unknown.
Where is the (Zimbabwean)
national socialist organisation which, as is
the normal practice, should be
Gwisai's local power base but affiliated to
the ISO?
If there is
such a party in Zimbabwe, one would have thought Gwisai
would be championing
its cause rather than that of an umbrella body, the
ISO.
Another
aspect of this controversy I find to be of much interest to
the generality of
the people of this country is whether or not there was an
agreement between
the MDC and the ISO for Gwisai to contest the Highfield
seat under the
auspices of the MDC, or whether or not there was an
understanding that the
MDC would pursue a socialist, that is to say, an ISO
ideological
line.
My understanding of the MDC is that it is merely a movement
aimed at
the democratisation of Zimbabwe.
In it are workers, as
in trade unions; intellectuals, made up of
lawyers, medical doctors, teachers
and lecturers; peasants; commercial
entrepreneurs; farmers; industrialists;
and church organisations.
Now, it has become clear to many
Zimbabweans that the world
(international) socialist movement is also a part
of the MDC.
If this perception is correct, I wonder what would
become of that
obviously loose coalition of democratic interests were each
group to press
its demands over those of others.
It is also of
much interest why Gwisai thinks that he can speak for
the workers of this
country and yet it was they (the workers) who created
the MDC, and chose
their own people to represent them in that
organisation's
leadership.
I strongly feel that if Gwisai is of
the opinion that the MDC has
performed far below his expectations, he should
quit that organisation.
That would mean resigning the Highfield
seat as well inasmuch as it is
an MDC constituency. He would thereafter fight
a by-election as an ISO
candidate.
That is the only honourable
course of action for him.
I do hope that since he is accusing the MDC
of betrayal, he is, in
effect, talking about honour.
Why not
lead by example rather than by precept by doing the honourable
thing -
resigning and standing as a fully-fledged ISO candidate?
As for the
MDC leaders, it is surprising that they find it advisable
to show so much
tolerance. Do they not know the good, old English adage: A
stitch in time
saves nine?
The wisdom in that saying is expressed differently in
different
Zimbabwean languages.
In tjiKalanga they say:
Mbgwanana inolobgwa itjanya; in siNdebele, they say: Isigogo
sigoqwa
sisemanzi; in chiShona they say: Simbi inorohwa
ichapisa.
Other Zimbabwean languages have, I am quite certain,
equivalents to
these pithy sayings.
By dilly-dallying, the MDC
leadership is, in fact, doing a disservice
to the Highfield voters, some of
whom must now be wondering whether or not
they elected the right person to
represent them in Parliament.
If Gwisai is either dissatisfied
with, or embarrassed by the
performance of the MDC, he should either leave it
for a better organisation
or be pushed out into an environment where he can
openly criticise that
organisation with maximum freedom and more frequently
than he is presently
able to do.
That is freedom of association
and expression.
Calls for Zimbabwe to be expelled from the AU
November 20, 2002,
13:00
Zimbabwean opposition party, the People's Freedom Party (PFP), have
handed
over petitions to the South African Government and the African Union
(AU).
The party is demanding the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the AU. The
group
marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to express their grievances.
They
called on the South African government and the AU to expel Zimbabwe from
the
Union.
The protesters said that South Africa should take a more
public stand to
prevent genocide in Matabeleland. They also want the country
to accept
Zimbabwean refugees. Malcolm Ngcube, of the PFP said: "We want the
African
union to look seriously at the Zimbabwe situation before its too late
and we
definitely demand that Zimbabwe be expelled from the
organisation."
The protesters said they must not be held responsible for
violence if their
demands are not met©2002. All rights strictly reserved.
Independent Online
HARARE, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The lack of a clear monetary policy and
the
requirement that exporters remit 50 percent of their proceeds to the
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) have adversely affected the performance of the
stock
market.
Following the announcement of the budget last Thursday by
Finance and
Economic Development Minister Herbert Murerwa, the industrial
index tumbled
6,238.08 points or 4.84 percent last Friday to 122,698.38
points as major
counters weakened.
On Monday, the index fell a further
11,719.84 points or 9.55 percent to
close at 110,978.54.
The market
continued to weaken on Tuesday and the benchmark industrial
index dipped
3,375.42 points or 3.04 percent to close at 107,603.12 points.
The big
question is what aspect in the budget caused panic among investors
who have
been quite happy to participate on the market for almost two years.
The
investors are uncertain about the measures introduced in the budget,
which
need to be clarified by the RBZ.
They blamed Murerwa for presenting a budget
that was hazy on issues of
critical importance.
The issues of interest
rates and foreign currency accounts had been
suspended for the past year and
investors had expected clear direction from
the budget, which, however failed
to deliver, leading to speculation and
panic on the market.
Most
investors are now adopting a wait-and-see attitude until the position
is made
clearer, resulting in a slow-down on the stock market, which since
last year
has been performing beyond expectation in the face of skewed
macro-economic
fundamentals.
The hardest hit counters have been those in the export sector
like Bindura,
Trans Zambezi Industries and Interfresh which have taken the
brunt of the
decline.
The Intermarket Stockbrokers said that a lot of
export-orientedstocks have
been behind most of the decline in the market.
This could be a reaction to
the announcement pertaining to the rules guiding
the remittances of foreign
exchange to the RBZ.
They added that investors
were wondering how that was going to work. "Maybe
we will see a change when
the monetary statement comes out as we are sure
the RBZ is working on
something to explain how the measures are going to
work."
Murerwa
announced in the budget that the percentage of foreign exchange
received from
the export of goods and services and surrendered to the RBZ
had been raised
from 40 to 50 percent with immediate effect to meet
critical
imports.
This, he said, meant that authorized dealers were now
required to buy 50
percent of all export service receipts up-front, for
theaccount of the RBZ.
The remaining 50 percent would also be surrendered to
the RBZ and held to
the order of the exporter, he said.
Murerwa said that
usage would be related to a priority list to be specified
by the RBZ, adding
that the priority list and operational details would be
announced by the RBZ
governor shortly.
Investors were interested in clarification of these
measures and whether
the remaining 50 percent would be changed at the
official rate of 55
Zimbabwean dollars to one US dollar or some other
rate.
Investors were speculating and those who were unwilling to take risks
were
getting out.
Kingdom Financial Holdings investment analyst Patrick
Saziwa said if
interest rates went up, there would be positive returns for
money market
traders and the market was not as risky as the stock
market.
"We need to have a monetary policy first for the situation on the
stock
market to improve. Personally, I do not think that the rates will go up
to
an extent that will affect the market very much," he said.
"For
positive returns, interest rates should be above the inflation rate.
It's
only panic that is causing the market to fall.The market should pick up
maybe
in January next year. The situation has been compounded by the fact
that the
performance of the market is traditionally low around Christmas,"
said
Saziwa.
He, however, said the market had performed extremely well this
Year.
The index was at around 9,000 points in January 2001, jumped to2,000
in
January 2002 and had gone up to more than 128,000 points before the
budget
announcement.
Zimbabwe's stock market was judged one of the best
emerging markets in the
year 2000.
"It is still one of the top emerging
markets although it has been mainly
inflation driven," said Saziwa.
Sagit
stockbroker analyst Oliver Lutz concurred with the other analysts
that the
50-50 split of export proceeds and the price freeze had impacted on
the
market.
He said many stocks had been re-rated downwards and would remain so
until
they released their results and a clear monetary policy was
announced.
Investors were nervous and were taking a more cautious approach
so as to
reduce exposure to equities.
Sagit said that the mention of
interest rates always hampered any stock
market.
"Historically, December
has been a slow month on the market because of the
build up to Christmas. On
that basis, I don't thinkwe will sustain the
current rate of collapse," he
said.
Local analysts are considering that the market would remain weak until
next
year or might correct sooner depending on when the monetary policy
was
announced.
The stock market has been a shining beacon in a gloomy
economy
characterized by high inflation of 144.2 percent, foreign exchange
shortage,
company closures and high unemployment. by Gao Shixing