Angus
Shaw in Harare
Saturday November 24, 2007
The Guardian
Zimbabwe
is to slash three zeroes from its currency notes for the second
time in a
year to make transactions more manageable in the world's most
inflationary
economy.
The central bank governor, Gideon Gono, said after months of
planning the
issue of new currency bills was "imminent", state television
and radio
reported. Television showed a sample of a new 500 Zimbabwe dollar
note. The
highest existing bill, for 200,000 Zimbabwe dollars, becomes
200.
Article
continues
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"I
know the zeros we removed last time came back quickly but this time we
are
doing it in such a way they will not return," Gono told a televised
meeting
of banking and business leaders. He did not elaborate.
Zimbabwe has suffered
chronic shortages of cash this month that created long
lines at banks and
cash dispensers not shut down by the daily power cuts.
Gono accused
speculators of hoarding cash, saying the new denominations
would replace the
old in a changeover lasting a day or two. He said holders
of cash needed to
urgently deposit it into the banking system "before it
turns to useless
manure". Banks and finance houses were asked to extend
their business hours
to accommodate depositors.
The state central statistical office said on
Thursday its monthly
announcement of official inflation due in early
November still was not
ready, but an independent business weekly newspaper
said leaked figures
showed official inflation at 14,800%, up from 8,000% in
early October when
it was by far the highest in the world.
A
government order in June to reduce inflation by cutting prices of all
goods
and services by half left shelves bare of the corn meal staple, bread,
meat,
cooking oil, sugar and other basic goods. It also worsened acute
petrol
shortages. Independent estimates put inflation at close to 40,000%
this
month.
Irish Times
Aoife Kavanagh
On
a parched nine-hole golf course that has seen better days, more than 40
golfers are braving the midday heat to battle it out for the big prize. The
winner of the weekend competition at the Hornung sports club in Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second city, will walk away with 25 litres of unleaded petrol,
writes Aoife Kavanagh .
"Last weekend, first prize was a box of
vegetables," one wiry old veteran
explained as he shaped up to tee off.
"Veggies are welcome, but the petrol
prize is something special - it's like
gold dust these days."
This is Zimbabwe, where the white elite once lived
a charmed existence, but
can now barely manage to fill their fuel tanks. And
where, for the majority
black population, years of economic and political
mismanagement are
life-threatening.
Four out of every five black
Zimbabweans are living beneath the poverty
line. Every wage-earner in the
country is feeding almost 20 people from his
or her monthly salary. Just
over a decade ago the life expectancy of the
average Zimbabwean woman was
66. Today it is 33. The central bank's foreign
exchange reserves have been
decimated; supermarket shelves are bare.
When President Robert Mugabe
came to power in 1980 the country was thriving.
Its health and education
services were the envy of the region and, thanks to
a first class
infrastructure and a healthy economy, the future looked
bright.
Now
it is a country hanging on by its fingertips.
Last week the ritual
queuing began at first light in the centre of the
capital city, Harare. As
dawn broke, two separate lines intertwined on the
corner of Takawira Street.
The longest queue was motivated by a rumour that
circulated around the city
overnight. Somebody got a tip-off that there was
bread in town. Up and down
the line people were on their mobile phones,
texting and calling friends to
give them the latest information. In the end,
many people walked away
empty-handed. When bread and flour do come on the
market they are often
bought up in bulk and sold on at inflated prices on
the black market - in
effect the real market in Zimbabwe.
And it's not just bread. Those who
have the purchasing power buy what they
can - maize, cooking oil or beans -
often at government-subsidised prices.
Instead of supplying the domestic
market, they export the goods to
neighbouring Mozambique or Botswana to earn
precious foreign currency, while
the less well-off in their own country can
barely afford one meal a day.
"If I don't get the bread today, who knows,
maybe I won't be able to afford
it tomorrow," one woman in the bread queue
told me.
She is probably right. Last month inflation stood at 7,900 per
cent, and
already this month, it has risen to 14,000 per cent. For those
lucky enough
to have a job - unemployment is about 80 per cent - inflation
rates are
making a mockery of their wages. Teachers are still being paid
about $12
million (Zimbabwean dollars) a month, just a little more than the
cost of
six litres of cooking oil.
The second queue that morning was
for the Post Office Savings Bank, where
scores of people lined up to
withdraw money. The value of the country's
currency is falling so sharply
that the government can't print enough notes
to keep up with demand. On a
bad day, by the time the last person in line
reaches the cash dispenser the
Zimbabwean dollar will once again have fallen
in value.
This week,
the government tightened the screw once again on the availability
of hard
cash by halving the daily limit one person can withdraw from an ATM.
The
queues on Takawira Street are about to get even longer.
The impact of
this economic meltdown is much more serious than having to
birdie the ninth
to fill your fuel tank or being forced to stand in line for
cash. Four
million Zimbabwean citizens will need food donations if they are
to make it
through the next four months. Zimbabwe gets much of its
electricity from
South Africa, but supply is at best sporadic and at worst a
rarity, directly
because of the fact that President Mugabe's government
can't afford to pay
its electricity bills. All over the country, dams are
drying up and people
are digging their own wells or making do with rancid
water
supplies.
THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL of the economy even affects the dead. In
rural areas,
people can no longer afford to buy coffins for their loved
ones. Neither can
they afford to register their deaths. The truth is that
nobody knows exactly
how many people are dying in Zimbabwe from hunger or
disease. In Bulawayo,
the local, state-owned newspaper, the Chronicle, used
to regularly publish
the number of people who died from starvation in the
area, until the
government banned it from doing so.
Contaminated
water, poor nutrition and a HIV/Aids rate of 15 per cent would
place heavy
demands on any health service. But in Zimbabwe the health
service is failing
the people when they need it most.
The country's public hospitals have
almost ground to a halt, so much so that
if a patient needs a simple
procedure, like a couple of stitches or an
injection, the instruments or the
antiseptic might not be available.
Two weeks ago, three of the country's
main hospitals were without
electricity for more than four days. Fires
burned outside the kitchen doors
so staff could cook food to feed their
patients.
Half of all medical posts are now vacant, as doctors leave for
London or
Dublin or Sydney to earn a decent wage.
Dr Andrew
Fairbairn, a white Zimbabwean, whose family has been here for two
generations, is one of the few doctors who hasn't left. He runs a private
clinic on the outskirts of Harare. Every week he watches the gradual but
persistent decay of the health system. "Medical care is almost not available
to people who can't afford it, such that someone needing surgery or chronic
medication cannot get it," he says.
When we met he was making plans
to travel to Baghdad for two months as a
doctor-for-hire in order to earn
some foreign currency before coming home
again. He says he is struggling to
keep his clinic going because of the
severe drugs shortages and the
spiralling cost of treatment. "It's shocking
to see some elderly people
coming in here, wasting away, losing weight
because they can barely afford
to buy food," he says. "Many people are
cutting their medication in half, or
not taking it at all. They come to me
and ask me which of their medicines
they can do without because they can't
pay for them."
Restricted by
the price or the unavailability of certain drugs, pharmacists
occasionally
stock medicines not registered by the Zimbabwean drugs
authorities. Friends
of Dr Fairbairn's have been arrested and thrown in jail
for days for
attempting to supply their customers with the drugs they need.
"A couple of
pharmacies have been closed down. It's common for them to be
arrested on a
Friday so that they squirm in an over-crowded cell all weekend
without
access to a lawyer," he says.
While he will continue to come and go from
the country to earn foreign
currency, Dr Fairbairn claims he is determined
to stay in Zimbabwe no matter
how much conditions deteriorate. "I feel an
obligation to stay until things
come right again." And when might that be?
He shrugs his shoulders. "Once
again I am thinking something might change
after next year's elections, but
then I am a committed
optimist."
JACOB SWITCHES ON the battered radio and his small,
dilapidated shack is
flooded with loud, pounding hip-hop music. His baby
daughter lying on the
couch wakes with a start as our small group pulls a
little closer together,
"just so they will not hear us talking", Jacob says,
explaining that CIO
(Central Intelligence Organisation) operations are
common in the area. "Now
you can go ahead and ask your
questions."
His home is in Tafara, a huge township about 20km west of
Harare. Jacob is a
monitor with the Zimbabwean Peace Project, a
non-governmental human rights
organisation that tracks political violence
and intimidation. Sitting on the
couch beside him is 32-year-old Saveri
Mafunga, who is a victim of Mugabe's
efforts to shore up support ahead of
the 2008 elections. He was refused
subsidised food because he does not
support Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
As Mafunga begins to speak, his voice
shakes a little; he is nervous. He
knows it is dangerous to talk to
journalists or human rights groups. It is
officially illegal to criticise
the government in this country. And,
unofficially, he could be beaten or
tortured for doing so. One side of his
face is lit by the sun streaming
through the window, and he appears gaunt
and tired as he tells me how he is
sick with worry that he won't be able to
feed his wife and baby
daughter.
Two weeks ago he went to a government food distribution point
near his home.
Officials were handing out maize, beans and cooking oil, all
at subsidised
prices and all most people can afford now. He checked if his
name was on the
register and was relieved to see it there. For months he has
hustled for
bits and pieces of part-time work, but there hasn't been nearly
enough to
keep up with runaway prices.
"When I got to the top of the
queue I was asked to show my Zanu-PF card," he
explains. "I do not have one
and they told me that even though my name was
on the list, that I was
entitled to food, there would be nothing for me."
The government official
passed along, telling him that there was no record
of his attendance at
Zanu-PF meetings, and if he wanted food he should get
it from Morgan
Tsvangirai - the leader of the main opposition party in
Zimbabwe.
"I
am also asked for a Zanu party card when I look for work, and often there
is
no work without it," he says. "I don't know what we are going to do now
to
survive. Anything I have, I get from friends and from good
neighbours."
This year has been declared a drought year in Zimbabwe, and
this is the
beginning of the so-called "hungry season". Human rights
organisations say
the government is clearly using food as a political tool
against millions of
people who are now at their most vulnerable.
The
Zimbabwean Peace Project has recorded hundreds of incidents of people
being
refused subsidised food because they don't support Zanu-PF. Project
director
Jestina Mukoko fears this tactic will have the desired effect at
the ballot
box. "People might be forced to vote with their stomachs, simply
because
they want to guarantee their food," she says. "For many people it is
a
matter of survival".
The project has evidence too of efforts to
discriminate even against those
too young to vote. Some "child-headed
households" - where both parents are
dead and the eldest child is caring for
the rest - are also being denied
food if their parents were suspected or
known to have supported the
opposition. "Children are having to suffer for
the 'sins' of their parents,
in terms of them accessing food," Mukoko says.
"To want to see somebody go
hungry when food is available is inhuman. I
think it is within the powers of
the authorities to sort it
out."
While the government has free rein to manipulate its own subsidised
food, it
has also attempted to interfere in the distribution of
international food
donations. Between now and next March, the United Nations
World Food
Programme (WFP) will feed three million people in
Zimbabwe.
When WFP officials first sat down to negotiate the distribution
of food aid,
there was a stand-off with government. The ruling party wanted
community
chiefs - most of them loyal to Mugabe - to decide where the food
would go.
WFP refused to go along with this arrangement, but has
occasionally been
forced to suspend distribution because politicians have,
to quote a WFP
spokesman, "tried to make their presence felt" at
distribution points.
"We have a very rigorous and thorough process in
place for handing out food,
from registration all the way through to
distribution. The beneficiaries get
food strictly on the basis of need," the
spokesman says.
However, Justina Mukoko believes there is a low level of
manipulation of
international food donations. "Lists are compiled in the
community and and I
think it takes the international organisations some time
to realise that
people are being left out," she says.
'I THINK IT
would be better if we were killing each other in the streets
every night,"
the owner of a Bulawayo hotel told me on my last evening in
the country.
"Then perhaps the world would have to do something." That day
he had been
forced to serve notice to half his staff and feared he would
soon have to
leave the country.
There is no war on the streets, but instead
Zimbabweans must suffer this
slow strangulation of their society.
Intimidation by the government, in
whatever form, is crushing the
population. Fear is palpable here and
prevents most people from speaking out
or rising up. Instead, if they can,
they simply leave. Each week, more and
more families are being ripped apart
as husbands or wives, or sometimes
both, leave their children behind and
make for Mozambique or Johannesburg or
Botswana.
Most people have one of just two hopes now. Firstly, that they
will make it
safely across the crocodile-infested Limpopo river, which forms
a natural
barrier between Zimbabwe and South Africa, and find a way to
survive in
exile. Or, preferably, that their 83-year-old president will not
live to
inflict many more years of chaos and oppression on his
people.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mugabe's
methods: how he holds on to power
President Robert Gabriel Mugabe
believes he knows the outcome of the
presidential elections next March: he
will win.
In the course of almost three decades in power, he has
efficiently quelled
dissent and out-manoeuvred all opponents. Even this week
he saw off yet
another rival, with the death of the last leader of what was
then Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe), 88-year-old Ian Smith. Bitter enemies, both
men were masters
of oppression.
Down the years, President Mugabe has
been consistent in ensuring his ruling
party, Zanu-PF, always succeeds at
the ballot box. And he uses every means
at his disposal to do so.
Intimidation, torture, forced exile, and
infiltration of communities, and of
the opposition, by his Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) recruits all
help him stay in total control.
But as the economy of Zimbabwe continues
to disintegrate, his most effective
tool, perhaps, is the manipulation of
food for political ends. Through the
state-controlled Grain Marketing Board,
the government holds the sole rights
to import and distribute maize, the
staple diet of millions of Zimbabweans.
Throughout the country now, as
elections loom, the message is clear -
support the ruling party and you will
not starve.
The apparently gratuitous act has stopped the programme in its tracks, writes the BBC's John Kay.
Charles Hamilton has
tears in his eyes as he clicks through the images on his laptop.
It's hardly surprising. The pictures show all three of his family's adult black rhinos lying dead on the dusty floor. You can see the bullet-holes in their thick hides.
"It's just totally unbelievable," sighs Charles.
He has just returned to the UK from Zimbabwe, where his family runs the Imire Safari park, 100km (60 miles) southeast of Harare. The park is home to one of the only breeding centres for black rhinos, one of the most endangered mammals on Earth.
For the past 20 years
the family has been rearing the animals and returning them to the wild, but last
week, in the dead of night, armed men in camouflage gear burst onto the site and
shot dead all three adult females.
One of them was just days away from giving birth. Her unborn calf died as well.
"We simply can't believe it. Those rhinos were our friends. We knew them all so well," said Charles.
"It is deeply tragic. We've been left with four little orphan rhinos, which won't be able to reproduce for about 20 years. The whole breeding programme is now at a standstill. It's desperate."
'Critically threatened'
There are only abound 3,000 black rhinos left in the wild, and the species is listed as Critically Endangered by the World Conservation Union, which means they "face an extremely high risk of extinction". Last year, one of the four sub-species was declared as "already extinct".
Not
surprisingly, the shootings have caused deep alarm among conservation groups,
not least because there have been a number of similar attacks in Zimbabwe this
year.
Cathy Dean from Save the Rhino International said: "The situation for rhinos in the country is becoming more and more difficult every day. We must continue to support those working to save the vital rhino populations in this troubled nation."
So, who was responsible for the attack? And why would they have shot the black rhinos?
BBC News is banned from Zimbabwe but a government spokesman has told us that poachers are to blame. He described the shootings as "wanton destruction" and said the police and military had stepped up patrols to search for the gunmen.
Political crossfire
Black rhinos are sometimes shot by poachers, who sell their horns as dagger-handles or for use in Chinese medicine, but the Imire rhinos had recently been de-horned as a precaution, so they didn't have any value to hunters.
This has led to fears that black rhinos are instead becoming a target in Zimbabwe's battles over land-ownership.
Cathy Dean from
Save the Rhino said: "Over the last few years, we have made some real progress,
working with the conservation authorities in Zimbabwe.
"I hope this event, and others recently, don't mean we are returning to the disastrous poaching of the late 80s and early 90s. I hope this is not the start of a very worrying trend."
According to Charles Hamilton, the orphaned rhinos on his ranch have been left "stunned" by the deaths of their mothers.
The youngest of the orphans, baby Tamba, is now being fed by bottle.
"It's heart-breaking," says Charles, "but we are determined to
give these animals a future, and the breeding programme will continue."
Washington Post
By Michelle
Gavin
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Saturday, November
24, 2007; 12:00 AM
When Zimbabwe became an independent country in
1980, it was a focal point
for international optimism about Africa's future.
Today, Zimbabwe is a
basket case of a country. Over the past decade, the
refusal of President
Robert Mugabe and his ruling party to tolerate
challenges to their power has
led them to systematically dismantle the most
effective workings of
Zimbabwe's economic and political systems, replacing
these with structures
of corruption, blatant patronage and repression. The
resulting 80 percent
unemployment rate, hyperinflation, and severe food,
fuel and power shortages
have created a national climate of desperation.
Estimates suggest that
roughly one-quarter of the entire population has fled
the country.
Meanwhile, the government's violent crackdown on voices of
dissent has left
the opposition divided and eroded public confidence in the
prospects of
peaceful political change.
The human rights and
humanitarian consequences of these developments have
attracted the attention
of the United States and others in the international
community, as has the
potential of the crisis to add Zimbabwe to the roster
of the world's
dangerously unstable failed states. But years of Western
condemnation and
targeted sanctions have done little to alter the course or
speed of
Zimbabwe's decline. The cyclical crackdowns on opposition figures,
the
anti-climatic regional negotiations, and the ever-shrinking economic
figures
tend to merge into a drumbeat of hopelessness, and a real danger
exists that
policymakers fatigued and distracted by other crises will lose
enthusiasm
for playing an engaged and constructive role in southern Africa's
most
alarming political crisis.
While it makes sense to keep the pressure on
the regime, the United States
cannot compel President Mugabe and his
loyalists to step aside. Zimbabweans
themselves will ultimately decide,
though other Southern African states may
well influence, how and when
political change will come.
But, as I argue in a new Council Special
Report, Planning for Post-Mugabe
Zimbabwe, the U.S., working with others,
can help to alter the calculus of
the Zimbabwean players who can affect
change -- at least those players who
are not 83 years old and determined to
tank their country in a fit of pique.
By focusing on the future and putting
a serious commitment to Zimbabwe's
recovery on the table, we might be able
to influence the present.
This means working closely with others in the
international community to map
out strategies that will help bring essential
services back on line and get
the economy back on track. It also requires
building consensus around
governance-related conditions that must be met to
set those plans in motion,
like respect for basic human rights, an end to
the political manipulation of
food aid, and amendment or repeal of
repressive laws. Finally, this requires
marshalling real resources in an
international trust fund for Zimbabwe's
recovery -- resources that can serve
as powerful incentives for potential
successors to Mugabe to embrace vital
reforms.
A clear plan to link robust recovery assistance to better
governance can
help Zimbabweans interested in charting a new course to plan
their strategy
by making it clear just how the spigots of international
support can be
turned back on. This approach will open up space for a new
diplomatic
discourse about Zimbabwe's potentially prosperous future, rather
than simply
the prickly present. Such a plan would also lay the groundwork
for a sound
reconstruction investment, because just as bad governance led to
today's
economic catastrophe, sound governance will make or break
recovery.
The United States can also seize on the opportunity presented
by change in
Zimbabwe to enter a new phase of cooperation with Southern
Africa, and
particularly with South Africa -- a country where the U.S. has
quite a lot
at stake. By engaging in detailed consultations with Southern
Africans now
and by linking a commitment to Zimbabwe's recovery with a
commitment to
regional infrastructure investments like improving southern
Africa's rail
links, the U.S. may be able to remove Zimbabwe from the list
of irritants in
the U.S.-South African bilateral relationship to the list of
issues on which
the United States and South Africa are genuinely invested in
each other's
success.
Zimbabwe, with its powerful history of
race-based oppression, tremendous
human capital, and compelling roster of
patriots who have worked tirelessly
and at great personal risk to resist
oppression, could be as inspiring
tomorrow as it is depressing today. To be
effective in helping to turn the
country around, the U.S. must work with
others in the international
community rather than going it alone, and must
be willing to commit
meaningful resources to the country. That's a tall
diplomatic order, and it
will take a committed team of senior leaders in
Washington working with
energized diplomats on the ground and a Congress
willing to invest in
Zimbabwe's future to fill it.
The author is an
International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign
Relations.
www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 24th November 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
When I
saw people running down the pavement I knew that some precious basic
commodity must have arrived and that this rush was the start of the queue. I
stepped out of the way so as not to get knocked down and carried on walking.
I was amazed to see people pushing and jostling to get a place in line to
buy the State controlled daily newspaper. This sudden enthusiasm for a dose
of the latest propaganda has apparently got nothing to do with the
government pronouncements but is related to the chronic national shortage of
toilet paper. Not only does the newspaper double as toilet paper, it is also
cheaper with one day's edition of propaganda costing less than a roll of loo
paper.
I count myself very lucky that a neighbour hands me down two
second hand
independent newspapers every week - not because I want toilet
paper but
because these newspapers are now almost impossible to obtain -
even more so
than the State controlled ones. When the independent papers
arrive in the
town on a Friday morning you've got about half an hour to get
to the
roadside vendors before all their copies are sold out and then its
another
long week to wait for the next taste of the truth. To exacerbate
this crazy
situation, the government's price controllers recently ordered
the Zimbabwe
Independent to cut their price from 600 to 150 thousand dollars
. This
undoubtedly pushes the paper rapidly to the edge of bankruptcy, even
less
copies are printed and this means that the 10 or more people reading
one
carefully handed down newspaper are without information - and the last
one
without toilet paper!
All is not lost however because we still
have Short Wave Radio Africa and
night after night more and more Zimbabweans
are sitting in the dark of the
power cuts, using wind up radios and juggling
between the two SW Radio
Africa channels - depending on which is being
jammed that night. Here at
least people speak freely, not subject to State
controls or even the self
censorship we have all made a part of our
existence in order to survive.
Its ridiculous to think that we have to listen
to a radio station
broadcasting from London to hear news of events in our
country but we do.
The reports might be grim, the news depressing and the
stories heartbreaking
but at least they are an accurate reflection of
everyday life in Zimbabwe.
It doesn't matter what kind of a spin the
Zimbabwean authorities put on
their TV and newspaper reports, they are so
far from the glaringly obvious
situation on the ground that no one at all
believes them anymore. One
outstanding example this week came when the
President was shown on TV news
addressing a gathering near Victoria Falls.
He told the audience that he
knew people were not getting enough bread but
that they should be patient,
not lose faith and trust the
Government.
What shortage of bread? Surely that should be "what bread?"
It might be
selling on the black market for 700 thousand dollars a loaf but
most
everyone I know hasn't been able to buy bread for over three months.
Zimbabwe's government has mastered the art of own goals and forcing us to
look outside for real news of events inside is surely a classic.
Until
next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.
SW Radio
Africa (London)
OPINION
23 November 2007
Posted to the web 23
November 2007
Tererai Karimakwenda
The state's own newspaper
The Herald has reported that the Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono said he
was in no rush to address the cash crisis that
has gripped the nation, and
has ordered anyone 'hoarding' money to turn it
in to the formal bank system
or lose it. The RBZ chief is usually described
as a ZANU-PF moderate who
cares more for the people and country than other
ruling party die-hards. But
his statement this week betrays an attitude
quite opposite to
this.
The Herald quoted him as saying: "With immediate effect, all
holders of
excess cash must deposit the same back in the formal system in
order to
avoid serious and perilous losses when their hoarded loot turns
into useless
manure." Instead of addressing the issues central to why many
people are
staying away from the banks, Gono instead chose to intimidate
them into
submission.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer and
political commentator Dr. John Makumbe
views Gono's statement as a classic
sign of bad governance. He said: "There
is no economic solution which will
work unless the political crisis is
sorted. And sorting out the political
crisis means regime change."
As we reported, Harare residents have been
sleeping in bank queues because
cash is running out due to the extremely
high inflation. Our Harare
correspondent reported that many soldiers and
civil servants failed to get
their salaries last week after banks totally
ran out of cash. The Herald
report admitted the RBZ had reduced daily cash
allocations to the banks. It
is therefore the responsibility of the Reserve
Bank and Gono himself to fix
this mess.
The severe shortages and
extremely high cost of all basic commodities has
required Zimbabweans to
move around with large bundles of cash just in case
they bump into some
sugar, maize meal, cooking oil or bread. This is also
contributing to the
shortage of cash in the banks.
According to The Herald, Gono also
announced that currency reforms had been
deferred to a later date, perhaps
next year. The report advised cash holders
not to draw any comfort from
this, warning that "Dr. Gono is one of too many
surprises" and might
introduce new currency sooner without much warning.
Does this mean hundreds
of thousands of people losing all their savings is
what the doctor
ordered?
Zimbabweans are simply responding to the situation that exists
and trying to
survive under these difficult conditions. Again it is the
responsibility of
the government to pursue policies that will resolve the
crisis. And experts
agree that until the broader political issues are dealt
with, no economic
genius, including Dr. Gono himself, can fix the
economy.
MEDIA RELEASE FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
23 November 2007
FURTHER POSTPONEMENT OF
ZIMBABWEAN FARM TEST CASE
BY SADC TRIBUNAL, WINDHOEK
As
beleaguered Zimbabwean farmer Michael Cambell recovers from the November 18
assault by armed men on his Mount Carmel farm in the Chegutu district, there has
been a new blow to his case in the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek.
This
"ground breaking" Zimbabwean case was first postponed from November 20 because
the SADC Tribunal registrar had not formally informed the Zimbabwean President
and government of the date.
The registrar then gave Campbell’s lawyers
a date of December 4.
The Judge President of the Tribunal has now
issued another date, December 11. This is in the full knowledge that Mr Jeremy
Gauntlett SC will not be available on that date to argue the case for
Campbell.
"Mr Gauntlett was able to make himself available on six
separate days in the first two weeks of December," says Campbell.
"This was communicated verbally and in writing to the registrar and yet
we are now given a date when our lead counsel cannot be there! They are aware
it’s urgent, we know this is their first case and that they have no other cases
so why is the court being so unreasonable in our matter?"
Campbell put papers into the Tribunal during October asking for an urgent
hearing.
"The delay is inexplicable," says Ben Freeth who is on Mount
Carmel farm with Mike Campbell and married to his daughter.
"I believe
that SADC’s first international justice system is prevaricating in the face of
the Lisbon summit. They don't want the case to be heard before the summit
because the issues at stake are too sensitive. This is a test and so far it is
not going well," Freeth adds.
The issues involved revolve around rule
of law, property rights and racial discrimination against minority
whites.
"This case is for all of us," says Campbell. "As white Africans
do we have a future here as farmers, making a significant contribution to food
security in the region, or not?"
Background
As a result of the
government-orchestrated land invasions, which began in February 2000 just days
after President Mugabe lost a crucial referendum to change the constitution,
more than 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s commercial agricultural sector has been
destroyed.
Prior to 2000, agriculture was the second largest foreign
currency-earning sector of the economy, surpassed only by mining, and it was
recognised that the efficient operation of the commercial farms was essential
for the welfare of the entire population.
In 2000, 22 percent of the
land was owned by approximately 4 300 large-scale commercial farmers, of whom
18,5 percent were white. Of this group, 82 percent had purchased their land
after independence in 1980 and had been given certificates of no present
interest from the government.
In 1980, between 3,2 and 3,8million
hectares of farmland were immediately available to the government for
resettlement on a willing seller, willing buyer basis.
Although the
Mugabe government has promoted its “fast-track” land reform programme as a
mechanism for providing agricultural land to “landless black people”, the major
beneficiaries of the programme have been the elite – security forces, senior
Zanu-PF members, their families and, regrettably, judges.
However, in a
remarkable turn of events during October, Zanu-PF’s decision-making body, the
politburo, rejected a land reform report that proposed further purging of the
few remaining white farmers.
They argued that the evictions would bring
the economy to its knees and that the report was driven by none other than
racism since vast swathes of land are lying idle.
As a result,
large-scale commercial maize (corn) production now accounts for less than five
percent of the country’s total maize production and wheat production has fallen
by almost 90 percent since the late 1990s.
According to Oxfam, between
30 and 40 percent of households need assistance with food aid and from January
next year, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNet) estimates that
more than 4.1 urban and rural people will require food aid.
The World
Food Program has named Zimbabwe as one of the Global Hunger Hotspots of the
world.
ENDS
Submitted
by: For further
information:
Mr Matthew Walton Mr
Matthew Walton
Walton Jessop Attorneys Walton
Jessop Attorneys
Tel: (021) 702 0541
Tel: (021) 702 0541
Email: matthew@barefootattorneys.co.za Email:
matthew@barefootattorneys.co.za
Cape Town, South
Africa Cape Town, South Africa
Or:
Mr Ben Freeth
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC
Mount Carmel Farm. Zimbabwe
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +263 91 224
1477 Tel: (021) 424 9340
E-mail:
freeth@bsatt.com E-mail:
gauntlett@mweb.co.za
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
23
November 2007
Zimbabwean non-governmental organizations
lobbying Commonwealth leaders to
take a stronger stance on the crisis in the
Southern African country
encountered resistance from outgoing Commonwealth
Secretary Don McKinnon,
NGO sources said.
NGO sources said McKinnon,
presented with a report by Zimbabwean activists
on the sidelines of the
Commonwealth summit in Kampala, Uganda, urging an
expanded role by the
Commonwealth, told them that the organization cannot
interfere in the
affairs of the Zimbabwean government and does not want to
discuss the matter
further.
The Zimbabwean NGOs also sent the report to Malawian president
Bingu
Mutharika, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and Ghanaian
President
John Kufuor, currently holding the rotating chairmanship of the
African
Union.
Liaison Officer Dewa Mavhinga of the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum told
reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that Mr. Kufuor
promised to take the Zimbabwe crisis up with other
leaders though Pakistan
dominated talks.
In the main Commonwealth
summit business Friday, Queen Elizabeth II of Great
Britain opened the heads
of state meeting with her husband, Prince Philip,
by her
side.
Commonwealth Deputy Spokesman Manoah Esipisu of Kenya gave reporter
Patience
Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe further details on the summit
launch.
President Robert Mugabe took Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in
2003 after
the grouping of mostly British former colonies it announced it
would extend
a suspension imposed over what it said was a 2002 presidential
election
marred by violence against the opposition. Mr. Mugabe has called
the
Commonwealth an "evil organization."
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
23
November 2007
A delegation of University of Zimbabwe students
met with the parliamentary
committee on education late this week to brief
its members on the impact of
the continued closure of university residence
halls which they charge is
intended to quell dissent.
University
authorities closed the dormitories in July, saying they had been
condemned
by Harare municipal health authorities, leaving thousands of
students
without shelter. Critics called the move as a form of political
reprisal
against student activists.
Since the closure of the halls, a number of
students living in other
accommodations have been killed, raped or robbed on
their way to and from
the university.
Opposition lawmaker Fidelis
Mhashu of the Harare satellite city of
Chitungwiza told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that his panel will inspect the
closed dormitories and speak with university
officials before issuing a
report.
Zim Online
by Lizwe Sebatha Saturday 24 November
2007
BULAWAYO - The trial of two men who are accused of
killing a 72-year old
white farmer in Nyamandlovu district six years ago has
been postponed
indefinitely because of a crippling strike by prosecutors and
court support
staff.
Albert Ncube, 52, and Robert Nyathi, 34, are
facing a murder charge for
allegedly killing Elizabeth Gloria Olds at her
Silver Streams Farm in March
2001 at the height of a controversial
government farm seizure programme.
The duo has pleaded not guilty to the
charge before a senior Bulawayo High
Court Judge Maphios Cheda sitting with
Phanuel Damba and Mtshena Sidile as
assessors.
Zimbabwe's judicial
system has been hit by a month-old strike that has seen
prosecutors,
magistrates and other court support staff downing tools
demanding a 150
percent salary increment and better working conditions.
Hundreds of cases
have been put on hold as a direct result of the strike
compromising the
delivery of justice in Zimbabwe.
Brighton Ndove, a lawyer representing
Ncube and Nyathi, confirmed the
postponement of the case.
"The senior
public prosecutor for the western division Martha Cheda asked
for a
postponement because there was no one to deal with the case," said
Ndove.
This is not the first time that the case has been
postponed.
The murder trial has been dogged by problems over the past six
years. Two
prosecutors who had been assigned to handle the case failed to do
so after
both quit the Attorney General's office for various
reasons.
Zimbabwe's judiciary has been hit by a massive staff exodus over
the past
few years as officers quit in droves in search of better paying
jobs across
the country's borders. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Lizwe Sebatha Saturday 24 November
2007
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's small-scale gold miners want state
support to be
reviewed, describing an ongoing central bank scheme as a drop
in the ocean
for a sector trying to recover from a government crackdown that
shut 25 000
registered mining claims.
The Zimbabwe Miners Federation
(ZMF) said the $10 billion being given to
each small-scale miner by the
central Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) fell
far short of money needed to
revive the industry.
"The $10 billion will not in any way assist miners
to acquire machines like
explosives, compressors and other machines needed
to kick-start operations,"
said ZMF president George Kawonza.
The
handouts to miners are part of a $1.5 trillion fund first announced by
RBZ
governor Gideon Gono last month and targeting small-scale gold mining
claim
holders. The bank started disbursing the funds this week.
Kawonza said a
lot more needed to be done to revive nearly 25 000 mining
claims that closed
when Zimbabwean police cracked down on illegal gold
mining activities around
the country under a massive operation code-named
Operation Chikorokoza
Chapera.
He said more than 2.5 million people were left unemployed after
the
government crackdown.
The government said Operation Chikorokza
Chapera was necessary to put a stop
to illegal gold mining and smuggling of
the precious metal out of the
country.
No comment could be obtained
from the RBZ or the Ministry of Mines and
Mining Development.
The
government made it compulsory for the miners to obtain a management plan
from the Environment Management Agency (EMA) on land rehabilitation, apart
from licences from both the Mines and Mining Development ministry and from
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
"Only 3 000 out of the 25
000 mining claims that were shut down have been
licensed so far but very few
are operational due to lack of working capital.
The government is not
serious at all about assisting small scale miners as
the money is just too
little to resuscitate their operations after the
government crackdown," said
Kawonza.
Zimbabwe's mining industry faces a myriad of challenges,
including constant
power cuts and a recently passed draft law that would
force all
foreign-owned mines to cede 51 percent of their shareholding to
indigenous
blacks. - ZimOnline
The Telegraph
By Stephen
Bevan and a special correspondent in Shurugwi
Last Updated: 6:57pm GMT
24/11/2007
For many black Zimbabweans, the death on Tuesday
of Ian Smith, the
last prime minister of white-ruled Rhodesia, was either to
be welcomed or at
best ignored.
To them the 88-year-old, who
turned his country into an international
pariah with his unilateral
declaration of independence from Britain in 1965,
was a racist and a tyrant
who led his band of white supremacists into a
bloody, and ultimately
pointless, war against the black liberation movement.
But
in interviews last week, workers on the cattle farm in Zimbabwe
which he
owned up to his death painted a very different image of the man who
famously
declared he could not countenance black majority rule, "not in a
thousand
years".
They spoke of a generous, if paternalistic, employer who
built a
school where the children of farm workers received free education,
and
provided houses for the teachers and free medical treatment for all his
staff.
"The old man (Smith) was good to us," said foreman,
Pedzisai Chizhika,
39, who was born on the farm and still lives there. "He
built a school where
I went and my children are still learning there for
free.
"Apart from what happened before independence he was a good
man, who
had the interests of all people at heart irrespective of
race."
Tadeous Maroyi Muchata, 60, has been working on the farm
since Smith
bought it in 1948 on his return from the Second World War. He
said Smith
always treated his workers with respect.
"Whenever
an employee passed away he bought a coffin and provided food
and transport
for the families. Do you call those the actions of a racist or
an evil man?"
asked Mr Muchata, who added that the former prime minister
bought his own
ambulance to ferry sick workers to hospital.
Mr Chizhika owes more
than most to Smith.
He explained how his employer saved the life of
his 15-year-old son,
Blessing.
"A detonator exploded in my
son's face in August, seriously injuring
him. He was taken to hospital and
the bill was huge, and the farm paid for
that because Smith always paid for
our hospital bills.
"If it was not for his kindness my son would
have died of bleeding,
because I did not have the money to pay the hospital
bill of Zim $60
million."
However, he also revealed a streak of
paternalism in his former
employer that some might view as a form of
racism.
"The old man never discussed politics with any of the
workers - he was
a jovial man who treated all of us as his children and
cared for our
welfare."
Generous to his workers he may have
been, but Smith was also an astute
and pragmatic man who managed to hold
onto at least part of his property in
Shurugwi, about 186 miles south east
of Harare, when other white farmers
lost everything in President Robert
Mugabe's chaotic and violent land reform
programme in 2000.
The
key to his continued survival, said employees of the newly
resettled black
farmers who now occupy most of his property and include two
retired army
leaders and a leader of the war veterans, was his willingness
to help them
by getting his workers to plough their fields and provide
irrigation at no
cost.
After being expelled from parliament in 1986, Smith spent
much of his
time on the farm, where he often entertained high ranking
visitors.
Indeed, say his workers, despite hostile statements from
President
Mugabe's officials about Smith several of his cabinet ministers
used to come
and have tea with him.
"Former vice president
Joshua Nkomo used to visit, and some other
government ministers used to come
here to buy cattle and have tea with
Smith," said Mr Chizhika.
With his health failing, Smith moved to Cape Town in 2005 but still
visited
the farm up to a year ago.
Mr Chizhika said Smith had been
devastated by the death of his son
Alec, who died of a heart attack at
Heathrow Airport in January 2006.
"He was very sad. His son's death
greatly affected him," he said.
For some, at least, Smith will be
remembered as a positive force in
Zimbabwe's history.
They draw
favourable comparisons between how Smith kept the economy
running smoothly
in the face of international sanctions during the 13 years
of UDI, and the
fact that President Mugabe has run the economy into the
ground despite
facing much more limited sanctions against a small number of
ruling party
elite.
Former Gweru mayor, hotelier and opposition politician,
Patrick
Kombayi, said Zimbabweans had much to thank Smith for.
"The roads that we are using today were all built by Smith. All the
infrastructure is Smith's. We never suffered the way we are suffering now
because Smith took care of the economy that supported all people and they
had enough to eat.
"When he left power the pound was on a par
with the Zimbabwean dollar,
but President Mugabe has killed all
that."