Daily News - Leader Page
Good rains stern test for resettled
farmers
11/4/02 9:03:52 AM (GMT +2)
IF we are
to believe the experts at the Meteorological Office, last
week's rains
signalled the beginning of the wet season.
After last year's
disaster, farmers and the population in general must
be hoping that this
season will be different in a positive way.
Agriculture was dealt a
heavy blow in 2000 and the chances of a
complete recovery, from the evidence
so far, look decidedly slim. The
newly-settled farmers have been given much
encouragement by the government,
which seems to have successfully badgered a
number of commercial banks to
help them with finance.
A figure
of $8,5 billion has been mentioned, to be matched by a
similar figure from
the government. This is an enormous investment in
agriculture and everybody
must be hoping that it will all be worth it in the
end.
This is
not to ignore the fact that, right from the start, the
so-called Third
Chimurenga - as Zanu PF and the government have called
it - is essentially a
political campaign. Any government or Zanu PF official
who claims there was
meticulous planning involved before this whole mess was
launched has to
believe his audience are dolts.
Playing political games with
agriculture is tantamount to playing
Russian roulette with the people's
lives. The severe shortage of food today
may indeed be attributable to last
season's disastrous crop failure. But the
violent take-over of the commercial
farms in 2000 played a critical role.
There was and continues to be
massive disruption of agricultural
activity. The few commercial farmers who
remain active have to contend with
soaring input costs and the occasional
threat from the new settlers on their
properties.
Some of these
settlers show scant concern for the elementary
precautions required for good
land management. The indiscriminate
cutting-down of trees and the unplanned
burning of grass suggest the
re-introduction of farming methods long
discarded by modern farmers as
wasteful and destructive.
But
what is of crucial concern to the people, whether they are in the
rural or in
the urban areas, is a return to the food self-sufficiency of the
old days.
For the new settlers who have ostensibly replaced the commercial
farmers,
this season will provide the sternest test for their resilience -
if the
rains are as plentiful as the Met Office has promised.
Of course,
if there is a repeat of the El Nino phenomenon, then the
government will to
revise its survival strategy.
Already, some of the new farmers
complain of a woeful lack of the
inputs promised by the government. Others
grouse about the absence of the
ideal infrastructure of a farming community
designed to motivate farmers to
produce their best - clinics, schools, roads,
shops.
Again, this provides further evidence that if the government
did any
planning at all before this programme was launched, then it must have
done
it in pitch darkness and with "experts" whose qualifications were
forged.
The prospects of the government transforming this
essentially
political campaign into a genuinely agricultural one seem remote.
Today,
food aid is being used as a political tool by Zanu PF. The shameful
seizure
of World Food Programme maize by Zanu PF functionaries for
distribution to
their supporters before the Insiza by-election is a potent
indicator of
this.
Everywhere, but particularly in the rural
areas, there are reports of
Zanu PF using food as a political weapon,
ensuring it is given only to
people who are willing to abandon the
opposition.
In the Insiza parliamentary by-election, starving
villagers confessed
they had no choice but to vote for the party with the
food - Zanu PF. This
is a serious indictment on the campaign methods of the
MDC. If their members
could be swayed so easily, then they need to revamp
their strategy
thoroughly.
The next by-election is likely to be
in Kuwadzana to fill the seat
left vacant by Learnmore Jongwe's
death.
If the food weapon is employed by Zanu PF as effectively as
it was in
Insiza, then democracy could be the loser - again.
Daily News
Hungry Insiza villagers ignore Mugabe, rush for free
food, beer
11/4/02 8:22:39 AM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Bulawayo
SCORES of hungry Insiza district
villagers ignored President Robert
Mugabe's election victory address at
Filabusi but instead rushed for food
and opaque beer served by Zanu PF at the
occasion on Friday.
Hundreds of school children who remained behind
to listen to the
president's speech later went away on empty stomachs. The
celebration was
held at Filabusi Primary School.
Mugabe and
other high-ranking Zanu PF officials and government
ministers attended the
occasion to celebrate the victory of their party's
candidate, Andrew Langa,
against the MDC's Siyabonga Ncube in the
parliamentary by-election on 26-27
October.
Zanu PF polled 12 115 votes, and the MDC got 5
105.
Thousands of people from across the district were transported
to the
venue in District Development Fund, Insiza Rural District Council,
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), Posts and Telecommunications
and
Central Mechanical Equipment Department vehicles.
"We were
told that there would be a lot of meat and beer but what we
are seeing is
obviously not what we were promised.
"I came from Mkwabeni thinking
there would be plenty of food. In fact,
everyone here came for the food,"
said one villager.
Several other villagers said the promise of
food, especially the meat
which turned out to be in short supply at the
venue, was part of the
invitation message which was reinforced by threats
that those who failed to
go would be viewed as MDC supporters.
All hell broke loose towards the end of Mugabe's address when some
wards
started serving food to their people.
On hearing news that food was
being served, the villagers left the
venue of the address and headed for the
pots where there was a stampede to
get into queues.
Some people
who did not know their ward numbers, lost out on the food
as they were driven
away if they went to the wrong queues.
Thousands of school children
from schools around Filabusi, formed the
larger part of the audience which
listened to Mugabe's speech.
The stampede for beer started when a
truck from Ingwebu Breweries,
began pumping opaque beer into two small tanks
brought in for storage
purposes.
The villagers, some carrying
plates with food, pushed and shoved as
they jostled for positions on the
queue, forcing the barman to start serving
beer while Mugabe was delivering
his address.
Another stampede occurred at the entrance to the
venue, when national
service youths deployed around the area drove away
hundreds of food vendors
who had taken advantage of the gathering to sell
various types of farm
produce.
The vendors abandoned their
wares, and flattened a fence as they fled
from the menacing youths who were
deployed around the venue in large
numbers.
Two roadblocks were
mounted on each road leading to and from Filabusi
for the purposes of
searching all motor vehicles entering the town.
Even security
officers of Zesa were present, and so were Zanu PF
youths, the police support
and some army units.
In his address Mugabe hailed Langa's victory
as a triumph over what he
described as the "evil machinations of America and
Britain".
He accused the two countries of using the MDC to
encourage the people
of Zimbabwe to sell out their sovereignty.
Daily News
Zimbabwe rushing towards total economic collapse, warns
IMF
11/4/02 8:29:54 AM (GMT +2)
From Dave Goldiner
in New York
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s top expert on
Zimbabwe says
the country is on the brink of an economic crisis that will
make the current
hardships seem like child's play.
Gerry
Johnson, the IMF's resident representative to Zimbabwe, said
government
mismanagement could soon plunge the nation into a
hyperinflationary spiral
that would bring the economy to its knees -
possibly before year's
end.
The group predicts inflation of 522 percent for next year, but
Johnson
now says prices could soar much, much more than that.
"You're moving into a situation where it could go much higher than
that,"
said Johnson, who is in the United States of America
for
consultations.
"Once you get to that point, it can go very
fast."
A dramatically accelerating crisis could force companies to
shut down
nationwide and prices doubling on a monthly basis - just as the
nation
struggles with a catastrophic famine.
Workers' already
shrivelling salaries would be rendered worthless
overnight and the Zimbabwean
dollar would collapse to never-imagined lows.
"One does wonder how
much longer can the economy be allowed to
collapse," said Johnson, who
returns to Harare this week. "I don't know at
what point people in government
start to realise that something has to
happen."
The Zanu PF
government is the culprit for creating the three-headed
monster of declining
production in all sectors, artificially low interest
rates, and a fictitious
fixed foreign exchange rate, Johnson said.
Especially with the
tobacco selling season over, Zimbabweans
are likely to continue to
scramble to buy the increasingly scarce
foreign currency at any
price.
With interest rates being held at absurdly low rates, there
is
no incentive for anyone to hold onto Zimbabwean dollars any
longer
than they have to.
"People have no confidence in the
economy," Johnson said. "They are
nervous and they are probably right to be
nervous."
Johnson, who has been stationed in Harare for 18 months,
was shocked
to hear from a reporter that the Zimbabwean dollar was trading
late last
week at Z$1 400 to the United States dollar - a dramatic fall from
its level
when he left the country just the previous week.
He
said the Zimbabwean dollar could quickly plunge to 3 000 or more to
the US
dollar and will likely be trading below parity with the Zambian
kwacha next
year - a humiliating blow to the Zanu PF government.
Zimbabwe has
rejected the IMF's prescriptions for economic recovery
and refused to service
its debt. It recently had its voting rights suspended
by the world financial
body, a step short of being expelled.
Short of restoring the rule
of law, the best hope to restore some
semblance of economic sanity would be
to raise interest rates, Johnson said.
That would bring down
inflation to manageable levels and give
Zimbabweans some incentive to save or
invest Zimbabwean dollars instead of
spending them or bidding for foreign
currency.
Johnson said every economist knows the country can only
escape an
economic meltdown with new assistance from the international
lending
agencies like the IMF and World Bank.
But he said it
will take more than a phone call from President Mugabe
to win an economic
life raft from the Bretton Woods group.
Mugabe would have to
reverse the international pariah status
he has earned by years of farm
seizures, the stolen presidential
election and broken promises to ease
political repression.
"The lender countries are concerned that the
people of Zimbabwe are
suffering greatly," Johnson said.
"They
want to see change and so do we."
Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2002 1:24 PM
Subject: Industry & Commerce
disturbances
A pattern is rapidly emerging of renewed threats to industry and
commerce.
It is strongly recommended that if you own or manage a company you
strategise now for protection and survival.
The greatest survival technique is networking, so make sure you know who
your friends and neighbours are and how to contact them in an emergency.
If
possible, form "neighbourhood watch" groups among yourselves, and agree that if
any member is attacked or threatened, the others (management and
workers)
will physically go to their assistance.
Beef up your security systems - make sure the "man on the gate" or the
"lady at reception" knows how to identify potential trouble and what to
do.
Do NOT pay protection money. If you do, you are fuelling the fire, and in
the end, you will also suffer when the "economy" further implodes. Do NOT
succumb to threats if you can possibly avoid it. Make sure you run your company
in accordance with the law (even if others don't have to!) and keep your
relationship with your workers clear and professional.
Together, we can complete the change for a better life for all
Zimbabweans.
Divided, we are doomed.
Trudy Stevenson MP
Daily News - Feature
All under the spell of the Great
Leader
11/4/02 8:34:20 AM (GMT +2)
I INTEND to
dedicate this piece to all our great leaders.
Leaders come in
different shapes and sizes. They also come with
different characteristics and
beliefs.
Our Great Leader comes in one unique form: he is
great!
This is in honour of our one and only one Great Old Leader
who has a
face that has shrivelled with greatness. The Great Leader hails
from the
dusty plains of some run-down district of Zimbabwe. He is everything
the
modern world would like to forget quickly. He is not as shrewd as he
would
like to have us believe, but still he is great. He is not as smart as
the
pinstripe suits he dons, but he still remains great. His inside seems to
be
tormented by the crimes he committed as he marched towards his
greatness.
The mastery of William Shakespeare tells us that "Brutus was an
honourable
man", Brutus who was euphemistically termed great after he
murdered Julius
Caesar.
I know that by honouring this gentleman,
if I may call him that
without causing murmurs of disapproval, I could be
accused of being as evil
as he is. Still, I take it upon myself to honour him
accordingly. He is evil
and he deserves honour of the meanest degree. He is
mean and he possesses
several degrees in violence. Despite all this, I find
it necessary to honour
this leader.
I honour the leader for his
greatness. Greatness comes in many forms.
This leader has gained a level of
greatness through the back door. He is so
cruel that everyone fears him. He
is not different from Hitler.
I suppose that if Hitler were to
stand side-by-side with this Great
Leader, more focus would be towards this
towering figure from Zimbabwe.
I hope the Great Leader would not
feel offended for being honoured as
the most deserving dictator ever to grace
the highest office south of the
equator after the unlikable Mobutu Sese Seko
of Zaire and Kamuzu Banda of
Malawi. The Great Leader deserves every praise
that goes along with leaders
gifted with killer instincts.
I am
not going to allow the harsh laws of the country to take me in
for libel. I
will have to prove my assertion that this Great Leader is a
killer of the
worst degree. The first point I shall use to prove my claims
will be by using
you, the suffering people of Zimbabwe. I would ask you to
look at yourselves
and decide whether you are living as free Zimbabweans or
you are living at
the mercy of the Great Leader. It is a hard decision to
make, but I am sure
most of you will agree with me that we are all under the
spell of the Great
Leader. (Did someone replace the "p" on spell with a
cheeky "m"?) The
greatness of the leader can be seen in our subdued and
resigned
state.
If you cannot make a decision on whether you are free or
not, still I
shall not be worried because I know that you are under great
pressure from
the arms of the Great Leader not to speak ill of him. His
presence is
everywhere, in our hearts, in our brains, in our homes, at Gutu,
at
Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe and even at Insiza. The spell of the Great Leader
is
there for you to savour. This is on its own the greatness I am
talking
about. Greatness comes in different forms. Hitler was great in a
negative
way; so is this Great Leader!
You have a constitutional
right to conclude that you a happy
Zimbabwean who is alive and kicking. I
shall then take you to the next level
where I shall further my claims that
the Great Leader has indeed murdered
all of us. If you are walking on a
pavement in town or you are walking to
fetch water at a borehole 15
kilometres from your home in Nkayi, tell me if
you are free with yourself? Do
you not hear some voice urging you to revolt
against your fear? Tell me if
you trust the people you meet?
Do you not feel that they are spying
on your thoughts? The fear you
have is what makes the leader great. You
cannot speak bad about the Great
Leader because he controls your very
thoughts!
Still, most of you may not understand why I am praising
this Great Son
of the Soil! He is an inventor and invader who can make events
from
non-events. If you remember abbreviations from elementary school, you
will
recall that A1 stands for first class - the best, number one! In
his
greatness, the leader has decided to re-invent the wheel. He has
decided
that for anything that is bigger and better, it shall be called A2,
hence
the A2 farms that were given to the political leadership.
I can hear you screaming that I prove to you that the Great Leader is
indeed
the greatest murderer of all times. I do not need to take you to the
Heroes'
Acre in Harare or to Emanqcwabani Cemetery in Bulawayo for you to
see the
graves of his victims. You are the victims! Look at your skinny
child who is
starving because the land did not produce the maize that should
be feeding
the child. It's not your fault that your child is starving, but
the fault of
the Great Leader. The Great Leader chose to grow violence
against the farming
community at the most inopportune time!
Perhaps among us are those
who are slow in the uptake. I can hear them
asking me to prove my point
further. They refuse to honour the Great Leader
with the greatness he
deserves until they are satisfied that he is indeed
great. I can hear the
agents of the Great Leader whose intelligence is also
great smiling with big
forms written "slander" all over them. These Great
Agents of the Great Leader
prompt me to prove my point even further.
There are two facets of
greatness: the destructive greatness and the
constructive greatness. The
atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima was a great bomb
that destroyed a great town.
Our economy has been hit by a great atomic bomb
that has been crafted by the
Great Leader. The Great Leader has made it a
point that his great money does
not fit in your pocket, but in a basket.
The innovative Great
Leader
Daily News
Minister threatens municipal officials
11/4/02 8:46:28 AM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent in
Bulawayo
ABEDINICO Ncube, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,
allegedly
stormed into the offices of the Gwanda Municipality and threatened
staff
following the council's decision to enlist the services of the
messenger of
court for the recovery of at least $120 000 he allegedly owes in
unpaid
rates.
Sources within the council said on 14 October
2002, an angry Ncube,
accompanied by war veteran Robson Mafu, and Councillor
Sungano Chademana of
Gwanda Rural District Council's ward four, stormed into
the council offices,
where he confronted the Gwanda executive mayor, Rido
Mpofu.
It is alleged Ncube demanded that the council fire Ronnie
Dube, the
chamber secretary, for showing what he termed "disrespect" by
recommending
that he, a minister, be handed over to the messenger of court.
He also
demanded the dismissal of Jonathan Sibanda, a fire brigade officer,
whom he
accused of campaigning for the MDC in the run-up to the Insiza
parliamentary
by-election last month.
He is reported to have
proceeded to the chamber secretary's office,
where he confronted Dube and
threatened to beat him up for allegedly not
respecting him.
Ncube
could not be reached for comment, but Dube confirmed the deputy
minister came
to his office on the afternoon of 14 October 2002, and
threatened him for
handing his accounts over for debt recovery.
He said Ncube arrived
in the company of Chademana and Mafu, a war
veteran who is also the Zanu PF
provincial secretary for Matabeleland South.
Mafu is the man who
led a group of Zanu PF supporters which hounded 25
teachers out their work
stations following the victory of some MDC
candidates in the recent local
government elections.
Mpofu, the Gwanda mayor, would not comment on
the matter.
"I do not know if Ncube owes us anything, but you can
check that with
accounts," he said.
Sources within the
municipality's finance committee said the deputy
minister was last month
served with a letter of demand by the messenger of
court.
His
outstanding bill with the council covers water charges,
supplementary charges
and refuse collection for property No 82 Senondo
Township and for another
property under construction in Jacaranda suburb.
Ncube's problems
with the council date back to the end of 2000, when
the municipality started
registering concern at his failure to settle the
arrears, which at that time
stood at $31 477,10.
Documents show that a full council meeting on
30 May 2001 to evict
Ncube from No. 82 Senondo Township over his arrears.
Ncube wrote to the
council and requested a stay of the eviction.
But the council resolved to hand him over to the messenger of court
for
attachment of property to settle the debt again this year when he failed
to
honour his earlier commitments.
It is understood that after being
served with papers last month, Ncube
paid $38 000 of the $120 000 he owed
when he was handed over to the
messenger of court. He promised to settle the
balance as soon as possible.
That time he did not make a written
commitment but still owes the
council about $82 000.
Daily News
Forex-starved State plans
11/4/02 8:19:09
AM (GMT +2)
By Luke Tamborinyoka Political Editor
THE government is planning to tax all Zimbabweans working outside the
country
in an ambitious move that has already caused a stir among some of
the
estimated three million citizens who have left the country in the wake
of a
serious economic and political crisis in the country.
A South
African newspaper, The Star, reported last week that the
cash-strapped
government is planning to levy taxes on an estimated three
million
Zimbabweans working abroad in a desperate bid to raise cash for fuel
and
electricity imports.
The newspaper quoted Deputy Minister Finance
and Economic Development,
Dr Chris Kuruneri, as saying the government was
planning to levy income tax
on Zimbabweans working abroad "in a bid to
benefit from the brain drain and
strengthen the country's revenue
base".
The planned move was reportedly met with resistance from
some citizens
working abroad, who said the government could not levy them
when it had
disallowed them from exercising their right to vote in the
presidential
election in March.
The Star reported that the
unofficial response was that there would be
"no taxation without
representation".
Jeremy Dube, a Zimbabwean working in Johannesburg,
is quoted as
saying: "I am not prepared to subsidise Mugabe's regime when I
was denied my
inalienable right to vote."
The government's
rationale is that the State invested in their
education, and so is entitled
to a return in the form of taxes. It was
unclear how the government intends
to enforce the new expatriate tax, which
it hopes to implement early in
2003.
In a letter published by The Standard newspaper yesterday,
two
Zimbabweans working in the United Kingdom said: "It is an insult
to
Zimbabweans living abroad who have been labelled stooges of the
imperialists
to be expected to pay tax both to the imperialist and to the
Gaddafi-led
Zimbabwean government."
Most Zimbabweans working
abroad were driven out by the harsh economic
climate, political violence,
including inflation now standing at 140
percent, unemployment and shortages
of basic foodstuffs.
Yesterday, Eric Bloch, an economic commentator
based in Bulawayo, said
the government's plan was unrealistic and
far-fetched.
"It is unrealistic in that Zimbabwe has double tax
agreements with
over 19 countries, including the United Kingdom and South
Africa, and those
agreements provide that an individual can only be taxed in
the country where
they are earning their money," he said.
"I do
not think the government has the capacity to do that and this is
a desperate
move to raise money. It is a far-fetched attempt to raise
revenue."
Daily News
Police assault PTUZ
11/4/02 8:16:45 AM (GMT
+2)
From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo
THE
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) organising
secretary for
Matabeleland, Innocent Moyo, sustained facial injuries and a
suspected broken
rib in an attack by two uniformed police officers in
Bulawayo last
week.
Moyo alleged the two pounced on him when he was about to
board a taxi
near the city's Parkade Centre and started assaulting him,
accusing him of
having shown no respect for the uniformed police
officers.
Moyo said the attack was a clear sign that the State's
retribution
campaign against the PTUZ members was continuing.
"The police pounced on me for no reason and assaulted, handcuffed and
dragged
me to the Central Police Station where I was assaulted by more
police
officers and detained for about 30 minutes.
"When I asked what
wrong I had done to deserve the assault, they
assaulted me further," said a
traumatised Moyo.
He said he was assaulted with fists and booted
feet.
He said he feared his eye could have been seriously affected by
the
assault.
On 8 October, the PTUZ called for a strike, which
was heeded by
thousands of disgruntled teachers demanding better working
conditions and a
100 percent salary adjustment.
Moyo and Enock
Paradza, the union's vice-chairman, championed the
strike in Matabeleland.
The two were arrested at the height of the teachers'
strike, and charged
under the repressive Public Order and Security Act.
They last
appeared in court last week and were remanded to 6 December.
Moyo
alleged that when he challenged the police to explain why they
were beating
him up, they said they were employed to beat up people who did
not respect
uniformed State security agents, and that they had the powers to
shoot
anyone.
The assault comes after some teachers were served with
letters
accusing them of misconduct for participating in the recent strike.
The
affected teachers are expected to respond to the letters not later than
8
November.
Most of the Bulawayo-based PTUZ members who took
part in the strike
teach at Mzilikazi, Sobukazi, Nkulumane and Milton High
schools.
Out of those who heeded the strike in Bulawayo, Victor
Mhlanga, the
union's Matabeleland chairman, and Nyasha Magirigide, the
treasurer, have
been suspended for three months for alleged
misconduct.
The suspension letter reads: "You are alleged to have
committed act(s)
of misconduct in that you engaged in a work stoppage as
defined in section
56 (1) of the Public Service Regulations, 2002, paragraphs
(a) and (b). As
provided in section 59 (1) of the above regulations, you are
suspended from
duty for a period of three months."
The two are
not entitled to any benefits during the suspension period.
From News24 (SA), 4
November
Peer review: 12 nations
agree
Abuja, Nigeria - Twelve African nations agreed on Sunday to
create an all-African peer review system monitoring their governments' conduct
in a bid to attract lucrative trade and aid from Western governments wary of
wars and human rights abuses on the continent. Representatives of at least four
of 18 African nations present at a summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja left
without signing the declaration of intent, organisers said. It was not
immediately clear whether the two remaining nations signed. Stressing that wars
and civil unrest were hindering development on the world's most poverty-ridden
continent, summit host President Olusegun Obasanjo said peer review was
essential. Work must be done to "enthrone genuine democracy, the rule of law and
good governance in all its ramifications", he added. Little was known, however,
about how the peer-review system would operate. A copy of the document would
only be made public on Monday, summit organisers said.
Peer-review has been cautiously supported by Western supporters
of the New Partnership for African Development, or Nepad. Nepad was designed by
the leaders of South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Algeria to energise the
continent's economies through partnerships with industrialised nations. But it's
uncertain how tough leaders of politically fragile, ethnically diverse African
nations are prepared to be in policing themselves, and whether the panel would
cover misgovernment or human rights abuses. Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, an
outspoken figure who has cajoled African counterparts for failing to speak out
about abuses in Zimbabwe and other states, did not sign the document and left
the summit hall less than an hour after the meeting began. The reason for his
early departure was not known. Botswana, Tunisia and Cameroon also did not sign,
Obasanjo said. South Africa, with Nigeria one of sub-Saharan Africa's two most
influential nations, insisted in recent days that peer review should be limited
to matters of economic good governance, like ensuring accountability for public
funds and growth-friendly policies. Political matters should be left off the job
description. Others had envisioned a more expansive policy, which would take to
task African regimes that condone political corruption, undemocratic policies
and human rights abuses. "There was never ever any suggestion that we have a
Nepad peer review process that would conduct the work of the commission on human
rights," Mbeki said in recent days.
In the end, South African President Thabo Mbeki signed the
document, Obasanjo said. "The peer review mechanism must be African-owned,
African-led, and African-managed," Obasanjo said. "It must be voluntary,
technically competent, credible, non-discriminatory and free from political
manipulation from any quarters." He did not specify whether it was the
participants or judgments of the proposed panel that should be "voluntary". "We
recognise in Nepad that peace and security is a condition precedent on poverty
eradication and promotion of rapid economic development," Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo called on summit participants to support attempts to end civil unrest
and insurrections on the continent. The phased withdrawal of some UN
peacekeepers from Sierra Leone after more than a decade of civil war, meanwhile,
"bears eloquent testimony to what is possible ... when all stockholders
demonstrate political will". "Heartwarming developments" had also been made in
efforts to end years-long conflicts in the Congo, Sudan, Angola and Somalia, he
added. "I urge all parties to the conflict in Ivory Coast to demonstrate their
genuine commitment to peace and national reconciliation in the ongoing
negotiations and peace talks," Obasanjo said. Conflicts in Central African
Republic and Liberia "must also be brought to a speedy end." Along with
Obasanjo, the presidents of South Africa, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Botswana, Algeria,
Senegal and Mozambique attended along with diplomatic representatives of Angola,
Gabon, Ghana, Tunisia, Cameroon, Egypt, Mauritius, Uganda, Mali and Republic of
Congo.
Common resolution on occasion of a joint DUA-EPP Conference in Cape Town
30
October 2002
Theme:
"The future of Zimbabwe - A common concern for
African and European
Democrats"
We, Members of the South African,
Zimbabwean, Namibian, Lesotho, Mozambican
and the European Parliament;
representatives of parties from Southern Africa
and Europe; and
representatives of NGO's and civil society in Zimbabwe and
South Africa;
gathered in Cape Town on 30 October 2002 to assess the effects
of the current
crisis on the people of Zimbabwe, civil society and the
economy, and the
negative impact on Southern Africa, have agreed to the
following
resolution:
A. whereas the current political crisis in Zimbabwe started
with the
rejection of a ZANU-PF sponsored constitutional proposal in 2000
indicating
growing discontent by the people of Zimbabwe for the rule of
President
Mugabe;
B. whereas even though the opposition in Zimbabwe
has won almost half of the
contested seats in the 2000 Parliamentary
elections, and there is no doubt
that the election was not free and
fair;
C. whereas despite the manifest concern of independent national,
regional
and international monitoring bodies the presidential election in
2002 was
similarly not free and fair resulting in the current illegitimate
Mugabe
government;
D. whereas continued political pressure has been
applied against political
opposition, independent and privately owned media,
the judiciary and civil
society by the police, army, the Central Intelligence
Organisation and
ZANU-PF militia;
E. whereas repressive legislation
has been enacted which destroys democracy
and state institutions are less
subject to the rule of law than to the will
of a single person, this
completed the domination of the judiciary and the
emasculation of the
legislature and thereby created a dictatorship;
F. whereas the governing
party makes the land issue a political platform,
which is used to divide
Zimbabweans along racial lines, while they
themselves had not for more than
20 years pursued a sustainable land reform
programme and have ignored calls
for such a programme from inside and
outside Zimbabwe;
G. whereas it
is therefore evident that the land issue is used only as a
pretext to retain
power at all costs;
H. whereas, as a result of the expropriation and
illegal occupation of
commercial farms, and the deliberate terror campaign
against hundreds of
thousands of farm workers and their families, who as a
consequence have lost
their livelihood and have become internally displaced,
the reality of
starvation is now evident;
I. whereas imported maize
and other emergency food supplies are being
controlled for political purposes
by ZANU-PF, leading to a policy of
deliberate, selective starvation of
Mugabe's political opponents and their
supporters;
J. whereas some
women and children are being abducted and raped because of
their or their
husbands' alleged political affiliation;
K. whereas there is a continued
campaign of mass terror based on torture
against suspected opposition
supporters, civic activists, teachers and
nurses by ZANU-PF supporters, and
increasingly by the Zimbabwe Republic
Police and the Central Intelligence
Organisation;
L. whereas the local government elections on 28 and 29
September 2002, and
the Parliamentary by-elections on 26 and 27 October 2002
were marred by
political violence and intimidation;
M. whereas the
overall economic situation is debilitating and characterised
by hyper-
inflation, a growing budget deficit and a breakdown of internal
and foreign
investment;
N. whereas as a consequence thereof a mass exodus of human
capital to
neighbouring countries and further a-field, cripples the economy
further,
and places undesired strain on the host countries;
O. whereas
Zimbabwe's involvement in the DRC was also used by the governing
party to
exercise economic control over parts of this country, to gain
access to
natural resources, and for senior officers to enrich themselves
from the
country's mineral assets under the pretext of repaying Zimbabwe for
military
services, as outlined in the 8 October 2002 UN report on the
illegal
Exploitation of Natural Resources and other Forms of Wealth of
the
DRC;
P. whereas the failure to resolve the current crisis in
Zimbabwe represents
a blatant contradiction of the Peer Review Principles set
out in the NEPAD
initiative, and the principles of good governance as laid
down in the
Founding Charter of the African Union and SADC's own policy
papers;
Q. whereas the SADC Summit on 2-3 October 2002 in Luanda
discussed the
situation in Zimbabwe, and the African Commission for Human and
People's
Rights' meeting in Banjul recently failed to discuss the Zimbabwe
human
rights situation due to lack of quorum;
R. whereas the Southern
African governments have not successfully used their
influence to convince
Mugabe to reinstate democracy and the rule of law in
Zimbabwe, but have
instead exercised silent diplomacy which has failed, even
though the Zimbabwe
crisis adversely affects the region as a whole e.g. the
flow of some two
million refugees from Zimbabwe into South Africa;
S. whereas all
Commonwealth initiatives on the Zimbabwe crisis have proved
to be
ineffective;
T. whereas the European Union has ceased its financial
assistance to
Zimbabwe and has introduced targeted sanctions against a list
of
high-ranking officials, but does not live up to its own commitment
by
relocating from Copenhagen to Maputo a SADC-EU Foreign Ministers'
meeting,
scheduled for 7-8 November 2002;
We therefore:
1. call
for an immediate return to legitimacy by the setting up of a
transitional
government, constitutional and electoral reform, the setting up
of an
Independent Electoral Commission, and the holding of free and fair
elections
under international supervision;
2. call for an immediate return to the
rule of law in Zimbabwe, and an
immediate end to politically motivated
violence and selective distribution
of emergency food supplies;
3.
demand the revocation of all legislation enacted to paralyse the
democratic
institutions and the basic freedoms of individuals, media and
civil society
institutions and associations;
4. demand the institution of a
sustainable, legal and constructive agrarian
policy that benefits those who
need land most, while simultaneously
maintaining the economic basis of
successful land use in Zimbabwe;
5. welcome the continuous focus put on
the developments in Zimbabwe by the
European Parliament;
6. however
also deplore the expediency of the European Union and its SADC
partners in
relocating the EU-SADC Foreign Ministers' Meeting from
Copenhagen to Maputo
in order to avoid confrontation over the principle of
Zimbabwe's attendance,
and expect the European Union to adhere to its own
decisions concerning
targeted sanctions for future meetings, and in
particular the forthcoming EU
Africa Summit in Lisbon in April 2003;
7. call on SADC to live up to its
own written principles, commitments and
minimum standards regarding
democracy, the rule of law and the conducting of
free and fair
elections;
8. call on the peoples of Southern Africa to show solidarity
with the people
of Zimbabwe, also by strengthening their civil society ties
and networks;
9. reject all attempts to reduce the NEPAD Peer Review
Process to a mere
economic appraisal;
10. invite all individuals,
parties, NGO's and other stakeholders to
endorse, promote and operationalise
this resolution, and therefore welcome
the invitation extended to Zimbabwean
civil society organisations by the
Deputy Chairperson of the Portfolio
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the SA
Parliament to brief said committee,
during a Konrad Adenauer forum on
Zimbabwe held in Cape Town on 29 October
2002, as an encouraging first step
in this
process.
Ends.
Editors note: Jenni Williams representing Justice
For Agriculture Zimbabwe
attended and addressed the conference along with
other Zimbabwean NGO's
representatives. Request the list of participants from
Hendrien Rust
[hendrien@natweb.co.za.
Contact Jenni Williams on Mobile
(+263) 91 300456 or 11213 885 Or on email
jennipr@mweb.co.zw
or Fax (+2639) 63978
or (+2634) 703829
A member of the International Association of Business
Communicators. Visit
the IABC website www.iabc.com
From The International Herald Tribune, 4 November
45 countries set to
back rules against 'blood' diamond trade
Alan Cowell, New York
Times
London - Representatives of 45 countries that produce, sell or
trade in
diamonds are about to endorse the beginnings of a system to prevent
African
warlords from fueling their conflicts through so-called blood
diamonds. The
representatives were scheduled to meet at Interlaken,
Switzerland, on Monday
and Tuesday, two years after a passionate debate over
illicit diamond sales
galvanized the gem industry and forced even the giant
De Beers cartel into a
major shift of corporate strategy. The 45 countries,
which include the
United States, are to give formal approval to new rules
intended to make
sure that, from the gravel of diamond mines to distant
jewelry stores,
diamonds will be certified as untainted. The goal is to
prevent illicit
diamonds being used to pay for the weapons used in wars, from
Angola to
Sierra Leone. But many of the advocacy groups that first inspired
the debate
said Friday that a system of written warranties that was offered
last week
by the diamond-cutting and trading business to complement the
government
effort was critically flawed because it could not be audited.
"Despite two
years of repeated promises, the diamond industry has failed to
deliver a
detailed and credible self-regulation system that will stem the
flow of
conflict diamonds," said Alex Yearsley, a campaigner from the
London-based
group Global Witness, which raised the issue in
1998.
The 45 countries are meeting to discuss what is known as the
Kimberley
Process, under which government and industry figures have been
trying to
formulate legally binding rules. The U.S. government has taken a
particular
interest in pressing the countries to introduce a certification
system by
Jan. 1. A senior State Department official, James Bindenagel, was
appointed
the special negotiator for conflict diamonds. The U.S. concern
coincides
with persistent but largely unsubstantiated reports that operatives
of Al
Qaeda laundered money through diamonds mined illicitly in Sierra Leone.
The
United States also accounts for half the world's $60-billion-a-year trade
in
stones sold as jewelry after rough diamonds are cut and polished
into
sparkling gems. "It's imperative that we launch on time," Bindenagel
said in
a telephone interview from Washington on Friday. He said that the
United
States intended to require certification beginning Jan. 1, and if
European
and other governments failed to commit themselves to introduce the
new
system by then, the world diamond trade could be disrupted. "We still
regard
this as an emergency," he said, citing reports of continued
diamond-fueled
conflict in the Central African Republic and the Democratic
Republic of the
Congo. Christine Gordon, an independent, London-based diamond
analyst, said
that, while there had been no corroboration of reports linking
the diamond
trade with Al Qaeda, there were strong suspicions of ties between
Lebanese
diamond smugglers in West Africa and the militant Hezbollah movement
in
Lebanon.
To a large extent, the Kimberley Process has come too
late to prevent the
worst excesses of diamond-financed warfare in Africa.
However, a UN report
chronicled the continued activities in Congo of what it
termed "elite
networks" of politicians and soldiers involved in "the illegal
exploitation
of the country's national resources." In theory, such illicit
traffic will
become much more difficult. Governments of diamond-producing
countries will
be required to license the miners, and the trade in rough
diamonds across
borders will be controlled by tamper-proof methods for
certifying shipments
and other measures. Previously, buyers in cutting
centers like Antwerp,
Belgium, or Tel Aviv were under no formal obligation to
ascertain the origin
of rough diamonds offered by sellers. Once diamonds are
cut and polished,
their origins are even more difficult to trace. In
addition, rough diamonds,
particularly those found in riverbeds, are easy to
smuggle. Eli Izhakoff,
the leader of the World Diamond Council, an industry
body, said that the
work to create the system had "squeezed out a lot of the
profit-taking from
the blood diamonds."
State Does Not Support Land Invasion'
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
November 4, 2002
Posted to the web November 4,
2002
Nasreen Seria
Johannesburg
GOVERNMENT does not support
land invasions and any comparison with
Zimbabwe-style land acquisition was
"unfounded".
This was said by Adv Denzil Potgieter, leading the state's
legal team in a
case in the Pretoria High Court, in which Benoni farmer
Abraham Duvenage
contests the sheriff of the court failed to evict 40000
squatters on his
land. There is a great deal of interest in the outcome of
the case, because
of the land-grab activities in Zimbabwe, and because it may
clarify the
state's responsibilities in evicting people who occupy land
illegally.
AgriSA, the commercial farmers' union, said in court last week
that the
state should avoid Zimbabwe-style land occupations by putting plans
in place
to deal with illegal squatting.
Duvenage obtained an order in
October 2000 to remove hundreds of illegal
occupiers, who began settling on
his farm in May of the same year.
The sheriff of the court failed to
carry out the evictions, demanding R1,8m
as payment for the hire of a private
security firm.
Duvenage then took his fight to court, saying it was
government's duty to
effectively carry out a court order.
AgriSA has
asked to be allowed to take part in the court proceedings as an
amicus
curiae, or a friend of the court, saying the case has important
implications
for its members.
The state argued last week that it had fulfilled its
rights after it handed
the court order over to the squatters, and instructed
the sheriff to carry
out the evictions.
Government also argued it was
not the duty of the police to evict the
illegal settlers.
"There are
appropriate housing policies to deal with a situation like this
in an orderly
fashion. Delivery of housing is based on priorities,"
said
Potgieter.
He said prioritising the interests of those who
occupied land illegally
"over and above others", would spell the death knell
to government's housing
policies.
Potgieter also held up the eviction
of illegal squatters in Bredell last
year as a model of government's
"approach" in "managing property".
Government made international
headlines last year after it used force to
evict squatters in Bredell, near
Kempton Park, who had moved onto land
partly owned by the state. The
evictions were later described as heavyhanded
in some
quarters.
Potgieter said as co-owner of the land, government had to pay
its share to
the sheriff (for a private security firm).
"This is what
is also expected of (Duvenage)," he said.
Duvenage, who farms soya, maize
and sorghum, started talks two years ago
with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan
Council to buy the 45ha of his 2300ha farm
where the squatters
lived.
However, the council told him later that it would not buy that
portion of
his land as it was unsuitable for housing because of underground
sinkholes.
Business Day
Nepad's Peer Review Still 'Work in
Progress'
Business Day (Johannesburg)
OPINION
November
4, 2002
Posted to the web November 4, 2002
John
Stremlau
Johannesburg
AFRO-PESSIMISTS are treating President Thabo
Mbeki's comments that political
governance would not be a priority of the
African peer review mechanism as a
deathblow to the New Partnership for
Africa's Development (Nepad).
Strategically, Mbeki was right to promote
good governance political and
economic-corporate and enhanced regional
co-operation as the three pillars
for sustainable development under Nepad.
Tactically, though, he is also
right to try to dampen expectations that the
principles of peer review can
be easily put into practice.
A quick
look at the work of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic
Co-operation
and Development (OECD) helps us understand this discrepancy. In
no other
international organisation has the practice of peer review been
so
extensively developed a process that began more than 40 years ago. This
has
been made easier by the high degree of trust and homogeneity that
prevails
among the 30 highly industrialised nations comprising the
OECD.
Yet even the OECD has no rigorous peer review definition, beyond
a
"systematic examination and assessment of the performance of a state
by
other states". Members volunteer for review, but each round is
negotiated
and tailored to the special needs of the target country. Peers
have no power
of enforcement beyond persuasion.
Political governance
issues, as a rule, are not directly addressed. But
there is a consensus that
peer pressure leads to high levels of compliance
in virtually all areas of
national policy.
Fabrizio Pagani of the OECD's legal directorate recently
published a highly
readable Peer Review: A Tool for Co-Operation and Change,
available at
www.oecd.org. It should be
required reading for anyone commenting on African
peer
review.
Tutoring a group of visitors from Africa two weeks ago, Pagani
expressed
great admiration at Africa's willingness to declare political
governance a
legitimate part of their peer review. He said Africa had leapt
ahead of the
OECD in this area, yet faced far more daunting challenges in
assembling
information, analysing it and overcoming huge cultural
differences.
Cultural differences, he said, are often overlooked but
still raise issues
of how and what to review among OECD members. And Africa,
he said, is the
most culturally diverse continent in the world. Africa's
biggest immediate
problem, however, will be a lack of good data.
Even
rudimentary standards for collecting, analysing and comparing
basic
information have yet to be determined and accepted. Developing
subregional
frameworks is likely to be the next best step as peer pressure is
more
naturally organised among smaller groups than in the context of
continental
or global institutions.
Political governance, inevitably,
will be the most problematic, but
including it on the Nepad list of
fundamental factors will allow the process
of building peer pressures to
begin, even in advance of any decisions about
the nature and location of any
implementing mechanism.
The OECD is eager to help. Earlier this year it
published jointly with the
African Development Bank, African Economic
Outlook, which for the first time
gives data on all African economies in a
comparable manner similar to the
OECD's own Economic Outlook. Anyone
questioning the salience of good
governance for economic development and
co-operation need only read the
critique of Zimbabwe.
Defining the
meaning of "peer", and sticking to the rules once they are
defined, will be
vital for the success of Nepad. African governments are
committed to begin
this process early next year. Expectations of progress
must be realistic and
well-informed. The important thing is to begin the
process. Mbeki's comments
last week may have actually helped.
Stremlau is head of International
Relations and directs the Centre for
Africa's International Relations at the
University of Witwatersrand.
Reuters
04 Nov
2002
Local NGO tackles rural poverty in dry
Zimbabwe
--------------------------------------------------------------
Christian Care has operated in Zimbabwe since 1967. Its mission
is to improve
the quality of life and self-supporting capacities of
disadvantaged people.
Its chairman in the Matabeleland region, Jackson
Ndlovu, told AlertNet's
Busani Bafana how the organisation works in a region
affected by
drought.
AN: What challenges do national political
developments present
to NGOs in Zimbabwe?
JN: We are not
much affected by the current situation in our
running programmes. Suffice to
say we are a bit concerned that future
project proposals and extensions to
other areas may be hindered by the
current land-related
issues.
AN: Given the dry climate in most of Matabeleland,
what poverty
alleviation strategies have you implemented
there?
JN: We are running nutrition gardens in Binga, drawing
water
from the Zambezi River using pump engines in Beitbridge. Christian Care
has
helped in the construction of sand dams and started small-scale
irrigation.
In Insiza we also have harvested rainwater by construction of
water
harvesting tanks, mainly for household use. I am of the opinion
that
Christian Care could do more in the dry areas of Matabeleland North
if
cooperation with local authorities could reach a level higher than it
is.
AN: Has your organisation been involved in the food
aid
programme of the U.N. World Food Programme?
JN: Yes
mainly in Mashonaland and Manicaland. Matabeleland would
be covered under a
different church-related support, and we should be
getting feedback on our
application to be given a licence to import food.
Already we have identied
Umguza/Bubi and Lupnae areas for food relief, which
should be undertaken
before the end of October. We are looking at feeding
over 200,000
families.
AN: Where does Christian Care
work?
JN: Christian Care is national and works in
Manicaland,
Mashonaland, Masvingo and Midlands provinces. Our current
programmes (in
Matabeleland) are in Insiza, in water and sanitation. In Binga
we are
involved in nutrition gardens and health. We finished our programmes
in
Beitbridge last year.
AN: What problems have you
encountered in your operations and
how have you resolved them
?
JN: We have had some problems related with identity.
People
generally believe that Christian Care is one of the foreign NGOs,
whereas we
are Zimbabwean. We depend on the goodwill of Christians locally
and
internationally. As an NGO, we have had problems related to the
uncertainty
on the way forward of our programmes, but I must admit most of
the anxiety
has been that we did not know how much people were willing to
work and
defend what we do. We need food now to feed people, but we also have
to wait
like anyone else. Some areas of Matabeleland -- like Nkayi -- are
not
covered and Christian Care is afraid to get there. But it would appear
the
fear is self-inflicted by the Christian Care's staff.
AN: What have you done to promote the participation of the local
people in
your initiatives?
JN: In Binga we started the programmes by
involving the locals
in the identification of areas to set up the vegetable
gardens, asked them
to form their own committees and we work together. In
Insiza we have
water-harvesting tanks. These are community activities where
the locals are
in charge. So are our livestock replacement schemes. In
Beitbridge the local
community was given brick-moulding equipment to make
them self-sustaining.
All our projects have the facet of learning and take
over.
Business Day
Mugabe has us fighting each
other
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIM Modise, that witty master of talk show radio, tells the funny
story of
how when his programme runs out of zap (this doesn't happen often)
he is
tempted to simply ask his listeners what they think of President
Robert
Mugabe. That way, he says, his show would immediately effervesce as
South
Africans of all colour and creed love to air their views on Zimbabwe.
Yes, Zimbabwe is a big deal in SA sometimes even bigger than it is
in
Zimbabwe itself, so my colleague Mzi Malunga often reminds
me.
Very rarely, indeed, do South Africans get excited about
continental
issues the way we do about Zimbabwe. We spend lots of time
debating the
question of who is right and wrong in our neighbour's deepening
crisis,
wondering how a country that showed so much promise a few years ago
could
have descended into chaos so quickly.
What fascinates
visitors to SA though, are the racial tensions that
often boil over in
discussions over the House of Stones (literary
translation of the Shona
meaning of Zimbabwe).
This mazy of emotions over Zimbabwe appears
to stem from our close
cultures and similar preindependence and immediate
post-Uhuru history which
makes Zimbabwe less the simple issue of a
neighbour's plummeting fortunes,
but one of the nature of our own political
growth and future.
But if there is one thing I have to give
Zimbabwe's embattled rulers
(in addition to the above factors), it has been
their ability to also
confuse South Africans and the rest of the
international community about the
real issues in their country.
This mastery in obfuscation has not only helped Uncle Bob extend his
long
rule, it has also meant that in SA, public opinion on him is often
divided
needlessly along racial lines, despite the fact that the victims of
Mugabe's
tyrannical rule are almost entirely black.
Zimbabwe's deepening
economic and political crisis is simply not a
black and white
issue.
The fact is that while attacks on white farmers by Mugabe's
supporters
often grab the headlines, his treatment of the black opposition
and its
millions of black followers, black journalists and black judicial
officers
is infinitely more brutal and disgraceful than the pressure he has
exerted
on the commercial farmers.
Zimbabwe's 80000 or so whites
may be relatively wealthier than their
13-million black countrymen, but they
don't threaten Mugabe at all.
In order to clarify our own thinking
on the issue, therefore,
particularly as black South Africans, we should ask
ourselves who has
presided so miserably over the country since 1980 to the
extent that black
Zimbabweans are today worse off than they were at
independence?
Indeed, we should also analyse who has been in charge
of the policies
that have resulted in 80% of the Zimbabwean population now
living well below
the poverty line.
I suspect that if we were to
allow ourselves just a little room to
think along these lines and less
emotively, we would all reach the obvious
deduction that the economic and
political crisis now destroying Zimbabwe is
not of the west's making, and
neither is it engineered in Sandton.
The hard facts are that Mugabe
has been in power for 22 years and has
thus presided majestically and alone
over the decay of the country not white
racists, even if they may secretly be
wishing Zimbabwe's young democracy
ill.
In the same vein though,
expectations that Pretoria can rein in Mugabe
are equally misplaced. Pretoria
can only work to minimise the damage to SA
by nudging and encouraging Mugabe
to resume stalled unity talks with the
country's beleaguered opposition. And
for this to work, he will need the
support of other African
leaders.
Ultimately though, if the anarchy in Zimbabwe is to ever
come to an
end, it will take Zimbabweans themselves (and they have shown
amazing
courage in the past three years) to put Mugabe in his place and get
the
country back to its feet.
Nov 04 2002 12:00:00:000AM
Business Day 1st Edition
Monday
04 November 2002
Dear members,
Our sincere apologies for not having been sending you news
updates for
sometime. This has been due to some technical problem which took
us time to
attend to. We will ensure that you get updates regularly in the
future.
We also advise you to regularly visit our website www.mdczimbabwe.com for
curent and
other news.
MDC Information Department
4 Nov, 2002
Beef
price hikes point to an economy in collapse
The recent increase of the
price of beef by 100% is the result of the Mugabe
regime's chaotic land
reform whose negative effects are beginning to have a
tall on the economy.
The disorganised land chaos has managed to extinct most
basic foodstuffs.
Although Mugabe's propaganda machinery would have the
nation believe that the
hikes are the fault of private abattoir owners, it
is apparent that rogue war
veterans and the so called 'new farmer' were
slaughtering cattle on the farms
leading to a shortage of beef. These cattle
rustlers are getting away with
these crimes because the police has been
compromised and turned into an army
of Zanu PF thugs. Consumers are now
paying high prices for basic commodities
as a result of the two years of
mismanagement of the economy and mayhem on
the farms.
The regime has attempted to hoodwink the masses by controlling
prices only
to buy their votes, yet have reneged on tackling the root cause
of price
increases in the country.Basic food prices have risen by over 200
percent in
the past 12 months. Poultry and pork prices have risen by more
than 100
percent in recent weeks, bread now cost $160 and maize meal prices
in
informal markets are now three times to the controlled price. While
the
recent collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar on the parallel market from $750
to
one US dollar to over $1 500 today presages massive price increases in
every
product with an import content. Clothing, soap, cooking oil and fats
will
all rise shortly by anything up to 100% and there is nothing that the
state
can do about this under present conditions. Zanu PF will blame the
private
sector and external influences for the state of affairs, but the
truth is
that there is no one to blame except themselves and their
ill-advised and
illegal theft of private assets on the farms in the name of
land reform
The only one way back to sanity and a restoration of
reasonable living
standards is to change the leadership of the country and
restore the rule of
law and our relations with the rest of the
world.
Meanwhile the rains have started to fall but our farmers do not
have the
necessary inputs to start the cultivation season. Again the farmers
have
been put off by the regime's chaotic land reform. Despite repeated lies
that
have been peddled on the success story of the reform nothing tangible
has
been achieved. This is yet another example of the appalling incompetence
of
the government in its handling of national key issues. The regime
is
bankrupt and does not have the capacity to sustain a proper land
reform
programme.
Paul Themba Nyathi/Rensen Gasela
ZIMBABWE: Government allows private imports of fuel
JOHANNESBURG, 4
November (IRIN) - Higher inflation and fuel price hikes would follow the weekend
announcement that the petroleum sector could import its own fuel, instead of
being forced to buy from the parastatal National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim), economists have warned.
This followed reports that the
government was struggling to raise the foreign currency needed to pay for
supplies.
President Robert Mugabe told a National Consultative Forum's
annual retreat last week that cabinet had "cracked" its head over fuel supplies
every week. Instead, foreign companies could use their own resources to import
petrol and diesel, the state-controlled Herald newspaper
reported.
"Twenty-two years in government, 22 years of playing this
foolery. They [companies] don't suffer from the headaches and stomach aches I
suffer from," Mugabe was quoted as saying of the government's attempts at
sourcing fuel.
Economist John Robertson told IRIN that if multinationals
used the parallel market to source foreign currency for their own supplies, this
could push up the price of fuel significantly.
"The price of anything
that needs to be transported around the country will rise and food deliveries
will become less efficient. The food crisis will become worse," Robertson
warned.
He said that past week's attempt by the government to raise
sufficient foreign currency from the parallel market - because it didn't have
enough in its own coffers to pay Noczim and South African electricity supplier
Eskom - was believed to be behind the latest surge in the parallel exchange
rate.
The official government rate is Z $55 to US $1 but due to currency
shortages the parallel rate has shot from Z $500 for US $1, to the current Z
$1,400.
He said the anticipated increase had already set off a fuel
shortage through the dual reaction of people scrambling to fill up and fuel
companies hoarding ahead of the anticipated price increases.
"It would
make no economic sense for owners to sell their current stocks at the lower
price because they would have to replace stocks at the higher price and wouldn't
get a higher bank loan on the basis of a price increase," he said.
In a
statement, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said: "The
private sector has been calling for this [private imports] to be allowed and has
given assurances that it will work with the state to overcome current shortages
and disruptions in supply as well as ensuring that pump prices do not escalate
unreasonably. They have given undertakings that they will work within an open
and transparent system."
However, the MDC cautioned that: "To simply
expect the oil majors to buy foreign exchange from the market as other importers
do at present would be a non-starter. Exchange rates are so volatile at present
and the shortage of foreign exchange in open markets so great, that prices would
have to rise 10-fold to reflect the costs involved."
The party proposed
an agreed rate of exchange for the private sector importers, but the
government's own foreign currency shortages would make this
difficult.
The statement concluded that "it must be noted that if the
private sector took over the procurement and delivery of fuel to Zimbabwe there
would be a saving over present costs of over US $100 million per
annum".
One of the reasons was that the present high premiums being paid
by the state to current suppliers would fall away.
Robertson believed
that the solution lay in the Zimbabwe government and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) "making up" and resuming their working relationship so the government
could borrow "a few billion" and build up the country's foreign currency
reserves again.
Local newspaper The Daily News reported that IMF
Resident Representative for Zimbabwe Jerry Johnson had warned that the country
was on the brink of an economic crisis and that the inflation rate could go
beyond the 500 percent mark.
Inflation for September was 137
percent.
[ENDS]
ZIMBABWE: Goals not achieved in fast-track land reform
[This report does
not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 4
November (IRIN) - Among the initial goals of the land reform programme in
Zimbabwe was the resettlement of people from densely populated communal rural
areas to newly acquired farm land.
However, in the rush to implement the
government's fast-track land reform programme, this has not happened, say
analysts and the would-be beneficiaries of land reform. They also point to signs
that cronyism has affected land redistribution.
John Chirova, 55, seems a
bitter man. Chirova comes from Chiweshe district in the sprawling Mashonaland
province, a region renowned for its rich soil.
But instead of busying
himself with the acquisition of agricultural inputs during the pre-planting
season, Chirova spends most of his time at Nzvimbo Growth Point in Chiweshe, on
the look-out for anyone who can buy him the opaque beer popularly known as
"scud".
"For the past two years, we have been battling to get plots of
land with no success. Here in Chiweshe we are still packed like jailbirds.
Nothing has changed whatsoever," Chirova said.
He told IRIN how he was
forced to give part of his already tiny plot to both his married and unemployed
sons.
For Chirova and the thousands like him, the fast-track land reform
programme represents a shattered hope.
Analysts say there exists ample
evidence to prove that the broad objective of President Robert Mugabe's
government to "achieve optimal utilisation of land and natural resources and to
promote equitable access to land to all Zimbabweans" was far from being
achieved.
Despite Mugabe's statement last July that decongestion of
communal areas had been achieved through the land redistribution programme,
analysts and the intended beneficiaries of the exercise say rural areas are
still densely populated.
"There is considerable lack of decongestion in
some areas," said Professor Sam Moyo, a land expert.
Professor Moyo
believes the resettlement of people in rural areas - where the majority of
Zimbabweans live - was being frustrated by the manner in which land was
currently being redistributed.
"Some farmers under the [commercial
farming] A2 model have excessive pieces of land, with some of them owning two to
three farms each. This obviously tends to limit decongestion," Professor Moyo
said.
A cabinet minister who recently visited Mashonaland Central's Mount
Darwin district also voiced her concern about the lack of resettlement in the
area.
"There was chaotic allocation of land in the district with the
council waiting list not being followed," the cabinet minister, Olivia Muchena,
was quoted as saying in a local daily newspaper.
Mashonaland Central,
also blessed with fertile soils, is home to more than a million people. However,
Elliot Manyika, the governor of the province and Minister of Gender, Youth and
Employment Creation admitted that only about 15,000 people from the province
have been resettled.
This despite the deadline for the processing of the
applications of people wishing to be resettled having passed two months ago.
In Chiweshe most homesteads resemble tiny villages. Generations of
families share the plots of their parents and grandparents. More mouths to feed
from the already low yields from farm plots.
In areas like Padare,
Kanyemba, Gweshe, Howard, Mutsarara and Panzvimbo, residential space is fast
running out. As a result, it is becoming a familiar sight for homes to be sited
on hills in the rocky terrain.
Despite the Chiweshe people, who number
more than 100,000, having registered for resettlement, less than 1,000 have been
moved.
"I am sure the governor and the provincial land committee have
something against the people of Chiweshe," Chirova mused.
Manyika
acknowledged that no resettlement occurred in Chiweshe from the early 1980s when
the government began land redistribution. The area was also overlooked during
the second resettlement phase in the 1990s.
A similar scenario to
Chiweshe can be found in the other provinces: in Manicaland, Masvingo and the
Midlands.
The lack of a transparent and effective redistribution
programme has been blamed on corruption.
A senior member of the war
veterans' association, Mike Moyo, said his organisation would carry out a land
audit because of the numerous complaints it had received.
"We are
extremely disturbed by the reports we are receiving. We decided to carry out an
audit of how land is being distributed after many people approached us saying
there are so many corrupt practices in the allocation of land," Moyo told
IRIN.
Moyo said the main culprits were apparently provincial governors,
provincial administrators and district administrators as well as the land
committees tasked with the processing of applications and the allocation of
land.
He added that most of the reports were received from people in
Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West
provinces.
Disgruntled would-be beneficiaries have complained that the
government officials ask for bribes and other favours in return for a
recommendation of their applications. In other cases, it was alleged that they
favoured friends and relatives or supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF.
In
Mashonaland West's Banket area, concerns have been raised that ZANU-PF loyalists
are using their political influence to obtain farming plots for their children,
some of whom are still going to school, under the communal or A1 resettlement
programme.
John Mautsa, the director of the Indigenous Commercial
Farmers Union (ICFU) said: "We are aware that families are being involved in the
multi-ownership scandal. However, the problem is difficult to stem because some
of the culprits use different names."
Official figures put the number
of beneficiaries under the A1 model at 330,000 while 54,000 have been approved
under the A2 model. When the fast-track programme started, the government said
it intended to resettle more than a million people over a three-year period.
The recently appointed Minister of Land Reform, Flora Buka, played down
allegations of corruption in the land redistribution
exercise.
"Concerning allegations of corruption in the provincial land
committees, I do not have evidence. I can't act on the basis of speculation,"
said Buka. However, she said her ministry was doing an audit in the provinces
and investigations could follow.
[ENDS]
IRIN-SA
Beira-Zimbabwe Railway Reopened
Agencia
de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
November 2, 2002
Posted to the web November 4, 2002
Maputo
The railway linking the central Mozambican port of Beira to
Zimbabwe was reopened on Friday night, after unexploded shells and other
military ordinance were removed from the line.
The railway runs past the arsenal of the Mozambican Armed
Forces (FADM) which caught fire on Wednesday morning when it was hit by
lightning. In the ensuing series of explosions, munitions were thrown out of the
arsenal in all directions.
One explosion damaged the railway, and derailed a goods
train. Other shells landed around the track, but did not explode.
They all had to be removed before the line could be
re-opened.
FADM sappers were involved in this work, while a team from
the rail company, CFM, removed the derailed train and repaired the track.
The executive director of CFM's central division. Joaquim
Verissimo, cited in Saturday's issue of the Beira daily "Diario de Mocambique",
said the first train to leave Beira after the line was reopened was carrying
maize to Zimbabwe.
Verissimo estimated the total cost of the interruption of
traffic, and of the repairs to the line, at 200,000 US dollars.
47 families had their homes completely destroyed by the
exploding munitions. In support of these families, the Sofala provincial
committee of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party on Friday delivered 100 sacks of
rice and two large bundles of clothing as a gesture of solidarity.
The gift was delivered by the mayor of Beira, Chivavice
Muchangage. Frelimo has promised more assistance, including to those families
who returned to their homes only to find that thieves had broken in during their
absence and stolen their possessions.
111102 FISHERMEN TO BE COMPENSATED FOR OIL SPILL
Maputo, 2 Nov (AIM) - Mozambique's Deputy Environment
Minister, Francisco Mabjaia, has guaranteed that fishermen whose nets were
ruined by a spillage of fuel oil from the Matola port fuel terminal on Tuesday
will be compensated.
Accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and
Energy, Esperanca Bias, Mabjaia visited the site of the spill on Friday.
He stressed that under Mozambican law, those who cause
environmental damage are obliged to pay compensation.
Both the Maputo port authorities and the state oil company
Petromoc, which owned the fuel oil, "are interested in assessing the possible
environmental impact so as to implement the measures that may be necessary".
The spill was relatively small, estimated at between 400 and
600 litres of fuel oil. But this was quite sufficient to ruin the nets of a
number of fishermen who operate in Maputo bay.
Mabjaia said these fishermen should be compensated "as
quickly as possible", so that they could resume their normal activities.
The oil has not damaged beaches in Maputo bay, and the slick
is presumed to be still at sea.
Mabjaia said that he intended to go by boat into the bay, to
see where the oil slick had gone. "This oil will eventually end up on the
coast", he warned. "We shall see what impact this will have".
Forex-Starved State Plans To Tax Expat
Zimbabweans
The
Daily News (Harare)
November 4, 2002
Posted to the web November 4, 2002
Luke Tamborinyoka Political Editor
The government is planning to tax all Zimbabweans working
outside the country in an ambitious move that has already caused a stir among
some of the estimated three million citizens who have left the country in the
wake of a serious economic and political crisis in the country.
A South African newspaper, The Star, reported last week that
the cash-strapped government is planning to levy taxes on an estimated three
million Zimbabweans working abroad in a desperate bid to raise cash for fuel and
electricity imports.
The newspaper quoted Deputy Minister Finance and Economic
Development, Dr Chris Kuruneri, as saying the government was planning to levy
income tax on Zimbabweans working abroad "in a bid to benefit from the brain
drain and strengthen the country's revenue base".
The planned move was reportedly met with resistance from
some citizens working abroad, who said the government could not levy them when
it had disallowed them from exercising their right to vote in the presidential
election in March.
The Star reported that the unofficial response was that
there would be "no taxation without representation".
Jeremy Dube, a Zimbabwean working in Johannesburg, is quoted
as saying: "I am not prepared to subsidise Mugabe's regime when I was denied my
inalienable right to vote."
The government's rationale is that the State invested in
their education, and so is entitled to a return in the form of taxes. It was
unclear how the government intends to enforce the new expatriate tax, which it
hopes to implement early in 2003.
In a letter published by The Standard newspaper yesterday,
two Zimbabweans working in the United Kingdom said: "It is an insult to
Zimbabweans living abroad who have been labelled stooges of the imperialists to
be expected to pay tax both to the imperialist and to the Gaddafi-led Zimbabwean
government."
Most Zimbabweans working abroad were driven out by the harsh
economic climate, political violence, including inflation now standing at 140
percent, unemployment and shortages of basic foodstuffs.
Yesterday, Eric Bloch, an economic commentator based in
Bulawayo, said the government's plan was unrealistic and far-fetched.
"It is unrealistic in that Zimbabwe has double tax
agreements with over 19 countries, including the United Kingdom and South
Africa, and those agreements provide that an individual can only be taxed in the
country where they are earning their money," he said.
"I do not think the government has the capacity to do that
and this is a desperate move to raise money. It is a far-fetched attempt to
raise revenue."