Zim Online
Monday 23 October
2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government
has instructed the state's
Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to flood rural areas
with cheap grain to bolster
the ruling ZANU PF's already impressive chances
of winning next weekend's
rural district council elections.
Authoritative sources told ZimOnline that Agriculture Minister Joseph
Made
told GMB chief executive officer Samuel Muvuti that more maize should
be
moved to rural areas to ensure hungry villagers - who traditionally back
ZANU PF - vote for the ruling party in even larger numbers.
"ZANU PF is taking these elections very seriously because it is seen
as a
major opportunity to prove a point to the outside world that the party
still
enjoys the support of the masses, nothing is being left to chance,"
said a
senior official at the agriculture ministry who spoke on condition he
was
not named.
The official said the GMB, the only firm in the country
permitted to
buy maize from farmers for resale to milling companies or for
distribution
as food aid, had also been instructed to redirect grain
distribution to
wards were elections are due.
The official
said: "GMB employees will be present at ZANU PF campaign
rallies to
distribute maize at heavily subsidised prices. Obviously MDC
(opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party) supporters will be left
out because
they will not be at ZANU PF rallies anyway."
Muvuti, a former
Zimbabwe army colonel, was not available for comment
on the
matter.
Made confirmed ordering the GMB channeling more maize to
rural areas
but rejected that this was in order to buy votes, saying it was
then duty of
the government to feed hungry people whether or not there was
an election.
He said: "When we don't give the people maize you say
the government
has failed, when we give them enough maize you turn around
and say it is
politicking. You are confused. Anyway, if people vote for a
party with their
welfare at heart then I don't see a problem. Only
journalists see a problem
where there is none."
Maize is the
main staple food for more than 90 percent of Zimbabweans.
Churches and
independent human rights groups often accuse and Mugabe and
ZANU PF of
denying maize to MDC supporters as punishment for backing the
opposition
party - a charge the President and his party deny.
According to our
sources, the latest attempt to use scarce food for
political gain followed a
meeting of Mugabe's Cabinet last Tuesday at which
top ministers are said to
have complained that inadequate and grain
deliveries would leave the ruling
party exposed in the forthcoming rural
council elections.
The
Cabinet then resolved that the GMB - which does not have enough
maize -
should deliver whatever grain it has in stock to rural areas while
Energy
Minister Mike Nyambuya was ordered to ensure fuel was made available
to the
GMB to transport the maize. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 23 October
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe Home Affairs
Minister Kembo Mohadi at the weekend
told ZimOnline that he was considering
banning opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and his
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) party from meeting supporters
until he stops
calling for anti-government protests.
Mohadi, among the hawks in
President Robert Mugabe's Cabinet, said he
and Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri were still consulting on the
possibility of banning Tsvangirai and
other MDC officials from holding
public political meetings.
Under the government's draconian Public Order and Security Act,
Zimbabweans
must first get permission from the police before holding
political meetings
or demonstrations in public.
Mohadi, who spoke to ZimOnline by
phone, said: "I am in touch with the
Commissioner of Police over this issue
and we are reviewing our stance. They
(Tsvangirai and the MDC) are using
public meetings to incite the people to
join an action aimed at ousting a
legitimately elected government. I don't
think that is legal
here.
"We might have to stop the meetings until they re-affirm not
to
mobilise for an overthrow of the government through unconstitutional
means.
"We should allow them to hold rallies only if they commit
themselves
to using the public platform to organise their party and mobilise
their
supporters for anything else other than an illegal mass action to
remove a
government."
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman of the
Tsvangirai-led faction of the
splintered MDC, was not immediately available
for comment on the matter. The
opposition party has in the past said it
would continue mobilising for
protests to force Mugabe to accept sweeping
political reforms.
Protests called by the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions - a close
ally of the MDC - last month against worsening
economic conditions stalled
after the police staged a massive security
operation, arresting 31 top
leaders of the union who they also allegedly
severely assaulted and
tortured.
However tensions remain
charged in Zimbabwe as the country grapples
with an economic meltdown the
ZCTU and the MDC blame on state mismanagement.
Zimbabwe has the highest
inflation rate in the world of more than 1 000
percent, skyrocketing
unemployment, shortages of foreign currency, food,
fuel, power and
increasing poverty levels. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 23 October 2006
HARARE - A succession crisis in Zimbabwe's ZANU PF party is now
manifesting
itself in official policy contradictions, with senior officials
making
conflicting pronouncements as factions battle for supremacy - a
situation
analysts say could be a sign that President Robert Mugabe was
losing
grip.
ZANU PF - and Mugabe in particular - denies the ruling party
is in
limbo over the contentious succession issue but has instead attempted
to
stifle public debate over the subject in a bid to portray a united
front.
Political analysts however told ZimOnline that recent events
have
shown that feuding factions are fighting for control as Mugabe's
six-year
term nears its end, in the process weakening a party that has been
in power
since independence from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe has
previously indicated he was serving his last term, which
ends in
2008.
In the latest feuding over policy direction among senior
officials,
State Security and Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa - widely
seen as a
Mugabe confidante - said Harare would not allocate farms to former
white
farmers despite receiving more than 200 applications to take up
farming
again.
"We are taking land from white people and the
same white people are
applying for land," Mutasa said. "So which land are
they applying for? They
are putting us in a difficult position," he added,
in an interview with
ZimOnline last week.
But Mutasa's
statement was in sharp contrast with his junior, Flora
Buka, Minister of
State for Special Affairs responsible for Land, Land
Reform and
Resettlement, who a few days earlier had told an agriculture
conference in
South Africa that Harare was considering allocating some
former white
commercial farmers land to resume operations.
Mutasa's ministry is
the one which invited the displaced farmers to
apply for land after meetings
with the Commercial Farmers Union.
"The lack of coherence in policy
is because the centre of power can no
longer hold," Eldred Masunungure,
chairman of the University of Zimbabwe's
politics and administrative studies
department, said.
"The succession issue has become a major variable
in what goes on in
the party and government . it casts a very big shadow on
everything," added
Masunungure.
Analysts said while factions
battle for control, the country's economy
continued to hemorrhage,
inflicting more misery on a population grappling
with the world's highest
inflation rate above 1 000 percent, shortages of
hard cash, fuel, food,
electricity and water.
"(Things) should be seen in the context of
the succession battle
raging in ZANU PF where factions are positioning
themselves in the hope that
Mugabe will go after his term, but the economy
suffers in the process
because no one is effectively in control," said John
Makumbe, a political
science lecture and strong Mugabe critic.
In yet another case of one department of the government contradicting
the
other, police last week resumed arresting business executives for
increasing
prices without official authority, a direct defiance to Vice
President Joyce
Mujuru who had assured industrialists that there would be no
more such
arrests.
It is not clear on whose orders the police are acting
especially after
Industry and Trade Minister Obert Mpofu publicly stated
that his department
which has previously ordered such arrests had not
sanctioned the latest
crackdown on businesses.
But unconfirmed
reports suggest the police may have the direct backing
of Mugabe
himself.
Meanwhile, legal experts wonder which laws the police are
using to
arrest business executives as only the prices of maize-meal and
bread -
Zimbabwe's two main staples - are controlled by the government. The
state
does not control the prices of other basic goods although it closely
monitors prices of these commodities.
And last month,
Anti-Corruption Minister Paul Mangwana promised a
crackdown on government
and political heavyweights for looting the state
steelworks ZISCOSTEEL but
immediately made an about turn saying he could no
longer find a
parliamentary report in his possession.
Masunungure said the
cancellation last week of a licence issued to
business tycoon Phillip
Chiyangwa - who has also fallen out favour with some
senior ZANU PF
officials - a day after being given the green light to sell
properties in
foreign currency, was yet another example of official policy
flip-flops and
contradictions.
"Where a deal involves the country's most precious
resource, that kind
of decision cannot be left to anyone below the pinnacle
of power, in this
case the governor himself (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boss
Gideon Gono). It is
another illustration of the policy zigzags, a clear
reflection of factions
pulling in different directions," said
Masunungure.
The ZANU PF succession issue has spilled into the
public domain and
has already seen six provincial chairpersons falling in
late 2004. Several
senior government officials have been demoted while
former information chief
Jonathan Moyo, one of the architects of a "coup"
plot at a school in Western
Zimbabwe was eventually sacked early last
year.
The infamous Dinyane meeting had seen the coronation of
former
parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa as one of Mugabe's two
deputies and
would have almost assured him a shot at the presidency. But
eleventh hour
manoeuvres by a rival camp led by retired general Solomon
Mujuru scuttled
the plans.
"We have a situation in which if
someone from the two political camps
makes a policy pronouncement, the other
group will feel aggrieved and will
counter that so as not to give an
advantage to the other," Makumbe said.
"This has resulted in a policy
gridlock and the situation is now desperate,"
he added.
Mugabe,
who denies charges of plunging a former prosperous nation into
its worst
crisis, has in the past slammed officials for holding "late night"
meetings
and "coup" plots to position themselves to succeed him when he
retires.
But analysts say the fractious succession debate could
see the 82-year
old Mugabe extend his term until a compromise candidate
could emerge to take
over the reins. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Monday 23 October
2006
MUTARE - In Dangamvura suburb, an
energetic young preacher is prowling
the pulpit at the Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter Day Saints, urging
his equally youthful congregation to
pray for "forgiveness, good health and
prosperity".
It is standing
room only during this Sunday morning service in the
packed prayer hall. The
congregants, who intermittently shout "Yes, Brother"
and "Amen", on cue from
the pulpit suddenly break into prayer, song and
dance.
"You
only have to ask God, through our Savior Jesus Christ, and your
request for
good health, a new job, a new home a better life will be
answered through
your prayers," says the preacher to thundering applause and
a chorus of
"Amens!"
Rewind a few Sundays ago, to the Gombakomba area of
Zimunya, 30 km
south-east of this border city.
Nestled on the
foot of Mt Dangare is the main centre for the Guta
RaJehova (GRJ) Church, an
indigenous Christian sect whose followers are
believers and adherents of
faith healing.
The church's top leader, Ishe Ngaite Zimunya, is
busy extolling
members of his congregation to keep adhering to the tenets of
the church and
its founder, Buhera-born Amai Chaza, warning against being
sidetracked by
diversions and temptations that are inherent when a
population is pushed to
the wall by a debilitating economy.
"I
know life has become unbearable for most of us," he says during his
sermon
in the open air on the church's grounds. "But we must all be careful
about
false prophets and profit seekers who will take advantage using the
name of
God at times like these."
The GRJ Church commemorated its 50th
anniversary in August this year
with festivities here that drew more than 3
000 of its members from around
Zimbabwe and a sizable contingent of new
recruits from neighbouring
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa
where it spread its gospel in
recent years.
Adds Ishe Ngaite, a
member of the Zimunya chieftainship clan in Mutare
South: "Remember you
joined the GRJ to gain physical and spiritual healing.
Your prayers will
always be answered as long as you follow the church's
tenets and
virtues."
Zimbabweans today are turning to Christianity in
spectacularly large
numbers than before, whether they are joining
denominations that offer
services in large cathedrals and prayer halls, open
air grounds in the bush
or public parks in residential centres or
tabernacles.
As new members flock to their new calling, a question
is asked: is
this growth in church membership driven by social and economic
desperation
in Zimbabwe, which may be forcing many citizens to feel
abandoned by their
rudderless government and, thus, turn to the Almighty for
salvation?
Or, could it be that the new adherents to Christianity
are being
successfully lured by promises among the competing denominations
of wealth
creation and prosperity, especially among young converts, as some
cynics
have suggested?
Still, others suggest that the booming
numbers have their roots on a
genuine desire by participants for salvation,
whether they are joining the
indigenous-led, faith healing churches of the
evangelical-inspired variety.
Either way, the jury is still out
establishing the main catalyst for
this growth in Christianity in recent
years.
"Our church, I can confidently say, has been adding new
members at the
rate of up to 10 every month," says a pastor with the
Apostolic Faith
Mission Church in the eastern border city.
"It's simple why many are joining," says the pastor, who insists he
should
not be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
"Our
church members see their social and economic lives improving with us.
The
word spreads and the evidence is there for all to see, so more join
us."
While there is nothing wrong with one advancing his or her
"economic
score" through one's church membership, a worrying trend seems to
be taking
hold among some of the churches mushrooming around the country in
which
wealth creation has been turned into the main gospel.
Says a lecturer at Africa University, a Methodist-related institution
just
outside this city: "There is a disturbing belief among young
worshippers,
especially in these 'Born Again' sects, that the more one gives
in weekly
tithes, the more one should expect to receive in blessings."
This
growth curve in "Christiandom" has not been confined to Zimbabwe
and its
surrounding neighbours. Indeed, it has also been a dominant trend
among a
majority of non-Muslim countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the last
two or
three decades.
Available data shows that Christianity in Africa has
grown annually at
the rate of 3.5 percent over the past 10-15 years,
compared to a 2.5 percent
growth rate in Asia and Latin America and a dismal
one percent rate in
Europe and North America.
In Britain, for
example, attendance in the Church of England, the
country's official church
otherwise known as the Anglican Church, dropped
among adults by an alarming
14 percent from 16 percent between 1980 and
1999, according to statistics on
hand.
This meant that only two percent among the adult population
were
regularly attending Anglican services, while the attendance rate for
adults
with all denominations factored also dropped in Britain from 10.2
percent to
7.7 percent in the period under review, the data
shows.
In the United States, which has also experienced a slide in
attendance
in the past 20 years, many church groups have taken to the
airwaves,
offering state-of-the-art graphics in their sermons, in efforts to
build new
membership and keep current worshippers from
defecting.
But these so-called "electronic ministries", where the
Lord's name is
spread through cable, satellite and digital television, the
Internet and
radio, have come under fire amid reports that they are raking
in billions of
dollars collected from unsuspected worshippers.
One published report calculated that in a one single year,
practitioners of
"electronic ministries", most of whom are evangelical
preachers,
collectively made US$3.5 billion in their fundraising efforts.
About 55 percent of the funds, the report said, came from elderly
women
while another 30 percent or so was donated by America's poorest and
neediest
"who are poor and do it in the name of God".
In Zimbabwe,
electronic ministries are still limited to delayed live
broadcasts of church
sermons. Yet, word-of-mouth and an aggressive
door-to-door recruitment
exercise can prove effective in building up a
congregation.
Local representatives of the US-based Jesus Christ of the Latter Day
Saints,
also known as the Mormon Church, can testify to that.
In
Dangamvura, the church is just completing construction of a new,
additional
prayer hall to accommodate the swelling numbers of new recruits
in the
suburb.
The church's young pastor, pacing up and down the pulpit,
is
requesting new recruits yet to be baptised to come forward. "Don't be
shy,
don't hesitate, get your baptism," he is saying. - ZimOnline
People's Daily
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) will next
week embark on a
nationwide railway track replacement and maintenance
exercise after recently
importing 12,000 tons of rail from China, reported
The Daily Mirror on
Saturday.
NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati
said the replacement of the track
would go a long way in curbing accidents,
which claimed 50 people three
years ago as a result of an aging rail network
and poor signaling system.
He said the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and
the Harare-Bulawayo tracks
would be given top priority during the
exercise.
"The equipment for the program has already been
transported into the
country from China and work is starting on Monday. We
have prioritized busy
routes while those less busy would go under extensive
track maintenance,"
Masikati said.
The rail network in the
country has not been replaced since it was
installed in 1897, having
outlived its lifespan of 100 years.
Masikati said, except for being
old, theft and vandalism of signal
equipment is causing train delays,
cancellations and even derailments
resulting in the loss of
lives.
The spokesperson added that the NRZ recently installed a UHF
communication network between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. This system has
enhanced communication between crews and command centers, a move that has
improved rail operations along this section, he said.
Masikati
added that a wagon tracking system is also being put in place
after the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe released funds last year.
Apart from
replacing the rail track, NRZ recently embarked on a major
revitalization
program, which would see the upholstering of close to 3
million inter-city
coach seats and improved lighting, among other
developments.
The NRZ has also embarked on another program to upholster all
vandalized
passenger train seats for all types of passenger coaches. To
date, 2,156
economy, 680 standard and 39 upper-class inter-city passenger
seats have
been upholstered, Masikati said.
The NRZ is in the process of
acquiring eight passenger train sets, 64
inter-city coaches and 11
locomotives from China.
Source: Xinhua
IOL
October 22 2006 at
02:38PM
President Robert Mugabe's government could use Chinese-made
supersonic
aircraft to attack its neighbours, including South Africa and, if
you think
that is far-fetched, think again.
Zimbabwe has
already intervened in a Southern African conflict once,
playing a major part
in instigating a regional conflict dubbed "Africa's
world war" in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After about 4 million
deaths, the
conflict is only now beginning to be resolved when the country
goes to a
second round of elections at the end of this month.
The warning
came from Moeletsi Mbeki, chairperson of the SA Institute
of International
Affairs at a conference on China's new place in the world
and its role in
developing Africa. A review of its policies towards Zimbabwe
would be in
China's own interest, he said, since it needs to restrict
regimes similar to
that of its neighbour, North Korea, which stunned the
world two weeks ago
with an underground nuclear arms test.
Other
commentators could not be drawn on Mbeki's anxieties, but they
did not
dismiss them out of hand.
What gives force to Mbeki's contention is
the mystery still
surrounding Zimbabwe's incursion into the DRC in 1998 when
Mugabe answered a
call from Laurent-Desiree Kabila to assist him against
invading Rwandan
forces. - Independent Foreign Service
This
article was originally published on page 6 of Tribune on October
22,
2006
IOL
October 22
2006 at 02:29PM
Four Zimbabweans were arrested after a truckload of
Zimbabwean
cigarettes was stopped near Mutale, said Limpopo police on
Sunday.
Captain Mashudu Malelo said from Thohoyandou that police
had stopped
the truck at a routine roadblock at about 8.30am on
Sunday.
"The truck was stopped and while they were searching them
they found 6
321 cartons of Zimbabwean cigarettes."
Four men
aged 27, 33, 40 and 44, were arrested. They are expected to
appear in the
Mutale Magistrate's Court soon. - Sapa
October 22, 2006
By Zimgreats. com
Zimbabwe human rights organisations have
expressed disappointment over
African Union chairperson Alpha Omar Konare's
failure to meet civil society
during his recent visit to the
country
Konare was in Zimbabwe last Friday but snubbed the human
rights
activists. He only met President Robert Mugabe on what he said was a
"consultation of Africa's elder statesman and a founding father of the AU on
resolving conflicts in the Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and
Ivory Coast".
The National Association of Non-Governmental
Organisations (Nango)
confirmed that Konare rejected its members' efforts to
meet him for an
appraisal of the Zimbabwe situation.
"We
appreciate the urgent need to resolve the crisis in Sudan and the
region but
there is a strong feeling that the Zimbabwean situation is
equally
important," Nango spokesman Fambai Ngirande said.
"We would
have wanted to give the chairman an update on government's
reluctance to
implement the African Commission's recommendations on the rule
of law,
continued evictions and horrible living conditions for the victims
of
Operation Murambatsvina."
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR), which played a pivotal role
in the compilation of a shadow report on
rampant human rights violations
presented to the African Commission for
Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR),
an arm of the AU, expressed concerned at
Konare's behaviour.
"We are concerned with Commissioner
Konare's failure to meet civic
organisations despite the fact that the ACHPR
presented him with (evidence
of) a disturbing human rights situation in
Zimbabwe," Otto Saki of the ZLHR
said.
Human Rights Trust
of Southern Africa (Sahrit) director Noel Kututwa
said he was saddened that
Konare ignored them.
"We are unhappy with the development,"
Kututwa said. "AU as a
political body tend to side with government which is
one of the reasons why
Zimbabwe is getting away with gross human rights
violations such as
Operation Murambatsvina."
l In a letter
to President Mugabe in April, ACHPR chairperson
Ambassador Salamata Sawadogo
said Zimbabwe should take provisional measures
to avoid causing irreparable
damage to victims of the operation.
"The African Commission,
having examined the request of the
complainants, has decided, in conformity
with Article 111 of the African
Commission's Rules of Procedure, to request
Your Excellency and the
government of Zimbabwe to take provisional measures
to obviate the general
deterioration of the health of 34 terminally ill
individuals infected by
HIV/Aids and who, due to Operation Murambatsvina,
are said to lack access to
medical treatment, in particular anti-retroviral
drugs," his letter says.
Sawadogo said government had to ensure
that the 210 children displaced
by the operation were given an opportunity
to pursue their education.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 22 October
Netsai Mlilo
For the majority of
HIV-infected Zimbabwean workers payday has become a time
to make tough
choices. Such workers, many of whom earn less than Z$30 000 a
month, have to
decide between buying a month's supply of antiretrovirals
(ARVs) or food.
Muzanenhamo (not her real name), a primary school teacher in
Harare, says
her situation is "desperate". She takes home $24 000 with which
she needs to
buy a month's supply of ARVs for herself and her husband. Last
month this
cost $39 000. "I'm going through a tough time. My husband was
retired from
the police on medical grounds. So, effectively, I am the
breadwinner and I
am failing to cope. My salary is not enough to buy ARVs
for the two of us,
let alone food and pay rent," said Muzanenhamo. In
addition, she has to find
money for the treatment of opportunistic
infections that those infected with
HIV are susceptible to. She is forced to
rely on her extended family,
particularly her brother, who is working
abroad, to make up the shortfalls.
In the past she would have gone to South
Africa or Botswana to buy goods for
resale in order to supplement her
income. Now she can no longer do so as she
has to take care of her
bed-ridden husband.
Thousands of
Zimbabwean workers infected with HIV are in a similar
predicament. The dire
situation prompted the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions to take to the
streets last month demanding affordable ARVs for
workers. Ironically,
unemployed Zimbabweans are better able to access ARVs,
thanks to
international donors. Nora Mambunganye is an HIV-infected widow
living in
Bulawayo. She gets her ARVs from Mpilo Central Hospital where
Médecins sans
Frontières (MSF) and the government provide the drugs at
heavily subsidised
prices. "The tablets are not a problem. When I went to
collect my last
prescription I was told we would be paying $700, which is
still affordable.
My problem is food, because it's expensive. So my worry is
about taking the
pills on an empty stomach," said Mambunganye. Unemployed
patients receive
food packs from aid organisations - World Vision and the
like - containing
staples such as a 10kg bag of mealie meal, a 750ml bottle
of cooking oil and
1kg of beans.
In the past three months the price of ARVs in Zimbabwe
has increased by
almost 65%, according to a survey by the National Aids
Council. As the
prices continue to skyrocket, some patients who were on
private schemes are
crossing over to the public programme. Dr Fernando
Parreno works for MSF in
Bulawayo, which is coordinating several city
hospitals and clinics where
public programmes are run for people with HIV.
At present the organisation
is treating about 6 000 patients in Bulawayo.
Parreno says that, although
MSF has enough drugs to treat 20 000 patients,
it cannot do so because of a
shortage of personnel. "Unfortunately, we don't
have the capacity to manage
that many patients." The staff shortage has
created a bottleneck at Mpilo,
the main referral centre. Patients have to
wait for up to four months before
they can be seen by a doctor and commence
treatment. As a result
middle-income earners drop out and opt to visit
private doctors. Low-income
earners either decide to ignore the illness or
seek the help of traditional
healers.
News-Medical.net
Disease/Infection News
Published: Sunday,
22-Oct-2006
The Zimbabwean government has announced
that it will postpone
enrolling additional HIV-positive people to its
antiretroviral treatment
program following reports that its drug supply
could run out by December,
PlusNews reports.
According to
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa, the government
is able to continue
providing antiretrovirals to people currently on the
treatment program, but
it does not have the resources to add more people to
the
program.
Zimbabwe is experiencing a "severe economic crisis"
because of
recurring droughts and the government's land redistribution
program, both of
which have interrupted agricultural production and harmed
export earnings,
PlusNews reports.
The government in 2002
declared a state of emergency in response
to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which
allows the country to import and locally
manufacture less-expensive generic
drugs under World Trade Organization
regulations.
However, the country's drug manufacturer, Varichem, has been
constrained by
a lack of foreign currency to import raw materials to make
antiretrovirals,
according to PlusNews.
About 42,000 HIV-positive people are
receiving antiretrovirals
from state programs, and about 310,000 people need
the drugs, PlusNews
reports.
Mary Sandasi, executive
director of the Women and AIDS Support
Network, said the government is
"sentencing to death" thousands of people
living with the virus. Benjamin
Mazhindu, Zimbabwe National Network for
People Living with HIV and AIDS
chair, said the organization hopes to meet
with Parirenyatwa this week to
address the shortage.
Some HIV-positive Zimbabweans have said
that they will stage
protests if the government fails to provide increased
access to
antiretrovirals, PlusNews reports (PlusNews, 10/18).
The Herald
Since
assuming office two years ago, critics of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Governor
Dr Gideon Gono say he has failed in his mandate which they say is
to tame
inflation, defend Zimbabwe's currency while he is pre-occupied with
political ambitions. In this extensive interview with Herald Business Editor
Victoria Ruzvidzo, Dr Gono bares all.
Q: WHAT do you say have been
the major highlights since you assumed office
in December 2003?
A:
When I assumed office as Governor of the central bank with effect from
the
1st of December, 2003, I was under no illusion that the job was going to
be
a cut and dry experience.
In fact, the major highlights of the past 34
months have confirmed the
impressions I had and still have about the
management of our economy which
is in transition.
The following are
the major salient points in this regard:
l The real world, where market
forces interact with structural rigidities of
everyday life requires
practical approaches that encompass flexibility and a
great measure of
patience and forward-looking;
l Resolution of inflationary pressures
requires that a fine balance be
achieved on the revival of overall economic
production and demand management
of both fiscal and monetary
frameworks.
In the case of Zimbabwe, the production side has to be
anchored in the
revival of robust performance in agriculture so as to cut
back on the spiral
on food prices, supported by instruments that promote
prosperity of the
export sector, among other generators of foreign
exchange;
l Macro-economic instabilities can be a product of and
sustained by adverse
aggregate mentalities that in the first instance paint
a false degenerating
future, which then materialises on the back of current
regressive behaviour
by economic agents in the economy.
What this
means is that until jointly and severally as Zimbabweans, we start
to think
positively and with confidence about our collective capabilities to
stabilise our own business environment, then we stand to prolong the battle
against current vices such as high levels of inflation and capacity
under-utilisation in our key productive sectors of the economy.
Thus,
our collective attitudes as regards our capabilities as a people,
determine
our prospective altitude on the economic performance front; and
l That
often, there is a real risk that far-sighted future benefits of today's
sacrifices can be under-appreciated if stakeholders mistakenly fail to
realise that socio-economic phenomena, particularly in respect of
infrastructure deepening for balanced and broad-based economic growth and
development, evolve with long gestation periods.
Specifically, the
legacy of our current efforts to build dams, the sinking
of irrigation pipes
on the farms, or deployment of funds for the
implementation of the
market-friendly 99-year leases in agriculture will
only vividly manifest
itself in the hearts and minds of informed Zimbabweans
who see beyond their
noses into the future.
With these broad ideological anchors, my own
retrospection on the past 34
months is characterised by the following major
highlights:
l There has been a general consensus among Zimbabweans that
inflation is the
economy's number one enemy, which has to be exterminated as
a precondition
for sustained economic prosperity in our
country.
Where perhaps, regrettably some stakeholders have gone astray is
to ascribe
the fight against inflation as an objective that has to be
achieved through
singular efforts of one or a few players in the
economy.
In the contrary, inflation, itself being a multi-legged
creature, has to be
fought in the factories, on the farms, in corporate
boardrooms, in shops, in
the financial sector, in Government ministries and
departments, as well as
in each Zimbabwean's psychological
maps.
Incongruent and speculative behaviour or obtusely negative
expectations only
work to entrench negative energy in our goods and services
markets, which in
turn fuel inflation expectations.
As a central
bank, we will of course not tire in our efforts to reconcile
and resolve
these paradoxical complexities for the achievement of low and
stable
inflation.
l Another major highlight of the past 34 months has been the
proven temerity
and resilience of the Zimbabwean economy, in the face of
arguably the most
corrosive forces, ranging from systematic global
sanctions, acidic corrupt
behaviours by some amongst us, to the exogenous
effects of recurrent
droughts.
What is clearly not apparent to the
average armchair critics or the ardent
anonymous internet web-page
commentators is the sleepless nights and
restless days that have been
invested in ensuring that Zimbabwe continues to
sustain itself in this
highly negatively charged space.
In fact, some, even from our own soil
here were predicting a complete
chaotic collapse of the economy over two
years ago, and it is the product of
dedicated Zimbabweans and the principled
leadership of the country that
today we still stand as a functional nation,
albeit with obvious setbacks
that we have to resolve over the short to
medium term.
l Looking back, therefore, I feel very encouraged albeit not
necessarily
completely contented, that as a people, we have managed to stand
firm in
defence of our country.
We have resolutely communicated to
the world that Zimbabwe has been and
remains a keen player in the global
financial marketplace, as demonstrated
by our determined payment of what we
frankly owed the rest of the world in
the International Monetary Fund club,
among many other creditors to whom we
have repaid their dues.
This we
did, notwithstanding our current challenges in the foreign exchange
market,
precisely to demonstrate our appreciation of the value of being a
player in
the community of nations.
Please note that this initiative to clear the
country's General Resources
Account arrears at the IMF came after years of
non-payment, which meant that
a wider and steeper distance had to be
covered.
l Clearly, every Zimbabwean should, thus, stand tall for having
made this
sacrifice in defence of the country's international
standing.
Again, to the short-sighted minds, the strategic and long-term
benefits of
this intervention can almost go unnoticed, as demonstrated by
what we have
already seen, with some vilifying Monetary Authorities for our
adoption of
the honourable stance to pay what we owe to our
creditors.
Of course, we also remain hopeful that at the IMF itself, they
will find it
in their balanced wisdom to treat member countries equally and
base their
assessments on nothing other than the spirit and letter of the
IMF founding
rules of play, as espoused in the Articles that form the soul
of this
supra-national Bretton Woods institution.
l Coming to overall
economic performance, I must say that as Governor of the
Central Bank, it
continues to be an object of individual and a wish for our
collective
efforts to rally together as a people in creating a stable
business
environment, with the necessary ambience for employment creation,
poverty
eradication and empowerment of our people.
l We have to reduce the
current high levels of inflation through a
combination of both supply side
and demand management innovations, supported
by an unequivocal social
contract that anchors and locks in positive
expectations.
Without the
necessary support from all players in the economy, monetary
levers alone,
for example interest rates, will necessarily have to be
adjusted to levels
that would import unbearable pain on industry and
commerce, as well as
constricting individual households' budget constraints
almost to fatal
extremes, if one were to apply the orthodox cannons of
monetary
restraint.
We believe in the adoption of monetary policy paths and
frameworks that have
a human face.
l It is for this reason that you
have seen your central bank advocating for
a more lasting remedy to the
inflation set-back, being one grounded on
actual revitalisation of
productive activities across virtually all sectors
of the economy, and
agriculture in particular.
We, therefore, call upon all relevant
Government Ministries and Departments
to fortify the various support
instruments the Reserve Bank has put in place
with expeditious
implementation of Government programmes of action, as well
as de-clogging
the country's institutional framework of hazardous traits of
bureaucratic
sloth that has tended to derail well-meaning policies in the
past.
l
Another major highlight over the past 34 months has been the Reserve
Bank's
remarkable loud voice to both the public and private sectors of the
economy
for the adoption of sound corporate governance and accountability
systems as
part of the overall stabilisation process.
In this regard, I am pleased
that our declaration of the parastatal and
local authorities sectors as a
major missing link in the turnaround process
has led to a unanimous focus on
progressive reorientation of these
constituencies.
l Yes, there have
been clear disappointments with some of these entities,
where instances of
perennial stubbornness and profligacy have undermined the
pace of
turnaround, which has ultimately constrained the achievement of the
desired
supply side response at the macro-economic level.
Some, even as I respond
to you today, are still hung up in the mode of
looking forward for foreign
exchange allocations from the Central Bank, in
return for no payment of
corresponding local currency. There have, however,
been some successes, for
instance at ZUPCO and the NRZ, where positions of
abject deficits have now
been turned into profitable states, thereby
relieving the central fiscus of
previous financial burdens.
l Parallel to this thrust for the adoption of
sound corporate governance
systems, has also been the commonality of
sentiment we have managed to sow
and cultivate with respect to the adoption
of zero tolerance for corruption.
As a Central Bank, we remain committed
to ensuring that this fight is an
unending one till the job is
done.
This uncompromising stance against corruption and indiscipline has
done well
in stabilising the country's financial sector, which prior to
December, 2003
had been plagued and infested by visible elements of unsound
banking
practices.
Our collective ability to isolate and cure the
imbalances that prevailed in
the financial sector, without exporting undue
structural damages to the rest
of the economy was and remains a commendable
achievement that marks the high
level of capabilities in our financial
services industry, and of course, in
your Central Bank. This position has
been remarkably recognised regionally
and internationally, given that
maintenance of financial stability is one of
the most fundamental
responsibilities that any central bank has to
discharge.
l As the
list is quite long of the major highlights over the past 34 months,
perhaps
I should end my response by making reference to the recent historic
currency
reforms, under Sunrise 1, where as a country, we were able to
successfully
transform the payments system in a record one month's time.
l I must,
however, once again, reiterate that driving this first phase of
currency
reforms, the central bank was under no illusions whatsoever that
this was
going to be the sole panacea for the unstable general inflationary
conditions in the economy.
Rather, Sunrise 1 was implemented as the
pre-cursor to more robust demand
management and structural policies that are
being implemented to deflate the
current inflation spiral on a lasting
basis.
In this respect, I have repeatedly said and I once again wish to
say that as
a country, we cannot afford to elect and accept failure as an
option.
We just have got to soul-search and re-deploy all our arsenal of
purposeful
energies till we get it right. This, we have to do for our
country since no
one else will ever come from anywhere or from mars to do it
for us.
Having articulated the above, however, there will always be those
who feel
that we could be better off today had the Governor done this or not
done
that.
As they say in strategy, "Hindsight is always the best
sight". Don't we all
wish we knew yesterday what we know today? Don't we all
wish we were direct
descendants of St Peter, St John or St Luke? Yet despite
that shortcoming,
life must go on, and decisions about tomorrow must still
be made today with
information available today.
What will never be
known with certainty is what this country would have
become had we not taken
the kind of decisions and actions we took when I
came into office in
2003.
Q: What challenges have you faced as Governor of the central bank
and how
have you sought to circumvent them?
A: As I have already
alluded to in my earlier response, the challenges I
have and continue to
face in my current tour of national duty have not come
as a surprise. In
assuming the Governorship position, I was fully aware that
this was going to
come with trials and tribulations, which had to be
overcome through what I
call purposeful centering of one's mind on the
bigger picture of cultivating
a foundation for long-term prosperity of our
economy.
Among some of
the challenges I have come face to face with are the repeated
waves of very
formidable forces that resist progressive reform for the
selfish reason that
in their own ways, some few people are reaping (ill)
benefits from the
current macro-economic imbalances.
Such resistance from these quarters is
of course to be expected, since
normalisation of the economic environment
comes with the dissolution of
crevices for arbitrage and speculation across
all markets for foreign
exchange, goods, services, as well as markets for
factor inputs.
Another challenge that I must admit has been a cause of
nagging concern to
me and my team at the Reserve Bank is the yawning extent
to which the fabric
of some of our national institutional synergies has been
and is vanishing,
owing to growing myopic self-centredness by some of those
charged with key
national responsibilities.
This deficiency has been
and is prevalent in the country's key institutions
in the realms of
electricity generation and distribution, fuel procurement
and distribution,
water provision, coal production and distribution, as well
as general
co-ordination and accountability in the sourcing and distribution
of key
productive inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, agro-chemicals,
including
supplementary grain, to name but a few examples.
The transmission of some
of our monetary policy interventions, such as the
provision of affordable
finance to targeted productive sectors of the
economy has also been
confronted with occasions of covert and overt abuse by
some beneficiaries,
which has inevitably drained the intended positive
impact.
This
observation is in respect of some noted abuses under the ASPEF window,
as
well as the well-meaning allocations to such areas as municipalities, the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority and some parastatals that have not been
reciprocated with effective deployment of resources to timeous good
use.
Remedial recovery measures are, however, being instituted to ensure
that
such detected anomalies are corrected.
Another vivid challenge
that the central bank is having to deal with on a
daily basis is that of
advancing the investment promotion objective within
the context of pitched
negativity against the country, aggravated by
declared and undeclared
sanctions meant to cripple and diffuse our
collective progressive efforts as
a people.
This notwithstanding, it is my fervent belief that even among
those who
yesterday and today continue to wish us ill-fate, time is soon
coming that
they will begin to realise that such sanctions bluntly and
needlessly
impinge on the generality of defenseless citizens who merit
nothing short of
just and equal treatment from the wider community of
humanity, locally,
regionally and internationally.
On our part as a
central bank, we are elated that under NEDPP, considerable
inroads are being
made towards the reconstruction of gainful bridges for the
promotion of
meaningful rebound in foreign direct and portfolio investment
inflows into
the country.
Benefits of these efforts will soon be there for
stakeholders to see, and it
is not my intention to go against the wisdom of
the old adage which says
that "results speak louder than words".
This
is particularly telling, within the context of growing polarity in our
midst
where almost everything, no matter how noble it is, stands on the edge
of
peril due to the unfortunate mode some of our stakeholders have defaulted
into, and that is, their fervent acts of politicising what in essence are
benign apolitical economic programmes.
Some have gone so far as to
explicitly wear on the proverbial helmets of
economic sabotage by openly
resolving to "deflate all tyres" of the
turnaround efforts being driven by
the central bank, in order that they
achieve certain of their unspecified
non-economic objectives.
Obviously, until as a nation, we germinate a
universal conscience that
scorns such convoluted subversive mentalities, we
will continue to prolong
the journey towards self-preservation in a world
fast becoming a competitive
jungle.
In essence, therefore, it is
patently imperative that we rise above
self-centeredness and think Zimbabwe,
where efforts by some stakeholders are
seen for their positive intentions
and reinforced by complementary actions
and mindsets, rather than
dis-investments in the laying of booby traps and
banana peals meant to slew
national programmes off the rails.
But again, as a sober, resolute
people, we must and cannot allow such
narrow-minded few among us to
sacrifice the entire heritage of our great
country through self-destructive
mud-slinging and vainly projects of
mouse-trapping.
Q: Critics say
since assuming office two years ago, your policies have
failed to address
key economic fundamentals such as inflation fighting. How
do you respond to
this?
A: Firstly, I wish to once again underscore the point that our
economy,
transitional as it is, has inflation which is largely a result of
structural
rigidities, aggravated by such exogenous factors as food prices,
ad hoc
increases in administered prices, and the retrogressive effects of
speculative behavior in the economy.
Secondly, as governor, I wish to
underline and correct a commonly overlooked
dichotomy in the country's
inflation and general productive sector outlook,
which relates to whether
growth in money supply is a cause or a result of
deep structural
malfunctions in the country's overall institutional
synergies, viewed in the
context of revenue-expenditure profiles and the
role of national budgetary
processes.
It has been and remains the view of this Governor that what we
see today,
where the Reserve Bank is, of necessity, being called upon to
provide
bridging finance to literally all major pillars of the economy, is
in itself
a vivid indication and testimony that major structural
re-alignments have to
be orchestrated in the country's institutional
structures, particularly in
major utilities and key Government departments
mandated with the
implementation of strategic national
programmes.
Faced with this reality, and consistent with the
developmental mandate given
to the Reserve Bank as currently constituted,
these hurdles had to be
confronted head-on, with pragmatic interventions
whose main objectives have
been to lay the necessary long-term foundation
for higher economic
productivity in the future.
In laying such
foundations, including the construction of dams, restoration
of viability in
parastatals and municipalities, laying of irrigation
systems, and ensuring
some degree of stability in the country's energy
sector, among many other
interventions, this governor and his team is having
to come across
innumerable hurdles which, fortunately, will not be allowed
to deter or
diminish our resolve.
Against this background, it is imperative that as
Zimbabweans, we realise
the truism that the size of interim accomplishments
of broad national
enterprises such as central banking has to be measured by
the obstacles that
the implementers of policy have to overcome before
reaching explicitly
defined goals, such a specific inflation
digit.
This is more so in the context of an environment where the central
bank is
taken as the port of call for such wide-ranging ailments as
collapses in
water reticulation systems in urban areas, provision of working
capital to
major utilities such as Zesa Holdings, Noczim, NRZ,
Municipalities, Hwange,
Zinwa, and Air Zimbabwe, among others.
And
yet, if as a central bank we were to or are to adopt the orthodox stance
of
idealistic aloofness and indifference when these varied demands are made
on
us, the economy would not have been moving at the reasonably recovering
pulse it is in today.
It is therefore, important to make the
discussion and assessment in the
context of what could have happened, and
where the Zimbabwean economy would
have been, if the eclectic interventions
as have been done by the Reserve
Bank had not been effected.
Indeed,
it is always human nature to focus on criticising the peripheries of
the
known inadvertent adverse realities post successful avoidance of a
catastrophic accident, electing to be deliberately oblivious of the degree
of annihilation that could have befallen a people had the mitigating options
not been implemented in the first instance.
Yes, it remains a
paramount priority that concerted efforts be made to
reduce inflation;
promote investment; create more jobs; elevate the majority
of our people to
above the poverty datum line; and generate adequate foreign
exchange to meet
the country's critical import requirements, among other
objectives.
Equally, as monetary authorities, we are as concerned as
every other
Zimbabwean, at the limited pace of dis-inflation, but we are
never under the
illusion that single-handedly we will be the sole players in
eliminating the
destructive dragon of high inflation, nor are we under the
misplaced spell
that this will be accomplished at the stroke of the
pen.
Rather, as is reflected in the current efforts, inflation reduction
is a key
objective whose accomplishment cannot be resigned nor postponed,
and is,
therefore, being addressed by the following framework which is
already at
play, under the NEDPP:
l Rationalisation of financial
support to the parastatal and local
authorities sectors through exclusion of
non-performers, so as to reign in
aggregate growth in money supply.
l
Constant fine-tuning of interest rates and banking sector balance sheets,
so
as to orient the country's liquidity more towards production, as well as
draining the financial system of speculative, non-productive
balances.
l Better co-ordination of macro-economic policy implementation,
as is being
accomplished under the NEDPP.
l Adoption of the 80/20
focused strategy in the provision of support to key
exporting entities in
the economy so as to provide a critical mass of
foreign exchange inflows in
the economy to uplift productive capacity
utilisation.
l A deliberate
strategy to uplift agricultural production so as to guarantee
food security,
which would directly dampen inflationary pressures.
This is being
achieved through combined efforts to mobilise foreign exchange
for timely
provision of key inputs, including fuel, fertilizers,
agro-chemicals, as
well as electricity supplies among other requirements.
l Maintenance of a
stable financial system which plays the pivotal
intermediary role of
mobilizing savings and supporting growth in domestic
investment
outlays.
l Rationalisation of overall Government expenditures.
In
this collective effort, it is critical that stakeholders remain focused
on
the overall objective of building a prosperous Zimbabwe for all, without
the
dominance of selfish sectoral considerations.
Indeed the old adage which
says that if eyes are focused and are looking at
the sun, they see no
shadows is aptly telling.
As Zimbabweans, we must remain propelled by our
commitment to building a
stable, prosperous business environment, rather
than allowing the transitory
setbacks to detract our attention or wastefully
leak productive time and
energy drawing spears at each other.
Indeed,
Seneca, a renowned Roman writer once remarked that "If a man or
woman knows
not what harbour he or she seeks to dock the ship, any wind is
the right
wind."
As Zimbabweans, we, therefore, have to be bound by the pursuit of
a common
destiny of a prosperous economy for current and future generations,
and
achievement of this has to be anchored on collective purposeful
effort.
In this process, we must not be discouraged nor prematurely beat
ourselves
as having failed, as typically, it is often the case that the last
key in
the bunch is the one that opens the lock.
Over the outlook, it
is very clear that the investments we have already done
as a country in the
areas of stabilising agricultural production, combined
with the
comprehensive framework I have outlined above will see us reign in
any
further upsurges in inflation.
In conclusion, let me say that people are
justifiably worried about the rate
at which prices are going up - inflation
- and we are doing everything
possible to fight this dragon within the
straitjacket framework of our local
and international environmental
factors.
Some of those factors are within the governor's control and
influence while
others such as politics, sanctions, international prices of
oil, droughts,
smuggling of precious metals and goods, vandalism of Zesa
Holdings
transformers, under-utilisation of farms, disruptions at those
farms,
rampant corruption within the private and public sectors, at
parastatals and
local authorities, indiscipline, law and order are factors
outside the
Governors' control, yet all these do impact negatively on
inflation.
Inflation should, however, not be the only measure of success.
There are
other variables of success if people care to look deep
enough!
Q: It is also said the primary role of any central bank governor
is to
defend a country's currency. In this instance, the Zimbabwe dollar has
continued to lose value over the period that you have been in office.
Comment.
A: A point that has to be clearly understood at the onset is
that the world
over, the value of a country's domestic currency is anchored
on the
following fundamental pillar, which is that, the capacity of the
economy to
generate adequate foreign exchange resources, so as to create the
right
balance between the demand and supply conditions in the financial
system, as
economic agents move from local currency to foreign currency to
meet desired
import and debt payments abroad lies at the soul of
preservation of the
value of that country's currency.
Following on to
this point, it must also be understood that like any other
central bank the
world over, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe does not produce
foreign exchange
nor does it have the capacity to print foreign exchange to
meet the demands
of the market, so as to "effectively defend the value of
the local
currency".
It is for this reason that over the past 34 months, as
Governor, I have
openly condemned such retrogressive acts as destruction of
horticultural
green-houses, decimation of tobacco bans, institution of fresh
post-2004
farm invasions, smuggling of precious minerals, such as gold,
diamonds, and
emeralds, and the non-repatriation of export proceeds by some
exporters,
among other such vices.
More foreign exchange availability
will translate into higher capacity
utilisation in our productive sectors,
which diffuses inflationary
pressures, and hence preserve exporter viability
for sustained foreign
exchange regenerative capacity.
In sum,
therefore, the external value of a country's currency is directly
related to
the worth of the intergenerational cookie-jar of foreign exchange
reserves
that the economy bestows on each central bank governorship, through
actual
exporting of goods and services or attraction of inbound investment
inflows,
and subsequently how much each Governorship in turn passes on to
successive
central bank teams.
Where overall economic performance is at levels that
do not meet required
foreign exchange requirements, such as is the case now,
capacity to build
the necessary buffer reserves to protect the country's
currency becomes
limited.
Any other argument to the contrary clearly
reflects a crippling lack of
compression and intellectual impairment on the
part of those arguing so, on
how the economy and financial systems in the
contemporary world operate.
These realities notwithstanding, the Reserve
Bank has been working
tirelessly over the past 34 months to secure foreign
exchange through
arrangement of favourable lines of credit, which avenue has
proved to be
very effective.
Over the past 34 months for instance,
the Reserve Bank has secured
cumulative facilities of over US$900 million,
over and above export inflows
of over US$1,4 billion annually.
This
innovative intervention has gone to augment export receipts directly,
thereby mitigating against sharp loss of value of the local currency. Things
could have gone terribly worse. Let us not forget this.
Of
importance, therefore, is the need for stakeholders to focus more on
generating more foreign exchange inflows, which would build a lasting
foundation upon which the value of the Zimbabwe dollar will be stabilised on
a lasting basis. In the extreme form of intervention, the Reserve Bank can,
if insane, within a day peg the local currency unit at par with any other
currency in the world, but no doubt this will not solve but compound the
imbalances in the foreign exchange market.
Production, production,
production; exports, exports, and more exports is
the anthem that can only
secure sustained stability of the exchange value of
the local currency
against other currencies. As Monetary Authorities, we are
encouraged by the
fact that it is these focal areas that the NEDPP is
working to establish as
part of the comprehensive turnaround strategy of the
economy. Also, our
resolve and declaration of inflation as the country's
enemy number 1,
supported by the afore-outlined anti-inflation strategies,
will positively
go towards the preservation of the local currency's value,
which in itself
is a battle we can not afford to lose as a country.
Q:
You have also come under fire for venturing into areas which are
traditionally not part of the mandate of a central bank governor. Why has
this been so?
A: Firstly, in the interest of avoidance of doubt, I
encourage those
interested stakeholders who may not have had exposure to the
statutory
functions, the roles and responsibilities of the Reserve Bank to
please read
the Reserve Bank Act, as it unambiguously spells out point by
point the
broad scope of functions of Monetary Authorities.
Key among
these explicit responsibilities is of course the advancement of
the general
policies and programs of Government. Naturally, Government
policies and
programmes, by their very form have economy-wide tentacles
which may
seemingly appear to be too wide to the uninformed and
narrow-minded or those
that flourish under the mode of selfish silos and
destructive fiefdoms in
socio-economic (mis-) management.
Another stark reality that often
escapes the imagination of many is that in
the existence of humanity, it is
often those who say "it can't be done" who
usually feel "interrupted" in
their vainly tracks by others determined that
it can be done.
More
fundamentally, there is also need to isolate and appreciate the
intricacies
and inter-linkages of economic phenomena. For instance, to the
extent that
food shortages cause the Central Bank Governor and his team
sleepless nights
looking for foreign exchange to import supplementary food,
it must naturally
follow that the Reserve Bank actively participates in the
pre-emptive
avoidance of food shortages through supportive programs that
promote food
security.
Also, to the extent that non-performance by, say, ZESA or
Hwange in
providing energy to the productive sectors leads to
under-performance in the
export sector, which in turn reduces foreign
exchange reserves with which
Monetary Authorities can defend the value of
the Zimbabwe dollar, then it
must be logically appreciated why the Reserve
Bank becomes keenly interested
in seeing sound performance by these
entities. The logic goes on like that
to encompass other dimensions we have
been in, and it must [item ends here... Ed]
The Herald
Herald
Reporter
A CRITICAL shortage of health science lecturers has hit the
Zimbabwe School
of Medicine following the exodus of staff to neighbouring
countries where
they are seeking greener pastures.
In an
interview on the sidelines of a donation of 36 boxes of medical books
by
Black American Friends of Zimbabwe, University of Zimbabwe Vice
Chancellor
Professor Levi Nyagura said the school had a shortfall of 197
lecturers.
He said the school was functioning with only 127
lecturers.
"At the moment we have about 127 lecturers and they cannot
cope with the
workload. We are being assisted by private practitioners but
we would want
the college to have lecturers that are readily available,"
Prof Nyagura
said.
He said the pre-clinical level that is undergone
by the medical students in
the first two years, was the worst affected yet
it is the most critical
stage where students study physiology and
anatomy.
"At this early stage the students are provided with the
foundation for the
understanding of the human body at micro level in terms
of body cells and
food processes," he said.
Prof Nyagura also said
the clinical studies level where the students undergo
detailed theoretical
and practical learning of the human body also needs
urgent
attention.
"The college of health sciences had two years ago improved but
the situation
started deteriorating again.
"The vacancy rate which
was pegged at 48 percent in 2004 rose to 60 percent.
We need the rate to be
around 85 percent to ensure the smooth running of the
college," Prof Nyagura
said.
He attributed the loss of human resources to poor remuneration,
adding that
medical lecturers got a basic-salary ranging from $90 000 to
$115 000 per
month.
"We are negotiating with the Government to see if
they could help improve
the salaries so that our efforts to retain the staff
becomes practical.
"We as the university are making inroads to help
attract more lecturers," he
said.
The medical school in Harare, he
said, enrols an average of 200 students a
year while its Bulawayo branch
housed at the National University of Science
and Technology enrols around 20
students.
"We take the cream of the country with points not less than 14
in science
subjects.
"These undergo studies ranging from dentistry,
surgery, medical laboratory
sciences and medicine," Prof Nyagura
said.
The donation of books worth more than $20 million came after Health
and
Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa had requested for
assistance to
help boost the quality of medical training in the
country.
"We told them we needed more books for the medical school as it
was our wish
to see that the quality of doctors churned out from here
continued to be of
high quality," he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa said his
ministry welcomed all stakeholders who genuinely
needed to build
partnerships in the development of the health sector.
Although Zimbabwe
continues to commit more resources in the training of
health professionals,
brain drain was negatively affecting the country's
health delivery
system.
The Herald
Herald Reporter
AIR
Zimbabwe has increased airfares for various routes by between 200 and
500
percent with passengers travelling to London now having to part with
more
than $1,8 million return for an economy class seat.
The airline's
spokesperson, Mr David Mwenga, told The Herald last week that
the increases
had been necessitated by skyrocketing operational costs, which
had seen Air
Zimbabwe failing to make meaningful profits in the past few
years.
"We realise the increases are substantial but given the high
costs for
products and services, which has been going up by not less than
150 percent
every month, we had no choice but to review our fares," Mr
Mwenga said.
He said 90 percent of the airline's costs are in foreign
currency compared
to revenues of 30 percent in foreign currency and 70
percent in local
currency.
A middle range economy class return ticket
to London is now pegged at $1 865
000, up from $358 310, while a return
flight to Dubai now costs $1 345 000.
A return ticket to China is now
priced at $2,5 million, up from $545 000,
while the cost of a return flight
to Johannesburg is $340 000, up from $99
830.
"We have increased
Harare-Bulawayo-Harare economy class to $190 000 from $52
500, while a
return ticket to Victoria Falls from Harare is now $260 000,
from $68 500,"
he said.
Increases have also been effected on other routes apart from
those pegged in
foreign currency.
The airline incurs high costs in
fuel, insurance, spare parts, catering,
handling and overflying charges -
all of which are paid for in foreign
currency.
"The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe recently said our airline, like all
parastatals, will no longer be
supported and we are looking at other ways we
could employ to make business
vibrant and make profits that could sustain
us," Mr Mwenga said