The Zimbabwe Situation

Reuters

Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:07 GMT

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank chief said on Wednesday that the
country should not return to the chaos triggered by a government price
freeze that caused a shopping frenzy and emptied store shelves.

Food shortages have worsened in the southern African nation since President
Robert Mugabe's government ordered businesses to roll back prices to
mid-June levels in a desperate bid to rein in the world's fastest-rising
consumer prices.

Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, who at times has criticised the
government's economic policies, said further price control moves would
backfire.

"We are aware that we will have a temporary upsurge in inflation as we ramp
up our engines, but we must not be tempted to go back to the anarchy of the
past three months," Gono told journalists at a weekly briefing on
preparations for the 2007/8 farming season.

"Prices must be decontrolled and there must never be any expectation by
consumers that prices can be held at levels of three months ago ... there's
an animal called inflation."

The freeze led to a slowdown in inflation in August. But the figure shot to
a record 7,900 percent last month in what political analysts said was a
clear sign the government was losing the inflation battle.

Prices have started climbing again after the freeze was eased for some
goods. Many businesses had slashed or halted production fearing losses at
government stipulated prices.

On Tuesday, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said the monthly average cost
of living for a family of six had risen 30 percent to Z$ 21.7 million, which
is worth $723 on the official market and $25 on a thriving black market.

An average government worker earns a monthly gross salary of Z$17 million.

Shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency and rising unemployment have
underpinned Zimbabwe's economic crisis, which critics blame on Mugabe's
policies, such as the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless
blacks.

Although the crisis has fanned tensions, political analysts say a fractured
opposition poses little challenge to Mugabe, who has ruled the country since
1980.

But analysts say the economic meltdown could threaten Mugabe's grip on
power. Mugabe accuses his Western enemies of seeking to topple him by
funding the opposition and inciting businesses to hike prices.

On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said the government aimed to
produce 3 million tonnes of the staple maize crop in the 2007/8 farming
season.

But critics doubt output could rise sharply after years of decline. Official
statistics show that only 500,000 tonnes of maize were delivered to the
state grain agency this year, against annual requirements of almost 2
million tonnes.

Zimbabwe targets 3 mln T maize output in 07/08

Reuters

Wed 24 Oct 2007, 12:07 GMT

HARARE, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government expects the country to
produce 3 million tonnes of the staple maize crop in the 2007/8 farming
season, and to stop importing maize, the agruculture minister said on
Wednesday.

"We have targeted to put 2 million hectares under maize and expect to get
about 3 million metric tonnes of maize at an average expected yield of about
1.55 tonnes per hectare," Agriculture minister Rugare Gumbo told journalists
in Harare

"Once we have a normal rainfall season, we will have a bumper harvest," he
added.

The southern African country -- once a regional bread basket -- has failed
to feed itself since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe's government seized
white-held farms to resettle landless blacks who often lack expertise and
funding.

Zimbabwe to investigate violence accusations: MDC

Yahoo News

By MacDonald Dzirutwe Wed Oct 24, 10:47 AM ET

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will investigate accusations of political
violence against opposition activists by security forces and ruling party
supporters, the main opposition party said on Wednesday.

Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi met opposition officials who
chronicled cases of alleged politically motivated violence by the police,
army, intelligence services and supporters of President Robert Mugabe.

"He assured us that once the investigation is over he will call us again to
give us a full answer as to what he has discovered," Sam Nkomo, a senior
official of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told
reporters.

There was no immediate comment on Wednesday's meeting from the government.

The MDC said last week that the government was escalating a violent
crackdown against its members, but would not walk away from talks with the
ruling ZANU-PF.

Mugabe, who denies allegations of widespread human rights abuses, accuses
the opposition of carrying out and fomenting violence and working with
Western powers to oust him.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the MDC are holding talks mediated by South African
President Thabo Mbeki as part of regional efforts to end Zimbabwe's
deepening economic crisis and promote political reconciliation.

The negotiations have yielded a compromise constitutional amendment allowing
Mugabe to pick a successor if he retires mid-term while the president's
powers to choose members of parliament have been curbed.

MDC officials said Mohadi indicated that the government wanted the talks to
be "fruitful for the country and anything that will jeopardize (the talks)
is not encouraged."

Opposition officials have said they recorded more than 4,122 alleged cases
of political violence since January.

The MDC said it informed Mohadi of what it said was a ZANU-PF plot to burn
its campaign vehicle fleet ahead of next year's presidential and
parliamentary elections.

Mohadi said he was not aware of the plot but promised to investigate, Nkomo
said.

The opposition has alleged that Zimbabwe's tough security laws, which
require political parties to notify the police when holding political
gatherings, were applied selectively and that police often ban MDC meetings
without reason.

Mohadi said he was not aware that MDC meetings were banned. The opposition
would notify police of a planned demonstration to test the minister's
sincerity, said Nkomo.

Bread 'as scarce as gold' in Zimbabwe

IOL

October 24 2007 at 02:11AM

Harare - Zimbabwe's crisis has now reached tipping point, a
spokesperson for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
warned on Tuesday as a local consumer watchdog said the cost of living had
climbed 30 percent in a month.

"It is now clear that Zimbabwe's crisis has reached the tipping
point," said the MDC's Nelson Chamisa who said bread was now "as scarce as
gold".

Food shortages have worsened since July following President Robert
Mugabe's controversial order that all prices be slashed by at least 50
percent.

Most basics are now only available on the expensive black market. Many
Zimbabweans say they are surviving on vegetables.

Chamisa whose party is currently involved in delicate South
African-brokered talks with Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF also pointed to
widespread power outages which have crippled hospitals, schools,
universities and industry.

"They (the ruling party) are not worried about our suffering," the
spokesperson said.

His comments came as the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) reported a
30 percent surge in the cost of living for a family of six, up to
ZIM$21.7-million in September.

Senior teachers report that their take-home pay that month was just
four million dollars.

The CCZ said there had been a 222 percent rise in the cost of the
staple maize meal, while rentals have surged by an average of 34 percent. -
Sapa-dpa

Election Watch - Sokwanele

"True democracy can only be restored in Zimbabwe if we restore genuine, democratic elections and restore an electoral environment that will allow free and fair elections to take place."

This concept is central to RESTORE 2, a document compiled by The Zimbabwe Institute (ZI) to provide a blueprint for the restoration of democracy in Zimbabwe.

Its precursor, RESTORE, was launched in 2004 following the signing of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections by heads of state in Mauritius.

The ZI document, signed by Brian Raftopoulos, chairman, and Isaac Maposa, director, defines elections as a process, not as an event. It stipulates that, to ensure free and fair elections, Zimbabwe has to:

The events highlighted in this issue of Zimbabwe Election Watch - and in all the preceding issues - demonstrate that a free and fair election cannot take place in the existing electoral environment.

In fact the political violence perpetrated by the ruling Zanu PF party has now become so serious and blatant that the Movement for Democratic (MT) has written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to "register concern over the violent crackdown against its supporters…"

The letter notes that a total of 103 rallies and marches have been crushed, while seven murders, 18 rapes, 69 abductions, 459 cases of torture, 2 323 cases of interference or intimidation, 1 141 cases of assault and 152 cases of unlawful detention have been recorded.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), an apolitical social justice movement, presented a damning report in South Africa and said the Mugabe regime was behaving like "a militia or a warlord". The group said there was no possibility of free and fair elections next year.

The political climate has become so hostile and chaotic that armed riot police stormed a hotel in Masvingo and arrested a group of MDC women while they were having lunch. The group was accused of holding an illegal meeting.

Yet again police have severely assaulted and injured members of the National Constitutional Assembly for attempting a protest march to Parliament.

There has been a fresh wave of violence reportedly ignited by Zanu PF councillors in the southeastern district of Chipinge, while in the MDC stronghold of KweKwe, homes were destroyed by heavily armed police using sledgehammers.

A Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) plan outlining Zanu PF's vote rigging strategy has been exposed. It includes mechanisms for maintaining control of rural areas, vote buying and targeting journalists, opposition members and civil society leaders that are under surveillance.

A leading member of the independent Zimbabwe Liberators' Platform has dismissed the ongoing pro Mugabe marches by war veterans as "scare tactics to ward off opposition."

MDC appeals to SADC over political violence
Source Date: 16-10-2007

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party on Tuesday said it had written to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to register concern over a violent crackdown against its supporters by government agents and activists of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party.

Nelson Chamisa, who is spokesman of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Morgan Tsvangirai, told journalists in Harare that his party had recorded more than 4 000 cases of politically motivated human rights violations against its supporters between January and June this year.

Reporting on the presentation, zimbabwejournalists.com wrote:

In the letter, the MDC detailed a series of attacks that had occurred since the talks began in April.

A total of 103 rallies and marches had been crushed, while seven murders, 18 rapes, 69 abductions, 459 cases of torture, 2 323 cases of interference or intimidation, 1 141 cases of assault and 152 cases of unlawful detention had been recorded.

"While the MDC and Zanu PF are engaged in dialogue in Pretoria, the regime has continued to hound our supporters, brutally assaulting and attacking them against the spirit of the dialogue process," the MDC said.

"There's no use being in talks in Pretoria and at war here at home."

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2175

SADC standards breached

No chance of fair election in Zim
Source Date: 10-10-2007

Robert Mugabe's regime is behaving like "a militia or a warlord", and there is no possibility of free and fair elections next year.

This is according to Zimbabwean women who have been repeatedly arrested and tortured by Mugabe's security force.

"There is sustained repression in Zimbabwe. Free and fair elections cannot be held," said Jenni Williams, co-founder of Women of Zimbabwe Arise or WOZA (an apolitical social justice movement) at a press briefing yesterday in Johannesburg.

Williams - who has been arrested 25 times - added: "WOZA has often been the target of unprovoked violence."

A preliminary report on political violence against WOZA members paints a shocking picture about acts of suppression perpetrated by Zimbabwe police.

Assault, abduction or kidnapping, political threats, rape, forced removal of underwear while in custody, unlawful detention and psychological and physical torture were some of the abuses the WOZA women were subjected to, the report revealed.

*Note: The report showed that 73 percent of an initial sample of 397 members had been arrested more than once, 40 percent were tortured and 50 percent detained longer than the allowed 48 hours. About 26 percent were injured badly enough to receive medical treatment.

Identified victims: Jenni Williams, co-founder of WOZA; Clarah Makoni, WOZA activist

Source: Citizen
Article Link: http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=50045,1,22

SADC standards breached

Zim women speak of torture camp
Source Date: 10-10-2007

… Among those present at the launch [of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) preliminary report] in South Africa …. was WOZA activist Clarah Makoni.

(She) broke down in tears as she related her ordeal in April when she went to deliver food to friends taking part in a protest over electricity shortages….

"I was beaten, kicked and tortured by the police... After several hours I was told to report at the police station the following day as they could not arrest me due to my age. When I went again I was beaten and tortured again till I fell sick.

I was taken to (the southern city of) Bulawayo where they torture people (Fairbridge torture camp) where the torture continued for hours. I was whipped while lying on my stomach. They then put me in a room full of ice."

The teenager was then ordered to cross an electric fence before having to make her way back home, a journey of more than 400 kilometres….

Identified victims: Jenni Williams, national co-ordinator of WOZA; Clarah Makoni, WOZA activist

Source: AFP
Link to source: http://africa.iafrica.com/c2cnews/624422.htm

SADC standards breached

MDC women arrested while having lunch at hotel
Source Date: 19-10-2007

At least 20 women from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly holding an illegal meeting at a hotel in the southern town of Masvingo.

Armed riot police stormed the hotel in Masvingo, about 260km south of the capital Harare, and arrested the women from the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC who were having lunch at the hotel.

The police, who accused the women of holding an unsanctioned political gathering at the hotel, later bundled the women into trucks and took them to Masvingo Central police station.

The MDC women, who included Theresa Makone and former legislator Evelyn Masaiti, were however later released after four hours of interrogation….

Identified victims: Theresa Makone, former legislator Evelyn Masaiti

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2189

SADC standards breached

Police severely assault protesters in Harare
Source Date: 17-10-2007

Police on Tuesday severely assaulted and injured more than 30 members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) political pressure group for attempting to march to Parliament to protest against constitutional reforms agreed between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition last month….

The NCA and other civic society groups have opposed the constitutional changes, saying any process to amend the country's governance charter should include all stakeholders and that what is needed are not piecemeal changes but wholesale constitutional reforms to produce a new and democratic constitution for the country.

In a statement, the NCA said its activists were on a peaceful march to Parliament to show their disapproval of Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill No. 18 when the police pounced, beating up and injuring 34 of the marchers.

"We wonder why the regime still believes in bloodshed. We were merely exercising our right to demonstrate against something we abhor," the group said, adding that those injured were taken to a private hospital for treatment.

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2179

SADC standards breached

Several People Hurt in Fresh Chipinge Unrest
Source Date: 10-10-2007

At least 10 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters have been injured and several had their houses and cars damaged in Chipinge in a fresh wave of violence reportedly ignited by Zanu PF councillors in the southeastern district.

Trouble started when (Mbandure), a local Zanu-PF councillor for Ward One, stormed the Gaza business centre on Saturday and tried to disperse the over 300 MDC supporters attending a rally that had been sanctioned by the police….

Unknown to the opposition supporters, Mbandure is alleged to have rallied his supporters who armed themselves with sticks, stones and bottles and went on a rampage, indiscriminately attacking people in the area. No arrests were made after the attacks….

Every time the MDC organizes a rally now, state security agents are (reportedly) taking over the venue and distributing maize. Known MDC activists are forbidden from getting near these distribution points.

Identified perpetrators: Zanu PF Councillor Mbandure, Ward 1

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news101007/chipinge101007.htm

SADC standards breached

MDC activist hospitalised in Chipinge after torture
Source Date: 12-10-2007

A magistrate in Chipinge on Thursday ordered Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activist Charles Nyathi to be rushed to hospital for treatment after he was badly tortured in police cells. Nyathi is the information secretary for Chipinge.

The 27 year-old self-employed Nyathi, who has a wife and small daughter, was arrested on Monday by the police in Chipinge following political disturbances that saw at least 10 MDC supporters sustaining injuries in violence ignited by Zanu PF councillors.

Nyathi who had visible cuts and abrasions when he appeared in court to answer charges of public violence was later released on Z$500 000 bail. He had some of his front teeth knocked out and is also suspected to have suffered a broken jaw.

Identified victims: Charles Nyathi, MDC information secretary for Chipinge

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news121007/chipingeMDC121007.htm

SADC standards breached

Zimbabwe rights groups concerned about abuses ahead of the elections
Source Date: 08-10-2007

… (According to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum’s latest report), the country's political environment is "largely defined by torture, intimidation and politically motivated violence" against rights defenders.

The report highlighted other violations including abduction or kidnapping, assaults, restriction of freedom of expression or movement, political discrimination, victimisation, unlawful arrests and detention.

The Forum said that in August, about 30 members of the Zimbabwe National Army circulated in the Harare high-density suburb of Dzivarasekwa beating up women and children who were selling various wares.

In an unrelated incident on August 8, more than 70 uniformed soldiers "ran amok in Esigodini in Matabeleland South, where they assaulted villagers (and) looted the village headman's shop" in what was seen as retaliation for a scuffle involving army officers and local villagers….

The Zimbabwe Peace Project report … (also listed) cases of murder, assault and political intolerance. (In addition, it noted that) agricultural "inputs and food continue to be distributed along partisan lines" excluding those known to oppose the ruling Zanu PF party.

The report also alleged that officials from the Office of the Registrar General carrying out a mobile voter registration exercise that ended in mid-August seemed to be under the control of politicians" as they failed to professionally manage the process."

Zimbabwe Peace Project National Director Jestina Mukoko told … VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the rights abuse trend suggests trouble ahead as the country prepares for national elections in March 2008.

Source: VOANews (USA)
Link to source: http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2007-10-08-voa36.cfm

SADC standards breached

New Murambatsvina wave hits KweKwe
Source Date: 18-09-2007

Thirty eight families from Amaveni in KweKwe were last week left homeless after council officials from the town, accompanied by heavily armed police officers, used sledgehammers to knock down their homes.

The latest crackdown against 'illegal' housing by the Zanu PF led council in the town has met with harsh condemnation from the local MDC MP Blessing Chebundo, who described it as 'heartless' and politically motivated.

The demolitions were carried out last week Tuesday on a plot in Chiwundura B where most of those affected had lived for more than 40 years….

"This is political retribution against MDC supporters. The same people were targeted in 2003 for voting MDC in 2002. In 2005 some homes in the plot were demolished and now they have come back to ensure no one will be around to vote in 2008," Chebundo said….

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news181007/kwekwe181007.htm

SADC standards breached

CIO document outlines Zanu rigging strategy
Source Date: 11-10-2007

As the nation’s focus is fixed upon the talks between Zanu PF and the opposition, plans by the ruling party are already underway to unleash its violent election rigging machinery into the countryside, intelligence information at hand reveals.

The Zimbabwean has gathered information exposing a plan by the Zanu PF machinery, spearheaded by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) that also includes the other security arms – the police and army – as well as youth militia.

The CIO is planning “to ensure the party keeps its popularity in the rural constituencies and that the opposition finds it difficult to penetrate them.”

The CIO is preparing a dossier outlining the election campaign strategy, reported by our sources to be inclusive of lists of journalists as well as opposition and civil society leaders that are under surveillance.

“Campaigning in the rural constituencies must be based on distributing farming equipment, seeds and fertilizers,” the information states.

“There is progress by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and the relevant ministries on making these available. Army and police have to be involved in the distribution as a way of creating a picture of authority in the eyes of the electorate.

“Youths trained by government are already mobilised and ready for deployment into the constituencies where their roles are clearly defined as that (sic) of ensuring the opposition does not get access to the electorate and identifying trouble causers.”

This paper has exposed a plan by the ruling party to campaign using scotch carts and ox-drawn ploughs, produced at a cost of over Z$3 trillion provided by the RBZ.

…The Zanu PF government is (also reported to be) hoarding grain and other basic commodities for next year’s combined parliamentary and presidential elections.

Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to source: www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

SADC standards breached

Military base strikes terror among villagers
Source Date: 22-10-2007

For motorists cruising along the Gutu-Chivhu highway, a "No Through Road" sign near the 43 km peg is just like any other road sign that signals the end of the road in the once thriving ranching area….

Less that two kilometres from the sign, along the well-maintained gravel road, lies a small Air Force of Zimbabwe base where about 15 soldiers guard a radar installation mounted there in the late 1990s….

(This) base is dreaded by the villagers who see it as a "torture chamber'….

Two weeks ago, the deputy in command at the base only identified as "Ranga" committed suicide in his house…

Police say he left a note that revealed he took his life in shame after he instructed junior soldiers to beat up farm workers accused of stealing equipment from a farm, Irvin, owned by Finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi. One of the victims, Fibion Mafukidze (58), died after the beatings….

Another victim, Maxwell Mazambani, (who was the MDC candidate for Ward 5 in Gutu North in last year's council elections), was abducted from his home by the same soldiers, and was lucky to survive the beatings….

(However, he) is fighting for his life at the Avenues Clinic (in Harare) where he is on a dialysis machine. Doctors say his kidneys are badly damaged…

(His) sister says he was punished for his involvement in opposition MDC politics…

Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.thezimbabwestandard.com/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=7629&siteID=1

SADC standards breached

Govt equips thousands of farmers
Source Date: 11-10-2007

…Under (President Mugabe’s) “mechanism programme”, launched on Monday, small-scale farmers received 50 000 animal-drawn ploughs, 70 000 animal-drawn harrows, 70 000 knap-sack sprayers, 45 000 scotch carts, 20 000 animal drawn cultivators and 1 000 animal-drawn planters.

Farmers under the commercial A2 farm model will share a total of 1 200 tractors, 50 combine harvesters, 800 ploughs, 800 disc harrows, 300 planters, 200 boom sprayers, 200 fertilizer spreaders and 200 hay balers….

Note: Commentators point out that similar vote buying strategies have been used in the past. During the 2005 elections, Zanu PF used maize and fertilizers to buy votes in the rural areas.

Source: Financial Gazette, The (ZW)
Link to source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200710110700.html

SADC standards breached

Mugabe using war vets to scare off internal opposition
Source Date: 22-10-2007

The ongoing pro Mugabe marches by war veterans are scare tactics aimed at warding off opposition from the ageing despot's closest critics, a former fighter of the liberation struggle has said.

Many observers also accuse Mugabe of assembling youths and supporters of the ruling party, who never fought in the 1970s liberation struggle, to masquerade as war veterans.

On Monday a leading member of the independent Zimbabwe Liberation Platform, Muchapera Muhondo, said Mugabe is using the violent reputation of war veterans to strike fear into potential rivals, ahead of the ruling party's special congress in December.

He added that Mugabe will use "both the stick and the carrot" to get the much needed votes from Zanu PF's provincial governors to secure the ticket to stand for yet another term in office…

…Muhondo dismissed Jabulani Sibanda, chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association as a pawn on Mugabe's chessboard.

He said: "… Mugabe is using these war vets to scare off some challenge already, and then he will also buy out some with perks and favours. He is not going anywhere that easily." …

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source: http://www.swradioafrica.com/news221007/warvets221007.htm

SADC standards breached

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We can't exclude Mugabe just for being a dictator: EU official

EUbusiness

24 October 2007, 20:42 CET
(STRASBOURG) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe cannot be excluded from
the upcoming EU-Africa summit just because he is a dictator, or others must
be barred too, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said Wednesday.

"If we were to judge each of the dictators or personalities whom we consider
unsuitable we wouldn't just have problems with Mugabe, there would be
others," Michel told the European parliament in Strasbourg,

The possibility that Mugabe could attend the EU summit in Lisbon in December
has been a focus of Brussels' attention for weeks, not least because he is
formally banned from entering the European Union due to human rights
violations.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already warned his EU partners that
if Mugabe attend the summit then neither he nor any of his cabinet ministers
will be there.

The same issue resulted in the EU-Africa summit being cancelled in 2003.

"I have heard the incantatory calls to denounce Mugabe, I can also say that
that changes nothing," said Michel.

"We don't... have the right to say to our African friends 'you can invite
anyone you like except him'," he added.

The EU commissioner stressed that South Africa was "making considerable
efforts" to solve the problem in everyone's interests.

Michel said the summit should be used as an opportunity to put the question
of human rights in Zimbabwe on the table.

Earlier this month the EU's Portuguese presidency said that the summit
invitations would not be sent out until after an EU-Africa ministerial
meeting in Accra on October 30.

While Europe is increasingly in competition with China over African ties,
trade, investment and influence there has so far been just one EU-Africa
summit, in Cairo in 2000.

WOZA Protest Water Hikes in Mutare Today

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Bulawayo)

PRESS RELEASE
24 October 2007
Posted to the web 24 October 2007

HUNDREDS of members of WOZA and MOZA marched peacefully through the streets
of Mutare today to protest against the huge increases in water tariffs that
have recently been introduced by the Zimbabwe Water Authority (ZINWA). There
have been no reports of arrests so far.

Nearly 300 women and men marched for several blocks through the eastern city
to the civic centre demanding access to affordable water and a more reliable
service. Several bystanders rushed to join in the procession, some
abandoning their selling, agreeing with the demands. The protestors also
called for an end to violence against human rights defenders.

As they processed the group sang, "mvura yadhura ndomudana mwari yangu"
(water is expensive, oh my god) and handed out flyers calling for an end to
violence against women.

Police arrived at the civic centre after the group had dispersed. No arrests
have been reported so far but known intelligence officers were seen
monitoring events. After the last demonstration in Mutare in August, several
members had their homes visited by police and illegally searched. It is
expected that similar harassment of activists will occur in the coming
weeks.

This is the fourth WOZA demonstration in Mutare and the third peaceful
street action this month (the other two being in Bulawayo and Harare) to
call for an end to violence against human rights defenders in Zimbabwe. WOZA
has recently released a report documenting incidences of political violence
against its members, the full copy of which can be found at our website,
www.wozazimbabwe.org.

Hunger keeps children from school

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 16:05

No grain since July in Umguza district
UMGUZA - Children are staying away from school as hunger takes its
toll in rural Matabaleland North Province.
Villagers are going for weeks without their staple maize meal and
blame the lack of food on the state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB). In the
Buda resettlement area in Umguza district, people complain they last
received maize from the GMB in July.
"It was not even enough for all of us as some were left out. The GMB
has totally failed to supply us with grain, while local shops are also
always empty. As a result, we have had to rely on wild fruits and hand-outs
from relatives, who buy grain or mealie-meal in town," said villager Sihle
Nkomo.
However, the villagers said they were risking their lives in accepting
the staple food from their relatives in the cities, as they were sometimes
accused by war veterans of getting the food from the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).
"If they learn that that is how you are surviving, the war veterans
storm your home and take away everything and there is nothing you can do
about it, as they are literally ruling this place. If they see you carrying
either maize grain or maize meal, they also confiscate it for their own
consumption," said another villager.
"Very few children are still going to school due to this situation and
that has really affected their future. Most of those are secondary school
pupils, who should stay at school, about 35 km away from their homes, yet
they will be having no food whilst there. Others have even given themselves
away in marriages to better resourced families to escape this hunger," said
a local headman, who requested not to be named.
Some of the villagers said they were not getting food from
humanitarian organisations, as staff at these non-governmental organisations
were being harassed by the war veterans and some traditional leaders.
Industry and international Trade Minister Obert Mpofu, who is also MP
for the area, confirmed the hunger, but said government was trying to get
food assistance to the villagers to improve the situation.
"We know that some areas in the district have been affected by hunger
due to very low rainfall in the past agricultural season and we are doing a
lot in trying to help the villagers. We are currently speaking to some NGOs
so that they will move in with assistance to those affected by this hunger,"
said Mpofu.
President Robert Mugabe's government has also accused NGOs of trying
to effect illegal regime change in Zimbabwe, alongside the MDC, Britain and
America. - Bayethe Zitha

Theft of land continues to masquerade as 'land reform'

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 15:42

BY CHIEF REPORTER
'Mugabe forgot about the 1.2 million blacks living on white-owned
farms when he launched his land grab in 2002'
MASVINGO - A highly productive dairy farm producing yoghurt and sour
milk, Lacto, has fallen victim to President Robert Mugabe's land grab, with
the white farmer kicked out and the farm given to the daughter of Masvingo
provincial governor Willard Chiwewe.
The Alfords, who owned the farm for generations, were evicted last
week from their home by Chiwewe's daughter, who was accompanied by a
brigadier in the Zimbabwean army. Chiwewe owns five farms in Masvingo.
The Alfords left the 40-hectare property in Chiredzi, about 460 km
south east of Harare, last week Friday. They were mulling returning to
Britain with a heavy heart this week.
The farm used to produce 1,000 litres of milk monthly and a crop of
oranges, vegetable seed and high quality sugar cane. The tractors on the
property have been seized along with ploughs, planters and tools that were
stacked into the store room by Chiwewe's daughter.
"We made a big mistake," said Nicky Phiri, 48, who has worked on the
farm for many years with his nine children and two wives. The mistake is the
"package" which thousands of retrenched farm workers demanded from their
former employers.
Mugabe forgot about the 1.2 million blacks living on white-owned farms
when he launched his land grab in 2002. They are losing their jobs and homes
under the renewed land seizures, which saw 11 farmers subpoenaed to court a
fortnight ago for resisting eviction.
In panic, the government has passed laws compelling dispossessed
farmers to pay terminal benefits to their workers. In a country where
unemployment exceeds 80 per cent, the former farm labourers know that they
will never work again. At the grabbed farms, workers once enjoyed free
housing, schools, food and medical care. They are now out in the cold.
Mugabe claims that drought has put 6.7 million people, more than half
the population, at risk of starvation. Yet rains were normal in Mashonaland
West, Zimbabwe's most fertile province, which has fed the nation for 60
years.
Further north from Chiredzi lies the heartland of sugar production. In
Hippo Valley and Triangle, where "settler farmers" used to produce high
quality sugar cane for milling, mile after mile of empty land now stretches
from horizon to horizon after the grab of productive farms. There are
abandoned farmyards every few miles along the dusty Chiredzi/Triangle Road.
The sugar cane planting season should be on right now. Instead of a
green landscape of young sugar cane there is nothing but bare earth or dry
stalks from past seasons.
John Worswick of Justice for Agriculture said the ongoing evictions
were defective because the new owners were using offer letters issued by the
Ministry of Agriculture, which lacks the locus standi to issue such letters.
Worswick said the "new farmers" settling on formerly white-owned land
will barely succeed in growing enough for their families. There will be
nothing left over to feed the nation, he said.
After years of vilification from Mugabe, the British Government is
helping to pick up the pieces. A fortnight ago Britain donated £8 million to
feed starving masses in Zimbabwe.

The British role in land reform

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 15:29

PETER FREEMAN, the first British development agency representative to
Zimbabwe in 1980, gives an insider's view into the workings of the early
stages of the British-funded land reform programme.
THE BRITISH ROLE IN LAND REFORM
AN INSIDER'S STORY
For over a century, in colonial Rhodesia and post-colonial Zimbabwe,
the right to own and occupy land has driven political struggle and dominated
the economy.

For over 20 years, working for successive British governments, it was
part of my life too. As millions of people now go hungry and agricultural
production plummets what happened to frustrate the hopes we had at
independence and to bring about our worst fears? This is what I saw.
In the early 1980's I was the British government's representative on
the committee in Harare that approved resettlement projects that both
governments financed. The cost of land purchase and of the necessary
infrastructure - water, roads, power, clinics and schools - was shared
equally between the two governments. Each scheme was identified and
developed by Zimbabwean officials and the land price was negotiated with the
commercial farmer. They were appraised for economic viability by British
advisers and we visited most of them. Other donors, including the EU and the
African Development Bank, helped to finance infrastructure (though not land
purchase) in other schemes. Independent evaluations showed subsequently that
the great majority of them worked well, enabling thousands of small-scale
farmers and their families to make a productive living. Over 2 million
hectares changed hands in this way.
This programme stemmed from the much-criticised compromises made at
Lancaster House in 1979. ZANU(PF) and ZAPU argued that buying out the white
farmers was something for Britain alone to do, and many farmers would
certainly have welcomed being paid in sterling with a British government
guarantee rather than in Zimbabwean dollars. For a government in London that
was cutting back heavily on public spending at home such largesse to people
who had supported a rebel government, who were often not British citizens
and mostly had no wish to live here, was never a starter. Watching the
negotiations in 1979 from the Zimbabwe desk in the British aid ministry I
remember being surprised at how easily Mugabe and Nkomo settled for pledges
of future assistance for land reform, not even insisting on a figure for the
amount of money.
More fundamental realities also favoured land reform in 1980. The
Muzorewa regime had bought substantial tracts of farmland at cheap rates in
areas where war (the cost of security) during the independence struggle hit
commercial profits, and immediately after independence there were few
alternative purchasers in the market. The planning bureaucracy in the
Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and other government
departments, and the availability of people and machinery to implement the
plans, was also comparatively strong.
However from the start there was a serious problem. President Mugabe
showed no interest, then or later, in solving the complex and sensitive
political issue of land ownership via this negotiated route. In 1981 a
target of 180,000 settler families in three years suddenly appeared, many
times higher than the capacity of the programme that British and Zimbabwean
Ministers had signed up to. To do it would probably have produced the same
dreadful results that we have seen 25 years later. But the announcement had
a political impact. The initial enthusiasm for the joint programme of Mr
Movern Mahachi and Dr Sydney Sekeremayi, the first of many Ministers
responsible for land reform, cooled as they failed to get support from State
House. During the years that followed the flow of new proposals slowed down
and the Zimbabwean capacity to implement them was dismantled.
When we reviewed the programme in 1989 we found that the British aid
funds that had been pledged after independence, which Zimbabwe ministers had
criticised as hopelessly inadequate, had not been fully claimed. The
Ministries of Land and of Finance had not asked for aid money due for work
on approved projects and new proposals were not coming forward. Lynda
Chalker, then Minister for Overseas Development, wrote to Zimbabwean
ministers reminding them of the debts that Britain owed and promising new
money when the post-independence pledges had been used. There was no
response.
This depressing lack of activity continued into the 1990's while the
political pressure built up. Amendments to the constitutional provisions for
land purchase changed nothing on the ground. The practical proposals of the
commission on land tenure, which might over time have revolutionised farming
practices throughout rural Zimbabwe and given renewed impetus for land
reform on a sustainable basis, were brushed aside. And the British side,
finding little pressure from Harare, buried its head and hoped the issue had
gone away.
Shortly after I became responsible for British aid to Africa in June
1996 the Ministers for Land and for Local Government, Kumbirai Kangai and
John Nkomo, arrived unexpectedly in London. They told Lynda Chalker they had
come to reopen the Lancaster House settlement on land. Mugabe had, as usual,
fought the recent election with grandiose promises of land transfer to be
financed by Britain. They wanted the money, would stay as long as it took,
and would be reporting back each evening to their President at his London
hotel.
Three days of discussion followed, during which they were embarrassed
to be given copies of the 1989 letter and surprised to discover that the UK
Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind had researched the colonial Land
Apportionment Acts while at law school in Salisbury in the 1960's. He knew
more than them about the historic wrongs that needed to be put right through
land reform. A memorandum signed by both sides promised a fresh pledge of
British aid for a renewed joint programme. It offered technical help to
develop it. Back in Harare, once again, nothing happened.
The following year Mugabe tried again. He hoped the arrival of a
Labour government would enable him to tear up the compromises he had made,
but never acknowledged, eighteen years before. He wrote to Tony Blair asking
for a fresh start based on the British government accepting full
responsibility for buying out the white farmers and handing the land to his
government to distribute as he thought fit, the position he had consistently
taken. He claimed, wrongly, that a previous Labour government had offered
such a deal twenty years earlier when David Owen and Andrew Young had
proposed a "Zimbabwe Development Fund".
Clare Short wrote a letter in reply that became famous when Mugabe
read an extract to his party congress. The reference to her Irish background
that he held up for scorn was intended to acknowledge that Zimbabwe is not
the only place where land expropriation by the colonial power had had a
negative impact on local people. Her encouragement to look forward, to work
together to design a land reform programme that would meet Zimbabwe's needs
in the 21st century rather than to focus wholly on the past, was either
beyond his understanding or did not suit his political aims.
The part of her letter he did not read out offered a fresh start,
though not the free hand and unlimited budget that he wanted. She offered
financial and technical assistance for an organised, Zimbabwe-led, programme
of land purchase and resettlement in partnership with other donors and
within the context of a British development effort now being focussed
world-wide on eliminating poverty. This was not what Mugabe wanted his
people to hear.
Further efforts by Britain, the UN and the World Bank over the next
two years to negotiate a sustainable rural development programme that would
meet justifiable political expectations were brushed aside. In September
1999 the Bank Board in Washington approved a US$5 million credit that had
been negotiated with Zimbabwean Ministers. It was meant to jump-start the
planning process and to start up a land acquisition fund for groups of
communal area farmers to draw on. I don't know whether anyone in Harare had
dared to tell Mugabe before the announcement. As ever he refused to endorse
it and it was never implemented. Turning his back on the outside world he
acted alone with the tragic results that The Zimbabwean continues to report.
So where did it all go wrong? 25 years ago many of us recognised that
the pace of change, beneficial though it was, could not meet the political
demands in Harare. But over many years attempts by politicians and civil
servants in Harare to reduce the bottlenecks in planning and implementation,
to allocate government funds for sustainable resettlement and to negotiate
foreign aid to support them, gained little or no support in ZANU(PF), in the
Cabinet or in State House
Did Mugabe and his circle all along want to allocate land as a means
of patronage, not as a route to development? Did they see land as simply a
symbolic issue and simply fail to understand its economic importance? Could
a more active British policy in the early 1990's have produced a response in
Harare that might have got a programme going again before frustrations
boiled over? Could the commercial farmers, rather than hoping to stay
forever, have acknowledged their fate and negotiated a phased handover to
productive successors?
These questions and others are unfortunately academic. The gap between
what Britain and other donors were prepared to offer and what Mugabe
demanded proved unbridgeable. Rather than compromise he has produced a
famine.

New documentary on Zimbabwe launched in London

zimbabwejournalists.com

24th Oct 2007 09:24 GMT

By a Correspondent

LONDON - A documentary on Zimbabwe, A Bit Of Truth - Denied, which has some
interviews with leading figures from both the government and opposition, was
launched Monday night at the London School of Economics.

'Denied - this bit of truth', is a new documentary by LSE alumnus Shrenik
Rao who gained access to Zimbabwe's two deputy presidents Joice Mujuru and
Joseph Msika, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Archbishop Pius Ncube and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's Arthur Mutambara.

Rao said he failed to get an interview with MDC founding president Morgan
Tsvangirai despite countless attempts to do so.

In the documentary the Mujuru and Msika talk about Zimbabwe's land grab
policy which they say they never wanted to embark on but had no choice
following Britain's refusal to honour the Lancaster House Agreement that saw
Zimbabwe becoming independent in 1980.

Mujuru said the chaotic reforms were the reason Zimbabwe was suffering
today, especially as the British government went out of its way to punish
Harare for a programme she says was not authored by her government but by
the landless peasants who were tired of waiting for land.

She said Zimbabweans were now suffering because the British government has
been leading efforts to punish its leaders for embarking on land reforms
that have dispossed thousands of white commercial farmers. Mujuru says the
British are the ones who want to protect their "kith and kin" hence
continued efforts to ostracize her government.

The Zanu PF leaders also blame the targeted sanctions for worsening the
plight of the ordinary Zimbabwean while Gono said he was partly to blame for
the crisis since he prioritised making payments to the IMF and the World
Bank at the expense of buying either food or fuel that could have served the
country for up to nine months.

Ncube talked about the Matebeleland Massacres, the suffering of the people
of Zimbabwe at the hands of the Zanu PF government, adding he was willing to
lead the people in a programme to defy and remove the Zanu PF government
from power.

He said the current sitution in the country cannot continue.

Mutambara acknowledges the land imbalances that existed in Zimbabwe before
2000. He, however, says the way the Zanu PF government went about wantonly
destroying farming in their desire to give farms to President Robert Mugabe's
cronies was unacceptable.

Mutambara said the suffering of the populace today should fall squarely on
Mugabe's hands raising the need for the opposition to unite and "remove the
dictatorship from office".

He said the patronage system in Zimbabwe had to come to an end. Tsvangirai
appears in the documentary addressing a Save Zimbabwe Campaign meeting with
Mutambara, the National Constitutional Assembly's Lovemore Madhuku and other
political activists.

The documentary presents juxtaposing "truths" - igniting a debate about the
most burning issues haunting present day Zimbabwe.

The screening of the documentary was followed by a panel discussion on media
and human rights in Zimbabwe with former Daily News Political Editor Sandra
Nyaira and George Shire, who has been linked with Zanu PF but denies this
saying his roots are anchored in the liberation struggle that brought
independence to Zimbabwe, and Brilliant Mhlanga, a top Zimbabwean activist
currently studying at the Westminster University.

In this guest blog, Shrenik Rao sets the scene for the documentary:

"Once upon a time, in Africa, in a land called Rhodesia, there was a man. He
was a humble teacher. He seemed to be full of ideas and ideals. He seemed to
have dedicated to his life for a cause - a cause larger than his own - that
of liberation, freedom and Independence from an oppressive regime which
denied them their denied them their basic dignity, freedom and rights. And
so, he was respected and revered by one and many as an able, honest leader
who would liberate them from oppression, and restore their dignity and
rights. The man was none other than Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Twenty-seven years after independence, we hear a similar story. But, this
time, the stories of oppression and humiliation are about the same
person -Robert Mugabe. Perceptions had changed considerably. Robert Gabriel
Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, was once the darling of the world is now
being considered a despot. A man who was once called a 'Liberator' is now
being called a 'Dictator'. A man who is the 'President' of a country is
being called a 'Tyrant'. He who claims to be the 'sovereign' is being
called a 'surrogate' and has emerged to be one of the most controversial
African leaders in the world.

The enigmatic French philosopher Michel Foucault once famously articulated
that 'Power produces resistance to itself'. In Robert Mugabe's case, has
Power produced resistance to itself? I wondered.

As a filmmaker and an academic who spent time researching and teaching about
'Information and Politics', I was intrigued by the way in which power
manifests itself. From what I had read and from what I had heard from the
people I met - both good and bad, Zimbabwe seemed to me to be the right
place to test Michel Foucault's hypothesis. And so, I embarked on this long
journey of seeking to know the real story.

This story has been said many a times earlier. But still, I wanted to say it
again. And do I said it again - not like the way I saw it, but rather, the
way I heard it from many who were apparently the ones who were at the helm
of affairs. And so, this is a story, which attempts to present the
multifaceted truth as it 'Denied' itself in its journey through time,
especially in the realm of power and politics.

Don't ask me what motivated me or what inspired me. That is a question,
which haunts me with a menacing consistency and so, it is perhaps something
that I cannot answer with coherent eloquence. And also what motivated me is
of far less importance than what sustained my motivation. May be I draw my
inspiration from the life and from people who carry on with life despite all
odds. May be it's the fascination with the way power manifested itself. May
be it was just one of destiny's decisions. May be! May be?

But here it is 'DENIED-This Bit of Truth', as it has denied itself in the
realm of power and politics."

Masvingo Student Leader Finally Released, 3 More Still Detained

SW Radio Africa (London)

24 October 2007
Posted to the web 24 October 2007

Tererai Karimakwenda

The secretary general of the Great Zimbabwe University Students Executive
Council (SEC), Edison Hlatshwayo, was finally released on bail by police in
Masvingo on Wednesday. The student leader has been in remand prison since
September 27 facing charges of malicious injury to property and it was
feared his health was failing due to poor conditions in prison and severe
assaults by police.

The prosecution insist that Hlatshwayo damaged a telephone booth during
disturbances at the university earlier in September, and have opposed bail
on numerous occasions claiming he would abscond. But fellow students and
others believe the lengthy sentence is unjustified and that the Zimbabwean
authorities are 'making an example of him' in order to deter other students
from engaging in political activity.

His lawyer Dumisani Hwacha spoke to Gugulethu Moyo about the case on the
programme 'In the Balance' on Wednesday. Hwacha said the student leader had
previously been granted Z$5 million bail by the magistrate, and ordered to
leave his passport with the court. But the prosecution opposed bail and said
they would appeal to a higher court, effectively undermining the authority
of the magistrate. Suddenly on Wednesday the prosecution decided not to
contest the magistrate's bail decision, and Hlatshwayo was subsequently
released Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile 3 other students from Great Zimbabwe University remain in custody
in Masvingo, facing contempt of court charges over demonstrations that took
place in court last week. They are

George Makamure, Brenda Mupfurutsa and Ogylive Makova. The 3 appeared in
court Saturday and were remanded in custody. Their bail hearing was
scheduled for Tuesday then postponed to Thursday, October 25.

Chief Bans MDC Rally in Rukweza, Manicaland

SW Radio Africa (London)

24 October 2007
Posted to the web 24 October 2007

Tichaona Sibanda

A chief with strong Zanu-PF links has banned the MDC from holding a rally at
Rukweza business centre in Makoni East, Manicaland province on Friday.

The MDC has however said it would defy Chief John Rukweza's ban and go ahead
with its planned rally because he does not have the powers to ban or stop a
political rally.

Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC spokesman for Manicaland province said the many
MDC posters have reportedly annoyed Chief Rukweza and fliers posted in his
area and has vowed to stop all campaign activities by the opposition party.

Chief Rukweza ordered Loveness Makaure, the local MDC chairperson for Makoni
East to appear before his court, but Makaure has defied the chief's order
and has instead gone underground to continue campaigning.

'The chief attempted to read the riot act to Makaure but she refused to
attend his kangaroo court. He has sent his messengers to tell the MDC that
all campaign activities have been banned starting with Friday's rally,'
Muchauraya said.

This is not the first time that a chief has tried to ban a rally in
Manicaland. On several past occasions, the MDC's secretary for Legal and
Parliamentary affairs, Innocent Gonese has had to issue statements to his
party structures to ignore such orders from traditional chiefs.

'This is why we say Mugabe rigs the elections, because he uses chiefs to
force their subjects to vote Zanu-PF. All chiefs in Zimbabwe are now paid
handsomely and move around with top of the range 4x4's. It's all part of the
game by Zanu-PF,' Muchauraya said.

Millers claim grain board blacklisted them

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 16:06

BULAWAYO - Grain millers in Bulawayo have accused the state-run Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) of bias towards millers with links to the ruling Zanu
(PF) party.
Millers who spoke to The Zimbabwean in Bulawayo complained they had been
blacklisted from receiving the staple maize grain from the GMB, which has a
monopoly on food distribution, because management suspected them of being
members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"Some of us have gone for more than two months without getting maize from
the GMB and our businesses have literally collapsed. We understand that
there is very little maize in the country, but how do you explain a
situation whereby some millers who produce party cards get open favours and
receive deliveries every week?" said one miller, who requested not to be
named.
Some millers accused the GMB management in the city of passing false
information about them to the grain taskforce, which in turn led to them
being banned from receiving grain, ostensibly because they were
profiteering.
"All this was a lie against us because we are perceived to be MDC
supporters. The government, with these politically-aligned policies, is
worsening the food crisis in the city because those who get grain only
supply markets they are told to. Most of those who refused to supply such
markets and also refused to toe political lines were also banned from
receiving and milling grain," said another miller, based at Tshabalala.
Eddie Cross, a senior member of the bigger faction of the MDC (Tsvangirai)
said he had been also barred from buying anything from the food distributor.
"I am also not allowed by the GMB management from buying anything there. I
have to use other people to buy on my behalf and that is only because I am a
well-known MDC party member," said Cross.
However, the GMB's acting Chief Executive Officer Samuel Muvuti denied the
reports.
"That is really untrue. We serve people who deserve to be served with maize
and any other commodity that we have. Those millers who were banned are in
that position because they did things in the wrong way and they are now
looking for excuses," he said. - Bayethe Zitha

Mugabe's neighbours evicted

The Zimbabwean

HARARE - Fifteen neighbours of Robert Mugabe have been told to leave their
homes, despite filing a legal challenge with the Supreme Court.
The challenge, mounted last year by 15 Borrowdale residents against eviction
orders, has been gathering dust in the Supreme Court, more than a year after
filing it through Harare law firm, Atherstone and Cook.
Getting rid of the residents would allow Mugabe to create a security cordon
around his retirement home.
Sources told The Zimbabwean that the residents were seeking to prove that
the eviction was irregular as the properties were urban rather than
agricultural land.
Among Mugabe's neighbours who face eviction are pensioners, widows and older
couples.
Although government claimed it was going to compensate the evicted families,
estate agents said the homes had been seriously undervalued. - Chief
Reporter

Zim runs out of toilet paper

News24

24/10/2007 11:27 - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabweans could soon become a nation of newspaper collectors. Not
that Zimbos love reading newspapers or have a sentimental thing for news.

A newspaper has many other uses especially in the toilet. This is because
Zimbabwean shops have run out toilet paper.

A survey in city shops revealed that tissues are in short supply in most
retail outlets while many Zimbabweans have resorted to importing the
sanitary paper from as far as South Africa and other countries for personal
use and resale.

A listed group which manufacturers tissues and toiletry is said to be
failing to lift production to initial levels after President Robert Mugabe's
price controls ruined the company's raw material base.

Mugabe ordered prices of goods be slashed by 50% in June accusing businesses
of attempting to remove him from power through a wave of "unjustified" price
increases.

This comes a few months after the Zimbabwe All Media Products Survey (Zamps)
revealed in April this year that Zimbabweans are foregoing personal care
products, such as soap and toothpaste, as they focus on paying for basic
foodstuffs.

The use of previously standard personal care products such as toilet soap,
deodorants, lotions and dental products declined steeply , according to the
survey.

Deodorant usage declined to 19% in the last quarter of 2006 from 37% in the
third quarter of the same year, while the use of soap plummeted to 29% from
56%.

Only the use of petroleum jellies increased from 76% to 77%.

The survey also revealed that usage of toilet paper dropped from 62% to 29%
in the same quarter as more people resorted to using newspapers and used
exercise books, the survey noted.

Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis in history charecterised by
high inflation now close to 8 000%.

Critics blame Mugabe for running down the country's once thriving economy
through a a series of disastrous economic policies.

- Fin24

Airzim Seeks Nod to Charge Fares in Forex

The Herald (Harare) Published by the government of Zimbabwe

24 October 2007
Posted to the web 24 October 2007

Harare

AIR Zimbabwe is seeking approval to charge fares for regional and
international routes in foreign currency.

The national airline has since submitted proposals to Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono and other relevant authorities on the
matter, Parliament heard on Monday. Air Zimbabwe is facing an acute shortage
of foreign currency to buy spare parts and service external debts running up
to US$20 million.

The proposal has sparked debate in Harare with some sections of society
shooting down the proposal as unfair while business leaders are fully behind
the idea. Those opposed to the proposal say it would be unfair to travellers
without access to foreign currency because it means they would not be able
to fly with the national airline.

Giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Transport and Communications, Air Zimbabwe Board chairman Mr Mike Bimha said
the move, if approved, would help address problems facing the airline.

"We cannot continue to ask the RBZ to give us foreign currency. Most
passengers travelling to Dubai have foreign currency yet they pay in local
currency," said Mr Bimha. He said South African Airways and British Airways
quote fares in foreign currency while Air Zimbabwe continues to charge fares
in local currency on the same routes. Mr Bimha said an arrangement could be
made for vulnerable groups to pay in local currency. In a bid to generate
foreign currency, Air Zimbabwe is negotiating with a number of other
airlines to enter into strategic alliances.

These include Zambian Airlines, Malawian Airlines and Ethiopian Airways. Air
Zimbabwe group chief executive Dr Peter Chikumba said a number of meetings
have been held with Dr Gono over the proposal to charge fares in foreign
currency. "We have had meetings with Dr Gono. He does sympathise with us.
What we are telling you has been reported elsewhere," Dr Chikumba said.

In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president
Mrs Marah Hativagone supported the proposal, saying it was good for the
airline and the nation as a whole. "It is long overdue. We have been talking
about this issue for a long time now. They buy fuel and spare parts in
foreign currency and they should be allowed to charge fares in foreign
currency for them to be viable. As it stands now, Air Zimbabwe is just
subsidising us," she said.

Mrs Hativagone dismissed assertions from some sections that Zimbabweans do
not have foreign currency. "Right now foreign currency is awash in Zimbabwe
but it is being suppressed. We pay in foreign currency when using other
airlines, but we are starving our own airline. If people can pay other
airlines in foreign currency, why can't they pay Air Zimbabwe?" she added.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Callisto Jokonya concurred
with Mrs Hativagone while Delta general manager (corporate affairs) Mr
George Mutendadzamera described the proposal as unfair. "I do not have an
objection to that proposal as long as it will enable them to be viable.
Anybody in Zimbabwe must be allowed to charge in foreign currency. We import
raw materials in foreign currency and that is the best that can be done. Why
should Air Zimbabwe be stopped?" Mr Jokonya said.

Mr Mutendadzamera argued that Zimbabweans did not have foreign currency to
pay Air Zimbabwe when travelling abroad. "We have never used other airlines
except Air Zimbabwe because we do not have foreign currency to pay those
other airlines. We do not generate foreign currency. Asking Zimbabweans to
pay for anything in foreign currency is not fair. Where is one going to get
that foreign currency? There is no foreign currency in the bank and in
suggesting that one is asking people to go to the black market. As citizens
of this country we should pay in local currency," Mr Mutendadzamera said.

Dr Chikumba told the committee that Air Zimbabwe has accelerated discussions
with other airlines following an announcement by British Airways to stop
flying into Zimbabwe. He said Air Zimbabwe has communicated with seven
airlines, including Ethiopian Airways and Kenyan Airways, aimed at signing
strategic alliances.

Locally, Air Zimbabwe has opened discussions with the ZABG and the CBZ Bank
centred on how the two banks could assist with funding. Dr Chikumba cited
the unavailability of Jet A1 fuel, shortage of foreign currency, and
inadequate funding among the problems dogging the airline. "On the
availability and cost of Jet A1 fuel, Noczim has failed. We are now relying
on Direct Fuel Imports," said Dr Chikumba.

He recommended increased funding from Government and the need for viable
fares and proposed talks for strategic alliances to be at Government level.
Chitungwiza Senator Cde Forbes Magadu (Zanu-PF) supported the Air Zimbabwe
proposal to charge fares in foreign currency, but stressed the need for the
airline to enter into strategic deals with reputable airlines. "On the
foreign currency issue, I support what you are saying. You need to put
pressure on the Minister (of Transport and Communications), engage the
Ministry of Finance, meet Dr Gono," said Senator Magadu.

Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe has cleared the air on the fate of former acting
chief executive officer and long-serving pilot Captain Oscar Madombwe with
Mr Bimha saying he is on leave.

"Captain Madombwe is on leave, not because he has been forced. It was an
amicable arrangement," he said. Mr Bimha said they would discuss with Capt
Madombwe how to accommodate him when he returns from leave. Makonde MP Cde
Leo Mugabe, who chairs the committee, had demanded clarification on the
matter.

The committee also raised concern on the ability of Air Zimbabwe to fill in
the gap left by British Airways.

Party heavies reject Sibanda's return to favour

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 10:11

'We are very angry because we were not consulted when Sibanda was
re-instated' BULAWAYO - Ruling Zanu (PF) party senior members in Bulawayo
province are planning to "surprise" President Robert Mugabe in his bid to
win the party's candidature for next year's Presidential election, party
sources revealed this week.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained its independence from Britain
in 1980, is making endeavours to stand in next year's watershed elections as
his party's Presidential candidate and has already begun to purge the party
of his perceived stumbling blocks.

The 83-year-old leader, whose bad governance policies, politics of patronage
and intolerance for dissenting voices even within his own party, have been
blamed for the country's current economic and political crises, has even
dipped his hand in the party's recycle bin for previously discarded material
to prop up his chances.

One such is former Zanu (PF) Bulawayo Province Chairman, Jabulani Sibanda,
who has re-emerged with much vigour and organised war veterans to hold
solidarity marches in all provinces to mobilise support for the embattled
Mugabe.
Sibanda was expelled from the party in 2004, after being accused of
assisting in organising the infamous Dinyane Declaration, together with
disgraced former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, which sought to
install Emmerson Mnangagwa as President.

Party bigwigs celebrated the fall of Sibanda and labelled him an
"ill-disciplined young man" lacking respect for the party's old horses. But
he has broken into the Zanu (PF) campaign hall and seized the pulpit to sing
praises to Mugabe, who he claims has re-instated him.
However, senior party leaders - including Vice President Joseph Msika,
national Chairman John Nkomo, Information Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and
fellow politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa, have opposed Sibanda's
re-instatement, which they say is in total disregard of the party's
provincial authorities' reservations.

"We are very angry because we were not consulted when Sibanda was
re-instated and thus, as far as we are concerned, he remains expelled from
the party. The President should have consulted us before secretly
re-instating him single-handedly. This shows how desperate he is to get this
candidature, but we were not opposed to this. What he has done has made us
think twice," a senior member told The Zimbabwean this week.
The source revealed that party cracks have further widened in the province,
with some members now aligning themselves with the Mnangagwa faction, while
others, mostly the Provincial leaders, are fighting alongside the Mujuru
faction.

"The party leaders are planning to oppose the President's candidature at the
congress to be held in December, unless he comes to them to apologise on the
Sibanda issue. They want him to show them respect," said another source.

Bulawayo province spokesman, Effort Nkomo, downplayed the rift when he told
The Zimbabwean that the party's division was not as bad as it has been
reported in the press.

"We have our differences but they are not as bad as you guys have portrayed
them. All we are saying is that as the provincial leaders, we know better
what is happening in the party and should be at the forefront or be
consulted in every decision that concerns the party, not be surprised by
certain decisions," said Nkomo.
On who they would vouch for to emerge as the party's Presidential candidate,
Nkomo put a veil.

"I cannot say because the party has its procedures of selecting candidates
for each election and that will come from congress in December. Whoever will
be the winner will get our support. For now that candidate remains anyone,"
he added.

However, Sibanda maintains that he was re-instated by Mugabe and is now the
party's provincial chairman.
"I was re-instated by the President and that stands. Mugabe is also our
Presidential candidate because he is the most qualified man to lead us, not
anyone else. Those who think otherwise are just daydreaming. Congress will
only confirm him, just wait and see," he said.

However, the split within the party's leadership widened on Thursday as the
provincial executive are said to have frantically tried to stop state media
journalists from covering a march staged by war veterans in support of the
candidacy of Mugabe.

As the 5 000 war veterans, led by Sibanda, marched through the city from
Stanley Square in Makokoba suburb and back, chanting revolutionary songs,
the executive hastily deployed youths to guard the party's provincial
headquarters at Davis Hall, thereby managing to repel the war veterans from
congregating at the party offices.
Sibanda and his deputy, Joseph Chinotimba, then led the war veterans through
the city and avoided Davis Hall.
Sources in the government-controlled media said Nkomo, who is the Zanu (PF)
provincial secretary for information and publicity, telephoned all newsrooms
trying to order editors to ignore the march.

Salary hikes not reflected in payslips

The Zimbabwean

Wednesday, 24 October 2007 10:11

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwean civil servants are complaining that the new salary
hike they were given by the government last week remains insignificant
because of the country' current hyper-inflationary environment.

Zimbabwe's runaway inflation figure, the worst in the world, officially
stands at around 6 500 per cent, while analysts say it could be around 20
000 per cent when considering the parallel market, where most people get
most basic commodities.

President Robert Mugabe's government, which is largely blamed for this
economic rot, two weeks ago agreed to award all its workers a 422 per cent
increment on their basic salaries, 300 per cent on housing allowance and 250
per cent on transport allowance.

This was after a crippling strike by teachers had brought education at most
government schools to a standstill for more than three days.

The new salary hike, which was accepted whole-heartedly by Zimta and
grudgingly by the PTUZ, would see the lowest paid civil servants earning
close to Z$13 million and getting $4,8 million and Z$900 000 in housing and
transport allowance respectively, with effect from September 1 this year.

However, civil servants, who received "the remainder" of their September
salaries between Tuesday and Friday last week, complained to The Zimbabwean
that the government had in fact given them less than the agreed amount.
"The government is just not serious. The new salary together will allowances
should give one at least Z$18 million. If you subtract the round figure of
Z$3 million from that you are left with around Z$15 million and we got half
of that. I personally had $7 million deposited into my bank account," said a
junior policeman on Tuesday afternoon in the country's second biggest city
of Bulawayo. No payslips accompanied the shortfall.

Zimbabwe introduces bus links to Mozambique, Namibia

Afrique en Ligne

Harare, Zimbabwe - As more and more Zimbabweans fan out into southern
Africa to escape a biting economic crisis at home, a state-run transport
company said Wednesday it had introduced bus services to Mozambique and
Namibia.

The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) already runs bus
services to Botswana, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia.

A service to Tanzania was discontinued.

The company said the new routes to Mozambique and Namibia were in
response to demand, especially from small cross-border traders.

It said services to Mozambique would be daily to the port city of
Beira, while the Nambia route would be serviced twice monthly.

Scores of Zimbabweans, struggling to survive at home after more than
seven years of recession, are flooding neighbouring countries in search of
jobs and essential products such as food.

Most are cross-border traders who buy goods from other countries in
the region for re-sale back home.

Meanwhile, state carrier Air Zimbabwe - also struggling to navigate
turbulent economic times - said it planned to charge fares in foreign
currency on regional and international routes to survive.

Airline officials said the move was intended to raise foreign
currency, which is acutely scarce in Zimbabwe, for essential payments and
spare parts.

"We cannot continue to ask the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) to give
us foreign currency. Most passengers travelling to Dubai have foreign
currency yet they pay in local currency," Airline Chairman Mike Bimha said.

Harare - 24/10/2007

Panapress

Zimbabwe's key producer stays afloat by swapping diesel for beer

Epicos.com

(2007-10-24)

By: Lindsey Shanson , CTO Data Services Co.

A South African company owned by a Cameroonian businessman will
supply Zimbabwe's Delta Beverages with 800,000 litres of diesel for its
fleet and factories. Delta will pay with an undisclosed quantity of beer...

JAG Classifieds- 23rd October 2007

As a JAG member or JAG Associate member, please send any classified adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:

JAG Classifieds: jagma@mango.zw - JAG Job Opportunities: jag@mango.zw

Rules for Advertising:

Send all adverts in word document as short as possible (no tables, spread
sheets, pictures, etc.) and quote your subscription receipt number or
membership number. Notify the JAG Office when Advert is no longer needed,
either by phone or email. Adverts are published for 2 weeks only, for a
longer period please notify the JAG office, by resending via email the
entire advert asking for the advert to be re-inserted.

Please send your adverts by Tuesdays 11.00am (Adverts will not appear until
payment is received.). Cheques to be made out to JAGMA.
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1. For Sale Items
2. Wanted Items
3. Accommodation
4. Recreation
5. Specialist Services
6. Pets Corner
7. Social Gatherings
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. OFFERED FOR SALE

1.1 Generators & Inverters for Sale

The JAG office is now an official agent for GSC Generator Service (Pvt) Ltd
and receives a generous commission on sales of all Kipor generators and
equipment. Generators are on view at the JAG office. Please could all
those JAG subscribes who deal directly with GSC, rather than through the JAG
office, clearly stipulate that they commission if for JAG.

The one stop shop for ALL your Generator Requirements SALES:
We are the official suppliers, repairs and maintenance team of KIPOR
Equipment here in Zimbabwe. We have in stock KIPOR Generators from 1 KVA to
55 KVA. If we don't have what you want we will get it for you. We also
sell Inverters (1500w), complete with batteries and rechargeable lamps. Our
prices are very competitive, if not the lowest in town.

SERVICING & REPAIRS: We have a qualified team with many years of experience
in the Generator field. We have been to Kipor, China for training. We
carry out services and minor repairs on your premises. We service and
repair most makes and models of Generators - both petrol and diesel.

INSTALLATIONS: We have qualified electricians that carry out installations
in a professional way.

SPARES: As we are the official suppliers and maintainers of KIPOR Equipment,
we carry a full range of KIPOR spares.

Don't forget, advice is free, so give us a call and see us at: Bay 3,
Borgward Road, Msasa. Sales: 884022, 480272 or admin@adas.co.zw
Service: 480272, 480154 or gsc@adas.co.zw
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1.2 For Sale

So Far and No further! Rhodesia's Bid for Independence during the Retreat
from Empire 1959-1965 by J.R.T. Wood

533 pages; quality trade paperback; pub. Trafford ISBN 1-4120-4952-0
Southern African edition, pub. 30 Degrees South : ISBN 0-9584890-2-5

This definitive account traces Rhodesia's attempt to secure independence
during the retreat from Empire after 1959. Based on unique research, it
reveals why Rhodesia defied the world from 1965.

Representing Volume One of three volumes, Two and Three are in preparation
and will take us to Tiger and thence to 1980;

To purchase:
Zimbabwean buyers contact Trish Broderick: pbroderick@mango.zw
RSA buyers: WWW. 30 degreessouth.co.za or Exclusives Books
Overseas buyers see: http://www.jrtwood.com
and a link to Trafford Publishing http://www.trafford.com/04-2760
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1.3 For Sale

Road motorcycle for sale. YAMAHA - Model YZF 600cc - Thundercat - in
immaculate condition.

Highest cash offer secures. For further details contact Dave on 011 600 770
or 091 22 55 653 or email dapayne@zol.co.zw
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1.4 For sale.

Tracer MR959 radio base set plus two vehicle mobiles and arial, at present
operative on the Bromley / Ruwa / Goromonzi network. Offers. Phone Carter
04-701940 or 011 649310
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5 For Sale (Ad inserted 7/08/07)

Nissan CWA 45. 15 tonne Lorry with 10 Tonne trailer. 176000 kilmetres.
Immaculate condition. Phone 747777 mornings or 011606595

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1.6 ITEMS FOR SALE:

1. GENERATORS AND INVERTERS
Following units ex stock:
Generators -
5 Kva Silenced, 15 Kva Silenced, , 40 Kva Silenced, John Deere 60 Kva Open
Frame, John Deere 100 Kva open frame.

Units arriving in next two months in Bond SA

100 Kva John Deere, 150 Kva John Deere, 180 Kva John Deere, 200 Kva John
Deere,

250 Kva John Deere - available on first pay first served basis

Inverters -

1500 Watt complete with 1 x 100 Amp Hr battery and charger in cabinet

5000 Watt complete with 4 x 100 Amp Hr Batteries and charger in cabinet

Large Range of Generators available from 5 - 2200 Kva ex import (some in
Bond South Africa)

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

E-mail : radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

2. HARROW DISCS

We now have imported Harrow discs (24", 26" and 28") available :

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

E-mail : radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

3. FORAGE HARVESTER

Single Row forage harvesters available ex stock

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

E-mail : radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

4. AGRICULTURAL SPRAYERS

Tractor Mounted 12 Metre / 600 Litre tank Boom sprayers and Canon sprayers
in stock.

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

E-mail: radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

5. D1SC HARROWS

Imported Offset disc harrows suitable for 80 Hp Tractors currently on order
and will be available August / September, 2007.

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

Sean Bell: + 263 11 600389

Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859

E-mail: radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

6. AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT.

If you require any agricultural equipment we can arrange supply and import
for you:

Disc Harrows, Ploughs, Fertiliser Spreaders, Mowers, Trailers of all types,
Forage Harvesters, Dairy Equipment, Generators, Planters and Drills, Chisel
Ploughs, Rippers, Full Range of Equipment for Sugar Cane including,
Planters, Harvesters, Root eradication unit etc etc - if you have any Ag
equipment requirement please contact us.

Please phone:-

Radium Africa

Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740

E-mail: radiumkeith@junglecomms.com

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1.7 THE WEAVERY.(The African Craft Market)

Going Overseas or down South? Why not take hand woven gifts for your friends
or family? These super articles which are light,easy to pack, take or send,
and fully washable.Some of our articles are to be discontinued(**); so don't
miss out! Chris

Zimbabwe c.bank warns against price anarchy

Zimbabwe targets 3 mln T maize output in 07/08

Zimbabwe to investigate violence accusations: MDC

Bread 'as scarce as gold' in Zimbabwe

Election Watch - Sokwanele

We can't exclude Mugabe just for being a dictator: EU official

WOZA Protest Water Hikes in Mutare Today

Hunger keeps children from school

Theft of land continues to masquerade as 'land reform'

The British role in land reform

New documentary on Zimbabwe launched in London

Masvingo Student Leader Finally Released, 3 More Still Detained

Chief Bans MDC Rally in Rukweza, Manicaland

Millers claim grain board blacklisted them

Mugabe's neighbours evicted

Zim runs out of toilet paper

Airzim Seeks Nod to Charge Fares in Forex

Party heavies reject Sibanda's return to favour

Salary hikes not reflected in payslips

Zimbabwe introduces bus links to Mozambique, Namibia

Zimbabwe's key producer stays afloat by swapping diesel for beer

JAG Classifieds- 23rd October 2007