The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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Telegraph

Zimbabwe ranchers told to leave
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 03/10/2002)


Zimbabwe police yesterday ordered scores of ranchers in the arid south to
leave their homesteads immediately, having already forced 90 per cent of
commercial farmers off their land in the centre of the country.

On Tuesday, police arrested three elderly farmers, including a woman, who
were still in police cells yesterday in the village of Plumtree, on the
border with Botswana.

Julius and Ernest Rosenfels and a Mrs Cahill, all in their seventies, were
apparently arrested because they had stayed on ranches in Matabeleland
beyond the date of their eviction notices, Aug 8.

Mac Crawford, Commercial Farmers' Union president in the Matabeleland
capital, Bulawayo, said yesterday: "The police have been to about 40 homes.

They are trying to evict even some whose land has not even been designated
for acquisition. Most of the farmers are resisting, but a few have finally
given up and left for good."

Mr Crawford said there were about 300 commercial farmers in the province,
and fewer than 40 had quit since President Robert Mugabe launched his land
invasions in February 2000.
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IMF Sounds Zimbabwe's Economic Death Knell
Kumbirai Mafunda
Zimbabwe Standard(Harare)
September 30, 2002

  With news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has instituted steps
to suspend Zimbabwe's voting rights to pave way for an outright ejection
from the international body, local analysts say this could be the proverbial
straw that broke the camel's back for the country's struggling economy which
has so far defied all odds by staying afloat.

  The analysts said a decision to suspend Zimbabwe's voting rights alone
would lead to a downward revision of the country's projected economic
performance for 2002, which is currently expected to shrink by 12%.
Industrialists and economic commentators told Standard Business last week
that the IMF's decision, announced a fortnight ago, had sounded the death
knell for the country's struggling industry which has seen over 500
manufacturing companies close shop over the past two years.

  They said that the move could see a wholesale departure by the remaining
few countries that were still extending credit facilities to the struggling
southern African economy Said John Robertson, a Harare-based economic
consultant: "These extra measures will really be annoying to government
which wants to take part in international affairs. We should be a market
player in international affairs, but yet we are isolated by the Commonwealth
and moreover by the IMF. This will further damage our credit worthiness, "We
already have a bad record and that will be made worse by our isolation.
Nobody will help us if the IMF is not involved because it sets the pace for
every entry. We are doing the wrong thing and failing to attract the people
we need."

  A fortnight ago the executive board of the IMF decided to initiate the
procedure to suspend Zimbabwe's voting and related rights in the body for
not co-operating adequately with the fund in resolving its overdue financial
obligations. Zimbabwe's arrears to the fund amount to 33% of its quota in
the fund. Group chief executive of Surgimed Trading and chairman of Trinidad
Industries, Danny Meyer, said the country was inclined to lose its
established markets abroad as customers and clients will have to contend
with thoughts of whether their supplier will be able to continue providing
products.

  "Our credit rating is definitely going to plunge further down. It is going
to affect our business directly in the sense that it is a pure reflection of
the way we are managing our economy. The few remaining trading partners are
bound to reexamine trading relations with businesses in the country and may
scout for other markets," said Meyer.

  However Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries acting chief executive, Farai
Zizhou, felt the decision would not have a telling effect on the economy as
Zimbabwe was already isolated by the international community. "The issue of
credit is almost a non issue. Even our colleagues in South Africa are
demanding cash upfront. Although there are many people who take a cue from
the IMF, the picture is already bad and any such move will not make it
really bad," said Zizhou.
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Independent (UK)

Namibian leader bans foreign TV programmes
By Basildon Peta
03 October 2002
Namibia's president, Sam Nujoma, ordered the state television company to
stop broadcasting foreign programmes yesterday, only days after he published
a list of farms to be confiscated from their foreign owners.

The move was seen as an indication of his continued support for Zimbabwe's
President, Robert Mugabe, and will give already nervous investors in
southern Africa further cause for concern.

Mr Nujoma wants to expropriate farms owned by foreigners for the
resettlement of landless Namibians. Among the farms listed are 91 owned by
South Africans and 99 by German nationals. The rest are owned by Americans,
Dutch and British nationals. Until its independence in 1990, Namibia was
occupied by Germany and then by South Africa.

Mr Nujoma's ruling Swapo party also tabled an amendment in parliament aimed
at stopping foreigners from buying farmland.

The President, like Mr Mugabe, has also repeatedly threatened to expel gays
and lesbians and to ban homosexual tourists. Now he has declared that
foreign films are exerting a "bad influence" on young people.

This week he ordered the state broadcaster to start showing local films that
portrayed Namibia in a "positive light". The first victims were the American
soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and the science fiction mini-series
Dune, which was replaced by a programme on the recent ruling party congress.

The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) immediately began revising the
schedule and staff were forced to pull old tapes off the shelves to fill
airtime. Thousands of callers jammed the station's switchboard demanding an
explanation for why some of their favourite programmes had suddenly been
dropped.

The President has already banned government departments from advertising in
the privately-owned Press, which he said had spread lies about his
administration.

Mr Nujoma is in his third term as President, having changed a law that
restricts presidents to two five-year terms. He has also fired his
pro-reform Prime Minister, Hage Geingob - who was seen as an obvious
candidate for president. The move was seen as part of Mr Nujoma's plans to
consolidate his power base before his term ends in 2004.

At the Earth Summit in Johannesburg last month, Mr Nujoma spoke up in
support of Mr Mugabe. Addressing the summit, he accused the British Prime
Minister, Tony Blair, of creating chaos in Zimbabwe by refusing to support
Mr Mugabe's seizures of farms from white Zimbabweans.
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rense.com

"Mugabism"

British Journalist - The Game
Is Over For Whites In Africa
From Jan Lamprecht
AfricanCrisis.org
10-2-2

The comments by a British journalist in this article that the game is up for
whites in Africa is very much in line with what I have been warning people
about in the last 2 years. This "Mugabism" is NOT going to go away. It
represents a new, and final trend towards returning Africa to the Dark Ages,
and to undoing centuries of progress. -Jan

_____

ZWNews
10-2-2

I heard from a well-connected Zimbabwean today that Mugabe's failure to
appear in Nigeria, shows his current weakness. He is in deep trouble. The
South African government, and the Nigerians are trying to cover for him.
They prevented the Commonwealth from kicking Zimbabwe out - and had to
override Australia.

I was told that in 2 years, Zimbabwe had gone back about 50 years... That is
the extent of the damage done by Mugabe. Apparently black Zimbabweans are
fleeing the country by the planeload. More blacks have fled from Zimbabwe
than all the whites who lived there! There are well over 300,000 Zimbabweans
in England alone. There are MILLIONS in South Africa.

I heard from two Zimbabweans today that Sam Nujoma, President of Nambia, is
very close to doing what Mugabe is. The Zimbabweans reckon Namibia is next,
and when that is over, then it will be South Africa's turn!!

One of the two Zimbabweans I met - in a most colonial setting I might add -
a lovely hotel here in Johannesburg - was a black man who had fled from
there and now resided in South Africa. He looked at me and said "Do you
realise that the white skin is becoming extinct in Africa?" Then he related
how whites had been chased out of country after country and how Africa had
subsequently collapsed. He was sincerely concerned that the removal of
whites from Africa meant the destruction of Africa. He told me how he was
printing pamphlets, and distributing them among black people in SOWETO,
trying to enlighten them so that the same does not happen here!

I have heard story after story in recent months of black Zimbabweans who
fear for us whites and who do not want us to leave this continent. One black
Zimbabwean was at my house a few weeks back. He asked the question "Why is
it that when blacks rule a country that it goes downhill?" He was stumped,
and troubled. (Funny, a plain African man seems to realise what Academics
and Liberals in the USA cannot!!)

The black Zimbabwean I met today looked at me and said "Have you read George
Orwell's 'Animal Farm?' Well, that is EXACTLY what is happening in Zimbabwe
now!"

His passion touched me.

Our meeting took place at a location chosen by the Zimbabweans themselves, a
hotel in Johannesburg, which reeked of colonialism. The lovely little hotel,
and its smart walls were covered in beautiful paintings, photos, and
drawings of the Boer War and other history. There were lots of photos
showing what Johannesburg looked like a 100 years ago. Johannesburg - the
"New York" of Africa - a city of history and progress. Our meeting could not
have taken place in a more interesting spot. The three of us - all from
Zimbabwe - discussed how Africa was heading into the Dark Ages, and how, in
the face of almost insuperable odds we must go out and wake people up. We
agreed South Africa is going to be a key battlefield in which the fate of
Zimbabwe can be determined. As the one Zimbabwean said to me, South Africa
has such clout that it could crush Mugabe in 24 hours. But, as I told them,
rest assured the government here would not act to save Zimbabwe. HOWEVER,
the people of South Africa - the common folks of ALL RACES - had a lot of
sympathy for Zimbabweans and are almost unanimously against Mugabe. There is
a battle to be fought - for the hearts and minds of South Africans because
we hold our neighbouring country's fate in our hands. I believe that a
fierce political battle over Zimbabwe will yet rage here in South Africa.
Rest assured... that battle is being fought... It is only just starting...
Jan]

At the recent meeting of the Commonwealth Troika in Abuja, Nigeria, the
South African government appears to have taken a foreign policy gamble in
blocking Australiaís attempt to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth. The
thinking behind the gamble is that in six months' time, when the
Commonwealth is next due to consider Zimbabwe, what remains of the country
ís white community will be politically dead and buried with the completion
of Robert Mugabeís programme of seizing 11 million hectares of white-owned
farm land; stripped of financial support, the Movement for Democratic Change
will then recede from the African diplomatic landscape, like Renamo in
Mozambique or Unita in Angola; and South African President Thabo Mbekií s
African National Congress will be rewarded for its "quiet diplomacy" by
having a grateful Zanu PF administration in power in Zimbabwe well beyond
the peaceful retirement of Mugabe.

Mugabe first used the expression "the game is up" for Zimbabwe's whites in
August, when he said his "fast track land reform" would be successfully
completed by the end of the month, with 300,000 black Zimbabweans settled,
ready to plant crops. British journalist Max Hastings, writing in Londonís
Daily Mail, commented: "Africa is reverting to a dark continent...The
remaining whites will be driven out of Zimbabwe. The wise ones will go while
they still have the skin on their backs. I would go further and suggest the
game is up for the white man throughout Africa." Underlining Mugabeís
gameís-up declaration, his Agriculture Minister Joseph Made taunted the MDC
when the Land Acquisition Act was steamrollered through Parliament, saying
that the Act's annulment of all victories won by commercial farmers in court
meant the party had failed to deliver promised reversal of land seizures to
its white masters, and would wither away. But Mbekiís gamble may be based on
a false comparison between the MDC and Mozambique's Renamo and Angola's
Unita rebels, both of which had backing from former white colonists. Renamo
had support from former "non-assimilados" ("unassimilated" rural
Mozambicans) against the urban black establishment, and Unita had a tribal
base. In election after election, however, the MDC has shown itself above
tribe and race. Its urban support is among Zimbabweans earning perhaps
Z$10,000 - 50,000 a month, who may employ domestic help and own a television
but cannot afford a car, let alone the BMWs and cell phones of Mugabeís
black elite.

Also, Mugabeís boycott of Abuja revealed his inherent weakness. Just as
independent journalists have been excluded from his press conferences for
the past ten years because he does not like their questions, Mugabe dared
not face questions from Australian Prime Minister John Howard. As his
wartime companion Edgar Tekere avers, Mugabe loses his nerve when unable to
play the bully. In contrast, given a clear road as at the Johannesburg Earth
Summit, or surrounded by his goons with machine guns and rocket launchers,
or met by some stammering diplomatic nonentity, he revels in the role of
hectoring headmaster. As well as the reluctance of African leaders to
criticise each other publicly, Mbekiís policy toward Zimbabwe is motivated
partly by an obsession among some ANC luminaries with what they see as
blacks regaining ownership of South Africaís resources. Many in the ANC may
have sympathy for the likes of Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of Zimbabwe's army
commander, who told a farmer whose land she has appropriated that she "had
not tasted white blood since 1980, and missed the experience, and that she
just needed the slightest excuse to kill somebody". Offered a compromise
over farm usage, Jocelyn Chiwenga said (according to papers lodged at the
High Court last week) that she "had no intention of shaking hands with a
white pig."

There could be no greater contrast to this than the treatment fellow inmates
accorded recently-retired High Court Judge Fergus Blackie when he was
detained on September 13 on spurious charges of misconduct. Blackie, 65,
could not be brought food and medication when thrown in filthy cells in
Harare's worst slum area, Matapi Hostels, since his whereabouts were kept
secret from his family and lawyers for 27 hours. His seven cellmates, some
of whom may have seen him before from the dock, willingly shared their
humble provisions with him. The light at the end of the Zimbabwean tunnel
can be seen clearly from the Matapi police cells, by those who know where to
look. Morgan Tsvangirai, asked about the ANC's gamble, reminded South Africa
that ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity that never succeeds: some
of the intended victims always survive, even when confronted with enemies of
vastly greater efficiency than Mugabeís Zanu PF. "This movement was not
created by the white community," said Tsvangirai. "This movement was created
out of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe. You cannot destroy the MDC
because you chase away the whites - and some of them will not be chased
away. We represent the future, Zanu PF the past." At Abuja, added
Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean people "had been abandoned in their hour of
greatest need," but they would face their fate and liberate themselves.

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=5257


MainPage
http://www.rense.com
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Business Day

For ANC, ultra-left is present danger

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki is presiding over a difficult period in the history of
the African National Congress (ANC) a period marked by internal squabbles,
careerism, problems within the tripartite alliance and governance
challenges.
Eight years into a democracy, there is growing impatience on the part of the
black majority about the pace of delivery, especially on the issue of job
creation.

Some have identified this as the issue about which to organise themselves
into a force that aims, as its main objective, to discredit the ANC in the
eyes of the poor majority and the working class.

Antiprivatisation forum and expelled ANC leader Trevor Ngwane, is one of
them. He told SA on national television during the World Summit on
Sustainable Development that Mbeki was a sellout who was working for De
Beers and Anglo American, and not the poor.

Others can be found in various Congress of SA Trade Union (Cosatu)
affiliates including the SA Municipal Workers Union. Insiders within the ANC
claim that because of its inclusiveness, Cosatu tends to attract people who
are not necessarily ANC members or share its vision for the country.

It is these people who are alleged by insiders to be advocating for the
formation of a worker's party to challenge the ANC.

These are the people who see the ANC as having sold out to domestic and
international capital through its "antiworking class" policies.

They are the ones the ANC labels as the "ultra leftists" who occupy the same
space as the Democratic Alliance (DA), and thus are enemies of the ANC and
the national democratic revolution.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe describes the ultra-left as being an
international phenomenon that engages in undisciplined struggles for social
change and tends to simplify issues. The ultra-left views the state as being
an employer, and thus the enemy of the working class.

Tired of being labelled as pursuing a neoliberal agenda, the ANC is ready to
battle these elements through "engaging the masses of our people in this
struggle, as our movement has always done, in defence of their organisation
for national liberation that has not hesitated to pay whatever price
circumstances demanded of our leaders, members and activists", says Mbeki.

Dealing with the DA is simple as it could always be treated as "a racist
party" fixated on defending the privileges of the white minority and an
antitransformation force in SA.

However, things are trickier when it comes to the ultra-left, as it is in
the ANC and its alliance partners, and consists of people who occupy
influential positions.

It is this realisation that forced the ANC policy conference, held in
Kempton Park last weekend, to adopt a resolution to guard jealously its role
as "a force of the left in pursuit of the interest of the poor".

The party is aware that this ultraleft could erode the confidence of the
people in the ANC to govern and lead the transformation agenda, and the
danger that this might pose to the party. Therefore the ANC resolved to
isolate and then expose these elements.

However, some believe that the ANC is going overboard in labelling these
people as ultra-left, saying they are "just anarchists" frustrated with not
getting high profile positions in government.

Where is the SA Communist Party (SACP) and its deputy general secretary,
Jeremy Cronin, in all of this? Motlanthe said on SABC radio yesterday that
the SACP was "a genuine left" as it understood the challenges faced by the
ANC and was prepared to be part of the solution.

It would seem it is Cosatu that has the problem on its hands by association,
and will have to deal with the so-called ultra-leftists within its ranks, or
risk also being labelled the enemy of the ANC.

The matter would not be made easy in view of the federation's twoday strike
which the ANC has labelled as anti-ANC. The ANC might grow confident that it
can deal with Cosatu ruthlessly, now that the majority of its membership did
not heed the strike.

Cosatu leaders might do well to recall how the ANC "engages" its membership
in dealing with dissent by taking the briefing notes into account. These
left many people in the federation with bruised egos and some getting death
threats.

We are indeed living in interesting times. The ANC is right in wanting to
defend itself against perceived attacks on its image and record, but must
act fast on trans- formation as it has committed itself to lest SA make what
is occurring in Zimbabwe look like a picnic.

Xundu is Political Correspondent.
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My fellow Zimbabweans and Friends,

I returned home last night (2nd October) after a week away in South Africa.
I was hosted by the International Association of Business Communicators and
addressed their conferences in JHB and Cape Town. I spoke on my role as a
communicator in Zimbabwe during this time of The Third Chimurenga (the Third
WAR or the LAND WAR).

I was also privileged to address the Concerned Foreign Based Zimbabwean
Nationals Advocacy meeting on 29th September at their first meeting. "United
we stand divided we fall" is their slogan.

Whilst there I was struck by the amount of people who sympathise with the
plight of Zimbabweans but wonder why we do nothing. I often explained that
we are essentially a peace loving people plunged into this conflict and
trying to find ways to deal with the unfolding situation.

The common South Africans complained that their cost of living was
increasing dramatically and that they felt this was due to the fact that
South Africa has not condemned the situation in Zimbabwe. "Next week petrol
and pap (mealie meal) are going up because Mbeki is sending these things to
Zimbabwe," one person erroneously commented. Another said "Don't talk about
hunger - we have it here, people are already dying in the townships." A
politician I met talked about his trip to Zambia and the hunger already
apparent there. "I saw it with my own eyes!" he said.

As I met and talked with people there, I was saddened at the lack of
tangible HOPE we have as Africans. We have heard that the winds of change
are blowing and they are known as the winds of the New Partnership for
Africa's Development NEPAD. The idea behind it according to South African
President Mbeki was to move away from the donor-recipient relationship with
the developed world, to a new partnership based on mutual respect,
responsibility and accountability. The biggest question Zimbabweans are
asking is what sort of wind is this - a cross wind that will miss Zimbabwe
completely or will it ultimately have a sting in its tail and will
Zimbabwean leaders finally be made accountable FOR THEIR ACTIONS.

Gene Sharp, a gentleman and a scholar said in his paper entitled "From
Dictatorship to Democracy": "The oft quoted phrase 'Freedom is not free' is
true. No outside force is coming to give oppressed people the freedom they
so much want. People will have to learn how to take that freedom themselves.
Easy it cannot be."

I believe in the African Vision and believe that if NEPAD is to work, it
will begin in Zimbabwe with Zimbabweans! As an 18 year old in 1980, I bought
into a bright vision for Zimbabwe - this vision can come to pass.

As I left the Air Zimbabwe plane that brought me home, I removed my shoes
and walked through the airport barefooted.

I walk barefooted for all the souls being impoverished by the unsound
principles that suit political survival NOT sovereignty. It is my way of
protesting the determined assault on Zimbabweans by their own Government. We
must passively resist this Chimurenga that will only enrich a few but
impoverish a multitude. We have our Constitution and we must hold FAST to
the rights therein. We have the right to freedom of expression, to earn a
livelihood, and to own property, simply to BE to DO and to HAVE. This is my
message as I walk barefoot - it is my contribution to the call for passive
resistance.

WHO WILL BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO JOIN IN AND WALK BAREFOOT on the ROCKY ROAD TO
TRUE DEMOCRACY?

Jenni Williams


Contact Jenni Williams on Mobile (+263) 91 300456 or 11213 885
Or on email jennipr@mweb.co.zw
or Fax (+2639) 63978 or (+2634) 703829
Office email
prnews@mweb.co.zw
A member of the International Association of Business Communicators. Visit
the IABC website
www.iabc.com
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Daily News

      Food-for-vote

      10/3/02 8:38:50 AM (GMT +2)


      Staff Reporters

      Zanu PF caught red-handed trading maize for votes in Chimanimani



      Zanu PF was caught red-handed over the weekend while rewarding voters
in the Chimanimani constituency with allocations of maize, moments after
they cast their vote in the just-ended rural district council elections.

      For the purpose, a large pile of bags of maize were stacked within 100
metres of Nemaramba School polling station in the southern portion of
Chimanimani constituency.

      Observers saw that at each polling station visited there were two
queues of voters. One queue was for illiterate persons who needed to be
assisted to vote. In general this was observed to be the longer of the two
queues by significant numbers.

      It was established that after the persons in this queue were assisted
to vote they would receive a handout from the stock of food. The food was
delivered in a vehicle marked Zanu PF Manicaland Province. The Daily News
has in its possession a video of the whole process.

      The video shows maize being given only to those who were assisted to
vote. These are people whose vote was clearly known to the persons who
assisted them in voting.

      Voters in the unassisted queue, which was much shorter, were not given
any food.

      It was observed at Nemaramba School around 11.40am on Sunday, 29
September, that a food distribution point had been set up and a political
meeting was being held, both within 100 metres of the polling station. From
this meeting people proceeded to join either the queue for assisted or the
queue for non-assisted voters.

      The maize distribution point and the political meeting are clearly
shown in the video in relation to the polling station and the queues of
voters.

      The procedure was to distribute the maize only to those who were
assisted to vote.

      Around noon the Member of Parliament for Chimanimani, Roy Bennett,
arrived at Nemaramba School polling station in the company of two people
presumed to be Mike Magwaza and Stuart Girvin, a visitor to Zimbabwe.

      Eyewitnesses say Bennett, who is a member of the MDC, started taking
pictures of the scene at the polling station. Bennett is said to have filmed
from a moving vehicle.

      A policeman is said to have approached the vehicle and spoken to
Bennett and the other occupants before they drove off. Bennett, Magwaza and
Girvin were later arrested and the arresting officers demanded the film they
had shot, which they initially refused to hand over.

      Bennett and Magwaza appeared in court on Monday and were charged with
contravening a section of the Electoral Act. They were charged with taking
pictures illegally during the council elections over the weekend and accused
of practising journalism without accreditation.

      Bennett was remanded on $10 000 bail to 15 October.
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Daily News

      SA court orders return of assets seized from fugitive Zimbabwean

      10/3/02 8:54:50 AM (GMT +2)


      By Japhet Ncube South African Correspondent

      JOHANNESBURG - Fugitive Zimbabwean business mogul Billy Rautenbach,
who is wanted in South Africa for massive fraud charges, may have his assets
which were seized by the Assets Forfeiture Unit South Africa, returned to
him.


      The Johannesburg High Court last Friday ordered the return of the
assets. They include several fat bank accounts, a flourishing R7,7 million
(Z$42,3 million) Western Cape wine farm, an R2,7 million luxury Flacon jet,
a Bell helicopter worth R5 million, another farm in the Kwazulu/Natal
province, and property in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, worth
R3 million.

      Seven flats in the same area, worth R1,5 million, and furniture, were
also confiscated.

      Together the assets are worth over R60 million.

      The order was issued by Justice Pierre Rabie, and although it may come
as a relief to the embattled Zimbabwean tycoon, the office of the National
Directorate of Public Prosecutions has indicated it still wants Rautenbach
back in South Africa to co-operate with investigations and, possibly, stand
trial.

      But despite the interim court order obtained by the National
Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) against the wealthy Zimbabwean
tycoon, The Daily News has it on good authority that no official charges
have been levelled against him yet.

      "This order doesn't mean the man is off the hook,'' said a well-placed
source in the offices of Bulelani Ngcuka, the director of public
prosecutions.

      "We have enough evidence to take the man to court and lay charges.
This is a very serious matter and if we can bring him back here to face
trial, it will be a major breakthrough in our bid to eradicate fraud in
South Africa,'' added the source.

      But the court on Friday revoked the interim court order, arguing the
NDPP had not followed proper channels in notifying Rautenbach, and had also
withheld information in documents seized from the troubled businessman and
other sources.

      Justice Rabie also ordered the NDPP to pay the costs of the court
action. And the NDPP has appealed against the ruling and has asked the court
not to immediately release Rautenbach's assets.

      Rautenbach, who is believed to be in Zimbabwe, is the former chief
executive of Wheels of Africa, as well as the Hyundai vehicle distributor in
South Africa.

      His assets were seized by the Assets Forfeiture Unit following
dramatic, large scale fraud, theft, money laundering and import duties
evasion charges by the National Directorate of Prosecutions. The assets were
seized under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

      He then skipped the border into Zimbabwe in September 2000 and has
been in hiding since. Rautenbach has refused to travel to South Africa.

      Rautenbach's dramatic fall from grace in South Africa has been filled
with drama, suspense and intrigue.

      In 2000 his ex-banker, Jean-Charls Julien Arnold Pirlet, a former
senior vice-president for corporate banking at the international ABN Amro
Bank in Johannesburg, was arrested for fraud and corruption involving over
R345 million.

      Pirlet, a Belgian citizen with a South African residence permit, had
his passport withdrawn before being granted R50 000 bail.

      The Daily News was unable to ascertain yesterday what happened to the
case.
      Last year his lawyer, Nocilene Fourie, was arrested in Germiston, just
outside Johannesburg, for allegedly defeating the course of justice.

      Sipho Ngwema, spokesperson for the NDPP, said at the time that Fourie
had allegedly given instructions that certain information be hidden from the
state.

      Yesterday Ngwema refused to comment on the latest developments in the
Rautenbach case, arguing it would jeopardise investigations and the pending
appeal. "We will release information when the time is right,'' Ngwema said.
Among the multiple charges Rautenbach faces are those related to his Wheels
of Africa Group of companies, which was liquidated in December 1999.

      He is alleged to have fraudulently reduced the tax liability of the
group subsidiaries and fraudulently sold R8 million worth of Hyundai
vehicles.

      The state alleged Rautenbach defrauded the SA Customs Union of about
R60 million due to it by under-invoicing the value of the vehicles, which
his Hyundai assembly in Botswana bought from Hyundai in Korea.

      The wealthy Zimbabwean entrepreneur is also alleged to have stolen
money from his own companies. The state's case against him is based on
evidence from several former employees of his and paints an intriguing
picture of a web of scores of companies established across Africa in order
to hide theft and fraud and also to conceal Rautenbach's own interests in
them.

      Rautenbach also stands accused of allegedly bribing two Department of
Trade and Industry officials to stop a high level investigation into Volvo's
relationship with his companies.

      The multi millionaire businessman has reportedly alleged a "plot'' by
the SA government to nail him to prevent him funding the war the Democratic
Republic of the Congo was fighting against foreign-backed rebels.

      He is believed to have several business partnerships in the Congo and
is said to have multi-million dollar mining interests in the troubled
Central African state.

      Rautenbach is also linked to the ruling Zanu PF, with whom he is
reported to have strong ties. He is adamant the SA authorities are after him
because it was perceived he was an "obstacle to the attempted removal of the
Laurent Kabila regime.''

      "It is no secret that the SA government is strongly opposed to the
Kabila regime and is anxious to see me removed from power,'' he said. His
charge was contained in an affidavit submitted to the Johannesburg High
Court in a desperate bid to overturn a restraint order under which about R60
million of some of his property was seized in 1999.

      Police raided his operations in November 1999 and confiscated three
truck loads of papers and computer data.

      Rautenbach's affidavit was written before Laurent Kabila was
assassinated in January last year, and then succeeded by his son, Joseph.
But it still forms a substantial part of his case.

      He said Pretoria accuses him of "propping up the Kabila regime."

      Several efforts to have Rautenbach extradited from Zimbabwe over the
years have been unsuccessful. So were efforts by The Daily News to contact
him late last night for comment on the latest development in his case.
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Daily News

      Government must come clean on fuel

      10/3/02 8:58:48 AM (GMT +2)



      In the wake of rumours that Libya had turned off its fuel supply taps
to Zimbabwe because the government had defaulted in its payments in terms of
an existing agreement, which was nevertheless drawing to an end, motorists
heaved a sigh of relief at the news that a new deal had been signed to
ensure uninterrupted supplies of fuel to this country for another year.


      The nation was assured that, under the new agreement, the two
countries had renewed the US$360 million (Z$19,8 billion) that had seen
Libya supplying 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel supply needs since August last
year.

      That old deal expired at the end of August this year, resulting in
noticeable shortages of both diesel and petrol throughout the country, hence
President Mugabe's hasty trip to Tripoli to hammer out a new deal.

      However, nearly a month down the line, the new arrangement doesn't
seem to have borne any fruit, as evidenced by reports of long queues of
vehicles at the few service stations which still have supplies, amid reports
that most filling stations have run out of fuel completely.

      But even in the face of that overwhelming evidence of mounting fuel
shortages in the country, the new Minister of Energy and Power Development,
Amos Midzi, has continued to tell the nation that there are adequate
supplies of fuel in the country.

      Not only that, Midzi has also reassured the nation that in addition to
the renewal of the US$360 million fuel supply agreement with Libya, "my
ministry will continue to put in place strategies to guarantee security of
fuel supplies to the country for the foreseeable future". He blamed erratic
fuel supplies on "logistical problems" affecting deliveries to service
stations which he also assured were being effectively addressed by the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.

      Despite those assurances, the fuel shortage situation has continued to
deteriorate all over the country but especially in the main urban centres of
Harare and Bulawayo, with the latter having run completely dry according to
a report carried elsewhere in this issue of The Daily News. This has,
inevitably, led to the opposition MDC - possibly articulating what everyone
else is thinking - accusing the government of deliberately deceiving the
nation with regard to the fuel situation.

      Silas Mangono, the MDC's shadow minister of energy, gave a pertinent
and timely reminder to the nation about the glaring lack of honesty
displayed by the government through successive ministers, beginning with
Enos Chikowore right through Sydney Sekeramayi and Edward Chindori-Chininga
to the present incumbent with regard to Zimbabwe's perennial fuel woes.

      There appears to be a lot of truth in Mangono's observation that: "The
government continues to lie and give the assurance that the country will
never run out of fuel. Ambassador Midzi has taken after his predecessors in
misinforming the nation that all is well when the situation on the ground is
a different story altogether."

      Whatever the problems are, the nation deserves to be told the truth
and nothing but the truth, which, according to available evidence, is
unfortunately not what they are getting. All the government's actions and
words point to the fact that it is hiding some vital truth from its
citizens.

      Since the fuel crisis started in 2000, the government has entered into
a number of so-called deals, the ones with Kuwait and Libya being the most
notable. But they have all been shrouded in both mystery and secrecy. The
nature of the deals is never explained to taxpayers who, at the end of the
day will have no option but to pick up the bill for the costs of that fuel,
whatever its source.

      What the people find most disturbing about the subterfuge surrounding
those transactions is not just the fact that they have failed miserably to
arrest the fuel shortage problem, but also that they have enabled corrupt
government officials to grossly inflate the procurement prices of the scarce
commodities. That, naturally, has enabled them to stash away millions of
dollars in their personal accounts while milking the ordinary Zimbabwean dry
through charging excessively high pump prices.

      This is not just immoral but basically criminal as well. Government
must lift this veil of secrecy surrounding its so-called fuel deals and tell
the people the truth
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Daily News (this was in the general news section, not leader page - strange to have comment like this with no attribution....)

      MDC leaders are a bunch of cowards

      10/3/02 9:00:38 AM (GMT +2)



      THERE has been dangerous misinformation concerning the issue of mass
action from the MDC leadership.


      This is meant to defend the cowardly approach of the MDC leaders.

      Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, was not serious when he said he
did not privatise mass action, when he addressed the Mass Public
Opinion-organised open meeting.

      The MDC leaders are cowards who have been intimidated by President
Mugabe. They are desperately trying to justify their inaction when dealing
with Mugabe and Zanu PF.

      This approach has a negative effect on the opposition and it's high
time the MDC followers started operating according to specific deadlines.

      If Tsvangirai and his senior party members believe they cannot change
their methodology, then people must remove them from the positions they are
holding.
      What does it help to pay for full-page advertisements in newspapers
describing Zanu PF's heinous nature? We all probably know more about this
regime than Tsvangirai and his flock of weaklings do.

      Even those in Zanu PF are aware how brutal and corrupt the party is.
It pains the families whose relatives died in this struggle that the MDC
leadership, masquerading as opposition leaders, are selling out the ideals
of their kin every day.

      I remember fellow fighters like Batanai Hadzidzi, who was killed in
cold blood at the University of Zimbabwe by the police and Lameck Chemvura,
thrown off a moving train by soldiers. They, along with the likes of
Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, did not die for wimps like the MDC
leaders.

      I am rather saddened to see what appear to be very intelligent people,
some of them professors and doctors, attending peace talks with Zanu PF and
I wonder if they are really learned or not. I do not doubt that the MDC
leaders are sissies because of late they have adopted a tendency to mourn on
behalf of those who are tortured and killed, without doing anything.

      It's sad how the MDC leaders misrepresent the views of their
supporters on the ground. I am now convinced that these leaders are
faint-hearted. I want to assure every reasonable person that the best way to
destroy an evil system is to use every tactic at one's disposal in order to
let such people have a taste of their own medicine.

      Those in the leadership of the MDC are developing cold feet and are
now an obstacle to progress. The MDC leaders are now responsible for
sustaining Zanu PF rule.

      If leaders in the the MDC such as Munyaradzi Gwisai, who advocate
radical solutions to the crisis, do not see what is happening and where
submissiveness is leading us, then the others in that party need to
re-examine their position.

      Those who fear Mugabe like the MDC leaders cannot allow the rights of
the suffering Zimbabweans to be abused.

      Have the MDC leaders ever asked themselves why Mugabe and his party
members refused to negotiate with Ian Smith in the 1970s? If such talks had
been entered into were they going to lead to majority rule?

      The history of this country leaves no room for invertebrates and even
our ancestors did not promote cowardice in the ranks of their leadership.
The hierarchy of the MDC should be looking at how they can improve the lives
of the people.

      They need to go to where the majority of the people are - Mbare,
Chitungwiza, Tafara and other high-density suburbs - and see how much the
people are suffering and clamouring for sweeping solutions to their
problems. Genuine leaders are not afraid of being arrested and charged under
draconian laws because that's the best form of protest for any authentic
leader.

      After all, is it not true that all Zimbabweans are under Zanu PF
arrest but all on free bail because whenever the police think there is a
need to arrest someone, they can do it and no one cares about it. The Public
Order and Security Act is there to ensure that.

      In the next parliamentary election the MDC supporters must remember
those who
      betrayed their cause.

      If Zimbabweans are against some of the actions by Zanu PF but are
unable to do anything about it, it's not a licence for the MDC leaders do
the same.

      Zimbabweans need leaders who can take resolute action, not this bunch
of cowards.

      If the MDC leaders cannot change their strategies, Zimbabweans must
form a third force to get rid of Zanu PF and the MDC before both further
destroy our beloved country.

      In Parliament, I was shocked to realise how a respectable house that
is supposed to be a market place for ideas has been reduced to a beerhall by
Zanu PF MPs. They have adopted the strategy of insulting MDC leaders so that
they can retaliate.

      The idea of a third strong opposition might appear as if it will
further divide the opposition, but I differ because the MDC and Zanu PF
leadership have failed to realise that politics is an undertaking that is
not supposed to create enmity and animosity.

      The MDC leaders seem prepared to oppose any motion moved by Zanu PF in
Parliament no matter what it is, while on the other hand, Zanu PF members
are prepared to oppose and vote against any reasonable motion moved by the
MDC leaders in Parliament. This is very unhealthy for progress.

      But before the advent of any third party the MDC MPs should be
encouraged to desist from behaving like jellyfish. Anyone seriously
entertaining the idea of forming a third party must not be a coward.

      My last message to the MDC leaders is that every intelligent
Zimbabwean is aware of how their expectations of that party have been
misplaced.
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Daily News

      Residents slam Chombo's attempt to oust Mudzuri

      10/3/02 8:47:11 AM (GMT +2)


      Staff Reporter

      SCORES of Harare residents yesterday condemned the appointment of a
commission by the government ostensibly to "assist the city council".


      They said the move was an infringement on the activities of a
democratically elected mayor.

      A survey by The Daily News yesterday showed many Harare residents
condemn Dr Ignatius Chombo, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works
and National Housing, for appointing the five-member commission to check the
city council's alleged failures and irregular activities.

      Paddington Japajapa, the president of the Zimbabwe Indigenous Economic
Empowerment Organisation, accused Chombo of making veiled attempts to oust
Mudzuri.Japajapa said: "Chombo's appointment of a commission is a classic
case of throwing spanners into the operations of a democratically elected
council. How does Chombo expect Mudzuri to change the situation created by
economic hardships and victims of political violence?

      "I find it very surprising and laughable that Chombo is accusing
Mudzuri of failing to deliver as if the previous councils managed the
situation any better. Chombo's act is, therefore, an unorthodox and tricky
way of sidelining a constitutionally elected mayor."

      Cindy Gamira of Marlborough said it was too early for the government
to condemn the MDC-dominated council as a failure, after holding office for
only seven months.

      Gamira said: "It is up to us, as residents and ratepayers, to protest
against the council if we feel there are irregularities in the running of
the city's affairs, not for Chombo to dictate upon us and subvert the
authority of a constitutionally elected mayor.

      "The general sentiment among Harare residents is that Mudzuri has
achieved significant success in the repair of bad roads, lighting systems
and general cleanliness in the city."

      Simanga Khula of Kuwadzana said Chombo's actions smacked of one
obsessed with political ambitions rather than a quest to improve the people'
s lives.

      "There is evidence that Chombo has never accepted an opposition-led
council in the capital. Mudzuri has the jurisdiction to freely work yet
Chombo has been seemingly attempting to oust him.

      "The minister should instead be working towards fostering good
relations to bridge the political divide rather than create baseless
anomalies within the city."

      Biona Kabayadondo of Glen Norah questioned the government's sudden
concern for the upkeep of the city of Harare.

      "The government never set up a commission to audit the activities of
Solomon Tawengwa's council in the 1990s, yet it was largely responsible for
the mess that is now Harare.

      "Mudzuri has actually performed much better, as testified by the
reforms he has enacted since he took office," Kabayadondo said.
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European Parliament

      Zimbabwe: MEPs hear cry for help

      MEPs were visibly moved upon hearing a speech by Ephraim TAPA,
spokesman of the international campaign Save Zimbabwe, to the European
Parliament's Development Committee on Wednesday. They gave a firm promise to
respond to his appeal for help.

      In his statement to the committee, Mr Tapa stressed that the current
crisis in Zimbabwe was in no way a fight against agrarian reform but the
result of 'political terrorism', a 'battle between a tyrant and a suffering
people'. He added that Mr MUGABE was using famine as an instrument of
political oppression. However, a glimmer of hope remained: Zimbabwe had
enough infrastructure and goodwill, what was needed was to set up a
legitimate regime. This was the goal of the Save Zimbabwe campaign launched
in Durban in July 2002. He said the European Parliament must encourage
African Heads of State who were reluctant to act against Mr Mugabe. The
international community could help the reconstruction of Zimbabwe by means
of clear political and financial undertakings, and this must be a positive
test for the New Partnership for the Development of Africa.

      John CORRIE (EPP-ED, UK) deplored Europe's impotence vis-à-vis the
Mugabe regime. What was needed, he claimed, was a popular uprising in
Zimbabwe, which would happen sooner or later given the situation there.
According to Ulla SANDBAEK (EDD, DK), regional sanctions were preferable;
the countries bordering Zimbabwe should push for President Mugabe's
departure. Nirj DEVA (EPP-ED, UK) felt that action was urgently needed and
that Parliament should make its position clear by calling for an
international arrest warrant to be issued against Mr Mugabe. General
MORILLON (EPP-ED, F) drew a parallel with Serbia. He said one should have no
illusions about any support for change coming from neighbouring countries:
the people of Zimbabwe had their fate in their own hands. Only subsequently
would Mugabe find himself facing the judges in The Hague. In an impassioned
speech, Nelly MAES (Greens/EFA, B) voiced her indignation at the widespread
torture carried out in Zimbabwe with no reaction from the international
community, and with backed from John BOWIS (EPP-ED, UK) she expressed
incomprehension that Zimbabwean leaders had recently been authorised to go
to Belgium for an international conference. A resolutely optimistic Miguel
Angel MARTINEZ (PES, E) pointed out that, like any dictator, Robert Mugabe
had 'a biological end, which would not be far off'.
      Zimbabwe

      02.10.02 Committee on Development and Cooperation
             In the chair: Joaquim MIRANDA (EUL/NGL, P)

      Press enquiries:
      Alexandre Stutzmann - tel. (32-2) 28 43439
      e-mail: deve-press@europarl.eu.int
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Focus On Economic Impact of Land Reform



UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

October 3, 2002
Posted to the web October 3, 2002


This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations

Zimbabwe's fast-track land reform programme has ignored the critical role
played by the commercial farming sector in the economy, analysts and farmers
have warned.

"President Robert Mugabe's ... land reform policies are having profound
consequences not only for commercial farming but for the agricultural sector
as a whole. However, land reform is only one strand in a set of policies
undermining the economy and feeding political instability," warned the
political think-tank Oxford Analytica in a new report.

In previous years mining, manufacturing, services and agriculture - both
large and small-scale - all contributed significantly to employment and to
gross domestic product (GDP).

"Commercial agriculture alone contributed some 17 percent. The economy was
well-integrated with particularly strong linkages between commercial
agriculture and services and manufacturing. It was axiomatic that much of
the rest of the economy would benefit from reinvested earnings following a
good agricultural season. Commercial farmers were also playing an important
role in the rapid expansion of Zimbabwe's tourism industry through the
conversion of marginal farmland into wildlife habitat," Oxford Analytica
said.

But by the second half of 2002, the economy was "rapidly unravelling" as the
government struggled to deal with a major food crisis, blamed largely on its
own land reform programme.

The government's programme was aimed at addressing the imbalance in land
ownership in Zimbabwe, and landless blacks are supposed to be the main
beneficiaries. However, it has been criticised for disrupting commercial
agriculture and being undertaken in a disorderly manner.

Given the central role of commercial farming to agriculture and the economy,
it was important that the foundations of agricultural recovery not be
weakened further, Oxfam Analytica said.

Both existing and new commercial farmers required timely access to farm
machinery and equipment, seed, fertiliser and water for irrigation and
livestock.

"Few newly resettled farmers have the resources to purchase farm equipment,
and half of the government-owned tractor fleet is out of service because of
the lack of foreign currency to purchase spare parts. [Also] the extent to
which seed-breeders' farms have been expropriated is unknown as is the
impact on the supply of hybrid seed," Oxford Analytica said.

Rampant triple-digit inflation had led the government to impose price
controls on fertiliser - "a policy that has only exacerbated shortages".
This was because "the trend in fertiliser use in older resettlement areas
has declined since adjustment policies were introduced in the early 1990s,"
the think-tank argued.

The 2002 drought was cutting food supplies at a time when many dams were
full, "because no irrigation is taking place on the farms acquired for land
reform".

Many of the people who received land reallocated from large-scale farms had
"little or no commercial farming experience, so technology and inputs - if
available - may be poorly or under-utilised if practical training is not
provided".

But newly resettled farmers were unlikely to receive adequate training as
"almost all of the country's 1,200 agricultural specialists applied for land
under the [redistribution] programme and are among the best-qualified to
receive it".

While it was not known how many had actually received land and would then
leave government service, the government was "rapidly recruiting more than
5,000 new specialists and is assuming zero attrition among existing staff to
bring total numbers to more than 6,000", Oxford Analytica added.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported on Thursday that the
government would soon embark on a land audit to assess land uptake on
designated farms. "The minister for land reform, Flora Bhuka, said the
exercise will be done to ensure that all land is occupied and put to good
use," ZBC reported.

"The fast-track land reform programme has seen government allocating land to
more than 310,000 families. Government is still in the process of handing
over land to more than 54,000 families," ZBC said.

The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), meanwhile, said the government's land
reform programme and "illegal" evictions of farmers by ruling party
supporters had brought the commercial farming sector "to its knees".

Ben Kaschula, regional executive officer for the CFU Mashonaland Central
region, told IRIN that "commercial farming as we've known it before has come
to an end ... very few, perhaps 20 percent, of commercial farmers that were
previously on land will possibly farm to a reduced extent in the next
season. We had 3,200 licensed commercial farmers for the year that just
ended, it's likely to be about 1,400 now and that's being optimistic," he
said.

No less than 1,200 farmers had been forced off the land, irrespective of
whether or not they had received government eviction notices, Kaschula said.

In January 2000, the commercial farming sector employed more than 350,000
workers, roughly one-third of all wage employment.

"By mid-2002, most of these workers had been displaced, and a former finance
minister reported that a third of all formal sector jobs in the economy had
been lost. Other sources put the unemployment rate at above 70 percent. Many
of those who have lost jobs are now living in destitution, but the
government is avoiding addressing the welfare implications of massive
unemployment," the Oxfam Analytica report alleged.

Funding for agricultural activities was a major obstacle to agrarian
recovery. International donors have ceased all funding, save for drought
relief and HIV/AIDS programmes, and financial institutions were reluctant to
grant loans to land reform beneficiaries as they lack title deeds to their
new land.

"In the face of debt, crop production and exports are generally down. Of
major crops, only coffee and tea production was above 2000 levels in 2001.
Last year, commercial farming contributed some 38 percent of Zimbabwe's
total foreign exchange earnings, but it is estimated that at least 90
percent of such earnings will be lost under the current land reform
programme," the think-tank warned.

Production of staple maize declined 31 percent in 2001 and even more in
2002, creating a need for expenditure to import an estimated 1.7 million mt
of maize.

Tourism earnings have also nose-dived - "not only because of international
anxiety surrounding civil unrest but because of the widely publicised
poaching of endangered wildlife in game conservation parks, where some 60
percent of wildlife has been lost," the report said.

The domino effect of the present land reform policy has resulted in
Zimbabwe's GDP shrinking by 4.5 percent in 2000, 7.5 percent in 2001. A
decline of between 12-15 percent was forecast for 2002, "largely a
consequence of farm invasions and the withdrawal of investors and foreign
donors", the report noted.
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IOL

Zimbabwe dropped as host of 2003 SADC summit

      October 03 2002 at 04:24PM



By Manoah Esipisu

Luanda - Zimbabwe was replaced on Thursday as deputy chair of the 14-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC), in what diplomats said was a
sign of the region's displeasure with President Robert Mugabe's policies.

Zimbabwe's role as acting deputy chair of the regional body had been
expected to be formalised on Thursday at the SADC's annual summit in Luanda.
That would have made Harare the scheduled venue for next year's meeting.

Instead Zimbabwe was replaced as deputy chair by Tanzania, and the 2003
gathering will be in its capital Dar es Salaam.

      'I think it is just another red herring'
"The whole reorganisation of the SADC bureau was unscheduled and is meant to
send a message to Zimbabwe that the region values peace, security, stability
and respect for greater democratisation," said a diplomat, who asked not to
be named.

Mugabe's land policies and his controversial re-election in March were not
on the official agenda of this year's summit, which ends on Thursday.

But during the two-day gathering in Luanda, several leaders called for
improved governance to lure foreign investment and spur economic growth in
the region.

"The heads of state and government did not have to discuss Zimbabwe's land
reform directly. Their actions sent the right signal," another diplomat
said.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Malawi President Bakili Muluzi
and SADC Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy all spoke passionately about the
need for regional stability during the summit's opening ceremonies on
Wednesday.

African leaders are currently promoting to the West a continental recovery
plan called the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).

It seeks to deliver good political and economic governance in exchange for
more investment, better trade access and more debt relief from rich Western
nations.

Zimbabwean officials were not immediately available for comment in Luanda.

In Harare, Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper said the country had
decided not to take over as deputy chair of the SADC in order to concentrate
on its land reforms.

"That is a priority which supersedes everything else. Being deputy chair
means hosting the next summit and would therefore distract us from all
that," the Herald quoted a government source as saying.

The SADC has previously criticised Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks and the election, which was condemned by
some Western nations.

But the regional body has opposed sanctions, which have been imposed on
Zimbabwe by the United States and European Union.

During ministerial meetings earlier in the week, some ministers delivered a
stern message to their Zimbabwean counterparts to resolve a political crisis
threatening investor confidence in the region.

Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo rejected complaints that the
land seizures had caused the region economic harm.

"There is no one who is serious who believes that one country is making
others pay. I think it is just another red herring being raised by
British-led opposition to the land reform programme in Zimbabwe," Moyo told
Reuters.

Mugabe, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain
in 1980, says his land reform is aimed at correcting colonial injustice,
which left 70 percent of the country's best land in the hands of white
farmers.
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Flour Imports Gobble $500m



The Herald (Harare)

October 3, 2002
Posted to the web October 3, 2002

Harare

Bakers Inn Zimbabwe has spent $500 million on importing flour to stay in
operation as allocations of local flour continue to be cut drastically.

The company charges more for a loaf made with imported cake flour, to cover
the higher costs.

This is labelled "premium bread" and is sold unsliced in basic packaging to
keep the cost as low as possible although still costs more than twice a
standard loaf made of local flour because of the high cost of importing
flour.

But on the positive side the imports all Bakers Inn to keep all bakeries
open, retaining all 2 000 workers in employment without having to seek
retrenchments, and is baking enough bread to satisfy demands.

The company, which is part of listed concern, Innscor Africa Limited said
its bakeries started importing flour after the local supplies dropped
drastically in the past few months.

The managing director, Mr Burombo Mudumo, told Business Herald that local
supplies could further deteriorate in the coming two months until the new
harvest was milled.

Normally Bakers Inn buys 7 000 tonnes of flour every month. Recently it has
been allowed to buy only around 2 000 tonnes, creating a shortage of 5 000
tonnes.

"Bakers Inn took the decision to import, from South Africa, while we wait
for the wheat which is now being harvested.

"We are likely to see supplies improving around November, when the harvested
wheat starts trickling in from the millers," he said.

Bakers Association of Zimbabwe chairman, Mr Armitage Chikwavaira was quoted
recently saying flour reserves have dwindled to critical levels.

"We are getting something between 40 percent and 55 percent of our flour
requirements every week," Mr Chikwavaira was quoted saying.

Zimbabwe consumes 400 000 tonnes of wheat every year although only 150 000
tonnes are expected this year down from 360 000 tonnes in 2001.

The supply of bread in most part of Harare is still erratic with many shops
going for days without receiving bread.

Mr Mudumo said Bakers Inn's decision to import flour was the best option to
save the 2000 jobs in the company as well as assuring the nation of constant
supplies of bread.

"We don't want the plants to lie idle and we also don't want our employees
to be retrenched," he said.

His company had survived in the past from its strategic flour stocks, which
had now run out.

Flour supplies started to decline in the last four months to levels where
Bakers Inn only got 57 percent of its requirements in June.

Ensuing months saw the flour supply situation declining to 53 percent in
July, 39 percent in August and 29 percent in September.

The decision to import has meant that Bakers Inn has to fork out more of its
resources to finance imports. It now cost the company $212 000 to import a
tonne of cake flour.

A tonne of flour sourced locally cost the company $60 000. Mr Mudumo said
the imported cake flour was used to bake premium bread, which is not
affected by price controls.

To make the bread affordable, the company has decided to stop slicing the
product and using expensive packaging.

Commenting on price controls, Mr Mudumo said talks for a review in bread
prices were underway with the Ministry of Industry and International Trade.
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What Happened to Principles?



Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg)

OPINION
October 4, 2002
Posted to the web October 3, 2002

Iden Wetherell
Johannesburg

In what must rank as some of the most fatuous remarks made so far on South
Africa's relations with Zimbabwe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz
Pahad announced last weekend that Pretoria will not bow to pressure to
"declare war" on its crisis-torn neighbour.

"We don't believe that their megaphone diplomacy and screaming from the
rooftops has helped anyway," he was quoted as saying. "If it is not
diplomacy we pursue in dealing with Zimbabwe, then it is war. We will not go
to war with Zimbabwe."

Pahad was replying to remarks by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
expressing disappointment with the failure of the Commonwealth troika, made
up of President Thabo Mbeki, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo and
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, to adopt a more robust response to
President Robert Mugabe's suppurating misrule when they met recently in
Abuja, Nigeria.

Pahad seemed in particular to resent the suggestion that the two African
heads of state lacked commitment in dealing with Zimbabwe.

"What are they proposing we should be doing?" Pahad asked. "Jack Straw and
others must tell us what they expect the Southern African Development
Community [SADC] to do."

Stop glossing over a brutally stolen election would be a start.

Beginning with ministerial manipulation of the South African observer
mission even before the result of Zimbabwe's presidential poll was known in
early March, Pretoria has been busy underlining the legitimacy of Mugabe's
rogue regime despite the fact he changed electoral laws to favour his
candidacy, unleashed state-sponsored militias against members of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and prevented it from
holding rallies or communicating through the public media.

Tens of thousands of voters were arbitrarily removed from the voters' roll
ahead of the election or turned away from polling stations in MDC
strongholds such as Harare.

All this was okay with South Africa, ministers suggested. Worse still,
Deputy President Jacob Zuma was shown on TV embracing his counterpart in
Harare immediately after this brazen assault on the democratic process.

Pahad wants to know what the SADC can do. Apart from ending their collusion
with a regime whose supporters murder opponents with impunity, adhering to
standards regional states have set themselves would be a helpful step.

South Africa and other SADC countries have fundamental rights enshrined in
their Constitutions that include a commitment to free and fair elections,
independence of the judiciary and freedom of the press. The SADC is
committed to specific electoral principles agreed only last year. Instead of
upholding these democratic values, governments in the region have endorsed
electoral hijacking in Zimbabwe and remained silent as the judiciary and
press are manacled.

In last weekend's council elections opposition candidates were in many
reported cases barred from registering or intimidated into withdrawing as
Mugabe's repression grows. Lawless land seizures have led to destitution and
famine.

Despite this record, regional leaders persist in the pretence that the
negative press Zimbabwe receives abroad is the product of reactionary forces
opposed to transformation. There has been no attempt to spell out the
meaning of good governance, accountability and the rule of law that are
fundamental to the success of the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(Nepad), which Mbeki and Obasanjo are touting as the continent's survival
kit.

African National Congress spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama, interviewed by the
Mail & Guardian last week, repeated the ruling Zanu-PF party's mantra that
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was beholden to foreign "masters". Change must
come from within Zimbabwe, Ngonyama insisted. Whether Mugabe should go was
not for the ANC to decide.

But when the ANC is part of a regional bloc determined to shield Mugabe from
measures designed to prevent him sabotaging his country's democratic
institutions and pauperising its people, then officials like Ngonyama and
Pahad who duck the issues by talking about megaphone diplomacy and foreign
masters need to be reminded that their apparent lack of principled resolve
in confronting tyranny presages a future South Africans have every reason to
worry about.

Iden Wetherell is editor of the Zimbabwe Independent
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Chance for Zim to Clear Image



The Herald (Harare)

October 3, 2002
Posted to the web October 3, 2002

Harare

THE biggest event on the local travel and tourism calender, the travel expo,
begins in Harare today and the timing could not have been more perfect.

At least 130 international buyers are expected to attend the four-day fair,
giving the local industry and the country in general, a glorious opportunity
to market itself and restore Zimbabwe's tarnished image.

The country has been subjected to incessant negative publicity for the past
three years, mainly because of the fast-track land resettlement programme.

The programme was embarked upon by the Government to redress historical land
imbalances, which saw the white minority holding more than 70 percent of
fertile land while the black majority were overcrowded on barren land.

The programme has attracted venomous attacks from the West, particularly
from Britain and America in their futile bid to continue with their
dominance of Zimbabwe's economic base.

These attacks fuelled negative perceptions about the country's safety and
security as a tourist destination.

The outcome of the March presidential election, in which President Mugabe
emerged the winner, has also irked the so-called superpowers resulting in
even more shameless attacks on Zimbabwe.

This has dampened activity in the tourism sector, which has experienced a
sharp decline in arrivals and earnings over the past two years.

However, the international community is now softening its stance following
President Mugabe's speech at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg last month.

President Mugabe set the record straight on the agrarian reforms.

A number of countries are beginning to appreciate the actual state of
affairs in Zimbabwe, resulting in the removal of travel warnings in major
source markets, much to the chagrin of Britain and its allies.

The tourism industry has been witnessing an upsurge in arrivals over the
past few weeks and prospects for recovery now look promising.

It is against this background that local tourism players should take
advantage of the presence of international buyers from South Africa, UK, US,
Germany and France, among other countries to set the record straight and
neatly package what the country has to offer.

At least the buyers and other operators from the region and other major
source markets are here to see for themselves the actual situation on the
ground and they will obviously get first-hand information about Zimbabwe.

Some visitors who have come to Zimbabwe over the past few months have been
surprised by the peace and stability prevailing, which is in sharp contrast
to what they have been made to believe by the Western media, particularly
BBC.

Zimbabwe remains one of the best destinations in Africa, boasting of such
attractions as the Victoria Falls, abundant wildlife and the hospitality of
its people and no amount of bad publicity can take that away from us as
visitors to the expo will discover.

The travel expo also provides a platform for Zimbabwe to market the December
4 solar eclipse.

The spectacle will naturally attract visitors but all stakeholders need to
go out in full-force to ensure that tourists come in their thousands to
witness the event from this side of the Limpopo.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism have
been marketing the event since the beginning of the year but a lot of
mileage will be gained at the travel showcase.

The tourism industry, identified as one of the major pillars of the economy,
is heading for better times and the expo will play a big role in charting
the course.
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VOA

Fuel Shortage in Zimbabwe Creates Havoc for Commuters
Peta Thornycroft
Harare


03 Oct 2002, 16:58 UTC




Zimbabwe all but ran out of fuel Thursday. For the first time in a year,
long lines for gasoline can been seen throughout the capital and the second
city Bulawayo. Those worst hit by the fuel crisis are commuters who must
wait hours to get to and from work.

Thousands of Zimbabweans were late for work Thursday because of the fuel
shortages, which are likely to continue, despite reports there is fuel
outside Harare.

According to sources in the petroleum industry, there are millions of liters
of fuel in storage, but Zimbabwe does not have the foreign currency to
release it for distribution.

Proprietors of gasoline stations around Harare say they have not been told
why fuel has dried up, or when normal supplies will resume.

The government says shortages of gasoline and diesel are caused by hoarding.

Last year, President Robert Mugabe secured 70 percent of Zimbabwe's gasoline
and diesel needs from Libya. Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has close
ties with Mr. Mugabe, accepted payment in Zimbabwe's currency, which has
little value outside the country.

But other countries are not being as generous as Libya. Libya ships its fuel
to Zimbabwe by way of Mozambique, which then pumps it from the port of Beira
to Zimbabwe. However, before Zimbabwe can claim the fuel, Mozambique has
been demanding payment in foreign currency.

On several occasions in the last year, fuel briefly ran short, because
Mozambique had not been paid.

Last month, Mr. Mugabe visited Libya, and the state-controlled media said
another year's contract had been signed.

Financial analysts cite two possible reasons for the present fuel shortage:
either Libya now wants to be paid in hard currency, or Mozambique has not
been paid port dues and pumping fees.

If either or both these reasons are behind the fuel crisis, then Zimbabwe is
in a deeper economic crisis than ever before. Zimbabwe has no foreign
currency and its dwindling mineral exports are held up in South Africa
because of a strike at the port of Durban.

Meanwhile, donor agencies are concerned that, if the fuel problem is not
sorted out quickly, their food deliveries to hungry Zimbabweans in remote
parts of the country will be interrupted.
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Stress On the Rise Among Productive Age Group



African Church Information Service

September 23, 2002
Posted to the web October 3, 2002

Tim Chigodo


Stress, the silent pandemic, is presently widespread in Zimbabwe although
many ordinary folks are not aware of it.

The condition can be treated free of charge, but most people are paying a
lot of money because they do not know that they suffer from the condition.

Stress is an individual reaction to the environment or events occurring in
one's surroundings. Anything that can disrupt one's mental, emotional and
physical well-being can cause stress.

In such cases, one's coping ability becomes impaired or overwhelmed by
circumstances in one's life, which include loss of a job, marital problems,
divorce or death of a loved one and financial problems.

The affected person does not see a solution to the problem and that person's
life revolves around those issues day in and day out. Studies have shown
that most local people suffer from stress as a result of problems within
relationships and marriages.

According to Dr Dickson Chibanda, a psychiatrist, the majority of people,
particularly between 18 and 35 years of age, are disturbed by interpersonal
upheavals.

"Only 20 percent of people in Zimbabwe who try to kill themselves are
depressed and 80 percent are really crying out for help," said Chibanda.
Depression is a higher stage of stress that needs medical attention while
stress needs counselling only.

Chibanda said that a relationship between HIV/AIDS and stress has not yet
been found though the infection is rampant in the country. Many people are
killing themselves, he said, because of misunderstandings in a relationship
not because they were infected with the virus.

Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association president Prof Gordon Chavunduka
said most people suffered from the condition as a result of societal,
religious and cultural problems. "Marital and societal problems which are
caused by the economy are the major causes of stress," he said.

Cavunduka said most people were unaware that they were stressed and said
members of his organisation referred some patients to hospital. "Treatment
depends on the cause and at times we perform traditional ceremonies, while
in some instances medical and counselling services are offered," he said.

Another leading psychiatrist said stress was caused by adverse things in
life. "People can even abuse alcohol or stop weddings because of stress.
About two to 15 percent of people who visit clinics are depressed," he said.

"Most people want to present the doctor with respectable symptoms that are
physical. They don't want to say anything about their emotional pain as it
seems like a weakness to them".

He said non-respectable symptoms like fatigue, poor concentration, inability
to cope and unhappiness were not spoken about. Sudden change could be the
worst cause of stress, he added.

Stress can manifest itself through physical symptoms like headaches,
abdominal pains, shivering and many other physical symptoms, which are
easily misconstrued for an underlying physical illness.

If not treated, it can lead people to abuse alcohol or drugs in an effort to
find solutions by themselves. Chibanda observed: "They will do whatever
makes them feel good".

Various ways of treating stress include regular exercise, spending time with
your loved ones, setting achievable goals and most of all communication. In
Zimbabwe free treatment is offered to people suffering from stress.
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