The Herald
Thursday, October 09, 2008
By Martin Kadzere
ZIMBABWE'S annual inflation rate
rose to 231 million percent in July,
driven faster by food prices, according
to official Government
statistics. The annual rate of price growth was 11,2
million in June.
It therefore gained 219,8 million percentage points,
said the Central
Statistical Office in a statement released
yesterday.
What it means is on average goods in July this year were about 231
million times as expensive as they were 12 months earlier.
The
month-on-month rate rose 1 760,9-percentage points on the June
rate of 839,3
percent to 2 600,2 percent.
Bread and cereals were the main
drivers.
Depending on availability, a loaf of bread now costs between $7 000
and $10 000.
Bread prices have been pushed up by wheat shortages as
bakers are
relying on imports.
The latest inflation figures show that
Zimbabwe is suffering the
highest inflation rate in the world.
While
several measures have been put in place to calm inflation, most
were
ill-fated.
The Government blames this on illegal sanctions imposed by Britain
and its allies.
Zimbabwe is suffering from foreign currency, fuel and
food shortages.
Prices of goods and services are rising on daily
basis.
The economy has contracted almost 50 percent over the past 10 years
on pathetic performance by all sectors.
This was coupled by corruption in
both the public and private sectors.
Farm and factory output sharply
fell.
Tourism also suffered a major setback as holidaymakers shunned the
country on perceived country risk.
Economists are hoping the economy
could recover on the formation of
an inclusive Government.
The main
political parties - two MDC formations and Zanu-PF - last
month signed a
power-sharing deal to form an inclusive Government.
Various international
bodies are behind the deal and are interested
in helping Zimbabwe, once an
economic powerhouse in southern Africa.
A UN sponsored report on Zimbabwe's
economic revival says the country
needs 12 years to get back where it was in
the early 90's.
About US$5 billion will be needed.
http://www.businessday.co.za/
09
October 2008
Foreign
Staff
Reuters
HARARE
- Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu (PF) party and the opposition were holding a
new
round of talks yester day after several attempts to break a deadlock
over
cabinet posts in a power-sharing deal failed, the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) said.
"There has been a new development. Our
negotiating team has just been
advised that there is a consultative meeting.
Our negotiating team and the
Zanu (PF) negotiating team are meeting," said
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa
Earlier in the day, Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa accused the main
opposition MDC of endangering
power-sharing talks which have stalled over
cabinet posts, but said
negotiations would continue.
Two MDC factions and President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu (PF) have been haggling
since September 15, when an outline
deal was reached to end a crisis that
worsened after Mugabe's re-election in
a June election boycotted by the MDC.
On Tuesday the main MDC faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai said no progress
had been made in talks, which remained
deadlocked on allocating all the key
ministries, and called for urgent
African intervention in the impasse.
"The MDC is prejudicing talks by
trying to negotiate in public. That will
not assist the process. That's a
sure way of collapsing the negotiations,"
Chinamasa said yesterday
.
"I don't agree that the negotiations have stalled. They will continue.
I don't
see the need of a facilitator. We must keep talking. The facilitator
is not
going to run this country," said Chinamasa, the ruling party's chief
negotiator.
The original deal between Zimbabwe's political parties
was brokered by Thabo
Mbeki, who remains mediator on behalf of the Southern
African Development
Community even though he has been ousted as
president.
Under the outline agreement, Mugabe would retain the
presidency and chair
the cabinet, while Tsvangirai as prime minister would
head a council of
ministers supervising the cabinet.
Zimbabweans fear
that failure to find a breakthrough will worsen an economic
crisis most
visible in inflation of about 11-million percent - the highest
in the world
- and chronic shortages of food, electricity, water, and
lately, bank
notes.
Didymus Mutasa, chairman of the cabinet committee on food
procurement, said
yesterday that the country had obtained 200000 tons of
maize from SA.
Zimbabwe needs 40000 tons of maize a week to feed the
population, the
Harare-based Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation said on its
Newsnet website.
With Bloomberg
United Nations World
Food Programme (Rome)
PRESS RELEASE
9 October 2008
Posted to the
web 9 October 2008
With more than five million Zimbabweans facing
severe food shortages, the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today
appealed for US$140 million
to provide vital relief rations over the next
six months. Without additional
contributions, WFP warned it will run out of
stocks in January - at the very
peak of the crisis.
"Millions of
Zimbabweans have already run out of food or are surviving on
just one meal a
day - and the crisis is going to get much worse in the
coming months," said
Mustapha Darboe, WFP Regional Director for East,
Central and Southern
Africa. "WFP can prevent this crisis from becoming a
disaster but we need
more donations - and we need them now."
According to the FAO/WFP Crop
and Food Supply Assessment Mission, more than
2 million people are already
in need of assistance. This figure will rise to
5.1 million - or 45 percent
of the population - in early 2009. WFP is
planning to assist over 4 million
of those affected.
The situation is already critical in many rural areas,
particularly in the
worst affected southern districts but also in some
districts in the east,
centre and northwest of the country. A large number
of farmers harvested
little - if anything - this year and have now exhausted
their meagre stocks.
Many hungry families are reportedly living on one meal
a day, exchanging
precious livestock for buckets of maize or eating wild
foods such as baobab
and amarula.
Delayed by the government's
three-month suspension of most NGO field
activities, WFP and its NGO
partners began distributing monthly emergency
rations under the large-scale
vulnerable group feeding programme at the
start of October, targeting rural
communities worst affected by this year's
very poor harvest.
Tens of
thousands of beneficiaries have already received life-saving food
assistance
under this programme over the past week and WFP hopes to reach
1.8 million
by the end of the month. Operations will be scaled up to around
3.3 million
in the first three months of 2009 before the main cereal harvest
begins in
April.
In addition, WFP is targeting around 800,000 people each month
under its
separate safety-net programmes - taking its overall caseload to
around 2.5
million in October and more than 4 million in the first three
months of
2009.
Given the nationwide nature of the food shortages,
WFP will expand its
relief programme to 37 districts - five more than in
previous years. WFP
will also enhance the nutritional quality of its food
basket by adding
corn-soya blend to its basic mix of cereals, pulses and
vegetable oil to
help prevent malnutrition rates from rising. In Zimbabwe,
28 percent of
children under five are already chronically
malnourished.
To boost its already-substantial logistics operation, WFP
has opened a new
transhipment point in the central town of Gweru and a new
warehouse in the
South African border town of Musina, which has the capacity
to bag 50,000
tons of food over the next six months.
But these plans
are all subject to sufficient donations arriving in time.
WFP currently
faces a shortfall of over 145,000 metric tons of food,
including 110,000
tons of cereals. Without extra donations, WFP will run out
of supplies in
January - just as needs are peaking.
"Our donors have been
extraordinarily generous over the past six years, but
the food crisis is far
from over. We are urging them to dig deep once
again," said Darboe, adding
that cash donations will allow WFP to purchase
crucial commodities
regionally.
In addition to WFP's beneficiaries, a group of US-sponsored
NGOs known as
C-SAFE plans to provide food to over 1 million Zimbabweans in
districts not
covered by WFP. With these two humanitarian pipelines, food
assistance
should reach around 5 million people at the peak of the
crisis.
While WFP has received almost US$175 million so far in 2008,
another US$140
million is urgently needed to fund WFP's huge emergency
operation until
April 2009.
Donors to WFP's operations in Zimbabwe in
2008 include: United States
(US$105 million); United Kingdom (US$18
million); Australia (US$14 million);
Netherlands (US$11 million); EC (US$10
million); Canada (US$6 million);
Japan (US$3 million); Norway (US$2
million); Switzerland (US$1.8 million);
Ireland (US$1.5 million); Sweden
(US$ 1.2 million); Italy (US$780,000);
Spain (US$470,000); and, Greece
(US$72,000).
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5472
October 9, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
BULAWAYO - War veterans who fought in the liberation war
under the Zimbabwe
People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the armed wing of Dr
Joshua Nkomo's
ZAPU, have broken away from the controversy-ridden Zimbabwe
National
Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA).
The ex-ZIPRA
fighters, who say their lives have not changed for the better
since
independence, have already put in place an interim executive to steer
the
body away from the mainstream ZNLWVA, a backbone of Zanu-PF over recent
years.
Ironically, the ZNLWVA is led by Jabulani SIbanda, who claims
to have also
fought on the side of ZIPRA during the war of Zimbabwe's
liberation. He has
failed to effectively quash assertions that he is too
young to have
participated in the war of liberation in any
capacity
The rebel war veterans have named their movement the
Organisation of ZIPRA
Veterans and have applied for registration with the
Ministry of Public
Service, Labour and Social Welfare as a voluntary welfare
organisation.
Retired Colonel Ray Ncube, who was elected interim
chairman, said ZIPRA war
veterans were some of the poorest people in
Zimbabwe, yet their counterparts
who fought under the Zimbabwe African
National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the
armed wing of President Robert
Mugabe's then ZANU party, were leading more
decent lives.
Ncube
attacked the ZNLWVA for not doing anything to correct the apparent
discrepancies between cadres from the two liberation armies.
"We have
been members of the ZNLWVA for close to 20 years now," said Ncube.
"Apart
from that, we are a reserve force under the Ministry of Defence, but
this
has not resulted in positive change in our lives as ex-ZIPRA cadres.
"We
feel that a leaner organisation, representing only former ZIPRA comrades
will help us a lot in terms of enhancing our lives."
Effectively,
this means the ZNLWVA will become an association of former
ZANLA fighters
with a former ZiPRA leader, Sibanda, Another organisation of
war veterans,
the Zimbabwe Liberators Platform was formed after 2000 out of
disenchantment
with the role played by the war veterans during the land
invasions.The ZLP
was spearheaded by war veteran WIlfred Mhanda, also known
as Dzinashe
Machingura, one of the senior ZANLA fighters who were jailed by
Mugabe in
deplorable conditions , only to be freed after the signing of the
Lancaster
House Agreement. The current Commissioner-General of Police,
Augustine
Chihuri, and outgoing Minister of Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo, were
among
ZANU's prisoners at Cabo del Gado in northern Mozambique.
The formation
of yet another association os war veterans is set to unsettle
Zanu-PF,
especially as the new group as vowed to reclaim more than 50
multi-billion
dollar properties that were seized by the government at the
height of the
Gukurahundi disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands.
The split of the
ZNLWVA is likely to further weaken Zanu-PF which has relied
heavily since
2000 on the so-called war veterans to spearhead its election
campaigns. The
ex-combatants are accused of unleashing violence against
opposition
supporters in the 2000, 2002 and 2005 elections as well as most
recently in
the run-up to the June 27 presidential election run-off. The
deputy
chairman of ZNWVA, Joseph Chinotimba, stands accused a reign of
terror in
the Buhera District, where many were butchered in the run-up to
the June 27
presidential election.
"It must surprise you to find out that ZIPRA
cadres are very poor yet we
liberated this country," Ncube
said.
Other members of the interim executive are Besta Magwizi, the
vice-chairman
and John Gazi, the secretary.
On the properties
allegedly seized by the government, Ncube said his new
organisation would
seek to establish the status of the properties and work
to have them
returned to ex-ZIPRA combatants.
Soon after independence, the
ex-servicemen pooled their resources together
and acquired 25 farms and 31
companies, operating under Nitram.
He said since the seizure, only four
farms had been given back to the former
ZIPRA soldiers. He said the major
problem was that the farms were being used
by certain figures that he
refused to name.
http://www.radiovop.com
MASVINGO, October 8 2008 - Hundreds of
depositors with the Commercial
Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) staged a sit-in
protest on Tuesday after failing to
access their cash by end of day,
resulting in the police being called in to
force march them out of the
banking hall at around eight PM.
The clients,
mostly comprising teachers from the rural areas, refused
to disperse at
closing time and heckled the bank's manager, Albert Shoko,
when he tried to
address them.
The bank officials claimed they were off-line the
whole day, yet other
banks were issuing cash, fuelling suspicion that the
bank had run out of
cash.
The civil servants
argued they could not leave, as they had no bus
fares to return home and had
no option but to sleep in the bank.
Irked by the
CBZ officials failure to come up with a solution, the
depositors also
reportedly tried to hold an employee and security guards
hostage.
Shoko had to be escorted out by the
police as tempers flared.
"This is all a result of
poor management, it was business as usual at
other banks. Shoko should go
back to Beverley Building Society, where he
came from," shouted one visibly
incensed client.
The depositors, however did not give up as
they proceeded to queue
outside the bank's Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
while hurling insults,
until bank officials loaded money into the machine at
around half past nine
that evening.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Thursday, 09 October 2008
06:34
The Wave: What we stand for
This serves to inform
the public of the birth of a dynamic pressure
group that enters the fray
offering a purely different package. Our
inauguration comes just after the
signing of an agreement for a government
of national unity (GNU) in
Zimbabwe. The Wave will therefore make the
agreement its first point of
focus.
Our Values
The Wave is a pressure group whose
core values are to protect the will
of The Zimbabwean people. Without fear
or favour, we oppose politicians from
any party who subvert the will of the
people whether it be through lies,
violence, corruption, laziness or other
forms of selfishness. We will use a
holistic approach to combat such evils -
our methods are peaceful and
disciplined, yet powerful. We will utilize
techniques never before seen in
the context of the Zimbabwean struggle.
Ultimately, our goal is to bring
about peace, tolerance, humility and
accountability.
Our Mission
We have noted with grave
concern how GNUs mostly suit the warring
factions at the expense of the
people. The Wave seeks to bring massive
pressure to bear on the GNU to abide
by the will of the people. A vacuum has
potentially been created by the
narrowing of the political divide. As the
parties draw closer history has it
that the people will be forgotten. It is
our duty to make sure that the will
of the people is safegauded until a true
democratic space has been
realised.
The Wave will be a non-partisan voice for Zimbabweans of
all tribes
and races. We will use standard methods -demonstations, public
annoncements,
media campaigns, and the like - but, as alluded to above, The
Wave will not
hestitate to use dynamic and unorthodox, yet peaceful,
techniques to make
the people's will heard and felt. Democratic space can
only be created if
massive pressure is mounted on the politicians. They
shall be slaves not
masters.
The constitution is a vital tool
for attaining and defending our
democratic space.To us, the constitution is
sacrosanct. We will work with
zeal to see it rec-created and become the
guardian of the people. It is our
intention to work with relevant
organisations like NCA to see the document
put in place within 18
months.
It is our belief that the people will only begin to be
empowered when
elections are conducted in a democratic space tutored by a
people's
constitution. Therefore, in addition to a new constitution, we will
be
pushing for early elections - 2013 is too long - 5 years is too much time
for politicians to keep their own space and become fat on the toil of the
people. March 29 was but the first word - the people have much more to say.
The Wave says: let their voice be heard. Those who resist declare that they
are afraid to submit to the people. They can run, but we will not let them
hide.
These are but a few of the things that The Wave will
pursue with zeal.
We call on all who love Zimbabwe to put their shoulders to
the wheel. The
struggle is far from over!
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2008/10/09/how-mugabe-is-sinking-the-zimbabwe-deal/
How
9 October 2008, 07:06 GMT + 2
It
should not come as a surprise. Mugabe has followed the same strategy
throughout his presidency: Take it to the brink, pull back, take it to the
brink, pull back . and through it all, hold on to power.
It is no
different now. He took it to the brink with his rigged election,
then pulled
back with mediation. Now he's taking it to the brink again.
Thabo Mbeki was
useful during the mediation. He is not useful now that the
mediation is
being undermined, so, in one of the most incredible political
flip-flops of
all time, Mugabe doesn't want him to mediate in the impasse
over who is
going to get shich Cabinet post in a power-sharing government.
He will push
it as far over the edge as he can before he does that. Then,
like suckers,
we will all hail the return of mediation . and so the game
will go
on.
The world needs to short-circut this right now. Mugabe must be condemned,
isolated and given the pariah status he deserves.
1 Comment so
far
1.. Albert Albert on October 9th, 2008
You've hit the nail
on the head. The man is not reliable.He plays the game
of stretching you,
buying time for himself, until you give in; like what the
MDCT has done. The
MDCT acknowledges that they have had to compromise on
some demands; really?
What are those worthles demands you could do without?
I would advise the
MDCT not to tire or compromise for genuine democracy.
Match the man to his
antics and unmask them.Soon he is the one to give
in.You have to be
patient.
The AU & SADC should show character. Its not too late for
them to unmask
the charade that Mugabe' government is. African leaders must
just insist on
the right thing to happen.
1.Reject the shame June 2008
one man election
2.Accept Tsvangirayi's March 2008 election victory and
allow him to form
the government.
The AU & SADC will have to be the
authority to ensure that this happens. I'm
sure they can handle a small
country like zimbabwe.Assistance can be secured
from the UN if the task is
beyond their depth.
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za
Sentletse
Diakanyo
Almost a
month after Zanu-PF and the MDC signed a power-sharing deal, they
have not
been able to form a government to free ordinary Zimbabweans from
their
economic misery. The impasse is over allocation of key ministries.
Robert
Mugabe and his thugs remain stubborn and adamant that key ministries
should
be controlled by Zanu-PF. As a result the country remains held to
ransom by
a senile 84-year-old has-been liberation hero and his band of
thugs and is
unable to progress forward.
All sectors of the economy have collapsed.
Government is dysfunctional and
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has transformed
itself into a mafia
headquarters and a printing factory of worthless local
currency. The Reserve
Bank continues to rob banks of any foreign exchange in
order to sustain the
livelihood of Mugabe's cronies. This foreign currency
is then replaced at
absurd exchange rates with local currency whose
usefulness is for rolling
joints and lighting fires.
Businesses find
it impossible to operate at prevailing pathetic conditions.
The entire
financial system was disabled by the Reserve Bank when they
suspended
electronic money transfers, thus crippling businesses already
brought to the
brink of collapse by rapidly deteriorating hyperinflation,
which at end of
September was at a staggering 531 000 000 000% (i.e. 531
billion percent for
those dizzied by the zeros). Settlement of transactions
is an impossible
task and suppliers and customers are left in limbo.
Eighty percent (80%)
of the population is unemployed and almost seventy
percent (70%) live below
the poverty line. How ordinary Zimbabweans manage
to survive when food
prices escalate at a rate of more than ten thousand
percent (10 000%) a
month is only miraculous. Goods and services are
unaffordable in spite of
price controls.
Punishment imposed on businesses found charging prices
beyond the regulated
level may be imprisonment or revocation of trading
licence. No business can
survive on selling stock below cost and
continuously restocking at ever
increasing prices. It is of no surprise that
retail stores are empty and
many are closed.
It is time for Mugabe to
stop his nonsense and relinquish control of the key
ministries to the MDC in
order to allow aid to start flowing into the
country and help restart a
collapsed economy. A broad framework for
government has been agreed on and
it is now incumbent upon both Mugabe and
Morgan Tsvangirai to sort the
Zimbabwean mess and not depend on being
baby-sat by a representative of the
SADC. If these leaders are unable to
find a solution to their problems, they
must allow those who can to step in
and help poor Zimbabweans out of their
tragedy.
http://english.ohmynews.com
Ceremonies of fear and retribution continue to
victimize the poor and
vunerable, especially women
Stephen
Tsoroti
Published 2008-10-09 14:41 (KST)
Muzarabani,
Zimbabwe -- Driving down from the steep escarpment, my car
ambles cautiously
into the vast expanse of the fertile land lying quietly by
the mighty
Zambezi River. Normally arid and baked hard by the hot African
sun all year
round, the plain comes to sparkle during the rainy season when
the
meandering Zambezi River (the second longest river in Africa) bursts its
banks and floods the plains.
Kapatankombe village of Muzarabani
("Valley of the Floods") was nearly
invisible from the distance. Walking
towards it, an eerie rusty landscape of
rocks and thickets of thorns on
mountainsides, baked grass and Baobab trees
exudes a welcoming countenance.
Gradually the outlines of Kapatankombe
shimmer into view; thatched houses
lie side by side with new brick houses
just constructed with the proceeds of
the cotton crop.
Round granaries with cone shaped roofs tower over the
village. Nestled in
the hot lowlands of the Zambezi Valley, here, as
elsewhere along Muzarabani,
the soil is rich and does not need artificial
fertilizers. The presence of
big game wildlife -- elephants, lions, hyenas,
wild pigs -- testifies to the
soil's fertility.
Although few people
(most predominantly of the Korekore tribe who have
produced some of
Zimbabwe's revered stone sculptures) have been exposed to
Christianity and
other foreign religions, most still cling to their animists
and traditional
beliefs in which Mhondoros ("Lion Spirits") foretell the
future and evoke
spirits that stalk the countryside. Spiritual diviners,
best known as
Tsikamutandas, prowl the villages exorcising them of evil
spirits and
witches that they say cause untold suffering.
The atmosphere is obviously
rooted in spiritual beliefs. Certain names are
given to sacred trees,
mountains and rivers, explaining how their culture is
an inherent part of
their lives. But as I was to witness on my visit to the
area, an act of
moral vengeance seemed to have disturbed the air. Spiritual
diviners have
invaded the area and exorcisms were being conducted in village
after
village. Entire households are required to attend.
An advance guard of
local boys scampered along the road. They saw my
confusion and offered to
tell me where everybody was. I must have seemed an
odd presence. Hesitant to
leave my camera bag I firmly gripped it on my
shoulder and followed the boys
who were talking animatedly about a woman who
they said was a witch with a
pack of hyenas. At the village court, we saw
some men sitting on a couple of
stones. Others had come with small wooden
stools. Elders gathered to listen;
younger men, girls and boys came to watch
the spectacle. For those on the
roll call, anxiety was evident on their
faces.
In the compound a man
clad in traditional Ostrich feather headgear and
wrapped in black and white
clothes was seated a few meters in front of the
crowd. Before him was a log
on which a couple was seated cross-legged. He
was saying something and the
couple were nodding their heads. But then,
amused voices emanated from those
who able to hear the verdict being passed
out. The diviner had found their
weakness.
Although accusing people of witchcraft is outlawed in Zimbabwe,
cases
involving people pointing fingers at each other continues unabated and
the
advent of roving witch-hunters has caused a lot of havoc for the rural
women
folk. The typical course of events can be illustrated by the story of
Vaida
Billiart who was accused in the Mt. Darwin part of Zimbabwe. She lived
with
her late son's children in the Rusambo area of Rushinga district where
she
moved when she married in the 1960s. Her husband had died many years
previously but had ensured that his wife would be provided for in old age by
leaving much of the property to his wife's care.
She was devoted
to her grandchildren much of the time. But when the two
children got
mysteriously sick, a diviner was hired and passed judgment
against her. She
was sent out of the village. Horrified by the accusation,
the relatives of
her former husband led a group of thugs to burn her hut
where she had sought
refuge. She burnt to death and no trace of her remains
was ever
recovered.
Changing centuries-old customs and practices is not easy,
contends the
village head Denford Dengu of Gwararenzou area of Muzarabani
("Elephant's
Path").
He says the belief in witchcraft is as old as
society itself. It has always
kept in by the council of elders who where the
collective wisdom of the
people. But nowadays, more and more older women are
being accused of being
witches and such accusations often have grim
consequences.
Dengu says it is difficult to ignore the chiefs when they
call for an
exorcism because chiefs are the custodians of the people's
traditions. Witch
hunting ceremonies often have the full backing of the
chiefs.
A communal farmer and mother of three children, Senia Makenzi, a
widow, has
spent the last two years battling to clear her name after she was
told that
she was a witch responsible for the death of her husband. She says
after
being pronounced a witch she was ordered to pay two head of cattle and
to
perform some rituals that include undressing rites in front of her
in-laws
so as to drive off the spirit of witchcraft.
"I became an
outcast in the village. I could not take crops from my field
unless allowed
by the diviner. I was forced to have sex with the diviner. I
was fortunate
not to fall pregnant."
Abuses of women's rights are not unique to Africa,
says Betty Makoni of the
NGO "The Girl Child Network." Nevertheless, when
viewed as violations of the
rights of women, practices such as witch hunting
are simply unacceptable.
Dr Gordon Chavaunduka, a sociologist and also
the president of the Zimbabwe
National Traditional Healers Association
(Zinatha) notes that witch hunting
is just one kind of abuse women in the
country are facing. In other places,
he says, the victim is condemned to
death or expulsion from the community or
physical assault by family
members.
Arguing that witchcraft does exist, he says that the government
should amend
the Witchcraft Suppression Act, which he says was a colonial
law that did
not recognize the existence of witchcraft.
Zimbabwean
sociologist Obert Jiya says cases of witchcraft were mainly
linked to the
country's economic environment and education and the
demystification of
certain myths that surrounds the subject are paramount.
"We need to look
at the wider picture. It seems the upsurge in the country
of cleansing
ceremonies is also a reaction to sudden changes in Zimbabwe's
social
upheaval, the problems related to HIV-AIDS, freak weather conditions
which
have devastated agriculture, and huge increases in living costs."
People
may cast around and find scapegoats in the form of defenseless women,
says
Jiya.
Nowadays, many more widows live alone than in previous times and if
they are
not seen much around the village, an air of mystery may grow up
around them.
They have no support systems to help them counter accusations
of witchcraft.
They are vulnerable and usually poor.
They may have
the physical signs which influence those inclined to believe
they are
witches; for example, blood shot eyes from cooking over smoky fire
all their
lives, and the inescapable characteristics of old age like
wrinkles, bags
under the eyes, grey hair, twisted limbs and gnarled hands.
Jiya also
argues that there will be those who are greedy and impatient to
inherit the
resources of the elderly. Trumped up accusations of witchcraft
may be one of
the easiest ways of getting their hands on coveted property.
Or diviners
find it more profitable than working the dusty soil of crop
fields.
Supernatural powers of witches are believed in Zimbabwe to be
at the heart
of almost everything that brings sorrow, pain or shame, death,
illness,
insanity, impotence, barrenness, crop failure, accidents, the
breakdown of
marriages, unemployment, failure in exams, among other things.
The recent
violent political violence has created animosities within
communities and as
such led to many families trading accusations that they
have been bewitched.
In recent years there has been some effort by the
parliament of Zimbabwe to
enact a law to protect victims, but the process
was stalled after clashes
emerged between faith-based organisations and
traditional leaders over the
issues of granting the traditional healers
sweeping powers that would see
them having the sole rights of identifying
witches and in some instances
prescribing medication.
Many
faith-based organisations believe traditional healers work with the
same
people who are at the forefront of witch hunting. As these differences
continue, so do the ceremonies of fear and retribution.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Thursday, 09 October 2008
07:45
I normally give a crop forecast every year sometime in February.
This
year, I decided that since there was now a new minister of Agriculture,
Hon
Rugare Gumbo, I would give him time to settle down and see if he will
perpetuate the annual deliberate misinformation that became the modus
operandi of Hon Made since 2000. Dr Made misled this country annually, with
the approval of the President. I say the president approved because his
inefficiency is legendary. Many newspapers called for his dismissal over the
years but no action taken.
Minister Gumbo at least has told the
nation some truth but not the
whole truth. He has admitted and declared this
year a disaster. This is the
first time since 2000 that government has
admitted that there will be no
food and he did so early enough in the
season. I praise him for that.
Maybe I should deal with the current
season first before I look into
the meat of the problems; not challenges.
For those who have not read my
previous articles on maize in particular, I
would like to mention that the
first source of food shortage is the supply
of seed. Seed farmers, who the
government had said should be spared under
the now infamous land reform, had
their farms nevertheless taken. New
farmers were recruited to produce seed.
Because of inexperience, their
yields were just around two tonnes per hacter
instead of the average five
tonnes. A lot of the new farmers have stopped
seed production for various
reasons including viability, labour etc. I know
several farmers who have
abandoned seed production.
Shortage of seed will be with us for a long
time.
It will be remembered that in June last year, some obscure
South
African company was given US$45million to supply compound D
fertilizer. That
amount of money, given to the local manufacturers, would
provide sufficient
fertilizers for this country for a year. So we have the
perennial shortage.
Then of course there are fuel and draught power
shortages. These essentials
were so expensive that many farmers only put to
the ground enough for their
own consumption.
The sum total of
all this is that even without drought, there was
still going to be a
shortage of food. I estimate that the maize produced
this year will be
around 700 000t. This is because the only provinces where
there is some
meaningful maize are parts of Mashonalnd West and Central.
What
happened to the 1 800 000t of maize proudly announced in May last
year by
Dr. Made and repeated even after harvest by GMB? GMB continue to
mislead
this nation by saying that because their year ends in March, maize
continues
to be delivered up to end of March each year when they know that
for all
intents and purposes, deliveries are over by end of October. This is
where
Minister Gumbo has failed. Zimbabweans deserve to be told the truth at
least
for once. We know that the silos are empty. It is not your fault
Honourable
Minister, you inherited empty silos; why not say so and you start
with a
clean balance sheet, albeit with zero stocks?
The government has
disclosed that they are currently importing 400
000t of maize. Last season,
the GMB bought 500 000t. We know that the silos
are empty. The national
requirement is 2 000 000t of maize. The production
will be 700 000t. This
gives a shortfall of 1 300 000t. There is no foreign
currency to import
maize of this magnitude. Mr. Gumbo has the audacity to
tell the nation that
they will not seek assistance from any body as they
have the ability to feed
the nation.
Where is this ability? The country is completely
grounded because
there is no fuel. There is no foreign currency to import
power. Hwange is
unable to operate. Bulawayo has run out of water. Harare
residents are
drinking untreated water because amongst other problems, there
is no foreign
currency to import chemicals. I could go on and
on.
But what does Mr. Gumbo say? People in many parts of the
country are
starving right now. Children are going to school without food,
yet the
government does not want assistance. What is more shameful, people
dying of
hunger or asking for assistance?
Oh! By the way, there
will be combined elections next year,
presidential and parliamentary. This
obviously requires that the people are
properly conditioned starting now. By
March next year, the food shortage and
starvation will be at its worst. That
is when these sham elections will be
held. How appropriate.
While the Bible says that we must pray for those who rule over us, it
was
never the intention to pray for an evil government. Proverbs 29 vs. 2
says
"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the
wicked beareth rule, the people mourn".
I appeal to the Donors
who have saved the people from death over the
past 7 years to come forward
and save the lives of many innocent people from
certain death at the hands
of this uncaring government.
Renson Gasela
Secretary for
Lands and Agriculture
MDC
26th March, 2007
Vancouver Sun
Turning $100 US into $65,000
US is easy enough, if you know how to go about
it
Tendai C. Mutseyekwa,
Special to The Sun
Published: Thursday, October 09, 2008
HARARE -- The
unprecedented economic chaos in Zimbabwe has come as a
blessing in disguise
for those able to exploit loopholes in the government's
command-economy
policies.
The country's highly regulated foreign currency market, which
prohibits
formal trading of the Zimbabwe dollar, suffers an acute cash
shortage.
Annual inflation is estimated at 30 million per cent, and the
central bank
is in the habit of flooding the black market with worthless
Zimbabwe dollars
in order to buy up U.S. dollars. As a result, any
Zimbabwean money sitting
in a bank is practically useless. Depositors can
legally withdraw a mere
$20,000 Zm a day in cash, if there is cash on hand
to be had. At the end of
last week that was the price of two loaves of
bread, $7 US at the official
rate.
Things get more expensive by the
minute. The longer money in this debased
economy sits in an account, the
less valuable it becomes.
Because of the withdrawal limits, there are in
effect three rates of
exchange. The official rate ($1 US to $175 Zm) is more
or less academic.
There is the black market, where one American dollar was
recently worth
$1,000 Zm.
And then there is the bank transfer rate,
which places a value on
inaccessible money locked up in a bank account. You
have to write a cheque
for 650,000 Zm to equal the spending power of a
single U.S. dollar -- if you
can find someone willing to take it. But there
is a catch.
Suppose a depositor hands the bank some foreign currency --
say $100 US.
This sum will buy $100,000 Zm on the street, but the bank is
willing to pay
much more to obtain the hard currency --$65 million Zm in
fact.
The downside is that apart from the tiny daily withdrawal limit,
the
Zimbabwean money stays sequestered in the depositor's account, locked in
an
inflationary death spiral as prices rise by 15,000 per cent a
week.
But the country's central bank allows citizens to apply for special
dispensation letting them withdraw above the maximum for certain things. A
medical prescription will do the trick, or proof that one is purchasing
building supplies.
Government officials, unlike average citizens, are
reputed to encounter
remarkable success in obtaining dispensation. For those
who can obtain the
paperwork for a large withdrawal, the next step is to
take out all the money
in local currency and sell it on the black market at
the rate of $1,000 Zm
per greenback.
In the example above, the $100
US original deposit becomes $65 million Zm in
real cash that is then
converted on the street to $65,000 US. The profit: a
cool $64,900
US.
The scale of this profiteering sound incredible, but that is the
reality on
the ground in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. The longer it takes for
the three
main political parties to agree on the allocation of ministries in
the
long-overdue coalition government, the more chaotic the situation will
become.
Another sign of the currency crisis is how reputable
businesses that deal in
cash purchases have found a lifeline from simply
trading in currency.
Suddenly, they are making a killing.
People are
offering incredible discounts just to lay their hands on cash.
Recently, one
desperate store offered me a 99-per-cent discount on a small
purchase I was
making if I paid in cold hard cash.
In a bid for stability, the economy
is shifting to foreign-currency
transactions. The central bank recently
licensed more than 1,000 shops to
sell goods in foreign currency, abandoning
the local dollar altogether. The
wheels have come off and it is now survival
of the smartest -- whoever has
cash is indeed king.
IT’S TIME
Everyday I read the news in
the vain hope that something positive has
happened in our country,
Zimbabwe. Everyday there is nothing but
accusations, whining and
complaining and now South Africa seems to have
dumped us.
A lot of
people can’t understand why we are so placid when it comes to
standing up to
this outrageously invalid regime. Here’s why, thousands died
to put Mugabe
in power and look where that got us. The police and army will
admit that
they are being used as tools from above and they too fear for
their lives
and those of their loved ones. Morgan has done his best to
exclude violence
from his party politics, something very foreign to Mugabe.
If we are
unable to stand up against the devil for fear of sure death or
severe
beatings, then how’s this for an answer. Our border countries have
to close
their airspace to Zimbabwe, they have to close their borders
completely and
refuse to accept Mugabe as the leader of this country. After
all, he did
lose the March 29th elections, only after it took six weeks of
fiddling with
the results to make sure that there would be a run off.
Don’t doubt that
Mugabe is an extremely clever man. He is the pass master
at misinforming
and misleading his own people and the world. His first line
of attack is to
accuse his opponents of the exact thing he is himself doing.
His loyalty is
gained by treating his people like children, promising them
“sweets” for his
support. For example handing out tractors to his
followers, but they have
no equipment to pull with the tractors and many
only have been allocated
small portions of land that don’t require a
tractor.
These so called
smart sanctions have little to no affect. I could buy a
fake set of
documents with great ease in this country, those on the
sanctions list could
get them for free. The west kids themselves if they
think there are any
morals of ethics within this government.
Our “worried” neighbours may say
that by closing borders and airspace they
would make the suffering
unbearable. The longer they wait to do this and
force change, the longer we
are going to suffer unbearably. Let us suffer
for a few more weeks rather
than leaving us with no light at the end of the
tunnel until the joyous day
that God removes Mugabe from power.
-----------------
I am writing to
warn the MDC leadership that ZANU PF is deliberately
delaying the allocation
of Ministries. They really know that if they submit
the ministry of finance
their party will be broke within a day. Right now
Gono is printing money to
buy forex from the black market for 'ruling'
party. When Tsvangirai signed
that agreement he legitimised Mugabe's rule
thats why he was invited to
attend a UN general assembly meeting. In
November there will be a COMESA
summit in Zimbabwe with the understanding
that negotiations are going on
well. MDC is being used by ZANU PF because
they want to legitimise their
misrule. I therefore urge the MDC authorities
to pull out of the talks and
ZANU PF will be isolated by the international
community. Right now they are
looting the country's resources whilst they
are dragging the talks.
Tsangirai and MDC please don't be used by ZANU
PF.
-------------------