Daily News
Mass action to go ahead, says
Ncube
4/7/2003 11:08:59 PM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
WELSHMAN Ncube, the MDC
secretary-general, said yesterday the party
would go ahead with its mass
action that would take any form - a stayaway,
mass demonstration, march or a
boycott of Zanu PF businesses.
He
denied a report in The Standard yesterday which said some MDC top
officials
had said they had abandoned plans for more stayaways as a means of
protest
against President Mugabe and would now try the negotiating
table.
Yesterday Ncube said: "Following a
report in today's edition of The
Standard which states that the MDC has
abandoned the mass stayaway and other
forms of protest, we wish to state that
the correct position is that all
forms of lawful democratic resistance
designed to ensure that the people of
Zimbabwe regain their freedoms, human
rights, peace and prosperity remain
firmly on the table. These include mass
demonstrations, marches, stayaways
and
boycotts."
Ncube said the form, content
and timing of such action were yet to
be
determined.
He said what had so far
been determined was that whatever action was
to be taken would be lawful,
peaceful and sustained. It would take the form
of all or a combination of
some of the options stated.
Ncube said:
"The people of Zimbabwe need to remain focused and united,
knowing that the
day is coming soon. Everyone of us will need to play their
part to ensure its
success."
Daily
News
Shortage of oral health
equipment hits Bulawayo
4/7/2003
11:04:04 PM (GMT +2)
From Sandra
Mujokoro in Bulawayo
THE Bulawayo City
Council is facing a chronic shortage of oral health
equipment such as dental
cartridges due to the foreign currency
crisis.
Pelandaba, Nkulumane and
Emakhandeni clinics are the only institutions
in the city which are providing
dental services.
At a recent council
meeting, there were suggestions that two of the
clinics be temporarily
closed, leaving only Pelandaba to operate.
Rita Dlodlo, the director of health services, said this move would
enable
council to fully utilise the one dental therapist and two exodontists
who
worked at the three clinics.
"We are
having problems with our suppliers Geddes and National
Pharmacy, who, due to
the shortage of foreign currency, are failing to
provide us with the
equipment and materials that we need. This has strained
our services but
there is little that we can do," said
Dlodlo.
She said that the ever-escalating
costs of dental services due to the
shortages had led to a decrease in the
number of patients attending the
dental
units.
In 2001, 13 000 people sought
dental services, while only 6 000 were
recorded in
2002.
However, councillor Mohammed Esat, said
the move would further reduce
the number of dental patients as those needing
the services would fail to do
so due to transport
problems.
"There is already a decline in
dental patients because of the
escalating dental costs and centralising the
service to one clinic would
worsen the trend," said
Esat.
The council resolved that the three
clinics be allowed to continue
operating on a rotational
basis.
Daily
News
MDC activists granted
bail
4/7/2003 11:04:31 PM (GMT
+2)
From Zerubabel Mudzingwa in
Gweru
KADOMA Central Member of Parliament
(MDC), Austin Mupandawana and 36
party supporters arrested for allegedly
destroying property worth nearly $12
million during last month's two-day mass
action, were granted $10 000 bail
each last Friday when they appeared before
magistrate Claudius Chimanga.
Initially, the court had denied them bail and remanded them in custody
to
Wednesday arguing that the accused might interfere with
police
investigations.
The 37 men,
represented by Christian Mafirakureva, were ordered to
report twice a week at
the Kadoma offices of the Criminal Investigations
Department and stay at
their given addresses until the matter has
been
finalised.
Apart from the
reporting conditions, Mupandawana was ordered to
surrender his travel
documents to the clerk of court and refrain from
public
violence.
The State alleged that
on 18 March, Mupandawana and a group of his
party supporters petrol-bombed
and destroyed property worth $11 743 593 as
part of the opposition party's
campaign against the government's misrule.
They allegedly targeted properties owned by suspected Zanu PF
supporters in
attacks that were allegedly timed to coincide with the
MDC-organised two-day
mass action.
Meanwhile, 10 more MDC
supporters were arrested in the town on Friday
over the same charges. They
are expected to appear in court soon.
Daily
News
Outrage after police attack
on disabled
4/7/2003 11:06:54 PM
(GMT +2)
From Ntungamili Nkomo in
Bulawayo
INCREASING police brutality
against innocent citizens outraged many
people in Bulawayo last Wednesday
when police allegedly beat up disabled
people queuing for sugar at a
supermarket.
A manager at the
supermarket, who spoke on condition of anonymity for
fear of reprisals, on
Friday confirmed the incident but would not give
more
details.
"I saw them (the
disabled) fighting with the police but I wouldn't
know how it all started,"
he said.
But the police on Friday refused
to comment and referred all questions
to Wayne Bvudzijena who has steadfastly
refused to talk to this paper.
About 50
disabled people, most of them elderly, were at City Centre
Supermarket in a
queue of their own, separate from the
able-bodied.
A group of police officers
pounced on them and ordered them
to
disperse.
When the crowd resisted,
the police allegedly started pounding them
with batons before bundling some
of them into their vehicle to Central
Police
Station.
Five of the disabled were
severely injured and were treated at Mpilo
Central Hospital and discharged on
the same day.
One victim, Mphitizeli
Nyathi, who sustained a deep cut on the head,
said it was disturbing that the
police had become "perpetrators of violence"
instead of protecting the
public.
He said: "The police are very
ruthless and selfish. They came and
ordered us to
disperse,
saying disabled people were "a
problem".
"When we refused to disperse
they beat us up and loaded all the sugar
from the supermarket onto their
vehicle."
Nyathi said he was detained at
the Central Police Station for about
five hours and was released without
being charged.
Wheelchair-bound Ntombazana
Sibanda sustained a deep cut above
the
eye.
She said the police should
respect the rights of the disabled and
"stop behaving like animals". She
described their action as "rather inhuman
and
barbaric".
A blind victim, Hamilton
Tsikidze, said they intended to take the
police to court and claim damages.
Tsikidze claimed he was beaten up until
he
fainted.
"I was severely assaulted and
lost consciousness. In any sane society,
their behaviour would be deplored
with the contempt it deserves," he said.
Obert Ngwenya and Peter Chiwota were badly injured and taken to
hospital
after the police assaults.
Daily
News
Ex-dissidents unleash reign
of terror in Binga
4/7/2003
11:10:36 PM (GMT +2)
From Chris Gande
in Bulawayo
FORMER dissidents of the 1980s
insurgency in rural Matabeleland have
reportedly unleashed a brutal
retribution campaign in Binga, leaving two
people battling for their lives in
hospital.
Joel Gabhuza, the MP for
the area, said yesterday villagers planned to
team up to hit back at the
former dissidents.
He said the atmosphere
was tense because of the terror perpetrated by
the group of about 10 former
dissidents, some of them war veterans.
Gabhuza alleged soldiers demining the Zambezi valley sometimes
provided the
former dissidents with vehicles for their
operations.
"The people are agitated," he
said. "They are now planning to team up
and hit back at the former
dissidents." Last month the Binga council
chairman, Herbert Sinampande, and
two councillors were assaulted by Zanu PF
supporters who forced him to climb
up a thorn tree and then jump down.
In
last year's rural district council elections Binga was the only
district in
which the MDC beat Zanu PF - winning 16 seats to the
latter's
five.
The former dissidents,
believed to be from Nkayi, have been deployed
in Binga, widely perceived as
an MDC stronghold.
Police yesterday
refused to comment and referred questions to
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena, who
has routinely refused to talk to
this
newspaper.
The group of former
dissidents is reported to have been behind a wave
of terror that left a
number of people dead in the run-up to the 2002
Presidential election in
Nkayi.
Fanuel Munkuli, one of the victims
recovering at Binga District
Hospital, was allegedly waylaid by the group
last Friday as he returned from
a night
out.
Villagers said Munkuli was attacked
with sticks, stones and small axes
by the former dissidents, some of them
armed with AK 47 assault rifles.
The
villagers said the group had taken over a house owned by a white
couple they
evicted.
"It is no longer safe to walk
alone," a villager who spoke on
condition of anonymity for fear of
victimisation, said.
One victim, Jameson
Muleya, a local Zanu PF member, was allegedly
attacked by the group after he
pleaded with them not to assault people.
Daily
News
War vets to discuss Mugabe
succession
4/7/2003 11:11:07 PM
(GMT +2)
By Precious
Shumba
THE issue of President Mugabe's
successor as leader of the ruling Zanu
PF will be raised at a war veterans'
congress in Mutare next month.
Endy Mhlanga, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National Liberation
War
Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA), said the succession would be among
other
issues on the congress agenda.
He
would not give details of how the congress intended to tackle the
thorny
issue which has not been openly discussed at Zanu PF
fora.
Party officials have recently
discounted reports of succession
manoeuvres involving the Speaker of
Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and
Retired Colonel Lionel
Dyck.
Dyck was reportedly sent as an
emissary by Mnangagwa to the opposition
MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to
sound him out on an exit plan for Mugabe.
Yesterday, all Mhlanga would say was: "As war veterans, we will
definitely be
discussing the issue of who will take over from the President
once he leaves
office.
"We will make a statement at the
end of the congress about our
deliberations and resolution on the
issue."
The ZNLWVA is strongly linked to
the ruling Zanu PF with some of its
leaders being in the party's politburo,
the central committee and the
Cabinet.
In a surprise development, Mhlanga called on Zimbabweans to respect
their
political differences and desist from inter-party violence which, he
said,
threatened to throw the country into political
turmoil.
Mhlanga's comments come against
the background of persistent reports
of the police, soldiers and notorious
Zanu PF militia, derisively referred
to as Green Bombers, attacking innocent
urban residents for allegedly
backing the successful MDC-led mass action
against the government last
month.
Daily
News
Farmer defies order to pay
$7m to ex-workers
4/7/2003
11:08:29 PM (GMT +2)
From Zerubabel
Mudzingwa in Gweru
FARMER Trevor Shaw has
defied two consecutive orders to pay more than
$7 million as compensation to
the workers whom he fired last year, setting
him on a collision course with
the government.
Shaw was ordered
to pay $7,06 million to the 64 workers.
The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare on 11 March
this
year gave the farmer seven days to pay the
money.
However, by last Thursday Shaw, who
owns Fairhill Farm, had not
complied with the
order.
Officials at the ministry's
provincial headquarters in Gweru, said the
order would remain in force even
if the farmer decides to launch
another
appeal.
They, however, declined
to disclose their next course of action in
light of the
defiance.
Shaw could not be reached for
comment.
The workers were fired in January
last year after they refused to
accept salaries, which they claimed, were
well below the government's
stipulated minimum
wages.
They challenged their dismissal at
the Labour Relations Office in
Gweru and won the
case.
The farmer was ordered to pay each
of the dismissed workers eight
months' salary as well as cash in lieu of
leave for that period.
Soon after the
determination, the farmer declined to compensate them
and immediately
launched an appeal, arguing that he should have been given
the option to
reinstate the workers.
He, however, lost
the case.
A few months later, the workers
took the matter back to the Labour
Relations offices arguing that the farmer
had failed to comply with an
earlier
determination.
Again, the Labour Relations
court ruled in their favour. Part of the
determination, compiled by a W
Musiiwa reads: "In the light of these facts,
I hereby order you to pay Drink
Murugege and 63 others a total of $7 066
213, 76 within seven
days".
The Zanu PF-aligned Zimbabwe
Federation of Trade Unions, is reported
to have threatened to engage the
messenger of court to attach the farmer's
property.
Daily
News
Leader Page
On-the-spot probes on food distribution
imperative
4/7/2003 10:56:15 PM
(GMT +2)
LAST week's workshop to
review the humanitarian crisis in the country
threw up some intriguing
positions on the cause of the food shortage and
what ought to be done to
safeguard the interests of the vulnerable
groups.
Victor Angelo, the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
resident representative, said: "We must
further guarantee that there are
safety nets to protect the rights of the
vulnerable parts of the population.
"It is
also our obligation to establish that equity and accountability
form the
foundation of humanitarian interventions."
In plain language: food aid must be provided to all. In even
plainer
language, the ruling Zanu PF must not be allowed to use food as a
political
weapon, which they did in the by-elections in Kuwadzana and
Highfield.
Angelo the diplomat would not
have said all that without committing a
diplomatic gaffe for which he might
have been asked to answer by his
superiors at the
UNDP.
But he was repeating the concerns of
the donor community in general
about the suspicion that Zanu PF has seized
food aid and used it to boost
its waning support, particularly in the
communal areas.
The incident in Insiza
last year, during a by-election, when the party
seized donated food and
distributed it to buy votes, remains a poignant
reminder of how desperate the
party is to cling to power.
The second
position to emerge from last week's workshop was Flora Buka
's pathetic
attempt to keep trying to convince the world that it is the
drought, and not
the violent land seizures of 2000, which have caused the
current food
shortage.
The Minister of State conceded
that the land reform programme would
affect production levels. What she would
not disclose is: How much food aid
has been donated so far and is all of it
accounted for?
What about reports that
many Zanu PF leaders have installed grinding
mills at their homes and are
doing roaring business selling maize-meal to
their
communities?
Reports persist of the
continuing politicisation of food distribution.
The donor agencies, through
the UNDP and the World Food Programme (WFP)
offices in Zimbabwe, can get to
the bottom of this scandal only if they
themselves conduct on-the-spot
investigations.
In January, the head of
the WFP, James Morris, reportedly asked
President Mugabe if the UN could be
allowed to monitor the
food
distribution.
This was in
obvious response to widespread reports that Mugabe's party
was still
persisting with its practice of denying food aid to non-Zanu
PF
supporters.
There have been no
reports so far of the UN being allowed to monitor
food distribution to halt
the scandal of politicisation. But Angelo's
remarks last week would seem to
suggest there was still need for vigilance
among the food donors to prevent
Zanu PF from reaping where it did not sow.
There are two more parliamentary by-elections pending, in Zengeza
and
Makonde.
The former seat was held
by the opposition MDC, the latter by Zanu PF.
Makonde would be considered a
safe seat for Mugabe's party, as this is in
his home
province.
There may not be any need for
the party to engage in the shameful
practice of trying to buy votes which
they tried, in vain, to use in
Highfield and
Kuwadzana.
But their track record would
suggest they would try the same dirty
tactics in
Zengeza.
The maize grain which they have
used before could be from supplies
donated by the international
agencies.
The United States at one time
threatened to take "very intrusive and
interventionist measures" if the
scandal continued.
By all accounts, it is
continuing.
Daily
News
Muchinguri apologises to
evicted farm workers
4/7/2003
11:12:02 PM (GMT +2)
From Kelvin
Jakachira in Mutare
OPPAH Muchinguri, the
provincial governor of Manicaland, yesterday
promised to deal with
individuals who masterminded the eviction of 1 000
farm workers and their
families from Charleswood Estate in
Chimanimani.
"We have set up a
committee to investigate this issue and heads will
roll," Muchinguri
said.
The workers were evicted last week
and dumped in an open space in
Chimanimani, allegedly by the police,
soldiers, Central Intelligence
Organisation agents and Zanu PF
activists.
The workers and their families
were denied food and humanitarian aid
from ZimRrights, a human rights
watchdog.
Muchinguri said the eviction was
illegal and in violation of
government
policy.
"Farm workers were evicted without
the involvement of the district
administrator or a land officer. The police
acted on their own. They
unilaterally evicted the workers without informing
anyone. That action was
unwarranted," she
said.
Muchinguri said she rushed to
Chimanimani after she learnt that the
workers had been thrown out and were
staying in the open.
She said she had
apologised to the workers and their families for
their ill-treatment by the
police.
"Mothers and children were dumped
in the open and it was raining when
they were evicted. So, as a mother, I had
to apologise to them."
She said the
workers had been taken back to the farm. "We have not had
a case of this
nature where farm workers are evicted," she
said.
Muchinguri said the farm would be
temporarily run by the Agricultural
Rural Development Authority until the
ownership wrangle
between MP Roy Bennet
(MDC) and the government was resolved.
Bennet has twice won a High Court case against
eviction.
But government has insisted on
designating the farm, saying Bennet
owns another farm in Ruwa.Bennet leases
the farm in Ruwa.
Asked why the government
was designating the farm, which operates
under the Export Processing Zone
(EPZ), Muchinguri said: "These are issues
which we want to investigate
because we have not heard from the EPZ
authority."
Daily
News
Leader Page
People-oriented constitution answer to current
crisis
4/7/2003 10:56:53 PM (GMT
+2)
By Vote
Muza
The popular definition of democracy
is "government of the people, by
the people, for the people". The "democracy"
we currently have in Zimbabwe
does not meet this
criterion.
A new invention, called
"democratic dictatorship" has come to the
fore. This is an evil system where
those in government manipulate
institutions of democracy to consolidate their
power in a quest to guarantee
their lifelong exploitation of the
majority.
Civilised politics, in which the
wishes of the majority are observed
have been abrogated in favour of the
politics of treachery and deception.
The evidence is there for all to
see.
This subversion of institutions of
the State and government did not
occur overnight. It was deliberately and
gradually moulded into place over
time.
It is traceable to the early years of independence. Zanu PF's
one-party-state
crusade, which ended with the swallowing of PF Zapu, was the
beginning. The
only credible opposition at the time became extinct. After
the ruling party
had devoured PF Zapu the one-party-state drive went into a
frenzy, with
campaigning for the abolition of all forms of opposition
politics. Through
the untiring efforts of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, university
academics, students' organisations and other progressive
forces this Zanu PF
crusade was thwarted.
The unity accord
between PF Zapu and Zanu PF necessitated certain
constitutional amendments to
the Lancaster House Constitution that are a
nightmare
today.
These amendments, grand designs by
the populist and ambitious Eddison
Zvobgo, created a monster in the Executive
Presidency. With unfettered power
bestowed on him, through this careless
piece of legislation, our esteemed
leader leapt to consolidate his power and
that of the ruling party.
Due to this
regrettable legislation the President has powers to
override Parliament and
bypass the courts through the notorious Presidential
Regulations. These are
akin to special decrees common under
military
dictatorships.
Since the Unity
Accord, our Constitution has been amended and
re-amended and must now surely
resemble a kindergarten art book.
The
Unity Accord created too few positions for a large pool of
politicians coming
from the merged organisations. To secure a position one
had to show rare
talent in praise-singing and presidential worship, typified
by the now
redundant Tony Gara who blasphemed by equating President Mugabe
to Jesus
Christ.
The disadvantage of the Unity
Accord was that patriotic, hardworking
leaders were left at the periphery
while sycophants were elevated.
A
systematic purging of vocal and dynamic leaders sounded the death
knell for
rational discourse in Zanu PF. In its place authoritarianism and a
culture of
presidential patronage emerged. The Parliament of Zimbabwe became
a
sing-a-song choir for presidential praises. It spent most of its
time
listening to members individually paying homage to power-drunk
Mugabe.
Once Parliament was incapacitated,
repressive laws were fast-tracked
to strengthen Mugabe's hold on
power.
The monster called the war veteran
lay docile for many years after
independence and only raised its head in the
early 1990s. This
self-mobilised demon came into being by accident. It
harassed and bullied
Mugabe, and in an endeavour to save himself from
political demise, Mugabe
embraced it as his political partner. The Liberation
War Veterans'
Association is now a tool furthering the interests of the Zanu
PF elite. In
reorganising itself after the referendum defeat, the ruling
party unleashed
this beast onto the
nation.
In this monster the ruling party
has discovered a foolish partner to
keep it politically alive. With the
blessing of our esteemed President, the
war veterans have created
pandemonium, destroying everything they
fought
for.
Billions worth of property
has been plundered without compensation by
this mob of hoodlums. Women have
been raped, innocent commercial farmers
have been killed and their property
misappropriated.
One characteristic of
democratic dictatorship, like all fascism, is
that it is never short of
scapegoats. The current economic woes,
deliberately brought about by Zanu PF
anarchists are blamed on distant
foreign countries. Other scapegoats have
been the main opposition political
party the MDC and white commercial
farmers.
The structure of tacit
authoritarianism can never be complete without
the Department of Information
and Publicity. The dissemination of
information is controlled and monopolised
by government through the Mass
Media Trust and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation. Unquestioning
journalists shield political leaders from public
scrutiny and
accountability.
By the
grace of God only a few independent newspapers offer an
alternative voice to
the truth-starved public. Legislation like the Access
to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act was passed to silence
independent media from
scrutinising those holding public office.
Institutions of State security have all been transformed into the
ruling
party's apparatus of intimidation and
repression.
In an authentic democracy it
is taboo to hear State security personnel
swearing allegiance to a given
political party. The politicised Zimbabwe
Republic Police, Central
Intelligence Organisation and the Zimbabwe National
Army have done exactly
that, defying one of the fundamental principles of
democracy. Lives have been
lost at the hands of Zanu PF and the State
security agencies have looked
aside.
The desperate desire for permanent
political tenure has seen Zanu PF
encroaching on the judiciary. This last
vestige of real democracy has been
subverted in the most obnoxious fashion.
Political appointees sympathetic to
the ruling party's cause have been tasked
with overseeing the protection of
their master's interests in the higher
courts.
The pillars of democracy in the
form of a distinguishable Executive,
Parliament and Judiciary have been
knocked down. Today the Executive has
control over
Parliament.
The solution to this problem
lies only in removing Zanu PF from power
and crafting a new non-partisan,
people-oriented constitution. That
constitution must have at its core
tolerance of opposition opinion and
rational political discourse, for the
sake of the country's progress.
Sunday
Times (SA)
Black reform of Zimbabwe's
industry
HARARE - Much has been written about the chaotic
agrarian reform programme
in Zimbabwe, but a more orderly transfer of assets
has been taking place in
the country's industry in a process known as
indigenisation.
Until the presidential election in March last year,
industry was still
predominately in white hands. But over the past 10 months,
more than 10% of
the companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)
have become
majority black owned.
Analysts say it is hard to pinpoint
the exact ownership before this process
began because of share register
nominees and pension funds, but most put
direct black ownership at about 20%
prior to the election.
Stripping out the dual-listed counters Old Mutual,
PPC and Ashanti Interfin
Merchant Bank director Simba Mangwende estimates
that more than 20% of the
value of shareholdings on the ZSE has changed hands
in the period since the
election. He says blacks now hold majority
shareholdings in at least 45 of
the 77 companies listed on the ZSE still
second in Africa to the JSE
Securities Exchange SA in terms of
listings.
Indigenisation as a term used by government to promote black
ownership of
the economy is not new it has been around for more than a decade
but it has
become more defined over the past year as market colloquial for
takeovers by
black consortiums.
One after another, black consortiums
borrowed billions of Zimbabwe dollars
Mangwende estimates it to be as high as
Z30bn and acquired majority stakes
of not more than 34,9% so they did not
have to make an offer to minorities.
Mangwende traces the origins of the
term to the mid-1990s, when the banking
sector was liberalised and the
government granted licences to black players.
"That kicked off the
process. Blacks ran the new banks very well. That
created wealth beyond what
people could imagine and now they are leveraging
that wealth into other
sectors."
The chairman of a black- controlled asset management firm in
Harare credits
the entrepreneurship of Interfin which has managed five
buyouts of
publicly-listed companies with the recent surge in black
ownership.
Interfin saw the gap in the market with the government's
negative interest
rate regime and they used their relationships with white
business to
orchestrate a number of shareholder changes. The formula was
simple: use low
interest rates (of between 30% and 40%) to buy equity and let
inflation
(which stood at 198,9% year-on-year in December) do the
rest.
Within a year, the initial investment should have more than covered
the real
value of assets acquired.
If there has been a theme to the
acquisitions, it is companies with exposure
to agriculture. Some of the
shareholdings to change hands include
horticulture concern Interfresh;
retailer and manufacturer Tedco; pork
products group Colcom; seed maize
grower SeedCo; plough manufacturer
Zimplow; stationery and consumer goods
conglomerate Art and leisure group
Zimsun.
The asset management firm
chairman says that prior to the election, black
empowerment had been largely
cosmetic. A select group of black businessmen
cosily shared boardrooms with
white colleagues while the shareholdings of
most of these companies remained
in white or foreign hands.
The chairman says while the recent wave of
indigenisation is more to do with
entrepreneurship than an "engineered"
process of government, "the status quo
(of white shareholdings) was not
sustainable" in the postelection
environment.
"It took much longer
than it should have, but the process has not been as
bad as white
shareholders may have feared it would be. We did not have
stone-throwing mobs
invading boardrooms. This has been done on a willing
buyer-willing seller
basis," he says.
White management many of them still shareholders welcome
the new black
shareholders. They believe they will be better at neutralising
problems with
errant labour, accusations of racism in the workplace, and, in
the
agriculture-based companies, "settlers" and/or "new farmers".
The
national budget last November in which the government moved to
effectively
acquire Foreign Currency Accounts (FCAs) brought indigenisation
temporarily
to a halt. The stock market plunged 30% and many consortiums
were left in
negative equity positions.
Prior to the budget, many companies had, in
the constrained environment in
which they operated, managed to sustain
operations by increasing exports and
getting higher returns in Zimbabwe
dollars. Exporters were required to
convert 40% of FCA proceeds at the
official exchange rate of 1 to Z55, and
were then free to dispose of the 60%
balance in the "parallel market".
The parallel market is a semi- official
black market for currency. Since
August 2001, the exchange rate has been
steady at about Z320: 1.
However, after the elections, the rate moved up
to Z700: 1 as the onset of
the tobacco buying season saw farmers convert
their Zimbabwe dollar earnings
into hard currency. As the selling season drew
to an end, the parallel
market rate started to move up as high as Z1500, and,
by definition,
companies with foreign exchange earnings were expected to see
exponential
growth in earnings.
On budget day, Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa announced that the
government was increasing the amount of
foreign exchange earnings that had
to be converted at Z55: 1 to 50% from 40%.
T he balance of foreign exchange
earnings would only be released if companies
could satisfy the conditions of
a stringent "priority list". If, after 60
days the forex had not been used,
it would revert to the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe at a still- tobe-announced
exchange rate.
Business believed
its funds would be converted at the official rate and
argued with government
that it needed a "blended rate" ( 50% at the official
rate plus 50% parallel)
of at least Z800: 1 to break even.
"I can't say it was particularly
welcoming for indigenisation, but the
negatives emanating from the budget hit
everyone. The entire economy remains
under threat," says the chairman of the
asset management group.
The ZSE has, however, recovered as the government
announced a new "exporters
rate" effectively a devaluation to Z824:
1.
But Mangwende argues the process was never really under threat
because
inflation would have covered any risk. Having survived the downturn
in the
Zimbabwean economy, which has shrunk 25% in real terms over the past
three
years, most are solid businesses, he says.
There have been
several "indigenisations" this year. Nick Nyandoro, the head
of paint,
chemical and alcohol group Astra, brought together a group to buy
Glynns
Bolts, a private fastener manufacturing company. Another businessman,
Elton
Mangoma, has bought the majority stake in agricultural implement
group
William Bain.
The demand is insatiable, says Mangwende. "There
is probably not a single
white business in town that does not have an offer
to purchase from an
indigenous consortium or buyer."
Not all are
convinced of the benefits. Emmanuel Munyukwi, CE of the ZSE,
says "the same
names keep coming up. Right now it's a few privileged
individuals. What is
needed is a wider spread of wealth along the lines of
what happened with Old
Mutual.
"We really want to empower as many people as we can and
government should
direct indigenisation in this way, not to certain
individuals. Otherwise we
are going to face the same problems in the
future."
Munyukwi suggests that future privatisations such as the
profitable mobile
phone network Net*One should be offered to subscribers,
while account
holders in the Zimbabwe Building Society, which is under a
privatisation
tender, should get priority.
The asset management
chairman also believes that many of those that have
benefited from
indigenisation still need to get their priorities right.
"I welcome the
empowerment of young blacks, but I think that they have taken
it a bit far
when even their dealers are driving S-Class Mercs."
State, RBZ Fail to Squeeze Forex
The Herald
(Harare)
April 7, 2003
Posted to the web April 7, 2003
Victoria
Ruzvidzo And Walter Muchinguri
Harare
The state and the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe have so far failed to come up
with a package of incentives to
encourage Zimbabweans working abroad to
offload their foreign currency
earnings onto the formal market.
Finance and Economic Development
Minister Dr Herbert Murerwa announced five
months ago the Government's
intention to harness earnings from Zimbabweans
working and living
abroad.
Non-resident Zimbabweans offload their earnings on the street
market, which
offers higher rates than the official market.
The US
dollar is fetching an average $1 200 on the black market while the
pound is
selling for $1 900.
The official selling price is $824.
Other
non-resident Zimbabweans have kept their earnings stashed in foreign
banks as
there is nothing on the table to entice them to send the money
back
home.
In the meantime, the country continues to lose these
significant earnings
which it so much needs for critical imports such as fuel
and electricity.
The repatriation of foreign currency by Zimbabweans
living abroad could help
solve part of the country foreign currency
problems.
Foreign currency dealers estimate that at least US$3,5 million
and about 1,8
million British pounds find their way onto the street market
from abroad
every month.
The figures are expected to go up as more
economically active people have
left the country, mainly for the United
Kingdom.
A senior official in the Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development said
his ministry and the RBZ were working on the incentives,
admitting that the
process was taking longer than initially
anticipated.
"The Ministry and the Reserve Bank have been haggling over
this issue for
the past few weeks but nothing concrete has been finalised
yet," the
official said.
Furthermore, the amnesty to be granted to
foreign currency dealers,
corporate foreign currency account holders and
former bureau de change
operators to return externalised funds or that which
they hold in the
country as announced by Dr Murerwa when he launched the
National Economic
Revival Programme, had also not yet been
effected.
"There is need to look at advantages and disadvantages of the
amnesty to
both the Government and the targets of the amnesty because if it
is not
handled properly it might find no takers," the official
said.
Analysts said although the $824 to US$1 scheme effected by the
Government
was commendable, much more needed to be done for the amnesty to
produce the
desired results.
Others challenged the Government to
expedite the enactment of the
Anti-corruption law to ensure the introduction
of the whistle-blowers' fund
so that holders of foreign currency could be
flushed out.
Despite the introduction of the new export support price,
some unscrupulous
exporters are still engaged in transfer pricing,
under-invoicing and other
forms of malpractice, prejudicing the Government of
the much-needed foreign
currency earnings.
Statistics released by the
RBZ last week showed that foreign currency
earnings had gone up by 33 percent
since the introduction of the new export
scheme.
However, the RBZ is
currently investigating a number of cases where
exporters have cheated the
Government.
Sources close to the investigations said indications so far
were that the
Government had lost substantial amounts of foreign currency
through severe
malpractice by some big exporters.
"A few exporters
have been sincere in their earnings declarations but a
number of cases
involving huge amounts of foreign currency are under
investigations," said
the source.
Strategies were also being sought to plug the
loopholes.
Business
Day
SADC's fact-finders may meet mandate
THE
Zimbabwean government has mastered the art of "factfinding" missions to
the
country, and is now claiming credit for an imminent visit by a
Southern
African Development Community (SADC) task force to probe
recent
developments.
Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, who insists the
visit is his initiative, says
it is designed to counter negative propaganda
about Zimbabwe.
The decision to send in the task force on Zimbabwe formed
two years ago but
which has thus far proved totally ineffective in preventing
the country's
meltdown was taken at a recent meeting of SADC foreign
ministers.
It seems Mudenge has missed the fine print of the latest
mission which
states the team should meet "all stakeholders" and look into
claims of
state-sponsored human rights abuses. Such activities are not
usually
included in the government's tour itinerary.
Mudenge's
optimism on countering criticism of the Harare regime has
obviously been
buoyed by his success in convincing the likes of SA's Foreign
Minister
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma that the only facts relevant in the
Zimbabwean
situation are those disseminated by him and his colleagues.
The fact that
the Zanu (PF) campaign of terror is not played out on the
streets of central
Harare makes it easier to pretend the government version
of events is the
truth. And, of course, it is far easier to believe the
media is lying than to
question a flunkey of a former liberation leader like
President Robert
Mugabe.
However, there are indications that the task team might this time
bother to
look a little deeper than it or Zuma have done in the past. Such
hopes
spring from the murmurs of dissent emanating from the previously
silent
ranks of African solidarity on the Zimbabwean
question.
Botswana's President Festus Mogae has been the most outspoken
African leader
in criticism of Zimbabwe even prompting the first hint of a
harsh word on
the issue from President Thabo Mbeki as both stood side by side
at a recent
press conference.
Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano
said recently Zimbabwe's woes were
having an adverse effect on southern
Africa and its relations with western
donors. Ghana and Kenya have distanced
themselves from the evasive approach
taken by SA and Nigeria on Commonwealth
sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Privately, several African diplomats say it
is not a question of regional
nations backing Mugabe's behaviour Namibia
excluded but rather that they do
not have the stomach to engage him
meaningfully. "We have tried to talk to
him but he won't listen to us," was
the plaintive and pitiful lament of one
I spoke to.
Further evidence
of "breaking of ranks" among Mugabe's neighbours and
erstwhile friends has
been the ready acceptance by them of some the
commercial farmers Mugabe has
driven out something he is said to be miffed
about.
Of course it is
not surprising the mood among SADC governments seems to be
changing: the
Zimbabwe refugee problem is worsening, the lucrative tourism
sector is
suffering (except in SA), regional investment has declined,
intraAfrican
trade has been hit and the continent's recovery programme is
quickly losing
legitimacy.
Real SADC action is long overdue. Its task force has let
political
relationships dominate its response to the crisis, letting Mugabe
hide
behind the land reform issue rather than forcing him to tackle
urgent
problems of governance.
Mozambican Foreign Minister Leonardo
Simao, who announced the new task force
visit, does not appear to be the sort
of stooge Zanu (PF) has become used
to. After his own recent
government-guided tour of selected farming areas,
designed to convince him of
the success of the land reform programme, Simao
said: "I will not consider
that visit as a global picture of what is
happening throughout
Zimbabwe."
Dare one hope that, this time, the SADC will follow its
mandate of listening
to all stakeholders in trying to formulate solutions to
the great and
enduring Zimbabwean problem?
Games is director of
Africa@Work, a conferencing and
publishing company
focusing on Africa.
Letter
to The Times
Morality not money
THE chairman
of the ECB has managed to "save" the tour of England by
Zimbabwe this summer
by offering a sum of money in apparent recompense for
the dislocation caused
by England's refusal to visit Harare during the World
Cup, and has also given
a guarantee that England will fulfil its commitment
to tour Zimbabwe in the
winter of 2004/05.
Unless the ECB knows something about Mugabe's future
plans that we don't, it
beggars belief that such a commitment could be given.
If it was not a safe
place to visit this winter, it is hardly likely to be
any safer in 18 months
' time. As an organisation that has already made a
quite astonishing mess of
its activities in southern Africa, one might have
hoped that a sense of
realism had finally crept into the board's
thinking.
Unless there is a major change in the situation, England's
cricketers should
not be expected to visit Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe should not
be welcomed here.
Let us hope, at least, that if their team does come no
representative of its
Government will be invited to any function or match in
connection with the
tour. The ECB should finally make it clear that morality
is more important
than money.
John Fingleton, London
W1
MSNBC
Politics and food make volatile mix in
Zimbabwe
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, April 6 - A
shiny BMW and two government vans pull up in
front of a tangled line of dusty
trucks at a Zimbabwe grain depot. Trunks
and doors are opened and plump sacks
of grain swiftly loaded under the gaze
of armed
guards.
The transaction, witnessed by
journalists, takes place by a row of
towering grain silos at one of the
distribution sites controlled by the
government grain monopoly in this
southern African nation.
The centers are
at the heart of claims by opposition groups and human
rights activists that
the government is using food as a political weapon in
a country where over
half the people are at risk of
starvation.
Critics charge that food
supplies are being funneled mostly to buy
support and pay off cronies as
authoritarian President Robert Mugabe fights
against a strengthening
opposition threatening his decades-long hold
on
power.
Zimbabwe was once known as
the bread basket of southern Africa, but
food production has been wrecked by
erratic rains and the state's often
violent seizure of most white-owned
commercial farms. Vast tracts of
farmland either lie fallow or have been
carved into subsistence plots.
Cornmeal,
the staple food, is often distributed only to those with
membership cards in
the ruling Zanu-PF party. Grain is milled almost
exclusively by ruling party
members and shipped to stores whose owners are
known Mugabe
faithful.
''There is an assumption that
most governments want to feed their
people, (but Mugabe) realized that food
is a very effective political
weapon,'' said David Coltart, an opposition
lawmaker and a top human
rights
lawyer.
Government officials
dispute the accusation, putting the blame for
the food crisis on bad
weather.
''(It's) only in the
imagination of those who want to politicize and
demonize the food
distribution system,'' Social Welfare Minister July Moyo
told The Associated
Press.
Yet in August, when food first
became short in this country of 12
million people, Didymus Mutsata, Zanu-PF's
organizing secretary, said food
should go only to those within the party's
fold.
''We would be better off with only
6 million people, with our own
people who support the liberation struggle. We
don't want all these extra
people,'' Mutsata
said.
Diplomats also accuse the
government of obstructing food deliveries
to opposition
supporters.
At an angry confrontation
with Moyo last December, Tony Hall, the
special U.S. ambassador to the World
Food Program, demanded: ''Why do I get
the impression, that I have to beg you
to feed your people?''
Physicians for
Human Rights Denmark issued a report on cases of food
being abused for
political reasons, including rural opposition strongholds
where U.N. food
relief was reportedly withheld by the state grain
monopoly.
''If it is not possible to
increase nonpartisan food supplies into
the country, it is our opinion that
starvation and eventually death, will
occur along party lines in Zimbabwe,''
the report said.
Ruling party political
bosses also have been accused of selling grain
on the black market, sometimes
from their own living rooms. The official
price for a 22-pound bag of
cornmeal is 500 Zimbabwe dollars - about 50
cents - but is sold for 10 times
that on the illicit market.
Finding
cornmeal at government-set prices in public markets has
become increasingly
difficult, while witnesses report it being sold at cost
at ruling party
gatherings.
''The suffering is
incredible. All the time they interfere, all the
time government wants to
make it appear that they are the ones feeding the
people,'' said the Rev.
Pius Ncube, the outspoken Anglican archbishop of
Bulawayo, sitting at his
desk under an icon of a black Jesus.
Ncube said every day he hears stories from parishioners who are
forced to
present ruling party cards to get food, or have been turned away
as suspected
government opponents.
Out on the street,
a bread line stretched down tree-lined blocks of
Bulawayo, the country's
second biggest city.
''We are very
angry,'' said Cecilia, a 24-year-old who asked to be
identified only by her
first name.
She slipped away from the
line, saying she did not dare speak where
patrolling ruling party militants
might hear her.
''We don't see food,''
she said. ''We don't know where it is going.''
News24
Zambia threatens Zim farmers
06/04/2003
22:28 - (SA)
Jeff Kapembwa
Lusaka - Zambia's department
of home affairs is threatening to put white
Zimbabwean farmers out of the
country because they apparently do not have
the necessary immigration
documents.
Farmers, however, deny that they are staying in the country
illegally. They
say they are still "looking around" and will approach
immigration officials
soon.
Greenwell Liempe, spokesperson for the
immigration department, said more
than 100 Zimbabwean farmers entered Zambia
on tourist visas last year. He
said the farmers planned to settle and farm in
the fertile Mkushi area in
central Zambia.
"Some of the farmers
entered Zambia on the pretext of visiting family, but
they have no legal
immigration documents.
We would like to help them to resettle here, but
they have to adhere to the
law and get the necessary permits," he
said.
Liempe said the farmers would be prosecuted and deported if they
continued
to stay in the country illegally.
Farmers don't have enough
money
Deputy president Enoch Kavindele said earlier that most Zimbabwean
farmers
did not have enough money to buy farms in Zambia.
"Most of the
farmers who came to Zambia are satisfied with the quality of
the soil. They
can grow tobacco or produce other agricultural products here,
but they do not
have enough money."
The Zambian government is demanding $220 per
hectare.
Gregory White, one of the farmers who considers farming in
Zambia, said the
farmers are also looking at land in northern Zambia and
would apply for
permits soon.
He admitted that some of the farmers did
not have enough money to buy land
because of the way they were chased from
their farms in Zimbabwe.
He said the Zimbabwean farmers, white and black,
had money in the bank but
their accounts were frozen when they left the
country.
Cain Mathema, Zimbabwean High Commissioner in Zambia, said it
was untrue
that these farmers did not have money. "They have money in banks
in the
countries they came from.
"If there are any black farmers who
were affected by the land reform and who
fled to Zambia, they are welcome to
return.
"There is lots of land for real farmers who are willing to
co-operate with
the Zimbabwean government," he said.