Starving in Zimbabwe 'amounts to genocide'

The Telegraph

By Sebastien Berger in Bulawayo

Last Updated: 3:58am BST 21/08/2007

Zimbabweans are starving to death on a scale equivalent to genocide, a
top opposition MP claimed yesterday.

Four million people will need food aid by the end of the year, the
World Food Programme said earlier this month, as President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu-PF government oversees the fastest-shrinking economy in the world.

David Coltart, a senior member of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, said there was "no doubt" Zimbabweans were already
starving to death.

"Arguably this is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis," he told
The Daily Telegraph. "Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world:
34 for women and 37 for men.

Mr Mugabe's mismanagement, which has also seen basic supplies
disappear from shop shelves after it imposed price controls, made him
culpable, he said.

"To use a legal term, I would say this amounts to genocide with
constructive intent. In terms of a complete disregard for the plight of
people, not caring whether there is wholesale loss of life, it amounts to
genocide."

Some observers believe that an internal coup in Mr Mugabe's divided
Zanu-PF party is the best, if not only, hope for change. But Mr Coltart, a
lawyer and the MP for Bulawayo South, said: "I don't believe you can predict
he will be gone in six months. It has been a mistake many have predicted in
the past.

"If Zanu-PF are happy with the notion of a vastly reduced economy with
a powerful ruling elite living in a sea of poverty, then it is sustainable.

There are several reasons Mr Mugabe has survived for so long. Few
African leaders are prepared to openly condemn him despite the fact that, as
Mr Coltart pointed out, "the overwhelming majority of the people who are
dying as a result of the regime's policies are black Africans".

Such sentiments were echoed by Kofi Annan, the former UN
secretary-general, last month. "Africans must guard against a pernicious,
self-destructive form of racism that unites citizens to rise up and expel
tyrannical rulers who are white, but to excuse tyrannical rulers who are
black," he said.

Zanu-PF officials never miss an opportunity to denounce what they call
the West's "illegal sanctions", blaming them for the country's turmoil -
even though they only amount to a visa ban and asset freezes on named
individuals.

"They have convinced Africa that Zimbabwe's battle is Africa's
battle - that this is about race and land and imperialism," said Mr Coltart,
49.

The situation was exemplified by last week's Southern African
Development Community summit in Zambia, where Mr Mugabe was welcomed with
thunderous applause. The meeting discussed a rescue package for the country,
and could not agree on conditions to attach to it. It made no criticism of
his rule.

Internally, too, Mr Mugabe's position is reinforced by historical and
geographical factors. "This country has been through two civil wars in
living memory and most people will do almost anything to avoid another,"
said Mr Coltart.

Zimbabwe has "safety valves" in South Africa and Botswana, he added.

"Young people can vent their anger by going south. So you don't have
the people who would be the vanguard of any uprising."

But probably the main factor in Mr Mugabe's survival is, ironically,
the very people who have fled his rule. With unemployment around 80 per
cent, by some estimates three-quarters of Zimbabweans earning a living are
doing so abroad, and their families survive on the money they send home.

The funds also support the remains of the economy. Opposition figures
say the remittances help the government survive, but do not condemn those
sending money.

"They have no choice," said Mr Coltart. "Only a dreadful choice
between wanting the regime gone and keeping their families alive."

'Cut aid to Robert Mugabe's apologists'

The Telegraph

By Kate Hoey, MP
Last Updated: 3:58am BST 21/08/2007

Commentary

The assembled presidents of southern Africa have engaged in another
sickening display of support for Robert Mugabe.

At a summit in Zambia, Southern African Development Community (SADC)
leaders betrayed the trust placed in them by the international community and
pathetically echoed the lies and misrepresentations churned out by Mugabe's
Zanu-PF.

Another hollow triumph for a brutal dictator who knows the only reason
he still holds power in Zimbabwe is because the British and American
governments who he blames for his country's dire situation are generously
providing the aid to feed its population.

SADC leaders refuse to address the real reasons that millions of
Zimbabweans are fleeing across the border into neighbouring countries,
dishonestly pretending that they are dealing with an economic crisis.

Certainly there is an economic crisis in Zimbabwe, but that is the
product of the much more serious crisis of governance.

African leaders re-iterate that the people of Zimbabwe must be allowed
to decide their own future. The truth is the electoral process is rigged yet
SADC utters not even the mildest reproof.

Their view is that because Mugabe led a liberation army 30 years ago
he should still be treated as a hero.

Robert Mugabe will not be persuaded to retire from office voluntarily.
He has spent a lifetime entrenching his personal power through the machinery
of ZanuPF and he is not going to start engaging seriously with any process
that will jeopardize his grip on power.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under Morgan Tsvangirai's
leadership deserves great credit for having so far steered the struggle for
freedom and human rights away from violence and bloodshed.

SADC leaders have turned their backs on the suffering of millions in
Zimbabwe and slapped the backs of the corrupt leaders who have reduced a
prosperous and self-sufficient country to ruins and starvation. They cannot
or do not want to understand the nature of the crisis in Zimbabwe. It is
time to re-internationalise the search for a solution.

The UN remitted the crisis to the African Union. The African Union
remitted it to SADC. SADC has now shown it supports Mugabe in his oppression
of the people of Zimbabwe and Thabo Mbeki's mediation is going nowhere.

The greatest irony of the 'African crisis that needs an African
solution' myth is that the endlessly demonised UK and US administrations are
picking up the bill.

We are expected to provide unlimited food aid to a country that
effectively bans agriculture and manipulates food imports. On top of that we
provide a safe haven for thousands of desperate political refugees who flee
to our shores.

It is not just an African issue. It is just as much an international
crisis as was the struggle against apartheid in South Africa . It is madness
to commit ever-larger amounts of our aid budget to dealing with the symptoms
without at the same time funding a cure.

If a fraction of our humanitarian aid budget went towards supporting
those who offer an alternative to the current regime we could start
investing in the recovery of Zimbabwe rather than providing sticking
plasters for its bleeding wounds.

We need to get tough on the SADC leaders. We ought to be reassigning
aid budgets from their nations to bring home to them the massive costs
arising from their inaction and complicity in propping up Mugabe.

We cannot simply go on footing the bill. Thabo Mbeki and his friends
have given Mugabe the green light to continue his tyranny.

My constituents are paying for his madness with their taxes;
Zimbabweans are paying with their lives

Kate Hoey MP is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on
Zimbabwe

SADC: Act now on Zimbabwe abuses

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Date: 21 Aug 2007

Southern African Leaders Miss Chance to Take Action

(London, August 21, 2007) - SADC Heads of State and Government have once
again failed to establish concrete measures for addressing the human rights
problems in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said today. The SADC leaders'
meeting in Lusaka on August 18 made a commendable commitment to a free and
peaceful election in Zimbabwe in 2008, but took no clear measures to realize
their vision of "allowing the people of Zimbabwe to elect the leaders of
their choice in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility."

"The summit has regrettably squandered a critical opportunity to re-examine
the negotiation mandate it gave to South African President Mbeki and to
include specific measures to address continued human rights violations in
Zimbabwe," said Tiseke Kasambala, Zimbabwe researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"SADC's inability to act on this urgent situation is deeply disappointing."

SADC's final communiqué from the summit
(http://www.sadc.int/news/news_details.php?news_id=1038) commended President
Thabo Mbeki's efforts to mediate talks between Zimbabwe's ruling party and
the opposition, which it said was "progressing smoothly." The communiqué
also welcomed the progress of the mediation talks and called on both
political parties to expedite the process of negotiations so that Zimbabwe's
elections could be held in an atmosphere of peace.

However, the SADC leaders did not press for an end to the pervasive human
rights violations currently taking place in Zimbabwe, set a specific
timeline for progress in the mediation talks, or create a framework for
addressing the human rights situation in the country. The new chairperson of
SADC, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, reportedly told journalists at the
summit's closing press conference that SADC leaders felt that the problems
in Zimbabwe were "exaggerated."

Human Rights Watch has long argued that the human rights abuses taking place
in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean government's intransigence demand a
meaningful response from SADC leaders, including a focused scrutiny of the
human rights situation in Zimbabwe
(http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/08/zimbab16615.htm).

"It is particularly disturbing that SADC leaders continue to categorically
fail in acknowledging the central role of Zimbabwe's grave human rights
crisis in the country's political and economic collapse," said Kasambala.

The human rights situation in Zimbabwe has significantly deteriorated in the
past year: police have arbitrarily arrested and beaten hundreds of civil
society activists in custody; police use of excessive and unnecessary force
has disrupted peaceful demonstrations; the authorities continue to use
repressive laws to prevent criticism of the government; and credible
allegations continue of torture of detainees in police custody. The
government has not investigated any of the serious abuses, much less brought
to account the perpetrators.

"SADC must establish clear benchmarks and a timeline for its initiative on
Zimbabwe. It is clear that the negotiations alone will not address the
atmosphere of violence and impunity that has developed in the country," said
Kasambala. "The people of Zimbabwe deserve much better from this regional
body."

To read the new Human Rights Watch briefing paper, "A Call to Action: The
Crisis in Zimbabwe - SADC's Human Rights Credibility on the Line," please
visit:

http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/zimbabwe0807/

To read the May 2007 Human Rights Watch report, "Bashing Dissent: Escalating
Violence and State Repression in Zimbabwe," please visit:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/30/zimbab15805.htm

For more information, please contact:

In London, Tiseke Kasambala (English): +44-79-3965-5384 (mobile)
In London, Lance Lattig (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish):
+44-20-7713-2784

© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY
10118-3299 USA

A call to action: The crisis in Zimbabwe SADC's human rights credibility on the line

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Date: 21 Aug 2007

I. Introduction

On August 16-18 2007, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Heads of State and Government will meet at their annual summit in Lusaka,
Zambia. The summit will provide SADC member states with an opportunity to
take action on one of the most critical situations in the region: the
political and human rights crisis in Zimbabwe. Their response will be
scrutinized carefully in the region and beyond. The credibility of SADC's
commitment to the promotion of human rights and the rule of law is on the
line.

In response to the brutal police beating of over 50 opposition members and
civil society activists on March 11, 2007 in Zimbabwe, SADC leaders convened
an extraordinary summit on March 28 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to address
the political crisis in Zimbabwe. In the communiqué following the summit,
SADC mandated South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate talks between
the opposition and the ruling party, and report back to the SADC troika on
progress.(1) The summit also mandated SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao
to undertake a study of the economic situation in Zimbabwe and to propose
measures on how SADC could assist Zimbabwe recover economically.(2) The
summit also called for enhanced diplomatic contacts with Zimbabwe to assist
with the resolution of the situation in Zimbabwe; appealed to Britain to
honor its compensation obligations with regards to land reform; and called
for the lifting of all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe. Regrettably, the
communiqué made no mention of the arrests and beatings of opposition and
civil society leaders or the broader human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

Notes:

(1)Communiqué from the 2007 Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and
Government Held in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, 28-29 March
2007.

(2) Ibid.

© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY
10118-3299 USA

Who Is My Brother's Keeper

African Path

Izzy Mutanhaurwa

August 20, 2007 07:18 PM

When Cain was asked by god where his brother was Abel, he replied with
a question "Am I my brother's keeper?". He was trying to deny the fact that
he had a responsibility for caring for his brother just as many of us today
show little concern for our brothers. That fact is highlighted by
Zimbabweans embittered by the policies led by the tyrannical regime of
Robert Mugabe who get little or no help from the international community.

You might have read about the deaths  of two people during a stampede
for sugar in Bulawayo. They add to the list of victims of direct state-led
violence and others who continue die everyday in Zimbabwe in undocumented
cases as a direct result of Mugabe's policies. I do not know how many
victims of either direct state-led violence or indirect victims of the
policies pursued by Mugabe will it take for the international community to
wake up from its slumber. We thought, the deaths of Talent Mabika & Tichaona
Chiminya might make the international community act, but they sat fiddling
their thumbs.Then Murambatsvina came and the damning UN report some of us
prayed that this is it, there is no way the international community is going
to ignore even a an official UN report but our hopes were dashed. Then
Zimbabwe's 3/11 came more than 60 opposition leaders were brutally assaulted
by the murderous Zimbabwean police, 3 people died,2 in police custody and
one was shot by police still again despite the noise of condemnation that
followed it wasn't enough for the international community to act.

Now in case reminiscent of Hotel Rwanda , the British government have
drawn up a contingency plan to pull out 22000 of its own citizens from
Zimbabwe amidst worsening economic and political climate .

Just like in the movie, where a convoy from a French-led intervention
force arrives at a 4 star hotel that was protecting foreigners from the
genocide that engulfed Rwanda in 1994, only to evacuate foreign nationals,
mostly whites and journalists who were guests there. Oliver the UN soldier
played by Nick Nolte leaves the hotel with only four U.N. guards and
shamefully tells Paul Rusesabagina played by Don Cheadle that no foreign
help is coming to stop the slaughter because no one cares enough to
intervene, as troops from both the intervention force and from some of the
UNAMIR nations withdrew from Rwanda. That's the line the British government
has taken for Zimbabwe, they will take care of their own and the poor and
disenfranchised of Zimbabwe have to cater for themselves.

As for our African brothers forget because the SADC meeting in Lusaka
has come to a close and nothing has come of it. I never expected anything
from the ineffective regional body like I explained on this blog sometime in
March that SADC is a club of aging African dictators who hold their
countries at ransom over dubious war credentials and protect their own. It
was surprising to hear that they danced and sang in jubilation

I hear it was a show of unity, it just goes to show that they do not
fully grasp the problems being faced by ordinary Zimbabweans today. Instead
of observing a minute of silence to all the victims Mugabe's tyranny
including the 15 year old boy killed by the government while stampeding for
sugar they sang in jubilation. Tutu summed it all up nicely that we Africans
should hang our heads in shame  because I mean seriously no sane person can
greet a known demonic despot dancing singing in jubilation. You will hear of
an economic rescue package which has been said to have strings of reform
attached to it, though it remains to be seen if Mugabe will do anything
about it. Mugabe has spurned the efforts of Mbeki to broker talks between
him and MDC saying his country does not need talks with MDC while they are
involved in violent acts. Which is the second time that Mugabe has lied to
the SADC, you all know that Mugabe's case against Paul Madzore the MDC MP
accused of petrol-bombing police stations collapsed last month when it was
pointed out that, it was a fictitious crime. Our own fellow brothers cannot
help us, who then will come to the rescue of Zimbabweans?

In other news Australia will revoke 8 student visas held by children
of Mugabe's senior government. We fully welcome that move, you cannot have a
situation whereby they have destroyed education in Zimbabwe and they want to
send their kids overseas looting foreign currency to fund their kids studies
while the rest of the population have to make do with sub-standard education
so thank you to the Australian government. More is needed by the
international community, while the revoking of student visas for their kids
will embarrass them its too little because by tomorrow these kids will have
been enrolled at either Wits University in South Africa or in Malaysia for
that matter. Which leaves the proverbial question Who Is My Brother's
Keeper?

How to put Zimbabwe back on its financial feet

Business Day

21 August 2007

Norman Reynolds

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OVER the next 10 years, the international community will have to pour vast
sums of money into Zimbabwe. Immediately, Zimbabwe requires at least R900m
just for food. To also cover fuel, electricity, medicines, other essential
imports, and to fund rand civil service payments, the figure would be about
R8bn - until December. The Zimbabwe "bill" for humanitarian and recovery
costs will come to at least R300bn from next year to 2012. If Zimbabwean
refugees were welcomed and used in SA for the next three years to build our
faltering economy and services, and if there was a proper currency, transfer
and payment system to Zimbabwe, they would provide about a quarter of that
R300bn bill direct to their families inside Zimbabwe.

If SA plays a leading role, it can restore the New Partnership for Africa's
Development vision and the promise of the African Union. It can demonstrate
a "failed state" programme able to be used elsewhere in Africa, including in
SA's marginalised townships and rural areas, and provinces such as Eastern
Cape, which still hold the majority of citizens as economic prisoners.

A "recovery" programme has to be built upon the quick realisation of
economic and social rights. People must become "competent" immediately -
that is, be able to look after themselves, their families and to contribute
to their communities.

Below, I outline a humanitarian and recovery plan prepared by a colleague
and me for the Zimbabwe United Nations (UN) Country Team in 2003. It uses
all foreign aid and transfers strategically to rebuild the modern economy,
with the local rand equivalent supporting a community-based economic and
social rights programme of the kind recently approved for SA by the
government under a new Local Economic Development programme. The programme
is called the Sustainable Community Development Programme.

Citizens are invited to mobilise and to register in community trusts formed
at village, neighbourhood and street level. They are then given resources
enabling them to act as partners of the government and business in
development and service delivery, and in the realisation of high local
income multipliers (local cash circulation).

Child rights are set at R400 a child under 18 each month. Of the payments,
30% goes to pay school fees, 10% to the community trust and the balance to
the parent/local supplier for food. In this way, the money circulates
locally three to four times, activating and rewarding local economic
production in a market differentiated from the national market.

Investment rights, worth R2000 per adult a year for four years, are paid to
each community trust for each registered resident adult. The money is used
jointly to build local productive capacity, such as gardens, irrigation,
improved grazing and woodland, rental housing and other infrastructure, and
to finance individual crop production and food processing. Member labour
contributions will double the cash value of the investment rights.

The total annual cash infusion into a community of 1000 adults and 1000
children under 18 would be R4,4m. To this, the adults would add about R3m
worth of labour. The local income multiplier would rise from around a
pathetic 1,4 or so at present to between three and four. The total annual
local economic activity generated a year would be about R16m, or R32000 for
a family of four. Total investment would be R5m a year or R10000 a family.

This surge in "unlocked" local energy and investment would drive the
national gross domestic product at least 3% higher each year. As important,
in contrast to the International Monetary Fund balance of payments route,
which sells the country at a discount to foreigners, it would first build
local demand to reward the revival of neighbourhoods and then of companies,
ensuring that all Zimbabweans are active participants and owners locally and
nationally.

Strategic use of the considerable foreign exchange (forex) provided by the
international community and the Zimbabwe diaspora would be managed through a
series of forex "windows". The first window would aim to back exporters, so
that the forex provided is first multiplied. For instance, tobacco used to
earn $12 for every $1 it took to grow the crop. Mining, tourism, some
industrial production and all of agriculture earn forex. The funds in this
"window" would not be auctioned - they would be "sold" at a price agreed on
by the donors and the reserve bank.

Any forex surplus to the first window would be passed to a second "window"
through which national essentials such as fuel and medicines would be
bought. This would act to keep the cost structure of the economy, and
inflation, down. Any further forex surplus would go to a third window, which
would auction it for use by domestic producers. A fourth window would
auction small surpluses for private use .

The use of economic and social rights programming, within a strong
"localisation" model to balance "globalisation", would allow Zimbabwe to
come under a form of United Nations/African Union economic and social
trusteeship. It would guarantee that all citizens were economically active
and secure .

 Dr Reynolds is a development economist.

Zanu (PF) 'busing in voters to win cities'

Business Day

21 August 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HARARE - Zimbabwe's ruling party is moving people from rural areas to
register as urban voters for next year's planned joint presidential and
parliamentary polls to strengthen its chances of wrest ing urban
constituencies from the opposition.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a coalition of nongovernmental
organisations whose mandate is to promote free and fair elections, accused
the ruling Zanu (PF) party of busing its supporters from its rural
strongholds to beef up its thin urban voter base.

In an update released last week on Zimbabwe's voter registration exercise,
which ended on Saturday, ZESN said Zanu (PF) was using housing co-operatives
made up mostly of its supporters to provide letters to rural voters so they
could pose as Harare residents.

According to the elections advocacy body, some of the Zanu (PF) supporters
are coming from as far as Gokwe to register as Harare voters. Gokwe is a
ruling party stronghold about 170km northwest of Harare.

ZESN said its teams assessing the voter registration exercise had come
across the scam in Harare North constituency, where hundreds of Zanu (PF)
supporters were using letters from the Ernest Kadungure Housing Co-operative
as proof of residence.

Construction of houses is yet to start at the housing co-operative and is
expected to take place well after the March 2008 elections. "F or every
stand, a minimum of six people get registered in a constituency in which
they do not reside," ZESN director Rindai Chipfunde said.

The registrar-general's office, which is responsible for voter registration,
requires letters from landlords or water and electricity bills as proof that
those seeking to register reside in the constituencies where they want to
vote.

" People are being registered in a constituency where they do not belong
simply because they have been allocated stands in the constituency," said
Chipfunde.

Since 2005, Zanu (PF) has been parcelling out housing stands at various
urban farms to its supporters under the banner of housing co-operatives .
Most of the stands remain undeveloped and unoccupied, yet in some cases more
than six people are registered on a single stand.

Zimbabwe's parliament meets today to consider two major pieces of
legislation, one to give the president considerable sway in appointing a
successor; another to "indigenise" foreign firms.

Political analysts said Mugabe, re-energised by the support from regional
leaders at a summit last week, wants to quickly ram through legislation
enabling parliament to pick a successor if a vacancy arose mid-term, and an
economic empowerment bill to indigenise foreign-owned firms by legislating a
majority black ownership of all companies operating in the country.
Zimonline, Reuters

'More investment needed in Africa'

Sunday Times, SA

Aug 21 2007 9:38AM

      
      By Evan Pickworth, I-Net Bridge Published:Aug 21, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------

       South Africa's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz
Pahad, said on Monday at the Association of SADC Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (Ascci) AGM that more investment needs to come from the SA private
sector in southern Africa as current FDI flows were not sufficient to
achieve the aims sustainable growth and halving poverty.

      He also noted that SA needs to intervene decisively to
ensure there is a development agenda in SADC or else in 2008 - after trade
restrictions in the region are opened up - it will be SA companies that will
benefit the most and this is not in the interests of the other countries and
the region.

      He added that greater attention needed to be given to
issues like the simplification and harmonisation of trade agreements,
improving productive capacity, prohibiting unfair business practices and
promotion of competition.

      "There is pressure on the SA private sector, parastatals
and government as a strong economic partner. It is in our interests to
ensure we take the lead,"

      said Pahad.

      He explained that African countries had not attracted
sufficient FDI to meet the Millennium Development Goals - "all stats show
that rather than increasing, the developed countries have been reducing
investment" he said.

      "It is incumbent on the SA private sector to ensure we
invest more decisively in FDI in SADC and other southern African countries,"
he added.

      "We need a development approach to trade, investment and
other economic activities to achieve integration and the objectives of
Nepad.

       "Infrastructure development is lacking in all countries
and SADC must give more attention to this," concluded Pahad.

Meikles to expand hotels in preparation for 2010

Business Report

August 21, 2007

By AUDREY D'ANGELO

Cape Town - Meikles Africa Hotels has announced a multimillion-rand
expansion and development plan in preparation for 2010.

The Zimbabwe-based firm owns the Cape Grace hotel at Cape Town's Victoria
and Alfred Waterfront.

In addition to spending more than $3 million (R22.39 million) on the
121-room Cape Grace, it plans to spend more than $50 million on the Victoria
Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe.

It also plans to spend more than $2 million on the historic Meikles Hotel in
Harare, and a still undecided multimillion-dollar sum on "a unique new
hospitality venue" at the planned Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier conservation
area.

Roy Meiring, chief executive of Meikles Africa Hotels, said yesterday that
parent company Meikles Africa, which is listed on the London and Harare
stock exchanges, was "involved in a number of strategic initiatives" to
raise equity funding for the development programme.

"A restructuring exercise is at present taking place and the investment in
this exercise will follow the inclusion of new partners in the company and
various related developments."

Meiring said the group's Vision 2010 plan reflected confidence in the
long-term future of the tourism sector in the region, including Zimbabwe.

Meikles Africa Hotels is a key player in the tourism sector in southern
Africa. It has earned a reputation for excellence and standards in hotel
operations dating back more than 100 years.

''We plan to consolidate this success not only with continued operational
strategies, but also with plans for expansion and improvement based on the
belief that the long-term future of tourism in this region is bright,"
Meiring said.

Partners in the Victoria Falls development include the Zimsun leisure group
and the railway authorities of Zimbabwe and Zambia.

They plan to construct a "spectacular" new wing for the famous colonial
Victoria Falls Hotel, a viewing platform overlooking the gorges below the
falls and "general refashioning programmes".

Meiring said the creation of a new wildlife-based operation was in the
initial planning stages.

The operation would see the establishment of an innovative hospitality venue
that would enhance and benefit from the transfrontier park - a facility that
would include more than 35 national parks, game reserves, sanctuaries and
game management areas in Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.

"We envisage a safari project which would incorporate a safari hotel with
satellite lodges catering for specific markets and groups."

The Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town has been judged one of the leading hotels
in the world.

Its public areas have been refashioned and work on its rooms and suites is
scheduled to be completed next year.

Airlines and tour operators say the Victoria Falls area appears to be a
separate enclave, untouched by the troubles in Zimbabwe. It is still
attracting international tourists.

SAA and British Airways/Comair said recently that their flights to Harare
were well supported by business travellers, although Airlink had postponed
plans to fly there.

PTA Bank loans Zimbabwe miner US$$3.3 million

Afrique en ligne

Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's main gold miner, RioZim has obtained a
US$$3.3 million loan from the regional PTA Bank to fund a greenfield project
near the central city of Kwe Kwe, officials said Monday.

The company, partly owned by international mining giant Rio Tinto,
announced early this year it had discovered gold reserves near Kwe Kwe, and
planned to raise offshore funding to develop the mine.

Officials said the funding from PTA Bank, one of Africa's leading
multilateral financial institutions, would be used by RioZim to procure
imported capital goods and raw materials for the project.

The company is Zimbabwe's biggest gold miners, producing 368
kilogrammes of the commodity in the first half of this year alone.

It is also into diamond and coal mining, although both are secondary
to its gold operations.

The terms of the loan were not given, but this is the second inside a
week PTA Bank has advanced to a Zimbabwean entity.

Earlier, the bank loaned a state-owned agricultural lender USD10
million to fund exporting farmers.

Harare - 20/08/2007

Panapress

Chairman's threatening rhetoric beggars belief

Business Report

August 21, 2007

Given the monumental suffering and plight of Zimbabweans as a result of the
country's economic meltdown, a statement from Jimmy Manyi, the chairman of
the employment equity commission, beggars belief.

He irresponsibly stated that if black advancement in the workplace did not
become equitable, black militancy in South Africa could make Zimbabwe look
like a Sunday picnic ("Pressure builds for BEE enforcement", Business
Report, August 19).

At a time when millions of Zimbabweans have been reduced to refugee status
because of the lunatic lengths to which President Robert Mugabe has gone to
entrench his grip on power, the likes of Manyi should be acutely conscious
of the role that minorities play in the economies of southern Africa.

The consequences of Mugabe's illegal removal of 4 000 white farmers from
their farms has in effect destroyed Zimbabwe's economy.

Those hardest hit have been black people.

Who, then, does Manyi think he is fooling with his threatening rhetoric?

If whites are marginalised, it will be to the detriment of South Africa's
economy and the biggest losers will be black people. Zimbabwe's experience
proves that.

Unless Manyi retracts his shocking threat and is severely reprimanded, the
scenario he has sketched constitutes the Sword of Damocles that can herald
only economic decline.

Duncan du Bois
DA councillor
Durban

ZIMFEST returns!

The world famous Zimbabwean charity fest showcases culture, sport and good
times!

 Every year at Zimfest time, thousands of Zimbabweans and all those who love
Zimbabwe, gather in a field, play sport and sink the odd bevy or two for
charity. However, every year the festival expands and becomes more
sophisticated. This year there’s a kaleidoscopic program of Zimbabwean music
and culture which energises the traditional beerfest format.

“Zimbabwean musicians are renowned worldwide for their talent,” said Adrian
Lunga, one of the organisers. “We ran a similar program last year, and the
crowd went nuts. The program this year has even more depth and originality,
so it is going to be good.”

• Date: 1ST September 2007. All day from 12 noon – 10 pm.
• Venue: Prince George’s Playing Fields, Bushey Rd, Raynes Pk, London SW20.
• Tickets: £16 Advance only: www.wezimbabwe.org
• Acts: Chiwoniso (Chi), Paul Lunga, Watership Down, Bush Guru, SpiritTalk,
Mbira, Anna Mudeka, Thabani, & a few surprises.
• Other: Braai, football tourney, beer (cold and fast), social sports,
sadza, gochi gochi, stands, kiddies tent, dance workshops, other cool
cultural happenings.

 WEZIMBABWE is a registered charity formed by Zimbabweans in the UK in 2001.
Our main focus is getting Zimbabweans to participate in the projects that
benefit all Zimbabweans and Zimbabwe as a nation. Website:
www.wezimbabwe.org
Media Contact: Philip Hadley T: 07793718560 E:
zimfest.marketing@wezimbabwe.org Office: 020 7549 0355/7

Troika for a dignified exit