Zim Online
Tue 22 August 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwean banks last night said
they had met an August 21
deadline to switch over to new currency, a crucial
lift for government
monetary reforms that had looked likely to descend into
chaos in a last
minute rush by individuals and firms to deposit old cash in
exchange for new
money.
Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
president Pindie Nyandoro told
ZimOnline that although there had been a huge
influx of people in banking
halls on deadline day on Monday, banks had coped
well and would not be
asking the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to extend
the deadline for
currency conversion.
Nyandoro, who is also
managing director of one of the country's
biggest commercial banks, Stanbic
Bank, said: "Nobody has asked for an
extension (of the deadline) .. we are
complying and everybody has complied.
There are absolutely no hitches,
though we had an influx of people but we
have
coped."
RBZ boss Gideon Gono last month introduced
a redenominated currency
after lopping off three less zeroes from the old
banknotes to help consumers
cope with rampant inflation of nearly 1 000
percent. The old notes ceased to
be legal tender yesterday.
Gono has argued that the new currency measures were necessary to deal
with a
bustling black-market trade, especially for foreign currency, which
had seen
trillions of local dollars "working overtime" in neighbouring
countries.
But the monetary reforms would have crumbled had
banks failed to make
the change over on time.
In a sign the
authorities were panicking at the prospect the banking
industry and other
key players in the market could fail to make the change
over, Gono was last
Sunday quoted by the official media as having said the
RBZ would consider
extending the deadline for those who might be still
holding cash by the
close of business yesterday.
RBZ spokesman Kumbirai Nhongo however
told ZimOnline yesterday that
the bank had not extended the deadline for
currency change-over. "I have
been out of office and I am driving into town
right now but for now there is
nothing on extension," said
Nhongo.
RBZ insiders said both individuals and firms that may still
be holding
old cash after the change-over deadline would have to turn it
into "garden
manure" as said by Gono when he first announced the currency
reforms.
Supermarkets and other movers of large cash would be
allowed to
deposit old cash at their banks today.
But many more
individuals especially villagers from remote parts of
the country, who could
not travel to towns and other centres to change their
money on time, were
sure to suffer huge losses as most were still stuck with
old money by close
of business yesterday.
Even in the capital Harare, scores of
workers could be seen last night
milling around public omnibus termini,
unable to go home because bus crews
would not accept their old cash after
the expiry of the RBZ deadline. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 22 August
2006
HARARE - Al Jazeera International, a subsidiary of famous
Arabic
television channel, Al Jazeera, has opened a two-man bureau in
Zimbabwe's
capital, Harare.
Al Jazeera International, which
like its parent company is
headquartered in Doha, Qatar, broadcasts news and
current affairs in English
24 hours a day. It is the only English news
channel with its head office in
the Middle East.
The Arab-owned
news channel had since the beginning of the year been
rumored to be keen to
set up a bureau in Zimbabwe, which, with its conflict
with major Western
nations over human rights and other governance issues,
fits in well into the
bill for the television channel.
But a Press conference called by
President Robert Mugabe's government
last Friday to officially announce the
opening of Al Jazeera International's
Harare bureau was cancelled at the
last minute.
Government officials later said on Monday that the
press conference
that was to take place at Mugabe's Munhumutapa offices had
been called off
after acting Information Minister Paul Mangwana - who was to
also address
journalists at the briefing - was summoned to attend to other
urgent
government business.
"The Press conference was to
announce that Al Jazeera have opened a
bureau in Harare. It had to be
cancelled because Minister Mangwana had to
attend to other pressing
government business," said an Information Ministry
official, who declined to
be named.
Besides Mangwana, Al Jazeera director of news, Steve
Clark, managing
editor, Ormar Bec and Africa bureau Chief, Andrew Simmons,
who arrived in
Harare last Thursday, would also have addressed the Press
conference at
Munhumutapa building.
It was not immediately
clear last night whether the Al Jazeera
officials were still in Harare
yesterday or whether another Press conference
to announce the channel's
presence in Harare would be called at a later
date.
But the two
journalists hired by Al Jazeera, Cyrus Nhara and Farai
Sevenzo, were said to
have already started work. Nhara is a cameraman and
producer who has done
work for Reuters television in Harare before. Sevenzo
is a news reporter who
has done work for Britain's Channel 4.
Al Jazeera is the first
international news channel in more than three
years to be allowed to set
permanent base in Zimbabwe after Mugabe's
government chased away mostly
Western televisions and radio broadcasters
such as the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
Most of the Western networks can still be allowed into
Zimbabwe but on
temporary basis and only to cover specific stories. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 22 August
2006
BULAWAYO - Police in Zimbabwe's second biggest city of
Bulawayo last
night released 13 women and kept in detention over 180
demonstrators who
were arrested on Monday for protesting against the
government's monetary
reforms.
The protesters, who included
some 30 men, belong to the Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group. They were
arrested yesterday for marching in
the city against monetary reforms
introduced by the government earlier this
year.
A lawyer
representing the protesters told ZimOnline last night that
the police had
only released women with small children while keeping the
rest of the
protesters in detention.
"Of those who were arrested, 13 of the
women have been released on
condition they stay under my custody because
they had children," said
Chivaura.
The protesters were
demonstrating against reforms that saw the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe
introduce new currency and slash three zeroes on the local
currency.
The central bank gave Zimbabweans until yesterday to
hand over the old
currency sparking chaotic scenes in urban areas as
individuals rushed to
beat the deadline. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 22
August 2006
DIEPSLOOT - The Zimbabwe Pastors Forum (ZPF) last
weekend donated food
and clothing to about 200 Zimbabwean refugees and
asylum seekers who are
living in South Africa.
The ZPF, which
was set up earlier this year to look after the
interests of refugees, handed
over 10 bags of blankets, dozens pairs of
shoes, clothes as well as packets
of food to the refugees who are staying in
Diepsloot in
Johannesburg.
Apart from Zimbabweans, the settlement also houses
refugees from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Burundi as well as
some from Rwanda.
Speaking at the hand-over ceremony at the
weekend, Pastor Guvakuva
said it was their duty as the church to look after
the material needs of the
poor.
"It is not enough to just
preach to the hungry but we have an
obligation to feed them when they are
hungry and thirsty. We care for the
poor and those in difficult situations
like the ones we are assisting
today," he said.
There are
thousands of Zimbabwean refugees living in South Africa
after fleeing hunger
and political persecution in their country. Because of
its proximity, South
Africa is the destination of choice for most
Zimbabweans fleeing economic
collapse at home. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 21 August 2006
BULAWAYO - Police in Zimbabwe's
second biggest city of Bulawayo on
Monday arrested 200 activists of the
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) protest
group for demonstrating against the
government's currency reforms.
Those arrested included men and
women who were part of a group of
about 500 protesters who marched across
the city singing songs denouncing
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
Gideon Gono, the author of the
monetary reforms.
The RBZ boss
earlier this month introduced a new currency with less
zeroes and gave
Zimbabweans up to 21 August to switch over to the new
currency as part of
reforms he said were meant to restore dignity to the
near-worthless Zimbabwe
dollar.
Gono, who also devalued the dollar by more than 60 percent,
also
ordered the police to seize from people holding amounts in excess of
Z$100
million and companies holding more than $5 billion of the old money in
cash.
The RBZ chief said the cash seizures were
meant to punish black-market
traders he accused of hoarding trillions of
cash they used to finance deals
on the parallel market.
A WOZA
senior official Jenny Williams, told ZimOnline on Monday that
her
organisation was particularly irked by the seizure of money from
individuals
by the police and youths aligned to the ruling ZANU PF party.
Williams said: "Nothing could be so disgusting. What we are saying is
that
the government should stop brutalising its own people over its own
failures.
"The illegal confiscation of peoples' money should
stop forthwith and
sound policies that will ensure economic stability should
be put in place."
Police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, could not be
reached for comment
on the matter.
A lawyer representing the
protesters, Simba Chivaura, told ZimOnline
that the police had indicated
that his clients would be charged with
inciting public violence and
demonstrating without permission from the
police.
Under the
tough Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Zimbabweans must
first inform
the police before embarking on any public demonstrations.
But WOZA
has often defied the law which human rights groups and the
main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party say has been used by
the government to
stifle legitimate political dissent. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mon 21 August 2006
BULAWAYO - Thousands of villagers on
Monday stormed commercial banks
and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
offices in the country's second
largest city of Bulawayo to exchange old
currency for new money ahead of
deadline by end of business
today.
The RBZ gave Zimbabweans up to August 21 to hand in old
bearer cheques
in exchange for new ones as part of sweeping currency reforms
that also
included a 60 percent devaluation of the local dollar. The new
bearer
cheques have less zeroes after the central bank slashed three zeroes
from
every banknote as part of the currency reforms.
Bearer
cheques are promissory notes first introduced by the RBZ three
years ago at
the height of cash shortages in Zimbabwe. They are not official
legal tender
but are used in the same way as money.
Long and winding queues
could be seen at the RBZ's Bulawayo offices,
commercial banks and building
societies as hordes of people mostly from the
countryside, who had failed to
change large sums of money during the
three-week grace period, scrambled to
exchange the old bearer's cheques.
"The RBZ mobile team
operating from Gokwe was overwhelmed by the
number of people exchanging the
old currency and I had no option except to
travel to Bulawayo to change the
money," said a woman who only identified
herself as Mai Chipo, explaining
why she had travelled hundreds of
kilometres from Gokwe to exchange her
money in Bulawayo.
Other villagers said they had had to travel to
Bulawayo because the
RBZ's mobile teams operating in their areas were
refusing to change amounts
in excess of $10 million in old
currency.
Sources in the towns of Gwanda, Hwange, Plumtree,
Beitbridge and
Lupane - all dotted across the vast Matabeleland region in
the south-west of
the country - told ZimOnline that hundreds of people last
night slept in
queues at banks and at temporary offices set up by the RBZ
there as
desperation crept in as the deadline to hand in old currency drew
closer.
In Bulawayo, the RBZ office was open to members of the
public on
Saturday and Sunday but still did not manage to clear the long
queues and
hundreds of villagers slept in the queue outside the central
bank's office
hoping to be the first to be attended to when the bank opened
for business
on Monday.
"I own 10 public commuter omnibuses and
over the weekend we were still
accepting the old currency from customers and
I came here early to exchange
my weekend earnings for the new currency, the
queues are very long but I
have no option except to be patient," said Joseph
Khumalo, who was at the
RBZ office laden with canvass bags full of old
money.
The same rush-hour panicking was visible in Zimbabwe's
capital Harare
where by mid-morning banks were full to the brim with
depositors hurrying to
literally dump their old cash in exchange for new
money.
Some retail shops and public commuter operators in the
capital city
were reportedly refusing to accept old money, which however is
still valid
until midnight today.
A newspaper vendor who
refused to accept old currency from a ZimOnline
reporter said: "Why should I
accept this old money when even the big
supermarkets are refusing to accept
it?"
RBZ governor Gideon Gono has warned businesses and all
financial
institutions to take old currency right up to the deadline but it
appears
the situation on ground is far different from what the central bank
chief
may be expecting to see. - ZimOnline
[ This report does not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 21 Aug 2006 (IRIN) -
Confusion, chaos and protest marked the last
day of Zimbabwe's controversial
currency switch-over, which saw one currency
becoming obsolete and another
born in just three weeks.
Although Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono set
a deadline of the close of
business on Monday for the old currency as legal
tender, many businesses,
including government organisations, stopped
accepting the old denominations
last week.
The government-owned
national railways stopped accepting the old money on
Saturday, leaving many
passengers stranded. The railway network is generally
used by lower-income
Zimbabweans.
Other businesses followed suit, setting their own deadlines
for what they
would accept as legal tender. Taxi operator Nathan Hozheli
said he had
stopped accepting the old currency before Monday's deadline, as
he did not
want to be inconvenienced.
"The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
has all but made it a criminal offence to
handle [the old] money, and many
transporters and business people want to
avoid being scrutinised by the
authorities," he said.
Gono surprised Zimbabweans when he announced in
his mid-year monetary review
late last month that the old denominations
would be withdrawn and replaced
by a new currency. The official exchange
rate of Z$101,000 to US$1 was also
altered to $250 to one dollar. The
parallel market, or black market rate,
was Z$600,000 to US$1.
The
monetary reforms are designed to halt the economic meltdown: inflation
is
hovering at 1,000 percent and unemployment levels are above 70
percent.
Roadblocks were set up across the country to search for cash in
the run-up
to the changeover, and those in possession of more than Z$100
million had
their money confiscated, unless they had receipts proving where
it had come
from.
The short notice and regulations that individuals
could only convert Z$100
million a day led to stores and supermarkets
reporting a nationwide shopping
spree as people tried to offload the old
currency.
Many Zimbabweans kept their money at home after several banks
were closed by
Gono shortly after he assumed the reserve bank governor's
office in 2003.
Small-scale farmer Joseph Chipanera arrived on Monday in
the capital,
Harare, from the rural area of Domboshava, about 100km east of
Harare, to
buy maize seed and other farming implements to prepare for the
upcoming
agricultural season, but the agricultural wholesaler refused to
accept the
old currency.
Chipanera, like about 80 percent of other
citizens who had lost confidence
in the banking system, kept his money
elsewhere. "Because of the constant
need to withdraw money from the bank,
and the fear that banks could collapse
anytime, I had stopped keeping money
in the bank as I felt it was safer in
my house."
He said he had not
heard of the currency reforms. "Some of us were not even
aware that there
was a new currency - this was news to us. We cannot afford
to buy radios or
newspapers to get information which was so crucial as
this."
According to reports about 180 demonstrators, mostly women,
were arrested by
riot police in country's second city, Bulawayo, during
protests over the
unpopular currency reforms. Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman
for Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), an advocacy group, reportedly said the
march was to
press for meaningful economic reform.
Already,
complaints have been made that there is not enough cash in
circulation and
the design of the new currency is confusing: of the 13 new
notes, five are
green in colour and could easily be confused in poor light,
while four notes
are red.
The National Association of Societies for the Handicapped issued
a statement
pointing out that "the recently introduced bearer notes are of
the same
size, which makes it difficult for the visually impaired to tell
them apart
in the absence of Braille."
Gono, who is in China in a bid
to attract foreign investment, told the local
media there would be no
extension of the deadline, but businesses would be
permitted to exchange old
currency for the new denominations through the
central bank on
Tuesday.
IOL
August 21 2006 at
07:41PM
by Fanuel Jongwe
Harare - Zimbabweans
struggled to offload soon-to-be worthless cash on
Monday as chaos and
confusion prevailed ahead of a midnight deadline to
convert to a new
currency aimed at combating galloping inflation.
Banks extended
their working hours to cater to crowds who came to
dispose of their old
notes while others went on shopping sprees in Harare
supermarkets and shops
which were still accepting the old currency.
"We would have
normally closed two hours ago but we are keeping our
doors open as long as
we have people coming in," a teller at a bank in
Harare's main shopping mall
said, as crowds stood patiently in line to hand
in the old bearer
cheques.
"We are trying to make sure that our clients
don't suffer losses as a
result of the (currency) changeover so we will
remain open until the queues
are cleared."
Others went on
shopping sprees at outlets accepting the old money.
"I am buying
all these things but I don't really need them now," said
Malvin Pachirera, a
businessman, carting a trolley filled with groceries at
a leading
store.
"I would rather buy these things than lose all my money when
it
expires today."
In a move aimed at fighting runaway
inflation, Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank
(RBZ) slashed three zeroes from its
currency on July 31 and set a 21-day
ultimatum which expires at midnight
Monday for old notes to be handed in.
Analysts meanwhile warned
that many in the impoverished southern
African nation, particularly those in
rural areas, risked losing their
savings and being stuck with notes that
central bank chief Gideon Gono said
would become "garden
manure".
Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downward spiral over the
past seven
years, suffering from inflation running at around 1 000 percent
and high
employment with at least 80 percent of the population living below
the
poverty threshold.
Thousands of passengers trying to
commute into Harare on Monday were
left stranded as bus operators rejected
the obsolescent bank notes, defying
a central bank order to accept the
currency until the close of business.
Many small retailers also
refused the old money although those who did
agree to accept payments in the
old currency enjoyed brisk business.
"I have tried several shops
but they are not taking the old money,"
said one dejected shopper, Senia
Godzi.
"I will have to catch a bus to one of the townships where
shops are
still taking the old money."
Economist David
Mupamhadzi said that many people living outside the
major cities did not
know about the currency reforms and were unaware that
their savings were
soon to turn into worthless bundles of paper.
"Our main concern is
what will happen to those in the rural areas and
other outlying areas who
did not hear about the deadline," he said.
Political and social
analyst Elizabeth Marunda called for an extension
of the deadline. But
central bank boss Gono has ruled out "a general amnesty
or extension to the
deadline given in the first place."
After announcing the
switch-over, the reserve bank put a limit on
amounts that could be deposited
in banks in an apparent crackdown on cash
hoarders often accused of fuelling
a burgeoning parallel foreign currency
market.
Shopowners were
also barred from accepting cash payments of more than
ZIM$100-million (about
R2 800).
Those found with cash exceeding the limit were asked to
reveal its
source or forfeit the money and face prosecution for money
laundering. -
Sapa-AFP
Cape Times (SA)
Date published:Mon
21-Aug-2006
Comment
By Peter
Kagwanja
An economy gliding to a dangerous halt has forced Zimbabwe
on a
frenzied diplomatic offensive to get African leaders to mediate its
festering political impasse. On the sidelines of the July Africa Union
Summit in Banjul, Gambia, President Robert Mugabe backed former Tanzanian
president Benjamin Mkapa as mediator. But Mkapa has a tall order to succeed
where South Africa and the AU have dithered. Any diplomatic initiative will
be dead in the water if regional leaders buy into Harare's official line
that its woes are rooted in its strained relations with its former colonial
power, Britain. African leaders and the international community must now
insist on an expanded mandate, reminding Mkapa that the trouble with
Zimbabwe is squarely one of failed leadership. The speed and ferocity with
which democracy and the economy have hurtled downwards have firmly put
Zimbabwe on the global map of countries at risk of chaos and anarchy.
Mkapa's proposed mediation comes against the backdrop of failed
interventions.
South Africa's "quiet diplomacy" response to the
Zimbabwe crisis has
been widely accused of emboldening authoritarianism and
weakening democratic
forces. With the spectre of a failed state on its
doorsteps looming even
larger and threatening regional peace and security,
Pretoria's policy
pundits are rethinking their quiet approach in favour of a
tougher one.
Mkapa's initiative gives South Africa the requisite space to
take a strong
stance in defence of human rights and good governance in
Zimbabwe. On its
part, the SADC's backing of Harare's official dictum that
the country is
paying for its seizure of white farms has drawn fire. "The
country is being
made to pay for economically liberating its own people,"
insists a SADC
official. Zimbabwe is a classic case of the tail wagging the
dog. Regional
diplomats concede that "Mugabe is larger than the SADC".
Mugabe's clout
casts doubts on Mkapa's ability to steer an independent
mediation course
with the SADC.
Solidarity as the touchstone of
regional diplomacy has hampered the
SADC's action, including on Zimbabwe's
Operation Murambatsvina, which
displaced 700 000 people and affected 2.4
million others, pushing the
economy to the brink. Sadly, the region is
reaping the whirlwind of an
economy dangerously spinning out of control.
Some 2-3 million refugees (over
2 million of them in South Africa) are
straining social services, jobs and
housing, stoking undercurrents of
xenophobia and feeding into cross-border
criminalities, contrabands and
cash-in-transit heists. The AU's official
mindset that "Zimbabwe is a hot
potato" has hindered any form of action. But
under pressure to respond to
Zimbabwe's urban evictions in June 2005, the AU
Commission chairman, Alpha
Konare, dispatched Tom Nyanduga as his special
envoy to assess the
situation. However, Harare's decision to deport the
envoy neutered the
attempt. Zimbabwe's rejection of former Mozambican
president Joachim Chisano
as mediator appointed by the AU chairman,
Nigeria's President Olusegun
Obasanjo, scuttled the possibility of
inter-party dialogue.
Repeated rejection of the resolutions of the African Commission on
Human and
People's Rights critical of Zimbabwe on technicalities rather than
substance, has chipped away at the integrity of the AU. "If we continue to
throw out every human rights report that comes before us, people out there
will stop taking us seriously," warned an AU official. Failure to clinch a
deal on Zimbabwe is widening the gap between rhetoric and reality in the
AU's emerging good governance and security architecture, guided by President
Thabo Mbeki's precept of an African Renaissance. Similarly, failure by the
prompters of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) to turn
the tide in favour of good governance in Zimbabwe has cast a dark shroud
over its credibility. The support for Zimbabwe at pan-African level appears
to be dwindling, prompting Mugabe's recent broadside against his colleagues
as cowards for not standing up to the West over Zimbabwe. His waning
continental clout has left the SADC as the last bastion of power, explaining
its choice as the framework of the Mkapa mediation.
Mugabe's
exit and the restoration of democracy are driving
international advocacy on
Zimbabwe. But the puzzle remains how to achieve
them. Few expect Mkapa to
resolve this dilemma. Policy prescriptions
inspired by diverse shades of a
"regime change" response to global security
and promotion of democracy have
won Zimbabwe sympathy and camaraderie from
the most unexpected allies like
North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela. The
failure of Zimbabwe's badly
splintered opposition to exploit the air of
discontent after the March 2005
elections and Murambatsvina to mobilise a
popular uprising along the lines
of the Orange or Velvet revolutions in
Eastern Europe diminished
international faith in its ability to spearhead a
democratic revolution.
Targeted international sanctions by the European
Union and the US have had
minimal impact on forcing the regime to restore
democracy. Chinese support
for Zimbabwe has undermined Western pressure,
with its veto potentially
preventing the West from bringing the issue into
the UN Security Council.
But Zimbabwe's offer of minerals is hardly
sufficient to keep the
oil-thirsty China in the game.
The Mkapa initiative offers a way
out of the current policy conundrum,
despite the cynicism surrounding it. UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan backed
Mkapa during his discussion with Mugabe
in Banjul, abandoning his own
intervention plan involving a trade-off
between an aid package and Mugabe's
exit timetable. But the UN still has a
role to enhance the capacity, clout
and usefulness of the Mkapa initiative
by appointing an envoy and providing
financial and technical support. The
Commonwealth can also provide technical
and material support, although
Mugabe pulled out of the club after its 2003
Abuja summit extended
Zimbabwe's suspension for gross human rights
violations. Mkapa has access to
Downing Street, enjoys relative stature and
prestige, and has the backing of
the newly elected Tanzanian president,
Jakaya Kikwete, himself an ally of
Pretoria's. But, critically, his success
depends on an expanded mandate and
an all-inclusive mediation that brings
civic and political actors on board.
The intervention must go beyond the
parochial focus on Mugabe's strained
relations with Tony Blair.
Dr Kagwanja is a Research Associate with
the Centre for International
Political Studies. He spoke at the Goedgedacht
Forum recently on the impact
of the situation in Zimbabwe on good governance
in the SADC
Sunday Times
OPINION
August 20,
2006
Posted to the web August 21, 2006
Brendan
Boyle
Johannesburg
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe could not have come this
far down the road towards
the total collapse of the nation he wrested from
colonial misrule 26 years
ago if South Africa had not turned its back on its
neighbour. President
Thabo Mbeki and his government have successfully
screened Zimbabwe from the
international scrutiny that could have changed
the way the world deals with
the country's crisis, according to participants
at a two-day conference on a
Cape farm this week.
Condoning Mugabe's
excesses has had a regional cost as well. In the absence
of hard numbers,
delegates estimated that at least two million Zimbabweans
have sought refuge
in South Africa, with hundreds of thousands more moving
to Botswana and
Zambia.
The symbiosis that should boost tourism to all countries in the
region has
been uncoupled by the Zimbabwean crisis, with collateral damage
to the
reputations of its neighbours. Trade in the region is well
down.
In ways more costly, however, is the damage to South Africa's good
name
caused by the country's failure to defend across its border the
principles
that have made it the poster child of emerging
democracy.
"Our ability as a country, as a region, as a continent is
undermined when
our own track record is as poor as that," said Human Rights
Commission head
Jody Kollapen.
For understandable if flawed reasons,
Mbeki's government preferred the
apparent security of authoritarianism in
Zimbabwe to the certain risks of
anarchy and opted to consolidate rather
than to challenge the grip on power
of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF
party.
"Zimbabwe has never had a better foreign minister than Thabo
Mbeki," said
Peter Kagwanja, Southern Africa director of the Brussels-based
International
Crisis Group. Mbeki had helped to keep Zimbabwe off the UN
agenda and had
condoned delaying tactics to prevent even the African Union
from tackling
it.
"We can't rely on South Africa, which is a pity
because the international
community will come to the table only through
South Africa," said another
delegate. The independent Goedgedacht Forum for
Social Reflection convenes
periodic conferences on issues of concern to
South Africa. Introductory
speeches are on the record, but discussion is not
attributable to individual
speakers.
Black and white Zimbabweans were
scathing in their criticism of South
Africa's direct and indirect support of
Mugabe, to the point that a young
South African protested when one of them
referred to the Zimbabwean
president as a "bastard" and warned that this
country could be heading down
the same path to ruin.
"When will you
South Africans see what is going on? When will you see our
pain?" said one
of the visitors, who were not only from the camp of the
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).
Kollapen said South Africa had betrayed the
people of Zimbabwe and its own
standards of human rights and
governance.
"If we assess our response to Zimbabwe and if we are frank
then we have
failed quite miserably. We have failed to demonstrate the
solidarity that we
should as people, and we have failed to display to our
people, to the region
and to the world that we value the common standards we
have set so much that
we are prepared to bring to book and to hold
accountable those who infringe
those standards," he said.
Though
Mugabe has managed to shut down the television cameras that mobilised
international outrage with graphic footage of the farm invasions five years
ago, the facts if not the images of Zimbabwe's decline are available to
anyone willing to look for them on the Internet.
Hunger,
hyperinflation, unemployment for three out of four job-seekers, the
near
collapse of the energy, transport and water systems, trade and
manufacturing
in free-fall and grace and favour for the military and
political elite
around Mugabe are not news to most South Africans. But the
detail can be
harrowing. One Zimbabwean broke down as he described the lived
reality of
Mugabe's ruined state.
While South Africa and the region looked forward
to unprecedented economic
growth, Zimbabwe's economy was shrinking faster
than any other in the world,
said University of Botswana Professor Balefi
Tsie. On average, Zimbabweans
could expect to die by the age of 37, one of
the world's lowest
life-expectancy thresholds and down from 63 less than a
decade ago, he said.
If the world's media had the access there that they
do in Lebanon, their
stories and pictures would galvanise world condemnation
and put Mugabe on
the ropes.
The international community would less
easily tolerate a state that turns
nearly a million people out of their
homes and then kicks 300 of them out of
the church where they sought refuge
if their slow death over the following
months was screened on the European
evening news.
One angry young Zimbabwean said waiting for South African
help would be like
waiting for the sun to freeze and argued it was time for
the MDC, of which
he was not a member, to make the country ungovernable. The
youth were ready
to fight, but they needed strong and inspired leadership,
he said.
Eddie Cross, the MDC's policy co-ordinator, said Thursday's
deadline for the
limited 1000-to-one conversion of old Zimbabwe dollars to
the new currency
could be the spark that ignites a popular revolt. The
scheme will strip
millions of the little wealth they have
retained.
"I don't think we can take much more. If the government sticks
to this
deadline there is going to be a revolution. I think all hell is
about to
break out in Zimbabwe," Cross said.
But calling for the kind
of popular revolution that had toppled regimes in
Eastern Europe was naive,
said former University of Zimbabwe Professor Brian
Raftopoulos, who now
heads the Transitional Justice in Africa Programme at
the Institute for
Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. "There is a lot
that can be done,
but we have to plan for a long struggle. No one has done
it alone in Africa.
Zimbabwe needs allies and pressure outside."
Chris Maroleng of the
Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies offered
four scenarios for
Zimbabwe's medium-term future. "Most likely is continued
slow decline with
Zanu-PF and Mugabe trying to ensure regime security. The
losers will be the
people of Zimbabwe," he said. The alternatives were an
unlikely political
compromise between Zanu-PF and the MDC, the
reconstitution of the ruling
party under a new leadership and mass revolt.
South Africa has thrown its
weight behind Maroleng's third option, an
attempt to reinvent Zanu-PF under
a new leadership. It has been known for
some time, though never officially
confirmed, that Pretoria sought to groom
former finance minister and
Southern African Development Community chief
Simba Makoni while it tried to
persuade Mugabe to go into dignified
retirement.
Now that Mugabe has
rejected Mbeki, too, the South African plan seems to be
to wait him out and
to prepare for his demise.
"Mugabe can't live forever. This will pass and
we just have to wait," said a
government official who was not at the
Goedgedacht meeting.
Mugabe has deliberately rebuffed international
efforts to negotiate a
resolution of the crisis. UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan's bid was spurned
and even African envoys suspected of carrying an
internationalist mandate
have been turned away.
Mugabe has now
nominated former Tanzanian leader Benjamin Mkapa as mediator.
The SADC was
expected to ratify his role at this week's Lesotho meeting, but
few expect
much because the terms of reference refer solely to healing
Zimbabwe's
relationship with Britain. Posing the problem as one of British
delivery on
ancient promises has been key to Mugabe's containment strategy,
which has
kept Zimbabwe off the UN agenda. Since he knows the first targets
of
international intervention will be his retirement and a free election his
party is unlikely to win, Mugabe's strategy won't change.
And since
Nigeria surrendered former Liberian leader Charles Taylor to a
UN-backed
war-crimes tribunal sitting in The Hague, the chance of Mugabe
being
persuaded into retirement is slim if his party is not impregnable in
power.
The options for South Africa and for South Africans are
therefore few. The
best this nation can do is to heed Kollapen's call,
echoed by many, to go
back to our fundamental belief in the defence of human
rights and good
governance everywhere.
Raftopoulos called for
a pan-African citizenship based on an unassailable
commitment to common
principles. Kollapen said sovereignty should never be
interpreted as a right
to abuse one's own citizens. The Zimbabwean visitors
to the Goedgedacht farm
asked only for the solidarity in their time of need
that their mothers and
fathers offered in the struggle for South Africa's
freedom.
"The
democracy we have put in place is a vibrant one, but a very fragile one
as
well," said Kollapen. "This should be for South Africa an opportunity to
take stock of our own democracy. There is no guarantee that we cannot go the
direction of Zimbabwe."
Expediency is a reasonable choice for a
government, but only when it is one
of a range of correct responses to a
challenge. Doing the right thing is
always the right thing to do. Blocking
our eyes and ears to the plight of
the people next door is not.
IOL
August 21 2006
at 02:28PM
Johannesburg - Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana and
Nicholas
Goche, his Zimbabwean counterpart, will open an office at the Beit
Bridge
border post on Friday, the Department of Labour said.
The office's main function would be to curb illegal migration, cheap
labour,
the abuse of labour laws and rampant crime, labour department
spokesman
Mokgadi Pela said on Monday.
"The office, a first of its kind in
Africa, will help Zimbabweans
seeking employment in South Africa with legal
papers," Pela said in a
statement.
He said the office would be
a major recipient of about 2 000
Zimbabwean deportees repatriated on a
weekly basis from South Africa.
"The centre will also
provide deportees and other people in need of
legal documents with food and
other basic amenities while their documents
are being sorted
out.
"The office includes among others, an HIV/Aids counselling
centre. It
will also serve as the centre point for the World Food Programme
... " he
said.
Pela said the office's opening followed site
inspections which
Mdladlana and Goche conducted earlier this
year.
Mdladlana and Goche had earlier said the office would help
reduce
illegal migration and the abuse of Zimbabweans by unscrupulous
employers,
Pela said. - Sapa
The Herald (Harare)
August
19, 2006
Posted to the web August 21, 2006
Harare
MOST filling
stations in Harare yesterday defied a Government directive to
slash fuel
prices with immediate effect, saying they risked incurring losses
since they
had acquired it using foreign currency obtained from the black
market.
Panic-stricken motorists formed long winding queues at
filling stations that
had fuel in anticipation of a fuel shortage that might
be triggered by
dealers in response to Government's decision to slash fuel
prices.
"We are afraid that the dealers might divert fuel to the black
market in
response to the Government directive.
"We have to fill up
our tanks now because you never know. Others are buying
in containers in
anticipation of an artificial shortage," said a motorist
who declined to be
named.
The Government on Thursday fixed the price of petrol and diesel at
$335 and
$320 per litre, respectively, for all users in the country.
News24
m
21/08/2006 18:46 -
(SA)
Cape Town - The South African government is trying to
protect its
citizens' rights in the face of Zimbabwean nationalisation
moves.
SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Monday
the
government was "continuing to pursue" its efforts to get the outstanding
bilateral investment protection agreement (Bippa) signed by Zimbabwe to
protect commercial interests of South Africans in that country,
.
In reply to Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson who
asked
whether the South African government had noted the Zimbabwe
government's
plan to nationalise all mines in that country and what action
the South
African government intended to take in this regard, the foreign
minister
said:
"The government has noted the government of
Zimbabwe's intention to
acquire 51% interest in mining companies involved in
energy minerals, as
well as a 51% share in all precious metals and gemstones
mines.
"The proposed changes to the Mines and Minerals Act were
approved by
the cabinet of Zimbabwe.
"But these changes still
need to be converted into a bill of
parliament before they can be enacted as
a full amendment to the Mines and
Minerals Act.
"The government
is still waiting to see what the outcome of these
proposed changes would
be."
Asked by Gibson whether the government intended taking action
to
protect South African commercial interests in Zimbabwe, she said: "The
government is continuing to pursue its efforts to get the outstanding
Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement to protect the commercial
interests of South African nationals in Zimbabwe."
New Zimbabwe
By
Staff Reporter
Last updated: 08/22/2006 01:57:38
ZIMBABWE'S central bank
governor quietly slipped out of the country as chaos
engulfed the nation
leading to Monday's switch-over from old to new bank
notes.
Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono left for China on his latest globetrotting
mission
in search of a rescue package for the country's flailing economy, it
was
confirmed Monday.
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa confirmed that Gono
had led a delegation to
China, but would not give reasons for the
trip.
Murerwa said: "Yes, the governor is in China. That is all I can
say."
Gono's decision to leave the country before Monday's switch-over
paints a
picture of calm, but Harare was all but calm on Monday as
Zimbabweans rushed
to spend or exchange the old currency for new bank
notes.
The currency change is the centre piece of an RBZ strategy to
thwart money
hoarders who were holding onto large sums, mainly for trade on
the thriving
black market.
President Robert Mugabe has made several
trips to the Far East in recent
years as part of his 'Look East
Policy'.
Mugabe's government has signed several concessions, using
minerals as
security to obtain foreign loans and aid.
Sources said
Monday that Gono's visit is a follow-up on Vice President Joice
Mujuru's
recent trip to China during which she signed a number of deals -
including a
controversial US$60 million deal that will see China improve
Zimbabwe's
state TV and radio transmission in exchange for chrome.
Gono has made
several foreign trips in recent months, including forays into
Russia and
South Korea in a bid to attract foreign investments after most
European
countries scaled down investment in Zimbabwe.
Last month, Gono was in
Mozambique to learn about the country's currency
reforms, before his
announcement at the start of August that the central
bank was striking off
three zeros from Zimbabwe's inflation-hit currency.
New Zimbabwe
By Lloyd
Msipa
Last updated: 08/21/2006 18:59:27
IT IS an agreed standpoint among
the democratic opposition forces in
Zimbabwe, that the current government of
Zimbabwe is illegitimate following
the stolen or rigged elections of 2002
and 2005.
If we are in agreement this is their position, it then follows
that
Zimbabwean opposition politicians are hypocrites themselves.
The
reason I say this is because, if we pursue the concept of illegitimacy,
it
is defined 'as something unlawful or not in accordance with the law'.
Put
in the context of governance, illegitimacy would mean that the
government of
the day does not have the blessing of the electorate to
govern. From a world
perspective theoretically, an illegitimate government
is not able to enter
into diplomatic relations, bilateral, multilateral
agreements or otherwise
with the legitimate governments of this world.
The question that arises
then is, why do the opposition democratic forces in
Zimbabwe continue taking
part in the governance business in a country with
an illegitimate
government, and at the same time claim to be pioneers of
democracy? This is
hypocrisy at its worst. The arguments put forward by its
leaders include
that of compromised democratic space as a result of the
legislation in place
including POSA and AIPPA, and how "we want to change
things from within by
influencing policy". This is not, at least for me,
sufficient an excuse for
compromising a democratic struggle. We are all
mindful of the legislation
that was in use before the independence of
Zimbabwe, the Law and Order
(Maintenance) Act, passed in 1960, which
suffocated dissent.
The
refusal of the Rhodesian Front regime to embrace democratic reforms led
to
an exodus of young Zimbabweans who organized themselves outside the
country
in what eventually became the Patriotic Front. Today, the country's
political situation has come full circle. We now have a similar situation
before us.
There is no democratic space for those leading the
democratic resistance.
Can the real liberators please stand up. Is it
possible that we have pseudo
businessmen and women masquerading as the
opposition? The calls by the
democratic forces for a "peaceful resistance"
in order to drag the current
regime "kicking and screaming" to the
negotiating table will obviously come
to naught. Why? Because I know of no
case in history, where a "peaceful
resistance" convinces a government to
talk, let alone hand over power.
Considering that the democratic forces'
claims of the 'illegitimacy of the
Harare government' have not been followed
by concrete action on the ground,
it is no wonder the rest of the world,
including their own kith and kin
within the SADCC States have not taken them
seriously. They do not walk the
talk. The Patriotic Front, despite the
draconian limitations of the Law and
Order maintenance act, managed to
organise themselves into a formidable
force outside the country to a point
where they constituted a government in
waiting. In fact they commanded
greater legitimacy as a government in
waiting than the then ruling Smith
regime in the eyes of the world. Hence
the support from neighbouring states.
Has it not crossed anybody's mind as
to why the opposition forces are not
openly supported by the neighbouring
countries? Why do they have to travel
far and wide to get any forum or
platform?
One then wonders, if the
democratic forces' claim to legitimacy has any
substance. If it does, why
then do they continue to govern together with
those that constitute or are
an illegitimate government? One would assume by
now they would have formed
their own government in exile and then proceed to
lobby the rest of the
world into recognising them as the legitimate
government of
Zimbabwe.
A government in exile consists of a political grouping that
claims to be the
country's government, but for various reasons is unable to
exercise its
legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country.
Governments in exile
operate under the assumption that they will one day
return to their country
and regain power. There are numerous examples of
where popular opposition
forces have taken this route to power. Examples of
governments in waiting
include the Western Sahara's Sahrawi Arab Democratic
Republic (SADR) based
in Algeria. The government of Somalia exiled in
Kenya.
Is it possible that the democratic forces are so set in their ways
that they
do not see themselves living the life of refugees in foreign
countries? It
is often argued that real liberators in any struggle are
people with nothing
to lose. Considering that the majority of the opposition
members have jumped
onto the gravy train and now own farms and other
property courtesy of the
ruling party, it would appear they have something
to protect. Will we ever
see a real struggle in Zimbabwe with the current
crop of leaders in the
opposition? They seem to have refused to compromise
their comfort zones for
the greater good. How then can they claim to have
the interest of the people
of Zimbabwe at heart if they are not ready to
make these sacrifices?
Obviously the new breed of liberators are not
prepared to forego their 'hard
won' parliamentary seats, plush offices and
their suits for a life in exile.
Our history is quite clear as to the
sacrifices made by the old guard that
run the country today. They were in
and out of Zimbabwe via informal border
posts, detained numerously for
breaching the infamous Law and Order
Maintenance Act, under the Ian Smith
regime. One old timer I bumped into the
other day told me, he remembers
leaders of the Patriotic Front going from
door to door clad in their safari
suits soliciting for financial
contributions for their cause in the
seventies. They would spend a good ten
minutes talking to you by your door
about their struggle to liberate
Zimbabwe. If this was not commitment, then
I do not know what is.
The hypocrisy displayed by the so-called
democratic forces is what lends
legitimacy to the Harare government. These
men and women, it seems, have
carved themselves a piece of the national
cake; hence the lukewarm approach
to a people's struggle.
Lloyd Msipa
is a lawyer and writes from London in the United Kingdom. He can
be
contacted at lloyd.msipa@ntlworld.com
21 August, 2006
GONO - A REAL HERO DOES MORE THAN REMOVE ZEROES WOZA does not believe
that
this 'sunrise' of yours will bring a better tomorrow - only more
suffering
for the people who have always carried the burden of government's
incompetence.
It is not the ordinary people of Zimbabwe who are
the criminals and
economic saboteurs but the government, RBZ and all its
cronies!
Operation Sunrise is further testimony of a government at
war with its
own people. Our uniformed forces should not be 'used' and
'abused' to bring
about economic revival. But Operation Sunrise is not about
economic revival.
It is just another desperate measure by a government
desperate trying to
control us - people already on our knees weighed down by
problems, trying to
survive.
Already we are faced with daily
harassment by children dressed up to
commit evil that many adults are too
embarrassed to carry out. As we travel
around we are treated like criminals,
illegally searched and intimidated.
Many have been robbed of our life
savings as we tried to reach banks to
change it into new currency. Some
women were even stripped naked by youth
militia trying to 'earn' the 40
million promised to them. Our rural members
are afraid to travel to banks to
deposit their money, as they will have
their money stolen at roadblocks by
your thugs.
You did not even bother to respect us enough to do
education and
groundwork before launching this operation. As a result we are
seeing your
thugs making up the rules as they go and abusing power. It seems
you wanted
chaos and it is what you achieved. Whilst you are harassing us
the real
criminals are going free with their trillions.
Did you
think? Having larger notes will only make life a little easier
for a short
time - we are already seeing prices going up and the zeroes
coming
back.
You have stolen from us at roadblocks and now we are seeing
free-for-all prices increases. For how much longer must we pay the price for
your bad to non-existent economic policies?
The 21-day deadline
is another way of cheating us. You have not given
enough time to allow us to
understand the new money or for enough of it to
be in circulation. Shops are
already refusing to accept old currency and yet
they are giving it to us in
change.
Mozambique is used as an example of a country that successfully
dropped its zeroes but it gave its citizens six months to adjust and its
economy was already growing - not crashing like ours.
You and
the other leaders of this government have shown yet again that
you don't
have any constructive ideas to rebuild our economy - you are, as
usual,
destroying and stealing what little we have sweated blood to make.
WOZA says enough is enough. We want our dignity to be restored. WE
WANT REAL
MONEY. We don't want to be bankrupted by the printing of paper
that has no
real value. What kind of sovereignty is this when we do not have
our own
currency?
We also want GENUINE solutions to our economic problems
implemented
with consultation. Slashing zeroes is a sign of terrified people
who don't
know how to cope with the inflation you call the 'venomous
monster'. To us
there is only one venomous monster and that is the ruling
party who rule by
force and are corrupt. THERE CAN BE NO ECONOMIC SOLUTION
WITHOUT A NEW
POLITICAL DISPENSATION. It takes more than a banker to provide
real
solutions - it takes a real hero - and the only heroes we see are those
standing shoulder to shoulder with us, holding you, and the masters you
serve, accountable.
You can detain us but you cannot detain the
truth!
Warova mukadzi warova dombo - Strike a woman and you strike a
rock -
Uthinte umfazi uthinte imbokodo
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
The Herald (Harare)
August 19,
2006
Posted to the web August 21, 2006
Chakanetsa
Chidyamatiyo
Harare
ILLEGAL gold miners have invaded a cemetery in
Concession and tampered with
a grave amid reports that they have also
rendered 16 hectares of land in the
area unsuitable for farming.
The
miners have created deep shafts and gullies on three farms whose soils
they
believe are rich in gold.
Apart from desecrating burial grounds at
Manyewe South Farm, the illegal
gold diggers are also accused of stealing
property and poaching fish.
"There are graves down there. The panners
also excavated soil on one of the
graves and we have been forced to hire
people to guard the cemetery," said a
farm worker who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
He said the illegal gold miners had adversely affected farming
activities,
with some of them digging shafts up to about 20 metres
deep.
They do not reclaim the gullies and shafts, which posed a hazard to
both
residents and livestock.
At neighbouring Somerset Farm, owner Mr
Daniel Mapfumo Gede said the gold
diggers had rendered barren about six
hectares of land.
"I have failed to utilise my land fully because of
these people. They are
now digging in my fields and I have lost seven beasts
since the beginning of
the year," said Mr Gede.
He said the cattle
had broken their legs after falling into the deep shafts
and pits.
Mr
Gede said he had made several police reports but described them as futile
since the panners returned to cause more havoc soon after paying admission
of guilt fines.
In one incident, the gold miners are reported to have
kidnapped and
assaulted one of Mr Gede's workers.
Some, he said,
rushed to make false assault reports to the police if he
dared challenge
them to stop their activities.
"Whenever I confront a panner, the police
come and arrest me for assault. So
far, the police have opened three dockets
for assault in my name," he said.
Mr Gede spoke as he prepared to leave
for the police station where he was
due to make yet another warned and
cautioned statement on fresh allegations
of assaulting an illegal gold
miner.
Ms Sheona Rushwaya of Falling Waters Farm was facing similar
problems with
gold miners.
She was living in perpetual fear that the
miners would set her huts on fire
if they discovered that she had reported
them to the police.
Guramapudzi Dam situated on her farm was now silted,
threatening not only
her farming activities, but water supplies to
Bindura.
"If you go along Guramapudzi River, you will discover a long
stretch of mud
that extends for about a kilometre," she said.
Despite
leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, the miners also poach
fish in
the dam for their lunch and supper.
"They have also dug deep pits close
to my homestead. Life is very difficult
for us here," she
lamented.
But Mr Gede and Ms Rushwaya are not alone in this
predicament.
Another Manyewe South farmer who did not want his name
published for fear of
reprisals, was not sure how to handle a miner who
claimed he had permission
from the Mining Commissioner to dig for gold close
to his farmhouse.
The farmer showed The Herald three letters, including
one from the Natural
Resources Board (NRB) declaring the area as unsuitable
for mining.
"The area inspected shows that a mine is being established by
a Mr Zhanda.
The area is not suitable for mining as it is on grazing land,
too close to a
graveyard and too close to the farmhouse," read part of the
letter from the
NRB.
The farmer said the miner was threatening his
farming activities since only
15 out of 134 hectares were arable yet the
miner had laid claim to 10
hectares, leaving him with just five
hectares.
Police in the area confirmed receiving several reports of
disputes involving
farmers and illegal gold panners and had launched
investigations.