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Sunday Times
(Johannesburg)
August 24, 2003
Posted to the web August 24,
2003
RANJENI MUNUSAMY in Dar es Salaam and Sunday Times Foreign
Desk
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe's regional peers are set to
snub him by
denying him the chairmanship of the Southern African Development
Community -
for the second year in a row.
Tomorrow the region's
leaders will break the news to Mugabe that next year's
summit will probably
be held in Mauritius - not Harare - because they don' t
want the region to be
tainted by the chaos in Zimbabwe.
Instead, Tanzanian President
Benjamin Mkapa will be elected chairman at the
SADC heads of state summit in
his capital, Dar es Salaam, tomorrow.
Last year the region's leaders
decided in Angola that, due to the political
instability in Zimbabwe, it
would not be appropriate to hold this year's
summit in Harare.
Mugabe
was so angered by the Luanda decision that he left the meeting early.
It
was expected that Zimbabwe would then host next year's summit, which
would
have meant Mugabe being elected Mkapa's deputy tomorrow. But SADC
officials
and foreign ministers, gathered in Dar es Salaam this weekend
ahead of
tomorrow's summit, said the region's leaders were still reluctant
to give
Mugabe next year' s SADC chair .
They said it was feared that there would
be international outrage and
adverse repercussions for the region if Mugabe
was voted chairman, as this
would suggest endorsement of the way he has
flouted the rule of law and of
his dictatorial leadership style.
The
SADC has until now shied away from condemning Mugabe's crackdown on
the
opposition and media .
None of the pre-summit documents dealing
with the challenges facing the
region refer to the spiralling economic crisis
in Zimbabwe or its impact on
Southern Africa. Conflicts in other parts of the
region, such as the
Democratic Republic of Congo, are raised repeatedly
.
Delegates and SADC officials said that apart from an acknowledgement by
the
heads of state that preliminary talks were under way between the
ruling
Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwe was
unlikely
to be discussed.
Meanwhile, members of Zanu-PF's elite who
have seized land from white
farmers are defying an ultimatum by Mugabe to
choose one farm and give up
the others. Mugabe issued the order on July 30,
giving his cronies two weeks
to comply.
His directive followed
presidential, parliamentary and ministerial land
audit reports that revealed
numerous farms had been stolen by ministers, top
government officials, senior
Zanu-PF members, army, police and intelligence
officers, and war veterans
.
Some of those named as having displaced peasants include
Vice-President
Joseph Msika, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo,
Defence Minister
Sydney Sekeramayi, Mines Minister Edward Chindori-Chininga,
Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo and air force commander Perence Shiri.
Mugabe's wife,
Grace, is also said to have grabbed at least two
farms.
Despite Mugabe's order, no one, except Matabeleland North governor
Obert
Mpofu, has surrendered any farms.
Mugabe has reacted by
deploying a national land task force to enforce his
directive. However,
government officials were evasive when contacted for
comment.
The MDC
secretary for agriculture, Renson Gasela, said this week that no
farms had
been surrendered .
Commercial Farmers' Union president Doug Taylor-Freeme
said land reform had
been disastrous. "Agriculture infrastructure such as
irrigation schemes,
tobacco facilities and greenhouses are lying idle. Crops
are being abandoned
and stolen, pedigreed herds are being slaughtered,
skilled labour is
rendered unproductive, farmers are still being evicted,
agro-related
companies are going under, silos are empty."
Reuters
African Leaders Rally Behind Embattled Zimbabwe
Sun August 24,
2003 01:07 PM ET
By Manoah Esipisu
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuters) -
Southern African leaders gathering in
Tanzania Sunday for an annual summit
rallied behind Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe despite pressure to tackle
him on human rights abuses in his
country.
The European Union and the
United States have refused to fund projects in
which Zimbabwe is involved and
have imposed sanctions to protest against
Mugabe's controversial re-election
last year.
But the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) said it
would reject
any attempts to divide it.
"We are 14 countries in SADC.
The EU can either fund us as a group or keep
its financial aid," said
Tanzanian Foreign Minister and chair of the group's
ministerial council
Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, as he admitted that millions in
Zimbabwe would face
famine without international food supplies.
SADC Executive Secretary
Prega Ramsamy said sanctions should be lifted
because they hurt only ordinary
people and halted programs intended to help
poor Zimbabweans.
Mugabe
and Swaziland's King Mswati, Africa's last absolute monarch, were due
in
Tanzania late Sunday for the two-day summit of the 14-member bloc,
which
opens Monday.
London-based Amnesty International and regional
rights group CIVICUS said
they wanted SADC leaders to express their concern
publicly about the crisis
in Zimbabwe and urged them to press Mugabe's
government to respect
fundamental human rights.
"State-sponsored
harassment, attacks and torture directed at the opposition,
civil society and
independent media workers continue unabated," Amnesty said
in a statement
circulated as heads of state began arriving in Dar Es Salaam
for the
summit.
Zimbabwean officials have dismissed criticism by rights groups,
and
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo last week accused international media
of
creating a distorted image of the country.
Swazi trade unions and
human rights groups said they wanted the
deteriorating political situation in
the kingdom -- where opposition parties
are banned and the rule of law has
virtually vanished -- to be key agenda
items.
Swazi officials in
Tanzania offered no comment.
AIDS TOPS AGENDA
At the summit
Monday, leaders will commit themselves to fighting AIDS and
sign a Mutual
Defense Pact aimed at curbing civil wars through strong
regional peace
enforcement.
"AIDS is on top of the summit agenda...it is a waste of time
to talk about
development if the disease, which has infected 14 million
people, is not
urgently dealt with," Ramsamy said.
South Africa has
4.7 million people infected with HIV or AIDS -- the world's
biggest
caseload.
The disease affects around 40 percent of adults in Swaziland
and 35 percent
in Botswana. One in five adults in Zimbabwe and Zambia are
infected with HIV
or have full-blown AIDS.
The leaders will also
review food supplies in the region after drought led
to shortages that hit
nearly 15 million people in six countries last year.
Some seven million
people could face famine this year, most of them in
Zimbabwe, without
international handouts.
The SADC comprises South Africa, Swaziland,
Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia,
Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Seychelles, Mauritius,
Tanzania, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Mozambique and
Malawi.
President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
lauded
regionally for agreeing to a comprehensive peace pact, was the first
leader
to arrive, followed by the leaders of Zambia, Malawi and
Lesotho.
Thirteen heads of state and government are expected after
Seychelles gave
notice of its withdrawal.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUE - August 22, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRELIMINARY
NOTICE TO COMPULSORILY ACQUIRE LAND
The Herald of Friday 22 August 2003
contains a new listing of Lot 105 of
farms (74 farms in total).
JAG
will send this list out on Monday 25th August 2003
The Herald of Friday
22 August 2003 contains a new listing of Lots 103 (24
farms) and 104 of farms
(3 farms) as detailed below:
BINDURA 3644/97 GRANTA ESTATES P/L
DOCHANDORIS 706.2204
CHIPINGE 1724/73 CHIPINGE HOLDINGS P/L LOT 2A
CHIPINGA 188.9877
LOMAGUNDI 5898/81 PETER LEWIS FLANAGAN MUPATA
1320.0299
MAKONI 13493/01 MOIRA FARM P/L LOT 2 OF MOIRA
104.2906
MAKONI 4094/92 HUNYANI AGRI-FORESTRY LTD R/E OF EAGLES NEST
1170.3941
MAKONI 4094/92 HUNYANI AGRI-FORESTRY LTD THE REMAINDER OF S/D A
OF EAGLES
NEST 1266.2709
MAKONI 2473/81 ARTHUR AUGUSTUS BARRY PINK
ELEPHANTS OF ZURANGA 101.1845
UMTALI 5371/72 MALCON WILLIAM SHAW R/E OF
FELSTED OF LAURANCE VILLE
194.9938
UMTALI 10424/2000 BART VAN NIEKERK
AND PETA LYNN NIEKERK COPPLESTONE
103.0394
UMTALI 1865/46 THE WATTLE
CO LTD MAPOFF 842.0000 MORGEN 25 SQUARE ROODS
UMTALI 6654/92 MARANATHA
ESTATES P/L CHIKWASI 248.9528
UMTALI 1215/64 VUMBA COFFEE ESTATES P/L
EGGARDON HILL 499.9917 ACRES
UMTALI 2897/48 THE WATTLE CO LTD BALGREGIE
1595.0000 MORGEN 593 SQUARE
ROODS
UMTALI 1367/75 TERENCE JOSEPH GRANT
CHINAKATORI OF MAONZA 136.5111
UMTALI 3663/86 ROBERT JOHN RICKARD AND
JILL PENELOPE RICKARD GLOBE ROCK OF
MONKFIELD OF NORSELAND
74.5303
UMTALI 288/81 EASTLANDS P/L R/E OF EASTLANDS
153.6801
UMTALI 288/81 EASTLANDS P/L REMAINING EXTENT OF S/D B OF
EASTLANDS 148.1388
UMTALI 1241/73 GLENBURN INVESTMENTS P/L GLENBURN OF
DUNMON OF LAURANCE
VILLE 102.6362
UMTALI 5999/91 LUSITU FARM P/L R/E
OF FANGUDU 807.5940
UMTALI 2558/56 JOHANNES STEPHANUS VORSTER ELRADO OF
GWINDINGWI 472.4622
MORGEN
URUNGWE 7254/86 HENDRICK PIETER TERBLANCHE
LOT 1 OF DUNDAZI 362.5971
URUNGWE 390/68 K SAYWOOD P/L LOT 1 OF POMPEY
1499.2267 ACRES
URUNGWE 7058/96 DANASHA FARMING P/L TINHINI
448.1462
URUNGWE 7254/86 HENDRICK PIETER TERBLANCHE LOT 1 OF TEMPLE COMBE
386.7580
BINDURA 2159/92 ALPINE FARM P/L THE RIDGE 1329.3160
MAZOE
3214/93 PROSPERITY DAIRIES P/L HIDDEN VALLEY OF MARYVALE OF MGUTU OF
GREAT B
433.3160
SALISBURY 104/93 STOCKDALE FARM P/L STOCKDALE OF MADZUGETU
402.4747
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1:
Mr Robinson
All good citizens live by "the first principles of
good governance is the
Rule of Law". I suggest you direct your comments to
those politicians that
are really the ones that are unprincipled and not to
the converted.
At congress there were attempts to character assassinate
certain
individuals. It was obvious that what was said was baseless and
the
overwhelming response from the floor indicated that the majority of
farmers
don't support this petty approach.
I fear you get enormous
satisfaction from creating rumours and allegations
and I take enormous
comfort that the majority of farmers don't support the
games you play. Your
energies will be better spent by directing them on
the creators of this
hostile environment that we are all working hard to
survive in.
Doug
Taylor-Freeme
President, Commercial Farmers
Union
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2: Transparency
The President,
CFU.
Dear Mr.
Taylor-Freeme,
Civic Society indicates the imperative nature of
transparency for good
governance in the following
manner:
"Transparency in government requires that decisions by government
officials
are made openly and that reasons for the decisions are fully and
clearly
explained and justified. Secrecy in decision-making leads to
corruption and
inefficiency.
To make sure that members of government
act in a transparent manner:
*Every person who stands for election to
Parliament should make a full and
accurate declaration of his or her assets
or income, before they are
elected.
*Once elected, all members of
government should make full and accurate
declaration of their assets and
income at regular intervals.
*An independent anti-corruption commission
should be established with the
power to check that this financial information
is correct and to ensure
action when corruption is
discovered."
Technically, Council is the governing body of commercial
agriculture (what
is left of it that is.) Quite a pertinent question in terms
of 'reasons for
the decisions are fully and clearly explained and justified'
would be to
ask you and your Council why you supported the Government land
reform
programme as stated on 29.8.03?
Unconfirmed reports indicate
that your Vice President has actually expanded
his farming operations on to
another property at a time when many farmers
have lost their home, farm or
farms. Is this correct?
Should this information happen to be correct,
could Council look into how
this unique situation has come about, and brief
members how it may be done,
in the interests of producing more food for our
country.
J.M. Crawford Esq. has indicated that nearly 90% of the
original
membership, of three years ago are no longer farming.
Is your
Council truly representative of this situation - where 90% of your
Council
are also not farming?
Could you (transparently) state to membership how
the remaining 10% have
managed to carry on farming when 90% have
failed?
In the interests of Transparency for all farmers - active and
displaced -
could you reply to justice@telco.co.zw
I am sure that
some will join me in looking forward to your informative
reply.
Yours
faithfully,
J.L.
Robinson.
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Letter
3: Vehicle Licences
RE vehicle licences due at the end of September
'03.
I phoned Borrowdale Municipality Ph.882632 to enquire if Vehicle
licences
can be paid by cheque, due to the shortage of Cash.
I was
informed that instructions from Superiors was that payment was to be
in Cash
only, but to phone Copper Copper at Rowan Martin Ph.752579, who
suggested
that I phone the District Officer at Borrowdale, who maybe able
to waive this
ruling of Cash to Cheque payment.
Well, this Dist. Officer at Borrowdale
said, that only Copper Copper at
Rowan Martin is able to do the Vehicle
Licences by cheque, which will have
to be a Bank Certified cheque. He
declined to accept my word for payment by
cheque, as he is unable to
authenticate my information from Copper
Copper!!!
Yours
sincerely,
Owen
Connor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4: So-Called Land Reform
Seldom in history can there have been such
mindless destruction of
outstanding resources as has been orchestrated by
Doctor (?) Joseph Made,
the so-called "technocrat" but more appropriately
"idiocrat".
His first qualification was the destruction of ARDA, a once
progressive
institution. Having "qualified" he was then appointed to destroy
the
fabric of the agricultural industry.
Small-scale agriculture has
been proven to be unsustainable, particularly
in the brittle environment
which covers most of Africa. His A1 and A2
resettlement schemes are
something out of cloud-cuckoo land and can only
lead to reliance on the West
for food aid in perpetuity. Shortages will be
attributed to drought as they
always are however abundant the rainfall, and
never to the total incompetence
which now pervades governance.
The pall of smoke from negligent and
rampant veldt fires over three years
is an immediate legacy left by Made.
The long-term ecological consequences
from A1 and A2 settlement are
immeasurable and inevitable as long as there
are men of this calibre in
positions of authority. One can only view this
literally as a scorched earth
policy, with what end in mind no one can say.
Over 22 years the President
has gone the full course in holding out the
begging bowl for aid for
Zimbabwe. It is now frequently heard from the
West that Africa is on the
"back burner". They have other priorities such
as world terrorism and in the
case of the USA, South America.
"We do not inherit the land from our
parents, we hold it in trust for our
children". How does Made intend to
bring potable water, power and roads to
A1 and A2 settlers? The idea is to
say the least stupid and mindless.
Underground water is difficult enough to
find. The economics are something
out of "Walter Mitty Land".
The
commercial cattle herd and wonderful genetic base which Zimbabwe had
built up
over a century, and which served the region from Kenya to Cape
Town has been
slaughtered. It can never be replaced. As for A1 and A2
farmers there
cannot be any form of genetic improvement. There will be
insufficient beef
to feed 10% of Zimbabwe's population. The price at the
time of writing has
risen by 100% in three weeks reflecting the shortage.
It is going to become
critical and beef will have to be imported while the
wonderful grazing
resource which Zimbabwe has goes to waste.
The Zimbabwe commercial cattle
herd on which beef supplies depend has been
decimated from 2,5 million head
to less than 200 000. The country requires
800 000 head a year to feed the
nation. Hundreds of thousands of fertile,
in calf cows with young calves at
foot have been tragically slaughtered in
the past two years. It takes five
years to produce a marketable product.
We are therefore well below the point
of recovery - not in a thousand
years, by which time desertification will
have occurred. No doubt there
will be a statue of Made somewhere to
commemorate this tragic, stupid and
mindless initiative.
Grazing
rotations learnt in feudal Europe cannot be applied. Without
animal impact
in a controlled manner, and rest of grazing, desertification
will
accelerate. There will be a break in the water cycle which means
the
collapse of commerce and industry and even the banking sector, affluent
as
it might be now, will collapse.
Agriculture has been the engine of
Zimbabwe's economy. Now that it has
ceased working altogether, how can the
economy move forward? The concrete
monoliths in the low-density suburbs will
have no value in due course,
other than to house extended families forced off
the land because of total
inability to manage land.
Commercial farmers
on the ground in 1998 were the result of a 100-year
selection process,
whereby in a given generation, of those who attempted to
farm, roughly 10%
succeeded and 90% failed, until those left on the land
were the cream. They
were the result of compounding effect over 100 years.
These farmers are now
readily accepted and highly successful in many
developed and undeveloped
states.
Made proposes replacing these farmers with thousands of people
who have no
aptitude, no experience, no academic qualifications, no training
and no
feel for land, crops and livestock. How many centuries will the
selection
process take to ensure that 40 000 or 400 000 farmers are
productive and do
not destroy the land. Much is said about lack of finance,
lack of
machinery, lack of seed and fertilizer. Nothing is said about lack
of
experience and the particular aptitudes required to farm
successfully.
Very few people understand just how exacting running a good
farming
operation is. Bankers and business executives as well as the fat
cats
haven't a hope of running farms properly on a part time basis, over the
odd
weekend. They have no comprehension of the fundamentals. They seem
to
believe they can rely on managers. Managers as a general rule would
be
farming their own properties if they were good farmers. They require
very
tight direction and control. Part time farmers fail without
exception.
In most parts of the world one has to be extremely wealthy to
have the
privilege of living in cities and owning a farm. One has to have
good
managers, for environmentalists will not tolerate abuse of the land.
Yet
in Zimbabwe it is taken as a right to abuse the land by part time
operators
whose only boast is "I have a farm". So much for the legacy we
leave our
children.
About a year ago it was said that Made flew over
Zimbabwe to assess the
maize yield. He is said to have stated that he was
given a false
impression, as his pilot had flown so high that he could not
distinguish
between cultivated and uncultivated land! Unbelievable, but in
the light
of what else he has done, his A1 and A1 phantasia included, this
statement
is probably correct.
Thanks to the Made's of this world we
can now say "Africa adieu". If a
population cannot succeed on the most bio
diverse and productive continent
in the World it will not survive where tough
economic conditions prevail.
One can only wonder with incredulity at those
who allow Made to continue
his rampant, mindless destruction. It is an
indictment of those in
authority. If this sort if ineptitude is allowed to
prevail Africa will
indeed remain a tragic continent.
G R Sanderson -
OXFORD
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
Scotland on Sunday
Zimbabwe's deserters tell of terror and gang
rape
YOUNG deserters from a Zimbabwe militia who brutally attacked
white farmers
and opposition supporters are now themselves the targets of
Robert Mugabe’s
terror.
An estimated 10,000 young men signed up to the
National Youth Service formed
three years ago to terrorise Mugabe’s
opponents, although the president
claimed it was created to alleviate poverty
among the country’s youth.
Former militia member Themba Ndlovu is one of
those now on the run from
Zimbabwe’s secret police. The 22-year-old admits to
taking part in the gang
rape of a 12-year-old girl and the savage beatings of
hundreds of people,
but this is not the reason he fears arrest.
His
crime was to desert from the militia group set up to carry out such
attacks
on supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
He has
admitted a catalogue of attacks while he was a member of the
notorious Green
Bombers, as the militia is known.
He said: "I beat people with crowbars,
sticks and whips. I didn’t mind if
they screamed because the police were on
our side. Afterwards we had many
beers and we make a party.
"[Our
leaders] brought a young lady, a white person, and we raped her. We
were four
raping her. We kept her hostage in our camp."
The girl he raped was the
12-year-old daughter of a member of the
opposition. After the rape, Ndlovu
told his uncle he was scared about
possible retaliation by the girl’s
father.
But, he said: "My uncle told me: ‘Don’t be scared. This is Zanu.
We’re still
in power. It is us who are ruling.’"
About six months ago,
Ndlovu’s uncle, a veteran of the struggle for
independence in Zimbabwe and a
member of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, took him to
join up.
"My uncle said
you must join so that you get nice food and you don’t get
hungry. He was a
captain in the Green Bombers. [At the camp] I felt I was
happy because I was
having a bath, soap freely, and had a tent in the camp,"
said Ndlovu. "I
would beat opposition members, or farmers or owners of shops
who were white.
Our orders came from President Mugabe."
Nkosilathi Sibanda, 17, joined
the Green Bombers in November last year.
During his three months as a member,
he estimates that he beat nearly 500
people and vandalised more than 20
farms.
Before being deployed on killing missions the troops were given
marijuana
and alcohol to numb their consciences. Sibanda said that he saw
many in his
section raping very young girls. The drugs and alcohol, he said,
were given
so that "you never mind, you just fight".
Themba Skhosana,
19, was studying in Bulawayo when he was taken to a
training camp.
"I
didn’t like Mugabe. I was forced to join the Bombers. They came at night
and
took me to the training camp," he said.
If they escaped, the leaders in
the camp told them they would be tracked
down and killed. "I was scared of
them because they were very cruel," said
Skhosana.
Zim Standard
Corpses pile-up Cremation backlog as petroleum gas
runs out
By Caiphas Chimhete
MORE than a hundred bodies
are lying in private and State mortuaries
awaiting cremation throughout the
country because Zimbabwe has run out of
liquefied petroleum gas, which is
used to burn the bodies, The Standard has
established.
Official
sources said some bodies were decomposing in mortuaries after
waiting for
more than a month to get cremated as funeral houses fail to get
the gas, also
known as Handgas, from oil importers due to the crippling
shortage of foreign
currency Zimbabwe is experiencing.
Most of the deceased persons
awaiting cremation are of Asian and
European origin that have a tradition of
burning bodies as a way of
disposing of them.
Black Africans
normally do not cremate their loved ones as it is
against their
culture.
The sources said Doves-Morgan Funeral Services, one of the
largest
funeral houses in the country, had 65 bodies awaiting cremation,
Mashfords
Funeral Services has 15, while Riverside Funeral Parlour has two
bodies.
"It's a big problem; bodies are just lying there because we
cannot
cremate them since we do not have the gas. The situation is worsened
by the
fact that we have very small mortuaries," said an official with
Doves-Morgan
Funeral Services, who added that smaller funeral parlours were
actually
buying space in public health institutions to keep the
bodies.
Doves-Morgan managing director, Richard Biegel, said he was
"working
flat out on the matter" but refused to give details.
"I
am in no position to comment at the moment because I am driving.
Keep your
story for next week, probably I might assist you," said Biegel.
However, a senior funeral consultant with Mashfords, Greame Michael
Horne,
confirmed that there was a serious shortage of liquefied petroleum
gas in the
country, a situation that has badly affected the
company's
business.
"People are becoming agitated by the
situation now because some of
them want to take the ashes outside the
country. We have been talking to the
city authorities but nothing has come
out," said Horne, who however said he
had only seven bodies awaiting
cremation.
However, as the bodies continued to pile-up in cold
rooms, some
smaller funeral parlours have resorted to renting mortuary space
in larger
public health institutions to accommodate bodies.
In
Harare, cremation of bodies of people of Hindu origin is mainly
done at
Pioneer Cemetery in Mbare and while those of other races is
conducted at
Warren Hills Cemetery in Warren Park high-density suburb.
"Here at
Pioneer we do not have that problem because Hindus use fire
wood instead of
gas. It is their culture. However, I understand there is a
problem at Warren
Hills Cemetery," said an official at Pioneer Cemetery in
Mbare, who requested
anonymity.
On Friday last week, Warren Hills Cemetery returned at
least five
bodies, which were meant for cremation, to Doves-Morgan because of
the
scarcity of the gas.
"We only received a small allocation of
the gas from Mobil but we had
already returned the bodies to Doves. Even
though, it will not help much
because the gas was not going to last a day,"
said an official who works at
the cemetery.
Some funeral
parlours in Harare have begun to transport bodies to
Bulawayo where the
crematorium uses diesel and not liquefied gas.
An official with
Doves in Bulawayo confirmed that they have been
receiving bodies from Harare
for cremation at West Park Cemetery, the only
place where cremation is
conducted in the city.
"Here the machine uses diesel unlike the one
in Harare which uses gas
so we do not have that problem here," said the
official.
Sources said the shortage of liquefied gas worsened after
the National
Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), which used to import the gas,
stopped
following the deregulation of the oil industry recently.
BOC Gases managing director, Max Deda, confirmed that there was a
shortage of
the gas but added that the situation had generally improved as
some private
oil companies had started importing it.
As the Aids pandemic wreaks
havoc, killing at least 3 800 people every
week in Zimbabwe, the country's
mortuaries are failing to cope with the
increasing number of bodies that need
cremation or burial.
In some public mortuaries several bodies are
put in one tray, one on
top of the other, while others are heaped all over
the floors.
To make room for new bodies, Harare Central Hospital
recently donated
41 corpses unclaimed since 2000 to the University of
Zimbabwe to be used in
biological studies.
Zim Standard
Fuel coupons sold on the black market
By
Caiphas Chimhete
FUEL coupons which were introduced by the
government in June to curb
the illegal buying and selling of fuel by
unscrupulous commuter omnibus
operators, have found their way on the black
market where they are being
sold at inflated prices as the shortage of fuel
persists, The Standard has
established.
An investigation by this
paper shows that omnibus operators whose
vehicles failed road fitness tests,
were buying fuel coupons on the black
market for $10 000 to enable them to
buy diesel and $15 000 to buy petrol at
designated service stations. A recent
government decree stipulates that only
vehicles that pass road fitness tests
qualify for the fuel coupons.
According to sources, the price of
the coupons fluctuates depending on
the availability of both the coupons and
the fuel on that particular day.
"The coupon system is not working
because the coupons are almost
everywhere now. If we are buying bank notes on
the black market, why not
coupons, fuel and everything else. It just goes to
show that black market
rules in Zimbabwe," said John Manyika, who plies the
City/Kamfinsa route in
Harare.
Apart from buying the fuel
coupons, the operators are also reportedly
paying bribes of up to $10 000 to
petrol attendants at service stations to
circumvent the coupon
system.
When all calculations are effected, an operator pays about
$47 500 for
50 litres of petrol and about $30 000 for the same quantity of
diesel.
But operators with coupons and government certified road
worthiness
certificates pay $22 500 for 50 litres of petrol and about half
that amount
for the same quantity of diesel.
"Buying coupons on
the black market is much cheaper than buying the
fuel on the black market. At
$2 000 a litre of petrol on the black market
you would need $100 000 for 50
litres, which is almost half if you buy a
coupon on the black market," said
another omnibus operator, Tapiwa Dzingeni.
Zim Standard
$1000 note hits snag Government does not have 6m euros
needed for
project
By Kumbirai Mafunda
THE introduction
of the $1 000 note planned for October could be
jeorpadised following
revelations that government is failing to raise six
million Euros to pay the
German printing firm that will produce the notes.
According to
government sources, the German firm Giesecke & Devrient
has asked for the
six million Euro as downpayment to print the notes. The
total printing cost
is estimated to cost about 30 million Euros.
The Zimbabwean
government was last month reported to have engaged
Giesecke & Devrient to
print the new $1 000 note, the highest denomination,
as a measure to deal
with the current biting cash crisis.
The government says it also
intends to phase out of circulation the
current $500 note, which is too
expensive to print, and replace it with a
new one.
The Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has already introduced travelers'
cheques as it
battles to deal with the shortage of bank notes that has
crippled operations
in commerce and industry.
Official sources told Standard Business
that commercial banks enlisted
by the RBZ to hunt for the foreign currency in
United States dollars to pay
the German firm had only so far raised US$4
million.
"They have failed to raise that money. They have only
raised US$4
million against US$6 million," said a source.
Giesecke & Devrient are a respected money printer and also a
leading
supplier of banknote paper and banknote ink.
Finance and
Economic Development Minister Herbert Murerwa referred
Standard Business to
his permanent secretary and the acting Reserve Bank
governor when reached for
comment.
Analysts said the government continued to face
difficulties to raise
hard currency. The foreign currency market has remained
tight, with inflows
for July amounting to a meagre US$25,3 million compared
to outflows of
US$27,7 million.
The analysts said most of the
foreign currency proceeds were going
towards meeting Zimbabwe's huge import
bill that includes fuel, electricity,
salaries for embassy staff and food
imports to mitigate starvation affecting
up to six million
people.
"Energy needs have not been satisfied yet and this
continues to have a
bearing on the limited currency circulating in the
official market," said
one analyst.
Money market sources said
government's raid on the parallel market for
the American greenback to pay
the German firm was behind the firming of the
US dollar against the local
currency, which last week hit $6 000.
Zim Standard
Zanu PF delaying talks: Tsvangirai
By Richard
Musazulwa
SHURUGWI - Opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai says in fighting within the ruling Zanu PF is
delaying
inter-party talks to solve Zimbabwe's economic and political
crisis.
Tsvangirai said the MDC was ready for the talks and that
the dialogue
should be expanded to allow other Zimbabwean stakeholders to
participate.
It is Zanu PF who are dragging their feet on the way
forward. They are
busy fighting over who will take over Mugabe's post instead
of solving the
issues affecting the country," said Tsvangirai at a heavily
guarded rally
held yesterday at Makusha Hall in the small mining town of
Shurugwi.
He said by engaging in the talks with Zanu PF, MDC was
not working for
a unity agreement with the ruling party, but was trying to
address national
issues that affect Zimbabweans.
Tsvangirai also
called for the dissolution of the national youth
service because the youths
were used by Zanu PF to intimidate people into
voting for the
party.
"During the talks we will fight for the scrapping of the
militias as
they are blatantly used by the ruling party to intimidate
Zimbabweans into
voting for Zanu PF," he said.
Tsvangirai also
took a swipe at President Robert Mugabe whom he said
was too old and should
vacate office and let new elections take place.
The MDC leader's
was drumming up support for the party's 11 candidates
who are contesting
council elections in Shurugwi.
He told his supporters that it was
high time the MDC ran all cities
and towns in Zimbabwe because Zanu PF had
failed to improve the situation in
the country.
"Look, Zanu PF
has offered nothing to the voters both in cities and
towns except hijacking
projects. I urge you all to vote out Zanu PF here in
Shurugwi," he said amid
applause from the more than 4 000-strong crowd.
Zim Standard
Desperate Zimbabweans turn to TCs
By our own
Staff
ZIMBABWEANS are slowly coming to grips with the travellers'
cheques
(TCs) recently introduced by the Reserve Bank to alleviate the
biting
shortage of bank notes, a survey by The Standard has
revealed.
Commercial banks last week began to sell lower
denominated TCs, from
as low as $1000, after customers complained that the
huge denominations on
offer - of between $50 000 and $100 000 - were
cumbersome and impractical to
use because many retailers and service
providers rejected them and in any
case, most low income earners did not have
such amounts in their bank
accounts.
Zimbabwe, with galloping
inflation that has reached 400 %, is failing
to meet the sudden demand of
bank notes caused by lack of hard currency and
inputs to print new
money.
The RBZ on Friday called for assistance from commercial
banks and
other financial institutions to come up with innovative ideas to
deal with
the cash crisis.
"The RBZ is supportive of any
initiatives that are aimed at reforming
the payment system in Zimbabwe,"
Alice Zanza, the central bank's
spokesperson, said at a seminar in
Harare.
Representatives of commercial banks at the seminar
encouraged the
wider use of "plastic money", as opposed to hard cash, as one
way of
addressing the bank notes' shortages.
Chester
Nziradzemhuka of NMB Bank said retailers and merchants should
not put extra
charges on electronic transactions since the charges for
offering the service
of Visa, MasterCard and other plastic cards have
recently been reviewed to
0,5% per transaction value across the board.
The meeting also heard
that business through point of sale
transactions involving plastic money -
had increased substantially.
Before the cash crisis, there were
about 5 000 point-of-sale
transactions on average per day valued at $20
million. The figure has since
shot up to 7 000 transactions a day with a
value of $110 million.
Despite the introduction of the TCs, and the
promotion of plastic
money, queues were still appearing at banks and building
societies
throughout the country.
Zim Standard
Strange logic from US Negroes
I am
fascinated by the response of negro people in North America and
Dr Simbi
Mubako's speech at Zimbabwe House on July 29.
In a country where
the negroes are the minority and feel that their
rights are being suppressed,
they are suggesting that the rights of
Zimbabweans be suppressed
too.
Over the past week, more than 300 properties have been
designated for
take over by government despite President Mugabe's assurance
that the Land
Reform Programme is now complete. We continue to see marauding
gangs of
"Green Bombers" roaming the countryside beating up people
indiscriminately
because their colour is not black or because they are
perceived to be
supporting the wrong party.
We continue to see
the army being used to go onto people's property
and take it away from the
owners because their colour is not black or they
are perceived to be against
the government. Despite comments to the
contrary, Mugabe said in his speech
at Heroes' Acre recently that the people
had to "repent" and acknowledge that
he is President before he would talk to
them.
Our economic
crisis as a result of mismanagement by our government
continues. We are
unable to get cash from our banks and pay a premium of
over 20% to "buy" cash
on the black market. Our interest rates from the bank
are controlled by
government at between 80 and 100% when our rate of
inflation is well in
excess of 400%.
Our exchange rate to the us$ is officially 55:1 for
government
purchases and 824:1 for "normal" trade. The parallel rate varies
from 3
800:1 to 6 000:1 depending on where you are sourcing your money.
Government
had pledged to set aside billions of dollars for the purchase
of
agricultural inputs for the "new" farmers when they are unable to pay
for
the ink to print more cash to put into our economy and they are unable
to
buy food to feed our starving people.
In the mean time,
thousands of real commercial farmers, of all
colours, sit on the sidelines
waiting for a conducive environment to go back
to their farms, approach their
banks for the finance to grow crops, set up
infrastructure to increase food
production, restore the social structures
like schools, clinics, roads, under
five's feeding schemes, aids orphanages,
and become involved in the social
structure of our society.
At the moment anybody who lifts his head
above the parapet without
direct patronage finds his feet removed from under
him and his time spent in
a government hotel where he is not fed by the
prison services. Quite often
he finds that the measures employed by the
police are a little rough in
their handling of prisoners.
In the
meantime we ask the people of America ... do you believe the
information
given to you by the political powers or do you believe the
people of Zimbabwe
who are suffering severe human rights abuses?
Concerned
Zimbabwean
US
Zim Standard
$500 note and the platinum connection
There is talk that the Zimbabwe $500 note is being sold for more than
7 rands
in South Africa for its wide metal band. This band is said to be
platinum and
the people who buy it just clip off the paper ends and smelt
the white band
and sell the stuff as platinum.
Now if this is true, some people
are making a killing with our money
because platinum is twice as expensive as
gold. So the new measures will not
help to bring back the notes if this is
true.
Again if this is true and the new 500 and 1000 notes have the
same
wide band on them the problem of money shartages will not end. I hope
this
platinum thing is not true.
You could do some quick
research for your readers sir.
D. Itai
Harare
Zim Standard
Sanctions not ideal: ABR president
By our own
Staff
ALHAJI Bamanga Tukur, the president of the African Business
Roundtable
(ABR) who was in Zimbabwe for a brief visit last week, said he was
on a
mission to get the West to lift international sanctions against
Zimbabwe.
Tukur, a leading Nigerian businessman and former governor
who is also
head of the Nepad Business Group, said Western sanctions were
hurting
Zimbabwean businesses and the ordinary man more than the intended
target:
President Robert Mugabe and close members of his ruling Zanu PF
party.
"We just have to stop this nonsense. This collective
punishment of
Zimbabweans does not work," said the Nigerian businessmen who
runs maritime
businesses in a number of West African countries.
Mugabe and close colleagues were slapped with Western sanctions after
the
controversial 2000 general election won by Zanu PF. The West accuses
the
Zimbabwean leader of stealing the vote, a charge he denies.
The Johannesburg-based African Business Roundtable's objectives are to
use
the private sector "as the driving force in the development of
Africa's
potential". It promotes private ownership, free enterprise and the
free
movement of people, capital, goods and services.
The ABR
was set up by the African Development Bank in 1990 to
strengthen the private
sector on the continent.
It is now part of the Nepad Business Group
(NBG) that was launched by
UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, during a United
Nations conference in
financing for development in Mexico last year.
Zim Standard
Govt urged to set up economic body
By our own
Staff
THE government has been urged to set up an independent
multi-sectoral
National Executive Economic Council (NEEC) that would
immediately draw an
economic rescue plan for Zimbabwe.
In a
motion to Parliament, Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC)'s secretary for economic affairs said the problems
bedevilling
the economy were now too huge for government alone to try
to
solve.
He said only an independent transitional authority,
made up of all the
major players in the economy can rescue Zimbabwe, which
recently announced
that inflation had surpassed 399 % and is galloping
towards the dreaded
1000% mark.
Biti said the establishment of
the new economic council was necessary
because the government and Zanu PF had
run out of ideas to pull Zimbabwe out
of its current economic and political
crisis.
"The whole essence of this motion is government has failed.
It must
surrender its power to govern on matters of the economy to an
independent
transitional authority," said Biti.
"We are saying
Zanu PF has failed and somebody must take over to stop
this economic
haemorrhage. We cannot allow these guys to continue damaging
our economy," he
added.
Biti said the economic council would also enhance
public
accountability and embrace the participation of non-state actors in
public
policy making.
Zim Standard
Zimbabwe's exports to COMESA hit rock bottom
By our own Staff
ZIMBABWE'S trade with fellow regional COMESA
members continues to
tumble with exports to Kenya collapsing by a staggering
83%,
StandardBusiness has gathered. Statistics released by the Ministry
of
Industry and International Trade indicate a precipitous degeneration
of
Zimbabwe's exports to the east African market. Exports to Kenya in
1997
totaled US$19,5 million before dropping by 83% to a paltry US$3,3
million.
On the other hand, imports also dropped by 87% to US$2 million from
US$15
million over the same period.
This is despite Zimbabwe
being one of Kenya's major trading partners
in the southern African region.
Zimbabwe holds the second position after
South Africa as a source of imports
for Kenya.
"This is really disappointing to say the least," said
Kenneth
Manyonda, the Deputy Minister of Industry and International Trade
while
addressing a Kenyan investment delegation that visited Harare last
week.
"This scenario could be partly explained by the low level of
contact
between our two countries' business communities. This situation is
likely to
be reversed by seminars like this," Manyonda added
In
June, StandardBusiness reported that exports to Zambia, Harare's
second
largest market, had also plummeted by about 80,4% to a pathetic
US$1,8
million in the first quarter of 2002, signalling no end to the
current
chronic foreign currency squeeze.
Zimbabwe has been suffering from
lack of foreign currency since the
pullout of international lenders in 1999
citing Harare's failure to live
within its means.
The racially
inspired disruption of commercial farming is also blamed
for compounding the
political and economic crisis in the country.
ZimTrade, the
country's premier trade promotion body, however
attributes the fall in the
value of exports to the skewed exchange rate.
"The decline in
exports is spread because of the fixed exchange rate w
hich prevailed for a
long time until the introduction of the export support
scheme," said chief
executive, Freddy Chawasarira.
Only two Zimbabwean companies,
namely Zimre Holdings and Econet
Wireless, have made in roads into the Kenyan
market through tenders, while
diversified conglomerate, Innscor Africa, has
already established itself in
the fast growing market with its popular fast
food brands.
Kenyan companies, Africa Online and the Gweru-based
Steelmakers, have
invested in Zimbabwe.
"The volume of trade
however needs to be increased as the range of
tradable products is still
comparatively low. The balance of trade is in
favour of Zimbabwe and is
attributed to the nature of products traded in,"
said Petkay Miriti, the
Kenyan Assistant Minister of Industry and
International Trade who was
visiting Harare as part of the investment
delegation.
Economic
consultant, Peter Robinson said as long as distortions exist
in the
macroeconomic framework, the regional market would remain elusive
to
Zimbabwean companies.
"There is no environment to encourage
people to export. Look at
problems in the fuel sector, transport sector and
the breakdown in energy.
We have macro-economic policies which discourage
people to export," said
Robinson.
Zim Standard
Of ample women, hypocrites and dictators
Sundaytalk with Pius Wakatama
I failed to make the deadline last
week because I had taken a
seven-day jaunt to the Rainbow Nation and to
Swaziland to be the go-between
(munyai) for my nephew who fell in love with a
Swazi girl he had met while
studying at the University of Pretoria. Despite
the tiredness from two days
of driving from Zimbabwe to Swaziland, I
thoroughly enjoyed the lobola
negotiations.
Unlike the Shona,
the Swazis do not have complicated requirements and
all manner of petty
observances during the lobola proceedings. Their lobola
requirements are
simple and straightforward. The bride price is 15 head of
cattle, full stop.
Gifts are not demanded or specified from the groom, but
may be given to the
older aunts on both sides of the family.
My nephew had bought six
cows which were delivered to the prospective
in-laws' homestead. The
negotiations where therefore solely about the cash
price to be paid for the
remaining nine head of cattle. This was settled
without much ado and we
managed to pay cash for two. The in-laws were
agreeable and consented to the
marriage to go ahead. One cow was slaughtered
there and then for the
celebrations to be held the next day.
The Swazis are a good natured
and fun loving people. We fell in love
with the people and their hilly
kingdom so much that my wife said if things
became really bad in Zimbabwe and
we were forced into exile, Swaziland would
be our first choice for
refuge.
The celebrations were fabulous. The tables were literally
groaning
beneath dishes overflowing with food. I don't remember eating so
much meat
since the price of meat shot up to unaffordable levels in poverty
stricken
Zimbabwe.
The Swazis love their food and it shows on
their bodies, especially
the women. I am not saying this in a negative or
derogatory way at all. To
me the Swazi women portray the real beauty of
African womanhood, not the
skinny scarecrows foisted upon us as models and
beauty queens by hypocrites
who are mentally colonised by the West. The
judges of our beauty pageants,
who are mostly men reflect more the values of
our former colonisers whom
they profess to hate so much. I say they are
hypocrites because most of
their own wives, if not all, are plump mamas with
extra accessories. If they
regard women with hardly any flesh on their bones
as beautiful, why then did
they marry full bodied women? They are hypocrites,
I say!
After the celebrations we left for South Africa to visit
some friends
in Pretoria and Johannesburg. We were lucky to leave Swaziland
when we did.
The very next day nobody could leave or enter Swaziland by road.
All border
entries were blockaded by pro-democracy movements and the South
African
labour movement, COSATU. They were demonstrating against the lack
of
democracy in Swaziland.
However, I must say that even though
King Mswati is an absolute
monarch, he is not a dictator in the same mould as
our own self-proclaimed
monarch, King Robert Mugabe I. One hopes that the
young Swazi King will soon
realise that times are changing and allow for
democratic reform. Let us hope
that his admiration and close association with
our president will not fool
him into emulating him.
In South
Africa we were struck by the people's ignorance of what is
happening across
the border. Many of them are so ill-informed that they
think that President
Mugabe is some kind of hero who has put the hated
whites into their place and
restored stolen land back to the people. The
fact that his regime is
perpetrating human rights abuses on fellow blacks is
not known to
them.
They are also ignorant of the extent to which the Zanu PF
government
has ruined the economy and destroyed agriculture. They, therefore,
blindly
support President Mbeki's softly, softly approach to the Zimbabwe
crisis.
They believe that our problems will be short lived and things will be
back
to normal soon. They point to the impending talks between Zanu PF and
the
MDC and Mbeki's plans to ask the Commonwealth to lift Zimbabwe's
suspension
from that body as positive developments.
They were,
therefore, shocked when I told them that in Zimbabwe the
majority of people
regard Mbeki as a traitor who has sold us out to a
tyrannical
dictator.
They were dumbfounded when I stated that we regarded
COSATU, the
Communist Party and the opposition led by Tony Leon as more of
our friends
than the ANC.
In fact, we literally had such a
shouting match with our hosts that
had we not known each other for so long
and had our relationship not been so
strong, they would have asked us to
leave their house. They are both very
active ANC leaders and they
hero-warship their President Thabo Mbeki. To
them it was unthinkable that his
policy on Zimbabwe could be so way off the
mark.
After a long
discussion, our friends conceded and said: "We have known
you for so long and
we respect your judgement. But, you people must do more
to let South Africans
know the truth about what is going on in Zimbabwe."
Yes, Zimbabwean
journalists and pro-democracy movements must target
South Africa with the
truth. President Mbeki needs pressure from his own
people to make him change
his stance on Zimbabwe just like he had to change
his stance on making
HIV/Aids treatment available to all those affected in
South Africa. As long
as South Africa continues to prop up the Zanu PF
regime diplomatically and
with unpaid for fuel and electricity, our
suffering under the tyranny will be
prolonged so much more.
I must say I was encouraged by the
activities of the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition. Their sponsorship of talks,
meetings and media exposure
and television appearances have done much to
conscientise South Africans to
the realities of life in Zimbabwe
today.
While I was there, Eleanor Sisulu, speaking on behalf of
Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition, openly criticised statements by some South
African
ministers which give the impression that the South African government
is
taking sides in support of the Zanu PF government. Sisulu, who was born
in
Zimbabwe, is married to Max, son of the late ANC stalwarts, Walter
and
Albertina Sisulu.
Our independent newspapers are full of
articles and commentaries which
clearly show the violence, corruption and
deceptiveness of the Zanu PF
regime. These are, however, now preaching to the
converted. Zimbabweans know
the situation under which they live from their
own day to day painful
experiences.
Efforts must now be directed
at informing our brothers and sisters in
the rest of Africa. Most of them are
ignorant at about the truth in Zimbabwe
for they are being led astray by
their presidents who themselves are as
undemocratic and cruel as our
own.
He who has ears to hear, let them hear.
Zim Standard
Playing the blame game overthetop
By Brian
Latham
The government of a troubled central African nation last
week decided
someone had to be blamed for the shortage of cash.
It could not, of course, blame itself, because that would be to go
against
the grain of vanguard socialism by admitting failure.
Instead,
officials in the misinformation ministry decided to blame the
central bank.
No one was convinced by this hilarious move, knowing that the
problem lay
elsewhere and could be explained by a daft adherence to
Zany
economics.
Troubled central Africans pointed out that after
23 years of economic
mismanagement, it was hardly surprising the Zany Party
had made world
history by running out of cash.
Still, the Zany
Party found itself caught in a trap of its own making.
While solving the cash
crisis is a simple matter, it would also be admitting
failure.
And as we've already noted, failure isn't permissible.
The printing
of a 100 000 note would rectify the problem over night,
but clearly
delusional leaders in the troubled central African basket case
have decided
that inflation doesn't exist. Instead they prefer to think
their currency
remains strong, robust and hugely desirable.
That means the
troubled central African nation's biggest denomination
of currency is worth
about 10 US cents - on a good day. One economist told
Over The Top that even
the mighty USA would run out of money overnight if
everyone went out with
their stash of 10c pieces to buy beer, food and
drugs.
Not that
simple solutions were helping tens of thousands of bitterly
angry central
Africans last week. Queues outside banks and building
societies grew longer
and tempers shorter as the heat of the day increased.
Meanwhile
cretins in the finance ministry decided that the hoarding of
cash had caused
the shortage. Sweeping draconian powers were introduced to
put an end to
hoarding in what many said would have been laughable if it
wasn't yet another
glaring example of the country's descent into fascism.
"Who in
their right minds is going to hoard cash if it halves in value
every couple
of days?" One angry woman asked OTT.
Cross boarder traders were
also blamed for "externalising" the
troubled central African nation's
worthless money. They rightly pointed out
that even bankrupt neighbouring
states wouldn't touch the troubled central
African country's money if their
lives depended on it.
Still, that didn't stop foolish finance
officials from giving the Zany
police the power to stop and strip search
citizens suspected of hoarding
cash.
Quite where that cash was
going to be hidden was not explained,
because anyone who thinks he can stick
a couple of shoe boxes into his
Y-fronts and pass unnoticed in the street is
obviously as daft as the Zany
politicians who dreamt the law up in the first
place.
Never mind, troubled (and increasingly angry) central
Africans need to
know that the Zany police now have this power. You can be
walking down the
street contemplating the things troubled central Africans
contemplate - fuel
queues, cash queues, bread queues, emigration - and a
passing cop can remove
your clothes on a warrant and a whim. And troubled
central Africans know the
value of a warrant in their delightful country.
It's on par with their own
currency, which doesn't make it worth anything at
all.
The solution, of course, is staring everyone in the face.
Rather than
put the Zany police to any more trouble (many are, after all,
exhausted by
gruelling head bashing sessions) everyone should simply discard
their
clothes. Now that winter is behind us, this shouldn't prove
too
uncomfortable and it would, if nothing else, prove the staggering
silliness
of vain and ridiculous officials who think anyone would try and
save their
worthless money.