Zim Online
Thursday 02 August 2007
By Never
Chanda
HARARE - Zimbabwe's beleaguered economy is seen sinking deeper
into murky
water as the inflation scourge drives most economic activities
underground,
analysts warned yesterday.
The analysts said the under
siege Zimbabwe manufacturing sector must brace
for more difficult times in
coming months as the effects of an ongoing
government blitz on prices begin
to take toll on the economy.
The International Monetary Fund this week
projected that Zimbabwe's
inflation could hit 100,000 percent by the end of
2007 as a result of the
government order to roll back prices to mid-June
levels.
Products have since disappeared from shelves and only available
on a
thriving black market following the order.
University of
Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe said that prospects
of higher
inflation further dented any chances of recovery of the comatose
manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
He said the next few months
could witness the emergence of a market where
the Zimbabwe dollar would no
longer be accepted as legal tender.
"There is a high likelihood that
everybody will move into the black market
where they will trade in other
currencies," Makumbe said.
An economist with a Harare-based economist
even projected that the rate of
inflation could rise beyond 300 000 percent
by year-end on the back of
continued money printing by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ).
"In fact assuming an average month-on-month inflation
rate of 130 percent,
we should be sitting on annualized inflation of 310,000
percent by December
this year because the central bank would have to print
more money to finance
the government's bloated expenditure," said the
economist who spoke on
condition he was not named.
Finance Minister
Samuel Mumbengegwi is expected to seek Parliament's
approval during the next
two weeks for a supplementary budget after most
government ministries had
exhausted their allocations for the 2007 financial
and calendar
year.
The funds from the supplementary budget would fund food and fuel
imports and
are expected to exert pressure on Zimbabwe's budget deficit,
initially
estimated at 46 percent for this year.
President Robert
Mugabe and RBZ governor Gideon Gono said the central bank
would continue to
print money to finance agriculture and manufacturing. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 02 August
2007
By Pfudzai Chibgowa
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's
splintered main opposition party says it will continue
to present a united
front in talks being facilitated by President Thabo
Mbeki despite last
week's breakdown in attempts to reunify the party.
The secretaries
general of the splintered Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) factions,
Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube told ZimOnline yesterday that
the two
formations will continue to work together under the South Africa-led
initiative.
Mbeki was last March tasked by the regional Southern
African Development
Community (SADC) to lead talks between the MDC and
President Robert Mugabe's
ruling ZANU PF party.
The talks are however
at a delicate stage after Mugabe rejected opposition
demands to discuss a
new democratic constitution for Zimbabwe, a key element
of the talks that
are aimed at dragging Zimbabwe from the brink.
Arthur Mutambara who heads
the smaller faction of the MDC last weekend
launched a scathing attack on
Morgan Tsvangirai calling the Zimbabwe
opposition politician "a weak and
indecisive" leader.
Mutambara said his party will field its own
candidates in next year's
presidential and parliamentary elections after
talks aimed at reunifying the
party broke down adding to fears that the move
could wreck relations between
the two parties that have presented a unified
front at the Mbeki talks.
"We agreed to work to formulate a common
position in the negotiations. But
at no time was the SADC initiative seen as
compelling us to contest the
elections as one group. The recent statement by
Mutambara does not
jeopardise the negotiating process at all," said
Ncube.
Biti said although he was disappointed by Mutambara's description
of
Tsvangirai, the sentiments should not wreck the South African-led
initiative.
He said dialogue and negotiations to secure an even
electoral playing field
for next year's elections will continue despite the
breakdown of talks.
"If the Mbeki initiative is going to fail, it will
not be because of us,"
Biti said.
"If people are going to differ, it
should be on questions of principles
other than personalities. I don't know
what value was obtained by calling
Tsvangirai a 'moron'," said
Biti.
Political analysts say the breakdown in talks to reunify the
opposition
party could hand over electoral victory to Mugabe and ZANU PF on
a silver
plate in next year's elections. They said a divided MDC stands no
chance of
dislodging Mugabe from power. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 02 August 2007
By Nqobizitha
Khumalo
BULAWAYO - Manufacturing firms in Zimbabwe's second biggest city
of Bulawayo
are facing closure after city authorities said they will tighten
water
rationing measures in the next two months.
Bulawayo, which used
to be Zimbabwe's industrial hub before most companies
relocated to Harare in
the 1990s due to the water crisis, has been battling
serious water shortages
over the past few years because of successive
droughts.
The city,
which is tucked in the dry south-western parts of the country,
last month
said only two dams, Insiza and Inyakuni, still had some water
with the
latter expected to run dry at the beginning of October.
Business leaders
and industrialists in Bulawayo have warned of dire
consequences if the water
situation is not addressed.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)
President in Bulawayo, Dumisani
Sibanda said the situation would be
disastrous for business if the city
decommissioned one of the two dams
currently supplying water to the city.
"The water situation is bad but
manufacturers have set up a committee that
meets with council regularly.
Industries have been spared for the time being
as they still get water
supplies.
"But the situation will be critical if the other dam is
de-commissioned,"
said Sibanda whose CZI is the voice of business in
Zimbabwe.
The water crisis in Bulawayo has seen most residents get
supplies once in
every three days.
Bulawayo has five dams that supply
water to the city but three of the dams
have already been
decommissioned.
Bulawayo council spokesperson Pathisa Nyathi said
industry could face water
cuts soon because of the persistent water
shortages in the city.
"Currently we have not included industry in water
shedding schedules but if
Inyankuni runs out of water, then we will have no
choice as there will be
very little water available," Nyathi
said.
Bulawayo needs an average of 120 000 cubic metres of water every
day but if
Inyankuni dam is de-commissioned, the city will only be getting a
paltry 46
000 cubic metres of water per day, way below the city's daily
needs.
The city last June warned of potential disease outbreaks due to
the water
shortages.
Plans to draw water from the mighty Zambezi
river in the north have remained
on the drawing board since the early 80s
with politicians from the
Matabeleland regions accusing President Robert
Mugabe's government of
dragging its feet over the project.
The
Zimbabwean government which is battling its worst ever economic
recession
that has seen inflation zoom beyond 5 000 percent, says it has
failed to
build the 450km Zambezi water pipeline because of lack of funds.
The
worsening water crisis is only an addition on a long list if hardships
faced
by Bulawayo residents as the country grapples with a severe economic
recession described by the World Bank as the worst in the world outside a
war zone. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thursday 02 August
2007
By Batsirai Muranje and Patricia
Mpofu
HARARE - A Zimbabwean photojournalist was on Wednesday beaten
up by
the wife of Zimbabwe army commander Constantine Chiwenga while
covering a
tour by Morgan Tsvangirai of shops in Harare to assess the impact
of a
government crackdown on prices that began two months ago.
The controversial Jocelyn Chiwenga, pounced on award-winning
photojournalist
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi at Makro Wholesalers in Harare as
Tsvangirai toured
shops and supermarkets to assess the effects of the price
crackdown that has
triggered massive shortages of basic goods in shops.
Chiwenga, who
was among the shoppers in Makro at the time of
Tsvangirai's visit, verbally
abused the Zimbabwe opposition leader accusing
him of causing the shortages
because of the "sanctions" that he had called
on Zimbabwe.
President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party have in the past
blamed
Zimbabwe's economic woes on "illegal" sanctions imposed by Britain
and her
Western allies. They also accuse Tsvangirai and his opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party of calling for sanctions against
Zimbabwe.
"This is the effect of the sanctions," an irate
Chiwenga said as
Tsvangirai and his team expressed shock over the empty
shelves.
As photographers jostled to take photos of the MDC leader
and his
team, Chiwenga ordered Makro staff to close the doors trapping
Mukwazhi and
several other journalists and MDC officials inside the
building.
She then grabbed Mukwazhi and slapped his face accusing
the
photojournalist of "sending 'false' pictures to Britain."
"I was shocked by the attack," Mukwazhi later told ZimOnline. "They
freed me
a few minutes later after all my colleagues had gone."
This is not
the first time that Chiwenga has been in the news for the
wrong
reasons.
In 2003, Chiwenga beat up former Daily News lawyer
Gugulethu Moyo at a
police station in Harare after she had gone there to
secure the release of a
photographer who had been arrested while covering an
MDC demonstration.
Five years ago, Chiwenga boasted that "she had
not tasted white blood
since 1980 and missed the experience" after she
seized a farm from its white
owner at the height of the government's violent
farm invasions.
Tsvangirai first visited Gutsai Supermarket in
central Harare before
visiting OK Bazaars outlets in Harare's working class
suburbs of Mufakose
and Budiriro.
At a press briefing after the
tour, Tsvangirai attacked the price
controls saying they were not
sustainable.
"This is a crazy policy which has resulted in
shortages of basic
commodities. This regime has failed," he
said.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a debilitating economic crisis
that has
manifested itself in the world's highest inflation rate of over 5
000
percent, a rapidly contracting GDP, the fastest for a country not at war
according to the World Bank and acute shortages of foreign currency, food
and fuel.
The crisis took a turn for the worst last June after
Mugabe ordered
that businesses should halve prices of all commodities in a
desperate bid to
control inflation.
The price cuts have led to
shortages of basic goods, while economists
have warned that the crackdown
could trigger a total collapse of Zimbabwe's
weakened economy. -
ZimOnline
National Geographic
Nick Wadhams in Nairobi, Kenya
for National Geographic
News
August 1, 2007
Wildlife has been nearly wiped out on Zimbabwe's
former private game ranches
in the seven years since President Robert Mugabe
began seizing and dividing
the areas into small plots, a conservation group
says.
Some 90 percent of animals have been lost since 2000, while the
country has
seen an estimated 60 percent of its total wildlife killed off to
help ease
massive economic woes, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said
in a report
issued in June.
"[The animals] are being killed
indiscriminately," said Johnny Rodrigues,
the author of the report. "There's
a lot of commercial poaching, there are
people on the ground snaring these
animals. This is where a lot of the
destruction is coming
from."
Economic Meltdown
For its study, the Zimbabwe Conservation
Task Force gathered information and
studied records about 62 game ranches.
Fifty-nine reported losses, including
the killings of a total of 75 rare
black rhinoceroses and 39 leopards.
Most of the losses appeared among
antelope, including 9,500 impalas, nearly
5,000 kudus, and 2,000
wildebeests.
The numbers help give a rough estimate of the environmental
impact of
Zimbabwe's recent descent into economic and political
chaos.
Inflation-estimated at 5,000 percent-is now the worst in the
world. On
Wednesday the government introduced a 200,000 Zimbabwean dollar
bill-which
is worth only about $1 dollar U.S. on the black
market.
The economic meltdown has had a wide-ranging and devastating
impact on what
is one of Africa's premier tourist draws. Zimbabwe's wildlife
parks teem
with herds of elephants and rhinos, as well as sights such as
Victoria
Falls.
Along with plummeting wildlife numbers, the country
has seen massive
deforestation and the neglect of some national
parks.
At Hwange National Park, for example, animals have been killed off
by severe
drought, a problem exacerbated by scarce gasoline
supplies.
There is no longer enough fuel to power the pumps that feed the
watering
pans where animals gather.
Policy Disaster
Until now
there had only been anecdotal evidence of widespread slaughter on
the
private ranches that were occupied under President Mugabe's
controversial
land redistribution program.
That policy, implemented in 2000, is seen as
a central reason for Zimbabwe's
economic collapse.
Mugabe argued at
the time that the reforms would reverse decades of
discrimination and help
Zimbabwe shed its colonial past, when wealthy white
farmers snapped up some
of the country's best land.
Yet once he expelled the farmers and
subdivided the land, the farms that
made Zimbabwe Africa's breadbasket
collapsed, and some of the country's most
basic foodstuffs became impossible
to find.
And as a result, the subsistence farmers who moved in-often
dubbed "war
veterans" by the regime-began to hunt wildlife that had thrived,
and in many
cases, been protected on the ranches.
Government
regulations meant to shield the animals have been disobeyed, and
wildlife
officials have been forced to focus their limited resources on
Zimbabwe's
national parks and reserves, where the damage is less severe.
According
to the task force, Zimbabwe had 620 private game farms before the
land
seizures began, but now has 14. And of 14 conservancies before 2000,
only
one remains.
Snare Traps
Because of the proliferation of snares,
many of the animals on these former
ranches have been maimed, report author
Rodrigues said.
"They're telling the world they want the tourists to come
back, but the
tourists aren't going to come back because most of the animals
you see
nowadays have amputated legs," he said. "It's just like a
rehabilitation
center."
The report acknowledges that the findings are
still preliminary-many of the
farmers whose land was seized have left the
country, so in some cases the
group had to rely on hazy reports from people
still near the former ranches.
"We are not claiming to 'know' how much
wildlife has been lost," the report
said. "We have just tried to make the
most accurate estimate possible with
very limited data to work
with."
Still, the trend is a disaster, because Zimbabwe once had some of
the
world's most progressive and successful conservation
policies.
Elephant populations there have boomed, and on conservation
areas that are
strictly monitored and controlled, rhinoceros populations are
growing.
Matter of Survival
Part of the reason for the decline is
that poachers from neighboring
countries have entered Zimbabwe to hunt its
animals. Another is the booming
trade in bush meat.
"It's a matter of
survival," said George Kampamba, coordinator of the
conservation nonprofit
WWF's African Rhino Program. "For people to really
survive, now that poverty
levels are so high, they have to do what they're
doing-which is the bush
meat trade."
The government too has turned on the animals. Rodrigues said
the government
slaughtered a hundred elephants last year so their meat could
be served as
part of Independence Day celebrations.
And his group has
also reported that Zimbabwe recently sold ivory to China
in exchange for
military hardware.
Wildlife destruction has become so severe that even
Zimbabwe's authoritarian
government is acknowledging
mistakes.
"Errors that were made were not intentional," Environment
Secretary Margaret
Sangarwe told the state-owned Herald
newspaper.
"An area of concern is the resettling of people in some areas
meant for
wildlife rearing, and ensuring that our wildlife is safe."
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
01 August
2007
A spokesman for the Save Zimbabwe Campaign said
Wednesday that the coalition
of organizations opposing the government of
President Robert Mugabe regrets
the exit from its ranks of the opposition
faction led by Arthur Mutambara,
but said that the organization will
continue its efforts to "liberate"
Zimbabweans without him.
Mutambara
announced Saturday that his Movement for Democratic Change faction
was
withdrawing from the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, accusing the coalition of
civic, church and political groups of favoring his rival, MDC founder Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Mutambara said his faction would run its own presidential
candidate in March
2008.
Spokesman Pius Wakatama of the Christian
Alliance, which launched and
coordinates the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, told
reporter Carole Gombakomba of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that despite
Mutambara's statement it is
"business as usual.
The organization said
it was unfortunate that Mutambara announced his
decision to the media before
bringing his concerns to the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign
leadership.
Lovemore Madhuku, who accompanied Tsvangirai on a Save
Zimbabwe Campaign
tour of European capitals, said the fact that Tsvangirai
led the delegation,
and would lead others to come did not indicate he was
being favored over
Mutambara.
News24
01/08/2007 21:22 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - There was no price too high to allow Zimbabwean
President
Robert Mugabe to step down, Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor
Ncube said in
Johannesburg on Wednesday.
"If that means giving Robert
Mugabe immunity from prosecution, let that be
done," he told a public debate
on leadership in Zimbabwe at the University
of the
Witwatersrand.
Letting Mugabe go would give Zimbabwe the opportunity to
start again, he
said.
Ncube was on a debating panel with Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition activist
Eleanor Sisulu, and Open Society Initiative for
Southern Africa director
Tawanda Mutasah.
The event was part of a
series of conversations on African leadership.
'I have a problem with
that'
Ideally, Ncube wanted Zimbabweans to reject both the ruling Zanu-PF
and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
However,
that left the question of where a new leader would come from.
"I doubt
that leader is going to come from the MDC.
"... for now we might find
ourselves looking for leadership within the
Zanu-PF," he
said.
Mutasah disagreed.
"Zimbabwe deserves free and fair,
legitimate elections in the truest sense,"
he said.
Whoever was
elected - even if that was Mugabe - "let them run Zimbabwe and
govern the
country because it is what the people chose as their leadership,"
he
said.
Mutasah criticised the talks being conducted by President Thabo
Mbeki on
behalf of the Southern African Development Community in an attempt
to
resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe, because they excluded the Zimbabwean
people.
"We need to make sure these talks do not happen in a
closet.
"If ordinary people are excluded from the table, I have a problem
with
that," he said.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
Opposition leader Arthur Mutambara has allegedly
instructed his management committee to undertake a propaganda offensive against
his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, following the collapse of unity
talks.
Mutambara's plan to "paint a dismal and hopeless picture" of
Tsvangirai is contained in a 7-page damning dossier shown to The Zimbabwean this
week, detailing the set up of a "Think Tank Organ" comprising four committees
whose brief is to "completely discredit Tsvangirai."
But MDC (Mutambara)
deputy secretary-general, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, dismissed the
document as a "badly done CIO hatchet job."
"Expose his (Tsvangirai)
failings as a losing leader who lost his MP election, lost in the 2002
presidential elections, lost (as party leader) in the March 2005 parliamentary
elections," says the strategy document.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga denied the
document was authentic, saying its contents flew in the face of the "Code of
Conduct" and "Coalition Agreement" signed between the two parties, which agreed
they would not insult each other.
She then alleged that Tsvangirai and his
deputies had initially breached the codes by attacking Mutambara legislators
during rallies and rejecting the one-candidate principle in all future
elections.
Mutambara allegedly wrote: "Is it true that Tsvangirai was
originally in favour of senate elections? If so turn it on him. That Tsvangirai
bought a house in South Africa? If so, why do you spare him? …Tear him to
pieces."
The document further alleges that Tsvangirai embezzled MDC funds and
disregarded decisions made by consensus.
"That Tsvangirai had a slush fund
unknown to the management. If so, why keep quiet about it?," asks Mutambara in
the letter.
Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango said the MDC leader wanted
to steer clear of commenting on any matters involving personalities in the
struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean
Provinces mobilised
to keep succession off agenda
BY ITAI DZAMARA
HARARE - President Robert
Mugabe and his loyalists in the ruling party are
blocking all avenues of
reformation of the party ahead of next year's
elections, it has
emerged.
The Zimbabwean has established that Mugabe, apparently aware of the
growing
efforts at blocking his desire to stand for next year's elections as
well as
keep the leadership status quo, has already deployed the political
commissar, youths and women leaders on his side into the provinces, to send
the message that the party is intact and doesn't need any leadership
renewal.
Zanu (PF) political commissar, Elliot Manyika confirmed to The
Zimbabwean
that, "we have our teams going to the provinces to mobilise our
people, send
a message of solidarity and make the record straight about the
leadership
issue".
Zanu (PF) insiders say the pro-Mugabe officials
visiting provinces are
mainly carrying the message that there won't be any
need to discuss the
leadership issue and that the provincial leaderships
must not include the
matter on agendas, either in their provinces or at the
lowest levels.
The main objective is to block the matter from being included
on the Zanu
(PF) agenda when the party holds an expected extraordinary
congress before
the end of the year.
"The provinces are being convinced
that there is no need for leadership
change because the current leadership
still has a valid mandate and is
capable of leading the party into the
elections," a source from the Mujuru
faction said.
"There is even the use
of intimidation against party members, who are being
told that there are
dangers facing those that will be seen to be supporting
the leadership
change agenda because it originates from enemies of the
party."
Manyika,
who is on the Mugabe faction, says the aged leader will stand for
the ruling
party at the presidential elections, claiming he has been
endorsed and that
he has a valid mandate. The Zanu (PF) constitution
stipulates that the
leader of the party is chosen at a congress and given a
five-year mandate
and Mugabe's current tenure expires in 2009. However, the
same constitution
provides for the holding of a special congress as well as
the removal of a
leadership by the structures.
The tension continues to rise within Zanu (PF)
and former finance minister
Simba Makoni is believed to be preparing to
launch a bid for the top
position.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
A month-long fuel
shortage in Zimbabwe was set to worsen this week as queues
at fuel stations
grew longer in Harare, with government's lies that it was
providing
subsidized fuel shamelessly exposed.
The price cut, which authorities
contends would lead to fuel being available
at Z$60,000 has remained hot air
as the scarce commodity completely
disappeared from fuel stations but
readily available on a thriving black
market where a 5-litre gallon was
retailing for anything up to $2 million.
An official with Exor told The
Zimbabwean that the situation was "very
serious" and that a resolution to
the current crisis was "unlikely in the
foreseeable future."
"The
industry is likely to face frequent shortages and in fact stock levels
are
currently so low that it will take some time to re-build the country's
reserves."
Amid the crippling fuel crisis now pushing the country to the
brink, oil
companies and the business sector are calling on individuals and
companies
to conserve the country's dwindling stocks.
Zimbabweans have
been urged not to make unnecessary journeys and even to use
bicycles in
order to preserve the precious stocks of fuel. Industry has
agreed to target
supplies to key sectors such as agricultural exports, which
earn the foreign
exchange needed to buy more oil.
President Robert Mugabe recently blamed the
situation on foreign banks
hoarding hard currency, but most people here
point the finger instead at
corruption in the state oil-importing company,
NOCZIM. An industry source
told The Zimbabwean that NOCZIM has been
importing fuel without paying its
bills and foreign creditors had now cut
off supplies.
The Zimbabwean
Memories of a
massacre
stand first: The Guardian's correspondent in Zimbabwe in the early
80s, NICK
WORRALL, gives his exclusive first-hand account of how he broke
the news of
the Gukurahundi massacre in Zimbabwe.
'Dozens of small
villages had been similarly attacked and hundreds -
possibly thousands - of
people shot dead'
'My colleagues had betrayed our confidence and
agreement'
'The suffering people of Matabeleland were failed miserably by the
journalists'
'The Catholic Church knew at first hand about the killings
and had been
giving fleeing villagers places of refuge in their
churches'
It was a quiet Saturday morning in January 1983. I was sitting
reading the
sparse newswires, sitting at my desk in the small office I
rented in Frankel
House, in the centre of what used to be called Salisbury -
now Harare.
There seemed little news around on this sultry day and my mind
was drifting
towards swimming pool and cold wine.
So, about to leave for
home, I was picking up some papers when a small,
oldish man, entered my
office. He looked dishevelled and out of breath. He
thought mine was the BBC
office. I told him it was not but, sensing a bit of
news, I asked him to sit
down, catch his breath and tell me his story.
He told me he had rushed over
from Matabeleland where something dreadful was
happening and he wanted to
give details to the BBC. I told him that the BBC
correspondent was, as far
as I knew, out of town. But if he could give me
details I would see that it
was passed to the BBC when their man returned.
In the meantime I asked him
to tell me what was upsetting him.
The story he stammered out turned my blood
cold. I asked if I could come
with him to his village so he could show me
enough for me to give the story
to my newspaper. The BBC, I said, would
certainly pick it up quickly.
There had been quite a bit of news to report -
government irritation at my
claim (true as usual) that Zim, suffering from
severe shortages, was getting
its petrol, from South Africa. Tantamount to a
shameful African crime at
that time. Then there had been consistent reports
from Matabeleland of
attacks on farmers with official blame being aimed at
"dissidents".
Some attacks, including a bomb or two in Harare and another
against the air
force in Gweru, were being blamed on the South Africans or
perhaps on
disgruntled former Rhodesian soldiers who refused to live under
black rule.
Apart from these Robert Mugabe had made an unexpectedly good
start after his
sweeping election victory in 1980. A certain amount of
opposition had come
from Joshua Nkomo's Matabeleland supporters, but a
strong military presence
in that part of the country seemed likely to quell
any potential rebellion.
Most of the Zim armed forces had received training
from the British army,
but a curious decision, which was bound to irritate
the West, brought in
soldiers from North Korea to train a new element of the
local forces - to be
known as the Fifth Brigade. They already had the
country agog after a major
showing of drill, armed and unarmed combat at the
capital's major soccer
stadium.
I had arrived in Zimbabwe in 1981 to
report for the London Sunday Times but
I changed to the Guardian when I had
the chance. I was fond of this great
liberal paper from my days in Britain,
especially since my father had been
their man to report on Ian Smith's
illegal declaration of independence in
defiance of colonial masters Britain.
John Worrall was expelled when Smith
finally lost patience with his fair,
but often damning, reports.
I decided that I should not go down to dangerous
Matabeleland alone but pass
the news to two other British correspondents,
the Reuters bureau chief and
the freelance stringer for The Times. We all
agreed to go down together
first thing the next morning.
My informant had
come from a small village some distance northwest of
Bulawayo. He took us
there. All that remained was a ring of burned huts,
some still smouldering.
There were a few women. They were obviously in
mourning. As we drove in they
gathered up their children and moved away. But
our friend called them back
and reassured them that we meant them no harm.
They told the story that two
days before a troop of Fifth Brigade soldiers
had driven into the village
and brandished a piece of paper. They read out
the names of several men, all
of them local officials of Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU
political party. They ordered
the villagers to produce the men. When they
said the men were not in the
village the soldiers grabbed six villagers,
male and female. These were
lined up in front of a hut and shot. Huts were
then set on fire and the
soldiers departed.
We were shown hollow graves in which the murdered
villagers had hastily been
buried. And we were told that this incident was
by no means a one-off.
Dozens of small villages had been similarly attacked
and hundreds - possibly
thousands - of people shot dead. Others, they said,
especially young men,
teenagers, had been savagely tortured with bayonets
and left to die on the
ground.
We were shown two or three more villages
which had suffered a similar fate
at the murderous hands of the red
beret-wearing Fifth brigade. We saw more
shallow graves, more burned huts
and more weeping women. In each case the
same story was told - they were
seeking Nkomo supporters and were under
orders to kill them.
We were also
taken to the Mpilo hospital in Bulawayo where we were told many
young men
had been taken suffering from bayonet wounds. We saw about 15
victims,
covered in bandages over a mass of holes in their chests and
stomachs. Some
were clearly in great agony, others had been drugged and were
sleeping.
Those that could speak told a similar story - they'd been dragged
away from
their huts or from their work and the soldiers had repeatedly
stabbed them
and then left them, lying on the ground.
When we had seen enough we retired
to the Holiday Inn hotel to discuss what
we had observed. It was now quite
late on Sunday but there would be time to
write a story and file it to
London by telex that night. We were of the
opinion that it was important
that all three of us should tell the story
now - in that case we would be
protected by the coverage. No-one could
accuse any one of us for having made
up the story which seemed to accuse
Robert Mugabe and his army of mass
murder. There was safety in numbers.
The next day I discovered that the
Guardian had used my story on the front
page. Reuters and the London Times
had printed nothing. My colleagues had
betrayed our confidence and
agreement. I knew that it was only a matter of
time before I would to pay
the same penalty as my father had 13 years
before.
It was nearly three
months before they expelled me. I spent time trying to
get others who knew
full well what was happening in Matabeleland to support
me from the
accusation that my story had been a lie. I travelled to
Botswana where I
found hundreds of refugees from Matabeleland in a camp, all
of whom told
similar stories of the massacre. The Catholic Church knew at
first hand
about the killings and had been giving fleeing villagers places
of refuge in
their churches. But no-one wanted to admit to the problems.
Another
well-informed organisation was Oxfam who had several programmes for
the poor
in Matabeleland and had observed the actions of the troops. But
they did not
want to jeopardise their operations either.
One result of my report (which
was never acknowledged by Mugabe or any other
Zimbabwean official) was to
have Matabeleland closed down to the press. It
took more than a year before
Donald Trelford made the effort for The
Observer to look for himself. Not
many of our colleagues have made that
effort. Perhaps in future journalists
might show a bit more courage when
confronted with this kind of brutality.
On another occasion lives might be
saved. In this, the suffering people of
Matabeleland were failed miserably
by the journalists.
The role of the
press over this dreadful issue was far from courageous, nor
has it resulted
in any repentance or admission of guilt and change of heart
by Mugabe,
himself a Roman Catholic. I shall never forget these words about
his
president from an embittered Joshua Nkomo during an interview: "Mugabe
has
dismantled everything but mantled nothing".
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
Last ditch efforts to save the collapsing inter-party talks
aimed at ending
the Zimbabwean political crisis have seen SADC leaders and
the African Union
trying to convince President Robert Mugabe that the only
route is engaging
the opposition and seeking a negotiated settlement.
The
Zimbabwean can reveal that South African President Thabo Mbeki,
apparently
sensing danger due to the imminent collapse of the talks
following the
apparent display of a negative attitude by the Harare regime,
last week sent
a delegation to Harare.
Led by Safety and Security minister, Sydney Mufamadi,
the delegation is
reported to have met Mugabe and tried to revive the
talks. Informed sources
say the mediation efforts face collapse with
reports that both opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions
complained to Mbeki about the
attitude shown by Zanu (PF) and hinted that
they might soon announce a pull
out.
This followed failure by the ruling
party representatives to attend the
third meeting in South Africa recently.
It has also been reported that
Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, Armando
Guebuza of Mozambique as well as
Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia have made
contact with Mugabe, urging him to
engage the opposition in dialogue.
The
SADC leaders are making concerted efforts to secure meaningful
commitment
and progress on the dialogue initiative and are racing against
time ahead of
their summit set for Lusaka soon. "The leaders all responded
with what
seemed to be panic to reports of Mugabe frustrating the talks, as
well as
him proceeding with his Constitutional Amendment Number 18," an
impeccable
source said. "They are all convinced the talks' route is the
only one left
for them to try and save Zimbabwe and the prospect of it
failing spells doom
for the region.
Diplomatic sources also told this paper this week that AU
chair, President
John Kuffor of Ghana had communicated with Mugabe and MDC
factions' leaders
in trying to push for the engagement of the political
parties in dialogue.
Foreign affairs minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi was not
immediately
available for talks, whilst Justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa,
one of the
Zanu (PF) representatives at the talks, insisted that the ruling
party
"remains committed to dialogue that is done transparently and
sincerely".
Efforts to obtain comment from Mbeki's office in Pretoria failed
whilst MDC
(Tsvangirai) secretary general Tendai Biti said his party was
worried by
Zanu (PF)'s approach but remained committed to the dialogue
initiative. -
Staff reporter
The Zimbabwean
Confusion
reigns over the Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, a law that will cost thousands in the informal sector their
jobs as well as worsening foods shortages in Zimbabwe due to come into
effect today.
The law bans the import of goods into the country from
neighbouring
countries particularly South Africa, from where thousands were
helping their
families back in Zimbabwe with commodities and most informal
traders were
buying from.
Such 'controlled' goods include cooking oil,
fruits, beans, meat, milk
products, poultry products, maize meal and sugar
all which have disappeared
from supermarket shelves after a recent price
freeze ordered by government.
"The people of Zimbabwe are trapped by their
own government. I have not
heard of any country where people are stopped
from buying goods that are not
available in their country. This obviously
will make the situation with
regards to hunger worse. It is a ploy by
government to force people to
produce the goods that are not in supply by
starving them," said economist
Luke Zunga, a board member of the Zimbabwe
Civil Society Organisations
Forum.
But the ambassador to South Africa,
Simon Khaya Moyo, has refuted reports of
the ban. According to a fax sent to
CAJ News on Saturday, Khaya-Moyo said
the Ministry of Industry and
international Trade and the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority had advised him that
there was "no change of policy and that no
ban has been
imposed".
However, people or businesses who wish to import bulk foodstuffs
for re-sale
into Zimbabwe should first apply for permits or licences from
the Ministry
Industry and International trade," explained Khaya-Moyo.
He
said the already existing standing rules and regulations on quantities of
personal goods and foodstuffs that can be imported duty free would continue
to be applied.
Buses plying the Johannesburg-Zimbabwe route and informal
cross border
transport operators, referred to as omalayitsha in South
Africa, said the
law would compromise their profitability as well as
eventually kill their
businesses which they said were their only means of
survival, respectively.
South Africa-based Zimbabweans largely rely on the
services of these
transporters to send food to their starving relatives back
home.
"The new law will result in few if any people sending their goods to
Zimbabwe using our services. This will see our businesses unfolding.
I
have been in this industry for more than a decade and if there was a time I
feared my business will take a knock, it is now," said a malayitsha who only
referred to himself as Tshuma, in the teeming Park Station Taxi Rank in
Johannesburg.
Cross border traders also bemoaned the new law. "The law is
vague. I
understand we now require permits to resale in our country the
products that
we buy here. It is common knowledge that it takes ages for
government to
issue permits to regulate any form of informal trade.
"That
spells trouble to our means of livelihood. By buying goods for resale
in
Zimbabwe I am able to make profit to send my children to school. As it
is,
this might be my last visit to South Africa on business," said a
distraught
Sihle Ndazi, a cross border trader and a mother of three. - CAJ
News
The Zimbabwean
BY JOHN MAKUMBE
The pulling out
of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC) by the Mutambara faction
of the MDC last
week was unfortunate but not entirely surprising. It was
unfortunate because
it basically weakened the broad alliance that civil
society and opposition
political parties have formed in order to effectively
fight the Mugabe
regime. The fact that the dictator has access to state
power and machinery
requires that all progressive forces should pool their
resources and
energies in order to confront the dogs of dictatorship more
effectively. The
Mutambara faction may be relatively smaller than the
Tsvangirai faction, but
it is a fact that there are some progressive
Zimbabweans in that faction
whose leadership skills could have benefited the
SZC in its
endeavours.
But perhaps the most unfortunate part of the whole saga is the
manner in
which Mutambara handled the announcement of the withdrawal from
SZC and the
demise of unity talks between the two MDC factions. The insults
levelled
against Morgan Tsvangirai were certainly not called for. Obviously
the
journalists who were present loved every word that Mutambara used to
describe Tsvangirai. For example, to call Tsvangirai a ".weak and indecisive
leader." is normally only done by elements within the ruining Zanu (PF)
party.
This is not expected from another opposition political party
leader who
aspires to dethrone Mugabe the tyrant. Harsh words like these
should be
reserved for those who deserve them, and Tsvangirai certainly does
not. It
is unfortunate that some opposition political leaders in Zimbabwe
exert such
tremendous force and energy against fellow opposition leaders
rather than
against the real enemy of the people of this bleeding and
starving country.
Allegations that the SZC is being used to further the
interests of selected
individuals should have been made at proper SZC fora
instead of becoming the
subject of a press conference. To the best of my
knowledge, the Mutambara
formation has not, to date, made an official
complaint to the SZC task force
or steering committee. Had such a complaint
been formally lodged, the SZC
would probably have done all in its power to
resolve the issue without
embarrassing the leaders of either of the MDC
formations. Indeed, the SZC
task force was taken by surprise when Mutambara
made his dramatic
announcement.
Be that as it may, the question that begs
an answer now is: what are the
implications for the slow-moving mediation
talks that Thabo Mbeki and his
team are pursuing? It is likely that the two
MDC formations will find it
difficult to agree on all the issues that the
beleaguered Zanu (PF) will
place on the table. The fight between the two
formations is likely to
seriously hinder the talks, and that will work to
the advantage of the
dictator. Meanwhile the suffering people of Zimbabwe
are left wondering
whether any good is likely to come from this recent
display of political
bickering in the opposition camp. The dictator
obviously loves every moment
of the whole sordid matter.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE - Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Governor, Gideon Gono, has agreed with the
public that the government-run
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa)
lacked the capacity to run water
affairs.
Departing from his prepared speech at the Zimbabwe Local Government
conference in Harare last week, Dr Gono criticised Zinwa for taking over
water and sewer responsibilities when it did not have the capacity
to
deliver.
He said it was disheartening that some parts of the country go
for up to 10
days without water.
When reporting to Cabinet, government
officials should say what they were
able to do rather than exaggerate what
they thought they could do, Gono
advised.
"Where we are failing we must
go back to Cabinet for reviews of decisions.
There is nothing wrong in
reviewing certain decisions", he said.
Local authorities and the public have
lobbied against Zinwa's ambitious
water take-over since its proposal last
year.
Minister Munacho Mutezo has vowed that the state authority would
forcibly
take over all water operations, despite protests. - CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
BULAWAYO
Investigations done by The Zimbabwean here have
established that many public
media journalists are not accredited by the
Zimbabwe Media Information (MIC)
yet not one of them has been arrested for
contravening the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).
Yet journalists from the private media are constantly harassed and
drag to
court for not being accredited.
"I have been working for the
public media for the past five years and since
the inception of AIPPA and
MIC we have not experienced any problems. Some of
us worked for a whole
year without accreditation because we were supporting
Mugabe's government.
No one was arrested for practising without
accreditation," said a former
reporter with one of the Zimpapers newspapers,
who requested
anonymity.
Another current reporter with the Bulawayo-based state media said
he was
currently working without accreditation and had never been asked to
produce
it.
Efforts by journalists to form an independent regulatory
council aimed at
replacing MIC were fruitless as the government refused them
the
opportunity. - Silas Nkala
The Zimbabwean
The City of Johannesburg
plans to establish transitional accommodation for
desperate Zimbabweans
flooding South Africa because of political and
economic turmoil at
home.
The centre will be opened in few weeks time and will be a referral
point for
new arrivals.
"The building will be managed by refugee
organisations dealing with shelter
in the city. The new arrivals will be
given few months to be connected to
services such as Department of Home
Affairs to legalise their stay and to
get to know the city," said Director
for Community Development Department,
Wandile Zwane.
The City of Joburg's
Mayo, Amos Masondo, recently opened a Migrants Help
Desk in an attempt to
integrate migrants in the city.
Hundreds of Zimbabwenas have so far visited
the centre to seek assistance.
The Zimbabwe Political Victims Association has
been nominated to run the
centre. "At least people will be directed to
places where they are offered
assistance and it might reduce number of
illegal immigrants in the city.
Some are even targeted by criminals as they
roam the streets looking for
jobs," said one official from a refugee
organisation. - Zakeus Chibaya
The Zimbabwean
HARARE
The Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe's (RBZ) handling of business travel allowances
is fraught with
loopholes and corruption, resulting in the loss of huge
amounts of scarce
foreign currency to individuals and companies aligned to
the ruling party.
Investigations by The Zimbabwean have shown that RBZ
Governor Gideon Gono,
vocal in his denouncing of corruption, has failed to
stamp out a system of
patronage and favouritism based on Zanu (PF) party
politics to guide the
handling of foreign currency issued by the central
Bank.
It has also been
established that looting of scarce forex is rampant through
systematic
misrepresentation by individuals and corporates applying for
business travel
allowances.
The Zimbabwean has seen copies of applications by a Zanu (PF)
official who
runs an agro-business company, requiring him to travel
regularly, especially
to Asia. On three occasions during the past four
months he has requested
foreign currency through CBZ Bank Limited and
claimed to have a delegation
of between 11 and 15 members when in fact, only
two, three and four people
have made the trips.
Amounts of between US$20
000 and US$35 000 have been approved by the RBZ,
and this paper established
that the bulk of the money was used to purchase
goods for resale here and to
trade on the black market.
"That is the system used by almost everyone and it
is now entrenched," an
RBZ senior official in the forex department said, on
condition of anonymity.
"The governor is aware of this and there is a
deliberate lack of interest in
scrutinizing the applications, especially for
those on the right political
side."
Gono denied these allegations:
"Nothing can be further from the truth. Your
sources are feeding you with
imaginary lies. The Reserve Bank, as custodian
of administering the
country's Exchange Control Regulations does not assume
the role of banks
which it supervises," he said.
"The Authorised Dealers are expected to carry
out post issuance checks to
confirm that their customers indeed travelled.
In the surveillance systems
that we use, there are established,
internationally compliant and tested
corporate governance rules that are in
force. The equivalent of up to US$500
a day may be issued as business travel
allowance."
The Zimbabwean revealed in March that President Robert Mugabe and
other
senior government officials have been looting from the RBZ's
contingency
account and prejudiced the country of more than US$20 million
since
independence in 1980.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
01 August
2007
The faction of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic Change headed
by MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai has lodged a Z$504
billion (US$3.4 million)
lawsuit against the state for disrupting a
political rally rally in February
of this year.
The opposition suit
charges that instead of providing security and ensuring
peace and order at
the Highfield rally as instructed by the Harare high
court, Zimbabwe
Republic Police "reprehensibly became the perpetrators of
unlawful
conduct."
The suit names Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Chief
Augustine
Chihuri, Harare South Chief Superintendent Thomsen Jangara and
four other
police officers.
Lawyer Jessie Majome, representing the
faction, told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
the opposition faction is
suing the police under the State Liabilities Act
for failing to protect
Zimbabwean citizens as required.