Zim Online
Thu 3 August
2006
BULAWAYO - The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it
confiscated
about Z$100 billion on Tuesday alone which was being smuggled
back into the
country as Zimbabweans stampeded to beat a 21-day deadline to
hand over old
currency.
RBZ governor Gideon Gono made the
revelations as he addressed a
meeting with local business leaders at the
ongoing Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) congress in Bulawayo
yesterday.
"We have seized large amounts of cash coming into the
country and
yesterday (Tuesday) alone we managed to seize $100 billion with
the majority
of the money being seized at the Beitbridge, Plumtree, Forbes,
Victoria
Falls and the Chirundu border posts.
"Most of those
arrested were truck drivers who attempted to smuggle
the cash back into the
country," Gono said.
The central bank governor on
Monday slashed three zeroes on the local
dollar and introduced a new family
of bearer cheques in an attempt to arrest
surging money supply growth and
inflation.
Zimbabweans were given 21 days to hand over the old
currency.
As part of the new measures, Gono announced the
deployment of youths
from the controversial national youth service colleges
at the country's
border posts to clamp down on travellers who are accused of
siphoning huge
amounts of cash outside the country.
Yesterday,
Gono said 400 more youths will be deployed at the country's
border posts to
help limit the smuggling of cash.
"We will soon deploy 400 more
youths to support the 200 youths that we
have on the country's border posts
and we have mounted roadblocks to search
vehicles that would have been
cleared at the border posts," Gono said.
Zimbabwe Vice-President
Joice Mujuru is expected to address the CZI
congress which ends on Friday. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu
3 August 2006
HARARE - As the rest of Zimbabweans readjust to life
under a
redenominated currency introduced by the central bank in an
operation
codenamed "Project Sunrise", the sun has virtually set for a new
breed of
entrepreneurs who had turned the need for consumers to carry around
large
amounts of the old money into a thriving business.
Until
Monday this week, Zimbabweans had got used to literally moving
around with
large volumes of cash. The hyperinflationary environment itself
had become a
niche from where the enterprising were eking a living.
This
hard-nosed group of businesspeople was literally making a killing
out of the
large volumes of cash. New shops had sprouted in central Harare
and its
environs selling the much-sought-after note-counters and rubber
bands to tie
the large bundles of cash people had to carry around.
Others were
making a living selling paper bags outside banking halls
for people to stuff
their large volumes of cash.
Several more others were selling all
sorts of sticky liquids to
supermarket chains and small businesses for their
personnel to dip fingers
as they counted the huge amounts of cash brought in
by customers.
Cash-in-transit vans had become the in-thing in
Zimbabwe - not for
security reasons - but simply because big businesses
could not afford to
physically carry their voluminous daily deposits to the
bank.
And for others, the large volumes of cash that had to be
counted
everyday had provided job opportunities at supermarkets where many
were
employed as note-counting personnel who spent the day doing nothing but
counting money.
But now all these people are suddenly out of
business or jobs. After
Monday's three hour monetary statement presentation
by Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, in which the new currency
denominations were
introduced, thousands of "hyperinflation-driven"
entrepreneurs had no option
but to close shop.
"An hour ago, I
was anticipating huge profits but I am suddenly out of
business and I am not
sure what I will do with these note-counters," said
James Mutikani, who had
since last year survived on selling note-counting
machines to shops in
Harare.
"I am not sure how I will feed my family. The sad thing is
I had
imported these machines and now I have to find a market for them which
is
obviously very difficult," lamented Mutikani, who spoke to ZimOnline
soon
after the new denominations were introduced on Monday
afternoon.
But Mutikani is not alone. Before the RBZ's introduction
of a fresh
family of monetary denominations on Monday, which has brought
convenience to
consumers and business people alike, the rubber band had
become the magical
string.
The band had displaced the money
clip soon after hyperinflation picked
up momentum in 2003 when Zimbabwe
faced an acute shortage of bank notes that
forced the RBZ to introduce the
bulky "bearer cheques", a temporary form of
currency that helped ease the
note shortage.
Thousands of roadside vendors and small shops had
also become used to
making a killing from selling rubber bands. But since
Monday, it has been a
new world and a new environment.
"There
was lack of consultation before the new monetary measures.
Otherwise I would
have found something else to do," said a visibly irate
rubber-band vendor,
Felicia Takaendesa, who said she was a widow with four
children.
The future also appears bleak for foreign currency
dealers who are
still to come to terms with the implications of the new
monetary measures.
Thousands were making a living from selling scarce
foreign currency on major
bus termini and central business districts in the
country's major towns and
cities.
On Monday, the RBZ struck off
three zeroes on all monetary
denominations to bring down their value and
ease the burden on consumers
used to large volumes of cash. The central bank
also ordered all people and
businesses to surrender the old currency in 21
days.
Business and the opposition say the new measures, while
helping reduce
the burden on the long-suffering consumers, will not help
alleviate
Zimbabwe's severe economic crisis.
The southern
African nation, once the bread-basket of the region, is
in its sixth
straight year of recession, characterised by an acute shortage
of every
basic survival commodity, a world record inflation rate of 1 184
percent and
an acute foreign currency crunch.
Strange as it may seem but Norman
Magumbo - employed as note-counter
at one of Harare's biggest supermarkets -
really hopes that predictions by
business leaders and the opposition that
the economy will continue sliding
and hyperinflation will worsen would come
true.
Magumbo said: "This was my first ever job since leaving
school in 2001
and if more inflation is what will make me keep my job then
so be it ..
after all even if inflation goes down, that does not mean jobs
for
everyone." - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3 August 2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's
government on Wednesday said it
will extend a warm hand of welcome to failed
Zimbabwean asylum seekers
facing deportation from Britain saying the asylum
seekers should come back
home to rebuild the country.
Acting
Information Minister Paul Mangwana spoke to ZimOnline after the
British
government won a landmark court judgment granting it the authority
to deport
thousands of failed Zimbabwean seekers.
"They are welcome. Zimbabwe
is a stable country and we have always
welcomed our people," Mangwana said.
"They should come back and rebuild our
country."
In its ruling
yesterday, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal said
failed Zimbabwean asylum
seekers did not face a risk of persecution if they
are deported back to
their country.
The tribunal said while those with links to
Zimbabwe's opposition
parties or had criminal cases might be subjected to
persecution if they are
deported, each case had to be considered on its own
merits.
Last year, at least 40 Zimbabweans embarked on a month-long
hunger
strike to force the British government to halt its policy of forced
deportations. The British government had suspended forced deportations of
Zimbabweans pending yesterday's ruling.
There are hundreds of
thousands of Zimbabweans living in Britain after
fleeing hunger and
political persecution at home. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3
August 2006
HARARE - Only four people out of an estimated three
million
Zimbabweans living outside the country subscribed to foreign
currency bonds
issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) two years ago in
a desperate
attempt to entice the exiles to supply the government with badly
needed hard
cash.
The RBZ said in a supplement entitled "Policy
Advice Audit Matrix
December 2003 to date" that was released together with
the central bank's
monetary policy review statement earlier this week that
it had raised only
US$32 000 from the four individuals who took up the
bonds.
"Response was below expectations (with only four subscribers
amounting
to US$32 000) due to perceived country risk hence low currency
generation
from Zimbabweans living abroad," the bank said.
RBZ
governor Gideon Gono toured neighbouring countries as well as
Europe and the
Untied States meeting Zimbabweans living and working there to
plead with
them to send their earnings back home through official channels
such as the
bonds and a house building scheme that the bank had also
introduced.
Under the housing scheme that is officially known
as Homelink, the RBZ
facilitates homes to be built in Harare and other towns
for non-resident
Zimbabweans who pay in hard cash.
The scheme
has recorded some success although it has failed to trigger
a large inflow
of foreign currency from exiled Zimbabweans, the majority of
whom are
bitterly against President Robert Mugabe's government which they
accuse of
ruining the country's economy forcing them into a life of
servitude in
foreign lands.
Foreign-based Zimbabweans have also refused to
co-operate with the
government after it barred them from voting saying it
does not have
resources to run postal ballots for all citizens outside the
country.
Commenting on the flopped bonds, Harare-based economic
consultant John
Robertson said whatever effort by the government to raise
foreign currency
was likely to fail not only because of the country's high
risk status but
also because President Robert Mugabe's government had an
appalling record of
keeping its word.
He said: "If we are
failing to pay back existing arrears (such as
money owed the IMF), it would
be impossible to raise forex let alone from
non-resident
Zimbabweans."
Zimbabwe is in its sixth year of a severe economic
recession shown by
the world's highest inflation of 1 184.6 percent and
dwindling foreign
currency earnings following the collapse of the mainstay
agricultural sector
because of the government's chaotic land reforms since
2000. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3 August
2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has announced yet another
ambitious
plan to boost food production in the country which it says will
see
production of maize, the country's main staple food, rising to more than
three million tonnes in the 2006/07 farming season.
The new
plan - one of several attempts by the government over the past
six years to
raise food production but which have all failed - was unveiled
by Economic
Development Minister Samuel Undenge at a Tuesday meeting with
business
leaders to review monetary reforms announced by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
last Monday.
Undenge said the government, blamed by critics for
destroying
Zimbabwe's once vibrant agricultural sector after it seized
productive
white-owned farms, would this year come up with measures to
assist black
villagers resettled on former white farms meet the new target
for maize.
The Economics Minister said the new measures planned by
the government
included provision of seeds and other agricultural inputs as
well as
concessional funding for the farmers.
"This year we
have missed our target because only about 1.7 million
metric tonnes are
expected," Undenge told business executives and other
invited guests. But
the cash-strapped Harare administration has in the
past consistently
promised to support the new black farmers with inputs or
finance.
The government's claims that Zimbabwe will harvest 1.7
million tonnes
of maize from the 2005/06 season are rejected by food aid
agencies who say
the country will reap around 800 000 tonnes of the key
grain after the
Harare authorities again failed to provide inputs support to
farmers in the
past season.
Undenge did not say how the
government will finance its latest food
production project.
The
agricultural sector has been on a free-fall since President Robert
Mugabe
embarked on his controversial land reform programme in 2000. The
programme
saw more than 4 000 productive white farmers being dislodged from
their
properties and replaced by blacks.
The move, defended by Mugabe as
necessary to correct an unfair and
colonial land tenure system that favoured
whites, destabilised the mainstay
farming sector causing a 60 percent drop
in food production.
Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, has for
the past six years
avoided mass starvation only because international relief
agencies were
quick to chip in with food handouts for the country's 12
million people. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3 August
2006
HARARE - The High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment in a
case in
which a Supreme Court judge is suing the Zimbabwe Independent weekly
newspaper for Z$75 billion.
Judge Paddington Garwe, who was
then a High Court judge, is suing the
newspaper over a story published in
2004 claiming that he had been blocked
from passing judgment by his two
assessors in the treason trial of
opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Yesterday, High Court Judge Elizabeth Gwaunza reserved
judgement
indefinitely saying she wanted to hear submissions from both the
defence and
state after the newspaper's editor Vincent Kahiya and reporter
Augustine
Mukaro testified.
Testifying before the court, Kahiya
said the reporter had sought
information from a retired judge as well as
Tsvangirai's lawyers on the role
of court assessors.
Judge
Garwe's lawyer, Simplisius Chihambakwe, maintained the story was
misleading
and mischievous as the paper had suggested that the judgment was
available
and that the assessors had blocked its publication.
The lawyer also
said the paper had failed to retract the story despite
a letter from High
Court registrar Charles Nyatanga dismissing the story.
Garwe gave
his evidence on Monday where he said he was hurt by the
Zimbabwe Independent
story. The two assessors Misheck Nyandoro and Joseph
Dangarembizi also
denied that they had barred Garwe from delivering the
judgment as alleged by
the newspaper. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3
August 2006
HARARE - Rates on Zimbabwe's illegal foreign currency
parallel market
shot up by 16 percent on Wednesday as the market reacted to
new monetary
changes introduced by central bank governor Gideon Gono on
Monday.
A survey conducted by ZimOnline yesterday showed that major
currencies
like the United States dollar, the British pound and the South
African rand
had gained about 15 percent on the Monday rates before Gono's
monetary
policy statement.
The rand was yesterday trading at
about Z$80 000 up from $70 000 on
Monday while the US dollar was trading at
between Z$630 000 and $650 000 for
one unit as Zimbabweans sought to hedge
in their savings in foreign
currency.
The British pound was
selling at Z$1 million per unit.
A foreign currency dealer at
Harare's Roadport bus terminus who
refused to be named for fear of arrest
said there was more business
yesterday as people rushed to dispose
Zimbabwean dollars.
"People are not sure of these new measures and
are preferring to save
in foreign currency, especially the United States
dollar. I foresee the
American dollar strengthening against our dollar
because there is so much
demand," he said.
Another dealer said
he had also seen a boom in business as the
corporate sector sought to
dispose the local dollar in exchange for hard
currency.
"There
was a boom in business today. I think it is because most people
in the
corporate sector believe the market will run out of cash in the
following
weeks due to the change over. But this is likely to make the
market dry
which may force foreign currency rates to shoot up," she said.
Gono
on Monday slashed three zeroes on the local currency and
introduced a new
set of bearer cheques in measures he said were aimed at
making life easier
for Zimbabweans who were battling with huge amounts of
cash.
The bearer cheques, which are a form of temporary money, were
introduced at
the height of cash shortages in 2003. They are still in
circulation.
On Monday, Gono gave Zimbabweans three weeks to
hand over the old
currency and switch over to the new currency.
Economic analysts and both factions of the main opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change party have dismissed the new changes saying they do
not go
far enough in addressing the fundamental causes of Zimbabwe's
economic
crisis. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 3 August 2006
HARARE - The government yesterday
made a brazen admission that it has
failed to run the country when they
decided to slash three zeroes on our
currency in what must be a daylight
attempt to short-circuit the economy.
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon
Gono has simply confirmed that Zimbabwe
has become a banana
republic.
Slashing the zeroes is what failed governments always do
and Zimbabwe
is simply following in the shameful footsteps of Peru,
Argentina and Angola
where the same solutions failed to rescue unwanted and
doomed governments
desperate to enhance their political
fortunes.
Shoplifting failed political and economic ideas from
banana republics
has become this government's favourite
pastime.
Slashing the zeroes has never been the panacea to a crisis
of
governance. Slashing the zeroes can never bring relief to a battered
economy
that is a hapless victim of a failed State and a failed government,
which
has no respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Re-basing the currency cannot be the panacea to a crisis that squarely
lies
in an illegitimate government that has failed to govern. It is not the
zeroes that are at the core of the Zimbabwean crisis. The MDC believes it is
not simply the zeroes that must go. Mugabe is the big zero and he must
go.
The government will burn more midnight oil printing the
so-called
'new' family of bearer cheques which this regime thinks will solve
Zimbabwe's economic problems in one fell swoop.
It is such kind
of thinking that has led to this fool's paradise
because printing money is a
sign of failed economics.
It represents a last resort by a failed
government that has failed to
lay the necessary economic groundwork to a
functioning economy; a government
that has failed to put in place the
necessary political climate and
environment that makes the supply side of
the economy thrive.
Slashing the zeroes will simply help in
lessening the amount of money
people carry around.
But it does
not address the visible signs of a failed economy such as
low production,
high government expenditure, the value of the Zimbabwe
dollar and the acute
foreign currency shortages that have affected fuel and
power imports, which
in turn have paralyzed the productive sector.
The MDC believes
Gono's monetary statement is a desperate attempt to
rig the economy; it was
a statement full of sound and fury but signifying
nothing; a shrill
statement full of catchy-phrases and sound bites but with
no significance to
the real demands of the economy and the suffering people
of
Zimbabwe.
Gono's statement was a crybaby statement with no
solutions. Bold
statements condemning corruption without the necessary
political will do not
take us anywhere.
If this government's
war on the zeroes could be turned into a real and
purposeful fight against
corruption, bad governance and human rights abuses,
Zimbabwe could be a
different story. The national crisis is deeper than the
regime's fixation
with zeroes!
The MDC believes the final solution to the problems
facing the country
is political. There must be a concerted effort to a
political settlement of
the national crisis. The Save Zimbabwe Convention
agreed to such a political
settlement.
Mugabe and his
government must be made to agree to a peaceful
resolution of the national
crisis. The MDC's roadmap is our humble
submission to such a
resolution.
The regime must agree to a new, people driven
Constitution, a
transitional authority, free and fair elections under
international
supervision and a reconstruction and stabilization programme
in a
post-transitional era. The people are ready to save Zimbabwe. And the
people will achieve their vision of a new Zimbabwe.
By Tapiwa
Mashakada
MP Shadow minister for Finance and Economic
Affairs
Reuters
Wed Aug 2, 2006 5:44 PM GMT
By Stella
Mapenzauswa
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank
governor on Tuesday
accused private businesses of becoming a haven for money
laundering and
vowed to continue a clampdown on those hoarding large stashes
of cash for
black market activity.
President Robert Mugabe's
government will over the next three weeks phase
out existing denominations
of the local currency in response to
hyperinflation that has forced
consumers to carry large bags of money for
daily purchases.
This
follows a decision by central bank governor Gideon Gono to knock three
zeros
off existing banknotes and then devalue the Zimbabwe dollar by 60
percent.
On Wednesday Gono said billions of the old notes were
circulating illegally
outside Zimbabwe and being used in foreign currency
black market deals that
he said were facilitated by some in the private
sector.
"Your membership must avoid accepting the role of sanctuaries of
crime. The
private sector must stop being the fertile ground for money
laundering,"
Gono told an annual congress of the main Confederation of
Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI) in the southern city of Bulawayo.
He said
border officials had intercepted old currency worth more than 100
billion
Zimbabwe dollars from black market traders trying to enter the
country and
deposit the cash in banks before an August 21 deadline. The
notes become
obsolete after that date.
The government has singled out corruption both
in the private and public
sector alongside inflation, currently at 1,184
percent, as the main scourges
of an economy that has shrunk by over 40
percent during the last eight
years.
HARSH ECONOMIC
CLIMATE
The CZI congress is being held against the background of a harsh
economic
climate that has seen some companies fold under the weight of
soaring
inflation, acute foreign currency shortages, as well as frequent
electricity
and water cuts.
Unemployment has vaulted to more than 70
percent as companies either fold,
or are forced to downsize in a meltdown
critics blame on Mugabe's
government.
The crisis has been worsened by
Zimbabwe's isolation from the international
donor community, prompted mainly
by policy differences, especially over
Harare's controversial seizure of
white-owned commercial farms for
redistribution to blacks.
"What this
country needs is international engagement. We cannot stand here
when we have
zilch in terms of foreign currency and say we can do it by
ourselves,"
Raphael Khumalo, chief executive of a private media house, told
the
congress.
"Arresting people for keeping 20 billion...merely shows to me
that the
leadership does not understand the fundamental issues," said
Khumalo, whose
firm's newspapers are critical of Mugabe's
government.
The veteran leader, 82 and in power since independence from
Britain in 1980,
denies responsibility for the country's economic woes, and
in turn accuses
foreign and local opponents of sabotaging Zimbabwe's wealth
over his land
reforms.
UN Integrated Regional Information
Networks
August 2, 2006
Posted to the web August 2,
2006
Harare
Inflation is forcing Zimbabwe's new farmers to ignore
a government directive
that compels them to sell their produce to a
centralised grain utility,
opting instead to take lower prices from black
market traders who pay cash
on delivery.
Many, if not most, farmers
flouting the law are beneficiaries of President
Robert Mugabe's fast-track
land redistribution programme begun in 2000, more
widely known as farm
invasions, which led to a meltdown of the once vibrant
economy and
hyperinflation. The Central Statistical Office reported annual
inflation for
the month of June at 1,180 percent, the highest in the world.
Joel
Samuriwo, a small-plot farmer, said even though the state-run Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) offered better prices, delays in payments ate into his
profits. Black market traders "give instant cash, whereas the GMB sometimes
takes a month or two to issue us with cheques that in turn have to take time
before they can mature."
Dodging the GMB undermines the cash-strapped
government's efforts to keep
grain prices affordable for consumers, and
wastes input subsidies provided
to farmers, said economist Luxon Zembe. "The
fact that they are now going to
illegal traders means the government has
lost out on a major investment."
Samuriwo harvested 13 tonnes of grain on
his 45-acre plot about 70km
southeast of the capital, Harare, and has so far
sold five tonnes on the
black market at Z$26 million (US$260 at the old
exchange rate) per tonne -
Z$5 million (US$5) less a tonne than he would
have received from the
marketing board.
Parallel market traders are
also more efficient in collecting the grain. "I
don't even have a
scotch-cart to transport my maize to the nearest GMB
depot. Officials from
the GMB recently sent word that we should put our
maize together so that
they could come and collect the grain on their own,
but weeks have passed
and my neighbours have also said they cannot wait,"
Samuriwo said.
"I
have immediate needs to attend to. I must start preparing for the next
main
planting season and buy inputs now before prices shoot up, as well as
meet
my family's food and clothing requirements." His five head of cattle
also
need dipping chemicals.
Burgeoning parallel market trade is creating a
shortfall in the grain
marketing board's supply to millers. A small-scale
maize farmer, who
identified himself only as Sam, told IRIN: "You don't ask
questions about
where they [grain buyers] are coming from, but we have since
learnt that
they are being sent by millers who are failing to get enough
wheat from the
GMB."
He said even large-scale maize farmers were
finding it difficult to resist
the black market traders, but still sold part
of their output to the GMB to
evade suspicion. Doing business on the black
market was not without its
risks, said Sam, referring to a neighbouring
farmer who was recently given
counterfeit money as payment but could not
report it to the police for fear
of being arrested.
Agriculture
minister Joseph Made told a recent meeting of the ruling ZANU-PF
party's
central committee that farmers were delivering 20,000 tonnes of
grain per
week to the marketing board, and this season's total maize harvest
would be
1.8 million tons, although independent assessors put it at a
million tons
less because of the severe shortage of inputs.
Renson Gasela, agriculture
secretary of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), insisted
that inflows to the GMB were insufficient.
"Even assuming that deliveries
would be coming in at the rate of 20,000
tonnes per week up to the end of
September, when we will not be expecting
more to be delivered, that will
bring GMB tonnage to a total of 200,000
tonnes. With the current 100,000
tonnes Made has said are in the silos, it
will bring the figure to 300,000
tonnes, meaning that there will be a huge
shortage of maize."
He said
"the law that farmers should sell their grain to the GMB does not
make sense
- once one produces, it does not matter to who one sells. Of
immediate
concern to farmers is that they enjoy the fruits of their sweat,
and they
should be free to keep the harvest, sell to a neighbour or the
GMB."
A trader on the parallel market, who did not want to be
identified, said he
was part of a five-man team travelling the country
buying maize, wheat and
sorghum to sell to millers.
"The five of us
are not employed and we have been doing this for the past
three years. We
buy the grain and sell it to millers, who cannot access
enough from the GMB.
We store part of the grain to sell also to other
informal traders,
particularly from October to March, when grain is hard to
come by and the
GMB does not have much."
He said they limited their illegal business to
Zimbabwe, but some buyers
were smuggling maize and wheat to neighbouring
Mozambique and Zambia.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the
views of the United Nations ]
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
02 August 2006 12:44
Charges of
attempting to obstruct the course of justice have been dropped
against
Zimbabwe's justice minister because no magistrate is prepared to
hear the
case out of fear, it was reported on Wednesday.
Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa was facing charges of attempting to
influence witnesses in a
political-violence case that involved the country's
Security Minister,
Didymus Mutasa.
However, all magistrates in the eastern province of
Manicaland, where the
case was due to be heard, recused themselves from the
case because of
alleged political intimidation, reports the state-controlled
Herald
newspaper.
Allegations against Chinamasa are that he and five
others tried to influence
witnesses who were set to testify in a case of
political violence that
rocked the eastern district of Makoni in
2004.
The incident pitted supporters of Mutasa -- who is also secretary
for
administration in President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party --
against
those of a rival from the same party.
Magistrate Loice
Mukunyadzi said on Monday neither she nor any of her
colleagues was prepared
to preside over Chinamasa's case because Mutasa had
accused them of belonging
to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), the Herald
said.
"Mutasa once appeared at this court and he indicated that all
magistrates
are MDC members," she was quoted as saying. "If we convict or
discharge, it
is because of fear or that we are MDC.
"That is the main
reason we are not prepared to hear the matter," said
Mukunyadzi.
The
chief magistrate in the province had to be called in from the nearby
city of
Mutare to hear the matter, and he ordered the charges against the
justice
minister to be withdrawn, the paper said.
But the trial of the five
others charged alongside Chinamasa, including two
members of the secret
police, went ahead, the Herald said.
In March this year 20 of Mutasa's
supporters were jailed for two years each
for political violence. Mutasa
himself was not tried. -- Sapa
By Tererai Karimakwenda
2 August
2006
The new monetary policy put in place by the Reserve Bank this week
has
continued to bring chaos and confusion around the country as the police,
aided by RBZ teams, clamped down on businesses and individuals. RBZ Governor
Gideon Gono had announced the new policy saying it was meant to ease money
transactions by canceling 3 zeros on the currency, but the campaign is
proving to be much more than an effort to help Zimbabweans deal with
numbers.
What they are dealing with are roadblocks at which the
police have
been instructed to question and arrest all people carrying too
much cash.
There were random raids on wholesalers, at some supermarkets in
Harare and
at border posts. And long queues continued at the banks where
Zimbabweans
are rushing to change their money to the new notes before the
3-week
deadline arrives. Cash machines have been shut down. Reports say
three
people were arrested at Beitbridge Border Post on Tuesday while trying
to
repatriate billions of dollars they were keeping in South
Africa.
Mike Mutasa in Chinhoyi told us many people were keeping
their cash in
potato sacks, suitcases, safes and filing cabinets. With such
inflation
anyone who had any money, had a lot of it. But now Zimbabweans may
lose
billions in cash if they cannot account for it. Critics say this is
ironic
because the government itself does not account for anything. The new
policy
requires individuals converting sums in excess of Z$100 million to
present
receipts or other transactional documentation (US$400 at the new
official
exchange rate of $250,000 per U.S. dollar). Companies must account
for
amounts over Z$5 billion (US$20,000).
According to the
state controlled Herald newspaper the Reserve Bank
has barred all retail
outlets from selling goods worth more than Z$100
million in cash to
customers using old and new bearer cheques. These
transactions must now be
done through bank transfers and cheques. The Herald
also reported that the
police and a crack RBZ team had unearthed irregular
transactions and
billions of dollars in cash stashed at companies. Some
observers say they
fear this campaign is being used to target certain
businesses and
individuals. They stress that the government itself is the
biggest entity
doing deals on the black market in its desperate quest for
foreign
currency.
One such targeted business was Mohamed Mussa Wholesalers
in Harare
where The Herald said billions were discovered on Monday
afternoon. The
paper said the funds were locked away in safes which, not
surprisingly, Mr
Mussa initially resisted opening but eventually did so
after negotiations.
It is of course not illegal to keep money in safes in
Zimbabwe but none the
less authorities confiscated the cash discovered at
the wholesaler. An RBZ
team is now stationed there.
Muchadeyi
Masunda an attorney with the Commercial Arbitration Centre
who also directs
a number of companies in Zimbabwe said his immediate
observation is that the
aftermath of Gono's announcement has been chaotic.
Masunda explained that
many people are battling to come to terms with the
reality on the ground and
the general consensus is that they are being taken
for one gigantic ride by
the government.
Masunda said on the surface Gono's aim is to
control the flow of money
supply which is out of hand. But he would not rule
out the possibility that
the RBZ could be planning on introducing a whole
new currency before the end
of 2006. Masunda believes this plan cannot come
to fruition until Zimbabwe
gets a serious infusion of foreign currency. This
is how countries like
Mozambique which also dropped zeros from their
currency recently managed to
pull it off.
More importantly,
Masunda said the real problem in Zimbabwe has more
to do with the breakdown
of the rule of law. He said: "There needs to be a
restoration of the respect
for human rights and respect for property
rights." Masunda believes all the
reports of road blocks, border searches,
raids and people with large sums of
money have come to be as the result of
skewered policies. He said the
government needs to stop these knee-jerk
reactions and short term measures
to what is essentially a political
problem.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
Times Online, UK August 02, 2006
By David Banks
Enforced deportations to Zimbabwe may resume within weeks after
a special
court ruled today that Robert Mugabe's dictatorship is not too
dangerous.
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
(AIT) said that
asylum-seekers being sent back would not automatically face
"a real risk
being subjected to persecution or serious ill-treatment", so
the Government
can still make decisions on deportation on a case-by-case
basis.
The ruling focused on whether Zimbabweans returning to
Mugabe's
regime would face torture or persecution. Over the last few years,
supporters of Mr Mugabe have rampaged through the properties of white
farmers, repossessing and burgling many and threatening other residents,
many of whom have been forced to flee to Britain.
In a
statement after the verdict, Liam Byrne, the Immigration
Minister, said he
was "pleased" because the verdict enabled the Government
to uphold "a robust
and fair system".
"We recognise that there are Zimbabweans
who are in genuine fear
of persecution and that is why we have granted them
asylum - but it is only
right that we remove those who seek to abuse our
hospitality," he said.
"I am therefore pleased that the
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
has today backed us and said that the
involuntary return of failed asylum
seekers to Zimbabwe does not put them at
risk of mistreatment. We have
argued this consistently during the last
year.
"We would always encourage individuals to return of
their own
accord, as 90 Zimbabweans have already this year, but where people
do not
leave voluntarily it is only right that we enforce their
return."
Despite leaving open the possibility of deportations
to
Zimbabwe, the judge did set out a number of caveats on his ruling which
could lead deportees to be at risk. Those linked with Zimbabwean opposition
parties or with military or criminal records may be at greater danger of
serious mistreatment during interrogation by Zimbabwean authorities, the
ruling said.
The six-page document added: "If the reason
for suspicion is
that the deportee has a political profile considered to be
adverse to the
Zimbabwean regime, that is likely to be sufficient to give
rise to a real
risk of persecutory ill-treatment for a reason that is
recognised by the
Refugee Convention.
"That will not
necessarily be the case where the only matter of
interest is a relevant
military history or outstanding criminal issues. Each
case must be
considered on its particular facts."
In October the tribunal
threw the Government's policy on
Zimbabwe into doubt after a failed asylum
seeker, who can be identified only
as AA for legal reasons, won his appeal
against the Home Secretary. But that
decision has been reconsidered after
the Court of Appeal ruled in April that
the panel had "erred in law" in
making its initial decision.
Mr Byrne claimed that, during
this period of uncertainty,
applications from Zimbabweans had soared. "It
cannot be right ... that an
individual is able to abuse the asylum system
and stay here indefinitely by
virtue of their nationality - yet that is what
has been happening," the
minister added.
Professor
Terence Ranger, an expert on Zimbabwe and emeritus
professor of race
relations and African history at Oxford University, told
the tribunal
hearing last month that concerns still remain about the safety
of deporting
failed asylum seekers to the country.
Asked about a statement
made in Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper in
April by Didymus Mutasa, the minister
responsible for President Mugabe's
feared security force the CIO, that
Zimbabweans returning to their country
would be "looked after very well",
Professor Ranger said: "I do not find it
credible. His statement stands
completely alone and has no context in
previous material."
A
Home Office spokeswoman said enforced deportations to Zimbabwe may now
resume within weeks. Currently about 14 Zimbabweans are in immigration
detention although it was unknown how many were failed asylum seekers
pending deportation and how many were being held for other reasons, such as
foreign national prisoners awaiting removal. An estimated 7,000 Zimbabwean
failed asylum seekers are thought to be in the UK. In the first three months
of this year, there were 755 new asylum applications from
Zimbabwe.
On the steps of the court, the Zimbabweans who had come to hear
the ruling
declared their disappointment. Arthur Molife, a Zimbabwean who
already has
leave to remain in the UK, told the two dozen who had turned out
to support
the case: "The Zimbabweans have lost here today. It hurts. If you
people are
serious, take it up on the British streets today. I have got my
papers but I
feel the pain for others."
Mafungasei Maikokera,
25, said she feared she would be sent back to Zimbabwe
and persecuted. She
arrived in the UK in 2002. After being detained for
seven months, her
application for asylum was rejected. Visibly anxious, Miss
Maikokera said:
"I was expecting something better from the decision here
that would allow us
to sleep peacefully. Instead we have nightmares. Not
knowing is torture in
itself."
Patricia Mukandara, 27, who had lived in the UK for five years
before the
immigration service detained her for seven months, said her case
was due to
be heard at the High Court. She told the crowd, who held banners
declaring
"Sent to Zimbabwe, sent to death" as they sang on the court steps,
"Justice
has not been done. Let's fight for each other."
Sir Andrew
Green, the chairman of the Migrationwatch think-tank, which
campaigns
against mass immigration, said: "This is a most welcome decision.
The courts
have at last returned to common sense. These cases can only be
decided
individually. A blanket ban on removals is an open invitation to
bogus
claimants."
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "This whole
situation is due
to the Government's failure of policy in Zimbabwe. It
demonstrates the need
for a better analysis of the situation in Zimbabwe
including the fate of
deportees. We called for this twelve months ago, but
the Government has
failed to act."
The Nation, Malawi
by Nation Reporter, 02 August 2006 - 08:52:09
Sometime this year the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, stirred
controversy in Malawi when he visited the country and capped his visit with
the opening of the Midima Road which was re-named in his honour.
Civil society, political groups and individual voices (though divided)
failed to convince the Malawi government that the visiting leader was not a
befitting beneficiary of the honour-given his bad human rights record at
home and the way he has managed his economy, resulting in massive suffering
for his people.
On the other hand, the Malawi government
capitalised on Mugabe's
heroism in bringing independence to his people
through a gallant fight that
saw Ian Smith and company let go of the bastion
of colonialism in Zimbabwe
by 1980. Government argued, so did some NGOs,
that whatever was happening in
that country had nothing to do with a SADC
brother visiting another country
or being honoured.
So, the visit
went on. Colourful speeches were made. State dinners
were thrown. Places
were visited and the Midima Road was re-christened
Robert Mugabe
Highway.
But visibly missing in the regional equation were voices from
the
people of Zimbabwe, whose leader was being celebrated.
Would
the Malawi authorities have reconsidered their stance had the
massive "Save
Zimbabwe Convention" that took place last Saturday at the
Rainbow Towers
Hotel (formerly the Sheraton) preceded the Mugabe visit?
Nation's
Edward Chitsulo was among a dozen of SADC editors that
visited Zimbabwe to
cover the historic conference, organised by A Christian
Alliance, "a network
of like-minded Christian leaders in Zimbabwe who felt
called by God to be
instrumental in resolving the crisis in our country
permanently and
peacefully for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe".
The editors,
sponsored by a Johannesburg-based regional NGO that
supports media,
democratic processes and free society values (name
withheld), had a briefing
in the South African capital on Friday by Zimbabwe
professionals "in
diaspora."
Later in the evening, the editors took a precarious journey
into the
Zimbabwe media minefield, where independent media practitioners
have over
the years either been harassed or deported.
The following
day, the challenge was to record the proceedings of the
conference, which
could be likened to Malawi's Njamba Freedom Park Rally
episodes that
preceded the turn of the political tide in the early 90s.
Without flashing
cameras or brandishing the usual reporter's notebook-apart
from a conference
file that all delegates were given-the SADC editors had to
"faithfully"
transcribe the day's events-through "delegate notes, carefully
arranged
interviews, memory and observation"-according to the Johannesburg
briefing.
The following is therefore The Nation's recording of the
conference,
addressed first by non-governmental organisations and then
political groups.
These were preceded by opening remarks by head of the
organisers, the Bishop
Dr. Levee Kadenge of the Methodist Church in
Zimbabwe, who said he has often
been in hiding for fear of state repression;
and a powerful devotion and
prayer by Pastor Ancelimo Magaya, a blind
charismatic clergyman. There was
also a message from the respected Catholic
Archbishop of Matebeleland, Pius
Ncube.
Bishop Kadenge,
Christian Alliance
We can not sit and watch Zimbabwe burning. This
conference calls for
no party slogans or name calling. Politicians are not
enemies, but
contestants to the leadership race.
Pastor Magaya,
Christian Alliance
Things are the way they are today because we are
detached from the
source of life. A lot of our systems have gone haywire
because we are
detached from God. The problem we have in Zimbabwe is also
about greed.
People have grabbed things for themselves.
We are also
bankrupt in character. Zimbabwe is guilty of killings,
atrocities, land
grabbing; yet the church is quiet.
Everyone needs to repent and rise to
resist any form of darkness.
Resist legislation which is not subservient to
God's superior legislation
(huge applause). The parliamentarians who are
here, be warned: God is
watching. Arise and resist in the name of
Jesus.
Imagine a two-year old child who left home for school in the
morning,
coming back home expecting a bite and rest, only to find the rubble
of what
their two-bedroomed house used to be.
Message from Pius
Ncub, Catholic Archbishop of Matebeleland
We deplore "Operation
Murambatsvina (Mugabe's recent loathed
demolition of squatter settlements in
an alleged urban clean-up exercise).
There is no way for solving this crisis
except through negotiation
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions
People are now questioning whether the [political] struggle was
worth
it. We sacrificed many things, including our education. We want to
quote
what former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere said to
Mugabe:
"My brother, you are inheriting the jewel of Africa. Please
look after
it." But this jewel is today just a soap-stone
(applause).
A society comes to a point of breaking after extended
elasticity.
There are also no front-loaders or foot-soldiers in the
struggle. As
long as we are not prepared to go to the front, we have not
started [the
fight].
We are still fighting for our freedom though
we are an independent
nation.
At the moment, we are also like
careless hunters. We get to a
situation of about to catch the animal, but we
concentrate on trivial issues
(applause).
The National
Constitutional Alliance (NCA)
July 29 is an important day in the
history of Zimbabwe. What is the
nature of our crisis? You all know
it-unemployment, poverty, bad governance,
high consumer prices, poor medical
facilities, etc. The cause? The way we
are governed. What's the way
forward?
Before we change the government, let's change the systems
under which
governments come in and govern. Therefore, we need to change the
constitution first. "Seek yee a democratic constitution first."
The Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe
In this country we have more
democratic, progressive forces than the
retrogressive ones. Therefore we can
win the war.
Life expectancy has gone down to 35 years for men and 33
for women.
Why should Zimbabwe have the weakest currency in the world and
the highest
inflation? Why should only 20,000 people in the whole country be
on
antiretroviral therapy (ART)? Why should we have an unemployment rate of
80
percent?
It is because the minority has imposed their will on a
fragmented
majority that focuses on petty issues. We lack strategy and
tactics.
The Zimbabwe National Students Union
Government
is now a vehicle for terrorising and robbing its people. It
is out of touch
with the people on the ground. Among our tasks is to resist
integration with
the oppressors, continue to deligitimise the illegitimate
government. MPs
should boycott parliament. Continue pressure on the
dictator. On the way
forward, resonate with a people-driven system, small
parties should swallow
their pride and join forces with others. We need to
come up with an agreed
set of new values for fighting the enemy and
re-construction.
Our
message to the ZANU-PF is: You can't claim to be a leader without
the
interest of the people.
The Bulawayo Agenda
Let's confront
the brutal facts of our realities. What do we do about
the 20,000 people who
were killed or disappeared in Matebeleland during the
"Operation
Gukurahundi"? How about the terrorised farming community in the
country?
We need to work together as did the Kenyans, South
Africans or
Serbians when confronted with a similar situation. We can't
afford to be
disastrously divided as we are. There must be a social or
political glue to
bind us together. And that glue is a new constitution.
This is the time to
work together without necessarily losing our identities.
The beauty of the
garden lies in the multiplicity of the colours in
there.
The Women's Coalition
The Zimbabwe woman must be
part and parcel of the fight because in all
fronts of the crisis she is
bearing the brunt of it all. We can't afford the
luxury of division-later,
yes, but not now.
We also need a time-frame for the constitution and to
hold free and
fair elections.
The Zimbabwe Liberators
Platform
We represent genuine war veterans. We were born in 2000 in
response to
ZANU-PF's violence against its own people. We believe that what
we fought
for has not been achieved.
Why should some people in
government be claiming that "they died for
this country"? That must be a
joke and our fallen heroes in Mozambique,
Zambia and other war-fields of
Chimurenga must be turning in their graves.
Let's unite and fight
together.
Zimrights
We need to fix our crisis with hard
action. Let's put our heads
together. It used to be said in those days that:
"The problem at home in
Zimbabwe is that you have a situation with the elite
having lots of food but
no appetite. At the other side [among the poor]
there is no food but lots of
appetite". But these days the other side [among
the elite] they also have a
lot of appetite. (applause).
The
Bulawayo Dialogue
Those in ZANU-PF are also victims of the system. They
need to go back
to the philosophies of ZAPU, that were reconciliatory and
forward-looking.
The Untied People's Movement
Part of the
tragedy is that some people do not see the difference
between them and
God.
We are fortunate in this country that we have chosen peace in a
situation where war is obvious. Unity is, therefore, a priority. We need a
new constitution.
ZANU-PF is a nightmare for all Zimbabweans. They
need to wake out of
it. Zimbabwe is rich in resources but we spend time
mismanaging it and
labeling one another. Even the oppressors need to be
freed (applause). Three
quarters of the people in ZANU-PF don't agree with
the atrocities. They find
it difficult to disembark "from the hyena, because
it will eat them up."
Zapu Federal Party
Zimbabwe is in
pain. We need to align ourselves to the NCA. There is
also no small or big
party in Zimbabwe.
We also appeal to the donors to come in and assist
our unified front.
Professor Arthur Ntambala, ex-MDC, now with own
group
We need to achieve change with content. When we get the change,
let's
not repeat previous errors. We need more than the constitution. We
must
build a new value system that respects the constitution.
The
democratic challenge is to have answers for the economic and
social issues
affecting us and to build leadership capacity.
I am prepared to
surrender political power (general noise) as long as
we re-commit ourselves
to the values of transparency.
The United People's Party
If we acknowledge God and define an understanding, then we will talk
about
unity. The process of change can be achieved through non-violent,
democratic
process.
There is also need to separate state from political
machineries. In
our party we don't respect Gukurahundi [Operation
Chidzimalupsya carried out
in Matebeleland by the country's notorious Fifth
Brigade] or Murambatsvina
[Nkanalitsiro, the urban "clean up" that saw about
700,000 people off the
streets and townships of Harare].
If the
opposition remains fragmented, we will perpetuate the ZANU-PF.
The
Democratic Party
Time has come for the people of Zimbabwe to isolate
the evil regime.
We must all embark on civil disobedience. We don't respect
the abominable
house that they call "parliament."
Maybe Mugabe has
to step down and surrender power.
Movement for Democratic Change
(Morgan Tsvangirayi, with standing
ovation)
Let's not listen
to our voices, but to the people. Let's act, not
speak the unity.
In 1999 we met as people's workers, but today it's different. The
people out
there demand that change should come. We need a new Zimbabwe, a
Zimbabwe
that must accept reality. And just like Nelson Mandela told South
Africans,
we need a rainbow nation where there will be no big or small
parties.
We must express tolerance. Government today is in a state
of the
denial it has authored. But we want to confront government through
democratic values not overthrowing it.
Mugabe must be dragged to
the negotiating table. He is not only part
of the problem but also part of
the solution. We need to work out the
destiny of Zimbabwe together.
Our government should be based on the people's inputs through their
constitution.
We are also entering the final phase of our struggle.
But the
militarisation of our society must end.
Closing
remarks
At the end of the day, the conference resolved on a unified
front to
confront the Mugabe regime. It also unanimously agreed on a new
constitution
and resistance on "bread and butter issues". Bishop Kadenge
said:
"Let's not throw this opportunity away. We should also note that
Zimbabweans can differ, but remain friends.
As A Christian
Alliance, we'll do whatever we can to redress the
country's political
crisis, even if it means dying."
The question
Was Mugabe worth
honouring with the Midima Road?
By Lance Guma
2
August 2006
In the beginning it was buses, aeroplanes and broadcasting
equipment
but now Zimbabwe can expect the setting up of a 'political school'
thanks to
a visit by a group of Chinese academics. Led by a Professor Xie
Chuntao, it
did not take long for the Chinese delegation to convince Zanu PF
officials
that brainwashing Zimbabweans via a special school that would
teach party
ideology was the best way forward. Those might not have been the
actual
words used but analysts point out that this is the ultimate aim
behind
political commissar Elliot Manyika announcing the move.
Party cadres would be taught the country's history alongside the same
lines
as what the Communist Party of China (CPC) does in China. According to
the
Herald 'academics from CPC are in the country and delivered a lecture
yesterday to Zanu PF provincial political commissars, students from tertiary
institutions, war veterans and other stakeholders.' Manyika is quoted as
saying Zimbabwe would draw on the experiences of the CPC to set up the
school and critics say this points to increased autocratic rule by Mugabe's
government. Zanu PF has already appointed a 10-member committee to draw up
the framework for setting up the school.
A similar project
under the youth ministry saw the setting up of the
notorious youth militia
or 'green bombers as they are known and this was
also under the pretext of
teaching national values. Graduates from these
camps went on to beat up
opposition supporters in the run up to several
elections. The BBC also
carried a documentary exposing how some of the
youths are taught how to
torture or even kill government opponents. Recently
the youths have been
deployed at all major border points to search
Zimbabweans for what the
Reserve Bank says is 'excessive' amounts of
Zimdollars outside the
country.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Herald
(Harare)
August 2, 2006
Posted to the web August 2,
2006
Harare
WILD fires destroyed 22 million hectares of vegetation
countrywide during
the last two years and ruined timber worth $1,5 trillion
last year alone.
Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema said
over 12 percent of
the national pine forests, an equivalent of three years'
harvesting, was
lost to forest fires.
The minister said this in a
speech read on his behalf by his deputy Cde
Andrew Langa at the launch of
the Mashonaland East Provincial Fire
Protection Strategy and Implementation
Plan at Sow Farm in Marondera last
week.
Cde Nhema said uncontrolled
veld fires also claimed seven lives last year.
Three people have already
died due to forest fires this year.
Wild fires have almost decimated
wildlife at Haka Game Park near Cleveland
Dam.
A variety of animal
species such as eland, zebra and gemsbok have died since
the beginning of
the year while all kudus that used to grace the game
reserve near Harare
have been wiped out through poaching and related
activities.
Only
female elands are left in the park.
A visit to the park yesterday showed
that not only was the sanctuary ravaged
by uncontrolled fires, but it has
also become a dangerous place, where game
is under threat.
There is
no electric fence to effectively protect the animals from marauding
poachers, mainly from Mabvuku, Tafara, Epworth and other areas around
Harare.
Massive deforestation is an eyesore and some employees of the
game park sell
firewood to Epworth, Mabvuku and Tafara residents. Situated
around Cleveland
Dam, the park is home to a variety of species including
wildebeest, giraffe,
impala, ostrich, eland, zebra and a wide variety of
birds.
Last week the park was gutted by fire, which was only put out by
Harare Fire
Brigade.
A zebra could be seen yesterday having
difficulties walking.
"I am not sure what could have happened to the
zebra, we have no one to look
after the health aspect of the animals here.
The person who used to do that
has since left," one of the game wardens
said.
Much of the grazing land was burnt and the bulk of the remaining
animals
could be seen grazing away from the area making them more vulnerable
to
poaching.
"We saw one carcass of a zebra in lying in a water
puddle a few weeks ago.
It could have been burnt," an environmentalist from
Environment Africa said.
Although there were plans by the Harare City
Council to further develop the
conservation area up to an area close to
Zimre Park, there were problems
with ensuring the animals were safe from
poachers. Only two people are
assigned to patrol the vast park on foot and
animal and wood poachers enter
the park and sometimes get way with the
offence.
Only last week, about $100 billion worth of property was
destroyed by veld
fires at Manzou Game Park.
Cde Nhema said as a
corrective measure, his ministry, through the
Environmental Management
Agency (EMA), was developing standard guidelines
that would be followed by
communities in the management of fires each dry
season.
United Press International
HARARE, Zimbabwe, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The rape of a girl in Zimbabwe by
an
HIV-positive teacher who hoped the rape would cure him earned
condemnation
from the United Nations.
The U.N. Children's Program
said Wednesday the case should shock all
Zimbabweans into action, and urged
new measures to protect the country's
youngsters and provide more general
education about HIV and AIDS.
The agency's statement was in response to a
recent report in the Zimbabwean
newspaper, The Herald, that a high school
teacher in Ruya raped and infected
with HIV a six-year-old girl. The Herald
reported the magistrate presiding
over the case made it clear the teacher
had "raped the girl hoping to heal
his sexually transmitted diseases." The
teacher was then sentenced to 17
years in jail.
"It is sickening to
hear that in 2006 we still have cases where people
believe their sexually
transmitted diseases can be 'cured' by having sex
with a virgin. This is the
most repulsive of myths. It needs to be exposed
by every community in every
corner of the country," said UNICEF's
representative in Zimbabwe, Festo
Kavishe.
The Herald also reported two additional cases: In one, a
22-year-old man was
charged with raping his seven-year-old twin sisters,
while a 76-year-old man
has been charged with sexual assault after he
allegedly abused an
11-year-old girl.
Earlier this year UNICEF cited
anecdotal evidence from local NGOs and
clinics around the Zimbabwean capital
of Harare that show child
By Lance
Guma
2 August 2006
Zimbabweans, under the auspices of
Crisis in Zimbabwe-SA Chapter and
several civic society groups in South
Africa, are set to converge on the
offices of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in Pretoria. The
march has been organised to hand over a
petition to the UN offices and
highlight the humanitarian crisis caused by
last years Operation
Murambatsvina. One of the co-ordinators, Nixon 'Mao'
Nyikadzino, says the
UNDP offices house several other UN departments and
this was why they were
targeting it. The petition is addressed to UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan.
'The protestors are going to mount a
stand close to the offices and
videos of Operation Murambatsvina will be
screened as a testimony of the
ruthless and callous state actions on more
700 000 people whose main sources
of livelihoods and shelter were destroyed
without warning or a justifiable
reason,' read a statement from Crisis in
Zimbabwe. A rally has been
organised on the same day and victims of the
operation will narrate their
ordeal at the hands of Zimbabwe's police.
Nyikadzino says they are
petitioning Annan to enforce the recommendations of
the report by Special
Envoy Ms. Anna Tibaijuka in 2005.
In May
last year, Robert Mugabe's regime instructed the police to
demolish
so-called 'illegal structures' and in the process made over 700
000 people
homeless. The justification by government was that they were
cleaning up
informal settlements harbouring criminals yet it was clear to
many they were
targeting opposition strongholds.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
The Herald (Harare)
August 2, 2006
Posted
to the web August 2, 2006
Harare
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) has barred all retail outlets from
selling goods worth more than $100
million in cash to customers using old
and new bearer cheques, as the
clampdown against cash holders gathers
momentum.
Such transactions
should now be done through bank transfers and cheques.
In a statement
last night, the central bank said money launderers had turned
to
supermarkets to circumvent gate-keeping systems put in place to arrest
illegal dealings.
"The Reserve Bank has issued a directive barring
supermarkets and all retail
outlets from selling goods in excess of $100
million of the old currency or
$100 000 of the new bearer cheques, per
customer per day.
"Such transactions should be done through cheques and
bank transfers.
"The retailers and traders have been further reminded to
fully comply with
the provisions of the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression
of Money Laundering
Act Chapter 24 which requires them to generate and
maintain records on all
their purchases, sales and banking details," said
the central bank.
The clampdown on corruption, speculation and
indiscipline in the economy
began yesterday with the police and a crack RBZ
team unearthing irregular
transactions and billions of dollars in cash
stashed in safes.
The cash inspection team conducted random raids on
wholesalers and some
supermarkets in Harare, while the swoops also extended
to the country's
border posts.
RBZ on Monday set a 21-day deadline
within which people are expected to
deposit old bearer cheques at banks and
start using the new currency.
Three people were arrested at Beitbridge
Border Post yesterday while trying
to repatriate billions of dollars in
bearer cheques they were keeping in
South Africa.
A total of $43,4
billion was discovered at Mohamed Mussa Wholesalers in
Harare on Monday
afternoon.
The funds, which should have been deposited in the bank under
normal
circumstances, were locked away in safes, which Mr Mussa initially
resisted
to open.
He eventually opened them after an hour of
protracted negotiations.
A cash count undertaken found the wholesaler
with $13,759 billion, yet
records for the cash collected from till operators
indicated $23,340 billion
as the amount submitted.
A total of $29,7
billion was found in one safe and a further $350 million in
another.
Of the funds discovered at the wholesaler, $19,7 billion
could not be
accounted for as there were no records to reflect cash
movements from till
operators to the in-store banking section.
Only a
small slip on which a figure of $19,7 billion was written was found.
All
the cash discovered at the wholesaler has since been confiscated until
investigations have been completed.
There were fears that the funds
could have been destined for illegal
dealings.
Mohamed Mussa is one
of the largest wholesalers in Zimbabwe.
"The wholesaler does not maintain
proper records like cash books for the
purpose of accounting for the daily
sales," said a report on the
investigations.
Repeated efforts by RBZ
officials to press Mr Mussa and his two managers,
one identified as Mr Adam
Vali, to account for the money were fruitless.
Mr Vali said the
wholesaler does not keep any records of its sales and those
of cash
collected from the tellers.
Any records that might have been produced
during the course of the day are
destroyed at the close of business, a
situation that central bank officials
said was used by people intent on
destroying the tracing of the movement of
their cash.
The central
bank officials could also not get an explanation from workers in
the
wholesale who were not willing to release information.
An RBZ team is now
stationed at Mohamed Mussa Wholesalers to investigate
cash movements
there.
RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono yesterday went to the wholesaler and
warned Mr
Mussa that any irregularities would not be tolerated.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 27 July
I went with a friend to the bank this week as she had to draw
the equivalent
of £400 (at the black market rate) for monthly wages for a
small, but
skilled labour force. The money, Z$360 million, weighed 27 lbs.
We had to
drag it in a sack from the bank to her car. There are never enough
of the
largest Z$100,000 notes available at the banks, and this withdrawal
was no
different. The teller had to give a quarter of the cash in Z$20,000
notes,
packed into rubber banded wadges of Z$2 million. Inflation is
galloping away
at about 1200 percent per annum and the value of the Zimbabwe
dollar keeps
on plunging. Economists are predicting that next weekend a
pound sterling
will hit Z$1 million on the black market for the first time.
The ladies
trading foreign currency on the streets in central Harare, known
as the
World Bank, were this week changing a pound for $920,000. They said
the rate
is moving every 2,5 days at present. One analyst is prediciting
million
dollar parties for the first weekend in August. Where will it end?
Who
knows, certainly not the government's central bank, as it is probably
the
biggest black market trader of them all as it has to go to the streets
to
buy foreign currency to pay for Zimbabwe's electricity and fuel.