The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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BBC

      South Africa to bail out Zimbabwe
      South Africa's cabinet has agreed in principle to provide financial
assistance to neighbouring Zimbabwe.
      A government spokesman said on Wednesday a loan would allow Zimbabwe
to resume IMF payments and prevent their expulsion from the body.

      But he dismissed reports the credit could be $1 billion, saying it
"could even be as low as one-tenth of that".

      Last week, the finance minister said he did not want a failed state
where people died of hunger as a neighbour.

      Mr Mbeki has always been reluctant to publicly criticise President
Robert Mugabe's rule.

      Following a failed harvest, Zimbabwe is suffering food shortages.

      It has been short of foreign currency for imports such as fuel for
several years.

      Mr Mugabe's critics say his seizure of white-owned land have wrecked
the country's agriculture-based economy.

      He blames his problems on a Western plot.

      Last week, Mr Mugabe visited China seeking financial assistance but he
did not obtain the help he had hoped for.

      South African newspapers reported that Mr Mugabe was only granted $6m
for grain imports by Beijing.

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Reuters

      U.S. freezes assets of Zimbabwean farms, businesses
      Wed Aug 3, 2005 12:16 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday froze the U.S. assets
of 26 Zimbabwean entities it said are controlled by key members of President
Robert Mugabe's government, accusing them of undercutting democracy in
Zimbabwe.

Under an executive order issued by President Bush, the Treasury Department
"designated" 24 commercial farms and two businesses controlled by Mugabe
administration officials who the U.S. government says are undermining
democratic processes in Zimbabwe. The move freezes their access to the U.S.
financial system and prohibits U.S. citizens from doing business with them.

"The Mugabe regime rules through politically motivated violence and
intimidation and has triggered the collapse of the rule of law in Zimbabwe,"
said Robert Werner, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control.

"By denying the Mugabe regime access to the U.S. financial system and U.S.
persons, we're cutting off the flow of support they could use to further
destabilize Zimbabwe," he said.

Zimbabwe is reeling from its worst economic crisis since independence from
Britain 25 years ago, triggered by government seizures of white-owned farms
for resettlement of landless blacks and allegations of vote rigging.

The Treasury Department said the commercial farms are among those handed to
favored members of Mugabe's government following his chaotic land
redistribution scheme.

The two businesses include Cold Comfort Farm Trust Co-operative, an
agricultural cooperative controlled by National Security Minister Didymus
Noel Mutasa, and Ndlovu Motorways, controlled by Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, an
official with Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.

Treasury has designated Mugabe and 76 other Zimbabwean government officials
and "persons of influence" for economic sanctions.

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Zim Online

Opposition says SA money will not force Mugabe to shift an inch
Thu 4 August 2005

      JOHANNESBURG - Outraged opposition parties in Zimbabwe and South
Africa last night said a bailout loan for Zimbabwe provisionally approved by
Pretoria on Wednesday would do little to change the policies of President
Robert Mugabe or alleviate the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.

      South Africa's official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party and
Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spoke as
economic analysts told ZimOnline that the financial handout was a stop gap
measure that could help Zimbabwe avoid expulsion from the International
Monetary Fund (MF).

      But the analysts said the financial rescue package that Pretoria said
it had only "approved in principle" could not stem Zimbabwe's six-year
economic recession which they squarely blamed on wrong economic and
political policies by Mugabe and his government.

      "We are not opposed to assistance that will help end the suffering of
Zimbabweans but we are strongly opposed to assistance that will strengthen a
dictator to inflict more harm and misery on his people," MDC spokesman Paul
Themba Nyathi said last night.

      He added: "What guarantees does South Africa have that this government
(of Zimbabwe) which has destroyed people's homes and income generating
projects will after getting the money simply not continue with its
repressive policies?"

      Media reports in the last three weeks indicated that Pretoria was
demanding wide-ranging political and economic reforms by Mugabe's government
including reopening negotiations with the MDC to find a solution to Zimbabwe's
crisis before it could release money to Harare. The South African government
has not denied the reports.

      Crisis-hit Zimbabwe initially wanted US$1 billion from South Africa to
pay off IMF debts and avoid expulsion and also to import food and fuel, in
critical short supply in the country.

      South African government spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe on Wednesday did
not shed much light into what preconditions Pretoria may have set only
saying: "This loan agreement will be in the wider context of Zimbabwe's
economic recovery and the process of political normalisation and talks are
on with the Zimbabwean players to this effect."

      Netshitenzhe said South Africa was not going to provide the whole
amount sought by Zimbabwe but would not be drawn to say how much exactly
Harare would receive.

      He also said the date when the loan may be finally granted depended
much on the IMF which has given Zimbabwe up to the beginning of September to
pay back US$300 million or be expelled.

      The DA accused President Thabo Mbeki and his government of abandoning
their quiet diplomacy policy on Harare, under which they have refused to
publicly censure Mugabe, to now actively supporting the Zimbabwe government
with financial aid.

      "South Africa is helping to prop up a government which has recently
been described by the United Nations as carrying out policies which are a
'clear violation of international law'," the DA said in statement. It added:
"This decision marks an important change in South Africa's stance. President
Thabo Mbeki has now given way to quiet diplomacy to active support."

      The DA, which said the loan should be debated in Parliament, demanded
that Mbeki and his government come out clear on the conditions they had set
for the bailout to Zimbabwe.

      Harare-based economic consultant John Robertson said Zimbabwe's
economic crisis was primarily a result of wrong political decisions and
policies and could not be corrected by a financial loan alone.

      "Throwing money at Zimbabwe's problems is not going to work,"
Robertson said. He added: "The idea of giving money is an economic answer to
an economic problem but Zimbabwe's problems are a result of wrong political
decisions that have destroyed the country's ability to earn money."

      An economist with one of Zimbabwe's leading banks said the South
African loan would in the long run not help much unless Harare addressed
"the major issues that had estranged it from the international community."

      The economist, who did not want to be named, said: "We need to address
the issues of human and property rights, rule of law and democracy in order
to become a worthy destination for foreign capital and investors again.
Anything else is just like treating the symptoms and not the root cause of
the crisis." - ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Harare's failure to appeal for food aid worries World Food Programme
Thur 4 August 2005

      HARARE - The World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said it was
"difficult and problematic" to raise relief for millions of hungry
Zimbabweans because of Harare's failure to make a formal appeal for food
aid.

      President Robert Mugabe last June told WFP boss James Morris that
Zimbabwe would welcome help from the group and other international food
donors.

      But Mugabe's acceptance of assistance was never followed up with a
formal appeal for food aid while senior Harare officials have on several
occasions said Zimbabwe would not make an appeal for aid.

      "The government of Zimbabwe has not formally appealed for food aid
which is in slight contradiction to other countries in the region..it's
quite problematic," WFP spokesman in South Africa Mike Huggins told
ZimOnline.

      Huggins said out of 8.3 million people in need of food aid in the
southern Africa region after crop failures, 4.3 million of them were in
Zimbabwe which has faced shortages since 2001.

      Mugabe's controversial expropriation of large tracts of land from
white commercial farmers in often violent clashes instigated by mobs of war
veterans is widely blamed for the plunge in agriculture production and
fuelling a six-year economic recession.

      Agriculture is the backbone of the country's economy and now
contributes less than 16 percent to gross domestic product, 16 percent of
employment which is sharply down from 30 percent in 2000.

      Food security experts say Zimbabwe's 2004/05 staple maize crop is
barely 600 000 tonnes, a far cry from the 2.4 million tonnes which the
government had said the country would produce. The country consumes about
1.8 million tonnes of maize per year.

      "Without an official appeal it is difficult to raise the resources
needed by the people of Zimbabwe but the WFP is trying everything (possible)
to mobilise as much food and money for vulnerable people," Huggins said.

      He said the WFP needs US$266 million to feed the region with just over
half of it required for Zimbabwe. Huggins added that so far donors had made
available US$75 million for aid up to the next harvest in 2006.

      The WFP will mostly focus on feeding the elderly, malnourished
children, pregnant women and those who are unable to buy food for
themselves, a number which aid groups say had increased with Zimbabwe's
worsening economic crisis.

      Harare authorities say they have made import orders of up to 1.8
million tonnes mostly from South Africa. The foreign currency squeezed
nation has not said where it will get the money to pay for the maize while
officials in Harare have privately indicated the government is banking on
hard cash loan from South Africa to pay for food imports.

      South Africa's Cabinet on Wednesday agreed to loan Zimbabwe money to
buy food and fuel in critical short supply in the country.

      Insiders have said Pretoria will only provide part of the US$1 billion
originally requested by Harare, while economic analysts say whatever South
Africa loans its neighbour would only be enough to avert immediate and total
collapse of Zimbabwe's economy.

      But much aid was needed to revive Zimbabwe's economy and end shortages
of food, fuel, electricity, essential drugs and other basic commodities. -
ZimOnline

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IOL

Blackouts hit Zimbabwe
          August 03 2005 at 05:45PM

      Harare - Zimbabwe's state power company blamed a series of prolonged,
countrywide blackouts over the past week on delayed coal deliveries,
equipment breakdowns and interruptions in electricity imports, state media
reported Wednesday.

      The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority's woes are a sign of the
devastating crisis gripping what was once one of southern Africa's most
prosperous economies.

      In a brief statement to consumers, the company said Zimbabwe was
experiencing 400 to 450 megawatt shortfalls on its daily winter requirement
of 2 100 megawatts.

      The result has been power cuts of up to seven hours in towns and
cities at the height of the southern hemisphere winter. Farmers have also
been without electricity to operate irrigation equipment at a critical
growing stage for vital crops such as wheat.

      The often-violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms for
redistribution to black Zimbabweans, combined with years of drought, have
destroyed the country's agriculture-based economy. Inflation has soared to
164 percent, and Zimbabwe is also suffering critical shortages of food, fuel
and foreign currency.

      A senior official at the power monopoly denied reports that Zimbabwe
has been unable to buy electricity from neighboring South Africa and
Mozambique because it lacked the foreign currency.

      "We have been importing the maximum accessible power from Eskom in
South Africa and HCB of Mozambique but cannot match demand due to the winter
peak," Obsert Nyatanga, general manager for corporate affairs, said in an
interview with the state-run Herald newspaper.

      But he said there has been a disruption in electricity supplies from
Congo due to a major generator failure there.

      Meanwhile, the key Hwange thermal power station in northwestern
Zimbabwe has "ground to a halt" due to generator and boiler failures caused
by the lack of currency to import spare parts, Nyatanga told The Herald.

      He said smaller thermal power stations in the western cities of
Bulawayo and Munyati were supplying only 30 percent of normal output due to
a shortage of train cars to deliver coal.

      On a state visit to China last week, President Robert Mugabe announced
that Beijing has offered to provide two 300-megawatt generators for the
Hwange plant on undisclosed terms. A controversial 1990s deal with
Malaysia's YTL Power International Bhd. to upgrade the facility never
materialized.

      In another sign of the country's economic troubles, the black market
rate for its currency has reportedly soared to 45 000 Zimbabwe dollars to
the US dollar, compared to an official rate of 17 500 Zimbabwe dollars.

      In a bid to relieve gas stations, where drivers have been waiting in
line for weeks to buy fuel that rarely comes, the government is allowing
some stations to sell privately imported stocks at US$1 a liter. The first
such station opened on Wednesday, state radio reported. State-imported fuel
sells for 10 000 Zimbabwe dollars a liter.

      Without paraffin to cook and heat their homes, Zimbabwe's poor are
resorting to building wood fires. This in turn is aggravating the denudation
of the about 5 000 seized commercial farms as their new owners seek to make
a quick profit by selling firewood. - Sapa-AP
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Mail and Guardian

      Zim has 'no clear plan or policy' on land reform

      Harare, Zimbabwe

      03 August 2005 10:56

            Proposed changes to Zimbabwe's Constitution that seek to make it
easier for the government to seize farmland from whites could be aimed at
ethnic cleansing, the country's top white farmer said on Tuesday.

            Zimbabwe's Parliament is this year expected to debate
constitutional amendments that will make it impossible for white farmers to
seek legal recourse once the government has earmarked their land for
expropriation.

            "As virtually every white farmer has been listed for acquisition
in some way or other, this surely provides direct evidence that a process of
ethnic cleansing is taking place," Doug Taylor-Freeme, president of the
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said.

            The government last month published the proposed constitutional
reforms that will allow the state immediately to assume ownership of
farmland once a property has been officially listed for expropriation.

            Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa has said the proposed amendment
would remove the delays caused by legal battles launched by farmers
objecting "not that they want the land back, but just to frustrate the
programme".

            Taylor-Freeme told his union's annual congress in the capital
that farmers were not interested in politics, but added that the planned law
"is an admission that the existing Land Act is not workable and that the
government has failed to acquire land in an orderly, legal and amicable
way".

            Zimbabwe's land reforms, which began, often violently, in 2000
after the rejection in a referendum of a government-sponsored draft
Constitution, have seen about 4 000 white farmers evicted from their
properties.

            The land has been redistributed to landless blacks in a move
that the government has said is designed to correct imbalances created by
colonial rule, when the majority of prime farmland was owned by about 4 500
whites.

            But critics have blamed the reforms in part for a fall in
agricultural production.

            Taylor-Freeme said the "draconian law ... is going to further
enhance the collapse of the agricultural industry".

            Central bank deputy governor, Nick Ncube, said at the congress
that the agricultural sector had suffered a cumulative decline of 19,4%
between 2001 and 2003.

            Taylor-Freeme said the new law was "likely to increase the
conflict of ownership of the business on the land and reduce any meaningful
investment to agriculture".

            A retired High Court judge, George Smith, told the meeting that
the planned changes along with a host of other land laws introduced over the
past five years "show that there is no clear plan or policy" around the land
issue.

            Mutasa this week ruled out any plans to lure back white
commercial farmers who lost their land during the country's land reforms.

            Many farmers have emigrated to Mozambique, Nigeria or Zambia
while others have gone as far afield as Australia. Fewer than 500 remain
farming in Zimbabwe out of the 4 500 operating before the reform. - Sapa-AFP

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Fuel for hard currency off to a slow start

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 3 Aug 2005 (IRIN) - The National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(NOCZIM) says it plans to sell fuel for hard currency in cities across the
country, despite the poor response to the experiment at the pilot filling
station.

Management at Arcadia Filling Station in the capital, Harare, where the sale
of fuel at Zim $17,500 (US $1.00) per litre was launched on Tuesday, told
IRIN that although they were adequately supplied, motorists were largely
ignoring the station, preferring to queue where the price was cheaper at Zim
$10,000.

The sale of fuel for foreign currency is aimed at stabilising the price and
cushioning the national economy from unforeseen developments in the
international oil market.

"The price is US $1.00 and the fuel is readily available. The sales are open
to individuals with free funds, Zimbabweans in the diaspora who may wish to
buy fuel for relatives and friends, nongovernmental and international
organisations," NOCZIM said in a statement.

This facility would be extended to other cities, the parastatal confirmed,
and urged motorists to buy coupons from the official foreign currency
centres that are to be set up at all participating outlets, which would also
sell fuel for South African rands at R6.00 per litre and Botswana pula at
P5.00 per litre.

Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono announced the move last month in an
attempt to counter the crippling six-year-old fuel shortage that has
adversely affected all sectors of the economy.

According to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) over 100,000
workers in the country's transport industry have lost their jobs.

"This [fuel shortage] has affected both formal and informal sectors in the
transport industry. Some emerging operators simply cannot afford the high
cost of vehicle maintenance and fuel procurement. Companies that used to run
large fleets are cutting down, throwing away a lot of workers in the
process. The situation will certainly worsen as the fuel shortage worsens,"
ZCTU chairman, Lovemore Matombo, told IRIN.

Matombo also warned of further jobs losses in the agricultural sector later
this year if the fuel situation did not improve by the start of farming
season.

Over the last six years Zimbabwe's worsening economic crisis has been
characterised by severe shortages of food, forex and basic commodities.

Government efforts to control inflation by restricting the emergence of an
informal market in currency and scarce goods have failed to put the
country's economy back on track.

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VOA

      Joy a Long Time Coming for Zimbabwe's Displaced
      By Tendai Maphosa
      Harare
      03 August 2005

The Zimbabwean government recently announced an end to Operation Drive Out
the Filth, the demolition of unapproved residential structures and business
premises. One of the stated objectives of the dismantling was to clean-up
the country's urbancenters.

The residents of Hatcliffe Extension, a settlement of some 15,000 people,
just outside Harare, paid for and were allocated stands by the government in
1991. The authorities provided the wooden cabins they lived in. Those who
had the means were putting up brick structures.

However, one evening at the end of May, the police came and ordered
residents to demolish their homes and set them on fire. The residents say
the police told them they were following orders and threatened to beat
anybody who refused to demolish his own home. They say the police
disregarded lease documents.

When the sun came up the next day, their homes had been reduced to ashes and
rubble. Some people left. The rest were taken to Caledonia Farm, where they
were told they would stay for three days, after which they would be taken to
rural homes. Almost two months later, the majority were still at Caledonia
Farm which, by this time, was being described as a transit camp.

After proving to the authorities that they had paid for their stands, they
were taken back to Hatcliffe Extension. For shelter, the government promised
every household four asbestos sheets and poles to make a three-by-five meter
shed, regardless of family size. They were told that using plastic sheeting
or any other material to wall off the structure was not allowed, because
that would create a shanty town.

Some three weeks after they moved out of Caledonia Farm, very few have
received the promised asbestos and poles. The majority have been left with
no choice but to put up structures using anything they can lay their hands
on - plastic sheeting that looks like it has been recycled numerous times,
metal sheets and cardboard.

As if losing their homes is not enough, some of those who were employed have
also lost their jobs. VOA spoke to residents who asked not to be named. One
man, whose four-room cabin was torched, also lost his job.

"I was working as a builder, but lost my job because of the tsunami as
Caledonia Farm was too far for me to get to work," he said.

Hatcliffe Extension has never had any running water and the residents get
their drinking water from unprotected ground wells. There are no real
toilets. As a result of over exposure to the elements and the lack of
sanitary facilities, a resident says disease is rife in the settlement,
especially among the children.

"Our little ones are having all kinds of skin diseases," she said. "They
also have colds and various stomach ailments."

She says their school-age children have missed months of the current school
term. The neighborhood school closed at the beginning of the clean-up and
has yet to re-open. The woman says, instead of cleaning up the settlement,
the government's forced removals campaign has made Hatcliffe Extension a
place of filth.

"Before the demolitions, we looked after our stands. But now there is so
much rubble around, it's not clean at all," she explained.

Another concern is that the humanitarian organizations that provided them
with water and toilets at Caledonia Farm have not been to Hatcliffe
Extension. Representatives of humanitarian organizations, who spoke to VOA
on condition of anonymity, says the government is making access to those in
need difficult. This is despite promises made to United Nations Resident
Coordinator in Zimbabwe Agostinho Zacarias who says the government promised
to allow assistance to those in need.

"We have discussed and we received assurance, from the government, that, if
there is a quick need for shelter, the U.N. will make available the shelter
for the people to be there," he said.

A United Nations official says the government has finally agreed to the
people being provided with tents. Still, he complains progress is very slow.
He says it does not seem to be a priority to have these people housed.

Some observers say the removal of people from the so-called transit camps
was to make them "invisible" They say many thousands have been dumped in
remote rural areas, where international delegations and humanitarian
organizations have little or no access.

State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa is quoted on the "Zim Online"
newsletter as saying the South African Council of Churches, which has
launched a relief campaign for the displaced and homeless, is pursuing a
political agenda.

At Hatcliffe Extension, the government-run reconstruction program, Operation
Garikai, has barely begun, with workmen digging the foundations of houses.
The residents are worried they may not be able to raise the money for the
new houses.

Some of the women complain they are not allowed to sell vegetables or other
items, as they did before, to raise income to provide for their families,
let alone to pay for the houses. At the moment, one of the most-immediate
concerns is keeping warm during the cold southern African winter.

A report on the demolition activity by U.N. Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka
condemned the exercise. Her report says the destruction negatively impacted
700,000 Zimbabweans directly and 1.2 million, indirectly. The United Nations
has called on the government to stop the destruction of people's homes and
livelihoods.

Defending the campaign, President Robert Mugabe says it is meant to bring
joy to those affected.

But one of the people whom VOA spoke to in Hatcliffe Extension sees it
differently. He says the campaign was designed to punish the people of
Zimbabwe for voting for the opposition MDC. He says it was meant to provoke
the opposition into resisting or protesting the demolitions, which would
have been an excuse for the government to destroy the party and kill its
supporters.
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Parirenyatwa Tightens Admission Conditions

The Herald (Harare)

August 3, 2005
Posted to the web August 3, 2005

Harare

The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals has tightened its admission and
treatment procedures to stem the ballooning unpaid bills that have left the
referral institution chasing after defaulting patients.

Group chief executive officer Mr Thomas Zigora said, with immediate effect,
the hospital would require patients to submit proof of residence before
treatment is administered.

Failure to produce the proof would mean one has to pay cash upfront.

Water bills, departmental stores statements, electricity bills or recent
stamped envelopes with bearer's name, he said, would be accepted as proof of
residence.

The hospital is currently in the process of trying to recover $10 billion in
unpaid medical bills from patients and other institutions.

Four debt collecting firms have been engaged for that purpose.

Because Parirenyatwa is a Government institution that cannot turn away
patients, many people have been taking advantage of this to get treated for
free, even when they are fully able to pay.

Fees at public hospitals are significantly low as compared to the private
health institutions, with consultation fees ranging between $200 and $20
000.

Those referred by the Department of Social Welfare - the physically and
mentally-challenged, the aged, the unemployed and children below five
years - access treatment from public institutions for free.

Over the years, however, the system has been abused, hence the decision by
the hospital administration to tighten the admission and treatment
procedures.

Mr Zigora said the hospital had been facing difficulties in following up its
debtors because some people were giving false addresses.

"In some cases, the addresses provided are non-existent. Addressee is not
known or is no longer staying at the address.

"In order for us to be able to follow up our debtors, all patients admitted
on account will be required to produce proof of residence," he said in a
statement.

Several people have in recent months received final demands of payment at
their addresses in the name of persons that they do not know.

In one instance, a Harare man said he received a final demand for payment
from a debt collector for $43 000 owed to Parirenyatwa Hospital for
treatment provided in the year 2001.

"I do not even know the person to whom this demand was addressed to," said
the man.

It could not be established yesterday how much the hospital has managed to
recover since it engaged debt collectors.

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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Striking doctors face legal action

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-04

AT least 20 striking junior doctors at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and
Harare Central Hospital are likely to be charged under the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA), deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Edwin
Muguti warned yesterday.
Speaking to The Daily Mirror Muguti said the concerned doctors had violated
provisions of POSA, which prohibits people offering essential services from
embarking on industrial action.
Essential services under the Act refer to the fire brigade, electricity
generation and supply, communications, hospitals, health and ambulance
services,
transport and security, among others.
"The doctors refused to take heed of the call by the government to return to
work as their plight is looked into by relevant authorities (Health Services
Board).
"Therefore, they are likely to be charged under the essential services
section," Muguti said.
According to POSA, any person disrupting or interfering with essential
services shall be guilty of an offence.Where the disruption results in
death, the offender will be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
Muguti explained that the medical Hippocratic oath taken by professionals
upon completing their studies, patients' lives comes first before anything
else.
The deputy minister added that the move to down tools at a time when
government was busy working out on improving their conditions of service was
again a violation of the oath.
In their grievances, the doctors are also demanding a retention allowance of
30 percent of their monthly salaries.
The doctors argue that the retention allowance should be an appreciation by
government of their stay in the public sector when other skilled personnel
are leaving
in droves for greener pastures.
Muguti accused the doctors of using patients as sacrificial lambs to settle
their plight.
The doctors however, are adamant they will not return to work until their
grievances have been addressed.
Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) president Takaruda Chinyoka
said the Hippocratic oath was inapplicable to Zimbabwe.
"That oath was written long back and by that time medical professionals were
well provided for. But the situation in Zimbabwe now is that we are too
hungry to consider it at the moment," said Chinyoka.
He said some of the striking doctors met Parirenyatwa Hospital chief
executive Thomas Zigora on Tuesday, but nothing fruitful came out.
Zigora could not be reached for comment as he was said to be attending a
meeting.
Chairman of the Health Services Board (HSB) Lovemore Mbengeranwa yesterday
said the board doesn't deal directly with doctors.
He said information from their line managers was to the effect that the
grievances were being looked into.
"The striking doctors are now handling the issue with their managers at
hospital level. We hope that they will be back at work soon," Mbengeranwa
said.
The doctors are demanding a whooping 800 percent salary review.
Currently, a junior doctor earns approximately $5 million a month that they
now want it upped to $47 million.
They also want the government to review their transport and housing
allowances.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Turnaround strategy facing financial problems

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-04

THE turnaround strategy being implemented by the city of Harare is facing
financial problems and this may delay its completion scheduled for mid next
year, the capital city's executives was told recently.
The commission running Harare adopted the strategy in May that would see its
existing structures unbundled into Strategic Business Units (SBUs) operating
on a cost recovery basis.
According to the commission's executive committee minutes on 21 July
released yesterday, a strategist hired by the municipality said financial
woes were the major drawback facing the city's turn around programme.
"The strategist drew the attention of the committee to challenges being
faced in the implementation of the turnaround, shortage of funds being the
major constraint," read part of the minutes.
The city has since applied for funds from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe -
part of it to be used in the turnaround strategy - but the central bank was
yet to release the money although chamber secretary Josephine Ncube
indicated that the council had met the bank's requirements.
Government set June 2006 as the deadline for the commission to complete the
exercise, while Jameson Kurasha was appointed chairperson of the
implementation committee of the strategy.
The executive committee also recommended that there be a central
administration headed by a chief executive officer responsible for drafting
policies.
The minutes read: "That there be a central administration responsible for
policy drafting, regulating functions on city operations and monitoring of
SBUs, while SBUs shall principally become cost centres, profit being
encouraged where this is achievable, to augment council affairs."
The restructuring exercise has already resulted in the re-advertising of
some senior posts in the council, while others would be scrapped.
Meanwhile, the executive has recommended the appointment of an advisory
committee to look into the turnaround of Rufaro Marketing Private Limited,
the city's liquor concern.
The executive recommended that once appointed the advisory committee would
be given a month to come up with recommendations on improving the viability
of the company whose fortune have plummeted due to competition from private
players.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Major customs rates double

Business Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-04

THE European Union (EU's) multinational currency, the euro, has continued
posting major gains against the Zimbabwe dollar for the valuation of
imported goods, with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) customs figures
released on Tuesday showing that customs rates have hit Z$21 215.080 for
every euro.
This represents an increase of almost 100 percent from last week's Z$12  856
555 against the currency.
The upward trend started last week, which saw the euro gaining by at least
35 000 percent.
The countries whose rates have been affected by the latest adjustments to
the local currency include Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Italy
France, Germany, the Netherlands and many others where goods from those
countries are now tabulated at the flat rate.
The latest rates mean that it now costs a local importer more to bring in
goods and equipment from the European Union.
Analysts say the rise in the cost of imports stand as a potential barrier to
production and industrial output considering that a significant number of
local companies rely on imported components in their operations.
Zimra's new charges against the euro come at a time when the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) recently adjusted the United States dollar upward from $9 000
to $17 500 to the local currency, a condition that has also precipitated
increments in the prices of many commodities such as fuel.
The RBZ's new rates have, however, been welcomed by most exporting companies
as a catalyst for improved foreign currency inflows through improved export
sales.
For customs purposes, the US dollar
has, however, been overtaken by most countries using the euro as their
trading currency because the exchange rate for
this week has been adjusted to Z$17 500 for every US dollar, up from
Z$10647.645 last week.
The South African rand will this week be trading at Z$2650.130, up from Z$1
605 last week for customs purposes.
In the past, Zimra was using the rates of exchange of respective countries'
local currencies and this led to variations in the cost of imported goods.
The British pound has also appreciated from Z$18 349 last week to $30
728.770 this week.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

Parliament adjourned

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-04

PARLIAMENT has adjourned for next week's Heroes Day holiday and will resume
sitting on August 16.
According to parliament officials, the House of Assembly ended official
business last Thursday, although parliamentary portfolio committees will
continue meeting while today a Youth Development, Gender and Employment
Creation committee conference is scheduled at Parliament Building in the
morning.
On Thursday there would be three committee meetings, with the Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs committee expected to hold a public hearing on
constitutional amendments to re-establish the Senate phased out in the late
1980s.
The 69-member Senate is expected to be functional before year-end.
On the same day, the Mines, Environment and Tourism and the Education, Sport
and Culture committees would also meet.
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Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe

CFU ready to work with govt

The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Aug-04

THE Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) says it is ready to work with, and
support the government in its agricultural reforms for the benefit of the
country.

CFU president Douglas Taylor-Freeme, speaking at the annual congress of the
union, called on the government to embrace white commercial farmers in its
programmes.
 He said the farmers are now more committed to seeing the prosperity of
Zimbabwe through agricultural production than engaging in politics.
"CFU consistently supports land reform and in that vein, there is need for
reconciliation with the government," he said.
"We are not benefitting from this polarisation of ideas neither is the
government. We now say to the government, get out of that corner and let us
meet and embrace each other to map the future."
He lamented the continued problems currently bedeviling the white commercial
farmers and called on government to reach a common cause for the good of the
country.
 "We need to be objective and agriculturally viable as a country. We are,
and will be prepared to work with newly resettled commercial farmers."
Meanwhile, he said collateral for securing loans from banks, security of
ownership of land, consultations on agricultural policy formulation and
agricultural support schemes were key to the resuscitation of agricultural
production.
He said that it was pleasing that the Central Bank had for the past 12
months been consulting with the CFU on major agricultural concerns, a move
he said, should also be emulated by all government authorities responsible
for agriculture.
The CFU council unanimously elected Tailor-Freeme to the presidency for a
third term,Stoff Hawgood remained first vice president while Trevor Gifford,
was elected second vice president.
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Mirror:

ZCTU case: magistrate grants peace order

            The Daily Mirror Reporter
            issue date :2005-Aug-03

            A HARARE magistrate Memory Chigwaza on Monday granted a peace
order against affiliates challenging the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) executive led by Lovemore Matombo and his lieutenants.
The fierce squabbles between the country’s main labour body and its
disgruntled affiliates – calling themselves Aggrieved Workers Union
(AWU)- have degenerated into fisticuffs on several occasions.
Last May, the fight spilt into the courts after ZCTU secretary general
Wellington Chibebe, Thabitha Khumalo and other high-ranking officials
were assaulted. According to ZCTU lawyer Alec Muchadehama, magistrate
Chigwaza confirmed the peace order in a default judgment after the
disgruntled affiliates failed to appear in court.
“The magistrate has granted a peace order against the affiliates in a
default judgment. In May, we obtained a provisional order…following
skirmishes in the ZCTU against senior officials,” Muchadehama said.
Commenting on Chigwaza’s ruling Matombo said: “In any case we expected
the court to give a judgment of that nature. What we have experienced
over the previous month was something arising from an invisible hand.
We hope the invisible hand will abide by the judgment.”
Matombo said the judgment came at the right time considering that the
ZCTU is going to hold its general council meeting tomorrow. Matombo
added that a lasting solution to the current rifts was in the offing.
“We are going to resolve the dispute once and for all on Thursday,” he
said. The war between the Matombo led executive and its affiliates
turned nasty a fortnight ago in a local hotel in Harare when thugs
bulldozed their way into the conference room and threw human waste at
ZCTU officials and invited guests during a pension fund workshop.
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News24

Loan 'endorsement of Mugabe'
03/08/2005 18:19  - (SA)

Cape Town - The decision in principle by the South African cabinet on
Wednesday to provide a loan facility for Zimbabwe amounts to an endorsement
of President Robert Mugabe's government and its policies, says the official
opposition.

Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson said: "South Africa is helping
to prop up a government which has recently been described by the United
Nations as carrying out policies which are a 'clear violation of
international law'.

"This decision marks an important change in South Africa's stance.

"President Thabo Mbeki has now given way to quiet diplomacy to active
support.

"Today's decision also means that we will have to forego essential spending
here at home.

"Zimbabwe currently owes the IMF $300m, or just over R1.8bn.

"By bailing out Zimbabwe, we will be forsaking spending on housing and other
social issues.

"Zimbabwe will be in no position to repay this money to South Africa; the
assistance should therefore be nothing other than a gift to Robert Mugabe.

"This is taxpayers' money which will be spent on Zimbabwe, hence taxpayers
are entitled to know the conditions attached to this gift.

"This includes whether there are any political conditions attached to the
loan, the amount of the loan and the terms of repayment.

"The constitution requires the final decision on the gift to be debated in
parliament as soon as it reconvenes later this month."

Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said on Wednesday afternoon that
there would be no conditions imposed on the loan although it was expected
that the "difficulties" that Zimbabwe was facing would not recur.

He said South Africa did not behave like "big brother" when it came to other
states.
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China Adds New Unknowns to Mugabe Enigma

Business Day (Johannesburg)

OPINION
August 3, 2005
Posted to the web August 3, 2005

Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe returned from China on Sunday dripping
with venom after he failed to secure the economic rescue package he so
desperately wanted to ensure political survival.

The embattled leader was also wound up by the intensifying pressure on him
to halt his widely condemned urban demolition blitz -- Operation Restore
Order.

Mugabe is under pressure from various fronts. He has to deal with political
problems at home, pressure from abroad, the economic crisis and he must sort
out his party's convoluted leadership succession struggle.

The international community has relentlessly ratcheted up pressure on Mugabe
over his controversial clean-up of slums and informal businesses. SA,
Nigeria and the United Nations (UN) have also been turning up the heat on
him over the need for a negotiated political settlement with the opposition.

Pretoria has been trying to use its promised $1bn loan to Mugabe to
guarantee the ruling Zanu (PF) holds talks with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), but Mugabe has clearly been angered by the
conditions attached to the loan.

SA's conditions include entering in talks, urgent political and economic
reforms and measures to end international isolation.

But Mugabe, emboldened by promises of Chinese support, practically told UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo, to go to hell over their demand for him to talk to the
MDC.

Mugabe's refusal, while counterproductive, was instructive. It showed again
that Mbeki's toadying diplomacy will not persuade Mugabe -- a specialist in
the politics of defiance and scorched-earth policies -- to reform.

SA's feeble "quiet diplomacy" and its glaring inconsistencies -- notably
remarks by Foreign Minister Nkosazana DlaminiZuma, especially her
spectacular claim last week that Mugabe's destruction campaign was an
"internal matter" -- are a stumbling block to the resolution of the
Zimbabwean question.

Mbeki's extraordinary claims that Zimbabwe's land reform was delayed by the
need to avoid scaring apartheid rulers from a political settlement in SA and
that Zimbabwe's debt crisis was caused by social services investment, were
designed to appease Mugabe in the hope he will consent to talks.

Mbeki seems to be digging in and defending the Zanu (PF) position in order
to remain a key player in a Zimbabwean resolution, given the UN's
initiatives in that country, and the African Union's proposed deployment of
former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano as mediator to deal with the
Zimbabwean issue.

Attempts by the UN to replace SA as the leading mediator would be doomed to
failure.

Meanwhile, Mugabe's trip to China was a success from a political point of
view, as he managed to get Beijing support to block any further UN measures
against his regime.

China promised to use its veto to defeat any resolution on Zimbabwe,
demonstrating the shortcomings of the world body's anachronistic structure.

China and Russia, supported by a few African countries in the UN Security
Council, failed last week to prevent Britain from inviting UN envoy Anna
Kajumulo Tibaijuka to speak to the council on her damning report on the
Zimbabwean demolitions.

But Mugabe managed to get assurance that Beijing would veto any resolution
on Zimbabwe concerning the report, which Annan described as "profoundly
distressing".

Mugabe certainly got a temporary reprieve after China assured him it would
prevent diplomatic escalation around his Operation Restore Order, which has
triggered intense international outrage. Although Mugabe wanted a rescue
package to prevent economic collapse, his strategic thinking was focused on
minimising the diplomatic escalation of the UN engagement on Zimbabwe.

Mbeki and others have a lot more to do on Zimbabwe now that Mugabe has been
to China.

Muleya is Business Day's Harare correspondent and Zimbabwe Independent news
editor.
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Calls for an enquiry to investigate MDC infighting in South Africa

      By Tichaona Sibanda
      03 August 2005

      Concerned Zimbabwe activists based in South Africa have called on the
feuding groups within the MDC in that country to cease hostilities against
each other before it degenerates into a bloody conflict.

      Intra-party violence between MDC supporters and members of the
Zimbabwe Action Support Group has so far left three activists dead in
Johannesburg. The ZASG is an alliance group that operates under the MDC.

      No arrests have been made so far in connection with the murders, but
police have intensified their investigations since the discovery of two
charred remains of men believed to be members of ZASG.

      A handful of MDC members in Johannesburg have been detained and
questioned by the police. All have since been released. The two charred
bodies recovered last week Tuesday are believed to be those of Musa Mhlanga
and Liberty Ncube. Another activist, Lungile Sibanda, who died about the
same time as the other two has since been buried in Zimbabwe. It is against
this background that concerned activists in South Africa are calling on the
MDC leadership in Harare to institute a commission of enquiry and
investigate the disturbances that threaten to destroy the party in that
country. Daniel Molokela, a human rights lawyer and activist, expressed
shock at the callous murders of the three activists, describing them as
'dastardly and cowardly deeds'. He said the MDC should quickly set up a
commission of enquiry to try and follow up on the implications of these
cases. Molokela added; 'The enquiry must also make recommendations on how
the current bitter feud, that that has completely paralysed the MDC in South
Africa, can be best resolved without the shedding of more blood.'

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
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  Letter From Zimbabwe

      By Cathy Buckle
      03 August 2005

      Dear Family and Friends,

      For the last three months almost every single report from Zimbabwe has
been about the destruction of homes, stalls and informal structures in our
cities and towns. At first, when we could actually see the bulldozers, the
huge clouds of dust and the piles of rubble in our towns and neighbourhoods,
it was all very real and terrifying. Then we saw people desperately looking
for shelter, carrying their belongings and lining the roads in their
hundreds trying to get transport to move the remnants of their homes out of
town and away from the bulldozers. Now, two months later, there is not much
left for the ordinary passer by to see on the roadsides of Marondera. There
are still piles of rubble here and there but mostly there are just empty
spaces in the town. It is hard to believe that just two months ago you could
buy a banana or a twist of newspaper brimming with ground nuts at the street
corner. You could haggle with a vendor over a huge orange mango, an avocado
or a bowl of tomatoes or even buy a hand made hammock on the side of the
road. You could have your shoes re heeled, your zip fixed or your bicycle
spokes tightened by skilled self employed men and women earning an honest
living from the pavements and alleyways all across Marondera. Now the town
is virtually deserted, the streets are quiet, you cannot even buy a banana
on the roadside and everywhere, still everywhere, the four month old ZANU PF
election posters cling to our lamp posts: "We are proud to be Zimbabweans on
our land", the banners say. "Our land is our sovereignty" the slogans shout
at us as we walk past them. We walk because after seven weeks there is still
no petrol or diesel, almost no buses or taxis are moving and very few
ordinary vehicles are still on the roads.

      And the question everyone is asking is what has happened to all those
people whose homes and stalls were demolished. Where are they living now,
how are they surviving, have they got enough to eat? There are more
questions than answers. This week I talked with a man who lives in a rural
village and I am haunted by his stories, in shock at his descriptions. He
told me of people arriving from the cities but of there being no empty
houses where they can live. He told me of families doubling and tripling up
to try and accommodate the desperate newcomers. He told me of meagre meals
being shared and then watered down and shared yet again. He described how
there was no space for people's possessions and so lounge suites and
wardrobes were being stored on top of roofs - exposed to the wind, the dust
and the dew. There are not enough houses in the villages, the wells are
already running dry, all vegetable gardening has stopped due to the shortage
of water and there is no land for all these new people to scratch a living
on. It was this very excuse of congested rural villages that the ZANU PF
government used when they seized all the commercial farms and turned our
country from a food exporter to a begging bowl. Now the rural villages are
even more congested as yet more and more people arrive.
      People who once fixed shoes and bicycles, wove baskets and chairs,
knitted jerseys or made hammocks now they just sit in the dusty villages,
homeless, unemployed, hungry and completely at the mercy of the government
systems to whom they will have to turn, for every single one of their most
basic human needs. Control is complete. Until next week, with love, cathy.
      Copyright cathy buckle 30 July 2005 http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ;
www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand:
      johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.exclusivebooks.com

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
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Embassy, Canada

Embassy, August 3rd, 2005
FEATURE
By Archbishop Pius Ncube, Dr. Roger Bate and Richard Tren
Zimbabwe's Chinese Puzzle
The conclusion of Embassy's three-part series on Zimbabwe
Speculation over the motives behind Operation Murambatsvina has pointed to
the removal of local competition threatening newly arrived Chinese
businessmen whose stores sell cheap and often poor quality goods. It is
estimated that, as a result of the government's aggressive "Look East"
policy, up to 10,000 Chinese citizens have moved into the country, and some
have moved onto farms taken from highly skilled commercial farmers, notably
to grow tobacco for China's 300 million smokers.

Chinese investors are reported to have interests in Hwange colliery,
electricity generation and platinum mining. According to a Bloomberg report,
"For China, investment in Zimbabwe may provide access to minerals the
country needs to fuel its growing economy." The Zimbabwean government has
also purchased goods from China, such as three commercial airplanes, buses,
K-8 jet trainers and military vehicles, small armaments and riot control
equipment.

Economic and Social Considerations

The licensing of stallholders has been taken out of the control of the city
councils, which are dominated by the opposition MDC members, and
applications are being dealt with by interministerial committees. It is
these committees that will decide which stallholders are successful (aided
by a vetting process carried out by the police), and where they will be
allowed to operate. Land vacated by razed settlements is already having
plots pegged out in it for houses to be built, which are reportedly being
reallocated to police, army and party officials, which is consistent with
Mugabe's past method of rewarding those who do his grizzly bidding.

Official employment is low since the collapse of the agriculture and tourism
sectors, but many people work informally and are being supported by foreign
currency sent in by friends and family working abroad. Most of this money is
not passing through banks or attracting tax. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) estimates the parallel trade supported by the 'Diaspora forex'
represents 60 per cent of GDP, and that only 10 per cent (or U.S. $4
million), a month is channeled through the formal bank system. The RBZ aims
to increase this to $70 million per month. The bank's governor, Gideon Gono,
is approving the "clean up" presumably in the hope that informal currency
mechanisms will be disrupted.

International And Regional Responses

Zimbabwe is in violation of its own laws, but it is unlikely that courts
will uphold complaints against the police and government. However, Zimbabwe
has also contravened international laws and conventions to which it is a
signatory. The UN has a principle under which it can decide to intervene:
"Where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war,
insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is
unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of nonintervention
yields to the international responsibility to protect."

In a statement issued on June 3, the Special Rapporteur of the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights, Miloon Kothari, urged the government to
immediately halt the forced evictions. He reminded Zimbabwean authorities of
their obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, which Zimbabwe ratified in 1991. On June 28, Anna
Tibaijuka, the Tanzanian head of UN Habitat, arrived in Zimbabwe to judge
the impact of Operation Murambatsvina for Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Condemnation of the operation from the U.S. and European governments was
swift and firm. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UK Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw both decried the operation and urged African Union
members to push Mugabe's government to respect the rule of law and human
rights.

More than 200 international, African and Zimbabwean human rights groups have
called on the AU and the UN to stop the mass evictions. Amongst the human
rights and civic groups signing the Joint Appeal are Zimbabwean Lawyers for
Human Rights, the Inter Africa Network for Human Rights (AFRONET), Amnesty
International, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), the
International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, and the
International Crisis Group. The coalition called on relevant bodies at the
UN, including the Secretary-General, to publicly condemn the ongoing mass
violations and take effective action to stop them.

African Responses

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) has requested an internationally supervised, legitimate transitional
authority to lead Zimbabwe out of the present crisis. This requires a rescue
package which must, at least, include: food, fuel, medicine, foreign
currency, support for the displaced people and funds for the rebuilding of
homes.

Mr. Tsvangirai has been to Ghana and Mauritius and met President Obasanjo of
Nigeria. He will shortly be meeting with Ms. Rice and has held meetings with
South African ministers, including President Mbeki. South Africa is already
under tremendous pressure regarding Zimbabwe and the aim is to try to work
with President Mbeki and offer him the solution of the transitional
authority (perhaps by agreeing to both exit strategy for Mugabe and a Truth
Commission, not unlike that which occurred in South Africa). While support
for a transitional authority would be required from the UN and possibly from
the European Union as well, the support of the AU would also be essential.

So far however, responses from the AU and African governments to the
disgraceful Zanu-PF actions and Tsvangirai's suggestions have been muted at
best, refusing to take action against what it terms an internal matter. With
its close economic and political links, many see South Africa as the key to
restoring peace and democracy to Zimbabwe. Despite growing pressure from
civil society and church groups, the South African government has been all
but silent over Operation Murambatsvina. Responding to the UK Foreign
Secretary's request for South Africa to act against Zimbabwe, South Africa's
Presidential Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo questioned what he termed a
"bogeyman approach being used to scare African countries, like children,
into conforming with the West." He said South Africa refused to accept the
notion that it must appease G-8 leaders because Mbeki was attending the
summit in Scotland. "We do things because we believe they are correct and
right."

This approach is consistent with South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma's March 2003 statement that South Africa will "never" condemn
its Zimbabwean counterpart. "It is not going to happen as long as this
government is in power," she told journalists.

Some African governments have explicitly approved of Operation
Murambatsvina. At a housing seminar in Cape Town on July 4 2005, the Kenyan
Minister of Housing, Amos Kimunya, is reported to have "sympathized with the
actions of the Zimbabwean government" and noted that "however painful,
evictions are necessary."

A statement issued by the General Council of the Bar of South Africa
expressing solidarity with "those who call on the nation states of Africa to
openly condemn the operation" has reminded the South African and African
governments that they are signatories to the African Charter. As such, they
have "accepted the obligation to protect and promote human and peoples'
rights and freedoms on the continent."

In an attempt to restore credibility to President Mbeki's flagship
development program, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD),
Reuel Khoza, Chairman of the NEPAD Business Foundation accused the AU of
shirking responsibility for Zimbabwe. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine how
the African Peer Review Mechanism, a key element of NEPAD, will ever be
taken seriously when such egregious violations of human rights are not
condemned or even criticized.

Despite their reluctance to condemn the latest wave of violence against
Zimbabweans, the country's neighboring states are likely to be negatively
affected. These countries are already struggling to cope with the constantly
rising number of Zimbabwean exiles and refugees. South Africa alone has an
estimated 3 million Zimbabwean refugees, the vast majority of whom have not
been granted any official status and whom survive on the margins of society,
often reliant on charity. The social and economic pressures of more refugees
in neighboring countries, particularly Botswana and South Africa, are only
likely to worsen. In a recent report we document the disastrous health
consequences for Zimbabwe and its neighbours of inaction over Zimbabwe.

Africa's political leadership has clearly chosen to ignore the statement by
the coalition of more than 200 human rights groups that "African solidarity
should be with the people of Africa ­ not their repressive leaders."

The Way Forward

As the leaders convene for their G-8 meeting, they should demand not just
fiscal responsibility, but improving regional democracy as well as a
condition of debt relief and aid. The test of SADC and the AU should not
just be about "selling" the region to investors, and other "good" news, but
addressing the hard issues, such as promoting Zimbabwean democracy.

As a result, African leaders must have their comfort and complacency
undermined unless they promise action. If not, the G-8 leaders will be
rewarding bad behavior by giving debt relief without demanding action, and
tacitly condoning Mugabe's actions.

The West may feel it is not appropriate for them to act (militarily at
least) on Zimbabwe, notably because they will be criticized as imperialists
by Africans. However, Western leaders should not reward those with the
regional responsibility who have failed in their moral duty to protect the
lives of vulnerable Zimbabwean citizens. Furthermore, the potential
destabilization of the region, due to escalating refugee numbers and the
uncontrolled spread of HIV/AIDS, increases the regional risk significantly,
further impacting on vested interests. Ultimately, African leaders must
accept that they are playing into the hands of those who perceive the
continent as a failure and a breeding ground for despots. In order to gain
essential support of the international community, African leaders must prove
their commitment to the rule of law, the protection of innocent civilians
and the protection of property rights, as well as taking responsibility for
their actions, both fiscal and moral.

­Archbishop Pius Ncube is the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; Dr.
Roger Batem is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute,
Washington, D.C.; and Richard Tren is the Director of Africa Fighting
Malaria, Johannesburg, South Africa

They prepared this report for the Solidarity Peace Trust.
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Reuters

      IMF to meet on Zimbabwe arrears on September 9
      Wed Aug 3, 2005 6:25 PM GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund's board will meet on
September 9 to discuss Zimbabwe's arrears to the global lender, an IMF
official said on Wednesday.

The official told Reuters Zimbabwe had fallen behind on an agreed repayment
schedule with the IMF and the last payment had been in June. Its arrears to
the IMF are $295 million.

IMF sources said the board of IMF shareholder governments was waiting to see
details of a South African deal with Zimbabwe before the meeting took place.
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Mail and Guardian

            Kudos for Anna

            Justin Pearce

            03 August 2005 03:00

                  "Very good discussions -- constructive discussions." Anna
Tibaijuka's comments to journalists following her meeting with Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe earlier this month sounded like the standard
diplomatic brush-off. But anyone who had hoped the United Nations secretary
general's special envoy to Zimbabwe was about to tiptoe over the matter of
housing demolitions would have been disappointed when her report on the
visit was published a few weeks later, full of phrases like "indifference to
human suffering".

                  One Zimbabwean journalist told the Mail & Guardian that
Tibaijuka -- who is the executive director of Habitat, the UN housing
agency -- had come to the country as an "unknown quantity", with neither the
government nor the opposition knowing how she would approach her mission. As
it happened, she took no nonsense from anyone.

                  "The government tried to direct her programme, but she was
quite forthright and domineering," the Zimbabwean journalist recalled. "When
she met the mayor of Bulawayo [an opposition member], she insisted on the
government people leaving the meeting. She listened to the NGOs and
humanitarian agencies and that is reflected in her report."

                  "She speaks her mind -- that's for real," says Tanzanian
journalist Mike Sikawa. "She is someone who is well reputed and well
respected."

                  A member of the British-sponsored Commission for Africa,
and professor of economics at Dar es Salaam University, Tibaijuka is equally
well known in Tanzania as a civil society activist, campaigning particularly
to overcome discrimination against women. "Unless you organise, expose, name
and shame these inequities, the public is normally well-meaning but these
things are not articulated to them," she said in an interview with UN Radio
last year.

                  She founded the Tanzanian National Women's Council, which
developed as a non-party political alternative to the long-established Women's
League of the ruling party. The respect she is accorded in Tanzania has not
been clouded by her departure to work for the UN, Sikawa says. "She's
maintained close links with people who make a difference, with people who
matter -- with women's organisations in Tanzania."

                  Tibaijuka attributes her success, ultimately, to a father
who defied convention in their coffee-growing home region of Kagera, in
western Tanzania, by insisting that his daughters be educated: "It was a
struggle because he had to convince his kinsman about what he was doing."

                  She studied at Dar es Salaam University before marrying a
Tanzanian diplomat and moving to Sweden. Determined not to be just "a
housewife bride", she pursued her postgraduate studies there, gaining a
doctorate in agricultural economics.

                  Tibaijuka took charge of what was then the UN Centre for
Human Settlements in 2000 and, two years later, oversaw its upgrade to a
fully-fledged programme, UN Habitat. The change elevated Tibaijuka to the
rank of under secretary general, but her style has remained markedly
different from that of the former government ministers and corporate
executives who typically populate that rung of the UN.

                  Last year she described as a "shame" the fact that 72% of
Africa's urban population are slum dwellers. Asked in the same interview to
give a practical definition of slum living, she replied: "If you are living
in overcrowded conditions without access to safe drinking water, without
access to sanitation, without home security or secure tenure, and you don't
know whether the mayor is going to come the next day and rip down, bulldoze,
your house, then we say you are living in a precarious living environment.
That's how we give it a very practical meaning."

                  It was a definition that echoed loudly less than a year
later when she was called on to apply her mind to the situation in Zimbabwe.

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From SW Radio Africa, 2 August

Missing activists' bodies found in South Africa

By Tichaona Sibanda

Police in South Africa last week recovered the charred remains of two men
suspected to be members of the Zimbabwe Action Support Group, (ZASG) who
disappeared last month after violent clashes between the group and MDC
supporters. Remember Moyo, chairman of the ZASG, told us from Johannesburg
on Tuesday that the bodies were retrieved from a dump site in Thembisa, near
Johannesburg. The charred remains are believed to be that of Musa Mhlanga of
Nkayi and Liberty Ncube from Insiza. Moyo is happy the recovery of the
bodies will eventually lead the police to the killers. He said his group has
given the police the names of those responsible for the murders. He said;
'We know them.and they are roaming the streets freely, but their freedom is
coming to an end now that the incriminating evidence has been found.' The
corpses are currently at a mortuary at Germiston at the East Rand.
Intra-party violence erupted early last month between the two groups
resulting in the MDC leadership dispatching a high level delegation from
Harare to quell the disturbances. Mhlanga and Ncube were kidnapped from
their flat in Johnnesburg and bundled into a truck, later identified as
belonging to an individual aligned to the MDC leadership in South Africa.
That was the last time the two were seen alive. The chairman of the MDC in
South Africa, Jabu Mkwananzi, admitted in an interview on Tuesday that
several members from their security department have been questioned by the
police concerning the disappearance of Mhlanga and Ncube. Others, said
Mkwananzi, have furnished the police with details of what transpired during
the time of the disturbances. Both sides, the MDC and the ZASG, are trading
insults over the saga and the groups are apparently blaming each other for
the kidnappings.
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Streak returns to his Zim farm
03/08/2005 11:56  - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwe all-rounder Heath Streak returned to his Matabeleland farm
from England on Tuesday and will be in Harare later this week practising for
the first Test on Sunday against New Zealand at Harare Sports Club.

Streak's inclusion as vice captain in the home team's 14-man squad, having
been released by his English county Warwickshire, will provide strength in
both batting and bowling against the Kiwis.

He has also made his peace with the Zimbabwe Cricket board following his
walk-out 16 months ago together with 14 other contracted white players after
they alleged racism in the selection process.

Other former dissidents, Stuart Carlisle, Craig Wishart and Andy Blignaut
are also included in the squad.

But not Ray Price (Worcester), Grant Flower (Essex), Sean Ervine (Hampshire)
and Travis Friend, who has not reported in.

Three-month long England stay

Streak was the top wicket taker in one-day matches during his three-month
long England stay and the top wicket taker in all matches for the Bears.

"I'm delighted to be home, playing against a fine Test side like New
Zealand, especially being in decent form," he said.

"Thankfully I also found everything okay at home, though the drought is
bad."

New Zealand are wasting no time getting down to practice during the next
four days, either at the Test venue Harare Sports Club or their Academy
ground.

Zimbabwe will field their strongest batting line-up in almost two years,
with Wishart, Carlisle, Dion Ebrahim and Streak supporting Brendan Taylor,
Hamilton Masakadza and captain Tatenda Taibu.

The full Zimbabwe squad:

Tatenda Taibu (capt), Heath Streak, Glen Blignaut, Stuart Carlisle, Graeme
Cremer, Keith Dabengwa, Dion Ebrahim, Neil Ferreira, Anthony Ireland,
Blessing Mahwire, Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Brendan Taylor and Craig
Wishart.

The full New Zealand squad:

Stephan Fleming (capt), Daniel Vettori, James Marshall, Craig Cumming,
Hamish Marshall, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent, Jacob Oram,
Brendan McCullum, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Paul Wiseman, Shane Bond and
Chris Martin.

Coach John Bracewell, manager Lindsay Crocker.

James Marshall, Cumming, Franklin, Wiseman and Marton will be replaced for
the one-day series against Zimbabwe and India by Craig McMillan, Chris
Cairns, Andre Adams and Jeeton Patel.
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From: MDC
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 1:07 PM
Subject: Mangwe MP Edward Mkhosi attacked by ZANU PF supporters

3 August 2005

 

Mangwe MP Edward Mkhosi attacked by ZANU PF supporters.

 

Hon. Edward Mkhosi, the MDC MP for Mangwe was attacked on Sunday 31 July 2005 in Bubi district where he had gone to buy maize to feed people in his constituency. He was accompanied by the MDC Bulawayo Province Organizing Secretary Abednico Moyo.

 

The two went to the home of Macdonald Sibanda who is the MDC candidate for the council by-election in Goodwood, ward 20, Village 13, scheduled for the 13th of August 2005. They arrived at around 1300 hours.

 

A group of about 12 Zanu Pf supporters invaded Sibanda’s home and demanded to know what the two MDC officials were doing in the Zanu Pf territory. When they were informed that the two wanted to buy maize, the ZANU PF group threatened to deal with the MDC officials for daring to come into their territory. More Zanu Pf supporters continued to descend on Sibanda’s home until they were around 200 and they surrounded the home.

 

 They smashed the back window of Hon Mkhosi’s truck and also assaulted him together with his colleagues. They detained the three until the following day at around 1600 hours when the police arrived. Fortunately, Sibanda had managed to sneak away in the middle of the night and went to report the matter to the police who only arrived some 27 hours after the attack had begun. The local headman had also made an effort to report the matter to the police but they took their time in responding. Four ZANU PF supporters were later arrested.

 

The Zanu Pf group had the audacity to cook their meals in Sibanda’s home using logs pulled from his kraal. They also pulled down his house. A six month old baby who had been sleeping in the house was served by Sibanda who managed to get her out before the house collapsed. The group proceeded to burn three blankets which Hon. Mkhosi had been using.

 

The three MDC officials sustained injuries and are receiving treatment. 

 

Today at dawn, Sibanda was awoken by a group of Zanu PF youths who were singing ant-MDC songs as they were passing his home. They threatened to assault him for getting their colleagues arrested.

 

The MDC is not perturbed by this behaviour from ZANUPF. It is typical ZANU PF strategy to resort to intimidation and violence each time they are faced with election defeat. Indeed they are starring defeat in the face come 13 August 2005.

 

Paul Themba Nyathi

Secretary for Information and Publicity

 

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MEDIA ADVISORY:  FORTHCOMING MEDIA PROGRAMMES ON ZIMBABWE

DATE:  3 AUGUST 2005

 

DATE

TIME

PROGRAMME/PUBLICATION

CONTACT PERSON

PHONE NUMBER

THEME/COMMENTS

Thursday August 4

11h30 – 12h00

Sky News

 

 

Interview with Heather and Roy Bennett

Sunday August 7

8pm

SABC TV2

The Big Question

Bulelwa Mtsali or

Sasha Wales-Smith

sasha@thebigquestion.co.za

(011) 482 6545

(011) 482 6544

“Is our government’s policy towards Zimbabwe Moral?”

 
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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUÉ - August 3, 2005

Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com

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

Herewith Section 5 (18 properties) and Section 8 (28 properties) Notices
printed in Herald dated 29 July 2005:

SECTION 5:
1 5072/98 Versailles P/L Charter Remainder of Bellaroux of Palestine of
Nyamazaan 187,2962ha

2 6075/86 Jan Hendrik Blignaut Charter Vergenoeg of Swartfontein 690,2750ha

3 8771/87 Oregon P/L Goromonzi Remainder of S/D G of Melfort Est 345,9041ha

4 612/98 Sitra Pottery P/L Goromonzi Ridge End 44,0182ha

5 8354/96 Portea Valley P/L Goromonzi S/D A of Koppies of the Twentydales
Est 40,6946ha

6 2518/88 Gilnat Inv P/L Goromonzi Lot 1A of Inverneil 29,5995ha

7 6373/91 Weed Willing P/L Goromonzi Shangri La of Randhurst 303,5178ha

8 6238/94 The Trustees for the Time Being of the Jennifer June Hardy Trust
Goromonzi Lot 1 of Setonleigh of Galway Est 21,1076ha

9 4530/82 Howes Farms P.L Lomagundi S/D J of Donington 862,6713ha

10 2443/65 Natalie Margaret Primrose Seager Marandellas Sutton Ext
1800,3136ac

11 4083/84 Allways Farm P/L Marandellas R/E of Corby 794,0524ha

12 240/84 Kenneth Makelvey Marandellas Theydon Est 327,9939ha

13 5068/69 Ponderosa Est P/L Marandellas Farm 8 of Wenimbi Est 2689,9954ac

14 4480/72 Chigori Farms P/L Mrewa Remainder of Chigori 870,6740ha

15 12771/99 Gert Cornelius Van Der Merwe Salisbury Remainder of
Witpenshoek 480,7291ha

16 8950/99 Sechoard Inv P/L Salisbury Lot 1 of Monderwa 343,9779ha

17 6514/80 Harley Ent P/L Salisbury S/D A of Lushof of Shinghaini
428,2592ha

18 5573/92 Lowveld Agriculture P/L Salisbury Athelney of Galway Est
41,8794ha

SECTION 8:
1 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 1 1822/87 Randfontein Est P/L Chipinga
Heilrand 1102,1517ha

2 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 2 445/89 Excalibur P/L Chipinga Moolfontein
of De Rust of Avontuur Ext 163,5548ha
3 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 3 971/84 Silverton Est P/L Chipinga Lot 8 of
Newcastle 314,6371ha
4 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 4 444/89 Rocky Ridge P/L Chipinga
Nooitgedacht of Avontuur Ext 981,3297ha
5 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 5 5047/73 Avontuur Est P/L Chipinga Boujans
of De Rust of Avontuur Ext 163,5546ha
6 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 6 9310/99 Kenmast Farming P/L Hartley Farm
Farnley 1251,8639ha
7 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 7 1812/61 Aberfoyle Plantations (Rhodesia)
P/L Inyanga Inyanga Downs Lot 2 6417,3600ac
8 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 8 527/52 Wattle Co Ltd Inyanga S/D B Portion
Britannia 502,1819mor
9 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 9 447/84 C W Van Der Binden Makoni Remainder
of Castle Kop 1570,5972ha
10 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 10 1468/54 Lesbury Est P/L Makoni R/E of
Farm Urmston 1219/0251mor
11 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 11 1495/87 Solomon Theunis Ferreira Makoni
R/E of Everton 723,5379ha
12 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 12 2808/85 Paul Loubser Makoni Valhalla of
Maidstone 930,7586ha
13 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 13 6690/2000 The Trustees for the Time Being
of Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources Mazoe Remainder of Mbebi
Jersey 231,9633ha

14 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 14 4715/81 Kumusha Farm P/L Mazoe Lot 1 of
Earling 1008,7747ha

15 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 15 4037/74 Rhodesian Vanadium Corp Ltd
Mazoe Rhimbick of Braidjule of Mondynes 405,0458ha
16 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 16 435/98 Cowbird Ent P/L Mazoe Lot of
Ruorka Ext of Barwick Est 32,1344ha
17 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 17 1880/98 Gem Properties P/L Mazoe Lot 1A
of Ethel Grange 472,0173ha
18 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 18 6851/74 Kenneth Bernard Eric Levings
Mazoe S/D B of Ndiri of Moores Grant 286,6156ha
19 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 19 5210/99 Hectaville Inv P/L Mazoe S/D A of
S/D F of Barwick Est 827,8972ha
20 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 20 5210/99 Hectaville Inv P/L Mazoe Lot 1 of
Lazy 7 Ranch of Barwick Est 927,5539ha
21 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 21 4234/86 Colin Barclay Shand Mazoe A/D A
of Burley Bottom 66,1606ha
22 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 22 6854/83 L K Bishop P/L Mazoe Remainder of
Umvukwe OOG 540,8523ha
23 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 23 12992/99 Mary Jane Milner Mazoe S/D A of
Uitkyk of Sandringham 162,1042ha
24 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 24 12994/99 Mary Jane Milner Mazoe Alpha of
Sandringham 102,8859ha
25 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 25 2058/70 AARDCOR Ltd Mazoe Lot 1 of Iron
Mask 207,8205ha
26 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 26 1034/66 Bell In P/L Salisbury Arden Est
1047,0449ac
27 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 27 809/77 Bezuidenhout Brothers P/L Umtali
Remainder of Lot 1 of Warnham of Cairndhu 220,1343ha

28 29-07-2005 Section 8 LOT 27 28 4064/83 Odzi Flats P/L Umtali Catherine
Valley Portion of Odzi Flats 971,2300ha
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thetrumpet.com

      The Iron Fist
            By Andrew Hessong  December 2002

      Robert Mugabe pins the blame for Zimbabwe's woes on British
colonialism, and his disciples love him for it. But his despotism is
plunging the country into a new holocaust.

      For 12-year-old Dora, who lives in a rural town in Zimbabwe, the
nightmare began when a Land Rover full of men pulled up to her house around
10 p.m. one night in June. Five "war veterans" and a local police constable
jumped out of the vehicle and entered the house. For the next four hours,
the men forced Dora's mother and younger sisters to sing praises to their
"leader"-Marxist President Robert Mugabe-as they took turns raping the
preteen girl. Every time Dora's mother or siblings stopped singing, the men
beat them with sticks and heavy whips.

      According to Dora, as the men defiled her they said, "This is the
punishment for those of you who want to sell this country to Tony Blair and
the whites."

      Dora's horrifying ordeal actually began in March, when her village
voted against Mugabe in the presidential elections. Unbeknownst to the
townspeople, who at that time believed they lived in a country where they
could support whichever political party they wanted and for that reason
voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (mdc), rape had
become the latest weapon of choice among radical supporters of Mugabe's
Zanu-PF political party.

      Dora (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) is one of
hundreds of girls-some as young as 12 or 13-who are being violated in the
fields and mountains of rural Zimbabwe every month as part of Mugabe's war
on his own people. Human rights workers call his latest actions a
"systematic political cleansing of the population" (Sunday Times, Sept. 1).

      Many of the abducted girls are taken to camps run by Mugabe's youth
militia, the Green Bombers. These camps were set up before the elections to
train teenage boys to harass the mdc. With unemployment soaring and half the
country facing starvation, increasing numbers of youths are being enticed to
join the militia by false promises of large payments of money. (The food and
beer they receive instead is incentive to stay.) At the camps, these girls
are beaten and abused, sometimes mutilated, and often used as sex slaves.

      The sex crimes committed against women in these militia camps are bad
enough, but in Zimbabwe there is an additional, fatal side to the suffering
of rape victims: With nearly 40 percent of the population being hiv
positive, the molestation is often a death sentence.

      Tragically, these atrocities don't receive much attention. They go
largely unreported in Africa because a daughter who has been violated is
often thought to bring shame on the family and afterward is viewed as
"damaged goods." What's more, the pressure to keep silent is especially
intense in a tyrannical nation where the police are at times the ones
carrying out the crimes.

      Incensed that so many of "his" people voted for the mdc and against
him in elections-which he well knows were fraudulent-and further agitated by
the international community's appeals for a re-run, 78-year-old Mugabe has
sought revenge in the most horrendous way.

      An Issue of Land

      Following his re-election in March, the despot, who has controlled
Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980, warned the mdc, "We will make them
run. If they haven't run before, we will make them run now." Mugabe has
already used a myriad of tactics to do just that.

      Why is Mugabe harming his own citizens? Why will he stop at nothing to
remain in power?

      During the recent Heroes' Day celebrations commemorating the guerrilla
war against white rule in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Mugabe revealed part
of the answer. He said, "We, the principled people of Zimbabwe, we, the true
owners of this land, shall not budge. We shall not be deterred on this one
vital issue-the land. The land is ours" (cnn, Aug. 12).

      Mugabe is determined to remove white colonialists from "his" land. In
his view, any vestige of colonialism, including any form of British rule or
influence, must be eradicated. This objective can only be achieved by him
maintaining absolute control of the country using whatever means necessary.

      Mugabe has received some criticism from the international community
and the United Nations, but so far no group or nation has been willing to
effectively deal with the situation by taking strong action. Meanwhile,
Mugabe continues to shake his iron fist defiantly against all who oppose
him.

      At the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,
South Africa, Mugabe blasted Britain and the U.S. for criticizing his regime
and demanding that the rule of law should prevail. He told world leaders
that Zimbabwe was ready to "shed blood" to defend its reforms.

      Breaking the Agricultural Backbone

      Over this past year Mugabe's government has approved the seizure of at
least 5,200 white-owned farms in an effort to undo what he termed the
"damage" caused by British colonialism. While the decree was being
challenged in court as being unconstitutional, Mugabe encouraged his
self-styled "war veterans" to invade farms illegally, which resulted in
violence and the deaths of a number of white farmers and landowners.

      Since that time, another presidential election has come and gone, and
Mugabe has moved his farm-seizure policy into high gear. This program,
combined with prolonged drought in southern Africa, has devastated Zimbabwe's
once-thriving agricultural economy.

      The October 23 edition of Business Day (Johannesburg) reported that
approximately 94 percent of the black farmers who have settled on the seized
white-owned farms do not yet have any maize seed for planting this spring;
more than half of the farmers don't know whether they will get any at all
before the planting season comes to an end. Maize is the staple food of most
Zimbabweans. The newspaper stated that this has happened "despite the fact
that throughout the past two years the Zanu-PF government has promised the
new 'settlers' on white-owned farms that they would ensure they got seeds,
implements, training and even tractors."

      Months ago, the mdc and the white farmers warned Mugabe's government
that removing the highly mechanized, exporting farms would ruin the nation
economically. These warnings went unheeded. Mugabe "redistributed" the
white-owned farms without the economic means to subsidize black farmers in
purchasing seed, fertilizer, machines and other equipment needed to sustain
the country's agricultural output.

      This problem has resulted in massive societal breakdown. Because of
Zimbabwe's slide toward lawlessness, and the upsurge in political violence,
on top of the decline in agricultural output, 99 percent of foreign
investment has vanished. "Each time Mugabe opens his mouth, investor
confidence in Zimbabwe nose-dives. . It is difficult to envisage how a
country can ever win back investor confidence on the back of these endless
land seizures and threats to nationalize firms," said a Harare-based
stockbroker (Business Report, Sept. 20).

      As October ended, so did the tobacco season, making the situation even
worse. Tobacco is Zimbabwe's main foreign-currency earner, bringing in one
third of the annual hard cash receipts which the economy relies upon. In
1999, Zimbabwe and Brazil were the largest tobacco exporters in the world.
Today, of the 1,500 farmers growing the commodity in Zimbabwe a year ago,
only about 350 or so remain.

      The economy is being sucked into a black hole, with unemployment at 70
percent and inflation at a staggering 140 percent. Reminiscent of the
collapse of the deutschmark in the 1920s, it requires ever-increasing
amounts of Zimbabwean dollars to buy anything. The problem is being
exacerbated as Zimbabwean bank notes are in increasingly shorter supply as
black marketers and money launderers hoard the untraceable bank notes in
order to buy hard currency. The currency shortage has also crippled the
government's ability to pay for fuel imports, leaving the vital
transportation sector parked in fuel lines.

      Any objective onlooker can clearly see that it is the political
situation and the removal of the agricultural backbone of the Zimbabwean
economy that has left Zimbabwe in ruins. Mugabe's "land reform process,"
which was touted as the riposte to "oppressive" British colonialism and
which was promised to benefit the black majority greatly, is instead
bringing much of the country to the brink of starvation.

      David Cronin of the European Voice wrote, "The situation in Zimbabwe
is especially desperate. Not long ago the country was regarded as the 'grain
store' of Africa. Yet . projections for the 2001-02 seasons indicate that
cereal production could decline by almost 70 percent and maize production by
77 percent, when compared to 1999-2000" (Oct. 17-23).

      Though there is a pretense of normalcy in the capital city of Harare-a
new airport terminal, working traffic signals, shiny new bmws cruising the
boulevards, street cafes serving gourmet cappuccinos-the warning signs are
seen in the long lines for bread, sugar and fuel, the absence of maize from
food stores, and the number of people loitering around unemployed.

      The New Holocaust

      Already, some experts predict that drought, aids and famine-the latter
two problems exacerbated by Mugabe's "political cleansing" and land-reform
policies-will eventually exact a death toll of 6 to 7 million Zimbabweans,
or half the country's total population. Because the number of expected
deaths is even higher than the number of Jews killed by Hitler's World War
ii Nazi regime, some observers are calling the situation in Zimbabwe "the
new Holocaust."

      Yet, no nation or international force will raise a hand to stop
Mugabe. Food aid agencies from all over the globe are rushing to rescue the
population only to be handcuffed by the Mugabe regime. Accusing the
nongovernmental aid agencies (ngos) of supporting and promoting the mdc,
Mugabe enforced the Private Voluntary Organizations Act of 1997, requiring
all ngos to register with the government. He has also passed laws giving the
Zanu-PF-run Grain Marketing Board a full monopoly on import of staple
grains.

      Those without Zanu-PF cards are not being permitted to purchase maize
from the board, says the Observer of May 26. A report by the Danish group
Physicians for Human Rights "accuses the president's supporters of denying
food to tens of thousands of people in drought-stricken areas, where
millions are facing food shortages because they backed the mdc." The doctors
told of Zanu-PF headmen manning a food distribution point at one particular
school who made it clear that the food was not for the mdc children, because
it was Zanu food.

      In another instance, food was promised as a reward for Zanu-PF votes.
Many voted Zanu-PF; but since being voted in, the party has reneged on its
election promise. A few received food, but most are starving as the
situation deteriorates by the day.

      The World Food Program halted food delivery of grain after Zanu-PF
supporters raided a three-ton consignment for the Insiza region and quickly
distributed it to their supporters as part of their political campaign. The
Zimbabwean government turned on the aid agency in anger and accused them of
being used by the West in a hate campaign against the nation.

      Who's to Blame?

      Through tirades in his domestic and international speeches, Mugabe
lashes out at Britain, blaming it for the current suffering of and injustice
toward the people of Zimbabwe. However, many of Zimbabwe's population cannot
make that illogical connection. At no time during the rule of Ian Smith or
Britain do they recall such high unemployment, starvation and political
torture.

      The fact is, the population as a whole enjoyed greater blessings under
the rule of the "oppressive" British.

      Nearly 60 percent of the Zimbabwe population are under age 30 and have
no recollection of life under British rule. Most of those who have not been
indoctrinated with the Zanu-PF hatred of colonialism, and particularly those
who live in urban centers, cannot relate to evils of "white imperialism."
While watching Mugabe's government officials parade around in new
Mercedes-Benz automobiles, they struggle to afford or even find food. One
youth said, "[It's] not British imperialism that's doing that to us. That's
our own government. For the young people in this country, Robert Mugabe
stands accused" (Washington Post, March 1).

      Those who oppose Mugabe find themselves in the same category as the
white farmers who opposed the land seizures: "enemies of the state," or
"pawns for the white man." Or, as Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the mdc, has
been labeled, "a white man masquerading as a black," or a "tea boy for his
white boss" (ibid.).

      Unwilling to bow to a people that opposes his goals, Mugabe has had to
show his true colors-a dictator in the guise of a "democratically" elected
communist/socialist. He took drastic action and began "systematic political
cleansing of the population." To heighten his chances of winning the
presidential election, Mugabe had the voting laws altered. Only those who
could prove they rented or owned their own home or could present a utility
bill in their own name could vote. With 70 percent unemployment, most young
people are forced to live at home, thus disqualifying them from voting.

      Mugabe also unleashed bands of "war veterans," many of whom are too
young to have fought in the 1970s independence war, along with gangs of
youth trained to be more "patriotic" in Mugabe's youth camps, to roam areas
of known mdc support terrorizing, raping, maiming and in some cases killing
mdc supporters. Between February 2001 and February 2002, approximately 125
Zimbabweans were killed in political violence.

      Laws were enacted to restrict freedom of expression, association and
assembly. Journalists, foreign and domestic, are now required to obtain
accreditation from the government. Over the past year, a large number of
journalists were refused accreditation because they were perceived as tools
of the "Western imperialists" and as being responsible for Robert Mugabe's
negative international image.

      Early in Mugabe's land-reform process, some turned to the justice
system. Shortly thereafter, the world witnessed the forced resignation of
the country's white chief justice, Anthony Gubbay, along with four other
justices.

      In February, the Daily News, Zimbabwe's sole independent daily
newspaper, was damaged in a bomb attack along with a private printing firm,
the Daily Press, which had been producing flyers for the mdc. In 2001,
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo had vowed that the government would
silence the newspaper once and for all for its carrying of opposition
political advertising material. In August this year, the private radio
station Voice of the People was silenced by a bomb blast that completely
incinerated its offices in Harare.

      At what point will Mugabe halt this madness? The fact is, he and his
cronies are willing to take the country to rock bottom. They speak of
"taking the system back to zero" and of drastically reducing the 12 million
population. Last August, the Zanu-PF organization secretary, Didymus Mutasa,
said, "We would be better off with only 6 million people, with our own
people who support the liberation struggle" (Sunday Times, op. cit.).

      Elusive Solution

      Is there any hope? After Mugabe, then what?

      When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, many thought
self-government would be the solution to the country's perceived woes.
Instead, Zimbabwe has deteriorated dramatically to where it is today: a
sickly country teetering on the brink of collapse, economically and
financially, politically and socially. Tyranny, disease, starvation and
exploitation is the story of the nation.

      One man's rule over the past two decades has largely destroyed
Zimbabwe. Horrifyingly administered, the leadership which at first embodied
the hope of the country has itself destroyed hope.

      But would the mdc provide the answer? Indeed, can any human government
solve such acute problems? "What experience and history teach is that people
and governments never have learned anything from history or acted on
principles from it" (Hegel, Biography of History). Throughout history, the
rule of mankind has time and time again tended to tyranny.

      Why have human beings proven incapable of righteous leadership? "The
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have
done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good" (Ps. 53:1). Refusal
to acknowledge the government of God is why human leadership ultimately
fails.

      But, God is not unaware of mankind's incapability to rule: "If thou
seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and
justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than
the highest regardeth; and there be a higher than they" (Eccl. 5:8).

      And this power "higher than they" will come to the rescue of mankind's
inept rulership (Isa. 35:3-4). Christ will return to this Earth to implement
the only form of government that will provide national solutions. Then, the
corrupt, sick, starving nations of Africa such as Zimbabwe will blossom
abundantly (vv. 1, 6).

      These nations will learn the right way to live, "for out of Zion shall
go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3). There
will be no more civil war, no more tribal violence. Rather, the people will
"beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks .
neither shall they learn war any more" (v. 4).

      Then, no government will take advantage of its own peoples (Isa.
9:6-7). There will be no more political cleansing, intimidation, torture,
rapes or discrimination. Never again will a power-hungry, inhumane dictator
be able to hold to ransom his own land.

      . With reporting by eric anderson
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      "Hondo!" in Zimbabwe
            By Mark Jenkins  September/October 2001

      President Mugabe's war on white farm owners reveals a nation whose
"solutions" are worse than its problems.

      Nearly 200 hundred people chanted in unison, "Hondo!"-an African word
for war. They had come to claim the land by force.

      They carried sticks and pangas, an African machete frequently used for
cutting bamboo and small trees. Some carried guns. Their claim to the land
came from the president of Zimbabwe himself, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who has
promised to seize the land of white farmers and distribute it to the black
population of Zimbabwe.

      The owners of this particular farm, Ian and Catherine Buckle, with
their 7-year-old son, Richard, had purchased this land only ten years before
from the same government that was now threatening to seize it. They had
robbed no one. Yet the Buckles now found their land and the surrounding
farms of their neighbors filled with squatters and the continual threat of
violence.

      The police did nothing to help them. For six long months, the Buckles
tried to wait the crisis out, to save the only home their son had ever
known. But in the end, like so many other white farmers in Zimbabwe, they
finally packed up and left the country. It was the only way out of this
terrifying situation.

      Catherine Buckle, author of African Tears-The Zimbabwe Land Invasions,
wrote the following upon making the decision to leave her farm: "We all
begin to feel more than a little like the Jews who were stripped of their
human rights, their property rights and then their lives in Nazi Germany. We
can only hope and pray that, for us, we can leave our land with our lives
and can remain in the country of our birth and try to rebuild. Ethnic
cleansing-such a strange term. How terrifying to be the victims of it. .

      "For Zimbabwe I weep. What is to become of her and her people when, by
this time next year, it won't be only diesel and paraffin we are queuing for
but bread, sugar, maize meal, etc. There are now many farmers doing what we
are doing. Agriculture has become untenable. There is no end in sight. There
is no one that seems able to quell this insanity. How very sad that it has
come to this."

      The Buckles are just the tip of the iceberg. President Mugabe's
government has approved the seizing of at least 5,200 farms in Zimbabwe
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur, June 29). The Buckles were not even on this list.
The fact that they are white-skinned was enough for the government to turn a
blind eye to the invaders on their land. Other farmers have been beaten and
even killed in these land invasions.

      President Mugabe openly supports the invasions, saying that the
forcible acquisition of thousands of white-owned farms would "complete the
struggle for the complete decolonization of our country and our continent as
a whole" (bbc, July 24). He has allowed this situation to escalate into a
disaster, politically, economically and socially. The uproar of his own
people has fallen on deaf ears.

      Mugabe has answered the cries of protest from the international
community by demanding millions of dollars in compensation from the United
Kingdom. He blames Britain for creating Zimbabwe's problems; Zimbabwe, until
1965, was a colony of Britain. President Mugabe does not want Britain's
support. He does, however, want their cash. The less Britain is involved in
Zimbabwe, the worse the situation becomes, and the more blame Mugabe casts
in their direction.

      The results have been economically devastating to Zimbabwe. According
to bbc News, both inflation and unemployment rates are over 60 percent-over
half of the population simply has no work. There have been riots over bread.
The most basic needs of citizens, black and white alike, are not being met.

      Earlier this year, President Mugabe ordered the country's commercial
banks to sell all their foreign currency to either the
state-owned-and-operated national oil company or to the nation's central
bank. This desperate measure was intended to help the government pay its
overseas debts. This will force companies to pay foreign suppliers of goods
and services in Zimbabwean dollars. "Exporters will be forced to accept the
official exchange rate of 55 Zimbabwe dollars to us$1 instead of the market
rate of 80 to 1" (bbc News, Feb. 11). At a time when Zimbabwe is already in
economic turmoil, this spells absolute disaster.

      At the same time, Zimbabwe faces the greatest health crisis in the
world: More than a quarter of Zimbabwe's 14 million citizens are infected
with hiv. No family has gone untouched by this calamity. The United Nations
Children's Fund (unicef) projects that Zimbabwe's average life expectancy
would drop from 44 to 27 years within the next decade (Excite News, June
22). The death toll is on the rise. Millions of citizens will die in the
next few years. In many ways, it is already too late to rescue the
situation, and the steps that are being taken only highlight this reality.

      At the recent summit in Genoa, Italy, "G-8 members wooed the
developing world by inviting African nations to attend the summit as
observers and by discussing poverty reduction measures, including debt
relief, a global aids fund and education" (www.stratfor.com, July 27). The
powers of the world certainly seem to want to help Africa, but the reality
is that it is little more than a show of sympathy.

      "Though the G-8 communique touted current debt relief programs, which
total about $53 billion, it failed to propose or support any new relief
initiatives. Likewise, the communique pointed to its commitment to a $1.3
billion global health fund to fight the pandemics of tuberculosis, malaria
and hiv/aids that grip the developing world. But according to the Financial
Times, these funds are merely a re-labeling of existing aid budgets, and the
$1.3 billion dollar pledge pales in comparison to the $7 billion to $10
billion annually that the United Nations says is needed" (ibid.). In other
words, the African nations were promised money that they were already
receiving, and no meaningful progress was made toward halting the death of
millions and the collapse of the African nations.

      How did things get so bad? Why has Africa fallen into such a horrific
nightmare?

      Blessings From God

      Social, economic and political issues aside, Zimbabwe has many natural
blessings: a stunning landscape, an ideal climate. There are numerous
deposits of gold, coal and metal ores. The land is fertile and yields
abundant cash crops. It has a self-supporting cattle and dairy industry.
What a fantastic potential this country could realize!

      In 1923, Zimbabwe, which was then known as Southern Rhodesia, was
annexed under the British crown and became a part of the greatest empire the
world has ever known. Certainly no empire has ever been blessed as the
British Empire was.

      The vast national riches and material blessings that both the British
Empire and the United States have enjoyed are a direct blessing from God,
because of the obedience of Abraham. In Genesis 17:4-5, God told Abraham,
then called Abram, that he would become a father of many nations. Abraham's
son, Isaac, passed these promises on to his son Jacob when he prayed over
him: "Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the
earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow
down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down
to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that
blesseth thee" (Gen. 27:28-29). These nations would have great wealth and
fantastic material blessings given to them by God Himself.

      When Jacob, who was renamed Israel, became old, he prayed over his two
grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh, asking God to put his name-Israel-on them
(Gen. 48:16). Therefore, when we read about Israel in prophecy, it refers to
the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, not to the Jews, who are the
descendants of Judah. In verse 19, we read that Manasseh "shall become a
people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim]
shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude [or a
commonwealth] of nations." In The United States and Britain in Prophecy,
Herbert W. Armstrong proved in detail that the promises made to Ephraim were
fulfilled by the blessings bestowed on the British Empire. (We will give you
a free copy of this booklet upon request.)

      As a part of this "multitude of nations," Zimbabwe was a direct
recipient of those blessings that God made to Abraham so long ago. But in
1965, Ian Smith, then the prime minister of Rhodesia, unilaterally declared
independence from Britain. This cut Zimbabwe off from the blessings of
Ephraim. In 1979, bereft of international support, his nation bleeding from
the imposition of heavy trade sanctions, and after years of intense
guerrilla warfare led by Robert Mugabe, Ian Smith finally gave in,
relinquishing control of the government to those he had been fighting.

      Now, he too is a victim of the land invasions. On May 14, 2000, dozens
of angry supporters of Robert Mugabe invaded Ian Smith's 6,000-acre cattle
ranch (Guardian, May 15, 2000).

      Pride of Their Power-Broken

      God prophesied that He would break the pride of Britain's power, and
that their strength would be spent in vain (Lev. 26:19-20). Britain has
already lost its major strategic sea gates. Its possessions are but a pale
shadow of what they once were, and they lost any claim to being an empire
four decades ago.

      In Hosea 4:17-19, God says, "Ephraim [Britain] is joined to idols: let
him alone. Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually:
her rulers with shame do love, Give ye. The wind hath bound her up in her
wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices."

      Because of Britain's sins, God has removed their national blessings,
including the colonies that were once part of Britain's vast empire. The
entire world is suffering as a result. Nowhere is this more evident than in
Zimbabwe.

      Today, the leaders of Zimbabwe are the sworn enemies of colonialism.
This is like flailing in the wind, since Zimbabwe has not had a leader of
British descent since 1979. President Mugabe and other leaders are actually
fighting the legacy of colonialism, fighting to tear down what was built
during the colonial period. The white farmers, those British who have never
called any place but Zimbabwe home, are being beaten and even killed because
they are white and live on land that President Mugabe has promised to
blacks. The leadership is fiercely destroying everything built over the last
century. Every blessing that remains is being taken from the Zimbabwean
people against their will.

      Consider the following passage from the article "Rhodesia to Zimbabwe:
Peace at Last?" in the May 1980 Plain Truth magazine: "Often in the past the
ascetic, intellectual new prime minister [Robert Mugabe] talked about
expropriating white land holdings, nationalizing private industry, setting
up a one-party Marxist state and dispensing with future elections as a
'luxury' his country could no longer afford. Now, however, bowing to
reality, Prime Minister Mugabe forswears nationalization and vows not to
interfere with private property. Only presently unused farm land will be
distributed to rural blacks-and present owners will be compensated for it.
It is felt that Mr. Mugabe has not, down deep, disavowed his Marxist
principles."

      Now President Mugabe's government is applying the "Marxist
 principles," that the Plain Truth wrote about over 20 years ago. In his
first-ever address to the commercial farmer's union on August 1, Zimbabwe's
land minister, Joseph Made, shocked white farmers by directing that 90
percent of white-owned land would be taken over by ethnic black Zimbabweans.
This represents an increase of 3.3 million hectares over and above the 5
million hectares originally indicated by the government.

      The farmers in Zimbabwe still hold out hope that Mugabe's presidency
will finally collapse and the country return to some semblance of normalcy.
This is, however, a vain hope, considering the legacy of post-colonial rule
in the rest of the African continent.

      Even if President Mugabe were removed from office today, it would
already be too late for Zimbabwe. Their situation is far too critical to be
solved internally, and the international community simply does not have a
solution for the problems of Africa in general, much less that of Zimbabwe.
But God does have a solution.

      However hopeless things may appear now, Zimbabwe will prosper again-as
will every other nation on the face of the Earth. Every man will have his
own land: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts
hath spoken it" (Mic. 4:4). The violence that families like the Buckles are
experiencing today will be wiped away. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in
all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

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