• Cutting UK ties a costly blunder
• Mugabe commandeers AirZim plane to Geneva
• Tekere spurns Zanu PF olive-branch
• Platform for muzzled war vets at congress
• Mugabe in no position to lecture summit
• Evicted farmers demand $36 trillion
• Mkapa urged to rein in Mugabe
• Public ignore firearms audit
• Radical measures urged to rescue economy
• Zim asks donors for US$109m
• Unicef forms street kids task force
• Ghost of Verwoerd haunts Mugabe
• More isolated than ever
• Severe economic effects of pariah status
• Who's the real coward here?
• RBZ gets tough on travellers
• Private sector seeks ways to rescue NRZ
• Policy should address foreign exchange rate
• People want true freedom
• Cricket selectors hurt the game
• A good thing
• Zimbabweans can deliver themselves from evil
• A tragedy of epic proportions
• Georgia: any lessons for Zimbabwe?

This week Zimbabwe pulled out of the Commonwealth and has threatened to cut
ties with Britain, which President Mugabe accuses of being responsible for
Zimbabwe's isolation. Government's official mouthpiece, the Herald, called
for the severance of links with London this week.

Western diplomats in Harare said all the EU and the acceding countries were
in accord with Britain's position on Zimbabwe. There was an agreement to act
in concert on this as in all matters.

The diplomats said Zimbabwe's position was already compromised after its
withdrawal from the Commonwealth and cutting ties with Britain would have
damaging consequences.

President Mugabe's position is more precarious now as diplomats who attended
the Commonwealth meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, said the new government in
Malaysia supported Zimbabwe's suspension. The watershed decision by the
post-Mahathir Mohamad administration headed by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
delivers a potentially lethal blow to Mugabe's "Look East" policy which is
hinged on Malaysia's goodwill.

Mugabe believes that Zimbabwe's salvation lies in forging ties with the
Asian Tigers and China. Britain, despite vexed relations with Zimbabwe, is
still the largest humanitarian and technical support donor to Zimbabwe.
Since September 2001 Britain has provided humanitarian assistance to
Zimbabwe worth £62 million.

The diplomats said Zimbabwe would soon be counting its losses after plunging
itself into less-than-splendid isolation.

"Mugabe should not forget that he has asked the donors to provide US$142
million in food and non-food assistance," said a European Union diplomat. "W
hat he needs at the moment are friends. Subtracting them will not help
much," he said.

Government spin-doctors this week tried to defend Mugabe's decision to leave
the Commonwealth saying there were no benefits accruing to Zimbabwe's
membership of the club.

But economic analysts said the move by Zimbabwe would further tarnish the
country's image as an investment and tourist destination.

"Zimbabwe's image is already tarnished and investors from countries in the
Commonwealth will think twice about coming to Zimbabwe," said analyst Eric
Bloch.

"The loss cannot be readily quantified but without aid, it means Zimbabwe
will have to get foreign currency to buy food and medicines," he said.

Bloch said any decision to cut ties with Britain would compound the
country's isolation. "I think that would be the stupidest thing imaginable.
I hope this is just idle talk," he said.

He said humanitarian support to Zimbabwe was bound to be affected as key
donors in the Commonwealth were likely to retreat.

Zimbabwe's parliament is set to lose its support from the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association, which is a key donor to the House of Assembly's
capacity-building activities. These include training of MPs and
parliamentary staff through workshops. The CPA was instrumental in funding
the parliamentary reform exercise over the past four years.

Zimbabwe has also benefited immensely through scholarships offered to
Zimbabwean school leavers and graduates by Commonwealth countries such as
Britain, Australia and Canada. Working-holiday visas are exclusive to
Commonwealth applicants.

Sport has been assisted by the provision of training facilities and funding
for local sports associations. Last year Canada funded implementation of the
strategic plan for the Sports and Recreation Commission. In addition to the
loss of such benefits, Zimbabwe will now be booted out of the Commonwealth
Games.

He was able to get a visa even though he is under a Swiss travel ban because
the summit fell under the auspices of the United Nations. Mugabe and 79 of
his associates are under European Union and American travel sanctions for
repression and human rights abuses. Switzerland, which is not an EU-member,
has imposed its own separate travel restrictions.

High-level sources said Mugabe travelled to Geneva to prove he was not
isolated after his Commonwealth humiliation. The state media this week
trumpeted his presence at the summit as evidence that he was not isolated.
Official sources said Mugabe's decision to go to the Geneva was an
afterthought following events in Abuja, Nigeria. Initially, Science and
Technology minister Olivia Muchena was expected to represent Zimbabwe at the
summit.

Sources said Air Zimbabwe was only notified on Sunday that government wanted
a plane to Geneva. This was after Mugabe had been told Zimbabwe's suspension
from the Commonwealth remained.

Sources said Mugabe commandeered an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200, the broke
national airline's cash cow which plies the Harare-London route. The plane
will be at his service for nine days. This could lead to Air Zimbabwe losing
billions of dollars.

The aircraft makes three trips a week to London and generates over $3
billion for Air Zimbabwe over that period. Due to the advance bookings, Air
Zimbabwe had to hire a plane from a British airline for US$1 million after
Mugabe had taken the Boeing 767-200.

"Bookings had already been made and the aircraft was expected to leave for
London on Sunday evening," a source said. "But the flight had to be
cancelled because Mugabe wanted the plane the following day."

Mugabe's persistent disruptions at Air Zimbabwe have caused the ailing
airline serious financial prejudice. Currently Air Zimbabwe is reeling under
the economic crisis and heavy losses and debts. At Independence in 1980, it
had 15 aircraft but now out of the five planes it remains with, only three
are operational.

Contacted for comment yesterday Air Zimbabwe acting managing director
Mordecai Magaisa declined to discuss the matter. He referred questions to
company spokesman, David Mwenga, who was out of his office.

Due to lack of preparation, Mugabe suffered on his way to Geneva. At first
he had to wait for three hours at Harare International Airport as Air
Zimbabwe officials tried to secure permission for the use of Ugandan and
Sudanese airspace.

After Uganda and Sudan refused to cooperate, Mugabe had to use an
alternative but longer route over the Democratic Republic of Congo which
required refuelling. The plane was refuelled in Egypt.

Mugabe was last night expected to travel to Ethiopia for the Sino-Africa
summit.

Last month politburo member Didymus Mutasa announced that Tekere was back in
Zanu PF. But Tekere in an interview on Tuesday poured cold water on Mutasa's
claims.

"The issue of them (Zanu PF leaders) having expressed the desire to have me
back in the party has not been solved. I haven't returned to the party,"
said Tekere.

Tekere did not attend the Zanu PF conference last week despite clear
pronouncements by Mutasa that the veteran nationalist would attend as a
first move towards reconciliation with his colleagues. Tekere told the
Zimbabwe Independent on Tuesday that he did not attend the conference
because he had not been formally invited and in any case had not returned to
the ruling party.

"I was not invited formerly," said Tekere. "I just heard through media
reports that they wanted me to attend. So how could I attend something I was
not formally invited to?"

Tekere has also spurned approaches by members of the war veterans'
association for him to replace the late Chenjarai Hunzvi as national
chairman. The position had earlier been offered to President Mugabe who
turned it down. The name of Tekere is now being touted as the possible
successor to Hunzvi. But Tekere, who is also the war veterans' patron for
Manicaland Province, said it was not the proper thing to do.

"I do not think it would be appropriate for me to become their chairman," he
said.

Tekere said the very idea of approaching Mugabe in the first place was not
well thought out.

"Mugabe and I were at a higher level during the liberation war. This is an
association of people we were commanding and they must choose one of their
own. If they have a crisis it is up to them to solve it amicably," said
Tekere.

Mutasa in an interview on Wednesday lashed out at Tekere, describing his
case as of no importance in the face of a plethora of problems faced by the
party.

"Why does he have to be invited?" said Mutasa "Those who came to the
conference, were they invited? We have much more serious issues concerning
the Commonwealth. This is a more serious issue than Tekere.

"ZvaTekere zvinotadzisa vanhu kudya sadza here izvozvo (Can people stop
eating because of Tekere?) In fact the media is to blame for the problems in
the country. You focus on Tekere yet there is a problem of the
Commonwealth," Mutasa said.

Tekere severed ties with Zanu PF in 1989 after he accused the party of
failing to deal with corruption.

The fallout between Tekere and Zanu PF led to the maverick Manicaland
politician forming his own political party, the Zimbabwe Unity Movement,
that contested the 1990 presidential election.

"Oh yes, zvinotyisa (it is scaring)," said Mhlanga. "The congress will be
explosive I tell you. The comrades (war vets) have a number of burning
issues.

"It is true some have said that the issue of succession has been evaded and
is dividing the party and want it dealt with. At the same time there is
likely to be blood and thunder over elections to choose a substantive
executive."

Contrary to widespread expectations, both inside and outside the party, the
Zanu PF leadership excluded the succession issue from the conference's
agenda. Mugabe himself poured cold water on aspirations to have the debate
come alive by reaffirming that he still needed to preside over the
leadership of the party as well as cling to the state presidency.

That came against a background of massive lobbying behind the scenes for the
succession debate in which war veterans are heavily involved.

Mhlanga has in the past confirmed that Zanu PF bigwigs eyeing Mugabe's post
have enlisted the support of war veterans' factions to lobby for them.

The war veterans' body has subsequently split over the succession issue as
well as along tribal lines. These divisions are set to manifest themselves
this weekend.

Among those believed to be in the running for Mugabe's post are party
secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and national chairman,
John Nkomo.

"As war veterans, we are not happy with the manner in which the succession
issue is being handled, and we promise fireworks over the matter. There will
be miracles," said acting war veterans' chairman, Patrick Nyaruwata,
recently.

In his address to the summit on Wednesday Mugabe lashed out at Britain and
the United States accusing them of using information technology to undermine
the country's sovereignty. He said the two countries were using their
technological superiority "to challenge our sovereignty through hostile and
malicious broadcasts calculated to foment instability and destroy the state
through divisions".

Mugabe's laws on information management are completely contrary to the
spirit of WSIS, which is "to promote the urgently needed access of all
countries to information, knowledge and communication technologies for
development".

In 2000 the government passed the Post and Telecommunications Act, which set
punitive licensing fees for private players wanting to enter the telephonic
and Internet sectors. Mugabe in March last year signed into law the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which has barricaded from
public scrutiny information held by government.

The Broadcasting Services Act has ensured that the state remains the sole
broadcaster as no private company has been licensed since the promulgation
of the Act in April 2001.

Mugabe has not had many opportunities to travel to Europe lately. He has
used such occasions as the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg last year and the UN General Assembly in September to lambast
the West.

A spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry said Bern had agreed to waive
the travel ban. Switzerland had "agreed not to apply visa restrictions for
personalities invited to the summit", including Mugabe, the spokesperson
said.

The amount demanded by the farmers translates to $36 trillion at the
prevailing parallel exchange rate of £1: $9 000 and is more than four times
Zimbabwe's 2004 national budget of $7,7 trillion.

Government allocated about $1 trillion to agriculture in the 2004 national
budget.

Justice for Agriculture (JAG), which is spearheading the suit, said
government was not serious on compensation, leaving the evicted farmers with
no option but to resort to the courts.

JAG vice-president John Worswick yesterday said government showed lack of
seriousness when it allocated a mere $20 billion for compensation in the
2004 budget.

"Farmers require up to £4 billion as compensation for all improvements on
the acquired farms," Worswick said.

"The allocated amount does not suffice to pay compensation for even 30
farmers because of the devaluation of the local currency."

He said government had used under-qualified evaluators to assess
compensation levels to farmers.

"All farmers called to the Agriculture ministry for a meeting to discuss
compensation packages ended up being offered 10% of the real value," he
said.

JAG spokesman Ben Freeth told the Zimbabwe Independent that JAG's meeting
that was disrupted by riot police two weeks ago at ART Farm was meant to
discuss the way forward on compensation.

"Compensation was the main issue on our agenda," Freeth said.

"We are however still going to hold the meeting soonest because the police
acted illegally. We are a properly constituted organisation and therefore
exempted from Posa. Police's Law and Order section have extended an apology
for disrupting our meeting."

JAG officials said farmers had opted for the legal route because some of the
amounts offered by government were unrealistic in the highly inflationary
environment.

"Some of the prices offered to farmers would not be enough to buy a tractor
tyre and that is unacceptable," an official said.

Commercial farmers forcibly evicted from their properties since the
beginning of farm invasions in 2000 have taken government to court demanding
billions of dollars in compensation. Government agreed to compensate the
farmers for all the improvements on their farms but not for the land itself.

Last year government allocated $10 billion for compensation, which farmers
said was enough to pay for improvements on only 30 farms.

Meanwhile essential agricultural equipment worth billions of dollars is
lying idle at auction floors and warehouses across the country where it was
moved by evicted farmers at the height of land seizures, the Independent has
established.

Despite ad hoc auctioning of the equipment at garages and agro-dealerships
along the country's major highways, sales have been painstakingly slow over
the past three years.

The auction centres are in Selous, Mount Hampden, Ruwa, Bindura, Chinhoyi
and along Chitungwiza road and Beatrice road.

The equipment includes combine harvesters, tractors, irrigation equipment,
cultivators and harrows. The revelation of stored equipment comes amid
reports that newly resettled farmers are struggling to till and harvest
their crops.

Satucc, which represents trade unions in the Sadc region, said Zimbabwe tops
the list of oppressive regimes, followed by Swaziland.

"The Zimbabwean and Swaziland governments continue their brutal attacks,
arbitrary arrests and general use of force to clamp down and silence the
trade union movement in general and their leaders in particular," the
petition said.

Zimbabwe and Swaziland were also blasted for their abuse of the rights of
vulnerable groups in society.

"The Zimbabwean and Swaziland governments continue to perpetuate a
methodical assault on the workers' rights, such as the right to collectively
organise wage demands, including the rights of the disadvantaged such as
women, children and people with disabilities, as evidenced by systematic
cases of rape and torture," the petition said.

Satucc said it was concerned that the two countries had not adhered to the
Sadc Charter on Fundamental Social Rights, the International Labour
Organisation conventions and other relevant international laws on human
rights despite being signatories.

The two countries instead had continued to "advance political repression and
blatant abuse and non-adherence to human rights".

Satucc said it was prepared to mobilise other trade unions in the region and
internationally to oppose gross human rights abuses.

ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo said they had not received a response from
government on the petition.

"The leaders normally respond through Satucc offices, who then communicate
to us," said Matombo.

Meanwhile, a South African Communist Party (SACP) delegation has been in the
country since Monday on a five-day visit.

The team is led by SACP secretary-general Blade Nzimande and includes deputy
secretary-general Jeremy Cronin, central committee member Lindelwa Dunjwa,
KwaZulu Natal provincial secretary Themba Mthembu, and Young Communist
League committee member Lucian Segami.

It has met Zanu PF, MDC, civic groups and other stakeholders to gather
information and suggest solutions to the Zimbabwe crisis.

In a statement issued last month, police called on the public to take their
firearms to the police for verification.

"Members of the public are required to take their firearms and firearm
certificates to their nearest police station for verification," police said
in the statement.

Highly placed sources in the CID said the call was widely ignored by members
of the public.

"The response has been dismal considering the number of firearms suspected
to be in the public's hands," a source said.

"Police could be forced to seek an alternative method to do the audit if the
response doesn't improve."

Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena last week said the
audit was still going on and people with firearms were being encouraged to
take them in for verification.

"I haven't checked with the department that is dealing with the audit but we
urge people with firearms to bring them in for verification," Bvudzijena
said.

He said the police would proceed to check on all people registered as having
weapons to ensure that they are audited.

Bvudzijena said most of the guns used in armed robberies were stolen
weapons. It is widely believed however that government handed out assault
rifles to war veterans and party supporters at the height of farm invasions
in 2000 and 2001 and that most of these have not been returned or accounted
for.

"We need to address macro-economic fundamentals and re-engage the
international community. We anxiously await the monetary policy statement to
show us government's policy direction," Nyemba told the Zimbabwe
Independent.

"We have to deal with these issues now. Currently we are breaking world
records for all the wrong reasons. Interest rates are now over 500% and that
is a world record. We have done some research on statistics and we have
discovered that this is actually a record."

He said exchange rate and interest rate distortions together with high money
supply were fuelling inflation, which stands at 526%.

"Attempts to have positive real interest rates will destroy the productive
sector. We need to fight consumptive borrowing but there should be other
means of doing it besides the hiking of interest rates. After all,
consumptive borrowing only takes 20% of total borrowings, Nyemba said.

"The question is, do we need to sacrifice the entire productive sector and
hence the economy in general in a bid to deal with a small section of
consumptive borrowers?"

Nyemba said interest rates should not be more than 50%. But there are two
contending views on the issue. Some analysts want monetary authorities to
hike real interest rates to above inflation to drag them out of negative
territory, while others want the rates lowered significantly.

Those who want interest rates increased argue that this would encourage
savings and hence domestic investment, while those who want them reduced say
this would promote productive borrowing and economic expansion.

The debate on macro-economic fundamentals has been intensifying as the
country anxiously awaits new Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono's monetary
policy statement expected next week.

There has been great expectation that Gono would provide the brakes needed
to arrest the current economic free fall. In his recent budget announcement,
Finance minister Herbert Murerwa deferred a lot of key policy issues, saying
Gono would deal with them.

But sceptics say such hopes are misplaced because the problem here does not
lie with the Reserve Bank as such but with the political leadership and its
unworkable policies.

In his state of the nation address two weeks ago, President Robert Mugabe
promised economic recovery next year. He said his government would
vigorously deal with hyperinflation, interest rates, the foreign currency
crisis, corruption, brain drain, parastatal restructuring, infrastructural
development, indigenisation, and land reform.

Mugabe also said a raft of rational monetary and fiscal measures to address
economic problems were in the offing. However, analysts said his speech
offered little or no prospects for fundamental political and economic change
to save the sinking economy.

In 1997, Zimbabwe had the fastest-growing economy in Africa. Now it has one
of the fastest-shrinking economies in the world. Agricultural production has
collapsed. Maize yields are down 67%, tobacco production has fallen by 75%,
while wheat production has plunged by a staggering 90%.

The Commercial Farmers' Union reports that only 600 of its members are able
to continue farming, compared to 4 500 before the chaotic land reform
programme began.

According to recent figures by the United Nations Humanitarian Appeal 2004
report, Zimbabwe needs funding to boost the agricultural sector, resuscitate
the crumbling economy, and revive the health delivery system.

The report also indicates that a big chunk of the money (US$42,8 million)
would go towards "economic recovery and infrastructure".

Mugabe has blasted the same donors - especially Britain and the United
States - accusing them of sabotaging the country's economy.

The two countries have been Zimbabwe's biggest financiers in food
assistance.

The agencies are also appealing for international donors to pour in US$24,2
million to cater for the health sector which is crumbling due to the
perennial shortages of medicines and intermittent strikes by doctors and
nurses.

A further US$2,9 million is required for "protection, human rights and rule
of law". For coordination and support services, the UN said Zimbabwe needed
US$3,3 million.

In July this year Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa appealed through the
United Nations Development Programme for food and medicinal drugs worth
US$142 million.

Zimbabwe needs to import over 700 000 tones of maize to make up for the
deficit caused by the chaotic land reform programme and drought conditions
in the region.

High on Murerwa's priority list were health requirements to cater for
malaria and Aids.

"The needs assessment established that at least five million tablets of
chloroquine and 1,5 million tablets of S/P were urgently required for an
estimated 509 000 malaria cases," said Murerwa in the appeal papers.

Analysts doubt whether donors will be forthcoming with their money following
President Mugabe's decision last week to unilaterally withdraw Zimbabwe's
membership of the Commonwealth after the country's suspension was extended
indefinitely in Abuja. Much aid from Britain and Australia was premised on
close Commonwealth ties.

Among the organisations involved in the task force are Unicef, the Harare
city council, the department of social services, Zimbabwe Republic Police,
and various NGOs.

Pouwels said while task forces had already been set up in other parts of the
country, such as Bulawayo, the increasing number of street children in
Harare necessitated a more co-ordinated intervention.

Previous attempts to set up the task force had failed for one reason or
another, but the initiative was revived in the latter half of the year by
the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children, with the
financial support of Unicef.

Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis - fuelled by a combination of food shortages,
rapid economic decline and the impact of HIV/AIDS - had contributed to the
increase in street children.

"We know that children are dropping out of school because of the food
shortages, and it is definitely one reason why they end up on the street,"
said Pouwels.

"Another is the collapse of community structures and the orphan crisis as a
result of HIV/Aids.

"Communities are overstretched already because of poverty - with food
insecurity and the impact of HIV/Aids they are less and less able to cope
with the increasing number of orphans, and Harare is a magnet for these
children," Pouwels said.

He said that while HIV/Aids, food shortages and rising poverty had
contributed to the crisis, "there is also an increase in child abuse, which
is also one of the reasons why children choose to leave home," Pouwels
explained.

The main aim of the task force "is to bring together partners, so as to
better coordinate the work that they are doing for street children", Pouwels
said. "We've seen the numbers of street children increasing and, while there
have been responses, these have not really been coordinated".

An assessment of street children in Harare was crucial, as it would guide
the response to the crisis.

"There's a lot of pressure from government in terms of rounding up these
children. Their numbers are increasing and government wants to take action,
but our opinion is that just to round [them] up will not solve the problem.
In two weeks' time they will be back on the streets. State institutions are
full, and just sending them home does not solve the problem," Pouwels said.

The assessment aims to identify where the children are coming from, why they
are on the street and whether they are permanently on the street, or just
there during the day and going home at night.Pouwels said each group of
street children required different interventions.

For those who are permanently on the streets, or have been there for some
time, integrating them back into their home communities may not be an
option, Pouwels said. It was perhaps better to "teach them life skills and
vocational skills, so they can survive on their own".

The assessment would allow the task force to "immediately target" children
who had recently left home. "If the separation with community or family is
recent, and the ties are still strong, it is easier to try and get them back
to their family and community in general," Pouwels noted.

Regulatory requirements allow individual foreign currency account holders to
annually receive US$2 500 as their holiday travel allowance.

In the past, holiday allowances could accrue for a period of three years,
but with effect from last month this will no longer be applicable.

In 2001, the then Minister of Finance and Economic Development Simba Makoni
slashed holiday allowances from US$5 000 to the current US$2 500 per annum.

According to a circular Reference Number 453, written last month by the
central bank to financial institutions, there have been amendments
pertaining to holiday travel allowances.

"Exchange Control advises that Directive RE 451 dated 13 November 2003, is
replaced by this directive RE 453, with amendments made on holiday travel
allowance," the central bank said.

"Current Exchange Control policy states that an equivalent of up to US$2 500
may be issued a holiday travel allowance to any one individual per calendar
year. This amount may not be accumulated to another calendar year. The
amount issued must be endorsed in the applicant's passport as evidence to
the exchange control of holiday travel allowance availed to any one
individual year."

The RBZ has already instructed banks to retain 50% of foreign currency from
individual FCAs with effect from November.

The arrangement means that when an individual intends to withdraw foreign
currency from a personal account, half of the money must be exchanged using
the official rate of $824 against the greenback.

The bank has to remit the other 50% of the hard currency to the RBZ.

This development comes in the wake of moves by government proposing to
target individual FCA holders although it was never enforced. Finance
minister Herbert Murerwa said he would be tough on all banks. Banks have now
been ordered to account for foreign currency held in all accounts.

"The holder of a foreign currency account may be issued with additional
funds from his/her foreign currency account for the purpose of travel," the
RBZ said.

"In addition, individuals holding cash may exchange same with travellers'
cheques issued by the authorised dealers. Exchange control further advises
that foreign currency drawn from the individual FCA's for travel purposes,
or foreign currency cash exchanged for travellers' cheques must not be
endorsed in the applicant's passport."

As part of managing the foreign currency shortages in Zimbabwe government
has since formed a special taskforce to address the management of foreign
currency which it says is being abused.

The taskforce has directed the RBZ to scrutinise all individual FCA
transactions.

However, like all government taskforces, the latter is still to announce
what it has achieved so far.

Many industries that rely heavily on NRZ for transportation of goods have
been failing to transport goods to their various destinations.

As a result, companies have resorted to road transportation which is more
expensive.

The major problems being faced by the NRZ are the unavailability of foreign
currency to buy spare parts to repair and service equipment, shortage of
wagons and locomotives as well as the shortage of diesel fuel.

Some participants at a recent meeting said they felt that industry should
only put money in the NRZ if industry is to have some power to help turn
around the fortunes of the NRZ.

Of major concern to industry in helping NRZ is that they will put money in
the NRZ and then government, being the controlling authority, will give
priority to other things at the expense of freight which pays for
locomotives.

However, industry recongnises that as an exporting country, Zimbabwe cannot
do without NRZ hence the need to come up with a "fast-track" revival plan.

The meeting set up a committee to quickly explore alternatives and come up
with recommendations of how to resolve the crisis on a long-term basis.

NRZ general manager Munesu Munodawafa said what was more disturbing was that
the situation was not going to get better unless some concrete measures were
taken.

He said 99% of the locomotives spare parts are imported from the US and
these need foreign currency.

He said NRZ failed to get on the priority list of foreign currency
allocation from govern-ment through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe hence the
situation is likely to continue deteriorating.

Munodawafa said gov-ernment has allowed NRZ to approach com-panies that are
willing to help pay for spare parts.

Some companies have heeded the plea and that is what has kept the NRZ
running although at a very limited capacity.

He said another way to getting the solution could be through the
restructuring of NRZ.

Munodawafa said the draft Railway Regulatory Authority Bill that seeks to
restructure the NRZ is now with the Attorney General's office.

He said the draft bill seeks to split NRZ into three companies that include
a rail and signal company, freight company and a passenger company and was
expected to be brought before parliament before soon.

As a result of the low capacity utilisation at the NRZ, coal distribution
has been adversely-affected. This has further constrained production levels
in downstream sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and con-struction.

In view of these problems, industry in conjunction with NRZ is working on a
rescue package for NRZ.

The focus of the package is on the refurbishment of the existing wagons and
locomotives, purchase of new rolling stock and repairs of the railway track
including signalling. - CZI Review.

He said in terms of foreign currency, Zimbabwe has two systems operating -
the parallel market and the official market.

Mupfukari said what was being prevented from happening in commercial banks
was happening behind closed doors. Government is refusing to lift foreign
exchange controls to allow the exchange rates to be determined by market
forces.

Between them they haven't got much brain power to plan for the future, hence
the starvation, profiteering and political tension in the country. We are
now out of the "Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance", so let's demonstrate what we
can do. My bet is more poverty, more rigidity, more posturing, more
electioneering, more killings and intimidation of dissenters.

What the people dream of is one man one vote and freedom - true freedom.

Let those African leaders who tried to maintain the status quo by backing
Mugabe think of the Zimbabwean people who have been deliberately
dispossessed and killed just to further the interests of a few blacks who
are no more interested in the lot of the povo than Ian Smith was.

We are being enslaved and dehumanised by fellow blacks. We should all resist
tyranny and intimidation and organise for freedom. Anyway the underhand
activities during the Zanu PF conference in Masvingo show all is not well in
the great house.

The problem with Zanu PF is in its slogan "Pasi naye/newe". Please don't
kill them, they are telling you the truth and it's time you took notice. The
list of true nationalists who are now marginalised is ever increasing. Zanu
PF leaders are extinguishing their place in history.

Bob Marley was there on Independence day, hear the echo "...Dem bellyfull
and we hungry". In the 1980s it was whites, now it's the black elite but
still the same povo.

The UK still has a duty to get all the white farmers compensated and absolve
many of us Zimbabweans who have been tainted by what has happened in our
name under Zanu PF and PF-Zapu. Zanu PF has no mandate to unilaterally take
us out of the Commonwealth.

This demonstrates the interpretation of democratic decision-making in
Zimbabwe today. We have seized all the land, let's now get on quietly with
our business and resolve the politics of Zimbabwe. Do not blame the demons
from abroad before you deal with those at home. After all charity begins at
home.

No More Posturing,

UK.

Saturday's game was a disaster for the home team, notwithstanding the
two-hour rain delay which left the home side at the mercy of the curious
Duckworth-Lewis formula. That, and a sensational spell of pace bowling from
debutante Fidel "Castro" Edwards, ensured a heavy defeat for Heath Streak's
troops. Two all and one game to go. So, what do the selectors do?

They choose to blood a first-timer in the batting order in the crucial
number 5 position - Alastair Maregwede. All too predictably, in a situation
of such intense pressure, the unfortunate youngster lasted a few balls
before going back the way he had come literally only moments earlier.
Sitting at home that Sunday were proven batters like veteran player Stuart
Carlisle, fresh from a test match century in Sydney, the elegantly forceful
Travis Friend (who also bowls at pace) and the unorthodox all-rounder
Douglas Marillier.

The selectors, in their infinite wisdom, opted instead for a brand new
player, a rookie, on the basis of one good knock for the "A" side against
the Windies in Kwekwe.

Worse still, they brought him in ahead of attacking batsmen like Sean Ervine
and Andy Blignaut. This was, in every sense, a proper final. Their actions
beggar belief!

Graver even than this faux pas is the fact that, throughout the ODI series,
the coach and his selectors clung rigidly and stubbornly to a totally
unsuitable batting order.

Quite how Sean Ervine, in particular, and Andy Blignaut can be kept hanging
around in the pavillion while the top 7 not only fail to generate a
sufficient run-rate but invariably lose their wickets so as to ensure that
these two come to the crease just in time to hear the fat lady warming up
her vocal chords, is beyond me.

Heath Streak and Tatenda Taibu, both of whom, incidentally, did a splendid
job in this series, are the ideal batsmen to enter the fray lower in the
order.

They are accomplished batsmen who can, if necessary, up the tempo. They are,
or should be, the team's batting insurance, if you like, but neither of them
should be batting ahead of Ervine and Blignaut. Sean Ervine looks for all
the world like a natural successor to Andy Flower but he is being grossly
misused.

Does the coach, Geoff Marsh, have any say at all in the composition of this
team or, once selected, its strategies? If so then where is his cricketing
brain? If not, then what is he doing in this highly-paid job?

Above all, though, what are the selection panel playing at? Are they really
trying to put Zimbabwe back on the winning trail, or does the political
imperative still prevail at the expense of all else? We, the fans, would
really like to know.

Peter Lovemore,

Harare.

The modern Commonwealth can trace its roots to decisions taken in 1926, 1931
and 1949. Britain's self-governing dominions of Canada (1867), Australia
(1901), New Zealand (1907), and South Africa (1910) were amalgamations of
groups of colonies that had individually already enjoyed an advanced measure
of what was termed responsible government. As dominions they were virtually
independent of London although bound by their allegiance to the Crown.

However, when Britain declared war on their behalf in 1914 there was
indignation that no consultations had been held, especially when they were
expected to do much of the fighting. Australia and New Zealand came of age
during the First World War through their ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. South
Africa invaded and occupied German South West Africa and sent its forces to
German East Africa (Tanganyika).

It was therefore unsurprising that the dominions should insist on being
represented at the Versailles peace conference in 1919. South Africa's
deputy prime minister, the Cambridge-educated ex-Boer general Jan Christian
Smuts, played a key role in Allied war councils and provided the idea of a
League of Nations.

This maturing led in turn to demands that Britain recognise the sovereignty
of the dominions, conferring on them a status they in practice already
enjoyed. This Britain finally agreed to in 1926, finding a formulation in
the Balfour Declaration (not to be confused with an earlier one on
Palestine) which recognised their nationhood ("independence" is a relatively
new word) while reaffirming their common allegiance to the Crown.

This was given legislative effect by the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The
dominions followed suit making King George V their own sovereign. So he
became King of Canada, King of South Africa etc.

In the Second World War Britain's loss of Singapore to the Japanese dented
its aura of invincibility. With the advent in 1945 of a Labour government
committed to granting independence to India, the "jewel in the crown", it
was clear the Empire would have to face radical transformation. Already it
was being referred to as the British Commonwealth, rather than Empire.

Following its independence in 1947, India drew up a constitution which would
turn it into a republic, replacing King George VI as head of state. This
created a crisis for the Commonwealth. How could a republican member be
reconciled with the monarchical nature of the grouping?

At the London conference of 1949 a solution was found. It was agreed that
independent Commonwealth states wishing to become republics could apply to
have their membership renewed so long as they recognised the British monarch
as Head of the Commonwealth and symbol of their unity. India thus became a
republic inside the Commonwealth in 1950 and Pakistan in 1956.

The following 10 years saw the emergence of an independent Malaya (1957)
with its own king, and the birth of a bevy of African states in 1957-68
headed by Ghana and followed by Nigeria (1960).

In 1961, after a referendum in which a slim majority of white voters opted
for a republic, South Africa applied at the Commonwealth conference in
London to stay on as a member. But, led by India, the prime ministers made
it clear they could not have as a member a state that practised racial
discrimination and violated the club's rules on democracy.

Rhodesia's UDI proved a serious challenge in 1965. Divisions were evident at
the Lagos conference in 1966, the first outside Britain. Suspicions
persisted that Britain was not doing enough to rein in its rebellious
colony. But the Commonwealth played a key role at the Lusaka Chogm in 1979
in dissuading Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from recognising the Muzorewa
government and instead getting her to agree to convene a constitutional
conference in London of internal and external parties. Commonwealth
peace-keepers played an important role in supervising the February 1980
elections.

The Commonwealth was also able to play a constructive role in South Africa's
transition to democracy through its Eminent Persons Group.

At Singapore in 1971 Commonwealth heads had drawn up a declaration of
Commonwealth Principles which defined the voluntary character and consensual
working methods of the club, as well as its objectives. These include its
belief in human liberty and democratic rights. The Harare Declaration of
1991 reaffirmed those objectives while the Millbrook Statement of 1995
provided methodologies for enforcement.

The Commonwealth is thus one of the few international organisations that
pays more than lipservice to the values binding it. And it represents a wide
diversity of states from Antigua to Zambia, large and small, developed and
developing. In addition to their principles on governance, what they have in
common is a language - there are no headphones at Chogms - and a shared
history. Most have a shared legal system as well.

The Commonwealth's work in the field of technical cooperation, scholarships,
parliamentary capacity building, and humanitarian assistance has benefited
Zimbabwe enormously. It is unlikely Britain or Australia would have provided
the levels of assistance they have if Zimbabwe had not been a Commonwealth
member.

But the Commonwealth itself has retained its credibility by standing up for
its principles in the face of aggressive demands by President Mugabe. By
taking Zimbabwe out he has isolated and weakened this country while the
Commonwealth will live on. Once again he has proved what a great destroyer
of good things he is. But, like South Africa, we shall be readmitted once
the evil in our midst has been eliminated. And it won't take us 33 years!

The majority of Zimbabweans, who were convinced that this election would
mark the end of Mugabe's 22-year rule, were incensed. They shouted their
anger into TV cameras, at scribbling journalists and at the foreign
observers who were standing powerless.

The following day they diligently went back to work, still cursing under
their collective breath. Their bravest act of defiance was to snap up copies
of the independent newspapers that were decrying the electoral fraud that
had just been committed by the Mugabe government. That event was shameful
not only because the ageing despot stole an election from his people, but
because his people allowed him to do so.

Zimbabwe today stands alone in southern Africa as an island of instability,
social decay and brutal human rights violations. The constitutional
democracy, with its attendant freedoms and safeguards, exists only insofar
as Zanu PF will allow - which is not far. The only country that comes close
to Zimbabwe when it comes to subverting democracy is that tiny kingdom run
by a randy monarch.

Today's Zimbabwe bears the classic hallmarks of the apartheid regime when it
was on its last legs. That is precisely why the seemingly don't care
attitude of the South African government and other regional governments to
the plight of oppressed Zimbabweans is nothing short of despicable. Their
mouthing about the land problem and insistence that the Zimbabwean crisis is
merely an economic and not a human rights issue, is tantamount to saying
that Zimbabweans are a lesser people, who do not deserve the rights enjoyed
by most of southern Africa's citizens.

But the attitude of Zimbabweans to their own oppression and the gross
mismanagement of their country is as inexplicable as that of the don't care
brigade. South Africans have been where Zimbabweans are and certainly took
their own oppression a lot more seriously than the people of the land north
of the Limpopo.

Little more than a decade ago South Africans were facing up to a most
morally hideous government that was bolstered by the most vicious and
sophisticated security apparatus on the continent. During the states of
emergency, a large section of the leadership of the internal resistance
movement was jailed and forced underground.

South Africans who opposed the apartheid system clearly had the odds stacked
against them. They could have sat back and hoped for some foreign
deliverance. Instead, through their own actions - and not empty pleadings -
they turned world opinion against apartheid into world action against
apartheid. When the world saw throngs of protesters on the streets, youthful
combatants taking on the armed battalions of the apartheid government,
humanity's conscience was pricked.

South Africa's struggle became an international cause célèbre rather than a
passing interest. The world's people took to their own streets, pressuring
their respective government to crack down on the National Party government
through sanctions, disinvestment and isolation. Before the venom-spitting
Professor Jonathan Moyo accuses this paper of motivating for insurrection,
it must be stated that the only means of regime change we would ever
countenance are those allowed by the norms of the United Nations and other
multilateral bodies to which Zimbabwe subscribes.

However, these organisations' protocols allow for the recognition of
national liberation struggles. So why don't Zimbabweans realise that it is
their responsibility to liberate themselves? We could surmise that because
the country was liberated after a classical guerilla war in which the exiled
leadership and the rural peasantry played the major roles, the current
anti-Mugabe leadership lacks the wherewithal to conduct a decent resistance
campaign.

The urban working class and intelligentsia played a minimal role in that
struggle and for the first two decades of independence hero-worshipped the
country's leadership.

Now that the liberation movement has gone rotten, the mainly urban-based
resistance is at a loss as to how to mount a systematic campaign to remove
Mugabe. And because those now leading the new liberation struggle do not
wear the Chimurenga badge, it is very easy for Mugabe to discredit them in
the eyes of the peasantry and the leaders of neighbouring states who come
from same tradition as Zanu PF.

There is a distinct lack of creativity about how to harness the anger and
discontent among the country's poor into mass action against the Mugabe
government. The trade unions, civil society organisations and the political
opposition are, at every turn, outmanoeuvred by the Mugabe government. At
the risk of sounding arrogant about the South African experience, one has to
say that Zimbabweans need look no further than their southern neighbour for
tips on how to mount a modern resistance campaign. The reasons South
Africans, many of whom were not even heavily politicised, readily joined in
the struggle against apartheid was that their leadership was able to
convince them of the illegitimacy of the government in power. They worked
among the people, creating leadership structures at the most basic community
level - leaders with whom villagers and township residents could identify.

Ordinary people were educated about the exact nature of the society they
were struggling against and not just indoctrinated to oppose the existing
order. There was regular contact between national leaders and the people on
the ground, a factor that presented to grassroots activists the image of
national leadership accountability.

Mass actions such as marches and stayaways were not an end in themselves but
were used as vehicles to conscientise people and keep communities active.
The people took up their leaders' call to action instead of cowering in
their homes and planning border-jumping expeditions. The rootedness in
communities ensured that even when the state removed a layer of leadership,
the struggle was not immobilised. All of this served not only to defeat
apartheid but also to ensure that the post-apartheid South Africa was not
one of leader-worshipping masses, as was the case in post-liberation
Zimbabwe.

That culture of community involvement in the liberation effort is what today
keeps South Africa's premier liberation movement on its toes and will ensure
that this country never follows the Zimbabwean route. Zimbabweans should
begin to build that culture now instead of blaming the world's inaction for
their woes. Building sustainable mass movements is the only way they will be
able to remove their despotic government.

-Mondli Makhanya is editor of the Mail & Guardian

In response to his being spurned by the Commonwealth, he ranted, raved and
threatened at the rather less-prestigious-than-Abuja conference of the party
he totally dominates. He quashed any notions of freely discussing succeeding
him in the party he has brought to ruin by veiled threats that amazingly
still work. Zanu PF is called a political party but it might as well be a
personality cult given how easy it is for one man to bludgeon 3 000 of the
party's highest members to submit to his will.

After it became clear that Chogm was not at all amenable to being hoodwinked
by the cheap blackmail tactics of bitter, failed and washed up dictators,
Zanu PF obediently and helpfully soothed a wounded ego by "pulling out" of
the Commonwealth from which they had just been pushed out! The Commonwealth
is "just a club", squeaked Mugabe pitifully, trying to act nonchalant about
being dumped. We were expected to somehow forget that for weeks he had been
desperate to be invited to the club that he now tries to dismiss as
inconsequential!

What a pathetic example of the lengths to which a person will go to avoid
examining his own weaknesses with a view to personal growth. And Zanu PF was
not feeling brave enough to hold up a mirror to him, satisfied to let him
continue to delude himself and be taken down with him. What we are
witnessing is a fascinating human tragedy of epic proportions.

Mugabe has recently made his periodic comments decrying corruption amongst
his cronies, but I don't know of anyone who takes this seriously any more.
The corruption has gone on so long, is at such high levels and is so
widespread in the top echelons of both the government and the ruling party
that it is beyond being addressed by publicity stunts by Mugabe. How would
the decision be made on which corrupt cronies to sacrifice and which ones to
leave untouched? Ministers, ruling party provincial chairmen,
would-be-presidents, the top-most Zanu PF allied businessmen and women about
town, who is clean any more? And other than using threats and the fear of
the loss of the benefits of patronage, does Mugabe any longer have the moral
authority to be pointing fingers at the crookedness of his cronies? One's
own Borrowdale mansion's glass might come crashing down from an exercise as
reckless as throwing stones at others for faults one may have in equal
measure!

Younger, less tainted members who have cut their teeth in business are
taking Mugabe's call for self-renewal in the party seriously and joining the
bandwagon as Mugabe jettisons those he no longer needs.

Daniel Shumba was very crafty to make himself available to be made Zanu PF
chairman for Masvingo province. This satisfies the party's appetite to
replace popular support by recruiting ambitious youngish businessmen who
have their own strategic reasons for wanting to be on good terms with the
ruling gang. The economic conditions brought about by the party Shumba has
chosen to be a high-ranking member of have not made it possible for his
TeleAccess to get off the ground since being awarded a licence to compete
with the state's Tel*One for telephone service provision.

His being a party official will certainly help to avoid his licence being
withdrawn if he continues to find it difficult to start business, giving him
desperately needed breathing space. Smart move Shumba, at least as long as
Zanu PF can continue to cling on!

Don't be surprised if Shumba goes overboard to prove his "radicalism" and
loyalty by speaking more harsh nonsense than anybody else, the way Philip
Chiyangwa, Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Chinamasa and other good boys did when
they were first given plum posts that have certainly helped them all in
these tough economic times!

Deposed provincial governor of Mashonaland West Peter Chanetsa may have been
a little more brazen than others in helping himself to the benefits of
office. He was linked to more confiscated white farms than other corrupt
Zanu PF officials who were clever enough to be a little more discreet in
their greed.

But why was Oppah Muchinguri removed as Manicaland governor? Apart from not
having been associated with corruption as many other party and government
officials Mugabe has allowed to retain their positions have, she has always
been considered a "darling" (no, this is not a typographical error) of the
throne who was more or less assured of some top post or another to keep her
quiet and happy, but perhaps relations have soured in recent years!

Certainly for someone who occupied a governorship, whose main purposes are
to be loyal to the president and serve his interests, she spoke a little too
independently and moderately at a time when being a rough, enthusiastically
unthinking robot is the main test of loyalty to Mugabe. Clearly in one of
several provinces that Mugabe has consistently failed to win over by every
tactic he has tried, Muchinguri was not ruthless, uncouth and unthinking
enough to completely turn a blind eye to the national ruin Mugabe has
visited upon Zimbabwe. She clearly had to go! This conveniently fits in with
Mugabe's years-long strategy of gradually getting rid of party stalwarts who
have liberation war credentials and constituencies in their own right,
rather than as just appendages of Mugabe.

Some of these people, after admittedly enjoying patronage benefits quietly
for years, are now expressing alarm at how far Mugabe has strayed from the
ideals of the liberation struggle. Mugabe has been gradually replacing these
people with weak, shameless bootlickers like Moyo, Chinamasa and others.

They are good parrots and are to be trusted not to utter any subversively
independent thoughts!

It has been yet another disastrous year for Zimbabwe under Mugabe, but he
has not exactly enjoyed the position to which he clings so desperately given
all the hypocrisy and contradictions around him that can no longer be kept
under wraps. Be ready for a lot more hardship and repression, but change is
palpably in the air.

-Chido Makunike is a regular columnist based in Harare.

      There are several reasons.

      The broad-based support in the population for opposition leaders and
the fact that the Georgian people wanted Shevardnadze to go meant that
Shevardnadze had little popular support.

      Despite unsuccessful efforts by the government to shut down Georgia's
independent television station, which is highly critical of the government,
the country's media has held onto its independence, providing a major outlet
for people to understand what is happening in the country. Beyond that,
Georgia's highly literate and nationalistic people follow the news closely,
engaging in lively political debate about the issues.

      Shevardnadze's support base within the government itself had been so
significantly eroded that he had few places to look for help by the time
protestors took over the Georgian parliament. When it finally came down to a
decision whether to use force the president also found that the security
infrastructure had abandoned him, with military forces siding with the
opposition.

      While certainly guilty of misrule, Shevardnadze cannot be accused of
having committed serious atrocities against his people. These relatively
clean hands made it possible for him to step down without serious fear of
reprisal. Indeed, such fears would have been justifiably created, had he
decided to violently put down the opposition. As it stands, however, and
especially because of Shevardnadze's international stature for helping end
the cold war, it was politically feasible for his opponents to offer amnesty
and promise him safety within the country.

      The governments of the US and Russia supported and facilitated the
transition. This was demonstrated by the presence of Russian foreign
minister, Igor Ivanov, at Shevardnadze's resignation and Colin Powell's
constant communication with both sides. Indeed, it appears that signals from
these outside powers gave additional encouragement to opposition leaders
while barring the president from holding on to power.

      Immediately the similarities and differences with Zimbabwe can be
seen. A discredited leader, severe economic decline, massive corruption
amidst a favoured elite, electoral fraud, and the loss of international
allies are all familiar in the Zimbabwe case.

      Missing however from Georgia is the repression and violence so
prevalent in Zimbabwe: repressive legislation, violence against and torture
of members of all opposition groups, the absence of independent
broadcasting, and the shutting down of the national press.

      Possibly even more important a difference between Zimbabwe and Georgia
is a lack of international consensus about Zimbabwe, and, worse than this,
large divisions between Southern African countries and the rest of the
international community.

      Mugabe and Zanu PF still command a modicum of respect amongst African
states: the major players are certainly not publicly showing any discontent
with the Mugabe regime, and showed no discontent at all over a deeply-flawed
series of elections.

      Does the Georgia example now show the region that there was an
opportunity lost in March 2002?

      South Africa here has a key role, very similar to that of Russia.
South Africa, like Russia with Georgia, is able to wield considerable
leverage over Zimbabwe.

      However, if we compare the positions of Russia and South Africa with
Georgia and Zimbabwe respectively, the differences are patent. Within the
bounds of diplomacy, and despite having originally validated the election,
Russia creates the pressure that forces Shevardnadze to abdicate, and thus
ends the possibility of another civil war or prolonged confusion.

      The options are not the same for managing Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe
and Zanu PF. Firstly, unlike Shevardnadze, there are very credible
allegations about Mugabe's responsibility as president for gross human
rights violations, and, possibly even worse, his direct involvement in the
organised violence and torture in two different decades. Secondly, there are
the allegations over the involvement of the Zanu PF elite in massive
corruption and asset stripping: like Georgia, Zimbabwe gets a highly
unfavourable rating from Transparency International.

      So perhaps the lesson for South Africa is that diplomacy is usually
quiet, but that effective diplomacy means making positive choices. And,
since South Africa frequently states that the Zimbabwe crisis must be solved
by Zimbabweans, perhaps South Africa can see in the Georgian case that there
are ways to facilitate Zimbabwean solutions by Zimbabweans.

      The best options will lie in creating conditions for Zimbabweans to
manage their own destiny, and here there can be no substitute for demanding
the open space that political parties and civics need for peaceful,
democratic action. Velvet revolutions after all are preferable to violent
ones, and negotiated transitions are better than velvet revolutions. - M&G
Online.

      -Ivor Jenkins is director: special projects for the Institute for
Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).