FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political
Reporter
. . . As envoy prepares to brief Security Council on visit
UNITED
Nations official Jan Egeland is next week expected to brief the
Security
Council on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe as tensions soar
between the
world body and Harare, which has launched a bellicose tirade
aimed at the
relief coordinator who visited the country last week.
This would be the
second time, this year alone, that Zimbabwe has come up
for discussion in
the Security Council. In July the country barely survived
attempts to put it
on the agenda after UN envoy on human settlement issues,
Anna Tibaijuka,
produced a report condemning the government's demolition
campaign, which she
described as a "disastrous venture" that had left about
700 000 people
homeless while up to 2.4 million were indirectly affected.
Zimbabwe
disputes these figures as grossly exaggerated.
At the time when some
members were pushing for the Zimbabwean crisis to be
thrust on the Security
Council agenda, Russia, China, Algeria and Tanzania
blocked the move. In the
end, the Security Council received a briefing from
Tibaijuka.
Egeland,
who was labelled a "hypocrite and liar" by President Robert Mugabe
last week
following his unflattering assessment of the government's
reconstruction
programme in the aftermath of widely condemned slum
demolitions, has already
briefed UN secretary-general Kofi Annan on what he
termed a 'heart-breaking'
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
UN sources said Egeland, who spent four
days in Harare and Bulawayo
assessing the impact of the humanitarian
situation in the wake of the
government's Operation Murambatsvina, has been
given December 19 as the
tentative date to address the Security Council, the
most powerful decision
arm of the world body.
The ruling ZANU PF
conference last week resolved to direct government not to
entertain any more
UN envoys, charging that the two envoys sent by Annan to
assess the housing
crisis "were not his own" but were serving British
interests.
President
Mugabe accuses the British government of plotting to unseat him
for
redistributing land to landless blacks. The British government denies
this
and, in turn, accuses President Mugabe of human rights abuses and
mismanaging the economy and trying to blame this on a non-existent bilateral
dispute.
"Harare might think it's a small matter but the issue is to
be taken matter
but the issue is to be taken to the UN Security Council.
Annan has been
briefed and I can confidently tell you the UN boss is not
impressed by the
statements attributed to the Harare authorities," said the
source.
"A date for Egeland to brief the UN Council has been suggested. I
think the
majority of the UN Security Council members have agreed to put the
item on
the agenda."
Upon returning to the UN headquarters last
Thursday, Egeland reported a
measure of progress with Harare on expanding
food relief and AIDS care but
was critical of President Mugabe's refusal to
accept tents as temporary
shelter for thousands of homeless victims of the
government's clean-up
exercise.
Egeland went on to report that the
situation in the country, which he
described as serious, was worsening and
that it would take the cash-strapped
government "decades" to provide
permanent structures for thousands of
homeless people.
"It is
incomprehensible that they tore down tents which we put up in
October,"
Egeland told the UN press corps, adding that President Mugabe had
rejected
tents because he believed they gave an impression "that there is a
crisis in
the country."
"I tried to explain that we use tents in Europe, we use (them)
in North
America, we use (them) all over Asia, and it is the first stage in
a
three-stage shelter programme."
The subsequent phases would see the
erection of pre-fabricated temporary
shelters and then permanent
construction.
Egeland insists he has always been frank in his discussions
with
governments.
"It's always a principle I have that I am frank and
open with the government
responsible as I am with the media. We stand by
Anna Tibaijuka's report from
A-Z."
President Mugabe's government has
refused to accept the findings of the two
UN envoys sent by Annan, insisting
that the UN boss himself visits the
country.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube and
Nelson Banya
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown . . .
"HUMAN rights
and fundamental freedoms allow us fully to develop and use our
human
qualities, intelligence, talents and conscience to satisfy our
spiritual and
other needs.
It follows, therefore, that the denial of human rights and
fundamental
freedoms is not only an individual and personal tragedy but also
creates
conditions of social and political unrest, sowing seeds of violence
and
conflict within and between societies and nations," said President
Robert
Mugabe on April 20 1989. He was addressing the second judicial
colloquium on
the domestic application of international human rights norms,
held in
Harare.
Ironically, President Mugabe's government, which has
presided over the
decline of Zimbabwe's political and economic environment,
seems to have
resolved to clamp down on individual liberties as a means of
heading off
potential social and political unrest, typically precipitated by
deteriorating economic circumstances.
Recent developments, which saw
the government confiscating travel documents
belonging to independent
newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube and opposition
politician Paul Themba
Nyathi, indicate how personal liberties have come
under siege from the
authorities, who have virtually put the country under a
state of
emergency.
The state has put together a list of tens of Zimbabweans whose
movement it
seeks to proscribe "in the national interest" giving further
confirmation
that personal liberties have come under siege in
Zimbabwe.
Leading government critics, including Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
president Morgan Tsvangirai, lawyer Beatrice Mutetwa and
journalist Basildon
Peta, are believed to be on the government's list of
persons whose
passports, according to a leaked government document, are
targeted for
"invalidation."
ZANU PF used its technical two-thirds
majority in parliament to push through
controversial amendments to the
constitution, making it possible for the
government to restrict the movement
of persons in "the national interest or
in the interests of defence, public
safety, public order, public morality,
public health and public interests
and the economic interests of the state."
Previously, Section 22 of the
Constitution could be derogated in the
interest of defence, public safety,
public order, public morality or public
health. The inclusion of national
interest and the economic interest of the
state has drawn widespread
criticism, not least because of ZANU PF's
parochial view of these tenets,
says prominent lawyer and opposition MDC
legislator Tendai Biti.
"The
new concepts of national interest and economic interests of the state
have
found recent currency from the ruling party as it seeks new pillars of
legitimisation. They are subjective nebulous political terms as opposed to
legal concepts that will very much be used to justify all kinds of
encroachments on the right to freedom of movement," Biti said.
Biti
argues that the 17th amendment, like all before it, does not conform to
the
basic tenet of constitutionalism - loyalty to the concept of limited
governance and individual rights.
"The constitution must exist as a
document that curbs arbitrariness and at
the same time guarantees the
enjoyment of individual liberty.
"The constitutional amendment is not loyal
to these two principles and, like
previous constitutional amendments, it
abandons these basic liberal
conceptions. In so doing it does not mean that
it embraces any objective
nationalist cause. On the contrary, its ethos and
celebration is crude power
and autocracy," Biti added.
Independent
analysts are agreed that the latest crackdown on government
critics shows
President Mugabe remains insecure despite a tamed opposition
which is at war
with itself.
President Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF controls both houses of
parliament
following two electoral victories this year, but the renewed
crackdown on
journalists and government critics betrays the unease within
government.
Although the Zimbabwe government finally managed to lift the
state of
emergency, which had been in place since 1965 when Ian Smith's
Rhodesian
Front government infamously made a unilateral declaration of
independence,
subsequent amendments to the constitution and allied pieces of
legislation
retained certain aspects meant to quell dissent and close down
democratic
space.
The state of emergency gave government authorities
widespread powers under
the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA), including
the right to detain
persons without charge.
The past five years have seen
the promulgation of laws that have
progressively whittled down citizens'
rights in the country. The Public
Order and Security Act (POSA) of 2002,
which replaced an equally sinister
LOMA and the deceptively titled Access to
Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, under which no less than four
newspaper titles have been banned
and several journalists arrested, are the
clearest evidence of this.
Last year also saw the passing of a
controversial law which allows the
government to take over "insolvent" firms
indebted to the state. This law,
commonly known as the Mawere regulations,
was used to pave the way for the
state to effectively take over assets
belonging to businessman Mutumwa
Mawere, who has fallen out with the ruling
elite in Harare. The Criminal
Procedures Law was also amended to allow the
police to detain suspects in
cases involving economic crimes for up to 21
days without presenting them in
court.
In May, the government instituted
countrywide slum clearances, which were
condemned by the United Nations
envoy on human settlement issues, Anna
Tibaijuka.
In her report,
Tibaijuka stated that Zimbabwe was in a "virtual state of
emergency"
following the demolitions, which left about 700 000 people
homeless and
indirectly affected 2.4 million others.
The journalistic fraternity was
particularly unnerved by the authorities'
decision to target Ncube - a
former editor of The Financial Gazette and the
Zimbabwe Independent, who now
publishes the latter title as well as the
Standard and South Africa's Mail
& Guardian.
Ann Cooper, the executive director of the New York-based
Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ), said her organisation strongly
condemned the
government's latest strong-arm tactics to muzzle the Press and
civic society
organisations.
"The existence of this list is an affront to
basic rights, including freedom
of expression and freedom of movement. This
is nothing short of a witch-hunt
against those courageous few who still dare
publicly criticise President
Robert Mugabe's regime and its repression,"
said Cooper.
Rashweat Mukundu, the director of the Media Institute of
Southern Africa,
said his organisation deplored the continuing closure of
the little
democratic space left for civic society and the media.
"It
is an intensification of repression by the ZANU PF government," said
Mukundu, reacting to the first seizure of travel documents. "What we see is
an abuse of state resources and power through the 17th Constitutional
Amendment. When you take passports from a publisher, independent journalists
and opposition politicians, the message is clear that you must not say
anything the ruling party sees as undesirable. It's clear ZANU PF does not
cherish democracy and is not prepared to entertain people with divergent
views," said Mukundu.
The European Union said Harare's move to seize
passports violated the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights which grants
everyone "the right to
leave any country, including his own, and to return
to his country.
Any withdrawal of a passport prevents freedom of movement
and is in breach
of the Declaration. We have repeatedly expressed concerns
about human rights
in Zimbabwe and called on the government to respect
individual rights, which
include free expression and free movement."
FinGaz
Kumbirai
Mafunda Senior Business Reporter
DEPUTY Agriculture Minister and ZANU PF
MP for Mhondoro Sylvester Nguni,
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma and one
Albert Washaya, have joined in the
fresh wave of farm seizures by occupying
a prime farming estate belonging to
listed agro-exporter Ariston
Holdings.
Information pieced together by The Financial Gazette this week
revealed that
the three have laid a claim on Kent Estates, a 10 000 hectare
farm in Norton
under the renewed land seizures being backed by the governing
ZANU PF party.
The three are alleged to have produced allocation letters
signed by the then
Lands and Land Reform and Resettlement Minister John
Nkomo in March 2005 to
the proprietors of the farm, ordering Ariston to
leave one of the richest
agricultural areas in the country. The
agro-processor has been operating on
the farm for 15 years.
Zvoma is
claiming 940 hectares, Nguni 780 hectares while Washaya is taking
hold of
600 hectares.
"Those who are connected have big tracts of land," sources
close to the new
invasions said this week.
The other offer letters in the
possession of another group of invaders,
which includes a man only
identified as Shonhiwa, are dated September 2005.
Ariston, one of Zimbabwe's
largest cut flower, tea and coffee producers, are
leasing Kent Estate from
Zimco, a Belgian firm for 50 years.
Zimco's investments are exempted from
forced seizures under the Bilateral
Investment and Protection Agreement
(BIPA).
The officials' embarrassing actions come just weeks after central
bank
governor Gideon Gono and Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa condemned the
new
wave of farm invasions. Gono and Murerwa, who are attempting to right
Zimbabwe's six-year old economic crisis, say the invasions will negatively
affect next year's harvests and imprison Zimbabwe in an infinite food
deficit.
An attempt to show the occupiers a lease agreement which
exempts the farm
from seizure, has proved ineffective. Ariston has also
shown the invaders an
agreement the produce and flower exporter signed in
2002 with Agriculture
Minister Joseph Made in which it ceded 4 500 hectares
to the government to
parcel out to A2 and A1 farmers and asked them to take
up that land which is
only farmed by a handful of A1 farmers. However, they
rebuffed the offer,
insisting that their subdivisions are in the place where
Ariston is
operating.
Zvoma, who is in Botswana attending a SADC
Parliamentary Forum meeting
yesterday, confirmed moving into Kent and
rebuffed Ariston's offer.
"We have no mandate to do our own land reform,"
Zvoma said yesterday.
He claimed that Kent had been acquired by the
government long back for the
purposes of resettlement and accused Ariston of
possessing other farms.
"They have a lot of farms," Zvoma
alleged.
Sources said the invaders at Kent Estates, which recently introduced
the
Richel computerised greenhouse project that regulates and monitors
temperature and humidity on horticultural products, were being driven by
greed in their annexation of a productive farm whose export value is
estimated at US$1 million a year.
"It is just greed and this is
taking out emotional thinking," sources said.
"The invasion is causing so
much uncertainty among the workers."
Sources alleged that Zvoma, who they
believed had been growing tobacco at a
farm in Raffingora, had told them
"hakuna mvura" (there is no water to
irrigate crops) while in subsequent
dialogue he insisted that his farm was
allocated to someone
else.
Zvoma confirmed owning the Raffingora farm but said he had
surrendered it
for the more lucrative Kent Estate.
"The place wasn't
suitable," said Zvoma. "So I applied to be relocated to a
different place
that is suitable for the kind of activities that I am
pursuing. We discussed
with Ariston for a smooth transition and I will be
moving in immediately
when I arrive from Botswana tomorrow (today).
Nguni was recently quoted in
the media admitting that the country had run
out of food because land seized
from whites was given to amateurs with no
"passion for
farming."
Yesterday, the minister also admitted claiming entitlement to
Kent. "I have
been offered land at Kent Estate," said Nguni in a terse
response.
On allegations that he had previously been allocated a piece of
land where
he was undertaking horticultural projects, Nguni said he had long
disinvested from the project.
Frantic efforts were being made by Ariston
executives to have an audience
with State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa
before he leaves for China
today. Mutasa, who is widely considered the most
powerful cabinet minister,
is also in charge of the extra portfolio of
Lands, Lands Reform and
Resettlement, .
Kent is the biggest outgrower
to conglomerate CFI Holdings. It produces 1.2
million chickens a year,
breeds 1 000 head of beef cattle and grows roses
and flowers, which Ariston
exports to the EU. In the year to December, Kent
contributed an after-tax
profit of $28 billion to Ariston's profits.
FinGaz
Felix Njini Chief Business
Reporter
FIXED telephone provider Tel*One is drafting more than 600
graduates from
the National Youth Service Training camps, infamously known
as "green
bombers" into its own private security company to guard against
copper cable
and wire thefts.
The move by Tel*One, coming ahead of
its restructuring, is causing anxious
moments at the state-owned enterprise
with some workers fearing they could
lose their jobs to the "green
bombers."
Tel*0ne has had shaky labour relations with its employees which
have
culminated in bitter labour-related battles in the
courts.
Sources said the latest development could worsen relations
between
management and workers at the parastatal.
Tel*One public
relations manager, Phil Chingwaru, said the graduates would
act as security
details as the company fights to curb rampant copper cable
theft.
"We
are trying to employ all security measures possible to plug the losses
we
are incurring in the theft of cables. This is one way of trying to beef
up
security and these youths are a ready source of labour. Some of them will
be
working under cover in buses and trains inspecting cables whenever a
suspicion arises," he said.
Tel*One and other state firms such as the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority have lost billions of dollars worth of
equipment and cables due to
thefts as the economic situation continues to
deteriorate.
Last week Tel*One, plagued by under-investment and battling
to secure
crucial equipment, most of which has to be imported, lost cables
worth more
than $2 billion in the high-density suburb of Warren Park to
thieves.
FinGaz
Staff
Reporter
INFORMATION and Publicity Minister Tichaona Jokonya has branded
journalists
working in the country's private media weapons of mass
destruction and
willing tools of Western interests, effectively killing off
whatever hopes
the independent press had of a reprieve following the ouster
of Jonathan
Moyo earlier in the year.
In a speech delivered at the
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe's inaugural
Consumer Journalists Awards
ceremony on Tuesday night, Jokonya claimed
scribes in the privately-owned
media were being paid by Western countries to
rubbish President Robert
Mugabe's government and needed to be monitored.
Journalists had become
"tools or shall I say victims of the country's
detractors . . . Some
journalists have indeed become not public opinion
formers but character
assassins, malinformants to the point of having become
embedded warmongers
or. to use much-abused terminology, they have become
weapons of mass
destruction.
"In their service to the foreign interests they
(journalists) apply
strategies of blending half-truths and outright lies.
These deliberate acts
of disinformation create perceptions, which are
neither helpful to the
customers and indeed the generality of our people.
These journalists
masquerade as independent journalists despite the fact
that we all know that
they are paid by the enemies of the people through
such payments as monthly
incomes, medical aid assistance, indeed pensions
funds, housing, car
allowances, business trips. They become impeded house
boys and girls,"
Jokonya said.
Jokonya's attack comes a week after
the government began confiscating
passports belonging to journalists and
opposition politicians. Prominent
journalist Trevor Ncube, who publishes the
Zimbabwe Independent and Standard
as well as South Africa's Mail &
Guardian, had his passport seized last
week.
Opposition politician
Paul Themba Nyathi also suffered the same fate over
the weekend, amid
indications that more confiscations would follow.
The government has, through
the draconian Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA),
tried to cow Zimbabwe's small but vibrant
private press. Several journalists
have been arrested under AIPPA and only
one scribe has been successfully
prosecuted so far.
A career diplomat who has represented Zimbabwe at the
United Nations, among
various other postings, Jokonya took over from Moyo -
who waged a war of
attrition against journalists over a five year period -
in April.
Jokonya's appointment was greeted with optimism but he seems
keen to
continue with Moyo's systematic bullying and intimidation of
journalists.
Independent observers are adamant the situation will remain the
same as long
as the government retains its siege mentality that has seen it
clamp down on
democratic space and act ruthlessly against all forms of
dissent.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube Chief
Political Reporter
JUST as some observers were saying Jonathan Moyo's
United People's Movement
(UPM) could be stillborn, the former government
spin doctor has spoken out
for the first time about his shadowy political
party, claiming it is
emerging as the next powerful opposition in the
country.
Moyo, fired from ZANU PF and the government last year after a
political
fallout with President Robert Mugabe over the election of
Vice-President
Joice Mujuru, dismissed reports suggesting the UPM would be
officially
launched on December 22 2005.
"It will be silly to launch UPM
on December 22, which is a ZANU PF day,"
said Moyo.
"We can't have
national events on a ZANU PF day. The damage that ZANU PF has
done to this
country is not a spectator sport - it requires action on the
ground. That is
what the UPM is all about," said Moyo, widely seen as a
political
chameleon.
Moyo, probably the most hated individual during his time as a
government
minister, said there was no need for people to look forward to
the official
unveiling of UPM as it was already on the ground canvassing for
grassroots
support.
"Those people waiting for a launch ceremony might
wait for a very long time
because the party for today to make tomorrow
better has already come. People
that want to see UPM must look around their
communities and not wait for
invitation letters in their mailboxes. There
are those that wait for things
to happen and others who wonder what is
happening and others who make things
happen. UPM is about making things
happen. Action speaks louder than words.
"The only party of words, and
words of yesteryear, is ZANU PF. Those that
want words go to ZANU PF, a
party that is about repacking the past. ZANU PF
words were true once upon a
time, not now."
To date, only Moyo and former Zvishavane legislator
Pearson Mbalekwa, who
quit ZANU PF earlier this year in protest against the
government's
demolition of shantytowns and informal vending sites, have come
out in the
open as UPM officials.
FinGaz
Felix Njini Chief Business
Reporter
THE pro-senate faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC), which last week suffered a major setback when High Court judge
Justice Yunus Omerjee threw out its application for an order barring party
president Morgan Tsvangirai from conducting party business, yesterday
backtracked on an earlier agreement to attend a disciplinary committee
hearing which had been slated for Saturday.
The pro-senate faction
led by MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube, which
appears to be losing
ground to Tsvangirai, yesterday rebuffed the party
president's efforts to
haul five top officials before a disciplinary
committee and launched another
attack on the MDC president.
Ncube, deputy secretary-general Gift
Chimanikire, deputy president Gibson
Sibanda, treasurer Fletcher Dulini
Ncube, and Harare North Member of
Parliament Getrude Stevenson had initially
agreed to attend the disciplinary
hearing, which had been originally slated
for December 10 but was moved to
December 17, 2005 upon their
request.
In correspondence through their lawyers, Coghlan & Welsh
legal
practitioners, the Ncube-led faction asked for a postponement of the
disciplinary hearing "to a mutually convenient date preferably Saturday,
17th December 2005 or any other date after the 17th."
In the letter,
written by Nicholas Mathonsi of Coghlan and Welsh, the
Ncube-led faction
requested to be furnished with the minutes of the
"purported national
executive meetings of December 1 which allegedly
formulated charges against
our clients."
They further asked for a postponement of the hearing,
arguing some notices
were delivered late. The lawyer also asked for a change
of venue, a demand
to which the acting chairman of the disciplinary
committee, Tichaona
Mudzingwa, assented.
"As a result of the late notices
we have not been able to prepare our
clients' defence . . . some of them
have not even received the notices. We
could have liked to appear before
your committee today but because we only
received the instructions late
yesterday afternoon, we are unable to travel
to Harare as we were unable to
get seats on the morning flight from Bulawayo
to Harare today and we do not
have fuel to drive to Harare," reads part of
the letter.
"Thirdly our
clients have instructed that Harvest House is exceedingly
unsafe as a venue
for the hearings and would be unable to appear in hearings
held at Harvest
House . . . accordingly, we respectfully request that the
hearings, when it
is convenient, be held at a safe venue other than Harvest
House."
The
Ncube-led faction's lawyers requested to be furnished with a "list of
witnesses that your committee will call against our clients together with
summaries of their evidence if your committee intends to use any documentary
evidence."
"We trust that you will grant us the postponement we have
requested . . .
and for the avoidance of doubt we also advise that our
clients are entitled
to legal representation before your committee . .
."
However, in a volte face, the pro-senate faction yesterday said it was not
going to attend the hearing.
In resolutions following a meeting
chaired by Sibanda, the pro-senate
faction called the disciplinary committee
chaired by Mudzingwa "bogus."
"Council directed that the said officers of the
party should not cooperate
or appear before the bogus disciplinary
committee," Sibanda said.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi Senior Business
Reporter
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has lifted rates by 125
percentage points
to 540 percent in a reaction to weak new inflation data
released last week
that is likely to draw further criticism to its rate
policy.
Rates on unsecured lending rose to 550 percent, as the central
bank once
again resorted to the bank rate to try to muzzle surging
inflation.
The hike had been expected, but analysts say the latest round
is not likely
to have a major impact on inflation, which rose 91 percentage
points
year-on-year to 502.4 percent in October and cast further doubt on
official
forecasts.
The central bank wants to slow inflation to between
280-300 percent this
month, and restrict it further to 80 percent by the end
of next year.
But economists see inflation over the next two months breaking
the previous
record of 623 percent reached in January last year. The
majority of
forecasts for December gathered by this paper from economists
and analysts
range between 550 percent and 600 percent.
In the absence of
any real weapons against surging inflation, the RBZ has
relied almost
entirely on the rate hike, lifting the rate to current levels
from 90
percent in January. But critics say rate hikes are unlikely to put a
dent on
inflation, which many say is largely driven by rising government
credit.
"Rate hikes are meant to restrict lending, but you will see that
banks have
not been reacting to previous rate hikes with significant
increases in
minimum lending rates. The largest threat to inflation going
forward is
government credit, not private lending," an analyst
said.
Critics have urged authorities to lay off the rate hike, arguing
that high
rates have the double effect of suppressing speculative borrowing
- as
intended by central bank - but also that of bleeding
industry.
Despite raising rates, RBZ is unlikely to immediately increase the
rate on
its Treasury Bills (TB), given recent comments by central bank
governor
Gideon Gono that the TB rate would no longer chase inflation, but
would now
only be linked to the Bank's short to medium term
outlook.
FinGaz
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior
Business Reporter
MINING stocks appeared unfazed by President Robert
Mugabe's statement
compelling white metal miner Zimplats to cede some of its
claims on the rich
Great Dyke to a government-run mining company, the
Zimbabwe Mining
Development Company (ZMDC).
President Mugabe implored
Zimplats, 85 percent controlled by South Africa's
Impala Platinum (Implats)
to surrender some of its claims to Chinese firm
NORINCO and allot an
undisclosed stake to black investors.
However, mining stocks, which on
previous occasions crashed each time the
octogenarian leader called on
foreign miners to parcel out shares to black
indigenous groups, appeared
unmoved by President Mugabe's statement. More
often than not the plunge was
based on investor fears that the empowerment
targets, reported to be between
30 percent to 50 percent, could only be met
by huge asset discounts. But
surprisingly a day after President Mugabe's
seizure threats failed to put
some brakes on mining stocks, the mining index
scaled past the psychological
4 million mark.
In Wednesday's trading, just a day after President Mugabe
issued his
infamous statement, the mining index added 9.44 percent to 4 190
061.36
points. Gold digger, Rio Tinto led all the counters, gaining $35 000
to
trade at $235 000. Three other mining counters - Bindura, Hwange and
Falgold - all traded unchanged at $15 500, $9 000 and $600 respectively.
Only Halogen sat on the terraces, shedding $34 000 at $136
000.
Investment analysts who noted that the market seems to be fatigued by
the
ageing leader's threats, attributed the resilience of mining stocks to
firming gold prices on the international market and the lack of rewarding
investment options on the local market.
"If there were other rewarding
investment choices, one wouldn't buy mining
shares," said a leading analyst
in the capital.
Miners say they are still foggy about how the black ownership
targets are to
be financed in the capital-intensive industry. They point out
that the delay
in settling the mining charter remains an uncomfortable
hurdle for
prospective foreign investors.
Critics note that President
Mugabe's threats are in conflict with his dream
of sprucing up Zimbabwe's
image as a favoured investment destination.
"The claim of attracting
investment is absolutely in conflict with the
ownership structure that
President Mugabe is advocating," said John
Robertson, economic consultant at
Robertson Economic Information Services.
New investors are not eager to come
and invest while that threat lingers
on."
Respected economic critic Tony
Hawkins queries President Mugabe's sincerity
on the empowerment
programme.
"It is a gimmick," said Hawkins, a lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe's
Graduate School of Management. You can't talk of empowerment when
you are
talking of bringing in the Chinese."
President Mugabe, who is
pinning hopes of an economic recovery on the
delicate mining sector, wants
his new Asian acquaintances to mine and
cultivate Zimbabwe's fertile lands.
Apart from securing mining assets Asian
investors, particularly the Chinese,
have signed contracts with
construction, telecommunications and agricultural
utilities.
FinGaz
Munyaradzi Mugowo Special
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE'S export volumes have plunged steeply between
January and November
this year, although their nominal value has risen
marginally due to
inflation.
Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the
Central Statistical Office (CSO) said
this surge in nominal export value by
about 73 percent has failed to keep
abreast with runaway nominal import
value, which ballooned 247 percent in
the same period.
Nyoni said: "There
is a visible trade deficit," which, expressed as a
percentage of exports,
"increased from 26 percent during the first nine
months of 2004 to 184
percent during the first eleven months of 2005."
Nominal value refers to
the cost of goods and services before removing the
effects of inflation and
this increases at a galloping rate in a
hyperinflationary
environment.
Real value by contrast shows the dollar value of imports and
exports after
rediscounting, and this variable relates inversely with
inflation, falling
when the inflation rate is rising and falling when the
inflation rate is
rising.
The plunge in the volume of exports and the
growing export-import
discrepancy has severely depleted import cover and put
further strain on
virtually empty official settlements accounts with which
to offset current
and capital account deficits.
In nominal value terms,
Zimbabwe imported goods worth Z$15.41 trillion in
the first eleven months of
the year, about Z$10.97 trillion more than the
total import value of the
comparable trading period last year when Z$4.44
trillion worth of imports
were recorded, an increase of about 247 percent.
Exports only increased 73
percent in the same period from 1.97 trillion to
340 trillion.
The
statistics indicate that the country's international trade is now
concentrated within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region
where South Africa, which now accounts for about 26 percent of Zimbabwe's
exports and nearly 58 percent of relative imports, has replaced Britain as
Zimbabwe's major trading partner.
Finance Minister, Hebert Murerwa, in
the 2006 Budget statement, claimed
Zimbabwe's Balance of Payments (BOP)
position - a record of Zimbabwe's trade
and other transactions - would
improve next year, but a statistical
extrapolation of the current export
trend paints a gloomy picture.
Manufacturing output, which contributes 32
percent of gross export earnings,
has plunged inexorably as capacity
utilisation, which was reported to have
recovered to about 60 percent last
year, continues to sink to levels below
40 percent due to inflation,
crippling foreign currency shortages and
uncompetitive export
prices.
According CSO statistics, the manufacturing index dropped from 7.75
percent
in the first quarter to 3.57 percent in the third quarter and the
trend is
estimated to persist beyond the fourth quarter.
FinGaz
Highveld Market
Watch with Washington Mehlomakhulu
THE market returned to surpluses as
large volumes of treasury bills began to
mature, with over $1 trillion being
injected into the market yesterday
alone.
This trend should continue
until the end of the year.
The maturities are coming at a time when
inflation for November reached
502.4 percent, indeed a disturbing trend
given that the rate had been going
downwards until the end of the first
quarter.
The market had anticipated a further rise in inflation for
November, but
concern is that if the rate continues this upward trend, all
the gains made
in the anti-inflation drive will come to nought.
New
measures to fight this economic scourge are needed because it appears
that
the economy is failing to respond to the current prescription, with
forecasts putting the December inflation at or close to 600
percent.
The monetary authorities have limited options at their disposal
to influence
price levels. This requires a combined effort with the fiscal
authorities if
the war on inflation is to be won.
Central government
needs to come up with policies that encourage economic
growth through the
stabilisation of macroeconomic factors. The major
inflation drivers at the
core of the recent resurgence in inflation are
outside the sphere of
influence of the monetary authorities.
Inflation is a cancer that eats into
the very fabric of the economy and
places undue burden on individuals, the
government and corporates. It is a
form of taxation that erodes the living
standards of citizens and is a cost
on the delivery of public
services.
The Reserve Bank of Ziumbabwe (RBZ) responded to the inflation
news by
hiking the overnight accommodation rate from 450 percent to 540
percent on
secured lending and from 460 percent to 550 percent on unsecured
lending.
The latest move by the RBZ is meant to influence minimum lending
rates of
commercial banks as a way of curtailing credit expansion. Recent
hikes in
the bank rate have not yielded the desired results because most
banks were
slow to respond to the increase.
Credit expansion in the
private sector has stalled in recent months and the
new measures should
further dampen an already depressed sector. It would be
interesting to see
how banks will respond to the latest hike as they fight
to maintain their
loan books.
The bank rate hike will not have any effect on investment
rates, unless
there is a movement in the treasury bill yield. The
authorities have left
the yield on the 91-day treasury bill at 340 percent,
indicating that they
are comfortable with that level.
However, in the
event that the RBZ decides to change the tenor on the
treasury bill, we
might witness an adjustment on previous yields, to reflect
the rise in
inflation.
Reasonable support
for governemt stock
The RBZ closed
its third stock issue for the year 2005 last Thursday. The
three-year
floating rate stock offer was expected to raise $1 trillion for
the
government.
The issue garnered reasonable support levels because of its
coupon-consumer
price index linkage, allowing investors to hedge their funds
against
inflation, with $788 billion being allotted.
However, the RBZ has
kept the issue open beyond its deadline until it is
fully subscribed.
Further, the issue has been sweetened by the loading of
two percentage
points above the consumer price index.
This attribute will enable
investors to at least outperform inflation and
the treasury bill yield that
lags behind inflation if computed on a
month-on-month basis, and this is a
major attraction of this particular
stock issue.
But there is a slight
distraction among the special features of the stock
issue. While potential
investors are comfortable with all the other
traditional features such as
eligibility for collateral security at the RBZ,
prescribed and liquid asset
status, the callable clause is taking off some
glamour from the
issue.
While traditionally stock issues have come with callable clauses,
the right
to call back the stocks for early redemption has always been set
after a
reasonable time - like one or more years.
With the current stock
issue, no time limit has been set for the exercise of
the right to call the
government stocks for early redemption. This is
causing some anxiety among
some potential investors because future cash flow
planning is made somehow
difficult.
Investors would have been more comfortable with a stock
callable after the
lapse of a reasonably time period, such as one
year.
Despite this distraction, the stock issue is still highly
recommended for
both individual and institutional portfolios. Since the
stock issue is
earmarked to finance government capital projects, in practice
one would not
expect the government to call back the stocks within a short
time period.
Also, the alternative investment plan to be offered upon the
calling of the
stock issue is an offer which the investor can take
up.
Money market rates
Money market rates on the short term have
started to soften on the back of a
liquid market.
Rates in the seven- to
14-day area were being quoted just above 100 percent.
Rates in the 30-day
area were being quoted between 150 percent and 200
percent and 60-day
investments were quoted between 200 percent and 250
percent.
Rates on
the long end for the 90-day area were averaging 300 percent, given
the
attractive yield on the 91-day treasury bill.
However, as we have pointed
out, the rate structure will depend on what the
RBZ decides to do next
regarding the tenor of the treasury bills.
Should the bank lengthen the
tenor without a significant adjustment on the
yield, then we should see
rates tumbling in line with a falling yield. But
should the bank either make
a significant adjustment on the yield of the
longer tenor or reintroduce the
180-day treasury bill at a reasonable price,
then rates should stay at
current levels.
FinGaz
Personal
Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
WHERE does Zimbabwe go from here now that the
cool African efficiency of
Anna Tibaijuka and the outspoken Scandinavian
candidness of Jan Egeland have
combined to pronounce a damning verdict on
Operation Murambatsvina which the
government refuses to accept?
When
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy, Tibaijuka
submitted her report after a two-week mission to Zimbabwe in July, telling
it like it is, the government reacted in typical fashion.
Tibaijuka
was literally torn to pieces for her frank and accurate
observations and was
accused of being an agent of the British and American
governments. Classy
and professional Tibaijuka however, decided to let her
work speak for itself
and never dignified the ludicrous allegations made
about her with a response
or a comment.
Enter Jan Egeland four months later. Confronted by flimsy
plastic shacks
tottering in the mud instead of the 200 000 gleaming new
houses that were
supposed to have been built under Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle by
now, the
horrified UN aid coordinator did not have any time for appeasements
or
diplomatic niceties. Based on the evidence of his own eyes, he echoed
Tibaijuka's earlier findings by describing the situation as a humanitarian
disaster and suggesting that the most practical and immediate intervention
in the interim to ease the plight of those living and sleeping in the open
was for the UN to provide tents. He observed that the ideal situation would
have been to build houses under Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle before demolishing
whatever abodes the victims previously called home.
For these
compassionate concerns for the immediate welfare and needs of
families
exposed to the elements during this wet season, Egeland predictably
sparked
a torrent of denunciation and was labelled a liar, hypocrite and an
agent of
the British and Americans. But despite all their fury, the
powers-that-be
have not addressed a fundamental issue raised by both UN
envoys: why it was
so urgent to throw fellow human beings out of whatever
shelter they had
before alternative accommodation was in place. As a result,
the question
needs to be asked whether anyone who has slept in a warm and
cozy bed over
the last six months has any moral right to prevent those who
have been
forced to spend the same period with only the sky over their heads
from
getting whatever shelter is being offered, even if it is only tents?
Even
the most fanatical state apologist or propagandist can not dispute the
fact
that when it embarked on its widely condemned clean-up exercise more
than
six months ago, the government's sole objective was to banish informal
traders and occupiers of so-called illegal dwellings from the urban areas
for reasons best known to itself rather than provide better housing for
them. Now that it has a catastrophic situation on its hands, it should not
expect the UN to bail it out with funding while glossing over the causes of
the self-inflicted humanitarian crisis.
After causing unprecedented
tumult by unleashing the army and the police to
demolish abodes and other
structures and condemning hundreds of thousands of
people to a life of
destitution and homelessness, the government has not
shown a similar sense
of urgency and zeal to provide new accommodation or
come up with other
interventions to ease the plight of the victims in the
interim.
I am a
nonentity who has never and is unlikely to ever rub shoulders with
Tony
Blair or George Bush and that way be invited to be their agent.
I
empathise with fellow Zimbabweans who have needlessly been treated so
harshly purely as a human being. Is compassion for others to be criminalised
too?
It is bad enough that the government itself is either unwilling or
unable to
assist those rendered helpless by its vindictive programme but it
defies
reason for it to bar well-wishers and donors such as the UN from
rescuing
these innocent Zimbabweans from the subhuman existence they have
been
reduced to. Focusing exclusively on its paranoid need to save face and
maintain a false sense of infallibility in the midst of such untold human
suffering is madness on the government's part.
Some apologists have
tried to defend the indefensible by arguing that the
problems arising from
Murambatsvina are no different from those in the
Western Darfur region of
Sudan and other countries where slums have been
demolished. Are these
"analysts" seriously suggesting that a "proud and
sovereign state" like
Zimbabwe should aspire to emulate some of the worst
scenarios in the world
as an acceptable yardstick for its own performance?
Some of the countries
cited as going through problems similar to Zimbabwe's
have been at war for
years and we should be embarrassed that we are in a
similar mess in peace
time.
The need to defy realities explains why, while accusing UN envoys
of being
agents of foreign interests, the government expects them to wear
blindfolds
during missions to countries like ours. Is it any wonder then
that seasoned
and principled international civil servants like Tibaijuka and
Egeland, who
are used to bringing a "world view" to their assignments, have
refused to be
forced into this ruling party political
straitjacket?
It is interesting to note that by trying to force UN envoys
to adopt the
same tunnel vision on Murambatsvina that has become the
hallmark of its
policy formulation and implementation since the advent of
farm invasions in
2000, the government is doing exactly what it accuses
foreign powers of. It
is a classic case of projecting one's faults and
machinations on to others.
We have been told that from now on Zimbabwe
will ask UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan not to send any more envoys. Does
this mean our government is
naïve enough to expect Annan himself to come to
Zimbabwe and adopt the
hear-no-evil-see-no-evil approach?
The world
must never be allowed to forget that Murambatsvina affected
millions of real
flesh and blood human beings who cannot be expected to
vanish into thin air.
Zimbabweans who are lucky enough to have a roof over
their heads must never
forget that those barrack-style rows of houses shown
endlessly on television
to tout the government's Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle
project are a metaphor for
the suffering of their compatriots.
FinGaz
Hama Saburi Deputy
Editor-in-Chief
Mnangagwa keeps opponents guessing
THE "crocodile" or
ngwena in shona as Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Rural Housing
Minister and ZANU
PF secretary for legal affairs, is affectionately known in
political
circles, has literally gone under water.
The last time "it" emerged from
the country's treacherous political waters,
it caused mayhem in ZANU PF
circles and stoked fires of political
gamesmanships in the run-up to last
year's ruling party congress.
Even the worst of enemies in the fractious
party had to put their
differences aside and employed all sorts of
techniques to stop the man -
long-considered President Robert Mugabe's
heir-apparent - from ascending to
the presidium.
Mnangagwa had thrived on
silence and rightly so. Silence had been golden, as
the shrewd schemer had
succeeded in keeping his opponents guessing. But not
until he broke the
silence in mid-November 2004 in a rare interview that
shook opponents who
had long written him off after a string of corruption
allegations involving
the looting of resources in the DRC and claims that he
attempted a palace
coup with members of the opposition.
Mnangagwa, quiet but feared even by
members of the opposition parties, was
surprisingly frank in his responses
to questions fielded by The Financial
Gazette although he dodged quite a
number. He also hinted then that he was
angling for the second
vice-presidency, a post that had been left vacant
after Simon Muzenda's
death in September 2003. And all hell broke loose.
Joice Mujuru, the
eventual winner, Didymus Mutasa and John Nkomo were also
said to be
interested parties.
It took eleventh-hour constitutional amendments
agreed at an emergency ZANU
PF politburo meeting and the suspension of six
provincial chairmen aligned
to Mnangagwa, who had attended the "infamous"
Tsholotsho indaba allegedly
meant to change the make-up of the presidium, to
destroy "the crocodile's"
dream and avert a damaging power
struggle.
But not even the politburo resolution paving the way for a
woman
vice-president could deter his camp. Plan B was hatched to comply with
the
resolution, while keeping the dream alive.
To go around the problem,
it attempted to shuttle former ZANU PF women's
league boss Tenjiwe Lesabe to
the vice-presidency and quash the need to
incorporate a former ZAPU cadre
into the presidium in line with the 1987
Unity Accord while conforming to
the amended constitution. It meant that
Joseph Msika, the first
vice-president, had technically become irrelevant
according to the plan and
was to be sacrificed to make way for Mnangagwa.
It took a serious war of
attrition against Mnangagwa's camp to quash the
plan and save the day for
the Mujuru camp, led by husband retired general
Solomon Mujuru.
But since
missing its target by a whisker, the crocodile has gone
underground and has
not given any clues. Not even his trusted lieutenants
could tell whether he
is still in the succession race, which to some is now
a foregone conclusion
following the elevation of Mujuru.
ZANU PF insiders privy to the
intricate twists and turns within the party
say the jostling for the highest
office in the land can only be said to be
over after the next presidential
election.
"Only then can we say Mnangagwa has been totally eclipsed," said a
ZANU PF
insider. "As things stand, anything is still possible."
Another
ZANU PF insider said President Robert Mugabe, 81, has kept the race
open by
bringing the former justice minister, who had lost in Kwekwe in the
March
2005 election, back into parliament as a non-constituency legislator
and
into government.
"President Mugabe has kept his choices wide open although
others might think
he is bringing Mnangagwa closer so as to manage him
better. Look, anything
is possible in ZANU PF," said the
source.
Mnangagwa's silence has been a major cause for concern in ZANU PF
circles
amid speculation that his camp could be regrouping both within and
outside
the party in preparation for "the final lap."
But with President
Mugabe indicating his intention to retire in 2008, it won't
be long before
the nation finds answers to the complex succession jigsaw
puzzle in ZANU
PF.
Of late, the rumour mill has been awash with reports linking
Mnangagwa to
the United People's Movement (UPM) - a project fronted by
dismissed former
information minister Jonathan Moyo.
UPM is seen as
offering an alternative home to disgruntled souls in both
ZANU PF and the
MDC, currently in disarray after a fallout over
participation in the
November 26 senate polls won by the ruling party.
Mnangagwa has denied
links to UPM although critics say it would be suicidal
for the former
speaker of parliament to answer in the affirmative.
"I have never heard about
UPM. It is stupid to suggest that I would be its
president when I am not
even aware that there is such a political party," he
was quoted saying.
"Nobody has ever approached me to join such a party and I
will not be part
of it."
Daggers had been drawn against Mnangagwa in the last few years. Most
recently, an investigation had been conducted into the activities of ZANU PF
companies, in what was seen as a move aimed at exposing Mnangagwa's
noncompliance with the laws of the land as the chief custodian of the
party's
investments until three years ago.
Mnangagwa has denied any
wrongdoing, but has not ruled out that a bigger
agenda could be
brewing.
"I believe those who have an agenda against me are firing their
salvo
through this umbrella of the need to inform the politburo of the
extent to
which ZANU PF investments have spread. Not that the leadership was
unaware,
because accounts were distributed every year . . ." he said.
FinGaz
Comment
GOVERNMENT, known for its glaring policy
contradictions over
privatisation, has once again pledged to restructure the
haemorrhaging
institutions and return them to the black.
After a stop-go privatisation programme that failed to staunch
the
never-ending bleeding in state-owned companies, Finance Minister Herbert
Murerwa a fortnight ago admitted that parastatals, which have become
something of a national curse, have not only remained a major impediment to
economic growth but a drain on the fiscus as well.
And he
could not have said it any better. The ruins of what were
once state
companies in fine fettle have remained on life-support with
public funds
being poured into these bottomless black holes.
The minister
categorically stated that turnaround strategies
implemented so far have been
inadequate, which is why they have failed to
achieve the desired results.
The half-hearted privatisation efforts have, in
fact, seen most of these
companies relapsing into mismanagement and
operational inefficiencies.
Implicit in the minister's statement was that
government has not had a
well-thought-out divestiture programme.
All along
privatisation has been tucked in piecemeal. It has
always been thin on
detail and hazy on the time-table. If nothing else,
despite what government
spin-doctors who clearly suffer from delusions of
grandeur might say, this
betrayed government's reluctance to accept that
privatisation is now a fact
of life almost everywhere.
However, in a hardly convincing
eleventh-hour attempt to restore
parastatal viability and help perpetuate
that viability, the government has
undertaken to implement a comprehensive
privatisation programme through
joint ventures, strategic alliances and
concessioning. Among the targeted
parastatals would be Air Zimbabwe, which
is exhibiting classic warning signs
of collapse, ZISCO, which has no reason
whatsoever except in never-never
land to operate below the red ink line,
perennial loss-maker NRZ, beef
processor CSC and the ailing twins, Net*One
and Tel*One.
The situation at all these companies is shocking
and confounding
to say the least, which is why they have become something of
a national tear
duct. With political patronage and influence-peddling rife
in the parastatal
sector, the institutions have become symbols of corruption
and greed. Those
running these parastatals have been, for want of a better
expression,
monumental failures. This does not however seem to prick their
consciences -
that is if they have any.
The most
frightening aspect though is that despite the pathetic
state of most of the
parastatals which spells absolute disaster for the
economy and the fact that
there is supposed to be a department within
government which is responsible
for the companies, government had, up until
Murerwa's sentiments, neither
shown any serious intent to clean up the rot
nor elaborated a formula out of
the crisis which, to all intents and
purposes, is a national
embarrassment.
Despite repeatedly admitting that there is
need for radical
surgery to stop the rot in most of the parastatals,
government has not shown
any keen appetite to reform them. This is why we
are cautiously optimistic
about its commitment to finding a solution to the
crisis this time around.
It is our sincere hope that this is not a panic
measure because it would be
disastrous.
We have said it
before and we will say it again. Before the
government even casts around for
possible offshore suitors for strategic
link-ups, it is imperative and
prudent that these monoliths fix their
strategic mistakes first. True, it
goes without saying that strategic
alliances would be the next natural step
in the evolution of these companies
mainly for critical technology transfer
purposes.
But any attempt to dispose of them in their current
state would
see bargain-hunting foreign predators snapping up the family
silver for a
song.
The parastatals' situation is rather
an anxious one, which is
not the easiest bargaining position to start from.
Not only that but
settling for technical partners after turnarounds would
afford Zimbabwe the
luxury of selecting strong strategic partners who would
add value to the
businesses rather than having to necessarily settle for the
highest bidders.
This route will also ensure that the exercise will not only
help reduce
pressure on the fiscus but also feed through into black economic
empowerment.
Government should also realise that those
under whose
stewardship the state-owned companies have been pushed to the
brink of
collapse cannot be trusted to turn around the institutions because
turnarounds by nature challenge the status quo. In any case, these boards
and managements have already shown that they do not have strategic visions
to drive these companies to their full potential. They have instead
sacrificed good corporate governance on the altar of political ambition as
they pandered to the whims of their political godfathers who fixed them
these jobs.
As part of the parastatal turnaround strategy, it
is of
paramount importance therefore that these boards and managements
should be
forced to walk the plank. They should simply be wiped out under
the pressure
of changes.
FinGaz
Audrey Chitsika Property
Reporter
THE inflation spiral, which has made planning a difficult
exercise in
Zimbabwe, is proving to be a major headache for building
societies, where
industry players are coming face to face with its harsh
realities on a daily
basis.
With building material costs soaring
through the roof and the local currency
dramatically losing its strength, it
now takes meticulous planning for
building societies and borrowers to
withstand the heat.
While not many people can afford to borrow at current
rates, it has not been
easy for the few risk-takers to ask for additional
funding to see through
their projects.
It has taken more than a leap for
faith for the building societies to take
the risk and fund any new projects
under the prevailing hyperinflationary
conditions, say analysts.
In most
cases, the increase in mortgage books witnessed this year has
largely been
inflationary. In other words, the increases are not reflective
of the growth
in the volume of business, but quantum of Zimbabwe dollars
required
bankrolling the few projects coming through.
Ambrose Matika, the
executive director for the Central African Building
Society (CABS), said the
country's largest society is spending $1.2 trillion
on mortgage lending in
the current financial term compared to $266.8 billion
in the previous
one.
He said the interest rate spike coupled with the prohibitive
construction
costs have pushed mortgages beyond the reach of
many.
"Affordability is the main constraint to active mortgage lending at
present.
At the current high rates of interest, most potential borrowers are
unable
to afford the monthly instalments. Many are also unable to raise the
deposits of at least 25 percent of the purchase price.
"The option to
acquire vacant stands and build has also become unviable
because of scarcity
and high prices of serviced stands and rapidly
increasing costs of building
materials," he said.
Mike Moyo, the managing director of Beverley Building
Society, said the
society is planning to increase its mortgage book from the
current $150
billion to $450 billion by June 30 2006.
Said Moyo: "The
major thrust of the society is to increase the number of
mortgage bond
holders from the current 2500 mortgagors to 5000 by June 30
2006. We believe
that our strategy to grow the number of home owners will
result in the
increase of the mortgage portfolio from the current $150
billion to $450
billion by June 30 2006."
Moyo said local authorities need to be more
receptive to the requirement of
mortgage lenders and private developers to
further enhance prospects for the
coming year.
"There is urgent need for
local authorities to work closely with reputable
private developers who have
operational and financial capacity to start
projects. The coming on board on
the Infrastructure Development Bank of
Zimbabwe in the new year will further
enhance that capacity," he added.
Zim Daily
Thursday, December 15 2005 @ 12:05 AM GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Faced with the most fraught
economic crisis in his 25 year old
rule, President Mugabe has granted amnesty
to a South African spy captured
late last year in a move aimed at mollifying
his southern neighbour to
unlock a R6 billion rescue package to bankroll fuel
and grain imports,
Zimdaily exclusively reveals. Official government sources
said the release
of the South African Security Service (SASS) agent Aubery
Welken who was
captured in Victoria Falls last year receiving intelligence
from top
government officials was tied to , among other things, the unlocking
of R6
billion in aid.
Zimdaily heard that the release of
the spy, who was handed over
to SA's Minister of Intelligence Services,
Ronald Kasrils on Tuesday was
part of a new set of "circumstances" or
"context" tabled by Pretoria to
unlock desperately needed assistance to stave
off total economic collapse.
Although the official line was that the spy was
released under the auspices
of a protocol providing for a Joint Permanent
Commission on Defence and
Security to boost military, police and intelligence
co-operation, official
sources said SA had struck a compromise on the earlier
set of radical
reforms that President Thabo Mbeki gave to President Mugabe in
August before
he could assist Zimbabwe with a plea for R6
billion.
Zimdaily heard that the Zimbabwean cabinet rejected
three of the
five conditions that had been earlier given before aid could
start flowing.
The rejected reforms, apparently discussed at the just ended
Zanu PF
conference, included the drafting of a new constitution agreed by
the
opposition, fresh presidential polls and repeal of laws muzzling the
media
or intimidating political opponents. Official sources said over and
above
the release of the spy, SA had proposed a new set of reforms that
included a
fair and open programme of land reform to undo the negative
consequences of
Mugabe's land grab and to ensure productive use of
land.
Zimdaily heard that Mbeki had also proposed that
Harare
implement a credible economic recovery programme including the removal
of
structural distortions embedded in the economy and steps to end
Zimbabwe's
isolation. Speaking at the Harare International Airport just
before their
departure, Kasrils said: "I hope in the near future things will
improve in
Zimbabwe. We hope to continue our good relations and
cooperation."
Minister of State for National Security,
Didymus Mutasa appeared
to reinforce hopes of aid flowing to Harare when he
said: "We are brother
governments. It is our great wish to keep that
relationship. The good
relations must be seen and not imagined." Welkren was
arrested last year in
December receiving intelligence in Livingstone. He blew
the whistle on all
his handlers after being tortured. Five alleged spies
linked to SA were also
arrested at the same time after a
CIO
swoop on a suspected South African intelligence network
in
Zimbabwe.
They were Zimbabwe's ambassador-designate to
Mozambique, Godfrey
Dzvairo, Zanu PF foreign affairs director Itai Marchi
Banerk, Tendai
Matambanadzo, a Metropolitan Bank director, Zanu (PF) deputy
security chief
Kenny Karidza and former Zanu (PF) MP Phillip Chiyangwa. A CIO
officer,
Elisha Muyemeki, now dead, was also arrested at the same time for
failing to
report to his bosses a secret meeting he had with a South African
spy who
botched a plot to recruit him. A Switzerland-based Zimbabwean
diplomat,
Erasmus Moyo, was said to have escaped arrest by disappearing at
Geneva
airport last year.
Dzvairo, also Zimbabwe's former
consul-general to SA, was
sentenced to six years, while Matambanadzo and
Marchi were jailed for five
years each. Phillip Chiyangwa was released by the
high court, but the state
said it had not dropped the case. Karidza is still
on trial. Observers
however say Zimbabwe must realise the urgency of a
political and economic
recovery plan, but doubted whether Zimbabwe was ready
to create the
circumstances that will make one possible.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
14 December
2005
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
divided since October
over participation in the new senate elected on
November 26, could face a
permanent split, MDC Vice President Gibson Sibanda
said Wednesday in a
Harare news conference.
Mr. Sibanda, a leader of
the faction that broke with MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai over fielding
candidates in the senate elections as well as
long-simmering issues to do
with control of the party, said mediation
efforts have not ended the impasse
between the Harare-based Tsvangirai
faction and the Bulawayo-centered
pro-senate faction.
Uniting the two factions now seems "out of the
question," said Mr. Sibanda.
He called the news conference soon after his
faction concluded what it
described as a national council meeting. The MDC
National Council is the
party's top decision-making body, but both factions
have convened Council
meetings, laying claim to legitimacy.
Mr.
Sibanda told reporters that one mediation effort sought the assistance
of
South African president Thabo Mbeki, and prominent Zimbabweans were
also
approached to help end the MDC's biggest crisis since it was launched
six
years ago. But according to Mr. Sibanda all these attempts at
reconciliation
failed.
He attributed this outcome to what he termed
"fierce differences" between
the groups.
Mr. Sibanda was flanked by
MDC Deputy Secretary General Gift Chimanikire,
party treasurer Fletcher
Dulini Ncube, and spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi. MDC
Secretary General
Welshman Ncube sat in the audience alongside others in the
opposition faction
which contested the senate elections and claimed seven
seats.
Mr.
Sibanda criticized Mr. Tsvangirai and accused him of using violence
to
intimidate the pro-senate faction. He insisted that Mr. Nyathi should
should
continue as the MDC spokesman, rather than Nelson Chamisa, the
party's
former youth chief named to the post of acting spokesman by party
officials
lined up behind Mr. Tsvangirai.
The MDC vice president said
his faction intends to appeal to the supreme
court after a Harare high court
rejected its request for an order barring
Mr. Tsvangirai from conducting
party business - the court declined to
involve itself.
Reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe sought comment from
MDC acting
spokesman Nelson Chamisa, and turned for perspective to Chris
Maroleng, a
political analyst with South Africa's Institute of Security
Studies.
Zim Daily
Thursday, December
15 2005 @ 12:04 AM GMT
Contributed by: Reporter
Human rights activist, veteran trade unionist and revolutionary
musician
Raymond Majongwe is the latest victim of the government passport
seizure
crusade. Majongwe's passport was confiscated upon arrival at Harare
international Airport on wednesday afternoon. Majongwe said his passport was
just taken by immigration officials after being told that he was part of the
sixty five people whose travelling documents are set to be withdrawn. He had
just jetted in from Nigeria where he was presenting a paper on Zimbabwe at
an International labour organisation convention.
"It did
not surprise me because this regime is determined to
thwart all dissenting
voices",said Majongwe. Majongwe has fallen out favour
with the government
thanks to his militant trade unionism. He is also a dub
poet singer with six
albums to his credit. His revolutionary songs never saw
the light in the
state controlled broadcasters. Majongwe indicated that he
will not take any
legal action as he was 'not born with a passport'. He
urged the people of
Zimbabwe to fight the 'frightened regime' of president
Robert
Mugabe.
IPSNews
CHALLENGES 2005-2006:
Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 14 (IPS) - For several years
now, Southern Africa has
faced acute food shortages that look set to
continue in 2006. According to
the United Nations, several countries in the
14-member Southern African
Development Community (SADC) will still be
relying on food handouts next
year to prevent millions of their citizens
from starving to death.
Between 2002 and 2004 some 14 million people
received emergency food from
aid agencies, according to the United Nations
World Food Programme (WFP).
Of that total, some five million remained
extremely vulnerable. "The dry
spell, which decimated harvests in early
2005, has increased this number to
over 12 million in seven countries - out
of a total population of 70
million," according to a 2005 WFP
brief.
The question that begs asking is whether anything can be done to
prevent
this situation recurring year after year.
"There are things
we can do in the short term. We can grow more
drought-resistant crops like
sorghum, millet and cassava," WFP spokesman
Mike Sackett told IPS. "Farmers
should be less reliant on maize."
Maize, the staple food in Southern
Africa, is ill-adapted to cope with
drought - something that has spelt
disaster for parts of the region that
have experienced erratic rainfall in
recent years.
"In the long-term there should be less reliance on rainfall
and more
reliance on irrigation," said Sackett, who is based in South
Africa's
commercial hub of Johannesburg. Irrigation requires a considerable
investment, however - making it unaffordable for several states. With the
exception of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, SADC nations would probably
need donor funding to set up viable irrigation systems.
Sackett noted
that the distribution of seed and fertiliser also needed to be
better
managed: "For example, last year farmers received fertilisers late."
To
end the ongoing cycle of food shortages and its attendant problems,
agricultural officials in the SADC region have embarked on a comprehensive
programme to assist farmers.
"One of our roles will be to vet
contracts for our illiterate farmers. We
will support them so that their
contracts (such as for supplying food to
U.N. agencies) are respected. We
will also help them to understand the
necessity of paying debts to avoid
being blacklisted," Nelson Chisenga, an
agricultural specialist at the
Pretoria-based Southern African Federation of
Agricultural Unions (SACAU),
told IPS.
Earlier this month, SACAU invited about 20 delegates from six
of its member
countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi
and Madagascar -
to South Africa's capital, Pretoria, to inform them about
key issues
affecting agriculture, such as trade and
marketing.
"Awareness levels among farmers are abysmally very poor. For
example, they
believe that trade doesn't concern them," Ajay Vashee of the
Lusaka-based
Zambia National Farmers Union told IPS. Zambia is said to have
800,000
small-scale farmers out of a population of about eight
million.
"We want our farmers to look beyond our borders or even
internationally," he
added. "The major problem is instilling marketing
skills.We would like to
get the farmers to understand the dynamics of
trade."
With this in mind, the union intends training farmers in trade
negotiations,
and familiarising them with the World Trade Organisation
(WTO). The WTO is
currently meeting in Hong Kong, where the agricultural
tariffs and subsidies
provided by wealthy countries are coming under
discussion. These farm
supports give farmers in the developed world a
considerable advantage over
their counterparts from poorer
nations.
Zambia is already reaping the rewards of having adopted a number
of sensible
policies on farming. "Zambia did quite well in 2003 to 2004,"
Sackett said.
"The country had a (food) surplus even though it had been hit
by drought."
In October this year, however, the government of President
Levy Mwanawasa
appealed for emergency food aid for 1.7 million people. The
WFP says it is
responding to the food needs of 1.1 million people, while the
United Nations
Children's Fund is planning to address problems with water
provision and
sanitation, child health, nutrition and
education.
Further south, in Zimbabwe, the situation is considerably
worse - with aid
agencies accusing the government of President Robert Mugabe
of fuelling
famine through bad policies.
"The humanitarian situation
in Zimbabwe is extremely serious and it's
deteriorating," Jan Egeland, U.N.
under secretary for humanitarian affairs
and emergency relief co-ordinator,
told journalists in Johannesburg Dec. 7,
after returning from Zimbabwe. "WFP
is feeding two million people in
Zimbabwe. It could go to four
million."
The agency has appealed for 276 million dollars to help relieve
food
shortages in Zimbabwe, where AIDS is exacerbating the humanitarian
crisis.
"Some 3,000 people die of AIDS every week; there are one million
AIDS
orphans. It's a serious situation," said Egeland.
Despite the
drought, there is enough food in Southern Africa to meet
demand - it's just
that supplies are being sent elsewhere. "Within the
region we have the
market, but farmers look internationally. I think the
small-scale farmers
should satisfy the regional market before looking
outside," Chisenga said,
taking a different position to that adopted by
Vashee.
However,
farmers claim that trade barriers prevent them from doing just
this. "For
example, Zimbabwe is able to export poultry product to Malawi,
(but) Malawi
is not allowed to export poultry products into Zimbabwe,"
Chisenga
noted.
Visa requirements also present a headache, as do border delays.
"Trucks
take, for example, long at Chirundu: it can take an average of five
days. At
Beitbridge it can take a maximum of one day if your documents are
in order,"
Chisenga said. Chirundu is the main border post between Zambia
and Zimbabwe,
and Beitbridge the main post between Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
"Beitbridge is open 24 hours a day. You drive through and reach
Churundu,
and find that the border is closed. So you count that day lost -
and you
queue behind the vehicles that arrived before you,'' he added. "The
delays
at borders affect farmers a lot." (END/2005)
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily
Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Dec-15
SHOPPERS look the losers at
the till this Christmas as they put more money
to the plastic, with a top
baker announcing that the price of bread, which
already has been hiked three
times in as many months, had shot up to $50 000
effective this
Monday.
And that is not the only shocker the bakery executive brewed. He
warned of
another imminent hike, saying high production and operational
costs fuelled
by galloping inflation, necessitated that a loaf be priced at
between $90
000 and $100 000 by January.
Some shops are already selling
bread for between $55 000 and $65 000.
In an interview with The Daily Mirror,
Lobels sales and marketing director
John Chikomo attributed the increase to
soaring flour prices.
"It is the price of flour that is causing all this,
with a tonne of the
commodity ranging between $27 million and $35 million,"
Chikomo said.
Chikomo said the current fuel shortage worsened the
situation.
"Diesel is just a nightmare. We are not getting any diesel from
the National
Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) and we end up buying it from
the black
market at $100 000 or more per litre," he said.
Chikomo said
considering the cost incurred in baking bread, the actual price
of a loaf
should be at least $66 000.
"The real price of bread must be $66 000, but
because we know that consumers
would be the hardest hit, we only effected a
small increase," he said.
Chikomo admitted that the industry was now
compromising on the quality of
bread such as weight, as a result of high
production costs.
A standard loaf weighs around 700 grams.
Meanwhile, the
National Bakeries Association has written to the millers
requesting them to
review the price of flour downward.
"I write on behalf of the National
Bakers' Association and request the
Millers' Association to review the price
of flour per tonne from $35 million
to a price not more than $28 million so
as to enable bakers to retail bread
at $50 000 a loaf," read a letter from
Burumbo Mudumo, chairman of the
National Bakers Association.
He added:
"We understand the problems you are facing and we know that under
normal
circumstances, $35 million per tonne is the correct price.
"However,
consumers are hard pressed and they need to absorb increases in
tranches. We
also do not want to attract unnecessary attention from
government."
Mudumo said at a price of $35 million per tonne, a loaf
would be retailed at
$66 000.
"But the Bakers' Association has taken a 24
percent knock to accommodate
consumers and we are (asking) millers to
consider the same," added Mudumo.
In the letter, Mudumo also noted that
bakers were complaining that they were
not getting supplies of flour and
called for an urgent meeting of millers
and bakers.
Chikomo yesterday
said millers were not keen to review the price of flour.
A loaf of bread was
around $3 500 and $4 500 early this year before it was
gazetted at $7 500 in
September, while unscrupulous retailers were selling
it at $16 000.
The
price then shot to between $25 000 and $28 000 in October, with bakeries
citing spiraling operational costs, shortages of diesel and flour.
Only
last week, the loaf price rocketed to $40 000, from $29 000.
Yesterday
consumers decried the latest increase, saying bread had all of a
sudden
turned into a luxury good and called on government to act against
unscrupulous bakeries and retailers selling the commodity at exorbitant
prices.
"The majority of Zimbabweans can no longer afford to buy bread. A
family of
six will now have to part with $100 000 for two loaves.
An
average family would have to part with $200 000 and more for breakfast a
day. Life is increasingly becoming difficult.
"Our salaries are too low
to sustain us.
"Tavakutorarama nemunya (we are now surviving on
leftovers.
"What is the government doing about it?" asked Timothy Machingura,
of
Kuwadzana in Harare.
Naison Sango, of Rugare in Harare, said: "We can
no longer afford to but
bread.
"The current shortage of mealie-meal has
worsened the situation, otherwise
we could have substituted tea with sadza
in the morning. Life is very hard
for security guards, as our salaries are
very low."
Said one woman: "We will certainly have a dull Christmas, if
retailers
continue increasing prices when ever they feel like."
An
average family of six now needs $3 million for bread alone a month, while
it
has to fork out almost $13 million a month to survive.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Mirror
Reporters
issue date :2005-Dec-15
IN an apparent calculated move to
isolate and eventually expel senior party
members supporting the
reintroduced Senate, MDC Harare province has passed a
vote of no confidence
against three of its legislators - a development which
could force
by-elections in their constituencies.
MDC Harare province secretary Last
Maengahama yesterday confirmed that
action had been taken against deputy
party secretary-general and Mbare
legislator Gift Chimanikire, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga (Glen Norah)
and Harare North's Trudy Stevenson, who
is also party research secretary.
The trio belongs to the pro-Senate camp led
by MDC vice-president Gibson
Sibanda and secretary-general Welshman
Ncube.
Several other party functionaries, whose names were not readily
available,
were also affected in the same manner.
Maengahama said MDC
districts in the concerned constituencies had petitioned
the province for
parliamentary recalls, meaning if approved, the targeted
MPs could no longer
represent the party in the legislature.
Harare province had accepted the
petition and would submit it to the party's
summit, the National Council,
for a final decision.
"The party's districts petitioned us on the matter,
saying they no longer
recognise Chimanikire, Misihairabwi-Mushonga and
Chimanikire. We felt that
they had a strong case (against the MPs)," said
Maengahama.
He said party districts had been aggrieved by the three MPs
"misrepresenting" their constituencies on the Senate issue.
He further
claimed that the trio had lost touch with their constituents.
"Everyone knows
that people in Harare were against participation in the
elections, but they
misrepresented the people's wishes. They were also said
to be missing MPs
who do not visit their constituencies," Maenga-hama said.
He predicted that
if the MDC leadership accepted the recalling of the MPs,
there may be
by-polls soon, as happened in 2003 when ex-MDC Highfield
lawmaker Munyaradzi
Gwisai was expelled from the party.
The dreadlocked Socialist International
activist then elected to stand as an
independent, and lost
heavily.
According to MDC's constitution, Article 12.4.3, it is the party's
prerogative to recall elected candidates.
"In the event that a district
executive committee is dissatisfied for any
reason with the performance of
their elected candidate, it shall have the
right to petition the National
Council to recall that candidate. Such a
petition must be signed by a
two-thirds majority of wards in the district,"
reads the
constitution.
Stevenson and Misihairabwi-Mushonga were arguably the most
vociferous MPs
not in the top six who openly backed participation in the
Senate.
In an opinion article, Stevenson accused MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
of
straying the opposition party's values.
She said: "Tragically, Morgan
Tsvangirai is as human as the rest of us, and
is subject to the basic
weaknesses of the rest of mankind. It is in fact our
fault, as his
colleagues, that we have allowed him to stray from the vision
of the MDC,
which is not so much about removing Robert Mugabe and taking
over
government, but about the kind of society we want to build in
Zimbabwe."
Chimanikire remained defiant yesterday and dismissed the move
as a nullity.
"As far as l am concerned, that decision had nothing to do with
the
districts. It is the National Council which makes decisions for the
whole
nation (party structures country-wide) and that decision cannot be
reviewed
at district level," he said.
He defended his stance on the
Senate, saying he acted in his status as an
MDC top executive and not as
Mbare MP.
"I know that this is being pushed by those who are anti-Senate, but
their
actions are of no consequence," Chimanikire boasted.
Stevenson
said: "I don't know about that. I do not know about that," before
her phone
went off, while Misihairabwi could not be reached.
Last month, the pro-Senate
camp suspended Tsvangirai from the party on
charges of breaching the
constitution, something his faction readily
dismissed as untenable.
The
High Court went on to dismiss an urgent chamber application by the pro-
Senate faction seeking confirmation of the suspension.
Tsvangirai has
since summoned his rebelling rivals to a hearing scheduled
for Saturday.
Meanwhile, the pro-Senate camp yesterday held a national
council meeting in
Harare attended by 52 party officials including MDC
vice-president Sibanda,
Ncube, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, Chimanikire, Paul
Themba Nyathi, Stevenson and
Job Sikhala.
Addressing journalists soon after at Mendel Centre in
Marlborough, Sibanda
said the meeting resolved, among other things, not to
attend Saturday's
disciplinary hearing called by Tsvangirai's camp.
He
said: "We directed as a national council that Sibanda, Ncube,
Chimanikire,
Stevenson and others must not appear before the bogus
disciplinary hearing
set for Saturday."
Sibanda also stated that the national council did not
recognise Nyathi's
removal as party national spokesperson.
On the no
confidence vote issue, Sibanda, who maintained that Tsvangirai
remained
suspended despite the High Court ruling to the contrary, said as
far as the
national council was concerned, the decision was null and void.
"We are
operating from Bulawayo because Tsvangirai has stationed thugs at
Harvest
House (the MDC national headquarters in Harare)," he added.
"Recently, a
party official in Bulawayo suffered a broken leg at the hands
of one of
Tsvangirai's thugs."
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Dec-15
ZIMBABWE
was last week elected to chair the general assembly of the
Association of
African Election Authorities (AAEA) for the next three years.
In a statement
this week, the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) said:
"At a meeting of
electoral experts from Africa, the Association of African
Election
Authorities (AAEA) third meeting of the general assembly held in
Nairobi,
Kenya, between December 7 and 9 2005, Zimbabwe was chosen to chair
the
general assembly for three years."
Zimbabwe was elected ahead of four other
countries who exhibited interest in
leading the group.
According to the
ESC, this effectively means that Zimbabwe was privileged to
host the fourth
meeting of the AAEA in 2008.
The chairman of the ESC, Theophilus Gambe, and
commissioner Shingi Mutumbwa,
represented Zimbabwe at the meeting in
Nairobi.
AAEA was formed to promote and institutionalise the professional
nature of
African election authorities through regional exchanges and
networking.
"It grew out of the colloquium of African election authorities
held in
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in November 1994," part of the statement
read. The
organisation consists of the general assembly, an advisory board
and
executive secretariat.
Sokwanele - Enough is Enough -
Zimbabwe PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY |
1. A little light
relief A couple of days ago we asked if you could help us to become the top African blog in a category that we share with Middle East bloggers (we're finalists in the Best Middle East or Africa blog). Our closest African competitor comes from Egypt - 'Rantings of a Sandmonkey' (that's his picture to the left). When we sent out our email yesterday, our votes stood at 514. The current totals at the time of writing this email show that we increased our votes by a whopping 328 votes ! Thank you all very much. This is the status at the time of writing this email. Current totals are in bold, and votes at the time of our last email are in italics:
At one point we surged past the Sandmonkey, and true to the title of his blog, he started ranting! Here's his most recent appeal for votes:
“Vodoo-using-angel-cancer-giving-zimbabweans” …?! That’s a neat twist on the usual names pro-democracy Zimbabweans are called. Makes a change from ‘enemy of the state’, or ‘British stooge’, or ‘Blair’s puppet’. We must point out, in fairness, that the Sandmonkey does post critical information that drives forward democracy in Egypt in between his various rants. So we're not taking it personally at all. However, you all know how to respond to 'smear campaigns'! Please can you quietly, with dignity, show the Sandmonkey again what a formidable force Zimbabweans are when they vote. Please email your friends and ask them to vote too. Today is the last day! You can vote for us by clicking here, or by clicking on the flashing icon in the right hand column on our blog. Our blog can be found at http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe You can vote at home, and again at work! Diaspora Zimbabweans in Australia - and early risers in Zimbabwe - can vote on the morning of the 16th as well provided 24 hours has elapsed since the last time you voted on that computer.. Voting officially closes at this time: 11:59:00 p.m. Thursday December 15, 2005 USA - Eastern time This means that voting closes at the following times in other cities around the world:
Thank you for your support! 2. A Christmas offer for Zimbabweans Christmas is financially a very difficult time of the year, especially if you live in a country where there is hyper-inflation. One of our writers posting to our blog described the situation in Zimbabwe and told the world how they would not be able to afford to buy gifts this year. Bruce Holland Rogers, a writer in America, was so angered and moved that he got in touch with us:
Bruce Holland Rogers has offered a free subscription to 100 Zimbabweans as a Christmas gift from him. If you would appreciate a short story emailed to you approximately three times a month, or if you want to give it someone else as a gift, then please email us by Saturday 17th December and ask for the short story offer. If this is a gift for someone else, please remember to send us the name and email address of the person who will be receiving the short stories. That's all we need - no personal messages will be attached to the subscription. Please double-check that the email address you send is correct. Samples of the short stories can be read at this link: http://www.shortshortshort.com. The stories are usually between 500 and 1500 words long and arrive as unformatted e-mail text. Bruce Holland Rogers has won awards for his short stories. One of his stories won the World Fantasy Award for the best short fiction work of fantasy published in the English language for 2004. Bruce's offer is evidence of one person's kindness and a desire to do something positive for Zimbabweans, no matter how small. His offer is also evidence that what we write on our blog has an impact on people outside our country and and that we are letting people know what life in Zimbabwe is really like. Which is why we called our blog, 'This is Zimbabwe' ! So please don't forget to vote! Visit our website at
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