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US
withdraws support for Zimbabwe power-sharing deal
http://www.independent.co.uk
By Daniel Howden in
Harare
Sunday, 21 December 2008
The United States effectively
withdrew support for Zimbabwe's stalled
power-sharing deal today, as the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
warned that it would boycott
another sham election.
Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of
state for African affairs,
told reporters in Pretoria that Washington had
become convinced that the
embattled president, Robert Mugabe was not
interested in sharing power.
To allow him to continue as president in a
unity government would leave "a
man who's lost it, who's losing his mind,
who's out of touch with reality"
in power, she said after talks with
regional leaders. Washington - and
Britain - had signalled a readiness to
step in with a major aid package once
a unity government is operational.
"We're not prepared to do any of that
now," Ms Frazer said, citing the
abductions in Zimbabwe, the deteriorating
humanitarian and economic
situation and the cholera epidemic.
The talks between the MDC and the
ruling Zanu-PF party have bogged down over
key ministries, and Mr Mugabe has
warned his party to be ready for new
elections after failing to push the
opposition into a junior role in a unity
government.
The Zimbabwean
opposition said it would boycott any fresh elections in the
New Year, unless
there is an overhaul of the constitution and a strong
presence from
international observers.
The MDC will not take part in "another Mugabe
managed election farce," said
party spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
"We
welcome and are ready and prepared for free and fair elections," said Mr
Chamisa. "We would be ready to deliver another election blow to them like we
did in March," where the party won more seats than Zanu PF and its leader
Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mr Mugabe by six percentage points in the
presidential poll.
However, he said that if a new vote was simply a
rerun of "June chaos" where
the second round was blighted by violence
against opposition supporters,
then: "the participation of the MDC cannot be
definite."
It remains unclear what the government's next move will
be.
The ruling party conference concluded this weekend with calls for Mr
Mugabe
to unilaterally form a new government without the MDC, although this
would
be illegal under the constitution.
Ms Frazer said that if Mr
Mugabe's neighbours were to unite and "go to
Mugabe and tell him to go, I do
think he would go," she said. But South
Africa today continued to insist
that the best way forward is through a
unity government.
There has
been no legitimate government in Zimbabwe since elections in
March, where
the ruling party lost its parliamentary majority for the first
time.
Mugabe
warns he's ready to govern alone
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
4:00AM Monday Dec 22, 2008
Daniel
Howden
Robert Mugabe is to drop the pretence of power-sharing talks with
the
Opposition in Zimbabwe and form a government without them this
week.
If he goes ahead, after gaining the backing of his ruling Zanu-PF
Party, it
would end any immediate hope of outside help for the country,
which is beset
by a series of crises.
The defiant gesture comes
shortly after he taunted neighbouring countries
that they did not have the
stomach to confront him, capping a week of
increasingly wild statements from
the self-styled liberator. He had told
delegates to his party's conference
on Saturday that "Zimbabwe is mine", and
accused Britain of wanting a
war.
Yesterday the 84-year-old closed the conference with no reference to
the
cholera epidemic, economic implosion or the abduction of
opponents.
Zimbabwe has been without a legitimate government since March.
The official
death toll from cholera stands at more than 1123, inflation has
moved into
the sextillions and at least 41 opposition officials and rights
activists
have been
abducted.
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With an increasing number
of international leaders calling on him to stand
down, Mugabe has sought to
change the subject by railing against Western
plots to topple him.
He
openly mocked the "courage" of neighbouring leaders, saying: "What would
they come and do militarily here? All that they would come and really pose
is a threat to our stability."
For months Mugabe has tried to bully
the Opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) into accepting a deal in
which he would retain the major
ministries and control the central reserve
bank and the security services.
The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, warned
the government to stop its
intimidation campaign and release
abductees.
Now Mugabe is signalling he will rule without the Opposition.
"We have
waited for too long and our people are impatient and suffering,"
said a
Zanu-PF official. "With or without the MDC, the government will have
to be
formed."
There could even be fresh elections early in the new
year, and Mugabe warned
his supporters to be ready to avoid the "disaster of
March", in which
Zanu-PF lost its majority, and Mugabe finished a distant
second to
Tsvangirai in the presidential vote. That setback was overturned
at the end
of June after a state-sponsored crackdown on the Opposition saw
thousands of
MDC people beaten up and more than 150 murdered.
-
INDEPENDENT
Zimbabwean gov't threatens to take control of all key economic
sectors
http://news.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn
2008-12-21 16:55:27
HARARE, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwe
government will soon
establish an Economic Revolutionary Council which will
be tasked with
crafting home-grown strategies to tackle socioeconomic
challenges brought
about by sanctions the West imposed on the country, New
Ziana reported on
Sunday.
Addressing thousands of delegates
at the ruling Zanu-PF's 10th
Annual People's Conference on Saturday,
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
said socioeconomic challenges the country
is facing requires the government
to take action of a revolutionary
nature.
"We are not in a normal situation," he
said.
"It is a situation of emergency and we must use emergency
measures," he said.
Mugabe said it was imperative that the
government formulates home
grown solutions to tackle the effects that
illegal sanctions are causing on
the economy.
He said the
Politburo has since approved the model that the
government has crafted to
tackle economic challenges the country is facing.
He said the
government is working on the document which will be
presented to the
Politburo and Central Committee for consideration.
"We are
working on a document which will be submitted to the
Politburo and Central
Committee on what we propose on establishing a real
economic revolutionary
council," he said.
Mugabe said revolutionary measures that the
government will
implement involve taking control of key sectors of the
economy such as
mining, manufacturing and banking.
He said
the government is finding it difficult to reduce the
effects of illegal
sanctions since the countries that imposed them control
the key sectors of
the economy.
Gaining control of the key sectors will be the
next stage of
economic independence after the government reclaimed ownership
of the land
from the minority whites and redistributed it to the black
majority, the
president said.
In
Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe turned terror into staying power
http://www.chicagotribune.com
Violence gauged to
beat threats but not draw world's wrath
By Robyn Dixon | Tribune
Newspapers
December 21, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - For a very literal
example of Robert Mugabe's staying
power, look no further than a recent
crisis summit of southern African
leaders designed to settle the political
impasse that has seen the longtime
Zimbabwean leader stubbornly cling to the
presidency.
The leaders wanted him to leave the room so they could
deliberate in
private. He refused.
Between their misguided politeness
and his famous capacity to intimidate,
the presidents meekly backed down.
Mugabe stayed.
Be it with his fellow African leaders, the West or the
Zimbabwean
opposition, the 84-year-old Mugabe has outmaneuvered - and
outlasted - his
critics for more than a quarter-century, through a careful
calibration of
the international reaction and domestic effect of his
actions. As close as
the end sometimes seems, Mugabe has managed to
survive.
To help understand his staying power, one need only
rewind to the 1980s and
the massacres during his early years in power, when
he was a conquering hero
who had thrown out the white minority regime of Ian
Smith.
The name of the murderous operation, Gukurahundi, was as lyrical
as a haiku:
the wind that blows away the chaff before the spring
rains.
Mugabe's political opponents were the chaff. The spring rains were
supposed
to signify the golden era of a one-party state (or rather, a
one-man state).
Western leaders and news media ignored the massacres of
the "dissidents" by
the army's crack 5 Brigade in Matabeleland province in
southern Zimbabwe.
Some estimates put the dead at 20,000.
Mugabe drew
his most important lesson from the West's blase reaction,
analysts believe:
that there's a level of "acceptable" violence that will
escape international
condemnation but still destroy any threat to his power.
"He's never, ever
been frightened of war," said analyst Tony Reeler of the
Research and
Advocacy Unit, an independent think tank in Harare, the
capital. Mugabe
learned he could get away with "subliminal terror" that
would not trigger
international intervention, he said.
"It's just below the threshold that
upsets people, and it's deliberately
so," he said.
The shadow of the
Gukurahundi campaign has haunted Zimbabwe since the early
1980s.
"It's painful to remember. It's a story told in blood," said a
61-year-old
retired military officer who was attached to the 5 Brigade when
it
"cleansed" villages in 1982, arresting the men, interrogating and
torturing
them to identify opposition guerrillas. Like others cited in this
report, he
spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions.
He
said he saw thousands of people killed. Women were shut into thatched
huts
and burned alive. Even the children were targets.
"They would take these
young boys about a year old and they would say, 'This
one will grow up to be
a dissident,' and they would smash his head against a
tree."
After
his shocking defeat by Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai in the first-round presidential vote in March, he blamed traitors
in his ZANU-PF party, according to several party sources.
He told
military and ruling party leaders that he was ready to step down,
according
to party sources. But rather than ceding control to the
"securocrats" and
generals, he has instead strengthened his position with
these hard-line
forces in the party, the sources say.
"These are people who
depend on Mugabe for their own political existence,"
said a ZANU-PF insider.
"They realized they could not afford to let Mugabe
concede."
So, in
the most recent echo of Gukurahundi, the military and war veterans
recruited
youthful militants and set up hundreds of militia bases, beating
thousands
of MDC supporters, burning their houses and torturing and killing
opposition
activists. At least 130 people died.
Los Angeles Times
Kick
Mugabe and Tsvangirai out, get a new team
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke
By FRANCOIS
GRIGNON
Posted Saturday, December 20 2008 at 09:01
The world
is now fully aware of the catastrophic situation in Zimbabwe.
The
economic crisis has led to the highest inflation rate in the world with
most
of the population not able to buy even the most basic goods and half of
it
in urgent need of food aid; most schools have closed and the 2008
academic
year has been written off.
The collapse of the health sector has meant
hospitals are not able to treat
patients any more; and now a cholera
epidemic is ravaging the country, with
already around 1,000 reported deaths
and an actual death toll probably much
higher.
And the future only
looks gloomier as politicians are unable to reach an
agreement to implement
a power-sharing agreement signed in September. This
is all well known. But
no credible solution to that crisis has been
suggested yet.
In a
chorus of disapprobation, Western leaders have recently started to call
on
President Robert Mugabe to step down and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
to take over from him. They have also threatened to increase
their targeted
sanctions and both the European Union and the United States
have recently
done so.
But sanctions have no impact on the regime, which is only using
them to
document its claims of Western interference.
Apart from
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, their African counterparts,
including
vocal critics of the regime, have unanimously taken a more
cautious approach
and have all called for the pursuit of negotiations in the
framework of the
political agreement.
It now appears clear that neither a solution where
Mugabe remains in power
and Tsvangirai becomes prime minister, nor one where
Mugabe is forcibly
ousted, have the potential to bring the crisis to an end
and ease
Zimbabweans' daily lives.
The political agreement signed in
September was flawed from the start.
By leaving open critical issues such
as the allocation of ministries and by
creating two centres of power with
both the president and prime minister
having executive authority, it did not
provide for an easy implementation.
Mugabe has consistently opposed any
meaningful exercise of power by
Tsvangirai, especially over security-sector
ministries.
At the same time, the opposition leader is rightly unwilling
to join any
coalition where he would only play a minor part.
Joining
such a government would surely only legitimise the status quo as
well as
Mugabe's power.
But after he left his country adrift, putting tens of
thousands of lives at
risk and even orchestrating gross human-rights
violations, Mugabe has lost
that legitimacy.
Months of mistrust have
built up to the point that any power-sharing formula
involving Mugabe and
Tsvangirai is only likely to result in partisan debates
and total
paralysis.
A new approach to the Zimbabwean crisis is possible to avoid
the country's
complete collapse if all actors and facilitators accept a
radical yet
pragmatic shift.
The core idea would be to establish a
transitional administration mandated
to set up new presidential elections in
18 months and to implement crucial
political and economic reforms in the
meantime.
It would be run by a chief administrator, a Zimbabwean
non-partisan expert
who could come from an international organisation, the
private sector or the
civil society, and neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai would
be part of it.
This new structure would be approved by a two-thirds
majority in parliament,
the only legitimately elected body in the
country.
And even though this might seem unthinkable to some, Mugabe and
members of
the infamous Joint Operations Command, responsible for the
violent crackdown
on the population, should receive amnesty if they agree to
retire and do not
get involved in activities threatening the country's
stability.
International involvement is crucial and should come from
Africa. But Thabo
Mbeki should not be part of it any more.
Whatever
his competence or intent, he has lost his legitimacy as mediator in
the eyes
of the opposition because of his perceived pro-Mugabe stance.
The
Southern African Development Community should now turn to the African
Union
for support in breaking the deadlock and together they should appoint
a new
mediator to succeed Mbeki.
They should also identify senior officials who
could assist the transitional
administration. If requested by the interim
government, SADC countries could
deploy security forces to Zimbabwe to
promote stability.
Ending the Zimbabwean crisis requires progress on both
the political and the
economic fronts.
A functioning and reliable
administration is crucial to attract the
international support critical to
ending Zimbabweans' suffering.
After months of stalemate and
deteriorating living conditions, Zimbabwean
leaders and SADC countries must
recognise that the September political
agreement will not produce such a
government and that it should thus be
buried.
Zimbabwe urgently needs
a different approach before the dramatic
humanitarian and economic crisis
engulfing the country spreads throughout
Southern Africa.
Dr François
Grignon is the international Crisis Group's Africa programme
director
Zim's
new legal boss thumbs his nose at SADC
http://www.iol.co.za/
December 21 2008 at
10:35AM
By Peta Thornycroft
Zimbabwe's new attorney-general
celebrated his appointment last week with
the prosecutions of white farmers
in defiance of a regional court ruling
which was supposed to protect them
from eviction.
Johannes Tomana, the new attorney-general, who helped
himself to a
white-owned farm, and who led the legal campaign to ban
Zimbabwe's only
independent daily newspaper, sent four white farmers to
court on Thursday,
accusing them of trespassing on state property, a charge
which carries a
two-year jail sentence.
The farmers, all from
Chegutu, 100km west of Harare, were prosecuted for
illegally remaining on
the small part of their landholding they still use,
despite endless
harassment from President Robert Mugabe's
supporters.
Prosecutions of white farmers who
remained on their property were suspended
before the November 28 judgment
from the court of last resort, the Southern
African Development Community
Tribunal, which was created by a treaty signed
by Zimbabwe.
The
tribunal, with four regional judges, ruled on behalf of the applicants,
78
white Zimbabwe farmers, that they had been improperly deprived of their
land
and were victims of racial discrimination.
Mugabe was ordered by the
tribunal to cease trying to evict them.
In the first prosecutions since
the ruling, middle-aged farmers Brian
Bronkhorst, Ken Bartholomew, Thomas
Beattie and Colin Cloete were ordered to
stand trial before a magistrate who
had previously seized a white-owned
farm.
Prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare
forgot to collect police dockets from Harare and
the case was remanded until
January 5.
Lawyer David Drury, who has defended farmers around the
country in court
cases for several years, said the previous acting
attorney-general "had
expressly or by his conduct given recognition to the
SADC Tribunal", as all
cases of trespass against white farmers had been
dropped ahead of the
judgment.
"Our new attorney-general has
obliterated that recognition and is ignoring
the tribunal and is now
fast-tracking prosecutions.
"Mr Tomana is determined to get rid of the
rest of them. The trial of the
four Chegutu farmers is the beginning of the
end, the last and final push
against white farmers."
Zimbabwe's
economic collapse began when its agricultural exports shrunk
after Mugabe
started seizing land from 4 500 productive white commercial
farmers in
2000.
The "new" farmers have failed year after year, despite massive
state
subsidies to grow even 20 percent of Zimbabwe's pre-land grab
harvests.
On Friday, Drury lodged the tribunal's judgment with the Harare
High Court
in an urgent application "to try to get written confirmation from
the
government that the SADC Tribunal, which Zimbabwe created along with
other
member states, and which they said they would respect, has been thrown
out
the window".
Two weeks ago, Tomana, who regularly represents top
Zanu-PF officials,
quashed a case in the High Court against Mugabe's
spokesman, George
Charamba, who was accused of beating his wife on February
24 at their Harare
home.
He also represented the state media
commission in a case which lead to the
daily newspaper, The Daily News,
being banned five years ago.
After being sworn in, Tomana said Zimbabwe's
deepening crisis was caused by
crime.
"We have allowed crime to
dominate our lives. I want to promise everyone
that the security services
are ready, the judiciary is ready, and I am more
than prepared to help the
nation fight crime."
Invasions of farms continues unabated, and one of
the latest invasions was
when injured Air Marshall Perence Shiri went onto a
majority Malaysian-owned
banana plantation in the Burma Valley in eastern
Zimbabwe.
Drury is acting on behalf of the Malaysian company, Rainbow
Century, and its
local shareholders.
This article was originally
published on page 13 of Cape Argus on December
21, 2008
SA denies
handing over withheld Zimbabwe aid
http://www.nation.co.ke
Posted Sunday, December 21 2008 at
17:43
HARARE, Sunday
South Africa reiterated today it would only
hand over $30 million in
agricultural aid to Zimbabwe after a unity
government is formed, denying a
Zimbabwe media report it had reversed a
decision to hold back the help.
While South Africa and other southern
African countries are helping Zimbabwe
deal with a spiralling cholera
epidemic, the regional power said last month
it would only provide farming
aid to its neighbour after a coalition
government was formed.
The
move was seen as South Africa's first punitive measure against Zimbabwe,
which is battling acute food shortages, and as a sign of frustration at its
neighbour's failure to enforce a stalled power-sharing agreement and stem an
economic crisis.
Some analysts believe South Africa and other African
nations have been too
soft on President Robert Mugabe and want to see more
regional pressure on
him to break a political impasse.
Zimbabwe's
state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper quoted Agriculture Minister
Rugare Gumbo
as saying farming inputs like staple maize seed, fertiliser and
fuel forming
part of the 300 million rand South African package had arrived
in
Zimbabwe.
Support facility
"The South African government has sent
a consignment of agricultural inputs
to Zimbabwe under its 300 million rand
farming support facility," the paper
said.
But Thabo Masebe,
spokesman for South African President Kgalema Motlanthe,
said South Africa
had not reversed its stance.
"We said we would be able to help with
agricultural assistance worth about
300 million rand once a new government
has formed, and that has not
changed," said Mr Masebe.
"In parallel,
there have been efforts to assist with the humanitarian crisis
so that may
be what they are referring to," he said
Mr Mugabe and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai signed the power-sharing
pact on September 15 but the deal
has been unravelling over disagreements
about the control of key
ministries.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has sunk deeper into crisis.
Hyper-inflation means
prices double every day and a cholera epidemic has
killed more than 1,100
people.
South African is leading the regional
Southern African Development Community
in providing urgent humanitarian aid
to Zimbabwe.
Western leaders blame Mr Mugabe for the crisis and have
called on him to
step down but he says economic sanctions are at fault, and
has vowed "never
to surrender" to what he says are efforts to topple him.
(Reuters)
Price
Controls A Futile Exercise - NIPC
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE - The National Incomes and
Pricing Commission (NIPC) has
admitted price controls in Zimbabwe are futile
as government has lost
meaningful control over the country's explosive
business environment.
NIPC chairman Godwills
Masimirembwa said most business enterprises
continued to willfully increase
prices of goods in a bid to keep their
businesses running.
He
conceded most business operations were now determined by illegal
foreign
currency traders saying government had no practical influence over
them.
"Illegal foreign currency dealers are determining prices to
the extent
that the business operator decides to operate outside the law,"
Masimirembwa
said during a current affairs programme on ZTV Thursday
night.
"The business person makes a choice of whether to act within the
provisions of the law or outside the provisions of the law.
"The
difficulty that we have is that the country is not generating
sufficient
foreign currency from the productive sector, from our industrial
activities,
from our manufacturing sector.
Masimirembwa said the foreign currency
that comes in to the country is
from the Diaspora; hence it was difficult to
set a price for it.
He said it was also practically difficult for
government to plan on
Diaspora money which it does not know if it may come
or not as it is
entirely up to the sender to decide whether to send or
not.
"At the end of the day, the country is being held to ransom by
those
people who have foreign currency who put a premium to the foreign
currency.
"If you try and control that market that source of
foreign currency
may completely dry up because the person may then decide to
send the foreign
currency in the form of goods or may decide not to send the
foreign currency
at all.
"So it is a serious inconvenience which we
have to live with until we
increase production.
"As long as we rely
on this sector of Diaspora funds which we do not
have control over, we will
continue to suffer the consequences of these
price setters because we have
no control."
He said they continued to have repeat offenders because
the penalty
was very little and not deterrent.
"The fines that are
being imposed now are now deterrent at all," he
lamented.
"If a
business person is going to be fined for example one million
dollars, and
yet in one hour they would have made an unlawful profit of two
billion
dollars, they will say it is a worthwhile business risks to break
the law
because the fines are meaningless."
Government incepted the NIPC a few
months ago in a desperate bid to
reign in escalating prices that have driven
Zimbabwe's inflation to record
levels.
But the NIPC has failed to
contain the prices often triggered by
increases in cash withdrawal limits by
the central bank.
Most business last week ignored calls by NIPC not to
hike their prices
on the release of $1 billion, $5 billion and $10 billion
notes which were in
line with the increase in withdrawal limits.Prices of
most goods short by
more than 150 to 300 percent leaving government with no
clue on how to
contain recurrent price increases.
The moneychangers'
flea market in Zim's CBD
http://www.mg.co.za
MARKO PHIRI - Dec 21 2008 06:00
They wear
flashy garments and loud perfumes, presenting themselves as uptown
yuppies.
Many have that bulging African backside oozing cellulite,
celebrated by
women and men alike as the quintessence of beauty.
They flaunt their huge
behinds and sagging bellies as they stand by city
sidewalks in broad
daylight and make no effort to repress their sexuality.
But wait a
minute: they are not soliciting for brazen quickies in filthy
alleys as in
the days of Zimbabwe's economic boom. That -- as streetwise lay
historians
will tell you -- was during the early years when the one with a
Hitler
moustache had just inherited an enviable jewel this far side of the
Sahara
and the natives could afford all sorts of luxuries.
"Usiphatheleni bhudi
[What did you bring us, bro]?" they chorus as you go
about minding your
business -- like ruminating over where you will get your
next meal. Meet
Bulawayo's illegal moneychangers.
They yell their solicitations even with
a visibly impoverished and
bamboozled cop standing nearby -- never mind that
this street trade is
supposed to be illegal, according to the country's
central bank. Everyone
knows the poorly remunerated cops now get their bread
(minus the butter) in
the streets much like everyone else.
These
women have so honed their survival skills that they can be heard
telling off
the very poor law enforcement officer who threatens them with
arrest,
yelling obscenities about the cops being undersexed, and if the cop
is
lucky, he gets off with a pitiable bribe of a few dollars, just enough to
pay for a single trip home.
Moneychangers have colonised virtually
every street corner of the CBD,
turning it into a haven of illegal cash
transactions. Pedestrians wonder
aloud how many South African rands or US
greenbacks flood these mean streets
and whether these locals are causing
shortages of the rand in Jo'burg.
It has been whispered that the
hopelessly amoral central bank splashes
stacks of local dollars on its foot
soldiers in the form of these women
lurking on street corners to purchase
foreign currency from members of the
public. It is this foreign currency
that, the story goes, the central bank
uses to pay the ever-ballooning debts
of public utilities -- like the power
company that has to pay the
neighbouring countries from which Zimbabwe
imports its
electricity.
While millions toil -- poor residents can be heard cursing
loudly -- the
ladies with huge behinds live comfortable lives. They gorge on
junk food and
are the elite who can afford takeaways in a country where many
households
last had bread more than a year ago. Many here believe the barons
are fronts
for well-heeled politicians and high-up bank officials who splash
dollars on
these streets and have the whole country complaining about cash
shortages.
These women are the types who have friends in high (some say low)
places.
In the infancy of the moneychanging business -- which some say
can be traced
as far back as the early 1990s -- it was members of a
religious sect who
pioneered the trade. The women of the sect could be
easily identified by
their white religious garb, but many wondered when they
actually made time
to praise and worship.
These pioneering women
bought foreign currency so they could cross the
border and purchase goods
for resale back in Bulawayo. Now they reportedly
control the trade,
alongside incorrigibly corrupt senior government
officials, and the women
have retired to their mansions, while the small
fish do their
errands.
Because their religious garb became associated with
moneychanging, it was
only a matter of time before imitators appeared.
Though religion and prayer
were the last things on their minds, they adopted
religious garb to woo
customers -- and it worked.
But the trick had
its downside. The cops could now easily ID the illegal
moneychangers in this
once peaceful CBD, and wearing religious garb soon
became an occupational
hazard.
Members of the public also knew whom to target for mob justice
when they'd
been conned. The story back then, and now, was that the women
would sandwich
fake banknotes -- actually old newspapers -- between genuine
Zim dollars,
then rush you into accepting the stash by claiming that
plain-clothed police
were watching the illegal transaction. Now, however,
the religious garb has
disappeared, but the cons continue.
Believe or
not, the central bank expects members of the public to sell their
foreign
currency to banks so the impoverished government can have a source
of forex
after it decimated all foreign currency-earning sectors of the
economy.
But the ubiquitous women who yell "usiphatheleni" and make a
filthy rich
living for themselves have become an important part of the local
economy for
thousands here who receive remittances from friends and
relatives working
outside the country.
Residents Call For Dollarisation Of The Economy
http://www.radiovop.com
Masvingo- Residents of
Masvingo have called on the Central Bank
Governor Gideon Gono to allow them
to bank their money in foreign currency.
"Gono should only admit
that local currency has become useless. We no
longer want to continue using
the local currency because once the new note
is introduced, all prices for
basic goods will shoot up. Even if the
National Income Price Commission
(NIPC) put the legal prices for goods, no
one can listen to that.
"The best solution is to use forex. All workers must be paid in
forex," said
Munyaradzi Musarurwa.
Despite the introduction of new monthly
withdrawal limit upon
producing a pay slip, most people have been failing to
access their money.
"We are very disappointed because we could not
withdraw our
money...The whole process is very unfair, only uniformed forces
such as the
police managed to get their money," said a resident.
"The money has become completely useless. Gono is a failure and he
should
accept that his currency has become equally useless."
Meanwhile
soldiers are continuously beating up foreign currency
dealers.
"You fail to get the logic out of it. How can you beat people who help
us
with the forex? Why do they (soldiers) forget that we are paid in local
currency but almost every shop need forex? Where can we get the forex if
they beat these guys? They are not solving anything by beating these illegal
dealers," said Mutongi Chirinda.
Meanshile Gono has set a
trap for local firms by forcing them to show
their Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority (ZIMRA) payments to get pay slips.
Gono has been issuing
Zd 10 billion for those with pay slips from
their companies.
This
was up from Zd 500 million weekly.
Banking industry sources told Radio
VOP that he would next week swoop
on firms that did not have payments for
the taxation year 2008.
Gono said the withdrawal amounts would increase
monthly as inflation
goes up. Inflation is officially estimated to be 230
million percent
although financial anaysts say it is far much more than
that.
IoS Christmas Appeal: In Zimbabwe, porridge once a
day makes you a lucky girl
At an
early childhood centre children play, learn and, most importantly, eat. But for
many, this will be their only meal
By a special correspondent in
Matabeleland north, Zimbabwe
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Rachel Dwyer
Children eat at the centre supported by
Save the Children in north-western Zimbabwe
The 36 children attending an early childhood centre
in north-west Zimbabwe were lucky, and they knew it. They were wearing their
best clothes – even if, as in the case of three-year-old Milesh, this meant a
shirt that, while clean, was shredded at the back.
Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean children the same
age are on the brink of starvation, and millions are losing their education as
the collapse in government services closes school after school. All are at risk
from the cholera epidemic. But Milesh and friends were looking forward not only
to playing and learning together, but to getting what for many of them would be
their only meal of the day – a plate of porridge.
The children waited patiently under a tree, clapping
and singing while the food was prepared. They could not have been more orderly
as they came forward, were given a plate and carried it carefully back into the
shade. As soon as they were sitting down, the porridge – a special formula
called corn-soya blend, or CSB, fortified with minerals and sweetened with sugar
– disappeared in seconds.
Save the Children is helping more than 1,000
pre-school children in Zimbabwe in this way, but such is the chaos in the
country that it is having to feed the centre's helpers, too. "It would be very
difficult for me to travel here on an empty stomach," said one. She was scanning
the pupils to see who was missing, and was not surprised that Godgave, four, was
absent.
"Godgave is an orphan, and lives with his widowed
grandmother," said the helper. "They are very poor. He is often too weak from
hunger – he comes for one or two days, then he is away sick. We go and check on
him, but we have no food to carry to him." In such a state any childhood
disease, let alone cholera, could take his life.
Some of the children at the centre showed signs of
malnutrition. While most rushed around once they had eaten, playing on the slide
and the climbing frame, Milesh's six-year-old sister Zineth hovered near those
with food, until an adult gave her a half-eaten portion of CSB. She made instant
work of it. When workers later checked the children's weight-to-height ratio,
Zineth was one of seven who fell into the red zone on the chart, showing she was
malnourished. Milesh and 12 others were in the green zone, indicating normal
development. Another 16 came up yellow, which meant that of the 36 children at
the centre that day, 23 were either suffering from malnutrition or were close to
it.
It is not uncommon in Africa for boys in a family to
be favoured over girls at times of hardship, but when we accompanied Zineth and
Milesh home, their grandfather Mathias denied it was intentional. "We want to
treat the children the same," he said. "But when we have very little food, we
give it to the youngest. It's not because he is a boy."
Mathias and his wife Mary have brought up their
daughter's three children since she died five years ago and her husband deserted
them soon afterwards. "We haven't had sadza [a mash, made from maize meal, that
is Zimbabwe's staple food] for three days," he said. "We've been eating wild
fruits and begging a little maize meal from our neighbours. We got a few
cupfuls, which we gave to the children to eat. We had nothing for
ourselves."
The United Nations estimates that more than five
million Zimbabweans, roughly half of them children, urgently need food aid. Save
the Children is preparing to set up emergency feeding centres for children under
five, where even the severely malnourished can be rescued with a special food
called Plumpynut. Neither of these programmes will benefit Mathias and his
family, however, because they have livestock, and others are worse off.
"We have three donkeys, which we use to plough our
field," he said. "We didn't get any seeds when they were given out, but we
managed to barter some with a neighbour, in exchange for ploughing his field.
We're living each day as it comes. It's hard for the children – they see others
getting food and toys at Christmas, but we have nothing." His wife added: "When
they ask us about the situation, we have no answers. We feel very
helpless."
This story is being repeated across Zimbabwe.
Millions are suffering, through no fault of their own, as the nation falls into
chaos. Unless we help them, they have no cause for hope.
Some names have been changed.
Donations to date
The Independent on Sunday Christmas Appeal has
already raised over £25,000, but the plight of Zimbabwe's children means much
more is still needed.
£10 will feed 40 pre-school or primary school pupils
and teachers for one week.
£25 will provide toys for a pre-school
classroom.
£30 will clothe a family of three children so they
can go to school.
£40 will buy teaching materials, including pens,
paper and text books.
£66 will train a teacher.
AU calls for urgent humanitarian aid in Zimbabwe
Source: The
Zimbabwean
Date: 20 Dec 2008
President Jakaya Kikwete has
called upon the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) and the
international community to assist Zimbabwe in
fighting an outbreak of
cholera which has so far claimed lives of over 800
people.
The
Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard
Membe, who spoke on behalf of President Jakaya Kikwete, told a news
conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that there was an urgent need to
provide humanitarian aid to the people of Zimbabwe who were in unprecedented
economic and political crisis.
In the spirit of supporting Zimbabwe
against the outbreak, the minister
handed over drugs and other hospital
equipment worth over 75m/- to the
Zimbabwean acting High Commissioner, Ms
Taremba Taremba at the Julius
Nyerere International Airport.
The
consignment was the second batch of drugs and equipment donation meant
as a
response to the urgent need for serious humanitarian crisis
interventions in
Zimbabwe. The first batch of drugs and equipment arrived in
Zimbabwe on
December 18, this year. Mr Membe also reaffirmed that the
humanitarian
assistance should not be treated with a political note.
The main focus at
the juncture was to save lives of thousands of innocent
Zimbabweans who were
experiencing deep miseries. In recent days, the ZANU-PF
leader president
Robert Mugabe was quoted as saying that his country had
successfully
contained the outbreak of cholera.
The international humanitarian
organizations, however, maintained that
cholera remains prevalent and many
people still fell victim to the killer
disease. Meanwhile, the minister for
Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation Bernard Membe said that
President Jakaya Kikwete, currently the
AU chairman, continued with
diplomatic efforts to find best ways to resolve
the political impasse in
Zimbabwe.
He said the AU was spearheading consultation with all key
players and the
result on the progress was expected to be released soon. The
Zimbabwe's
ruling party ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC, under growing
domestic,
regional and international pressure, hammered out a power-sharing
deal on
Sept 15, which was widely seen as the only cure of the country's
longstanding economic and political crisis.
But they have since been
bickering over which ministries each side should
control. The bickering,
mainly centred on control of the powerful ministries
of defense, home
affairs, finance, information, local government and
justice, now threatens
the power-sharing agreement brokered by former South
African President Thabo
Mbeki over several months on behalf of the African
Union and
SADC.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai
accuses
President Mugabe of attempting to take all the key ministries,
leaving his
partners in the proposed coalition government with
inconsequential cabinet
portfolios. Tsvangirai has vowed never to accept
skewed sharing of power,
threatening to pull out of the proposed unity
government in which he has
been designated prime minister, while Mugabe
president.
Harare - Aid workers struggle to stop cholera spreading
Source: Institute for
War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Date: 19 Dec 2008
They warn
outbreak could get worse, as rainwater washes human excrement into
open
drains of stricken slums
By Chipo Sithole in Harare (ZCR No. 173,
19-Dec-08)
Shamiso Mushonga, eight months pregnant with her third child,
feels like a
prisoner in the two-room shack she shares with her other two
children in
densely populated Budiriro.
She said she is so afraid of
the cholera that since August has already
killed hundreds in this Harare
slum - including her husband in September -
that she cannot allow her
children to go out to play. She has not left her
cramped quarters for the
past four days, only going to the market with her
children firmly in
tow.
The last time she remembers going outside was to buy vegetables,
which she
said she boiled thoroughly before cooking.
Budiriro, a
vast, squalid wasteland of shacks and refuse, is home to
hundreds of
thousands. The shanties resemble a collage of scrap lumber,
rusted metal and
chicken wire.
The suburb is part of a semi-complete housing development
where neither a
sewage system nor a fresh water supply was ever put in
place. Most residents
have no potable water or latrines, and people here
relieve themselves in the
bush because the few toilets there are
blocked.
The city slum presents a picture of total neglect - stinking
pools of
stagnant water, overflowing drains and rotting garbage out in the
open.
With the onset of the rainy season, there has been a sharp increase
in the
incidence of the water-borne disease in Budiriro.
"It's
raining cholera, literally," Mushonga tells IWPR.
Aid agencies warn that
in spite of their efforts to try to halt its spread,
the cholera outbreak
could get worse, as rainwater washes human excrement
into the open
drains.
"People are living in extremely bad conditions here," said a
water and
sanitation expert with Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors
Without Borders.
"As you can see, there are mountains of rubbish
everywhere. So, when the
rains started coming - and it's been raining
heavily here in Harare
recently - the rain has been washing all this rubbish
and it is mixing with
all the excreta that is lying around in the community
because the people
don't have access to latrines."
Overcrowding in
Budiriro compounds the problem. The slum has experienced
massive population
growth since Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Filth)
was carried out in
2005. The slum-clearance drive left 700,000 mostly
opposition supporters
homeless, as bulldozers flattened their homes.
Large numbers of patients
throng makeshift health centres set up by aid
agencies, as public hospitals
here have been closed.
At a United Nations children's agency, UNICEF,
truck delivering clean water,
dozens line up, waiting hours for a few
buckets for washing, drinking and
cooking. When the supply runs out, they
scoop it out of filthy drains or the
pools of water that have run through
the rubbish heaps in the township.
The whole area is plagued by water and
sewage problems, notes Professor
Heneri Dzinotyiwei, an opposition member of
parliament for Budiriro and a
lecturer at the University of
Zimbabwe.
"Health care services are flooded with patients suffering from
water-borne
diseases since the onset of the rains," he said.
"Every
other day, residents complain about the blocked sewage pipes. We have
appealed to the government department responsible for this and they are not
forthcoming. The threat of an even worse epidemic breaking out is looming
large in my area and the authorities will be held responsible for
it."
The situation is similar in other slums and low-lying areas in the
city,
including Glen View and Glen Norah, where open spaces are littered
with
garbage, which has not been removed for months.
And it's not
just Harare which is affected. Since August, cholera has spread
through nine
of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. As of December 16, more than
17,000 cases had
been reported, according to the United Nations Office for
the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.
Aid agencies say with the onset of the
rainy season, fresh cases of cholera
have been detected in Chegutu, 100
kilometres west of Harare, where 60
people have died over the past week.
There are also reports of new
infections in Masvingo, almost 300 km
south-east of Harare, and in the town
of Nyamapanda, which lies close to the
border with Mozambique.
According to the UN, the death toll in country
now stands at over 1,000.
When the disease first broke out, President
Robert Mugabe appeared to be in
denial, saying he was on top of the
situation.
He claimed that sanctions imposed by western countries had
prevented the
government from buying chemicals to treat the water
supply.
The 84-year-old leader later claimed that Zimbabwe's former
colonial power,
Britain, had embarked on biological warfare against the
country, branding
cholera part of foreign aggression and attempted genocide
against
Zimbabweans.
On December 3, the Zimbabwean authorities seemed
to acknowledge the gravity
of the situation with health minister David
Parirenyatwa requesting
international assistance to tackle the
outbreak.
The response has been immediate, with international financiers
and western
governments providing clean drinking water, purifying tablets
and medicines.
But donors have voiced outrage at statements by Mugabe
that the epidemic has
now been brought under control, even as UNICEF
reported that the disease has
spread to two-thirds of the country and has
begun spilling over into
neighbouring Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique,
mainly because of heavy
rain.
While UNICEF is trucking in fresh water
supplies to the country, this is
still not enough to meet the
demand.
In areas where the supply runs out, people are forced to buy
water from
neighbouring suburbs. The trade in water is rife with
profiteering - the
cost is ten times higher than what the residents with
piped water pay to the
Zimbabwe National Water Authority, ZINWA.
In a
place where many people live on less than 50 US cents a day, most
simply
cannot buy it and are forced to scoop it out of filthy drains.
Though the
government claims that it is addressing sanitation problems, the
reality on
the ground is different.
"The situation is pathetic. Our life has become
worse than pigs. The
overwhelming stench is just unbearable," said Raymond
Mutasa, a Budiriro
resident.
Mutasa dragged this reporter over to a
heap of rotting garbage.
"When we pass this area we pinch our noses to
avoid the stench," chips in
Shupikai, another resident, adding that they
burn incense at night to make
things bearable in their houses when having
supper.
When you ask residents whether government officials visit them,
they stare
at you.
"Yes, they have started coming after the media
started reporting on the
deaths from cholera," said Patricia Mnkuli, a
vegetable vendor,
sarcastically pointing at the heaps of garbage surrounding
the dustbins and
a pool of stagnant dirty water that has turned green with
scum.
Mushonga said she will remain indoors with her two children until
the
situation is under control.
"I cannot lose any more people to
this disease," she said.
Chipo Sithole is the pseudonym of an
IWPR-trained reporter in Zimbabwe.
Khupe
Calls For Accurate Cholera Information
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, December 21, 2008 - The
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
Vice President, Thoko Khupe says the
country's leadership must not give
wrong information about the cholera
outbreak.
Khupe, from the Morgan Tsvangirai Faction,
told female
parliamentarians attending a workshop in Harare recently that
donors were
willing to help if given all information.
Cholera,
which broke out in August, has so far claimed 1 100 lives
with 20 000 more
people suffering from the disease, that kills quickly if
not properly
managed.
Meanwhile the Harare City Council (HCC) has banned all
vending of
food stuffs at the soccer Rufaro Stadium.
A plate of
sadza and meat or chicken was going for USd 4 while that
for a plate of
fresh chips with chicken or beef was going for USd 5 at the
stadium.
Vendors said they would lose business due to the
ban.
However relief agencies were last week still struggling to contain
the
devastating cholera outbreak in Chegutu, which has so far claimed at
least
160 lives in less than two weeks.
"The current situation in
Zimbabwe is extremely worrying but aid
agencies, donors and the government
of Zimbabwe are continuing to respond in
an intensive and co-ordinated
manner to bring the epidemic under control,"
said John Holmes, chief of the
UN's Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New
York.
The aid agencies said the epidemic in Chegutu had been the "worst
so
far" since the disease was first detected in August with medical
personnel
on the ground attending to at least 140 cases a day.
Last week health workers had reportedly attended to more than 800
cases.
Relief agencies say the death rate in the small town, with a
population of
around 150 000, was worrisome.
In other parts of the country, they
said the outbreak was far from
being contained. In the Harare townships of
Budiriro and Glen View, the
epidemic was reportedly still wreaking havoc
with at least 100 deaths having
been confirmed in the area.
The
OCHA says more than 20 500 cholera cases have been reported in
Zimbabwe
since August.
The agency also blamed the recurring outbreaks in
Chegutu on the lack
of clean drinking water, poor sanitation and worsening
conditions in the
health sector.
Thousands Turn To Sangomas For Medication
http://www.radiovop.com
Masvingo-As the country's
health system continues to crumble,
desperate patients are left without any
option besides turning to
traditional healers for medication, a survey in
the province has revealed.
Zimbabwe National
Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha)'s
provincial secretary Samuel
Ndambakuwa said: "We have never witnessed such a
huge turn out before. We
are the only people who are helping people in the
province. As an
organization, we opened an office at the city centre in Kyle
Building so
that people would easily locate us.
"During previous years, people
thought that we are associated with
evil spirits but it has come clear that
we are dedicated life savers."
He said people who need constant
medical check ups such HIV and Aids
together with those infected by sexually
transmitted diseases were top on
the list of visits to Sangomas. Even
pregnant women were also going to
Sangomas for assistance to
deliver.
Prophets in the city also confirmed they were seeing an
increased
number of patients due to the closure of state Hospitals.
Posters advertising expertise from different Sangomas are displayed at
different places in town.
"We were shy to seek for treatment and
medical inspection from
traditional healers but we are left with no option,
these people are helping
us and I encourage people that they move with times
and trust these guys
(traditional healers) rather than dying at
home.
"I also learnt that people are greatly helped. The consultation
fees
are very reasonable, more over besides being cheaper, one can bargain
and
pay with other things rather than money," said Tafadzwa Makiwa.
Meanwhile, some hospitals are continuously closing.
Gutu Mission
Hospital is on verge of closing as it has run out of
drugs and
food.
Member of Parliament for Gutu Central Constituency Oliver Chirume
told
Radio VOP:
"As I am speaking, I am in my way to Gutu Mission
for a stakeholders
meeting. The hospital is about to be closed but we are
going to find out
what we can do to prevent the closure of hospital. Of late
the hospital has
been hit by several problems."
Christmas
is missing in Zimbabwe
http://www.hararetribune.com
Sunday, 21 December 2008 17:46 Hon. Eddie
Cross
There will be very little to celebrate this Christmas in Zimbabwe
if you're
not a Christian. There is very little food - my trousers are all
hanging on
me as I have lost so much weight in recent months. There is very
little sign
of any progress politically and the economic and humanitarian
crisis just
goes on deepening. For thousands this will be a Christmas to
forget and many
will spend the holiday grieving over loved ones
lost.
Since the start of 2008 some 560 people have been abducted - the
bodies of
only 220 have been found, many mutilated and burned almost beyond
recognition. In the past three weeks some 44 people have been abducted -
Gandhi Mudzingwa, a senior MDC activist was taken at 16.00 hours in a busy
street and his companion dumped on the street while the abductors - all men
with arms, sped off. Justina Mukoko was abducted from home at 5 am in front
of her children, was taken dressed only in a nightdress and without her
glasses or heart medicine.
On his way to Parliament a senior MDC
leader was the victim of an attempted
abduction in the early afternoon in
traffic - the brazenness of these
attacks stands out, the perpetrators are
all armed, in numbers, driving
unmarked cars - many without number plates
and they show no fear of arrest
or discovery. Just who are they? Of one
thing you can be sure - they are
organised, financed and protected by the
Junta that runs the country today.
In Parliament this week, MDC
legislators hammered the message home - 'these
are violations of human
rights, they are crimes against humanity and will
not be forgiven or
forgotten'. The perpetrators were put on notice; they
will eventually, be
brought to book.
On the political front it was not a great week - at
least in public. After
the success of the week before where President
Motlanthe had forced the Zanu
PF negotiators to accept a draft of the
required constitutional amendments
to implement the SADC Agreement, he had
thought the game was over. He wrote
a letter to the Parties saying that they
should get on with the amendments
and then immediately form a
government.
Mugabe responded by writing to Morgan Tsvangirai and inviting
him to come to
Harare and be sworn in as Prime Minister. Tsvangirai's
response was that
Mugabe had no right to swear in anybody - he was not
President until the
Parliament of Zimbabwe said so after adopting the 19th
Amendment. We do not
have a legitimate government at present and do what
they will, Zanu cannot
pretend otherwise. Nothing they are doing has any
legal foundation, and they
know it.
Instead Tsvangirai demanded that
the remaining issues be dealt with by the
negotiators , the structure and
composition of the National Security
Council, the equitable allocation of
Ministerial Portfolios and the
appointment of Governors. In addition,
Tsvangirai added a new demand -
produce all the people abducted by the 1st
of January or the MDC will break
off all contacts with Zanu PF.
I
have seen comment in South Africa that these are empty threats - they are
not. I can assure everyone that Morgan Tsvangirai is determined not to move
one iota before these demands are met in full. If MDC does withdraw from the
SADC brokered deal then the country and the region have a very real problem.
There can be no solution to the Zimbabwe crisis without the MDC and if a
solution is not found soon, the consequences for the country and the region
are dire.
I represent a constituency with thousands of poor,
struggling people in a
high-density area of Bulawayo. I rub shoulders with
Zimbabweans from all
walks of life every day. I know of no one - not a
single person, who would
advise Morgan otherwise. Even though they must
struggle to live and face a
completely uncertain future, Zimbabwe is saying
to us do not give in and do
not go in until we have a fair and workable deal
with MDC in charge of
Government.
So the ball is now in Motlanthe's
court once again. Zanu PF is in turmoil.
On Tuesday night their Harare
Province was electing new leadership and
violence broke out. Live ammunition
was used and we understand there were
deaths and injuries. Amos Midzi - a
former Minister, was forced to run for
his life. The Police were called and
fired tear gas to quell the trouble -
the State media completely ignored the
incident. Number three in the
military hierarchy and a member of the Junta
was driving on his farm in
Shamva when he was ambushed and shot. His car was
riddled with bullet holes
and there is no sign of him at present - he is not
in any private hospital
and all the State run hospitals are closed. Our
information is that this was
an inside job.
This past week the debate
in Parliament has been a nightmare for Zanu PF.
Several issues were debated
and a resolution on the food crisis by the MDC
was adopted without
opposition. Debates on political violence, the health
crisis and on the
false allegations about the MDC training militia were also
debated - almost
completely without opposition from the Zanu benches. I was
pleased with the
quality of the contributions and the courage of the
speakers - after all
they were standing three metres away from Emmerson
Mnangagwa who is
nicknamed the 'crocodile' and who sits in his place with
his eyes almost
closed but listens to every word that is being said.
But I am convinced
that South Africa will now take appropriate action to
ensure that the MDC
demands are met, in full and quickly. I would not be
surprised to see this
happen before Christmas. Then we might, just might,
have something to
celebrate.
At this time of the year we celebrate the birth of Christ. He
came as an
ordinary baby to an ordinary family and was raised in poor
circumstances and
trained as a manual worker. He never held high office,
ministered for a mere
three years before being convicted as a criminal and
murdered in one of the
most cruel manners still known to man. His death
closed a chapter of hope
for his people - a subject community held in abject
slavery to Roman
dominance and colonial cruelty. His small band of disciples
were shattered
and thought that it was all over, the light of their lives
had gone out.
But Christmas was followed by Easter and the miracle of the
resurrection
with its confirmation that everything Christ had said and done
was true.
Defeat was transformed into triumph, slavery into freedom,
colonial
domination to self-government and discipline. Nothing was the same
again -
the world was turned the right side up.
We know from history
that tyrants always get their comeuppance. We know that
truth and justice
always prevails. But we also know that change, real change
takes a lot of
pain and that is what we have been experiencing in the past
ten years.
Outside my office right now it's a glorious day - about 25 c with
deep blue
skies and a light breeze. The veld is a verdant green, the rains
have come
and the long dry season is over, perhaps this Christmas will be a
turning
point for us, what a gift that would be!
What
I wish for Christmas this year
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8959
December 21, 2008
By Jane
Madembo
CHRISTMAS is a time of joy and peace. It is time for generosity.
This
Christmas, like in any other year, many people the world over will
celebrate
the birth of Christ. Gifts will be given and
received.
Churches will reverberate with the sound of
carols.
While the rest of the world will be celebrating Christmas this
year; in
every part of Zimbabwe, there are children who will spend this
Christmas
without their parents. There will be parents spending Christmas
without
their children.
Zimbabweans in forced exile will spend
another solitary Christmas.
A lot of Zimbabweans have died this year, at
the hands of Mugabe's hit
squad. They were killed for daring to challenge
the Mugabe leadership. They
were killed for exercising their democratic
right. Desperate Zimbabweans
panning for diamonds at Chiadzwa were gunned
down in broad daylight. Others
died because no one in Mugabe's government
felt responsible enough to
provide water purification material. They died of
neglect, because the
government doesn't care any more. Long before the
cholera outbreak, someone
forwarded me footage of sewage flowing down the
streets of Mabvuku. This was
disaster waiting to happen.
Mugabe has
the audacity to patronize us with his "it's the British who
brought cholera
to Zimbabwe" thing.
In countries where government does its job, lights
will light up the skies
and decorate the streets with color. The shops will
be busy with people
buying presents for their families. They will be
excitement, laughter and
music in the air.
In Zimbabwe, the streets
will remain dark, the air thick with the smell of
flowing sewage and
sickness. Supermarket shelves will be empty. Mortuaries
and graveyards will
be busy as usual.
Instead songs of joy celebrating the birth of Christ,
the people will be
singing songs of sadness, loss and despair.
Ever
since I was a child in colonial Rhodesia I have always looked forward
to
Christmas. My father, whom I hardly saw during the course of the year
because he was working more than 500km away or a mining company, only came
home at Christmas. He would combine the holiday with his leave days and stay
with us for a month. Although my parents were poor according to western
standards, I knew that I would have a present for
Christmas.
Christmas was special. It was the only time of the year that I
could
guarantee that I would get things that I couldn't get at any other
time of
the year. I would receive a new dress, shoes or both. I would get to
eat a
lot of bread, cake and sweets. Like every other child, my wishes were
simple
and attainable. I took for granted the family gatherings, when all
the
extended families got together.
As I grew older, and able to
provide for myself, I thought Christmas wishes
were for the young. Today I
can have all the material things that I ever
wished for as a child plus
more.
But I do have Christmas wishes. I wish Mugabe would go. I wish the
people
who are supporting Mugabe would see the light that change is like a
big
wave. They can fight and resist it, but they won't win. Change is going
to
come.
This year the Zimbabwean people dared to hope that they will
have a
different Christmas. They hoped that they would have a President of
their
choice.
Mugabe went to war to fight for our freedom so that
Zimbabweans could be
free to live like other people in democratic societies.
That freedom allows
Zimbabweans today to speak out, air their views and to
demand for a better
government.
The independence of Zimbabwe was
supposed to be the beginning of a new
democratic Zimbabwe. Instead, Mugabe
just took over from Ian Smith and
changed the locks.
This Christmas
there will be children crying at night because they are
hungry and sick.
They will spent Christmas without food, or alone and scared
about the
future. They will spend this Christmas longing for their parents
or loved
ones, and wishing they were there with them.
It's a shame that Mugabe
chose to take the country backwards to the barbaric
ages. Mugabe and ZANU-PF
need to wake up to the fact that this is not the
liberation struggle. They
are fighting the wrong war, and the wrong people.
The children and relatives
of their victims will live on and one day they
will ask for
answers.
They are many people who have died at the hands of Mugabe's
military,
militia or police. This Christmas their families will wish for
Mugabe to go
and for justice to prevail.
During the last ten years,
Zimbabwean families have been split apart, and
scattered all over the world.
But, wherever they are, I can guarantee you
that Zimbabweans have one wish.
They wish Mugabe would go. Instead of
celebrating the dawn of a new year,
this Christmas will reopen the wounds
that have festering in the minds and
hearts of Zimbabweans who have lost
their relatives at the hands of the
Mugabe regime.
Gono, the Santa Claus of Zimbabwe will be doling out
presents as usual to
the ruling elite. Flat screen television sets for
satellite television
programs will be among the gift items. Local television
full of ZANU-PF
propaganda is for the masses.
Mugabe and members of
his ZANU-PF government members will fly in imported
gadgets, imported food
and wine from abroad. They will throw lavish parties
and feasts fit for a
king. Christmas will be celebrated as usual. But
outside the gates of their
gardens of paradise, the Zimbabwean people will
be loitering hoping to catch
the crumbs from the king's table.
This Christmas, Zimbabweans are united
in their pain, and struggles. They
all want and wish for the same thing this
Christmas, a decent government
that will secure their future.
Christmas bleak for
Zimbabweans fleeing collapse
Associated Press
Dec 21, 7:32 AM EST
By DONNA BRYSON
Associated Press
Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The
last Sunday before Christmas was
celebrated with a carol service in a
downtown Johannesburg church that has
become a haven for hundreds of
Zimbabweans who have fled their nation's
collapse.
While songs in her
native Shona and other southern African languages were
being sung in the
main chapel of the Central Methodist Church, Takelah
Chakamza sat nearby in
a crowed room that doubles as a kitchen by day and
women's sleeping quarters
by night, reviewing a bleak Christmas shopping
list.
Cooking oil.
Corn meal. Soap. Chakamza's family in Harare, Zimbabwe's
capital, had sent
the list that morning by mobile phone text message.
Chakamza, who earns 800
rand (about $80) a month cooking for a Johannesburg
family, would buy the
groceries and send them by bus, to be collected at the
main Harare bus
station. She had no extra money for presents for her mother,
father, four
sisters and brothers, daughter and four nieces and nephews back
home.
"I'm the breadwinner. I'm the one who is supporting everyone,"
said
Chakamza, who is among an estimated 3 million Zimbabwean economic and
political refugees in South Africa.
The food and cash Zimbabweans
abroad send home are a lifeline for a country
where food, medicine and most
other basic goods are desperately scarce. To
add to the misery, in recent
months, waterborne cholera has spread quickly
because city officials across
Zimbabwe can no longer afford to pick up trash
or buy chemicals to purify
water, and most hospitals have closed. Cholera,
which is easily prevented
and treated, has killed more than 1,000
Zimbabweans since
August.
Critics blame Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for the meltdown
in a
country that once boasted the finest health system in the region and
exported food. Agriculture production has plummeted since he ordered an
often violent land reform campaign in 2000 that saw farms go to his cronies
instead of the poor blacks he has championed. Mugabe blames Western
sanctions, though the European Union and U.S. travel bans and orders
freezing bank accounts are targeted only at Mugabe and dozens of his top
aides.
The 84-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the country since
independence from
Britain in 1980, lost March presidential elections, but
has refused to step
down. A power-sharing deal proposed by Zimbabwe's
neighbors as a solution
has stalled in a dispute over whether Mugabe or his
opposition would control
key Cabinet posts.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader
of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
threatened Friday to halt
power-sharing talks unless political detainees are
released or charged by
Jan. 1. President Robert Mugabe hinted at early
elections Saturday, saying
ominously that his supporters, accused of
widespread political violence,
should mobilize to avoid a repeat of his loss
in March. Independent human
rights groups have accused Mugabe's regime of
stepping up attacks on
dissidents in recent weeks.
In Zimbabwe, David Tafa, a farmer in the
Bindura region, said: "There's no
Christmas to talk about. There's no water,
no food."
While carolers at Central Methodist sang of the peaceful
message of
Christmas Sunday, William Kandowe, a 36-year-old teacher from
Harare, said
he was becoming convinced Mugabe would have to be forced out by
Zimbabweans.
"Elections have failed - those who win cannot rule. If you
talk of talks,
there are no talks," he said. "The only hope will be if we
Zimbabweans can
stand up for our rights."
Kandowe spent last
Christmas at Central Methodist, and would be sheltering
at the church again
this Christmas. In the year and a half he has been in
South Africa, the
36-year-old Kandowe has helped Zimbabweans at the church
organize computer
classes for adults and a small school following the
Zimbabwean syllabus for
children. He also has seen the number seeking refuge
grow from about 1,500
to about 3,800.
So many come every night now that more and more are
sleeping outside on the
pavement, he said.
Chakamza, who turns 36 the
day after Christmas, would be spending the
holiday and her birthday at
Central Methodist, her home since February. She
was hoping to work and earn
a few extra rand on Christmas Day, and was
waiting Sunday to hear whether
her boss would need her. She said she also
expected to spend next Christmas
far from her family.
"I don't think things will change in Zimbabwe," she
said. "It will take
years."
A
bleak Christmas, the New Year and poor Zimbabweans
Sunday, 21 December 2008 00:00
Ashley D. Mwanza
These are some of the most vulnerable who depend heavily on food handouts.
Will Christmas be as joyful as it should be? Will they get back to school in
2009? Will their parents be able to afford the fees? We all wait and
hope.
Another year has gone by and yet
again it’s the suffering, the sickness, hunger, starvation and death which have
all escalated that signal the worst situation ever to engulf the beautiful
country, the beautiful people. This was a year that promised so much but
Zimbabwe will still have to wait to be normal yet or at least show signs of
returning to normalcy. Zimbabweans are reeling - for at least the eighth year
running - under unprecedented economic hardships. This Christmas, for many, is
hardly going to be a time for celebrating.
Zimbabweans are predominantly Christian
and they take Christmas very seriously. Though, there will be no real Christmas
in Zimbabwe. Yes, December 25 will come and go. For many in Zimbabwe, Christmas
this year centres on fond memories of the past rather than anticipation of good
times ahead. Christmas was good back then, a time of plenty, but now it is just
another difficult day to get through. For us Zimbabweans, this will probably be
the worst Christmas since we achieved our national independence 28 years
ago.
A recent assessment by
Caritas Zimbabwe which is also known as the Catholic Development
Commission (CADEC) with support from Catholic Agency for Overseas
Development (CAFOD) shows there is now very little to distinguish
between the most vulnerable and everyone else in the country. The entire country
is now virtually on its knees. The survey, carried out in October, revealed
70-90% of households interviewed are on the brink of hunger. In the
21st century we have in parts of the country where there were and are
households going for days surviving only on wild fruits, roots and in some cases
eating insects. Well over half of Zimbabwe's urban population live below the
poverty line.
At Harare's refuse
dumps, scores of bedraggled men, women and children move systematically, like
vultures, through foul-smelling rubbish, scratching for food and anything that
might be sold or bartered. Before 2000, Zimbabwe fed much of southern Africa and
massive quantities of fruit, vegetables and flowers were exported worldwide. All
of that has come to a standstill, as hundreds of thousands of once-productive
hectares now lie idle.
Our traditional
understanding of Christmas is that it is an occasion when we think of the Lord
Jesus Christ and how through him, humanity has experienced the greatest gift of
all. It is through Jesus Christ that we have experienced life in its fullness. I
am afraid that the message of "fullness of life" will be hard to understand for
Zimbabweans today.
It is without doubt
Zimbabweans are experiencing their bleakest Yuletide, it is most heartbreaking.
All optimism is almost lost, people are starting to show signs of exhaustion,
desperation and utter despair, and they have lost all hope.
As a populace we have
reached breaking point. Its either you have or you don’t have "Society is
polarised between those who have access to hard currency - such as US dollars or
the South African Rand - to buy food, and those who do not," said a CAFOD
representative recently.
To date the Catholic
Church has been better placed to reach vulnerable people in communities with
life-saving food parcels, but the number of the vulnerable continues to grow
rapidly, hence the resources available are stretched. Zimbabwe’s health system
is in intensive care. From village to national hospitals, patients find that
healthcare is not working.
My heart bleeds for
those who find themselves between a rock and a hard place, hospitals are ghost
towns with nurses and doctors no longer turning up for work, because their
salaries do not cover transport costs and they can’t afford to buy basic foods.
People are now relying on mission hospitals for their medical and healthcare
needs, which too have been stretched beyond their limits.
The education system is
in a similar state of collapse, with pupils not able to learn because of the
absence of teachers, most schools may not even open in the new year, there will
be no one to teach and some may simply not be able to afford the fees.
The cholera crisis has
hit the most vulnerable and will only get worse, the UN World Health
Organisation (WHO) warns the disease will be more difficult to contain as it
spreads from urban to rural areas.
Many of Zimbabwe's poor
say they simply won't have Christmas this year. However, it won’t be all gloom
though, with some people saying they were keeping the spirit of Christmas alive.
But for all Zimbabweans, this is just Christmas. It will not be a "happy"
Christmas. Most Zimbabweans are really happy that 2008 is at last coming to a
close, but they also have serious trepidations about 2008. It is really sad
because there's nothing on the horizon indicating change for the better, at
least anytime soon.
Against
all odds may I wish all Zimbabweans a happy Christmas and a blessed New Year. It
is my heartfelt hope and conviction that Zimbabwe shall be a different place in
2009. All we can do is pray… God Bless Zimbabwe at Christmas.
For all
those who have been with us through these difficult times, on behalf of the
people of Zimbabwe, from the bottom of my heart, Thank
you!
As
Bad As It Gets, Until It Gets Worse
http://www.newsweek.com/id/176410
By Rod Nordland | NEWSWEEK
Published
Dec 20, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Jan 5, 2009
When you hear
the brutal details about Zimbabwe, it's hard to imagine how it
can get any
worse without the government collapsing, or Robert Mugabe
resigning. The
hyperinflation, the millions going hungry, the canceled
anti-AIDS programs,
the 3 million (out of a total 11 million) who have fled
the country. Then
you go there, as I did in June, and the most striking
thing is the normalcy
amid all that hardship. There's the group of nine
high-school graduates
meeting with the American ambassador before they head
to the United States
for college; at night they hide from marauding
enforcers looking for
opposition voters. Young men with clubs chant as they
trot along a road
after dark, looking for victims, but a white woman pushing
a child in a
stroller crosses just in front of them, unmolested. Mugabe is
an Anglophile,
and so are many Zimbabweans. Everyone's talking about the
forthcoming
elections-which Mugabe was clearly going to steal (and did)-and
the
vanishing or murdered opposition politicians, but they also crowd around
TVs
to watch Britain's Andy Murray advance to the semifinals at Wimbledon,
and
debate loudly whether he's too obnoxious to deserve victory.
When I was
there, I moved underground with striking ease, in a land where
being a
foreign correspondent is a criminal offense. Zimbabweans hid me,
helped me,
even fed me-sometimes when they had too little to eat themselves.
The
car-rental agent winked when I changed cars-again and again. They tipped
me
to the secret policeman sitting next to me at a hotel business center.
Once,
the police nearly caught me, at a demonstration, and put me in the
back of
their pickup truck with other prisoners. Unlike them, I wasn't
cuffed and
they advised me to just run, so I did, with the police in hot
pursuit; we
all jumped into our vehicles, and I had my first, and I hope
last, car
chase. The police didn't have a chance. I careered around a
corner, and a
crowd of onlookers wandered into the street and blocked the
cops' way, just
long enough for a clean getaway and another visit to the
car-rental
agency.
Unfortunately, it has gotten much worse there since June, and one
can't help
but think that these must really be the very last days. A cholera
epidemic.
Two million people on the World Food Program feeding rosters. A
central bank
accused of stealing the entire $136 million donated to AIDS
victims. Police
and Army troops fighting one another, after unpaid soldiers
broke into money
changers' shops and paid themselves. Since 1998 people have
been saying that
Mugabe's Zimbabwe can't possibly get worse, and yet, it
always does.
Bishop's
Tour A Resounding Success
http://au.christiantoday.com
Posted: Sunday, 21 December 2008, 13:11
(EST)
All CDP Members of goodwill are entitled to feel proud at the
success of the
Australian Tour of Rt Rev Dr Sebastian Bakare, Anglican
Bishop of Harare,
Zimbabwe. The Bishop arrived in Sydney on 20 Nov 08 and
returned from Perth
to his homeland on 5 Dec.
Bishop Bakare
travelled nearly 4,000 km in NSW, his itinerary embracing 33
venues from
Wagga Wagga in the south to Coffs Harbour in the north. Perhaps
uniquely
among Anglican Bishops, he preached at St Mary's Cathedral and St
Stephen's
Uniting Church on the same day. In Perth on Thu 4 December Bishop
Bakare
addressed a major event at the Churchlands Christian Fellowship,
organised
by CDP WA.
Bishop Bakare shared his message with clergy including one
Anglican
archbishop and five brother bishops plus a cross section of pastors
and
priests. He met the Premier of NSW and State Ministers and
parliamentarians,
fifteen Federal parliamentarians, Mayor of Shoalhaven Paul
Green and half a
dozen other Lord Mayors and Mayors, local groups of
expatriate Zimbabweans,
very many CDP members and supporters and large
numbers of interested
Australians. He appeared in a major SBS TV report and
was interviewed by
Christian radio and by prominent media personalities from
networks operated
by 2GB, the ABC, 2UE, 2SM and even the BBC. Through the
Bishop's sincerity
and eloquence, many more Australians now understand how
serious is the
plight of our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. By bringing
Bishop Bakare to
Australia, the Christian Democratic Party has demonstrated
its compassion
and exhibited its willingness to take the lead in a vitally
important issue.
This has been our most successful project since the 2007
State Election.
Tour organiser Michael Darby reported: "The Bishop
inspires everyone he
meets, and while alerting Australians to the horrors of
starvation, cholera
and brutality suffered by Zimbabweans, he never ceases
to express his
profound Christian Faith. Bishop Bakare and Reverend Fred
Nile make a great
team."
During Bishop Bakare's visit more than
$15,000 was raised to support the
Bishop's Christian charitable efforts in
Zimbabwe. With your help and
prayers and through the Grace of God, we can be
confident that the flow of
donations will continue. CDP and the Bishop will
ensure that money donated
to save children from starvation will reach those
children in the form of
nourishing meals. Bishop Bakare has identified
several priorities in saving
lives in Zimbabwe. CDP is energetically
supporting the Bishop's school meals
program, which beginning with the
Anglican Schools in the Harare Diocese,
will with God's help spread
throughout the nation and save countless lives.
Readers may donate to
save children from starvation and promote Bishop
Bakare's Christian message
of peace and hope by sending a generous cheque
to: Christians Saving
Children, c/o CDP, GPO Box 141, Sydney NSW 2001.
African
churches 'disturbed' by inaccurate reporting
http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk
The All Africa Conference of
Churches (AACC) says it is disturbed by news
that "African churches request
God to take Mugabe", carried by certain
international media and allegedly
emanating from the recently concluded 9th
General Assembly of the AACC in
Maputo (7 to 12 December). They say this
statement is inaccurate.
The
AACC, at its General Assembly, discussed with serious concern the
deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and called on the member churches to
continue working and praying together with the brothers and sisters in
Zimbabwe for an end to the human suffering of the people and for justice,
peace and reconciliation to prevail.
The AACC acknowledged with
self-criticism that not enough has been done so
far and called on the AU and
its member states to intensify pressure on
President Mugabe to relinquish
control of the Zimbabwe government and to
facilitate healing and
recovery.
In his sermon at the closing worship of the Assembly, the Rev
Dr. Sam Kobia
(WCC General Secretary) affirmed the role played by the SADC
appointed
facilitator to the Zimbabwe crisis, former President Thabo Mbeki,
who gave
the closing address to the Assembly. Rev Dr Kobia also acknowledged
Mr Mbeki's
very difficult task and called for perseverance in the efforts to
end the
Zimbabwe crisis.
The AACC says it reiterates its call on its
members and the international
community "to continue manifesting their love
and support for the suffering
people of Zimbabwe through relentless prayers,
humanitarian support and all
possibly peaceful advocacy actions".
Zimbabwe :
Once upon a Mugabe
http://www.tribune.com.ng
By Adia Ukoyen with agency report
The key to
understanding Mr Mugabe is the 1970s guerrilla war where he made
his
name.
World opinion saw him as a revolutionary hero, fighting racist
white
minority rule for the freedom of his people.
Since
Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 the world has moved on, but his
outlook
remains the same, if not slightly backwards. The heroic socialist
forces of
Zanu-PF, are still fighting the twin evils of capitalism and
colonialism.
His opponents, in particular the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), are
labelled "sell-outs" to white and foreign interests and,
as during the war;
this tag has been a death warrant for many MDC
supporters.
Elections in Zimbabwe, which held in March brought to
fore the country's
deepening political and economic crisis. The corruption,
policies and
repressive governance of President Robert Mugabe who has been
in power for
28 years and his ZANU-PF party bear primary responsibility for
the severe
economic slide, growing public discontent and Zimbabwe's
international
isolation.
For the first time since independence in
1980, Robert Mugabe came second in
the presidential voting, and the
opposition, the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) won control of
parliament from Mugabe's ZANU-PF. Rather than
allow democracy to run its
course, Mugabe fought back by withholding the
presidential results and
launched a vicious countrywide crackdown ahead of
the June 27 run-off
against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. But severe state
repression led
Tsvangirai to withdraw, and Mugabe ran as the sole candidate
in a poll
condemned by African observers as neither free nor fair. Mugabe
started his
sixth term in office on 29 June, amid a chorus of international
condemnation
and increasing regional pressure.
Mugabe came to power in 1980 as
Africa's most feted leader, after a
UK-brokered agreement ended a protracted
guerrilla war against the white
minority government of Ian Smith. The early
1980s were marked by a five-year
brutal repression in Matabeleland and
Midlands against the minority Ndebele
population that supported rival ZAPU.
ZAPU was later forced into a merger,
leaving Mugabe head of a de facto one
party state, under ZANU-PF, by 1987.
State violence escalated since
early 2000, when Mugabe lost a constitutional
referendum on presidential
powers and controversial land reforms, as the
people voted in clear protest.
The forcible acquisition of mostly
white-owned farms by ZANU war veterans
beginning in the 1990s, also spiked
after that electoral defeat, Mugabe's
only, crippling the economy and
leading to chronic shortages of basic
commodities. In the context of
spiralling inflation and 80 per cent
unemployment, the government launched
"Operation Murambatsvina" in 2005 to
forcibly clear urban slums, depriving
over 18 per cent of the population of
their homes or livelihoods.
The opposition party Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) entered the
political scene in 2000, but failed to
break Mugabe's majority in the 2000
parliamentary elections. Elections in
2002 and 2005 were marked by gross
manipulation and suppression of dissent.
The MDC split in November 2005 over
whether to boycott elections for the
newly formed senate.
After a brutal government crackdown on the
opposition in March 2007, the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
mandated South African
President Mbeki to mediate between the government and
the MDC, aiming to
secure a new constitution and free and fair conditions
for elections. Talks
stalled in January 2008, when Mugabe called snap polls
for March despite the
MDC's call for postponement until the new constitution
was adopted.
Zimbabweans continue to face economic turmoil and
corruption, food shortages
and the collapse of vital services. HIV/AIDS
among adults stands at over 20
per cent. In May 2008 the annual inflation
rate stood at over 2 million per
cent, the world's highest by far , making
day-to-day life for Zimbabweans
increasingly difficult. The government's
sticking plaster approach,
including removing ten zeros from the Zimbabwean
dollar in August, has done
little to stem the economic crisis.
Up
to a third of the population is thought to have fled over recent years,
and
remittances from the growing diaspora have become a lifeline for many
remaining. The U.S. and EU extended sanctions against members of the ZANU-PF
regime on 22 and 25 July. Despite pledges from the Group of Eight (G8)
states, on 11 July a UNSC resolution to extend multilateral targeted
sanctions was blocked by vetoes from China and Russia.
But Mr
Mugabe's critics, who have increased in number in a country where he
was
once an untouchable figure, say that despite his socialist rhetoric, his
rule has been one of state capitalism which has not materially benefited
ordinary Zimbabweans. Mugabe cuts the picture of a cartoon figure of the
archetypal African dictator.
Despair pervades the streets of
Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city. Inflation
has reached a mind boggling
231,000,000%. Money is worthless almost as soon
as it is printed. It is
estimated that the black market accounts for 80% of
all trading in Zimbabwe.
The country is also suffering an acute water
shortage. Cholera is a constant
threat.
Mugabe's party, ZANU-PF, lacks "sincerity and commitment" in
their
negotiations for the allocation of government ministries. Zimbabweans
now
live in an environment characterised by hunger and starvation and we are
days away from seeing people dropping dead on the streets.
In
June the UN predicted that 2.04 million people in rural and urban areas
would be threatened with hunger between July and September 2008. This number
would rise to 3.8 million people between October and December and again to
over 5 million at the height of the hungry season between January and March
2009. This is approximately 45% of the population. The UN has reported that
maize production in Zimbabwe for 2008 will be an estimated 575,000 tons.
That is 1.5 million tons too little.
World Food Programme made an
emergency appeal for $140 million to provide
food aid to Zimbabwe. The food
crisis is most critical in rural areas. A
government ban on all operations
by the non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) earlier this year made the
situation worse. Food and seeds that
should have been distributed did not
reach those who needed them most. The
ban was lifted on August 29th but some
organisations are still encountering
difficulties returning to the field and
that lack of seeds, in particular,
mean expectations for a low
harvest.
Zimbabweans are notoriously resilient. They have been
through so much. But
many are asking, how much longer can they endure this
hardship? President
Mugabe knows that the country's desperately needed
external assistance will
flow as soon as the new government is able to
demonstrate genuine commitment
to democracy and reform. But while ordinary
Zimbabweans are in frantic need,
how long can he afford to wait? And how
long does he hope to continue to run
the country amok? If he stays in power
for the full six-year term, he will
rule the country until the age of 84.
The last thing most octogenarians
would want is the onerous task of running
a country in economic free-fall
and facing international isolation. Yet, he
seems determined to run the full
course of his dictatorship. It only tells
the story of a man set for death
by the hands of the gods; he goes mad
first. Is Mugabe mad?
South
Africa's Crime
http://www.washingtonpost.com
The government is enabling Robert Mugabe's destruction of
neighboring
Zimbabwe, at the cost of thousands of lives.
Sunday, December
21, 2008; Page B06
SOUTH AFRICAN President Kgalema Motlanthe concedes
that the situation in
Zimbabwe is "very dire." No doubt he's familiar with
what the United Nations
is reporting: that more than 1,000 people have died
of cholera in a
spreading epidemic, that 17,000 others are infected and that
more than half
of the country's remaining population requires emergency food
aid to avoid
starvation. Hospitals have closed, 80 percent of the country
lacks safe
drinking water and school attendance is down to 20 percent.
Inflation was
last registered at 231 million percent; as a practical matter
the economy
has stopped. As U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put it last
week,
Zimbabwe "stands on the brink of economic, social and political
collapse."
So is Mr. Motlanthe at last ready to use South Africa's
considerable
leverage to end the nightmare in its neighbor? Will his
government finally
join those of Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, the United States,
Britain, France
and Canada in calling for 84-year-old strongman Robert
Mugabe to step down?
Well, no. "It's really not for us," the president told
reporters Wednesday.
"I mean, I don't know if the British feel qualified to
impose that on the
people of Zimbabwe, but we feel that we should support
and take our cue from
what they [Zimbabweans] want."
Actually, what
Zimbabweans want, desperately, is an end to the humanitarian
emergency in
their country -- which can come only with Mr. Mugabe's
departure. What South
Africa wants is something else entirely: to
resuscitate Mr. Mugabe's dying
regime through a bad deal cooked up by
"mediator" Thabo Mbeki, Mr.
Motlanthe's predecessor. The plan calls for a
"unity" government between Mr.
Mugabe and the winner of last March's
presidential election, Morgan
Tsvangirai. Yet it long ago became clear to
all but the South Africans that
the formula is unworkable. Mr. Mugabe has no
intention of sharing authority,
especially over the military and police,
which have been waging a violent
campaign against the opposition. "I will
never, never, never surrender . . .
. Zimbabwe is mine," he said Friday.
The terror apparatus is the last
functioning part of Mr. Mugabe's
government. According to Amnesty
International, two dozen opposition
activists have disappeared in the past
six weeks. Mr. Mugabe lately has been
claiming that the opposition is
training fighters in Botswana and trying to
assassinate his ministers (the
air force chief was mysteriously wounded in
the hand by a gunshot). The
opposition believes that Mr. Mugabe may soon
attempt to impose emergency
rule, using those false allegations as an
excuse.
The outgoing Bush
administration and Britain tried again last week to have
the U.N. Security
Council take up this crisis. Once again they were stopped
by South Africa,
with support from Russia. Instead Mr. Motlanthe has
announced a vague
initiative by South Africa's neighbors to supply
humanitarian support.
What's happening here is pretty clear: South Africa, a
country that aspires
to continental leadership, is allowing a depraved
strongman to utterly
destroy a neighboring country, at a cost of thousands
of lives. Mr.
Motlanthe's government has the economic, political and
military leverage to
rescue Zimbabweans from their leader; yet it not only
refuses to act but
actively blocks intervention by other countries. Mr.
Motlanthe, Mr. Mbeki
and those in South Africa who support this
unconscionable policy have become
accessories to a grave humanitarian crime.
Mugabe must go now
http://www.bdafrica.com
Sunday, 21
December 2008 [NAIROBI]
Editorial:
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe's latest posturing that nobody has the guts
to
remove him from power is ill-mannered and we believe that time has now
come
for him to leave the political stage -at least to salvage the southern
African nation from more economic ruin.
There comes a time when
even good generals retreat to save the
battalion. The Zimbabwe President
should surrender now. We all accept that
Mugabe, once a darling of the
Western nations when he was maintaining the
status quo, is today a victim of
his own bravado and ego.
We also acknowledge that Zimbabwe, on its
part, is a victim of Mugabe's
own fears of losing power coupled with Western
nations economic blockade
that has seen the local currency collapse and
inflation shoot to mad
heights.
Mugabe had a chance to redeem
his image but he is sabotaging that
effort by failing to cobble up a
coalition with Western-backed Morgan
Tsvangirai. That means that the country
will continue to sink further into
economic ruin. His only chance to redeem
his image now is to let go the
presidential mantle.
Clinging to
power at a time when the nation's economy is on its
deathbed is both myopic
and insensitive.
We believe that time has come for Mugabe to go and
leave the
leadership to another generation. For that is the only way to save
the
Zimbabwe nation from himself and others.
Sorry,
Mugabe, Obama is not going to love you
http://www.gather.com/
by Chris W.
December 21, 2008 10:25
AM EST
Robert Mugabe, Geriatric Insane Tyrant of Zimbabwe, is looking
forward to
the end of the Bush Era. In a speech made yesterday, Mugabe noted
that harsh
critic George W. Bush is nearing the end of his term, and that
Gordon Brown
of the United Kingdom, another harsh critic of Mugabe, may soon
lose his
position of leadership. "They are all going to their political
graves"
crowed Mugabe. "But I will remain the president of this
country."
Well, Robert, you might want to take a realistic look at Barack
Obama. He is
not going to become your best bud. Do not let the skin color
fool you.
Barack Obama is not your brand of dark skinned person. Barack
Obama does not
subscribe to the revolutionary rhetoric of yor ZANU Party,
similar to the
traditional ANC talking points of South Africa, that the
greatest struggle
of history is now complete, and that the white devils have
finally been
chased out of the councils of power in Africa and that
everything will
therefore be fine. That is not the world that Barack Obama
comes from.
If you had bothered to read "Dreams from my Father", Obama's
memoir of his
formative years, you would realize that Obama does not buy the
White Devils
theory. Obama recently mourned the death of his grandma Toot,
who he
considered a White Angel. So do not make the White Devils speech
where he
can hear you. Obama's mother lived her ideals of racial equality,
not
racial blame gaming. She mixed the river of her blood with two other
rivers,
the Kenyan river of Obama's Dad, and the Indonesian river of the Dad
of
Obama's sister. That view of the world, which helped to form Obama's
character, is 180 degrees from yours.
There is another factor at work
here. Obama's brown skin serves as the
ultimate protection for a politician
willing to take you on. Think about it.
It will take the racism card out of
your deck. If Obama starts to give you a
hard time, you could try to call
him a racist who advocates the enslavement
of Africa, but anyone listening
to that particular speech would have a
lovely belly laugh.
So, if you
figure that you just need to hang tough and things will get
better for you,
keep on hoping, dude. Just let the cholera epidemic run it's
course until
there are no more victims left alive, just let the starvation
rage through
Zimbabwe until there are fewer mouths to feed, the cavalry is
coming over
the hill in the form of new leadership in the West who will
accept your role
as elder statesman of the Black Revolution. Good luck with
that, Robert.
Watch your back, and sleep lightly.