International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: December 28,
2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Seven people drowned when flood
waters swept their truck
down a raging river in remote southern Zimbabwe,
police said Friday.
The incident Thursday brought the number of drownings
in heavy seasonal
rains in the past month to at least 21, said police
spokesman Andrew Phiri.
Hundreds of families have been left homeless
across the country during rains
the state forecast office said are expected
to continue for another week as
heavy cloud bands head south from Angola,
Congo and Zambia.
In the northern Muzarabani district at least 600
traditional
mud-and-pole-built village homes were washed away in storms,
along with
crops and goats, pigs and poultry, the state civil protection
unit reported.
Before the holidays, two helicopters were deployed to the
district to rescue
villagers stranded on islands of higher ground along
flooded rivers, it
said.
Storms made roads impassable and swept away
low bridges.
Phiri said only two bodies had been recovered of the seven
people who
drowned in the Chamakarara river near the southern town of
Masvingo, 300
kilometers (190 miles) from Harare.
In the capital, the
health ministry deployed extra staff to two eastern
townships after an
outbreak of diarrhea blamed on flooding of already
collapsing sanitation
facilities.
The state Herald newspaper said no deaths were
reported.
Power and water outages occur daily in the crumbling economy,
and in the
townships of Mabvuku and Tafara householders collected water from
drains,
puddles of rain water and other "unprotected sources" during a water
outage
of several days, the paper said.
Farmers facing shortages of
seed and fertilizers reported crop damage by
saturation and the loss of
fertilizer in fields.
Amid chronic shortages of local cash, incessant
rains over Harare also
brought misery to Zimbabweans in long lines outside
banks to draw cash to
buy scarce basic goods.
Official inflation was
given in September at about 8,000 percent, the
highest in the world, but
independent estimates in the past week of soaring
price increases put it
nearer 150,000 percent.
The state central statistical office said earlier
this month it could not
update its official inflation tally because there
were not enough goods in
the stores to make the calculation on its basic
food basket.
President Robert Mugabe blames Western economic measures and
successive
years of drought for the economic crisis in the former regional
breadbasket
that have led to acute shortages of food, gasoline and most
basic
commodities.
The Times
December 29, 2007
Jan Raath at the Premier Estates
“I am the
front line,” says Thomas Mudangwe. With his blue Honda 90 he
stands, almost
alone, between 45,000 people resettled on this former
white-owned farm in
eastern Zimbabwe, and onslaughts of pernicious African
disease.
The
tall, bearded man with a slight stutter was transferred in 2003 to the
Mutasa district in eastern Zimbabwe by the Health Ministry as an
environmental health technician (EHT) — close to the “barefoot doctors” used
in Mao Zedong’s China — and he walked into a disaster.
Under
President Mugabe’s land reform programme, people had been moved with
no
provision of basic amenities to the Mutasa district and cholera broke
out.
He had to deal with the outbreak on foot, walking up to 12 miles (20km)
a
day from village to village in the mountainous bush. Three people died. He
was astonished there weren’t more. “The people who were settled in this area
had no education. They were illiterate,” he said. “They didn’t know what
cholera was.”
Or the link between between human faeces and water
supplies that spreads the
disease. “They used to defecate anywhere,”
including close to the streams
where they collected water. When they were
taught how to build Blair toilets
(a sanitary bush toilet), the next step
was to teach them how to use the
toilets, he said. “They didn’t know what
they were for,” he said. “They were
defecating on the ground behind the
toilet.”
He was issued with the Honda in 2003, when Riders for Health
launched its
Zimbabwe operation, and he was ready for the next cholera
epidemic. “I could
react so fast. I could collect samples, take them to the
Government lab in
Mutare [the city about 25 miles away], get the results and
if they were
positive, immediately carry out control measures, and then
follow up with
surveillance.
“No one died, but if I didn’t have the
bike, there could have been a lot of
deaths. There hasn’t been another
epidemic since then. Now you can move
around anywhere in the district and
people can tell you what the symptoms
are.”
The bike takes Mr
Mudangwe all over the area with his trailer loaded with
chloroquine and
insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets, or cement for
building a Blair
toilet. With its sidecar-ambulance, he can take mothers in
childbirth to the
nearest hospital.
He started the area’s first Aids awareness programme in
July, persuading
people to go for testing at the mission hospital about 15
miles away and
distributing condoms out of the back of his trailer. “People
are going for
condoms now, after only four months. They still fear to go for
testing, and
they are resistant to change their behaviour. But it will
come.
“I am accessible to every village in my area. If ever I am called,
I can
attend within minutes. Before, people didn’t know I was their EHT. Now
every
grade one [first year of primary school] kid knows me. They wave at me
and
call my name.”
The key to Mr Mudangwe’s mobility is a small
moustachioed man with the
un-Zimbabwean habit of strapping on the seatbelt
in the Nissan Champ pick-up
truck that he keeps spotless. Alec Makuyana,
Riders’ provincial technician,
has kept the blue Honda without a breakdown
for four years, as well as
scores of others in his region.
He arrived
at Premier Estates with a few litres of new oil and a range of
spare parts
that he knew from his minutely detailed records of Mr Mudangwe’s
machine,
were due as replacements.
“The trouble now is fuel,” Mr Mudangwe said. As
Zimbabwe’s world-record
inflation sent fuel prices soaring and the black
market became the only
relatively reliable source, the Health Ministry has
struggled to meet the
cost of Riders’ petrol.
“I haven’t used my bike
for the whole month. I am footing again. If there is
an emergency, I will
have to try to do the controls and surveillance on
foot.”
— CDC
Capital Partners will match all donations made to Riders for Health
through
The Times Appeal
Monsters and Critics
Dec 28, 2007, 10:06 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare - Two sons
of a former ruling party MP have been
arrested on charges of siphoning
around 1 million US dollars out of Zimbabwe
as police in the country start
targeting people linked to President Robert
Mugabe's powerful ZANU-PF,
reports said Friday.
Police have also placed the head of the
parliamentary finance committee on
their wanted list for allegedly violating
strict exchange controls. They
said David Butau, also of ZANU-PF, is
deliberating evading the police,
according to the official Herald
daily.
The police announced they were looking for Butau on Monday, days
after he
told official media that his committee was in no hurry to respond
to an
offer from the central bank governor to name corrupt officials
allegedly
involved in cash hoarding and other shady deals.
'It is now
apparent that Comrade Butau is wilfully evading the police,' said
police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
'Comrade Butau is now on the police wanted
list and it is in his own
interest to report to the police immediately. He
is wanted in connection
with violations of the exchange control
regulations,' said the spokesman.
He said Butau had been sending text
messages to investigating officers but
had still not given himself
up.
Meanwhile, police have arrested two sons of Christopher Chigumba,
former
ZANU-PF MP for Zengeza constituency in Harare.
The two are
believed to have been renting a fuel station in Harare's
sprawling dormitory
town of Chitungwiza, where they were selling the scarce
commodity for
foreign currency in violation of strict legislation.
The pair were
arrested Wednesday and are assisting police with
investigations into an
offshore account with transactions involving around 1
million US dollars,
according to the Herald. The Zimbabwe authorities forbid
individuals from
holding foreign currency accounts in banks abroad, unless
they can prove the
money was earned when the account holder was living and
working outside the
country.
Zimbabwe has been desperately short of foreign currency for
several years
now, and the authorities do not have the funds to pay for
critical drugs,
fuel and other vital imports. Mugabe and his government
routinely blame the
shortages on Western sanctions.
© 2007 dpa -
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Zim Online
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Saturday 29 December
2007
HARARE – Prominent businessman, Jonathan Kadzura, who was
implicated in the
hoarding of cash for illegal foreign currency deals, was
on Friday set free
by a Harare magistrate after the police failed to prove
its case against
him.
Kadzura, who also sits on the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) advisory board,
was set free after the police failed to prove
that he gave Z$10 billion to
Dorothy Primrose Mutekede in exchange for US$4
900.
Mutekede, who appeared in court last Monday facing charges of
illegally
dealing in foreign currency, named Kadzura as the brains behind
the hoarding
of the $10 billion cash forcing the court to call Kadzura to
testify in the
matter.
The police however failed to prove in court
that Kadzura had indeed given
Mutekede the cash in question after they
surrendered the $10 billion taken
from the “cash baroness” to the RBZ
without first recording its serial
numbers.
Magistrate Mishrod
Guvamombe had harsh words for the police saying they had
bungled the
case.
“You (the police) ruined the case to prove the source of the cash
in
question,” said Guvamombe after Kadzura had finished
testifying.
Kadzura denied before the magistrate that he had given any
cash to Mutekede
adding that he had instead had an “intimate relationship”
with her for about
seven months.
Police Superintendent Alois
Nyamupaguma agreed with the magistrate that the
police had failed to handle
the matter properly.
"We are going to sit down and close the loopholes in
our system,” said
Nyamupaguma.
Meanwhile, Mutendeke will remain in
custody until Monday when she is
expected to be sentenced following her
conviction for illegally dealing in
foreign currency.
Several
government ministers and senior officials who include former finance
minister Christopher Kuruneri have been arrested over the past few years for
alleged corruption.
RBZ chief Gideon Gono two weeks ago threatened to
name senior government
officials whom he said were fanning corrupt business
deals around the
country. He has still not named the culprits. -
ZimOnline
IOL
December 28 2007 at 10:33AM
Harare/Johannesburg - A Zimbabwean
woman arrested for possessing
ZIM$10-billion in brand new banknotes has
implicated a central bank advisor,
it emerged on Friday.
Jonathan Kadzura, a businessman who sits on the advisory panel of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) allegedly bought $4 900 from Dorothy
Mutekede, in return for ZIM$10-billion, according to the official Herald
newspaper in Harare.
Mutekede, 24, was arrested on Saturday
with the money stashed in her
car boot. Individuals are not allowed to
possess more than ZIM$50-million
worth of banknotes.
She was
nabbed just two days after the RBZ introduced a set of three
new banknotes
in a bid to beat biting cash shortages the authorities blame
on hoarders. In
towns and cities across the country, Zimbabweans have spent
hours in bank
queues this Christmas trying to withdraw their money often
with little
success.
Zimbabwe's economy has dipped
deeper into crisis since 2000, when
President Robert Mugabe launched a
controversial programme to seize
white-owned farms, throwing the key
agricultural sector into turmoil.
Runaway inflation has wreaked
havoc on local currency earnings and
savings. The annual rate was last month
running at more than 14 000 percent.
Quoting figures allegedly leaked from
the RBZ, unconfirmed reports late this
week said the latest figure could
have topped 24 000 percent.
Mutekede was brought to court late on
Monday and was convicted of
illegally dealing in foreign currency. She is
due for sentencing on Friday.
On being told she was being remanded,
Mutekede named Kadzura and asked
to be able to show the court text messages
allegedly sent by the businessman
pleading with her not to name him, the
Herald said.
Black market foreign currency deals are rife in
Zimbabwe, where the
authorities have set the official rate of exchange at
less than a hundredth
of the current street value. Sellers of scarce foreign
currency are
unwilling to part with their money for the unattractive rate
offered by the
central bank. - Sapa-dpa
Business Day
28 December 2007
HARARE
— As acute cash shortages persist in Zimbabwe, the central bank has
offered
rewards for information leading to the arrests of people hoarding
large sums
of money.
These cash barons have been selling scarce Zimbabwe dollars
at a premium to
locals desperate for cash.
The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe said yesterday it would refund victims the
premiums charged in such
transactions after the offenders were convicted.
The central bank, which
maintains a database on such offenders, said that it
was “committed to
working with all Zimbabweans in ridding our society of
these economic
saboteurs”.
Thousands of Zimbabweans have been thronging banks in the
capital Harare and
other cities in recent days in an effort to get cash for
the festive season.
Last week, the bank said it was withdrawing the
country’s highest
denomination note from circulation in a bid to outwit
people who hoard large
sums of money and starv e banks of
supplies.
According to the bank’s governor, Gideon Gono, at least
Z$20-trillion in new
Z$250000, Z$500000 and Z$750000 bank notes had been
pumped into Zimbabwe’s
banking system by early this week.
At the
weekend, police arrested one alleged money dealer who was already in
possession of billions of dollars worth of new notes, allegedly for use in
foreign currency deals. Sapa-DPA
The Herald (Harare)
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
28 December 2007
Posted to the
web 28 December 2007
Midlands Bureau
Harare
Many businesses in
Mberengwa district are refusing to accept $200 000 bearer
cheques raising
fears among villagers that they could be stuck with the soon
to be phased
out notes.
The $200 000 bearer notes will cease to be legal tender at
midnight on
December 31, although businesses can still bank them until close
of banking
on January 2.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor, Dr
Gideon Gono, announced the impending
end of the notes last week, at the same
time adding three high values to the
present family of bearer
cheques.
There was general panic among villagers as they expressed
concern over the
refusal to accept the $200 000 cheques with many of them
saying they still
had a lot of the soon-to-be phased out notes.
"This
is very worrying indeed. The days are moving fast towards the expiry
date of
these notes and we expected the business community to come to our
rescue but
they are rejecting the notes.
"It is as if they are no longer legal
tender," said Mr Zindoga Maranda of
Dambuza village.
Mr Zindoga said
it was meaningless to travel all the way from Mberengwa to
Gweru or
Zvishavane just to exchange the old notes for the new ones when
business
people in their area were supposed to accept them.
"These business people
are the ones who always travel to towns to place
their orders or bank their
takings.
"It does not make sense for me to spend $5 million on transport
just to
change $10 million," he said.
Another villager, Mr Cain
Ndebele, a teacher, appealed to the central bank
to extend the expiry date
of the $200 000 notes.
"We heard from the media that the RBZ will deploy
its teams to rural areas
to exchange the
notes but we have not seen
them here.
"We appeal to the RBZ to extend the expiry date of the $200
000 notes as the
31 December deadline will put the rural people at a
disadvantage," he said.
One of the business people interviewed, Mr Mutari
Mataka confirmed the
development.
"You may blame us for not accepting
the $200 000 notes but at the same time
I have to protect myself as I might
end up stuck with these notes and lose
billions of dollars in the end," he
said.
Mr Mataka said he relied on public transport in running his
business and
recently it had become difficult to travel owing to transport
problems in
the area.
"We have got only one bus plying our
route.
"There are dangers that I could fail to meet the deadline myself
due to the
fact that there are many people returning to town who had come
for the
Christmas holidays," he said.
VOA
By Studio 7 Staff & Correspondents
Harare, Gweru
and Washington
28 December 2007
The cash drought
that afflicted Zimbabwe over Christmas remained severe on
Friday 10 days
after the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced
a currency
shuffle he said would relieve shortages but has left many
Zimbabweans
without the means to make the most elementary of purchases
during the
holiday period.
In Harare, the capital, large financial institutions such
as First Bank,
Intermarket and Agribank appeared not to have cash to
dispense to customers.
Building societies, or savings and loan institutions,
where most low-income
Zimbabweans save, were the hardest hit, with long
lines of cash-seekers
visible late Friday afternoon.
Some banks were
giving customers the Z$200,000 bearer cheques - central bank
promissory
notes which have stood for currency in Zimbabwe for years -
although the
notes, until recently the largest in circulation, are scheduled
to expire on
Monday.
In eastern Mutare long queues were visible at all leading banks,
which were
allowing individuals to withdraw Z$20 million, or about US$10 at
the
parallel market exchange rate. Companies were allowed cash disbursals of
up
to Z$100 million.
Harare correspondent Peter Nthambe of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe gave
reporter Patience Rusere an account of conditions
at banks in the capital
Friday.
From Gweru, correspondent Taurai
Shava said the situation had greatly
improved with lines gone, and the Z$50
million limit seemed adequate for
low-income households.
Meanwhile, a
growing chorus was demanding why the Reserve Bank failed to
print enough
notes to supply the needs of the economy. Others criticized
Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono for failing to issue larger denomination
bearer
cheques.
Sources close to the central bank said its financial printing
arm, Fidelity
Printers, was unable to produce enough notes to keep up with
accelerating
hyperinflation, and that the printer had run short of the
special paper and
ink it needs to produce notes.
On the political
side, officials reported a bitter debate between the
central bank and the
cabinet as to how to resolve the crisis. They said the
bank wanted to print
notes in denominations of Z$10 million, but ministers
were adamant that this
would signal economic failure, an unacceptable move
with elections coming up
in 2008.
Central bank officials also seemed to have lost sight of the
order of
magnitude of the amounts involved. Officials made much of a “cash
baroness”
arrested in possession of Z$10 billion, but on the parallel market
this
amounted to just US$5,000.
The Reserve Bank tried last week to
resolve the crisis by injecting Z$20
trillion into the financial system. But
at the prevailing parallel market
exchange rate this amounted to only about
US$10 million to meet the needs of
the Zimbabwean economy.
Economist
Johnson Masvosva, a Zimbabwean living in Texas, told reporter
Blessing Zulu
that the Reserve Bank must print larger denominations to
defuse the
crisis.
The opposition blamed RBZ chief Gono for the failure of the
currency
operation.
Deputy Spokesman Elton Mangoma of the Movement
for Democratic Change faction
led by Morgan Tsvangirai said the central bank
governor had sought
scapegoats in “imaginary enemies of the state,” but
should shoulder
responsibility for the crisis and recognize that ordinary
citizens have
suffered greatly because of his policies.
Treasurer
Fletcher Dulini Ncube of the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara
told
reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga that Gono’s policies were not underpinned
by
economic principles and that the crisis could only be solved by removing
the
ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe from power.
Many others asked
how the functioning of the economy and the banking system
could go awry as
it has, stranding many Zimbabweans in the midst of the
holidays.
Gono
rolled out "Operation Sunrise II" last week aiming to relieve the cash
crisis and take control of the cash economy back from what he calls the
“cash barons.” But the result has been to stop the economy in its tracks,
causing massive dislocation.
For perspective on the underlying causes
of the crisis, reporter Carole
Gombakomba spoke with economist Eric Bloch
and Lovemore Kadenge, president
of the Economic Society of Zimbabwe, who
cited a growing lack of confidence
in the banking sector.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
28
December 2007
The faction of Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change faction
led by Arthur Mutambara on Friday
challenged reports it has agreed with the
rival faction of Morgan Tsvangirai
to unite behind Tsvangirai as sole
presidential candidate in
2008.
Mutambara faction spokesman Gabriel Chaibva said the formation for
the
moment is limiting itself to reconfirming an internal decision reached
in
July to the effect that it could conceivably support Tsvangirai as
opposition candidate within a coalition.
But for the moment it will
go no further than to say that it agrees the
presidential candidate should
come from the Tsvangirai opposition faction.
Chaibva told reporter
Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
overtures to the
Tsvangirai camp in July as to naming a single presidential
candidate drew no
response, but said that his party is open to Tsvangirai as
opposition
candidate.
The Tsvangirai faction said no decision has been reached yet
on the
question.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa said his grouping does
believe in one candidate,
but said he would not go into the particulars of
the matter in the media.
Forbes
Oxford Analytica 12.28.07,
6:00 AM ET
Zimbabwe's 'Look East' policy launched in 2003, an attempt by
President
Robert Mugabe to offset the loss of Western investment in the wake
of
economic collapse, has produced far fewer dividends than Harare
anticipated.
Mugabe sought to capitalize on the rise of Asian economic
powers, which have
the requisite financial capital and technical expertise
to replace dwindling
Western investment and shrinking markets. The initial
policy emphasis on
Malaysia has gradually shifted towards
China.
Although many in the West were quick to interpret Mugabe's policy
as a
desperate gamble, evidence suggests that this was a carefully
calculated
step. In particular, China, Malaysia and India have a sustained
track record
of involvement in another African pariah, Sudan. Moreover,
ruling ZANU-PF
party officials took note of the role China played in Angola.
With onerous
diplomatic penalties, Western embargoes on arms sales as well
as targeted
sanctions against top ZANU-PF officials, the time seemed ripe
for courting
booming Asian economies.
Yet, the hoped-for surge in
Asian investment capital or loans has never
really materialized. Zimbabwe is
endowed with a variety of strategic
minerals, and was a leading African
agricultural exporter. However, Asian
countries have become as wary of the
Zimbabwean situation as their Western
and South African
counterparts.
There have been few Chinese deals to date, some of which
are apparently
underwritten by tobacco futures:
--Agriculture. Both
governments have identified agriculture as a priority
area.
--Mining
and energy. Agreements have been reached to construct three thermal
power
stations. However, work on these is yet to begin or has been halted.
In the
platinum sector, it is rumored that China turned down a government
offer to
invest. A prospective Chinese buyer of Zimbabwe's Iron and Steel
Company
pulled out in 2005 when faced with absorption of substantial losses.
This
month, Sinosteel purchased a 67% stake in Zimbabwe's top ferrochrome
producer and exporter, Zimasco Consolidated Enterprises, suggesting that
Harare had finally met certain guarantees.
--Weapons. China's sales
of weaponry to Zimbabwe have come in the wake of
Western sanctions. However,
the volume of exported weapons from China is of
less significance than in
previous years. Nevertheless, use of foreign
exchange or bartering
agreements to buy weapons demonstrates Mugabe's desire
to keep the country's
security forces on his side.
For China, the dilemma has been to balance
the need to account for growing
South African displeasure at its role in
Zimbabwe at the same time that it
wishes to retain a position within the
economy in anticipation of the
post-Mugabe era. Chinese blocking of
discussion of "Operation Murambatsvina"
at the UN Security Council, which
saw security forces displace hundreds of
thousands from settlements in the
outskirts of Harare in 2005, is probably
the most tangible diplomatic gain
Mugabe has received.
The Look East policy has had an impact, though it
may not have paid the
dividends Mugabe anticipated:
--The policy has
demonstrated that China has limits on its willingness to
prop up pariah
regimes, especially when the costs of doing so outweigh
expected economic
returns.
--It also has shown that opportunistic Asian investment, when
confronted by
predatory African regimes, will pursue minimalist diplomacy to
protect its
interests.
--With a clutch of white Zimbabwean farmers
reportedly employed in China to
improve tobacco production, it also
underscores that the Zimbabwean economy
may soon lose what leverage it has
in that sector.
China's desire to limit exposure to economic uncertainty
in Zimbabwe
reflects a crucial difference between Harare's and other African
relationships with Beijing and other potential Asian investors. It also
emphasizes that Zimbabwe's economic crisis is inextricably linked to the
political situation. Until the latter is resolved, investors will approach
with extreme caution.
Oxford Analytica is an independent
strategic-consulting firm drawing on a
network of more than 1,000 scholar
experts at Oxford and other leading
universities and research institutions
around the world. For more
information, please visit www.oxan.com.
From News24 (SA), 28 December
Sherilee
Bridge
Johannesburg - China's leading steel trader, Sinosteel, has
completed the
acquisition of a 92% stake in Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting
Company
(Zimasco), the world's fifth-largest ferrochrome producer. Sinosteel
also
retains the option to buy the remaining 8% in Zimasco over the next
two-and-a-half years. The Chinese company had originally targeted an initial
stake of 50% in Zimasco, which has an annual production capacity of 180 000
tons of ferrochrome, but quickly increased its stake to 67% and then 73%
before gaining its current holding. Zimbabwe's financial weekly, the
Financial Gazette, reported in September that Sinosteel had bought its
initial 50% stake in Zimasco for $200m. Sinosteel is expanding into
ferroalloys to feed China's strong demand for steel. It has successfully
established iron ore and chrome ore resource bases in Australia and South
Africa.
The Chinese firm recently agreed to invest in a $230m
ferrochrome mine and
smelter project with South Africa's Samancor. Zimbabwe
hosts the world's
second-largest reserves of chrome after South Africa. The
investment comes
just months after Zimbabwe's parliament called for more
Chinese investment
in the country's mining sector. Mining generates half of
Zimbabwe's export
revenue and it is the only sector that still attracts
foreign investment
after the collapse of the primary agricultural sector and
the
downward-spiralling Zimbabwean economy. In April 2007 Zimbabwe's
parliament
said some Western companies with mining claims in Zimbabwe were
not
exploiting them and it called on Chinese investors to consider fully
exploiting the country's mineral riches. It also suggested that Zimbabwe
would prefer Chinese investors to Western ones, because their investment
terms were normally "mutually beneficial". Zimbabwe has reserves of coal,
chromium, gold, nickel, uranium and platinum, among other metals. Chinese
firms have been increasing their investment in Africa's natural resources to
help feed its booming economy.
Scarborough Evening News
28 December 2007
By Kirsty Beever
A SCARBOROUGH vicar has followed
the Archbishop of York's lead and cast her
dog collar aside in protest over
Zimbabwe.
Archbishop Dr John Sentamu ripped off his white dog collar and took
a pair
of scissors to it while being interviewed live on BBC One’s Andrew
Marr
Show.
And he said he would refuse to wear it again until action
was taken over the
problems in Zimbabwe, which has few jobs and little
food.
The Rev Liz Kitching, vicar for the Cloughton cluster of churches,
says she
fully upholds the Archbishop’s view, and is pleased she is able to
demonstrate her support.
She said: “Justice is an issue and it seems
to be at the basis of what is
wrong in society. I have seen what has been
going on in Zimbabwe and I
prayed for them.
“When I saw the
Archbishop take his dog collar off and cut it up I realised
there was
something I could do to stand up and show what I believed in.”
She
announced her decision at a Hackness Church service, and the
congregation
had applauded her in support.
She added: “It does feel very strange, not
wearing my dog collar. It has
become part of me and I feel quite apologetic
for not wearing it. But on the
other hand, I shouldn’t feel apologetic for
those who are being persecuted
for wanting to live
democratically.”
Mrs Kitching said she has written to the Archbishop, in
reply to a Christmas
card, to tell him of her symbolic gesture in support of
his campaign.
She added: “I think he is a superb leader, and I’m glad he
does things so
publicly.”
The Archbishop said the Zimbabwean
president, Robert Mugabe, had taken
people’s identity and cut it to pieces,
which prompted him to do the same to
his dog collar.
Dr Sentamu, who
has been a consistent critic of Mr Mugabe’s regime, said the
international
community, especially South Africa, had to act to help
Zimbabwe because
people were starving.