International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: December 4,
2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's former colonial master lost
the standoff over
whether he or the British prime minister would attend an
upcoming
European-African summit, Robert Mugabe declared Tuesday.
In
his annual state of the nation address, Mugabe also said his nation,
suffering chronic shortages of basic goods and worsening power and water
outages, continued to defy predictions of economic collapse and social
upheaval.
The nation in the past year moved toward what he called
"sustained economic
recovery notwithstanding the suffering endured by many
of our people."
Mugabe, 83, the only ruler since independence from
Britain in 1980, accused
Britain of masterminding a campaign to keep him
from this weekend's
European-African summit in Lisbon,
Portugal.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is staying away from the
Lisbon summit
because Mugabe plans to attend. Officials from host Portugal
and Spain are
among those who say they would prefer Mugabe stay home so as
not to divert
attention from the economic and political issues on the summit
agenda. But
Portugal bowed to the African Union's wish that leaders of all
its members
be invited.
"The sinister campaign by Britain to
isolate us continues to disintegrate. I
wish to thank European Union and
African countries for their support and I
thank Portugal for their corrected
reading of the situation," Mugabe told
lawmakers in the Harare Parliament in
the nationwide address broadcast by
state television and radio.
In
Washington Monday, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for
African
affairs, said the United States "didn't agree" with the decision to
invite
Mugabe to the summit.
"But it certainly provides an opportunity to
discuss Zimbabwe's human rights
record and I would hope that the EU and
African Union leaders would make it
a central issue of discussion at their
summit," added Frazer, who announced
new travel and financial sanctions
against Zimbabwean officials the United
States accuses of helping Mugabe
tyrannize Zimbabweans. She said she hoped
other nations would join the U.S.
in imposing targeted sanctions and
expanding those already in
place.
Inviting Mugabe to Lisbon required a temporary freeze on an EU
travel ban on
Zimbabwean officials just ahead of the summit.
In
Harare Tuesday, Mugabe blamed his country's economic woes on successive
drought, Western economic measures against Zimbabwe and profiteering at
home.
"The night of trials and tribulations has undeniably been long.
We are,
however, confident a new dawn is on the horizon," Mugabe
said.
In the worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, official
inflation
is given at around 8,000 percent, the highest in the
world.
Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 40,000 percent
and the
International Monetary Fund has forecast it reaching 100,000 percent
by the
end of the year.
Parliament, dominated by Mugabe's party,
applauded only once during his
speech Tuesday — when he said no external
interference will be allowed in
national elections in March.
"We will
invite friendly and objective members of the international
community to
observe the elections," he said.
European Union and Western observers
have been barred from monitoring two
previous polls widely criticized as
rigged.
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, looked
ahead to the
elections in a speech in neighboring Botswana Tuesday, saying a
free and
fair vote was crucial to ending "the political stalemate in
Zimbabwe" and
calling for Zimbabweans outside the country to be allowed to
vote.
The elections have emerged as the focus of talks between
Tsvangirai's and
Mugabe's parties mediated by South African President Thabo
Mbeki. Tsvangirai
called for continued support of Mbeki's efforts, and urged
others in the
region to "monitor the dialogue."
"We call on our
friends, as Zimbabweans, to interest yourselves in what is
happening next
door. We have a house on fire and our African culture
requires you as
neighbors to help us put out that fire," he said.
Increasing numbers of
Zimbabweans are crossing the border into Botswana,
Zambia, South Africa,
Mozambique and Namibia, creating economic and social
pressure.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: December 4,
2007
MADRID, Spain: Spain hopes Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe will stay away
from a weekend summit between European and African
nations because he will
only divert attention from serious issues, the
Spanish foreign minister said
Tuesday.
"We would all like it if he
did not participate. That is the Spanish
position," Miguel Angel Moratinos
said at a breakfast with business leaders
and journalists.
British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is staying away from the Lisbon summit
because
Mugabe plans to attend. The British government is one of the
sharpest
European critics of Mugabe's regime.
Britain and other EU countries have
accused Mugabe of economic
mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and
contempt for democracy.
Moratinos said Portugal has left it to the
African Union to decide whether
Mugabe would attend the summit and "there is
still hope he will not show
up."
African and some European leaders
have said Mugabe must be invited to foster
dialogue, and Mugabe has said he
would go.
In Washington Monday, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state
for
African affairs, said the United States "didn't agree" with the decision
to
invite Mugabe to the summit.
"But it certainly provides an
opportunity to discuss Zimbabwe's human rights
record and I would hope that
the EU and African Union leaders would make it
a central issue of discussion
at their summit," added Frazer, who announced
new travel and financial
sanctions against Zimbabwean officials the United
States accuses of helping
Mugabe tyrannize Zimbabweans. She said she hoped
other nations would join
the U.S. in imposing targeted sanctions and
expanding those already in
place.
Inviting Mugabe to Lisbon required a temporary freeze on an EU
travel ban on
Zimbabwean officials just ahead of the summit.
SABC
December
04, 2007, 18:15
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he will only
invite friendly nations
to observe next year's general election in the
country. He said this in his
2007 State of the Nation Address. However, the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) is against this position,
saying representative
bodies from across the globe have to be
invited.
Mugabe says hostile nations will not be invited. However, the
MDC feels
there should not be any discrimination.
Addressing
journalists, Mugabe scoffed at the latest US government’s
extension of
sanctions against him and his close associates. This was after
the US
announced that it would slap travel and financial sanctions on about
40 more
people with ties to the Zimbabwean President.
’Abysmal human rights
situation’
A senior US official said the goal is to highlight, what he calls,
the
absolutely abysmal human rights situation in Zimbabwe. The US has
already
imposed sanctions on about 130 people with ties to Mugabe. The State
Department cited this year as the worst on record for human rights in
Zimbabwe.
He further lambasted the West which is attempting to block
his participation
at the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal. - Additional
reporting by Reuters
Human
Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
4 December 2007
Posted
to the web 4 December 2007
European and African leaders should go
beyond promises and act to end
atrocities, hold abusers to account and
combat corruption, Human Rights
Watch said today. The first European
Union-Africa summit for seven years
will be held in Lisbon on December 8-9,
2007.
The summit is meant to forge a new EU-Africa partnership with
enhanced
links, and is set to approve a detailed action plan, listing
priorities and
outcomes in a range of areas from security to human rights to
trade. Human
Rights Watch called on the leaders to commit to specific
actions translating
these principles into reality by protecting the
civilians of Darfur and
Somalia, bringing to justice the former dictator of
Chad, Hissène Habré, and
implementing anti-corruption
measures.
"The summit will make a lot of noble promises, but the
proof of the pudding
is in the tasting," said Reed Brody, counsel for Human
Rights Watch. "Will
the summit make a difference to the civilian under
bombardment in Somalia,
to the democracy activist in Zimbabwe, or to the
Senegalese youth on a
rickety boat bound for Spain?"
The summit
action plan prioritizes "enhancing the capacity of Africa and the
EU to
respond timely and adequately to security threats." Human Rights Watch
said
that the wars in Darfur and Somalia would put this priority to the
test.
Deployment of the United Nations/African Union "hybrid" peacekeeping
mission
for Darfur has been painfully slow, Human Rights Watch said, while
the
protection mandate of the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
remains
unclear in the face of the indiscriminate and deliberate bombardment
of
civilian neighborhoods by Ethiopian troops.
"Darfur is an immediate test
for the leaders of Europe and Africa," said
Brody. "Will they pledge joint
action to protect civilians, yet still let
the people of Darfur
die?"
The proposed Strategic Partnership agreement says that "crimes
against
humanity, war crimes and genocide should not go unpunished and their
prosecution should be ensured." The case of Habré, the exiled former Chadian
dictator accused of crimes against humanity, provides an opportunity for
African Union (AU)-EU cooperation on this issue, Human Rights Watch said.
The AU mandated that Senegal prosecute Habré "on behalf of Africa" and
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has requested EU and AU technical and
financial support carrying out such a trial. The EU has in principle agreed
to this request, and the AU has named an envoy to the case.
Human
Rights Watch said the AU and EU should also do more to pressure Sudan
to
cooperate with the International Criminal Court and hand over two of its
officials indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Darfur.
The action plan seeks "enhanced cooperation in the fight against
corruption." Human Rights Watch called on African countries to publish
transparent national budgets and create independent agencies to prosecute
corrupt officials, and asked the EU to make it an offense for EU firms to
engage in corrupt activities abroad and to prevent banks from sheltering the
ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials.
Human Rights Watch said that
the political repression in Zimbabwe was a test
of African political will
and leadership in tackling human rights violations
and issues of bad
governance.
"African governments don't like it when Europeans protest the
treatment of
the people of Zimbabwe," said Brody. "But as the repression
drags on year
after year, African governments, led by South Africa, have
failed to secure
concrete action from Zimbabwe on human rights."
The
action plan objective is "coordinated positions on global issues in
international fora such as the UN Human Rights Council." This would be a
dramatic development, as discussions at the council have tended to be
polarized along regional lines. European and African states should come
together immediately around issues of common concern, such as the extension
of the mandate of the human rights rapporteur on Sudan, follow-up to the
rapporteur on Myanmar's recent visit, and invigorating the new process of
universal periodic review.
By Tichaona Sibanda
4
December 2007
South African President Thabo Mbeki has set the 15th
December as the new
deadline for the MDC and Zanu-PF to sign a deal, after
nearly six months of
protracted talks.
A source told us that Mbeki,
frustrated by the lack of progress over the
talks, has told the negotiating
parties that the process cannot drag on
forever in view of the fact that
elections are due to be held in March next
year.
In March leaders of
the regional Southern African Development Community
mandated Mbeki to broker
talks between Zanu PF and the MDC.
The powerful national executive council of
the MDC is to convene an
emergency meeting in Harare on Wednesday, in view
of the new deadline.
MDC policy co-ordinator Eddie Cross said the
developing situation has forced
the national executive to meet urgently and
review the talks. He said the
party is expected to decide on the next steps
to be taken, after a full
briefing from Tendai Biti, the secretary-general
of the party.
‘It’s a make or break meeting. We are actually carrying out
a post-mortem of
the whole exercise and if we find we have insufficient
reason to continue we
might vote to pull out. But if we believe there has
been progress we will
obviously want to see the talks through to the 15th,’
Cross said.
Their party leader Morgan Tsvangirai however seems to have made
up his mind
over the issue when he dismissed as ‘paper discussions’ the
ongoing talks
with Zanu PF.
Tsvangirai told his supporters at a rally
in Harare; ‘If you check how far
we have gone with the talks in the last
five months, it’s just paper
discussions.” He accused Mugabe’s Zanu PF party
of insincerity in its
commitment to concessions made during the
talks.
The two MDC factions, the other led by Arthur Mutambara, are both
taking
part in the talks. Mutambara’s faction has however, remained upbeat
about
the talks against the growing impatience of Tsvangirai’s faction.
Tsvangirai
expressed his disappointment with the talks to the South African
President,
who met Mugabe and the opposition en-route to the Commonwealth
summit a week
ago in Uganda.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Zimbabwean
Tuesday, 04
December 2007 17:01
… in return for mining concessions
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) has started sending
trainers to
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the clandestine
deal
recently agreed by President Robert Mugabe and the DRC government.
It
is believed that the new deal includes a pact that gives the ZDF
mining
concessions in the diamond-rich central African country. There is
also a
stampede within the top echelons of the army as senior officers fight
to be
included in the new adventure, where, like in the previous excursion,
opportunities abound for personal benefit through looting and dealing in the
precious minerals.
Senior sources in the army told The Zimbabwean
this week that a ZDF
delegation recently visited the DRC following a visit
to this country by a
delegation sent by President Joseph Kabila.
"The first batch of trainers has already left the country, and that
followed
a visit to the DRC by senior army officials to negotiate the
modalities and
time frame," a highly-placed source said. "ZDF has basically
been called to
provide training to the DRC army recruits. Part of the new
agreement states
that if need be, Zimbabwe might be requested to send its
troops in as
reinforcements."
This paper has it on good authority that a group of
senior army
officials drawn mainly from the KGV1 headquarters base in Harare
and Manyame
Airbase in Gweru were sent on the mission. It is also understood
that part
of the new deal included a clandestine selling of weapons to the
DRC by the
Mugabe regime. – Itai Dzamara
Ekklesia, UK
By staff writers
4 Dec 2007
The summit of European and African
leaders this weekend risks being hijacked
by the presence of President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Christian Aid said
on Tuesday.
The
development agency says the European Union should not have lifted –
however
temporarily – the travel ban on President Mugabe.
"There are only two
ways of reading this decision: either the EU believes
the human rights
situations has greatly improved in Zimbabwe, which is
patently not true, or
the EU member states are no longer concerned that
Zimbabweans continued to
be marginalised and that their fundamental rights
and freedoms continue to
be violated," said Babatunde Olugboji, head of
Christian Aid’s Africa
Policy.
European officials say they hope the summit will not be
distracted by the
presence of the Zimbabwean president. They want to
cultivate closer ties
with Africa on a range of issues from trade and
investment to climate change
and illegal migration.
Christian Aid
believes the EU has a role to play in encouraging human rights
and
accountable governance across Africa. It says the EU should support
civil
society in Zimbabwe and other countries in their struggle to establish
the
rule of law and guarantees for citizen participation.
"Ideally this
summit should produce measures to provide technical support to
the judiciary
as well as institutions guaranteeing freedom of press and
agencies to
monitor human rights and anti-corruption efforts. These are
concrete steps
which would make a real difference," said Mr Olugboji.
Christian Aid
warns that action must be taken on both sides; several EU
member countries
still have not ratified the OECD convention on combating
bribery and
Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg
are yet to
ratify the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which many
African
countries have ratified.
In addition, in order to engage meaningfully
with African leaders on
accountability, European leaders must tackle the
growing gulf between
European institutions and citizens. The EU should lead
by example by
ensuring EU programmes include transparency and
anti-corruption measures.
In 2002 the EU imposed a travel ban on 130 of
Zimbabwe’s top government and
ruling party officials, a ban on weapon sales
and froze banned people’s
assets to pressure the government to improve its
human rights record and
observance of the rule of law and to hold free and
fair elections.
Judith Melby, Christian Aid’s African specialist who
recently visited
country, said: "Rather than lifting the ban the EU should
extend the travel
ban to the families of senior ZANU-PF officials who are
already banned.
Parents in Zimbabwe find it particularly galling that
children of the ruling
clique can study abroad while their own children have
little chance of an
education."
Efforts to hold the EU-AU summit,
which was first held in 2000 in Cairo,
failed in the past because southern
African leaders have threatened to
boycott any summit if Zimbabwe’s leader
was excluded.
Dear Sirs,
In your pages dated 23rd November I read,
with great interest, of the
commissioning of the large biodiesel plant in
Zimbabwe and, at first sight,
it appears to be a great contribution towards
solving the awful conditions
in that country. But I also noted that various
commentators said that it
was no quick fix so I have gathered together a few
facts and figures which
your readers might find of interest.
In order
to produce 100 million litres of biodiesel per annum would require
feedstock
of about 400,000 tones of jatropha seeds. In order to produce
this amount
of seed it would be necessary to plant a minimum of 57,000
hectares at the
rate of about 2,200 plants per hectare, i.e around 125
million saplings.
These would start to produce seed from the second or
third year and, given
reasonably favourable conditions, should produce the
required seed after
about five years. If purchased on the open market, at
current prices, these
saplings would cost around US$ 13 million.
Although the jatropha plant
will do well in poor conditions, ideally it
needs at least 600 mm of rain
per year to thrive and produce optimal
quantities of seed. The great
advantage is that is very long lived - around
40 to 50 years - and can
survive up to three years of drought although it
won't produce seed in that
period. Around 16,000 jobs would be created to
tend the plants.
Of
course the problem in this is that a fairly substantial investment is
required to procure, plant and husband the plants before economic quantities
of seeds are obtained. In the meantime the biodiesel plant could be
standing idle unless feedstock seed is imported. To import seed from India,
where it is being grown in large quantities might cost around 12-15c per
kilo which would cost around US$50-60 million. To this would have to be
added processing costs which I guess could result in biodiesel being
produced at maybe US$ 1 per litre. Not a bad price but not particularly
cheap either.
The plant could be run using other types of seed -
soya, corn etc - but it
would be a travesty to use food crops for fuel when
there are such shortages
of these basic commodities and anyway the yields
are substantially less than
with jatropha.
So I conclude that the
investment in this new plant is very much one for the
future. I am in no
doubt it is a sound direction insofar as it could
eventually enable Zimbabwe
on its way to self sufficiency in fuel - both
diesel and as a paraffin
substitute - plus the contribution towards
mitigating climate change. It
would also have great benefit on reducing
foreign exchange outflows together
with creating much needed work, but I
regret that it isn't going to be a
magic bullet to solve problems any time
soon.
Yours
faithfully
Richard Marshall
France
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 4th December 2007
In the
past few weeks the pressure on the Mugabe regime has increased
significantly. Just yesterday the US government announced a raft of new
measures against the regime with the Under Secretary of State responsible
for Africa making a very strong statement on the continued human and
political abuse being perpetrated by the Zimbabwe regime.
The
decision by the Prime Minister of Britain not to attend the EU/ACP
summit
because of the attendance by Mr. Mugabe will also highlight
international
disquiet over the behavior of the regime in Harare in the past
year.
But the pressure is not just coming from the normal sources –
the President
of Nigeria has said that the situation in Zimbabwe was no
longer acceptable
and has to be addressed. The President of Zambia made a
statement to the
Zambian press on Sunday to the effect that the Zimbabwe
situation was a
problem for all of the African leadership.
At home
the economic crisis is spiraling out of control. Prices are changing
daily
and the currency has collapsed in open markets – it was trading today
at
over Z$3 million to one US dollar and there is no bottom in sight. State
institutions are being forced to change prices dramatically and costs are
spiraling out of control in all sectors. Bus fares have shot up to one
million dollars for a short ride in a mini bus into town. A local company
with a cash payroll of Z$30 billion has only been able to get Z$1 billion
out of the bank.
Inside the ruling Party, Zanu PF the crisis of
leadership deepens. A
“million man march” on Friday attracted a few thousand
people and was a
dismal failure despite free transport and food and threats.
One Minister in
Government was said to be telling his family to be ready to
move if they
lost the election in March as the situation that followed such
an event
could spiral out of control. I think he is right – right to
anticipate the
result of the elections and right to assume that things will
get rough for
those sorts of people when they lose power and
control.
What has suddenly put a lot of pressure on the Mugabe regime has
been the
actions of the MDC in recent weeks – Tendai Biti sharply increased
tensions
when he refused to accept what the State was trying to do in the
negotiations. He said that free and fair elections are simply not possible
if Zanu PF is going to be allowed to behave as it is in and outside the
talks. Mbeki was forced to intervene directly and apparently demanded that
Zanu PF get on with the talks and stop stalling and baulking at many of the
reforms required to make the election process credible.
We are at a
very critical stage in this whole process. The dip tank has been
filled with
new Mushonga, the cattle are in the pens and despite every
effort have been
unable to get out. The time is fast approaching when they
must take that
leap of faith into the dip and swim through to the other
side. Mbeki is
using his cattle prod and the results are evident. They said
they would
never talk to the MDC – we have been talking for 6 months; they
said no to a
new transitional constitution, we have one agreed and signed.
Now they are
trying to frustrate the final steps to a free and fair
election.
It’s
“D” day in this country and our future and the future of the country
will be
decided in the next few days. With Zuma poised to take the
Presidency of the
ANC away from Mr. Mbeki, the South Africans might be
feeling the same way –
but for Mugabe the news is all bad.
Zim Online
by Prince Nyathi Wednesday 05 December
2007
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s government on Tuesday dismissed
widened United States
(US) sanctions as a “waste of time” and boasted of
what it said are growing
ties with alternative markets in China and other
Asian giants.
The US, which has since 2001 maintained targeted sanctions
against about 130
top Zimbabwe officials, announced on Monday that it was
widening sanctions
to include 40 more individuals with close ties to
President Robert Mugabe’s
government.
The US move came as pressure
mounted against Harare with Spain backing
Britain on Tuesday in calling for
Mugabe to stay away from a European
Union-Africa summit in Lisbon this week
because of his controversial human
rights record.
In addition, a
group of prominent writers, including Nobel Prize winners
Gunter Grass and
Nadine Gordimer, also on Tuesday slammed European and
African leaders for
failing to put the Zimbabwe and Darfur crises high on
the summit
agenda.
But Mugabe’s government - cocky after several thousands of
supporters
marched in Harare last Friday to show solidarity with the veteran
leader –
appeared unperturbed at renewed international focus on its
controversial
rule.
“There is nothing new in what they are saying. We
have heard this before and
it failed to work. They are actually wasting
their time because we are now
doing business with friendly countries,” said
Bright Matonga, the government’s
deputy spokesman.
Matonga, who is
Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, said Harare
had long shifted
focus to the East where ties with countries like China and
India were
growing.
“There are a billion people in China, a billion in India and far
less in the
US. Why should we go there? We can do business with friendly
nations,” he
said.
Matonga mocked some of Africa’s most respected
writers such as Nigerian Wole
Soyinka for calling on the West to keep
pressure on Zimbabwe to improve on
its human rights record.
“Wole
should just concentrate on Nigeria and stop meddling in Zimbabwe ’s
affairs.
He is a compromised writer who cannot even stay in his own
country,” said
Matonga.
Soyinka is among writers who released an open letter accusing
European and
African leaders of “political cowardice” for failing to have
Zimbabwe and
Sudan’s Darfur on the summit agenda.
Mugabe has ruled
Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980 and
critics say in that
period he has ruined the country’s once vibrant economy
and relied on
violence and repressive laws to keep public discontent in
check in the face
of deepening hunger, poverty and unemployment.
US Assistant Secretary of
State for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said
Washington planned to turn
up the heat on Mugabe as punishment for
escalating repression and rights
violations in Zimbabwe.
The new names added on the sanctions list were
not available, with the US
public affairs office in Harare saying President
George W Bush would release
these in a proclamation at a later
date.
The EU has also maintained travel and financial sanctions against
Mugabe and
his top officials but Portugal will waive the visa ban to allow
the
Zimbabwean leader to travel to Lisbon for the December 8 and 9
summit.
British Premier Gordon Brown has said he will boycott the summit
if Mugabe
is invited and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek is also
expected to stay
away.
Spain said it hoped Mugabe would voluntarily
stay away from the summit
because his presence would be a distraction from
more important matters
affecting Africa and Europe’s relations. Portugal has
also said it would be
better if the Zimbabwean leader did not
come.
Mugabe, who sparked international outrage earlier this year when
his police
arrested and beat dozens of political opponents, has said he will
attend the
Africa-Europe summit. He has the backing of African countries
that have
threatened to boycott the event if he is not invited. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Regerai Marwezu Wednesday 05 December
2007
MASVINGO – A psychiatric hospital near Masvingo town in
southern Zimbabwe is
facing closure due to severe food shortages, ZimOnline
has learnt.
In a vivid illustration of Zimbabwe’s eight-year economic
recession, the
200-bed Ngomahuru psychiatric hospital has since stopped
accepting new
patients while families are withdrawing their relatives from
the hospital,
one of a handful that provide mental health care in the
crisis-sapped
southern African nation.
Masvingo provincial medical
director Julius Chirengwa confirmed that there
were serious food shortages
at Ngomahuru adding that the government could be
forced to temporarily close
the institution until the situation improved.
“The government is
struggling to meet the food requirements of patients at
most of its health
institutions and Ngomahuru is no exception.
“We are just waiting to see
what happens in the next few days otherwise we
might be forced to
temporarily close the institution until the situation
improves,” said
Chirengwa.
The provincial medical chief revealed that almost half the 200
patients at
Ngomahuru had left the institution mainly because of
hunger.
Sources at the hospital said the government was struggling to
feed patients
after some businessmen in Masvingo stopped supplies claiming
they were not
being paid on time.
Zimbabwe’s food crisis took a turn
for the worst last June after Mugabe
ordered shops to slash prices by 50
percent in a controversial exercise
dubbed “Operation Dzikisa Mutengo”
(Reduce Prices).
The Harare administration claimed the price crackdown
was necessary to
pre-empt Western-backed plans by businesses to raise prices
and trigger a
rebellion against Mugabe.
The price crackdown saw
hungry Zimbabweans take advantage of bargains to
wipe out basic goods from
shop shelves. Retailers have struggled to restock
their shops resulting in
severe food shortages around the country.
“The situation is deplorable,”
said a worker at Ngomahuru who requested
anonymity. “Things are really bad
as the patients are going for days without
adequate
supplies.”
Zimbabwe has grappled severe food shortages over the past
seven years after
Mugabe seized white farms which he parcelled to landless
black villagers.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system, once lauded as one of
the best in
sub-Saharan Africa, has virtually collapsed due to under-funding
and
mismanagement with some patients being ordered to bring their own food
and
linen. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Chris Gande
Washington
04 December
2007
With a strike by Zimbabwean magistrates and court
staff now in its sixth
week, fears are on the rise that diseases may break
out in packed police
holding cells, particularly as many Zimbabwean lockups
are notorious for
their insalubrious conditions.
Legal sources said
police cells that were designed to hold an average of six
people are
currently holding up to 50 prisoners awaiting arraignment.
Magistrates in
Harare went on strike Oct. 30 demanding an increase in their
salaries to
Z$150 million, now less than US$50, from Z$20 million - the
Zimbabwean
dollar has meanwhile plunged from around Z$1 million to to Z$4
million to
the U.S. dollar.
Human rights lawyer Job Sibanda told reporter Chris
Gande of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that although the government has
assigned police prosecutors to
preside over arraignments, the situation in
courts and holding cells is far
from normal.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
4 December 2007
Posted to the web 4 December
2007
Henry Makiwa
Bulawayo residents are to receive only one
day's supply of water a week
after the decommissioning of its fourth supply
dam, the city's mayor said on
Tuesday.
The town council
decommissioned Inyankuni Dam on Friday and with that the
country's second
city can now only access water from Insiza Dam and a few
boreholes at the
Nyamandlovu Aquifer. Supplies from Umzingwane, Lower Ncema
and Upper Ncema
dams had already stopped after the dams ran dry.
To compound the
problem Bulawayo is also grappling with a garbage crisis, as
the council is
failing to access fuel and spare parts for refuse collection
vehicles. The
water situation has already created an outbreak of diarrhoea
with more than
3 000 cases being reported in the past month.
Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube
said the more than one million Bulawayo residents
will now only get water
once a week for about 14 hours. Warning of dire
"economic and health
repercussions" the mayor called on the government to
address the crisis as a
matter of urgency.
He said: "Most of our support has been coming from a
group of Canadian
donors who have especially been helpful in providing
preventative medication
against diarrhoea. We are faced with a crisis never
seen before in this city
and unfortunately, as from today, we have to
further tighten the water
rationing regime. I myself have just missed my
weekly water ration for the
week, so I won't be having any until about
Thursday. The fortunate part is
that the people of Bulawayo are resilient
and loyal to the city, so we will
weather the storm somehow."
The
government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the crisis. The
Chinese company awarded the tender to construct a pipeline linking the idle
Mtshabezi Dam to the city, abandoned the project five months ago due to
non-payment.
Analysts have charged that the government's indifference
at the Bulawayo
crisis stems from its intent to punish city councils run by
the opposition.
NB please note correction on following News Release: Rose Benton's number is
07970 996 003
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
News Release – 2nd December
2007
The Zimbabwe
Vigil, which has been demonstrating against Mugabe outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
in London every Saturday for more than five years, is to send a group of about
30 to Lisbon this week to protest during Mugabe’s attendance at the AU / EU
Summit. The Vigil is linking up with a Portuguese human rights organisation,
ADDHU (Associação de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos), to stage a demonstration as
close to the Summit venue (Parque des Noacios) as the police will allow (100
metres). The demonstration will be on Saturday, 8th December from 2 – 5 pm.
There will be singing and dancing to the sound of drums. Available for
interviews will be Zimbabwean political activists and survivors of torture, rape
and other abuses of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
For further information on the
demonstration and other activities planned for the summit, contact Vigil
Co-ordinator Rose Benton 07940 996 003. Details of other action will be
announced later.
The normal Vigil will take place from 2 – 6pm on
Saturday, 8th December, in London as usual augmented by supporters from ACTSA
(Action for Southern Africa) and trade unions. For more information, contact:
Luka Phiri, 07951293 766 or Chipo Chaya, 07904 395 496.
ACTSA, supported
by trade unions and Vigil activists, is also to stage a protest outside the
Portuguese Embassy, 11 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PP, on Thursday, 6th
December, from 12.30 - 2pm. For more information, contact: Simon Chase 07809
396 128, 020 3263 2001.
Other action is planned in Cardiff and Harare.
The Cardiff demonstration is organised by the Zimbabwean Development Support
Association and will be held from 12 – 2 pm on 8th December at Bevan Statue,
Queen’s Street, Cardiff. For more information contact: Kuchi Cuthbert Makari
07939 721 419
The demonstration in Harare is being organised by Vigil
partner Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHRZim)
www.rohrzimbabwe.com. For more information, contact: Stendrick Zvorwardza,
07960 113 496.
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross
violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which
started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and
fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
National Catholic Reporter
December 7,
2007
By NCR
CORRESPONDENT
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Aid agencies working in rural
Matebeleland in the arid southern parts of
Zimbabwe report a growing number
of malnutrition-related deaths as the
nation battles acute food
shortages.
The Catholic Development Commission, which runs feeding
schemes in the
region together with other faith-based and secular agencies,
says it is
becoming increasingly difficult to provide for families as demand
for aid
keeps growing.
“What is happening here is unbearable,” an
official working in Matopo, a
dusty rural outpost southwest of Bulawayo,
told NCR.
“We are seeing a lot of funerals with village elders
complaining this is the
only thing they do: bury young folks throughout the
week,” the Catholic aid
official said.
Aid workers say that because
rural communities are out of the way and out of
the spotlight, their cases
go unnoticed at a time the Zimbabwean authorities
insist there are no food
shortages or malnutrition-related deaths.
Government officials dismiss
such reports, saying the claims are made by
political rivals bent on
discrediting President Robert Mugabe who is running
for re-election next
year. Mugabe is a former independence fighter who has
ruled as president
since 1980.
But Elizabeth Hadebe, an official with the Bulawayo
archdiocese’s health
commission, insists that “people are dying in the rural
areas of
malnutrition and these cases mean there is widespread
hunger.”
The government denials make it more difficult to address the
plight of rural
communities, Hadebe said.
(The March 31, 2006, issue
of NCR had a report that examined how Zimbabwe
lost its title as
“breadbasket for southern Africa” and became a hungry
importer of
food.)
The Catholic church is one of many faith-based organizations that
have
stepped in to provide critical resources in rural areas as services in
public health care institutions continue deteriorating in a country once
celebrated as a model of excellence in Africa’s health provision.
The
agencies aim to work in partnership with government health care
providers,
but officials say this partnership is becoming increasingly
difficult as
government support of local health care infrastructure
diminishes amid the
prolonged economic crisis.
For example, Hadebe said her agency has
sourced antiretroviral drugs from
overseas donors to care for people living
with HIV, and the government is
expected to provide other medicines and
supporting staff.
But experienced health care workers are among the
thousands of Zimbabweans
leaving the country every week to seek employment
overseas, where they can
earn more money. Thus, the government can’t staff
its own clinics and
hospitals.
In the absence of skilled personnel,
Catholic health care institutions have
invited missionary doctors and nurses
to work in remote rural missions, but
the challenge remains lack of access
to food and medicines for patients and
the general population.
The
aid worker in Matopo said quite plainly: “Lack of access to food has
meant
many die due to hunger when they are already living with the [AIDS]
virus.”
“This is one of our biggest challenges as we struggle to
provide services to
these communities during these trying times,” Hadebe
said. It is also
leading to donor fatigue, as aid and development agencies
see no end in
sight for Zimbabwe’s troubles.
In the spring,
Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops’ conference issued a pastoral
letter, “God Hears
the Cry of the Oppressed,” that said the country has been
in economic
meltdown for more than two years. An unemployment rate of 80
percent and an
inflation rate of more than 1,700 percent have “made the life
of ordinary
Zimbabweans unbearable,” the bishops said.
The writer’s name is being
withheld because of the dangers of reporting in
Zimbabwe.
zimbabwejournalists.com
4th Dec 2007 17:23 GMT
By a Correspondent
HARARE - Shaun Matsheza, the
University of Zimbabwe Students Executive
Council Vice-President, was today
expelled from the university by a
disciplinary committee set up to
investigate allegations that he had
unlawfully mobilised students to protest
against an unjustifiable top-up fee
and the unilateral closure of Halls of
residence in July.
The committee, chaired by the UZ's Senior Proctor Dr.
Chisaka, recommended
to Professor Levy Nyagura, the Vice Chancellor, that
Matsheza be expelled.
Matsheza's expulsion comes against a spate of
suspensions by the university
targeting influential and progressive elements
in the Students Union.
His hearing had dragged for six months, a move
that can easily be condemned
as a deliberate ploy to delay the
administration process and the delivery of
justice, said Zinasu.
It
was alleged that Matsheza was causing civil disobedience at the
University
of Zimbabwe campus, thereby negatively affecting the proper
functioning of
university activities.
Matsheza was jointly charged with Lovemore
Chinoputsa the UZ SRC President,
Fortune Chamba the SRC Legal and Academic
Affairs Secretary, Caesar Sitiya,
Shadreck Vengesai, Tatenda Chiuya,
Manifest Jabuli, Thabani Moyo and Shingai
Chikomba with allegations that
they engaged in wanton destruction of
university property in the
demonstration against a proposed top up fee on 07
July 2007.
Chiuya,
Jabuli and Moyo have since been acquitted by the same committee.
Zinasu
says Matsheza has remained undeterred by the verdict reached by the
Disciplinary Committee, dismissing it as a "bogus result at the behest of
midgets bent on frustrating the democratic activities of the UZ Students'
Union."
He has vowed to continue fighting in defence of academic
freedoms and the
realization of good and quality Education and skills
development in
Zimbabwe.
Matsheza joins the endless list of student
leaders who have either been
suspended or expelled from tertiary
institutions for fighting for the
protection and promotion of human rights
in the country.
The leadership of ZINASU have as a result of their impact
faced severe
persecution with numerous arbitrary arrests and detentions,
organised
violence and torture, summary dismissals and suspensions from
colleges.
New Zimbabwe
By Courage Shumba
Last updated:
12/04/2007 22:02:43
ROBERT Mugabe, in his entire political career has been
exceedingly
consistent in his manipulation of issues, abuse of trust and
abuse of power
to advance his own political survival in the 27 years he has
ruled Zimbabwe.
The sight of barefoot men and women cheering on Mugabe to
another six years
of an unrepentant running down of a country got me
thinking. I was appalled
but not surprised to see how Mugabe has managed to
turn what is supposed to
a vibrant democracy into an underclass of
delusional protectors of an
independence that hatches nothing but
suffering.
Rather than getting angry with what appeared to be people
cheering on their
own abusers, I felt genuinely sorry. Sorry because I saw
no hope at the
thousands of faces gathered at that march. They have had
their confidence,
self-worth, pride, and hunger for achievement beaten down
and trashed by
years of ever plummeting standards of living. The people at
that very march
by their appearance were distraught, poor, broken, hungry,
confused and let
down.
This wasn’t a march by well dressed confident,
employed, wealthy, healthy,
prosperous young men and women together with
their older generations
appreciating the work of a functional society, party
or democracy. The
assortment of badly dressed youths in tatty clothes made
them look hired.
The whole march was a shame, disgraceful and dishonest. The
idea was to
create a swarm of human movement that would be translated into a
political
language of regained urban support. What we know is that more than
three
quarters of the people in that rally would benefit from Mugabe and
Zanu PF's
departure from governance at the earliest opportunity.
The
immoral, shameless march, inspired by Mugabe and the ruling party’s own
mistrust of the voting population of Zimbabwe reveals more of the insecurity
and paranoia within the ruling party than it speaks of solidarity or
confidence in the fallen dictator. Are we supposed to believe that there are
sections of our country who genuinely believe that even at party level, Zanu
PF cannot do better than reproduce and recreate slogans, missions and
catchphrases around a geriatric whose time in office was squandered
foolishly?
What would happen if the MDC also planned a multi-million
march of its own?
Would the MDC be allowed to exploit this open
confrontation for public
display of popular support or is it something only
Zanu PF can do? Will
Mugabe not wilt at the idea of million men marches in
the capital of Harare
and around Zimbabwe like for like?
But to show
just how hypocritical Mugabe is about reform and fairness,
someone must
actively shove this medicine into his mouth and test him with
the
possibility of a million men in Harare marching for democracy and good
governance in the name of the MDC. The reality is that Mugabe is the most
unpopular politician in Zimbabwe. He destroyed through incompetence,
mismanagement, greed and intolerance, a country that had the promise of
being the model economy for most of Africa.
Zimbabwe no longer
requires the services of tired tyrants. The hope of our
country and its
future cannot continue to be falsely fashioned and clothed
in fake
stage-managed displays of affection for a hated dictatorship. The
people of
Zimbabwe see through these acts of desperation and are unmoved. We
call on
all the people to remain vigilant in the face of the enemy. Our
country
needs a genuine focused leadership.
One thing Zimbabwe doesn’t need is
Mugabe. Let’s face it. What real good is
this old man besides that he fought
for us years ago? Can one be leader
forever on that basis alone? We need a
competent, focused, energetic
leadership that has the will to transform our
country into productive and
useful nation, whose people are not pauperised
by the incompetence and
indifference of its leadership.
Mugabe must
step down, that is the only decent thing to do. His reign has
been a
barbaric and brutal catastrophe. We need a new generation of
politicians who
will stand up to a West that is racist, hostile and
super-imposing and
continue to prosecute the equitable distribution of
wealth and empowerment
of the local majority through agrarian and many other
reforms but without
the nepotism and chaos that characterises all of
Mugabe's
programmes.
Mugabe doesn’t mean good. Even the devil never says "look
here is beautiful
woman to cheat your wife with courtesy of Lucifer Satan
the former
Arch-angel”. Dictatorship is not a title – it’s a style of
governing that is
counter-productive and defensive. What worse do we need to
see before we get
our lives back from this rogue administration? What does
Mugabe stand for
anyway?
Look around you! The answer lies in your
eyes.
New Zimbabwe
By
Torby Chimhashu
Last updated: 12/04/2007 22:32:24
ZIMBABWEAN artists are
hitting back against harassment by state security
agents.
Mbira star
Chiwoniso "Chii" Maraire leads a pack of Zimbabwean artists who
will perform
in Johannesburg at the weekend in shows aimed at seeking
support from their
neighbours in highlighting government repression.
Dubbed Make Some Noise,
the initiative is the first of its kind by
Zimbabwean artists who have
suffered blackouts of some of their work on
state-controlled radio and
television.
Recently, police banned four political satires by renowned
playwrights -
Cont Mhlanga, Daves Guzha and Slyvanos Mudzvova.
Among
the banned plays are The Good President, The Final Push, Overthrown
and
Super Patriots and Morons which police said were critical of President
Robert Mugabe’s government.
Gusty Zimbabwean rapper Samm Farai Monro,
who is co-ordinating the show,
said: "The concert aims to raise awareness
about the crisis in Zimbabwe and
the suffering that South Africa's
neighbours are going through. We also aim
to galvanise the South African
public into putting pressure on their
government to be a positive force for
change in Zimbabwe.”
Make A Noise, said Monro, hopes to bring together
the many asylum seekers
and human rights defenders in South Africa to
strengthen their networks.
The concert is a joint initiative between
Magamba, a Zimbabwean network of
artists struggling for freedom, and LNM
Entertainment, one of Johannesburg's
top musical promotion
companies.
It will be held at the Bassline, one of the city’s premier
live music venues
and will feature some of Zimbabwe and South Africa's
leading singers.
Among those billed to perform are South Africa’s popular
rap poet, Lesego
Rampolokeng, and the emerging reggae star, Steady
Rock.
Also confirmed to grace the stage is South Africa's new hip-hop
maestro,
Blindfold, whose hit song has been number one on YFM for three
weeks. DJ
Kenzero completes the line-up.
Zimbabwe's Maraire has
toured the world with her powerful mbira music and
won numerous
international music awards including the Radio France Award and
the
International Song-writing Competition Award.
Monro, who is also known as
Comrade Fatso, has performed his rebel poetry
across the world and has built
up a following in South African poetry
circles. The controversial poet will
perform with his band Chabvondoka which
is stirring up the dance floors of
Harare with their insurrectionary blend
of poetry, hip hop, chimurenga and
jazz.
Maraire said: "To beat people, to threaten people, to put a person
in a
situation where they have to think for the next five hours about
whether or
not they are going to be okay -- is a very, very bad thing to
do.
"Like, I had a situation when I performed at the Book Café when riot
police
walked in. All of these things now start to come into your work as an
artist, and it puts you in a situation where now you really have to start
thinking about what you are saying and what you are doing. So . . . --
dicy!"
Musicians, such as Leonard Zhakata, Thomas Mapfumo and Viomak
have been
victims of unofficial bans, done outside the Censorship Act but in
political
offices.
Maraire said: "We have a responsibility. We are
not bankers, we are not
doctors, we are not nurses.
"We have another
part that we play in society that must be done. So,
regardless of whether
the system is going to come in and say: 'Cut what you
are saying', going to
send riot cops in to your shows, going to come and
arrest you and (say) 'We
are going to try and put you (in jail) . . .' -- it
doesn't matter. We have
a responsibility.”
The Voice (Francistown)
EDITORIAL
4
December 2007
Posted to the web 4 December 2007
The economic and
political crises in Zimbabwe have several negative knock on
effects for
Botswana.
Mugabe's bad press has hurt tourism in the entire region,
Zimbabwe's
manufacturing decline has deprived us of low-cost competition for
South
African imports and we are being swamped by immigrants who can't find
work
north of the border.
But there are also a couple of
potential economic advantages for us that
have not received as much
publicity.
One is that we are now well positioned to become the main road
link between
South Africa and the nations of central and east Africa - and
we could
become the main train link as well, if the planned Kazangula Bridge
were to
be modified to include a rail crossing.
The bridge will lead
to increased wear on our roads, but it will also
generate income and provide
numerous service industry opportunities.
The other advantage of the
Zimbabwe crisis is pretty scary - especially if
you are into conspiracy
theories, which I for one am. Zimbabwe is loaded
with minerals; gold,
uranium, copper, platinum and more, but those ores are
not being mined to
capacity, or in many cases at all, because government
restrictions are
making it difficult for the mines to turn a profit.
The fact that
Zimbabwe's minerals are not reaching the market is helping to
keep the
supply down and the price up - and that is benefiting Botswana's
mines and
the government's tax intake. It also explains why the
international mining
giants that have interests in Zimbabwe are not raising
much of a
protest.
And when you stop and think about it, it goes a long way to
explain why
Mugabe and his ZANU cohorts are still in power. A lot of people
are making a
lot of money out of the fact that Zimbabwe's mines are
currently off-line.
zimbabwejournalists.com
4th Dec 2007 17:16 GMT
By Zimbabwe Youth
Movement
The Youth Forum is deeply disappointed by premeditated
mediocre attempts by
the state to pacify youths ahead of next year’s
harmonized elections.
The state through its media mouthpiece the Herald
has launched a massive
media onslaught on youth organizations in Zimbabwe as
it has started a
serialization of falsehoods on the operations of youth
organizations,
accusing them of harboring intentions to wage an armed
struggle reminiscent
of the liberation war of the 1970s.
Today, the
government-controlled Herald newspaper carried a lead story which
alleges
that one of the Youth Forum’s partner organizations the Zimbabwe
Youth
Movement (ZYM) sought guerilla training in March this year from
certain SADC
countries in an endeavor to dislodge the despotic leadership of
Robert
Mugabe (83) from office.
The state further alleges that the president of
the Zimbabwe Youth Movement
(ZYM) Collen Chibango is in Lisbon, Portugal
alongside other youths whom it
alleges have been smuggled to Portugal to
demonize Zimbabwe.
This claim is ridiculous, fictitious and imaginary and
goes miles in showing
the paranoia that has gripped the Mugabe regime. Mr.
Chibango is actually in
the country and has never made any attempt to leave
the country.
The government through the same paper claims that the
Zimbabwe Youth Council
represents all the youth in Zimbabwe yet it is a
publicly acclaimed fact
that the Zimbabwe Youth Council which is housed in
the 3rd floor at the
ZANU-PF headquarters in Harare has been advancing the
interests of the
ruling party since its inception.
Recently the Youth
Forum sought the intervention of the Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee on
Youth, Gender and Women Affairs to ensure that the
Zimbabwe Youth Council as
a statutory body assumes a more neutral venue
which represents the diversity
of the interests of young people in
socio-economic and political
issues.
These allegations are consistent with the acts of political
violence and
widespread repression that the state has embarked on since
March this year
under the disguise of combating terrorism. This has seen
more than 50 youths
from the MDC and the civic society being detained for
more than sixty days
and only to be released without any charges being
preferred against them.
The Youth Forum widely views these allegations as
an attempt by the state to
foil youth political activism ahead of the
elections next year but as Youth
Forum we urge young people to resist this
move and continue fighting for
their rights.
Meanwhile, the Youth
Forum urges all the Zimbabwean youths in Portugal
attending the EU-Africa
summit to represent the interests of the Zimbabwean
youths without fear and
expose the political rot that has been perpetuated
by the regime of Robert
Mugabe. We are solidly behind them.
Mutare Public
Meeting
Venue: Holiday Inn
Date: Thursday 6 December
2007
Time: 1700hrs-2000hrs
Topic: What the Youths Can Do To Ensure
a Free and Fair Election In 2008
Speakers
Bina Dube: SRC President
Mutare Polytechnic College
Gideon Chitanga: Zimbabwe National Students
Union (ZINASU) Vice President
Lynette Mudewe: Information& Publicity
Secretary of ZINASU and Coordinator
Of The MDC Women’s
Assembly
Madock Chivasa: Spokesperson of the NCA
Evernice Munando:
Students Solidarity Trust
Chairing: Wellington Zindove Projects
Coordinator Youth Forum
New Zimbabwe
By Lance
Mambondiani
Last updated: 12/04/2007 22:02:41
“The problem with being in a
Rat Race is that after the race, you will still
be a rat” -
Anon
OVERVIEW
FOR more than two days, the ZSE was plunged into
darkness, unable to release
statistics due to the blackout in parts of
Harare’s CBD. A power cut on the
NYSE will most certainly bring the exchange
to a halt. On the 23rd of
November 1990 an electrical failure at the NYSE
halted trading for more than
an hour. Previously the NYSE halted trading due
to power interruptions on
November 10, 1989, when a fire at a Con Ed
facility halted trading for about
an hour. The Zimbabwe Stock exchange with
no power seems a perfect mirror
for the rest of the Zimbabwean economy, an
epitome of stubborn survivalism
even when the poor is turned
off.
Despite the power cuts, the market also endured a week of ‘careless
whispers’.
Investors were driven into frenzy when a statement from the
Ministry of
Industry and International Trade was interpreted to imply a
crackdown on the
ZSE. This was later denied by both the Ministry and the
central bank
governor. The Ministry of Finance is also reported to have met
the ZSE
regarding the possibility of increasing withholding tax, whilst
ZIMRA is
reconciling their books and following up any non-payment of VAT on
shares,
whose tax currently stands at 15 percent.
The 2008 Fiscal
budget was due to be delivered on Thursday with the Monetary
Policy
Statement due thereafter. Such news, all within one week can be
overwhelming. The renewed interest on the stock market by the authorities is
not surprising. After failing to tame the tide of money moving into the
exchange, the government will seek to benefit from it by increasing taxation
on stock trading with obvious consequences to stock prices.
The 2008
Fiscal budget announced on Thursday was another attempt by the
Ministry of
Finance to ‘reheat the leftovers to make them look appetising’;
it is
perhaps a repeat performance of the same old tune. There was no
significant
investment in infrastructural development or policies likely to
encourage
economic regeneration. The country is living from hand to mouth.
The
government is clearly spending more than it’s making, which in
elementary
economics is the breeding ground for inflation, creating a budget
deficit.
The budget deficit implies a relationship between a ratio of the
government’s current liabilities with future values of inflation, interest
rates, GDP and money growth.
Whichever way you look at it, inflation
forecasts cannot be pretty. With
indications being that the government will
continue to pursue a low interest
rate policy to borrow cheap, it is
unlikely that any amount of tinkering
with numbers will cause the stock
market to suffer a permanent state of
paralysis.
STOCK MARKET
UPDATE
For a long time to come, the stock market will remain the place to
hide.
When things go wrong, there are just not that many options. The
renewed
regulatory interest in the market will lead to some brief adjustment
with
the market trading in troughs perhaps for the rest of the
year.
However, the maturity of the ZSE cannot be underestimated, it will
rebound.
In last week’s trade, once the ‘rumours of war’ had filtered into
the
market, stocks took it on the chin with all counters trading in the red
in a
profit taking driven frenzy. After the news had been dispelled, the
market
was on a rebound, with the industrial index reaching record levels at
667,682,215.00 an increase of 23.04 percent during the week under review
with the mining index up 15.58 percent. The loss of power at the ZSE was no
major catastrophe, although the exchange was unable to release indices for
the beginning of the week, traders were upbeat although trading was mixed in
anticipation of the National Budget.
In Tuesday’s trade, the biggest
cheer was from Circle cement, which gained
an impressive Z$2 million at Z$5
million. Circem now has the highest yield
to date at 1 369 763 percent since
January overtaking Kingdom which had
outshined all other counters since the
beginning of the year, now with a YTD
of 888 788.9 percent. Another unsung
hero, often ignored when the praise
songs are written is the diversified
conglomerate TA Holdings which has also
overtaken Kingdom with a YTD of 941
076.5 percent. Not so long along, TA
stock was a ‘fodder’ stock often
considered a company with problems or a
perennial underachiever by market
analysts.
The Kingdom share price, up Z$10 000 mid-week to Z$400 000
seems to have
reacted to the good news that the bank was granted a Malawi
banking license
through First Discount House where it had earlier increased
its shareholding
to 40,16 percent acquiring a portion of Press Corporation
Limited’s 30
percent stake. The second largest shareholder in FDH is a trust
controlled
by the current head of company, Thomson Mpinganjira, TF
Mpinganjira Trust
with a 39.84 percent shareholding followed by Old Mutual
at 20 percent.
Kingdom also runs a commercial bank in Botswana trading as
Kingdom Bank
Africa Limited which previously suffered teething problems due
to
capitalisation problems between 2005 and 2006. The bank’s original
Pan-Africanist investment approach seems to be bearing fruit. Returns on the
stock market will most certainly continue to outpace inflation many times
over, at least until the end of the year. Separate analysis revealed that
returns on the ZSE are almost 13 times the rate of inflation explaining why
equities will remain in fashion for a time to come.
STOCK MARKET
OUTLOOK
Whilst the economy continues to weaken and the bad news continues
to pile,
stock prices may inevitably fall. It is easy to get seriously
confused in an
equally confused market. Whilst trading in the market will
continue to be
cyclical, due to continued cycles of profit taking induced by
regulatory and
political uncertainties, new tax thresholds or simply because
investors are
booking profits for Christmas, now is not time to panic. Do
not react to
extremes in short term direction. Prepare to pick up shares
when they bottom
again in the next couple of weeks, they certainly
will.
The fact is stock market prices already reflect the bad news we
already know
about. Prices hardly fall further on the basis of old
information. Before
the year is out, there will certainly be one last Santa
Claus rally. If you
are looking for a moment to sell prepare for the crest
in the next couple of
weeks. If you are looking to buy, wait until the
fall.
Besides the 2008 Fiscal Budget, the most potent threat may also
come in the
governor’s monetary policy statement. However, although he may
despise the
stock market rally having gone on for this long, with the
Governor striking
a conciliatory note with business, it is unlikely that he
will be the one to
spoil the party. The introduction of a new currency will
threaten the
viability of currency dealers and is not likely to affect stock
market
traders.
Money for stock market transactions is often
transferred through the formal
RTGS system and not in cash. The stock market
may actually see a short term
surge due to the so called ‘cash barons’
attempting to put their money in
the formal system and avoid threats of
their money being frozen in Zero
interest Anti-Money Laundering bonds for 5
years.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
International markets opened Monday
in volatility as fear of a recession,
credit worries and continuing problems
in the financial sector reversed
earlier cheers. Questions emerged about
federal help for ailing
mortgage-lender Countrywide Financial, leading to an
acceleration of losses
in late trading and leading bonds to rally. There was
also profit taking
from Friday, when stocks rallied in a shortened session
as traders bet on
upbeat holiday sales.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJI) fell 237 points to 12,743, as 28 of
its 30 components
retreated. Financial stocks AIG, American Express,
Citigroup Inc. (C) and JP
Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) weighed on the blue-chip
index. Citigroup,
along with HSBC, was again in the spotlight amid
continuing problems tied to
investments in subprime mortgages. The S&P 500
index (SPX) lost 33
points, or 2.3%, to 1,407, while the NASDAQ Composite
(RIXF) fell 55 points,
or 2.1%, to 2,541.
Trading volumes showed 1.5 billion shares exchanging
hands on the New York
Stock Exchange and 2.1 billion on the NASDAQ Stock
market. Declining stocks
topped gainers by 25 to 8 on the NYSE and by 3 to 1
on the NASDAQ in a
general indication that the market is still in a
struggle. In the United
Kingdom, a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson’s
Virgin Money was declared
the preferred bidder in the battle to take over
Northern Rock which fell
victim to the subprime crunch.
FOREX
MARKET
The governor of the central bank has since denied that the central
bank was
responsible for the cash shortages being experienced in Harare. In
his
statement issued on the 21st of November 2007, the governor commented
that
cash barons were keeping a bigger chunk of the Z$58 trillion currently
in
issue outside the banking system and warned that a new currency regime
was
imminent. We expect Sunrise 2 to be launched in the Governor’s MPS which
is
expected soon after the 2008 Fiscal budget.
Cash shortages have
the impact of stalling exchange rates and paralysing the
services of
parallel market dealers of all kind. The exchange rates on the
parallel
market leveled last week due to the acute shortage of cash. The
USD/GBP rate
surged this week perhaps in renewed buying ahead of the budget
and the
launch of Sunrise 2. Traders were quoting rates of £1: Z$5,2million
when
this week opened on the 26th of November.
Going forward, rates are
expected to continue sliding until the launch of
the new currency. Last week
we advised that the RBZ was likely to introduce
bigger denominations of
bearer cheques to ameliorate the challenges of a
currency fast losing its
local value due to high inflation. Indications are
that the central bank
will also slash between 1 to 4 zeros when the new
currency is announced,
with the likeliest probability being 3 zeros.
In the absence of a new
economic regeneration project, it is unlikely and
that the new strategy will
be successful without simultaneously addressing
at least some of the
economic problems facing the nation.
_____________________
Lance
Mambondiani is a Financial Consultant at Coronation Financial, an
International Financial Advisory company registered in the UK trading in
Southern Africa and the United Kingdom. He can be contacted at
coronation.uk@btinternet.com