http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Brian Chiwara Friday 19 February
2010
HARARE - Swiss multinational firm Nestlé looks set for fresh
trouble at its
Harare plant after two senior managers claimed they were
being victimised
because they are black.
Nestlé temporarily closed
its Harare factory last December, complaining of
harassment by authorities
after it refused to take milk supplies from a farm
owned by President Robert
Mugabe's family. The factory was re-opened last
month after Nestlé received
assurances from the government that its
operations would not be interfered
with.
But the Swiss-headquartered milk processor could find itself
embroiled in a
new wrangle with the Harare authorities after the black
executives wrote to
the Ministry of Labour claiming they were being fired
from their positions
allegedly as part of a "racial cleansing" exercise to
remove all local
blacks from managerial positions.
In a letter to the
labour ministry written by their lawyer, human resources
manager Saymore
Gopo and supply chain manager Godfrey Dube claimed they were
being dismissed
to pave way for expatriates.
They said: "The entire sequence of events
surrounding this matter is deeply
rooted in the racial cleansing which is
being driven by some forces in the
management of Nestlé as a company who are
orchestrating a plan to eliminate
black African managers from the
company.
"The former managing director designate of Nestlé Zimbabwe, one
H Tilley,
has been on record for clearly bragging that they will wield the
axe on all
black managers and bring in expatriates to fill their
vacancies."
ZimOnline was unable to last night to reach Nestlé's
Nairobi-based
spokeswoman on Zimbabwe, Brinda Chiniah, to get the company's
response to
the claims of racial victimisation by the two senior workers at
its Harare
plant.
But sources said Nestlé's Equatorial Africa
regional head for human
resources, who they identified only as H.K Singh,
was expected in Harare on
Thursday to try and resolve the two managers' case
before it gets out of
hand.
Nestlé, which until last October had
bought between 10 and 15 percent of
milk processed at its Harare plant from
Gushungo Dairy owned by Mugabe's
wife Grace, stopped accepting milk from the
farm after international media
coverage of the milk purchases put the firm
under the spotlight.
Some human rights groups incensed at what they
perceived as Nestlé's support
for Mugabe's controversial farm seizure
programme had threatened to call on
consumers to boycott the company's
products if it did not stop buying
Gushungo milk.
Grace was allocated
Gushungo under her husband's chaotic and often violent
land reforms that
also saw senior members of the military and Mugabe's ZANU
PF party, their
friends and allies handed some of the best farms seized from
whites.
Nestlé came under immense pressure from Mugabe's militant
supporters to
reverse the ban on milk from Grace's farm but they relented
after the
company closed the Harare factory, putting about 200 jobs on the
line, while
analysts warned the shutdown was damaging the country's efforts
to attract
foreign investors to help shore up its battered
economy.
Labour Minister Paurina Mpariwa, from the more business friendly
MDC party
of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is certain to give Nestlé
fair hearing
in the dispute with its workers. But the allegations of racism
will afford
Mugabe's allies an avenue to launch fresh attacks against the
company. -
ZimOnline.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Brian Chiwara Friday 19 February
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's labour movement on Thursday warned that
controversial
empowerment regulations announced last week could plunge the
country's
struggling industrial sector into chaos similar to the one
triggered by
President Robert Mugabe's chaotic agrarian reforms in
2000.
Zimbabwe announced a new set of empowerment laws compelling
foreign-owned
firms to cede controlling stake to locals.
The
announcement of the regulations by Indigenisation Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere triggered an uproar from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T
party, which said such policies were supposed to be negotiated under the
terms of a September 2008 power-sharing agreement that set up the country's
unity government.
"We believe this move that is coming under the
guise of empowering
'indigenous people' has the potential to throw the
country into anarchy just
like the chaotic land reform programme did," said
ZCTU secretary general
Wellington Chibebe.
"Even within the inclusive
government there is no accord and consensus on
this regulation with the
MDC-T alleging that they were also not consulted
and involved. This is a
recipe for economic and political disaster," he
added.
The
regulations that have sent foreign-owned firms into panic with threats
of
imprisonment for foreign shareholders (or presumably their local
representatives) who fail to sell 51 percent stake to indigenous Zimbabweans
within the next five years, have also been criticised by the country's
business leaders.
The ZCTU chief said his organisation had noted that
there was insufficient
stakeholder involvement and participation in crafting
the policy, adding
that it was "just one of the top-down and populist
policies being foisted on
the economy by government".
The labour body
said it was unfortunate that such moves had been the
hallmark of government
policy formulation for a long time with the
announcement of the regulations
exposing that promoters of the controversial
law were unwilling to learn
from past mistakes.
"The government does not have the money to buy the
majority shareholding in
the targeted businesses and there is a risk that
this will result in another
massive expropriation of businesses by ZANU
PF-linked gurus along the lines
of the chaotic and negative-sum game of the
land reform exercise," said
Chibebe.
Mugabe on Wednesday endorsed the
controversial empowerment laws, saying the
49 percent shareholding to be
left in the hands of foreign investors was
enough.
"Forty-nine
percent is a hell lot," said Mugabe after officially opening an
investment
conference in Harare, adding; It's only them that are saying it's
small and
it's foolish and selfish."
But the ZCTU warned the regulations would
create disincentives for private
sector investment. It said there would be
no creation of new wealth since
government will simply "help itself to other
people's sweat and efforts by
expropriating existing
businesses".
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president
Kumbirai Katsande last
week said business would lobby the government over
the new regulations that
Kasukuwere said will become effective on March
1.
Under the empowerment regulations foreign-owned businesses operating
in
Zimbabwe will be forced to sell a majority stake to locals by March
2015.
The regulations are seen as a potentially fatal blow to efforts to
woo
foreign investors to help rebuild the country's economy shattered by 10
years of political turmoil and acute recession. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Friday 19 February
2010
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Tourism Ministry has submitted a US$28
million budget to
treasury for the sector's needs during the June World Cup
finals in South
Africa, at a time when one team participating at the finals
has agreed to
use Zimbabwe as their base.
Tourism Minister Walter
Mzembi said on Wednesday the budget had been sent to
the Finance
Ministry.
"We have submitted a US$28 million budget to enable Zimbabwe to
fulfil its
objectives before the World Cup in June and it is currently under
consideration," he said.
He added that it was crucial that the
funding be provided before the end of
this month for some of the projects to
be completed on time.
So far, US$1.5 million has been secured from the
private sector for the
establishment of 15 fan parks across the
country.
South Africa will not be able to accommodate about 450 000
visitors expected
for the World Cup, opening up an opportunity for
neigbouring countries to
benefit economically.
Zimbabwe, expecting
economic benefits from the World Cup, has been busy
trying to spruce up
tourist destinations, hotels and stadiums to lure World
Cup teams and
visitors.
Mzembi said the government had since agreed with one team that
will be
taking part in the World Cup 2010 finals to use Zimbabwe as its base
while
another "brand team" was also considering using the country as its
base.
He however could not be drawn into mentioning the names of the two
teams
citing confidentiality.
The southern African country's tourism
industry is picking up after
suffering a downturn in the aftermath of
President Robert Mugabe's chaotic
and often violent land redistribution
exercise that attracted negative
publicity for the country to scare away
foreign tourists.
This week Zimbabwe hosted a Tourism investment
Conference - that attracted 1
000 delegates from across the world, including
the World Tourism
Organisation, the Regional Tourist Organisation of
Southern Africa, and
tourism ministers from African countries including
Ghana, Zambia, Sierra
Leone and Cameroon - to drum up foreign investment
inflows for the tourism
industry. - ZimOnline
http://www1.voanews.com/
Finance Minister Tendai Biti told reporters that he
hoped the U.S.
congressional delegation would recommend amendments to the
Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic and Recovery Act, the basis for
sanctions
Blessing Zulu | Washington 18 February 2010
Members
of a US congressional delegation met Thursday with Zimbabwean
President
Robert Mugabe and Finance Minister Tendai Biti to discuss progress
in fully
implementing the September 2008 Global Political Agreement for
power sharing
and on reforms by the Harare unity government.
After meeting the US
lawmakers, Biti, also secretary general of the Movement
for Democratic
Change formation of Prime Minister Tsvangirai, said he hoped
Washington
would continue to re-engage with Zimbabwe.
He told reporters in a news
conference that he hoped the delegation members
would recommend amendments
to the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic and
Recovery Act, which is the basis
for U.S. travel and financial sanctions
targeting Mr. Mugabe and about 200
top officials of his ZANU-PF party.
Biti noted the declared U.S. position
of not objecting to the restoration of
Zimbabwe's voting rights as a member
of the International Monetary Fund, and
added that he hoped for help in
settling the country's debt arrears so that
it may again qualify for loans
from such international financial
institutions.
U.S. Rep. Gregory
Meeks, a New York Democrat, offered an upbeat message on
restoring bilateral
relations and rebuilding Zimbabwe's economy.
"We're delighted to be here
again," said the African-American legislator,
whose delegation was in Harare
in September 2009, "and I think that what you
will see is more members of
the United States Congress coming to visit,
coming to engage and coming to
work with the people of Zimbabwe so that we
can make sure that tomorrow is
better than today because we understand that
the future is where we should
be headed as opposed to just looking back at
the past."
Reporters
quizzed the finance minister on the state of the unity government
and
negotiations on the so-called outstanding issues. Biti, chief negotiator
for
the Tsvangirai MDC formation in intra-governmental talks, said it is
time to
put the unresolved issues troubling the unity government in the
hands of
South African President Jacob Zuma and the Southern African
Development
Community.
"We're going nowhere on the dialogue" with ZANU-PF," Biti
said, "and
therefore it is very important for President Zuma and South
Africa to step
in and step in quickly. We as negotiators have reached our
ceiling - it
should be taken out of our hands because continuing to let us
negotiate,
we're wasting time."
He said negotiators for the three
unity parties have "reached where our own
human capabilities can take us as
negotiators, therefore we need a bigger
brain, that of President Zuma, and
more wisdom, that of SADC."
Christopher Mutsvangwa, a member of the
ZANU-PF information committee and a
former ambassador to China, told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that he
sees the visit by the US delegation
as a significant development.
Elsewhere, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara said the government was
very concerned at the way in which the
European Union extended sanctions on
President Mugabe and many other ZANU-PF
officials without consultations
under the so-called EU-Zimbabwean
Re-engagement Committee.
The committee includes ministers of the three
governing parties and EU
envoys to Harare led by Swedish Ambassador Sten
Rylander. The Swedish
diplomat declined to comment on the sanctions decision
taken in Brussels.
Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara told VOA's Blessing
Zulu that the European
Union displayed arrogance and must remove all
sanctions.
http://www.africasia.com
HARARE,
Feb 18 (AFP)
Lawmakers from Zimbabwe's
three main political parties are to visit the
United States in a bid to mend
relations between between Harare and
Washington, an official said on
Thursday.
The visit, on dates yet to be announced, is meant to change the
US
government's perception of Zimbabwe, the official said.
"It was
all agreed that the US embassy will process visas for them,
irrespective of
party or party affiliation," said the official after a
meeting between
President Robert Mugabe and five US Congressmen.
"The meeting also agreed
that the US Black Caucus will once every year hold
joint presentations in
South Africa with our members of parliament."
Gregory Meeks, leader of
the US delegation, said the talks with Mugabe were
fruitful.
"It was
a very constructive meeting, we talked about improving
relationships. We
look forward to working to working with him," he said.
Relations between
the Zimbabwe and the United States were strained after
Zimbabwe's
presidential elections in 2002 which were judged by Western
observers to
have been rigged to hand Mugabe victory.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27433
February 19, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - A visiting delegation of US congressmen said
Thursday that Zimbabwe
still had a long way to go in restoring political
stability, although there
was some progress registered on some
fronts.
"Zimbabwe does have a long way to go in terms of creating the
kind of
political stability and the economic stability that can cause the
country to
re-grow and to bring back a better way for life for Zimbabweans,"
Representative Bob Goodlatte (Virginia) told journalists during a joint
press briefing with Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
He, however, said
that the visit to Zimbabwe by the delegation, which was
being led by
Representative Gregory Meeks, had helped change some negative
perceptions
the US still had on Zimbabwe's coalition government.
"It's very
encouraging," said Goodlatte. "I think a lot of progress has been
made since
the agreement that was negotiated by Mr Biti and others.
"The key to that
is the kind of agreement that was negotiated; the
constitution that now has
been worked.
"That is very, very important to ensure the rights of
individual citizens,
that Zimbabweans have a stable government regardless of
who wins elections
and that the government will respect the rule of law and
that the ability of
people to come in and invest money in this country will
grow and those who
want to invest here internally will have a system that
will protect their
rights."
Representative Meeks said the Americans
were encouraged that Zimbabwe's
coalition government was beginning to find
that its role was not to fight
but to work together for a better
Zimbabwe.
"That's a tremendous change in the way we perceive what the
inclusive
government was all about," he said.
On his part, Biti said
he had appealed for increased integration of Zimbabwe
into the international
community.
During his briefing with the American delegation, Biti said he
also
highlighted the challenges the inclusive government continued to
face.
He added, "The major point we have highlighted is that it is
critical for
the sake of Zimbabwe that the United States in particular
reengages fully
with Zimbabwe."
Biti is also secretary-general for
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
mainstream MDC.
"I have also had
occasion to thank them for the support that we have
received from the United
States of America vis-ŕ-vis the support towards the
restoration of our
voting rights," he said.
Later in the afternoon, the US delegation met
President Robert Mugabe at
State House and Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani
Khupe.
The US delegation flew into Zimbabwe Wednesday for a series of
meetings with
government officials, the civic society as well as touring
some projects run
by the American government in Zimbabwe.
It is the
second visit by the US delegation of congressmen in five months.
http://www1.voanews.com
Farmtec attorney Davison Kanokanga, said the deputy sheriff
has made several
fruitless trips to the RBZ seeking to have the property in
Mutare and
Nyanga, Manicaland province, handed over to
auctioneers
Gibbs Dube | Washington 18 February 2010
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has reneged on an agreement with the Office of
the
Sheriff to deliver assets under judicial attachment to settle a US$2.1
million debt to Farmtec Supplies and Implements, sources said
Thursday.
Farmtec attorney Davison Kanokanga, said the deputy sheriff has
made several
fruitless trips to the RBZ seeking to have the property in
Mutare and
Nyanga, Manicaland province, handed over to
auctioneers.
Kanokanga told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that in
light of the central
bank's failure to deliver the movable assets to the
sheriff in Harare,
auctioneers are now expected to sell them in on spot in
Nyanga and Mutare.
He said he had instructed the deputy sheriff to attach
more movable property
as the property already attached, including computers
and other office
equipment, will not be sufficient to cover the judgment
against the central
bank.
"We are now looking at attaching more
office equipment, motor vehicles and
other RBZ valuable assets," Kanokanga
said.
He said the attached property would be auctioned early next
month.
The Office of the Sheriff has attached five buildings belonging to
the
central bank that may also go under the hammer if Farmtec is not
paid.
The deeply-indebted bank, believed to be insolvent and close to
collapse,
ordered 150 tractors from Farmtec as an implementing agent for the
Farm
Mechanization and Agricultural Support Enhancement Facility under the
previous ZANU-PF government of President Robert Mugabe.
Farmtec
supplied some 60 tractors worth US$2.1 million and the remaining 90
were to
be delivered once the bank paid for that consignment.
More recently, the
Reserve Bank failed to redeem as scheduled bonds it
issued to mining
companies in lieu of cash payment for gold it received from
mining companies
between 2007 and 2008.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27427
February 19, 2010
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Finance Minister Tendai Biti has made an appeal to
both South
Africa and the SADC to help break the deadlock that continues to
trouble
Zimbabwe's inclusive government.Speaking to journalists in Harare
Thursday,
Biti, who is also secretary general of the mainstream MDC, led by
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said negotiators from the two MDC parties
and
Zanu PF had irredeemably failed to resolve their differences.
"We
are going no where on the dialogue and therefore it is very important
for
President Zuma and South Africa to step in and step in quickly," Biti
said.
"We as negotiators have reached our ceiling. It should be taken
out of our
hands. Continuing to let us negotiate we are wasting time because
we have
tried. We have been negotiating since the 14th of May
2007.
"I think we have reached where our human capabilities can take us
as
negotiators. Therefore we need a bigger brain - that of President Zuma
and
more wisdom that of SADC."
Biti made the remarks when he met a
visiting US delegation of congressmen
who came to Zimbabwe Wednesday to
assess progress in the country's coalition
government.
The MDC is
agitated by the continued refusal by President Robert Mugabe to
follow
through on his part of the bargain as per Global Political Agreement
signed
2008 by the country's three major political parties.
Key among the MDC's
demands is the refusal of the unilateral appointments by
President Mugabe,
of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and
Attorney General
Johannes Tomana.
The MDC also wants to see commitment by Zanu-PF on the
restoration of the
rule of law in Zimbabwe and the reformation of key
government institutions
and security services which continue to discharge
their duties with bias.
Also among the MDC's demands is the speedy
liberalization of the media
landscape which is still firmly under the
control of President Mugabe's
loyalists
Zanu PF is adamant it will
not make any more concessions to MDC claiming it
has fulfilled everything
expected of it under the GPA.
Instead, Zanu-PF wants the MDC to influence
the lifting of western imposed
sanctions targeted at some of its top
officials, associated businesses and
those seen as stifling the rule of law
in Zimbabwe.
The MDC is adamant all parties to the inclusive process
should participate
equally in forcing the scrapping of sanctions.
http://www1.voanews.com
Chairwoman Tendayi Chikowore of the Apex negotiating panel for
public
workers told VOA that there is no end to the strike in sight as the
government has not been engaging unions and other public service
representatives
Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye & Patience Rusere 18
February 2010
Organizations representing Zimbabwe's striking civil
servants met today in
the capital, Harare, to evaluate their two-week-old
labor action.
Chairwoman Tendayi Chikowore of the Apex negotiating panel
for public
workers told VOA that there is no end to the strike in sight as
the
government has not been engaging unions and other public service
representatives.
Chikowore told VOA Studio 7 reporter Marvellous
Mhlanga Nyahuye that the
Apex Council has called a mass public meeting of
civil servants on Friday at
Harare Gardens in central Harare to discuss the
way forward.
The strike was called on Friday, February 5, during such a
mass meeting of
state workers whose representatives had previously set a
deadline for action
by the strapped national unity government on low public
salaries.
Civil servants earn a maximum US$200 a month, though the
Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe says a family of six needs a monthly US$520
dollars to get by.
State workers want a monthly base salary of US$630,
insisting the government
could afford to boost wages if it would tap diamond
revenues.
To examine the demands of state workers and the impact of the
strike, VOA
Studio 7 reporter Patience Rusere turned to Executive Director
Abel Chikomo
of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Acting Program
Officer Lorraine
Mupatsiri of the Combined Harare Residents
Association.
Mupatsiri says school children have been affected most by
the strike, which
includes most primary and secondary school teachers.
http://www1.voanews.com
Though the annual inflation rate is still negative, the 4.7%
increase in
prices in the past two months is likely to concern economists,
though the
rolling three month average of 1.5% remains far from
hyperinflationary
levels
Blessing Zulu | Washington 18 February
2010
Zimbabwean consumer prices rose 2.9 percent in January after a
1.8 percent
monthly gain in December, leaving the 12-month inflation through
January
at -4.8 percent, the Central Statistical Office said
Thursday.
The annual inflation rate in December was -7.7 percent, but a
hefty 2.3
percent decline in prices in January 2009 combined with recent
rising prices
for basic goods eroded that legacy of disinflationary forces
early last year
resulting from the adoption of a monetary regimen of mixed
hard currencies -
primarily the U.S. dollar, the South African rand and the
Botswana pula.
Though the annual inflation rate is still negative, the
4.7% increase in
prices in the past two months is likely to concern
economists, though the
rolling three month average of 1.5% remains far from
hyperinflationary
levels.
Harare economist John Robertson told VOA
Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu
that higher prices are in store this year
after disinflation in 2009.
The inflation news emerged one day before the
International Monetary Fund in
Washington was to consider reinstating
Zimbabwe's voting rights, suspended
in 2003 over debt arrears and
disagreements over macroeconomic policy.
IMF spokesman David Hawley told
Reuters that the restoration of voting
rights would not mean that Zimbabwe
regained access to multilateral credit.
"Access to general resources would
depend on Zimbabwe clearing its arrears
to the (IMF) Poverty Reduction and
Growth Trust," Hawley said.
Finance minister Tendai Biti is due in
Washington on Friday. He previously
told VOA that Germany, Britain and the
United States have assured him that
they will not oppose the restoration of
Zimbabwe's voting rights.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
18/02/2010 00:00:00
by Lebo
Nkatazo
ZIMBABWE'S prisons have seen a 93 percent drop in the death
rate and are now
under-populated by 24 percent, Deputy Justice Minister
Jessie Majome
revealed in parliament this week.
The shock revelations
came as Majome took questions from MPs, a year after a
power sharing
government was sworn in to cool political tensions and ease
the country's
economic crisis.
Prior to the coalition pact between President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu PF party
and rival MDC factions led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and his
deputy Arthur Mutambara, Amnesty International said 1,000
prisoners were
dying every six months in Zimbabwe's overcrowded
jails.
Mugabe pardoned 2,500 prisoners last year, including terminally
ill inmates,
and Majome says that move coupled with an improving economic
environment has
caused a decline in deaths.
Zimbabwe's prisons have a
capacity to hold 17,000 inmates, but as of
February 8, 2010, they were
holding 13,361, Majome said.
That number includes 3,687 remand prisoners
awaiting trial, 9,671 who are
serving their sentences, three who are
undergoing civil punishment and two
who are awaiting sentence.
Majome
told parliament: "As of 2009, we had a dark time as a country but we
are
encouraged to note that as of January 2010, the deaths were just SEVEN
... a
93 percent drop in the death rate.
"The death rate of 2009 was also a result
of the economic environment the
country was facing, so the prisons were not
spared."
In answers to MPs, Majome said the major cause of death was
"immunosuppression", and appealed to non-governmental organisation to step
up aid to the prison service with most government finances committed to
other departments.
Majome tinctured the good news with an admission
that the Zimbabwe Prison
Services (ZPS) is failing to transport prisoners to
and from court - with
the whole country served by ONE TRUCK.
"The
Minister is currently seeking funding to correct this and we are
exploring
the possibility of actually moving the mountain to Mohammed, but
we have
challenges," she added.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=27420
February 18, 2010
John Robertson
THE
world's reactions to the latest attempts by Zimbabwe's political masters
to
rectify what they insist are huge distortions caused by the country's
colonial experience have dropped off to barely suppressed
yawns.
There they go again, this small number of inadequate people who so
deeply
envy the success that anyone else has achieved that they never stop
hatching
plots to gain control over their assets. If these politicians can
think up
half an excuse to resent the very existence of those whose assets
they want,
they will turn the acquisition process into a national
crusade.
Their basic assumption is that, by over-throwing the colonial
government,
they - the top politicians - could rightfully claim ownership
rights over
everything in the country. But as a few inconvenient laws stood
in the way,
such as property rights and civil rights, a few laws had to be
changed or
new laws written to overcome these handicaps. And if the targeted
owners
could claim the protection of the constitution, the answer was
simple: amend
the constitution.
Another assumption is that every
Zimbabwean is either happy with the idea of
latching onto the assets of
others, or can be persuaded that, as the
interests of important people are
being well served by the process, it would
not be their own interests to
interfere. This distinction does separate the
Zimbabweans who are grasping
opportunists from those who feel an obligation
to work for what they want.
However, so far the assumption that none of them
will raise objections to
the process has proved fairly sound.
Even so, the important distinction
between those who jump at the chance to
take what they can get for nothing
and those who feel they should work for
the things they want to own has to
be recognised. The vast majority of
Zimbabweans have a keen sense of what is
fair and just, so the vast majority
did not scramble onto the commercial
farms to loot the homesteads,
warehouses and workshops as soon as the ruling
party declared that the
farmers no longer enjoyed the protection of the
law.
Of course, the few thousand who were delighted to make the most of
the
opportunity were more than enough to do a thorough job. Most of the
farms
acquired by the State have ceased to function and most of the looted
items
also soon dropped out of use. Looters and scavengers do not often make
good
managers and producers.
The vast majority that did not
participate in the destruction were keenly
aware that what was happening was
wrong. Now a very high proportion of them
are even more keenly aware that
they have been directly and severely
affected. Even if their own source of
income was a long way downstream from
agriculture, they might be among the
many that have lost their jobs.
They might also have shared the dismay of
their children when their schools
were rendered ineffective or when they
failed to find employment, and they
might have lost loved-ones when the
hospitals ceased to function. And they
will all have lost their life's
savings when the government's post Land
Reform behaviour destroyed
Zimbabwe's currency.
Unfortunately, the Zanu-PF-supported smash-and-grab
brigade has responded
differently to such setbacks. With no feelings of
guilt or shame and with no
expressions of remorse, they are now lining up to
participate in the latest
raid on the property of others. When asked whether
they think a repeat of
the process is a good idea, their answers show that
they remain as selfish
as ever and totally indifferent to the suffering
their actions might be to
thousands or millions of other people. They remain
a tiny minority, but
their capacity for destruction is as intense as
ever.
The architects of the previously damaging sequences dismiss
accusations of
failure with the blunt observation that "It was theirs, now
it is ours. That
is success". If the subject of the disappearance of
production is raised,
the questioner is accused of changing the
subject.
Just how incredibly shallow their thinking is, and how
unbelievably selfish
and callous they are as people shows up particularly
well when they defend
the Land Reform policies. The loss of Zimbabwe's
commercial agricultural
production was at the expense of 350 000 farm
worker's jobs and of the
housing and security of their families, totalling
nearly two million people.
More than a million children lost their places in
the schools provided by
the farmers.
These farms were highly
productive and they helped Zimbabwe acquire the
reputation of dependable
suppliers of valuable food and non-food
agricultural exports. These export
revenues, in turn, inspired confidence
among international bankers, who
showed this by extending generous lines of
credit to Zimbabwean banks that
could therefore offer considerable
assistance to local
businesses.
When the commercial farm output was cut to a fraction of
former levels,
forcing a loss of export earnings and also forcing Zimbabwe
to import food
that it had formerly produced in abundance, the country was
soon unable to
service its debts. Its debts remain unpaid - nearly US$6
billion - and the
lost tobacco production alone would have been more than
sufficient to pay it
off.
Despite all that, believe it or not, the
Zanu-PF heavyweights still believe
that Land Reform was a glorious success.
The few dozen party officials who
enriched themselves in the smash-and-grab
exercise could not care less about
the welfare of the millions affected. As
for the unpaid debts, they are now
trying to argue that Zimbabwe should
qualify for debt forgiveness!
The new schemes that they believe will
legalise their right to acquire the
property of others, this time in the
form of the majority of their shares in
their businesses, appears to have
made a few of the Zanu-PF supporters
concerned. Perhaps they have been
persuaded that the effects on highly
technical factories will be the same as
the effects on highly technical
farming operations, and the end result will
again be a collapse.
Or perhaps they have now decided that they should
join the majority who
believe that the idea is fundamentally wrong, and who
have no doubt at all
that merely having the power to force policies into
operation does not make
the policy-maker right.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Edith Kaseke Friday 19 February
2010
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s once showcase education and health sectors
are in a
state of accelerated decay, in a vivid reminder of how a jewel so
tirelessly
built by President Robert Mugabe’s government after independence
has been
shattered and its ruins a hallmark of the veteran leader’s
controversial
rule, especially in the last decade.
Opponents of the
ageing leader say he has run one of Africa’s most promising
economies to the
ground, through mismanagement, controversial populist
policies and a
patronage system that rewards political loyalties at the
expense of
competence.
A parliamentary committee report this week showed that the
massive brain
drain, which has heightened in the last decade, has left the
University of
Zimbabwe (UZ), the country’s premier education institution,
edging towards
paralysis.
Less than 500 lecturers, all underpaid, now
remain at the university, a
figure less than half the required full
compliment of around 1 200,
resulting in some programmes in the sciences
faculty being suspended.
State of decay
The sciences faculty
requires 211 lecturers but only 32 are available,
clearly amplifying the
state of decay that has gripped what was once an envy
of the
continent.
“This is all concrete evidence of the government’s failures
over the years,”
John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the UZ
said.
“But is it not ironic that all that ZANU PF (Mugabe’s party) built
they have
made sure they have destroyed and it is that destruction that
people will
remember most and will surely be Mugabe’s legacy?” Makumbe
said.
Hailed as an African democrat at independence from Britain in 1980
when his
government rapidly improved education, health and social
infrastructure for
the historically disadvantaged blacks, Mugabe now stands
accused of being an
aged dictator illegally hanging onto
power.
Skilled workers in the education and health sectors have fled
Zimbabwe in
large numbers to search for better paying jobs in the region and
as far as
Britain, United States and Australia.
The dawn of a unity
government last year, formed by rivals Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai brought euphoric optimism that the economic and
political
nightmares of the past decade were about to end.
The government was to
provide a quick fix to the country’s ills, Zimbabweans
hoped. But the
administration has only been able to improve some aspects of
life for the
majority while the major problems are yet to be fixed. For
example, public
hospitals remain under-funded and understaffed with the
barest of drugs’
stocks, and so are schools and universities.
Little
confidence
Bankrupt and divided, the coalition has failed to attract back
lecturers and
key staff to the country’s state universities and state health
institutions,
suggesting that Zimbabweans have little confidence that the
political
arrangement could ever give birth to a secure future.
Many
continue to look beyond the borders for salvation.
“I am currently
working on my papers to go to Australia, I don’t think
things will ever
improve here as before,” said 26-year-old Grace Majome, a
nurse at
Parirenyatwa Hospital.
According to the International Organisation for
Migration, hundreds of
Zimbabweans continued to leave the country every week
in search of jobs,
with South Africa being the destination of choice after
Africa’s largest
economy relaxed visa requirements last year.
Only
last week, South Africa’s northern Limpopo province said it wanted to
hire
600 Zimbabwean teachers to fill in vacant positions for mathematics but
observers say more local teachers continue to be quietly hired in public and
private schools there.
State employees, who get an average salary of
$160 every month have been on
strike for nearly two weeks, in a blow to the
unity administration’s efforts
to shore up health and education, the pillars
of social services.
Public infrastructure like roads and sewer systems
and electricity
generation has not improved in Zimbabwe despite the
formation of the new
government last February.
To restore public
infrastructure, the country needs $2.5 billion and another
$800 million just
to bring existing power stations to full capacity. The
government has put a
$10 billion tag to rebuild the economy – money no one
is willing to lend the
bankrupt administration.
Stymieing reforms
No wonder Zimbabweans
are growing increasingly impatient and angry over the
government’s failures
and have watched in horror as the decay continues,
with Western donors
holding onto to critical funding, accusing ZANU PF of
stymieing democratic
reforms.
“I don’t think I want to work here when I finish college, I am
thinking of
going to Botswana or to the Middle East where I hear the
salaries are far
higher,” said Simba Chitambo, a second year Agricultural
Economics and
Extension sciences student at UZ.
“If I stay here I
will only be working in government for $150 a month and I
don’t think I want
to spend four years in school so that I will earn that
little.”
This
week, Harare authorities said city residents would receive water once
in
three days because the main pumping stations could only produce 60
percent
of the required provisions and of that 40 percent was being lost
through
leakages because of outdated piping.
The council says it needs $250
million to restore water to Harare, money it
does not have and bad news for
institutions like the UZ, which have shut its
halls of residence.
On
Sunday Mugabe, who is one of the longest serving and oldest leaders, will
turn 86 years and will be deep in the sunset of a long political career in
which he has divided supporters and foes alike.
To many in the
teaming cities and towns that have borne the brunt of
Zimbabwe’s economic
collapse Mugabe is a villain they hold directly
responsible for deepening
poverty and rising unemployment in the country.
Historic
elections
But there are still many especially in the rural areas and on
resettled
former white farms who in spite of economic hardship remain fond
of Mugabe –
if the results of the historic elections in 2008 are anything to
go by.
Mugabe and ZANU PF lost the March 2008 vote against the then main
opposition
MDC-T party and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai but managed to
garner enough
votes to prevent a landslide by the hugely popular
MDC.
On his part, Mugabe accepts no blame for the collapsed roads,
sewers, power
shortages, brain drain, economic rot and high unemployment in
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's spectacular failure on a plot by Western
countries,
led by the UK, to oust him because of his seizure of white-owned
farms.
Makumbe, a long time critic of the Zimbabwean leader disagrees:
“Mugabe is
yesterday’s man, he has turned a success story into Africa’s
shame, and that
will be what most Zimbabweans will remember him for,” he
said. – ZimOnline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqOjiq19rHk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl97cR5rQp0