Sydney Morning Herald
February 21, 2008 - 6:04AM
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate
has soared to over 100,000 per cent,
according to official
figures.
"The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of January 2008,
as measured
by the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 100,580.2
per cent,
gaining 34,367.9 percentage points on the December rate of
66,212.3 per
cent," the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said in a
statement.
"This means that prices as measured by the all items CPI
increased by an
average of 100,580.2 per cent between January 2007 and
January 2008."
Inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages reached
105,428.0 per cent
while non-food inflation was 97,885.7 per
cent."
The southern African country's economy has been in a tailspin for
the past
seven years, characterised by shortages of basic commodities like
sugar,
cooking oil and petrol.
While the products are readily
available on a burgeoning black market, many
Zimbabweans have resorted to
buying their essentials from neighbouring
countries like Botswana, South
Africa and Zambia.
At least 80 per cent of the population is living below
the poverty line,
often skipping meals to stretch their income which
frequently fails to cover
basic needs.
The government has introduced
several measures to try and curb inflation,
including imposing a ceiling on
the prices of some goods and services and
knocking three zeros off the
country's currency.
The CSO last released monthly inflation statistics to
the media in
September. The November figure was only released by the central
bank chief
in a statement last month.
AFP
Reuters
Wed 20
Feb 2008, 10:04 GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe turns 84 on Thursday,
defiant as ever but facing an
unprecedented challenge in an election due
next month.
Mugabe,
Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence in 1980, won a
controversial
endorsement from his ruling ZANU-PF party to stand for
re-election, but
could face stiff resistance from a former ally who blames
him for an
economic meltdown.
Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni has vowed to
grab the presidency from
Mugabe in the March 29 vote, promising to help
Zimbabweans plagued by the
world's highest inflation rate and severe food
and fuel shortages.
Mugabe says he is "raring to go" against his
opponents, including Makoni,
who has been branded a sellout by state
media.
Mugabe will celebrate his birthday at a huge rally in the southern
border
town of Beitbridge on Saturday where he is expected to set the tone
of his
re-election campaign.
On Thursday, Mugabe is likely to mark
his birthday with a traditional
private family dinner and he is expected to
meet with his staff.
But political analysts say the celebrations have
been overshadowed by
Makoni's entry into the race in which Morgan
Tsvangirai, head of the main
faction of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), is also
participating.
"Mugabe will try
obviously to put up a brave face in public, but in private
I think his
approach would be to treat both Makoni and Tsvangirai as serious
challengers," said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the
University of Zimbabwe.
CALLS FOR REFORM
"Mugabe tends to get
his way by never leaving anything to chance or taking
things for granted,"
he added.
The MDC accuses Mugabe of hanging on to power through
vote-rigging and
repressive measures. It says Zimbabwe needs radical reform
to ease a crisis
that has left the country with the world's highest
inflation rate of over
66,000 percent.
Mugabe says the economy is
being sabotaged by Western opponents led by
former colonial power Britain
who want to oust him for seizing white-owned
farms for landless blacks, a
move critics say has ruined the key agriculture
sector.
Analysts say
Mugabe, whose government has effectively been under Western
economic
sanctions since ZANU-PF's controversial election victory in 2000,
is likely
to deploy his political shock troops -- independence war veterans
with a
history of
intimidating rivals -- into the election fray to win the
poll.
Millions of Zimbabweans are expected to vote in the presidential,
parliamentary and municipal polls. Mugabe and his opponents have described
the event as a landmark election in the country's post-independence
period.
In a newspaper commentary last week on the March elections,
Professor
Stephen Chan of the School of Oriental and African Studies in
London, and
author of the book "Robert Mugabe: A Life of Power and
Violence", said
Makoni's chances would depend on influential figures
rumoured to be backing
him in ZANU-PF.
"This is the lion cub taking
on the lion king...and the people upon whom he
must now rely must not let
him down at the first opportunistic moment," Chan
said.
"Mugabe is a
very powerful leader of the pride. There will be vengeance to
come. Makoni
knows he has to win, and he knows the chances are high that he
will
not."
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: February
20, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's longtime ruler President
Robert Mugabe faces a
first ever election run off if he fails to win 51
percent of valid votes
cast in a presidential poll in March.
Mugabe
faces his greatest electoral challenge since he led the nation to
independence in 1980 in the March 29 vote being contested by former ruling
party loyalist Simba Makoni and the leader of an opposition faction, Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network said in
a statement
Wednesday a little known clause in existing electoral law
provided for a
presidential rerun if the winner receives less than 51
percent of ballots
cast in the race.
In all previous polls since
independence, Mugabe, who turns 84 on Friday,
has swept to victory in
elections marred by allegations of vote rigging and
political intimidation
with more than 60 percent of presidential votes.
But he only fought
single or minor opponents who never stopped him capturing
more than 51
percent. However, this March, said the support network, Makoni
and
Tsvangirai are both serious contenders who could garner enough votes
together to require a run off, even if Mugabe topped the poll.
In the
last disputed presidential vote in 2002, Tsvangirai officially won 41
percent of the ballots.
Under electoral law, the rerun between the top
two contenders would be held
within 21 days of March 29, coinciding with the
highly symbolic 28th
anniversary celebrations of independence from Britain
on April 18 over which
Mugabe has traditionally presided as the nation's
founding father.
Legal experts say Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party appears
to have ignored the
rerun provisions when announcing the polling date before
the third
presidential contender, Makoni, revealed his plans to
run.
Makoni, 57, a businessman and former finance minister fired by
Mugabe in
2002, is expected to attract disillusioned supporters of the
deeply divided
ruling party and the fractured opposition. Zimbabwe faces a
chronic economic
crisis with the world's highest official inflation of
66,000 percent and
acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline and most
basic goods.
The state Electoral Commission said Wednesday it was still
compiling full
details of 929 candidates nominated to contest 210 parliament
seats and 60
seats in the upper house, or Senate, on March 29.
Makoni
aides said at least 70 independents were standing under his banner in
eastern and southern Zimbabwe in the parliamentary elections and began
campaigning for him in the presidential race.
Nominations in the
western Matabeleland province, where an opposition
faction led by Arthur
Mutambara has pledged not to oppose Makoni, were still
to be
confirmed.
Mugabe's party, shaken by internal divisions, on Tuesday said
it will expel
party candidates running against its official nominees who
refuse to
withdraw from the national polls.
Makoni was fired from the
party last week for opposing Mugabe while clinging
to ruling party links as
an independent.
Independent, UK
By Basildon Peta, Independent Foreign
Service
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
The supermarket shelves are empty,
inflation has topped 67,000 per cent and
power cuts are a daily event – but
Zimbabwe is about to have a party.
Robert Mugabe turns 84 tomorrow and no
amount of suffering is going to stop
him spending a small fortune in
precious currency on a lavish celebration.
Marking the President's birth
has become synonymous with extravagance in the
impoverished southern African
country – and the ruling party's aggressive
"21st February Movement" makes
sure everyone joins in.
The main event will be held in the border town of
Beitbridge, while similar
festivities will be held across the country. The
main event on the border
with South Africa is expected to attract thousands
of ruling party
supporters and Mugabe cronies. While the party is going on,
the nightly
exodus of Zimbabweans across the Limpopo River into South Africa
will
undoubtedly continue.
Foreign companies doing business in
Zimbabwe have been lining up to donate
money to fund the festivities,
according to officials. They will also splash
out on newspaper, radio and
television advertisements wishing Mr Mugabe many
happy returns.
The
state-controlled Herald newspaper will carry a special supplement with
congratulatory advertisements tomorrow. However, with the Zimbabwean dollar
having become worthless over the years and contributions always trailing the
budget required, the beleaguered Zimbabwean taxpayer has in the past few
years been called upon to meet any shortfalls to Mr Mugabe's birthday
celebrations.
"It is not a cause that I believe in any more but
something that one has to
do," said a businessman who has routinely
contributed to Mr Mugabe's
birthday fund and who is contributing again this
year.
For his 83rd birthday last year, civil servants were forced to make
donations because they "owed their jobs" to Mr Mugabe's leadership in the
1970s war of independence against white settlers. While reports of extortion
have not yet surfaced this year, many people find it awkward that the depths
of the economic crisis have not dissuaded him from conspicuous
spending.
"I wish this was not his birth-day but his death-day," said a
former
teacher. "The biggest contribution that this guy could have made to
this
country is to have died a long time ago."
Absolom Sikhosana, the
head of the violent youth wing of Mr Mugabe's ruling
Zanu-PF party and a
leader of the 21st February Movement, said the birthday
was celebrated in
the way it has been to provide an opportunity to learn
from his "exemplary
character".
Party officials have set themselves a target of raising
"millions of pounds"
to bankroll the event, although they could not give a
specific figure. Any
shortfall is drawn from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ).
Last month, reports emerged that Mr Mugabe withdrew US$100,000
(£51,000)
from the RBZ at the artificially low official exchange rate to
finance a
lavish three-week family holiday in Malaysia and Thailand. Most
Zimbabweans
and businesses without close connections to the regime have to
access
foreign currency on the black market at a very high
premium.
Zimbabwe has been gripped by foreign currency shortages since Mr
Mugabe
seized land from white farmers who used to grow cash crops for
export.
At its peak, Zimbabwe was the second largest tobacco exporting
country after
Brazil. The little foreign currency that still trickles into
the country
from the mining sector is mostly used by the ruling party elite
to finance
their luxury imports at the unrealistic official exchange rate of
about £1
to Z$60,000. On the black market, the rate is £1 to
Z$25m.
Mr Mugabe is expected to follow the party with an easy win in next
month's
presidential elections. A victory could well fulfil his long-stated
wish to
stay in power "until I am 100 years old".
Talks mediated by
the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, to ensure free
elections have
collapsed and diplomats admit in private that the elections
will be held in
the same skewed environment that has produced controversial
results
before.
But many Zimbabweans, who feel there will be no respite to their
suffering
as long as Mr Mugabe clings to power, are hoping for a miracle to
happen
that will see him ousted from power.
The Mugabe
lifestyle
Robert Mugabe has always been clear that his mentor was the
Catholic Church.
He was 10 when his father abandoned the family, leaving
Robert, his mother
and his five siblings to the care of the Kutama
mission.
The Irish Jesuit priest at the mission, Jerome O'Hea, remembered
a
ferociously disciplined boy of 'unusual gravitas', whose only friends were
books. As the years go by without seeming to leave a mark on Mr Mugabe, many
Zimbabweans have simply accepted that the octogenarian is a permanent
fixture.
Renowned as an early riser with a rigid fitness regime, the
President of 28
years is said to eschew alcohol and eat in moderation. Every
round of
rumours regarding his health is quashed with another confident
public
appearance and marathon speech.
Always considered relatively
frugal during his years in Ghana and after his
return to the then Rhodesia,
it was only after the death of his first wife,
Sally, and his second
marriage in 1996 to Grace Marufu that he took to
conspicuous consumption.
The couple are still building an ever-expanding
mansion in the wealthy
Borrowdale suburb of Harare.
IOL
February
20 2008 at 03:31PM
Harare - The United States embassy in Harare
warned its citizens on
Wednesday against travelling to Zimbabwe, citing
"safety and security
concerns" over upcoming general elections in the
southern African country.
"The national election season in Zimbabwe
may pose a security threat
to US citizens in Zimbabwe," the embassy said in
a statement.
"Previous elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005 were
contentious and
sparked food, water and fuel shortages as well as occasional
outbreaks of
violence.
"Given the present significantly weaker
Zimbabwean economy, chronic
hyperinflation and on-going shortages, the 2008
election season has the
potential to generate widespread instability and
violence."
The travel warning expires on May
1.
The embassy advised its citizens living
in Zimbabwe to maintain a high
level of vigilance ahead of the polls set for
March 29.
"Be aware of your surroundings and avoid potentially
threatening
events such as demonstrations, rallies or other gatherings," the
statement
said.
"Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful
can turn confrontational
and possibly escalate into violence."
Zimbabwe's last presidential elections in 2002 were marred by
widespread
violence which left several people dead and thousands injured.
In
January, police commissioner general Augustine Chihuri warned that
security
forces would not tolerate violence during the March polls.
And
police have issued a ban on people carrying certain weapons in
public in
Harare and the southern city of Masvingo to prevent violence. -
Sapa-AFP
swradioafrica.com
20 February 2008
38 Days to go…
The seven Progressive
Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) leadership who were
yesterday morning
abducted by the ruling ZANU PF hooligans before their
subsequent torture at
the party’s Provincial offices are under police guard
at a private hospital
in Harare. They are joined by two more members who
were arrested the same
day in the afternoon for distributing fliers in the
Central Business
District (CBD).
The nine, who are currently undergoing medical treatment
under heavy police
guard, will be taken to Harare Central police station for
further
interrogations upon completion of medical treatment. Information
reaching
Crisis Coalition from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
is that
the police have already started preparing statements of arrest in
the
hospital.
The catalyst team interviewed the organization’s
President, Takavafira Zhou
who is nursing a fractured arm, deep cuts on the
right leg and a swollen
back. He narrated his ordeal on how he ended up in
the ZANU PF torture
chamber, which he said was covered with blood on both
the floors and the
walls.
It all started when their members were
caught by the ruling party militia in
the Central Business District whilst
distributing fliers on their position
with regard to the education crisis in
the country. They were taken to an
underground torture room at the ZANU PF
Provincial offices along 4th street
where they were beaten up with sticks,
metal polls and button sticks. They
were forced to recite ZANU PF slogans
and proclaim President Robert Mugabe’s
rule till perpetuity.
One of
the victims, Hilary Jamila, passed out during the torture in the
presence of
an armed police officer who was later asked to arrest the nine.
The officer
complied with the demands and subsequently arrested the nine.
Zhou stated
that upon their arrival at Harare Central Police Station, he
woke up to the
shock of his life when he saw what the police referred to as
exhibit. Police
officers were in possession of Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) T/shirts
and posters alleging that the PTUZ members were
distributing the materials.
The police officers ignored the metal polls and
baton sticks which were used
by the ZANU PF torture machinery.
The police were equally quick to accept
ZANU PF as the complainant to the
case, ignoring the overwhelming evidence
that the ruling party thugs had
tortured the nine. However, the police are
alleging that the teachers were
distributing MDC materials in the ZANU PF
property, provoking the party
youth militia to beat them up. The names of
the victims are noted below:
Takavafira Zhou - President
Raymond
Majongwe - Secretary General
Harrison Mudzuri - Information and Publicity
Officer
Laditous Zunde - National Treasurer
Osward Madziva -
National Coordinator
Bernard Shoko - Member
Linda Fumande -
Member
Hilary Jamila - Member
Charles Mbwandarika -
Member
The injuries sustained by the PTUZ members bear testimony to
the grave
levels the ruling party can go to win the elections through hook
or crook.
The culture of state sponsored violence has been revisited again
by the
establishment. The people who are supposed to protect the populace,
the
police, have become latent accomplices during such gruesome processes.
Allowing elections to be held under such an environment will definitely lead
to a compromised outcome; the results will be equally compromised.
tuc.org.uk
ate: 20 February 2008
embargo: For immediate
release
Beatings 'cast doubt on
whether Zimbabwe elections will be free or fair'
The TUC has condemned
the brutal Zimbabwean police attack on teacher trade
unionists yesterday
(Tuesday) and called on governments in the region and in
Europe to protest
to the Zimbabwean Government.
Nine members of teachers' union PTUZ
including President Raymond Majongwe,
were arrested and beaten when they
started distributing leaflets about the
country's education crisis. They
were taken to a police station where
further savage beatings were
administered, leaving four in hospital with
broken bones and other
injuries.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'No peaceful protest
or leaflet
distribution can justify the brutality of the Zimbabwean police.
But a month
before Zimbabwe's next elections, this must cast doubt on how
free and fair
those elections will be. President Mugabe must stop the savage
attacks on
his own people if his country's elections are to have any
legitimacy. And
other Southern African Governments will be tainted if they
do not make
Mugabe stop his brutality.'
MUSINA, 20 February 2008 (IRIN) - "We
know why you're in South Africa - Life
in Zimbabwe is murder these days", a
billboard greets Zimbabwean immigrants
in South Africa's border town of
Musina; it also asks them to return to vote
in next month's election, but so
far the people traffic has remained solidly
one-way.
January was a
busy month for Musina's authorities. After spending Christmas
with their
families, Zimbabwean migrants returned to South Africa to earn
the money
that will sustain their relatives back home. On some days the
police were
deporting up to 500 people who had crossed the border illegally.
By
February that figure had dropped to 100 a day, but represented just a
proportion of Zimbabweans expelled from South Africa. The International
Office for Migration (IOM), which runs a reception centre for deportees at
the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge, helps around 10,000 people each
month. That does not include those who decline the assistance, preferring to
attempt another crossing immediately.
In recent weeks the summer
rains have swollen the Limpopo River, which
demarcates the border, making it
too dangerous to cross. Instead, some
people have resorted to hopping over
the fencing of the footbridge that
spans the river, scooting down a concrete
slope while ignoring the warning
shouts of the border guards, and then
disappearing into the bush to lie low
until the regular patrols have passed.
The final stage, when things are
quiet, is to get through three rows of
barbed wire fencing.
Peter Ncube*, a Zimbabwean, works as a transporter,
helping people across
the border. When the river is low he uses a makeshift
boat, guided by two
people wading through the water. "The people are scared
but there is no
[other] solution. Grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers,
fathers and children,
they [want] to come to South Africa to look for a job
... so they can
support their families."
He has seen a steady
increase in the number of migrants crossing as
Zimbabwe's economy has
soured, which is good business for him. Ncube has
been living in Musina for
10 years and has family on both sides of the
border. The money he earns - up
to US$50 per border-crosser - goes to his
children who are still in
Zimbabwe. "I help someone, he pays me something -
at least I can manage to
support my family as well."
Most migrants want to reach Johannesburg,
South Africa's economic hub. From
the border they continue on foot, heading
for designated pickup points where
minibus-taxis will take them on the next
stage of the journey.
To avoid the border patrols, they often end up on
private land. Jan Knoetze
owns a farm near the border and frequently
encounters "hungry, upset and
rather destitute" Zimbabweans on his property.
"I have seen them drink hot
water from a pipe - they wouldn't even let the
water cool down, they drink
the hot water as it is," he told
IRIN.
Welcome to SA
Unlike some farmers, Knoetze sees little point
in alerting the police, as
those who are deported often come straight back
across the border. Musina's
police chief, Superintendent Maggy Mathebula,
sees it differently: "It is
true that they keep on coming back. If we deport
a truck in the morning, in
the afternoon half of the people who were
deported in the morning are
re-arrested again. But it's our duty, we have to
do it, again and again."
Those picked up are held at Musina's detention
centre, where they have a
chance to eat and wash before being repatriated.
Women were clutching the
loaves of bread they had been given by the centre
when IRIN visited.
"This here is nice, because now I'm taking some bread
[home] to eat,"
commented Esther Sibanda, who said she was voluntarily
returning to Zimbabwe
to vote in the 29 March elections. When the deportees
reach the IOM's
reception centre across the border, they are offered further
assistance in
the form of food packs, health checks and transport to their
hometowns.
Miriam Gumbo, 22, waiting in line with other women to board
the deportation
truck, all carrying their belongings in plastic holdalls,
their babies tied
to their backs, vowed to be back. She had come across the
river with her
husband and their 10-month-old twins, but was arrested after
crossing the
fence.
No fear
It was not her first attempt: she
came to South Africa in 2004 and was
deported in 2007, but Zimbabwe offered
her no future. "There is no food to
eat and nowhere to sleep. It's so hard
with these young children." She and
her husband had been trying to reach
Johannesburg to find work and were not
deterred by the latest setback. "I
will try to come again. I am not afraid,
because there is [no life] in
Zimbabwe."
In January the International Monetary Fund estimated
Zimbabwe's inflation
rate at 100,000 percent and still rising, and only two
out of 10 people are
employed. Maternal mortality rates, and infant and
under-five deaths are all
above threshold levels that should trigger
international concern. Although
nutrition levels are not the lowest in the
region, only in Zimbabwe are the
trends in "stunting" and "underweight"
deteriorating.
Many "undocumented migrants" who manage to avoid arrest
head for a concrete
tunnel under the highway to Johannesburg, just south of
Musina. It is known
as a good place to hide and await the first light of
day, when minibus-taxis
pull over, offering onward transport.
The
entrance to the tunnel is marked by a pair of old abandoned shoes and
food
packaging strewn about. The walls are used as a giant message board:
"Almighty God, bless my journey to Joburg, in the name of Jesus. Amen",
dated 5 October 2007, or "Chikoko 'Big Fish' - leading a journey into the
unknown." The messages also impart information, including a sketch of a
Pioneer Transport bus, the preferred service for many migrants.
When
asked whether the police were overwhelmed by the number of people
crossing
the border, Mathebula replied, "They are keeping us busy. We're
afraid that
if this ends we won't have work anymore."
In the meantime, Musina's
authorities are building a huge new police
station, and a detention centre
that will hold 1,500 people, almost double
the current number.
* Some
names have been changed
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations]
| ||
Police in Zimbabwe have banned the carrying or possession of dangerous weapons in public for the next two months as part of measures to ensure violence-free elections, the state-controlled Herald reported today.
The ban would apply to all police districts in Harare and Masvingo and would remain in force until at least three weeks after the March 29 elections.
The prohibition, effective from Thursday, is in accordance with Section 14 of the Public Order and Security Act Chapter 11:07, which empowers regulating authorities to ban certain weapons for security reasons, the newspaper reported.
Some of the weapons prohibited include machetes, spears, daggers, axes, knobkerries, swords, knives, catapults and any other traditional weapons.
"Police are empowered to search people and vehicles, confiscate and charge anyone found in possession of the specified dangerous weapons."
Officer Commanding Harare District Chief Superintendent Isaac Tayengwa announced the ban yesterday at a briefing attended by the five regulating authorities for Harare Suburban, Harare Central, Harare South, Mbare and Chitungwiza while Masvingo police announced their ban on Monday.
From past experience, he said, some unruly and misguided elements take advantage of election time to commit acts of violence, intimidation, harassment, vandalism and interfere with law-abiding citizens’ lives.
Although Chief Supt Tayengwa said walking sticks were excluded from the list of dangerous weapons, he warned the public to desist from using them in acts of violence.
Washington Post
By Michael
Gerson
Wednesday, February 20, 2008; Page A17
One of the most reckless
and cruel acts of government is the destruction of
a currency.
During
the hyperinflation of Germany's Weimar Republic, the number of marks
in
circulation went from 29 billion in 1918 to 497 quintillion in 1923.
Workers
were paid twice a day and given breaks to spend their money, carted
in
wheelbarrows, before it became worthless. Most Germans lost their life
savings, leaving many prepared to blame others for their impoverishment. The
Nazis blamed the Jews.
This kind of hyperinflation is rare in
history, but we are seeing it once
again, in Zimbabwe. Government officials
claim an inflation rate of 66,212
percent (most months they refuse to
release inflation figures at all). The
International Monetary Fund believes
the rate is closer to 150,000
percent -- about the level reached by Weimar
Germany. By some estimates,
about 50 percent of Zimbabwe's government
revenue comes from the printing of
money. At independence in 1980, the
Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than
one U.S. dollar. Recently, the
state-controlled newspaper raised its cover
price to 3 million Zimbabwean
dollars. Two pounds of chicken were recently
reported to cost about 15
million Zimbabwean dollars.
A Zimbabwean friend who runs a business
recently told me, "If you don't get
a bill collected in 48 hours, it isn't
worth collecting, because it is
worthless. Whenever we get money, we must
immediately spend it, just go and
buy what we can. Our pension was destroyed
ages ago. None of us have any
savings left." Zimbabwean nationals who work
on the U.S. Embassy staff in
Harare have seen all their retirement funds
wiped out. American government
officials in the country carry boxes of money
to pay at restaurants and must
begin counting out currency at the beginning
of the meal to finish by its
end.
The government of Robert Mugabe has
responded with the normal economic
policy of tyrants: price controls. And
these have naturally emptied the
shelves in grocery stores and caused
shortages of most basic goods. My
friend's wife travels to Botswana to buy
flour and sugar.
Mugabe manages to pay off his military leaders and
political cronies with
hard currency that comes from mining gold and
platinum. He also sells
farmland to Chinese and Libyan speculators -- land
expropriated from white
farmers, supposedly in the cause of Zimbabwean
nationalism. Mugabe is
literally putting his country on the block to
maintain his power.
So why don't the impoverished people of Zimbabwe
revolt? "The tragedy is
that nobody is in the streets," says my Zimbabwean
friend. "People are dying
silently."
Zimbabwe's odd stability has
several causes. More than 3 million
discontented people have fled the
country -- often the talented and
educated -- leaving Mugabe with less
internal opposition. Many of the
Zimbabweans who remain avoid starvation
with the help of international aid
and remittances from relatives in
prosperous neighboring countries. Mugabe's
political opponents have
generally been weak and divided -- when not being
jailed and tortured by the
government. And some residual support for Mugabe
remains, particularly in
rural areas, because he is an anti-colonial hero;
it is hard for many to
accept the idea that their founding father is also a
corrupt, brutal
incompetent.
There are, however, signs of resistance. My friend reports
that lower-level
members of the military and police seem increasingly
alienated and
disillusioned. At a demonstration last year, he says, "they
were
unenthusiastic and malnourished, with ragged uniforms. They pleaded
with us
to go away, because they didn't want to hurt us. And then I was
saluted for
the first time by the police."
And Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
is beginning to fracture. The former finance
minister -- who opposed the
policy of printing money and price controls --
is running as an independent
against Mugabe in the March 29 election. Simba
Makoni is viewed by U.S.
officials as a smart, honest technocrat. He clearly
possesses bravery,
though not much grass-roots support.
The March 29 vote, as usual, will be
a fraud. Mugabe -- despite pressure
from surrounding nations -- will conduct
a police-state election, with tight
control of the media, corrupt voter
rolls and massive intimidation,
including the use of food as a tool of
political control. But the opposition
has little choice but to participate.
It may gain some support in local
councils and the parliament. And if
opponents abandon the electoral route,
says my friend, the only alternative
would be "street action, which is
fraught with problems."
And so
Mugabe remains on his bayonet throne as his country becomes the
Weimar
Republic and totalitarian, all in one.
michaelgerson@cfr.org
Since March 2007, Zimbabwe has been in the midst of a hyperinflation (a rate of inflation per month that exceeds 50%). This phenomenon is rather rare. Indeed, prior to Zimbabwe, there had only been 29 hyperinflations. |
Wednesday 20 February 2008 |
Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is destroying the economy, pushing more of its inhabitants into poverty and forcing millions of Zimbabweans to emigrate. Since 1997, inflation has surged by 1,030,217%, while living standards (as measured by real GDP per capita) have fallen by 35%. In addition, hyperinflation has robbed people of their savings and financial institutions of their capital via negative real interest rates. This form of theft occurs, in large part, because the laws and regulations governing financial institutions (pension funds, insurance companies, building societies, and banks) force them to either purchase government treasury bills that yield only a small fraction of the current inflation rate or to make deposits at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe that pay no interest.
Not surprisingly, the value of the Zimbabwe dollar has been wiped out. The accompanying figure tells the devastating story— one that is ominously following the same plot as that taken by the mark during the great German hyperinflation of the 1920s. If all that destruction hasn’t been painful enough, worse is yet to come. Private sector economists expect Zimbabwe’s GDP to fall by 12% in 2007, and the International Monetary Fund projects that year-on-year inflation could exceed 100,000% by year-end.
As I conclude in my recent book, Zimbabwe: Hyperinflation to Growth, the most rapid and reliable way to stop hyperinflation in Zimbabwe is to replace central banking with a new monetary regime. This would signal a clean break with the practices that have created hyperinflation and give Zimbabweans reliable assurance that inflation will henceforth remain relatively low. One monetary regime that would stop Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is free banking. Under this system, private banks issue notes (paper money) and other liabilities with minimal regulation. A completely free banking system has no central bank, no lender of last resort, no reserve requirements, and no legal restrictions on bank portfolios, interest rates, or branch banking. Free banking systems have existed in nearly 60 countries during the 1800s and early 1900s.
Zimbabwe had free banking from the time the first bank was established in 1892 until the government replaced free banking with a currency board in 1940. Zimbabwe’s free banking was among the least restricted that ever existed. At the time, the country had only two commercial banks, the Standard Bank of South Africa and the Bank of Africa (later part of Barclays Bank). They issued notes denominated in pounds, and kept their privately issued pounds equal to the pound sterling—except during the First World War and for a few years afterwards, when the local pound floated along with the South African pound (the predecessor to the rand) against the pound sterling. Free banking ended in Zimbabwe not because it performed poorly, but because the government desired the profit from issuing notes.
"One monetary regime that would stop Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is free banking."
Although free banking might be unfamiliar, the principles of competition that underlie it are not, because they are already at work in deposit banking. We do not usually think of deposits from different banks as being different types of currency, but in effect they are—at least, they are different brands of a common unit of account. By holding a deposit at one bank rather than others, a depositor is choosing that bank’s management, portfolio, and services over those of its competitors.
Free banking extends competition from deposits to notes. In practice, multiple brands of notes have generally not created problems for free banking systems any more than multiple brands of deposits create problems in central banking or other systems.
In a system of fully free banking, the field includes anyone (domestic or foreign) who meets the requirements common to other businesses (registering a place of business, stating who the officers are, listing the shareholders periodically, and publishing financial statements if the company is not a private partnership). Competition weeds out firms that are less astute at delivering what consumers want. Abundant experience indicates that depositors want assurance that they are placing their funds with a financially solid bank.
That is why the tendency almost everywhere is for a few large but highly competitive banks to dominate the market, though leaving niches for small banks to serve specialized clienteles. As with deposit banking, then, historical experience suggests that eventually or perhaps even immediately, note issuance will be dominated by a small number of large banks.
Under free banking, banks would have the liberty to issue deposits and circulate notes in any currency—the US dollar, South African rand, gold, etc. In past free banking systems, they have converged on a single unit of account, typically gold or a foreign currency. In Zimbabwe it is quite possible they would converge on the South African rand. However, free banking leaves it for banks and customers to discover what works best for them; it does not presume that the government already knows the answers.
This article is syndicated by Africanliberty.org, and first appeared in Globe Asia magazine.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Revised law allows media free rein to cover March elections, but
it seem
policies will remain as restrictive as ever.
By
Yamikani Mwando in Bulawayo (AR No. 157, 19-Feb-08)
Recent legislative
changes easing the stringent restrictions on the media in
Zimbabwe have yet
to make any real impact as the country heads for next
month’s crucial
elections.
In mid-January, amendments to the controversial Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act, known as AIPPA, came into effect,
in what was
seen as a major concession achieved in the ongoing talks with
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, MDC.
Together with
changes to other restrictive laws - the Public Order and
Security Act and
the Broadcasting Services Act - and amendments to electoral
legislation, the
bill was approved by President Robert Mugabe after having
been rushed
through parliament in December with the assent of both the MDC
and the
ruling ZANU-PF.
The legal changes came out of the negotiations between
the two parties which
are being mediated by President Mugabe on behalf of
the Southern African
Development Community.
AIPPA was introduced in
2001, as the Zimbabwean media were becoming sharply
polarised between
state-controlled public outlets on the one hand, and the
small but vibrant
privately-owned newspapers on the other. The authorities
accused the private
media of demonising the regime and of working as an
extension of opposition
political parties.
Under the amended AIPPA, foreign journalists will be
allowed into the
country and will have the right to accreditation for up to
60 days. Local
journalists, meanwhile, will be able to work without first
registering with
the official Media and Information Commission, MIC - soon
to be
reconstituted as the Zimbabwe Media Commission as part of the changes
to the
law.
If the authorities stick to the spirit and letter of
these legislative
changes, foreign media will be able to cover the March
presidential,
parliamentary and local elections to an extent unprecedented
in recent
years. This would be a significant change, coming at a time when
concern has
been expressed that the crucial vote could take place far from
international
scrutiny as President Mugabe seeks to extend his hold on
power.
However, it is already looking doubtful that the authorities will
abide by
their own rules.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
recently confounded the hopes of
Bulawayo journalists by telling them that
those media organisations deemed
“hostile” would still not be allowed to
cover the polls.
The BBC, in particular, has been singled out for
exclusion from Zimbabwe on
the grounds that its longstanding mission is to
“peddle falsehoods” about
the Mugabe regime.
Ndlovu’s remarks came
after BBC journalist John Simpson entered the country
covertly last month to
file reports on the Zimbabwean crisis, inviting
acerbic reactions from the
Information and Publicity Ministry.
No information has been forthcoming
on the number, identity or countries of
origin of foreign journalists who
might be allowed in as part of the
legislative change, but for now it is
looking highly unlikely that the
regime will permit western reporters to
cover the March ballot.
Zimbabwean journalists have told IWPR that a
media blackout will merely feed
accusations that the elections lack all
credibility, and that the
authorities pre-empting the possibility of
critical reporting in the event
of the kind of political violence and
electoral irregularities that have
marred past ballots.
The
restructuring of the regulatory authority MIC into the Zimbabwe Media
Commission has been hailed as part of a possible plan to grant licences to
banned media outlets, and perhaps to some new players as well.
Yet a
number of newspapers remain outlawed as the poll nears.
The Daily News,
once the country’s biggest selling daily, has been closed
since September
2003, following its allegations that ZANU-PF supporters
committed human
rights abuses during the run-up to elections in 2000 and
2002. This
naturally riled the regime, which accused the paper of being an
opposition
mouthpiece.
At the height of the campaign against it, the paper’s
printing press was
bombed. The newspaper bounced back, but was finally
banned when it refused
to register with the MIC.
The Daily News and
its Sunday sister-paper have now been asked to apply for
a licence, and
their publisher, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, submitted
a formal
application to the MIC on February 14.
MIC official Godfrey
Chinondidyachii Mararike has said the outcome of the
application will only
come in 30 days’ time – which would mean The Daily
News could at best
acquire the right to publish just two weeks before the
March 29
vote.
At the same time, the Commission reportedly met on February 17 to
hold
preliminary discussions on the application, suggesting that it might be
prepared to fast-track this as a special case.
Media industry
insiders are deeply sceptical about whether the government is
sincere about
granting the paper a licence in time for it to make any
difference.
Former Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota recently wrote on
his news website
that “those who believe that Mugabe will allow the
resurrection of The Daily
News in time to play a meaningful role ahead of
the March elections simply
do not understand the dynamics of
dictatorship.”
He concluded, “At this rate, by the time The Daily News is
restored back to
its original status, Mugabe will be ready to retire
voluntarily after
winning the forthcoming landmark elections by hook or by
crook.”
A representative of the Media Monitoring Project, an independent
watchdog
group in Zimbabwe, said the credibility of any election depended
not only on
the existence of “a level playing field” for all political
parties, but
also - and even more importantly - on voters and election
observers being
allowed unfettered access to the media.
“It is
crucial that we have enough media coverage in the run-up to the
poll,” said
the representative, who asked not to be named, “but it is still
very
unlikely the authorities will accept any applications from local
private
papers for registration and [allow in] foreign correspondents before
the
election.”
Yamikani Mwando is an IWPR contributor in Bulawayo.
UK Parliament House of Commons Tuesday 19 February 2008 Zimbabwe Sir Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield) (Con): What recent
assessment he has made of the political situation in Zimbabwe, with particular
reference to the forthcoming elections. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (David Miliband):
Zimbabwe is suffering from an economic, humanitarian and political crisis for
which President Mugabe is directly responsible. Although the election has been
declared for 29 March, the conditions for it are far from free and fair. We are pressing for effective international monitoring and for states in the
region to require the election to meet international standards, including those
adopted by the Southern African Development Community itself. Sir Nicholas Winterton: The Foreign Secretary will be aware
that the imminent elections in Zimbabwe are critical to the welfare and
well-being not only of the country as a whole, but of its people. My support for
Zimbabwe and for an African democratic solution to its problems is well known to
the House. What steps is the Foreign Secretary taking to ensure that the
elections are, in an African context, as free and fair as is acceptable to the
civilised world? David Miliband: The hon. Gentleman’s long record of standing
up for democracy and the interests of the people of Zimbabwe is well known. I
would point him in three directions. First, it has been important to emphasise
that there is a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, which requires humanitarian
action by the Department for International Development. Secondly, I would point
at the support for the SADC movement, including in its election role. Thirdly,
it is critical—not least given that there are 4 million refugees outside the
country, which already calls into question the election processes and
result—that we none the less support international demands from the European
Union, the Commonwealth and elsewhere for proper observation missions that allow
an on-the-ground assessment of how the election campaign and the election
counting are conducted. Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East) (Con): Having served his sentence in
Zimbabwe, my constituent, Mr. Simon Mann, has been illegally handed over by
Zimbabwe to a dictator in Equatorial Guinea who has promised to sodomise him,
skin him alive and drag him through the streets of the capital city. What steps
can the Government take against Zimbabwe for the outrageous breach of my
constituent’s human rights when he was handed over before his appeal procedures
were completed, and what assurance can there be for— Mr. Speaker: Order. I think that the Secretary of State will
have got the point by now. David Miliband: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will agree
that our first priority is Mr. Mann’s immediate welfare and the legal case
against him. That is why we have put such emphasis on consular access, which has
now been granted, and on making representations to the Government of Equatorial
Guinea in the UK. I am pleased that we have received assurances from the
Equatorial Guinean authorities that Mr. Mann will be treated well in detention.
Obviously, we are monitoring that through continued consular access. A number
of welfare points were raised during the visit of 12 February. We are taking
them up and, within the limits of what we are allowed to disclose by Mr. Mann’s
family, I would be happy for the hon. Gentleman to see the explanations that we
have received. He is right to raise both the humanitarian and the legal sides of
the case. They are our current focus, and we can in due course turn to the role of the
Government of Zimbabwe once Mr. Mann’s future has been
determined.19th Feb 2008 22:36
GMT
By a
Correspondent
Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and
working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, is writing a regular diary on the
challenges of leading a normal life. Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute economic crisis. The country
has the world's highest rate of annual inflation - and just one in five has an
official job.
My sister, who is working abroad, called me after she read my second
diary. She sounded like she wanted me to take the next flight out. But life goes on here - it's just a question of adapting.
If you can't afford a bus ride to work, at least you can cycle.
If you don't own a bicycle, then you have to walk. I've heard of factory workers here who are doing just that,
walking for three hours to get to work, and then walking the same distance back
in the evening. If you cannot fill up your car with petrol, there are numerous
fuel traders who sell the commodity in five litre containers. That keeps your car on the road, one day at a time. And if you have power failures, you can stock up on firewood and
candles. After all even South Africa has electricity blackouts. People learn to improvise. That's the beauty of the human spirit
- it hardly ever breaks in hard times.
And anyway, there's always fun to be had laughing at the bus
conductors as they try to work out how much their 750,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes
add up to, and how much change they owe the passengers. The Z$750,000 note was introduced in December and it is an
arithmetic nightmare. Amazingly there are still lavish weddings held here, that can
match any wedding reception anywhere in the world. Those with a bit of foreign currency to sell on the parallel
market need to raise billions to fund these occasions. Whatever you cannot find on the official market, you will find
in abundance on the parallel market. People sell everything here - vegetables, cooking oil packed in
50ml (yes 50ml) plastic tubes, sugar by the tablespoon - anything really.
And that is the small stuff. Young people are getting into
business in a big way - mostly in commodity broking. So we are alive and well in Zimbabwe, getting ready for the
change that HAS to come, for the sake of those who don't have foreign currency
stowed away for a rainy day. Esther has answered some readers' question sent in following
the second instalment of her diary. Question from Eric Hauptman, Colorado, US It would be interesting if you could graph something like the
bus fare over the last year or the pair of shoes. Also, how exactly are such
large sums of money distributed? Is there a one million Zimbabwean dollar bill?
I assume also there is a large black market in other currencies, such as the
euro or US dollar. Esther: Our highest denomination is a 10 million
Zimbabwean dollar note, and getting change for it is no big deal. On Monday 11
February a loaf of bread cost me 5.4 million Zimbabwean dollars. We were buying
it for 5m Zimbabwean dollars on Friday 8 February, after it had gone up from 3m
on Tuesday 5 February. Before that a loaf was 2m. So the price of a loaf has
nearly tripled in one week. The black market for foreign currency is alive and
well, in fact unless you are extremely well connected (know someone in the
government) it is the only source of foreign currency. Question from Chernor Jalloh, West Africa Why don't you just bail out? If your account is credible, then
it is crazy to stay in Harare. Esther: I do not want to leave my home, why should I? Why
should any of us. All this chaos can be resolved. What we Zimbabweans want is
restoration of the economy, we want to be able to buy homes, upgrade our
vehicles, have savings that are not eroded in value by the day. We cannot all go
to join the diaspora! Question from Brian Tucker, Melbourne, Australia
Would you prefer to live the life you have now or the life you
had while Ian Smith was president? Esther: I was not alive then. But I do know no human
being wants to be oppressed, and the black man was oppressed then. My issue is
that we are once more oppressed, only now it's by a fellow black man.
Question from Ray Mwareya, Mutare, Zimbabwe Esther, why don't you comment about Western-led sanctions on the
Zimbabwean economy that are behind your sorry economic misery? Esther: I do not want to get political, as I am not a
politician. I am just a young woman who is old enough to remember life in the
90s and who cannot accept the way things keep going downhill. As for the
sanctions, I know that there are so called 'smart sanctions' targeting certain
individuals, who then hide behind them to justify their own shortcomings as
leaders. The fact that someone can no longer travel to Europe has no bearing on
the fuel supply situation or the availability of drugs in our hospitals.
Wednesday, 20
February 2008, 08:18 GMT
The fact that salaries do not meet your monthly expenses,
let alone set aside any savings for a rainy day, can really get those creative
juices flowing.
By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 February, 2008
The Zimbabwean
Revolutionary Youth Movement (ZRYM) in South Africa has
organised 2
demonstrations this week aimed at highlighting the need for
Zimbabweans in
the diaspora to vote in the March 29th elections. The group
delivered a
petition for the Zimbabwean High Commissioner, Simon Khaya Moyo,
at the
Embassy in Pretoria earlier this month threatening to take action to
shut
down the Embassy unless their demands were met.
ZRYM President Simon
Mudekwa said they are returning to the Embassy on
Thursday because the
Zimbabwe authorities had failed lto address the people’s
needs. He added
that the Thursday demonstration is intended to keep the
issue of the
diaspora vote in the spotlight, and to remind Khaya Moyo that
they are
serious about closing down the Embassy.
Mudekwa said the group will also
be conducting a demonstration at Beitbridge
Border Post on Saturday. They
have organised at least 6 buses that will be
collecting ZRYM members and
supporters from Johannesburg, Pretoria and
Musina. Mudekwa said there would
be a police escort leading the buses.
The Border demo is also to demand
that Zimbabweans outside the country be
allowed to vote. Mudekwa criticised
the Mugabe regime for denying millions
of people their Constitutional right
to take part in the polls on March
29th.
In addition to the diaspora
vote, the group is calling for free and fair
elections next month. Mudekwa
said a message should be passed to Harare that
ZRYM members will engage in
certain unspecified activities if the demands
are not met.
Details
about the schedule for the demonstrations can be found at their
website at
www.zimrevyouths.blogspot.com.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
SW Radio
Africa (London)
20 February 2008
Posted to the web 20 February
2008
Tichaona Sibanda
British foreign secretary David Miliband
has called for effective
international monitoring of next month's harmonised
elections, amid serious
concerns they will not be free and
fair.
Miliband told the British Parliament on Tuesday that Zimbabwe was
suffering
from an economic, humanitarian and political crisis for which
Robert Mugabe
was directly responsible.
'The conditions for
elections are far from free and fair. We are pressing
for effective
international monitoring and for states in the region to
require the
election to meet international standards,' said the foreign
secretary.
Zanu PF has said it will only invite friendly nations to
observe and monitor
the crucial elections set for the 29th March. One such
country is South
Africa,whose foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said
the chance of a
free and fair election was good if all the agreements
reached as part of the
political facilitation process are
implemented.
'If they implement the laws that parliament passed around
security,
information and media then the prospects should be good,'
Dlamini-Zuma said.
Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have been engaged in talks
mediated by
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa since April last
year.
The MDC chief representative in London Hebson Makuvise disagreed
with
Dlamini-Zuma's assessment of the elections and labeled her statement as
very
mild.
'The statement lacks clarity because she knows the
elections will never be
free and fair. Zanu-PF has done nothing to implement
laws agreed to during
the talks, but have instead through the police banned
political rallies in
Masvingo. We all know Zanu-PF will defy this order, but
the moment the MDC
tries it there would be mayhem from the police,' Makuvise
said.
But Makuvise welcomed Miliband's statement on an international
monitoring
force, saying it was encouraging, despite objections from the
regime.
'We need genuine monitors and not people who are invited from the
so-called
friendly nations to come and enjoy the country's scenic views and
good food
and rubber stamp a discredited exercise,' Makuvise
said.
Mugabe, facing his biggest challenge to his 28-year old hold on
power, has
been accused of rigging the last three major elections and of
using security
forces to quell dissent.
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 02/21/2008 00:43:33
A
ZIMBABWEAN court on Tuesday cleared British businessman Nicholas van
Hoogstraten on charges of money laundering and possessing fake South African
rands, but put him on his defence on exchange control and pornography
charges.
Van Hoogstraten was arrested at his Harare home in January
after one of his
tenants told the police that he had been demanding rentals
in foreign
currency.
After his house was raided, police stumbled on
pornographic material, a
small amount of fake South African rands, Z$20
billion, US$37 586, R92 880,
£190 and 180 pula.
The Harare
Magistrates Court dismissed money-laundering charges and
concurred with the
businessman’s defence team that the South African rands
were not legal
tender in Zimbabwe, and as such no law was violated.
“It looks apparent
to this court that the alleged fake South African rands,
which are the
subject matter of count four, are not and have not at any time
been legal
tender in Zimbabwe,” the court said.
“It is difficult to fathom or see
how the prosecution intends to prove the
contravention of the RBZ Act when
the legal tender involved is the South
African rand.
“The gigantic
emphasis placed in the functions of the RBZ by the state
appears
misdirected. This count will accordingly be quashed.”
Hoogstraten, 63, is
a multi-millionaire who once arranged a hand grenade
attack on a business
rival and has built himself a palace in the Sussex
countryside.
A
frequent visitor to Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, Hoogstraten has
invested in property, mining, farming and banking concerns and has spoken
openly of his support and financial dealings with President Robert Mugabe's
ruling Zanu PF party, which favoured him in more than two decades of
investment in the southern African nation.
In 2006, a British
newspaper, The Sunday Times, quoted van Hoogstaten as
having said he had
given President Robert Mugabe a £10 million pound loan.
But Mugabe's
spokesperson George Charamba said the claim was "cheap
propaganda and a vain
attempt to besmirch" the President.
Charamba said the president was
"neither a borrower nor lender", adding:
"Robert Mugabe has no relationship
with any tycoon, let alone of British
stock."
van Hoogstaten later
called a press conference in Harare to deny having
given money to
Mugabe.
zimbabwejournalists.com
20th Feb 2008 00:52 GMT
By Chuck Daru
I
just want to contribute my own take on recent developments surrounding
Simba
Makoni which are still unfolding.
What is emerging on the Zimbabwe’s
political landscape is an unravelling of
the MDC split saga that began on
12th October 2005. Firstly, the Welshman
Ncube led splinter group claimed to
have no confidence in Morgan Tsvangirai’s
leadership when he refused to
sanction the participation of the MDC in the
elections for a newly
established senate in Zimbabwe.
Oddly, while presenting themselves as the
authentic MDC and claiming
ownership of its assets they did not have
confidence that any one of the
dissenting group was capable to take over
from Morgan Tsvangirai as MDC
leader. They then looked around for a leader
and settled for Arthur
Mutambara who had not even been a member of the MDC
before. The standing of
this new MDC Mutambara faction with the people of
Zimbabwe was tested in a
by-election for the Budiriro constituency in which
they polled 504 votes
against about 8,000 votes for the Tsvangirai
faction.
A few months later, they were back pushing for reunification and
demanding
the vice presidency of the MDC for their leader Arthur Mutambara
and almost
half the MDC parliamentary seats to be reserved for the faction’s
members in
the next parliamentary elections. The unity talks failed but as
the 2008
general elections approached, in an effort to save face and avoid a
humiliating performance in those elections they pushed for a ‘united front’
which was to adopt a ‘one-candidate principle’ in which Tsvangirai was to be
the sole ‘coalition’ presidential candidate and Mutambara his running mate
for the Vice President’s job.
The rejection of the Mutambara
faction’s demands by the Tsvangirai faction
brought to naught that group’s
hopes for a place in Zimbabwe’s future
politics after the 2008 elections as
their strategy appeared to rely on
being VIP passengers on Tsvangirai’s
bus. Thus, the grim prospect of a
humiliating performance in the March 2008
elections continued to stare them
in the face.
Not surprisingly, when
Simba Makoni appeared on the political horizons to
challenge Mugabe for
presidency, before even working out any modus operandi
with Makoni, the
Mutambara faction grabbed the opportunity to avoid that
humiliation by
stepping aside for Makoni despite the fact that Makoni had
made it clear
that he was still a member of Zanu-PF who was only challenging
Mugabe for
Presidency.
The Mutambara group was therefore now sponsoring an
alternative Zanu-PF
candidate to become the next president of
Zimbabwe.
A number of issues arise from this whole episode in Zimbabwe’s
opposition
politics.
Firstly, there is the question of the political
standing of the Mutambara
faction as an opposition political body from a
viewpoint of ethos. Are they
clear about what they stand for and how they
differ from anyone else whether
MDC or Zanu-PF? Or are they a leader-less
group largely motivated by the
financial reward of being in government and
therefore desperate to find a
leader who will provide the necessary
political face to give them a bit of
credibility to present themselves for
election into parliament?
Secondly, those who want to give Mutambara the
benefit of the doubt may be
baffled by his rushed decision to step aside for
a man who has stuck with
Mugabe until when he lost his bid to represent
Zanu-PF in one of the Makoni
district parliamentary constituencies.
Furthermore, Simba Makoni is a man
who has been looking on silently while
Zimbabwe was burning and, as Zanu-PF’s
deputy secretary for economic affairs
in the party’s Politburo he must share
with Mugabe the responsibility for
presiding over the country’s economic
meltdown. People who have been in
positions of power should be judged by
the past, not what they are saying
today.
Their ‘substance’ is found in their past, not in their promises
for the
future. In the USA Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are in the race
because
they can demonstrate that they were opposed to, and can distance
themselves
from the Iraq war and other government blunders responsible for
America’s
present problems. Can Makoni tell the nation that at politburo
meetings he
spoke against the destruction of agriculture in Zimbabwe? Can
Makoni tell
the nation that at politburo meetings he spoke against
Murambatsvina? Can
Makoni tell the nation that he spoke against the torture
and murder of
opposition party activists, or the rigging of
elections?
It is common knowledge that until Zanu-PF big wigs blocked his
bid to stand
for election on a Zanu-PF ticket, Makoni was an ardent
supporter of
everything that the Mugabe government did – except its refusal
to devalue
the Zimbabwe currency which is nothing to put forward as evidence
of his
leadership qualities. Apart from that inconsequential part of his CV,
Makoni
has absolutely nothing to show for his 30 years of roaming the
corridors of
power and would be a bad gamble for Zimbabweans.
That
the Mutambara group took no time to decide that such a man was a better
candidate to put in state house than Mutambara himself, or Morgan Tsvangirai
who had been in the trenches with them only portrays that group as a fickle
lot who are undecided about what they are in politics for, and whose
political goal is not greater than their desire to launch themselves into
parliament or senate – or more bluntly, onto the gravy train.
Thus,
the events of the past week have served to cast an ominous behavioural
trend
of Mutambara and his group; after having been installed as leader of a
faction which he had previously had no association with, followed by failed
attempts to gain leadership legitimacy by deputising Morgan Tsvangirai, he
is now at the head of his faction to sponsor an alternative Zanu-PF
candidate of substantial standing in the party’s politburo to become the
next president of Zimbabwe – the expected reward being deputy presidency for
Arthur Mutambara.
In hindsight it therefore seems just as well that
the Tsvangirai faction
found no compelling reason to grant Mutambara and his
group the status they
were demanding in the unity talks between the two
factions.
But after all that has been said, Zimbabweans must welcome the
emergence of
the Mutambara/Makoni group for the simple reason that the
country needs to
move away from the two-party race politics because it has a
high risk of
perpetuating authoritarianism. So while the 2005 MDC split may
have been a
setback for the MDC as a party, it was also a positive
development for
democracy in Zimbabwe. The preoccupation by commentators
with unity of all
opposition groups is an unnecessary hindrance of the
process of
democratising Zimbabwe.
The obsession with unity around
opposition to Mugabe between people with no
shared vision or values is
totally counterproductive as it confuses
priorities and keeps the nation
moving round a revolving door.
As Joram Nyathi put it recently, “The
people of Zimbabwe are better off
without marriages of convenience which are
short-lived and end up in
embarrassing acrimony and take the nation many
steps backwards. We have
already seen what happened to Kenya’s Rainbow
Coalition soon after Mwai
Kibaki got into power. There were no principles or
ideology binding the
coalition together and the people of Kenya were taken
for a rough ride by
people who were only driven by a craving for power.
Today they are paying a
heavy price for their short-sightedness. Getting rid
of evil Daniel Arap Moi
didn’t cost as much blood as is being shed to remove
‘democratic’ Kibaki.”
Zimbabwens may very well relate to the above as
more or less the same thing
happened in 1987/88 when the iniquitous Zanu-PF
and Zapu unity agreement
turned this country into a one-party state. We are
still paying heavily for
that mistake.. Tsvangirai’s refusal to be
media-forced into a hollow
political alliance with what appears to be a
confused lot demonstrates far
sightedness rather than short-sightedness on
his part as a leader.
With regards to calls for Tsvangirai to step aside
for Makoni, I think
nothing can be more ridiculous than that. No disrespect
to Makoni himself
but there is not a shred of evidence that he is a better
leader than
Tsvangirai. As already pointed out above, he has a lot of loot
in his
backyard. True, he has higher academic credentials and is more
eloquent in
his command of the English language, but if this is what
leadership is about
then our presidential candidates should not be
Tsvangirai, Mutambara and
Makoni but Robert Mugabe, Robert Mugabe and Robert
Mugabe - because Mugabe
will beat all these men hands down on that
score.
If Zimbabweans are desperate to replace Tsvangirai as pall-bearer
in their
struggle for change, they are better off choosing someone from
Tsvangirai’s
group which has a number of people who have successful
leadership track
records in both the public and private sectors rather than
settling for
another Zanu-PF old hand who has been, and continues to be
deeply embedded
in its structures.
Tsvangirai does have some
leadership issues to deal with (least of all the
very unfortunate Lucia
Matibenga debacle), but what people are failing to
recognise is that people
like Simba Makoni and Arthur Mutambara now have the
opportunity to throw
their hats into the leadership ring because of what
Tsvangirai has done in 5
years of relentless efforts to challenge the
monster that Mugabe is. These
aspirants to power have the right to start
their own crusades and stand up
and be counted, not to jump into the front
of someone who has done all the
donkey work under the most difficult
circumstances. If they have better
plans and better offerings for
Zimbabweans, they must stand in their own
stature and let the nation judge
them at the polls.
Also, if they
claim to be standing on higher moral ground, it is them who
should have the
modesty to support Tsvangirai to fill the areas where he has
weaknesses and
seek a viable working relationship under him, not the other
way round.
Tsvangirai has proved himself as a committed change agent; Simba
Makoni has
not. So if Makoni really wants to do himself and the nation
proud, he should
get cracking organising any followers he claims to have in
Zanu-PF to vote
for Tsvangirai who already has a huge following in the
country. He can’t
seriously just come from the dark side 52 days before the
election and say,
‘ . . . . move over’ to a man who has braved the streets
and suffered brutal
treatment for so long while Makoni was propping up the
very system that has
brought misery and suffering to millions of Zimbabweans
which he suddenly
thinks has been horrendous.
Finally, Simba Makoni has not even had the
civility to apologise to the
people of Zimbabwe for his part as one of the
henchmen who helped validate
Mugabe’s wicked acts when he was destroying
people’s lives and property. It
is therefore Simba Makoni, not Morgan
Tsvangirai who needs to stoop below
his rival before he can lay claim to
being a viable candidate for president
of this country.
Good luck to
Zimbabwe.
Chuck2 writing from Sheffield, UK
africasia
PARIS, Feb 20 (AFP)
A chronology of Zimbabwean hyper-inflation since June
2007:
--2007--
- June 26: Zimbabwean authorities order
traders, manufacturers and
wholesalers to halve prices on certain basic
goods in a bid to fight
inflation. Zimbabwe had introduced a price control
regime five years earlier
in a bid to curb black market sales of certain
basic products.
- June 27: President Robert Mugabe threatens to
nationalise foreign
companies, notably those in the mining sector.
-
July 17: The United States criticises the price control measures as unwise
and counter productive in announcing the dispatch of food aid.
- July
21: The government says it has created a 30-billion Zimbabwe-dollar
(214,000-dollar) fund to revive companies that closed because of the price
control regime.
- Aug 13: Mugabe calls for price controls to be
respected. More than 7,500
traders are arrested for contravening the
measure. More and more companies
stop production, causing major
shortages.
- Aug 15: Two people, including a 15-year-old boy, die in a
stampede by
people wanting to buy sugar in Zimbabwe's second capital
Bulawayo -- the
first casualties of the shortage of basic goods.
-
Aug 22: Operation Dzikisa Mutengo (Reduce Prices) is effectively abandoned
after it resulted in widespread shortages in stores and boosted the black
market. Traders are allowed to increase the price of certain basic
goods.
- Aug 31: Mugabe bans salary increases without state
authorisation. The main
government daily, the Herald, reports that rent,
school fees and the price
of public services are also frozen.
- Sept
6: The government devalues the currency by more than 100 times its
value
against the American dollar.
- Oct 12: The government authorises new
price increases to deal with
shortages. The national price commission
announces an increase from 50 to
200 percent on the price of basic
goods.
- Oct 23: The head of the central bank says the price-control
measures have
led to anarchy.
--2008--
- Jan 16: New
banknotes worth up to ten million dollars will be put into
circulation in a
bid to stem the cash shortage, the central bank says.
- Jan 30: Mining
authorities say gold production fell by more than a third
in 2007.
-
Feb 20: Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate soars to over 100,000 percent,
the
central statistical office announces.
|
Written by Abraham N. Mdlongwa - UK chairman | |
Tuesday, 19 February 2008 | |
Following Rochdale branch chair Njabulo Ngwenya’s wake-up call for which I sincerely thank him, many of our members have raised legitimate concerns about the wisdom of our party’s decision to back Simba Makoni in next month’s presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. Some senior colleagues in the UK district have responded to many of these concerns with inspiring contributions which I recognise and applaud. These are the defenders of our party brand, the drivers of our strong faith and belief in democracy underpinned by open discourse. I am convinced more than ever before that there is no poverty of leadership in our UK structures. Well done to all of you! This statement seeks to explain the rationale for the MDC/Makoni alliance. The views are my own. If you disagree with them, it is because politics is not a zero-sum game. It is healthy to disagree.
Those that attended the Manchester meeting in April 2006 will recall some of these pronouncements made during an outstanding delivery by the man himself. The man has therefore remained consistent, a hallmark of credible leadership. · History records well the faltering performances of opposition parties in several African countries Kenya, Zambia, Malawi to mention but a few. In the case of Kenya, Zambia and Malawi, it took an inside rebellion within the ruling mandarins for power to change hands. In fact, in each of these cases, a former senior cabinet minister or vice president in the case of Kenya’s Kibaki, broke ranks and formed a rival opposition party which went on to win a landslide. Who says this prescription is not a value proposition for Zimbabwe? For what it is worth, let me mention that I have personally met Makoni in the past. We met at a happy occasion where he had been invited to speak at a strategic planning conference of a blue chip clothing retailer in Zimbabwe held in Victoria Falls in 2005. Over two days, my management colleagues and I had the opportunity to engage the man intensely on his personal values, why given those seemingly democratic values which he said included servant leadership, he had remained in Zanu instead of joining the MDC and whether he harboured presidential ambitions. He disarmed our misgivings with a royal command performance. This allied with his performance as executive secretary of SADC and his courage of conviction which cost him his job when he was minister of finance in Zimbabwe, leaves me reasonably confident that Simba Makoni is a leader. He may be a damaged brand but one potentially easier to rebrand than some of our competitors. At 57, Makoni is 16 years older than Mutambara. Ordinarily the latter would be the best presidential candidate because he has no known skeletons in his closet. He has however rightly calculated that he is more likely to remain relevant in future by giving deference to his older rivals. In our operating environment, Makoni is fit for purpose. Yes, in going into this alliance, our party has taken an enormous risk. The cost of not doing so can never be higher than the price paid by the people of Zimbabwe who wallow in abject poverty, suffering and despair only comparable to countries at war. Our party’s action represents the triumph of humility. Shrewd tactical superiority in the face of competitive elements does make a difference between winners and losers!! Independent news agencies reported brisk voter registration queues in Zimbabwe soon after Makoni announced his intention to run for president. Not exactly the Obama factor, but remember, voter apathy in Zimbabwe has been growing at a rate faster than Mugabe’s ability to rig elections. With the unprecedented internal revolt now unfolding within Zanu which will become even more apparent as we approach the elections, the prospects of a Makoni victory look well within reach. Our MDC formation has therefore rightly positioned itself with a potential winner and has done so without eroding its values, party symbols and identity. It is useless to enter a presidential race you know you cannot win although it will take a life-time for this to sink among some of our competitors. We have taken a risk. It is a risk worth taking. Somehow I feel good about all this. Change is in the air. The wishes of the people can only be delayed but not denied! I rest my case. Thank you. Abraham Mdlongwa.
"It must be understood within the opposition that
there is absolutely no alternative to working together. Self-serving bickering
and infighting among the democratic forces must be shunned. All political
leaders must put national interest before self interest. The two MDC formations
have neither monopoly of political wisdom, nor the immutable right to represent
the people of Zimbabwe... Even if reunification
of the two MDC formations is achieved, it is not enough, to dislodge Zanu PF. We
have to grow the democratic forces beyond the traditional MDC support base. This
should be done by attracting reform minded people from within Zanu PF, other
political parties, and those who are not currently in active party politics.
Furthermore there should be enhanced cooperation with Zimbabwe civic society
organizations, thus unlocking synergies amongst all democratic forces.
Organizations such as NCA, Crisis Coalition, ZCTU, ZINASU, WOZA, MOZA, Women
Coalition, and the Churches have shown spectacular courage under vicious
attacks." Arthur Mutambara, January 2007 |
By Tichaona Sibanda
20
February 2008
Popular MDC activist Elliot Pfebve has emerged as the
leading candidate to
win the chairmanship of the MDC-UK and Ireland
executive during Saturday’s
extraordinary congress in Peterborough,
Cambridgeshire.
Pfebve, the MDC parliamentary candidate for Bindura
central in 2000, was
left for dead after he was severely tortured for
contesting against the
Zanu-PF candidate, the late Border
Gezi.
Pfebve faces a strong challenge from another candidate, Jonathan
Chawora, a
former Assistant Commissioner with the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Both are
formidable candidates who enjoy immense support from MDC activists
in the
UK.
Kester Mutambanengwe, the MDC spokesperson for the interim
organising
committee led by John Nyamande, said the main purpose of
Saturday’s
extraordinary congress was to elect new office bearers’ for the
UK
provincial executive.
The last elected executive led by former
trade unionist Ephraim Tapa was
dissolved in October last year, after 33 of
37 UK branches passed a vote of
no confidence in them. The MDC national
chairman Lovemore Moyo oversaw that
process. Moyo will be back Saturday
leading a team comprising the new
national women’s assembly leader Theresa
Makone, who is the Harare North MDC
parliamentary candidate. Also in the
delegation to oversee the election here
is national youth chairman Thamsanqa
Mahlangu who is challenging Gibson
Sibanda for the Bulawayo parliamentary
seat in Nkulumane.
Mutambanengwe said 26 branches will each send 10
delegates to the congress
to elect new members by secret ballot. This is the
first time that voting
has been carried out by secret ballot at any of the
UK congresses since
2000.
‘This is a mammoth task, but we have put
everything in place to ensure a
smooth electoral process. We have many
aspiring contestants vying for
various posts. The posts include that of a
secretary, organising secretary,
treasurer, information and publicity
secretary and a women’s wing
chairperson,’ Mutambanengwe
said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
zimbabwejournalists.com
20th Feb 2008 00:10 GMT
By Innocent Madawo
PRIOR to last
Friday, the day when all aspirants of various elected
political offices in
Zimbabwe filed their papers, I did everything possible;
pray, wish, will and
hope that President Robert Mugabe will give himself (to
our immense benefit)
an early 84th birthday present.
I told myself that there is no way an old
man could still want to play this
dirty game called politics with men young
enough to be his children. Surely,
he would want to leave it all and go to
Zvimba to tend to his pigs and
chickens while he can still totter after
them.
But then, he registered to be elected and since Friday I have been
asking
myself why uKhulu is putting himself in this situation. Surely, it
can’t be
power he still covets? There has to be something that causes a man
in the
twilight of his life to quicken his journey yonder by continuously
carrying
the burden of a hungry, poor, jobless and cowed nation.
Then
it dawned on me. You see, the problem is not old Bob. Gushungo is only
responding to those of us who keep pushing him to stand for election and
then go on to elect him (genuinely or otherwise).
The shame is on the
men and women who fill up an arena and endorse him as
their candidate when
there are younger people who can carry the yoke. A
bigger shame on the men
and women who coo in his aged ears that “you are the
only one to do this
job, Chef,” when in effect they mean “you are the only
one who can ensure
our butts are covered beyond March 29.”
But what would be immoral,
heartless or even diabolic would be to go into a
polling booth and putting
an “X” on the name of an 84-year-old man.
That would be total disrespect
for our elders, a total lack of compassion
for a man who, for a whole 28
years, has been shouldering all our problems
as a nation. He needs to be
relieved of this heavy burden.
I know, of course, that like most elderly
people, Mugabe can and will be
stubborn. He will campaign vigorously,
lifting and shaking that once potent
but now withered fist in the air and
admonishing anyone who dares challenge
him or threatening to floor anyone
who votes him out.
But old and senile people do that sometimes, right.
They angrily insist that
they, and only they, can protect us from the evil
men of the West who want
to colonize our land and enslave us again. They let
their senility cloud
their judgement and believe they can conquer everything
and everyone even if
the weight of their own fist can send them sprawling
onto the ground as they
try to strike imagined enemies.
“Ndinombonzi
aniko ini? Vaudze kuti ndairova mikono ini (What is my name?
Tell them I
used to beat up stronger men),” they will sputter rhetorically.
The point
is, there is simply nothing new 84-year-old Mugabe can offer
Zimbabweans, no
matter how his oratory and eloquent self may try to argue.
Voters should
not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by the same old tricks:
whites will
come back to take over and war veterans will go back to the bush
if you vote
me out, etc.
In fact, for him to raise these issues would be to assume
that Zimbabweans
cannot prevent any “re-colonization” or whatever he calls
it, without him as
leader.
As for the war veterans, it would be
amusing to see people in their late 40s
to 80s going back to take arms just
because old Bob has not been voted back
into power.
In fact, how
about putting a cap on the age at which one can stand for the
presidency.
Something like 60 years should be reasonable.
New Zimbabwe
By Trudy
Stevenson
Last updated: 02/20/2008 20:56:15
IT IS amazing how the mention
of a number or percentage will cause belief in
the most ridiculous
statements. This is probably because a lot of us are not
very good with
numbers, so are in awe of those who sprinkle their
conversation with
them.
The numbers convince us that this person is educated and has all
the facts
at his/her fingertips. Since this is so, we suspend our own powers
of
reason, believe what we are told, and even proceed to pass the
information
on to others.
A current frightening example of this is
the "fact" doing the rounds that
the more candidates that stand against Zanu
PF, the better, because Mugabe
needs 51% to win the election. The reasoning
is that one opponent might only
get 40% of the vote, but if you have 3 or 4
opposition candidates in every
constituency, their aggregate is likely to be
more than 51%.
The problem is that this is indeed true of the
presidential election, where
Mugabe does need to win 51% of the vote, and
three credible opposition
candidates might deprive him of that. BUT this is
only part of the truth.
For parliament and council elections, it is the
candidate who wins most
votes, whether 51% or lower, who will win that seat.
So if you have three
opposition candidates against one Zanu PF candidate, it
is indisputable that
the three opposition candidates will split the
opposition vote between them,
while Zanu PF will almost certainly laugh all
the way back into power.
This is precisely why we in the MDC Mutambara
group have been trying so
desperately to get ALL the opposition parties and
groups together so that we
have one opposition candidate against one Zanu PF
candidate in every
constituency and ward.
Ordinary people understand
this clearly. That is why they were pleading for
two years with the two MDC
formations to come together to avoid splitting
the vote, and that is why
they are now so angry with MDC, especially with
the Tsvangirai group who
rejected the second attempt at reuniting recently.
It should be recognised
that the Mutambara group adopted the agreement, the
second time it has done
so, but been rejected by the other side. Surely this
shows commitment to the
one-candidate philosophy?
On the issue of splitting the vote, again there
is a strange "fact" going
around that Simba Makoni has been put by Zanu PF
to split the opposition
vote. The real fact is that it is Morgan Tsvangirai
who is splitting the
opposition vote, because his group has refused to make
an electoral pact
with either Mutambara or Makoni. He claims his group can
oust Mugabe on
their own, whereas all they will succeed in doing is to
ensure that Mugabe
wins this election because of a divided
opposition.
Another "fact" is that Simba Makoni was Zanu PF during
Gukurahundi, so he is
responsible, because he did nothing to stop it. It is
also an indisputable
fact that Morgan Tsvangirai was a member of Zanu PF
during Gukurahundi, and
we have no record of any attempt on his part to stop
it.
So was Roy Bennett -- who remained a member of Zanu PF until May
2000, when
he attended a fund-raising function for MDC as an aspiring Zanu
PF candidate
for Chimanimani.
I suggest that anyone who is spreading
these false "facts" as gospel truth
should be looked at afresh, in view of
this exposure. Such a person can only
have some hidden agenda, to mislead
the general population with spun
misinformation to this extent. The big
question is - what is this hidden
agenda?
This will be the greatest
disservice to the people of this country that I
can possibly imagine. No one
(apart from the small political elite
benefiting from the regime) can bear
the thought of another five years under
Robert Mugabe's misrule. So I urge
every loyal Zimbabwean of whatever
political persuasion who wants positive
change for this country to do their
own bit to persuade the Tsvangirai group
of the necessity of having only ONE
opposition candidate against ONE Zanu PF
candidate in every constituency and
ward in the forthcoming
election.
It is still not too late. Candidates can still be persuaded to
step down.
The entire framework for such a solution was worked out in detail
and nearly
agreed upon two weeks ago. It could still work.
AFP
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) — Forty-seven bags of drugs
seized in South
Africa on Tuesday turned out to be mandrax and not the more
rare and
expensive narcotic heroin, police said
Wednesday.
"Preliminary tests suggested that the bags contained heroin,
but additional
forensic tests showed it was actually mandrax," police
spokesman Devon
Naicker told AFP, correcting earlier claims of one of the
world's largest
heroin busts.
The drugs, which originated in Zambia,
had a street value of about 1.5
million rands (190,000 dollars, 132,000
euros), he said.
Mandrax is a synthetic drug, very popular in Africa
because of its relative
affordability.
On Tuesday, police said they
had seized a massive consignment of heroin
worth some 100 million dollars,
after discovering 1,363 kilogrammes of drugs
on the Beit Bridge border post
between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The driver and passenger of the lorry
in which the drugs were found, both
South Africans, were arrested.
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
20 February 2008
Posted to the web 20 February
2008
Harare
NETONE subscribers using pre-paid services have since
last week gone without
airtime credits, as the recharge system is
down.
Telecel has also failed to supply the market with prepaid airtime
cards
leaving hundreds of subscribers stranded. These failures come hardly a
week
after all the mobile phone operators raised tariffs by as much as 260
percent. In a statement last week, NetOne announced that: "We would like to
advise our valued Easycall customers that our recharging system is currently
down due to a technical fault.
"Please be advised that this is
purely a technical fault and that there is
no need to return recharge cards
to dealers as they will be functional as
soon as the fault is rectified." No
comment could immediately be established
from Telecel at Press time
yesterday. NetOne customers who were interviewed
by this paper have
expressed deep concern over the prevailing situation
saying their phones had
been reduced to mere receivers. "The events taking
place are now hard to
bear as one can no longer make a call unless someone
else calls
you.
"My business has been largely affected as it is now difficult to get
connected with my clients. "As an indigenous business person with no offices
to meet my clients, my phone virtually becomes my office," said one of the
subscribers who refused to be named. The recharge failure has also seen the
companies losing substantial amounts in potential earnings.
NetOne
operations had been severely affected by acts of vandalism on some of
its
base stations, which has seen the company incurring losses running into
billions of dollars.
Feb. 20, 2008, 9:57AM
Bloomberg News
The Zimbabwe government may
acquire a bigger stake in the Beira-Feruka oil
pipeline in an effort to
reduce rent paid to Mozambique, Justin Mupamhanga,
Zimbabwe's energy and
power secretary, said.
The Zimbabwe government last year bought 13 miles
of the pipeline for an
undisclosed amount. The pipeline runs from the
Mozambican port city of Beira
to Feruka, a defunct oil refinery outside
Zimbabwe's eastern city of Mutare.
Zimbabwe has been short of motor fuels
since 2001, the year after Mugabe
began seizing white-owned farms for
distribution to blacks deprived of land
during white-minority
rule.
"We are considering buying a further section of the pipeline or
buying
shares in Companhiado Pipeline Mozambique Zimbabwe, Mupamhanga said
in a
telephone interview from the capital, Harare, today. CPMZ is owned by
the
Mozambican government.
Iran's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Rasoul
Momeni, said Oct. 9 that his
government would assess the feasibility of
renovating Zimbabwe's Feruka Oil
Refinery.
www.bloomberg.com
The Guardian
The former SAS officer Simon Mann
is finally to stand trial in Equatorial
Guinea for allegedly plotting to
overthrow the regime
February 20, 2008 6:30 PM
Adam
Roberts
I wouldn't trade places with Simon Mann for all the oil
revenues in
Equatorial Guinea. The hired gun has finally been dragged to the
west
African country where he is accused of plotting a remarkable coup
attempt in
March 2004. The Wonga coup - a failed effort by nearly 100
foreign
mercenaries to topple the dictatorship and to grab a share of the
country's
oil wealth - came unstuck in dramatic fashion.
Mann and over 60
accomplices were snatched in Zimbabwe, at Harare airport,
alongside a
specially-converted American Boeing 727. He and the others were
and jailed
after trying to buy automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades,
mortars,
pistols, smoke bombs, flares and a host of other military gear,
while on
their way to Equatorial Guinea. An advance party of other plotters,
in west
Africa, en route to Equatorial Guinea in a private plane, turned
tail and
fled to the Canary Isles. A third group, mostly South Africans, on
the
ground in the target country, were rounded up, subjected to a show trial
and
jailed for as long as 34 years.
Mann himself has spent the past four
years in Chikurubi maximum security
prison, in Zimbabwe, first doing time
for breaking a firearms law, then
awaiting extradition to Equatorial Guinea.
However grim conditions were in
Zimbabwe - at least for ordinary prisoners,
life can be terrifying, brutal
and short inside Chikurubi; for Mann they
were reportedly more comfortable -
Mann feared ending up in Equatorial
Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison.
Apparently a special new wing has
been built for him. Given international
attention he is unlikely to suffer
the sort of torture and ill-treatment
that local political prisoners have
endured. A German alleged plotter died
in Black Beach prison shortly after
his arrest-of a sudden attack of malaria
said the authorities; beaten until
a heart attack killed him, said his
colleagues. Unless Mann can offer enough
juicy details about the funding of
the plot - presumably incriminating
others - Mann can expect to spend a
decade or more behind bars for his part
in the Wonga coup. (The plot got its
name after Mann boasted in 2004,
wrongly, that a "large splodge of wonga"
would soon spring him from behind
bars.)
Some sympathy for Mann's plight may be justified. His lawyers say
that he
was kidnapped from Zimbabwe and dragged to Equatorial Guinea against
his
will and without regard for the law. He may have been kept in hiding in
Gabon on the way. He can expect a show trial and heavy pressure to name who
financed and backed his plot (look, not least, to Spain's government and to
Anglo-American complicity).
But don't overdo the pity. Mercenaries
are one of many blights in Africa.
Responsible for colourful daring and
adventure they may be, but plotters and
schemers, hired guns, outsiders and
African mercenaries alike, have
generally spread misery and instability on
the continent. Remember "Mad"
Mike Hoare and his armies in Congo and his
farcical effort to overthrow the
government of the Seychelles? Or Bob
Denard, the French soldier of fortune
who regularly toppled the government
of the Comores? Foreign fighters
flocked to brutal wars in Biafra (Nigeria),
Angola, Sierra Leone, Ivory
Coast, Congo and elsewhere, fighting and killing
for money, exploiting
others' misery for their own private gain. Some dared
to claim they helped
to bring order to wretched bits of Africa. In fact
hired guns-especially
those who plot coups-have been a curse on the
continent and beyond.
Some of them claimed to be bringing order to the
continent. One firm of
hired guns - Executive Outcomes - used to claim that
mercenaries could be a
force for stability. When Angola's government hired
foreign fighters to help
push back rebel forces, in the 1990s, mercenaries
could claim to be
supporting the state. Similarly in Sierra Leone by the end
of that decade,
with Sandline and other mercenaries supporting the
government against brutal
rebels, some sort of argument could be made that
foreign hired guns filled a
gap where feeble governments and unwilling
peacekeepers were unable to act.
But the lesson of the Wonga Coup - and
elsewhere when mercenaries have
plotted regime change - is that hired guns
are interested in money and
adventure, not improving the lives of Africans
or bringing order where there
had been chaos.