Labour body threatens to call general strike

Zim Online

Monday 29 January 2007

HARARE - The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has given the
government until February 23 to address pay grievances of doctors and
teachers or face a general strike by workers across the country.

The ZCTU, the largest representative body for workers in the country, said
the government should also urgently move to fix the bleeding economy, adding
that workers across the economy were dissatisfied with their wages and that
"the nation must brace for more serious strikes as workers failed to make
ends meet".

"All these (workers salary) concerns be addressed by the 23rd February
failure which the ZCTU General Council will meet on the 24th February 2007
and decide on the dates of the next industrial action," the ZCTU general
council said in a communiqué at the weekend.

Labour Minister Nicholas Goche was not immediately available for comment on
the ZCTU's threat to call a general strike by workers. But the government
has in the past deployed armed police and soldiers to crush strikes by the
ZCTU.

ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe and about 30 other top officials
of the union were last September severely assaulted and tortured by the
police for attempting to organise protests by workers for more pay and
better living conditions.

Doctors at state hospitals have since last month boycotted work to press the
government to hike their salaries by about 8 000 percent, which they say is
necessary to cushion them against the country's runaway inflation, which at
1 281.1 percent is the highest in the world.

The doctors' strike has crippled a public health system that is barely
functional at the best of times, and has to struggle with a heavy load from
HIV/AIDS infections.

Workers at the state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority and tobacco
industry workers are all threatening to go on strike for more pay while the
progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said its members will from
Wednesday begin a go-slow to press for a salary hike.

PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe told ZimOnline: "We have met as a
union and resolved to start with a go-slow on Wednesday and if the
government fails to address our concerns, we will then stage a full throttle
strike next Monday."

Doctors, nurses and teachers - like the majority of workers in Zimbabwe -
earn far less than the Z$375 000 that the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says
is what a standard family of five requires for basic goods and services per
month.

"With the current wages and salaries that workers are getting, the nation
must brace itself for more serious strikes as workers fail to make ends
meet," the ZCTU said.

Zimbabwe has since 1999 been grappling with an agonising economic meltdown,
critics blame on repression and mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe, a
charge the veteran leader denies.

Economic analysts warn that the once prosperous southern African nation is
likely to sink deeper into crisis in 2007 warning that Zimbabweans should
brace up for a fresh surge in inflation and worsening living conditions on
the back of the free-fall of the local dollar against major currencies.

Some analysts project that inflation will this year climb past the 4 000
percent mark, which was forecasted by the International Monetary Fund late
last year and inflict more hardships on poor Zimbabweans. - ZimOnline

Harare redeploys doctors to beat strike

Zim Online

Monday 29 January 2007

HARARE - The Zimbabwean government at the weekend began redeploying doctors
from remote provinces to the country's four biggest hospitals to help ease a
crippling six-week strike by medical practitioners  .

Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa, who is currently on
leave, yesterday told ZimOnline that his permanent secretary Edward Mabiza
was already working on the modalities to reassign doctors to Parirenyatwa,
Harare Central, Mpilo and United Bulawayo hospitals.

"We are redeploying doctors from the provinces to central hospitals so that
services will continue to flow. The permanent secretary is working on the
redeployment plan," said Parirenyatwa.

Zimbabwe's doctors downed tools last December demanding that the government
increase their salaries from Z$56 000 to Z$5 million a month.

Although the government had promised to significantly hike the doctors'
salaries in January, the doctors say they are still not happy with the 320
percent salary hike awarded by the government.

This latest salary increment will see the lowest paid doctor earning Z$239
000 a month, an amount the doctors say is way below their expectations in
view of the current inflationary environment.

Zimbabwe's health delivery system, once lauded as one of the best in Africa,
has virtually collapsed after years of under-funding and mismanagement.

An acute economic crisis now in its eighth year running has only helped
worsen the situation with the government short of cash to import essential
medicines and equipment, while the country has suffered the worst brain
drain of doctors, nurses and other professionals seeking better
opportunities abroad. - ZimOnline

Hungry Zimbabwean police officers turn to corruption for survival

Zim Online

Monday 29 January 2007

BULAWAYO - A burly police officer violently pushes two women into a corner
at a busy shopping centre in Zimbabwe's second biggest city of Bulawayo.

"Mapositori munoda kuvhaira sitereki, basa nderekuparadza hupfumi hwenyika
neblack market yenyu iyoyi. Manje matosungwa," the police officer bellowed
in the local vernacular Shona language.

In brief, he was telling the two women that they were under arrest for
destroying the economy because of their illegal foreign currency deals.

But the money changers, known as osphatheleni, in the other local vernacular
Ndebele language, remained unfazed over their arrest as if nothing had
happened.

After a few exchanges, one of the women digs deeper into her handbag and
fishes out some cash that she discreetly hands over to the police officer.
And with that, she buys her freedom.

"That is how we deal with them," says one of the women who only identified
herself as Madawu.

"No one really gets locked up into the cells these days because the officers
are underpaid, hungry and need to feed themselves and their families. They
always ask for bribes from us when they arrest us," she added.

Faced with a crippling economic crisis, Zimbabwe's police officers appear
too ready to do anything to receive kick-backs to make ends meet.

With the average police officer earning about Z$130 000 after this month's
salary adjustment, the police officers say the money is way too little in
Zimbabwe's hyperinflationary environment.

The new salaries fall way below the Z$364 000 that the consumer rights body,
the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says an average family of five needs per
month to survive.

Zimbabwe is in the grip of a severe economic recession that has seen
inflation shooting to 1 281.1 percent, the highest in the world outside a
war zone.

Police officers who are custodians of the law, have not been spared from the
economic crisis forcing most of them to resort to crime to survive.

According to a High Court judge, the major culprits are officers in the
traffic section as well as those in the Criminal Investigation Department
(CID).

Officially opening the High Court legal year for 2007 two weeks ago, Justice
Maphios Cheda, said there were a number of officers who were openly
consorting with criminals while discharging their duties.

"There are some police officers who openly consort with criminals for the
sole purposes of sharing the loot or profits which flow from such criminal
activities," said the judge. "Such officers damage the image of the police
force."

Police officers who spoke to ZimOnline said while they were aware that
taking bribes was morally wrong, they had no choice but to do so to make
ends meet.

"My salary is just enough to buy a few groceries for one week and that is
all. If I spend it, it means that I have to wait for payday again the
following month to get that ridiculous amount.

"It's so ridiculous and that is why we end up doing things that go against
our ethics - just to survive. Everyone has become so corrupt in the force
and the reason is simple, we are underpaid," said a police officer who
refused to be named.

"On a good day, I can raise Z$50 000 from bribes alone," said the officer
who works in the traffic section.

Some officers who could not stand the rampant corruption in the police force
have quit their jobs to look for work in neighbouring countries such as
Botswana and South Africa.

One such person is Themba Msimanga.

Msimanga quit the police last year and now works as a security guard in
Johannesburg where he earns abut R2 500, a fortune when exchanged on
Zimbabwe's foreign currency parallel market.

"I earn about R2 500 a month and when I convert that to local currency I get
something like more than a million. It's not much but I am managing and my
family is now adequately catered for.

"I just could not stand the poor pay here and surely one cannot live on
bribes. It's not good," said Msimanga.

Several police officers have appeared in court over the past few years
facing charges of soliciting for bribes.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police admit that there are lots of rotten apples
within their rank with the police chief Augustine Chihuri promising to weed
out all the corrupt officers.

"We are aware of the rampant corruption that is going on, and we are doing
everything in our capacity to bring the culprits to book," said Chihuri.

But until President Robert Mugabe's government substantially increases
salaries and allowances for the police, corruption within the law
enforcement agency will continue to run deep, compromising the integrity of
Zimbabwe's battered police force. - ZimOnline

Bakers demand 100 percent hike in price

Zim Online

Monday 29 January 2007

HARARE - Zimbabwe's bakers are pressing for a nearly 100 percent hike in
bread prices, warning a massive shortage of the commodity was imminent if
the government does not urgently approve the review.

This comes barely a week after sugar producers forced the government to
review the price of the commodity upwards by 117 percent.

Last week some retailers were already selling a loaf of bread at Z$1 600 -
up from the $825 prescribed by the government in December.

The National Bakers Association (NBA) cited incessant increases in working
capital as raw material prices continually go up, saying the gazetted
price - based on November 2006 cost factors - was "seriously bleeding" the
industry.

"As the industry situation stands, the gazetted price is lagging behind by
two months and the bread industry is fast grinding to a standstill unless
something is done to salvage it," the NBA said in a statement at the
weekend. "The ship is now sinking and this is an SOS."

The NBA said the majority of the industry's 20 000 employees could find
themselves jobless while more company closures were imminent if the
government did not urgently review the price upward.

"Unless the pricing issue is urgently resolved, the future of the industry
is bleak and more closures, retrenchments and bread shortages would be
inevitable," the NBA said.

The government slapped price controls on basic commodities in a desperate
bid to combat hyperinflation - the highest in the world at 1 282 percent in
December.

Two of Zimbabwe's senior bakers were in December slapped with four-year jail
terms each for breaking price controls by hiking bread prices without
government approval.

Officials in the baking industry said they were contemplating withholding
bread unless the government entertained their pleas urgently.

Sugar producers resorted to withholding their product until the government
was forced to review the prices by 117 percent - a rise which the producers
say is not sweet enough.

Zimbabwe is battling a scarcity of other basic commodities such as milk,
cooking oil and the staple maize-meal. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe c.bank seen devaluing local dollar

Reuters

Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:55 AM GMT

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank will likely devalue the local
dollar this week to boost exports, risking higher inflation in the short
term as it fights to pull the country back from the brink of economic
collapse, analysts said.

But economists said the widely expected move, the latest in a series of
desperate measures to right Zimbabwe's economic woes, would almost certainly
fail without political reforms that the government is resisting.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Gideon Gono will this week present a
much awaited monetary policy statement as inflation -- the highest in the
world at over 1,200 percent -- is surging and foreign currency shortages
bite, boosting black market trade.

The southern African country is in the throes of its worst economic crisis
since independence in 1980, largely blamed on President Robert Mugabe's
politically driven economic policies such as the seizure of white-owned
commercial farms for blacks.

Economic analysts said Gono's speech, which has not been officially
scheduled but is expected by the end of the month, would devalue the
Zimbabwe dollar but not go far enough to satisfy industry, which blames
falling exports on unrealistic exchange rates.

Gono last devalued the local currency by an effective 60 percent in August,
when he also lopped three zeros off the Zimbabwe dollar and launched new
bank notes in a move he said was aimed at curbing hyperinflation.

The analysts said he was likely to introduce a new Zimbabwe dollar currency,
which he has previously promised, as part of a fight against inflation.

"There's strong speculation about an impending devaluation... no one can
quite tell how far the governor will go, but history shows he has never gone
anywhere near market expectations," said Mandla Nyathi, a senior analyst at
NMB Bank.

Gono says while he favours a gradual unified exchange rate, he has to
balance industry demands and national requirements like paying the
government's foreign debt and critical imports such as medicines, food and
fuel.

The Zimbabwe dollar is officially pegged at 250 to the U.S. dollar but
trades at around 5,000 on the black market.

Analysts said the government feared a big devaluation would see prices soar,
fuelling inflation and further hurting the majority grappling with shortages
of electricity, water and deteriorating services.

"We know that his (Gono's) hands are tied because government will not look
favourably at a sharp devaluation and other desirable policy steps that
might not necessarily be politically expedient," said Marah Hativagone, the
president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.

Zimbabwe's economic crisis has stoked political tensions and has seen
doctors and some nurses at state hospitals embark on job boycotts that have
paralysed national health centres to demand higher wages.

Many fear the wildcat strikes could escalate into wider work boycotts and
spontaneous street protests, heightening tensions as frustration over the
deteriorating economy grows.

Political analysts said reforms such as a new constitution, free and fair
elections, restoring property rights and improving relations with former
Western donors who have halted lending to Zimbabwe, would boost the economy.

"The economic crisis in most of its aspects is as much a political crisis
than it is an economic one," said Eldred Masunungure, a leading political
analyst.

"Gono might have ideas that will work in the short term but until such a
time that we shed our pariah status and address our political problems, Gono
will continue to tinker with the symptoms of the real problem," Masunungure
said.

Critics say the lack of foreign donor aid has accelerated the economic
crisis while Mugabe accuses the West of imposing sanctions on Harare as
punishment for the land seizure drive.

Barclays' millions help to prop up Mugabe regime

Three British firms provide key finance, allowing the Zimbabwe leader to
defy world condemnation

Antony Barnett and Christopher Thompson
Sunday January 28, 2007
The Observer

Barclays bank is helping to bankroll President Robert Mugabe's regime in
Zimbabwe, providing millions of pounds of support for his vilified land
reforms, The Observer can reveal. Mugabe's opponents describe the bank's
activities as a 'disgrace' and an 'insult' to the millions who have suffered
human rights abuses.
Barclays is the most high-profile of three British-based financial
institutions, which, in total, have provided more than $1bn in direct and
indirect funding to Mugabe's administration. The other two companies are
Standard Chartered Bank and the insurance firm Old Mutual. According to
influential newsletter Africa Confidential, that first disclosed the
Barclays' loans, the British organisations provide an economic lifeline
keeping Mugabe's regime afloat.

A spokesman for Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change, likened the bank's actions to its support of South
Africa's apartheid regime and urged a boycott.
One of the most controversial of Barclays' Zimbabwe loans is the £30m it
provides to a state-sponsored agricultural 'facility' aiming to sustain land
reforms that saw Mugabe seize white-owned farmland and drive more than
100,000 black workers from their homes. The government has expelled more
than a million opposition supporters from Harare and Bulawayo, dumping them
in the countryside.

Britain backs targeted international sanctions against the regime - although
there are no economic sanctions - which prevent Mugabe or his political
associates travelling to Europe or the US. It is estimated that Barclays,
Standard Chartered Bank and Old Mutual have lent the Mugabe regime about
£100m by purchasing treasury bills and government bonds.

Speaking to The Observer from South Africa, Tendai Biti, MDC secretary-
general, reacted angrily: 'It is immoral and it is criminal. Barclays
defended their immoral actions in supporting the apartheid government in
South Africa and they seem intent on repeating history in Zimbabwe.'

Liberal Democrat chief whip Norman Lamb said: 'By going along with the rules
provided by the Zimbabwe regime [the companies] become complicit with the
actions of Zimbabwe's government and complicit with a corrupt regime ... I
struggle to see a justification.'

Any commercial bank operating in Zimbabwe must reinvest 40 per cent of its
profits in government bonds. Barclays has arranged finance facilities worth
$110m to Zimbabwean companies involved in tobacco, mining, sugar,
manufacturing and the horticultural sectors. Last year Barclays bought South
Africa's Absa bank for more than £2bn, making it one of the Mugabe
government's biggest private financiers. Zimbabwe has one of the world's
lowest life expectancy rates and the highest inflation, expected to hit more
than 4,000 per cent this year.

Barclays says it has had customers in Zimbabwe for decades and abandoning
them now would make matters worse. A spokesman said: 'We have been in
Zimbabwe since 1912 and have 1,000 employees serving 150,000 retail,
business and corporate customers in the country. We are committed to
continuing to provide a service to those customers in what is clearly a
difficult operating environment. As with all other banks and businesses,
Barclays is required to comply with the regulations of the Reserve Bank.
This involves participating from time to time in the purchase of treasury
bills and government bonds.'

Old Mutual, the London insurance firm, holds investments on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange worth about 16 per cent of the market and has a stake in
Zimbabwe Newspapers, which publishes the Herald and the Chronicle. Nobody
from Old Mutual was available for comment.

A spokesman for Standard Chartered Bank confirmed his institution had lent
Mugabe money through purchase of government bonds. He said: 'This is part of
doing business in Zimbabwe.'

AU body tackles Zim about political violence

IOL

          Beauregard Tromp
          January 28 2007 at 04:19PM

      Addis Ababa - The battle between Zimbabwe and the African Commission
on Human and Peoples' Rights rages on.

      In what the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum refers to as a "litmus
test" of the African Union's response to the situation in Zimbabwe, the
forum has laid a complaint over political violence in 2000.

      The forum, a group of 12 human rights NGOs, says that in 2000, during
a referendum in which people voted against the new constitution, Zimbabwe
was racked by political violence.

      This saw Zanu-PF supporters engage in a "systematic campaign of
intimidation aimed at crushing support for opposition parties".

      The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights first clashed with
Zimbabwe over the leak of a report by the commission in 2004.

      In the report before ministers of foreign affairs, the commission
found Zimbabwe guilty of violating Articles 1 and 7 of the African Charter
due to the enactment of the Clemency Order of 2000.

      A general amnesty for politically motivated crimes, excluding those
accused of rape, murder, robbery, indecent assault, statutory rape, theft,
possession of arms, fraud or dishonesty, was declared in October 2000 by
President Robert Mugabe.

      The commission found that by enacting the clemency order, victims were
left without alternative avenues for justice.

      "I think the one thing they (the AU commission) are afraid of is
African endorsement of the situation in Zimbabwe," said a member of the
Zimbabwe NGO forum. - Tribune Foreign Service

      This article was originally published on page 4 of Tribune on January
28, 2007

Gvt warns corrupt civil servants

Saturday Mirror, Zimbabwe

Mirror Reporter
issue date :2007-Jan-27

THE government has warned that it would not hesitate to deal with
high-ranking civil servants caught working in cahoots with former white
commercial farmers to frustrate the land reform programme.

Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement
Didymus Mutasa made the remarks when he officiated at a Senior Civil
Servants Housing Scheme, Augustadale Park, ground-breaking ceremony in
Harare yesterday.
He said he had noted with dismay that some among the senior leadership were
developing jelly feet and switched to protecting some white land owners.
"Any attempt to stand in the way of the land reform programme would not be
tolerated.
"May I warn those who are bent on resisting the land reform programme that
we have teeth, we can bite and indeed we shall bite should the need arise,"
Mutasa said.
He added some whites, including former owners of Gletwyn Farm, had adopted a
belligerent posture, resorting to all sorts of moves, including legal
challenges.
He said they relied on false sense of security provided by certain senior
government officials.
"They are mistaken in underestimating Government's resolve to proceed and
complete this very important exercise," the minister added.
Mutasa was representing the acting President Joice Mujuru who had to attend
to other pressing matters.
In a speech read on her behalf by Mutasa, Mujuru attacked farmers who were
defying the country's laws.
"It is, therefore, with a sense of shock that we have learnt of the stubborn
defiance by the previous owner of Gletwyn Farm. The Administrative Court
confirmed the farm's acquisition in September 2006 through an Order of
Consent," Mujuru said.
The farmer, James Ross, has planted maize, flowers, and potatoes in defiance
of the State order that he should vacate the farm.
"The former owner has crops planted well after the acquisition and in
defiance of Government's eviction order. If this was to test the
temperature, it was not necessary and I urge all citizens of Zimbabwe not to
be in a confrontational mood with an elected government." she added.
The new development, Augustadale Park, would be a self contained residential
estate of over 500 hectares..
About 500 senior civil servants will benefit from this move.
On average the stands range between 2000 and 3000 square metres.
Sasha Jogi, director of Sasha Jogi Planners, engaged to develop the park
said: "The first phase comprises of 202 residential stands averaging 2000
square metres each, a primary school, three crèches and seven commercial
stands.
 Progress has already begun with the servicing of the stands.
 "The second phase will see the construction of a hotel, a club house,
recreational park, a small dam, cluster homes and 178 residential stands
averaging 3 000 square metres."
Mutasa commended senior police officers for coming up with the Housing
Scheme which is set to bring dignity to retired civil servants.
"I have always been concerned about the unhealthy situation where our
officers, including senior officers, are tenants (Maroja), where they are
sometimes blackmailed by some unscrupulous landlords into not executing
their duties," he said.
"We have instances where some people have been on the Harare Housing waiting
list for up to 20 years. We cannot afford a situation where perceptions are
created, by anti-government forces, that the government is indifferent to
the plight of the urban dwellers," Mutasa added.
The Police Heights Housing Cooperative was given the land under the Phase 2
of Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle.
Several ambassadors have contributed to the success of the housing scheme.
Among them are ambassadors from Iran, Malaysia, Algeria, Pakistan and Egypt.
"This development should mark the beginning of a new thrust, where land is
made available to our people for urban development.
"Under the current land reform programme, land for urban housing has not
been accorded much attention," Mutasa said.
The housing scheme would to be replicated in other urban centres such as
Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Kwekwe.
Members of the housing scheme contribute $30 000 in subscriptions monthly.
Similar schemes for middle ranking as well as junior officers in the police
force and the rest of civil service are in the pipeline.

Poisonous sugar on black market

Saturday Mirror, Zimbabwe

Patience Nyangove
issue date :2007-Jan-27

THREE members of an Epworth family are battling for their lives at
Chitungwiza Central Hospital after drinking tea prepared with poisonous
sugar bought on the parallel market.

The incident took place barely a week after the death of five other family
members from the same community after they ate poisonous mushrooms.
Hospital officials told The Daily Mirror yesterday that the sugar was
contaminated with Organo phosphate. The phosphate is considered highly
poisonous.
Among the critically ill are two minors, Petros (1) and Joyce (8).
Their uncle Emmanuel is also battling for survival while their brother was
discharged yesterday.
When The Daily Mirror visited Chitungwiza Central Hospital yesterday where
the three are being treated, the mother of the minors, Joyce Chinenyanga,
said on Wednesday, her brother-in-law Emmanuel bought a cup of the
contaminated sugar from two men selling the product on the streets.
The sugar was contained in a plastic bucket where illegal traders are known
for selling all kinds of basic commodities on the streets. Some can be seen
selling their products right in front of retail shops with management of
those shops seemingly unperturbed about the activities happening under their
noses.
When Emmanuel got home, he prepared tea and shared it with his two nephews
and niece.
Soon after drinking, the four started vomiting and lost consciousness.
On seeing this, the mother quickly asked for help from her neighbours who
urgently came and took them to hospital where they were admitted.
"It was really fortunate that I had not drunk the tea because if I had done
so, we could all have died without anyone knowing," the mother said.
Following the disappearance of sugar from shop shelves, most people resorted
to sourcing it on the black market.
Suppliers are said to have withdrawn the commodity to force the selling
upwards arguing that the prices then were not viable. Sugar was being sold
for $570 for 2kgs, but the government recently upped that by 117 percent
pegging the new price at $1 133 00 for 2kgs.
Since that move, sugar suppliers started releasing the commodity onto the
market.
Chitungwiza hospital public relations officer Audrey Tasaranarwo warned
people against buying foodstuffs from the streets.
"We fear that these vendors might have sold the contaminated sugar to other
people thereby putting their lives in danger. We would urge people not to
buy food stuffs from these street vendors as they risk being poisoned," she
said.
She said it was unfortunate that the incident happened after the Sawa family
in Epworth ate poisonous mushrooms picked by the father.
The father John Sawa picked the mushrooms in a bush near his home in Magada.
On returning home, he prepared supper for his family while his wife attended
a church service.
The family ate the mushrooms and retired to bed.
The following day, the affected family members complained of stomach pains
and started vomiting blood with three of them dying immediately.
A year ago, three Lupane family members also died from eating poisonous
mushrooms.
The Sawa family was buried last weekend.

Zimbabwe Vigil Diary - 27th January 2007

Only a few of us for the beginning of the Vigil on the day the UN has
designated as "Holocaust Memorial Day" marking the date on which the
Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviets in 1945. Mugabe is
not, as far as we know, putting people in gas ovens but what is happening in
Zimbabwe is a holocaust nevertheless.  Common reckoning is that the death
toll is worse than in Darfur, Iraq or Afqhanistan.  Zanu-PF's Didymus Mutasa
made it known some 3 or 4 years ago that they wanted a population of about 6
million "of our people". They have been busy every since.

We were interested to have a thorough-going revolutionary with us and were
energised by his arguments.  We had to explain to him that we are in England
and our weapons are tea and buns. (But once they are stale they become
stones.)

With so many supporters away at a MDC meeting in Wolverhampton, it was
brilliant to have the Zimbabwean singer Viomak all the way from Leeds to
help us start up the Vigil. We played tracks from her new CD "Happy 83rd
Birthday Mr Mugabe (bones of a 30 year old)".  She is working on a
sensational coup to launch the CD and the Vigil Diary is following it
closely..a "News of the World" scoop.

We were pleased to have a Chinese UN official who had just been to Zimbabwe
talk to us.  He said they are doing everything in their power to ensure that
emergency humanitarian aid is not being abused.

We handed out our "Make Mugabe History - Free Zimbabwe" postcards to our
supporters to write their own messages to Robert Mugabe for his birthday
(yet another one!) next month.  Most messages said something like "time to
go".  Here are two messages: "Nobody wants anything to do with you any more.
Do the right thing and go and herd goats and cattle.  You are a disgrace to
the human race.  Zimbabwe is not your family business" and "May God really
bless the last days of your life for judgment awaits you in hell".

Vigil supporters were very pleased to hear from Jeff whom we've been
worrying about for some time.  It turns out he has been in jail for problems
with his papers but is due to be released in the coming week.  We are
completely befuddled why Jeff should be blocking jail spaces for busy UK
criminals.

It's great that ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa, successor to the
Anti-Apartheid Movement) is becoming so active on behalf of Zimbabwe. We
were pleased to help them distribute their flyer "The Last King of Scotland:
a modern day problem" in which they compare the brutal repression of
Zimbabwe to the tyranny of Idi Amin in Uganda.  They are asking people to
flood cinema goers with this flyer to help raise awareness of the genocide
in Zimbabwe.  Check weblink:
http://www.actsa.org/Pages/Page.php?pID=1024&title=PostColonialismZimbabwe
for ACTSA's Zimbabwe campaigns.

Good news from a long-term supporter, Ancilla.  Her baby boy Prosper was
born on Thursday.  When Ancilla first came to the Vigil she was going
through a very difficult time and it is wonderful to see where she has
reached now. Her child comes as a great joy.

For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/

FOR THE RECORD: 36 signed the register.

FOR YOUR DIARY: Monday, 29th January, 7.30 pm, Central London Zimbabwe
Forum.  Another action forum to discuss current and future campaigns.
Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28 John Adam Street, London WC2
(cross the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go down a passageway to John
Adam Street, turn right and you will see the pub).

Vigil co-ordinator

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk