Yahoo News
Tue Jul 10, 10:31 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - International
pressure will be key to ending the crisis
in Zimbabwe as domestic opponents
of President Robert Mugabe have lost
heart, the head of the country's
Catholic church said Tuesday.
"It may be that Zimbabweans solve their
problems themselves but right now
people are extremely demoralised," Pius
Ncube, archbishop of the second city
Bulawayo, told reporters on a visit to
Johannesburg.
"Mugabe is a very violent person. He will look for any
opportunity to stay
in power ... I don't think we can do it on our own,
without international
pressure or assistance," he added.
Ncube has
been one of the most outspoken critics of 83-year-old Mugabe, who
is
presiding over an economic meltdown in a country where inflation is now
believed to be well beyond 5,000 percent and 80 percent of people are
unemployed.
While he stressed that he was not in favour of outside
military
intervention, the archbishop said the West must add its weight to
an ongoing
mediation effort by the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) being
led by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
"Any
international intervention should thus build on this regional
initiative and
should not be carried out separately from it," he said.
"Sometimes when
the region is ignored, it can be a disaster" as with Iraq,
he said.
IOL
July 10
2007 at 03:12PM
Harare - Hundreds more business executives and
store managers have
been arrested in Zimbabwe as part of a crackdown on
violations of a
government-ordered price freeze, police said on
Tuesday.
"So far we have arrested a further 468 violators
countrywide in the
last 24 hours, bringing the total of those arrested to 1
768" since the
start of the arrest programme, police spokesperson Chief
Superintendent
Oliver Mandipaka said.
"We have beefed up our
crack team. There will be more police in the
central business district and
other residential areas," he told AFP.
Zimbabwe's Industry Minister
Obert Mpofu ordered businesses on June 26
to halve the prices of their goods
and services after accusing them of
rampant profiteering and sent crack
teams from the security forces to raid
shops and check
compliance.
Representatives of major retail chains
such as Colcom, National Foods
Innscor and the local franchise of Spar
supermarket and Nandos are among
those who have been arrested, although most
have since been released after
paying heavy fines.
Many
manufacturers say the government-set prices mean they cannot
cover their
costs and have stopped production, leading to widespread
shortages of
staples such as cooking oil and salt.
But Information Minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu was quoted on Tuesday as
saying that the government would
not relent on the blitz and dispelled fears
of widespread shortages and
economic collapse.
"A whole battery of measures are being worked
out to improve the
supply side of the whole economy," he told the state-run
Herald newspaper.
He said the government was serious about price
monitoring and "there
is no going back. Predictions of the collapse of
government are unfounded
and should be scoffed at". - Sapa-AFP
Afrique en ligne
A group of
Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) and Chinese Peoples' Liberation
Army are to
conduct "expert" training sessions with a selected group of
Malawi Defence
Forces (MDF) in anti-government demonstration and crackdown
of opposition
party leaders, documents sourced by Nyasa Times reveal.
President Bingu wa
Mutharika and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are
threatened by
legitimacy and authority crises, on July 1, 2007 sent a team
of military
officials from MDF to Zimbabwe for master training under the
tutelage of the
Chinese People's Liberation Army.
President Robert Mugabe agreed to impart
the skills and expertise to as many
Malawian officers agreed to send his own
contingent hosted by the Malawi
Defence Force from August 3-18 under the
disguise of regional training.
A letter addressed to Malawi Army Commander
General Marko Daiton Chidziko
MSM, OSC signed by P. Shiri PSCRCDS UK Air
Marshall/Commander Defence Forces
referenced 672/07 dated June 20, 2007 from
the Office of Commander Defence
Forces, Ministry of Defence, Defence Forces
Headquarters, Private Bag 7713,
Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe has all the
details about the planned visit of
the "death squad" trainers from the Joint
Command and Staff College (JCSC).
"As you may be aware the ZDF and Staff
College runs a front command and
staff course among other courses. The aim
of the course is to train selected
majors and lieutenant colonels from the
region in command procedures
included in the JCSC syllabus," reads the
letter in part.
"I kindly request your defence force to host one group which
comprises nine
directing staff and 21 students of which four of the
directing staff are
Chinese officers who are on secondment from the Chinese
People's Liberation
Army," said Shiri.
Sources in Harare Zimbabwe have
confided that the whole main aim of the
training exchange is to expedite the
passing out of a number of Malawian
officers to acquire same skills and
knowledge as their Zimbabwe counterparts
who received the techniques from
the Chinese.
"It's not a normal training programme but impartation of skills
possessed by
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
counter-intelligence which
mainly involves setting up of secret death
squads.
"The squads petrol bomb political opponents' homes, commit acts of
sabotage
and torture opponents. They pose as police and army officers in
uniforms
licensed to kill," the source at the CIO office said on pleading
anonymity.
The MDF spokesperson was not immediately available for comment
when
contacted by this reporter.
Mutharika and DPP are believed to have
drawn up a list of politicians who he
wants to "deal with decisively" using
state instruments mainly the VIP
bodyguards in the state residences believed
to be from Zimbabwe's CIO.
Some analysts have described Mutharika and DPP to
be gradually pulling one
leaf after the other from the tactics of the Zanu-
PF of Robert Mugabe.
While Mugabe boasts of the political exploits of the
war veterans, DPP is
developing death squads to bring to collapse one of the
most stable and
peaceful nation in Africa that has never experienced a
war.
"We are aware of Mutharika's intentions and with the current pressure of
Section 65 and crumbling government, he is a man who can do anything. You
know these old people who have lived their lives.they would care less to
sanction the death squads to slaughter innocent people," said a United
Democratic Front (UDF) executive member opting for anonymity.
Mutharika
in previously unleashed the Malawi Armed Forces crackdown on the
opposition
UDF National Chairman Dr Bakili Muluzi by besieging his BCA
Residence and
Chisitu Grounds, venue for the political rally in Mulanje
which eventually
was cancelled.
Recently, a home made explosive device was reportedly found at
UDF executive
member Brown Mpinganjira's Chigumula residence and was taken
away by
Officer-in-Charge Oliver Soko of Limbe Police. No further
information has
been released about the device.
Jul 10,2007 by Charles
Kufa
Monsters and Critics
Jul 10, 2007, 12:47 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's main trade
unions body warned Tuesday that huge job
losses were likely to be caused by
President Robert Mugabe's blitz on
prices.
Wellington Chibebe,
Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, said the last
few days' clampdown on shops and businesses hiking
prices was only bringing
false hope to ordinary Zimbabweans.
Since last Thursday, jubilant
shoppers have cleared shop shelves of goods
like orange juice, flour and
sugar after price inspectors ordered price
slashes.
Mugabe, 83, had
accused the businesses of colluding with the West and the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a bid to bring about
regime
change.
But now shop shelves are all but empty and workers are going to
waste
precious time and scarce money looking for goods, Chibebe warned in a
statement.
The trade unions leader accused the government of creating
chaos and called
on workers to prepare for action.
The Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions is becoming increasingly concerned by
imminent job
losses caused by the unprecedented move by the government to
cut prices
indiscriminately of all commodities, including clothing, Chibebe
said.
Already industry had been performing at only 20 per cent of
capacity, and
the chaos would further worsen the situation.
© 2007
dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
SABC
July 10, 2007,
17:15
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the foreign affairs minister, says the
problematic
economic situation in Zimbabwe will have dire consequences for
the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), particularly South
Africa.
Dlamini-Zuma expressed South Africa's concerns over the worsening
economic
crisis in Zimbabwe while addressing the media after meeting with
Massimo
D'Alema, Italy's deputy prime minister, in Pretoria.
"We are
concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe generally. The economy of
Zimbabwe
has been deteriorating over time. It is, in part, for that very
reason that
the SADC has decided that there must be discussions and
reconciliation
because it is very difficult to rebuild an economy in a
country where there
is a very severe divide and polarisation," said
Dlamini-Zuma.
The Telegraph
By Stuart
Coles
Last Updated: 2:01pm BST 10/07/2007
She is the
unlikely guardian of an overlooked creature in a troubled
land. Karen
Paolillo tells how her fight to protect Hippopotami in Zimbabwe
has put her
in the frontline of a deadly struggle for food and resources -
and why she
will never leave
The true scale of poaching in Zimbabwe is now
impossible to gauge. But
environmentalists are agreed; killing is
widespread, indiscriminate and out
of control.
The World
Wildlife Fund estimates up to 80 per cent of wildlife on
reclaimed farms has
been slaughtered since 2001, with little sign of the
desire for bush meat
and cash abating.
Now poaching is deep into 'protected' state and
privately-owned nature
reserves and both endangered and common species are
treated as prey.
"They are killing everything and anything from a
squirrel to an
elephant," says Karen Paolillo, "For food and for
money."
British-born Karen and her French husband Jean have
dedicated some 17
years to protecting hippos and other animals on the Turgwe
River, in the
privately-owned Save Valley Conservancy, in the southeast
Lowveld.
But with settlements of hundreds of families now flanking
their small,
self-dubbed 'Hippo Haven' on two sides, the couple are seeing
the wildlife
vanishing.
Poachers' preferred targets are
antelope, wildebeest and zebra, but
they also kill lion, elephant, rhino,
leopard, buffalo, and giraffe. Some
are hacked for their most valuable
parts, some are left to bleed to death,
or die of gangrene.
Often the surrounding air stinks of rotting flesh.
Immediately
after the Conservancy lands were occupied around Karen and
Jean's haven,
four of its hippos disappeared.
Although with negotiating and the help
of two armed safari patrol
officers they have managed to prevent any further
hippo poaching, the
slaughter of other animals is relentless and the hippos
remain at risk.
In a country of empty shops and spiralling
inflation, a hippo yielding
a ton of meat, is a tempting prospect.
Especially when coupled with
tusk-like teeth which can be sold as an
elephant ivory alternative.
Many now fear Zimbabwe will follow the
pattern of the Democratic
Republic of Congo, which has seen its hippos
reduced from 229,000 to a mere
estimated 800 in three troubled decades.
Hippos are classified 'vulnerable'
under CITES, the international convention
on endangered species.
Karen estimates in the last six years she
has recovered some 4,000
wire snares and found around 3,500 dead animals
from the area she patrols.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
says if the killing continues at
this rate by 2013 there will be no wildlife
left nationwide.
Yet Karen who first came to Zimbabwe aged 22 in
1977, fired by the
film 'Born Free,' remains philosophical.
"There will always be poaching. I have no problem with subsistence
poaching,
the odd poacher who 'deserves' to poach, through hunger. But this
is about
the bush meat trade and money. It is not sustainable."
Also caught
in the massacre are scores of rare black rhino - prized
for their horns
which can fetch up to £60,000 - a lot of money in a country
when the average
fine for poaching is around £4.
"It's shocking but not surprising.
If a bank gets raided and there's
bank notes lying around on the ground,
will people just pick them up?"
Karen and Jean have faced AK47 and
shotgun-toting poachers and
experienced a terrifying stand-off with a
longbow-wielding raider. The
couple have been threatened with having their
house burned to the ground and
Jean falsely accused of murder.
"Arrests and convictions for poachers are rare, fines limited and
sentences
are non-existent. At most they are kept overnight and have to walk
back from
the police station, it's a minor inconvenience," explains Karen.
"But these things happen when countries have difficult times - people
and
animals suffer."
All this must seem a long way from Woburn Abbey's
'Pet's Corner' in
leafy Bedfordshire where Karen's mother worked tending
rabbits, guinea pigs
and the odd lama. Her mother and her veterinarian
father were the
inspiration behind her work with animals.
Now
her geologist husband has given up his work to aid her in her
work. The
bush, she says, was never considered the easiest place for a
petite, 5ft
4ins blonde English woman - but is now too dangerous alone. "I
would be dead
without his protection," she says bluntly.
Negotiations over the
Conservancy settlers with the government,
environmentalists and landowners
are ongoing. And despite the fact the talks
started six years ago, Karen is
optimistic.
She thinks, as in Kenya, saving wildlife for tourism is
the key,
especially in the reserve where crops and cattle ranching has
failed for
both white and black farmers and water is becoming a point of
conflict
between humans and animals.
"The wildlife is the only
thing that should naturally be in this
area," she says. "I love Zim, I love
Zimbabwean people and I believe in
Zimbabwe. We need stability for tourists
to return to Zimbabwe, and the
wildlife is the reason they will
come."
a.. Karen Paolillo gives a talk to the Royal Geographical
Society on
Thursday July 12 at the Ondaatje Theatre, London, 7pm.
By Lance
Guma
10 July 2007
Over 4000 students at the University of Zimbabwe
were left homeless after
armed police gave them 30 minutes to leave their
halls of residence on
Monday. A day later one member of the students union
told Newsreel they were
meeting Wednesday to map out their response.
Zwelithini Viki the outgoing
Information and Publicity Secretary in the SRC
said thousands of students,
some of whom come from places like Bulawayo,
Mutare and Beitbridge, are
stranded in the capital. Some are already
sleeping out in the open. The
Zimbabwe National Students Union announced it
had managed to get a few
students accommodated by various churches in the
Mount Pleasant area.
Even those living in Harare cannot afford the bus
fare to campus everyday.
The entire campus is sealed off by riot police and
student leaders have set
up a private meeting place to discuss the crisis.
Lectures are continuing as
normal, with the added pressure for students of
exams beginning next week.
Viki vowed they would not be cowed by the
'heartless' actions of the
administration and will fight on. The university
was rocked by violent
protests on Sunday because of demands by authorities
for extra fees. The
students argue the extension to the semester was caused
by a lecturers
strike and they cannot be made to foot the bill.
The
Vice Chancellor Levy Nyagura came out guns blazing in the state media
and
accused the students of wanting to live for free. The students say the
Vice
Chancellor is off the mark and not addressing the root problems
besetting
the university. They say it's his administration and the
government that
failed to deal with the lecturers strike from the onset.
Even students who
paid the top up fees have been evicted together with those
who had not paid.
This has already fuelled speculation the evictions were
deliberately
engineered to make it difficult for students to mobilise any
form of
protests. Viki conceded as much saying students in residence were a
concentrated population while day scholars were always difficult to get
together in one place.
Meanwhile six student leaders appeared in
court Tuesday charged with various
offences including the destruction of
property on campus. They were all
denied bail, with the court arguing the
value of the property in question
was too high to warrant bail. ZINASU
president Promise Mkwananzi says they
have now written directly to Mugabe to
stop the madness at the university.
He said they are currently mobilising
every available constituency including
their own parents to pressure the
government into a u-turn. He however
stressed that students would still
continue with their defiance campaign and
protest even
more.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
zimbabwejournalists.com
10th Jul 2007 18:38 GMT
By Zinasu
10 July
2007
The Chancellor
His Excellency
President R. G.
Mugabe
Munhumutapa Building
Harare
CC - The UZ Vice
Chancellor
Minister of Higher & Tertiary Education
Minister of Justice
Legal & Parliamentary Affairs
Minister of Gender, Women's Affairs &
Community Dev.
Diplomats Accredited to Zimbabwe
The President of the All
Africa Students Union
RE: Letter to the President of the Republic of
Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe
The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
writes to yourself as the
Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe to
express its outrage and serious
concern at the humanitarian disaster ensuing
at the University of Zimbabwe,
where 5000 students were evicted from halls
of residence late in the
afternoon of 9 July resulting in
thousands of
them sleeping in the open.
The mass eviction, reminiscent of Operation
Murambatsvina of 2005, was
brutally carried out by armed riot police at 2:30
pm following a notice by
the University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor
Professor Levy Nyagura evicting
students with immediate effect.
In
his notice sent out at 2 pm on 9 July, Professor Nyagura said that
students
had destroyed University property on the 3rd and 7th of July 2007
and that
all students should leave halls of residence by 3pm of that day.
At 2:30
hrs, armed riot police had started violently evicting students from
halls of
residence. In the process hundreds of students were beaten and
injured by
the riot police. Two students were critically injured and
received medical
attention at the Avenues clinic last night. Apart from
stating that the
halls of residence have been
closed, Professor Nyagura did not give any
indication of what would happen
to the 5000 students evicted from halls of
residence. Many students staying
on campus are not residents of Harare and
many come from far way cities
including Bulawayo, Mutare, and Masvingo among
other places.
The Vice Chancellor stated that normal academic business
would continue.
This is despite 5000 students still stranded in
the
open.
ZINASU managed to organize accommodation for a few students
at churches in
the vicinity of Mount Pleasant area.
While the UZ
administration used the destruction of property at the
University of
Zimbabwe on the 3rd and 7th of July as a justification to
evict students
from campus, ZINASU argues that the demonstration on the
dates mentioned
were as a result of the invasion of the University campus by
riot police who
randomly fired teargas canisters and beat up students
indiscriminately.
Students who were in halls of residence had to break
windows to escape the
beating and tear smoke.
ZINASU further puts it to yourself that the
events of the 3rd and 7th of
July were legitimate and peaceful
demonstrations by students expressing
concern over the ever increasing
university fees, especially following
another demand from administration
that
students top up fees by 1 million Zimbabwe dollars. The demand for the
top
up was, according to the University administration, caused by the
extension
of the semester owing to a strike by lecturers which resulted in
lectures
being suspended.
In this regard, student reject to pay for
an issue which is not of their
making, that is the strike by lecturers. The
events of 9 July which have
resulted in a serious humanitarian disaster are
a further indication of the
deteriorating situation at the University
of
Zimbabwe and further testimony to the lack of care and concern on the
welfare of students by the administration.
ZINASU expresses its
serious concern and condemnation that the use of brutal
force and impulse
judgment is becoming 'policy' and practice at the
University of Zimbabwe.
ZINASU notes that students are now politically
targeted by the
administration which fears that the general collapse of the
economy and a
political situation characterized by fear, intimidation,
harassment and
torture might be resisted by University students.
ZINASU notes that
students affairs are now seen in political terms by
security agents and
administration who are prepared to beat, shoot and kill
in defence of
corruption and autocracy at the UZ.
ZINASU is deeply concerned with the
recent developments which are part of
the administration's war of attrition
to silence students and brow beat us
into submission. ZINASU is concerned
that the UZ administration is
increasingly being run, not by academics but
by the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) and riot police. This is sad
for an institution which is
purportedly a learning hub.
ZINASU,
therefore, calls on the Chancellor to cause the reopening of halls
of
residence so that students can attend lectures normally. ZINASU
reiterates
that as a legitimate student body it will maintain its position
of
representing students and organizing any form of
free expression to bring
attention to concerns of students on their general
welfare.
Yours
faithfully
Promise Mkwananzi
ZINASU President
International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: July 10, 2007
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: Doing
business in economically unpredictable
Zimbabwe may seem risky, but analysts
already are looking ahead and
predicting a windfall for entrepreneurs who
have the patience to ride out
the country's economic crisis.
The
shelves are bare and fuel tanks empty after the government ordered shops
to
slash their prices in half in a bid to bring down Zimbabwe's sky-high
inflation - a move that prompted a buying frenzy among impoverished
Zimbabweans.
President Robert Mugabe's government also is threatening
to take over
businesses, as it did farms in the campaign that started
Zimbabwe on the
path toward the economic collapse, and some are warning that
Zimbabwe will
come to a standstill in days.
But companies such as
Edgars, a leading South African clothing retailer, are
sticking it out. And
some analysts predict that those who can afford to
wait - even if it takes
years - will see good returns on investments.
"Zimbabwe's difficulties
are a reality. But any rebound will benefit
entrepreneurs," said Goolam
Ballim, chief economist for the Standard Bank,
one of South Africa's biggest
banks with interests in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, which gained independence
from Britain in 1980, once had one of
the most diversified economies in
southern Africa, including record growth
of 12 percent in 1980. It once was
world's second largest tobacco exporter,
accounting for 30 percent of world
trade in tobacco.
However, the country now faces its worst economic crisis,
with official
inflation of 4,500 percent, the highest in the world, though
real inflation
on basic goods is estimated at closer to 9,000
percent.
Figures for foreign investment in Zimbabwe are not easily
available and no
one is suggesting it is high.
"The smaller economy
is testimony to shrinking consumption and investment,"
Ballim
said.
But he added that the capacity of the country rich in minerals and
once a
regional bread basket to generate wealth would improve.
"There
are risks now, but the upside is the rewards if Zimbabwe becomes
Africa's
next Comeback Kid," he said.
Some believe that for entrepreneurs with
deep pockets and strong nerves,
this is the time to invest in Zimbabwe, with
tobacco farms and mineral
rights dirt cheap. They cite mineral- and oil-rich
Congo and Angola, where
the first hint of political stability saw
investments reap massive returns.
"As prices fall, you are able to buy
more assets with incredible potential,"
said Tony Twine, senior economist at
the consulting firm Econometrix.
He believes speculation in Zimbabwe will
only intensify, with people buying
up assets.
"It is not as big as it
could be," he said. "People are timing their entry
for the day before Mugabe
leaves."
For businesses that have spent years building their
infrastructure,
withdrawing is not an option.
So in the end, it is a
waiting game, Twine said. And foreign-based companies
like the international
mining firm Anglo American that are less reliant on
their investments in the
country are most likely to hold out longest.
"It's the size of the war
chest, perceptions of how close the country is to
a turning point and how
big the reward," he said.
One company biding its time is Edgars, which
established an operation in
Zimbabwe over half a century ago.
Edgars
Zimbabwe is listed as an independent entity on Zimbabwe's Stock
Exchange.
The South African parent company, Edcon, owns a 40 percent share.
"But we
don't receive any money because of the difficulties of getting money
out of
the country," said Mark Bower, Edcon chief executive for group
services,
adding in effect, that wrote off the Zimbabwe operation as a bad
debt.
When Edgars failed to cut prices as the Zimbabwean government
ordered June
26, director Adam Esat was arrested last weekend for "tardiness
in changing
prices."
He was released, but Bower said the company was
"very concerned. It is a
humanitarian issue."
Bower acknowledged that
it has been "difficult" to keep the business
running, and praised the
Zimbabwe team for running an efficient operation.
"But now it is going to
be impossible to run a business at such high
inflation rates and having to
halve prices. We won't have cash flow," he
said.
Last year, the
company held off paying shareholders dividends - a practice
Bower said has
become standard with many companies in a similar predicament.
Still, he said
the company has no plan to leave Zimbabwe.
"South African companies are
still very much engaged. They are playing
hold-up operations," said Brian
Raftopolous, director of the Solidarity
Peace Trust rights group. "They do
realize the potential for future growth."
He mentioned insurance giant
Old Mutual as one firm that "can afford to wait
it out for Zimbabwe to
recover."
However, Raftopolous warned that the economic collapse presents
a threat to
Zimbabwe's sovereignty - especially with the massive
reconstruction plan
that a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe would need.
"Mugabe
has been shouting about the imperialist influence over Zimbabwe but
he has
run the economy down so badly that the country is so dependent on
foreign
aid," he said.
He also cautioned against letting Zimbabwe become a
"bonanza" for foreign
investors eager to take advantage of the desperate
situation.
Raftopolous and others say any solution to Zimbabwe's economic
problems must
be accompanied by a political solution.
South African
President Thabo Mbeki, appointed by the South African
Development Community
to mediate between Mugabe's ruling party and the
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, is under pressure to produce
results.
But "the
biggest stumbling block to this is of course the Mugabe regime
itself - its
determination to make the mediation as difficult as possible,"
Raftopolous
said.
Analysts also dismissed a reported proposal to peg the Zimbabwean
dollar to
the South African rand as part of a rescue plan.
"The
region is looking at ways to help stabilize the Zimbabwean economy,"
Raftopolous said. "But I would think that SADC is looking for other less
drastic measures to deal with the current situation," he said.
Fin24
10/07/2007 14:57
By: Chris
Muronzi
Harare - Worries over a continued government crackdown on business
over
price cuts has dampened investor appetite for retail and consumer
shares on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).
Meanwhile, other unrelated
counters have also caught the contagion effects
of the price war resulting
in the bourse's worst plunge this year.
The mainstream industrial index
fell by over 17% in Monday's trade shedding
a significant 9 250 804.50
points to close at 42 472 143.89 points but the
story line remained largely
the same as sentiment remained bearish on
Tuesday.
Fund managers and
market watchers concur that the government's order to cut
prices of goods to
rein in rampaging inflation through price monitoring and
controls, has
caused the bloodbath on the market.
"Price cuts are likely going to
affect a number of companies and some will
actually be in the red because
this will evidently affect their cost
structures. For retailers it is
difficult to convince investors to buy
shares when all their outlets are not
stocked but other losses are basically
a contagion effect of the government
crackdown," said a fund manager with
listed life insurer.
Mobile
giant Econet Wireless lost $40 000 to ease at $180 000 after agreeing
to
slash tariffs to avoid a declared war with President Robert Mugabe's
government, dragging down other counters as a result.
The bourse's
fall also coincided with the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries (CZI), the
mainstream body representing business, announcement
that its members had
agreed to comply with President Robert Mugabe's order
to slash prices by
50%.
Industry argues that prices are in line with inflation (believed to
be over
4 500%) but Mugabe warned that his government will draw battle lines
with
industry for "unjustifiably" increasing prices and has already set the
police on defiant retailers.
On Monday, Bata reduced prices of its
footwear products and triggered scenes
reminiscent of the 90's
looting.
Among the major shakers yesterday were Pretoria Portland Cement
down $1 500
000 to $8 000 000, financial conglomerate Old Mutual closed $45
000 weaker
at $550 000.
Hippo, now owned by Tongaat-Hullet, eased at
$30 000 to close at $40 000.
Others such as Circle Cement, controlled by
Lafarge group, dropped $18 000
to close at $52 000 whilst Milk producer
Dairiboard Zimbabwe shed $13 000 to
$25 000.
Tanganda Tea and Border
Timbers lost $10 000 each to $40 000 and $30 000
respectively.
Now,
most goods have disappeared from the shelves as a result of hoarding
and
speculative buying by consumers keen on cashing in on grossly discounted
goods.
On Tuesday, the losses ensued with most companies trading in
the red while
Edgars Zimbabwe defied the odds and added $1 000 to close at
$10 000, up by
12.5% and along with another clothing retailer showed
positive gains.
Analysts believe this is because price control agents have
not paid clothing
shops a visit.
Others say the blood bath on the ZSE
has more to do with Zim dollar's
appreciation against the US dollar and the
rand on the parallel black
market, largely believed to be the only barometer
to measure the real value
of the local unit.
The mining index
yesterday lost a further 2 983 453.62 points as the market
digested
nationalisation threats to close at 22 528 444.00 points.
Rio Tinto
Zimbabwe shed $80 000 to $350 000, while nickel miner Bindura
dropped $5 000
to $85 000 and FALGOLD eased $4000 to $12 000.
Mugabe's threats to seize
and nationalise mines have also dampened investor
sentiment in the
sector.
Although Tusday's indices were still not available at the time of
going to
press, losers by far outpaced winners.
Prior to the
clampdown, the ZSE was the only safe haven for inflation wary
investors.
IOL
Basildon
Peta
July 10 2007 at 11:54AM
President Robert Mugabe
has once again sabotaged President Thabo
Mbeki's mediation effort to end the
Zimbabwe crisis, as his envoys failed to
turn up for the beginning of the
first formal substantive talks with the
opposition at the
weekend.
The Cape Argus established on Monday night that Mugabe's
representatives for the talks, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour
Minister Nicholas Goche, did not show up for the dialogue due to have
resumed on Monday.
The South African government had put plans
in place for the beginning
of the substantive dialogue and paid for all the
airfares.
South Africa is meeting all the costs of the
talks.
Authoritative sources said the excuse given
by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party
for the no-show was that the two delegates had to
participate in crucial
Zanu-PF central committee and cabinet meetings,
called to discuss the
economic turmoil.
The crisis has seen
scores of business executives arrested and fined
for defying a government
order to slash prices as inflation soars to several
thousand
percent.
It has been established that the South African government
was not
impressed by the Zimbabwe duo's failure to turn up - without any
proper
advance warning.
Sources said the talks have now been
rescheduled for next week,
assuming once again that Goche and Chinamasa turn
up to continue the
dialogue.
This article was
originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on July
10, 2007
Monsters and Critics
Jul 10, 2007, 8:51 GMT
Harare - President Robert
Mugabe's government has no intention of stopping
its blitz on price hikers,
a cabinet minister was quoted as saying Tuesday.
Information Minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Zimbabweans had welcomed the
blitz on stores and
supermarkets, which has seen prices halved and the
arrests of more than
1,300 people for charging too much.
'Government is serious about price
monitoring and there is no going back,
Ndlovu said in quotes carried by the
official Herald newspaper.
'The Zimbabwean people have welcomed these
measures that government has
taken in defence of peoples livelihoods,' he
said.
Police in the southern African country launched Operation Reduce
Prices last
week, ordering store managers to immediately slash prices. The
move followed
accusations from government that businesses were colluding
with the West in
a bid to bring about regime change in crisis-ridden
Zimbabwe.
Shoppers stampeded to stores to pick up bargains as executives
were
arrested - in some cases allegedly after being beaten - and taken
away.
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has predicted
the
operation will bring serious chaos to the country. Already stores in
major
towns are fast emptying.
In the city of Harare, fuel stations
appear to have run dry after the
government ordered them to sell fuel at a
knock-down rate of around 60,000
Zimbabwe dollars a litre (about 240 US
dollars).
Some companies have been selling their employees fuel at a
subsidized rate
of 190,000 Zimbawe dollars a litre. Fuel prices were as high
as 300,000
Zimbabwe dollars a litre on the black market at the
weekend.
In the eastern border town of Mutare, butcheries have closed and
meat
freezers in supermarkets are totally empty, according to witnesses.
Only
tiny quantities of bread were being baked Monday and long queues formed
both
in and outside stores.
But the minister claimed that sanity was
now beginning to prevail in the
economy. Zimbabwe's detractors will as
before be put to shame, he said,
adding that predictions of collapse of
government are unfounded and should
be scoffed at.
© 2007 dpa -
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
News24
10/07/2007 09:58 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - Edgars in Zimbabwe, of which Edcon is a
shareholder, suffered
the strong arm of the Zimbabwean security forces as
several of its staff
were arrested for cutting prices by 25% and not the
enforced 50%, Moneyweb
reported on its website on Tuesday.
A senior
staff member at director level was subsequently arrested when he
arrived to
bail out the staff members. All were released over the weekend.
Head of
investor relations at Edcon, Tessa Christelis, told Moneyweb that it
was
mayhem in the stores and that there was not much stock left.
"Customers
have been restricted to one item per person and doors will soon
have to be
closed." She said new stock would be a lot more expensive.
While things
were very difficult at the moment, Edgars in Zimbabwe was
planning to
continue as a going concern. She said staff were terrified.
Christelis
said the Zimbabwean government intended to adopt price controls
of cost plus
25% across the board.
"We lost control over the Zimbabwe business years
ago and although we
provide support, it's a passive business on our accounts
and we have no
involvement in the day-to-day running of the
operation."
Spar chief executive Wayne Hook said the same of the
relationship with its
Zimbabwean interests.
"First up we have a small
interest in the business so we don't manage it.
They are struggling, they
have had retailers arrested and it is a dreadful
situation, so that is a
major problem," he told the website.
Hook said Spar stores were adhering
to the latest requirements and the
pricing that Spar adopted was as
stipulated on June 18.
He said they were trying to trade but it was very
difficult as some of the
major suppliers were in hiding.
"It is not a
satisfactory situation and stocks are running low," Hook added.
He said
they were not 100% up to date on what's happening on the ground and
that the
situation was getting worse by the day, with people running into
the stores
and taking what they could.
"It is only a matter of time, they can't pay
for the stock and the retailers
are putting pressure on suppliers to lower
their prices."
Meanwhile, Old Mutual, whose listed price had recently
been used as a proxy
for the real exchange rate in Zimbabwe, and had about
1,5 million policy
holders in the country, is watching the situation
extremely closely.
A spokesperson for the group told Moneyweb on Monday
night: "We have been in
Zimbabwe since the late 19th century and we take our
responsibility
extremely seriously. In respect of that, we will continue to
invest in the
Zimbabwean economy on an assessed basis."
Afrique en ligne
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Faced with an ever changing value rate of
the
local Zimdollar currecy, Zimbabwe's landlords have turned to charging
rent
in the form of groceries, APA learns here Tuesday.
The aim
is to escape a runaway inflation rate of 4,500 per cent and
strict
government laws which have made it difficult to charge realistic
prices.
Thus with a moratorium on rent increases, most Harare
landlords are
now demanding groceries such as washing soap, cooking oil and
sugar as
payment for accommodation.
The average rent per room
in Harare's high density suburbs is 200,000
Zimdollars a month, which is
equivalent to US$800 at the official exchange
rate of 250 Zimdollars to one
US dollar.
This, however, translates to just under US$2 when
converted at the
unofficial but more realistic parallel market rate of
120,000 Zimdollars for
every greenback.
"We have been told we
can't raise our rentals, which leaves us with no
choice but to demand that
our tenants pay us in kind," said Esnath Mlambo, a
widow whose sole source
of income is her house in Harare's Dzivaresekwa
suburb.
The
Zimbabwean government has ordered a price freeze in the past two
weeks,
forcing producers and retailers to reduce their prices by more than
50 per
cent.
It has also outlawed rental increases to cushion tenants
after the
cost of accommodation started going up.
Some
landlords now charge five bars of soap, two litres of cooking oil
and two
kilogrammes of sugar per month per room.
A bar of washing soap goes
for about 120,000 Zimdollars at the
gazetted prices, while two litres of
cooking oil costs around 250,000
Zimdollars.
A two-kg packet of
sugar costs 40,000 Zimdollars.
JN/nm/APA
2007-07-10
iafrica.com
Fanuel Jongwe
Tue, 10
Jul 2007
The shelves may be bare in most of Harare's supermarkets but in
Borrowdale
Brooke, home to Zimbabwe's rich and famous, everything from
lobster to
single malt whisky can be bought - at a price.
As
shoppers in townships such as Chitungwiza have to endure a stampede for
groceries in the wake of price cuts ordered by President Robert Mugabe's
government, customers at the Spar supermarket in Borrowdale can fill their
trolleys with luxuries to a background of soothing piped music.
"You
can get anything you want here," said a women who identified herself
only as
Lindi. "It's just the prices that are too high." Indeed the prices
are
beyond not only the pay packets but the wildest dreams of most
Zimbabweans
who are trying to cope with the effects of the world's highest
rate of
inflation and an 80 percent unemployment rate.
A two-kilogram box of
prawns imported from neighbouring Mozambique is
currently on sale for
ZIM$9.5-million ($38 000 at the official rate but $86
at the parallel market
rate) which is the equivalent of three months' salary
for a
schoolteacher.
A large packet of imported potato chips cost $459 000,
which is what an
average family pays their housemaid for a
month.
Other shelves groan under the weight of imported goods such as
nappies, dog
food and children's toys which were struck off most shopping
lists long ago.
"If you check on the shelves you find almost everything
you can no longer
find in an ordinary supermarket," Lindi said. "While
everyone else is crying
about the shortages, life goes on for those with
money." Borrowdale, with
its rows of mansions, has traditionally been home
to the country's elite,
such as central bank governor Gideo Gono and tennis
star Byron Black. Mugabe
himself also has a private home in the
neighbourhood.
The opulence of Borrowdale is only a 20 minute drive from
Chitungwiza, one
of the poorest townships in the country where the stench of
raw sewage can
be smelled several kilometres away.
In one of its
local supermarkets, the TM store, the shelves are devoid of
even basics such
as sugar, salt, rice and cooking oil - let alone lobster.
The power has
been switched off from all the fridges bar one deep freezer
where tubs of
ice cream are stacked. There are few takers as electricity in
this part of
town can be blacked out for hours every day, giving rise to
fears about food
safety.
The scrum of shoppers trying to pack their baskets with the
little food that
is still available battle for space with an army of shop
assistants who work
round the clock repricing goods in line with a
government directive to slash
the prices of all products.
More than
1750 shop owners and business executives have been arrested since
the
government edict came into force a fortnight ago for defying the price
freeze which they claim makes their business unviable.
One assistant,
speaking on condition of anonymity, worried that he would
soon be joining
the long ranks of the unemployed as the shops run bare and
business instead
reverts to the increasingly thriving black market.
"Our worry is whether
we will still have our jobs because the stocks are
running out and no fresh
deliveries are coming in," he told AFP.
Crack teams of inspectors are on
patrol throughout the capital to ensure
stores keep their prices in line
with the government controls.
Members of the public are also encouraged
to ring toll-free hotlines to
report any violations.
Announcing the
freeze on 26 June, Industry Minister Obert Mpofu accused
manufacturers and
supermarkets of colluding with the country's foes in the
west to increase
price and ignite a revolt against Mugabe.
The price freeze was intended
to counter the impact of the galloping
inflation rate, now estimated to be
running at well beyond 5000 percent,
which has meant prices rising several
times a day.
But main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe's
former information
minister Jonathan Moyo have dismissed the crackdown as a
"desperate"
propaganda ploy ahead of elections due next year.
"It is
only a clueless government driven by a desperate political party
supported
by a corrupt and partisan police, national intelligence and
national army
that can even entertain the inherently foolish thought that
pricing in the
national economy of a modern society can be run in an
effective, efficient
and sustainable way on the basis of commissariat
commands and decrees," Moyo
said in article in the privately-owned weekly,
The Zimbabwe
Independent.
AFP
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
10 July, 2007
The lawyer representing the majority of big
companies facing charges for
failing to comply with government's price
controls has said more owners and
directors were being arrested Tuesday and
his telephone was ringing every
half hour. Lawyer Jonathan Samkange is
representing Colcom and many other
large companies. He confirmed that the
price monitoring exercise has
continued with vigor and the government is
serious.
Last week all companies were ordered to reduce prices by 50% or
risk a
takeover. Then a new law was gazetted legalising the price freezes.
At least
133 directors and owners have been arrested since. According to the
state
media companies being charged include TM Supermarkets, City Welcome
Supermarket, Italian Bakery, Spar Supermarket, Motorview Car Sales and City
Motor Lane.
Samkange described the prison cells as being full of
arrested owners and
directors, and said the government will now be charging
all of those that
were arrested after Friday, in their personal capacities.
The State
controlled Herald newspaper confirmed that nearly 10 directors and
company
representatives will face charges in their personal capacities.
Asked why
the authorities are making such a move Samkange explained that the
statutory
instrument being used to prosecute them requires imprisonment for
those
found guilty, and you cannot imprison a company. A financial expert
described the situation as madness, saying: "It's like the inmates are now
in control of the asylum."
Samkange said there are many arguments
against this campaign but they will
only be heard once they get a hearing in
court. He also said many of those
facing charges were arrested before the
new law was passed. The new
regulation covers all goods and services
produced and distributed in
Zimbabwe, and fixes the base date at 28th June.
All manufacturers need
written approval before effecting any price changes.
Wholesalers and
retailers are allowed to mark up their products by a flat
20%, and there is
a 20% mark up for transport if the destination is more
than 40 kilometres
from the point of collection.
But with
hyperinflation now believed to be close to 10,000%, experts say
these
regulations are insane and the time required to process price change
applications will be enormous. Samkange said government is asking companies
to do the impossible. He said: "Anyone with even an elementary understanding
of business knows this is not workable."
The lawyer gave the example
of The Italian Bakery, which was accused of
charging more than the
stipulated Z$150,000 for a rump steak. The company
director produced
invoices showing that they paid Z$950,000 for 4 steaks,
meaning each would
have to be sold for at least Z$250,000 without
considering rent, salaries
and other expenses. The police response was:
"Then don't buy
it."
Meanwhile The Zimbabwean Times news site this week reported that The
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe is allegedly spending "a staggering Z$6 billion"
daily in
subsistence allowances for members of the unit enforcing price
controls. The
operation has been dubbed "Operation Dzikisai Mitengo" (reduce
the prices).
The site quotes sources from within the police who said more
than 2000
operatives were recruited from the police, army and Central
Intelligence
Organization. Each is believed to be making about Z$2 million
per day. If
this goes on for a month, the RBZ will require more than Z$200
billion.
This latest government operation caused a mad rush to the shops by
consumers
desperate for cheaper products. Police and youth militia hired to
monitor
prices have been accused of looting and enforcing the price freezes,
according to their own rules. The government has said the crackdown will
continue.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 10th July 2007
It is now clear that
unless a foreign power steps in and forces Mr. Mugabe
to back down and
accept change, that he is bent on destroying what is left
of the Zimbabwe
economy. That is not saying much; agriculture is operating
at about 20 per
cent, tourism and hospitality about the same, industry 50
per cent and
mining about 80 per cent and declining fast. Our currency and
now the stock
market are worthless.
The new regulations promulgated on Friday cover
virtually every product
produced and sold in Zimbabwe as well as all
associated services. They are
totally unworkable, give retailers and others
inadequate margins with which
to work and are clearly designed to freeze
prices for just about everything
in an environment where inflation is
running at 15 000 per cent and rising.
The regime has gone even further,
they now say they will nationalize all
firms who do not comply. Firms doing
so are committing financial suicide so
that leaves them with little option.
Carry on if they can for a few days or
weeks and then close and hand over to
the State.
Rumors are rife - Libya will advance the regime a US$2 billion
loan to fund
essential imports is one - that is just nonsense. Yesterday
there was talk
that tankers of fuel are arriving from Beira - another story
with little
substance. The region and the international community are
clearly planning
to step in at some stage with a rescue package, but that is
linked to a
political deal that is clearly not in sight.
The most
frequent question I am asked is why? Why are they doing this? Why
now?
All we have to do is to roll back our recent history and look at
two
campaigns - the campaign to destroy the commercial farming community and
Murambatsvina, the campaign to destroy the non-formal sector in urban
areas.
Both had a primary objective and that was to enable Zanu PF to
stay in
power. They had looked at the results of the referendum and then the
June
2000 elections and discovered that the commercial farming community -
some 2
million strong, with 700 000 voters, held the balance of electoral
power
between the urban areas (a lost cause) and the communal areas (a
"secure"
electoral base for Zanu PF). By destroying the white commercial
farming
sector they also eliminated a significant source of funding and
support for
the MDC and created a huge pool of resources for patronage to
hold the
remaining pillars of support for Zanu PF in
place.
Murambatsvina had a similar objective. For the first time, due in
part to
higher death rates, migration and continued rural/urban drift, the
population in the rural areas that Zanu has depended on for its remaining
electoral support, had slipped into a minority position. For the first time
in our history, more people are living in the urban areas than in the rural
areas (by my own estimate 60:40 or even more). So what do they do? They go
in and in a three month campaign they destroy 300 000 urban dwellings - many
with electric light and running water, they displace 700 000 people who are
forcibly transported to the rural areas and dumped and they destroy the
non-formal businesses that provide support for as many as 2,4 million people
in urban areas (all UN figures).
Now please note that these
operations were carried out with ruthless
efficiency, regardless of the
cost, either financial or human and they have
been stunningly successful.
They got away with both because white farmers
and their staff were easy
targets, they got away with Murambatsvina because
the UN system simply has
no teeth or courage and who cares about urban slum
dwellers
anyway?
In each stage of this exercise in self-defence, the region
accepted the
outcome and simply shrugged their shoulders. Zanu accurately
calculated that
the donor community would not let people starve and they
have (as planned)
continued to pour money into the pit that Zanu has been
digging for itself
over the past 17 years, US$600 million a year in
fact.
While the SADC remained mute, 3,5 million Zimbabweans, all economic
and
political refugees, have fled to neighbouring States - especially South
Africa. South Africa is only now waking up to the cost of this influx in
social and economic terms - Mr. Blair put it at 3 per cent of SA GDP per
annum (US$4,2 billion) while the specter of violent crime has come to haunt
all South Africans - driven in part, by desperate refugees from Zimbabwe
trying to make a living in a hostile environment and also to secure the
resources to keep their families at home alive (another US$1,2 billion a
year).
Why this new campaign? Well that is easy to understand
actually, because
Zanu PF faces its most serious threat yet. Their
colleagues in the SADC have
ganged up on them and are demanding a free and
fair election in March 2008.
For Zanu PF that is suicide. They are not going
to go that route without a
considerable degree of coercion.
So what
do they do? They create a crisis and a diversion. They hope that
their real
motives will not be discerned and that the region will not have
to courage
or the gumption to wield their considerable power and influence
here and
force these delinquents to take their medicine. Is this gamble
going to pay
off, just like the farm invasions and Murambatsvina?
On Sunday Mr. Mugabe
delivered another slap in the face to Mr. Mbeki - he
told his negotiating
team not to attend the talks planned for Pretoria, They
stayed at home "to
deal with more pressing matters!" If South Africa does
nothing - as they
have so often in the recent past, then they run two risks.
The first is that
South African interests here, both economic and political,
will be
irreparably damaged.
The second is perhaps even more serious, as the
economy here collapses in a
heap, another 3 or 4 or even more, million
Zimbabweans will have nowhere to
go but South and that will break the back
of the World Cup, it will push
South African crime to intolerable levels and
will undermine all the good
work done over the past 14 years to create a
better image for Africa as an
investment and tourist
destination.
What are the chances of a popular revolt? Zero. Not only are
the people
afraid, they are deceived by the propaganda machine and in
addition, the MDC
is saying keep cool, change is coming, these guys want us
on the streets to
justify a clampdown that would set us back years. If South
Africa does not
intervene, we have few options left but flight anyway. I do
not accept the
pessimists view that South Africa will stand back on this
occasion, they
have showed considerable determination in recent months and I
think they
will act - better be soon.
iafrica.com
Tue, 10 Jul
2007
The economic situation in Zimbabwe has reached life-threatening
proportions,
the Solidarity Peace Trust said on Tuesday.
"There is no
food in rural areas and soon there will be none in the urban
areas if the
government's current policing action on prices continues,"
chairperson
Archbishop Pius Ncube told reporters in Johannesburg at the
launch of the
trust's report on the political and economic situation in
Zimbabwe.
"The rapid decline of the economy and the commandist
response of the state
indicate a government that had neither a strong sense
of responsibility
towards its citizens, nor any substantive plan to move
Zimbabwe out of its
deepening crisis."
The Zimbabwean government
ordered price cuts on 26 June. More than 1300
businesses have been charged
and fined over the past two weeks for defying
orders to slash prices in
half.
Ncube said there was already almost no fuel in Zimbabwe. Schools,
hospitals
and other basic services scarcely functioned due to workers'
dissatisfaction.
"We are being reduced to the most basic level every
day, people are reduced
to hunting for a loaf of bread. It might take you
hours to get bread, if you
get."
Ncube said the international
community, including the World Food Programme,
had been feeding Zimbabweans
for the past five to six years.
"And they've been wise not to give food
through government... Because
government would say vote Zanu-PF and then
you'll get food."
He said some Zimbabweans in the Diaspora had been
sending food to relatives.
"Many babies have died of malnutrition, but I
don't have the numbers."
Ncube said the acknowledgement of the African
Union that Zimbabwe committed
human rights violations had given him hope
that Africa had woken up to the
seriousness of the situation.
He said
that torture of political opposition and civic organisation leaders
in March
this year was unjustified and evil.
The Solidarity Peace Trust report
titled "Destructive Engagement: Violence,
Mediation and Politics in
Zimbabwe", found that there were increased levels
of state repression
against dissenting voices in the country.
"Against the background of
political legitimacy of the ruling party, and an
economy in freefall, the
state has responded with characteristic brutality
and contempt to its
citizens," the report states.
It found that the state attacked Movement
for Democratic Change leaders and
the civic movement.
The state
attacked one side of the divided MDC in order to fuel tensions
between the
two groups.
"In 90 percent of the attacks, the perpetrators involved
government agencies
such as the police."
It found that 80 percent of
the cases were reported in Harare, one of the
two urban areas considered to
be opposition territory.
Ncube said the Trust and civic organisations
supported the Southern African
Development Community mediation process led
by President Thabo Mbeki, which
was influenced by these attacks.
The
report said as mediation continued, the state-led violence and the
culture
of human rights abuses had to stop, and broad economic reform as
well as
human rights issues must form part of the process.
He labelled Mugabe as
an evil criminal who would do anything to stay in
power.
"Mugabe
loves power, he lives for power. Even his own party wants him to
step down,"
said Ncube.
He said the Zanu-PF was divided and Mugabe was
insecure.
Asked if Mugabe was a Catholic and whether he had attended his
church, Ncube
replied: "He is Catholic. Being a Catholic does not protect
you from being a
criminal."
He said he heard Mugabe attended mass
every week in Harare and was glad he
did not come to his diocese.
"I
doubt if he goes for confession, criminals don't go to confession."
Asked
if Mugabe would be excommunicated from the church, Ncube said that lay
in
the hands of the Harare bishop to follow the proper channels.
Ncube
believed Mugabe would be out of power sooner or later.
"The people of
Zimbabwe want to move on."
Sapa
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Date: 10 Jul
2007
LILONGWE, 10 July 2007
(IRIN) - Malawi has started selling much-needed maize
to Zimbabwe under an
export agreement which includes a US$10 million line of
credit.
"We
have already exported 90,000 metric tonnes (mt) within the past two and
a
half months," Patrick Kabambe, Malawi's Principal Secretary of Agriculture
and Food Security, told IRIN. "We have received some payments for the maize
that has been sent".
Malawi's agriculture sector has had a second
successive bumper harvest,
making an almost complete recovery from a drought
in 2005 that left close to
five million people in need of food
aid.
This year's maize crop has seen a 22 percent increase over last
year's: 73
percent higher than the average for the past five years,
according to
government estimates. On the other end of the scale, Zimbabwe's
economy is
struggling with an inflation rate of about 4,000 percent, food
and foreign
currency shortages.
Zimbabwe's maize order has been
urgent. "The Zimbabwean government wanted us
to supply at least 100,000mt
every month; we told them it was not possible
in terms of logistics -
processing, fumigation etc," said Kabambe.
What remains uncertain is how
Zimbabwe's crippling fuel crisis will affect
the distribution of the maize
once it is inside the country. Aid workers
have also voiced concern of the
potential "politicisation" of food stocks.
The sale could not have come
at a better time for Malawian farmers.
"It has helped push the prices up
and benefited the farmers," Kabambe
commented, but was unable to say by how
much. "The price could vary from
supplier to supplier; besides, transport
costs from various parts of Malawi
would be different, but we are not
selling it at a loss - the price has not
been subsidised for
Zimbabwe."
The Malawi office of the UK-based development agency, Oxfam,
recently
pointed out that Malawi's maize market was deflating, and about a
month ago
the staple food had been available for less than 10 US cents per
kg in some
parts of the country.
Malawi requires around two million
mt of maize annually to feed its 12
million people. In 2006 it had a surplus
of about 500,000mt and this year
there is a surplus of about 1.5 million mt.
The high yield has been
attributed to a fertiliser subsidy programme and
good rainfall.
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation
and World Food
Programme, domestic cereal availability in Zimbabwe is
expected to be around
1.29 million mt at the end of October, against a total
national utilisation
of 2.34 million mt - requiring over a million mt to be
imported.
In a recent statement the UN agencies noted that Zimbabwe is
expected to
import a further 239,000mt of wheat and rice, despite the low
level of its
foreign reserves and receiving the 400,000mt of maize from
Malawi.
In addition, an estimated 61,000mt of maize could be brought into
the
country by informal cross-border trade and in-kind remittances,
especially
from South Africa, leaving a gap of 352,000mt of cereals to be
met by food
aid, the two agencies said.
This article does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or
its agencies.
iafrica.com
Tue, 10 Jul
2007
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has asked Portuguese Prime
Minister
Jose Socrates to withdraw Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's
invitation to
the Europe/Africa summit in Lisbon in December.
In
a letter to Socrates on Tuesday, Zille said Mugabe's presence at this
influential meeting would only serve to legitimise his increasingly
autocratic rule.
Furthermore, Mugabe's attendance would undermine the
combined efforts of the
European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) to
promote human rights and
democracy on the African continent.
"Painful
past experience has shown that President Mugabe is unwilling to
enter into
any kind of meaningful dialogue on the critical challenges that
Zimbabwe
currently faces.
"He has also shown on numerous occasions that he cannot
be trusted to uphold
the promises or commitments he undertakes," she
wrote.
The situation in Zimbabwe continued to deteriorate on a daily
basis, and the
consequences of this economic and political meltdown were
directly felt, not
only in South Africa, but also by all of Zimbabwe's
immediate neighbours.
Zille said rescinding Mugabe's invitation to the
summit would send a message
that Portugal and the EU unequivocally condemned
Mugabe's fundamentally
undemocratic rule.
"It is precisely this kind
of strong message that will serve to help resolve
the crisis in Zimbabwe,
rather than an attempt to promote President Mugabe's
international
standing," she said.
Sapa
UPI
July 10 (UPI) -- Harare, July 10, 2007 (New Ziana)-Local churches
that came
up with a national vision document, 'The Zimbabwe We Want', have
once again,
embarked on nationwide consultations to gather views of people
and come up
with a comprehensive document that spells out solutions to the
current
economic crisis. In a statement on Tuesday, the churches said the
pilot
phase of the consultations had already seen them holding a meeting in
Bulawayo on Monday and will hold another meeting in the Midlands province on
July 16. "The approach the national visioning process has chosen is
constructive engagement," the churches said. "The aim of the process is to
facilitate dialogue among all stakeholders culminating in the development of
the National Vision and National Values for the Zimbabwe We Want." Last
year, the churches, under the umbrella bodies of the Evangelical Fellowship
of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Zimbabwe Catholic
Bishops Conference, produced a document titled: The Zimbabwe We Want:
Towards A National Vision for Zimbabwe, which they submitted to President
Robert Mugabe for consideration. The document, which was also handed over to
opposition political parties, called for dialogue among political parties,
notably between the ruling Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic
Change to resolve the problems that the country faces. New
Ziana/ZANIS/ENDS
COMBINED HARARE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (CHRA)
P.O Box HR 7870
145 Robert
Mugabe, Third Floor,
Exploration House
Harare
Tel/Fax: +263 4
705114
Cell: 011 862 012, 011 443 578,
0912 924 151 0912 249
430,
011 612 860
Email: info@chra.co.zw
Website: www.chra.co.zw
10 July
2007
Alert! CHRA wants EU to ban Harare Commissioners
THE Combined
Harare Residents' Association (CHRA) on Monday 9 July 2007
officially wrote
to the Delegation of the European Commission in Harare,
Zimbabwe requesting
that the European Union place Harare commissioners on
the travel ban list
alongside Zanu PF heavyweights.
The official request means that if the
EU, the US and their allies consider
CHRA's request, whoever occupies the
office of Commissioner for Harare under
illegal circumstances they would
automatically be placed on the travel ban
list as punishment for their
involvement with a rogue regime that thrives on
subverting the peoples'
constitutional rights.
CHRA's Acting Chairperson Israel Mabhoo signed the
letter which was
delivered and accepted by the Office of The Delegation of
the European
Commission in Harare on Monday. The same letter will also be
delivered to
the Ambassadors of the United States of America, Australia, and
New Zealand
urging them to apply travel restrictions on:
Sekesai
Makwavarara (Chairperson),
Professor Jameson Kurasha (University of Zimbabwe
lecturer),
Sasha Jogi (President of the Institute of Urban
Planners),
Alfred Tome, District Administrator for Harare
Musavaya Reza
(Provincial Administrator for Harare),
Killian Mupingo (ZUPCO Board Member,
Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of
Local Government, Public Works and Urban
Development, responsible for Rural
Local Authorities
Richard Mahachi
(architect in private practice),
Sylvia Masango (a principal director in the
office of Vice President Joyce
Mujuru), and
Madzudzo Pawadyira (Civil
Protection Unit Director).
CHRA believes that a new leadership will be
the beginning of the development
process that Harare has been robbed off
since the takeover of Harare by Ms
Sekesai Makwavarara, the Chairperson of
the illegal Commission. The intended
merits have certainly been outweighed
by the penchant for the disregard of
court judgments and the collapse of
service delivery in the City by a group
of people without electoral mandate.
Return Harare to electoral legitimacy!
The Commission Must Go!
"CHRA
for Enhanced Civic Participation in Local Government"
For details and
comments please write to us on info@chra.co.zw, or visit us
at
Exploration House Corner Robert Mugabe Way and Fifth Street. You can also
call us on 011 862 012, 011 612 860, 0912 249 430, 0912 924 151 and 011 443
578 or visit our website www.chra.co.zw
Regards
Precious
Shumba
Information Officer
Combined Harare Residents'
Association
Mobile: 011 612 860 or 0912 869 294
Tel: 04-705114
Website:
www.chra.co.zw
"Stand Firm. Be of
Good Courage"
Hi there
Please circulate this message far and wide.
We are busy
working on a story on Zim for this Sunday and would like to secure cell phone
video, CCTV video and cell phone pictures of the current financial and business
situation in Zimbabwe. We want pictures of arrests, confiscations, raids and
empty shelves.
We'd also like telephone interviews with business owners -
we do not need to identify them at all - but their insights and experiences will
need to be shared.
If anyone is willing to talk to us or to send us
footage please ask them to get in touch with me directly.
Many
thanks
Bernadette
Bernadette Cook
Africa Editor Carte
Blanche
Unit 2, 144 Hendrick Verwoerd Drive, Randburg, South Africa
Bernadette@carteblanche.co.za
tel: 27-11-8868899
fax: 27-11-8864424
mobile: 0827780806