The Zimbabwe Situation

      Inflation in Zimbabwe surges to 365%
      By Tony Hawkins in Harare
      Published: July 16 2003 18:49 | Last Updated: July 16 2003 18:49

Fresh evidence that Zimbabwe's economic crisis is running out of
control came on Wedneday as inflation surged to 365.4 per cent in June from
300 per cent in May.

      Many economists were surprised at the huge increase in the official
figures because it comes before the government had been forced to announce
sharply higher prices for food and fuel. Producer prices paid to farmers for
wheat and maize were increased in March but these rises have still to be
passed on to the consumer.

      "When that happens," said a bank economist, "we will see inflation
over 400 per cent and it could reach 750 per cent by Christmas."

      The inflation figure was disclosed as government officials admitted
that they had still not submitted a formal food aid appeal to the World Food
Programme. WFP sources say they are providing food aid to 1.5m Zimbabweans,
with the figure expected to increase to 1.8m August. But the United Nations
agency's Zimbabwe budget will be exhausted by the end of next month.

      The WFP estimates that 5.5m Zimbabweans - 47 per cent of the
population - will require food aid by January 2004.

      "But we cannot even launch an appeal to donors until we get a formal
request from the Zimbabwe government," a WFP official said.

      Lancaster Museka, Zimbabwe's secretary for social welfare, said an
official appeal would be sent to the WFP this week.

      The cabinet, which met on Tuesday, was due to agree a figure for the
appeal. But against a background of sharp disagreement among ministers over
the severity of the shortage, it remains unclear whether a figure was
agreed.

      Some hardline ministers at the forefront of President Robert Mugabe's
"fast track" land resettlement programme refuse to admit that the maize crop
will be only 800,000 tonnes, 1m tonnes short of normal consumption
requirements, according to consensus forecasts.

      Zimbabwe will need to import up to 1.3m tonnes of grain over the next
year.

      As Harare does not have the foreign currency to finance such imports,
it will have to rely heavily on the donor community. But western diplomats
warn that other countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, are ahead of
Zimbabwe in the queue for assistance, while donors' irritation at the
government's failure to respond until so late will not help Zimbabwe's case.

World Vision International
Website: http://www.wvi.org
The interventions by World Vision Zimbabwe in the form of general food aid
and child supplementary feeding programme has contributed positively to the
general maintenance of the nutritional status of communities.

Findings of a recent survey by World Vision Zimbabwe have indicated that the
Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate is 3.1 down from 4.1 recorded during a
study held last year while acute severe malnutrition was at 0.5.

The study was conducted in Bulilimamangwe and Beitbridge districts and of
World Vision's Area Development Programmes (ADP) to assess the nutritional
status of children aged 6 to 59 months.

Despite the fact that the GAM rates were below the 5 percent threshold, the
risk levels of the population in question required that targeted
supplementary interventions be put in place.

The most vulnerable category is children under the age of five since food
availability has not improved significantly because of rainfall failure this
year.

World Vision Zimbabwe is carrying out a general food aid project and a child
supplementary feeding programme (CSFP) under its interventions.

The child supplementary feeding programming is targeting 92 638 under fives
in 14 ADPs and will run parallel to the general food aid in all areas
benefiting from the general food distribution.

The study also showed that orphaned children were more likely to become
malnourished. It was immediately recommended that during the CSFP special
focus should be given to this category.

The report also pointed out that the organisation should start long-term
programmes to alleviate nutrition problems. These programmes should include
projects encouraging the production and consumption of micronutrient rich
foods, food processing, preservation and food storage programmes related to
HIV/AIDS.

The survey also recommended a holistic approach in the fight against
malnutrition as food shortages continue to dog most communities as a result
of crop failure.

53.2 percent of households interviewed said they did not harvest anything at
all this season while 42 percent said they harvested less than the previous
year and the food was not going to last for more than two months.

Just before President Bush left for Africa, the U.N. warned that at current
rates it would take black Africa 150 years to reach the minimum development
targets. Growth rates are negative on a continent littered with collapsed
states.

Africa needs help but that help is not measured quantitatively by the size
of aid packages or promises. When President Clinton visited Africa in 1998,
his caravan was chock-full of promises and new initiatives. By contrast, the
Bush trip offered substance and form: a $15 billion Emergency AIDS Relief
package, 20% directed at prevention, and a $5 billion Millennium Challenge
Account in aid to developing countries that demonstrate results in better
governance. President Bush correctly recognized that what Africa needs is
straight talk, tough love. Short of recolonization, there's only so much he
can do to help unless Africa's leadership is willing to get serious about
tackling its innumerable woes.

Africa's begging bowl is punched with holes. What comes in as foreign aid
and investment ultimately leaks away. Foreign aid and investment into Africa
amount to $18 billion annually. But current accounts are always in deficit
and capital flight out of Africa exceeds $15 billion a year. Wars cost $10
billion a year in weapons, damage to infrastructure and social carnage. In
1991 alone, says the U.N., $200 billion was siphoned out of Africa by ruling
gangsters and briefcase bandits. For Nigeria, the World Bank estimates that
$250 billion flowed into government coffers between 1970-2000, but much of
that leaked away. And Zimbabwe's economic collapse had caused more than $37
billion worth of damage to South Africa and neighboring countries. It defies
common sense to pour more water into a leaky bucket. But African leaders are
simply not interested in plugging the holes.

On his trip, President Bush correctly resisted calls for the insertion of
U.S. troops in Liberia. The U.S. can help with the provision of military
transport to West African forces. And Secretary of State Colin Powell has
stated clearly that southern African leaders must do more to resolve the
crisis in Zimbabwe. Such straight talk has already started producing some
results.

Two days before Mr. Bush left Africa, the Economic Community of West African
States announced it will take the immediate leading role of sending into
Liberia a force of 1,000-1,500. What took them so long? Equally important
was Kofi Annan's statement at the African Union's summit in Mozambique: "The
U.N. and the rest of the international community can appoint envoys, urge
negotiations and spend billions of dollars on peacekeeping missions, but
none of this will solve conflicts, if the political will and capacity do not
exist here, in Africa."

However, far more was achieved by President Bush on AIDS than can be
measured in dollar terms. When the epidemic first erupted, African leaders
were in denial. Many were reluctant to talk publicly about the disease and
prevention. Only a few countries have made serious efforts to confront AIDS:
Senegal, Ghana and Uganda. Most disappointing has been the failure of South
Africa to provide leadership in the campaign against AIDS -- despite its 10%
infection rate and its first-rate health-care systems.

President Bush's straight talk on AIDS will prompt African leaders to speak
more openly about the pandemic. But just as Africa takes one step forward,
it takes three giant steps back. On July 11, a day before President Bush
left for the U.S., Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was elected the new African
Union vice-chairman. Imagine! Now, it will take Africa more than 200 years
to attain minimum indices of development. And President Bush cannot be
blamed for that.

Mr. Ayittey, professor of economics at American University in Washington, is
the author of "Africa Unchained: the Blueprint for Development," out from
St. Martin's Press this fall.

It was all buddy buddy, slaps on the back sort of stuff, with arguments
ignored as the platitudes were rolled out. The reaction of the international
press was worth a peep, with the majority of comment focusing on the MDC's
allegations that President Mbeki had served up a whacking great pork pie on
Zimbabwe.

Dubya was busy praising Mbeki's role as point man on the Zimbabwean debacle,
while Mbeki was enthralling the press corps with tales of how splendidly
dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF was progressing.

The lovefest was spoiled by a manifestly peeved Morgan Tsvangirai, who
pointed out that the two sides hadn't exchanged a word for over a year, and
that Mbeki's comments were designed to buy time for the "beleaguered
illegitimate Mugabe regime." Some of the UK broadsheets were happy to accuse
Mbeki straight up of dishing a tissue of lies on the subject, and this is
not going to help our President's already blighted image back in the lair of
the former colonial oppressor.

The New York Times preferred to concentrate on the amount of cash President
Bush was promising to dish out to help with the AIDS crisis. This must
present President Mbeki with something of a conundrum, if indeed he still
believes that the disease is a figment of big pharma's dollar driven
imagination. On the one hand, he would hardly want to look ungrateful when
he's being offered a few billion Georgie Washingtons, on the other he's
probably thinking to himself that the moolah could be put to far better use
upgrading the Presidential jet to something a bit more like Airforce One.
Meanwhile Pravda ignored the issue altogether, preferring to concentrate as
usual on the plight of innocent (and decidedly photogenic) Russian girls
lured to work as masseuses in the fleshpots of Turkey.

The big question of the day was what made lunch over-run by the best part of
an hour. Given Dubya's conversion to the arcane ways of the Goddess Valvita,
it is unlikely to have been him tucking into the Presidential Chardonnay. It
also seems highly improbable that the President of the United Cricket Board
would have cracked the nod to a lunch for a rounders-playing nation, and
while sources close to the lunch suggest that the delay may have had
something to do with a misplaced pudding, I prefer to imagine something
altogether more Bacchic.

Given the state of general pottiness back at home, it's not surprising that
Bush should have chosen to whip up a posse and go off on tour. The land of
the free seems to be have become the land of the free to blame somebody else
for your problems, describe yourself as a victim and sue the well-tailored
pinstripe off the nearest big pocket you can find. The spirit of Oprah
stalks the courts, and the latest industry to feel the heat is big food.

The first attempt by a couple of gargantuan teenagers to sue McDonalds may
have been thrown out of court, but their case has been amended and refiled
and it appears to be getting some serious notice. Kraft, a food industry
giant and the maker of Oreo cookies amongst other nutritious comestibles,
announced last week that it was going to cut down the size of portions in
single serving packages, attempt to develop healthier products and stop
pushing the junk in schools.

In the land of the "eat until you explode" buffet, this may be a little
ineffectual, but the legal angle is going to offer some excellent spectator
sport. Before you know what's going on, there will be class action sharks
leering at everybody on TV ads giving it the old "Are you the size of a
Chevrolet Suburban? Dial 0800 LARD ARSE and turn those pounds into prizes."

The row between the Zimbabwe government and the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) over the suspension of opposition Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri
escalated yesterday with authorities threatening to use force to evict the
mayor from his official residence. President Robert Mugabe's government
warned that Mudzuri should vacate the mayoral mansion or risk being kicked
out unceremoniously. Local government deputy minister Chief Fortune
Charumbira said, "The issue is whether he wants to leave the house
ceremoniously or not. The order given to him to leave the house was legal."
Mudzuri, popularly elected by an overwhelming majority last year, was
suspended in April on allegations of misconduct and defying government
directives. Government last week gave the mayor , who was arrested twice for
reporting to his offices, a 48-hour ultimatum to vacate the mayoral villa.
It also demanded his official vehicle back. However, Mudzuri has defied the
order. Charumbira said Mudzuri's complaints that the notice of eviction
given to him by government was too short for him to arrange alternative
accommodation was immaterial. "If he wanted more time, he could have
approached the ministry with a formal request rather than sit there and
dream," Charumbira said.

Meanwhile an opposition British MP yesterday accused Prime Minister Tony
Blair's government of "catastrophic failure" in tackling Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis. Tory legislator for Henley Boris Johnson said
London had completely failed to resolve the crisis whose regional collateral
damage was disastrous. "The government has oscillated between apathy and the
kind of megaphone diplomacy that simply plays into Mugabe's hands," Johnson
said. However, junior Foreign Office Minister Chris Mullin said it would be
"absolute folly" for the UK to act unilaterally against Zimbabwe. London has
always insisted that it had to pursue a multilateral initiative to resolve
the crisis. Johnson said that Mugabe had been significantly weakened and was
"desperate" for a way out of power. "I don't think it is any longer good
enough for the British government to say that it is powerless and that
anything it does simply makes matters worse," he said. "It is time for us to
re-engage for the good of Zimbabwe and the suffering people of that
country."

Botswana sends 26 000 Zimbabweans back home

Gaborone

16 July 2003 14:26

With the economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe deepening, Botswana
announced Wednesday it had deported 26 717 Zimbabweans who were illegally
living in the country last year.

Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled over their country's borders into
South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana over the last three years to escape
chaos in their homeland.

Zimbabwe is suffering its worst political and economic crisis ever, with an
estimated 70% unemployment, inflation of more than 300% and a simmering
hunger crisis. A black market in food and fuel, where inflation is as high
as 600%, is
thriving.

The UN World Food Programme estimates food shortages will leave 5,5-million
out of about 12-million Zimbabweans in need of emergency food aid this year.

A rash of politically motivated violence has been blamed on ruling party
militants loyal to President Robert Mugabe, human rights groups say.

The illegal immigrants caught in Botswana and sent home often say they were
searching for jobs, said Chief Immigration Officer Roy Sekgororoane.

Botswana's authorities routinely conducts border patrols and holds raids
throughout the country to find the illegal Zimbabwean immigrants,
Sekgororoane said. - Sapa-AP

HARARE, July 16 — State prosecutors argued on Wednesday against calls for
the treason case against Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to be
dropped, saying he must answer charges he plotted to kill President Robert
Mugabe.
       Tsvangirai and two senior colleagues in the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) could face death sentences if convicted of plotting to
assassinate Mugabe in 2001 amid Zimbabwe's worst political and economic
crisis in decades.
       All three have pleaded not guilty and their lawyers have asked the
High Court to dismiss the charges, saying the state has failed to present a
solid case.
       On Wednesday however, chief prosecutor Bharat Patel said the state
had shown sufficient evidence that the MDC defendants had discussed seeking
the support of the army for a post-Mugabe transitional government.
       ''Any act or intention contemplating... any change of a head of state
outside the provisions of the constitution is treasonous or unlawful,''
Patel said.
       ''The evidence as presented establishes more than a prima facie case
for the accused to be placed on their defence (in court)... There is no
legal basis upon which the application for a discharge can be granted,''
Patel said.
       The state's case hinges on a videotape of a meeting in Montreal
between Tsvangirai and political consultant Ari Ben-Menashe which allegedly
discussed Mugabe's ''elimination.''
       Ben-Menashe, described by the defence as unreliable, has admitted he
taped the meeting to get evidence for the government -- with which he later
signed a political lobbying contract.
       But he denies entrapping Tsvangirai, whose MDC represents the most
potent challenge to Mugabe's rule since independence from Britain in 1980.
       Tsvangirai is free on bail. He faces a second treason charge, based
on government allegations that he tried to instigate the overthrow of
Mugabe's government through mass protests staged by the MDC last month.
       The MDC and several Western countries accuse Mugabe of rigging his
re-election in 2002 and blame his government for chronic food and fuel
shortages and inflation running at 300 percent.
       Mugabe says the MDC is a stooge of Western powers and insists the
economy has been sabotaged by his opponents in retaliation for his seizure
of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.

allAfrica.com

July 16, 2003
Posted to the web July 16, 2003

Tamela Hultman
Abuja

African presidents across the continent have spoken out strongly today in
support of President Fradique de Menezes, following an army takeover in his
island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.

"We condemn such actions in the strongest terms possible," Nigerian
President Olusegan Obasanjo declared, appearing with Menezes at his side at
an international conference in the Nigerian capital Abuja. The coup attempt
"will not be tolerated," said Obasanjo, a former military ruler who won a
second term as his country's elected president in April.

The sentiment was endorsed by all of the dozen or so heads and state and
government in attendance at the meeting, a plenary of the 6th Leon Sullivan
Summit, which was opened on Saturday by President George W. Bush.

"I want to join my voice with that of President Obasanjo in condemning the
encroachment on the constitutional government," said Ghana's President John
Kufuor, who is current chairman of the Economic Community of West African
States (Ecowas). "All of Africa and its well-wishers must prevail on the
encroachers to desist," he said.

Both Kufuor and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, another plenary
participant. "We cannot accept this," Wade said, ending with a warning to
the rebels to surrender and a pledge to Menezes that he would be able to
return home this week.

Earlier today, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, the new chairperson of
the African Union, told reporters in Maputo that he condemned to coup in Sao
Tome and demanded "quick restoration of constitutional legality". Other
leaders taking part in the Abuja meeting, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, expressed similar sentiments.

The Rev. Andrew Young, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and
Atlanta mayor who is chairing the summit, attributed the trouble to the
large petroleum deposits recently discovered in the nation's territorial
waters. "I don't know what happened in Sao Tome, but I know nothing happened
until someone announced there was plenty of oil," he said.

The speech by Menezes drew the loudest sustained ovation from the warmly
supportive crowd. He said when he got the word about the coup, he thought he
shouldn't take part in the conference. But Obasanjo prevailed on him, he
said, to personally make the case for support of democracy and rule of law.

"Africa cannot achieve prosperity with bad governments, with repressive
regimes, with corrupt officials, with failed states - and also with coup
d'etats," he said in Portuguese-accented English. It was the second time in
less than a month that the leader of one of Africa's smallest nations had
brought audiences to their feet at a high-level international meeting.

Speaking in Washington on June 27, at the U.S-African Business Summit on a
program with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Menezes said he had
promised his people that his country would avoid "the curse of oil," where
resource-rich developing nations fare worse than poorer ones. "I will not
fail them," he said. "We also cannot fail the millions of other Africans
yearning for a better life for themselves and for their children. "

The Herald (Harare)

July 16, 2003
Posted to the web July 16, 2003

Harare

THE Government would by the end of the year have embarked on a national
programme for anti-retroviral drugs which is expected to result in many
people living with HIV and Aids accessing treatment, the Minister of Health
and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, has said.

He said the Government was working on the development of training materials
for health workers.

The World Health Organisation and other partners supported the Government in
this initiative and the subsequent training of health workers, the minister
said.

He said this in a speech read on his behalf by the ministry's permanent
secretary Dr Elizabeth Xaba at a workshop on increasing access to care and
treatment for People Living With HIV and Aids (PLWHA) in Harare last week.

Dr Parirenyatwa said he was optimistic that the decreasing costs of ARVs
would result in a lot of people benefiting from the drugs.

"The rapidly decreasing costs of ARVs will make anti-retroviral therapy
accessible to an increasing number of PLWHA.

"This combined with increasing financial support from the international
organisations and partners such as the Global Fund for HIV/Aids,
Tuberculosis and Malaria are positive moves to increasing access to care and
treatment for PLWAs," said Dr Parirenyatwa.

The cost of ARV therapy in most countries surveyed by WHO last year had
dropped to around US$300 per patient a year, down from US$10 000 about a
decade ago.

Dr Parirenyatwa said an estimated 2,3 million people were infected while
over 70 000 people were living with Aids in Zimbabwe.

Over 70 percent of all hospital admissions in the country, he said, were
occupied by patients with HIV/Aids related conditions.

"Health facilities are failing to cope with the high demand and therefore it
is important that in planning for increasing access to care and treatment
that we look at home-based care as part of the continuum of care," he said.

WHO regional director for Africa Dr Ebrahim Samba challenged east and
southern African countries to provide treatment to 1,4 million PLWHA if the
global target of 3 million PLWHAs on anti-retroviral treatment by 2005 is to
be met.

"This calls for every country in the sub region to target a minimum of 50
percent of its population with HIV/Aids who need treatment to be on ART
(anti-retroviral treatment) by 2005," he said.

Dr Samba said the scaling up of anti-retroviral treatment would call for the
strengthening of existing partnerships and the development of new ones.

This would include collaboration between governments and multilateral and
bilateral partners, the private sector, networks of PLWHAs and civil
society.

"It will also demand an urgent call for increasing anti-retroviral
treatment, literacy of the populations, and improving knowledge and skills
of health workers and care givers," said Dr Samba.

He, however, expressed concern over the high mobility and attrition rate
among health workers that resulted in most health facilities in the region
being inadequately staffed.

"This is a trend that has to be halted as it will only be possible to
achieve these goals if there are well-trained health workers to provide the
care and treatment services needed by these patients," he said.

Sadc heads of State and governments, including President Mugabe, early this
month reaffirmed their commitment to increase access to affordable essential
medicines, including anti-retroviral treatments, and related technologies,
using funds from their national budgets.

Many ask quite where are we right now, where are we going if anywhere and precisely what has changed..nothing?

As we might except, events are now overtaking reality and this sense is definitely clouding our perception of where we are right now.

Add to this a good dose of negativity, shooting ourselves in the foot and the results of the immense onslaught that we are all enduring, we can understand just why we feel the way we do, weary and downtrodden. And yet, if we look from beyond the forest, we CAN see the trees!

So often when we evaluate ourselves as individuals we do not do justice to whom we are and what we have achieved. How do we measure our progress? The way to conduct this assessment is simply to look backwards and consider where we were at a certain time and remember quite what were our prospects , our views, predictions and visualization of the future. Human beings are generally negative and it has been established that over 90% of our fears are not realised.

In 1994 South Africans were asked ten questions about their future and these were designed to be related to the statistical interpretation of where they would be by the turn of the century along with their fears and some aspirations. The vast majority predicted doom and gloom. Those same ten questions were evaluated in year 2000 and none of those fears were realised at all and South Africa, in essence, is not the place that South Africans predicted it would be.

Back to Zim. Lets go back to the new year. There were suggestions that we had run out of steam and that the long hard battle that was fought to raise the profile of our beleaguered country, had run into trouble and that the monster regime had successfully steered world opinion away from the fledgling opposition and its brave struggle. Those patriotic and unselfish Zimbos that had forwarded millions of e-mails to addresses from the US President to the House of Commons, from Amnesty Int. to friends abroad. had all contributed far more than they believed and yet had we failed. It seemed like it and RGM had sold himself and the justification for ethnic cleansing and oppression to silence the militant and terrorist opposition. Notorious legislation, reminiscent of the communist east, descend upon us to snuff out the remaining life left in the MDC and we saw our world and the ability we had to exercise our frail muscles, close around us. But our leadership said, we soldier on "evil will never triumph" etc. Had we faith? Some fell by the way side and others mustered their remaining courage and stamina and pressed on believing that we would prevail against all odds and that freedom was worth fighting for. Had the west and the democratic world abandoned us? We saw the regional political leadership compromise their principles at conferences and the South Africans seemed determined to turn a blind eye and even suggest support for the murderous outfit that they called a legitimate government. It so became apparent that South Africa was the key role player and yet they were showing how they ignored racist thug rule, how little they cared for human rights and everything they supposedly fought against just over a decade earlier. How could they be so hypocritical and how could they ignore the plight of fellow Africans. Rightly, we felt totally betrayed and, to make it worse, the democracies told us that it was up to South Africa! But they did ignore our pleas and said we must solve our own problems whilst they themselves asked for international help in seeking change in South Africa. Nothing seemed to be going well and personal sanctions, a weapon we were thrilled about, failed as the French sold their souls and so on.

Then came the cricket..... led by those young enough that some of us could consider them our sons, and the tide was turned. We won the publicity battle and the true plight of Zim and its traumatised people was almost too embarrassing to notice. But the world did! Slowly but surely we crawled our way back onto the international stage despite the looming Gulf War and so on. How could we possibly maintain our presence? We despaired when we did not feature as a headlines on the BBC but were we being negative in a world of 220 or so countries vying for a slot on a half hour world bulletin. Was all the hard work reaping its benefit? How many out there beyond were beginning to see that this was a serious issue and the MDC had a case, as a government in waiting. It was now a serious alternative that would work with principle to right the wrongs of irresponsible African leadership and show the rest of the world that every route to somewhere does have a corner and that the seemingly the impossible can happen. The very principles to which the democratic movement aspired, were definitely those that would form the foundation of a brand new society that would ensure that Africa can succeed after all. The Americans and the Brits, supported by the EU and the antipodeans, stood by us and the Commonwealth maintained suspension against all odds and the wishes of the suspect Mbeki who was now beginning to scare those that were keeping South Africa under the spotlight in terms of the example of the democratic African success story.

The black and white armband crusade continued and gained momentum and even carried us through the Iraq war and we steadily gained recognition as a theatre of the world that, after all, did deserve the attention of the democracies. Every news bulletin we now read or listen to refers to the"dictatorship" the "state sponsored violence" etc. We had achieved our objective and establish Zimbabwe as a nation under siege from its own government. The detentions, torture and repression was stepped up and highlighted by the worlds most respected human rights watch dogs and everything seemed now to playing right into our hands. The momentum was now with us and our campaign for justice was being sustained by external forces as well as our own and we no longer felt abandoned. Now it was just a case of “when and how” and not “if and maybe”. We have come so far in such a short time. We have a leadership with international creditability that can administer this country and restore it to good health and we have the support of the world's only super power who have now put their cards firmly on the table....for us! We have achieved and we have attained the goal we fought for in terms of classifying Zimbabwe as a genuine hospital case that needs urgent surgery despite being turned away bleeding and disease stricken previously. We have now come of age when we no longer have to spend so much effort explaining what our problems are what we are up against and how we believe we can achieve peace and prosperity again.

There have been question marks over the suitability of Tsvangirai as a leader, and there have been claims that he has no experience, however he has shown the people of this country and the world at large, just how convincing he is. Nelson Mandela said that one does not qualify for presidency until a jail sentence is served. However, there is more to the MDC leader than meets the eye and in every theatre of participation he has won the respect of others. He has grown in stature, and proven qualification for accepting responsibility to lead this nation out of the desert. The president in waiting will prove his worth to his people in the not too distant future.

We have our highs and lows, and our rollercoaster of emotion and perception, and the recent stayaway, illustrated this. However, in final analysis it proved beyond doubt who controls Zimbabwe and it met with an unbelievably successful public relations coup internationally. This one event has further united the diverse groups of Zimbabwe, and illustrated to the rest of the world that we have the will, the courage and the conviction to justify the international community, weighing in with their support.

We are now in the home straight and the finish line is now coming into focus. The objective is no longer a question of blind faith but one of reality as we all see the writing on the wall particularly when our opponents openly concede that their fate is more than likely going to be decided by the very people from whom they have stolen, the people for whom they have made life a misery and those who have had their families broken apart through the many aspects of trauma that have prevailed and so on. Mbeki has ineffect conceided the presidential elections were seriously flawed and RGM is on has virtually said he will step down. Who would have thought of this six months. This dog is to have its day after all, and they must answer for their crimes against humanity, and are now asking, what of our future, what will happen when law and order is restored, can we reconcile ourselves with our masters in waiting? The boot is shifting to the other foot and whilst the rest of us have to cope with the dramatics of daily economics and survival, there is now an antidote and we can feel it in our veins as the balance of power shifts ever so convincingly and inexorably

The tide has turned. We have come a long, long way from our infancy as a people who dared to confront the evil that will become known as one of the most horrendous and despicable regimes of this century. All the waiting and the pain; is it now going to be worth it? But we have to push on home now and complete the victory which will be ours.

Sokwanele

Tue, 15 Jul 2003

ZIMBABWE: Economic revival programme struggles to do the job IRINnews Africa
Soaring inflation, acute food shortages and a decline in foreign investment are seen as some of the factors contributing to Zimbabwe's slip in this year's human development rankings. WFP
© PlusNews Life expectancy is now estimated at 35 years JOHANNESBURG, - Soaring inflation, acute food shortages and a decline in foreign investment are seen as some of the factors contributing to Zimbabwe's slip in this year's human development rankings. According to the UN Human Development Report 2003, Zimbabwe dropped to 145th position from 128th place achieved in 2002. The country was one of the worst performers among developing countries. The human development index is a composite measure of average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living. Life expectancy at birth in Zimbabwe is now estimated at 35 years for the period 2000 to 2005, as compared to 61 years in 1990. Moreover, the country has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates (34 percent) in sub-Saharan Africa. Observers have noted that since 1996 the country has undergone "accelerated deterioration in the socio-economic situation". The government is struggling to cope with an inflation rate of 300 percent, while 70 percent of the labour force is unemployed. "There has been a downward economic trend in the last 7 years, but one of the main reasons for the sharp decline in recent years is the land reform programme. Effectively, by appropriating 4,500 farms, the government closed down 4,500 big businesses that provided employment for thousands of people," independent economist John Robertson told IRIN. To halt the deterioration in the economy, the government launched the National Economic Revival Programme (NERP) in February 2003. But Robertson said while NERP acknowledged some of the challenges facing the government, the programme "failed to provide a solution". "Although the programme broadened economic policy decision-making to include government, the private sector and labour, there has yet to emerge a workable answer to the myriad of problems facing Zimbabweans," Robertson said.