The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
To the delight of its liberal critics,
the Bush administration has taken a
constructive interest in the problems of
Africa. President George W. Bush's
trip to South Africa, Botswana, Uganda,
Niger and Senegal next month
symbolizes that concern. So does the
administration's promises of increased
aid, its global HIV/AIDS initiative
and its outspokenness for African
democracy.
.
Africans now suffer more
from war and HIV/AIDS than the inhabitants of any
other continent. And they
remain among the world's poorest people, even in
resource-rich countries like
Angola, Nigeria and Congo. The main reason is
misgovernment and official
corruption.
.
Shamefully, though, American farm subsidies block the exits
from poverty for
some African countries by making it impossible for their
crops to compete.
In contrast, Bush's commitment to spend $15 billion
fighting AIDS worldwide
over the next five years is welcome. Compared with
the costs of war or farm
subsidies, this investment, which can save hundreds
of thousands of lives,
is remarkably cost-effective.
.
Africa's three
main conflicts cry out for more effective intervention. More
than 3 million
people have been killed in nearly five years of fighting in
Congo and some 2
million in two decades of civil war in Sudan. Liberia's
dictator, Charles
Taylor, is responsible for wars that have killed hundreds
of thousands. Bush
is sending his special envoy to Sudan and has told Taylor
to step down. He
also needs to work for a stronger UN peacekeeping force
in
Congo.
.
Another destructive African leader is Robert Mugabe, whose
resort to fraud
and thuggery undermined the legitimacy of his latest
re-election as
Zimbabwe's president. Washington rightly demands a return to
democracy
there. That needs help from South Africa, whose president, Thabo
Mbeki,
claims to champion democracy and better governance in Africa. But he
has so
far refused to press for those values where he has the most influence,
in
neighboring Zimbabwe.
.
Africa's problems may still seem remote to
some Americans. Bush recognizes
that they are not.
Cuttin' through
the Bull #170 The United Nations is a Menace |
By Ray Thomas Copyright © 2003
|
The liberal media all over the world
paints the United Nations as "the last hope for peace in the world," but the
reality is much different. The United Nations is a "World Government in
Waiting." It has not only not fulfilled its promise, it is actively working
toward a socialist/collectivist world government with itself in charge. It has
proven to be completely incompetent to "keep the peace in the world," while
enriching the bureaucrats running things with impunity. Remember the short spate
of stories (mostly in the "conservative press) about U. N. "officials" profiting
in the billions from the Iraq "Oil for Peace" program (or some such) the United
Nations created to allow them to control the amount of oil Saddam was allowed to
sell on the market for "humanitarian purposes?" No investigations. No calls for
investigations, and after a few days -- nothing. Who is going to hold them to
account anyway? An article in News Max Magazine says: "The 57 years of the U.
N.'s existence cover perhaps the bloodiest period in human history. The U. N.'s
recent behavior regarding Iraq is just the latest in a long list of its failures
to keep the peace."
International Taxes Yet they want to tax American citizens and the citizens of all countries signatory to their charter, which is pretty much all he countries in the world. Those left could not stand against them if they ever gained their own army. Taxes in America take more than 52% of our incomes (that includes all kinds of taxes including those not called taxes, but which take money from us and give it to the government). But the United Nations wants to place a tax on international financial transactions (The Tobin Tax) that would give the United Nations $1.5 trillion a year. They have also proposed an international tax on the use of the oceans, for Heaven's sake, and a global income tax. Only a government can tax citizens of any country, and they think that's what they are and they're working toward making it a fact. Their International Socialist Agenda: The leftists praise this agenda as being "good works," but in reality, everything they propose adds to their power over us and the world if the world is stupid enough to enact them. Let's look at the things they're doing, right out in the open, with the world (except for power seekers) paying no attention to them:
Human Rights: They're supposed to be enforcing the respect for human rights in the countries who have signed their charter, but they haven't done that. They did nothing to stop the mass murder of Soviet dissidents in the USSR; They did nothing to stop Pol Pot's genocide in Cambodia; When communists, Marxists, Arabs, or Africans murder people, torture them or steal from them, it ignores them. But let us accidentally kill one person while deposing a despot who has murdered thousands, maybe even millions, it condemns us. Communist China has a system of concentration camps and slave labor. It executes more people in one month that all the other countries in the world do in a year! It places medical facilities close to execution facilities so they can "harvest" organs from those executed before they "spoil" and sell them on the international market. The United Nations does nothing about this. Nearly one million people have been murdered in Rwanda and the president of Zimbabwe is stealing the property of white landowners in Zimbabwe and committing mass murder to support it. Again, the United Nations did nothing. Saddam Hussein spent 12 years thumbing his nose at them as they passed "resolution" after resolution demanding he acknowledge and rid himself of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, they appoint Libya, one of the most egregious violators of human rights on the planet to head the U. N. Human Rights Commission. On that commission are such dictatorial regimes as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Communist China, Russia, Cuba and the aforementioned Zimbabwe. Syria reportedly backs suicide-bombers in Israel to the tune of $100 billion a year, yet they were elected to head the Security Council right after September 11, 2001. In 1994, the U. N. promised Tutsi tribesmen in Rwanda that if they gave up their guns they wouldn't let the Hutus kill them when they took over the government. But again they did nothing as the Hutus raped and murdered 1.1 million people, including children and pregnant women. They were raped, tortured, crippled and some had their limbs hacked off. U. N. "Peacekeepers" themselves in the Balkans engaged in such behavior. In Bosnia-Herzegovia before the U. S.-led Balkans war, the sex trade and sexual slavery were virtually nonexistent. Since the U. N. has been running things, sex slavery has become a major industry in Bosnia and Kosovo. It involves the abduction of girls as young as 12. Scotland's national newspaper, The Scotsman, reported that U. N. Peacekeepers went to nightclubs where young girls were forced to dance naked and have sex with customers. It reported that U. N. personnel and aid workers were linked to prostitution rings in the Balkans And that 30% of those visiting Bosnia's brothels were U. N. personnel, peacekeepers or aid workers. This is the kind of thing you can expect if the United Nations is ever allowed to be a real world government. This kind of thing won't just happen elsewhere, it will happen in this country, too -- and with our Constitution discarded, there will be nothing we can do about it. We will be truly under a socialist dictatorship, and we will have allowed it by ignoring this menace to our freedom. We cannot allow this abomination to continue to exist. We must do everything we can to destroy it and all it stands for. Now, not later. |
By Quentin Wray
One of the advantages of
being a journalist is getting your hands on
some of the really great research
coming out of various academic, private
sector and public service research
organisations.
The SA Institute for International Affairs (Saiia)
at Wits University
is one such body that consistently produces quality work
that is well worth
reading.
A recent paper, Southern African
Scenarios 2015: Renaissance,
Asymmetry or Decline and Decay?, crossed my desk
the other day.
Published in April, it takes a detailed look at the
prevailing social,
economic and political conditions in the different
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) countries, focusing on what it
calls the
"structural features of the SADC landscape" such as low human
development
indices, relatively weak democratic formations and markedly
asymmetrical
trade, investment and commercial networks.
It then
examines the key drivers that are likely to determine the
trajectory of the
region over the next 12 years - globalisation, health,
trade, investment and
commercial networks - taking into account the New
Partnership for Africa's
Development (Nepad).
Finally it makes "a number of discreet,
focused and tightly formulated
policy recommendations" aimed at boosting
economic development and
integration.
The renaissance scenario
outlined by the Saiia team has globalisation
delivering greater inclusiveness
for the SADC; Aids, malaria and
tuberculosis being effectively treated;
international aid agencies the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) playing a focused and
supportive role; the global economy reviving;
trade growing; and regional
security and the crime situation
improving.
The more realistic scenario has globalisation having a
mixed effect;
Aids and other diseases coming under control but still exacting
a heavy
cost; international agencies playing an important role but
disengaging from
countries that refuse to meet their conditions; and trade
and investment
remaining skewed.
The decline and decay scenario
is the one Afropessimists will identify
with. In this, SADC countries are
effectively marginalised by globalisation;
Aids and other diseases are not
dealt with effectively; the SADC itself
fails to play an effective role; aid
agencies disengage steadily; regional
wars and conflict spread; crime and the
security situation worsens; and
political leaderships fail the key tests of
democracy
.
The doom-and-gloom picture basically means
Nepad will have failed to
get African countries to deliver on their side of
the partnership with the
developed world, which, in turn, would lead the
developed world to renege on
its obligations.
News24
MDC 'not obsessed with Mugabe'
30/06/2003 09:09 -
(SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
was not
obsessed with President Robert Mugabe, the country's leader of the
official
opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview with SABC
television news
on Sunday night.
However, he added that South Africa
had an obsession with its leader of the
opposition, Tony Leon.
The
Zimbabwean politician, facing two possible death sentences in two
separate
treason trials, said he did not hate Mugabe and did not wish
him
ill.
But the Zimbabwean president was a major stumbling block to
normalising the
chaotic political and economic situation in the
country.
"Mugabe is a national liability, a stumbling block," he
said.
Asked whether he recognised Mugabe as president, he said "I don't",
but
confirmed that Mugabe ran the country.
"He is running the country,
he was sworn in as president."
The former trade unionist added that he
was pursuing a high court challenge
against the validity of the 2001
presidential election because it was "the
only legal
recourse".
Tsvangirai repeated that he had won the election and that his
party now
controlled more than half of the Zimbabwean
parliament.
Parties must compromise - Tsvangirai
Tsvangirai said
the major issue facing Zimbabwe was getting the MDC and
Mugabe to the
negotiating table.
Asked about the efforts of the heads of state of South
Africa, Nigeria and
Malawi to get the parties to talk, Tsvangirai said the
success of
negotiations did not depend on the brokers, but on the willingness
of
parties to compromise.
The trio's efforts "must be encouraged and
welcomed."
But he warned that some of their comments had been
"undiplomatic" and
unhelpful, particularly those suggesting that he,
Tsvangirai, was an
obstacle to talks.
Another was that Mugabe had to
be recognised as the legitimate winner of the
2001 presidential poll - a
position that would sink his court challenge
which contested that very
point.
There could be no preconditions to talks. If Rhodesian prime
minister Ian
Smith had in 1979 set as a precondition that Mugabe recognise
him as the
legitimate leader of the country there would have been no talks,
he said by
example.
Once talking, there would be three critical
issues.
The first was getting Mugabe to give up the presidency in a
dignified
manner.
If Mugabe was afraid of retribution, he could be
assured that this was not
an MDC aim.
"National reconciliation cannot
be implemented in an atmosphere of
retribution," said
Tsvangirai.
However, there would have to be a truth and justice
commission where victims
could speak out and perpetrators could repent and
reform.
Asked whether this meant an MDC government would not "go" after
Mugabe
himself, Tsvangirai said "If that is the price we have to pay, we
must
consider it."
Once Mugabe stepped down, the question of choosing
a replacement arose.
This would require a look at whether a new election
had to take place within
90 days as required by the constitution or whether
another mechanism had to
be found.
Then an election, adjudged to be
free and fair by all parties and the
international community, had to take
place.
Questioned about timelines, he said none could be set.
His
two treason trials, one for allegedly plotting to kill Mugabe and
another for
organising mass action to force Mugabe to leave office, were
referred to
obliquely.
"I want to face the full wrath of the law. If I did something
wrong, I must
be punished," Tsvangirai said at one stage.
Later, he
said that since he had never advocated the overthrow of the state,
as alleged
by his prosecutors, a bail condition that he should not do so
"again" was
irrelevant.
He said that, as leader of the official opposition he was
entitled to speak
out about misrule and corruption - and would continue to do
so.
Land is one of MDC's priorities
Queried about a perceived lack
of policy on the part of the MDC and Mugabe's
assertions that he was a black
front for whites, Tsvangirai said his party
had a strong set of policy
documents on important national issues such as
saving the economy and
land.
He had been concerned with land reform since 1995 when he was still
general
secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU).
Land was one of the MDC's five top priorities.
However,
the epicentre of the crisis in Zimbabwe was not land, but about
"misrule,
dictatorship... and a government unleashing violence on its
own
people."
The MDC was also not the lackeys of whites or of the
United States and
Britain.
The MDC came about as an alternative
political party because of the
systematic betrayal of the electorate by
Mugabe's party, Zanu (PF). "It did
not appear out of the blue," said
Tsvangirai.
Comment from The Financial Mail (SA), 27 June
Pretoria must engage the MDC in transition
On the surface it appears that there is some -
admittedly marginal -
progress towards resolving the Zimbabwe crisis.
President Thabo Mbeki
predicts a solution within a year. And after a
fortnight in a remand
prison - which he describes as "appalling" and where,
he says, one person
dies every day - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has been
released on bail. Even in Zimbabwean dollar terms, the
surety is huge:
Z$110m (US$13m), with highly restrictive conditions
stipulating that he may
not make "inflammatory" statements. Meanwhile the
media, especially in SA,
less so in Zimbabwe, are awash with claims that just
two weeks after saying
he had absolutely no intention of leaving office,
which would pave the way
for national consultations on the reconstruction of
the country, Robert
Mugabe is allegedly now ready to step down as president.
If so, what has
brought about the change?
Significantly, the state
media in Zimbabwe have published front-page
interviews with possible
successors - parliamentary speaker Emmerson
Mnangagwa, believed to be
Mugabe's preferred choice, and John Nkomo, ruling
Zanu PF national chairman.
Both men are said to be "safe pairs of hands"
with more than 20 years'
ministerial experience. However, both are firm that
there is no vacancy at
State House - and therefore they are not running for
office. The reality is
that they are , but dare not say so unless and until
Mugabe gives them the
green light. Pretoria remains unhelpful. Defence
minister Mosiuoa Lekota
blames the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) for the impasse
over talks, but again this is not so. The sole
precondition set for
negotiations was by Mugabe himself, who will not talk
to the MDC unless and
until it drops its court challenge to his presidential
poll victory last
March.
Lekota's comments underline, yet again, Pretoria's
unwillingness to play the
honest broker. The SA government appears to have
made up its mind that Zanu
PF - minus Mugabe - should stay in office. It does
not want to see
Tsvangirai, perceived as too Western, too pro-market, and
above all lacking
"liberation-war credentials", to take over. Tsvangirai's
time in jail has
served to strengthen his resolve and that of his supporters.
Even while he
was incarcerated, the MDC launched an urgent court challenge to
expedite the
election challenge that is anathema to Mugabe. On his release,
Tsvangirai
ruled out a one-year transition as "too long". His economic
advisers have
told him that a lengthy transition would be a recipe for
paralysis and
accelerated economic decline, and his political lieutenants are
saying that
now, when the momentum is with the MDC, is not the time for a
display of
weakness. Even conciliation is judged as too weak. If there is
progress on
the negotiating front, it is glacial. Events on the ground -
economic
implosion and the mood of the people - threaten to overtake the
talks. It is
time for Pretoria to be more even-handed. The MDC must be
brought into the
frame of consideration for a successor to Mugabe.
Reserve Bank Acts On Cash Crisis
The Herald (Harare)
June
30, 2003
Posted to the web June 30, 2003
Harare
AT least $4
billion in new $500 notes was injected into the money market
last week as the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe steps up efforts to alleviate the
shortage of cash
that has hit the country in recent weeks.
An additional $8 billion would
be issued by mid-July while a further $12
billion would be injected into the
money market at the beginning of August.
This would bring to $24
billion the money that would have been issued by the
central
bank.
Although Reserve Bank officials refused to comment on the
latest
development, well-placed sources said that daily allocations to banks
were
increased from 25 to 50 percent of normal requirements last
week.
It also emerged that central bank officials were pressing for
the
introduction of new $5 000 and $10 000 notes to ease the demand for
cash.
According to sources, the proposal was submitted to the Minister of
Finance
and Economic Development, Dr Herbert Murerwa, last week.
Dr
Murerwa could not be reached for comment yesterday.
However, ministry
officials confirmed having received the letter and said Dr
Murerwa was
considering the matter.
The sources said concerted efforts were being
made to ensure that the
general public is not inconvenienced by the shortage
of cash.
To that end banks, through the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe
and the
Retailers Association of Zimbabwe, were encouraging the public to use
debit
cards as well as credit cards for transactions.
In order to
facilitate the use of the cards, banks have significantly
reduced
charges.
Banks have also introduced bearer instru- ments as a cash
substitute, which
are easily encashable.
Sources said fees on cash
deposits have also been suspended and an
improvement in the level of cash
deposits has been obse- rved.
The Reserve Bank has also started issuing
cash directly to building
societies in a bid to improve the cash situation
for small savers who make
up the bulk of their depositors.
Previously,
the central bank used to issue currency to building societies
through
commercial banks.
"It has been discovered that the arrangement
disadvantaged building
societies.
"Most banks have started withholding
the cash meant for building societies.
"Beginning this week, the Reserve
Bank will allocate cash directly to
building societies," said a
source.
Last week, the cash crisis saw the reintroduction into the system
of the old
$20 notes, which were in circulation in the 1980s but were phased
out in the
early 1990s following the introduction of the new
notes.
Over the past week, the Reserve Bank started offering smaller
denominations
as part of its strategy to alleviate the shortage of $500
bills.
The sources said the injection of the additional funds into the
money market
would alleviate the shortage of cash.
A survey showed
that most automated teller machines in the Harare city
centre had no money
yesterday.
Focus On Effects of Fuel Shortages On Daily Lives
UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks
ANALYSIS
June 30, 2003
Posted to the
web June 30, 2003
More than six months since a fuel supply deal
collapsed, Libya has once
again come to the rescue of President Robert Mugabe
by reviving a barter
agreement on oil with Zimbabwe.
"Experts from the
two governments, including Zimbabwe Energy and Power
Development Minister
(Amos Midzi), met to review the bilateral co-operation
path, and the ways to
reinforce that cooperation in oil and investment in
various economic fields,"
a joint statement said without giving further
details.
Libya last
year renewed a US $360 million fuel deal with Zimbabwe in
exchange for beef,
tobacco and sugar but the supply line was cut after
Zimbabwe failed to meet
its end of the bargain.
While the stopgap measure may temporarily
alleviate fuel shortages,
long-term fuel security is by no means
guaranteed.
Hardest hit by the fuel shortages are labourers, especially
poor households
in Zimbabwe's high-density suburbs.
Chipo Chikosha is
a single mother. Every day she gets up at 3:30 am and by 4
am is on the road,
walking a distance of 20 km from the suburb of Glen Norah
in the capital,
Harare, to the city centre where she works as an office
orderly at a law
firm.
"I cannot afford the fare of Zim $300 (US 37 cents) charged by the
commuter
omnibuses," she told IRIN.
With a salary of Zim $50,000 (US
$62) per month, Chipo pays her rent and
buys food. Despite a government
regulation stipulating that passenger
omnibuses may only charge fares of
between Zim $60 (US 7 cents) and Zim $300
(US 37 cents) for urban routes,
commuters in Harare and Bulawayo have to
contend with fares ranging from Zim
$300 (US 37 cents) to Zim $1,000 (US
$1.20).
The prohibitive fares
have meant that highways from residential suburbs into
downtown Harare stream
with bicycles and pedestrians walking to work every
morning and home again in
the evenings.
Two years ago the government reduced the import duty and
sales tax on
bicycles to encourage more people to cycle to work, as passenger
vehicles
were grounded owing to the chronic shortage of fuel.
It now
common to see trucks and tractors with trailers transporting people
to and
from town.
The government has tried to ease the problem by introducing
urban train
services. The train service, dubbed "Freedom Trains",
charges
government-gazetted fares and was expected to cushion commuters
from
unscrupulous bus owners who overcharge. However, passengers have
raised
concerns over safety and complained of overcrowding.
An
economist with the Zimbabwe Economic Society told IRIN the trains were
being
run at a loss by the state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ).
"The scheme will put the NRZ into more debt," the economist
said.
Zimbabwe needs around US $400 million to meet its fuel needs
annually. Much
of this money used to come from agriculture, especially
tobacco, which until
2000 was the country's main foreign currency
earner.
Prior to 2000, tobacco raised over US $500 million in foreign
currency
annually. Midway into the 2003 selling season, tobacco has brought
in just
slightly above US $30 million.
Newly resettled farmers are yet
to raise their production to pre-2000
levels. Production on the "new farms"
has also been stalled by shortages of
fuel and inputs.
The Zimbabwe
Farmers Union, a body of mostly peasant and small-scale
farmers, recently
made an appeal to the government to have fuel supplied to
the new
farmers.
But while the majority of people have to do without transport,
those who
control the hugely profitable parallel market in scarce goods and
hard
currency are enjoying boom times.
A garage owner identified only
as Chirasha told IRIN they sell hardly a
quarter of their allocations through
the pump at the official price of Zim
$450 (US 5 cents).
"We have
customers who are prepared to buy in bulk at Zim $1,500 (US $1.80)
per
litre," he said.
Chirasha added that after filling only a few cars,
petrol attendants tell
the remaining customers the pumps are dry. The rest of
the fuel is then
piped out at night to be stored and sold at unknown
destinations.
Some fuel dealers are selling fuel in foreign currency at
US 75 cents a
litre. Newspapers are awash with adverts saying "bulk fuel
available".
A new scam involves towing clapped-out cars to fuel stations
where they are
parked until fuel is available. Once the car has been filled,
it is
immediately towed to a secluded spot and drained. The fuel, bought at
Zim
$450 (US 5 cents) a litre, is then resold at $1,500 (US $1.80) to
desperate
motorists. The police have begun monitoring the situation and a few
arrests
have been made.
Earlier this month the government introduced
fuel coupons for commuter taxis
and omnibus operators. The move followed an
announcement that the state is
to ban all vehicles from carrying petrol and
diesel in containers, to
prevent parallel marketeering.
Energy
Minister Amos Midzi said most commuter omnibuses were no longer
plying their
routes. Instead, they were buying fuel at filling stations
reserved for them
by government order and then re-selling it at profits of
up to 500
percent.
In June motorists were banned from carrying fuel in containers,
in a move to
stamp out illegal sales.
"If, for example, someone has a
funeral, or is a farmer who needs diesel, he
has to apply to the ministry to
be given permission to carry the fuel to his
farm, otherwise he will be
arrested," said deputy energy minister Reuben
Marumahoko.
After
several cases where conmen posing as undertakers had presented fake
burial
documents to buy fuel, petrol attendants on occasion have demanded to
see the
body in the hearse first, before pumping.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe drops charges against white former judge
HARARE,
June 30 — Zimbabwe dropped charges against a former senior judge on
Monday,
whose arrest drew international criticism and accusations the
government was
eroding the law.
Fergus Blackie, a white and a former High Court
Judge, was arrested
in September and detained for three days on corruption
charges for freeing a
woman convicted of fraud.
His detention
prompted a U.N. human rights investigator to accuse
President Robert Mugabe's
government of undermining the rule of the law.
Blackie clashed with
the government last year for ordering the arrest
of Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa for contempt of court. He retired from
the bench in July and was
arrested in September.
State prosecutors had said Blackie was under
investigation for
overturning a white woman's conviction for fraud without
consulting a black
judge, who heard her appeal with Blackie just before his
retirement.
Blackie said he was the victim of a political vendetta.
That was
echoed by the U.N. rapporteur on the independence of judges and
the
judiciary, Param Cumaraswamy, who said Blackie's arrest was
''intimidation
of the gravest kind.''
Zimbabwe state media alleged
that Blackie had a history of favouring
fellow whites while on the
bench.
On Monday, state prosecutors told a magistrate court that they
were
withdrawing the charges against Blackie. They gave no reasons and
officials
from the attorney-general's office and the ministry of justice
were
unavailable for comment.
In a statement, Blackie said the
charges against him had been
withdrawn because the state had no valid
case.
Libya Expected to Resume Fuel Supplies Soon
The Herald
(Harare)
June 28, 2003
Posted to the web June 30, 2003
Itai
Musengeyi
Harare
ZIMBABWE and Libya yesterday signed a bilateral
agreement to expand
co-operation in various fields in a development expected
to see Tripoli
resume fuel supplies to Harare soon.
Foreign Affairs
Minister Cde Stan Mudenge, signed on behalf of the
Government while his
Libyan counterpart, Mr Abdul Mohammed Shalgem, signed
on behalf of his
country at a ceremony held in central Tripoli.
This follows talks
between President Mugabe and Libyan leader Colonel
Muammar Gadaffi, the two
countries' ministers of foreign affairs as well as
the oil industry and
banking officials.
The meetings began on Wednesday when President Mugabe
and his delegation
arrived and were concluded on Thursday night.
Mr
Shalgem said Libya would continue supporting Zimbabwe through
bilateral
co-operation in various sectors including the oil
industry.
"The first shipment of oil to Zimbabwe will be dispatched as
soon as
possible," he said.
The Libyan minister added: "Now we have a
basis for co-operation in all
sectors and Libya is keen to accelerate and
expand co-operation in
Zimbabwe."
Cde Mudenge hailed Libya for its
continuous support of Zimbabwe in the wake
of sanctions imposed on Harare by
some Western countries.
He said the agreement signed yesterday reaffirmed
an earlier one that the
two countries already had on fuel
procurement.
"Certainly there will be fuel coming from Libya very soon,"
said Cde
Mude-nge.
Libya had stopped fuel supplies after Zimbabwe
failed to export beef,
tobacco and sugar to the North African country due to
drought.
President Mugabe and his delegation left for an official visit
to Egypt soon
after the signing ceremony.
During the visit, the
President will hold talks with his Egyptian
counterpart Mr Hosni Mubarak and
tour a number of local factories.
The Zimbabwean Ambassador to Egypt, Mr
Aaron Maboyi Ncube, and Egyptian
Prime Minister, Dr Atef Ebeid met the
Zimbabwe delegation at Cairo
International Airport.
The Zimbabwe
delegation includes the First Lady, Cde Grace Mugabe, Cde
Mudenge, Minister
of Energy and Power Development, Cde Amos Midzi, senior
Government and Noczim
officials, and the Jewel Bank chief executive officer,
Dr Gideon Gono.
IOL
Govern with Mugabe? No way, says Tsvangirai
June 30 2003
at 11:09AM
Harare: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
has rejected the idea
of forming a unity government with President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Mugabe's re-election last year has been contested by
Tsvangirai's Movement
for Democratic Change.
"We are not going to
negotiate a government of national unity with Zanu-PF,"
Tsvangirai was quoted
as saying today in the independent Daily News.
"The MDC can only
negotiate the issue of a transitional authority which will
work towards
resolving the issue of legitimacy in a process in which the
people of
Zimbabwe have a say through a free and fair election."
Tsvangirai
ran against Mugabe for the presidency in March last year.
Tsvangirai ran
against Mugabe for the presidency in March last year in an
election which the
MDC has decried as riddled with fraud and marred by
intimidation and
violence.
The MDC is contesting the result of the election - which
returned Mugabe,
who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to power -
in the courts.
The MDC's refusal to recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe's
legitimate leader
resulted in the breakdown of talks between it and Zanu-PF
that were intended
to pull the country out of its deep political, social and
economic crises.
Inflation is running at more than 300% a year, 70% of
the able-bodied
population is unemployed and about half the population of
11.6-million is
facing famine due to drought and chaotic land reforms
launched by Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, meanwhile, faces two charges of treason,
one arising from an
alleged plot to "eliminate" Mugabe before the 2002
election and the other
brought early this month for allegedly calling for the
violent removal of
the government after a week of MDC-organised
protest.
Treason carries the death sentence in Zimbabwe. -
Sapa-AFP
Daily News 30/6/2003
150 injured by state security agents, says
report
AT least 150 people sought medical attention this month
for injuries
sustained during
attacks by suspected State
security agents, according to the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human
Rights (ZADHR).
In its report for June, the ZADHR said the
statistics were culled from
medical reports.
The ZADHR said:
“These patients were seen by members of the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors
for Human Rights and represent a small sample of the
total number seen by
doctors throughout the country.”
Many of the injuries were
sustained during assaults perpetrated during
this month’s anti-government
protests, which were spearheaded by the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Several people say they were assaulted by the police
or soldiers
during the mass action, which ran from 2 to 6 June. There have
also been
reports of people being assaulted immediately after the mass action
in a
campaign of retribution.
The ZADHR said in its June report:
“Testimonies taken during this time
from many of the victims of violence in
the high-density suburbs of Harare
included stories of being invaded forcibly
by uniformed military personnel
in the early hours of the morning, and then
being severely assaulted with
blunt objects for periods of up to an hour
while being accused of having
organised the ‘mass action’.”
The
report says some of the assault victims allege that they were then
made to
carry their groceries, cash and valuables, including cell phones, to
vehicles
and surrender them to their attackers.
According to the report,
more than 40 people were examined in hospital
casualty departments on 4 June
after they were assaulted in this fashion in
two adjacent high-density
suburbs in Harare.
More than half of them required hospital
admission for extensive soft
tissue injuries and fractures of the bones of
their hands and arms.
The report, compiled after the 2-6 June mass
action, contains
pictorial evidence of the extent of some of the injuries
inflicted on
civilians.
“The apparent sense of impunity for
their actions demonstrated by the
perpetrators is very disturbing,” the
doctors’ human rights association said
in its report. “The most fundamental
of human rights are abused when people
are injured in this way.”
The organisation also condemned the invasion by state security agents
of
clinics where assault victims were seeking medical attention.
During the MDC mass action, called to press the ruling ZANU PF into
agreeing
to a negotiated political settlement, state security agents are
said to have
besieged the Avenues Clinic in Harare and attacked people who
were seeking
medical assistance at the clinic.
The ZADHR expressed grave concern
at what it said was the regular and
increasingly organised use of violence,
including torture, by agents of the
state and the ruling party. The
association says over the past three years,
doctors in Zimbabwe have become
increasingly concerned at the extent of
deliberately inflicted violence in
terms of numbers and severity of the
injuries documented.
Local
and international human rights groups blame most of
the
politically
motivated violence that has hit ZImbabwe in the
past three years on
supporters of the ruling ZANU PF.
Their
surveys show that most of the violence has been directed at MDC
supporters,
their families and members of the public perceived to be allied
to Zimbabwe’s
main
opposition party.
Some reports have also
implicated state security agents in the
violence, allegations
that the government has denied.
The government has in the past
accused people wanting to tarnish the
image of the police and army of
perpetrating some of the violence blamed on
state security
agents.
Recently, several people said to be deserters from the
Zimbabwe
National Army were paraded before journalists and confessed to acts
of
violence they said were
carried out in collusion with the
MDC.
Daily News 30/6/2003
Leader Page
Between the devil and the
sea
ZIMBABWEANS must be staggered by reports that the government
needs
an extra $657 billion to fund its expenditure for this year, money it
does
not have and has little real hope of raising.
Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa is said to be preparing to present a
massive $657
billion supplementary budget to Parliament, which will provide
extra funds
for the ministries of Defence, Health, Education, Home and
Foreign Affairs as
well as the President’s Office and Cabinet.
About $113 billion more
than the $770.2 billion 2003 national budget,
the size of the proposed
supplementary budget reflects the country’s
hyper-inflationary environment,
in which inflation is expected to end the
year at more than 500
percent.
It is not clear how Treasury plans to finance the
proposed
supplementary budget.
However, Deputy Finance Minister
Chris Kuruneri is reported to have
told business leaders last week that in a
contracting economy, the
government – whose appetite for funds is
unfortunately not shrinking at the
same rate as the economy – has no option
but to print money.
The government is clearly in a no-win situation
as demands for funds
continue to grow unabated while revenue is rapidly
declining.
On the one hand, Zimbabwe urgently needs to import food,
fuel and
electricity to avert starvation and keep industry functioning, but
most
local exporters are facing collapse because of a harsh
operating
environment.
Zimbabwe is facing severe foreign
currency shortages at a time more
than five million people need emergency
food aid and regional power
suppliers have threatened to switch ZImbabwe off
if it does not settle debt
arrears.
As if that were not bad
enough, the country’s educational and health
sectors are on the verge of
collapse because of insufficient funds. Schools
and hospitals have been hit
by an exodus of disgruntled teachers, nurses and
doctors who have left
Zimbabwe in search of better pay and working
conditions, leaving a public
health system that most ZImbabweans only
utilise because they cannot afford
anything else and which provides little
real health care.
Indeed, one public hospital is even said to have run out of oxygen
last week,
seriously endangering the lives of a large number of patients.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s already embattled justice delivery system is
facing a
mass exodus of magistrates who say they are fed up with working
for
practically nothing.
And yet while all these public services
legitimately require more
money to remain operational, where this money will
come from is a question
that must be causing Treasury a great deal of
concern.
Because the government has alienated foreign investors
and
international multilateral institutions through its ill-considered
policies,
Zimbabwe cannot expect inflows of foreign direct investment or
balance of
payments support to take up some of the slack.
The
Ministry of Finance cannot raise taxes because Zimbabwean are
already
overtaxed and most are unemployed anyway. Many companies are making
serious
losses and several have closed down, affecting the country’s
revenue
base.
Continued borrowing on the local market will only
fuel inflation, as
will printing money, further accelerating ZImbabwe’s
economic meltdown.
None of these solutions would address the
fundamental causes of the
country’s crisis anyway, which the present
government has persistently
failed to come to grips with in the past three
years.
At this late stage, it must be increasingly clear to most
Zimbabweans
that it is only a waste of time to expect or appeal to the
present
government to adopt policies that will put Zimbabwe on the right
economic
track.
Such appeals have yielded nothing substantial in
the past three years
and will continue to yield nothing until Zimbabwe has a
government that is
willing to prioritise the interests of the nation above
those of its own
political survival.
It is well past time
Zimbabwe’s leaders admitted their own
shortcomings and made way for a
government that is willing to put the people
first.
No bluff
or bluster can cover these blunders
I believe that Zimbabweans must
brace themselves for another visit by
our government’s much loved tame
African-American, Coltrane Chimurenga.
I say this because I cannot
think who else the ruling party can
possibly drag out to try and undo some of
the damage done in the last week
by two people: Enos Chikowore and Colin
Powell.
The harm done to Zimbabwe’s image by two such different
people can
surely not even be repaired by Junior Minister of Information
Jonathan Moyo.
Speaking on ZBC television last week was our failed
former minister of
transport, Chikowore. For those who have forgotten, this
is the man who
watched the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe being looted and
then fuddled
his way through the beginning of our fuel crisis.
No amount of bluff, bluster or excuses could put petrol in our tanks
then and
he finally stepped down when he realised that people had really had
enough of
his blunders. Chikowore is now the secretary of yet another
government
inquiry into just exactly what is happening on our country’s
commercial
farms.
Chikowore has been out of the public eye for a couple of
years and, to
his immense benefit, he’s finally learnt to tell it almost like
it is.
Chikowore announced that of the 6 001 farms seized by the
Zimbabwe
government in the last three years, only 245 have actually been
“legally”
taken over according to our courts.
He went on to say
that only 137 farmers, out of 6 001, have been
compensated for the buildings
and infrastructure on their properties.
Addressing an extremely
bored-looking committee, Chikowore went on to
mumble about the courts and
their inefficiency and the lengthy processes
required in legalising the theft
of people’s homes, equipment and life’s
work.
No doubt the
courts will now be blamed for the lack of food on our
tables in 2003. Every
year there has had to be someone or something to
blame. In 2002 it was the
drought, in 2001 it was the white racist
Rhodesians and in 2000 it was a
long-forgotten cyclone.
Chikowore’s figures and the findings of the
Lands and Rural
Resettlement Commission are going to be impossible to cover
up.
Perhaps the next time Chikowore goes public on ZBC he should go
all
the way in telling it like it is and give full reasons for this
disastrous
state of affairs. He would at least save our newsreaders the
embarrassment
and shame of waffling on about white Rhodesians who have hidden
their title
deeds outside the country.
Chikowore should admit
that to this very day, there is complete
lawlessness on the country’s farms.
He should tell the country that people
who squatted on farms in 2000 are now
being evicted by war veterans and that
they in turn are being evicted by
political chefs (heavyweights).
Chikowore should admit that this
entire land grab has been a shambolic
disaster from the very first day and is
the only reason why his government
still cannot put petrol in our tanks or
food in our shops.
Far harder to cover up though will be the words
written in a most
unusual editorial in the New York Times on 24 June by
United States
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Speaking about
the dreadful state of Zimbabwe and what he called the
“cynical” land reform
programme, Powell did not blame courts or cyclones,
droughts or
whites.
He said the beneficiaries were “idle party hacks and
stalwarts, not
landless peasants. As a result,” he went on, “much of
Zimbabwe’s land is now
occupied by loyalists of the ruling Zanu PF party,
military officers, or
their wives and friends.” Powell wrote these words
barely two weeks before
US President George W Bush is to visit a number of
African countries
including Nigeria, Uganda, Botswana and South Africa. The
timing of these
words and his president’s travels cannot be coincidental
because Powell also
wrote: “If the leaders on the continent do not do more to
convince President
Mugabe to respect the rule of law and enter into a
dialogue with the
political opposition, he and his cronies will drag Zimbabwe
down until there
is nothing left to ruin.” There will be a large weight on
the shoulders of
Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Yoweri Museveni, Festus Mogae,
Thabo Mbeki and
others next week as they meet with Bush. Zimbabweans hope
that this time
these African presidents will do the right thing and stop
hiding behind the
colour of their skins. Powell has a black skin and could do
it, so we hope
that Africa’s leaders will follow in his footsteps and say
once and for all
that the crisis in Zimbabwe is about politics and
governance, not land and
race. Only the likes of one African-American,
Coltrane Chimurenga, can now
be called upon to try and deny the words of
Colin Powell, another
African-American.
Cathy Buckle is a
housewife based in Marondera
Daily News 30/6/2003
MDC-ZANU PF dialogue must begin in
earnest
By Chikondi
Chiyembekeza
Phiri
The right time is now, not later. Now that the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who not so
long ago spent
14 days in remand prison for fresh treason charges, is out on
bail, the
ruling ZANU PF and the MDC should seriously ponder on the need to
kick-start
dialogue.
Dialogue if done in good faith could
probably lead to a lasting
solution to rescue the country from further
sliding down the drain.
As things stand now, it is clear that ZANU
PF is bereft of ideas to
resuscitate the country from the unenviable
situation it is engulfed in.
Arguably, it is also the right time
the so-called African troika
comprising Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria and
Malawi’s Bakili Muluzi exert unprecedented pressure,
not the lenient
approach they have been using, to force the two main parties,
more
specifically ZANU PF, to come to the negotiating table for talks with
no
strings attached.
The longer they wait to resume dialogue,
the more damage they will do
to the already dire situation the country is
in.
It is said a stitch in time serves nine. The two parties should
come
to their senses and give dialogue a chance.
The fact is
that Zimbabwe, once the envy of the world, is now a
laughing stock.
Everything, it seems, is not working out for the country.
People
cannot even gain access to their own hard-earned money, which
is unheard
of
the world over.
Inflation, which is hovering at a
record 300.1 percent, is another
disturbing factor that needs the
government’s urgent attention.
To arrest all these and other
already known problems, it is incumbent
upon the ZANU PF regime to swallow
its pride and accept the reality on the
ground.
The condition
which the incumbent establishment is putting forward as
a prerequisite for
the resumption of inter-party dialogue is a non-starter.
I do
subscribe to the popular assertion that the issue of “legitimacy”
cannot be
decided by the MDC as a party, let alone by Tsvangirai.
Legitimacy
lies in the hands of the electorate, who strongly believe
their victory was
stolen during the 9-11 March 2002 presidential poll, so
there is no two ways
about it.
Also, to lay blame squarely on Tsvangirai saying that he
broke off the
talks and resorted to going to the streets is a complete
mockery of the
truth.
MORGAN Tsvangirai
It
is a fact that Tsvangirai never gave any preconditions for talks,
but Mugabe
did. “Does Tsvangirai now recognise me?” is what Mugabe said
after the
African troika’s visit. Tsvangirai said he was ready for
talks
forthwith.
Mbeki has often been quoted as saying that the
calamities dogging
Zimbabwe can only be solved by its own
people.
I believe that the rival parties, MDC and ZANU PF, should
engage in
conclusive talks.
If one other party does not want to
talk, the other party that puts
the welfare of people at heart should
pressurise the other to concede, hence
the recent successful push by the
MDC.
Dialogue, which I strongly hope is imminent, more especially
with the
coming of United States President George W Bush to Africa, would
bring a
democratic culture and legitimacy to Zimbabwe. It would ensure that
people
are given a chance to have a say in the running of their
country.
Talks worked in the tiny southern African country of
Malawi during the
height of
the dictatorial 31-year rule of
Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
Through the talks, Banda eventually bowed
down and agreed to the
referendum
that led to the ushering in of
a multi-party democracy in 1993.
In Angola, the main rebel
movement, the Union for Total Independence
in Angola, and the government
agreed to talks and this led to a ceasefire.
This of course
happened after the death of Jonas Savimbi, who was seen
as a stumbling block
to peace.
Also in Burundi, rival tribes, the Hutu and Tutsi, agreed
to a
three-year transitional government after talks brokered by former
South
African president Nelson Mandela.
Effectively, this led to
the handing over of power from Pierre Buyoya
of the minority Tutsi, to
Domitien Ndayizei, a Hutu. All this hammers the
point home that if dialogue
is given space, things are bound to turn out
positively.
The
government should seriously think of releasing Tsvangirai’s
passport
which
it is withholding, to enable him travel to Malawi to meet
with Muluzi,
who was tasked with the responsibility by the troika to
facilitate the
talks.
In so doing, the regime would be seen to
be considering the welfare of
the people, who are struggling to make ends
meet in order to live a
prosperous life. Alternatively, the onus is on Mugabe
to choose who takes
over from him.
There is the need to urgently
groom whoever is poised to take over the
reins of power from Mugabe to avoid
a power vacuum in what was once the
strongest but now hugely unpopular
party.
It is my belief, and indeed that of everyone, that the
Mugabe regime
will wake up from its deep slumber, realise that the country is
hanging by a
thread and resort to dialogue. The regime is caught between a
hard rock and
place with no solution in sight. So dialogue appears to be the
only workable
solution.
Daily News 30/6/2003
LETTERS
Mamoepa and Moyo a
pair of hypocrites
The main front page item in The Herald of 25
June 2003 was a report
that Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and spokesman
for the South African
Department of Foreign Affairs Ronnie Mamoepa have been
whining about
comments by United States Secretary of State Colin Powell
concerning
Zimbabwe, which were printed recently in the New York Times and
reproduced
in The Daily News on 26 June under the heading Freeing a Nation
from a
Tyrant’s Grip.
Moyo and Mamoepa were reported as
complaining that Powell was
“interfering in the internal affairs of
Zimbabwe”, and should lay off.
What a pair of contemptible
hypocrites Moyo and Mamoepa are, but then,
we always knew that.
Perhaps this admirable pair would like to describe to us the
difference
between what Powell is doing for democracy, and what the ZBC, The
Herald and
all the other government-controlled media were doing in the years
from 1980
until Namibia became independent and the apartheid regime in South
Africa was
replaced by a majority rule government? Who can forget the
Zimbabwe
government’s sustained hate campaign against South West Africa and
apartheid
South Africa, with such programmes as the nightly Voice of Namibia
on ZBC,
for example, and the ban on sporting contacts with South Africa?
Our own Mugabe-led government is just as rotten, corrupt and
sadly
considerably less competent than was that of PW Botha of South
Africa.
So, keep it up, Powell – we need all the help we can
get!
M A Mason
Daily News 30/6/2003
LETTERS
Zimbabweans should never give up
hope for the country
I had a chance encounter with a Zimbabwean man,
probably in his early
thirties. He was with his daughter and we met in a
supermarket. I can’t
recall how our conversation began – probably we were
both complaining about
escalating prices in particular and the general mess
Zimbabwe’s economy is
in. Our conversation began in earnest when he said he
felt like giving up on
the situation in Zimbabwe. I told him that is not what
he should think of
doing. However as he opened up to me, I learnt that he was
from Matabeleland
and that he had obviously had first-hand experience of the
atrocities
(President Mugabe’s “moment of madness”) committed in the 1980s.
He was
close to tears as he told me about the many unclaimed victims whose
bones
still litter the countryside. He had obviously seen some of them and I
would
guess that they include some of his relatives. One particular comment
he
made that I remember was that in one case, the unclaimed skeleton still
has
the person’s ID card next to it and can thus readily be identified. Close
to
tears, he said that it was not possible to claim such bodies to give them
a
decent burial because the result would be that “you would join them” as
a
dead and unidentified victim. I told him that he should not give up for
many
reasons – including for his own and his daughter’s future and for the
memory
of the many thousands of innocent victims of the massacres –
especially so
that they did not die in vain and because to give up was to
hand victory to
the forces of evil. We parted company but met again briefly
outside the
supermarket. I tried again to encourage him not to give up hope
for his
country and he seemed to respond. He thanked me for my effort,
albeit
inadequate, to revive his spirits and seemed to agree that he should
not
surrender to the oppressor. How many such people are there in Zimbabwe
–
people ready to “give up”? People who may well have had direct experience
of
the brutality that has been inflicted on so many of our fellow citizens?
How
many people can be encouraged by a few words spoken even in
casual
conversation? There are so many opportunities to communicate with
others –
to spread the message of hope and the need for everyone to
participate in
efforts to restore sanity to Zimbabwe. How often do we take
advantage of the
queues that we join daily to talk to and encourage our
fellow sufferers?
There is so much that can be done at an individual level as
well as at the
national political level. Both are necessary and
inter-related; one will not
succeed without the other. Do we take advantage
of every opportunity – in
queues at the bank; at the supermarket till
counter, waiting for endless
amounts of near-worthless notes to be counted;
at work (for the lucky few);
at church; at social gatherings; when purchasing
The Daily News and
rejecting The Herald. (I was going to include fuel queues,
but they seem to
be a thing of the past as there is now only “black market”
fuel available.)
There are so many opportunities for us to encourage others
to remain
positive and to get involved for the sake of the future of their
country,
and also for the sake of all those who have suffered and died for
the cause
of a free and prosperous Zimbabwe (both before and since
independence). It
is to our eternal shame as a nation (and that of the
regional and
international community) that we did not respond adequately to
the massacres
in the 1980s. The least we can do is to ensure that we never
again have a
government capable of inflicting such brutality on its citizens.
My
recounting of my brief meeting cannot convey the emotion of the moment,
but
I don’t think I will ever forget this encounter, an unexpected
confrontation
with Zimbabwe’s tragic recent past. I certainly hope that I
won’t.
Hopefully, also the young man’s resolve to continue to work for a
better
future for himself, his family and his fellow countrymen and women has
been
restored. I think that it has. R E S Cook Harare Ban on fuel containers
won’
t solve problem May i take this opportunity to express my opinion of
the
government’s move to ban carrying fuel in containers. This can be likened
to
a situation where one is not allowed to carry a packed lunch to work
when
one cannot find anything to eat away from home. Even the so-called
nutty
professor should have censured the lack of initiative and simple
reasoning
shown by the “minister of no energy”. The move is a non-event. What
would
one do when one needs to refuel along the way on a 500km journey?
Think
again, minister. There are better ways of solving the problem; you
can’t
solve a problem by creating another. Better muyende. You’d better
resign if
you can’t run the ministry. Your ban indicates that you have no
“spine”. You
are doing more damage to the already tattered image of your
ministry.
Lawrence Guze Harare I didn’t mean to rip you off! On Thursday 26
June, I
was purchasing a carton of cigarettes for my husband in a supermarket
in
Borrowdale. Owing to the acute shortage of cash available at the moment,
I
offered to use my bank card to pay for the groceries, which the lady
ahead
of me was purchasing. She, in turn, paid me the equivalent in cash. Or
so we
thought. When I returned home, I realised that this very helpful lady
had in
fact overpaid me! I would very much like to reimburse her, as she
really was
doing me a favour, and it hurts me to think that she has lost
money in the
process. My e-mail address is dst@zol.co.zw. I can still easily
recognise
this lady again, so no chancers, please! Apologetic Harare Reward
offered
for return of bag A Reward is offered for a black bag that went
missing from
the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) map library on 18 June 2003
around 11:30 am.
The bag contains the following items: a black folder,
leather cheque book
holder, bank pass books, bank cards, set of keys,
business documents, and
most importantly, notes which I want to use for my
examination preparations.
n The money that was in the bag is not important,
but the documents are
essential and I would be happy if I could get them
back. If found, please
phone me on cell number 091329567 or take the bag to
room G121 New Complex 1
at the UZ campus. E Jack University of Zimbabwe
Consumers can pay water
bills in forex As someone who has a personal interest
in the general subject
of all public utilities, I have been rather dismayed
by some of the problems
faced by the authorities in all areas of Zimbabwe in
trying to supply
adequate supplies of sanitary water. As we all know, one of
their problems
is the chronic shortage of foreign exchange to pay for spare
parts for
equipment, chemicals, etc. In regard to the Harare water supply at
least, I
have a suggestion. I am now sending it to you because I have been
unable to
determine the correct place to directly send it to in the Harare
local
government structure. I don’t know who to send it to, but, perhaps you
do
(if you think this idea has any merit). Some time ago, the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority started giving a discount to some
export
businesses in return for them paying their bills directly in
foreign
exchange. As far as I am aware, there seem to have been no objections
to
them doing so. Therefore my suggestion is since Harare has various
export
businesses located within the city, why should the local water
authorities
not make a similar offer to some of their water customers?
Granted, it
probably will not raise that much foreign exchange, but with the
current
situation every additional rand, US dollar or British pound, would
certainly
help. Incidentally, I think you should know, that I am just an
ordinary
white American, who works as a store clerk, and who is simply trying
to get
a basic understanding about what is going on in the rest of the world.
As
such, I read the on-line editions of various African newspapers,
including
those in your country, both yours and the government-controlled
Herald.
Scott Steen USA Some newspapers are like extracts from a lunatic’s
memoirs
Some years ago, I walked out of my arranged marriage with
the
government-controlled Press in Zimbabwe in protest at its romanticising
of
the then budding dictatorship of President Robert Mugabe. I had had
enough
of the psychological torture emanating from my partner’s hero-worship
of the
emerging regime of state terror. Now, with Mugabe’s dictatorship on a
total
rampage, I’ve since reconciled with my partner and am committed to
reading
it for as long as the regime is in power. Am I out of my mind? Maybe!
I
value the perspective afforded by the independent Press, particularly
The
Daily News, which I just can’t afford to miss on any day. But
the
unparalleled objective and investigative journalism in the independent
Press
can only reveal half the true emotional health of this dictatorship and
its
hangers-on. In this serious war we’re engaged in, we cannot afford not
to
know the enemy’s evolving state of mind. Reading about a crazy man
roaming
the streets of Harare day and night, deliberately bumping into
everyone and
everything that crosses his path is different from spending time
with him.
Reading the government-aligned newspapers these days is like
reading the
memoirs of a lunatic; it is like spending a day in confinement
with a
totally insane individual, listening to him rant and rave. It is
tantamount
to a rare one-on-one interview, absorbing every word, gesture and
facial
expression. Talk of internal agony and desperation; this picture
is
unparalleled! What a job it must be for the journalists in
the
state-sponsored Press to hide this agony; to cope with the
intellectual
bankruptcy of the likes of Jonathan Moyo and Tafataona Mahoso;
to keep up
with the ZANU PF membership’s misplaced fantasies of a sustained
future!
Mugabe’s dwindling army of apologists outside the journalism
fraternity is
in something of a quandary too. Recently, a letter in a local
government
daily urged Mugabe to serve his entire term. The writer described
the
President as a principled‚ a self-respecting African and Pan-African of
the
highest order. He talked of the vast majority‚ who voted for and
still
support Mugabe. He confessed that he is disturbed by rumours of
Mugabe
secretly contemplating retirement. He pleaded with Mugabe to stay on
and
pledged that he and other supporters would brook no nonsense from
the
opposition camp. I guess that as we embrace the irrevocably
approaching
hurricane of democracy in Zimbabwe, we can still allow our fellow
citizens
on the other side a last kiss with their old ideals and fantasies.
What kind
of democrats would we be if we stifled the kind of lunacy pervading
Mugabe’s
camp, as daily pronounced by the state-controlled Press today?
Obert
Ronald
Madondo Ohio, USA
Daily News 30/6/2003
Bulawayo banks run out of cash
Own
Correspondent
BULAWAYO – Several banks in Bulawayo ran out of cash
this weekend while
others had to ration banknotes, leaving many residents of
Zimbabwe’s second
city stranded.
People were moving from one bank to
another since Friday afternoon in search
of money, with most financial
institutions only allowing customers to
withdraw between
$5 000 and
$30 000.
Percy Ndlovu, a municipal worker, said he had made several trips
to his
bank, where the maximum withdrawal limit has only been $5 000 since
last
week.
“To get $30 000, it means I have to go to the bank for six
days and it means
I cannot buy anything substantial since the money is coming
in bits and
pieces,” said Ndlovu.
Zimbabwe’s financial institutions
have for several months been experiencing
a shortage of banknotes blamed
primarily on the central bank’s inability to
print money.
The Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe is said to have no foreign currency to import
the special
ink and paper needed to print banknotes.
Long and winding queues of
people carrying bags are now a common sight at
banking halls and automated
telling machines.
On pay day, the queues begin to form from as early as 6
am as people try to
get their salaries from the banks.
Many people
have been unable to withdraw their wages, with banks advising
them that they
can only give limited amounts of cash.
Most of the cash being supplied by
the banks is in $50 and $100 notes.
Most banks still have inadequate
supplies of cash despite the injection of
new $500 notes on the market by the
central bank last week.
New bank notes can however now be seen in
circulation.
Cash shortages have been worsened by the fact that many
large retail
outlets, security companies and big businesses are no longer
banking their
takings, preferring to hold on to their money.
One
commercial bank was last week only giving out $50 000 to companies, an
amount
that the bank manager said was inadequate.
The erosion of the value of
the Zimbabwe dollar by inflation is also forcing
many people to hold on to
large amounts of cash, which they need for their
day-to-day
transactions.
The low interest rates offered by banks are also
discouraging many
Zimbabweans from depositing their money.
Black
market activities, both for foreign currency and basic commodities,
have also
led to people holding on to large amounts of cash.
Sunday Times (SA)
SARB grants Zimbabwe R68.m overdraft
Monday
June 30, 2003 15:14 - (SA)
By Donwald Pressly
The South African
Reserve Bank has granted an overdraft facility to the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe of up to 75 million rand which matures on December
31, 2003, says
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Manuel said the facility
dated "as far back as June 1987". Responding to a
question from Democratic
Alliance deputy finance
spokesman Pierre Rabie who asked what proactive steps
were being taken to
prevent the debt agreements between the SARB and the
Zimbabwean government
from being broken.
"The (SA) Reserve Bank
conducts all its business in accordance with best
market practices which
provides for approved collateral against overdraft
facilities," noted
Manuel.
"The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has lodged securities to the value
of 82.5
million rand against their facility. The outstanding balance of
this
facility as at June 18, 2003 was 67.7 million rand."
Interest at
a rate based on the average repurchase rate of the South African
Reserve Bank
for the immediate preceding month is payable on the
amount
utilised.
"Over the years, the terms and conditions referred to
have been met," noted
Manuel.
Independent (UK)
Bush delivers unprecedented snub to Mandela in Africa
visit
By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
01 July
2003
President George Bush will make history next week when he
becomes the first
head of state not to ask for a meeting with Nelson Mandela
while on a visit
to South Africa.
Officials say there is no precedent,
except during large summits such as the
UN earth summit in Johannesburg last
year when heads of state visited in
huge numbers. But even then, world
leaders lined up to visit Mr Mandela at
his upmarket residence in
Johannesburg, and others met him at official
events.
But when Mr Bush
lands in South Africa next week on his first visit to
Africa, the world's
most powerful leader will not meet the world's most
famous statesman. Mr Bush
had not asked for a meeting with Mr Mandela, the
former president's
spokeswoman said.
The two met at the White House soon after the 11
September suicide attacks,
and Mr Mandela expressed support for Mr Bush in
hunting down those
responsible in Afghanistan. But they fell out when Mr Bush
turned on Iraq,
and Mr Mandela dismissed the US leader as a President who
"cannot think
properly" for bypassing the United Nations.
Mr Mandela
also made a scathing attack on Tony Blair, labelling him the
"Foreign Affairs
Minister of the United States". He has reportedly made
peace with Mr Blair
after apologising in a phone discussion in which he
admitted that his vitriol
might have been a bit over the top. But Mr Mandela
did not retract his firm
opposition to the Iraq war.
He repeated his attack on Mr Bush when he met
the French Foreign Minister,
Dominique de Villepin, in Johannesburg on
Friday, and heaped praise on the
French President, Jacques Chirac, who
opposed the war.
Asked whether he would voice his concerns to Mr Bush
during his visit, Mr
Mandela replied: "Do not assume that he will meet with
me," in what was
taken as a snub addressed to the US President. Apparently,
Mr Bush will not
easily forgive a man widely regarded as the moral conscience
of the world.
A US embassy spokesman said that Mr Bush's schedule had not
been finalised,
but he held out little prospects of a Bush-Mandela meeting.
The US
President, who will meet President Thabo Mbeki, visits Africa from 7
to 12
July for talks, including how to help the continent out of poverty so
it
does not become a breeding ground for terrorists. Other items on the
agenda
will cover Zimbabwe, US help for fighting Aids, removal of US farm
subsidies
that helped to destroy African agriculture, and support for the
economic
renewal programme, the New Partnership for African Development.