The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
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ZCTU
secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe yesterday wrote to Finance
and
Economic Development minister Herbert Murerwa, demanding an explanation
for
the cash shortages and the government’s solution for the
crisis.
“The ZCTU gives your ministry 14 working days to
address the situation
and also to come up with a long-term solution, failure
of which workers
would be forced to mobilise for action to force the
government to address
the grave situation,” Chibhebhe said in his
letter.
The ZCTU secretary-general would not be drawn into
commenting on what
action the workers would take if the government failed to
resolve the
crisis.
His letter was written as bankers and
Finance Ministry officials were
said to have held meetings over the
possibility of introducing a
“differently-coloured” $500 note and higher
denomination travellers’-type
cheques for the local
currency.
The move is supposed to encourage people hoarding
cash – whom central
bank officials have accused of worsening the cash crisis
– to inject notes
into the banking system.
Local journalists
were yesterday evening summoned to a Press
conference – from which the Daily
News was barred – where some banking
sector officials were anticipating the
new measures would be announced.
However, by the time of going
to print last night, no announcement had
been made and government and banking
sector officials were said to be
closeted in a meeting while journalists
waited for the Press conference to
begin.
Although Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) officials were yesterday not
immediately available for
comment, the Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe
(BAZ) confirmed talks over
proposed solutions to the cash crisis.
BAZ chairman Washington
Matsaira, who is also the chief executive of
Standard Chartered Bank, told
the Daily News: “Yes, there are genuine
discussions to that effect. I cannot
say what your source told you is true
or false, but we are all hoping that
(the) authorities will issue a
statement soon.”
Sources in
the financial sector said bankers met Finance Ministry
officials on Monday
night and discussed the possibility of replacing the
$500 note with a
differently-coloured bill.
This is supposed to induce merchants
and other people holding on to
millions of dollars worth of $500 notes to
release them and improve Zimbabwe
’s cash supply situation.
Local merchants are said to be failing to deposit at least $100
million every
day, while gold dealers around the country and people in fuel
queues could be
trading a combined $500 million.
A grace period would be given
to those holding bank notes to hand in
their $500 notes before they became
useless, sources said.
“The currency will have a different
colour altogether, but may inherit
most of the current notes’ features,” a
source said.
The sources said the introduction of a new $500
note could delay the
printing of the proposed $1 000 note, which was supposed
to be introduced in
November and has been made necessary by soaring
inflation.
They said central bank subsidiary Fidelity Printers’
“presses (would)
have to action on this new money”, making it unlikely that
it could also
print the higher denomination notes in time for
November.
Banking officials said the proposed introduction of
Zimbabwe dollar
traveller’s cheques would limit the demand for cash for some
transactions.
The cash shortages that have gripped Zimbabwe in
the last few months
have made it difficult for most people to withdraw their
money from the
banks to pay for essentials.
They have led to
long queues at banking halls and the threat of riots
by angry bank
customers.
Several financial institutions last weekend had to call
in riot police
to man queues as customers threatened to storm banks. Cash
riots have in the
past caused havoc in Argentina and Zimbabwe’s neighbour,
Zambia, was also
forced to use police details to man bank queues when it
faced a similar cash
crunch. But the ZCTU said in its letter to Murerwa
yesterday that the
deployment of riot police had worsened the situation
because state security
agents were harassing clients in their attempt to
control bank queues. The
ZCTU told Murerwa that: “People have to pay rent,
school fees and buy
groceries with cash, which they cannot get from banks. Up
to now, there has
been no reasonable explanation from your ministry on the
current crisis or
any measures the government is taking to redress the
situation.” By Luke
Tamborinyoka, News Editor and Chris Goko, Deputy Business
Editor
Daily News
Judgment reserved in exemption bid by Mudede,
Chinamasa
HIGH Court judge Justice Antonia Guvava yesterday
reserved judgment
in an application by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede and
Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa for an order to remove them from the list
of respondents
in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s presidential
election
petition.
Mudede and Chinamasa argued in an urgent
chamber application filed on
8 July that they were improperly cited in the
election petition, which also
has President Robert Mugabe and the Electoral
Supervisory Commission as
respondents.
The application came
two days after another High Court judge, Justice
Ben Hlatshwayo, granted an
order sought by the MDC to compel the Registrar
of the High Court to allocate
a date for the hearing of the election
petition.
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai wants the High Court to nullify Mugabe’s
March 2002
re-election, citing violence and what he has termed “massive
electoral
fraud”.
Advocate Adrian de Bourbon, representing Tsvangirai,
said Chinamasa
and Mudede played vital roles in the election petition and
that their
presence would be required by the court during the petition
hearing.
The lawyer queried why Mudede and Chinamasa delayed
their application
to be struck off the list of respondents.
He said if Chinamasa and Mudede believed that they should not be
parties to
the election petition, they should have filed their application
in May last
year when the MDC launched its court petition.
“Clearly, the
motivation relates to the fact that the election
petition is now to be heard
rather than some Damascan revelation that the
first and second applicants had
been mis-joined from the beginning,” the
lawyer said.
“The
present applicants have gone through all the processes relating
to the
election petition, including the filing of affidavits, the
pre-trial
conference, discovery and inspection without once raising the
spectre that
they should not be parties.”
De Bourbon said
Chinamasa and Mudede should not have opposed the
application by Tsvangirai to
have their defence in the election trial struck
off if they believed they
were wrongly cited.
The MDC applied to have the two
respondents’ defences struck off for
allegedly failing to comply with a court
order to furnish the party’s
lawyers with documents relating to the 2002
presidential election.
A judgment is pending before Justice Susan Mavangira in the matter.
“If the applicants truly felt
that they were improperly joined in the
election petition, they should
concede that application,” de Bourbon said.
“But, in fact, they opposed that
application.
“Even now, they have not asked the learned judge
to make an order
against them so that by having their defences struck out,
they will play no
part at the hearing of that
petition.”
Court Reporter
Daily News
ZANU PF youths turn on their own in
Mutare
MUTARE – Four people were injured when a group of
suspected ruling
ZANU PF youths attacked the home of Peter Maviza – a ruling
party councillor
who is seeking re-election as an independent candidate – and
assaulted his
supporters, it was learnt yesterday.
The
youths are said to be demanding that Maviza withdraw from next
month’s
council elections to leave the field clear for ZANU PF candidate
Rudo
Muchinguri.
Maviza decided to stand as an independent candidate
after he lost
primary elections that he says were improperly
conducted.
He is seeking re-election as councillor for Ward
Five in Sakubva
high-density suburb and has been accused of “dividing the
people” ahead of
the local government elections.
Maviza said
about 30 youths descended on his Zororo house on Sunday
afternoon and
indiscriminately beat up his supporters, who were attending a
meeting at the
house.
“The youths beat up everyone with sjamboks and said they
were being
sent by those in high offices,” he told the Daily News. “They said
the
police will not do anything to them and for sure, the police have not
done
anything.”
He said four of his supporters were injured in the attack.
Mutare police spokesman Brian Makomeke yesterday
refused to comment on
the attack, referring all questions to Andrew Phiri at
the police
headquarters in Harare. Phiri could not be reached for
comment.
But Charles Pemhenayi, the ZANU PF spokesman in the
province, said:
“We will be glad to know the people who are doing that so
that we can have
them arrested.”
This is the second time
that Maviza’s home has been attacked and his
supporters assaulted by ruling
party youths.
Last Tuesday, more than 100 suspected ZANU PF
youths armed with sticks
and sjamboks attacked the councillor’s house but
were dispersed by the
police.
Maviza said his problems began
when he decided to contest next month’s
elections as an independent candidate
after the ZANU PF leadership in
Manicaland failed to address complaints from
district members that primaries
were conducted in a non-transparent
manner.
The councillor said he had received several verbal
threats of
unspecified action from ruling party youths.
Maviza is one of five ZANU PF activists who are standing as
independent
candidates in next month’s polls because of disputes over
primary elections
in their respective wards, which they say were
improperly
conducted.
Own Correspondent
Daily News
British MP to present feedback on
Zimbabwe
BULAWAYO – British Member of Parliament Kate Hoey will
soon present
to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and table before
Parliament the
results of a fact-finding mission she undertook in Zimbabwe
this month.
Hoey, a former sports minister who led protests
against the use of
Zimbabwe as a venue during this year’s cricket World Cup
games, came into
the country as a tourist on 19 July and left the country on
Friday.
She said she would present her findings to Straw before
tabling them
before the British Parliament when it resumes sitting this
week.
“I have been getting some disturbing reports about the
situation in
Zimbabwe, so I decided to come and see for myself. The hunger
situation,
human rights abuses and the deteriorating economic situation which
I have
witnessed are shocking,” she told the Daily News before she left the
country
on Friday.
She said she had also visited Zimbabwe to
see what her government
could do to assist those who are “on the sharp
end”.
“What is particularly worrying was that Matabeleland,
particularly
Bulawayo, has been hardest hit by food shortages. But despite
the terrible
stories of hunger and human rights abuses that I heard, I was
touched by the
cheerfulness of the people, their solidarity and
determination,” she added.
During her visit, Hoey met several
local stakeholders, including
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
leader Morgan Tsvangirai in
Harare.
Tsvangirai on Sunday
confirmed meeting Hoey, saying: “I just met her
and updated her on the
current economic and political situation.”
While in Bulawayo,
Hoey visited feeding schemes and Killarney squatter
camp, where she attended
a church service conducted in a shack.
She also visited
Makokoba, Bulawayo’s oldest and one of the most
impoverished suburb. In the
high-density suburb of Gwabalanda, she visited
HIV/AIDS victims and
home-based care organisations.
Hoey also met outspoken Roman
Catholic archbishop Pius Ncube,
economist Eric Bloch and human rights and
political activists.
She also drove to Tsholotsho, where she
said she was told that
thousands of people may die if they do not receive
food aid in the next few
weeks.
“I was genuinely horrified
that areas that were producing food are now
decaying at a time when there is
no food in the country,” she said.
Hoey represents Vauxhall in
central London, which covers Brixton,
where there is a concentration of
Zimbabwean asylum-seekers.
The MP, who will represent Britain
at a regional Commonwealth African
parliamentarian summit in Kenya next week,
said she would also present her
impressions of the situation in Zimbabwe at
the forum.
Zimbabwean government officials have in the past
blamed the country’s
worst economic crisis in 23 years on the British
government, which they
accuse of attempting to topple President Robert
Mugabe’s regime.
The government has imposed a travel ban
against several British
government officials in response to similar sanctions
introduced by the
European Union and several other Western
governments.
From Chris Gande
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
Norwegians seek urgent survey of displaced
people
THE Norwegian Refugee Council has recommended an urgent
survey to
determine the number of people internally displaced in Zimbabwe by
political
violence and the seizure of white-owned land.
In a
report on the plight of internal refugees in Zimbabwe, the
organisation said
at least 250 000 people had been internally displaced in
the past three
years.
Most of them are said to be farm workers, who lost jobs
and homes
under the government’s fast-track resettlement programme. Under the
plan,
the government has taken over most white-owned land to resettle
black
peasants and aspiring commercial farmers.
A large
number of former farm workers and their families have been
forced off the
appropriated properties.
Many people around the country have
also been displaced from their
homes by political violence that has affected
Zimbabwe in the past three
years.
“It is of great concern
that a large number of people in Zimbabwe
remain internally displaced without
protection and largely excluded from
existing humanitarian assistance,” the
Norwegian Refugee Council said.
“In the short run there is an
urgent need for a country-wide survey to
assess the situation, get more
detailed information about the coping
strategies used by the ex-farm workers
themselves, and identify those who
remain internally displaced. However, even
before such a survey has been
undertaken, the government and the humanitarian
community should agree on
how to assist displaced farm workers – especially
how to include them in
their food aid programmes.”
Many
internally displaced people have become destitutes and have been
hit by
severe shortages of food that have left at least 5.5 million
Zimbabweans in
need of emergency food aid.
Most internal refugees have,
however, been left out of humanitarian
initiatives.
The
Norwegian Refugee Council said in its report: “There is a need for
urgent
action to give ex-farm workers access to land and farm inputs before
the
2003/2004 agricultural season. This could include more ex-farm workers
being
included in the government’s land distribution scheme (especially
being
allocated A1 plots) as well as finding temporary solutions to use the
largely
under-utilised land allocated for commercial farming (the
A2
farms).”
The group added: “For those displaced by the
political violence, there
is only one solution. The government must recognise
its obligations under
international human rights law as well as reiterated in
national legislation
to protect all its citizens without regard to political
affiliations.
“This explicitly obliges the government to
protect people from being
arbitrarily displaced. While tending to the
short-term humanitarian needs,
the government and the humanitarian community
must also seek long-term
solutions for the former farm workers. This should
build on the coping
strategies already pursued by the affected people and
must, among others,
focus on regularising the
access to land,
working conditions on the “new” commercial farms, job
security and social
services.
“Special attention must be given to the most vulnerable groups.
“Orphans who have been detached from the
safety nets that many of the
commercial farms used to offer, need special
attention and should be given
priority by initiatives already being
implemented to assist Zimbabwe’s
growing orphan
population.”
Staff Reporter
Daily News
Man-animal conflict continues in Hwange
HWANGE – The heavy duty truck grinds to a halt with a noisy screech
of tyres
to avoid ramming into the large herd of elephants leisurely
crossing the
road. As they amble across the road, the huge animals turn to
gaze at the
equally monstrous truck as it drives past them.
“The section
between Lukosi and Fatima turn-off is a dangerous
stretch. One has to keep a
sharp eye for wild animals,” says truck driver
Kennias Ncube. “There are
elephants, lions, buffaloes and hyenas crossing
from the Hwange National Park
at various points in search of water and
food.”
But as a
haulage truck driver operating along the Victoria
Falls-Bulawayo road,
Ncube’s problems with wild animals is pale in
comparison to those faced by
communities around the Hwange National Park.
Stretching over
slightly more than 14 600 square kilometres, the vast
Hwange National Park is
one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in Southern
Africa, second only to
South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
Among its inhabitants are
endangered species such as the wild dog and
the black and white
rhinos.
A conservationist’s dream, the sanctuary is however
viewed with less
enthusiasm by local communities who have to co-exist with
the national park’
s wild inhabitants.
Most communities on
the fringes of the Hwange National Park view the
animals in the sanctuary as
a threat not only to human life, but to their
livestock and food
security.
Their wariness has been worsened by drought, which
has led to the
drying up of animal watering pans in the national
park.
Severe diesel shortages have compounded the problem,
leaving the
engines that feed the pans with water idle.
Parks and wildlife officers in the Hwange National Park confirmed the
water
problem but declined to comment further.
The result of the
water insecurity, according to Lubimbi councillor
Sikhumbuzo Tshuma, is a
human-animal conflict that has worsened this year,
with elephants straying
into human inhabited areas in search of water along
the Gwayi and Shangani
rivers.
Most affected by the resulting destruction are
communities near Fatima
Mission, Gwayi Siding, Cross Mabale and Cross Dete on
both sides of the
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road.
Even
far-flung areas such as Lubimbi in Binga have been affected, as
animals leave
the national park in search of water.
Tshuma told the Daily
News: “We have two herds of about 50 elephants
that have been here since
January. They are destroying crops in nutrition
gardens along the Gwayi and
Shangani rivers.
“Hyenas and lions are also killing domestic
animals. Together with
occasional visitors like buffaloes, these animals are
threatening the
movement of people, especially school children who walk long
distances to
and from schools.”
villagers say the presence
of the animals in Lubimbi has precipitated
a crisis of unimaginable
proportions in a community already reeling under
the impact of drought and
two failed cropping seasons.
In Lukosi, about 10 kilometres out
of Hwange, villagers fight off
elephant raids and foraging buffaloes are also
destroying crops.
Clarence Moyo, a curio trader in the area,
views the conflict between
villagers and wildlife as the result of human
expediency.
He pointed out: “The interaction between humans and
wild animals has
always been characterised by conflict. On our part, we kill
the animals,
displace them by transforming wildlife habitat areas into human
settlements
and agricultural land.
“We complain of
competition for water sources, threat to food
security, restriction of
movement, reduced school attendance and a general
disruption of daily life.
But people need animals just as the animals need
them.”
He
said the human-animal conflict in Lukosi was less pronounced
because the area
did not have reliable water sources. Said Moyo: “Because of
the scarcity of
water, the animals just pass through here without causing
serious damage. The
only problem is that when they stumble upon green
vegetable gardens, they
always want to come through the same way and end up
establishing a seasonal
animal migration trail. “Warthogs are also a
constant nuisance, but the
danger comes with periodic prides of lions and
hyenas, which threaten both
domestic animals and people.” According to
Tshuma, local communities have had
little success in securing protection
from the wild animals. He said
management and control of the Lubimbi
environmental resources fell under the
Communal Areas Management Programme
For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE),
under which wards with wildlife
resources are supposed to use money from the
organisation to buy their own
ammunition and then invite CAMPFIRE’s Problem
Animal Control Unit to scare
the animals away. This is done by either
shooting into the air or killing
one of the animals if a problem herd is
aggressive. Tshuma said: “We have
failed to meet the CAMPFIRE official at the
rural district council to
present our problem. We are now planning to
approach the Department of
National Parks and Wildlife for protection. That
is the only way we can
remove these animals and save our sources of food.”
CAMPFIRE director
Charles Jonga said his organisation was aware of the
problems faced by the
Lubimbi community, adding that he had communicated
CAMPFIRE’s concerns to
the local council. From Oskar Nkala Staff
Reporter
Daily News
The MDC is putting the cart before the
horse
THE notion of nation-building and compromise are good
qualities in a
revolutionary politician or political organisation. Taking
into stride foes,
friends and supporters in order to reach a lasting solution
to political
crises is the stuff that great politicians are made
of.
Moreover, even having to take risks that at the end of it
all may not
work out in one’s favour is indicative of political bravery. It
is perhaps
this type of political focus that is driving the MDC into
making
ground-breaking political overtures to woo ZANU PF back to the
negotiating
table in order to thrash out new power dynamics in
Zimbabwe.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s presence at the opening of
Parliament, which was
addressed by his rival, President Robert Mugabe, had
many tongues wagging.
The people and colleagues that I came across were
expressing different
viewpoints about the MDC leader’s presence in
Parliament.
For many this move by Tsvangirai was an endorsement
of Mugabe’s
legitimacy – which all along the opposition leader had been
strongly
refuting. For others it was a sign that, finally, the political
stalemate
was thawing and a flood of democracy will envelope
Zimbabwe.
For the sceptics, however, it was much ado about
nothing, small events
being blown out of proportion in order to feed the
gullible Zimbabwean
populace with false hope.
To all intents
and purposes, Tsvangirai’s visit to the Parliament of
Zimbabwe can best be
described as quite a surprise and not necessarily a
pleasant
one.
A surprise primarily because it was not the culmination of
an evident
process of dialogue between ZANU PF and MDC, at least not a
publicly known
process.
In fact, the same day that
Tsvangirai graced our Parliament building,
there had been a crisis in the
nomination process for opposition candidates
in the local government
elections scheduled for August.
There had also been the charging of
the MDC spokesman, Paul Themba
Nyathi under the public Order and Security Act
(POSA).
So when Tsvangirai turned up in Parliament, it was
difficult to judge
whether ZANU PF was reciprocating such a well-intentioned
gesture of
reconciliation when it wasn’t even allowing the opposition to
field
candidates for local government elections, as well as charging a
prominent
member of the opposition with another unconstitutional claim backed
by POSA.
Did Tsvangirai and his party seriously consider their
desire to go to
Parliament with all this in mind? If they did, then they
miscalculated.
This is because gestures such as the one they
undertook in Parliament
are not public gaffes; they are only undertaken on
the basis of visible
political action on either side of the political
spectrum and with obvious
commitment from the ruling party to meet certain
criteria about the
political playing field.
The statement
issued by the MDC after the opening of the fourth
session of the fifth
Parliament was self-explanatory. They had done it for
the purpose of “putting
the ball in ZANU PF’s court”.
This is, however, a fairly weak
standpoint. ZANU PF has never learnt
to play any game fairly. Putting the
ball in ZANU PF’s court is no guarantee
of the game being
fair.
The dramatic shift from not recognising Mugabe’s
legitimacy to tacitly
endorsing his presidency by attending his address in
Parliament is not
placing the ball in ZANU PF’s court in order to get a
return serve – it is
placing the ball in ZANU PF’s court and then never
getting that ball back.
Since 2002, the talk within the MDC is
the illegitimacy of Mugabe, and
now it is all about getting Mugabe to
talk.
The issue is in what capacity does Mugabe come to the
negotiating
table? It is clear that he will come strictly in his capacity as
the current
President of Zimbabwe and with the intention of retaining that
same office.
It has been said before, you don’t sweet-talk a sitting
president to let go
of the presidency. Instead, you manoeuvre your way around
his or her
presidency with the purpose that he or she will see the
inevitability of
losing power.
The way that the MDC has
embarked on is impolitic and it is tantamount
to begging Mugabe to give them
political space.
The intention is not to belittle the MDC’s
efforts, but merely to put
them into perspective. There are fundamental
issues that the opposition
needs to be reminded of.
The
first and the most important is that the people of Zimbabwe are
struggling
essentially for democracy and not for power-sharing agreements.
One might
argue that people do not eat democracy, but in order to eat people
need
democracy.
The MDC is negating on this principle about the
struggle. Its
frustrations with the reluctance of the citizens of Zimbabwe to
take to the
streets during the final push is understandable, but that does
not mean such
mass mobilisation strategies must be abandoned, nor does it
mean engaging in
inter-party dialogue with ZANU PF when the latter is feeling
extremely
comfortable in maintaining its hegemony. The MDC is not yet ready
for the
benevolence that it is trying to show to ZANU PF. It is not very
intelligent
to be benevolent when you are in a weak position. For now it is
Mugabe who
can afford to be benevolent as well as be accepted for it, even by
die-hard
opposition party supporters. The second issue that the MDC needs to
be
reminded of is of the disempowering nature of rushed talks and
power-sharing
arrangements. It cannot be a singular priority to talk to ZANU
PF. If this
is the situation within the opposition party, then the options
are going to
run out and the sole reason for the MDC’s existence will be to
engage in
talks. Talks must take place, but it must also be a fundamental
priority to
continue to build political consciousness around the principles
of democracy
within the Zimbabwean populace. Talks that are not backed by
obvious mass
presence do not achieve the desired results. Tsvangirai’s
presence in
Parliament is essentially his and his party’s prerogative, but it
is my view
that it was not a prudent thing to do for the reasons that have
been
outlined. Shaking hands with Joseph Chinotimba and company is a
dangerous
enterprise. In the talks that Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and
others had
with Pik Botha and Frederic de Klerk in the run-up to South
African
independence, the tide was clearly against apartheid and South
Africans did
not need newspaper adverts in order for there to be
demonstrations. The MDC
runs the serious risk of putting the cart before the
horse. By Takura
Zhangazha
Daily News
How most people will remember Mugabe
EVERY leader in the world must wonder how they will be judged after
they have
gone, from the leadership or from this world. But you would not
imagine that
thought passing through their mind while they are in power.
What preoccupies them then is the immediate benefit to be derived from
their
action at that moment: expediency – politic rather than just.
Would sacking so-and-so boost their popularity with the electorate
before a
do-or-die poll? Would sending troops to quell a minor bar-room
brawl in an
opposition stronghold affect the result of an imminent
by-election in that
constituency?
Would liquidating a popular so-and-so in the
party be good for their
image if it was proved in a postmortem that he died
of AIDS, not a bullet in
the head?
While he lay recovering
after coming out of a coma in a hospital in
Saudi Arabia earlier this month,
Idi Amin may or may not have thought of
these things.
But I
suspect that even after he has gone to the
Great
Corporals-Who-Became-Presidents Parade in the Sky, few people – his
wives,
close relatives, admirers of Hitler and Attila the Hun – will remember
Idi
Amin with genuine fondness.
Like Robert Mugabe, he must
have mysterious, indefinable redeeming
qualities which only those closest to
him may remember.
But for the rest of us Idi Amin was a
political buffoon, apart from
being a political tragedy for Uganda and
Africa.
Uganda, unlike Tanzania, never had a “Nyerere” or even
a “Kenyatta”
after independence. Milton Obote, Godfrey Binaisa and the
soldiers,
including Yoweri Museveni, have all not distinguished themselves as
leaders
of unparalleled rectitude.
Museveni has for a long
time been touted by the West as the ideal
African leader, but his bloody
struggle with the Lord’s Resistance Army has
cost too many lives for him not
to lose some of the shine on his reputation
as a shining example for other
African leaders to emulate.
His “no party” political system had
already cast doubt on his concept
of democracy. Some thought he was just
another African dictator trying to
mask his latent autocratic designs behind
a wall of avuncular benevolence.
Mugabe was at one time
compared in his brutal rule with Idi Amin at
the height of his infamy. Some
thought the comparison was odious. The man
was more educated and far more
intelligent than the hardly-literate
corporal. Moreover, he liked cricket,
whereas Idi Amin was a former boxer.
Others said, with
tongue-in-cheek earnestness, that Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela was a former
boxer as well. But Mandela and Idi Amin spoken of in
the same breath? It was
too sick to contemplate.
Still others said it was precisely
because Mugabe was so much better
equipped intellectually than Idi Amin that
he was more dangerous.
Mugabe once quoted from Aesop’s Fables
to make a point in one of his
speeches. Yet, speaking without notes and
mostly in Shona, he has made
statements which have sent cold shivers down the
spines of most people who
had always, mistakenly, believed that such an
educated man could not be
capable of such brutality.
It is
unkind to speak of Idi Amin so harshly. He was not expected to
recover from
the coma, but the tough former corporal did.
Seriously, he may
not last long enough to take an active part in a
debate about his final
resting place.
How will history remember Idi Amin? How will
history remember Mugabe,
as he is an old man in somewhat dubious health? Will
songs be sung to him,
and not just by the people who benefited from his
patronage, but even those
whose relatives perished in one or two of the
atrocities for which he has
been held responsible?
Will
statues be erected to him, or will future generations be told
that, were it
not for his cruel rule, their country might indeed have flowed
with milk and
honey?
While he was on the point of death, many Ugandans were
asked whether
Idi Amin’s family ought to be granted their wish to bury him in
Uganda.
They were divided. Some thought as a Ugandan, he was
entitled to be
buried in his homeland. Others thought for what he had done to
this same
homeland, he should not be buried in Uganda. There would be riots
if his
body was brought back to the country, they feared. Was Idi Amin a
cannibal?
Or were these rumours floated by his most implacable enemies, among
them
Obote, whose government he toppled? But that he was a disaster as
the
president of Uganda cannot be disputed. I have met a number of Ugandans
who
have spoken, strangely to my mind, of Idi Amin less harshly than they
have
of Obote. All of it had to do with ethnicity, that bane of African
politics
that has laid to waste political careers stretching from Cape to
Cairo. I
doubt that Idi Amin would expect the majority of the people of his
country
to remember him as the leader who dragged them out of the dungeons of
the
Acholi domination of Obote to a new era of freedom under his
own
Nubian-dominated regime. I bet most will remember him for his
uncouth
conduct of state affairs, his expulsion of the Asians and his
humiliation of
the British. Some people might say that in expelling the
Asians he was
promoting a crude indigenisation programme of his own. Mugabe
might be seen
in better light than Amin because his land reform programme has
found many
admirers across the continent. Curiously, even his
anti-imperialistic stance
in relation to the land reform programme has been
received with grudging
respect among Africans, who nevertheless acknowledge
that he has been one of
the worst violators of his own people’s human rights
on the continent. It
will be a long time before his detractors can convince
such Africans that
the land reform programme was the mother of all political
gimmicks – pure
and simple. If it had not been so brutally initiated by the
war veterans
with the invasions of the commercial farms, ZANU PF would have
lost the 2000
general election – again pure and simple. There will be many
biographies
written about Mugabe, most of them “unauthorised”, for this is a
very
secretive man. Only people like James Dambaza Chikerema could
write
authoritative biographies of Mugabe without the fear of being
contradicted.
They grew up with him and from that background the biographer
could flesh
out the essential ingredients that went on to shape the future
philosophy of
the man who launched the Gukurahundi. Some of us, as reporters,
knew him
while covering him and other nationalists after his return from
Ghana. He
was an eloquent speaker of English and distinguished himself as
such during
the glorious days of the National Democratic Party. For some of
us, his
emergence as the leader of ZANU after Ndabaningi Sithole was deposed
was
something of a shock. We were admittedly far away from the theatre of
this
high drama, but we still wondered how he had risen so fast. The true
story
of his meteoric ascension may be told after he has left the political
stage,
which may be sooner than we have always thought. No doubt there will
be an
element of The Mugabe Way even in his exit. By Bill Saidi
bsaidi@dailynews.co.zw
MSNBC
S.Africa seeks quicker return to talks in Zimbabwe
PRETORIA,
July 30 — South Africa said on Wednesday it was pressing for a
quick
resumption of formal talks between Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
and the
opposition, key to fixing the economic crisis battering the
African
nation.
South African Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told
a news briefing
that relations between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and Morgan
Tsvangirai's
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had
''significantly improved
over the last couple of weeks'' and formal talks
were now a matter of time.
Talks between the two political opponents
broke down last year, soon
after the MDC launched a court challenge to
Mugabe's re-election in April
2002. The MDC and several Western governments
say the presidential elections
were fraudulent.
In response to the
challenge, the government said mediation efforts
between it and the MDC must
wait until the courts have ruled. A hearing has
been set for
November.
Zimbabwe church leaders -- after meeting separately both
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai -- said on Tuesday they were close to drawing Mugabe's
government
and the MDC into talks over a deepening crisis in the southern
African
country.
''There is a light at the end of the tunnel. There
is a significant
improvement in relations between the two parties and South
Africa will hold
nothing back in supporting the process,'' Lekota told
reporters, adding he
reflected the views of the South African cabinet which
held a retreat last
week.
''The (formal) talks need to resume as
quickly as possible and we are
anxious that this happens,'' he said,
suggesting South Africa was talking to
both Mugabe and the MDC.
South Africa has been slammed by critics for its ''quiet diplomacy''
approach
in dealing with Zimbabwe, but its moves have been backed in recent
months by
U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister
Tony
Blair.
The MDC accuses 79-year-old Mugabe of mismanaging the
economy over
the last 23 years, leading to record unemployment of over 70
percent,
inflation of 365 percent and lately an acute shortage of
currency.
Mugabe has retorted that the economy has been sabotaged by
his local
and foreign critics in retaliation for his programme to seize
white-owned
farms for distribution to landless blacks.
BBC
Fifa intervenes in Zimbabwe crisis
Fears that
the stand-off between the Zimbabwe Football Association and
the country's
sports minister could escalate have been heightened by the
intervention of
Cosafa - southern Africa's governing body.
Furious at what he perceived
to be government interference in football
matters, Cosafa chairman Ismail
Bhamjee wrote a letter to Zifa and advised
them to stand their
ground.
Bhamjee, who is also a Fifa executive committee member,
wrote: "The
directive issued by your minister will not be accepted by Fifa,
Caf or
Cosafa and could result in the suspension of Zifa from these
international
organisations.
Taking his cue from Bhamjee's
chilling warning, acting Zifa chairman
Vincent Pamire told BBC Sport website
that they were not going to let
politicians bully them out of
office.
Pamire fumed: "We're going to carry on. We know we're only
answerable
to Fifa and Fifa has told us to stay put and act as if nothing
has
happened."
"We always say success is a daughter to many but
failure is an orphan.
Everyone now wants the glory because we've qualified
for the Nations Cup".
Pamire, who took over the hot seat when Leo
Mugabe was forced out,
said Zifa cannot and will not abandon its position
regarding the
government's involvement in football affairs
"Football is the most popular sport in this country and sometimes we
have
problems.
"But I hope politicians will take heed of Fifa's warning
and stay away
from us."
The dispute arose when the sports
minister Aeneas Chigwedere decided
he had had enough of Pamire and his
board.
He ordered Zimbabwe's supreme policy-making body, the Sports
and
Recreation Commission, to wield the axe and get rid of
Pamire's
administration.
But as Fifa has already ordered Zifa to
hold new elections by 30
September 2003, the sports minister was accused of
making an "ill-timed and
unhelpful" decision.
Pamire also
rejected out of hand Chigwedere's assertion that the Zifa
administration was
inept.
"We're very, very competent because despite all the problems
we've
had, we managed to qualify for the Nations Cup finals.
"With our meagre resources we are in the semi-finals of the Cosafa
Cup, so
this shows that we're very competent."
Asked whether he was
prepared to meet the sports minister for talks,
Pamire he was not prepared to
waste his time if "politicians continually
make a difficult job
impossible."
Trading Grinds to a Halt At Tobacco Sales Floor
The Herald
(Harare)
July 30, 2003
Posted to the web July 30,
2003
Harare
TRADING came to a halt yesterday at the Tobacco Sales
Floor after
disgruntled small-scale tobacco farmers disrupted normal business
demanding
an immediate upward review of the exchange rate.
The farmers
disrupted trading at around 11am, as they demanded an audience
with the
Tobacco Industry Marketing Board.
Authorities from the board promised
the farmers that they were going to take
up the matter with the relevant
authorities, as they could not do much at
short notice.
When Herald
Business visited the Tobacco Sales floor yesterday afternoon,
most farmers
were loitering around the premises while waiting for feedback
from TSL
management on the way forward.
One small- scale tobacco grower, Mr
Johaness Nyamayaro of Macheke said there
was an urgent need of an upward
review of the cash crop.
"The prices of inputs such as fertiliser and
chemicals has shot up in recent
months. There is need for an adjustment of
the price, particularly the
exchange rate and the selling price," he
said.
Yesterday prices at the auction floor had reached an all time low
of between
US$1,10 and US$1,15 per kg.
The farmers said they wanted an
upward review of up to US$3,50 to US$4 per
kg.
Another small scale
farmer, Mrs Eniya Chiwawura of Banket said the existing
price was not enough
to enable them to meet production costs.
She said the price of fertiliser
had shot up to $45 000 per bag from $16 000
per bag.
Transport costs
have also risen astronomically with farmers from Mashonaland
West being
charged between $5 000 and $8 000 per bale.
"There is need to ensure that
farmers get good prices to ensure that tobacco
farming remains viable. If the
prices are not adjusted, then the future of
tobacco farming will be
threatened," she said.
Mrs Chiwawura said there was also need to adjust
the exchange rate from the
existing $824 that is being paid for the
greenback.
The Government announced early this year that it would
quarterly review a
number of measures aimed at enhancing economic growth
including the exchange
rate.
TSL managing director, Mr David
Machingamira said they would do everything
possible to resolve the
crisis.
Tobacco is auctioned at three floors namely Tobacco Auction
Floors, Zimbabwe
Industry Tobacco Auction Centre and the Burley Marketing
Zimbabwe.
Business was reportedly going on at a smaller pace at other
auction floors.
Last year, trading briefly came to a halt at the auction
floors when farmers
disrupted business in protest against the low
prices.
The matter was resolved after the Government agreed to review the
prices.
VOA
Zimbabwe's Ruling Party to Hold Important Meeting
Peta
Thornycroft
Harare
30 Jul 2003, 15:59 UTC
Leaders of Zimbabwe's
ruling ZANU-PF party will hold a crucial meeting late
Wednesday to discuss
the future of negotiations with the opposition Movement
for Democratic
Change. The talks follow this week's meetings between church
leaders and
representatives of the two political parties.
It is expected that
President Robert Mugabe will brief his party leadership
on his talks with the
church leaders and their request for details of the
ruling party's plan for
dialogue with the opposition.
Observers here say the key issue for the
ZANU-PF leadership to decide is
devising an exit plan for Mr. Mugabe and
choosing his successor. But they
said, in order to speed up the talks with
the opposition and address
Zimbabwe's rapidly deteriorating economic
situation, the leaders may skip
the leadership issues for the time
being.
The rising hope of political dialogue follows meetings between the
ruling
ZANU-PF party and Zimbabwe's leading church representatives. The
talks
between Zimbabwe's Anglican, Catholic and Methodist churches and the
party
were attended by President Robert Mugabe.
The church leaders met
with the head of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, Morgan
Tsvangirai, on Monday.
The latest flurry of talks follows President
Bush's visit to Africa earlier
this month. Mr. Bush agreed with the South
African president, Thabo Mbeki,
that Zimbabwe must urgently resolve its
political crisis and hold new
elections.
Mr. Mugabe has said he will
not meet with Mr. Tsvangirai until he drops his
legal challenge to last
year's presidential elections, which many political
commentators say were
rigged. The MDC said it would suspend the legal
challenge if serious dialogue
begins.
Zimbabwe is in the midst of the worst economic crisis since its
independence
in 1980, with unemployment running at 70 percent and the country
running out
of everything, including currency needed to buy essential
supplies.
Zimbabwe tackles cash crunch | ||||
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa has said the Z$500 note is to be withdrawn within 60 days, hoping to get people to deposit their notes and replenish the banks with much-needed cash. It will then be replaced with a new version, as well as the country's first Z$1,000 denomination. Zimbabweans have been left with an urgent need for cash owing to runaway inflation which is heading towards 400% and soaring foreign exchange rates. The Z$700m a day being printed despite dire shortages of both ink and paper is being grabbed as fast as it can be produced. Waiting Long queues at Harare banks are now becoming as routine as the queues at petrol stations, according to Tony Hawkins, economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe.
"But for the average Zimbabwean, the maximum you can draw is perhaps a fifth of that, and as I drove through Harare going to my bank I saw long queues of people outside all the banks and the ATMs. "And when you get that cash, it's only going to buy you perhaps five loaves of bread or a few litres of fuel," he explained. Stand-off The crisis - precipitated by the seizing of white-owned farmland which hammered production for both domestic use and exports - has been aggravated by a long drought.
Talks brokered by church leaders seem to be inching the two sides closer to the table. In the meantime, shortages of foreign currency also mean fuel is hard to come by, making the daily commute a challenge for urban workers. The government's recent attempts to extend oil deals with Libya have foundered over opposition to the idea of giving the Libyans Zimbabwe's oil infrastructure in exchange. Officially, unemployment is over 70%, and tight price controls coupled with inflation have led to shortages of basic goods. |
UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks
July 30, 2003
Posted to the web July 30,
2003
Johannesburg
Should talks resume between Zimbabwe's rival
political parties, the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
is likely to insist on the
government restoring the "rule of law", analysts
told IRIN.
Efforts to reopen the dialogue between the ruling ZANU-PF and
the MDC have
intensified in recent weeks with the country's clergy stepping
in as
mediators.
The MDC on Wednesday confirmed that its
president, Morgan Tsvangirai, had
met with local church leaders in a bid to
get the stalled talks restarted,
as a first step on the road to a negotiated
settlement of the Zimbabwean
crisis.
The clergy was awaiting written
responses from both parties, which could
lead to a formal meeting, the local
Daily News newspaper reported.
Zimbabwe Council of Churches president
Bishop Sebastian Bakare is leading
the church delegation. He is accompanied
by Trevor Manhanga, the head of the
Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and
Patrick Mutume of the Zimbabwe
Catholic Bishops' Conference.
The
apparent "public" thaw in relations between the opposition and the
government
came last week after the MDC attended the opening of parliament.
Opposition
MPs last year boycotted the occasion, saying they did not
recognise the
legitimacy of President Robert Mugabe as the head of state.
The MDC is
challenging Mugabe's victory in court, alleging that the polls
held in March
2002 were marred by violence, intimidation and vote-rigging.
Noting
recent statements made by the MDC, observers said Mugabe's legitimacy
would
continue to surface throughout the proposed dialogue, but it would
take a
back seat to some of the more pressing issues facing the country.
The
MDC's legal affairs secretary, David Coltart, told IRIN: "If the
talks
between the MDC and ZANU-PF are done in an earnest way, and endorsed by
the
international community, we will consider holding in abeyance
the
presidential challenge. We have also said if the talks yield a
final
agreement with constitutional guarantees then the MDC will withdraw
the
election petition."
The court challenge is due to start on 3
November.
"The key issue the MDC is likely to raise during the talks is
the
restoration of the rule of law, and that includes repealing repressive
laws
which restrict political activity," chairman of the Zimbabwe
Election
Support Network Reginald Matchaba-Hove said.
Human rights
groups argue that the Public Order and Safety Act, for example,
pushed
through parliament in 2001, severely curtails political expression.
The act
bans any political gathering without police consent.
Another issue which
should be urgently addressed, Matchaba-Hove added, was
the humanitarian
crisis now affecting close to five million Zimbabweans. "It
is important that
the leaders consider the seriousness of the humanitarian
needs in the country
and jointly produce a solid programme to sell to
donors. Inflation is now
close to 365 percent, which is an indication of how
badly the economy is
doing."
"In tandem to all of the other pressing issues, there should be a
discussion
of the drawing-up of a new constitution which is democratic, and
allows for
checks and balances. The discussion should focus on addressing
electoral
reform to ensure that the next election would be substantially free
and
fair. Mugabe's legitimacy is a detail which can be discussed at a
later
stage," he said.
Crisis in Zimbabwe spokeswoman Everjoyce Win
agreed, saying that changes to
the country's constitution were key to
resolving the political impasse.
"The talks should not focus on who has
the right to govern or not, but
address fundamental shortcomings of the
constitution. Talks should consider
how the rule of law has been subverted,
and what can be done to restore some
legitimacy to the state," she
said.
Mugabe's government walked out of political talks with the MDC in
April 2002
after the opposition went to court to challenge the presidential
election
result, saying mediation efforts must wait until the courts ruled on
the
case.
Man-Made Element to Crisis
UN Integrated Regional Information
Networks
July 30, 2003
Posted to the web July 30,
2003
Johannesburg
Alongside the impact of drought, Zimbabwe's
humanitarian crisis has also
been man-made, the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency
Appeal (CAP) for 2003/04 has
noted.
"What initially appeared as a food
crisis in Zimbabwe in 2002 has turned
into a major humanitarian emergency due
to the deteriorating economy,
immense policy constraints, the devastating
effects of HIV/AIDS, and
depleted capacity in the social service sector," the
appeal said.
The country was in its fifth successive year of economic
decline and "faces Zambia Formulates Black Rhino Recovery Plan
By Singy Hanyona
LUSAKA, Zambia, July 29, 2003 (ENS) - One month before the World Parks
Congress to be held in Durban, South Africa, Zambia has formulated a national
policy on rhinoceros management and rehabilitation.
Though Zambia's rhino population declined from an estimated 12,000 to 8,000
in the pre-1970 era, and rhinos were totally eradicated in the country during
the 1980s, Zambia still has no management strategy for administering rhino
horns. The animals' horns are valued in traditional Asian medicine and as
decorative dagger handles in the Middle East.
The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), the country's sole wildlife management
entity, says that in terms of recordkeeping the country does not currently
comply with the UN Convention on the Protection of Endangered Species of Fauna
and Flora (CITES). Zambia is a Party to the CITES Convention, which it ratified
in 1981.
Conservation experts and wildlife managers from the 14 member countries of
the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) gathered in Zambia's capital
Lusaka this week to fine tune the draft rhino policy document. The process,
supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would see a reverse in
destructive trends and impart positive attitudes for the conservation of rhinos
in Zambia.
The policy will also provide guidelines and strength to the rhino
conservation fraternity. It will provide a framework that will guide the
reintroduction of rhinos in Zambia's established private state owned wildlife
sanctuaries.
Kampamba cites the civil and liberation wars as factors in the decimation of
rhino population in Africa. "The wars led to influx of refugees from many
neighboring countries. The refugees came with illegal firearms, which were used
in killing wildlife," said Kampamba.
He noted that since the 1970s, Zambia has had inadequate trained manpower and
rhino management plans to guide the design and implementation of conservation
strategies. "This is why we're talking about the rhino policy now," he said.
The ZAWA Working Paper on the National Rhino Policy and Management Strategy
indicates that political will has been lacking in rhino management, citing
political patronage of those involved in the rhino horn trade and corruption
within the law enforcement agencies.
But Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patrick Kalifungwa
says the new policy is aimed at reversing the negative trend and helping to
conserve rhinos as Zambia's rich wildlife and cultural heritage.
The environment minister said that already the government has introduced the
white rhino in the former fugitive range in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park near
Victoria Falls, one of the largest wildlife estates in Zambia.
"It is for this reason that we need to formulate a policy that will
standardize rhino management and monitoring strategies with other countries in
the sub-region. We need to network with other countries in the region on law
enforcement surveillance," said Kalifungwa.
The development of the national policy is also seen as one way of justifying
Zambia's membership in the regional rhino protocol and conservation group.
At the apex of regional wildlife management, there is the SADC Protocol on
Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement, signed by heads of member states in
August 1999. The protocol recognizes that the viability of wildlife resources in
the region requires collective cooperative action by all the 14 member
countries.
Musonda says the rhino policy must be seen in the broader context of the
World Bank supported Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. "This can help in tapping
some of the financial resources for poverty reduction," said Musonda.
Her sentiments are echoed by Andrew Sardanis, a private investor and
businessman, who said, "Rhino management is very expensive venture. You need
financing to manage animals such as a rhino."
Poaching, the illegal killing of wildlife, has been cited as the leading
cause of the extermination of wildlife in Zambia and the Southern African
region.
According to ZAWA, the population of black rhinos across Africa has been
reduced drastically by poaching, from an estimated 65,000 rhinos in the 1970s,
to less than 3,000 in 1990s.
"The reason for the decline was the sudden growth in rhino horn trade in the
Middle East," says the ZAWA report. During that period, wars, breakdowns in law
and order, corruption and the availability of modern weapons enabled well
organized gangs of poachers to bring about the near obliteration of the species.
Russel Taylor of the World Wide Fund for Nature regional office in Harare,
Zimbabwe, says rhinoceros horn is the most highly priced commodity in the world.
The horn is used in traditional oriental medicines as a fever reducing drug, and
is prized for dagger handles in Yemen.
The early history of the rhino can be traced from the Eocene age, about 60
million years ago. Since then, according to experts, no other land mammal in the
world has been destroyed at such a rapid rate.
critical shortages of foreign exchange to maintain
essential infrastructure,
fuel and energy needs".
Commentators have
linked the country's economic woes to its political crisis
and the
government's fast-track land reform programme. Aid agency
assessments have
shown that Zimbabwe still has the highest number of people
in need of food
aid, around five million, despite recoveries in most other
countries affected
by last year's food shortages.
"As of the end of June, the inflation rate
reached 364 percent and is
forecast to reach over 500 percent by the end of
the year. The industrial
and agricultural sectors have been severely
undermined by the state of the
macroeconomy, causing mass unemployment and
worsening rural and urban
poverty," the document noted.
The UN
Inter-Agency appeal also warned that the "rapid and continued decline
in the
government's capacity to support national food security and
sustain
life-saving social services will need to be urgently addressed
by
humanitarian agencies in 2003/04", adding that "a much greater attention
to
preparedness measures will be necessary to prevent starvation and
increasing
mortality."
A loss of skills in the health and social
services sector due to emigration
and HIV/AIDS was noted as another factor
aggravating the crisis.
"Thus, Zimbabwe faces a severe food security
crisis in 2003/04. With a
cereals deficit close to 1.3 million metric tonnes
(mt), the country has
sufficient food to feed its population for just four to
five months. It is
estimated that 5.5 million people will require food aid
during the coming
year. The Zimbabwe government is unlikely to have the
resources to finance a
major maize import requirement," the appeal
added.
The CAP for Zimbabwe covers the period July 2003 to June 2004 and
requests
nearly US $114 million, mostly for programmes in the social services
and
agricultural sectors. This amount is over and above the World
Food
Programme's $308 million call for food aid requirements, made in
the
Regional Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Southern
Africa.
GOVERNMENT'S ROLE UNDER FIRE
The role of the Zimbabwe
government in response to the humanitarian crisis
was also highlighted in the
appeal.
"Despite consistent efforts on the part of the United Nations
Humanitarian
Coordinator (UN HC) and agencies throughout the year,
coordination and
cooperation between the government and the humanitarian
agencies could be
much improved," the appeal observed in the section on
progress over the past
year.
As an example, it pointed out that while
needs assessments are "the
cornerstone in planning an effective response" to
the crisis, this process
has "frequently been difficult and delayed, with
negotiations [with
government] sometimes taking several months".
"The
government also strongly influences the operational environment [of
aid
agencies], including issues such as respect for human rights
and
humanitarian principles, and NGO operations. NGOs are integral
to
humanitarian planning and implementation capacity, so that restrictions
or
delays in building their capacity and constraining their operations
impact
directly on the speed and volume of aid delivery to beneficiaries,"
the CAP
concluded.
Adding that "at the policy level, government
commitment is a precondition to
the strategic aim of moving toward recovery
and a development agenda".
It was therefore critical to foster stronger
linkages between the government
and humanitarian agencies.
THE YEAR
AHEAD
The "main causes of the humanitarian crisis identified in the
2002/03 CA
[Consolidated Appeal] were: policy constraints; socio-economic
conditions;
environmental factors (drought and cyclone Eline); all of which
were
aggravated by the impact of HIV/AIDS".
These factors would still
be relevant in the coming year. But the state
control of prices, currency
exchange rates and a monopoly on the import and
marketing of maize and wheat
were characteristics of an "economic framework
within which the economy has
contracted by one-third in four years". This
had contributed to greater
vulnerability as "structural unemployment is
estimated at over 70 percent,
and rising, as the major sectors generating
employment" and forex continued
to contract.
The 2003/04 CAP would concentrate on three main areas of
humanitarian
response: preventing loss of life through food, nutrition, and
critical
health interventions; mitigating the impact of the crisis on
vulnerable
groups; and developing a productive dialogue among stakeholders
to
strengthen coordination and provide focus.
It was noted that
recovery interventions and policies were essential to
reducing Zimbabwe's
reliance on international relief assistance and
strengthening food
security.
But recovery "is only viable if a wide range of [policy]
reforms takes
place" - reforms which the international community was
committed to
supporting, if they led to a long-term resolution of the
problems affecting
Zimbabwe's most vulnerable.
Black rhino in the Luangwa Valley Reserve in eastern Zambia, 1972
(Photo by M. Boulton courtesy FAO)
ZAWA Director for Research, Planning and
Information George Kampamba says the development of this policy would see the
reintroduction of the black rhino, poached to extinction in Zambia.
Recent encounter with a white rhino in Zambia (Photo courtesy Safari Par
Excellence)
Winnie Musonda, a representative of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), wonders at the general decline of the
Zambian economy due to the falling prices of copper, and she suggested that the
country's wildlife resource be an alternative source of income.
Reuters
Tyrants Beware: Luxury Exile Days May Be Numbered
Wed July 30,
2003 12:08 PM ET
By Fiona O'Brien
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ugandans say
former dictator Idi Amin, now on his
deathbed in Saudi Arabia, used to keep
the severed heads of rivals in his
refrigerator and once placed some on his
dining table to remind guests he
was not to be crossed.
Obese and ill
after almost 25 years of comfortable exile in Saudi Arabia,
Uganda's
"butcher," who also fed the remains of victims to Lake Victoria's
crocodiles
at one point, appears likely to die unpunished for his crimes.
Now in his
late 70s, he is not the only tyrant to see out
retirement
unprosecuted.
Haiti's Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who
fled his island in 1986 after
an upsurge of popular protest against his
brutal 15-year rule, has been seen
driving his red Ferrari around the French
Riviera.
Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose "Red Terror" was marked
by purges,
war and hunger, is on a ranch in Zimbabwe granted refuge by his
friend
President Robert Mugabe.
Uganda's Milton Obote, accused by
domestic opponents of being even more
brutal than Amin, is in Zambia, while
Paraguay's Alfredo Stroessner, who
gained a reputation as an iron-fisted
leader who sheltered Nazi war
criminals, is in Brazil.
Liberia's
Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes in Sierra Leone, has been
offered
asylum in Nigeria.
Yet with Amin's death apparently imminent, many
Ugandans are asking how such
a man has been able to escape
scot-free.
"While he is calmly exhausting his life-span in the splendor
of a Saudi
Arabian hospital, our people are breathlessly struggling in the
attempt to
salvage some life out of the debris of his destruction," a comment
in the
New Vision newspaper said Wednesday.
But while many former
tyrants are unlikely ever to face criminal proceedings
for their wrongs,
analysts say the world today is more intent on trying
those once considered
immune.
"There has been a real sea-change in the attitude of the
international
community," Amnesty International's Christopher Hall told
Reuters.
"In the past, crimes were seen as political or diplomatic
problems, now they
are seen as ordinary crimes of rape, murder, that all
states have a duty to
investigate and to prosecute."
PINOCHET
ARREST
The 1998 arrest of Chile's Augusto Pinochet in London sent a
message that
the days of impunity for tyrants were ending, even though he was
later
released on grounds of poor health.
United Nations tribunals for
crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and
Rwanda have also drummed that
point home.
More significantly still, analysts say the establishment of
an International
Criminal Court (ICC) may have set international law on an
irreversible
course.
"Times are changing...exile is becoming harder to
find," Human Rights
Watch's Reed Brody wrote in a recent
editorial.
"It is unfortunate that Idi Amin will die in his "tent"
without being
brought to justice for his crimes, but the world is a smaller
and smaller
tent. One day the Idi Amins of this world will find they have
nowhere to
hide."
But only about 90 countries -- with the notable
exception of the United
States -- have so far ratified the ICC, which will be
a permanent tribunal
to try individuals for the most serious international
crimes such as
genocide and war crimes.
"There is a general movement
toward international jurisdiction, but we still
have a long way to go,"
Cambridge University legal expert Anthony Rogers
said.
He said that
for the court to work effectively, states will also have to get
over their
deep-rooted reluctance to investigate the affairs of other
states.
In
the meantime, Ugandans will have to find their own ways to reconcile
the
wrongs of Amin's 1971-1979 rule. While many wish they had seen him
punished,
others say it is best just to try and put the past behind
them.
"He should be accorded a state burial as a former president,"
Kampala shop
owner Badru Mulongo said. "People say he killed many people but
I think
there is no leader who has not killed."
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE
Thought for the Day - July 30,
2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com
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AGRIZIM.
The Way Forward.
"Friends of the Land."
"Knowing that whole
regions of the country, once incredibly rich, were on
the verge of becoming
deserts, these men - forestry experts,
industrialists, doctors, government
officials, writers, bankers,
professors, farmers - resolved to educate the
people to the danger. They
knew our soil was being destroyed, our forests cut
down without
replacement, our towns and farms being washed away by floods,
our water
supply shrunken, whole areas of once fertile agricultural land
turned into
desert. Approximately one-fourth of our good soil had already
been
destroyed, they realized, with another one fourth rapidly on its way
out.
These facts about which the greater part of the citizens knew nothing
at
all. "Friends of the Land" proposed to inform them.
"Friends of the
Land" knew that we had nearly nine million "okies" on our
roads - homeless
farm workers and their families on relief most of the
year, living
miserably......
They knew that country banks were closing because
thousands of once rich
farms no longer had money to deposit or were no longer
worth anything as
security for loans.
They knew that once prosperous
cities were on the verge of becoming ghost
towns.....because of careless and
unintelligent farming methods or because
the water supply was rapidly
falling."
- Louis Bromfield -
"Pleasant Valley" - USA -1946 -
History is such a boring subject, because
it is so repetitive. From
Bromfield in America to Nkomo in Zimbabwe -
all people ultimately
understand the importance of being a "Friend of the
Land" if they have a
real feeling and understanding for land. Politicians
using land as
political weapon qualify for temporary membership of "Friends
of the Land",
but feeling for and understanding of the land, are ultimately
prerequisites
for holistic
membership.