The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
It has called on its supporters to "rise up in your
millions" today, the
last day of the nationwide mass action, designated
"D-Day".
Legal umbrella group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
reported the
detention of individuals by police without adequate suspicion of
an offence,
cases of torture and other mistreatment of detainees, squalid
conditions in
police cells, and a refusal to cooperate with lawyers
representing those
detained.
"The conditions are shocking and
inhuman which violate the constitution and
international instruments that the
government has signed and ratified," the
legal group said.
By
yesterday two people had been confirmed dead while more than 500 had
been
arrested since Monday. Hundreds of others have been injured. People
seeking
assistance at the Avenues Clinic complained of police harassment
on
Wednesday and yesterday.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
yesterday confirmed that two people had
died in the
crackdown.
Amon Nyadongo (41) of Mbare was stoned to death on Monday
near Gwanzura
stadium in Highfield as uniformed forces clashed with
protesters. An MDC
official, Tichaona Kaguru, died after being allegedly
abducted and tortured
by government security agents.
Kaguru was
allegedly abducted by 40 armed soldiers together with Harare City
councillor
Sydney Mazaranhanga before he was assaulted and left to die at a
police
clinic in Chikurubi.
The sweeping attacks and arrests targeted MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
senior party officials, MPs and
supporters.
In Harare's city centre Zanu PF's rag-tag army of youths
- some of them
barefoot - terrorised people at random and tore up copies of
independent
newspapers. There were reports of youths robbing pedestrians of
cellphones
and cash. Police were seen on Tuesday giving youths who had torn
up papers a
lecture before letting them go.
Security forces tried
to prevent those injured from receiving treat-ment. On
Wednesday, they
stormed Avenues Clinic where many victims had been admitted
and abducted one
person. Over 58 people had been treated, hospital
staff
reported.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human
Rights condemned police and
army violence against civilians.
"We
are concerned that the heavy presence and intimidating behaviour of
the
uniformed forces in hospital premises will prevent patients from
accessing
treatment," it said.
In Gweru lawyers representing
arrested MDC supporters were harassed by the
police while patrons at Portugal
Restaurant along Samora Machel Avenue in
Harare were beaten up by soldiers on
Tuesday night.
The following night soldiers were reported as moving
from house to house in
Chitungwiza and Highfield beating up residents
suspected of being linked to
the opposition.
The security forces
used teargas, baton sticks and in some cases live
bullets during their
crackdown on opposition demonstrators earlier this
week. Highfield and Glen
View residents and university students were
attacked and beaten by riot
police and the army.
Crisis in Zimbabwe, a coalition of civic groups,
said it was concerned about
the violent suppression of the mass
action.
"Across the country, students, pro-democracy activists, and
those suspected
of organising or supporting the mass action have been
targeted for arrest
and have been subjected to police brutality," it
said.
Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge on Wednesday summoned
diplomats based
in Harare to a meeting at the President's Office where he
defended the use
of force to suppress peaceful mass action.
Some
senior diplomats who attended the meeting expressed concern at the
repressive
tactics of government.
Australian High Commissioner Jonathan Brown
told the meeting that "the
people of Zimbabwe have a right to peaceful
protest and this should be
respected".
The Japanese ambassador,
Tsu-neshige Iiyama, said freedom ofassociation was
important in de-mocratic
systems.
French ambassador Didier Ferrand rejected Mudenge's claims
that Paris used
coercion and banned protests during this week's G8 summit at
Evian.
In an aside, German ambassador Peter Schmidt said in his
country people did
not need police approval to demonstrate. - Staff
Writers.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Interim war vets leadership wants Chinotimba
probed
Blessing Zulu
THE interim leadership of the war veterans'
association has said Joseph
Chinotimba must be vetted again to ascertain his
liberation war credentials,
the Zimbabwe Independent has
established.
Chinotimba riled the national war veterans' leadership when
he vied for the
contentious chairmanship.
The war veterans this
year announced that President Robert Mugabe would be
their honorary chairman.
Chinotimba was subsequently suspended as chairman
of Harare province by the
Patrick Nyaruwata-led national executive which has
written to the Ministry of
Defence, the parent ministry of the war veterans,
to investigate Chinotimba's
war record. They have proposed the setting up of
an inter-ministerial
committee to probe Chinotimba.
Nyaruwata, who took over in an acting
capacity when Chenjerai Hunzvi died in
2001, confirmed the letter but refused
to discuss the matter further.
"The letter has been written to the
Defence ministry," said Nyaruwata.
"The suspension still stands but we
have given Chinotimba some work to do
this week. We will re-visit the issue
again next week. This week we do not
want such issues to distract us (from
dealing with mass action)," said
Nyaruwata.
Chinotimba is accused
by the war veterans leaders of gross indiscipline
after he campaigned to
challenge President Mugabe for the chairmanship.
Chinotimba this week
told the Independent he was still the chairman of
Harare
province.
"Those people cannot 're-vet' me, they are talking
rubbish," he said.
"I do not want to talk about that in the press, I am a
party sympathiser. I
am still the chairman of Harare province. I do not know
whom they chased. I
do not know where these people are coming from," said an
irate Chinotimba.
This is not the first time that war veterans have
questioned the credentials
of Chinotimba. In August 2001 his colleagues in
the war veterans'
association told the Independent that they had no knowledge
of Chinotimba's
war record. The war veterans said Chinotimba crossed into
Mozambique in late
1979 as a refugee.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Kangai sues Chiyangwa
Vincent Kahiya /
Shakeman Mugari
IN a case likely to cause a major stir within the ranks of
Zanu PF,
Manicaland party stalwart Kumbirai Kangai is suing Mashonaland West
party
chairman Philip Chiyangwa for $100 million for claiming that the
former
minister was illegally exporting sugar.
The defamation suit
stems from press reports in 2000 which quoted Chiyangwa,
in his capacity as
National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF) chairman, as
saying the
government had been prejudiced of up to $500 million because of
illegal
exports of sugar facilitated by permits issued by Kangai, who was
then
Agriculture minister.
Party insiders this week said the Zanu PF
leadership was not amused by
Chiyangwa's use of the NECF to arrest senior
government officials on charges
of corruption in 2000.
"It's
payback time and Chiyangwa should stand up to defend not only his
political
integrity but also that of the NECF anti-corruption taskforce," a
party
official said this week.
Chiyangwa in 2000 also alleged that Kangai
was involved in siphoning $228
million from the Grain Marketing Board
resulting in the arrest of the former
minister on fraud and corruption
charges. Kangai has since been acquitted of
the charge. No formal charges
have been laid against Kangai in the illegal
sugar exports
case.
Kangai's lawyer, Jonathan Sam-kange of Byron & Venturas,
last October wrote
to Chiyangwa indicating the former Agriculture minister's
intention to sue
for damages.
"You falsely and maliciously, with
the intention of defaming our client,
claimed that the NECF was investigating
the circumstances under which
permits to export sugar were issued by the
Minister of Agriculture, alleging
that the tender process was abused to
benefit certain government officials,"
the letter said.
"Our
client's reputation was severely impaired by the above defamatory
allegations
in view of the fact that he has been a minister and a member of
parliament
for the past 22 years," it said.
Chiyangwa did not respond to the
letter of demand and Samkange said he would
proceeds to issue
summons.
Contacted this week, Chiyangwa said he was aware of the
lawsuit.
"You are the third journalist in two years to phone me on such a
case. There
has been talk to that effect. I will respond when the papers are
served on
me," he said.
"I might be prepared to take action but
without papers the case is just a
rumour. How can I prepare for a case that
has to been put to me?" he said
Kangai's was the first case since
Independence in which a senior Zanu PF
official and government minister stood
trial for corruption. Kangai was one
of the eight founding members of Dare
reChimurenga, Zanu's supreme council
formed in 1973 to spearhead the
liberation war.
Vincent Kahiya / Shakeman Mugari
IN a case
likely to cause a major stir within the ranks of Zanu PF,
Manicaland party
stalwart Kumbirai Kangai is suing Mashonaland West party
chairman Philip
Chiyangwa for $100 million for claiming that the former
minister was
illegally exporting sugar.
The defamation suit stems from press reports
in 2000 which quoted Chiyangwa,
in his capacity as National Economic
Consultative Forum (NECF) chairman, as
saying the government had been
prejudiced of up to $500 million because of
illegal exports of sugar
facilitated by permits issued by Kangai, who was
then Agriculture
minister.
Party insiders this week said the Zanu PF leadership was
not amused by
Chiyangwa's use of the NECF to arrest senior government
officials on charges
of corruption in 2000.
"It's payback time and
Chiyangwa should stand up to defend not only his
political integrity but also
that of the NECF anti-corruption taskforce," a
party official said this
week.
Chiyangwa in 2000 also alleged that Kangai was involved in
siphoning $228
million from the Grain Marketing Board resulting in the arrest
of the former
minister on fraud and corruption charges. Kangai has since been
acquitted of
the charge. No formal charges have been laid against Kangai in
the illegal
sugar exports case.
Kangai's lawyer, Jonathan
Sam-kange of Byron & Venturas, last October wrote
to Chiyangwa indicating
the former Agriculture minister's intention to sue
for
damages.
"You falsely and maliciously, with the intention of defaming
our client,
claimed that the NECF was investigating the circumstances under
which
permits to export sugar were issued by the Minister of Agriculture,
alleging
that the tender process was abused to benefit certain government
officials,"
the letter said.
"Our client's reputation was severely
impaired by the above defamatory
allegations in view of the fact that he has
been a minister and a member of
parliament for the past 22 years," it
said.
Chiyangwa did not respond to the letter of demand and Samkange
said he would
proceeds to issue summons.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Poll-linked army officers
redeployed
Dumisani Muleya
GOVERNMENT has removed key army officers who
were running polls from the
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)'s offices
in Harare ahead of
nationwide urban council elections after information on
their activities was
leaked to the press.
Military sources said this
week several army officers who were based at the
CIO's Hardwicke House
offices along Samora Machel Avenue and other locations
were recently
transferred after an army report accused them of leaking
details of their
operations to the media.
"Some of the officers have been removed and
were redeployed in other areas,"
a source said. "For example, I know one of
them who ran elections from
Hardwicke House has been posted to
Hwange."
Key officers who were based at Hardwicke House included a
Major Sibindi from
KG VI army headquarters and a Major Kampira from the
Presidential Guard
unit.
The officers were said to have been
supervising events in the run-up to the
March Kuwadzana and Highfield
by-elections won by the MDC.
Sources said the transfer of the army
officers followed a report prepared by
the army after the Zimbabwe
Independent published a story on January 3 which
revealed that the army was
still running elections well after they assisted
with last year's poll which
saw President Mugabe re-elected.
Mugabe's hotly-disputed win is
currently the subject of a court challenge by
the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Information on the
transfer of military electoral officers comes hard on the
heels of recent
reports in the Independent and other newspapers that the
army secretly
supervised last year's widely-condemned presidential poll.
The
reports were based on letters between Zimbabwe National Army
commander
Lieutenant-General Constantine Chiwenga and Zimbabwe Defences
Forces chief
General Vitalis Zvinavashe which indicated that security forces
covertly
took control of the electoral machinery five days before the
poll.
According to reports, 66 soldiers, including lieutenant
colonels, captains,
majors, sergeants, corporals and warrant officers were
deployed to manage
the presidential election.
Army officer
Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba was appointed chief elections
officer during
the poll, while the Electoral Supervisory Commission was
headed by Sobusa
Gula-Ndebele, a retired military intelligence officer.
Nyikayaramba
was at first described as retired but it was later discovered
he was still a
serving officer.
The army has been showing signs of an increasingly
partisan association with
the ruling party in the execution of its duties as
statements this week
attest. Prior to the election, security chiefs declared
they would not
support anyone elected as president if he did not have
prescribed liberation
war credentials.
Before this week's mass
action, the security forces again came out
threatening to crush
MDC-engineered demonstrations.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
No post-mortem for MDC activist
Blessing
Zulu
THE body of Stephen Tonera, a former employee of opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) member of parliament Roy Bennett, still lies in
the
mortuary two months after his death, the Zimbabwe Independent has
learnt.
Tonera was allegedly beaten to death by suspected state agents
in
retribution against MDC supporters after the stayaway of March 18/19.
The
incident took place on Bennett's Farm in Ruwa on March 20.
His
body still lies at Harare Central Hospital mortuary awaiting a
post-mortem.
Bennett said police must authorise a post-mortem.
"The pathologist
must be contacted by the investigating officer for the
post-mortem to be
carried out," Bennett said.
He also criticised the police for their
delay in investigating the incident
and conducting the
post-mortem.
"The post-mortem must occur. What kind of country do we
live in if people
can be beaten to death with axe handles and logs and
nothing happens?"
Bennett asked. "The police must stop delaying the
investigation of this
case. Enough is enough, we are sick and tired of police
inaction in the face
of political violence," he said.
Bennett said
he had tried to seek assistance from deputy Minister of Home
Affairs Rugare
Gumbo to expedite the arrest of the alleged murderers and the
performance of
a post-mortem but to no avail. Gumbo said the issue was only
raised in
parliament.
"It was only raised in parliament as a question," said
Gumbo.
"I told Bennett that the police do not discriminate. That was as
far as I
went but the right people to talk to on this issue are the police,"
he said.
Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena, said the
police did not have any record of Tonera.
"I
have checked with the police in Ruwa and hospitals in Harare and they all
say
there is no such person. I doubt the authenticity of that report by
Bennett
that the person was murdered," said Bvudzijena.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Zim crisis hangs over Mbeki, Obasanjo after
G8
Dumisani Muleya
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian
counterpart Olusegun
Obasanjo have come under renewed pressure to confront
the Zimbabwe crisis in
the aftermath of the G8 summit in Evian,
France.
Although Mbeki and his African colleagues have claimed that the
Zimbabwe
situation is not a test case for the New Partnership for
Africa's
Development (Nepad), G8 leaders this week pressed them further to
resolve
the issue.
British prime minister Tony Blair said the
meeting of the world's most
industrialised nations, also attended by African
leaders promoting Nepad,
discussed measures which Mbeki and Obasanjo are
taking to address the
situation.
Mbeki and Oba-sanjo were in
Zimbabwe last month to try and break the
political deadlock which lies at the
heart of the economic crisis.
Briefing theHouse of Commons on
Wednesday on the outcome of the G8 meeting
early this week, Blair said the
Zimbabwe issue featured at the summit in the
context of Nepad.
"G8
leaders also took the opportunity to discuss with President Mbeki and
other
African leaders the good progress we have made in partnership with
Nepad
leaders over the last year in implementing the African Action Plan
launched
in Kananaskis (during last year's G8 meeting in Canada)," he
said.
"Consistent with this African-led initiative we discussed the
steps they are
taking to resolve the current appalling crisis in Zimbabwe. We
condemned the
action taken by the Zimbabwean authorities on Monday against
their own
people and called on the Zimbabwean government to accept its
citizens' right
to demonstrate against the regime peacefully."
In
their communiqué, G8 leaders expressed concern at mounting repression
in
Zimbabwe.
South Africa has only made muted protests against
human rights abuses in the
country, while Nigeria has said virtually
nothing.
"We are concerned about reports of further violence by the
authorities in
Zimbabwe against their own people," the G8
said.
"We called on the government of Zimbabwe to respect the right
to peaceful
demonstration. Consistent with the fundamental principles of the
Nepad
partnership, we welcomed the contribution of other African states
to
promoting a peaceful resolution of the crisis and a prosperous
and
democratic future for the people of Zimbabwe."
Although Nepad
was supposed to take centre stage at the Evian summit, G8
leaders rebuffed
French attempts to make concrete commitments.
Mbeki and his counterparts
were reminded that good governance, not only in
their own countries but
everywhere in Africa, was essential to make Nepad
work.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Zimbabwe appeals for more WFP aid
Augustine
Mukaro
DESPITE President Robert Mugabe's continued attacks on Western
countries,
the government has once again gone cap-in-hand to the
international
community to fill the country's begging bowl.
The
Zimbabwe Independent heard this week that the government has written to
the
World Food Programme (WFP) to extend its humanitarian assistance to
Zimbabwe
for another year as last season's harvest will not be enough to
feed the
nation.
Most food donated to Zimbabwe through the WFP and other aid
agencies - after
President Mugabe sent out an SOS last year - came from the
United States and
Britain.
Mugabe has persistently attacked the
two countries for supporting the
opposition MDC and advancing an imperialist
agenda in Zimbabwe.
The WFP is not a donor but mobilises resources
from donors on behalf of
nations in distress.
The request comes at
a time when the WFP was gradually scaling down its food
distribution
programme, closing some of its sub-offices in preparation for a
complete
pullout at the end of this month. The move has raised fears that
the closure
could result in serious food shortages in districts of Masvingo,
Midlands,
Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland which have experienced
complete crop
failure.
The WFP confirmed having received a letter from the Public
Service, Labour
and Social Welfare ministry on May 27, appealing for
continued food
assistance.
"The letter was signed on behalf of the
Minister for Social Welfare," WFP
spokesperson Makena Walker told the
Independent this week. "The request
paves way for WFP and other donors to
commence strategising for assistance
to cover the 2003/4
season."
Walker said the WFP would not respond to government's
request until the
United Nations approves their emergency operations
proposal.
"We would prepare a project proposal giving details of the
gravity of the
assistance needed for approval after which a consolidated
appeal would be
launched," she said.
Diplomatic sources said
chances of large-scale humanitarian assistance to
Zimbabwe were very slim
considering the fact that a number of southern
African countries which
experienced serious food shortages in the 2002/2003
season had realised a
surplus in the current season.
Sources said donors were not likely to
respond to the Zimbabwean appeal in
time because of commitments elsewhere and
the current stand-off between
Harare and the international
community.
UN assessors pointed out that the food situation in
Zimbabwe was not likely
to improve within the next two seasons because of the
prevailing land
problems.
Government projects maize production of
571 000 tonnes for the 2002/3 season
of which only 56 000 tonnes is expected
to flow to the Grain Marketing
Board.
"The estimates mean that the
country will have a 1,09 million-tonne deficit
for the 2003/4 marketing
year," it says.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Moyo's lawyers represent litigants against
MDC
Staff Writers
LEGAL partners handling high-profile lawsuits against
the Movement for
Democratic Change are also Information minister Jonathan
Moyo's private
lawyers.
Muzangaza, Mandaza & Tomana are acting in
civil suits by persons claiming to
have lost property during demonstrations
and stayaways earlier this year.
In April the Department of
Information and Publicity launched a campaign in
the print and electronic
media encouraging members of the public whose
properties had been destroyed
or damaged during stayaways to sue the
organisers.
To date two
suits have been filed against the MDC, the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions
and the Daily News. In the first case, a Harare woman, Clarisa
Muchengeti, is
suing the three parties for $5,5 million claiming her truck
was petrol-bombed
during the March stayaway.
The other litigant is David Bello who is
suing for $17 million in respect of
a minibus which was also petrol-bombed in
the March stayaway. In the two
instances Moyo's personal lawyers are
representing the litigants. More cases
are thought to be pending as the
government encourages aggrieved parties to
resort to
litigation.
Asked for comment, Johannes Tomana said the clients could
have come through
former deputy Justice minister Paul Mangwana who
one-and-a-half years ago
drew up a list of law firms which could represent
government.
He said the clients could also have come of their own
accord. "But since we
are not on the list of firms which were chosen by the
(deputy) minister to
handle government cases, I believe people come to us
like they would
approach any other firm," he said.
He said his
firm did not have an agreement with the government neither did
it go through
any tender process to represent the state.
"The fact that we have
been listed for cases that are high profile does not
point to any political
affiliation or agreement. We have taken such cases
like all the other cases,"
he said.
The law firm has represented the state in a number of cases
including the
constitutional challenge to Aippa by the Independent
Journalists Association
of Zimbabwe and a Supreme Court suit filed by the
Daily News.
The firm also represented Moyo's wife Beatrice when she
sued the Daily News
which earlier this year reproduced a story by the Sunday
Times of South
Africa chronicling the Moyo family's alleged spending record
in South
Africa.
The law firm has also represented Justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa in a
contempt of court case last year. Tomana was
last year appointed by Moyo to
sit on the New Ziana Board.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Mugabe's misrule ravages economy
Dumisani
Muleya
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's rule is becoming increasingly costly
and
politically unsustainable, analysts said this week in the wake of a
five-day
stayaway.
In the past three months, Zimbabwe has been hit by
three rolling mass
actions designed to force Mugabe to tackle the current
economic and
political crisis or go.
The latest mass action, which ends
today, started on Monday and has left
Zimbabwe's already prostrate economy
profusely bleeding.
Since Monday most shops, banks, and factories around the
country were
closed.
All towns were virtually paralysed with Harare -
Zimbabwe's commercial hub -
being the most seriously affected.
The only
offices in town that were working full time were those of the
government,
which produce nothing of value.
If Mugabe remains as the millstone around the
neck of business, the
political pressure will persist.
University of
Zimbabwe business analyst Tony Hawkins says the situation has
become
unsustainable.
"Clearly, the economy is continuing to decline and everything
is going
backwards," he said. "The question now is for how long is
government
prepared or able to allow the situation to continue like
this?"
Hawkins said since the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC),
which organised the mass action, and the ruling Zanu PF were both
not
prepared to give in, a negotiated settlement was the only way
out.
Analysts say unless this is done, economic haemorrhaging will inevitably
get
worse.
Economic consultant John Robertson said the current politics
are undermining
the economy.
"The cross linkages between politics and
economics are profound," he said.
"If there is no change from a political
point of view, it's clear we are
destined for disaster."
Analysts agree
the effects of mass action, coupled with shortages of fuel
and electricity,
will inevitably force a number of firms to either
completely close down,
reduce operations, or retrench in the short- to
medium-term.
And when that
happens, the economy will shrink, so will tax revenues to
government and the
provision of social services. Unemployment and poverty
will increase.
That
will then lead to further political and social instability.
Zimbabwe's
economy, on a precipitous free fall for the past three years,
contracted by
12,1% in 2002. Output has dropped by 19,3% over the past three
years.
The
manufacturing sector shrivelled by a further 8,2% since last year,
in
addition to the 11,5% decline that was recorded in 2001.
The
agricultural sector - which before the recent land seizures by
government was
the mainstay of the economy - has shrunk by 25%.
The mining sector declined
by 7,1% since 2002 with gold production suffering
a significant fall of 18%,
while tourism remains languishing in the
doldrums.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
IMF to decide Zimbabwe's fate
Ngoni Chanakira
THE International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s executive
board meets in
Washington today to decide whether or not to suspend
Zimbabwe's voting
rights.
It is reliably understood that the
Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa
is already in Washington to attend the
crucial meeting.
The minister flew into Washington from Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, where he
attended the annual meeting of the African
Development Bank with other
African finance ministers.
The
IMF has on several occasions threatened to suspend Zimbabwe
because of its
continued failure to make timely payments towards its
arrears, now amounting
to SDR158,75 million or US$224,32 million as at June
2.
The
country's total debt to the IMF stands at SDR206 127 543 or about
US$290
million.
Zimbabwe had promised to make regular US$1,4 million
monthly payments.
It gave this assurance to an IMF team that
visited the country in
March in connection with the annual Article IV
Consultation.
Besides the monthly payments Zimbabwe has riled
the IMF by failing to
meet other obligations demanded by the Bretton Woods
institution. These
include improving the country's macroeconomic
fundamentals, solving the
political crisis, resolving the controversial land
programme, and improving
its tattered human rights record.
The IMF pointed out that Zimbabwe's gross domestic product (GDP) had
declined
by about 30%, and was still contracting.
It said inflation had
doubled in each of the last two years, hitting
the 200% mark. Last month
inflation reached a record 269,2% but the IMF says
it could continue soaring
to more than 450% by year-end.
The fund said there were
widespread shortages, poverty and
unemployment had risen, and the HIV/Aids
pandemic was worsening.
In an interview Gerry Johnson, IMF
senior resident representative,
this week said: "The situation regarding
Zimbabwe has not changed since the
IMF team came and issued its report in
March.
The board is meeting on June 6 (today) and we expect a
decision on
Zimbabwe to be made then. I believe the executive board closely
examined the
progress made on policies and payments since
March."
When it issued its report on March 13, the IMF
confirmed that among
the issues included in the discussions on June 6 was the
possible suspension
of Zimbabwe's voting and related rights in the
Fund.
Suspension would result in the country being
"blacklisted" and stopped
from voting on any decisions taken by
members.
The international community normally takes its cue
from the IMF and
World Bank when considering financial support to developing
countries.
Zimbabwe's suspension would therefore be a major body
blow to
much-needed foreign currency allocations.
The
country's capital account is estimated to have registered a
deficit of US$350
million in 2002 from a figure of US$420 million in 2001.
Analysts said the deficit was largely driven by the decline in foreign
direct
and portfolio investment inflows, limited participation of the
donor
community as well as the lack of much-needed balance-of-payments
support.
The country's foreign payment arrears continued to
build up during
2002 and are forecast to have ended the year at US$1,5
billion, up from
US$700 million in 2001.
Bankers and
economists say the country needs the IMF and World Bank
because they would
bring much-needed foreign currency and "goodwill"
to
Zimbabwe.
"Zimbabwe needs to improve its relations with
the multilateral
lenders, among many others," NMB Holdings deputy managing
director James
Mushore said. "Normalising relations with the IMF would unlock
much-needed
donor support, as international confidence will be
bolstered.
To normalise relations the country has to discharge its
financial
obligations to the fund as a matter of urgency."
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Tsvangirai's court papers still missing -
Coltart
Blessing Zulu
HIGH Court records relating to Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai's 2000 parliamentary poll
challenge in Buhera North are
still missing, further delaying the legal
process, the Zimbabwe Independent
has established.
MDC secretary for
legal affairs David Coltart said the registrar of the High
Court only told
their lawyers of the missing papers recently after they
pressed the court to
conclude the matter.
"When our lawyers were pressing for an appeal
date, that is when they were
told that the papers had gone missing (in May
this year)," said Coltart.
According to documents in the possession
of this paper, the senior legal
process transcriber, a Mrs C Fambi, wrote a
letter to the recording
supervisor, a Ms Manhimanzi, about the missing
records as early as May 29
last year.
"Today the 19th of May when
I was sorting out for distribution in order for
it to be transcribed I
noticed that six tapes were missing but other cases
were not tampered with,"
the letter said.
"I secure my office every time I go out of office
and home and there was no
sign of a break (in) I noticed. Please if we can
have security to our
offices because we have records in our offices," she
said.
This means the case in which Tsvangirai successfully challenged
the Buhera
North parliamentary election outcome in the High Court will be
further
delayed.
In 2001 the High Court ruled that the poll was
not free and fair and ordered
a re-run. Zanu PF party candidate, Kenneth
Manyonda, immediately appealed to
the Supreme Court. The MDC has been
successful in six of its 39 challenges
to seats won by Zanu PF in the June
2000 general election.
These are Buhera North, Hurungwe East, Mutoko
South, Chiredzi North, Gokwe
North and Gokwe South. It lost 31 challenges.
Two are still being
challenged.
Judge President Paddington Garwe
is yet to deliver a judgement in the Makoni
East case. The lawyers, in a
letter dated August 15 2002, said while they
appreciated the pressure on
Justice Garwe's time, they asked him to deliver
the
judgement.
"This trial was completed before His Lordship on 28th May
2001, and
judgement reserved sine die," the letter said.
"We have
made a number of oral enquiries since then and been advised that it
has not
been prepared yet," the letter said.
In the Goromonzi election
petition the MDC lawyers say Judge Ben Hlatshwayo
dismissed the MDC petition
without giving his reasons.
Tsvangirai has also launched a High Court
challenge to President Mugabe's
victory in the 2002 presidential poll. That
case has not yet been heard
either.
The MDC leader in his
challenge to the presidential poll outcome said the
delays in setting down
the dates for the hearing were unsatisfactory.
Coltart said the MDC
was losing millions of dollars in appeals to have their
cases heard.There
were only 18 months left before the next general election,
he pointed
out.
Efforts to get a comment from acting Registrar of the High Court
Charles
Nyatanga were not successful.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Harare and Bulawayo: a tale of two
cities
Augustine Mukaro/Loughty Dube
HARARE and Bulawayo have one
thing in common. The opposition Movement for
Democratic Change runs them
both. But there the comparison stops. There is a
sharp contrast in the
fortunes of the two cities.
Service delivery in Harare has continued to
deteriorate amid accusations by
the MDC that there is too much government
interference. Bulawayo, on the
other hand, has continued to manifest itself
as a well-run city, upholding a
legacy dating back to colonial
times.
Bulawayo executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube says the distance
between
Bulawayo and Harare has helped him run the country's second largest
city
without too much political interference from the government and the
ruling
Zanu PF.
Ndabeni-Ncube told the Zimbabwe Independent that
unlike the scenario in
Harare where Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo
has been meddling in
the day-to-day running of the capital, Bulawayo has been
spared the
unnecessary attention of the minister.
Chombo in April
suspended Harare executive mayor Elias Mudzuri on
allegations of corruption
and failing to effectively run the city.
"It is a different thing in
Bulawayo and I feel that the long distance
between Harare and Bulawayo has
helped me to run the city without much
interference from Chombo and the Zanu
PF leadership," said Ndabeni-Ncube.
He said in most instances there were
cordial working relations between the
MDC and Zanu PF councillors on civic
matters.
"When it comes to council matters I have been impressed by the
maturity of
both Zanu PF and MDC councillors when debating important civic
issues that
contribute to the growth of the city," he said.
Bulawayo
council has 29 councillors out of which 11 are MDC, 16 Zanu PF and
two
independents.
However, the MDC chief whip in council, Charles Mpofu, said
there have been
attempts by Chombo to give directives on how the city should
be administered
but this has been defeated by the resolve of councillors from
both the MDC
and Zanu PF.
"Chombo has tried in the past to give
directives to the council to confuse
the whole situation but this has never
worked as councillors are clear on
what residents want," Mpofu
said.
He said in some instances the ministry has insisted on scrutinising
council
minutes but said the government has also failed to wrest control that
way.
"Chombo tried to weaken council through scrutinising our minutes and
through
attempts to introduce a Zanu PF-appointed governor and to demarcate
the city
into districts in a bid to water down the strength of council but
this has
all failed," Mpofu said.
With the change of administration in
Harare last year, it was envisaged that
service delivery would improve.
Immediately after his election into office
Mudzuri set about filling potholes
and resurfacing roads. Observers say this
turned out to be a cosmetic change
as problems have continued to mount. The
old ghosts of misrule personified
by first executive mayor Solomon Tawengwa
have continued to haunt the
city.
The inventory of problems from the Tawengwa era has remained
unresolved.
Refuse collection has remained problematic, the streets of
Harare have
become dirtier, and illegal vending and squatting in the CBD has
increased.
The quality of potable water has degenerated, the sewerage system
in high
density areas appears to work in reverse, robots are poorly sequenced
or do
not work at all while street lighting has remained patchy in all
suburbs.
Harare has continued to deteriorate as central government
interferes with
each and every initiative taken by the new council to improve
the situation,
councillors said this week.
The MDC-dominated council
has blamed their failure to bring back Harare's
"Sunshine City" status
squarely on government's damaging interference.
"First, there were
directives that we should refer all matters concerning
finance and human
resources to central government for scrutiny before they
can be
implemented.
"The directives were imposed to thwart council's efforts to
carry out a
staff audit after the Elijah Chanakira commission recruited over
600
employees to non-existent posts just before the March 2002 election,"
one
councillor said.
He said council's relationship with central
government has not given them
room to implement initiatives
independently.
"We are the only city that has been denied borrowing
powers by the central
government.
"What's the justification for that
move?" the councillor said. Everything is
marred by power politics, with
central government ensuring that council
heads for doom."
The
councillor said central government was interfering with each every move
they
took to improve things.
Last year government ordered them to reinstate
top council officials
suspended on allegations of incompetence and corruption
even before their
hearings. Government ordered council to reinstate public
relations manager
Leslie Gwindi, town clerk Nomutsa Chideya, and treasury
department
officials.
Councillor Fani Munengami, an executive
committee member, said council had
done its best to keep the crumbling
infrastructure functioning despite
government's efforts to make their job
impossible.
"When we came into office, council had suspended all capital
projects over
the past three years when the Chanakira commission was running
the affairs
of the city," Munengami said.
"The new council ended up
diverting funds from the rates account to finance
capital development and the
health sector.
"Last year we used $700 million to resurface roads in and
around the city
from the rates account," he said. "We have commissioned
Morton Jeffery
Waterworks pumps, increasing water-pumping capacity. On road
network we have
built a roundabout along Bulawayo Road in the Warren Park
area, a footbridge
linking Kuwadzana extension to the old Kuwadzana suburb
and we have also
done new tower-lights for the Budiriro
area.
"Recently we finished computerisation of the city treasury
department. We
have also bought 12 ambulances to revive our health delivery
system and 24
trucks including refuse collection vehicles," Munengami
said.
He said government was trying to frustrate council operations by
suspending
the mayor and barring consultative meetings with
residents.
"Though we do not recognise the suspension of the mayor, it
has disturbed us
in one way or the other. How does government expect us to
communicate with
stakeholders when it has barred us from carrying out
consultative meetings?"
questioned Munengami.
"Government should not
accuse us of not performing because we have submitted
our turnaround
strategic plan, which it turned down on three occasions,"
he
said.
Another clash between Harare City Council and government is
increasingly
becoming inevitable as council plans to effect a $60 billion
supplementary
budget next month.
The implementation of the
supplementary budget is likely to provide
ammunition to Chombo in his bid to
remove Mudzuri from office.
Council said the supplementary budget had
become inevitable because of the
continued weakening of local currency,
recent fuel increases and
skyrocketing inflation.
Harare acting mayor
Dr Christopher Mushonga last week said when council
approved its annual
budget in October 2002, government had indicated that it
was not interested
in devaluing the dollar and inflation was around 144%.
Government proceeded
to devalue the dollar in February. Inflation has now
reached Weimar
proportions at 269,2%.
"Government devalued the dollar from $55 to $824
to the US dollar, which is
a 1 398% increase, thus inevitably putting our
budget off balance," Mushonga
said.
"Water treatment chemicals are
largely imported and as such this has the
effect of increasing the cost of
purification of water by 15 times from the
budgeted $2,5 billion to $27,5
billion."
Mushonga said the expenditure at the time the budget was
approved was around
$31 billion but has since jumped to $93,5 billion
creating a funding
shortfall of approximately $59,5 billion.
"It is
therefore necessary to revise the budget in order to sustain the
increased
unforeseen costs, and this inevitably means ultimately passing
some of the
costs to the ratepayers and consumers."
Combined Harare Residents
Association chairman Mike Davis said council had
managed to bring signs of
hope to the city under very difficult conditions.
"Refuse collection
initially improved until the beginning of this year when
the fuel situation
worsened. Council's idea to out source refuse collection
to more players
would have improved the situation if the contracts had been
taken up by
capable contractors."
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Comment
Regime clinging to power by
force
THE report on this week's mass action must be a mixed one. The
street
protests envisaged were thwarted by riot police swinging batons and
firing
teargas. State violence was the deciding factor. But the five-day
stayaway
was incontrovertibly the most successful to date.
If the
Movement for Democratic Change is unable to assemble its supporters
in town
centres, its leadership is at least able to call a successful strike
whenever
it likes. No amount of threats by ministers - becoming more fevered
by the
day - could get people to work. Morgan Tsvangirai now only has to
blow his
whistle and the nation downs tools. Nobody was impressed by
over-heated
charges of "illegal" or "unconstitutional" action and no
business was
persuaded to open by the prospect of Trade and Industry
minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi's threats to cancel trading licences. After all,
how successful
has government been in running any other business it has
turned its hand
to?
At the end of the week the impression that remained was one of a
desperately
insecure regime using every means at its disposal - including
threats
against people sending SMS text messages - to get the country back to
work.
By yesterday a few banks and businesses had been prevailed upon,
after
visits by the CIO and Zanu PF gangs, to reopen.
The reality,
which the world was able to observe this week, was of a regime
that is only
able to survive by brute force. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights says that a
significant number of arrests and detentions have been
arbitrary, and that
there are credible reports of torture, assault,
violence, and general
intimidation of people by the state machinery.
None of this suggests
normality. As one economist has noted, the problem of
a dysfunctional economy
and a government bereft of workable policies will
still be there next week.
Nothing will have changed in terms of President
Mugabe's prospects. He is
still a prisoner of events in State House and
losing support by the day. What
is the point of a "big man" in politics if
he can't deliver a single benefit
to the people he rules? Land has proved a
barren gift.
Meanwhile, the
MDC will have to regard the events of this week as a
test-run. In other
countries where mass action has succeeded it has
progressed by steps. There
is no initial big bang. Just a series of
increasingly louder eruptions. The
three-day stayaway - shorter and
sharper - may be more effective than
five.
By their treatment of township residents and students this week the
police
will have added several thousand hardened adherents to the MDC's
ranks. By
treating the public as "the enemy" and arbitrarily abridging their
freedoms
to assemble and express themselves, the authorities have alienated
many
otherwise uncommitted citizens. Zanu PF's only supporters are gangs
of
hoodlums imported from smaller centres. The way in which the police
indulged
their depredations, including the tearing up of independent
newspapers,
provided evidence, if it were needed, of selective application of
the law.
Those loudly pronouncing the loyalty of the police and armed
forces to the
regime ahead of the stayaway may care to reflect on the
problems posed by a
disaffected majority who no longer see the security
agencies as professional
upholders of the law. Cracking heads may succeed in
the first instance in
stabilising a situation. It rarely succeeds in the long
term. Mugabe and his
minions are increasingly living in a foreign country,
one over which they
have no authority.
As for the opposition, it will
emerge from this week's baptism of fire with
its moral authority enhanced.
People naturally sympathise with victims of
state brutality, especially those
espousing democratic freedoms and the
right to a better life.
As the
influential African American lobby in its letter to President Mugabe
said
this week, "the non-violent civil disobedience that is growing in
your
country - such as that which took place on Mother's Day in Bulawayo -
is
increasingly met with police brutality and excessive force. Such trends
in
the abuse of human rights are not only unacceptable, they are threats
to
your country's stability and they are undermining the economic and
political
development your people desire and deserve."
They urged
Mugabe to find a way to work with others "to create an effective
process for
a transition to a more broadly supported government up- holding
the
democratic rights of all".
Meanwhile, having benefited from the lessons
of this week, the MDC must
consider its options. Where do they go from here?
Popular anger against Zanu
PF-made hardships will not dissipate. And while
negotiation is always a
preferred route, it is not incompatible with mass
action.
In his letter from Birmingham jail, the Rev Martin Luther King
had this
advice for his followers: "You may well ask: 'Why direct action?
Why
sit-ins, marches, etc? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are
exactly
right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of
direct
action. Non-violent direct action seeks to.establish such creative
tension
that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced
to
confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatise the issue that it can no
longer
be ignored."
We are all agreed that by its campaign this week
the MDC has drawn the
attention of the country and the world to the
connection between brutal
misrule and economic collapse. That is the issue
successfully dramatised by
its followers in the teeth of repression and which
can no longer be ignored,
not even by the delusionist in State House.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Eric Bloch Column
Realities of the
shortage of bank notes
ZIMBABWEANS, who revel and thrive on rumours, no
matter how far-fetched they
may be, have ascribed the current shortage of
bank notes to a myriad causes.
The rumours have ranged from the absurd to the
ludicrous, including the
inconceivable suggestions that the bank note crisis
is a direct consequence
of political machinations. The promoters of those
rumours include some who
suggest that it has been a deliberate plot of
Zimbabwe's leading political
opposition party to sabotage the economy to
discredit the ruling party. The
diabolical plan to achieve this was,
according to the rumourmongers,
secretly to persuade big business not to bank
cash receipts so as to cause
the shortage of notes.
Other purveyors of
equally moronic rumours suggest that the bank note
shortage has been created
by government to intensify the hardships of the
nation's workers, as
retribution for support of trade union organised
stayaways and for their
underpinning the opposition party. Yet another
allegation which permeated the
populace resulted from prominent
advertisements in the national press which
attacked the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe and accused it of creating the
shortages and that such shortages
were a violation of the Reserve Bank Act.
It suggested that as a result the
bank and its senior management or directors
could be liable to litigation.
The advertisement further implied that cash
was being taken over Zimbabwe's
borders, facilitated by last year's amendment
of Exchange Control
regulations which made it lawful for individuals to
remove $50 000 when
travelling from Zimbabwe, as compared to the previously
permitted amount of
$15 000.
The reality is that the bank note
shortage is wholly attributable to
government's gross mismanagement of the
Zimbabwean economy. The first of the
consequences of that economic
mismanagement is the pronounced inflation
which has afflicted Zimbabwe. With
prices almost trebling in a year, it was
inevitable that people would have to
carry more money for their shopping and
other expenditure than they had to
previously. Salaries and wages increased,
and for most were rapidly converted
into notes to fund their surging
spending. Such increased spending could only
be sustained if a greater
volume of bank notes was in circulation. The
magnitude of notes being held
by consumers also increased, instead of being
part of a continuous
circulation of the currency, because with a pronounced
scarcity of basic
commodities consumers always wished to have sufficiently
large funds in hand
to avail themselves of any unexpected opportunity of
purchasing such
products. Thus, the amount of bank notes in the wallets and
purses of the
populace steadily increased - not because they were any
wealthier, but
because circumstances motivated them to hold their limited
resources in cash
instead of in bank, building society and Post Office
Savings Bank accounts.
The availability of bank notes further worsened
because the black market in
foreign currencies grew and grew, both as to the
numbers of traders and as
to the amounts paid for much needed foreign
exchange. Each trader required
to hold vast amounts of Zimbabwean dollars in
the form of bank notes to
trade in the market, and the aggregate of the
Zimbabwean funds held
collectively by the traders at any one time will be at
least hundreds of
millions of dollars, if not billions.
To suggest
that the export of bank notes is a material factor to the
scarcity is
spurious. Most who export the currency are travellers who
require the
Zimbabwean funds to meet obligations for Zimbabwean Customs
duties and import
taxes upon return, and to pay for travelling expenses in
Zimbabwe upon
returning to the country. It was in recognition of this that
the Minister of
Finance motivated the Reserve Bank to be realistically
responsive to
inflation by an appropriate increase in the permitted
exportable levels of
the domestic currency. But as the Zimbabwean dollar has
no lawful
convertibility outside Zimbabwe, few find any purpose in leaving
exported
funds in other countries. The bank notes leave Zimbabwe, but they
also
return. Even such notes as are unlawfully exported, (and similarly
are
unlawfully exchanged for foreign currencies with persons external
of
Zimbabwe who intend thereafter to use the notes for purchase of
goods,
effectively at much discounted costs), are returned into Zimbabwe and
come
into circulation by the purchasers of the notes smuggling them into
Zimbabwe
to pay for their purchases of goods.
It is correct that the
Reserve Bank should have reacted to inflation and
contributory factors by
increasing the bank notes in circulation through
further printing of notes,
albeit controlled in order not to over-fuel
inflation. It has long been known
that the Reserve Bank wished to do so,
recognising the need for a higher
volume of bank notes in circulation. But
the Reserve Bank's hands were tied.
Thanks to government's disastrous
economic policies, and its confrontational
political stances and disregard
for law and order, the inflows of foreign
exchange to Zimbabwe have
continuously declined to levels well below those
required for essential
imports, which imports include the security paper and
inks required for the
production of bank notes. Government devastated
agriculture, reducing
agriculturally-based foreign exchange receipts by
two-thirds or more. It
reduced the viability of much of the mining sector to
an extent that forced
the closure of many mines and lowered volumes of
production of others so
that far less foreign exchange was attained by that
sector.
Government's policies were the primary cause of inflation, and in
particular
its fiscal policies ignored all principles of frugality, and
espoused
prodigal spending far beyond government's means, and therefore were
major
contributors to inflation. So too was government's failure to do
anything
substantive to contain corruption in both public and private
sectors,
despite recurrent lip-service to do so, that corruption being
another
significant contributor to inflation. And that inflation rendered
most
Zimbabwean exports unprofitable and not, therefore, a source of
foreign
exchange, for government's monetary policies have been so
appallingly
counterproductive as has been its fiscal policies. Exchange rate
adjustments
in response to inflation, whether termed as "devaluation",
"export support
rate", "currency exchange rate adjustment" or otherwise where
applied, have
been few and far between, always belated and always inadequate,
to the
severe prejudice of foreign exchange generation.
And
concurrently, government continued to alienate the international
community,
resulting in ever less foreign direct investment, balance of
payments
support, and international aid. Soon the national cupboard was
virtually bare
of foreign exchange, resulting in the shortages which -
together with
inflation - caused consumers to increase their holdings of
notes, and brought
into being the very active currency black market also
heavily reliant on bank
notes. That lack of foreign exchange forced the
Reserve Bank to prioritise
outflows of the limited remaining resource of
currencies for imports, and
that prioritisation was also subject to massive
political and consumer
pressures. Imports of fuel, energy and food
understandably ranked higher in
the priority list than did bank note
security paper and printing inks. Thus,
as much as the Reserve Bank was
aware of the need for new bank notes to be
produced, it could not address
that need timeously, and to cast blame at the
Reserve Bank is unjust and
uncalled for. Just as credit should be given where
credit is due, so blame
should not be cast where it does not belong, but
should be laid fairly and
squarely where the cause actually lies, and that is
the near-criminal
destruction of the economy by government.
The
scarcity of bank notes is but another of many shortages, but it is one
of
far-reaching consequences. Employers are unable to source the currency
needed
to pay weekly wages. Recipients of cheques for their salaries cannot
encash
them. The absence of a sufficiency of bank notes in circulation
is
repercussing adversely upon retail trade, which will in turn impact upon
all
sectors of commerce and industry. The hardships of the populace
intensify.
The situation is deplorable, and the distress is so great that
despite the
many demands upon the minimally available foreign exchange
reserves, the
Reserve Bank has now necessarily allocated funds for the
importation of the
inputs for the production of the bank notes.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Muckraker
For whom the bell
tolls
"WE will enforce court order," the police announced on Monday in
the Herald'
s lead story.
"Since when?" was the public's
understandable response. The police recently
seized a journalist who was then
deported in a case where the state acted in
open contempt of a court order.
Why were they suddenly so active in ensuring
Justice Ben Hlatshwayo's night
order on Saturday was enforced?
The answer is obvious. In the first case
the court order prohibiting the
deportation of Guardian correspondent Andy
Meldrum was inconvenient to the
government. So it was ignored. The second
suited the government's needs. So
it was enforced.
Jonathan Moyo was
ranting in the Herald on Tuesday about newspapers bringing
the police into
disrepute. The selective application of the law is likely to
do precisely
that.
And don't we recall Moyo having something to say about "night
judges" and
"night courts" when bad-mouthing a court order by Justice Fergus
Blackie
three years ago? Why was that not OK and this is?
The
selective application of the law is matched only by the double standards
of
those doing it.
Another example came from Justice minister Patrick
Chinamasa who was
frothing last weekend about a coup d'état and
treason.
The MDC's aim was to force President Mugabe from power, he
claimed. "Resort
to a coup d'état is unconstitutional and unlawful and thus
constitutes the
serious crime of high treason," he grandly
declared.
This must rank as one of the silliest statements made by a
politician in
recent times. And it is a field in which there is considerable
competition!
The constitution accords Zimbabweans the right to assembly
and expression.
If the aim of those assembling is to force the president from
power, that is
an entirely legitimate and legal process. Nowhere is it
suggested that such
force should be anything other than moral suasion. The
MDC has neither the
intent nor the resources to use anything other than the
instrument of civic
protest.
Vague reference to the MDC's past record,
one that has been spun several
times by self-interested government spokesmen
and embellished in the process
(such as protestors "torturing" pre-school
children), is not in itself
sufficient evidence for the government to declare
the MDC's mass action
unlawful or treasonous. Chinamasa should bear in mind
the embarrassment
suffered by the state the last time it declared the MDC
treasonous.
What is unlawful is the action of the state in preventing
people from
exercising the liberties laid down in the constitution. Posa may
indeed
enable the police to do a number of things. But where those things are
in
conflict with constitutional rights it is those rights that stand
and
nothing else.
Chinamasa and Commissioner Augustine Chihuri's
inability to grasp this
essential point was reflected in Interpol's decision
last week to distance
itself from Zimbabwe's wayward police force. ZRP
spokesmen had exploited the
routine award of an honorary vice-presidency to
Chihuri to suggest the
international police organisation endorsed the
activities of the ZRP in
Zimbabwe.
"The fact that a ZRP spokesman
attempted to use Interpol to fight off
political criticism has caused
Interpol to be unfairly and unnecessarily
attacked," Interpol
secretary-general Ronald Noble said in announcing
Chihuri's
withdrawal.
This is an appropriate response to the politicisation of the
ZRP, and in
particular to the way certain police spokesmen have made remarks
of a
partisan nature. They were at it again during this week's stayaway
making
partisan and unprofessional comments about Morgan
Tsvangirai.
We would be keen to hear from Wayne Bvudzijena what his
response is to
Interpol's unambiguous statement that ZRP spokesmen had
exploited the award
to Chihuri to make it look as if Interpol endorsed
policing methods in
Zimbabwe. Has this episode not brought the police into
disrepute?
Bvudzijena should explain to the public exactly why his boss
had to give up
the honorary vice-presidency. And the Herald could at the same
time tell us
why it felt the resignation by Chihuri of his Interpol post was
of no news
value when it had devoted considerable column inches to
celebrating his
appointment!
Meanwhile, the ZDF has been adopting the
same partisan stance that has
embarrassed the ZRP. In a statement carried
last week in the Herald, it
warned the MDC that it would "bring to bear its
full force upon those
perpetrators of uncalled for violence".
And what
"uncalled for violence" is that?
"It is a fact that previous stayaways
turned violent with both innocent
lives of citizens and property being
deliberately destroyed," the anonymous
statement said.
This sounds
suspiciously like advertisements the Office of the President has
been
planting in the press. The public will draw their own conclusions about
armed
forces siding with an unpopular tyrant against people exercising
their
democratic right to protest. It should not be the function of the ZDF
to
repeat Zanu PF propaganda as "fact".
Zupco has also been
advertising its partisan loyalties by applying for a
court ruling against
mass action and contemplating a lawsuit against the MDC
for the burning of a
Zupco bus during the MDC's last stayaway in March.
The public in return
have the right to boycott Zupco and any other company
that collaborates with
Zanu PF in advancing its malignant agenda. That
includes ambulance-chasing
legal firms who would appear to be having
difficulty drumming up any other
business. People paying good money to these
firms should first examine their
track record. How many cases have they
actually won?
Has anybody,
including the police, provided a scrap of evidence that the MDC
was
responsible for the burning of the Zupco bus that was the central plank
in
the state's recent propaganda offensive? We saw how the official
media
twisted the story about the pre-school children in a kombi being
"tortured".
Zanu-PF's chief spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira has said the
time has come for
a showdown with the MDC and that they must be "confronted
and taught a
lesson". Isn't it the wicked old men in Zanu PF who need to be
taught a
lesson? Those who became millionaires overnight in the 1980s; those
who,
while pontificating about socialism were enriching themselves on
kickbacks
from contracts?
And what about those who took advantage of
the War Victims Compensation Fund
or the VIP housing fund? When will they be
confronted with the consequences
of their criminal depredations and "taught
a lesson"?
Shamuyarira should be very careful about whom he threatens.
The bell is
already tolling for him and the other ideological dinosaurs whose
extinction
date has long since expired.
Until last month we had
always considered Professor Ngwabi Bhebe,
vice-chancellor of Midlands State
University, as one of Zimbabwe's more
enlightened academics. But that view
has changed with the news that he has
suspended SRC president Onwell Marasha
for "distributing pamphlets and
whistles" to other students. This was
"harmful to the interest of the
university", Marasha was told.
In any
other country this would be regarded as perfectly normal student
activity.
Only in Zimbabwe (and perhaps Cuba and North Korea) is it a crime.
Marasha
should apply for legal aid so he can take the university to court
for denying
him his right to freedom of expression. The same goes for any
other student
leader suspended for similar "offences".
What is harmful to the interest
of Midlands State University is the
impression that the vice-chancellor is
denying students their constitutional
rights in response to instructions from
an authoritarian regime. What are
needed are vice-chancellors that will tell
the government to leave their
campuses alone; in other words those capable of
standing up to tyranny.
Every year independent newspapers are importuned
by these same universities
to admit their students for one-year attachments.
We should all say: "No,
not until you afford your students the freedom of
expression to which they
are entitled."
A one-year attachment is in
any case ridiculous. Why should newspapers be
expected, at their own expense,
to educate university students for a whole
year?
We are pleased to
see that Tafataona Mahoso appears to have conceded at
last that there were no
secret meetings in the Botswana desert. He referred
this week to separate
visits to "the region" by Jack Straw and Walter
Kansteiner. But he continues
to recycle the 300 000 "resettled farmers"
figure, which he has been fed by
the government's publicists. The Ministry
of Agriculture puts the figure at
210 000.
It is unfair for the jokers in the Office of the President to go
on feeding
this poor old man dud figures which he then repeats without
checking.
And he describes the Daily News as "schizophrenic" because it
carries
stories on its front page that say one thing and commentaries inside
that
say another.
You can tell he has never worked in journalism! News
stories are different
from op/ed (opinion/editorial) pieces. The latter are
by contributors who
may voice views different from those of the newspaper
itself. A good op/ed
page should reflect a diversity of views. The editor
doesn't have to agree
with them.
Mahoso needs to learn how newspapers
work. Every year editors have to devote
time and resources to training
graduates from his Polytech Mass
Communications department in basic skills.
And every Sunday his venomous
attacks on the independent media and fawning
support for a discredited
regime whose handouts he unquestioningly recycles
add weight to the view
that he is qualified only as a Stalinist enforcer
whose capacity for
redundant theorising is matched only by his ignorance of
journalism.
Mahoso likes calling MDC allies "stooges". But readers are
left in no doubt
whose stooge he is!
With the events of this week
behind us, it is worth recalling what the late
Walter Sisulu had to say about
mass action.
"With the banning of meetings, banning of organisations and
suppressing of
all legal methods, it was not possible for Africans to accept
this
situation. No self-respecting African would accept this
situation."
Self-appointed Africanists in our midst should take note of
these remarks
from a freedom fighter who will be remembered long after they
have sunk into
much-deserved oblivion.
Who said the following? "It is
a right and duty of every citizen to
vigorously oppose.unjust
laws."
Answer: Ben Hlatshwayo writing in the Independent in December
1997. He also
quoted liberation songs which said: "You must not loot the
people's
property" and "Consult the people and respect their
views."
"These are noble principles," Hlatshwayo said, "whose consistent
violation
of late has brought the country to the brink of
disaster."
The public itself has a lot to answer for if it remains mute
and docile, he
said. We couldn't agree more!
Finally, our special
award for delusional journalism goes to ZBC. The Dead
Beat C guys managed the
now-customary "It was buziness as uzuooal" as the
nation's cities came to a
complete halt for the stayaway.
It is not such a good idea to report news
that is the complete opposite of
what the public are experiencing on the
ground. It leads to credibility
problems.
And it might be a good idea
to think of an alternative to "flop". Not only
was it utterly predictable, it
was also somewhat premature. We preferred
"fizzle" that the Herald used at
the end of the ZCTU strike. Then of course
is the all-time favourite, the
"damp squib" which occasionally ends up as a
"dump squib".
Whatever
the case, a national broadcaster that is nothing more than a
ministerial
megaphone is unlikely to convince the public that it has any
idea what is
happening. ZBC is one big "dump squib".
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Zimdollar worth 2c - Tsumba
Ndamu
Sandu/Ngoni Chanakira
THE out-going Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor
Leonard Tsumba says
Zimbabwe's dollar is now worth a paltry two cents from
its 1995 levels due
to hyperinflation.
The country's inflation has
steadily soared from 15,5% in 1990 to 269,2%
today.
Addressing
journalists last week, a day before he left the powerful position
to take
early retirement, Tsumba said: "Due to the sharp rise in inflation,
a dollar
in 1995 is now worth just under two cents today."
This is the second
time that Tsumba, while discussing the introduction of
new notes, has
commented publicly about the "true value of the
Zimbabwe
dollar".
On August 10 2001, while introducing the $500
note and $5 coin, Tsumba
revealed to the media that Zimbabwe's dollar was
worth only six cents from
its 1990 level. Again he blamed inflation, which he
said had "significantly
eroded the value of money in
circulation".
Tsumba last week came under fire from banking chiefs,
who accused him of
failing to firmly tackle Zimbabwe's fiscal problems during
his 10-year stint
in the prestigious post.
The sentiments were
expressed as Zimbabwe faces its worst shortage of notes,
which has resulted
in commercial banks and building societies "buying" money
from the "black
market".
Tsumba said the growth of an underground economy, which was
a sign of waning
business confidence and a reaction to the resurgence of
administrative
controls, had starved the banking system of
cash.
He said the growth in currency demand had occurred against a
background of
sharply pronounced contraction in the economy which had been on
a recession
since November 1997.
Tsumba said as a result of this
growth, large sums of cash were now being
kept in homes and business
premises.
"This phenomenon is suggestive of disintermediation, a
situation where
significant proportion of financial transactions take place
outside the
banking and financial institution," he said.
Tsumba
took over from Kombo Moyana on August 1 1993.
He steered the RBZ through
the days of the Economic Structural Adjustment
Programme, the short-lived
Millennium Economic Recovery Programme, the
National Economic Recovery
Programme, and the latest government offering -
the New Economic Revival
Programme.
During his RBZ stewardship Tsumba witnessed Zimbabwe
continuously default on
major payments - especially to the International
Monetary Fund and World
Bank, resulting in the country being suspended from
receiving much-needed
balance of payments support in late
1999.
The out-going governor has been accused of turning a blind eye
on
government's fiscal indiscipline. During his last days in office he
dished
out an average of $28,8 billion weekly to the cash-strapped
government,
culminating in Zimbabwe's domestic debt skyrocketing to $354,1
billion as at
March 21.
Tsumba presided over Zimbabwe's foreign
currency payment arrears now
amounting to US$1,5 billion, up from US$700
million in 2001, and a balance
of payments deficit on its current account of
more than US$800 million.
Last week he attributed the shortage of
notes to speculation, saying
individuals were now carrying large sums of
cash.
He said as measures to arrest the shortage of notes the RBZ
would inject $24
billion, all in $500 notes, from the middle of this
month.
Meanwhile, jockeying for the top post has already heated up
with Zimbabwe
Financial Holdings boss Elisha Mushayakarara being tipped to
replace Tsumba.
Mushayakarara is a former Finance and Economic
Development ministry
permanent secretary.
Other names being
bandied about for the top post are Jewel Bank boss Gideon
Gono and the
current acting governor Charles Chikaura.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Politics overshadows economics
Ngoni
Chanakira
BUSINESS executives trying to lure investors despite the country's
skewed
macroeconomic fundamentals say they are in a quandary because the
tense
political climate continues to take centre stage.
Next Wednesday
a delegation comprising 18 top businessmen from various
sectors travels to
Durban, South Africa, where they will try and "sell"
Zimbabwe at the
influential Africa Economic Forum (AEF).
The forum will be held from
June 11 to 13 and has as its theme: "Harnessing
the power of
partnership".
The Forum, which is linked to the World Economic Forum,
comprises more than
500 world business and political leaders including
Microsoft's Bill Gates -
arguably the world's richest
individual.
It also includes executives from mining giant Anglo
American Corporation,
IBM, Coca-Cola, Nike, Mercedes Benz and Levi
Straus.
The heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World
Bank also
participate in these gatherings.
From Zimbabwe's banking
sector the following will attend; Trustfin managing
director Glenn Conrad,
Trust Holdings Ltd chief executive officer William
Nyemba and executive
director Chris Goromonzi, Kingdom Financial Holdings
Ltd executive deputy
chairman Nigel Chanakira, NDH Holdings Ltd managing
director Ernest Matienga,
Finhold chief executive officer Elisha
Mushayakarara, and Agribank managing
director Taka Mutunhu.
Executives from other sectors of business
include Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd
chief executive officer and Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries boss
Anthony Mandiwanza, Zimsun Leisure group chief
executive officer Shingi
Munyeza, Meikles Africa Ltd's Chris Parvin, Astra
Industries Ltd chairman
and managing director respectively Elias Ngugama and
Nicholas Nyandoro, PG
Industries (Zimbabwe) Ltd chief executive officer
Gerald Mujaji, acting
Zimbabwe Investment Centre executive director Richard
Mbaiwa, and former
Finance minister Simba Makoni, in his capacity as
Makonsult (Pvt) Ltd
managing director.
The Minister of Finance and
Economic Development Herbert Murerwa will lead
the delegation, accompanied by
his counterpart, Industry and International
Trade minister, Samuel
Mumbengegwi.
Murerwa and Mumbengegwi are expected to meet with South
Africa's Finance and
Trade ministers Trevor Manuel and Alec Erwin,
respectively, on the sidelines
of the WEF to try and thrash out trade issues
that have resulted in tension
brewing between the two trading
partners.
The rand is down against the euro and the US dollar because
of the economic
downturn in Zimbabwe - its largest trading
partner.
This was worsened by this week's five-day stayaway called by
the major
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The
MDC, which has been invited to the WEF, is expected to send individuals
from
its economics and foreign affairs departments to tell its side of
the
Zimbabwe story.
MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai, who attended
the last event, cannot attend
this one because government confiscated his
travel documents pending the
outcome of his ongoing treason
trial.
To boost Zimbabwe's appearance at the WEF will be Barclays
Bank's Isaac
Takawira, now based in Kenya and former Industry and
International
Trade minister Nkosana Moyo, now employed by the
International Finance
Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World
Bank.
In an interview Murerwa said: "We do have a story to tell
despite the
challenges facing Zimbabwe right now. We need to coordinate our
efforts and
put up a good showing in Durban."
Nyemba, who
coordinates the Zimbabwe chapter jointly with Chanakira, said 10
countries
had already signed up for the summit's peer review mechanism,
while more than
100 institutions had signed up in solidarity.
He said: "Presentations
will be made for beneficiaries of Nepad so far.
There will be a task force
meeting between South African and Zimbabwean
business
leaders."
Chanakira said: "We should not pretend that the political
situation has
nothing to do with the economic situation because this has
haunted us at
other forums."
He said government needed to "come
clean" on issues at the forum, including
sensitive political ones because
business "cannot continue defending some
unclear
policies".
Chanakira said: "The other time when we were discussing
investment somebody
stood up and asked about the political climate in
Zimbabwe. At the moment
there is the succession debate and we need to know
what to say. We can't
just ignore such important issues. The press will be
there and they will
take this opportunity to go to town again about Zimbabwe
if we are not
coordinated."
Insiders said as part of its strategy
to focus on "success stories"
government would again harp on its "land tune"
this time telling the
international community that it had been "successfully
completed". They will
publicise the new land audit team, headed by former
cabinet secretary
Charles Utete, as well as talk about the New Economic
Revival Programme.
The insiders said government would also take the
opportunity to market the
flourishing financial sector, which has reaped
billions in profits despite
the economic downturn. The WEF meeting comes at a
time when Zimbabwe is in a
severely weakened condition after experiencing a
fourth successive year of
economic decline.
The main areas of
concern are a declining gross domestic product,
hyperinflation of 269,2%,
unemployment of more than 75%, high domestic and
foreign debts, as well as a
weak balance of payments position which has
resulted in the country being
rated a risky trading partner.
Analysts said as long as government
and the MDC did not agree on basic
political and economic fundamentals the
WEF "would provide just another
shouting opportunity for the two parties
which does not benefit ordinary
Zimbabweans".
Economist John
Robertson said: "I hope the individuals going to South Africa
won't defend
the current economic policies otherwise they will just
embarrass not only the
country, but also themselves. They might just meet a
hostile crowd of
executives who won't listen to outdated economic
principles."
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Zim prepares for WTO meet
Ndamu
Sandu
WITH time running out ahead of the fifth ministerial World
Trade
Organisation (WTO) meeting in Cancun, Mexico, the Ministry of Industry
and
International Trade says workshops and meetings have been lined up
to
prepare for the summit.
Zimbabwe's preparation for the summit
suffered a jolt in April with media
reports that three key trade negotiators
who had played a pivotal role in
the previous ministerial meetings, Jabu
Mtetwa, Carlson Mbegabolowe and
Samson Mutanhaurwa quit the
ministry.
Mtetwa joined the Southern Africa Development Community
(Sadc); Mbegabolowe
went to the Common Market for East and Southern Africa
(Comesa) while
Mutanhaurwa was said to have been transferred to the
Government Tender
Board.
Last month Zimbabwe's members of
parliament were the only legislators in the
54- member Commonwealth grouping
that were excluded from the club's joint
meeting with WTO in South
Africa.
Director of External Trade in the Ministry of Industry and
International
Trade, Rudo Faranisi said preparatory arrangements had already
been made.
She said: "The ministry has been holding meetings with
various stakeholders.
Consultations through holding of meetings are aimed at
collecting
information which will help to determine the national position on
the WTO."
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Letters
Democracy too good for
Africans?
WE had always suspected that the African leaders in the
Commonwealth troika
on Zimbabwe have a somewhat biased concept of
democracy.
So it came as no surprise when a democratically-elected (100%
in some
constituencies) Olusegun Obasanjo said Robert Mugabe was a duly
elected
president of Zimbabwe.
Our suspicions that the mandate
given to them to monitor the Zimbabwean
situation was misconstrued by them to
mean copy the act is well-founded.
Duly elected alright!
The
violence in the run-up to the election counts for nought. After all,
only
opposition supporters were the targets;
The barring and disappearance
of opposition polling agents is of no
significance;
The blatant
cowing of the judiciary by both Jonathan Moyo and Patrick
Chinamasa into
preventing the extension of the polling days in Harare whose
population is
mostly MDC supporters was of no consequence;
The fact that the main
opposition could not campaign in designated "no go"
areas meant nothing;
and,
For the rest, the dossier will be there in court.
If
Mugabe is so sure that he was democratically-elected, then what's
preventing
a rerun of the election under an independent electoral
supervisory
commission? Independent not just on paper like the
constitutional commission
but a body that can prove its mettle.
I urge the MDC not to sell us
out to the Zanu PF crooks by giving up the
election petition in the courts.
Should there be any talks then the desired
outcome should be a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission. What is not
acceptable is wholesale pardoning of
crimes without disclosure and
repentance as happened in the 1980s. The
gravity of the crimes is also very
different. It is also important to set a
good precedent. This will serve to
safeguard future generations from would-be
genocidal leaders.
As for African leaders, they hold Africans in low
esteem. They believe that
less-than-perfect conditions should be set for us
because we are children of
a lesser god and democracy is too good for
us.
It is not up to Morgan Tsvangirai to drop the election petition.
It is up to
the people whose vote was denied because it is they whose verdict
was
compromised by the actions of the government. Should the question
arise
whether or not to legitimise the election, it is the people's decision
that
should carry the day and that is why a referendum is the only
verdict
permissible.
What remains is the test of character of the
judiciary in the current
litigation by the MDC. In any case it can only be a
victory for us because
the truth will come out whatever the
outcome.
My only wish is that the judiciary understands the gravity
of the task at
hand because it is not acceptable that the country be run by a
fraudster (if
that is the outcome) a year after the
election.
Mugabe will remain adamant that the election petition is
the stumbling block
to inter-party dialogue. Well, that is as it should be.
Remember he is a
principled man against people's rights. The MDC should
insist for its part
as a precondition that the government drop the frivolous
high treason
charges whose aim is to impose the same sanctions on the MDC
leader that top
government officials endure from the EU, Britain and the
United States.
Finally, I must say to Thabo Mbeki that as long as he
is finding it easy to
ride against the ever-growing tide of resentment
against Mugabe, chances are
he is becoming a dictator. (One who dictates
against the majority.) As for
Bakili Muluzi, he has already said he is a good
dictator.
S Dube,
Bulawayo.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Letters
Mbeki should educate Obasanjo
on law
I HAVE just heard the news that Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku
has thrown
out the application by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to
compel
Zimbabweans with foreign parents to renounce their entitlement to
foreign
citizenship if they wish to remain Zimbabwean citizens.
This
decision by Chief Justice Chidyausiku is yet another victory for
democracy in
Zimbabwe.
What I want to point out to Olusegun Obasanjo is that
Mudede had removed
some of the people with foreign surnames from the voters'
roll in the run-up
to the March 2002 presidential election. These people were
denied their
right to vote, and this further justifies the need for a re-run
of the
presidential election in Zimbabwe. Obasanjo is one of the African
leaders
who said Mugabe was legitimately elected, and I am not too sure if
he
realises his mistake now that a ruling has been made against Mudede.
I
challenge him to make a public statement regarding Mugabe's legitimacy
after
this latest development.
I appeal to President Thabo Mbeki
to educate General Obasanjo on the laws of
Zimbabwe, and to advise him to
carefully study his text before making public
statements which portray him as
biased towards the tyranny which has caused
us so much suffering in
Zimbabwe.
If Mugabe knew he did not steal the election, he would not
be delaying the
hearing of Morgan Tsvangirai's election petition in the
courts.
I was disappointed to read in Mugabe's response to an appeal
by Tsvangirai
to push for a quick hearing of this case in the courts in which
he says
there is no urgency in the matter, when he knows only too well that
all the
suffering we are going through is because of his illegitimacy as head
of
state.
Mugabe is no longer the people's leader, and he should
simply accept this
reality and go peacefully.
Benjamin
Chitate,
Harare.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Letters
Let Mugabe fall on his
sword
THE country and the Mugabe dictatorship have multiple crises -
shortages of
food (especially basic foods as consumed by the poor who are now
90% of the
population), forex, fuel, blood, and most recently of bank
notes.
Agricultural production is severely curtailed, as are industrial
and mining
production. The basic building blocks of the economy are damaged
to the
extent that it will take years even under the best scenario to get
back to
the level of relative affluence which existed in 1996.
And
the way Mugabe is solving these problems? Beating,
tear-gassing,
intimidating, and ordering a shoot-to-kill policy using live
bullets. So
what is foremost in his mind is not solving the problems which
face his
nation and his people - it is perpetuating his own
rule.
Any great leader worth his salt would look objectively at the
situation,
without panic, discuss with a wide range of friends and enemies,
and
conclude that the best path for the nation would be for him to fall on
his
sword (figuratively or even literally).
It is a little-known
fact that the West helped to install Mugabe in 1980.
Should the events of
this week not result in Mugabe's immediate abdication,
then it is imperative
for the West to surgically remove him. He who creates
a disaster must rescue
the victims.
Alex Weir,
Harare.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Letters
The words of a tyrant
AT
every opportunity, and especially at "heroes" funerals, Robert Mugabe
says he
wants to rid the country and its people of colonialism, mark you,
after
having done nothing for 20 years. We need to understand exactly what
he
means.
The people who brought civilisation, education, Christianity and
developed
the country and its infrastructure to what he admitted was the
jewel of
Africa in 1980 when he assumed the reins of power are to be viewed
as the
tyrants. Read on!
This has ultimately gone to his head.
"Power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely," said Lord Acton.
What we need to understand when he
says he wants to free the country and its
people of colonialism and
oppression, he really means he wants to control
absolutely. Better described
as a tyrant.
He and his war veterans
and cronies want to be the new oppressors egged on
by his junior minister,
Jonathan Moyo. The word oppression is best defined
as: "Dominance through
threat of punishment and violence."
Behind the
Words,
Harare.
Zim Independent - 6/6/2003
Letters
Ben Menashe is a political
prostitute
I WAS appalled when Ari Ben Menashe claimed recently that he
was concerned
for Zimbabweans and had to expose Morgan Tsvangirai's alleged
plot to kill
President Robert Mugabe.
Being a Zimbabwean who is
resident abroad and in touch with Americans and
Canadians every day I am not
surprised that Ben Menashe managed to swindle
money out of the two main
political parties in Zimbabwe for probably the
same reasons.
Most
Americans and Canadians would not do anything for free and for Ben
Menashe to
say he was helping us is anything but the truth. If he had
Zimbabweans at
heart, why did he ask for such exorbitant figures which would
leave our
country bleeding from poverty? Why did he not do it for free if
his idea was
to help us?
The amounts paid to him and the benefit we derived from
them are causes for
concern. The nation is now at loggerheads with itself and
people are
dragging out their daggers ready to fight each other because of a
political
prostitute who double-crossed us.
Knowing my brothers in
Zimbabwe, I am sure we will all fight to get back
what Ben Menashe stole from
us. Probably the foreign currency that he was
paid will go a long way in
alleviating the problem of fuel.
The Bible talks much about the
dangers of a person who is double-minded and
our dear Canadian brother is
such and dealing with him has left us divided
as Zimbabweans. I am not sure
who really was the true husband of Ben
Menashe. Zanu PF is saying he was
their agent and MDC is saying he was
theirs.
Ben Menashe was
simply playing political prostitution for the sake of money
and if we are not
careful he is going to demand more and milk our country
dry. Ipfambi yemakoko
saka ngatiingwarirei.
Let's fight for our own freedom and not be led
by greedy fellows like Ben
Menashe whose minds are obsessed with the dollar
sign. Let's wake up
brothers and sisters and guard against capitalistic
characters of Ben
Menashe's calibre lest another prostitute comes by to
entice us.
Baba Ngwarai,
Indianapolis, US.