International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: June 5, 2007
ROME: A poor harvest coupled
with a worsening economic crisis will leave
more than a third of Zimbabwe's
population in need of food assistance by
early 2008, two U.N. food agencies
said Tuesday.
Around 2.1 million people in the country's southern
provinces will face
serious food shortages by the third quarter of 2007, and
the number will
reach 4.1 million of the 12 million population in the first
three months of
2008, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the
World Food Program
said.
About 352,000 tons of cereals and 90,000
tons of other food aid will be
needed to meet the basic needs of the
endangered population, the Rome-based
agencies said in a joint
statement.
The worst affected provinces include Matabeleland North,
Matabeleland South
and Midlands, where families could run out of food as
early as next month,
the statement said.
While drought has affected
other countries, Zimbabwe's poor harvest is being
"exacerbated by the
country's unprecedented economic decline, extremely high
unemployment and
the impact of HIV/AIDS," said Amir Abdulla, WFP's regional
director for
southern Africa.
The country's hyperinflation and the plummeting of the
Zimbabwe dollar have
also drastically reduced the population's buying power,
limiting access to
food supplies for low and middle incomes, he
said.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is blamed largely on political turmoil
since
President Robert Mugabe ordered the often-violent seizures of
thousands of
white-owned commercial farms in 2000 that disrupted the
agriculture-based
economy in the former regional breadbasket, leading to
acute shortages of
food and most basic goods.
Mugabe and ministerial
colleagues have frequently accused labor and business
of refusing to
cooperate in recovery programs.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: June 5,
2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: As Zimbabwe suffered a third day of
chronic electricity
outages Tuesday, the state power utility increased its
consumer charges by
50 percent.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority said in a statement the charges
will be reviewed every month and
adjusted upward in line with the nation's
rampant inflation - 3,714 percent,
the highest in the world - in the worst
economic crisis since independence
in 1980 that has led to acute shortages
of food, gasoline and most basic
goods.
The Harare city council also increased its charges Tuesday for
virtually all
its services from rentals to garbage collection by between 30
and 300
percent.
The independent Consumer Council estimates an
average family of five needs
about 2 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$130; ?95)
a month to live modestly and
not be classified as living in
poverty.
Average incomes are less than half that amount and a varying
scale of new
household charges added to the burden of homeowners struggling
to pay
routine costs, including monthly power tariffs for a small house or
apartment starting at about US$10 and rising with usage.
Businesses
and long-suffering householders across the country - already
plagued by
pothole-ridden residential streets, broken traffic signals and
most street
lighting out of action - faced repeated power outages of up to
14 hours
since Saturday.
The power utility blamed the latest blackouts on a breakdown
at the western
Hwange coal mine that stopped coal deliveries to its main
generating station
nearby.
Three other smaller coal-fired power
stations have been shut down for more
than a year by breakdowns and
shortages of spare parts and replacement
equipment.
Zimbabwe imports
up to 40 percent of its electricity from regional countries
but is facing an
acute shortage of hard currency to pay for imports.
Regular power cuts of
a few hours known as "load shedding" and water outages
occur daily, creating
a boom in sales of generators and inverters, a power
storage device using a
rechargeable battery that runs computers, lamps and a
television, and water
storage tanks and pumps.
But the cheapest alternatives cost around the
equivalent of US$1,000 (?735)
to install.
Earlier this year, the
authorities in the second city of Bulawayo asked
householders without power
who were cooking on wood fires in the garden or
indoor hearth to stop
scouring their pots with sand and soil, as is
traditionally done, as this
was leading to blocked drains.
Supermarket managers reported thefts of
wire shopping baskets, which they
said were overturned and placed over wood
fires as a makeshift barbecue-type
frame for cooking, heating water and
brewing tea and coffee.
Financial Times
By Alec
Russell
Published: June 5 2007 17:55 | Last updated: June 5 2007
19:01
Asked whether China's close ties with President Robert Mugabe's
regime risk
harming its image, one of Beijing's senior officials in Africa
gives an
intriguing reply.
"In China we have a saying," says Zhou
Yuxiao, the minister counsellor at
the embassy in Zimbabwe's neighbour,
South Africa. "Will you drop a stone
into the well when someone is drowning,
or do you try to give him a rope to
pull him out? We don't think that at
times of difficulty [in an old
friendship] you wash your hands and walk
away."
"We are doing this not because we want to help a 'bad guy' in
Zimbabwe," he
adds. "But in China friendship is a
tradition."
Sceptics might caution that Chinese officials have long liked
to bamboozle
foreigners by citing ancient nostrums to explain away
controversial
policies. But only the sycophantic Zimbabwean state press
could spin the
"well" analogy as anything but the most lukewarm of
endorsements. It
reinforces the growing perception in Harare that Beijing is
quietly scaling
down its relationship with Mr Mugabe's regime.
In the
past few years the Chinese ambassador in Harare is one of the few
foreigners
whose visits Mr Mugabe can have welcomed. Since the Zimbabwean
president
launched his "Look East" policy in 2003, Beijing has refused to
condemn his
repressive policies and has provided much-needed loans to help
prop up the
crumbling economy.
In the latest tangible sign of support, much to the
delight of Mr Mugabe,
Jia Qinglin, a senior Chinese Communist party
official, toured Zimbabwe in
late April promoting the arrival of a batch of
424 Chinese tractors and 50
trucks. They are badly needed in the country's
once booming agriculture
sector, which has all but collapsed since Mr Mugabe
expropriated most of the
commercial farms as part of his controversial land
reform scheme.
But diplomats in Harare say that in private their Chinese
counterparts
confess to being increasingly concerned that their links to
Zimbabwe are
damaging their image, and risk harming their investment
prospects elsewhere.
While posters at the recent meeting of the African
Development Bank in
Shanghai lauded Zimbabwe, diplomats believe that the
African itinerary of
President Hu Jintao in February was a clearer guide to
the state of
Sino-Zimbabwean relations: he all but circled Zimbabwe on his
eight-nation
tour yet did not stop off to see his most ardent fan in the
region.
Mr Zhou denies that was a snub. "It's easy to be interpreted that
way, but
we can't go there every time," he says, recalling visits by senior
officials
in recent years. To understand the relationship the world has to
appreciate
that the ties go back several decades to when China supported Mr
Mugabe in
the liberation war, he says.
Yet he readily volunteers that
Zimbabwe is in crisis. "Zimbabwe is a
much-discussed problem. Everyone
realises there is a problem there. It is a
sad
situation."
Businessmen in Zimbabwe suggest economics, as much as
politics, are
affecting Chinese calculations. China is now Zimbabwe's
second-largest
trading partner after neighbouring South Africa, and the
largest investor.
But Zimbabwe is struggling to honour its debts, and has
given Chinese firms
mining contracts and mortgaged much of the tobacco crop
as payment.
But there are very few statistics testifying to the
relationship. In 2006
the volume of bilateral trade between Zimbabwe and
China reached $275m,
split roughly evenly, according to the Centre for China
Studies, at
Stellenbosch University. The centre cautions that much of the
commerce is
not done through official channels.
"We hear a lot of
pronouncements about big Chinese investments that somehow
are never followed
up," said Innocent Matshe, the author of a report on the
relationship for
the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, a
non-governmental
organisation in Harare. "The Chinese feel very much that it
will be
difficult to recoup any investment if the present situation remains
. . .
[But] my impression for the Chinese side is that they believe in
waiting and
seeing."
Another difficulty for the Chinese, as they plan for an eventual
post-Mugabe
Zimbabwe, is the perception that their goods are
sub-standard.
The chief executive of a Zimbabwean manufacturing business
is scathing about
the new tractors: "They are not suited to local
conditions, do not have
spares or back-up. In truth they are bloody awful
tractors which break down
and rust."
Mr Zhou readily concedes that
China has an image problem in parts of Africa
but he pleads for time, saying
China is a relative newcomer to the world of
global trade. "We do commit
mistakes but not intentionally. China is always
regarded as an elephant and
when the elephant comes people tend to be
scared. But actually the Chinese
are just ordinary business people."
Mail and Guardian
Mail &
Guardian reporter
04 June 2007 11:59
Zimbabwe's remaining foreign investors, who have chosen to ride
out the
world's fastest economic decline, could see their patience rewarded
with the
seizure of at least half their assets if radicals in President
Robert
Mugabe's government have their way.
Empowerment Minister Paul
Mangwana is set to push a new law
through Parliament whose "various measures
will accelerate the
implementation of the indigenisation and empowerment
agenda, promoting
further indigenisation of the economy and empowerment of
people and
achieving at least 51% indigenous shareholding in the
economy".
Mangwana said his reforms would affect businesses
ranging "from
banking to manufacturing".
At the core of
the Zimbabwean government's latest threat is a
belief that foreign-held
companies are unduly driving up prices,
deliberately feeding the country's
record 3 700% inflation rate to incite
the poor against his
government.
Government officials say the draft law would
provide for a
"national indigenisation and empowerment charter, to fight
against
over-pricing."
There has been keen discussion
within the Zimbabwean government
on empowerment legislation since December,
when Mugabe urged rapid enactment
of a law that would "see the means of
production in the hands of our people".
Radicals in Mugabe's
government are pressing for such sweeping
reforms, but moderates, key among
them Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono,
are urging
caution.
Gono has already criticised the government's
inability to sell
shares in its own loss-making companies, many of which are
stuffed with
Zanu-PF loyalists and are blamed for gaping state budget
deficits. Gono has
identified six state enterprises that, he says, would
earn the country
$3-billion if they were sold to foreign
investors.
In the absence of any available details about the
proposals,
comparisons are being made with Zimbabwe's seizure of commercial
farms, and
proposals for a new law increasing local mine
ownership.
Land seizures ruined Zimbabwe's once robust
agriculture, leaving
the country scouring the region for grain. And a lack
of clarity on the
Mines and Minerals Act, which will determine government
and local ownership
of foreign owned mines, left planned new foreign
investment on ice.
In his independence speech in April,
Mugabe appeared to admit to
the damage his land policies had brought,
stressing a more measured approach
to the entry of locals into
mining.
Mugabe has soothed fears among mining companies by
making
concessions. Under one such deal, platinum producer Zimplats - owned
by
South Africa's Implats- received empowerment credits in exchange for a
third
of its unused mining areas.
Threats of a government
takeover of private companies are not
new. In 2004 Transport Minister
Christopher Mushohwe frayed nerves when he
told an industry convention that
government would seize companies that were
"working against government". He
later said no such policy was planned.
And earlier this year,
Industry and Trade Minster Obert Mpofu
threatened to shut down and seize
private companies that had closed for a
two-day national
strike.
Business has learned to discount such threats as a
ploy to keep
big business in check, according to one official of the
Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries.
But how much
foreign investment really does remain in Zimbabwe?
"Nearly
all the big commercial farms are already locally owned,"
says economist John
Robertson. "But a number of the manufacturing operations
are still owned by
foreigners, some of them large multinationals."
Barclays owns
68% of the country's second-largest bank, while
the local operation of
Standard Chartered is the largest lender in Zimbabwe.
However, it is understood from government officials that the
government's
implementation of the law is likely to focus more on companies
that produce
consumer goods than on banks.
Global firms Nestlé, the Heinz
group and Unilever manufacture
many of the country's basic products. Tiger
Brands owns 41% of National
Foods, Zimbabwe's biggest producer of flour and
the staple maize meal.
Many international observers feel that
the decision about
whether or not to stay in Zimbabwe should be easy, given
hyperinflation and
erratic policy. But there are many foreign investors in
the country clinging
to assets and waiting for a
recovery.
Although new foreign investment in the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange
(ZSE) has fallen sharply, many of its 82 counters boast
significant foreign
interests. Analysts say that at a value of $2,5-billion,
the ZSE is
undervalued and bulging with bargains for
foreigners.
And despite uncertainty over legislation, foreign
interest in
resources remains firm.
But investing in
Zimbabwe requires a great deal of patience, and
nerves of steel. Heinz, the
United States domestic goods giant, has
confirmed that it is now "exploring
opportunities" relating to the sale of
its 51% share in Olivine, its
Zimbabwe business.
Heinz's decision to sell comes after a
disagreement with
government over the pricing of its
products.
Olivine is Zimbabwe's biggest maker of basic
supplies such as
cooking oil and soap, which puts it straight in the firing
line. Executives
at companies that produce basic goods are routinely
arrested and harassed,
and accused of increasing prices to heat up
anti-government sentiment.
Reuters
Tue Jun 5,
2007 12:04 PM BST
By Eric Onstad
WINDHOEK, June 5 (Reuters) -
Zimbabwe's government is to take control of
strategic resource sectors such
as uranium under a new law due to take
effect by year-end, but in other
sectors local businesses will take majority
stakes, the mines minister said
on Tuesday.
Companies such as Impala Platinum and Rio Tinto which are
already operating
in the country would be treated differently under the new
law, which will
require 51 percent local ownership of mining firms, Amos
Midzi said at a
metals conference in Namibia.
Controversy has swirled
for years around Zimbabwe's proposed new mining law
as investors feared the
government would seize majority stakes in all mining
firms. "I would like to
dispel this notion that Zimbabwe wants to
nationalise its mining industry,"
Midzi said in a speech at the conference.
"It's not that the
government will take 51 percent in every instance, it's
only in selected
minerals or mines."
He told reporters afterwards that sectors such as
uranium, coal and methane
gas would likely require control by the
government.
"We are looking at what we have defined as strategic
minerals, uranium for
instance. We are saying that as far as uranium is
concerned it's untouchable
by any private company."
In those
strategic sectors, the government might hold up to 100 percent of
mining
firms, with a minimum of 51 percent if joint-venture partners are
used.
The value of the mineral deposit would be converted into equity
to give the
state control or a stake, he added.
For other minerals,
the government might not have any shareholding, but
local businesses would
take stakes to meet the requirements of the law,
which is due to be passed
by parliament in August or September, and take
effect before the end of
2007, he added.
Companies already operating in the country would be
treated on a
case-by-case basis, with the government recognising any social
improvements
they have contributed.
The chairman of Rio Tinto, which
owns diamond operations in the country, has
already had discussions with
President Robert Mugabe, Midzi added.
South Africa's Implats, the
world's second-biggest platinum producer, has
already sealed an agreement
with Zimbabwe that gives it credit for
improvements such as roads and
housing it had built.
"Companies that have a good, commendable track
record in terms of their
social responsibility, we will take that into
account," he said.
"On Implats, we have not completed the discussions as
such, but the
agreement recognises what Implats has done."
The Mines
Ministry last year said the cabinet had approved changes to the
mining law
to indigenise 51 percent in some instances of all foreign-owned
companies,
with 25 percent going to the state for free.
The proposals were later
withdrawn for further consultations, but Mugabe has
insisted that locals
should take control of the country's rich mineral
resources.
Government empowerment has worried investors in one of the
few sectors of
Zimbabwe's economy that has continued to attract foreign
capital following
the collapse of the key agriculture sector, which critics
blame on Mugabe's
seizure of white-owned farms for blacks under a land
redistribution drive.
Reuters
Tue 5 Jun 2007,
15:45 GMT
CAPE TOWN, June 5 (Reuters) - An organisation representing
thousands of
newspapers around the world called on Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe on
Tuesday to end what they called widespread rights abuses
against
journalists.
At a gathering in Cape Town, the World
Association of Newspapers (WAN) urged
Mugabe to uphold international
standards of freedom of expression. He has
denied allegations of human
rights violations.
"The Board of WAN calls on President Robert Mugabe to
put an end to
arbitrary and violent arrest, detention and torture of
journalists, to
firmly commit to the rule of law...," it said in a
resolution at the 60th
World Newspaper Congress.
The Paris-based WAN
represents 18,000 publications on five continents.
WAN strongly condemned
what it said was continuing harassment, detention and
torture of journalists
in Zimbabwe.
It said it was "appalled" by the reported March 29 abduction
and murder of
Edward Chikombo, a former cameraman for state broadcaster ZBC.
Police have
said his body was found and the case is being
investigated.
WAN suggested Chikombo's death might be linked to the
leaking of footage
showing police brutality against activists from the
opposition party
Movement for Democratic Change.
WAN also criticised
the recent threat of reprisals against foreign
correspondents accused of
publishing what it called "fabricated stories".
"In its policy to
suppress press freedom and to asphyxiate the very last
private media, the
government is assisted by the Media Information
Commission (MIC), which
disrupts independent newspapers and strips
journalists from their
accreditation," WAN said.
Mugabe has remained defiant despite facing an
economic meltdown and mounting
pressure from the opposition and Western
powers he accuses of plotting to
overthrow him.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
The capital
is home to thousands of street people, many of them children -
the victims
of poverty and harsh government policies.
By Josephine Gwara in
Harare (AR No. 115, 5-June-07)
Chipo Sithole turns 16 towards the end of
this year. Her birthday will mark
the end of her career as a beggar and,
very likely, the beginning of a new
life as a prostitute.
"I cannot
continue begging because of my age," she explained. "What normally
happens
is that girls of my age graduate from begging to prostitution."
Chipo
lives on the streets of Harare, sleeping in an open-air market. She is
among
more than 12,000 street people in the Zimbabwe capital, according to
City of
Harare estimates. Deepening poverty and the effects of Operation
Murambatsvina (clear out the rubbish) continue to haunt Zimbabwe two years
after Robert Mugabe's government bulldozed the dwellings of the urban poor
in a military-style operation condemned worldwide.
The situation is
similar in other urban centres. People have run away from
the settlements
they were forced into after the destruction of their homes
in the cities,
where districts that voted overwhelmingly for the opposition
were razed to
the ground.
Thousands are also fleeing their drought-stricken rural homes
where
government has restricted the distribution of relief aid by
non-governmental
organisations.
The ripple effects of Operation
Murambatsvina are there for all to see.
Those who had no rural homes to go
to were forced into camps, where the
government refused NGOs the right to
provide tents and food. Those who've
escaped accuse government agencies of
ill-treating them, distributing donor
food on partisan lines and denying
them access to government-built houses.
The youngest amongst them -
street kids - hustle motorists, offering to
guard their cars for a fee. They
form a class of their own and have
well-defined territories, which they
fiercely guard. Many have lost one or
both parents, mainly as a result of
the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which claims
3,000 people in Zimbabwe
weekly.
The youngest street kids sleep anywhere they can find space,
while many of
the older ones head for the suburb of Mbare, where they stay
the night at
the local bus terminus, pretending to be travellers waiting to
resume their
journey the following day.
One of the latter is Fungisai
Murape, a victim of Operation Murambatsvina.
She shows receipts, which she
guards like treasured possessions, for the
rent she paid for a two-roomed
cabin where she lived before it was destroyed
by a bulldozer.
"I have
nowhere to go," she said. "When I was evicted I moved from one
relative to
the next but as you know due to the economic hardships, there is
a breakdown
of extended families.
"Some were honest enough to tell me that it was
impossible to live with
them. There is a shortage of accommodation in Harare
and where it is
available, I can't afford it. So I have resigned myself to
living in the
street."
The street kids endure freezing cold nights in
the sleeping areas they refer
to as "bases". Chipo Sithole shares hers in
Mbare with six other children,
whose ages range between seven and ten
years.
She offers them protection, for a fee. The children surrender
their begging
earnings to her, and she buys the food they eat at night,
which depends on
the amounts made that day.
She is not looking
forward to becoming a prostitute. However, the only other
choice, she says,
is to continue exploiting her young charges, who need her
protection, mostly
from sexual abuse by older street kids and adults.
"It is even tougher
for the younger ones, both boys and girls, because they
also have to deal
with rape from fellow street kids and then also these
older men. Some of the
kids are picked up while begging at street corners by
men in cars and others
are raped where we sleep," she said.
"But because we have no rights in
this country, when we go and report to the
police, they chase us away and
don't take our cases seriously. They first
ask where the child lives and
when she says on the streets, they sneer at us
and tell us not to bother
them because we are from the streets."
Asked where "her kids" came from,
she said four were orphans and the others
ran away from abusive
stepparents.
The government has failed to deal with the issue of street
people and all
their interventions have failed. Some street people have been
rounded up
more than five times, but they still find their way back on to
the streets
of Harare.
Josephine Gwara is the pseudonym of an IWPR
contributor in Zimbabwe.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Relations between Mugabe and Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops continue to
worsen,
but without the church he would not be where he is
today.
By Max Chaya in Harare (AR No. 115,
5-June-07)
President Robert Mugabe's recent scathing attack on the
Zimbabwe Catholic
Bishops' Conference has been viewed by critics as the
latest example of his
false sense of infallibility and
self-justification.
The bishops invited Mugabe's ire when they circulated
a pastoral letter,
"God hears the cry of the oppressed", on April 5. The
letter, which was
supported by a number of other Christian groups, accused
Mugabe of bringing
about the country's socio-economic and human rights
crises through bad
governance and a lack of moral leadership.
Mugabe
has hit back strongly at the Catholic Church, describing the bishops'
letter
as "political nonsense". And he has threatened the bishops,
"This is an area
we warn them not to tread."
But the real cause of Mugabe's over-reaction
was not just his general
arrogance. It was also an acknowledgement of his
worsening relationship with
the church, which has been his de facto guardian
from his youth.
The moment his drifting father Gabriel Matibiri ditched
his family at Kutama
Mission in Zvimbab, the church adopted Mugabe as their
beloved son; fed him;
and gave him an education that he would never have
dreamed of, including a
scholarship to study at Fort Hare University in
South Africa.
By criticising him now, "the bishops have hit him where it
hurts most", said
Jonas Chimusoro, a parishioner of the Catholic church of
Highfield where
Mugabe frequently attends Mass.
Mugabe's fiercest
critic, Archbishop Pius Ncube, last year observed the
octogenarian leader's
hypocrisy. "He does not apply his faith to his
political governance of the
country. He totally ignores it," he told SW
Radio in October last
year.
Ncube further noted that the southern African leader goes to Mass,
receives
Holy Communion and speaks at church meetings - but he does not
respect human
rights; instead he goes on to justify himself and his bloody
actions.
Without the church, Mugabe would not be where he is today, for
his political
career would have been doomed from the beginning.
When
he and other nationalists fought against Ian Smith's Rhodesian regime,
the
Catholic Church, through the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace,
CCJP, assisted them. The CCJP protested against Smith's discriminatory
policies, particularly his land policy, treatment of blacks as second-class
citizens and human rights abuses.
Mugabe then was happy that the
church was on his side. Ironically, 27 years
after independence, when the
same church criticises the same policies that
resulted in a wanton land grab
and the abuse of human rights, Mugabe turns
paranoid.
"The message he
is sending is that it was okay for the Catholics to
criticise Smith for
human rights and other abuses, but that should never be
applied to him,"
said a priest from the Chinhoyi diocese, Mugabe's home
area.
During
the colonial era, Mugabe was happy to tout to the world books he
published
through the CCJP such as "The Man in the Middle" (1975) and "The
Civil War
in Rhodesia" (1976), among others, but he was hurt when his
atrocities in
Matabeleland were published by the same organisation,
chronicling the
massacre of thousands of people in the early 1980s during
the period
referred to as the Gukurahundi.
At the height of the liberation war,
Mugabe's family members, including his
sister Sabina, who is now the member
of parliament for Zvimba South, were
granted refuge at Silveira House, a
Catholic institution just outside
Harare.
The CCJP assisted the then
51-year-old Mugabe in 1975 to escape the clutches
of Smith's Rhodesian
forces. Key to his escape into Mozambique were CCJP
members: Sister Mary
Acquinah, who drove him at night to Ruwa, and John
Deary, who introduced him
to Robert Gumbo, the man who eventually
facilitated his journey to Nyafaru
near the border with Mozambique. This
made Sister Acquinah the target of
Smith's Special Branch and she was forced
to flee the country.
At
independence, on April 18, 1980, Mugabe was sworn in as the prime
minister
of the first black government with blessings from the Catholic
Church
through the late Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa.
In September 1988, Pope
John Paul II visited Zimbabwe in what was seen by
many as the Vatican's
acknowledgement of one of their Catholic sons as a
morally upright
leader.
Five years after Mugabe's first wife Sally succumbed to a kidney
ailment in
1991, the Zimbabwean leader, with the help of the church, brushed
aside the
moral blemish of tying the knot with his former secretary and
mistress Grace
Marufu, with whom he had already had two children out of
wedlock.
The head of the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe at that time, the
late
Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, presided over the grand wedding, which was
attended by about 6, 000 people, including African leaders.
Of late,
however, a growing concern with human rights abuses perpetrated by
Mugabe's
government and his unrepentant attitude has seen the rift widen
between
Mugabe and the church.
The April pastoral letter, much to Mugabe's
chagrin, candidly noted, "None
of the unjust and oppressive security laws
[inherited from Rhodesia]
have been repealed."
The repressive Law and
Order (Maintenance) Act used by Smith to suppress
African nationalism was
simply transformed by Mugabe's government into the
draconian Public Order
and Security Act, POSA, and the Access to Information
and Protection of
Privacy Act, AIPPA.
Typical of Mugabe when faced with criticism, he has
turned his back on the
Catholic clergy. Many religious rites at state
functions are now performed
by Anglican bishops who have among their ranks
some of Mugabe's greatest
loyalists, such as Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and the
controversial Obadiah
Musindo, a revivalist evangelist who is on trial for
raping his children's
maid.
As if to confirm that they have the same
mindset as Mugabe, the Anglican
bishops, led by Kunonga and Bernard Malango,
Primate of Central Africa, on
April 12 wrote their own statement countering
the Catholic bishops by
praising Mugabe.
"Is Mugabe going to turn
Anglican as he turned East when he faced severe
criticism of his
undemocratic policies from the West?" quipped Chimusoro.
The April
pastoral letter has been endorsed by more than a dozen other
church
organisations countrywide. In a press statement by the Harare
Ecumenical
Working Group and signed by 10 religious organisations, the
ecumenical group
said the pastoral letter gave encouragement and hope to the
people of
Zimbabwe in the knowledge that the church was with them.
"Political
arrogance, lies and deceit will not save our people from the
national crisis
which is characterised by brutality, misery, suffering and
death," noted the
statement. "We have no option but to face the truth
contained in the
Bishops' pastoral letter."
The organisations called on all Zimbabweans to
be guided by the pastoral
letter in understanding the source of their
suffering.
Max Chaya is the pseudonym of an IWPR contributor in Zimbabwe
CHRA STATEMENT
5 June 2007
Yet again residents are facing massive
increases in rates and charges
imposed by the de facto authorities at Town
House without consultation. Such
increases will not be accompanied by any
discernable improvement in service
delivery. Indeed we can expect services
to continue to decline.
Let us be very clear: contrary to the Herald
report [appended below], there
is no Council running the affairs of Harare.
Instead there is an illegal
Commission imposed by a partisan and
illegitimate regime in an effort to
deny citizens their democratic right to
elect a Council headed by an
Executive Mayor. Makwavarara and her fellow
commissioners are nothing more
than thieves feeding at the trough that
continues to be filled by docile and
fearful residents.
These
increases therefore should be rejected with contempt, even if a case
can be
made for increases based on the horrendous inflation caused by the
flawed
policies of the Mugabe regime.
CHRA has petitioned the Judiciary to
protect our rights. We have called on
Parliament to uphold the laws they
enacted. Neither has responded. We
therefore feel justified in engaging in
civil disobedience to assert our
rights. Apart from demonstrations and local
actions, the rates boycott is
the main weapon at our
disposal.
CHRA reiterates its call for responsible residents
to refuse to
pay any rates and charges until our rights are respected and a
democratically elected Council is in place with a clear mandate to
administer the city. CHRA will provide advice and legal support to all bona
fide boycotters who are members of the Association and who register with
us.
With the theft of our water system by ZINWA (yet another trough for
patronage!), the Municipality can no longer use the threat of water
disconnections to intimidate ratepayers and has no choice but to take legal
action. The current use of private debt collection agencies is illegal and
has no force in law. Any seizure of assets authorised by the courts for
non-payment can only be carried out by the Master of the Courts. Residents
who receive demands from debt collection agencies should immediately contact
CHRA for advice and support.
We have no illusions that
the rates boycott will cause the
regime to correct its ways but at a
minimum, boycotters can proudly claim
that they are not funding the thieves
who not only steal our money on a
daily basis but who unleashed the crime
against humanity known as Operation
Murambatsvina.
Stop
being a subject and become a citizen. Stand up for your
rights! No taxation
without representation!
Ends.
"CHRA for Enhanced Civic
Participation in Local Government"
For more details and comments please
contact us on 011 862 012, 0912 924
151, 011 443 578 and 011 612 860 or
email info@chra.co.zw you can also visit
us at Exploration House at Corner Robert Mugabe Way and Fifth
Street.
By Violet
Gonda
5 June 2007
Joseph Chinotimba, the self-styled war veteran and
leader of the farm
invasions, is making headlines again and as usual for the
wrong reasons. It's
reported a company owned by the Chinotimba, who is the
Vice President of the
state sponsored Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions,
was hauled before the
courts recently for failing to pay one of his
workers.
Chinotimba, who is also the ruling party's chairman for Harare
province, has
in the past called for better salaries for workers but failed
to pay ZW$14
000 in wages and leave arrears to a guard who had worked at his
security
company for two months.
The company, Smash Security, which
is accused of breaching sections of the
Labour Relations Act, was remanded
to June 18.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
05 June
2007
South African officials are likely to push harder for
progress in crisis
talks between the Harare government and ruling party and
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change that pick up later this week,
sources said.
Officials of the ruling ZANU-PF party only Monday submitted a
position paper
two months after it was due.
The ruling party has been
accused of stalling, but senior ZANU-PF sources
said internal divisions over
the mediation process delayed the submission.
Sources in the ruling party
told VOA that its demands include recognition of
President Robert Mugabe by
the opposition as Zimbabwe's legitimate leader,
and denunciation by MDC
leaders of the the targeted travel and financial
sanctions imposed by the
United States, Europe and others on Mr. Mugabe and
his inner
circle.
The government blames sanctions for the collapse of the economy,
though most
economists blame fast-track land reform, poor governance and
corruption.
The submission of ZANU-PF's demands paves the way for a
second round of
talks between the parties to the mediation process. Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa and Labor Minister Nicholas Goche will represent
Harare in the
talks Friday in Pretoria.
They will face the two
secretaries general of the divided Movement for
Democratic Change, Tendai
Biti and Welshman Ncube. South African Local
Government Minister Sydney
Mufamadi will chair those talks as to the
substantive agenda.
The
Southern African Development Community expects a progress report on June
30
from Mr. Mbeki, whom it appointed Zimbabwe crisis mediator in March.
But
former information minister Jonathan Moyo, expelled from the ruling
party
for challenging Mr. Mugabe in late 2004 over the president's choice of
Joyce
Mujuru as vice president, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio
7 for
Zimbabwe that he believes not much can be expected from the Mbeki
mediation
effort.
VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
05
June 2007
Political analysts watching Zimbabwe took a
critical angle Tuesday on
remarks by British Foreign Office Minister for
Africa Lord David Triesman,
who said this week that President Robert Mugabe
could one day face charges
of crimes against humanity.
The analysts
warned that his comments could cause Mr. Mugabe to cling even
harder to
power for fear of being brought up before the International Court
of Justice
in the Hague, the Netherlands, like former Liberian President
Charles Taylor
today.
"Robert Mugabe is at one of those points where dictators have to
consider
whether if they press on they don't fall into the category of
committing
crimes against humanity on the sort of scale that the law
proscribes,"
Triesman said Monday.
"Charles Taylor presented quite a
difficult target in the sense of coming to
trial, (but) no impunity is a
baseline we shouldn't cross," Triesman said.
"Those who commit terrible
crimes will come to trial and be convicted and go
to
prison."
Observers added that Triesman's statements came in contrast with
the subdued
tone adopted by Tony Blair, Britain's outgoing prime minister,
while in
South Africa last week. Mr. Blair said he supported President Thabo
Mbeki's
efforts to mediate the struggle between the Mugabe government and
the
political opposition.
Two experts weighed in on the issue: Sydney
Masamvu, a senior analyst for
the International Crisis Group in Southern
Africa, and Patrick Smith, editor
of the bi-weekly newsletter Africa
Confidential.
Smith told reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye of VOA's Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that
he was puzzled by the timing of Triesman's comments.
Zim Online
Wednesday 06 June 2007
By Justine Muponda
HARARE
-- Zimbabwe's economic crisis touched a new low this week as prices
of
utilities and commodities shot up, forcing weary consumers to give up on
fighting for their survival and instead watch as the turmoil unfolds in the
former breadbasket of the region.
The southern African country, which
was once an economic model for Africa
has plunged into political and
economic crisis in the last seven years due
to what critics say are
President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies
such as seizing white-owned
commercial farms to give to blacks.
Analysts said Zimbabweans - known for
being both resolute survivors and
fearful of state intimidation -- were now
giving up on the fight for
survival, worn by the world's highest inflation
rate at more than 3 700
percent, unemployment above 80 percent and shortages
ranging from food, fuel
and foreign currency.
"We are beginning to
see more and more people just giving up on the battle
to survive," John
Robertson, a prominent Harare economic consultant said.
"You can not blame
them, but then things are only getting worse because the
government has not
shown it has the capacity to stop this mess."
Robertson spoke as
electricity tariffs jumped more than 50 percent, with
promises of more
monthly increases while the Harare City Council voted to
hike rates with
effect from next month.
Economic analysts said this was a double-edged
sword for consumers. They
said consumers would not only have to content with
paying more for the
electricity but with frequent power cuts, which have
often plunged the many
suburbs into darkness for days.
The government
has in the past maintained uneconomic electricity tariffs,
arguing this was
meant to cushion consumers but analysts said authorities
were now being
forced to increase charges by higher margins in a bid to make
electricity
generation more viable and guarantee future supplies.
The rise in council
rates will likely anger many residents who complain that
a
government-appointed commission running Harare had failed to dispense its
mandate.
Mugabe four years ago fired Harare's elected opposition-led
council and
replaced it with a commission led by a member of his ruling ZANU
PF party
activist, Sekesayi Makwavarara, and has since blocked elections to
choose a
new council.
Residents point to refuse, which goes for days
without being collected while
burst sewer pipes have seen raw sewage
spilling onto the streets and posing
a health hazard.
"There is a
time when you just feel hopeless because no matter what you do
it will not
change anything, this is now the story of our life," said
Raphael Kamocha,
in the local Shona language, as he sold sweets and
cigarettes at a street
corner in central Harare.
Kamocha's feelings are shared by many people
who feel overwhelmed by the
economic crisis and have also been suffocated by
the country's hostile
political environment as Mugabe's government cracks
down on the main
opposition and civic groups it accuses of launching a
terror campaign to
illegally seize power.
Recently Health Minister
David Parirenyatwa said nurses were no longer
coming to work because their
salaries were not enough to last the month.
Doctors have since last week
started an indefinite strike to protest their
poor salaries and working
conditions.
Intern doctors, who run state hospitals in Zimbabwe, earn a
basic salary
minus allowances of about Z$252 000 per month, which is
equivalent to about
US$16 using the government 's overvalued exchange rate
of Z$15 000 to one
American unit.
The strike by doctors and failure
by nurses to report for duty have left
hospitals jammed with desperate
patients seeking treatment but most have
been turned away, probably to face
their death at home.
The health sector has been one of the most affected
by the economic crisis
as hospitals operate without enough drugs and
equipment while 70 percent of
the admissions are HIV/AIDS
related.
Some teachers in western Zimbabwe have also boycotted work,
leaving
classrooms unattended while Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has
admitted
that thousands of disenchanted police officers just stayed away
from their
employment without official leave.
"I think there is no
doubt now that the wheels have finally come off and you
can see that this
regime has decided to fold its arms. It has surrendered,"
John Makumbe, a
political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe said.
Zimbabwe's
economic problems have worsened after key Western donors and the
International Monetary Fund shunned Harare's administration and withdrew
over policy differences.
But Mugabe, who has held power for more than
27-years and plans to stand for
another five-year presidential term in 2008,
blames the deepening crisis on
what he calls sabotage by Western powers who
are angry over his often
violent programme to hand out white-owned farms to
blacks. - ZimOnline.
Zim Online
Wednesday 06 June 2007
By Thulani
Munda
Harare - Briton Simon Mann will remain jailed at Zimbabwe's
notorious
Chikurubi Maximum prison for the next two months after the High
Court said
it could not hear the former British Special Forces soldier's
appeal against
extradition to Equatorial Guinea.
"The High Court is
saying that their roll is full this month, and probably
until the end of
July. So we are just waiting to be given a date," said Mann's
lawyers,
Jonathan Samkange.
Mann last month completed serving three-year jail term
at Chikurubi slapped
on him after he was convicted of trying to purchase
weapons without a
licence.
He was arrested in March 2004 along with
70 other suspected mercenaries,
when their plane landed in Harare to pick up
weapons en route to Equatorial
Guinea where they were accused of plotting a
coup against that country's
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Mann's
colleagues were released a year later after having served their
sentences
for flouting Zimbabwe's immigration and aviation laws, leaving the
Briton to
serve an additional two years.
The Zimbabwe government refused to release
Mann on completion of his
sentence, instead holding him in prison while
preparing for his extradition
to Equatorial Guinea to face treason charges
and a possible death sentence
if found guilty.
A Magistrate's court
rejected an application by Mann's lawyer to have him
released on bail
pending the outcome of his appeal against extradition,
prompting the former
soldier to seek recourse in the High Court.
Equatorial Guinea has claimed
that it will grant Mann a fair trial, but
Samkange argued that the charges
that Mann was facing were very serious in
Equatorial Guinea, and would
attract a lengthy jail term if he were
convicted.
Five others
arrested in Equatorial Guinea are serving lengthy prison
sentences in
Equatorial Guinea's Black Beach prison.
Mann, instead, has offered to be
deported to the United Kingdom, as opposed
to plans to extradite him to
Equatorial Guinea.
He has already voiced concerns that Black Beach prison
officials will do
anything to get him to reveal details of those who funded
the alleged coup
attempt against the government of the oil rich
nation.
Black Beach, situated in Malabo, has been tainted with reports of
gross
torture, and at its worst, cannibalism, but the International Red
Cross has
admitted that it failed proved some of the
allegations.
Eighty prisoners are incarcerated at Black Beach, and if
extradited Mann
will be considered a high-risk offender, who will never be
allowed outside,
will never see the sun, and will spend up to 12 hours in
solitary
confinement shackled at the ankles. -ZimOnline.
Daily Nation, Kenya
LETTERS
Publication Date: 2007/06/06 When Zimbabwe got independence
in 1980 under
President Robert Mugabe, there was hope that it would develop
into a model
for Africa both economically and democratically.
In particular, the British Government pledged to assist the new
government
in the purchase of large farms owned by white farmers for
transfer to
Africans.
Numbers of such farms were acquired, but the new
government was not
interested in ensuring that they were kept productive,
and some were even
leased to white farmers from outside
Zimbabwe.
Instead, the government spent time and money in setting
up a special
military force to "punish" members of the Matabele
tribe.
In the course of time an organised political opposition to
President
Mugabe and his supporters appeared. At this point President Mugabe
announced
that his government would take over without compensation many of
the large
farms owned by white Zimbabweans and distribute them after
division into
small plots to "war veterans". Yet, the land so acquired was
not suitable
for small- scale farming.
As soon as this policy
was effected, whenever President Mugabe
appeared at meetings attended by
African leaders, he was always rapturously
applauded. Not so much, it was
soon realised, for doing something which
would be catastrophic for
Zimbabwe.
Now, largely as a result of these measures, Zimbabwe is
in ruins both
politically and economically, and it has become quite clear
that to retain
power, President Mugabe is ready to kick anyone in the teeth,
whether black
or white, who opposes his rule, while the same African leaders
who once
applauded him so rapturously, are now wringing their hands and
asking what
can be done to put a stop to what is happening.
But
they should remember that it was their approval of his earlier
excesses,
which may well have encouraged him to follow the path he has
taken.
Despite his academic achievements, President Mugabe is
at heart of the
same species as Jean Bedel Bokassa and Idi Amin
Dada.
R E H FITZHERBERT,
Kikambala.
VOA
By Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
Washington
05 June 2007
Zimbabwe's troubled national cricket team
has been dealt a severe blow by a
subcommittee of the International Cricket
Council which recommended the team
be barred from international test cricket
until its performance improves.
Zimbabwe Cricket in January 2006 asked to
be suspended from test cricket
because it was rebuilding its squad following
severe internal disputes. It
hoped to return to test cricket in November,
but the ICC board seems likely
to dash those hopes.
The ICC
subcommittee recommended that Zimbabwe play four single-day matches
with
other member teams before trying to return to test play. Analysts say
the
panel's recommendations may boost pressure for internal reforms at
Zimbabwe
Cricket.
A decision from the ICC board in the matter is due later this
month.
Commentator Hartwell Tshuma tells sports reporter Marvellous
Mhlanga-Nyahuye
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Zimbabwe Cricket should
give local
cricketers more international experience to avoid further
deterioration of
the domestic sport
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject line.
JAG Hotlines:
+263 (011) 610 073 If you are in trouble
or need advice,
please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
help!
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Lines
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1 - Chris Jarrett
Dear Jag,
Very early on it became clear to the
working group set up to resuscitate the
Cattle Producers Association that
what was required for the industry was a
completely new organization capable
of representing the interests of all
Zimbabwean cattle producers. In order to
achieve this objective it had to be
totally independent and have no
affiliation of any kind other than to cattle
producers.
At the
meeting held on 19 January 2007 of the ten members of the working
group
present, nine argued strongly in favour of adopting such a position,
each
emphasizing that for the new body to be acceptable to all it could have
no
connection to the CFU. The tenth member made no comment on this issue.
On
this basis a new Constitution was drawn up by Matabeleland which provided
for
an independent Association. Chairman Max Makuvise together with
consultants
Mario Beffa and Richard Winkfield spent quite some time fine
tuning this
Draft Constitution. They put their version to the meeting held
at Surrey on
the 23 February 2007. With a few more amendments made there and
some minor
tweaking by Matabeleland those minutes recorded that the
Inaugural Meeting
was to be held in Kwekwe on the 23 March 2007.
In the newsletter of 1
March 2007 notice was given that the new Constitution
was to be "considered
and ratified at a Special General Meeting on Friday
23rd March 2007 in
Kwekwe". Then in the newsletter of 8 March 2007 the
Inaugural Meeting was
downgraded to a "discussion of the way forward and of
the (now) 'draft'
constitution", and on 14 March 2007 a notice went out
saying that the meeting
of the 23 March 2007 had been postponed due to a
"clash of
events".
Three requests to Mario Beffa for an explanation as to the
change in
direction have gone unanswered.
At the working group meeting
held in the CFU Boardroom on 19 January 2007
the penny started to drop that
the CFU was to be presented with an
impossible dilemma. We were advised that
at a previous meeting it had been
decided that the old CPA would be dissolved
by their remaining members, and
in terms of their Constitution, were to
transfer their assets accumulated by
earlier Cattle Producers to the new
Cattle Producers Association. These
assets were, we were told, a motor car,
two flats and 11% ownership of
Agriculture House.
The quandary in
which the CFU was to find themselves was that the new
organization had
divorced itself from them. Subsequent discussions with
three Matabeleland
dairy farmers showed they too wanted a similar split as
they objected to
their NADF being part of the CFU, and to an NADF
Constitution which
authorised the use of dairy levies to fund the CFU.
Clearly this fact
would spell the end of the CFU unless the new CPA baby was
stillborn. The CFU
couldn't openly help themselves to the CPA's assets, but
nor could they allow
their building to be part owned by an independent
Association who had
disassociated itself from its anchor tenant. The
Commodity Associations hold
a big chunk of the building in Marlborough and
if, as seemed increasingly
likely, the members of other Associations
followed the same path and decided
to dissolve their Associations and
dispose of their assets to new
organizations antagonistic towards the CFU,
that organization could easily
find itself out on the street.
This predicament the CFU have brought upon
themselves. An organization
comprised of members will wither progressively as
it alienates the members
of which it is composed. The CFU now have no
alternative but to cure the
cause of the disillusionment and reconcile with
all who built the Union. It
is no solution to gloss over what has happened,
keep the remaining
supporters in the dark, put the old CPA in mothballs in
order to hang on to
their assets and hope the problem will go away. The CFU
must do some soul
searching and consider why it is that an organisation which
was the envy of
agriculture throughout the world and proudly acceptable and
revered by its
members of all races is now progressively abhorred and
shunned. Why did
Matabeleland leave en masse and other members abandon
individually? Why too
was it that JAG was formed?
The CFU needs to
take action at their upcoming Congress and correct where
they have gone
wrong. The view from Matabeleland is that a mechanism should
be found by
which all farmers, past and present, farming or not, members and
ex members,
elect the leadership, not just a handful who sit on what is seen
as a
parochial Council. Under present conditions it may very well be that
the most
suitable candidate is a farmer totally dispossessed who has nothing
left to
lose. He can fearlessly represent the interests of all his fellow
farmers.
The leader we need will act in an honourable way which is
acceptable to both
members and ex members. Then it will no longer be
necessary for any
resuscitated CPA to isolate Commodity
Association
assets........
Should this course not be followed, the
Consultants will doubtless be tasked
to rebuild not just the CPA but the CFU
as well. By then it will be too
late!
C M JARRETT
CPA WORKING GROUP
MEMBER
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2 - FIT Australia
Dear Jag,
I received a copy of FIT from the
CFU.
It reads "We need your information so that we have a mandate to
represent
you." This worries me.
Five years ago I went to CFU (who
had my mandate for twenty years) and they
said "we are working with the
Government on the land reform programme." I
believe I have now seen the
results of their Third Chimurenga handiwork with
Zanu.
FIT reads
further "who is running CFU and for whom."
I am fully aware that Zanu is
running CFU (through Mr. Freeme) and it is
being run for the benefit of
Zanu.
Zanu has now instructed Mr. Freeme to stand for a fourth
term.
When I went to CFU five years ago I was told categorically that
"Doug can
open any door in Zanu." This has been proved correct, but not
necessarily
for the benefit of the old
CFU membership - but rather for a
select group of Zanu mujiba
farmers/bobbejaan spanners.
I do see
Eric's name on the list, but I do need to remind him and his
colleagues, that
most of us understand that "you cannot talk your way out of
a situation that
you have behaved yourself into."
Is this is a big push from CFU to
coincide with "Mugabe's umpteenth born
again embrace of democracy" to endorse
another "Mudede Free and Fair
Election?" Mugabe will torture, rape and
murder like hell and then suddenly
flick a
switch, stop for a bit, and say
to the world "but I am a Christian
democrat, you know that!"
CFU,
FIT, SACFA, MDC 1 and MDC 2 need to take care not to get too carried
away
with their own importance of being employed by Zanu to run around the
country
white washing all the Gukuruhundi/Third
Chimurenga/Green
Bomber/ZRP/ZNA/CIO/CFU inflicted Tombstones.
Zanu loves
creating tombstones and has shown the world this very fact -
Sekai Holland
could very easily have ended up another Zanu tombstone.
I concede to Zanu
that they have used CFU brilliantly to destroy the
people's power - through
starvation as "faithfully enunciated" by Munungagwa
in the 80s.
As
soon as CFU is no longer useful to them, Zanu will give them a
tombstone.
That is one tombstone I will just have to paint. Now I'm
giving CFU "the
information they need" - I've ordered the
paint
today.
You guessed right - it's yellow!
"FIT,"
Australia.
"Following Itinerate
Tombstonepainters"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3 - Martin Tracey
Dear JAG,
In response to the long letter from
Cherad Made in your Open Letter Forum
number 485 dated May 30 2007, it is
apparent that he or she is oblivious of
the existence of God, who has spoken
to us by His Son, through whom He made
the universe, and who sustains all
things by His powerful word. But we have
desecrated His Creation, and so He
set about creating His new Creation, of
which by His grace, He has made every
one who believes on His Son a part.
His or her atheism is evident from
his or her contumelious remarks about
prayer and those who faithfully and
tirelessly apply themselves to
intercession. But prayer is not a
'penny-in-the-slot' machine. Prayer
involves finding the will of God in a
given situation and co-operating with
Him through prayer and the consequent
relevant action as He directs those
who pray.
To take just one of his
or her statements: "No brutal regime ever changed
because of people's
prayers." Yet the Soviet Union ended its 70 years in a
whimper, largely
because it had bankrupted itself through trying to keep up
with the military
expenditure of the United States. God ordains His own
ways, but we are in
error if we imagine that it was not God, but unaided
human endeavour which
brought this about. If He doesn't seem to work in the
way people had expected
and hoped, it in no way discounts His authority to
work as He
wills.
Cherad Made may not have been old enough to experience the divine
miracle of
the British Expeditionary Force being evacuated from Dunkirk in
1940, almost
under the noses of the invading Panzer divisions. England had
turned out
belatedly to pray fervently. Furthermore, the weather in the
Channel changed
overnight from calm conditions to tempestuous storms, which
effectively
prevented the Germans from following up their victory, while the
exhausted
British Army regrouped.
When people are up to their eyes in
stress, it is very difficult for them to
comprehend that their own situation
is only a tiny part of our world's vast
and horrendous troubles.
I am
a Christian and I hold firmly the belief that "in every thing, God
works for
the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to
His
purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to
the
likeness of His Son."
This is what God is working out in every one in our
situations, through the
thick and the thin. Our individual response to that
outworking will
determine whether His purpose leads us into conformation to
or rejection of
His Son, Jesus Christ, the God-man. It is humbling and
challenging to
realise that this world is merely the prelude to eternity.
This life is only
a speck in Eternity, but it is the field of destiny for
Eternity.
I believe that no individual will be able to pat himself on the
back, when
God restores justice to our land, as I am convinced He will, in
His perfect
time. He will use men and women for His purposes, but the
direction and the
empowerment will need to come from Him.
Yours
faithfully,
Martin
Tracey.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4 - Cathy Buckle
Dear Jag,
As ridiculous as it may sound, little
lights of hope are flickering on all
the time now in Zimbabwe. They are not
practical everyday lights of
decreasing prices, increasing food and medical
supplies or improved
services - quite the
contrary in fact. The lights of
hope that I am talking about are those that
are beginning to illuminate the
future direction. Some are from events
across the border where it seems there
are actually things going on -
although no one is saying what!
Other
signs of hope are coming from within. One is the blatantly obvious
declining
interest and support by people in rural areas for overweight
politicians in
smart clothes and fancy cars who come only at election time -
and then shout
and threaten people in their bid to garner votes. A prime
example is underway
at the moment in the run up to a by election about to be
held in
Zaka
East. At last both sides of the MDC have managed to stand together and
say
they will not contest the seat - what is the point if conditions are not
free
and fair. This leaves Zanu PF standing against two virtually unknown
parties,
the UPP (United People's Party) and the UPDP (United
People's
Democratic
Party).
Some of the earlier ZANU PF rallies
were shown on ZBC television and it was
embarrassing to watch great obese
men, shouting and waving their fists at
the painfully thin people, sitting
barefoot in the dust staring blankly
ahead. The
contrast between speaker
and spectators was so extreme it was a wonder it
was shown on national TV at
all.
A few days later, arriving to whip up support for the ruling
party
candidate, a former soldier, disappointment was immediate and the
rally
cancelled. Zanu PF Chairman, John Nkomo, said: "We have to postpone
this
rally to Thursday next week because we cannot address these few people."
The
days of Zanu PF being able to take support for granted - even in
remote
dusty villages - are gone.
Other reasons for hope are coming
from people in positions of responsibility
who are making courageous
decisions and are standing up to do the right
thing - politics and propaganda
aside.
This week High Court Judge Tedious Karwi granted bail to Ian
Makone - one
of 32 leading opposition officials and activists arrested in
late March who
have been held without trial for the past 2 months and 2 days.
In making the
bail ruling Judge Karwi stated a fact which of late is not
guaranteed and
has
been very elusive in Zimbabwe. The Judge said:" Our law
presumes people to
be innocent until proven guilty."
Until next week,
thanks for reading,
Love Cathy.
Copyright Cathy buckle 2
June
2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5 - Eddie Cross
Dear Jag,
The Dip Tank Scenario
If you are
a farm boy like myself, you will be very well acquainted with the
dip tank.
It's a concrete lined rectangular tank - quite deep at the
"plunge" end
rising rapidly to the "walk out" end with a long drainage shute
to a holding
pen on the other side. The purpose is to remove the accumulated
parasites off
the skin of the cattle and to give them some
protection from reinfection for
a few days out in the veld. It is filled
with water and dosed with an
appropriate insecticide.
On dipping day the cattle are brought together
and herded into a holding pen
that leads via a short shute to the dip tank.
They have been through this
before and although it is not a pleasant exercise
they seem to get used to
it and when pressured from behind they leap, one by
one, into the tank and
swim to the others side where they then climb out
dripping wet from head to
toe.
In the past week we have heard from
several commentators that the MDC/Zanu
PF talks are on track. Because of the
secrecy surrounding this process we do
not know exactly what that means but
words along those lines have come from
President Mbeki, Union Buildings in
Tswane, the German Parliament and
yesterday from Tony Blair in South Africa.
By now you will know that these
talks are the first ever between the two
political movements (both fractured
into several pieces) since the MDC was
formed in 1999.
We also know that the talks are expected to lead to an
agreement about the
required conditions for a "free and fair" election in
March 2008 by the end
of June. Today it is the 1st of June so in four weeks
time we should know
what is happening and can postulate what will happen
next.
I was very skeptical about this whole process at the start, but the
more I
have seen, both on the inside and the outside, has persuaded me that
this
time we might just have some chance of success and get a shot at
real
change. It is the dip tank process that persuades me of this.
To
be successful the process requires a number of things. First you have
to
muster the cattle. That means you send out into the field several men
who
are familiar with the land and the cattle and get them to herd the
players
towards the dip tank and then finally into the holding pen. In
this
particular exercise, this has been achieved. Dipping was set down for
March
2008 and then the SADC States set about getting the cattle involved
into the
pen. This has been done and not without a bit of cussing and cracks
of long
whips made from good African rawhide.
The pen on this occasion
is an interesting one. I have worked with wild
cattle in Matabeleland and can
recall one scene where some Brahman animals
were being penned for handling
and I saw an animal sail over a gate that was
at least 6 foot high. Once free
we never saw him again and the Rancher told
me that he had to actually shoot
the animal later as ration beef as they
simply could not pen him for handling
and loading.
The walls surrounding this dip tank pen are too high for any
of the
participants to get over. On the right hand side we have the position
of the
international community. They met earlier this year and told
those
responsible for this operation that they wanted five basic benchmarks
to be
met before they would recognise a new government in Zimbabwe and
provide the
resources required to get the country back on its feet. These
fundamental
demands have been set out with great clarity and in specific
terms, if they
are not met then what is the purpose of any agreement? We have
to have
international support to climb out of this deep hole we are in at
present.
Rescue is impossible without a rope!
The very people
herding the cattle - the leaders of the SADC, crafted the
other side of this
pen some years ago. They sat down and agreed that a "free
and fair" election
had certain common characteristics. These were defined
and laid out in the
SADC Protocols or principles for democratic activity.
All the leaders at the
time agreed that they would conduct their own
elections on this basis and
this decision laid the groundwork for much of
the progress in the SADC that
we have seen since then.
This side of the pen cannot be broken out of, as
they would be allowing one
of their numbers to violate the very rules they
prescribed and adopted for
the region as a whole. Indeed they can
legitimately say that the one bull in
this holding pen actually had agreed to
these conditions when they were
drafted and has been in violation of them for
some years now! They know this
bull well and they know that given half a
chance he will break out of the
pen and run. He is therefore the target of a
specific containment exercise
and a big whip is being used to bring him into
line if and when required.
So this weekend we are about to close the gate
on the cattle herded into the
holding pen. Once in there they must decide how
they are going to approach
that dip tank. I am told that those with the whip
are saying that no one
will be allowed to leave the pen until all have been
through the dipping
process.
For those of us who have been demanding
just such an intervention, the dip
tank holds no fears. Lets get it over
with, we say. For those who fear the
dip tank, they do not know what lies
ahead and they are deeply apprehensive.
The talks that will start in the
next few days will be about how to
translate conditions on the ground in
Zimbabwe into the clear requirements
laid out by the international community
and the SADC. They will not be about
the requirements for a free and fair
election - these are known and
predetermined. It is what we have to do to
satisfy those requirements that
is at stake.
There is no way the
cattle can avoid going through the dip. Behind are a
number of herdsmen with
cattle prods - battery operated machines that
deliver a powerful shock to the
rear end of any reluctant animal. From the
sides of the pen you cannot see
the prod being administered because of the
dust and the heaving bodies, but
you can clearly see the effect!
Once in the dip, the liquid does the
rest. We can expect that if we can get
to a free and fair election, that the
people will deal with the parasites in
our midst. Those that survive the dip
can then get on with the task of
rebuilding our suffering land.
Eddie
Cross
Bulawayo, 1st June
2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
6 - A Mother
Dear Jag,
THE SILENCE OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE IS
SHAPING OUR FUTURE as it has our
present.
We have forgotten about our
CIVIL LIBERTIES the ones most of our present
population does not even KNOW we
should have, or had before Independence.
The liberty to have water from a
tap, or even to have any water, the liberty
to have electricity to run our
houses or businesses the liberty to travel
wherever we needed because we had
fuel the liberty to go to our outside
toilet at night without being assaulted
by policemen
the liberty to stop and meet and talk with our family and
friends the
liberty to pick the grain after the tractor had cut the maize the
liberty to
have enough food to live
the liberty to send our children to
schools which had books to learn from
the liberty to work
AND THE
LIBERTY TO STRIKE WHEN WE WERE NOT PAID ENOUGH TO LIVE
because of our
silence a generation of Zimbabweans have no idea of what LIFE
SHOULD BE
because of our silence our children have been told lies about
the
pre-colonial past and the colonial past because of our silence we
are
returning to a pre-civilization era.
God bless us all
A
MOTHER
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
7 - Phillip Owen
Dear Jag,
I am trying to trace Tony and Debby
Thorne. After being at Gwebi, first as
student and then lecturer, Tony
worked for Raffingora Estates for some time
in the early sixties and then for
Crest Breeders in Harare South. I believe
they left for Natal at some stage
(Creighton?) in the eighties or early
nineties. I would be grateful if
anyone can assist. Please e-mail
owen@zol.co.zw.
Phillip
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
8 - P. Mangwende
Does anyone know when the CFU intends to
disband?
P.
Mangwende
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
9 - Eddie Cross
Dear Jag,
Collapse looms - 10,000%
Inflation
In my own business we passed a milestone today - by our
calculations
inflation in our business now exceeds 10 000 percent per annum.
I was told
by my supplier today that flour for the bakery would now cost me
Z$250 000
for a 50 kilogram bag and that I have to collect it at my own cost
from
Harare - 600 kilometers distant, the last time I bought flour from the
same
supplier it was Z$30 000 a 50 kilogram bag delivered to
Bulawayo.
We have given our staff a 100 per cent raise at the month end
for two months
now - it still leaves them with insufficient funds to cover
their basic
costs of living. We started today to provide food to them in
addition to
their wages or they simply will not be able to feed their
families and come
to work.
One major supplier told me today that they
are selling every product in
their range below cost. They are headed for
bankruptcy and do not know what
to do next. Another service provider told me
they were not able to replace
their stocks of spares and essential inputs.
When they had run their stocks
down to zero, they would then go onto a hand
to mouth basis, asking their
clients to source the required spares and raw
materials before they could
start work.
Fuel is trading at Z$45 000 a
litre, the dollar at Z$50 000 to 1 against the
US dollar and it has
depreciated by 50 per cent in a week. I estimate prices
are rising 20 per
cent a day and this is putting huge pressure on all firms.
There is no
sign of this process slowing down and with the government simply
spending
wildly in anticipation of an election in 2008, we cannot expect
inflation to
slow - we are headed for super inflation in the near future.
It will then
be impossible to hold money - people will have to consider
barter and the
widespread use of another currency. In Mozambique when they
were experiencing
similar conditions the common currency was the US dollar.
The same
situation existed in Angola but because of the shortage of actual
foreign
currency notes there, they also used things such as canned beer and
coca cola
as currency.
The difficulty in Zimbabwe is that we have a relatively
sophisticated
economy and strict currency controls. The use of either the
Rand or the US
dollar for exchange would actually be illegal at
present.
>From other countries experience this situation will be bound
to escalate
>the
collapse of the formal sector, exacerbate human and
capital flight, destroy
the value of savings in any form except property and
the stock market and
plunge civil servants, whose conditions of service are
less flexible, into a
state of crisis.
In the face of these critical
concerns, neither the government nor the
Reserve Bank exhibits any concern or
understanding of just what they are
doing. Their remedies suggest they have
little understanding of the
complexities of macro economic management policy
or how the economy and
business actually functions. Virtually every
prescription they have trundled
out in recent weeks has simply made things
worse.
Food is scarce and unaffordable and a real humanitarian crisis is
building
up - one that might still threaten national stability and put the
lives of
millions are at stake. There is plenty of evidence that Zimbabweans
living
in the Diaspora are pouring money into the country to try and keep
their
families afloat. With some 4,5 million adult Zimbabweans abroad,
this
carries quite a punch and is probably the single most important factor
in
helping keep things stable.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 29th May
2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
As a JAG member or JAG Associate member, please send any classified
adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Classifieds: jagma@mango.zw
JAG Job Opportunities: jag@mango.zw
Rules for
Advertising:
Send all adverts in word document as short as possible (no
tables, spread
sheets, pictures, etc.) and quote your subscription receipt
number or
membership number.
Notify the JAG Office when Advert is no
longer needed, either by phone or
email.
Adverts are published for 2 weeks
only, for a longer period please notify
the JAG office, by resending via
email the entire advert asking for the
advert to be
re-inserted.
Please send your adverts by Tuesdays 11.00am (Adverts will
not appear until
payment is received.). Cheques to be made out to
JAGMA.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
For Sale Items
2. Wanted Items
3. Accommodation
4. Recreation
5.
Specialist Services
6. Pets
Corner
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
OFFERED FOR
SALE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1
Generators & Inverters for Sale
The JAG office is now an official
agent for GSC Generator Service (Pvt) Ltd
and receives a generous commission
on sales of all Kipor generators and
equipment. Generators are on view at
the JAG office. Please could all
those JAG subscribes who deal directly with
GSC, rather that through the JAG
office, clearly stipulate that the
commission if for JAG.
The one stop shop for ALL your Generator
Requirements SALES:
We are the official suppliers, repairs and maintenance
team of KIPOR
Equipment here in Zimbabwe. We have in stock KIPOR Generators
from 1 KVA to
55 KVA. If we don't have what you want we will get it for
you. We also
sell Inverters (1500w), complete with batteries and
rechargeable lamps. Our
prices are very competitive, if not the lowest in
town.
SERVICING & REPAIRS: We have a qualified team with many years
of experience
in the Generator field. We have been to Kipor, China for
training. We
carry out services and minor repairs on your premises. We
service and
repair most makes and models of Generators - both petrol and
diesel.
INSTALLATIONS: We have qualified electricians that carry out
installations
in a professional way.
SPARES: As we are the official
suppliers and maintainers of KIPOR Equipment,
we carry a full range of KIPOR
spares.
Don't forget, advice is free, so give us a call and see us at:
Bay 3,
Borgward Road, Msasa. Sales: 884022, 480272 or admin@adas.co.zw
Service: 480272, 480154
or gsc@adas.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2
For Sale
So Far and No further! Rhodesia's Bid for Independence during
the Retreat
from Empire 1959-1965 by J.R.T. Wood
533 pages; quality
trade paperback; pub. Trafford ISBN 1-4120-4952-0
Southern African edition,
pub. 30 Degrees South : ISBN 0-9584890-2-5
This definitive account traces
Rhodesia's attempt to secure independence
during the retreat from Empire
after 1959. Based on unique research, it
reveals why Rhodesia defied the
world from 1965.
Representing Volume One of three volumes, Two and Three
are in preparation
and will take us to Tiger and thence to 1980;
To
purchase:
Zimbabwean buyers contact Trish Broderick: pbroderick@mango.zw
RSA buyers:
WWW. 30 degreessouth.co.za or Exclusives Books
Overseas buyers see: http://www.jrtwood.com
and a link to
Trafford Publishing http://www.trafford.com/04-2760
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3
Pet Food for Sale
Still supplying pets food which consists of 500g of
precooked pork offal and
veg costing $8000 and 250g of pigs liver or heart
costing $8000 for 250g.
Collection points: Benbar in Msasa at
09.00
Jag offices in Philips Rd, Belgravia at 10.30
Peacehaven which is 75
Oxford St at 12.00
This is on Fridays only. Contact details: phone 011
221 088 or E mail at
claassen@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
1 x 30 cubic metre Cold Room Unit, new,
unused. TFH 4531 F Compressor
Condenser, 3 Fan Blower unit with complete
electrics.
1 x 3kw Motors, Electric 1400 RPM, with Starter, new, unused.
Orbit pump
head all mounted on frame. 16 Pipes x 50mm with drive
shafts.
1 BH50 Pump unit, new, unused.
Offers please contact:
054-228640 or
850863
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
2 Carpets for Sale, Imported Sage green
carpets with under-felt, 9 x 12, $14
000 000 (as new)
12 x12 $6 000
000
Electric Lawn Mower, $ 3 000 000
Fax phone;Panasonic KX F 50,
Telephone answering System with facsimile, $12
000 000
Please tel:
882566 or 0912 400
759
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
4 plate gas stove, eye level grill,
timer, oven ,warmer draw with a 50kg gas
bottle. make monanch
7
years old. Price $10 million. Prestcold fridge 6cubit.electric. $5
million.
phone Joe Lewis 755149 or 0912363471.to view no 6 lincoln
road, rainbow rest
flats
Avondale.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Sale of the following items if anyone is
interested please contact Tom
Lambert on 494 796 or 0912 288 448.
1 x
Ford 7 tonne truck 1970 model D750. Reconditioned engine. Owner
driven
only.
1 x Series 3 short wheel base Landrover diesel
1 x
Motorola high frequency radio base set with telescopic stand, aerial
and
cable
1 x 16 channel Ericsson hand held radio
1 x 2 channel
Motorola hand held radio
1 x magnetic car aerial for hand held radio
1 x
old hardwood baling press for tobacco with
slats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Aquazone enhanced safe water enrichment
purifier. No expensive expert
installation charges. No filters. Internal
treated water with this unique
innovation. Only Z$3,2 mill.
Phone Joe
339378 or 0912 338414. e-mail countryjukebox@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Satellite TV Receivers. Focus your
satellite dish onto various satellites
and receive TV FREE! This is a one of
payment - NO subs to pay. Example,
Telstar 12 has National Geographics,
Reality TV, Club Zone, Extreme Sport
and others, Eutelsat 7/10 has SABC,
Botswana, e-TV etc. Contact Joe
Esterhuizen on 339378 or 0912 338414 or
e-mail countryjukebox@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.10
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Road motorcycle for sale. YAMAHA - Model
YZF 600cc - Thundercat - in
immaculate condition.
Highest cash offer
secures. For further details contact Dave on 011 600 770
or 091 22 55 653 or
email dapayne@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.11
For Sale (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
PINE COFFEE TABLE GLASS TOP 2mtr X 1mtr
- $ 3. MIL
OLD/ NEW BOOKS - GALORE
1940's /50's TRANSISTOR RADIO-
RELIC FROM THE PAST
OFFERS
STEEL COUNTER DOOR WITH LOCKING
MECH.
GARAGE DOORS - 3MILL
LARGE MIRRORS
FIRE WOOD - $80
000 PER BAG
ZNSPCA HQ156 Enterprise Rd, or tel: 497574/497885 or
882566
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.12
"THE WEAVERY".
Going Overseas or down South? Why not take hand woven
gifts for your friends
or family?
These super articles which are
light,easy to pack, take or send, and fully
washable.
Contact Anne on
332851 or 011212424.Or email joannew@zol.co.zw
Crocheted oven
gloves--$360,000.
Cotton oven gloves--$340,000.
Small woven
bags--$295,000.
Large woven bags--$360,000.
Crocheted
bags--$420,000.
Queen(approx.250x240cms) size
bedcover--$2,690,000.
Double(approx.250x210cms) size
bedcover--$2,420,000.
Other sizes to order.
Single Duvet cushions(open
into a duvet)--$1,810,000.
Other sizes to order.
2x1 meter
Throw--$1,180,000.
Baby Blanket(1x1meter)--$780,000.
3 piece toilet
set--$715,000.
Bath mat--$505,000.(small rug).
Decorated cushion
covers--$360,000.
Table runner--$210,000.
Set(4)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$715,000.
Set(6)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$1,070,000.
Set(4) crocheted table mats
only--$570,000.
Set(6)fringed table mats + serviettes--$1,070,000.
Lots of
other combinations.
Small(approx.105x52cms) plain cotton
rug--$505,000.
Medium(approx.120x65cms) plain cotton
rug--$715,000
Large(approx.150x75cms) plain cotton
rug--$1,070,000.
Ex.Large(approx.230x130cms) plain cotton
rug--$2,310,000.
Small patterned cotton rug--$715,000.
Small rag
rug--$505,000.
Medium rag rug--$715,000.
Medium patterned cotton
rug--$1,070,000.
Large patterned cotton rug--$1,430,000
Ex.Large patterned
cotton rug--$2,840,000.
Small patterned mohair rug--$1,410,000.
Medium
patterned mohair rug--$1,780,000
Large patterned mohair
rug--$2,310,000.
Ex. Large patterned mohair rug--$3,910,000.
Lots of
other articles.PLEASE be aware that prices may change without
notice and
orders take some time as they have to be woven and sent from
Gweru to
Harare.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.13
For Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
MAZDA 2.5 petrol 4x4 single cab pick up,
1991 model.
12 cubic foot deep freeze.
Assorted Mono pump
spares.
Please contact: Tom Lambert, 494 796, 0912 288
448
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.14
For Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Nissan CWA 45. 15 tonne lorry and 10 tonne
trailer. Can carry 220 tobacco
bales. 176000 kms. Absolutely immaculate
condition. Phone 011 606595
or
747777
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.15
GENERATORS AND INVERTERS (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Following units ex
stock:
Generators
5 Kva Silenced, 15 Kva Silenced, , 40 Kva
Silenced, John Deere 60 Kva
Silenced, John Deere 60 Kva Open Frame, John
Deere 100 Kva open frame.
Inverters
1500 Watt complete with 1 x
100 Amp Hr battery and charger in cabinet
5000 Watt complete with 4 x 100 Amp
Hr Batteries and charger in cabinet
Large Range of Generators available
from 5 - 2200 Kva ex import (some in
Bond South Africa)
Please phone:-
Radium Africa
Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740, Sean Bell: + 263 11
600389
Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859, Derrek Fachet + 263 11 611717
E-mail:
fachet@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.16
HARROW DISCS (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
We will have imported Harrow discs
(24", 26" and 28") available June, 2007
book now to avoid
disappointment.
Please phone:- Radium Africa -Tel + 263 4 335848 /
307740
Sean Bell: + 263 11 600389, Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859
E-mail: fachet@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.17
FORAGE HARVESTERS (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Single Row forage harvesters
available ex stock
Please phone:- Radium Africa - Tel + 263 4 335848 /
307740
Sean Bell: + 263 11 600389, Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859
E-mail: fachet@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.18
AGRICULTURAL SPRAYERS (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Tractor Mounted 12 Metre /
600 Litre tank Boom sprayers and Canon sprayers
in stock.
Please
phone:- Radium Africa -Tel + 263 4 335848 / 307740
Sean Bell: + 263 11
600389, Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859
E-mail: fachet@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.19
D1SC HARROWS (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Imported Offset disc harrows suitable
for 80 Hp Tractors currently on order
and will be available August /
September, 2007.
Please phone:- Radium Africa - Tel + 263 4 335848 /
307740
Sean Bell: + 263 11 600389, Keith Lowe + 263 11 800859
E-mail: fachet@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.20
Items for Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
2 Crastermatic Stokers
2 Twin
Pass 4 Bank Radiators
Drotsky Mill
Electric Motor 25HP 1450 rpm 380V
2
Platform Scales
Please call 665398 after
1pm.
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1.21
Items for Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
2 Carpets for Sale - Imported Sage
green carpets with underfelt 9 x 12,$10
000 000 (as new)12 x12, $4 000
000
Fax phone;Panasonic KX F 50 - Telephone answering System with
facsimile $8
000 000
Tea Trolly -Oak - $2 000 000
Old Swimming
pool and fish pond pump (needs recoiling) offers
Please tel: 882566 or
0912 400
759
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1.22
For Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
ZNSPCA IS SELLING GOODS DONATED FOR RESALE
TO HELP WITH OUR WORK.
ZNSPCA HQ 156 Enterprise RD, tel 497574/
497885
PINE COFFEE TABLE GLASS TOP 2mtr X 1mtr - $ 3. MIL
OLD/
NEW BOOKS
RECORDS-
STEEL COUNTER DOOR WITH LOCKING
MECH.
GARAGE DOUBLE DOORS - 3MILL
LARGE MIRRORS
FIRE WOOD -
$80 000 PER
BAG
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.23
Tractors for Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Same Explorer - 80 H.P External
Hydraulics. 6275 Hrs. Recently repaired and
serviced by I.T.S. Very good
condition.
Selling as a unit with 7".6" Trojan Tiller - US$20,000
(Equivalent).
Tafe 45H.P 1726Hrs. (Indian Assembled M/F). New Tyres.
Very Good Condition.
US$9000 - (Equivalent)
Please contact:
883279 or
023690390
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2.
WANTED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1
Wanted
Sheila Macdonald (Sally in Rhodesia) - If you have any of Sheila
Macdonald's
books for sale, please let JAG know the details including
condition etc with
your name, telephone number and price
wanted.
Telephone JAG - 04 -
799410
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2
Wanted (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Looking for a Turbo for a Nissan 3ltr,
16v. Must have done a low mileage.
Please contact:
011221088
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3
Wanted (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Cold Boxes (Cooler Boxes) wanted decent
condition. Please
contact:
011221088.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4
Wanted (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Wanted domestic male not younger than
50years to do housework and ironing
only. No accommodation in our block of
flats. Within walking distance of
Avondale shopping centre. Phone Joe Lewis
755149 or 0912 36 34
71.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5
Companion Wanted (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Mature farming lady looking for
energetic, fun-loving male companion aged
between 60 - 70. Living on farm
near Harare.
Please contact the JAG office -
799410.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6
Shotgun Wanted (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Good quality, Baretta or Browning,
20 bore over/under shotgun. In excellent
condition. Please contact the JAG
office on
799410.
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2.7
PAPRIKA GROWERS WANTED (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
The Capsicum Company is
looking to contract paprika growers for the 2007/8
season. We have various
types of contracts, which may be adjusted to suit
your specific
needs.
We also need uncontracted crop from the current season, for which
we will
pay highly competitive prices.
Contact us on the following
numbers 04- 369198, 369257, and 369143
or alternatively on the following cell
numbers Zane 011-611650,
Brendan
0912-214340
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3.
ACCOMMODATION WANTED AND
OFFERED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Ex farmers daughter, husband
and two young children looking for 3/4
bed-roomed, 2 bath-roomed house, with
domestic quarters to rent. Prefer a
long lease. Please call on
0912258491.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Garden flat in Greendale,
convenient shops, Msasa, town, lock up car
port, available immed, rent equiv
US80 per month, plus 1 month deposit, call
Mr Wallis 496829 or 023894597 or
email zermatt@mweb.co.zw
"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.3
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Attractive 2 bedroom cottage
in quiet country surroundings 50 km from
Harare. Z$750 000 per
month.
Please contact Jenny Faasem @ brookmead@mango.zw or 073 -
3399
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.4
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Dr. Seeks cottage somewhere
near Parinyatwa hospital.
Current accommodation rent increased beyond
government doctor's salary.
Contact dr. Martyn Edwards 335352 or cell 0912 66
44 33
"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.5
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
I am a 43 year old Irish male
teacher visiting Harare for the month of June
(3rd June to 1st July). I seek
a furnished 1-2 bed-roomed cottage or flat to
rent for the month. I will pay
very generously for the right property which
should be clean, safe and secure
with at least the basics. Can also provide
deposit and references. The
alternative (hotels) are OVERPRICED for
foreigners for what you get, and I
can't afford to stay in hotels for a
month, nor do I want to (cabin fever!) I
have lived in Zimbabwe in the past.
Dónal Mac Cormaic 0353860852101 and who_can_fix_my_pc@yahoo.co.uk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.6
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Wanted accommodation for
single lady with pets, either garden flat or
cottage .Contact Caroline
0912325055
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
House for rent available to
rent immediately. Immaculate house in mold
crescent, Avondale, within
walking distance of shops, movies and
restaurants.
3 Bedrooms
1
Main Bathroom
Fitted Modern Kitchen
Open Plan Lounge Dining
Area
Alarmed and Walled With Electric Gate and Fence
Very Pretty
Garden
Lock Up Garage and Staff Quarters
Perfect For Business or
Residential
Equivalent of 300 Per Month
Please contact Janna Pole to
arrange viewing: 091 2 432523 / 870019 /
janna@earth.co.zw
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4.
RECREATION
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1
Need a break
Getaway and enjoy peace and fresh air at GUINEA FOLWS
REST
Only 80kms from Harare, Self-catering guest-house
Sleeps 10 people,
Bird-watching, Canoeing, Fishing, DSTV
REGRET: No day visitors. No boats
or dogs allowed.
Contact Dave: 011 600 770 or Annette 011 600 769
or 091
22 55 653 or email dapayne@zol.co.zw
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5.
SPECIALIST
SERVICES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.1
Vehicle Repairs
Vehicle repairs carried out personally by qualified
mechanic with 30 years
experience. Very reasonable rates.
Phone Johnny
Rodrigues: 011 603213 or 011 404797, email:
galorand@mweb.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2
SpeedWorx - WYNN'S
Intelligent Car Service has arrived!
Why pay
ridiculous prices and be without your car for days.
Our services are done
while you wait & cost a fraction of the normal repair.
At SpeedWorx
we will:
Service your car
Increase your engine's performance and
improve your fuel economy
Completely flush your engine oil to prolong your
engine life
Restore your Power steering performance and stop it
leaking
Restore your Automatic Transmission performance and stop it
leaking
Completely flush your brake system and make you safe
Stop your car
overheating and reduce the risk of leaks
Remove bad odours from the interior
of your car and keep it fresh
Services done at your home or
office.
Contact: Bryan 011 612 650 or Russell 011 410
525.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.3
MAGNA PLUMBING & ELECTRICAL (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
MAGNA MULTI
CONTRACTING
Please be advised that the above Company has moved premises
and the phone
number has changed.
We still offer continued professional
and prompt service for the following
;-
A. Electrical repairs and
installations
B. Plumbing repairs and installations
C. Home and
Office renovations
D. Extensions and Buildings
E. Patios and
Driveways
F. Painting, Carpentry and Glazing
G. Roofing, Gutters and
Flashing
Please contact ROB and SUE
Phone: (04) 852658, Mobile -
011 601 885 or 023 824 896
Email: macgyver@zol.co.zw, havill@zol.co.zw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.4
VIDEO PRODUCTION (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Filming & Editing of Weddings
& Special Events. DVD Production, Broadcast
Quality. DVD & VHS
transfers. Call Greer on 744075 / 0912 353 047
Greer Wynn, Focused Video
Productions: 0912 353 047 /
744075
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.5
Unusual Flower Arrangements (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
For unusual flower
arrangements for all occasions including iki bana
arrangements, please call
Leighann Halfpenny on 011 632 272 or
302679
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
PETS
CORNER
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1
Anyone Lost a Weimeraner Dog (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
I found a male, 5
year old Weimeraner dog in our road leading off Drew Road
this morning. The
dog had no collar or identification on him.
He had been hit and stunned
by a car I suspect and needed medical help. He
is now being cared for and
looked after at Chisipite Veterinerary Surgery,
phone 494824.
The SPCA
have been informed.
PLEASE, if you know of anyone who owns a Weimeraner,
phone them and find out
whether their dog is not lost. He is a beautiful
well cared for
pet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.2
FOUND (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Male Dachshund, Tan with white muzzle. Very
sweet natured
Found in Pomona/ Doon Rd, At ZNSPCA HQ, 156 Enterprise Rd,
Chisipite,
Tel:
497574
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.3
Seeking (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Seeking Purbred or Pedigree male Doberman
to cover a Pedigree Doberman
female. Urgent as the bitch is ready in 5days
time. Please phone sherry 0912
724 595 or
852027/8
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7.
SOCIAL
GATHERINGS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.1
Country Juke Box (Ad inserted 29/05/07)
Come and dance with Country Juke
Box. Bring the family. Children allowed.
Reasonable bar prices, club menu and
a great atmosphere. Wide selection of
dance music from the 60's to 90's,
Country, Boeremusiek, Rock and Roll etc.
Contact Joe on 339378 or 0912 338414
for
details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.2
Book Sale (Ad inserted 5/06/07)
Jig saw puzzles, magazines,
records
SATURDAY10 JUNE, 10 - 1 PM, 156 Enterprise Rd, ZNSPCA
HQ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.3
CUTTY SARK HALF MARATHON KARIBA
MONDAY 13 AUGUST 2007 (over long
weekend)
All serious runners, fun runners/walkers, family and friends are
invited to
take part in the second Kariba Half Marathon, sponsored by Cutty
Sark Hotel.
Disco, full bar and catering at Cutty Sark after the
race.
Email: kiara@zol.co.zw or guyhammond@zol.co.zw for more information
or
telephone 011 208 218 / 0912 275
714
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JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to help!
To
advertise (JAG Members): Please email classifieds to: jagma@mango.zw
with subject
"Classifieds".