• Striking Zimbabwean Doctors Arrested
• Chidyausiku allows police appeal on ANZ
• Govt divided on role of NECF
• Mugabe's 'reforms' cast doubt on talks
• Moyo's budget call echoes down the years
• Only 40% maize seed available
• Lawyers slam lack of police protection
• Violence erupts ahead of Kadoma by-election
• Invasion turns ugly
• Zim crisis 'a tragedy' says Law Society
• Gono not free says MDC
• Government halt to food imports will hit towns
• Daggers drawn ahead of war vets congress
• Zim bankers corrupt - TIZ
• Govt spurns partnership with business
• Can Gono really make things happen
• Putting Zimbabwean Travel on the scrapheap
• World Bank boss ruffles feathers
• Sorry no forex coming in!
• Zimsec has failed the nation
• No justice
• Mugabe has some exciting political juggling ahead
• Zimbabwe fast retreating into the dark ages

Zimbabwean authorities have arrested state-employed doctors who went on
strike for higher wages.
The arrest of three doctors was made when they turned up for a scheduled
meeting with the government negotiating council. Spokesman for the striking
doctors, Dr. Phibion Manyanga, who is in hiding, told VOA that the doctors
were aware of the police plan to arrest them. The head of the Public Service
Commission, Mariyawanda Nzuwa, said the doctors' demands for a salary
increase of up to 8,000 percent is ridiculous and unacceptable. Mr. Nzuwa
said even President Robert Mugabe does not earn as much as the doctors are
demanding.

He also accused the doctors of trying to gain public sympathy by
deliberately understating their income. At the unofficial rate, junior
doctors now earn about $63 a month, while their mid-level counterparts earn
about $80 a month.

Under Zimbabwean law, it is illegal for doctors, who are considered
essential workers, to strike.

The doctors went on strike on October 23, after several attempts failed to
get their salaries increased. They defied a court order to return to work,
saying they first want government assurances their salaries will be
increased.

Zimbabwe's health care system, once considered one of the best in
sub-Saharan Africa, is collapsing because of a severe shortage of money for
salaries, medical equipment and essential drugs. Many of Zimbabwe's doctors,
nurses and other health care professionals are leaving the country for
places offering better pay.

The Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, were closed
on September 12, a day after Chidyausiku dismissed an ANZ application
challenging the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa).

The latest ruling by Chidyausiku, made last week, effectively means that the
police can withhold the equipment until the case has been determined by the
Supreme Court.

Although the lawyers representing the police managed to file the notice of
appeal on the ANZ judgement before the September 22 deadline, they only
filed their court papers with arguments after the deadline.

The police lawyer, a Mrs FC Maxwell of the Attorney-General's Office, said
the appeal had not been filed on time because their messenger was delayed
and the office ran out of bond paper while preparing the documents.
Chidyausiku allowed this explanation to prevail.

"The explanation for the delay is plausible," the Chief Justice said in a
chambers order. "The bond paper ran out causing the preparation of the
record to be completed a few hours after the deadline.

"In any event the appeal itself was lodged on time. It is the record of the
proceedings that could not be filed on time. There is hardly any prejudice
that could have been caused to the respondent," said Chidyausiku.

He said condonation was allowed as the police had a prospect of success in
the application.

"In cases, as in casu, where the delay is minimal and the explanation for
the delay is plausible, condonation should be granted unless prospects of
success on the merits are virtually non-existent and the applicant is only
seeking to delay the day of reckoning," said Chidyausiku.

Advocate Adrian de Bourbon, for the ANZ, had argued the appeal by the police
was "fatally defective in that it was not an appeal against the relief
granted by the learned judge (Omerjee) but the reasoning behind the granting
of the relief".

The condonation means the Supreme Court is now swamped with cases to do with
the media. The Supreme Court has since November last year still not produced
a judgement on the application by the Independent Journalists Association of
Zimbabwe challenging the constitutionality of Aippa. It has to rule on the
police's appeal against Omerjee's judgement.

And it has yet to decide on the appeal by the Media and Information
Commission after the Administrative Court ruled that the regulatory body was
not properly constituted and that ANZ should be deemed licensed by November
30.

President Robert Mugabe, who is patron of the NECF, the country's smart
partnership flagship embracing government and the business community, did
not attend the meeting despite claims by the NECF secretariat that he had
convened it. A statement by the Department of Information in the President's
Office, headed by Jonathan Moyo, rubbished the forum as being of "doubtful
import and objectives". In a statement broadcast on national television and
also published in Saturday's edition of the Herald, the Information
department said Mugabe had not called the meeting, which it described as
"hastily convened".

However, this paper established this week that Murerwa had worked with the
NECF in convening the meeting meant to find solutions to the country's
crisis.

Executive secretary for the NECF Nicholas Kitikiti told the Zimbabwe
Independent that the forum was convened with the full support of President
Mugabe's office. Kitikiti said the NECF secretariat was in constant contact
with Murerwa.

"On Professor Moyo's comments, we cannot say anything," said Kitikiti. "We
were in contact with the president through the Finance minister. We don't
understand why a meeting attended by so many ministers could be of 'little
importance'. The President's Office was also aware that the president had
convened the meeting," said Kitikiti.

"I cannot organise such a big event on my own" he added. "Minister (John)
Nkomo addressed the meeting. You know very well that some of your highest
ministers were at the meeting."

He said chief secretary to the president and cabinet Misheck Sibanda
co-chaired the NECF meeting last week, representing the government.

Contacted for comment this week, George Charamba, permanent secretary in the
Department of Information and Publicity, said the matter had since been
resolved.

"My friend don't bother me," said Charamba. "We issued a statement on that
matter and as far as we know that matter has been closed. The president did
not convene that meeting. What value will you add to that story?"

At the controversial meeting, Murerwa and Nkomo agreed that Zimbabwe needed
the support of Western donors to resuscitate the economy. Business
stakeholders called for commitment from government. Moyo downplayed the
resolutions later, saying that government would move ahead with the
implementation of its economic recovery plan drawing input from players whom
he described as "genuine, well-meaning and patriotic".

Analysts said Moyo's comments indicated the gulf between Mugabe and his
adherents on the one hand and those committed to workable solutions on the
other.

South African President Thabo Mbeki has said Zanu PF is undergoing a
"leadership renewal". He has also said the Zimbabwe crisis would be resolved
by June next year and reaffirmed last week that a solution would be found
soon to the current crisis.

Mugabe, who recently told a central committee meeting that he would be
making changes to state institutions, including his "war cabinet", is said
to be preoccupied with his internal re-organisation exercise which means
talks with the MDC are on the back burner.

After promising reforms two weeks ago, Mugabe launched the changes last week
by appointing Jewel Bank chief executive Gideon Gono as the new Reserve Bank
governor and announcing new provincial governors.

Mugabe is also set to make changes in the armed forces command structure
after Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe confirmed
he was retiring next month.

Zvinavashe has been linked to the post of vice-president left vacant by the
death of Simon Muzenda. Last weekend he said he was ready for any "national"
appointment. He ruled out accepting a post in the districts.

Mugabe also last week removed Lieutenant-General Mike Nyambuya from the army
and made him Manicaland governor amid speculation that he was trying to
purge "problematic" senior army officers.

Nyambuya and senior army colleagues like Major-General Philip Sibanda had
reportedly been targeted for redeployment from the military to other areas
to defuse tensions within the armed forces ranks.

Air Commodore Elson Moyo was recently elevated to Air Vice Marshal as part
of the changes. Airforce commander Perence Shiri has been tipped to replace
Zvinavashe as ZDF commander.

It is understood that Mugabe and Zanu PF officials are keen to proceed with
the leadership shake-up before they can re-engage the MDC. Going into talks
divided would only provide a hostage to fortune to the opposition, they
calculate.

The two parties had until July 31 been engaged in talks.

Sources say Zanu PF wants to go to the Masvingo conference with new leaders,
at least at provincial level, so that it can claim to have finally grasped
the reform nettle. Those vying to succeed Mugabe are also anxious about the
outcome of provincial polls as they have a major bearing on the succession
race.

The ruling party, sources say, wants to deal with its succession crisis and
corrosive internal factionalism ahead of any further talks. Sources say
Mugabe's succession dilemma has profoundly divided the party and become a
major stumbling block to a negotiated settlement.

Zanu PF infighting over talks and other policy issues has resulted in the
ruling party failing to adopt a common position on a wide range of matters.
Sources say this is the primary reason why it has unceremoniously disengaged
from dialogue.

"Given that the public budgeting is the single most important annual policy
statement of the government, it is imperative that the president should take
full responsibility and present it to the people through parliament for
discussion and debate before it can finally be voted on," Moyo says.

"The failure to make the president directly and personally responsible for
the budget means that his office will continue to be seen in public as
purely ceremonious."

Although the book was written 10 years ago, its observations remain relevant
in so far as Mugabe's leadership style and policy approach are concerned.

In the book Moyo says Mugabe had failed since he became president in January
1988 to assume "full and unambiguous responsibility" for the budget.

"The policies which dominate the daily lives of individuals are announced
and made concrete on budget day," he says.

"The tragedy is that the budget is made public by a government minister and
not by the president. The responsibility of the president in the national
budget should not be via delegation. The president should take direct and
full responsibility of the budget, of course with advice from his Minister
of Finance."

Although Moyo wrote the book when he was still one of Mugabe's most
trenchant critics and before he became minister three years ago, his views
remains relevant.

Mugabe still dodges responsibility on key policy issues.

Moyo says the success or failure of a president must be measured by "the
kind of budget he presents to parliament and his ability to convince the
nation through parliament that his budget is morally, politically and
economically sound".

"That is exactly what it is - 32 000 tonnes is what is available and there
is no company which has stocks of maize seed," said Gwarazimba.

"There are no resources for seed production and the (new) farmers have no
experience. There is also a lot of side-dealing affecting the sector," he
said.

Of the available quantity, government has secured 5 000 tonnes to support
beneficiaries ofthe land reform program-me. Government had placed an order
for 40 000 tonnes.

The other quantity of maize seed available is being sold to individuals.

"Government placed an order for 40 000 tonnes of maize seed mainly to assist
newly-resettled farmers. However, only 5 000 tonnes have been secured," said
a source within the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture. "The nation has
managed to produce 32 000 tonnes of maize seed."

Agriculture minister Joseph Made yesterday switched off his cellphone when
this paper called him. His secretary said that he was out of his office.

MDC secretary for agriculture Renson Gasela said the food crisis would
worsen due to lack of seeds and other inputs.

"The situation is set to worsen, there is no doubt about it," said Gasela.
"Indeed, the quantity of maize seed available in the country is nothing if
one views it from the point of view of the serious food crisis that we have
been experiencing. The nation needs at least 80 000 tonnes of maize seed,
yet only 32 000 tonnes are available."

The available maize seed is enough to cover only 1 200 hectares of land,
which in a good rainy season would yield less than 800 000 tonnes of maize.
The country requires 1,8 million tonnes of maize for annual consumption.

Last year Zimbabwe produced less than 800 000 tonnes of maize

"Mutumwa is currently on suspension and is reporting at Chikurubi Police
Station," he said.

Mutumwa allegedly assaulted Mtetwa last month after an incident in which the
lawyer nearly lost her vehicle to hijackers. Mtetwa said police refused to
pursue the would-be carjackers but instead turned on her, accusing her of
being drunk.

After the assault, police commissioner Augustine Chihuri called Mtetwa to a
meeting at which he assured her that he would investigate the assault. To
date no assault charges have been preferred against Mutumwa.

Following the assault, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) expressed
grave concern at the continued threats, harassment and intimidation of
lawyers in the country.

It urged the responsible authorities to protect lawyers.

The human rights group chronicled incidents of assault and harassment of
lawyers this year alone.

The list includes Gabriel Shumba who in January this year was arbitrarily
arrested, detained and tortured while in police custody. He now lives
outside the country.

ZLHR said judges had also been on the receiving end of police harassment.

"In an unprecedented move in the history of the legal profession in
Zimbabwe, Justice Benjamin Paradza was arrested while in the High Court
Chambers and detained before being placed on remand illegally. The Supreme
Court subsequently ruled on September 16 that the arrest of Justice Paradza
had been wrongful," the statement said.

On March 18 Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe legal advisor Gugulethu Moyo
was assaulted by Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of army commander General
Constantine Chiwenga, in Glen Norah Police Station.

Another human rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, was assaulted at the same
police station where he had gone to represent his client.

ZLHR has drawn the attention of the police to United Nations principles on
the role of lawyers which state that "where the security of lawyers is
threatened as a result of discharging their function, they shall be
adequately safeguarded by the authorities". It says it is "gravely concerned
at the continuation of threats, harassment and intimidation of lawyers,
particularly those handling human rights cases".

Chagadama and Dauya sustained deep axe-inflicted wounds on their heads after
they were attacked by marauding Zanu PF youths.

The Kadoma Central parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of MDC
MP Austin Mupandawana in August. Zanu PF candidate Tichafa Mutema will
battle it out with the MDC's Charles Mupandawana.

The MDC struggled to register its candidates in the mayoral and council
elections last month because of Zanu PF intimidation. Candidates in Chinhoyi
failed to register altogether and were automatically disqualified.

In Kadoma, Zanu PF youths are said to have blocked the entrance to the
nomination court for the MDC election agent, Felix Zifunzi.

The statement said although the MDC candidate had submitted his nomination
papers before the deadline, party officials and supporters still wanted to
ensure the papers had been accepted by the nomination court.

"Zifunzi forced his way into the nomination court despite efforts to prevent
him from doing so by Zanu PF supporters manning the entrance to the
nomination court, but he was pushed out by uniformed police officers as Zanu
PF supporters shouted that he had to be abducted," said the statement.

The MDC said Zanu PF supporters started chasing away opposition activists
who were waiting outside the nomination court building. MDC youths moved in
to protect female activists and violence erupted. MDC spokesperson Paul
Themba Nyathi accused the ruling party of using unorthodox means to cling on
to power.

"The country is being held to ransom by a party with no capacity to subject
itself to basic principles of democracy and the electoral process," said
Nyathi.

"There is a primitive belief in Zanu PF that areas like Mashonaland East,
Mashonaland West and Central are no go areas for democracy," he said.

He said he was abducted together with Ryan Kuja from Garura Eco-Tourism
project near Hippo Pools. They were force-marched for a kilometre while the
abductors beat up Jarvis.

"As they force-marched us for a kilometre, they severely beat me with
sticks," Jarvis said, showing bruises all over his body.

"In the process I lost $500 000 in cash for my staff wages, my suitcase and
all its contents," he said. "Kuja lost $100 000 in cash, his bag containing,
among other things, car keys and a camera."

Jarvis said he only got an opportunity to escape when money in his pocket
fell out, thus diverting the attention of his attackers who stopped to pick
it up.

"I ran some distance down the road and then into the bush. I was whacked out
and spent some time among the rocks," he said

Jarvis was later treated at the Harare Trauma Centre and has since reported
the case to Avondale police.

Jarvis said police at Shamva were delaying investigations into the case and
so far no progress has been made.

"The member-in-charge of Shamva police is dragging his feet about
normalising the situation, especially recovering the keys and other
equipment looted in the first invasion four weeks ago," he said.

Contacted for comment, Shamva police confirmed the invasion of the camp
saying one of the youths' leaders from Madziwa Mine had taken the car keys
and an officer was investigating the case. Police would not, however, give
more details on the matter referring all questions to the provincial
spokesman in Bindura.

Jarvis said police were reluctant to guarantee the safety of his clients
visiting Hippo Pools.

"The police are still not willing to ensure that any clients going to Hippo
Pools will be safe. Right now we are unable to take bookings due to the
insecurity of the area. The camp cannot be reopened until the equipment is
recovered and security guaranteed," he said.

When Hippo Pools was first invaded last month, booked clients were forced to
vacate the place in the middle of the night.

Zanu PF youths from Shamva area invaded the camp in the 74 000-hectare
Umfurudzi National Park situated 150 kilometres north of Harare in the
Mazowe-Shamva area.

Jarvis said the matter was reported to National Parks headquarters, the
police and other relevant authorities but no arrests had been made so far.

He said clients who were forcibly evicted claimed to have left behind
equipment worth over a million dollars. The invaders also looted food valued
at $500 000.

Jarvis was forced to hand over all camp keys.

"The invasion has nothing to do with resettlement because we do not own any
land but operate on National Parks estate," he said.

"Coupled with this, freedom of speech should forthwith be guaranteed as the
very first step towards restoring law and order in that country."

The LSSA joins a growing list of South African groups and influential
individuals in condemning the government and calling for a tough line.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, heir to the Oppenheimer dynasty, described the
political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe as "a tragedy". He was speaking
at the fourth African Economics Editors Conference on "wealth creation" in
Johannesburg last month.

The Oppenheimer family controls two of Africa's richest companies, Anglo
American Corporation and De Beers.

Also joining in the condemnation of Zimbabwean authorities was the powerful
Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) which condemned the arrest
of ZCTU leaders last month.

"The country has deteriorated so fast that it is now on the brink of total
collapse," Cosatu said.

It said regional countries had also been drawn into the crisis through the
influx of refugees.

The LSSA said President Thabo Mbeki's policy of quiet diplomacy did not seem
to be achieving the desired results. Given the mandate of the Nepad
programme, it said, the turmoil in Zimbabwe was undermining any positive
efforts towards achieving its goals.

"Our concern stems from the premise that the central bank should be given
the autonomy to make good monetary policies that realise the goals of price
stability as well as the effective regulation and supervision of the
financial sector," Mashakada said.

Mashakada said Gono's links with Zanu PF compromised his position.

"We wonder how independent Gideon Gono will be especially knowing his strong
links with Zanu PF as one of its key financial deals broker. We consider his
appointment as simply political and strategic for Zanu PF," he said.

Mashakada said the appointment might herald the stepping up of political
interference in the affairs of the central bank which has provided a window
for excessive government borrowing and financial signorage.

Mashakada called for an overhaul of the Reserve Bank Act to minimise the
influence of the executive in the appointment of the governor and the board.
This, he said, would ensure that the RBZ became a truly independent
custodian of monetary policy.

Information provided by aid agencies last week said government had not
floated tenders to import grain. There was also no ship at sea bringing in
fresh supplies. What they call the aid "pipeline" was therefore ruptured.

In its letter of appeal to donors for food assistance in July this year, the
government said the country would face a deficit of 700 000 tonnes. It also
indicated that it did not have the US$142 million needed to import food.

Donors this week said food shortages in January were likely to be more
severe than those experienced last year due to government's failure to
import grain.

The WFP two weeks ago announced that there would be a pipeline break in food
aid at the end of the year unless new donor support was secured.

Aid agencies also said government had not landed adequate stocks of maize
seed for planting in the 2003/4 season.

The agencies said the GMB and the Agricultural Rural Development Authority,
who were given the mandate to import seeds and other inputs, had so far
managed to bring in a paltry 13 500 tonnes of fertiliser.

"The parastatals are currently negotiating with Zambia and South African
seed houses," officials in the agriculture ministry said.

"The seed will not get into the country in time for the current planting
season because of the bureaucracy in government and the fact that government
has no money."

The World Food Programme last week said government had appealed to the
international community to assist with maize seed imports to cover the
projected deficit.

The war veterans' body is deeply divided over the election of a chairman. At
the same time, interference by Zanu PF bigwigs as they seek alliances among
war veterans in the succession struggle has taken a toll on its structures.

War veterans acting chairman Patrick Nyaruwata last week confirmed that
dates for the congress were still not known.

"The dates will be announced later," said Nyaruwata. "But the congress is on
this month in Mutare."

"We requested $72 million from the party (Zanu PF) and were promised that it
would come," he said.

War veterans are expected to play a major role in the Mugabe succession
battle, also likely to feature prominently at the Zanu PF conference next
month.

War veterans' secretary-general Andy Mhlanga admitted that there was
infighting over the Mugabe succession issue as well as the choosing of a
chairman.

"It is true that factions have emerged over Mugabe's successor," said
Mhlanga. "People have been campaigning for various candidates," he said.

"The same goes for the issue of choosing a chairman, which will however be
deliberated on at the congress and hopefully in an amicable manner."

Nyaruwata promised "miracles" over the succession issue.

"It is still premature to discuss that issue (succession). The president is
still alive. But when the time comes, you will see miracles. I can assure
you from the point of view of war veterans that there will be miracles," he
said without elaborating.

War veterans have not had a substantive head since the death in June 2001 of
controversial chairman Chenjerai Hunzvi.

Nyaruwata has been campaigning for the chairmanship, as are former Harare
council security guard Joseph Chinotimba and Bulawayo-based Jabulani
Sibanda.

In what is believed to be a Nyaruwata coup, both Chinotimba and Sibanda were
declared by the executive to be ineligible to contest elections on
allegations of indiscipline. Chinotimba and Sibanda are allegedly aligned to
Zanu PF secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been
tipped to succeed Mugabe.

Participants were asked to what extent they thought the violation of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) regulations on foreign currency transactions
by financial institutions had led to the emergence of the foreign currency
parallel market.

A total of 36,8% said to a very great extent, 22,8% said to a great extent,
28,1% said only slightly and 8,8% said not at all.

"From these statistics it is quite poignant that Zimbabweans perceive the
country's banking sector as highly corrupt," chairman of Transparency
International Zimbabwe John Makumbe said.

It also emerged that the majority of Zimbabweans (62,1%) perceive that most
bank employees are involved in illegal transactions involving foreign
currency.

Only 15,5% professed ignorance of the matter.

There is a serious shortage of foreign currency in all the banks in the
country and individuals have to resort to the parallel market where it is
available only at exorbitant rates.

The US dollar and the British pound are officially pegged against the
Zimbabwe dollar at $824 and $1 300 respectively.

On the parallel market the US dollar is fetching $6 000 while the British
pound is going for $9 000.

The survey said foreign currency reserves at the RBZ had dried up
attributing this to dwindling exports and general decline in productivity in
all major export-oriented sectors of the economy.

The situation has been exacer-bated by the imposition of international
sanctions particularly by the European Union countries because of the
government's worsening record of human rights abuse and the alleged rigging
of the 2002 presidential election, the survey said.

It said tax evasion was perceived as a serious problem in Zimbabwe.

A total of 61,4% agreed that tax evasion was a serious problem in the
country.

Many companies and individuals are operating in the informal sector and are
unregistered which makes it difficult for the tax collector to trace them.

The skewed macroeconomic policies the government has pursued and the
haphazard land reform exercise have all led to the erosion of the real value
of income of many Zimbabweans.

"The measures and policies that are being introduced by the government are
not helping. They are causing asset stripping not only in the public sector
but also in the private sector," said Makumbe.

In the survey, 51,7% of the respondents said they strongly agree that there
is corruption in the land redistribution exercise, 27,7% said they slightly
agreed with it, 16,2% said they did not agree and only 4,5% said they
disagree strongly.

Combining the percentages, a total of 79,4% believe that there is corruption
in the land redistribution exercise.

The majority of people surveyed agreed that there is a problem of corruption
in the public sector.

An overwhelming 81,1% was of the opinion that corruption is a very serious
problem in the tendering of government contracts.

Zimbabwe along with Sudan and Bolivia has been ranked at number 106 out of
133 countries with a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of 2,3.

CPI relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business
people, academics and risk analysts, and ranges from 10 (highly clean) to 0
(highly corrupt).

The remarks were seemingly taken by some government officials to refer to
Zimbabwe.

The VIP dinner was attended by the Minister of Finance and Economic
Devel-opment Herbert Mu-rerwa, Minister of Energy and Power Development Amos
Midzi, incoming Re-serve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono,
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Antony Mandiwanza and
National Economic Consultative Forum executive secretary Nicholas Katikiti.

Kasekende is executive director of the World Bank responsible for Africa's
Region I, which covers English-speaking countries including Zimbabwe.

He is a former Reserve Bank of Uganda governor, having spent 16 years in the
system.

Kasekende was on a three-day fact-finding tour of southern African countries
under the auspices of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) - a
donor agency.

"You should not make it a habit to make mistakes all the time and then blame
others," he said. "We did it in Uganda and we did not go anywhere. In fact,
there came a time when after the introduction of price controls in the
country the Reserve Bank no longer had any role to play. Everything was now
being conducted on the parallel market."

He said politicians should leave business for businessmen and concentrate on
politics because they "have no business in business".

"Development does not speak English or French," he said. "Development is
meant to strengthen the economy. Politicians will always develop something
that only benefits them so you have to be very careful about them."

Questioned after the presentation whether he was referring to Zimbabwe,
Kasekende said he used this example whenever he gave advice - whether it be
to government or business. Asked by businessdigest whether tension between
the World Bank and Zimbabwe had thawed, Kasekende said:

"The situation as far as the World Bank and Zimbabwe are concerned has not
changed. In fact it remains the same."

Zimbabwe and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have fallen out
since the country's economic and political situation began deteriorating
about two years ago.

In an interview Murerwa said while he welcomed the advice given by the World
Bank boss he thought Zimbabwe would "get out of the current challenges
sooner rather than later".

"Look, we have done so many things during the last weeks to try and improve
our situation," he said. "We now have a substantive RBZ governor. We have
held fruitful discussions at the NECF and I think we are on track."

Gono in an interview said it was now time to sweep Zimbabwe clean.

"It is going to be a very tough task for all of us but we just have to sweep
the place clean," he said.

Kasekende was scheduled to meet all the ministers dealing with finance and
land before departing to brief Washington on his findings.

All in all this has been the worst tobacco season since Independence in 1980
both in terms of quantity produced and crop sold on the tobacco auction
floors as well as in foreign currency earned.

Efforts to get a comment from the RBZ on the country's actual foreign
currency situation have proved fruitless despite sending written questions
to the central bank two weeks ago.

However, recent figures released by the central bank show that on October 30
it received US$100 000 which was all snapped up for various purposes,
leaving it with nothing in its coffers.

On October 31 more currency was sent into the RBZ this time amounting to
US$400 000.

Of this US$200 000 was used up, leaving a balance of US$200 000.

"The RBZ is now living from hand to mouth," an economist said yesterday.
"The foreign currency issue will remain a pain for the central bank as long
as the issue of pegging of the Zimbabwe dollar is not solved."

Economist and banker Andy Hodges recently said the RBZ needed to introduce
more incentives, especially for the small-scale business sector which sold
its foreign currency on the parallel market instead of through commercial
banks.

"As long as there are no incentives for small-scale producers they will
continue using the black market," Hodges said. "We have been stuck with the
$824 peg for too long a period and we hope the figure is changed soon."

The RBZ figures show that on November 3 it received US$300 000 and used up
US$500 000, leaving a negative daily balance of US$200 000.

The following day the central bank received US$500 000 and used up US$300
000 cancelling the overdraft made on the previous day.

However, on November 4 the RBZ did not receive any foreign currency at all.

The report comes less than a week after a nine-member taskforce comprising
cabinet ministers was appointed to oversee the foreign currency issue.

The taskforce promised that it would come up with a "data bank" of
information about who was abusing foreign currency or not sending it to the
RBZ.

Analysts said the central issue as far as the foreign currency crisis is
concerned was the continued pegging of the greenback at $824 against the
Zimbabwe dollar by Finance and Economic Development minister Herbert
Murerwa.

The US dollar is however going for $6 000 on the parallel market that has
almost become the official market since individuals no longer bother sending
their hard currency to commercial banks.

Commercial banks are also trading hard currency using parallel market
rates - the more one has the better the figure one negotiates.

In its report for the period ending October 3 the RBZ said the Zimbabwe
dollar depreciated against other major trading partner currencies such as
the South African rand, British pound, euro, Botswana pula, Japanese yen and
the Canadian dollar.

Tobacco, the country's single largest foreign currency earner this year
brought in US$179 million from 81,2 million kilogrammes sold.

In 2000 Zimbabwe sold 236 million kg of tobacco which is more than three
times that sold this year.

Tobacco accounts for at least 35% of Zimbabwe's total foreign currency
earnings and in normal seasons bails government out of much-needed hard
currency crunch.

Another major foreign currency earner - tourism - has also been hard hit
because tourists are shunning the once popular destination.

The visitors cite lawlessness, government's alleged abuse of the press and
judiciary as well as its controversial fast track land resettlement
programme as reasons for dumping the destination.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority meanwhile says Zimbabwe will this year earn
US$75 million from tourism.

The country's balance of payments deficit during 2002 pushed the economy
into foreign exchange shortages.

The official exchange rate substantially eroded export sector earnings as
Zimbabwe's inflation continued to surge while that of trading partners
remained generally subdued.

Following the new exchange control regulations, the foreign exchange trading
has dwindled.

Furthermore, the grain imports required to avert mass starvation as a result
of the cereal deficit in the country has resulted in increased pressure on
Zimbabwe's foreign exchange reserves.

The nation wants an explanation as to why Zimsec in a free-fall and yet you
were appointed to restore sanity at that institution. When Isaiah Sibanda
left, the nation heaved a sigh of relief hoping that whoever took over would
change things for the better and restore confidence in Zimsec.

You were appointed to specifically put an end to the leaking of examination
question papers, sending of wrong results to students, low morale among
examiners because of poor remuneration and general inefficiency in the
running of the centre. How have you fared so far? Dismally.

A year has gone by and what we have is more chaos. As I write, most students
who sat for June 2003 'O' and 'A' level mathematics, accounting and
geography got 'A's in mathematics, chemistry and biology. There are many
more cases of bungled results. Some students have been able to purchase
examination answer scripts before entering the exam room.

While such chaos continues to prevail you have remained silent. Do you think
you are the best person for that job, having spent the past nine or so years
in the President's Office?

As the Progressive Teachers' Union, we publicly questioned your suitability
for that post. Now we have been vindicated. At least Isaiah Sibanda did
communicate with stakeholders. By contrast, you appear unperturbed by the
goings-on at an institution you are supposed to be running.

Examinations have been localised and this was done primarily to cut costs
since the need for foreign currency would be done away with. It appears we
were better off with Cambridge. We have simply failed to run Zimsec.

Finally Mr Ndanga, alert Education minister Aeneas Chigwedere to this letter
as he appears totally oblivious of what is happening. Students are receiving
results in subjects they never sat for and the minister only gets to know
about this from the press - unbelievable!

The long and short of what we are saying is you two should resign because
you have failed the nation.

David Gato,

Information and Publicity

Secretary,

Progressive Teachers Union of

Zimbabwe.

Since the Supreme Court refused to hear the Daily News' constitutional
challenge to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act until
it registers with the Media and Information Commission, the MMPZ points out,
the paper's publishers, ANZ, have suffered a number of legal setbacks in
their efforts to obtain redress from the country's courts.

"Although the Administrative Court has ruled that the commission was
improperly constituted and had been biased in refusing to register the
paper, government's appeal against this ruling has effectively prevented ANZ
from getting its paper back onto the streets," the MMPZ noted. "And the
arrest of its journalists and directors, together with the occupation of its
offices by the police, stand testimony to the determination of government to
ensure that the gag on the paper remains.

"Despite the obviously urgent need to resolve the legal hiatus over this
fundamental constitutional right to free expression, there is precious
little evidence that the administrators of justice consider the matter of
any great importance," the MMPZ said.

It deplored what it called the evident lack of commitment from the judicial
authorities which in effect deprives us as a nation of an important
alternative source of information.

"It could be argued," the MMPZ said, "that government is using the judicial
process to frustrate the dispensation of justice. This is supported by the
fact that the Supreme Court has yet to hear, or rule on at least three other
constitutional challenges to Aippa, one of which has been outstanding for
nearly a year. Such delays to the administration of justice, especially over
such an important constitutional matter, are intolerable."

The MMPZ made a further point: "More recently, other legal proceedings
suggest that the authorities are seeking to dismantle the ANZ's capacity to
publish newspapers. On October 1, High Court judge, Justice Tendai Uchena,
dismissed an ANZ application for the return of property irregularly seized
by the police in their initial crackdown on the publishing company following
the Supreme Court's original decision in September. He gave no reasons for
his ruling, and the Herald (October 2) merely quoted him as having said he
would do so on "another day in the near future".

According to ANZ legal advisor Gugulethu Moyo, the company has, as of
October 31, written four times to the Registrar of the High Court seeking
details of the judgment without any response.

"Thus, in effect the paper is being denied its constitutional right to lodge
an appeal against the ruling, which was made more than four weeks ago." (The
written judgement is now out but the ANZ has had difficulty finding a copy!)

The MMPZ criticised the media for failing to reveal that the ANZ recently
had six of its vehicles attached by the sheriff of the court following a
default judgement against the company's failure to service a $25-million
debt. This is despite the fact that the company was unable to access its
cheque books to pay the complainant due to the continued occupation of its
offices by the police, the MMPZ said.

Having identified the obvious failure of Zimbabwe's justice system to
deliver justice to all, I must comment on the failure of executives at the
Daily News last week to perform their duty in keeping the public informed of
developments at the newspaper. As CEO Sam Nkomo, Daily News On Sunday editor
Bill Saidi and Gugulethu Moyo arrived in London to attend a meeting
organised by the Commonwealth Press Union, one of our reporters called the
Daily News and asked to speak to Moyo about the visit. He was told she was
not there. He asked if he could speak to any other senior manager and was
connected to operations director Innocent Kurwa.

Asked if he could confirm that the three ANZ executives were on a mission to
London, Kurwa denied any knowledge of such a mission and insisted all three
were still in Zimbabwe. In fact, he said he had just been speaking to Nkomo
in Harare.

Our reporter then called Nkomo who said he was in London. But he was
reluctant to provide too many details of his mission. At the same time the
CPU and other organisations were issuing detailed agendas of meetings they
were hosting for the three ANZ executives, including a press conference that
same afternoon (Thursday, November 6).

It would therefore seem that "less-than-candid" would be a fitting
description for this behaviour by individuals who are in the business of
news dissemination and transparency. Let's hope they come to understand that
as they were addressing a public meeting, the public at home had a
legitimate interest in the proceedings. It was in their interest to be
honest and forthcoming.

I hasten to add, we have never had any problems speaking to Gugu Moyo or
Bill Saidi who are always prepared to keep us informed.

A parting shot on transparency. We still have in this town two prominent
newspaper owners who are in denial about what they own. Do they think it is
appropriate for them to be major shareholders in newspapers while refusing
to acknowledge their shareholdings and continuing to play major roles in the
economy at the head of other companies or corporations?

If either of them would like to call me about this matter, I can assure them
it will remain between the two of us - and our readers.

Mugabe himself no longer sounds confident that there is anything he can do
to stop the economic rot and all the other societal maladies it has spawned.
One would think the president, who claims to have been popularly elected
just last year, would want to be seen to be making vigorous efforts to
alleviate the terrible suffering among the majority of the citizens. But no,
Mugabe remains the cold, distant ruler who mainly surfaces to read speeches
at funerals and lavish retirement bashes of his favoured cronies.

In the past weeks we have seen a sign of stirring from the presidential
aloofness and lethargy we have become accustomed to. A number of telling
developments provide signs of the new gimmicks that are likely to be soon
employed so he is seen to be doing something about a wayward economy, and
others that are meant to further cement Mugabe's position, even as popular
support for him erodes. Part of this activity is really to set the stage for
the December conference more than it is designed to solve problems that have
gone far beyond being amenable to patchwork "solutions".

The party conference is taking place at the worst time in the country's
history, and not even the third Chimurenga caps, T-shirts and slogans will
hide the painful truth of the country's poor state from party delegates. No
amount of propaganda will make the party seem like the people's champion.
Those people are dealing with rural bus fares that have just doubled,
inflation officially close to 500% but in reality much higher, and many
other problems that have made life a nightmare for the ordinary people whom
the Mugabe regime claims it lives and works for.

In comments made at a meeting of the Zanu PF's central committee two weeks
ago and strategically leaked to the Herald, Mugabe is reported to have said
the government will "start" taking concrete steps to redress the economic
challenges the country is facing. A question that immediately came to the
mind of this citizen is how seriously such a declaration can be taken,
coming as it does years after the economy has gone to the dogs.

Why was this "start" not made ages ago when the situation was more
containable than it is now?

The central bank was to be restructured, beginning with the appointment of
banker Gideon Gono as its new governor last week. We have had many other
brilliant appointees in their fields in various national institutions
including cabinet over the years, but none have been able to do much to stop
the slide.

Will Gono have the autonomy required of a central bank governor, the kind
his predecessor Leonard Tsumba was not allowed? Even if so, can a central
bank do much in isolation to solve the now multi-sectoral economic problems
we face?

What changes at the Finance ministry and other key national economic
institutions are forthcoming to complement personnel changes at the Reserve
Bank? Can any of them really bear maximum fruit as long as Mugabe remains
president? The answers to all these questions and many more will have
important repercussions on whether the economic and political initiatives
planned are going to make any difference, or are just the latest series of
Mugabe's usual gimmicks.

We have had "crackdowns on corruption" that have not done any such thing;
cabinet reshuffles, the last major one of which brought in the "technocrats"
who have been such a disappointment; the "third Chimurenga" and many other
stunts that have all produced the same result: continuing decline and
increasing hardship and misery!

The one gimmick that has not yet been tried and that has the best hope of
working to save us from our embarrassing national decline is to reshuffle
Mugabe out of State House to retirement at his Borrowdale private palace,
where he can quietly live in the luxury to which he and Grace have become
accustomed while giving us a realistic chance to work ourselves out of the
mess all around us. No doubt the president closely follows the intense
manoeuvring taking place among the vultures in his ranks circling around him
as they sense his power and authority slipping away. How to either hang on
for as long as possible, or failing that, ensure a successor who will allow
him to actually enjoy his Borrowdale retirement must surely inform all of
his current actions.

Please take note of the sudden rush to praise defence forces commander
General Vitalis Zvinavashe. The recent death of co-Vice-President Simon
Muzenda creates a splendid opportunity to be given a high government
position and possibly leap-frog over many pretenders to the throne. At a
time of widening unpopularity, it would certainly be useful for a ruler to
have a declared loyalist ex-military man as his right hand man, confidant,
protector and, if push comes to shove, successor!

If appointed vice-president, Zvinavashe would be under the cloud of being
seen to be Mugabe's protector, but this perception would hardly matter if
what we are witnessing is the completion of the process of the
militarisation of the entire government that has been quietly under way for
some years.

- Chido Makunike is a Harare-based regular columnist.

Just three years and ten months ago, before our political madness began,
Zimbabwe was also involved in amazing research which was going to change the
face of agriculture and dramatically improve lives. Companion growing and
intercropping was becoming a widespread practice. Massive field trials were
being conducted into minimum or zero tillage to improve yields and boost
soil quality.

Farmers were growing huge fields of flowers for their essential, healing and
aromatic oils. Others were growing crops like castor beans whose oil is used
in the chemical and plastics industries and others a bushy shrub whose oil
was set to replace diesel as a fuel source for motor vehicles. All of this
has now gone.

The farmers are forbidden from the lands on which the crops were grown and
the specialists, scientists, engineers and technicians have left or are
leaving the country as the entire economic structure of Zimbabwe falls
apart. Decades of painstaking research and huge advances in agricultural
diversity have now been completely destroyed and largely replaced by
primitive scratch farming which is now almost the only thing to see on
Zimbabwe's looted and seized farms.

Agriculture is not the only thing going backwards in Zimbabwe and lately the
march into the past seems to have accelerated into almost every aspect of
day to day living. We now have a huge crisis with water in some of our towns
and cities. Last week our one and only propaganda radio station read out a
list of suburbs in the capital city which are going to be subjected to
regular 24-hour periods without water because there isn't enough clean water
to meet demand.

In Marondera our water in the last fortnight has alternated between clear,
milky and dark brown and there is no one in authority to offer an
explanation or solution. Night after night our town is being hit by men who
go street by street disconnecting and stealing water meters. On the night
mine was stolen, 12 others in surrounding streets also went. The roads were
awash with broken pipes and over a month later our town council has still
done nothing whatsoever to even effect temporary repairs. Our mains water
pipes are still joined together by desperate householders with bits of
garden hosepipe and rubber strapping.

The veneer of normalcy hanging over Zimbabwe is rapidly disintegrating. We
now have money which has an expiry date! Ours must be the only country in
the world which runs a jingle every 30 minutes advertising its own money!
You cannot get an ambulance or hearse unless you provide the petrol. There
are no public telephone boxes any more because none of our coins are of a
high enough value to make a phone call!

One day a loaf of bread is $1 400, the next it is $2 200 and the next it is
$2 400. The only medicine you can usually get at a government clinic is
Paracetemol which is used to treat everything from diarrhoea to malaria.
Doctors are on strike demanding $30 million a month, university lecturers
are still on strike and nurses were again threatening to strike.

The telephone company is on a go slow and it takes 20 attempts to send one
single email and 40 minutes to download that most infuriating of things - an
unwanted email with an unasked for attachment.

And throughout this daily mayhem our president last week announced that all
schools should have computers because we are being left behind in the IT
world. How schools which are having to raise their fees every six weeks just
to cope with inflation are going to afford computers is a complete mystery.

President Robert Mugabe also announced last week that one million houses are
to be built to address the massive housing backlog in the country.

Cement is usually only available on the black market, trucks only move with
black market fuel and building is now the preserve of multimillionaires.

Meanwhile the Minister of Information lashed out at the UK, Australia,
America and New Zealand accusing them of being the ones that are stealing
our foreign and local currency and trying to "unseat" the government! Oh
dear, another scapegoat!

- Cathy Buckle is an author and human rights activist based in Marondera