Tourism plan scuttled by blind folly WHEN
President Mugabe launched the Tourism Recovery Plan in July 2000 he called
for an open and collective policy to revive the sector.
"The tourism
recovery exercise will succeed only if there is on our part national
commitment, contribution, collaboration and communication,"
he said.
That commitment has proved non-existent. The tourism sector
was dealt a body blow last week when the government - in a tit-for-tat move -
imposed visa requirements on British visitors.
This represents another
own-goal by the scorched-earth faction around Mugabe and will further damage
the economy.
Tourism came third after agriculture and manufacturing when
times were normal two years ago. It offered a solid fallback when
manufacturing faltered. Generating valuable foreign exchange, it saw numerous
start-up ventures by indigenous players and attracted the big investors like
the French Accor group which last week opened a flagship hotel at the
Victoria Falls. It also offered a shop window to Zimbabwe's potential and
hospitality in other sectors.
All that is doomed now. The normally
upbeat French ambassador, Didier Ferrand, speaking last week at the
commissioning of Accor/RTG's Hotel Mercure at Victoria Falls, made the
entirely self-evident observation that the "climate of political risk" in
Zimbabwe was a disincentive to tourism. He said France regretted "the climate
of political confrontation and even of violence still prevailing in Zimbabwe
which, in turn, contributes to the deterioration of the economic
situation".
Ferrand said there was no alternative to Zimbabwe resuming
normal relations with the international community and donor
organisations.
Everybody, it seems, understands that except Mugabe and
his immediate courtiers who have made obduracy a habit.
With the
growing economic significance of tourism worldwide, and an increasingly
competitive global market, it is imperative for countries like Zimbabwe to
adopt an integrated approach to formulating their tourism policies, including
a warm welcome.
Tourism management in Singapore, for instance, has sought
to be adaptable to the changes in the wider social environment. Its policies
and strategies largely correspond to global forces influencing trends in the
industry.
Ghana has also developed and integrated its tourism policy. Its
Ministry of Tourism has introduced policies on international and domestic as
well as regional tourism in an overall policy framework, with the main aim
being to maximise benefits across the board. These include improving public
transport and cleaning up their cities.
South Africa's tourism policy,
which is highly developed, is basically designed to plan and manage tourism
carefully so that it brings social and economic benefits, including
generating foreign exchange earnings, in-come, employment, and government
revenues, and has a multiplier effect on the economy without creating
negative environmental impacts or social distortions.
Ignoring all
this, Zimbabwe, which still clings to failed policies, evidently needs to
change its approach if its tourism recovery blueprint is to avoid gathering
dust on ministerial shelves.
The important thing to recall is tourists,
like investors, have a choice. They will not favour a regime that uses visas
as a punishment, erects obstacles to their movements, and insults their
country at every opportunity.
While visitors from Britain have fallen
considerably over the past two years, the UK remains the most important
source market. The trickle of French visitors and a handful from Singapore in
the last year are not going to replace what remains our most lucrative
market.
Now, in an act of economic folly, the government has effectively
told them not to come. That self-mutilation will cost us dearly. Tourist
receipts amounted to $4,5 billion last year. The year before they were $5,3
billion.
Tony Blair and Michael Ancram have no intention of visiting
Zimbabwe. Nor, it seems, do a growing number of British nationals.
We
need tourists to help us by spending their forex. They don't need us. They
will now go to South Africa and Zambia - seen as more user-friendly. Their
economies will benefit. Ours will suffer.
It is unbelievable how a
government can inflict this kind of damage upon a productive sector of its
economy. But that's what happened last Friday.
Perhaps we should have
been forewarned by the assault on commercial farming. Once again blind
vengeance holds sway over sound policies.
Mugabe and his cronies may feel
good that they have struck a blow for "sovereignty". But like other blows of
this sort, it is ordinary Zimbabweans who will lose as international
isolation takes its toll.
Govt decision on visas bad for tourism Dumisani
Muleya
GOVERNMENT'S decision last week to make visas compulsory for
British visitors to Zimbabwe will further hurt the already severely damaged
tourism sector, analysts have said.
They said while Zimbabwe's action
was not unexpected given its hostility to the British government, it was
likely to negatively impact on tourism because it amounted to another
damaging political decision.
In a move apparently calculated to escalate
the contrived current diplomatic row with London which is serving President
Robert Mugabe's political-survival agenda but not the economy, Harare
downgraded the UK to a lower visa classification.
This effectively
means that British nationals travelling to Zimbabwe will now need visas,
either in advance through Zimbabwe's diplomatic missions or at the port of
entry.
On top of visa restrictions, tourists visiting Zimbabwe will now
pay US$60 in entry and departure fees.
Zimbabwe's decision was
accompanied by the imposition of retaliatory targeted sanctions against
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his ministers, leading opposition members,
and some dissenting locals living in the UK. This made it appear like a
counter-offensive after the UK imposed visa requirements last
Friday.
Analysts said although this decision would not undermine
Zimbabwean tourism completely, it would however hit the struggling national
carrier, Air Zimbabwe, whose lifeline has always been the Harare/London
route.
Air Zimbabwe spokesman David Mwenga confirmed this.
"At the
moment it's too early to tell but we believe every airline, including Air
Zimbabwe, flying out of Zimbabwe to the UK carrying Zimbabweans will
certainly be affected in the short-term," he said.
Analysts said the
biggest casualty of the Zimbabwean decision on visas would however not be
Britain but local tourism. This is primarily because the UK and Ireland
remain Zimbabwe's largest source market of foreign tourists despite dwindling
arrivals over the past two years.
According to the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA) overseas market share statistics for 2001, the UK/Ireland are
the biggest source of tourists with 34% of the total arrivals followed by the
United States/Canada with 19%, Australia/New Zealand (12%), Europe in general
(8%), Germany (7%), Netherlands (5%), Asia (5%), America in general (4%) and
Switzerland (2%).
But the latest ZTA preliminary statistics show that the
number of visitors from the UK/Ireland dramatically plunged by 51% from 119
113 between January and August last year to 57 896 between the same period
this year. Arrivals from other overseas countries also
declined.
Although there has been an increase of tourists from some parts
of Africa and the rest of the world, these are not big spenders. As a result
tourism receipts fell from $5,3 billion in 2000 to $4,5 billion last year and
are set to drop further this year.
Zimbabwe badly needs tourism, which
was until recently a large foreign currency earner and major contributor to
gross domestic product. It has enormous potential to attract investment,
enhance economic growth, create employment and improve standards of
living.
UTc managing director Patrick McCosh said the imposition of visas
on UK tourists would worsen the tourism tumble.
"It's not a positive
development and obviously it will affect tourism," McCosh said.
"A
developing nation like Zimbabwe should be opening up its market and removing
obstacles to attract more tourists. That is why we are concerned with this
issue on visas."
Hong Kong is one destination whose relatively open
tourism policy has increased tourist inflows and revenue. Most visitors to
Hong Kong still do not need a visa. Despite its return to the communist
motherland of China in 1997, this tradition continues.
British
travellers can still stay for up to six months without a visa. Citizens of
other Commonwealth countries do not require a visa for a stay of up to three
months.
Tourism minister Francis Nhema said the visa requirement would
not undermine tourism.
"I don't think it will affect our tourism
because there was no major policy shift," he said. "The British are used to
the issue of visas because in most countries they get visas at the ports of
entry. As long as there will be no threats to their lives they won't be
bothered."
But commentators said the visa move coupled with the current
anti-British official rhetoric could be a deadly blow to the already
prostrate tourism sector.
Others thought it wouldn't make much
difference.
Zimbabwe Council of Tourism president Shingi Munyeza said the
visa regime was a farce.
"Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain are
already bad," Munyeza said. "So this will not really change anything in terms
of tourist arrivals.
"The inflow of tourists from the UK is at an
all-time low and what this means is that the visa requirement is just another
nuisance which will really have a minimal negative impact on
tourism."
Analysts said the visa demand flew in the face of Zimbabwe's
much-trumpeted Tourism Recovery Programme, which has so far failed to revive
the collapsing sector, and was likely to compound the country's economic
problems by starving it of much-needed foreign exchange at a time when the
need had never been more critical.
"It's yet another own goal for the
economy," one analyst who asked not to be named said this week.
PRESIDENT Robert
Mugabe's number-one critic from the pulpit, Archbishop Pius Ncube of
Bulawayo, has accused him of deliberately starving opposition supporters to
strengthen his grip on power.
Archbishop Ncube told church leaders in
Durban, South Africa, that he believed 160 people in his home province of
Matabeleland had already starved to death and thousands more would die next
year as a result of Mugabe's actions.
"Men, women and children
were, and still are, being deliberately starved," he said, adding that Mugabe
had embarked on a programme of retribution against his opponents after his
plans to change the country's constitution were defeated in
2000.
"Mugabe is using the food crisis in Zimbabwe to force people to
vote for his party," Ncube said, adding that only those with Zanu PF cards
were able to buy food.
His statement was immediately shot down by
Information and Publicity minister Jonathan Moyo who described the archbishop
as "mad".
"When a bishop is mad, he is mad, and I don't think it is
fair for you to ask me to comment on the utterings of a mad bishop," he told
the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"I think we should feel some
sympathy for that bishop because he does not need our criticism, he needs our
prayers, and we want to assure him he has our prayers. We are praying for
him," said Moyo.
Moyo said government had distributed 569 000 tonnes
of grain across Zimbabwe, 54% of which had been given through private milling
companies to Harare and Bulawayo, where the opposition party is
strong.
He dismissed the suggestion that the archbishop was only
expressing what the people had told him, saying that they had been sent by
"British intelligence operatives".
"He is not an authority," Moyo
said of Ncube. "He is a desperate, troubled soul."
Ncube said
Mugabe was clinging to power at the expense of people's lives.
"It is
causing a lot of upset because there is no foreseeable end to people's
suffering," he said.
"All this is being done to destroy the
opposition and cling onto power. The arrests, the arson, torture and
selective distribution of food all serve to keep the population under
control."
However, churches in Bulawayo have come out in full support
of Archbishop Ncube's sentiments.
In a statement signed by heads
of various denominations in the city, the clergy denounced
government-sponsored violence and the politicisation of food
aid.
"(We) condemn in the strongest terms the actions of Mr Mugabe
and his government in hi-jacking food supplies and distributing them in a
partisan way, and in hindering the work of NGOs and other concerned bodies in
their efforts to feed the hungry and suffering people in our midst," the
clergy said.
"We call the government to repentance and a change of
heart, to listen to the cries of the people and to return to the path of
justice, peace and good governance," the church leaders said. -
Reuter/BBC/Staff Writer.
African American group disputes Mugabe's claims on land
reform Mthulisi Mathuthu THE African American delegation which recently
visited Zimbabwe on a "fact-finding" mission has said President Mugabe's
agrarian reform is wanting and could have been handled better.
The
delegation, which included New York councillor Charles Barron and
a colleague, wound up its one-week mission to Zimbabwe last month
amid celebrations in the official media that it would tell the "true
Zimbabwean story".
According to a report compiled by New
York-based The Black World Today, the 10-member delegation reported that
contrary to the Mugabe regime's claims that there were some people who
opposed land reform, Zimbabweans only differed on the
method.
"Zimbabweans are generally supportive of the land reform
programme," the report says. "It's just that there are differing views and
disagreements as to how Mugabe has gone about it."
The report,
which generally absolves Mugabe from responsibility for economic decline and
lawlessness and denies entrenched anti-Mugabe feelings, agrees with the
sceptics that the government could have done better in its bid to correct
colonial imbalances in the allocation of land.
"Our elected officials did
see that it's (the land reform programme) not a perfect system. Just as the
MDC said there were some peasants who haven't been able to do anything with
their land yet there were many who had done well...," the report, compiled by
Donna Lamb of The Black World Today journal, said.
The journal,
which promotes black interests across the globe, also reports that the
mission recommends that the US government has obligations to assist Zimbabwe
despite the fact it received help from the Soviet Union, Cuba and China
during the liberation struggle.
The report also lashes out at the US
for championing human rights in Zimbabwe when it has failed to stamp out
"police brutality, homelessness, institutionalised racism and Native American
reservations" in the US itself.
The group met with Justice minister
Patrick Chinamasa, US Ambassador Joseph Sullivan, commercial farmers and
Mugabe, among others.
'Zanu PF plotting to eliminate MDC MPs' Loughty
Dube THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it has
received evidence that the ruling Zanu PF is plotting to eliminate its MPs in
rural Matabeleland and other constituencies across the country.
The
allegations by the opposition party come after the deaths of two of its MPs,
George Ndlovu (Insiza) and Learnmore Jongwe (Kuwadzana) under
unclear circumstances.
MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi told
the Zimbabwe Independent this week the party had received intelligence
showing opposition MPs were on a Zanu PF hit list.
"We have
received credible evidence indicating that our rural members of parliament
are under threat from Zanu PF and we are going to take all precautions to
protect them from this violent creature," Nyathi said.
Two MDC MPs in
Matabeleland North, Jacob Thabane (Bubi-Umguza) and Mtoliki Sibanda
(Tsholotsho), have alleged that they are on a Zanu PF hit list.
"It
was revealed to me that a plot to eliminate me was discussed at a Zanu PF
rally in Nyamandlovu last weekend by a select group of individuals,"
said Thabane.
"At the meeting it was discussed and agreed that the
2005 parliamentary elections were too far to wait for and they have decided
that a by-election is imminent in the constituency."
Sibanda has
gone into hiding in Bulawayo after hitmen allegedly dispatched to assassinate
him fired at the wrong car last weekend.
Sibanda said sympathetic war
veterans advised him not to visit the constituency again because he was still
on the death list.
The Tsholotsho MP has accused Minister of
Information Jonathan Moyo of trying to create a constituency for himself in
Tsholotsho by fomenting violence in the area.
Nyathi said this was
the second attempt on Sibanda's life after war veterans forced him to flee
the constituency two months ago.
"The thinking among Zanu PF
strategists is that it is easy to concentrate violence and terror in a
constituency and together with the use of voter manipulation through food,
they feel they can make in-roads in Matabeleland," Nyathi
said.
"Zanu PF thinks by engineering the death of MDC MPs they will
regain the seats they lost in legitimate parliamentary elections and that
is unfortunate."
Nyathi said the MDC would hold the government
responsible for any suspicious death of any opposition MP.
"All
our MPs are at risk and in a country with no rule of law like Zimbabwe, these
are serious threats against legislators," Nyathi said.
Zanu PF sinks reform Indaba Dumisani Muleya THE
ruling Zanu PF has scuppered a constitutional reform conference organised by
the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), forcing it to be
postponed.
Idasa director Ivor Jenkins said yesterday the meeting, which
was scheduled for this weekend, would now be held early next
year.
"It was postponed to a date yet to be announced," he said. "It
will be in the New Year."
Zanu PF, which has been hostile to the
constitutional reform agenda, was together with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) supposed to have sent a high-profile team of 10
members to the conference.
MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube
confirmed the invitation and the postponement of the meeting. But Zanu PF had
declined the invitation in a move which confirmed its deep resentment of
South African president Thabo Mbeki's latest initiative as an honest
broker.
"They said they were not interested in discussing the issue
at this forum," Jenkins said. "We will invite them next time but if they
don't come the meeting will go ahead."
Jenkins said the conference
- Constitutional Reform in Zimbabwe: The Unfinished Business - was expected
to have attracted top African National Congress politicians and
constitutional experts to discuss the stalled reform process in
Zimbabwe.
South African civic society leaders and their Zimbabwean
counterparts including the broad-based civic group, National Constitutional
Assembly, were also going to participate.
"The conference was
supposed to discuss constitutional reform in Zimbabwe drawing from the South
African experience," said Jenkins. "It was also expected to look at the
impact of the current Zimbabwe situation in the region."
South
Africa achieved its current democratic dispensation through a negotiated
process, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa).
Mbeki
and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo tried to launch their own
version of Codesa in Zimbabwe in April following the disputed
March presidential election, but again Zanu PF spurned the move.
Farmers express reservations on bond Augustine
Mukaro FARMERS' unions project the $60 billion Agribond launched on Tuesday
will not be fully subscribed due to late inception and logistical problems
in ensuring the repayment of the funds, it has emerged.
The Agribond
interim report made available this week shows that participating banks would
receive a government guarantee while farmers have to produce collateral -
which is not land - when applying for the loans.
"The irrevocable,
unconditional and transferable government guarantee will cover all
participating banks," the report said.
"Borrowers at every level will
only draw on condition that they demonstrate commitment to repay. To this
end, counter guarantees, letters of undertaking, pledges, mortgage bonds and
farmers' stop orders will be required to secure the loans," the report
said.
Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union (ICFU) past-president
Thomas Nherera said the bond had been floated too late for this season's land
preparation and cropping.
"The money has been made available a bit
late to influence the hectarage farmers could plant this season," Nherera
said.
"While it is late for new farmers, the availed funds would
cater for other needs like equipment purchases and labour payments. Since
agriculture is an on-going industry, the money could be carried over to
medium- to long-term financial ventures which beneficiaries might think of to
improve their production."
Nherera said established farmers were
still working on financing this season's crop and that this would take
another two weeks.
"We can't throw away this bond as useless but
there is no doubt that it would have made a much more meaningful impact if it
had come earlier," Nherera said.
Officials at the Zimbabwe
Association of Tobacco Growers (ZATG), which represents 1 500 farmers of
which only 400 are established indigenous commercial farmers and the rest new
farmers who acquired land under the land reform programme, said none of their
members had secured sufficient funding for this season's
crop.
ZATG said the failure to secure funding in time had drastically
reduced the targeted planting hectarage, hence output is forecast to
fall.
Established farmers had been reduced to financing land
preparations from savings from last season's crop sales while new farmers had
nowhere to start from.
Sybank, in conjunction with Syfrets
Corporate Bank and 15 other financial institutions, launched the $60 billion
agribond on Tuesday targeted at benefiting A2 model resettled
farmers.
"From Tuesday, A2 farmers will be able to lodge applications
with the agro-processors or their banks for loans that will be financed with
the money raised from the Agrobills and Agribonds," Sybank said in a
statement this week.
The Agrobills would be issued for a period of
275 days for working capital purposes, and Agribonds for a period of three
years to finance capital development and equipment.
The interest
on loans payable by farmers will range from between 30%
and 34%.
The funds would be administered by the Cotton Company of
Zimbabwe, Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd, FSI Agricom and 10 other
agro-intermediaries.
Over the past two years the banks and corporate
companies have been snubbing funding of agriculture, especially
newly-resettled farmers, citing lack of collateral.
Banks were
also uneasy at committing their funds because of lack of clarity on
government's resettlement programme, making it insecure for banks to assist
the farmers.
Issuing of passports to be suspended Mthulisi
Mathuthu THE Registrar General's office is this month expected to temporarily
suspend the issuing of passports due to a shortage of production materials,
the Zimbabwe Independent has heard.
The RG's office, headed by Tobaiwa
Mudede, could issue a statement on the suspension of the issuing of passports
sometime next week.
Sources yesterday told the Zimbabwe Independent
that the office had been hit by shortages of foreign currency leading to its
inability to import the special paper needed for the production of passports.
According to the sources the RG's office will only issue passports to
emergency travellers.
"We are facing a serious problem of paper,"
said a source in the office.
"We are faced with that possibility
(suspension of service)", he said.
The RG's office was last month
forced to increase the waiting time for a passport to 10 months from the
previous six-month period.
This followed an earlier 100% increase in
passport fees which was aimed at easing congestion at Makombe Building and to
cushion the RG's office from the costs of producing a
passport.
The demand for passports has increased countrywide as
Zimbabweans flee economic hardships and misrule to settle in neighbouring
countries and the United Kingdom.
Mudede's office had by the time
of going to press not responded to questions faxed last week.
US fugitive hides in Zim for 10 years Mthulisi
Mathuthu AMERICAN fugitive James Kilgore who was arrested in South Africa
last week for terrorist crimes allegedly committed in the US in the 1970s,
lived a normal life in Zimbabwe for 10 years without anyone suspecting he was
on the run.
Those who knew him said he was "quiet", "thoughtful" and
always willing to help but hardly talked about himself. The FBI had been
looking for him for 26 years before police arrested him in Cape Town last
Friday.
A friend said he first met Kilgore, who was now known as
James Pape, at Ranche House College in 1982 where he was taking Shona lessons
together with other expatriates who had moved to Zimbabwe at
Independence.
According to the friend Kilgore was a mathematics wiz
who also taught at the Harare Polytechnic's department of developmental
studies.
"He was a quiet person and was very helpful," said the
friend. "He was super-bright and was willing to help. I remember that he
mastered Shona within a short space of time."
Kilgore moved to
Zimbabwe in 1980 and lived in Eastlea along Mutare Road with his American
girlfriend Terri Barnes whom he later married when they moved to South Africa
in 1991. Barnes lectured in the History department at UZ.
Both
Kilgore and his partner wrote articles and contributed to books in Zimbabwe,
including school textbooks. They later continued with their academic life in
South Africa where Kilgore was a researcher at the University of the Western
Cape. They lived in Claremont where they were picked up on Friday. It is
thought the FBI tipped off the South African police.
According to
his friends Kilgore never abandoned his leftist worldview but nor did he
advocate terrorism during his stay here.
"In fact he was always
careful to stay out of trouble," said a friend. He has been wanted in the US
for armed robbery, bombings and possession of dangerous weapons since 1975
when he was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a leftist
revolutionary group which rose to fame when it held newspaper heiress Patty
Hearst hostage. She later joined her captors.
EU plans direct intervention in Zim Mthulisi
Mathuthu THE European Union (EU), which accuses President Robert Mugabe's
regime of nursing famine and lawlessness, is pushing for direct intervention
by the United Nations to distribute food in Zimbabwe even without
government approval to forestall an unfolding humanitarian
disaster.
This follows last week's announcement by the US Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mark Bellamy, that the US
was considering intrusive and interventionist
measures.
EU/African, Caribbean and Pacific states Joint Assembly
co-president Glennys Kinnock said in an interview the EU development
committee on Tuesday morning asked the commissioner responsible for external
affairs Chris Patten to sell the idea to the UN Security
council.
Kinnock had earlier asked Patten if it was possible for the
EU to work out a collective interventionist plan with the US and UN to rescue
Zimbabwe which faces an imminent humanitarian disaster of catastrophic levels
largely due to Mugabe's retributive politics and destruction of commercial
agriculture.
Kinnock told the Zimbabwe Independent from Brussels
yesterday that she was confident Patten would push her idea
through.
"He liked the question and he said he would take it up with
his colleagues," she said. "We discussed a lot of hot spots with him like
Afghanistan and Zimbabwe was one of them. Something has to be done about
it."
Patten, who has been banned from Zimbabwe, is expected to
promote the idea to the security council through Poul Nielson, Commissioner
for Humanitarian aid.
The US and the EU, both of whom have
rejected Mugabe's re-election in the March poll, are charging Harare with
selective humanitarian aid distribution to emasculate the opposition's
support base. Currently an estimated six million people will need aid between
September and November and the figure could rise to 6,7 million between
December and early next year.
Only last week the US announced plans
to drop food in the country following Mugabe's seizure of World Food
Programme grain to distribute to his supporters.
Kinnock argued
that Mugabe's continued obduracy in the face of EU and US targeted sanctions
bore testimony to the need for UN action. She argued it was insane to treat
Harare with kid gloves following the failure of targeted smart sanctions,
South Africa's "quite diplomacy" and the evident upsurge in official
gangsterism. Melly Maes of the Belgian Flemish Radicals also threw her weight
behind Kinnock, sources said.
Meanwhile, the EU is still debating
whether to allow Minister of State Enterprises and Parastatals in the
President's Office Paul Mangwana and Deputy Minister of Finance Chris
Kuruneri to attend the November 25/28 EU/ACP 5th parliamentary assembly
session in Brussels.
If their visa applications are successful they
will be accompanied by as yet unnamed government officials.
Coltart says police trigger-happy Mabasa
Sasa MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) member of parliament and
justice spokesman David Coltart has slammed the recent shooting of an
American by Zimbabwean police saying it was an example of increasing
lawlessness in the country, the Washington File reported this
week.
Speaking to students, journalists and experts on African affairs at
a meeting organised by George Washington University this week in New
York, Coltart said the November 11 shooting highlighted the disintegration of
the rule of law and escalating political abuse. "I'm afraid our police force
has become trigger-happy," said Coltart.
He also pointed out that
it was unlikely that those involved in the shooting would be charged because
of the "impaired independence" of the justice system.
Richard
Gilman was visiting the country as a tourist when a policeman at a roadblock
along the Mutare/Vumba road allegedly fired at his rented car around 5pm.
Washington File said Gilman was the cousin of Scott Palmer, chief of staff to
Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert.
Police claim that
he became uncooperative when quizzed about an expired import permit for the
vehicle he was driving. They said he then drove off at high speed resulting
in the fatal shooting.
Coltart refuted these claims.
"What
has happened in our country is that a culture of impunity has developed where
people responsible for gross human rights violations, including the police,
for many years have never been brought to book," he said.
Coltart
said the increasing number of cases of human rights abuse were things
Zimbabweans had to contend with under the despotic regime of President Robert
Mugabe.
"All of us here today, in some form or another, have suffered
abuse at the hands of either Mugabe supporters or the police themselves,"
said Coltart.
He said he had raised in parliament the issue of increasing
evidence of police-initiated torture in the country but nothing had been done
about it.
"I'm afraid that what happened in the Gilman case,
whichever side of the story is correct, is the inevitable consequence of a
lawless society. It is the inevitable consequence of impunity in our
society," Coltart said.
He also expressed a desire to see thorough
investigations carried out so that those responsible for Gilman's death would
face the courts.
"But, sadly, we think that will be highly unlikely
because there has been a total subversion of law at the hands of the police
force in Zimbabwe," he said.
He decried the decline of the Supreme
Court in the hands of Mugabe saying the bench was left with four judges who
"clearly owed their allegiance to the Zanu PF regime".
Coltart
said the courts, police, trade unions, student organisations, the press and
the lawful opposition in parliament had all been systematically undermined as
part of a campaign to crush voices of dissent and impose a de facto one-party
state.
AirZim endangers passengers' safety Blessing
Zulu AIR Zimbabwe has ignored vital safety regulations since the suspension
of its engineers, jeopardising the safety of passengers, the
Zimbabwe Independent has been told.
Documents made available to the
Independent this week show that safety standards at the national airline have
plunged since engineers went on strike in September demanding a salary hike.
Management subsequently suspended the strikers.
The Independent
heard this week that Air Zimbabwe tried to continue maintenance work with a
skeleton staff provided by management, a move which is prohibited in the
aviation industry. This week the airline announced that it had subcontracted
the servicing of its planes to South African Airways and Ethiopian
Airlines.
Sources in the aviation sector said engineers must be
supervised and there should be a hierarchical system of quality control. The
failure to set up proper maintenance teams resulted in Air Zimbabwe being
forced to subcontract the work.
The Civil Aviation Authority of
Zimbabwe (CAAZ) Acting Chief Airworthiness Inspector, S Kutibiwa has written
to the airline raising concerns on the disregard for safety procedures. CAAZ
supervises the safety capacities of all airlines operating in
Zimbabwe.
"Previous discussions with senior Air Zimbabwe management
at meetings disclosed that there was no maintenance activities going on in
the workshops," the letter to senior managers at Air Zimbabwe
said.
"Subsequent to other safety concerns, your organisation's scope
of activities were limited to maintenance including defect rectification
only. But during the inspection visit on 18 October 2002 some
maintenance activities were taking place in the following sections:
Electrical, Radio, Hydraulic etc," said Kutibiwa.
Another letter
to Air Zimbabwe from CAAZ expressed concern over the refuelling of flight
UMCHT 491A VVIP without fire cover.
"Flight Safety Standards is in
receipt of a report by Mr J Mwanandimai who refuelled an aircraft with
passengers on board and without fire cover," Kubitiwa said. "Mr J Mwanandimai
is one of your maintenance personnel.
The Authority is perturbed at the
complete disregard for safety and the serious risk of lives of those on board
the aircraft," Kutibiwa said.
It is understood the management at the
national airline has also hired "strike busters" and has granted them
temporary maintenance licences.
Internal correspondence in the possession
of the Independent and signed by Bison Odongo, the senior manager quality
assurance, confirms this.
"You are hereby granted a temporary approval on
the following category:
AC5 general part A and B," said Odongo. "This
approval is valid from the date of issue to 31/12/02."
Those who
have been granted the licences include senior managers without the requisite
experience in doing specialist maintenance work. Air Zimbabwe is also alleged
to have recruited engineers whose qualifications had not been approved by
CAAZ.
On October 21 Kutibiwa wrote to Air Zimbabwe warning them
about subcontracting maintenance work.
Experts in the field told
the Independent that the national airline was compromising on quality and
endangering people's lives by issuing temporary approvals.
"It is
disturbing to note that some strike-busters are working without supervision
and endangering lives in the process," said an
aviation specialist.
"For one to work without supervision the
person must have five years experience and have written an aircraft system
course and pass with not less than 75%. After this quality assurance exam you
are then issued with an approval book," said the expert.
The
Independent is also in possession of flight and technical log books which are
signed by engineers and pilots before take off ensuring that inspections have
been carried out. The log books show that the national airline is deferring
repairing of defects and compromising on safety in
the process.
"Rectification of defects must be carried out without
fail as this may have ripple effects," said the expert.
Air
Zimbabwe spokesman David Mwenga yesterday said he could not respond to faxed
questions, as he was busy. CAAZ chief executive Karikoga Kaseke was yesterday
said to be in Namibia on holiday.
There is very little Maize passing through
the GMB, and what does come is distributed to the ZANU councilors who sell to
the MDC for $5000 / 50 Kg's. When milled at $300 this equates to 40 Kg's of meal
at a total cost of $131 / Kg. Because I am a MDC activist, both my companies are
forced to pay this price and only through the back door. The majority of the
people in Zimbabwe have this problem now.
Mr. Marasha of Zaka east gave
the local councilor Mr. Ehivere money for four bags of maize, but when he
arrived to pick it up it was refused as the councilor had found out that Mr.
Marasha had voted MDC. and was an activist. The councilor also refused to return
the money that he was paid. This case was heard on the 21st October in the Zaka
court.
Its still very evident that ZANU are getting most of the donated
yellow maize, you can see it when you go into the occupied farms, the government
have to feed the settlers to keep them there, so it would be a government
priority. This yellow maize can be purchased from ZANU venders and from
people at night who I have been told on good authority are police.
The
winter maize that was grown at Hippo and Triangle Estates is now starting to
arrive at the GMB, but again it is impossible for anybody but ZANU councilors or
big wigs to purchase it. The common thing to be told when applying for it is,
"you must get a letter from the councilor in your ward" and that is impossible
if you are in any way affiliated to MDC.
Regards,
Gerry
Whitehead, Chairman, Chiredzi MDC Support Group.
Budget unveiled: govt admits economy is in
distress
Staff Reporter 11/14/02 12:07:43 PM (GMT
+2)
THE government of Zimbabwe on Thursday admitted the magnitude
of the economic crisis facing the country, but analysts say the national
budget presented to parliament by Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa did not
attempt to and cannot address the underlying causes of the
problem.
In his budget speech, Murerwa told parliamentarians that
Zimbabwe's economy was performing well below its potential, with output
performance expected to decline by 11.9 percent this year.
He
attributed to drought and the uncertainties caused by the government's land
reform programme the decline in the performance of the agricultural,
manufacturing and mining sectors.
Murerwa also admitted that the
government's reduction of interest rates had fuelled inflation and resulted
in negative real returns on investments, hurting insurance companies, pension
funds and other financial savings.
"This is severely
compromising the capacity of the economy to guarantee future rates of return
that compensate pensioners for the loss of purchasing power and leaving many
near destitution," the minister said.
He also noted that
government-imposed price controls had adversely affected consumers, whom they
were supposed to protect.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
economist James Jowa told the Financial Gazette: "The most significant thing
is that the government realises the economy is in distress.
"In
the past, they have stopped short of saying it out. I think it's positive
that he recognises that besides drought, the land reform has had an effect on
production. The fact that he realised that privatisation has been very slow
and that he wants to accelerate it next year is positive. It doesn 't mean
he's going to do it, but at least he realises that it needs to
be done."
Analysts said the government's appreciation of
Zimbabwe's economic crisis was highlighted by plans to increase interest
rates, which will be part of monetary policy measures to be announced by the
central bank.
Murerwa also indicated that preferential interest
rates would be introduced to protect the productive and export sectors and he
also announced measures aimed at cushioning ordinary Zimbabweans from
inflation and the other hardships facing them.
The measures
include the widening of bands used to calculate income tax and tax on
bonuses, credits for the elderly and disabled and severance packages. The
minister also announced the reduction of sales tax on passenger and
commercial motor vehicles and the introduction of sales tax exemption for
construction materials.
Taxpayers will also cease to contribute
towards the AIDS levy from December 2003 while import duty will be suspended
on buses and spare parts for passenger transport. This will alleviate some of
the operational problems faced by public transport service
providers.
Jowa said: "The capital budget has been increased from
8.1 percent of total expenditure to 11.7 percent, which is positive. We have
always said they should increase the capital budget, but next time they
should do more."
But commentators pointed out that the government
planned to spend a whopping $682 billion on recurrent expenditure compared to
$88.2 billion on capital expenditure.
They also noted that
Murerwa had announced no real measures to curb inflation, which rose to 139.9
percent in September, although he said he expected it to fall to 96 percent
by the end of next year.
"This is really a back to basics budget in
my view," said First Mutual Life fund manager Nyasha Chasakara. "A lot of the
measures that have been put there are really meant to keep the economy
going.
"There are no radical changes as such. They (government)
comprehend the issues at stake, but the problems are not being addressed. In
fact, a budget would never adequately address them."
The
analysts said most of the measures announced by Murerwa were attempting to
deal with the symptoms of Zimbabwe's economic crisis and not its underlying
causes and were in fact likely to worsen the situation instead of resolving
it.
For instance, they said, plans for exporters to remit 100
percent of their earnings would be disastrous for most companies. Exporters
have in the past been allowed to retain 60 percent of their proceeds while
remitting 40 percent to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Most of
them have exchanged the remainder of their forex on the parallel market,
where they could secure more lucrative returns than on the official market at
a fixed exchange rate.
Murerwa on Thursday also announced that all
foreign exchange bureaus would be shut down from the end of November to curb
foreign currency leakages. To boost hard currency earnings, a fund
administered by the central bank has been established to encourage
Zimbabweans living abroad to remit forex to Zimbabwe.
The
Finance Minister said non-resident Zimbabweans had the potential to remit
US$250 million a year. But very little of this money has found its way to the
official market, with most of it being traded in more lucrative unofficial
channels.
"The minister is going to ban bureaux de change but
that's not going to solve the problem of the parallel market," Jowa said.
"Foreign currency is just going to move away from the parallel market to the
black market, it' s going to go underground and that will only make things
worse."
Chasakara added: "If you look at the foreign currency
account issue, it's not very clear what's going to happen. It just clearly
indicates that the government is desperate to get currency. In terms of the
interest rates, how far will they increase them? I don't think there will be
a huge increase.
"But it's very critical for the government to
come out clearly with the policies that it's planning to announce in relation
to these things or else we might see the markets overreacting, especially if
they think the government is going to increase interest rates and take all
the foreign currency. All policies have to be announced now, not in two
weeks, because the volatility in our markets will be so high that it could
trigger an asset price bubble burst."
Commentators said to
resolve Zimbabwe's economic crisis, the government should introduce other
policies to buttress the 2003 national budget, which could not adequately
deal with the problems facing the country.
They said a
demonstration by Murerwa that he was willing to follow through with the
targets he had set himself and to enforce strict fiscal discipline would also
instill confidence in the budget.
They analysts emphasised that
restoring international confidence in Zimbabwe by tackling property rights,
undermined by the government's agrarian reforms, was key to resolving the
crisis.
This would unlock balance of payments support and foreign
investment, suspended because of the seizure of commercial farmland, human
rights abuses and political violence.
But they pointed out that
this was not a task that Murerwa could accomplish on his own and that it
required the commitment of the entire government.
"The budget
doesn't deal with any of the problems," Jowa said. "Right from the beginning
(of this speech), the minister talked about restoring confidence, which is
the basic problem, but he didn't address the issue. But I don't think it's
really his problem, he's done his best under the situation.
"It's a process that he can't handle on his own. It requires the President,
the judiciary, the police force and dealing with the media laws. You can't
address these issues within two hours of announcing the budget."
FINANCE and
Economic Development Minister Hebert Murerwa presented his budget statement to
Parliament on Thursday this week and below are some of the major highlights of
the budget presentation:
Total expenditure $782.41 billion
Revenue $540.5 billion
Budget deficit $241.9 billion
or 11.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
Ministry
allocations:
Education Sports and Culture
$109.2 billion
Defence
$76.4 billion
Health and Child
Welfare $73.4 billion
Finance and
Economic Development $48.48 billion
Lands Agriculture and Rural Resettlement $40.549
billion
Higher Education and Technology
$38.297 billion
Public Service
Labour and Social Welfare $32.268 billion
Transport and Communication $20.749 billion
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
$20.232 billion
Homes Affairs
$20.2 billion
Local Government
Public Works and National Housing $18.035 billion
Rural Resources and Water Resources $15.372
billion
President and Cabinet
$13.259 billion
Foreign Affairs
$6.044 billion
Industry and International Trade
$4.648 billion
Environment and
Tourism $2.494 billion
Mines and
Energy $2.018 billion
*The minimum
non-taxable income has been increased from $90 000 to $180 000 per annum
beginning January 1, 2003 while the highest taxable income at 45 percent has
been increased to $1.5 million from the current $800 000.
*With
effect from November 1, 2002 the tax free portion of bonus and performance
related award will be doubled from $10 000 to $20 000.
*Customs
duty on the importation of public motor vehicles with a capacity of at least 26
seated persons and spares for the vehicles and for the maintenance and
refurbishment of equipment, wagons and locomotives by the National Railways of
Zimbabwe has been suspend from December 1, 2002.
*The rate of sales
tax for passenger motor vehicles will be reduced from 25 percent to 15 percent
while that one o commercial motor vehicles will be reduced from 15 percent to 10
percent starting January 1, 2003.
*Agriculture equipment and
implements not locally available will no longer draw any import duty starting
December 1, 2002.
*Bureaux de change will be abolished starting the
end of November 2002.
*Importers will now be requested to deposit
50 percent of their foreign currency earnings with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
up from 40 percent.
*Inflation is forecasted to come down to 96.1
percent by December 2003 from 144.2 in October 2002.
U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe Signals Concern Over
Killing By RACHEL L. SWARNS
merican officials have expressed
concern to the Zimbabwean government about the circumstances surrounding the
death of a 58-year-old American man who was shot at a roadblock, diplomats
said yesterday.
The man, Richard M. Gilman, who was vacationing in
Zimbabwe from Torrington, Conn., was killed on Monday in Mutare, near the
border with Mozambique. The Zimbabwean authorities said Mr. Gilman was shot
when he tried to race through the roadblock after refusing to answer
questions about his passport and car registration.
Mr. Gilman's
brother, who teaches geography at a university in Mutare, has raised
questions about this account, saying his brother had actually returned to the
roadblock with his passport at the request of the men working
there.
The brother, Howard Gilman, said the last time he had seen Richard
Gilman alive was at his apartment in Mutare on the day of the shooting.
Richard, he said, had come back after being stopped by police officers asking
to see his passport.
"He wasn't angry; he was just kind of irritated
because of this bureaucratic mix-up," Howard Gilman said yesterday in a
telephone interview. "We had plans to go out to dinner with friends. He said,
`Let me run out and get this straightened out and I'll meet you at dinner.'
"
American officials and relatives are unclear about happened after Mr.
Gilman went back to see the officers with his papers.
The Zimbabwe
police said that Mr. Gilman's rental car lacked proper paperwork and that he
refused to answer questions. "During the inspection and questioning at the
roadblock, he tried to drive off," said Wayne Bvudzijena, a police
spokesman.
Asked if the police had fired any warning shots, he said, "I
cannot verify if any warnings shots were fired, but it is procedural for
warning shots to be fired first."
"We have already expressed our
concern to the Zimbabwean government," Bruce Wharton, a spokesman for the
American Embassy, said in a telephone interview from Harare, the country's
capital.
Howard Gilman said the embassy had arranged for an independent
doctor to witness the autopsy, to be conducted today in Harare.
This
was Mr. Gilman's third trip to Zimbabwe, a scenic country racked by hunger
and political violence. He was winding down his computer software business
and enjoyed spending time with his brother.
Howard Gilman, 64, said
Richard had informally adopted two rural schools, supplying students with
shoes, books and food. "He sent $500 that we used to buy 88 pairs of shoes
for kids," he said. "Just last week, he had set up a feeding program that
would feed 840 kids to the end of March. He and his wife had no children and
he really fell in love with the kids at these schools."
Zimbabwe's finance minister
admitted that drawing up the budget was "not an easy task" and painted a
bleak picture of the current economic situation, with manufacturing, tourism
and mining all having registered losses.
Herbert Murerwa told parliament
that large allocations had been assigned to education, government wages and
land reform. The country's overstretched health sector has also been
allocated a generous amount, as has the defence ministry.
Without
giving a figure, Murerwa noted that a "substantial increase" had been
allocated for defence to ensure Zimbabwe remains "a safe place to
live in".
Murerwa raised laughter from the opposition benches in
parliament when he asked the house to allow him to "dispel any perceptions"
Zimbabwe did not respect property rights.
A controversial land reform
programme over the past two years has seen most of the country's 4 500 white
farmers losing their properties for redistribution to new black
farmers.
The minister said 14-billion Zimbabwe dollars would be directed
specifically to land reform, while a further 88-billion Zimbabwe dollars
($1,6-billion) would go towards capital developments in the sector, such as
developing irrigation.
Wages for civil servants absorbed a large share
of the budget, getting 266,5-billion ($4,8-billion) in a widely anticipated
move. Already this year doctors, nurses, teachers and university lecturers
have gone on strike over pay.
Murerwa said there would be significant
spending on road construction and improvements. This will be welcomed by road
users in the country, which has lately suffered a spate of deadly road
accidents. - Sapa
Dear All Please all stand
together on this one - something no-one has been able to achieve. Show them,
please email to every one you know, this can be very powerful if it is done
RIGHT!!
What signal does the world get if it views 20,000
Zimbabweans basking in the sun, watching cricket, drinking beer and generally
appearing to be having a good and peaceful time? - Boycott the Pakistan cricket
tour to Zimbabwe
LET PAKISTAN COME
Let me start by saying I love
cricket, it's my favourite spectator sport. The Zimbabwean team has achieved
some memorable wins from a limited selection of players.
I have been
saying for some time that Zimbabweans should be engaging in civil disobedience
and passive protests. Lets face it, how can you go on a non-violent peace march
when Zanu PF thugs with assistance with the Army and Police can attack those
demonstrators with impunity. All confrontational protests will be quickly
disrupted with people being beaten, killed or arrested. Strikes and work
stoppages will not work as a lot of workers can not afford to lose any of their
meager earnings. Prices are escalating, a black market in basic commodities is
thriving and mostly wages are remaining static. Strikes will lead to more
companies closing down and therefore more unemployment.
That the
Pakistani cricket squad is currently still intent in going ahead with the
Zimbabwe tour is quite correct. It is not up to professional cricketers to get
involved with world politics, this is also true of our Zimbabwean squad.
The world has focused on Zimbabwe in the last 2 years and more so during
and after the last elections. There is a strong belief that the political
climate over the past two years, the election process and the state manipulation
of the ballot all pointed to an illegitimate election whose result does not
reflect the views of many Zimbabweans. There have however been conflicting
reports from some observers and heads of state who claim that the election was
free and fair. If we do not have a consensus of opinion on the last elections,
this allows Zanu PF to use this confusion to divide world opinion. How do we
show that we still do not accept the result and demand a new election run by the
UN, commonwealth or both? As much has been done by other countries, and as
Zimbabweans we have to make a strong statement NOW.
What signal does the
world get if it views 20,000 Zimbabweans basking in the sun, watching cricket,
drinking beer and generally appearing to be having a good and peaceful time?
Jonathon Moyo, the Herald and ZBC will use this event to 'prove' to the world at
large that everything is OK and that the vast amounts of reports of widespread
"wholesale" violence are unfounded.
All Zimbabweans should boycott the
Pakistani tour by not buying tickets or attending any of the matches. This is
not directed at the Pakistan team or their government, instead it would
demonstrate to the world that the electorate do not accept the result of the
fraudulent election or the current state condoned violent instability that all
Zimbabweans are suffering under. Imagine that in the first ODI the players
outnumber the spectators. What a coup that would be for democracy! A clear
signal would be sent to the world regarding the true situation in Zimbabwe and
the feelings of the people. What message will the Pakistan squad take with them
to the rest of the world?
The result of this mass protest will be seen
worldwide via sport channels on satellite and terrestrial television. No one
would lose earnings (In fact you would save money by not buying tickets), and no
one could be targeted for retribution, unless Mugabe decides to arrest the whole
population of Zimbabwe for non-attendance of a cricket match!
In the
short term, the sport would lose earnings and Zimbabwean cricket would suffer.
Without a change in this country, will there be a future for Zimbabwean test
cricket anyway? With the exodus of talent, skill and investment, will we be able
to field a competitive test side anyway? It as not inconceivable that we will
lose test status or nobody will be willing to play us if we can't give them a
competitive game.
BOYCOTT THE WHOLE TOUR. DO NOT BUY TICKETS OR ATTEND
MATCHES. IF YOU HAVE OR ARE CONSIDERING HAVING A HOSPITALITY TENT CANCEL YOU'RE
BOOKINGS. IF YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND POLITELY REJECT THE INVITATION. THIS IS
NOT AN ATTACK ON PAKISTAN OR THE COMMONWEALTH. THIS IS A PEACEFUL PROTEST THAT
ZIMBABWEANS DEMAND AN END TO STATE SPONSORED VIOLENCE, A RETURN TO LAW AND ORDER
AND FRESH INDEPENDENTLY RUN ELECTIONS.
PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL TO
EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND COPY IT TO THE WORLD PRESS. LET'S MAKE THIS BOYCOTT WORK.
....................Meanwhile,
the former England captain Allan Lamb is calling on the England team to lead an
international boycott of the World Cup matches due to be held in Zimbabwe.
Lamb rejects the International Cricket Council's investigation into
security arrangements as missing the point. "It's a government deci sion," he
says in an interview to be screened on Channel 4 News tonight. "Tony Blair
should get up and say I'm not having England play there. From the England side
there should be a boycott."
The ICC, however, says that only safety
worries would prompt it to move the six matches to South Africa.
The
chief executive Malcolm Speed says that the tyranny of President Robert Mugabe's
regime is irrelevant. "We don't believe that's an issue for the sport," he said.
"No country has introduced sporting sanctions. We're not here to make political
statements."
UN endorses food aid policy in Zimbabwe By
William M. Reilly From the International Desk Published 11/14/2002 9:14
PM View printer-friendly version
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 14 (UPI) --
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday endorsed the World Food
Program's policy against the politicization of food aid in Zimbabwe, where
some 7 million people are at risk of starving.
In a statement issued
by U.N. spokesman Hua Jiang, he also appealed to the government of Zimbabwe
to fulfill its commitment to ensure that political considerations do not
affect food aid efforts within the country.
"The secretary-general notes
the continuing reports of politicization in food distribution and
humanitarian assistance in general," she said. "Those distributing aid have
an obligation to ensure that it is given to beneficiaries based on their
needs and not upon political affiliation.
"The secretary-general fully
supports the zero tolerance policy on the politicization of food distribution
established by the World Food Program," the statement continued. "He appeals
to the government of Zimbabwe to hold to its commitment to ensure that
political considerations do not affect food aid efforts within the
country.
"The international community must be vigilant in ensuring that
relief is made available quickly to the people in Zimbabwe," said Jiang,
reading from the statement.
Annan issued the statement before
departing for an official visit to European cities.
Zimbabwe has been
wracked by civil violence in recent years, spurred largely by President
Robert Mugabe's program of expelling white farmers from agricultural land and
giving the farms over to blacks. Many of them have little experience with or
resources for large-scale, commercial cultivation.
Mugabe was re-elected
last March to a fifth term after a campaign marked by opposition arrests,
violence and what international monitors decried as election rigging.
Zimbabwe tightens exchange controls amid
economic gloom By Tony Hawkins in Harare Published: November
15 2002 4:00 | Last Updated: November 15 2002 4:00
Zimbabwe
yesterday tightened exchange controls as Herbert Murerwa, finance minister,
admitted that the country continued to face "high inflation, foreign currency
shortages and declining savings investment and output".
Tabling a largely no-change budget with some minor tax adjustments,
Mr Murerwa focused on exchange controls, increasing the proportion of
earnings that exporters must sell to the central bank, at the hugely
undervalued official exchange rate, to 50 per cent from 40 per
cent.
He also tightened regulations on the use of the retained 50
per cent of earnings, saying this would have to be surrendered to the central
bank and held in the exporter's account. He did not say whether exporters
would still get the parallel market rate of Z$1,500 to the US dollar rather
than the official rate of Z$55.
Although this had been expected,
the minister shocked parliament when, in a move to curb foreign currency
leakages, he announced the closure of foreign exchange bureaux, but gave no
details of how this would be done. This was a surprise given the fact that
some bureaux are owned by influential members of the ruling Zanu-PF
party.
He painted a gloomy picture of the state of the economy,
forecasting that GDP would contract by 11.9 per cent this year and another
7.2 per cent in 2003, taking the decline over five years to more than 35 per
cent.
But he was modestly upbeat about inflation, predicting that
it would fall to 96 per cent next year, from an annual rate of 144 per cent
last month, and into single digits in 2004. This is in stark contrast to
the IMF's prediction of 522 per cent inflation in 2003.
Government spending would increase 94.5 per cent in 2003, but revenue is
forecast to grow even faster (103.6 per cent), because of inflation. As
a result, although the budget deficit will increase by 77 per cent
to Z$241.9bn (US$4.4bn, ?4.47bn, £2.84bn), as a ratio of GDP it will fall
from an estimated 14.1 per cent this year to 11.5 per cent.
Despite Zimbabwe's military withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
military spending will increase from 9.4 per cent of the budget to 9.8 per
cent.
The government will spend more on the police, as well as on
health and education, though the health budget at 9.4 per cent of the total
is less than military spending.
The budget statement foreshadows
tougher price controls to be announced shortly and a new interest rate policy
to replace the present regime of money market rates vastly below
inflation.
MPs listened quietly to Mr Murerwa's address but he was
cheered by his own party when he announced increased spending on land
resettlement and reduced import duties on buses. Opposition MPs jeered when
Mr Murerwa claimed that President Robert Mugabe's government "has always
respected internationally recognised rules which govern property
rights".