Banks: old wine in new bottles
Godfrey Marawanyika/Chris Goko

THE Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group will next year start to operate as a loose amalgam with three troubled banks conducting business under their original titles.

The amalgamation of the banks to form a composite unit will only be achieved in the middle of 2006 at the earliest, banking sources revealed this week. The arrangement will enable depositors to access their funds in the new year.

Three troubled banks — Trust, Time and Royal — are expected to reopen for business under the direction of curators who will now assume the title of administrators.

The administrators will in turn report to a board of directors of ZABG Ltd. The three banks will however not operate using their original licences as these have now been cancelled.

The government is soon expected to gazette enabling legislation through a presidential decree. The statutory instrument will enable the Reserve Bank to set up a board for ZABGL and to convert the curators into administrators. It will also facilitate the transfer of the troubled banks’ assets and liabilities to the new entity.

Trust Bank, which was put under curatorship in September, will be the first to reopen on January 1. Time Bank -was put under curatorship last month while Royal closed its doors in August. The two banks are expected to reopen for business later in the first quarter of next year. The fate of Barbican Bank, which was placed under curatorship in March, was not clear at the time of going to press.

In his monetary policy review statement last month RBZ governor Gideon Gono said troubled financial institutions would gel into one unit known as ZABG. The entity, he said, would be a strategic business unit of the central bank with government and troubled banks’ investors and depositors as key stakeholders.

The curator of Trust Bank Peter Bailey this week sent an update to staff at

the bank informing them of the latest developments.

“Trust Bank will become a strategic business unit of ZABGL and will reopen

for business with effect from January 1 2005, although operationally, banking halls will reopen on January 2 2005,” said Bailey.

“All transactions will be conducted under Trust Bank brand until and when all the banks falling under ZABGL have been merged into one single entity,” he said.

He also said his title would change to administrator.

“This is an administrative and legal requirement to facilitate the opening of the bank and oversee the merger with other banks who will become divisions of ZABGL,” he said.

The Zimbabwe Independent heard this week that promoters of the venture, notably the central bank, had moved to correct a statutory oversight in the formation of ZABGL by commissioning senior Harare attorney Lindsay Cook to put together the legislative framework, due to be introduced as a statutory instrument.

Cook on Tuesday confirmed his involvement in the ZABG project, but declined to discuss the matter citing client confidentiality.

“This is a client issue,” said Cook. “They have approached me to help. I can’t talk about my involvement in ZABG,” he said.

It has also been established that Chamber of Mines president and industrialist Jim Saunders, and prominent lawyer Muchadeyi Masunda, are prime candidates for the ZABGL board.

The board members, administrators and senior management at the banks should this month hold a strategic planning workshop on how to run the entities with a view to completing the merger.

Information to hand shows that the Amalgamated Bank of South Africa (Absa), a 26% majority shareholder in Gideon Gono’s former employers, Jewel Bank, and on whose template ZABG is said to have been modelled, will come in as a technical partner.

It has already started offering technical assistance.

Uc
Gift Phiri

A UNITED Nations envoy will next week table a draft resolution on the worsening human rights situation in Zimbabwe at the 59th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Arjan Hamburger, the deputy permanent representative of the Netherlands to the UN, in his draft resolution, said the EU strongly believed that the situation of human rights in Zimbabwe merited being addressed by the third committee of the general assembly this year.

“The European Union is concerned that conditions do not exist at present in Zimbabwe for holding free and fair elections in accordance with existing principles and guidelines to which Zimbabwe has committed itself and obligations under international human rights instruments,” the draft resolution says.

“We are moreover concerned about the restrictions on the freedom to operate without fear of harassment and intimidation of members of parliament, independent civil society and human rights defenders.”

Meanwhile, members of the European parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday urged South African president Thabo Mbeki to ratchet up pressure on the Harare administration to bring about change for the people of Zimbabwe.

Conservative MEPs Geoffrey van Orden and Neil Parish met Mbeki in France on Wednesday and handed him a letter urging him to urgently take action on President Mugabe’s administration.

Mbeki, who addressed the European parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday tried to dodge the Zimbabwe crisis during his presentation. But the MEPs insisted that there was lack of assertive action towards Harare.

“Earlier this year the European Pparliament called upon South Africa in particular to act effectively to bring about change in Zimbabwe,” the letter said.

“South Africa holds the key to change in that oppressed country. What has been your response to the appeal of the international community and of those millions of Zimbabweans suffering under the Mugabe dictatorship? Conditions in Zimbabwe have deteriorated dramatically in the last year. We therefore call upon you to take action, as a matter of urgency, to help bring about change for the better for the people of Zimbabwe.”

This came as opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai stepped up his diplomatic offensive against Mugabe. Tsvangirai yesterday met EU leaders in Brussels where he urged them to press Mugabe to enact genuine electoral reforms ahead of legislative polls due next year.

Lawyers appeal to Canada over Mugabe’s ‘genocide’
Gift Phiri

A ZIMBABWEAN and a Canadian lawyer this week asked the Canadian government to approve a genocide indictment against President Robert Mugabe, a case that could be the first real test of Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.

Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba and Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law professor, used the Act to craft a wide-ranging indictment that accuses Mugabe of committing genocide against his opponents with the massacre of about 20 000 people in the early 1980s during counter-insurgency operations in Matabeleland.

But it will be applied only if Justice minister and Attorney-General Irwin Cotler approves it.

Shumba, who fled the country to South Africa after being tortured by state security agents, said he was optimistic that the Canadian government would give the indictment the legal force it needs, pointing to the recent appointment of House of Commons backbencher Cotler as Justice minister and Attorney-General of Canada.Shumba said Cotler strongly supported them when they started the move to indict Mugabe.

“We think he is the right man to deal with the issue now,” Shumba said.

Cotler, an international human rights lawyer, is a former special adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the International Criminal Court and has served as counsel to former prisoners of conscience in the former Soviet Union, South Africa and Asia.

Shumba was optimistic that Cotler would expedite their case by granting the Canadian government’s consent that they require before they can apply for Mugabe’s arrest warrant.

Chaotic land reform strains diplomatic ties
Augustine Mukaro

ZIMBABWE’S chaotic land reform programme has strained relations with Western countries and South Africa as their nationals lose farms protected under bilateral trade agreements.

The country has Bilateral Investment Promotion Protection Agreements (Bippa) with several European Union countries, four of them ratified by President Robert Mugabe.

Diplomats based in Harare this week said government’s failure to observe the agreements had stretched relations to a point where displaced farmers were having recourse to international courts.

Dutch farmers have taken their case to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC.

Netherlands Embassy first secretary Lily Talapessy confirmed that her nationals were putting up a case against the Zimbabwe government.

“It is true that the displaced farmers are appealing to the ICSID based in Washington but I can’t give details of the status of the case at the moment,” Talapessy said.

She said the majority of the Dutch farmers in the country had lost their properties in the ongoing land reform programme.

“We have about 1 000 Dutch nationals in Zimbabwe, 70 of them farmers all growing flowers and falling under a ratified Bippa, which came into force in 1996,” Talapessy said. “The majority of our farmers have lost their properties and some are still under threat.”

Talapessy confirmed that her government had been making representations to government to mitigate the seizure of the farms.

“Since 2000 the embassy has used all diplomatic channels and we are also in contact with influential people to protect the investments,” she said.

An investigation by the Zimbabwe Independent has revealed that farmers from several Western countries lost properties under the often-chaotic land reform programme. Their embassies have also made representations to the government in efforts to save their investments.

The Swiss embassy has made representations to the Foreign Affairs ministry following the invasion of Cannonkopje Conservancy in Mutorashanga, Mashonaland West.

“The embassy engaged Foreign Affairs permanent secretary ambassador Joy Bimha and other officials in the ministry but the situation on the ground has not changed,” an official at the embassy said.

“We also approached Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo in his capacity as the MP for the area.”

Cannonkopje Conservancy, owned by Rolf Hangartner, was reportedly acquired by Dr Charles Nherera, vice-chancellor of Chinhoyi University and chairman of Zupco.

The worst affected country is South Africa which had over 200 farmers situated throughout the country. The farmers have made numerous representations to their government without success. In June South African Foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was quoted in the media as saying farms owned by South Africans were secure.

Expropriation of properties owned by South Africans has however continued in the south-eastern Lowveld where sugar estates are under threat.

Farmers who spoke to the Independent said government had completely ignored the agreements prompting the concerned nationals to appeal for diplomatic intervention.

“My property is protected under the Dutch agreement, and the embassy has made representations at various levels in vain,” said a farmer in Masvingo whose farm is threatened.

Farms falling under Bippa protection and specifically the Dutch agreement include Chibaro Farm in Mashonaland West and Chikore Farm in Masvingo. Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge is occupying part of Chikore Farm.

War veterans want Mugabe to rule for life
Dumisani Muleya

WAR veterans say they will urge President Robert Mugabe to “rule for life” at Zanu PF’s congress next month.

Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association deputy chairman, Joseph Chinotimba, who led farm invasions, said the former freedom fighters-turned party militias want Mugabe to remain in power forever.

“We want him to be there until he dies. We will support him at congress to remain there forever,” Chinotimba said in an interview last week.

“There is no one who will remove him. We will mobilise the people to support him. He will be there whether the Americans or the British like it or not.”

Chinotimba spearheaded the seizure of white-owned farms by government, which began in 2000 and dubbed himself the “commander-in-chief of farm invasions”.

Traditional chiefs, the Zanu PF Women’s League and some local council authorities, among other groups, have said they will support Mugabe at congress.

Zanu PF will hold the crucial congress from December 1 to 5 where new leaders are expected to be elected. Mugabe is expected to be retained unchallenged.

Vice president Joseph Msika is also expected to bounce back with little or no challenge despite an undercurrent of opposition to his return.

The real battle is expected to be concentrated on the other post of vice president which has been a subject of controversy of late.

Zanu PF administration secretary and Speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa was initially seen as the leading candidate, while senior party officials and cabinet ministers Joyce Mujuru and Didymus Mutasa are also vying for the post. But an emergency politburo meeting yesterday reportedly decided that a woman — most likely Mujuru — would be the most appropriate choice.

Nominations for Zanu PF’s four elected positions — first secretary, two second secretaries and national chairman — as well as members of the central committee and the national consultative assembly, will be conducted this weekend by the party’s 10 provinces.

Controversy erupted this week after Mnangagwa sent out a memo on the issue of nominations. Senior party officials objected to Mnangagwa handling the nominations, saying he was an interested party.

The escalating row over Mnangagwa’s possible ascendancy threatened to widen cracks in Zanu PF before the politburo moved in on Mujuru’s side.

Govt importing food
Itai Dzamara

GOVERNMENT has started importing maize from South Africa and 1 800 tonnes have already been delivered whilst another 5 000 tonnes are awaiting delivery.

This comes after the tabling in parliament of a report on food stocks last week by the portfolio committee on Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement. The report revealed a huge deficit as well as exposing that government was importing maize. Government had claimed that the country had more than enough maize and denied reports that it was importing stocks.

Media reports in South Africa quoted the South African Grain Information Service confirming the delivery of 1 808 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe last week.

Sources who spoke to this paper from South Africa said more imports were on the cards.

Jaco Grobelaar, a Commodity Trading House economist in South Africa, this week confirmed the purchase in a press report.

“The purchase came days after a parliamentary committee in that country said Harare’s official forecasts of a big crop were exaggerated,” he said. “Weekly figures from the South African Grain Information Service showed 1 808 tonnes of white maize exported to Zimbabwe. It’s interesting we’re seeing these exports after parliament deflated the crop estimate,” he said.

The parliamentary committee established through a survey on food stocks countrywide that the 2,4 million tonnes of maize yields forecast by government was hugely inflated. The committee, which visited Grain Marketing Board silos, said the country could end up with a maximum of 574 000 tonnes of maize this season.

‘Zim must restore workers rights’ — UNI
Gift Phiri

THE French-based labour body Union Network International (UNI) has urged the government to restore proper industrial relations in the country and to uphold freedom of expression.

UNI said during its meeting in Lyon last Friday government should take immediate action to ensure court decisions concerning workers’ rights and industrial disputes were upheld.

This came as government was persisting in its practice of using the police and the army to harass and attack striking workers. Unlawful dismissals have also become an official weapon against workers.

At least 980 Zimpost workers have been suspended and many dismissed for taking part in strike action last month.

UNI said despite a settlement having been agreed with Zimpost and assurances from the management that all workers would be able to return to work, several hundred workers remained suspended or fired.

UNI noted that 2 200 Tel*One workers remained suspended despite a court order in their favour.

At Zimbank 250 workers were recently summarily dismissed for taking part in a three-hour protest. UNI also said it was seriously concerned about developments at Sable Chemicals where workers were forced to buy Zanu PF membership cards before they were allowed to return to work after being suspended for taking part in strike action.

UNI also noted that 24 workers had been dismissed at CarnaudMetalBox’s Metal Packaging Division, which is 100% owned by paper and packaging firm Nampak, for participating in lawful industrial action.

Hunyani Flexible and Corrugated Products, which is also 50% owned by Nampak, dismissed its workers’ committee chairman Lazarus Chitsungo for allegedly inciting workers to protest for better salaries and working conditions.

UNI said it was deeply worried about the dismissal of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Lovemore Matombo from Zimpost and called for the suspension of criminal charges laid against him for engaging in legitimate union activities.

UNI also condemned the expulsion of a delegation from the Congress of South African Trade Unions by the Zimbabwe government last month.

“The UNI World Executive Board therefore calls upon the government of Zimbabwe to take action to restore proper industrial relations in the country and to uphold the constitution which guarantees freedom of expression,” it said.

“Further, it calls upon the government to take immediate action to guarantee that the decisions of the courts concerning workers’ rights and industrial disputes will be upheld and implemented according to the court’s wishes.”

It said the practice of using the police and military to harass and violently attack workers was “totally unacceptable” and demanded that government stopped “violence, harassment and the militarisation of industrial disputes”.

UNI said all workers should be allowed to return to work without penalty and all suspensions or dismissals be withdrawn forthwith.

It also demanded that Matombo be reinstated at Zimpost and be allowed to carry out his trade union activities without harassment or fear of violence or arrest.

US slams Aippa amendments
Gift Phiri

THE United States government has condemned the passage of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (Aippa) Amendment Bill by parliament as “yet another attempt” by Zimbabwean authorities to suppress the independent press.

The US said it was clear the move was designed to “silence independent journalists from reporting on violence, corruption and economic mismanagement in the country”.

Washington’s reaction came as the Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres RSF), condemned the amendment as further evidence of government’s crusade against freedom and democracy.

“Slowly but surely, Zimbabwe’s government is smothering democratic institutions in Zimbabwe,” the US government said in a statement this week.

“The latest move against the press is another sign that the government has yet to get serious about implementing the election guidelines of Sadc (the Southern African Development Community).”

Sadc election guidelines require governments to allow media access for all political parties, and to safeguard freedom of assembly, association, and expression, as well as free campaigning. The guidelines also require Sadc members to establish impartial and accountable election institutions.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the Aippa amendments violated the Sadc protocol. The coalition said they “show a determination by Zanu PF to establish a pariah state. The amendments defy Section 7,5 of the Sadc principles and guidelines which compel member states to safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly, association and expression,” it said.

The amendments provide for a sentence of up to two years in prison, a fine or both for any journalist who tries to work without being accredited by the government appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC).

Forty-one ruling Zanu PF MPs agreed that journalists found practising

without accreditation should be fined or jailed for two years or both, while 37 opposition Movement for Democratic Change MPs opposed the amendment.

Accusing Zimbabwe of not complying with the commitments to Sadc, RSF said: “We once again urgently call on South Africa to demand an explanation from Harare.”

The amendment reinforces the power of the MIC and government over journalists and the news media.

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said it was appalling to see ministers determined to suppress the media and related freedoms.

“Laws are made to serve the national interest and not parochial party

interests as Zimbabwe has witnessed since (Information minister Jonathan) Moyo was appointed junior minister following the violent June 2000 parliamentary election,” it said.

Moyo claimed the amendments were intended to “protect the state from attacks by enemies of the country” although media watchdog groups say the measure was calculated to prevent government scrutiny.

“The all-out censorship imposed by the Mugabe regime shows no sign of stopping,” RSF said. “This amendment will facilitate the imprisonment of intractable journalists and is further evidence of the government’s opposition to freedom and democracy.”

Erich Bloch column

Friday, 19 November 2004 

Zim Independent
 
  
Realistic and innovative budget needed


IT is less than a week until the acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development presents his 2005 budget before parliament, and the nation.

Inevitably, there is great speculation as to what the key budgetary proposals will be, with much of that speculation being accompanied by cynical expectations that, in the main, the budget will be a “non-event”, with the only proposals of any possible significance being such as government perceives will influence the electorate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, to support the ruling party.

Of course, the widely held hope is that the budget will be the launching of fiscal policies that will complement the monetary policies being pursued by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono to halt the seven-year long economic decline and set the economy on a recovery path. And, if it were in the exclusive hands of the acting minister to decide upon the fiscal policies and the budgetary proposals, his budget statement next week would probably exceed even the most far-fetched hopes and would be a catalyst of restored confidence and optimism that the prolonged economic recession will soon be halted and that a promising future lies ahead.

Regrettably despite his very real ability and his undoubted awareness of what is needed to kick-start the economy he undoubtedly does not have an unfettered ability to craft the budget.

Instead, whilst much of the working details will flow out of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the fundamental policies will be determined by the cabinet, and not by the acting minister.

That is so tragic, for almost all of the cabinet have demonstrated ad nauseum an almost absolute inability to appreciate economic fundamentals. Instead, the Cabinet focus is consistently directed upon self-preservation. Compounding this unfortunate circumstance is the endless ability of most of Zimbabwe’s ministers to resort to wishful thinking, and then to delude themselves that the wishes are facts. Any endeavours to disillusion them and to confront them with realities yields a reaction of: “Don’t confuse us with facts!”

Were that not the unfortunate situation in which Zimbabwe finds itself, what could-and should-next Thursday’s budget statement contain? Space constraints preclude this column from identifying all the fiscal measures that Zimbabwe needs to help it extract itself from the quicksands of the economic morass it has created continuously since 1997.

However, first and foremost, the budget needs to respond to Zimbabwe’s continuing hyperinflation. Although Gono’s policies and actions have dramatically reduced inflation, nevertheless the extent of inflation is still devastatingly high. On the official, Consumer Price Index-based rates of inflation, year-on-year inflation has fallen from 622,8% in January to 209% in October, that is a more than 66% reduction. Even allowing for the fact that the “spending basket” applied to determine the rates of inflation is probably no longer fully

representative of consumer spending, the governor’s progress in reducing inflation is spectacular. If, as estimated by many, actual year-on-year inflation was approximately 700% last January, and was approximately 275% by last month, the rate of inflation has still fallen by about 60%, and the governor deserves commendation for such an astounding

achievement.

But that does not detract from the fact that inflation is still untenably high, causing great hardships, intensifying poverty, and hindering export market competitiveness and local market viability. In recognising this (if it does!), government needs to curb its years of profligate spending and very substantially reduce its dependency upon borrowings. Its excessive and recurrent recourse to borrowings is a major activator of inflation.

There are only four areas wherein government should justifiably increase its expenditure (in real terms). They are health, education, economic development and infrastructure. For years, there has been insufficient funding for Zimbabwe’s health care needs, with inadequate remuneration for doctors, nurses and other health care workers, and for maintenance and purchase of equipment.

The result has been a mass exodus from Zimbabwe of vitally needed health personnel, and inability to give proper care to the critically ill. Similarly, education has long been deprived of adequate resources, little has been consumed to promote economic development, and expenditure on much needed infrastructure (including water

storage and distribution, telecommunications, roads, rail and air

facilities, and much needed other infrastructure) has been abysmal.

In contradistinction, the magnitude of votes for defence, for information and publicity (comprising mainly the production of jingles, staging of concerts, promoting the ruling party and disparaging the opposition, and histrionic attacks of potentially friendly States and their leaders), and for foreign affairs is incomprehensible and against the best interests of the populace.

The same holds good for the size of the cabinet, which is greater than those of much greater populated countries, and undoubtedly much could be saved from the vote for the President and Cabinet if the cabinet were smaller, the president travelled less frequently, and the presidential cavalcades reduced. The first of the budget responses to inflation should, therefore, be a sharp cut in governmental spending.

However, other responses to inflation are also necessary. Very admirably, the acting minister increased the threshold at which individuals became subject to income tax mid-term in the 2004 fiscal year.

With inflation continuing at high levels, albeit lower than previously, it is necessary that the threshold be raised again. Inflation since the threshold was increased, and as is likely for November and December, 2004 will probably exceed 50%, and the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) for a family of five is likely to be greater than $1,5 million by month-end.

Both of these facts must be taken into account in fixing the new threshold. Concurrently, there must then be appropriate adjustment to the tax bands.

However, the acting minister should disregard the misguided call of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union’s (ZCTU) for the corporate tax rate to be lifted to 45%. The ZCTU justifies its demand on the grounds that the maximum rate of tax for individuals is 45%, whilst corporates are taxed at a rate of 30%. But the ZCTU overlooks that when the corporates distribute their profits, a withholding tax on dividends declared in favour of individuals is levied at 20% of such dividends.

Cognisance of inflation also dictates that income tax credits for the elderly, blind, mentally and physically handicapped persons should be significantly increased from their present very niggardly and almost meaningless levels, as should be the tax-free portion of bonuses and the level of allowable deductions for pension fund contributions. The same recognition of inflation is necessary in reviewing the rebate of death duties and the ongoing iniquitous taxation of capital gains. Invariably those gains are wholly notional, being the result of inflation and not of appreciation in real terms.

And, if government is genuinely concerned about the wellbeing of the Zimbabwean people, the budget will bring about amendments to the Value Added Tax (Vat) Act to procure that health and education services cease to be Vat exempt and instead become Vat zero-rated. The effect of so doing is that providers of health and education services would be able to claim from Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) a refund of Vat paid by them on their diverse operational inputs (such as stationary, telecommunication, cleaning materials, rentals, and the like) and therefore would not build that Vat into their costs to be

recovered from patients and students by way of increased fees.

The acting minister also needs to have regard for the vigorous endeavours of the RBZ’s governor to motivate a lowering of interest rates.

This is certainly not the case when Zimra imposes interest charges in respect of income tax payments, where recently rates have been in excess of 275%. Surely it would be more equitable to align the interest rate to the Treasury Bill rate? After all, that is the rate government pays when it borrows from the public!

Much else needs to be addressed in the budget, and hopefully will be, but it will stretch credulity beyond breaking point to expect the 2005 Budget to contain much of an innovative, economic stimulatory nature. Past experience and track records suggest otherwise, no matter how valiantly the acting minister may have tried to convince his cabinet colleagues. I hope I’ll be proved wrong, but I’m not holding my breath!

 

Bad news: Made will return from Russia

‘IT is a crime to conceive the exit of the head of state.”

This newly invented crime was made known by the Speaker of parliament and Zanu PF secretary for administration Emmerson Mnangagwa last week. He was responding to a question by the Financial Gazette on whether he would consider contesting the presidency should President Robert Mugabe decide to call it quits.

“I would love him to continue (to rule) until death,” declared Mnangagwa.

Muckraker found this both chilling and nauseating. This is the man who is touted as President Mugabe’s preferred successor who can’t even speak his mind without resorting to fawning platitudes. So what is going to happen should people be cursed with his presidency? In the unfortunate event that he is elected Mnangagwa would obviously want to make it “a crime to conceive the exit of the head of state”.

At least Zimbabweans have been warned about the type of people seeking high national office.

Meanwhile, we wonder if the Fingaz thought it was doing Mnangagwa a favour by describing him as the “most feared” Zanu PF official. Is that a strength for someone seeking public office? Isn’t one Mugabe more than enough?

An alert reader says he has finally cracked the puzzle of the Zimpapers triplets of Nathaniel, Lowani, Jonathan. This is how he explains it:

“To me they are one and the same, only tri-named but one small brain. I have been trying to prove this for some time now. Breakthrough came when Lowani Ndlovu attacked Jonathan Moyo who had attacked the Herald or whoever attacked what!

“From what we read Jonathan is Lowani and vice versa. Then the coup came last Saturday, November 13. I am sure this did not escape your sharp eye. In the morning the Saturday Herald was carrying the usual Manheru column in which he wrote about change, ie regime as opposed to government change.

“I did not think much about it until the Newsnet’s 8.00 news in the evening. In one of many stories on Jonathan Moyo, there he was at NUST giving a lecture. And what did he talk about, among other things? Right! Regime and government change, almost verbatim what was in the Herald!

“Voila! Let’s see how he is going to get out of this one.

“Lowani Ndlovu = Nathaniel Manheru = Jonathan Moyo. If you extend this equation: Lowani Ndlovu = Nathaniel Manheru = Jonathan Moyo = CRACKPOT!”

Muckraker will leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions.

Fuel shortages are beginning to bite once again and the queues at fuel service stations are back. More than that, the ubiquitous “black market” dealers are doing what they know best. Except that the market is not so black anymore because the advertisements are there on the front pages of the state media for all to see. But registered filling stations don’t seem to have the commodity.

We were recently told there was enough foreign currency to meet demand. In fact when the glitches began to manifest themselves some three weeks ago, it was “revealed” that there were more than 70 registered fuel importers some of whom didn’t have so much as a drum to store the fuel.

Noczim was said to have failed to account for up to US$20 million. We don’t know as yet what the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s visit to Noczim offices yielded.

Then we were told fuel marketers were going to start using the Beira oil pipeline and that “fuel shortages will soon be a thing of the past”.

As usual, we took this with a large pinch of salt. We have been vindicated in our scepticism. Shortages are as current as the debilitating political and economic crisis. It appears that propaganda is failing to push fuel through the Feruka pipeline!

By the way, did we hear Newsnet on Monday claiming that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono said there was US$70 billion available for fuel imports?

There was an attempt to explain that this was in fact local currency. But the main headlines at the end of the bulletin repeated the original claim about US$70 billion.

Those are the dangers of relying too much on file tapes to peddle vapid propaganda. Unfortunately those given the task of reading the propaganda also lack a sense of proportion. With US$70 billion in its coffers Zimbabwe would not even need to negotiate to purchase or lease planes from China. There would be no need for the Homelink campaign. In fact our sovereignty would be unassailable!

The inimitable Nathaniel Manheru tried to blame the fuel crisis on the machinations of BP/Shell to bolster the so-called Cosatu plot to blockade Zimbabwe’s borders.

The claim deserves no more than contempt. We thought the 70 or so licence-holders were patriotic Zanu PF adherents since all the licences are issued by government!

We were surprised to read in the Herald that President Mugabe had sent a congratulatory message to US president George Bush on his re-election. More sober and restrained than his official spokespersons, Mugabe spoke of “working with you to enhance cooperation between Zimbabwe and the United States”.

Working with Lowani Ndlovu’s merchants of “regime change”? How strange.

That aside, Mugabe prayed for a “safer, more peaceful and more prosperous world in which the prosperity of small countries will also be the concern of the United States”.

But Mugabe has been sitting on the wheels of progress on the Nepad project. We hope he also has enough information on the goals of Agoa and the US$15 billion Bush has pledged to fight Aids in third world countries. So far we appear to be one of the few states left out of the loop.

Does Mugabe’s message signal a new dawn in Zimbabwe’s approach to international relations? That would make Gono’s task a lot easier than hitherto.

On Monday the Zimbabwe Independent got some bashing from the Herald’s latest find and ZBH’s political commentator, Caesar Zvayi. The paper carried an obituary of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat done by Reuter. All we did was place a picture of Arafat alongside the obituary. That did not please the geography teacher who went into annotating the features. There was the “annotative” and “denotative” evaluations of the picture, showing that “the Independent as usual wanted to show that Yasser Arafat was defeated”. It was speculated that if Arafat’s fingers covering his face “had been black and white” it would convey the “impression of a terrorist”.

The Independent was blamed for not using a “more flattering picture” because “Comrade Arafat was a true revolutionary”.

Zvayi even blamed the Independent for the intro to the obituary, which said Arafat had made many blunders in his many years as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. We wonder what spin Zvayi wanted us to give the story.

We are frequently assailed by cries of indignation from the Sunday Mirror every time we question their credentials as an independent newspaper. Then they go and attack journalists in the independent sector or foreign correspondents for misrepresenting the Zimbabwean story.

For instance, last weekend there was an eruption of bile in the newspaper’s “Behind the Words” column because Guardian correspondent Andy Meldrum had won Columbia University’s Schork Award for his reporting on Zimbabwe.

The writer, adopting the racist tone of Nathaniel Manheru, said he was becoming “more and more peeved by the perpetuation of the White Man’s Burden discourse in so far as Zimbabwe is concerned and the way it is buttressed by the doling out of these endless awards.

“The impression given by self-proclaimed martyrs like Meldrum and the rest of their circus is that we are wading through streets of blood and stepping on carpets of broken bones while the starving masses are on the verge of becoming cannibals because there is simply no food in the national reserves.”

The Zimbabwe Independent’s front-page story headed “Parly exposes grain deficit” last Friday was cited as an example of “crisis” reporting.

What is the suggestion here? That newspapers should remain silent when a parliamentary portfolio committee finds massive discrepancies between government’s claims of a bumper harvest and the reality on the ground?

That we should pretend there are no food shortages; that there have been no attacks on peaceful NCA demonstrators or other civic activists in the streets of Harare? That nobody in Zimbabwe has been killed for their political views?

We appreciate that Zimbabwean realities can prove inconvenient for Pollyanna perspectives peddled in pro-state newspapers like the Mirror. But they should avoid churlish criticism of colleagues in the private or foreign media when their contributions to exposing official dishonesty and hypocrisy are recognised.

Meanwhile, we have been very indulgent towards our former trainee sub-editor Tendai Chari who has taken a few pot shots at this newspaper of late. We have not said what we thought of his skills as a sub-editor or the extraordinarily flexible entry requirements for those teaching at UZ’s Media Studies department. Knowing the difference between reign and rein (November 7) does not appear to be a requirement!

All we would say for the time being is that four-letter scatological terms to describe what some newspapers publish (November 7) suggests not only a lack of good taste but a dearth of descriptive powers. Dr Zhuwarara: are you paying attention?

Police commissioner Augustine Chihuri has criticised lawyers who “hide” their clients when they know fully well that the police are looking for them.

He didn’t mention police officers who hide detainees when their lawyers are looking for them!

He was addressing lawyers at the Law Society of Zimbabwe’s summer school in Nyanga.

He said the police were committed to ensuring that the rule of law was observed.

“It is not in the interests of the police in any civilised country, including ours, to see the breakdown of the rule of law,” Chihuri noted.

But responding to criticism that the police did not uphold the rule of law during and after the land reform programme, he blamed the legal community for contributing to the confusion. Disputes arising from land reform were mainly civil in nature, he argued.

“For reasons best known to some of you, you have always dragged in the police and sought to have court orders enforced through state machinery. As police we have always said we could not do that.”

Muckraker is confused. Did he not say the police were committed to upholding the rule of law? And is he now claiming that court orders instructing the police to enforce rulings will not be obeyed where they are civil in nature?

It is useful to have all this on the record.

Chihuri cannot understand why “policing has moved into the centre of political debate and controversy”.

Perhaps he should read his remarks for the answer.

he Herald carried a great story on Monday. It was headed “Made, Mumbengegwi leave for Russia”. The bad news? They are coming back!

The Russians meanwhile should be on their guard. That barley Made is offering in exchange for equipment should be inspected very carefully. The minister, as parliament discovered recently, can be somewhat imprecise about quantities!

As for the Herald’s attempt to rubbish Elias Mudzuri in an article headed “Mayoral mansion now white elephant”, would it not be useful to ask which elephant the mansion was built for?

The Southern Times is really turning out to be an exciting newspaper. Last weekend it led with “Kaunda donates trademark hankie”. The item is due to be a major tourist attraction in the Lusaka National Museum.

“Wherever he went,” we were told, “be it public rallies or private meetings, Kaunda either waved his handkerchief or held it in his left hand throughout his reign of 27 years.”

There was no mention of how it got washed although it must have been subject to the occasional downpour. Then there were all those tears that cascaded at the drop of a hat.

The museum’s management thanked the former president for his donation and said the “artefact” would be displayed as part of the museum’s historical collection. Other items donated by KK included a safari suit, a black pair of shoes and a necktie.

Interesting. But not quite the same league as the Cairo Museum. No Tutankhamen, just Tearful Ken.

inally, for those who are gullible enough to believe the economy has “tuned the corner” and is now on the “recovery path”, how do we explain the sudden fuel shortages?

Would it not be safer to say as the election approaches that we face another predictable five years of ZaNo? ZaNo fuel; ZaNo jobs; ZaNo food; ZaNo liberties, and ZaNo future.

 

Going beyond the ideological divide

THE Chinese were in town last week. There was a lot of fanfare to go with their visit, which almost overshadowed the hype of the American election that returned President George W Bush with a record majority.
There is no doubt that the state media excitement about the Chinese visit was to showcase President Robert Mugabe’s Look East policy. Government has been trying to promote trade with countries in the Far East, especially in view of Zimbabwe’s isolation from the West. First it was Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. Now China has come into the forefront.
Before leaving the Chinese reportedly signed eight agreements with Air Zimbabwe, Zesa Holdings, the National Railways of Zimbabwe plus Net*One and Tel*One. Zimbabwe, which has been buying military weapons from China, will now purchase two aircraft and get a third for free, according to state media reports. The Chinese have also pledged investment in agriculture and have already supplied hundreds of tractors. They have also supplied generators and transformers for use in Zesa’s rural electrification programme.
However, while China is the world’s sixth largest economy, it has not been known to make significant investments on the world’s poorest continent, except dumping its sub-standard products in our markets. It is not known for its mining adventures in the mould of transnationals like Rio Tinto or Anglo American. Or huge employers of labour such as BAT, Coca-Cola and Unilever.
While it may be true that jobs could be created in the agricultural sector where the Chinese have been active, not every Zimbabwean wants to be a farmer or a farm labourer.
China has realised that no economy can deliver prosperity on the basis of agriculture alone and is fast industrialising. Zimbabwe, arguably the most industrialised country in sub-Saharan Africa besides South Africa a few years ago, is going in the opposite direction. At least 800 manufacturing companies have closed shop in the past four years. The country is lurching towards a primitive agricultural economy driven by subsistence farming.
China is the world’s fastest expanding economy, having sustained an average 9% growth for over 25 years, and we thus need to gradually link our economy to it. But this can’t be done at the expense of our established trading partners. It would therefore be foolhardy to destroy our vibrant economic sectors to undermine Western interests in mining, manufacturing, and agriculture to spite Tony Blair or George W Bush.
Nothing will be gained from such populist illusions. Blair and Bush are not the real issues, except as a mask to conceal President Robert Mugabe’s policy failures.
The issues in Zimbabwe are the current political crisis, which stems from authoritarian politics and stolen elections, and the economic quagmire, which is a result of policy and institutional malfunctions.
We need to objectively analyse in depth the internal and external factors that have contributed to the current crisis and labour our way out. Trying to simplify our problems with the fiction that it is Blair and Bush is deceitful. We need leaders who not only understand how countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Germany and Japan rose from economic rubble to become some of the strongest in the world but are also bold enough to adopt tough measures in an environment with different dynamics. Only a bankrupt leadership can claim that Zimbabwe’s recovery will follow the same path as those of European countries after World War II or the Asian Tigers after the 1997/98 financial crisis.
Mugabe’s Look East policy — if it is a policy at all — appears to be predicated on such illusions and distortion of global economic realities. As we have pointed out in the past, it is relatively easy to refashion political relations in line with a country’s ideological considerations, but it’s extremely difficult to redefine economic links which were created through centuries of trade and financial circumstances.
Whether Mugabe likes it or not, we cannot wish away Britain and the European Union or North America because they are some of our established trading partners. Mugabe appears impervious to this reality. We have to engage economically as directed by our national interests, not individual or party interests.
China was among the first countries to congratulate Bush on his re-election despite periodic quarrels over democracy and human rights issues. This is because China knows there is nothing to be gained from irrational hostility or publicity-seeking showmanship. Despite its economic and even military leverage over Britain and the United States, China has avoided confrontation and sought cooperation for its own economic benefit.
Since China embarked on economic reforms in 1978, dozens of American companies have gone in to invest in manufacturing. China is also making inroads in Europe and the Americas.
There is no way a full economic recovery can be achieved when Zimbabwe is still isolated from the world’s powerful economies and when multilateral lending institutions, which we need badly, are still reluctant to resume business with us.
The point in the end is as we chart new economic territories in far-flung China and elsewhere, let’s try to patch up differences with our major trading partners and avoid self-destructive politics which undermine the very national interests which Mugabe purports to be promoting.
One thing we can learn from the Chinese is that it is possible to use American dollars and still remain a comrade. They are forging their trade links across the ideological divide.

Budget: one lie begets another
By Rejoice Ngwenya

ZIMBABWE is once again tottering on the brink of budget-induced cardiac arrest, thus it befits the occasion to make reference to the late Daily News headline of, November 15 2002 that screamed: “Murerwa pleads with God”.

The then migratory Minister of Finance and Economic (under) Development was not pleading for spiritual redemption and forgiveness, but the success of what MDC shadow minister for finance Tapiwa Mashakada termed “a hollow and hopeless budget . . . that has prompted government to seek divine intervention”.

In the course of proposing a $200 billion deficit budget for 2003, Murerwa quoted Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” His foray into the uncharted realm of spiritual uprightness was a reference to Prophet Jeremiah’s prediction of God’s plan to rescue the children of Israel from 70 years of Babylonian captivity.

Without being accused of ascending the pedestal of judging that which God only has right to (“. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23), let us consider the litany of fiscal and political plagues that Murerwa and his government have inflicted upon innocent citizens since his infamous plea for divine intervention. To prophet Elijah, God says about Ahab king of Israel: “… Have you not murdered a man and seized his property? … This is what the Lord says: ‘In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood — yes, yours!’”

Although Murerwa claimed that Zimbabwe recognises property rights, between 2003 and now, Joseph Made’s under-capitalised and emotionally over-charged “agrarian revolution” has resulted in most, if not all commercial farmers, losing their land. My emphasis on their is not an inert desire to stress a historical fact — for this would be incorrect. Moreover, historically speaking, Aneas Chigwedere can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the vaSarwa have more claims to Zimbabwe than the Gushungos and the Khumalos.

Therefore in true liberal democratic tradition, I have said their in the context of proven title to ownership — as in title deeds.

So any self-respecting, rational, western educated doctor like Murerwa and Made would know that to allege that Zimbabwe upholds property rights amid this orgy of murderous expropriation is a glaring opportunity for them to urgently go back and re-write their ‘O’ levels.

More importantly, a 60% decline in agricultural output has not only endangered our foreign currency earning capacity, but also placed the lives of five million rural Zimbabweans at risk. Exodus 20: 17 says: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house . . . Or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” Murerwa’s government did it in the name of the evasive and utopic collective good — to reverse the so-called “evil” that was committed in 1896 by colonialists.

There is no amount of good that can evolve from a process that destroys human beings, deprives citizens of their rights and poisons the very oasis of their libertarian survival. Murerwa then “re-capitalised” the army “to defend our sovereignty” with a $76 billion budgetary provision. We then see the gravity of transgression being exacerbated by coercive militarisation of state apparatus. Patriotism is a voluntary phenomenon — you cannot wring out commitment to national values through compulsion. The backlash is inevitably widespread feeling of resentment of authority, and ultimately, civil uprising. Isaiah warns us in chapter 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”

One lie begets another. First, Murerwa’s tenure saw the banning of bureaux de change as a measure against peddling in foreign currency. Then Simba Makoni proposed a policy meant to enhance exports — something that Murerwa completely ignored. How is he rewarded — labelled a traitor, saboteur and summarily dismissed. Murerwa’s government then completely runs out of foreign currency, fails to pay its foreign debt and gets snuffed out of the Bretton Woods club of gentlemen. Blame it on the bureaux de change — a soft target. Genesis 20: 16: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.”

While he claimed that he would be able to contain government expenditure for a targeted single-digit inflation by 2004 (“despite it being self-perpetuating and generating a perilous momentum of its own”) it exploded to 700% by year-end 2003 and his master’s guns turned onto the poor local indigenous banks. Scapegoat politics. In Genesis 3: 12 Adam says of eating the forbidden fruit: “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Yeah, right! Good try, Adamsky!

More promises, more lies: disposable incomes, Murerwa bellowed, would be enhanced by increasing the tax threshold from $90 000 to $180 000. In 2004, a family of six now gobbles about $2 million of food a month. It is almost unthinkable to discuss minimum wages now without endangering the very existence of organisations.

The litany of evil that befell citizens of this country since the Daily News’

apocalyptic headline is well documented, some of it too ghastly to mention. In the same publication, Kingdom Mlambo appeals for a “dedicated Moses to stand up against the enemy and lead the people to the Promised Land of democratic nectar and ambrosia”.

This passionate cry for help was even before the promulgation of the vicious

twins — Aippa and Posa — that witnessed, if not chaperoned, the demise of the Daily News itself. Scores of MDC MPs and activists have since been incarcerated, some to death, others like Fletcher Dulini Ncube, to permanent illness. Why these political doctors cannot just concede that under the current political environment they have no hope in hell of turning around the situation beats me.

On November 25 Murerwa will again be thrown in the unenviable position to steer Zimbabwe through another fiscal mirage of a highway to self-destruction. The question is, will God be on his side of the road?

*Rejoice Ngwenya is a Harare-based marketer.

Zim Independent 19/11/04 Letters

Zimbabweans are the real devils

DISSATISFACTION with Gideon Gono is all very well. Understandably so. Fuel queues are back, companies are still closing down, no jobs have been created and the economy continues to haemorrhage jobs. Parastatals continue to revel in incompetence.
Robert Mugabe is still president and half the world is not even talking to us, let alone prepared to lend a helping hand. To all intents and purposes, the Zimbabwean economy is dead.
But I believe that laying the stinking corpse of Zimbabwe’s economy on Gono’s doorstep is a diversion. The real devils in all this are the Zimbabwean people themselves.
Gono had enough money for fuel imports and queues disappeared. The parallel market diminished and some banks that had been busy fuelling inflation have now been brought to heel. The “productive sector” had access to cheap money with which to add jobs to the economy, as was Gono’s intention when he set up the facility.
All this has been destroyed, not by Gono and, in spite of our fervent prayers, not by Mugabe. Did Gono hold a gun to fuel importers’ heads to force them to sell the precious forex they got from him on the black market instead of importing fuel?
Did Mugabe torture some so-called productive sector companies to use their low-interest loans from Gono to dish out dividends to their shareholders?
Who, I ask you, is responsible for the productive sector’s speculative gluttony? What production did they need the money for if they were simply going to invest it and make a tidy profit from interest? How many jobs are created by a paper investment?
The answers to these questions show just how shallow this whole Gono debate is.
A lot of people in this god-forsaken country are living off the sweat of the downtrodden. They are not necessarily politicians of any hue. They are “normal people”, although this description seems somewhat inappropriate to describe these sharks. These people have done more to defeat Gono than Mugabe did.
No one disputes that Gono’s assault on inflation has had astounding results. His target for year-end, derided by many so-called economists, now looks ridiculously pessimistic and Gono has had to revise it downwards. Yet businesspeople still have hiked rates and prices by as much as 1 000%, citing inflation as a fig leaf with which to hide their moral nudity.
These, fellow countrymen, are the vermin among us. Driven by the profit motive, they will gladly sell their own mothers if the profit percentage is good enough. This evil mindset will slowly strangle our country, no matter who is in power.
Men of unquestionable virtue will be frustrated and silenced because these people thrive on confusion and panic. They detest the very concept of hard work and are not above looting other people’s property if it is entrusted to them for safekeeping.
You will find no horns on these people. You will see no tail on them. They hold no pitchfork.
In other words, they look nothing like the devils that they are. They are your neighbours, friends and workmates. They are the lingering disease that is slowly eating this country from the inside out.
As much as I agree that there will be no real economic progress without a change in our politics, I am equally certain that there will be no economic or social progress unless the people of this country change their mindsets. The political situation in this country, bad as it is, is no reason to excuse a thief who breaks into your home, steals from you and kills your children.
It is very worrying when newspapers encourage the thinking that no matter how badly a person misbehaves, they should be excused because Mugabe and Zanu PF are in power.
This is the mentality that says you can beat up your wife because everyone else is doing it, or that when you see people looting a shop during a riot, then it is OK to join in because everyone else is doing it. If you want to see real anarchy in Zimbabwe, then the people of Zimbabwe should be encouraged to continue thinking like they are doing now.
Denford Magora,
Harare.

Victimised for free speech

READERS who deplore the prosecution and conviction of Reason Tafirei of Chitungwiza last week for saying “Mugabe is a dictator who rules by the sword while Tony Blair is a liberator” may be interested by this note sent by former British premier Winston Churchill to Home secretary Herbert Morrison (equivalent of our Minister of Justice) on July 19 1941:

I should like to have my opinion put on record that this sentence (of five years’ penal servitude on Miss Elsie Orrin for saying to two soldiers that Hitler was a good ruler, a better man than Churchill) is far too heavy for expressions of opinion, however pernicious, which are not accompanied by a conspiracy. Nothing in the internal state of the country justifies such unreasonable and unnatural severity. I consider such excessive action defeats its own ends.”

Britain was then in a state of declared war with Germany, and Hitler was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of British servicemen and civilians.

There was also the imminent danger Germany would renew its determined efforts of the previous summer and autumn to invade Britain.

In 1991, Matthew Magodlo was charged under the former Law and Order (Maintenance) Act for shouting during the president’s speech at Heroes Acre: “Those heroes you are talking about died for nothing. (Ian) Smith was better than you are.”

The late Sir Garfield Todd proposed the establishment of a fund to assist those, like Magodlo, whom he believed had been victimised for exercising their constitutional right of free speech.

In Tafirei’s case, the Chitungwiza magistrate deserves to be congratulated for not imposing an unconditional custodial sentence. Tafirei should, however, have been assisted by leading legal counsel to plead not guilty, instead of admitting the charge, and to fight his conviction all the way through to the Supreme Court.

Judge Jeffreys,

Harare.

Scribe’s height of absurdity

LAWRENCE Moyo’s recent aggressive article in the Herald regarding the country’s cricketing woes is the height of absurdity.

Entitled “It’s time for rebels to shut up”, it merely continues the trend of farcical and far-fetched reporting that the Herald has become so notorious for.

Moyo is so obviously just another puppet on a string for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union as his strong views are ill-informed and Walter Mitty in character.

He brazenly states that rebel Stuart Carlisle does not deserve a place in the team today ahead of such talent as Stuart Matsikenyeri, Dion Ebrahim and Tatenda Taibu. Happily, the litmus test of cricket is in the statistics that expose his views as hypocritical and shameful.

Had he taken the trouble to research the records, as decent cricketing scribes do, he would have discovered that over the past 18 months that reflect current form, Carlisle’s Zimbabwe average of the high 40s is far superior to those of the three players he claims to be more talented.

Indeed, collectively all three together might struggle to surpass Carlisle’s average.

It is a fact that seven of the last 12 centuries scored by a Zimbabwe batsman in first class tour, Test and one day international (ODI) matches have been notched up by Carlisle. The other five tons have gone to other so-called rebels. The century tally in that time for Matsikenyeri, Taibu and Ebrahim in between them is zero.

Carlisle and his rejected colleagues have not played since April, so who knows how many more hundreds they might have scored if they had been playing?

We Zimbabwean cricket supporters deserve the best team to fly our flag, not the under-performing current squad that is damaging our credibility in the international arena.

Fidelis Ndhlovu, Keen Cricket Fan and Statistician,

Harare.

Zanu PF’s message to the electorate

THE Zimbabwean electorate and the MDC can now rest assured that Zanu PF members of parliament do not want any leniency when a new government comes into power.

In sentencing MDC legislator Roy Bennett to such a harsh prison term for a small misdemeanour, they have told us that they expect very heavy penalties for just supporting the system.

Obviously those actively engaged in corruption or violence deserve terms of imprisonment with labour for life.

The other message from the MPs is that they are not interested in dialogue to find a peaceful resolution to our political impasse. The only peaceful avenue left to the MDC and the electorate who have been abused is to now take individuals, including the president, to the International Court of Justice and the AU Court of Human Rights.

We also can now expect the United Nations and the AU to get actively involved in our quest for peace.

What a sad day for Zimbabwe that we have shown the world such political immaturity and vindictiveness.

Gava,

Greendale.

Mugabe in IMF U-turn
Chris Goko

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has reassured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of his commitment to working with donors, particularly the Bretton Woods institute, IMF African director Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane has said.

In Harare this week, Bio-Tchane said his “rare engagement” with Zimbabwe’s leader was “fruitful” and that the quality of follow-up discussions with Zimbabwean authorities was encouraging.

Bio-Tchane, who skirted political issues, said he held meetings with key stakeholders such as Herbert Murerwa’s Finance ministry, Special Affairs minister John Nkomo, Gideon Gono’s central bank and ambassadors of several donor countries.

“I had the privilege of meeting President Mugabe. My meeting was intended to provide an opportunity for me to explain personally to the president the state of Zimbabwe’s relations with the IMF… and how we could establish a positive framework for moving forward,” he said.

“My discussions with the Zimbabwean authorities covered a range of economic and structural issues facing the country today. I explained that the fund wanted to… help Zimbabwe achieve its full potential and to integrate the country more closely with the international community,” he said.

Mugabe, the IMF boss said, noted that with agrarian reforms now largely over, he would have wanted more investment in the country’s rich mining sector — a fact that dovetails with Harare monetary authorities’ pronouncement on mining as a priority sector.

Bio-Tchane, however, stressed that Zimbabwe needed to “seize this window of opportunity to demonstrate strengthened cooperation with the fund” before its executive board considers the country’s compulsory expulsion.

Zimbabwe, virtually ostracised by the international community over repression and farm seizures, owes the IMF US$400 million out of a net global debt of US$1,2 billion. It has escaped complete severance of ties owing to the IMF’s magnanimity.

Harare has managed to pay up to US$18 million in installments of US$1,5 million in the first half of this year steadily rising to US$4,5 million in the second half.

It has also embarked on quarterly payments of US$1,5 million to the main World Bank and a similar amount to the African Development Bank, one of the country’s key infrastructural funders.

Corroborating Gono’s assertions that the government has managed to keep up payments without undue pressure, Bio-Tchane said the fund — along with other official creditors — was satisfied with Harare’s repayment rates considering its foreign cash capacity. Zimbabwe is in the throes of a six-year forex crunch.

Bio-Tchane, whose talks also bordered on macrostabilisation, substantive socio-economic reforms and corporate governance, said: “Such an increase (in payments) should be possible without undue import compression and hardship to the Zimbabwean people if a… package supported by external financing is adopted.”

Gono, now central to government recovery plans, said that in economic development, as in other matters, greater prospects are opened when there is dialogue.

“When creditors and debtors sit down and share development ideologies, objectives and ideas of helping each other, win-win outcomes always emerge, but no one should expect miracles overnight,” he told businessdigest in Harare yesterday.

Acknowledging the country’s huge arrears, Gono said the nation was aware that “settlement of obligations, investment protection” and many other aspects were central to the country’s turnaround agenda.

While the parties — the IMF and Zimbabwean officials — discussed ways of stabilising the economy, which include Gono’s envisioned Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group project, they (Harare officials) hoped to formulate ways of fully settling external arrears by 2007, he said.

The RBZ governor said he was not at liberty to divulge details of the talks between the visiting IMF executive and Mugabe, emphasising Bio-Tchane’s pronouncements were sufficient enough.

Election set to depress tourism industry
Roadwin Chirara

The tourism sector is likely to be depressed in the next six months owing to the political tension that is mounting ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections Zimsun Leisure group chief executive, Shingi Munyeza has said. Munyeza told an analyst briefing on Zimsun’s six months to September 30, that the “fires of the March 2005 elections which have already started brewing will invite bad publicity which is likely to scare away tourists.

“We have planned for the worst as we do not expect any meaningful business generation from the observer missions,” said Munyeza. Munyeza said the group has put in contingent plans to deal with the ‘dry spell’ that is normally associated with Zimbabwe’s elections. “We will analyse our cost structure to the last dollar and we might even go as far as closing some hotel wings to minimise on cost,” Munyeza said. Munyeza told the group is likely to continue suffering the brunt of the mismatch between inflation and exchange rate.

Munyeza said the current exchange rate failed to reflect the true cost incurred by tourism concerns in their service delivery. He said the continued failure of the exchange rate to chase the rate of inflation was pushing up cost in most of the company’s operations. He said the situation was being worsened by the decline in tourist arrivals.