IOL
Mugabe's 'heir' linked to blood diamond trade
October 14
2002 at 11:19PM
By Basildon Peta
Zimbawean President
Robert Mugabe's likely successor, speaker of parliament
Emmerson Mnangagwa,
has been implicated in a shady deal involving money
laundering and the
trading of blood diamonds from the Democratic Republic of
Congo
(DRC).
An article in the Spanish daily newspaper, El Pais, named
Mnangagwa and
international financier Thamer Said Ahmed al Shanfari, a son of
a former oil
minister in Omani, as the two men who guaranteed the safe
passage of illegal
cash and diamonds through Harare International Airport by
circumventing
customs regulations in Harare.
Shanfari is the president
and chief executive officer of a company called
Oryx Natural Resources, which
jointly owns diamond concessions in Mbuji
Mbayi in the DRC with the Zimbabwe
government.
An insurance policy against future probes into
corruption
When one of the Shanfari's employees was arrested and jailed in
the DRC,
Mngangagwa allegedly intervened and secured his release, a sign of
his
influence in the DRC. Mnangagwa admitted having intervened to secure
the
release of Shanfari's employee. He, however, denied the money laundering
and
illegal diamond trading charges.
The Spanish newspaper's article
detailed how Harare was used as a conduit
for money laundering and diamonds
smuggling, with Mnangagwa facilitating the
deals and getting what the
newspaper says was a "healthy cut" from Shanfari.
Mnangagwa is Mugabe's
personal choice for successor. Despite having lost his
parliamentary seat in
the 2000 elections and his bid to become Zanu-PF
national chairman in the
same year, Mugabe plucked Mnangagwa from imminent
political obscurity and
made him speaker of parliament. He also appointed
him to the powerful post of
Zanu-PF's secretary of administration.
Analysts have said Mugabe sees
Mnangagwa as an insurance policy against
future probes into his corruption
and abuse of office.
Mnangagwa has been previously mentioned in numerous
reports, including one
in the newsletter Africa Confidential, as the man
involved in co-ordinating
Mugabe's mining interests in the DRC, together with
controversial South
African businessman Billy Rautenbach, a personal friend
of Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa successfully lobbied for Rautenbach's appointment
as chief
executive of the DRC's mining parastatal, Gecamines. Rautenbach was
later
fired by the DRC government from Gecamines. - Foreign Service
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabwe govt fires 627 teachers
Harare
15 October 2002 08:06
At least 627 teachers have been
fired in Zimbabwe for taking part in an
illegal strike, state ZBC television
reported on Monday.
Hundreds of teachers across the country went on
strike last week to press
for higher wages. State television said the
dismissals were with immediate
effect and advised teachers in retirement to
contact the ministry for
employment.
Reacting to news of the
dismissals, Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general
of the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) which called the
strike, said: "This is
really an unfortunate precedent."
"Are we saying that Zimbabwe has enough
teachers to dismiss them
willy-nilly?" he asked. He said that lawyers for the
teachers would
challenge the dismissals, which he claimed had not followed
established
procedures.
Majongwe said the strike, which began last
Tuesday, would continue until the
grievances of the teachers had been met.
"We are ready for a fight," he
said. "These people (teachers) have nothing to
lose." A high school teacher
in Zimbabwe takes home 20 000 Zimbabwe dollars
($364/euros) a month, much
less than other civil servants. The PTUZ is
demanding a 100% salary increase
backdated to January and a 100% cost of
living adjustment backdated to June.
Majongwe was arrested last week and
charged under the country's Public Order
and Security Act for "invading the
rights of others" after he allegedly
agitated for teachers to join the
strike. He is now out on bail.
At a press conference earlier Monday,
Majongwe claimed that teachers were
being intimidated by members of the
Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) who he said
were going around schools to make
sure teachers were working.
The claim was denied by army representative
Chris Mukotekwa. "Nothing of
that sort is taking place. We do not have the
manpower to go around those
schools," he said.
The 55 000-strong
Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) has refused to back
the strike by
PTUZ, which reportedly has 12 000 members. Last week Education
Minister
Aeneas Chigwedere declared the strike illegal and threatened to
fire striking
teachers. He promised the government would increase teachers'
salaries early
next year. - Sapa-AFP
Zimbabwe Standard
Zanu PF MPs stun Mugabe 10/12/02
Story by By Chengetai Zvauya
ZANU PF MPs, for long considered gutless in the presence of President
Mugabe, last week found enough courage to confront their leader and demand an
explanation of the fuel crisis besetting the nation, The Standard has learnt.
In a rare move, the MPs stunned Mugabe, who last month personally concluded
a fuel deal with Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, when they told him that he owed
them an explanation for the lack of fuel in the country. Mugabe’s ministers have
in past weeks been making conflicting statements, and at times, blatantly
uttering falsehoods on the existence or non existence of fuel. According to the
US$360 million (Z$19,8 billion) fuel deal, signed by Mugabe and Gaddafi,
Zimbabwe is assured of supplies until September next year, when the deal
expires.
But before the ink on the deal has even dried, the country has started
experiencing sporadic fuel shortages, casting doubts on the authenticity of the
arrangement, which critics say is tantamount to mortgaging the country to Libya.
Under the deal, forex-starved Zimbabwe trades assets such as land and equity in
state enterprises, in exchange for fuel from Libya.
Unimpressed Zanu PF MPs took advantage of Monday’s party caucus meeting at
the Zanu PF headquarters to tell Mugabe that his government had messed up on the
issue.
“We demanded he explain the truth of the situation because our constituents
want an explanation. We openly told Mugabe that we were not happy with the
situation and we did not mince our words. We made it clear that despite denials
by his ministers there was no fuel at service stations,’’ said a Zanu PF MP who
attended the meeting.
Another MP said it was the first time the MPs had really quizzed Mugabe,
who has become almost a demigod at the party he has led for over 20 years.
“The president, who was very attentive throughout, said energy minister,
Amos Midzi, should have told the nation the truth about the shortage. He read
the mood of the MPs and decided to play the part of listener,” said a Zanu PF
MP.
Midzi was to have presented a report on the fuel situation at the meeting,
but failed to turn up.
Contacted for comment, Zanu PF chief whip, Joram Gumbo, confirmed that the
MP’s had raised concerns to Mugabe over the fuel situation.
“It is no secret that we do not have forex in the country, but arrangements
were made for other countries to help us with fuel. We are still having fuel
shortages and the MP’s wanted the matter taken up with the president.
“We had the opportunity of discussing issues affecting the country,
including fuel and food shortages and the land redistribution exercise. The
president did appreciate the problems and said the government would do its best
to resolve the crisis facing the country,” he added.
Many service stations are failing to provide fuel and winding queues of
motorists are the order of the day at the few service stations that do have
fuel.
Most of the outlets have dried up and the country’s fragile public
transport system has virtually collapsed, leaving commuters stranded.
The government has been at pains to explain the erratic nature of supplies
to service station, with its ministers and Zanu PF apologists claiming that the
current shortage is due to saboteurs, bent on discrediting the Zanu PF
government.
A report on the fuel situation by a government-appointed team of
investigators which should have been released on Monday has still not been
publicised, prompting fears that information may be doctored to suit the Zanu PF
conspiracy theory.
Analysts say the investigators are likely to heap the blame on fuel
companies who have been accused of hoarding in the past.
The country consumes 1,9 million litres of diesel and 1,2 million litres of
petrol per day.
The petrol is being distributed by the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim). Supplies are no longer assured as the country does not have enough
forex to buy the commodity due to isolation from the international community
because of the government’s poor human rights record.
Zimbabwe Standard
Militia causes havoc at college 10/12/02
Story by By Parker
Graham
MASVINGO—All is not well at Masvingo Teachers College where Musekiwa
Mungoli, a student teacher and graduate of the Border Gezi training Centre, is
fast turning himself into ‘warlord’ at the institution, The Standard has learnt.
Lecturers and students at the college said they were “sick and tired” of Mungoli
who conducts Zanu PF business in defiance of directives from college
authorities.
The problematic youth militia, The Standard was told, has on numerous
instances openly challenged decisions made by some lecturers as well as the
college principal, Sharai Chakanyuka.
“Even when the college principal, tells students to attend sporting
activities, this troublesome militiaman can openly stand up and order all
students recruited from the Zanu PF youth brigade to stay behind for a Zanu PF
meeting.
“The college authorities are afraid of him, and they don’t say anything to
him,” said an SRC member who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of incurring
the wrath of the militias.
Students who talked to The Standard said Mungoli was in the habit of
playing full blast and well into the night, the song Nora, by Elliot Manyika,
the Zanu PF political commissar in charge of the youth brigades.
“He has no respect for elders, particularly lecturers and the principal. He
is so smug because he’s untouchable,” said the student.
Contacted for comment, Chakanyuka professed ignorance about the presence of
any youths from the Border Gezi Training Centre.
However, Mungoli himself confirmed to The Standard on Thursday that he was
determined to rid the college of people with a colonial mentality.
“Hatingaregi nyika kuvarungu takatarisa. We have to do away with people who
are causing problems, even if they are lecturers. These people suffer from
colonial hangovers,” Mungoli said.
When this reporter arrived at the college, an angry Mungoli had just caused
a fracas by confiscating Mamvemve, a cassette by music guru Thomas Mapfumo which
was being played by some students.
He charged that the song was an attack on the government.
Unimpressed, the students went on to report the matter to the police who
have since launched an investigation into the matter.
Zimbabwe Standard
Land grabbing governors disappoint Mugabe
By Chengetai Zvauya
PRESIDENT Mugabe, irked by widespread criticism over rampant corruption by
his officials in the current allocation of land grabbed from white commercial
farmers, has quizzed two governors accused of having allocated themselves prime
pieces of land at the expense of landless peasants.
Sources in Zanu PF last week told The Standard Monday’s Zanu PF caucus
meeting turned out to be an embarrassing episode for Josaya Hungwe of Masvingo
and his Mashonaland West counterpart, Peter Chanetsa, after Mugabe quizzed them
over allegations of grabbing farms.
“The president said he had received reports of governors grabbing farms at
the expense of peasants, and he wanted them to tell him what was happening in
the provinces as the land issue has become a very sensitive issue,” said a Zanu
PF source.
Hungwe is said to have been asked why he ventured across the country to
grab a farm in Mashonaland West, in the northwestern part of the country, when
he is from the southeastern Masvingo province.
His colleague, Chanetsa, was asked to respond to reports that he had
allocated himself several fertile farms.
The two are said to have been at pains to convince the president who made
it clear that he did not buy their futile denials.
The land issue was the agenda for the meeting between Mugabe and Zanu PF
MPs. In the controversial exercise, which kicked off on a violent note in
February 2000, provincial governors head land committees in their respective
provinces.
According to sources, Hungwe’s alleged move to Mashonaland West had
provoked the Zanu PF leadership there, prompting them to approach Mugabe.
Mashonaland West is also Mugabe’s home province. “Hungwe defended himself by
saying he had grown up in the province and some of his children were also born
in the area. He also denied that he had acquired any farm in the province, but
that one of his children had applied for land there,” said a source.
This claim is said to have been shot down by Zanu PF Mashonaland West
chairman, Philip Chiyangwa, who asked Hungwe why he was always seen in the area
if he had no farm there.
Chiyangwa refused to comment when contacted by The Standard. “I don’t
discuss caucus issues with journalists. Why don’t you speak to Joram Gumbo, our
chief whip?” asked Chiyangwa.
Gumbo confirmed that the issue had been discussed at the meeting with
Mugabe.
“All the governors were asked about the land issue by the president after
the MPs had started the issue. We were facing pressure from our constituents who
are complaining that the top chefs are taking the land and the only way to
clarify the allegations was to hold such a meeting.
“The president told us to go to the people and get the truth so that we can
deal with the issues, but all we are getting are just allegations that are hard
to prove,” said Gumbo.
Hungwe himself refused to comment on the allegations. “I do not want to
speak to your paper. You write a lot of lies about me and my party, so I have
nothing to tell you. You are a newspaper for white people so I do not speak to
you. Write whatever you like and I do not care,” said the governor.
Chanetsa refused to comment, but instead referred The Standard to the
parliamentary Hansard, which carried his response when he was quizzed by MDC MP
for Bulilimangwe North, Mzila Ndlovu, over the issue.
“I don’t have a farm at all, I only had one farm which I bought in 1992 and
sold it three years ago,’’ Chanetsa told parliament on Wednesday.
Chanetsa said he applied for land under the model A2 scheme last year.
“Last week I received a letter that I was considered, but I have not even signed
the letter. The name Chanetsa is not a monopoly to myself. So next time when you
see the name Chanetsa you have to verify which Chanetsa people are talking
about."
According to the Commercial Farmers Union’s list of people who have
benefited from Mugabe’s land grab exercise, the governor is recorded as having
acquired a 608 hectare Biri Farm and Greenleaves farm (625 ha).
Zimbabwe Standard
US hikes visa fees
By our own Staff
ZIMBABWEANS fleeing biting economic hardships and President Mugabe’s
authoritarian rule, will now have to fork out more if their chosen destination
is the United States.
According to a statement released by the US state department last week, the
US has hiked its visa application fee from US$65 to US$100.
The new increase translates to Z$70 000 on the thriving black market where
most Zimbabweans now source foreign currency. However, at the official rate this
translates to only Z$5 500.
The increase, which becomes effective next month, is the second such hike
in the last six months.
Zimbabweans, reeling under the hardships caused by President Mugabe’s
mismanagement of the economy, have been leaving the country in droves to become
economic refugees in other countries.
Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States have been
the favoured destinations for Zimbabweans.
In justifying the hike, the US state department said the current fee was no
longer sustainable.
“The department is facing a critical revenue shortfall because the $65 fee
simply does not recover the full cost of service. In consultation with the White
House’s Office of Management and Budget, the Department determined that the
shortfall should be met by an increase in the fee rather than by an
appropriation of US tax revenues. This adjustment will bring the fee into line
with the actual costs of administering the non-immigrant visa services,” read a
statement from the department.
The department agreed that the new fee would result in a drop in visa
applications: “The Department is well aware that this fee increase may further
suppress the demand for non-immigrant visas. However, the new fee accurately
reflects the costs being incurred in the post November 11 environment.”
The US suffered serious terrorist attacks on 11 September last year
resulting in a slump in visa applications.
“Since the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, visa demand has dropped
by approximately 20% and the trend continues downward. In August, non-immigrant
visa demand was down by approximately 33%.
There has been no corresponding decline in the costs of running
non-immigrant visa operations, because the processing of each application is
more time consuming and labour intensive as a result of enhanced security
screening requirements instituted since 9/11,” read the statement.
Zimbabwe Standard
Air Zim hikes fares
By Kumbirai Mafunda
ZIMBABWEANS seeking escape from the political and economic bondage they are
imprisoned in will have to dig deeper into their pockets as the financially
troubled national airline has once again increased airfares to international
destinations, barely two weeks after another increase in early October.
Information made available to The Standard reveals that Air Zimbabwe has
increased its fares to international destinations such as London, Johannesburg,
Mauritius and Nairobi, with effect from tomorrow. The fares were last increased
on 1 October, a fortnight ago.
The cheapest trip to London, where Zimbabweans are migrating in their
droves, cost $377 120 last week, but this figure has now rocketed to $514 170, a
36,3% increase. For a trip to Johannesburg, one now has to fork out $233 777, up
from the previous $170 977.
A trip to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, now attracts a $393 300 fee, $108
500 up from $284 800 while a traveller to Mauritius now has to pay $375 101, up
from $274 456.
Prior to the October 1 fare increase, a ticket to London went for $339 170,
to Johannesburg, $167 423, Nairobi $251 200 and Mauritius, $238 741.
Dennis Maravanyika, the airline’s general manager-marketing, confirmed the
fare increases, citing increased operational costs.
“The fare increase is due mainly to increased operating costs. For example,
the insurance premium for this year has doubled compared to last year. So the
only way we can pay these costs is by increasing our fares,” said Maravanyika.
The airline’s insurance premium has been increased by 100% from US$2
million to US$4 million due to the September 11 bombings, among other rocketing
costs.
Eighty percent of the airline’s costs, which include fuel, insurance and
landing fees, are paid in foreign currency. The shortage of foreign currency has
been crippling Air Zimbabwe’s operations ever since the setting in of the
Zimbabwe crisis. The drop in the arrival of international tourists and
international airlines has exacerbated the airline’s problems.
However, local travellers can take heart from the fact that there is to be
no increase in domestic fares.
Zimbabwe Standard
Kamativi ward winner on the run
By Cynthia Mahwite
BULAWAYO—The winning candidate of the Kamativi ward, a member of the
Movement for Democratic Change, is on the run as disgruntled Zanu PF supporters
and war veterans unleash vengeance on MDC supporters.
After a brutal campaign by the militia and the war veterans, Matthew
Ngwenya beat Misheck Moyo of Zanu PF, but was, this past week, forced to abandon
his family and home.
“Prior to the elections, the militia commanded me to leave my home and
threatened to do away with my family. "I abandoned my home on Friday morning
after being tipped off that I was to be murdered,” said Ngwenya, who is an
ex-Zanu PF councillor.
The 44-year-old councillor who fled his home last Friday has, since his
departure, been camping in the bush without food or water for fear of being
eliminated.
“To even speak about my home pains me because they have destroyed all my
property,” he said.
Ngwenya said he has been facing a backlash from Zanu PF ever since joining
the MDC. “I am currently facing trumped up charges of fraud with Zanu PF
alleging that I forged a signature for the elections.
“Their plans for getting me arrested go way back and their failure has
caused them to unleash violence on me,” Ngwenya said adding: “I will not go back
home because I have been tipped off that the war veterans have camped in my home
awaiting my return.”
MDC members of parliament took up the issue of violence with governor and
residing minister Obert Mpofu, who said there was no need for violence to be
unleashed on candidates after elections.
“Cases of violence can be accepted before elections, but after this, they
are unacceptable and the law must enforce this.
“Any such incidents of violence must and should be reported to the police
and if the police do not act upon them, then further reports should be made to
me and I will ensure that something is done,” Mpofu said.
Sources who declined to be named said terror in the Matabeleland region was
on a high as Zanu PF supporters, militia and war vets violently attacked MDC
supporters.
Ngwenya’s wife and three children have taken refugee at an undisclosed
location to escape threats from the thugs.
Zimbabwe Standard
Muzenda rises above party politics
By Parker Graham
MASVINGO—Vice President Simon Muzenda last week revealed that he was above
dirty party politics which characterise the operations of the ruling Zanu PF
party, when he told hundreds of Zanu PF supporters that the opposition MDC had a
crucial role to play in the development of the country.
While Zanu PF politicians have tried by all means to rubbish the opposition
party by referring to it as a foreign sponsored organisation bent on
destabilising the country, Muzenda showed that he was a unique Zanu PF
politician on Thursday when he openly welcomed the Masvingo MDC mayor Alois
Vhuramayi Chaimiti, at a function held in his home town.
Muzenda, second in importance to Robert Mugabe in Zanu PF, had been in
Masvingo to receive from the council, the ‘freedom of the city’ in recognition
of the sterling work he has done for the area since independence.
In a move which shocked Zanu PF faithfuls in the town, and before Zanu PF
heavyweights such as local government minister, Ignatius Chombo, and Muzenda's
colleague, Joseph Msika, who were there for the occasion, Muzenda stood up and
acknowledge the presence of the opposition MDC executive mayor.
Masvingo governor, Josaya Hungwe, who was the master of ceremonies
alongside councillor Fabian Mabaya, had introduced all the dignitaries including
the Masvingo councillors but had, not surprisingly, by-passed Chaimiti.
It is a well-known fact in the small agricultural town that the governor
who believes the MDC to be British-sponsored, does not appreciate the idea of
Chaimiti being mayor of a place like Masvingo, once the nerve centre of Zanu PF
politics before the emergence of the opposition party.
The governor also neglects to attend any meetings, be they developmental
ones, so long as they are being presided over by Chaimiti or Silas Mangono, the
MDC MP for the Masvingo Central constituency.
But as hundreds of people who thronged the Civic Centre on Thursday found
out, Muzenda bears no grudge at all against the MDC mayor who trounced the Zanu
PF candidate, Jacob Chademana.
During the run up to the election, both Muzenda and Musika descended on the
small town to campaign for Chademana, a favourite of his faction led by Hungwe.
Zanu PF party stalwarts could not believe their eyes when they saw Chaimiti
sitting close to Muzenda and worse still, being afforded the opportunity to
speak at the occasion.
The MDC mayor, who appeared very comfortable in the company of top Zanu PF
officials, praised Muzenda saying the veteran politician had been sterling in
his duties as a national leader.
Said Chaimiti: “I am proud to be the one at the helm of this council at
this time. On July 29, 2002, the council unanimously agreed to confer the
freedom of the city on him after considering his role in the development of the
city and the country.”
Muzenda thanked Chaimiti for bestowing upon him the ‘freedom of the city’
saying by doing so, he had risen above party politics.
“We should be united, whether MDC or Zanu PF, in order for the country to
develop. That’s why some of us joined the armed struggle. We need unity, peace
and stability,” he said to a round of applause from the audience, after which he
accepted wrapped gifts from the MDC mayor.
The function was attended by several Zanu PF heavyweights. A resident of
Masvingo who attended the occasion said Zimbabwe would have been a good country
had Muzenda been at the helm.
“Honestly speaking, we need a man like him to lead the country and not
Mugabe who believes that the MDC must be crushed. This is the kind of political
maturity that is critically lacking in the country,” he said.
Zimbabwe Standard
Humans and animals vie for winter crop
By Eupha Mahenga
DESPITE the tight security provided by security companies, Catties and
Cobra, the winter maize crop in the Lowveld which was expected to temporarily
ease the country's acute grain shortage, is being ravaged by both humans and
animals, security officials have said.
“The green cob is being stolen by wild pigs, monkeys and baboons, which are
very difficult to control though we have managed to kill quite a number. But now
that the early crop is being harvested, we face the problem of human theft,”
said a security official.
While the mealie meal shortage continues, and famine ravaged households
grow increasingly desperate, the Cobra and Catties security firms are working
flat out to protect the endangered crop.
“There are daily arrests of people who have stolen the crop and we have
managed to recover some of the stolen maize. These people come from Tshovani
township and the estates compounds. Some of the stolen maize is not recovered,
even when the perpetrators have been caught,” said a Cobra security official.
Speaking to some Catties security officials, it emerged that the wild
animals were more difficult to deal with than their human partners in crime who
were deterred by the armed security details.
“ People are afraid of the rifles, they don’t know that they are not meant
for them but for the animals. That’s why they don’t come in large numbers,
nevertheless nzara iri mudzimba is forcing them to steal. Animals are rather
difficult to control,” said an official.
Emily Zhuwarara a worker at the estate, told The Standard, that many
households were so hunger-stricken, they could not resist the crop.
“Honestly, we can’t blame the thieves because they are hungry, but now the
security officials are scattered everywhere and it’s difficult for anyone to set
foot near the fields.”
Some of the workers at the estate told The Standard that people were no
longer willing to be seen walking within the estate late at night as they would
be subjected to intense questioning.
COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION
Farm Invasions And Security Report
Friday 11
October 2002
This report does not purport to cover all the incidents
that are taking
place in the commercial farming areas. Communication
problems and the fear
of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting all that
happens. Farmers
names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to
minimise the risk of
reprisals.
REGIONAL
NEWS
MANICALAND
Middle Save - The MIC from Chipinge and Middle Save
and members of the Lands
Committee visited three farmers on 09.10.02. they
threatened if they
visited farms with Section 8's, the farmer would be
arrested and if they did
not sign an LA3 form they would have their existing
property removed.
Chipinge - Three farmers were evicted: one was already off
the farm working
elsewhere, one has returned to the farm after negotiations,
and the last one
is still off his farm. A large farming consortium has been
shut down and
told that they have not given enough land to land
reform.
Burma Valley - A farmer was evicted off his farm immediately on
09.10.02.
There seems to be some labour unrest.
Mutare - all appears to be
quiet.
Odzi - Two directors on a farm were told to get out of their homes but
the
farm is still operational.
Nyazura - All farmers in the area are
planting their tobacco and paprika.
Rusape - All appears to be
quiet.
Headlands - all appears to be quiet.
MASHONALAND CENTRAL
No
report received.
MASHONALAND EAST
No reports received by the Regional
office.
MASHONALAND WEST (NORTH)
Tengwe - The farmers kicked off their
land are mostly political victims.
some understanding was reached with "war
vets", settlers and the farmers,
but now army personnel are kicking off "war
vets" and settlers and taking it
over for themselves. They are also on the
severance package bandwagon and
inciting workers to get their money and
taking a percentage for themselves.
Two farmers have been unable to take off
their equipment etc from their
farms (Andy Kockott and Leith Bray). another 6
or 7 farmers were evicted but
able to take their property etc. Sungwe
Safaris is State Land and leased to
an operator, specifically for game
hunting but now the Council are
pressurizing him to give up his lease and go
via the Camp Fire route.
Council are just trying to get something for
nothing.
Doma - On Farways Farm, the owner was told to get out of his house
and he is
followed everywhere by two people who say he cannot take anything
that they
want, including the curtains in his house. Apparently the D.A.
Makonde
wants to move into his house. The farmers are pressurized to pay
packages or
pay more than they have done. many have not the money to
pay.
Nyabira - Little farming going on. Those on the farms experience
strikes
for packages but some of the labour have now seen unemployment first
hand
and don't want packages. Police indicated they would move some settlers
but
did not do so on the appointed day. In fact more and more settler
houses
are going up. Most farmers who paid packages have moved off their
farms,
those trying to stay are planting paprika. Those farmers who have
paid
have no money left to farm.
Banket - Tredar paid their guards
packages. Some have come back with
queries and the Minister is now to decide
whether the package was enough.
Whilst paying out these packages the guards
would not release any Tredar
vehicles being sold to pay for the packages.
They let down the tyres and
ransacked the Tredar offices of calculators etc.
On a near by farm settlers
demanded mealie-meal. Zanu (PF) Youth decided to
close down the grinding
mill. This unleashed a series of events with labour
beating up the youth,
with retaliatory measures by the youth, which ended up
with the labour
trouncing them once more. The Zanu (PF) youth stole the
farmer's pick-up
and 2 hand radios. The truck was delivered to the Police
station dented and
with a broken window. They also took away the farmers
keys to his grading
sheds. Main line irrigation pipes were stolen by men in a
red truck (Reg No.
492-578K ) and trailer (Reg. No. 355-492D). Doondoo Farm
reports 20 cattle
illegally slaughtered. Farmer is paying out packages and
trying to get out
his tobacco. He has been off his farm for three weeks.
Trokiadza Farm is
fully invaded by A1 settlers who have taken over the coffee
and orange
plantations. They also took over the farmers other farm so he and
his
family are left with nothing. There is on going pressure for SI6
"top-ups".
Many labourers are coming back after many years to claim a
package. One
farmer is moving off, otherwise fairly quiet. Pegging team
busy pegging a
farm which was identified for urban development. Power
struggle on going
between several "warlords."
MASHONALAND WEST
SOUTH
Selous - The owner of Umfuli Banks was forcibly evicted from his home
on
06.10.02 by an A2 settler and his staff. After meetings with the
PA
Chinhoyi, DA Chegutu and numerous phone calls to various politicians
the
Chegutu Police evicted the "new" owners on 08.10.02 from the
homestead.
MASVINGO
Mwenezi - the DA and MIC visited a number of
the farms in the western area.
Farmers were given two hours to vacate their
properties and told legal
documents were not recognised, except for Section 8
Orders. This is an
impossible task as there could be as many as 20,000 head
of cattle being
left behind. One farmer was told anything left behind would
become property
of the state. Distances are vast and complete evacuation
would take months.
All farmers with Section 8s had voluntarily presented
themselves to the
police station and had signed warned and cautioned
statements. They were all
remanded out of custody on bail. Their case is set
down for November 15. The
latest evictions are therefore in contempt of this
order.
About 44 farmers could eventually be affected. After Farmer A had won
his
case to return to the property, he was visited on 30.09.02. The
delegation
comprised of Police and District Land Committee members. he was
given until
16.00 the same day to remove all his property. A Veterinary
doctor from
Harare has been issued a plot (A2) on Farm B He joins the
notorious Mutema
brothers who already occupy two thirds of the property. At
Farm C a Beef
Master bull was found caught in a snare. One Brahman cow was
found near the
Mozambique border. It was apparently stolen and has been
driven into
Mozambique. Settlers also deliberately set alight a paddock where
they have
cattle grazing illegally and their intentions are now to move their
cattle
into owner's paddocks. Farmer D reports 200 head of cattle have been
moved
on to the property originating from as far as Umzingwane where FMD has
been
smouldering for the last 12 months.
Masvingo East and Central - After
Farmer E was forced to vacate due to the
maturing of his Section 8, vandalism
has increased on the property. Doors,
window frames, roof sheeting
approximately 250m (amounting to 12 feet
sheets) and the security fence were
removed. Two owners were instructed to
vacate their properties with
immediate affect. One farmer is in possession
of a Certificate of Occupancy
issued by the DA. The other farmer has been
instructed to report to a meeting
in order to obtain a Certificate of
Occupancy.
Gutu/Chatsworth - farmer F
reports extensive stock theft, mainly due to
almost all the fencing being
stolen. 2 Brahman bulls were shot with a rifle.
Owner had to put one bull
down and owner retrieved seven bullets from the
dead carcass. Framer G was
notified to vacate property with immediate
affect by local ZANU PF Chairman.
When he contacted the DA, DA informed
owner that he was not aware of this
move, however did disclose to the owner
that his farm was on the list of the
Land Task Force to be visited and
instructed the owner that once visited he
would be told to vacate the farm
immediately.
Chiredzi - Reports received
indicate that a Land Task Force Team comprising
Police, C.I.O, Army Officials
from the Land Committee and Presidents Office
informed Sugar Cane farmers,
managers and ranchers from Triangle /Mkwasine,
Hippo Valley, Chiredzi areas
to vacate their properties and homesteads
within 24 hours. Any resistance
shown to this instruction or any farmer
that has overstayed his time would be
arrested. Information to hand
indicates 72 families comprising of Sugar Cane
farmers, managers and
ranchers have been affected. At this stage it only
pertains to Section 8
Orders that have matured. It is also very clear that
there is no regard what
so ever about the legal status of the Section 8 i.e.
withdrawn on
technicalities etc. One owners homestead keys have been taken
away and there
is mounting pressure on the remaining farmers to hand in
homestead keys.
General Comments - It is clear and acknowledged by the local
authorities
that despite any arrangements or agreements made on local level
that these
arrangements have been overruled by the National Task Force Team
in Harare
and that everybody who has received a Section 8 Order must comply
with the
instruction to vacate with immediate affect.
Save Conservancy -
Ongoing poaching and snaring occurring.
MIDLANDS
No report
received
MATABELELAND
-Sitrep from Matabeleland as of 07 October
02
Nyamandlovu - five farmers were given 36 hours to vacate their farm and
the
police have left a police detail at their gates and taken the keys.
They
have also told their workers that they must be paid and leave the
farm.
Farmer A had his keys taken from him and the MIC gave them to a driver
of a
Peugeot 404 that happened to go past at the time, which registration
number
was noted. Farmer B was given notice on 02/10/02 and told to move off
by
1000 hrs on 03/10/01. Farmer C and Farmer D were given 24 hours to
vacate.
As of darkness 02/10/02 the MIC of Nyamandlovu went around to make
sure
everyone moved off. He stated that anything left behind was now
the
property of the state and will go into the lost and found and be
auctioned
off.
02/10/02
The farmers went with their solicitor to the
Nyamandlovu police station this
morning and the MIC and Mr Sibanda refused to
speak to the Solicitor and got
in their vehicle and left. That afternoon at
Farmer E's homestead the "war
vets"/settlers got into the workshop area and
took the game scouts handcuffs
and pepper sprays off them, then proceeded to
search the scouts homes for
weapons. The scouts are not allowed back in the
fenced area. This is where
their houses are, so they have nowhere to sleep
tonight. The staff were told
not to go to work tomorrow and to collect their
pay and leave. Farmer A does
not have a section 5 or 8 but the MIC is
threatening to arrest him at 12h00
if he is still on the property.
Four
game scouts at Farmer E were locked up last night without food or
water.
"war vets" took a radio off one of the pump attendants (hand held).
They were
looking for two staff members, as they had gone to the village to
phone the
farmer. The "war vets" beat up a 65 year old, demanding his
radio. The
farmer phoned the police, but they don't have transport and said
the victim
had to go to the police station, a 25 km walk. There is no way
of contacting
him as the farmer cannot return to the farm , even to collect
his pets. That
evening the same game scouts were escorted to the main road
and told to go to
the foreign office. At Farm C, eight workers were held
hostage (and one
vehicle) by "war vets" when the workers went to dismantle
the aerials. They
won't let them out until the keys for the house are
handed over. Farmer F
had the Lands committee at the gate telling the
workers to stop working.
"war vets" demanded the dogs be removed, and had
them driven out to the main
road. Two "war vets" (about 30 years old) moved
into the main house that
evening.
4/10/01
At Farmer E, one of the woman settlers pleaded with the
other "war vets"
/settlers to allow the maid into the yard to feed the dogs.
They finally
agreed on this and the dogs were feed this morning. This
afternoon the SPCA
was able to get the dogs off the property.
Matobo -
three farmers were phoned by the police on 30/09/02 and told to
vacate their
farms by 1600 hrs on 01/10/02.
West Nicholson - one farmer was given 48 hours
to vacate, another 24 hours
to vacate and two others threatened with
eviction.
Mwenezi - a farmer was told to vacate
Beitbridge - on 01.10.02,
a farmer was given 5 minutes to vacate. Another
farmer Ian Ferguson had
police arrived at 1730 hrs and tell him to leave by
1600 on the same day!!
The same happened with another farmer, where police
arrived at 1830 hrs and
told him to leave the farm by 1600 hrs.
Figtree - two farmers were phoned by
the police on 30/09/02 and told to
vacate their farms by 4pm on 01/10/02
Shangani - a woman farmer (late 60's)
was arrested, appeared in Gwanda court
2/10/02 and released, no bail, no
conditions. She was arrested for
contravening a Section 8, which is in her
mother's name, who died 14 years
ago. It turns out that this property
does not have a section 8, but the
police at the time of the arrest were
insistent it did. Her back is bruised
from all the rough driving on dirt
roads in an open land rover. She is also
very badly sunburnt. There were
three male police officers in the front and
the farmer and a policewoman in
the back. She has arthritis and a heart
condition.
aisd1@cfu.co.zw Visit
the CFU Website www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
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Unless
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Daily News
Evicted farm workers sleeping in the open
10/15/02 10:03:27 AM (GMT +2)
From Chris Gande in
Bulawayo
MORE than 180 families whose houses were burnt down by war
veterans
and Zanu PF supporters at Tshonalanga Farm in Esigodini two weeks
ago, are
still sleeping in the open by the roadside.
The
workers' compound was razed to the ground apparently to force the
farmer,
James Noel Buchan, off his property.
The workers alleged the police
refused to intervene as the group of
war veterans, transported to the
compound in a Zanu PF truck, set their
homes on fire.
"When the
war veterans first came to give us two hours to vacate the
compound, we
reported to the police but they said we were the problem," said
Manu Sibanda,
a worker.
They said the veterans led by a former dissident known as
Gayigusu,
armed with pistols and AK 47 rifles, torched their grass-thatched
huts.
The Red Cross Society, World Food Programme and some
commercial
farmers, gave them blankets and food.
The more than 1
000 people, who include pregnant women and children,
some of them as young as
two months old, are sleeping outside Zeedeberg
Garage, a few metres from the
Bulawayo-Gwanda road.
The former farm workers said they were
waiting for their terminal
benefits from Buchan so they could travel back to
their original homes.
"I was born at the farm and I know of no
other home," said one of the
former workers. "We are so deeply hurt that if
we could get guns we could
fight these evil people."
Buchan, who
eventually moved out of the farm on Saturday, was forced
to abandon an $80
million flower crop.
He also produced vegetables and
fruits.
"I don't know where I will be going to because this was my
only farm
which I bought about 40 years ago," he said.
The farm,
which had initially been under a Section 8 notice, was given
a respite by the
courts.
This did not deter the war veterans from evicting the
farmer and
torching the workers' homes.
Nomalanga Khumalo, the
MP for Umzingwane constituency said the arson
was shocking because it was
perpetrated by black people against other
blacks.
"What pains me
most is that all these people are suffering because all
they want is for one
person to take over the farm," she said.
She said if the government
was serious about land reform, then it
should take into account the plight of
the farm workers.
A senior Zanu PF official has already taken over
the farm and is
staying in the farmhouse.
Daily News
War vet says politicians should not use youths to attack
media
10/15/02 9:53:55 AM (GMT +2)
By Precious
Shumba
ENDY Mhlanga, the secretary-general of the war veterans'
association,
at the weekend urged politicians to stop using youths to attack
journalists
and ban the sale of privately-owned newspapers.
In an interview, Mhlanga said politicians should urge unemployed
youths to
understand the difference between politics and business.
Mhlanga
said the behaviour of politicians in some areas was shameful
and showed their
ignorance of the differences between newspapers and
politics.
"Newspapers should understand the ban on the sale of their papers in
some
areas is political," he said.
"In Zimbabwe, it is tricky for a
reporter from The Daily News to go to
a Zanu PF rally where the youths have
been indoctrinated. The same goes for
a reporter from The Herald going to an
MDC rally."
Mhlanga said the newspaper business was the same as the
operation of a
bottle store where customers were not restricted to one
political party or
social group.
He said: "Violence should not
be allowed to continue in the country.
When will people work for development?
Businesses should be left to run
uninterrupted. People were given land and
they should work to improve their
lives."
Mhlanga said this was
now the time for "politics of the stomach".
People needed food and improved
standards of living. Commenting on the land
audit the war veterans were
carrying out, Mhlanga said their provincial
field officers (PFOs) were
compiling a list of the beneficiaries of the
government's land resettlement
programme.
He said the PFOs were war veterans in the provincial
land committees,
working for the government.
Mhlanga said after
the audit, they would carry out physical checks and
submit their findings to
President Mugabe, the patron of the association.
He said the audit
was different from the one conducted by the
government's National Task Force
on Land.
Meanwhile, Mhlanga said their national executive meeting,
scheduled
for Friday last week at their national headquarters in Harare, had
been
postponed to next Saturday because a number of national executive
members
were also members of the Zanu PF central committee, which met on
Friday.
Daily News
MDC, be part of people's struggles
10/15/02
9:48:40 AM (GMT +2)
THE debate and continued outbursts on
the unchecked deterioration of
the political and economic situation in
Zimbabwe has for a long time been
fashioned by focusing on President Mugabe
and his Zanu PF government with
little, if any, effort to look at the broader
picture of the Zimbabwean
political realities.
Over the past
three years, Zimbabwe has regressed from what used to be
a symbol worthy of
emulation to one of regret and contempt.
In a country where loyalty
to the ruling elite brings greater rewards
than honesty and professionalism,
the economic freefall continues with no
hope in sight for stabilisation or
reversal.
The politically well positioned continue to plunder the
national
coffers with impunity. The government is, in all respects,
perpetuating
rather than extenuating the very class contradictions they so
chant
eloquently to be redressing.
Political power means nothing
to those in government than a tool to
transform and consolidate their
undeserved expropriation of public funds and
property.
To sustain
all this, the government has passed laws that give it
extraordinary powers
over life and property. This, in turn, translates into
virtual direct control
over the political behaviour of the entire
population. This manifests itself
quite commonly through the arbitrary
arrests of anyone perceived to be a
political opponent; denial of freedom of
movement, expression, speech, and
conscience. In essence, Zimbabweans have
been reduced to the economic level
of beggars and the political level of
convicts.
Mugabe's sudden
conversion into a champion of the dispossessed has
been just another cynical
manipulation of the masses to regain lost credit
and prolong his
rule.
It is a mere ploy to conceal from the masses at home and
abroad his
real record: 22 years as a faithful functionary of capitalism,
working with
imperialist economic domination. The issue of land which proved
his last
lifeline, though real, is just a part of a bigger class problem that
has
been abused to conceal self-serving neo-liberal policies like
rampant
privatisation of State companies into the hands of ruling party
cronies and
other faithfuls and the sustained evolution of an equally
ruthless black
bourgeoisie class.
But faced with this scenario,
the political alternative remains
suspicious. The MDC seems to fail to take
advantage of the opportunities
created for it by the excesses of a
shamelessly corrupt government. The MDC,
as it stands today, is a far cry
from the party that was greeted with
euphoric fervour three years back
when it was formed as the first
major force for political change in
Zimbabwe.
Its parliamentary presence is not the powerful and
effective lobby
that one would expect given the party's array of young,
seemingly
progressive and articulate MPs. Its absence from the daily
struggles of the
people is equally shocking. The party has never made any
formal presence in
any protest or demonstration carried out by the civil
society movements.
Mugabe ruthlessly exploited the impression that
the MDC leadership is
in the pockets of the white farmers and British
imperialism.
Yet six months after the presidential election, the
MDC leadership,
despite all indications from all social forces on the ground
against seeking
legal recourse for its stolen victory, remains ignorant to
the fact that the
law in Zimbabwe was turned into a vital instrument for the
maintaining in
power of this tyrannical government whose usefulness has long
since been
exhausted.
The party leadership seems not to see that
they are dealing with a
government which set up laws to break all the other
laws of the country in
order to maintain its hold of power.
Change in Zimbabwe cannot be achieved under the current laws. There is
an
effective legislative system which denies anyone from unseating
the
government through constitutional means and, hence, the
apparent
hopelessness of a smooth political transition in
Zimbabwe.
The struggle for political and social justice in Zimbabwe
demands the
serious leadership of the opposition and civil society to make
sacrifices
and mobilise for a different style of struggle with a core in a
convinced
mass movement. There was never any substantive social revolution
the world
over that was won through half-hearted diplomacy.
The
MDC must realise that no political institution can have an appeal
to
different classes, especially where society is shaken by social
convulsions
unless it is, as in its case, full of ambiguities. Its failure
as a
labour-based party to draw the working people of Zimbabwe into
political
activity in their own interest as initiators of social and
political change
bears testimony that such ideological hypocrisy cannot help
it end the misery
of the Zimbabwean workers and peasants.
Zimbabwean masses may be
patient, but not without a cause.
Tapera Kapuya
University
of Natal
Durban
Daily News
Tobacco earnings tumble
10/15/02 10:17:01
AM (GMT +2)
By Tendayi Nyakunu Business Editor
Zimbabwe's foreign currency crisis is set to worsen following a 75
percent
decline in tobacco exports.
Tobacco contributes 31 percent to
the country's foreign currency
earnings, but the figure is set to drop
because of the massive disruption of
farming activities as a result of the
government-sanctioned land reform
exercise.
An overview of the
flue-cured tobacco industry presented to the
Parliamentary Committee on
Agriculture by the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association
(ZTA) last week, forecast
that earnings from tobacco exports would drop from
US$400 million (Z$22
billion) in 2000 to US$105 million next year.
The decline means the
country will experience more difficulties in
obtaining foreign exchange to
import most of its fuel. About US$600 million
is
required for fuel
imports every year.
"Handled properly, tobacco exports could easily
pay for the country's
fuel needs," a spokesman for the ZTA said.Out of 1 750
large-scale tobacco
farmers in 2000, more than 1 350 were forced to leave,
throwing more than
300 000 people out of work since the chaotic and often
violent farm
invasions started in February 2000, following the massive
rejection of the
government-sponsored Draft Constitution.
Before
the land invasions, large-scale tobacco farmers employed more
than 500 000
people.
Only 400 large-scale growers are still actively farming and
are
expected to produce 35 million kg of flue-cured tobacco next year,
while
indigenous new tobacco farmers are expected to produce a mere 10
million kg.
Small-scale growers are expected to produce 25 million kg,
bringing the
total to about 70 million kg for the whole country - down from
165 million
kg this year.
Figures compiled by the ZTA indicate
that tobacco earns 31 percent of
the country's foreign currency yet uses only
3 percent of the arable land.
Tobacco is grown in poor, sandy loams
and the farmers produce 82
percent of the country's horticulture, another
major foreign currency
earner.
The tobacco industry is the
largest employer in the country, as
farming tends to be labour-intensive,
giving it the best potential for
poverty alleviation.
The
potential for the tobacco market is "very encouraging". According
to figures
produced by the world's largest tobacco buyer, Universal Leaf
Tobacco
Corporation (ULTC), the world's cigarette production increased last
year to
an estimated 5 643 billion sticks, up 1,3 percent from the 2000
level, which
in turn was 1,3 percent up on 1999 levels.
Zimbabwe is the world's
second largest tobacco producer, contributing
20 percent, after Brazil which
produces 28 percent of the international
market's needs.
ULTC
said: "The size of Zimbabwe's crop is once again the biggest
uncertainty in
the upcoming leaf production cycle. The government's
continuing land
acquisition and redistribution programme has resulted in
decreased plantings
in each of the past two crops, with a sharply lower crop
size in 2002. A
further decline is forecast in 2003, with a crop size of
only 80 million kg
expected."
The world's largest buyer warns that if Zimbabwe's crop
size continues
to decline, "Brazil is certainly capable of continuing to
increase plantings
and
producing an even larger, higher quality
crop, at very attractive
prices".
The ULTC says: "In fact, Brazil is
currently projected to produce a
record crop of 576 million kg in 2003, a
level believed to be conservative."
While Brazil is expected to
increase earnings from tobacco exports,
Zimbabwe's output is likely to suffer
a significant decline from more than
200 million kg
in 1999 to less
than 50 million kg next year.
China, the world's third largest
producer of tobacco, will export more
than 150 million kg, from 50 million kg
in 1999.
The United States of America, which was the third largest
producer
after Brazil and Zimbabwe respectively, experienced a sharp decline
in
production from 150 million kg in 1999 to 50 million kg this
year.
India has maintained a steady export level of about 50
million kg from
1998 to date.
Brazil, which overtook Zimbabwe in
1998,started by producing four
million kg in 1964, when Zimbabwe had already
reached the 100 million kg
mark.
The ZTA says in order for the
tobacco industry to remain viable, it
needs foreign currency accounts or a
competitive pre-planting support price
commitment, finance without
collateral, flexible marketing for buyer
financing, infrastructure,
expertise, experience and land for single-farm
growers who have offered
subdivisions on their properties.
The ZTA proposed that tobacco
producers be allowed to establish a
monitored direct marketing facility to
buyers, in order to fund growers'
production costs.
They also
proposed there should be a national budget support price
announced together
with the National Budget and an increase in the selling
price from $99 to
$350 a kg, on top of the official exchange rate.
The ZTA urged the
government to accept subdivision and allow
single-farm owners to produce the
crop. They would buy unutilised local
tractors and equipment before importing
and use the foreign currency saved
to buy more agricultural inputs.
Crisis in Zim tobacco industryNews24
Crisis in Zim tobacco
industry
Harare - Nearly three years of rural instability has badly
damaged
Zimbabwe's crucial tobacco harvest, with the country likely to sell
only a
fraction of the tobacco it did in 2000, producers said on
Tuesday.
The plunge in sales of tobacco, the nation's top hard currency
earner, will
further damage an already withering economy suffering from
runaway inflation
and unemployment of nearly 60%.
Net earnings from
tobacco were likely to drop from US$400m in 2000, before
the government began
its programme to seize white-owned commercial farms, to
US$105m next year,
said Oliver Gawe, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe
Tobacco
Association.
Tobacco traditionally accounts for more than 30% of
the country's hard
currency earnings, vital for purchasing fuel and corn
needed to stave off a
hunger crisis that threatens more than half the
nation's population.
In a paper presented to Parliament last week, Gawe said
that "handled
properly, tobacco exports could easily pay for the country's
fuel needs."
But the government's controversial land redistribution programme
was badly
damaging the industry, he said. The government was evicting nearly
5 000
white families from commercial farms so the land could be redistributed
to
hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans.
Those former commercial
farms would produce only 10 million kilograms of
Virginia flue-cured tobacco
next year, compared to 150 million kilograms in
2000, Gawe said.
Over 6
000 small-scale farmers produced 25 million kilograms this season,
relying
heavily on large-scale commercial growers for assistance with
seedlings and
curing, he said.
Gawe rejected government claims that the 300 000 black
Zimbabweans to be
resettled on the land could speedily restore production
levels.
"From our experience dealing with smallholder farmers, it takes five
to six
seasons for a farmer to master the crop and get the quality right," he
said.
Politics
President Robert Mugabe has said his land reform programme
was an effort to
correct colonial imbalances that left a handful of whites
with one-third of
the nation's farmland.
Human rights workers, opposition
officials and foreign diplomats say Mugabe
has used the land issue as an
excuse to wage a violent political war against
the opposition and shore up
his plummeting popularity amid the economic
crisis.
The private Daily News
newspaper reported on Tuesday 180 families of black
farm workers were forced
to sleep outside near the city of Bulawayo, after
ruling party militants
evicted them from the flower farm where they had
worked.
Rights groups say
more than 100 000 former farm workers and their families
are battling
homelessness and unemployment. Less than 10% of the workers,
many of whom
were opposition supporters, received plots of land under the
redistribution
program, rights workers said.
Meanwhile, white commercial farmer Roy Bennett
and a Zimbabwean-born British
citizen, Stewart Girvin, were to appear in
court on Tuesday in the remote
rural town of Chimanimani on charges they
videotaped Mugabe voters being
given corn during recent local
elections.
Bennett, an opposition legislator, and Girvin could be charged
either with
violating election laws by entering the vicinity of polling
stations without
official permission, or with working as journalists without
accreditation,
police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said.
Also, a sporadic
strike by some of the nation's 80 000 teachers continued
Tuesday despite the
government's dismissal of 627 striking teachers on
Monday and the arrest last
week of union leader, Raymond Majongwe.
Majongwe, released on bail, faces up
to 10 years in jail on charges he
organised an illegal labour action.
-Sapa-AP
Fuel for Zimbabwe Stuck At Beira Port
Agencia de
Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
October 15, 2002
Posted to the web
October 15, 2002
Maputo
The Mozambican subsidiary of the oil
company BP is preventing a Libyan
tanker from discharging fuel for Zimbabwe
at the port of Beira, because of
unpaid Zimbabwean debts, reports Tuesday's
issue of the independent newsheet
"Mediafax", citing the Harare "Financial
Gazette".
The National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) owes about three
million US
dollars to BP-Mozambique, and so BP has decided that oil for
Zimbabwe cannot
use its facilities.
According to the "Financial
Gazette", the Libyan tanker has been docked at
Beira for the past two weeks,
but BP-Mozambique will not allow the fuel to
be discharged into its tanks.
The oil pipeline from Beira to Zimbabwe is
owned by NOCZIM and the
British-based multinational Lonrho. But before the
fuel can be pumped into
the pipeline, it must first be stored in the BP
tanks.
NOCZIM has also
run into problems over its debts to the Mozambican rail and
port company,
CFM. NOCZIM had run up a large debt to CFM for the use of the
Beira fuel
terminal.
It was obliged to pay part of this debt (two million dollars)
under threat
that otherwise CFM would deny it continued use of the port
facilities. But,
according to an anonymous source cited by "Mediafax". NOCZIM
still owes CFM
about 700,000 dollars.
"Mediafax" attempted to obtain a
comment from the general manager of
BP-Mozambique, Antonio Macamo, but
without success.
The "Financial Gazette" fears that, unless the dispute
between NOCZIM and
BP-Mozambique is rapidly resolved, Zimbabwe could be
facing serious fuel
shortages in the near future.
About 70 per cent of
Zimbabwe's fuel needs are met by the Libyan company,
Tamoil, and enter the
country via Mozambique. The other 30 per cent come
from the Independent
Petroleum Group, of Kuwait, and are transported via
South Africa.
Daily News
Food crisis set to continue next year, warns Sadc
unit
10/15/02 9:16:46 AM (GMT +2)
By Takaitei Bote
Farming Editor
ZIMBABWE will continue scrounging for food next
year, because winter
crop production this year and the harvest in the coming
season will fall
short of the country's requirements, the Southern African
Development
Community (Sadc) Regional Early Warning Unit (REWU) has
warned.
Zimbabwe faces a food crisis because of poor rains in
the past two
years and a reduction in planting in the commercial farming
sector as a
result of the so-called fast-track land reform
programme.
A disastrous food crisis is threatening more than six
million people,
or half the population of Zimbabwe, due to a much reduced
2001/2002 cereal
harvest projected at only 759 000 tonnes, 61 percent down on
last year's
overall cereal production of 1,94 million tonnes.
REWU said in its latest Food Security Bulletin that winter maize and
wheat
crops produced this year would not be able to meet the country's
annual
requirements.
REWU said final output projections for the 2002
suggest an eventual
maize harvest of 509 000 tonnes, taking irrigated and
winter maize into
account, which is only 34 percent of last year's
production.
Zimbabwe needs about two million tonnes of maize for
domestic
consumption every year.
Most of the the 509 000 tonnes
of cereal produced this year has
already been consumed.
Production of sorghum and millet, alternative crops when the maize
crop
fails, declined by 64 percent to 37 000 tonnes this year, the
REWU
said.
It said indications were that 50 000 hectares have
been put under
winter wheat from which a harvest of 213 000 tonnes is
anticipated.
The 213 000 tonnes will not be enough to feed the
nation which
requires about 400 000 tonnes for next year.
The
country also needs to import about 20 percent of wheat used to
make flour for
gristing purposes.
Zimbabwe is facing serious foreign currency
shortages.
The Sadc unit said: "Cereal supply for the 2002/2003
marketing year is
reflecting much reduced production and with the
insignificant opening stock
position, the food security position for the
marketing year has assumed
famine proportions.
"Current
projections indicate a maize deficit of 1,98 million tonnes
for the 2002/2003
marketing year, inclusive of the 500 000 tonnes minimum
strategic grain
reserve needed."
While the State monopoly Grain Marketing Board and
United Nations'
World Food Programme have since February this year imported
food, the supply
situation remains critical.
According to REWU,
planned imports as of August stood at 1,29 million
tonnes and they still
leave an import gap of about 1,06 million tonnes for
which more food aid
pledges were required.
Daily News
Wedza man charged with malicious injury to
property
10/15/02 9:55:53 AM (GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
WILLIAS Murozonga, the national co-ordinator of the
recently-formed
Zimbabwe
Election Victims' Association (Zimeva) last
week appeared before a
Wedza magistrates' court on charges of malicious
injury to property.
Murozonga, 27, had initially been charged
under the Public Order and
Security Act but the State changed the charge when
he appeared in court. No
reasons were given for the change.
The
State alleged that Murozonga was responsible for the
spray-painting of roads
and shops with MDC slogans in the run-up to the
March presidential
election.
However, Murozonga said Wedza police had slapped him with
the charges
after he was tortured and nearly killed by Zanu PF activists
earlier in the
year.
"These people shot me in the left leg using a
police service firearm
whose number I have. If they had had their way, I
would be long dead but now
I am being dragged before the courts on
trumped-up charges," he said.
Murozonga alleged that six Zanu PF youths
and a policeman apprehended
him on 25 February and searched him.
When they found him with an MDC party card, they allegedly assaulted
him
before force-marching him to the home of a colleague, John Mukondiwa.
Mukondiwa came out with an axe and in the mayhem that ensued as he
tried to
escape, Murozonga said he was shot in the leg.
"They took me to a
Zanu PF base in the area and tortured me. One of
them said it was time to
kill me but I screamed for help and as it was
getting light outside, they
panicked," Murozonga said.
Daily News
Tsvangirai promises stern action on errant MDC leaders
in Manicaland
10/15/02 9:50:10 AM (GMT +2)
From
Brian Mangwende in Mutare
MORGAN Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, has
called for a probe of the party
's Manicaland executive members and promised
stern disciplinary measures
against them if allegations of factionalism are
substantiated.
Tsvangirai's action comes in the wake of The
Daily's News report on
Saturday in which allegations of financial
mismanagement, corruption and
factionalism were levelled against some
executive members of the opposition
party in the province.
"I am
aware of the tension in that province," he said. "I have called
for an
investigation into the whole affair and if there is any substance, we
will
definitely deal with it. The provincial executive must work as a
team.
"We can't tolerate indiscipline at the expense of our party's
goals."
MDC insiders alleged that two factions have emerged, one led
by
Timothy Mubhawu, the provincial chairman and the other by Proper
Mutseyami,
his deputy.
Sources said at a meeting held on 7
September at the MDC's provincial
party headquarters, daggers were drawn over
the manner in which money was
being disbursed.
The meeting
reportedly also questioned the competence of Innocent
Gonese, the MP for
Mutare Central, as a lawyer, resulting in most court
cases involving MDC
members being referred to another lawyer, Arnold Tsunga.
Gonese,
the MDC's chief whip, dismissed the allegation as "a fertile
imagination on
the part of your source".
He said: "The question of my competence
never arose at the meeting. It
is the fertile imagination on the part of your
source. I am a member of the
national executive and sit on the MDC's legal
committee which decides which
lawyers to use on our cases.
"Tsunga and I are very close friends and at times we refer cases to
each
other."
On the issue of divisions Gonese said he was a member of the
national
executive and was not willing to speak on provincial
matters.
Daily News
Five injured as armed soldiers raid
beerhall
10/15/02 10:13:27 AM (GMT +2)
From Our
Correspondent in Masvingo
At least five people were injured, one of
them seriously, on Saturday
night when heavily armed soldiers raided
Chigarapasi Beerhall in Chiredzi
and assaulted patrons they accused of
supporting the MDC.
Obvious Chisina, the MDC chairperson for
Ward 3, was left for dead
after the attack.
Yesterday, he was
reported to be battling for his life at Chiredzi
General Hospital after
sustaining injuries all over his body.
Police in Chiredzi yesterday
confirmed the incident and said
investigations were in progress.
Masvingo police spokesman, Inspector Learn Ncube, yesterday said he
would
comment only after receiving a full report from his counterparts
in
Chiredzi.
About 12 soldiers armed with AK 47 rifles descended on
the beerhall
after one of them, reportedly offduty, was involved in a
misunderstanding
with one patron.
The soldiers accused Chisina of
preaching opposition politics to the
people.
Leading the terror
campaign was a soldier identified by patrons only
as Lieutenant Ncube, who
accused the patrons of being the "sons"
of MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Members of the public, who were watching as the
soldiers battered
Chisina, later stoned the soldiers.
The
incident turned into a free-for-all as members of the public tried
in vain to
restrain the rowdy soldiers from assaulting more
innocent
civilians.
As they sensed the danger of mob violence,
the soldiers threatened to
shoot everyone in the beerhall.
The
threats sent the patrons scurrying for cover while others took to
their
heels. A number of people were injured in the melee.
MDC provincial
chairman, Edmore Marima, said yesterday his party would
come up with ways of
assisting the victims of the violence.