http://www.zimonline.co.za
by
Patricia Mpofu Thursday 01 October 2009
HARARE - Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday denied state media
reports that the
Council of Ministers has endorsed Zimbabwe's pull out from
the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal.
State media reported on
Wednesday that the Tsvangira-chaired Council, which
met in Harare last week,
reached a consensus that Harare should pull out of
the SADC Tribunal which
in recent months has passed judgments on farm
seizures not favourable to
President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF.
But Tsvangirai yesterday, through
his spokesman James Maridadi, rubbished
the reports, saying Zimbabwe
remained fully bound by its international
commitments.
"Prime
Minister Tsvangirai categorically dismisses reports that the Council
of
Ministers meeting of 24 September, 2009 chaired by Head of Government
Right
Honourable Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai endorsed Zimbabwe's pull
out
from the SADC Tribunal," said Maridadi.
"The fact of the matter is that
the issue was discussed and it was agreed
that further discussions will take
place in Cabinet," he said.
The PM's spokesman added that when a position
is finally arrived at on the
SADC Tribunal, the responsible minister - Eric
Matinenga, in charge of the
Constitutional and Parliamentary Reform
portfolio - would make an
appropriate announcement.
"The Prime
Minister has reiterated that no single minister has the mandate
to make a
unilateral pronouncement and that Zimbabwe remained bound by all
its
international commitments, treaties and protocols," he said.
Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa in August wrote to the Windhoek-based
SADC
Tribunal informing the regional court of Harare's decision to withdraw
from
cases brought against the government by former white farmers who lost
their
properties during Mugabe's controversial land reform programme.
The
government lost the case with the Tribunal declaring the chaotic and
often
violent land reform programme discriminatory, racist and illegal under
the
SADC Treaty.
But Chinamasa informed the Tribunal that Harare would
recognise its
authority only after a protocol establishing the court was
ratified by at
least two-thirds of the 15-nation bloc's members as is
required under rules
and procedures governing the regional grouping. -
ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own
Correspondent Thursday 01 October 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's controversial fast track land
reform programme has
resulted in 30 percent drop in the country's
agricultural production, the
World Bank has said.
According to a report entitled "Input and Output
Market for Smallholder
Farmers in Zimbabwe" released by the World Bank at a
two-day agriculture
stakeholders conference that began in Harare on
Wednesday, the southern
African country's agricultural production has been
declining since the late
1990s.
"Agricultural production in Zimbabwe
has been on a decline since late 1990s,
but the decline accelerated
following the implementation of fast-track land
redistribution in 2000,
which among other factors has resulted in a
cumulative decline in overall
agricultural production of about 30 percent
since then," the World Bank
said.
The agriculture stakeholders conference that is bankrolled by the
Zimbabwe
Multi-Donor Trust Fund - a World Bank created fund - is meant to
review the
status of the country's agriculture and come up with a recovery
strategy for
the sector that used to be the nation's economic mainstay
before government
embarked on a chaotic land reform
programme.
"Zimbabwe has moved from being a food surplus (and in some
years an
exporting nation) to a food deficit and importing country, with up
to a
third of the population depending on food aid," said the World
Bank.
The report said as a result of the fast-track land reforms, the
smallholder
sector now comprises of 1.1 million communal farmers and 72 000
old
resettlement area farmers, 141 000 A1 for a total of 1.3 million farmers
on
close to 26 million hectares.
"Prior to the land reforms this
sector of farming community supplied the
bulk of the food consumed in the
country."
Mugabe's chaotic and often violent land reforms that he says
were necessary
to correct a colonial land ownership system that reserved the
best land for
whites and banished blacks to poor soils, are blamed for
plunging Zimbabwe
into food shortages after he failed to support black
villagers resettled on
former white farms with inputs to maintain
production.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who formed a power-sharing
government with
Mugabe following disputed elections last year, has called
for an audit to
establish who owns which land in Zimbabwe before an orderly
land reform
programme can be implemented but Mugabe has in the past accused
the MDC
leader of wishing to return land to former white
owners.
Critics say Mugabe's cronies - and not ordinary peasants -
benefited the
most from farm seizures with some of them ending up with as
many as six
farms each against the government's stated one-man-one-farm
policy.
Meanwhile a report prepared for the conference by the government
and donors
said yesterday Zimbabwe has paid compensation for only about 3
percent of
the 6 500 white-owned farms it has seized.
"Only 203 farms
out of the gazetted 6 571 farms have to date been
compensated," said the
report.
But farmers say even these payments are way below market
rates.
Mugabe has maintained that he will only compensate farmers for
developments
on the land such as dams and farm buildings and not for land
because the
land was stolen from blacks in the first place. - ZimOnline
http://www.herald.co.zw
Thursday,
October 01, 2009
Court
Reporter
Former owner of Lawrencedale Farm in Headlands Mr Charles Ingram
Lock, who
is embroiled in an acrimonious land row with army
Brigadier-General Justin
Mujaji, has been allowed access and control over
his movable property at the
farm and to harvest his crops.
Granting
Lock's application to have access to his property and to harvest
his crops,
High Court judge Justice Bharat Patel said Mr Lock should freely
remove all
his goods from the farm.
Justice Patel gave the order following a
successful application by Advocate
Thabani Mpofu.
Lock left the farm
end of last year after Brig-Gen Mujaji moved in on the
strength of an offer
letter.
Lock, however, claimed that he was not given time to remove his
property and
to take his produce to the market.
Justice Patel ordered
Brig-Gen Mujaji not to interfere with Lock as he
removes his property from
the premises.
"It is ordered that the applicant has full and unfettered
right to access to
and control over his movable assets, including crops on
subdivision 4 and 5
of the remaining extent of Lawrencedale 5 situated in
Headlands.
"Such right includes the right to harvest, grade, pack and
case all reaped
tobacco and maize as described in paragraph 13 of
applicant's founding
affidavit. The applicant has full and unfettered right
to remove all and any
of the aforesaid goods, as well as any other movable
assets, including his
equipment and fittings in the tobacco barns, cattle
handling facilities,
household and personal effects.
"The first
respondent (Brig-Gen Mujaji) shall forthwith stop interfering
with the
exercise of control by the applicant of the goods referred to in
the above
paragraphs, including the movement of such goods," he ruled.
Justice
Patel ordered police to assist the Sheriff or Deputy Sheriff in
enforcing
the order.
Though Lock left the farm last year, he has maintained his
presence at the
farm through his supervisor and some workers.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Radio VOP
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 11:49
HARARE - A Zimbabwe National Army
Brigadier has ignored a court order
to allow Headlands farmer, Charles Lock
access to his USD700 000 tobacco and
maize crop.
Lock told
Radio VOP at the weekend that Brigadier General Justin Itayi
Mujaji had
threatened to gun him down if he enters the farm despite a court
on order on
Thursday granting him an application to access his crop.
Soldiers
deployed at Karori farm by Mujaji, barred Lock from getting
on to the farm
in full view of the police.
"Armed soldiers barred me from entering the
farm when I went there on
Friday after the High Court ruling," said Lock,
whose case mirrors the
situation of thousands other commercial farmers who
have been illegally and
violently driven off their farms by top government
and security chiefs.
High Court judge Bharat Patel ordered the police
to assist the Sheriff
or Deputy Sheriff to ensure that Lock is able to
access and control all his
movable assets, including crops on the farm in
Headlands, Manicaland.
The ruling follows an application by Lock to the
High Court seeking an
order to bar Mujaji, from interfering with the control
of the farmer's
goods.
"The applicant (Lock) has full and
unfettered right to remove all and
any of the goods, as well as any other
move able assets, including his
equipment and fittings in the tobacco barns,
cattle handling facilities,
household and personal effects, from the land
referred to above," ruled
Justice Patel. "This order shall remain in
operation notwithstanding the
noting of an appeal against it. The costs of
this application shall be paid
by the first respondent (Mujaji) on an
attorney-client scale."
Lock wanted the court to force the army general
to allow him to move
about 150 tonnes of tobacco, grown under contract and
financed by
international tobacco companies to auction floors. The farmer
had also asked
the court for an order to allow him to move about 500 tonnes
of maize to
buyers such as the Grain Marketing Board.
Lock's court
challenge is one of many by white commercial farmers.
Before this latest
High Court order, lock had obtained two eviction orders
against Mujaji both
of which had been ignored.
Mujaji's action mirrors the lawlessness on
the farms and disregard of
the law by security officers, most of whom are
staunch supporters of
president Robert Mugabe.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Thursday
01 October 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe faces more food shortages
next year because of a cash
crunch that the World Bank and farmers groups
said Wednesday could cripple
the new cropping season -- just weeks away --
because growers are unable to
buy seed and other inputs.
Harare's
decision to abandon the inflation-wrecked Zimbabwe dollar for the
American
dollar and the South African rand that helped stablise the economy
has had a
damaging impact on farming, with farmers unable to raise hard cash
to buy
input, while banks were only able to provide a paltry 20 percent of
funding
required by farmers, according to the World Bank.
In a paper submitted at
a two-day conference on agriculture that ends in
Harare today the World Bank
said: "Commercial banking (sector is) estimated
to supply a meager 20
percent of farmer financial requirements. Other
financing sources that
include microfinance institutions, state support, NGO
support and farmers'
"own" finance have all succumbed to the erosion effects
of
inflation."
Zimbabwe, which has faced food shortages since 2001 has in
previous seasons
failed to raise food production because of violence on
commercial farms that
are the country's biggest producers, poor weather and
an acute shortage of
seed and fertilizer because of a poor performing
economy that failed to
manufacture adequate quantities of the key
inputs.
While violence has persisted on white-owned commercial farms, a
failed
farming season this time round will be chiefly because of a lack of
funding
that has seen farmers unable to purchase inputs that are readily
available
in most shops across the country but are too expensive for most
growers.
Charles Taffs, vice president of the Commercial Farmers Union
that
represents mostly white farmers, described the new season as a "looming
disaster" because of under-funding.
He told the conference: "we are
going into the summer season totally
unprepared, under funded with a looming
disaster next season."
Zimbabwe has 1 349 549 farmers but figures
submitted at the conference
suggested only about 230 000 will be able to get
funding for operations in
the new rainy season that officially begins around
mid-November.
An initiative by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to
provide seed and
fertilizer packs to about 600 000 communal farmers has been
hit hard by a
dilapidated road system that has delayed deliveries, raising
fears that the
inputs will reach some areas well after the planting
period.
Once one of the highest producing in Africa, Zimbabwe's farming
sector is a
shadow of its former self, crippled by President Robert Mugabe's
chaotic and
often violent land reform exercise that displaced established
white
commercial farmers and replaced them with either incompetent or
inadequately
funded black farmers.
The country that was once regarded
as a regional breadbasket was able to
avoid mass starvation only because
international relief agencies were quick
to chip in with food
handouts.
Chaos in agriculture because of farm seizures also hit hard
Zimbabwe's once
impressive manufacturing sector that had depended on a
robust farming sector
for orders and inputs.
Most of Zimbabwe's
industries have since the beginning of farm seizures
either scaled down
operations or shut down altogether, in a country where
unemployment is more
than 80 percent. ZimOnline.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by STAF REPORTER
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:01
JOHANNESBURG - The shortage of funds
that the state-run Grain
Marketing Board (GMB) is suffering has exposed
farmers to unscrupulous maize
buyers, the country's leading financial
services firm said this week.
In a statement to The Zimbabwean,
Kingdom Stockbrokers said this had
left the farmers of the country's staple
crop disillusioned.
"In Zimbabwe, most farmers have harvested their
maize and other cereal
crops but they are not happy with the prices that are
being offered by the
private buyers. The prices are too low and farmers are
not able to
break-even or to recapitalize in preparation for the next
cropping season,"
Kingdom said.
"Although the Grain Marketing Board
is buying maize at US$265 per
tonne, it does not have ready cash and growers
have to wait for a long
period before being paid. As a result, the cash
trapped producers ended up
falling prey to unscrupulous business people who
are making huge profits
from their grain. These buy maize at very low prices
such as US$165 to
US$180 per tonne."
It said similar problems were
experienced in the marketing of cash
crops like cotton and tobacco.
The state-run Grain Marketing Board is tasked to purchase grain from
farmers
as part of efforts to stimulate production and enhance food
security.
This year, the undercapitalized entity lost its monopoly
after the
government liberalized the grain market.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Paul Ndlovu
Wednesday, 30
September 2009 11:32
HARARE - Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) schools in
the country, are
suffering from dilapidate infrastructure and a severe
equipment shortage, it
has been learnt.
The ZNA schools welfare
Trust Board will visit eight of the 17 ZNA
schools, 12 secondary and five
primary schools, countrywide to assess their
condition and come up with ways
of improving service delivery.
Former Minister of Information and
Publicity, who is the board's
chairperson, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, was told
during the tour of one of the
schools in Bulawayo, Induna High School, that
most of the equipment at the
school was outdated.
"The science lab
is outdated. The computer laboratory has only seven
computers but we need at
least 100, and internet access," the science
department told Dr
Ndlovu.
The Library employees complained that there was no reading room
and
the facility was seriously under-stocked, while the whole school had
inadequate furniture.
Ndlovu said that was the general picture in
the other schools that
they had visited. He said plans were underway to
address the issue.
"We are in the process of engaging the corporate
world and donors like
UNICEF to solve most of the problems facing the
schools," he said.
He applauded the teachers at the army schools for
not engaging in
industrial action even when conditions were tough.
"When other teachers went on strike screaming for more money, the army
teachers were appealing for more chalk. We are working hard to reward them
for their dedication and perseverance," he said.
http://af.reuters.com
IMF sees
Thu Oct 1, 2009 6:32am
GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's economy is projected to grow by
3.7
percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, the
first
expansion since 1997.
The IMF in its latest World Economic
Outlook published on Thursday did not
give reasons for its assessment. It
forecast that growth in the southern
African nation's gross domestic product
would accelerate to 6 percent in
2010. The economy contracted 14.1 percent
in 2008, according to the IMF.
The growth projections for 2009 are in
line with the Zimbabwean government's
own forecasts, announced in July. The
economy last grew 12 years ago,
expanding by 3.0 percent, according to data
from the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Southern Africa's former
breadbasket has seen its once vibrant economy
shattered by poor policy
choices by President Robert Mugabe's government,
particularly the seizure of
white-owned farms for the resettlement of
landless blacks.
But the
formation of a unity government by Mugabe and his political rival
Morgan
Tsvangirai appears to have halted the economy's free-fall, although
unemployment still hovers around 80-85 percent and industries are operating
at only 20 and 30 percent capacity.
The withdrawal of the worthless
Zimbabwean dollar from circulation early
this year is also breathing life
into the economy, which had battled world
record-beating
inflation.
The IMF forecast consumer inflation would average 9 percent
this year and
rise to an average of 12 percent in 2010. The fund forecast
the country's
current account deficit at 21.4 percent of GDP in 2009,
narrowing to 19.9
percent next year.
Zimbabwe says it needs $10
billion in foreign aid to rebuild the country,
but Western nations are
reluctant to release cash without further political
and economic reform
under the unity government.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said last month
it would be a long while before
the country received bilateral
assistance.
Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on African Affairs
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
As
Prepared For Delivery
"Just over a year ago, this Subcommittee held a
hearing on the crisis in
Zimbabwe. That hearing came amidst months of
intense violence carried out
by Robert Mugabe and his allies against the
opposition MDC's members,
supporters and families. This was a deliberate
campaign to hold onto power
and subvert the will of the people expressed in
the March 29th elections.
"Today, the situation in Zimbabwe looks different,
at least on the surface.
Last September, with South Africa's mediation, the
parties signed the
'Global Political Agreement' and committed to form a
transitional
government. And after five months of delays, this February,
MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister and the MDC
assumed control
of several ministries. This came just as Zimbabwe's economy
reached a low
point with world-record inflation and millions of people at
risk of
starvation.
"The transitional government, under the leadership of
the new Minister of
Finance from MDC, has been able to stop that economic
decline and taken
initial steps to reverse it. It has stabilized the
situation in other
respects as well. However, eight months on, many aspects
of the Global
Political Agreement are still not implemented, beginning with
the
appointment of new provincial governors and the replacement of the
Reserve
Bank Governor and Attorney General. Moreover, security forces
continue to
operate as instruments of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, condoning land
takeovers
and harassing MDC and civil society activists.
"At every turn
thus far, hardliners in the transitional government have
resisted moves that
would undermine their historic patronage system and
power structures. And
for the most part, they appear to be succeeding.
Reformers in the government
are working hard to overcome that resistance,
but in many cases they lack
leverage as well as the qualified personnel and
resources. In short,
Zimbabwe's transition remains a work in progress,
incomplete and far from
irreversible.
"This brings us to today's discussion: U.S. strategy and policy
options
toward that transition. Unsurprisingly, Mugabe has increased his
calls for
the removal of U.S. and European Union sanctions. Regional
leaders have
echoed that call and made it the focus of their resolution on
Zimbabwe at
the SADC summit earlier this month. I would understand and even
be
sympathetic to their position if there was substantial progress being
made
toward implementing the Global Political Agreement. But no one
believes
that. Rather than deflecting responsibility, regional leaders
should step
up and hold Mugabe accountable for implementing his share of the
agreement.
They signed on as guarantors of the agreement and they should
live up to
that responsibility.
"Let me be clear: I see no reason for the
U.S. to repeal sanctions until we
see real, irreversible progress and an end
to widespread abuses.
"However, this does not mean that our hands are tied
and the U.S. should be
on the sidelines. A strict wait-and-see approach is
arguably not the best
way to influence this transition or keep the pressure
on Mugabe and company.
There are a number of actions that the United States
can take now - both
symbolic and substantive - to engage the government and
help strengthen the
hand of reformers within it. And at the same time,
there may be ways that
we can ramp up the pressure on those individuals
obstructing the agreement
and perpetrating continuing abuses. We need to
explore all these options
and move beyond the all-or-nothing debate that
seems to have frozen U.S.
policy. That debate is out of touch with the
fluidity of this transition as
well as the dynamism of our
diplomats.
"Similarly, with our assistance, we should look at how we can best
keep up
with and influence the changing situation on the ground. I was
pleased that
President Obama pledged $73 million in new funds for education,
health and
livelihoods when he met with Prime Minister Tsvangirai earlier
this year.
Scaling up and shifting our assistance in Zimbabwe to help
rebuild
institutions and lay the groundwork for economic recovery makes
practical
sense. It is also another way in which we can strengthen the hand
of
reformers within the transition. But in order to have that positive
effect,
this new assistance needs to be well designed and well targeted, and
it
needs to be coordinated with our diplomatic efforts. Today's hearing
will
explore how the U.S. can best leverage our assistance together with our
diplomacy toward advancing the political transition."
http://www.kvia.com
Associated Press - September 30, 2009
9:35 PM ET
DALLAS (AP) - Two Zimbabwe citizens and a Texan found guilty
of defrauding
the U.S. government by filing false income tax returns have
been sentenced
to federal prison.
A statement Wednesday from the U.S.
Attorney for the Northern District of
Texas says Fabian Muyaba, Joseph
Mudekunye and Nichelle Henson, of Como,
Texas, were convicted in June on
various offenses related to a conspiracy
scheme in which they
profited.
Muyaba received a 10-year prison sentence. He testified to
being the
100-meter record holder for his country and a former Olympic
athlete.
Mudekunye was sentenced to eight years and one month and was
ordered to pay
back $422,000. Henson was sentenced to four
years.
Mudekunye and Muyaba are part-time Texas residents.
http://www.postzambia.com
1st
October 2009
Written by Kingsley Kaswende in Harare,
Zimbabwe
CHIEFS from Southern Africa have said they will not be
part of Libyan
leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's King of Kings establishment that
seeks to unite
continental chiefs under his leadership. The SADC House of
Chiefs that had a
meeting in Harare on Monday resolved that regional chiefs
will not be
subjects of Col Gaddafi's proposition, arguing that a
traditional leader
could not be subordinate to another African
leader.
"We have resolved that we will not be part and parcel of
President
Gaddafi forum. Chiefs are born not made, so this business of
having a
dynasty of the United States of Africa will undermine our role and
strength," said chief Fhumulani Kutama, the interim chairperson of Kothla,
which is the regional House of Chiefs.
Chief Kutama said the
chiefs from the SADC region would not lend their
support to Col Gadaffi's
project, which he said had already been dismissed
by some African heads of
state and government.
Chief Kutama said the regional House of
Chiefs had a critical role of
assisting governments in conflict resolution
in the region as most
communities highly respect their traditional
leaders.
"As traditional leaders, we play a key role in conflict
resolution
programmes," he said.
Chief Kutama said the idea was
tabled when traditional leaders
attended the Libyan 40th independence
anniversary commemorations last month
but that there was consensus that the
idea should not be accepted as it
would undermine the institution of
chiefs.
More than 200 African kings and traditional rulers met in
Libya for
that meeting, the first one of its kind.
Col Gaddafi
has a vision of merging African leaders' powers to create
a single
government but most African leaders are lukewarm about his vision.
His vision for the United States of Africa also came under the
regional
chiefs' spotlight on Monday.
At last month's meeting, Col Gaddafi
urged the traditional leaders to
join his campaign for African
unity.
Traditional leaders from the DRC, Lesotho, South Africa,
Zambia,
Botswana and Zimbabwe attanded the meeting in Harare.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by STAFF
REPORTER
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 07:31
BULAWAYO -
Secretary General of the breakaway smaller faction of the
MDC, Welshman
Ncube surprised many when he said rejecting the 2000
constitution draft was
wrong and it should not be repeated.
Speaking at the annual general
meeting of the Bulawayo Publicity
Association last week Ncube, who is also
Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC) and Industry and
Commerce Minister, said: "The 2000
constitution which was rejected by
Zimbabweans was better than what we have
now. Therefore, Zimbabweans should
be aware of a false victory we voted "no"
and we won but what did the no
vote change? Nothing. I assure you that if we
had that constitution now, it
would be better. Zimbabweans should learn from
the lessons of 2000," Ncube
said.
Ncube said Zimbabweans should participate in the drafting of a
new
constitution led by a Parliamentary Select Committee before it is sent
for
debate in Parliament and then subjected to a referendum. "Most of the
problems we faced in Zimbabwe were related to the constitution. Contentious
issues around elections and power revolved around the constitution. We need
to resolve the constitution issue once and for all," said Ncube.
The Parliamentary Select Committee has asked the principals to the GPA
to
extend the deadlines to allow mobilisation of resources.
http://www.scoop.co.nz
Thursday, 1 October 2009, 12:36
pm
Press Release: United Nations
UN Provides Bicycles And
Motorcycles For Zimbabwe's Health Workers
New York, Sep 30 2009 12:10PM
The United Nations today provided hundreds of
bicycles and motorcycles for
Zimbabwean health workers to respond to
potential cholera and flu outbreaks,
the latest in a series of steps by the
world body to help the southern
African country confront acute humanitarian
needs.
The 300 black
bicycles and 124 bright red motor cycles, purchased by the UN
World Health
Organization (WHO) with $500,000 from the Central Emergency
Response Fund,
will enable health workers to move quickly to prepare for and
respond to
potential health concerns, including cholera outbreaks and the
H1N1 flu
pandemic.
"These items will support Zimbabwe's intensified response to
the 2008-09
cholera outbreak that infected almost 100,000 people and killed
about
4,000," WHO representative Custodia Mandlhate said.
The
bicycles will be given to village health workers in three districts,
with
each worker equipped with a blue sports-like bag packed with basic
health
supplies, including oral re-hydration salts, water purification
tablets,
bandages and disinfectant to help deliver basic and potentially
life-saving
care.
The motorcycles will be distributed to each of Zimbabwe's 62
districts to
help disease surveillance officers travel between towns and
villages
collecting suspected disease samples and safely taking them to
laboratories
for investigation.
"WHO and the other members of the
Health Cluster are determined to help the
country continue to strengthen its
health care system so it can provide the
highest level of health care
possible to all Zimbabweans," Dr. Mandlhate
said.
Earlier this month
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it
would distribute
seeds and fertilizers to Zimbabwe's farmers to combat
hunger, while the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a $70-million
programme to ensure that
over 700,000 vulnerable children are in school and
guarantee a textbook for
each child in all of the country's 5,300 primary
schools within 12
months.
Imagine a world without small change - that's what's
happened to Zimbabwe. The country's mind-boggling rise in inflation, which officially reached 231
million percent last year, was halted this February when the government brought
in a new system, where any currency can be used for any transaction. The Zimbabwe dollar more or less vanished from use, and the US dollar became
the first choice currency. But the trouble is there are no US coins - quarters or dimes or cents - in
the country, so the one dollar note is the smallest denomination, except for a
few South African rand coins. That's led to over-pricing of basic bread and butter commodities, lost
business for street traders, and real inconvenience for consumers. The BBC's Steve Vickers reports from Harare on life without the chink of
change. First broadcast on World Business
News
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Paul Ndlovu
Wednesday, 30
September 2009 13:27
HARARE - Water shortages at the University of
Zimbabwe have forced
students and staff to rely entirely on borehole water.
When the college
first encountered serious water shortages UNICEF stepped in
a drilled four
boreholes. However, only one of the four is said to be
operational.
According to a statement released by the Zimbabwe National
Students
Union last week, the situation was posing a health hazard to the
more than
13 000 students at the institution. "The challenge has delayed
the opening
of halls of residence that has seen close to 4 000 students
stranded having
to look for alternative accommodation elsewhere," read the
statement.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 12:18
BULAWAYO - The country's economy is
on an irreversible path of
recovery owing to the various stabilisation
initiatives adopted by
government. Speaking at the launch of PG Zimbabwe's
60th Anniersary, House
of Assembly Speaker, Lovemore Moyo (Pictured), said
the Global Political
Agreement was based on democratisation and economic
stabilisation
"While we continue to face challenges as a nation, it is
an undoubted
fact that Zimbabwe is on an irreversible path of recovery. The
results of
our economic stabilisation initiative provide ample evidence of
this fact.
Inflation was controlled instantly, goods are now readily
available in the
shops and the progress has been remarkable," he said. He
said all the
parties to the GPA still needed to do more, adding that
government was
committed to create an enabling environment to business to
flourish.
"Industry has a key role in complementing government efforts
so as to
achieve further gains in economic recovery. It is business that
creates
wealth, employment and revenue into the fiscus," he said. The
Speaker called
for more cooperation between government and business, and
paid tribute to PG
for partnering with local suppliers to provide the
country with building
materials. Moyo said the economy required robust
industrial activity to spur
the economic gains that the country had
registered in the last few months.
He said increased construction activity
and development on infrastructure
was one of the signals of increasing
economic activity.
"Infrastructure rehabilitation is one of
government's top priorities.
We are determined to see our universities,
hospitals and schools renovated
and returned to their original state. Our
local industry will play a
critical role in this development. We need to
ensure that Zimbabwe's pace of
economic reconstruction is enhanced," said
Moyo. He said the country was
forecasting to register an economic growth for
the first time in a decade
and this was largely due to the perseverance of
local companies.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Mxolisi
Ncube
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:27
Exiled former MDC
parliamentary candidate Noel Muguti has been
hospitalised in Johannesburg
for the past three weeks.
His condition is said to be linked to the
life-threatening injuries he
sustained while being tortured by Zimbabwean
state security agents during
President Robert Mugabe's campaign of violence
last year.
Muguti, who lost the Gokwe-Nembudziya parliamentary seat to
incumbent
Zanu (PF) MP Flora Bhuka in the March 29 elections, told ****The
Zimbabwean**** that his whole body was aching from the beatings he went
through.
"My life has not been the same since I was tortured for
standing on an
MDC ticket in that election and I believe that this will
never get any
better," said Muguti.
Muguti, who lives as a
political refugee at the Central Methodist
Church after fleeing persecution
by Mugabe's government in July last year,
added that he was not sure of when
he would be released from the hospital,
as his health was not
improving.
In addition to the torture he went through, Muguti also lost
his wife,
Nashawu Mpofu, to an armed Zanu (PF) gang, strongly believed to
have killed
her.
Muguti's homestead was also razed by Zanu
supporters, many of whom
were linked to his wife's abduction. Some are said
to be still roaming the
villages despite the former politician having
reported them to the police.
On May 28 this year, tragedy struck again
in the family of Muguti
(33), when his two-year-old son, Democracy, and the
politician's sister,
Belinda (24), died under suspicious circumstances on
the same day.
Belinda died of food poisoning in Harare's Mbare
high-density suburb,
while Democracy died in Muguti's rural home. The two
are yet to be buried,
as Muguti cannot raise the R10,000 needed.
He
joins a long list of former MDC activists who have suffered the
devastating
effects of severe torture under Mugabe's rule. One was Gift
Nhidza, who
recently returned to "die in Zimbabwe" after his health
deteriorated.
Nhidza's spinal cord was damaged in three places and
his arms and legs
were fractured as a result of the beating.
Activist Itayi Mudzingwa, popularly known as Kitsiyatota, died in
exile in
South Africa in May.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by John Makumbe
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 09:32
It was a forlorn cry by Robert
Mugabe at the 64th Session of the UN
General Assembly last week. It is
surprising that with the nation as
bankrupt as it is currently, Mugabe
insists on flying to New York for the
annual talk show purely for selfish
reasons. Mugabe once again pleaded for
the lifting of "sanctions", the swan
song that his part has been chanting
for years. He questioned the motives of
those countries that he accuses of
imposing the targeted measures against
him and some 200 of his minions.
Their motives are clearly that Zimbabwe
should be governed in a humane
manner that ensures that human rights are
observed, the rule of law is
upheld, democracy is allowed to prevail, and
justice is pursued to the
fullest extent of the laws of this nation. These
are all the very issues on
which Mugabe and his outgoing Zanu (PF)
government have failed dismally.
Crying for the removal of sanctions is
therefore like crying for the
moon.Mugabe threatens that if sanctions are
not removed then Zimbabwe will
go it alone. We have all seen what that has
done to this nation in the past
ten years. We have seen this country being
devastated to the extent that
schools and hospitals have had to close down,
unemployment has exceeded 90%,
and inflation has reached astronomical twelve
digit levels under Mugabe's go
it alone approach.
Does the old man
think that he can have the next 10 years to repeat
the same sort of bad
governance of this country while the international
community watches
listlessly? Zimbabweans have now reached the stage where
they are prepared
to stop Mugabe in his tracks by any means possible. The
personal sanctions
must stay firmly in place until Mugabe and Zanu (PF)
behave themselves
politically. Indeed, the fact that Mugabe is crying for
the removal of
sanctions is adequate testimony that the embargo has been
outstandingly
effective in curbing the outgoing regime's excesses. Good old
Mugabe claims
that the inclusive government has defined its priorities as
the maintenance
of conditions of peace and stability, economic recovery,
development,
promotion of human rights, blah, blah. Really? Then where are
the conditions
of peace when Mugabe is secretly meeting with the members of
the now defunct
JOC behind closed doors? What conditions of peace exist in
Zimbabwe when the
Zanu (PF) militia and the soldiers are setting up
inexplicable bases and no
go zones in some rural areas?
What peace is Mugabe talking about when
selected MDC legislators are
being harassed and harangued on trumped up
charges? What promotion of human
rights has been witnessed in Zimbabwe since
the inauguration of the impotent
inclusive government?
For some
reason, Mugabe thinks that all the people who will be
listening to him in
these international forums are not aware of the
realities on the ground in
Zimbabwe. This failure to appreciate the impact
of the information highway
on global developments is a sad handicap for the
long over-due "commander in
chief of defence forces." Western powers are not
engaged in any "divisive
antics" against the inclusive government. They have
nothing to gain from
such practices. The truth of the matter is that
democratic countries always
seek to work closely with other democratic
forces in Zimbabwe. But when they
do so, Mugabe thinks that they are
undermining his inclusive government. His
reluctance to fully implement the
GPA is the sole reason why sanctions
against him and his ilk should not be
lifted. SADC can scream all it wants
to, but progressive forces are not
going to pay any attention to them until
the GPA is fully implemented.
Zimbabwe’s farms are like an old dairy
cow, ZANU (PF) ties its legs; Mugabe
squeezes the last drops of milk from
its shrivelled udder; while his wife
feeds it raw grain; the masses sit
patiently waiting for milk by the cow’s
rear end—only for Nestlé and Grace
to lift the cow’s tail as it dumps bovine
excrement onto the heads of the
hungry populace.
Nestlé Zimbabwe, confirmed media reports that one of its
milk suppliers is
Gushungo Dairy Estates, controlled by Grace Mugabe, and
that the estate
supplies ten percent—the equivalent of one million litres—of
Nestlé’s raw
milk intake. However, Nestlé Switzerland has issued a
statement blessing
the arrangement in a condescending announcement, which
confirms Nestlé’s
place as an enabler of tyranny and an eager accessory to
crime.
Switzerland is taking a position that is consistent with its
national
interest of protecting its banking industry—essentially the ATM for
politically exposed persons. This system is the rock underneath which
dishonest leaders who enrich themselves from looted state funds hoard
so-called potentate funds (dictator’s assets).
Switzerland is a
signatory to the United Nations Convention Against
Corruption (UNCAC) and
upholds the obligation to return illicitly acquired
assets.
However,
Switzerland has proposed to donate funds stolen by despots to aid
agencies
instead of repatriating them back to the countries of origin. In
other
words, Zimbabwe gets aid, Mugabe pilfers it, and his wife Grace
secretly
banks the loot with help of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono in
numbered
Swiss bank accounts.
If the people of Zimbabwe ever trace these funds,
the Swiss government would
then donate the loot to the next aid agency for
onward “lending” to another
despot. The vortex of sleaze and corruption
starts all over again. In the
meantime, Switzerland appears to be a
benevolent aid giver to suffering
Africans and yet, in practical terms, is
merely sending interest earned from
Africa’s stolen wealth back to the very
despots who are encouraged to steal
it all again. Africans become
permanently anchored in bottomless pit of debt
and poverty with the
complicity of the societies that offer us aid.
The Swiss Federal Criminal
Tribunal requires sufficient evidence of criminal
wrongdoing in order to
effect restitution and these proceedings may take up
to fifteen
years.
Zimbabweans expecting Switzerland to censure a dictator is akin to
a farmer
chopping down a tree in order to harvest its fruit. Potentate funds
are the
mother’s milk of the Swiss banking system, and Mugabe is one of the
clients
who buttress the system.
Gushungo Dairy Estates is the
4000-hectare farm, part of a criminal
enterprise, a vast agricultural land
holding owned by Robert Mugabe and his
immediate family. He stole state land
and allocated it to himself under the
guise of correcting a colonial
imbalance.
In this melee, 350 000 farm workers, whom Mugabe in his xenophobic
tirade on
CNN, referred to as aliens, are now classified as internally
displaced
persons (IDPs), and survive on foreign humanitarian aid
handouts.
What happened to the one-man one farm policy? What happened to
a maximum
farm size (450 hectare) policy? What became of the promise that no
farmer
shall go without land and the declaration that no absentee landlord
may own
land in Zimbabwe?
Instead of allocating or distributing
“acquired” farms and land to deserving
landless peasants, all prime land is
now the private asset of absentee
landlords, the freedom fighters from
yesteryear. Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurs
consisting of farmers, hoteliers, and
bankers, are facing an unprecedented
onslaught from the pillaging ruling
party bourgeoisie who unashamedly
misappropriate private property for
personal gain.
Under the pretext of land reform, indigenisation, and
decongesting communal
areas, ZANU (PF) politicians now control 95% of
Zimbabwe’s prime agriculture
with its leader becoming one of Zimbabwe’s
largest private landowners.
Switzerland has a moral obligation to side
with the suffering people of
Zimbabwe and help bring this deplorable chapter
to a close. Criminal
gangsters, mobs of illicit cattle rustlers, murderers
and rapists who trade
in misappropriated assets, loot state coffers and
launder ill-gotten wealth,
must never become the preferred trading partners
to Switzerland.
“Chinokanganwa idemo” - What forgets is the axe, but the
tree that has been
axed will never forget.
The old dairy cow must be
now be replaced in the paddock by a younger
milking heifer that will provide
real milk for the ordinary people of
Zimbabwe.
Phil Matibe – www.madhingabucketboy.com
http://www.nestle.com/Common/Header/ContactUs.htm