Zim Online
Saturday 21 October
2006
HARARE - An irate President Robert Mugabe this
week strongly rebuked
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono
and ordered him to
cancel a deal allowing controversial businessman Philip
Chiyangwa to sell
residential land and houses in foreign currency, ZimOnline
has learnt.
Authoritative sources said Gono - tasked by Mugabe to
lead Zimbabwe's
economic revival - was summoned to the President's
ceremonial Zimbabwe House
palace on Thursday where he was hauled over the
coals over the deal.
Gono - a favoured lieutenant of Mugabe who
however may have done much
to anger his boss with reports this week that a
US$300 million investment
deal he signed with some Russian businessmen is
bogus - met Mugabe moments
after the Zimbabwean leader had received two
special envoys from Niger and
Djibouti.
According to sources, a
fuming Mugabe demanded to know how Chiyangwa's
firm - Pinnacle Property
Holdings - had been granted exchange control
authority to sell houses and
undeveloped land in foreign currency to
millions of Zimbabweans living and
working abroad.
"He was called to Zimbabwe House on Thursday where
the President told
him in no uncertain terms the deal should be cancelled,"
said a senior RBZ
official, who did not want to be named for fear of
victimisation.
"The President was very angry. He wanted to know how
Chiyangwa could
be given carte blanche permission to mint foreign currency
when his shady
past was well known and after the RBZ board had advised
against such a
scheme involving the President's niece," added the
official.
The RBZ official said it appeared Gono and Mugabe did not
discuss the
bogus Russian deal on Thursday, as information only began
emerging this week
that a group of Russian investors Gono invited to
Zimbabwe and signed
multimillion dollar deals to invest in the power
generation, aviation and
mining sectors were bogus.
Mugabe's
spokesman George Charamba was not available for comment while
RBZ spokesman
Kumbirai Nhongo told ZimOnline that Gono was not making any
more comments on
the property deal beyond what was reported in the
state-owned Herald
newspaper.
In its edition yesterday, the newspaper reported that
Gono had ordered
the cancellation of the property deal because it had been
authorised by RBZ's
head of Export Facilitation and Foreign Currency
Mobilisation, Paul Sigauke,
without the governor's knowledge.
Sigauke was also fired according to the Herald story.
But our
sources said Gono was aware of and had backed the Chiyangwa
deal, adding
that Sigauke had been made a scapegoat following Mugabe's
strong disapproval
of the deal.
"He (Gono) has sacrificed Sigauke for the moment but
the truth will
come out soon," said another RBZ official.
Chiyangwa, who declined to comment on the matter, is a close relative
of
Mugabe but fell out with the President after he was last year implicated
in
a case in which top government and ruling party officials were arrested
and
charged for spying for South Africa.
Chiyangwa was later acquitted
over the charges while three officials
were jailed for allegedly selling
state secrets to the South African
intelligence. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Saturday 21 October
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe business leaders on
Thursday appealed to President
Robert Mugabe to order police to stop
arresting shop managers for hiking
prices of basic goods.
The
appeal was made through Mugabe's chief secretary, Misheck Sibanda,
because
the veteran President was committed elsewhere and could not meet the
business leaders directly.
Representatives of the country's
chief business and industrial bodies
among them the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of
Mines and Bankers Association of Zimbabwe
attended the meeting with
Sibanda.
"We wanted to negotiate and to deliver this message to
Mugabe that
this NEDPP (National Economic Development Priority Programme)
has taken the
wrong direction," said a business executive who attended the
meeting.
The NEDPP is a government economic revival programme
launched by
Mugabe last April and whose objective was to mobilise at least
US$2.5
billion in six months and help turn around the collapsing economy - a
target
already missed. But the government insists the programme is still on
course.
CZI President Callisto Jokonya confirmed meeting Sibanda
saying the
meeting was part of efforts by the business community to ensure
co-operation
with the government in reviving the economy.
It
was however not possible to establish from Sibanda whether he had
forwarded
the business leaders' concerns to Mugabe or when the President was
likely to
respond.
Under the NEDPP, the government ordered companies to first
seek
permission from the Ministry of Industry and Trade before hiking prices
of
basic goods.
Industry says the government has stalled on
requests to review prices
forcing many of them to unilaterally increase
prices to stay afloat but the
government responded this week by sending
police to arrest several shop
managers and business executives for
increasing prices without approval from
Industry Minister Obert
Mpofu.
Skyrocketing prices are just one on a long list of problems
bedeviling
Zimbabwe in its seventh year of an economic meltdown described by
the World
Bank as the worst in the world outside a war zone.
The southern African country also has the world's highest inflation
rate of
more than 1 000 percent, skyrocketing unemployment, shortages of
foreign
currency, food, fuel, essential medicines and increasing poverty
levels. -
ZimOnline
Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Roebuck
October 21, 2006
PETER Chingoka and
Ozias Bvute must immediately be removed from the powerful
positions they
hold in Zimbabwean cricket. An immediate withdrawal of
funding for the
Zimbabwe Cricket Union and a demand for a proper audit
performed by an
accredited firm must be the least of the ICC's requirements.
It's no use
waiting for the local police to act, let alone the cricket
community,
because these scoundrels long ago stacked the board - besides
which, they
have friends in high places.
Naturally, Chingoka will resist every attempt to
launch an investigation
into their activities. They know that any genuine
investigation will result
in long prison sentences.
Under the
shameless stewardship of these men, the game in Zimbabwe has sunk
into a pit
of bullying, corruption and despair. The good work performed by
numerous
coaches and the promise of young black and white cricketers has
been
betrayed. Money intended for the development of the game has been used
for
private purposes. Any player daring to question the conduct of these
thugs
has been chased away, or else threatened with the sort of retribution
that
forced Tatenda Taibu to seek refuge and then to flee the
country.
Chingoka has become a pitiful figure. To look at him nowadays is
to see a
man who knows the corruption of his soul. Drink has become his
solace. It
was not always the case. In his younger days he was a fellow of
infinite
jest, the first black student to serve as a head boy at a fine
boarding
school, and afterwards an impressive figure in the corporate and
sporting
worlds. His twin brother was just as impressive, rising though the
tennis
ranks till he organised the game across the country, a position he
held
until financial irregularities were exposed. Evidently it runs in the
family.
Until a few years ago, Chingoka's reputation remained high.
Eloquent,
intelligent and charming, he represented the best of liberated
Africa. He
was universally trusted. Not bad progress for an Ndebele in a
country
dominated by Shona. The only warning sign was a passing remark made
to a
cricket official from another country. Something about "playing the
hand he
had been given". Principles meant nothing to him. The result has
been a man
drunk on power and liquor.
Chingoka's deterioration has
been painful to behold. Money has been his
undoing. He has always enjoyed
flash cars, malt whiskey, tailored suits,
elegant houses. Alas, he sold his
name to obtain them. Nowadays he hardly
bothers to hide his complicity. His
finance company was declared bankrupt
yet he still drives around in a plush
vehicle - sales of luxury cars are
booming in impoverished and hungry
Zimbabwe - and lives in style. His son
attends university in England, and
Chingoka pays the bill. Among much else,
opponents mention a cheque for
$30,000 for new cricket balls that never
arrived. His expense claims and his
allowances are exorbitant and unchecked.
He will cling to office till the
money for the World Cup arrives.
If anything, Bvute is even worse. He who
does not bother to hide his
ignorance about cricket, his contempt for the
players or his greed. Despite
a shady past that allegedly includes dubious
dealings in Botswana, Bvute
secured and maintained a high position in
Zimbabwe cricket. He is as thick
as thieves with the crooks running the
country. Like them, he conceals his
improprieties under a cover of
post-colonial bluster, hides his disregard
for the common man beneath a
veneer of populist claptrap. Meanwhile, he
keeps his snout in the
trough.
None of this is new. Not long ago the National Sports and
Recreation
Committee investigated allegations of corruption in cricket. The
report
recommended the immediate sacking of this sticky-fingered pair and
their
replacement by a group of six respected citizens. Upon learning of its
contents, Chingoka contacted the Sports Minister and ensured that the report
was buried. Then he chose his own board of twelve saps. He is a superb
operator.
Raw Story
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday October 20,
2006
Harare- Illegal diamond traders, some from South Africa, are
flocking to a
diamond field in a remote part of eastern Zimbabwe and
smuggling diamonds
away in loaves and jelly bottles, it was reported Friday.
Twenty illegal
diamond dealers have been arrested since news of the
discovery of diamonds
in Marange communal lands first broke, sending
thousands flocking to the
area in the hope of striking it rich, said the
weekly Manica Post.
The Zimbabwean authorities are having a tough time
tracking the diamonds, a
potential source of desperately-needed foreign
currency.
The paper said miners were seen openly selling their finds to
dealers in
cars, some of them with South African registered number plates.
It said that
many of the miners were from neighbouring
Mozambique.
Local police chief James Makone has warned of the rampant
leakages of
diamonds from Marange, the Manica Post said.
Diamonds are
now being used as currency in the area, as businesspeople and
cross-border
traders also attempt to cash in on the riches.
Traders are hawking
foodstuffs, furniture, clothes and detergents in the
remote area, often in
return for diamonds, the report said.
"There is hunger in this areas and
these smugglers disguise as traders but
what they are mostly interested in
is diamonds. Their transactions are not
in cash but in diamonds," said the
paper.
The official Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) is
supposed to
have a monopoly on purchasing all diamonds discovered in the
area but they
bought the stones twice and ran out of cash, one miner, Jacob
Mugabe told
the Manica Post.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Sandra Nyaira
LONDON - Debate
on the crisis in Zimbabwe took centre stage in the
House of Lords yesterday
with Lord Blaker of Blackpool raising the need for
the incoming United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit Zimbabwe
as soon as he
assumes his new post to help deal with problems afflicting the
country.
Lord Blaker also initiated debate in the House of
Lords to urge the
British government to boost the campaign for democracy in
Zimbabwe, which he
said was being vigorously conducted.
During
debate various Lords called on their government to take up
resolutions from
the upper House recommending the UK start a campaign "for
the referral of
Robert Mugabe to the International Criminal Court for his
manifold and
monstrous crimes against the people of Zimbabwe."
They also want
Zimbabwe's police officers to be left out of U.N.
policing missions in
troubled spots around the glob.
Lord Blaker said it was sad that
President Robert Mugabe had
successfully blocked a planned visit by outgoing
secretary general, Kofi
Annan saying it would clash with a nomination
Benjamin Mkapa, the former
Tanzanian leader, mediate between Zimbabwe and
the United Kingdom.
Applauding the British government for
"correctly" rejecting "this
ridiculous proposal", Lord Blaker said the
people of Zimbabwe were suffering
and the UN Security Council could use its
powers to protect the masses being
ruled by the Zanu PF
government.
"In April 2006, the Security Council decided in a
resolution that it
should have the power, "to use appropriate diplomatic,
humanitarian and
other peaceful means ... to help protect populations from
... crimes against
humanity".
He adds this would mean possible
intervention with the approval of the
Security Council in the internal
affairs of other countries' as the
international community would take
"responsibility to protect". "The words I
have used are distinct from any
dealing with military action-I am not
talking about that; it is not relevant
to what I am saying. Her Majesty's
Government could take a lead with
like-minded countries, to work out how to
apply this part of the Security
Council resolution usefully in the present
situation in Zimbabwe. There is
no doubting the massive crimes against
humanity there," said Lord
Blaker.
"Noble Lords may think that Mugabe would respond to such a
move with
his usual accusations of imperialism. Would they be so effective
now that we
would be on the side of the black trades unions in Zimbabwe and
the United
States? We have, of course, no imperial ambitions, as he would
allege, and
as much right as any other country to rely on the duty to
protect, as given
in this new proposal, in relation to Mugabe's
actions."
Telling the House events in Zimbabwe were now moving a
little, he said
the UK was Zimbabwe's biggest provider of aid with more
Zimbabwean exiles
living here than in any other country, "and we have more
knowledge of
Zimbabwe than any other country does".
Lord after
Lord praised Vauxhall MP, Kate Hoey for being brave enough
to visit Zimbabwe
secretly recently to see what the situation was on the
ground. They also
attacked the recent brutal beatings by police officers of
trade union
leaders during a protest.
Baroness D'Souza said now was the time to
use the full array of legal,
diplomatic and other measures open to the UK
and the European Union to
create a critical mass of international opinion
and to support those in
Zimbabwe who bear the unspeakable brunt of
repression in Zimbabwe.
"The UK Government, who have had to
withstand charges of wishing to
re-colonise Zimbabwe, have nevertheless made
strong statements against
President Mugabe's regime and have supported
strong actions, but more can
now be done. In particular, the EU, which
passed a resolution condemning
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe in September,
is due to revisit both
official and personal travel sanction in January
2007," she said.
Baroness D'Souza said Mugabe should be referred to
the ICC because
torture in Zimbabwe was widespread, systematic and severe
and therefore
constituted a crime against humanity.
Baroness
Park of Monmouth said it was sad "Mugabe, the great
liberation leader,
thinks in terms of command operations" and people were
suffering as a
result.
Others like Lord St John of Bletso think Mugabe will remain
in office
until he dies because of the indictment of Charles Taylor, the
former
President of Liberia, for human rights crimes. "The incident scared
Robert
Mugabe into believing that the same fate might await him. He
therefore
prefers to cling to power."
He said some observers
continue to believe that the people of Zimbabwe
will rise against their
leaders, in much the same way as the people of
Romania rose against
Ceausescu, and the Ukrainians staged their Orange
Revolution.
"Sadly, I believe that such an uprising in Zimbabwe is extremely
unlikely.
It did not happen when the Zimbabwean Government launched their
cruel
operations to bulldoze the stalls and shacks of street traders in
Harare in
areas where their political opponents are strong. It also did not
happen
when the opposition MDC recently called for mass action."
He added:
"There are two reasons why the people will not protest.
First,
unfortunately, there is a lack of plausible opposition in the
country. The
MDC seemed credible in the past but is now deeply divided
between those who
support Morgan Tsvangirai, a man with charisma but
doubtful judgment, and
those who support Arthur Mutambara, a man of great
intellect but less
popular appeal. Secondly, a remarkable 70 per cent, if
not more, of
Zimbabweans live in rural areas where they remain largely
unaware of the
government excesses in the urban areas."
"As a result, it is
probably true that if a general election was held
tomorrow, ZANU-PF would be
the clear winners. In fact, the next presidential
election is scheduled for
2008, with the next parliamentary election to
follow in 2010. There are
rumours that the Government intend postponing the
presidential election
until 2010, giving Mugabe another two years in power.
Perhaps the Minister
could inform us whether Her Majesty's Government are
taking steps to ensure
that the presidential election is held in 2008."
The Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, Lord Triesman,
said in response to the peers his government was
doing all it can to
mobilise international pressure, including African
leaders, against Harare.
He said the crisis in Zimbabwe was caused by bad
governance and bad
policies.
"The crisis is between a dictatorial regime and a
subjugated people,
and it can only be reversed by significant political
reform, including the
repeal of damaging legislation on human and property
rights, as noble Lords
have said, together with a comprehensive economic
reform package as already
set out by the IMF."
He said he did
not think that Zimbabwe would ever go off the
international radar
screen.
His parting short commenting on a statement by President
Mugabe in
which he warned the United States and Britain at a UN meeting that
"every
Goliath has its David", Lord Triesman said: "He (Mugabe) has
continued to
use his political weight in the country to oppress and bully
his people into
apparent submission, but he should heed his own words: let
this David tell
him that his policy is creating millions of Davids within
Zimbabwe and
millions more in the Diaspora. He should reflect on that. The
time for his
regime has gone."
Business Day
Brian
Latham
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bloomberg
ZIMBABWE'S
dollar more than halved in value on the black market last quarter
as a
government crackdown on illegal street sales exacerbated a shortage of
foreign exchange.
The currency, officially pegged at 250 to the US
dollar by the central bank,
sold for as much as 1500 to the dollar on the
black market in the three
months to September, compared with 600 the
previous quarter, money traders
have said.
"It's the same as
anything in short supply," said Josiah Muramba, who trades
foreign currency
on the streets of Harare. "If bread is hard to find, the
price goes up. The
same goes for US dollars and rands."
Zimbabwe, where more than half the
population lives on less than $1 a day,
devalued its currency 60% on July 31
in an effort to pull the economy out of
a recession triggered by President
Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned
farms.
The country is in its
eighth year of recession and has the world's highest
inflation rate of
1023%.
The government this month vowed to crack down on the illegal trade
in
foreign currency.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono
has closed 16 money-transfer
agencies this month, accusing them of
channelling money through the black
market.
The cancellation of their
licences had dried up foreign currency sent to the
country by emigrants,
said John Robertson, director of Robertson Economics.
"The government is
looking for absolute obedience," Robertson said, "They've
sworn to clamp
down on the black market, so people sending money to
relatives from overseas
have stopped doing so, because the official rate
makes no
sense."
About half Zimbabwe's foreign currency, or about $1,6bn, was
sourced from
the black market, Robertson said.
Agricultural and
mining production has declined since 2000. The resulting
shortage of foreign
exchange has forced many companies to obtain hard
currency on the black
market.
Foreign currency shortages plague independent and state-owned
businesses
alike. Electricity supplies are cut by as much as 10 hours a day
because
state-owned utility Zesa Holdings lacks foreign currency to repair
ailing
generators.
In Bulawayo, police believed to be linked to
the country's notorious Central
Intelligence Organisation detained scores of
shopkeepers yesterday,
apparently for failing to display prices on their
shelves.
The government has targeted for arrest retailers who fail to
implement
state-regulated prices. Shopowners say they cannot remain in
business if
they stick to the lower prices.
Hundreds of shopowners
across the country have been charged for contravening
pricing rules. With
Foreign Staff
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 17 October
Zimbabwe's governor of the central bank, Gideon Gono, is much
more powerful
than his job description. He is more prime minister than
guardian of the
nation's money. Since he took charge three years ago,
inflation has doubled.
After his appointment, scores of businessmen were
arrested and locked up for
a few nights and some paid admission of guilt
fines. Some had even bought
hard currency on the black market to buy spares
to keep their companies
going, because Mr Gono had no legal foreign currency
for them. However, he
has forex for luxury vehicles for army officers,
foreign travel and a new
top of the range German limo for himself. Last
week, he sent his minions out
on a regular swoop into the disintegrating
industrial sites to harass more
businessmen struggling to keep going. His
fellows arrive, two at a time,
present their identifications and then they
begin their work which is to
confiscate computers, personal lap tops,
company accounts and discs. They
flick through businessmen's personal
letters, search cupboards, examine
family photographs on desk tops and then
leave for the next victim. One
fellow who got searched last Friday by "rude,
incompetent, ignorant fellows
who can't even read a balance sheet" is going
into voluntary liquidation
next week as a result. The pain is not worth the
struggle. Last week, Mr
Gono shut down 15 money transfer agencies claiming
they were crooked. That
includes those from major foreign owned banks which
were a lifeline for
Zimbabweans receiving money from relatives in the
diaspora. Now only Mr
Gono's agency, Homelink, survives. Public spokesmen at
the Reserve Bank
doesn't answer press questions from foreign press. Of
course, as many
businessmen have found out, a little sweetener sometimes
sends the spooks
away. A few of these companies have British links.
President Robert Mugabe
always claims there are 400 British companies in
Zimbabwe. He is decades out
of date. There are probably now no more than 12
left.
By Violet
Gonda
20 October 2006
The African Union has shown again
that the Zimbabwean crisis is not on
its list of priorities after a senior
AU diplomat snubbed the country's
human rights groups during a visit to
Zimbabwe last week.
Alpha Omar Konare, the chairperson of the African
Union is reported to
have snubbed those who had been lobbying the
continental body for a
resolution on Zimbabwe. Media reports said he had
stopped briefly in Harare
to consult with Robert Mugabe on conflicts in
Africa.
But the groups say based on the amount of lobbying the
human rights
bodies had done with the AU some effort should have been made
by the
chairperson to solicit a meeting with them.
The National
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO)
spokesperson Fambai
Ngirande said; "We have expressed our disappointment at
not having an
opportunity to engage with him. And this is really on the
basis that civil
society in Zimbabwe has been doing a lot of work to lobby
the African Union
and to advise the AU on specific alternatives to address
the situation in
Zimbabwe. And our not being able to meet with him has
raised the
disappointment."
A lot of work had been done by groups like the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights (ZLHR) as well as the AU's African
Commission for Human and
Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) on the human rights abuses
by the Mugabe regime.
Much of it related to Operation Murambatsvina, the
government's so called
clean up exercise that displaced 700 000 people and
affected at least 2
million.
In what was widely seen as a step
in the right direction the
commission adopted a resolution on Zimbabwe last
year, condemning human
rights violations and calling on the government to
immediately stop the
forced evictions around the country. But to date the
evictions are still
continuing. The government's re-housing project,
Operation Garikai/ Hlalani,
has been exposed as a sham by churches and human
rights groups, in and
outside Zimbabwe.
Critics say the African
Union has shown that it is toothless. It did
nothing when the Mugabe regime
refused to recognize the credentials of an AU
envoy who had been dispatched
in 2005, to investigate the mass evictions
exercise.
The human
rights groups expected Konare to consult them as well as
Mugabe. Refusing to
meet them was criticised as a slap in the face.
It is generally
understood that as a body the AU could apply a great
deal of pressure on the
Zimbabwean government, if it wanted to.
Fambai Ngirande said it would
have been beneficial for the civic
groups to have met with Konare,
particularly as this would have presented
the AU chairperson with an
opportunity to verify some of the reports that
had been given to the
body.
Konare, a former President of Mali, is reported to have met
with
Mugabe but only to discuss conflicts in the Democratic Republic of
Congo,
Sudan, Somalia and Ivory Coast.
The NANGO spokesperson
said there has been a lot of work that the
ACHPR has done, particularly on
Murambatsvina; "recommendations of which
have not been followed through by
the government of Zimbabwe. This would
have been a good opportunity for him
to assess which of the recommendations
have been followed up or what
alternatives can be pursued in order to ensure
that these recommendations
can be pursued."
Asked if the refusal to meet civic groups is a
reflection of how the
AU perceives Zimbabwe - that the crisis is not as
serious as in other parts
of Africa - Ngirande said; "It could be. African
diplomats have consistently
been pursuing a quiet diplomacy policy and this
quiet diplomacy has not been
yielding any benefits for the people of
Zimbabwe."
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe
news
Dear Friends,
I've had many emails saying that some of you were unable to
find the
Hardtalk interview on the BBC website or that you were unable to
watch it
online. I can confirm that it is now available for viewing online
via the
BBC at a page titled 'Zimbabwe after Mugabe'. This is the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6063888.stm.
In
addition to that, I have added an audio file of the interview to my
website.
The file is in MP3 format and is 2.7MB in size. I appreciate that
this is
still a very large file for those trying to download via a dial-up
connection. To make it easier for Zimbabweans, I plan to upload a transcript
of the interview to the website as soon as possible.
If you know
someone who would like to receive a copy of the transcript but
does not have
access to the internet, please ask them to send an email to
list@davidcoltart.com requesting that we
send it to them as an email
attachment.
Thank you all for your emails
and comments.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon. David Coltart MP
AND
October 20, 2006
By Savious Kwinika (CAJ)
THE Friends
of Zimbabwe Coalition (FOZC) is now a duly registered
non-profit
organisation and has been registered in terms of the South
African
Non-Profit Act,1997 (Act of 1997).</p><p>In a letter that was leaked
to and is in the custody of <strong>CAJ News</strong>, the
department of
Social Development, acknowledged that the application for
registration by
the organisation as a non-profit organisation had been
received.
By Nowell Marufu
CAJ News
Reporter
JOHANNESBURG:
"We are now a fully
registered organisation and we are operating in
South Africa legally, and we
will be carrying out the work we are mandated
to do without fear or
prejudice,"said Sox Chikohwero, the Chairman of FOZC.
FOZC is an
organisation that advocates for property and human rights.
Recently
FOZC petitioned a team of lawyers representing the Zimbabwe
government
against the Zimbabwe business magnate,Mutumwa Mawere, living in
South
Africa, to stop their dealings with the Mugabe regime.
The FOZC
delegation wanted the company to stop the legitmisation of
company seizures
by the Mugabe government on South African courts-CAJ News.
The Herald
(Harare)
October 20, 2006
Posted to the web October 20,
2006
Harare
NORMAN Muzoroki Chakanetsa, director of research and
consumer affairs in the
Ministry of Industry and International Trade, has
been arrested on
allegations of bypassing the minister and unlawfully
approving an increase
in the price of bread from $200 to $295 a
loaf.
Chakanetsa allegedly showed favour and authored letters to bakers,
retailers
and police informing them of the price increase, an act that was
inconsistent with his duties.
According to the Pricing of Goods Act,
bakers should apply in writing to the
Minister of Industry and International
Trade, who would approve or
disapprove the proposed increase.
The
minister's response should also be in writing, and in the current case,
the
State alleges Chakanetsa usurped the duties of Industry and
International
Trade Minister Cde Obert Mpofu by writing and distributing
letters
pertaining to the price increase.
Chakanetsa was yesterday brought to the
Harare Magistrates' Court for
contravening Section 174 (1) (a) of the
Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act, which makes it an offence for a
public officer to do anything
that is contrary to his or her
duties.
He was remanded out of custody to October 23 when his lawyer Mr
Francis
Chirimuuta, of Gula-Ndebele and Partners, is expected to apply for
refusal
of further remand.
Chakanetsa's duties in the ministry
include conducting research on prices of
goods and availability of the
commodities on the market, and reporting
directly to the permanent secretary
or the minister.
According to the State papers, on September 26, the
ministry established the
Price Stabilisation Committee to monitor prices of
controlled commodities,
specifically bread, maize-meal and
flour.
Chakanetsa chairs the committee which also includes
representatives from
Ministry of Industry and International Trade, Ministry
of Home Affairs,
Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare,
Ministry of Finance,
the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe Republic Police and Zimbabwe National Chamber
of Commerce.
Prices of controlled products are recommended by the prices
committee before
they are sent to the minister for interim
approval.
The minister sends the proposal to Cabinet, which finally
approves the
prices after which the minister writes to bakers announcing the
prices.
Prosecutor Mr Servious Kufandada alleges that the prices
committee convened
a meeting to discuss its operational modalities on
September 29.
It is the State case that on that day, the committee did
not discuss bread
price adjustments.
However, Chakanetsa, for unknown
reasons, allegedly wrote to the bakers,
police and retailers announcing an
increase in the retail price of bread
from $200 to $295 and wholesale price
from $200 to $280 a loaf.
The State argues that Chakanetsa was not
entitled to effect the increase or
write to the bakers, hence he acted
inconsistently with his duties as a
public officer.
It is further
alleged that there was no mention of increase of bread prices
in the minutes
of the prices committee meeting held on September 29.
In a separate case,
Harare magistrate Mrs Priscilla Chigumba yesterday
lambasted the State's
conduct in handling the case in which Lobels Bakeries
is accused of
unlawfully increasing prices of bread.
Mrs Chigumba described the conduct
as "deplorable" and tantamount to wilful
neglect of duty.
She said
this in her ruling granting the State another chance to sort out
its case
for the trial to open.
"While court finds the conduct of the State so far
deplorable, it is of the
view that the State should be given a last chance
to put its house in order.
"The court finds that the conduct on the part
of the prosecution is highly
irregular and unfortunate. Such conduct is to
be discouraged in our courts
as it amounts to dereliction of duty," she
said.
Prosecutor Mr Michael Nyamakuti argued that he had just been given
the case
and was not prepared for trial.
He argued that the case had
been handled by another prosecutor when the
court ordered the State to
investigate some key issues and that he needed
time to prepare for
trial.
Last month a magistrate ruled that the State should establish the
cost of
producing a loaf of bread and serve defence counsel Advocate Eric
Matinenga
with State papers before the trial began.
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1 - STU
Dear JAG
Sorry to hear that a new state of madness is
happening in Zimbabwe with the
eviction of the few remaining farmers who are
trying to help keep the
country from becoming a Sudan style landscape and an
empty house full of
rats etc.
Obviously the Govt ministers who are
encouraging the evictions live in
cookoo land or don't mind queuing for food
if there is any. Mind you since
we know many Zanu-PF stooges are corrupt and
Tabo Mbeki is a great friend,
they no doubt enjoy the luxury of filling their
pantries up at home after
having numerous shopping to trips to South Africa.
This I'm afraid shows how
selfish fellow African people can be to each
other.
When will sanity ever prevail and what message is God really
trying to tell
us by not intervening against such evil. We have tried by
legal channels to
oust a regime on two occasions and yet Zimbabwe is being
allowed to die. I
feel so down and that slight spark of hope I have kept
alive over the last 6
years is in danger of being put out. I am here in UK
with all things
available and yet so distressed at what is happening back
home, so I just
can't imagine what it is like there for my fellow country
men. You are all
Constantly on my mind and I feel for your
suffering.
From
Still proud to be a
Zimbo
Stu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions of
the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
The Daily Mirror
Takunda Maodza
issue
date :2006-Oct-19
THE government has paid $842 418 000 to 45 former
commercial farmers in
compensation for improvements and developments on the
land and equipment
acquired during the land reform exercise.
The
permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement
Ngoni Masoka revealed this on Tuesday while presenting a
half-year budget
performance report before the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Lands,
Agriculture, Water Development, Rural Resources and
Resettlement. "We were
allocated $800 million in 2006. "Our expenditure for
compensation for
improvement and equipment as at June 2006 was $648 488 000
and to date we
have spent $842 418 000," Masoka said. He added: "The number
of farms
compensated for improvements has now increased to 38 while sites on
which
equipment has been acquired now stands at seven." Masoka said some
farmers
from cattle ranching regions were not compensated because there had
been less
developments and improvements on the properties. "Since we
advertised for
former white farmers to come and get their compensation from
the ministry,
the response has been overwhelming. "That is why the $800 000
000 that had
been originally budgeted for compensation for the year 2006 was
easily wiped
out and we had to go for a supplementary budget," added Masoka.
Three farms
were compensated for improvements in Manicaland, two in Makoni
district and
one in Mutare as of June this year. In Mashonaland Central,
six farms were
compensated for within the same period. Of these districts,
Shamva had
three, Mazowe, (1), Bindura (1) and Mount Darwin (1).
Five farms were
compensated for improvements in Mashonaland East and two in
Goromonzi and
Murehwa districts, while the other falls under Chivhu
district. A much
bigger number of farms were compensated for improvements
made on the
properties in Mashonaland West. The districts are Lomagundi
(8), Hurungwe
(5) and Harare (2). Four farms were compensated in Masvingo
and the Midlands
as of June 2006. These are in Nuanetsi in Mwenezi, Masvingo
(1) and Mberengwa
(1) and Gweru (2) in the Midlands province. No
compensation has been paid as
yet in Matabeleland North and South. Within
the same period, six farms were
compensated for their acquired equipment
countrywide. These are in
Manicaland's Makoni district (1), Goromonzi and
Murehwa in Mashonaland East
(2). Masoka said the ministry intended to
inspect, value and compensate all
acquired farms by December 2010. "We also
intend to compensate 100 former
farm owners whose land has been gazetted and
acquired for resettlement
purposes by December 2006," he said. He added
that during the period under
review (June 2006), 33 former farm owners had
their land inspected, valued
and compensated. He said as a result of an
enabling legislation (Land
Acquisition Act), equipment and machinery on six
sites had also been
distributed to deserving A2 resettled farmers.
Masoka added that his
ministry's objective was to plan and demarcate 20
percent of acquired farms
by December this year. He said 36 farms have been
planned under Model A2 and
12 farms under Model A1. "Re-planning has so far
been done for 18 farms
under Model A2 and four farms under Model A1. The
main reason.was to redress
issues of unviable units, sharing of
infrastructure and rationalisation of
resettlement models," Masoka said. He
said in Masvingo, the re-planning of
Chizvirizvi resettlement area had
started in order to accommodate 700
(Chitsa) families currently settled in
the Gonarezhou National Park. "A
planning team is to be deployed to
Chiredzi to re-plan Mkwasine sub-divisions
of 10 hectares into bigger and
viable units of sugarcane. This task should
be completed by end of
October," Masoka said. He added: "In Matabeleland
North, planning of
Redbank Farm has commenced to relocate people in the
Indonesian farms, that
is Mimosa Park and Dollar Block." Masoka said 40
beneficiaries were at
Mimosa Park while 32 would be affected at Dollar Block
Farm.
Zimbabwe's resettlement programme was divided into two
phases.
The first ran from 1980-1998 and resettled 71 000 families on 3
498 444
hectares of land. The second, currently under implementation, was
divided
into the Inception Phase (1998-June 2000) and the Fast Track Phase.
During
the Inception Phase 4 697 families were resettled on 144 991 hectares
while
140 698 A1 families were resettled on 2 740 farms under the Fast
Track
phase. A further 14 856 A2 farmers were resettled on 2 280 farms
during the
same period. Meanwhile, our correspondent in Bulawayo Pamenus
Tuso reports
that the government has rehabilitated farming implements that
have been idle
on resettled farms as part of preparations for the coming
agricultural
season. Speaking there recently, the Minister of Economic
Development,
Rugare Gumbo, said the sub-committee on Land and Equipment
Rehabilitation
had made considerable progress in rehabilitating farming
equipment left by
previous property owners during the land reform programme.
"Government has
prioritised the timely availing of resources and inputs to
the agricultural
sector. To date, a number of tractors, combine harvesters
and various
farming implements have been rehabilitated in preparation for the
2006/2007
farming season," the Minister said without giving statistics of
implements
so far rehabilitated. In a bid to boost production this season,
Gumbo said
the government was in the process of revamping a number of
agro-based
facilities in addition to procuring inputs such as
fertiliser,
agro-chemicals and agricultural equipment to farmers throughout
the country.
The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has so far received 47 000
tonnes of
fertiliser from South Africa to complement local supplies. The
fertiliser,
which consists of Ammonium Nitrate (AN) and all compounds, is
part of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's revolving US$45 million fertiliser and
grain
import facility signed with Nedbank of South Africa this
year.
"The availability of these inputs will be evident towards the end
of next
month when some of these facilities begin to bear fruit. The
private
sector, especially banks, is expected to actively participate in
the
financing of the forthcoming summer crops and tobacco. This will
augment
government's efforts to ensure that the sector is adequately
resourced,"
said the minister. Gumbo also announced that government has
arranged for
the supply of adequate fuel to farmers in support of the new
agricultural
season. Weather experts have predicted below average rainfall
for Zimbabwe
and the rest of Southern Africa.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa
ONCE
again our country is proven as the laughing stock of the world.
This time it
is to do with the US$300MILLION bogus deal that the Governor of
the Reserve
Bank, Gideon Gono, is said to have entered into with bogus
Russian
businessmen.
Put into perspective, our nation was led into false
hope that a
significant amount of foreign currency, investment and indeed
opportunity
for employment creation was coming our way from Russia as
Foreign Direct
Investment.
In Africa an FDI of US$300million is
very significant and for Zimbabwe
it would have meant a long way into
solving a lot of the economic ills that
bedevil us today. It would have
meant more purchasing power for the state
and the citizen as employment
came, it could have meant better health, it
could have meant more access to
education for the children of those that
would have been employed in the
project, it would have increased the
consumer basket by increasing the
purchasing power even in aligned
industries and needless to say it would
have meant an increase in production
because of the rise in demand through
increased consumer potential.
When I learnt that there would be
such investment into our country I
was thrilled, you see I am Zimbabwean
first and MDC second. Anything that is
good for my country is good for me no
matter who is promoting it, ZANU PF or
the party I support, MDC. BUT THIS,
THIS REVELATION THAT IT WAS A FUSS; "MY
SON IT'S NOT A HOUSE THAT WE ARE
GOING TO AFTER ALL, WE ARE GOING INTO A
CARAVAN!"
That the
highest man in our Monetary (well and Fiscal too) policy
Gideon Gono ended
up in the wrong hands and opened our sacred mining secrets
to potential
conmen is not only something that all of us as Zimbabweans
should forever be
ashamed of but it tells us how far the current Government
of Zimbabwe has
travelled from the masses back home. Each Policy and move
that they make has
one ending; IT RATTLES WINDOWS AND LEAVES OUR HOUSE
NAKED! I am going to
spare the reader the reputation of all the Chimurenga
and the Operation that
which we all know have had disastrous consequences on
our country. I am
going to talk about the bogus deal that newspapers have
reported: http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=315
One fails to understand how a country that has one of the best trained
and
well resourced intelligence on the Continent, the Central Intelligence
Organisation, can let the Governor of their Reserve Bank into the hands of
such people and end up embarrassing the country on the international public
scene. Apparently the CIO was also trained in Russia, then Soviet Union, by
one of the Cold War's eminent intelligence, the KGB.
What it
shows is that in Zimbabwe priorities have been misplaced. The
CIO, an
apparatus of the state whose role in normal societies would have
been to put
an intelligence corridor around the nation and protect us
against all forms
of espionage, sabotage and any other form of adverse
foreign intervention,
is wrongly employed. They should have seen Gono
falling into a trap, would
have known before hand that the people he would
open our precious mineral
wealth to were briefcase businessmen not worth the
briefcases they were
carrying, they should have done a lot for the country
to save us the
humiliation of being fooled by the laughing stock of Russia
and justify the
salaries that they get from the overburdened Zimbabwean
taxpayer. But they
have their sights elsewhere: they are preoccupied with
MDC supporters,
labour leaders, cross border traders, teachers, footballers,
cricketers,
Zimbabwean exporters and importers, the youth, civic leaders,
church leaders
etc.
Instead of advising the country's Governor on who to see in
Russia,
that he sets his sights on the Government of Russia and established
businesses in Russia, the CIO is always devising ways of silencing
Zimbabweans who are legitimately fulfilling their roles in a country that
won its democracy through the lives of their brothers, sisters, mothers,
fathers and ancestors way before them.
The CIO has taken it
upon itself to be the sixth sense of one man,
Robert Mugabe and one Party,
ZANU PF, instead of looking at the common good
of Zimbabweans. Real enemies
of the state have seen the perforations in our
wall and they can get there
undetected, thanks to a CIO whose sole purpose
is to attack an innocent
citizenry by inventing Operations from hell such as
Operation Murambatsvina
which was solely for the razing of poor people's
houses.
As a
result the CIO has earned itself the hate of the Zimbabwean
citizenry who
were supposed to be the rivers in which they swim. What
happened to the
liberation philosophy which said exactly this? The Gono saga
helps to show
the nation and indeed the World the truth about a government
selling the
country out by misguiding its security personnel.
The security in
Zimbabwe now thinks that their mothers, sisters,
brothers and fathers are
the enemy and such real enemies of the State as the
bogus Russian
businessmen whom Gono entrusted Zimbabwe with are not left to
do as they
please with our country.
Zimbabweans everywhere must demand to know
the terms of reference of
our security personnel; they are the best on the
continent if not the World
but they have not been allowed to do their jobs.
They have been manipulated
by one man selfish at wanting to cling to power
and one Party again driven
by greed for power and corruption.
They have now become masters of terror as seen by the recent beatings
of
labour leaders and the murders of Tichaona Chiminya, Talent Mabika,
Tonderai
Machiridza, the atrocities in Matabeleland and many more. They have
become
the hand that is perfect in suppressing democracy as seen by vote
rigging,
the training of youth militias and the general targeting of MDC
supporters.
As they do all this they forget their simple roles; that they
owe their duty
to the nation and the nation in a democracy means the
Citizenry.
Theirs is to guard the nation from economic
sabotage, or espionage,
military sabotage or espionage and they must do so
with the help of
principles and ethics. For a country such as ours, which
paid for its
independence by blood, the principles are found in the founding
values of
the liberation struggle which among others are the EQUALITY FOR
ALL and
DEMOCRACY DEFINED AS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE,
FOR THE
PEOPLE.
Like every other Security Agency in Zimbabwe,
the CIO has the
potential of becoming our pride. They have to re-identify
with their true
role and start serving the nation and not become a party
functionary.
I am not asking them to start working for MDC, no. All
I am saying is
that ZANU PF already has its own security, Chinyavada, which
I think can do
well in its ZANU PF role. As for CIO it is for the country
and must be
accountable to the Citizenry.
It is unacceptable
for such a well-trained organization to be so
misguided that they sleep on
the job whilst the Reserve Bank Governor if
foolishly leading enemies oto
our uranium, platinum, methane and steel. The
CIO must, if professional, be
ashamed of itself.
Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa, Secretary, MDC-UK,
External Assembly
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
20 October
2006
Britain has donated US$10 million to the International
Organization for
Migration to help the most vulnerable of the Zimbabweans
being deported from
South Africa and those still feeling the impact of
Harare's 2005 eviction
and demolition campaign.
South Africa has
returned about 47,000 Zimbabweans to their country since
May, and the IOM
has helped about half of these, the nongovernmental
organization
said.
The IOM set up a support centre at Beitbridge border crossing in
May with
help from Britain and from Sweden's International Development
Cooperation
Agency.
The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF,
has set up a children's
center there.
IOM Information Officer Nicola
Simmonds told Blessing Zulu about the
programs.
Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition coordinator Jacob Mafume, whose group has
provided legal
assistance to deportees, said the collapse of Zimbabwe's
economy, caused by
corruption and misgovernance, has made emigration a
necessity for many.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
20 October
2006
Operatives of Zimbabwe's ruling party are alleged to
have been making life
difficult for street vendors in Harare's populous
Mbare district by imposing
political conditions on hawkers seeking to be
allocated a stall, sources in
the neighborhood said.
The ZANU-PF
activists have allegedly demanded that those applying for market
stalls in
Musika, Mupedzanhamo and other markets prove ruling party
membership.
Vendors attending a meeting Thursday evening of the
Combined Harare
Residents Association said the ZANU-PF operatives were
obliging those
seeking to rent stalls to produce ruling party membership
cards and
excluding non-party members.
The ZANU-PF militants were
said to have threatened to beat or even kill
anyone who complained about the
politicized system of allocating much-sought
stalls.
Residents also
complained about inconsistent and inflated municipal service
bills.
Combined Harare Residents Association coordinator Margaret
Matienga, who
lives in Mbare, told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio
7 for
Zimbabwe that residents of the district intend to stage demonstrations
soon
over such issues.
VOA
By
Blessing Zulu
Washington
20 October
2006
Zimbabwe's cabinet is moving to rein in parliamentarians who
have been
attempting to expose high-level corruption, fueling
power-struggles in the
ruling ZANU-PF party.
The cabinet instructed
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to tell house
speaker John Nkomo to clip
the wings of a committee probing corruption at
the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel
Company, and other committees deemed to be
stepping out of line.
But
Nkomo, tipped to succeed aging First Vice President Joseph Msika,
declined
to obey, ruling party sources said. Nkomo, aligned with Second Vice
President Joyce Mujuru, is said to have told Chinamasa, reputedly aligned
with ex-speaker Emerson Mnangagwa, that he is pleased with how parliament is
handling the scandal.
Ruling party sources said Chinamasa then told
ZANU-PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo
to bring three committee chairmen into line:
Walter Mzembi, agriculture,
David Butau, finance, and Enoch Porusungazi,
industry and international
trade.
Mzembi's agriculture committee
revealed that Zimbabwe is headed for more
shortages of food because of poor
preparation for the 2006-07 crop season.
Butau's finance committee blasted
ministries for fiscal indiscipline, and
Enoch Porusungazi's panel is
investigating charges that ministers, MPs and
others looted the steel
company.
For perspective on the cabinet-parliament face-off, reporter
Blessing Zulu
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to acting information
minister Paul
Mangwana, also the anti-corruption minister. Mangwana said
some MPs have
become overzealous.
Lawyer and political commentator
Dewa Mavhinga commended speaker Nkomo and
parliament for working hard to
expose inefficiency and corruption.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
20 October
2006
Hundreds of women in Mutare and other parts of the eastern
Zimbabwe province
of Manicaland have embarked on street protests, beating
pots with wooden
utensils in the evening to indicate that they do not have
food to cook for
their families.
Such demonstrations have been taking
place every evening at supper hour in
Mutare, the provincial capital, and
nearby towns such as Nyazura and Rusape,
sources in the region said, adding
that there have also been spontaneous
protests by small groups.
A
source in the Movement for Democratic Change faction led by Morgan
Tsvangirai said the party was organizing the demonstrations to "test the
waters." Tsvangirai has been promising since March to organize mass
protests. But aside from one march in Harare in early September his MDC
faction has been outdone by civic groups and organized labor, which brought
off high-profile protests later last month.
Resident Monica Nyashanu
of the Mutare suburb of Chikanga has taken part in
the protests. She said
they are about bread-and-butter issues, not politics.