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MBABANE
(AFP) - Top UN envoy Haile Menkerios was set Thursday to discuss the
political crisis in Zimbabwe with Swaziland's king, who currently heads an
African security body, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The talks
come just three days after King Mswati III led a failed effort by
African
leaders to rescue a faltering power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.
A new
summit is set for Monday in Harare, where southern African leaders
will try
to break an impasse on forming a unity government in Zimbabwe, seen
as the
best chance for ending the country's political turmoil and halting
its
economic decline.
Menkerios also plans to discuss the conflict in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo and other regional security issues, foreign
ministry spokesman
Clifford Mamba said in a statement.
"He will be
consulting with the king on the issues of security and
peacekeeping in
(southern Africa), especially on Zimbabwe and the Democratic
Republic of
Congo," Mamba said.
The king chairs the security organ of the 15-nation
South African
Development Community (SADC).
King Mswati had gathered
the presidents of South Africa, Mozambique and
Congo in Swaziland's capital
on Monday in hopes of ending the deadlock in
Zimbabwe.
President
Robert Mugabe attended the meeting, but Zimbabwe opposition leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai refused to attend.
A new summit has been set for October 27 in
Harare in hopes of settling
differences between the rivals over control of
powerful ministries --
particularly home affairs, which oversees the police
force.
Menkerios on Tuesday voiced confidence that a deal would be
reached in
Zimbabwe.
"I am confident that a deal will be reached
between the two because both
sides know by now that there is no other way
but to sit down and reach an
agreement," he told AFP in Addis
Ababa.
Menkerios was also expected to discuss renewed fighting in the
Democratic
Republic of Congo, where the UN said Tuesday that more than
50,000 people
fled their homes following intense fighting between government
and rebel
troops in the northeastern Ituri region.
Fighting in late
August in nearby Nord-Kivu province has also displaced
another 100,000
people.
More than one million people have been forced to flee their homes
in the
region, aid agencies say.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6299
October 23, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
MASVINGO - Civic organisations meeting here Thursday urged
the MDC led by
Morgan Tsvangirai not to pull out of the deal signed last
month between the
two MDC parties and Zanu-PF amid reports that the
mainstream MDC now intends
to withdraw form the talks if Tsvangirai
continues to be denied a passport.
The civic groups said the MDC should
continue to negotiate with Zanu-PF as
saying pulling out of the deal at this
stage would worsen the suffering of
the people of Zimbabwe.
Delegates
at the meeting said although Zanu-PF was obviously negotiating in
bad faith
negotiations over the allocation of cabinet posts should continue.
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition advocacy officer Gladys Hlatshwayo said
although the
situation on the ground indicated that Zanu-PF was negotiating
in bad faith
there was need for the MDC to maintain the dialogue.
"It is my view that
if the opposition pulls out of the talks the suffering
of the people will
continue to worsen", said Hlatshwayo. "The best way for
us to get out of
this economic and political crisis is through
negotiations."
While
many continue to refer to the MDC as the opposition, in fact, it now
holds
more seats in Parliament than Zanu-PF.
Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe national president Takavafira Zhou
said;" Zanu-PF is like a leopard
which will not change its spots but we have
to keep on piling pressure for
the people of this country to be free.
"Pulling out of the talks will not
be in the best interests of the people of
this country and therefore we are
urging the MDC to continue with the talks".
Turning to the issue of
Tsvangirai's passport which caused him not to travel
to Swaziland on Monday
for the SADC Troika meeting delegates were unanimous
that the MDC leader
should unconditionally be issued with a passport.
"If any other citizen
can go to the Registrar General's office and get a
passport what about the
Prime Minister designate?" asked one of the
delegates who requested
anonymity.
"The MDC leader should be given a passport and nothing
else".
The civic organisations also took a swipe at the SADC Troika,
which
postponed the meeting to next Monday in Harare, for "dancing to
Mugabe's
tune".
"We are baffled by the SADC Troika which postponed
the meeting on the
grounds that the MDC leader did not have a passport,"
said Hlatswayo.
"Postponing the meeting to Harare means that the Troika
is dancing to Mugabe's
tune. In a normal situation we would have expected
the Troika to force
Mugabe to issue Tsvangirai with a passport and not to
move the meeting to
Harare."
Speculation is rife that the MDC leader
will boycott the proposed the Harare
meeting if he is not issued with a
passport.
Zimbabweans are anxiously waiting for the two main political
parties to
conclude the power-sharing deal so the country can focus on
political and
economic development.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
23 October
2008
The head of the MDC's women's assembly, Theresa Makone, on Thursday
said her
party had lost 'total faith' in Thabo Mbeki's mediation efforts to
resolve
the crisis in Zimbabwe.
'Although we hold him in high esteem,
we have felt as a party that he has
not treated us fairly to what he does to
Robert Mugabe and his party,'
Makone said.
The women's assembly
chairperson said what bothers the MDC is that when ever
they raise an issue
of concern with Mbeki, he never responds.
'We have raised a lot of issues
with him, including lately the alterations
to the memorandum of agreement
signed by the party principals, but he has
not bothered to respond to us,'
Makone added.
She wondered if Mbeki would ignore any of Mugabe's queries,
adding that they
know a lot of things happen behind their
back.
Meanwhile, a high level delegation of the MDC that is Kampala,
Uganda for
the first tripartite summit of three eastern and southern African
blocks,
has said Thabo Mbeki's usefulness in the Zimbabwe talks has come to
an end.
They have asked the full grouping of SADC to step in and help, as
opposed to
just the security organ of SADC that organized the recent
summit.
The MDC delegation is being led by the party's vice-president
Thokozani
Khupe and includes Elphas Mukonoweshuro, secretary for Foreign
Affairs and
Elton Mangoma, the deputy treasurer-general.
The trio
have been on a diplomatic offensive to the East African Community,
the
Southern Africa Development Community and the Common Market of Eastern
and
Southern Africa - asking the three regional economic blocs to trim the
powers of Robert Mugabe.
Concerned by Mbeki's endorsement of Mugabe's
unilateral grab of key
ministries two weeks ago, the MDC delegation told
various African leaders in
Kampala that they wanted a fair share of the
ministries and governors'
posts. They also made it clear Mbeki was no longer
an ideal mediator because
of his bias towards ZANU PF.
Reports said
while MDC officials were not allowed inside the summit hall,
they met
different groups, including individual presidents, to put their
grievances
across to the leaders attending the tripartite meeting.
The group has
also extensively used talk show radio interviews to lobby
African leaders.
Speaking on Vision Voice FM, part of the state-owned New
Vision media group
on Wednesday, Khupe said they wanted the African
countries, especially SADC
members, to increase pressure on Mugabe to save
the power-sharing
agreement.
Khupe explained that the power-sharing talks had reached a
deadlock over two
fundamental issues: the equitable distribution of
ministerial posts and of
governors' posts.
The MDC are demanding that
five governors' posts be given to them, five to
Mugabe's ZANU PF and one to
the MDC splinter party. Mangoma added that they
wanted four of the 10 most
influential ministries. He added; 'This is where
African leaders are
gathering for the COMESA, SADC and EAC summit and we
know that Mugabe will
be here. We don't want only his side of the story to
be heard.'
The
three regional economic communities in eastern and southern Africa
comprise
26 countries with a combined population of 527 million people.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
23 October
2008
There are understandable concerns that internal corruption at the
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will see desperately needed foreign monetary
aid
being diverted into different channels - this as a cash boost of
millions of
US dollars by the United Nations could soon be filtered through
the central
bank.
The Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and
Malaria, administered by the
UN and funded by Britain, America and other
influential world powers has
agreed in principle to Zimbabwe's request for
help. It's understood the
government had applied for almost $300 million to
fight Aids, $58 million to
combat tuberculosis, almost $60 million for
malaria and $83 million for its
health service in general.
The money,
if it reached its intended sources, would help Zimbabwe's
deteriorating
health and medical services recover from their shocking
decline. The
combined economic and political crises in the country have had
a dire effect
on the health system, and an entire nation is now battling
hunger, cholera
and Aids with no proper treatment.
But Zimbabwean law states that all
foreign exchange must be deposited with
the Reserve Bank, and herein is where
the concern lies. RBZ Governor and
close ally of Robert Mugabe, Gideon Gono,
routinely delays releasing any
funds and funds have often mysteriously gone
missing after being filtered
through the Bank. For example an estimated
US$600,000 for one aid programme
was for several months kept in the grip of
the Bank and a senior official
with one donor organisation in Harare
reported that some funds had actually
gone missing after arriving at the
RBZ. Large sums of donor money, in
foreign currency, had also reportedly
been taken from the accounts of local
aid agencies during the presidential
elections.
The UN's Global Fund has insisted that strict safeguards are
in place to
prevent such known corruption within the RBZ. According to
Global Fund's
communication director, Jon Liden, there is no reason for
concern. "The
money is highly controlled in an extremely tight and cautious
way," he said
in a recent interview. "We have not seen any signs of money
being lost to
corruption in Zimbabwe, despite operating in Zimbabwe for five
years."
But despite the UN's insistence that the critically needed cash
injection
will not line the pockets of Robert Mugabe's political elite,
there is
little confidence that the norm will not play out as usual. The
Mugabe
government has made a concerted effort to hamper any critical aid to
repair
the country, by blocking aid as well as stealing money and food. The
fact
that funds have in the past disappeared leaves little hope that the
UN's
assistance will be properly distributed.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6309
October 23, 2008
Jupiter Punungwe
MORE
than four months ago, Zimbabwean politicians began what at the time was
billed to be a two week exercise to mend bridges and form a government of
national unity. As an ominous sign of flippancy on their part, the
negotiators started by disagreeing over the unequal access to free beer,
that the hosts had granted them.
Now four months latter, the two
sides clearly have more stomach for
insulting and humiliating each other
than they have for agreeing on anything
of benefit to the nation. It is my
sincere belief that structural defects in
the framework of the negotiations,
which some of us warned about, are
responsible for the current
stalemate.
First and foremost was the lack a clear vision and framework
of what the
negotiators wanted to achieve in terms of transforming life in
Zimbabwe. In
previous writings I have contrasted the current talks with the
Lancaster
House talks. At the end of Lancaster House talks everybody knew
how life was
going to change after the agreement was implemented. No mention
at all was
made of the number of cabinet posts and who was going to occupy
them.
In the current talks everything was about individuals who were
supposed to
occupy posts and have certain powers given to them. Little, if
any, mention
of how life should be transformed by the negotiations was made.
The
expectation that life would be transformed for the better after certain
individuals were given powers was by presumption rather than by design. Up
to now nobody really knows what policies are going to be implemented by the
so called government of national unity.
To me it is clear that the
country is going to, by and large, follow
existing Zanu-PF policies. They
have sufficient numbers in cabinet and
control of the presidency to prevent
any changes they don't like. If the
other side digs in and there is a
stalemate, things continue being done
largely the way they have been done
before. We are already seeing that now.
Crippling economic policies,
including cronyism, are continuing while there
is a stalemate over the mere
sharing of cabinet posts.
The second big flaw was a lack of a clear
transitional framework. A
situation was allowed to prevail whereby those
supposed to relinquish power
felt threatened by the transition. If I am
holding a big stick, why should I
give you the stick when you keep promising
to hit me with it? Especially, if
there is no mechanism for ensuring
fairness on your part. Forget that I
have been unfair myself but I still
want my rights guaranteed. I must have
used megabytes of bandwidth writing
postings reminding people of the
transition from apartheid to democracy in
South Africa and the transition
from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.
The
outgoing oppressors were allowed to retire in peace not just for their
sake,
but also to give their supporters confidence in the new process and
make
sure they did not feel threatened. In Zimbabwe's present case the MDC
were
ambivalent about Mugabe's fate and clearly offered no guarantees to his
supporters. As it turns out the latter group are proving a major stumbling
block.
The third flaw was the closeting of the negotiations within a
small group of
overly ambitious politicians to the exclusion of broader
society. So far
only a meager nine individuals have been left to determine
the fate of the
country, two negotiators from each party and the respective
leaders. The
individuals involved were far from being paragons of principle,
and
inevitably the negotiations ended up focusing on what they as
individuals
were supposed to reap from the process.
The closeting of
negotiations even goes against the traditional democratic
practice of open
courts (matare) which allowed all members of the community
to participate in
decision making processes. At the end of the day the fate
of Zimbabweans was
left to be determined largely by outsiders like the South
African mediators
and of course Western ambassadors, especially the American
one, who clearly
had an undue and damaging influence on the talks.
The apparent close
consultations between the American ambassador, who some
claim was receiving
hourly briefings during the talks, and the MDC, only
served to heighten the
mistrust of the latter that Zanu-PF clearly have.
That in itself obviously
diminishes the chances of Zanu-PF relinquishing
which, it should be clear to
everyone, is still firmly in their hands.
From the above considerations
it should be crystal clear that the talks had
no well defined objective in
terms of transforming life in Zimbabwe. The
talks were thus reduced to a
mere tussle for power between the MDC and
Zanu-PF. In this tussle for power
each side is focusing on getting
possession of the stick of power and, of
course, the side already holding
the stick is refusing to give it
up.
At this point in time I am sure even the bedbugs in a Chikurubi
mattress are
aware that no meaningful transfer of real power from Zanu-PF is
going to
take place.
Apparently some people still have faith in a
SADC facilitated process. Just
a cursory look at the participants of the
process is enough to give clear
clues that the SADC process is unlikely to
yield a democratic result. One
should, interestingly, note that an absolute
monarch, dictator and serial
polygamist, was supposed to be the host of
talks to try and advance
democracy in Zimbabwe. I wonder what exactly he was
going to say in the
interests of democracy in Zimbabwe, given the situation
in his own country.
It is also clear that Tsvangirai is virtually a
prisoner. Zanu-PF is keeping
him where they can nab him at a moment's
notice. My six-year old son got a
passport within a week of applying just a
few weeks back. It should
therefore be exposed like the buttocks of a
baboon, that the government,
place my six year old son several rungs higher
than the MDC leader on the
ladder of importance. Does anybody seriously
think such people are going to
allow him to exercise meaningful power? If
people who think that way exist,
they are exercising a phenomenon called
'dreaming with the eyes open'.
At this point it is getting too late to
expect a meaningful government of
national unity to ever emerge. However it
is not too late to start talking
about how we want Zimbabwe to be run,
irrespective of who is running the
country. As I have always advocated
matters of principle should always be
openly discussed and advocated.
http://www.businessday.co.za
23
October 2008
Hopewell
Radebe
Agreement
would open way for SA aid
Diplomatic Editor
THE ongoing
political impasse in Zimbabwe posed a threat to regional plans
for the
country's economic recovery, especially in the fragile agriculture
sector,
foreign affairs director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba said yesterday.
He
expressed concern at the lack of progress in talks aimed at negotiating a
power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.
Ntsaluba said an agreement on the
allocation of cabinet posts would open the
way for SA to help Zimbabwe to
address its bigger challenges of "bringing
stability to food security". SA's
treasury has set aside R300m to aid
Zimbabwe.
"Unfortunately,
there is no plan B for Zimbabwe, and we are hoping that the
leadership there
would take the opportunity and rise to the challenge,"
Ntsaluba
said.
The Zimbabwean talks are blocked over the allocation of cabinet
posts, most
recently the finance and home affairs ministries, which
President Robert
Mugabe claimed for his Zanu (PF) party over the strong
objections of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
The MDC said yesterday it looked increasingly possible it would
abandon
talks with Mugabe and seek new elections.
Ntsaluba
praised Finance Minister Trevor Manuel for pledging R300m which
will be
channelled towards Zimbabwe's economic recovery with an emphasis on
agriculture projects.
Manuel says the R300m is "subject to acceptance
of an appropriate role for
international food relief agencies by a
recognised multiparty government".
Ntsaluba said he hoped for a
breakthrough at the next Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
mediation effort in Harare next week.
"SA's intentions are very good
but time is not on our side. We are already
looking at another disastrous
agriculture season," said John Makumbe, a
University of Zimbabwe
lecturer.
"What would make sense is to use the money to purchase food for
millions of
people who are starving or buy farming inputs for next year (the
2009-10
season) because the agriculture season is already on us and we have
been
caught wanting again," he said.
Even if SA was immediately to
release the funds, buy inputs, transport them
to Zimbabwe and distribute
them among farmers it could take more than three
months, which would be too
late in the season, Makumbe said.
The United Nations
(UN) World Food Programme has warned that the number of
Zimbabweans needing
food aid is expected to double by early next year, to
more than 5-
million.
The UN has appealed for an extra $140m to deal with the
crisis.
The organisation is already giving emergency food aid to about
2,5-million
people in Zimbabwe after the failure of this year's maize
harvest.
Official Zimbabwean figures show that the country has less than
30% of its
national seed requirements.
Farmers have been forced to
halve their maize hectarage to 500000 from a
targeted 1-million hectares.
With ZimOnline
http://www.businessday.co.za
23
October 2008
IT
IS now clear that Zanu (PF) never had any real intention of negotiating
in
good faith to resolve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. The
so-called power-sharing agreement with the opposition Movement For
Democratic Change (MDC), signed well over a month ago, was little more than
a bid to buy time and relieve the domestic and international pressure that
was ratcheting up against the regime.
In that it has been partially
successful, with the global financial crisis
and threatened split in SA's
ruling party serving to distract attention from
Zimbabwe. With hindsight,
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was naive to believe
essential details such as
the allocation of key ministries could be sorted
out after the agreement was
signed - Robert Mugabe has a long history of
breaking his word and should
never again be trusted.
But while Zanu (PF) may have wriggled out of the
tight spot they were in,
the relief is bound to be temporary. As difficult
as it is to imagine, the
misery suffered by ordinary Zimbabweans in recent
years continues to worsen.
The economy is gutted; soon there will be little
left of the country that is
worth fighting for.
Under these
circumstances Tsvangirai cannot be blamed for being less than
enthusiastic
over the new talks planned for next week in Harare. The
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) has let him down repeatedly in
the past; why
should this time be any different?
If SADC-appointed mediator Thabo Mbeki
ever had any influence over Mugabe,
that has disappeared along with his
status as president of the regional
powerhouse. Sadly, neither his
replacement, Kgalema Motlanthe, nor African
National Congress president
Jacob Zuma, seems poised for decisive
intervention.
The only ray of
hope is Botswana President Ian Khama, who appears to be
taking over where
the late Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia left off as the only
significant thorn in
Mugabe's side. His call for greater involvement by the
United Nations is the
best suggestion on the table .
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE - Parirenyatwa
Hospital, one of the largest referral hospitals
in Harare has stopped
hospital admissions with immediate effect due to a
chronic shortage of
staff, drugs and food.
"As much as we would love to admit
patients we do not have the drugs
and food to give these patients and so we
are turning them away,' a nurse
told Radio VOP.
As the economic
situation continue to deteriorate, qualified doctors,
nurses and other
support staff continue to desert the health sector in
droves for the United
Kingdom, South Africa and Botswana.
In a sad turn of events this week
the hospital was turning away
seriously ill patients as there was nobody to
attend them and neither were
the drugs and food to give them
available.
Some dejected people ferrying ailing relatives could be seen
leaving
the hospital after being told that the medical institution had
stopped
admissions.
The western entrance to the hospital, called
the Casualty Department,
is symbolic of the collapse of this once proud
institution, formerly named
Andrew Fleming Hospital when it was built to
serve the white Rhodesian
community under Ian Smith's regime. (In 1965
Smith, the white minority
leader of then Rhodesia, declared unilateral
independence from Britain).
The hospital reception is a theatre of
agony: adults weep, the injured
groan and women who have just lost loved
ones wail as new arrivals line up
only to be told that they hospital have
stopped admissions.
The economic meltdown has seriously affected
the operations of the
hospital. In February the medical institutition
stopped all surgical
operations after it ran out of theatre
supplies.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZAHDR)
expressed
outrage at the worsening situation in government hospitals.
Douglas
Gwatidzo, ZAHDR chairman, said he feared many lives would be lost if
government did not intervene urgently.
http://en.epochtimes.com
By Dr. César Chelala Oct 22,
2008
Zimbabwe is-and is in-a problematic state. Once the
breadbasket of Africa,
the country's population is suffering the
consequences of government
policies that have seriously affected its
people's health and quality of
life.
With inflation rates soaring at
an unprecedented 231 million percent, the
country is trapped in a political
impasse that seriously affects the
humanitarian situation and demands urgent
measures to avoid a catastrophe.
Hopes for a political settlement
following the power-sharing agreement
between President Robert Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are
quickly being dashed following these
adversaries' incapacity to agree over
control of the most important
ministries, such as defense, home affairs, and
finance.
In the
meantime, the health situation in the country continues to
deteriorate,
affecting mainly children and those most vulnerable. The United
Nations
estimates that more than 5 million people-almost half of the country's
population-is in need of food aid. Eighty-three percent of Zimbabweans are
living on less than two U.S. dollars a day, and 45 percent of the population
is malnourished, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
Rachel
Pounds, Save the Children's Zimbabwe country director, has called
attention
to the increasing malnutrition level among children and to the
need for
increased food aid. Many children are eating rats or some inedible
roots
such as makuri-which is riddled with toxic parasites-to control
hunger,
according to that agency. That root has no nutritional value and
provokes
terrible stomach pains.
Lack of proper nutrition seriously affects
people's immune systems and makes
them more vulnerable to illnesses. This is
particularly important for those
with HIV/AIDS, which affects one in five
adults in Zimbabwe-the country with
the fourth-largest rate of HIV infection
in the world.
Only a third of the 300 000 Zimbabweans who need
antiretroviral drugs are
now receiving them. Lack of adequate statistics
makes it difficult to follow
the course of the epidemic.
Critical as
is the situation in Zimbabwe's main cities, it is even more
critical in
rural areas. There is a tremendous lack of basic materials,
refrigerators,
medicines, and medical personnel. Ambulances are grounded for
lack of fuel
and spare parts. Many of the rural clinics have been left under
the
supervision of nurses' aides, who lack the knowledge and means to treat
most
patients.
Significant gains in child health in the 1980s are being
eroded, according
to the World Health Organization (WHO). Under-5 mortality
rose from 80 per
1,000 live births in 1990 to 123 per 1,000 in 2005.
Immunization programs
now cover less than 70 percent of children for some
major childhood diseases
such as polio, diphtheria, and measles.
Approximately 115 000 children under
14 years of age are infected with HIV,
according to UNICEF.
Doctors have been leaving the country in droves
because of low salaries and
bad working conditions. The Zimbabwe Association
of Doctors for Human Rights
(ZADHR) declared on June of 2007, "It can no
longer be said the health
service is near collapse. The emptying of central
and other hospitals of
staff, and therefore patients, means the health
service has collapsed."
The food crisis has had a significant impact on
children's education. Many
children drop out of school because they cannot
afford to go, because they
need to work for food, or because their teachers
cannot afford the journey
to the schools. In addition, many teachers have
become HIV-infected.
This is a sad state of affairs for a country whose
public health system was,
together with South Africa's system, among the
most developed of most of the
40-odd other nations of sub-Saharan Africa, as
I was able to see during a
visit to the country in the mid
1980s.
While people's rights in their widest sense have been
systematically abused,
President Mugabe has strongly denied any criticism of
his policies. He has
repeatedly declared, "Let me say once again that the
West should spare us
their lessons on human rights. They don't have the
moral authority to parade
themselves as torchbearers of human
rights."
Zimbabwe needs massive foreign assistance to overcome this
crisis. But the
government has placed serious restrictions on the work of
aid agencies.
Although foreign aid is critical, it is up to Zimbabwe's new
unity
government to lead the country out of this juncture, and restore what
was
once a model public health system.
Dr. César Chelala is an
international public health consultant.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Robert Mugabe may be able to hold
power in Zimbabwe for "a very long time"
unless his neighbours intervene,
according to a senior Western diplomat.
By Sebastien Berger, Southern
Africa Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:36PM BST 23 Oct 2008
The
deadlocked power-sharing agreement with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change has failed to produce a new government. Meanwhile, the
economy is spiralling into hyperinflation and collapse, forcing the regime
to print money in order to pay its bills.
But the diplomat judged
that Mr Mugabe had enough resources to keep his
regime afloat. "There's
still enough in the country in terms of minerals,
remittances and printing
money to keep this regime in office, in power, for
the foreseeable future,"
he said.
"There's still enough meat on the carcass of Zimbabwe for this
regime to
survive and not to be threatened. He doesn't need as many people
as you
think."
In order to stay in power, Mr Mugabe must maintain the
levers of repression,
notably the army. On paper, Zimbabwe has 40,000
troops, but some 25,000 are
engaged in nothing more than growing food for
themselves.
The diplomat, speaking anonymously, assessed that two
brigades deployed in
urban areas, supported by a few other military units
and some sections of
the police, would be enough to deal with any unrest and
keep Mr Mugabe in
office.
"Most of the police already don't get paid.
He needs 15,000 to 20,0000 to
keep him in power and there's enough meat on
the carcass to do that."
The only prospects for change were "either some
kind of internal event,
either military or political" - neither of which
appeared likely - or
"effective external intervention", said the
diplomat.
"Mugabe wants what he regards as his prerogatives. He sees this
place as a
wholly owned subsidiary of Mugabe Inc. He wants to continue
controlling this
place. The thing is he can."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
23 October
2008
A 73 year old white farmer evicted from his North Shangani farm in
Chief
Sogwala's area of the Midlands, has been reduced to destitution and is
now
begging for handouts. Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme reports that
Collen
Dye, affectionately known as 'Ndex', was brutally assaulted by war
veterans
and ZANU PF youths around the 21st July this year and evicted from
his farm.
The eviction took place the same day as his birthday and he was
forced to
walk 45 km to the main road where he was able to catch a lift to
Bulawayo.
The farm invaders cut the phone lines, removed the poles and
put them in a
scotch cart before taking them away. They also filled up the
borehole on the
farm with stones and now members of the community who relied
on it have to
walk over 10km to get alternative water supplies. The invaders
eventually
sub-divided the farm into plots. They later set up snares to
catch animals
on the farm and Saungweme reports that, 'there is now not a
single animal on
the farm.'
Meanwhile Dye's health is failing because
of the assaults and this is not
helped by his destitution. He is complaining
of a painful chest, coughs a
lot and he's on the edge of starvation. Efforts
at seeking assistance from
groups that help farmers have only resulted in
him, 'being sent from pillar
to post.'
Dye was seen at the local MDC
office in Bulawayo seeking help with things
like food and transport money.
'I saw him at the MDC office and he looked a
pale shadow of his former self.
His whole body is scarred with injuries, he
looks hungry and has no money
for anything,' Saungweme said.
This year's harvest in Zimbabwe has been the worst in the country's modern
history. In Mashonaland West province, some people are trying to survive by eating
wild fruit and digging for roots "It's very very bad. I've got 12 children and it's hard to find anything to
give them," says a local village chief. "The whole of my village is struggling.
No-one has food. "There's nothing left here. So there's nothing I can do." Driving deep into Mashonaland West is a reminder that most Zimbabweans live
in rural areas. The area around Karoi - 200km (124 miles) north of the capital, Harare -
provides an illustration of the suffering currently being experienced in the
countryside. Farmers are without seeds, fertiliser and fuel. Next year's harvest is
already being written off as a disaster as well. As the political paralysis over the formation of the new power-sharing
government continues, people are experiencing severe food shortages brought on
by the catastrophic mismanagement of the economy and the virtual destruction of
the country's commercial agricultural sector. School dropouts Some Zimbabweans get by on one meal a day if they are lucky, but there is a
growing sense of desperation. One consequence is that thousands of children are said to be dropping out of
school to look for food. "In one district, 10,000 children of a population of 120,000 left school in a
period of six months," says Rachel Pounds, country director of UK charity Save
the Children. "There's a lot of lost hope. Zimbabweans put up with things that get worse
and worse, but you can see the despair in some of the poorer families in the
villages. "It's causing a breakdown of the community when people have to leave in order
to find food," she added. One villager in Mashonaland West pleaded for help before it was "too late".
"If we don't get help now, most of us are going to die. Nearly everyone here
is starving." He showed me three tins of stored maize, but said that with seven children to
feed, the supply would only last for a week. Earlier this month, the UN World Food Programme appealed for $140m (£86m) to
provide vital relief rations over the next six months. The UN warned that more than five million people (45% of the population)
could need assistance by early 2009. In the meantime however, non-governmental organisations working in Zimbabwe
have been hit hard by the economic collapse of this once prosperous country, and
the resulting cash crisis stemming from levels of inflation that are now
completely out of control. But it is not just the rural population which is suffering. Bizarre and depressing In the towns and cities, food is also in increasingly short supply. A walk around a suburban supermarket in Harare is a bizarre and depressing
experience. One store I visited looked as though it was in the final stages of a
clearance sale. Only two of the 19 check-out tills were operating, and most shelves were
entirely empty. There was no milk, cheese, margarine or yoghurt. Some cabbages, onions and limp bunches of spinach were available, along with
a few odd packs of frozen meat. The aisles intended for household goods such as soap and toilet paper were
empty and closed off. The only fresh-looking food items in the shop were a few loaves of bread,
priced this week at Z$30,000 a loaf (about $1). However, Zimbabweans are only permitted to withdraw Z$ 50,000 a day from the
banks. Most people often cannot afford what little food is available. Only those fortunate enough to have access to foreign currency can
circumnavigate the shortages. "We are distinctly aware that this is a food crisis that is growing," says
Karen Freeman, the director of USAid in Zimbabwe. "The issue of urban vulnerability has never really been felt here before.
"You could go to the store and buy food in the past, but now you have no
option. "There's no food in the store and there's no food on the ground. The crisis
now is one where you can neither buy food nor grow food." This is almost entirely a man-made crisis, created by President Robert
Mugabe's government, and his administration stands accused of having done
nothing to help.
BBC
News, Zimbabwe
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) The Zimbabwe
government has liberalised the
procurement of agricultural inputs in a move
that will see farmers being
allowed to import maize seed and fertilizer on
their own as individuals, a
state-run newspaper said here on
Thursday.
A critical shortage of maize seed and fertiliser was hampering
efforts to
increase food production in the southern African country where
nearly four
million people are facing starvation after a succession of poor
harvests
since 2000.
Preparations for the 2008/09 season had stalled
due to the absence of inputs
on the open market, with the limited supplies
of maize seed, pesticides and
fertiliser only available to a few
well-connected individuals.
The Herald daily said the Ministry of
Agriculture had with immediate effect
removed restrictions on imports of
agricultural inputs.
"Anyone who wants to import inputs like fertiliser
and maize seed can come
to the ministry and we can discuss the modalities,"
the Minister of
Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo, told the newspaper.
Until
the latest waiver, only registered seed companies and government
departments
were allowed to import inputs into Zimbabwe.
Under the new arrangement,
those wishing to import agricultural inputs would
have to obtain temporary
licences from the Ministry of Agriculture.
JN/nm/APA 2008-10-23
Photo:
IRIN
The new
seed merchants
HARARE, 23 October 2008 (IRIN) - The distribution of agricultural inputs such
as maize seed and fertiliser for the 2008/09 season has become the domain of
Zimbabwe's military and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
As the
first rains fell in October, farmers
flocked to traditional input retailers, only to be told that the government,
through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, had bought all the seed from producers and
had centralised the distribution of agricultural inputs.
"We received an
instruction that the government had purchased all the seed and would be
responsible for distribution to the farmers," an official who declined to be
identified told IRIN.
"I have been in this business for more than 20
years and I know the government does not have the capacity to distribute seed.
The best method is the traditional way of allowing retailers to sell to
farmers."
The absence of maize seed came as the Southern Africa Region
Climate Outlook Forum, based in neighbouring South Africa, predicted that
Zimbabwe would record normal rainfall between October and December, a crucial
stage in the growth of the country's staple food.
The commander of
Zimbabwe's defence forces, General Constantine Chiwenga, assisted by senior
military officials, has been given the responsibility of identifying the
beneficiaries of agricultural inputs, and maize seed and fertiliser have been
handed out at ZANU-PF rallies to party members and senior government officials.
Chiwenga, speaking at the launch of the initiative this week, said: "The
distribution of inputs will kick off soon at a lightning speed, and our plan is
to make sure that by November 14 this year, seeds should be underground waiting
for the rains. This year we must all work together so that we eradicate hunger
from our country."
State radio reported that distribution of the maize
seed had started in some parts of the country, especially in the provinces of
Mashonaland West, Central and East, the traditional support bases of ZANU-PF.
Seed only for senior officials
A ZANU-PF member
in Marondera, a large town in Mashonaland East Province, told IRIN that senior
army officers responsible for seed distribution were diverting it to the
parallel market.
Only a few ZANU-PF provincial leaders were allocated
seed and fertiliser, including the "A1" small-scale and communal farmers and the
"A2" new black commercial farmers. "Ordinary party members, such as myself and
other villagers, [were told] that the inputs had run out," the ZANU-PF member,
who declined to be identified, told IRIN.
Known or suspected Movement for Democratic Change supporters did not receive any maize seed or fertiliser from the soldiers, who are responsible for distribution |
"Known or suspected Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] supporters did not
receive any maize seed or fertiliser from the soldiers, who are responsible for
distribution," he said.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told IRIN the
military should not be involved in the distribution of agricultural inputs, as
they did not have the capacity, and there was a possibility that they would be
biased in favour of ZANU-PF supporters.
"There is a lot of disharmony,
disunity and acrimony, especially in rural communities, which is being
encouraged by ZANU-PF," Chamisa said. "We have received reports of the isolation
of MDC members, and this points at ZANU-PF's insincerity about the whole process
of dialogue and a new beginning."
A power-sharing deal signed on 15
September between the MDC and ZANU-PF has stalled, and the two parties are using
increasingly acrimonious language against each other.
Renson Gasela, the
MDC agricultural secretary and a former chief executive officer of the Grain
Marketing Board, a parastatal grain monopoly, told IRIN that "we are heading for
another disaster because the seed and fertiliser, which should be with the
farmers, cannot be found."
The UN estimates that more than five million
Zimbabweans - or nearly half the population - will require emergency food
assistance in the first quarter of 2009.
National emergency
On 23 October Parliament introduced a motion that the food
shortages constituted a national disaster; a full vote is to be conducted when
the house reconvenes on 11 November.
ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary
majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980 in the
general elections earlier this year. Gasela said its strategy now was to
distribute seed to small-scale rural farmers in a bid to buy their loyalty.
Agricultural inputs are being sold in foreign currency on the parallel
market; a 10kg bag of maize seed is priced at US$40, while a 50kg bag of
fertiliser retails at US$60.
Agriculture minister Rugare Gumbo told the
state-owned The Herald newspaper in an interview on 23 October that "Anyone who
wants to import inputs like fertiliser and maize seed can come to the ministry
and we can discuss the modalities, as whatever is done has to be authorised by
us."
Zimbabwe is suffering an official annual inflation rate of 231
million percent and foreign currency has become a very scarce commodity.
Seeds are usually preserved with a green chemical, but I was told that members of the community had soaked the maize seeds in water to remove the chemical and consumed them to avoid starving to death |
Gasela said licensing the import of agricultural inputs would not alleviate
the seed and fertiliser shortage, because "The planting season is upon us
already."
Anyhow, he added, it was very unlikely that a farmer would
travel to the ministry in the capital, Harare, pick up a licence, apply for a
visa to travel to South Africa, and then return in time to plant.
A
journalist who declined to be named told IRIN after visiting his home in rural
Masvingo Province that hunger was forcing farmers to eat what maize seed they
had, instead of planting it.
"Seeds are usually preserved with a green
chemical, but I was told that members of the community had soaked the maize
seeds in water to remove the chemical and consumed them to avoid starving to
death," he said. "Now they are living on wild fruit, which has caused the deaths
of many villagers."
http://www.csmonitor.com/
The military's fear of retribution threatens a
fragile power-sharing deal.
By The Monitor's Editorial Board
from the
October 24, 2008 edition
Zimbabwe's political power-sharing deal -
the hope of that tattered
country - is on the verge of collapse. Big-man
leader Robert Mugabe has
grabbed the mightiest ministries for himself,
handing paltry leftovers to
the opposition. But the problem is not that Mr.
Mugabe won't share. It's
that his top generals fear what will happen to them
if he does.
The fear is typical of perpetrators of violence and
suppression whose
influence is coming to an end. In Africa, it gripped
military and political
leaders in Rwanda, Burundi, and Liberia, to name a
few countries once
cleaved by civil war and atrocities.
It didn't
come to civil war in Zimbabwe, which not long ago was a prosperous
nation,
and now suffers searing inflation, joblessness, and hunger. But its
citizens
well remember the burned homes, beatings, rapes, and killings by
President
Mugabe's security forces in the run-up to last June's presidential
election.
Had the campaign been fair and safe, Morgan Tsvangirai, the
leader of the
opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), would
have likely
ousted Mugabe, who has ruled for 28 years. Instead, Mr.
Tsvangirai signed a
deal last month that allows his nemesis to stay on as
president, while he
takes the post of prime minister. Cabinet ministries are
to be almost evenly
divided between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and his
rivals.
At the signing, though, it wasn't decided who would get which
ministries,
and negotiations have broken down. Tsvangirai indicated he could
live with
the Army in Mugabe's portfolio, if he could have the police (which
brutalized him and many MDC faithful) and also the finance ministry, which
must change hands if the West is to gain confidence in a new unity
government and lift sanctions.
But this sensible allotment has met
stiff resistance in Mugabe's camp. Part
of the concern is loss of patronage.
The far more serious obstacle is the
worry by the military brass that they
will be investigated by police who
come under Tsvangirai's control - and
then prosecuted.
Tsvangirai has publicly said he has no interest in
retribution, but the
power-sharing deal does not guarantee immunity, and the
generals remain
suspicious. They sought protection in Mugabe, who owes them
his job, and he
obliged last week by unilaterally claiming the police and
key ministries.
When African leaders meet in Zimbabwe Oct. 27 to try to
end this impasse,
Tsvangirai wants them to pressure Mugabe. But the pressure
seems misplaced.
It is the generals who need persuading.
In the near
term, Tsvangirai should build bridges to the military leaders
and try to
establish some level of trust. This is how, for instance, Burundi
has been
able to move forward since signing a peace accord in 2000 (an
accord that
also did not guarantee immunity).
In the longer term, Zimbabwe needs to
find a balance between justice and
mercy. It has a model in South Africa's
Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
which investigated apartheid's human
rights violations, sought reparation
for victims, and weighed
amnesty.
If Zimbabwe is to unify and heal, it must move from big-man to
big-heart
politics. That's a long journey, but if Tsvangirai begins by
taking the
first step, he makes it easier for Mugabe & Co. to
follow.
MEDIA
RELEASE
SPARROW FAMILY / BSI Steel
Thursday, 23 October
2008: Courtney Sparrow, the eight year old
Zimbabwean who was attacked by two lions on her parent’s Masvingo property in
On the day of the incident, 16 September 2008, due to
life threatening injuries
Courtney was airlifted by Medical Air Rescue Services from Masvingo to
The injuries were to multiple parts of her
body and therefore it was necessary for a team of doctors to care for her
including pediatric, neuro, plastic and ophthalmic surgeons.
Under the care of these doctors she has undergone 16
hours of surgery, the most recent operation re-implanted the bone into her
scull. Courtney is being watched in
The
issue the family now faces is how to pay for expenses, owing to Netcare, the
“People who have heard about the story through the media and even Facebook have been helping, even children have been donating small amounts and BSi Steel, a JSE-listed steel company, based in Pietermaritzburg has come to our aid with an incredible R100 000 donation. They have also assisted us to set up an audited Section 18A Trust Fund to accept and manage donations on behalf of Courtney via Neil’s Comfort Fund, which will be our relief fund for Courtney’s ongoing medical expenses.”
William Battershill, the chairman and Group CEO of BSi Steel explains his motivation and involvement, “As an ex-Zimbabwean myself, I was horrified by the story of a little girl who was mauled by lions intended to protect the family’s property from a war veteran invasion. We really wanted to help support her family. I encourage businesses in particular to get involved and support Courtney via Neil’s Comfort Fund as donations are now tax deductible.”
Courtney’s medical expenses are expected to be between R1 million and R1.5 million and currently stand at R700 000. Money raised so far is R450 000.
Businesses and members of the public are asked to help the Sparrow family with contributions so that this will aid Courtney to put her life back together.
Neil’s Comfort
Fund
NPO 56 /200
Standard Bank
Account # 252 682 580
Branch # 057525
Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ
Please use BSI as the
reference
PHOTO CAPTION – these photos are
available at hi-res on request:
Courtney
Sparrow who was mauled by two lions is on the mend. At an outing to the
Lippizaner horses this past Sunday.
For further information or hi res
photos, please contact Michelle K Blumenau, Turquoise PR & Marketing
Communications michelle@turquoisepr.co.za +27 83
273 9891 / +27 11 728 5004
CONTACTS
Meg
McCleary +27 33 8462227 (BSi Steel)
Syd Kelly +27 33 3946001 (Neil’s Comfort Fund)
Ron & Margaret Sparrow + 27 83 633 7017 (Courtney’s parents)
Neil’s Comfort
Fund
Syd Kelly started Neil’s Comfort Fund after the death of
his son Neil. The fund assists ordinary members of the community who are in need
on a daily basis.
A giraffe called Twiza (Shona word for Giraffe) was adopted by Theresa and
Gary Warth when, some years ago, farm staff found Twiza's mother dead and
brought the baby calf to Theresa to care for. Theresa's love of wild animals is
legend in the Chiredzi Lowveld in Zimbabwe. The Warth's have lost most of their 2,000ha Wasara (Stay a While) ranch
except for the 250ha game fence and 10ha on which they do commercial vegetables
with water from a small weir. During the last full moon, poaching went mad. This
weekend both Twiza and her son George were found dead. Death by hanging from
snares laid in the top of the thorny acacia trees where they get their food. The animals were left to rot without taking a single slice of meat - and that
in a desperately hungry country. Theresa Warth I have had Twiza from when she was a few days old, New Year 95/96. We brought
her up on milk. Because she was quite tall already at birth, we taught her how
to drink out of a jug instead of a bottle. Which worked very well. Twiza walked up the ramp behind me into the big truck to join the other
giraffe, that is how tame she still was. Over the election period this year, 5 of my 10 giraffe were killed by known
poachers. One of the ones killed was Twiza's new calf, barely 6 months old. Twiza luckily survived the election period, although she did get snared,
managed to pull the snare free off the tree. She still had the snare noose
around her neck, and the 3 strand wire hanging down between her legs, every time
she walked past trees, the wire would get caught and the noose would tighten
again. Luckily we found her, with a lot of patience, and trust from her, I
eventually managed to remove the noose around her neck. The worst poaching takes place over the full moon nights and days, the moon
is so bright, the poachers can hunt and set their snares 24 hours a day. This
last full moon period the poaching was very bad. They were in my game fence day
and night. Either cutting and stealing the fence or hunting. The area was too
large to keep control. The lovely new green leaves have started coming out on the trees, the
poachers set snares up in amongst the leaves of the trees the giraffe browse
from. On night of the 16th October they snared and killed Twiza's 2 and a half
year old son. We found him dead, no attempt had been made to salvage the meat,
they were just going to let it rot. On Sunday morning, 19th October, we found
Twiza, also dead, sadly we did not find her in time, she had died on the
Saturday. Again the meat was left to rot. Death by hanging, the poor animal struggles for quite a long period, trying
to free itself from the pain. Eventually it dies, or gets hacked to death by the
poachers, if they find it still alive. Many animals die a very slow death, the
snare catches them around a leg or the waist, the animal dies of thirst and
starvation. Luckily Twiza's death was faster. The snare can also break off near
the noose, then the animal has the wire still attached to its limb, very tight,
there is no blood circulation anymore, eventually after weeks or months of pain
the animal dies. Three quarters of the wildlife killed and snared in the last 8
years of destruction, has rotted at its place of death, no one has bothered to
check if the snares, laid, have caught anything. The wildlife in Zimbabwe is a
silent, innocent victim. It has no voice to cry out for help. Please help it,
before it is too late, and there is nothing left for the generations to come.
FOR TWIZA AND THOUSANDS OF OTHERS IT IS TOO LATE.
After
weaning her off the milk, she joined my other giraffe in a game paddock, near my
house. We still fed her everyday with game cubes. When we moved to the ranch we
are on now, we captured all our giraffe, our eland herd, and warthogs, also hand
reared in the 1992 drought, and moved them to our own new ranch. Bought in 1998,
part of the Chiredzi River Conservancy. A collection of ranches set aside for
the preservation of wildlife and Africa's precious flora.
On our new ranch, Wasara, we had put
up a game fence on a small section of the ranch. Here all my animals were let
go. Whenever we drove into the game fence, Twiza would come running up to the
vehicle, to see us and in the winter months to get some extra game cubes, which
she loved. She always was a favorite with visitors.
Over the years she has
had numerous calves, sadly with the situation in the last 8 years, she has lost
them to poachers, mostly at a very early age.
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk
Why there is no welcome for Zimbabwe's
refugees south of the border
Anyone who thinks that escaping to the
apparent sanctuary of South Africa
could be an answer to the suffering we
face in Zimbabwe is mistaken. I have
just spent a couple of days in the
Republic, and I have to warn anyone
contemplating such a step. Life for us in
South Africa can be hard, cruel
and devoid of hope.
Just getting there
is fraught with difficulty. As any Zimbabwean will tell
you, anyone wishing
to cross the Limpopo must have a visa, and to get that
visa you must
demonstrate you are worth at least R2,000 - something out of
reach to most of
us, even the professionals.
Even to apply for a visa you must have a
passport - something with which our
top politicians seem to have problems.
You can of course apply for an
Emergency Travel Document, a piece of paper
valid for six months. To get
that you must convince the Registrar-General's
office that your need to
leave Zimbabwe is vital.
Perhaps it is. But
you try explaining to the Zanu-PF members who staff the
Registrar-General's
office that you need to escape torture and death at the
hands of Zanu-PF
terror squads, and see how far you get.
Of course, you can bribe them.
Average cost of an Emergency Travel Document
tends to be R500 - again, not
the sort of loose change that the average
Zimbabwean has in his or her
pocket.
So let us assume you do it the hard way. You escape through the
wire at the
border, and find yourself in South Africa. What awaits you
there?
Your first task is to apply for an asylum permit at the South
African
Department of Home Affairs. These permits, amazingly, are free. I
visited
Crown Mines, a refugee reception centre in Johannesburg, and saw
3,000
Zimbabweans waiting, desperately hoping to apply for one. But the
officials
serve only 100 applicants each week - that's 50 each on Thursday
and Friday.
Some Zimbabweans have been waiting for five months, sleeping in
the open.
You can of course bribe your way to the front of the queue, if
you have the
necessary cash. But even then most applications are rejected,
and the people
are given either 14 or 30 days to leave the
country.
"They told me that since the power-sharing agreement had been
signed in
Zimbabwe, there was no reason for me to be here," said Trust Mathe,
who's
application had just been rejected. "They said I should go home to
re-build
Zimbabwe, where the violence has ended and everyone is living in
peace and
harmony."
Peace? Harmony? It would be interesting to hear
from anyone who is enjoying
this new "peace and harmony" in Zimbabwe. Write
and tell us all about it.
Posted on Thursday, 23 October 2008 at
06:38