Daily Observer (Liberia), 5 October
By Emmanuel Abalo
The southern African nation of Zimbabwe is
today reeling from crippling
effects of massive economic and political
stagnation brought on in part by
some of the misguided and intolerant
policies of its present administration
headed by President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia
during the colonial rule of Britain,
gained independence on April 12, 1980
and has been ruled since by the Mr.
Mugabe who is a product of the armed
struggle for independence. But clearly,
nowadays, he has become quite
insensitive to the reality and detached from
the suffering of his own
people. The euphoria of the birth of a new nation
at the time with all the
hopes and aspirations of Zimbabweans and Africans
in modern times have,
however, since dissipated with the loss of integrity
and good governance
under Mr. Mugabe. The stark reality is that ordinary
Zimbabweans are faced
with food and fuel shortages, malnutrition, a
disproportionate HIV pandemic,
declining workers’ wages, perceived
widespread governmental corruption,
inflation, accelerating unemployment and
a general meltdown in all aspects
of life in the country. Malnutrition is
becoming more widespread in Zimbabwe
as food shortages intensify. Hospital
doctors in Harare, the capital, report
a sharp increase in patients
suffering from malnutrition-related ailments,
while health care workers in
Bulawayo say they are seeing many more
undernourished children as food costs
soar out of reach. The country’s food
crisis had caught up with the Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA), which had
started to send mostly junior officers on
forced leave as it was unable to
"provide three meals a day". Unnamed army
official are quoted by the private
press in Harare as saying because of
these problems the ZNA had even
suspended recruitments.
In its frantic
effort to head off the general decline, Mr. Mugabe’s
government instituted a
violent "land grab" program affecting white farmers
and tried to justify
this failed drama by stoking the flames of xenophobia.
The reason has to do
with the Lancaster House agreement signed in 1979. This
agreement stipulated
that the existing land tenure system would sit out for
10 years and
thereafter the British Government would fund a land
resettlement exercise.
The Government of Zimbabwe was content to allow the
existing land tenure
system to remain intact simply because the British
Conservative Party
Government which gave Zimbabwe its independence provided
a large sum of cash
for land reform purposes. The Zimbabwean government
further argues that the
solution to the land issue in Zimbabwe prior to the
year 2000 clearly lay
with the British Government, noting that had the
British Government been
persuaded to fund the land reform as before there
would have been no large
scale expropriations of farmland. The resultant is
that some war veterans
have been rewarded with and now occupy some of the
once prosperous white
owned farms but can barely afford a hoe to till the
soil let alone acquire
the knowledge and implements to maintain the
production of needed
crops.
Out of a field of six opposition parties, the only viable opposition
entity
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai, a
former
miner turned political figure, remains a democratic alternative and
perhaps
the hope in checking the decline of Zimbabwe. Let me quickly point
out,
however, that the this forward looking statement, in no way, suggests a
blanket support or accommodation of this opposition group. Interestingly,
Mr. Tsvangirai is quoted once as intimating that his strategy for unseating
President Mugabe is to allow, he, Mugabe to mismanage the country until he
was forced out of power. The concern here is that to passively allow
continuous misrule by any government is a disservice to the principles of
democracy and trusteeship of the aspirations of those who desire a better
life and dignity for the country Zimbabwe. This argument is not to ignore
the engagement, political competition and pressure that the opposition MDC
maintains in the face of organized harassment, intimidation, false
accusations and elections rigging by the government.
The Zimbabwean
Constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government
peacefully; however, this right has been seriously curtailed and
restricted
because the political process has been practically skewed
repeatedly in
favor the of the ruling Zanu PF. We do not support a violent
change of
government in Zimbabwe but support strict sanctions against key
players who
are stifling political and economic progress in Zimbabwe and the
southern
African region. The United States, Britain and the European Union
(EU) have
all imposed a travel ban on some top Zimbabwean government
officials and are
prepared to issue more restrictions. And so since
Zimbabwean President Mr.
Mugabe is behaving badly and he is an African
embarrassment, the African
Union (AU) can and must actively be engaged in
resolving the issues in
Zimbabwe. A timetable must be issued to Mr. Mugabe
to effect a government of
national unity, national reconciliation and
national elections or face
isolation and sanctions as may be deemed
necessary. The Southern African
Development Coordination Conference (SADCC)
which unites nine southern
African states with a combined population of 60
million, has as its
objective the task of promoting economic development and
realizing economic
independence, must also engage Zimbabwe aggressively as a
partner and
advisor. Our neighbor’s house, Zimbabwe, is on fire and we can
ill afford to
stand idly by. The way forward is the government’s willingness
to examine
its own attitude towards the hopeless plight of the common
Zimbabwean with a
view to instituting political, electoral and economic
reforms.
Business Day
Vukani
Mde
Political Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN police arrested and
detained a Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) MP yesterday for walking to
work as a form of protest against the
country’s worsening fuel
crisis.
The MDC said Gilbert Shoko and 16 other party members were detained
and
accused by the Harare police of lying about fuel
shortages.
Authorities in Harare fear the daily walks may snowball into a new
and
symbolically powerful resistance movement.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of
its deepest fuel crisis to date, with most petrol
stations having gone for
months without deliveries.
This has forced thousands to walk to
work.
Aleck Muchadehama, Shoko’s lawyer, said the MP was released last night
after
being charged with an offence under Zimbabwe’s draconian Public Order
and
Security Act. Shoko and his colleagues were accused of conducting an
illegal
gathering, he said.
The MDC said that the group was acting “in
solidarity with the struggling
people of Zimbabwe most of whom walk to their
workplaces daily as a result
of the fuel shortage that has afflicted the
country”.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is said to be walking to work every
day as
well.
State radio reported yesterday that Zimbabwe would soon
start growing the
oil-rich jatropha tree to manufacture its own blend of
biodiesel —
international reports say a ton of jatropha seed oil can yield
up to 1100l
of biodiesel.
Zimbabwe also lacks medicine and other imported
basic commodities as a
result of a five-year- long foreign currency
shortage.
Telkom earlier this year cut its connection to Zimbabwe due to a
debt of
$18m, throwing the Zimbabwean telecoms industry into chaos. With
Sapa
Cape Argus
October 6,
2005
Zimbabwean police have released an opposition lawmaker and at least
16 of his constituents who were arrested for walking to work to protest chronic
fuel shortages, their lawyer said.
Gilbert Shoko, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) member of parliament for Budiriro suburb in Harare, and
opposition supporters were arrested as they walked to the city centre, their
lawyer Alec Muchadehama said yesterday morning.
"They have since been
released," he said later.
MDC spokesman Maxwell Zimuto said: "The MP was
walking to work together with other people from his constituency when the police
confronted them and asked them why they were walking as a group.
"They
told the police they had no other means of transport because of the fuel crisis
but the police said there was plenty of fuel and rounded them up saying they
were demonstrating against the government."
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai started walking to work two weeks ago in protest against the fuel
shortages that have reached critical levels in recent months.
Tsvangirai,
who walked eight kilometres from his home in Strathaven suburb, said he had run
out of fuel for his cars and vowed to continue his walk-to-work "for as long as
he does not have fuel," his spokesman said.
Zimbabwe has faced serious
fuel shortages since 1999, but the current crunch, has seen some petrol stations
without fuel for weeks, forcing buses and private cars off the road and leaving
many with no option but to walk or cycle to their workplaces. - Sapa-AFP
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BULAWAYO, 5
October (IRIN) - Galloping inflation is sapping the purchasing
power of
urban Zimbabweans, according to a new report by the country's
consumer
watchdog.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said on Wednesday that
basic
expenditure for an urban family of six had shot up from about Zim $6.9
million (US $265) in September to Zim $9.9 million (US $380) in
October.
CCZ spokesperson Tonderai Mukeredzi blamed the cost of living
hike on
rocketing prices of basic items like sugar, maize-meal, rice,
cooking oil
and school fees in the past few weeks.
"The wave of
prices that we have been experiencing in the past weeks has had
a direct
effect on the consumer basket and now a family of six needs $9.9
million to
buy essentials every month. But the figure is definitely going to
rise soon
as commodity prices continue to go up," Mukeredzi told IRIN.
He explained
that an average worker in Zimbabwe earns far less than the
minimum household
basket, and "many families can not afford a standard three
meals a
day".
According to economic analyst and opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
advisor Eddie Cross, "What this simply means is that urban
poverty is on the
increase; an average worker in Zimbabwe has a disposable
salary of about Zim
$4 million (US $154), compared with the Zim $9.9 million
that each family
now needs."
Zimbabweans have been mired in economic
recession for over six years, now
weighed down with inflation of over 300
percent, stubbornly high
unemployment, food shortages and a serious foreign
exchange deficit.
According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global
Competitiveness Report
2005-2006 released last week, the southern African
nation is going through
its worst economic crisis since independence in
1980.
"Zimbabwe is a particularly sad case, whose quick descent to the
bottom of
the world's competitiveness rankings reflects the continued
deterioration of
the institutional climate, including the disappearance of
property rights,
the corruption of the rule of law, and the implications
these and other
factors have had for macroeconomic management," the WEF
report alleged.
[ENDS]
MDC BRIEFING NOTE – SEPTEMBER 2005
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC
CHANGE
BRIEFING NOTE – SEPTEMBER 2005
QUOTES
“The
constitutional reforms passed this week are not just an abrogation of the basic
human rights of Zimbabwean citizens. They also put the seal on this regime’s
disregard for private property and lack of belief in the rule of law,” said
Tendai Biti , 2 September 2005
“The Sharp criticism of the IMF needs to
be taken as a wake-up call by the regime to stop its purposeful destruction and
put the country back onto a positive, development-oriented path,” said Morgan
Tsvangirai (4 September 2005)
“The man [Mugabe] is deluded and
Zimbabweans are paying a high price for this delusion. He may still be a hero to
a number of African leaders but to the starving people on the ground he is
playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with their lives,” said Paul Themba Nyathi (19
September 2005 )
“Our continued growth and resilience is a testament to
the bravery and determination of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans
on the ground and in the Diaspora,” said Professor Welshman Ncube (23 September
2005
PARTY ACTIVITY
6th Anniversary Celebrations
On 10
September a rally was held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo to celebrate the
MDC’s 6th anniversary. Over 20,000 people packed into the stadium to the join
the party leadership in the celebrations. MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai
delivered the key note address in which he congratulated party supporters on the
progress made but also warned of the challenges that lie ahead.
“We must
strengthen our critical mass for democratic resistance…We must show our unity,
organisation and our vision to elbow this criminal state aside and resolve the
national political and economic crisis”.
Solidarity
In a show of
solidarity with the workers and ordinary people hit by constant fuel shortages,
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai announced on 16 September that he will walk to
work until the situation improves.
Consulting The People
The MDC
leadership are currently visiting all the country’s 10 provinces to consult
party structures and supporters on the issue of participation in the forthcoming
Senate elections. The turnout at the rallies held thus far has been deeply
encouraging.
· In Midlands province, the average turnout at the
three rallies that were held on 2 and 3 September was 7,000
· In
Matabeleland South the rallies held in Ntabazinduna and Gwanda on 9 and 11
September witnessed an average turnout of 9,000
· On 17 September more
than 15,000 turned up at a rally held at the Mucheke stadium in
Masvingo.
· On 18 September 18,000 turned up at a rally held at
Sakubva in Mutare
· The rallies held at Nzvimbo and Shamva in
Mashonaland Central (a traditional Zanu PF stronghold) on 30 September attracted
over 5,000 people. A rally held the next day in Marondera attracted over 8,000
people.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOD
CRISIS
WFP Warning
A report published by the World Food Progamme has
warned that the dilemma of food availability and affordability in Zimbabwe could
translate into worse than expected needs during the traditional lean season
before the new harvest in March/April next year.
Agricultural yields are
expected to be very low due to the fact that many farmers have been unable to
access fertiliser, chemicals and seed.
The WFP estimates that 4.3
million people in Zimbabwe are in need of food aid. Mugabe and his key henchmen,
notably Didymus Mutasa, scoff at such claims. However, Simon Pazvakambwa,
permanent secretary in the agricultural ministry informed a business conference
on 10 September that Zimbabwe only had three weeks’ supply of maize. “If we are
not careful, there will be no food on the table next year,” he said.
Less than a week after these comments were made, Mugabe, in an interview
with The Associated Press said that Zimbabweans were ‘very, very happy’. He
dismissed claims that the country was running out of food.
“You describe
it [Zimbabwe] as if we have a whole cemetery…. The problem is reliance on
corn…but it doesn’t mean we haven’t other things to eat. We have heaps of
potatoes but people are not potato eaters….they have rice but they’re not as
attracted to that”.
”Zimbabwe desperately needs food aid. Mugabe
however is unaware of the magnitude of the crisis. He has never visited any of
the areas or met any of the people suffering from hunger. The only time he meets
‘the public’ is when he stands on the podium at ostentatious Zanu PF rallies
ranting about Tony Blair,” said Paul Themba Nyathi
Children Die From
Hunger
In Sibolela (Midlands North) MDC MP for Kwe Kwe, Blessing Chebundo,
attended the funeral of two young children, Jabson and Sandiso Zebron, who died
as a result of their basic diet being restricted to tree roots. In many parts of
Midlands North the absence of basic commodities has forced people to resort to
eating tree roots in order to survive.
Villagers Running Out of
Food
The Daily Mirror reported on 14 September that chiefs and headmen from
villages in at least three provinces had appealed to the Government to deliver
emergency food relief due to dire food shortages. According to the Mirror the
worst affected areas were Mt Darwin (Mashonaland Central), Mutoko and Mudzi
(Mashonaland East) and Buhera (Manicaland).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECONOMY
Fuel
Price
On 6 September the pump price for petrol and diesel increased by more
than 130%. Petrol now costs Z$23,000 per litre (up from Z$10,000) and diesel
costs Z$20,800 per litre (up from Z$9,600). On the parallel market however a
litre of petrol is fetching $45,000.
Exchange Rate
On the parallel
market the Zim dollar has plunged to a historic low of Z$75,000 to the US$. It
is now three times the official rate of Z$26,000.
Industry
Operating At 25% of Capacity
Preliminary research conducted by the Zimbabwe
National Chamber of Commerce has revealed that most companies are operating at a
quarter of their capacity. This represents an all-time low.
Manufacturing Shrinks 9%
Figures released by the Central Statistical
Office show that Zimbabwe’s manufacturing industry contracted by 9.4% last year.
Factory output had slumped 45.6% since 1998.
PRICE RISES: August 2005
– September 2005
Product
Unit
August
September
Increase (%)
Maize Meal
10KG
21,230
40,000
88.41
Margarine
500
GM
32,691
60,500
85.07
Cooking
Oil
750ML
55,000
65,000
18.18
Mahewu
500ML
15,500
23,500
51.61
Coke
300ML
6,000
8,000
33.33
Flour
2KG
28,000
32,000
14.29
Steak
1KG
76,050
120,000
57.79
Matemba
1KG
168,000
210,000
25.00
Bath Soap
125GM
16,300
45,000
176.07
Tea
250GM
8,358
20,000
139.29
GENERAL NEWS
Thousands
Arrested
During the last week of September police arrested 14,706 people in
Harare as part of Operation Siyapambili/Hatidzokereshure (No Going Back). This
latest initiative is a follow-up to the internationally condemned Operation
Murambatsvina (Restore Order) which resulted in the destruction of the homes and
livelihoods of over 700,000 people.
Political Violence
Report[1]
Cumulative Totals: 1 Jan 2005 – 31 July 2005
Assault –
451
Freedom of Expression/Association/movt – 868
Political
Discrimination/Intim/Vict – 380
Torture – 132
Unlawful Arrest –
527
Unlawful Detention - 497
Quality of Life
A report published by the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has revealed that Zimbabweans have
experienced one of the sharpest declines in quality of life in recent years. The
findings include the following:
66% of Zimbabweans do not expect to live
beyond 40
Zimbabwe dropped 23 places to 145th position in the world in terms
of human development between 1990 and 2003
The quality of life in Zimbabwe
is worse than in countries such as Mongolia, Equatorial Guinea and
Cambodia.
WEF Report
The Global Competitiveness Report 2005-2006,
published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has given Zimbabwe the lowest
ranking, among the 117 countries covered by the report, for the quality of its
macroeconomic environment.
Bulawayo Suspends Essential
Services
Authorities in Bulawayo have suspended all essential services,
except the ambulance service (which only has two vehicles running), due to the
chronic fuel shortages.
Corpses Pile Up
According to reports in the
local media, corpses are piling up at hospitals as families do not have the fuel
available to collect bodies for burial.
END
Business Day
Dumisani
Muleya
Harare Correspondent
ZIMBABWE’S central bank is
restructuring its operations to focus on core
business following criticism
of its conduct by various pundits, including
President Thabo
Mbeki.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono said this week the institution was
overhauling its “operational structures” to improve efficiency. This was a
reaction to criticism the bank had lost direction under Gono.
The central
bank, which has closed seven commercial banks, has been accused
of venturing
into politics instead of confining itself to its role on
monetary policy
issues.
Gono said the exercise would ensure the bank focused on “inflation
reduction
through a deeper thrust on monetary austerity, structural
interventions to
unlock the supply side, as well as the stabilisation of
expectations through
policy consistency and implementation.”
The bank was
blamed for instigating the widely condemned Operation Restore
Order, which
followed Gono’s monetary policy statement on May 19.
In the statement, Gono
proposed a chain of desperate measures while lashing
out at alleged
saboteurs of his recovery programme to save the economy from
a further
slide. He blamed drought and indiscipline for the failure of his
recovery
agenda.
Gono said that government should “build more jails” and “economic
crimes
courts” for black market dealers, marking the beginning of the blitz
on
shanties and informal businesses.
Mbeki said two months ago there was
a need to refocus the role of the
Zimbabwean central bank.
Business Day
Dumisani Muleya
Harare
Correspondent
THE Zimbabwean army and air force have been hit by protests
over the
government’s failure to increase their salaries as well as chronic
food
shortages at their barracks.
Military sources said this week
soldiers were increasingly unsettled by
government’s refusal to increase
their salaries and provide adequate food
supplies to the 40000-strong
army.
Disgruntled armed forces pose a serious threat to President Robert
Mugabe’s
regime, which depends on the state security apparatus — the army,
the air
force and the intelligence service — for its survival.
Mugabe
last week urged the armed forces to remain vigilant to deal with what
he
termed a “vicious imperialist onslaught”.
The situation has been worsened by
public servants’ worsening bureaucratic
inefficiency.
Sluggish
performance by poorly paid and demoralised public servants has
aggravated
the economic crisis.
Sources said army commanders have in the past two weeks
been battling to
assure soldiers the situation would be attended to as soon
as possible.
It is said some troops have been detained at 2 Brigade barracks
in Harare in
connection with “indiscipline” related to agitation for salary
increases.
Sources said the soldiers were expected to be
court-marshalled.
Senior army commanders have been telling soldiers to
channel their
grievances through proper structures instead of engaging in
“unruly
campaigning” which could easily be interpreted as
“mutiny”.
Sources said a senior army commander told troops on September 13 at
Cranborne barracks in Harare there would be no pay rise until January.
A
few days later a senior military intelligence officer told troops at the
Presidential Guard HQ in Dzivarasekwa in Harare the issue would be
addressed, but no improvements were forthcoming.
Sources said “dozens” of
soldiers had been prevented from leaving the army
in protest over the
current problems. Instead, they said, troops were being
sent on forced leave
in a bid, prompted by food shortages, to reduce numbers
at the
barracks.
Army spokesman Lt Col Aggrey Wushe has denied soldiers were going
on leave
due to food shortages, saying they had accrued leave days during
the
Democratic Republic of Congo war between 1998 and 2002.
The army also
denied there was unrest within its ranks.
“We have food to feed them until
the next financial year. We can keep them
in the barracks but the days they
accrued will be forfeited,” Wushe said.
“We are saying, ‘take them now or
they will get forfeited’.”
Army commanders are traditionally loyal to Mugabe
and generals occupy the
upper echelons of parastatals and government
posts.
Mugabe has militarised government bureaucracy by deploying former
soldiers
to perform civilian duties.
A few years ago, a leaked memo by
former British High Commissioner to
Zimbabwe, Peter Longworth, addressed to
the Prime Minister Tony Blair’s
office, said Downing Street thought there
was no real threat of a military
coup against Mugabe’s regime despite the
prevailing political and economic
crisis.
The social and economic
conditions have, however, dramatically worsened
since then.
In the run-up
to the disputed 2002 presidential election, army generals
announced they
would not accept an elected president without liberation
struggle
credentials — a reference to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The army
was heavily involved in the controversial election, which was won
by
Mugabe.
A leaked memo written by army commanders, urging their structures to
be
ready for the 2002 election, was widely taken as evidence of military
influence on the poll.
Some civilian programmes, such as the land reform
programme and the
rebuilding exercise that followed the demolition of
shanties and informal
markets, were also carried out by the
army.
?Zimbabwe needs to import more grain to feed at least 2,2-million
people who
cannot fend for themselves until the new harvest next April, the
state-owned
Herald newspaper reported yesterday.
The Robert Mugabe regime, which recently declared that all its people were "extremely happy" and did not need any foreign aid, has made a sudden U-turn and admitted it needs to feed 2.2 million starving citizens.
But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say the figure is grossly understated and agree with a World Food Programme estimate that more than four million Zimbabweans need urgent food assistance.
Mr Mugabe stunned his countrymen at a recent United Nations summit in New York when he paraphrased Marie Antoniette by telling reporters that Zimbabweans who cannot find the staple maize meal, which is in short supply, could have potatoes instead. A bag of potatoes costs about £20 and is out of reach of many Zimbabweans. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said the country was in virtual economic collapse with 70 percent unemployment and 265 per cent inflation.
The Mugabe regime made a turnaround yesterday with government official Sydney Mhishi saying it was about to feed at least 2.2 million starving people.
The main opposition party has urged Mr Mugabe's regime to swallow its pride and appeal for help.
Despite having no foreign currency, Mr Mhishi said the government would import 222,000 tons of maize. He did not say where it would find the money. Sugar and fuel are also in short supply. Ox-drawn ambulances have replaced petrol-powered vehicles.
In its report issued after a fact-finding mission, the IMF warned on Tuesday that Zimbabwe's economy was in a state of virtual collapse with economic growth crashing, inflation rampant and poverty soaring.
"Directors observed that without a bold change in policy direction, the economic outlook will remain bleak, with particularly detrimental effects on the poorest segment of the population," the report said.
One NGO worker said the "regime is sleepwalking to disaster". "The sooner they open their eyes and do the right thing the better."
Kofi Annan has pledged to send an envoy to Zimbabwe in November to break the impasse between the Mugabe government and international donors.
The Robert Mugabe regime, which recently declared that all its people were "extremely happy" and did not need any foreign aid, has made a sudden U-turn and admitted it needs to feed 2.2 million starving citizens.
But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say the figure is grossly understated and agree with a World Food Programme estimate that more than four million Zimbabweans need urgent food assistance.
Mr Mugabe stunned his countrymen at a recent United Nations summit in New York when he paraphrased Marie Antoniette by telling reporters that Zimbabweans who cannot find the staple maize meal, which is in short supply, could have potatoes instead. A bag of potatoes costs about £20 and is out of reach of many Zimbabweans. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday said the country was in virtual economic collapse with 70 percent unemployment and 265 per cent inflation.
The Mugabe regime made a turnaround yesterday with government official Sydney Mhishi saying it was about to feed at least 2.2 million starving people.
The main opposition party has urged Mr Mugabe's regime to swallow its pride and appeal for help.
Despite having no foreign currency, Mr Mhishi said the government would import 222,000 tons of maize. He did not say where it would find the money. Sugar and fuel are also in short supply. Ox-drawn ambulances have replaced petrol-powered vehicles.
In its report issued after a fact-finding mission, the IMF warned on Tuesday that Zimbabwe's economy was in a state of virtual collapse with economic growth crashing, inflation rampant and poverty soaring.
"Directors observed that without a bold change in policy direction, the economic outlook will remain bleak, with particularly detrimental effects on the poorest segment of the population," the report said.
One NGO worker said the "regime is sleepwalking to disaster". "The sooner they open their eyes and do the right thing the better."
Kofi Annan has pledged to send an envoy to Zimbabwe in November to break the impasse between the Mugabe government and international donors.
The Independent (UK)
By Ian Herbert and Oliver Duff
The fate of dozens of failed
asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe will be settled
today at a High Court hearing
which will establish the legality of sending
them back to President Robert
Mugabe's regime. Britain's policy of deporting
failed Zimbabwean
asylum-seekers was suspended in July, pending today's
hearing, after the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the
former Labour leader
Neil Kinnock led protests and about 40 Zimbabweans went
on hunger strike at
detention centres. Dr Williams said it would be "deeply
immoral" to return
failed asylum-seekers to a country where they could face
persecution and
torture. The Home Office is expected to present to the court
the results of
a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe undertaken for the
hearing. This will
form a significant part of the Government's submission in
several "country
guidance" test cases. Lawyers for the asylum-seekers will
argue that all
Zimbabweans with links to the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party would face risks of violence if deported. The
UK's unwillingness
to acknowledge this threat has been illustrated by the
decision to refuse
asylum to Crispen Kulinji, a high-profile MDC member who
has become the
human face of the political battle between the Government and
those who want
the ban on deportation reinstated. His removal was suspended
after the
intervention of the Labour MP Kate Hoey.
The court is also expected to hear
that members of the Ndebele tribe would
be at risk if returned to Zimbabwe.
A 40-year animosity between the Ndebele
and Mr Mugabe's Shona tribe has
allegedly resulted in their persecution. A
source close to the
asylum-seekers' defence teams indicated yesterday that
the plight of those
Zimbabweans who have the HIV virus will also be
presented to the court. The
Independent has detailed the case of a
37-year-old man who has been refused
asylum despite his dependence on
antiretroviral drugs, which have not been
available in Zimbabwe since its
descent into chaos amid President Mugabe's
urban clearance policy. A
middle-aged woman is also known to be in the same
position, with the Home
Office having refused her all right to appeal
against deportation. "We now
know that the medical infrastructure in the
country has collapsed, and that
means antiretroviral treatment is not even
available to those who have the
means to buy it," said the source.
"Deportation in HIV cases means death."
The Government has argued that a
restoration of the ban on deportations
(lifted in 2002) might encourage more
Zimbabweans to try to reach the UK. It
has also stated that there are "no
substantial reports" of abuse of those
who have been returned - a claim
disputed by the MDC, Zimbabwean churches
and Amnesty International. The
asylum-seekers' case will draw on the work of
Sir Terence Ranger, one of
Britain's most eminent Zimbabwe experts, who has
argued repeatedly against
the removal of individuals to "an unstable
Zimbabwe in a state of economic
collapse and with continuing human rights
abuses". Lawyers acting for the
asylum-seekers suspect the Home Office
delegation to Zimbabwe has returned
with mixed messages about those who seek
refuge in the UK. "Even among MDC
members there is jealousy and resentment
about people who have managed to
escape," said a source. "The Home Office
report [may] show the same
bias."
In a last telephone call to his family, Edmore Ngwanya agonised over
the
outcome of today's High Court hearing. "He had read that the Home Office
had
sent a delegation to [gather evidence] for the hearing," said the
relative
who took the call. "That frightened him. He thought they would use
it to
deport him." Mr Ngwanya, 26, made the call on 11 September and four
days
later he was dead. He jumped into the Manchester Ship Canal and
drowned,
resisting attempts by local police officers to save him. He fled to
Britain
in 2002 during a four-month period of leave from the Zimbabwean Army
where
he was involved in Robert Mugabe's Congo campaign, which was deeply
unpopular with soldiers. A dispute may have arisen with an officer who
allegedly stole money from him and amid the recriminations there were
accusations that Mr Ngwanya had links to the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change. Mr Ngwanya faced desertion charges if he went back - a
predicament made worse because he was one of Zimbabwe's Ndbele people, who
have been at odds with Mr Mugabe's Shona tribe for decades. But he launched
himself into British life, undertaking an IT course in West Yorkshire and
when housed with other Africans in Salford, Greater Manchester, he secured a
job as a car valet. He followed Arsenal football club.
Fearing the
consequences of returning, he was unable to attend the funeral
of his
mother, Simemthini, 44, who died last year. Then, against all his
expectations, his asylum bid was rejected in March. He soon found himself
locked out of the room he had been allocated and his solicitors indicated
they had run out of legal-aid funding. His relative offered money for his
legal case but Mr Ngwanya declined. "He said he had run out of options,"
said the relative. Mr Ngwanya had become noticeably thinner by August, and
after making his compulsory weekly visit to immigration service offices on
14 September, he rang his employers to say he was not feeling well. He made
for the canal, raised his arms above his head and jumped in.
Category: uk Dated: 06/10/2005 The fate of Zimbabwe’s failed asylum seekers will be sealed tomorrow as a hearing at the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal decides if it's safe to send them back to the possibility of persecution or death under Robert Mugabe's regime according to campaigners. Scharene Pryce : Email Scharene Copyright © The Colourful Network |
Scharene Pryce |
Why don’t they
give us a time to regroup rather than tying up our people and putting them in
jails and detention centres? Noble Sibanda, Spokesperson, United Network of Detained Zimbabweans in the UK (UNDZ) |
We’ve agreed to
defer removals of failed asylum seekers to Zimbabwe pending the AIT hearing and
we will await the AIT’s determination Home Office spokesperson |
Zimbabwe needs more food imports for 2.2 mln poor
The Washington Post
By
Stella Mapenzauswa
Reuters
Wednesday, October 5, 2005; 6:27 AM
HARARE
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe needs to import more grain to feed at least 2.2 million
needy people who cannot fend for themselves until the new harvest next April,
the official Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The daily quoted a
social welfare ministry official, Sydney Mhishi, as telling a parliamentary
committee that President Robert Mugabe's government had had to import 222,000
tonnes to feed people with chronic illnesses, the elderly and orphans and that
plans were underway for more imports.
"About 2.2 million people would require
food assistance because they have no money to buy maize," Mhishi was quoted as
saying.
"A total of 2.2 million people countrywide cannot afford to buy their
own food...The government has to chip in and import 222,000 tonnes of maize so
that no one starves," the Herald said.
In August the state grain marketing
board said it planned to import 120,000 tonnes of maize every month and had
bought 300,000 tonnes in the previous three months to stave off food shortages
after poor rains.
Critics say the food shortages have been worsened by a
collapse of commercial farming following a controversial land reform program
that gave white-owned farms to landless blacks, many of whom lack skills or
resources to fully work their plots.
Aid agencies say around four million
people, a third of the population, will need food handouts until the next
harvest from around next April. The government has said it will not formally ask
the United Nations World Food Programme for help although it welcomes donations
"without conditions attached."
Mhishi said Harare had not appealed for donor
aid because "the number of households that needed such assistance did not
warrant an international request for food aid," the Herald reported.
"The
rest of the country's population can afford to buy maize which is being
imported..." Mhishi was quoted as telling the parliamentary
committee.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Government officials were not immediately
available for comment on Wednesday.
However analysts have said President
Robert Mugabe's government would have difficulty paying for such imports as it
faces acute foreign currency shortages.
Severe shortages of hard currency,
food and fuel are the most visible signs of an economic crisis widely blamed on
government mismanagement. Unemployment stands at over 70 percent and inflation
is in triple digits.
The Herald said the fuel shortage was hampering efforts
by the state Grain Marketing Board to move grain around the country.
Mugabe,
who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain 25 years ago, denies
responsibility for the economic woes besetting the country. He instead alleges
sabotage by opponents of his land seizures, which he argues were necessary to
redress colonial land imbalances.
The figure is far short of the minimum 4 million people estimated by United Nations agencies to be in urgent need of food aid.
President Robert Mugabe has so far refused to appeal for assistance but said foreign donations would be permitted, providing they carried no conditional demands for political or economic reform, and contained no genetically modified foodstuffs.
The state-controlled daily newspaper The Herald said Mhishi made the disclosure during testimony to an all-party committee of legislators on Monday.
The 2.2 million were "those with chronic illnesses, the elderly and orphans who ... information at hand showed cannot afford to buy their own food," he said.
"The rest of the country can afford to buy maize which is being imported."
Mhishi reportedly said, "The government did not make an appeal for food aid because the number of households that needed such assistance did not warrant an international request for food aid."
The estimate of at least 4 million in need was made by World food Program head James Morris after he visited here in May.
Mugabe's leading human rights critic, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, alleges the authorities have widely abused access to food, through the state monopoly Grain Marketing Board, as a weapon of political intimidation. Pro-government tribal leaders were required to exclude families of suspected opposition sympathizers.
Mhishi said the government would be importing 222,000 metric tons (245,000 U.S. tons) of maize, the staple diet of the country's 12 million people, to meet shortfalls he said were due to severe drought. Independent experts say shortfalls result from destruction of commercial agriculture, through Mugabe's seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms, and a resulting economic collapse causing lack of seed, fertilizer, fuel, equipment and chemicals for small-scale farmers.
After backtracking on his earlier predictions of a 2.4 million-ton "bumper harvest" Mugabe announced 2.8 million metric tons (3.1 million U.S. tons) would be imported, but Grain Marketing Board chief executive Samuel Muvuti said the board was failing to meet its import target of 110,000 tons a month.
The International Monetary Fund, which has just received a further US$15 million (€12.6 million) payment of Zimbabwe's arrears, leaving US$160 million (€134 million) outstanding, warned Tuesday that the country's economy was close to collapse, with inflation likely to reach 400 percent by the year end and a further 7 percent fall in gross domestic product.
Army spokesman have denied allegations that hundreds of personnel from the 34,000 strong force have been sent home because their units cannot afford to feed them. An official said many were taking leave accrued during Zimbabwe's long involvement in the civil war in Congo.
Independent sources Wednesday said maize meal was freely available in service canteens although there were long lines in supermarkets to which the general public have access.
Reuters
05 Oct 2005
12:38:48 GMT
Source: Reuters
HARARE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's
wildlife authority has moved more than
200 endangered black rhinos from a
farm near its western border with
Botswana to prevent poaching, a local
daily reported on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe is home to some of Africa's largest
game reserves, but local
conservationists say many species are at risk from
rampant poaching by
people struggling with hunger and rising poverty.
Cross-border trophy
hunters are also taking a toll.
The official Herald
newspaper said Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management
Authority had
translocated over 200 black rhinos from a game farm in
southwestern
Matabeleland province to some protected conservancies in the
area.
It
said the animals would eventually be moved to the larger Gonarezhou
National
Park in the country's southeast.
The decision to move the rhinos from the
border areas came after the arrest
of a poacher in Botswana who was selling
a rhino horn from an animal killed
in Zimbabwe and the discovery of two
injured rhinos entangled in snare
wires, it said.
Zimbabwe has an
estimated 800 black rhinos left after poachers killed more
than 1,500 in the
1980s.
Rampant poaching drove black rhino numbers across Africa down to about
2,400
in the mid-1990s from an estimated 65,000 just two decades before.
Poachers
typically hack off the horns and leave the carcasses.
The
animals have been on the rebound since and now number close to 3,600 but
are
still regarded as endangered.
National parks officials were not immediately
available comment on the
report.
But the permanent secretary for the
Ministry of Environment and Tourism,
Margaret Sangarwe, said the government
had issued a directive for the
endangered animals to be moved
fast.
"There is urgent need to place them in areas where they can easily be
monitored and are secured," she said.
News24 (SA
Harare - Zimbabwe will soon start
growing the oil-rich jatropha tree to manufacture its own blend of diesel as the
country battles to overcome acute fuel shortages, state radio reported on
Wednesday. The jatropha plant - a small deciduous tree that can grow in arid
areas - has seeds rich in vegetable oil that can be burned as a substitute for
diesel. "Zimbabwe will soon start growing the oil-rich jatropha tree on a
commercial scale to help alleviate fuel shortages in the country through the
manufacture of bio-diesel," the radio said. It quoted an official from the
Biosafety Board of Zimbabwe as saying the Science and Technology Development
Ministry "has plans underway for massive production of jatropha during the
forthcoming farming season". Zimbabwe is in the grips of its worst fuel crisis
ever, with most filling stations having gone for weeks or months without
deliveries of petrol or diesel. Only a handful of filling stations are selling
fuel to long queues of motorists who have managed to find foreign currency to
pay for fuel. Zimbabwe has been battling shortages of foreign currency for the
past five years. As a result, the country has struggled to pay for vital imports
of fuel, power and medicines. International reports say a tonne of jatropha seed
oil can yield up to 1 100 litres of bio-diesel. In August local pig farmers were
reported to be applying for funding from the central bank for a project to
generate electricity from pig manure.
FARMERS IN TOUCH
NEWSLETTER
Telephone 04 309800/6 Fax 04
309849
E-mail fit@cfu.co.zw or adsa@cfu.co.zw
Creating a network of
farmers for the development of farming in
Africa
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
reminder to all our members, licence fees are now due. With the inevitable
increase, the amount now payable is $3,750,000. Bear in mind that a 25%
discount is being offered to those payments received before the end of October.
I will be out of the office next week, so would encourage applications
be submitted this week for any of the below positions detailed below. In my
absence please contact Kim Devlin who has kindly offered to take my
calls.
The following is an update of the farming taking place outside
Zimbabwe:-
Nigeria
The President, Vice President and CEO of the CFU
recently attended the official opening ceremony of the new commercial farms in
Kwara State, Nigeria. President Obasanjo, Federal and State Ministers were
present at the opening. All 13 farms, each growing 3/400 hectares of either
maize or soya beans were toured. This project is progressing well, and has
created employment for 1000 local Nigerians.
An airport, located in Ilorin,
has been built which is up to international standards and is intended to
accommodate the export of produce generated out of Kwara State.
We are
pleased to announce that we are now ready to secure the next 20 farmers for the
second tranche into Nigeria. We have a number of applications on file, but if
you are keen to go farming in Nigeria, get in touch with us to ensure that your
name is on the list for inclusion for consideration.
The intention is to
have the next 20 farmers in Nigeria in time for the next planting season, which
is in June next year. Although this sounds far away, the land clearing,
preparation and building that needs to take place is very time consuming.
Should arrangements go according to plan, farmers should be in Nigeria by
January 2006 at the latest.
Zambia
There is currently a fuel crisis up
in Zambia, which is affecting the harvesting of the winter wheat and land
preparation for the next season. Despite the difficulties faced, farmers remain
positive and are going ahead with their agricultural programmes. Many of them
have had to trim some of their expansion plans.
Mozambique
There are
approximately 25 Zimbabwean farmers currently farming in the Manica province of
Mozambique. These farmers are growing tobacco for MLT and Dimon.
Democratic Republic of Congo
It was communicated in our previous
newsletter, that a meeting was set to take place regarding farming in the
Congo. This meeting did in fact take place at the end of September, and we are
now looking at making an exploratory trip to the Congo. This should take place
before the end of the year. If all goes well, there may well be opportunity for
another project to go ahead in this country. Details will be provided as and
when they are available.
Employment Opportunities
Jordan
The
position of Farm Manager is still vacant. We have received a few applications
for this position, but the employer is interested in looking at more
applications before making his final decision. If you are interested in a
year’s contract, please kindly forward your details to
us
Mozambique
Farm Manager required with orchard and orchard
plantation experience. Macadamia knowledge or experience would be an
advantage. Kindly forward your CV for consideration as soon as
possible.
North Africa
Agricultural Manager to commence 1 November
managing a pilot farm. Applications from those with experience in Lucerne,
wheat and maize production under irrigation are welcomed. A competitive salary
is on offer and benefits package is dependent on qualifications and
experience.
Harare
Sales Manager required to start as soon as
possible. The right candidate would be required to run the sales office and
sales team and take charge of the costing/estimating section. Computer literacy
in Exel and Word is essential. Competitive salary, company vehicle and medical
aid is on offer. Contact us, or call in for further
details.
Harare
There are two positions available with this company -
Farmer with knowledge of paprika and Financial Manager up to trial balance,
preferably with knowledge of paprika. Contact us for further
information.
Various
We are currently working on a database of
farmers living abroad and elsewhere in Africa. If you have contact details of
friends or family out of Zimbabwe, please supply us with their details. We feel
that it is important to maintain contact with them, find out what they are
doing, and keep them updated of the developments within FIT and the
CFU.
Please remember that you have to be a member of FIT, or the CFU to
be considered for any of the opportunities that we have available!
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of
the United Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 5 October (IRIN) - A senior food
security expert in Zimbabwe
says the government will have to work more
closely with the international
community if it hopes to feed millions of
people facing shortages this year.
The EU official, who wished to remain
anonymous, said that despite a
"significant effort" by the government to
import urgently needed maize in
recent months, there remained "much
uncertainty" over whether it would meet
the country's
requirements.
Zimbabwean authorities have refused to appeal for
international aid to stave
off widespread hunger, insisting instead that the
government has the
capacity to import the 1.2 million mt needed to fill the
food gap. Aid
agencies estimate that up to four million people will go
hungry until the
next harvest.
"The latest figures show that between
April and September, 480,000 mt of
maize was brought in, mainly from South
Africa. More recently, however,
there appears to be a decline in the import
quantity," the official told
IRIN on Wednesday.
Sydney Mhishi,
Zimbabwe's director of social welfare, reportedly told a
parliamentary
committee on Tuesday that the government was gearing up to
provide 2.2
million people with emergency food aid.
According to the official Herald
newspaper, the elderly, orphans and the
sick will benefit from the food
handouts. "The rest of the country's
population can afford to buy maize,
which is being imported," Mhishi was
quoted as saying.
Aid agencies
were also concerned that the reluctance of the Grain Marketing
Board (GMB),
the official purchasing agent, to include them in its
distribution plans was
likely to complicate relief operations.
"At the moment there is very
little known about how the food aid will be
distributed, which areas or
groups will be prioritised, and how the
government plans to get the food to
communities located, at times, 80 km
from the depots," the source
explained.
Another question was whether Harare could afford to import
more maize after
its recent payment to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). In a surprise
move the country managed to scrape together a
substantial portion of its
debt and avoid expulsion from the
Fund.
"We do know the government has been looking for forex to pay the
IMF, but
whether or not it can pull together additional funds remains to be
seen,"
the Harare-based expert said. "We can speculate that perhaps some
private
dealers in South Africa are ready to take a risk, with the hope of
getting
their money back."
[ENDS]
[This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 5
October (IRIN) - In the absence of any bold changes in
policy direction,
Zimbabwe's economic outlook remains bleak, says the
International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
The executive board noted that the annual IMF staff report on
Zimbabwe
showed an ongoing socioeconomic decline that would have
"particularly
detrimental effects on the poorest segments of the
population".
The executive "expressed deep concern over the continued
sharp economic and
social decline in Zimbabwe, with prospects of continued
triple-digit
inflation, further [production] output declines, and increased
poverty".
Food security was an urgent issue, "given the sharp fall in
agricultural
production. Directors noted that stagnant export earnings and
the necessary
rise in food imports will squeeze non-food imports, increasing
Zimbabwe's
vulnerability to external shocks", such as drought.
The
substantial humanitarian and economic consequences of 'Operation Restore
Order' - the government's controversial clean-up campaign that left some
700,000 people without homes or livelihoods, or both - also posed "further
downside risks" to the country's prospects.
Zimbabwe's economy has
deteriorated sharply since 1997: real GDP declined by
almost 30 percent
between 1997 and 2003, while inflation soared from about
20 percent in
December 1997 to a peak of 623 percent in January 2004.
This was mainly
due to the impact of the government's controversial land
redistribution
programme on the agricultural sector.
"Agricultural production - the
mainstay of the economy - collapsed with the
disruption caused by the
violent implementation of fast-track land reform,"
the Fund
noted.
Investment in the country fell sharply, "and shortages of food,
fuel,
electricity and other basics became pervasive", while economic
performance
lagged markedly behind those of its neighbours in Southern
Africa.
The human cost of the government's policies has been high.
"Zimbabwe's human
development indicators - once among the best in
sub-Saharan Africa - have
deteriorated sharply to rank of 147th out of 177
countries in the world,"
the IMF pointed out.
"More than two out of
three Zimbabweans are unemployed, while poverty and
emigration have risen
sharply. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has been left largely
unchecked, with the
infection rate estimated at about 25 percent of the
adult population. Life
expectancy has declined to below 40 years from around
60 years 15 years ago,
while child mortality has risen sharply to 126 (per
1,000 live births) from
90 in 1995, partly reflecting declining
immunisations and the AIDS
pandemic," the report stressed.
IMF staff projected that continued
difficulties in agriculture, rising
inflation and foreign exchange
shortages, particularly for fuel imports,
would cause real GDP to contract
by some 7 percent, and inflation rising to
over 400 percent by the end of
2005.
The country was also off-track for meeting the Millennium
Development Goals
(MDGs). "A recent assessment indicated that, under current
policies, only
two targets are achievable: immunisation of one-year olds
against measles,
and access to safe drinking water. The HIV/AIDS pandemic,
falling incomes
and the rapidly deteriorating health and education services
affect most of
the other MDGs," the report said.
Progress towards the
MDGs would depend on achieving sustainable growth,
controlling the HIV/AIDS
pandemic, and improving food security.
The Fund called for "fundamental
structural reform, including improvements
in governance" in order to turn
the country's fortunes around.
However, the government of Zimbabwe "took
a different view of recent
developments and the economic
outlook".
"In their estimate, output declined by only two and half
percent in 2004 and
will grow by two percent this year," the report
noted.
"Although drought had severely affected the 2004/05 maize crop,
tobacco and
wheat (which were less affected) as well as mining would perform
well this
year, while manufacturing would bottom out ... moreover, they
stressed that
in comparison to the peak in early 2004, inflation had
declined considerably
by mid-2005 on account of their policies to turn
around the economy."
The government has also accused western countries of
imposing de facto
sanctions in response to its fast-track land reform
programme, which was
accompanied by violence and ignored court rulings
ordering its halt.
[ENDS]
Business Day
Vukani Mde
Political Correspondent
SOUTH Africa could not
dictate a solution to the political problems facing neighbouring Zimbabwe, Home
Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said yesterday .
Mapisa-Nqakula was
speaking to refugees and asylum seekers during an imbizo-style meeting in
Johannesburg. She said problems faced by refugees and others who sought asylum
in SA were not confined to Zimbabweans, nor would her department turn its
attention to solving Zimbabwe’s internal issues.
“We (the department) can’t
take responsibility for the internal ills of Zimbabwe. But I become responsible
for your wellbeing once you’ve crossed Beit Bridge,” she said.
Mapisa-Nqakula
was responding to questions about what SA was doing to address the continued
political decline in Zimbabwe, which was leading to increased numbers of asylum
seekers and economic migrants from that country. Some estimates have placed the
number of Zimbabwean migrants in SA at 3,5-million people.
The Zimbabwe
Torture Victims Project said about 80% of Zimbabwean migrants with whom it dealt
were “undocumented”, falling outside of the department’s estimates.
“No
right-thinking person can fail to appreciate the gravity of the situation in
Zimbabwe. But we can’t seek to dictate how that situation is resolved, we can
only advise. SA has only nine provinces, and nine provincial premiers. Mugabe is
not our tenth premier,” the minister said.
Still, SA had led attempts to get
Zimbabweans to talk towards resolving of their problems, and would stay the
course, she said.
“There is nothing that President Thabo Mbeki has not tried.
We are the only country that remains steadfast in seeking a solution for
Zimbabwe. You can lead a horse to water, but can’t force it to
drink.”
Mapisa-Nqakula’s comments, which reflected growing frustration within
government over the Zimbabwean impasse, came amid stalled negotiations to secure
a $500m bale-out for the country.
South African sources said treasury and
Reserve Bank negotiators had waited more than a month for their Zimbabwean
counterparts to decide if they would sign a loan agreement attached to the
bale-out.
The agreement is reported to include tough conditions, which
President Robert Mugabe is reluctant to accept.
The Herald (Zimbabwe)
From the international
media, you may be forgiven for thinking that
Zimbabwe, demonised as a failed
State, is about to collapse. Baffour
Ankomah, Editor of New African
magazine, was here again in August, and
reports that the rebuilding
programme launched after the recent
controversial clean-up operation is
going pretty well, and though the
economy is still struggling, the obituary
writers had better suspend rushing
to their computers. They may well have to
praise rather than bury President
Mugabe’s country.
Zimbabwe is an
enigma. When everybody expects it to go down, it goes up.
Unlike Isaac
Newton’s falling apple, pulled down by the force of gravity,
Zimbabwe
appears to defy the gravitational pull, much to the chagrin of its
detractors. Weighed down by what President Mugabe calls "these odious
economic sanctions" imposed by Britain, America and their European partners,
and not helped by some spectacular own goals scored by Zimbabwe itself, the
country still marches on, chest high, where many others in similar
situations would have long fallen. Yes, fuel, foreign exchange and other
essential shortages persist, and agriculture the mainstay of the economy -
has still not recovered from four straight years of drought (though
irrigation has been stepped up this year), but Zimbabwe refuses to go down,
largely through the determination of the nationalists there who want to
prove a point to the world that some Africans do possess stiffer and
capitulation is not an option.
Take the recent controversial Operation
Restore Order which saw the
demolition of slums and shacks across the
country, an operation which was
widely condemned by Western countries and
later by a damning UN report which
came up with an estimate of 700 000
people having been affected by the
operation. In late August, the Government
officially responded to the UN
report with a 45-page rebuttal in which it
accused the compilers of the
report, led by the Tanzanian head of
UN-Habitat, Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, of
bias against the Government. "From
the content of the report," the rebuttal
said, "it is clear that submissions
from Government are dismissed as claims,
allegations or rhetoric whilst
submissions from NGOs hostile to the
Government, donors and those opposition
leaders who are critical of the
Government, are explicitly or impliedly
treated as statements of fact. The
report grossly exaggerates the number of
people who were rendered homeless
by the operation. A fact-finding mission
must report on what it actually
found on the ground and not infer
homelessness from some fictitious formula
or mathematical
extrapolation."
The rebuttal continued: "Zimbabwe is currently under illegal
sanctions that
were imposed by the USA, UK, EU and the white Commonwealth
countries opposed
to the land reform programme. It is not true that the
sanctions are not
directed at the economy. The Zimbabwe democracy and
Economic Recovery Act
(co-drafted by one of the opposition MDC’s white
parliamentarians, and
passed by the US Congress in 2001), blocks Zimbabwe’s
access to balance of
payment support from the IMF and any financial
assistance from the World
Bank, and excludes Zimbabwe from benefiting from
the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA) facility. EU sanctions have
seen Zimbabwe being
denied access to the ACP-EU 9th European development
fund. Even access to
humanitarian assistance through the Global Fund for
HIV/Aids, TB and malaria
has been blocked mainly as a result of EU and USA
pressure, and the UN
report says nothing about it."
However, what both
the Government rebuttal of the UN report have refused to
say is the exact
reason why Operation Restore Order was launched in the
first place. New
African can now reveal that the operation was the
brainchild of Zimbabwe’s
intelligence community which felt it had to move
quickly to nip in the bud a
Ukrainian-style revolution (or street protests)
then being planned in
Zimbabwe and funded by the same Western countries who
paid for Ukraine’s
so-called "orange revolution" earlier this year. After
the success in
Ukraine, the same metropolitan powers that paid the Ukrainian
students to
start the street protests in Kiev were paying for a similar
thing in Harare.
They had in fact hoped that Zimbabweans would do it by
themselves in the
aftermath of the March 31 parliamentary elections that saw
the MDC beaten
out of sight. When the protests did not materialise, because
the majority of
Zimbabweans saw no need for them (having voted for the party
of their choice
and accepted the elections to be free and fair), the
metropolitan powers
upped the ante by secretly channelling funds for an
insurrection via
opposition elements who were going to use vulnerable slum
dwellers to
confront the Government in what they had hoped would be bloody
street
clashes.
Somehow, Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), one of
the best
spy agencies on the continent (if not the world), got wind of the
impending
operation - and they must have panicked; because they chose to
deal with it
in a most usual way - nip the danger in the bud by dispersing
the slum
dwellers via the demolition of their habitats. The security agency
quickly
got hold of the President, showed him the evidence of the anger and
sold him
the hasty solution. With the experience of Ukraine fresh in
everybody’s
mind, Operation Restore Order was given wings, without going
through the
normal route of Cabinet discussion and approval. As a result,
many Cabinet
ministers and key Government officials who would have normally
been privy to
such an operation were kept in the dark. Some, in fact, heard
about it a day
after it had begun. In so doing, a lot of mistakes were made
in the
implementation of the operation.
First, the normal civil service
scrutiny was dispensed with. In normal
times, as happened with the land
reform programme, the civil services would
have been tasked to write papers
looking at the pros and cons of the
operation, the relevant local and
international laws governing the area, the
provision of alternative
accommodation and stalls, the financial cost, the
international
repercussions, and so on, before the operation could get
Cabinet approval.
In this case, as the security services drove the
operation, all the
elaborate laid-down procedures were short-circuited, and
in the process
serious errors were made, leading to international outcry and
condemnation.
Therefore, some of the criticisms contained in Tibaijuka’s UN
report were
justified. In private, some Government ministers and key
officials admit
that they could have done it better. They say the security
services were
allowed too much latitude to run the operation, and as
security people, they
focused too much on diffusing the danger and less on
the consequences.
Interestingly, you will have to read up to the end of page
30 of the
Government’s response to the UN report to find an "official hint"
of the
main reason why the operation was launched with such haste. "The risk
to
public health and morality, national security and the economy
necessitated
that the operation had to be undertaken without further delay,"
the
Government response says.
However, where the UN report got it totally wrong
was underestimating the
will of the Zimbabwean nationalists to provide for
the people in the face of
adversity. In the 100-page UN report, only four
pages were devoted to the
rebuilding programme (code-named Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle) launched
while Tibaijuka and her mission were still
in Zimbabwe compiling the report.
And even out of the four pages, two were
used to dismiss Operation Garikai.
In a rather unenthusiastic manner, the
report said of Garikai: "Whilst the
reconstruction intervention is much
welcome, and a sign that the Government
of Zimbabwe acknowledges the
existence of the crisis it has created, and is
willing to accept its
responsibility to take corrective measures, it is the
view of the UN special
envoy (Tibaijuka) that Operation Restore Order has
precipitated a
humanitarian crisis which the Government itself, even with
the best of
intentions and efforts, has limited capacity to fully address
without the
assistance of the international community. "Firstly, the scale
of announced
expenditure (US$300 million) was not foreseen in the 2005
budget, and if it
were to somehow materialise, it could exacerbate the
inflation rate which is
running at over 140 percent. "Secondly, as
conceived, Operation Garikai is
predominantly a developmental intervention.
It does not address immediate
needs, such as shelter, food, water,
sanitation, health and education…
Operation Garikai continues to be premised
on the false assumption that
evictees would return to their rural homes
while the majority in fact have
not, or are not in a position to do so."
Perhaps Tibaijuka and her mission
would want to go back and see what
Operation Garikai has achieved since
their report was released on 22 July.
The "illusive" US$300m has
materialised, not from this year’s budget but
from the Government borrowing
from the Reserve Bank’s strategic reserves
that had been lying idle until
now. In its response to the UN report, the
Government said it " has released
a further $3 trillion (US$300m) under the
National Housing Facility which is
being disbursed through building
societies at low interest rates to those
who opt to construct their own
homes". Rather than " exacerbating" the
inflation rate as prophesied by
Tibaijuka’s report, the "illusive US$300m"
has created jobs linked directly
and indirectly to OPeration Garikai. For
example, thousands of construction
workers, including women, have been
employed, building houses and market
stalls (or Small and Medium Scale
Enterprises) for those who lost their
homes and stalls in the clean-up
operation. Local suppliers to the building
industry are, thus, laughing all
the way to the bank as Operation Garikai
has brought an unexpected boom. And
contrary to what the UN report said,
Operation Garikai is addressing the
need for shelter, water, sanitation and
health. All these amenities are
being provided as part of the rebuilding
programme. And a "majority" of the
evictees have returned to "their rural
homes" to await the day, in the next
few months, when they would be recalled
to take possession of their new
homes.
In mid-August, this writer had the opportunity to tour some of the
rebuilding sites in Harare, Kwekwe, Gweru, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare -
right across the country. It was an impressive sight that awaited me,
especially since the Government had had only a few weeks to do it. What was
quite heart-warming was to see women bricklayers and masons rubbing
shoulders with their male counterparts at these sites. In short, because of
the exigency of the situation, the Government is building half of each house
(which, in Zimbabwe, is called a "core house", made up of one bedroom, a
kitchen, a separate bath and a separate toilet). The new owners will be
given loans by the Government (payable over 30 years) to buy the "core
houses" outright. They will then build the other half (or extend it) at
their own pace. The "core houses" will have amenities such as electricity,
water, sanitation, roads, sewage, postal services, etc, which their former
shacks did not have. (In Zimbabwe, unlike many African countries, the post
office delivers letters to home addresses provided it has a street number —
a service which the former slums did not have because they had no street
numbers). It will be a big improvement on their demolished habitats.
By
mid-September, work was going pretty well all over the country. Apart
from
one location, Hatcliffe Extension in Harare, where the Ministry of
Local
Government unwisely allowed evictees to return to their former plots
without
shelter, there was good news almost everywhere else. Sadly, Kofi
Annan, the
UN secretary general, who had accepted an invitation from
President Mugabe
to go and see things for himself at the end of August,
cancelled his trip
after pressure from the big powers. Meanwhile, another
surprise in this
nation of many surprises is the famous US$1billion loan
that Zimbabwe is
said to have asked for from its southern neighbour, South
Africa. The truth
is that Zimbabwe did not ask for any such loan. Or, better
put, the
initiative for the loan did not come from Harare; it was the World
Bank that
initiated it. New African can reveal that when the World Bank’s
boss, James
Wolfowitz, visited South Africa early this year, a member of his
entourage -
a woman called Krueger - sold the idea to President Thabo Mbeki.
According
to inside sources, Krueger told Mbeki: "Why don’t you help
Zimbabwe as it is
your biggest trading partner. If Zimbabwe is expelled by
the IMF, all credit
lines will dry up and it will affect your trade with
your northern
neighbour. All that the IMF will need is a word from you to
underwrite
Zimbabwe’s debt to the IMF. You may not even need to move any
money. Just
your word".
According to the sources, Mbeki was taken aback as he did not
know the
Bretton Woods institutions to be charitable to Zimbabwe. He,
however,
carried the message to President Mugabe when they met at the AU
Summit in
Sirte, Libya, in early July. President Mugabe, according to the
sources, was
equally surprised to learn of the unexpected generosity from
the World Bank,
but decided to go along if the offer was truly genuine and
not a Trojan
horse. However, as officials of the two countries began to
discuss the offer
further, elements in the South African central bank
opposed to the deal
leaked the story to the anti-Mugabe media in South
Africa. The opposition
Democratic Alliance gave it even more wings. Soon all
sorts of conditions,
from within and outside South Africa, were being
attached to the loan. Twice
in the past few months, when President Mbeki was
out of the country, some of
his officials conspired behind his back to send
letters to Harare attaching
even more conditions to the loan. On each
occasion, Mbeki had to dispatch an
envoy to tell Harare to disregard the
letters. At the time of going to
Press, the two countries were still
discussing the loan. In the meantime,
Zimbabwe, from its own resources, had
paid US$131m of the IMF debt of nearly
US$300m - even before the South
African loan became available -
wrong-footing the IMF, which threatened to
throw Zimbabwe out for
non-payment.