05/10/2007
18h34
PRETORIA (AFP) - Robert Mugabe is presiding over a disaster in Zimbabwe
but
should still be entitled to attend a forthcoming Europe-Africa summit,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
Summing up talks in
Pretoria with President Thabo Mbeki, who is a mediator
between Zimbabwe's
opposition and President Mugabe's ruling party, Merkel
said she had made
clear her disquiet about the situation across South
Africa's northern
border.
"The situation is a very difficult one. It's a disastrous one,
which I very
clearly stated in our conversation," the German leader told a
press
conference with Mbeki during her first sub-Saharan Africa
tour.
She declined to back calls for Mugabe to be barred from a summit
between
African Union and European Union leaders in Lisbon in December,
which
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has threatened to boycott if the
Zimbabwean head of state attends.
Merkel said she had consistently
argued for all African countries to be
invited to the summit and they should
decide for themselves who should
attend.
"I also said (to Mbeki) that
obviously we will make all our assessments
heard. We will also raise all our
criticisms. We would do so in the presence
of each and everyone and
obviously each and everyone has the right to
attend.
"During our
presidency of the European Union (earlier this year) we worked
very much to
prepare the ground for the upcoming EU-AU summit ... and we
want this summit
to indeed open a new chapter in the relationship between
our
continents."
The crisis in inflation-ravaged Zimbabwe dominated the talks
on the first
full day of a three-day visit to South Africa by Merkel, who
flew in late
Thursday from Ethiopia, where the AU is based.
For his
part, Mbeki expressed confidence that elections in Zimbabwe next
year would
be free and fair, saying he had detected a mood of cooperation
among all
sides in talks that he has hosted in his role as a mediator.
Angela
Merkel(L) and Thabo Mbeki
ŠAFP - Gianluigi Guercia
"There was a common
determination to conclude them (the talks) as quickly as
possible," said
Mbeki.
"We are confident they will reach an agreement on all of these
matters so,
at least as far as the political challenges are concerned, there
was a
united voice," Mbeki told the news briefing.
"Both the ruling
party and opposition are committed to making sure the
elections are free and
fair. Next year after the elections it will be very
important they take the
same approach with regard to economic challenges
that they together evolve a
common approach."
Mbeki was tasked earlier this year by fellow regional
leaders with mediating
between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the main
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change after some of its leaders were
assaulted by the security
forces.
Merkel meanwhile also told Mbeki
that Germany was ready to help South Africa
prepare for the 2010 football
World Cup after staging the tournament last
year.
Angela
Merkel(L) and Thabo Mbeki
ŠAFP - Axel Schmidt
"This will open up an
opportunity to project a new image for your country
and indeed for the
continent as a whole," she said.
Merkel toured the site where the stadium
for the 2010 final is being
constructed in Soweto, where she wished South
Africa "all the success for
2010" after being welcomed by local organising
committee head Danny Jordaan.
"The World Cup consolidated the Germans as
a nation," said Jordaan.
"There weren't anymore East Germans and West
Germans, just Germans. Here, we
have blacks and whites ... We want to be one
nation after the World Cup.
Mbeki earlier praised Germany's hosting of
last year's event.
"We are very fortunate to be holding the FIFA World
Cup after Germany. It
enables us to draw on your success ... We will remain
in close contact about
this," he said.
Business Day
05 October 2007
Sapa
GOOD
progress is being made in the talks between Zimbabwe's political
parties to
find a solution to the crisis in that country, President Thabo
Mbeki told
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.
Zimbabwe was one of the main
agenda points in talks between the two leaders
at the Union Buildings in
Pretoria.
"Those negotiations are going very well and indeed there is a
common
determination to conclude them as quickly as possible so as to allow
enough
time to implement all of the matters that they must implement," Mbeki
said
at a press conference following their meeting.
Merkel, who is on
a three nation African tour, thanked Mbeki for the "very
active role" in
trying to overcome "the very dissatisfactory situation as it
currently
exists in Zimbabwe".
"The situation is a very difficult one, not to say a
disastrous one, which I
very clearly stated in our conversation," Merkel
said through a translator
at the press conference.
In their meeting
Mbeki told Merkel about his facilitation between Zimbabwe's
ruling Zanu-PF
party of President Robert Mugabe and the Movement for
Democratic
Change.
He highlighted various issues that had to be addressed by the
parties
including constitutional reform, changes in some of the country's
oppressive
laws, the reconstitution of the electoral commission and the
creation of
conditions that would be conducive for next year's parliamentary
and
presidential elections in the country.
"The central question that
they had to address in these elections is what
[it] is that should be done
to create the conditions that the elections next
year are free and fair,"
Mbeki said.
"We are quite confident that there will be a positive outcome
that will
create the political conditions to address this very serious
economic crisis
in Zimbabwe," he said.
Merkel said Germany did not
want the Zimbabwe issue to overshadow the
planned summit between the
European Union (EU) and Africa, due to take place
in the Portuguese capital
of Lisbon in December.
"For many years we did not have a EU-Africa summit
meeting and I said right
from the start from our presidency that the Federal
Republic of Germany
wants to invite all African countries to that summit,
but it is up to the
countries themselves to decide how they going to be
represented at the
table," she said.
"Obviously we will make all our
assessments heard, we will also raise
criticism as the case may be, we will
do so in the presence of each and
everyone, and obviously each and everyone
has the right to attend," Merkel
said.
International Herald Tribune
The Associated PressPublished: October 5,
2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe: The government said it is pressing
ahead with legislation
to seize a controlling share of foreign-owned mining
interests in Zimbabwe,
the official media reported Friday.
Police
also said Friday a total of 23,585 corporate executives, store
managers,
traders, street vendors and bus drivers were arrested for
overcharging since
a prize freeze was ordered on June 26, according to state
radio.
Minister of Indigenization and Empowerment Paul Mangwana said
amendments to
existing mining laws giving black Zimbabweans 51 percent
ownership of mines
were to be presented to the Harare parliament after it
reconvenes Oct. 30,
the state Herald newspaper reported.
The ruling
party controlled parliament this month passed a bill forcing
whites and
foreign owned businesses outside mining to relinquish a 51
percent stake to
blacks.
Those new laws were rushed through the legislature in less than a
month, but
have still to be signed by President Robert Mugabe before being
enacted.
Mugabe returned home Monday from a two week foreign trip to Egypt
and the
United Nations.
"We want indigenous Zimbabweans to
participate in every sector of the
country," Mangwana said, the Herald
reported.
Mining, one of the biggest earners of scarce hard currency, has
been
dominated by international conglomerates with the necessary capital and
expertise.
Mining production, however, has declined because of
shortages of equipment,
spare parts, gasoline and other
materials.
The government's program of hasty seizures of mines and
businesses was
criticized in a key policy statement Monday by state central
bank governor
Gideon Gono as endangering already dwindling hopes of recovery
in the worst
economic crisis since independence in 1980.
Zimbabwe has
the world's worst official inflation, at nearly 7,000 percent.
Independent
estimates put real inflation closer to 25,000 percent and the
International
Monetary Fund has forecast it reaching 100,000 percent by the
end of the
year. Chronic shortages have fueled a thriving black market where
basic
goods cost up to 10 times the government's fixed prices.
The official
media said the government on Thursday offered a 300 percent
salary increase
to teachers, the biggest single group of government
employees, on strike
since Monday.
The hike to about 12 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$25, ?18
at the dominant
black market exchange rate) was still below the official
poverty line of 16
million Zimbabwe dollars (US$32, ?23 at the unofficial
exchange rate) for an
average family of five.
It was not immediately
clear whether striking teachers accepted the offer.
Some teachers in central
Harare schools were not at work Friday though
several schools were not
affected by the work stoppage earlier in the week.
IOL
October
05 2007 at 07:20AM
By Angela Quintal
Former Cabinet
minister Kader Asmal on Thursday night delivered a
devastating attack on the
Zimbabwe government, accusing it of conducting a
tyrannical war on its own
people, and dramatically confessed that he should
have spoken out
sooner.
Asmal, a human rights lawyer, MP and senior member of the
ANC's
executive, acknowledged that silence had made him
complicit.
He also questioned Pretoria's view that only Zimbabweans
themselves
could decide on their own future.
His view is in
direct contrast to among others Finance Minister Trevor
Manuel who recently
told Parliament: "We must encourage Zimbabweans to solve
their own problems.
That is the most we can do because the decisions have to
be carried by
Zimbabweans into perpetuity".
Speaking on Thursday night at the
launch of exiled Zimbabwean activist
Judith Todd's book "Through the
Darkness", Asmal lamented how things had
turned to "ashes and ashes" in
Zimbabwe.
Freedom in Zimbabwe in the 1980s had turned
into a "nightmare" because
of "the preservation of political power in a few
hands".
However, it was Asmal's mea culpa, that struck a chord with
an
audience that clearly appreciated the significance of a former South
African
Cabinet minister admitting in public that he had erred by remaining
silent
and had joined the campaign to assist the people of
Zimbabwe.
This as South Africa's quiet diplomacy towards its
northern neighbour
has drawn repeated criticism both at home and
abroad.
"Why did I not speak before. I should have, I should have
spoken as an
internationalist who invoked international campaigning for
apartheid South
Africa" and was now speaking as a "proud citizen of a free
South Africa who
should have spoken out and campaigned against a regime
which has brought
Zimbabwe to its knees".
The Martin Niemöller
poem about the silence of German intellectuals
following the Nazi rise to
power, appeared to have influenced Asmal's
speech.
"Why do I
speak now? I should have done so in the 1980s, when
thousands of people were
murdered by the infamous Fifth Brigade in
Matabeleland. The Catholic Church
did . I did not do so.
"Neither did I do so during Operation
Murambatsvina, when those who
want to retain power refer to their hapless
fellow citizens as 'sh**s who
have to be removed'."
The
so-called clean up campaign, which involved the Pol-potian
destruction of
houses, clinics, and businesses, left hundreds of thousands
of Zimbabwean's
homeless, destitute and starving, Asmal said, referring to
the murderous
Cambodian regime of Pol Pot.
Asmal went on to say that "Pol Pot's
main henchmen are now being tried
for crimes against humanity," a remark
that was widely interpreted by
audience members as implying that President
Robert Mugabe and his
lieutenants should similarly be tried.
But Asmal denied this was what he meant when asked, saying he had only
made
the remark to illustrate his general point that under international law
today governments could be held accountable for what they did
internally.
Asmal said he also had taken to heart former United
Nations
secretary-general Kofi Annan's appeal during this year's Nelson
Mandela
lecture.
Asmal said he hoped that President Thabo
Mbeki's mediation efforts
would succeed in "ensuring that a degree of
normality may return to a
country which has been
blighted".
This article was originally published on
page 6 of Cape Times on
October 05, 2007
New Zimbabwe
By Professor Jonathan Moyo
Last updated: 10/05/2007
22:56:30
NOW that the dust has settled on the rather desperate propaganda by
Zanu PF
and the two MDC factions that the 18th constitutional amendment is a
negotiated breakthrough within the Sadc-mandated mediation in Zimbabwe, the
one burning issue that most Zimbabweans still want clarified is whether on
its own the amendment has any national significance beyond offering
President Robert Mugabe a Machiavellian opportunity to smuggle his ambition
to rule for life.
Although this has been ignored or misunderstood, the
18th amendment contains
an important but unintended national significance
along with its intended
personal purpose of seeking to bolster Mugabe's grip
on power.
The unintended national importance is that, by reducing the
presidential
term from six to five years to synchronise it with that of
parliament and
local government councils with effect from March 2008, the
amendment
effectively calls for an early and much needed general election to
resolve
the Zimbabwean crisis.
In a constitutional democracy, which
Zimbabwe is struggling to become, the
only way citizens can respond to a
biting national crisis is through a
general election.
The fact that
the 18th amendment allows for an early general election which
was otherwise
due in 2010 explains why it was strategically wise for the
opposition to
vote with Zanu PF in support of the amendment notwithstanding
the apparent
limits of its intended objectives.
Claims by some opposition elements
that the 18th amendment is a
confidence-building measure are a pipedream
based on a hopeless leap in the
dark. The same goes for expectations that
Zanu PF will agree to a new
constitution before the 2008
election.
Any ruling party that agrees to opposition demands for a new
constitution
ahead of a general election exposes itself to assured electoral
defeat. Zanu
PF learnt this after the failed referendum on the draft
constitution in
2000. Therefore the best that can be achieved with the
prodding of the Sadc
mediation are amendments to a range of laws that
impinge on electoral
politics.
Otherwise the good news is already
with us and it is that, because of the
adoption of the 18th constitutional
amendment, battered Zimbabweans now have
a real opportunity through a
massive early general election next March to
resolve the widening and
deepening meltdown in the country by booting out
Mugabe and his henchmen who
have become incurably clueless in the face of
crippling problems facing the
country.
Of course Mugabe hopes to win that early election but his hope
is based on
his fatal presumption that the splintered opposition, which now
includes
significant elements from Zanu PF, will remain divided. Yet the
writing is
now on the wall that Mugabe's electoral chances in March 2008 are
between
slim and none, whatever the state of the opposition which is anyhow
set for
a dramatic transformation.
The powerful message from angry
masses and the dispossessed middle and upper
classes is that if the early
2008 general election should be rigged, it
would be against Mugabe whose
continued stay in office has become
irretrievably catastrophic for
Zimbabwe.
There is nobody, especially within Zanu PF, who genuinely and
seriously
believes that Mugabe should seek reelection let alone that he
should be
reelected after his 27 years of controversial rule whose final
days have
turned Zimbabwe into a living hell.
Mugabe's dwindling
loyalists, who are trying to turn his personality cult
into a principle and
an ideology above the national interest, actually
understand that Mugabe is
now a damaging liability to the nation despite
their public pretences to the
contrary. That is why a major intended
objective of the 18th amendment is
the dissolution of parliament in which
Zanu PF has a secure and commanding
two-thirds majority along with the
dissolution of rural and urban councils,
the majority of which are
controlled by the ruling party.
This
astonishing dissolution will be done to ensure that every ward and
constituency in the country will have an aspiring Zanu PF councillor, a
would-be Zanu PF member of the House of Assembly and a Zanu PF Senate
hopeful who will campaign for themselves as they will for Mugabe as a
necessary matter of self-interest against the national
interest.
Clearly Mugabe is desperate for support. In the past, it used
to be the
aspiring Zanu PF council and parliamentary candidates who could
not do
without Mugabe's support in their election campaigns. Now it's
him.
There is no single case in the history of civilised nations where a
ruling
party with a two-thirds majority in the legislature has dissolved
that
legislature only for the purpose of ensuring that its unpopular
president
does not seek reelection to face humiliation alone.
The
dissolution of the Zanu PF two-thirds majority in parliament is
therefore
unprecedented but telling. That is why the affected Zanu PF
parliamentarians
are not amused even a bit. And that is also why there is so
much turmoil in
the increasingly divided Zanu PF ranks less than six months
before the
general election.
Ironically, Mugabe's securocrats and bureaucrats have
not understood that
the dissolution of parliament in which the ruling party
has a two-thirds
majority is certain to boomerang as it can only benefit the
opposition which
now has an early opportunity to close ranks and take full
advantage of the
economic hardships in the country to at least eliminate
that majority and
even to win it all.
A wiser strategy for Zanu PF
would have been to keep the current two-thirds
majority in parliament as
political insurance in the event of a likely
defeat in the presidential
election and to use that majority to impeach the
opposition winner. With the
economy in the doldrums and with Mugabe and his
wayward ministers unable to
do anything about that besides making idle
threats of company takeovers,
Zanu PF is now inside the jaws of defeat
waiting to be crushed.
The
evidence that Mugabe is nervous to the bones about this is not only
shown by
the impending irrational dissolution of parliament in which Zanu PF
has a
two-thirds majority but also by Mugabe's convening of a special
congress of
the ruling party in December when he does not have to.
The few
securocrats and bureaucrats behind Mugabe's doomed reelection
campaign are
going around claiming that a Zanu PF special congress in
December can only
have one agenda item which is to confirm and endorse
Mugabe as the ruling
party's presidential candidate in the general election
next March. But that
is mumbo jumbo.
In the first place, it is not true that in terms of the
Zanu PF constitution
a special congress is called only for a single issue.
The true position is
that a special Zanu PF congress is called to deal with
those special issues,
whether few or many, that are unique to the
circumstances necessitating it.
There is no requirement that there must be
only one issue.
In the second place, in terms of the Zanu PF
constitution, the confirmation
and endorsement of the party's president and
first secretary as the
candidate in a presidential election does not require
a special congress. In
fact, the annual people's conference of Zanu PF is
required to declare,
without debate, the party's president and first
secretary as its
presidential candidate. That is what happened in 2001 ahead
of the 2002
presidential election.
Because it is the highest organ of
the party, a congress, whether special or
ordinary, can raise from the floor
any issue including who should be the
Zanu PF president and first secretary.
As things stand, the securocrats and
bureaucrats who have fooled a nervous
Mugabe into calling a special congress
have actually set him up for a real
challenge to his failed leadership.
Unless he seizes the initiative and
acts now to allow for a successor, the
possibility of a palace coup against
Mugabe at the special congress in
December has become real.
This
explains why Mugabe suddenly expects the Mnangagwa faction, the
so-called
Tsholotsho group, to support his reelection bid against the Mujuru
faction.
Yet the fact is that he is now deeply mistrusted within both
factions. In
2004 he abused the Mnangagwa faction and in 2007 he is abusing
the Mujuru
faction.
Whereas it is true that in politics there are only permanent
interests and
no permanent friends or permanent enemies, it is nevertheless
clear that
there is no permanent interest in Mugabe's 2008 reelection bid.
The only
obvious permanent interest is that the time for Mugabe to go
peacefully has
come and he needs to be told this without fear or
favour.
So if there is one sure thing that Zimbabwe does not need today,
it is
Mugabe's presidency. Enough is enough. Thanks to the adoption of the
18th
constitutional amendment, Zimbabweans have a wonderful early
opportunity to
show Mugabe the exit door at the polls through a united,
patriotic people's
front of nationalist progressives from across the
political divide as the
only real solution to the Zimbabwean crisis. -
Zimbabwe Independent
Professor Jonathan Moyo is MP for Tsholotsho
(Indep). He can be contacted on
e-mail: moyoz@mweb.co.zw
The Zimbabwean
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is a social
movement
with a growing membership composed of Harare residents and
corporate
members.
The Association was established in 1999 to coordinate
the initiatives of
residents in demand for effective, democratic and
accountable local
governance and quality municipal service provision and
effective social
service delivery in the City of Harare.
The
Association is concerned with the continued piecemeal amendments of
the
constitution as opposed to holistic people driven constitution
making
process. It is against self serving constitutional amendments that
do
not guarantee effective local governance and electoral democracy.
The
recently passed constitutional amendment number 18 does not address
the
governance crisis and the highly polarized political environment. It
serves
to
outstretch the national budget at a time when the nation should
be
focusing on cost recovery policies. The recent increase in the number
of
Parliamentary and Senatorial seats will further exacerbate
the
confusion in administrative boundaries and will increase government
expenditure.
The Association is wary of the privatization of the
process to seek
lasting solutions to the country's malaise. We demand the
participation of
civic society and the people of Zimbabwe in the making of
the Constitution.
While CHRA has been campaigning for the holding of Mayoral
and Council
elections in the City of Harare concurrently with the
Parliamentary and
Presidential elections, it maintains and still campaigns
that the elections
be held
in a manner that is free and fair. The SADC
community has drafted protocols
on the holding of democratic elections. We
urge the government to hold
these elections in a manner that is consistent
with these protocols. CHRA
stands for the principle that constitutions must
be made for the people and
by
the people themselves. In this regard we
make the following demands:
Demands:
A people driven
constitution making process as opposed to piecemeal
constitutional
amendments
That local governance be a key tenet in the constitution of
the land as
is the case in South Africa. This will eliminate opportunities
for
manipulation expressed at party political interest. This will also
provide
an
effective framework for the development of effective local
governance
systems in
the Zimbabwe.
Repeal of repressive and
oppressive legislation like POSA and AIPPA
that militate against freedoms of
assembly and expression. These freedoms
are fundamental towards the holding
of free and fair elections and the
citizen participation in matters of local
governance.
Reform of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15). The current
form of
the act gives too much power to the Minister of Local Government,
Public
Works and Urban Development to interfere into the affairs of
local
authorities.
This has a negative impact on decision making and
subsequently the
quality of services provided by local
authorities.
Civic society be effectively consulted on all matters of
national
importance as they are the watchdogs of the people.
Thus the
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) advocates for
people driven
constitution making processes as opposed to
piecemeal
constitutional
amendments. It rejects Constitutional amendment
number 18 as it does
not address the institutional defects to guarantee
democratic elections.
Holistic people driven constitution making will allow
residents to
demand the constitutionalisation of local governance and the
repeal of the
Urban Councils Act (29:15). CHRA considers this as the initial
process
towards the reform and development of effective, transparent and
accountable local
governance. This will also improve the quality of
municipal and other
services provided by local authorities. Lastly, it is the
institution's
conviction that the resolution of the national crisis is the
panacea to
genuine local government reform. - Combined Harare
Residents
Association
(CHRA)
The Zimbabwean
By Blessing Zulu
Under mounting pressure to produce tangible
results in his mediation of the
festering Zimbabwe political and economic
crisis, South African President
Thabo Mbeki has again reached out to civil
society leaders, who were to meet
with him Sunday.
The Southern
African Development Community appointed Mr. Mbeki mediator in
the crisis at
an extraordinary summit in late March following an upsurge of
political
violence in Zimbabwe in which an opposition activist was shot to
death.
Sources in Pretoria said that Mr. Mbeki is anxious to secure
an endorsement
from the civic leaders of his efforts to date. He was to
brief them on
progress, in particular on a reported compromise on the
constitutional
amendment the government has tabled in parliament that would
make major
changes in the electoral dispensation.
Other prominent
items on the crisis resolution agenda include conditions for
elections set
for March 2008 and revocation or amendment of repressive laws
like the
Public Order and Security Act, often wielded against political
dissenters,
and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act,
used to silence
independent media.
Some non-governmental organizations have expressed the
concern that the
talks are too secretive, and for that reason are reluctant
to give them a
stamp of approval.
Some ZANU-PF and opposition
insiders say the talks are progressing smoothly
and note in evidence that
negotiators are now meeting in Harare instead of
Pretoria.
Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition Coordinator Jacob Mafume told reporter Blessing
Zulu of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that although there has been some
consultation
with Pretoria, the NGO's are likely to stay on the sidelines
for the time
being.
UPI
Oct. 5 -- Harare, October
05, ZANIS - The price of beer today went up by
over 100 percent, in
Zimbabwe, State News Agency, New Ziana has established.
In a snap survey
conducted in Harare, a pint of beer had increased from
about $70 000 to
around $280 000 while a quart had gone up to $550 000 from
about $250 000.
Delta Corporation could not be reached for an official
comment on the retail
price for the beer. But most city bottle stores have
already increased their
charges with most patrons saying the prices are too
high. The increase comes
barely a week after Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono called for
a review of beer prices. In his mid-year
momentary policy the central bank
Chief said beer was under priced and
unviable for beverage companies.
ZANIS/New Ziana/ENDS
SW Radio
Africa (London)
5 October 2007
Posted to the web 5 October
2007
Henry Makiwa
Police in Bulawayo yesterday made a
climb-down from their position to bar
the Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) from holding the annual
World Teachers Day celebrations in
the country's second largest city.
On Thursday, Bulawayo police refused
to clear a PTUZ meeting citing the
union's record of battles over teachers'
salaries with government, and
constant pronouncements by its leader Raymond
Majongwe against bad
governance.
According to a police statement
to the PTUZ, the union was accused of being
"bent on tarnishing the
country's image" hence the position to forbid its
meeting. The police,
however made a change to its decision on Friday after
the PTUZ filed an
urgent court application with the High Court arguing that
the police have no
jurisdiction to block their meeting.
A PTUZ official yesterday said the
police had sent a statement allowing the
union to go ahead with its
celebrations.
He said: "Our matter was about to be heard in the High
Court at noon but the
police sent someone to say the celebrations have been
cleared as long as we
don't talk politics or carry banners with political
messages."
He added: "They also said that they will keep an eye on us and
reserve the
right to end it if need be. But we will go ahead and discuss all
the matters
affecting teachers without fear. Most of our members are not
happy with the
recent salary hike as businesses rushed to increase the costs
of basic
commodities upon learning we have been given higher
pay."
The state media on Friday reported that the government has awarded
civil
servants a 422 percent salary increment.
Depicting the direct
effects of the civil servants pay increase, the
Chronicle newspaper reported
that: "basic commodities are shooting up again,
with a loaf of bread now
going for $200 000 -- that is if you can find it in
the first place."
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/20316/2007/09/5-091707-1.htm
05 Oct 2007 09:17:00 GMT
Blogged
by: Megan Rowling
As Zimbabwe's inflation continues on its
stratospheric path and this year's
poor harvest exacerbates grain shortages,
even bread is disappearing from
shop shelves. In late September, the
country's biggest baker, Lobels Bread,
had to slash operations by four
fifths because it was running out of flour,
the BBC
reported.
Dwindling supplies of affordable food have given rise to a new
profession -
the "queuer". According to U.N. news agency IRIN, these
entrepreneurs of
desperation wait in line to buy goods whose official prices
have been cut by
the government, and then sell them on at a premium. The key
is to know
what'll be available, when and where.
The Famine Early
Warning System predicts that food security in Zimbabwe is
likely to decline
until at least February next year, when the early harvest
starts. It says
4.1 million people in both rural and urban areas are
expected to need
emergency aid over the next six months.
More optimistically, it adds that
as long as government plans to import
cereals and food aid programmes are
implemented, the risk of mass starvation
and famine will be
mitigated.
This suggests that while Zimbabwe's crisis is escalating,
there's still a
chance it may not reach a scale that would cause the country
to collapse.
It's a view some policy experts concur with.
Michelle
Gavin, an international affairs fellow at the U.S.-based Council on
Foreign
Relations, told AlertNet that Zimbabwe's neighbours are committed to
averting the "nightmare possibility" of economic and political meltdown:
"South Africa has real leverage, and is not interested in a completed
collapse in Ziimbabwe. No one wants to see a failed state."
Speaking
at London's Chatham House think tank, she said that while the
current
situation was unsustainable, she didn't forsee a popular uprising.
"When it
comes, change is likely to be less about people power. It's
probably not
going to be dramatic but incremental change within the ruling
party. The
question is how profound will it be?"
Gavin - who's written a
soon-to-be-published special report on Zimbabwe for
the CFR - argued that
the international community should continue to provide
humanitarian aid,
while preparing to re-engage fully and help Zimbabwe
recover after political
change. She proposed the establishment of a trust
fund, along with planning
by donors to coordinate future aid.
This kind of approach may sound
reasonable. But it still begs the thorny
question of under what conditions
Western donors like Britain - which has
taken a tough stand against
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe - and the
United States would be prepared
to start giving longer-term support to the
former British
colony.
NEED FOR BETTER GOVERNANCE
Gavin said it was necessary to
avoid the trap of embracing "an
anyone-but-Mugabe approach while the system
stays the same". She recommended
an emphasis on better governance -
adherence to the rule of law, an end to
political violence, and free and
fair elections.
But once Zimbabwe was back on the good governance track,
it would need more
than macro-economic stability and the return of political
exiles from
abroad, she argued. International donors should plan to help
revive
agriculture, including technical assistance for a land audit. Other
key
areas would be reform of the security sector and job creation on a mass
scale for Zimbabwean youths.
Knox Chitiyo, Africa director at the
Royal United Services Institute, agreed
that Western donors should continue
to engage with Zimbabwe and be ready to
ramp up development aid. But he
warned against trying to hurry things along
outside an initiative launched
by the regional intergovernmental
organisation, the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), to
facilitate a negotiated political solution.
Much is riding on elections due
in or after March 2008, when Mugabe's
current term ends.
"The United States needs to recognise the regional
role being played by the
SADC," said Chitiyo. "People claim it isn't moving
fast enough, but it's the
only major game in town. By supporting it, the
United States could repair
its less-than-brilliant image in southern
Africa."
International Crisis Group has also said that the SADC
mediation, led by
South African President Thabo Mbeki, offers the only
realistic chance to
escape what it describes as "a crisis that increasingly
threatens to
destabilise the region". To succeed, however, SADC needs full
support from
the international community, and must resolve its internal
differences about
how hard to press Mugabe into retirement, the
Brussels-based think tank
argued in a September report.
Yet amid all
the high-level political manouevring and planning for
longer-term recovery,
what of the prospects for ordinary Zimbabweans? Gavin,
along with many other
observers, believes civil society must get a seat at
the political table -
but how to achieve that is less clear.
Chitiyo cautioned against
overlooking key issues that went unaddressed in
the excitement following
Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, such as land
reform.
"What is the
price people are willing to pay for a managed political
transition?" he
asked. "The main focus is on trying to negotiate a way out
of the current
crisis without bloodshed, but there's a chance civil rights
will get lost
again."
News24
05/10/2007 07:25 -
(SA)
London - Condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is
counterproductive
and international powers should instead put their weight
behind regional
diplomatic efforts to unseat him, says a Tanzanian
president.
Speaking to the Financial Times in Paris, Jakaya Kikwete
insisted the
diplomatic approach favoured by African leaders "will pay
dividends" and
said it should be given more time.
Kikwete said:
"Tanzania is standing by the people of Zimbabwe, including
President
Mugabe.
"We subscribe to the idea of working with them to get a solution,
because if
you end up condemning and insulting Mugabe, he will not listen to
you.
"Mugabe is there. He is president; he has been elected. If Tanzania
said,
'You are hopeless! A murderer! A violator of basic human rights!' does
that
remove Mugabe from office? It doesn't."
'We want to see free,
fair polls'
Kikwete added that bringing an end to Mugabe's reign in
Zimbabwe would
provide a solution in itself only "if you think the problems
in Zimbabwe are
solely related to President Mugabe".
According to him:
"Our approach has been, 'let's make these people talk',"
referring to
discussions hosted by South Africa between Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party and
opposition groups.
"We want to see the next elections conducted on a
level playing field: free,
fair and peaceful ... That will give the people of
Zimbabwe an opportunity
to choose a leader of their choice," added
Kikwete.
Kikwete's comments came ahead of a December summit of European
Union and
African leaders in Lisbon. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had
already
said that he would not attend the summit if Mugabe is
present.
Zimbabwe was in the throes of an economic crisis with the
world's highest
rate of inflation and four out of five people jobless. Some
80% of the
population lived below the poverty threshold.
Separately,
Kikwete added that if investigations into the 2002 sale of a
radar system by
BAE Systems to Tanzania for $57.1bn was corruptly inflated,
Tanzania would
seek compensation.
He added: "I don't know how to get the money but if
the radar is overpriced,
definitely we deserve to be paid ... They cannot
take money from a poor
country."
Business Day
05 October 2007
Wilson
Johwa
Political
Correspondent
EMPTY supermarket shelves and near-worthless salaries have
prompted many
Zimbabwean companies and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs)
to provide
staff with groceries imported mainly from SA and
Botswana.
Since the government enforced a halving of prices in June, food
items have
all but vanished from shops, persuading bigger companies and NGOs
to rescue
desperate workers.
"It's not a case of helping the poor,"
Callisto Jokonya, president of the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries. "I
think it is good business practice.
It's a cost."
What companies and
NGOs have also kept under wraps is the extent to which
they were paying some
workers - albeit the senior managers - in hard
currency to keep up with
inflation, which the government has put at about
6600%.
Other
organisations have resorted to paying workers twice a month, but
without
necessarily doubling the wages. Some go as far as assisting workers
with
school fees.
Godfrey Kanyenze an economist affiliated with the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU), says: "There is nothing orthodox
anymore. Companies are
trying everything and anything to assist. It's back
to Rhodesian days when
salaries were also low and workers were compensated
with rations."
To match the June price cuts, the government also
decreed a freeze on wages,
school fees and service charges. But faced with a
ZCTU strike recently, it
backtracked. Yet "they haven't actually amended the
statutory instrument to
unfreeze the wages", Kanyenze said.
This
week teachers resorted to strike action to press for pay of at least
Z$16,7m
(R1600 on the official market and about R233 on the black market).
Teachers
take home about Z$3m (R751 on the official market and R40 on the
black
market), which they say is not even enough to cover transport for the
month.
Jokonya said most companies helping employees with
groceries saw it as a
private matter and were loath to speak openly about
it. "People are doing
it," he said.
One multinational group has
just made its first shipment of basic groceries
for its 150 employees. The
food basket consists of sugar , flour , cooking
oil (5l ), rice and salt .
Also on the list was a packet of beans, together
with bath and washing
soap.
Another such company is mining company Bindura Nickel
Corporation which,
since June last year, has been providing its staff of
more than 1000 people
with a monthly basket composed of cooking oil, rice,
maize meal and soap.
However, just like doing business in an
environment dominated by price
controls and fuel shortages, bringing in
supplies is a logistical challenge.
Getting an import permit is often the
much bigger task, however.
Since August the government has enforced a
ban on the importation of
groceries for resale. The ban affects companies as
they also have to apply
for a permit to bring in large quantities of
groceries. It is not uncommon
for shipments to lie at the Beitbridge border
post while import formalities
are worked out.
For sugar and oil,
an application has to be made to the agriculture ministry
while a different
application has to be directed at the trade ministry for a
permit to bring
in flour, maize meal and rice.
"Getting a permit is not a walk in the
park, it's a bureaucratic nightmare,"
said a senior company executive whose
company's shipment was stuck in Musina
for two weeks before an import permit
was finally issued.
While a few companies are known to fly in
supplies, many get direct
deliveries from local producers still operating,
or from agencies and
informal traders. Others cart in commodities from
Musina in SA or
Francistown in Botswana, a time-consuming and sometimes
costly process.
"It is cumbersome but worth the effort," said a
company executive who did
not wish to be identified.
"Those with
small families are able to have their Zim dollar salaries take
them
further."
Philadelphia Enquirer
Fri, Oct. 5, 2007
Letting dictators, oppressors and
sponsors of terror
address the General Assembly is not the democratic way.
Claudia
Rosett
is a journalist-in-residence
at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies
In Burma, an ominous silence has fallen. The ruling military
junta has been
answering the peaceful protests of dissident monks with
beatings, arrests
and untold killings. Even United Nations Human Rights
Commissioner Louise
Arbour, too often reticent about criticizing tyrannies,
issued a statement
Monday deploring the repression and asserting that in the
current crackdown,
Burma's protesters "have become invisible."
But not
all Burmese have been stifled. At the United Nations' headquarters
in New
York, all 192 members have just enjoyed their allotted 15 minutes of
fame on
the General Assembly stage. So it was that on Monday, while troops
in Burma
were reportedly hunting down dissidents, Burma's minister for
foreign
affairs, U Nyan Win, a mouthpiece for the junta, mounted the steps
to the
main stage. There, before the great golden backdrop, facing the grand
annual
meeting of the world's sovereign states, he delivered a speech in
which the
core message was that normalcy had now returned in Myanmar.
There is
plenty to question in that perverse sentiment. But one question to
which the
free nations of the world - including our own - seem to devote far
too little
thought is: Why did the U.N. allow Nyan Win that world platform
in the first
place?
The answer that it is the democratic way to let every sovereign
state have
its say is just not good enough. There is nothing democratic about
this U.N.
queue for the spotlight. Some spokespeople who ascend that stage
do, indeed,
speak as envoys or heads of legitimately elected governments.
They fulfill
the membership qualifications set out in the U.N. charter, which
stresses
freedom and the dignity of the individual, and begins "We the
peoples of the
United Nations . . ."
But others do not remotely speak
for the people of their own nations. They
represent the machinery of
dictatorship, with its secret police, press
censorship and Orwellian fictions
so amply demonstrated by Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These included
not only his evasions about his regime's
nuclear bomb program, but his
bizarre statement that there are no
homosexuals in Iran.
Though
Ahmadinejad has lately grabbed the headlines, and the locutions of
Burma's
foreign minister stand out as prime hypocrisies of the season, these
regimes
are far from alone in enlisting the U.N. spotlight to further the
highly
undemocratic policy of abusing their own people.
Thus have the speakers
at this 62d Annual Assembly of the United Nations
included North Korea's vice
minister of foreign affairs, Choe Su Hon,
lauding the "lifetime teachings of
our fatherly leader President Kim Il
Sung" - Kim being a
nuclear-bomb-building tyrant under whose rule an
estimated one million North
Koreans have starved to death, and millions more
endure lives of
deprivation.
Zimbabwe's longtime despot, President Robert Mugabe, flew in
to opine about
"dynamism in confronting the global challenges of the 21st
century," while
back home his policies have beggared millions. Syria's
foreign minister,
Walid Al-Moualem, detailed his government's interest in
bringing "consensus"
to "fraternal Lebanon," where Syria has been abetting
the drive by the
Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah to take full
control of the
Lebanese state.
What may appear to an American audience
as irrelevant and even tedious
theater is anything but harmless. The speeches
on that U.N. stage are not,
as a rule, meant for Americans, nor even for the
multilateral audience in
the chamber. Especially among repressive regimes,
they are beamed to home
countries and regional neighbors as evidence of the
dignity and respect
enjoyed by these governments at the world's leading
conclave of nations.
They feature as one more blow to the courageous Burmese
monks, the hungry
North Koreans, the desperate opposition in Zimbabwe, and
the democrats who
risk prison when they raise their voices in places such as
Syria and Iran.
Surely it is not too much to ask that the United Nations,
which runs chiefly
on the tax money and credibility of the free world, find a
way to deprive
the worst regimes of those annual 15 minutes of glory on its
lofty stage.
The Zimbabwean
BULAWAYO:
THE Mugabe government says farmers should grow jatropha
seed in the coming
2007/2008 farming season in a bid to end the fuel
shortages that have
haunted the nation since 1999.
The government
through the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) says
the jatropha seed
will be planted on about 5000 hectares in each province to
ease fuel
shortages next year.
In a notice, the struggling state parastatal says it
will assist new farmers
with ready to plant seedlings once their land is
prepared for the 2007/2008
agricultural season.
"The ultimate aim is
to produce bio-diesel to substitute ten percent of our
national diesel
requirements. To this end 40 000 hectares of jatropha has to
be established
this year.," read in part the NOCZIM notice on Friday.
This is yet
another clear admission that the government has failed to solve
the fuel
crisis which has haunted the country since 1999 due to foreign
currency
shortages and the severing of lines of credit by foreign banks and
lenders.
An ambitious programme pursued since 2005 by the government
to produce
bio-diesel from the oil rich jatropha curcas seed where communal
farmers
have been contracted to grow the jatropha tree has failed to yield
any
results.
Experts have warned that massive investment in expensive
refineries and
conversion plants would be needed before the dream of
producing bio-diesel
could be realized.
Zimbabwe has faced crippling
fuel shortages since the end of 1999 when the
country's Western backers
pulled out in protest at the government's economic
mismanagement.
Cash-strapped NOCZIM has struggled to meet demand,
forcing the government to
scrap the parastatal's monopoly around
2002.
However, fuel shortages resurfaced in June following the
reinstatement of
NOCZIM'S monopoly after the imposition of a freeze on
prices by the
President Robert Mugabe led government
Zimbabwe
consumes 3, 5 million litres of diesel, three million litres of
petrol and
five million litres of Jet A1 daily. It needs about US$130
million a month
to import fuel- CAJ News.
The Zimbabwean
JOHANNESBURG:
Bob, a satirical play that the Zimbabwe government banned
for hitting too
closer to the truth has resurfaced with a vengeance in South
Africa under a
different title and now delivering more severe blows to where
it hurts most
on President Mugabe.
Now titled The Devilish: Robert
Mugabe, the play will be staged from
November 9-25 at the Hillbrow Theatre
in Johannesburg.
Protest playwright, Tinashe Jonas, who penned the play
said about 50 percent
of the script had been changed since the play's ban in
Zimbabwe in line with
the worsening of the country's socio-economic
crisis.
He said the play will go ahead despite possible intimidation by
Zimbabwean
security agents, as was the case in December last year when the
show had to
be postponed taking place at the Wits
Amphitheatre.
"Artists such as myself have a key role to play in
highlighting the problems
that Zimbabwe faces as a result of misrule by the
Mugabe regime despite
widespread threats. I have a philosophy that inspires
me to die for a reason
that will live than live for a reason that will die,"
said Jonas.
The University of Namibia trained dramatist said of the
hard-hitting play's
synopsis, "The play highlights the social, economic and
political meltdown
that has besieged Zimbabwe. It also reveals how Mugabe is
Adolf Hitler
tenfold because of gross human rights abuses. The Devilish:
Robert Mugabe
highlights how single-handedly a dictator can ruin a
once-prosperous
economy," he slammed.
The play boasts an all-South
African cast of ten.
The move flies in the face of denials by South
Africa that there was a
crisis at its northern neighbour, Jonas
said.
Looking forward to the play, stage actress Evril Mmakola said from
his
interaction with Zimbabweans, she had established that there was indeed
a
crisis in Zimbabwe and that it was not only an exaggeration by the
media.
She said the solution lied in the resignation of the current
Zimbabwean
leadership.
"From what I hear, things are bad there. If
you were to ask me the solution,
I would tell you it lies in the resignation
of the country's leader. Anyway,
I am not into politics. As an actress I go
out there and follow the script,"
she said.
The play is among several
that the paranoid Zimbabwean government has banned
in the country under the
pretext that they were likely to raise alarm and
despondency among members
of the public.
Jonas fled to South Africa after the outlawed play put his
life in danger.
Meanwhile, tickets for the play are going for R30 at the
door and R38 at
Computicket-CAJ News
The Zimbabwean
MUTARE - STUDENTS at Mutare Polytechnic in the city
dressed down Senator
Mandi Chimene when she attempted in vain to coerce the
students to join the
solidarity march in support of President Mugabe's
candidature in next year's
elections.
Following the embarrassing incident
from the students, who told her they
were hungry to be part of the
demonstration Chimene this week donated a
beast to the college.
The
'hostile' students told Chimene in no uncertain terms that they would
not
join her in the solidarity march in the city.
Chimene who was in the
company of war veterans leaders Jabulani Sibanda,
Joseph Chinotimba,
Manicaland Governor Tineyi Chigudu and Webster Shamu were
booed away from
the college as the students said they were "too hungry to go
on the
march".
"We told her that we could not be part of the demonstration as we
are
hungry. You cannot go on a march when you are hungry," said Henry
Taendeswa,
a student at the college.
He said the students stood their
ground despite spirited efforts from the
senator and war veterans' leaders
including Chigudu.
Chimene was unavailable for a comment today as she was
said to be out of the
country.
Her daughter Patience confirmed her mother
had raised money to buy a beast
for the college when CAJ News called. She
would also not say how much her
mother had paid for the beast.
"My
mother is out of the country but she has handed over the money to the PA
(Provincial Administrator - Fungai Mbetsa). She will only be back after the
13
th of October," said Patience.
She said while she was not sure of
the motive behind the donation she was
sure it had to do with the hunger at
the institution.
Neither Mbetsa nor Chigudu were available on Thursday
for a comment when CAJ
News phoned at their respective
offices.
Students in colleges are enduring hard times of going for days
with descent
meals owing to financial constraints-
CAJ News.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
5 October 2007
Posted to the web 5 October 2007
Henry
Makiwa
The ruling Zanu PF party on Thursday dampened growing hopes of
free and fair
polls when Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told parliament
that there
would be no new voters roll for next year's harmonised
elections.
The move discourages expectations by the opposition that
voters would be
re-registered to create a new and transparent voters
roll
before the election in March next year. The Movement for
Democratic Change
swiftly opposed the ruling party's position, accusing
Robert Mugabe of
plotting to use "a corrupted voters' roll full of ghost
voters" to win
elections.
The MDC wants the voters roll re-examined
and updated to flush out "ghost
voters" - deceased people who are yet to be
struck of the voters' list. The
opposition party claims Mugabe has used the
dead for electoral rigging
purposes.
Responding to questions by MDC
legislator Nelson Chamisa in parliament,
Chinamasa said: "There will be no
re-registration of voters to create voters
rolls. When you are registered
you are registered to a particular group
which is the physical unit area and
when they do the delimitation, whether
of wards or constituencies, it is a
mere exercise of moving a whole block or
part of the block in order to
create a constituency."
Chamisa yesterday said the proposed system would
prejudice many voters and
scupper hopes of a free and fair
election.
Chamisa said: "Chinamasa chooses to exhibit unmitigated madness
and
recklessness at a time when all Zimbabweans are looking for
confidence-building measures. We are having mediation talks at the moment
and we want to have legitimate free and fair elections under a transparent
voters roll."
He added: "The electoral roll is like what a syllabus
is to a student. Zanu
PF has kept this as a preserve of its own in secrecy
leading to the use of
dead people or ghost voters who are only resurrected
at election time to
deliver victory to Zanu PF."
Catholic Information Service for Africa
(Nairobi)
5 October 2007
Posted to the web 5 October
2007
London
A British Catholic charity today launched an 8 million
dollar appeal to save
lives in Zimbabwe, as the Archbishop of Harare said
the country is on the
edge of collapse.
The emergency programme by
the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
(CAFOD) will provide over
120,000 people in some of the worst affected areas
with food supplies and
seeds and tools.
CAFOD said all money raised from its annual Harvest
Fast Day, marked Friday,
would go to helping the most vulnerable people in
Zimbabwe.
"With food supplies already running short and a poor harvest
forecasted,
usual coping strategies are simply not enough this year. One in
three people
are expected to be without food by March and many will run out
very soon,"
the charity said.
Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare said
Zimbabwe was unable to feed its
people and the coming months would bring
deeper hunger and desperation for
many.
"We have already lost too
many of our children, friends, brothers and
sisters to hunger and disease.
Many more have fled the country, fleeing from
lives that have become
unbearable through poverty and hunger.
"Now the Zimbabwean people stand
at the edge of a precipice. Our country is
in deep crisis. Our harvest has
failed, through a combination of severe
drought, HIV and AIDS and the
consequences of economic decline."
Archbishop Ndlovu appealed for urgent
help. "On behalf of my Zimbabwean
brothers and sisters living in hunger, I
appeal to their fellow Christian
brothers and sisters to walk alongside them
during this difficult time in
faith and Christian charity."
In
London, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal
Cormac Murphy O'Connor, backed the CAFOD appeal, saying, "Many of us have
held the people of Zimbabwe close in prayer over the last few years and
watched with sadness as it continues to decline into poverty and conflict. I
urge the Catholic community to support CAFOD's appeal for Zimbabwe and to
remember the people of Zimbabwe in their prayers."
According to the
United Nations, Zimbabwe's total harvest this year dropped
by 40 percent.
And many areas harvested less than half their usual crop.
Inflation at
7,000 percent has wiped out people's savings and there is very
little casual
work available. Across Zimbabwe bad harvests, high
unemployment, high levels
of HIV and AIDS and continued instability have
combined to make daily life a
painful struggle.
Engineering News
By: Oscar Nkala
Published: 5 Oct 07 - 11:40
The effects of
Zimbabwe's drive to economically empower the black majority
through the
recently enacted Indigenisation Bill has left its traditional
Chinese
friends doubting the security of their investments in the country.
Five
Chinese steel and metallurgical companies have reportedly expressed an
interest in acquiring significant stakes in the ailing Zimbabwe Iron &
Steel
Company (Zisco), but are now said to be holding back until President
Robert
Mugabe's government becomes clear on how it wants to implement the
indigenisation programme.
A source who attended this year's China
International Trade Fair, last
month, said representatives of Chinese
companies in the iron and steel
business met Obert Mpofu, Zimbabwe's
Minister of Industry and International
Trade, to express their willingness
to invest and their concerns over the
security of their
investments.
"The Chinese are more than willing to invest in almost all
sectors, but the
minister's drive to woo them into Zimbabwe has been cast in
a very bad light
by the new Indigenisation Bill. "Despite government
assurances, they still
do not trust the Zimbabwe government and fear it may
change policy and
nationalise their investments overnight," said the source,
who was part of
the Zimtrade business delegation that accompanied Mpofu to
China.
Contacted for comment, Mpofu confirmed meeting representatives of
China
Shougang International Trading & Engineering Corpora-tion, Wuhang
Iron &
Steel Corporation, Baoshan Iron & Steel, Shanghai Steel
Corporation & Rock
Neck Steel Group. He said all of them expressed
serious interest in
investing in Zisco but feared the legislative
environment would not offer
investment security.
"They are all
interested in doing business with us through deals with Zisco,
but they have
a lot of questions regarding the Indigenisation Bill. "They
fear we may
nationalise their invest-ments or [that they may incur] other
such losses.
But I told them that the country has deliberately adopted a
'look East'
policy, through which we can guarantee the security of their
investment. "We
went out of our way to woo them, so we cannot take anything
away from them,"
Mpofu told Engineering News.
He added that the government was serious
about giving 51% of any mining
stake to locals. He also refused to explain
if the government would ignore
the indigenisation law and give the same
investment security guarantees to
other investors coming from countries
outside the confines of its 'look East'
policy.
Many mining
international mining and engineering firms had until the
promulgation of the
Indigenisation Bill shown interest in investing in
Zimbabwe's ailing
economy. However, the passing of the Bill has forced many
companies to have
a rethink about investing in Zimbabwe.
Daily Camera blogs
By Kesse Buchanan
Posted October 5, 2007
I walked to breakfast today with the
presence of death on my shoulders. The
son of our driver had died. It was
not so much the sadness of what happened
that haunted me as deeply as the
lack of reaction from anyone who heard the
news, including the reaction of
our driver himself. It told me that in this
rural area of Mhondoro, really
in Zimbabwe itself, death is never far.
An hour later I found myself in the
medical clinic in Mhondoro. When we
walked up to the building to start our
day we were greeted by cries of the
sick holding their thin, haggard arms in
a universal plea for help. They had
formed a line all the way around the
medical hut and out into the yard.
Wooden carts pulled by oxen continued to
bring in more and even more who
couldn't find the strength to walk.
I
followed the doctor into the bare room with the stained walls and a
mud-packed floor. The patient was a woman who had been there, laying on the
single cot for 4 hours now. She had been here last week too. Like many
others, they had walked into the night to get here. The lack of medical
clinics in the area forces most to travel miles to get to any sort of
primitive medical care.
As the woman was being treated I heard the mooing
of cows and scuttle of
chickens, only separated from us by a thin wall. The
room was empty except
for the cot, a wooden bench, a stethoscope and a
thermometer, the only
medical tools available.
Preschoolers sang next
door in their rhythm of hope, but the closeness of
the preschool to the
clinic with just the mud separating us reminded me how
imminent any sort of
illness is in such a rural area. The preschool children
are all as thin as
old women. They often don't have food all day because
there isn't any. Their
clothes hang in tatters, but ironed tatters
nevertheless. I wonder how long
the skin will cling to their bones and they
will be able to play instead of
sit outside the clinic like so many children
already are.
The woman on
the cot had been brought in by her husband who sat nearby.
Behind the mask
of masculinity the culture puts on their men, I saw a
glimpse of sorrow
crack through the edges that any human would recognize,
regardless of where
they grew up. He moved to shift the position of his wife's
leg that she was
too weak to move by herself.
I never saw the woman's face and wondered if
that is symbolic to me of the
pain of so many in this rural area in Zimbabwe
who all have death on their
shoulders, binding them together, but who still
have enough hope to iron the
dirty clothes on their children.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
5 October 2007
Posted to the web 5 October 2007
Lance
Guma
The Catholic Church has assigned the former Archbishop of
Bulawayo Pius
Ncube a new job, nearly a month after he resigned over an
alleged adulterous
affair.
Father Martin Schupp, the Apostolic
Administrator of the vacant Archdiocese
appointed Ncube to be in charge of
pastoral programmes in Bulawayo.
Archbishop Ncube who retains his title,
will be coordinating pastoral work,
structures and training courses. He told
the Catholic Information Service
for Africa, 'In this work I shall assist
people in coming closer to God, and
this includes promoting human rights and
defending the disadvantaged.'
An aide to Archbishop Ncube told us he
is now a Pastoral Vicar and remains
well placed to speak out for the poor in
society. He told us the solidarity
Ncube has received has been amazing and
even the service held in the
cathedral to put Father Schupp in temporary
charge witnessed a packed
church. Responding to allegations that Mugabe's
government is planning a new
smear campaign, the aide said there is nothing
worse the regime can throw at
him that can surpass what they have already
done. Ncube has avoided
interviews with journalists since the case exploded
into the spotlight and
his aide said this is because the case remains in
court and any interviews
might prejudice proceedings.
Despite heated
speculation that Ncube would enter politics, the fearless
cleric maintains
he has a passion for 'evangelisation' and is not interested
in politics.
Last month he released a statement pouring cold water on
speculation he will
contest the 2008 presidential election saying, 'I would
like to make it
clear that in the Catholic Church we have a rule against the
clergy getting
into party politics or taking on civil duties.' He argued
clergy could not
become politicians because this compromised their Christian
values. He
accused politicians of being mainly concerned with accumulation
of power and
wealth rather than alleviating the suffering of people.