Zimbabwe's burning ....
This is being written after a week's thinking -
whether or not I should
write. But it is something that has not left my
mind for the past week or
so, why ? Because so much damage has been done and
seemingly nothing done
about it. Newspaper reports tell us varied reasons
for the burning and
evictions, but what of the people ? They are angry now
because they have no
homes, but what of the farmers before them - they too
have no homes.
We read recently that a woman, who as far as I know, has
little knowledge of
farming, has been given a productive farm, her
acceptance by way of " I am
entitled to it, I am a Zimbabwean ", and these
people are not ? Most of
these people, including the farm workers, have more
knowledge of farming in
this country, than a city dweller would have in
their baby finger, but these
are not the people who "are entitled" to the
farms, It is those who are in
the political game, and who you
know.
There is a verse in the bible that tells us, as you sow, you shall
reap,
Galatians 6:7 -9. Our harvest shall reap as we have sown, we plant a
bad
seed - we reap a bad harvest, we plant a good seed our harvest shall be
good. So consider then the harvest that shall be gained for people such as
these.
ON Sunday the 12th September we drove through to Harare, I had
an
appointment with a dentist. The drive from Kariba to Harare is long, and
normally pleasant. But this day proved an exception. This was a day of
smoke, blackness and soot, stench of burning and amazement. We were stunned,
truthfully I don't think in all the time I have lived in this country I have
seen such severe burning.
Karoi / Chinhoyi, possibly two farms, maybe
three ( and I am being generous)
have not been burnt. I gather the firewood
farmers have burnt their supplies
now. Before when passing by these farms,
we would notice that trees have
been cut down on a huge scale, and firewood
was being sold, nearly
everywhere we looked. This would have been due to the
fact that paraffin, if
and when you are able to buy it, is no longer a cheap
and viable commodity.
This is devastation on a scale I have never seen
before now, but this was
before our return trip home on Wednesday the
15th.
We reached the Great Dyke area where the road stretches across
three lanes,
we were forced to slow to snail pace, the smoke around us was
blinding, we
could not see the sun above us, and the fire had crossed the
road, the
burning was on both sides of the road. On exiting this tunnel, we
emerged
into strange sunlight, looking behind us, it was black and burning
the smoke
and soot rising several metres skyward - farmland no
longer.
Coming back on the Wednesday, it was in the afternoon, fairly
late but still
daylight. We saw more damage, and people standing on the
roadsides with
their possessions, what they had left, elderly people,
younger people and
children, age was not an issue here. Most of their homes
and holdings were
still smoking, some of these people were trying to round
up their animals,
others were watching listlessly. What type of person can
burn people out of
house and home and leave them stranded with nothing other
than what they can
carry ? No longer a breadwinner, you can see the families
gather at the
roadside and wonder what they are to do. The smallholdings
they had, the
food they had grown - is no longer. I recall one woman, and
elderly person,
attempting to clean her pots, she was filthy from soot, but
you could see
her cheeks were marked from tears, a child sitting on a sack,
not watching
anything other than what was in its mind.
How much more
destruction and devastation does this country have to watch ?
What will
these people do now ? What farms are left that have not been
destroyed and
where will the food come to provide for this country ? We have
travelled
around Zimbabwe a lot in the past year, from Mutare to Bulawayo,
Kariba to
Harare, to Masvingo and what we have seen is nearly all
devastation,
burning, fields overgrown with weeds, were crops were planted
the stalks are
not destroyed correctly, or the crops were not good. We have
not seen too
many farms that are hugely productive. We have seen huts /
homesteads placed
as and where, and around the hut a small crop is planted.
It won't even be
enough to keep that farmer in food for a season.
We have seen trees
burnt, fields, homes - what is next ? How much more will
people accept
before they do something ? How much more are they going to
watch ? What is
left to burn ? Who gives the right to take what they want at
no
consideration to the other ? Who is playing God ?
I wrote this article on the
22nd September, since then I have received
additional information. Those
people who were evicted were new farmers
allocated those plots under the
Land Redistribution program, now kicked off
and abandoned. There are
approximately twelve households still on the
roadside, since last week
Wednesday ! To say nothing of the ones not visible
from the road. The media
was prevented from filming these incidents.
These people were supporters of
the ruling party one wonders what they must
be thinking now. Surely they
must have been better off before being
allocated those plots
?
Unfortunately there is no solid proof of what I have said, but what we have
seen and what we have heard, surely this is proof enough.
D 25/9/04
Zim Online
MDC WARNS OF 'UNDERGROUND' RESISTANCE
Sat 25 September
2004
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC) party has warned of a growing "underground" resistance to state
repression which it said was a recipe for disaster.
Addressing
civic society groups on Thursday night, MDC secretary
general, Welshman
Ncube said his party will push through popular mass action
for the opening
up of closed democratic space and for free and fair
elections next
year.
But the opposition leader also ominously warned that Zimbabwe
was
turning into "a nation full of underground operations and that is a
recipe
for disaster for the regime."
Ncube said dialogue
between the opposition party and the ruling ZANU
PF party had failed. He
said a meeting between MDC officials and South
Africa's President Thabo
Mbeki was not about arranging talks between ZANU PF
and the MDC but was
merely to brief Mbeki on the Zimbabwean opposition's
decision to boycott
elections next year.
He said: "(The meeting with Mbeki) was not
about dialogue with ZANU
PF. We were only telling him that the region has
push to Mugabe to adopt
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
(electoral) guidelines in
full. We never talked about dialogue and we will
not as that will not bear
fruit."
The MDC was also going to
meet SADC chairman, Mauritian Prime
Minister, Paul Berenger in the "next few
weeks" to press him to ensure the
region pushed Harare to fully implement a
regional protocol on free and fair
elections.
SADC leaders,
including Mugabe, agreed that independent commissions
run elections in the
region. Electoral laws and processes must be fair and
transparent while the
rule of law and human rights must be upheld during
elections under the SADC
electoral norms and standards.
The government has proposed the
establishment of a new Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission which it says will
independently run elections.
But the MDC accuses the government of
insincerity pointing out, for
example, that the proposed new commission will
lack independence because its
chairman will be appointed by
Mugabe.
The opposition party also says the state's severely
restrictive Press
and security laws must be repealed to create conditions
conducive to the
holding of truly democratic elections.
Ncube
said while his party was lobbying the region to push for free
and fair
elections in Zimbabwe it was also prepared to engage in "other
means of
popular struggle (such as) stayaways, mass actions and a final push
until
democratic space has been restored."
Meanwhile Justice Minister,
Patrick Chinamasa, told the state-run
Zimbabwe Television on Thursday that
the SADC protocol on elections was not
legally binding on
Harare.
He said: "It is not a legal document for Zimbabwe, it is
just a
political document or a road map to democracy. After all we are in
the
leading pack in SADC in terms of democracy." - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Government seizes company-owned farms
Sat 25 September
2004
HARARE - The government yesterday gave six companies and
estate firms
90 days to give up more than one million hectares of land in a
fresh
campaign to seize corporate-owned land.
The conglomerates
were issued with Section 8 Orders, which under the
government's Land
Acquisition Act gives management and staff three months to
wind up
operations and leave the properties.
A list published in
yesterday's government gazette showed that the
state was compulsorily
acquiring subdivision E of Arlington estate,
measuring 530 255 hectares. The
land is owned by cement manufacturing giant,
Portland Cement.
The state also listed for seizure Lot 2 of Saturday Retreat estate,
measuring 22 077 hectares, the remainder of Cerney Township, measuring 46
233 hectares, and New Cennety Township 2, measuring 63,8
hectares.
The three properties are owned by Crest Breeders, which
in turn is
owned by CFI Holdings, a company in which embattled business
mogul and
former ZANU PF ally, Mutumwa Mawere, has a major
stake.
The government has in the last three weeks seized Mawere's
multi-million dollar asbestos mines and other ventures after falling out
with the businessman.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed
Mashonaland Holdings is set to lose
Eyrecourt farm and Acorn Estates to the
state, while the Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association, which brings together the
country's mostly white large-scale
tobacco growers will have to give up its
605 809 hectare farm on the
outskirts of Harare.
Cigarette
maker, Rothmans will also have to surrender to the state 100
313 hectares of
land in Lochinvar, just outside Harare city centre.
The government
did not give reasons why it was now turning on
corporate-owned farms most of
which are productive commercial ventures or
were being reserved for
expansion purposes.
When the government launched its chaotic and
often violent programme
to seize white-owned land for redistribution to
blacks in 2000, it said it
was not going to take land owned by agro-based
companies, plantation and
estate firms and churches.
The
government last month appeared to backtrack on its word when it
seized land
owned by Mhangura Copper Mines and another farm owned by Buffalo
Range
Properties.
The government has also issued a Section 8 Order on
Mkwasine Estate, a
sugar-growing estate jointly owned by South Africa's
Anglo American
Corporation and Tongaat Hullet.
Other companies
that have also lost land to the government in the last
month include
Zimbabwe's sole fertiliser manufacturing company, Sable
Chemicals.
The Wattle Company, which produces wattle trees used
by Zimbabwe's
sole paper making company, Mutare Board and Paper, to
manufacture paper had
some of its plantations also gazetted for
acquisition.
Executives at some of the firms, who did not want to
be named, said
the seizure of their land had forced them to scale down
operations on the
farms because of uncertainty.
"Some of the
companies have literally closed shop while others are
working out plans to
move away to safe warehouses equipment on the farms
some of which was
financed through loans," said one executive.
Under state land
acquisition laws, owners are not allowed to remove
equipment from a farm
once the government has issued a Section 8 Order on
the
property.
Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe lost billions of dollars worth
of equipment
invested at Kondozi Farm in Manicaland province, when the farm
was taken
over by the state's Agricultural and Rural Development Authority
earlier
this year. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tourism sector still on downward spiral
Sat 25 September
2004
HARARE - Zimbabwe's tourism industry continued on a downward
spiral
with about 500 000 less arrivals in the first half of this year
compared to
the same period last year, according to figures released by the
Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority yesterday.
Reflecting the decline in
every other sector of the economy, the
industry recorded a drop to 827 245
visitors from January to June this year
compared to 1 303 901 visitors in
the same period last year, the authority
said.
Political
violence, the state's failure to uphold the rule of law,
shortages of fuel
and food have been cited as the key factors driving
foreign visitors away
from Zimbabwe.
Industry sources told ZimOnline that more tourists
fearing violence
were likely to shun the country in even greater numbers in
the next six
months as the country prepares for a critical general election
in March
2005. Political violence is at its worst in the country towards
elections.
Before the country's political and economic crisis
worsened three
years ago, tourism was one of the fastest growing sectors of
the economy.
According to the authority's figures the United States
and Britain
contributed more visitors to Zimbabwe than any other country in
the last six
months. There were 23 300 visitors from the US and 19 892
visitors from
Britain.
China, courted by Harare as a possible
replacement for the traditional
source markets the US and Britain, had 11
584 of its nationals visiting
Zimbabwe. Japan and Australia contributed 9
479 and 9 653 visitors
respectively. Zimonline
Zim Online
HIV positive residents cry foul over stoppage of free
anti-retroviral drugs
scheme
Sat 25 September 2004
BULAWAYO
- Nonjabulo Sithole (not her real name) is a 38-year old
widow who has been
living positively with HIV for the past three years.
In April this
year, her prospects of improved health were boosted when
she was selected to
be among the first 50 Bulawayo residents to receive free
anti-retrovirals.
The patients were to receive the
life-prolonging drugs free from the
state's Mpilo Central Hospital each
month under a joint programme run by the
Ministry of Health and Child
Welfare, Doctors Without Borders (MSF Spain)
and the Centre for Disease
Control Atlanta.
Now Sithole's hopes have been dashed. Government
wants Sithole and
about 500 other residents who have joined the programme to
pay for their
monthly supply of medicines.
Dube says she was
advised of the need to pay during a visit to the
clinic last week. She said
she was advised to bring Z$50 000 to pay for the
drugs on her next visit to
the hospital, money Sithole says she does not
have.
She told
ZimOnline this week: "I have six children and I pay $50 000
for the one room
I rent in Luveve (a poor suburb in the city). Each month I
struggle to raise
the money for rent. Where will I get the money for the
ARVs?"
The Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa has
said
people will have to pay a subsidised fee of $50 000 for the drugs each
month.
The drug fee, though heavily subsidized by the state and
donors is
still far too high for the average Zimbabwean worker who takes
home about
$300 000 per month, which is less than half the Z$1 000 000 an
average
family of five requires per month.
But Sithole and
other AIDS patients here in Bulawayo say their case is
even made worse by
the fact that when the government first encouraged them
to take up the free
drugs, it promised they would remain on the free course
for
ever.
"These people are playing with our lives," said an irate
Agnes Dladla
(not her real name.) She added: "When they told me I have to
take the drugs
for life, I asked the doctor whether they would be able to
give me the drugs
for free for the rest of my life and they said yes, and
now they are
changing."
A widow, who lives with her four
children in Bulawayo's Entumbane
suburb, Dladla said she was already
struggling to meet her bills with a
meager Z$60 000 pension her late husband
left her.
Very much aware from the various counseling sessions she
received from
the government and donor groups that once on an ARV course one
must never
stop, Dladla now says she wishes she had never accepted the
government offer
for free drugs in the first place.
Parirenyatwa could not be reached to explain how the women had been
put on
ARVs without establishing if they would be able to sustain the
treatment
with their own resources once the government pulled out.
But
whatever might have happened, one thing is certain - unless
government
reverses its decision that recipients of ARVs pay, then the poor
like
Sithole and Dladla will drop out of the treatment. - ZimOnline
The Scotsman
Fair game? Africa tries to turn back clock
SAHM
VENTER IN JOHANNESBURG
OVER centuries they were hunted to the brink
of extinction in the big game
safaris of southern Africa. Now the lion,
elephant, leopard and the
rhinoceros are at risk again as impoverished
states try to increase hunting
quotas and lift the ban on the ivory
trade.
Proposals to allow big game hunters to kill more of Africa's
wildlife will
be debated at a meeting about endangered species in Thailand
this week.
Southern African countries want to put game trophies and ivory
back on to
the world market and they will be pushing to increase quotas at
the
Convention on International Trade of Endangered Special
(CITES).
Animal conservation groups have condemned the moves and will
lobby the 166
signatory countries of the CITES treaty, claiming that lifting
the ban on
ivory will encourage more poaching and endanger the species
further.
Of particular concern to Africa at the meeting in Bangkok from
October 2 to
14, are proposals involving four of the so-called 'Big Five',
the lion,
elephant, leopard and the rhinoceros. There are no calls for
changes in
quotas for the fifth endangered animal - the buffalo.
The
CITES meeting, which is held every second or third year, comes a year
after
the World Parks Congress held in South Africa at which the group
Conservation International warned of the possible extinction of hundreds of
species in the next 10 to 20 years. It said that if an extra 2.6% of the
world's land area was set aside for conservation, it would help stop the
imminent extinction of two-thirds of species.
South Africa and
Namibia want to be allowed to export as hunting trophies
five and 10 Black
Rhinoceros respectively. It has for many years been
forbidden to hunt these
animals. Namibia wants to increase its quota for
leopard trophy hunting from
100 to 250 and South Africa from 75 to 150. The
two southern African
countries also want amendments to regulations on trade
in elephant
ivory.
A range of animal conservation groups which have observer status
at the
meeting will lobby member governments on the various proposals. The
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for example, will urge member
states to reject the proposals by South Africa and Namibia.
"It is
our moral obligation to ensure that we go out of our way to protect
these
animals," said Jason Bell-Leask, IFAW's Southern Africa director who
will be
joining 14 other IFAW officials from around the world at the meeting
to
persuade government representatives to adopt measures to conserve various
animal species. "We are losing species at a rate of knots," he told Scotland
on Sunday.
IFAW will support Kenya's efforts to propose minimum
conditions for the
export of registered stocks of ivory and to have a
20-year moratorium on all
ivory trade. The east African country will also
propose stricter methods for
combating illegal trade in ivory and to control
internal markets.
South Africa and Namibia seek amendments to regulations
on trade in ivory
from elephant tusks which CITES banned in 1989. In 1997
and 2002, however,
it allowed the one-off sales from ivory stockpiles in
South Africa, Botswana
and Namibia in recognition of the southern African
region's good management
of elephant populations. These sales have been
postponed until controls are
put in place in both importing and exporting
countries.
Namibia wants to be able to export two tonnes a year of raw
ivory, ivory
products and goods made from elephant leather and hair. It
proposes that
these materials would come from elephants that have died
naturally or those
culled in conservation programmes. South Africa is asking
CITES to allow it
to trade for commercial purposes in products made from
elephant hair and
leather.
IFAW, which is concerned that acceding to
the requests will dramatically
increase poaching, will recommend that
delegates reject both proposals.
Bell-Leask noted that there are "very, very
active" domestic markets for
ivory in certain African countries, including
those which do not have any
elephants. This means that those markets are
being supplied by illegal
sources. "We see figures and reports coming out of
various institutions that
illegal trade in wildlife is second to drugs and
weapons," he said.
It is estimated that 97.6% of the world's black
rhinoceros population is in
South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The
species is classified as
"critically endangered" by the World Conservation
Union.
Both South Africa and Namibia have shown increases in numbers of
the black
rhinoceros between 1980 and 2001 and both display high levels of
investment
in conservation programmes and monitoring and law
enforcement.
Swaziland wants a permit to export both live and trophy
white rhinoceroses,
a species which was re-established in the southern
African kingdom in 1965
after having become extinct. It claims that its
current population of 61 is
approaching its carrying capacity and that it
will plough back the earnings
into rhinoceros conservation. IFAW opposes
this proposal.
The IFAW delegation will, however, support Kenya, which is
asking for
increased protection of the African lion which it maintains is at
risk from
civil unrest, trophy hunting, being poisoned or shot by farmers,
the illegal
trade in body parts and the loss or destruction of its habitat.
The lion has
disappeared from northern Africa and about 43% of the
population occurs in
Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. The species is
further under threat
from diseases, including feline Aids, bovine
tuberculosis and canine
distemper.
Ireland, on behalf of the European
Union, will propose various resolutions
to protect the great apes which are
on the edge of extinction particularly
due to the increase of the trade in
'bushmeat'. Bushmeat is a common term
for the meat derived from animals such
as apes, elephants and crocodiles.
IFAW supports Ireland's draft resolutions
on the strengthening of
legislation.
The great apes are further
threatened by the destruction of their habitat by
logging and the conversion
of land to agricultural use and the spread of the
Ebola virus.
While
observer groups cannot vote at the CITES meeting, they suggest that
concerned members of the public lobby their own governments through
letter-writing campaigns.
From The Financial Mail (SA), 17 September
For Zimbabwe, time to
listen
Morgan Tsvangirai sees Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano as an
acceptable broker
of talks with Robert Mugabe
By Jenny
Cargill
Returning to my country of exile, Zimbabwe, after 15 years,
the words of
Beyers Naudé resonated. I was there to show our film, Memories
of Rain, in
which he participated. I had heard his comments many times
before, but only
then did I feel the full impact of his profundity: "I
deliberately set aside
time to listen . . ." A couple of days later he died,
and I reflected on
what his world view means to the unfolding crisis across
our border. First,
I have no doubt, Beyers Naudé would have listened to all
parties, and
second, his commitment to justice, peace and tolerance would
have
underpinned his understanding of Zimbabwe and the basis on which to
find a
solution. But it is just this that appears absent from the Zimbabwe
discourse. The debate has been driven by gut reaction, with Robert Mugabe
resurrecting the sentiments of sovereignty, liberation politics and
longstanding colonial grievances. By so doing, he has created inertia in the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) in dealing with the crisis
decisively.
The impression therefore is one of African
governments being prepared to
watch the breakdown of the rule of law and the
free fall of an economy
without critical or principled engagement. As a
result, Zimbabwe's
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) appears
isolated from the
African political arena. The MDC claims a paid-up
membership of 2,6m and
control of nearly all the urban councils (which is
being stripped away by
administrative fiat). Its members are harassed,
detained and tortured. Laws
are being passed to curtail the operations of
"troublesome" NGOs. I had the
opportunity to discuss with MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai why it is so
difficult for his party to get an adequate hearing
among governments of the
region. After all, there is greater political
synergy between the ANC and
the MDC than between the ANC and Zanu PF.
Tsvangirai talks of having to
stand by universal principles of democracy and
human rights if Africa wants
to be respected globally. The defensive citing
by many states of Africa's
right to choose its own way has resulted in
Africa positioning itself
according to the "lowest common denominator",
Tsvangirai says. SA's
political construct, however, is based on the same
universal principles that
Tsvangirai refers to, and which are absent under
Zanu.
The rule of law and justice must be the first requirement of
normalising
Zimbabwe, Tsvangirai says. This too was a key element of SA's
political
transformation. The MDC heads a broad alliance of opposition
groups. Yet
such diverse support has triggered condemnation of the MDC for
being
foreign- and/or white-controlled. Too often the crisis is dismissed as
a
justified assault on white economic dominance. Yet the struggle against
apartheid rested on a similar broad alliance, rooted in nonracialism. A
crucial difference between the MDC and the ANC is the MDC's policy of
nonviolence to effect change. Tsvangirai says it is uncompromisingly
committed to civic rather than violent action. The MDC has earned little
credit for this. SA's policy of "quiet diplomacy" is said to be in
recognition of the need to steer Zimbabwe clear of a path of violent
political change. But in the absence of any visible results, the continuance
of the policy has favoured Mugabe only, allowing for an escalation in state
violence.
The SADC electoral charter offers a lever for change
through peaceful means.
However, it is difficult to imagine this taking
place without a peace
broker. SA and Thabo Mbeki tend to be seen as the
obvious choice, but
Tsvangirai disagrees. The person has to be acceptable to
both sides as an
honest broker, he says. The SADC leadership troika offers
possibilities: new
chairman Paul Berenger of Mauritius has set a different
tone, backed by
Botswana's Festus Mogae. But it is unlikely that either
would secure
Mugabe's support. The third, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano,
probably would.
Tsvangirai believes they could work with him. With
parliamentary elections
due next March, there is a renewed focus on
Zimbabwe, and there will be a
repositioning of political forces. But it is
difficult to imagine that
repositioning resulting in a positive outcome
without a direct intervention
to broker a more stable environment. That
could come from SADC, but more
likely from individual leaders. However such
intervention manifests itself,
it would be worth bearing in mind Naudé's
legacy: the importance of creating
the space to listen, ensuring that
expectations and fears are heard and
elevating principles rather than
political expediency to guide solutions.
From The Daily Mail (UK), 25 September
England plan to leave stars at
home
By Mike Dickson
England's cricket authorities are
considering the surprise withdrawal of
several senior players from their
controversial one-day tour of Zimbabwe
this autumn. Paceman Steve Harmison
has already declared himself unavailable
for the tour and more players may
also be absent for a trip which continues
to dog English cricket. As England
prepare for today's ICC Champions Trophy
Final against the West Indies,
major discussions are still going on behind
the scenes about the make-up of
the squad that will travel to southern
Africa. Andrew Flintoff has been
widely expected to join Harmison in
refusing to go, but he might now be one
of several players stood down as
much for cricketing reasons as anything
else. Ashley Giles and Marcus
Trescothick could also be among the group told
to save their energies for
the arduous tour of South Africa that follows,
which will feature five Test
matches in barely seven weeks. The pair are
among those to have agreed -
extremely reluctantly - to tour Zimbabwe, but
would be delighted if the
selectors took the decision out of their
hands.
Although the Zimbabwe team at the Champions Trophy played
above themselves
last week, seeing their obvious weakness first-hand raised
questions in some
quarters about whether England would not be better served
by giving some
fringe players a taste of international cricket. The issue is
likely to have
been discussed when the selectors met this week, but their
hands could be
tied by the hierarchy at Lord's. England and Wales Cricket
Board chairman
David Morgan is always anxious not to offend the other
cricketing nations,
who may not be impressed by an under-strength team
travelling to Zimbabwe.
However, the International Cricket Council is now
pre-occupied with bigger
issues over touring, such as Australia threatening
to pull out of their
upcoming tour against India unless television contract
matters are sorted
out to their satisfaction. England are likely to finally
announce the
make-up of their Zimbabwe squad early next week.
The
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
Monday
September 13th – Sunday September 19th
2004
Weekly
Media Update 2004-37
CONTENTS
1.
GENERAL COMMENT
2.
ELECTORAL REFORM PROPOSALS
3.
ECONOMIC ISSUES AND INFLATION
1.
General comment
THE urgent
need for additional alternative daily sources of information, including an
independent national broadcaster, was reinforced by the government-controlled
media’s censorship of the persistent human rights abuses in the country. As a
result, those who rely on these media, which have become the main sources of
information most readily accessible to Zimbabweans since the closure of The Daily News, are in the dark on such
important matters. Only those able to access the private Press and those who are
able to listen to independent short wave radio broadcasts would have picked up
the continuing intimidation, harassment and assault of the citizenry by
suspected ruling party activists and state security agents.
For
example, SW Radio Africa (13/9) and Studio 7 (15/9) reported Porta Farm settlers
alleging that seven people had died due to teargas smoke during their violent
eviction from the farm by government. The settlers also claimed that they had
been assaulted by the police, war veterans and suspected ZANU PF supporters.
However, their reports lacked comment from the police. Although these stations
have previously reported the police as usually hostile towards their reporters
who sought comments from them, it is important that they continue to inform
their audiences about whether or not they have tried to seek official police
comment every time they report such events because failing to do so gives the
impression that they are unbalanced in their coverage of such topical
issues.
In
another related matter, SW Radio Africa (16/9), the Zimbabwe Independent and The Daily Mirror (17/9) reported that hundreds of
Little England Farm settlers were left homeless after they were violently
evicted from the farm by soldiers and riot police who burnt down their homes. SW
Radio Africa quoted the settlers claiming that one person had died during the
eviction. However, there was no independent confirmation of
this.
Although
the private media regularly expose such gross human rights violations, which in
most cases are ignored by the government media, their role as effective
watchdogs of the authorities’ excesses is often limited by the fact that they
are niche market news messengers with vastly smaller audiences than the
mainstream government controlled media. Also, the effectiveness of these media
as reliable sources of information has been compromised by the country’s
repressive media laws, which the authorities have used selectively to arrest and
harass journalists. The latest example of this harrassment was the arrest and
detention of the Zimbabwe
Independent’s Editor, Vincent Kahiya, reporter Augustine Mukaro and
the group’s general manager Raphael Khumalo. They were reportedly charged under
AIPPA for a story published at the end of July. As a result of such assaults on
the public democratic discourse, Zimbabweans have fewer alternative sources of
information to assist them obtain an accurate picture of issues affecting their
livelihoods.
It
is against this background that civic organisations have called on government to
restore and protect media diversity to allow the timely free flow of information
for the benefit of Zimbabwe’s citizenry.
2.
Electoral Reform Proposals
THE
government-controlled media’s status as toothless watchdogs of government
policies was reconfirmed in the week by their passive coverage of government’s
planned electoral reforms ahead of the country’s 2005 general elections. None of
them scrutinised the gazetting of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Bill,
which seeks to establish an independent electoral commission that would conduct
the elections. Neither did they fully discuss how the commission would relate to
other existing government bodies that are also tasked with running the polls
such as the Election Directorate, the Registrar General’s Office, the Electoral
Supervisory Commission and the recently appointed Delimitation
Commission.
The
uncritical nature of these media was also exposed by their inability to analyse
government’s apparent militarization of the electoral process as demonstrated by
the fact that half of the newly appointed four-member Delimitation Commission
(DC) have a military background. Rather, the government media simply endorsed
these developments as conforming to the SADC Protocol on elections in the region
without even carrying a comparative analysis.
More
informative analyses only appeared in the private media. They quoted independent
observers and opposition leaders highlighting the undemocratic nature of these
reforms, which they dismissed as a “smokescreen” meant to give the impression
that government was standardising its electoral process according to regional
norms. The government media, as demonstrated by the Chronicle (16/9), remained timid. The
paper merely reproduced the ZEC Bill in full without subjecting it to analysis.
Only The Zimbabwe Independent (17/9) and The Standard (19/9) did.
The
Independent, for example, noted
that the introduction of the reforms through an Act of Parliament and not
constitutional amendments meant that the current discredited bodies that have
been running elections would still be in charge. It quoted MDC secretary
general, Welshman Ncube, describing the reforms as a “sham” that did not “meet even the most rudimentary standards of
democratic elections”. He noted that ZEC “will only
have legal responsibility but no effective control” because “the same old institutions and faces who stand
accused of electoral fraud and manipulation will remain in
place”.
The
Standard
(19/9) agreed. It pointed out that Zimbabwe’s current electoral bodies, “widely seen as pro-ZANU PF”, will
continue to “to run all elections but
reporting to the ZEC, whose chairperson is appointed by President
Mugabe”. This would render “ZEC a
mere political superstructure”.
The
government media remained indifferent to these issues. Their attitude was
further illustrated by their docile announcement of President Mugabe’s
appointment of members of the DC without fully explaining their relationship
with ZEC, ZTV (14/9, 6pm), Radio Zimbabwe and Power FM (14/9, 8pm) and The Herald (15/9). Besides, none of them
queried Mugabe’s unilateral selection of the commission, and whether it
conformed to the SADC Charter’s calls for “full participation of the citizens in the political
process”. Instead, ZTV (14/9, 6pm), Radio Zimbabwe (14/9, 8pm) and
Power FM (14/9 8pm) defended Mugabe’s action, arguing it was in terms of Section
59 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution.
The
private media however, were more inquisitive. For example, SW Radio Africa (15/9
and 16/9) and the Independent
cited opposition party leaders criticising the composition of the DC because
they felt it merely comprised pro-ruling Zanu PF functionaries. But The Daily Mirror (16/9), like the
government media, did not see anything wrong with the commissioners. It claimed
that their “names suggest that
they are principled men of
integrity.”
Still,
SW Radio Africa (15/9) quoted MDC’s director of elections Remius Makuwaza saying
his party was uncomfortable with the fact that the DC would get most of its
information from the Registrar General (RG) for it to delimit constituencies
since the RG was “Zanu PF chief strategist
on election rigging”. He further told SW Radio Africa (16/9) that
this was particularly so because the DC, whose mandate is to determine the
boundaries of constituencies based on the number of registered voters in those
constituencies ahead of the elections, would be “using the same voters roll that has been a source of
worry” to the MDC over the years. Said Makuwaza: “The voters roll is in a shambles and this is
tantamount to manipulation of the whole electoral
process…”
The
Daily Mirror (15/9) nonetheless cited Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa dismissing the opposition’s concerns saying it would
“cause chaos to the whole
process” if political parties were involved in the delimitation
exercise. But The Financial
Gazette (16/9) reported that the MDC remained so unimpressed with
government’s electoral reforms that it had “embarked on an intensive lobbying of regional
leaders to ratchet-up pressure on President Mugabe” on the issue. The
paper quoted the party’s spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi confirming this, saying
his party wanted to inform regional leaders on the real situation on the ground
so that they “are not hoodwinked”
by government’s public posturing.
And
according to the Independent, the
MDC and the Democratic Party (DP) also expressed annoyance at government plans
to order ZBC to allocate them airtime ahead of the elections because they felt
this was just an attempt to mislead “ the
world whilst the public media continues to campaign against them”. DP
leader Wurayayi Zembe told the paper that their rights were “not dependent on the benevolence of Zanu PF…Access
to the public media is every citizen’s right enshrined in the
constitution”. Agreed Ncube: “What we need is a public media that is accessible to
all political parties all the time, not just 10 days before the election
date”.
Despite
government’s promise to enable the opposition access to the State broadcaster,
the reporting pattern of the government media remained unchanged. ZTV, (14/9,
8pm), for example, merely used Mugabe’s handpicking of the DC to give
pro-government commentators Tafataona Mahoso and Goodson Nguni platforms to
attack the MDC without allowing the opposition party the right of reply. Nguni
was granted about five minutes just to hurl abuses at the MDC rather than
comment helpfully on what he thought of Zimbabwe’s electoral
system.
Similarly,
the government Press carried 10 stories, all of which sought to denigrate the
MDC as an alternative to ZANU PF. Interestingly, the Sunday News’ (19/9) columnist Mzala Joe
defended the blackout of MDC activities on ZTV on the grounds that the
opposition party was “closely
working” with British Prime Minister Tony Blair “to effect regime change” in Zimbabwe.
Giving it airtime was thus “equivalent to
al-Qaeda gaining access to free-to-air television in America or
Britain…” The columnist misleadingly claimed that the MDC had refused
access to ZTV “…in the 2002 Presidential
election, preferring to use the BSAP (British Satanic Apartheid Press) and the
likes of Studio Seven”.
And
to give the public broadcaster’s unprofessional conduct a veneer of legality,
the columnist then narrowly interpreted the Broadcasting Services Act and
claimed that since “the MDC is boycotting elections…by law it
cannot gain access to TV as a political party.”
Mzala
Joe’s claims were amplified in the paper’s Goings-On column. It claimed that “Blair’s political puppets” enjoyed a
“lion’s share of the media
coverage” on the BBC, CNN, “apartheid Press and whole coterie of anti-Zimbabwe
Internet services” so much that “it is Zanu PF that should be
complaining”.
3.
Economic issues and inflation
THE
government media’s uncritical reporting of official pronouncements also
manifested itself in the way they glossed over Zimbabwe’s deep-seated economic
problems by over-simplifying the impact the decline in inflation has had on the
country’s economic fortunes.
This
was in spite of private media coverage that highlighted the economy as still in
recession.
The
official media ignored such stories and instead used the drop in the inflation
rate from 362,9 percent in July to 314,4 percent in July to argue that the
macro-economic fundamentals were on the mend. For example, the Chronicle (15/9) hailed the drop in
inflation saying, “Even some of the
Government’s fierce critics admitted yesterday the State was on course to
achieve its targets”. It even
tried to downplay the ripple effects of the recent fuel prices increases on the
economy saying “economists” had
said the “net effect was likely to be felt
next year”.
Although
ZTV (15/9, 8pm) attempted to give a balanced story by sourcing various
commentators’ views on the matter, their editorial thrust also appeared to be
bent on overplaying the significance of the decrease in the inflation.
Consequently, ZTV (15/9, 8pm) newsreader claimed that because of the decline in
inflation the Zimbabwean economy was therefore “on a path to recovery” while a reporter
on ZTV (19/9, 8pm) noted that concerted efforts by the monetary authorities and
other stakeholders have “helped stabilise
the economy as there are signs that the efforts are beginning to yield fruits in
many parts of the economy.” This was despite observations by
economist David Mupamhadzi on ZTV (15/9, 8pm) that the fall in inflation was
just “technical since the day-to-day rise of
prices is not being captured by monthly figures” This irony was more pronounced as the station,
Power FM and Radio Zimbabwe (15/9, 1pm), The
Herald (14/9 and 15/9) and the Chronicle (15/9) failed to interpret
stories it carried on resurgent transport problems and government’s upward
review of civil servants’ transport and accommodation allowances as symptomatic
of a troubled economy.
The
private media were less optimistic about the perceived ‘Midas touch’ effect of
the reduced inflation on the economy. The
Daily Mirror (15/9) reported that though the inflation rate had
dropped it was still high and continued “to
erode household purchasing power”.
The
paper, SW Radio Africa (14/9), the Independent and The Sunday Mirror (19/9) quoted Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe (CCZ) officials saying because living conditions in the country
continued to deteriorate a family of six now required at least $1,4m a month for
basic needs. This amount, said the officials, was beyond many
workers.
In
fact, one of the CCZ officials quoted by SW Radio blamed Zimbabwe’s
hyperinflationary environment on government’s mismanagement of its debt and
financial issues, including its monetary and fiscal policies.
But
despite such concerns, The Financial
Gazette revealed that government intended to dole out unbudgeted
funds to compensate former liberation war prisoners, detainees and restrictees.
The paper reported that government had set aside $200 billion for this
purpose.
However,
it did not seek comments from economists on the likely impact of such payments
on the country’s economy but only fleetingly referred to the “havoc” caused by a similar payment made
to war veterans seven years ago. The Independent also highlighted the negative
impact of government’s decision to dish out unbudgeted funds to parastatals and
troubled private companies, which they noted was a drain on the fiscus.
But
The Herald (14/9), Radio Zimbabwe (15/9, 6am)
and ZTV (15/9, 7am) appeared reluctant to demand accountability from the
authorities as illustrated by their unquestioning announcement of President
Mugabe’s plans to acquire a minimum 50 percent shareholding in mines and the
manufacturing sector in the name of assuming “absolute ownership of
resources”.
As
a result, there was no analysis on the legality of such a move or its
implication on investor confidence in Zimbabwe.
However,
SW Radio Africa (15/9) and the Independent warned of the dire
consequences of such takeovers. While the Independent summed its feelings on the
issue through its comment headlined, Another
disaster waiting to happen, SW Radio Africa (15/9) cited MDC’s Tendai
Biti describing government’s threat as a desperate move: “They are frustrated because they are presiding over
an economy with a domestic debt of over
$1,5 trillion and a foreign debt of US $5billion. That frustration drives
them to do crazy things like nationalising everything.” According to
SW Radio Africa (17/9), this had not been helped either by government’s
relentless drive to take over farms even at the risk of discouraging foreign
investors with large profitable properties.
The
government media still refused to address these issues. The Chronicle (16/9), for example, still
maintained that the central bank’s monetary policy had ensured a “stable” supply of foreign currency. This
contradicted The Sunday Mirror’s remarks that foreign currency
offers at the country’s auctions had badly outstripped demand and hence created
serious shortfalls.
Ends
The
MEDIA UPDATE was produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 703702,
E-mail: monitors@mmpz.org.zw
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Business Report
Anglo to challenge Zimbabwe's plan to seize
estate
September 26, 2004
Anglo American, the world's
second-biggest mining company, said on
Thursday it was contesting Zimbabwean
government plans to seize the Mkwasine
Estate, a sugar and wheat joint
venture between Anglo and the Tongaat-Hulett
Group, which is 53 percent
owned by Anglo.
Mkwasine has 4 600ha under cultivation. It was
designated by the
government for seizure on July 23.
The
government is also threatening to seize Hippo Valley Estates,
which is 49
percent owned by Anglo and whose shares trade on the Zimbabwe
stock
exchange. - Bloomberg, Johannesburg