The ZIMBABWE Situation
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Tsvangirai
looks at the situation at banks in Zimbabwe's capital
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Business News
Sep
26, 2008, 13:47 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate
Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday
made a surprise visit to banks in the capital
Harare that were the scene of
long queues resulting from cash
shortages.
Some of those queuing temporarily forgot about the miseries as
they cheered
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader. Others said
they had been
in queues daily for several weeks.
'We no longer have
anything to do other than to come here daily to withdraw
money since the
daily maximum limit is worthless,' said Maureen Mashavave,
who was carrying
a baby on her back in a queue outside the Kingdom Bank.
Tsvangirai -
accompanied by his MDC deputy Thokozani Khupe and party
spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa - asked people if they were happy with 1,000
Zimbabwe dollars (10
trillion Zimbabwe dollars using the old currency) as
the maximum daily bank
withdrawal allowed in Zimbabwe.
A loaf of bread costs at least 1,500
Zimbabwe dollars.
He left, shaking his head, and saying he was concerned
about the situation.
'This is totally unpleasant and it has to be addressed
as a matter of
urgency.'
'Hunger and problems are now gone,' a
bystander shouted at Tsvangirai in
reference to the former union leader now
being part of the government.
Cash shortages are just part of the
collapse of the economy of a country
that was once the breadbasket of the
southern African region.
Zimbabwe's economy has been on a steep downturn
for a nearly a decade with
an estimated 90 per cent unemployment, shortages
of electricity, food, fuel
and medical drugs, and at least 80 per cent of
the population living below
the poverty line.
Year on year inflation,
officially 11.2 million per cent - but independent
economists peg it at more
than 20 million per cent - is the highest in the
world.
Tsvangirai
and President Robert Mugabe signed a power sharing deal on
September 15
aimed at reviving the country's economy.
Zimbabwe begins
official trading in hard currency
http://www.iht.com
The Associated PressPublished:
September 26, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe began officially
trading in foreign currency
Friday in what is seen as tacit acknowledgment
that its own currency has
collapsed.
The change is expected to ease
acute food shortages that have coincided with
Zimbabwe's record inflation
and economic meltdown.
The central bank said it issued about 600 licenses
allowing stores,
supermarkets, gasoline importers and other businesses to
import and sell
goods for U.S. dollars, South African rand and other foreign
currencies.
The licensed shops are reminiscent of Soviet-era hard
currency shops in
Eastern Europe.
With the collapse of the tourism
industry as well as agricultural and
manufactured exports, most of the
foreign currency in the country comes from
the millions of Zimbabweans
working overseas and sending money home to
relatives.
Much of it is
already traded on the illegal black market. Central bank
researchers say
Zimbabweans spend millions of U.S. dollars each month on
shopping trips to
neighboring countries to buy the corn meal staple, cooking
oil and other
goods including spare car parts and electronics.
With foreign currency trade
now legal, business managers said they expected
goods to slowly return to
supermarket shelves, though it would take time to
find stocks and work out
financial details.
Stores will be able to sell goods for both hard
currency and the local
Zimbabwe dollar. Only imported goods may be sold for
hard currency.
The Reserve Bank said in a statement it charged businesses
US$20,000 for a
license, and will also get 15 percent of the foreign
currency sales.
Officials at one nationwide store chain said they would
open a few foreign
currency outlets in coming weeks, but were unable to come
up with the
US$600,000 fee needed to license 30 supermarkets.
The
government and central bank have been struggling to contain Zimbabwe's
economic meltdown, with official inflation at 11 million percent - the
highest in the world - though independent financial institutions put real
inflation closer 50 million percent.
Some 4.5 million Zimbabweans
have fled to neighboring countries as far as
the United States, Australia
and former colonial power Britain. As many as 2
million are living in South
Africa, according to central bank estimates.
Zimbabwe had been
self-sufficient in most household supplies until June
2007, when the
government ordered a price freeze that forced businesses to
sell products
below cost. Now, toilet tissue is being imported from
Malaysia, toothpaste
from Egypt and soap from Iran.
In August the central bank struck 10 zeros
from the Zimbabwe currency, but
computerized accounting systems and
automatic tellers have been unable to
handle transactions in trillions of
local dollars.
Aid agencies estimate up to 2 million people will need
food aid next month,
amid regular power and water outages and chronic
shortages of gasoline, corn
meal, bread, milk and other
staples.
President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980,
blames Western sanctions for the economic collapse. But
critics point to his
2000 order that commercial farms be seized from whites.
The often violent
seizures disrupted the agriculture-based
economy.
Western sanctions targeting individuals and companies supporting
Mugabe's
regime were tightened after disputed elections in March and June
that led to
a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and his opponents signed
Sept. 15.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
have so far failed to agree on the composition of a unity
Cabinet.
RBZ increase cash withdrawal limit to stave off ZCTU strike
By Lance
Guma
26 September 2008
The threat of strike action from the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) has forced the Reserve Bank to increase the
cash withdrawal limit
from Z$1000 to Z$20 000. On the 22nd September the
ZCTU handed over an
ultimatum to the central bank demanding an immediate
lifting of the limit.
In the letter, the union's general council noted with
concern that 'ordinary
Zimbabweans, particularly workers, are now finding it
difficult to access
their hard earned money from the bank. When they finally
do so, the amount
so withdrawn is not even enough to purchase two loaves of
bread or meet the
daily needs.' The ZCTU general council met last Saturday
and gave the RBZ a
7-day ultimatum, failing which a call for national action
was to be made.
In a series of changes made Thursday by Central Bank
Governor Gideon Gono,
the withdrawal limit has been increased to Z$20 000,
with effect from next
week Monday. Whether this will eradicate the problem
of people enduring long
hours in the queue for cash still remains to be
seen. Responding to the
changes Last Tarabuku the Acting Spokesman for the
ZCTU said the union's
general council was meeting Friday to deliberate on
their response. He
pointed out that the union had called for a complete
scrapping of the cash
withdrawal limit altogether and not the mere
adjustment done by Gono.
Meanwhile the central bank has also licenced 600
shops to sell goods in
foreign currency, in what is seen as an attempt to
suppress a flourishing
black market fuelled by shortages of basic
commodities. Gono said the
measures would discourage Zimbabweans from going
outside the country to buy
goods and this in turn would revive struggling
local manufacturers. Under
the new rules only imported items can be sold in
foreign currency, while
locally produced goods like sugar, cooking oil and
maize meal have to be
sold in local currency.
The Reserve Bank has
also scrapped foreign currency restrictions on
individual Foreign Currency
Accounts (FCA's) arguing this will help those
who hold them to buy from the
shops licenced to sell in forex. The US$1000
limit has been removed and
individuals can withdraw any amount. Analysts
however dismissed the changes
as merely cosmetic, pointing to the need for
fundamental political and
economic reforms. One of the demands put in by the
ZCTU was that employers
be allowed to pay their workers in cash. Currently
employers have to seek
permission from the RBZ by providing a payment
schedule. No word on this
demand has come from the central bank. Despite the
signing of a power
sharing deal two weeks ago the Zimbabwe dollar has
continued to plummet
while prices of basic goods continue to skyrocket.
MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai on Friday embarked on a surprise visit of
banks battling with the
cash queues in the capital Harare. People stuck in
queues in the city are
said to have thanked the new Prime Minister designate
for showing concern
about their plight. Despite Tsvangirai, Mugabe and
Arthur Mutambara signing
a power sharing accord, a deadlock over the sharing
of cabinet portfolios
and general distrust of Mugabe has failed to ignite
confidence in the
process. Inflation at over 11 million percent,
unemployment over 80 percent,
cash and food shortages, all remain testament
to the suffering of millions
of people.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Farmers
warn of famine in Zimbabwe
http://www.sabcnews.com
September 26, 2008, 17:30
Thulasizwe
Simelane
Zimbabwe's commercial farmers are warning of a huge famine and
predict the
worst agriculture season in the country's history. This warning
comes in the
light of aid agencies calling on the country's new unity
government to move
swiftly to avert a looming humanitarian
disaster.
A cocktail of dire food shortages, communicable diseases and an
out of
control inflation rate are threatening millions of Zimbabweans.
Parties to
the country's power-sharing agreement have identified
humanitarian aid as a
key priority but, aid agencies say work must start
immediately if the
situation is to be turned around. Country farmers and aid
agencies have
warned Zimbabwe to act now or prepare to count the human
cost.
Zimbabwe is said to have only enough fertiliser to plant 34 000
hectares, as
opposed to the required two million hectares. Some
international agencies
predict a shortage of cereal by November this
year.
Meanwhile a cholera outbreak blamed on a shortage of water
treatment
chemicals has claimed several lives in Harare.
Beleaguered
Mugabe regime caves in on forex dealings
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Business Features
By Jan Raath
Sep 26, 2008, 11:53 GMT
Harare - Hundreds of businesses around
Zimbabwe were readying Friday to open
their doors to sell goods in foreign
currency as the country's own currency
accelerated in its crash towards
oblivion.
The central bank Thursday granted special licences to 570
retail and
wholesale businesses, oil companies and service stations to
charge in hard
currency, in the latest attempt by President Robert Mugabe's
regime to put
goods back on the empty shelves of the country's
stores.
The move was a major climbdown in the government's war against
the booming
black-market trade in currency, groceries and
fuel.
Inflation estimated at about 15 per cent a day has rendered the
Zimbabwe
dollar almost worthless, falling to a billionth of its value since
the
beginning of the year.
Faced with the accelerated collapse of
what only eight years ago was
Africa's most robust and diverse economy after
South Africa, the central
bank has shaved 13 zeroes off the value of the
currency in a little over a
year.
At the same time, the US dollar has
become the country's preferred currency,
with restaurants, service stations,
fast food take-aways, pharmacies and
hairdressers insisting on hard
currency.
Hundreds of backyard dollar shops selling imported groceries,
liquor, and
hardware have also sprung up to replace once well-stocked
supermarkets,
depleted by populist price controls.
Zimbabwe's
football authorities are among flocking to the US dollar.
Dynamos, the
country's top team, have applied to the central bank to be able
to charge US
dollars for tickets when they play Cameroonian team Cotonsport
Garoua in the
semi-final of the African Champions League next month,
according to the
state-controlled Herald newspaper.
The new licenses come with a hefty
price tag. Companies have to pay 20,000
dollars for each outlet, and the
central bank charges a 15 percent tax on
their takings.
'Failure to
act in such extraordinary times, therefore, would be tantamount
to the
highest level of betrayal to the hard-working people of Zimbabwe,'
said
central bank governor Gideon Gono issuing the licences.
'Never mind
that,' said a senior business executive who asked not to be
named. 'It's an
admission finally that they have run the currency into the
ground.'
Observers also warn the move could exacerbate the plight of
the poor.
'Where do ordinary people who earn a living selling tomatoes on
the street
get US dollars? They will go to the black market, and that will
push up
demand for forex, and make it much more expensive to buy than it
already
is,' one wholesaler executive asked.
Basic commodities like
maizemeal, the national staple, sugar, cooking oil,
bread, medicines and
milk will still have to be charged for in local
currency. 'So it means they
are going to continue to be in short supply.'
Gono also acted to try to
relieve the critical shortage of cash and reduce
the crowds of angry
customers waiting to draw cash from bank ATMs.
From Monday, they will be
able to draw 20,000 Zimbabwe dollars a day,
instead of the derisory 1,000
Zimbabwe dollars, which is only enough for a
copy of the Herald.
The
increased withdrawal limit is not likely to be much use for long. The
20,000
Zimbabwe dollar limit is equal to about 20 US dollars, having more
than
halved in the last week.
'You can't win,' lamented businessman David
Hwenge.
Zim set to run out of food by November
By Alex Bell
26 September
2008
A US aid organisation has warned that Zimbabwe faces completely
running out
of food as early as the first week of November, because the
government has
not ensured that adequate quantities of basic cereals have
been imported to
make up for the poor harvest.
The US Agency for
International Development's (USAID) Famine Early Warning
Systems Network
(FEWSNET) said in a statement on Thursday that Zimbabwe
could face a
'critical shortage or exhaustion of cereals' as early as
November 'given the
current pace of imports'. FEWSNET explained that the
current import rate of
8,786 tons of food per week would need to be tripled
between now and March
2009 'to avoid massive shortages'.
The government planned to import 600
000 tons of maize from South Africa
this year but only 175 000 tons had been
bought by the end of August. "To
meet the country's estimated consumption
needs for the remainder of the
marketing year, excluding carryover, an
estimated additional 788 719 tons
of cereals are needed," FEWSNET
said.
Zimbabweans have already been facing hunger and malnutrition after
Robert
Mugabe's government imposed a ban on humanitarian food aid during the
run up
to the election run off in June. The ban left millions of the most
desperate
facing starvation, and although government said they had lifted
the ban at
the end of August, there are still many blocking mechanisms in
place to stop
the distribution of food. At the same time, the shattered
economy and a
severe currency shortage has seen even the country's
comparatively wealthier
groups struggling to afford the most basic food
stuffs.
Macdonald Lewanika from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, told
Newsreel on
Friday there are 'grave concerns' that food remains
inaccessible, despite
the deal signed by Zimbabwe's political rivals. He
said it is unacceptable
that promises made during the signing of the deal
have not been implemented,
and called for immediate action on the ground.
Lewanika said: "The impasse
over sharing of cabinet posts needs to be
resolved as a matter of urgency in
the interest of ending the suffering of
Zimbabweans."
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Starving residents take legal action against police
By Alex Bell
26
September 2008
Residents of Harare's Glen Norah suburb have taken legal
action to stop
police from interfering with critically needed food aid meant
to be
distributed to two hundred desperate households.
In July the
Glen Norah Residents Association received a donation of food
items,
including maize meal and sugar beans from the Catholic Church based
Jesuit
Relief Fund, which was meant to be distributed to the association's
vulnerable members, including orphans, the elderly and people living with
HIV and AIDS.
But just after receiving the donation police officers
from the Glen Norah
Police Station raided the home of Kingsley Kanyuchi, the
residents
association's chairperson and interrogated him about the source
and
destination of the food aid. The police then barred the association from
parceling the food relief, until it got authorization from the Ministry of
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights (ZLHR) has since filed a court application
with the high court,
contesting that the association is under no legal
obligation to register
under the Private Voluntary Organisation Act (PVO
Act) and is exempt from
the PVO Act's definition of a private and voluntary
organisation. In a draft
court order being sought by ZLHR, the lawyers want
the police and anyone
acting through or under them to be barred from
frustrating or preventing the
association from distributing food to its
members.
ZLHR spokesperson,
Kumbirai Mafunda, told Newsreel the papers were filed on
Wednesday but said
the lawyers have yet to find out when the case will be
heard in court. He
added it was critical the case is heard as soon as
possible 'because of the
number of people who are starving' as 'large
numbers of families are
struggling'. Mafunda also added that despite the
lifting of the government
imposed food aid ban, 'the lives of millions of
vulnerable Zimbabweans are
still at risk'. He said checks on aid agencies,
such as submitting details
of their humanitarian programmes and funding, as
well as areas and modes of
operations to the government, are compromising
the resumption of critical
field operations.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Mugabe
has never been weaker
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4809
September 26, 2008
Clapperton Mavhunga
ON
SEPTEMBER 20, the African National Congress (ANC) asked Thabo Mbeki to
step
down as state president of South Africa. But it also asked him to
continue as
mediator in Zimbabwe. The logic, it seems, is that Mbeki is good
for
Zimbabwe, but not for South Africa.
Overnight, the ANC became the ruling
party of Zimbabwe. At least, that was
better than being a personal fiefdom of
Mbeki, but not good enough for
Zimbabweans.
On Wednesday, SADC
spokesman Charles Mubita said Mbeki will stay "unless he
personally thinks
otherwise". Secretary-general Tomas Salamao chimed in:
South Africa is SADC
chairman and decides who mediates.
New South African President and
presumptive SADC Chair Kgalema Motlanthe has
already said he will not
"reinvent policy". But the Zuma-Mbeki rivalry is
worsening, and Motlanthe
might have to reinvent South Africa's Zimbabwe
policy, after all.
How
a party in need of mediation itself can mediate in Zimbabwe is, of
course, a
puzzle.
AU Chair Jakaya Kikwete sees "no cause for alarm" and hails the
Zimbabwe
deal as "testimony to the fact that democracy and good governance
are taking
root" in Africa.
Not quite a fact yet, Mr.
President.
Even as he spoke, Kikwete should have been aware of the
deadlock Mugabe had
left in Harare when hiving off to a useless tête-à-tête
in New York.
Mbeki was ousted just as he finalized the draft of a UN
speech to appeal for
western funds for the Zimbabwe deal. Instead, as the UN
General Assembly
started deliberations, he was delivering his valedictory to
Parliament.
Like Nkrumah, Kenyatta, and Mugabe before him, Mbeki takes
his place in
history as a president busy making a name abroad as a
Pan-Africanist while
his people suffered. He will claim credit for the AU and
NEPAD, African
Renaissance and Quiet Diplomacy, but will forever be dismissed
for denying
the reality of AIDS, the Zimbabwe Crisis, poverty, and
unemployment.
Unlike President Mbeki, Former President Mbeki has no
political teeth. While
former presidents have mediated African conflicts,
none had been fired in
ignominy by their party as head of
state.
Mbeki's personal role in Zimbabwe is finished, but the Mbeki
doctrine stays.
SA domestic policy governs Zimbabwe, unless the ANC departs
from Mbeki's
perception of the MDC as Zimbabwe's Democratic Alliance, to be
negotiated
with only for the self-preservation of an erstwhile liberation war
ally.
That is why Mbeki could not take a lead in imposing a regional
blockade
against Mugabe. Instead he chose cowardly appeasement. Just like
with AIDS
denialism in SA, Mbeki's quiet diplomacy has cost thousands of
Zimbabwean
lives through diseases that could be treatable.
Quiet
diplomacy became a formula to not only deny that Mugabe was the
Zimbabwean
crisis on two legs, but to strike an elitist deal with an
out-of-sorts MDC
leadership. Quiet diplomacy became a gag Mbeki used to
alienate the MDC from
the masses, Soviet Politburo-style.
Since when has a popular movement
retained popularity through isolation from
the masses? Mbeki is gone, but his
deal remains. Informed analysts advised
the MDC to stand firm and negotiate
from a high bar. Instead the MDC relaxed
its preconditions.
People
wanted justice for victims of violence; the deal says 'amnesty'.
South
Africa, big as it is, has just 29 ministers. We shall have 31, yet
Zimbabwe
is the size of one SA province. The MDC said: "It's OK".
The people
wanted Mugabe gone; the MDC said "No problem, how about Mugabe as
Executive
President".
The people wanted a new constitution written by the people;
now the
politicians will write it for us.
It is not far-fetched to now
think the MDC either signed without thinking or
was thinking only of personal
power. Otherwise why else would it sign
without formally getting the Home
Affairs, Finance, Local Government, and
Justice Ministries?
How could
they sign a deal that placed all faith in the generosity of Mugabe
to enforce
the agreement, with no security guarantees from SADC or the AU in
the event
of default?
If the MDC is genuinely a people's movement, it should
understand that there
is no shame in contrition. It should admit it snoozed
when it should have
remained vigilant.
There is nothing wrong with the
MDC admitting that it fell for Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy and let down (and left
out) its traditional base. This humility
will make it easier to reincarnate a
single platform with civic society,
labour, and - thus far ignored - the
Diaspora. This will enable the MDC to
turn the agreement from a weakness to a
foundation worth building up.
Contrary to his rhetoric, Mugabe has never
been weaker than now. A perusal
of his political trajectory since leaving
prison in 1975 shows that Mugabe
has used fiery rhetoric to mask his
weaknesses, especially within his party.
His words are not so much a sign of
strength as a reflection of an attempt
to rally radicals to shore up his
precarious position in Zanu-PF.
Many commentators have tried to convince
us that Mugabe has lost his head. I
am unable to share that opinion. It is
important to understand that Mugabe's
position in Zanu-PF has never been that
of an absolute ruler. That is why
puppets are necessary.
So he uses
hard-hitting anti-western rhetoric to insist that he is not a
sellout to
those with some spine who from time to time confront him.
Patronage keeps all
the puppets in his corner to keep out those who want the
succession issue
discussed.
Bribery works so long as the resources to support it exist:
now they are
drying up, so what does Zanu-PF do? Use the MDC as a goblin to
get western
donor support to keep its networks of patronage working.
Smart!
Mugabe speaks as a man who knows he took the MDC for a ride - and
won! And
he has the 'agreement' to show for it. What he says is true: The
government
is a pyramid with the president at the top. People told the MDC
this would
happen; it did not listen.
No wonder Mugabe thinks Mbeki is
a jolly good fellow!
Mugabe thinks that he can hoodwink the international
community as he and
Mbeki outfoxed the MDC. But that may turn out to be his
biggest mistake. The
world is a far more complicated place since the last
time he traveled
widely. Not only have targeted sanctions narrowed his
itinerary; they have
blinkered his vision.
Mugabe may find it a tough
act with Mbeki gone.
Even as he spoke, Kikwete should have been aware of
the deadlock Mugabe had
left in Harare when hiving off to a useless
tête-à-tête in New York.
Mbeki was ousted just as he finalized the draft
of a UN speech to appeal for
western funds for the Zimbabwe deal. Instead, as
the UN General Assembly
started deliberations, he was delivering his
valedictory to Parliament.
Like Nkrumah, Kenyatta, and Mugabe before him,
Mbeki takes his place in
history as a president busy making a name abroad as
a Pan-Africanist while
his people suffered. He will claim credit for the AU
and NEPAD, African
Renaissance and Quiet Diplomacy, but will forever be
dismissed for denying
the reality of AIDS, the Zimbabwe Crisis, poverty, and
unemployment.
Unlike President Mbeki, Former President Mbeki has no
political teeth. While
former presidents have mediated African conflicts,
none had been fired in
ignominy by their party as head of
state.
Mbeki's personal role in Zimbabwe is finished, but the Mbeki
doctrine stays.
SA domestic policy governs Zimbabwe, unless the ANC departs
from Mbeki's
perception of the MDC as Zimbabwe's Democratic Alliance, to be
negotiated
with only for the self-preservation of an erstwhile liberation war
ally.
That is why Mbeki could not take a lead in imposing a regional
blockade
against Mugabe. Instead he chose cowardly appeasement. Just like
with AIDS
denialism in SA, Mbeki's quiet diplomacy has cost thousands of
Zimbabwean
lives through diseases that could be treatable.
Quiet
diplomacy became a formula to not only deny that Mugabe was the
Zimbabwean
crisis on two legs, but to strike an elitist deal with an
out-of-sorts MDC
leadership. Quiet diplomacy became a gag Mbeki used to
alienate the MDC from
the masses, Soviet Politburo-style.
Since when has a popular movement
retained popularity through isolation from
the masses? Mbeki is gone, but his
deal remains. Informed analysts advised
the MDC to stand firm and negotiate
from a high bar. Instead the MDC relaxed
its preconditions.
People
wanted justice for victims of violence; the deal says 'amnesty'.
South
Africa, big as it is, has just 29 ministers. We shall have 31, yet
Zimbabwe
is the size of one SA province. The MDC said: "It's OK".
The people
wanted Mugabe gone; the MDC said "No problem, how about Mugabe as
Executive
President".
The people wanted a new constitution written by the people;
now the
politicians will write it for us.
It is not far-fetched to now
think the MDC either signed without thinking or
was thinking only of personal
power. Otherwise why else would it sign
without formally getting the Home
Affairs, Finance, Local Government, and
Justice Ministries?
How could
they sign a deal that placed all faith in the generosity of Mugabe
to enforce
the agreement, with no security guarantees from SADC or the AU in
the event
of default?
If the MDC is genuinely a people's movement, it should
understand that there
is no shame in contrition. It should admit it snoozed
when it should have
remained vigilant.
There is nothing wrong with the
MDC admitting that it fell for Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy and let down (and left
out) its traditional base. This humility
will make it easier to reincarnate a
single platform with civic society,
labour, and - thus far ignored - the
Diaspora. This will enable the MDC to
turn the agreement from a weakness to a
foundation worth building up.
Contrary to his rhetoric, Mugabe has never
been weaker than now. A perusal
of his political trajectory since leaving
prison in 1975 shows that Mugabe
has used fiery rhetoric to mask his
weaknesses, especially within his party.
His words are not so much a sign of
strength as a reflection of an attempt
to rally radicals to shore up his
precarious position in Zanu-PF.
Many commentators have tried to convince
us that Mugabe has lost his head. I
am unable to share that opinion. It is
important to understand that Mugabe's
position in Zanu-PF has never been that
of an absolute ruler. That is why
puppets are necessary.
So he uses
hard-hitting anti-western rhetoric to insist that he is not a
sellout to
those with some spine who from time to time confront him.
Patronage keeps all
the puppets in his corner to keep out those who want the
succession issue
discussed.
Bribery works so long as the resources to support it exist:
now they are
drying up, so what does Zanu-PF do? Use the MDC as a goblin to
get western
donor support to keep its networks of patronage working.
Smart!
Mugabe speaks as a man who knows he took the MDC for a ride - and
won! And
he has the 'agreement' to show for it. What he says is true: The
government
is a pyramid with the president at the top. People told the MDC
this would
happen; it did not listen.
No wonder Mugabe thinks Mbeki is
a jolly good fellow!
Mugabe thinks that he can hoodwink the international
community as he and
Mbeki outfoxed the MDC. But that may turn out to be his
biggest mistake. The
world is a far more complicated place since the last
time he traveled
widely. Not only have targeted sanctions narrowed his
itinerary; they have
blinkered his vision.
Mugabe may find it a tough
act with Mbeki gone.
Crisis Zimbabwe: Time to implement this Deal!
28 September
2008
Time to implement this Deal - Zimbabweans continue to
suffer
The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition is gravely concerned by
inordinate delays
in concluding the allocation of ministries by the three
main political
players in Zimbabwe following the signing of a power sharing
deal signed on
the 15th of September 2008. The deal between ZANU PF and MDC
is now 14 days
old and no concrete changes have been recorded. While the
main principals in
this deal continue to contest over issues of power, the
suffering of
ordinary Zimbabweans continues with no promise of an end in
sight.
Since March 2008 to date, Zimbabwe has been running without a
government and
the continued utterances by the Secretary to the President
and Cabinet Dr.
Misheck Sibanda, of a de facto government of outgoing mostly
un-elected
cabinet ministers is unacceptable. The people of Zimbabwe want a
legitimate
administration to begin the reconstruction process. It is time to
turn
signatures into real improvements of livelihood. All we want
is;
Ø Food security in the country,
Ø economic
recovery,
Ø improvement of social services,
Ø Institutional
reforms,
Ø a people driven democratic constitution,
Ø rebuilding
international relations,
We call on the principals to resolve the impasse
over equitable sharing of
cabinet posts in the interest of ending the
suffering of Zimbabweans.
Zimbabweans from all walks of life are
placing their hope on a unity
government as they have, for almost a decade,
witnessed a collapse in the
economy, health services, education, rule of law
and agriculture. The
Coalition therefore urges the key political players to
put the national
agenda first ahead of partisan differences and champion a
sustainable
framework of engagement for a prosperous
Zimbabwe.
Issued by:
Japhet
Moyo
Spokesperson
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
Nurses Demand Bribes in Forex
http://www.radiovop.com
BULAWAYO, September 26 2008 - Most nurses
in Bulawayo's major
hospitals are reportedly demanding foreign currency from
patients to ensure
preferential treatment.
Patients who
can not afford to give the nurses foreign currency are
reportedly neglected
and ignored by the health personnel.
"It is now common
knowledge that if you go to major hospitals such as
Mpilo you have to make
that sort of arrangement so that there is hope of
recuperating," said
Thabani Ndlovu, a Bulawayo resident.
"Either the patient or the
patient's relatives negotiate with the
nurses so that sick person will be
looked after. In some instances the
nurses actually sell things such as
drips and other medicines to patients.
"
A report on
staffing levels within Zimbabwe's crumbling healthcare
system paints a dire
picture of the impact of the brain drain, with vacancy
rates for crucial
skills in hospitals as high as 70 percent.
More than 3 500
nurses and 969 doctors had left government health
institutions by September
2007 after the health professionals intensified
their hunt for better
opportunities in the region and abroad, a report
prepared by the Nurses
Council of Zimbabwe (NCZ) revealed early this year.
Of late
most civil servants have been demanding payment of salaries in
foreign
exchange in a country where the economy has almost been dollarised.
Central
bank governor recently approved the use of foreign currency by
licenced
wholesalers and retailers.
ZCTU
To Grill Tsvangirai Over Deal
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September 26 2008 - Opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) leader and newly designated Zimbabwe
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
will appear before a Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Union (ZCTU) general council
Saturday morning, where he is expected to
be grilled on the merits of his
party's recent power sharing agreement with
Zanu PF.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF and the two
factions of the MDC
signed a power sharing agreement on September 15, aimed
at stopping
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown as well as end nearly a decade of
bitter
political rivalry.
The ZCTU feels the deal is a "far
cry" from its expectations and that
it is an outcome of a flawed
process.
The labour body says the deal is centred on power
sharing among the
protagonists while skirting the primary causes of the
prolonged dispute.
The labour body feels Zimbabwe's problems
are too complex to be left
in the hands of politicians who are preoccupied
with self-serving interests.
"An all-inclusive dialogue is the
only way forward to resolve
Zimbabwe's political and economic impasse," ZCTU
secretary general
Wellington Chibebe said this week.
"Ownership of the dialogue process should rest with the people of
Zimbabwe,
not just a few politicians, some of them who have been rejected by
the
electorate.
"ZCTU continues to advocate for a Neutral
Transitional Authority and
the drafting of a people driven constitution
which will lead the nation into
a free and fair democratic election where
people will choose their own
government. The current temporary arrangement
has not created a people's
Government."
Several civic
organizations have also expressed disappointment over
the
deal.
Despite its intended purposes, so they say, Tsvangirai,
who won the
last credible election on March 29, conceded too much for
Mugabe, 84, whose
powers are still intact.
The MDC leader
did not take part in the June 27 presidential run off.
He cited massive
state sponsored violence and intimidation on his
supporters.
Tsvangirai is a former ZCTU president who quit
in 1999 when he turned
into politics.
Tsvangirai
still waiting for a passport
http://www.iol.co.za
September 26 2008 at
07:53AM
By Stanley Gama
Harare - Despite being
Zimbabwe's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai
still can't officially travel
outside the country.
And his aides have to make laborious special
arrangements with foreign
governments every time he visits them. The
registrar-general's office in
Harare is reluctant to issue him with either a
new passport or an emergency
travel document, it has been
established.
One reason given is that the office has run out of
materials. But
senior officials in the office have pointed out that hundreds
of Zimbabweans
have been issued with passports in the past few
months.
At one stage Tsvangirai was offered a repatriation document
by the
Zimbabwe embassy in Pretoria, which is usually meant for dead people
whose
bodies have to be returned. "Tsvangirai refused . because he said he
was not
a dead person," a Movement for Democratic Change official
said.
Tsvangirai first applied for a new passport in May after the
pages in
his old one had been exhausted. It normally takes two days for an
emergency
passport to be issued in Zimbabwe.
He was told on
various occasions that there was no passport material;
that the machines
were down; and at one point he was accused of having
imposed sanctions on
Zimbabwe and so did not deserve a passport.
The MDC leader,
shuttling in and out of Zimbabwe while negotiating the
power-sharing deal,
was issued with two emergency travel documents with an
unusually short
lifespan.
The first allowed him to travel to Angola only for a
Southern African
Development Community meeting. It expired and he was issued
with a new one
for travel only to South Africa to attend the SADC summit.
This expired
after three weeks.
Normally, emergency travel
documents in Zimbabwe have a lifespan of
six months, and holders can travel
to as many countries as they like, as
long as they indicate their
destinations on the application form.
Tsvangirai's spokesperson,
George Sibotshiwe, confirmed on Thursday
that the MDC leader's passport had
still not been released almost four
months down the line.
"We
are disappointed by the lack of sincerity on the part of Zanu-PF
and in
particular their inability to deal with the passport issue of the
prime
minister-designate.
"We believe that (so much) progress has been
made in this dialogue
that issues like passports are simple and must be
handled in a professional
manner," Sibotshiwe said.
The MDC
took the matter to court, but the case was postponed each
time.
Tsvangirai managed to travel in the region by making special
arrangements
with receiving countries. When Tsvangirai applied for a new
passport, the
registar-general demanded the old one, which has not been
returned.
Registar-General Tobaiwa Mudede was said to be out of
the office the
whole week when The Star made inquiries.
A staff
member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he believed
there was a
deliberate ploy to deny the MDC leader a passport.
"Everyone in the
passport office took an interest when Tsvangirai's
application came through
and workers wanted to process it quickly as he has
a lot of sympathisers at
the registar-general's office.
"However, we were ordered by our
superiors not to process his
application. No reasons were
given.
"Since Tsvangirai applied for a passport more than three
months ago,
we have issued hundreds if not thousands of new passports. So if
the bosses
here are saying there is no material, where did they get the
material to
process thousands of passports?" the official said.
Last month Tsvangirai was held up for a day just before the SADC
summit in
Sandton when his emergency travel document was seized by security
officials
at the airport. The document was later returned.
This article
was originally published on page 11 of The Star on
September 26,
2008
Power-sharing deal looking
precarious
Photo:
|
Goodbye
for a while |
HARARE, 26 September 2008 (IRIN) - A
Zimbabwe power-sharing deal brokered by South Africa's former president, Thabo
Mbeki, appears to be unravelling.
On 15 September, Mbeki oversaw the
signing of a deal between President Robert Mugabe, the leader of the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambura, leader of a
smaller MDC faction, in what became his last foreign policy act as president. He
was ousted from South Africa's top job a few days after returning from Zimbabwe.
Mbeki's axing meant the South African president had to cancel his trip
to a UN annual General Assembly meeting in New York, while Mugabe departed for
the US and is only expected to return to Zimbabwe in early October, as it is the
custom of the 84-year-old president to have his annual medical check-ups abroad.
The deal was expected to signal the beginning of Zimbabwe's
reconstruction, but reports of political violence are still commonplace, the
inflation rate of more than 11 million percent remains unchecked, an outbreak of
cholera in the capital, Harare, and Mashonaland West Province has claimed 20
lives in the past week, and reports that children have begun to succumb to starvation indicate that the country's humanitarian situation
is worsening.
Earlier this year the UN estimated that more than five
million people, out of a population of 12 million, would require food
assistance in the first quarter of 2009. November is the planting period for
the main agricultural season, but cash shortages, a paucity of agricultural
inputs and renewed disruptions on farms do not bode well for the coming harvest.
Mbeki's power-sharing deal became deadlocked last week after ZANU-PF
reportedly refused to concede any of the portfolios covering security, home
affairs, justice, local government, finance, information and foreign affairs to
the MDC.
Parliament has convened once since the disputed presidential
election on 27 June, but was immediately adjourned and is not expected to
reconvene until mid-October. It is yet to pass the constitutional amendments
needed to create the posts of prime minister and deputy prime minister -
allocated to Tsvangirai and Mutambura, respectively - under the
agreement.
Mugabe feels ZANU-PF pressure
A
member of ZANU-PF's politburo, the party's top decision-making body, told IRIN
that before leaving for New York, Mugabe was accused by senior party members of
ceding too much power to the opposition parties. "It looks like Mugabe used the
UN conference as an excuse to flee from the gathering storm in his party," the
party insider said.
It looks like Mugabe used the
UN conference as an excuse to flee from the gathering storm in his
party. Because of his lengthy absence from the country, there is a lot of
uncertainty |
"Because of his lengthy absence from the
country, there is a lot of uncertainty within the country and ZANU-PF. In
addition, when ... [apportioning] cabinet posts, Mugabe has to deal with the
delicate issue of mollifying two camps in his party which are jostling to
succeed him."
The constitutional amendments need a two-thirds majority
to pass, which could potentially hand disgruntled ZANU-PF MPs a way to stall the
deal.
The changing of the guard in neighbouring South Africa, in which
Mbeki was deposed ahead of next year's scheduled elections, left Mugabe
"devastated", according to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
The MDC often accused Mbeki of being partisan towards Mugabe after the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) appointed him as the regional
body's lead negotiator in 2007, while Mugabe recently lauded Mbeki's style of
negotiations.
Such praise has not been reciprocated in South Africa,
where the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country's largest
union federation and an alliance partner of the ruling African National Congress
(ANC), played a pivotal role in ousting Mbeki and remain unhappy with his
power-sharing deal.
COSATU spokesman Patrick Craven told IRIN the
federation was "profoundly unhappy with the negotiations on the table" and
termed it an "elite deal negotiated between a few individuals, with no attempt
to involve civil society." The power-sharing government has a five-year
term.
Union pressure on Tsvangirai
SADC
spokesperson Charles Mubita told Zimbabwe's official The Herald newspaper that
Mbeki would continue to lead the SADC's mediation talks, because "It does not
need someone to be a sitting president to facilitate in a dispute."
COSATU's Craven said the union federation has so far not taken a
position on Mbeki's continued role as the lead negotiator in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai will attend a meeting of the ZCTU's general council on 27
September to explain the details of the power-sharing agreement. The labour
federation, which was a launch pad of the MDC, is against the negotiated deal
and prefers the formation of a transitional authority, followed by free and fair
elections.
Tsvangirai and the MDC achieved a parliamentary majority in
the 29 March general elections but was a couple of percentage points shy of the
50 percent plus one vote required to win the presidency outright.
Tsvangirai withdrew from the run-off ballot in protest against the high
levels of political violence, which Mugabe subsequently won as a sole candidate
- a result not recognised by the international community.
[ENDS] [This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations] |
The
2008/09 Agricultural Season Fertiliser Shortage
Zimbabwe is headed for another disastrous Agriculture season.
The perennial September
fertiliser debacle is upon us once again. Farmers who should already have
fertiliser in their sheds are staring at another disastrous season without
adequate fertiliser, the most important item in agriculture after land.
Communal farmers are
resorting to using anthill soil, ash, stover and animal manure as they mitigate
the unavailability of commercial fertiliser.
The bungling Minister of
Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo announced last week that Zimbabwean
companies would only be able to produce 12 000 tonnes out of the targeted 30 000
tonnes, despite receiving US$13 million from the central bank, specifically for
fertilizer production, ahead of the farming season.
About 70 percent of
Zimbabwe is covered with sandy soils, mostly derived from coarse granite, which
are generally acidic. This presents a challenge for any agriculturalist wishing
to replenish the NPK (nitrogen, phosphate and potash) macronutrients required
for plant growth to overcome soil fertility depletion. These soils need
periodical rest, rotation with legumes and agricultural lime applied to adjust
the acidity.
So using a conservative
fertiliser application rate of 250kgs per hectare for Ammonium Nitrate(AN) and
300 kgs per hectare for Compound D basal fertiliser for the 2008/09
maize crop, only 24 000 hectares of maize will have adequate fertiliser at a
cost of US$1083.00 per tonne. The average world price for one tonne for 34.5% AN
fertiliser is US$425.00 per tonne and for Compound D (8:14:7, N-P-K) is
US$500.00 per tonne. These prices are from Harare depots, transportation to
rural areas can increase this price.
A farmer in Zimbabwe
this season will pay U$$ 1.08 per kg of fertiliser as compared to US$0.45 per kg
for his counterpart in a neighbouring functioning economy. Therefore, to plant
one hectare of maize the farmer will fork out US$594.00 per
hectare, assuming the rains are good, the seedbed is perfect and
germination is within the acceptable 95-99% range. However most farmers will
have to replant or embark on “gap filling” because there is never a perfect
season.
A sixty-horsepower
tractor requires 35 litres of diesel per hectare to plough one hectare of land
and then another 20 litres per hectare to disc with a harrow. 10 litres per
hectare is further required for planting. The fuel requirement for a single
hectare becomes 65 litres of diesel, which costs US$2.05 per litre in Zimbabwe.
Therefore US$133.00 per hectare is required for land
preparation without accounting for combine harvester costs.
Mechanisation has become
a necessity due to the HIV pandemic compounded with general malnutrition. Most
people are too weak for the rigorous manual labour required for maize
husbandry.
Last month the same
minister announced that the government has only secured 30,000 tonnes of maize
seed out of a required 50,000 tonnes. He said only 11,300 tonnes of maize seed
was sourced from local seed houses while 18,700 tonnes was imported from
neighbouring countries.
Therefore, Zimbabwe now
produces only 22.6% of its maize seed requirements. This for a
country that used to produce 100% of its maize seed requirements and also
supplied the bulk of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique’s maize seed
needs.
The imported seed to be
used by the Zimbabwean farmer is planted at a seeding rate of 25 kgs per hectare
in order to achieve the optimum plant population of 55 000 plants per hectare.
Hybrid maize seed costs US$4000 per tonne and Open Pollinated Variety (OPV)
maize seed cost US$900 per tonne. The 25g kg pack required to plant one hectare
will cost the farmer about US$120.00.
With these levels of
input costs, the farmer needs US$847.00 per hectare for the
pre-germination portion of his input costs excluding labour, electricity,
insurance and other variable costs.
The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe last month announced a new producer price of maize of ZW$4500.00 , old
value ZW$ 45 trillion , which equates to US$41.02 per tonne using
the prevailing official exchange rate of 120:1 to the US dollar.
These exchange rates changes hourly and by the time you read this article please
use the current rate.
The national maize yield
average has now dropped to 1.5 tonnes per hectare. US$61.53 or ZW$7883.60 per
hectare gross margin presents a loss that renders maize production in Zimbabwe
economically unsustainable.
Maize is being imported
from South Africa is arriving at a rate of 8 786 metric tonnes per week. With
only twenty-five weeks left before the 2008/09 maize harvest, Zimbabwe’s maize
stocks will be 219 650 metric tonnes against a national requirement of 1 164 000
000 metric tonnes. As of August 31,2008 the government of
Zimbabwe
Agricultural inputs are
being diverted to the parallel market whilst the RBZ is engaged in supporting
speculative non-agricultural activities.
Zimbabwe’s elephants
could provide a natural resource that could help alleviate a national fertilser
shortage. An African elephant can drop 60 to 100 kilograms per day. An elephant
consumes about 4-6% of its body weight per day. A 5000 kg bull will eat around
300 kg of vegetation per day. Because elephants do not have an efficient
digestive system and only 44% of their food is absorbed with the rest passing
through undigested. This means around 60kg of dung can be collected from just
one elephant per day.
With an elephant
population of over 60 000, Zimbabwe could harvest 3 600 tonnes of manure every
day.
Organic manure contains
a wide range of minerals and nutrients, including abundant amounts of the three
main chemicals that plants need for growth, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Today in Zimbabwe, cows
and other livestock are being used as a method of payment for school fees, not
only will this further decimate the nation’s breeding herd gene
pool but will reduce the availability of cattle manure, a major
fertiliser input for smallholder farmers on communal lands. Cattle manure is an
integral component of soil fertility management in the communal areas in
Zimbabwe
Communal farmers are now
resorting to planting uncertified seed derived from stored commercial grain. The
usual “guma guma” fraudsters are exploiting the situation by merely
tinting maize grain with a green dye , repackaging and selling it as
hybrid seed to unsuspected communal farmers.
The 105 combine
harvesters, 3 000 tractors, 100 000 ox-drawn ploughs, 20 000 ox-drawn harrows
and 45 000 ox-drawn scotch carts, provided by the RBZ
as a vote-buying gimmick to gullible farmers before the
Presidential elections, will now just rust away.
Zimbabwe teachers union urge authorities to postpone examinations
By
Violet Gonda
26 September 2008
School children from most government
schools in the country have had no
lessons since the school term opened this
month because of a teachers
strike. The strike for better wages has come at
a time when many pupils are
preparing to write their final O and A' level
examinations.
Takavafira Zhou, the president of the Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) said children cannot be expected to write exams
when thy have not
attended lessons. He said his Union has sent letters to
the authorities
saying the most logical and realistic thing was to postpone
the exams "or
even declare that 2008 is altogether a forgotten year and we
may start
afresh next year, assuming that the new deal will work and perhaps
conditions would have improved."
Practical exams for science students
have already started and Zhou said in
some schools "grounds people" are
invigilating the exams because of the
teachers' strike. "It's a tragedy.
Even June exams, the markings were
abandoned because the teachers refused to
mark. So assuming that they will
write, who will mark?" Zhou
asked.
However Tendai Chikowore, the President of the Zimbabwe Teachers
Association
(ZIMTA) said this is a war of a different kind and a war that is
bound to
have casualties. She said: "If the government finds it in its best
interest
to postpone, then that is fine, but what we don't want to do is
cause a
conflict between ourselves and the parents because we don't know
what the
parents want. We haven't carried out a referendum."
The
ZIMTA president admitted that there is a breakdown of the system in
Zimbabwe
that has made it impossible for teachers to go to work. She said
there is a
need for a political settlement as the situation is impacting
negatively on
most of the government institutions.
Chikowore wouldn't call the action
by the teachers a strike, saying civil
servants in general have been
incapacitated by the government and this is a
system that is now breaking
down and affecting all sectors. The ZIMTA
president said there was no
declaration of a strike but simply a reaction to
a system which has
completely broken down and which needs a complete
overhaul. "The majority of
teachers were finding it difficult to go to work
simply because the levels
of remunerations were low coupled with the levels
of maximum withdrawals
that they could access at the bank, and this is a
situation that has
deteriorated across the civil service," Chikowore said.
ZIMTA is the
biggest teachers union in Zimbabwe, and is largely seen as
pro-government.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Cash-hungry Zimbabweans tired of political impasse
Reuters
Fri Sep 26,
2008 5:42pm BST
Email |Print | Reprints
By Nelson Banya
HARARE,
Sept 26 (Reuters) - Edith Tembo sits on the pavement outside a
Zimbabwean
bank, tired and dejected after waiting all night to withdraw
money that is
barely enough to pay for her bus fare home.
A deadlock over the
allocation of cabinet posts has dashed hopes that a
power-sharing deal
between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai would
bring quick relief for Tembo and others hurt by the
nation's economic
crisis.
Zimbabwe is struggling with the highest inflation rate in the
world --
pegged at above 11 million percent -- and chronic shortages of food,
foreign
currency and fuel. There is now a shortage of Zimbabwean
dollars.
"When the deal was signed, we expected that at least things
would start
changing for the better, but our situation is actually worse
now," said
Tembo, who supplements her husband's income by selling scarce
groceries on a
roadside stall.
"Everywhere, queues are longer and
goods more expensive than before."
Tsvangirai, who is set to become prime
minister under the power-sharing
pact, came face to face on Friday with the
extent of the once-prosperous
nation's crisis on a visit to banks in Harare's
central business district.
Hordes of residents waiting for cash in lines
that spilled onto the streets
greeted him.
"We are hungry, Prime
Minister!" a young man in the crowd said, as he
enthusiastically shook
Tsvangirai's hand. "Please help us, we've been here
for hours and the money
can't even take us far."
Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change,
promised to address the
situation.
LIMITS ON CASH
But his success hinges on his
ability to work with Mugabe, his bitter rival.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader,
in power since 1980, had routinely dismissed
Tsvangirai as a Western puppet
before agreeing this month to form a unity
government.
The deal was
hatched in the wake of the country's disputed presidential
election.
Tsvangirai won the first round and withdrew from the second after
his
supporters were attacked by Mugabe's security forces and his
ZANU-PF
party.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki helped
broker the deal between
the ruling party and the opposition, which was
supposed to get the majority
of cabinet positions.
Mbeki, however, was
ousted from power last weekend and the impasse over who
will get what cabinet
positions has led to growing frustrations on the
streets of
Harare.
"We are suffering, facing problems on every front," said Munashe
Mpofu, who
is unemployed. "No one is addressing this crisis."
Apart
from cash shortages at banks, Zimbabweans endure long queues for
transport,
food, including bread, meat and maize, and other commodities.
There are also
frequent power cuts.
Some routinely spend the night outside banks to be
first in line to get
cash.
But the central bank imposes strict
withdrawal limits in its effort to stem
black market trade in foreign
currency, often leaving customers unable to
take out enough cash to do their
basic shopping, especially on the thriving
black market.
On Monday it
will raise those limits, a decision that comes in the wake of
its recent
decision to relax foreign exchange regulations to allow some 600
traders to
charge for goods and services in foreign currency.
But analysts say such
measures are unlikely to improve the situation given
the existing political
uncertainty.
"There is a crisis of expectations. People were already
sceptical about this
deal and were only willing to give it a chance out of
desperate hope for
services, products and jobs, but it has not had the best
of starts," said
Lovemore Madhuku, a political commentator.
"Instead,
what they see is politicians bickering over jobs increases their
desperation
and does not bode well for the future."
Last August, Zimbabwe lopped off
10 zeros from its currency in a bid to
fight the effects of hyperinflation
that saw shoppers carrying huge piles of
banknotes for simple transactions.
(Editing by Paul Simao and Charles Dick)
Monetary regulations harming the poor
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Friday, 26 September 2008
13:57
The MDC condemns the current monetary regime which allows both
individuals and companies to withdraw a paltry $1 000 per day which is not
enough to address the basic needs of an average family.
The
long queues at our banks as people strive to withdraw their
salaries are an
indictment on the unworkable policies of this government.
Maximum
daily withdrawal limits have put a strain on both companies
and individuals
as the amounts are largely inadequate even for a two way
trip to
Chitungwiza. An average family of five needs about $7 000 to buy
basics
every day and $1 000 per day is not even enough for a two-way trip to
Chitungwiza.
Civil servants and ordinary Zimbabweans are
spending important
production time of up to a whole day in bank queues
waiting to withdraw
money that is only enough to buy cellphone airtime for
four minutes!
The repercussions of keeping people's money in banks
while inflation
erodes value are far greater than simply increasing the
daily limit.
The restrictions on daily maximum withdrawals have spawned
corruption,
crime and petty theft as people resort to other means of raising
a quick
buck to sustain their families.
With the critical
humanitarian situation in the country, people need
money to feed their
families and their parents. Even the BACOSSI programme
has dismally failed
to address the massive starvation that has swept across
the country. It has
failed because people need more than just cooking oil,
beans, soap and
mealie meal which are covered by this programme. They need
to pay school
fees for their children.
They need water and power in their homes. They
need transport to go to
work.
They need to buy clothes and school
uniforms for their children.
They need to survive in this hostile
economy where all measures taken
by the previous government have dismally
failed to ameliorate the people's
poverty.
The RBZ regulations
to allow selected shops and wholesalers to sell
goods in foreign currency
will cause more havoc on an economy already
teetering on the brink of total
collapse. It is unclear where ordinary
Zimbabweans will be expected to
access the foreign currency to buy these
goods without resorting to the
parallel market. It is also unclear how a
majority population getting its
salary in local currency will be expected to
take advantage of these
shops.
The MDC hopes that Zanu PF moves away from its intransigent
position
on key ministries so that a new government begins to address the
people's
basic needs. The only way forward is to speed up the political
resolution of
the Zimbabwean crisis as brokered and guaranteed by SADC and
the African
Union on 15 September 2008.
Zimbabweans cannot wait
any more.
Hon Elton Mangoma, MP
MDC Secretary for Economic
Affairs
Dinyero
locked up for bad-mouthing Mugabe
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4817#more-4817
September 26, 2008
Commissioner
General of Police Augustine Chihuri
By Our correspondent
HARARE -
Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has detained former
soccer
star Masimba Dinyero for three weeks after he allegedly criticized
President
Robert Mugabe for continuing to cling on power while police
officers
starve.
Police officers are among the lowest paid civil servants in
Zimbabwe.
Police sources revealed that Dinyero, a serving police officer,
allegedly
criticised President Mugabe last month during a casual discussion
with
fellow policemen.
He was summoned before a police disciplinary
hearing which recommended he be
detained for 21 days in Harare's Chikurubi
police barracks. This is the
maximum period a police officer can be detained
for any breaches of the
police disciplinary code.
The source said at
one time the police chiefs contemplated dismissing the
former footballer but
later reversed the decision, ostensibly in the spirit
of the power-sharing
agreement which was being negotiated between Zanu PF
and the MDC.
It
is taboo for any Zimbabwean, let alone a police officer, to be heard
criticizing the powerful Zimbabwean leader, who has publicly stated that
only God will remove him from office.
"It is not the first time that
Dinyero got into trouble speaking against the
government," the source
said.
"Only two years ago, he was abruptly transferred from a Harare
police base
to a remote station in Manicaland as punishment for his
outspokenness."
Dinyero made his name in the late 80s and 90s when he
turned out for Black
Mambas, the police team.
The pinnacle of his
career was in 1989 when he was voted Zimbabwe's best
footballer.
In
the mid 1990s he turned out for Dynamos, the nation's most successful
team.
He was a fringe player in the sensational national team that was
coached by
the late German mentor Reinhard Fabisch.
Efforts to seek comment from
both Dinyero and police spokespersons were
fruitless.
The police
Commissioner General is an avowed supporter of Mugabe's ruling
Zanu-PF and
fierce critic of the Movement for Democratic Change, now the
majority party
in Parliament. He has publicly vowed never to salute anyone
other than
Mugabe, should they become President of Zimbabwe. He is a member
of the
Joint Operations Commission (JOC), which is generally viewed as
having
usurped Mugabe's executive powers after he lost the presidential
election on
March 29. Zimbabwe's security chiefs comprise the membership of
the
JOC.
The controversial police chief has threatened to fire any police
officer
perceived to be sympathizing with the MDC.
Chihuri has
plunged the once highly professional police force into a
partisan
organization in which promotion into the higher ranks is now on
political
grounds rather than on merit.
Police officers were in June forced to cast
votes in favour of President
Mugabe in a presidential election re-run as it
became evident the 84 year
old leader was headed for yet another
embarrassing defeat by Tsvangirai.
Chihuri has purged the police force of
officers suspected of being
sympathizers of the MDC or frustrated them into
leaving the force.
Mbeki's
departure no advantage to MDC
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4805
September 26, 2008
Tanonoka Whande
I
HAVE always believed that the bad can never triumph over the good. When
the
good become accomplices of the bad both become bad.
Morgan Tsvangirai and
the MDC are now tainted as they are slowly becoming
bad and they are now
being viewed with suspicion by many.
And it all has to do with that
agreement to work with Mugabe and Zanu-PF. A
day after signing the infamous
agreement, Tsvangirai conceded his uneasiness
in signing the agreement and
went as far as to state publicly that he does
not trust Mugabe one
bit.
But he signed the agreement and he is having problems with it and
the people
are not amused.
I notice Tsvangirai's slow but carefully
choreographed move back towards the
people to complain about Mugabe not
holding up his end of the deal.
Tsvangirai and the MDC must be reminded that
they denied the people the
chance to know, debate, accept or refuse the much
celebrated agreement the
MDC reached and signed with Robert Mugabe, with
more foreigners than locals
in attendance.
Tsvangirai and the MDC
shut the people out and now it appears as if they
want to come back to the
people to complain about Mugabe.
Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki, the man who,
behind only dictator Robert Mugabe,
caused more distress and deaths in
Zimbabwe, has been disgraced by his own
party and recalled from the
presidency of South Africa.
Something becomes glaringly
clear.
Mbeki, unlike Mugabe, had no alternative but to bow to the demands
of his
party, something that Mugabe would never do. Mbeki told the nation
that
since he has been a loyal member and servant of the ANC all his life,
he was
going to abide by the party's decision.
When Mugabe lost the
2000 referendum, he urged his supporters to "accept the
will of the people"
only to unleash so-called war veterans on the farms and
on the people and
destroy the nation through vengeful decisions meant to
punish the people for
rejecting his proposed constitution.
Mbeki was magnanimous in the
acceptance of his firing but hours later was
marshalling his cabinet
appointees to resign en masse with him so as to
bring instability to the
nation through vengeful, self-serving,
retrogressive personal decisions
meant to punish the very same compatriots
that he served.
Like
Mugabe, Mbeki does not seem to appreciate that civil servants are in
government to serve the nation, not the person who appointed them to office.
Like Mugabe, Mbeki is trying to destabilise his country as punishment to the
nation for having failed to execute his duties responsibly, both at home and
abroad.
While South Africans do not appear to be getting a better
replacement, they
have shown that in their country, there is, at least,
still a semblance of
democracy where public officials resign if and when
they become tainted with
scandal.
In that respect, Jacob Zuma himself
should go nowhere near State House.
If Mbeki could listen and bend down
to his people's wishes and actually
vacate State House, why the hell does he
think Zimbabweans deserve anything
less from a long serving mediocre leader
who continues to occupy State House
by default? Why has Mbeki assured the
subjugation of the Zimbabwean people
for so long?
African dictators
have a lifetime policy reserved for all disgraced and
rejected fellow
authoritarian presidents.
Some careless operative at SADC insisted that
Mbeki, rejected by other
countries as mediator and dumped by his own
compatriots as State President,
should continue to mediate over the
Zimbabwean crisis.
Why should Zimbabweans continue to suffer because of
Mbeki's ineptitude?
Mbeki failed and watched our country sinking deeper into
the abyss. When he
started his mediation talks he literally encouraged the
split within the MDC
ranks, favouring a splinter group of Mugabe-supporting
malcontents over the
mainstream MDC.
His so-called agreement signed
in Harare two weeks ago has stalled and is on
the verge of collapse. Mugabe
is now using Mbeki's power-sharing deal to
humiliate the opposition and to
thumb his nose at the world.
Now, since Mbeki demanded the exclusion of
the media and prevented the
participation of Zimbabwe's civil society in the
flawed talks that he
chaired, he might want to tell us now what all those
lengthy talks he
chaired were all about. Today, I am appalled that Mugabe
and Tsvangirai are
now haggling and sparring over cabinet posts. I thought
that is what they
were discussing for all those months? Weren't such issues
as the allocation
of cabinet posts of importance to a 'government of
national unity'?
And these misguided SADC and AU functionaries are
insisting that the same
failure that has, by dint of his diplomatic quiet,
assisted Mugabe in
ruining Zimbabwe, along with thousands of its nationals,
should remain as
mediator. Like Kofi Annan, Mbeki could not even mediate his
own survival in
office or elsewhere.
And then, there is the MDC
itself which has apparently become quite euphoric
in that they believe that
the sacking of Mbeki is to their advantage. They
feel that Mbeki's sacking
supposedly strengthens their hand.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Nelson Chamisa,
Tendai Biti and all their followers
should do us a favour and recognize that
they are not the leaders of morons.
The MDC should wake up and stop
taking people for granted. Mbeki's departure
does not add positive marks to
the MDC. The MDC will not look better because
someone else looks worse. The
MDC has to fight for its own name, in its own
right. This party should wake
up and work not only for the people but with
the people.
They still
have to explain to us why they left civil society behind and went
into a
dangerous and unworkable agreement with Mugabe. Now that they have
problems,
they want us to assist them to avoid blame. Unless the MDC jumps
out of this
embarrassing and sorry arrangement, they could be history. They
now stand in
the queue, waiting to be allocated positions by Mugabe, the man
they
defeated at the polls.
Mugabe plotted this and, slowly, it is becoming
very clear who is in charge.
If the MDC does not do something soon, the
agreement they signed is going to
destroy Tsvangirai and the party because
the MDC is willing to ignore the
mandate given them by the people and,
instead, focus on fighting for
positions in government.
Yes,
Tsvangirai is the Prime Minister designate. But he won't get any
meaningful
ministries or any power behind that throne. While Tsvangirai is
assembling
with his group dishing out cabinet posts to each other, Mugabe is
in New
York and, on the strength of this agreement, can legitimately tell
the world
that 'we have a deal and we are working with the opposition to put
things
right'.
Meantime, Tsvangirai nurses his 'prime minister designate' tag
which gives
him no authority or brings any relief to the
people.
There is an abundance of lawyers in his party, why did they not
advise him
not to sign that document?
Now, instead of these people
working for the country, they are going to be
tied up and embroiled in
fights over positions as they all want to stamp
their personal authority on
a country that belongs not to them but to the
people.
Politicians are
all the same.
When
Liberators Are Oppressors
http://www.namibian.com.na
Friday, September 26, 2008 - Web posted at 10:04:58 AM GMT
IT is disheartening to follow the role
played by the Namibian
government since the political and economic crisis
started in Zimbabwe.
The politicians, ruling party
youth league and unionists have
continued to label the Opposition party, MDC,
in that country as an agent of
imperialism and receive instructions from the
West mainly from former
British PM Tony Blair, apparently with the aim to
recolonise Zimbabwe.
They are simply singing Robert Mugabe's
infamous song.
The problem of the "consultative government" led by
President Pohamba
has failed to function coherently and efficiently as
initially envisaged by
himself.
Why is President Pohamba
overruled by the same people he appointed in
taking decisions? The President
is elected to take quality decisions and
guide the nation to achieve the set
goals.
The Pohamba presidency has done well in certain areas but
failed in
providing strong leadership, instead the youth league and the
unions
affiliated to Swapo have taken advantage of that
weakness.
The Sam Nujoma presidency was coherent in decision-making
processes.
What is wrong with many African leaders that they fail
to see the
light in the tunnel and the only thing they see and recognise is
the forces
of darkness and evil? Now we hear Mugabe and his rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai,
have agreed on a power-sharing deal.
What are you
saying now that the Zimbabweans have spoken despite their
deplorable
sacrifices in the face of the despotic Robert Mugabe and his
clique? The
Namibian people have been embarrassed by our leaders' claim to
uphold the
rule of law and embrace the democratic principles as enshrined in
our
Constitution but at the same time support a regime which maims and
starves
its own people and blames the West for its own inability to govern
the
competently.
Our government should embrace true democracy and rule
of law at home
and internationally.
Will the Namibian government
and its leaders continue to call
Tsvangirai the imperialist when his party
won majority seats in parliament?
Africa must learn from experience that
change is unstoppable whether we like
it or not.
We do not know
as yet the details of the power-sharing deal but it is
clear that the
opposition is going to play a big and responsible role in
that
country.
Let us help the people of Zimbabwe to unite and rebuild
their
beautiful country instead of dividing them for cheap politics of
liberation
war.
Yes, we truly fought for liberation but it
should not be used to
oppress the populace simply because someone wants to
cling to power
forever - it is untenable and selfish.
Governments and their ruling parties must put the interest of the
people
first.
As Africans we must be true uniters and not dividers for
peace,
stability, fair justice and socio-economic emancipation.
Professor W Wakambwela Via e-mail
The sad story of
Harare's courts
The Herald
Friday, September 26, 2008
By Daniel Nemukuyu
IF one were to mistake some of
the courts of law in the country's
capital city for a marketplace somewhere
in Mbare they probably would
not be far off the mark.
Disorder has
become the order of the day at most courts in and around
Harare, a
development that has left many people pondering over the
differences between
what an honourable court is and what a disorderly
marketplace is.
On
this matter there should be no mincing of words: standards at the
courts
countrywide have gone to the dogs with illegal vending taking
place right at
the main entrances and even inside the court buildings.
Public respect
for the courts has been compromised a great deal by
this sharp decline in
standards.
In a bid to augment their salaries, court staffers have now
resorted
to preparing meals for sale to colleagues, not to mention the
hundreds of witnesses who throng the courts every day.
The Herald
visited Harare Civil Court early this week and caught up
with an
unidentified woman serving lunch to customers in one of the
disused
courtrooms (129), where a plate of sadza and beef bones was
going for $1
000.
As compared to other formal food outlets in the city, food at the
court is much cheaper and several lawyers, court officials, witnesses
and others flocked to the courtroom towards lunch-hour for a bite of
the
meal that is now popularly referred to - as is the fashion across
the
country - as "Bacossi", thanks to its knockdown price.
But the sad tale
of falling standards does not begin or end with food
being cooked and served
in disused courtrooms.
Toilets at most courts are no longer different
from those found at
the public bus terminuses in the average high-density
suburb.
One is greeted by a heavy stench coming from the broken-down
toilets
that continue to be used despite their deplorable state.
The
impression one gets is that no one wants to take responsibility
for ensuring
that the faults are attended to in time and that the
rest rooms are cleaned
daily, not just for the sake of upholding
court standards but, more
importantly, for public health reasons.
As thousands of people flock to
the courts every day, flooded toilets
can lead to serious disease outbreaks
that will be difficult to
control.
Once upon a time,
Government-employed janitors who were responsible
for the cleaning, but
recently the authorities have resorted to
hiring private companies to do the
job.
Even then, it is now unclear whether or not the cleaners are still
doing their job considering the mounting piles of rubbish that are
evident all over the premises and litter in the corridors. The nation
is
left wondering as to who exactly is to blame for the unhealthy
situation at
the courts.
But this situation is not confined to Harare Magistrates'
Courts alone.
A visit by to the Chitungwiza Magistrates' Courts and
adjacent
Government buildings revealed that the complex had gone for more
than
three months without water between October 2007 and early this
year.
Recently, some courts had to be closed due to water cuts, leading
to
unnecessary backlogs in the processing of dockets.
When water cuts
are experienced, courts operate onlyonly in the
mornings before adjourning
until the following day.
Unfortunately, the sad tale does not end
there.
Gone are the days when the courts had a well-defined dress code
that
was respected by all at the risk of inviting contempt of court
charges.
Now witnesses and other interested parties come to court
dressed in
jeans, T-shirts, mini-skirts, sandals, sleeveless body-tops,
sneakers, hipsters, pedal-pushers and other forms of dressing that
are
better associated with Harare's night life than venerable law
courts.
Tucked-in shirts used to be a requirement, but some witnesses
now
dress as if they going out for a beer drink.
Although culture is
widely understood to be dynamic, respect for the
courts must be preserved at
all costs and if it means amending dress
codes from time to time to suit the
fast-changing fashion trends, so
be it.
There should simply be a way
of ensuring that levels of
respectability are maintained notwithstanding
that culture is dynamic.
Put simply, there should be order at the courts
and the responsible
authorities should act on this as a matter of
urgency.
And even the security system is not what it used to
be.
Security at the courts has now become so porous, prisoners and
suspects brought from police stations are escaping from the building
that is teeming with police and prison officers.
Earlier this month,
a suspected thief from the Democratic Republic of
Congo, who had been
brought from remand prison, escaped from the
court holding cells after a
routine remand hearing under unclear
circumstances.
This was followed
by a foiled escape by a suspected teenage cellphone
thief who had been
brought to court from Milton Park Police Station.
The boy, who was in
handcuffs, was left outside Court 17 on the third
floor at the Rotten Row
building as the investigating officer went
into the courtroom to surrender a
docket to the prosecutor.
Somehow, he removed the cuffs and took to his
heels.
After a dramatic chase, the boy was finally apprehended by court
orderlies and members of the public on the first floor.
Thefts are
now rampant at the courts despite the fact that it is the
place where
security is believed to be tight and it is also the place
where criminals
are supposed to be dealt with.
At the end of August a Harare businessman
lost a car radio to a
daring thief who broke into his Isuzu truck while he
was attending a
case at the Harare Magistrates' Courts.
An alert
prison officer who spotted the thief gave chase and only
caught up with him
while crossing Rotten Row as he fled towards the
city
centre.
Something must be done before the situation gets further out of
hand.
The Zimbabwe Prison Service have not made the situation any easier
by
their perennial failure to bring prisoners to court from remand
prison.
Many cases are postponed and the reasons are now obvious to
people
who regularly attend court sessions.
It is either blamed on
fuel shortages or van breakdowns and it is
high time the authorities
addressed the problem to keep the wheels of
justice turning.
A Harare
lawyer, Mr Cathew Manyani of TH Chitapi and Partners,
expressed concern over
the prejudice suffered by the "voiceless"
suspects who were being further
remanded in absentia, adding that
Government should get to the root of the
problem.
"Failure to bring prisoners to court heavily prejudices our
clients
and it affects our business as lawyers. Finalisation of cases is
delayed while one languishes in remand prison.
"At the end of the
day, the accused person's right to trial within a
reasonable time as
enshrined in the Constitution is trampled upon.
One cannot run away from the
fact that justice delayed is justice
denied. The situation becomes worse for
accused persons who do not
have legal representation. Such accused persons
have no say unlike
those whose lawyers can register their concerns in
court," said Mr
Manyani.
A visitor at the Harare Magistrates' Courts,
Mr Godfrey Tafataona
Shumba, who had come all the way from Chimanimani to
hear a
relative's case, registered his displeasure over the pungent smell
emanating from the toilets at the courts, saying such a situation was
undesirable for a court of law that hosted thousands of people every
day.
"I have been here since morning waiting to hear my uncle's case.
For
the three hours I have been here, I am being exposed to the stench
coming from the toilets and I feel this is unhealthy and unsuitable
for
human use.
"People should not spend a long time here when the facilities
are in
such a bad state. Imagine, I have to endure all this suffering just
to hear my relative's case. Something must be done.
"If I was a
witness in any case here, I was not going to come.
Spending time here is
like torture and I feel for the court officials
who operate from here
daily," said Mr Shumba.
If the court buildings are not respectable, what
chance is there that
the proceedings will be respected?
We
demand a new constitution, now
http://www.hararetribune.com
Friday, 26 September 2008 00:42 NCA
The
National Constitution Assembly is greatly disturbed by the failure by
the
country's protagonists as expressed by the ' historic deal ' to ad d
ress
nitty gritties of a democratic process in constitutional making
process.
The deal was ' historical ' for a number of reasons first by
the coming
together of extreme protagonists into forming an inclusive
government and
second for its combined effort in failing to address the
desires and
aspirations of ordinary citizens, that is in writing a new
people driven
democratic constitution as expressed by the deal itself on
what it says and
what it does not say.
As expressed by the NCA
chairperson Dr Lovemore Madhuku, it ' s a major
concern for the NCA and
Zimbabwean citizenship that the deal failed to
adequately explain how a
democratic process would be achieved in the
constitutional making
process.
The NCA understands that the Kariba document authored by ZANU PF
and MDC
will be tabled as an alternative referendum even though it was
drafted
without broad consultation and in a manner that was not
transparent.
NCA would also want to point that it will not and will never
participate in
rubber stamping initiatives, the NCA will fight to the last
drop in making
sure people of Zimbabwe have been accorded an opportunity to
write their own
laws.
It is therefore the view of the NCA that the
inclusive government should
abort its Kariba document and accord Zimbabwe
through a participatory
process to suggest what should get into a new
constitution.
It is high time politicians stop imposing their own desires
into the broader
majority and start consulting those who elect them into
offices. It is high
time politicians stop behaving like they have and know
the sovereign will of
the broader citizenship.
The NCA will not cease
to fight for a new people driven democratic
constitution until Zimbabweans
have been freed from the Lancaster House
constitution that has perpetuated
the misery of Zimbabwean lives by resting
executive authority on a selected
few.
The NCA would also like to call on SADC, facilitation team and the
International community to pressure Harare regime to make sure it allows its
citizens to express their will in the constitutional making
process.
In the next coming weeks the NCA will highlight its agenda for
making sure
that the new Harare regime succumb to the demands of the
ordinary citizens
and put to an end elite deal making
processes
Zimbabweans shall write their own laws
People
of Binga District not spared from starvation
http://www.hararetribune.com
Friday, 26 September 2008
15:13
Binga:- The people of Binga have not been spared from the
starvation that
has blanketed the whole country.
Villagers have not
received any hampers from the BACOSSI scheme and now
survive on fish as they
cannot access mealie-meal or any other basic
commodity. Desperation has
driven many people into trading second hand
clothes in exchange for
food.
Bulawayo:- Banks are characterized by long winding queues as people
withdraw
insufficient cash. The sky rocketing inflation rate forces people
to
withdraw their money on a daily basis before inflation reduces it to
nothing.
Hwange:- Two 30-tonne trucks delivered sugar in the town
today. The 2kg bags
of the scarce commodity were only sold at TM and Spar
for $800 each.
In an attempt to stop people from hoarding, the sugar was
sold from the
shops? dispatch bay to avoid disorder as the security guards
also made sure
each person buys a single bag of sugar.
Finally there
is sugar on the shelves but unfortunately the super markets
only accept cash
but not bank cheques or swiping.
Workers Body Unhappy With Tax Thresholds
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, September 26 2008 -
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) has described as a fallacy, a
recent government move to review the
tax-free income threshold to Zd 15 000,
up from Zd 500.
According to regulations gazetted
Wednesday, all workers in Zimbabwe
will now be exempted from paying tax on
the first Zd 15 000 they earn in a
month.
Government said
this was meant to reduce the burden on under-paid
Zimbabwean
workers.
But the ZCTU said the new tax bands, which take effect
from September
1, fell far short of their ostensible objective of ensuring
that workers
were left with more disposable incomes.
In a
statement, ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe says this is
meant to
"hoodwink workers into believing that efforts are being made to
alleviate
their problems."
"The tax bands that have been announced do not
cushion the workers
against the effects of run away inflation," Chibebe said
Thursday.
The ZCTU, which puts the now elusive Poverty Datum
Line (PDL) to be
over Zd 200 000, is advocating for the total scrapping of
income tax
obligations on all workers who earn below that. Most workers in
Zimbabwe
earn far below Zd 200 000.
"For some years now,'
says the labour body, "the ZCTU has been
advocating for the highest taxed
person to be taxed at 30 percent." "It
borders on sadism that what little
workers gain through negotiations is
always chewed up by Income
Tax."
Zimbabwean workers pay 47,5 percent income tax, 15
percent VAT and 3
percent Aids levy.
The labour union
questions government's sincerity in purpotedly
lifting the burden on its
citizens when it is charging business 30 percent
income tax, while ordinary
Zimbabweans pay 47,5 percent.
The ZCTU feels businesses are
already making money as opposed to
individuals and should hence pay
more.
Zimbabweans are battling to survive the world's highest
inflation,
pegged at 11 million percent, according to official figures.
Independent
economic analysts estimate the rate to be far above
that.
Most workers in Zimbabwe are now involved into petty
projects such as
selling scarce basic commodities on the black market in a
bid to supplement
their meager incomes.
Some have simply
taken into corrupt dealings like trading in foreign
currency or demanding
kickbacks from clients, all in a bid to survive, a
situation that has seen
Zimbabwe becoming one of the world's most corrupt
nations.
A
letter from the diaspora
http://www.cathybuckle.com/indexph.shtml
26th September 2008
Dear Friends.
All
week long I have been wandering what I would write about in this
week's
letter. With so little real news coming out of Zimbabwe during this
current
impasse, it was hard to see what there was to talk about that the
political
analysts hadn't already dissected and mulled over all week. Then,
Robert
Mugabe came to my rescue!
Speaking at the UN General Assembly,
Mugabe said : "Once again I appeal to
the world's collective conscience to
apply pressure for the immediate
removal of these sanctions by Britain, the
United States and their allies
which have brought about untold suffering to
our people." No sooner had I
read those words and watched the clip on the BBC
website when my phone rang.
It was a good friend of mine calling from
Murehwa. He wanted to thank me for
some money I had sent him and to tell me
that the gift had enabled him to
buy two buckets of maize. With very careful
rationing that might last a
couple of weeks he told me. One helping of sadza
a day and perhaps a little
bowl of thin porridge in the morning for the kids
before they go to school.
No meat, so they supplement the sadza with
vegetables from his garden -
grown I may add with seeds sent from the UK! My
friend is one of the lucky
ones but for most of the people in Murehwa it's an
early morning trip on
foot to the nearest muhacha trees. 'You know muhacha?
he asked me. Of course
I know muhacha. In this area of the country it is a
scared tree and I had
often sat under its shade with friends at a rural
bottle store. The fruit of
the muhacha is edible and sweet. Every child knows
that and in the old days
it was what you would call a 'leisure' activity,
gathering the sweet fruit
to munch on the way home. There's a grove of these
trees deep in the rural
area about eight or ten miles from Murehwa and every
morning people trek
there to gather the fruit. No longer is it a leisure
pastime, now it is the
people's only means of survival. 'You have to get
there early' my friend
told me because people fight, they actually exchange
blows so desperate are
they for the hacha. It is all they will eat for the
day. Like all wild
fruits, if eaten to excess, it will have a disastrous
effect on the
digestive system and acute diarrhoea follows. With nothing else
in the
stomach such conditions can prove fatal and without drugs or
medical
intervention people will die - have already died in the area. The
local MP
for the area is none other than the Minister of Health, himself a
doctor. I
wonder if he heard his president tell the UN Assembly that "The
majority of
our rural people have been empowered (by the Land reform
programme) to
contribute to household and national food security and to be
masters of
their destiny" If that is the case then why are the people
surviving on wild
fruits? Why are their own grain huts empty? Why are the
huge grain silos in
Murehwa housing imported maize accessible only to those
with foreign
currency to buy the precious commodity?
Mugabe appeals to the
'world's collective conscience' but apparently has
none himself as he leaves
his people to starve while he struts the world
stage accusing everyone else
of causing the Zimbabwean people's 'untold
suffering.' The contrast between
Mugabe's weasel words at the UN and what my
friend told me of the people's
suffering could not be more marked. This week
I listened to two highly
respected Africanists, Richard Dowden and William
Gumede debating the
situation in Zimbabwe and I was shocked to hear Richard
Dowden remark that
Mugabe cared nothing for Zimbabwe's future, that he was
quite prepared to
destroy the country in order to save his own position. Of
course, I had heard
that comment before from friends sitting around under
the muhacha tree at the
bottle store. I had even been inclined to make the
same judgement myself but
to hear that view coming from such a scholarly and
objective source shocked
me. Can it really be true that this great
'Liberation Hero' has become so
bloated with power that he is blind to the
suffering his policies have
caused? Is it the fault of the sanctions against
the leadership of Zanu PF as
Mugabe claims that have caused the tide of
human misery that has swept across
the land? Climate change and sanctions
have hindered food production, he
claims but Mugabe knows that is not true.
Has he not himself chivvied the
resettled farmers for not growing more food?
I watched the Old Man being
interviewed this week in New York. He was asked
if he would allow Human
Rights monitors into Zimbabwe to see for themselves,
"Ah,ah,ah' he replied
and shook his head. He was smiling at the time, the
smile on the face of the
crocodile, I thought. Later he claimed that his
government had been falsely
accused of human rights abuses. Tell that to the
victims and their families,
Robert Mugabe. Who else but you gives the orders
for your opponents to be
'taught a lesson for not voting the right way.' "We
won't stop" said one of
his bully boys this week talking of the ongoing
attacks on MDC supporters,
"until the President himself tell us to."
Like everyone else in the diaspora,
we are a long way from home and it's
often hard to separate fact from
journalistic fiction but that phonecall I
received, just this morning,
renewed my doubts about the wisdom of
negotiating with such a man as Mugabe.
Trusting Tsvangirai's personal
integrity is one thing but can we be sure that
all his top people are
similarly motivated by what is best for Zimbabwe and
not by hunger for money
and power. All we can do from this far away is watch
and wait and hope that
truth, justice and, above all, conscience will
prevail.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH