Expelled Libyan ambassador, diplomats leave Zimbabwe for neighboring Botswana

http://www.washingtonpost.com

By Associated Press, Published: September 2 | Updated: Saturday, September
3, 12:01 AM

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The expelled Libyan ambassador has left Zimbabwe by car,
meeting a 72-hour deadline set for his departure, the southern African’s
foreign ministry said Friday.

Ministry official Joey Bimha said Ambassador Taher al-Megrahi informed
Zimbabwe authorities that he planned to drive from Harare.

A Zimbabwean embassy staff member said Friday that Libyan diplomats left
Thursday in a five-car convoy headed for neighboring Botswana, a trip of
about 300 miles (480 kilometers).

He said al-Megrahi received a call from his counterpart in Botswana
guaranteeing him refuge there.

South African officials said the Libyans had been granted transit permits
through the Johannesburg airport but evidently chose not to fly.

Libyan diplomats were ordered to leave after they swore allegiance to the
rebel-led National Transitional Council in Libya that Zimbabwe does not
recognize.

They are believed to be the first Libyan diplomats to be deported for
defecting.

The expulsion has divided the already fragile coalition between longtime
ruler President Robert Mugabe and the former opposition of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change has welcomed reforms in North
Africa this year while Mugabe has cracked down on public debate on the Arab
Spring that toppled longtime rulers. Rights activists have been charged for
inciting violence in an Egypt-style uprising and still await trial.

Tsvangirai told reporters in Ivory Coast on Thursday that the Libyan embassy
was being closed in Zimbabwe, but he opposed the measure.

“My position is it is not up to Zimbabwe to decide what the sovereign right
is of the Libyans. It is up to the Libyans to choose their representatives,”
he said.

Mugabe once had close ties with Moammar Gadhafi but relations soured over a
gasoline deal when the southern African nation faced acute fuel shortages in
2004.

The Libyan leader offered a goodwill shipment of fuel but Zimbabwe was later
unable to pay for subsequent deliveries and reportedly owed Gadhafi $360
million.

Last year, Gadhafi’s son Saadi visited Zimbabwe promising much needed
investment in agriculture, textiles, mining and tourism but little was
forthcoming.

In 2002, his father traveled through Zimbabwe and it later emerged Libya
took a 14 percent stake, worth about $12 million, in the Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe in which the government also owned shares.

Relations between Mugabe and Gadhafi chilled further when Libya restored
relations with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mugabe’s
harshest Western critics.

But Mugabe last month called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a
“terrorist” group for its air strikes in Libya.

After their defection in Harare, Libyan officials said they planned to
investigate the extent of local investments that appeared to benefit only
Gadhafi and his family.

High profile Libyan business activities have not been apparent in Zimbabwe
for more than a decade.

Mugabe says Zimbabwe election by March 2012

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Sep 2, 2011, 17:19 GMT

Harare - Polls must be held in Zimbabwe before the end of next March,
President Robert Mugabe said Friday, in an apparent new bid to impose his
will on the fraught election process.

The 87-year-old president told a meeting of his ZANU-PF party in Harare that
'elections will not go beyond March next year', state ZBC radio reported.

The announcement is in defiance of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
partners in the strained coalition government, who say elections cannot be
held before May next year - and could even be pushed back to 2013.

In power since 1980, Mugabe was forced to sign a power-sharing deal in 2008
after election violence waged mainly by militant supporters of his ZANU-PF
party left at least 200 MDC supporters dead.

Under a deal brokered by the regional Southern African Development Community
Mugabe is supposed to have the agreement of both factions of the MDC before
setting an election date.

'ZANU-PF has done everything to accommodate the unending list of demands
from the other partners in the inclusive government,' ZBC quoted him as
saying.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the veteran leader of the main MDC
faction, has said he will not support any unilateral decision taken by
Mugabe on elections.

Anti-corruption commission sworn in

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
02 September 2011

A nine member anti-corruption commission, sworn in by Robert Mugabe on
Thursday, has been challenged to investigate and prosecute politicians from
all the political parties without fear of favour. The commission is one of
the many requirements under the power sharing deal, but fears abound that,
like many other commissions, it’s being cobbled together to give the
appearance of progress.

This latest commission is made up of people in such fields as
administration, law, religion, law enforcement and is chaired by lawyer
Denford Chirindo, deputised by Teresa Pearl Mugadza. Other commissioners
include Emmanuel Chimwanda, Lakayana Chabaka Keith Dube, Zivanayi Zed
Rusike, Shepherd Gwasira, Anna Chitsike, Elita Tinoenda Sakupwanya and Dr
Goodwill Shana.

But even before the commission begins its work several cases are sticking
out like a sore thumb and demanding attention. Last year a messy divorce
involving Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and his wife of 25
years, Marian, exposed the Minister’s spectacular wealth, acquired while
earning a modest civil servant’s salary.

Documents showed that Chombo has tentacles in virtually all sectors of the
economy. They include interests in several farms, mines, hunting safari
lodges in Chiredzi, Hwange, Magunje and Chirundu, as well as properties in
South Africa. Local properties include 75 residential and commercial stands
plus 14 houses and 5 flats, all dotted around the country. Not to mention 15
vehicles.

Even when a probe team of Harare City Councillors produced a report
implicating Chombo and businessman Philip Chiyangwa in the illegal
acquisition of council land on the cheap, the police refused to investigate
the matter. Instead the councillors were arrested and journalists who
covered the saga were also arrested and harassed by the police under
instruction from Chiyangwa.

In 2009 when the coalition government came into being Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai called for a probe into a controversial airport road construction
deal. The ‘Joshua Nkomo Expressway’ meant to link the Harare International
Airport and the city centre had been valued at US$80 million, despite a
similar 2001 project in Chegutu covering 77km costing US$19 million. Adding
to suspicion was that the airport road is actually 20km shorter than the one
built in Chegutu.

SW Radio Africa reported then how Local Government Minister Chombo and
former Harare Commission chairperson, Michael Mahachi, were accused of
corruptly engineering the deal, that saw Ukrainian company Augur Investments
being awarded the tender. When the MDC-T took over the council Mahachi was
appointed a ‘special interest councillor’ by Chombo before he resigned a
month later to become the project manager for Augur Investments.

Currently the Marange diamond fields are also being plundered by a complex
network of army, police, CIO and ZANU PF senior chefs. Mines Minister Obert
Mpofu for example has accumulated spectacular wealth from alleged corrupt
deals and is said to have gone on a real estate shopping spree, buying
properties in the Bulawayo area including the Ascot Race Course and Casino.
He also bought dozens of properties in Victoria Falls.

So the anti corruption commission should be the busiest commission in the
history of Zimbabwe.

White farmer ‘beaten to death’ in suspected robbery

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
02 September 2011

A white tobacco farmer from Mvurwi, north of Harare, has died after he was
apparently beaten to death in his home, following a suspected robbery
attempt in the early hours of Friday morning.

Colin Zietsman was with his wife in their home when unknown men broke into
the house and demanded money. The assailants then attacked the couple and
Zietsman and his wife Tinks were both seriously beaten. Zietsman died on the
property.

According to the former president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Deon
Theron, Tinks was beaten unconscious, but managed to escape the house when
she came to. She has since been hospitalised in a serious but stable
condition.

Theron told SW Radio Africa that Tinks is still not clear on what exactly
happened in the attack.

“She’s obviously very traumatised. All she keeps saying is that she can’t
believe someone could be beaten to death like Colin was,” Theron said.

Theron, a friend of the family, described Zietsman as a “typical Zimbabwean,
in that he was salt of the earth.”

“He was a good guy, a good farmer. He’ll be remembered for that,” Theron
said.

Theron explained that it was too soon to question if the attack was anything
more than a robbery-gone-wrong, but he said his friend’s death shows just
how much Zimbabwe has changed in recent years.

“This kind of brutal and vicious attack is foreign to Zimbabwe when it comes
to crime. We’re not like South Africa in terms of violent crime,” Theron
said.

He added: “So many people now think they can do what they want without
accountability and with absolute impunity. It’s just so sad.”

Zietsman’s death comes almost a year after Chegutu farmer Kobus Joubert was
shot and killed on his property, in what appeared to be a violent robbery.
Thieves shot Joubert in the head, assaulted his wife and stole US$10,000 and
mobile phones. At the time, the CFU said in a statement that Joubert’s death
“highlights the deteriorating situation currently being faced in the rural
farming areas. This is a symptom of the flagrant disregard for the rule of
law in these areas over the last ten years.”

ZANU PF tensions rise after Mujuru death

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
02 September 2011

Tensions within ZANU PF, which have continued to rise following the
suspicious death of former Army General Solomon Mujuru, threatened to boil
over on Friday at a top level party meeting.

ZANU PF’s National Consultative Assembly was due to meet in Harare on
Friday, amid ongoing speculation about the late Mujru’s death. It was
expected that the itinerary for Friday’s meeting would be largely sidelined,
after it emerged that Mujuru supporters would use the meeting to demand an
explanation for his death.

Mujuru’s body was discovered in the burnt out remains of his Beatrice
farmhouse last month and since then there has been a surge of suspicion
about the cause of death. Many party members have flatly refused to accept
some simple explanations being offered, including that the Retired General
died in the fire that was caused by a candle.

Mujuru’s wife, Vice President Joice Mujuru, has also called the death a
“mystery” and the family has involved private South African investigators to
get to the bottom of the situation. A report by these investigators has
since fuelled more speculation, and has reportedly left the Mujuru family
“shell-shocked.” The report has not yet been made public

Some observers have linked Mujuru’s death to the battle for control of ZANU
PF when Robert Mugabe dies, which has been fought with a faction backing
Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa for the party leadership. Others
question if a rumoured allegiance with the MDC-T could have led to Mujuru’s
demise.

Details of Friday’s meeting had not yet been released by the end of the day.

ZANU stealing diamond money: NGOs

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Own Correspondent     Friday 02 September 2011

JOHANNESBURG -- President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party has been accused of
running a parallel fiscus through which diamond revenues are being fleeced
for the benefit of the well connected at the expense of national
development.

Addressing a conference convened by the South African Institute of
International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Heinrich Boell Foundation on the
subject of Zimbabwe's Diamonds, two prominent Zimbabwean civic leaders
called for legislation to regulate the proper extraction and management of
diamond revenues to benefit the Zimbabwean people.

Dewa Mavhinga of the Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition (ZCC) and Farai Maguwu of the
Centre for Research and Development said they believed in the accurateness
of Finance Minister Tendai Biti's reported estimates that at least US$1
billion in potential revenue to the national treasury remained unaccounted
for.

Biti has been fighting a seemingly losing battle to exert more control over
the diamond revenues from the Marange diamond fields which the state seized
in 2008 after a diamond rush by illegal panners.

Mavhinga and Maguwu said the disappearance of diamond revenues was largely a
result of the parallel fiscus that was being run by ZANU PF outside Biti's
official finance ministry.  From that parallel fiscus, diamond revenues were
directed to uses that did not benefit the Zimbabwean people.

Maguwu presented a detailed report which showed that illegal mining
activities by members of the state security apparatus still continued at
Marange with the diamonds being smuggled through Mozambique.  Other
concessions at Marange were now being mined by consortiums of the Zimbabwean
government and several Chinese firms.

However, a pro-Mugabe civic organisation, the Affirmative Action Group
(AAG), electrified the conference by vociferously refuting Mavhinga and
Maguwu's claims.

AAG President and former prominent state media journalist, Supa
Mandiwanzira, said all diamond revenues were accruing to the state and being
used to pay civil servants, among other noble causes.

He refuted claims that Mugabe and his cronies were running a parallel fiscus
to fleece diamond revenues. He challenged anyone with information that
senior security officials were enriching themselves from diamond revenues to
come forward, promising to have such officials prosecuted should evidence be
made available.

Mandiwanzira was asked to explain how Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, a close
ally of Mugabe and the man at the centre of diamond deals, had become so
filthy rich to reportedly own prime real estate in Victoria Falls and
Bulawayo at a ministerial salary of, until recently, $150 monthly.

He was also asked to explain how military officials linked to the illegal
diamond trade had become obscenely rich.

Mandiwanzira said he had no mandate to speak on behalf of Mpofu and the
military but said he could only presume that any senior state officials
perceived as being rich had earned their wealth from their other businesses,
mainly in farming and other sectors.

Organisers of the conference came under fire for not inviting the Ministry
of Mines and companies mining at Marange to defend themselves against claims
by the civic groups. It was explained that officials of the parliamentary
portfolio committee on mining had been invited and confirmed participation
but failed to pitch up.

Mandiwanzira also launched a scathing attack on Maguwu, whom he accused of
being an MDC activist. Even the head of the EU delegation in Zimbabwe, Aldo
Dell'Ariccia, was not spared by Mandiwanzira.  But an apparently angry
Dell'Ariccia, hit back at Mandiwanzira for suggesting that EU sanctions on
Zimbabwe prevented the legal sale of Zimbabwean diamonds into the European
Union.

Claude Karemba of the Southern Africa Resource Watch said South Africa
should use its mediation role to help foster transparency in the management
of Zimbabwe's diamond revenues.   He said economic governance issues should
have been included in the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

He urged the establishment of a SADC charter on resources to define and
prescribe how minerals should be extracted and managed by regional
countries.  Dell'Ariccia urged Zimbabwe not to implement its threat to pull
out of the Kimberly Process. -- ZimOnline

Suffering Zimbabweans fed up with the GNU

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
02 September, 2011

Zimbabweans, tired of struggling every day just to get by and fed up with
the continued lack of basic services, are beginning to blame all officials
in the unity government (GNU) and not just ZANU PF.

Using social media forums and mobile communication many people are demanding

accountability from MDC leaders, who they accuse of forgetting their
supporters, enjoying lavish lifestyles and failing to fight for their issues
in parliament. Numerous foreign trips that come with extravagant allowances
have also tainted the image of lawmakers.

It has been three years since the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was
signed by the political parties in the unity government, with a promise to
bring peace and improved standards of living for ordinary Zimbabweans.

But years later, councils collect exorbitant rates from residents who still
have no running water, power cuts are worse, sewage flows through many of
the streets in the high density areas and there is no rubbish collection.

A Harare resident who wrote to MDC officials this week said: “For close to a
decade we have paid for waste removal we did not get; we have paid for water
we did not receive; we have paid for electricity that remained off; we have
paid rates to drive over potholes and through derelict cities and towns; we
have paid ZBC licencing for a service that uses and abuses us.”

“Enough is enough” has become the common battle cry of many ordinary
Zimbabweans, who now want answers and some real action taken to improve
conditions. Some of the most disgruntled Zimbabweans have said MDC officials
have become “just like ZANU PF.”

“How much more does this GNU expect the people to take? We do not even get
an apology or a decent explanation from these service providers or
government,” one frustrated Harare resident asked.

Tabani Moyo from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition agreed that the
frustration is rightly channeled towards politicians from all parties,
including the MDC formations.

He said the recent 31% tariff hikes announced by the power utility ZESA and
legislators’ approval of $20 million for brand new, top of the range
vehicles for themselves, have further angered residents who now want
answers.

“When they agree to upgrade the ministers’ lifestyles almost to that of the
premier league in the UK or Hollywood, it increases the frustrations of
Zimbabweans,” Moyo explained, adding that the priorities are misplaced.

Regarding the behaviour of some MDC officials in comparison to ZANU PF, Moyo
said: “The lines are getting blurred. They are supposed to serve the needs
of the country but somehow we live in the dark ages and no one knows what
government is doing,” he added.

However, differences of opinion and approach reportedly exist between MDC
officials. It is understood that some were against this latest expenditure
on vehicles and are concerned at the behaviour of their colleagues.

Zanu PF, Sadc clash

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Nkululeko Sibanda, Senior Writer
Friday, 02 September 2011 14:54

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF could be headed for another
showdown with Sadc leaders after the former ruling party’s politburo
threatened to snub the three monitors seconded to Zimbabwe to monitor
reforms.

The three from Sadc member countries who make up the regional body’s Troika
on politics, defence and security are supposed to work with the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic).

However, on Wednesday the Zanu PF politburo muddied the waters when it
resolved that it would not accept the Sadc appointees’ participation in the
monitoring and implementation processes of the GPA.

Zanu PF now wants to illegally give the monitors new mandates in violation
of the Sadc resolution.
Sadc decided to include the three due to violations and refusal to fully
implement the Global Political Agreement  (GPA) by Zanu PF.

Zanu PF, Sadc clash ...as party plots to snub bloc’s monitors.

The resolution was passed and agreed to by the regional bloc after its
Sandton, South Africa meeting in June.

The same resolution was affirmed by the subsequent Sadc summits on Zimbabwe,
with Zanu PF and Mugabe not raising issues about the mandate of the three.

Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said while his party would welcome the
three, it would not take lightly to their participation in discussions
around the GPA issues.

Gumbo said the party’s new position was that the three would only wait for
updates from Jomic as opposed to them proffering suggestions to the
avalanche of problems referred to them by the political parties.

He intimated that it was Zanu PF’s view that the three could be on a mission
to interfere in the internal processes of Zimbabwe.

“We have no objection to their coming here. But we have serious objections
to their participation. We are a sovereign state and an independent state.
We do not expect anyone to come here and get involved in our political
activities,” Gumbo said.

“We agreed that they would come when Jomic has met and then getting an
update of what has been discussed and not them fully participating in the
discussions. No ways. We are not going to accept that,” he added.

This, effectively, kills the reasoning by the regional leaders that the
three officials, seen as highly experienced in dealing with crisis
situations, could add value to the entire monitoring and implementation
process.

In its analysis, Sadc said while steps had been taken to implement the
provisions of the GPA, there were areas that still needed to be attended to.

The three officials, with the mandate of the regional bloc, and the
facilitator, would play a critical role in ensuring that some sticking
points and hurdles in the implementation of the agreement would be
effectively eradicated.

Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomao yesterday told the Daily News
from his Botswana base that the regional bloc would not entertain issues
arising on the Zimbabwean crisis through the media.

He said Zanu PF and any party in the inclusive government, should use
official channels of communication if it has problems with the mediation and
facilitation processes.

“We have stated time and again that if any of the political parties in
Zimbabwe has a problem with either the facilitation process or the mediation
process in as far as Sadc is concerned, they should feel free to communicate
those issues to Sadc through writing and using the available communication
channels.

“We are not going to entertain things that come through the media. That is
not the official communication line of Sadc. If there is an issue Zanu PF
feels should be discussed, it should do so in writing,” said Salomao.

He also said it would be jumping the gun for Zanu PF to try and solicit Sadc
assistance to a problem that Jomic could address.

“It is in the best interests of Zanu PF to table the matter with Jomic. The
three parties have the ability to deal with any matters that arise as they
are all signatories to the GPA,” Salomao added.

Welshman Ncube, the leader of the smaller MDC party dismissed Zanu PF’s
latest about turn, saying it was meant to confuse Zimbabweans and Africa as
a whole.

“When we went to the summit, we were all in agreement on almost everything.
Now that Zanu PF is making a U-turn on the very item it agreed to, smacks of
an effort to confuse the people of Zimbabwe and the region as a whole,”
Ncube said.

He described Gumbo’s statements as a red herring which has the potential of
causing problems for the unity government.

“The problem is that we have two Zanu PF’s. One is the one that sits in
those Sadc summits and agrees to almost everything that is said by Sadc."

We then have another Zanu PF, made up of people like Jonathan Moyo who want
to peddle propaganda all the time so that there is confusion all over the
place. This criticism is just but one red herring that Zanu PF, driven by
the likes of Moyo, would want to use to create confusion.

“There is nothing new that can be said about the three facilitators from
Sadc. All political parties, Zanu PF included, agreed to their terms of
reference and their coming to Zimbabwe, particularly for the work they have
been sought for,” he added.

We won’t seize foreign assets: Minister

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Edward Jones     Friday 02 September 2011

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Economic Planning Minister yesterday said the country’s
indigenisation and economic empowerment law requiring foreign-owned mining
firms to surrender at least 51 percent of their shares to blacks was
flexible and the country would not nationalise foreign assets.

The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which was signed in 2008,
is being driven by President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has set it
on a collision cause with its unity government partner, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The MDC has been at pains to try to reassure investors that their money will
be protected in Zimbabwe but ZANU-PF has threatened to nationalise mines
which do not comply with the law, freaking out potential investors for a
country emerging from a decade of economic collapse.

"It is a flexible law and investors are given time to comply. It's not about
seizure of assets, it's not about expropriation," Economic Planning Minister
Tapiwa Mashakada, from Tsvangirai’s MDC party said at a mining industry
conference in Australia.

Savior Kasukuwere, the Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment minister from
ZANU-PF is driving the empowerment agenda.

Kasukuwere last month issued ultimatums to foreign mining firms, including
the largest platinum producer Zimplats owned by South Africa’s Impala
Platinum Holdings (Implats), Mimosa platinum mine co-owned by Implats and
Aquarius and Rio Tinto's Murowa diamond mine to submit fresh empowerment
plans within 14 days or risk losing their licences.

The deadlines are this week but it is unlikely that Kasukuwere will take any
action against non-compliant firms.

The companies have a September 30 deadline to offload majority shares to
blacks but analysts say this is unlikely to happen.

Mashakada said the empowerment law may prove difficult for some miners, but
he said that some exemptions to the law have already been made, pointing to
Indian conglomerate Essar Group.

"For big mining firms, you may not be able to readily get a partner who can
take up the 51 percent. The 51 percent is not going to be nationalised. It's
not going to be expropriated," Mashakada said.

Essar agreed to buy 54 percent in the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company
(ZISCO) for $750 million, with the government keeping 36 percent and 10
percent owned by minority investors. -- ZimOnline

Power hike tickles price boom

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Taurai Mangudhla, Business Writer
Friday, 02 September 2011 15:15

HARARE - Zesa Holdings’ recent 31 percent hike on power charges could see
the prices of all locally produced goods ballooning, Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) says.

Joseph Kanyekanye, CZI president, told businessdaily that the new Zesa
Holdings (Zesa) rates were in reality going up by 50 percent, and likely to
see businesses increase prices of their finished products by the same
margin.

“We are going to fight the new tariff regime and I am certain we will win
the fight.  If we fail, we are likely to see prices going up by at least 5
to 10 percent, depending on the company’s cost structure if companies review
their expenditure ethically,” he said, adding that some businesses could
cease the opportunity to hike prices further than the cost reflective
margins.

“We are also going to see rentals going up and people will demand more wages
to meet the high bills because if Zesa can increase charges by 50 percent,
other providers of social utilities can do the same,” Kanyekanye added.

Zesa, through its distribution company — the Zimbabwe Electricity
Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) last week announced plans to
increase power charges by 31 percent effective 1 September 2011 without
prior consultation with stakeholders and at a time business and consumers
are reeling from serious power cuts, prompting industry to block the move.

As a result, CZI is preparing a lawsuit against Zesa to force the power
company to reverse its “50 percent” tariff increase which it says could have
far reaching consequences on business and the economy.

The blundering power giant said the increase will not reduce load-shedding
but go towards rehabilitation of critical equipment which, in future, will
improve power generation.

CZI came out with guns blazing, warning that their lawyers were preparing to
fight the tariffs which it said are illegal.

“We wish to advise stakeholders that electricity tariff hikes distributed by
the ZETDC are unsustainable, unjustified and illegal.

“The proposed tariff to be effected on 01 September 2011 results in a 53
percent aggregated increase.

“This shows lack of understanding or empathy with the nascent and fragile
economic recovery underway since 2009,” Kanyekanye said, dismissing reports
that the increase was supported by industry and consumers saying that the
electricity distributor has a technical committee with industry where the
results have shown that the price hikes cannot be supported by ZETDC’s
reflective tariff principle.

Concern has also been raised by the industry body over the sustainability of
the tariffs, particularly at a time heavy users of electricity like the
financially beleaguered Bindura Nickel Mine — which was placed under care
and maintenance in 2008 — plans to resume operations.

Meanwhile, CZI has implored on the transport ministry to appoint an
independent regulator to come up with cost reflective rates.

CZI said ZETDC is not properly constituted, adding that the apparent use of
government officials as proxy for ZETDC was illegal and introduces the
inefficiency in the regulation of tariffs.

Zimbabwe requires 2 000MW of power a day but the country currently produces
only 1 300MW and gets 300MW from imports, leaving a deficit of 400MW.

The huge deficits have seen the advent of massive load shedding schedules
that stretch over off-peak periods.

Zanu PF MP in court for fraud

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Tendai Kamhungira, Court writer
Friday, 02 September 2011 18:40

HARARE - Zanu PF MP for Seke, Phineas Chihota, has been summoned to court on
fraud charges.

The 60-year-old former deputy minister appeared before Harare magistrate
William Bhila yesterday for allegedly defrauding David Tapera Mabuwa, a
former Wallace Laboratories (Pvt) Limited  managing director.

Chihota has business interests in Wallace Laboratories (Pvt) Limited.

The court heard how between February 5 and April 9 last year, Chihota
allegedly requested Mabuwa to secure $40 000 on behalf of the company, after
promising that he would pay back within three months.

Prosecutor Zivanayi W Makwanya told the court that Chihota asked Mabuwa of
Borrowdale to have the money paid in by mortgaging his house as surety.

According to state papers, the agreement meant that Mabuwa was to surrender
title deeds for his house as collateral in order to obtain the said money.

Mabuwa is said to have borrowed $30 000 from one Antioc Kurauone, after
surrendering his house’s title deeds.

The court heard, Chihota, who resides in Greystone Park gave the promise
knowing very well that he was not able to pay back the money, which resulted
in Mabuwa losing his $30 000 and the title deeds to his house.

According to state papers, the two guarantee letters that Chihota wrote and
the loan agreement between
Mabuwa and Kurauone are going to be produced as exhibits in court.

The matter could not proceed to trial yesterday after prosecutor Makwanya
told the court that he needed time to peruse and familiarise himself  with
the case record and prepare for trial.
Chihota will be back in court on September 23.

Chihota  nearly lost an industrial complex that headquartered Wallace
Laboratories and a three-bedroomed house in Harare’s Waterfalls suburb to ZB
Bank and the Infrastructure Development Bank (IDBZ) over unpaid loans.

Shunned by West, Zimbabwe Finds a Friend in Beijing

http://online.wsj.com/

Friday, September 2, 2011

By PETER WONACOTT

HARARE, Zimbabwe—A new school here teaches Mandarin and Confucian
philosophy. A state-backed Chinese firm controls a coveted diamond mine. A
new parliament building, renovated soccer stadium and agricultural school
are in the works, all courtesy of Beijing.

In Zimbabwe, the appeal of the Chinese way—a model that prizes strategic
control of the economy as opposed to the U.S. push for transparent markets
and competition—is clear.

Under Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's economy contracted by 50% from 2000 to 2008.
The longtime strongman turned to China, in part to combat sanctions from the
U.S. and other Western countries targeting his regime.

China's loans and investments offered a lifeline. During a trip in March,
China Vice Premier Wang Qishan announced a new $687 million loan package.

"With friends like these, who needs a fading giant such the United States?"
Zimbabwe Information Minister Webster Shamu said after the vice premier's
visit.

China's aid has helped fund schools such as the Confucius Institute, housed
on the University of Zimbabwe campus in an area of Harare known as Mt.
Pleasant.

Posters of the Great Wall, the ancient Buddhist Grottoes of Yungang and last
year's Shanghai World Expo line the halls outside the institute's
classrooms. Down a leafy road, young Chinese teachers share a cottage, where
between classes they stir-fry noodles in a communal kitchen and surf the
Internet for celebrity gossip back home.

"China needed to have a vehicle to understand the world and have the world
understand China," says Prof. Pedzisai Mashiri, the local director of the
Confucius Institute. "For an economic giant, it's a way to communicate with
countries beyond what it exports."

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, has extended remarkable perks to Chinese firms.

A big player here is China's state-owned Anhui Foreign Economic Construction
Group, or Anjin, which has been mining diamonds in the Marange area of
Zimbabwe. That particular region has been barred from exporting the stones
because of alleged human-rights abuses against local miners.

At the end of June, the chair of the Kimberley Process, a global
certification body that aims to keep diamond proceeds from funding war, said
miners could export from Marange despite opposition from member countries
such as the U.S. and Canada. Anjin hasn't yet been awarded certification to
export diamonds from its mine.

In June, Zimbabwe's parliament approved a $98 million loan to the Zimbabwe
government from China's Export-Import Bank to build a defense college,
according to the loan agreement reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Anjin workers are also building the college. In an indication of China's
flexible dealmaking and the close links between the parties, Zimbabwe is
able to pay the loan back with proceeds earned from selling its share of the
diamonds from the Anjin mine in Marange, according to the loan document.

At a conference on corruption earlier this year, Mr. Mugabe's political
partner and chief rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said "Zimbabweans
have been shocked" with the concessions granted to Anjin and other firms
"without the scrutiny of cabinet committees."

Mr. Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, called Mr. Tsvangirai's remarks
politically motivated. He says Anjin is one of many Chinese firms
contributing to Zimbabwe's economy.

Anjin executives declined to comment when reached by phone and didn't
respond to faxed questions about operations in Zimbabwe. China's embassy in
Zimbabwe refused interview requests. Zimbabwe army and military spokesmen
didn't respond to written questions and repeated telephone calls seeking
comment about Anjin.

In a company statement about the project, posted on the website of
state-backed China Radio International, Anjin extolled its aid and
investments in Zimbabwe. It called the diamond venture with the Zimbabwe
army "a model for Sino-African cooperation."

Christopher Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe's former ambassador to China, says the
Chinese development model may still be evolving but it has already succeeded
in delivering investment to needy economies. Decades ago, he was a rebel who
fired Chinese-made AK-47's. Now, he is a businessman who wears pinstripe
suits, trying to bring a China-backed economic zone for Zimbabwe.

"The Chinese," he says, "have created a new sense of optimism about Africa."
—Farai Mutsaka contributed to this article.

Nicholas van Hoogstraten: Zimbabwe's Mr Big

http://mg.co.za/

JASON MOYO Sep 02 2011 00:00

The British business community may be under threat in Zimbabwe, but one
billionaire is flaunting his growing influence.

Nicholas van Hoogstraten, long a mythical figure in Zimbabwe, has emerged in
recent months to wage a series of corporate battles that have highlighted
his clout -- and the contradictions of President Robert Mugabe's black
empowerment rhetoric.

At a time when other foreign businessmen have taken to appeasement and
cowering in fear, Van Hoogstraten, who claims a personal friendship with
Mugabe, can call on the favours he has given out over the years to protect
his interests, ranging from hotels to Zimbabwe's biggest coal company.

In June, at a meeting for shareholders in Rainbow Tourism Group, the
country's second-largest hotel company, Van Hoogstraten, in pink shirt and
white jacket, berated management for its "incompetence".

He demanded that the board be sacked and replaced by his nominees, including
his sons, Alexander and Maximilian.

After shareholders voted against him, cheers erupted from the floor.

"This is a victory for empowerment in this country. We can't have one man
holding us to ransom all the time," said Paddingtion Japajapa, a black
empowerment campaigner. "Van Hoogstraten wants to be everywhere. He is using
the money that they stole from us in Rhodesia to suppress us."

But among top government figures, state companies and big businesses, Van
Hoogstraten has a different image. He is the go-to guy for loans. "I am the
lender of last resort," he boasted recently.

In a fix
Everyone in Harare knows where to go when they find themselves in a
financial fix, he said. "People come here on their own looking for money. I
don't even advertise. They look for me."

State enterprises line up at his door, giving him more leverage. Troubled
Air Zimbabwe approached him in June, asking for a $2-million loan.

He has called Mugabe "a true English gentleman" and "100% decent and
incorruptible".

In 2006 he showed journalists documents allegedly reflecting a $10-million
loan to Mugabe from Messina Investments, the company through which he holds
most of his assets in Zimbabwe.

He recently pushed through board changes at Hwange, the largest coal
producer in the country, in which he has a 31% shareholding. He claims to
have donated the 36% that government holds in the colliery.

Nobody knows how much Van Hoogstraten is worth. He calls himself the largest
individual investor on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, where stockbrokers who
handle some of his transactions say his investments are valued at
$250-million.

While white farmers were losing land he was increasing his holdings in
estates and wildlife conservancies.

He owns a string of commercial properties and apartments and is the only
known white businessman to own a string of township houses.

His confidence in the protection he enjoys was shown recently when he
dismissed Finance Minister Tendai Biti as "foolish" for criticising his
dealings.

He has mentored a network of young businessmen to do some of his heavy
lifting.

Among them is Frank Buyanga, who has a plush apartment at Sandton's
Michelangelo Towers and is fond of speeding around Harare on weekends in
pricey cars that include a $200 000 Aston Martin DB9, a Rolls Royce, a
Bentley and a Lamborghini.

Buyanga claims links with controversial arms entrepreneur Fana Hlongwane and
former South African defence chief Siphiwe Nyanda. He was among the
businessmen who travelled with President Jacob Zuma to Russia last year.

"Generally, Van Hoogstraten is misunderstood. I can say without a shadow of
doubt that he has love for Zimbabwe and its people … He speaks highly of our
president and shares his vision of total empowerment," Buyanga said.

In contrast Van Hoogstraten is known for his frugality. He has a Range Rover
Sport -- a gift from Buyanga, he says -- but uses a Jeep Cherokee from the
1990s.

Claiming to have built a £40-million palace in England "to house my
paintings", he lives between a cheap hotel room and a plain suburban house
and maintains he is prepared to live in the township.

Van Hoogstraten declined to give an interview to the Mail & Guardian, saying
that in recent weeks he had given sufficient comment to the media on his
affairs.

Wilfred Mhanda on Question Time: Part 2

A letter from the diaspora

Friday September 2nd 2011

Far from giving a clear lead to Africa on the Libyan question, the AU has
once again demonstrated that it is a powerless talking shop locked into the
past and seemingly unable to recognise present realities. The change that
has taken place in Libya is just one of those realities, representing as it
does the will of the Libyan people. Twenty African countries, including the
two most populous, Ethiopia and Nigeria, have recognised the NTC and even
South Africa has agreed to unfreeze Libyan assets.

Zimbabwe is, of course, another matter. There may be a Government of
National Unity but Foreign Affairs remain firmly in Zanu PF hands. It was
Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi, on the orders of Mugabe no doubt, who expelled
the Libyan Ambassador and ordered the new Libyan flag to be taken down. The
Unity Government – or the Zanu PF side of it – does not recognise the NTC in
Libya.

If anyone wonders why the Zanu PF government is so ardent in its support for
Gadaffi, it is no secret that it largely comes down to money. Lucrative
commercial deals were signed when Gadaffi visited Zimbabwe in 2002, deals
involving land and mining ventures. So last Sunday’s report that the Colonel
had been seen in Harare en route to an up-market property in the affluent
northern suburbs where his female guards had been seen patrolling the
perimeter seemed, momentarily, to have the ring of truth. Reports that
Gadaffi’s son, Saadi, was in Zimbabwe last week may turn out to be equally
erroneous but Saaidi, who certainly has extensive business interests in
Zimbabwe was apparently treated in right royal fashion by Zanu PF officials.

Representatives of the new Libyan government have told Mugabe that
“democracy is the new trend in Africa” and that must be worrying him as the
shoots of the Arab spring spread down through the continent with riots in
Malawi just over the border from ‘his’ Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s 31-year rule has
not been without its grizzly secrets, including what is really going on at
the Marange diamond fields right now.

The full horror of Gadaffi’s 42 year rule in Libya is being uncovered as the
fighters reveal more evidence of how Gadaffi treated his opponents. One
report in particular was a shocking reminder of the barbarity of the Gadaffi
regime. The rebels - or freedom fighters as they deserve to be called - had
broken through into one of the many tunnels under Gadaffi’s headquarters in
Tripoli and found skeletal prisoners, close to death, who had been entombed
alive on Gadaffi’s orders as he retreated from Tripoli. The fact that Mugabe
continues to support such a man indicates that their long relationship is
based on shared views on the nature of leadership. Both men have ruled
through fear They are both vehemently anti-west, both have demonstrated
extreme authoritarian tendencies and both of them inspire fanatical loyalty
in their followers. In Mugabe’s case, demonstrating loyalty to the ‘Dear
Leader’ grants even criminals impunity. We saw that this week when the
leader of the Chipangano gang was allowed to travel unimpeded to Mudzi,
Mutoko and Murehwa to stir up more trouble in this already volatile area. At
the other end of the country, another gang of thugs openly takes over people’s
properties in Bulawayo as “part of Zanu PF’s indigenisation programme”.
Police say they can do nothing to stop it and the Minister of Higher
Education, declares, “That is the reason we went to war, to free you to take
everything from the former colonialists…”

The reality that the AU refuses to acknowledge is that Mugabe and Gadaffi,
along with other African dictators, have maintained their long rule through
oppression and fear. The courageous Libyans have demonstrated to the world
that when ordinary citizens find the courage to throw off the shackles of
fear then dictators should tremble for their end is not far off. So, while
Gadaffi – wherever he is - continues to shout defiance at the world, he must
know that the game is almost up. And then what will happen to all his
investments in Zimbabwe?

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, PH.aka Pauline Henson, author of the
Dube books, detective stories with a political slant, available from Lulu
.com