WHEN Tony Blair entered the UN General Assembly hall yesterday he found that his delegation had been seated in front of one of Britain's most vocal critics, President Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
The seating plan of more than 150 world leaders at the millennium summit is one aspect of the large gathering of heads of state and government that is left to chance. Each year there is a draw to determine which country will get the first seat in the first row and all other countries follow alphabetically.
The United Kingdom is normally ensconced between delegates of the United Arab Emirates and the United Republic of Tanzania, with the United States in the next seat. Antigua and Barbuda got pride of place this year, leaving Mr Blair in front of Mr Mugabe.
Because of a break in the row, President Clinton and his daughter, Chelsea, found themselves on the other side of the hall, although the Blairs dropped over for a quick chat with Madeleine Albright, the Secretary of State. Mrs Blair was relegated to the spouses' section.
Yesterday was a clockwatcher's nightmare as President Clinton and Fidel Castro of Cuba lined up to unburden themselves. At Namibia's suggestion, it was decided months ago that each would get only five minutes to spell out his millennium vision. With 63 speakers scheduled for the first day, there was little room for overrun.
Tarja Halonen, the Finnish President, who is co-chairing the summit with Sam Nujoma of Namibia, told the assembled leaders to stick to the time limit and raised eyebrows by asking delegates to "refrain from expressing congratulations" inside the hall.
Speakers who exceed their allotted time could be confident, however, that they would not be dragged bodily from the platform when the little traffic light on the podium turned red. The ultimate sanction was the gavel.
President Clinton, accorded the first speaking slot in his role as "host country", set a bad example by taking nine and a half minutes to deliver his address.
At Least Three Zimbabwean Govt Ministers Died of AIDS, AFP Says
Bloomberg News - Sep 7 2000 7:19AM
Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said at least three cabinet ministers have died of AIDS in recent years, reported Agence France-Presse, citing the state-owned The Herald newspaper.
``At least three cabinet ministers and several chiefs have died of AIDS-related diseases,'' said Mugabe while addressing southern African leaders at the United Nations Millennium summit in New York. AIDS is a ``very, very serious pandemic in the region,'' he said, without giving the names of those who died.
The statement was the first admission that some of the country's politicians have died of AIDS in a country where 1,200 people are estimated to die of the disease each week. Zimbabwe's government has in the past been accused of ignoring the effects of the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, that has infected some 25 percent of Zimbabwe's 12 million people.
About 23 million people, 75 percent of all people infected with HIV worldwide, carry the virus in sub-Saharan Africa.
Financial Gazette - 7 september 2000: Staff Reporter
AIRSYS, a German company contracted to supply air traffic control equipment for Harare's new multi-billion-dollar airport, has withdrawn its services because of the government's failure to fund the project.
The withdrawal means the new airport will remain a white elephant for the foreseeable future unless the government decides to use makeshift equipment to operate it while raising money to buy new equipment.
Aviation experts said this would further compromise the safety of Zimbabwe's airspace, already condemned by international aviation bodies because of the use by traffic controllers of what they say is obsolete and defective equipment.
At one stage the country's airspace was declared a flying hazard by both the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
Sources close to the German firm AIRSYS this week said the company had abandoned the project to install air traffic control equipment because the government had failed to raise the necessary guarantees from international financers.
At least $1,5 billion is now required to purchase the new airport's traffic control gear, a figure much higher than the initial estimate because of the devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar.
AIRSYS was jointly awarded the contract to install the equipment with a French company, Sofreavia, in March. The project was not tendered.
The position of Sofreavia regarding the contract could not be established at the time of going to print last night, but the sources said the French company had agreed to supply part of the air traffic control equipment.
The equipment, though, is only expected to arrive in Zimbabwe mid next year after the government makes some payments.
"The only real possibility is for them (the government) to open the airport with makeshift equipment or delay it for some time until they raise the money required to buy new equipment," one source said.
Transport and Communications Minister Swithun Mombeshora said he was aware of the need for the air traffic control equipment and his ministry was working on the project. He gave no other details.
The sources blamed the delays on installing the equipment on the government's bad planning, saying a tender to install it should have been awarded shortly after the actual construction of the airport started in 1996.
It would now take over a year to install the equipment properly, they said.
The tender to build the airport was won by Air Harbour Technologies, a company owned by Hani Yamani, a son of former Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Shaikh Ahmed Yamani.
The tender became one of the most controversial issues in Zimbabwe after Cabinet overturned an earlier Government Tender Board decision to award the project to a consortium led by a French company, Airport de Paris.
The sources said because politicians had been at the forefront of the adjudication of the airport tender, it is conceivable that they overlooked the importance of planning for the air traffic control system.
"The installation of this system entails a complex web of electronic work and it's not just something one can come and do in one day and go away," another source said.
"It would thus have been reasonable to engage someone to do this job while the airport project was also coming up."
Financial Gazette 7 September 2000
SIMBA Makoni, a sharp and talented business chief, has left his thriving enterprise to rejoin a government that has twice shunted him aside in the past but is now literally on the ropes, fighting for survival.
His assignment this time, as finance supremo of a nation staring bankruptcy, would have terrified many a politician in the land.
But the indomitable Makoni, always cheerful and optimistic in the face of seemingly insurmountable hurdles, took up the challenge nevertheless.
Perhaps armed with guarantees of sorts from President Robert Mugabe that he will be given a leeway to turn Zimbabwe's economy around, Makoni must believe he will make a difference as he walks where angels fear to tread.
His first two months in office show a determined business manager who eschews big talk but prefers to let action and deeds to do the speaking.
In the face of staunch opposition from the moribund Politburo - the supreme organ of the governing ZANU PF party - he has quietly wrung concessions from a reluctant Mugabe to back the long-delayed devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar.
Though the magnitude of the devaluation was not enough to cheer a market starved of hard cash, Makoni at least made a start - a start he must improve upon in the weeks and months ahead.
But the new finance minister has gone further. He has unveiled new fiscal and monetary measures which, if coupled with more concessions from his boss, could yet breathe some life into an economy on the brink.
The lowering of crippling interest rates, if backed by huge cuts in the government's runaway spending, could bear desired results.
But as so often happens with all good things, Makoni's policies could come unstuck if, as he is now doing, he takes other measures which counter the positives.
For example, the sharp price increase in the cost of fuel announced last week will undermine his efforts to check Zimbabwe's rampant inflation and interest rates. When you add the inflationary spiral from the devaluation, you have a reversal of the good effects of his initial steps.
In other words, Makoni's ministry and all other government departments must coordinate and synchronise their policies and not work in opposite directions if they want results.
But Makoni's tough - most would say unenviable - homework has just begun. The acid test of his effectiveness and whether he will make a difference will and must be judged by the success or failure of his solemn pledge to make deep cuts in the government's galloping spending.
Despite too many promises by his predecessors to bite the bullet, the government's high spending has stubbornly refused to come down, thanks to Mugabe's belief in political patronage - giving jobs to the boys.
In fact, it has soared year in and year out, leaving a gaping budget deficit that has in turn lifted inflation and interest rates and killed the productive private sector.
Last month Makoni revealed that the deficit for the fiscal year 2000 had already jumped in June to an unprecedented high of nearly 15 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one of the highest such rates in the world.
Then last week, he disclosed that the government's ill-advised military adventure into the Congo had cost $10 billion or seven percent of GDP - a conservative figure by any standard - and made clear that Zimbabwe could not afford this anymore.
Of course everyone knows that Zimbabwe, even at the best of times economically, cannot afford the cost of the Congo expedition.
What Zimbabweans wait to see is whether Makoni will convince Mugabe to put his money where his mouth is by rapidly pulling Zimbabwe's troops out of the Congo.
No doubt, he also has to race to repair the government's tattered relations with international donors and investors, or Zimbabwe will sink deeper into chaos.
The time of doing both assignments is fast running out, just as Mugabe's own prospects of being re-elected in 2002. Could the erudite and affable Makoni be ZANU PF's dark horse in the crucial plebiscite?
Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE will not get international donor support to fund its land reforms unless the exercise is carried out within the confines of the law, Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) deputy director Jerry Grant said yesterday
Grant told delegates to the CFU's 57th annual congress in Harare that people in real need of land would not benefit from donors willing to support the land reforms in Zimbabwe because of the government's insistence on forging ahead with its skewed land policy.
"The conditions for international support for the land reform programme are straight forward: they include the need to return the country to the rule of law, the need to implement land reform in a clear and transparent manner and the need to respect the rights of property owners," Grant said.
More suffering
"Without these basic tenets of good governance, there will be no support for the land reform programme which the Zimbabwe government cannot obviously fund alone . . . Rhetoric will continue and the people who will suffer most are, once again, the most needy," he added.
Zimbabwe needs $30 billion to implement a comprehensive land resettlement exercise.
Grant spoke after the government announced this week that it had now acquired about five million hectares of land for its fast-track resettlement programme through the seizure of over 3 000 white-owned commercial farms.
Most farmers are, however, contesting the acquisition of their properties in the Administrative Court.
Under constitutional amendments approved earlier this year, the government can acquire farms without paying compensation, save for improvements made on the land.
The amendments drove donors away and scuttled a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-led plan to provide financial and material resources for the reforms.
Grant said the 1999/2000 season had been the most traumatic for Zimbabwean farmers since independence in 1980 because of harassment and torture of farmers and their workers by ruling ZANU PF party supporters who have seized 1 600 farms nationwide.
The rampaging mobs, demanding land for resettlement, have invaded the farms since February, forcing the abandonment of farming activities on most properties and the scaling down of production on others.
Anarchy on farms
Grant said farmers had lost $142 million worth of livestock, machinery and equipment to the anarchy by the farm invaders. Losses of livestock and livestock products alone amounted to $28 million.
The losses on farm tourism were substantial, with cancellations of safaris, safari hunts and farm stays costing another $220 million.
Grant said the total direct costs to the agriculture industry, as a result of the invasions, amounted to at least $430 million but the figure is still rising.
General cut backs in capital expenditure by farmers as a result of the invasions and the unfavourable economic climate in Zimbabwe amounted to $2,2 billion.
Capital expenditure in tractor purchases was scaled down by $410 million, irrigation development by $367 million, farm building by $333 million and dam construction by $228 million.
Grant said the CFU next year foresaw a decline in tobacco and horticulture production, which account for 42 percent of the total value of production from the large-scale commercial sector, because of the anarchy on the farms.
A 15 percent drop in wheat production and a 22 percent decline in cotton output were also forecast.
Aluta Continua, Mt Darwin.
EDITOR - My letter refers to your
article entitled ''Mugabe must go, says MDC''in which Movement for Dem-ocratic
Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai talked about the possibility of ''baiting''
President Robert Mugabe into early retirement by ''sweetening'' his exit
package.
I do agree with him that Mugabe has outlived his usefulness.
I also agree that he has become a liability to his own party and to the
country and the region.
Furthermore, like most level-headed Zimbabweans, I would welcome any
legitimate plans that seek to remove him from office as soon as possible.
However, I strongly feel Mugabe should not be given a "negotiated exit" if he
pretends not to read the writing on the wall. Let him foolishly hold on until
2002.
We must not bargain for his retirement at our own expense. We would rather
use our democratic right to remove him in one-and-a-half years' time.
A precedent should be set in this country that no leader will be allowed to
hold the entire nation to ransom for some egocentric reasons and expect to get
away with it. CRED, Bulawayo. EDITOR - The Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) finds itself in a not so enviable position after the June
parliamentary election.
There is absolutely no doubt that the infant party was robbed of victory by
ZANU PF's violence and intimidation as well as the country's flawed electoral
process.
The MDC should have learnt a lot from the June events and we expect the party
to be fully prepared for another dirty fight come 2002.
Unless a miracle happens, the conditions during the presidential election
will be about the same, if not worse than during the parliamentary vote.
ZANU PF will not give the presidency on a silver plate. With the enormous
state resources and machinery at its disposal, the ruling party will fight to
the bitter end. It will use every trick available in the book, as it proved in
June!
All MDC strongholds will be targets of violent attacks. The urban centres
will not be spared this time.
The ruling party will look for any excuse to justify the imposition of
restrictions on people's freedom during this period and I bet it will find one.
Under these likely conditions the MDC has to be tactically prepared. This
will not be just a battle for numbers.
Let us rise and match ZANU PF deed for deed. Let us not allow these thugs to
sentence this country to perpetual poverty.
Most Zimbabweans gave the MDC the responsibility to lead them and redeem this
country and so the party should not be seen to fail them.
I appreciate the road is thorny but there is no easy walk to freedom. Let us
all stand up and face the challenge. Let us all rally behind the salvation
party. EDITOR - I don't know what is wrong
with the people of Zimbabwe.We seem to be lying down while our lives get worse
and our country is being destroyed.
In France recently, when the fuel price went up, the fishermen immediately
blocked the ports until the government listened to their problems. The whole
affair was over in a day.
The French realise the power of the people and they are not afraid to use the
influence of the huge unions that exist in France.
Here the price of a basic necessity, paraffin, has increased to the extent
that the majority of people will not be able to afford it and what do we do?
Nothing but mumble: "What can we do?"
This has also been our response to the government's ruining of this country.
All we do is collectively say: "Well, we tried. So what more can we do?"
Some people say that things will only improve after the presidential election
in 2002. Well, we cannot wait until the presidential election because by then
the economy will have been totally ruined. All productive land will have been
seized, many people with skills will have left and massive and irreversible
deforestation will have taken place.
Have we forgotten the terror of the June election, how ZANU PF ran an illegal
and ruthless poll campaign?
Have we forgotten the fact that the party cheated its way to the narrowest of
victories and that if the election had been free and fair we would be rid of our
problems?
What about the fact that many people voted for change but we have been
ignored? How many of the 30 presidential appointees to Parliament reflected the
people's choice? Do you think ZANU PF will allow a fair election next time?
Have you heard any apologies about the misery the party caused? Or is ZANU PF
just pretending it didn't happen?
These are not pleasant thoughts and all we really want to do is thank God it
is over and get on with our lives, hoping for an improvement. Unfortunately we
cannot do this because we are everyday witnessing the consequences of years of
misrule.
The government is saying nothing new; it has all been said before. Its only
hope is in making the land issue emotive and hoping that Zimbabweans will
blindly follow and not listen to reason.
Will our leaders - not you in the government, you are not our leaders -
please do something because we are sitting on a time bomb here?
We need a capable leadership and a defined
course.MDC should prepare for a dirty fight
Zimbabweans are too meek
History
Zimbabwe was populated by migrants - the first migration concerned the Shona who arrived about 1200 AD from Central and West Africa. They were followed by the Ndebele who came in about 1840 and then the Ndau in the early part of the 20th century. The Shangaans, Venda and other groups (the Kalanga in the western Matebeleland area) are local migrants. The only remaining really indigenous people are the Tonga of the Zambezi valley. These were riparian settlers and lived in small riverbank communities.
When the whites arrived in numbers from about 1890 onwards, they found the Ndebele terrorizing the whole of central Africa. The Ndebele came from Natal and had originally consisted of several thousand single fighting men fleeing from the Zulu king, Shaka, following a defeat in the Transvaal. They settled in the Bulawayo area and established a raiding economy - taking food (grain), cattle and women from all the established regional tribes.
By the time the whites had become settled circa 1900, the Ndebele had been defeated in battle and only a small scattered population remained. They were displaced by the whites who occupied their capital and took all the land that surrounded it - giving the Ndebele land in the Matopos where they had fled during the war and in certain other areas and cattle under the personal direction of Cecil Rhodes. The Ndebele were not cultivators and there is little evidence of cultivation in Matebeleland before the whites settled.
The situation in the central and northern regions of Zimbabwe was very different. When the whites settled in Harare in 1896, they found the people living in terror of the annual raiding parties from the Ndebele and restricted to the granite areas where there was some protection. They are an agrarian people and cultivated extensively - but because of the limit on cattle and equipment - they tended to cultivate the areas of sandveld that were more amenable to their cultivation practices Water was also a factor in determining the distribution of population.
When the whites arrived in 1896, there were probably less than 400 000 people in the whole country. The agricultural system of the Shona people meant that they had to have access to unlimited virgin land to maintain production. They simply burned their huts and moved when the land was exhausted - that is why there is so little evidence of permanent settlement.
The Ndebele did not cultivate - they simply raided their neighbours for food when required, they also relied on their cattle as a source of food and wealth. Land in both cultures was regarded as a "common good" with little value except as a means to live off - the cattle economy of the Ndebele was linked to a system which allowed only the leadership to accumulate wealth. This applied especially to the paramount chief who had to be the possessor of more wealth than any of the others - this was tied into the political system which was in the form of a pyramid structure with one strong man at the top. If you wanted to change the leadership - you had to kill the top man and then have the strength to hang on to the throne yourself.
By contrast the Shona were grouped by kinship and religion into clans who took decisions using a complex system of consensual relationships based on age, gender and kinship. They tended to group together in loose alliances for protection but did not have the strong military traditions of the Ndebele and were constantly vulnerable to their predications.
It was the massacre of the people of the South African highveld by raiding Zulu war parties in the early 1800's that paved the way for Afrikaner settlement. This was called the "interhamwe". When the whites arrived in Zimbabwe this process was well under way in Zimbabwe and the Protectorates established by Queen Victoria in Botswana and southern Zambia were both reactions to the raiding activities of the Ndebele. In Rhodesia it was the decision by the whites to restrict the Ndebele to the area south of the Shangani River (60 km from Gweru) that led to the Ndebele war - the first battle was on the Shangani River followed by battles in Bulawayo and Lupane. Lobengula, the Ndebele chief at that time, fled north and eventually committed suicide in Zambia across the Zambezi.
The whites settled in Mashonaland and Masvingo province mainly in areas that were not occupied. They also chose the heavy soils and areas where they could combine mining with farming. This left the sandy soil areas in the hands of the local people. In fact a major problem of the settlers was how to get the local people to leave their homes and to come and work on the mines and farms. This persisted for decades and explains why the majority of people, even today, on the commercial farms are regional migrants from Mozambique and Malawi. White settlement of the sandveld areas really only started in the post war era in 1945 when settlement schemes for men returning from the war were launched and the tobacco industry took root.
As the population of Zimbabwe grew, the demand for more land was repeated in generation after generation in the first 60 years of local history. The government of the day responded by gradually increasing the area under tribal or "communal" settlement and the last such large scale settlement was in the early 60's when some 5 million hectares of "stateland" was alienated in the Zhombe and Gokwe areas for communal settlement.
This was stopped in the mid sixties by the "Land Apportionment Act" which roughly divided up the total land resource into two main sectors of 16 million hectares each. The one category of land was called "commercial farm land" and the other "Tribal Trust Land". In the first there was freehold title and in the second title was communal under Tribal leadership. The commercial farming areas were divided into small-scale farms of about 100 hectares each and the large-scale areas into farms of about 2250 hectares. It remained in these categories until independence. Since then the commercial area has been reduced by the transfer of 3,2 million hectares to resettlement. Thus today commercial farmers own about 12.6 million hectares - 1,4 million in the hands of 15 000 small-scale farmers and 11,2 million hectares in the hands of about 4800 large-scale farmers. 4000 white and 800 black.
The problem that exists is that because the communal areas still use the traditional farming methods and do not have access to the virgin land they need for their shifting agricultural practices, their land is exhausted and crop yields low. As populations grow this situation becomes exacerbated and when the urban economy declines - the pressure on land as a source of subsistence support becomes even more vital. Given the migrant nature of regional and local labour, the communal areas are characterised by a dominance of women and children and the elderly and are over crowded and over grazed. Population and animal pressure is creating near desert conditions in many districts. A consequence is very low-income levels (estimated at US$100 per annum per capita) and dependence on money transfers from the cities and migrants in neighboring states.
When all that separates absolute rural poverty from relative prosperity is a wire fence - this situation becomes untenable. Incomes on commercial farms are 3 times the level of average incomes in communal areas. The gap between the small-scale farmers and their communal counterparts is even greater. By and large commercial farmland is well conserved and managed and has maintained its fertility through good land husbandry and conservative stocking rates. Overall populations pressure is 3.85 hectares per person in the communal areas and 6.30 hectares per person in the commercial farming areas.
Couple this to a political system that has depended on patronage to maintain its power base for the past 20 years and its recent almost total dependence on the rural vote, the land situation is the inevitable target. The white farmers have almost no constituency and are easy targets - the rhetoric strikes a cord throughout Africa and internationally. The fact that 2 million people live and work on the 4800 commercial farms is ignored, as is the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people who are displaced. Remember they are mainly descendent migrants from Mozambique and Malawi - "non people" in local political terms.
The land issue is therefore very complex and multifaceted. We need to resolve the issue of tenure in the communal areas, protect the agricultural production base that is the foundation of our economy and at the same time achieve greater equity in land ownership and farm production. Everyone knows and accepts that - the only issue is how to achieve this in a reasonable period of time. The present strategy of government on this issue brushes aside all the economic and social questions and concentrates on only one element - using the land issue as a means of maintaining the patronage system that has so far defended their power base in rural areas. The recent pictures of people taking up small plots of land in arid areas is hopeless testimony to the futility of current government "land reform strategies".
One irony of the present situation is that for the first time in a hundred years the rural population is in decline. Aids deaths running at over 100 000 a year coupled to high infant mortality - probably also Aids related and high levels of migration - especially to the south, are reducing the national population growth rate to near zero levels. At the same time urban populations are thought to be expanding at over 6 per cent per annum and therefore rural population must be falling - with an estimated 42 per cent of the national population in the cities now, and two million people on the farms, the population of the communal areas must be down to under 5 million.
The Legal and Economic Aspect
The foundation of any market driven, modern economy is the security of tenure over assets. If this cannot be guaranteed by government then the whole basis of the economy will be undermined. In a global economic system, such actions inhibit the flow of new investment into such areas and encourage the outflow of investment to more secure areas of the world. No economy is protected from such trends and Zimbabwe is no exception. By undermining these rights in Zimbabwe - for whatever reason, the Zimbabwe government is undermining the prospects for growth and an improved standard of life for all Zimbabweans. In fact it will probably condemn the great majority of Zimbabweans to a life of desperate poverty where the only hope is flight to a more secure and prosperous corner of the globe. The world is full of such economic refugees.
Aside from this factor, the behavior of Zimbabwe and the acceptance of this stance by regional heads of state will impact on all the countries of the region. The pictures of whites being beaten and worse, will inhibit the growth of tourism and this will further inhibit regional growth prospects. The South Africans estimate the cost to them of the Zimbabwe crisis, as 2 per cent of their GDP - the impact on Mozambique and Zambia must be at least 4 per cent of GDP. The long-term cost in terms of the flight of capital will be even greater and the fact that this situation reinforces the so-called "Afro pessimism" is a further element in the situation. Africans can no longer ignore these issues.
The latest development of the land saga is a statement by Border Gezi on Thursday this week that they are aiming to eliminate white farmers as a group. We have thought for some time that this was the actual political objective - the government does not have any economic objectives in this field except an acceptance of the fact that what they are doing will have a profound impact on the national economy and our food and water system.
This wholesale attack on the white farming community is illegal, is a direct attack on basic human rights for a significant indigenous minority who are clearly citizens in every respect and will do untold damage to the Zimbabwe economy and the region as a whole. It smacks of the attack by Idi Amin on the Ugandan Asian population in the 60's and the attacks by the Nazi party in Germany on the Jewish community in the 30's. It is a racist stance, which is totally unjustified after 20 years of independence.
The Alternative
The land strategy of Zanu PF is often misrepresented as the only way in which past grievances and inequalities can be resolved. That is not so. The present strategy will not address the problem of poverty - it will increase the numbers of the absolute poor and further reduce the standard of living of every Zimbabwean. The strategy will continue to inhibit investment and growth in the country and the region and will further inhibit the availability of foreign aid to Zimbabwe. It will turn Zimbabwe from a net exporter of food to becoming another food importer on the African continent. It will remove us from the list of significant players in the global market for tobacco, a position we have held since the mid 50's.
The alternative is to adopt the land strategy adopted in 1998 by all stakeholders - this would achieve equity in land distribution in 3 years, it would keep our agricultural industry, food and water systems secure. It would expand our role as a food and tobacco producer. It would encourage rather than discourage investment and it would provide a role model for other countries faced with the same problem. South Africa has a much larger land problem than Zimbabwe and to date little has been achieved - threatening the future of that country as well.
In addition the program would then be fully supported by the global community and would provide a major source of foreign aid directed at the rural poor and the redistribution of assets and resources. It would reinforce our human rights record and respect for the rule of law. It would make a start on the long-term problem of improving incomes and production on a sustainable basis in the communal areas.
However, it would also take away from the president, Robert Mugabe, the only electoral ploy he has available to him in the forthcoming presidential election, and therefore all of these issues will be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. The name of the game is the election of Mugabe to a new term of office despite his failure as president to defend the constitution, his failure to protect the lives and property of his citizens and to his failure to improve the quality of life for the people of this country.
Eddie Cross
12th August 2000
Zimbabwe's economy is struggling, with a foreign currency crisis, rampant inflation and continuing fuel shortages. Public transport fares increased by up to 100% last week, after the government announced fuel prices rises of about 50%. Paraffin - used by most homes for cooking and heating - also doubled in price for the second time in two months.
Arrests
Police said dozens of
youths assaulted bus drivers and taxi drivers at a Budriro shopping centre on
Tuesday, after accusing them of overcharging. Four suspected assailants were
arrested.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was reported in Wednesday's edition of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, as saying that protests were now back on the agenda. "We have reached a stage where people must act on a massive scale," he said. "The MDC calls upon everyone to gear up for a national protest action."
'Out of control'
He said it was
pointless to expect "by some miracle" that the economy would improve. "The
general economic mismanagement is unacceptable, there is no rule of law and we
have a government which is out of control," he said.
During June's parliamentary election campaign, President Robert Mugabe promised to introduce sweeping price controls. A one-day strike in early August, called by trade unions to protests at a collapse of law and order, succeeded in paralysing business and farm activities across Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe farmers plan legal battle (BBC)
Zimbabwe's
land crisis persists as dialogue fails Zimbabwe's white farmers decided on
Wednesday to resume their legal battle against the government's controversial
land reforms. The farmers gathered in the capital, Harare for their annual
congress, where they resolved to
file an application to
the Supreme Court after the government rejected their calls for dialogue.
As the crisis worsened, the farmers warned of an imminent
collapse of the agricultural sector if the government went ahead and
acquired
three quarters of the land owned by white
people.
The government recently warned the farmers against taking the
matter to court, and went on to launch a "fast-track" programme, under
which it would acquire nearly 2,000 white farms and give them
to black people without paying compensation.
Legal challenge
The leader of
the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), Tim Henwood, said the new suit "will
specifically challenge the power to take land
from an
individual without compensation." "Massive lists have been published of farms
to be acquired for resettlement and banks
tell us there
will be no finance for affected farmers," he told the congress. "The CFU does
not wish to delay the implementation of a planned and orderly land reform
program which we support."
Last month, the CFU withdrew its law suit against the land acquisition process, saying it wanted to work with the government. But so far there has been no progress in the union's efforts to resolve its differences with the government through dialogue. This has led to renewed pressure within the union to relaunch a legal battle.
Since June, President Mugabe has served notice to acquire 1,952 of nearly 3,000 white-owned farms he has earmarked to resettle black people.
Mugabe hit-list wrecking economy
By David Blair
in Harare (The Telegraph)
THE cost of President Mugabe's land grab of white farms became
apparent
yesterday with an
official forecast that next year's tobacco crop, the mainstay
of the economy, will fall by at least 30 per
cent.
Fuel shortages, price rises and huge
job losses
have caused
simmering discontent in Harare's
black townships. Economists say that
Mr
Mugabe's planned seizure
of 3,270 white farms,
almost
three quarters of the total, will plunge
Zimbabwe still deeper into recession.
If the president presses ahead,
fewer than 800
white farms
will survive and the great majority of
tobacco farms - the largest single export
earner -
will be seized. The
Zimbabwe Tobacco
Association
predicted that next year's crop would
plunge to about 167,000 tons.
Unofficial forecasts are even more
pessimistic,
putting the
fall at 50 per cent. The forecast came as the white farmers' leader
said they would launch a Supreme
Court challenge to the land grab in a final
effort to halt what he termed "the collapse
of our nation".
Dropping his conciliatory approach,
Tim Henwood, president of the
Commercial Farmers' Union, told its annual
congress that the land crisis was
"threatening the future of every
Zimbabwean".
He accused the government of
reneging on pledges to evict the squatters who
are illegally occupying more than 1,100
properties and said: "That is why the
CFU has to return to the Supreme Court to
represent all the farmers affected
by the government's decision to compulsorily
acquire over 3,000 commercial
farms.
"This class action will specifically
challenge the power to take land from an
individual without compensation." The farmers
on Mr Mugabe's hit-list are
being refused bank loans. Many have been unable to prepare a crop for
next
year and are being
forced to lay off black workers.
Jerry Grant, deputy director of the
CFU: "We now stand to lose the entire
farming season unless a pragmatic land reform
exercise, which everyone in the
industry subscribes to, is implemented
quickly. At this rate, we are throwing
the whole sector into turmoil."
Mr Mugabe is under immense pressure
to reward his supporters after his
narrow victory in June's parliamentary
election. Many of the 1,952 farms
listed for seizure so far are owned by
prominent supporters of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change. One farmer on
the hit-list said: "It's a
retribution list and it reads like a who's who in the MDC."
John Robertson, an economist, said
that the farms on the hit-list employed
more than 250,000 people and contributed at
least £600 million to the
economy. He said: "Zimbabwe has only a few weeks to reverse the
possibility
of the total
collapse of its economy."
MASS DEMONSTRATION - Bulawayo - Saturday 9th September
Please be advised that there will be a Demonstration is planned for Saturday 9th September, 2000, meeting at the City Hall Car Park. This is an MDC demonstration to:
- protest against the appointment of Obert Mpofu (as Governor of Matabeleland) against the will of the People of Matabeleland, and his approach to the land distribution
- petition for his removal from office
- to protest against the current fuel crisis, and the unprecedented increases of the prices of fuel.
Farmers and Employers are encouraged to supply transport wherever possible, to ensure the maximum success of this event.
Regards
MDC Support (Southern Region)
Angry commuters beat up taxi drivers and vandalised cars in Zimbabwe's capital in protest over a dramatic hike in fares, as the opposition called Wednesday for mass action against the rising cost of living.
Public transport increased fares by up to 100 percent last week on the back of a steep hike in fuel prices of between 41 and 54 percent.
Police said scores of youths on Tuesday assaulted bus drivers and their rank marshals -- who keep queues under control -- at a shopping centre in Harare's Budiriro working class suburb, accusing them of overcharging.
The fares went up from 16 dollars (32 US cents) to 20 dollars (40 US cents).
Police arrested eight of the suspected assailants, four of whom remained in custody on Wednesday after being screened.
"They face charges of assault and malicious injury to property," police spokesman Bothwell Mugariri told AFP Wednesday.
Analysts warned that Friday's surge in oil prices meant that businesses would have to pass their increased costs on to consumers, which meant even more inflation in an economy where prices have risen 60 percent over the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, the country's main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it planned to organise a mass protest against the rising cost of living.
"The MDC calls upon everyone to gear up for a national protest action," MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told the independent Daily News.
He urged Zimbabweans to set aside their political affiliations and force the government of President Robert Mugabe to end the economic crisis.
"We have reached a stage where people must act on a massive scale. Time has come to mobilise the people so that government stops leading under these unsustainable economic conditions," Tsvangirai said.
"This should transcend political affiliations, ethnic or racial differences," he said, without elaborating on what kind of action the MDC would pursue.
The MDC enjoys massive support from the country's powerful labour movement, the Zimbawe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU), which has organised crippling strikes in the past.
Zimbabwe's opposition last weekend denounced the oil price hike, and demanded more transparency in the operations of the nation's parastatal oil company.
Tsvangirai accused the government of corruption and economic mismanagement.
"We are disgusted and dismayed at the deliberate and blatant disregard for the people's complaints. We cannot go on subsidising corruption in government," the opposition leader said.
Overnight, petrol prices rose 41 percent while diesel prices jumped 54 percent.
Paraffin, used for cooking by the majority of the low-income population in urban areas, shot up by 101 percent from 15.01 Zimbabwe dollars (30 US cents) to 31.90 dollars (63 cents) per liter.
It was the second time in five weeks that oil prices were raised.
MDC plans mass protest
Daily News 9/6/00 11:20:32 AM (GMT +2) Fanuel Jongwe
THE Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) says it is organising a mass protest against the
escalating cost of living which has worsened the plight of the poor, the party's
president Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday.
Tsvangirai told The Daily
News yesterday: "We have reached a stage where people must act on a massive
scale. The MDC calls upon everyone to gear up for a national protest action.
It's pointless to continue to sit back and expect the economy to grow out of
this crisis by some miracle."
The government last week increased the prices
of fuel by between 45 and 101 percent, exacerbating the suffering of the
majority of Zimbabweans who have been subjected to rapidly rising prices and
shrinking incomes.
Tsvangirai called on Zimbabweans to put aside their
differences and collaborate in the protest action.
"Time has come to
mobilise the people so that the government stops leading under these
unsustainable economic conditions," he said. "This should transcend political
affiliations, ethnic or racial difference."
"As MDC we take it as a national
responsibility to mobilise the people for mass action. We hope that there will
be no discordant voices as we are merely expressing a national sentiment,"
Tsvangirai said.
He would not specify the date of the proposed mass action
or the form it would take.
"We are still going around consulting with the
people on the best way to do it," he said.
The price of paraffin went up by
a shocking 101 percent. Paraffin is commonly used by low-income earners.
Diesel went up from $23,57 to $36,40 per litre while leaded petrol now costs
$38,70 per litre following a 40,9 percent increase from $27,46.
Unleaded
petrol went up by 45 percent with a litre now costing $40,80 from $28,11.
Commuter omnibus operators increased fares following the fuel price
increases, with Chitungwiza commuters now paying $28 for a one-way trip to the
Harare city centre.
"We are not only lamenting the fuel prices," Tsvangirai
said. "We are disgusted and dismayed at the deliberate and blatant disregard for
the people's complaints. We cannot go on subsidising corruption in government."
"The general economic mismanagement is unacceptable, there is no rule of law
and we have a government which is out of control.
"In another country this
government would be history, given the crisis"
Tsvangirai said. "These
people should not exploit the patience of Zimbabweans."
As a solution to the
fuel crisis threatening to bring the country's economy to its knees, Tsvangirai
said the government should allow private companies to procure fuel while the
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe becomes a regulatory authority.
Meanwhile
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) acting secretary general, Isidore
Zindoga said the ZCTU executive council is meeting today to discuss the
worsening plight of the worker and determine responses to the situation.
Danny Dube, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president said: "We
have taken too long to make decisions and there is an element of mismanagement.
We are paying for that."
He said he could not comment on the stay-away.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe executive director, Elizabeth Nerwande said
the council would issue a statement today on the recent price increases but
refused to comment on the proposed stay-away.
Daily News: 9/6/00 12:42:35 PM (GMT +2) Sinqobile Ndlovu, Bulawayo
The Zanu PF council
chairman for Umguza District Council in Matebeleland North, Leonard Mhlanga, has
called on the government to remove war veterans from undesignated farms because
their continued presence will deprive the council of revenue. Mhlanga told The
Daily News it was unfortunate that the government now ruled the country through
war veterans.
"These war veterans are
taking it upon themselves to resettle people on undesignated farms and the
government is doing nothing about it," said
Mhlanga.
"This is a threat,
not only to the economy, but the council as well because farmers have said they
will not pay anything to the council."
He said the farmers have refused to
pay any tax to the council and say they would leave it to war veterans to do so
"since they are now the farmers".
"Obviously, the farmers will not pay,"
said the council chairman, "and this will mean a great loss to the council. We
have been trying to urge the war veterans to vacate the farms and wait for the
proper procedures to be put in place, but all that has been in vain.
"One
thing is now certain genuine resettlement can only take place after these war
veterans have left the farms."
Residents of Umguza say they are worried that
people are resettled according to their party
affiliation.
Daily News: 9/6/00 12:47:17 PM (GMT +2) Patrick Mwale, Mutare
He cuts a lonely figure
in the new millennium parliament.
He is the odd one out in
the 150-seat chamber dominated by 62 Zanu PF and 57 opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) legislators.
In fact, his comments on the MDC betray
a tinge of that loneliness.
Wilson Kumbula, the new Member of Parliament for
Chipinge South, does not completely rule out a political marriage with the MDC.
"As long as their policies are good for the nation as a whole, I don't see
why we should not work together," Kumbula, 50, of Zanu told The Daily News.
"But they haven't approached us," he said, without elaborating.
However,
Professor Welshman Ncube, the MDC's secretary-general, suggested when contacted
by phone that the possibility of forming an alliance with Zanu was highly
unlikely.
"We haven't talked about forming some kind of an alliance, but we
will share notes and take a common stance in Parliament, Ncube said. "We will
hold consultations on common issues and philosophies, but we will not begrudge
them if their policies differ from those of the MDC."
Other MDC supporters
have hinted they would not object to teaming up with Zanu in future in their
quest to dislodge Zanu PF from power, provided "they subscribe to our way of
thinking".
Kumbula garnered 10 248 votes, 6 162 more than his nearest rival
Enock Porusingazi of Zanu PF in the June parliamentary poll.
Others in the
running were Elijah Magaa of the MDC who polled 3 283 votes and Piko Hlahla, an
independent, who got 182 votes.
Zanu PF narrowly won the election when by 62
seats against the MDC's 57 with the remaining seat going to Zanu. Chipinge South
has traditionally been a Zanu stronghold, led by Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole. It
is understood the MDC had initially agreed in principle not to field a candidate
in Chipinge South where the electorate has been unwavering in their support for
Zanu since independence.
Kumbula, a strong critic of corruption, says
government officials who have been convicted of misappropriating public funds
must resign.
"I do not tolerate thieves and pretenders because they have no
place in public life." he said.
Kumbula runs businesses at Checheche in
Chipinge, Chiredzi, Masvingo and Birchenough Bridge.
The Associated Press - Sep 6 2000 6:01PM ET
GENEVA (AP) - The United States has become the world's most competitive nation, knocking Singapore out of the top spot, according to a survey released Thursday.
The 333-page report, prepared by Harvard University professors Jeffrey Sachs, Michael Porter and Andrew Warner and the World Economic Forum of Geneva, aims to predict which countries are more likely to have a high rate of economic growth.
The authors said countries scored well if they were judged to be innovative and effective users of technology, had high rates of saving and investment, and were well integrated in the world economy.
Singapore, now second, has led the list in the previous four years that the report has been published. The United States, which ranked fourth in 1996, moved to third in 1997 and 1998 before reaching No. 2 last year. Hong Kong, now No. 8, had held second place for three years before dropping last year to third.
Filling out the top 10 this year were Luxembourg in third, followed by the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Canada, Hong Kong, Britain and Switzerland.
At the bottom of the chart was Ecuador in 59th place. Just ahead of it were Bulgaria, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Russia.
The rankings were based on a series of analyses and indices devised by the authors on the basis of statistics from the International Monetary Fund, the Bank for International Settlements, surveys of business executives and other data.
The report came to the same conclusion on the top two places as a rival survey last April by the International Institute for Management Development of Lausanne, Switzerland, which was based on a poll of 3,263 executives.
The two organizations previously collaborated on one report, but parted ways in 1995 in a dispute over research methods. Their subsequent reports have sometimes produced radically different results.