Politicsweb
Morgan
Tsvangirai
27 September 2008
Statement by the Movement for
Democratic Change leader September 27 2008
Statement by the Prime
Minister Designate on the food and humanitarian
situation in the
country
Fellow Zimbabweans, I have spent the past few weeks doing a
consultative
tour of the various sectors of our economy.
I am here
today to draw your attention to the challenging situation in our
country.
The social, political and economic challenges facing our
country are
unprecedented.
Political environment
The historic
signing of the global political agreement on the 15th of
September created
an atmosphere of hope in our country. The uncertainty
pertaining to the
finalisation and conclusion of the negotiations is causing
unnecessary
anxiety and agony. I however note with concern reported cases of
intolerance
and violence in some parts of our country. The culture of
political
victimization and polarization on account of differences in
opinion should
be a thing of the past. The challenges we now face require
the collective
sense of unity and purpose and a desire in every Zimbabwean
of ensuring that
we put the nation first.
The economy
Companies have laid off most
of their workers and are now open only to
aintain their equipment. Our shops
and supermarkets are mere shelves,with
goods only available on the parallel
market at exorbitant prices.
The pricing system in our country has
collapsed with price distortions and
speculation becoming the order of the
day. I toured the banks in the city
centre yesterday afternoon and am sad to
report that our workers are
spending most of their productive time in cash
queues to collect a cash
value which is not sufficient to cover their
transport back home.
I spoke to ordinary men and women, our uniformed
forces in queues, our
teachers, factory workers, they told sad stories, an
old lady spoke of
spending two nights in the queue waiting to withdraw a
paltry one thousand
dollars.
The recent measures by the central bank
to increase withdrawal limit to
twenty thousand dollars are inadequate. Our
industry has collapsed with
mining operating below 5% capacity.
Food
Security
I had an opportunity to meet with food security experts, the
food
manufacturing companies, and the farmers, in order to ascertain the
quantities of food available for this season, the capacity of food
manufacturing industry to deliver the required quantities of various food
products required, the state of preparedness of our farmers for the
agricultural season upon us, as well as the various support services
required for this agricultural season.
I am sad to report that my
preliminary findings in this exercise show a
state of emergency in the area
of food security with disastrous consequences
if we take too long to attend
to the crisis. I found that the deepening food
insecurity will require
significant food assistance for an estimated 5.1
million people in Zimbabwe.
The food agencies are currently feeding
approximately 4 million people and
will need to feed 5.5 million people in
January of 2009. Fifty out of fifty
seven wards will need food and
humanitarian aid by January of
2009.
We need minimum stocks of 800 000 tonnes in order to see us through
to April
of 2009. I am not yet aware of the quantities stocked by the GMB
except to
say their ability to respond to the national food deficit has been
eroded by
the prolonged macro-economic collapse.
The food and
manufacturing industry is working at 10% of its capacity and
therefore will
not be able to deliver sufficient supplies to the market in
order to
contribute to the national food requirement. The shortage of basic
agricultural inputs will further reduce output for the season ending April
2009. Opportunities presented by the availability of raw materials outside
our borders have been destroyed by the shortage of foreign
currency.
The agricultural season of April 2008 to April 2009 is
threatened by similar
foreign currency constraints, with our country needing
approximately 625
000tonnes of fertlizer yet only 25 000 tonnes are
available. The logical
constraints and challenges require timeous
intervention and response from
the inclusive government. This agricultural
season needs to contribute a
minimum of 425 000 tonnes of maize and 175 000
tonnes of wheat to guarantee
basic food supply.
The urgent need to
form a government
We need to respond to this crisis with the utmost
urgency. It is therefore
imperative that a government be formed in the next
few days and begins to
implement plans to ensure that our people have food
and do not die of
starvation. The inclusive government will have to
equivocally make an urgent
request for food assistance in order to see us
through this period further
to that we will have to look at ways of ensuring
that we salvage what we can
in the current agricultural season and make sure
there is sufficient
preparation for the upcoming agricultural
season.
Statement by the President of the Movement for Democratic Change,
Morgan
Tsvangirai, September 27 2008
http://www.earthtimes.org
Posted
: Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:54:10 GMT
Author :
DPA
Harare - Zimbabwe's prime-minister-designate Morgan
Tsvangirai
said Saturday there was an "urgent" need for the country to form
a new
government to prevent starvation amid worsening food insecurity in the
troubled country. Addressing journalists in Harare, Tsvangirai said: "We
need to respond to this crisis with utmost urgency. It is therefore
imperative that a government be formed in the next few days and begins to
implement plans to ensure that our people have food and do not die of
starvation."
He said the country's industry was operating
at about 10 per
cent of its capacity.
"Therefore (the
food and manufacturing industry) will not be
able to deliver sufficient
supplies to the market in order to contribute to
the national food
requirement," said the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
leader.
Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal with President
Robert
Mugabe on September 15 but they are yet to agree on the distribution
of
cabinet ministries.
Speaking in New York earlier this
week, Mugabe said that only
four ministries had still to be agreed
on.
Tsvangirai hinted the divisions were
greater.
"I think to minimize the remaining issues to only
four issues,
it is to underplay the whole process. The issue is that the
negotiation must
be concluded. I think the matter will be solved once all
the principals are
back in the country."
Mugabe was in
New York for a a UN General Assembly session and
is expected back in the
coming days.
Zimbabwe's economy is caving in following a near
decade of
disastrous policies that are blamed for widespread food shortages
and
inflation, officially put at 11.2 million per cent, but estimated to be
several times that. Over 5 million people, nearly half the population, is
expected to need food aid by January.
Tsvangirai said
food security experts told him that the country
needed to import 800,000
tonnes of maize to avoid starvation before the next
harvest in April
2009.
http://www.iol.co.za
September 27 2008 at
01:46PM
Harare - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
said on
Saturday a deadlock in power-sharing talks with President Robert
Mugabe
could be overcome and he hoped to meet Mugabe to end the stalemate in
the
next few days.
"I'm sure there are no problems in the
outline of the agreement that
are not surmountable," Tsvangirai told a news
conference in Harare. "If
there are political problems, that's why we have a
leadership forum to
resolve those issues."
A deadlock over the
allocation of cabinet posts has dimmed hopes that
a power-sharing deal
between Mugabe and Tsvangirai would bring a quick
solution to Zimbabwe's
economic and political crisis.
"Our negotiators are dealing with
the issue," he said, referring to
the cabinet positions. "This matter will
be resolved. I hope we will meet as
principals, within a couple of
days."
Tsvangirai also called for the urgent formation of a
power-sharing
government to end an economic crisis that has caused food and
fuel shortages
as well as hyperinflation and widespread poverty and
unemployment.
Tsvangirai, who is set to become prime minister under
a power-sharing
pact brokered by South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, said the
Zimbabwe negotiating
parties still respected Mbeki's mediation despite his
resignation as
president this week.
Mugabe has been in New York
this week, where he used a fiery speech at
the United Nations to urge the
lifting of what he called "illegal" santions
on his country. -
Reuters
http://www.africasia.com/
UNITED
NATIONS, Sept 27 (AFP)
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband on Saturday said the
world stood
ready to assist in Zimbabwe's reconstruction but only if a new
government
reflecting the will of its people is formed.
Commenting on
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's call for a lifting of
what he called
"illegally imposed sanctions" on his regime, Milliband said:
"the world
stands ready to help with the reconstruction of Zimbabwe" in the
wake of the
September 15 power-sharing deal in Harare.
But the British top diplomat
said this would happen only if "the democratic
process is respected, the new
government is formed reflecting that process
and action on the ground
reflects a new approach."
He said financial and travel sanctions imposed
by European countries and the
United States targeted only "individual
members of the (Harare) regime."
"The parlous state of the Zimbabwean
economy is not the result of the
international community. It is the result
of mismanagement by the Mugabe
regime," Milliband told reporters after
attending a ministerial session on
Myanmar hosted by UN chief Ban Ki-moon at
UN headquarters.
He advised Mugabe to return home soon and "follow
through on the words he
has given and the signature he has made on the deal
with (opposition leader
Morgan) Tsvangirai."
"It is very important
that a clear message goes out that there are definite
expectations of a
significant transfer of power reflecting the results of
the parliamentary
and presidential elections which were won by the
(Tsvangirai-led)
opposition," Milliband said.
In the wake of the power-sharing accord he
signed with his opposition,
Mugabe told the UN General Assembly Thursday: "I
would like to appeal to
those members of the international community who
have imposed illegal
sanctions against Zimbabwe to lift them so that my
country can focus,
undisturbed, on his economic turn-around."
"We
deplore the vindictive approach which often is characterized by
self-righteous finger-pointing, double standards and the imposition of
unilateral sanctions to coerce smaller and weaker countries to bow to the
wishes of militarily stronger states," Mugabe added.
It took months
of tough negotiations for Mugabe and his prime
minister-designate Morgan
Tsvangirai to hammer out a peace deal.
The deal was clinched after the
world community slammed the Mugabe's'
re-election last June as unfair.
Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place
in the March first round of the
presidential vote, but he pulled out of the
June run-off vote after a wave
of deadly attacks against his supporters.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party,
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
and a smaller MDC
opposition faction have yet to agree on who will hold
certain key ministries
in the new cabinet.
The United States and the European Union have slapped
targeted sanctions,
including travel and financial restrictions, on the
Harare regime, arguing
that Mugabe has crushed human rights and ruined his
country's once
prosperous economy.
Zimbabwe's economy has been in
decline for a decade with sky-high
unemployment, devastating food shortages,
crippling poverty and the world's
highest rate of inflation.
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE - Newly elected Speaker of
Parliament and MDC national chairman
Lovemore Moyo has accused state
controlled media of failing to embrace the
spirit of the unity agreement
between the opposition party Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu
PF.
"Despite the signing of the political agreement by
political parties,"
Moyo said to guests at the National Journalistic And
Media Awards (NJAMA)
dinner at the Rainbow Towers Friday night, "we have
sections of the public
media that have the audacity to continue to report
negatively about the
opposition leadership."
The MDC legislator,
who was guest of honour during the awards, was
joined on stage by Zanu PF's
Edna Madzongwe, President of the Senate, to
present prizes and certificates
to the winning journalists, a rare
experience in Zimbabwe's highly polarized
society.
Moyo appealed to the press to report positively on the fragile
agreement saying Zimbabwe was equally capable of being plunged into blood
bath reminiscent on the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the 2007 Kenyan election
holocaust.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)
did not cover
the annual gala, saying the event was sponsored by western
governments
through their embassies in Harare.
The event attracts
journalists from all over the country and carries
various prizes sponsored
by individuals companies and foreign embassies such
as the Canadian embassy
which sponsors the popular Social Cohesion award
which carries a prize money
of USd 1000.
Sources at ZBC told Radio VOP that the powers at the
Pockets Hill did
not send a news crew to the event because of a deep
perception that the
event was sponsored by western embassies.
"They
argue that ZUJ is sponsored by the British government and
therefore they can
not be part of the proceedings," said a ZBC source.
The Zimbabwe Union
of Journalists (ZUJ) organizes the annual awards
and works with various
foreign embassies on programmes aimed at improving
the skills of
journalists.
Some ZBC staffers who won awards at the Friday wards were
left
confused by the lack of cameras at the event.
"I don't know
whats happening, I am equally surprised by the lack of
show by our news
crews, maybe the news editor knows better whats happening,"
said a ZBC
reporter who won an award.
http://www.mg.co.za/
JASON MOYO - Sep 26 2008 09:10
With Zimbabwe's
power-sharing deal unravelling over a battle for key Cabinet
posts and the
refusal of Western powers to recognise it, the fall of Thabo
Mbeki was the
last thing the country needed.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
and Zanu-PF have refused to comment
officially on Mbeki's resignation,
saying it is an internal South African
matter.
Within the parties,
though, there is intense debate over whether Mbeki's
loss of influence, or a
new South African government under Kgalema Motlanthe
packed with ANC
president Jacob Zuma's allies, will reshape the process.
The Southern
African Development Community wants Mbeki to stay on as
mediator, but will
seek direction from the South African government, SADC
executive secretary
Tomaz Salomão told the Mail & Guardian.
Even if he is retained,
Mbeki's clout will be substantially weaker. But an
African diplomat in
Harare said there is no obvious alternative candidate in
the region "with
the kind of stature needed to engage [Robert] Mugabe".
"Mbeki has the
institutional memory and the clout to move this forward," the
diplomat
said.
The MDC strongly opposed Mbeki's approach to Zimbabwe, at one time
writing
to the SADC to ask the organisation to replace him. Senior advisers
of MDC
leader and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai even sought to
have
him drag out the process until Mbeki's term ended.
The MDC was
encouraged by a "parallel mediation" plan proposed by the ANC
after the June
run-off and by Zuma's public remarks that Mugabe was "riding
roughshod over
the hard-won democratic rights of the people".
However, Zanu-PF insiders
say they are "quietly confident" there will be no
sharp deviation from
Mbeki's approach, even if he is replaced.
Despite their similar struggle
histories, the ANC and Zanu-PF are not
historic allies, but Mbeki managed to
bridge the divide. Realising it risked
losing influence over ZanuPF after
Mbeki's departure, the new ANC leadership
went about forging ties of its own
with the Zimbabwean party while Mbeki
continued mediating.
In July
Motlanthe and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe visited Zimbabwe,
beginning a series of meetings with Zanu-PF that led to the formation of a
joint committee "to maintain constant contact", comprising senior officials
of both parties and co-chaired by Mantashe and Zanu-PF secretary Didymus
Mutasa.
Zanu-PF officials familiar with subsequent discussions in
this committee are
convinced there will be no real shift from Mbeki's "quiet
diplomacy" despite
the ANC's public criticism of the Mugabe
regime.
During last year's row over Mugabe's attendance at the European
Union-Africa
summit, Motlanthe wrote that the United Kingdom's refusal to
fund Zimbabwe's
land reforms stood "at the heart of what has happened in
Zimbabwe", backing
a central theme in Mugabe's anti-imperialist
rhetoric.
Motlanthe also supported the Mbeki approach, saying the ANC
would not engage
in "fruitless and self-serving rhetoric as many others have
done".
But a Tsvangirai foreign policy adviser said on Wednesday he
believed the
violent run-off campaign and the internal dynamics of the ANC
had made a
difference. The MDC expected "a firmer hand
post-Mbeki".
Some believe the new South African executive will not allow
Mbeki to stay in
the spotlight and may want to use Zimbabwe to boost its own
foreign policy
standing.
The deal is in desperate need of a fresh
push as the euphoria of the signing
gives way to new tensions and
fears.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have disagreed over the allocation of key
ministries
and both are under increasing pressure from powerful backers
opposed to any
accommodation.
Mugabe has called the agreement a
"humiliation" and asked his central
committee to "make the deal work".
Seeking to pacify his lieutenants, he
said Zanu-PF remains in the "driving
seat". But his allies believe this will
be confirmed only if Zanu-PF retains
control of key ministries.
Zanu-PF fears the MDC wants justice and home
affairs -- the ministries that
control the police -- to drive a "retributive
agenda".
And while the agreement hands Tsvangirai the tough task of
lifting Zimbabwe
out of economic crisis, Mugabe still wants to retain
control of ministries
in the economic cluster, including
finance.
"They want everything, all the key ministries," Tsvangirai
said.
Mugabe also agreed to share the posts of provincial governors, but
MDC
general secretary Tendai Biti said Zanu-PF now wants to keep all 10
seats.
Governors form a key voting block in the Senate, and Mugabe is
reluctant to
relinquish them, given the MDC's control of the lower
house.
Tsvangirai is anxious to get down to addressing the economic
crisis. This
week he began countrywide tours to assess the extent of the
food crisis,
angering Zanu-PF radicals.
Patrick Chinamasa, ZanuPF's
lead negotiator, said talks on the allocation of
ministries would resume
only on Sunday, when Mugabe is expected to return
from the United Nations
general assembly. But Tsvangirai says the new
government needs to start work
urgently.
A new report published by the UN Development Programme,
Comprehensive
Economic Recovery in Zimbabwe, reveals the gravity of the task
ahead.
It says it will take an unlikely 12 straight years of 5% annual
growth to
return Zimbabwe to its peak per capita income
levels.
Tsvangirai is under pressure, with his Western allies refusing to
recognise
the deal and commit economic aid. United States ambassador James
McGee, a
strong Tsvangirai supporter, said "not a penny" would be given to
Zimbabwe.
There is also despondency at the realisation that it may take
months to
drive the constitutional amendments needed to enforce the deal
through
Parliament.
No end to violence
Violence against opposition
activists continues to ravage Zimbabwe and a new
wave of farm invasions has
been reported -- despite last week's
power-sharing
agreement.
Invasions have been reported in Mashonaland East, a Zanu-PF
stronghold, and
across the sugar belt in the south-east, which the Movement
for Democratic
Change (MDC) won in the March elections.
The
government denies giving out new letters authorising the land seizures.
Didymus Mutasa, the security minister in charge of land reform, has said his
office halted new allocations last year.
But, with the power-sharing
agreement seeking an audit of all resettled
land, hundreds of top Zanu-PF
officials who have creamed off the best farms
have become nervous and are
accused of leading a spike in farm violence.
Farms are being stripped of
infrastructure and crops and livestock have been
seized.
Last week a
senior police officer arrived at a sugar estate east of the
country,
harvested the cane and sold it to a local sugar milling company,
according
to a report made to the Justice for Agriculture pressure group.
The
invasions are likely to delay any attempts to revive agriculture, a task
Thabo Mbeki last week said should be a priority of Zimbabwe's new unity
government.
A report published by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) last
week said land seizures had left more than a million
destitute.
"In the aftermath of the land invasions, more than 200 000
farm workers and
their families -- an estimated 1-million people - lost
their livelihoods and
homes, as well as access to farm schools and other
social amenities," the
UNDP said in its report Comprehensive Economic
Recovery in Zimbabwe.
The MDC is also reporting new political attacks. In
Mbare, a poor township
in Harare, 61 people were allegedly assaulted at a
police station where they
had sought shelter after being evicted from their
homes by Zanu-PF
militiamen. Celebrating the agreement got 25 people
arrested in rural
Buhera.
Zanu-PF's Patrick Chinamasa denied the
violence, claiming the MDC was
attacking Zanu-PF supporters to sink the
agreement.
http://www.radiovop.com
Gweru - A member of the
national council of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
formation of the Movement for
Democratic Change said although there is
disagreement over cabinet
positions, president Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party will have to make
concessions to the MDC soon, as the nation cannot
endure the crisis it is
facing for much longer.
"How would he (President Robert
Mugabe) be able to continue running a
country like this without seeking a
solution to the crisis?; a country in
which there is so much hunger and you
don't even know what to do to get food
for the starving children; a country
in which people like you can no longer
afford to travel even to nearby Gweru
because of high transport costs; a
country in which there are ten parallel
rates for hard currency, where you
have people devising numerous crooked
ways of making money," said Cecil
Zvidzai.
Local Government
Secretary in the Tsvangirai led faction, Zvidzai,
also a former Gweru Mayor
was explaining the national unity government
agreement to supporters at a
public meeting in Lower Gweru.
He said although the nation was in
the midst of a serious crisis
people must not lose the hope that things
shall get better.
Directing his speech to some of the traditional
leaders who also
attended the meeting, Zvidzai told them to desist from
involving themselves
in partisan politics.
"All these people
respect you in accordance with our culture as you
are the traditional
leaders. But what we don't want in the national unity
government is to have
traditional leaders who are partisan. If you are the
one who is supposed to
be a traditional leader in your area then you decide
to become a politician,
you should leave that traditional leadership
position to others in your
family and then you become a full-time
politician," Zvidzai told the
leaders.
Provincial elections director Obert Ncube who was at the
same meeting
said MDC saw it very important to hold meetings and explain the
power-sharing agreement to its supporters. He alleged there were reports
that some Zanu PF leaders were going about telling people from across the
political divide that the party has forged unity with the MDC, and the MDC
was using such meetings to set the record straight.
"Our
supporters should know that Zanu PF remains Zanu PF and MDC is
MDC. Cattle
from one village can graze on the same grazing fields but at the
end of the
day the individual owners will herd them to their respective
homes. MDC
supporters know where they belong and so do Zanu PF supporters.
The MDC has
not united with Zanu PF; we are not Zanu PF people," Ncube said.
During a question and answer session, Chairman Bernard Chakuma of the
MDC's
Vungu District said villagers in the area were being compelled to give
away
their livestock and farm implements like ploughs in exchange for maize,
raising fears that most of them won't be able to farm in the coming season
as they had lost their draught power.
Other people who also
spoke to this reporter said while they were
hopeful that a government of
national unity would help turn the country's
fortunes, they were worried
about the delay in the establishment of a
cabinet.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=4849
September 27, 2008
By Jackson
Mukuwisi
MUCH is being said about the "poor judgement" of Morgan
Tsvangirai for
signing a "bad deal" with President Robert Mugabe. I aver
that these
sentiments are right, in the short term. But in the long term,
Tsvangirayi
will be proven right. The agreement, which was actually signed
in private
three full days before the public ceremony before the SADC
leaders, might as
well have been the death warrant for
Zanu-PF.
Throughout the negotiations, Tsvangirayi was cautious. Each time
a deal was
tabled or varied, it was him who always sought clarification and
asked for
time to consult. President Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara always
agreed, and
for good reason. Mutambara was seeing this as a bonus.
Everything he got was
manna from heaven for him. He wanted to sign and get
over with it, get his
unexpected deputy premiership and, like a baby with a
new toy, enjoy
himself.
Tsvangirayi on the other hand always was
cautious, making phone calls to
colleagues and always coming back with
written submissions. President
Mugabe, being the dictator that he has always
been, never consulted. He was
agitated at times and, according to those
present, even lost his temper on a
number of omissions, calling Tsvangirayi
an ignoramus. To which Tsvangirai
coolly answered that he may be whatever
Mugabe wished to call him, but what
terms were they to use on someone who
had taken a whole country and millions
of its people down?
An
intelligent multi-degreed President?
Once, Zanu-PF Politburo member
Nathan Shamuyarira described Tsvangirayi in
his formative years as
opposition leader as a person who could not think on
his feet. Now it is
certain he was reflecting party leadership thinking.
Only this time Mr.
Mugabe actually believed that each time Tsvangirayi left
the room to
consult, or asked to sleep over an issue, he actually was
calling Whitehall
and the White House to sound their opinion before he
answered.
Tsvangirayi instead was talking to his leadership and, as
they say in Shona,
he got into this deal akasvinura sematemba; or with his
eyes wide open. That
it was a bad deal is incontestable. He won the March
elections but he
accepted 13 ministries to Zanu-PF's 15. But the gem is he
has time on his
hands. Zanu-PF is at its most unpopular and there is no
suggestion Mr.
Mugabe will leave its leadership soon. If he so does the
whole thing will
fall apart like a deck of cards. If his ratings will
continue to plummet
that by the time he goes Politburo members will vote
MDC.
As it is, a number of ministers have been talking about the
"surprise" that
awaits Tsvangirayi when eventually he becomes Prime
Minister. The surprise:
he will find them all so ready to co-operate with
him. The end definitely is
nigh for Zanu-PF and this frightens the real and
pseudo zealots. Their
longevity is perpetuated only by the continued
leadership of Mr. Mugabe and
this man is a mere mortal. The doctors in
Singapore will testify to that.
"Zvichanaka chete" is the song the
country should be strumming right now,
the deal will work our eventually.
What is important is for the MDC leader
to simply lie low, get into the job
and get on with it. He simply needs to
ensure that the electoral laws are
adhered to, that the police force is
managed professionally and that Tobaiwa
Mudede is afforded is over-due
retirement. The masses will vote his party in
overwhelmingly. Chinonyenga
chinohwarara, tactics comrades and Morgan
Tsvangirai has his act right.
But Mutambara has exactly one year's grace
period. Come end of the period
during which he can recall any of his MPs and
replace them without going to
by-election, the errant professor will meet
his fate. Those MPs of his can
also afford right now to lie low, bottle up
their anger and then strike when
the time comes. Mutambara knows it and will
try to place more of his cronies
in Parliament in between so that he can
strengthen his own position.
Watch how he will pick the likes of fellow
professor Welshman Ncube, as well
as Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga and
Paul Temba Nyathi for the Senate in
order to consolidate his position. But
then Mutambara was never his own man.
In the meantime, if there is still
anyone out there who believes in the
intelligence of Professor Jonathan
Moyo, please, raise your hands. He
believes that he can take parliamentary
issues to the courts, totally
oblivious that the courts, high or supreme,
cannot hear issues related to
Parliament which, in law, hears its own cases
and sends its offenders to
jail. It's simple. Remember the case of Ray
Bennett, Professor?
Will someone please tell Moyo to grow up? And to
think he is in The House
courtesy of the MDC! He must surely have put the
"I" in "ingrate".
http://www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 27th September 2008
Dear Family and
Friends,
Every day since the power sharing deal was signed between Zanu PF
and the
MDC, Zimbabweans have waited with anticipation for a sign, any sign,
that
things are happening. So far the wait has been in vain as the same old,
same
old fills our days and the basic human rights crisis gets worse in
every
regard: food, electricity, water and access to our own
money.
This week Gideon Gono, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, swept
into an
underground car park in a dark limousine. A line of well dressed men
clamoured forward to greet him and followed him to the waiting camera and
microphone of ZBC TV. Speaking as if he was doing us some huge favour and
with an ingratiating smile, Mr Gono announced that the maximum bank
withdrawal limit for individuals was about to increase from one thousand to
twenty thousand dollars a day. In real terms, as I write, this new limit is
worth about 20 British pence. It's impossible to believe that Mr Gono or any
of Zimbabwe's political elite are living on 20 pence a day and yet they
offer no suggestion as to how ordinary people should survive.
For
weeks we've been stuck in a living hell, queuing at banks for hours at a
time day after day, to draw out enough of our own money to buy just one
single loaf of bread - if we can find it. Riot police and dogs outside banks
have become commonplace and so too have men selling money. They strut around
brazenly, openly carrying huge bags of local coins that they are selling in
exchange for US dollars or South African rand. Police don't seem to be able
to see them or the lines of black market currency dealers sitting on
pavements everywhere and so the economic collapse continues to gallop ahead.
Less than two months ago Mr Gono removed 10 zeroes from our currency and 7
of them are back already.
There is no doubt that this trend will
continue as long as the power sharing
deal between Zanu PF and the MDC
remains words on paper and not deeds on the
street. While Zimbabwe may just
be a tadpole in the shark pool of the world
economic crisis but the
suffering of ordinary people is almost too
unbearable to witness.
Its
hard not to feel depressed as the wheels of power sharing don't move at
all
and so we look to the glorious Jacaranda trees dripping purple flowers
and
to the shiny, deep purple mulberries that stain fingers and feet but
give a
moment of sweetness to our hardest of days.
Until next time, thanks for
reading, love cathy
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE - INTERFIN Merchant Bank of Zimbabwe
Limited (Interfirn) has
introduced the Rand Money Transfer Order for
Zimbabweans travelling to
conduct business or for pleasure in South
Africa.
Interfin Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Tsodzai
told Radio VOP that
this would help those doing business in the neighbouring
nation.
This comes amid reports that Amercian Express Card had
withdrawn
services in Zimbabwe citing an unstable climate. However all banks
have
confirmed this change of heart by the US firm operating in
Zimbabwe.
Through Interfin, therefore, travellers can make payments
in SA in
Rands using their cheques.
The facility is already
being used at the South African embassy which
requires Zimbabweans to pay in
Rands for visas. It can be exchanged for
United States dollars in South
Africa too, Tsodzai said.
Tsodozo said he would not yet venture
into commercial banking because
it was too stringent in Zimbabwe right
now.
Meanwhile th Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has finally
allowed local
service stations to sell their fuel in foreign
currency.
The RBZ governor, Dr Gideon Gono, this week confirmed
that service
stations could now sell their fuel in US dollars to cash
strapped
Zimbabweans as part of the new facility made available by the RBZ
known as
the Foreign Exchange Licensed Warehouses and Shos concept
(FOLIWARS).
Service stations have welcomed the move by the RBZ as
they were paying
for their product in US dollars which is gaining ground in
Zimbabwe.
The RBZ recently gazetted 1 000 retail shops and 250
wholesalers
countrywide to sell goods in foreign currency.
http://www.radiovop.com
Harare - THE government has seized a farm
belonging to Public Service
Commission (PSC) chairman Mariyawanda Nzuwah
despite assurances that the
land reform programme had been
concluded.
State Security, Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement Minister Didymus
Mutasa listed Nzuwa's farm among five other
farms on a list published Friday
by the state-run Herald
newspaper.
"Notice is given, in terms of section 16(B) (2) (a)
(iii) of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe, that the Minister of State for
national Security,
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the President's
Office hereby
acquires for and on behalf of the State, the land identified
and described
in the Schedule for the purposes of settlement for
agriculture. Further take
notice that ownership of the acquired land with
full title therein vested in
the State is with effect from the date of
publication of this notice in the
Government Gazette," read part of the
notice.
Mutasa listed Nzuwah's farm, which is situated in Bindura
in
Mashonaland Central as measuring 103 0882 hectares.
It was
not possible to verify from both Mutasa and Nzuwah who heads
the government
human resources agency, whether the acquisition of the farm
of a high
ranking government official was part of the government's programme
to
redress multiple farm ownership.
ZANU PF leader Robert Mugabe and
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
President Morgan Tsvangirai, who signed
a power sharing agreement this month
agreed to conduct a comprehensive,
transparent and non partisan land audit
for the purpose of establishing
accountability and eliminating multiple farm
ownerships.
All senior appointments in ZESA are political like in the Armed forces.There is no professionalism any more.
ZANU PF has taken our mother land to the dogs.