Reuters
Sat 29
Sep 2007, 14:33 GMT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
MASVINGO, Zimbabwe
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said on
Saturday his party's
participation in national elections next year would
depend on negotiations
with President Robert Mugabe's government.
In a rally marking the eighth
anniversary of the establishment of the
Movemement for Democratic Change
(MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai said Mugabe must
end political repression and allow
millions of exiles to vote before the
joint presidential and parliamentary
elections could be held.
"Those are our benchmarks for a free and
fair election. We will not expect
anything less in these elections,"
Tsvangirai, who heads the largest of two
MDC factions, told 4,000 supporters
in a stadium in Masvingo, 292 km (183
miles) south of Harare.
"We
want to participate, but we do not want a pre-determined election," said
Tsvangirai, who was among several dozen anti-Mugabe activists arrested and
beaten in policy custody after an aborted protest rally in
March.
That crackdown prompted international protests and renewed calls
for Mugabe,
83, to introduce democratic reforms or step down.
A
grouping of southern African nations later asked South African President
President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and
the MDC factions to lay the groundwork for the elections.
Mugabe, in
power since independence from Britain in 1980, has vowed to run
for another
five-year term in 2008 despite widespread accusations that his
government
has abused human rights and destroyed the once-prosperous
economy.
Zimbabweans are struggling with soaring poverty, inflation
of about 6,600
percent and chronic shortages. Thousands every day cross
illegally into
South Africa to look for food and work.
Mugabe's
government blames sabotage by Britain and other Western nations.
The
situation has worsened in the past three months since the government
launched a radical price rollback scheme to stem inflation. The measures
have led stores to stop stocking milk, bread and other basics, pushing the
economy toward collapse.
"I want to tell President Thabo Mbeki and
the United Nations
Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) that Zimbabwe is
suffering a severe
humanitarian crisis. We are no longer just a political
crisis," Tsvangirai
said on Saturday.
IOL
September 29 2007 at 05:14PM
Masvingo - Zimbabwe's opposition
leader on Saturday defended his deal
with President Robert Mugabe's
government over constitutional reforms,
saying it would help create a
conducive environment for elections next year.
"The objective of
talking to Zanu PF is to create a free and fair
election environment in this
country," Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai told
thousands of supporters at his party's eighth
anniversary celebrations in
the southern city of Masvingo.
He said only free and fair elections
next year would end the southern
African country's chronic political and
economic crisis.
He denied that the MDC, which has posed the
stiffest challenge to
Mugabe's 27-year-rule, had betrayed its supporters by
making compromises
with the ruling ZANU PF.
"I
want to tell President Thabo Mbeki and UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon that
Zimbabwe is facing a serious humanitarian crisis," Tsvangirai
said.
"The crisis we have can only end next year when we have
free and fair
elections."
In a surprise show of unity with
their Zanu PF counterparts, MDC
lawmakers last week approved constitutional
reforms which provide for joint
parliamentary and presidential polls next
year and redrawing constituency
boundaries.
He said it was
encouraging that Zanu PF had agreed to talks with the
opposition and that
regional leaders now recognised that the country was
suffering from "a
crisis of governance."
"For the first time in the history of this
country, Zanu PF has
accepted that MDC is a home-grown party and some
(regional) leaders now
accept that there is a crisis of governance,"
Tsvangirai told cheering
supporters.
He said the MDC would
"walk to victory and democracy" in joint
presidential, legislative and
municipal elections next year.
"Some civic leaders and our friends
outside the country think that we
have sold out but we have not. We have our
eyes firmly on the ball," he
said.
Mens News Daily
September 29, 2007
This past week the government
rammed through long awaited legislation that
will require companies to sell
51 per cent of their equity to black
Zimbabweans nominated by the regime.
The companies are required to fund this
exercise themselves through a levy
that is to be introduced by the State and
which will be applied on a
compulsory basis to all firms in the economy.
This development comes on
top of the price control operation mounted by the
Joint Operations Command
and the subsequent publication of regulations that
will enable to State to
take over any firm that closes its doors as a
consequence. As no company can
produce and sell its products for half its
cost and expect to survive for
very long we can only assume that this was
the real object of the exercise
and it had little or nothing to do with
trying to curb
inflation.
Just this past week we have seen further evidence that
government is
recklessly printing money to pay its bills and even to buy
what little
foreign exchange is available on the market. In Bulawayo we
heard reports
this week of a Reserve Bank truck delivering hundreds of
millions of dollars
of currency in large denominations to local dealers. The
rate of exchange on
the market has slumped to record lows as a result and a
pound now fetches
over a million Zimbabwe dollars.
No foreign firm is
going to allow its local subsidiaries to be taken over
via either route and
we face a scenario where they must either fight the
system through the
Courts or abandon their assets and leave the country or
try to dispose of
100 per cent of their assets at a half decent price. It is
now clear that
Mobil, Anglo American and the Heinz Corporation have
effectively dumped the
equity they held here in some local companies. The
international banks have
already made their views known - Barclays, Standard
Chartered, Stanbic and
the MBCA have all said that they will not allow the
loss of a controlling
stake in the local companies, they would not allow the
companies to use
their brand names or systems and would dispose of 100 per
cent of their
local assets, closing down the banks if necessary.
The Minister
responsible responded to this statement by saying that "they
can go". He
emphasized that the regime would not back down on this
operation. I already
know of several companies in different fields who have
been approached by
Zanu PF linked people with an offer to take over a major
or controlling
interest in their companies. The private abattoirs that were
denied licenses
to operate two months ago are being licensed but on
condition that they sell
a controlling stake to a nominated shareholder and
on top of that they are
being forced to buy and sell under State direction.
So what does this
mean? Are they serious? What they are trying to do is
implement a strategy
for the next elections that will reduce current urban
populations by a third
or more in twelve months. The price control operation
was designed to
achieve this and as a result of the enforcement of this
campaign, the Cities
are without food or water. Hundreds of thousands of
jobs are at stake and
tens of thousands are fleeing to South Africa on a
weekly basis. By my
estimate they are well on their way to achieving this
objective. Every
worker who loses his job or just gets fed up with the
situation and leaves
is one less MDC vote in the election next year.
When this is over, they
will pick up the pieces and resume normal commercial
operations funded by an
endless stream of resources from the Reserve Bank.
They will then be able to
go into the elections in 2008 with a sharply
reduced urban vote, the
remaining voters will mainly come under the control
of Zanu PF directed
entities and all basic needs will be tightly controlled
by the regime. Vote
for Zanu PF or else will be the threat. I am just
waiting to see when they
will attack urban property rights.
I fully expect GDP to decline sharply
this year as a consequence of this
operation. This will reduce our GDP to
US$4 billion or less. Exports will
also fall and money transfers rise as
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora respond to
the needs of their families at home.
All investment has stopped and only the
Chinese seem to have the stomach for
this - probably because they know they
will be given special treatment, in
fact they are participating in this
exercise and are picking up long term
assets for a fraction of their true
value.
The question is will the
strategy work in terms of the elections and what
are the consequences of
this situation and the deliberate destruction of a
functioning economy that
it represents? The domestic answers are difficult
to give; I hope Zanu PF
thinks that their strategy will work for them in the
election, as this is
the only way we are going to get them to participate in
that
event.
The economic consequences are catastrophic. We will now have to
plan for a
stabilisation and recovery programme that embraces the whole
economy and not
just agriculture and its support industries. The departure
of international
firms like Heinz will not be easily reversed and securing
the kind of
investment we need to kick start the recovery is going to be
that much more
difficult.
But it is the regional implications that I
think need to be scrutinized
closely. I was told last week by a prominent
South African analyst that
South Africa had "discounted" the threat to the
South African economy of any
further contraction in Zimbabwe. This may be
true, but it does not disguise
the fact that foreign investors, already wary
of Africa from a risk point of
view, may just find this wholesale grab of
assets by a greedy elite that
seems to have the support of much of Africa,
is a portent of things to
come - perhaps even in South Africa
itself.
Our trade with South Africa ten years ago was R2 billion a month.
We were
South Africa's largest trading partner in Africa and its largest
single
market for manufactured goods in the world. Two thirds of that trade
has
gone and instead we export hundreds of thousands of impoverished men and
women to South Africa each month. Once in the South African system they join
criminal gangs, rob banks and stores and engage in petty crime and trading.
Cape Town last year had more murders than Britain. No State can build a
stable society on such foundations.
Time is running out on us - if
Zanu PF is allowed by inertia on the part of
the SADC States to get away
with this destructive and suicidal activity,
they will have to deal with a
real failed State when finally the political
implosion takes place or see
Zimbabwe spiral downwards into a Somalia style
situation of lawlessness and
poverty.
Free and fair elections are impossible if the national crisis is
not dealt
with and dealt with in a decisive and holistic manner. We all
agree that
this is the only way out of this crisis - it is time to act to
ensure that
we can in fact vote in a free and fair manner when the time
comes. Allowing
the continued delinquency of the Zanu PF regime is simply
not an option for
any of us.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 29th September
2007
www.cathybuckle.com
Saturday 29th September 2007
Dear Family and
Friends,
Standing outside over yet another smoky fire late one afternoon this
week, a
Go-Away bird chastised me from a nearby tree. I'm sure this Grey
Lourie is
as fed up of me intruding into its territory as I am of being
there - trying
to get a hot meal for supper. For five of the last six days
the electricity
has gone off before 5 in the morning and only come back 16
or 17 hours later
a little before midnight. "Go Away! Go Away!" the Grey
Lourie called out
repeatedly as my eyes streamed from the smoke and I
stirred my little pot.
My hair and clothes stink of smoke, fingers are
yellow and sooty but this is
what we've all been reduced to in Zimbabwe. Our
government don't talk about
the power cuts anymore and don't even try and
feed us with lame excuses
about how the power is being used to irrigate
non-existent crops. We all
know it's not true and the proof is there in the
empty fields for all to
see.
Something else our government aren't
talking about anymore is the nationwide
non availability of bread and the
empty shops in all our towns and cities.
Everywhere you go people are
struggling almost beyond description to try and
survive and yet the
country's MP's, both from the ruling party and the
opposition, do nothing to
put an end to this time of horror. I have lost
count of how many weeks this
has been going on for but it must be around
three months. None of the basics
needed for daily survival are available to
buy. There is no flour to bake
with, no pasta, rice, lentils, dried beans or
canned goods. People
everywhere are hungry, not for luxuries like biscuits
or snack food but for
the staples that fill your stomach. When you ask
people nowadays how they
are coping, mostly they say that they are not, they
say they are hungry,
tired and have little energy. This is a national crisis
almost beyond
description and people say they are alive only because of "
the hand of
God."
This week as Monks and then ordinary people in Burma took to the
streets in
their thousands calling out 'Democracy, Democracy' in the face of
the police
and soldiers, we can't help but wonder why something similar does
not happen
here. The chant could be shorter and even simpler than in Burma
and it could
just be: 'Food, food,' but without leadership it seems as
elusive as ever.
I end with a story about a man who is epileptic and
visited the local
government hospital for his regular check-up this week. It
took four hours
before he was seen by a nurse who scribbled in his book that
this was a
known case and that the hospital pharmacy should dispense his
prescription
of 90 phenobarb tablets at no charge - as they usually do. This
major
provincial government hospital had no phenobarb however so the man
went to
the biggest and busiest pharmacy in the town. They said the
phenobarb would
cost 1.2 million dollars - this is ten times more than the
man's government
stipulated minimum monthly wage. I offered to help and took
the prescription
to another pharmacy. The exact same tablets cost 250
thousand dollars -
nearly five times cheaper. When I gave them to the man,
his eyes shone with
tears and he thanked me - 'I thought I would have to
die' he said.
What a way to live, and to die.
Until next week, thanks for
reading, love cathy.
From AFP, 29 September
Mugabe Chinthana
Gaborone - The IMF will
continue to shun Zimbabwe until its central bank
stops meddling and the
government starts managing its natural resources
properly, a senior official
said on Thursday. "Zimbabwe must put in place
the proper economic policies
and gradually they will see the IMF coming on
board," International Monetary
Fund executive director Peter Gakunu said on
a visit to Botswana. "The
problem with Zimbabwe is that the central bank is
getting involved in
business. It is not its duty to do so," Gakunu told
reporters. "Zimbabwe's
situation is difficult. We have a government whose
macro-economic framework
does not conform to reality." The IMF effectively
suspended its dealings
with Zimbabwe after a delegation paid a fact-finding
visit to Harare in
December last year and the southern African country only
narrowly avoided
expulsion from the organisation. Zimbabwe's startling
economic decline has
accelerated since then, with inflation now standing at
more than 6,500
percent. Production of everything from gold to farm produce
has plummeted in
recent years with companies struggling to access foreign
currency and pay
for parts. Gakunu, formerly a senior official in the Kenyan
finance
ministry, said that Zimbabwe had plenty of natural resources to help
underpin its economy. "Zimbabwe has a lot of resources. It should start
managing them properly," he added. President Robert Mugabe has blamed the
former British colony's economic woes on his Western foes which imposed a
limited programme of sanctions on senior government members after he
allegedly rigged his 2002 re-election. The IMF has previously expressed
concerns about the central bank in Harare, accusing it of over-printing bank
notes in order to finance government expenditure.
IOL
September 29
2007 at 11:48AM
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city and a stronghold
of the political
opposition, is literally drying up. If the summer rains
don't come early, it
may do so.
One million people there only
have water once every three days - at
best.
Some are going for
more than a week without water for ablutions. Some
depend, even for drinking
water, on the municipality's ability to send in
tankers to poor townships
around the city.
The municipality is critically short of money
because its major
debtors, dirt-poor residents and the Zanu-PF government,
in particular the
Zimbabwe National Army, only occasionally pay their
bills.
"It is disastrous. We fear a terrible disease crisis and the
government won't help us," said the mayor of Bulawayo, Ndabeni
Japhet-Ncube.
Japhet-Ncube and his council are
members of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) - which is
aggravating the problem, some party
members suspect.
Two dams,
Inyakuni and Insiza, feed the city. Inyakuni is so low,
offtake will be
switched off towards the end of October. Unless rain, due
mid-November,
falls early this year, the city will have to depend entirely
on Insiza dam
which will be unable to match even the hopelessly inadequate
present supply
of water.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority, Zinwa, wants to
take control of
Bulawayo's water assets and distribution as it has done in
Harare and in
other towns - with disastrous results.
Harare's
dams have sufficient water, but about half the population in
the ghettos go
for long periods without because of equipment failure and
lack of foreign
currency to import water purification chemicals.
MDC MP for
Bulawayo South, David Coltart, said President Robert
Mugabe's administration
was "guilty of gross dereliction of duty, it's a
calamitous
situation".
"We face a very real prospect of the entire city
shutting down if we
don't have substantial rains this season."
He said he could not rule out the "possibility" that neglect of water
in
Bulawayo had been "intentional".
Coltart said Chinese contractors
had pulled out "before they even got
started" from a project to build a pipe
from the Gwaai-Shangani dam to the
city, because they were not
paid.
"Zanu-PF hasn't even ordered these scarce huge pumps needed
to lift
the water over the Matobo Hills. Even if they had the money, and
ordered
them now, it would take two years for delivery."
Bulawayo's population has swelled in recent months to between 1.5 -2
million
people as food supplies have dried up around the country.
"It is so
bad in the rural areas that thousands and thousands have
come in to town
hoping for something, some food. The hospitals don't work.
We have 19
municipal clinics and we do try and keep essential drugs there
but it is
hard to keep nurses as everyone wants to leave the country,"
Japhet-Ncube
said.
"If we have early, heavy rains it will take until March to
get normal
water supplies to people."
This article
was originally published on page 13 of Cape Argus on
September 29,
2007
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
29 September 2007
Posted to the web 29
September 2007
Harare
MOZAMBIQUE has reduced electricity supplies
to Zimbabwe from 300 megawatts
to 195MW over a staggering debt of US$35
million, forcing Zesa Holdings to
increase load-shedding by 50
percent.
Zesa acting spokesperson Mr Shepherd Mandizvidza confirmed the
debt has
resulted in the reduction of power supplies from Mozambican power
utility
Hidroelctrica de Cahora Bassa.
"Zesa had engaged HCB of
Mozambique with a request to access 300MW up from
150MW. In principle this
was agreed but is currently being thwarted by the
increasing debt, now over
US$35 million," Mr Mandizvidza said. -- HR.
Firstly, apologies on
behalf of BBC World that they made the wrong decision not to show Sue's report
last week as previously advised!
However, a groundswell of global
concern, after her report that was trailed to appear last week was cancelled,
has resulted in a rethink. After all, it is the global audience, not just
BBC World
will show Our World: Zimbabwe’s Slow
Death on Wednesday 3rd
October at 1930 GMT and
on Thursday 4th October at 0930 GMT & 1230 GMT in Asia Pacific only and
on Friday 5th October at 1530 GMT and on Saturday 6th October at 0130 GMT, 1730 GMT & 2330 GMT and on Monday 8th October at 0730 GMT.
Our World:
The
schedule will run as follows:
Wednesday 3rd
October
1900
GMT BBC News (as billed)
1930 GMT Our
World:
2000
GMTBBC News (as billed)
Thursday 4th
October
0900
GMT BBC News (as billed)
0930 GMT Our
World:
1000
GMTBBC News (as billed)
1200
GMT BBC News (as billed)
1230 GMT Our
World:
1300
GMTBBC News (as billed)
Friday 5th
October
1500
GMT BBC News (as billed)
1530 GMT Our
World:
1600
GMTBBC News (as billed)
Saturday 6th
October
0100
GMT BBC News (as billed)
0130 GMT Our
World:
0200
GMTBBC News (as billed)
1700
GMT BBC News (as billed)
1730 GMT Our
World:
1800
GMTBBC News (as billed)
2300
GMT BBC News (as billed)
2330 GMT Our
World:
0000
GMTBBC News (as billed)
Monday 8th
October
0700
GMT BBC News (as billed)
0730 GMT Our
World:
0800
GMTBBC News (as billed)
Scoop. New Zealand
Saturday, 29 September 2007, 2:13 pm
Press Release: Save
Zimbabwe
The Institute of Policy Studies in the School of Government,
Victoria
University of Wellington and the Save Zimbabwean Campaign,
Wellington
Chapter invite you to a public address
"End game in Zimbabwe?"
with Sekai Holland. Sekai Holland is a leading
figure in Zimbabwe politics,
married to Australian Jim Holland whom she met
studying in Australia in 1964
and as part of the anti-apartheid movement.
After the liberation war, the
family returned to Zimbabwe in 1980. Sekai
worked in women's development and
education in the 1980s. She was
instrumental in forming the MDC in 1999,
elected onto the National Executive
and ap-pointed as Secretary for
International Affairs. Since the split in
the MDC she continues to be an
interna-tional representative for Morgan
Tsvangirayi in a range of
capacities. Sekai was arrested and beaten on March
12 after she had gone to
a police station to inquire about her arrested
colleagues who had taken part
in a prayer meeting.
She was set upon by 16 men and a woman. The woman
reportedly jumped on her,
breaking three ribs. She also suffered a broken
arm, a broken leg, a
fractured knee and multiple bruises and lacerations.
She was evacuated to a
South African hospital and then to Australia.
This
lecture will summarise the economic and political crisis and discuss
how the
'end game' might be played. It will also deal the politicisation of
food and
aid, the ongoing SADC mediation and the massive requirements for
post-collapse reform.
Tuesday 9 October 5.15pm - 7.15pm Lecture
Theatre 3 (ground floor) Old
Government Buildings (Law School) 15 Lambton
Quayends
IdahoStatesman.com
- Idaho Statesman
Edition Date:
09/29/07
The theory of spontaneous generation - that living beings
spring
spontaneously from inanimate matter - died out in biology by the
mid-1800s.
It apparently remains alive and well in journalism.
Just look
at media stories about the ongoing economic tragedy in Zimbabwe.
That
nation recently announced that August's price levels were only 6,593
percent
above year-earlier figures, a drop from July increase of 7,635
percent. One
recent U.S. TV news story noted that this showed "some success
in the Mugabe
government's fight against inflation." A wire service story
said the "battle
against inflation remains a challenge for Zimbabwe's
government."
These assertions are silly. The government of Robert
Mugabe is not fighting
inflation. It is rather the direct cause of
inflation. To say that this
tyrant is fighting inflation is like saying that
the Cali drug cartel is
fighting cocaine use or that 1970s serial killer Son
of Sam struggled to
reduce New York City's murder rate.
That anyone
writes such claptrap testifies to continuing misunderstanding of
what causes
inflation. Some journalists apparently believe that inflation
springs out of
nothing.
Louis Pasteur ended the spontaneous generation debate for
biology in the
1850s. Milton Friedman similarly ended any debate about the
causes of
inflation in the 1950s. Too-rapid growth of the money supply
causes
inflation. That news apparently has not reached everyone.
Why
does it matter? Because media and public misunderstanding of why
inflation
occurs abets demagogues like Robert Mugabe, Nestor Kirchner and
Hugo Chavez
in duping their countrymen. The resulting policies foment
poverty and
privation.
The average Argentine is rich compared to citizens of
Zimbabwe, or China for
that matter. The tragedy of Argentina is not its
extreme poverty, but the
fact that its citizens remain much poorer than
those of Australia or Canada,
two other nations with immense natural
resources relative to their
population.
Kirchner's wife, Christina,
is the Peronist party's candidate in
presidential elections to be held on
Oct. 28. At his behest, the Argentine
central bank is pumping up the money
supply to goose the economy prior to
the elections. And every day he
lambastes farmers, banks grocers and other
retailers for raising
prices.
Many economists think inflation is about 15 percent, but since
Argentina has
sold bonds with interest rates tied to its own inflation,
Kirchner
intervened in the government statistical office, forcing it to cook
the
books and announce an official rate of under 10 percent. Superficially,
Argentina's economy is doing well because world prices for its agricultural
exports are high. But once again, short-run economic gimmickry is dooming
the country's long-term growth.
Central banks cause inflation.
Period. When a country experiences inflation
and its central bank is subject
to political control, the blame lies
squarely on the person or party in
power.
Economist Edward Lotterman teaches and writes in St. Paul, Minn.
Write him
at ed@edlotterman.com.
zimbabwejournalists.com
29th Sep 2007 00:05 GMT
By David Baxter
MUTARE - A row
has erupted between Youth Development Deputy Minister,
Saviour Kasukuwere
and Manicaland Governor Tinaye Chigudu over the
dissolution of the Zanu PF
youth provincial executive in Manicaland
Province.
Kasukuwere, a Zanu
PF politburo member representing the ruling party's
youths, attracted the
ire of Chigudu, chairman of the party in Manicaland
province, after he
dissolved the ruling party's provincial youth wing
accusing them of
corruption and incompetence.
But this incensed Chigudu who has spoken out
loudly against Kasukuwere's
actions.
The youthful Kasukuwere sacked
the executive led by Mutare-South MP Fred
Kanzama and put in place a
three-member interim committee comprising Zanu PF
national secretary for
administration, Tapiwa Zengeya, ruling party central
committee member,
Jessica Chidza and youth activist, Elias Chamisa.
The dispute over the
dissolution of the youth league is seen as a wider
campaign aimed at
disempowering a Zanu PF faction led by General Solomon
Mujuru ahead of a
crucial indaba expected to discuss Mugabe's future.
Kasukuwere is one of
the MPs being used to decampaign the powerful Mujuru
camp either in support
of the Emmerson Mnangagwa camp or mainly for Mugabe
to continue holding
office. Similar purges are being done in other provinces
to rid them of
Mujuru supporters so they do not once again embarrass Mugabe
at the
forthcoming congress after refusing to endorse Mugabe's candidature
twice
since the Goromonzi congress.
The sacked youth league was populated by
individuals believed to be
favouring the Mujuru camp which now wants Mugabe
to cede power ahead of
next year's harmonised elections.
Another Zanu
PF faction is clamouring for Mugabe to cling on to power
despite his
advanced age and clear signs that he can no longer offer
solutions to
problems facing Zimbabwe.
Chigudu is believed to be rallying behind
Mujuru while Kasukuwere is openly
supporting a group of Zanu PF geriatrics
urging Mugabe to continue holding
on to power. Most of those wanting Mugabe
to continue have and continue to
benefit immensely from the Zanu PF
patronage system and the current chaotic
situation in the
country.
Some of the old horses clamouring for Mugabe to rule forever are
Didymus
Mutasa, Nicholas Goche, Eliot Manyika, Oppah Muchinguri, Nathan
Shamuyarira
and Dzikamai Mavhaire. Some within this group are even not
trusted by Mugabe
himself. One or two are even suspected of working as spies
for the
international community.
A section of war veterans led by
Joseph Chinotimba also wants the 83-year
old former guerilla leader to stay
on as the country's president.
"We have noted with great concern that the
provincial youth wing was facing
a serious leadership crisis, and we have
decided to deal with this problem
once and for all," Kasukuwere said after
dissolving the youth wing.
There were also allegations that senior
members of the Zanu PF youth league
were abusing a maize-meal facility at
the Grain Marketing Board - accessing
the commodity at very low prices and
then reselling at high prices in the
city's high density suburbs and at
times across the border in Mozambique.
Kasukuwere said the interim
committee has been tasked with revamping the
structures of the Zanu PF youth
wing in the province within the next 30
days.
But the dissolution of
the youth wing has angered Chigudu who has vowed not
to recognise such a
move.
As the ruling party provincial chairman in Manicaland, Chigudu is
arguing
that he should have been made aware of such decisions.
"I am
not aware of the dissolution of the provincial youth executive,"
Chigudu
said. "I have not received any correspondences pertaining to the
issue."
"I thought they could have also consulted me in my capacity
as the
provincial chairman but that was not done. That is the Zanu PF we
know.
Moreso, I was not even formally informed of the decision to dissolve
the
youth provincial executive."
Added Chigudu: "I have heard about
the issue through rumours and up to now I
am still waiting for the formal
communiqué."
But an unmoved Kasukuwere declared there was need to inject
new blood into
the Zanu PF youth structures in preparation for next year's
crucial poll.
"As the youth, we are geared to see the ruling party winning
next year's
harmonised elections," Kasukuwere said. "We are definitely going
to lead the
way in campaigning for the party."
ynetnews.com
Israelis assisting tyrannical
African regimes should be pressed to stop
Yaron London Published:
09.29.07, 15:58
Once I dreamt I was in Africa, hunting wild
elephants, lions, rhinoceroses
and parrots. I awoke with my heart pounding:
I could actually go there! Why
shouldn't I do exactly that? These are the
opening lines of a children's
book entitled "Lobengula, King of Zulu"
written
and illustrated by Nachum Gutman. The book was written in 1939
and was a
bestseller for several generations.
It would have
been impossible to write such a story in our times for several
reasons:
Firstly, no contemporary writer would dare write about his passion
for
hunting wild animals. Secondly, Lobengula was not the king of Zulu, but
rather, the king of a people currently living in Zimbabwe. Thirdly,
traveling to Zimbabwe, where a rule of terror reigns, is not
recommended.
At the time Gutman wrote his book, Zimbabwe was called
Southern Rhodesia and
it was a British colony. In 1980 it gained
independence and has since been
ruled by Robert Mugabe, who led one of the
underground organizations that
ousted the British. Similar to many other
leaders in Africa who were
liberated from the yoke of colonialism, the
liberator turned into the
enslaver.
In the first decade of his
rule, his army, which was trained by North Korean
officers, murdered
hundreds of thousands of civilians. Later the massive
estates owned by a few
thousand Brits were nationalized. This act, had it
been carried out honestly
and wisely, could have been viewed as a reasonable
land reform, but it was
accompanied by wild rioting, murder, expulsion of
civilians of non-African
origin, and transfer of the land to supporters of
the
regime.
Nationalization led to terrible starvation because the
agricultural
industry, which was a key export industry, completely
collapsed. The
regime's corruption and violence also undermined the other
two important
economic industries: Tourism and mining. Hence, one of the
most prosperous
countries in Africa was turned into one of the
poorest.
Due to the starvation and ethnic and political persecution
3.5 million
people fled (a quarter of the population) to neighboring
countries. Zimbabwe
suffers six-digit inflation. Life expectancy has dropped
from 60 to half of
that. AIDS has infected a third of the population. Sixty
percent of the wild
animals have been destroyed. Elections were distorted,
leaders of the
opposition were beaten and murdered, the media was repressed,
and foreign
media agencies expelled.
Making money in
Zimbabwe
The aging Mugabe is set to amend the constitution, so that it
would permit
him to rule for many more years. Based on the number of
afflicted people,
what is happening in Zimbabwe is the most severe
humanitarian tragedy in
Africa, perhaps even greater than the one in Darfur,
the Horn of Africa and
East Congo.
And yet the world
continues to turn on its axis: Slowly. Zimbabwe is
boycotted and isolated;
however, Mugabe's regime can only be ousted by brute
force. And since no
superpower wishes to get its forces involved in what's
going on there, we
can surmise that millions more will die until this
beautiful country goes
back to normal.
What do we have to do with the tragedy of a far-off
and distant people? An
Israeli journalist born in Zimbabwe called me and
directed my attention to
an article that appeared in an opposition newspaper
published in London. It
said that Israelis are assisting Mugabe's regime
with intelligence and
policing services.
I was unable to obtain
confirmation of this article, and sources at the
Defense Ministry informed
me that although water hoses for dispersing crowds
were sold to Zimbabwe a
few years ago, export licenses to this country have
not been issued since.
This doesn't rule out the possibility that Israelis
are doing business with
the Mugabe government, selling it equipment
purchased here and there, and
providing consultation on security related
issues.
Based on
former incidences, we can guess that someone is making money on the
back of
this bleeding country.
Albeit it being difficult to prevent
money-hungry Israelis from offering
their services to such horrific
countries - unless they are declared enemy
states - they should be tracked
down and pressured to refrain from doing so
as much as the law
permits.
Israeli passports have been profusely tainted; they
shouldn't be allowed to
be tainted further.
The Herald (Harare) Published by the
government of Zimbabwe
29 September 2007
Posted to the web 29
September 2007
Harare
AT least 3 944 people have been arrested
since the Harare City Council
launched its four-month blitz to rid the
central business district of
illegal vendors, chamber secretary Mrs
Josephine Ncube has said.
In a statement yesterday, Mrs Ncube said tonnes
of perishables were also
impounded and handed over to the
police.
"About seven tonnes of perishables, mostly fruits and
vegetables, were
confiscated and surrendered to the police for disposal,"
she said.
She said following the intensification of the operation, there
had been a
significant reduction in the number of illegal vendors in and
around the
city.
Mrs Ncube, however, bemoaned that the fines for
illegal vending were not
deterrent enough.
"All those arrested are
taken to the Zimbabwe Republic Police where they
deposit a $40 000 fine.
These current deposit fines are too low and,
therefore, not a deterrent,"
she said. -- HR.