Analysts Assess Stalemate in Zimbabwe Political Talks

VOA

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
04 September 2008

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says an agreement to resolve Zimbabwe's
political, economic and social crises with the establishment of a
power-sharing government will be signed this week. But, talks to achieve
this have not made much progress since last month. In this background report
from our southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg, VOA's Delia Robertson looks
at whether opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has failed to recognize a
negotiations stalemate and is in danger of overplaying his hand.

Last month opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai balked at a deal that would make him prime minister, in charge of
government business in parliament.

He would be deputy chairperson of the cabinet with the responsibility of
formulating government policy and ensuring its implementation. He would
effectively be head of government.

President Robert Mugabe would remain in post and also be head of state.

Ministries would be divided with security ministries under the leadership of
Mr. Mugabe and the rest reporting to Mr. Tsvangirai. Although he said last
month he would settle for a deal that left the security ministries in the
hands of the president, he has now rejected that option.

From Mr. Tsvangirai's point of view, the deal is far from ideal. It
certainly does not represent the transfer of power demanded by his
supporters. But sources close to the talks note he signed an agreement to
negotiate a power-sharing deal, not a transfer of power, and they tell VOA
there is little hope of winning further concessions from Mr. Mugabe.

University of Johannesburg political analyst Adam Habib tells VOA it is
clear the talks are in stalemate and Mr. Tsvangirai may believe he has more
leverage than what he has.

"That it is not as if ZANU-PF does not have any cards and it seems to me
that the majority MDC has to recognize that there are cards in the hands of
ZANU-PF and that this is not the circumstance of a complete overthrow of
ZANU-PF, this is not a revolution," he said. "It is a stalemate and it is
precisely the stalemate that has mandated these negotiations to emerge."

Habib is among those experts who note that while Mr. Tsvangirai and his
party enjoy greater popular support, Mr. Mugabe retains the support of the
security establishment, including the police service. They say that creates
a situation where, in practical terms, neither group has a clear power
advantage.

Some of Mr. Tsvangirai's senior officials privately tell VOA they are very
concerned that if he accepts the deal being offered, he will have all the
responsibility without the necessary authority. In addition, they say, real
control over the country's financial resources is in the hands of reserve
bank governor Gideon Gono, who is widely perceived to be very close to Mr.
Mugabe.

But with official inflation at more than 11 million percent, the Zimbabwe
economy is the fastest contracting economy in the world and it does not have
the money to fund the reconstruction and development. That money will likely
have to come from donor countries, and Habib says Mr. Tsvangirai is key to
that funding.

"The economic reconstruction, addressing the economic crisis in Zimbabwe is
impossible to be addressed without Morgan Tsvangirai in some significant
role in this government," he said. "None of the international aid is going
to materialize without the MDC, at least the majority section of the MDC,
being represented in government."

Other analysts argue that if Mr. Tsvangirai is key to international donor
funding, the donor countries are also likely to insist that he is key to how
their money is spent - thus ensuring that he will indeed have control over
the necessary resources needed to carry out government programs.

Sources close to the talks tell VOA that Mr. Tsvangirai and his advisors may
also be missing the point of the proposed transitional government of
national unity. The goal, they note, is a transition limited to 30 months,
during which the country can begin to recover from its political, social and
economic crisis; and importantly, prepare for truly legitimate elections at
the end of the transition.

They note that this is also the view of Southern Africa Development
Community leaders and the regional mediator in the talks, South African
President Thabo Mbeki, who believe that it is impossible to hold fair
elections in the current environment.

Since the March elections won by the MDC, more than 100 MDC supporters have
been killed, thousands injured and tens of thousands displaced in widespread
violence. Independent human rights organizations say the perpetrators are
overwhelmingly supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF and members of the military
and police.

There is a view among some Tsvangirai advisors that he should not settle for
anything less than overall executive authority, and Mr. Mugabe's role as
president become ceremonial. They argue that as long as the status quo
continues, Zimbabwe will continue to deteriorate, resulting in a complete
collapse of Mr. Mugabe's government.

But the Director for Research and Advocacy at Solidarity Peace Trust, Brian
Raftopoulos, says with Mr. Mugabe in power, the opposite is true.

"My concern is this belief that the deterioration will somehow deliver
political change," he said. "Now the problem with that scenario is that the
deterioration of the economy can actually deliver worse, you can get a more
repressive state, a party that digs in, and we know that this is a party
that really does not care about its citizenry; it is prepared to let the
situation continue to deteriorate."

Raftopoulos argues that Mr. Tsvangirai should take the initiative and seek a
compromise that will bring a transitional government into being.

"So I think that we really do need to find a compromise and I think that is
absolutely necessary," he said. "And even if as the opposition, as the
civics, [we think] the agreement does not deliver everything we want, we
should see it as a first stage in a longer battle."

Both Habib and Raftopoulos argue that once in government Mr. Tsvangirai will
be in a position to vigorously manage the situation to ensure that he and
his party move to a position of control and authority.

Raftopoulos suggests it is about capacity. "Well, the biggest challenge will
be the capacity to deal with the institutions of the state and to be able to
wield the powers within the state in whatever areas they have the most
authority in order to deliver policy changes," he said.

"So it is a question of capacity, capacity of the MDC to be able to take up
positions in the state and to be able to fight for the delivery of those
policies which will begin to shift the balance of political power away from
ZANU-PF," he added.

Habib notes that South Africa faced exactly the same challenges and
uncertainties before the election that brought Nelson Mandela to power in
1994. In particular there was real concern that the military would seek to
undermine the new democracy. Habib says it took just a few years to bring
the military and other key departments firmly within the control of the new
government.

At Least Nine Die In Cholera Outbreak In Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe

VOA

By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
04 September 2008

An outbreak of cholera has claimed at least nine lives in Chitungwiza,
Zimbabwe, and another 30 people have been admitted to the central hospital
in the Harare satellite town. Unconfirmed reports said as many as 19 people
had died at the hospital since Tuesday.

The worst affected areas of Chitungwiza were said to Units O and Unit K
where burst sewer pipes have long been a common sight. Local sources added
that residents are drawing water from unprotected wells because the local
water supply system has broken down.

A Chitungwiza municipal official said authorities have sent bowsers, or
water tanker trucks, to the affected areas to provide residents with clean
drinking water.

VOA was unable to reach Health Minister David Parirenyatwa for comment on
the outbreak.

Chitungwiza South member of parliament Misheck Shoko of the Movement for
Democratic Change told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that he is urging residents to avoid shaking hands and to stop
buying produce from open-air markets.

Epworth MP Remanded Out Of Custody

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 21:15
A HARARE magistrate Daniel Shonhiwa yesterday remanded out of custody
MDC MP for Epworth Eliah Jembere facing a rape charge to October 20 after
state witnesses failed to come to court.

Jembere is accused of raping the wife of an MDC councillor in his
constituency while her husband was in remand prison on a politically-related
case.

The legislator, who defaulted trial on May 27 and was placed on the
police wanted list, was arrested last week when he attended the swearing-in
ceremony of lawmakers at Parliament.

State prosecutor David Manavele asked the court for more time to allow
the state to locate the witnesses.

Jembere's lawyer Alec Muchadehama gave notice to the court that he
will on October 20 apply for no further remand for his client if the state
fail to produce the witnesses.

"If the sate fails to produce the witnesses on October 20 we shall be
filing papers for refusal of further remand," Muchadehama told the court.

Another MDC MP, Trevor Saruwaka (Mutare Central) will today appear at
the Harare High Court seeking bail.

Saruwaka was arrested at the weekend for allegedly raping a
17-year-old relative.

Highfield MP Pearson Mungofa and Bindura South MP Bednock Nyaude were
granted bail this week, but were not released after the state appealed
against the move.

The state evoked provisions of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act
which allows it to file an appeal for up to seven days while the suspect is
in remand custody.

Mungofa is accused of teaming up with MDC party's secretary Tichaona
Mudzingwa and spreading lies that Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March 29
elections, while Nyaude was arrested on attempted murder charges and
contravening the Firearms Act. - Staff Writer.

Zanu PF, MDC Going Their Separate Ways

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 21:04
ZIMBABWE'S two main political parites - Zanu PF and the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC - have chosen positions they will pursue in the event
that the inter-party talks collapse.

Impeccable sources in Zanu PF and MDC told the Zimbabwe Independent
that both parties were losing faith in the stalled negotiations and have
come up with alternative plans.

The MDC, the sources said, would mobilise diplomatic pressure starting
next week to coerce President Robert Mugabe to cede power. The party also
wants Mugabe and his government to be further isolated by the international
community.

On the other hand, Mugabe and Zanu PF would go it alone and appoint a
new cabinet.

The Sadc-facilitated power-sharing talks stalled over how to share
executive power between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

"We are going to mobilise some of our neighbours in the region,
several key African governments and major international powers to intensify
pressure on Mugabe to cede real power to Tsvangirai," a member of the MDC
national executive said.

"Tsvangirai is losing faith in the current talks and wants regional
and international pressure to be mounted on Mugabe and Zanu PF. We want a
situation where Mugabe and his government will be barred from participating
in regional, continental and international groupings and foras."

The source said Tsvangirai began his diplomatic offensive immediately
after Sadc heads of government and state summit in Johannesburg, South
Africa, a fortnight ago when he visited Botswana and Kenya.

The next leg of his campaign will see Tsvangirai and his delegation
visiting key countries in West Africa, among them Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal
and Kenya.

The sources said Tsvangirai would also lobby the United Nations to
deal with the Zimbabwe crisis.

"Our belief is that concerted pressure by African leaders and other
international players could still force Mugabe to be more flexible in
power-sharing negotiations than he has been so far," the source added.

Another source said Tsvangirai was likely to lobby the United States,
Britain and their European allies after they declared that any power-sharing
deal in Zimbabwe should reflect the "will of the people" as expressed in the
March 29 presidential election.

Tsvangirai outpolled Mugabe, but did not garner the mandatory votes to
assume the presidency, prompting a presidential election run-off on June 27.

The opposition leader withdrew from the run-off citing state-sponsored
political violence. Mugabe won by 85% in the one-man race, which was widely
condemned as a sham.

Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesperson, declined to confirm or deny that
the party had embarked on a diplomatic campaign, but insisted they remained
committed to the talks as long as their outcome respects the "will of the
people".

South African president Thabo Mbeki is mediating in the talks on
behalf of Sadc.

"We will be lobbying in the region, the continent and the United
Nations to exert pressure on Mugabe for him to be more flexible," another
source said. "Mugabe must be made to respect the will of the people of
Zimbabwe."

Mugabe on Wednesday threatened to appoint a new cabinet if Tsvangirai
refused to sign the proposed inclusive government deal by yesterday.

The octogenarian leader told journalists in Lusaka, Zambia, where he
had gone to attend the burial of President Levy Mwanawasa, that Tsvangirai
was being instructed by Britain not to sign the pact.

Mugabe was quoted saying: "We are a government, and we are a
government that is empowered by elections. So we should form a cabinet. We
will not allow a situation where we will not have a cabinet forever."

Sources in Zanu PF said Mugabe was under pressure from hardliners in
his party who want him to pull out of the talks for personal interests.

The sources said some of the hardliners saw themselves out of jobs if
an inclusive government was constituted, while members of the Joint
Operations Command were concerned about their future after they allegedly
coordinated and executed Mugabe's bloody run-off campaign.

On threats by Mugabe to go it alone, Tsvangirai said his party would
not be "bothered".

In an interview with a South Africa radio station, the former trade
unionist said such a cabinet would be dysfunctional.

"If there is no national or international confidence in that cabinet,
what will he do with it? I think it will be a risky business on his part,"
Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai said the MDC would have liked more pressure from the
African Union and Sadc to solve the problem.

"There was a time when African leaders thought they can manage the
problem, because they were protecting Robert Mugabe. Now we have reached a
stage where Mugabe now is part of the problem," the former Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions secretary-general said.

The talks between Zanu PF and MDC stalled over how to share executive
power between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

Under the Mbeki proposed deal, Mugabe would remain executive president
in charge of both state and government.

Tsvangirai would be a prime minister in charge of government policy,
but without power to hire or fire ministers. He would also not chair cabinet
meetings.

The opposition leader, who under the proposed deal would be required
to report regularly to Mugabe, refused to sign the deal saying he could not
be a prime minister without executive power.

By Constantine Chimakure

Doctors Strike Continues

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 20:56
THE strike by state doctors and nurses over poor remuneration and
conditions of service continued throughout the country this week despite
government's claims that the two parties had reached an agreement that will
see medical professional back at work.

Doctors and nurses went on strike last week demanding to be paid in
foreign currency and better working conditions.

Health deputy minister Edwin Muguti yesterday said the government and
the health professionals had agreed to a "handsome" package that would seem
them return to work.

"We are through with the new salaries and we have also hiked their
allowances," Muguti said. "That is all I can reveal to you at the moment."

However, the Hospitals Doctors Association (HDA) yesterday denied that
they had reached an agreement with the government and vowed that the doctors
and nurses would remain on strike until their salaries are pegged in foreign
currency.

HDA president Amos Severegi said: "We have not agreed on anything and
I do not know where the minister's statement is coming from. We have allowed
a few doctors to report for work to attend to emergency cases."

Sources in the medical fraternity said there was a stalemate between
the medical professionals and the Health Services Board (HSB) on how to
remunerate and improve conditions of service for the doctors and nurses.

The HSB, the sources said, told the health workers that the government
had no capacity to pay them in foreign currency.

Doctors who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Zimbabwe
Independent vowed not to return to work until all their grievances were met.

"We have not been consulted yet. What I can tell you right now is that
I am not at work, and until something is deposited into my account I am not
going to work," a Bulawayo based doctor said.

State doctors and nurses, who are paid $4 000 and $2 000 monthly, want
their salaries to be pegged either in US$ or South African rand.

By Henry Mhara

US$9 Million For MPs' Vehicles

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 21:17

PARLIAMENT will splash more than US$9 million in the acquisition of
new vehicles for MPs elected on March 29, the Zimbabwe Independent has
learnt.

Information obtained from parliamentary sources revealed that each of
the 303 lawmakers would be entitled a vehicle worth up to US$30 000 bought
by government.

There are 210 members of the House of Assembly and 93 senators. This
excludes the speaker of the House of Assembly and the president of Senate,
who would also be entitled to vehicles and other benefits.

Parliament is required to acquire all-terrain vehicles through the
Member of Parliament Vehicle Revolving Fund - a scheme through which MPs can
easily purchase vehicles and then repay the house through deductions on
their salaries.

Austin Zvoma, the Clerk of Parliament, told the Zimbabwe Independent
on Wednesday that the house was in the process of gathering information on
the models and costs of vehicles that would be acquired for the lawmakers.

"At the moment we are still gathering information as to how many of
the legislators want cars because we do not know who amongst the legislators
wants a car," Zvoma said. "We are also working on the type of cars they want
and also the cost of those cars."

He said once the information is gathered, parliament will approach
Treasury with an application for foreign currency, a request he said
depended on the country's hard currency reserves at the time.

"The Treasury is the one that will tell us whether it can give us the
money as a lump sum or the money will be released in tranches," Zvoma said.

An impeccable parliamentary source said it was likely that the house
and Treasury would work with the US$30 000 per vehicle figure.

"The figure that is there at the moment is US$30 000 for a single
vehicle that parliament is going to pay for for either a member of the House
of Assembly or a senator," the source said.

"The figure is subject to review given that there is sentiment that
vehicle prices have gone up in the last few months. We are likely to pay
more than US$40 000 for each car, which then takes that budget to more than
US$12 million."

The cost of the vehicles ranges between US$9 180 000 and US$12 240 000
if calculating on the basis of US$30 000 and US$40 000 per individual
legislator. The legislators were expected to choose between Isuzu,
Mitsubishi, and Toyota Vigo are all-terrain models.

The source said the expectation was that such vehicles could traverse
any terrain, therefore making life easier for the legislators to access
their constituencies.

Some of the roads leading to the constituencies are in bad shape and
needed a serious facelift.

"Given the foreign currency (constraints faced by the country),
parliament has had to approach the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for the
release of the money. After all, the RBZ is the custodian of the foreign
currency and that is the body that has the ability to give us the money that
is wanted for these cars," another source said.

The sources also revealed that the MPs were expected to pay an extra
amount of money should they opt for vehicles whose cost exceeds the
stipulated range.

"There are some who have opted for the latest Mercedes Benz, Isuzu and
Toyota moels. These legislators have the ability to top up because they run
businesses," the source said. "There are those that have no other source of
income and these have opted to get vehicles whose upkeep is low."

The legislators would also get travelling and substance allowances
whenever they come for parliamentary sessions in Harare.

The sources said rates for travelling would be in line with those of
the Automobile Association of Zimbabwe (AAZ).

A legislator from Bulawayo who travels more than 440 kilometres to
Harare, according to AAZ rates pegged at $48,34 per kilometre, would be
expected to receive $21 269 for a single trip.

Zvoma said parliament would soon gazette the salaries and sitting
allowances for the MPs.

"These allowances will be gazetted in the Government Gazette. We are
just making consultations with the relevant bodies to see how far these
allowances and salaries can go given the prevailing circumstances," Zvoma
said.

Parliament is also working on the construction of a new parliament
building to house the bigger number of legislators, which was brought about
by Constitutional Amendment No18.

Already, a contract for the construction of the building has been
awarded to a Chinese company. The designs for the building were done by
companies owned by Zanu PF members, Joel Biggie Matiza and Daniel McKenzie
Ncube.

By Nkululeko Sibanda

Children Silent Victims Of Political Impasse

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 20:46
"COME here as a visitor and not as a spy," reads a warning sign on a
rusty metal stuck on to a wooden gate at a home in Nyatondo Village in the
Eastern Highlands district of Nyanga.

For a moment one hesitates to enter the homestead, not sure how they
would be identified - as a visitor or as a spy.

A narrow path leads to a tiny kitchen hut that smells of fresh cow
dung that has just been used as floor polish. Beside the kitchen is a neat
pile of firewood. Opposite the kitchen is a two-roomed hut with a small
shining verandah.

Everything at the homestead appears to be in order and one would
expect to find an adult at the home. But that is not the case.

Running into the yard from the garden is a small boy dressed in a torn
navy blue pair of jean shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt in the chilly
weather. The boy is 14-year old Tichaona Mubako, an orphan in Ward 19 in the
Sedze area of Nyanga, who has been staying by himself since the age of 12.

A Form 2 pupil at Nyajeza Secondary School, Tichaona began looking
after himself after his parents succumbed to HIV and Aids-related diseases.
Living by himself, doing the house chores, tilling the fields, maintaining
the garden and protecting his late parents' property has become a normal way
of life for Tichaona.

"Sometimes I am scared of staying alone," Tichaona said. "When night
falls, I get my friend who stays close by to come and spend the night with
me, but most of the times I am by myself."

His mother passed away in 2004 while his father died two years later.

Initially they were eight in his family, but now his only closest
relative is a married sister who is also struggling to make ends meet at her
in-laws' home.

Tichaona is one of many beneficiaries of aid provided by humanitarian
agencies in the country. He had been receiving aid in the form of food,
school fees, clothes and moral support.

But since the ban of the NGOs on June 4 by the government on
allegations that they were using humanitarian aid to campaign for the
opposition MDC, Tichaona's normal supply of basic goods was cut.

He represents thousands of other children across the country, orphans
and physically and mentally challenged, who were affected by the NGO ban
that was only lifted by the government last Friday.

The National Association of Non-governmental Organisations (Nango) in
a statement this week commenting on the lifting of the ban and the new
reporting mechanisms for NGOs and PVOs, said the whole process was selective
and excludes thousands of organisations either registered as trusts or
universitas as well as those registered as PVOs, but not doing humanitarian,
development or welfare work.

While the MDC and Zanu PF are fighting over who gets the most powers
in a proposed unity government, children have been silent victims of the
political impasse.

According to United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), one of the major
programmes affected by the ban was for orphans and other vulnerable children
(OVC). The project initially reached 185 000 OVC through 26 NGOs before the
suspension of their operations. This was scaled down to 20%.

Unicef records also show that 100 000 children live in households that
are headed by children as a direct result of the Aids epidemic.

Before the lifting of the ban, Unicef regional director Per Engebak
said orphans were the country's most desperate citizens. He said "1,3million
orphans are suffering like never before" since they were denied access to
health care, HIV support, education assistance and food.

Though the government lifted the ban last week, normal operations of
humanitarian agencies will take a long time to resume.

Narrating his ordeal, Tichaona said he was left to look after himself
by relatives following a disagreement over the inheritance of his parents'
property.

"My grandparents in Masvingo wanted me to live with them and sell
everything that my parents left. I told them that I did not want that,
instead I wanted someone to come and stay with me, but they refused. It's
now two years since I last saw them," remembers Tichaona.

As he prepared for the third school term, Tichaona aims at working
hard to improve on his grades.

"I don't remember what position I was last term," he giggles. "But I
passed four subjects out of eight and I am good at mathematics, science and
Shona. I wish I could get food and clothes. There were people who used to
give me these things but they just stopped. I also need maize seed and
fertiliser to prepare for the rainy season," he said.

Volunteer caregiver Sympathy Munemo who works with Family Aids Caring
Trust (FACT) and helps orphans around Sedze area, said a number of orphaned
children like Tichaona were greatly affected by the ban on NGO operations.

Munemo said: "There are roughly 100 orphans who fend for themselves in
this area after their parents passed away due to HIV and Aids. As a
home-based caregiver, I have known Tichaona since his parents fell ill. He
has been a strong and hard working boy but he greatly needs assistance.

"The past months have been difficult for us to help some of these
children. Sometimes we would go out of our way and give them the little food
we had at our homes. The children have been getting assistance from the
circle's social support but the help is limited, some of these NGOs have
been helping a lot."

Gladys Makombe, a healthy-looking woman who has been living positively
with the HIV virus for 17 years and actively involved in home-based care in
the Panguwawa village under Chief Hwata, said the ban had increased the
shortage of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), food and access to health kits.

She said: "We no longer have access to health kits. As a result, we
are subsidising them with empty sugar packets, which are slowly becoming
scarce and sometimes we have to do the cleaning with our bare hands which is
not healthy. We did not harvest much last season and we have been relying
more on NGOs for food and it (the ban) has made it difficult to feed our
patients," said Makombe.

"The shortages of ARVs in government hospitals and even among some of
the NGOs have been my greatest concern. Some agencies would help us to
access the very few ARVs available. The inconsistency in the supply caused
by the ban affected some of the patients we looked after. We however have
our own garden with different kinds of herbs that we use to treat
ourselves."

Young Tichaona and Makombe are victims of brash political decisions
which have become the hallmark of governance in Zimbabwe. The two have
survived this moment of madness by politicians but many did not.

By Wongai Zhangazha

EU Offers US$72m Aid If Talks Succeed

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 20:20
THE European Union's economic recovery package to Zimbabwe could reach
Euros 50 million (US$72,2 million) should the on-going talks bring out an
"acceptable outcome" by the three political parties negotiating, the
organisation said this week.

Responding to questions from businessdigest on Tuesday, an EU official
said its immediate response once an outcome that is accepted by the three
parties was reached "could amount to more than EUR 50 million in funds
already committed but not implemented for food security, agriculture, public
health, governance and support to civil society".

The EU also said further assistance could also be made available in
the "short and medium-term".

"The EU's willingness to provide support would depend on a
satisfactory outcome
to the power-sharing talks," said the official.

An official with the EU said although it was still too early to
establish the precise conditions at this stage, support would inevitably be
linked to concrete progress being made on the ground.

"The EU expects an outcome that is acceptable to all parties
participating in the power-sharing talks," the official said.

"It (EU) has no preconceived ideas on what an agreement should
contain; that is for the parties to decide."
Once it appears certain that the political situation is conducive, the
EU would be willing to contribute, as part of a broader international
effort, to Zimbabwe's stabilisation and recovery.
Support would be provided by both the European Commission and, on a
bilateral basis, by the EU's member states.

The talks have shown signs of stalling after Morgan Tsvangirai, the
leader of the larger MDC faction, refused to sign the deal agreed to by
President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara.

A declaration by the presidency on behalf of the EU passed on July 4
in Brussels states that the EU will only accept an outcome that reflects the
will of the people of Zimbabwe.

"The European Union will only accept a formula which respects the will
of the Zimbabwean people as expressed in the elections of March 29, which
saw the Movement for Democratic Change and Morgan Tsvangirai win," said the
EU.

The EU said: "The result of this vote must serve as a basis for a
political settlement. The EU encourages the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) and President Mbeki to step up their efforts to foster this
process. The transition period must be as short as possible."

Economic analysts have since said the country requires a lot of
funding to revive the economy which has been declining since 2000.

"To state an exact amount that we (country) need at the moment will be
very difficult because the country is virtually broke," said an analyst with
a commercial bank.

"In one of his monetary policies Reserve Bank Governor (Gideon Gono)
said the country needs close to US$250 million a month to meet all its
needs.

"That may not be enough now because the economy has continued to
decline. We need to look at specific projects rather than the economy as a
whole," said an analyst.

The stiffest challenge is an economy that has shrunk by more than 60%
in 10 years and a government that is virtually broke with foreign debts of
US$4 billion as of March 31 and a domestic debt of US$7,9 million at July
15.

Inflation is currently at 11,2 million for June, but some economist
estimate the figure to be over 20 million percent.

John Robertson, an economic commentator said the first challenge will
be to halt the slide in the economy.

He said money alone will not be enough to resuscitate Zimbabwe's
economy.
"For the international community to give us international support we
have to prove that we are worthy of that support," Robertson said.

"We have to demonstrate that we can use the money responsibly. We have
to behave in a better way than we have in the past 28 years. Even with that
money we might not be able to achieve much if they do not change the whole
system. We need stability and to address the issue of scarcities like
foreign currency and food," said Robertson.

By Jeslyn Dendere

Zeros Back Through Stock Market

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 20:08
WHILE no one wants to see the return of the zeros as they are an
inconvenience when carrying out transactions, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
seems to be the re-entry point for "the chased" away zeros.

The stock market on Wednesday breached the million point-mark as the
benchmark industrial index surged 24,78% to close at 1 053 889,62 points
while the mining index followed suit firming 17,58% to settle at 1 046
774,53 points.

The rise of the stock market has been attributed to hyperinflation
prevailing in the country.

The stock market reached the one million mark three days after Cottco
Limited delisted from the market to paved way for the listing of AICO Africa
Limited, the new holding company.

AICO issued 529,7 million shares on the first day of trade which were
split in the ratio 2:3 to acquire all listed Cottco shares.

This means existing Cottco shareholders received two new AICO shares
for every three currently at hand. All subsidiaries under Cottco were to be
transferred to AICO at book.

On the opening day all sellers were at $1 100 while buyers were ready
to pay at $1 000. There has been no movement since then.

Cottco had never traded above $400 in real terms since its listing in
1997. AICO group chief executive Happymore Mapara said new shares would
unlock value for existing and new shareholders.

"AICO represents the foot with which we want to conquer Africa. The
company will be responsible for our regional markets.

AICO is the holding company of Olivine Industries 49%, Cottco 100%,
Seed Co 51%, Cottco International 100%, Zambrano 100% and Toray 100%.

The stock market maintained the upward trend during the week with no
counter recording a lose cumulatively during the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, the money market continued to experience excess liquidity
conditions to the high volumes of fiscal and quasi-fiscal expenditures that
continued to flow into the market.

By Paul Nyakazeya

Export Sector On Decline

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 20:04
THE performance of export companies reflect broadly the overall
condition of the economy.

It is widely assumed that the export sector is on a sure course to
continue declining despite the signing to the Southern African Development
Community Free Trade Area last month.

The only debate this view holds is that it is simply a question of "by
what margins not if".

More so when an export company predicts a bleak future with regards to
its operations.

"The business and operating environment is expected to be more
difficult necessitating the continued deployment of strategies to stem
volume declines and cope with hyperinflation," said Interfresh during the
announcement of its financial results for the interim period ending June 30.

Interfresh is a industrial horticultural concern whose nature of
business includes processing and marketing horticulture produce and food
products for both the local and export sector.

A loss of $14 quadrillion was made in inflation adjusted terms.

Zesa power cuts which adversely affected citrus irrigation during the
critical fruit phase in September last year account for 48% decline in
citrus production and in citrus exports. Juice concentrate and bottled crush
volumes were limited due to erratic supplies of inputs.

In real terms, working capital and borrowings were lower than last
year, accounting for a 36% decline in net financing costs.

The $35 quadrillion monetary loss is a reflection of the difficulty
experienced in preserving value during the hyperinflationary environment.

"Lower borrowing during the period, a net cash position at the end of
the period, very slow utilisation of the foreign currency accounts balances
and practical ability to convert profits into hard assets during the period
resulted in the significant monetary loss," the company said.

A fair value adjustment of $24 quadrillion of $24 quadrillion was
recorded from revaluation of biological assets in compliance with IAS41.

"Operating margins improved from 34% at year-end (December 2007) to
46% during the current interim period primarily because of the introduction
of the inter-bank rate in May 2008," the company said.

In inflation adjusted terms, the company's turnover fell by 56% due to
across the board volume declines, price controls on some local products and
the effect of below fair value exchange rate on export revenues.

The new bottling operations achieved good margins, profitability and
cash flow. The flower bush replacement programme has been accelerated in
order to restore yields to acceptable levels. Product supply problems, the
growth of informal market and pricing challenges continue to depress formal
fresh produce market resulting trading volumes declining by 45%.

By Paul Nyakazeya

All Bad Things Happen In Zim

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:41
IT could be in a classroom, at social events or at the mere mention of
Zimbabwe, people start looking at me with apprehension.

Each time I have to defend myself and dissociate myself from the
Mugabe regime.

My answer is; "I am a proud Zimbabwean but share nothing in common
with the elements running the affairs of my country except that we are all
Zimbabweans, Africans and human beings."

I go further to say unlike them, "I do not celebrate electoral theft,
murder, arson, rape, abductions, kidnappings, lawlessness and forced
disappearances in order to stay in power in perpetuity at the expense of the
national interest."

In discussions on topics such as the rule of law, international human
rights law among others, Zimbabwe has become a subject on how not to
administer the affairs of a nation.

Each time an example on human rights abuses is given, most of the time
the answer begins this way; Like in Zimbabwe . . .

This brings me to the critical malfunctions that Zimbabwe finds itself
in. Firstly those who founded the Republic in 1980 did not seek to constrain
power but allowed human beings under the leadership of Mugabe to transform
themselves into institutions.

So in my view in 1980, the country had a false promise because it gave
its faith to mortal individuals and forgot to invest in institutional and
moral sectors. As a result, Zimbabwe as it stands today has very weak
institutions but powerful and abusive leaders.

It has a leadership that lacks political morality and politics without
morals will not redeem Zimbabwe but has led it into the political and
economic quagmire that it finds itself in today.

In any democratic regime, all power surrendered by the people through
a democratic electoral process and outcome should be submitted to the
government but should be guarded by the division of that government into
separate institutions sharing power for the good of the country.

The most unfortunate situation in Zimbabwe is that the power
surrendered by the people through elections although it should be protected
by a division of the government into distinct and separate institutions such
as the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, the one branch of this
government has become an imperial one.

The executive has become the source of the country's misfortunes
because it has unregulated power and the other branches have been appendages
to the executive.

The head of this branch despite fighting together with others to
liberate the country has now become a native imperialist, oppressing fellow
citizens in similar manner and fashion like the former colonialists.

Because these three branches of the government cannot control each
other, the rights of citizens cannot be guaranteed.

The founders of our country also failed to realise that it is very
important in an emerging country not only to safeguard the citizenry against
the oppression by its rulers but to guard one section of the society
especially the powerful one against injustices on less powerful sections.

This in my view is the essence of a democracy, to make sure that
minority groups are secure and that the majority be they at a tribal or
party levels don't abuse others.

This can be stopped by fragmenting society into different social and
political interest groups whose combined interest is to promote the national
good and to pay little attention to party or tribal issues but critical
matters such as the protection of everyone's civil and political liberties
as well as social, economic and cultural rights.

I am of this view because the belief that the majority should do what
they want has led the country to the chaos that we are in. In this respect
majority power should be limited and constrained in the same manner that
governmental power should be regulated and limited.

When a political party thinks it has the majority to rule and there
are no constitutional safeguards to restrain and constrain that power for
the national interest, we end up with situations like the Matabeleland and
Midlands disturbances, where crimes against humanity are committed in the
misguided view of majority rule.

It is my contention that in the new Zimbabwe that reasonable citizens
are struggling to establish, society should be broken into so many parts and
interest as well as classes so that the rights of minorities including those
of Mugabe and his ruling elites when they are finally defeated will be in
little danger from the interested combinations of the majority.

In my view, the basis of any free nation is the security of the
citizenry's civil and political liberties that Zanu PF has failed to promote
and uphold fundamentally because the country has been hostage to the
executive prime minister at Independence and thereafter to the imperial
presidency all occupied by one person, Mugabe.

The time to change and redefine the national agenda is now. The
country cannot afford another Mugabe after all he has done to destroy the
dreams of millions of Zimbabweans for the sake of political power.

Zimbabwe needs to return to democratic legitimacy premised on the rule
of law and this cannot happen under the leadership of Mugabe. Not even under
the leadership of any other Zimbabwean without creating and putting in place
a constitutional framework that constrains power and distribute equally
among the branches of government.

The crisis we face as a country while authored by Mugabe and his
ruling party will not vanish because Mugabe leaves offices but because we
create institutions and structures that promote the national interest than
individuals and their political parties no matter how powerful and popular
they maybe.

Zimbabwe requires a limited government and this structure should be
created through a people driven constitutional process in order to safeguard
another fall promise as happened in 1980.

I know that my colleagues will accuse me of being a little Lovemore
Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly when it comes to the need
for a democratic constitutional order. But for me it's an association that I
cherish because changing the government without changing the institutional
framework may not be the panacea to the country's ills.

I contend that in order to create a democratic Zimbabwe and a
civilised political culture free of violence, the country needs a change of
governance than a change of government. If we change the government alone,
we have the potential of creating another Mugabe.

I insist on change of governance because it looks at broader issues of
governance such as constitutional reform leading to the creation of
institutions that advance the national interest not parochial party
interests as the military and some sections of the judiciary are doing.
These things are happening because of the constitutional order currently
prevailing punctuated by a political culture that celebrates violence and
corruption as ingredients to political ascendency.

By Pedzisai Ruhanya (University of Minnesota Law School, USA)

Zanu PF Is Now The Opposition

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:36
THE response by Zanu PF to the heckling of their leader Robert Mugabe
during the opening of the 7th session of parliament was to be expected.

As the opposition in parliament, Zanu PF was bound to oppose the
action by MDC legislators since they were not used to being in opposition
let alone experiencing the heckling they endured. All along Zanu PF has been
heckling the opposition and did not know how it felt.

My advice to Zanu PF is for them to adapt fast to their new status and
stop acting like cry babies. It is not unusual for speakers, presidents or
prime ministers, in other countries to be heckled in the august house. For
easy reference they can check with their erstwhile enemy Britain, whose
former prime minister Tony Blair was heckled time and again during
parliamentary debates and also during the prime minister's question time.

The fact that Zanu PF created an untouchable being among themselves,
does not mean that heckling and demonstrating against it is a crime. How
else, in Zimbabwe, can one ever demonstrate against the president of
Zimbabwe under the current laws outside parliament? One can be arrested for
criticising Mugabe publicly or waving at his motorcade and be charged for
demeaning the office of the president.

Of course, the president must be protected, but protecting him this
way is blasphemous as doing so is creating a semi-god on earth.

The electorate should be allowed the opportunity to express themselves
in favour of or against the president as they see fit. That is democracy.

The call to purge MDC legislators by Zanu PF is out of order and
equating this demonstration to the Chinamasa-Bennett fiasco is crazy.
Bennett was unduly punished when he was sentenced to a one year jail term
for the assault on Patrick Chinamasa -- even though Dydmus Mutasa who
"kicked him (Bennett) very hard", was left unpunished.

The president of MDC-T, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been heckled for the
past 10 years by Zanu PF with Mugabe leading the pack. Now it is your turn.

Nizola Shiri

Harare

Candid Comment: If Zimbabwe Could Do It The American Way

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:38
"TONIGHT, more (people) are out of work and more are working harder
for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your
home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit
card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach."

Does that sound familiar? You are wrong if you thought it was the MDC's
Morgan Tsvangirai addressing his supporters. It was America's Barak Obama's
acceptance speech for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. I put
"people" where he used "Americans" to give the statement a local flavour.

By Zimbabwean standards, Obama's statement is hyperbolic. We are much
worse off, not least because some of President Robert Mugabe's policies have
been as misguided as are President George Bush's but on a more vulnerable
economy.

"The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that
generations of Americans - Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we
are here to restore that legacy," noted Obama later in his speech.

That foreign policy which Obama condemns has found resonance in much
of our civil society. It has set the standards on governance and human
rights. It has been the benchmark of what democracy is about. American
Democrats have rejected it, including what Obama calls "a misguided war" in
Iraq. Where does that leave those Zimbabweans wedded to the Bush paradigm as
the only way forward for Zimbabwe?

There is more which I find edifying in Obama's speech. It is not the
mudslinging. It is not the name-calling which we call campaigning. It is
Americans' primary sense of being American and a willingness to deal with
their problems as Americans.

Many Americans are angry with the "misguided war" in Iraq and
Afghanistan. It has cost money and thousands of innocent lives - American
and foreign - since 2003. They are furious that billions of dollars are
being wasted fighting unwinnable wars, when the money could have been used
to improve health, education, help victims of Hurricane Katrina and research
into alternative energy sources.

But they are American and do things the American way. Ask many
diehards in the opposition and civic society what they want to happen to
those they blame for the dire state of the economy, and the most illiterate
fellow will glibly tell you about The Hague. Yet the big Western media which
first told us about The Hague is mute when it comes to its failed leaders.

Thus, while Obama is critical of the Bush administration, of which his
presidential Republican rival John McCain has been a member for 26 years, he
is not full of the venomous rancour which often characterises Zimbabwean
politics. He accuses McCain of belonging to the politics of the past while
he represents the future, but American political culture does not dictate
that those who have mismanaged the nation's affairs should be persecuted or
prosecuted. Listening to demands for retribution in our politics today, I
can't even imagine how the liberation war of the 1970s would have ended if
the guerilla movements had threatened death to those who were serving in the
Rhodesian army. Thirty years into Independence and there are dire threats
against fellow Zimbabweans because their failed policies.

I can't think of a nation in the region which has had this kind of
politics. In Tanzania, despite his discredited Ujamaa, Julius Nyerere was
left to die of natural causes. Kamuzu Hastings Banda in Malawi died of
natural causes. Zambia still venerates its founding president, Kenneth
Kaunda. Similarly, I can't think of an ideology more despicable than
apartheid rule in South Africa, yet those of its architects who lived to see
majority rule have never been taken to The Hague.

Where are Zimbabwean politicians missing the point? Does the so-called
change promise an administration of angels or fallible mortals who will also
have to be taken to The Hague to answer for their failures?

To me, more credit is given for ideological differences between Zanu
PF and the MDC than is due to them. Neither violence nor democracy is an
ideology and none of the two parties has a monopoly on either - it is more
of opportunity and access. Corruption and cronyism stink in Zanu PF as much
as it is rank and foul in the MDC.

The singular cause most responsible for the parlous state of our
economy was an unplanned and mismanaged land reform programme, which also
materially affected the interests of foreigners with significant investments
in Zimbabwe. If this dispute were to be resolved by Zimbabweans the American
way, Tsvangirai should be the happiest person that Mugabe has done the dirty
work for him -- at a huge short-term discredit to his legacy. No property
ownership revolution of this magnitude was ever executed with so few
casualties in history, not even the American or French revolutions.
Tsvangirai's focus would be on productivity given all the resources already
invested in farm mechanisation.

The more I read the foreign media's negative focus on that process and
their current efforts to freeze history on the more peaceful but
inconclusive March 29 election result as the only valid benchmark for any
negotiated political settlement in Zimbabwe regardless of the law, the more
I am convinced that the whole post-colonial African history as reflected in
Western media is humbug.

I should be happy if someone could provide me with a convincing
doctrine which shows that Zimbabweans' ownership of their land and minerals
is incompatible with democracy. How come Obama can threaten higher corporate
taxes and tougher measures against speculative behaviour in the American
economy without being told about investor flight? What is needed now is for
the land audits proposed by the MDC to give finality to the ownership
process and ensure only those who are capable and committed receive state
assistance.

But we seem to be losing focus as a nation.

I quote Obama once again. "What has . been lost is our sense of common
purpose - our sense of higher purpose," he said. It is a serious indictment
of ourpolitical leadership that in its preoccupation with politics of petty
revenge and power, they have diverted people's attention from the "common
purpose" of nation-building and the "higher purpose" of "individual and
mutual responsibility" to each other as Zimbabweans.

By Joram Nyathi

Erich Bloch: Gono's Call For Unity

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:27
ADDRESSING the annual Exporter's Conference of Zimtrade last week,
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono was extremely
forthright as to the prerequisites for a metamorphosis of the Zimbabwean
economy.

He stated unequivocally that all political parties must place national
interests first, subordinating the interests of the parties, and of their
hierarchy, to those of Zimbabwe and its people.

He emphasised that politics and the economy are inseparable, stating
that: "Any country's political environment sets the atmosphere of business
expectations that, in turn, find expression in investors' decisions, as well
as production and pricing across the board."

Driving the point home, he said that: "It is imperative, therefore,
that all political formations in the country play their part in setting a
positive tone for business and investment prosperity through the Zimbabwe
first approach in whatever they do."

The timing of his statement was particularly apposite, being when the
extended talks being mediated by Sadc appeared to have frozen in a state of
suspended animation.

Notwithstanding that the talks were conducted in excessively great
secrecy and there was an intense paucity of official statements as to the
progress of the talks, numerous "leaks" of an apparently authoritative
nature indicated that some considerable progress had been made towards
agreement of a government encompassing all the key political groupings.

Nevertheless, it was also very apparent that all were posturing for
maximised advantage, with the most intense being an undoubted intent on the
part of Zanu PF in general, and of the Presidency, the Joint Operations
Command (JOC) and the Politburo in particular, to retain as great an extent
of authority, control and power as possible. In other words, there appears
to have been little genuine commitment to bring about a broad-based
government operating on reciprocal co-operation to further national
interests.

In consequence, there were recurrent interruptions and adjournments of
talks, compounded by a statement by President Mugabe, when opening
Parliament, of an intent imminently to appoint a Cabinet, but he giving no
indication that the composition of that Cabinet would be consistent with the
unity objectives of the inter-party, Sadc driven negotiations.

The endless "tooing and froing", and inconclusiveness, of the talks
has been a very major contributant to the on-going, accelerating, decline of
the already horrendously debilitated economy. On last officially released
figures, month-on-month inflation approximated 869%, and in contrast, actual
month-on-month inflation is estimated currently to exceed 2 000%!

Year-on-year inflation is undoubtedly now well in excess of 20 million
percent, and is rising exponentially. As a result, the majority of
Zimbabweans increasingly are grievously under-nourished and suffering gross
malnutrition.

This diabolical state of national misery has been exacerbated by
government's foolhardy, self-centred, uncaring ban for several months on
importation of the humanitarian aid by numerous international voluntary
organisations.

Government has sought to justify that genocidal action by alleging
that some of the organisations were using their aid distribution in pursuit
of political objectives against the interests of government, and in breach
of legislation precluding foreign funding of Zimbabwean political parties.

Not only was government paranoically deceiving itself in almost all
instances, the majority of the benefactors being solely motivated by the
critical humanitarian needs created by government's disastrous mismanagement
of the economy, but in the rare instance that there may have been substance
to government's contentions, the "culprits" were doing naught different to
that which all too often government itself appears to have resorted to.

Last week, abysmally belatedly, government lifted the humanitarian aid
distribution ban, but only insofar as organisations registered under the
Public Voluntary Organisations Act, and hence many international
humanitarian aid bodies of undoubted high principles remain barred from
assisting Zimbabweans in desperate need.

Moreover, to such limited extent as government itself has sought to
alleviate the national starvation, it has had to do so by recourse to
imports funded from Zimbabwe's horrifically sparce foreign exchange
recourse.

This has been to the cost of the agricultural, mining, industrial,
tourism and many other economic sectors, not only cataclysmically dependant
upon foreign exchange, but who are not only unable to access that foreign
exchange from the interbank market, because of government's rapacious
expropriation of what little flows into that market, but have also found
that their self-generated foreign exchange has been diverted from them.

To all intents and purposes, their lawful funds have been
misappropriated! In consequence, ever more businesses are being forced into
closure, others have had to curtail operations very markedly, unemployment
has intensified immensely, and the economy worsened catastrophically.

Zimbabwean economic wellbeing, and that of Zimbabwean people, is
primarily dependant upon a total recovery of all economic sectors, upon
considerable foreign exchange generation, and vigorous exploitation of
Zimbabwe's very substantial potential wealth.

But achieving this is contingent, first and foremost, upon a radical
change in the political environment for, as stated by Gono, politics and the
economy are inseparable. He said that the hyperinflationary environment,
capacity underutilisation and continued critical shortage of foreign
currency for imported inputs and machinery were many of the challenges . . .
but "it is imperative that as Zimbabweans we realise that now our future
lies squarely in our hands, and our resolve to confront these setbacks
head-on".

While that realisation is a necessity for all Zimbabweans (instead of,
as is very greatly the case, that the majority are so steeped in pessimism,
doom and gloom that such a realisation is wholly suppressed by their total
loss of confidence and morale), the realisation is first and foremost a
requirement of Zimbabwe's politicians in general, and of government in
particular. They must be prepared to subordinate self-interests, ego, and
hunger for power to bringing about genuine national unity, followed by rapid
implementation of positive economic recovery measures. These must include,
as repeatedly urged Gono, a genuine social contract.

They must also include fiscal probity, real autonomy for RBZ,
reconciliation with the international community, economic deregulation,
facilitation and incentivisation of investment, real agricultural recovery
(based upon a constructively modified land reform programme), as well as
much else.

Muckraker: The Day Manheru Got It All Wrong

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:23
Muckraker can only hope that it is not true the rumours we hear about
the proposed new Zimbabwe.

So far the rumour mill is running at full throttle that the new
Speaker of parliament is not a creature of democracy at all. He is a
creature of bribery through money and fuel.

First, Muckraker is told by impeccable sources that there was no
"secret ballot" in parliament to elect the new Speaker. MDC deputy leader
Thokozile Khupe and party chief whip Innocent Gonese did not trust their own
MPs to vote for the party candidate. To ensure they complied with the order,
they were forced like delinquent school kids to show their "secret ballot"
to the party leadership before depositing it in the ballot box.

That's how deep the mistrust is in the party. But they wish it to go
unreported like domestic rape, and it's all rumour by the way.

The issue however goes beyond being a bedroom affair. Independent MP
for Tsholotsho North, Professor Jonathan Moyo says this unprecedented,
unparliamentary spectacle was in breach of Ordinance Number 6 of the House
of Assembly Standing Rules. In other words our parliamentarians started by
breaking rules and laws of the House before they could make them. Welcome to
the new Zimbabwe circus.

We say we hope that the rumour is entirely not true because it is
sounds stranger than fiction, as the saying goes. The breaking of laws and
the rules, so the rumour goes, did not begin on that fateful Monday which
cast Welshman Ncube and Arthur Mutambara adrift.

The rebellion had been brewing for much longer, laced with offers of
money, promises of jobs and postings. The culmination of the rebellion was a
luxury trip for some venal MPs for more luxuries and money at some Botswana
hotel.

By the time they returned from Botswana there was a canyon between
what came out of their mouths and what was in their minds and hearts. There
was red peril for those who believed anything they said. It was like Judas
Iscariot approaching Jesus with that fatal kiss.

So it was that the vote for the Speaker of parliament came the way it
did. They have a very short but telling phrase for it in West Africa: Money
speaks. Unfortunately Zimbabweans will never know what it said for these
people's representatives as we plunge deep into the dark waters of a new
era.

It is a treacherous universe, not least because one paper claims the
outcome of the vote in parliament showed that Mutambara's camp had sided
with Zanu PF, to which Morgan Tsvangirai retorted that it showed "serious
opportunism and a betrayal of the people's project". Hear! Hear!

The big question for our MPs is: will there be enough blood of the
lamb to cleanse the House of its tainted birth? Can we ever trust them to
make honest laws without manipulation?

Saturday, yes, Saturday August 23 before the tricky vote on Monday in
which Mutambara was expected to emerge the kingmaker, is a day on which
Nathaniel Manheru of the Herald got it all wrong.

It started on the front page telling us, "Battle lines drawn over
Speaker's post". The paper claimed all the parties had said they would field
candidates. Zanu PF's secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa reportedly
claimed that although they had identified a Speaker, there was need to
"settle for a single candidate in view of the fact that no single political
party can achieve that without the support of the other party". Either he
wasn't aware that they had been outmanouvred or Mutasa was deliberately
misleading the Herald.

But the game was more serious for Manheru who in his column boasted
about his four university degrees. He said Zanu PF would "die to win" the
Speaker's post. As history will now record it, Zanu PF didn't field a
candidate and Manheru didn't know about it at this late hour. And he is
supposed to be the ear and mouth of the president!

He predicted that Mutambara's formation of the MDC would side with
Zanu PF in the contest. He obviously underestimated the influence of money
over conscience. With the benefit of hindsight, Manheru warned Ncube and
Mutambara portentously this week that "this is no era for the politics of
values and ideals". It was the same ideals and values which split the party
in 2005 by the way. And we call it a new Zimbabwe.

To conclude a bad week, he attributed the novel Weep not Child to
Chinua Achebe. Is this a failure of intelligence or signs of the setting sun
for Manheru?

The Herald on Monday reported that Zanu PF had lifted the ban on party
chairpersons suspended in 2004 over the Tsholotsho debacle because the whole
thing had turned out to be a farce.Mutasa said those who had been suspended
were now free to contest any position during the party's restructuring
exercise.

At the time of the suspensions, Zanu PF's first secretary Robert
Mugabe claimed what the provincial chairpersons had done in trying to
reconfigure the politburo amounted to a "coup plot".

"It has turned out that the whole Tsholotsho declaration was nothing
but a farce," said Mutasa this week. "Nothing like the idea to oust
President Mugabe was discussed at the meeting so the suspensions had to be
lifted."

So simple yet at what cost to the political careers of those affected?
Lesson: no one is sacred in Zanu PF in the service of the master.

Look East policy begins to bear fruit," ran a headline in the Sunday
Mail this week. What fruit was coming?

It took the form of a delegation of bankers and miners from Bangladesh
who are expected to spend at least nine days in the country to "study the
investment climate".

"There are serious investors in that country who are keen to conduct
business in this country," said a director of a local company responsible
for the tour. "We expect a lot of movement after this tour," he said.

Readers should be forgiven if they felt a sense of deja vu at the
heading of the article. That claim about the eastern tree that doesn't bear
fruit has been repeated ad nauseum since 2003 when Zimbabwe left the
Commonwealth. And, as if to drive the point home, the Sunday Mail let us
know that "Bangladesh does not have a diplomatic mission in the country ."

So what can one expect.

As for exploring the investment climate, what serious investor would
want to risk putting his money in a country where there is so much political
uncertainty and where leaders of all the major parties behave as if they own
their supporters?

Zanu PF's national secretary for external relations Kumbirai Kangai
wants "rowdy" MDC MPs who heckled President Mugabe at the official opening
of parliament last week investigated and punished. According to Tuesday's
Herald, Kangai said the MPs' behaviour was "disgraceful and deplorable" and
demanded that they make a formal apology to Mugabe.

Claiming a precedent had been set when former MDC MP for Chimanimani
Roy Bennett was jailed for assaulting Patrick Chinamasa in parliament,
Kangai said parliament should identify those who jeered at Mugabe and "bring
them to book".

Chinamasa, being the pace setter, was on hand to explain what the
noise was about. "The behaviour (of the MPs) was disgraceful," he said, "but
we are not surprised. As you are aware, those elements who were making noise
had a different agenda of effecting illegal regime change in Zimbabwe."

This is a tired propaganda line.

However, when we get to the core of the noise, the MPs made clear what
their problem was. This was also clarified in their petition to Mugabe sent
through the secretary to parliament, Austin Zvoma.

They said they did not recognise Mugabe as the legitimate president.
They also chanted about corruption in Zanu PF.

To them it was time for change, perhaps one of the few occasions they
will be able to confront Mugabe face-to-face. They may have overdone it,
yes, but there had to be a start somewhere. Voters will judge them on the
basis of their performance from now on.

We enjoyed the report in the Herald on Tuesday on schools charging
fees in foreign currency. Most of the schools in urban areas were demanding
fees directly in foreign currency or the equivalent in fuel coupons.

In what can only be described as an act of madness or criminal
wantonness, a junior school in Harare is demanding US$800 while another one
in Bulawayo charges 1 000 litres of fuel per term.

This is discrimination against the poor by any name. Where are all
those organisations which never miss an opportunity to pontificate to us
about human rights? Isn't education a universal right of every child in
Zimbabwe?Strangely, one of the schools caught breaking the law against
charging fees in foreign currency is the ZRP Boarding School. So who will
guard the guards? It makes National Incomes and Pricing Commission chair
Godwills Masimirembwa's job an unenviable task.

The government says it has finished investigations into the operations
of non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe and that all those found to
have flouted the law will soon be summoned to answer for their sins.

Labour and Social Welfare ministry permanent secretary Lacaster Museka
is said to have assured the NGOs that there were no sinister motives in the
ban in the first place.

"The main reason for the exercise was not punitive but to shape the
mode of operation of NGOs in line with what the norm is world over," Museka
was quoted as saying.

"There is nothing to fear as government will soon notify those found
operating outside the law and summon them to explain their operations in
terms of natural justice," he said.

The question he was not asked is why government couldn't carry out its
investigations while NGOs continued their humanitarian activities.

We maybe justified to ask just how many people were affected by the
sudden ban of the NGOs and whether there will be any compensation "in terms
of natural justice"?

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority says it is "battling to restore"
water supplies to all suburbs of Harare. Some of them in the northern areas
have gone for as long as a month "without a drop of water", according to
media reports this week.

Zinwa blames lack of water treatment chemicals and intermittent power
supplies for its delinquent behaviour. Two weeks ago the authority warned
Harare residents that they might experience prolonged water disruptions
because it could not move treatment chemicals from Msasa Park to Motton
Jaffray waterworks in Norton.

We wonder what its employees spend their working day doing because
there are many burst water pipes across the city which go for weeks
unattended to.

One Harare resident summed up the sentiments of many when he retorted:
"What we want is to get water when we turn our taps and not loads and loads
of explanations."

Is that too much to demand of this moribund institution?

Zambia's late president, Levy Mwanawasa was buried on Wednesday in
Lusaka. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was one of several African
leaders present, although Mwanawasa had openly criticised his policies.

On his arrival in Lusaka, Mugabe praised Mwanawasa, state radio
reports say.

"He was very frank and wanted to change not only his country but the
entire southern African region. We will greatly miss him," Mugabe reportedly
said of Mwanawasa.

Well, as much as he would miss the sinking titanic we guess.

Finally, this masterpiece from a football commentator on the match
between Dynamos FC and Ali Ahly on Saturday: "The Dynamos player should have
been substituted in the early hours of the match because he was not in the
right picture frame of mind." We are looking for entries to beat that!

Comment: Zero Growth

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 18:46
WE are in reporting season again for companies quoted on the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange.

Results published to date are reflective of the general malaise in the
economy -- massive growth in zeroes.

All companies which have published their figures to date have
registered phenomenal growth in profit before tax and profit attributable to
shareholders. Basic earnings per share have seen astronomical increases
together with shareholders funds.

Companies' balance sheets have also ballooned as firms have taken to
revaluing assets to keep up with inflation. The huge figures on the
accounts -- with increases as high as 3 million% -- do not in most instances
represent any real growth in quoted companies' core business.

The figures have little to do with real performance. Basic metrics
will show that in a number of counters, the huge figures actually show
operating losses which would have fed right down to the bottom line had it
not been for meticulous fair value adjustment to investments and other
assets.

For many companies, the asset manager has become more important than
the colleagues in operations.

Banks which have made phenomenal growth have in real terms shrunk
substantially to the extent that their combined strength today is inadequate
compared to capital requirements of the manufacturing sector.

Building societies cannot provide mortgage finance for real estate
developments while insurance companies have resorted to raising funds from
operations across borders to provide the little cover to local institutions
and properties.

All companies in these sectors, including factories whose plant and
equipment have been cold for the greater part of the financial year, will
announce profits and growth.

It is business gone awry. But, the quadrillions and quintillions have
become fodder for bureaucratic propagandists who see economic growth in the
figures. Figures are deceptive and the hyperinflationary environment has
created a false sense of wealth to investors who are reaping huge gains on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange daily. The story of growth on the bourse has
become a soporific ode whose discordant refrain is at variance with the real
state of this economy.

Companies which have recorded huge gains are however aware of the
parlous state of this economy. This is amply demonstrated in commentary
annexed to sets of accounts. A glance through board chairmen's statements
reveals that business is clamouring for revolutionary change in policy.

Albeit sounding coy in censuring government, big business knows where
the problem is. CBZ's Richard Wilde had this to say about government policy:
"There is however need to urgently put in place and implement policies that
help shore up investor/business confidence in the economy.

"Among other policy measures, there is need to undertake policy review
with regards to price controls as these are creating arbitrage opportunities
thereby fuelling the parallel market.

The removal of price controls in addition to the engagement of the
international community for balance of payment support will go a long way in
boosting market confidence."

FBC Holdings chair Herbert Nkala in his statement concurred, saying
his "group looks forward to the implementation of a package of robust
policies and unity of purpose that will engender progress and success for
the country".

One would be quick to dismiss the aspirations of business as the same
old record stuck in a groove but the cry for policy review is indicative of
serious institutional weakness which has taken hold in this country. In the
rebuilding process, restoring institutional vitality is important.

The rebuilding stage of this economy will inevitably involve restoring
the physical infrastructure and providing humanitarian relief and reliable
utilities.

Parallel to this should be a deliberate plan for domestic
decision-makers, business leaders, social actors, and international donors
to come together to recreate institutions requisite for a more positive
future.

We share the sentiments contained in recent paper by the Center for
International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of the US Chamber of
Commerce.

It said: "In the absence of such broad-based social involvement in
day-to-day political and economic decision-making, a true market economy
fails to develop, and corrupt crony capitalism takes its place, with a
handful of special interest groups monopolising access to policymakers and
manipulating the game to their own advantage."

This is where we are as a nation today and it's reflected in the
myriad bonehead policy decisions which have seen the growth in zeros and
little else.

Editor's Memo: A Stalemate We Cannot Afford

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com


Thursday, 04 September 2008 19:20
 ZIMBABWE cannot afford the current talks stalemate between Zanu PF
and the two formations of the MDC.

It is common cause to all fair-minded Zimbabweans that there is no
other choice out of the current crisis besides dialogue. There is too much
at stake and there is no doubt that reason should prevail among the
principal actors to the negotiations being mediated by South African
president Thabo Mbeki.

Sadc, which facilitated the negotiations, has already endorsed a
framework of the deal the parties agreed to nearly a month ago, which
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai later refused to sign and threw back the
document to President Robert Mugabe, Mbeki and the leader of the smaller
faction of the MDC, Arthur Mutambara.

The three principals are yet to sign the deal, leaving many
Zimbabweans asking what the future holds for them. The way forward can only
be secured if the players put the country on the top of their personal
agendas.

Mugabe believes that Zimbabwe is less secure if power is transferred
or shared in a manner that will reduce his current profile and status as the
ultimate protector of sovereignty. Tsvangirai believes that the proposal on
the table will render him an agent and not a principal. He will be
accountable to the very man he sought to remove and may ultimately face the
same fate as the late Vice-president Joshua Nkomo.

The current economic crisis has unfolded under Mugabe's watch and
there is no evidence to suggest that he has any plan to salvage the country
from its quagmire. Political analysts and commentators have been arguing
that it is up to him to give way to a new generation, but unfortunately
Mugabe does not believe that Tsvangirai represents the change that he can
believe in. With the international community having delegated resolution of
the Zimbabwean crisis to African leaders through Sadc, and to an extent the
African Union, I strongly believe this must compel Tsvangirai to come to the
party sooner rather than later.

There is no doubt that there will be a diplomatic offensive to
encourage Tsvangirai to sign the agreement. Whether he will resist or not
remains to be seen.

However, it is now emerging that Tsvangirai's position has no traction
with the Sadc leaders let alone the AU.

Tsvangirai remains popular, but time has come for him to make the
choice. It appears that the proposal on the table when properly analysed can
still achieve the objective that many would accept as a way forward.

Under the proposal, Zanu PF will have 15 ministers, MDC-T 13; and
MDC-M 4 making the opposition the majority. If Tsvangirai can cut a deal
with Mutambara then it does not appear as if Mugabe will have room to
manoeuvre.

Just as Zanu PF discovered that they could not influence the Speaker's
election, it should now be obvious that there is a price to any misbehavior
by either Mugabe or Tsvangirai. This is the first time Mugabe is in a
position where he cannot get what he wants.

If the March 29 power configuration is entrenched then it may not be
necessary for Tsvangirai to insist on executive powers when he has already
shown that he can prevail in the case of the Speaker. He has also
demonstrated that without his signature, Sadc cannot close the Zimbabwe
issue.

Sadc cannot do more than the people of Zimbabwe have already done.
They have given control of parliament to the opposition and the failure of
the opposition to find each other at a defining moment cannot surely be
blamed on Sadc. The opposition leaders must accept some of the
responsibility and if they are not careful they risk being rendered
irrelevant.

Surely, executive powers must be aligned to the control of the house
of assembly. To the extent that Tsvangirai now controls parliament, it
should be time for him to pause and think carefully whether the standoff
would be sustainable based on the March 29 results for him to proceed to
control the executive as well, particularly in the knowledge that the Senate
is controlled by Zanu PF. The March 29 results have sufficiently balanced
power to the extent that any fear of the Zapu experience may be exaggerated.

Sadc has accepted that Zanu PF is part of the solution and, therefore,
it is unlikely that they will put any more pressure on Mugabe. It is up to
Tsvangirai and Mutambara to think hard and fast about what they need to do
to move the country forward.

Some have argued that Mutambara is an opportunist and, therefore, must
be ignored. However, he remains the president of his party and it would be
foolhardy to ignore him and his colleagues. In the final analysis it may be
necessary for Tsvangirai to reach out to those who have identified with the
change agenda first before seeking to cut a deal with Zanu PF.

Zimbabweans abandon offices for streets

http://www.nation.co.ke

By LO TAONGA NATION Correspondent HARARE,

Posted Thursday, September 4 2008 at 20:08

Cyprian Mangwiro sits outside Macs Supermarket at Parktown Shopping Centre
in the low-density suburb of Waterfalls in, Harare and waves expansively at
the three rows of bread that surrounds his makeshift shop, fashioned out of
brick and sheets of plastic.

It's school opening day, but the 41-year-old, primary school teacher has not
reported for work insisting "only a fool will continue with an employer who
does not care whether his or her employer survives or not."

Mr Mangwiro is angry at having to abandon his office - and classroom- to
join the many illegal hawkers who have literary reduced Zimbabwean to a
nation of vendors.

"My salary was $934 in August, which was not even enough to buy a single
breakfast at a modest restaurant, and with government not reviewing the
salaries this month, it means I will be getting the same amount in
September.

''I make the same amount, my salary, after selling three loaves of bread, so
I have decided enough is enough, it's better this way, being a vendor on the
streets than to go to an office and not be able to look after my family," Mr
Mangwiro says.

He hands yet another crusty loaf to a customer, who complains about being
"ripped off" by vendors, who have invaded the open space at the shopping
centre, selling such scarce basic commodities as milk, cooking oil, salt,
sugar and during the early evening, even fresh meat.

Once a neat centre serving the affluent members of the Waterfalls community,
Parktown Shopping Centre now swarms with vendors of every shape and size,
who accost shoppers who would otherwise have come to OK Supermarket, only to
be mocked by bare shelves and bewildered workers apparently pondering a life
in the ranks of the unemployed.

Brisk business

And enjoying brisk business, just beside Mr Mangwiro's stall is Beulah
Mutsvene, who says she was with the civil service before she quit her
employment to peddle wares on the streets.

"A loaf of bread costs between $300-$500, and last month, I was paid a
salary of $600. I make ten times more than my previous salary, in half a
day, so what is the point of going to work?

"Transport costs alone far exceeded my net salary by the end of the month,
and for me to pay for my rent and other expenses, it was a real nightmare,
so after a lot of soul-searching, here I am, on the streets selling whatever
I can lay my hands on

"But at least I am making enough money to afford two full meals a day and
send my child to school, and to also pay the rent," said Ms Mutsvene.

Both Mr Mangwiro and Ms Mutsvene are but two examples of former Zimbabwean
workers who have quit formal work for self-employment, as the country's
record inflation - which stands officially at 11.2 million per cent- has
eroded incomes, to make salaries the butt of jokes in the work place and
other public places.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is ready to go ahead and form
a cabinet if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai does not sign a
power-sharing deal on Thursday, state media reported, adds Reuters.

Mr Tsvangirai's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
responded by saying any attempts by Mugabe to pressure it into an agreement
would fail. "Where on earth have you seen dialogue held on the basis of
threats and ultimatum?

They want to bully us into an agreement, but that's completely
 unacceptable," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters.

Zimbabwean state media have described talks on Thursday as the last chance
for Tsvangirai to agree to a deal to end post-election political deadlock
that has worsened Zimbabwe's decline.

MISA communiqué on meeting with IFJ

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3492

September 5, 2008

3 September 2008

THE Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Programme Specialist:
Media Freedom Monitoring, Rashweat Mukundu met with the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Secretary General Aidan White at the
MISA-Zimbabwe offices on 4 September 2008.

The meeting initiated by the IFJ centred on statements allegedly made by the
IFJ questioning the relevance of media and advocacy organisations, MISA and
Media Monitoring Project in resolving challenges facing the Zimbabwe media
crisis. Mr White queried the above statements stating that on the contrary
he does value the wok of MISA and MMPZ but that the Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists as the union of journalists in Zimbabwe should be given space to
work on issues affecting journalists in terms of professional challenges.

He also stated that IFJ works with ZUJ and he had limited time to meet all
bodies hence his failure to meet MISA, MMPZ among others on his fact finding
mission to Zimbabwe. In response Mukundu stated that he does not agree that
there are any divergent policy issues amongst media organisations in
Zimbabwe. He added that MISA appreciates the work of ZUJ and played a key
role in supporting ZUJ set up its secretariat. IFJ expressed concern at
being questioned by journalists at the Quill Club, why it did not meet all
media organisations in Zimbabwe.

IFJ stated that it felt these statements, questioning its fact finding
mission were coming from MISA. MISA responded that it had not made any
statements to this effect, and that MISA had no official representation at
any of IFJ meetings in Zimbabwe. MISA-Zimbabwe also expressed concern at the
statements attributed to IFJ on the role of MISA, MMPZ and the Media
Alliance of Zimbabwe in realising media and freedom of expression issues in
Zimbabwe stating that media organisations in Zimbabwe have strived to work
together to achieve common goals.

The IFJ Secretary General said he met The Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Information and Publicity, George Charamba. In his discussion
with Charamba, White says Charamba promised to look at a consolidated media
analysis and alternative policy document from the media industry in
Zimbabwe. A recording of Mr White's presentation at the journalists Quill
Club indicates while he questioned the representation of issues in Zimbabwe
by the International media, he also said that the international media
reporting on Zimbabwe mitigated a potentially worse situation.

More black casualties in Mugabe's ego-fight with whites

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/farm73.18715.html

By Kudakwashe Marazanye
Last updated: 09/06/2008 01:05:55
NOW that the two political protagonists are talking to each other in a bid
to find a political solution which should subsequently lead to economic
recovery in Zimbabwe, it is important that the nation gets to find out the
reasons behind the economic sanctions that have been imposed on the country.
This is because; the country is indeed under sanctions, which affect the
economy and everybody in the country.

The sanctions do not only affect those against whom they are allegedly
targeted. The sanctions were imposed after the implementation of the land
reform programme. As a result, I think we should as a point of departure
know the country's policy on land reform, itself the main reason for the
imposition of economic sanctions.

What is the country's policy in regard to land reform? How is land
identified and how are beneficiaries identified?

Previously, it was said that the land reform was meant to inter alia
decongest the communal areas by way of creating A2 model farms, whereby
communal farmers relocated from the communal areas would be given slightly
larger plots to practice their trade.

There was also the policy of creating a black commercial farming cadre to
buttress the already existing white commercial farmers so that we do not as
a country have only one racial group monopolising commercial farming
activity.

It would appear that these otherwise well-intentioned policies have been all
but abandoned as evidence on the ground shows that land distribution has
sadly been reduced from an orderly policy-driven exercise to a process
whereby influential blacks go around scouting for and cherry picking the
best farms and then influencing the issuance of the necessary papers by the
office of the Minister of Lands and Land Resettlement Didymus Mutasa.

It may well be that the majority of beneficiaries of the acquired white
farms meant to create a black commercial farming corps are influential black
people in the army, civil service, judiciary and other sectors. Mind you,
these "new farmers" have not left their other professions to become fulltime
farmers.

I thought as a nation we should have full time farmers to put our land to
full productive use, to feed the nation, just as we should have
professionals in other fields on a fulltime basis to serve the nation.

There is no evidence that there is any attempt to identify suitable, able
and/or willing communal farmers to avail A2 land to. There is also no
evidence that there is any effort to identify suitable, able and/or willing
black would-be commercial farmers for the availing of land to them to
constitute a cadre of black commercial farmers as envisaged by the policy of
creating black commercial farmers to partner existing commercial farmers.

Another policy pronouncement on the land reform was to the effect that the
government's land reform programme was non-racial and therefore all white
farmers who wanted to continue farming would be given land to farm so long
as they appreciated the need to share the land with their black
counterparts.

But events on the ground seem to suggest that whites are not wanted on the
land as white commercial farmers are just being removed from the land if
some influential black person identifies their property as their preferred
farm.

It was also said initially that whites with one farm would be spared
acquisition while those with more than one farm would be left with only one.
Again events on the ground indicate that if you are white, you may have your
only farm acquired if an influential black person wants it. Also if a white
farmer has more than one farm, they may well lose all of the farms and be
left with nothing.

Overally, the land reform as presently carried out aims at removing all
whites from the land and replacing them with blacks who have connections in
the political hierarchy who in the main are gainfully employed elsewhere and
have not made up their minds to become full time farmers.

Science and Technology Deputy Minister Patrick Zhuwawo recently said at a
rally that no black person will fail to get land as long as there are white
farmers still on the land. In other words, whites will be moved off the land
even to their destitution to make way for a black person who may want the
land for purposes of enhancing his prestige.

It is important that the government should promulgate a credible policy on
land reform and stick to it in implementing land reform. The practice of
driving out whites from the farms simply because of their race may well be
interpreted as blatant reverse racism, which is frowned upon by the
international community. This could explain (I don't know about justify) the
sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union on the country. It
does not help us to punish the EU and US's kith and kin -- the white
farmers -- by vindictively driving them off the land in retaliation for the
sanctions imposed on us.

Having ill-treated the West's kith and kin on the farms here, how do we
expect their cousins who control the money in the IMF, the World Bank and
other donor organisations to give us money? We are simply starting a war we
have no capacity to win. So when Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon
Gono issues a clarion call to all Zimbabweans to denounce sanctions and work
towards their removal, he might do well to look at our own actions which
might have given reason for the imposition of sanctions.

It does not help us as a nation to persecute white farmers and generally
drive white Zimbabwean citizens out of the country simply on the basis of
their race, when we are living in a world which loathes racism and where we
have many of our sons and daughters earning a living in the white world
unmolested.

We need to retain the moral high ground in our fight with the British over
their refusal to honour the Lancaster House Agreement as it relates to land
reform, just as we had the moral high ground in our fight against
colonialism and apartheid.

We need to show the world that here is a powerful white world unfairly
ganging up against and bullying little Zimbabwe for simply insisting on
having whites in Zimbabwe share land with their black countrymen.

Grandstanding as the world's "mangindaba" (Mr. I-know-it-all), who can
humiliate the Whiteman with impunity, can only bring trouble for us as a
people. We will no doubt get a place in history as the only African "amadoda
sibili" (real men) who humiliated the all-powerful Whiteman, to satisfy our
ego, but it is hardly worth the price. For, history will record that we
killed a dozen white men, humiliated a couple of thousands, killed 200 of
our black brothers and tortured thousands more who were not sufficiently
enthusiastic in defending our noble cause of humiliating the Whiteman as
they dared vote for his (the Whiteman's) puppets.

History will also record that in retaliation, the Whiteman imposed sanctions
which all but destroyed Zimbabwe's economy and in the process destroyed the
lives and livelihoods of millions of Zimbabweans. So overally, the black man
comes out the loser in this ego fight, as there are more black casualties
than there are whites.

Because of the moral high ground that we enjoyed in our fight against
apartheid and colonialism, we managed to rally world opinion against
apartheid and colonialism. We had the whole world's moral support. As a
matter of fact, some whites (especially in the Scandinavian countries) gave
freedom fighters money and other forms of material support to prosecute a
war against whites, with white casualties.

Regrettably, we have not been able to get everybody supporting us in our
noble fight for land reform. Could it be that we come out as vindictive and
out to punish whites in the process of redistributing land? That we are
driven more by racist vindictiveness than by the desire to right a wrong?

To demonstrate that we were more interested in inflicting pain on the
Whiteman than on equitably redistributing land, we totally disregarded the
recommendations of the 1998 Harare Donors Conference on Land Reform and
proceeded to redistribute land in a manner calculated to humiliate and
strike fear into the heart of the white man.

Otherwise how do you justify the very commonplace practice whereby a black
person goes to a farm where produce is ready for harvesting and proceeds to
claim the crop, the livestock, the tractors and other vehicles on the farm
all in the in name of land reform? This is not land reform comrades. This is
unconscionable. I think this is the white world's main gripe against the way
we have gone about implementing our land reform, which gripe has not been
openly articulated because of the moral inhibitions placed on the Westerners
by apartheid and colonial guilt.

I know we are dealing with our sworn enemy here "mabhunu" against whom our
rallying cry during the fight against apartheid was "Kill The Boer Kill The
Farmer" (ANC), or "One Settler One Bullet" (PAC). It is also true that these
whites treated us a lot worse than we are treating them, but the world in
the 21st century has changed and will not tolerate racism anywhere. So we
might have to change course in the way we are implementing our land reform
to get sanctions removed.

Kudakwashe Marazanye writes from Harare

40,8m kg of tobacco sold on auction floors

Ayittey has no idea what he is talking about

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=3475

September 5, 2008

By Clapperton Mavhunga

Dear George,

PLEASE, excuse me, George Ayittey, but you seem to believe seriously that
Zimbabweans, especially Zimbabwean intellectuals and the opposition are
clueless about what exactly is taking place.

I think you are just flat out wrong and possibly clueless about the
complexity of the Zimbabwean situation, and you are in danger of
overestimating your intellectual powers and undermining the democratic
struggle Zimbabweans and pro-Zimbabweans are waging.

In case you were not reading this website for a while, perhaps you would
need to know that, starting with the editor, the Zimbabweans-both of
citizenship and of heart-who frequent this site have been dealing with
issues in a far more nuanced manner than you are coming with.

You start from a very high perch, positioning yourself up there with your
PhD, and then talking down the opposition and the entire democratic movement
in my country. (As you might perhaps not be aware, Zimbabweans are
increasingly petulant about people who intimidate opinion by peddling their
professional qualifications. They are not against educated people per se,
but believe that such intellect should be self-reflective in the words
uttered, the deeds done.)

After introducing yourself, you go on to say "we seem to be totally
incapable of doing anything about" the unfolding crisis in Zimbabwe, thereby
belittling the sacrifices villagers down in Mudzi are enduring in the face
of utter brutality from a government that ought to be protecting them. I
think you are in danger of assuming that Zimbabweans can only endure
victimisation as a matter of course, but are not "doing anything" to get out
of it. I think it is a false assumption.

The very fact that these talks have "collapsed" - which is open to debate
because insisting on conditions being met is not exactly a signification of
failure - is a sign of the fervent debate and sharing of ideas on strategy
between the MDC leadership and concerned Zimbabweans not aspiring for
office. Point: the stalemate is not a sign of "doing nothing" but is a
result of a strategy which you are missing.

The faults you attribute to the opposition cannot go unchallenged, because
they have the potential to distort the facts on the ground. In your world,
it is easy to blame the opposition for its division without specifying who
exactly in the opposition was at fault and the role of 'third parties'
opposed to democracy. (I am not exactly sure that such an assumption is news
to Zimbabweans). I worry that it is designed to make the democratic movement
in Zimbabwe appear stupid and power-hungry.

Are you really familiar with the deconstruction of Arthur Mutambara and
Simba Makoni that Zimbabweans have been doing in the past eight months? You
seem to pose very lame questions which Zimbabweans have already resolved.
Your logic becomes questionably flawed when you ask: "And if Mugabe has
brought in Arthur, why didn't we call his bluff by insisting on bringing in
Simba Makoni, church leaders and civil society group leaders because that's
where Morgan's real power lies?"

I do not know exactly what you mean by "we", but the logic you propose
assumes that Simba Makoni et al are in the same camp as the rest of the
opposition. You need to apprise yourself of these debates; otherwise you are
in danger of trivializing the painstaking investigative journalism the
editor of the Zimbabwe Times undertook to shed light on the role of Simba
Makoni, Jonathan Moyo, and Mutambara in splitting the opposition in the
run-up and after the March 29 plebiscite.

Zimbabweans may take very grave exception to your spurious lumping of Morgan
Tsvangirai with Arthur and Mugabe, because you are in danger of dismissing
the entire opposition movement in the country as being driven by personal
power. This is a downright falsification of the position Tsvangirai has
adopted at the talks. To be frank, your comparison of the talks with Charles
Taylor and Laurent Kabila is completely irrelevant to Zimbabweans, who might
be more interested with what happened to Joshua Nkomo and Zapu, which were
swallowed up by Mugabe's Zanu-PF in 1987.

Lest you not be aware, Tsvangirai's standing firm is not just something he
is doing for his personal power because he knows if he gets a token position
as prime minister he will be ditched by the masses. Those analysts who
really know what is happening in Zimbabwe, and not some fly-by-night
'experts on Africa' who seek to derive intellectual fame from analyzing
people's suffering, will tell you that Tsvangirai's resistance to agreeing a
deal is exactly what the suffering masses want him to do. What is the point
of having one's wife or mother raped while you watch, and having all your
houses and grain burnt to the ground, only to see the same leader you are
fighting for capitulating to a stupid deal which lands him upstairs while
leaving you to the mercy of the murderers?

Now when Tsvangirai holds firm and decides he would rather much forfeit the
power and stand for and be with the masses, which have been tortured, raped,
and murdered, you say he is power-hungry? Good heavens Ayittey, which planet
are you visiting us from?

The second 'blunder' you allege Zimbabweans to be committing is not
something new to these columns. I think you should have gone to the
'archives' section and familiarized yourself with the discussions before
bursting into the front page as you do. You are accusing the opposition of
not paying attention to the way opposition parties elsewhere have behaved.
Granted; but which Africans really believed Zimbabweans to be sane when they
opposed Mugabe just a few months ago?

Drunk with the ideals of pan-Africanism, Africa shut its ears from the cries
of Zimbabweans that their pan-Africanist superhero was extracting with his
militias. The biggest cheerleaders were none other than your Ghananian
countrymen and women, who cheered Mugabe in Kumasi and Accra and called
Zimbabweans names. You are trying to build a bridge that we of Zimbabwe and
our friends abroad have already built by ourselves, by-passing what we saw
as an African continent throwing all manner of obstacles in our pathway to
true freedom.

Where exactly were you Dr. Ayittey when the likes of Chiminya and Mabika
were murdered in cold blood? Now you come with all these wild theories and
examples from all and sundry, from Sierra Leone to Sudan to South Africa to
Kenya, plain-loads and shiploads of them. Are you not aware that we have
already exhausted that discussion on our way to advising the political
leadership in the democratic movement on how to handle the negotiations? Do
you not think it odd that you should be lecturing an audience whose country
has the most educated citizens on the continent, if not the entire Third
World?

Perhaps we should orientate you on why the jostling over cabinet positions
matters in Zimbabwe. Here is a piece of history: From 1980 to 1987, Dr.
Joshua Nkomo, the late leader of Zapu, which fought together with Zanu to
end Rhodesian rule, was chased around like a pest in the country he had led
to independence. Around 20,000 of people suspected to be his followers were
butchered by the state. Nkomo was forced to the negotiating table. Thinking
that it would purchase peace and life for his followers, he signed himself
and Zapu into extinction as political forces. Zimbabwe became a de facto one
party state.

Nkomo had, prior to 1987, resisted a portfolio as Home Affairs Minister
which did not have executive power. In 1987 he was given a vice-presidency
whose power on the presidium was neutralized by the Zanu vice-presidency -
and the presidency. All executive powers were reposted in the President's
Office.

Ayittey, do you see why this jostling is necessary and why "nobody is
satisfied with what they get and why the wrangling continues"? Do you see
why "Everybody wants the ministry of defense and finance portfolios"? Your
suggestion that more cabinet posts be created is beside the point, given
that we know who won on March 29 and who lost and then ran a one-man race
after bludgeoning voters into the mountain hide-outs.

In fact, in case you have not heard, it is exactly the Kenya-style GNU that
Zimbabweans are aware of and oppose furiously. The opposition is insisting
on its position precisely because we are Zimbabwe, and not a cope-out of
Kenya. I think that you jumped to the deep-end of this discussion without
familiarizing yourself with the discourse in Zimbabwe. A good starting point
would be to log onto internet chat-rooms, internet radio discussions, and
online newspaper forums or comments on articles to educate yourself.

You are naïve in thinking that the MDC does not know about the enemy. In
fact it displays your serious ignorance on the self-help project of
democracy that Zimbabweans are doing in spite of the resistance of Africa to
imminent change. This is why I find your intervention disturbing: having
struggled all by ourselves all along, against our own dictatorship by a
person some of you worshipped throughout Africa as a hero, now some
outsiders who have no clue what it means to suffer at the hands of a rogue
state, suddenly emerge with a "we" caption to own "our" struggle and teach
us how to know "our" enemy and which friends to choose!

Let's get real, Ayittey. Morgan Tsvangirai survived being dropped from the
top of a multi-storey building. Morgan Tsvangirai, Lovemore Madhuku, Tendai
Biti, Grace Kwinjeh, Sekai Holland, William Bango and others were left for
dead when "arrested" in the course of leading this struggle. Do not tell
Zimbabweans that these men and women do not know the enemy. You speak from
your book; they act from the experience and vision of their scars. You sound
to me like a Monday morning quarterback. I have known some Che Guevaras who
fight heroic battles and triumph, if only they were not doing so in their
imagination or art book.

Zimbabweans are far advanced in this thing called "struggle for freedom".
The war against Smith was fought by rural women and children, and those men
who were left in the rural areas to support guerrillas with guns. Perhaps we
are now cowards. Or maybe a new generation of guerrillas has arisen which
fights from behind the laptop, via internet, from virtual cover. Perhaps it
is just that Zimbabweans are now very smart, and know how to apply smart
sanctions on their oppressors. Here is how it is happening Ayittey - you let
the world know who Mugabe is. You define him to the world at your own terms
and isolate him. You know he loves to travel, so you make him unwelcome. You
know Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, so you lock Zimbabwe through
networking with the social movement in the region, in Africa, in the world,
piece by piece, one day at a time, until the guy has no friends.

You make the economy the biggest opposition to Mugabe, knowing that this is
a landlocked country. He will scream all he likes, invite the Chinese in
their thousands, but he will succumb. Eventually, even those who think he is
a friend will have to choose between their personal friendship and their
country's welfare and their own careers. They too will ditch him. It
happened to Ian Douglas Smith in 1979, and he fell.

So do not for a moment think we are asleep, Ayittey. You are living in Fool's
Paradise if you think that "It is Mugabe who is calling all the shots". He
has already lost the plot. He can form whatever government he wants, but the
economy is his worst enemy and most formidable opposition. Each second we
speak, he is losing friends. Soon, even SADC will say: "Enough". South
Africa will lose the 2010 World Cup unless it deals with Mugabe. It has sunk
almost USD 1 billion into this project. If the Cup goes, Mbeki will be
impeached.

Who told you that the opposition in Zimbabwe has no Plan B, C, or D? Since
when has it happened in Zimbabwean political history that the opposition
does not have Plan B, C or D? Do you honestly think that if the MDC had such
plans it would reveal them in public? Your conclusion that "it seems the
opposition has no such alternative plans" is an insult to Zimbabweans. If
you are looking for a consultancy job from the opposition, then this is a
very bad letter of application.

When was the last time the MDC called for and held street protests? You
supply a litany of solutions: "Shut down the civil service. Shut down the
internal transportation system. Shut down the universities. Civil servants
strike, doctors strike, lecturers strike, students strike, newspapers
strike, farmers strike, etc. etc." Yet, have you followed carefully the
democratic struggle on the ground over the last six years? Has it ever
occurred to you that the Progressive Teachers Union, doctors, nurses, and
lecturers have been bleeding the treasury dry through intermittent strikes?
Right now as we speak, they are again on strike.

You seem to think that while "the MDC" has been fighting for them, "the
PEOPLE have patiently waited for change or an improvement in their living
conditions". In doing so, you are re-entrenching the same kind mentality
that Zanu-PF has paraded about since 1980: that "the freedom fighters"
fought for us while we were on some nice holiday in Hawaii. It is hurtful
for you to say that "nothing has been achieved by the opposition", something
in sharp contrast to what the people themselves on the ground are saying.
Whose opinion did you seek, or are you looking at this as a distant observer
detached from the fact that there is no distinction between "the MDC" and
"the people".

Contrary to what you think, the MDC has no need to do any "soul-searching"
right now. That sort of luxury is reserved for observers, not soldiers in
combat against a weakening enemy facing a cross-section of massive support
internally and externally.

The suggestion you make resembles that which another "visitor" to Zimbabwe,
Arthur Mutambara, has posited, namely that "Its tactics aren't working. A
clear distinction needs to be made between an objective and the tactics or
means of achieving that objective". Very powerful words, indeed, but just
words. Zimbabweans love what Tsvangirai is doing right now. I have not seen
so many intellectuals rally around someone who has been criticized by the
chest-beating "PhDs" as an "intellectual midget" than I am seeing now. I
have not seen such resilience from villagers; unlike the 1970s when
"sellouts" were subjected to violence, the MDC is using the power of
persuasion to rally the masses to democracy.

Ayittey, you will be better served to know that as Zimbabweans, we are THE
neighbors of South Africa. CODESA happened right on our doorstep, far far
away from Accra or Kumasi. We have heard the allegation that the MDC
receives strategic and tactical advice from Washington and London from
Zanu-PF. You reveal your true credentials and identity when you say "It is
externally-oriented".

We have heard it all before, from fellow Africans who can't just get it:
that we are fighting for our own freedom from tyranny, demanding that
Zanu-PF delivers on the promise its guerrillas made to our parents when
demanding that they slaughter their last chicken, goat or cattle so that
they fight Smith energetically with their AK-47 in the 1970s. We reserve the
right to choose our own allies in this struggle, just as Zanu chose China in
the 1970s and is looking externally in that direction as we speak. After
all, what are eyes for if they were not made to look outwards!

The high-sounding ideals of "sovereignty" you speak about count for nothing
for those whose relatives have been killed, raped, and tortured for
demanding a freedom the nationalists offered when fighting Smith, but took
away instead, for themselves. This is where we as Zimbabweans profoundly
disagree with Africa: to hell with your holier-than-thou Pan-Africanism that
has become a shield to hide the heinous oppression and butchering of
innocent women and children.

You are lying blatantly that, "The logistics of securing international
sanctions, condemnations and embargoes are daunting. How long do you think
it would take the United Nations to impose sanctions against the Mugabe
regime, assuming no country would veto that resolution?" What you do not see
is that through exposing the brutality of the regime, Zimbabweans have
successfully imposed international sanctions on Mugabe. They will lock him
inside Zimbabwe, and lock the economy if they for just a month elect not to
send any money home. It is a fact.

The true intentions of your article are revealed in these three lines: "Time
is not on the side of the MDC. People are rapidly losing faith in its
ability to deliver change. And if people lose faith in the MDC, they will
start "looking elsewhere" - even at rebel leaders." What a pathetic lie! At
no time has the MDC had so much time on its hands. It is Mugabe who is
running out of time. The economic noose is tightening. People are fully
behind the stance Tsvangirai is taking, and they do not want their relatives'
blood to have been spilled in vain.

This is a slow war of attrition, and they are dead already anyway.

Mr. Editor, Zimbabweans at heart and of citizenship should concentrate on
the good work they are doing on this and other websites in providing an
important discussion of our situation. I worry that the likes of George
Ayittey may distract us from this important discussion unnecessarily and
must be rebutted with firmness.

I am only doing my duty to my country and fellow democrats.

SA to deport illegal immigrants end of September

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent Friday 05 September 2008

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa said it will start deporting illegal immigrants
at the end of this month, the deadline for closure of temporary shelters
erected for thousands of displaced foreigners following the May xenophobic
attacks.

"The issue of deportation will only kick in and apply to those who were here
in the country legally," government spokesperson Themba Maseko told
reporters in Pretoria after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Some displaced immigrants who have legal documentation are reluctant to
return to their former communities and will have to find alternative
accommodation.

"Government once again calls on communities, community organisations,
religious formations and civil society in general to work with (refugees) to
ensure their reintegration into communities," Maseko said.

Foreign nationals were displaced from their communities when a violent wave
of xenophobic attacks broke out in Johannesburg's Alexandra township of the
poor before spreading across the country in May. - ZimOnline