Zim Online
Friday 24 November
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's unofficial foreign
exchange is set to plunge to 4
000 local dollars against the United States
dollar by year-end before
dipping further to 180 000 to the greenback by
December 2007 unless there is
a drastic shift in economic policy, a leading
Harare economist has warned.
The bulk of foreign currency in
crisis-hit Zimbabwe is traded on the
unofficial and illegal but thriving
parallel market.
In an economic paper released last week, a copy of
which is in the
possession of ZimOnline, prominent consultant economist John
Robertson
projects that the parallel market exchange rate could depreciate
to 4 000 by
December 31 on the back of pressure from money supply
growth.
The US unit is currently trading at 2 000 Zimbabwe dollars
on the
parallel market being fueled by the central Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ)'s
insistence on maintaining a cap on the official inter-market
exchange rate.
The official rate has been pegged at 250 Zimbabwe
dollars to the
greenback since 31 July when RBZ governor Gideon Gono issued
a mid-year
review of the country's monetary policy.
"The fixed
exchange rate will have to give way eventually, as it has
done often before,
but while it remains fixed it is discouraging efforts to
earn foreign
exchange, particularly now that the Reserve Bank is requiring
exporters to
surrender 32.5 percent of their foreign earnings at the
official exchange
rate," said Robertson.
Robertson's projections - which are premised
on the assumption that
the RBZ would continue to lose the battle against
money supply growth - also
show the American unit trading on the parallel
market at 11 000, 34 000 and
90 000 Zimbabwe dollars by March, June and
September 2007, respectively.
Inflation, which President Robert
Mugabe says is Zimbabwe's enemy
number one, is also expected to track
movements in the exchange rate, rising
to 1 356 percent for November and 1
636 percent by year-end.
The country currently has the highest rate
of inflation in the world
at 1 070.2 percent.
The economist's
inflation forecast is, however, lower than the 4 000
percent-plus rate by
December being projected by the International Monetary
Fund.
But Robertson sees Zimbabwe's annualised inflation peaking at 5 742
percent
in September 2007 before gradually declining to close the year on
just over
4 000 percent.
"If government remains on its current track,
inflation rates are
likely to rise by more than 40 percent a month in the
final quarter of 2006
and the first half of 2007," said Robertson in the
commentary titled The
Zimbabwe Economy: 2007 Prospects for Inflation,
Exchange Rate, Interest Rate
Growth and Other Economic
Indicators.
Pressure on inflation is seen coming from the cost of
importing fuel,
the widening parallel market premium and unfettered money
supply growth.
The RBZ has been printing money to finance its
quasi-fiscal
activities. These include facilities to fund agricultural
production and to
bail out distressed companies.
Gono -
appointed RBZ governor three years ago and charged by Mugabe to
lead efforts
to revive Zimbabwe's comatose economy - loves to print extra
cash around
this time of the year to dole out to black villagers resettled
on former
white-owned land in a vain attempt to boost agricultural
production.
Civil service salaries are also another source of
pressure on
inflation. The government this month awarded civil servants a
300 percent
bonus that saw teachers taking home four times their normal
salaries. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 24 November
2006
MASVINGO - The unfolding fertilizer
importation scam took a dramatic
turn this week when spear and axe-wielding
peasant farmers stormed the
government's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) offices
in the southern Masvingo
city demanding a refund for sub-standard fertilizer
sold to them by the
parastatal.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor Gideon Gono and Agriculture
Minister Joseph Made about three months
ago used nearly US$50 million to
import 70 000 tonnes of inferior quality
fertilizer from South Africa
allegedly in return for kickbacks.
The government's spy Central Intelligence Organisation is probing the
alleged scam while Parliament has said it will soon begin questioning the
RBZ and agriculture officials over the fake fertilizer part of which has
already been sold to farmers through the GMB.
In probably the
first reaction by farmers to the fertilizer scam,
police had to be called in
to restore order as a group of about 20 angry
peasant farmers, brandishing a
variety of traditional weapons, threatened to
mete out "instant justice" to
officials at the GMB's depot in Masvingo
unless they were given "real
fertilizer" or their money back.
"What we need is fertilizer and
not all these explanations," 60-year
old Marimba Muyana shouted back at a
GMB official who was trying to explain
that the parastatal was not to blame
because it had only helped distributed
the fertilizer but was not the one
that imported it into the country.
"When we paid our money there
were never these long explanations and
therefore what we need now is just
our money or proper fertilizer," added
Muyana, who grows maize in the rural
Chivi district, south of Masvingo city.
Another farmer, whose name
ZimOnline could not get, claimed the
fertilizer "looked like sand and could
never be good for any crop" - in
obvious exaggeration probably out of
anger.
And all the while the manager at the GMB depot, identified
only as Mr
Chatikobo, had long ran away from the depot in fear for his
life.
Masvingo police spokesman Phibion Nyambo, who ZimOnline
managed to
speak to after the incident at the GMB, however sought to
downplay the
matter as a minor scuffle which did "not warrant Press
coverage".
"It is only about a few farmers who did not know about
what has been
happening who wanted to know about the fertilizer. We have
since addressed
the problem and all is now well," said Nyambo.
It however remains to be seen whether farmers elsewhere in Masvingo
province
and across thee country will quietly accept the sub-standard
fertilizer that
agricultural experts say is sure to lead to poor harvests
and financial ruin
for many farmers, whether or not the country receives
good rains. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By
Blessing Zulu
Washington
23 November 2006
A
United Nations report says two-thirds of Zimbabwe's remaining health care
workers intend to leave the country, pointing to a bleaker future for a
national health system that is already overburdened by the demands of the
HIV-AIDS pandemic.
The report from the United Nations Population Fund
said 68% of health
professionals still living and working in Zimbabwe want
to emigrate.
Already, 11% of doctors and 43% of nurses have emigrated
seeking better pay
and working conditions.
The state-appointed Health
Services Board said the country's five major
hospitals are operating with 36
senior doctors where 145 were needed and 72
specialists instead of the 189
required. It said 44% of senior nursing
positions, 88% of primary care nurse
openings and 89% of lab technician
positions were unfilled as of late
2005.
The Population Fund said the exodus has hurt the fight against
HIV-AIDS.
Harare has established an "intellectual desk" in the Ministry
of Higher
Education in the aim of stemming the brain drain in medicine and
other
professions. It proposes to lure professionals back on a short-term
basis in
medicine, mining, education, engineering and other fields. But
health
experts have called this an exercise in futility.
An
opposition spokesman on health, Dr Henry Madzorera, said that unless
Harare
addresses the economic crisis, medical specialists will continue to
migrate.
Dr Samukheliso Dube, a Zimbabwean doctor now living and
working in South
Africa, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that the
Population Fund's projection of a 68% emigration rate
might in fact be
conservative.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Top politicians allegedly stripped state-run firm
of assets, an internal
government probe has reportedly revealed.
By
Joseph Chikonamombe in Harare (AR No. 84, 23-Nov-06)
In what is shaping
up to be the biggest corruption scandal since Zimbabwe
gained independence
more than 26 years ago, Vice-President Joice Mujuru is
said to have been
named in an official report claiming that she and other
government ministers
were involved in the alleged looting of the state-run
Zimbabwe Iron and
Steel Company, Zisco.
The report by an elite government crime
investigation unit is believed to
have been suppressed, but Dumisani Muleya,
the international award-winning
chief reporter of the weekly Zimbabwe
Independent, claims to have been
leaked a copy marked "secret". Muleya began
releasing details of the report
in the newspaper's November 17 edition, and
has promised further
revelations.
The title has become the main media
thorn in the side of the ruling ZANU PF
party following the forced closure
of four other independent newspapers and
of all independent radio and TV
stations.
Dubbed "Steelgate", the tentacles of the Zisco affair spread
wider with
every passing day.
Zisco is the largest steel plant in
Africa outside South Africa. Based at
Redcliff, just outside the Zimbabwe
Midlands city of Kwekwe, steel
production at the troubled plant has
collapsed from 14,200 tonnes a month
two years ago to less than 1,000 tonnes
now.
The failing company has been propped up by massive government
subsidies.
It was hoped that the Indian multinational group Global Steel
Holdings
Limited, GSHL, would ride to Zisco's rescue when it agreed earlier
this year
to invest 400 million US dollars in the rehabilitation of the
increasingly
derelict plant.
But GSHL now appears to have abandoned
plans to take on the management of
the Zimbabwean steel firm.
As
leaks about the Zisco affair multiplied, the National Economic Conduct
Inspectorate, linked to the finance ministry and the Central Intelligence
Organisation, CIO, compiled a report into allegations of asset
stripping.
Parliament's trade and industry committee, shocked by the
withdrawal of GSHL
and suggestions of massive government corruption, opened
hearings into the
Zisco affair.
At the first hearing on September 20,
Industry Minister Obert Mpofu caused a
sensation when he said that ministers
and members of parliament had been
looting Zisco and that this was why the
Indian group had walked away from
the deal. "While they [GSHL] were here,
they discovered that the company was
being bled," said Mpofu. "There were
people that were making money from
Zisco. There was a team sent in by the
ministry of finance to investigate
and they produced a thick document and
you would be shocked if you see it.
"Some of the people are my colleagues
in this chamber. Influential people
have engaged in underhand dealings that
have left the company bleeding."
Panic spread through the government,
which moved quickly to prevent
publication of the inspectorate's report.
Intelligence officials are
understood to have advised President Robert
Mugabe that releasing the report
would jeopardise the country's hopes of
attracting desperately needed
foreign investment.
As Mpofu prepared
to give evidence at a second meeting of the trade and
industry committee on
September 27, a clerk is reported to have rushed into
the room and said
Vice-President Mujuru needed an urgent meeting with him
and his
team.
The hearing was adjourned and when Mpofu returned, committee
sources said he
looked chastened. He said he had been "quoted out of
context... by people
with agendas" who were up to "mischief".
He went
on, "I'm not aware of any particular minister or senior person or MP
or
anybody [who is involved in Zisco]. Even the report was not commissioned
by
me ... I have not even got that report."
However, Mpofu continued to
maintain that companies owned by ministers had
joined in the alleged
pillaging of Zisco.
The committee, angered by Mpofu's reversal of his
story, has now begun a
process in parliament for him to be charged with
perjury for the statements
made during the Zisco hearings. If found guilty,
he could be fined or jailed
for up to two years, or both.
Gushungo
Gondo, a leading economic columnist with the weekly Financial
Gazette,
lambasted the MPs for not compelling Mpofu at the first committee
meeting to
name the top people allegedly involved in Steelgate.
"The committee's
failure to ask probing questions was, for want of a better
expression,
extremely disappointing," wrote Gono. "It was inexcusable. The
committee
proved toothless.
"Why the shameless attempt to cover up? Why is the
government. passive in
pursuing corruption cases that involve ZANU PF
bigwigs, but intensely
aggressive when it comes to those cases involving the
ruling party
lightweights and others?"
Anti-corruption minister
Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana threatened that those
involved in Steelgate would
be arrested if there was enough evidence to
prosecute them.
"Very
soon we will take action and police will make arrests of those who
were
involved in corruption at Zisco, irrespective of their political or
social
status," he said. "It doesn't matter if they are ministers or MPs. As
long
as they were involved, they will be arrested. If we find that a crime
was
committed by whoever, we will call in the police and provide evidence
for
prosecution."
But a short time later Mangwana too retreated, telling
Voice of America
radio that he could no longer comment on the Steelgate
report because it was
an "intelligence" document.
The ZANU PF party
launched its own separate investigation following
suggestions that it might
have lost huge sums of money from corrupt internal
practices relating to
Zisco.
The party inquiry mainly targeted Rural Housing Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
formerly the powerful speaker of parliament, who is competing
with
Vice-President Mujuru to succeed 82-year-old Mugabe as state president.
Mnangagwa was in charge of the ruling party's finances when the graft is
said to have been happening.
The ZANU PF probe was launched before
leaks of the apparently suppressed
inspectorate report named Mujuru as one
of those suspected of looting Zisco.
The Zimbabwe Independent, which has
investigated Steelgate in as much depth
as allowed by Zimbabwe's oppressive
media laws, has described the scandal as
the biggest since independence in
1980 and has alleged that it involves
members of the state presidency,
cabinet ministers, MPs and ZANU PF
officials.
The state presidency
comprises Mugabe, his two vice-presidents, Joseph Msika
and Joice Mujuru,
and ZANU PF national chairman John Nkomo.
Mujuru is wife of former
defence force chief Solomon Mujuru, one of the most
powerful men in
Zimbabwe. Under the war name of Rex Nhongo, General Mujuru
led Mugabe's
Mozambique-based guerrilla army during the 1970s war of
independence in what
was then white-ruled Rhodesia. Since stepping down from
military duties, he
has become one of Zimbabwe's richest businessmen.
Neither Mujuru,
Mnangagwa nor any other ministers have commented on the
reports and abundant
allegations concerning ministerial enrichment at the
expense of Zisco. But
Mugabe's official spokesperson, George Charamba,
speaking to the state-owned
Herald daily newspaper, denied any looting of
Zisco by government
officials.
But in a radio interview, Muleya of the Zimbabwe Independent
said, "There
have been a great deal of attempts in government circles to
scramble to bury
the Zisco report in order to hide the disclosures that are
made in it.
Ministers have been making a lot of contradictory statements to
obfuscate
the issues."
The alleged looting of the Zisco steelworks is
said to have been achieved,
among numerous methods, by bid-rigging for
contracts, and the allocation of
large amounts of foreign exchange to top
government officials and their
associates who claimed to be doing business
on behalf of the company. Huge
sums in foreign currency are claimed to have
been lost through overpricing
by suppliers connected to big fish in
government and the ruling party. Abuse
of company credit cards, management
fees and directors' expenses as well as
false claims for air fares, hotel
bills, purchases, and entertainment are
alleged to have further contributed
to huge losses.
As the whistleblowers continue to threaten further
disclosures, speculation
is rampant about how far up the stream the big fish
swim.
Prior to the leak to the Zimbabwe Independent, powerful government
members
appear to have succeeded in keeping the report by the National
Economic
Conduct Inspectorate under lock and key. Government sources told
IWPR that
ministers and others privy to the findings of the report have been
ordered
not to release it in whole or in part.
However, according to
the Zimbabwe Independent, some insiders say they will
not allow the
authorities to sweep the issue under the carpet given the
evidence pointing
to the systematic looting of public assets. The
whistleblowers argue that
ZANU PF is suppressing the report because its
detailed contents could blow
the ruling party clean out of the water.
John Makumbe, a lecturer in
politics at Harare's University of Zimbabwe and
a local representative of
the international anti-corruption organisation
Transparency International,
said, "The level of asset stripping taking place
under Robert Mugabe's watch
has risen to astronomical proportions. It is
unfortunate, however, that he
sits there. incapable of stopping the rot, let
alone arresting and
prosecuting any of the perpetrators of these heinous
crimes."
Joseph
Chikonamombe is the pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.
Reuters
Thu 23 Nov
2006 9:56 AM ET
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The world
must step up pressure on Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to quit as his
country disintegrates and people die
in droves from disease, hunger and
depression, a Roman Catholic archbishop
said on Thursday.
Pius Ncube,
the outspoken archbishop of the southern Zimbabwean city of
Bulawayo, said
life had become impossible for the citizens of the
once-thriving former
British colony of Rhodesia.
"The world must continue to put pressure on
Mugabe. He must go. Only when he
goes will there be changes," Ncube told
Reuters on a visit to London.
"People are fed up. The army is fed up. The
police are fed up. The young
have given up hope and either try to leave the
country to South Africa or
Britain or indulge in reckless behaviour and get
AIDS," he said.
"People are saying to themselves 'whether I am alive or
dead, it makes no
difference'," Ncube added.
The backbone of the
agrarian economy of Zimbabwe has collapsed since Mugabe,
in power since
independence from Britain in 1980, began wholesale
nationalisation of
white-owned commercial farms in 2000.
Unemployment is 80 percent,
inflation is running at a world record 1,070
percent and life expectancy has
sunk to 37 years for men and just 34 years
for women.
Mugabe says the
land nationalisations were an attempt to right colonial
wrongs, and the
economic crisis is a result of Western interference.
A massive shanty
clearance programme last year razed to the ground the homes
of 700,000
people and destroyed their fragile livelihoods.
"A lot of people just
died of depression after the demolitions," Ncube said.
While Mugabe's aim
was to force them to return to the villages from which
they originally came,
most have stayed put and are either living rough or
living with their
neighbours causing massive overcrowding problems, Ncube
said.
"As a
result there has been a big increase in crime in Zimbabwe. These
people are
forced to steal in order to buy food," Ncube said. "Many people
just can't
afford life."
"It is not easy to see an end to all this. Mugabe continues
to be
intransigent. He never listens to anybody except himself. He bullies,"
Ncube
added.
In Britain to try to raise awareness of the humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe,
Ncube, who has received many death threats for his
campaigning opposition to
Mugabe, is also trying to raise funds for the
Zimbabwe Benefit Fund that
helps orphans.
"There are 1.3 million AIDS
orphans in Zimbabwe. They need medication, funds
and support," he
said.
Illustrating the scale of the problem facing his fellow
Zimbabweans, Ncube
said the medical system had collapsed, with equipment
broken and shortages
of doctors, nurses and drugs.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
23 November 2006
02:35
A leading Zimbabwean rights group on Thursday slammed
President
Robert Mugabe's government for failing to ratify a United Nations
convention
against torture and condoning its use by state
agents.
"We don't understand why Zimbabwe is not yet a party
to the UN
Convention Against Torture", unveiled in 1985, Farai Chiweshe,
deputy
director for the Southern African Human Rights Trust (SAHRIT), told a
committee of lawmakers.
Zimbabwe's image has been
tarnished in recent years by
allegations of torture and brute force by state
security agents to crush
opposition to Mugabe's 26-year
rule.
"We are concerned that Zimbabwe has not ratified the
convention
when all countries in the region have done so," Chiweshe
said.
"A lot needs to be done to ensure police respect human
rights,"
he said.
The deputy chief of SAHRIT also
castigated the Zimbabwean
government for repressive laws that critics say
have become a tool to muzzle
the once-vibrant independent press, hound the
opposition and stifle
democracy.
"Some provisions of the
Public Order and Security Act and the
Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act have been deemed to be
inconsistent with Zimbabwe's
obligations under international treaties,"
Chiweshe said.
"These laws are unnecessarily restrictive and intrusive and
there is a need
to bring the laws in conformity with international treaties
to which
Zimbabwe is a signatory."
A new law is also in the offing to
allow state agents to snoop
on private telephone conversations and intercept
e-mails and faxes.
In September several labour leaders,
including the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo
and secretary general
Wellington Chibebe, were brutally assaulted by riot
police deployed to crush
anti-government protests.
Mugabe
later justified the crackdown, criticising the protesters
for "wanting to
become a law unto themselves". -- AFP
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
23 November 2006
A team of soldiers from the
Zimbabwe National Army took over a sugar
farm in the lowveld on Monday
morning even though it belongs to a foreigner
whose property is protected by
the Bilateral Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement (BIPPA). Located
near Chiredzi the farm had already
been sub-divided into small plots on
which the so-called A2 farmers were
resettled by government. Chiredzi farmer
Gerry Whitehead said the army team,
with assistance from the Chiredzi
police, forcibly evicted a French
Mauritian cane farmer named Lebot from his
homestead. He added that only
about 18 white cane growers were left out of
more than 50 growers that
existed before the year 2000.
The
Mugabe regime has not respected the bilateral protection
agreements that
government signed with foreign companies in order to
encourage them to
invest in Zimbabwe. And the loss of confidence in
investing may drive out
more businesses from an already ailing economy.
Whitehead said the
A2 settlers who were given plots by government as
part of the land reform
programme have not grown any cane. He described the
land they are on as
derelict and the A2 farmers continue to do nothing.
According to Whitehead
the sugar mills were designed to handle a certain
amount of sugar cane and
right now they are not being efficiently utilized.
There is not enough being
grown to keep them busy. Sugar shortages, which
already exist, are bound to
get worse.
A statement sent by the Zimbabwe Peace Project said farm
evictions
continue to be carried out in Chipinge. It alleged that at least
six
eviction notices have been delivered to farmers, including those issued
to
farm owners of Busi, Whittington valley, New Farm and Sweet Acres farms.
The
owners were given until December 18 to vacate their farms. The statement
said: "The farm invasions are reportedly being masterminded by the Zanu PF
District Chairman and Central Intelligence office head in Chipinge, on
behalf of Zanu PF senior officials." The full ZPP statement is on our
website.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By
Tererai Karimakwenda
23 November 2006
A total of 54
students were arrested in Harare, Bulawayo and other
centres as they marched
peacefully but making a noise, by beating drums and
pots and singing on
Wednesday. They were participating in the first of
several planned "noisy"
protests organized by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign.
The state security
minister Didymus Mutasa immediately warned against any
future actions, even
though the government submitted a report this week
denying human rights
abuses to The African Commission on Human and People's
Rights meeting in The
Gambia.
As he has done on several other occasions Minister Mutasa
warned there
would be a tough government response to any future protests.
Reports quote
him saying: "If they fail to restrain themselves we will make
them do so and
if we do so, they shouldn't cry." Police were caught unawares
Wednesday when
protestors around the country hooted from their cars and blew
whistles. Many
at home made noise, beating their pots and pans for at least
5 minutes as
they joined in the protest.
President of the
Zimbabwe National Students Union Promise Mkwananzi
said 16 students were
arrested in Bulawayo, 5 in Harare and 33 at Kaguvi
Centre between Kwekwe and
Gweru. He said police had been making it difficult
for them to gain access
to the arrested students but lawyers were now
involved.
Mutasa's response is a sign that the noise irked those in power as
intended
by the organizers of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign- a coalition of
churches,
students, civic and political groups which was formed to do just
that - save
Zimbabwe from further deterioration. They distributed fliers
urging
Zimbabweans to join in the noise making on a weekly basis. Some of
them
read: "Our noise is a symbol of our distress at the way Zimbabwe has
been
governed and a cry of hope for transformation."
But the arrests
Wednesday and several other brutal actions against
peaceful protestors by
the police this year seem to have no effect on The
African Commission. It
failed again to put Zimbabwe on its agenda for the
next session in 2007
despite the well-documented humanitarian crisis that
has gripped the country
for the last 6 years.
This continued impunity enjoyed by the Mugabe
regime makes a mockery
of the processes put in place by the organ of the
African Union empowered
with monitoring human rights. It also calls into
question whether the
continent's leaders have any political will to reign in
errant member states
and create the democratic environment they claim needs
to exist, as they
pursue increased investment by the international
community. But above all,
it guarantees that brutal assaults and the torture
of innocent Zimbabweans
continue.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Violet Gonda
23
November 2006
The pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise has
announced that from 25
November to 10 December they will also embark on a
'noisy' protest campaign
in what they have dubbed 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender Violence. WOZA
Co-ordinator Jenni Williams said the kind of
violence they are campaigning
against is not just about what happens in the
home but also what happens
outside. She said Operation Murambatsvina, the
government clean up exercise
that left 700 000 people homeless, is another
form of extreme violence.
She said not only are people are denied
shelter but also the right to
affordable basic commodities. "To us those are
all forms of violence and
they are being perpetrated by a government against
its own people. So when
we are talking about domestic violence as the women
of WOZA we are including
state sponsored violence."
WOZA
invites Zimbabweans to bang pots, whistle and to honk their car
horns for
two minutes at 8pm every evening during those days. The say this
is a "a
step forward to have the promises of the Domestic Violence Bill
delivered
and put an end to state-sponsored violence so that we can
concentrate on
rebuilding our country and saving lives."
The 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender Violence is an international
movement, which began in 1991 to
commemorate violence against women and the
lack of human
rights.
Williams said it's easy to remember when to start making
the noise -
"when people start hearing those drums beating with the
propaganda news
coming from ZBC, that should be their cue to go into their
kitchens, go
outside their doors. We want them to feel free to do whatever
they want,
bang pots, shake rattles, use their loud horns like they do when
they are
supporting Highlanders. That's the kind of noise we want to hear.
We want to
drown out the propaganda that is coming from this government
until they
start to tell the truth. And we also want to send a message that
we are not
happy and a hungry person is not a happy person."
According to the World Health Organization's World Health Report 2006
the
life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe is 34 years, the lowest in the
world.
According to the report men in Zimbabwe have a life expectancy of 37.
Women
form 52% of the population in Zimbabwe and usually it is the mother
who must
provide food despite a tight budget. It's reported that 60 per cent
of all
murders in Zimbabwe were a result of domestic violence, with the
majority of
the victims women.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Mail and Guardian
Mail &
Guardian reporter
22 November 2006 11:07
President Robert Mugabe's fight against corruption is closing in
on his
closest confidants. The 82-year-old leader is in a quandary and is
unwilling
to pass a routine political directive for the arrest and
prosecution of
Zanu-PF officials allegedly involved in illegal foreign
currency
dealings.
Police insiders have said that no arrest or
prosecution of a
Cabinet minister or member of Zanu-PF's Politburo takes
place without Mugabe's
sanction. It is a political formality that the police
and Attorney General
adhere to, but Mugabe's selective approach has irked
some of his colleagues
in Cabinet.
The police's criminal
investigations department investigated
Mugabe's close ally, retired General
Solomon Mujuru, husband of
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, for flouting
exchange control regulations and
running Mafia-type shelf
companies.
These companies would buy and trade foreign
currency on the
black market with individuals and companies in which the
government has an
interest. Mujuru then made weekly transfers involving
billions of Zim
dollars (see "The docket").
The official
exchange rate is set at Z$250 to the US dollar, but
the black market is
thriving: the greenback fetches about Z$1 500.
Central bank
Governor Gideon Gono has accused big business of
sabotaging his economic
reforms by trading on the black market and flouting
the Exchange Control
Act, an offence punishable with jail time or a fine.
Since
2003, when the exchange rate was fixed, several business
people, hoteliers
and bankers have been arrested for illegally dealing in
foreign currency.
However, it appears that no one has the guts to go after
Mujuru -- whom
police insiders have dubbed the "Godfather" of murky foreign
currency
dealings in Harare.
Mujuru's dealings have also implicated
the Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, of
which the government is the
second major shareholder.
The
Mail & Guardian can reveal that a docket was opened this
year and handed
to Mugabe by police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri. But no
"political
directive" was forthcoming, so police put an end to the
investigation.
The M&G is reliably informed that a
second probe was conducted
by the national economic conduct inspectorate, a
crime investigating unit of
the finance and state intelligence
ministry.
The docket was made available to the M&G by a
high-ranking
source in the government, who is concerned that Mugabe is
"frying small
fish" and leaving his confidants
untouched.
This is despite Mugabe's public assurances that he
will
prosecute anyone involved in corruption regardless of "status" or
"political
affiliation". In the past two years his crackdown has netted just
two
ministers.
Front companies
The
docket against Mujuru states that there are two front
companies operating
from Harare's Five Avenue shopping centre: Cellular
Unique (Star all) and
Longfeld Investments. Cellular Unique is mysteriously
registered as a
cellphone business operating company.
Both companies use the
same address -- CY3095, Causeway, Harare,
and have accounts at the National
Merchant Bank's Angwa City branch
denominated in Zim
dollars.
The police report indicates that Cellular Unique and
Longfeld
are front companies for a parent holding company, Parlovan
Investments,
owned by Mujuru. Parlovan is a registered money transfer
business that made
several big deposits into Longfeld and Cellular
investments accounts.
Another company, identified as AIT, is
also allegedly owned by
Mujuru and, according to the docket, is used in
illegal foreign currency
dealings.
According to a senior
government official, Gono is aware of the
docket on Mujuru and has grown
frustrated with Mugabe's failure to take
action against the
general.
When Gono unveiled his monetary policy statement on
August 31 he
made a thinly disguised reference to companies in the Avenues
area illegally
transacting in foreign currency deals. "He [Gono] has
knowledge of the
police investigation into General Mujuru," said the senior
government
official.
A week later, Gono said he would not
be prevented from turning
the economy around by people who were trying to
intimidate him with their
"liberation war credentials".
This week, when contacted by the M&G to name these powerful
people with
liberation war credentials and those masterminding foreign
currency
dealings, Gono referred the newspaper to "his Excellency, the
president" and
"the police commissioner".
In October Gono banned all money
transfer agencies, accusing
them of breaching foreign exchange regulations.
Gono believes illegal
foreign currency dealings are ruining the economy by
encouraging speculative
tendencies that fuel inflation which, at about 1
000%, is the highest in the
world.
The
docket
In the docket against Solomon Mujuru, the police reveal
that
"the money transfers and transactions involve large volumes of cash,
such as
$40-billion a day".
The criminal investigations
department's (CID) probe reveals
that "the two front companies are dealing
in illegal forex business". The
dealings are done by Emmanuel Manyika, who
heads both companies, with a
buyer identified as
Wadzanayi.
The currency is then sold to individuals and
companies,
including the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe
Fertiliser
Company, of which the government is a major
shareholder.
Six pages of statements from Longfeld's National
Merchant Bank
accounts made available to the CID show large deposits from
Parlovan
Investments during two months between December 2005 and February
2006.
Why Mugabe won't act
Should Robert
Mugabe act against Solomon Mujuru, there is likely
to be an outcry from the
powerful Zezuru ethnic group within his party and
government. Mujuru is a
Zezuru from Chikomba district, Mugabe's first wife,
Grace's home
area.
Mugabe is aware of more than 10 completed
investigations into
corrupt activities by senior government officials, but
he has not acted on
them. As a result there is a feeling that acting against
Mujuru could open a
can of worms, with disgruntled party members spilling
the beans on their
rivals. This could dent the image of his party and the
government.
A ruling Zanu-PF party Politburo member told the
Mail & Guardian
that Mugabe's loyalty to Mujuru dates back to 1976,
during the liberation
struggle. It was Mujuru, then known as Rex Nhongo, who
formalised Mugabe's
leadership of Zanu's military wing in the presence of
the late Tanzanian
leader Julius Nyerere.
Before joining
the struggle Mujuru had worked as a tyre salesman
at Dunlop in Bulawayo. In
1976 he worked with the late former Zanla
commander, Josiah Tongogara, to
have Mugabe accepted by the liberation
fighters in the
struggle.
Back then, there was deep-seated distrust between
the liberation
fighters and the political leadership. The leadership had
been accused of
selling out the struggle, but Tongogara and Mujuru forced
the liberation
fighters to accept Mugabe during a turbulent period that saw
countless
fighters killed and others detained for
mutineering.
A senior official said that despite becoming
"disdainful" and
"very annoyed" by Mujuru's business dealings and lack of
party commitment in
the past years, Mugabe is reluctant to send him to
prison given his war
credentials.
Although Mujuru is part
of Mugabe's supreme organ, the
Politburo, over the past years he has not
been active in party affairs. But
last November he played a crucial role in
elevating his wife to the
vice-presidency, fighting off a challenge by
presidential aspirant Rural
Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Tue 28 November - 7.30pm - Frontline Club (13 Norfolk Place, London W2
1QJ)
NEW ? Insight with Daniel Howden - Zimbabwe - a Country in
Meltdown - ?5
The Independent?s deputy foreign editor, Daniel Howden,
who has just
returned from Zimbabwe, describes a country in meltdown.
Moderated by George
Alagiah.
Zimbabwe is forbidden territory for
most journalists. Robert Mugabe?s regime
has made it extremely difficult for
reporters, especially those from
Britain, to get into the country at
all.
Howden saw a country whose recent deterioration is alarming.
More than 85
percent of the population live in poverty, 80 percent are
unemployed, 90
percent of military personnel are HIV positive and female
life expectancy is
the lowest in the world. Inflation is currently running
at 2,000 percent a
year.
Numbers only tell part of the story,
however. Join us as Howden describes
the people behind these appalling
statistics.
Daniel Howden is The Independent's deputy foreign editor.
He has reported
extensively on southern Africa, Latin America, Eastern
Europe and the
Balkans. Formerly with Reuters in Athens, he has been a
contributor to the
BBC, the Sunday Times, Politiken and the Christian
Science Monitor.
George Alagiah is an author, broadcaster and
presenter of the BBC Six
o'Clock News.
RSVP essential: events@frontlineclub.com
www.frontlineclub.com
All
money collected at the door goes to the Frontline Club Charitable
Trust - a
non-for profit organisation that runs the events programme at the
Frontline
Club and beyond.?
Marina Calland
Programme
Manager
Tel:? +44 (0)20 7479 8942
Fax: +44 (0)20 7479
8961
The Frontline Club Charitable Trust
UK Registered Charity No.
1111898
13 Norfolk Place, London W2
1QJ
Championing independent journalism
www.frontlineclub.com
November 23,
2006
By Savious Kwinika (CAJ)
NEWLY resettled farmers
have indicated that they are not happy with
Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor,
Gideon Gono's statement that there are
adequate fuel supplies for this
farming season.
In a recent press briefing last week, Gono sought
to assure farmers
of adequate fuel supplies for the season highlighting that
over 80 million
litres of fuel had been paid for and was already in the
country.
"We do not have faith in what our Central Bank Governor
is saying.It
has always been like that in the past and we have always been
assured that
there will be no shortages of fuel, only to be disappointed at
the end,"
said Kudzayi Zvandaziva, a Bindura-based farmer.
Another farmer in the Murombedzi area, a rural and ZANU PF stronghold
of
Robert Mugabe,indicated that Gono was just making these statements to
please
the ruling party hierarchy and hoodwink the international community
that all
was well in Zimbabwe.
"We know for certain that no fuel will be
available when we come to
the full planting season. These guys must learn to
tell the truth, rather
than lure us into a false sense of security," said
Ephraim Katiyo, from
Mabvure in Zvimba.
Gono made the
disclosure that there would be adequate fuel for the
farming season while
appearing before the National Economic Recovery Council
(NERC) on Monday
last week.
"I would like to reaffirm the reserve bank's
undertaking that all the
necessary fuel required to propel this season's
farming activities will be
timeously made available," said
Gono.
"In this regard, I'm pleased to report that over and above
the 61.68
million litres of diesel and 24.4 million litres of petrol that we
briefed
to the NERC meeting on 25 September, 2006 as having been paid for
with some
deliveries already in the country. We have since secured another
US$10
million for additional fuel to support our farmers."
The
central bank chief added that the country's bank was upbeat that
fuel
supplies will be adequate for this farming season, which has started
albeit
at a slow pace following the start of the rain season this week.
"We, therefore are upbeat that this season adequate fuel will be
available."-CAJ News
November 23,
2006.
By Savious Kwinika (CAJ)
THE Zimbabwe Diaspora
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Forum is
faced with uphill challenges in
helping shape and economically empower the
scattered Zimbabwean community
currently living abroad.
Among other challenges that
hinder close co-operation among
Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora relate
to tribalism issues, political
affiliations, power struggle within the civic
society organizations whilst
some newly emerging civil society organizations
are bogus and financed by
the state security of the
CIO.
Urdice Sno, an academic based in Holland, who
specialises on forced
migration met with the Zimbabwe Diaspora CSOs Forum
leadership, among them
Daniel Molokela, Savious Kwinika, Luke Zunga and Sox
Chikohwero to map out
possible strategies for bringing Zimbabwean
think-tankers together before
chanting the way forward.
"I discovered that some organizations here are tribalistic, others do
affiliate to certain political parties in Zimbabwe, power hungry, some are
financed by CIO whilst some emerging ones, which pop up economic
reasons.
"Worse still, I realized that there is serious
lack of understanding
about how the Zimbabwe Diaspora CSOs Forum would
achieve in the new
Zimbabwe", said Sno.
She urged
Zimbabwean Civil Society Organizations to stop competing for
space, donor
funded resources and put emphasis on the future of Zimbabwe
after
Mugabe.
Responding to Sno's comments, the Zimbabwe Diaspora
CSOs Forum
Treasurer, and author of three economic books, Luke Zunga said
his
organization was in no competition with anyone as they were thriving
Zimbabweans to be organized abroad." We are not competing with anyone, but
trying to build a strong Zimbabwean Nation abroad".
"We
have to bring all the great think tanks together, identify capable
leaders
to takeover Zimbabwe in the event of Mugabe quitting politics. The
Zimbabwe
Diaspora must have solutions to political and socio-economic
challenges the
country if facing today", said Zunga.
The Zimbabwe Diaspora
CSOs Forum Chairman, Daniel Molokela, said his
organization was working
tirelessly to try and engage all the Zimbabwean
communities living in South
Africa.
Molokela said the CSOs Forum would engage
Zimbabweans in Cape Town,
Port Elizabeth, Durban and Pretoria to build the
Zimbabwean nation abroad.
The Zimbabwean Diaspora CSOs
Forum was formed to operate in the
Diaspora, as a civic organization whose
vision is to strive for a united,
free, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwean
community in the Diaspora. -
CAJ News
SABC
November 23, 2006,
06:30
A Zimbabwean high court judge has reserved judgment in a case in
which the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is challenging
government's
decision to bar Zwelinzima Vavi, the Cosatu secretary general,
from entering
the country.
Aleck Muchadehama, the defence lawyer,
argued that Vavi's deportation in May
this year was unprocedural as no
papers declaring him a prohibited immigrant
had ever been served. "No such
prohibition ever existed because he was not
given any notice of prohibition,
he was not served with any papers and they
did not produce any proof of such
service."
The outspoken Cosatu leader was deported on arrival at Harare
International
Airport as he led a delegation that was due to meet the ZCTU
leadership to
express solidarity.
Muchadehama added that when
government initially barred the Cosatu official
from entering the country in
2004, Vavi was already in South Africa and they
did not accord him the
chance to give his side of the story. He says
government's reasons are
unclear. "The minister refused to disclose reasons
for his prohibition and
he actually issued a ministerial certificate to that
effect."
Vavi
has accused the Zimbabwean government of infringing workers rights and
failing to abide by the rule of law.
From The Financial Gazette, 23 November
Kumbirai Mafunda, Senior Business Reporter
A Harare
motorist spent four nights in police custody last week for
allegedly
blocking President Robert Mugabe's motorcade. Simba Mabasa, a
driver
employed by quasi-state organisation, the Tobacco Industry and
Marketing
Board (TIMB) was arrested and detained at Harare Central Police
station last
Thursday after he allegedly interfered with President Mugabe's
motorcade
along Julius Nyerere Way in the capital.He got into hot soup
because he
allegedely failed to give way to the motorcade. The convoy was on
its way
from the Harare International Airport after the presidential party
arrived
from a Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) meeting
in
Djibouti. TIMB is a statutory body, which issues licences to tobacco
auction
floors, buying companies and tobacco contractors. In addition to
arresting
Mabasa, police impounded the TIMB shuttle bus that he was driving
after
ordering all passengers to disembark. Workers at the TIMB said Mabasa
was
released on Monday after four nights of rigorous interrogation. The
impounded bus was returned to the organisation on the same day. "They
(police) said his docket is being worked on," said one worker at TIMB who
requested not to be named.
An apprehensive Mabasa confirmed his
release when contacted by The Financial
Gazette on Tuesday, but refused to
answer further questions. Under Zimbabwe's
tough security laws, which
include the amended Road Traffic Regulations
(2002), it is an offence for
the public to say or do anything "within the
view or hearing of the State
motorcade with the intention of insulting any
person travelling with an
escort or any member of the escort." Police
spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka
could not confirm the incident. "It is an
incident that I am not aware of. I
will have to find out".It has become
routine for President Robert Mugabe's
security personnel to terrorize
motorists and pedestrians accused of
obstructing the Presidential motorcade.
In 2005 three armed policemen
interrogated and assaulted a motorist who had
allegedly interfered with
President Mugabe's motorcade during a State visit
by former Tanzanian
President Benjamin Mkapa. A number of citizens have also
been arrested and
assaulted for allegedly insulting the President, which is
a criminal offence
under the General Laws Amendment Act.