From ZWNEWS, 17 October
Which
played a more important role in Zimbabwe's economic collapse, the
damage to
property rights or the drought? The Zimbabwe government
continuously blames
poor rainfall for the food shortages - especially the
drought of 2001/2002.
International agencies - the UN in particular - have
also publicly supported
this argument. The reasons for this are obvious: a
much better case for aid
can be made if a country is seen as being down on
its luck, and in an
economic tailspin due to factors outside its control.
But how much of the
dramatic cut in agricultural production can be blamed on
the weather? And
how much due to the abandonment of property rights as
fast-track land reform
has been imposed since 2000.
Craig Richardson, Associate Professor of
Economics at Salem College in North
Carolina addresses this question in a
recent paper: The Loss of Property
Rights and the Collapse of Zimbabwe.
Using the Zimbabwe government's own
rainfall and crop data, he analyses
agricultural output and weather
conditions over the last five years,
especially the glaring anomaly three
years ago that output was falling
despite the country's irrigation dams
being full. "There is no doubt that
the 2001-02 drought caused devastation
for communal farmers. However, to put
primary blame on the drought for the
sudden drop in overall agricultural
production, as the IMF, USDA, and UN do,
misses a key point. Zimbabwe
differs significantly from other African
countries that suffered through the
same drought. The reason is that it
possessed large dams and well-engineered
irrigation systems for its
commercial farming regions. Because of the early
and large amount of
rainfall in late 2001, dams throughout Zimbabwe were
reported as full, with
enough water to last through the next rainy season."
Richardson the
describes in detail why this abundance of water was not used
to good effect
in producing cash crops and food. He concludes that land
reforms were the
primary driver of Zimbabwe's sudden collapse, not the lack
of rainfall, and
that the collapse of Zimbabwe has been a dramatic natural
experiment that
serves as a compelling case study on the economic
consequences of damaging
property rights.
Zim Online
Tue 18 October 2005
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's Electoral Court
on Monday conceded that the
ruling ZANU PF party used violence and
politicised food aid to win votes but
still upheld the party's election
victory in Insiza constituency saying
although evidence before it was
credible it did not warrant nullification of
the result.
Insiza, in Matabeleland South, is one of about 12 constituencies whose
results in last March's parliamentary election are being challenged by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party in what the party says
is an exercise meant to demonstrate how President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU
PF party stole the vote.
ZANU PF's Andrew Langa won in the
constituency against the MDC's
Siyabonga Malandu-Ncube.
Malandu-Ncube petitioned the court to nullify the poll result saying
ZANU PF
had used violence to secure victory for its candidate. On three
occasions,
Langa had shot at MDC supporters in a bid to intimidate them,
Malandu-Ncube
told the court.
In a bid to ensure maximum votes
for its candidate, ZANU PF had
threatened to withdraw food aid to villagers
who did not support its
candidate, according to Malandu-Ncube.
Justice Nicholas Ndou, who heard the petition, said there was
"overwhelming
credibility" in most of the evidence submitted by
Malandu-Ncube.
The judge also said "it appears to be true" that
food was not
distributed fairly in Insiza constituency. But he ruled that
notwithstanding
the credibility of the evidence, the court was dismissing
the petition
because the politicisation of food aid did not appear to have
had a bearing
on the result.
Ndou said Langa appeared to have a
propensity for violence as alleged
by Malandu-Ncube but the judge said the
MDC candidate had heavily relied on
evidence of violence committed in 2002
and therefore the court could not
nullify the result of the election on that
basis.
The judge ruled: "Although it appears to be true that food
was not
distributed fairly, that cannot individually warrant the
nullification of
the outcome because it does not appear to have had a
bearing on the result .
evidence led also show that the respondent (Langa)
has a propensity for
violence, but what is clear is that most of the
petitioner's evidence is
based on the 2002 election."
The court
also dismissed another separate election petition by the MDC's
Jacob Thabane
who was seeking the nullification of the election victory of
ZANU PF's Obert
Mpofu in Bubi-Umguza constituency.
The judge said Thabane had
failed to substantiate his allegations
against Mpofu.
The
dismissal of the two election petitions brings to three the number
of cases
dismissed by the electoral court after the controversial March
election won
by ZANU PF.
Last week, the ZEC dismissed an election petition by
the MDC's Renson
Gasela who was challenging ZANU PF's election victory in
Gweru Rural
constituency.
ZANU PF won 78 out of the 120
contested seats in the general poll with
the MDC garnering a paltry 41
seats. The other seat was won by former
government information minister
Jonathan Moyo.
But the opposition has refused to accept the March
election results
accusing ZANU PF of using violence and outright fraud to
secure victory.
ZANU PF denies the charges.
The MDC says the
electoral court, which was set up earlier this year
to resolve electoral
disputes, lacks sufficient clout to make independent
decisions. The judges
are appointed to the court by Mugabe.
Critics say the veteran
President, who three years ago forced several
independent judges off the
bench, has packed Zimbabwe's courts with loyalist
judges. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 October 2005
HARARE - An event meant to market
Zimbabwe's holiday and leisure
resorts virtually turned into the perfect
advertisement of the severe crisis
afflicting the country when a five-star
hotel where the "Travel Expo" was
taking place ran out of water at the
weekend.
In a nasty turn of events for authorities in Harare, the
170 foreign
guests, most of them international tour operators, had to endure
Zimbabwe's
hot weather without water after tapes at the golden painted
Harare Sheraton
and Towers went dry on Friday afternoon.
To
make matters worse for the guests, who were from various countries
including
Malaysia, China, Singapore, Britain and the United States,
temperatures were
very high in Harare last Friday as they normally are
during this time of the
year.
With no one sure when the Harare city council was going to
restore
water supplies - the tapes began running again only on the next day
-
management had to improvise, buying bottled water for guests as well as
diverting borehole water, usually used to water the hotel's gardens, to
guests' rooms.
The Travel Expo is jointly hosted annually by
the Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority and the Ministry of Environment and
Tourism.
A visibly embarrassed Tourism Minister, Francis Nhema, had
to
apologise to foreign guests on Friday night telling them it was the first
time that the Harare Sheraton, one of the two best hotels in the capital,
had run out of water.
"I was made aware while I was in
Johannesburg that the hotel had run
out of water and our guests had to spend
the night without water. I would
like to apologise for that, the hotel
(management) has told me that this has
never happened before," said
Nhema.
It is probably true that the top hotel has never been
without water.
But ordinary Harare residents say water cuts are a routine
occurrence they
have now become accustomed to as the city grapples a water
crisis that began
eight months ago.
The water cuts are not
because city authorities want to conserve
dwindling supplies. Water
shortages are simply because there is no hard cash
to import water treatment
chemicals or spares for ageing and frequently
breaking down water
pumps.
An acute shortage of fuel, also because there is no foreign
currency
to pay for oil imports, is worsening the water crisis with city
engineers
and workmen unable to travel out to repair burst water
pipes.
As a result, some areas like the city's low-income suburb of
Dzivarasekwa have been without water for the past three months after the
main pipe supplying it burst.
Food, essential medical drugs,
electricity and just about every other
basic commodity is also in short
supply in Zimbabwe now in its sixth
straight year of a severe economic
recession that critics blame on
mismanagement and repression by President
Robert Mugabe particularly his
seizure of productive farmland from
whites.
Mugabe, who has presided over Zimbabwe since independence
from Britain
in 1980, however denies ruining the country saying its economic
problems are
because of sabotage by Britain and its Western allies opposed
to his seizure
of land from whites for redistribution to landless blacks. -
ZimOnline
news.com.au
From: AAP
October
18, 2005
AUSTRALIA was the only country whose representative to a UN
meeting
boycotted a "disgraceful" speech by Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe,
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
Mr Mugabe used
the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) anniversary
meeting in Rome
overnight to launch a withering denunciation of US President
George W Bush
and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Zimbabwe President described them
as "the two unholy men of our
millennium", comparing them with Hitler and
Mussolini.
Mr Downer today said Australia's representative at the meeting
had walked
out prior to the speech.
"I thought his speech was
absolutely disgraceful," the Foreign Minister said
on ABC
radio.
"Australia, I am proud to say, was the only country whose
representative
walked out before President Mugabe's speech.
"We
boycotted his speech. I thought it was quite inappropriate for him to
make a
speech like that, and ironical and inappropriate for him to turn up
at the
meeting at all."
Mr Downer said it would have been difficult not to invite Mr
Mugabe to the
FAO anniversary as Zimbabwe was a member of the United
Nations.
However, he said Mr Mugabe had made "an enormous mistake" in
accepting the
invitation and then making a political speech.
"But he
has also highlighted the simple point about Zimbabwe - that this is
a
country that used to be the ... food bowl of Africa, a major exporter of
food, and under his regime he has simply decimated agriculture and they are
begging now for food from the international community," Mr Downer
said.
Mr Downer said Mr Mugabe had destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe, and
half the
country was now suffering from a lack of sufficient nutrition.
The Telegraph
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 18/10/2005)
A Zimbabwe judge has
confirmed that President Robert Mugabe's henchmen
bought over opposition
members with food in the March general election and
threatened hungry
peasants with starvation if they failed to back his ruling
Zanu PF
party.
"It was made clear to the villagers that supporting the MDC
(Movement for
Democratic Change) meant going without food," said High Court
Judge Rita
Makarau in a written judgment on the election process in Makoni
North, a
rural constituency, 80 miles south-east of Harare.
The judge
quoted the "sad example" of one villager attending a public
meeting
exchanging his MDC T-shirt for a bag of food. "The other MDC members
were
then invited to do likewise if they wanted the food hand-outs," the
judge
said.
Judge Makarau said Zanu PF village leaders and veterans of Mr
Mugabe's
forces during the war for independence had used food to manipulate
local
voters. Journalists and human rights monitors reported that rural
Zimbabweans were refused permission to buy grain from the only legal cereals
trader, the government's Grain Marketing Board, in the run up to the March
election, in which Zanu PF won 78 of 120 seats. But Judge Makarau's judgment
is the first time that anyone in Mr Mugabe's administration has admitted
that food has been used as a political weapon.
Nathan Shamuyarira,
the Zanu PF spokesman, said: "I can't comment because I
haven't seen the
judgment."
The MDC challenged the election results in Makoni North but
Judge Makarau
refused to overturn the results saying it was unclear if the
food-for-votes
campaign was authorised by Mr Mugabe or local
agents.
David Coltart, the legal secretary for the MDC, said the judgment
on the
facts was fair. "It was disappointing that having found that food was
used
as a political weapon she then failed to find this had a material
effect on
the result."
Six months before the election Mr Mugabe
stopped food distribution except to
targeted groups such as orphans and
those with HIV Aids, and claimed a
record maize crop was grown the previous
summer. He said Zimbabweans would
"choke" if they were given any more
food.
Details of domestic grain reserves, or lack of them, are an
unofficial state
secret and not even the UN can find out whether Zimbabwe
has any food in
storage. Last weekend up to 80 people armed with spears and
axes launched a
series of potato raids on several farms near the capital,
injuring security
guards and killing five dogs, the state's Herald newspaper
reported
yesterday.
The UN's World Food Programme is due to begin
feeding up to four million
hungry Zimbabweans, or a third of the population,
at the end of this month.
Mr Mugabe told Kofi Annan, the United Nations
secretary-general, in New York
last month that traditional leaders, who are
civil servants, should
distribute food and not non-governmental
organisations.
"What we do not want is for the UN to give grain to NGOs
so they make
politics out of it," Mr Mugabe reportedly told Mr Annan.
New Zimbabwe
By Itai
Masotsha Zimunya
Last updated: 10/18/2005 13:30:11
WHILST many people wail
and cry over the MDC infighting over senate
elections, I am of the view that
the division might be good for the people
of Zimbabwe for many
reasons.
The chief reason is that, after several years of compromise, it
is necessary
and healthy for leaders to be exposed and let the people point
the way
forward. Zanu PF is also happy about the fissure, not because it
creates a
chance for the people to develop, but because they see a window of
a
one-party state. Zanu PF has serious bloody fissures and they are
controlled
by the gun. Mugabe sees the mayhem as more easy power to Zanu PF
but the
division gives chance of internal rejuvenation.
Morgan
Tsvangirai, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) President,
supported by
the youth and women movements maintains that the party must not
contest the
senate elections because the party believes Zimbabwe needs a new
constitution and that the $60 billion cost of the senate could be used to
feed, educate, house and medicate the poor people.
On the other hand,
the party's Secretary General, Welshman Ncube, leads a
team of leaders and
people that argue that the party should contest the
elections. Their chief
argument is that the party must not surrender power
on a silver platter to
Zanu PF.
Zimbabweans face very serious problems of a failed government
and a
dictatorship. The people of Zimbabwe had deposited their trust and
faith in
the opposition MDC to lead them in a democratic and non-violent way
of
getting power. This avenue largely constitutes the electoral process. The
most interesting thing in the crack is the claim by both sides that they are
representing the people's interests.
A major question arises here:
who are these people that both Morgan and
Welsh purport to
represent?
Ncube, sporadically and spasmodically emerging in several faces of
Gift
Chimanikire, Paul Themba-Nyathi and others, argue that they are
inspired by
the 33 votes of the national council and as a constitutional
requirement,
they move the party towards the poll. They argue that these 33
represent the
people of the Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, Tsvangirai
whose other faces include Youth chairperson
Chamisa and Women Chairperson
Lucia Matibenga, argues that the senate is
Mugabe's project to solve Zanu
PF's succession dilemma and that the MDC must
boycott the poll to divert the
$60 billion towards health, education, food
and housing.
It has been
publicized that most of the 33 people that want to participate
see
themselves having a chance to be elected senators and benefiting from
the
hefty salaries and soft loans that accrue to such offices. Paul Themba
Nyathi eyes a seat in Gwanda, Roy Bennet was assured a seat in Chimanimani,
Evelyn Masaiti and her new husband, MDC National Chairperson Isaac Matongo,
have eyed the comfort of Harare. This wagon includes a host of other senior
party officials that mostly are not in parliament.
It would be unfair
and harsh to accuse people of political ambition, and in
this case it is
their right to eye certain seats. However, the fundamental
question is: who
does it help for the MDC to be in senate and why is it
important for the MDC
to be led by principle and not mathematics?
At mathematical law, Welsh
and his group are excellent. The national council
voted 33 to 31, and it is
common sense that their decision should carry the
day since 33 is bigger
than 31.
However, there is a vast difference between law and politics.
Hitler was
right at law to exterminate the Jews in Germany because it was
law but
politically it was wrong. It will be lawful for Chinamasa to take
people's
passports but politically wrong. The pro-senate wagon is educated
but not
learned. David Coltart brought to parliament one day a draft
"Zimbabwean
Constitution" that he wrote alone pointing out that Zimbabwe
needs a
President with at least a degree. Only yesterday Coltart argued that
Zimbabwe needs a new people driven constitution and today he turns otherwise
with a bedroom constitution. Secondly, what is in a degree? How many degrees
does Mugabe have? And if degrees grow an economy, why is Zimbabwe in a mess
with an educated President? I am therefore tempted to follow uneducated but
learned and people-centred arguments, not mathematical and rocket science
based approaches that border on selling out the wishes of the
people.
The best answer to the above questions comes from Mugabe.
Addressing the
Zanu PF central committee in Harare, Mugabe said: "I am happy
that the MDC
is going to contest." Further questions ensue, why make Mugabe
happy and who
had informed Mugabe that the MDC was contesting? It is not our
attempt to
answer these questions. In Bulawayo when giving computers to a
crowd of more
than 2000 people -- of which half seemed to be soldiers -
Mugabe celebrated
these cracks and lambasted Tsvangirai for boycotting the
senate polls.
It is important to highlight that our agenda is not to
blindly attack or
oppose Mugabe. Mugabe has done immense work for Zimbabwe
including pushing
the land agenda though I do not agree with both his means
and the end.
Mugabe seems pleased of the MDC National Council decisions than
Zanu PF
central committee resolutions. It is not shocking that Mugabe trusts
the MDC
more than he does Zanu PF because 6 of the 10 Zanu PF provinces were
clear
that Mugabe must go whilst the MDC national council says they need "to
talk
to Mugabe". Zanu PF is clearer here and this split in the MDC
leadership
opinion will show the nation which leaders wished to meet and
dine with
Mugabe whilst houses were being destroyed in
Murambatsvina.
However, in the case before us, it is of fundamental
importance to scan
Mugabe's reaction because it was one of the MDC's slogans
that Mugabe must
GO. So why now bless him to more executive
power?
The current division in the MDC might be good for the people in
that there
will emerge a strong people centred party that truly represents
their
aspirations. Modern political power resides in people and not in
intelligence, eloquence, oratory or guns - though all these elements are
necessary in a power game.
At start, the MDC was a composition of
reformists whose ideology was
centre-right and a strong component of leftist
women, students and labour
activists. There were also a few but vigorous
farmers. The Church and the
ghetto youth formed the hub of the party whose
initial demands were a new
constitution and free and fair elections. As the
party went towards
formalisation and elections, there are several
opportunists that joined the
train because of their wealth, academic
background or societal position and
took leadership positions in a party
whose objectives they guessed. The Raw
data book bears testimony to my claim
and most of the people that want
senate elections today are selling out on
the positions affirmed by the
party at Chitungwiza, White City and Rufaro
stadiums.
From this background, it does not shock some of us when
Mafikizolos claim
parenthood of the party and demand to lead it against the
wishes of the poor
peasants and workers.
The Ari Ben Menashe issue
must be revisited. Which national council met on
this issue? The political
dialogue between Zanu PF and MDC in 2003, though
noble must be interrogated
in the same fashion. The treason trial and the
state media slowly prepared
the people to accept an MDC without Tsvangison -
the arrogant and uneducated
Briton. Is there anything hidden that all other
people do not see
here?
Some people in the MDC leadership had made themselves bigger than
the party.
They had substituted the national agenda with their very private
and selfish
agendas. We argue that Mugabe is a selfish person who does not
want to move
the button to another person, even within Zanu PF. It is not
far from the
truth that Mugabe's celebration of the MDC's participation was
because he
saw little Mugabes in the making. That is why I believe that this
split is
very, very good for the future of Zimbabwe. Whilst it could be
confusing at
present, I encourage people not to worry. Splits and divisions
are common in
all political processes; the most important thing is to be
consistent and
predictable on the position of the poor.
Mugabe and
his colleagues were very clear during the liberation struggle.
Tongogara
says they were fighting for land to the poor and one-person one
vote. They
boycotted the 1978-9 internal settlement not because they feared
losing or
that they feared giving Abel Muzorewa power on a silver platter.
Indeed
Muzorewa took power, much to the pleasure and praise of Ian Smith,
but the
agenda of the poor remained in the fore of Zanla and Zipra. That is
why
these two groups were so popular with the povo and that is why the union
of
ZAPU and ZANU - the patriotic front -- rules today. It was on the basis
of
people centred work and not compromises.
From a youth and parent's
perspective, what good will the senate bring to
Zimbabwe's future? Certainly
none, save for the myriad of dangers that it
brings to the nation. Like
Tsvangirai argues, the $60 billion is better used
to pay the army, teachers
and nurses, create more jobs and secure fuel.
From a principle
perspective, what good does it give the MDC to embrace one
aspect (the
senate election) whilst refusing to accept the total package of
confiscation
of passports and the finalisation of the racist and elite land
program?
It is my third observation that this split is a necessary
development,
specifically to show some people that they are not gods of
Zimbabwe and that
Zimbabwe will move without them. The anti-Mugabe agenda is
not eternal to
the extent that we pray that he goes to hell. It is just a
loud call for him
to go. Mugabe is a Zimbabwean and like everybody else,
like him or not, he
deserves to enjoy his gains and not loots.
What
Zimbabwe wants is a new people driven democratic constitution and free
and
fair elections not MDC, Morgan or Welsh. Under a new people written
constitution and from free and fair elections, should Joice Mujuru or John
Nkomo win the presidency, we hail them and support them well because they
would be an outcome of the aspirations of the people. Why people, including
myself, do not give Mugabe allegiance is because we were beaten and often
subjected to sub-human conditions each time there is an election. That is
why we say he is illegitimate and thus not our president.
Simple!
This split is also important to Tsvangirai as a person. The
Ari-Ben Menashe
saga and the treason trial had more than one tonne of gold
changing hands
among several people including senior MDC officials. Who is
Morgan
Tsvangirai not to be sold when our Christian saviour Jesus Christ was
sold
by his tablemate? Why were these 66 national council members,
especially the
33 conspicuously absent from the High Court? It was the
ordinary party
members, especially women, who stood by Morgan in prayer
until he came out.
Bennett knows how many people and which came to see him
in Jail.
It is rather regrettable that very ambitious people hide their
power lusts
under the guise of not wanting to give Zanu PF control in a
silver platter.
If people cannot learn from the metropolitan governors of
Bulawayo and
Harare, the firing of MDC elected mayors and councillors and
the numerous
rigged elections, then they ain't seen nothing yet!
I
would like to conclude from a vanguard end, that the poor peasants and
workers will protect their project, whether named MDC or anything, so long
it demands a new people-driven constitution and free and fair elections.
Leaders may fight, claim to know the people better or get billions worth of
land and mineral rights, the spirit of resistance will not die in Ncube or
Tsvangirai. After all, people die and Zimbabwe lives. So why worry? In fact
who is Tsvangirai and Ncube? Zimbabwe is and will forever be loved much more
than these two and it must be known that no person is bigger than the people
of Zimbabwe. Freedom is coming tomorrow. Aluta continue.
Zimunya is a
human rights activist and can be contacted at:
itaizim@yahoo.com
VOA
By VOA News
17 October 2005
The
Committee to Protect Journalists has named three journalists and a media
lawyer as recipients of this year's Press Freedom Awards.
The press
freedom organization says the four endured beatings, jail and
intimidation
for their work.
Reporter Galima Bukharbaeva of the Institute for War and
Peace Reporting won
the award for risking her life to cover the brutal Uzbek
government
crackdown on protesters in the city of Andijan last May. The
committee says
Ms. Bukharbaeva is now in exile in the United States and
faces criminal
prosecution in Uzbekistan for her reporting.
The New
York-based group says Lacio Flavio Pinto, who publishes and edits
the
Brazilian bimonthly newspaper Jornal Pessoal, won for courageous
reporting
on drug trafficking, environmental devastation and corruption in
Brazil's
remote Amazon jungle.
Imprisoned Chinese journalist Shi Tao won the award
for his essays on
political reform. Mr. Shi's work as a freelance journalist
and editor with a
Chinese business newspaper, Dangdai Shang Bao, earned him
a 10-year prison
sentence for allegedly leaking state secrets, but drew
attention to Internet
censorship in China.
And Zimbabwe media lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa won for what the committee called
her tireless defense of
press freedoms in a highly restrictive media
environment.
The
committee will also honor the late ABC news anchor Peter Jennings with a
lifetime achievement award.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 18 October 2005
Jonathan
Katzenellenbogen
International Affairs Editor
US ASSISTANT
Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer yesterday
gave an
upbeat view of Africa's progress in ending wars and promoting
democracy, and
was full of praise for Liberia's recent election.
But she said yesterday
in Johannesburg that Zimbabwe should urgently be
discussed by the African
Union (AU) Peace and Security Council as well as
the United Nations Security
Council if these bodies were to play a role in
preventing a potential
conflict.
Frazer left SA last night after talks with Foreign Minister
Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma. The talks were part of a six-nation tour of the
continent, her
first since her appointment two months ago to the top Africa
policy position
at the US state department.
Until August, Frazer, who
was a student of US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice at Stanford
University, was US ambassador to SA.
Frazer spent much of last week in
Liberia, and described the election as
"truly inspiring". She said she had
seen election workers in Liberia who had
been working from early morning to
late at night.
"Just six years ago people were getting their arms chopped
off."
Africa was entering a new period in which the number of conflicts
was
sharply reduced and a new leadership was emerging, but the progress was
little noticed in the outside world, Frazer said. "There is more (in the
press) about the lack of democracy in Zimbabwe than there is about the
emergence of democracy in Liberia."
Frazer said she was also
encouraged by the AU's actions in responding to
crises, although Africa's
peace and security mechanisms were not yet fully
in place.
But she
voiced disappointment over what she said was a lack of an effective
African
response to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
She said momentum in Zimbabwe towards
a settlement was "probably stuck" and
the international community needed to
use "isolation and dialogue" to keep
up the pressure on Harare.
"We
must get the message (about reform) through clearly," Frazer said.
She
said the US administration would soon ask congress to "broaden and
deepen"
its smart sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Oct-18
THE
government has gazetted new annual vehicle licence tariffs and other
fees
for Harare City Council.
According to statutory instrument 205 of 2005
published in the Government
Gazette last Friday, the Minister of Transport
and Communications
Christopher Mushohwe said the tariffs were in respect of
vehicles kept at
night within areas under Harare's ambit and administration
for "licences,
temporary identification cards, garages licences and the
issue of other
documents by it, in respect of such vehicles".
Any motor
vehicle that has a net mass that exceeds 9 000 kilogrammes (kgs)
would
attract $4 060 602 while that with a net mass not exceeding 9 000kgs
but
exceeding 4 600kgs would attract a charge of $3 274 635.
Light vehicles -
those having a seating capacity of less than seven
passengers or a mobile
caravan, ambulance or a fire engine irrespective of
their mass - would
attract $624 000.
In the same gazette the Minister of Local Government,
Public Works and Urban
Development, Ignatious Chombo announced $33 000 as
the penalty for a variety
of traffic offences committed in the
capital.
These include washing vehicle on the road or on any parking place,
parking
in a preferential area without authority, failure to display
reserved
parking area disc, continuously and late removal of a vehicle from
a car
park or garage. Chombo also announced that he had approved the Harare
(pushcart) by-laws 2005 that were made by the city fathers.In terms of the
by-laws no one shall operate a pushcart without a licence and in the event
of being licensed the pushcart would not be operated within Harare's
Business District (CBD), within the precincts of any public park, stadium
sports ground or in the forecourt of any filling station or service
station.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Godfrey Mutsago
issue date :2005-Oct-18
THE government
has clashed with wheat farmers over the new producer price
recently
announced by the Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made.
Discussions to resolve
the impasse have already started and more
negotiations have been penciled
for next week, sources in the farming sector
said yesterday.
The
government two weeks ago set the wheat producer price at $6.9 million
per
tonne, a price the farmers argued fell short of meeting production
costs.
They demanded at least $14 million per tonne.
In their
arguments, the farmers pointed out that due to the fluctuations in
fuel,
labour and transport costs, the $6.9 million per tonne offered by the
government was non viable.
Information received by this newspaper
indicates that some farmers who have
harvested their wheat crop were
deliberately withholding it until government
came up with a viable
offer.
Grains and Cereal Producers Association (GCPA) chairman Denford
Chimbwanda
yesterday confirmed that sharp differences have erupted between
the
government and wheat farmers over the pricing.
"Farmers are asking
for a better price to help them purchase inputs for the
coming season.
"
Our advisers have indicated that with what the government is offering,
farmers would not be able to return to the fields," Chimbwanda said.
He
argued that production costs have been shooting up since April when the
wheat-farming season kicked off.
For instance, the pump price for fuel in
April fuel at government fuel
stations at $5.700 per litre.
The price
went up to $10.500 in September.
Farm workers were then receiving $192 400
per month, which shot up to $450
000 last month.
The cost of hiring a
Combine-harvester also increased from about $2.7
million to well over $5
million per hectare.
Although the permanent secretary in the Ministry of
Agriculture Simon
Pazvakavambwa could not be reached for comment yesterday,
Chimbwanda said
preliminary discussions with government were held last
week.
"We met officials in the Ministry of Agriculture and we hope to hold
another meeting with Pazvakavambwa because the ministry's economists who we
met had their arguments in support of the price.
"We agreed that both
parties look into the issue closely before we engage
the permanent secretary
in serious discussions," added Chimbwanda.
The country is expecting about 200
000 tonnes of wheat this season.
The output is also expected to see the
availability of bread in shops
improve.
In the past few months, bakeries
had been facing serious wheat problems that
have led to acute shortages of
bread and other wheat products in retail
outlets across the country.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Oct-18
BODIES continue to pile
up at Masvingo provincial hospital mortuary, as
relatives fail to collect
them timeously for burial because of the current
fuel crisis crippling not
only the transport industry, but various other
critical service areas in the
country.
The situation is said to have worsened with reports that the
mortuary, which
has a capacity to accommodate 17 bodies, now has more than
40 corpses. A
similar scenario reportedly prevails in the province's
district hospitals.
Masvingo provincial hospital administrator, Vitalis
Shonhai, said the
situation was not improving prompting them to seek
assistance from the
department of social welfare to conduct a pauper's
burial.
"The situation is worsening because of the current fuel crisis.
Bodies have
not yet been collected for ages and we will seek an approval
from the
department of social welfare to conduct pauper's burial. There are
delays in
getting the approval hence we end up having mortuaries being
stretched to
the limit," Shonhai said.
He added that at Ngomahuru and
Chivi district hospitals the situation was
even worse and again called on
the department of social welfare for help. "I
urge the department of social
welfare to help by approving pauper's burial.
The situation will continue
because of the high fatality rate fuelled by the
HIV and Aids pandemic,
which kills thousands of people weekly," he added. He
also said the problem
was further compounded by the fact that the police
also bring in bodies
after having failed to locate relatives.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily Mirror
Reporter
issue date :2005-Oct-18
ARMED police have been deployed to
two commercial farms in Stapleford,
Harare, owned by father and son Arnott
and Peter Duncan, following thefts of
potatoes and farming equipment running
into billions of dollars.
This is the first reported incident since 2000 that
the State has provided
protection on farms to stop the disturbance of the
agricultural sector.
Harare province police spokesperson Inspector Loveless
Rupere said
trespassers at the two neighbouring farms, Stamford and Goodhope
risked
being shot.
"The thieves come in the late hours. Sometimes
numbering about 80. Any
number from 50.If we disturb these people (the
farmers) whom the government
has recognised, then we have defeated the whole
purpose of the land reform.
We have deployed armed personnel to take charge
of the situation. People may
end up losing their lives for stealing
potatoes," Rupere said.
Rupere said the decision to deploy the police onto
the farms was reached
after persistent attacks on farm guards and the
killing of five dogs this
year alone. He said problems at the properties -
where in some instances
potatoes worth $250 million were being stolen in a
single night - has been
going on for some years now.
The police
spokesperson also said overtime some criminals have been arrested
and hauled
before the courts, but this has failed to deter determined
thieves.
Rupere added that there was need to stop the destabilisation of
the farming
sector through criminal activities, as it was the backbone of
the economy.
The latest incident occurred last Saturday, when the thieves
armed with iron
bars, sjambocks, and stones, among others, attacked and
injured 10 guards.
The thieves allegedly followed some of the guards to their
home and stole
their belongings including household untensils.
The
thieves create exit points, by cutting the fence, destroying the
durawall,
before embarking on their mission.
Stamford Farm manager, Moses Gatsi said
sometimes the thieves divide
themselves into two groups- one attacking the
guards while the other stole.
" Every night guards are injured and this has
been going on for two years.
Yesterday (Saturday) they even went into
people's homes and stole some
pots," Gatsi said.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Partson
Matsikidze recently in Nyanga
issue date :2005-Oct-18
FARM workers -
both local and migrant - are heroes of Zimbabwe's agro-based
economy, but
some of the new A2 farmers are cruel, rude and insensitive to
the basic
needs of this key element of development, according to
recommendations made
in Nyanga over the weekend.
So besides improving their workers' wages and
conditions of service, the new
commercial farmers were also challenged to
change their attitude towards
farm workers, as peaceful co-existence was
critical in boosting farm
production to feed the nation.
Some of the
ex-farm workers are still staying on their former bosses'
designated
properties with their critics viewing them with disdain claiming
that they
were good-at-nothing lazy bones bent on stealing and engaging in
immoral
acts.
Observers said such comments were uncalled for and unhelpful as they
smack
of blatant xenophobia.
However, the majority of participants
privately shot down this theory
arguing that if these people were indeed
idle, why then had their former
masters not fired them for incompetence and
inefficiency in the first place?
These sentiments came out on Saturday during
the two-day seminar where the
plight of current and ex-farm workers was the
focus of debate.
At least 70 participants from various stakeholders including
parliamentarians, academics, rural district councils, the media, and donor
community, General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWU) and
National Employment Council for Agriculture (NEC) attended the workshop,
which was organised by the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ).
The
purpose of the workshop was to come up with recommendations to present
to
the Parliament Portfolio Committee (PPC) on Lands and Agriculture on the
situation of Housing and Tenure Security for farm workers in newly resettled
areas.
After breaking into groups and then brainstorming the ideas, the
workshop
unanimously came up with resolutions that starkly highlighted major
problems
affecting farm workers.
The recommendations would then be taken
to the PPC for further deliberations
before they are formulated into
policy.
The PPC (Lands and Agriculture) is chaired by Zanu PF Masvingo South
MP
Walter Mzembi and also includes MDC Budiriro legislator Gilbert Shoko and
Gutu South (Zanu PF) MP Shuvai Mahofa, both of whom attended the seminar at
the Troutbeck Inn.
The workshop also recommended that farm workers with
technical skills should
be incorporated into the new land use system to
benefit the country.
It was also noted that some people had worked on
specialised farms like
tobacco or dairy for 25 years, and that long
experience would come in handy
if they were given the right inputs,
equipment and above all the respect and
dignity they deserve from their
colleagues.
There was also need to educate farm workers on the fact that the
land reform
programme was irreversible as most of them were reluctant to
work for the
new A2 landlords mistakenly thinking that the former white
commercial
farmers would return to their properties.
Such thinking marked
them out as being reactionary to government policy.
There was also the issue
of identity particulars for most migrant workers
and their descendants to
ensure that they get permanent resident status or
citizenship.
This would
also enable them to get the respect that is commensurate with
their pivotal
service to the development of the country.
Farms and mines used to be manned
mostly by people of Malawian, Mozambican
or Zambian origin dating back to
the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
"Some of the new farmers and
ordinary Zimbabweans ridicule the farm workers
using derogatory slurs and
remarks such as muBhurandaya (Blantyre) or
Mubwidi (person of Malawian
descent,)" said lamented Gertrude Hambira,
secretary-general of GAPWUZ in
her presentation.
The workshop also agreed that farm workers should be
assessed annually, that
ex-workers are assisted with relocation expenses to
new areas by the
government and the issue of security of tenure should be
speeded up and
normalised.
It was recommended that farm workers should be
incorporated in developmental
structures in addition to giving them tax
incentives and social amenities
such as family toilets contrary to communal
or pit latrines.
The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) also came
under attack from
GAPWUZ for doing nothing for stranded ex-farm workers who
had contributed a
lot of money to the scheme when they were waged
workers.