Mugabe Aides Are Said to Use Violence to Gain Amnesty

http://www.nytimes.com/

By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: April 9, 2009
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe's top lieutenants are trying to
force the political opposition into granting them amnesty for their past
crimes by abducting, detaining and torturing opposition officials and
activists, according to senior members of Mr. Mugabe's party.

Mr. Mugabe's generals and politicians have organized campaigns of terror for
decades to keep him and his party in power. But now that the opposition has
a place in the nation's new government, these strongmen worry that they are
suddenly vulnerable to prosecution, especially for crimes committed during
last year's election campaign as the world watched.

"Their faces were immediately pasted on the wall for everyone to see that
they were behind the killing, the violence, the torture and intimidation,"
said a senior official in Mr. Mugabe's party, ZANU-PF, who, like others in
the party, spoke anonymously because he was describing its criminal history.

To protect themselves, some of Mr. Mugabe's lieutenants are trying to
implicate opposition officials in a supposed plot to overthrow the
president, hoping to use it as leverage in any amnesty talks or to press the
opposition into quitting the government altogether, ruling party officials
said.

Like South Africa at the end of apartheid or Liberia at the close of Charles
Taylor's reign, Zimbabwe is in the midst of a treacherous passage from
authoritarian rule to an uncertain future. After a bloody election season
last year stained by the state-sponsored beatings and killings of opposition
supporters, Mr. Mugabe and his rivals in the Movement for Democratic Change
agreed to a power-sharing government that includes both victimizers and
victims.

But Mr. Mugabe's lieutenants, part of an inner circle called the Joint
Operations Command, know that their 85-year-old leader may not be around
much longer to shield them, and fear losing not just their power and
ill-gotten wealth, but their freedom, officials in the party said.

Their fixation on getting amnesty was described by four senior ruling party
officials, all Mugabe confidants, who spoke to a Zimbabwean journalist
working for The New York Times. But some opposition officials say Mr. Mugabe's
loyalists are less interested in reaching a deal than in simply forcing them
out of the new government through violence and intimidation. Others suspect
a push for amnesty is being sought by a broad contingent of Mr. Mugabe's
party worried about accounting for the past.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, one of Mr. Mugabe's principal
negotiators in the power-sharing talks, informally told opposition officials
around the time that the transitional government took office in February
that his party wanted an amnesty, according to a senior ZANU-PF official
close to the talks.

"We wanted to find out if it would be possible to have amnesty dating back
to 1980s," the official said. "The M.D.C. did not sound very forthcoming."

Indeed, the opposition has so far offered no such assurances.

"I'd rather rot in hell than agree to anything like that," said Roy Bennett,
the opposition's third-highest ranking official. He was recently released on
bail after being held for almost a month on terrorism charges based on
testimony from a man whose doctor and lawyer say was tortured and forced
into giving a false confession.

Didymus Mutasa, who served as Mr. Mugabe's minister for national security
until the power-sharing deal went into effect, acknowledged that some senior
officials in his party may be worried about prosecution.

Had the party floated the idea of an amnesty? he was asked. "Perhaps," he
said.

Were abductions used to gain leverage for amnesty? "There could have been
something like that," he said, "but how am I to know?"

Still, he argued, pressing charges against senior ZANU-PF officials would be
counterproductive. "It's madness to try to go back into matters of history,"
said Mr. Mutasa, the party's secretary for administration.

The crimes committed to entrench Mr. Mugabe's rule date back to the 1980s,
when thousands of civilians from Zimbabwe's Ndebele minority in Matabeleland
were killed by the notorious North Korean-trained Fifth Army brigade,
according to historians.

Among the Ndebele, the tears of the living must be shed to release the souls
of the dead. But the Fifth Brigade insisted that there be no mourning for
those they killed, and in some cases shot family members because they wept,
according to "Breaking the Silence," a 1997 investigation based on the
testimonies of more than 1,000 witnesses.

Other political crimes include widespread attacks on the opposition in 2000,
2002 and 2005, and most gruesomely last year. Beyond that, a vast 2005 slum
clearance effort known as Operation Murambatsvina, or Get Rid of the Filth,
drove 700,000 people in opposition bastions from their homes.

Last year, close to 200 people were killed, mostly before the June
presidential runoff between Mr. Mugabe and the opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, and thousands were tortured in state-sponsored attacks, but so
far no one has been prosecuted, according to a State Department human rights
report released in February.

Mr. Mugabe's party fears that even more damning evidence will be unearthed.
For the first time since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the opposition has
a majority in Parliament that can investigate corruption and political
violence.

"There are more explosive issues that are not in the public domain, cases
that have not been reported but still have a serious impact on the future of
some of the officials who were in the previous government," said a senior
ZANU-PF official.

Last year, as it did in the 1980s, Mr. Mugabe's loyalists cut off food aid
to hungry areas, blocked access to foreign journalists, sent party youth
brigades to terrorize the countryside, charged their rivals with treason and
used abduction, torture, arson and killings to silence critics.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the minister who oversaw the intelligence agency in the
1980s, ran Mr. Mugabe's warlike election campaign last year and is now
defense minister. Perence Shiri, who commanded the Fifth Brigade in
Matabeleland, is now air force commander. Both are among the Joint
Operations Command's 11 members, who have advised Mr. Mugabe, the man at the
pinnacle, throughout.

"The Matabeleland issue can be blamed on the government as a broader
 entity," said a senior ZANU-PF official. "But the post-March 29 violence
and killings can be pinned down to only 12 people."

Mr. Mugabe's men realized they would not succeed in getting the opposition
to voluntarily give them an amnesty because, as one ZANU-PF official put it,
"unlike ZANU-PF they have very little to worry about in terms of crimes."

One ruling party official, who speaks regularly with Mr. Mugabe's top
commanders, said that his party needed opposition prisoners to trade for
amnesty. A second official, who attended meetings of Mr. Mugabe's inner
circle, said Air Marshal Shiri suggested jailing as many top opposition
figures as possible.

A third official, who has regular discussions with the top lieutenants, said
the most powerful players in the party, except for Mr. Mugabe, would prefer
the power-sharing government to fail and have sought to keep opposition
officials imprisoned in hopes Mr. Tsvangirai will pull out. The officials
said they agreed to be interviewed because they felt the amnesty issue
needed to be faced, or because they perceived themselves as safe from
prosecution and possibly benefiting from the downfall of some in the inner
circle.

The recent abductions of dozens of opposition and human rights activists
began in October. Many were held for weeks or months in hidden locations.
Most were eventually produced in court and many have provided sworn
accounts, corroborated by doctors, of being tortured to elicit confessions
that they were recruiting militants to overthrow Mr. Mugabe or were involved
in bombing plots.

Chris Dhlamini, the opposition's director of security, was hung upside down
from a tree and dropped on his head, as well as submerged in water until he
believed he would drown. His interrogators tried to get him to implicate Mr.
Tsvangirai, he said.

Fidelis Charamba, a 73-year-old local opposition official, said he was
pushed into a deep freezer and had boiling water poured over his genitals.

For months, Mr. Tsvangirai refused to join the government, insisting on the
release of his people. Finally, though they remained jailed, he relented
under pressure from southern African leaders. On Feb. 11, Mr. Mugabe swore
him in as prime minister.

The arrest of Mr. Bennett, Mr. Tsvangirai's nominee for deputy agriculture
minister, just two days later cast a pall over the new government and
prompted Mr. Tsvangirai and others to say that elements in the ruling party
were trying to sabotage the deal.

"The hard-liners still filled with hate and vengeance want to use me to
achieve one of two things: to broker a deal for amnesty or to get the M.D.C.
to walk away from the agreement," Mr. Bennett said.

In the weeks after Mr. Bennett's arrest, the opposition pleaded for the
release of its jailed activists and officials, describing them as "political
hostages." But seven abductees are still missing, and three remain in
custody. Those out on bail face charges that could bring life sentences.

Tensions rose after Mr. Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, was killed and he was
injured in a March 6 car crash that many of his supporters believe was an
assassination attempt. Though Mr. Tsvangirai has called it an accident, his
party is conducting its own investigation.

For days afterward, thousands of mourners gathered at the Tsvangirais' home
in Harare. In the glow of lights strung across the yard, to the driving beat
of drums, party workers swirled in circles, stamping their feet and
chanting, "Robert Mugabe killed Susan Tsvangirai," and "Tsvangirai beware!
ZANU-PF will finish all M.D.C."

Their fear was as palpable as their rage. Approached for interviews, their
eyes darted around as they searched for ruling party spies and begged not to
be quoted by name.

"They will kill us," one woman said. "They are everywhere."

A journalist in Zimbabwe contributed reporting.

Controversy Surrounds Process of Rewriting Zimbabwe's Constitution

http://www.voanews.com

      By Patience Rusere
      09 April 2009

Zimbabwe's National Constitutional Assembly, which has been calling for
years for a "people-driven constitution" as the prescription for much of
what ails the country, has fallen out with the former opposition Movement
for Democratic Change, now in majority in parliament, over how the process
of rewriting the country's constitution should proceed.

On Thursday, MDC lawmakers largely boycotted an NCA meeting called to brief
members of parliament on civil society views on how to overhaul the
constitution. On Wednesday, NCA members stayed away from a meeting called by
Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga of the MDC
to solicit input from various stakeholders.

Sources in the National Constitutional Assembly said only four members of
parliament from the MDC formation led by Arthur Mutambara attended the civic
group's Wednesday briefing, with MPs of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
larger MDC formation entirely absent.

The mutual no-shows signaled polarization on the question of whether the new
constitution should emanate from society at large or be mainly drafted by
the politicians.

The NCA, backed by most civil society groups, wants a "people driven"
constitution drafted by a convention or commission and approved by a
referendum, whereas the unity government proposes to move the process
through the halls of parliament, with civic consultation.

For perspective on the constitutional debate, reporter Patience Rusere of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to NCA National Director Earnest Mudzengi
and political analyst John Makumbe, a professor at the University of
Zimbabwe in Harare.

Mudzengi argued that Zimbabwe's politicians cannot be allowed to become the
referees of their own game, insisting that broad participation in the
process is essential.

Hardline ZANU-PF Ministers In Zimbabwe Said To Form Oppositional Group

http://www.voanews.com

     

      By Blessing Zulu
      Washington
      09 April 2009

Zimbabwean cabinet ministers belonging to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party and former members of the Joint Operations Command of security agency
chiefs are said to have joined forces in a shadowy group calling itself the
Social Revolutionary Council designed to frustrate the aims of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, political sources say.

Members of the group are said to include Defense Minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
Governor Gideon Gono and the commanders of the army and air force,
government and party sources said.

Mnangagwa, considered a potential successor to Mr. Mugabe as ZANU-PF chief
and as that party's next presidential contender, declined to comment, as did
Mutasa.

The Joint Operations Command, commonly referred to as the JOC, was said to
have exerted significant influence over President Mugabe following his
defeat by Mr. Tsvangirai in the first round of presidential voting on March
29, 2008, and to have coordinated the deadly wave of political violence that
preceded the presidential runoff ballot on June 27. Mr. Tsvangirai withdrew
from that runoff in protest of the violence against his supporters.

The Social Revolutionary Council is said to be behind the recent wave of
invasions of white-owned commercial farms and the continued detention and
harassment of officials and activists of Mr. Tsvangirai's formation of the
Movement for Democratic Change.

Confirming there remain divisions within the unity government, President
Mugabe this week said farm takeovers should continue, adding that elections
could be held in two years.

Government and political sources said the members of the group lobbied Mr.
Mugabe not to swear deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett into
office.

The sources said Bennett's son Charles has also been targeted by the group,
which urged the police to arrest him for driving his father Feb. 13 to the
airport outside Harare where he was arrested on weapons and security charges
dating to 2006.

Sources in Tsvangirai's MDC formation central banker Gono tried to influence
lawmakers from the majority party by offering them luxury vehicles. They
said Tsvangirai Thursday ordered MDC MPs not to accept such vehicles
following an incident in which MPs booed Deputy Prime Minister Thokozane
Khupe when she urged them to turn down Gono's offer.

MDC sources said Tsvangirai has already sent a letter to Mr. Mugabe urging
him to swear in Bennett and resolve issues still outstanding eight weeks
after the government's launch.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti, secretary general of Tsvangirai's MDC
formation, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
residual hardline elements in ZANU-PF have stirring up controversy over
Bennett, who is free on bail and still facing charges.

Pretoria-based political analyst Sydney Masamvu of the International Crisis
Group said some elements in ZANU-PF are not comfortable with the new
political dispensation in Harare.

Confusion Over Ministries Cleared - The Herald

http://www.herald.co.zw/

Published by the government of Zimbabwe

10 April 2009

Harare - PRESIDENT Mugabe has expanded the Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructure Development to include the Department of Communications,
putting to rest the debate about which ministry is responsible for
telecommunications companies and their regulatory bodies.

The new portfolio has now become the Ministry of Transport, Communication
and Infrastructural Development under Minister Nicholas Goche.

The ministry would now oversee the operations at NetOne, TelOne, Zimpost and
their governing body, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
of Zimbabwe.

Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu and Information
Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa "clashed" recently when the
former wanted to address workers at NetOne, which the latter claimed was
under his portfolio.

However, sources said President Mugabe has decisively acted on the issue,
moving the Communication portfolio to Minister Goche.

"The Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda, wrote
to the relevant ministries outlining their mandates," a source told The
Herald.

He said under the new arrangement, Minister Goche would be responsible for
all the communication parastatals and their regulatory bodies.

"This means Minister Goche would be responsible for the formulation of
policies and laws that govern the parastatals," he said.

The Department of Communications would be governed by the Postal and
Telecommunications Act, Postal and Telecommunications Services Act and
Postal and Telecommunications Corporation Act.

Transmedia, which was also at the centre of the dispute, however remains
under the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity.

Dr Sibanda is also said to have outlined the mandates of the Ministry of
Media, Information and Publicity and the Ministry of Information
Communication Technology.

Minister Shamu will, among other duties, work with such organisations as the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Film and Television School of
Southern Africa, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, Zimpapers, Kingston's and
New Ziana.

Information Communication Technology would, however, focus on, among other
issues, developing appropriate policies and strategies of ICT innovations
while spearheading the development of regulatory frameworks that facilitate
the development of ICT.

The ministry would also champion and promote ICT literacy in the country
while formulating laws and regulations that would establish necessary
departments.

Mugabe risks MDC fury as Chamisa's ministry stripped of functions

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

Posted to the web 05/04/2009 23:03:28
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe risked MDC fury on Thursday after controversially
annexing functions accepted to be under Nelson Chamisa's Information
Communication Technology ministry and handing them to an expanded Ministry
of Transport and Infrastructure Development under Nicholas Goche.

Goche's ministry now becomes the Ministry of Transport, Communication and
Infrastructural Development - in charge of the telecommunications sector
including the regulation of phone companies NetOne, TelOne, Zimpost and
their governing body, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
of Zimbabwe.

The move will test the country's seven-week-old ruling coalition of Mugabe's
Zanu PF and the two MDC factions.

Mugabe was asked by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to clear up the
contentious issue after Chamisa and Information and Publicity Minister,
Webster Shamu, both held parallel meetings with telecoms sector players,
with both insisting the sector was under their ambit.

Shamu appeared to give way in recent weeks after several commentators,
including former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo slammed his bid to
control the telecoms sectors as "inherently preposterous".

But in a controversial move announced Thursday night in the state-run Herald
newspaper, Mugabe decided to take the functions away from both Chamisa and
Shamu's ministries.

"Information Communication Technology will focus on, among other issues,
developing appropriate policies and strategies of ICT innovations while
spearheading the development of regulatory frameworks that facilitate the
development of ICT," the Herald reported, quoting a source shown a letter
from the secretary to the cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, which was sent to both
Shamu and Chamisa outlining their ministries' functions.

Chamisa's ministry, the paper added, "would also champion and promote ICT
literacy in the country while formulating laws and regulations that would
establish necessary departments."

Tsvangirai is likely to protest at the move which strips Chamisa's ministry
of what was seen as its central function. In an interview last month, former
minister Moyo said "without posts and telecommunications, Chamisa's ministry
would not exist".

"The suggestion by some in government quarters that the Information
Communication Technology Ministry is about software is inherently
preposterous. You don't need a ministry of software, and indeed you don't
need a ministry of hardware. That suggestion is therefore either
mischievous, ignorant, or both," Moyo said soon after Chamisa clashed with
Shamu, leading to Tsvangirai asking for Mugabe's intervention.

HRW says Zimbabweans should be protected

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14940

April 10, 2009

By Mxolisi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG - Human Rights Watch (HRW), has hailed the South African
government's recent decision to grant temporary work permits to Zimbabweans
living in that country, saying that the "positive decision" would help
protect people fleeing the crisis in Zimbabwe.

The South African government announced on April 3, 2009, that it would hand
out "special dispensation permits" to legalize the stay of Zimbabweans and
give them work rights and access to basic health care and education.

In a statement released Monday, HRW, a humanitarian organization
specializing in safeguarding human rights, said that the decision should
lessen the vulnerability of Zimbabweans to violence and exploitation "both
in their homeland and in South Africa".

"After years of fleeing persecution and a economic meltdown, well over a
million Zimbabweans in South Africa will finally get the protection they
deserve," said Gerry Simpson, HRW's refugee researcher.

"Human Rights Watch welcomes the decision, but calls on South Africa to halt
all deportations of Zimbabweans immediately and swiftly begin issuing these
permits."

In June 2008, the humanitarian organization led calls for South Africa,
which is home to about 3 million Zimbabwean political and economic refugees,
to grant of all  Zimbabweans in that already in country with temporary
status and the right to work, in its report, "Neighbors in Need: Zimbabweans
Seeking Refuge in South Africa".

The report said a temporary status policy would help protect Zimbabweans
against exploitation and violence, which had become commonplace for them,
both when crossing the border and after they arrive in South Africa.

It also said the policy would relieve South Africa's asylum system -
overburdened with over 250 000 claims from Zimbabweans alone - and allow
Zimbabweans to fend for themselves and to support their desperate families
at home.

"Granting Zimbabweans the minimum wage will help South Africans compete
fairly with Zimbabweans for jobs, lessening resentments that ignite
xenophobic violence," said HRW then.

However, the organization bemoaned the South African authorities'
announcement that its police would continue to arrest and deport any
Zimbabwean who does not have an immigration or asylum permit, and also
cannot prove their nationality.

Human Rights Watch called on the South African government to ease the
requirements for proving Zimbabwean nationality pending the introduction of
the new permit system.

"The government has yet to announce details of how, where, and when the
permits will be issued," said HRW.

"Under international and South African law, Zimbabwean refugees remain
entitled to claim asylum in South Africa, although the authorities have not
yet clarified whether a person may apply for asylum and for a special
dispensation permit at the same time.

"Since 2005, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing political
violence, forced mass evictions, and economic deprivation caused by
President Robert Mugabe's destruction of the Zimbabwean economy have sought
refuge in South Africa, only to face mass deportations, a dysfunctional
asylum system, and further economic deprivation."

The Zimbabwe Times learnt this week that despite the announcement of permits
for the Zimbabweans, police have intensified the arrests of Zimbabweans,
especially at such crowded places like Hillbrow and Yeoville, where most of
them are resident.

Many have been forced to pay bribes of between R100 and R300 before they
were released, while others were detained at the nearby Hillbrow police
station, popularly known as Number 4, and later made to pay R300 fines for
"loitering and being drunk".

S African police arrest MDC official

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=14934

April 10, 2009

By Mxolisi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG - Mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) South Africa
chairman - Austin Moyo, spent the past 11 days in detention at the South
African border town of Mussina, after he was arrested on allegations of
contravening that country's Hire Purchase Act, an offence he is alleged to
have committed eight years ago.

Moyo was arrested on March 28, while on his way to Zimbabwe to attend the
funeral of the mother of Thokozani Khupe, his party's vice president and
Zimbabwe's deputy Prime Minister under a newly-constituted government of
national unity.

Khupe's 71-year-old mother, Catherine Mabiza Khupe, who died in South Africa
on March 26, while receiving treatment for injuries she sustained in a road
traffic accident on February 11, was buried on April 29 in Bulawayo

Moyo was travelling to Bulawayo for the burial.

Allegations against Moyo are that in 2001, he entered hire-purchase
agreement with a local financial institution, Wes-Bank, for an undisclosed
amount of money to buy a Nissan Sentra.

However, Moyo, who was employed as a sales engineer by a Johannesburg-based
company, later lost his job and could not continue to pay instalments for
the vehicle. The bank reported the matter to the police that same year.

The MDC leader's name and picture were fed into a database of wanted persons
and he was arrested as he attempted to have his passport stamped at the
border post in Mussina. He was detained in the border town and was only
released on Wednesday when he was taken back to Johannesburg.

Moyo confirmed his predicament to The Zimbabwe Times Thursday. He explained
that the case arose out of a misunderstanding on the side of the bank. He
said he had returned the car to the financial institution soon after he was
dismissed from his job.

"It is true that I was arrested on March 28 and detained at Messina, but it
is just a small matter which arose from broken communication between the
bank and the police," said Moyo.

"After losing my job, I returned the car, although this was after I had
failed to pay some installments and the bank had already reported the matter
to the police, while my personal details had also been circulated."

Moyo said that the financial institution did not tell him that they had
handed the matter of defaulting on his payments to the police.
"
They also did not report back to the police that I had returned the car to
them, meaning that the police were looking for me for the past eight years,
while I had long returned the vehicle."

He blamed the bank's failure to update the police for his subsequent arrest
and 11-day incarceration.

"That is why the police arrested me, otherwise if that communication had
been made by the bank when I returned the car, that arrest would not have
taken place," said Moyo.

He was given free bail, after appearing at a Magistrates' Court in Germiston
Thursday.

He is set to appear in court again on May 12, when the case is expected to
be finalised.

Know Your Ministers: Makone, Nyoni

Zim expands jatropha plantations to step up biodiesel output

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za

By: Chanel Pringle
10th April 2009

Zimbabwe was aiming to produce biodiesel from jatropha to substitute about
10% of its imported fuels by 2017, which National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim) biofuels programme manager Abisai Mushaka said would be about
100-million litres of biodiesel a year.

The company was targeting to eventually plant about 120 000 ha/y of jatropha
plantations to produce the biodiesel.

Since December last year, Zimbabwean farmers had planted about 1,5-million
jatropha plants a week.

Noczim was hoping to double this to about three-million plants a week.

This would equate to about 50 000 ha/y of plantations, which would allow
Zimbabwe to reach its 10% target by 2015.

The plantations were mostly being planted in the arid and semi-arid regions
of the country, mostly on a small-scale basis.

A 35-million litre a year biodiesel plant had been commissioned at the end
of 2007 to produce the fuel.

However, Mushaka noted that some key elements were still needed to ensure
the sustainability of the programme.

The company was hoping to eventually establish large central estates for the
planting of crops, as well as a number of smaller processing plants.

Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu

Hyperinflation Just a Memory As Zimbabwe Consumer Prices Slide

http://www.voanews.com

      By Blessing Zulu
      Washington
      09 April 2009

Consumer prices in Zimbabwe declined for a third straight month in March due
to the officially sanctioned and widespread use of the U.S. dollar, South
African rand and other convertible currencies for most transactions, the
Central Statistical Office said Thursday.

The CSO said its consumer price index declined by 3% last month following a
3.1% drop in February and a downtick of 2.3% in January. Not so long ago
Zimbabwean inflation fueled by massive central bank money-printing was
measured in billions of percentage points.

The CSO updated its so-called Poverty Datum Line indicating what a family of
five needs to meet essential costs such as rent, food and transport. In
January that figure - just released this week - stood at US$552, but by
March it had fallen to US$461, the CSO said.

But the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe disagreed, saying that in March its own
basket of the most basic goods and services shot up by several percent,
driven by sharp increases in rent, water and electricity rates, transport
and education. It says that in March an urban family of six had to bring in
US$386 a month to stay afloat, compared with US$374 in February.

Consumer Thomas Mutandwa of Rimuka Township in Kadoma, Mashonaland West
province, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
although the prices of some consumer goods are falling, home rents remain a
cause for concern.

Why MDC may end up covered in slime -Terence Ranger

http://www.thezimbabweobserver.com

Now that a Government of National Unity has been formed in Zimbabwe,
commentators are harking back to the Unity agreement of 1987.

This was between Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union/ Patriotic
Front and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African Peoples Union. Unity Day has been
celebrated every year to commemorate it.

But survivors - and revivers - of Zapu are now warning Mugabe's new partners
of the dangers of a Unity agreement.

Their own experience was that Zapu was swallowed up in the belly of the
Zanu/PF python and many people are saying that the same thing will happen to
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.

But while it is certainly true that the MDC cannot yet protect its own
supporters against the Central Intelligence Organisation, the police and the
army, there are important differences between the two Unity agreements.

Put simply, the 1987 event was a fusion of two parties into one. The 2009
event is a coalition of two parties.Some of the same dramatic
transformations have happened on both occasions.

After 1987, for instance, Dumiso Dabengwa - Zapu's intelligence chief - went
from being imprisoned on a charge of treason to appointment as Minister of
Home Affairs.

After the agreement of 2009, Tendai Biti has gone from facing a charge of
treason in court to become Minister of Finance. So far, so similar.

But the recent agreement is nothing like so much of a triumph for Mugabe as
1987 when, after years of military and police pressure on his supporters, in
which some 20,000 people died, Nkomo had no alternative but concede
dominance to Mugabe.

A supposedly new party emerged from the Unity agreement but it was still
called Zanu/PF and it still used the same symbols of the clenched fist and
the cockerel. Nkomo was allowed ceremonial status and ex-Zapu men were
allowed to dominate local government in western Zimbabwe, but Mugabe
controlled the central state.

An amnesty was declared for all those who had committed political violence.

The emergence of the single party was supposed to portend the creation of a
one-party state and Zanu/PF totted up the percentages of its combined voter
support.

"We worship the majority as Christians worship Christ," said Eddison Zvogbo.

This time round, it is very different. This is a coalition government: There
is an agreed statement of principles, in which Zanu/PF tries to bind the MDC
to its doctrines of sovereignty and the MDC seeks to restrain Zanu/PF by
commitments to human rights.

Nevertheless, the two parties remain quite distinct. And both have made it
clear that they look forward to competing against each other in an election
as soon as possible.

In September 2008, when the agreement was first signed, Mugabe called upon
his party to revive itself so that it could achieve a smashing electoral
victory and he would never again have to suffer the "humiliation" of working
with Tsvangirai. During the long delay between the agreement and its
implementation, Tsvangirai called for internationally supervised elections
as an alternative to coalition.

Those who worship the majority are torn between the parliamentary majority
won by the MDC in March 2008 or the claimed presidential majority won by
Mugabe in the uncontested election in June.

There is no amnesty this time round, which is why police are still able to
arrest a nominated MDC deputy minister - Roy Bennett - and why many in
Zanu/PF fear prosecution for crimes against humanity.

When there is another election the old Zapu will contest it. If the 1987
agreement was designed to usher in a one-party state, this agreement seems
designed to usher in intense competitive multiparty "democracy."

The MDC will not be swallowed up and digested by the python. But it may
emerge covered with slime. It is part of the largest and most expensive
cabinet in Zimbabwe's history. Now in charge of the economic ministries, it
may be blamed for failure to bring about recovery.

So, everything will be done with an eye to electoral advantage. And the most
important thing of all is to seek to create conditions in which a fair
election can be held.

Terence Ranger, a veteran historian of and commentator on Zimbabwe, is an
emeritus fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. Email:
terence.ranger@sant.ox.ac.uk

Zimbabwe media website set to expand