From Business Day (SA), 28 April
Dumisani
Muleya
Harare - Zimbabwe's leaders last night failed for the fourth
time in a
fortnight to resolve a series of contentious issues threatening to
paralyse
the country's shaky coalition government. The crisis talks remained
deadlocked after long hours of intense discussions, signalling a serious
political problem besetting the new government. A fierce power struggle is
raging behind the scenes as President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai intensify their battle for political control. Informed
sources close to the talks said last night the meeting ended in a stalemate.
"The leaders agreed to meet again today to try and break the stalemate," a
senior government official said. "It's proving to be very difficult because
neither of the leaders want to make any concessions." Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara met yesterday to sort out issues
dividing the government. Their meeting followed similar gatherings on Monday
and Thursday last week and another one on April 16.
So far the
four meetings have failed to break the impasse, leaving the unity
government
in a state of crisis. The issues at stake include appointment of
senior
government officials including permanent secretaries, the accounting
officers of ministries, provincial governors and diplomats. There is also
the matter of the continued detention of opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) officials and activists over allegations of trying to overthrow
Mugabe, arraignment of MDC treasurer and deputy minister Roy Bennett and
farm invasions. Mugabe and the two MDC faction leaders, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara, are also fighting over the president's unilateral seizure of the
department of communications from Information Communication Technology
Minister Nelson Chamisa, a member of the MDC. Tsvangirai said last week
these issues had to be resolved to allow the government deal with the
country's economic and social problems. The deadlock came as Finance
Minister Tendai Biti and his delegation to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and World Bank meetings returned home empty-handed after failing to
get a rescue package. Zimbabwe needs $10bn to fund its economic recovery
programme. The IMF said that it was not in a position to bail out Zimbabwe
because of arrears and financial restrictions.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Nokuthula Sibanda
Tuesday 28 April 2009
HARARE - The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) board will next week
discuss the situation in Zimbabwe,
where a new power sharing government
between President Robert Mugabe and
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has
appealed for international support to
revive the country's collapsed
economy.
An IMF delegation last
March held Article IV consultations with the
new government in Harare and
the Fund said in notice on Monday it saw a
window of opportunity in Zimbabwe
worthy of assisting.
But the IMF made it clear that for the time
being help to Zimbabwe
would be limited to technical areas including
offering advice on policy
matters.
"We've just had a mission to
Zimbabwe .. the report on that mission
will be discussed by our board on May
4," said IMF Sub-Saharan Africa
regional economic director Antoinette
Sayeh.
Zimbabwe currently owes the IMF US$130 million and under IMF
rules
Zimbabwe, which also owes US$600 million to the World Bank, cannot
access
new funding from the organization before it has cleared its
arrears.
Once a model African economy Zimbabwe has suffered a
severe economic
and humanitarian crisis that is marked by record
unemployment, deepening
poverty and disease, while the country has avoided
mass starvation only
because relief agencies were quick to chip in with food
aid.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a power sharing government last
February
to begin work to rescue the country from total economic collapse
following
years of decline and political bickering and the unity government
has
promised to restore relations with the IMF and other international
institutions.
The inclusive government has unveiled an economic
recovery blueprint -
Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) - which
highlights
priorities in terms of improving food security, tackling disease
and
strengthening health systems, reviving industry, addressing water and
sanitation problems and improving capacity to provide basic services to the
people of Zimbabwe.
Sayeh described the political developments
on the power sharing deal
as encouraging.
She said: "We think
there's a window of opportunity in Zimbabwe that
is worthy of support by the
international community. We, for our part, are
hoping to help in the ways we
can currently, and those are mostly through
policy advice, our Article IV
discussion with the authorities was one form.
"We're hoping to do
some small, technical assistance in the key areas
of the Fund's mandate, and
we encourage others to do the same. And we'll
work with the Zimbabwean
authorities to continue to make progress on the
reform effort."
The IMF cut balance-of-payments support to Zimbabwe in 1999 following
differences with Mugabe over fiscal policy and other governance
issues.
Winning IMF backing for its economic recovery programme is
critical
for Harare's new government to convince skeptical Western
governments to
provide much needed financial assistance and other
support.
Western nations led by the United States (US) and Britain
- Zimbabwe's
two biggest donors - have said they want the new government in
Harare to
implement genuine and comprehensive political and economic reforms
before
they provide financial support and lift visa and financial sanctions
on
Mugabe and his inner circle. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Andrew Moyo Tuesday 28
April 2009
HARARE - The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) has begun work
to improve conditions in Zimbabwe's notorious
prisons, a senior official
with the world relief agency told ZimOnline
Monday.
ICRC deputy head of delegation in Harare Andre Jaross said the
organization
began work two weeks ago at Chikurubi Maximum Security prisons
and at Harare
Central prison two weeks ago and would soon extend its work to
other jails
across the country.
"The ICRC has reached agreement with
the government of Zimbabwe that they
are allowed to work in the prisons,"
Jaross told ZimOnline by phone. "We
started around two weeks ago ..at
Chikurubi and Harare Central and we will
expand to other
prisons."
The ICRC will assess conditions in prisons, evaluate inmates'
requirements
and prepare a report for the Harare government but Jaross added
that a key
component of the relief agency's work in jails was also to
"provide
(material) assistance according to requirements".
Zimbabwe
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa -- who earlier this month
accused the
South African Broadcasting Corporation of lying after the
television aired
horrifying footage taken from inside Zimbabwe's prisons and
showing hundreds
of gravely ill and starving inmates -- declined to discuss
the ICRC's work
in prisons.
"Just report what they (ICRC) have told you," he said, when
approached for
comment on the matter.
Zimbabwe's prisons have for
long been known to be virtual death houses with
hundreds of inmates
reportedly dying in the jails because of diseases and an
acute shortage of
food.
According to local prisoner's rights group Zimbabwe Association for
Crime
Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) at least two
inmates
die everyday due to hunger and disease at Chikurubi and Harare
Central - the
country's two biggest jails.
More often than not,
inmates in many of the country's jails have to survive
on a single meal per
day of sadza (a thick porridge made of ground maize)
and cabbage boiled in
salted water because there is no money to buy adequate
supplies.
An
outbreak of pellagra disease in 2007 killed at least 23 inmates at the
notorious Chikurubi prison. Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease caused
by shortage of vitamin B3 and protein.
A parliamentary committee that
toured Chikurubi and other prisons in 2006
was shocked to find inmates clad
in torn, dirty uniforms and crammed into
overcrowded cells with filthy;
overflowing toilets that had not been flushed
for weeks as water had been
cut off due to unpaid bills.
The committee said in a report that the
conditions in prisons were inhuman.
However nothing much has been done to
date to improve conditions due to a
lack of resources. - ZimOnline
http://www.voanews.com/
By Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye & Brenda
Moyo
Washington
27 April 2009
Zimbabwean Finance
Minister Tendai Biti expressed satisfaction Monday after
meeting various
officials of the U.S. administration of President Barack
Obama, contrasting
such contacts with the chilly relationship that has
prevailed between Harare
and Washington for years.
Addressing a forum organized by the National
Endowment for Democracy, said
he hoped that his meetings with State
Department, National Security Council
and Treasury officials would
eventually produce results in terms of
bilateral cooperation and
assistance.
U.S. officials have repeatedly stated that Washington will
not extend aid
beyond humanitarian assistance to development or
reconstruction funding
until there is clear evidence Harare has undertaken
meaningful reform on
human rights, the rule of law and other
issues.
In an interview with VOA following his presentation at the forum
co-sponsored by Freedom House, Biti acknowledged that despite the warm
reception he had received from the Obama administration, certain "toxic"
issues remain to be resolved in Harare if it is to receive the full
attention and level of assistance the national unity government there is
seeking.
Biti told reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye that he will
return to
Zimbabwe a happy man as he sees the potential for expanded
international
engagement in future.
Biti was scheduled to depart for
Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
IMF Africa Department Director Antoinette Sayeh told
reporters Saturday that
the lender of last resort was satisfied with the
progress made by the unity
government and intended to offer "small,
technical assistance" to Harare,
encouraging other donors to do
likewise.
Though funding did not appear to be in the offing, Sayeh told
reporters
there is a "window of opportunity in Zimbabwe that is worthy of
support by
the international community."
She said the International
Monetary Fund board would take up the case of
Zimbabwe on May 4 based on the
report submitted by a mission sent to the
country recently to assess the
state of the economy and the new government's
policies and
plans.
African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka told reporters
there are
"many things to be done" before Zimbabwe can fully re-engage with
international lenders.
His comments Sunday dashed speculation that
the African multilateral
financial institution might provide a bridge loan
for Harare to pay down its
IMF debt arrears.
From Harare, Zimbabwean
economist and consultant Luxon Zembe told reporter
Brenda Moyo of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that IMF technical assistance
will be useful - but
what Zimbabwe most needs at this point is an injection
of cash.
http://www.voanews.com
By
Chris Gande
Washington DC
27 April 2009
The
international Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an arm of
the
World Bank, has awarded US$21 million in compensation to 13 Dutch
farmers
whose land in Zimbabwe was expropriated by the Harare government.
Ruling
April 22 in the case of Bernardus Henricus Funnekotter and others
versus the
Republic of Zimbabwe, the tribunal said Harare's bilateral
agreement with
the Netherlands obliges it to compensate the farmers in full
for properties
that were seized, including the land.
The Zimbabwean government is on
record as saying that it will only
compensate farmers who are dispossessed
of their land for improvements such
roads, buildings and
reservoirs.
The previous Zimbabwean government under President Robert
Mugabe brushed off
a similar ruling by a tribunal of the Southern African
Development Community
finding for a group of 78 white farmers saying they
had been denied due
process under the law.
Under the current national
unity government, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara have argued that such
farm takeovers, which Mr. Mugabe has
championed, must be halted because they
drive away international
investors.
Ongoing farm takeovers have thus become a volatile issue for
the unity
government.
Agricultural expert Mandla Nkomo, a former
chairman of the Zimbabwe Farmers
Union, told reporter Chris Gande of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that in any
case even if the Harare government wanted
to compensate the Dutch farmers,
it lacks the means to do so.
http://www.voanews.com
By Patience
Rusere
Washington
27 April 2009
Though
new reported cholera cases and deaths in Zimbabwe have dramatically
declined
from levels seen in February and March, the World Health
Organization is
warning that the epidemic could surge again in three months
or so as summer
heat and rain pick up.
World Health Organization Representative Custodia
Mandhlate said the
organization's research points to a new surge in cases in
August as summer
takes hold.
For the moment, however, the downtrend
is intact. An unofficial compilation
of daily reports for the week through
Saturday, April 25, shows some 529 new
cases and 29 deaths while in early
February new weekly cases ran at 8,000
and in mid-March still over
2,000.
Executive Director Itai Rusike of the Community Working Group on
Health told
reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
epidemic
must be dealt with at community level, reducing Zimbabwean reliance
on
international medical relief.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
Business Reporters
TOBACCO and
wheat farmers owed money by the Government will be paid in the
form of
fertilizer, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said as it urged
relevant
authorities to devise strategies to support farmers.
In a statement, the
Reserve Bank said farmers were owed nearly US$20 million
from the crops
delivered during 2007 and 2008 selling season.
The central bank had
procured fertilizers, through toll manufacturing with
local fertiliser firm
and "farmers owed were being re-paid in the most
direct way of supporting
their current season's activities."
Some wheat farmers have already
raised concerns that they may fail to plant
this winter as a result of
inadequate funds to procure inputs.
The central bank noted the programme
was "in response to the plight of
farmers" and has sought "to innovate
around the challenge, while recognising
the need to avoid any new quasi
fiscal activity".
"As a way of mitigating the plight of farmers,
particularly those who are
owed by Government, the Reserve Bank is
introducing a debt-for fertilizers
swap programme drawn from RBZ fertilizer
toll manufacturing," said the RBZ.
"The Reserve Bank has taken this
mitigatory measure noting these strategic
agricultural sectors may militate
against the achievement under Sterp.
During the previous marketing
season, farmers were entitled to 20 percent of
their sales paid in foreign
currency and this was later raised to 25
percent.
It was on an
optional basis meaning growers could opt to be paid in full in
local
currency.
Government has since stopped giving handouts beginning this
season with
farmers now expected to finance their operations through
assistance from
banks and other financial institutions.
However, the
Reserve Bank said Government should continue supporting farmers
if food
security was to be achieved.
A number of countries have had their
agricultural sectors supported by their
governments and this shows the
importance of the sector and its contribution
to the
economy.
Following the land reform programme some farmers could not
access loans from
banks because they lacked collateral but even after the
issuance of the 99
year leases, financial aid has been hard to come
by.
In Europe, Unites States of America, Japan, Canada, Australia and
several
other countries, financial assistance to agriculture is a prominent
feature
in their national budgets, noted the Reserve Bank.
Research
has shown that because of the need for food security, all developed
countries had their agricultural policies being directly supported by the
Government.
For example, the highest support levels in Brazil are for
staple crops.
Last season, Malawi spent US$186 million to subsidise
fertilizer and seed
for poor farmers resulting in a boost in
production.
Local fertilizer companies have indicated that they do not
have capacity to
meet the national demand of fertilizer required by the
country's target of
60 000 hectares of winter wheat set by the
Government.
Of the 96 000 tonnes of both ammonium nitrate and compound D
required for
the targeted hectarage, the industry has indicated it had 24
000 tonnes.
3 hours ago
HARARE
(AFP) - The sale of Zimbabwe's state-owned mobile phone operator
NetOne -- a
first key test for the new government's massive privatisation
plan -- is
generating huge interest, the company's CEO told AFP.
"Since September
15, when the power sharing agreement was signed, there has
been an increase
in inquiries from the UK, Canada, Italy, looking for
opportunities," NetOne
chief executive Reward Kangai said in an interview.
NetOne is the second
biggest operator in the country and competes with two
privately owned
companies for the Zimbabwe market, which has only 1.4
million mobile phone
users but is seen as having strong potential for
growth.
The sale is
part of a broader effort to bring in much-needed funds for an
economy riven
by hyperinflation, political strife and disease. State assets
in the oil
sector, air transport and railways are also planned for
privatisation.
The unity government, which only took office this
February following
disputed elections in March 2008, says it needs more than
8.5 billion
dollars (6.4 billion euros) over three years to haul the country
out of
economic ruin.
A regional bloc has pledged to help, but
international donors are reluctant
to release funds until they see the
uneasy power sharing deal between
long-time rivals President Robert Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai in action.
The new cabinet has
already made major moves towards economic reform,
unveiling a recovery plan
that slashed price controls, eased import
restrictions and made the South
African rand the currency of reference.
In March, new Finance Minister
Tendai Biti presented a revised budget to
parliament, updating the one
unveiled in January by Mugabe's cabinet.
His new estimates showed that
government revenue would be one billion
dollars, down from the 1.7 billion
dollars projected in the January budget.
Biti has also suggested the
government must sell parts of state-owned
entities like the National Oil
Company of Zimbabwe, national carrier Air
Zimbabwe and the rail company
although no concrete plan has yet been
approved.
"Selling state owned
assets will send a right signal to investors, but it is
better to get a
correct value of those assets before disposing of them,"
said Best Doroh,
chief economist at local investment group ZB Holdings.
In the interview
with AFP, NetOne's Kangai did not reveal the names of the
firms interested
in buying the company but said they were already present
"in a number of
African countries" and promised maximum transparency on the
sale.
The
Zimbabwe telecommunications industry, like most businesses in the former
British colony, has been knocked back by nearly a decade of political
turmoil, with crumbling infrastructure and the imposition of crippling state
controls.
Industries have been at less than 10 percent of capacity
for years.
Kangai said that one reform planned by the government for the
telecoms
industry was the removal of high tax charges on imported equipment.
Telecoms
companies are currently taxed up to 60 percent on imported
materials.
"We want all Zimbabweans to have broadband, access to other
markets. We want
to be home away from home and have technical expertise," he
continued.
As for the cost, Kangai said NetOne was valued at half a
billion dollars
three years ago, adding that capital requirements would be
200 million
dollars.
The NetOne chief sounded an optimistic note
about the economic future of
this struggling southern African nation saying:
"Zimbabwe is open for
business, investors will be able to invest to start
operations here at low
cost."
http://www.zimeye.org/?p=4229
By Moses Muchemwa
Published: April 28,
2009
Bulawayo - Teachers have resolved not to report for duty
on 5 May until
salaries are reviewed from US$100.
A report released
at the end of a Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association conference
in Bulawayo at the
weekend note that teachers will not resume duties next
week.
Analysts
were quick to warn that the strike would confirm the collapse of
the
education system in Zimbabwe.
ZIMTA president Mrs Tendai Chikowore wrote
that : “Educators will not report
for the opening of the second school term
as from 5 May 2009 until there is
a significant improvement on their
remuneration in foreign currency.”
She revealed that teachers were still
getting their basic salary in the
worthless Zimbabwe dollars despite Finance
Minister Tendai Biti announcement
that the local currency was
dead.
“We are concerned that in spite of the concerted efforts by
educators to
address their plight on the payment of their children’s school
fees, the
issue remains unresolved. ZIMTA has observed that the government
of national
unity has not come up with a strategy of resolving the salary
concerns of
educators,” she said.
Teachers want salaries to be
reviewed in foreign currency since they are
receiving a US$100 allowance
from the government.
Government has said it’s broke to review the
salaries
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=15867
April 27, 2009
By Ray
Matikinye
BULAWAYO - Minority parties in Matabeleland and the Arthur
Mutambara-led
faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are
agitating for
devolution of political and administrative power to the
provinces as the
campaign for a new constitution gathers steam.
A new
constitution, leading to the holding of fresh polls, is largely viewed
as
key to full democratization of Zimbabwe's often disputed electoral
process
and election outcomes.
The constitution is also seen as the solution to
major obstacles that have
haunted the formation of a coalition government
under a Global Political
Agreement (GPA) signed between the MDC parties and
Zanu-PF last September.
Already, a 25-member select parliamentary
committee comprising legislators
from the three parties in the coalition
government, has been named and
initial targets set although the committee
lacks funds to kick-start the
constitution-making process.
But the
proposed constitution-making process has raised the hackles of some
civic
organisations and minority parties who argue that it is not
inclusive.
Federal Democratic Union (FDU) leader, Paul Siwela, says his
party was
founded on the principles of devolution of power underpinned by a
radical
demand for the creation of a state of Matabeleland based on the 1894
boundaries.
Siwela, whose party has contested national elections but
has failed to gain
a single seat, denies such a demand would stoke national
disintegration into
tribal fiefdoms.
"We have always opposed the
current arrangement because we strongly feel
that the Matabeleland region
has been marginalized in terms of development
due to concentration of power
in central government," Siwela says.
The FDU says, contrary to
misconceptions, devolution of powers promotes
national cohesion and overall
national development by effectively dealing
with issues at a local level,
thus promoting community effort while
conferring a sense of ownership of
whatever assets are realized from such
efforts.
"There is nothing
tribal or divisive about demanding a separate state with
its own
administrative powers," Siwela says. "It existed before full
colonization,
and history bears testimony to this.
"The competition to succeed between
states will push them to work harder
towards development unlike
centralization which led to de-industrialization
of Bulawayo during the
early years of independence."
FDU fears its views and input on the type
of constitution that suits
Zimbabwe most might not be considered for
inclusion in the new constitution
because, like all other small parties, it
has no representation in
Parliament.
"If we had proportional
representation as an alternative to the
first-past-the-post electoral
system, smaller parties would have MPs in
Parliament to articulate
alternative views other than those held by the
major political parties," he
says.
Over the first few years of independence during the 1980s, a
calculated
campaign to de-industrialize Bulawayo, an industrial power-house
in
pre-independent Zimbabwe, led to the relocation of large companies from
the
city to the capital Harare without regard to the economic comparative
advantage it had.
Education, Sport and Culture Minister, David
Coltart agreed that even
smaller parties need to the heard regarding
national development and
progress through such provisions in the
constitution.
Coltart, who is a Senator for the Mutambara-led MDC, says
his party would
fight for a constitution that provides for adequate
decentralization that
allows local authorities to have more say in their
finances.
"We are fighting for proportional representation in the conduct
of our
elections," says Coltart, a lawyer.
"We have realized that
even smaller parties need to be heard and their views
considered."
Coltart represented the late Joshua Nkomo-led ZAPU
during and after
disturbances that rocked Matabeleland in the early 80's
says.
He attributes the economic slide and political upheavals that have
dogged
Zimbabwe to the demise of PF-ZAPU as a robust opposition party after
it was
eclipsed by Zanu-PF following the Unity Accord signed by the two
parties in
1987.
"If we had adopted the proportional representation
method, our party which
got 9 percent of the total vote would have more than
the nine seats it
currently holds in Parliament and some of our candidates
who polled more
than 40 percent of the total votes in their constituencies
would be
legislators," he says.
His party would want the new
constitution to provide for dual citizenship to
cater for Zimbabweans who
have been forced by economic circumstances to go
abroad in search of better
opportunities, Coltart says.
It also wants the posts of provincial
governors to be representative of the
people's wishes not appointed by
government.
Independent MP for Tsholotsho, Jonathan Moyo who co-chaired
the committee of
a draft constitution rejected by the electorate in a
referendum in February
2000 bemoans that although the people of Matabeleland
have supported the
ruling Zanu-PF in the hope that something would be done
to develop the
region, were now disappointed with centralized
government.
Even after the Unity Accord since 1987, central government
has paid lip
service without addressing the concerns about skewed
development, Moyo says
citing the fact that Tsholotsho got the only high
school it now has after 16
years of independence.
"The concern for
devolution of powers to the provinces is real because, for
a long time there
have been limited higher education facilities in the
region creating serious
problems for poor peasants who have intelligent and
capable children," he
says.
He says both Zanu-PF and the more popular MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai are
scared of devolving power.
"They have similar views
but that will not stop people from the region
calling for it to be included
in the new constitution," says Moyo. "Now that
the MDC (T) is in government,
they share the same views of centralizing
power."
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Tuesday, 28 April
2009
by Alice Chimora
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
and its employees are on a
collision course after the central bank took cars
from the workers and gave
them to legislators.
RBZ boss Gideon
Gono dished out 50 cars legislators cars for temporary
use until Treasury
finds money to purchase vehicles under the Parliamentary
Loan
Scheme.
The cars came from the pool section of the bank while the
remainder
were taken from various departments. According to sources, the
cars would be
returned when the Ministry of Finance has enough resources to
buy the cars
for the MPs.
RBZ spokesperson, Kumbirai Nhongo was not
immediately available for
comment. Gono could also not be reached for
comment.
Last week the Transport Division of the bank was instructed to
get 150
cars from RBZ employees including senior managers in a move
employees said
flouts contractual obligations.
Managers
reporting to work by foot
Managers are entitled to cars and some senior
managers where reported
for work last without the cars fearing that they
would be taken from them,
according to people familiar with developments at
RBZ.
Others said they would resist the move to dispossess them of the
cars.
"We will not return those cars. How can I return the car when the bank
hasn't
paid me?" asked a senior manager. "The transport division did not get
a
single car as managers refused to surrender their vehicles."
Employees, some of them facing retrenchment following the realignment
of the
central bank to focus on its core business, were livid and have vowed
not to
surrender the cars.
Forced grabbings and lies
RBZ is due
to retrench employees to focus on its core business of
prices and financial
sector stability. One employee is said to have fainted
after he was told to
surrender the car. The employees have vowed to cling to
the cars arguing
that they would form part of their retrenchment packages.
When Gono
offered the cars to MPs, he said the vehicles were lying
idle at RBZ but
employees disputed the claims. An executive member in the
MPs welfare
committee said the legislators had been promised 150 cars by the
central
bank.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
28th
Apr 2009 01:22 GMT
By Chenjerai
Chitsaru
ZIMBABWEANS who somehow expected a speedy end to the crisis
wrought by Zanu
PF's half-baked policies must be disappointed that the
inclusive government
has so far delivered little in the way of real
change.
The Zimdollar is dead and buried and although we are still a
sovereign
state, our currency is now foreign, whether it is the US dollar,
the South
African Rand or the Botswana pula.
The economy is still in
ruins, in spite of the attempts by the three-legged
government to convince
us that Happy Days are Here Again.
We have been promised much help from
all over the world, including some from
the SADC region, although some of
the members have pleaded for time - they
have their own problems.
The
Western countries have made a number of positive moves to normalise
relations with Zimbabwe , although the so-called sanctions have not been
entirely lifted.
One aspect of this imbroglio that Zimbabweans with
little politics savvy
will not understand is that we are still dealing with
politics and
politicians. This game, such as it is, is not entirely clean,
at any time.
There is backstabbing, subterfuge, downright skullduggery and
even murder -
as we have seen in 29 years of independence.
Having
accepted that we are still in politics, we must understand that every
citizen with a vote can determine the outcome of this impasse. One thing to
remember is that we are at this watershed - such as it is - because of the
March 2008 elections. People voted and changed the political landscape for
all time.
There may be some who will dispute this statement-
insisting that Robert
Mugabe is still president and Zanu PF is still in the
saddle, even if it is
sitting a little off balance.
There have been
huge hiccups since March 2008. There have been occasions
when Morgan
Tsvangirai and Mugabe seemed at such variance that some pundits
were
prepared to write finis to the whole attempt to end the crisis. Yet
both
sides have persevered, largely because none of them want to carry the
burden
of having scuttled the process.
Still, since we are dealing with
politicians, there will be backstabbing,
brinkmanship, one-upmanship and
rhetoric designed to wound rivals.
Mugabe, for instance, was
condescending in the extreme when he said people
had to be patient with the
MDC over sanctions. Indirectly, he was placing
all the blame for the
sanctions on the MDC: they called for the sanctions
and they must help call
them off.
Strictly speaking, someone was speaking with the forked tongue
of the
serpent. The sanctions, such as they are, were instituted by
sovereign
governments, as sovereign as Zimbabwe is. The governments were not
goaded by
the MDC, an African political party which may be sovereign in its
own right,
but is not a ruling party. Mugabe brought the sanctions upon
himself: he
insulted every foreigner who condemned his politics in the
foulest language
imaginable, telling them to "go to hell" and "leave us
alone".
If he expected such governments not to react to his insults, then
we must
feel a little sorry for him. As a politician he must know how
important a
constituency is. If these foreign politicians allowed him to get
away with
calling them foul names, their constituencies - the voters in
their
countries - would have paused and wondered how gutless their leaders
had
become.
How could they expect to be respected if they allowed the
leader of another
country to call them names, only for acting in the best
interests of their
countries?
This is politics: you make your bed and
should be prepared to lie on it,
even if it turns out to be a bed of nails,
as Mugabe's evidently did.
For Zimbabweans of voting age, there are vital
lessons to be learnt from
what is going on, before a final solution is found
to the crisis and the
economy is restored to what it was before
2000.
One lesson is to be unequivocally assertive in demanding their
rights,
particularly their right to protest vociferously against actions
which they
deem to be against their interests.
Many foreign observers
believe that there ought to have been demonstrations
against Gideon Gono for
all his unpopular monetary measures, his printing of
money, his adding and
subtracting of zeroes willy-nilly. These
demonstrations would have signaled
to Gono and his boss that the people were
fed up with his
antics.
There is also a feeling that Tobaiwa Mudede, the
registrar-general, ought to
have been the target of demonstrations as well.
With little protest, the
people allowed him to increase passport fees so
astronomically that that
document became a virtual luxury.
When the
two co-ministers of Home Affairs announced a massive reduction in
the fees,
some people were surprised that they didn't mention the fate of
the RG, who
they believe ought to have been cut down to size too.
Mudede had become
so much part of the Zanu PF political baggage, there were
some who suspected
he had political ambitions. The same was suspected of
Gono.
But
politics were at play when Gono and Tendai Biti, the Minister of
Finance,
held a press conference at which they tried to dispel any reports
of a rift
between them. Anybody who bought that stage-managed affair is
likely to
believe anything, including the fact that Zanu PF has been utterly
sincere
in its dealings with the MDC, from the beginning.
If there are
differences, they should be brought out in the open, even if
some outsiders
might conclude that the agreement is a dead duck. If there
are differences,
it is highly political for them to be brought out into the
open. They should
not be camouflaged in so much political tinsel: the
results of a small tear
could be disastrous.
Above all, there must be honesty among the leaders.
We all know it is a tall
order to expect of politicians, but when they look
at the alternative - to
continue with the impasse until kingdom come - would
it be uncharitable to
say of them that they are being inspired by greed
rather than the welfare of
the nation and its people?
Greed is not
incompatible with politics. To some cynics, it is the very
anchor of
politics. We all saw that clearly as MPs allegedly rushed to claim
the
secondhand cars doled out by Gono - whose motives have been questioned
as
well.
Eventually, after all the dust has settled and the inclusive
government is
functioning properly, the MDC and Zanu PF will have time to
study the
future. That future must include a strategy for the next elections
which
Mugabe says will be in two years' time. It would be incredible if
Tsvangirai, battered and bruised by personal tragedies as he surely is, will
not eye the presidency again.
Arthur Mutambara may not entertain such
ambitions now, having regard to the
outcome of the March 2008 poll. But he
too will want a decent showing for
his party.
The inclusive
government in other words, is not the end of politics in
Zimbabwe . Zanu PF
will not doubt wish they could put up Mugabe as their
presidential
candidate, but that would be entirely foolhardy. The man will
be 87 years
old, with his political sinews tattered in mind and body.
Who will Zanu
PF's candidate for the presidency be - Emmerson Mnangagwa or
John Nkomo or
an outsider? Whoever it turns out to be, voters will have
every right to
link him with the tragedy of the last 30 years.
In real political terms,
this will be a time for the voters to decide to
assert their rights once and
for all. Those who decide to seek shelter in
voluntary amnesia will have
only themselves to blame if the politics that
have resulted in this
inclusive government are repeated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Editorial
The Guardian, Tuesday 28 April
2009
Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's prime minister, said on Saturday there
was no
going back on the unity government he formed with President Robert
Mugabe.
He and his finance minister Tendai Biti, the Movement for Democratic
Change's other key man in government, have begun to challenge donor
countries to remove the benchmarks for aid to Zimbabwe imposed on the Mugabe
regime and start channelling funds through the ministry now controlled by
his MDC faction. Mr Biti arrives in London this week with a demand which
will challenge current British policy. He wants $8bn from Europe and the US
to reconstruct the country that the other half of his government has
plundered and could still continue to do so.
Mr Biti's tour poses a
number of questions. Is the worst really over and
should Zimbabwe now be
treated as a post-conflict society in need of aid
upfront? Or does conflict
still bubble under the surface in the form of
continuing arrests of MDC
activists, farm invasions, and conflict over
ministerial posts and
provincial appointments? Does the risk of not
supporting that part of the
government which Mr Tsvangirai controls outweigh
the risk of having the
money siphoned off by the likes of Gideon Gono, the
central banker who has
already admitted plundering the hard currency
accounts of private
businesses? How much has changed since the unity
government took over and
how fragile the progress? These are difficult
questions to answer after only
two months.
Good news is thin on the ground. The generals who unleashed
the reign of
terror last year against the MDC in general and Mr Biti in
person (he was
arrested and charged with treason) are still in business.
There are doubts
about whether the collision which killed Susan Tsvangirai
was a genuine road
accident and not a botched assassination attempt. There
are renewed fears
for Mr Tsvangirai's life. The generals are more
independent of Mr Mugabe
than they were, but both need the other. Without Mr
Mugabe, Zanu-PF could
well fall apart, so he is still their best asset.
Sensing this, Mr Mugabe
could simply be keeping his attack dogs on a leash.
Should the unity
government fail to deliver the international cash and the
orderly exit he
thinks is his due, Mr Mugabe may be tempted to cash in his
insurance policy
and let the generals announce a military coup, which would
be a first for
Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, the arrangement between
Mr Mugabe and his generals is
inherently unstable. The generals can no
longer be as confident as they were
last year that they can act with
impunity against the MDC. For one thing,
their orders may not be fulfilled
by their subordinates as both the army and
ruling party are hollowing out as
institutions of state. For another, there
are signs that the loyalty of
soldiers is transferring from Zanu-PF, which
failed to ensure their payment,
to Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Biti who at least
tried to pay them. That was one
effect of a decision they made to allow the
use of payments in foreign
currency. The unity government is not so much a
power-sharing arrangement as
it is a continuing power-struggle. And one in
which Mr Tsvangirai has only
two real assets, the finance ministry and
control over the lower house of
parliament. It is essential not only to get
the aid to the people who need
it most, by using UN agencies and NGOs. It is
also important to deliver aid
in a way which bolsters the MDC and
pragmatists within Zanu-PF who see the
current arrangement as a transition
to free and fair elections and a new
era. This does not mean abandoning
targeted sanctions, but it may mean
engaging more directly with the unity
government. Some of the generals may
get away with a farm and a hard
currency pension. Conflicts in Africa do not
have a redemptive ending and
the end is never neat. But the paramount aim is
to ensure that the conflict
does end. Justice, for the moment, must bide its
time.
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
To subscribe/unsubscribe to the JAG mailing list, please
email:
jag@mango.zw with subject line
"subscribe" or
"unsubscribe".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Ben Freeth
2. Eddie Cross - The Cost of the Farm Invasions
3. "You
only have power over people so long as you don't take
everything away from
them
4. Who is the Opposition in this rather farcical "government
of
inclusion"/"GNU"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Dear JAG,
I am distressed that a country like Norway appears to believe
through
Minister May-Elin Stener that "good governance, democracy, human
rights
and the rule of law are being implemented" in Zimbabwe at this
time.
She wants to pour financial assistance into Zimbabwe as a
result.
In Norway in the 1940s there was a Norwegian man called
"Quisling" who
led Norway as a puppet of Adolf Hitler. In the English
language today
there is a noun: "a quisling." It means "a
traitor."
Robert Mugabe has likened himself to a Hitler of our times.
The
continued bad governance, lack of democratic freedoms, human
rights
abuses, and rule by dictatorial law are still with us: on our farm
at
this time our 150 workers have been nearly a month without being
allowed
to work; our SADC Tribunal ruling and High Court order are not
being
implemented by the police; our workers have been beaten and
remain
without protection or justice; my parents-in-law have not been able
to
get to their home for 3 weeks; our entire harvest is being stolen;
our
mangoes are still rotting in the pack shed; our equipment is being
used
by invaders.
Is the Norwegian Minister another
Quisling?
At the same time that Quisling ruled, though, there was a
resistance
movement of brave Norwegian men and women who resisted the evil of
the
Hitler regime. Perhaps the Minister will rather take after those
brave
men and women that resisted Hitler and opened a new chapter in
European
history where human rights were respected? If she is of the latter
ilk
we look forward to her forthright support in ensuring that court
orders
are upheld; that the SADC Tribunal, a Human Rights court,
is
respected; and that the lie that "human rights and rule of law are
being
implemented" is retracted.
We hereby formally invite her for a
visit so that she can see for herself
that lie that she has
promulgated...
Ben Freeth -
Chegutu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
JAG,
The Cost of the Farm Invasions
In the late 90's the
Government of Zimbabwe held a conference on
land reform in Zimbabwe. Broad
agreement was reached between the State,
the stakeholders and international
aid agencies but the agreement was
never implemented. Two years later, in an
attempt to destroy the
opposition base on commercial farms, the State began
what it eventually
called the "Fast Track Land Reform" exercise.
They
justified this programme to the rest of the world by arguing that
they were
redressing historical injustices and racial imbalances in the
ownership of
the land. The reform programme ignored the legal situation
prevailing in
respect to farm ownership and it also ignored the issue of
fair and
reasonable compensation for assets taken over by the State.
The legal
position was quite straight forward - commercial farmers
held full freehold
title and in over 80 per cent of cases, also held a
"certificate of no
interest" issued by the Zimbabwe
government allowing them to buy the farms on
the open market after 1980.
Such a requirement was mandatory - in order to
enable the State to
acquire the farms if they so wished, on a willing seller,
willing buyer
basis. Some 3,8 million hectares of farmland was in fact
acquired in this
way since 1980.
Farmers holding both the title and
the certificates held an unassailable
legal right to the land and all
improvements. By so doing they held the
right to receive in full, the market
value of such assets when they were
sold, less any bond obligations to
banks.
In the following 8 years, thousands of farms were "acquired" with
the regime
changing the law every time a farmer or group of farmers secured
legal
judgements in their favour. Eventually a group of farmers took their
case to
the SADC Legal Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia where they initially
obtained a
decision saying that they had the right to go to the Tribunal on
the issue
(the State had apposed the action) and subsequently secured a
ruling in
favour
of the farmers - instructing the Government of Zimbabwe
to protect the
farmers
legal rights.
One small group of affected
farmers also enjoyed the protection of a
"Bilateral Investment Protection
Agreement" signed between
the Government of Zimbabwe and the farmers home
Government. A group of
farmers of Dutch origin who had invested after
Independence and were
protected by the BIPA took their case to the
international Courts in the
Hague. Last week the highest legal tribunal in
the world ruled in favour
of the Dutch investors and granted them nearly 22
million dollars in
compensation, payable in 90 days.
The attitude of
the regime towards the farm acquisitions was quite straight
forward. They
were "taking the farms" from their owners. They simply went to
a
nominated agency or individual and obtained an "offer letter" which
then
allowed the "beneficiary" the right to take occupation. No protection
was
afforded to the owner or his staff and no interference was permitted, as
the
operation was considered "political". In the majority of cases force was
used
- mainly in the form of groups of young, politically motivated thugs
who
acted
on behalf of the "beneficiary". Once the owners and their
senior staff had
been evicted, the new farmers took occupation and took
advantage of the
assets
and even standing crops and livestock on the
farms.
Many elderly and outstanding farmers were evicted in this way
-
leaving some of them so traumatised that they never recovered. One
such
farmer, Keith Harvey, was evicted from his cattle ranch in the
midlands
and subsequently went into a cationic coma for two years before
he
eventually died. He was a former chairman of the Natural Resources
Board
and a lifelong conservationist. A fine cattleman and a person of
great
integrity and commitment to the country of his birth.
But no
estimate has yet been made of just what the disruption of
commercial farms
has cost us and I asked economists in the farming
industry to let me have the
numbers. Even I was shocked by the
statistics. In 2000 the total output of
the agricultural industry in
Zimbabwe was 4,3 million tonnes of agricultural
products worth at
today's prices US$3,347 billion. This has declined to just
over
1,348 million tonnes of products in 2009 worth US$1 billion -
a
decline of 69 per cent in volume and a decline of 70 per cent in
value.
What is often not appreciated is that smallholder farmers have
been just as
badly affected by the collapse of the industry as the large
scale commercial
farmers. Their production in the past season is estimated to
have decline by
73 per cent over that achieved in the year 2000. This is on
top of the
forced
displacement and loss of employment for 250 000 people
and their 1,3 million
dependents on commercial farms.
Despite these
stunning figures the farm invasions have continued with 480
incidents on
remaining farms recorded since the GPA was signed in
September last year.
Even those farms that were granted legal protection
by the SADC Tribunal have
been specifically targeted on a punitive basis
by the elements that are
carrying on with this illegal activity and in
fact are openly defying the
SADC decisions. The international decision is
enforceable and creates very
significant challenges for the new
Transitional Government.
Estimates
put the total value of potential legal claims at US$5 billion
dollars, some
30 per cent more than current GDP.
It is quite clear that the reform
programme pursued by the Zanu PF led
regime since 1998 has been a costly
failure. This is demonstrated when it
is appreciated that over 90 per cent of
all production from commercial
farms in the past season has emanated from the
remaining large scale
farmers who are now being disrupted. There are reports
that over half of
all the farms taken over are in fact now derelict and
abandoned. Many of
the individuals now "taking" farms are doing so for the
third
or fourth time. The fact that sugar production in the lowveld, on
highly
developed irrigation estates, has declined by 35 per cent -
almost
all of the decline outside of the control of the core Estates of
Triangle
and Hippo is due to illegal land occupations.
It is time to
accept that the past policies on land have been a failure
and that it is time
to rethink and to put policies in place that will
give all farmers security
and enable then to finance their operations
properly. Such policies cannot be
implemented until the issue of the
rights of farm owners is resolved and the
issue of compensation
addressed. The combined costs of the folly of the land
invasions are
staggering - they include US$2,8 billion in international food
aid
on an emergency basis, nearly US$12 billion in lost
agricultural
production over 10 years and now a potential bill for US$5
billion in
compensation - a total of US$20 billion dollars.
And now we
are asking for billions of dollars to fix this self-inflicted
damage - its
bizarre.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 28th April
2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Dear JAG,
This quote came out of a Christmas cracker, believe it or not,
one of
Mugabe's mates a Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn..
"You
only have power over people so long as you don't take
everything away from
them, but when you've robbed a man of
everything, he's no longer in your
power - he's free again."
This quote is so true - food for thought. We
all know that this
power sharing debacle is Mugabe and Zanu PF's way of
buying time.
Well time is fast running out for Mugabe and Zanu Pf - time is
now
on Zimbabwe's side.
The only way this mess in Zimbabwe can be
sorted out is to hold everyone
in the ruling party, plus supporters, civil
service - which means
the army, police and any one on the Government pay
roll, including anyone
on a commercial farm - accountable for their actions.
Only then
will you get rule of law. Without that there is nothing.
(Ben's
quote) That means in the meantime Zimbabwe is run by lying,
cheating,
thieving, raping, murdering fools, who have done it for so long
they
don't know any better.
Mugabe and his cronies are stuffing up so
well it's been noticed
all over the world. Keep it up, time is
fleeting.
Piringani Farm.
Colleen and Jeremy Brown - for Open
Letter Forum
Saturday April
25th.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Dear JAG,
One thing confusing me (not too difficult at this stage in
time!!) is who
is the Opposition in this rather farcical "government
of
inclusion"/"GNU"(I'm convinced now that a gnu probably has more
sense
than all of them put together). Surely it's Zanu, as they are actually
in
the minority. As Mugabe plays the time game and the cabinet quarrels
show
the world that it would be futile to bail us out of the quagmire
we're
in, we just continue our decline - why should the few hardworking
guys
who are still fortunate to have employment bother to support a bunch
of
politicians who probably couldn't play a decent game of draughts,
let
alone sort out the mess that we're in - we should all just step back
and
watch. It was world politics that destroyed Rhodesia; it's
personal
politics that has all but destroyed Zimbabwe. Pasi ne
maPoliticians
byebye;
Stu Taylor.