Daily
News
Scramble for
cash
4/29/03 6:57:05 AM (GMT
+2)
By Chris Goko Business
Reporter
Fears of another
opposition-sanctioned national strike took hold in
Harare and other urban
centres triggering an unprecedented scramble for
cash
yesterday.
Bankers' Association of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) principals, Washington
Matsaira, Jerry Tsodzai of Interfin
Merchant Bank and Frank Read, a director
with BAZ, were unavailable for
comment.
But a snap survey showed that
demand for notes and coins had
"dramatically
increased".
Small banks and building
societies were the most affected, with some
reportedly running out of
cash.
Fears of fresh stayaways today,
triggered huge-sum withdrawals as
people sought to catch up on lost shopping
time and other month-end jaunts,
disrupted by last week's ZCTU-organised work
stoppages.
Panic was the order of the day
as word filtered - right through
weekend - that the MDC was to call its own
strike this week.
Long queues started
forming at banks, building societies and ATM
cash-points early
yesterday.
Tellers at a building society
in Harare's First Street Mall said they
had received daily allocations of
money late as anxious customers queued for
up to two
hours.
Beverly Building Society (BBS)'s
First Street branch started
dispensing cash late yesterday, according to
insiders.
"We have been waiting for our
daily orders from the Central Bank,"
said one teller around 4pm yesterday as
he started serving clients.
"But I am told
the amount is less than what we had asked for," he
said, adding that they
would only feed ATMs when satisfied that the problem
would not persist or
recur today.
Philip Chiradza, the BBS
managing director, was not immediately
available for
comment.
At a cash dispenser outside
Kingdom Bank First Street, people said
they had endured more than one hour of
queueing.
"I have been in the queue for
more than an hour and am still waiting
for my turn. But the queue is moving,"
said Chris Rugare at Kingdom Bank.
A
Mabvuku businessman who declined to be named lamented
the
inconvenience.
"I came here
thinking that I would be done within an hour. My business
has been disrupted.
I am disappointed," he said.
It was the
same in Bulawayo.
Cash shortages surfaced
about two weeks ago as demand
outstripped
supply.
Steep escalation of
prices of goods and rampant inflation at 228
percent, has rendered the
Zimbabwean dollar almost valueless, creating huge
demand for
cash.
Speculation was rife that Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe authorities had cut
supplies of large denomination-notes to
stem currency trading, especially in
British pounds, South African rands and
United States dollars.
Money supply grew
to $632 billion as of last December, while $348,5
billion worth of cash
circulated in the country in the same
month.
The December M3 standing represents
a 165 percent change from the
corresponding figure of
2001.
According to an analyst, the recent
shortages at mortgage banks could
be explained by the fact that bankers were
out of cash. Building societies
are not clearing houses and do not access
cash from the Central Bank
directly.
"Retail banks act on their behalf, but given the current scenario
where the
Central Bank has imposed tougher conditions of borrowing for
financial
institutions, shortages are likely to be experienced," said
the
analyst.
The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe has increased lending rates to 80
percent - way above the repo rate
- for institutions without security.
Daily
News
Zinasu raps enrolment
policy
4/29/03 7:05:45 AM (GMT
+2)
From Energy Bara in
Masvingo
THE Zimbabwe National Students'
Union (Zinasu) yesterday condemned the
preferential enrolment of national
youth service graduates into State
colleges and
universities.
The union said the move
caused divisions among students. Emmanuel
Samundombe, Zinasu's
secretary-general, said the government was deliberately
trying to weaken
student activism by enrolling only Zanu PF supporters in
institutions of
higher learning.
Samundombe claimed that
the newly established Zimbabwe Congress of
Student Unions (Zicosu) was part
of the government's efforts to destroy
Zinasu. The government is said to view
Zinasu as an appendage of
opposition
politics.
He said: "We have
widely condemned the partisan enrolment of these
Green Bombers into our
colleges and universities. It has destroyed the idea
of meritocracy as a key
requirement to enrol at college. The system gave
political spies a chance to
get an education at the expense of deserving and
rightful
citizens."
Samundombe said Zicosu was a
creation of the government and could not
fully represent the interests of
students.
The Zicosu leadership claimed
that students could not be represented
by one union, hence the decision to
form another one. They also accused
Zinasu of being affiliated to the MDC and
the National Constitutional
Assembly.
Samundombe denied all the allegations.
Daily
News
Mutare residents beaten up by
suspected soldiers
4/29/03
7:07:37 AM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent
in Mutare
SOME residents of Sakubva and
Dangamvura in Mutare yesterday
complained that they were beaten up by people
in army uniforms they
suspected to be soldiers, who accused them of
participating in a three-day
job stayaway organised by the ZCTU last
week.
The residents said the soldiers
targeted those who were drinking beer
at bottle stores and beer
halls.
Edward Mupingo of Dangamvura said
six men in army uniforms came to the
Dangamvura Tavern last Thursday and
ordered everyone in the beerhall to sit
on the
floor.
"The soldiers ordered all the
people in the bar , who were about 15,
to sit on the floor," Mupingo
said.
Richard Gwenzi, another Dangamvura
resident, said he was forced to
pour the beer on the ground and to roll on
the mud.
"When I indicated that I could
not swim in the beer one of them beat
me on the head with the butt of the gun
he had," Gwenzi said.
Edgar Nhamo, also
from Dangamvura, said: "One patron who had not
realised the presence of the
soldiers came in singing and was made to sing
the national anthem, which he
could not."
He said the man was beaten
until he fell unconscious and was in that
state until the soldiers left
approximately 10 minutes later.
Wilson
Chaguma of Sakubva said the suspected soldiers pounced on them
while playing
a game of cards and accused them of holding an
illegal
meeting.
"We were about 10 and
playing cards when the soldiers accused us of
holding a meeting during the
stayaway. They made us swim in a pond of muddy
water before setting us free,"
Chaguma said.
Chaguma said the suspected
soldiers told them they were in charge and
nothing would happen to
them.
There was no immediate comment from
the army as one Lieutenant Gora,
of the army public relations at the 3
Brigade Chikanga Army Barracks, was
said to be out of his
office.
Daily
News
South African MPs on
fact-finding mission
4/29/03
7:08:21 AM (GMT +2)
By Precious
Shumba
VISITING South African Members of
Parliament yesterday heard from
various interest groups in Zimbabwe that the
land reform programme, although
widely accepted, was heavily politicised and
corrupted by government
officials.
But
Zanu PF MPs and traditional leaders disputed the allegations,
saying the
programme was going on well.
Roy Bennet,
the MP for Chimanimani (MDC), said the government's
one-man one-farm policy
had been grossly abused by senior government
officials who had acquired more
than three farms each.
The South African
MPs are in the country to gather evidence from their
Zimbabwean counterparts
in the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands,
Agriculture, Water
Development, Rural Resources and Resettlement on how the
government's land
reform programme is progressing.
Neo
Masitela, the chairman of the South African Parliamentary
Portfolio Committee
on Agriculture and Land Affairs, said they were here
because there was a
Communal Rights Bill before their parliament, and they
would wanted to gather
as many views as possible from Zimbabwe.
Daniel Mackenzie-Ncube, the chairman of the Zimbabwean committee and
Zhombe
MP (Zanu PF), said the delegation was on a fact-finding mission on
the land
reform exercise.
"There is some land
reform in South Africa which others say is too
slow," he said. "Whatever
happens in Zimbabwe affects them politically and
economically, and they want
to learn from our experiences based on
first-hand
information."
He said the major concern to
the South Africans was Zimbabwe's land
policy and how it was being
implemented.
The land reforms had left
thousands of farm workers displaced and
nearly 12 farmers dead. He said the
delegation would tomorrow visit A1 and
A2 farms in the Midlands and
Mashonaland West provinces.
Andries Botha,
a Democratic Alliance MP, in an interview said:
"Interest groups and other
MPs said the land reform programme was chaotic.
They said it had a severe
impact on food production. A lot of people had
been displaced causing rising
unemployment, which had a negative impact on
the performance of the
economy."
Daily
News
Rival unions line up May Day
rallies
4/29/03 7:09:55 AM (GMT
+2)
By Angela
Makamure
TWO trade union rallies have been
scheduled in Harare to commemorate
this year's May Day on Thursday in what
could be a test of popularity for
the country's two major labour bodies, the
ZCTU and the Zanu PF-aligned
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions
(ZFTU).
Wellington Chibhebhe, the ZCTU
secretary-general, yesterday said the
labour body would commemorate Workers'
Day despite the deteriorating
economic and political
situation.
"Preparations are in full swing
and we will still have the normal
celebrations at Rufaro Stadium," Chibhebhe
said. "We know things are very
bad for workers and we understand their
position, but all the same we must
all understand the history of this
day."
This year's commemoration comes at a
time when the majority of workers
are reeling under worsening poverty with
most families living below the
poverty datum
line.
"It is our day and we must
commemorate it and at the same time
remember those workers who were
protesting against the long working hours
and fought for the workers'
rights," Chibhebhe said.
He said apart
from the Rufaro Stadium rally, there would be other
gatherings in various
centres countrywide.
However, Chibhebhe
said he could not give more details on the
celebrations for what he termed
security reasons.
Joseph Chinotimba, the
vice-president of the ZFTU, yesterday said in
Harare, celebrations would be
held at Gwanzura Stadium.
"We want to
teach workers that stayaways are useless and are
meaningless. We will teach
them how to claim their dues and not fight with
the government," Chinotimba
said.
But Chinotimba could not explain how
his organisation could assist the
government to revive the ailing economy and
improve the workers' conditions
of
service.
"We will have a $1,7 million May
Day Cup soccer match in which Dynamos
and
Black
Rhinos will lock horns," Chinotimba
said.
"We will also have 20 cattle to
slaughter so that people can have
something to eat as they enjoy
themselves."
Last week, the ZCTU organised
a three-day stayaway against the massive
rise in fuel prices. It has
threatened to continue with the protests until
its grievances are addressed
by the government.
With the recent fuel
price increases of up to 350 percent, there are
fears that most low-income
earners, will spend as much as 80 percent of
their earnings on transport
alone.
Confrontation is already looming
between the State and the ZCTU after
the labour body rejected and dismissed
as meaningless the new minimum
monthly wages announced by the government last
week.
Agricultural workers are to be paid
a minimum of $23 070 a month,
employees in the agro-industry and horticulture
sectors $42 168, and those
in industry and commerce $47
696.
The ZCTU said it stood by its
assessment that $125 000 was the
realistic poverty datum
line.
Daily
News
Ndlovu fires 32 teachers for
striking
4/29/03 7:11:03 AM (GMT
+2)
By Brian Mangwende Chief
Reporter
ABOUT 500 students at Zimbabwe
Distance Education College (ZDECO)
failed to attend lectures yesterday after
the institution's managing
director, Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, dismissed 32
teachers following a sit-in
over poor
salaries.
Ndlovu is a member of Zanu PF's
politburo, the party decision
making
organ.
Immediately after he
fired the teachers, Ndlovu paid them between $8
000 and $20 000 as exit
packages - amounts which are far below their monthly
salaries of up to $35
000.Those dismissed include full and part-time
staff.
Ndlovu could not be reached for
comment yesterday.
Students could be seen
loitering around the premises yesterday .
Two weeks ago, the teachers issued an ultimatum which expired last
Tuesday,
to the institution's directors to award them a 500 percent
salary
increment.
They argued that
their salaries had been eroded by the recent steep
rises in the price of
fuel.
A dismissal letter shown to The
Daily News by one of the teachers
reads in part: "With reference to your
ultimatum to the directors to award
you a 500 percent salary increment
without negotiation and your boycott of
lecturers on 16, 17 and 22 April,
2003, up to now, the directors have
concluded that you no longer want your
job.
"Many students who registered for
holiday classes have been left
stranded and others
resigned.
"You have engaged in an illegal
strike. The directors have therefore
decided to dismiss you with immediate
effect."
Daily
News
Chipangano members remanded
in custody
4/29/03 7:11:47 AM
(GMT +2)
Staff
Reporter
TEN members of Chipangano, the
Zanu PF vigilante group facing assault
charges were yesterday further
remanded in custody to 13 May when they
appeared before Mbare magistrate,
Nicodemus Chivhunga.
They are Zephania
Ndhlovu, Lovemore Mafukidze, William Mangarai,
Charles Mangare, Cleno
Takawira, Simbarashe Mukorera, Runesu Giwana,
Tafadzwa Gwara, Fradreck
Kunyarimwe and Rot Moto.
They were denied
bail when they first appeared before Chivhunga on 8
April, when the police
said that they needed time to check records for
previous
convictions.
In their written submissions
to the court opposing bail, the police
said the group was facing serious
allegations.
As a result, it was likely
that the gang would interfere with State
witnesses,the police
said.
Prosecutor, Ngoni Sivereki, said the
10, who confessed to being Zanu
PF activists, went to Shawasha flats in
Mbare.
There they ordered the 11 tenants
of the block to vacate the flats
because they were
"sell-outs."
She said the tenants defied
the orders and the group, acting in common
purpose, forcibly removed the
tenants' property and heaped it outside
the
block.
They then force-marched the
complainants to an open space outside the
flats where they ordered them to
sit next to their heaped belongings, the
State
alleges.
The group allegedly assaulted the
tenants using various weapons which
included sticks, iron bars and stones
fired from catapults.
Throughout the
night, the vigilantes allegedly held the tenants in
captivity until 6am when
the police were alerted of the situation by one of
the tenants who had
escaped.
Meanwhile, in anticipation that
their colleagues could be granted
bail, the other Chipangano members, who
have not yet been netted, last week
forced vendors at Mbare's Mupedzanhamo
and Siya-So markets to pay $300 each
to raise funds for bail for their
counterparts who are languishing in
remand
prison.
An MDC official who
preferred anonymity, yesterday said he had been
approached by several vendors
who expressed dismay over Chipangano's terror
network in
Mbare.
"This should be strongly condemned
because we cannot have a situation
where people continuously live in
fear.
"Residents are flocking to my house
seeking protection, but there is
nothing I can do about it because I am also
a victim," he said.
Last month, Chipangano
members force-marched commuters, Mbare
residents and commandeered vehicles to
ferry people to demonstrate against
Harare Executive Mayor, Elias Mudzuri at
Town House.
Daily
News
Munich council officials
arrive
4/29/03 7:12:23 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
A FIVE-MEMBER delegation from the
Munich City Council in Germany
arrived in Harare yesterday on a week's
visit.
Harare has a twinning arrangement
with Munich.
Hep Monatzeder, the vice
mayor, is leading the delegation. He was last
here in 1996 when he signed the
twinning agreement.
He said: "We will be
visiting some places that we have helped. We
would like to see how Harare is
now," Monatzeder said he had not had time to
form an impression of the city
since he had just arrived.
Told that the
council was battling to get authority from the
government to borrow money for
capital projects because it was
overwhelmingly dominated by MDC councillors,
Monatzeder said: "You have to
have the opposition, otherwise there is no
democracy."
The relationship between
Harare and Munich had become strained since
2001
Daily
News
Mugabe hinted retirement:
Mbeki
4/29/03 7:13:33 AM (GMT
+2)
By Brian Mangwende Chief
Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe has in the past
indicated to his South African
counterpart, Thabo Mbeki, that he was willing
to step down as consensus is
forming among regional and international leaders
that he has become a
liability and a threat to regional
stability.
Bheki Khumalo, Mbeki's
spokesman, yesterday said the South African
President said this when he was
reacting in Pretoria to media reports that
Mugabe was ready to step
down.
According to the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Mbeki
said Mugabe had said that before, in
his presence.
Khumalo said: "The President was
reacting to media reports and he
never went beyond
that."
However, Khumalo said that he was
unaware of any personal
communication in which Mbeki had asked Mugabe to
relinquish power.
"If a President wants to
step down, the decision is his and his
alone," Khumalo said. "Besides,
if the two had communicated at a personal
level on that one, then I don't
think that will be done through the
Press."
SABC reported that Mbeki said he
was sure that Zanu PF had been
engaged in the process of renewing its
leadership. "We want to wait for them
to finish that process before we can
take matters up," Mbeki was quoted
as
saying.
John Nkomo, Zanu PF's national
chairman, and Nathan Shamuyarira, the
ruling party's spokesman, could not be
reached for comment yesterday.
In November
2000, when some commercial farmers were murdered
and
some driven off their properties under the
controversial land reform
programme, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
reportedly urged Mugabe to
step down to avoid more
bloodshed.
Last month, Obasanjo made a
similar statement during an exclusive
interview with The Sunday Times of
London, saying that it would be wise for
Mugabe, 79, to step down as leader
of Zimbabwe.
"It's entirely up to him, but
obviously he knows he has to work out a
succession," Obasanjo, 66,
said.
"I don't need to tell him, but if I say
I am thinking about my
succession, that's an indication that I think he
should think of his.
"In my part of the world,
there are many ways you can tell a man to go
to
hell."
In an interview on ZBC/TV last week
to mark 23 years of Zimbabwe's
independence, Mugabe hinted that he was
willing to step down after the land
redistribution exercise had been
completed.
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker
of Parliament's name is being touted
around as Mugabe's choice of successor,
but this has not gone down well with
the ruling party's
stalwarts.
Mnangagwa is Zanu PF's
secretary for administration. He was appointed
by Mugabe following his defeat
in the June 2000 parliamentary election by
the MDC's Blessing Chebundo in
Kwekwe.
Daily
News
Harare High School forced to
close
4/29/03 7:16:08 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
HARARE High School in Mbare has
been forced to temporarily close
during the current school holidays by the
Harare City Council and Ministry
of Health and Child Welfare officials over
health concerns.
The closure of the school
has resulted in students failing to take
vacation studies. Vacation lessons
are meant to prepare students for the
Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council
examinations at the end of the year.
Toilets at the school were said to be the most affected as they had
been out
of order since last February.
One
concerned parent said: "Although we appreciate that the
authorities are doing
something about the bad state of the sanitary
facilities at the school, we
are worried that they took such a long time to
observe that they were putting
the lives of the students at risk.
"If it
was not for the Harare City Council and the Ministry of Health
and Child
Welfare, nothing would have been done by the school authorities,"
she
said.
The deputy headmaster of Harare High
School refused to comment on the
issue.
Daily
News
ZCTU sticks to
guns
4/29/03 7:16:47 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
The ZCTU has again demanded that
the government "immediately" reverse
the fuel price increases it enforced two
weeks ago or face another
nation-wide job
stayaway.
The umbrella labour body staged
a three-day job stayaway last week
that saw business largely grind to a halt
after the government ignored its
first demand for an immediate reversal of
the increases.
Wellington Chibhebhe, the
ZCTU secretary-general, yesterday said the
general council, the union's
supreme policy-making body, met on Saturday and
resolved to write to the
government, through the Ministry of Public Service,
Labour and Social
Welfare, presenting its demand.
Chibhebhe
said the ZCTU was demanding the immediate suspension of the
increases because
the government itself had imposed the increases "with
immediate
effect".
He said: "This problem is of an
immediate nature. We are giving it the
same haste with which the government
announced the increases. Failure to
reverse the increases will result in
workers taking action."
He declined to say
exactly when the ZCTU would call for another job
stayaway if the government
disregarded its demand.
Chibhebhe said:
"History has shown us that it is not prudent to give
dates, but action is
definitely on the agenda."
He described as
"unfortunate" the statement by Amos Midzi, the
Minister of Energy and Power
Development, that the ZCTU could "keep on
dreaming" that the increases would
be reversed.
Midzi was quoted in The
Standard newspaper on Sunday as saying: "The
ZCTU can keep on dreaming. We
cannot reduce the prices of fuel."
Chibhebhe said: "When people are suffering you cannot afford to be
arrogant.
When you get a minister saying that, it shows how out of touch the
government
is with the people. It also proves how careless he is."
Daily
News
Leader Page
Mugabe
must pay the price
4/29/03
6:57:37 AM (GMT +2)
THE idea that a
president responsible for so much bloodshed,
corruption and the destruction
of the economy should be forgiven for all his
blunders in exchange for
quietly stepping down from power is immoral
and
unacceptable.
Not only that; it is
an insult to the people of Zimbabwe whose
relatives died and whose previously
much-admired living standards were the
envy of many African
countries.
Today, according to the
official statistics, 80 percent of them are
living below the poverty datum
line. Others may blame the Western countries,
the IMF and the World Bank, the
drought, Cyclone Eline, Cyclone Japhet or
the MDC and even
NAGG.
But the people know that it is all
President Mugabe's fault. He too is
aware of this. The recent decline in his
own popularity among the people, as
well as the plummeting popularity of the
party he leads, testify to a wish
by the majority of the people that he quits
before it is too late.
He cannot be
unaware that it is this nationwide disenchantment with
his leadership which
has forced his party to use terror and violence to cow
the people into
supporting him.
Mugabe ought to be man
enough to face the music. He made his bed and
he must lie on it. If it turns
out to be a bed of nails, so be it. He cannot
demand that the people put the
softest mattress to eliminate the pain which
he must feel for turning their
independence into one long nightmare of
death, terror, hunger, disease and
poverty.
Clearly, he is aware of the
people's acute sense of betrayal. They
reposed so much faith in him,
believing him to have their interests at heart
from beginning to end. Today,
23 years down the line, he has almost
abdicated his responsibilities to them,
minding only about his own personal
survival. His wife has been scandalously
shopping in South Africa while back
home people scrounge for food even in the
dustbins outside State House.
Constitutionally, his six-year term of office ought to end in 2008,
but not
even he - at 79 today - would relish the prospect of continuing a
day longer.
Logically, he ought to resign, and let the chips fall where they
may. If it
is demanded of him by the people that he account for his wayward
behaviour
during his presidency, so be it.
He could
continue until his term officially ends, but by that time,
according to many
estimates, Zimbabwe will be in such desperate straits, it
may have
degenerated beyond a basket case.
A change
is what the country needs, a change not only from Mugabe's
rule, but from
Zanu PF rule. What Mugabe's friends are trying to concoct is
a change of
presidency, but not a change of government. They would like to
perpetuate
Zanu PF rule, even at the end of the nightmare of the Mugabe
era.
This could be achieved
constitutionally, but at what price? Zanu PF
has become synonymous with
murder, rape, terror and electoral fraud - and
with Mugabe
himself.
Relations with the rest of the
world, so vital for a return to a
semblance of normality, would not improve,
in the end. For many of Mugabe's
friends, the end of Zanu PF rule would be
the end of the Zimbabwean dream.
But for
many Zimbabweans, as amply demonstrated during two stayaways
in which most of
them took part voluntarily, it could be the beginning of a
bright
future.
An election may be problematical
constitutionally, but the
alternative - a period of continuing Zanu PF rule
with its attendant vices -
must be too ghastly to contemplate for many
peace-loving citizens longing
for change.
Daily
News
Leader Page
Birth of a
free, united Zimbabwe imminent
4/29/03 6:58:20 AM (GMT +2)
By Benji
waMagaisa
To all the citizens of Zimbabwe,
I would like to say the following:
This is an important time for us, it marks
the beginning of the realisation
of Zimbabwe's unity. Monetary, economic and
social union make the
unification process
irreversible.
What the MDC is doing today
and planning to do tomorrow constitutes a
decisive step towards our goal of
achieving Zimbabwe's unity in freedom
within a peaceful African
order.
In a peaceful revolution in the
last three years when our party was
formed, the people in the country broke
the chains of the unjust regime
through their love of
freedom.
We share their pride and
happiness in view of the success of this
revolution and are indebted to the
hundreds of thousands who brought about
this change by dint of their courage
in adversity. To our former MP,
Learnmore Jongwe, rest in peace. He worked
hard and he wanted to live in
freedom, human dignity. He fought for the truth
and against falsehoods,
against oppression by a regime that had been forced
upon us by others.
We must never forget,
efface from our memories or play down their
fate. The crimes committed by
Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans even after the
2000 election that they lost
and they said they won, and presidential
election last year are an extortion
to us all.
They must never be repeated.
What our party is witnessing is the birth
of a free and united Zimbabwe
before the eyes of the world.
This
historic time of Zimbabwe establishing a monetary, economic and
social union
also heralds a new phase of African history and is the first
decisive step on
the way to unity.
For the people in
Zimbabwe it will make unity tangible in many areas
of their day-to-day lives.
I am aware that the road to unity will be a
difficult one, but in the end our
efforts will be rewarded. Achieving the
unity and freedom of Zimbabwe is a
tremendous task in which everyone
must
co-operate.
We, Zimbabweans, must
stand together and shape our common future with
confidence. Let us never lose
sight of the fact that for 23 years we were
forcibly prevented from living
the kind of life we enjoyed here in
Zimbabwe.
I also have a request to make of
the people in Zimbabwe: Please
remember that the prosperity of Zimbabwe can
only be the result of much hard
work.
Millions of people contributed to it through many years of
industriousness
and diligence. They did not get anything for nothing.
National unity has
drawn closer and it is now for us to hasten
it.
Let us seize this opportunity, let us
do our duty and I appeal to
Zimbabweans to create a united nation for the
coming years. Let's go
together into a happier future for all Zimbabweans.
Today is a milestone
along this road.
After 22 years which have brought people so much suffering, we are
being
offered a unique opportunity to achieve in free self-determination the
unity
and freedom of Zimbabwe and to serve the peace of the world in a
united
Africa. This is the mandate of the basic law and this is what our
neighbours
expect from us.
Our country is well
equipped to embark on a new promising chapter in
its history. We can put the
clock forward, but this does not make time move
faster and the ability to
wait while events take their course a precondition
of practical politics. The
reverse is also true: those who want to stop the
wheel of history are in
danger of forever chasing a lost opportunity and, as
we all know, those who
came too late are punished by history.
The
people there, too, realise that after all the suffering inflicted
upon them
they will have to roll up their sleeves. Monetary, economic and
social union
is a promise which they can take us up on. They must seize the
opportunity
and get down to it.
They can leave the
nooks and crannies where they could just about eke
out a livelihood under the
socialist dictatorship and expose themselves to
the fresh breeze of a free
market economy. We shall also help in coping with
the transitional
problems.
However, jobs, prosperity and
social security will, in long term, have
to be gained by dint of the people's
own efforts.
Benji waMagaisa is a
socio-political commentator
Daily
News
Lending rates set to shoot
up
4/29/03 6:49:17 AM (GMT
+2)
By Hama Saburi Business
Editor
LENDING and parallel market rates
are expected to skyrocket soon on
the back of excessive demand for cash by
the National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority.
The beleaguered Noczim is on
the market seeking to raise $60 billion
needed to import fuel, while the
power utility, Zesa is under pressure to
raise foreign currency to off-set
foreign debts in excess of US$143 million
(Z$7 865
million).
Analysts said the insatiable
appetite for resources would push
interest rates from last week's levels of
60 to 65 percent to above 70
percent. Parallel market rates may go beyond the
$1 400/$1 500 levels
against the United States dollar to $1 600/$1 800 by the
end of next month.
The official exchange
rate to the greenback is pegged at $824. The
price of money and the exchange
rate is a function of demand. It goes up
when demand improves and softens
when the appetite subsides.
Zesa and
Noczim are competing with the private sector, which requires
the greenback to
import spare parts and raw materials. An increase in rates
adds to costs of
production and often manifests itself through price
increases and high
inflation.
Gibson Maunganidze, a local
investment analyst said: "Interest rates
are going to go up, as Noczim and
Zesa turn to the market to finance their
mandates. If interest rates move up,
parallel market rates will also move up
because it means the real value of
the Zimbabwe dollar has gone down."
Bulawayo chartered accountant, Eric Bloch said it would be difficult
for Zesa
and Noczim to raise money because of prevailing
shortages.
Bloch said: "Its going to be a
pointless exercise because there is no
foreign currency. At the same time
they cannot raise funds outside Zimbabwe
because of the country's bad credit
rating. The only ones to consider
advancing credit could be those bent on
buying Zimbabwean assets, such as
the Libyans and other Arab
countries."
Institutional investors can
raise the Zimbabwe dollar component
required by Noczim provided there is a
government guarantee.
Bloch said the
government, which owns the two parastatals, should
improve economic viability
and restore the country's credit worthiness as a
matter of
priority.
Noczim and Zesa are struggling
to meet the country's energy
requirements due to the shortage of foreign
currency caused by poor export
performance and donor
fatigue.
A number of desperate measures
taken by government to improve foreign
exchange generation and curb leakages
within the system have fallen flat.
In
fact, the situation seems to have worsened after the banning of
bureaux de
change and the tightening of features on Customs Declaration 1
forms and
other documents used in the tourism and hunting
sectors.
Daily
News
Government loses millions in
tobacco-fuel deals
4/29/03
6:51:23 AM (GMT +2)
Business
Reporter
THE government is believed to
have lost foreign currency running into
millions of dollars through
transactions where some tobacco buyers were
exchanging the crop for
fuel.
It is understood that a number of
transactions went through during the
previous tobacco-marketing season where
tobacco merchants sourced fuel from
Libya in exchange for
tobacco.
Herbert Murerwa, Finance and
Economic Development Minister said no
such transactions would be allowed this
year.
Murerwa said: "All purchases by A
class buyers will be settled in
United States dollars and those who fail to
raise US dollars will be
assisted through a Memorandum of Deposit
facility.
"Barter deals will not be
allowed this year."
He was speaking to
guests attending the launch of the
tobacco-marketing season last
week.
Government had allowed barter deals
in a bid to avert the shortages
of
fuel.
It has been prejudiced in the
process because of the lack of
tight
monitoring.
Under normal
circumstances, buyers release foreign currency used to
purchase tobacco to
the central bank.
Merchants with access to
lines of credit are given United States
dollars by their off-shore banks,
which is released to the central bank.
The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would then pay the buyers the Zimbabwe
dollar
equivalence for the purchase of tobacco on the auction
floors.
John Chiweshe, chairman of the
Tobacco Merchants Association, said
none of his members were involved in
barter deals.
Chiweshe said: " I am not
aware of any of my members trading tobacco
for
fuel.
"What I am aware of is that my
members were advocating the government
to introduce
it."
Sources in the tobacco industry
however, said top government officials
were among buyers who benefited from
the tobacco barter deals.
Daily
News
Feature
Patriots must
come forward
4/29/03 7:17:36 AM
(GMT +2)
By Tanonoka Joseph
Whande
"Quite often we have ideas," the
President said last week. The secret
is out at last: our government often has
ideas. Unbelievable! I could never
have believed it if it had not been said
by none other than the
President
himself.
I have always
believed this government ran out of ideas the moment it
was sworn into office
more than 20 years ago. The President's revelation
astounded me. I did not
know whether to be happy or sad or both or
which.
"We think them out," the President
continued, "but the ideas continue
to remain ideas." Oh dear, and whose fault
is it? The President told invited
guests at the official opening of the
Scientific and Industrial Research and
Development Centre that "feasibility
studies are conducted - pre-feasibility
studies, post-feasibility studies -
and they take time to shape out".
Why do
Zanu PF's ideas take more than 20 years to shape
out?
Anyway, the President was ambiguously
attacking State officials that
he appointed himself. But exonerating himself
by saying he has vision and
lots of ideas but the underlings that he appoints
himself are letting him
down, would be dishonest and we would be employing
the ambiguity and
evasiveness used by Polonius in reference to his powerful
superior Hamlet:
"Your noble son is mad, mad
call I it, for to define true madness,
what isn't but to be nothing else but
mad?"
Polonius quickly added: "But let
that go."
I will be brief; I cannot let
that go because the President must fire
his under-performing underlings with
as much ease as he hires them. It is
not his money that pays them. It is the
people's money. It does not do the
nation any good to attack them in public
but still retain them even though
they are confirmed
non-performers.
The President must be
aware that when the team that he picks fails, it
is he who gets the blame. I
find it difficult to believe this country has a
government, a police force,
an army and (surprise! surprise!) a President.
It is the duty of the
President to identify where things are going wrong and
to find the solutions
using his so-called war Cabinet. Otherwise, of what
use would they be to
us?
The failure of this government,
particularly this unimaginative
Cabinet, has now prompted the call: "The
whole gang must go!"
We now associate the
President with things that are
anti-people.
The parent who, on seeing the
President on television hitting the
podium with his fist, tells his child to
"switch off that TV!"
The unspoken
reaction to futility being: what the man is saying has
nothing to do with us
and our problems; the unemployed newspaper reader on a
park bench who, on
seeing a large photograph of Mugabe smiling at him on the
front page, flips
to the next page totally convinced that whatever pleases
the President can't
possibly be within reach or is not good for him; the war
veteran, proud owner
of a welding shack at a growth point sitting under the
eaves by the door
re-reading last year's copy of the People's Voice while
waiting for
electricity for the second day running: load-shedding! And the
proud, hopeful
medical student and her sister nurse rushing to work minus
sanitary pads.
Condoms everywhere but no sanitary pads! And oh, look here! A
mother, baby
strapped on her back, but now both hungry, thirsty and hot
after five hours
standing in a queue and still hopeful that by the time she
reaches the point
of sale there still will be a bottle of cooking oil left
for
her.
No matter how we look at the problems
bedevilling the nation, it
always leads back to the President. That the
country is unconscious is not
in dispute. I sit here, my dear compatriots,
and wonder like so many of you
what role the Executive is
playing.
The Constitution seems to have
been written on toilet paper. Nobody,
not the police, the army, the ruling
party or the Executive pays any
attention to the Constitution. So help me,
God!
It does appear as if the government
has declared war on the citizens
of this
country.
As a President, a husband and a
leader, wasn't he nauseated by the
mangled posterior of 60-year-old Isobel
Gardner?
As a teacher, a father and a
liberator, didn't he feel revulsion at
the dental carnage on 27-year-old
Itayi Tinarwo? One old woman battered
almost to death by his soldiers; one
young man with a hope for a productive
future brutalised, almost murdered by
suspected supporters of the President'
s
party.
Fortunately, the President had
something to say about this. "Those who
promote and unleash the ensuing
violence and terrorism must be punished
under our laws," he warned the
victims.
Others have died. The victim is
blamed.
I salute my
President.
The danger we are facing now is
that we have a government and a leader
who, in order to survive politically,
have to kill, brutalise, main and
torture the
citizens.
My fear is that we are reaching
that dangerous point where people
contemplate self-defence. (Zanu PF would
cherish the excuse.)
But when citizens
collectively start to defend themselves against
their own government, it is
more than anarchy. It is organised crime. And in
this case, crime will
pay.
I long and pray for a kinder, gentler
President. I look over to my
President as I recall Yevtushenko's poetic words
"not people die, but worlds
die in
them."
We are now people without a
country, only a state of mind. I too
recognise the uniqueness of each life
lived. But "because death is
inescapable, man's legacy is his philosophy, how
he lived his life, how he
formed that
world."
Oh, Mr Mugabe!! My appeal to the
President is that he employs furious
concentration and makes a serious effort
to intervene.
Of serious concern is not
who is perpetrating the violence but that
there is violence in our midst.
With all the state apparatus at his
disposal, the president can stem the
violence.
The fact that he is not stopping
the violence when he is able to may
be the reason why he is inviting so much
criticism. But what if the mayhem
is to Zanu PF's
advantage?
The late ANC strongman' Harry
Gwala said once that it is very
difficult to organise people in the absence
of violence. It need not be the
case.
My appeal to my fellow citizens is one of re-dedication. We are
midway
through a crocodile infested and flooded river with water up to our
armpits.
Whether we return to the bank or continue so as to reach the
opposite one,
we are in equal danger. But if we return we will need to start
all over
again so we should soldier on and get it over with. This has been
going on
for too long; lives continue to be lost. We can stop this violence
with or
without the help of the President if we dedicate ourselves to
it.
The heart of the matter is that
patriots must come forward now and
help to stop this fanatical, half-crazed
ordeal of state imposed violence.
Out there are patriots who fought to
liberate this country. They
simulteneously protected the people they were
trying to liberate. Obviously,
the job was not complete. We call upon them
one more time. The patriots must
once again come in and protect the people
while they liberate themselves.
But
dedication is essential. What Plato calls "the healing of our
unwisdom" must
start now. We can neither be wise nor builders and we will
not know comfort
or security if we accept that violence lives side by side
with us. The
culture of violence is alien to us. It must be stopped by us,
the
victims.
Daily
News
Letters
ZBC cannot
fool anyone any more
4/29/03
6:59:52 AM (GMT +2)
I wonder who the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation think they are
fooling by parading
ill-informed and unintelligent individuals on television
in the guise of
surveys.
What the ZBC ought to know is
that all right-thinking and progressive
Zimbabweans walk away from their TV
sets once they see propaganda clowns,
since they do not expect any sensible
contributions from those
biased
individuals.
We all know that
the ZBC interviews people who feel they have achieved
something merely by
appearing on TV, regardless of the fact that these
people do so much to the
disgust of most legitimate viewers, who regard
these stooges as brainless
wannabes.
Just watch how most of them
stand grinning at the camera as if they
are sweepstakes winners being
presented with a prize!
I have met many
people and their opinion is that ZBC cannot fool
anyone any
more.
I have also noticed that the
Southern Africa Development Community
(Sadc) mission is coming at a time when
Zanu PF is at the height
of
desperation.
How else could one
explain the circus that was paraded on TV as the
group behind the atrocities
being committed all over Zimbabwe daily, for
some time
now.
What I can easily make out is that
this is a well-orchestrated move to
mislead the Sadc mission. When I first
saw the clowning on TV I thought that
Zanu PF had finally come up with some
damning piece of propaganda this
time
around.
People were not hoodwinked
by the ZBC; they have learnt and perfected
the art of resisting propaganda to
the fullest. Zanu PF is bound to fall,
come hell, come
thunder.
And to the MDC I want to say: we
are still waiting for the list of
companies that are draining our blood. May
I also suggest that we need to
have a list of those individuals who are
advocating for the prolonged
suffering of the
people.
I also would like to commend moves
to compile lists of those who are
perpetrating atrocities on behalf of the
President and Grace Mugabe. Keep on
adding names to this list - we will need
it for future justice.
Memory
Rambanapasi
Harare
Daily
News
Letters
Green Bombers
wouldn't wear army kit without ZDF
approval
4/29/03 6:59:08 AM (GMT
+2)
The article in The Daily News of 4
April 2003, on Page 4 entitled,
Green Bombers posing as army, says Mutsekwa,
infuriates me.
Giles Mutsekwa, the MDC
shadow minister of defence, has the habit of
always exonerating the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces (ZDF), why?
The ZDF and the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) are well into the game
of terrorising the
people of Zimbabwe since 2000. Orders to terrorise the
people are coming
right from the top. It has even been said that a retired
brigadier is behind
these nefarious activities.
Is Mutsekwa
not aware that there is no more a professional ZDF and ZRP
to talk about in
Zimbabwe? There is only Zanu PF, ZDF and ZRP dominating the
scene
now.
The more Mutsekwa exonerates them,
the more the masses are brutalised
under the cover that he (Mutsekwa) is
giving them. The MDC are making these
people more brutal by covering up for
them.
Most of Mutsekwa's utterances which
exonerate the ZDF remind me of one
bullyboy at school in the
1960s.
As with bullies, most young boys -
myself included - were at the mercy
of this bully. One day information
reached me that the bully would descend
on me over a very trivial
issue.
I tried to be very friendly to the
bully to the extent that I could
prepare some cucumbers by removing the
prickles. I gave him to eat. He would
happily accept them and
ate.
To my surprise, he kept his promise
to beat me regardless of my
friendly gesture to him. And as sure as he had
promised, I did get a
thorough beating that day after
school.
This short story is true. I liken
Mutsekwa to the young boy/s and the
ZDF as the
bully.
So, I want to say to Mutsekwa, no
matter how much you want to befriend
the ZDF, their atrocities against
Zimbabweans are increasing.
"Green
Bombers" in army uniforms confirms the ZDF's involvement in the
atrocities.
The wearing of these uniforms and transportation of these Green
Bombers has
the tacit approval of the ZDF.
Therefore,
the assertion by Zimbabweans that the ZDF and ZRP are
brutalising them holds
water. If Mutsekwa continues to exonerate the ZDF,
Zimbabweans will be left
with no option but to accuse Mutsekwa of conniving
with the ZDF in
brutalising the nation.
I guess he will
also exonerate them over the raid on MP Fidelis Mhashu
's
home.
Mutsekwa is also jeopardising our
chances of getting outside military
intervention like what took place in Iraq
against the dictator Saddam
Hussein, like the intervention that took place in
Uganda by Tanzanian
Defence Forces against dictator Idi
Amin.
His constant exoneration of the ZDF
over what is happening is very
embarrassing and nauseates
Zimbabweans.
It lessens the will of those
forces who may want to intervene and
rescue
us.
Lastly, I say: Wake up, Mutsekwa!
Change your attitude. Let the world
know the officially-sanctioned brutality
the ZDF and ZRP are unleashing on
Zimbabweans - all for the purpose of
keeping the dictator Robert Mugabe
in
power.
Robert
Taruvinga
Chitungwiza
Washington Times
Mugabe's wife outrages
countrymen
By Geoff Hill
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean exiles
living in South Africa have reacted
angrily to the news that President Robert
Mugabe's wife, Grace, was staying
at a $700-a-day, five-star Caesar's Hotel
and Casino at a time of widespread
poverty and suffering back
home.
"It is obscene," Jay Sibanda, leader of an
exile lobby group, told The
Washington Times Saturday. "Millions of people
are starving because of her
husband's dictatorship and this woman is spending
[$700] a night to stay at
a luxury hotel."
A
recent United Nations report suggests that two-thirds of Zimbabwe's
12
million people live on less than a dollar a day. Mr. Mugabe, 79, and
his
38-year-old second wife, known as "Comrade Grace," have become the
subject
of wide criticism for their lavish
lifestyle.
While consumers line up for hours to buy
meager supplies of corn meal,
sugar and soap, critics contend that groceries
for the presidential palace
are flown in from
London.
A local radio journalist called the Caesar's
switchboard late last week
and was put through to Mrs. Mugabe, who identified
herself then slammed down
the phone after being told she was on the
air.
Mr. Sibanda said his group had tried to mount a
peaceful protest
outside the casino over the weekend but were chased away by
hotel security.
"More than two million Zimbabweans
have fled to this country," he said.
"At home we are being tortured, starved
and beaten as part of Mugabe's
desperate bid to stay in power and we should
at least be able to highlight
that in a peaceful
demonstration."
A U.S. firm, Park Place
Entertainment, which also owns Caesar's Palace
in Las Vegas, has a
significant ownership stake in the hotel.
A
spokesperson for Caesar's said it was company policy not to divulge
guest
information.
Mr. Mugabe was re-elected last year in
a campaign marred by violence
and intimidation. Most Western governments
including the United States
refused to recognize the
result.
Human rights organizations estimate
that as many as 70,000 Zimbabweans
have been tortured or assaulted by
government agents in the past year and
that 60 percent of the population
requires food aid in the wake of Mr.
Mugabe's coercive land-reform program
that has resulted in all but 300 of
the country's 4,000 white commercial
farmers driven off their land.
Last August, Mrs.
Mugabe took over a large farm in the Mazowe district
near the capital,
Harare, even though the government had earmarked it for
landless
blacks.
In the past year, shortages at home have
forced Zimbabwe's elite to do
their shopping in South Africa, where the press
has made a habit of exposing
their sprees.
In January, Mr. Mugabe's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, was
pictured in
the Johannesburg Sunday Times packing three four-wheel-drive
vehicles with
groceries and luxury goods bound for Harare. A week earlier,
Mr. Moyo had
made a statement denying that there were shortages in Zimbabwe
and accusing
Western journalists of "publishing false reports" about
his
country.
Mr. Mugabe met his first wife, Sally
Hefron, when he was teaching in
Ghana in 1961. When Sally Mugabe died in
1995, it was revealed that her
husband had fathered two children with his
secretary, a divorcee named Grace
Marufu. The couple were married in
1996.
ABC Australia (Radio
transcript)
Mugabe suggests he
will retire after finishing land reform
program
AM - Tuesday, 29 April , 2003
08:27:05
Reporter: Sally Sara
LINDA MOTTRAM:
Zimbabwe's Government has confirmed that President
Robert Mugabe is
considering retirement, after he completes the land reform
program that's
been so violent and politically volatile - his final
assignment is how the
President's spokesman has described it.
Africa Correspondent Sally Sara reports.
SALLY SARA: After more than twenty years in power President Robert
Mugabe is
hinting that his political career may be coming to an end, but the
timing is
unclear.
Mr Mugabe says once his land
reform program is settled, people can
retire. He's yet to directly refer to
himself, but presidential spokesman
George Charamba says the message is
clear. He says land reform will be Mr
Mugabe's grand
finale.
GEORGE CHARAMBA: Well the comments
are very straightforward. He
indicated that he is working on what he
considers to be his final assignment
for Zimbabwe, namely the delivery of
land to the Zimbabwean people. It's a
process which is still underway and
hasn't been quite concluded and it is
also the completion of that assignment
that he will then consider
possible
retirement.
SALLY SARA: But
President Mugabe's opponents aren't holding their
breath. The Opposition
Movement for Democratic Change is
sceptical.
MDC Spokesman Paul Nyathi says
Mr Mugabe may be looking for a soft
exit, a way to escape responsibility for
his actions during his time in
office.
PAUL NYATHI: You can't turn around and use that as a bargaining chip.
You
can't turn around and say well for me to stop abusing you, for me to get
out
of this scene, please guarantee me immunity. That is not the way to go,
it is
wrong.
SALLY SARA: The MDC says President
Mugabe should be held accountable,
but many incidents, including the murder
of thousands of civilians by ruling
party troops in the Matabeleland Province
in the early 1980s, are yet to
be
resolved.
If there's a risk of
prosecution or retribution, Mr Mugabe may be
reluctant to let go of
power.
If he decides to stay in office,
the President will be 84 years of age
by the time he finishes his current six
year term. That's a long time to
wait for those who have been at the centre
of his wrath.
The Commercial Farmers Union
says it is unclear how long it will take
for Mr Mugabe to finish his land
reform program.
CFU Director Hendrik
Olivier says despite the Government's claims, the
process is far from
over.
HENDRIK OLIVIER: Well we would like
this process to come to a
conclusion now. We need to get focussed on
production issues, but
unfortunately this is not taking
place.
SALLY SARA: The waiting and
watching have begun.
Mr Mugabe's political
career has spanned more than forty years. He
began his working life as a
teacher, before spending a decade in jail for
his role in the fight against
colonialism.
He is a calculating
performer. Mr Mugabe has six university degrees
and more political experience
than most of his counterparts in Africa, but
the man who came into power
promising to deliver democracy, has parted ways
with many of his
people.
As Robert Mugabe talks of
retirement, his opponents are already
working to throw him out of
office.
Financial
Times
Warning to 'conflict
diamond' traders
Nicol Degli
Innocenti
Published: April 29 2003 5:00 | Last
Updated: April 29 2003 5:00
Diamond-producing or trading countries that have agreed to the
international
scheme to stop trade in diamonds from conflict areas but are
not complying
face suspension, a summit heard
yesterday.
The warning came as
representatives from 70 countries, the industry
and non-governmental
organisations met in Johannesburg for the first day of
a summit aimed at
tightening and enforcing the rules of the so-called
Kimberley
Process.
The meeting should "consider
dissuasive and proportional penalties for
non-compliance by participants",
Abbey Chikane, Kimberley Process chairman,
said yesterday. The "tolerance
period" for countries that were not ready to
comply expires tomorrow and
should not be renewed, he said. Suspension,
which would prevent a country
from legitimately exporting diamonds and
discourage traders from buying, is
one of the penalties under consideration.
The Kimberley Process has until now worked on voluntary
participation,
self-examination and peer review, rather than imposing
penalties or
establishing an independent monitoring process, as
non-governmental
organisations demand.
That may change. "Until now we have established the principles, we
have
looked at the wood. But now it is time to look at the trees. Soon we'll
be
examining every single leaf," Mr Chikane
said.
South Africa, which chairs the
process, is determined the summit
should be constructive and not shy from
discussing penalties. "We have to
decide what to do about countries that have
experienced an unlawful change
of government," said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,
minister for mines.
Countries that face
scrutiny include Zimbabwe, Central African
Republic, Congo Brazzaville and
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Liberia,
which is clamouring to join the process, will not be allowed
to until the UN
Security Council has lifted the diamond trade
embargo.
The Johannesburg summit is the
first meeting of the group since the
Kimberley Process was formally endorsed
in Switzerland last November by
almost all the world's diamond-producing and
trading countries.
According to the
certification scheme, which was officially launched
world-wide on January 1,
diamonds can only be traded with a certificate of
origin from the producing
country, which guarantees it is
conflict-free.
In the US, President George
W. Bush signed the Clean Diamond Trade Act
into law last Friday, thereby
allowing the US to implement the accord.
According to the industry only 2 per cent of the world's diamonds
originate
from conflict zones, but some NGOs estimate it is 20 per
cent.