Teachers' Strike Threat Next Week Seen as Blow to Zimbabwe's Unity Government

http://www.voanews.com/

     

      By Peta Thornycroft
      Harare
      29 April 2009

Zimbabwe's teachers say they will go on strike when the next semester opens
next week after the inclusvie government said it has no money to increase
their salaries. The teachers' return to school after the unity government
was formed February was the first success of the new administration.

The three Zimbabwe teachers unions have vowed not to return to school for
the second semester next week saying the unity government has failed to
fulfill its pledge to increase the monthy wage beyond $100 a month.

The largest union, the Zimbabwe Teachers Assocation, which for years would
not confront the Zanu PF government of President Robert Mugabe, says there
has been no "concrete response to address the issue of teachers salaries."

Teachers quit their jobs in droves in the last two years and by the end of
last year few government schools were operating. In 2008 children had little
formal schooling, in a country which at one time had the best educational
results and literacy in Africa.

The unity government has little income and says it can not attract donors to
provide any extra cash for teachers until all conditions of the political
agreement, which led to the unity government, are met.

Education minister David Coltart, a senator from the Movement for Democratic
Change party, said Wednesday that he was sympathetic to the teachers' call
as he recognizes that it is impossible to live on 100 dollars a month. He
said the goverment is in a dire situation and his "hands are tied."

Coltart said he has one last meeting with the unions Thursday, and he hoped
the acting finance and public service ministers would attend and explain the
difficulties facing the inclusive governemnt.

He also said the return of teachers to work in February was the first sign
that the inclusive government might be able to turn Zimbabwe around.

If the teachers went on strike next week, he conceded, it would be a serious
blow to the stability of the government.

There are about 7,000 schools in Zimbabwe, most of them for primary
education.

At full strength there should be 140,000 teachers. About 90 000 were paid at
the end of January, and Coltart said he is not sure yet whether all of those
who were paid were legitimate teachers.

He said a survey was not yet complete of 120 schools comparing the paperwork
and documentation at his ministry with teachers who are actually at the
schools.

Tendai Chikowore, president of the 45,000 strong Zimbabwe Teachers
Association, said his members could not meet their basic needs and that in
the absence of a pay increase, the government should waive school fees for
teachers' children.

A few teachers who did not want to be named, or the schools where they teach
identified, said not all of them wanted to go on strike.

Two teachers interviewed by VOA this week said they believed the strike
would not achieve anything except to undermine the Movement for Democratic
Change party as they knew there was no money to pay them more until
Zimbabwe's economy revived.

Another teacher said he believed the teachers had been misled by promises of
better pay and that they had gone back to work in February under false
pretences.

Govt in moves to avert teacher strike

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 30 April 2009

HARARE - Education Minister David Coltart will meet union leaders on
Thursday to try to avert a strike by teachers when schools open for the
second term next week.

Coltart -- who took the education portfolio after the former opposition MDC
parties agreed to join President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party in a unity
government last February -- managed to persuade teachers to return to
classrooms in March to end a strike that had been going on since last year
and had brought public education to a halt.

But Coltart's efforts to raise more cash from donors to pay teachers appear
to have not borne fruit and unions that agreed to call off the strike last
March on condition the government would hike the US$100 monthly allowance
given to teachers and all civil servants earlier this week threatened to
call a fresh strike by teachers.

Coltart told ZimOnline he will meet teacher's representatives today, adding
that several donors, whose names he did not disclose, had indicated they
might consider helping the government with money for teacher's salaries.

He said: "We will be meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with the biggest teacher's
unions in the country as the government continues to find solutions to the
problems in the education sector. A number of donors and well-wishers have
indicated willingness to help us."

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) and the Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), the two unions for teachers in the country, confirmed
they would meet Coltart today.

"He (Coltart) is reporting back on his efforts to look for resources from
international donors. He is likely to give us a feed back on his mission,"
said Sifiso Ndlovu, the chief executive officer of ZIMTA.

In a separate interview, PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou said: "Our members
have indicated they would not be going back to school on May 5 when the
second term begins. So we hope and pray the minister has found resources to
meet some of our demands."

Teachers want to be paid a minimum US$2 300 per month, money the government
does not have.

Very little learning took place at public schools in 2008 as teachers spent
the better part of the year striking for more pay or sitting at home because
could not afford bus fare to work on their meagre salaries.

The collapse of the education sector along with that of the public health
system have come to symbolise the decayed state of Zimbabwe's key
infrastructure and institutions after a decade of acute recession.

The power-sharing government has promised to revive the once brilliant
economy and to restore basic services such as health and education.

But the success of the Harare administration hinges on its ability to raise
financial support from rich Western countries that have however said they
will not immediately help until they are convinced Mugabe is committed to
genuinely share power with his former opposition foes. - ZimOnline

Corruption, lawlessness to blame for Zim woes: PM

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Nokuthula Sibanda Thursday 30 April 2009

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday blamed
corruption and a break down in the rule of law for the country's economic
and humanitarian crisis.

Tsvangirai, who formed a power-sharing government with President Robert
Mugabe last February to try to end political turmoil in Zimbabwe and launch
the country on a path to economic recovery, said it was essential to restore
the rule of law in order to attract foreign investment that is needed to
kick start the comatose economy.

"Greed, economic opportunism and corruption have been our weakest link,"
Tsvangirai told business leaders attending a national economic consultative
forum in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo.

"Only through restoring the rule of law can we remove the uncertainty of
doing business in Zimbabwe and restore investor confidence," he said, adding
that restoring the rule of law was also essential to attracting back
millions of skilled Zimbabweans leaving abroad after fleeing political
violence and economic chaos over the past decade.

Once a model African economy, Zimbabwe is in the grip of an unprecedented
economic and humanitarian crisis marked by acute shortages of food and hard
cash, deepening poverty and record unemployment.

Analysts say the new power-sharing government offers Zimbabwe the best
opportunity yet to end years of economic decline and regain its former
status as a regional breadbasket.

African nations led by neighbours South Africa and Botswana have offered
US$400 million in vital credit line facilities to Zimbabwe.

But failure by Harare to attract direct financial support from Western donor
nations has raised fears the unity government could fail - a situation that
would plunge Zimbabwe into untold turmoil which would spread to neighbouring
countries.

Western nations led by the United States 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.

But the major Western powers appear to have softened their position on
Zimbabwe with news that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will soon
establish a multi-donor trust fund that it will jointly manage together with
the World Bank, African Development Bank and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP).

The fund, seen as a stop-gap measure, would be used 'for budgetary support
until the inclusive government has a track record', with disbursements
channelled through the UNDP directly to the Finance Ministry and bypassing
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Money from the trust fund would largely finance humanitarian activities
while providing limited budgetary support for social sectors such as
education and health.-ZimOnline.

Lawyers protest re-arrest of MDC activists

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 30 April 2009

      HARARE - Lawyers representing two members of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party re-arrested last week despite being granted bail by
the High Court have requested the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) to seek
explanation from the government over the matter.

      Kisimusi Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa, the two MDC activists who are
facing what the party says are trumped up charges of banditry and terrorism,
are presently under prison guard at a private hospital while their
co-accused freelance journalist Andrison Manyere is reportedly on the run
after police launched a manhunt for him.

      "We write to bring to you this serious violation of our client's
freedoms," Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the MDC activists wrote
to the LSZ.

      "We write to request that you seriously look into this matter and get
explanations from the Ministries of Justice and Home affairs, the Attorney
General's Office and their officers in regard to their conduct or
misconduct.

      "We also write to request that you register our concern as lawyers in
regard to how our clients have been mistreated from the time of their
initial kidnapping," Muchadehama wrote.

      It was not possible to establish immediately what steps, if any, the
LSZ would take regarding the matter.

      Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were granted on April 17. The two MDC
activists were admitted to Avenues Clinic in Harare for treatment to
injuries they incurred while being tortured by their captors. Manyere, who
was also tortured, was not admitted at the clinic.

      Three days after their release on bail, Mudzingwa and Dhalmini were
re-arrested by police without any due process being followed, according to
their lawyers.

      Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were among more than 30 MDC activists
and human rights defenders abducted by state secret police between October
and December 2008.

      More than 20 of the abductees have been accounted for and produced in
court where they have been charged with plotting to topple Mugabe or
engaging in acts of banditry.

      The whereabouts of another seven activists are unknown, raising fears
they may have died at the hands of their captors who have been accused of
severely torturing their victims. - ZimOnline.

'Zim must get aid only after ending rights abuses'

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Ntando Ncube Thursday 30 April 2009

JOHANNESBURG - International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on
Wednesday said donors should not resume development aid to Zimbabwe until
the power-sharing government ends ongoing human rights abuses and carries
out genuine reforms.

"Humanitarian aid that focuses on the needs of Zimbabwe's most vulnerable
should continue . . . But donor governments such as the UK should not
release development aid until there are irreversible changes on human
rights, the rule of law, and accountability," HRW Africa director Georgette
Gagnon said in a report.

The United States-based rights group spoke as Zimbabwe's Finance Minister
Tendai Biti is visiting Washington and London to seek direct financial
assistance to the government, while the International Monetary Fund prepares
to discuss Zimbabwe next week.

"We called on the power-sharing government to disclose the whereabouts of
the seven "disappeared" persons; end harassment of civil society activists,
student leaders, and MDC activists; and free those who have been illegally
abducted; investigate allegations of torture and hold fully to account those
found to be responsible, whatever their positions or ranks; halt farm
invasions, remove immediately those who have invaded properties since the
global political agreement was signed, and respect private property rights.",
Gagnon said.

The international rights group has been calling for Zimbabwe's inclusive
government to carry out comprehensive justice reforms without delay to
ensure accountability for past abuses.

In the aftermath of last year's general elections, President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU PF party carried out a campaign of violence against the then opposition
MDC party in which almost 200 supporters of the opposition were reportedly
killed, some 5 000 tortured and more than 10 000 required medical treatment
for injuries.

The HRW said since the signing of the power-sharing agreement on September
15 last year between Mugabe and the leaders of the two MDC formations -
Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara - Zimbabwe's leaders have not
demonstrated the political will to carry out necessary human rights reforms
and restore the rule of law in the country.

In a report titled: "Donors Should Focus First on Reforms. Critical Changes
Needed Before Resuming Development Assistance", Gagnon challenged ZANU PF
and the two formations of the MDC to end human right abuses in the country.

"All three have made clear commitments to end abuses, but pro-ZANU PF police
and prosecuting authorities continue to conduct politically motivated
prosecutions of political opponents and have failed to investigate
allegations of torture.

"Police intimidation and arrests of activists are ongoing, and supporters of
ZANU-PF - the longtime ruling party and member of the new power-sharing
government - continue to violently invade commercial farms," reads part of
the report

Despite the formation of a unity government in February, Mugabe supporters
and ZANU PF officials have continued violent attacks on white-owned farms.

Groups of people allegedly acting on behalf of senior ZANU PF officials are
invading farms belonging to white farmers who took their case against Mugabe's
land reform programme to a regional court for arbitration.

"Since January, ZANU PF supporters and militia have violently invaded
commercial farms and harassed commercial farmers, resulting in the
displacement of hundreds of farm workers," Gagnon said

According to the report last week police shot and wounded two farm workers
from Stockdale Farm in Chegutu, about 100 kilometers west of Harare.

Mugabe has openly refused to abide by a November 2008 ruling by a SADC
tribunal barring his supporters from grabbing the less than 400 commercial
farms that still remain in the hands of white citizens.

"Until the new government takes bold, irreversible steps to end human rights
abuses and carry out major legislative reforms, the international community
should continue to withhold longer-term development aid and maintain its
targeted sanctions," Gagnon said.

He added: "The state authorities continue to do nothing concrete to prevent
these attacks or to offer meaningful redress to the victims."

The Western governments want Zimbabwe's unity government to make meaningful
progress on its pledges as prescribed in a power sharing deal between
ZANU-PF and the two MDC parties last September.

"Until the new government takes bold, irreversible steps to end human rights
abuses and carry out major legislative reforms, the international community
should continue to withhold longer-term development aid and maintain its
targeted sanctions," Gagnon said.

Zimbabwe is desperately seeking nearly 10 billion dollars in aid and
investment to revive industry, rebuild the civil service such and provide
basic services such as education and health.

Western nations led by the 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

3 ZANU PF ministers knew about Tsvangirai accident the day before

http://www.zimbabwemetro.com

Local News
April 29, 2009  By Gerald Harper
In a shocking revelation that might threaten the fragile power sharing deal
between ZANU PF and the MDC,it has emerged that at least three ZANU PF
ministers knew about the accident which injured Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and killed his wife Susan ,according to a report that was
submitted to the MDC.

The details are contained in a 50 page investigation report that was carried
out by a private investigation company and summited to the MDC two weeks
after the accident,but the MDC has kept a tight lid on it and some members
of the National Executive have not even seen it.
According to the report Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnagagwa,Transportation
Minister, Nicolas Goche and Justice Minister,Patrick Chinamasa likely knew
about the accident a few days before it happened.

The report also questions if President Mugabe knew about the accident
beforehand as his travel arrangements to visit Avenues Hospital started
being made in the morning of the day the accident occurred. Hospital Staff
reportedly witnessed security agents and Mugabe's security detail being
dispatched to man the hospital in the morning.

Also in the document is compelling evidence that the Driver of the
truck,Chinoona Mwanda has strong links to the Central Intelligence
Organization(CIO) and the Army. The driver of the truck, which belongs to
the United States Development Agency(USAID) was taken into police custody
after the accident.

According to the investigation Tsvangirai's vehicle was being escorted by a
Central Intelligence Organization vehicle which, for no known reason,
increased its speed and disappeared from view. Just as that CIO vehicle was
out of view a truck coming in the opposite direction appeared and sideswiped
the PM's car.

MDC officials claim that no help was provided by CIO guards on the scene and
when a white farmer arrived and began to film the scene he was arrested and
his pictures were confiscated.

Several MDC politicians have since been involved in highly questionable road
accidents since the signing of the power sharing deal.

Giles Mutsekwa, the MDC-T Home Affairs Minister was involved in a car
accident last month. Mutsekwa was travelling to Harare on Mucheke road when
his car was hit from behind by a Nissan Hard Body truck.

Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khuphe's mother died from injuries received
in an accident on the Bulawayo-Harare road last month. Minister of State
Gorden Moyo and Minister of State Enterprise and Parastatals Sam Nkomo were
travelling to Harare airport last month when the vehicle in which they were
travelling was also hit from behind by another vehicle.

Zimbabwe still far short of $10bn in aid

http://www.businessday.co.za/

30 April 2009

DUMISANI MULEYA
Harare Correspondent

ZIMBABWE, which is looking for $10bn to finance its economic recovery plan
and urgently needs $2bn of that sum, has to date secured only $400m from
African states.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) had undertaken to raise
the $2bn by now, with SA and Botswana pledging credit lines and budget
support of $800m and $70m respectively.

The funding to date, which includes $200m from SADC and another $200m from
the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is intended to meet
urgent working capital requirements for local companies, but is a drop in
the ocean of need.

Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube has said African countries had
committed to providing the credit lines to companies in Zimbabwe.

SADC's self-imposed deadline to raise $2bn in emergency funding for
Zimbabwe, which was decided on at a recent summit in Swaziland, expired two
weeks ago.

Most states involved say they need more time to consult.

Western donors, including from the US and the European Union (EU), were
expected to contribute the bulk of the $10bn for reconstruction and
investment, but have so far declined, citing a lack of progress in urgent
political and economic reforms. Donors are insisting benchmarks be met
before helping Zimbabwe. They include the restoration of the rule of law,
property rights, human rights and broad democratic changes.

They fear if money is given directly to the government while President
Robert Mugabe rules it could disappear.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti was in Washington for key meetings
of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank at the weekend, but
was unable to secure funds because of concerns over lack of reforms and the
numerous financial restrictions imposed on Harare.

The IMF said Harare first needed to clear its arrears and implement measures
that would end sanctions if it wanted assistance. But Zimbabwe cannot pay
any of its debts without such assistance.

Biti is heading to Europe to lobby for funding but is likely to be rebuffed
in London.

Donors have cited continuing farm invasions, the arrest and prosecution of
farmers, detention of political activists, political disputes between Mugabe
and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai , and a lack of significant change in
the economic and political environment as reasons for refusing to release
funds.

Donors have proposed stop-gap help via the World Bank's Multi Donor Trust
Fund and the United Nations until relations between Harare and the world
thaw.

Water Purifier From Procter & Gamble Deployed in Zimbabwe Cholera Fight

http://www.voanews.com/

      By Patience Rusere
      Washington
      29 April 2009

Clean drinking water has become a matter of life or death for many
Zimbabweans in the past nine months as a deadly cholera epidemic has swept
the country, claiming more than 4,200 lives from some 97,000 cases though
tapering off since its peak in February.

While the number of new cases reported each day has dwindled, cholera
continues to claim lives by the scores on a weekly basis. And the World
Health Organization has warned that the epidemic could surge when summer
arrives with higher temperatures and more rain.

So authorities have sought to educate the population on how to purify water:
boiling for at least 10 minutes, adding small amounts of chlorine, or
dropping in water purifying tablets like Aquatab or adding WaterGuard, a
dilute solution of 0.75% sodium hypochlorite developed by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control with funding from the World Bank.

Since December 2008, U.S. consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has
distributed 4 million packets of PUR, also developed in conjunction with the
CDC, a powder which not only makes water safe to drink but turns muddy water
clear by precipitating suspended particles.

Distribution has been carried out with non-governmental partners such as
Population Services International and World Vision, according to Procter &
Gamble, which has launched a related initiative on an international scale
called Children's Safe Drinking Water.

Dr. Greg Allgood, director of Procter & Gamble's Children's Safe Drinking
Water program, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
about PUR and the company's involvement in fighting the persistent cholera
epidemic in the country.

Still Struggling With Cholera, Zimbabwe Prepares Swine Flu Response

http://www.voanews.com/

      By Peter Heinlein and Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye
      Washington
      29 April 2009

Health professionals from 11 African countries gathered in Addis Ababa to
discuss strategies to respond to a possible outbreak of swine flu on the
continent, including common sense, preparedness and rapid response, as VOA
correspondent Peter Heinlein reported.

From Harare, Zimbabwean Health Minister Henry Madzorera said Zimbabwe is on
high alert for signs of swine flu and is putting measures in place should
cases begin to appear, such as arranging quarantine locations for travelers
showing symptoms of swine flu.

But Dr. Madzorera said no cases of swine flu have been reported in the
country.

Dr. Madzorera told reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that Zimbabwe, which has struggled with a cholera epidemic since
late 2008, is working closely with the World Health Organization to be ready
to fight swine flu.

South Africa: Stop Deporting Zimbabweans

Harare Residents demand immediate suspension of Town Clerk

29 April 2009

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) demands the immediate suspension of the Harare Town Clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi following reports of massive corruption and mismanagement at the Town House. Councilors have on numerous occasions unearthed cases of corruption at the City Council but are not investigated to their logical conclusion. Of late, both the state owned and private media has reported that certain council monies for some council projects have vanished from the council bank accounts and the money cannot be traced. These reports are being made after recently it was discovered that the council had been swindled of over 100 beasts from its farm; and 50 of the beasts in question were later found hidden at a businessman’s farm (name withheld). The Town clerk has been linked to some of these scandals and it is reported that the Minister of Local Government has blocked the council resolution to suspend the Town Clerk. Further there are confirmed reports that the Town Clerk made false presentations to Councilors about council projects which are non existent at all; yet huge funds are being channeled towards such ‘projects’.

Reports of massive corruption at the city of Harare are also being made after the council approved a budget that relies mainly on ratepayers as the main source of funds. Residents have previously suggested that the council must initiate and develop income generation projects that can function as the key sources of revenue rather than the already impoverished residents. CHRA notes that the council has numerous business ventures but the profits from these projects are being embezzled by council officials. Technically the projects are not helping the residents but have become personal cash cows for council officials. Recently CHRA has received (unconfirmed) reports that the senior council workers have allocated each other council business projects for embezzlement. In the light of these issues, CHRA uncompromisingly demands the following;

v     Immediate suspension of the Town clerk and other Senior officials

v     Immediate commencement of full investigations into the reported cases of corruption and mismanagement.

v     Immediate audit of all council business projects and public disclosure of the projects as well as their financial performance.

v     The Ministry of Local Government must immediately stop to interfere with the resolutions of the council particularly those to do with these investigations and the suspension of the Town Clerk

Failure to comply with these demands will compel CHRA to take some of the following measures without fear;

v     Massive protests and petitions against the Town Clerk, his senior staff and the Minister of Local Government.

v     Massive rate boycott

v     Court litigation

Meanwhile CHRA will commence its own investigations into the reported cases of corruption and will soon make a decision depending on the outcome of those investigations. The Association will also be convening its General Council to deliberate the recently approved budget. CHRA will remain steadfast in lobbying for democratic, transparent local governance as well as the provision of quality and affordable municipal services in Zimbabwe.

Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)

145 Robert Mugabe Way

Exploration House, Third Floor

Harare

ceo@chra.co.zw

www.chra.co.zw

 Landline: 00263- 4- 705114

Farming requires commitment, not loyalty

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=15992

April 30, 2009
John Robertson

DEBATE on Zimbabwe's land issue continues to be driven into unproductive
quagmires by those who claim to accept new ideas, but want to see restored
the traditional ownership structures under which farmers had little chance
of making new ideas work.

The basic issues are very simple: profound technological changes have
overtaken every single facet of farming, but every one of the new - and
still changing - methods costs money. Farmers with access to money can adopt
the new methods, but because they all take time to deliver the incomes
needed to repay the debts, the farmers also need security of tenure over an
area big enough to allow the expensive ideas to work.

These requirements were met by the existence of a market for the land, title
deeds for each property and formal procedures that provided for changes of
ownership. People who learned how to make these financial and technical
ideas work for them enjoyed business success and between them, ran Zimbabwe's
biggest industrial sector.

Zimbabwe's Land Reform Programme was designed to very deliberately destroy
all of these features. Those who still defend it mostly try to steer the
debate into colonial issues in the secure knowledge that late 20th Century /
early 21st Century values make 19th Century colonial behaviour look
positively evil.

But in doing so, they contribute nothing helpful to the present and future,
while carefully missing the point. They are often doing so with considerable
enthusiasm because Zanu-PF has assured them that when colonial wrongs are
put right, they will be entitled to claim their share, or will be entitled
to get something for nothing.

The point they are missing is that the ideas they want to see restored were
rendered obsolete years ago by the most dramatic series of scientific,
engineering and technological changes experienced in human history. These
were being adopted almost all over the world and their adoption by Zimbabwe
helped the country to sustain one of the fastest population growth rates
ever recorded.

We've now broken into the development process by breaking the links between
the financial sector and the farmers. Government forced the closure of more
than four thousand farming companies, who employed the country's largest
workforce, earned more than half the country's foreign exchange, supplied
inputs to, or bought products from most of Zimbabwe's factories and was the
source, directly or otherwise, of most of government's tax revenues.

Against that background, those who still defend the Land Reform Programme
need to carefully re-examine their motives. If they are honest, most of them
will discover a strong something-for-nothing thread running through their
arguments.

Others might find themselves still persuaded by Zanu-PF policy claims. The
party insisted that giving the land free to the resettlement farmers, the
government had brought success within their reach too. But success has
somehow eluded them, but not only because of access to funding.

By enacting legislation that destroyed the commercial farming system's most
vital qualities, Zanu-PF also destroyed the motivational forces that drove
the commercial farmers to strive for exceptional results. By contrast, we
are now faced by the fact that producing mediocre crops does not mean the
farmers will lose their land. As they were allocated their plots because of
their loyalty to the ruling party, they have only to remain loyal to retain
them.

The system that was broken down is very different from the system that has
been adopted. It is the system chosen, and not whether the farmer is black
or white, which pre-determines the outcome. The investments in new
technologies are essential, not optional, but the sums involved are usually
beyond the reach of people on land that has no collateral value.

Everywhere in the world people have little inclination to risk their own
money improving land that they do not own. This style of land tenure,
amounting to State ownership and conditional rights to cultivate, is the
very antithesis of empowerment. It has impoverished many countries in the
past and it is well advanced in the process of impoverishing Zimbabwe now.

The system itself imposes the limits on what can be achieved, or it
stretches the farmer to excel. In the commercial farming system, the farmers
were good because they had to be. With constant pressure on them to repay
loans and mortgages, they worked as hard as they could, studied hard and
left as little to chance as possible. They stood to lose everything if they
failed and if that happened, they were quickly displaced by the very
demanding and very unforgiving system, not by the intervention of some
politician.

So was Zanu-PF's kind of Land Reform Programme necessary? Those who still
believe it was have allowed themselves to be persuaded by the shallowest of
arguments. They have yet to permit the evidence of the destructive nature of
the policies to challenge their beliefs, perhaps because they still believe
they are going to get something for nothing.

They should have braced themselves years ago for the onslaught of waves of
evidence that each entirely predictable failure would be followed by
another. Food shortages were soon with us and they are now deeply seated.
Price controls forced many producers out of business and forced a
significant proportion of our valuable skills to emigrate. And efforts made
by the authorities to print enough money to make up for lost taxes and fund
huge subsidies led to the collapse of Zimbabwe's currency.

When, in time to come, the people add up the costs in terms of the lost
jobs, lost incomes, lost accommodation, lost schooling and lost
opportunities, the few genuine direct beneficiaries of this rolling disaster
will be very hard to find.

And every statement from our Government of National Unity that the Land
Reform Programme is irreversible and immutable serves only to confirm the
assessments made by virtually every donor country and development agency:
Zimbabwe is not yet deserving of assistance. No international body is
prepared to fund the continued survival of a bad idea, or to reward the
people who thought of it.