Business Report
April 3, 2006
By
From Reuters
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe had dismissed an
uproar over a
draft law that could result in the state taking control of
foreign-owned
mines, saying the proposal was still being debated, state
media reported at
the weekend.
Last month the department of mines
said the cabinet had approved amendments
to the mining law "to indigenise 51
percent in some instances of all
foreign-owned companies", stoking fears
that Zimbabwe could become even less
attractive to foreign
investors.
Zimbabwe is battling a six-year recession. Mining has emerged
as the top
foreign currency earner after the collapse of the agriculture
sector.
Mugabe, in his first public comments on the issue, told a meeting
of his
ruling Zanu-PF party's central committee on Friday that the
government had
yet to set a policy because discussions on the mining laws
were still at an
early stage.
"There is no policy in place just yet
and the present furore is needless,"
Mugabe was quoted as
saying.
"This is a paper that is at a very early stage of discussion in
government."
The mines ministry in a statement to the Chamber of Mines
said that the
amended law would give the government 51 percent in "energy
minerals mining
companies", including 25 percent on a "non-contributory
basis", on
promulgation.
Industry officials say that
"non-contributory basis" means the government
would acquire shares without
paying for them.
The proposals have rattled an industry hit hard by
erratic electricity cuts
and mine closures in the last five years as
operating costs have spiralled.
Last month a senior official from the
world's second-largest platinum
producer, Impala Platinum (Implats), met
Mugabe to discuss the proposals.
Zimbabwe, with the largest platinum
deposits after South Africa, is the main
area for Implats's future
growth.
Mugabe said the country's resources belonged to locals who had
the sole
right to determine the level of foreign investment.
"There
must be recognition that our minerals are a depleting and
non-renewable
resource, which we have allowed in the past to be wholly owned
and exploited
by foreign-owned companies for well over a century," Mugabe
said.
"This will not be allowed in future."
Implats has
interests in Zimbabwe, along with the world's biggest platinum
producer,
Anglo Platinum, and mining giant Rio Tinto.
IOL
April 03
2006 at 01:46AM
Harare - More than a dozen journalists from China
and Indonesia
arrived in Harare on Sunday for a tour of some of Zimbabwe's
key resorts, as
part of a government bid to spruce up the country's image
abroad, state
radio reported.
Zimbabwe, which has seen tourist
arrivals plummet during the past six
years, has embarked on an
"image-building perception management programme",
the report
said.
The radio said nine journalists from China and seven from
Indonesia
had arrived in the country for a week-long tour of the country's
premier
tourist resorts, including the renowned Victoria Falls.
Last week, a seven-member team of Malaysian journalists arrived for a
similar tour.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) says
earnings from tourism
dropped by 49 percent in 2005, to $98-million from
$198-million in 2004.
The tourism body blames the trend on economic
problems such as triple
digit inflation, chronic fuel shortages and the "bad
publicity" Zimbabwe
receives from Western media.
Zimbabwe used
to be a popular destination for backpackers as well as
high-paying tourists
who stayed in luxury hotels.
Critics say President Robert Mugabe's
programme of white-land seizures
has scared away many would-be visitors.
Political tensions and shortages of
essentials like fuel may also have
deterred others. - Sapa-dpa
The Star
April 3, 2006
London - The extent of the wildlife slaughter that
has made millions
for the family of Chelsy Davy, girlfriend of Britain's
Prince Harry, has
been exposed by The Mail on Sunday.
The probe
laid bare claims of racism and bribery at the heart of
Charles Davy's
business empire.
With his daughter being spoken of as a potential
royal bride,
multi-millionaire Davy has tried to distance himself from the
brutal safaris
in Zimbabwe where big game are routinely killed for
pleasure.
Undercover investigator Caroline Graham joined a safari
run by the
firm that Davy built up.
She found hunters were
charged less than £400 (R4 400) to shoot
animals and were even given the
option to try to kill them with a bow and
arrow, causing a slow, agonising
death.
Black workers were referred to as *****rs, "disgusting" and
"HIV
positive", and were forced to drink dirty river water.
There was also staff gossip about Chelsy smoking dagga and being a
"problem
child" who ran with a "wild crowd".
Graham found that huge profits
made by the company were mostly
channelled to the US and only a fraction
ever entered Zimbabwe.
Zim Daily
Monday, April 03 2006 @ 12:06 AM BST
Contributed by: correspondent
The ruling Zanu PF is
budgeting a massive $200 billion to
celebrate it's 43th anniversary which
have been scheduled by the youth wing
and war veterans for August in Harare
amid reports ex-Zapu members are
vehemently opposed to the idea, Zimdaily
heard yesterday. The planned
extravagant bash is set to be thrown amid acute
shortages of basic food
stuffs and grinding poverty across the
country.
Zanu PF was formed at former Defence minister Enos
Nkala's house
in Highfield in August 1963. Zimdaily heard that the
celebrations this year
were meant to coincide with the Heroes Day
commemorations.
It is however understood the plan has stirred
controversy and
divisions in the party between the old Zanu PF and ex-PF
Zapu members.
Zimdaily was told that ex-Zapu members, in the party's central
committee
feel that the anniversary celebrations would render redundant the
1987 Unity
Accord which brought the two parties together.
Other senior members who were against the idea included
vice-president
Joseph Msika, ex-Home Affairs minister, Dumiso Dabengwa,
deputy national
commissar, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Thenjiwe Lesabe. Zimdaily
heard that the
ex-Zapu members have slammed the proposal saying the
celebrations would
isolate them as they didn't share " the 1963 outlook", a
reference to the
schism that took place that year when a group led by
Ndabaningi Sithole,
Herbert Chitepo, Enos Nkala and Mugabe broke away from
Zapu.
"It is just a dangerous and crazy idea and we feel
it doesn't
work," said a senior politburo member. "We are opposing this
celebration,
coming as it does amid grinding poverty." Zanu PF Secretary for
Information
and Publicity Nathan Shamuyarira told Zimdaily "The December
conference will
obviously take place but I don't know about these
celebrations which you are
talking about." Sources said the idea of
celebrations was mooted in Mutare
after the 21st February Movement
celebrations, during which the party
invited regional youths to celebrate
Mugabe's birthday.
War veteran Joseph Chinotimba, deputy
secretary for youth
affairs, Saviour Kaukuwere and national political
commissar Eliot Manyika,
were among the proponents of the idea. Reached for
comment Chinotimba
confirmed that he was behind the idea and scoffed at its
detractors. He said
there was nothing wrong because PF Zapu was no longer
there.
Zim Daily
Monday, April 03 2006 @ 12:06 AM BST
Contributed by: correspondent
THE University of Zimbabwe (UZ)
will soon present a new
inflation model to the government, amid fears that
the model used by the
Central Statistical Office (CSO) is underestimating
the country's
year-on-year rate of inflation, expected to peak 1 000 percent
before mid
year. The UZ model, which is being developed by the university's
statistical
department, is expected to be released this moth and then
presented to the
government for consideration.
A UZ
statistics lecturer, who declined to be named for
professional reasons told
Zimdaily: "We are currently working on a new
inflation model which is going
to help in coming up with the most accurate
measure of inflation in
country." The CSO's model gives less weight to food
items, which analysts
however say are now making up the bulk of consumer
purchases. Weights
reflect the allocation of income on expenditure by
different economic
consumers in the country. The CSO assumes Zimbabweans
spend 33.6 percent of
their income on food and the remaining 66.4 percent on
non-food items. These
include recreation, entertainment, fuel and footwear,
among other
commodities.
But the lecturer said most local consumers were
now spending up
to 90 percent of their income on food. Food prices have
soared in the past
year because of shortages resulting from a decline in
agricultural and
manufacturing output as well as government-imposed price
controls.
The shortages have spawned a thriving black market
where prices
are out of the reach of most low-income earners. The UZ
statistics lecturer
said if the weights on Zimbabwe's inflation model were
rearranged to reflect
the higher percentage of income spent on food,
year-on-year inflation could
shoot up to 1 800 percent. Annualised inflation
rose to 782 percent in
February. Economists say Zimbabwe's high inflation
rate is largely driven by
changes in the prices of food items rather than
furniture prices and other
non-food items.
But they said
the real climb in annualised inflation was not
being reflected by an
inflation model that was designed years before
thecountry's economy sank
into recession. "Inflation measures the general
increase in the price level
and the weights are very crucial in coming up
with the level of inflation
appropriate to a particular economy," said Brian
Muchemwa, an economist at
the UZ. The lecturer added: "The inflation model
used by CSO is misleading
the public; there is need to rework the weights
used in calculating
year-on-year inflation to come up with the actual
inflation
rate."
He said the CSO's inflation model was appropriate for
a
developed country where most of the public's income was used for
recreational expenditure rather than food. But the economic crisis in
Zimbabwe has forced some people to use up to 100 percent of their income on
basic foodstuffs, whose prices are eroding their purchasing power.
Economists said salary and wage increases were also contributing to the
sharp increase in prices through demand-push factors. The government has
indicated that it wants to cut inflation to two digit figures by the end of
the year, a target that analysts say is unrealistic.
Zim Daily
Monday, April 03 2006 @ 12:05 AM BST
Contributed by: correspondent
A Zimbabwe human rights group said
on Friday there has been a
sharp increase in rights violations over the the
past two months, recording
statements from a massive 1 070 victims. The
group said most of the
violations took place during protests by students and
civic groups during
the first two months of the year.
A
police spokesman dismissed the report as a "lie", saying
political violence
had been on a sharp decline since the March legislative
poll. "It is with
regret that the Forum notes that in all these
demonstrations, the police
assaulted some of the demonstrations. "The forum
also highlights the case of
a member of the public who was severely
assaulted by members of the Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA) for allegedly
stealing from a firm belonging to the wife
of an army General.
"The forum deplores such abuse of power
as a means of settling
personal vendettas by people who appear to consider
themselves above the
law," the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said in its
latest report. The
forum said the violoations so far this year had surpassed
the number of
violations last year. "There is need for a concerted effort by
the
government and the police to put an end to it. More so for as long as
state
agents are perpetrators themselves," the association of 17 local human
rights groups added.
It cited among its sources, reports
from individual member
organisations, newspaper stories and statements from
the mainly-white
Commercial Farmers Union whose members' farms Mugabe has
been forcibly
acquiring. Four people have been killed in the persavise
violence that has
characterised the country. The report says there were 39
cases of assault,
417 cases of violation of freedom of expression and
association, 15 cases of
political discrimination or victimization and 320
cases of unlawful arrest
and detentions.
The Forum said
more than 5 000 human rights violations including
four murders were recorded
last year. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said
the number of deaths given
in the rights groups report was false. "They are
lying. They are including
in that figure people killed in non-political
violence. The number of
politically related deaths has gone down a lot since
the elections,"
Bvudzijena told Zimdaily, without giving figures. The US
government last
month said it was concerned about what it called continuing
political
violence and human rights abuses against opposition
supporters.
The US followed by the EU slapped sanctions on
Mugabe and his
close associates and, along with Zimbabwe's opposition, the
Commonwealth and
the United States, denounced the veteran African leader's
claim of victory
as fraudulent. Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party insists the
March parliamentary
election was free and fair. But opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has filed a petition
challenging the
Zanu PF victory, saying there was "shocking evidence" of
electoral fraud.
The MDC says more than 120 of its supporters have been
killed in
state-sponsored unrest in the last five years. Government is in
the process
of setting up its own Human Rights Commission, in a way a tacit
admission of
the culture of human rights violations in the country
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Takunda
Maodza
issue date :2006-Apr-03
THE anti-senate camp in Harare
yesterday vowed it would never allow Arthur
Mutambara's faction to hold
rallies in the capital using the opposition
party's name.
Addressing a
rally in Mufakose, the camp's Harare provincial chairperson
Morgan Femai
declared that the "rebels" had automatically expelled
themselves from the
party by going against MDC resolutions, and urged his
party supporters not
to entertain their rivals anywhere in the capital.
He also said their faction
would never seek recourse in the courts to retain
sole use of the party name
come what may.
"When the MDC was formed in 1999, its mandate was to remove
Zanu PF from
power, but we now have other people who claim to be MDC. We
first have to
deal with such people before we tackle Zanu PF.
"You should
not allow them to put posters in Harare using the MDC name. Our
dispute with
them will not end until they stop using our name," said Femai.
He added: "We
will never go to court over the issue of the party's name.
Let me warn
members of the pro-Senate camp again that we will never go to
court. Among
us, we know the real MDC - the one led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
"They
(pro-Senate camp) are there to disturb us, but before we remove Zanu
PF
tinotanga tavagobora. (we will stamp them out)."
Femai alleged the pro-Senate
camp "hired" Mutambara from South Africa to
cause commotion within the
opposition.
Kambuzuma legislator Willas Madzimure also took a swipe at the
Mutambara
faction.
"They claim that Tsvangirai has failed, but they hired
their leader from
South Africa, a man who does not even know the cost of a
loaf of bread. They
hired him as if he is a football coach," Madzimure
said.
Mufakose legislator Paurina Mpariwa echoed similar sentiments, pouring
vitriol on the pro-Senate camp.
Slogans denoucing the pro-Senate camp
leadership comprising Welshman Ncube,
Gift Chimanikire, Priscilla
Misihairabwi- Mushonga and Job Sikhala,
dominated the rally attended by
party supporters from Glen View, Budiriro,
Kuwadzana, Mufakose, Kambuzuma,
among other Harare consitutencies.
Apart from the party name issue, the rival
factions are also fighting for
control of MDC properties.
Last week a
group of 10 people suspected to be from the Tsvangirai faction
pounced on an
official from the other camp and hijacked a party vehicle. The
matter was
reported to the police, but so far, nobody has been arrested.
Ncube, the
pro-Senate secretary-general, deplored violence after the
hijacking
incident saying that was the very reason his camp was now divorced
from
Tsvangirai.
He said the former trade unionist had a propensity to resort to
violence to
resolve disputes, a ploy that contradicted democratic
principles.
Ncube said the dispute between the two camps should be resolved
through
peaceful negotiations or in the courts.
Meanwhile, the
anti-Senate faction said yesterday's rally in Mufakose was a
follow-up to
resolutions made at its congress last month; chiefly democratic
resistance.
The camp agitated for "democratic resistance" against the
government with
Madzimure noting the electoral route had failed to bring
desired results
claiming the process was flawed.
"One of the resolutions
passed at our congress was that of democratic
resistance," he said.
"For
the past years we have been participating in elections, but there were
all
rigged. Democratic resistance must start with boycotting paying rates
for
garbage collection as the municipality is not collecting garbage yet
they
(the commission running Harare) continue to charge us garbage
collection
rates."
On President Robert Mugabe's warning to Tsvangirai's call for mass
protests
to topple the Zanu PF government, Madzimure said the Head of
State's
statement was a threat meant to scare genuine MDC members.
Paul
Madzore, the legislator for Glen View, and Femai openly declared their
support for Tsvangirai's call for "democratic resistance".
"I will be
right behind Tsvangirai (during the demonstrations)," Femai said.
Addressing
mourners at the burial of his former body guard, Senior Assistant
Commissioner Winston Changara at the National Heroes Acre on Friday,
President Mugabe said Tsvaingirai's calls were tantamount to digging his own
grave.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The Daily
Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Apr-03
THE Harare City Council has
hiked maternity fees at its clinics by more than
100 percent, in apparent
defiance of a government order temporarily barring
private doctors, clinics
and hospitals from effecting fee increases in the
meantime.
The increase,
effective this month, is the third since November last year.
In a survey
conducted by The Daily Mirror, most clinics in the high-density
suburbs were
charging between $5 million to $7 million in booked maternity
fees up from
$3 million in January this year.
Expectant mothers who would not have paid
booking fees in advance would be
expected to pay $7 million in addition to a
fine.
Reached for comment yesterday, City of Harare spokesperson Madenyika
Magwenjere, said he wanted written questions first before he could
respond.
But he explained that Harare was the only local authority in the
country
offering affordable antenatal treatment at its clinics.
"You have
to fax your questions to me or bring them in person here (Town
House) so
that I can check whether the fees have been hiked, but the City
Council is
the only authority whose clinics are cheaper and affordable than
other
authorities," Magwenjere said.
Late last year, the city's finance and
development committee recommended
that maternity fees be increased to match
those charged by other local
authorities.
The council's finance committee
attributed the increase to various factors,
but mainly to inflation, which
was then pegged at 375 percent.
"Various factors inclusive of the devaluation
of the Zimbabwean dollar since
January last year, low interest rates and
foreign currency shortages have
contributed to the decline in service
delivery," the fiscal committee said.
Many people have expressed concern
over the new maternity charges saying
they were prohibitive considering the
high cost of living and
hyperinflation.
An Epworth woman said it would be
difficult for many mothers-to-be to raise
the new fees since they equalled
their salaries if not more.
"It will be difficult for some of us to pay the
maternity fees. We have many
responsibilities yet the salary is little. We
need to pay rent and school
fees, we also need to buy other basics like food
and clothes," she lamented.
While another woman in the capital said the rise
in maternity fees would
leave many expectant mothers with little option but
force them to consult
local (traditional) midwives.
"It seems many
expectant mothers will consult midwives for help rather than
going to
clinics. The price of food, rent and other basics skyrocketing
daily," she
said.
Maternity fees shot to $1,2 million up from $600 000 with effect from
November 1 last year before they were hiked to $3 million in January this
year.
Clinic fees for adults and children have also risen with most
health centres
charging between $400 000 and $500 000 for adults up from $50
000.
Between November last year and January this year, adult fees were pegged
at
$200 000 while those for children have risen to between $150 000 and $200
000 up from $20 000 last year.
The council move comes against the
backdrop of a State directive invoked
under the Medical Services Act of 1998
freezing all fee increases pending an
inquiry into the operations of private
health practitioners, clinics and
hospitals.
The government made the
decision widely expected to receive thumps up from
the generality of people
following a meeting it held with representatives of
the Zimbabwe Medical
Association (standing for doctors), Private Hospital
Association of Zimbabwe
and the Association for Healthcare Funders (formerly
National Association of
Medical Aids Societies - Namas).
Private health care provides had initially
indicated their intention to
increase fees by 420 percent effective April 1
this year, but this
subsequently dropped to between 76 and 96 percent
following talks with
medical aid societies.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Golden
Sibanda
issue date :2006-Apr-03
FARMERS in Marondera district,
Mashonaland East Province, owe Zesa Holdings
in excess of $15 billon in
unpaid electricity bills accrued over the last
four months.
This came to
light during an agriculture stakeholders, meeting held in
Marondera last
week to chart the way forward with respect to this year's
winter wheat
programme.
Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZEDC) sales manager
Marondera
District, Patrick Mashingaidze, made the revelation while
addressing the
meeting held in Marondera last week.
He told The Business
Mirror that ZEDC has since embarked on a drive to
recover money owed to the
company pointing
out that in some instances they have resorted to
disconnecting supplies to
compel farmers to pay.
"We will be following up
on the farmers who are in arrears. We will also
disconnect supplies to
farmers who have exceeded 60 days. In fact, in some
instances we have
already started disconnecting power supplies," said
Mashingaidze.
Farmers
owe the power utility at total of $15 397 103 527 12 as of March
30,
2006.
Of the debt, $3 billion is for the current month, $4 billion is for
last
month, $2,9 billion for the last 2 months, $1,8 billion for three
months
ago, while $2,7 billion has not been paid over the past four
months.
Farmers in the area have not paid up despite the fact that they
receive
loans from Agribank to cover such input costs as labour and
power.
This also comes at a time the power utility is battling to mobilise
resources to raise its generating capacity as well as import some power from
neighbouring countries in the region.
Mashingaidze indicated that the
country has a national power deficit of 40
percent of national
requirements.
In light of that he warned that the power utility would resort
to load
shedding during the winter period to avert possible national black
outs.
"There is no way we (Zesa) can avoid that (load shedding) because of
shortage of power in the country.
"We have a 40 percent shortage to
national power requirements and that
shortfall is difficult to fill up
without establishment of more generating
units.
"The revenue we get from
selling electricity to local consumers is also not
enough for us to import
the 40 percent shortfall," said Mashingaidze.
As such, he pointed out that
farmers should make full use of power during
off peak periods during which
there is high certainty there would not be any
planned power cuts.
During
winter, he said, Zesa would cut supplies between 6 and 10 in the
morning and
6 to 10 in the evening.
Farmers use electricity to power electric motors to
pump water from
reservoirs when irrigating their crops, particularly during
the winter
season.
It also emerged at the meeting that farmers could face
unplanned power
supply interruptions because of vandalism on Zesa
infrastructure.
In Marondera district Zesa has lost a total of 288
transformers, while
others have had oil drained. The power utility's
conductors in the area have
also not been spared the wrath of
vandals.
Under such circumstances, Zesa said farmers should report vandals to
authorities as failure to do so would only be a major drawback on their
activities and business, as that infrastructure needs to be imported at a
time Zesa is having problems securing hard currency.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Apr-03
THE Zimbabwe Tourism
Authority (ZTA) is implementing a mechanism to review
the prohibitive prices
charged by retail outlets in resort areas and by
vendors of
artifacts.
This was revealed by ZTA chief executive, Karikoga Kaseke, at a
debrief
meeting of members of the Malaysian media who had been on a tour of
the
country.
"Let us be realistic about our pricing system. Shopping at
our airport is
more expensive than doing so in town. No country that is
serious about
tourism can do that. It is an illusion that just because the
Victoria Falls
is a world wonder, prices should be expensive," he
said.
"We are working on the issue of pricing as part of our marketing plan.
It
will be ready by the first half of the year."
His comment was in
response to concerns raised by the visiting media over
exorbitant prices
charged by those who sold artifacts in resort towns.
The head of the
Malaysian media delegation, Ravin Ravichandran, said prices
of artifacts
were prohibitive.
"When the team was in Victoria Falls, the pricing of stamps
was not
reasonable. They were going for US$2 but in our country our stamps
are only
20 US cents. A painting was going for US$20. This was shocking," he
said
Ravichandran added that although these seemed like trivial issues, this
is
what made the difference in attracting tourists to the country.
He,
however, commended the ZTA for exposing them to the real situation in
Zimbabwe, which was in stark contrast to the negative perception created by
the international media.
" We read from the international media a lot of
negative things about
Zimbabwe, about the country being on the brink of
collapse. There is nothing
like that. These are negatives that deserve to be
corrected," Ravichandran
said.
He urged the ZTA to come up with
aggressive strategies to fight this
negative portrayal with well-planned
strategies, which include visits by ZTA
to Malaysia Tour Expos to market the
country.
Zimbabwe has been suffering from negative reporting by the
international
media since 2000, primarily because of the stance taken by the
government to
redress the imbalance in land distribution perpetrated by the
colonial
regime. ZTA will host another media delegation from China expected
in the
country soon.
-New Ziana
We were pleased to have with us
Adella Chiminya, whose husband, Tichaona,
was one of the first MDC victims
of the Zanu-PF regime. He was Morgan
Tsvangirai's campaign manager and was
burnt to death by Mugabe's people six
years ago while police stood by. His
name features on the roll of honour
displayed at the front of the Vigil
under the headline "Mugabe wanted for
murder". The people who have caused
the devastation in Zimbabwe will not
escape justice. Adella was clearly
cheered by the Vigil and has promised to
come again. Among newcomers to the
Vigil was Jethro from Derby, who arrived
early in a rather depressed state
and was elated by the time he left on his
long journey home.
The
Vigil was enlivened by a group of exuberant supporters from Leicester
and
the powerful singing and drumming drew in many passers- by. They
included
two groups of young Londoners dressed in everything from ball gowns
to top
hats. Shortly after they left the near perfect weather was suddenly
interrupted by a sharp downpour. Never has our tarpaulin been raised so
quickly.
There was an under-delivery of the Zimbabwean this week and
many were
disappointed not to be able to buy one. But everyone got a chance
to look
at a copy. Talking of newspapers, the recent drought in stories
about
Zimbabwe has been broken with a vengeance with a two- page spread in
the
Sunday Times: "Desperate mothers throw away 20 babies a week as Zimbabwe
starves" - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2114280,00.html.
We doubt whether it will make much impact on the pointy-shoed Zimbabwean
ladies seen going in and out of the Embassy today with their expensive
shopping bags.
FOR THE RECORD: 75 signed the register.
FOR
YOUR DIARY: Zimbabwe Forum, Upstairs at the Theodore Bullfrog pub, 28
John
Adam Street, London WC2 (cross the Strand from the Zimbabwe Embassy, go
down
a passageway to John Adam Street, turn right and you will see the
pub).
· Monday, 3rd April, 7.30 pm - Peter Tatchell will talk on how
to
campaign effectively to put Zimbabwe on the UK agenda.
·
Monday, 10th April, 7.30 pm - Action Planning - Discussion and
decisions on
campaigns and demos.
Vigil co-ordinator
The Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current
regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue
until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in
Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk