Zim Online
Thu 17 August 2006
HARARE - Counterfeit money has come into circulation in Zimbabwe's
capital
Harare, less than a week before the complete change-over to a new
currency
introduced by central bank governor Gideon Gono last week.
In
sweeping currency reforms that also included a 60 percent
devaluation of the
local dollar, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) slashed
three zeroes from
every banknote and said it would introduce a new "family
of bearer cheques"
with less zeroes by August 21.
Bearer cheques are promissory notes
first introduced by the RBZ three
years ago at the height of cash shortages
in Zimbabwe. They are not official
legal tender but are used in the same way
as money.
The RBZ says anyone still holding onto old bearer cheques
after the
change-over deadline would have to turn the cheques into "garden
manure" and
fraudsters have jumped in to make a quick buck as people rush to
exchange
old currency for the new one.
The
counterfeiters appear to be targeting street vendors and other
unsuspecting
traders on Zimbabwe's bustling informal market to off load fake
new bearer
cheque notes especially in late night transactions.
For example, a
mobile phone airtime vendor, Tapiwa Chitemerere, who
was given a new Z$10
000 ($10 million in old money) bearer cheque last
Tuesday night, said he did
not suspect anything when a customer tendered the
note.
"I gave
him change and only realised the currency was fake when I
tried to buy bread
and milk at a supermarket the next morning," he told
ZimOnline.
It was not possible to immediately establish from the RBZ how much
counterfeit money could have been pumped onto the market or what measures
the central bank was taking to curb the problem of fake bearer
cheques.
But banks have raised an alert on the presence of fake
currency. For
example, the forensic services manager at Stanbic Bank
Zimbabwe, one of the
biggest commercial banks in the country, warned staff
in a memo to be "on
the lookout for fake bearer cheque notes of the new
currency that are
already in circulation .. we urge you to scrutinise the
bearer cheques that
you are handling with a view to putting a stop to this
counterfeit note
fraud."
But villagers in remoter parts of the
country where new notes are
still to be distributed could lose millions of
dollars to counterfeiters,
taking advantage of widespread ignorance about
the new money among people in
such parts of the country.
The
RBZ currency reforms are meant to bring stability to the
near-worthless
dollar and to lessen the burden for Zimbabweans who were
experiencing
enormous inconvenience because of bearer cheques with too many
zeroes.
Analysts and business leaders said the currency changes
would in the
interim help curb money supply growth but said far more drastic
and broader
reforms were needed if the central bank was to sustain its
latest attempts
to shore up the dollar. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 17 August 2006
HARARE - The United Nations (UN) and
international relief agencies
have sent out a US$250 million aid appeal for
Zimbabwe, saying money and
resources were urgently needed "to save lives" as
humanitarian conditions
worsen in the crisis-hit southern African
country.
In the latest Consolidated Appeal for aid for Zimbabwe
dated July 18,
the world body and aid groups predicted grim days for the
country in the
last half of the year and said assistance was needed to feed
over a million
people out of the 12 million Zimbabweans after poor harvests
in the 2005/06
farming season.
More resources would also be
needed to fund intervention programmes to
curb an HIV/AIDS epidemic that is
killing at least 3 000 Zimbabweans every
week, the groups said.
"It is believed that the humanitarian situation is likely to continue
to
deteriorate in 2006, particularly due to the steady decline of the
economy,
which will have an adverse effect for already vulnerable (groups of
the)
population," the joint appeal read in part.
A large proportion of
Zimbabwe's population is considered vulnerable
and this includes hundreds of
thousands of children who have lost one or
more parents to HIV/AIDS, people
living with HIV/AIDS, the disabled,
ex-workers at former white-owned farms,
and people whose homes and informal
businesses were destroyed in a
controversial government urban clean-up
campaign last year.
A
UN special envoy who visited Zimbabwe soon after the clean-up
exercise
estimated that at least 700 000 people were left homeless and
without
shelter or means of livelihood.
The UN and its relief partners
warned that unless appropriate
responses were implemented, the worsening
crisis could see more people
resorting to "negative coping mechanisms" such
as prostitution in order to
survive. But this would only mean an increase in
HIV/AIDS.
"The priorities for the next six months and beyond will
be to save
lives, enhance positive coping mechanisms and livelihoods,
mitigate the
impact on vulnerable populations, and ensure a comprehensive
and
co-ordinated humanitarian response from national and international
actors,"
they said.
The world body and its partners bemoaned
the absence of a
comprehensive assessment of the problem at hand which they
said placed
limitations on humanitarian planning and response.
As of 23 June, the appeal had raised more than US$100 million in
donations
and pledges.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst ever economic and
political
crisis, which critics blame on repression and wrong policies by
President
Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain 26 years
ago.
The veteran leader denies ruining the country's once vibrant
economy
and instead claims that Zimbabwe's problems are because of sabotage
by major
Western nations opposed to his government. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 17
August 2006
JOHANNESBURG - The Congress of South African Trade
Unions (COSATU) on
Wednesday demanded the immediate release of Zimbabwe
labour leader
Wellington Chibebe who was arrested in Harare last
Tuesday.
Chibebe, who is the secretary general of the Zimbabwe
Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU), was detained by the police on Tuesday. He
is facing
charges of assaulting a police officer who was manning a roadblock
in
Harare.
Yesetrday, COSATU spokesman, Patrick Craven,
demanded the immediate
release of Chibebe saying his arrest "was barbaric"
and uncalled for.
"We are calling for Chibebe's immediate release.
We condemn his arrest
last Tuesday in the strongest terms. We are equally
concerned with the
worsening human rights situation in Zimbabwe," said
Craven.
Trouble for Chibebe began after the Zimbabwe labour leader,
who was
traveling with his family from his rural home in Masvingo, told
police
officers manning a cash search and seizure operation in Harare that
what
they were doing was illegal.
"The police did not take
kindly to Chibebe's words. One of the police
officers slapped Chibebe
accusing him of attempting to frustrate the police
operation. All this was
done in front of Chibebe's family," said ZCTU
spokesman, Mlamleli
Sibanda.
Chibebe was still being detained at Waterfalls police
station in
Harare last night. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 17 August 2006
KAROI - Zimbabwean police last
Thursday raided a farm belonging to
embattled ruling ZANU PF legislator
Cecelia Gwachiwa following allegations
that the politician was in possession
of several unlicenced guns.
The raid comes barely a month after
Gwachiwa was hauled before a ZANU
PF disciplinary committee for allegedly
having romantic ties with a
boyfriend from the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC)
party.
Gwachiwa, who is the ZANU PF
Member of Parliament for Hurungwe West
constituency, has denied the
allegations saying the charges are meant to
tarnish her image within the
ruling party.
The search for guns at Gwachiwa's farm, located some
200 km north-west
of Harare, yielded only two .303 rifles all
registered.
"Initially, we had been briefed that she had seven
guns which were
all unregistered. But during our raid last week, we only
recovered two .303
guns which are all registered," said a police officer who
was part of the
operation.
Police commander in Hurungwe, Chief
Superintendent Shadreck Makunike
confirmed that a search had been conducted
at Gwachiwas's farm but refused
to shed more light on the raid.
"Yes, a search was conducted and two guns were recovered," was all
Chief
Supt Makunike could say yesterday. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Thu 17 August 2006
JOHANNESBURG - A 20-year old
Zimbabwean woman, Rebecca Motsi, was
found murdered in Johannesburg last
Monday in a suspected ritual killing.
The gruesome murder was
discovered after South African police arrested
a 29-year old man at a taxi
rank in Etwatwa on the outskirts of Johannesburg
in possession of a human
brain and lungs.
The man later led the police to a house in Etwatwa
where Motsi's
mutilated body was found buried under the floor of the
house.
The police said the man was expected to appear in court on
Wednesday
facing a murder charge.
The late Motsi arrived in
South Africa about two months ago to join
her husband who is running a small
informal business here.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans are
living outside the country,
the majority of them in South Africa, after
fleeing hunger and political
repression at home. - ZimOnline
Business Day
Paul
Moorcraft
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAILY,
far more Zimbabweans are dying needlessly than civilians in Lebanon.
This
was the dramatic point made by veteran Zimbabwe journalist Michael
Hartnack
in practically his last words before he died late last month.
Despite the
power and water cuts, fuel queues and all the rest of the daily
hassles in
present-day Zimbabwe, Hartnack remarked that he was still one of
the lucky
ones. "The unlucky ones are out there in the freezing night dying
at 3200 a
week, which is a lot more than Lebanon."
Robert Mugabe is not directly
attacking the west and does not have any oil,
so who cares what he does in
his own country? And even for those who might
do something about one of
Africa's nastiest dictators, Iraq and Afghanistan
have drained most of their
interventionist tendencies. If the US
intelligence agencies weren't so
pre-occupied elsewhere, they might accuse
Mugabe of supplying Congo uranium
to his old pals in North Korea.
In March 2003, UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair told a British minister during a
discussion about the need to invade
Iraq: "If it were down to me, I'd do
(invade) Zimbabwe as
well."
Like Fidel Castro, Mugabe at 82 is a great survivor. Castro
may be trying to
create a dynasty by handing over to his brother Raul.
Mugabe has less faith
in family but has favoured a former girlfriend as a
possible successor,
Joyce Mujuru or Teurai Ropa ("Spill Blood", to use her
nom de guerre).
The Americans tried invasions, blockades, sanctions
and assassination but it
looks as though Castro will die in his bed. Will
Africa's great dictator
enjoy the same fate? Unfortunately, his country may
have reached its own
terminal state before then.
Zimbabwe has the
world's fastest shrinking economy and the worst inflation
rate - now about
1000%. As United Nations humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland,
put it, the
country is in meltdown. Services have collapsed and cannot deal
with the
AIDS pandemic that has infected one-third of the population.
Life
expectancy has dropped from an average of 62 to 38 years. Unemployment
stands at 70%. More than 5-million people are on the brink of starvation. At
least 4-million have fled, with perhaps 2,5-million Zimbabweans in SA. Most
of the professional middle class has left.
Many black
Zimbabweans will freely admit that conditions were better under
Ian Smith.
Smith said that a Mugabe victory would bring the decimation of
the Ndebele,
then the destruction of the economy by driving out the white
farmers.
Yesterday, Smith's stubbornness may have made that a
self-fulfilling
prophecy. Today Mugabe is the problem, but he won't go. How
can he be
persuaded?
A military coup is unlikely, partly because a creeping
coup has already
taken place. The security apparatus is full of Mugabe's
Zezuru clan, and
they have been amply rewarded. The boss keeps a tight rein
on his military
mates in the new National Security Council. Mugabe still has
some residual
popularity in Mashonaland.
Many within in his own
Zanu (PF) party are praying for him to quit or die.
Although he is due to
leave office in 2008, he may try to stay on.
Mugabe has never named a
formal successor, which could mean chaos if he were
to die in office. Three
key factions jostle for power. Foremost is the group
around Vice- President
Joyce Mujuru; second, followers of the now disgraced
Emmerson Mnangagwa; and
those remnants of Zimbabwe African People's Union
(Zapu) who hope an Ndebele
might get the top job.
Mujuru is a Zezuru, however; another Zezuru
victory could upset the clan
balancing act, especially among the Karanga,
the largest Shona-speaking
group. This is where the main opposition leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, the head
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
could benefit. Though he comes
from a minority Shona-speaking tribe, he is
popular among the Ndebele. But
while the electoral system is so fixed in
favour of the ruling party, the
MDC is unlikely to defeat even the most
fractious Zanu (PF)..
So no western invasion and little chance of
internal reform; that leaves SA.
Pretoria tried to bring the MDC and Zanu
(PF) together, to little effect.
Then it pinned its hopes on a so-called
moderate faction emerging in the
ruling party. No such luck with Mugabe's
mastery of divide and rule. The
African Union and the Southern African
Development Community have been
toothless. Commonwealth smart sanctions have
been water off a duck's
backside.
More recently it looked as
though Kofi Annan might offer Mugabe a deal: an
economic rescue package in
exchange for a deadline to quit office, maybe at
the 2008 presidential
election. Crucially, there would also be a deal on
immunity from
prosecution.
All these forlorn moves indicate that President Thabo
Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy has failed. SA has the power to dethrone Mugabe
immediately, so
why hasn't it?
In 1976 prime minister John
Vorster pulled the plug on his white kin by
cutting fuel and ammunition; the
rebel Smith had to comply almost
immediately by formally accepting majority
rule. SA put its own national
interest first. So does Mbeki have less
courage than Vorster?
In the west, SA is perceived as the regional
superpower. SA has the hard
power: it could cut off fuel and electricity and
bring Mugabe to heel almost
overnight. If it did this it might be branded as
a puppet of the US.
From a western perspective, quiet diplomacy
amounts to doing nothing. Prof
Jack Spence, Britain's leading expert on SA,
said this allows western
liberals "to argue with some justice that black
liberation solidarity of the
kind that links Mbeki with Mugabe trumps human
rights and profoundly damages
SA's claims to be a good and influential
citizen of the international
community".
Mbeki's quiet
constructive enga-gement was based on the premise that direct
confrontation
would ultimately damage South African interests. Ironically,
that is what
has happened. Mugabe is badly damaging SA, the region and
indeed the
continent. If Zimbabwe implodes completely, it may be too late.
If
Mugabe is the problem, then Mbeki is the only solution. It might be
unfair
to burden Pretoria with the burden of Zimbabwe's future, but that's
the way
it is.
Nelson Mandela could and did condemn Mugabe and Desmond Tutu
could describe
him as "a caricature of an African dictator". Unfortunately
Mbeki seems to
defer to the older revolutionary hero in
Harare.
The Zimbabwe crisis is causing major rifts in the ANC
but, for the
president, the more vocal criticism of Harare by the Congress
of South
African Trade Unions (natural allies of Tsvangarai) and by the
South African
Communist Party must be embarrassing.
More important
than party unity is the danger of the land issue spiralling
out of control.
More than 20 times more white South African farmers have
been murdered than
white farmers in Zimbabwe. SA, where murder is
underreported, is a powder
keg: the actual number of killings may outnumber
Iraq's.
Also,
the flood of Zimbabwean refugees is making South Africans much more
xenophobic. Above all, having a failed, or indeed rogue, state on its
borders does no good for foreign investors' confidence in the region. It
also affects tourism to SA.
Above all, it is a question of image.
The South African government is seen
in the west as implicit in all that
Mugabe does. The president's stance over
AIDS might have been forgiven as
unfortunate ignorance but tolerating Mugabe
is seen as either plain
stupidity or deliberately condoning the dictator.
I interviewed
Mugabe at length for Time magazine when he first returned to
the then
Salisbury in January 1980. After the dullards in the Rhodesian
Front, it was
a breath of fresh air to talk to such an intelligent,
articulate
man.
Above all, I believed his sincerity about racial reconciliation. So
how did
he become a monster? There were early signs - within a year his army
had
started to wipe out the Ndebele. Anyone who challenged him was
destroyed;
the white farmers whom he accused of helping the MDC, then 500000
urban
squatters' homes and shops were destroyed because they might vote for
the
MDC.
Nothing will stand in Mugabe's way except death, or
SA.
Perhaps it is time for the statesman to emerge in
Mbeki.
Dr Moorcraft is the director of the Centre for Foreign Policy
Analysis,
London. His accounts of the 1965-80 war, including Chimurenga! The
War in
Rhodesia, have just been re- released in Canada.
by Arnold Kransdorff
The
University of London must be wondering why one of their alumni seems to
be
ignoring one of economics most sacred theories on inflation. Print money
willy nilly to pay for expenditure outside of the country's ability to earn
the apparent extra wealth - and the economy will inevitably
implode.
Such is it in Zimbabwe, whose ruler since 1980 was
awarded their MA degree
in economics, albeit by correspondence. Robert
Mugabe has the dubious
distinction of allowing his country's exchange rate
to wither from Z$2 to £1
sterling in 1980, the year he assumed office, to
upwards of Z$620,000 on a
black market on which he, in fact, buys much of
his foreign currency. With
an annual inflation rate of almost 4% a day -
1200% a year - the
octogenarian nationalist leader who has cheated his way
into power in at
least two general elections has vowed to keep on printing
money. His latest
wheeze is to consider trimming three zeros from the local
currency,
effectively introducing a so-called kilo-dollar equivalent to the
$1,000
note currently in circulation.
This won't help the
inflation rate; only the volume of paper currency that
individuals need to
carry around, which is typically in elastic-banded
'bricks' of $20,000 and
$50,000 denomination notes (the $11m version, worth
just over £17, is about
three-inches thick), way too bulky for
conventional-sized bum bags.
Typically, the few tourists that are evident
carry their change in plastic
shopping bags while a visit to any local bank
will see queues of natives
either depositing or withdrawing their
requirements in huge metal trunks
that used to be standard equipment for
students going to boarding school.
Invariably, the handovers are attended by
several robust guards, often with
bulging arm pits. One black market
currency trader openly related how the
boot of his car was overly stuffed
with black plastic sacks of 'bricks' to
pay for just 22 £50 notes. Money
counting machines are now standard
equipment for even supermarkets.
Counterfeiting is a lost art as
photocopying costs more than the highest
denomination note. It is cheaper to
use a $20,000 note than toilet paper.
Applying the little-used official rate
of exchange of $186,000 to £1,
running a car ($460,000 a litre) costs more
than twice Gordon Brown's
tax-heavy petrol. Because of power cuts, candles
go for $100,000 each. Life
expectancy is now 34 years of age, with the $120
million price of coffins
the subject of widespread media debate. Parking
meters stand lamely on the
pavements and, while everyone complains ("what
can we do?"), no one begs,
people are generally well dressed, smoke-spewing
cars crowd the urban
streets and, when engaged, there is always a
white-toothed smile. It's more
than puzzling. It's
undemocratic.
Zimbabwe's inflation and its printing presses have
been rampant for more
than five years now - and Mr Mugabe's administration
shows little sign of
crumbling. How, then, are individuals surviving? And
why is conventional
economic theory not working?
For the
answer to the former question, around 5m of Mr Mugabe's 'comrades' -
a
quarter of Zimbabwe's population - have fled his administration's loose
grip, with around 3m in South Africa, 1m in the UK and much of the balance
in the US. Many are professionals such as doctors, nurses and economists,
the output of a formerly good education system.
Of the
balance, the unemployed (80%) and those infected with Aids/HIV (at
least
35%) have become almost invisible, with the majority having deserted
the
main urban centres to return to their tribal homes to die inexpensively.
Along with the peasant rural population, they have virtually removed
themselves from the cash economy, so inflation is not a problem so long as
they can grow their own food.
Of the remainder, there is the
relatively small political, professional and
entrepreneurial classes. They
subsist well, many of the former on huge
Government salaries, perks and
corruption. For the professionals, most
charge fees using South African
rates of pay while the businessmen trade,
trade and trade again. So long as
they can buy and sell merchandise quickly,
they can keep ahead of inflation.
Their only problem is to find a private
and secure-enough home to house the
ever-growing piles of bricks.
For the rest - the employee middle
class - life is hard, with inflation
constantly eating away at earnings and
savings. The highest interest rate
available is around 420% a year,
effectively ensuring that any reserves are
an instant liability. Into this
grouping falls the military and the police,
to which Mr Mugabe has given
preferential treatment with regular,
inflation-linked increases to buy their
loyalty. Mr Mugabe knows that their
allegiance is not guaranteed; back in
2001, they - along with the 'vets'
(the 'veterans' of the independence war
in the 1970s) - were the first to
stamp on his posters in protest against
rising prices. In truth, his
decision to pay up then triggered the current
inflationary spiral and his
subsequent decision to divert attention away
from his economic mismanagement
and human rights violations by disowning
white farmers of their land.
As for the question why conventional
economic theory is not working, the
answer lies in a combination of
unrelated factors. First and foremost is the
explicit and tacit support of
Zimbabwe's neighbour, South Africa, whose
leader, Thabo Mbeki, can't bring
himself to disapprove of a fellow
nationalist revolutionary, whatever Mr
Mugabe's despotic behaviour. Even
though good governance and transparency is
a pre-requisite for First World
debt relief and on-going aid, setting a
precedent in just one part of
corruption-ridden and inefficient Africa seems
all too difficult for him.
Secondly, Mr Mugabe has the benefit of
an unplanned windfall in the guise of
his 5m disaffected citizens working
abroad. Most send part of their earnings
back to their unemployed and
starving relatives and friends, thought to be
upwards of US$200 million a
year. There is even widespread talk of
substantial income from crime carried
out in South Africa by Zimbabwe's
military.
Third is the
blind eye that the Government turns on the way Zimbabweans keep
their
shelves stocked. Although there are periods of glut and famine, the
way shop
keepers keep going is through an informal and unsophisticated train
of
'runners', individuals who are given mostly black market foreign currency
to
travel to neighbouring Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique to
buy
both necessities and luxuries. For the most part, these commodities are
returned to Zimbabwe tax-free, although runners do have to bribe lowly-paid
customs officials.
Fourthly, in contrast to its formerly
valuable agricultural exports of beef
and tobacco (thanks to the pitiful
output from the country's new farmers),
Zimbabwe is not finding it too
difficult to sell its deposits of chrome,
gold, silver, platinum, copper and
asbestos.
And finally, while tourism is dead on its feet, there
is at least one part
of the industry that is thriving. Head hunting, or more
specifically game
shooting. After almost every incoming flight from abroad
are waiting several
4x4's with padlocked lockers containing high-powered
guns and ammunition. In
attendance are several bronzed and khaki-shorted
ex-farmers, and the
statutory pretty girl holding up name cards of wealthy
Americans, Britons,
Russians and Germans who have paid big bucks to shoot
animals such as
elephant, lion, leopard, kudu, crocodile and rhinoceros.
Americans are the
much preferred patron, it seems.
If the
University of London's teaching of conventional economic theory is
right,
how much longer must Zimbabweans wait for any relief? Quite a while
if
there's any comparison with Weimar Germany, which had a monthly inflation
rate of 322% in 1923, Hungary, whose inflation was 19000% a month in 1945,
and Peru, where prices rose by around 2000% in 1988. If South Africa doesn't
pull the proverbial plug (as did white SA to Ian Smith's Rhodesia in the
1970s), Zimbabweans just might have to wait until the army and police
realise how poor are their mathematical skills - or, hopefully and more
compassionately, that their feathered nests are disadvantaging their fellow
citizens.
Ends .
IOL
August 16 2006
at 07:54PM
By Itumeleng Seakamela
Giriyondo - South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique opened a key border
crossing for an expanded
international wildlife park on Wednesday, boosting
regional hopes of a major
new global eco-tourist destination.
"It amounts to more than
allowing our wild animals to roam freely,"
South African President Thabo
Mbeki said at a ceremony at Giriyondo, a
border post which links the three
countries.
"It serves to encourage us further to deepen the
co-operation and
partnership among our three countries," he said before an
audience which
included President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Armando
Guebuza of
Mozambique.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park was
agreed by the three countries
in 2002, and will eventually link parks in
Zimbabwe and Mozambique with
South Africa's famed Kruger National
Park.
Park officials said that part of the 450km of
heavy fence between
South Africa and Mozambique had been removed and they
hoped to have it all
down by 2010.
The new super park will
expand the Kruger's area to 3.5 million
hectares from around two million
hectares, relieving pressure on its
elephant population which is over 12 000
and steadily growing.
Some experts have called for lethal culls to
prevent the pachyderms
from eating themselves out of house and home - an
option being considered by
the government but fiercely opposed by animal
welfare groups.
Removing the fence may also enable more illegal
immigrants to sneak
into South Africa. Many take the risk of trudging
through the Kruger to seek
a better life in Africa's largest economy despite
the risk of attack from
large animals such as lions and
elephants.
But Mbeki said that the park and related tourism
benefits could help
combat poverty.
"This park is a tangible
symbol that we can and must use sustainable
development to confront the
legacy of colonialism and apartheid, to
eradicate poverty and
underdevelopment and build a better world for all our
people," he
said.
BBC
By Carrie
Gracie
BBC News
China is overtaking the world's
major economies one by one. It
leap-frogged Britain in 2005 and now has
Germany and Japan in its sights.
Its growing economic muscle is
bringing diplomatic and military
strength.
So should the rest
of the world be worried?
Robert Kaplan, visiting professor at the
United States Naval Academy,
said the growth of Chinese power would affect
the US, the current
superpower.
"For the last 50 years the US
Navy has more or less owned the Pacific
Ocean as its own private lake," he
said. "That is not going to hold for the
next 50 years."
Mr
Kaplan said the Chinese defence budget has been growing much faster
than the
economy in general. Spending has been closely targeted at
developing
missiles and buying submarines, with the specific aim of
constraining the US
Navy off Chinese waters.
However, Sha Zukang, China's ambassador to
the United Nations in
Geneva, insisted there was no cause for
concern.
If you read China's 5,000-year-long history, he said,
"it's not
difficult to discover that China basically is a peace-loving
nation".
US rival
The Bush administration came to
power convinced that China was
America's strategic competitor. But then came
9/11. To Beijing's enormous
relief, Washington's focus shifted to terrorism,
and there was less
attention on China's discreet military
build-up.
Nevertheless, Pentagon planners are concerned
about developments, and
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said much
of China's arms spending
is being concealed.
Ambassador Sha
responded strongly to the allegations. "It's better for
the US to shut up,"
he said. "Keep quiet. It's much, much better."
This is a crucial
question for China's future. Will it be just an
economic superpower content
to sell the world shoes and washing machines? Or
will it have the military
muscle to protect its new interests around the
world?
After two
centuries of feeling victimised by the West and then Japan,
China chafes
under a Pax Americana. At present it is keen to protect the
economic
achievements of the past 30 years and to avoid confrontation with
Washington.
However, the issue of Taiwan could still provide a
flashpoint.
Ambassador Sha said there could be no compromise on this vital
national
interest. "For China, one inch of territory is more valuable than
the life
of our people," he said.
Most mainland Chinese I know
are equally passionate about Taiwan.
Nationalism has replaced Communism as
the glue that holds China together.
The other key is prosperity.
China is turning a nation of subsistence
farmers into a 21st century
industrial workforce. That has created an
enormous demand for resources and
much of China's foreign policy is now
focussed on securing supplies,
especially of oil and gas.
Global push
In Africa the
impact is particularly stark. Garth Shelton of South
Africa's Wits
University welcomes the attention, saying there is a lot of
optimism about
the renewed Chinese interest in his continent.
"If we deal with the
United States or West European governments they
would bring a list of 33
items requiring restructuring of your democracy,
your human rights issues,"
he said. "China would arrive and say we accept
you as you are. And that's a
refreshing change."
China has invested heavily and offered aid to
many African countries,
especially those with energy resources. It now is a
major consumer of oil
from Angola and gets 7% of its oil from
Sudan.
There is international criticism that China has
blocked UN resolutions
criticising the Sudanese government over actions in
Darfur, and that it has
helped prop up regimes like those of Robert Mugabe
in Zimbabwe.
Senegalese journalist Adama Gaye, who has just written
the first book
by an African about China's new influence on the continent,
accuses the
Chinese of practicing "cynicism at the highest
level".
He questions whether the investment is in Africa's
long-term
interests. "The moment they no longer need Africa they may
disappear
overnight and Africa will be left dry under the sun," he
said.
Mr Gaye also voiced wider concerns that regimes would be
attracted to
a "Beijing Model" of economic development without democratic
elections.
For Jing Huang of the Brookings Institution in
Washington, this is the
real threat to the West from China.
"What it really challenges is a value system. Who we are and what we
want to
be," he said.
However, China's problems remain immense and it needs
markets and
resources around the globe to sustain its economic growth. We
can only hope
the enmeshed interests of this century prevent the great wars
of the last.
But even without armed conflict, the rise of this
first giant of the
global era will surely expose the developed world to the
culture and values
of a billion strangers. A sudden intimacy that may make
both rich together,
but may also make the West more vulnerable.
Carrie Grace presents "Analysis: What China Wants" on BBC Radio 4 at
8.30 pm
Thursday August 17th
IOL
August 16 2006 at
08:27PM
By Angus Shaw
Harare - Zimbabwe's old bank
notes were on the verge of expiring,
leading to panic at banks as citizens
tried to trade in old cash for new,
and at supermarkets as they tried to use
up hoarded bills.
Under the changeover rules, individuals are
permitted to exchange a
limit of 100 million old Zimbabwe dollars - which
become obsolete on
Sunday - for new currency in a single transaction. Those
attempting to
exchange more than 100 million Zimbabwe dollars or those found
with more are
required to prove they earned or received the money
legally.
Police across Zimbabwe manned roadblocks Wednesday,
searching cars for
caches of cash.
Last month, the
central bank struck three zeros from the currency and
issued new
denominations to ease accounting difficulties - regular
electronic
calculators had become almost useless as inflation hovered around
1 000
percent - and to eradicate the need to carry large bundles of notes
for
routine purchases. The government also argues the change will help it
stamp
out cash hoards used in illegal currency deals.
Zimbabwe's economy
is in a state of collapse, with high unemployment,
shortages of food,
gasoline and most basic products and an inflation rate
nearing 1 000
percent.
Banks said they were under increasing pressure Wednesday
from lines of
panicked customers who were demanding an extension to Sunday's
deadline in
fear of being left with large amounts of obsolete
currency.
Stores and supermarkets reported bulk buying of goods and
disputes
erupting at checkouts over change being paid in old money when
supplies of
new money were exhausted.
Many poor and rural
Zimbabweans failed to understand details of the
changeover and suspected
they were being tricked into losing money,
according to bank
executives.
Tensions also mounted at the road checkpoints. State
radio reported
the arrest Wednesday of Wellington Chibebe, secretary general
of the main
opposition-allied labour federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions,
at a roadblock outside Harare.
The radio said
Chibebe assaulted a police officer during a search of
his car and resisted
arrest. But the federation said a policeman tried to
force Chibebe out of
his car while his seat belt was still buckled, and then
hit him twice,
accusing him of resisting a search.
State media reported that in a
second incident a leading oil company
executive was arrested in eastern
Zimbabwe for resisting a search at a
checkpoint. He was also accused of
cursing President Robert Mugabe. It is
against Zimbabwean law to insult
Mugabe.
The country has suffered repeated shortages of local
currency after
jitters in the economy led to panic withdrawals of savings
and deposits
during disruptions in the nation's agriculture-based production
caused by
the seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms since
2000.
In recent years, mistrust of banks and corruption-ridden
businesses
has spurred widespread hoarding of money. - Sapa-AP
By Tererai Karimakwenda
16 August 2006
The Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) held their annual assembly last
weekend
at a secret location in Matabeleland. Those who attended are now
finally
back home and we were able to find out what the women resolved this
year.
Veteran WOZA coordinator Jenni Williams told us that all 312 delegates
made
it to the rural location without any serious problems at the
roadblocks. She
said about 25 men and nearly a dozen civic society partners
joined them for
the assembly which they call "Sheroes".
Jenni Williams told us they
elected 18 leaders and added a male to
their leadership team. She explained
that more men have been coming forward
and joining them in their street
protests and in the training programmes so
they felt there was enough of a
core group to form MOZA, Men of Zimbabwe
Arise. She hopes the men will march
alongside the women as they continue
their street protests in the coming
year. The new position of Rural Outreach
Coordinator was also
added.
Jenni said they plan to tackle the issue of the recent
currency
conversions announced by the Reserve Bank as Operation Sunrise. She
described it as just another meaningless programme that is abusing the
rights of women and without any benefit to the nation. She said no women
should have to open their handbags for a male police officer. None of the
women who traveled to the Assembly had any serious problems at roadblocks.
Jenni said WOZA women have a very good understanding of their rights and
they also used their usual creative ways to get around.
The
WOZA women resolved to continue their Valentine's Day campaign
despite
having been arrested for giving out roses this year. They will also
continue
to demonstrate against unaffordable school fees and the high cost
of goods
and services.
Asked whether the women would join the broad alliance
that was
organized by leaders of the Christian Alliance Jenni said the
Alliance
officials introduced themselves at the assembly and explained the
programme
they are working on. But she said WOZA is still slightly hesitant
to join
any coalition that has political elements and cannot do so without a
mandate
from their members. She explained that they guard their space very
seriously
but they are open to watching how the broad alliance will progress
and then
revisit the issue.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona
Sibanda
16 August 2006
Movement for Democratic Change
activists in Canada have 'condemned
unreservedly' the invitation and
permission for entry into that country by
Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs
Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
The activists said they will
petition Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper on the issue to avoid future
and similar incidents. A few months ago
Ignatious Chombo the Local
Government minister was also granted permission
into that country despite a
travel ban on all senior Zanu (PF) officials.
Andrew Manyevere,
chairman of the Tsvangirai led MDC in Toronto, said
Wednesday Canada is
fully aware that Mugabe's regime is responsible for
failing to run the
economy properly and affecting them spiritually and
physically.
'Its either sanctions or never, but not being caught in between. If
the
Zimbabwe government misuses funds, can the permission to have
Mumbengegwi
here bring salvation to the people? asked Manyevere.
He added; 'We
also urge the Canadian authorities not to be flip
flopping on the issue of
sanctions, but to remain resolute on the ban. These
are the same guys (Zanu
PF regime) who will refuse aid from the many of the
donors attending the
Aids conference in Toronto.'
Manyevere also questioned the
significance of having Mumbwengegwi in
Canada when, at the end of the day,
Robert Mugabe brandishes Western
countries as evil and bent on removing him
from power.
'This is why I passionately say we Zimbabweans in
Canada are hurting
that the same people who oppress others back home, have
free rides on tax
payers' money to come on holidays under the pretext of
attending an Aids
conference,' Manyevere said.
The opinion of
MDC activists in Canada he added is that the Aids
pandemic in Zimbabwe shall
not be solved by the world having sympathy with
those who ignore human
rights, including denying people
medicines.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Mail and Guardian
Johannesburg, South Africa
16 August 2006
12:22
The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ), an independent and
self-regulating professional body of Zimbabwean lawyers, is under increasing
attack by the government of Zimbabwe, according to Nicole Fritz, director of
the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC).
She said
two recent articles published in Zimbabwe's The Sunday
Mail on August 6 2006
and in the Herald on August 12 2006 made plain the
Zimbabwean government's
intention to clamp down on the law society.
The first
article, written by Tafataona Mahoso, chairperson of
the
government-controlled Media and Information Commission, and titled,
"Lawyers' body fights for return of Rhodesia", accuses the LSZ of being
sponsored by foreign powers.
Mahoso writes that "Since
1992, the LSZ has consistently
encouraged and worked with external forces
and organisations opposed to
Zimbabwe's African land-reclamation
movement."
Fritz commented: "It is particularly sinister that
Mahoso
exhorts Zimbabwe 'to figure out what it wants government to do with
the
LSZ', suggesting that government action against the LSZ is imminent,
despite
the fact that the law society's independence and self-regulation is
ensured
by statute."
The second article, titled "A
Lawless Society", was written
under the by-line Nathanial Manheru, which is
said to be the pseudonym of
President Mugabe's current spokesperson, George
Charamba, widely tipped to
be the country's next Minister of
Information.
"If anything," said Fritz, "this subsequent
article is even more
disturbing. Not only does it make reference to a vague
'operation' intended
against the LSZ, but it expresses the hope that the
operation will be
'replaced by its equally concussing sequel meant to make
foreign opposition
funding forbiddingly expensive.'
"This
is a clear reference to Zimbabwe's NGO Bill, passed in
2004, which bans
foreign NGOs as well as foreign funding of local NGOs.
Mugabe has yet to
sign the Bill but Charamba seems to be signalling that he
will soon do
so."
Following so close on each other, the articles seem a
coordinated attempt both to discredit the LSZ in the eyes of ordinary
Zimbabweans, but also to threaten the LSZ with more repressive action should
it continue its opposition to the Zimbabwean government.
As Arnold Tsunga, secretary of the LSZ explained: "The legal
profession has
largely been standing in between the unbridled power of the
state and the
people of Zimbabwe and offering a safety net to human rights
defenders
facing persecution.
"It therefore comes as little surprise
that the state is now
angling itself for an attack on the independence and
self regulation of the
legal profession in Zimbabwe." -- I-Net Bridge
New Zimbabwe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This
is the 6th and final part of an SW Radio Africa Hot Seat interview with
the
two secretary generals of the MDC factions Professor Welshman Ncube and
Tendai Biti and NCA chairman, Dr Lovemore Madhuku. Violet Gonda asked the
questions:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last
updated: 08/16/2006 20:14:01
Broadcast on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Violet:
Thank-you for joining us on the last segment of the tri-partite
discussions
with some of the principle architects of the pro-democracy
movement in
Zimbabwe, namely the two Secretary Generals of the MDC factions;
Professor
Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti as well as Civic Leader, Dr
Lovemore
Madhuku.
It was reported that on the sidelines of last month's African
Union Summit
in Banjul, Gambia, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan,
appointed the
former Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa as mediator in the
Zimbabwean
crisis. So, in this final segment, we ask the three, as
stakeholders, for
their thoughts on this development, starting with
Professor Welshman Ncube.
Professor Ncube: Some of us have a fundamental
problem with the outcome of
the informal meetings between Kofi Anan and
Robert Mugabe in Banjul as
reported in the media, but these things are
hardly ever on all fours as what
is reported in the media. Sometimes what
the media gets to report is what
the politicians agree they will tell the
media, whereas what might have
taken place might be totally different. But,
let's operate on the assumption
that what is reported is in fact, what
happened. There's a fundamental
problem with it.
Firstly, there is a
misdiagnosis of what the problem in Zimbabwe is. And, if
the terms of
reference of this mediator is an attempt to reconcile the
Government of
Zimbabwe and the Government of the United Kingdom, then it
would be an
exercise in futility for it has not correctly identified the
nature of the
crisis in Zimbabwe. And, to the extent that if you misdiagnose
an ailment
and you say a patient who is suffering from diarrhoea has a
broken bone and
you put a plaster on their arm, of course, you will not be
able to treat the
diarrhoea; it will go on and the patient might even die.
And, that is the
problem with that agreement; it completely misses the point
as to what the
nature of the crisis is, and the nature of the crisis, as we
have been at
pains to point out, is that firstly you have a government in
Zimbabwe which
is at war with its own people and you need to address that
issue. And,
therefore, what you need to be doing is actually if one talks of
the
language of 'building bridges', you need to build bridges between the
Government of Zimbabwe and the people of Zimbabwe. And, that is the critical
thing; over issues of governance, over issues of human rights, over issues
of disputed elections, over issues of legitimacy, over issues of a new
constitution. It is those issues that must be addressed.
If you are
appointing a mediator to the Zimbabwean crisis, it must be a
mediator who
must therefore bring the entirety of Zimbabweans together,
starting with
writing a new constitution, then dealing with the issues which
have led to
the existence of a disputed government or an illegitimate
government in
terms of the contested elections; POSA, AIPPA; name it, that
is what is in
dispute in Zimbabwe. The economic crisis, the social crisis
are in fact the
symptom of bad governance arising out of the dispute over
fundamental
freedoms and rights in Zimbabwe.
So, in short, Violet, what I am saying
is that if the Mkapa terms of
reference and mandate is to make peace between
Tony Blair and Robert Mugabe,
or the Government of Zimbabwe and the
Government of Britain, then it is
doomed to failure. It has completely
missed the nature of the crisis.
Violet: Ok and Dr Madhuku, do you agree
with what Professor Ncube has said
that the Mkapa deal is not the right
prescription for this crisis?
Dr Madhuku: Yes, I agree very much, but,
for me to just add, it is actually
an irrelevance altogether. So it's not
something that people must waste time
on.
Violet: And, Tendai, what
is the policy now for your Party regarding this
matter, as some believe that
Mugabe has out manoeuvred the opposition and
South Africa?
Tendai
Biti: Well, Mugabe doesn't fool anyone and those who celebrate Mugabe's
mendacity and dishonesty, I think if you look at this issue, as the Prof.
said, there is clearly a wrong understanding of the true nature of the
crisis in Zimbabwe. And, the true nature of the crisis is not a bilateral
issue between the former colonial power and Zimbabwe, so once you define it
as that you have got a problem. Your second problem as well is that it's
quite clear, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that
Mugabe is at the core of the crisis; in Mugabe as an actor, as a wrong-doer,
as a top-feeder himself, and for him to have the capacity of nominating or
appointing a point person in a crisis that he is at the centre of, I think
there is something fundamentally wrong. As we have said somewhere, you can't
be an umpire and a wicket keeper in the same game of
cricket.
Thirdly, I think that any process towards addressing the crisis
in Zimbabwe
which does not involve Zimbabweans themselves, and which is why
some of us
view the issue of a constitution as essential because every
Zimbabwean will
be a shareholder, so that issue is irrelevant.
So any
attempt that tries to deal with the Zimbabwe issue in a superficial
level by
appointing point persons whose terms of reference are ambiguous and
innocuous will have a problem. And, then thirdly, on that issue, is that the
region can't be ignored. You can't ignore the role of the SADC, you can't
ignore the role of the African Union, because Zimbabwe is an African crisis,
and trying to by-pass all those bodies, the SADC, the African Union, and put
them in a body: the United Nations which is not known for acting very fast,
whose history and record on Africa is, to say the least moderate. If you
look at the non action over Rwanda, when in July of 1994 over a million
people, mainly Tutsi's were massacred. If you look at the history of the
United Nations in respect of the crisis in Somalia, the crisis in Southern
Sudan; the crisis in Dafur at the present moment, I think only a fool would
get excited by what happened in Banjul.
But, fortunately, as Madhuku
says, I think the drivers and engine in the
midfield of the processes and
crisis in Zimbabwe are Zimbabweans themselves.
So, we will not be fooled,
and those who think Mugabe outplayed us, I don't
think know us really
well.
Violet: And, finally, you know, some have asked why the visionaries
and
luminaries in the MDC are wasting time and breath and fulfilling
Mugabe's
agenda by fighting each other. Now, does the old saying 'there's
strength in
unity' still resonate with the MDC intelligentsia and
pro-democracy
movements in Zimbabwe Professor Ncube?
Professor Ncube:
Of course it does, and there's absolutely no doubt that a
single MDC united
will have a much better chance, a stronger chance of
actually dislodging the
regime than a divided MDC. As we said at the
beginning, the only person who
is laughing all the way to the bank in
respect of all the things which are
happening on the ground to us as the
opposition movement, as the democratic
movement in Zimbabwe, is Robert
Mugabe and Zanu PF. So we are very, very
alive to that.
Violet: Tendai Biti?
Tendai Biti: Well, I think as
long as the vision remains alive and as long
as all of us have hard looks to
ourselves and in ourselves, I think time
might heal us and I think that we
should keep the flame alive. You know, I
studied history; history is very
funny; so many things have happened in
history, so no one should write the
democratic movement off. Far from it.
Violet: And Dr Madhuku?
Dr.
Madhuku: Well, I agree. I agree with the two comments.
Violet: And, we
have come to the end of this teleconference discussion. I
would like to
thank opposition officials Tendai Biti and Professor Welshman
Ncube, and
Civic Leader, Dr Lovemore Madhuku for their time. We hope our
listeners
found these discussions informative and explained the mindset of
the
pro-democracy movement in Zimbabwe.
Comments and feedback can be emailed
to violet@swradioafrica.com
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Activists struggle on despite new legal clampdown on same-sex
relationships.
By Joseph Mandigo in Harare (AR No.74,
15-Aug-06)
When Tracy Mhara, a 32-year-old lesbian from Harare,
travels the 150
kilometres to visit her family's rural home she goes
accompanied by a
married male friend whom she introduces as her
husband-to-be.
When they ask why he has not paid the customary lobola, a
set amount paid by
a prospective husband to the bride's family, of a dozen
or more cows, he
smiles and pleads poverty.
Constantly urged by her
grandparents to start a family, Mhara is now seeking
a friend who is willing
to father a baby so that she can fulfil a revered
custom of the Shona people
that the first-born in any family produces a
child.
"My grandparents
have been pestering me for a grandchild," said Mhara, whose
round face and
broad smile give her a deceptively cheerful appearance. "I
will do it just
to hush them up and cover my tracks."
Paul, a 34-year-old Bulawayo
teacher, has married twice and has a
six-year-old daughter. Paul said he was
forced to marry by his parents, and
that both his wives left after
discovering that their marriages were just
fronts. He attends church
regularly "to pray for his sin" but is unable to
abandon his lifestyle. He
said he was "born gay" and feels "insulted by
people who think this is a
prank".
Being openly homosexual in this southern African country is
considered such
a disgrace that coming out entails maintaining a delicate
balancing act
between modern freedoms and the age-old traditions of the
majority
Shona-speaking people.
Gays in Harare's closely-knit
community who spoke to IWPR said they
preferred to stay underground because
of growing official hostility and
ordinary people's intolerance towards
them.
Chesterfield Samba, 33, told IWPR he has been in love with another
man for
ten years. "What I want to say is that it is possible to be black,
gay and
Zimbabwean," he said. "People should stop equating us with
Satanists. We are
discriminated against and live in fear of being
victimised."
President Robert Mugabe has described homosexuals as "worse
than dogs and
pigs". That statement, reported around the world, was made a
decade ago but
it still reverberates in the country.
Mugabe charges
that homosexuality is unnatural and "un-African", saying it
is an alien
culture practised only by "a few whites" in his country. When he
wants to
attack his favourite foreign political target, British prime
minister Tony
Blair, he refers to "Blair's gay cabinet".
Until recently, homosexuality
was not illegal in Zimbabwe, although the
statutes outlawed sodomy. However,
a new law that came into force in August
makes "physical contact between
males that would be regarded by a reasonable
person as an indecent act" a
criminal offence.
In a terse response to the new law, Keith Goddard,
programme manager for the
group Gays and Lesbians in Zimbabwe, GALZ, said,
"Lesbians and gays are
there and have a right to their sexual preference.
Sexual preference is a
human right."
Geoff Feltoe, a professor of law
at the University of Zimbabwe, said the
amendments represented a hardening
of attitudes towards same
sex-relationships. "A seemingly intimate embrace
or hug between two men
would presumably be construed as a crime now," said
Feltoe. "It would seem
the impetus for such legal transformation was the
sensational sodomy trial
of the late Banana."
Zimbabwe's first
post-independence president, the Reverend Canaan Sodindo
Banana, died a
publicly disgraced figure after a high-profile sodomy
conviction.
Testimonies during his 17-day trial revealed him as a closet
homosexual who
abused male subordinates while in State House. Banana, a
Methodist minister
and a father of four, denied the charges. But a string of
state witnesses
testified that he used everything from drugged soft drinks
to the chance of
career advancement to secure sexual favours.
He was jailed and died in
November 2003.
So angry was Mugabe with Banana's homosexual trysts that
he did not forgive
him even in death, refusing permission for his body to be
interred at the
national shrine where Zimbabwe's "national heroes" are laid
to rest.
Even with the satisfaction that comes with standing up to
Mugabe, being
openly ngochani (gay) in conservative Zimbabwe means being
increasingly
lonely, ashamed and riddled with self-doubt.
"Mugabe has
successfully created the impression that gays are enemies of
society," said
Reverend Levee Kadenge, a school chaplain who preaches
tolerance toward
homosexuals. "I am not saying that homosexuality is
acceptable in Shona
culture, but there have been ways of accommodating it.
In our culture, when
people do something that isn't the norm, we say the
spirits are making them
do that, and we accept there must be a purpose."
In some communities,
said Kadenge, there is even a belief that having sex
with another man,
particularly a young one, can bring good fortune to the
older of the
two.
"By doing such an extraordinary thing, you get power from it," said
Kadenge.
"But the power remains only if you keep it under seal. If you talk
about it
or show other people, the strength goes. That is our
tradition."
Mugabe agrees that homosexuality is best dealt with quietly,
but he rejects
any suggestion that it is homegrown, insisting that gays and
lesbians are
remnants of colonialism.
His crusade, capped by the
latest legislation, has generated a climate of
fear in which gays feel more
threatened than ever.
The country's small number of outspoken gays and
lesbians - there are fewer
than 200 fee-paying members of GALZ in a country
of 11.5 million people -
say the new law will harden public attitudes and
make homosexuals' lives
"hellish". A recent fundraising event for GALZ was
cancelled after an
organiser was beaten up at a nightclub where it was to be
held. Tim Francis,
not his real name, who was there when his colleague was
attacked, said
police refused even to take a statement once they realised
the victim was
gay.
"Something that would have happened 30 or 35
years ago in America is
happening now in Zimbabwe," said Frankis, 32, who
aspires to eventually be
Zimbabwe's first openly gay member of parliament.
"We are very much in the
Dark Ages here."
Except in neighbouring
South Africa, where homosexuals of every creed and
colour are visible,
well-organised and entitled to equal rights under the
liberal state
constitution, there is little precedent in Africa for those
trying to
promote gay activism in Zimbabwe. In 1999 when the government
attempted to
write a new constitution, GALZ pushed for the inclusion of a
sexual
orientation clause, which was refused. The draft constitution was
itself
rejected in a referendum, albeit for a host of different reasons than
that
of homosexual rights.
Goddard told IWPR that since the Nineties, GALZ's
priority has been
preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst gays - this
despite fears that a
close association with AIDS awareness efforts would
cause the disease to be
perceived as a "gay plague". The group stepped into
the fray because it was
concerned that information about preventing HIV
transmission appeared to be
aimed at heterosexuals in a country where a
quarter of the population is
infected with HIV.
"The gay and lesbian
issue is completely ignored," said Goddard. However, he
said the association
was pleasantly surprised when it received a small sum
of taxpayers' money
from the government-run National Aids Council recently.
"An audit found that
we were one of the organisations which put the money to
good use," said
Goddard.
At present, GALZ is one of the few lobby groups in Zimbabwe that
has a
treatment plan up and running for people with full-blown AIDS. "Our
members
can die in traffic accidents or from any other cause, but we don't
want them
to die of AIDS," said GALZ health manager Martha
Thodlanah.
Before the end of the year, the association intends to have
all its
registered members taking an HIV test. It will also distribute
posters
warning people about the ways in which gays are vulnerable to
AIDS.
Taking its agenda a step further, GALZ has also applied to present
a paper
at the national AIDS conference later this year.
Police
harassment has driven one of GALZ's founders, Kudah Samuriwo, out of
the
country. He has become a drag performer on the London theatre circuit
with
his show "The Queen of Africa". One of his favourite jokes goes, "I
don't
know what Mugabe has against pigs and dogs. He must have had the worst
sex
ever with them."
In a recent BBC interview, Kudah said his uncle, a
soldier, raped him in the
early Seventies at the age of 14 the night after
his relative had returned
from Mugabe's military crackdown on the minority
Ndebele people of western
and southern Zimbabwe. His show charts his
personal story, including
Mugabe's oppression of the gay community, with
homosexuals repeatedly
bribed, detained, beaten and sometimes raped by the
authorities.
Kudah intends to take his show back home to Zimbabwe one day
as part of a
new liberation struggle. "After all, a Queen must protect her
subjects, even
if the president refuses to do so," he said.
Joseph
Mandigo is the pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 3:18 AM
Subject: zimbabwe
situation
The much
publicized internal split within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was
perhaps inevitable taking into consideration the political diversity of the
composition of its membership. The party was formed through the coming together
of supporters from different political walks of life, trade unionists,
employers, capitalists, socialists and non partisan intellectuals. For obvious
reasons the party did not attract heroes of the armed struggle, revolutionaries
and disgruntled Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)
supporters. Under normal political unity conditions, smaller parties join the
main opposition party. In the case of the MDC, political non-partisan people
from different political persuasions joined the umbrella of opposition parties
as individuals. The party was trade unionist lead with the majority of the
leadership having literally transferred from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions to take up positions at national, provincial and district levels.
It will be recalled that Munyaradzi Gwisayi, of the International
Socialist Party of Zimbabwe was declared incompatible with MDC principles and
lost the Highfield seat for supporting the government land redistribution
programme which was in favour of the black majority. The MDC could not attract
the possible maximum membership from the peasants due to failure to clarify
their position on the landownership issue. The majority were lead to believe
that the MDC was a white manipulated Trojan horse. The Mutambara faction
realised the political shortcomings of the MDC and decided to take the
initiative to renovate the party through changing its outlook from a perceived
former colonialist front party to a genuine democratic and revolutionary
opposition party. In his maiden speech, MDC President, Professor Arthur
Mutambara justly praised the heroes of the liberation struggle including
President Robert Mugabe for their contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe.
Like Gwisayi, Mutambara supports the principle of land redistribution but does
not support how it was implemented. Professor Mutambara made it quite clear that
he was prepared to join forces with anybody in the struggle to return political
and economic sanity to Zimbabwe.
Mutambara realises that the withdrawal
of labour and boycotts were not enough to break the backbone of a revolutionary
government whose leadership has no respect for basic economic principles and
national economic development. Lose of economic production time does not affect
the present government which beleaves in printing more money and suppressing the
opposition to the extent of starving the nation and demolish their houses. The
Mutambara and the Tsvangirai factions of the MDC should maintain the status quo
until the time comes for a joint party congress which must be held before the
presidential or general elections. The faction leaders must now start to tell
their supporters that the two functions equal arms of the MDC. The factions
share the same objective of liberating Zimbabwe from the economic meltdown under
ZANU PF management. The best examples of factions under the same political
umbrella party are the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which had
factions like the Palestine Revolutionary Council, Palestine Revolutionary
Command which continued fighting Israel even after the signing of the Oslo
agreement while at the same time the Al-Fatah group negotiated with Israel under
the same Palestine Liberation Organization umbrella. The African National
Congress of South Africa is a union of political parties and groups ranging from
the main ANC, South African Communist Party and Confederation of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU). The other example is that of the Sean Fein Irish
Republican Provisional Council and the Irish Republican Army in which Sean Fein
negotiated with the British government while the Irish Republican Army fought
the British government, in Angola, the National Union for Total Independence of
Angola (UNITA) Renovado continued occupying seats in government while the main
UNITA went into the bush to fight the government against election results
considered unfair. Today the two UNITA factions have merged to form a strong
opposition party in Angola. ZANU PF itself is made up of ZANU PF and PF ZAPU.
Despite the ZANU PF unity accord, the party has two factions fighting one
another over the pending departure of President Mugabe succession plan. The
revelations of Professor Jonathan Moyo versus John Nkomo and Dumiso Dabengwa
under the protection of the high court in Bulawayo will go a long way in
establishing the division within ZANU PF.
Honourable David Coltert is a
loyal MDC legal representative who is keen to see the party reunited or amicably
divorced but seem not to understand the implications of his strategy. Without a
clear understanding of the problem, the David Coltert reconciliation initiatives
will not be able to solve the current problem within the MDC. A legal divorce
is not possible since both parties are claiming to be the legal MDC making the
differences domestic in the eyes of the law. Should the MDC decide to take the
suicidal path of splitting into two parties, the Speaker will be empowered to
declare all former MDC seats in Parliament and the Senate vacant and call for
bi-elections of which ZANU PF will prevail. The people of Zimbabwe will not
forgive the MDC for forfeiting their hard worn seats in the Parliament and the
Senate. Should this happen before the proposed winter public demonstrations, the
government can even delay the registration of political parties and declare the
demonstrations illegal and justly arrest the illegal opposition leadership. The
two factions need political strategists to come together and assist Honourable
David Coltert in the reconciliation effort which is now more important than
holding political rallies, mass demonstrations and overseas tours. I would
advise David Coltert to review his strategy and consider negotiating a unity
agreement for the joint MDC extraordinary congress endorsement. I am inviting
comments from Honourable David Coltert and other conflict resolution
practitioners.
Dr Andrew Choga
PhD in International Relations
Los Angeles Times
Police and youth militias
confiscate old currency notes before Monday's
exchange deadline.
Hyperinflation has crippled the economy.
By Zakeus Chibaya and Robyn Dixon,
Special to The Times
August 16, 2006
MBERENGWA, Zimbabwe -
Highways are clogged by roadblocks as police conduct
lengthy searches for
currency before a revaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar
aimed at reining in
the country's hyperinflation.
Mourners say they have been forced to open
coffins, and some women say they
have had to submit to body cavity
searches.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe lopped three
zeroes off the currency more than
two weeks ago and gave people until Monday
to exchange their old notes. It
also put a strict limit on how many notes
can be exchanged each day.
The government of President Robert Mugabe
blames currency hoarding for the
country's economic problems. Mugabe warned
Tuesday that the government would
crack down on any violent protests when
the old currency expired, state
radio said.
Zimbabwe's economy, once
one of the strongest in Africa, has been in a free
fall for five years. The
country faces severe shortages of foreign currency,
fuel, food, medicine and
basic goods. The problems began when the once-rich
agricultural sector
collapsed after Mugabe redistributed land on large
farms, many of which were
white-owned.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence in
1980, accuses
Britain and other Western governments of sabotaging his
country. His critics
accuse him of ruining the backbone of the economy and
then printing money to
meet a demand for cash, sparking
hyperinflation.
Before the devaluation was announced, the official
exchange rate was 250,000
Zimbabwean dollars to one U.S. dollar, but the
black market rate was
555,000. Since then, the black market value of the
Zimbabwean currency has
declined sharply as dealers try to dump
it.
Police and youth militias of the ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, are confiscating cash from anyone
carrying more than 100 million in old currency.
"They government is
trying to rob us of our hard-earned cash," Thomas
Matumbura said at a
roadblock in Landela, south of Harare, the capital. He
said his family was
forced to open the coffin of his older brother, Tinos.
Shuvai Mpofu, 43,
a widow in Mberengwa, about 250 miles south of Harare,
said she lost her
savings last week when ZANU-PF youth militias conducting
door-to-door
searches took 200 million Zimbabwean dollars.
"I had sold two cattle to
pay for school fees for my two daughters," she
said. "They harassed me and
accused me of sabotaging the economy, and they
did not give me a
receipt."
At a roadblock outside Masvingo, about 300 miles south of the
capital, Ozias
Mutuwe, who runs a bottle store in a nearby town, said he
bribed police
after he and his business partner were picked up while on
their way to
deposit their daily earnings.
"We ended up paying 50
million to the police manning the roadblock so they'd
let us go. Mugabe is
creating criminals," said Mutuwe, who is in his early
20s.
Tensions
are running high.
A businessman, Tichaona Muchabaiwa, was charged with
insulting the president
Friday after he lost his temper at a roadblock and
allegedly began shouting
about Mugabe.
In a speech Monday, Mugabe
attacked "economic saboteurs" and people who
"worship the god of wealth and
who have shown unbridled greed, corruption
and self-aggrandizement," the
official newspaper the Herald reported
Tuesday.
Mashanu Jacob, a
financial trader interviewed in Harare, said black market
currency dealers
were desperate to unload their old currency before Monday's
deadline.
"They are trying to make us ordinary people into
scapegoats. They have
destroyed the economy and they are turning the blame
onto everyone else," he
said.
Reserve Bank chief Gideon Gono said
recently that only 12.5% of the nation's
currency flowed through the banking
system, and the rest remained in a
shadow economy. The Reserve Bank has
seized trillions of Zimbabwean dollars,
including one haul of 10 trillion
being smuggled into the country at Harare
Airport.
Some economists
warn that the devaluation could cripple the informal
economy, which has
become the mainstay of economic activity.
Bernard Mafute, director of the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries,
welcomed the devaluation because
businesses were unable to cope with huge
sums in transactions. But he called
on the government to introduce a
realistic exchange rate.
John
Robertson, an economist in Harare, said the devaluation meant people
would
no longer have to carry sacks of cash to the supermarket, but it did
nothing
to address Zimbabwe's fundamental economic crisis.
He said the militias
and police at roadblocks were "literally robbing people
of their
money."
"People know they're being cheated and harassed," Robertson
said.
He said as long as the government continued printing money,
inflation could
rise from 1,000% to 2,000% by the end of the
year.
"You can carry on going downhill indefinitely," he said, adding
that some
people, particularly those connected to the government, could get
rich
manipulating the economy.
"There are houses being built in
Harare that you would not expect to be seen
outside Hollywood," he said.
OhMyNews
But
government fails to address ongoing economic hardships
Nelson
G. Katsande (NELKA)
Published 2006-08-16 15:39
(KST)
In 1980, when Zimbabwe attained independence from
Britain, President
Robert Mugabe won the hearts of his followers with his
power of oratory. But
26 years later, Mugabe is faced with the struggle of
getting back the
confidence of the people who religiously worshiped him.
Even some members of
his police force and army have deserted and sought
asylum in Britain and
neighboring countries.
As Zimbabwe held
its annual Heroes Day commemorations on Monday,
Mugabe said, "Our heroes
believed in the principles of freedom, justice and
self determination and
were, thus, able to ascend the altar of
self-sacrifice for their
nation."
The commemorations held at the national shrine were poorly
attended.
If Monday's turnout is symbolic, Mugabe should read between the
lines and
get the message the people are trying to convey.
This
is not the time for great speeches and phrases. The people are
starving and
want solutions to the problems bedeviling the country.
Again in
July, people snubbed the Umdala Wethu gala held in Bulawayo.
The gala is
held every year to celebrate the life of the late Joshua Nkomo.
In
a move likely to be viewed as repossessing farms from those he once
allocated, Mugabe warned that mere opportunists who hold land should be made
to seek their fortunes elsewhere. The new farmers have been called to use
the land or lose it, but the majority of the beneficiaries lack the farming
skills and equipment. His pre-election promise of supplying new farmers with
training and machinery has not been forthcoming.
At every
public gathering, Mugabe has always taken a swipe at Britain
and America,
and Monday's gathering was no exception. He hailed Zimbabweans
for what he
called resilience under economic hardships caused by some
Western countries'
illegal sanctions. But analysts blame Mugabe for his
haphazard seizure of
white-owned farms and the destruction of viable home
industries under the
infamous "operation murambatsvina."
As economic hardships bite, the
majority of people are withdrawing
their children from schools as a result
of increases in fees. Even Mugabe
himself is feeling the pinch. A Zimbabwe
independent daily, newzimbabwe.com,
recently reported that he was refusing
to pay his son's school fees,
insisting that they do not match the Consumer
Price Index.
The education minister was instructed to write a
letter to Hartman
Primary School where his son, Chatunga, 9, attends,
advising them to reduce
the fees.
With Mugabe feeling the pinch
of his economic programs, one wonders
how the ordinary folk feels.
Fin24
16/08/2006
14:35
Harare - Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo is running out of
maize
meal, but the staple is still available in the capital Harare, state
media
reported on Wednesday.
"A (Bulawayo) survey carried out by
this newspaper showed that most
outlets had run out of maize meal," the
state-owned Chronicle newspaper
said.
President Robert Mugabe's
government has this year forecast a 1.8
million tonne maize harvest, which
is expected to meet the country's food
needs for the first time since 2001.
Other forecasts see a much smaller
crop.
The newspaper said
Bulawayo's shortages might stem from millers
holding on to maize meal to
press for a price increase.
"Maize-meal shortages have resurfaced
in Bulawayo amid fears that
millers are creating the artifical shortages to
press for an increase in the
price of the commodity," the paper
said.
In Harare most shops had stocks of maize meal, with some
saying
deliveries were expected to resume this week after a two-day
holiday.
Maize is a controlled commodity in Zimbabwe and is sold
only to the
Grain Marketing Board (GMB), which then distributes it for
milling to
private firms.
The GMB buys maize from farmers at
Z$31m a tonne and sells it to
millers at a 10th of the price but has barred
some millers for reselling the
commodity back to the GMB through third
parties.
GMB officials were not available for comment on
Wednesday.
Aid agencies have warned of another food deficit in the
country this
year, saying a lack of inputs such as seed and fertiliser has
undermined
production in the recently ended summer cropping
season.
Zimbabwe has suffered food shortages since 2001 after being
hit by
drought and disruptions to agriculture blamed partly on the
controversial
seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to
landless
blacks.
The lastest exchange rate data indicates that
US$1 is worth roughly
Z$250 000.
August 16,
2006
By ANDnetwork .com
Harare (AND) ZIMBABWE is
headed for a grim six months which could see
people adopting negative coping
mechanisms such as prostitution, warns a
joint United Nations and aid
agencies appeal for the Southern African
country.
According to
the revised mid term Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe
(CAP), things are set
to get worse in a country which has the highest
inflation in the
world.
The appeal which seeks to raise of US$ 257,704,411 for
humanitarian
assistance programmes, predicts further deterioration of the
situation in
Zimbabwe.
"Among the expected developments are:
decreases in the quality of and
access to basic services; deepening of urban
poverty; continued difficulty
for people previously employed in the informal
sector in re-establishing
their livelihoods; continued emigration, both
legally and illegally; and
deepening overall vulnerability to natural
disasters,"
The appeal says unless appropriate humanitarian action
is taken, "the
use of negative coping mechanisms (such as sexual
transactions) could
increase, placing vulnerable persons at further risk,
deepening poverty and
reducing opportunities for recovery."
"The priorities for the next six months and beyond will be to save
lives,
enhance positive coping mechanisms and livelihoods, mitigate the
impact on
vulnerable populations, and ensure a comprehensive and
co-ordinated
humanitarian response from national and
international
actors."
The appeal bemoaned the absence of a comprehensive
assessment of the
problem at hand which placed limitations on humanitarian
planning and
response.
As of 23 June, the appeal has raised US
$111,966,162.
Harare Bureu,AND