| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
The eccentric character from Ally
Mcbeal, John Cage, said something quite interesting on Monday night. "You are
nothing, if not a soul." or something to that effect.
Victims are the poor
farmers, the poor farm workers, the poor recipients of political violence
basically the poor "feel sorry for me" kind. This is a harsh observation.
Any person who is a victim of racism, for example, is racist themselves because
they believe and accept that it is okay to be discriminated against. That is the
victim syndrome, that kept the children of Israel in captivity untill Moses came
along.
Survivors are the same poor farmers, farm workers, recepients of
political violence, the "i do not want your pity, give me your support" kind who
persevere. Easy to say from an office desk top, you might retort but we
all have choices. You can choose to turn and flee or live and perhaps die. The
passengers of the hijacked Panam flight that was apparently headed for the white
house chose to do something about their circumstances and crashed the plane.
Instead of passively screaming their heads off all the way to the chosen
destination by al quaeda, they chose to live. In doing so, they paid with their
lives and died but saved lives that we will never be able to enumerate. Life can
be quite harsh.
Victors are Nelson Mandela and more recently Ronaldo. I
was in Paris, when the rumour spread that Ronaldo had died that morning. The
Brazilian team did not even come out for the pre-match warm up. When they came
out, Ronaldo was still alive but it was not him playing. It was a victim of some
mysterious epileptic fit. The result France 3, Brazil 0. Second place is
unacceptable in Brazil. Winning without flair is probably a bigger crime. Over
the next three years, Ronaldo the survivor emerged. Plagued by knee and thigh
injuries, comeback after comeback failed. With his healthy bank balance, he
could have opted for retirement and led a playboy lifestyle on the copacabana
beach. But, hell no, we won't go! prevailed and the young lad had one more
comeback a couple of months before the Korea-Japan world cup. He played only one
friendly for his country before the tournament started. Then the challenge came:
Ronaldo declared that he would only be completely rehabilitated if Brazil not
only won the cup with some flair, but also if he ended up top goal scorer. What
cheek! What arrogance!
In the final of the world cup, Ronaldo was substituted
about 10 minutes before the end of the game. Not only had he scored a goal per
game, not only were the underdogs in the final thanks to this high return from
Ronaldo, but he had also just scored two goals to win the cup for his country.
As the match entered its last few minutes, young Ronaldo was weeping into the
arms of one of the coaching staff...laying his ghost to rest. Ronaldo had moved
from victim to survivor and finally to victor. Ronaldo dedicated his comeback
and victory to his physio.
Who is your physio? What choices are you going to
make over the next few days? Are you responding to your soul as the eccentric
John Cage suggests? Noted Psychologist, William James has said: " The greatest
discvery of my generation is that humans can alter their lives by altering their
attitude of mind." Are you going to be a victim, are you surviving, holding on
or are you going to emerge victorious? Dr Stephen Johnson has written a book
called Who Moved My Cheese. May i suggest you read it.
" We are not
prisoners of the past, we are pioneers of the future."
Humbly,
Albert
Gumbo.
31 July 2002
From ZWNEWS, 31 July
Let them eat cake
By Michael Hartnack
Anyone can balance their books by the simple expedient of not paying their bills, as Zimbabwe Finance Minister Simba Makoni demonstrated last week when he presented a supplementary "mini-budget’’ to Parliament. Derisive laughter from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change greeted much of his 45-minute statement. Makoni's books "balance" by simply defaulting on service of US $1,1 billion in international debt, and financing day-to-day government by borrowing from captive local financial institutions at a quarter the rate of inflation. Pensioners and others who have their life savings invested are forced to lend to Robert Mugabe’s regime; and for every dollar they hand over they get only 40 cents back at the end of the year. Many elderly people would be unable to survive without remittances from relatives abroad.
Makoni blamed all Zimbabwe's economic troubles on drought and inflation - meticulously avoiding reference to the disruption of agriculture by state-sponsored militants, and the seizure of 5 000 commercial farms, the invasions of factories, tourist facilities and other business premises. He referred coyly to "our agrarian transformation" which, to be a success, now requires vast injections of inputs – Z$8,5 billion. He allocated Z$17,1 billion to food relief for 7,8 million people. But this comes to US $310 million at the official rate of exchange, and is already pretty well offset by US $236 million in pledges Zimbabwe has already received from foreign donors. In other words, if drought were Zimbabwe’s only problem, there would be little to worry about. "Government is committed to striving to ensure that no citizen of Zimbabwe dies of starvation," Makoni announced. According to Catholic churchmen, 27 children have already died of malnutrition-related diseases at Binga, on the shores of Lake Kariba, where ruling Zanu PF militants prevent distribution of relief to suspected MDC voters' families. Angela Rippon of the British Red Cross last week reported that three children had died at their school desks. Makoni announced plans for supplementary feeding schemes for under-5s and for schoolchildren in the 5-9 age group, which, even if it happened, would do nothing for the millions withdrawn from school because their parents cannot afford the fees. Able-bodied adults will receive relief in "food for work" schemes and the elderly and infirm will get it free, Makoni added, to MDC shouts of "Zanu PF only!"
Makoni admitted that with the agricultural sector shrinking by 24,6 percent (against his October 2001 estimate of 6,9 percent), manufacturing by 11,9 percent (forecast 7 percent), mining by 4,9 percent (2,4 percent) and the hotel and distribution sector by 12 percent (8,6 percent), the economy would contract by an overall 11,1 percent this year. Agricultural exports will decline 13,6 percent. He said revenues were above target only because of runaway inflation, adding with masterly understatement, "We therefore do not celebrate." Extra funds were allocated to chronically inefficient parastatals, and – to MDC shouts of "It was illegitimate," to running elections. In all, Makoni said he would finance Z$52 billion additional expenditure by re-allocating spending between ministries and by seeking Z$11,5 billion (U$209 million at the official exchange rate) from a revaluation of "non-essential" imports for customs duty purposes. This effective devaluation came just two days after Mugabe explicitly rejected any form of devaluation and savagely attacked the existence of parallel exchange rates.
In an inflation-fuelling step, Makoni said "non-essentials" would be valued at an exchange rate of Z$300 to U$1 instead of the official rate of Z$55. (The black market rate is now running at Z$500-$700 for one American dollar.) Imported goods, including spares of every sort, domestic appliances, and medicines, are likely to jump by 500 percent in price. In addition, the discretion customs officers will enjoy opens the door wider to corruption. On July 23, Mugabe declared at the opening of Parliament that devaluation was "dead." He explained that the Zimbabwe dollar would recover its 55-US $1 value by virtue a huge new outflow of exports, triggered by his "agrarian revolution." It all illustrated the determination of Zanu PF, from Mugabe downward, to proclaim utterly contradictory notions. However, the ruling party’s sheer insensitivity to reality could not be better illustrated than by a full-colour photograph that appeared on the front page of the state-controlled Herald, and again (enlarged) inside, on the very day Makoni made his statement about 7.8 million needing food relief. The 78-year-old Mugabe was shown feeding birthday cake by hand into the mouth of his 30-something wife, Grace, at a lavish reception at Harare's five-star Sheraton International Hotel. She was wearing an outfit that might have made supermodel Cindy Crawford jealous.
From The Daily News (SA), 29 July
Spoornet shunts food aid off the rails
Famine and starvation is crippling southern African countries north of the Limpopo and the situation is set to worsen as Spoornet - which supplies them with food - reduces the number of trains which transport grain. With the government's privatisation of parastatals, including Transnet whose subsidiaries include Spoornet, the number of trains is expected to be cut drastically to save the cost of maintaining the ageing fleet. World Food Programme (WFP) deputy executive director Jean-Jacques Graisse said: "We see this as a crisis of enormous proportions. The situation worsens with each day." The reports, based on recent WFP missions to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, warned that about 12,8 million people faced serious food shortages until the region's next main harvest in April 2003. Given the gravity of the findings by the assessment missions, UN agencies have called on donor governments worldwide for rapid donations to avert a humanitarian crisis. About 1,2 million metric tons of food aid are needed immediately to relieve the hungry. Over the next year, four million metric tons of food would have to be imported to meet the needs of the affected people.
However, National Milling Co-Operative chief executive Jannie de Villiers said Spoornet simply did not have the capacity to deal with a problem of this magnitude. De Villiers said Spoornet had already had a problem distributing grain throughout South Africa. "You order 40 locomotives and they bring only 10, resulting in a mill working only half a day," said de Villiers. He described the crisis as still in its infancy stage and warned that the crunch was still coming. Independent grain trader James Chryton, echoed De Villiers, saying Spoornet had been under pressure from Public Enterprise Minister Jeff Radebe to cut down the number of locomotives in a move to make Spoornet profitable. He said that making Spoornet profitable was part of the larger scheme of making the parastatal more attractive to potential investors and strategic partners. Mxolisi Mgojo, a mining magnate from Eyesizwe Mining Company, observed that the government was "reaping the fruits" of under-investing in its rolling stock in the past few years.
The Commons foreign affairs select committee has accused Mr Mugabe of "deliberately and systematically" flouting the rule of law.
 One man can exalt a nation as Nelson Mandela did South
Africa; one man can destroy a nation, as Mugabe has Zimbabwe  |
|
Foreign affairs committee |
The fierce criticism comes after the BBC discovered food aid had been blocked from some areas which voted against Mr Mugabe in the March elections.
The MPs argue the UK was right to refuse to accept the result of those polls and demand a new "free and fair" vote.
Travel ban
They also back ministers' successful calls for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth and say Tony Blair should continue targeted sanctions against Mr Mugabe and his ruling elite.
Those sanctions include the European Union's ban on members of the ruling elite.
But the rules on allowing such figures to go to international meetings must be clarified, says the committee.
Zimbabwe faces mass
starvation |
"By abusing their fundamental freedoms he has earned their contempt and that of the international community and has transformed himself from a respected statesman into an outcast.
"The tragedy is that he has taken his country with him."
UK's duties
"One man can exalt a nation as Nelson Mandela did South Africa; one man can destroy a nation, as Mugabe has Zimbabwe."
The MPs say the UK has a "particular obligation" to help rebuild the country but its status as the former colonial power means it is viewed with mistrust.
Despite that problem, it is "vitally important" for the UK to continue to increase its aid to the Zimbabwean people, they say.
Such aid should not be channelled through the Harare government but through other nations and aid agencies.
Tackling land reform
More support should be also given to independent journalists and to the BBC World Service in Zimbabwe, the MPs recommend.
Land reform has been one of the crunch issues in Zimbabwe.
The report condemns what it says is Mr Mugabe's role in the violent seizure of farms and for "rewarding his cronies with gifts of expropriated land".
Instead, there should be a land reform programme which helps genuine farmers and which is monitored by the international community, it says.