From Reuters, 31 July
Zimbabwe c.bank redenominates sliding
currency
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank said on Monday it had
decided to knock
three zeros off all banknotes to help consumers deal with
hyperinflation of
nearly 1,200 percent -- the highest inflation rate in the
world. "Our
currency is in trouble. Our people are experiencing incredible
hardships and
inconveniences associated with too many zeros," central bank
governor Gideon
Gono said. "All monetary values ... have been re-based by
striking out three
zeroes," he said in a televised monetary policy review.
Economists said the
step did not amount to a revaluation but was aimed at
making it easier for
consumers to handle increasingly unwieldy wads of
banknotes as inflation
soars. "Our understanding is that it ... just means
that you ignore the last
three zeros on notes so it isn't a revaluation.
Prices will adjust but
nothing will change in real terms," said one analyst
who wished to remain
anonymous. "You will pay exactly the same for goods so
it won't change
inflation, it will just make it easier to calculate prices
and people were
running our of banknotes." Gono said the change to new
currency
denominations would take effect on August 1, 2006 and Zimbabweans
had to
phase out old banknotes within three weeks. Zimbabwe's sliding dollar
has
been officially devalued several times over the past few years but is
still
selling at more than four times the official rate of $1=$Z101,195 on
an
illegal parallel market - which dwarfs the official market. The southern
African country's economy -- once the breadbasket of the region - has shrunk
by more than a third during the past eight years of recession, while
unemployment is estimated at between 70 and 80
percent.
------------
From Reuters, 31 July
Zimbabwe
devalues currency 60 pct
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank devalued
its dollar by 60 percent on Monday
after announcing it had decided to knock
three zeros off all banknotes to
help consumers deal with hyperinflation of
nearly 1,200 percent. "With
immediate effect the interbank exchange rate has
been adjusted to the
trading level, after the removal of the three zeroes
... to 250 Zimbabwe
dollars to 1 U.S. dollar," central bank Gideon Gono said
in a televised
address. Based on the currency's old official exchange rate
of $1=$Z101,195
after knocking off three zeros the new rate amounts to a 60
percent
devaluation, based on IMF
methods.
------------------
From Reuters, 31
July
Zimbabwe c.bank slashes interest rates to 300
pct
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank governor Gideon Gono slashed the
country's
main lending rate by 550 percentage points to 300 percent on
Monday as part
of efforts to kick-start its ailing economy. Gono announced
the step in a
televised monetary policy review in which he devalued the
Zimbabwe dollar's
official exchange rate by 60 percent and redenominated the
currency to help
consumers deal with hyperinflation of almost 1,200 percent.
"It has also
become necessary that we fine tune the levels of accommodation
rates so as
to balance the virtues of anti-inflation demand management and
the .-
continued flow of credit to the productive sectors of the economy,"
Gono
said. The central bank's secured accommodation rate is also known as
its
bank rate, which it uses when lending money to commercial
banks.
-----------------
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 10:13
PM
Subject: New Zimbabwe Dollar
Dear Sir/Madam
As you are
all probably aware the Reserve Bank are introducing many new
measures from
1st August 2006 (tomorrow) and the minister of finance has
introduced new
tax bans to be implemented from 1st September, 2006
The first change is
that the old Zimbabwe dollar is to be replaced with new
Zimbabwe Bearer
notes from tomorrow - Z$1000 of the old money will now be $1
of the new
money. There will be new notes from 1 cent to $100 000 -
equivalent to: from
$10 to $1m of the old (existing ) money.
You have to change all your
existing cash within 21 days - by 21st August ,
2006 - you are only allowed
to change up to $100m as an individual and $750
m as a company unless you
can give valid reasons otherwise- otherwies the
money will be
worthless
I am not sure what is going to happen to cheques in the post
that arrive
after today - are they at the old rate or the new? - if anyone
knows please
let me know
The minister of finance also announced new
tax measures and tax bands to be
introduced from 1st September - these will
already have to be revised in
view of the new Z$
We as the payroll
authors group intend seeing Zimra officials over the next
couple of days to
verify exactly how they want to implement these new
measures and I will send
out another email advising you accordingly
There will obviously be a new
version of the payroll software out later this
week once I have verified
things with ZImra
Regards
Mike Garden
Managing
Director
Softrite
Harare
Zim Online
Tue 1 August
2006
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's government on Monday began
deploying its controversial youth militia at Zimbabwe's border posts as part
of a clampdown on travellers it accuses of siphoning huge amounts of cash
outside the country.
The youths, derisively referred to by
Zimbabweans as "green bombers"
because of their cruelty and high-handedness
when dealing with civilians,
are accused by churches and human rights groups
of hunting down, beating and
torturing opposition supporters as punishment
for not backing Mugabe's
government.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) governor Gideon Gono, who was
presenting mid-year monetary policy
review, told the nation that youths
would be deployed at the country's more
than six border posts by lunch time
yesterday. They will work together with
the police and exchange control
officials, Gono said.
"By
lunchtime the Zimbabwe Republic Police, youths and exchange
control
officials will be stationed at border posts. All these (border
posts) will
be well manned," said Gono, who also revealed that of the $43
trillion
dollars in circulation the RBZ could only account for between $10
and $15
trillion.
The rest "is doing some work outside the
country" said a visibly
exasperated Gono.
Zimbabwe's exchange
control laws prohibit people from taking more than
five million dollars
outside the country. But the government says "economic
saboteurs" have
illegally stashed trillions of dollars in neighbouring
countries where they
use it for speculative purposes or to finance deals on
the illegal
black-market for foreign currency.
Gono, who announced a raft of
other drastic measures meant to shore up
the country's collapsing economy,
said anyone caught trying to repatriate
back to Zimbabwe local currency
amounting to more than five million dollars
would be
prosecuted.
He said: "Any excesses of $5 million in old bearer
notes (a temporary
currency introduced in 2003 after cash shortages) will be
forfeited, with
holders being prosecuted for breach of Exchange Control
Regulations and
Anti-money Laundering Laws, through illegal export of
currency in the first
place."
An estimated three million
Zimbabweans or a quarter of the country's
12 million people live and work
outside the country after fleeing home
because of worsening economic
hardships and political violence.
A vast majority of the exiles do
not change their hard cash on the
official market where Gono controls the
exchange rate. They opt to sell
foreign currency on the black-market which
is found in the country and among
Zimbabwean immigrants in neighbouring
countries.
The black-market - the only sure source of hard cash in
Zimbabwe -
offers better returns with the American dollar trading at
anything above
Z$300 000 per unit. Gono yesterday adjusted the official
exchange rate to
one greenback per Z$250 000, which translates to Z$250
after the central
bank chief knocked off three zeros on all
denominations.
Before the latest adjustment, the official exchange
rate had remained
fixed at one United States dollar to Z$101 195 for several
months.
Thousands of Zimbabwean women who travel to neighbouring
countries
especially South Africa and Botswana to buy basic commodities in
short
supply at home also take out huge amounts of Zimbabwe dollars to these
countries which they use to buy foreign currency from black-market
dealers.
But placing youth militia - who have a reputation of
brutal tactics -
at the country's border posts could deliver the knock-out
punch to
Zimbabwe's tourism sector, already facing viability problems as
visitors
shun the country because of its reputation of human rights abuses,
political
violence and lawlessness. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 1 August
2006
HARARE - A raft of measures announced by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe
(RBZ) yesterday will not resolve the country's six-year economic
crisis and
at best could only restore a modicum of viability to exporters
such as gold
miners, analysts told ZimOnline.
They described
the measures, contained in a mid-year monetary policy
review presented to
the nation by RBZ governor Gideon Gono, as "cosmetic"
and skirting the root
causes of an economic crisis that the World Bank says
is the worst in the
world outside a war zone.
Consultant economist John Robertson said
despite the various
concessions given to exporters and gold miners, a
drastic currency
devaluation as well as the reduction of interest rates,
Gono's measures
barely scratched the surface.
The governor -
specifically tasked by President Robert Mugabe to turn
around an economy
that has haemorrhaged since 2000 - overlooked the real
issues, Robertson
said.
"He overlooked the problems of scarcities, lack of job
creation and
restoring confidence which are critical issues in the fight to
rebuild the
economy," noted Robertson.
Zimbabwe's inflation
remains the highest in the world at 1 184.6
percent in June. The rate is
expected to go up in July on the back of
increases averaging more than 50
percent in the prices of bread, public
transport fares and electricity
tariffs during the past four weeks.
University of Zimbabwe business
school lecturer Anthony Hawkins said
the devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar
was inadequate.
The central bank effected a pseudo-devaluation of
the Zimbabwe dollar
by 60 percent after knocking three zeros off all
banknotes.
"With immediate effect the interbank exchange rate has
been adjusted
to the trading level, after the removal of the three zeroes
... to 250
Zimbabwe dollars to 1 US dollar," Gono announced in a televised
address.
Previously the official exchange rate was Z$101 195 to one
United
States dollar, which was a fraction of the rate on the illegal but
thriving
foreign currency black-market where the American unit fetched
upwards of
Z$300 000.
"The devaluation was inadequate and
knocking off the zeroes will
create more confusion without solving the
problem of inflation," said
Hawkins.
Bulawayo-based economic
commentator Eric Bloch concurred: "Knocking
off of the three zeroes will
have no effect on economic reconstruction
although I want to believe most of
the other measures are a fair attempt at
restoring viability of some
sectors."
The analysts however agreed that the move allowing gold
producers and
other exporters to retain 75 percent of their hard currency
earnings will go
some way in restoring viability in these vital
sectors.
"There were also the positive steps by the governor to
bring down
interest rates, act on money supply growth and remove subsidies
which will
be beneficial to the economy," said Bloch, who is an economic
adviser to
Gono.
Lending rates were reduced from 850 percent to
300 percent, while gold
companies are now allowed to retain 75 percent in
gold proceeds without time
restrictions in their foreign currency accounts
(FCAs) from the previous 40
percent. Other exporters will now retain 75
percent of their earnings in
FCAs, from the current 70 percent.
The gold support price has been abandoned, and miners will receive
international price at "the ruling market exchange rate". Farmers will no
longer access subsidised fuel.
Robertson, however, warned that
the move to allow exporters to retain
a large chunk of their earnings
without time restrictions could help hamper
the foreign currency parallel
market rate by starving that market of funds.
"This means that less
money will be available for sale on the parallel
market where we could soon
witness rates dropping," said Robertson.
Under what he termed
"Project Sunrise", Gono announced the
introduction of a "new family" of
bearer cheques that were issued by the RBZ
as a temporary form of currency
after Zimbabwe ran out of bank notes in
2003.
The central bank
chief gave Zimbabweans until 21 August to dispose of
old cheques in their
possession. The project will also see the
re-introduction of coins, to
replace some lower denomination notes.
People with huge sums of
bearer cheques to dispose off will be
required to produce proof of source of
the money where the funds involved
are in excess of $100 million for
individuals and $5 billion for companies.
Where such proof is not
available, the funds will be confiscated and
deposited into an
"anti-laundering bond" for two years at zero interest
rate.
To
curtail money laundering and parallel foreign exchange activities,
Gono
limited daily cash withdrawal to $100 000 for individuals and $750 000
for
companies.
The central bank will with immediate effect monitor all
payments by
banks of more than $1 million.
The project will
also include the introduction of "border patrols"
involving the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority, Zimbabwe Republic Police and
"youths" to investigate the
"illegal" export and import of local currency.
Gono estimates that
there is more than Z$33 trillion outside the
country in what he termed
"mini-central banks".
Under the new measures, anyone caught with
currency in excess of $5
million will be prosecuted.
Hyperinflation is one of many severe symptoms of Zimbabwe's economic
crisis
that has also spawned shortages of fuel, electricity, essential
medicines,
hard cash and just about every basic survival commodity.
The main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and Western
governments
blame the crisis on repression and wrong policies by Mugabe such
as his
seizure of productive farms from whites for redistribution to
landless
blacks.
The farm seizures destabilised the mainstay agricultural
sector and
caused severe food shortages after the government failed to give
black
villagers resettled on former white farms skills training and inputs
support
to maintain production.
But Mugabe, who has ruled
Zimbabwe since the country's independence
from Britain in 1980, denies
mismanaging the country and says its problems
are because of economic
sabotage by Western governments opposed to his
seizure of white land. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 1 August
2006
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers who are
staying
in South Africa have been urged to learn local languages to help
them
integrate into local communities and fight off xenophobia.
The call was made by the Zimbabwe Pastors Forum president Steven
Chiadzwa at
a meeting of civic groups in Johannesburg last weekend organised
by the
Civic Dialogues Africa to foster dialogue among African
communities.
Chiadzwa said refugee communities should learn to
speak local
languages to help them integrate into local
communities.
Chiadzwa said: "In my experience in dealing with the
issues of
xenophobia, Zimbabweans must humble themselves and learn South
African
languages and cultures.
"To some extent, it's an insult
to answer someone in English when they
greet you in Zulu, Shangaan, Xhosa or
Venda.
"I have been working as a missionary in a number of nations
for many
years. One of the most effective ways to be incorporated into
African
societies or communities is to learn their culture and
language."
Last weekend's meeting was designed to explore ways on
how to end
xenophobia between South African police and department of home
affairs
officials and Zimbabwean asylum seekers and refugees.
Zimbabwean refugee communities in South Africa have often accused the
government and South African media of promoting xenophobia by portraying
Zimbabweans in a negative light. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 1 August 2006
HARARE - Victims of last
year's government clean-up exercise who are
staying at Hopley Farm in Harare
last weekend went on the rampage looting
food and some building equipment
after security guards manning the camp
downed their tools over unpaid
salaries.
At least 300 families are staying at the farm after the
Zimbabwean
government demolished their houses and backyard shacks during a
controversial clean-up campaign that left at least 700 000 people without
shelter.
Last Saturday, the displaced families and striking
security guards who
were manning the camp, joined hands to strip the holding
camp of building
materials which included bags of cement, window and door
frames as well as
bags of maize-meal.
"It was a free-for-all
because there was no security at all, even at
the main entrance. We suspect
that some of the guards were also involved in
the looting," one of the
residents told ZimOnline yesterday.
Acting provincial social
welfare officer for Harare, Ezekiel Mpande,
who is in charge of Hopley Farm,
confirmed the looting.
"I can confirm that we lost property worth
billions of dollars but for
further details you should get in touch with the
secretariat responsible for
Operation Garikayi. They are the ones who can
fully comment on the matter,"
said Mpande.
Last year, the
Zimbabwe government said it was constructing thousands
of houses across the
country to house victims of the housing demolition
exercise.
But very few houses have been completed so far with most of the
families at
Hopley Farm and other holding camps still to be allocated new
houses built
under the ambitious reconstruction exercise dubbed Operation
Garikayi. -
ZimOnline
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Widespread disappointment at the appointment of a man seen as an
ally of
President Mugabe instead of a planned intervention by the United
Nations.
By Joseph Magariro in Harare (AR No. 72,
31-Jul-06)
Disappointment, despair and helplessness sum up the way many
ordinary
Zimbabweans feel following a decision by United Nations
Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to abandon efforts to mediate in their
country's ever-deepening
political, economic and social crisis.
There
is little confidence here that the mediation effort Zimbabwean
president
Robert Mugabe has promoted as an alternative - using former
Tanzanian
president Benjamin Mkapa, seen as a political ally - will yield
any
results.
Although Annan's mission had been widely supported by the
international
community, he withdrew from it after meeting President Mugabe
at the July
summit of the African Union in Gambia. There Mugabe told the
UN's top man
that he was not needed, and that Mkapa would do the job
instead.
Asked whether he still planned to visit Zimbabwe, Annan replied,
"You don't
have two mediators."
Mugabe suggested that the UN chief
abandoned his mediation role because, as
an African, he would not wish to be
tarnished by being seen to be influenced
by or aligned with the British
government. Annan immediately denied this
assertion, saying Mugabe's
appointment of Mkapa as mediator meant his own
diplomatic initiative was
dead in the water.
The prospect of intervention by Annan had been the
last ray of hope for many
Zimbabweans, who thought he might have been able,
against the odds, to push
Mugabe to the negotiating table to forge a new
constitution in which
democratic rights would be ensured and constructive
international relations
restored. They also hoped that Annan's presence
would make the international
community more engaged in addressing the
disaster facing Zimbabwe.
South African president Thabo Mbeki, who has in
the past been criticised for
taking a softly-softly attitude towards his
northern neighbour, said the UN
mediation effort was the key to resolving
Zimbabwe's crisis and that Annan
could help improve the country's relations
with the West.
Less optimism surrounds Mkapa's involvement. As a friend
and political ally
of Mugabe, his impartiality is questioned by many in
Zimbabwe. In addition,
although Annan stepped aside because Mkapa was
already engaged for the task,
the two mediation efforts are in reality quite
different in nature.
Mkapa, who was voted out of office in Tanzania in
November 2005, last year
described his Zimbabwean counterpart as a "champion
of democracy". While he
was still president, his was one of the few voices
who endorsed the 2002 and
2005 elections in Zimbabwe as free and
fair.
In a letter to Mugabe last year, Mkapa said, "You have been firm
[in]
defending the inalienable right of the people of your country to free,
democratic and sovereign governance. Your firmness was good for all of
Africa."
Giving one of his last speeches before stepping down as head
of state, Mkapa
shocked delegates at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit
in Cape Town by
describing Mugabe as "one of the last upstanding
Africans".
He proceeded to praise Mugabe's notorious Operation
Murambatsvina ("drive
out the rubbish), in which the homes of more than
700,000 of the urban poor
were destroyed by security forces last year, in
what officials said was a
redevelopment project but critics decried as a
campaign to displace
potential opposition voters.
It was these mass
demolitions that impelled Annan to dispatch Anna
Tibaijuka, a senior UN
official of Tanzanian origin, to visit Zimbabwe as
his special
envoy.
Tibaijuka lambasted the destruction as inhuman, saying that it had
affected
2.4 million people directly or indirectly, and that Mugabe had
shown
"indifference to human suffering". She also said the resulting
humanitarian
crisis meant the campaign represented a violation of
international human
rights laws.
Mkapa is likely to pursue a line
favourable to the Zimbabwean leader,
according to Brian Raftopoulos, who
heads the Institute of Justice and
Reconciliation in Cape Town but was until
recently professor of politics at
the University of Zimbabwe.
"Mkapa
is an ally of Mugabe. He will not be an effective mediator, but the
messenger of Mugabe internationally," said Raftopoulos.
Political
analysts in Zimbabwe say the focus of Mkapa's mediation is all
wrong. Like
Mugabe himself, he sees Zimbabwe's problems as rooted in a
bilateral dispute
between Mugabe's government and former colonial power,
Britain.
The
Zimbabwean leader has consistently said that his country's troubles stem
from his long-standing dispute with British prime minister Tony Blair, who
he alleges has used international pressure to punish him and sabotage the
country's economy because of the land reform programme in 2000, in which
nearly 5,000 farms were confiscated from their white owners.
"Our
economy is under siege," Mugabe said in a recent interview with
Zimbabwean
journalists. "And this is because of the actions of our enemies,
led by
Britain, who have imposed sanctions on us."
Britain and other western
countries say the sanctions, including travel and
banking restrictions, are
purely individual and are aimed at Zimbabwe's
political and military
leaders, not the country as a whole.
And 26 years after Zimbabwe became
independent, many argue that the colonial
past is largely irrelevant and
that the problems Zimbabwe now faces are
internal.
Britain's new
ambassador to Zimbabwe, Andrew Pocock, poured cold water on
the view that
the fundamental problem is London's relationship with Mugabe.
"The
substance of the problem is not, as the government of Zimbabwe
contends, a
bilateral difference with the United Kingdom," said Pocock. "It
is rather,
as the European Union, United States and many others in the
international
community have made clear, a problem between the government of
Zimbabwe and
its people. At its heart is the way Zimbabwe is governed..
Zimbabwe's
problems are mounting. They stem from bad policy."
Pocock said Mugabe's
decision to block the Annan visit meant the country had
lost an opportunity
to build bridges with the international community.
"He [Annan] sought to
help the government of Zimbabwe make reforms that the
country desperately
needs to arrest its deepening decline," he said.
Gillian Dare, first
secretary at the British embassy in Harare, confirmed
that it would be
meaningless for Mkapa to try to mediate between the two
countries. "This is
not a bilateral dispute, so no mediation is required
between Britain and
Zimbabwe," she said. "No one will be able to help unless
President Mugabe's
policy evolves in different and sustainable directions."
The view that
the causes of the crisis lie in the government's own policies
is shared by
many observers.
Jonathan Moyo, formerly Mugabe's information minister but
now an independent
member of parliament, is dismissive of attempts tp blame
outsiders. "African
leaders with this mendacious nationalistic outlook
always blame their former
colonial powers for every major ill in their
national politics or economy
while accepting no responsibility whatsoever
for their own policies or lack
of," Moyo wrote in the Zimbabe Independent
earlier this month.
"The mediation by Mkapa is bound to fail if it is
guided by Mugabe's claim
that the crisis is mainly due to a bilateral
dispute with Britain. One thing
for sure is that as soon as Mkapa gets down
to work, he will discover that
the real critical issue is not about an
alleged bilateral dispute, but about
failure of governance, policies and
leadership since [independence in]
1980."
The United States and
France have issued statements saying Mugabe's attempts
at rapprochement with
Britain will count for nothing unless it is preceded
by dialogue within the
country.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change, says the mandate given to Mkapa is ambiguous, when what
is needed is
an impartial arbitrator with a well-defined mandate chosen by
all parties to
the negotiations.
"Mkapa thinks like ZANU-PF," said
Biti, referring to the ruling party in
Zimbabwe.
Ordinary Zimbabweans
have little confidence that Mkapa's intervention will
make a
difference.
"What can Mkapa do?" asked Simba Chawasarira, a Harare
resident who
struggles to keep his family of three children going on 20
million
Zimbabwean dollars (200 US dollars) a month. "He is already biased,
and we
don't want to hear about Britain on this issue - where does Britain
come
into our problems? So if Mkapa is going to focus on improving relations
with
Britain and not help resolve the internal political crisis, what is the
point of having him?"
Chawasarira said he and many of his friends had
placed all their hopes in a
mediation effort led by the UN chief.
"I
was so disappointed when I heard that he was no longer coming," he said.
"There is no longer any hope of the crisis being resolved soon. I can see
Mugabe going to 2010, and I just don't want to imagine where we will be, and
how we will survive another four years."
Joseph Magariro is a
pseudonym used by an IWPR contributor in Zimbabwe.
Mail and Guardian
Godwin Gandu
31 July 2006
07:14
About an hour before President Robert Mugabe addressed
the sixth
session of Parliament on Tuesday morning his Deputy Information
Minister,
Bright Matonga, was already in police cells facing corruption
charges.
Around noon Mugabe spoke about corruption. "Another
regrettable
development is the incidence of cases of corruption," he told
both lower and
upper house members in Parliament. "Government will not
hesitate to invoke
the full force of the law against those perpetrating this
vice, regardless
of their social status and political affiliation," he went
on.
A senior police officer told the Mail & Guardian that
Matonga's
former local government boss, Ignatius Chombo, could be locked up
on the
same charges, but they were "waiting for
instructions".
Until this week's arrest Mugabe has rarely
acted on crucial
information implicating his Cabinet ministers in shady
deals. Addressing his
ruling Zanu-PF party central committee meeting two
weeks back Mugabe said he
was aware that ministers were involved in illicit
gold-smuggling activities.
No names were mentioned and there is no "known
investigation going on".
"We have the names of the big fish,
but we need instructions
first," the senior office said. "The National
Economic Conduct Inspectorate
provided us with the names and we know the
president was provided the
information through the Attorney General, but
certain political decisions
have to be made first before we
act."
For now it's the small fish being fried. "Mugabe is in
a
dilemma. He will be left with no one in his Cabinet or politburo should he
act on every information he gets," says Professor Eldred Masunungure of the
University of Zimbabwe political science department. "There is a degree to
which he can go, there are obvious political limitations, he will pick the
small fish and that will serve as a deterrent to the bigger
fish."
But Mugabe was charging like two bulls at the Central
Committee
meeting. "Cases of members wanting to enrich themselves are
increasing in
number. You are not being fair ... some people are just being
crookish,"
Mugabe said, threatening that he would be "cleansing" his Central
Committee.
But party insiders and senior police officers
concur that Mugabe
had all the information earlier, but took time to act.
"Some were
reprimanded - his close confidants," the insider told the
M&G. Among them
were multiple farm owners and gold and foreign currency
dealers in "his
politburo and Cabinet".
"Maybe Mugabe
feels that bringing some of his old comrades
before the courts will leave
them with no honour and dignity," says
Masunungure. "Those that are likely
to go are small fish."
Even Zanu-PF-aligned liberation war
veterans' association
national chairperson Jabulani Sibanda is fuming. "It's
like he [Mugabe] has
been away for a long time and only discovered
corruption today," he said.
The M&G is reliably informed
that Mugabe is aware of corrupt
activities - involving Local Government
Minister Ignatius Chombo and Deputy
Minister Matonga - within the Ministry
of Local Government in which tenders
for the supply of buses were
manipulated. So far only Matonga, who was CEO
of the Zimbabwe United
Passenger Company before he became a deputy minister,
has been
charged.
But what is irking his senior party members,
particularly
Secretary for Information Dr Nathan Shamuyarira, and
Vice-Presidents Joseph
Msika and Joyce Mujuru, is that no serious action was
being taken.
"They have become accustomed to Mugabe firing
warning shots, but
deep down they know he won't act and nobody will resign,"
the insider said.
Sibanda told the M&G that, as an
association, the war veterans
"expected to hear results not rhetoric. The
people of Zimbabwe elected
Mugabe to oversee that everybody complies with
the rule of law," he said.
Deputy Trade Minister Phineas
Chihota forced a Harare woman,
Sarudzayi Nhundu, to sell her house in
Harare's posh Borrowdale suburb at
below market value rates and, in return,
Chihota promised to use his
influence to issue her with sugar, fuel import
and export licences.
Mugabe revealed the scandal two weeks
ago at a Zanu-PF central
committee meeting, but a week down the line Chihota
still has his job.
There is another hot potato Mugabe
wouldn't want to touch: seven
of his top government officials, including
ministers, were recently exposed
by the M&G for looting farming
equipment at prime horticultural concern
Kondozi in the eastern Manicaland
province and are still to be charged.
But it was the same old
story, according to the insider. "Mugabe
was fully briefed by Mujuru, he
expressed concern, but hasn't acted."
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Bill Saidi
TODAY, 31 July,
Gideon Gono presents his quarterly monetary review
policy. It follows
another quarterly review, last week, this one a fiscal
one, by Herbert
Murerwa, the Minister of Finance.
Murerwa, seen previously as
Gono's nemesis, has apparently reconciled
himself to play second fiddle to
the Governor of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe.
Some might say
what has happened is that the two have buried the
hatchet and decided,
presumably for the good of a country confronting its
greatest economic
crisis since 1980, to confine their snide remarks about
each other's
shortcomings to private gatherings.
Others believe firmly that Gono
has outsmarted Murerwa, although both
men have scored zilch in making any
impact on the economy which is now
described as not only sick but terminally
so.
Murerwa's brief is the fiscus, which deals with the public
revenue.
The Minister of Finance in Zimbabwe, previously dealt with monetary
matters
as well, although that is the brief of the governor of the central
bank.
Before 2000, when the bottom fell out of the Zimbabwe dollar after the
bloody, chaotic farm invasions, the governor of the central bank worked more
directly under the Minister of Finance than Gono does today.
Gono was given more authority than any other central bank governor
since
independence.
Certainly, his predecessor, Leonard Tsumba, did not
stage these
monetary review circuses which Gono has raised to an event
worthy of banner
headlines.
It is acknowledged that Tsumba fell
out with President Robert Mugabe
around the same time that his Minister of
Finance, Simba Makoni, did too.
They both clung tenaciously to a
proposal to devalue the Zimdollar,
which had been teetering on the brink of
collapse since 1997, after the
notorious Black Friday - the event which will
forever be remembered as he
day Mugabe surrendered to the excessive demands
for compensation from the
war veterans.
Mugabe scolded the two men
and their supporters as "saboteurs", in a
public display of personal pique
which many saw as heralding his
increasingly autocratic handling of the
country's economic affairs.
Incidentally, apart from the RBZ governor
and the finance minister,
there is also the Minister of Economic Planning.
All three have distinct job
descriptions. Yet it is instructive to remember
that there was once only one
ministry dealing with all three.
It is amazing that the three "money people" are dealing with the
finances of
a country in deep, deep trouble.
So, instead of reducing public
expenditure by cutting down on its
bloated bureaucracy, the government has
continued its much-criticized
policy of maintaining a constantly ballooning
civil service.
Gono himself has criticized the size of the government,
but after a
while - and perhaps a few choice words of political advice from
Mugabe - he
has toned down his comments on this ticklish subject.
Last week, it was for Gono that Mugabe reserved his compliments.
"Leave Gono
alone," he said.
He had not one word of criticism for the RBZ
governor, although even
Gono's most ardent supporters have quite often
commented on how utterly
futile his tactics have been in tackling the
economic crisis created by this
government's stubborn political and economic
policies of confrontation.
The twin enemies of inflation and corruption
are still running free
and wild across the country, in spite of all the
efforts by Gono, to curb
them.
Today, Gono will probably present a
rehashed version of the quarterly
review speeches he has delivered since he
got the big job. There will be
little change - unless he bites the bullet
and decides to tackle the
currency crisis head-on, which could translate
into a head-on clash with The
Boss.
He can only make an impact
on the crisis if he devalues the dollar in
real terms. In the past, he has
skirted the problem by making cosmetic
changes here and there, never
actually announcing that from such-and-such
date the value of the Zimdollar
against the greenback, for instance, would
be Z$850 000=US$1 - that is
likely to be the situation on the parallel
market in a few days'
time.
The current rate of Z$101 000=US$1 has played havoc with the
economy.
It is generally acknowledged that this is Mugabe's pet project,
anchored on
some vague personal pride, likened to the government's
reluctance to let the
private sector take over completely the running of the
disastrously-managed
Air Zimbabwe.
If Gono doesn't act, then we
can all begin to speculate actively on
his likely political ambitions.
Mugabe's public defence of the RBZ governor
led some people to immediately
speculate that he had accepted to be
recruited into the inner circle of
Zanu PF.
What they expected in the next few days or weeks was his
appointment
to either the party's politburo or the central committee.
Others, claiming
an even more intimate knowledge of Mugabe's thought
processes, predicted he
would soon be named into the Cabinet.
Would he replace Murerwa or Rugare Gumbo, the Minister of Economic
Planning
and an old Zanu PF war-horse? Or would a new super ministry be
created for
him?
While some might conclude that Gono's goose would then be cooked
thoroughly with this appointment, others believe he would be on his way,
politically.
Even before his stature was elevated to its
present stratospheric
level, Gono had been Mugabe's confidante for a while,
traveling with the
president to far-away places to look and often beg for
fuel, credit, maize
and wheat and other commodities which Zimbabwe, short of
foreign currency
and almost everything else except self-congratulatory
politics, searched
for far and wide.
Gono has kept faith with
Mugabe's policies of not bending to the whims
of the international financial
institutions. At the start of his new role as
Mugabe's super-economic
trouble-shooter, he sounded as if he would,
nonetheless, be amenable to a
settlement of the crisis Zimbabwe had induced
between itself and the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Both Bretton Woods
groups liked the positive sounds of reconciliation
Gono made in the early
days of his job. Later, they too detected a strident
tone which convinced
them he was using his "master's voice".
All bets were off and the
stalemate remains to this day, although
there are fresh reports of a likely
settlement before the end of the year.
What price would Gono pay if
he defied Mugabe and proposed a
devaluation of the Zimdollar? He would pay
the same price that Tsumba and
Makoni paid. There is no doubt about that.
Mugabe has not indicated, in any
recent public statements, that his position
on the devaluation has changed
one whit.
Yet his desperation
has been evident. His speech at the opening of
Parliament was filled with
more doom-and-gloom than usual. Inevitably, like
the perennially optimistic
dictator that he is, he tried to strike a
positive note, repeating, in
different words, his earlier declaration that
"we shall soldier
on".
The interpretation by many commentators that he virtually
conceded
defeat could be based on wishful thinking. If it turns out to be an
accurate
reading of Mugabe's mood, then we can see Gono, for the first time,
perhaps,
delivering a review bristling with real hope, laced with the
absolutely
necessary apology to the people that both he and the president
had been
treading a path leading to an abyss.
What would be the
catalyst? Would it be the real likelihood of an
uprising of sorts, perhaps
forged through the unity of the opposition
parties, announced last
week?
Zanu PF has always held great contempt for the people of
Zimbabwe to
rise up against its brutal reign - until the Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade
Unions-organised stayaways of the late 1990s.
Since
then, nobody in the hierarchy of Zanu PF, the defence forces or
the Central
Intelligence Organization (CIO) has any illusions about the
likelihood of
ordinary people marching in protest against the terrifying
rise in the cost
of living.
Reports that Mugabe has been warned of this danger have
persisted for
many months. His closest supporters may have persuaded him to
dismiss these
warnings as idle speculation. But some of them must surely
have reminded him
that he is the only one left, among the leaders of the
three territories
which formed the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ,
who remains in power
after more than 20 years in the saddle.
President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia was voted out of power after 27
years.
Next year, Mugabe will have chalked up 27 years of uninterrupted
control of
Zimbabwe. He must be aware that the law of averages is stacked
against
him.
The Herald (Harare)
July 31,
2006
Posted to the web July 31, 2006
Harare
THE Gazetted Land
Bill which seeks to make certain provisions that are
consequential to the
enactment of section 16B of the Constitution and repeal
the Rural Land
Occupiers (Protection from Eviction) Act has been presented
in the House of
Assembly.
The draft legislation was presented in the House last week on
Wednesday and
was referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for
consideration on
whether its provisions are in line with the
Constitution.
The proposed Bill was necessitated by the enactment of
section 16B of the
Constitution by the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
(No 17) Act that
enforce those provisions of the Land Act that were
concerned with
compensation for improvements on agricultural land acquired
for resettlement
purposes.
The status of certain other provisions
relating to such land was left
undetermined and it was felt desirable to
re-enact such provisions or make
new provisions in the Bill.
Under
the Bill, Gazetted Land is defined as agricultural land whose
compulsory
acquisition is specifically provided for in section 16B of the
Constitution,
which covers a broader spectrum of agricultural land.
Clause 3 of the
proposed law makes it an offence to occupy land without
lawful authority
after it has been gazetted in accordance with the
Constitution.
For
the avoidance of doubt, the Bill makes it clear that compensation for
improvements to the gazetted land effected before acquisition shall be dealt
with in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition
Act.
Clause 5 serves to enforce all proceedings, whether administrative,
civil or
criminal, that were commenced under the Land Acquisition Act before
its
amendment by the proposed legislation.
Any offer letter issued on
or before the fixed date that is not withdrawn by
the acquiring authority
will be validated.
The Rural Land Occupiers (Protection from Eviction)
Act is being repealed
since its provisions have become redundant because
they do not apply to
State land.
The Herald
(Harare)
July 29, 2006
Posted to the web July 31, 2006
Brenna
Chigonga
Harare
THEY roll in luxurious posh cars, live modest
lifestyles in magnificent
leafy low density villas furnished with
state-of-the-art furniture and
hi-tech electrical gadgets.
They enjoy
an expensive taste of designer clothing, flaunt top of the range
mobile
phones and other ostentatious goods synonymous with the Western
opulent
classes.
They are regular patrons in some of the country's five star
hotels and
restaurants and this is the emerging breed of cross border
traders that has
turned out to become the country's current nouveau rich
class.
From its inception in the 80's, its slump in the 90's and its boom
in the
new millennium, cross-border trading has not been an ordinary and
unappreciable economic activity despite having more than two million
dependants. Since the opening of the nation's frontiers in 1980 after more
than 15 years of crippling sanctions imposed on the Rhodesia regime,
hundreds of Zimbabweans mainly women and unemployed men, earned a living
through buying and selling various wares in the Sadc region.
Until
recently, the term "vakadzi vekujubheki" had been synonymous with poor
illiterate women mostly widows who had to make ends meet through buying and
selling in the Sadc region.
With sweat trickling down their cheeks,
groups of women carrying heavy bags
trudged towards the Zimbabwean border
post across the Limpopo River Bridge
on their way back to
Zimbabwe.
After the taxis that plied the short distance between the two
border posts
were banned, the women were forced to carry their heavy loads
on their
heads. In most instances, they were relegated to "open air
offices," leaving
the air-conditioned offices to the rich who preferred
travelling by luxury
coaches. Vending beyond the Zimbabwean borders has
never been a stroll in
the park as the vendors had to contend with their
xenophobic customers and
the hostility of police officers and other
immigration officials.
Their only concern was to make enough money to
send their children to school
and put enough food on their family
tables.
However, that picture has greatly changed over the years, as the
business of
selling reed baskets, table clothes, doilies and other crotchets
is no
longer thriving.
Instead, most of the cross-border traders are
now carrying out
multi-billion-dollar business ventures not only in the Sadc
region.
Of late, they have expanded their horizons to areas as far as
Europe and
Asia. They are now importing various products and services
ranging from
fuel, television sets, decoders, clothes, mobile phones and
luxurious
vehicles which they sell on the local market at inflated prices,
creating
instant billionaires and trillionaires. They have now turned out to
be
suppliers and owners of most chain stores and upmarket furniture stores
flourishing in the capital, talk of Homegate, Alcatraz, Gulf complex and a
wide range of other indigenously owned shops that are sprouting in the
capital.
"I started by selling crotchets and sculptures in Durban but
it was after
these products had flooded this resort town that I started
buying United
States dollars on the parallel market in Zambia to import
electrical gadgets
from Dubai.
"I managed to buy quite a number of
satellite dishes and decoders for resale
before turning to television sets
and gold scales early this year," said one
businessman who refused to be
named.
"It is from this business that I managed to raise money to buy
cars from
China for resale on the local market. I actually go to China and
pay for all
the travelling expenses. I collect the cars from Durban before
reselling
them on either the local market or in South Africa where they have
a ready
market," he added. A recent survey carried out in Dubai revealed
that cross
border traders and shoppers travelling to that country are
spending millions
of dollars in foreign currency every week to import
"trinkets" for resale in
the country.
The figure even amounts to
billions of dollars in foreign currency when
including those traders who
travel to South Africa, Botswana, London and
other destinations. Some
professionals have taken to shun their formal jobs
to take refuge in cross
border trading. Another female engineer who also
spoke on condition of
anonymity said she has been travelling to Mauritius
and Dubai to get clothes
and shoes, which she supplies, a local boutique.I
have been supplying a
local boutique with clothes and other fashion
accessories that I import from
Dubai and Mauritius.
"Despite some travelling hassles that we sometimes
incur along the way, the
job is well paying if all goes well, I might need
to take it full time as
soon as I get enough capital," she said.
Mmegi, Botswana
By Bame
Piet
Staff Writer
7/31/2006 4:17:10 PM (GMT +2)
Member of Parliament for Tswapong South Oreeditse Molebatsi has made
public
his displeasure and discomfort with Zimbabweans including their
government.
He told Parliament that Zimbabweans, are not good neighbours and
Botswana
should stop any relations with the country if it wants to excel in
economic
growth.
He was debating a motion by MP for Palapye Boyce
Sebetela that calls
on Parliament to request government to develop and
implement a national
citizen contractors' skill/capacity rating system to
guide procurement
preference schemes. He started by hitting hard at
government for appointing
foreigners to senior positions at the expense of
Batswana. He accused the
Ministry of Finance of employing more expatriates
while Batswana with
similar qualifications are roaming the streets. He cited
a case in which
Batswana were trained at a university in Uganda, but when
they came back
they were made subordinates of their Ugandan classmates.
Molebatsi said
there are many foreigners employed at the Accountant
General's office while
qualified Batswana are unemployed. He said that this
is a disadvantage
because foreigners take money to their countries of origin
because there is
no law or policy that stops them from doing
so.
Molebatsi said currently there are 1,719 expatriates
employed in the
civil service, 582 in parastatals and 15,316 in the private
sector. He said
many hold jobs that Batswana can do. He said the 1989
Statute Instrument
allowed foreigners to work in Botswana without any
conditions. He produced
the document in Parliament and waved it for everyone
to see saying: "The
main problem is in this paper". The Minister of Labour
and Home Affairs,
Moeng Pheto nearly subjected himself to embarrassment when
he wanted the MP
to read the contents of the document saying it is an old
one. Molebatsi
wanted the minister to explain why he had not reviewed and
amended the
document if he knows that it is old and not suitable for use in
modern
times.
He said even Bank of Botswana (BoB),
Botswana Power Corporation (BPC)
and Botswana Railways (BR) are using the
document to deny Batswana
employment opportunities. He said BoB has renewed
employment contract for
the expatriate senior security officer while there
are Batswana who are
qualified to do the job. "This country is lucky that
Duncan Mlazie
(Assistant Minister of Finance) is not Minister of
Presidential Affairs and
Public Administration otherwise he was going to
employ a foreigner to be
commander of Botswana Defence Force as long as he
had a PhD," he warned. The
heated MP said that the security officer is paid
huge sums of money that
could be given to locals.
MP
for Shoshong Duke Lefhoko concurred with Molebatsi that Zimbabweans
are not
friendly to Botswana. He cited the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth
Disease
in Bobirwa, which was suspected to originate from Zimbabwe but the
Zimbabweans declined to cooperate with Botswana to control the outbreak. He
added that the Zimbabwean government is prosecuting two journalists from
state-owned Botswana television after arresting them in 'no man's land'
between the two countries. He accused Botswana Railways of employing another
Zimbabwean who is messing up things. He said the messes have resulted in
2,000 Batswana losing jobs that were given to Zimbabweans. He warned
Botswana to be careful of Zimbabweans. He said that ministries of Finance
and that of Labour and Home Affairs are incompetent.