VOA
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington
04 August
2006
Zimbabwean authorities late Friday arrested four leaders of
the Christian
Alliance, the church humanitarian group formed in response to
Operation
Murambatsvina of 2005, and which last month helped bring together
the rival
factions of the Movement for Democratic Change at a meeting
including other
opposition parties.
Legal sources said police
arrested Bishop Levy Kadenge, Reverend Antenemo
Magaya and his wife,
Reverend Pius Wakatama, and Reverend Brian Mungwindi
late Friday afternoon
at a roadblock on the Bulawayo-Harare highway. Police
detained them after
finding what they considered to be suspicious documents
in the
car.
Ndimyake Mwakalyele of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe obtained details
on the
arrests from attorney Otto Saki of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu & Carole Gombakomba
Washington
04
August 2006
The parliamentary whip of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF
party urged the governor
of the central bank Friday to halt the arbitrary
arrest of people found to
be holding more cash than permitted under a crash
currency conversion plan
launched this week.
ZANU-PF parliamentary
leader Joram Gumbo also asked Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono to extend
the August 21 deadline by which Zimbabwean individuals
and businesses must
exchange old banknotes for new, redenominated notes.
Gumbo said it would be
very hard for those living in rural areas to convert
their cash on
time.
But Gono has said he is instead thinking of tightening the deadline
as
operators in the parallel currency market have been finding ways around
the
roadblocks which police have thrown up on highways across the country to
net
illegal hoards of cash.
Under regulations promulgated just this
week by the central bank,
individuals may not hold or exchange more than
Z$100 million in old
banknotes without documentation of the source of the
amount over that limit;
for companies the ceiling is Z$5 billion.
The
government-run Herald newspaper said Friday that 125 arrests have been
made
with nearly Z$63 billion allegedly ill-gotten dollars netted by
authorities.
Around Z$655 billion has been deposited in banks for conversion
to Z$655
million new currency.
Reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe asked parliamentarian
Gumbo why he has urged the central bank
governor to ease up on
currency-related arrests and give Zimbabweans more
time to exchange old
banknotes for new money.
Meanwhile, many of
those in possession of large amounts of cash have been
pouring it into
agricultural commodities like maize and cattle, sending farm
prices soaring
as much as 150 percent beyond recent levels achieved on the
back of
hyperinflation.
Economist Luckymore Zinyama, a former National Chamber of
Commerce
president, explained this as a classic case of too much money
chasing too
few goods.
Despite the belated public education campaign
that the central bank launched
after it announced the currency
redenomination and reissue operation Monday
alongside a 60% devaluation
against the U.S. dollar, many consumers remain
confused.
Some have
yet to see the new currency, but believe it is already worth more
than the
old one. Reporter Carole Gombakomba spoke with Sithandazile Sibanda
of
Bulawayo, and Rumbidzai Jaka of Kwekwe said she is still mystified by the
new money scheme.
IOL
Basildon Peta
August 05
2006 at 01:56PM
Like many Zimbabweans, Ronald Makamure, a
29-year-old security guard,
is baffled by his country's newly re-denominated
currency.
Until Monday, Makamure was a millionaire - albeit a poor
one - like
most of his countrymen. He used to stuff his Z$9-million monthly
wage in a
large plastic bag. His salary could cover only the barest of
monthly needs -
a bag of maize meal, a bottle of cooking oil, a packet of
sugar, a packet of
salt, a bar of soap.
Following Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono's
decision to drop three zeroes from
Zimbabwe's currency and make it more
manageable in light of record 1 200
percent inflation and rapid money supply
growth, Makamure has been told that
his Z$9-million salary will now be Z$9
000 (about
R250).
Makamure is confused as to whether this heralds
a new era in his
troubled country, making things more affordable. "I cannot
understand what
this is all about... Is it going to make things cheaper,
life easier?" he
asks.
Prominent economist John Robertson says
the likes of Makamure will
realise that nothing has changed when he gets his
pay cheque at the end of
August and does his monthly shopping.
"The re-denomination is a non-event... It doesn't address the
underlying
causes of the economic problems here," he says.
In the meantime,
the RBZ's public relations machinery has gone into
overdrive to help people
like Makamure understand the new currency system.
In advertisements in the
press and on state radio and television, the RBZ
describes the newly
re-denominated currency as "our little heroes" meant to
restore dignity to
the Zimbabwe dollar, the currency losing value faster
than any
other.
The RBZ explains that a commodity that used to cost Z$1 000
now costs
Z$1 in the newly re-denominated "little heroes". A commodity that
used to
cost Z$100 000 now costs Z$100 while anything that required
Z$1-million now
costs Z$1 000.
This will obviously not make
things any cheaper, explains Robertson.
In fact, it could make things even
worse in the short term as it leaves room
for cheating - like retailers
hiking prices before readjusting to the new
denominations. The only tangible
benefit of the re-denomination is that it
will make it easier to handle
cash.
With most Zimbabwean transactions being handled in billions
and even
trillions, Zimbabweans had grown used to carrying cash in sacks,
wheelbarrows and car boots.
But with inflation expected to
surpass the 2 000 percent barrier by
year-end, Robertson warns that the
"zero-dropping exercise" would have to be
undertaken again soon. "The wise
thing would have been for them to first
introduce new economic policies that
halt inflation," says Robertson.
"In other parts of the world where
re-denominations have worked, they
have been preceded by major policy
overhauls."
Complaints from major banks, particularly, had spurred
Gono to
introduce the re-denominations. Banking executives had complained
that their
standard software was getting confused and clogged up by the many
zeroes
required for the transactions in billions and trillions. The software
had
been designed to handle millions and, at most, billions, and banks were
not
eager to upgrade their software due to the enormous cost
involved.
In most retail outlets, confusion reigned this week as
retailers tried
to adjust to the new system by slashing zeroes on
prices.
"Confusion is inevitable," said Cameron Mabasa, a shopowner
in the
Midlands city of Gweru. "We still have a grace period until August 21
to use
the old currency. So if you want to buy using the old currency after
you
have slashed the zeroes on price tags to reflect the new currency as
required, you have to do a lot of explaining."
The Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) complained that some retailers
were already
refusing to accept the old currency to avoid confusion and any
hassles,
despite the August 21 deadline being weeks away.
"Such retailers
are violating the rights of consumers and their
behaviour is unacceptable,"
said the CCZ's Farai Muchekezi. He advised
retailers to use dual price tags
in the meantime.
Zimbabwe's currency consists of bearer cheques
because it is printed
on inferior paper, after the RBZ ran out of foreign
currency in 2003 to
import the special paper required to print
banknotes.
While the introduction of the newly re-denominated notes
might bring
relief to the banks and Zimbabweans tired of carrying money in
sacks, it is
a huge blow to a new breed of entrepreneurs who have been
cashing in on
their countrymen's misery.
Some had been running
a booming business selling money-counting
machines imported from South
Africa. Money-counting machines, selling at
more than Z$1-billion each, had
become the most sought-after item
countrywide.
Apart from the
re-denominations, Gono also announced a raft of
measures to discourage
Zimbabweans from hoarding cash. The RBZ governor
claims that of
Z$43-trillion in circulation, only Z$10- to Z$15-trillion can
be accounted
for. The rest is stashed in homes and overseas for speculative
purposes by
the huge Zimbabwean population living in neighbouring countries.
From this week, Zimbabwean retailers have been banned from accepting
payments for items worth more than Z$100 000 in the new currency and
Z$100-million in the old currency in cash. Such transactions should be made
in bearer cheques.
"All of these are desperate measures by a
failed regime. They won't
bring any relief," says the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change. The
party's sentiments are shared by economist James
Jowa, who argues that what
Zimbabwe needs most are growth-oriented,
investment-attracting policies. But
under President Robert Mugabe's
prolonged reign, such policies remain
elusive.
This article
was originally published on page 6 of Saturday Star on
August 05, 2006
Zimbabwejournalists.com
Benjamin Mkapa.
By Trevor
Grundy
WHEN South Africa's Thabo Mbeki tried to mediate between
President
Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
he got the
slow handclap from Zimbabweans and most of the international
community for
his ineffectual results.
Mozambique's
ex-president Joaquim Chissano, who was Mugabe's best man
for his second
marriage, also stepped in as a mediator - only to retreat,
having achieved
nothing.
Nigerian head of state Olesegun Obasanjo, as chairman of
the African
Union, tried reading Mugabe the riot act - but the Zimbabwean
president
replied with his own oratorical fire, walked out and ended a
long-standing
personal friendship.
Finally, when United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan tried this
year to mediate, Mugabe
rejected him and turned to his close friend
Benjamin Mkapa for
help.
The former Tanzanian president's mission, which Mugabe
interprets as
being to heal the rift with former colonial power Britain, has
been
widely written off in advance as doomed to abject
failure.
Almost everyone in the independent African media is
predicting
terrible humiliation for Mkapa.
"No hope for Mkapa's
mediation" screamed a headline in The Zimbabwean,
a newspaper published in
Britain and edited by veteran journalist Wilf
Mbanga.
"Mkapa
mission doomed" was the headline of a lengthy analysis by
commentator
Njabulo Ncube in the Financial Gazette, one of the few
independent
papers still functioning in Mugabe's impoverished land of
11.5 million
people.
In the Johannesburg daily Business Day, the headline "Mkapa
needs
divine intervention for Zimbabwe" was followed by a report in
which
Zimbabwe-watcher Dianna Games reported on her latest visit to
Mugabe's
tottering republic.
But this pessimistic outlook is
not shared by many of those who know
the 68-year-old
Mkapa.
"Ben just might pull this one off," a veteran journalist
and
Commonwealth-watcher in London told IWPR. "He's a very clever man,
and
he received his political education sitting at the feet of Dr Julius
Nyerere
who survived [as Tanzania's president] for 24 years.
"Ben is very pro-British, very committed to the Commonwealth. He has
said
off the record that there can be no forward movement in Zimbabwe until
Mugabe goes, but that he must be honoured and safeguarded during his
departure, even if he really deserves an appearance at The Hague," said the
journalist, referring to the International Criminal Court, which has powers
to try political leaders for human rights abuses.
"Ben Mkapa is
one of the best African leaders to ever come to power,"
said Jim Adams of
the World Bank. "He was able to safeguard [the socialist]
Nyerere's
reputation as 'father of the nation', while making Tanzania
acceptable in
the eyes of the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund."
Those observers - including Mugabe supporters as well as
his critics -
who believe Mkapa is going to act as a stooge for the
Zimbabwean
leader simply do not know the man.
The state-owned
press have warmly welcomed the naming of Mkapa as the
latest mediator,
although his appointment has yet to gain the approval of
leaders of the
Southern African Development Community, which will meet soon
in Lesotho to
ask questions about how Mkapa's mission will be funded and
what his precise
brief will be.
Yet Zimbabwean's aging leaders - including the
82-year-old Mugabe -
actually know little about the real Mkapa. They
have only seen him
perform in a role he does well - singing the praises of
failed African
leaders.
He got used to that while working for
President Nyerere, first as a
newspaper editor and then as one of his
ministers.
Mkapa has certainly been critical of western demands for
reform in
Zimbabwe, saying, "Their pressures have failed and they have
run out
of options except the stridency of the media. They have burnt the
bridges of
communication." And he has also said, "There is no gainsaying
Comrade
Mugabe's outstanding record of struggle against colonialism and
minority
settler rule."
But if you think that this former
senior journalist and foreign
minister, who survived being a
speechwriter for Oscar Kambona -
Nyerere's deputy who fled into exile after
accusing the president of
establishing a dictatorship - does not have a good
word to say about anyone
in the West, think again.
When Nyerere
died in 1999, Mkapa paid tribute to Tony Blair and the
British
government for looking after the man who liked to be addressed
as "Mwalimu",
or "teacher". In 2001, Mkapa, by now president of Tanzania,
grew even closer
to Blair after buying a British-made air traffic control
system for Dar es
Salaam airport. Blair and his ministers disputed Oxfam
allegations that the
money - 28 million pounds - would have been put to
better use feeding and
educating Tanzanian children.
Mkapa is also aligned with Blair and
United States president George
Bush in their global hunt for
terrorists. The East African coast is a
breeding ground for
anti-Western Islamic militants.
Nyerere's 23 years in office were
an economic disaster in which
"self-reliance" policies left the country
bankrupt and the most
indebted of African states.
His
successors, President Ali Hassan Mwinyi followed by Mkapa, found
that
their deeply impoverished country had run up debts of up to 35
billion
US dollars. They had to pick up the pieces and start all over
again, while
avoiding de-constructing the myth of Mwalimu. Mkapa did that
job
brilliantly, while privately acknowledging that Mwalimu had been badly
"misled" by a collection of left-wing intellectuals from western
universities who played out their political and economic fantasies in an
African socialist Disneyland.
In the 20 years since Nyerere
left office, nearly all of his rural
reforms have been dismantled. The
centrepiece was "ujamaa", a form of
collectivisation which saw 11 million
people forcibly transplanted from
their villages in just four years. Just
like Mugabe's land reforms, "ujamaa"
led to catastrophe: food production
fell and famine set in, making the
Tanzanian government more reliant than
ever on foreign food aid.
One weary member of parliament told me on
a recent visit to Dar es
Salaam that "ujamaa" had been the biggest
disaster in East African
history - yet the applause for Mwalimu Nyerere
still goes on. "We kept
clapping right until the end," he said. "Otherwise,
he'd never have gone. We
had to throw flowers, although there were some who
wanted to throw stones."
Increasingly uncertain about the wisdom of
his policies, Nyerere wrote
in 1975, "I frequently meditate upon whether it
would not be a service to my
country if I stood down from political
leadership while still in possession
of my senses." It took him another 10
years and a few more billion dollars
of debt to do so.
George
Ayittey, a Ghanaian professor of economics at the American
University
in Washington, said as the new millennium dawns, many
Africans fervently
hope that the old generation of leaders like Nyerere and
Mugabe will quietly
fade away into the sunset.
"To be sure, they did endure great
personal sacrifice and fought
gallantly for freedom from colonial rule
for their respective
countries. But the legacies they left behind bespeak of
shattered economies,
rampant corruption, never-ending cycles of political
instability, senseless
civil wars, wanton destruction, famine and refugees.
To deflect attention
away from their own domestic failures, they grandstand
on the world stage,
railing against Western colonialism, imperialism,
racism, the IMF and the
World Bank. To continuously celebrate them without a
hint of the unspeakable
misery they bequeathed to their people is criminally
irresponsible."
Although Mkapa served Nyerere loyally and - in
public - signed up to
his socialist agenda, it was apparent even then
he was much more than
an unthinking servant of the regime. As a young man in
the late Sixties,
when he was editor of The Nationalist and we used to drink
together at the
New Africa Hotel, Mkapa showed himself to be clever and not
at all
doctrinaire.
Journalist Philip Ochieng, in his book on
the media in Africa, said
Mkapa had a degree of cynicism about
socialism and the disastrous
collectivisation programme. Mkapa was "a
right wing representative but
a man capable of playing the Nyerere-ist game
with great skill and
savoir-faire," said Ochieng.
Many
Tanzanian ultra-leftists accused Mkapa of being purely an
opportunistic
socialist all along, trimming his sails to the wind.
The Tanzania
that Mkapa helped build certainly bears little
relationship to the
ramshackle, poverty-stricken country it was when
Mwalimu was in power. In
Dar es Salaam today, the cellphone industry is
booming and there are now
grand hotels and efficient banking services,
although the kind of appalling
slums found on the outskirts of all Africa's
major cities remain
evident.
At the start of his administration in 1995, President
Mkapa vigorously
pursued economic recovery programmes, robust
macroeconomic policies
and structural reforms, including the privatisation
programme initiated by
his predecessor Mwinyi. Under Mkapa, Tanzania
achieved growth of a steady
six per cent per annum.
In June
this year, Mkapa was appointed co-chairman of the new
Investment
Climate Facility for Africa, a public-private partnership
funded by
companies, bilateral and multilateral donors that will work in
close
partnership with African governments and regional organisations. The
institution is being launched just as Mkapa steps into the limelight wearing
his Zimbabwe mediator hat.
"This new and exciting facility will
act on key obstacles to doing
business in Africa," argues Mkapa.
"Together we can remove the
obstacles that stand in the path to Africa's
prosperity."
One of those obstacles is, of course, Robert
Mugabe.
Mkapa will, therefore, not be on a mission to keep Mugabe
in power,
but rather to help him make a dignified exit so that the West, led
by
Britain and the European Union, can pump into billions of dollars
into
a recovery programme, much as western states came to Zimbabwe's aid
after
independence in 1980 through an aid programme called
ZIMCORD.
His strategy, according to highly informed sources in Dar
es Salaam,
is to seek a way of saying goodbye to the Zimbabwean leader
without
humiliating a clever, proud and once potentially great man. Then the
door
will be open for massive reconstruction programmes - the same kind of
thing
that took place in Tanzania after 1985, when Nyerere finally stepped
down.
Michel Raimbaud, the French ambassador in Harare, has
tentatively
encouraged Mugabe to use Mkapa to begin to engage with the
West - and
with his own opposition, too - in a constructive manner. "Why not
re-engage
in political dialogue?" asked Raimbaud. "After all, if you accept
to discuss
with foreigners, why not talk [also] among
Zimbabweans?"
While it is not clear how Mkapa will tackle his new
task, it is
certainly clear what he will not tolerate.
Having navigated stormy waters under Nyerere's leadership, he will not
put
up with ear-bashing rhetoric from Mugabe on the merits of
scientific
socialism or the need for some new form of non-alignment to
bait the United
States, the European Union, the World Bank and the IMF.
Mkapa, who played
the role of radical socialist to survive under Nyerere's
wing, is today at
home with European diplomats, millionaire businessmen and
well-educated
lecturers.
Rather than arriving in Harare to prop up a grumpy
octogenarian
despot, Ben Mkapa is likely to go there with the mix of
pragmatism, charm,
cynicism and cunning necessary to persuade Robert Mugabe
to make a gracious
curtain call and prepare the way for a constellation of
investors similar to
those who pulled Tanzania out of its
swamp.
He may well succeed where more obviously upright and
idealistic men
have failed.
Trevor Grundy worked on Tanzania's
state-owned Standard newspaper for
five years at a time when President
Nyerere was titular editor-in-chief. He
later worked as a journalist for 20
years before returning to Britain to
write on religious affairs.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Bill Saidi
AFTER listening to,
then reading, the full texts of the fiscal and
monetary reviews by the two
top money people in the country, a young,
working mother, married with one
child, reflected, rather pensively:
"We should be thankful for
small mercies. We are not in Lebanon,
Somalia, Nigeria, or Cuba or even
Darfur."
Lebanon is being pounded by Israeli guns, for sheltering
the
anti-Israeli guerrilla group known as Hezbollah, which has killed
Israeli
soldiers and civilians, inside Israel itself.
I asked
the young lady if she knew what the fighting was all about.
"Is it
between Christians and Muslims again?"
I said it wasn't. I gave up
trying to explain when I realized that to
recount the origins of Israel,
when a man named Balfour decided there ought
to be such a state in the
Middle East, would take me as long as the 1967 Six
Day war.
Somalia would not be easy to explain either. After Siad Barre fled the
country in 1991, his fat, well-fed tail between his legs, the country fell
into the hands of diverse gun-totting warlords.
There are no
warlords in Zimbabwe, although a few cynics insist that
our economy would
not be in such a mess if it wasn't under the control of
people who, while
not qualifying as warlords, certainly rate a description
which must include
"looters", "con-men", "cheats" or "people born to steal".
Nigeria
is the easiest to explain. Why would you be happy to live in a
country with
oil running out of its ears, and yet still be so poor your only
chance of
survival is to cheat and steal, either in your own country or in
foreign
lands?
You end up giving your people the reputation of being the most
crooked
Africans on the continent. We can be grateful for that, except that
our
reputation is now tainted by the leadership.
Still, many
Zimbabweans seem to be grateful that the country is not
being pounded by the
guns of an enemy with a reputation for engaging in
total war to protect its
sovereignty.
Most of them accept that there are moments in their
lives during which
they wish something like that would happen to them -
hunger and thirst can
send you into bouts of hallucinations as horrifying as
the nightmare of a
diabetic who has not taken his medicine.
People
reflected on the recent announcements by Herbert Murerwa, the
Minister of
Finance, and Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe,
concluding that their general situation was unlikely to improve in
the
foreseeable future.
Most were particularly annoyed with Gono, who
seemed to be in an
unusually jocular mood, speaking of zeroes and heroes in
one breath. The man
has certainly become a politician and it may not be long
before he prefaces
his reviews with the slogan "Pamberi
ne-you-know-what."
The most disgusting part of his speech, for
many, was the reference to
a sunrise. Few could find any justification for
such extravagance.
It reminded one furious young man of how the
government decided to
describe what most people characterized as a "tsunami"
as "Murambatsvina" or
a "clean up" operation, the 2005 destruction of houses
and businesses in the
urban areas.
Unfortunately for Gono, people
have now decided that he too has fallen
prey to the machinations of the
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO),
whose "terrorism of semantics" and
invisible hand they can see in Gono's
latest escapade.
Looked
at soberly, Gono's strategy to improve our lot contained a lot
of sound and
fury, signifying nothing, or very little. The removal of the
zeroes and the
introduction of new bearer cheques are both unlikely to lower
the price of
essential commodities, which continue to persecute ordinary
people every
day.
Then there is his anti-corruption campaign. For as long as I can
remember, he has spoken threateningly against corruption every time he has
delivered his reviews.
Yet corruption continues to grow, not only
among the "World Bank"
women money-changers in Bulawayo, but among top
government people.
Corruption is now so endemic in Zimbabwe, the
entire country can now
be characterized as one big cancerous toe.
President Robert Mugabe now rants so angrily about it you wonder why
he
doesn't fire one cabinet minister, just to show the world he means
business.
On the Zimdollar's relationship with other foreign
currencies, Gono
played the oldest trick of the consummate politician - he
appointed a
committee to decide when to change the ratio.
You could
say he took a leaf out of the Master's Handbook, the Master
being Mugabe
himself. Every time he has faced a problem that seemed
intractable, Mugabe
has appointed a committee or a commission to probe it;
to this day, he has
not published the reports on the Entumbane or
Gukurahundi
atrocities.
This committee set up by Gono could take its own sweet
time to decide
how many Zimdollars ought to make up one US dollar, ignoring
the parallel
market rate, as they have done over the years, wreaking havoc
on the
economy, perhaps much more than the illegal money-changers.
It's true that making Z$250 worth US$1 is a step worth taking, but the
parallel market rate is way beyond that. The measures Gono has put in place
to fight the illegal money-changers may be impressive on the face of it, but
he has fought this battle before - and lost.
There is no reason to
believe the outcome will be different this time.
A show of confidence
is always good, when your game plan is falling to
pieces right before your
eyes. But then you have to have more than just your
tongue to back it
up.
Speaking to diplomats after his delivery, Gono sounded so full
of
confidence in the economy. He challenged countries still hesitant to
invest
in Zimbabwe, to do so before others grab what is on offer.
Coming from someone who once decried the absence of foreign direct
investment in Zimbabwe, this was an amazing statement. There is scant
evidence anywhere that Zimbabwe has become such an attractive destination
for foreign investment it is having to turn away some suitors.
The unemployment figures still suggest nearly 75 percent of the
able-bodied
population can find no jobs, that the informal sector is filling
up very
rapidly because that is the only sector generating employment - and
it's not
employment with health or pension benefits.
Self-employment, it is
true, can provide part of the solution to
unemployment. But in the end it
has to become part of the wealth-creating
machinery of the economy.
Adam Smith's theory still holds true today: The individual sets up a
business primarily to improve his own status. His incentive may be anchored
on a selfish desire to provide for his family and his family alone. But in
providing employment for others, buying from others, paying his taxes and
medical bills, he becomes part of the big wheel which drives the country's
wealth-creating machine.
In Zimbabwe, it is the dependency
syndrome which has ruined most plans
to help people set up their business.
If the trillions of dollars earmarked
for the small and medium enterprise
sector is not properly monitored, it
could all be money poured into a
bottomless pit.
Some of the worst instances of corruption are to be
found in this
sector. Moreover, some of the big fish are known to benefit
from funds
directed to the SMEs, largely because the monitoring system has
always
leaked like a sieve.
What must have disappointed many people
in the reviews delivered by
the two men was the total lack of mention of how
Zimbabwe intends to climb
back into the international financial
arena.
"Looking East" may be a tactic bound to reap rich benefits for
the
economy. But both India and China, the Asian economies now recognised as
future giants in the world, are looking West, as well as everywhere
else.
They know they have benefited from the fact of the existence
of the
Global Village. Soon, the Global Economy will be a reality. True, it
has its
drawbacks and has rightly drawn criticism from others, particularly
the
Third World, which condemns its rapacious nature. Yet a country which
enters
that world with its eyes wide open, as China and India have done,
stands a
good chance of giving as much as it takes from its
membership.
It's only when a country defies the rules of the
"club" that it is
either kicked out or has to withdraw, as Zimbabwe did
from the Commonwealth.
Incidentally, if, in the period that Zimbabwe
has been out of the
Commonwealth, it had been a member, many of its problems
would have been
solved.
That non-racial grouping has many
agencies which provide precious
assistance to member-states facing peculiar
problems, from tick-borne
diseases in cattle to training of journalists,
which the government media in
Zimbabwe sorely needs of right now.
Both China and India have not attained the developed status of some of
the
rich nations with whom they are doing business.
The majority of
their people remain as poor as any in the developing
world. Yet even their
severest critics recognize their potential for
greatness.
China
turned the corner when it softened its condemnation of
capitalism. It even
managed to introduce political reforms, some of them
admittedly cosmetic.
Yet it still demonstrated a willingness to conform to
certain principles
embraced by most of its potential trading partners.
Zimbabwe has to
recognize that it is futile to believe economic
success will come without
sacrifices. One huge sacrifice will be to admit
the mistakes of the past:
Sylvester Nguni, a deputy minister, admitted
publicly that there had been
serious mistakes in the agricultural policies
of the
government.
Mugabe himself must admit there have been political and
economic
blunders, some of which featured hasty actions which would have
been
reversed if the government had decided to swallow their pride and face
reality, as China evidently did, long after The Great Helmsman had passed
on.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
CHINHOYI - Frank
Utahwarova, a Divisional Intelligence Officer with
Zimbabwe's dreaded
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) has been secretly
awarded bail by a
Chinhoyi magistrate, following his arrest on charges of
hijacking a Zambian
haulage truck loaded with copper and destined for South
Africa.
According to a well-placed source within the CIO, Utahwarova, and
another
CIO operative known only as Chademana, on July 7 this year, hijacked
a
Zambian truck which was delivering a copper load to South Africa, and
diverted it to Utahwarova's farm in the Mhangura area.
When the
Zambian owners of the truck, which was fitted with a
satellite tracking
device, realised that their truck was off route without
explanation from
their driver, they raised the alarm with Zimbabwean police
who tracked the
truck to Utahwarova's Telco Farm, leading to his arrest. His
co-accused,
Chademana is said to have skipped the country before being
arrested, and is
believed to be in South Africa.
On Utahwarova's first court
appearance at the Chinhoyi Magistrates'
Court, the presiding magistrate
is said to have been ordered by a
certain Muzonzini, who is the CIO's
Director of Counter Intelligence, to
withdraw the case from public hearing,
and for it to be heard in camera.
According to our source, Utahwarova was
subsequently given bail for $500
million, and is presently out of custody, a
move which might signal the end
of the case.
The source said
Utahwarova is believed to be part of a syndicate which
has in the past
hijacked trucks transporting precious metals in South
Africa, and is alleged
to be linked to the murder of former Bindura Nickel
Mine boss, Leonard
Chimimba. Chimimba was shot dead at the gate of his home
in following the
hijacking in South Africa of a truck transporting nickel
from Bindura. He
had threatened to "spill the beans" in connection with the
hijacking.
Utahwarova is also suspected to be part of a
syndicate of carjackers
specialising in high value car hijackings in and
around Harare, especially
4x4s.
"Currently, five BMWs, two
Nissan Hardbodys and two Toyota
Landcruisers, believed to have been
hijacked by Utahwarova and his
syndicate, are parked at the CIO Training
Academy in Hatfield, Harare," said
the source. In October last year, a
Harare man who had lost his car, a Mazda
Familia, to carjackers, saw it
being driven by someone, and on being
confronted, the driver who is believed
to have been Utahwarova, sped away.
However, the man managed to follow the
car, which then disappeared into the
CIO Training Academy in
Hatfield.
After being denied entrance into the academy, the man
made a report to
the police, who were, however, also denied entry into the
academy. The car
was later released after the man threatened to take legal
action, but no one
was prosecuted.
In 2002 Utahwarova's partner
in carjacking, a certain Mandaza, was
shot dead by police after a high-speed
chase in Harare. He had refused to
stop after hijacking a car in Avondale
suburb. Utahwarova who had been
following him in another car, disappeared
and was never discovered.
According to our source, Utahwarova is
currently supposed to be in
jail for murder, after he was sentenced to nine
years in jail for beating to
death a young man in his neighbourhood in Ruwa
in 2003. Utahwarova who is a
karate instructor is said to have falsely
accused the young man of stealing
maize cobs from his garden, but the truth
was that he murdered the young man
because he was a staunch supporter of the
opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
"The CIO
ordered him released after spending only six days in prison,"
the
well-placed source said, adding that he went back to work immediately
after
his release. Efforts to get a comment from Utahwarova were
fruitless.
A lot of criminal cases involving CIO operatives are
swept under the
carpet in Zimbabwe. If the culprits are caught, the CIO
often orders the
courts to withdraw the cases, promising to deal with the
accused internally
within the organisation.
"However, the
culprits are often simply demoted or just verbally
reprimanded, and that's
all," said the source.
The Herald
By Tsitsi
Matope
THE great wild site of Harare, Cleveland Dam Recreational Park, is
an
incredibly valuable leisure sanctuary now under siege from water
polluters,
wood and animal poachers, and veld fires.
Endowed with
natural resources like trees with its vegetation breathing out
clear and
fresh air that purifies the pollutants from the industrial site of
Msasa, it
has in its belly various animal species which could make it a
great tourist
attraction.
But now the place is slowly dying, and there is nothing to
show for its
vibrancy and what is left is a yawning bare space between Msasa
and Zimre
Park.
Many who lived in the vicinity or passed by before
and soon after
independence would remember the heavily green thicket that
was a break from
the hassle of the city just a few kilometres
away.
This was a unique evergreen habitat in Harare where varieties of
bird
species would be found while other animals lazily grazed in the
beautiful
gardens as days went by.
Snake species such as the Egyptian
banded cobra, spotted bush snake, albino
night adder and boomslang, which
used to enjoy the thicket are now exposed
and some are being run over by
motorists while crossing the road following
the rapid destruction of their
habitat.
Just on the upper part of the protected area, close to Mutare
Road, some
people are indiscriminately cutting down trees, while others
sneak into the
wildlife haven leased to Haka Game Park to engage in poaching
activities.
Not to be outdone, residents from neighbouring suburbs such
as Mabvuku,
Epworth and Tafara are scrambling to destroy the once rich
gardens, turning
them into small farming plots.
Environmentalists
have called on all stakeholders to help save the
sanctuary, which is slowly
being destroyed.
As you enter the park, there are visible signs of
neglect and an absence of
the expertise in some sections to properly manage
the park.
The wilderness aspect, which is the environmental richness that
excites
wildlife lovers, is slowly disappearing.
The dam was
established between 1909 and 1912 on the upper waters of the
long and
winding Mukuvisi River.
The grand vlei is a resource that ensures a
sustainable natural cleansing of
major sources of drinking water found along
and further down the river.
Owing to the good soils and plenty of water,
environmentalists are of the
view that the area should have been another
unique rain forest by now if
authorities were committed to nurturing
it.
Now the dam risks silting and spreading the negative impact further
downstream.
"Although nothing has been built in the area for close to
a century in
recognition of the need to conserve the area, not much
attention has been
put on at least protecting the trees and grass
varieties," one
environmentalist from Environment Africa said.
Harare
City Council personnel, who man the area, confirmed the development
of the
area was not being made a major priority and due to limited
resources, some
portions of the park were being leased to Haka Game Reserve
and Environment
Africa.
It, however, appears there is no regular monitoring and
assessment of people
supposed to protect the areas leased to
them.
"We need hundreds of billions of dollars just for fencing and
several other
billions for the installation of electricity. We had hoped to
get the green
light on pegging our entrance fees in foreign currency to
foreign tourists
but we are still charging them in local currency," the
official said.
He said the council charges $500 for entrance fees, $600
per canoe and $400
as a fish permit.
Although the sorry state of the
park is likely to dampen every nature lover's
spirits, the sanctuary has
made great efforts in the area of managing and
protecting the country's
great snakes, which include the endangered python.
Two crocodiles that
appear underfed are also kept in the ponds close to the
snake
section.
Mr Isaac Hlongwane, a herpertologist responsible for that
section, conceded
that limited resources were negatively impacting on their
efforts.
"We do not get much from tourists and, therefore, we need people
concerned
about conservation to help upgrade this area. It was turned from a
water
treatment plant to a conservation area and there is a lot of work that
needs
to be done," Mr Hlongwane said.
Driving down towards Mbizi
Road, there is a huge portion of land being
leased out to Environment
Africa.
"We are preserving this area because it was under threat. Wood
poachers who
sneak into the park have done a lot of damage to areas
surrounding this
place, but we are trying to keep this part flourishing,"
Environment Africa
public relations officer Ms Deliwe Utete
said.
Another ecological disaster is looming at Haka Game Park, where
animals are
dying of suspected disease outbreaks and poaching while others
are being
injured or burnt by veld fires.
The operations of the park
have been severely affected by veld fires that
have resulted in some animals
being killed in the inferno.
Mr Set Mahommed, who has been managing Haka
Game Park for the past six
years, said non-cooperation of stakeholders in
dealing with problems
threatening the viability of Cleveland Dam and the
park had severely
affected operations..
"We are centralised in an
urban setting and we get little support from the
police and the
municipality. With the new impetus to crack down on illegal
activities such
as poaching, we hope the people we know have been illegally
killing animals
and getting away with it will be dealt with. These are some
of the people
who were dampening our conservation efforts," Mr Mahommed
said.
He
confirmed that several animals that included all the kudus had been wiped
out.
The park has only female elands, a shocking way of conservation,
which
naturally stops breeding and the growing of the eland
population.
The park provides the leisurely and enriching enjoyment of
game viewing but,
without an electric fence to effectively protect the
animals from poachers
it has become a dangerous place for
animals.
Cleveland Dam was built in 1912 as Harare's first permanent
water supply. It
is surrounded by the Cleveland Catchment Area, a specially
protected natural
area of nearly 2000 hectares, the city's largest protected
natural area and
the most vital.
The dam and catchment area form a
rich mosaic of wetlands and rivers,
grassland, woodlands and granite
outcrops.
It is exceptionally rich in the diversity of its trees and
plants, animals
and birds, fishes and insects. It is the highest part of
Harare and the
source of the Mukuvisi River, which flows across the city and
into Lake
Chivero.
But until something is done, Cleveland Dam will
soon become Harare's
forgotten jewel.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
Zimbabwe's capital
Harare.
By Charles Mtetwa, recently in Harare
HARARE - TRAFFIC lights work, the city is clean, banks open and close
within
the normal working hours, roads are being repaired, ambulances and
police
cars screech Harare's streets in a city where people continue to
queue for
goods and services with dignified humility.
To a stranger,
everything in the former sunshine City looks normal as
people rub shoulders
and get on with their lives. But the air of ambiance
enveloping Harare, the
Zimbabwean capital, masks grinding poverty that has
seen prices of most
basic commodities surge by more than 1000 percent in the
last 12
months.
And yet the restive population, enduring a nearing decade
of economic
ruin in the southern African country, only grimace at the
prospect there
will be a let up in poverty.
"I am not sure what
it will be like the next day," says Tapuwa
Bvururu, a former data capture
clerk at a Harare motor car distributing
firm.
Bvururu gave up
his Zimdollar $20 million (now $20 000) job and now
survives on cross border
trading. He is now eking a living through buying
and selling goods in short
supply.
"I am making more by way of looking for opportunities like
these
unlike the peanuts I earned in my clerical job," he
explains.
Bvururu says he risks developing deep vein thrombosis
(DVT), because
of spending hours crossing borders in search of goods to
resale in Zimbabwe.
DVT is a medical term which refers to the clotting of
blood in veins in the
legs owing to long periods of being in a restricted
sitting position,
reminiscent of being on an aircraft.
But for
Bvururu, that is another story and another day as he uses
buses as his
affordable and profitable means of transport to cross borders.
He regularly
has to use the buses as bedrooms overnight before the borders
are opened at
6AM.
On the face of it all, Harare is as normal as any other city
in the
world, but only statistics literally speak volumes of the rubble
littering
Zimbabwe, under a weight of economic and political meltdown,
ignited by
years of mismanagement by the government.
Zimbabwe,
once the southern region's second largest economy after
South Africa, has
become a laughing stock with its currency trading in
thousands of dollars
against regional currencies. The Zimbabwe dollar
trading at 0,91 against the
United States dollar in 1981 has been free
falling even against the Zambian
Kwacha to trade at well over $100 000,
compared to a reverse exchange rate
in January of 1997.
Only this week, Zimbabwe's central bank slashed
three zeros of the
currency in as part of piece-meal efforts to fight
galloping inflation,
corruption and speculation - factors that bedevil the
country's economy.
The affable and indefatigable Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono
earlier this week gave depositors a 21-day deadline to
change their money in
exchange for new bearer cheques.
The
country, without a currency in circulation, now has a new set of
13 bearer
cheques ranging from one cent to $100 000 are now in circulation.
Zimbabwe
adopted the bearer cheques as a form of payment on the back of
rampant
inflation, which had eroded value of the highest $1000
denomination.
On one hand, the new bearer cheques bring convenience
in the handling
of money, which under the previous values was fast becoming
a nightmare to
handle, as it required carrier bags to be
transported.
In essence the nominal value of the Zimbabwean money
remain the same
and variables on the ground suggest inflation is bound to
sky rocket still.
Zimbabwe's productive sector, once admired by
other regional
economies, is shrinking at a time unemployment is reaching
alarming levels
in excess of 80 percent.
But Gono sees the
situation otherwise, insisting: "Over the past 32
months, the turnaround
efforts have come face to face with the hazards of
the three vices of
indiscipline, corruption and speculation, which have
weighed us down and
continue to impose an intolerable burden on the people
of Zimbabwe and the
economy in general."
Gono conceded that while inflation remained
the number one enemy he
was optimistic it would subside to two-digit levels
by 2008, a vision not
shared by Bongai Sithole, a University of Zimbabwe's
economics student.
"It is difficult to predict that inflation will
come down without
addressing the fundamental problems affecting the economy.
Many a times
authorities have tended to address symptoms and whether
wittingly or
unwittingly ignoring the actual disease," Sithole
explained.
And indeed, basic figured kept by the government itself
indicate that
the economy continues to point on a downward spiral unless
foreign donors
provide a drip for resuscitation. The last economic growth
ever recorded was
during the implementation of the western backed Economic
Structural
Adjustment Programme (ESAP) before the government dumped it over
disagreements with major donors.
As a consequence, the
government continues to borrow heavily from the
domestic money market and
recent figures show the debt at $46,1 trillion, up
from $15,9 trillion the
previous year.
During this correspondent's three-week stay in
Zimbabwe, it was hard
to hear much talk about politics in public, except
murmurings about prices
of basic commodities. Perhaps with limited media
outlets to provide in-depth
coverage of activities of opposition parties,
the Zimbabwean media is now
dominated by the pro-government Zimbabwe
Newspapers.
Basic commodities are very expensive and most families
cannot afford
the luxury of three-square meals a day and let alone transport
and rent. "I
had to quit my job to look for opportunities on my own because
I could
ill-afford to pay for transport and rent," Bvururu moaned, adding
opportunities were many in an economy in turmoil.
Bvururu like
many Zimbabweans have turned to the thriving buying and
selling market.
After his trip to Zambia, Bvururu was planning another trip
to South Africa
to buy and supply bond paper, which has suddenly disappeared
from the
stationery shops in Harare.
Atlanta Jopournal Constitution
Published on: 08/06/06
With the Middle East near a
full-fledged conflagration, with the Janjaweed
militias continuing their
campaign of genocide in Darfur, with Afghanistan
again spiraling out of
control, it's hard to shine a spotlight on one small
disaster in a faraway
corner of the world. Nevertheless, a moment of
mourning for the once-proud
African nation that was Zimbabwe seems in order.
Oh, it's still there on
the map. But it's hardly a functioning nation
anymore. It has been brought
low in a single generation by the tyranny of
just one man, Robert Mugabe,
who has been in power since 1980. The
unemployment rate hovers near 80
percent; the inflation rate is more than
1,000 percent.
About 20
percent of the population is believed to be infected with HIV, the
virus
that causes AIDS. The New Yorker recently quoted the World Health
Organization on declining health standards:
"The life expectancy of a
Zimbabwean woman has dropped from 61 years, in
1991, to 34 years, the lowest
in the world."
Zimbabwe should have been a model of multiethnic democracy
and economic
growth. Mugabe didn't have to be as wise as Nelson Mandela to
make his
nation work; he just had to avoid being a
madman.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what he turned out to be. And the
world stood
by and did nothing while he ruined a country.
Black
Americans have flocked to start businesses in South Africa; a few have
sought citizenship in Ghana, which is offering the gimmick to draw
entrepreneurial black Americans to live there. But none of that attention
has been turned toward Zimbabwe, which might have turned out differently had
international pressure been brought to bear on Mugabe.
Instead, other
African leaders turned a blind eye, afraid their own human
rights records
might be examined if they turned up the heat on the
Zimbabwean dictator.
Inexplicably, political leaders such as former U.N.
Ambassador Andrew Young
have defended Mugabe.
But Richard Joseph, a political science professor
at Northwestern University
and director of its Program of African Studies,
has said: "Our black
leadership has been utterly ineffective in dealing with
the autocrats and
dictators in Africa who are not white."
He
explained that "our collective black leadership - organizations, church
groups, civil rights organizations, civil rights leaders - have not provided
that leadership, and the African people have paid the price. It's
shameful."
When I visited Zimbabwe in 1983, its black intelligentsia was
high on hope,
convinced they could provide a model for black rule. After a
decades-long
guerrilla war against the white-only government of
then-Rhodesia, black
nationalists had finally brokered a peace accord, which
led to elections
that put Mugabe in power in 1980.
Much of
postcolonial Africa was already a mess - a cautionary tale of civil
conflict, corrupt governments and failed socialist economies. Idi Amin had
wreaked havoc on Uganda through his despotic and murderous rule; Nigeria had
endured a civil war that led to thousands of civilian deaths in tragic
Biafra; the nation then known as Zaire - now called the Congo - was in the
kleptocratic grip of Mobutu Sese Seko, who looted the country's natural
resources before he was finally deposed in 1997.
Zimbabwe offered the
chance for a fresh start - and, for a brief shining
moment, it looked as if
Mugabe would get it right. Though he had an
autocratic instinct from the
start - some suspect his army of murdering
hundreds of political opponents -
he sounded many of the right notes. He
left in place an independent
judiciary; he embarked on a literacy campaign
for the country's uneducated
black citizens; he called for racial
reconciliation, urging Zimbabwe's
200,000 whites - including its nearly
50,000 white farmers - to stay and
keep Zimbabwe free and prosperous.
But when poor blacks became impatient
with the pace of change, Mugabe
responded by allowing thugs to seize the
farms of white landowners and turn
the land over to his supporters. The
agricultural sector quickly collapsed.
Mugabe also began a brutal campaign
against political opponents, shutting
down opposition newspapers and taking
over the courts. The country is a
shell of its former self.
It's not
too late for international intervention to save Zimbabwe, Joseph
suggests,
but he acknowledges the difficulty in getting attention there.
"There are so
many tragedies [in Africa] to deal with," he said.
The only good news is
that Zimbabwe is a relatively easy one to tackle. But
the world community
needs to get started - forcing Mugabe out and
supervising elections - before
there is no longer anything left to save.
http://africantears.netfirms.com/
Saturday 5th August 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
As early as nine in
the morning at least two hundred and fifty people stood
in snaking lines
waiting to be searched on the road side. Three buses, one
minibus, one
haulage truck and 14 cars had been ordered to stop at the
roadblock. This is
not a description of a scene in war torn Lebanon or Iraq,
but of a simple
single lane highway coming into the Zimbabwean town of
Marondera on Friday
morning. The passengers from all the buses had been
ordered to get out, line
up and open their suitcases, hold-alls and even
hand bags so that they could
be searched. The driver of the haulage truck
had been ordered to undo all
the tie downs and remove the huge tarpaulin
that covered a full load of
freight on his trailer. Most of the people in
the string of cars that grew
ever longer were having to get out and open
boots and push seats forward.
The interrogations and searches were being
conducted by youngsters in their
late teens and early twenties. And what
where all these young "officials"
looking for - it wasn't guns or bombs or
drugs it was money - our own money.
If people were carrying more than was
"allowed" by the Governor of the
Reserve Bank, it was being confiscated at
road blocks by pimply faced youths
until you could prove where you got our
own money from.
It has been
an utterly shambolic week in Zimbabwe which began on Tuesday
when the
Reserve Bank Governor knocked three zeroes off our currency and
introduced a
new set of notes which are to be used as money. He called them
"a new family
of bearer cheques." The Reserve Bank Governor said that we
have three weeks
to change all our old dollars into new dollars and that
from the 21st August
our existing bank notes would no longer be recognised
as money. But it isn't
really three weeks because there are two public
holidays, three Sundays and
three half working days in the change over
period. The Governor then set
limits for the amounts of money people and
companies could change at a time
- with maximum amounts being set per week.
He barred all retail outlets from
selling goods worth more than 100 million
dollars ( 100 Pounds Sterling) in
cash to one customer and said no one could
move around with more than 100
million dollars in cash on them. If there was
petrol to buy - which suddenly
there isn't - 100 million dollars would only
just be enough to fill a
standard fuel tank of a family car. Cheques were
being rejected by banks if
they were written in the old denominations, ATM
dispensers were shut down,
most shops did not have the new notes and the
banks were still giving out
old notes for withdrawals. Everyone I met was
panicking. Most do not have
bank accounts so if the banks haven't got the
new notes to exchange for the
old, they are sunk and have no option except
to frantically spend whatever
money they have on things they can't afford,
just to get rid of the old
money.
And then, worst of all, came the typical threats and intimidation
so
characteristic of life in Zimbabwe. Just two days after making his
announcement, the Governor of the Reserve Bank said he was considering
shortening the time period even further - to stop the crooks. He did not say
what happens to the plain, ordinary, desperately poor people who aren't
crooks. People with just a few million dollars in remote dusty villages who
would have to use most of their money just to get to a town with a bank.
There are apparently no exceptions for the weak, the frail or the elderly,
for those who are in hospital, incapacitated or unable to travel - there is
not a glimmer of compassion for the common man and woman.
Zimbabwe
this week feels closer to a revolution than at any other time in
the last
six years. The rage on people's faces as they stand waiting to be
searched
at the road blocks, waiting to have their own money taken from
them, is
palpable.
Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.