The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has sprung to the defence
of Robert
Mugabe and blamed Britain for the crisis in Zimbabwe.
In his
weekly letter to the ruling African National Congress, Mr Mbeki
said
President Mugabe'sseizures of white farms had become inevitable
because
Britain had not honoured its commitment to fund land reform. Mr Mbeki
also
criticised the Commonwealth, saying it did not have the interests
of
Zimbabwe's people at heart when it decided to renew the country's
suspension
from the organisation. Mr Mugabe pulled his country out of the
Commonwealth
on Sunday night in protest at the decision.
President
Mbeki dismissed Commonwealth concerns about human rights abuses in
Zimbabwe,
saying it had lost sight of the land issue, which he described as
the core of
the problems in Zimbabwe.
His remarks are certain to further disappoint
those who are already angered
by his defence of Mr Mugabe at the Commonwealth
summit in Nigeria and his
attempts to oust its secretary general Don
McKinnon, who has been a vocal
critic of Mr Mugabe.
Lovemore Madhuku,
a prominent Zimbabwean academic, said: "The point is that
Mbeki is now
looking a bit silly by his campaign to defend the
totally
indefensible.
"I think he has made it clear that his African
Renaissance and Nepad [New
Partnership for Africa's Development] pet
projects, which are predicated on
good governance, are not worth the paper on
which they are written. Rich
countries must take note and not waste time on
these things."
In his defence of Mr Mugabe's government, Mr Mbeki quoted
the Kenyan author
Ngugi wa Thiongo: "Africa actually enriches Europe but
Africa is made to
believe that it needs Europe to rescue it from poverty." Mr
Mbeki said those
who fought for a democratic Zimbabwe "with thousands paying
the supreme
price during the struggle, and forgave their oppressors and
torturers in a
spirit of national reconciliation, have been turned into
repugnant enemies
of democracy".
In a direct reference to Britain, he
said: "Those who, in the interest of
their [white] 'kith and kin', did what
they could to deny the people of
Zimbabwe their liberty, for as long as they
could, have become the eminent
defenders of the democratic rights of the
people of Zimbabwe."
Mr Mbeki asked why the land issue had disappeared
from the global agenda
when it was at the "core" of the problems in Zimbabwe.
Whenever the land
issue was mentioned, he said, it was only "to highlight the
plight of the
former white landowners, and to attribute food shortages in
Zimbabwe to the
land redistribution programme".
He accused Britain,
the United Nations and European Union of not honouring
commitments to help
finance land redistribution in Zimbabwe after colonial
rule left most
productive farms in the hands of the white minority.
"A forcible process
of land redistribution perhaps became inevitable," Mr
Mbeki said. He accused
"some within Zimbabwe and elsewhere" of treating
human rights as a tool to
overthrow the Zimbabwe government. While
acknowledging that "many things have
gone wrong in Zimbabwe", Mr Mbeki
attributed the crisis to machinations by
British governments which were
meant to protect the interests of their "white
kith and kin".
Zimbabwe Farmers Lack Funds to Buy Land Here
New Vision
(Kampala)
December 17, 2003
Posted to the web December 17,
2003
Yunusu Abbey
Kampala
ZIMBABWEAN white farmers who wanted
to invest in Uganda after authorities in
Harare grabbed their land, have
pulled out of the venture.
The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA)
director, Dr. Maggie Kigozi, said the
Zimbabweans who inspected land in
Uganda, could not proceed with the deal
due to financial
constraints.
Kigozi was addressing the weekly Government briefing in
Kampala on Thursday.
"No bank or lender was willing to give them the 100%
loan without security
as they had wanted. As a result, they had to go back
home while some
remained around and got employment," she said.
Sudhir
Ruparelia's Rosebud Flowers farm had recruited some Zimbabweans but
three of
them ran away.
The Star
Sovereign can't be sacred
December 18,
2003
By Geoff Hughes
Before his decision to take
Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth,
President Robert Mugabe had
been
presenting the party faithful with the "choice", really a false
antithesis,
between "our sovereignty" and staying in "the club".
What does
"sovereignty" really mean? The original medieval sense would
appeal to the
likes of Mugabe and Saddam Hussein, namely "absolute power".
Now
that absolute monarchs are a thing of the past, the common modern
sense is
that of an "independent state". But that is an inadequate
definition, since
the key qualification is for a nation to be able to take
its own
decisions.
How independent is Zimbabwe really, under the
dictatorial control of a
corrupt elite which perverts the rule of law,
violates the human rights of
its citizens, suppresses the freedom of the
press, and, in the undoctored
reports of the Commonwealth Observer Mission,
systematically manipulated the
last election?
How absolute is
the argument that one should not interfere in the
internal affairs of a
sovereign state? Apartheid South Africa was "a
sovereign state"; so was
Iraq.
.. Geoff Hughes is Professor Emeritus at the University
of the
Witwatersrand.
The Herald
Paper faces $600 million lawsuit
Court Reporter
TWO
Kwekwe Zanu-PF officials have filed a $600 million lawsuit against
the
Zimbabwe Independent newspaper over a story claiming they were used
as
fronts by the Speaker of Parliament Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa in illegal
gold
dealings in the Midlands town.
The two — Mr Owen Mudha Ncube and
retired army major — George Makombe have
also cited the editor of the
newspaper, Iden Wetherell, the reporter
Shakeman Mugari and the Kwekwe Member
of Parliament Blessing Chebundo (MDC)
as other respondents to the mega
lawsuit.
A fortnight ago, the Independent published a story entitled
"Mnangagwa
shoots down gold charges" claiming that the two Mr Ncube, retired
major
Makombe and a Mr Chipinda recruited gold panners from whom they bought
gold.
In the suit filed at the High Court last Friday, the two are
demanding $300
million each from the newspaper for damages by the article,
which their
lawyer said was understood by members of the public to mean that
the two
were not honest politicians who unjustly enrich themselves through
corrupt
practices.
The lawyer, Mr Martin Makonese of Makonese and
Partners said the Independent
story was false, wrongful and defamatory and
intended to damage the
reputations of his clients.
Mr Makonese said
his clients were not Cde Mnangagwa’s agents as claimed by
the story and they
had never at any one point connived with the Speaker to
recruit any gold
panners.
He said as a result of the defamatory statements in the story,
Mr Ncube and
retired major Makombe suffered damages to their good name and
reputation in
the sum of $300 million each.
In the Independent story
published two weeks ago, the weekly newspaper
alleged that Mr Ncube and
retired major Makombe were fronts of Cde
Mnangagwa.
"The three recruit
gold panners from whom they buy the gold.
"It is well known that they are
fronts for Mnangagwa. Gold panning has been
allowed to go on as a campaign
tool by the ruling party. The three frontmen
and gold panners claim they have
protection from senior officials in the
party," the paper reported.
In
a letter instructing his lawyer to sue the Independent, Mr Ncube said
the
story and its contents were scandalous and meant to discredit him and
the
ruling party.
"This is a smear campaign by Chebundo to tarnish the
image of the ruling
Zanu-PF in an attempt to woo supporters to the
British-backed MDC so that
they win the 2005 parliamentary elections,’’ Mr
Ncube said, adding that it
was a matter of sour grapes by Chebundo.
He
said the MDC was beaten by Zanu-PF during the August council elections
in
Kwekwe and since Mr Ncube and retired major Makonese were part of
the
campaign team, Chebundo was jealousy.
Retired major Makombe also
said Chebundo was only after demonising the
ruling party instead of thanking
it for empowering the youth in the mining
town.
News24
Zim school fees hit the roof
17/12/2003 21:54 -
(SA)
Alet Rademeyer
Pretoria - In yet another example of
Zimbabwe's financial crisis, it has
emerged that school fees there are set to
rise by up to a shocking 2 500%
next year.
Hassan Lorgat, spokesperson
for the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) in
South Africa, described the
situation as "tragic".
It is going to result in hundreds of children
dropping out of school, he
said, adding that this was a basic depravation of
human rights.
He predicts that this alone could force many adults and
children in the
country to flee to places such as South Africa.
Lorgat
said the GCE supported a harder stance being taken against Zimbabwe.
As
in South Africa, parents decide on the school fees at about 6 000
government
schools in Zimbabwe.
School bodies have said they have no other option
but to raise fees.
In some schools, fees have gone up from Z$500 (R4) a
term to Z$50 000
(R400).
In the more expensive schools, fees have
increased from Z$19 000 (R152) per
term to Z$250 000 (R2 000).
For
middle-class Zimbabweans this spells disaster - especially since 80%
are
unemployed.
John Robertson, a Zimbabwean economist, said on
Wednesday that the increase
would have a dramatic impact on the majority of
children whose families are
unable to afford the fees.
He also said
that even now, a large percentage of children dropped out of
school at the
age of 12 because their parents could not afford the fees.
He said this
was tragic, especially in view of the fact that Zimbabwe was
once respected
for its high standard of education.
A Unicef report showed that more and
more children were deprived of
schooling due to the cost of education and
because of HIV/Aids.
Unicef said this week that urgent attention must be
given to Zimbabwean
children, especially girls, regarding their continued
education.
2
Business Unit
The Finance Committee (and many others) expressed concern that
the Town
Clerk
(TC) had dissolved the Business Unit. On 24 November the
Executive Committee
was
given a verbal report by the TC "in which he
confirmed that the Business
Unit
had been dissolved in order to pave the
way for a properly constituted team
with
the requisite expertise for the
administration and implementation of the
City's
Strategic Plan"
The
Finance Committee resolved that the TC submits a written report on
the
dissolution and the way forward. I asked, and they permitted, an
amendment
to
that resolution to say that the report must include the CVs
of those being
removed, and the CVs of those to be appointed, and that Full
Council receive
that report before any appointments be made to the Business
Unit.
3 Replacement of Mayoral Vehicle, minibuses, and
more.
Procurement Board sent to the Finance Committee an item that a
replacement
Mayoral vehicle be purchased at an estimated cost of $200 000
000.00 (for
another Mazda 626) the Finance Committee refuse, saying that
replacement of
a
Mayoral vehicle was not a priority of the City, and funds
should be
channeled to
critical areas. This was agreed to by Full Council.
The Deputy Mayor is
currently using "a Treasury Pool vehicle normally used by
an officer who was
currently on suspension." I believe that this is the City
Treasurer's
vehicle,
which the Municipal Police came around to collect. I
have also heard a
rumour
that she borrowed the Director of Work's vehicle
one weekend in November and
put
2000 km on it.
Further to that, Audit
Committee noted with concern that no accident report
had
been submitted
regarding the Deputy Mayors Mazda 626. The accident was in
August, and I
think it was written off. All the rest of the City
reports
vehicle
accidents to the Audit Committee on a monthly basis.
I
asked where Mr. Gwindi's vehicle was, as I understood that it was
still
being
used by him, despite the fact that it belonged to the City, he
had never
been
properly appointed and therefore had never worked for the
City, and there
was a
High Court order granted in August I believe stating
that he must surrender
the
vehicle. I suggested this vehicle might ease
the strain on Mayor's Parlour
vehicles. We were told that the issue of the
vehicle with Mr. Gwindi was
with
the Deputy Sheriff.
Procurement Board
also recommended on an item "Purchase of two Minibuses for
transporting
Councillors and officials". They approved the purchase of one
new
minibus,
but not the second "due to the negative financial conditions" and
"need
to
focus on more urgent needs". This came to Full Council last month,
and
Councillors considered the need to have a second minibus important enough
to
send the item back to the Procurement Board. However, the Procurement
Board
did
not take the hint (well done to them and Chair Cllr
Madzivanyika) and sent
exactly the same thing forward again. This time the
Councillors insisted the
recommendation be changed and a second one be bought
($155 000 000). I again
stood up to support the Procurement Board, but to no
avail. The Councillors
get
taken home after the monthly meetings in the
minibuses, as well as go on
tours
of inspection etc., and I guess they
feel their comfort is more important
than
getting water and sewerage
repair crews out to fix bursts and leaks.
Finally on vehicles, at the very
end of the meeting, Cllr. Makoni stood up
to
say that the Town Clerk did
not have a good vehicle to drive, and that a new
vehicle should be procured
for him, "by the end of the week at the latest".
This
motion was only
stopped because we said that there was no "any other
business"
to be
conducted.
4 Allocation of Stands to Council Employees and
Councillors.
This item turned into a debate on why Councillors were
restricted to
receiving
stands in their wards. The situation is that
Councillors should be given
priority (fast tracking) in allocation of housing
stands. This was in order
to
allow them to live in their wards, and was
restricted to Councillors who did
not
already own property.
Cllr.
O'Brien and I toyed with the idea of applying for stands, just to
see
the
process and look at loopholes. I live in a flat owned by my
company (the
flat is
not in my name) and Cllr. O'Brien lives in a rented
house. Cllr O'Brien
thought
that if we received anything, we could donate
it to St Joseph's House. We
did
not apply I the end, but perhaps should
have because I am really concerned
about
the process and the attitude of
Councillors.
As it now stands, a significant number want to receive as many
stands as
they
can (with the restriction that only one stand can be
allocated under the
fast
track procedure, the rest under normal
application rules), and they want to
receive stands anywhere in the city
(Cllr Kapare citing the "one city
concept"
to justify this) so if you are
a Councillor from Glen View, why should you
not
get a stand in Borrowdale?
This second wish went to a vote and ended up 16
for
and 16 against. The
Deputy Mayor used her casting vote to prevent a change
to
allocate stands
anywhere.
The allocation of stands (to themselves) is possibly the highest
priority to
most Councillors. And there is more I will not speak of at this
time.
5 Re-instatement of the Town Clerk
On 1 October, we proposed
that the Town Clerk be sent on forced leave
pending
legal advice on his
reinstatement. This, although a caucus decision, was
opposed
in Council by
Cllr C. Mushonga's alternative that Mr. Chideya be invited
back.
(For more
on this, see previous issues). We voted on this, and the majority
agreed to
it. Minister Chombo then suspended 6 Councillors for their conduct
at
this
and another meeting and they have since been dismissed. Mr. Chideya
declared
the resolution to be illegal (for reasons unknown) at the
next
Council
meeting (23 October) and refused to leave the room. I walked
out rather than
take part in a decision making process that allows officials
to implement
only
the resolution they feel like implementing followed by
Cllrs. Dore, Marunda
and
Badza. While we were gone (and the others
suspended), the remaining
Concillors
moved that Mr. Chideya be invited
back and rescinded the 1 October
Resolution.
So at the meeting of 27
November, we (Cllr Dore and myself) pointed out that
re
scinding this
resolution was contrary to the Urban Councils Act (and
therefore
illegal)
and wondered why none of the fine legal minds present (Mr. Chideya
seems to
be happy to present legal opinions on his own case when they suit
him)
had
pointed this out. Section 89 is actually quite clear. So at
this
meeting,
Cllr. Manjeya (who seems bound and determined to appease Mr.
Chideya) moved
that
it be "regularized". So it went to the Executive
Committee (dominated now by
the
Deputy Mayor and Cllr. C. Mushonga) who of
course recommended that he be
reinstated, and their resolution came back to
Tuesday's Full Council
meeting. I
stood up to propose that the whole thing
be deferred pending a proper legal
opinion from Council's lawyer (Tendai
Biti) but I did not even get a
seconder.
6 Accommodation for the
Acting Mayor
The Finance Committee resolved that rented accommodation for the
Deputy
Mayor
(at $2 000 000 per month) be set aside because there is no
money for it, and
that the official who facilitated this accommodation and
payment before
approval
by Council be disciplined by the Executive
Committee. These two resolutions
were
supported by the Full
Council.
Later in the meeting, the Executive Committee minutes put forward
the
recommendation that Council approves the provision of rented
accommodation
for
the Deputy Mayor at a rate of $2 000 000 per month. It
noted that she was
already in the accommodation, and cited security concerns,
only a temporary
thing, Mayor's issue will be finalised by the end of the
month, etc. etc.
and
Council approves. Very few of us opposed it. I said I
did not approve on
security reasons when the Mayor moved, and do not approve
now for the same
reasons. But the other Councillors seem not to want to learn
by their
mistakes,
but to use their mistakes as an excuse to make more of
them. Really, they
disgust me, and I wonder why I am there.
7
Refuse Collection
After huge debates last year, which I recall involved
Councillors wanting
the
City to collect it's own, and officials
recommending the use of private
contractors, we now have a new item on refuse
collection failings. The Town
Clerk is now reporting that the only way
forward was for the city to collect
its
own with a beefed up refuse
collection fleet, and that efforts towards that
direction were underway. I
guess that is one way to avoid debate - just do
it
and tell Council
afterwards; after all, they do whatever they are told to do
by
the
TC.
8 Cattle Rustlers
A note to point out that we do have some
very good people. Employees at
Crowborough farm had volunteered to set two
night ambushes for cattle
rustlers,
and on the night of 18 August, they
were successful. 24 arrests were made
and
five people received sentences
of 15 years in jail, one receiving 7 years
and
the rest fines. January to
August cattle losses were 57 head (valued at $57
000
000) with 19 being
taken in August. In September, no cattle were taken!
9
Harare-Chitungwiza Commuter Rail Project
A steering committee, including
Harare Officials, has been set up to look
into
this on a Build Operate and
Transfer basis.
10 Viable Utilisation of Waste
A tender will be
floated for bids to utilise solid, hazardous and sewerage
wastes generated by
the City. These include composting, recycling, biogas,
construction
materials, etc.
11 Bioremedies and Marimba Stream
A related but
different item is that we now await a detailed action and work
plan from
Bioremedies on their proposal to carry out a two phased
rehabilitation
of
Marimba Stream, using US$50 000 of donor funding that they have
sourced.
12 Ward Based Groups
We are again using ward-based
groups to cut grass. The rate is $40 000 per
ha.
Storm drain cleaning is
finished for this year. Despite last year's failure
(the
Chairman ran off
with the payment cheque) we will try it again if people are
interested and
can get themselves formed
up.
^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=^=
While I have
tried to tone it down, a good deal of Tuesday's meeting has
left
me both
breathless in awe and swearing like the trooper I used to be at the
logic,
venality, selfishness, and shortsightedness of my fellow
Councillors.
I
wonder why I am here. It is now just over a year since I
became a Councillor
(5
December 2002) and I also wonder what we (or I)
have done.
I will try to write a more regular newsletter. At the top is a
new
letterhead,
or banner if you will, but I will be keeping the whole
thing text only, and
encourage you to distribute it more widely using
whatever imaginative
methods
(or simply printing out several copies and
handing it around) you can think
of
because most people do NOT have email
access, and I do not have the
resources to
distribute by any other
means.
Try to enjoy the holiday season, and we hope that next year will
be the one
where it all turns
around.
Zvakanaka
Michael
Mbeki to test quiet diplomacy in Harare
With mounting pressure to prove that "quiet diplomacy" can
help bring about
a settlement in Zimbabwe, President Thabo Mbeki arrives in
Harare today for
talks with the country's president, Robert Mugabe. The visit
comes as
Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on SA to speak out against human
rights
violations. Tutu said SA's stance raised the question of what would
stop SA
from lapsing into undemocratic practices if it was indifferent to
what was
happening north of the border. Arnold Vaatz, a deputy leader from
Germany's
main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, who spent three
days in
Zimbabwe, said yesterday he feared for the future of southern Africa
if SA
tolerated and supported "a criminal and racist" government. Vaatz
also
warned that SA was losing postapartheid international goodwill
and
credibility and stood to lose out on international
investment.
Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo, said yesterday that the
president's visit
was part of continuing consultations with Mugabe, to help
the people of
Zimbabwe to find a solution to their problems. Khumalo said the
visit was
planned "a long time ago" and was not a result of events at the
recent
Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Nigeria, at which Zimbabwe
was
indefinitely suspended from the Commonwealth. The expulsion was
criticised
by the Southern African Development Community. Mbeki was
particularly
stinging in his attack, labelling the move by European members
as seeking to
protect their "kith and kin". In a statement earlier this week,
Tutu said
that what was reportedly happening in Zimbabwe was "totally
unacceptable and
reprehensible". By drawing attention to the issue, Vaatz
could put pressure
on German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to make Zimbabwe a
prominent matter on
his visit to SA early next year. As SA has supported
Zimbabwe, Vaatz said,
"you ask yourself, what's the future for SA and
Africa"? Vaatz said his
deepest impression from the visit was how similar the
climate of repression
in Zimbabwe was to that in his former homeland, east
Germany. He said there
was an environment of deep mistrust in Zimbabwe, as
well as "deep insecurity
about the future".
Cape Argus
Turn up the volume on Zimbabwe
December 18,
2003
By the Editor
President Thabo Mbeki travelled
to Harare today on another "quiet
diplomacy" mission. But while Mbeki has
been steadfast in his belief that
Zimbabweans themselves must resolve the
crisis in that country, the rest of
the world it losing its
patience.
With the worsening food shortages, inflation reaching
triple figures,
an ongoing brain drain of its professionals and a renewed
commitment to grab
more white-owned farms as part of the country's
controversial land reform
programme, Zimbabwe is in a mess.
Mugabe's political opponents, especially members of the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change, have been harassed and Zimbabwe's only
independent
daily newspaper, The Daily News, has been banned, stifling all
opposition
voices in that country.
It is a moot point that President Robert
Mugabe's Zanu-PF agreed that
the country must withdraw from the Commonwealth
when the club's 54 member
states were about to extend the country's
suspension anyway.
Other world leaders and bodies, including
the European Union, have
imposed selective embargoes against Zimbabwe and its
leaders. We continue to
whisper and cajole.
It is therefore
imperative, as good neighbours, that Mbeki begins
dialogue with Mugabe that
is loud and clear and that will start a process of
ending the tragedy in
Zimbabwe.
Mbeki has committed himself and is optimistic about
finding a solution
to the crisis by June.
The only way he is
going to achieve that objective, and end the
suffering, is to convince Mugabe
to hold free and fair elections and not a
repeat of the shambles we witnessed
in 2000 and in the presidential
elections last year.
The Financial Times (UK), 17 December
Zimbabwe's bank chief tackles
inflation
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Gideon Gono, new
governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank, will on Thursday
present his first
monetary policy statement, expected to include a
substantial devaluation of
the Zimbabwe dollar and drastic new measures to
tackle inflation. Mr Gono
will unveil his policy a day after the publication
of inflation figures
showing that prices rose 33.6 per cent in November, the
highest monthly
increase to date. Year-on-year inflation accelerated
dramatically from 525.8
per cent in October to 619.6 per cent last month.
Prices have doubled in the
last three months to give an annualised inflation
rate of over 1900 per cent.
Public expectations of what Mr Gono can deliver
have been built up in the
state media, but bankers say Mr Gono faces a
near-impossible task. President
Robert Mugabe has repeatedly said interest
rates are too high and must come
down, while last month the cabinet vetoed
plans to devalue the Zimbabwe
dollar from its current official rate of Z$824
to the US dollar to over
Z$3,000. Despite political obstacles, the markets
believe there will be a
substantial devaluation on Thursday to more than
Z$3,000 to the US dollar. If
it goes ahead, the move will not be called
devaluation but an adjustment to
the "export support" exchange rate.
There is speculation too that in
a move to regulate the parallel market,
where the Zimbabwe dollar trades
between Z$6,500 and Z$7,000 to the US
dollar, Mr Gono will announce a new
system of tradable bearer bonds,
denominated in foreign currency that
exporters will be required to hold for
a minimum of 90 days. Bankers say the
exchange rate adjustment is a less
taxing problem than resolving the
rapidly-worsening crisis in the country's
money market. Overnight rates have
risen to over 600 per cent as banks
struggle to meet their obligations. At
least four banks have been shut out
of the daily clearing system because of
liquidity problems, suggesting that
to avoid a crisis the central bank will
have to to pump more money into the
market, thereby bringing interest rates
down. Bankers say this would worsen
rather than reduce inflation. "To square
the circle, Mr Gono will have to
come up with some innovative measures, to
force down interest rates while
simultaneously discouraging banks from
lending for non-productive purposes,"
said one banker.