Reuters
Mon 24 Dec 2007,
17:00 GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have launched a manhunt for
a senior
official in President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in
connection
with an investigation into illegal foreign currency deals, police
said on
Monday.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told Reuters
detectives want to interview
David Butau, a businessman and ZANU-PF member
of parliament from Mashonaland
Central province, an area which has
traditionally shown solid support for
Mugabe.
State radio also
broadcast frequent appeals for Butau to turn himself in.
"We want to
question him in connection with a case involving the
externalisation of
foreign currency," Bvudzijena said. "We just want to seek
clarification and
it's urgent that we talk to him, but we can't find him."
Central bank
governor Gideon Gono has accused officials in Mugabe's party
and government
of fuelling black market trading of foreign currency, which
is in short
supply as a result of a deep economic crisis in the southern
African
nation.
Inflation has skyrocketed to almost 8,000 percent.
Gono
said officials, working with some businesses, were also behind the
serious
cash shortages that have seen thousands of consumers besiege banks
ahead of
the Christmas holidays.
The central bank last week introduced Z$750,000
(about $6 (3 pounds) at the
official exchange rate but just $0.12 (6 pence)
on the black market),
Z$500,000 and Z$250,000 notes to ease the shortage.
The highest banknote
still cannot buy a loaf of bread, which costs between
Z$800,000 and Z$1
million.
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; editing by
Paul Simao and Matthew Jones)
IOL
December 24 2007 at 09:55AM
The Harare woman who was arrested on
Saturday evening while in
possession of ZIM$10-billion worth of new Zim$500
000 bearer cheques is
still in police custody, Zimbabwe's Herald online
reported on Monday.
The woman was assisting police with
investigations and had been taken
for questioning at the serious frauds
section.
Several people telephoned The Herald, asking how one
person could have
Zim$10-billion of the new bearer cheques, barely four days
after their
introduction.
The callers also wanted the
high-ranking official reported to be
connected to the woman named, as well
as the source of the money, the
website reported.
If it was
withdrawn from a bank, the concerned bank should also be
named and action
taken against it, irate callers said.
"Individuals can withdraw a maximum of [Zim]50 million a day while
companies
can withdraw up to [Zim]750 million," the Herald said.
Detectives
have indicated that the woman would remain in custody, the
newspaper
reported. - Sapa
The Guardian
Monday December 24,
2007 3:31 PM
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press
Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Thousands of Zimbabweans waited for hours
to get
scarce currency from the banks so they could buy food and board buses
on
Monday for Christmas trips to their home villages.
``We call this
the festive season but where is there any joy?'' said
housewife and mother
Mildred Chikutu, who got into a line before dawn to
withdraw the maximum
allowed in a day, 50 million Zimbabwe dollars - 25 U.S.
dollars at the
dominant black market rate - enough to buy a hamburger.
``You queue for
money, and that's only the beginning of the queuing,'' she
said, heading
into a nearby supermarket where many shelves were bare of
basic goods. A
line had formed at the bakery counter.
Inflation- the world's highest -
was about 8,000 percent officially in
September, but independent estimates
put it nearer 100,000 percent.
With cash itself in short supply, the
central bank has supplied new high
denomination notes, the largest worth
750,000 Zimbabwe dollars - about 37
U.S. cents at the black market rate.
Banks still could not cope with the
demand for cash after six weeks of acute
shortages, and stayed open
throughout Sunday to deal with withdrawal
requests.
Power cuts, a continuing problem in Zimbabwe, added to the
holiday misery.
Several suburbs in Harare, the capital, entered a 17th
day without power,
and large areas of the downtown business district,
including the state power
utility's headquarters, suffered intermittent
outages. Officials at the main
blood bank said some stocks were thrown away
after a refrigeration generator
broke down.
Even President Robert
Mugabe's official residence went without power from
the city power grid for
more than a week before it was restored. But he also
has a private mansion
on the outskirts of the capital.
The internationally known Harare Club
canceled its Christmas lunch during a
six-day power outage.
Cars
snaked around a gas station a block away awaiting a fuel
delivery.
Dampened by overnight rains at the main Mbare long-distance bus
terminal in
the capital, thousands waited for buses to their villages. But
the lines
were smaller than in the past, as fares soared and acute shortages
of food
and gasoline continued.
Townspeople take chicken, sugar and
other scarce commodities to rural
relatives for the holidays.
Power
and water outages occur daily across the country, blamed on shortages
of
spare parts, equipment and hard currency for electricity
imports.
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the region and one of the
world's top
exporters of tobacco until the government seized white farmlands
that were
given mainly to cronies of Mugabe and his entourage, creating food
shortages
and a crisis that led a third of the population to flee the
country.
IOL
December 24 2007 at 01:54PM
Harare/Johannesburg - For many in
inflation-riddled Zimbabwe this
year, Christmas isn't quite what it used to
be.
In a glitzy department store on Harare's main First Street,
there are
no customers at the almost bare perfume counters. Upstairs in the
toy
department, Santa has disappeared from his grotto.
Outside,
around 500 weary customers queue for cash at a bank. Cash
shortages have
increased the misery for millions already worn down by months
of food
shortages, power outages and water cuts.
Central Bank Chief Gideon
Gono last week blamed cash hoarders for the
shortages and said he was
scrapping a high-denomination bank note in a bid
to outwit those he called
"cash barons".
Not everyone is
convinced.
"It's a decoy," says an angry man waiting outside a bank
in the
central Avondale suburb. Next to him, people crouch on the kerbs,
read the
newspaper in the sun, anything to pass the time.
"There's no cash coming into the banks," he adds. "You can't get
anything
out."
Few have managed to get their hands on the new set of three
banknotes
introduced by Gono on Thursday, worth 250 000, 500 000 and 750 000
Zimbabwe
dollars.
Official media reported on Monday that the
central bank had pumped in
20 trillion dollars-worth of the new notes - but
not one of them is enough
to buy a loaf of bread.
The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) this weekend
labelled Gono
"the biggest economic saboteur of Zimbabwe's economy" and
accused him of
playing politics with a serious national crisis.
"Central bank
takes the festive spirit out of Christmas," the
privately-owned Standard
newspaper said in an editorial. "For the first time
in the history of this
country, the tills will not be ringing this
Christmas," it
added.
For the privileged few, there are still Christmas
luxuries.
Next to a queue of people patiently waiting to buy a loaf
of "cheap"
bread - at 600,000 Zimbabwe dollars - a couple of well- dressed
women browse
in an exclusive clothes store.
The cost of a
skirt: 360-million Zimbabwe dollars, worth $12 000 at
the official rate of
exchange (120 dollars at the parallel rate) and around
the equivalent of two
years' salary for a teacher.
2007 has been a bad year for many in
Zimbabwe.
Annual inflation has raced to more than 14 000 percent
and a
state-ordered price slash in July and August emptied stores and
exacerbated
already biting shortages.
Milk, cooking oil, butter
and meats are still not readily available in
many stores as shopkeepers fear
the wrath of price inspectors.
In a letter published in the private
press on Sunday, one writer made
a list of Christmas requests to President
Robert Mugabe, in power in
Zimbabwe since 1980 and blamed - by the
opposition at least - for the
country's disastrous economic
downturn.
"I wish you and the First Lady... a soul-searching season
of
repentance as we suffer in peril because of your ill-conceived policies,"
the letter read. - Sapa-DPA
Institute for War & Peace
Reporting (London)
24 December 2007
Posted to the web 24 December
2007
Meshack Ndodana
Harare
Corruption has now been officially
acknowledged as one of the greatest
cancers abetting Zimbabwe's sharp
economic decline.
At the ruling ZANU-PF party's Extraordinary Congress
last week, Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono named it as one of several
factors responsible for the
nation's economic woes.
Analysts say,
however, that in spite of this official recognition of the
problem, the
government is not expected to try to stem the scourge of
corruption as so
many officials are themselves involved.
At the congress, which ran from
December 11 to 14, Gono said there were
"cash barons" in the ruling party
and government who were keeping huge
quantities of money for speculative
purposes and trade in the illegal
foreign currency market.
Zimbabwe
has been in the grip of a serious currency shortage which has seen
people
spending days queuing outside banking halls to withdraw their
salaries. This
has badly affected production as man hours are wasted while
people move from
bank to bank in search of cash.
The official exchange rate is 285,000
Zimbabwe dollars to one US dollar. On
the parallel market, one US dollar
fetches 1.6 million ZWD.
Opposition parties and business have in the past
accused the central bank of
stoking the country's inflation of over 8,000
per cent by printing paper
money and introducing other quasi-fiscal
activities into the economy.
This week, the central bank was expected to
introduce new currency to ease
the cash shortage.
Gono revealed at
the ZANU-PF congress that while the central bank had
injected 67 trillion
ZWD into the market, only 2 trillion ZWD could be
accounted for by the close
of business last week.
"Our question is: who has all the other money?
That is also the reason the
central bank has taken its time to respond to
the cash crisis," said Gono.
"We cannot keep on printing money before we
account for the other 65
trillion ZWD.
"Corruption, corruption,
corruption has destroyed this country," Gono told
last week's congress,
which was also addressed by President Robert Mugabe
among other senior
government officials.
Analysts said the official would not have made such
a bold claim without the
knowledge and tacit approval of the
president.
However, his claim is contrary to the official party line,
which blames most
of the nation's economic woes on western sanctions imposed
on Mugabe and his
top officials, and on this year's drought.
Gono's
claim was along the same line as that taken by the country's
corruption
watchdog, Transparency International Zimbabwe - which has also
blamed the
nation's problems on misconduct, as well as Mugabe's intricate
patronage
system.
Last year, Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu
told a
parliamentary committee that senior government and party officials
were
deeply involved in the wholesale looting of resources at the Zimbabwe
Iron
and Steel Company.
While he later retracted the claim, some
thought that this was done under
pressure.
Mpofu was charged with
perjury for lying to parliament - a charge likely to
fall away after
parliament is dissolved to make way for the harmonised
presidential,
parliamentary and local government elections scheduled for
March.
A
number of party and government officials have been implicated in the
smuggling of precious minerals since the discovery last year of diamonds in
the Chiadzwa district of Manicaland Province.
While Mugabe had warned
that corruption would not be tolerated, neither he
nor anyone else has dared
name names.
Last week, Gono said an average of 15 tonnes of gold worth
400 million
dollars was smuggled out of Zimbabwe every
year.
"Diamonds worth over 800 million dollars have been smuggled out of
the
country," he said. "Other minerals have either been smuggled or
under-invoiced to the tune of about 200 million dollars per year.
"In
total, therefore this economy is losing on average not less than 1,7
billion
dollars per year through economic sabotage perpetrated by a few of
us with
the knowledge and/or complicity of many seated in this hall," he
said to
deafening applause from the public gallery.
"We are now aware of the
massive syndicates of cash barons who are hoarding
cash and consequently
creating shortages."
However, Gono immediately beat a retreat.
"I
will not disclose what we are going to do and we want to see the congress
express itself on what is causing the shortages," he warned
darkly.
His challenge was immediately taken up by Mashonaland East
provincial
chairman Ray Kaukonde, who called on Gono to produce this list of
cash
barons.
Kaukonde then asked the question on everybody's lips,
"On behalf of
provinces, I would want to ask what it is that is causing
these people not
to be arrested?"
Gono said by speaking his mind, he
was making many enemies for himself. "I
will be the focal point of attack
and worse smear campaigns than ever
before," he said.
A senior
official with Transparency International said he was sceptical that
any
action would be taken by the authorities.
"Gono is saying all the right
things. Unfortunately, corruption thrives in
ZANU-PF and government itself,"
he said.
A political analyst at the University of Zimbabwe said that
nothing would
come of Gono's self-righteous protests and that ZANU-PF was
well known for
protecting its own.
"We have become hostage to the
culture of secrecy," said the analyst.
"Nobody wants to name and shame
because none of them is clean. Not even the
president seems to have the
courage to name corrupt officials in his
administration.
"The same
people accused of hoarding cash have been implicated in
black-market foreign
currency deals, the illegal sale of state-subsidised
fuel, fertiliser, maize
seed and other farm inputs.
"It is the same people implicated in the
smuggling of precious minerals.
Once in while there are token arrests but
the real culprits are beyond the
reach of the law.
"Corruption has
become a cancer in Zimbabwean society, and unfortunately the
pain is felt
mostly by you and me - the poor."
Meshack Ndodana is the pseudonym of an
IWPR journalist in Zimbabwe.
Financial Times
By Tony Hawkins
in Harare
Published: December 24 2007 02:21 | Last updated: December 24
2007 02:21
For some 10m Zimbabweans, Christmas 2007 will be the worst in
memory. As if
coping with inflation, estimated at more than 40,000 per
cent, and
shortages of food, fuel, electricity and water were not enough,
they cannot
draw their money from bank accounts because of a cash shortage
engineered by
the authorities.
For the past fortnight people have had
to queue for hours – even days – at
teller machines and banks to try to draw
out their cash, amid repeated
promises from Gideon Gono, central bank
governor, the crisis would be
resolved by Christmas.
On
Wednesday, Mr Gono announced the issue of three new large-denomination
notes, the largest of Z$750,000 ($25 at the official exchange rate or $1.50
at the more realistic parallel rate).
At the same time, he withdrew the
previous largest note (Z$200,000) as he
believed that 97 per cent of the
Z$67,000bn note issue ($13.3m at the
parallel rate) was being held by
speculators, hoarders, unscrupulous
business people and “cash
barons”.
Businessmen say that because they cannot withdraw cash from the
banks, they
must buy it in the parallel market at a premium of 30 per cent
and more, to
pay suppliers and workers.
The cash change operation is
typically chaotic. The new notes were not
available until late Thursday or
Friday. The old $200,000 notes are
cancelled from January 1, so holders are
rushing to spend or deposit the
cash while Mr Gono is deploying an army of
central bank officials and tax
collectors to catch cash
criminals.
Until last week the maximum cash withdrawal allowed was Z$20m
for
individuals or Z$40m for businesses.
Companies could draw more if
they had written approval from the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe, but this
concession has been withdrawn and employers told to
advise workers to use
bank accounts and use debit cards or cheques, not
cash.
Even if the
banks were willing to open such accounts – and they are not –
this could not
be done in time for employees to spend their December pay
packets and
year-end bonuses.
Business is gridlocked. Shortages of fuel, electricity
cuts, water supply
breakdowns, telephone faults and overloaded money
transfer systems are
making it increasingly difficult to undertake even the
simplest
transactions.
Supermarket shelves are marginally better
stocked than two months ago, but
at Arundel Spar in Harare’s northern
suburbs, some 80 per cent of the goods
are imported. Freezers are full of
frozen fish and vegetables from South
Africa, while the shelves are groaning
with breakfast cereals, biscuits,
chocolate, canned beer and wine – all
South African.
Zimbabwe-made products are scarce, partly because
manufacturers, forced to
produce and sell at artificially low prices imposed
by the government, have
trimmed operations, but also because of
smuggling.
Angela, a hairdresser, says she travelled 200 miles by bus
from Harare to
Mozambique to shop. Most of what she bought – mealie meal,
soap, sugar,
fruit juice, candles, margarine and cooking oil – had been made
in Zimbabwe
and smuggled across the border for re-sale at much higher
prices.
Most, if not all, of these problems can be laid at the door of
President
Robert Mugabe’s government. Yet the government has a Teflon-like
ability to
escape condemnation.
Queues for cash, fuel or bread are
remarkably good humoured.
No one can say how long this can go on. Some
economists and political
analysts say there must be a breaking point, but
ask anyone who will win
elections in March, and the answer is Robert
Mugabe.
IOL
December 24 2007 at 09:53AM
Hundreds of travellers were battling to
board buses at Mbare Musika in
Harare to reach their rural homes, Zimbabwe's
Herald online reported on
Monday.
Bus crews attributed the
transport problems to fuel shortages.
"We either load the buses
first and spend hours queueing for fuel or
we first queue for fuel and later
load the buses and at the end of the day,
we don't carry out our normal
business, resulting in most travellers having
to sleep at the market,"
Manuel Tsandukwa, a driver with Manica Bus Services
told the
Herald.
Bus crews said only a few people had managed to board buses
to their
rural homes over the past three
days.
But there was a surge in the number
of prospective travellers at Mbare
Musika on Sunday after more people
managed to withdraw cash from banks,
Stanley Hodzi, a driver with Charehwa
Bus Services, told the Herald.
The worst affected routes were
Murehwa, Nyamapanda, Chiweshe, Mutoko
and Masvingo.
Some bus
operators were also taking advantage of the situation to
unilaterally hike
bus fares. -
Sapa
zimbabwejournalists.com
24th Dec 2007 01:40 GMT
By Freeman Forward
Chari
WHEN Major General Vitalis Zvinavashe and Air Marshall Perence
Shiri
announced in March 2002 that;
"… let it be known that the
highest office in the land is a straitjacket
whose occupant is expected to
observe the objectives of the liberation
struggle. We will, therefore, not
accept, let alone support or salute,
anyone with a different agenda that
threatens the very existence of our
sovereignty, our country and our
people."
It became clear that the military had diverted from its
constitutional
mandate into civilian politics. As we brace for another
presidential
election there are many questions we ask ourselves; is the 2002
threat not
going to be sent out again? If it does what would be the
consequences? How
far anyway is the army involved in civilian politics? It
is the objective of
this article to explore the levels of militarization in
Zimbabwe and
probably give a prognosis of the future political
climate.
In 1980, when Zimbabwe got its independence from Britain there
were more
than 65 000 fighters from ZANLA, ZIPRA and RSF who were waiting to
be
integrated into the Zimbabwe National Army whose capacity then was a mere
30
000. What it meant then was that there arose the need to demobilize and
rehabilitate the other 35 000 soldiers. The first program Soldiers Employed
in Economic Development (SEED) was a total failure. Later the John Shonhiwa
led Demobilisation Directorate decided to award a package of $185 per month
for two years to each demobilized soldier. A combination of factors like
lack of financial discipline and proper investment training resulted in most
beneficiaries reverting back to poverty within five years. Thus although the
government had managed to integrate the 35 000 into civilian life most had
to rely again on the same government for survival. The problem of poor
demobilization program culminated in the War Victims Fund, the 1997
Gratuities and the 2000 farm invasion. Ultimately though, this program
produced a crop of perpetual government dependencies who the government also
symbiotically used and continues to use to sustain its cling to
power.
At the height of the ZIPRA/ZANLA clashes between 1980 and 1987,
ZANU PF
created the Zimbabwe People's Militia which was typically a
vigilante. It
comprised of mujibhas and zvimbidos of the liberation struggle
and the ZANU
PF Youth Brigade. This branch was under the command of the
Deputy Minister
of Defence and at one point was trained by the notorious
North Koreans
infamous for the ruthless Fifth Brigade. It does not come as a
surprise that
ZPM has been implicated in the Matebeleland massacres of that
time. The
total number trained was estimated to be 20 000.
The
government reintroduced the National Youth Service in the new
millennium.
The purpose of the training although the government claims is
noble was
specifically to consolidate power. The curriculum of the program
involves
basic military drills and at most the more advanced military
ideology
similar to that propagated during the liberation war. In 2005
Deputy
Minister of Youth Development and Employment Creation Saviour
Kasukuwere
announced that 18 000 youths had graduated and absorbed by the
government.
Coupled to the ministerial objective of producing 6 000
graduates per year
it extrapolates to about 30 000 graduates to date.
The Zimbabwe National
Army and the Zimbabwe Republic Police have in total
recorded a voluntary
retirement of about 15 000 members since 1997.
What then do these figures
mean to Zimbabwe? If you add up 35 000 war
veterans, 20 000 ZPM, 30 000 from
National Youth Service and 15 000 retirees
we have a total of 100 000
civilians who have at least basic military
education and training. This
number, add 35 000 from ZNA, 5000 from Air
Force of Zimbabwe, 25 000 from
ZRP, 10 000 from Prisons and about 15 000
from CIO it means we have at least
190 000 people in Zimbabwe who have a
basic understanding of military
language!
At the level of leadership and policy-formulation there is need
to also
explore the level of involvement of the military in strategic
entities that
strictly deal with civilians. We have many cases, below are
just some
notable examples.
The Minister of Energy and Power
Development is Rt Lieutenant General Mike
Nyambuya. Rt Brigadier-General
Ambrose Mutinhiri is the Minister of Youth
Development and Employment
Creation. Ministry of Transport has Rt Colonel
Hubert Nyanhongo as Deputy
Minister, whilst National Railways of Zimbabwe
has Brigadier Douglas
Nyikayaramba and Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai as
Board Chairman and CEO
respectively. At Grain Marketing Board there is Rt
Colonel Samuel Muvuti as
CEO. Permanent Secretary for Industry and
International Trade is Rt Colonel
Christian Katsande. Justice Chiweshe who
leads the Zimbabwe Election
Commission (ZEC) is a former Advocate-General in
Zimbabwe National Army. The
Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele is a
Retired Colonel. Brigadier General
Gibson Mashingaidze and Rt Lt Colonel
Charles Nhemachena are both with the
Sports and Recreation Commission.
What do these appointments mean to
Zimbabwe?
Food (GMB)- ZANU PF controls
Transport - ZANU PF
controls
Energy, fuel, Power- ZANU PF controls
Industry, Trade-
ZANU PF controls
Sport - ZANU PF controls
Youth
- ZANU PF controls
Attorney General- ZANU PF
controls
Elections - ZANU PF controls
In the Joint
Operations Command , there are Ministries of Defence, Finance,
State
Security, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The military therefore
controls
the finances in one way or the other. Even the foreign policy is
dictated by
the military and not parliament, that's why there are a number
of military
men on diplomatic missions- Rt Major General Jevan Maseko in
Cuba and Rt
Brigadier Elsha Muzonzini in Kenya to name a few.
The question we pose to
ourselves then is: in a country of nearly 200 000
military people, in a
country whose public sector is run by the military,
where does the common
man fit? Is there a possibility of civil participation
in the
country?
This predicament compels one to pose and think of the state of
the
opposition in Zimbabwe. Where exactly on this well-oiled military setup
can
an opposition party hope to paralyse the system. Are democratic options
in
Zimbabwe feasible?
Can the civilians of this country go and impose
their right to vote on an
institution controlled by the military, funded by
the military, run by the
military, with the military fielding a military man
(Commander-in-Chief) in
the elections?
The picture does not look good
yet I am compelled to commend MDC for
struggling against the military with
bare hands, NCA for provoking and
outrunning the lion every day, Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights for trying
to prove how wrong the judge was for
killing a man and prosecuting himself
before acquitting himself, ZINASU for
scaring the lion with the cover of a
book and the whole of the civil society
for standing up to the military
junta. It is time to bury the hatchet and be
one!
The Struggle Continues
Freeman Forward Chari
Secretary
General
Zimbabwe Youth Movement
zimbabwejournalists.com
24th Dec 2007 00:58 GMT
By Chenjerai Chitsaru
NOT many pundits
would be alarmed if the Republicans lost next year’s
elections in the United
States.
The Iraq war alone would consign them to an ignominious rout by
the
Democrats.
In Kenya , it would be nothing short of a miracle if
Mwai Kibaki’s party was
handed a second successive term in
office.
Corruption in high places would probably account for most of the
negative
votes.
In Zimbabwe, where elections are due next March,
corruption would be only
one of many mortal blows the voters would deliver
to the heart of the
politically debilitated Zanu PF.
The monumental
mismanagement of the economy, triggering the present
unprecedented
nationwide shortage of cash, would be the prime mover of an
anti-Mugabe,
anti-Zanu PF vote.
In a world of political logic, this would be a
foregone conclusion.
But in Zimbabwe, political logic has, in the recent
past, been stood on its
head, or has been so violated that all options or
bets must be ruled off.
President Robert Mugabe’s record, in the
twenty-seventh year of his reign,
is so atrocious only the brain-dead
members of his party would vote for him
or his party.
Correction:
people who have reaped rich rewards from his rule would also be
inclined to
stick with him for the obvious reason that their cash cow would
be in
terminal mould if he lost.
A cursory look at the catalogue of political
and economic disasters
authored by this government would convince a visitor
from Mars that anyone
even contemplating to vote for it would have to be due
for a thorough brain
scan – to confirm that they still had a brain
functioning properly in their
head.
On the first day of this week, a
Sunday, the banks were opened for the first
time in many years, on the
orders of the governor of the Reserve Bank, the
beleaguered Gideon
Gono.
A casual tour of the central business district of Harare
established fairly
solid evidence that thousands of people still needed to
withdraw their
cash – obviously for the forthcoming Christmas
holiday.
There were scenes of near-panic or near-riot at some of the
banks, with
impatience among depositors running dangerously high.
The
cash shortage has persisted for nearly six weeks, with Gono blaming it
all
on so-called “cash barons”. Today, the government’s Sunday Mail
newspaper
headlined the “nabbing” of one of these alleged saboteurs, a woman
aged
24.
To many cynics, it all sounded a little too convenient. No-one was
prepared
to accuse some people in government of “arranging” the woman’s
arrest.
The bigger picture for many citizens was how utterly inconsiderate
the
government and the RBZ governor were proving to be in not solving the
cash
shortage as quickly as depositors wished them to.
For many
people, including captains of commerce and industry, attention
shifted
quickly to the person of Gideon Gono and his credentials as the one
man
entrusted by Mugabe to supervise the so-called economic
turnaround.
Gono’s predecessor was a man so unassuming most ordinary
people could not
name him without consulting a newspaper or asking someone
in the banking
business.
Leonard Tsumba incurred Mugabe’s wrath by
supporting his then Minister of
Finance, Simba Makoni, in calling for the
devaluation of the anaemic
Zimdollar.
Makoni’s political star has
since soared, perhaps much against his own will.
He is now constsntly being
mentioned as a possible successor to Mugabe,
either in Zanu PF or in a
coalition including the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC).
What must be even more disturbing for Zanu PF is that Makoni is
favoured by
big business because his platform would include a solid drive to
promote
free enterprise.
Not many neutral observers of the Zimbabwe
imbroglio are inclined to give
Gono many more years as the head of the
central Bank.
The cash crisis, for many people, was the last straw that
broke the camel’s
back.
Standing impatiently in the long queues, many
depositors fumed at the
impunity with which they perceived Gono as treating
them. Women with babies
strapped on their backs, most of them crying and
hungry, wondered aloud how
the government could subject them to such mental
and physical torture.
Gono’s tenure as the head of the central bank has
been marked by a few
flip-flops. At the beginning, he clearly favoured a
“return to the basics”,
a re-engagement with the International Monetary Fund
(for balance of
payments assistance) and the World Bank for aid.
It
was some time before he probably realized how steadfast Mugabe was in his
determination to outstare the two Bretton Woods organizations. Neither he
nor the IMF and the WB blinked in this eyeball-to-eyeball
confrontation.
The result is what Zimbabwe is confronting today, an
economy starved of
foreign currency and burdened with a staggering foreign
debt. Trade with the
developed world is minimal and the Look East policy,
largely anchored on
trade and aid with the People’s Republic of China is not
as spectacularly
successful as it was hoped to be.
Gono has publicly
disagreed with some of the government’s measures to halt
the preposterously
high inflation rate.
The price blitz, for instance, was mounted in spite
of his own open
criticism of it. Many of his supporters hoped at the time
that he would at
last see the futility of belonging to a political campaign
to handle an
essentially economic problem.
The fallout from that
exercise is still evident to this day: one department
store has the
following sign on its windows: This shop has now closed
permanently.
Many others do not see the need for this politeness:
they have just shut up
shop and hope their customers will know soon enough
that they have no
intention of reopening in the foreseeable
future.
Unemployment is officially pegged at 80 percent, but clearly it
is rising by
the day as more and more businesses shut down.
Why any
voters would rush to the polls to cast their ballot for Mugabe and
Zanu PF
would, at a glance, be something of a mystery.
Zanu PF has given people
fertilizer, seed and farm implements: there is a
vague suggestion that, at
some point in the future, they may have to pay for
it all. But for the
moment, both sides seem satisfied that this is “gift”.
The opposition
has cried “foul”, as they allege this is blatant vote-buying
by the ruling
party.
Apparently in response to the opposition allegations, Mugabe
himself has
warned against vote-buying – among his own members as the
election draw
nearer.
In the past, Zanu PF has not hesitated to use
the funds at its disposal as
the governing party to persuade voters in
so-called “marginal”
constituencies to vote for its candidates.
But
the opposition is under no illusions about the presence of a level
playing
field for the elections. Amendments to the laws relating to the
media,
security and freedom of assembly and association may have been hailed
as
signaling Zanu PF’s readiness to fight a free and fair election.
All this
may indeed have the appearance of a totalitarian party undergoing a
sea-change, but the cynics are not fooled. Zanu PF has not lost an important
election since 1980.
Its only major defeat since independence was the
constitutional referendum
which followed the 2000 parliamentary election, in
which it lost 57 seats to
the MDC.
In 2002, Zanu PF introduced the
Public Order and Security Act (Posa) and the
Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) – in direct
response so the two successes
by the opposition.
For Zanu PF, logic can be tampered with or just be
ignored.
From The Star (SA), 24 December
Bonile
Ngqiyaza
The rush home out of Joburg for migrants was in full swing
yesterday
morning. When a team from The Star visited the back of the Tudor
Hotel in
Braamfontein around 7.30am, a yellow bus with grey and light blue
stripes
was parked at the corner of Leyds and Loveday streets, gobbling up
the last
migrant commuters - also known unkindly as amagoduka in some
quarters -
before their departure. The impatient bus driver had parked the
vehicle (a
GM Phadziri and Sons bus to Venda) awkwardly at the intersection,
and it was
obstructing traffic. The small stretch of road in front of the
gate leading
to Joburg's Park station was abuzz with people standing next to
big bundles
of luggage, and others hastening off somewhere to get their
business done.
Mashudu Mukhakhisi, a security guard for Sinqobile Equestrian
Security
Services, has seen this all in the two years that he has worked at
Munomurama International, the transport service company that owns buses that
ferry people to Malawi and Zimbabwe, and which park at the back of the Tudor
Hotel. "If you come here tomorrow (Monday), or maybe even later today, you
will see the (Tudor) hotel covered with people," Mukhakhisi said. A huffed
migrant worker from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, complained to a journalist that he
had bought a camera off the street, only for him to discover later that it
wasn't the genuine article. Mackson Chinodya from Gweru, also in Zimbabwe,
who works as a waiter in Rosebank, said he was looking forward to seeing his
relatives, who he hasn't seen for close to three months. "It has been very
difficult for me to go back, but I have managed to work hard enough without
taking any time off so that I could have time off now." As he was speaking,
dismantled bicycles, as well as other goods in black refuse bags, were being
heaped up in the middle of the yard for transportation to Zimbabwe and
Malawi.
Business Day
Karima
Brown
IN
AN unusual move, banks in Zimbabwe will be open tomorrow, Christmas Day,
to
deal with the country’s crippling cash-flow problems.
Zimbabweans endured
long queues yesterday as banks worked overtime to
replace temporary currency
before it becomes worthless when the year ends on
Tuesday next
week.
Bearer cheques, essentially money printed on ordinary paper,
were launched
in 2003 as a temporary measure to ease a currency shortage
caused by
rocketing inflation. The temporary currency expires on December
31.
In an extraordinary move, commercial banks stayed open at the weekend
to
cope with customer demand, made worse by the fact that Z$200000 (about
$8)
bank notes would also become worthless on December 31.
These
notes were being replaced by Z$250000, Z$500000 and Z$750000 notes, in
a
move announced last week by Zimbabwe’s central bank in its latest effort
to
tackle the country’s cash shortages.
A set of three new banknotes was
unveiled by the central bank’s chief on
Wednesday, and were trickling into
the market.
Not one of the new notes is enough to buy a loaf of
bread.
Zimbabwe Central bank governor Gideon Gono admitted in the
state-run Sunday
Mail newspaper that it would not be possible for everyone
to get their money
in time.
“It is against this reality that we have
said banks would be open, not only
on Sunday and Monday, but also on Tuesday
and Wednesday — that is on
Christmas and Boxing Day,” he told the
newspaper.
Irate bank customer Enoch Dube said that despite waiting in
line for hours
he had so far failed to access his money.
“Yesterday
(Saturday) I was number 500 on the line, and I got nothing,” he
said.
“Today (Sunday), I am again in the line, and I do not know
if I will get
anything despite (the fact) that I was here” since the early
hours of the
morning.
Zimbabwe is in its eighth year of recession,
with record high inflation and
unemployment.
At least 80% of the
country’s population lives below the poverty threshold.
Against a
background of political oppression, which has seen President
Robert Mugabe
chosen once again as the ruling Zanu (PF)’s only presidential
candidate in
coming elections, spiralling inflation has rendered Zimbabwe’s
currency
worthless, causing hardship for Zimbabweans who now face one of
their
bleakest festive seasons yet.
The latest cash crunch comes amid Gono’s
dismay at a parliamentary committee’s
apparent reluctance to let him name
top government officials who are
hoarding cash. With Sapa-AFP
In August, President Robert Mugabe's neighbours declined to criticise Zimbabwe's human rights record.