Washington Post
Decision sets up Rematch Between Tsvangirai and President
Mugabe
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday,
December 27, 2007; 1:52 PM
JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 27 -- Zimbabwe's fractured
opposition party is preparing
to join forces behind a single slate of
candidates headed by longtime leader
Morgan Tsvangirai in elections
scheduled for March, according to party
officials.
The decision sets
up a rematch between Tsvangirai and President Robert
Mugabe, who has ruled
Zimbabwe since the end of white supremacist rule in
1980. Mugabe beat
Tsvangirai in 2002 in an election that international
observers said was
marred by violence and profoundly skewed in favor of the
ruling party.
Mugabe's party also defeated Tsvangirai's in the 2005
parliamentary
elections.
Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change, split
that same
year, and he has struggled ever since to regain his role as the
unquestioned
leader of opposition forces. A reunion between the party's two
factions
would improve its chances of mounting a serious challenge to
Mugabe.
"There's an understanding, a realization that every vote must
count, and
there is strength in unity," said Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for
Tsvangirai's
faction of the party. "The election in 2008 is crucial for this
country."
The party's other faction has not formally embraced
Tsvangirai's candidacy
but has accepted that his wing of the party will
select a presidential
nominee as part of a unified slate, said spokesman
Gabriel Chaibva. He
expressed no objection to Tsvangirai being that
nominee.
"We have had absolutely no problem with even reunification of
the party,"
Chaibva said.
Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist, helped
form the Movement for Democratic
Change in 1999 and has long been its most
visible leader. He was charged
with treason in 2002 -- but later exonerated
-- and was beaten severely by
Mugabe's police force in March, along with
dozens of other party activists.
Yet Tsvangirai also has faced persistent
doubts about his leadership style
and capacity to plot a strategy to remove
Mugabe despite massive political
unrest that has seen millions of
Zimbabweans flee the country, mostly to
South Africa.
Leaders of the
party's other faction, led by former robotics professor
Arthur Mutambara,
have accused Tsvangirai of authoritarian tendencies,
echoing charges they
long have leveled against Mugabe. Political analysts
also have noted that
Tsvangirai has had difficulty organizing meaningful
mass protests against
Mugabe's government as it has grown steadily more
repressive.
"I
don't believe that Morgan Tsvangirai has the wherewithal to lead a
vibrant,
broad-based opposition," said Trevor Ncube, owner of the Zimbabwe
Independent and the Standard, two of the nation's few newspapers not under
government control. "He's not a unifying factor."
Zimbabwe's long
decline began soon after the formation of the Movement for
Democratic
Change. Mugabe oversaw often-violent invasions of white-owned
commercial
farms beginning in 2000. Political freedom gradually has dwindled
since
then, with opposition meetings broken up by force and independent
newspapers
closed down.
Rampant hyperinflation has decimated a once-thriving
industrial and
agricultural economy and undermined a school system regarded
as among the
continent's best. Many Zimbabweans spent this Christmas in
line, seeking to
swap old currency for new amid a mounting cash shortage.
Such basics as
sugar and cooking oil have disappeared from the shelves of
most stores.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has taken the lead
within the region in
seeking to resolve the crisis, deploying what he calls
"quiet diplomacy."
Jacob Zuma, who toppled Mbeki as leader of South Africa's
ruling party last
week, has said there will be no change of policy toward
Zimbabwe.
Leaders of both of Zimbabwe's opposition party factions have
been meeting
regularly in Pretoria with Mugabe's justice minister, Patrick
Chinamasa, at
the behest of Mbeki and other South African leaders. Those
discussions
recently deadlocked over several issues, including the
membership of the
electoral commission and international observer missions
for the election.
VOA
By Studio 7 Staff & Correspondents
Washington,
Harare & Mutare
27 December 2007
Severe cash
shortages lessened somewhat in Zimbabwe on as banks reopened
after the
Christmas break, while there were unconfirmed reports that the
central bank
would postpone the Dec. 31 expiration of its Z$200,000 notes
given the slow
distribution of replacement bank notes in denominations up to
a maximum of
Z$750,000.
Consumers across the country returned to bank queues for cash
and many of
them received the Z$200,000 notes which Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono
said were to lose their value as of Jan. 1 in a move intended to
penalize
the foreign exchange and commodities dealers he calls the "cash
barons" and
blames for the crisis.
In Harare, customers of large
institutions such as the Commercial Bank of
Zimbabwe, Barclays and Zimbank
were able to withdraw up to Z$50 million,
about US$25.
Correspondent
Irwin Chifera said many people were buying groceries with bank
cards.
Customers in eastern Mutare were limited to Z$10 million, or
about US$5.
Correspondent Loirdham Moyo said civil servants and teachers
from the rural
areas of Manicaland were still camping on city streets in
hopes of obtaining
cash.
In Bulawayo, riot police were called in to
restore order at a bank as
tempers flared and fighting broke out among
customers on line. A witness
said the incident occurred when someone tried
to push ahead of customers who
had spent the night outside the
bank.
Withdrawals were slowed by the questioning of customers by
officials from
the central bank, the revenue service and other agencies
looking for "cash
barons."
An eyewitness speaking on condition of
anonymity told reporter Chris Gande
that the situation was tense and more
violence could occur if conditions did
not improve.
From Bulawayo, a
bank supervisor said bank notes remain in such short supply
that his
institution has been dispensing the Z$200,000 bills scheduled for
elimination.
Speaking on condition he not be named, the bank official
told reporter
Brenda Moyo that he did not expect the crisis to be resolved
soon.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank was offering payment to those who came
forward
with information on the speculators central bank chief Gono has
dubbed the
"cash barons" and blames for the cash shortages which his bank's
operation
appeared to have worsened, making the Christmas holiday a misery
for many
Zimbabweans.
The RBZ said those who provide information on
retailers who charge a premium
for cashing a check or making an electronic
transfer could obtain a refund
of the premium charged. But it said the offer
required “acceptable evidence”
and was contingent on conviction of the
offender. The RBZ said no charges
would be pressed against those coming
forward with such information, which
will be accepted through Jan.
21.
Gono last week threatened to name senior officials in the government
and the
ruling party, but has yet to do so although police were reported to
be
hunting for ZANU-PF parliamentarian David Butau, accused of illegally
transferring currency abroad.
Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe
Executive Director John Mufukare told
Jonga Kandemiiri it would be a waste
of money for the RBZ to pay
whistleblowers given that Gono has publicly
claimed to have identified the
country's main "cash
barons."
Meanwhile, Bulawayo Agenda Director Gordon Moyo said central
bank
investigations of the hard-currency transactions of nongovernmental
organizations such as his own is intended to silence groups which are
critical of the government and to scapegoat them for the RBZ's failure to
control inflation and manage the money supply.
Zim Online
Friday 28 December 2007
By
Mutuwa Mawere
JOHANNESBURG - What a difference a year makes. Only last
year, there was
widespread consensus that President Robert Mugabe’s days
were numbered and
that he had lost the confidence of his ruling ZANU PF
party.
Using this logic, there was expectation that there would be an
internal
rebellion whose ultimate beneficiaries would be the opposition
forces.
Mugabe turned 83 this year and was as confident as he was 27
years ago that
he alone was the legitimate custodian of Zimbabwe’s
sovereignty.
The political market of Zimbabwe has largely been defined by
Mugabe who has
proved to be smarter than his adversaries not because he has
solutions that
will accelerate the advance towards the achievement of the
goal of a better
life for all the citizens of Zimbabwe.
Since the
formation of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party,
Zimbabweans have been promised change that appears to be a
mirage.
Both the MDC and ZANU-PF have drowned the voices of
Zimbabweans to the
extent that the future of the country has been located in
the minds of these
two formations.
The framework of the SADC mediated
talks has been premised on a notion that
if the injury inflicted to MDC’s
quest for power is resolved, then the
Zimbabwean crisis would be
addressed.
It appears the issues that were of concern to the MDC are
being addressed
through the talks and yet the real issues that informed the
change agenda
are not necessarily on the minds of the
negotiators.
Was the change offered merely a slogan? Will the change
that will come from
the talks be the change people can believe
in?
Will the scrapping of the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act (AIPPA), the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Constitution
of
Zimbabwe Amendment Number 18, and the other changes that have seen the
MDC
and ZANU-PF come together bring the kind of changes that will make
Zimbabwe
work again?
While the Parliament of Zimbabwe was meeting to
railroad the amendments to
the laws that the MDC sees as roadblocks to its
journey to State House,
Zimbabweans were exposed to an arguably worse crisis
than HIV/AIDS, i.e. the
cash crisis.
This crisis was as predictable
as Mugabe’s continued hegemony over ZANU-PF.
The attempt to locate the
Zimbabwean economic crisis outside the framework
of bankrupt policies and
governance problems has been engineered by the
Governor of the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ) who has the uncanny habit to
point a finger at others for
problems that he creates through senseless
policies.
When he was
appointed to his position in late 2003, people who knew him well
were
acutely aware of what kind of disaster would ensue.
Predictably he
started by introducing a new vocabulary in Zimbabwe,
externalisation, as a
mechanism of diverting the attention of the nation
from the core problem of
policy bankruptcy.
Many lives have been disrupted and businesses
destroyed. He positioned
himself as the Chief Cop and proceeded to target
selected individuals to be
processed by the police.
New crimes were
invented without even going to Parliament.
Citizens saw in Gono a new
action man determined to make Zimbabwe work again
but behind this façade was
a monster bent on undermining the democratic
order by transforming a
peoples’ bank into a personal one able to dispense
benefits to friends while
being criminally used to undermining the interests
of others.
What
POSA and AIPPA was to ensure compliant journalism, the RBZ came in
handy to
whip businesses into compliance.
The Banking Act was changed to allow the
RBZ to have effective control of
the financial services industry. Asset
management companies were brought
under Gono’s control, so were mineral
exporters.
The centralisation of power by Gono would ordinarily attract
outrage but in
the case of Zimbabwe it appears that even the opposition
forgot to place
Gono’s activities on the agenda of the SADC
talks.
Why would the MDC forget to prioritise the economy in the agenda
for change?
The role of the RBZ in undermining democracy has already been
acknowledged
as is the unaccountability of its Imperial Governor. Gono did
not stop at
blaming alleged forex externalisers - he proceeded to blame the
banks for
economic sabotage.
The introduction of the term economic
saboteur in the vocabulary was yet
another Gono invention as an attempt to
absolve him of any responsibility in
helping to undermine the formal
economy.
The list of people who have been labelled as saboteurs is
endless but has
included farmers, bankers, miners, and squatter
dwellers.
Operation Murambatsvina was a brainchild of the RBZ on the
mistaken
assumption that eliminating the squatters would help eliminate the
black
market.
Any rational economic thinker would know that an
informal economy is a
product of bad and misguided policies in the formal
sector. Any functioning
democracy would not have so many saboteurs as has
been created by Gono
during his tenure.
The RBZ has become the
omnipresent state within the state only accountable
to the Head of State who
at 83 years old cannot be presumed to know what is
really
happening.
The activities of the RBZ under Gono would require a
Commission of Inquiry
to unpack. It would not be surprising to find both
ZANU-PF and MDC office
bearers as direct beneficiaries of Your Governor’s
generosity.
The President has blindly placed faith in the blind to turn
around the
economy.
Last week, it was Project Sunrise and yet the
country has not seen any
daylight or brighter things.
Zeros were
removed from the currency and it only took Herbert Murerwa, the
former
Minister of Finance, to remind the nation that the zeros will be back
with a
vengeance and it appears the chickens have come home to roost with
the
current cash crisis.
Gono has engineered the sanctions defence that
Mugabe has conveniently used
in advancing his conspiracy
argument.
Under this construction, Zimbabwe is a victim of the
machinations of
imperialists working with their puppets, the opposition
parties, to
undermine the sovereignty of the country and achieve an illegal
regime
change.
Nobody ever thought a day will arrive in post-colonial
Zimbabwe where
citizens would be reduced to cashless individuals through the
ineptitude of
their servants in government.
The crisis was long in
coming and the response has been denial and
obfuscation at best.
In a
hyperinflationary environment no one can blame citizens for having no
confidence in banks. Why sterilize cash in banks while prices are changing
at a supersonic speed?
Now Gono has invented another enemy i.e. cash
barons as the new victims.
In what kind of a country would you have a
thriving informal cash business?
It can only be in Gonoland. Who is
responsible for undermining the financial
services industry?
Why are
the so-called change agents missing in the money debate? Gono wants
to name
the culprits when the real culprit may not be far from him and his
actions.
In seeking re-election in a vote planned for March next
year, one can only
assume that President Mugabe has no clue as to who is the
real economic
saboteur. It is not the MDC, stupid.
It cannot be
Gordon Brown or George Bush. It must be somewhere close to
home.
Why
is Gono so eager to expose the so-called cash barons as if this will
cure
the injury he has caused? He now alleges that politicians are
responsible
for the economic mayhem.
When citizens decide in their own interests to
hoard cash one must
appreciate their reasoning and avoid simplistic
explanations that will not
resolve the problem.
All Gono’s
prescriptions have so far made the condition of the patient worse
and yet
his principal continues to support him unreservedly.
To confirm that the
RBZ is now a Presidential organ operating outside the
oversight of
Parliament this is what Gono had to say: "This governor will
not be
intimidated. I have the full support of my principal (President
Mugabe).
This time there are no roadblocks. We are saying to cash barons
come with
your sack or trunk of money and we will talk. There is every
reason for them
to be very afraid.”
The cash crisis is just but one of many symptoms of a
failed state and yet
the future of the country is being discussed at a level
that appears to be
blind to the concrete conditions under which Zimbabweans
have to eke a
living.
This is a moment of great opportunity to tell
Zimbabweans the truth about
what they may not want to hear that the country
can only come out of its
current economic quagmire if it is led by principle
and not by calculation.
People should overcome their fear and focus on
the future that is being
eroded and undermined by their own
servants.
Those who stand up when it is risky will be remembered by
history for the
change that Zimbabwe yearns for. Zimbabweans can only
believe again in the
liberation project if change stops being a slogan for
opportunists and
political mercenaries.
Even President Mugabe will
agree that spending time in queues is not part of
the deal that they fought
so hard to create a new Zimbabwe. The leadership
vacuum is evident and it is
never too late for citizens to invest in real
change.
* Mutumwa
Mawere is a Zimbabwean born South African businessman based in
Johannesburg.
Zim Online
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Friday 28 December
2007
HARARE – Doctors and nurses at Zimbabwe’s two major
referral hospitals in
Harare have downed tools demanding a review of their
salaries and working
conditions crippling the nation’s struggling health
delivery system.
A visit at Harare Central and Parirenyatwa hospitals
yesterday revelead that
outpatients departments at the two biggest state
hospitals in the capital
were closed with student nurses attending to
emergency situations only.
Doctors and nurses who spoke to ZimOnline from
their residence at
Parirenyatwa said yesterday said they will not go back to
work until the
government paid them “realistic salaries.”
Junior
doctors are currently earning Z$40 million while nurses are earning
$15
million, enough to buy just 15 loaves of poor quality bread.
“The
salaries we are getting are not even enough to make us buy toiletries
and
sanitary wear – we survive by God’s grace,” said one female doctor who
refused to be named.
“We can’t even talk of a percentage increment as
we have no base to talk of.
Maybe a minimum of $200 million could be the
starting point. We are working
under very stressful conditions . . . There
are no drugs, the machines are
dilapidated but no one appreciates that,” she
added.
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa confirmed the strike by junior
doctors
adding that the government was working strenously to rectify the
problem.
”It could not have come at a worse time, in the festive season
when there
are many accidents on the roads,” said Parirenyatwa.
“We
appreciate the concerns being raised by the doctors but resorting to
downing
tools worsens the crisis. We are meeting their leaders to find a
solution to
their problems,” he added.
Some patients who spoke to ZimOnline yesterday
said they had been turned
away on Wednesday but had returned to the hospital
hoping for a change of
fortune to find that the hospital was still attending
to emergency
situations only.
“I hope the government just attends to
their (nurses and doctors) grievances
so that I can have my aching tooth
attended to,” said Ishmael Muswe from
Glen Norah.
Amon Siveregi, the
President of the Hospital Doctors Association (HDA) that
represents junior
doctors around the country could not be reached for
comment on the
industrial action yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system, once
lauded as one of the best in Africa,
has crumbled due to years of
under-funding and mismanagement.
Hundreds of doctors and nurses have fled
Zimbabwe over the past seven years
to seek better paying jobs in
neighbouring countries such as South Africa
and Botswana.
The exodus
of trained medical staff has hit hard Zimbabwe’s health delivery
system
which is also struggling to cope under an unprecedented economic
recession
described by the World Bank as unseen for a country not at war. -
ZimOnline
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
27 December
2007
The New Year is shaping up to be an even darker one
than 2007 for
Zimbabweans as South African power utility Eskom will demand
up-front
payment for electricity exports, according to an official of the
Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority.
Eskom spokesman Fani Zulu
confirmed the new terms to the Web-based Zimbabwe
Times. ZESA been
struggling to meet its obligations to regional suppliers
including Cahora
Bassa of Mozambique and SNEIL of the Democratic Republic of
Congo, leading
these power suppliers to reduce power transmissions to
Zimbabwe.
With
Zimbabwe's own generating capacity reduced by breakdowns, this has
resulted
in chronic load shifting and power cuts to hospitals and even the
State
House, the official Harare residence of President Robert Mugabe.
Some
mining firms are importing their own power from Cahora Bassa in order
to
keep production going, as most companies are operating at 30% of
capacity.
National Chamber of Commerce President Marah Hativagone
told reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the country
faces
industrial collapse.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 December
Ignatius Banda
Bulawayo - Recent international
reports show Zimbabwe's economic decline
hastened by continued capital
flight, with the troubled country cited as one
of the worst investment
destinations in the world. Economic analysts say the
continued injection of
foreign direct investment (FDI) largely depends on
the reversal of the
Zimbabwean government's controversial political and
economic policies. These
policies have adversely affected the country's
economic performance, leaving
it with record inflation chasing the 10 000%
mark. Despite this crisis, the
country has enacted controversial legislation
that forces foreign-owned
firms to "indigenise" ownership, a move that could
further alienate
potential investors. The Indigenisation and Empowerment
Act, which was
passed in the Second House of Parliament two months ago, is
aimed at
increasing black Zimbabweans' economic participation with a view to
reaching
at least 51% "indigenous ownership" of businesses. This comes amid
reports
that many foreign-owned firms have already closed shop after
President
Robert Mugabe's controversial price cuts earlier this year that
saw massive
shortages of basic requirements. South African retail chains
have been
affected by the government's price freeze, including the country's
largest
clothing retail company, Edgars, which reopened its doors because of
government demands. The continued operation of South African companies
Shoprite and Makro may also be hanging in the balance.
According to
government statistics, FDI stood at more than $400-million in
1998 on the
eve of the country's economic woes. The United Nations
Conference on Trade
and Development found in its annual World Investment
Report issued just more
than a month ago that FDI in Zimbabwe fell from
about $103-million in 2005
to $30-million in the year prior to the report's
release. This came shortly
after the World Bank and its International
Finance Corporation announced in
their Doing Business Report 2008 in
September this year that Zimbabwe was
one of the worst countries in the
world in which to do business. The World
Bank survey analyses the conditions
put in place by governments to encourage
and facilitate business investment.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe figures show
that the country only attracted
$5,4-million in FDI in 2001. This was during
the height of the violent land
invasions that claimed the lives of both
farmers and farmworkers as veterans
of the country's 1970s war of liberation
unleashed a terror campaign on
white-owned farms. However, foreign-owned
businesses still remained
untouched at that time, possibly because of legal
intricacies. This has
changed with the introduction of the Indigenisation
and Empowerment Act,
which will lead to a reduction in foreign ownership in
multinational
companies doing business in the country. This means the
expropriation trend
is being extended. The measures announced by the
government also target
major foreign-exchange earners such as mining
companies at a time when the
country is battling acute foreign-currency
shortages.
A cloud hangs over the continued operations of mining concerns
such as
Zimplats, Anglo Zimbabwe, Bindura Nickel Corporation and Falgold.
Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono has warned that the proposed "takeover" of
foreign-owned firms will cause further haemorrhage in the tottering economy.
He has also expressed concern that the undermining of property rights and
the "indigenisation" drive will have unintended consequences, such as
deterring FDI. A Bulawayo-based economist, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the regime "imposed sanctions on itself" by refusing to
respect principles such as property rights. "The Zimbabwean government has
been belligerent for a long time. The language the officials speak is not
the kind that encourages investment. Gross domestic product has shrunk and
the only thing to encourage economic growth is resumption of trade through
the reversal of these controversial economic policies," he said. "Balance of
payments is eventually about encouraging foreign investment," he added. Paul
Mangwana, the Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister who is leading the way
on the law, maintains that "indigenisation" is a political decision that
will benefit all Zimbabweans. However, industry and commerce federations
have expressed concerns. The minister has been accused of positioning
himself, along with other ruling-party bigwigs, to take over a lucrative
foreign-owned concern in terms of the new law.
"This does not bode
well for the country's efforts to attract foreign
investment," said Paul
Lowani, an economics lecturer with a local
university. "This is the last
thing the country needs at a time when the
injection of foreign investment
is most crucial." Zimbabwean authorities
cite the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act passed by the United
States Congress in 2001 as being
part of an international effort to put the
economy under foreign ownership.
Mugabe has accused the US of imposing
economic sanctions on Zimbabwe by
allegedly discouraging American firms from
investing in Zimbabwe. Former
colonial power Britain is also accused of
discouraging British firms from
investing in Zimbabwe. Opposition legislator
Tendai Biti recently told
international media that the country's economic
woes needed a political
solution, something to which the authorities were
yet to commit themselves.
Business Day
(Johannesburg)
27 December 2007
Posted to the web 27 December
2007
Karima Brown
Johannesburg
WHILE beleaguered Zimbabweans
turned out in droves after pledges by senior
government officials that banks
would remain open over the Christmas period,
banks stayed closed.
The
undertaking by the central bank governor, Gideon Gono, to cash-strapped
Zimbabweans failed to materialise, and long lines of people desperate for
local currency queued at the few automatic tellers that were dispensing
cash.
The country is beset by rampant inflation, mass
unemployment, and shortages
of food and basic goods.
To add to its
woes, Zimbabwe is now suffering shortages of banknotes as
well, despite the
introduction of higher-denomination notes last week.
Gono last week said
that banks would remain open on Christmas Day and on
Boxing Day to dispense
cash after the introduction of the new notes failed
to cut long queues at
banks.
But reports from Harare yesterday said the banks were closed,
leaving
customers empty-handed and forcing many to join the lines at cash
machines
instead.
News agencies reported heartbreaking stories about
how Zimbabweans who had
managed to flee their country were unable to send
much-needed cash back to
desperate relatives who find themselves stuck with
no way out of the
economic decline .
State-run media reported on
Monday that the central bank had put another
Z$20-trillion (about $667m at
the official exchange rate, or $10m at the
black-market rate) into
circulation by introducing new notes.
Long queues for cash have become a
common sight in Harare, but only a
fraction of the existing cash in
circulation is to be found in the formal
economy -- the majority is
circulating on the black market.
Gono blamed the currency shortages on
foreign-exchange currency dealers,
also known as "cash barons".
He
urged Zimbabweans to report anyone flouting currency exchange
laws.
Zimbabwe has the highest level of inflation in the world at more
than 8000%.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has put the
blame for the most
recent crisis squarely at the door of President Robert
Mugabe. Mugabe's
detractors also accused him of allowing the economy to go
to ruin but he has
remained defiant. Mugabe has thus far maintained that the
country's problems
are a result of a western plot to oust him from
power.
The response from Zimbabwe's central bank to the cash crunch was
to issue
high-value notes in Z$750000 ($6 at the official exchange rate but
$0,12 on
the black market), Z$500000 and Z$250000
denominations.
Before introducing the new notes, Gono said Zimbabwe had
Z$67-trillion in
circulation, although only Z$2-trillion was in the formal
economy.
The black market has flourished in step with the deepening
economic crisis.
With Reuters, BBC
IOL
December 27 2007
at 10:05AM
Zimbabwe's tourism sector is on the path to full
recovery and poised
to reclaim its place as one of the country's top foreign
currency earners,
Zimbabwe's Herald online reported on
Thursday.
As of last month, tourism was said to have raked in
$59,7-million this
year with safari hunting contributing 36 percent of the
earnings, the report
said.
During the first half of the year,
the number of tourists arriving in
the country was estimated to have grown
by 34 percent from 1,1 million to
1,4 million as compared to the same period
last year.
Growing numbers of tourists were coming from other
African countries
and the Far East.
Visitors from African countries accounted for 90 percent of tourist
arrivals.
"According to official statistics, the share of
African tourists
increased by 23 percent from 917 472 last year to 1 132 575
this year."
The country also signed a memorandum of understanding
on tourism with
Angola to promote tourism co-operation between the two
countries and the
tourism authority was signing up international artistes to
sign up as
tourism ambassadors in their various countries.
"To
this end, the ZTA managed to bring Chinese pop star Chris Wong,
who is
popular throughout Asia, to the Harare International Festival of the
Arts.
The artiste was accompanied by two Chinese television networks," the
Herald
said.
The authority also managed to attract Jamaican reggae artiste
Luciano,
Wenge and Extra Musica from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vee
from
Botswana and South African groups, Mafikizolo and Malaika.
The tourism sector was also trying to attract more airlines to the
country
and was pursuing the issue of a two-tier exchange rate policy as the
current
exchange rate was not viable and made goods more expensive, the
Herald said.
- Sapa
nasdaq
HARARE (AFP)--President Robert Mugabe has appointed a
three-man tribunal to
probe misconduct charges against Zimbabwe's suspended
attorney-general
Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, state radio reported
Thursday.
Gula-Ndebele was suspended by Mugabe on Dec. 14 after he was
accused of
meeting with former banker James Mushore, who was wanted by
police for
siphoning foreign currency from Zimbabwe.
"President
(Robert) Mugabe (has) sworn in a three-member tribunal to
investigate
allegations being leveled against attorney-general,
Gula-Ndebele," the
report said.
"Gula-Ndebele was suspended on allegations of conduct
contrary to or
inconsistent with duties of a public officer."
Under
the constitution of Zimbabwe, the president may revoke the suspension
on the
advice of the tribunal, to be chaired by high court judge Chinembiri
Bhunu.
Charges against Gula-Ndebele arose after an alleged September
meeting with
Mushore, former deputy managing director of National Merchant
Bank, who had
just sneaked back into the country from the U.K.
Police
said Mushore and three colleagues set up a money transfer agency in
London
in breach of Zimbabwe's strict foreign exchange laws and siphoned
funds to
offshore accounts.
Mushore had been on the police wanted list since
2004.
In May, the central bank revoked NMB's foreign exchange license
after
staffers moved at least $4 million to foreign bank accounts without
authorization from the central bank.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
26
December 2007 08:29
After a year which saw the official
inflation rate surge
to 8 000%, shelves run dry and opposition leaders
beaten up, few people in
Zimbabwe can wait to see the back of
2007.
While veteran President Robert Mugabe hopes to
secure a
seventh term of office in elections next year, he is unlikely to
trade
heavily on his government's recent economic
performance.
"In short the last year has been a
complete disaster,"
said Calisto Jokonya, president of the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries.
"All the policies that were put in
place did not work, be
it from the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance.
Inflation soared,
goods disappeared from the shops, cash also disappeared.
This was the year
of queues."
When he presented the
budget for the coming 12 months a
year ago, the then finance minister
Herbert Murerwa said inflation which
stood at just over 1 000% should drop
to below 400% by September.
A few weeks later Murerwa
was out of a job and his
forecast was shown to be as worthless as a Z$100
000 bill, for come
September the year-on-year inflation rate stood at a
mind-boggling 7 892,1%.
Since that announcement, the
government has failed to
release an official inflation figure which most
economists say is likely to
be even higher still.
Evidence however abounded to the sickness of a once-model
economy, most
notably in June when a government order for retailers to slash
prices to
less than cost price soon led to a run on supermarkets which then
failed to
restock.
Central bank governor Gideon Gono later
acknowledged
Operation Dzikisa Mutengo (Reduce Prices) had backfired and
only induced
anarchy.
"Of what use are cheap goods
when they are not available?"
Gono said in October.
Thousands of retailers and businessmen who failed to heed
the government's
pricing directives found themselves in court, many deciding
to halt
operations after large fines.
An easing of the pricing
crackdown may have led to a
gradual restocking of shelves, but there then
followed a severe shortage of
cash with limits on withdrawals resulting in
big queues at banks and
dispensing machines.
"It
[2007] required a certain degree of financial
dexterity to survive," Martin
Tarusenga, a consultant with the information
technology firm Systemics
Consultant, wrote in the private Zimbabwe
Independent
weekly.
"With all the problems that have come with
Zimbabwe's
economic crisis, it is surprising that many companies have still
managed to
pull through 2007."
The economic
meltdown was accompanied by a new bout of
political turmoil with Morgan
Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), among those assaulted as Mugabe's
security forces thwarted an
anti-government prayer rally in March.
After Western
governments expressed outrage over the
assaults, 83-year-old Mugabe told
them to "go hang" and said the opposition
had "asked for
it".
Mugabe however did however bow to regional
pressure,
agreeing to President Thabo Mbeki as a mediator between the ruling
Zanu-PF
party and the MDC.
After several false
starts, there were signs of progress
on an agreement over the framework for
elections due in 2008, with the
government tabling amendments to soften
security and media laws.
In his state-of-the-nation
address earlier this month,
Mugabe acknowledged the country had endured hard
times and "the night of
trials and tribulations has indeed been
long".
But, he added: "The nation is assured, however,
that the
government will continue to do all in its power to make life
bearable in the
face of existing difficulties."
Nelson Chamisa, a spokesperson for the MDC, said 2007 was
a traumatic year
but that worse could follow if Mugabe was elected for a
sixth
term.
"2008 will be a watershed year, it has to be the
defining
moment. There will be no country to talk about if this country goes
through
another year under the leadership of this regime." –
Sapa-AFP
From: A message from Africa
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 6:15
PM
Subject: A mediator?
Dear fellow Zimbabweans,
Now that
the dust has settled around Mbeki's landslide loss at the ANC
conference, is
it not time to reflect upon his role as a mediator for our
destiny?
Considering the extent to which Mbeki has supported and
sheltered
Mugabe/zanupf, is it right to continue using this man as a
mediator when we
all know that he is staunchly partisan in zanupf's favour?
History proves
conclusively that his support for zanupf is well beyond any
shadow of doubt.
To think otherwise would be ignoring what has been
blatantly occuring, even
to the extent of active lobbying at the UN to stop
motions to even discuss
such matters as human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
During Mbeki's watch, South
Africa has acted as Zimbabwe's de facto Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
The grass roots of South Africa have had a guts full
of Mbeki. Should
Zimbabweans not be in solidarity with grassroots South
Africa and tell Mbeki
that he has never been trusted and has become part of
the problem? It's the
right thing to do.
I sincerely hope that
Zimbabwe's democratic leadership of all factions,
formations and
combinations ponder the results of this ANC conference and
read the writing
that is clearly on the wall. Mbeki has failed Zimbabwe.
There is a window
of opportunity here which needs to be capitalised on and
it's in Zimbabwe's
interests that this opportunity is not wasted like so
many others in the
past.
It is instructive to read the following summation about Mbeki's
exploits and
ask yourselves whether it is right to keep bashing our heads
against a brick
wall. It's time to boot Mbeki to the curb. He has yielded
nothing but abject
suffering and poverty for the people of
Zimbabwe.
If there is no solution and relief from tyrany for the people
of Zimbabwe,
then our position of strength must be that no soccer world cup
will be
tolerated in 2010. That should be the focus of our attention in the
months
ahead and the illusion of quiet diplomacy be damned.
Merry
festive season
From The Cape Times (SA), 27 December
Anél
Powell
With more than three million Zimbabweans already living in South
Africa, the
average 1 000 to 5 000 illegal entries from Zimbabwe each day is
of
"national concern". And the Department of Home Affairs said the backlog
of
144 000 asylum applications has been caused by economic refugees who fled
Zimbabwe to get work in South Africa. George Kruys, a research associate for
the Institute for Strategic Studies at the University of Pretoria, said:
"The result is a national concern that further (illegal) migration from
Zimbabwe will cause even greater hardship for many South Africans." Economic
migrants include legal and illegal migrants. An illegal migrant is an
undocumented person who has entered the country secretly or has stayed after
his papers have expired. Kruys said the director- general of Home Affairs
was expected to make drastic changes to passports "well before 2010" so that
fewer could be falsified. But South Africa's extensive borders and lack of
control at access points have facilitated a massive influx of illegal
immigrants. Kruys said official statistics showed that of the 245 294 people
deported in 2006, 127 097 were from Zimbabwe. More than 117 000 Zimbabweans
were deported between January and July this year alone. The current monthly
average of deportation is 16 000 with a peak of 21 400 in January. However,
Kruys said the number of deportations was a "small number of the total
(coming in)" as between 1 000 and 5 000 Zimbabweans streamed across South
Africa's borders every day. Some of these sought asylum to gain temporary
legal residence in South Africa.
According to Home Affairs, of the 3
074 Zimbabweans who applied for asylum
in the first three months of this
year, only 79 were granted, partly because
economic migrants were not deemed
eligible for asylum. Yet despite the large
number of Zimbabweans seeking
work or asylum in South Africa, the government
has refused to build refugee
camps. Illegal migrants caught by border police
are usually kept at the
holding facility in Lindela, Krugersdorp. Although
the facility can
accommodate about 4 000 people at one time, almost 15 000
illegal Zimbabwean
migrants were deported from this facility in the first
two weeks of July.
Conditions at offices for asylum seekers are reportedly
"'extremely bad" and
a visit by the National Assembly's home affairs
committee revealed that
conditions at the Marabastad office near Pretoria
were "inhumane and a
massive crisis". Here, only 15 staff were available to
process 1 000
asylum-seeker applications each day. Only 50 to 75
applications were
actually processed. Kruys said the unchecked movement of
refugees and
economic migrants into the country would have a negative effect
on poorer
South Africans trying to make ends meet. "Until the situation in
Zimbabwe
improves, South Africa will most probably be forced to 'muddle
through', and
employ a somewhat flexible approach to day-to-day migration
problems.
Business Day
27 December 2007
John
Kaninda
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diplomatic
Editor
SOUTHERN Africa needs tougher laws against bribery and fraud in
order to
fight corruption, says a Transparency International study conducted
in the
region over the past six months.
To assess the
situation at a national level, the watchdog organisation
undertook what it
calls National Integrity System country studies in
Botswana, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
The study provides a summary of regional trends affecting the
key
institutions, laws and practices that contribute to integrity,
transparency
and accountability in a society.
The National
Integrity System study examines the key institutions, sectors
or specific
activities — the “pillars” — contributing to integrity by
diagnosing their
strengths and weaknesses.
Casey Kelso, Transparency’s regional
director for Africa and the Middle
East, said that despite the existence of
anticorruption activity in the
region, “implementation (of antigraft
measures) is virtually nonexistent”.
While corruption is illegal
everywhere in Africa, it is costing the
continent nearly $150b n a year,
according to the African Union (AU).
“Though advances have been made,
corruption is still deeply woven into the
fabric of everyday life in
southern Africa,” he said .
Four main trends emerge from the
report.
It found that legislation was insufficient, while political
corruption was
on the rise.
Corrupt judiciaries were hampering
efforts to fight corruption, it said, and
there was a low level of
accountability for public resources.
The report said that in
Zimbabwe, for instance, it was clear that for many,
corruption had become a
strategy of survival.
The environment in which the various pillars of
Zimbabwe’s national
integrity system were expected to operate was highly
challenged. “The
economic context is fertile ground for criminal activities
as part of the
survival strategies by individuals and corporate
bodies.”
The report said that though the introduction of the Anti-
Corruption Act was
regarded as a milestone in Mozambique’s fight against
corruption, concern
was still growing over the lack of investigative
authority of the Central
Office for the Fight Against Corruption
.
Its limited authority and the ineffective nature of whistle-blowing
mechanisms raised doubt over the applicability and efficiency of the
act.
The report said the situation was compounded by the fact that
there were no
codes of conduct for public institutions.
In the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said, corruption appeared to
be an
integrated part of daily life.
From The Ilford Recorder (UK), 27 December
A minister cut up his dog collar in front of
surprised parishioners as he
pledged to support the Archbishop of York's
public stand against Zimbabwean
president Robert Mugabe. Rev Ernie Guest of
St Laurence's Church, Donington
Avenue, Barkingside, cut up his collar at a
service on Sunday, December 16,
in a show of solidarity with Archbishop John
Sentamu. Dr Sentamu's protest
came during a live appearance on BBC One's
Andrew Marr show earlier this
month, and coincided with Mugabe's
controversial attendance at the EU-Africa
summit in Lisbon, Portugal. After
removing his collar, he produced a pair of
scissors and cut it up, before
vowing not to wear it again until President
Mugabe had left power in
Zimbabwe, where inflation has soared to more than
8,000 per cent and there
is 80 per cent unemployment. The Ugandan-born
archbishop, who as a young man
stood up to Idi Amin's tyrannical rule, told
Andrew Marr: "You know that
identities are destroyed. As an Anglican, this
is what I wear to identify
myself as a clergyman. Do you know what Mugabe
has done? He has taken
people's identity and literally - if you don't mind -
cut it to pieces. As
far as I am concerned, from now on I am not going to
wear a dog collar until
Mugabe is gone."
Speaking this week, Mr Guest told the Recorder: "On the
news I saw the
Archbishop do it, and it's such a dramatic thing, cutting up
his dog collar,
his identity as an Anglican priest, to stand alongside the
people of
Zimbabwe. I wanted to stand by him and the people of Zimbabwe." He
added
that although some of his congregation had been shocked by his
gesture, it
had received a spontaneous round of applause. He said that until
democracy
and good governance returned to the strife-torn country, the
spiral of
poverty, brutality and economic chaos would continue. He said:
"Politics and
religion had been closely linked for years and years and
years, so we should
make statements and we should be able to try and
influence people." Mr Guest
added that it felt very strange not wearing the
collar during services, and
he was aware it could be a long time before he
was able to put it back on.