Govt Panics As Army Riots

Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:31

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s government appears to be losing its 28-year hold on power, largely exercised through its iron grip on the military, with protests by soldiers this week. As the economic meltdown intensifies, starvation stalks the land, and a cholera epidemic spreads, military sources said Mugabe and his clique of loyal advisors are anxious to contain growing discontent within the army, the police, and the secret service. In the absence of a formal government, Mugabe is ruling with the help of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) and the Zanu PF politburo. The JOC brings together army, police and intelligence chiefs. The body itself has a divided view on what the solution to the current agitation in the army and public could be. Sources said JOC is fractured because some key members such as Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director-general Happyton Bonyongwe and Zimbabwe National Army commander Lieutenant-General Philip Sibanda are seen as too soft compared to others like Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander General Constantine Chiwenga who support Zanu PF. While hardliners want a crackdown on dissent, reformers think political talks could be the best way out. Sources said Mugabe’s diehards and some JOC members want the troops who rioted on Monday severely punished, while others want them to be warned and cautioned. The politburo was yesterday expected to deliberate on the riotous behaviour of the soldiers. Government is investigating the soldiers who staged protests twice inside a week against poor wages and working conditions. It was the first time since Independence in 1980 that troops have taken to the streets. A group of uniformed soldiers rampaged through Harare to protest poor pay and working conditions, causing alarm among the public. A similar riot happened last Thursday although it was confined to a small section of the city. The soldiers also chanted anti-Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono slogans and blamed him for bankrolling the foreign currency black market and denying the majority of Zimbabweans access to cash through the formal banking system. The agitated soldiers’ primary targets were foreign currency dealers, but members of the public were caught in the crossfire while shops were looted. Mugabe’s government was already facing strikes and protests by discontented public servants, including doctors and nurses. The discontent poses a serious threat to Mugabe’s regime, and if fuelled by the military disturbances, it could erupt into a nationwide anti-government campaign. The incident on Monday, which resulted in injuries to onlookers, looting and damage to property, apparently By Dumisani Muleya and Constantine Chimakure

Zim Dollar Takes Major Knock

Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:19

ZIMBABWE’S foreign currency market was yesterday hit by a fresh wave of turbulence as the local dollar plummeted to a low of $10 million to the greenback on the parallel market because of renewed buying pressure in response to central bank’s introduction of higher denominations and new cash withdrawal limits of $100 million. The country’s defenceless dollar, which opened the week at $1,4 million to the US dollar, crashed on the thriving parallel market, reinforcing gloomy forecasts of an unprecedented acceleration in the rate of inflation, which the government said was above 231 million % in July. Retailers responded to the crash of the local currency by increasing prices of basic goods and commodities, which shot up by an average 300%. Economists said the Zimbabwe dollar was still battling to find a bottom on the parallel market because of escalating demand from both institutional buyers and individuals trying to escape inflation-induced losses on the local currency. Banks earlier in the week reviewed their service charges to between $1 billion and $2 billon as the Reserve Bank introduced $10 million, $50 million and $100 million banknotes. The charges were made after the central bank also announced that withdrawal limits for individuals would be increased to $100 million per week, while companies can withdraw $50 million. Previously individuals were allowed to withdraw $500 000 daily while corporates withdrew $1 million. The new withdrawal limit will go up to $500 million for individuals on December 12. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono yesterday said with effect from December 19 “each worker can withdraw up to $10 billion per month against presentation of a payslip which shall be endorsed at the bank to prevent abuse of the facility through repeated withdrawal”. Analysts, however, said the money would have been eroded by rising inflation then. “With effect from January 12 2009 all workers will be able to fully encash their full salaries, without any limits upon presentation of a bona-fide, verifiable pay-slip, which shall be stamped at the bank to avoid repetitive round-tripping,” said Gono. Other major trading currencies — the British pound, the South African rand and Botswana pula, were moving around the benchmark US dollar rate. The crash of the Zimdollar against major currencies erodes the purchasing power of consumers who were already reeling from high prices and shortages of basic commodities. Considering exchange rate relationships, an exchange rate of US$1 to $10 million measures in part how much of a US good (for example one loaf of bread) is paid in the US relative to the price paid for the same good in Zimbabwe — the purchasing power parity. Economic analysts said the progression of the Zimbabwe dollar exchange rate was a reflection of the progression of real prices on the ground in the country relative to prices of the same good in US dollars. It can be observed that the parallel exchange rate of US$1 which was $1,4 million on Monday, shot up to $10 million as of yesterday, but the price level of goods purchased in the US remained at US$1 between Monday and Friday despite US dollar inflation being evident in Zimbabwe. The price level for the same goods over the same period in Zimbabwe moved in relative terms from $1,4 million to $10 million, representing 614,2 % inflation in five days. By Paul Nyakazeya

Mugabe To Gazette Amendment No 19

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:15
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is likely to gazette the Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment No 19 Bill today in a move which will take a step further
efforts to form an inclusive government with Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC.

The measure would move ahead a process which has been stalled by
bickering between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over sharing of ministries,
provincial governors' posts and other senior government appointments
Informed sources said this is what the South African cabinet was
referring to yesterday when it said an agreement was imminent in Zimbabwe.
Sources said after last week's approval of the Bill, which has key
elements from the political agreement signed between Zanu PF and the MDC's
two factions on September 15 and a draft constitution crafted in September
last year, Mugabe was bound to publish the Bill to allow for public debate
before it is introduced in parliament.
In terms of the constitution, the Bill would have to be publicly
scrutinised for 30 days before it is introduced in parliament for debate and
passage into law.
This means Zimbabwe will not have a new government until next year.
The Bill creates the posts of prime minister to accommodate Tsvangirai
and deputy prime ministers for Tsvangirai's second-in-command, Thokozani
Khuphe, and MDC smaller faction leader Arthur Mutambara.
It has a framework for a new inclusive government whose main objective
would be to "carry out sustained work to create conditions for returning our
country to stability and prosperity".
It outlines the powers and authority of the inclusive government which
it says shall be vested in, and be shared among the president, the prime
minister and the cabinet who "shall exercise executive authority subject to
the constitution and the law".
It says cabinet, which will have 31 members, shall take decisions by
"consensus, and take collective responsibility", something which would be
difficult to achieve given the different political and policy positions of
Mugabe and Tsvangirai. There will be 15 deputy ministers.
Mugabe would no longer make appointments to senior government posts on
his own. He would have to agree with the vice-presidents, the prime minister
and deputy prime ministers prior to such appointments.
The Bill introduces entrenched "political rights" into the
constitution.
These include the right to "free, fair and regular elections for any
legislative body, including a local authority".
It proposes free, fair and regular elections to the office of
president and to any other elective office, as well as free and fair
referendums.

By Dumisani Muleya

Civil Society Calls For End To Arrests, Abductions

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:11
CIVIL society yesterday demanded that President Robert Mugabe and
guarantors of the global political agreement (GPA) -- Sadc and the African
Union (AU) -- ensure the immediate cessation of a new wave of arrests,
abductions and assaults on citizens and political activists.

In a joint letter to Sadc chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe and AU head
Jakaya Kikwete, 46 civic organisations said the crackdown by state security
organs was a mockery of the GPA signed by Mugabe and leaders of the two MDC
formations -- Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.
Motlanthe and Kikwete are the presidents of South Africa and Tanzania.
The letter was prompted by Wednesday's alleged pre-dawn abduction of
the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), Jestina Mukoko, by
suspected state security agents at her home in Norton.
The same day scores of civil society activists were arrested across
the country for participating in a demonstration called by the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) against cash withdrawal limits.
Yesterday, members of the National Constitutional Assembly staged a
peaceful demonstration in central Harare pressing for the establishment of a
transitional authority to deal with the country's 10-year-old crisis.
ZPP is a human rights abuse monitoring organisation and played a
leading role in documenting election-related violence, which claimed the
lives of more than 100 people, most of them opposition supporters during the
countdown to the June 27 presidential poll.
In their letter to Motlanthe and Kikwete, the civic groups said the
two leaders should ensure the immediate release of Mukoko and other "human
rights defenders" who were in police custody.
The groups said they wanted an "immediate cessation of systematic
purges and human rights violations by the current establishment and its
security agents on human rights defenders".
The civil organisation asked government to observe its duty to respect
and protect internationally guaranteed human rights and to ensure that no
human rights abuses committed by state authorities and party militias
receive any pardons in the future as the trends of violence seems to be
escalating.
The civic groups said the abduction of Mukoko, a former television
presenter, undermined the interparty agreement which was signed by Zanu PF
and the two MDC formations.
"This kidnapping is a blunt mockery of the global political agreement
signed by Zimbabwean political parties on September 15 and shows the extent
of the breakdown of the rule of law and insincerity of state authorities in
Zimbabwe," read the letter.
"This confirms the concern civil society in Zimbabwe has about the
ability of the security services to act in the public interest and in an
impartial manner."
Mukoko was scheduled to be the master of ceremonies at the annual
United States-sponsored Auxillia Chimusoro HIV and Aids Awards that were
held on Wednesday.
The American Ambassador James McGee on Wednesday informed guests that
efforts to find out the whereabouts of Mukoko before the ceremony were in
vain.
"We have been seeking frantically for Jestina and could not find her.
What I want to say to anyone who abducted her, whether it is the army or
police, release Jestina now. We need her to be released," McGee said.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights yesterday filed an urgent High Court
application seeking the immediate release of Mukoko.
Last week the ZCTU called for peaceful protests against the Reserve
Bank's cash withdrawal limits, and called on the public to march to their
banks on Wednesday this week to demand their money.
However, the police broke up the march in Harare by the national trade
union movement and arrested more than 70 people including ZCTU
secretary-general Wellington Chibebe, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
secretary-general Raymond Majongwe and South African Broadcasting
Corporation correspondent John Nyashanu.
The arrests came barely 24 hours after Defence minister Sydney
Sekeramayi appeared on television warning the ZCTU not to proceed with the
demonstration
Health workers, including doctors and nurses who downed their tools
two months ago in protest at poor salaries and working conditions, also
joined the march and were arrested after they tried to protest against the
government's failure to deal with the cholera  outbreak, which has killed
close to 600 people in the past four weeks.
The attacks on dissent come over a month after suspected government
agents seized 15 MDC activists in Banket, Mashonaland West.
The government initially claimed the activists were involved in
training "insurgents" against the government, but now denies they are in
official custody.
The 15 have not been seen since they were abducted, 36 days ago, and
police have ignored court orders for them to be produced in court.
The umbrella body of the civil society, National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) yesterday issued a statement in which
it condemned the arrests of the civil society activists.
In the statement it said: "Nango expresses its deep concern about this
new wave of arrests of civil society activists. These arrests of peaceful
activists are especially alarming in a period in which the vast majority of
Zimbabweans are struggling to survive every day facing serious difficulties
acquiring food and essential medical services.
"Civil society activists have the right to speak out peacefully for
their constituency. Their arrests prevent them from voicing the
concerns of the people of Zimbabwe."
In the same statement, Nango claimed that around 30 activists were
arrested in Gweru by police while peacefully attending a ZCTU protest
against cash withdrawal limits and the increasing dollarisation of the
economy, which is affecting the majority of Zimbabweans.
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC on Wednesday condemned the attacks on
civic activists saying the GPA guarantees the basic freedoms and rights of
people to express themselves.
 "The latest acts of thuggery are a clear indication that there is no
paradigm shift on the part of Zanu PF to act in accordance with the GPA,"
the MDC-T said.

By Lucia Makamure

Woza Leaders' Bail Conditions Relaxed

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:10
MILITANT pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) leaders
Jennifer Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu on Tuesday successfully appealed
against strict bail conditions imposed on them after they were arrested
leading a demonstration in Bulawayo in October.

The two were arrested in the city two months ago while leading about
200 Woza activists protesting against the deteriorating humanitarian crisis
in the country and were ordered by a Bulawayo magistrate to report to the
police twice a week and were also ordered not to travel outside a
40-kilometre radius of Bulawayo without written permission from a
magistrate.
The lawyer representing the two activists, Kossam Ncube, successfully
appealed against the bail conditions.
In the application, Ncube said his clients were not likely to abscond
if their bail conditions were relaxed as the duo last week travelled to
Germany to receive a human rights award and returned home.
Ncube argued that if his clients wanted to escape they could have
simply disappeared in Germany or anywhere in Europe.
He contended that Williams and Magodonga were set to travel throughout
the country to commemorate the 16 days of Activism Against Woman and Child
Abuse as leaders of a women's organisation.
Ncube said his clients also needed to visit friends and relatives
during the Christmas festivities and therefore the bail conditions would
deter them from travelling across the country.
The state led by Lovemore Chifamba did not oppose the relaxation of
the bail conditions.
The duo is being charged under Section 37 1(a) of the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act for "disturbing the peace, security or order
of the public".
  Williams and Mahlangu will be tried on January 22.
The two were arrested on October 16 at Mhlahlandlela Government
Complex. They were part of a group of 200 activists demanding that the
humanitarian crisis in the country be depoliticised and declared a national
disaster. - Staff Writer.

Fort Hare scholarship Students Face Hard Times

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:07
ZIMBABWEAN students at Fort Hare University, South Africa, have turned
to menial jobs such as car-washing, security guarding and street vending to
earn a living after the government failed to send them money to return home.

Worse still, the students who are on government scholarships have
found themselves living in the open after the university authorities chucked
them out of the institution's accommodation they had been offered after
campus closed for the festive season.
The university, where President Robert Mugabe was once a student,
closed its doors for the year a fortnight ago and authorities advised the
Zimbabwean students to return home for the festive period.
However, the government, stung by critical foreign currency shortages,
has failed to come to the rescue of the students.
Parents who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said they were disturbed
by the government's failure to send home the students when it was the state
bankrolling their studies at Fort Hare.
"My child is stuck in South Africa and the government is not taking
action," a parent who asked for anonymity said. "They did not even bother to
tell us that they have no money or transport to send our children back.
Right now, I don't know how my child is surviving without food or shelter.
It is very worrying."
Criticism and complaints have dogged the scholarship programme over
the years, especially in the manner the government selects beneficiaries.
Complaints of favouritism and nepotism have rocked the once efficient
programme whose major intentions have been to support underprivileged
students.
The programme has of late become a Zanu PF project meant to buy
loyalty and votes.
Mugabe initiated the scholarship and has since established similar
programmes with the universities of Rhodes, KwaZulu Natal, Witwatersrand,
Cape Peninsula, and Walter Sisulu.
In 2008 alone the government through the presidential scholarships
sent more than 481 students to South African universities.
While the government has expanded the presidential scholarship
programme, it has ironically slashed financial support to students at local
institutions owing to the crunch financial situation back home.
Student riots over payouts are now the order of day at various
institutions of higher learning.
Lecturers' strikes over poor salaries and working conditions have also
become a permanent feature in the education sector, painting a gloomy
picture of the future of education in Zimbabwe.
Efforts to get a comment from the coordinator of the presidential
scholarship fund Chris Mushohwe and Higher Education minister Stan Mudenge
were fruitless as they were reportedly out of their offices.

By Henry Mhara

PF Zapu Revivalists Snub Msika Meeting

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:04
REBELLIOUS Zapu PF members at the forefront of reviving PF Zapu at the
weekend snubbed a meeting convened by Vice-President Joseph Msika in
Bulawayo to iron out their differences.

Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Msika was dispatched to
Bulawayo by Zanu PF in a bid to prevent the rebels from leaving the party,
but most of them did not turn up for the meeting.
Those leading the PF Zapu revival - former Zanu PF provincial
information and publicity secretary Effort Nkomo, ex-secretary for
administration Tryphine Nhliziyo, war veterans leader Andrew Ndlovu and
former politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, among others, snubbed the meeting.
During the meeting, Msika vetoed a recommendation made by a Zanu PF
commission of inquiry into the revival of PF Zapu, that Zanu PF members and
officials spearheading the project should be expelled from the party.
Msika took a swipe at Dabengwa and the outgoing Zanu PF Bulawayo
provincial chairperson Macleod Tshawe for having allegedly attempted to trap
him to attend a meeting at White City Stadium last month where the revival
of PF Zapu was to be announced.
The vice-president did not pitch up at the stadium.
"I felt insulted by the invitation to address the aborted Zipra
meeting at White City Stadium," Msika said. "They wanted to trap me at the
stadium."
He said Tshawe was among of the renegades and had ignored his advice
that the meeting should have taken place at Zanu PF's provincial
headquarters - Davies Hall - instead of the stadium.
 "Tshawe did not listen when I said I don't want to address them at
White City Stadium. He was part of the deadwood - part of the
non-participators in the Unity Accord. They are ex-combatants, yes, but they
never participated in unity talks. They wanted me to go to White City
Stadium so that after that they make a statement that they have pulled out
of the Unity Accord led by Msika," the vice-president said.
Msika told the meeting that was attended by Zanu PF national commissar
Elliot Manyika that he was tipped off not to attend the meeting by
Matabeleland North governor Angeline Masuku and central committee member
Eunice Sandi.
Zanu PF is in a crisis in Bulawayo as almost all its experienced
leadership has reportedly joined the revived PF Zapu.
Dabengwa and former senior PF Zapu leaders have caused discomfort
within Zanu PF with their intentions to revive the party, which was led by
Vice-president Joshua Nkomo.
Dabengwa, former Home Affairs minister under President Robert Mugabe's
government, has always maintained
that there has been PF Zapu within Zanu PF.
The former Zipra intelligence supremo was not formally expelled from
Zanu PF when he aligned himself with ex-Finance minister Simba Makoni's
presidential bid in March.
Makoni was expelled from Zanu PF when he announced in February his
decision to stand as an independent candidate against Mugabe.
Meanwhile, PF Zapu's two day national convention will take place in
Bulawayo on December 13 and 14 at Macdonald Hall in Mzilikazi.
PF Zapu national spokesperson Effort Nkomo confirmed the dates and the
venue of the national convention.
The convention will be followed up by a congress early next year.
According to Nkomo, the convention will elect a new executive and
debate the make or break resolutions made at a meeting held last month to
revive PF Zapu.
Former PF Zapu members resolved on November 8 to revive the party.
The members agreed that political structures of PF Zapu cease to
operate under the title of Zanu PF and that the structures work under the
authority of the construction of PF Zapu.
"In view of the fact that it was congress of Zapu that took the
decision to enter into the Unity Accord with Zanu PF, it is necessary to
convene congress to consider the wishes of the members to dissolve the unity
accord," Nkomo said.
The congress will be held in March.
The PF Zapu revivalists accused Zanu PF of failing to equitably
distribute power under the Unity Accord, which was preceded by the bloody
Gukurahundi era.
"It was agreed in the Unity Accord that the two parties were equal
partners, that has never been the case, Zanu has always acted unilaterally
and ignored protests made by Zapu," Nkomo added.
"It is the perception of Zapu that
equitable development in the provinces has not taken place and that
Matabeleland in particular has been disadvantaged," Nkomo said. "Zapu can
neither identify with nor condone the policies that are responsible for the
political, security and humanitarian crisis of the past nine months."
He said they were also angered that despite an agreement that the Zanu
PF symbol of a rooster be abandoned, the party maintained it knowing that it
"caused great offence" to PF Zapu.
Nkomo blasted Mugabe's administration for marginalising former PF Zapu
members when he signed an inclusive
pact with MDC formations on September 15.

By Loughty Dube

Grade 7 Examination Markers Still To Be Paid

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 22:02
GOVERNMENT is yet to pay over $120 million to each teacher who marked
Grade 7 examinations throughout the country three weeks after they completed
the job.

The Reserve Bank had promised to pay in cash the teachers as soon as
they finished marking the examinations. The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations
Council (Zimsec) had also assured the teachers of prompt payment.
Zimsec national director Happy Ndanga confirmed that the teachers were
yet to receive the payment, but was quick to say the central bank was
working towards paying what was due to the markers.
Each marker was to be paid $12 million daily to cover breakfast,
lunch, dinner and bedding for the six-day work.
In addition, every teacher was promised $175 000 per script marked and
was expected to mark 320 scripts.
The average amount a marker was expected to receive for marking the
recommended number of scripts and the six-day allowances was $128 million.
The affected teachers told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that
they have been visiting Zimsec to get their payment since they completed the
marking without success.
"Before we commenced the marking of examinations we were promised to
be paid all the money in cash and on the day of completion of the marking
exercise," one of the teachers said. "After we finished marking, that is
when we heard that the money was not available."
Zimsec boss Ndanga said the teachers should be patient.
"We are still in the process of finalising the payments and the reason
why we have delays is that markers want to be paid in cash and the central
bank is overwhelmed with the number of cash applications," Ndanga said. "We
are urging the markers to be patient."
He said Zimsec was doing its best to liaise with the central bank to
provide the cash, but if that fails the markers would be paid by cheque.
The markers also complained that the RBZ had failed to pay them in
full for invigilating the Grade 7 examinations despite central bank governor
Gideon Gono's promise to pay in cash.
"The RBZ promised to pay us $4 million each for invigilating the
examinations, but we were only paid $1 million in cash and the rest is still
outstanding," another teacher said. "I think we were foolish to agree to
mark when there were still outstanding payments."
Zimbabwe is facing a serious cash crisis that has resulted in
companies and individuals demanding cash payments for goods and services
rendered.

By Loughty Dube

Sadc Tribunal Ruling To Test Govt's Mettle

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:58
FRIDAY November 28 will always be remembered by white commercial
farmer William Michael Campbell and 78 others as the day the justice they
sought for eight years was finally delivered.

The Sadc Tribunal ruled that the decision by the government to evict
and serve notice of evictions on the farmers was a nullity because it was
driven by racism and contravened a treaty of the regional bloc.
The farmers were thrilled when the tribunal judge, Justice Luis
Antonio Mondlane ruled: "We therefore hold that in implementing
(Constitutional) Amendment 17, the respondent (Zimbabwe government) has
discriminated against the applicants (farmers) on the basis of race and
thereby violated its obligation under Article 6 (2) of the (Sadc) Treaty."
The tribunal, based in Namibia, ruled that the farmers evicted from
their land and those who received notices of evictions should return or stay
put on the farms because Zimbabwe's land reform undermined the rule of law.
In addition, the tribunal said President Robert Mugabe's government
must take all necessary measures to protect the possession, occupation and
ownership of the land belonging to farmers still on the land and not to take
any action to evict them or interfere with their peaceful residence on these
farms.
Three of the farmers already evicted, the tribunal adjudged, should be
compensated on or before June 30 2009.
The farmers approached the tribunal after losing their cases in
Zimbabwe's High and Supreme Courts.
However, the farmers' smiles were ephemeral, as the Zimbabwe
government said the Sadc tribunal was "daydreaming" in its ruling.
Lands minister Didymus Mutasa told the state media that the government
would not observe the ruling.
"We are not governed and directed by a tribunal. It has absolutely no
jurisdiction, we are not going to observe that," Mutasa said.
He said the land reform could not be attributed to racism, but to
circumstances brought about by colonial history.
This stance by the government has been described by independent legal
practitioners, political analysts and the civil society as a perfect, but
sad example of how Zimbabwe has developed into a lawless country.
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC accused Zanu PF of double standards.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights programme officer Otto Saki said
failure or refusal by the government to abide by the tribunal ruling would
prove that Zimbabwe has no respect for the rule of law.
"Failure to oblige to the Sadc tribunal rule is a perfect example in
our perception that that rule of law is not respected in Zimbabwe," Saki
said. "Moreover, it will mean that Zimbabwe is just on a cruise with Sadc by
not taking the judgement seriously."
He said Zimbabwe should abide by regional and international treaties
it signed."Nobody forced Zimbabwe to enter into an agreement with the rest
of Sadc countries. It was voluntary and they should accept the consequences.
This will be a good positive test case for the tribunal to see how effective
it is and how it will deal with the government's non-compliance," Saki
added.
Retired High Court judge George Smith said the judgement was "very
well reasoned and cannot be faulted".
He added: "The tribunal was therefore satisfied that the government of
Zimbabwe is depriving the applicants of their agricultural land without
having had the right to access to the courts and the right to a fair
hearing, which are essential elements of rule of law."
Smith said Zimbabwe has acceded to a number of conventions and to the
African Charter.
"By so doing, it is under an obligation to respect, protect and
promote the principle of non-discrimination and must, therefore, prohibit
and outlaw any discrimination based on the ground of race in its laws,
policies and practices," he added.
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president Trevor Gifford applauded the
ruling, but expressed shock that the government said it would not respect
the judgement.
"The union does not accept this (Mutasa utterances) to be the official
reaction of our government and farmers await a better considered and less
emotional indication of official response," Gifford said. "The Sadc Tribunal
ruling vindicates the attitude long promoted by the union. Land reform was
necessary but the means of implementation adopted have been unnecessary and
unlawful."
He said CFU would soon engage the government on the way forward after
the ruling.
"The union is advised that there are courses open to obtain the
support of our own courts to ensure that the Sadc ruling is recognised and
respected," Gifford added.
Corporate and constitutional lawyer Sternford Moyo said unlike
judgements of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights that are
advisory, judgements of the Sadc Tribunal were binding.
Moyo said: "The challenges in Zimbabwe are the fact that the
constitution provides in Section 111B that international treaties or
agreements shall not form part of the law of Zimbabwe unless incorporated
into domestic law by parliament and the fact that legislation relating to
enforcement of foreign judgements was repealed and replacement legislation
has not yet been enacted."
He said the two challenges can be dealt with on the basis that the
domestication requirement arose after signature of the Sadc Treaty and
should not, therefore, apply to obligations under the Sadc Treaty and with
regards to the enforcement of the foreign judgement, an application has to
be made to the High Court for recognition and registration of the judgement.
"The difficulty is that one cannot execute against the state.  The
state Liability's Act does not allow it.  Enforcement will, therefore, be
through the political structures of the Sadc Treaty Organisation.  Where
there is no compliance, the matter is referred to the Assembly of Heads of
State for political sanction," Moyo explained.
While many are still trying to understand the Sadc Tribunal judgement,
Gifford alleged that government was issuing more land offer letters.
The MDC-Tsvangirai accused Zanu PF of double standards on tribunal
ruling and said it was worried with the party's inconsistency after it
dismissed the judgement.
"After Zanu PF berated the MDC for disagreeing with the Sadc Heads of
State that the Ministry of Home Affairs cannot be shared, it is only
logical that the regime should itself abide by the ruling of the Sadc
Tribunal," the party said in a statement this week.

By Wongai Zhangazha

Too Late To Replace Mbeki - Analysts

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 19:54
FORMER South African President Thabo Mbeki's mediation role in the
Zimbabwe political crisis has been biased in favour of President Robert
Mugabe, but it is now too late for him to be recused after the signing of
the global political agreement on September 15, political analysts have
said.

The analysts said the war of words that erupted between Mbeki and MDC
leader Morgan Tsvangirai last week revealed the deep-seated mistrust the
opposition party has in the recalled leader.

Tsvangirai wrote to Sadc chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe asking Mbeki to
recuse himself from facilitating negotiations between the MDC and Zanu PF.
The former trade unionist also labelled Sadc leaders cowards for failing to
rein-in Mugabe.

In his response, Mbeki said that Tsvangirai and his party were taking
instructions from Western countries and as a result were frustrating the
formation of an inclusive government.

The wrangling between Tsvangirai and Mbeki nearly scuttled talks in
Pretoria last week on the Constitutional Amendment No19 Bill which gives
legal effect to the power-sharing agreement.

Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, however, went ahead with the
negotiations after the intervention of Motlanthe and agreed on the contents
of the Bill. The Bill will create the office of the prime minister and two
deputies.

Tsvangirai will be the prime minister in the unity government,
deputised by the leader of the smaller formation of the MDC - Arthur
Mutambara. The other deputy will come from the MDC-T.

University of Zimbabwe political scientist Eldred Masunungure said
there was "clearly a large dose of bias" in the manner in which Mbeki has
conducted his mediation of the country's 10-year crisis.

"Naturally, the bias has been in favour of his fellow liberation war
hero Robert Mugabe who is also a father figure to Mbeki," Masunungure
observed. "There is thus an additional element of generational deference at
play between Mbeki and Mugabe, a dynamic that is missing between Mbeki and
Tsvangirai."

He added that there was a sense in which Mbeki sees Tsvangirai as
being disrespectful of Mugabe.
"It is my considered view that Mbeki and Tsvangirai have very
different worldviews while Mbeki and Mugabe's worldviews tend to converge.
In short, there is no chemistry between Mbeki and Tsvangirai," said
Masunungure, who is also the director of the Mass Public Opinion Institute.

But the political science professor was quick to point out that it was
late too for Mbeki to be recused and after all, Mugabe and Sadc would not
allow that to happen.

"The process has advanced too far now and has reached what appears to
be an irreversible stage independent of the wishes and dreams of the
political gladiators," Masunungure explained. "In any case, people don't
have to like each other in order to work together. Neither Mugabe nor the
Sadc will allow the departure of Mbeki at this stage; it's just
unfathomable."

He said it was undiplomatic for Tsvangirai to say the decision of Sadc
that the MDC-Tsvangirai and Zanu PF should co-manage the home affairs
ministry was a "nullity" and that the regional leaders were "cowards".
Another political scientist Michael Mhike said Mbeki had not bought
into the MDC-T agenda, hence the bias against Tsvangirai.

"He has and will never believe that the kind of change promised by
MDC-T is the kind of change that Zimbabwe needs," Mhike said. "Even after
the March 29 election and the subsequent fiasco, Mbeki was nowhere to be
seen. When he eventually surfaced, the starting point was not about the
people's agenda, but what deal could be constructed so that the status quo
could be maintained. It is obvious that Mbeki would have preferred a
different outcome from the elections."

Mhike believes that had the other presidential aspirant in the March
poll, Simba Makoni, won, Mbeki could have been persuaded to support that
change. He argued: "Mbeki knows that Mugabe does not offer any new ideas and
yet he cannot see himself supporting an agenda that he is convinced is not
an African one.

"He believes that MDC-Tsvangirai is not a principal but an agent of
Western powers whose interests in Zimbabwe are suspect. Mbeki's personality
is such that if he holds a view it is difficult to change his mind. If
Zimbabweans had come up with a different choice, you can be rest assured
that Mbeki would have been the first to encourage Mugabe to retire."

Mutumwa Mawere, Zimbabwe-born South African businessman, said it would
be wise for Mbeki to recuse himself, but said the former leader has invested
so much in the Zimbabwe project for him to allow anyone else to take the
glory.

"Mbeki is now effectively part of the story and he has taken a
position on the issues as well as personalities involved," Mawere said. "It
is obvious that he does not like Tsvangirai. Without Mbeki, Mugabe would be
exposed and the outcome may be different. Mbeki's argument is that an
agreement exists signed by all parties and this should be implemented
notwithstanding the attitude of Mugabe and his colleagues on the agreement."

He argued that through the September 15 pact and not elections, Zanu
PF remains as the ruling party and has continued to act as such since the
March 29 poll despite that the two MDC formations now control parliament.

Even Mbeki would have raised questions on legitimacy, but he has
chosen to turn a blind eye choosing to pile pressure on Tsvangirai to
proceed to assimilate himself and his party into a machine that he has
absolutely no control over," Mawere said. "It is clear that Zimbabweans will
not get a fair deal because - as Mbeki suggests - any attempt to vary the
terms of the global political agreement for genuine cause is a manifestation
of the alleged involvement of third party - Western interests."

The analysts said if Mbeki was to recuse himself, the negotiations
were likely to collapse because Mugabe would not accept another mediator
given that the former South African leader had turned into an ally prepared
to save his political career.

"Mugabe has found an ally in Mbeki and will not allow a situation
where his principal defender is removed," another University of Zimbabwe
political scientist and Zimbabwe government critic, John Makumbe, said.
"Mugabe is the winner and he has Mbeki to thank and not the people of
Zimbabwe who in his mind made a mistake in voting for the two MDC
formations.

Through Mbeki, Mugabe is now riding on a high moral ground and he can
sustain his contention that it is Tsvangirai who is the problem in refusing
to accept a deal of a lifetime, that is. becoming a prime minister in a Zanu
PF dominated government."

Mawere  said Zanu PF and the MDC still have to come to an agreement on
how they should work together in a unity government.

"The issue of trust is still hanging and Zanu PF continues to maintain
that it has the majority stake in the deal," Mawere said. "Sadc should know
that Mugabe has no option but to realise that no legitimacy will be restored
without Tsvangirai's cooperation and goodwill. He continues to complain
loudly about the impact of sanctions confirming that indeed they are biting.
If Mugabe had an alternative plan, you can be rest assured that the world
would know about it."

He said Sadc would not come to the rescue of Zimbabwe without the
support of the international community.

"Sadc support does not amount to anything significant. Zimbabwe needs
a new lease of life supported by real resources and not rhetoric. Sadc has
no money to back its hollow resolutions," Mawere said. "I think Tsvangirai
by pushing for Sadc intervention he naively thought that the regional body
was sufficiently interested in Zimbabwe's future to tell Mugabe that it is
time to step aside and allow the country to move forward."

The MDC accused Mbeki of being sympathetic to Mugabe.

However, the regional bloc continued to have faith in Mbeki and it is
highly unlikely that Sadc will remove him. Mbeki brokered the September 15
deal, but it ran into problems a few days after it was signed when Mugabe
and Tsvangirai failed to agree on the allocation of ministerial portfolios.

By Constanine Chimakure

RBZ dissolves CFX Bank Board, Fires Top Managers

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:36
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dissolved CFX Bank's board of
directors and removed the financial institution's senior management after
new serialised bank notes issued to the bank were found on the black market
prior to the date of the launch.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Reserve bank governor Gideon
Gono said the bank's nine  directors identified as P Chitando, the chairman,
JS Brown, E Shadaya, JN Dhliwayo, M Chingwena, BC Hofman, I Chagonda, P
Alichindama and A Kandlela, had all been purged.

Gono also declared the bank's management "unfit and improper" to work
in any banking institution in Zimbabwe or sit on any banking institution's
board for the next five year.

The top management were identified as  O Mukumba -- Managing Director,
PT Ndoro -- Company Secretary, B Kadira -- Head of Retail, W Chidziwa --
Head of Treasury and International Banking, P Mureya --- Head of Finance and
Administration, C Dangarembga --- Head, Risk Management and C Saungweme --
Head of Audit.

On Wednesday banking institutions were issued with a total of $80
trillion to prepare their system for the increased cash withdrawal limits,
which went into effect yesterday.

CFX got a total of $900 billion on the same day for issuance to their
depositors.

"At exactly 9:30 pm on December 3 2008, the Reserve bank's tracking
system picked up that the serialised notes issued to CFX had mysteriously
found their way into the market," said Gono.

Gono said it was illegal to have new notes issued into the market
prior to the date of their launch.

"There was no way the money issued to CFX Bank could have gone into
the market through any channel other than the bank's own systems since the
delivery for the next day," Gono said.

CFX got notes in the following series -- $10 million notes with
serials AA0207001 to AA0217000 amounting to $100 billion.

$50 million notes with serials AA7363001 to AA7377000 amounting to
$700 billion and $100 million notes serials AA0079001 to AA008000 amounting
to $100 billion.

The $900 billion signed off by CFX on collection was done under
voucher number 01408 at 1220 hours on Wednesday.

At 9:30 pm on Wednesday serialised new notes off CFX's withdrawal from
the Reserve Bank was already on the market.

$50 million notes with serials AA7371182, AA7371195, AA7371198,
AA7371199 and AA7371200 were retrieved from the market at 10:30 pm on
Wednesday under the Reserve Bank's enhanced surveillance system.

The protected informant who worked with the Reserve Bank throughout
the night reported that a total of $260 billion was off-loaded by CFZ at
night on Wednesday, buying foreign currency.

"The Reserve Bank is in possession of the actual notes that were
issued into the parallel market actually pinning down CFX Bank as the
culprit. They have absolutely no excuse or way out," said Gono.

Gono said he or the Reserve Bank were not in any way involved on the
parallel market as is widely believed on the market.

"Others have been alleging that there is Gono's money bag doing the
rounds with cash yet it is unscrupulous banking institutions who, instead of
being the trusted custodians of the public's funds, abuse their status and
become the agents of economic destruction," said Gono.

Some bankers however insisted that the Reserve Bank was "actively
involved on the parallel market".
Gono advised shareholders of CFX to swiftly re-organise their
institution's management and corporate governance systems to avoid "further
improper conduct".

"It should be noted that the requisite due-diligence procedures and
clearance vetting are to be followed for all the needful appointments," Gono
said.

Gono said the Reserve Bank had cancelled all annual leave for its
management and staff and will leave no stone unturned to put a stop to any
act of indiscipline in the banking sector.

"Each bank much fully account for all cash withdrawn from the Reserve
Bank right up to the actual branch by serial numbers as directed on December
22 when each bank chief executive officer was given a specific letter of
instruction preparing for the on-going currency tracking system on all new
notes issued," he said.

Formerly Century Bank, the institution was renamed CFX Bank (CFXB)
following a merger between CFX Financial Services (CFX) and Century Holdings
Ltd in 2004. The bank was placed under the management of a curator on
December 17 2004.

CFX applied to merge the operations of CFXB with CFXMB on the grounds
that it was not viable to continue the business of the merchant bank
separately; as all trading was taking place in the name of CFX Bank Ltd.

The merger was approved by the Minister of Finance on February 27
2006. Following the determination that CFX Bank Ltd had been resuscitated,
curatorship of the bank was uplifted on February 28 2006.
The bank's majority shareholders are -- Allied Financial Services 17%,
the People's Own Bank -- 13%, Premier Asset Management Nominees -- 6% and
Premier Asset Management 6%.

Meanwhile Gono held meetings with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions senior executives. He said the nature of ZCTU mandate and the issues
they raised during the discussions were national in nature, representing the
interests of the generality of all workers and users of cash in general.

"With the Reserve Bank having presented to the ZCTU the current
limitations in terms of currency printing because of the adversity of
sanctions currently being imposed against the country it was agreed on
December 3 2008 that the ZCTU prepares scenarios and suggestions on possible
remedial measures that would meet the interest of the worker," said Gono.

ZCTU was said to be considering their proposals in the context of
factual current average wages and wage levels as well as the employment
numbers.

Gono said they agreed with ZCTU that cash limits be reviewed to $500
million from $100 million per week for individuals from December 12.

"Company withdrawal limits shall remain at $50 million per week given
the workers' needs have been catered for," he said.

On December 19 each worker could withdraw up to $10 billion per month
against presentation of a pay-slip which shall be endorsed at the bank to
prevent abuse of the facility through repeated withdrawals.

On January 12 next year all workers will be able to fully encash their
full salaries, without any limit upon presentation of a bona-fide verifiable
pay-slip, which shall be stamped at the bank to avoid repetitive
round-trippling.

By Paul Nyakazeya

US Dollars In Zimbabwe: Greenback Or Gloom Back?

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:32
MANY will remember how before 2004 people working abroad were a
respected elite in Zimbabwe. So valuable were the remittances they sent back
home, that recipients could afford lavish lifestyles.

The transferred funds were largely responsible for the sprouting of
new suburbs, increased demand for infill stands and refurbishment of
existing properties.  A good number of families moved from township to stay
in affluent suburbs where they would have bought houses using proceeds from
abroad. For the younger recipients money was being largely spent on imported
cars, trendy clothes and other "bling bling".
In an apparent acknowledgement of the significance of the forex
inflows from Zimbabweans working in other countries, the central bank
founded Homelink. The entity was mandated to facilitate the repatriation of
funds from the people working outside to their beloved ones back in the
country. It was believed at the time and indeed now that if harnessed
properly the forex remittances could go a long way in alleviating the
shortages of hard currency.
Over the years the purchasing power of transmittals has gradually been
eroded as Zimbabwe increasingly becomes expensive relative to other
countries. The people outside the country are still sending out similar
amounts, which in their host countries are worth a lot, but are buying less
in Zimbabwe. What used to be a lot of money has in no time become a pittance
forcing, many to re-adjust their styles. There are many housing projects
which lie uncompleted as building costs continue to rise.
Local prices have become increasingly dearer when compared to those in
the region. According to figures released by the Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe the monthly consumer basket for a family of six costs US$280
compared to South Africa's US$79, 97. This is not because on average a
Zimbabwean family consumes more products than their South African
counterparts but that goods in Zimbabwe although being of a much inferior
quality are more expensive.
In response to my question on why their margins were three times the
region, an executive at Innscor said it is because of high cost of
transporting the goods. He revealed that it costs US$4 000 to transport a
Spar container with goods valued at between US$25 000-US$50 000 out of the
North Rand distribution centre to Harare. This translates to only 8% to 16%
of value of the goods. Surely even after loading the maximum profit mark ups
of 30% and the 15% the merchants remit to RBZ the margins made by the
retailers are still obscene.
The mystery is how, despite a meltdown characterised by foreign
currency shortages and hyperinflation that is eroding incomes, the country
has managed to sustain growing demand at such lofty hard currency prices.
Elementary economics define inflation as "too much money chasing too few
goods". However, the US dollar inflation in Zimbabwe cannot be a result of
too much greenbacks bidding for limited supplies. Granted, everything is in
short supply in Zimbabwe, but so are dollars. In fact it is the shortage of
foreign currency that has forced companies to close; mining houses to go
"care and maintenance"; people to succumb to cholera as they consume
untreated water; and many skills to emigrate.
What is apparent though is that the economy is suffering from a
hyperinflation hangover. People have become accustomed to rising prices on
the local currency such that they cannot "stand" stable prices, even in hard
currency. This explains why, for instance, property owners hike rentals even
without any improvements on the property.
For some suppliers the US dollar inflation is a result of blatant
profiteering. Businesses which under normal circumstances are volume driven
have largely become margin driven. When charging in Zim dollars a margin
driven strategy is understandable because the currency keeps losing value.
Now that they are charging US dollar, margins above 50% are unacceptable.
Unfortunately business in Zimbabwe today is motivated by the get rich
quickly mentality but this is surely not sustainable.
Another problem that might be stoking hard currency inflation is the
emergence of effortless money. There are lots of arbitrage transactions
taking place in which a purse can walk away with say US$2 000 for doing
nothing. Notable examples include people with access to subsidized products
such as fuel, grains and cheap foreign currency obtainable at the official
rate of $30 000 (old value) or the interbank market rates. These products
can be sold on the open market for much higher US dollar prices.
At the peak of "kupisa mari" - literally translated as burning money
or simply forex trading, the middlemen would make more money than their
principals. Many would take their "margin", after intermediating for the
buyer and seller, in hard currency. Besides forex trading, effortless money
was until recently also coming from the infamous Chiadzwa diamond fields.
Both middlemen and illegal miners would receive large sums of foreign
currency giving them almost unlimited purchasing power. Because they get
this money easily they tended to spend it extravagantly. Prices of most
commodities would ordinarily follow their buying patterns.
Through these activities windfall gains have been and continue to be
realised. Many who accumulated huge piles of hard currency have joined the
fray of glamour. Unlike their predecessors in the diaspora the "dealers"
have so much at their disposal. Armed with unfathomable purchasing power
which they hardly sweat to acquire, they are willing to buy anything at any
price. The avalanche of foreign currency thus generated has seen serious
hard currency inflation over the years.

ZSE Crisis Affects Pension Funds And Insurance Companies

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:19
THE survival and "smooth" operation of  pension funds and insurance
companies will be affected by lack of activity on the Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange after the Reserve Bank came up with "riot" measures to root out
rampant speculative activities that were inflating share prices.

Analysts who spoke to businessdigest this week said pension funds and
life insurances whose significant amount of earnings was generated from
trading on the stock market will have to seek alternative ways to invest
their money as their earnings were locked in the stock market.

"The value of assets is meant to be coming up at the same rate with
inflation but at the moment these assets have not been performing for the
past three weeks which means their value is depreciating," said Witness
Chinyama an economic analyst with Kingdom Bank.

Hillary Chikomo an accountant with Fidelity Life Assurance said
investments on the stock market were losing their value because there was no
trading on the local bourse.

"The local currency is not worth much because even if firms dispose of
the shares today they can not do much with them, it is better to go into the
property markets where rentals are now in line with hard currency," said
Chikomo.

He said it was almost impossible for insurance companies and pension
funds to map the way forward without trading in foreign currency.

An official with Nicoz Diamond said no one was buying on the stock
exchange and because of that they have not been able to crystallise their
portfolios.

"As insurance houses, we have been quite dependent on investment
projects as we have not been generating much from our core business because
of the current economic environment," the official said.
ZB bank, group economist, Best Doroh said lack of trading on the stock
market was a "huge blow to pension funds and insurance companies considering
that the money market was characterised by low rates".

"It becomes difficult because if there is no activity on the stock
exchange where else do these (pension funds and insurance companies) firms
invest?"

Doroh said such a situation did not give pension funds and insurance
companies much choice to rearrange their portfolios.

Chinyama said this development could make it difficult for pension
funds to pay out beneficiaries.
"The longer the situation takes to normalise, the greater the damage
being done to these pension funds.
 "It depends on whether the situation is reversed because the current
set up is cumbersome. Bank chief executive officers also want to avoid the
risk of being arrested," Chinyama said.

The Nicoz Diamond official said the only way to they could remain
relevant was to preserve value by hanging on to stock that is available
instead of offloading in the hope that there
would be a turnaround on the local bourse.

By Jesilyn Dendere

Gono Abandons Interbank Rate

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:14
RESERVE Bank governor Gideon Gono this week disowned the official
exchange rate for a parallel exchange rate as it became apparent that the
interbank rate had failed to attract foreign currency to the formal market.

In what could mark a major shift in the country's foreign exchange
regime, the central bank chief told delegates at the National Economic
Consultative Forum conference that the Reserve Bank had abandoned the widely
criticised willing-buyer, willing-seller priority-focused twinning
arrangement exchange rate.

Announcing government's intentions on reducing foreign currency
retention for exporters Gono said the central bank would buy foreign
exchange using what he termed the United Nations (UN) rate.

"With effect from December 1 retention has been reduced to 15% from
25%," Gono said. "We will buy the foreign currency at the UN rates. The
rates apply all over the world and are free from aberrations."

Despite acknowledging the parallel market rate, Gono however denied
allegations of manipulation of the exchange rate by the central bank.
Instead he blamed commercial banks for suppressing movements in the
interbank exchange rates in their quest to maintain minimum capital
requirements, which were until last month pegged against the redundant
interbank rates.

Banks are however now required to maintain a minimum capital
requirement of US$12 million in hard currency.

"I don't dictate what it (interbank rate) should be.Go there (to the
banks) and request the exchange rate you require. It is willing buyer,
willing seller. We liberalised it kudhara (the exchange rate is already
floated.)"

The central bank introduced the ongoing exchange in May after several
years of fixing the local currency against major currencies.

Although he did not elaborate the modus operandi of the UN exchange
rate, information gathered indicates that the rate is another form of
parallel market exchange rate that is determined by non-governmental
organisations (NGO) accredited to the country.

Banking sources that spoke to this paper said the rate emerged when
the central bank locked up several funds belonging to NGOs and foreign
currency account holders. This closely kept "secret" according sources was
aimed at improving foreign currency inflows for the debt-ridden government.

With no credit lines available, government is understood to be
diverting huge sums of foreign exchange generated by exporters to meet
various needs such as grain importation and bailing out loss making
parastatals.

So subdued are the official exchange rates that the local currency
traded at ZWD 100 330.21 against the United States dollar compared to a
record $9 million on the parallel cash rate which surged after the increase
of daily withdrawal limits by the central bank.

The Reserve Bank reviewed the limits to $100 million per week from a
paltry daily withdrawal of $500 00 on the back of runaway annual inflation
now estimated to be over a billion per cent.

Announcing the relaxation of the foreign exchange rate in April, Gono
said the then new rate would be guided by a "predetermined priority" list
set by the Reserve Bank in consultation with various stakeholders. But
barely a few weeks after the introduction of the interbank rate, the central
bank reportedly faced enormous pressure from suspected government hardliners
who were pushing for the suspension of the exchange rate, which subsequently
resulted in the central bank "managing" the rates.

Appealing to the attorney-general's office to effect stiffer penalties
on individuals and companies violating banking regulations, the Reserve Bank
chief two weeks ago acknowledged parallel market rates when he said
government should charge more $10 million in bail which he said translated
to US$0,01 on the parallel market.

Meanwhile a draft economic recovery package compiled by incumbent
permanent secretaries proposed that the new government manage the exchange
rate.

"The economy is presently constrained by multiple exchange rates which
occasion rent seeking arbitrage conditions and over-arching subsidies," read
the report. "Going forward, a uniform price in the foreign exchange market
is critical for stabilisation. In this regard, an "implicit managed"
floating exchange rate is envisaged, underpinned by both fiscal prudence and
monetary austerity."

By Bernard Mpofu

Stockbrokers To Be Re-registered- Securities Commission

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:09
ACTIVITY on the stock market has been subdued for two weeks following
new trading directives announced by the Reserve Bank. Business reporter
Bernard Mpofu speaks to Zimbabwe Securities Commission chairperson, Willia
Bonyongwe on the Commission's role and events happening on the stock
exchange.

Mpofu: (M) What has the commission achieved since its formation and
when is it going to be fully operational?

Bonyongwe: (B) We have been meeting stakeholders, talking to the ZSE
management committee. We are also working on putting structures to make sure
that there is a secretariat. Right now, we are in transition and until we
have a statutory instrument we are using the existing statutes. The ZSE
management committee has set up a sub-committee which is dealing with the
commission on a day-to-day basis to ensure that there is a smooth takeover.
We are also in the process of reviewing the rules and scouting for the
secretariat which could be set up by January (2009). The commission is not a
policeman - we want to strengthen the system to make sure that there is a
separation between clients group and proprietary group.

(M): How does that make the commission more efficient?

(B): There have been allegations that stockbrokers were trading on
their own and inflating share prices. If they are separated, you are
actually able to tell whether they are arbitraged or not. We have advised
them that we shall be re-registering all the stockbrokers.

(M):Is there merit in re-registering them.?

(B): It's a requirement in the Act. We are in the process of
developing criteria for this exercise. The commission was set-up to promote
best practice and standards.
Investors need assurance that the local bourse is well-regulated. This
ensures market confidence and stability.

(M): Was the market being driven by speculation before measures by the
Reserve Bank?

(B): We had speculators because the people who were trading on the
stock market were not traditional market players. It was an illusion, a
bubble that was created by the speculators and it was bound to burst.

(M): Where was the Commission when the stock market was said to be
getting out of control and what is it doing now?

(B): We are still discussing on that issue but if you listened to my
speech two weeks ago, I spoke about how we had allowed hot money on the
bourse despite having guidelines on money laundering in place. But it looked
like we did not question transactions that were carried using this hot
money.
Right now the market has collapsed, so we need some level of
responsibility. I am not suggesting that we tampered with the pricing
mechanism but if we suspect that the source of funds is suspicious we also
question and limit that speculation.  These irresponsible activities could
have also resulted from the fact that the stock market was probably the only
institution that was allowing payment through cheques.

(M):What is the commission's view on fungiblity?

(B): It allows companies to raise funds on other markets giving
investors, especially those who need a convenient exit route for their
money. The problem that we have had with fungibility was nationally some
investors have taken out money out of the country circumventing exchange
control regulations.
There are no investments or funds coming to Zimbabwe by virtue of
fungibility. I think Old Mutual should actually be doing more to raise money
for distressed companies it has invested in. It is a major investor in most
companies.

(M): Do you see Old Mutual's fungibility being restored soon?

(B): I'm not quite sure why this fungibility was suspended. The
company has not yet come to the commission to discuss the matter. But in my
view when a company gets fungibility it should use it to mobilise funds to
revamp the economy.

(M): What is your view of the Old Mutual Implied Rate?

(B): I question the authenticity or correctness of using the Old
Mutual price as the exchange rate. So if you are using a wrong rate you
would probably get a wrong conclusion because of the circular nature of
deriving the value. The Old Mutual stock derives value from itself. Foreign
currency rate should in my view be rational but the one that is being used
by speculators is not credible.

(M): Researches by some stock broking firms revealed that investors
lost real value on stocks despite the bullish thread that prevailed. In your
view what does this say about the official exchange rate.

(B): This depends on what exchange rate has been used. What has been
happening was that people have been using the Old Mutual Implied Rate as the
exchange rate. Is this the true rate? People were driving the rate in order
to get higher prices. What is interesting is that the dollar loses its
purchasing power parity when compared to regional peers. I do not agree that
they have been losing value, it is just that we are using different exchange
rates. So the people who determine the parallel market rate need to look at
a basket of items rather rely on one item to determine the exchange rate as
a proxy. And funny enough, those people know that it has come down they do
not want to use that value. If it was purely market determined, we should
have seen prices going down. For Zimbabwe we have always had a managed
exchange rate since independence but we have not seen the level of in
discipline, which is going on.

(M):  What is the prudent investment opportunity under the prevailing
economic conditions?

(B): I think Zimbabweans have taken a short-term view of investment
and the irony is that some people, for example South Africans are buying
some productive companies here. But we are not doing so, we are waiting. We
have taken a short-term view, this is why you find that most people are
considering the stock market as the only option. I also think that we also
have tended to put a lot of trust in consumption purposes or non productive
investments.

(M): Documentation reveals that the equities market has been buoyant
since mid February when interest rates on the money market became
unattractive for most investors. This was then followed by a bull run amid
credit creation by the central bank through concessionary funds such as
ASPEF and Bacossi. In light of these factors, what impact has the Reserve
Bank policies had on activities on the stock market?

(B): These are allegations that we have not proved that the market
became buoyant in February when money markets rates became unattractive.
There is usually that adverse relationship - this is a fundamental
relationship between equities and money market.
This has a problem when that money is going to consumptive expenditure
because it does create anything resulting in your classical definition of
inflation - too much money chasing few goods.
Money supply growth by the central bank is manageable but that created
through burning is not. In my view there was a lot of credit creation
outside the banking sector, especially in the last few weeks.

(M): What part could the foreign exchange rate regime play on the
bourse?

(B): I think it's valid to say it's not a secret that we need an
injection of money into the economy.  We have gone for about 10 years
without balance of payment support and there has been very little foreign
direct investment to income and at the same time we are a net importer of
goods and services. Right now foreign currency inflows are low and when they
arrive they circumvent the formal sector resulting in burning. I
think people were now irresponsible and at the end of the day it doesn't
help anybody. Its an illusion of profit.

(M): When is the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange demutualisation taking place?

(B): The last time I talked to the ZSE chief executive Mr (Emmanuel)
Munyukwi we could see something concrete within two months, all things
remaining equal.

Tsvangirai Pushing His Luck Too Far

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 21:54
MORGAN Tsvangirai and the MDC are pushing their luck too far. In
politics, one must not be too stiff-necked, too harsh and unyielding. It is
sometimes necessary to yield to those moving towards us.

And yielding is legitimate and essential when the yielder is convinced
that those who are striving to make him yield are in the right - in which
case, honest political leaders frankly and openly admit the mistake -- or
when an irrational and harmful demand is yielded to in order to avert a
greater evil.
It is also commonplace wisdom that little annoyances should not be
allowed to stand in the way of a big pleasure.
And Tsvangirai should realise and accept the fact that concessions are
inherent in negotiations.
When you enter negotiations, you must be prepared to compromise and
accept the integrity of another man.
If one is not prepared to compromise, then they must never enter into
or think about the process of negotiation at all.
It is sad that Tsvangirai and MDC could dismiss the decision taken by
the Southern African Development Community Extraordinary Summit of November
9 as a "nullity".
In the first place, it was Tsvangirai himself who asked for this
meeting, who asked for Sadc's intervention.
And the solution that was given by Sadc over the sharing of
ministerial portfolios in the (inclusive) government was not unreasonable.
It should have been easily accepted by both parties to break the
standoff, but this was rejected by Tsvangirai in total contempt of Sadc.
It's been very clear from the very beginning that Tsvangirai doesn't
believe much in Africa and African solutions to problems.
From the very beginning, Tsvangirai had relied on American, British,
Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and European support.
Africa had never been an option for him.
For a long time, Tsvangirai and the MDC had no meaningful contact with
African countries, governments or political parties.
In saying this, we are not in any way trying to choose friends for
them.
But we are merely wondering why countries that have never supported
liberation or progressive movements in this region are today the allies and
ardent supporters of Tsvangirai and MDC.
The British and Americans never supported any of our liberation
struggles in this region. These are the same countries that classified our
liberation movements as terrorist organisations.
The United States had even put Nelson Mandela on the list of
terrorists and after his release from prison he could only visit that
country on the basis of a special arrangement.
What is it that they have found more interesting, more favourable,
more acceptable in Tsvangirai and the MDC that they did not find in Mandela
and the ANC, in Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo and Zanu and Zapu?
What is it that they see in Tsvangirai and the MDC that they did not
see in Sam Nujoma and Swapo, in Samora Machel and Frelimo, in Dr Agostinho
Neto and MPLA and so on and so forth?
Today, Tsvangirai is going round raising concern about the worsening
humanitarian condition in Zimbabwe when he was the one who campaigned
vigorously for sanctions against his own country, his own people.
Did he think the sanctions he was seeking, the isolation of Zimbabwe
he was championing would have no effect on that country's economy and the
welfare of its people?
There is no doubt that Tsvangirai sought to take over power in
Zimbabwe on the back of national failure.
And he must be very frustrated today that the national failure he
sought has come to his country but not with the appropriate share of power
he wanted. But despite his lack of respect for Africa and fellow Africans,
over the last 12 months, the political fortunes for Tsvangirai on the
continent increased beyond belief.
But the way he is going about things will make him lose all that
support in a very vast way.
The support that he got from Africa made it possible for him to have
the status that he has in his country and the world today.
If he wants to lose all this, he should ignore what Thabo Mbeki is
saying. Mbeki has raised very serious matters concerning Tsvangirai and MDC's
behaviour and attitude.
"Today, I received the letter dated 19 November 2008, which was
correctly communicated through the South African Embassy in Harare, written
to me by your secretary-general, the Honourable Tendai Biti, MP, concerning
Constitutional Amendment No 19.
"I must confess that the contents of this letter came to me as a
complete surprise, causing me grave concern.
"As you know, Mr Biti's letter describes the decisions on Zimbabwe,
taken by the November 9 Sadc Extraordinary Summit meeting held in South
Africa, as 'a nullity'."
The letter goes further to say: "It is then difficult for any of the
parties to move in any direction for fear of legitimising the Sadc summit
'ruling'.
"The first point I would like to make with regard to the foregoing is
that, as you know, we were appointed as facilitator of the Zimbabwe dialogue
by Sadc.
"This position was later endorsed by both the African Union and the
United Nations, both of which expressly rely on Sadc to facilitate the
Zimbabwe dialogue, and thus contribute to the resolution of the Zimbabwe
problem.
"You will, therefore, understand that it is absolutely impossible for
us as the Sadc-appointed facilitator contemptuously to dismiss solemn
decisions of a Sadc summit meeting as 'a nullity'.
"Indeed, and necessarily, all such decisions serve as a binding
mandate on the facilitator. What Zimbabweans, the region and Africa now need
is the sense of patriotism among the leaders of Zimbabwe.
"You know this, too, that the rest of Southern Africa, your
neighbouring countries, has also had the unavoidable obligation to carry
much of the weight of the burden of the Zimbabwe crisis, in many ways.
"You know that, among other things, various countries of our region
host large numbers of economic migrants from Zimbabwe, who impose particular
burdens on our countries.
"Loyal to the concept and practice of African solidarity, none of our
countries and governments has spoken publicly of this burden, fearful that
we might incite the xenophobia to which all of us are opposed.
"Nevertheless, the leaders of the people of Zimbabwe, including you,
dear brother, need to bear in mind that the pain your country bears is a
pain that is transferred to the masses of our people, who face their own
challenges of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment.
"This particular burden is not carried by the countries of Western
Europe and North America, which have benefited especially from the migration
of skilled and professional Zimbabweans to the North.
"In the end when all is said and done, Zimbabwe would have to exist in
peace and productive collaboration with its neighbours in Southern and the
rest of Africa.
"Realistically, Zimbabwe will never share the same neighbourhood with
the countries of Western Europe and North America and therefore, secure its
success on the basis of friendship with these, and contempt for the
decisions of its immediate African neighbours.
"I say this humbly to advise that it does not help Zimbabwe, nor will
it help you as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, that the MDC-T contemptuously
repudiates very serious decisions of our region and, therefore, our
continent, describing them as 'a nullity'.
"It may be that, for whatever reason, you consider our region and
continent as being of little consequence to the future of Zimbabwe,
believing that others further away, in Western Europe and North America, are
of greater importance.
"In this context, I have been told that because leaders in our region
did not agree with you on some matters that served on the agenda of the Sadc
Extraordinary Summit meeting, you have denounced them publicly as 'cowards'.
"Such manner of proceeding might earn you prominent media headlines.
However, I assure you that it will do nothing to solve the problems of
Zimbabwe. As you secure applause because of the insult against us that we
are 'cowards', you will have to consider the reality that our peoples have
accepted into their countries very large numbers of Zimbabwean brothers and
sisters in a spirit of human solidarity, prepared to sustain the resultant
obligations.
"None of our countries displayed characteristics of cowardice when
they did this. All of us will find it strange and insulting that because we
do not agree with you on a small matter, you choose to describe us in a
manner that is most offensive in terms of African culture, and, therefore,
offend our sense of dignity as Africans, across our borders."
This is how Mbeki reacted to Tsvangirai and MDC's attitude, arrogance,
lack of humility, lack of respect for others, and lack of gratitude to their
African neighbours. Tsvangirai's excessive dependency on Western Europe and
North America for political and financial support will backfire.
What Tsvangirai should not forget is that for all that life has dealt
them, one thing that Africans have not abandoned is hatred for colonialism,
neo-colonialism and imperialism in general.
The Zimbabwean campaign is the biggest Western Europe and North
America have ever mounted in an independent African country.
We have had problems in Kenya, Uganda, Congo, but we have never seen
Western Europe and North America do what they are doing in Zimbabwe.
Why?
Tsvangirai shouldn't mistake the African people's commitment and
desire for democracy as an acceptance of Western European and North American
political domination.
If he is not careful, the tide of African public opinion may soon
shift against him, and with it a decline of his political fortunes.
There is no sensible alternative for Tsvangirai and the MDC outside a
negotiated political settlement as expressed in (an inclusive) government.
This may not be the ideal political arrangement, but for now it seems
to be the most sensible option.
Moreover, the ways in which we achieve our goals are bound
by context, changing with circumstances even while maintaining
steadfast in our commitment to our vision.
In conclusion, we can only say that intervention only works when
people concerned seem to be keen to come together and work together in
unity.
If they want to be sweepstake winners where there can only be a
collective winner, then there is a problem.
We hope Tsvangirai and MDC will see sense in what Mbeki is saying and
make amends. - The Post of Zambia.

The Idiocy In Politics

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 20:11
BEING an ordinary person seeking, for now, an ordinary lifestyle where
two slices of bread, an egg and cup of tea is what I need for my heavy
breakfast, I feel the word "politics" has become too complicated for my
intellect and am left confused. My naivety is paying a hefty price to the
people I have given so much allegiance to -- the politicians.

I grew up in my rural district of Mberengwa in the Midlands province.
A province rich in natural resources and yet so underdeveloped. I distanced
myself from politics when I was in my teens rightfully so, to avoid
confrontations with my elders.

Politics was a sensitive subject which by that time could only be
discussed by our fathers. I only had "real" encounters with politics when
politicians visited our school or called for rallies we would be forced to
attend by our headmaster. Like it or not, politicians were gods by then.

As preparations for an upcoming rally that draws popular politicians
we would be asked by our headmaster to prepare some dramas, compose music
and poems praised the politicians by name. Presentations were made in such a
way that the politicians would conclude that they were the air that we
breathed.

We usually praised them for having brought "non-existent" development
to our community. Sadly, we would wait for the whole day in the midst of the
scotching sun for the politicians to arrive, without eating, only clad in
dead animal skins and dance till the heavens broke down upon their arrival.
It was an insult to tell your teacher in charge that you were starving and
needed a slice of bread from your lunch box.

 Moreover the exhaustion and hunger would have been exacerbated by the
previous day's work where we would have created flower beds and paved new
roads for the politician's arrival.

In the midst of such body crippling dance routines, the master of
ceremony would take the microphone to insult us further by saying "chimirai,
chimirai.tisingapedzeri vakuruvedu nguva garai henyu pasi" (stop, stop. we
do not want to waste anymore of our distinguished guests' time sit down). We
would be instantly stopped by our teachers in the middle of the drama as if
we had committed some crime.

Our teachers would then pass accolades especially to those whose dance
routines did manage to compromise heavily with their God given bone
arrangement.I wondered if their children and those in the cities did this to
politicians. I used to be told by my cousin when I visited the city for
holidays that they had no time to do such "strange things".

He wouldd rather spend his time playing cricket, rugby or go to a
movie. Although I thought usage of the word "strange" was rather an
abomination to our culture, I now understand what it means to do such
practices to politicians who have brought development in your community in
the form of a heap of cheap rhetoric.

Some of the statements we often heard being uttered at rallies were
"vana vechidiki ndimi vatungamiriri vamangwana" (children are the leaders of
tomorrow).

There isn't anything wrong in uttering this statement. But if it's
said over and over again by the same person who seems to have done nothing
for the development of your community, it becomes cheap and insulting.

I can still remember vividly when the whole school was called one late
afternoon for an assembly by the school headmaster to be told Robert Mugabe
was coming to open our newly built secondary school Mbuyanehanda - so we
were asked to wash our dirty uniforms and iron them to meet him.

Whatever commands as long as it was said to prepare for the visit by
our political figures, we would follow without hesitation. Politicians to us
were like the Roman army. Even members of parliament wielded so much power
and could draw a large crowd to a rally. It is the speeches they gave that
still affect me up to this day.

We were so vulnerable because the language of politics was only for
the preserved few - our fathers and politicians. Since we did not have
access to radio and televisions they are the ones who would tell us about
politics, economics and the world outside our borders. I remember asking one
old man what the highlights of the MP's speech was, at a rally he had
attended. He told me ".hanzi ndinokumhorosai navaMugabe" (Mugabe said I
greet you all).

To us that was big news that our MP could wine and dine with Mugabe
although it eventually surfaced that it was pure rhetoric. To many of us,
our level of development was defined by the fact that our brothers where
working in Harare and could be able to send our parents soap, cooking oil
and school fees.

 Now that all that relationship has simply vanished because of the
hyperinflation it has exposed the other side of politics that we did not
know.

There is a certain phrase that has fast become a cliché used by our
politicians when they visit our rural communities; "income generating
projects". Politicians are made to believe that once they utter this
statement even if it is not backed by evidence on the ground, they quickly
win the crowd.

This even applies to giving an unemployed graduate with a master's
degree in engineering some footballs to start his own national team or some
second hand clothes.

Whilst my upbringing could be common to so many people, it brings to
the fore how politicians sometimes take advantage of our cultural beliefs
and backgrounds to hoodwink us into believing their rhetoric. Does being an
African mean there is a certain level of vulnerability that the so called
politicians notice, that we the common people don't see? It looks like the
more one cherishes his culture; the more he can be seen as an easy recruit
by politicians.

Through culture, we were taught to have a high respect for our leaders
and chiefs and we believe once a command comes from their high office it has
to be followed without scrutiny. This brings me to a question that still
hangs in my mind. How do our African traditional religions influence the
shaping of the political discourse? Many politicians choose to override
rationality and hoodwink the public using leaflets from the religion?

An important point that politicians should understand is that being an
ordinary African with little to average education and being unemployed does
not mean one is naïve and stupid. This explains why some politicians believe
buying the youths and our fathers beer and drawing them into cheap insulting
rhetoric will make them fall prey to their political gimmicks.

Some legislators are known to appear in their constituency during
elections time with far-fetched promises. Many have been serving in that
position for many years without tangible development they have done for
their communities. The big question is how do they manage to win elections
when a large number of the electorate seems to support a different political
establishment?

That's why it's so difficult for so many people to believe, let alone
watch the news that is coming out of the ZBC. It takes a very close
allegiance to lies to believe some of the clips that come out during the
news bulletin. One then asks the question, what is the news's intended
target? The educated lot who are able to differentiate between black and
white or the naïve?

I will never forget a Zanu PF politician I heard during a news
bulletin saying "VaMugabe vakaita sababa vemusha. Ndiani angabvisa baba
vemusha or angaramba baba vake?"   (Mugabe is like a father of the house.

Who can remove or reject his father?) Using references to such basic
African traditional practices to suit a political agenda is insulting. It
seems many politicians have found references to our cultural beliefs an easy
way to cleanse themselves from their shortcomings. Who does not know that
being in government is a public office?

Many proponents of Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu are our dear politicians
who have managed so well to hoodwink the public into believing their
rhetoric. If one strongly disagrees with their views that's not being
African. This explains why our so-called political commentators utilise the
humanist philosophies - because they know the public are so vulnerable. Such
levels of desperation is not only shocking but lamentable.

The bitter exchange between Morgan Tsvangirai and Thabo Mbeki
concerning Tsvangirai's denunciation of Sadc leaders is one such example.
Mbeki said, in reply to Tsvangirai "All of us will find it strange and
insulting that because we do not agree with you..you chose to describe us in
a manner most offensive in terms of Africa culture and therefore our sense
of dignity as Africans.."

Who defines who is an African and who is not, because amongst us
(Africans) no one seems to have the mandate or manual for such a claim to
hold water? The complexity of human behaviour should always make it
necessary for people to limit certain arguments and speeches to reason and
substance. What is it being African in politics if it's not trying to take
advantage of the vulnerable and poor?

Boldwill Hungwe is a Zimbabwe Independent Publishers photographer.

Three Men Holding 12 Million People Hostage

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 20:01
WHAT is life like for women in a country where inflation is 300
million percent and counting? What is life like for women in a country where
their life expectancy is 34 years? What is life like for women in a country
where three men hold a nation hostage?

It is difficult to answer these questions. In fact there are no easy
answers. It is only once you visit a country that has been torn apart that
you can fully understand the implications of this dismembering and
subsequently what constitutes life.

But the media has become very good at reporting the pulse of Zimbabwe
via palatable sound bites and this reporting has been such a recurring blip
on the so-called media electro-cardiogram that we no longer notice it, we no
longer notice that it has flat-lined.

But despite this women are fighting to stay alive. They are fighting
to survive. And in Zimbabwe right now the contradictions of this struggle
run deep. I listen to stories of women who have nothing to eat, who forage
for roots, wild fruit and rats. Stories of desperation, displacement and
despair. But the magic of capital plays interesting games in a context of
dire need and so the development of a highly sophisticated informal economy
means the deprivation coexists with plenty.

And everything and anything can be conjured up if you have the money,
just not in the places you would expect to find it: petrol is available not
at a garage, but under a tree on a quiet side road in Harare's avenues, at
an office on the ninth floor of an office block, or after a quick phone call
to arrange a pick-up (if you can get through given the ever breaking down
mobile networks and stolen fixed line cables).

Sugar and rice can be purchased from a car boot, and chickens from the
hardware store near the train station. Some fresh produce can be bought from
women selling on the side of the road, a victory given that roadside vendors
were "cleaned up and out" after Operation Murambatsvina removed the filth,
but then given that the country has "dollarised" you have to have "maUSA" --
as its known locally -- or US dollars to make your purchases even of a few
tomatoes, sweet potatoes or greens.

So if you don't have access to "forex", you don't have anything right
now and basic commodities will remain an illusion. Depending on the formal
sector for jobs or access to services means you just don't survive.

More so because there is no cash and the endless queues outside the
banks are evidence of the difficulty that women have getting their, and you
can take your pick of "re-valued", "de-valued", "under-valued", but
certainly hard-earned cash out of the banks. This means that everyone is
trying to make a quick buck, to wheel or deal to generate maUSA's and
remittances from diaspora workers abroad go a long way.

And while this may read like a comedy of errors, women, whether in the
leafy suburbs or in the remote rural areas, are tired of the struggle for
survival, of the inconveniences, of deprivation, of trying to figure out
where to get the next meal to put on the table.

Women are tired of the collapsed healthcare system, characterised by a
lack of drugs, the shortage of personnel and the breakdown of equipment.
They are tired of an ailing education system characterised by continued
strikes by teachers due to poor remuneration, lack of supplies such as
textbooks and stationery, delays in the writing of exams and in 2008, owing
to elections and political instability, schools operating for only 65 days
in the year.

Women have had enough of the electricity and water cuts that sometimes
last days and weeks, tired of the violence, the grave politically motivated
and sexualised violence that women and women activists of all ages have
suffered during the post-election period and which has continued to prevail
due to impunity.

Women are fatigued with having their roles dictated by the private
sphere even when entering the public and are fed up of the months and of the
retrospective years of waiting, waiting while the quality of women's lives
continues to decline.

And the three men and their teams continue to deliberate.
The election on  March 29 2008 was one in a series -- eight in the
last eight years -- meant to break the stranglehold of the increasingly
authoritarian Mugabe-led Zanu PF regime. With the birth in 1999 of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), elections as an expression of
democratic practise were meant to do just that: to reinstate a new and
democratic dispensation.

But as history records, the extreme politically motivated violence and
accompanying post-election machinations have meant that elections have lost
their integrity in Zimbabwe and the voting public are both traumatised and
fatigued by the process.

 If we are serious about the so-called change that Zimbabwe needs, it
is important to ask what is the kind of change we are hoping for. Should we
not be concerned about the quality as well as the quantity of the change?
What exactly is the prescription or framework that will resuscitate
Zimbabwe?

Are we going to be ushered into an age that is even more intolerable
and dehumanising? We live in a pitiless era of neoliberal market dependence
whose end is even more poverty and misery. It will require much more radical
thinking of what is possible and much more imagination of what is desirable
for a so-called "new" Zimbabwe.

And once the current impasse has been overcome and the ink has dried
on the agreements and deals, what then? Will we, as we did in 1980, breathe
a sigh of relief and put our feet up, basking in the glow of victory for
this "democratic movement"? Will women be co-opted in order to once again
serve male agendas? How do feminist activists conceptualise the work ahead?
But let me not get carried away by critical questions for some uncertain
future.

So while the talks deadlock and the weeks roll into months women are
sacrificed, a country is sacrificed, a sacrifice made on the altar of power
of male ego, political survival, posturing and self-interest. The
deliberation of three men is holding the country hostage, and right now it
is not clear how the current round of talks are going to bring food back
into the shops, teachers back into the schools  and medicines back into the
clinics.

As long as the male leaders maintain "Zanu" political cultures and
party specific agendas they are paying lip service to the principles of
freedom and justice outlined in the GPA and a new Zimbabwe will be in a
state of constant deadlock. As long as the talks continue to happen behind
closed doors, holding our 'new' leaders accountable will always remain
intangible.

But while the men talk in the golden glow of the Rainbow Towers in
Harare, women are saying enough! On October 16 at the very same venue,
Zimbabwean women met, deliberated, and had the militant foresight to engage
in direct action by occupying public space in an extremely hostile and
policed environment, not only to call attention to injustices in Zimbabwe
but to catalyse action and demand that the talks end immediately.

We are on the frontline of this war and for too long we have suffered.
We want change now! We are worn down but not broken! We are here! Look at
us, starving. All we want is a "normal" country with "normal" systems that
work.

We will continue to create community where the social fabric has been
ripped apart, we will continue to share scarce resources in a context of
extreme deprivation, and we will continue to fight and act, to make our
voices heard in order to sustain and make ourselves strong so we can
challenge sexism and realise the dreams and possibilities of a new Zimbabwe
as full and equally participating citizens in all spheres. - kubatana.net.

Shereen Essof is a Zimbabwean feminist and revolutionary activist
currently based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Candid Comment: A Single Candle Better Than Darkness

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 20:36
ZIMBABWE is at that point in history where the old Quaker proverb, "It
is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" is very
instructive. There is no credit for describing crises without solving them
or doing something practical.

There are many people with PhDs on the Zimbabwe crisis, we even have
an organisation called Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition yet the situation is
getting out of hand.

It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. In
times like these Margaret Mead, an anthropologist, reminds us that: "Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

The few MDC MPs who will make it into the Government of National Unity
will make a great difference. These MDC MPs will at least light a single
candle and make a difference rather than complain about things getting
worse. It is advisable for them to join the GNU rather than describe the
situation from the sidelines. It is better to light a single candle than
curse the darkness.

As Zimbabweans we should set aside our differences and confront our
challenges together. The appeal to the international community for help is a
step in the right direction but a misplaced priority.

Our challenges require some creativity, imagination and initiative. At
this stage, it important for Zimbabweans to realise that it does not make
much sense to ask the world to help us to deal with our crises when we are
not even showing any sense of urgency to convene our parliament and set up a
sustentative government of national unity to confront our crises.

Why should Zimbabweans deserve more help than the Congolese or
Sudanese when they are not showing any urgency to form a substantive
government?

It is high time parliament convened and agreed on a process to make
constitutional provisions to fast-track amendment No 19 so that Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara take up their posts in the government of
national unity and start helping in the management of the crises and save
lives.

Zimbabweans are not a special case and it makes no sense to go around
the world asking for help when we are not ready to set aside our differences
and work together. The world does not agree on how to confront the Zimbabwe
crises. We have seen this at Sadc, the AU and the UN and nothing will change
unless we change our attitude and approach.

It is clear that there is no "best way" to solve the multi-layered
Zimbabwean crisis which is caused by governance issues and economic
sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe.

There is no point in trying to discuss whether sanctions or governance
issues are the cause of our suffering because it is like the chicken and the
egg debate, it does not end. The point is that Zimbabweans are suffering
because of both sanctions and governance issues which should be addressed.
Delaying the formation of the Government of National Unity is causing
further and unnecessary harm.

The blame game will not help Zimbabwe unless either party can show
that what you are doing is helping the situation. We have to realise that
Zimbabwe does not operate in a vacuum and the environment is changing fast.
Sadc has recommended that a Government of National Unity be formed in
Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Home Affairs be co-managed by Zanu PF and the
MDC-Tsvangirai.

This is thought not to be the best solution but one that has to be a
chance for now. In essence, this decision means that Zanu PF and the
MDC-Tsvangirai have to agree on decisions and policies in this ministry like
in any other ministry.

It has to be clear that what Zimbabwe needs are not handouts but
capacity to do things for ourselves. We have our resources in terms of
minerals like diamonds, gold, tourism facilities and a large diaspora skills
base and market.

So the only aid we need for now is the humanitarian aid to address the
urgent needs of hunger and disease. This will work best if there is
political consensus that comes with the government of national unity.

There is a reckless saying that in every struggle there are casualties
and that does not exonerate those responsible and it does not mean that it
is right for any person to die anyway. We need a struggle where all
Zimbabweans will be winners.

It is therefore important for the world to encourage Zimbabweans to
set aside their differences and give the GNU a chance as soon as possible.
Anything else will divide us and cause more suffering. The critics of the
GNU tend to wrongly compare the GNU and the Unity Accord of 1987. It is
common cause that in 1987 Zanu and Zapu became one as a party.

In the GNU the parties will remain distinct entities. I do not believe
that comparing different political situations will help Zimbabwe. I prefer
to quote Admiral Lord Nelson on the eve of the battle of Trafalgar, October
20, 1805 ".now that we have decided why it cannot be done, let us determine
how it will be done".

The Zimbabwe Diaspora Interface http://www.zimdiasporainterface.org/
believes that we can do it together through consensus and non-partisanship
and that could be another way of doing it.

The problem Zimbabwe faces is that irresponsible behaviour by the
different political actors, especially in the name of the MDC against Zanu
PF, is treated as gallantry. The same people who have campaigned for the
imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe and now shout the loudest about deaths
from Aids and cholera, are being treated as genuine heroes of the democratic
struggle.

In another country the crisis we currently face would lead to a
closing of ranks and collective action across the political divide. In
shameless Zimbabwe, dead bodies are turned into political capital by the
opposition.

 They are a sign of the failure of the government and the total
collapse of the health delivery system. A question never asked is what
positive role the opposition is playing to alleviate this humanitarian
tragedy?  Where are the MPs we voted for in March? Are they all waiting to
join the all-important Home Affairs circus now on its world tour in search
of impartial adjudicators?

The long and short of it is that Zimbabweans are on their own. There
is no one to light the candle for them. The darkness provides convenient
avenues for self-enrichment and self-serving rhetoric about the country's
humanitarian crisis.

By Msekiwa Makwanya and Joram Nyathi

Comment: Bloodshed Avoidable

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 20:31
IT has been a dramatic week: soldiers rampaging through the streets
and the cholera epidemic spreading like a veld fire.

The disturbances triggered by soldiers in Harare on Monday reflect
deep-seated problems, not just within the military, but across a swathe of
our restless society and may be a harbinger of worse things to come.

At this rate there is no doubt that the groundswell of discontent and
unrest could end up unleashing mayhem. It may sooner rather than later
deteriorate into a bloody uprising against the government. History and
precedents, particularly in Africa, are there for all to read.

But God forbid. Zimbabwe does not need to go through another violent
and blood-spattered transition. Yet the Zanu PF corrupt and incompetent
regime, which by all measures has failed, is hanging in there, while
creating conditions of instability and conflict.

The government can easily avoid this by either performing its duties
or simply resigning. We appreciate that every government in the world wants
to remain in power, some at all costs. Governments do not relinquish their
authority unless compelled to do so. Many of the actions of politicians and
their cronies can be explained by the need to maintain and perpetuate their
power.

Some governments employ repression, which may include arrests and
detentions, torture and murder, to remain in power. Mugabe's regime has used
all of these at one time or another. It never relaxes its vigils against
real or imagined opponents.

Even democracies, when threatened, engage in a search for subversive
elements and "enemies of the people" - McCarthyist tactics.

When a regime draws its main support from a social group decreasing in
numbers and strength, it becomes ineffective in handling domestic and
external matters. When a society's confidence in the government's capacity
to protect national interests evaporates, that government tends to lose
legitimacy and authority.

Revolutions both in France during the 18th century and in Russia in
the 20th century occurred when aristocracies there had lost legitimacy in
the eyes of the people.

Confronted with widespread discontent and social unrest, those regimes
eventually lost capacity to enforce their laws and maintain social order and
inevitably revolutions swept them from power.

Authoritarian regimes around the world, including in Africa, have
tried to use ideological indoctrination, bankrupt philosophies,
stage-managed patriotic events and ceremonies, and civic education and
propaganda to remain in power but they dismally failed to prevent change.

They also use armed forces and intelligence-gathering organisations
for self-preservation; they maintain police and prison systems as a means of
remaining in power, and they undertake the administration of supervisory and
regulatory functions to serve their interests, but they still lose their
power.

Repressive measures do not work, especially if the government cannot
perform its basic functions.
Apart from pathetically failing to run the economy, Mugabe's regime is
now unable to provide basic services.

It cannot provide public services like education, health, transport,
water and electricity. Schools, hospitals and clinics are now closed. Public
transport has all but collapsed.

To make matters worse, it can't provide water. Some areas around the
country, including in Harare, have gone for weeks, months and even years
without adequate water supply, hence the outbreak of diseases like cholera.
Government is also incapable of even combating simple-to-deal-with diseases
like cholera.

More than 500 people have died due to the current epidemic and Mugabe's
regime is unmoved. Of course, this government is notorious for not valuing
the lives of its citizens that much. Its pokerfaced defence of
state-sponsored killings since the 1980s to June 27 is long enough a record
to prove this. Its initial denial and deadpan response to the cholera deaths
was not surprising.

The most serious indictment of this regime is however failure to
perform its basic functions. Among the most basic services provided by
government are the printing and coining of money, the provision of roads,
sewers, water, education, and social and welfare services. With the growth
of the welfare state, some governments provide services such as social
security and health insurance.

But Mugabe's government is unable to adequately provide any of these.
It has therefore lost any semblance of legitimacy it might still have had.
So why is Mugabe still hanging around when he has questionable legitimacy
and has failed to provide sufficient social services to the population?

Is this not the reason why discontent and unrest now poses a threat,
not just to Mugabe's regime but to the whole country? Why should we risk a
bloody transition when we have a peaceful option that is in the broader
scheme of things in both Mugabe's and the national interest?

Why can't Mugabe understand and appreciate such simple realities? Why
can't he appreciate that his own personal and national security could be
better protected by ensuring a smooth transition than risk a massive
upheaval when it can be so easily avoided?

Eric Bloch: Reforming Land Reform

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 19:44
LAST week two significant milestones were passed by Zimbabwe. One was
on the road to justice, the other on the path to bias and inequity. The
first was a judgement by the Sadc Court on the appeal by 78 displaced
Zimbabwean farmers, and the other a judgement by Zimbabwe's Constitutional
Court from one similarly unilaterally ousted farmer.

The Sadc Court, with a clear-cut perception of property and human
rights, equity and justice, and an unmitigated regard for the sanctity of
international bilateral investment protection agreements entered into by
Zimbabwe, unhesitatingly and unequivocally ruled that the 78 farmer
appellants have an absolute right to return to their lands, without let or
hindrance. In contradistinction, Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court denied the
appellant having any right of return to his former farm.

Although the detailed grounds of judgement of the Constitutional Court
were not released concurrently with that Judgement, it must be assumed that
the court will have had regard to the Constitutional Amendments of 2000,
which sought to entrench all right and title in all Zimbabwean non-urban
lands in government, negating all previous ownerships as had been
corroborated by duly issued title deeds.

These amendments also had a blatant disregard for the innumerable
properties which had been acquired prior to 2000 under Certificates of No
Interest issued by government.

The fact that such amendments were not recommended by the
Constitutional Commission in 1999, but were last minute, governmentally
foisted, ones introduced into the commission's report and recommendations
without the prior knowledge, or concurrence, of the commissioners was deemed
irrelevant by the commission's chairman, Justice Chidyausiku (who is now the
Chief Justice and heads the very Constitutional Court that has issued the
judgement dismissing the displaced farmer's appeal!)

At the time of government initiating its programme of land reform,
resettlement and redistribution, it justified doing so upon the fact that
for a prolonged period of time the black population had been legislatively
barred from ownership of agricultural lands, and upon a specious contention
that such lands had been "stolen" from the black population by the British
colonialists of more than a century ago.

When those colonialists came to the country, the black population,
primarily Shona and Ndebele, numbered about 250 000. According to the
Central Statistical Office, in 1980 the agriculturally utilised lands in
Zimbabwe were 39 070 000 acres (of which 16 350 000 were communal occupancy
and usage, 17 100 000 acres were utilised for commercial farming, 920 000
acres were used for forestry, and 4 7000 000 acres for national parks.)

 Based upon the 1880s/1890s population of 250 000, if the entirety of
the lands were stolen from that population, each member of the population,
be they adult or child, male or female, elderly or young would, on average,
have been  possessed of 156 28 acres! That could not possibly have been the
case.

The reality was undoubtedly that the main population numbers were
centred upon a few areas of Mashonaland (in proximity to the area now known
as Harare) and in Matabeleland (in the surrounds and districts of
Gubulawayo), and the majority of the lands of Zimbabwe were unoccupied,
unutilised, and not effectively owned by either the Shona or Ndebele people.
Whilst there is no doubt that the colonialists expropriated some lands, or
"purchased" them for spuriously token values, the greater portion of the
land had no ownership of any nature, and therefore by occupancy the
colonialists effectively acquired legitimate ownership.
Admittedly, it was inhuman and unconscionable that in subsequent years
the colonialist founded government enacted the abominable, appallingly
inhuman and discriminatory Land Apportionment Act, which limited ownership
of rural lands to those of caucasian origin i.e. whites, and to others who
were not of African origin and descent.

This abysmal, cruel and unjust legislation prevailed for decades,
barring any of the black population from land ownership. Therefore, a
programme of land reform was critically necessary, encompassing legislation
which prescribed no constraints upon ownership founded upon race, and
facilitating access to, and ownership and usage of, land by blacks in
general, and those previously harshly and contemptuously racially barred
there from, in particular.

However, this should have been pursued on a just and equitable basis,
devoid of reverse racism, and in a manner that would be economically
enhancing, instead of economically debilitating and destructive. Land should
have been redistributed in part by the distribution of the vast tracts of
land held by the state (exceeding 20 million hectares), and of lands where
ownership would be transferred on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis.
At the same time, complete regard and respect for bilateral investment
protection agreements should have been an entrenched element of a land
reform programme.

Most important of all, that programme needed to be such as would
stimulate expansion and growth of the agricultural sector, instead of
grievous contraction to levels of substantial emaciation and collapse.
Regard for national food security, for continuance of employment for
hundreds of thousands, for foreign exchange generation, and the like, should
also have been prerequisites of any Zimbabwean land reform programme.

Moreover, it was preposterous that government continuously contended
(as it still does) that total liability for acquisition of lands from whites
should be paid for by Britain, and that Britain has reneged on its
commitments. This claim is founded upon the baseless contention that British
colonialists "stole" all the lands. In addition, in claiming that Britain
has not honoured undertakings, government studiously ignores the
considerable extent that Britain had funded land acquisition by government
during the first few years of Zimbabwean Independence.

In pursuit of its land reform programme, (partially fuelled by its
psychotic hatred for Britain, partially by its entrenched land ownership
fixations, and partially by the perceived need to compensate Zimbabweans for
the consequences of the innumerable economic ills afflicted upon them by
government, as well as enriching a chosen few), government has also failed
to ensure that land distribution would be to those who would use the lands
productively. It also has constantly failed to ensure timeous availability
of all necessary agricultural inputs.

Its repeated promises and prognostications of agricultural output
upturns recurrently prove to be devoid of any substance. Last year
government repeatedly promised "The mother of all agricultural seasons!",
but failed to disclose that the mother was barren. This year government is
again exuding immense, optimistic projections, none of which have any
prospect of being realised.

Government should demonstrate, even though belatedly, real intent and
purpose for agricultural recovery, concurrently with total respect for
justice and for international law and convention.

It must honour the Sadc Court's determination, and apply it as a
precedent to all like cases. It should work vigorously towards the creation
of harmonious inter-racial relationships and support to bring about the
regrowth of the agricultural sector. If it would constructively reform its
land reform, Zimbabwe would again become the region's breadbasket, and its
economy would be positively set upon the path to real recovery and growth.

By Eric Bloch

Muckraker: Rule of law given the boot

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 19:37
LAND Reform and Resettlement minister Didymus Mutasa has scoffed at
the Sadc Tribunal's ruling in the land dispute between government and former
white commercial farmers.

Reports last week said the tribunal had ruled that the government of
Zimbabwe had violated the law when it seized land from some 78 former white
commercial farmers during the reform programme starting in 2000.

President of the tribunal Luis Mondlane is said to have accused the
government of Zimbabwe of violating the "treaty governing the 14-nation
regional bloc" by compulsorily acquiring white-owned farms for resettlement
and denying the farmers the right of appeal in Zimbabwean courts.

"The 78 applicants," said Justice Mondlane, "have a clear legal title
(to their farms) and were denied access to the judiciary locally."

It's not evident from media reports whether there was any specific
order for the government to reverse the expropriations, but Mondlane ordered
the government "to take all measures to protect the possessions and
ownership" of the 75 white farmers still on their farms.
Mutasa's rage immediately boiled over.

He said the tribunal was "daydreaming" if by its ruling it sought to
reverse the land reform programme. He said Zimbabwe would disregard the
judgement. There was no room for discussion.
"There is nothing special about the 75 farmers and we will take more
farms," declared Mutasa. "It's not discrimination against farmers but
correcting land imbalances," he said.

Mutasa was backed by the lawyer representing newly-resettled black
farmers Farai Mutamangira, who expressed "shock" at the tribunal's ruling
given "so many avenues of escape". He accused the Sadc tribunal of deciding
the land dispute outside its historical context.

"There are more than 100 reasons and grounds upon which the tribunal
could made findings in favour of the beneficiaries of the land reform but
deliberately chose not to do so," said Advocate Mutamangira in response to
the tribunal's ruling.

"The tribunal," he pointed out, "has behaved like a colonial court of
the 1950s and 1960s by entrenching and protecting colonial minority
interests," he said.

Both Mutasa and Mutamangira have a point; that is if all that mattered
in people's lives was history. The real question that needs to be answered
by our wise man from the East is what has happened to the over 11 million
hectares of farm land acquired by government since this programme began in
2000?

Shouldn't the main focus now be on productivity rather than mere
possession given the scale of food shortages across the country? Perhaps
that should set Mutasa thinking, rather than telling us that he still wants
more productive farms to lay waste. Now that's what we call shocking!

Anyway, well done to Mutasa for stating publicly that the government
will disregard the judgement of the tribunal. It is important to have these
examples of ministerial delinquency on the record so that the world knows
what sort of rogue regime it is dealing with.

Very simply Zanu PF thinks it can simply make the fatuous assertion
that the Sadc Tribunal aims to please colonial masters and then proceed from
there to do what it likes on the grounds of some specious sovereignty.

Why then did it agree to the tribunal's establishment and remit?
And is it seriously suggested that Justice Mondlane and his bench are
all colonial tools? How insulting Zimbabwe's diplomacy has become.

Does the MDC really want to be identified with the likes of Mutasa who
is clearly intent upon inflicting maximum damage on the agricultural
economy? And since when did the bloody assaults on Michael Campbell and his
family represent "correcting land imbalances"?

The court understandably saw it as contempt of court. It is a token of
how low this country has sunk that members of its legal fraternity can
actually endorse the attack on farmers whose sole crime is to seek the
protection of a recognised regional court because our own judges have been
told they can't hear the case.

The amendment to the constitution that created this impairment of due
process needs to be consigned to the rubbish tip the minute we have a
democratic government. And what sort of outfit exactly is Lawyers for
Justice which appears unable to do little more than parrot the views of the
more reactionary members of the regime?
We are told there is actually only one member!

There were more shocks for Zimbabweans this week. Before they could
fully digest the implications of the Reserve Bank's revised maximum daily
withdrawal limits from $500 000 to $100 million a week, they woke up to
shocking reports that some commercial banks had reviewed so-called "service
charges" to as high as $2 billion.

It is not clear what the reasons for this shock treatment are. Bank
officials reportedly told the Herald this week that the charges were a
reflection of the "economic situation" in the country. "It just shows how
bad things are. The charges are due to high operational costs," was the
arrogant response.

The banks see no need to explain or justify any rip-off costs they
levy on a captive market. It is as if clients are being punished for going
to the bank everyday to withdraw an amount which is not enough for a one
journey into town. As it turns out, it is the ordinary law-abiding salaried
workers being crushed in the undeclared war between the banks and the
Reserve Bank. Any wonder why honest traders and crooks alike now opt to shun
the formal banking system and keep their money at home!

Gideon Gono should act decisively. Many workers might not be able to
get the maximum $100 million after it is gobbled up by monsters masquerading
as banks. No wonder they now often refuse to print transaction statements to
conceal their daylight customer robbery.

You would imagine, after leaving your bank dejected, that this is the
worst that can happen to any individual in a single day. That is until you
must reckon with the unmitigated disaster going by the name Zimbabwe
National Water Authority.

The latest official death toll is close to 500 people since August.
Independent estimates put the figure much higher. Never mind the
discrepancy. The point is that no lives should have been lost to a
preventable primitive disease such as cholera. Yet in Zimbabwe that is seen
as normal and Zinwa can plead a shortage of chemicals.

The excuse is funny enough to make you laugh if its consequences were
not so tragic. The rest of Harare this week literally went dry because there
was no aluminum sulphate which is one of the key ingredients used in the
treatment of water. Zinwa officials reportedly opted to go into hibernation.
When the Harare general manager was eventual tracked down to his lair, he
said he was on leave.

My foot! Why didn't the guy take his leave at Budiriro cholera
treatment centre? In fact he should be told not to come back to work. We
have enough of his peers already brewing cholera at Jaffray Morton water
works

We have suffered Zinwa's incompetence for years since it was imposed
on us by the Zanu PF regime. Now it has gone a step further to bring death
into our homes in the form of raw sewage and contaminated water. It's not
enough to say enough is enough. This is more than enough. Zinwa bosses and
its minister of Water deserve to be flushed into the depths of the darkest
septic tank.
Harare residents are phoning and asking: "What's going on?" Where, we
ask?

Well, reports are doing the rounds since last week about a cash turf
war between the army and the police and the beating of civilians going about
their business.

We have seen the soldiers in the CBD. ZABG Bank Jason Moyo branch had
its front windows smashed last Thursday allegedly by soldiers who couldn't
access their cash. The frustrated group of soldiers later harassed foreign
currency dealers for cash. By the weekend, so goes the rumour mill, the
militant soldiers were clashing with vendors and anyone suspected of having
cash.

This allegedly triggered skirmishes with the policemen who felt the
soldiers were now straying into their territory. They allegedly depend on
foreign currency dealers for lunch money and busfare.
Muckraker is also now keen to know, What's going on? Could this
simmering military agitation be the spur that got Gono to act on cash
withdrawal limits?

A reader recently wrote a letter to this paper complaining about the
MDC's information department. Not only does it have too many spokespersons;
they each "spoke" with different tongues. Nowhere was this most eloquently
demonstrated than in the past two weeks in the party's reaction to reports
that Zanu PF had "unilaterally" drafted and sent Constitutional Amendment 19
to mediator Thabo Mbeki.

This showed bad faith on the part of Zanu PF, we were told in Harare.
A furious MDC-Tsvangirai was drafting its own amendment for Mbeki because
they had not been "consulted" by Zanu PF blah blah blah! MDC-Tsvangirai
secretary-general Tendai Biti wrote to Mbeki saying a ruling the previous
week by the Sadc summit for his party to co-manage the Home Affairs
portfolio with Zanu PF was a "nullity" and he dismissed as a non-starter a
meeting of the negotiators in South Africa on November 25.

To compound a classic case of gross political tactlessness, party
leader Morgan Tsvangirai followed this up by "unilaterally" firing Mbeki as
mediator, never mind that this amounted to firing the entire Sadc bloc which
appointed him and the African Union which endorsed this appointment, and the
elementary fact that it was due to the South Africans in general and Mbeki
in particular that the MDC is able to talk to Zanu PF today.

Taking a cue from these wild statements, media doomsayers in Zimbabwe
and beyond went wilder to pronounce the talks dead, the inclusive government
deal dead and buried with the talks and that Amendment 19 was a stillbirth.
The wires went white hot off at a tangent even as Mbeki, Zanu PF and the MDC
negotiators were agreeing on the original Amendment 19 with only minor
changes.

Talk of putting your allies off the spoor, which left the reputations
of most of its trusted reporters high and dry! What's going on at Harvest
House?

Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri says police officers should
"play a pivotal role in creating a conducive environment to bolster investor
confidence in the country."
It would be interesting to know what progress has been made in the
prosecution of Gilbert Moyo and the gang in Chegutu which inflicted such
criminal damage upon the Campbell family, evidence of which was flashed
around the world? And what will investors think of a minister who says the
government will disregard court rulings? What sort of country is that to do
business in?

Then there were the pictures of the brutal assaults on Morgan
Tsvangirai and his colleagues at a police station two years ago. The
president gave his approval. Nothing in recent years has done more to deter
investors.

We used to export tobacco and horticultural products. Now we export
only cholera.
Chihuri said police officers must remain resolute in supporting
government policies "designed to turn around the fortunes of the country".
But he didn't say what those policies were! Can he name a single
policy that has turned around the fortunes of the country or which holds a
realistic chance of doing so?

'Health delivery is everyone's responsibility," announced the Herald
in a front page story on Tuesday. This was a distillation of an appeal by
Vice-President Joice Mujuru for a private-public sector partnership in the
fight against HIV and Aids.

We resisted the temptation to ask since when the Zanu PF government
has volunteered sharing responsibility with anyone? There were juicy pieces
to attend to. Mujuru said private assistance was vital to buy equipment,
pharmaceutical drugs and to carry out repairs to revive the country's health
delivery system.

 "We should also remind our sons and daughters in the diaspora to also
contribute to this new fund, which shall be administered by a committee of
people drawn from various sections of society who all have a common goal of
seeing a stronger health delivery system," she said.

This is an appeal directed at two very hostile camps. Business
believes Zanu PF is responsible for its current woes due to misguided price
controls while those in the diaspora accuse Zanu of driving them from their
homeland. It would be interesting to keep an eye on this one to see how it
pans out.

General Motors in the United States has asked the government to remove
the private jet it leases from the FAA's tracking device. This, Muckraker
has heard, came after the company's chief executive officer was criticised
for using a private jet to travel to Washington to plead for financial aid
as a result of the current crisis which has spread to Europe and Japan.
Is there a lesson here for our political authorities who have no
qualms about commandeering planes from the cash-strapped national airline to
attend a string of world summits and conferences?

Muckraker

Editor's memo: Govt Continues To Pursue Failed Methods

http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/


Thursday, 04 December 2008 19:25
GOVERNMENT bureaucrats have penned another "economic recovery plan"
for Zimbabwe whose success will be underpinned by revival in agriculture,
prudent fiscal policy measures and a revised monetary policy regime.

The document is a collection of the usual fiction and optimism which
the authors know pretty well that they have no capacity to implement.

To their credit though, the drafters of the document are frank about
the country's food requirements.

In the document, government admits that there are 8,2 million people
requiring food assistance. This is a new high which is an apt illustration
of the failure of the land reform programme and all interventions that the
government has tried to implement since the collapse of commercial
agriculture eight years ago.

But still stuck in their dishonest mode, government in the document
says the decline in agriculture "is largely due to the adverse weather
conditions".

This brazen lie has become the biggest threat to any economic
recovery. It is a convenient excuse that has been used to justify failure by
state institutions to adequately plan agricultural recovery. The evidence of
this failure is apparent in the proposed economic plan.

Last year the state spent more than US$500 million importing farming
implements and irrigation equipment to revive agriculture. More than a
billion US dollars were doled out to farms in direct concessionary loans,
seed, fertilisers and chemicals.

We wait for the day a value-for-money audit is carried out on farms
which received tractors and inputs. Even in the absence of such an audit,
most of these farms have failed to produce any meaningful crop. I have
spotted a number of tractors given to farmers parked at auction floors
waiting to go under the hammer!

In the recovery plan, the government reveals to us that all this
investment produced 848 000 tonnes of grain against a projection of 2,08
million tonnes. The government therefore requires almost US$500 million to
import 900 000 tonnes of food. The balance of the deficit is expected to be
filled by aid agencies.

The tragedy about this whole issue is that the resources to import
food have to be mobilised at the same time government is also looking for
huge amounts of foreign currency to import fertiliser, seed, chemicals and
fuel for a new crop. The state is caught in this vicious cycle every year in
which it is required to import inputs and food at the same time.

The bigger tragedy though is that this failed Zanu PF regime still
believes in employing the same strategy to stave off starvation. The new
recovery plan is still the same old project of handouts and
arbitrage-inviting subsidies which have not improved output.

This season the government has compartmentalised farming into three
groups of champion farmers, disadvantaged farmers and self-financing
producers who collectively require about US$1,5 billion.

The government has already committed huge resources to the champion
farmer group and to disadvantaged farmers. But most of the beneficiaries are
the same failed farmers who blame the weather despite getting irrigation
equipment from the central bank.

These are the same farmers who are selling the free fertiliser and
seed they got from government. Everyday in the classified section of daily
papers, they advertise their nefarious activities knowing that they will not
be made account.

They are selling fertiliser for US$30 a 50kg bag and seed for US$70 a
25kg bag. These are the champions!
At the time of harvesting, the same champions do not send their grain
to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) as per agreement. They sell the crop at a
huge profit on their farms and from their garages in the city.

The champions are currently selling maize at over US$30 a 50kg bag.
They want market prices for crops produced using subsidised inputs. These
are the farmers responsible for our misery.

The proposed recovery plan says government intends to review the
producer price of grain delivered to the GMB in line with import parity
prices. No farmer believes this. That is why they do not send grain to
government silos.

Put simply, the major reason farmers sell inputs and side-market the
little output they get is the damaging monopoly given to the GMB to buy
grain.

It is not surprising if this time next year we will be running cap in
hand to international donors for food handouts. We are taking too long to
sort out the mess in agriculture. The recovery plan, like many official
documents on agriculture makes a feeble mention of the need to "reorganise
our agricultural sector to inject vibrancy ."

An efficient domestic agricultural commodity marketing system is key
to stimulating and sustaining growth and development.

The prospects for economic recovery rest with the successful
transformational  development of the domestic commodity marketing system to
provide greater market incentives for farmers to participate effectively and
consistently in the domestic food and agriculture markets as commercially
oriented and profit driven producers.

In the face of worsening food insecurity, government has been
preoccupied with dishing out freebies to resettled farmers to start
agricultural production activities.

These short-term policy innovations and market interventions, such as
the price controls and state monopolies in the marketing of food crops, have
to go. We should start envisioning how the sector will look in the future.
Government must follow up land reform by designing strategies aimed at
growing independence and economic viability of the new farmers. These are
the champions we want.

Editor's Memo By Vincent Kahiya