So there I was sitting in my car on Kwame Nkrumah Avenue and suddenly the loudest, most joyous and defiant singing filled the air and round the corner came hundreds of WOZA women carrying roses, leaflets and copies of the People’s Charter.
And I felt, in that moment, that anything is possible and that
most especially, with women as brave as this, we have hope.
Traffic
stopped. Pedestrians stopped and smiled and cheered. People whistled and
clapped.
The WOZA march made its way to Parliament where their singing
and roses were met with tear gas. Undaunted WOZA re-grouped, turned and marched
back into town. At the corner of Chinhoyi Street and Kwame Nkrumah Avenue fairly
close to Zanu PF headquarters, I came across police with their dogs intent on
cowering this fabulous group of women.
Many women might have been
arrested, but the WOZA spirit is alive and well.
Bev
Clark
Note:
Recently Kubatana helped WOZA Get on the Net.
You
can visit them at www.wozazimbabwe.org
Like WOZA,
their web site is dynamic and constantly evolving!
Police block Shamuyarira thugs from evicting farmer Ben Freeth
By Violet
Gonda
14 February 2007
The ZANU PF Secretary for information and
Publicity Nathan Shamuyarira has
been implicated in the attempted takeover
of a farm belonging to commercial
farmer Ben Freeth without an eviction
order. Freeth is a former executive of
the Commercial Farmers Union and has
the biggest mango producing farm in the
country. He said there was a chaotic
situation at his farm last Friday when
the lands officer for the district
arrived with a rented mob to occupy his
farm on behalf of the ruling party
official. Police blocked the thugs hours
later in an unprecedented
move.
The police usually stand by while white farmers are being evicted
illegally.
So it is not clear why they blocked Freeth's eviction. But it is
known that
Freeth is the farmer who is challenging the constitutionality of
'Amendment
no.17' in a landmark case in the Supreme Court. The amendment
nationalised
farmland and prevents court challenges by evicted
farmers.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear his case on March 22
therefore making
takeovers without an eviction order illegal. But despite
this, Freeth said a
delegation led by Shamuyarira's brother appeared at his
farm saying the farm
had been allocated to the ZANU PF
official.
According to the farmer some of the people that came to invade
his farm on
behalf of the ruling party spokesman included Shamuyarira's
nephew Peter
Chamada, the lands officer for the district Mr. Kunonga, a ZANU
PF Central
Committee member named as Mr. Jamaya and district war veterans.
"And they
all wanted to stay in my house. The lands officer said Minister
Shamuyarira
needs your house and these people have come to stay at your
house," Freeth
said.
He said although he asked to see legal papers
that gave them the legal
authority to invade his farm he got none. The
farmer said it was quite a
chaotic situation. "At one stage my wife took a
picture of them and they
said she was breaking the law by taking a picture
and would be arrested. And
they all came running into the house, running
into my bedroom and all around
the house."
The gang allegedly stole a
lot of mangos, which are farmed commercially by
Freeth. They had arrived at
the farm around 1pm and only left at 9 in the
evening after the head of
lands in the civil division department and Freeth
had alerted Chegutu police
of the lawless situation.
Ben Freeth's Mount Carmel Farm is situated
outside Chegutu along the
Chinhoyi road in Mashonaland West. Besides being
the largest mango producer
in the country, the farmer also grows other
citrus fruits and maize on a
large-scale.
He is challenging three
main aspects of the draconian 'Amendment no. 17'
saying the right to
protection of the law has been taken away, taking
someone's property without
compensation is theft and that the white
commercial farmers are being
targeted because of their colour.
The commercial farmer said the rented
mob that arrived at his doorstep wore
t-shirts written 'land to the people'.
" I said to them, this is not land to
the people. This is land for the
ministers and this seems to be the way that
this whole programme is being
run. It's just a get rich exercise for
ministers and others in power to just
grab what is not theirs. What they
have not paid for and what they have not
worked for."
The defiant farmer added; "I told the men that if they
wanted to come and
steal what was not theirs then they must come and shoot
me. If they want to
come and steal, then they should also come and commit
murder. As far as
those things are concerned, we believe they are against
God's law and even
against the constitution of Zimbabwe as well. And if the
minister is really
serious about stealing then he must come and shoot
me."
We were not able to get a comment from the ZANU PF spokesman Nathan
Shamuyarira.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Surviving Zimbabwe's runaway inflation
Bread is now so expensive that only the rich can afford to eat
it |
A Zimbabwean student, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC News website how she copes with living in a country with runaway inflation.
According to official figures, Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate now stands at 1593% - the world's highest.
The cost of absolutely everything in Zimbabwe has gone up. I am a
student and my bus to the campus has trebled in price in the last two months.
The cost of a meal has increased tenfold.
The implications of this rise in inflation are very serious. What it really means is the poor are getting even poorer.
In the last year, my school fees have quadrupled 
Conditions are quite unbelievable as they are. People live in shacks if they are lucky, many simply live on the streets.
In the last year, my school fees have quadrupled. I know I am blessed, I am one of the lucky ones as I can still afford to go.
The atmosphere at university is one of support. We are very close and we help each other. Many people have been forced to leave because of this price rise but we all pull together and donate money so our friends can continue with their studies.
Education is a big problem in this country. Basic secondary education now costs a minimum of Z$300,000 ($1,200 at the official exchange rate, $65 on the black market).
Many young people have no choice but to drop out. It is very sad, there are no jobs for them to take up when they leave. Life is bleak.
Out of control
Daily life is enormously affected by this inflation. The cost of electricity, fuel and water is now out of control.
The rise in petrol prices has meant that travelling by public transport has become very expensive, too expensive for most people. I know of some who walk 30km or 40km each way just to get to work.
My place of study is very far so I have no other option but to get on public transport. I don't know what will happen if prices go up much more though.
Water has been known to go for many weeks on end. My university has experienced many electricity blackouts but we just have to continue as best we can. It can happen at any time, those in authority do not have fixed times for turning it off.
Black market
Many people are now turning to the black market either as black market dealers or as customers of the black market to make ends meet.
Sanitary pads are not an option... women have no choice but to use
cloth instead
If I get money, that's what I do. I buy foreign currency on the black market in order to safeguard it from the runaway inflation rates we are experiencing.
Life is just terrible in Zimbabwe. We are unable to buy the basics any more. Soap, lotions and even cooking oil cost around $20,000 (US$80 officially, US$4 on the black market) now.
Sanitary pads are simply not an option for women as they are just too expensive. Women have no choice but to use cloth instead.
The basics are not so basic to us anymore.
This is why I'm so determined to continue with my education. I am very ambitious and I hope to own my own company one day.
Hopefully that way, I will be able to help Zimbabwe out of this
desperate situation. 
'Quiet diplomacy on Zim justified'
IOL
February 14
2007 at 03:11PM
South Africa on Wednesday defended its public
silence on the economic
and political meltdown in Zimbabwe, saying it could
not act alone and wished
to avoid a confrontation with its northern
neighbour.
"We cannot make it our own property," Defence Minister
Mosiuoa Lekota
told reporters in Cape Town.
"If we make special
pronouncements of our own, outside of the councils
of SADC (Southern African
Development Community)... South Africa may be
thrown in a confrontational
position with Zim. This is not a position we
would like to
take."
Zimbabwe's economy has been in a tailspin for the last eight
years
after the government began seizing white-owned farms, but the crisis
has
deepened since the start of the year with doctors and teachers going on
strike and inflation rising to nearly 1 600
percent.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has
come under heavy fire for his
policy of so-called "quiet diplomacy" which
has shown little sign of having
had any impact on the policies of his
veteran Zimbabwean counterpart Robert
Mugabe.
Some two million
Zimbabweans are believed to have fled their native
land and crossed over to
neighbouring South Africa in the last few years.
As the region's
economic powerhouse and a key supplier of electricity,
South Africa is seen
as having major leverage over Zimbabwe but Lekota said
Mbeki's government
should not be expected to act unilaterally.
"There has been for
some time now an attempt to make Zimbabwe the
problem of South Africa rather
than a problem of the community of southern
Africa," said
Lekota.
"We are uncomfortable and refuse to take an approach that
we should be
the ones to be seen to dictate what must happen with the
problems that we
have in Zimbabwe."
He said the two countries
were in continuous bilateral talks on issues
including Zimbabwe's economic
woes and the impact on its neighbours.
"How these discussions go
and what the outcomes are, we have to
respect the confidentiality of those
issues with them."
South Africa was "very keen", Lekota added,
"that Zim is able to
confront its problems, to confront the reality that
some of the problems in
that country are impacting on her neighbours". -
Sapa-AFP
South Africa deports 1600 Zimbabweans in one day
By Lance Guma
14 February
2007
Over 1600 Zimbabweans living illegally in South Africa were deported
on
Tuesday according to press reports. That country's home affairs
department
hired 16 coaches to transport the deportees from the Lindela
detention
centre in Johannesburg through to the Beitbridge border post.
Previous
deportations have involved the use of trains, which took deportees
to
Mussina before police trucks picked them up into Zimbabwe. It is thought
conditions on the trains were considered inhumane and the use of buses was
meant to deflect criticism away from the exercise.
Figures released
by police officials indicate that over 109 000 Zimbabweans
were deported in
2006, up from the 49 788 recorded in 2005. A further 32 264
are said to have
been repatriated from Botswana through the Plumtree border
post. The
International Office for Migration (IOM) has an office at the
border and was
involved in processing of the deportees. The organisation
provides
counselling on safe migration and helps with food and transport
expenses for
those going home.
Daniel Molokela a coordinator for the Civic Society
Organisations (CSO's)
forum based in South Africa said the exercise was a
waste of time because it
is not addressing the root problems causing
Zimbabweans to flee their
country. He says it costs the South African
government 50 rand per day to
keep a deportee in detention and even when
deported, most of them
immediately jump the border back into South Africa.
An economic and
political meltdown is largely responsible for a flood of
both economic and
political refugees to South Africa and analysts warn the
regions soft
approach towards Mugabe is backfiring.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
PTUZ leaders arrested
By Tererai Karimakwenda
14 February
2007
The wave of arrests continued in Zimbabwe Wednesday as police
arrested
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe President Takavafira Zhou
and
Secretary General Raymond Majongwe. The two were addressing teachers on
the
ongoing strike and monitoring the situation in Masvingo and Harare
respectively. The national strike by teachers started three weeks ago and
they are demanding better working conditions and salaries in line with the
poverty datum line.
Tabani Moyo of the Crisis Coalition spoke to
Majongwe just after his arrest.
He said the PTUZ leader told him he was at
Haig Park Primary School in
Malbereign when officers from the CID division
took him along with McDonald
Mangauzana. Later on Wednesday afternoon
Majongwe told Moyo he had been
denied access to a lawyer. He accused police
of tampering with his car and
denying him access to lock it.
The only
information known about Zhou is that he was arrested in Masvingo
along with
another official identified only as Gideon at Rukato Primary
School. Moyo
said Zhou's phone is not reachable and he has not communicated.
He was also
monitoring and evaluating the strike by teachers.
There are also reports
that teachers around the country are being harassed
by state agents accusing
them of participating in political activity by
striking. An hour before the
PTUZ leaders were arrested members of the
Central Intelligence Office (CIO)
stormed Seke 4 High School in Chitungwiza
where they quizzed the PTUZ Harare
Chairperson Jacob Rukweza about the
ongoing strike.
According to Moyo
and The Crisis Coalition, Majongwe and Mangauzana were
dragged into a Mazda
pickup truck plate number ZRP 3336 M and are being held
at Harare Central
Law and Order. Zhou and Gideon are being held at Chikato
Police
Station."
Police have been majing it difficult for lawyers to access
their clients in
the cases involving the WOZA activists and the students
arrested Tuesday,
and the teachers union arrests on Wednesday. As a result
information
regarding the numbers arrested and their condition has been hard
to come by.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
President's Lavish Birthday Plans Slammed
IPSnews
Moyiga
Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 14 (IPS) - Someone who's managed to reach the
advanced age
of 83 might argue that they're entitled to a sizeable
celebration. But this
argument doesn't hold water if the person is
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe, says activist Tapera Kapuya.
"The
1.2 million dollar birthday party being organised for President Mugabe
is
enough to provide food for 3.2 million people starving in Matabeleland
for
three months," notes the head of the South African branch of the
National
Constitutional Conference, a pressure group based in Zimbabwe's
capital -
Harare -- that campaigns for a new constitution in the Southern
African
country.
"Matabeleland has run out of food," he told IPS in further
reference to the
southern Zimbabwean region.
In a brief available on
its website, the United Nations World Food Programme
says it aims to feed
some 1.9 million of Zimbabwe's 11.7 million people this
year, if all its
projects in the country are fully paid for.
Funds for Mugabe's
celebration are being raised by the 21st February
Movement (named after the
Zimbabwean leader's birth date) which was set up
in 1986 for this purpose.
The group is run by the youth wing of the ruling
Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
This year, the group is gathering money
for an event to be held Feb. 24. It
appealed for assistance in an interview
published by the state-run 'Herald'
newspaper Monday.
"From what we
have heard they have already raised the funds. By placing a
statement in the
newspaper, they are just testing the water to find out what
the public would
say," Kapuya observed.
Festivities will take place in the town of Gweru,
which is located
relatively near Matabeleland: a region neglected in the
distribution of food
aid, some claim, for its open hostility to
ZANU-PF.
"In Zimbabwe, relief food is distributed through local ZANU-PF
channels. We
see it as something planned to punish Matabeleland for not
voting ZANU-PF in
elections since 2000," said Kapuya.
The people of
Matabeleland are also bitter towards the Mugabe regime for
committing
atrocities in their region during the 1980s, a campaign which
caused the
death of thousands of people, according to rights watchdog
Amnesty
International.
"On top of this, you can imagine holding a lavish birthday
party next to
millions of Ndebele people who go to bed hungry each night,"
Frank Tshuma, a
Zimbabwean refugee living in the South African commercial
hub of
Johannesburg, told IPS.
The problems being experienced by
Matabeleland and Zimbabwe as a whole are
compounded by the country's runaway
inflation rate, which hit 1,593.6
percent in January - topping the figure of
1,281.1 percent recorded over the
same period last year, according to
figures from the state-run Central
Statistics Office.
"People are
living from hand to mouth. They.are walking on foot from
Chitungwiza to
Harare -- a distance of 20 kilometres a day. There's no fuel,
no food and no
medicine," said Jerry Mashamba, a Johannesburg-based
representative of one
of the factions of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change.
"Some are dropping out of schools. They can't afford tuition
fees," he
added, in an interview with IPS.
Kapuya has more troubling
statistics at hand.
"The average Zimbabwean family is six, and according
to the Central
Statistics Office's recent release such a family requires
720,000 Zimbabwe
dollars (150 U.S. dollars, at the black market rate) per
month on average to
survive," he notes.
"The average salary of a
Zimbabwean is under 100,000 Zimbabwe dollars (less
than 20 U.S. dollars).
Yet a loaf of bread is 2,200 Zimbabwe dollars (about
46 U.S. cents)," Kapuya
adds.
"In Zimbabwe, prices of goods double every other day. The prices
you find in
shops are only valid the time you are there looking at the
goods. The
following day the figures become invalidated."
Mashamba
says only two categories of Zimbabweans are managing the high cost
of living
in Zimbabwe: "Those benefiting are Mugabe's loyalists -- and then
you have
people who have relatives abroad who send them money."
This weekend,
representatives of Zimbabwe's 180,000 civil servants demanded
a 400 percent
pay rise, threatening to go on strike if government refused to
heed their
demand. Doctors and nurses from hospitals in Harare and the
southern city of
Bulawayo have paralysed the country's health system since
launching a strike
in December 2006, also over pay.
"Mugabe should have used the money for
his birthday to pay the doctors,
nurses and teachers. Holding such a lavish
celebration makes him looks like
uncaring leader, which, I'm afraid to say,
he is," Tshuma noted.
Mashamba agrees. "That's right. All of us are in
exile because of one man --
Mugabe. The over two million Zimbabweans in
South Africa can trace the root
of their (problems) to Mugabe's regime and
his cronies."
Attempts by IPS to get comment on Mugabe's birthday plans
from the
Department of Information in Harare and the Zimbabwean embassy in
Pretoria,
South Africa, were fruitless.
However, Mugabe has accused
the opposition and Zimbabweans living abroad of
peddling lies about him and
his government. He claims the West, led by
Britain and the United States,
has imposed sanctions against his government
for seizing land from some
4,500 white farmers to resettle landless blacks.
The reallocation of land
got underway after farm occupations initiated in
early 2000, just months
before a landmark election in which ZANU-PF faced
its first credible
challenge from the opposition.
Some accuse the ruling party of
masterminding the occupations in an effort
to boost support ahead of the
2000 parliamentary vote which, along with
subsequent elections, was marred
by violence and claims of irregularities.
The farm campaign and adverse
weather conditions are viewed as being amongst
the key causes of Zimbabwe's
inability to feed itself.
NRZ Seeks Us$10m
The Herald (Harare)
February 14,
2007
Posted to the web February 14, 2007
Fortious
Nhambura
Harare
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe is battling to raise
a US$10 million
deposit for the acquisition of locomotives and passenger
trains from China
under a deal signed last year between the parastatal and a
Chinese
locomotive supplier, CNR.
The deal involves the procurement
of 10 mainline locomotives, eight commuter
train sets (diesel multiple
units) and 64 inter-city and international
passenger coaches costing US$114
million.
Addressing army officers at the Joint Staff Course Number 20
last week, the
Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Christopher
Mushohwe, said to
date the NRZ had only paid US$2,5 million of the required
money.
"Of this total NRZ paid US$2 million towards the 10 percent
down-payment
requirement while the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe paid US$500
000.
"The unavailability of foreign currency is a major challenge to the
organisation given that key operational resources have an import content of
over 90 percent in terms of maintenance spares. In addition, the spares have
an inordinately lengthy delivery period as they are bought off the shelf and
have to be ordered as and when the need arises," he said.
He said NRZ
was now looking at ways of minimising imports used in the rail
transport
under Government's import substitution programme whose objective
is to cut
reliance on foreign supplies as well as saving foreign currency.
Mr
Mushohwe said the NRZ recapitalisation was a major challenge as most of
the
equipment and infrastructure were prohibitively expensive and required
foreign currency.
"Priority is now being directed to the manufacture
of wagon wheels, and the
reviewing of current operating procedures like
flexi-link to align them to
the requirements of both the external and
internal business environment," Mr
Mushohwe said.
He said passenger
trains were grossly over-subscribed owing to the limited
resources in terms
of the coaching stock and motive power.
"The rehabilitation of
locomotives and wagons is being undertaken through
the use of internal
resources and collaborative arrangements with some
customers," Mr Mushohwe
said.
NRZ intends to acquire mainline locomotives, eight commuter train
sets and
64 inter-city passenger coaches under the deal.
Zimbabwe
received a consignment of rail from the East Asian giant to
construct 130
kilometres. NRZ is expected to replace old equipment at all
the country's
black spots in line with efforts by the parastatal to
rehabilitate the
country's deteriorating rail network most of which that was
erected more
than a century ago.
Demand for railway transport has increased in recent
years due to the rising
cost of road transport.
Mugabe faces calls to quit as economy dives
Financial Times
By Tony
Hawkins in Harare
Published: February 14 2007 02:00 | Last updated:
February 14 2007 02:00
After 27 years at the helm in Zimbabwe, Robert
Mugabe, the president, is
facing his toughest challenge yet as influential
figures in his Zanu-PF
party urge him to retire before the country's
distress worsens.
In the past six weeks the pace of economic decline has
accelerated - best
measured by the doubling of the exchange rate for the
Zimbabwe dollar
against sterling in the parallel marketfrom Z$5,100 to the
pound five weeks
ago to Z$10,300 today.
Inflation has surged from 600
per cent a year ago to 1,594 per cent last
month.
Industrial unrest
in the public sector has reached unprecedented levels.
Doctors, nurses,
teachers, lecturers, electricity workers and civil servants
are either on
strike or are threatening to do so, demanding pay awards of
1,000 per cent
or more. The government is offering up to 400 per cent.
In the army, air
force and police, there are reports of pay-related morale
problems and many
resignations.
Ministers and officials appear to have no plans for
tackling the situation.
In presenting the budget last November, Herbert
Murerwa, sacked as finance
minister in Mr Mugabe's cabinet reshuffle last
week, promised that inflation
would be tackled by Gideon Gono, the central
bank governor.
But Mr Gono has left interest rates and monetary targets
unchanged,
appealing to the government, unions and business to agree a
social contract
this month that would include a four-month
prices-and-incomes freeze from
March 1.
With two weeks to go before
the proposed freeze is put into effect,
discussions over the social contract
have not started. Police have begun
arresting industrialists accused of
profiteering and increasing prices
without official permission, while
harassing union and student leaders.
One industrialist said the proposed
social contract was "dead in the water".
He said: "I am now expecting the
freeze to be imposed, but it won't hold
because, other than arresting
businessmen at random, there is no mechanism
in place."
Having said
in 2004that he would retire in March 2008, Mr Mugabe now says he
believes
the party would implode if he were to go as planned. A group of
hard-core
supporters is pushing for him to remain president until 2010.
But a
growing number of party elders appear to believe that the crisis is
such
that the country cannot afford another three years of his rule.
In
Zanu-PF there are those who want the president to stay until 2010 because
they have no confidence in either the Mujuru faction, led by Joyce Mujuru,
party vice-president, or that headed by Emmerson Mnangagwa, a figure in the
Mugabe administration since independence in 1980 who has fallen from
grace.
Caught in the crossfire, Mr Gonocomplained last week: "People are
no longer
making decisions because ofthe succession politics. They are
sitting on the
fence. This is sabotaging economic reforms. It is tearing us
apart."
Zanu-PF insiders scoff at speculation in the opposition media
that the
warring factions will unite to force Mr Mugabe into retirement next
May, if
not sooner.
"Sure the economy is going through a tough
period," said one Zanu-PF
minister. "But economies do not collapse. Led by
President Mugabe we shall
pull through."
Few outside government share
the minister's optimism, saying that, as
inflation escalates, the country
will become ungovernable, forcing
politicians to think the unthinkable -
Zimbabwe without Mugabe.
Crunch in Zimbabwe
Financial Times
Published: February 14 2007 02:00 |
Last updated: February 14 2007 02:00
There are not many weapons available
for a world that should be increasingly
alarmed about the crisis in
Zimbabwe, but the time to sharpen them is now.
Zimbabwe's economy and
living standards have been deteriorating fast for
seven years. That decline
is now spiralling out of control.
Most of the blame lies with its leader.
President Robert Mugabe has turned
the need to reform Zimbabwe's inheritance
of a racially skewed system of
land ownership into a weapon of oppression
and a crude form of patronage.
His dispossession of all but a handful of
5,000 white farmers has destroyed
what was a thriving commercial sector, and
he has rewarded his cronies with
what was white-owned
land.
Exacerbated by drought and HIV/ Aids, the result has been
disastrous.
Zimbabwe is unable to feed itself. Nor does the country have the
capacity to
extricate itself from the nightmare. The ruling party is run by
thugs who
have intimidated the opposition and presided over the ruin of an
economy
that was until only recently one of Africa's most promising. This
week
annualised inflation hit nearly 1,600 per cent. By year's end
economists
forecast this will more than double again. Even China and Libya
appear more
reluctant now to bail Mr Mugabe out.
Yet for those who
may be hoping that hyperinflation will do what
international pressure and
the political opposition in Zimbabwe have failed
to - force Mr Mugabe into
retirement - there are salutary precedents from
the neighbourhood. Mobutu
Sese Seko, then Zaire's dictator, presided over a
near decade of
hyperinflation, peaking at more than 10,000 per cent in 1994.
But it was
only after state institutions had ceased to function; education,
health and
other services had dissolved; and Zaireans had been reduced to a
life of
meagre subsistence, prey to marauding bands of unpaid soldiers, that
Mobutu
was finally overthrown. The world should not be waiting for that to
happen
in Zimbabwe, which has fallen from much greater heights.
The persistence
of the crisis has dulled international senses to the looming
danger that it
could yet get far worse. South African and other regional
leaders remain
reluctant to weigh into issues that Mr Mugabe has cleverly
manipulated
around race. And there are signs in Europe of weakening resolve
to isolate
his regime. The United Nations has itself dropped attempts at
promoting a
more orderly post-Mugabe transition.
It is time to end the hand-wringing
and start constructing incentives for
change. These would focus on
refloating the economy and reviving hope for
Zimbabweans. Some, especially
in the army and ruling party, might be
encouraged to edge Mr Mugabe out. In
the absence of such efforts from
abroad, the dictator is postponing his day
of reckoning. This makes it more
likely that when it does come, he will take
his country down with him.
Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation Report Issue no. 31 Jan 2007
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA)
Date: 31 Jan 2007
Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation
Report Issue no. 31 Jan 2007
HIGHLIGHTS
Harare and Kariba cholera
outbreaks under control, emergency preparedness
needed
2007
Consolidated Appeal starts receiving funding
Weather update
I.
FUNDING
Zimbabwe 2007 Consolidated Appeal as at 31 January 2007
-
Requested Funds: 214 million USD
- Funding Committed: 1.6 million
USD
- Funding Coverage: 0.8%
- Pledged Funds: 9.7 million
USD
II. ESSENTIAL STATISTICS/DATA
11,750 million country
population in 10 provinces, with 61 districts
(Central Statistical Office -
CSO)
20.1% HIV prevalence rate (National Estimates 2005/6)
? 1.6
million people of all ages are HIV infected (MoHCW, National
Estimates
2005).
?1.3 million children orphaned by 2003, about 1
million due to AIDS (UNICEF)
16.6% children malnourished as measured by
MDG indicator underweight (DHS,
2005/6)
1,593.6% inflation rate as at
31 January, up from 1,281.1% in December 2006
(CSO)
11% unemployment
rate (CSO) though widely quoted to be 70-80% according to
the
media
Z$458,000 (US$92) monthly consumer basket (Consumer Council of
Zimbabwe,
January 2007)
Z$566,400 (US$113) poverty datum line for a
family of five (CSO, January
2007)
Z$20,000 (US$4) minimum wage
(ZCTU)
2.4 million people affected in varying degrees and 700,000 people
lost
shelter, livelihoods due to Operation Restore Order/Murambatsvina of May
-
July 2005 (Special Envoy of the UNSG's Report on Zimbabwe, 18/07/05
-
figures disputed in the GoZ response.)
Read the Full Report
Whites fear Mugabe-style evictions as South Africa seizes first farm
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
By Basildon
Peta
South Africa has seized its first farm - in the clearest indication
yet that
it is bowing to growing pressure to redistribute land to majority
blacks.
Black pressure groups and trade unions have been threatening to
begin
invading farms unless the government moved quickly to redistribute
land.
Among many of South Africa's 50,000-plus white commercial
farmers, this
first land expropriation by President Thabo Mbeki's government
echoes Robert
Mugabe's violent land seizures in neighbouring Zimbabwe where
at least 4,000
farmers have been evicted from their land, leading to the
collapse of that
country's economy.
But among blacks dispossessed
of their land in 300 years of apartheid, the
move marks the beginning of a
new era to correct skewed landownership
patterns.
White farmers
and white-dominated groups still control 90 per cent of prime
farmland while
blacks remain crowded in barren communal areas.
South African
authorities have hitherto moved cautiously on land reform,
fearing that any
forced seizures will rattle investors afraid of a repeat of
a Zimbabwe style
situation.
Yet there is also growing recognition that equity in
landownership within a
reasonable time is unachievable without resort to
some "strong arm" tactics
to dispossess landowners who will not easily give
up what they have already
amassed.
The Commission on Restitution
of Land Rights said in a statement yesterday
that the first expropriation
order of the gigantic 25,200-hectare farm owned
by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of South Africa (ELCSA) in South Africa's
Northern Cape Province came
into effect on 26 January. The government will
take full possession of the
farm for resettlement next month. The government
has paid £2.1m for the land
although the ELCSAhad wanted more than £5m which
it says is the true value
of the land.
The fact that Mr Mbeki's government is paying
compensation for the land has
at least mollified analysts who deem it unfair
to compare South Africa's
land reform with Zimbabwe's. Maans Nel, spokesman
of the main opposition
Democratic Alliance said his party's position was
that the state should only
expropriate as a last resort where negotiations
would fail. "There are a lot
of other ways to get land... At least four
million hectares are coming on
the open market every year," said Mr
Nel.
The South Africa government has recently hardened its stance on
land
reforms, accusing white farmers of frustrating negotiations by
demanding
high prices.
Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana
announced last year that she was setting
a six-month deadline for price
negotiations with farmers after which any
targeted farms would be
expropriated. Mrs Xingwana has recently been engaged
in harsh verbal
exchanges with the white farmers after accusing some of them
of sexually
abusing farm workers and treating them like slaves. The
government's
critics, however, say white recalcitrance is not the only
reason for delays
in reallocating land. Bureaucratic sluggishness in
negotiations is also to
blame .
The ELCSA's farm has been expropriated under a land
restitution law that
allows blacks evicted from their ancestral lands during
apartheid to apply
to have their rights restored or to ask for financial
compensation.
The church's land was claimed by 471 local families,
among them workers on
the farm. But the Transvaal Agricultural Union, which
represents most white
farmers, is against expropriation. One member
questioned the principle that
land should be redistributed to blacks saying
whites took large areas of
unoccupied land when they first arrived at the
Cape in 1652 to begin their
colonisation.
"There were no
dispossessions. Our ancestors found vast areas of unoccupied
land and
introduced modern agricultural methods. Now we are being asked to
give back
that land. Why?" he questioned.
Such seemingly racist perspectives
are widespread among a clique of hardline
Afrikaners who still refuse to
accept the reality of being ruled by blacks.
Mugabe's spokesman unmasked as Herald columnist
New Zimbabwe
By
Staff Reporter
Last updated: 02/14/2007 13:16:17
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's
official spokesman is the writer of an acerbic
column in a state newspaper
published under a pseudonym, according to a
journalist who has been sparring
with the columnist.
Joram Nyathi, the deputy editor of the Zimbabwe
Independent newspaper made
the revelation a week after Saturday Herald
columnist Nathaniel Manheru
referred to their "chance meeting" at a Barclays
Bank ATM along Nelson
Mandela Avenue three years ago.
At the risk of
blowing his cover, the vituperative and often
incomprehensible Manheru
claimed Nyathi was "fetching wads of good money, me
(Manheru) a pittance for
which my profession is notoriously renowned".
If you thought that was one
clue too far, Manheru also stated that Nyathi
was his junior at the
University of Zimbabwe.
It all seemed to fall in place for Nyathi who has
a history of sparring with
Manheru in their respective newspaper
columns.
"I didn't know him (Manheru) until two weeks ago. On January 27,
he took me
down memory lane, every time making sure I wasn't lost in the
course of the
narrative," Nyathi wrote in his Candid Column in the Zimbabwe
Independent
(read).
"The crystallisation of 'who he is' was our
chance meeting at a Barclays
Bank ATM along Nelson Mandela three years ago.
The charitable reader will
not miss the malice when Manheru claims I was
'fetching wads of good
money'...
"It is with a clear conscience that
I pierce the veil of secrecy to expose
him as the Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Information and personal
spokesperson for the President of the
Republic of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe,
George Charamba, from Buhera.
"At
least it explains his political ambivalence given the person he
serves..."
The revelations, while not entirely new, will heighten
public concerns about
the President's spokesman writing a newspaper column
which has been used
most to attack women, diplomats and critics of President
Mugabe's regime.
Jonathan Moyo, the former Information Minister who was
Charamba's boss,
first made the claim that Charamba was the writer of the
column.
Interestingly, Moyo admits that the column was "started under my
watch".
"Charamba is not a politician, elected or otherwise, and he thus
does not
represent anybody in government, not even himself. He only
represents Mugabe
as his spokesperson or mouthpiece," Moyo wrote last year
(read).
"Therefore, the views expressed in the column in question by
Charamba are
supposed and certainly are intended to project, articulate and
defend Mugabe's
thinking and policies on major issues of national
interest."
If it is correct that Charamba is Nathaniel Manheru, and if
Moyo is correct
that the column reflects "Mugabe's thinking and policies",
this calls for an
investigation, an exiled group of Zimbabwean journalists
said this week.
The UK-based Exiled Zimbabwe Journalists Association
issued a statement
after Manheru, in last week's column, tore into Bill
Saidi, the acting
editor of the Standard newspaper who received a bullet in
the post two weeks
ago.
"Saidi still has the pleasure of holding the
bullet between his two fingers,
not between his ears, as they do it in
Turkey and some other countries,"
Manheru chillingly wrote last
Saturday.
The journalists said: "We call on the Zimbabwe government to
fully
investigate the threat against Saidi ... we feel Charamba should be
spearheading calls to have a transparent investigation into who sent the
bullet to Saidi so he could clear his government and the army ... rather
than eulogising about the abundance of such bullets in Zimbabwe."
The
column's authorship has also been a matter of a legal tussle. In 2003,
The
Daily News sued the Herald and Manheru over some allegedly libelous
comments
in his column.
At a pre-trial hearing, Herald editor Pikirayi Deketeke
turned up and
claimed he wrote the column. The High Court subsequently found
for the Daily
News and Manheru was ordered to pay $250 000.
No-one,
it seems, believed Deketeke and suspicions have always fallen on
Charamba
who received a British education through the British Council.
The column
has also been the subject of several complaints by media bodies,
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and diplomats who have
all
been at the receiving end of often virulent and personalised
attacks.
Writing about NGOs, Manheru ranted: "I do not care what
reprisals I draw
from this tribe of depressed bipeds working for the
so-called NGO industry
... Simply put these bipeds are a dishonest lot,
right down to the man, yes,
right down to the woman.
"They crave,
feed and fatten on human tragedies ... much the same way
maggots grow
white-fat on decaying carcasses; much the same way green flies
obey the pull
of human effluvia, all in the hope of a prized find of a mount
of
decaying dung and muck ... I do not like them at all and make no
effort to
hide it. Like real vermin, they do not welcome good
news."
When the Czech ambassador made comments viewed as critical of
Mugabe's
government, Manheru wrote: "His is no donor country; his is no
imperial
country. In fact the then Czechoslovakia was a friend of liberation
movements ... [but] maybe its proud association with national freedom
struggles went with the Slovak republic, leaving none for its Czech
excision.
"If this is what he wants to convince Southern Africa, the
same way the
Swedes and Danes have done, so be it. We shall oblige and shall
be happy to
put him in league with the worst representation of imperial
Britain."
Members of Zimbabwe's dwindling white community have also
fallen foul of
Manheru's poison pen.
"I can only recall one white man
who actually joined the military ranks of
the Patriotic Front, on the side
of ZIPRA. Otherwise Rhodesia produced no
Joe Slovos, no Ruth Firsts, only
Ian Smiths of varying hues," he thundered.
"From the point of view of our
collective quest for liberation, Rhodesia
bore no good white men, and that
makes the whole lot complicit in colonial
atrocities,
the whole lot
guilty, yes, fitting candidates for an African Nuremberg."
Manheru has
also threatened United States Ambassador Christopher Dell's
immunity which
is guaranteed by the Vienna Convention. After the ambassador
was held for 90
minutes by President Mugabe's guards while walking his dog
in a poorly
marked security area, Manheru wrote: "He (Mr Dell) . . . is in
the habit of
wo(a)ndering in strange, unseemly places one never associates
with
characters of the beau monde that ambassadors are supposed to
inhabit.
"We all know what happens by the margins of the Botanical Garden
as night
falls. So many of our youthful citizens have been deflowered there,
lured by
the greenback from generous and flaunting foreigners not given (to)
enjoying
sex the conventional way."
Manheru sparked a volley of
protests from the Media Institute of Southern
Africa and women's groups when
he referred to the Financial Gazette's Mavis
Makuni as a "menopausal
columnist".
Archbishop Pius Ncube, a leading Zimbabwean Catholic cleric,
is a "lone old
Bishop", Manheru wrote recently.
And as if to justify
the excesses of President Robert Mugabe's regime,
Manheru argued: "Going by
what is happening in Ethiopia and Kenya, it is
clear Africans forgive their
tormentors, sooner rather than later, forgive
and even yearn for the return
of the deposed strongman, than imagining or
inventing totally new ones,
unrelated to excesses that have endured before.
"Africa seems incapable
of imagining futures outside of what it has
endured."
Distasteful,
his column might be, but Manheru occasionally excels himself in
the art of
black propaganda without spitting abuse.
Following the discovery of
diamonds in the Marange area of Zimbabwe, he
wrote: "I always maintain God
is Zimbabwean. I add, if he was made to cast a
vote, he would vote for
Zanu-PF. When the British were beginning to smell
blood, the Almighty drops
diamonds in Chiadzwa area of Marange.
"I am also told that both Americans
and British satellites have been busy
around the Birchenough area, very busy
snooping beneath the hemp of our
earth to see its wondrous
insides.
"For those of you who have always believed the fight with the
British is
over governance, I hope you begin to encompass the length and
breath of the
dispute. On the surface, it is about land, but beneath it is
what lies
buried under the earth."
Controversial, his column might
be, but Manheru is also being seen as a
"useful idiot" in opposition circles
for correctly predicting key government
policies.
Recently, he
announced through his column that President Mugabe would be
seeking an
extension to his rule when his current term expires in 2008. Days
later, the
plans were confirmed at the Zanu PF annual conference.
"There are many
other examples of Charamba's juicy leaks which have been so
useful that some
media circles in Zimbabwe have acknowledged Charamba's help
in filling them
in on what's happening in government by nicknaming him as
'the useful idiot'
because he gives hostage to fortune," Moyo observed
recently.
Yet
despite his incessant attacks on the opposition, Moyo -- who still has
many
friends in government -- believes that some government officials view
Mugabe's wordsmith with suspicion.
He said: "Others in the Zanu PF
politburo and yet some in government,
especially in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, have not been amused by
Charamba's reckless leaks in the Manheru
column.
"They view Charamba as a double agent with dubious British links
made during
his days as a graduate student in Britain when he was on study
leave from
the president's office sponsored by the British government whose
hysterical
dislike he now simulates with reckless abandon.
"The
strong and growing feeling in these government and Zanu PF circles is
that
Charamba makes juicy leaks of state secrets in his Herald column on
Saturdays to deliberately harm the Zanu PF government by cleverly forearming
Mugabe's detractors."
Said to have a black belt in karate, Charamba
nearly killed his wife, Rudo,
in February 2004 after she accused him of
infecting her with HIV. Charamba
had assault charges dropped under unclear
circumstances, and is now said to
be living "virtually apart" from his
wife.
Zimbabwe's new mining regulations to help halt illegal gold and diamond mining
Mineweb
By: Frank Jomo
Posted: '14-FEB-07 09:09' GMT © Mineweb
1997-2006
MALAWI (Mineweb.com) -- Zimbabwe's Environmental
Management Agency has
amended the country's Environmental Management Act
with a view to curb the
resurfacing of illegal mining activities, mainly for
gold and diamonds,
rampant in the country as well as plugging loopholes that
led to
environmental degradation and pillaging of minerals in the
country.
State-run newspaper The Herald reported that the new Act makes
it compulsory
for all mines that were recently closed for indulging in
illegal mining to
attain an impact assessment certificate first before
paying a Zim$1 million
(US$4,000) review fee for them to commence
operations.
The new act also says consultants expected to assist in
formulating
Environmental Impact Assessment reports will have to pay a
registration fee
of $2.5 million. According to the Zimbabwe Environmental
Management Agency
spokeperson Phillip Manyaza, miners are expected to state
in their reports
negative impact of operations on the
environment.
"We want the miners to state in their reports measures they
are to take to
curb pollution of the environment, especially the forgotten
area, which is
the pollution of underground water," Manyaza is quoted as
saying. "we would
also like their consultants to go and assess sites of
operations and come up
with the post-impact analysis of projects on the
environment and the
communities living in that area."
The only
consultants miners may deal with, according to the agency include
social
scientists, chemical and environmental engineers who are registered
with the
agency.
Manyaza said since the clampdown on illegal mining, gold miners
have been
approaching the agency to have a look at the amended Act and the
agency has
managed to vet prospective miners to determine those that were
serious and
those who were never licensed and were siphoning gold to other
sources other
than the only local buyer, Fidelity Printers.
"Some
(miners) we thought were not serious complained a lot about the $1
million
review fee but we know that for a long time these miners have been
making
lots of money. If their businesses were professionally run entities,
they
would not complain about a mere one million dollars," said
Manyaza.
According to Manyaza, his agency has to date received 300 EIA
reports but
out of this only 71 reports showed great business acumen and the
rest have
been rejected owing to inadequate information regarding their
operations.
Zimbabwe government has since November 2006 tightened its
noose on illegal
mining under the Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/
Isitshe-ketsha Sesiphelile.
The clampdown has netted over 28,000 people.
Ironically most of those said
to be involved in illegal mining are members
of the ruling Zanu-PF political
party and are roaming the streets scot-free
while those arrested and
sentenced are mere small fish.
What happens when politicians fail?
New Zimbabwe
By Dr Alex T.
Magaisa
Last updated: 02/15/2007 07:20:27
IT IS with a heavy heart, that I
consider the possibility, remote as it
might appear, of whether or not it
might come to pass, that those in control
of the security structures (of
which the military is an integral part) would
consider it appropriate and
opportune, to directly assume the reins of
power.
I write not because
I think it will happen and certainly not be alarmist but
only to remind
ourselves, as a people, of the possibilities, so that when we
become awake
to those possibilities, which can, with time, become
probabilities, we take
the necessary pre-emptive measures to save the nation
from that
eventuality.
It is a possibility because it has happened elsewhere before
and the risk
increases with the growth of conditions that generate and
encourage such
thoughts and possibilities.
Almost 10 years ago, on 12
February 1998, writing in his Public Eye column
of the Financial Gazette
newspaper, the late Professor Masipula Sithole,
applied his mind to the
possibility of a military takeover. At the time, he
optimistically predicted
that a military takeover was unlikely in Zimbabwe.
I thought it would be
appropriate to revisit the question that occupied the
good Professor's mind
at the time, given the events of the intervening years
and the current
political and socio-economic climate obtaining in Zimbabwe.
We begin from
the position that the security structure is a source of
structural power for
those who control or are associated with it. Often
however, conventional
wisdom and practice is that those in the security
structure remain
professional and serve to defend the Constitution or at
least refrain from
politics, leaving civilians to take charge of political
affairs.
It
is however, an inconvenient consequence of the liberation war history,
that
the security structures are led and populated largely by persons that
are
also closely connected to the ruling political establishment. One might
argue therefore, that the proximity of interests consequent upon history
entails that the principle of separation between the military and the
civilian political leadership is at best only of theoretical significance.
But what are the possibilities when the politicians appear to fail in the
political arena?
To deal with the question of why the military
intervene in politics,
Professor Sithole summarised five theories of which
four will be of interest
in this article. He referred first to the theory by
which it is said that
the military would take over on the basis that it
considers it its patriotic
duty to protect the country from total collapse
caused by "inept" and
"corrupt" politicians. It assumes of course that the
military themselves
consider that they are neither "inept" nor "corrupt" and
can do a better
job.
In this case, the military often argues that it
is assuming power on a
temporary basis, in order to "clean up" the political
system, with promises
of a quick return to civilian rule. The Professor
asked whether Zimbabwe was
experiencing economic collapse in the hands of
"corrupt" and "inept"
politicians. He did not answer that question in
precise terms, but he did
indicate that there was economic decline. But
whatever the depth of the
decline in 1998, it is now well beyond what might
have been imagined then.
Under this theory alone it would follow that the
risk would be higher.
Professor Sithole also referred to Huntingdon's
theory, that the military
steps in to fill a void left by the decay of
political institutions,
particularly the decline of political parties. This
is often signified by
the fragmentation of the political leadership, which
shows itself to be
incapable of charting a way forward, in light of general
socio-economic
deterioration. At the time the Professor wrote, ZANU PF was
in decline but
certainly not to the extent it is now, given the factionalism
threatening to
tear it apart.
However, there was no viable
opposition, which now exists in the form of the
MDC. Unfortunately, the MDC
itself appears to be undergoing a form of decay,
also the consequence of
internal divisions. Thus it would appear at first
sight, that the political
institutions are undergoing decay. Does this mean
therefore, that there is a
void, resulting from the decay of political
institutions, which the military
would be inclined to fill? Or more
appropriately, is the military concerned
about the decay of political
institutions and the way the civilian
politicians are conducting political
affairs?
The third theory
referred to by Professor Sithole, is that of Decalo, whose
view was that a
military takeover is driven by the vices of greed,
corruption and the
pursuit of self-interest of individual generals or
sections of the military.
The question then is whether or not there are
sufficient levels of such vice
in the military ranks, that would drive the
men and women in uniform to
takeover direct control of political power?
The Professor also referred
to the idea that the military takes over where
it identifies a "significant
constituency of discontent" that would be large
enough to lend support for
its actions. This might happen, for example,
where the politicians alienate
popular support and erect impediments to
legal channels for change. It is
assumed that opportunists in the military
would then take advantage and act
as if they were representing this
"significant constituency of
discontent".
Is there a "significant constituency of discontent" in
Zimbabwe that feels
alienated and unable to express its choices through
legal channels?
Probably, but would such a significant constituency of
discontent lend its
support to a military takeover? Perhaps not, given that
this is a system of
government that Zimbabweans have never had and
experience elsewhere suggests
that it is no better. But then again, it is
difficult to predict, with any
measure of accuracy, the behaviour of people
in desperate situations.
All these are complex questions that lend
themselves to varying opinions. I
am not one to theorise much or to restrict
understanding to a single
theoretical line, preferring a more eclectic
approach to issues. In this
respect, it cannot be correct to consider the
above theories individually
because they are invariably inter-connected. In
the case of Zimbabwe, it
could be argued that the conditions envisaged in
each theoretical line are
evident. So, yes, there is great economic collapse
and "inept" and "corrupt"
politicians, yes, there is a large constituency of
discontent and yes, there
are significant personal interests to safeguard,
and one would therefore
have to consider the issue in a more holistic
fashion. The collective
failure of politicians to arrest the socio-economic
decline coupled with the
uncertainty over their capacity to do in the near
future, poses a risk.
The situation is not made better by the fact that
over the years,
ex-military personnel and by extension, the military have
populated the
civilian institutions and therefore have had a taste of
political power and
control. Perhaps in an attempt to keep the military
onside, the government
has tended to cede control of a number of
institutions to retired security
personnel, while some have indeed become
fully-fledged politicians. Yet
others still have become powerful business
moguls.
Although these men and women are no longer strictly part of the
security
structures, they arguably have close links and retain influence in
the
security ranks. That they have slowly but surely made their way into
political institutions might be considered a latent takeover in itself, a
point that Professor Sithole in 1998. Yet there remains a possibility, even
if limited at this stage, that should civilian politicians continue to
demonstrate failure, those with an inclination to use force, might find an
excuse to have more direct control and influence.
The flexing of
powers by the military has also been witnessed on some
occasions, of which
the most conspicuous was the episode in January 2002,
when during the heated
Presidential Campaign security chiefs appeared to
declare publicly, that
they would only support and salute as President and
Commander of the
Defences Forces, a person who effectively had liberation
credentials,
referring of course to someone who had fought in the liberation
war. MDC's
Tsvangirai, the chief challenger did not go to war and therefore
lacked the
necessary liberation credentials.
We will never know what might have
happened had Mr Tsvangirai succeeded to
become President. In that event
would the security chiefs have instigated a
takeover or was it simply a
threat? And does this question still hang above
the fortunes of politicians
who do not meet the liberation war
qualifications? Much, I suppose, would
depend on the attitude of the rank
and file in the security forces, of which
little is known, outside the
veneer of loyalty and intermittent reports of
discontent as the economic
difficulties continue to bite.
One
hopes, of course, that it does not come to that, given the battered
image
that the country has earned in recent years. While military takeovers
have
in the past been commonplace in some parts of Africa, the phenomenon
has
been conspicuously rare in the Southern African region. When there was
mutiny in the Lesotho military, which threatened the establishment decided
in 1998, South Africa was very quick to intervene and prevent what would
have been a military takeover. Internationally, there are of course,
situations of military takeover that appear to have received general
acceptance, such as in Pakistan where General Musharaf has been in power
since the military takeover in 1999.
When Professor Sithole wrote in
1998 he argued that a military takeover in
Zimbabwe was unlikely since the
military had a professional reputation to
protect. He also thought that just
as the Zanu PF leadership had listened to
the demands of the unarmed power
base of the war veterans in 1997, it would
eventually listen to the
"whispers" of its political supporters and the
military.
But what if,
in the midst of a severe crisis, the "whispers" the Professor
referred to
are ignored? While President Mugabe appears to retain the
command and
support of the security structures, a question has to be asked
whether the
same allegiance extends to those waiting in the wings. It would
appear that
the anointed one is he or she that can command similar
allegiance. A source
of trouble however, is if there is a division of
loyalties in the security
forces along the lines of factionalism raging in
ZANU PF.
This is why
perhaps, Professor Sithole thought (by way of counsel, I
suspect) that the
military might wish to protect its professional reputation
by avoiding the
factional fights in the political arena. I suspect Professor
Sithole argued
as he did more in hope that those otherwise inclined to
military takeover
would not do so.
But then, at that time, perhaps the extent and impact of
politicians'
failure had not manifested as it now has and the decay of
political
institutions had not become evident as it now does, the
hopelessness had not
set in as it now has and the military had not tasted
political power as it
now has. Only the future will tell, but one hopes
politicians can settle the
political question and spare the country the
possibility of military rule.
The best form of defence against such an
eventuality is for politicians to
find solutions to the problems in their
arena
Dr Magaisa can be contacted at wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
Balance between free market and state-run food security needed
JOHANNESBURG,
14 February 2007 (IRIN) - Southern African countries have
shown willingness
to experiment with liberalising the agriculture sector,
but food security
experts feel that some form of government intervention is
still required to
prevent hunger in the region.
State involvement in food production varies
between extremes: Zimbabwe not
only controls food markets and prices but
also provides agricultural inputs
to its farmers; Mozambique "has a very
unsupportive policy environment" and
the "food sector is largely
undeveloped", according to 'The Political
Background to Policy Failure', a
study by the Forum for Food Security in
Southern Africa of the UK-based
Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
"Free markets in food may work
well, but there would still be a public role
to correct for undesirable
outcomes," said the 'Review of lessons learnt on
food security responses in
Southern Africa', prepared by Nick Maunder and
Steve Wiggins for
humanitarian agencies. The paper suggested a consensus
position between
advocating government intervention in food markets and
allowing private
enterprise to operate in free markets.
Some countries in the region,
notably Malawi, have burnt their fingers in
attempting to open the sector,
but liberalisation in Malawi was procedurally
flawed and tainted by
corruption. Structural adjustment policies, pushed by
the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, promoted the
privatisation of ADMARC,
Malawi's state grain marketer, in the 1990s. The
National Food Reserve
Agency (NFRA) was created to manage the strategic
grain reserve (SGR), and
the private sector was to take over ADMARC's
marketing function.
In
reality, the transfer of authority was not completed, and no memorandum
of
understanding was signed between the two entities. ADMARC retained a role
in
managing the SGR, which led to the sale of SGR maize by ADMARC in 2001,
without the NFRA's knowledge, just as drought hit farmers. The result was a
maize shortage, high prices and devastating hunger. Senior officials were
found to have been involved in the sale of the maize. Since then, government
has retained control of ADMARC.
Besides management issues, "market
liberalisation by itself is insufficient
to address food security at
household level, as the majority of smallholders
in Malawi do not have ready
access to markets", said Mazlan Jusoh, country
representative of the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
in Malawi. "There is
inadequate rural infrastructure, and the purchasing
capacity in the rural
areas is low. Markets are thin and cannot be assured."
The government's
strategy to intensify maize production, the staple food, to
create surpluses
and, ultimately, economic growth, had not been realised
because production
levels had been low and the rate of population growth had
outpaced economic
growth, he added. "As a result, government has recognised
the need for input
subsidies and food aid."
Emphasising that food security could not be left
to the market alone, Jusoh
commented that markets "too often fail in
providing maize to households with
a shortfall in home production, and
insufficient cash to buy food at times
of shortage". Moreover, the market
could not always supply sufficient maize
in the right volume and at the
right time, as past experiences had
witnessed, when production was low in
the country and region.
He pointed out that cross-border markets had also
failed to deliver food
security in Malawi and this, together with the
vagaries of rainfall, had
caused the SGR to be set up.
According to
the ODI study, "Minimal state intervention is not necessarily
desirable, and
agricultural markets in Southern Africa, left on their own,
are unlikely to
work perfectly. However, policy analysts and development
advisors should
anticipate political manipulation and build this into their
calculations."
The study argued that neither a pro-state
interventionist stance nor a
pro-market liberalisation stance would work in
Southern Africa, because
either could be "distorted by a tendency for public
resources to be diverted
for private or political gain, and for public
policies to be steered by the
wish to maintain those opportunities. In
consequence, policies will not be
pursued consistently, and the most
vulnerable are the least likely to be
protected".
However, the FAO's
Lewis Bangwe pointed out that liberalisation of the
sector in Zambia had
been successful. "The economic policies and strategies,
as applied in
Zambia, have remained dynamic and have emphasised a gradual
and managed
transition from direct involvement by the public sector, coupled
with
capacity building for improved private-sector engagement in the
provision of
agricultural marketing and input supply services."
Bangwe added that
agricultural commodity and input prices had been freed,
and subsidies
removed, except for fertiliser and seed for a targeted group;
agro-parastatals had been privatised or dissolved, except for the Food
Reserve Agency, which was a state entity.
Opening up the sector had
brought diversified crops and an increase in the
number of commercial
farmers, he said. "The number of small-scale farmers in
private-sector-driven outgrower- and contract-farming arrangements has risen
to over 200,000 in ctton, sugar, tobacco, vegetables, cut flowers and
spices."
This had led to a rise in non-traditional exports.
"Moreover,
diversification into profitable, less costly and drought-tolerant
crops has
happened. Annual production output for cassava, sweet potatoes,
beans,
groundnuts, sunflower, sorghum and millets has gone up, stabilising
food
security for smallholders."
On the other hand, Bangwe said, poor
infrastructure, crop and livestock
diseases, HIV/AIDS, dependence on
rain-fed production and poorly developed
markets had caused distortions in
who benefited and who lost out;
smallholder farmers in outlying areas were
yet to reap the full benefits of
liberalisation. "This is the major
justification used by government for the
continued presence of the public
intervention in the agricultural sector,
and for maintaining strategic food
reserves."
The analysts agreed that, faced with frequent droughts and the
duality of
farming - small-scale farmers at one end and commercial cash-crop
plantation
owners on the other - the governments in the region should
maintain and
control SGRs.
Jones Govereh, a researcher with the Food
Security Research Project, a
cooperative venture between Zambia's Ministry
of Agriculture, the Michigan
State University and other organisations,
pointed out that Zambia was a
land-locked country and faced high transport
costs to the coast, so it could
not rely on private trade alone to off-set
production shortfalls and
maintain stable maize prices; the maize belt was
also prone to frequent
droughts. "In case of any calamity, the nation needs
stock to cover the
period when imported stocks are in transit."
Cash
transfers?
But in the case of Malawi, where "management has been weak and
costly, and
there have been cases of profiteering," Jusoh said, "the
question raised is
whether there are other ways of reaching the most
vulnerable households".
The Malawian government was considering direct cash
transfers, but this
"also raises issues of the availability of food for
these households to
purchase, and the possibility of inflation. There are
also high levels of
administrative costs related to targeting".
Jusoh
suggested a study to examine the costs, benefits and risks involved in
promoting cash transfers, as opposed to food aid, and cautioned that "the
decisions regarding quantities to be released and selling prices also have
the potential to disrupt markets and undermine the private
sector".
According to the review paper on food security, results from the
pilot cash
transfer schemes in Malawi showed that the cash had not inflated
the cost of
staple foodstuffs and was more cost effective than imported food
aid: most
of the cash was used to meet immediate food requirements and other
basic
needs, such as transport costs to collect antiretroviral
medication.
"However, such pilots have dispelled the hypothesis that cash
is uniformly
preferable to food aid. In times of staple price inflation, or
where food
availability is constrained, it remains preferable to make
transfers in
kind," the paper commented.
The analysts suggested a
fine balance between a pro-state and a pro-market
stance. Bangwe recommended
a "managed transition", in which efficient
private-sector-based growth was
stimulated, while efforts to retain
broad-based growth in the agriculture
sector were aimed at poverty
reduction.
"The strategy could be to
liberalise the food economy and provide cash
safety nets for the most
vulnerable households," said Jusoh. "It is
important, however, that the
implementation of immediate short-term welfare
strategies do not undermine
the longer-term goal of developing the market
and the private sector. This
calls for well-designed safety net programmes."