The Times, UK February 21, 2006
From Jan Raath in
Harare
ROBERT MUGABE is 82 today, and the children of
the 21st of
February Movement are getting ready to party with a jamboree of
cakes and
fizzy drinks.
Their organisation is dedicated to
doing good works in the name
of Mr Mugabe's birthday, and the children are
deemed worthy of participating
in celebrations for Africa's oldest and
longest-serving leader.
The movement gathers but once
a year, when its members line up
for an all-day succession of songs and
poems in praise of Mr Mugabe. Like
much of modern Zimbabwe, it is dedicated
to keeping the President happy.
Today Mr Mugabe, who has been
in power for 26 years, will be the
guest of honour in the eastern city of
Mutare, where residents have been
ordered to spruce up dilapidated buildings
to give the best impression
during the few hours that he will be in town.
Enock Porusingayi, a ruling
party youth leader in Mutare, hopes to raise
about £550,000 "to mark our
President's birthday with
dignity".
Nobody wants to displease the President amid
growing signs of
his isolation, and anxiety as Zimbabwe's crumbling economy
takes its toll.
In the exclusive Borrowdale Brook suburb of
Harare, construction
of Mr Mugabe's retirement mansion continues. Last month
neighbours were told
that they would have to sell their houses because the
area is "a security
zone". In the meantime, they must brick up their windows
that face the
mansion.
Yet there is no real sense that Mr
Mugabe is ready to retire to
his new home. Despite indicating that he would
step down in 2008, no
successor has been appointed. In interviews given to
mark his birthday, he
said: "One cannot ignore the call of the people
because the people are the
ones who make the final decision." Yesterday Mr
Mugabe remained defiant,
criticising African leaders for failing to stand up
to the West, and the
International Monetary Fund for allowing itself to be
bullied by countries
such as Britain. "Our erstwhile coloniser still wants
to control us by
remote control," he said.
Even some
ministers are expressing concern. Last week Kembo
Mohadi, the Home Affairs
Minister, made the first official admission that
the country was seriously
short of food. "There is no grain whatsoever. Our
people are actually
starving," he said on state radio.
Inflation of 613 per cent
gives Zimbabwe the highest rate in the
world. Nearly 30 people have died of
cholera in the past two months. In the
past week, state radio has broadcast
an anthem that implores God to "bless
President Mugabe, our support and
light".
The Scotsman
JANE FIELDS
THE people of Zimbabwe have been told to dig deep into
their pockets to fund
celebrations for the president Robert Mugabe's 82nd
birthday today.
Three million Zimbabweans are short of food, according to
independent
estimates, but Mr Mugabe will still hold his biggest ever
birthday party
this weekend in the city of Mutare.
Officials
from his ruling ZANU-PF party have been ordered to collect
£50,000 from
Zimbabwe's ten provinces: a tall order in a country where many
can barely
afford one meal a day. Inflation is running at 613 per cent, the
highest
rate in the world, and state radio warned yesterday of looming bread
shortages.
But Mr Mugabe's birthday is the highlight of Zimbabwe's
calendar, for his
supporters at least. In Mutare, businessmen have been told
to paint their
premises, council workers are repainting road markings and
refuse trucks
have miraculously reappeared to clear away rubbish. "The city
is expected to
be in a pleasant state," the town clerk, Morgan Chawawa,
said.
The preparations came as Zimbabwe's deputy agriculture minister,
Sylvester
Nguni, forecast bleak food harvests this year, blaming fertiliser
shortages
and technical ignorance among black farmers resettled on formerly
white-owned land.
In a rare admission of failures in the land
redistribution programme, he
said many new farmers lacked the expertise to
produce crops on what he
called a "commercial and even subsistence
level".
Last year, Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, produced about
800,000
tons of corn, the staple food. The country consumes about 1.8
million tons a
year.
Such travails appear to have had little effect
on Mr Mugabe: in an interview
with state media yesterday he said he "feels
like a 28-year-old".
But in an indication that he still aims to step down
at the end of his
current term in 2008, he talked about the process of
choosing his successor.
Analysts say the party remains beset by tensions
following Mugabe's decision
in late 2004 to appoint a relative political
lightweight, Joyce Mujuru, as
his deputy - a post seen as a stepping stone
for the top job.
In what seemed to be an effort to dampen talk of a
possible power struggle,
Mr Mugabe said in his interview the party was
"capable of electing a
successor as long as aspirants campaign properly and
people rely on leaders
who come through Congress".
Asked about his
health, Mr Mugabe replied that he underwent at least two
thorough medical
checks annually, including heart and bone examinations.
"The other day
they said in Singapore my bones were not exactly of a boy of
26, but they
said certainly of someone 30," he joked. "I feel like a
28-year-old."
Mr Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe, first as prime minister
then as president,
since 1980.
Business Day
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has told President Thabo
Mbeki and other
leaders trying to resolve his country's political and
economic crisis to
"keep away" from Zimbabwe's internal affairs.
He
also said African leaders were cowards for failing to tell western
leaders
"to go to hell" when they complained about his disputed re-election
in
2002.
"As for outsiders, they should keep away," Mugabe said
in an interview with
state television on Sunday night to mark his 82nd
birthday today.
"We have entertained them because we did not want to
offend. Some of them
are our friends but really, they have nothing to
intervene here about,
nothing at all."
Mugabe was
answering a question on what he thought about Mbeki, Nigerian
President
Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders' intervention in the
Zimbabwean
crisis.
Mugabe's remarks on SA's intervention came two weeks
after Mbeki said he had
managed to ensure the ruling Zanu (PF) and main
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) wrote a draft constitution
that could have helped to
resolve the country's crisis.
"For
those of our friends who intervened, what they should have done is to
teach
the MDC what democracy is or what they should do as an opposition
party,"
Mugabe said.
"Democracy is rule by the people, for the people, and
not intervention by
foreigners. But of course, we know all this
(intervention in Zimbabwe) was
being worked out, prodded and instigated by
(British Prime Minister Tony)
Blair and his government. They have done a lot
of mischief in Zimbabwe and
we hope they will stop it."
Mugabe
also shed light on why the loan negotiations between SA and Zimbabwe
had
stalled.
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanted to use
Zimbabwe's debt
situation and neighbours (apparently in reference to SA) to
effect a regime
change in Harare.
He said the IMF was now a
"political instrument" and "monster" for regime
change.
SA and
Zimbabwe loan negotiations happened in the context of Harare's
struggle to
pay off IMF arrears, which it managed to do only last
week.
"That's why we decided to find the money ourselves. We
did not go out to
find it, we didn't borrow. We could have but we decided to
use our own money
from our exporters to pay the IMF."
Zim Daily
Tuesday, February 21 2006 @ 12:05 AM
GMT
Contributed by: correspondent
Zanu PF
officials and government institutions are churning out
nauseating drivel
extolling President Robert Mugabe's virtues on the
occasion of his 82nd
birthday although he continues to preside over the
world's fastest shrinking
economy outside a war zone. So appalling is the
bootlicking that some Zanu
PF officials have gone to shocking extents of
suggesting that Mugabe should
be Zimbabwe's life president.
"Gushungo, you are a living
legend," gushed newly appointed
senate president Edna Madzongwe. Gushungo is
Mugabe's totem. Not to be
outdone was political turncoat, now Acting Harare
Mayor Sekesai Makwavarara,
who said Zimbabwe would never find a president
like Mugabe. "Gushungo, you
are a visionary and unmatched leader," she said.
Admittedly Mugabe, who
turns 82 today, has done some good things for the
country mainly before the
90s but some of the messages were "nauseating" in
their grovelling tone.
State Security minister Didymus Mutasa
in a message that
confirmed his appointment depended more on Mugabe's
patronage and not merit,
said the despot was the best leader in the world.
"Our leader quite honestly
is the best in the world. He must have been sent
by the Almighty God to lead
Zimbabwe through changes from colonialism to
independence and to guide the
country for 26 years," Mutasa said in an
advert that appeared in one of the
government newspapers. Zanu PF Women's
Affairs secretary Oppah Muchinguri
appealed that Mugabe be granted "many,
many, many, many more years."
"You have proved beyond doubt
that you are getting wiser by the
year," Muchinguri said. And Vice President
Joice Mujuru joined the bandwagon
of bootlickers saying: "The entire nation
cherishes your wisdom, charismatic
leadership and direction. Makorokoto
Gushungo (Congratulations)." Policy
Implementation minister Webster Shamu
claimed Mugabe was an exemplary
husband and father. "He is also a loving and
caring husband and father,"
said Shamu, who led festivities at Mugabe's
Highfields house weekend.
Ironically, Mugabe had an extra-marital affair
with Grace while his first
wife, the likable Sally. was wasting away on her
death bed.
Government institutions, mainly loss making
parastatals,
inserted full-page adverts in the government media praising
Mugabe for his
"selflessness." Said government bus company Zupco: "Rambai
makashinga
Gushungo (Be unrelenting Mr president)." Civil Aviation Authority
was not to
be outdone inserting a message saying: "Long live Mr president."
And
corruption ridden NOCZIM had this to say: "We wish you many more years
of
good health."
ZESA, which has been dogged by
allegations of mismanagement,
which has plunged the country into darkness
said: "ZESA recognizes the
legendary existence of a fearless leader whose
vision and selfless courage
guarded our sovereignty and kept Zimbabwe and
her people as a harmonious
entity." Many other messages were in similar
vein.
Zim Daily
Tuesday,
February 21 2006 @ 12:03 AM GMT
Contributed by:
correspondent
Bulawayo-based giant blanket manufacturing company,
National
Blankets has shutdown due to shortages of working capital. Zimdaily
heard
that the company was reeling under severe financial dire straits as
evidenced by the management's decision to send them home for the umpteenth
time. The workers said that the management had told them that they should
"come and check on Wednesday" whether there was any job to be
done.
"We were told to go home and only come back and check
on
Wednesday whether anything would have materialized as yet. We do not even
know our fate as the company is reportedly under probe. To be precise, the
future here is bleak and we are not sure whether we will be able to retain
our jobs after all this. There is a serious rumor that the operations might
close forever," one of the workers was quoted.
The
company has been undergoing trying times that have often
forced the
management to close down operations in anticipation of assistance
from
government. Recently, the company launched a SOS appeal for assistance
and
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe reacted swiftly with a foreign currency
injection. The injection did not however take the company's operations
anywhere as only a few weeks down the line, there was another SOS for
assistance. Jeremy Musgrave, the company's managing director has often
dismissed media reports on the future of the company saying the "temporary
setback has been caused by the shortage of basic raw materials that need to
be imported into the country."
He was unavailable for
comment this morning as he was said to be
locked up in crucial meetings.
Should the company decide to close, the
workers said they doubted if the
company would be in a position to pay them
their dues in exit packages as
prescribed by the Labour Act.
Zim Daily
Tuesday, February 21 2006 @ 12:02 AM GMT
Contributed by:
correspondent
President Robert Mugabe has blasted the corruption
and
incompetence in Zimbabwe's football mother body ZIFA accusing it of
dismally
failing to run the world's most beautiful game. "ZIFA, ZIFA,
ZIFA,ZIFA!,"
Mugabe lamented in an interview broadcast Sunday. "ZIFA
continues to be in
shambles. I don't know whether we can get the right
people to constitute
ZIFA. One hopes that the Sports Commission with the
help of the ministry (of
Education, Sport and Culture) get things right.
Government is going to be
involved much more in sports," he
said.
Mugabe said the Zimbabwe national soccer team had great
potential because the players were world-class individuals. "They won COSAFA
and it was good," he said. "This time they qualified (for African Cup Of
Nations) and it was very good watching them play. They have very high
standards. I think one of these days Africa might have a team that
distinguishes itself and wins the World Cup."
Mugabe
raised a hue and cry over the misuse of funds raised for
the Warriors
campaign at AFCON. "Even with the fund we had, the problem now
is with how
the money was spent," he said. "There should have been a proper
supervision
given to the monies. People love soccer, it's a people's game."
The
government set up a committee that raised nearly $60 billion for the
Warriors campaign in Egypt but there have been allegations of embezzlement
raised against some of the officials.
People's Daily
Zimbabwean Minister of State for Land Reform and
Resettlement Didymus
Mutasa has denied the press reports that the southern
African country had
started importing genetically modified foods from
Argentina.
Mutasa said in a statement that "To be honest, I have
never heard of
that. They would have to consult with me but no one has done
so. That policy
(against unmilled genetically modified maize) is steadfast,
we continue to
maintain it. It has not been reviewed and the cabinet has not
changed its
position," he said.
Zimbabwe and many other
countries in the region are suspicious of
genetically modified foods,
particularly concerning the health of consumers.
In recent weeks,
press reports were saying that the United States was
set to coerce African
nations to accept genetically modified foods following
the World Trade
Organization (WTO)'s ruling that the European Union was
breaking its rules
by barring genetically modified food and seed entry into
that
region.
Earlier this month, Zimbabwe's National Economic
Consultative Forum,
in conjunction with the Biosafety Board of Zimbabwe,
held discussion series
on the implementation of biotechnology for enhancing
agricultural output,
which featured an American expert on the issue of
genetic modification,
Prof. Tom de Gregori.
The outcome of the
meeting was inconclusive on whether the country is
to change its stance on
genetically modified foods.
Source: Xinhua
The Chronicle
By Brian
Chitemba
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe has unearthed a massive ticket
scam
involving more than 200 workers, who include senior managers, Chronicle
learnt yesterday.
Sources told Chronicle that 190 workers were
dragged to a hearing yesterday
while 30 others have already been fired for
allegedly abusing the Privileged
Ticket Order.
The workers allegedly used
the privileged tickets on behalf of Zambians in
the process prejudicing the
parastatal of billions of dollars.
"The fraud cases are being heard at the
Bulawayo Area Headquarters at the
main station," said the source.
They
said workers from all departments were caught napping when the
parastatal
instituted investigations and it was discovered they were making
a killing
by working in cahoots with the Zambians, who use the
BulawayoVictoria Falls
train to transport goods to the neighbouring country.
An NRZ employee using
the PTO pays a quarter of the total amount for the
goods whose weight should
not exceed 350kg. The parastatal charges $136 000
per kg.
"The workers
were working in cahoots with the Zambians whereby they will get
the tickets
and then pay a quarter of the total amount, in the process
prejudicing the
company a lot of money in revenue. For example if a Zambian
was supposed to
pay $40 million, an NRZ worker will just pay $10 million and
then pocket the
money. So the workers were benefiting while the company was
losing," said
the source.
He said the company started investigating workers in lower grades
but the
net was closing in on senior managers.
Contacted for comment, the
NRZ public relations manager, Mr Fanuel Masikati,
confirmed that the workers
were being investigated for abusing the PTOs.
Although he could not reveal
further details on the abuse of the PTO system,
Mr Masikati said if found
guilty, the 190 workers would be fired.
"I have said before that more people
are likely to be fired as
investigations continue. We will give you the
details at a later stage
because revealing everything now will jeopardise
our investigations," he
said.
Last week, the parastatal's General
Manager, Retired Air Commodore Mike
Karakadzai, warned that thieving workers
would be fired.
His comments came after the parastatal had dismissed 20
workers for various
cases of theft. The cleanup at the NRZ is part of its
turnaround strategy.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2006-Feb-21
THE Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and Urban Development,
Ignatius Chombo, has given
the Harare City Council two weeks to sort out,
once and for all, its
in-house problems and improve the capital's declining
service
delivery.
In an interview with The Daily Mirror, Chombo said he was
monitoring
developments at Town House closely with a view to restore
sanity.
"Some of the wrangling is expected in any environment undergoing
changes. At
the moment I believe the situation is returning to normal. I am
monitoring
the situation and expect that within two weeks everything would
be in order
and services to residents would have improved," the minister
said.
Chombo could not comment on any action to be taken, but insisted there
would
be noticeable changes in the manner in which the capital was being
administered in a fortnight. Until last week, Harare City Council was rocked
by power struggles between Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya and Chester Mhende,
the former turnaround strategist.
The Sekesai Makwavarara-chaired
commission citing gross insubordination and
fuelling chaos at Town House,
later fired Mhende.
Chombo stated categorically recently that Chideya as the
capital's chief
executive was in overall charge.
Besides the row,
another storm brewed following press reports that
Makwavarara wanted to buy
$35 billion worth of property for the mayoral
mansion in the plush Gunhill
suburb without going to tender.
The figure has since been revised down to a
mere $1,9 billion.
Chombo could also not say whether the government would
appoint another
strategist to help Harare implement its long overdue
turnaround policy.
"We are yet to decide on that, but if they feel they need
help then we take
it from there," he said.
Meanwhile, Chombo launched the
local authorities' revitalisation plan in
Masvingo over the weekend.
The
programme is already underway in Mashonaland West and the minister said
councils no longer have compelling reasons to fail to deliver since they
were now allowed to charge economic rates and tariffs for services. "The
launch was attended by the leadership from Masvingo, Manicaland and
Matabeleland South," Chombo said.
"The message was that they should not
have any excuses for failing to
deliver and we would be monitoring them to
see to it that they deliver."