7 AUGUST 2005 ALL ZIMBABWEAN CHRISTIANS WHEREVER THEY MAY BE WILL BE
FASTING FOR
ZIMBABWE UNTIL
4PM .
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERY ZIMBABWEAN CHRISTIAN YOU
KNOW.
JAG Legal Communique for Sections 5 and 8 Dated 8/7/2005 Sent date
11/7/2005
HEREWITH AS PROMISED FRIDAY 8TH JULY2005, HERALD'S
LISTINGS OF SECTION 5
NOTICES UNDER LOTS 173 AND 175.
IT HAS ALSO COME
TO LIGHT THAT A THIRD LIST OF SECTION 8 ORDERS UNDER
LOT 22B (17
PROPERTIES) WAS CONTAINED IN FRIDAY (8TH JULY 2005) HERALD.
HEREWITH ALSO
THAT LIST.
----
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, IN TERMS OF PARAGRAPH
(111) OF SUBSECTION (1)
OF SECTION 8 OF THE LAND ACQUISITION (CHAPTER 20;10)
THAT THE PRESIDENT
HAS ACQUIRED COMPULSORILY THE LAND DESCRIBED IN THE
SCHEDULE FOR
RESETTLEMENT PURPOSES.
D.N.E.MUTASA,
Minister of State
for National Security,Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement
in the President's
Office.
SECTION 8
5 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 1 350/82 Barbara
Ada Snook Darwin Bretten
735,0402 ha
6 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 2
6409/90 Dunsburg Farm Pvt Ltd Darwin Lot 1
dunsberry hill 413,2187 ha
7
8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 3 5902/68 Donnington Farms pvt ltd
Hartley
jenkinstown 3 953,6400 acres
8 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 4
8364/88 Kermanshah Pvt ltd lomagundi
kermanshah Estate 704,2200 ha
9
8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 5 4597/82 Chesdale Farm Pvt ltd
lomagundi
Silverside 2488,18 ha
10 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 6 4859/91
Nyarapinda Farm pvt lomagundi
Nyarapinda Extention 354,25 ha
11 8-7-2005
Section 8 Lot 22b 7 2763/59 Amersham investments Pvt ltd Mazoe
Subdivision B
portion of Brotherton 1 215,4384 morgen
12 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 8
855/87 H n Bennet pvt ltd Mazoe Ethel
Grange of meadows of Wengi River Estate
938,84 ha
13 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 9 4883/2001 Crowken properties ppvt
ltd Mazoe
Lot 1 of Farm 32 a of Glendale 658,4669ha
14 8-7-2005 Section 8
Lot 22b 10 4982/94 Newrose Properties pvt ltd Mazoe
Re,ainder of Erin
1287,3138 ha
15 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 11 6846/87 Lydall Farm pvt ltd
Melsetter
Subdivision a Busi 202,34 ha
16 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 12
1632/95 Preston investments Pvt ltd Ndanga
Hippo Valley Settlement holding 48
146,1593ha
17 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 13 118/83 Saurel holding Pvt ltd
Ndanga
Hippo Valley Settlement holding 44 125,8536ha
18 8-7-2005 Section 8
Lot 22b 14 4446/67 Rio Enterprises Pvt ltd Ndanga
Hippo Valley Settlement
Holding 3 585,8225 acres
19 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot 22b 15 6788/72 H d Foiard
Brown Pvt ltd Ndanga
Hippo Valley Settlement 53 157,8570 ha
20 8-7-2005
Section 8 Lot 22b 16 632/90 Funden hall Pvt ltd Salisbury
Remainder of
Nyarungu Subdivision a of Stone ridge 113,8046 ha
21 8-7-2005 Section 8 Lot
22b 17 1852/98 Harvey james Pvt ltd Sipolilo
Nyalungwe 775,7682
ha
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice
is hereby given,in terms of section 5(1) of the Land Acquisition
Act(chapter
20;10),THAT THE President intends to acquire compulsorily the
land described
in the Schedule for urban expansion.
A PLAN OF THE LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR
INSPECTION AT THE FOLLOWING OFFICES OF
THE MINISTRY OF STATE FOR NATIONAL
SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND
RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS OFFICE BETWEEN
8A.M AND 4P.M FROM MONDAY TO
FRIDAY OTHER THAN ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON OR
BEFORE THE 08TH AUGUST 2005.
a) Block 2 Makombe Complex crn Harare street
and Herbert Chitepo,Harare
b) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
Resettlement.Cf 119, Government
composite block, Robert Mugabe
Way,Mutare
c) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,4th
Floor,Block H,Office
146,Mhlahandela Government Complex,Bulawayo;
d)
Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,M & W
Building,Corner
Park/Link Street,Chinhoyi;
e) Ministry of Lands,Land
Reform and Resettlement,1st Floor,Founders
House,The
Green,Marondera;
f)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,19
Hellet Street,Masvingo.
g)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
resettlement,Exchange Building,Main
Street,Gweru.
i)Ministry of
Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Ndodahondo
Building,Bindura.
ANY
OWNER OR OCCUPIER OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS AN INTEREST AND RIGHT IN
THE
SAID LAND,AND WHO WISHES TO OBJECT TO THE PROPOSED COMPULSORY
ACQUISITION,MAY
LODGE THE SAME,IN WRITING,WITH THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR
NATIONAL
SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS
OFFICE,PRIVATE
BAG 7779,CAUSEWAY,HARARE,ON OR BEFORE THE 25TH OF
JULY,2005.
D.N.E.MUTASA,
Minister of State for National
Security,Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement
in the President's
Office.
SECTION 5
5 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 1 6909/97 Rockwood
Retirement Village Mazoe
Lot 2 Amandas Estate 230,4624ha
6 8-7-2005
Section 5 lot 173 2 04567/94 Peter Lee Wells Mazoe Stand 2
Welbeck township
of Foyle Esate 14,1955 ha
7 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 3 2458/03 Basil Daniel
Panas & Margaret
Patricia Panas Masoe RemINDER OF Stand 3 Welbeck
Township of Foyle Estate
5/8944ha
8 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 4 1183/75
George Alexander Walker Smith Mazoe
Stand 8 Welbeck Township of Foyle Estate
18,2105ha
9 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 5 14603/2004 Lovemore Chikuvanyanga
nyakuddya
& Issaac Tiriwokunze Mazoe Stand 10 Welbeck Township of Foyle
Estate
23,4223 ha
10 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 6 98/2005 Lovemore
Chikuvanyanga nyakuddya &
Issaac Tiriwokunze Mazoe Stand 11 Welbeck
Township of Foyle Estate
17,4078ha
11 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 7 9123/99
Trust kenneth Mapose & Ruth Tendai
Dube Mazoe The Remaining Extent of
Stand 13 Welbeck Township of Foyle Esate
7,8372 ha
12 8-7-2005 Section 5
lot 173 8 8283/2003 Digwell mining Pvt ltd Mazoe
Stand 14 Welbeck Township of
stand 3 Welbeck Township of Foyle Estate
5,5210 ha
13 8-7-2005 Section 5
lot 173 9 5585/91 Eric William Beachy-Head Salisbury
remainder of Christon
Bank Estate 232,7994 ha
14 8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 10 4801/89 Turner
Properties Pvt Ltd
Salisbury Remainder of Mount Hampden 305,5417 ha
15
8-7-2005 Section 5 lot 173 11 4107/2000 Eddies Pfugari Properties
Salisbury
Remainder of the White cliff 1 065,7090
ha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE
IS HEREBY GIVEN,IN TERMS OF SUBSECTION (1) OF SECTION 5 OF THE
LAND
ACQUISITION ACT (CHAPTER 20.10) THAT THE PRESIDENT INTENTS TO
ACQUIRE
COMPULSORILY THE LAND DESCRIBED IN THE SCHEDULE FOR RESETTLEMENT
PURPOSES
A PLAN OF THE LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT THE FOLLOWING
OFFICES OF
THE MINISTRY OF STATE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM
AND
RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS OFFICE BETWEEN 8A.M AND 4P.M FROM MONDAY
TO
FRIDAY OTHER THAN ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON OR BEFORE THE 08TH AUGUST
2005.
a) Block 2 Makombe Complex crn Harare street and Herbert
Chitepo,Harare
b) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement.Cf 119,
Government
composite block, Robert Mugabe Way,Mutare
c) Ministry of
Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,4th Floor,Block H,Office
146,Mhlahandela
Government Complex,Bulawayo;
d) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
Resettlement,M & W Building,Corner
Park/Link Street,Chinhoyi;
e)
Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,1st Floor,Founders
House,The
Green,Marondera;
f)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,19
Hellet Street,Masvingo.
g)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
resettlement,Exchange Building,Main
Street,Gweru.
i)Ministry of
Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Ndodahondo
Building,Bindura.
ANY
OWNER OR OCCUPIER OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS AN INTEREST AND RIGHT IN
THE
SAID LAND,AND WHO WISHES TO OBJECT TO THE PROPOSED COMPULSORY
ACQUISITION,MAY
LODGE THE SAME,IN WRITING,WITH THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR
NATIONAL
SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS
OFFICE,PRIVATE
BAG 7779,CAUSEWAY,HARARE,ON OR BEFORE THE 25TH OF
JULY,2005.
D.N.E.MUTASA,
Minister of State for National
Security,Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement
in the President's
Office.
SECTION 5
17 8-7-2005 Section 5 Lot 175 1 1422/67 Leslie
Reginal De Jager Lomagundi
Friedawil of Renfield 991,7851 acres
18
8-7-2005 Section 5 Lot 175 2 4482/86 Hanging Rock Pvt Ltd Makoni
Hangclip 1
239,6859 ha
19 8-7-2005 Section 5 Lot 175 3 307/82 Alister Coltherd Davies
Ndanga
Being lot 3 of Mkwasine Central 181,5714 ha
20 8-7-2005 Section 5
Lot 175 4 1688/86 Valley Coffee Plantation P/l Umtali
R/e of Mazonwe 3
746,2964 ha
21 8-7-2005 Section 5 Lot 175 5 2564/75 Meidon Farm PVT Ltd
Umtali lot 2 of
Burma of Clydesdale 1236,6570ha
VOA
Nigerian Official Confirms Zimbabwe Talks in Offing By Studio
7
Washington
11 July 2005
A spokesperson for
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo confirmed on Monday
that President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has agreed to hold political
discussions with
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on the country's crisis
under the
auspices of the African Union whose chairmanship President
Obasanjo
currently holds.
Nigerian presidential spokesperson Remi Oyo told
reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyele of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that no time
frame has been set
for the discussions.
But Ms. Oyo confirmed that
Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai, president of the
Movement for Democratic
Change, have agreed in principle to hold talks aimed
at resolving the
Zimbabwe political crisis, which has deepened since Harare
launched a
radical slum-clearance program in May.
In Harare, though, senior
officials of both the ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, were unwilling
to confirm or deny talks were in the
offing. State Security Minister Didymus
Mutasa said he was not aware that
President Mugabe had agreed to such talks.
MDC sources said they knew of a
talks initiative, but considered it too
early to comment.
For perspective on these delicate negotiations for a
face-to-face meeting
between the Zimbabwean president and his leading
political opponent,
reporter Blessing Zulu turned to International Crisis
Group Director for
Southern Africa Peter Kangwanja to ask if it seems likely
Mr. Obasanjo can
revive discussions stalled since 2002.
Earlier,
reporter Zulu reached MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi, who
addressed the
question of what expectations the opposition had of any such
talks.
Zim Online
Mugabe, SA church leaders meeting in doubt
Tue 12 July
2005
HARARE - South African church leaders who yesterday said they
were
"shocked" with conditions at a holding camp for families displaced by
the
Zimbabwe government's urban clean-up drive might fail to meet President
Robert Mugabe today, sources told ZimOnline last night.
The
church delegation jointly led by Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu
Ndungane
and South African Council of Churches chairman, Russell Botham,
planned to
meet Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai before flying
out of
Harare later today.
But sources said the delegation might fail to
meet the Zimbabwean
leader because, "the South African church group had come
on its own without
an invitation from Munhumutapa Building (Mugabe's
offices)."
An official of the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches (ZCC) that is hosting
the South Africans would not say last night
whether a meeting between Mugabe
and the delegation had been secured only
saying the church mission hoped to
meet officials from the government and
political parties.
Harare last week snubbed African Union (AU)
envoy Tom Nyanduga
refusing to meet or allow him to visit families evicted
under the clean-up
operation saying his visit was unprocedural because the
AU Commission had
only informed the government of its envoy's visit when he
was already on his
way to Zimbabwe.
Nyanduga left Zimbabwe in
frustration last week and Harare has
insisted it wants a new envoy appointed
and that proper procedures be
followed when doing so.
But a
United Nations envoy, who visited Harare after Secretary General
Koffi Annan
first personally informed Mugabe, was able to tour the country
unimpeded.
She left last Friday and is expected to submit a report about the
controversial clean-up in two weeks time.
By late yesterday,
the South Africa church delegation was still
engaged in consultations with
trade union, church and other civic leaders at
a Harare hotel as they
solicited various views on the urban clean-up drive
that has drawn
condemnation from across the globe.
Earlier in the day, the
delegation toured Harare's Mbare low-income
suburb where thousands of
families were cast onto the streets without food
or water after their homes
were razed down by police bulldozers.
The delegation also visited
Caledonia holding camp just outside Harare
where about 4 000 displaced
people are staying without adequate food, water
or sanitary facilities.
Nearly 200 homeless children rounded up from the
streets of Harare have also
been dumped at Caledonia.
Many of the families at the camp spend
the cold winter nights out in
the open with only a handful sleeping in tents
provided by non-governmental
organisations.
Ndungane's
spokesman Mathew Esau told the press that the delegation
was shocked at the
"very rudimentary" facilities at the camp. "Pretty much
all members of the
delegation have been shocked to see the situation of so
many children, women
and young people," said Esau.
Close to a million people have been
made homeless after the government
demolished shantytowns and city backyard
cottages in a campaign it says is
necessary to smash crime and restore the
beauty of Zimbabwe's urban centres.
The United States, European
Union, Zimbabwean and international human
rights groups have condemned the
clean-up drive as a gross violation of poor
people's rights.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which enjoys more
support in urban areas, says the campaign is a ploy to punish city residents
for rejecting Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party in last March's disputed
general election. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Mugabe swoops on the rich in eviction campaign
Tue 12 July
2005
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government yesterday widened its
destruction of
homes and backyard cottages to Harare's affluent suburbs,
barely three days
after bidding farewell to a United Nations envoy who was
in the country
probing the controversial home demolition
campaign.
Armed police descended on the suburbs of Waterfalls,
Hatfield,
Hillside and Braeside ordering residents to pull down backyard
cottages,
tuckshops and other structures and save whatever building material
could be
salvaged.
Residents told ZimOnline that the police had
warned them they would
beat up those who disobeyed orders to pull down
"illegal structures".
"I have demolished my tuck-shop in
anticipation of the police coming,"
said Gladys Mucheche, a Waterfalls
resident yesterday morning. "Police have
been rough in other areas so we
want to avoid trouble," said Mucheche, a
nursery teacher who for the past
five years has used the tuck-shop to
supplement her wages.
Residents from the other affluent suburbs of Borrowdale, Mandara,
Chisipite,
Mount Pleasant, Queensdale, Rhodesville and Highlands were also
demolishing
cottages and other structures following instructions from the
police.
The Member of Parliament for Hatfield, Tapiwa
Mashakada, said: "They
(police) are moving . . . in fact, residents are
already destroying their
own property out of fear of the police who are
known to beat-up those that
do not comply with their orders."
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment on
the
matter last night.
But a Harare police inspector Loveless Rupere at
the weekend warned
residents of high-income suburbs that the clean-up
operation was being
extended to their areas and that they should not resist
orders to destroy
cottages and other structures deemed illegal.
Most of the backyard cottages that the police have ordered demolished
were
being rented out by owners to families who do not have homes of their
own.
The Zimbabwe government estimates that about 130 000 families might
have
been left homeless by its clean-up campaign.
But the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and
non-governmental
organisations say between 300 000 to a million people were
cast onto the
streets without food or water after their homes were
demolished.
UN-Habitat head Anna Tibaijuka, sent to Zimbabwe to
probe the mass
demolition of homes by the world body's chief, Koffi Annan,
told journalists
before departing Harare that she was leaving with sad
memories of poor
families struggling for accommodation after the police
razed down their
houses.
Tibaijuka, who spent two weeks touring
Zimbabwe, is expected to submit
a report on her findings to Annan in about
two weeks time. Annan has
deferred UN action until Tibaijuka's report.
Continental powerhouse South
Africa has also hinted it could act after the
UN envoy reports back.
The European Union, Commonwealth, United
States, Zimbabwean and
international human rights groups have roundly
condemned the demolitions as
a gross violation of poor people's
rights.
Harare says the clean-up drive is meant to smash crime and
to restore
the beauty of Zimbabwe's cities but the MDC, which has more
support in
cities, says it is a ploy to punish urban residents for rejecting
President
Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party in last March's
disputed
election. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
FEATURE: Mugabe's "tsunami" haunts victims of 80s army
atrocities.
Tue 12 July 2005
BULAWAYO - Fifty-six year old
Mthulisi Dube slowly sips his tea during
breakfast in a desperate bid to
fend off the biting cold.
The breakfast consists of black tea, and
two thin slices of bread.
Dube, who looks much older than his age,
appears battered by the
ravages of old age and poverty. Life has simply not
been kind to him.
But here in this church hall, where he sought
refuge after his home
was razed to the ground in the government "clean-up"
exercise, he appears
completely at peace with himself, away from the prying
eyes of society.
Dube is part of a large group of people in
Bulawayo who sought shelter
at churches after their houses were demolished
in the government's "clean
up" exercise, referred to in street lingo as
Mugabe's "tsunami".
Victims of the clean up here say not only did
the authorities destroy
their houses - they destroyed their will to live and
re-opened old wounds
from the Gukurahundi massacres of the early 80s which
had almost healed.
President Robert Mugabe in the early eighties
dispatched the army's
North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to Matabeleland and
Midlands provinces to
quell an armed rebellion by bands of former liberation
war guerillas loyal
to late vice-president and then opposition leader,
Joshua Nkomo.
More than 20 000 innocent civilians from the minority
Ndebele tribe
that backed Nkomo perished during the crackdown referred to as
"Gukurahundi"
(the early rains that sweep away the chaff), which Mugabe
later admitted was
"an act of madness".
"Gukurahundi left
people dead, people suffered, some were tortured and
families were broken
up. Now this "Murambatsvina" (government's code name
for the clean-up
exercise), has left people suffering," said Dube, who says
he was tortured
during the early 80s disturbances.
After he lost his job in the
small Midlands town of Kwekwe some 20
years ago, Dube moved to Killarney
squatter camp just outside Bulawayo. This
was the place he called home for
the past 20 years.
But early last month, the police reinforced by
menacing soldiers razed
the squatter camp to the ground rendering Dube and
many others homeless. The
government said the evicted people must go back
"where they came from."
"To see your home going up in flames, even
if you are not beaten,
kuuraya munhu chaiko! (it's as good as killing the
man). It's painful to see
all your work and sweat go up in smoke just like
that. But I am lucky
because the church took me in. I could have died from
the cold," said Dube.
The stories are the same from his colleagues
here and from the others
throughout the churches housing these internal
refugees in Bulawayo. They
are stories of misery and raw pain.
"I saw people being killed in Nkayi in the early 80s so I took my
bicycle
and cycled all the way to Bulawayo. Now it's war again, the soldiers
are
after us again with their guns," complained a man who refused to be
identified for fear of victimisation.
At least one million
people have been rendered homeless after their
homes were destroyed in the
"clean up" exercise the government says is
necessary to restore the beauty
of cities and towns.
The government also says the clean up will
smash the illegal foreign
currency parallel market blamed for Zimbabwe's
economic ills.
The campaign has been roundly criticised by Western
governments,
church and human rights groups as an assault on the rights of
the poor. The
United Nations which dispatched a special envoy Anna Tibaijuka
two weeks ago
to probe the evictions has also expressed concern over the
exercise.
Tibaijuka who left Harare last weekend after assessing
the clean up,
is expected to present her report to UN secretary general
Koffi Annan soon.
A member of the Bulawayo Agenda pressure group,
Gorden Moyo, also
criticised the destruction of homes as "political lunacy"
by Mugabe and his
government.
"The wanton destruction of
property and the looting of people's wares
by overzealous security agents is
the height of political lunacy only
preceded by the genocide of the 1980s,"
said Moyo.
But for Sam Elijah Moyo, who is housed at one of the
churches in
Bulawayo, Operation Murambatsvina is a "silent war" (hondo ine
runyararo).
"Gukurahundi was violent. People we beheaded, women
raped, pregnant
women disemboweled and homes burnt. This time with
Murambatsvina, the police
allowed us to take out our belonging before
burning the houses.
"They did not openly kill anyone, but people
will die quietly from
hunger, the cold and diseases," said Moyo shaking his
head in despair. -
ZimOnline
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 12 July
2005
Africa best left to help itself
Max
King
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE Group of Eight (G-8) summit at Gleneagles has placed
Africa in the
foreground, but the result has only strengthened prejudices
and
misconceptions.
The mass protest by the Make Poverty
History campaign is
almost as futile as the summit itself. The campaigners
have the absurd idea
that a combination of extra government aid, debt
forgiveness and trade
protection can significantly reduce poverty. The
politicians are determined
to avoid the one measure - abolition of
agricultural subsidies and quotas -
that could both make a difference to
developing countries and benefit the
G-8
economies.
The origins of Make Poverty History lie
in the guilt
widely felt in the developed world. This attributes the
economic problems of
much of Africa and elsewhere to the imperialism that is
supposed to have
exploited these countries and left them unprepared for the
modern world.
Hence, the theory goes, Europe has a responsibility to sort
out the mess
that it created.
Academic
historians debunked this myth decades ago, but it
lives on. In Victorian
times, Sir John Seeley opined that the British Empire
had been acquired "in
a fit of absence of mind" rather than as part of a
coherent
strategy.
In the 1960s, Jan Morris wrote that "the
assumption that
the empire made Britain rich was a misconception. While it
was obviously
true that individual firms and families had been enriched by
imperial
enterprise, Britain's staggering wealth had been accumulated above
all by
free trade." The empire's total foreign trade was more than four
times its
internal trade and far more capital was sunk in the US than in
India.
As for the African scramble, Morris wrote,
"the activists
were the Germans and the French: the British, who really had
quite enough
empire already, grabbed by reaction". In 1897, tropical Africa
took just
1,2% of British exports, and "Africa, the land of the new
imperialism, was
like a quagmire, leading the British ever more deeply into
trouble".
If Britain's wealth was based on free
trade, and if its
empire, acquired haphazardly, was an increasing economic
burden, it might
still be possible that the rest of Europe left its colonies
in a mess. In
some places, such as the Congo, this was true, but few doubt
that Burma's
descent from the richest to almost the poorest country in Asia
is entirely
the consequence of its own governments. In Africa, Zimbabwe has
followed the
same path.
It is curious
that the Make Poverty History campaign is
focused entirely on Africa, and
ignores countries such as Bolivia and
Bangladesh, with equal or greater
problems. The omitted countries should be
grateful. They will make much
greater progress in fighting poverty if they
follow the examples set by
their neighbours, Chile and India, than by
placing their faith in the aid
industry.
A survey published by India's finance
ministry shows that
55% of India's population lived in poverty in 1973. By
1999, the proportion
had fallen to 26%, and there has been a significant
further reduction since
then. The data show that the fall in poverty
accelerated after 1990, when
India opened up its economy, previously closely
regulated, protected and
state-controlled or owned, to international and
domestic market forces.
Make Poverty History gives
the impression that Africa's
economic future is dependent on foreign aid,
and Africa is incapable of
helping itself. This is wildly inaccurate. In the
past five years, growth
has been consistent but modest, averaging about 3% a
year. This is only half
the level of India, and not enough to have a major
effect on living
standards or poverty, but it is a step in the right
direction.
Little, if any, of this growth is the
result of aid,
according to a recent report co-authored by Raghuram Rajan,
the chief
economist of the International Monetary Fund. Aid leads to an
overvaluation
of the real exchange rate and adversely affects a country's
competitiveness,
particularly growth, wages and employment in
labour-intensive and export
sectors. Interestingly, private sector
remittances do not have this effect,
which suggests that aid is spent best
where it bypasses governments
altogether. Government-to-government debt
relief, favoured by the G-8, may
be the worst form of
aid.
With or without aid, the economics team at
Goldman Sachs
is optimistic. "Sub-Saharan Africa is currently experiencing
its best
economic performance in many years", it writes. "We find that GDP
(gross
domestic product) growth could average 5% per annum over the next
decade
compared to less than 3% over the past 30 years. Its share of world
GDP
would increase from 1,3% to 2%."
Despite
this, few professional investors, let alone
private ones, give the idea of
investing in Africa, outside SA, a moment's
thought. They are unaware that
Africa contains no fewer than 18 stock
markets. In 2003, three of them more
than doubled in value, placing them
among the world's top 10 performers.
Last year, four were among the top 10,
each appreciating more than 75%. The
average return in dollars was 41% in
both years. More than 400 companies
have listed on various markets in the
past 10 years, yet there are few funds
specialising in such a large,
important and strongly performing
region.
Companies and entrepreneurs are also
defying the sceptics.
Barclays is paying $5bn for control of Absa, a banking
network spreading
across Africa. South African Breweries, retailer Shoprite
and others are
investing across the continent. Celtel, the first African-led
pan-African
cellphone operator, has just been bought by a Kuwaiti company
for $3,6bn,
multiplying the money of investors including Actis and Blakeney
fivefold.
Most of the investment interest is in the
resources
sector, but this only shows the potential wealth of much of
Africa. With
plentiful low-cost labour, an abundance of fertile land and
underexploited
potential for tourism, there is no reason why Africa's
economic potential
should be limited to resources, or why agricultural
protection in the west
is an insurmountable barrier to
development.
Western news coverage tends to focus
on the disasters,
such as Zimbabwe, which involve corrupt, incompetent and
malevolent
governments. The quiet, steady success of countries such as
Uganda, Tunisia
and Botswana attracts little attention. Their neighbours,
however, are
noticing. An increasing number of former problem countries,
such as Zambia,
Ghana, Mozambique and maybe even Ethiopia, have improved
sufficiently to
have become too boring for the world's
press.
The best way for people in the west to help
is by
investment in companies and projects offering a commercial rate of
return.
As the Victorians found out, free trade, investment and a market
economy,
not regulation, protection and paternalism, are the driving force
of wealth
creation. That, in turn, reduces poverty. When there are as many
funds
tempting investors into Africa as there are to India, Africa will be
well on
the way to really making poverty history by its own
efforts.
King is an investment strategist with
Investec Asset
Management, London.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
What
Should America Do For Africa?
by Rep. Ron Paul, MD
by Rep. Ron Paul,
MD
At the G8 summit in Scotland last week, we heard once again
how the wealthy
nations of the world have not done enough to raise Africa
out of poverty. At
the Live 8 music festival that preceded it, we heard
angry demands for
"Justice, Not Charity" in Africa. Implicit in such demands
is the
collectivist fallacy that wealth is a zero sum game, and therefore
western
prosperity is possible only at the expense of African misery. As
usual,
Americans and other western nations are portrayed as villains who
somehow
conspire to keep Africa poor.
The White House attempted to
quell criticism that America is not doing
enough to save Africa by
announcing that the U.S. would double its economic
aid to the continent,
from $4.3 billion to $8.6 billion, over the next few
years. Neither Congress
nor the American people were consulted prior to this
pronouncement, I might
add. I think the public might not share the
administration's generous mood,
especially as we spend billions in Iraq and
face single year deficits of
$500 billion. Frankly, a federal government
with nearly $8 trillion in debt
has no business giving money to anybody.
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair went a step further, promising that the G8
nations will provide $50
billion in economic aid to Africa by 2010, along
with canceling hundreds of
millions in debt owed to taxpayers of several
western governments. But why
should foreign leaders have any say over how
American tax dollars are spent?
Is our annual federal budget now subject to
foreign scrutiny and approval?
America is an incredibly charitable nation,
as evidenced by the hundreds of
millions of dollars donated by private
citizens for tsunami relief last
year. We don't need lectures or guidance
from the world when it comes to
foreign aid.
African poverty is rooted in government corruption,
corruption that actually
is fostered by western aid. We should ask ourselves
a simple question: Why
is private capital so scarce in Africa? The obvious
answer is that many
African nations are ruled by terrible men who pursue
disastrous economic
policies. As a result, American aid simply enriches
dictators, distorts
economies, and props up bad governments. We could send
Africa $1 trillion,
and the continent still would remain mired in poverty
simply because so many
of its nations reject property rights, free markets,
and the rule of law.
As commentator Joseph Potts explains, western money
enables dictators like
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to gain and hold power
without the support of his
nation's people. African rulers learn to
manipulate foreign governments and
obtain an independent source of income,
which makes them far richer and more
powerful than any of their political
rivals. Once comfortably in power, and
much to the horror of the western
governments that funded them, African
dictators find their subjects quite
helpless and dependent. Potts describes
this process as giving African
politicians the "power to impoverish." The
bottom line is that despite
decades of western aid, more Africans than ever
are living in extreme
poverty. Foreign aid simply doesn't work.
Despite this reality, western
political leaders who offer to increase aid
are always praised for their
compassionate and progressive policies. But
what about the people who are
suffering here at home, whether from hunger,
illness, or poverty? Are their
lives and well being less important? Where is
the constitutional provision
allowing American tax dollars to be sent
overseas?
The president is
promising money we don't have to solve a problem we didn't
cause. Americans
have the freedom to do everything in their power to
alleviate African
suffering, whether by donating money or working directly
in impoverished
nations. But government-to-government foreign aid doesn't
work, and it never
has. We should stop kidding ourselves and ignore the
emotionalist pleas of
rock stars. Suffering in Africa cannot be helped by
delusional, feel-good
government policies.
July 12, 2005
Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican
member of Congress from Texas.
Stuff, New Zealand
Rockers' humbug on Africa
12 July 2005
By ALEXIS STUART
The rocking knights, Sir Bob, Sir Elton, Sir Bono and Sir
Paul, are in the
business of making money.
They are capitalists
right down to their tip- tapping toes.
The long and winding road and
yellow brick road are really one and the same
_ they both lead to the
bank.
Why, then, do they preach a socialist message with such zeal? They
want
everyone to think like socialists and demand G8 money- lenders support
Africa indefinitely.
It's like a global welfare state on steroids.
And it's ironic. The lifestyle
modelled by the rockers is one of self-
absorption, sex and unbridled
consumption. It's humbug. (Yeah, Yeah,
Yeah.)
Africa really needs a combination of property rights, freedom of
contract,
the rule of law, decentralised decision-making and sound science.
In short,
good government.
Without these, wealth may well go to a
corrupt elite, which is exactly what
is happening in Zimbabwe.
They
have a name for corrupt leaders in Africa - the Swahili term is
WaBenzi.
The New Zealand Cricket team, and even better the ICC,
should know that
Mugabe has a custom-built Mercedes S600L armoured to
withstand AK47 fire,
grenades and landmines.
Aidan Hartley in the
Spectator points out: "It is fitted with CD player,
movies, internet and
anti-bugging devices. At five tons it does about 2km
per litre of fuel. It
has to be followed by a tanker of petrol in a country
running on
empty.
"Mugabe has purchased a car pool of dozens of lesser Mercedes
S320s and
E240s for his wife, vice- presidents and ministers."
OK,
Africa is living out the legacy of colonialism with its arbitrary
borders
around 50 different countries. But this is not the heart of the
problem.
Few African countries have good government. Hartley says
that last year
Britain alone sent $150 million to Kenya. The British High
Commissioner
Edward Clay claims that Mwai Kibaki's Government has stolen
$1500 million in
the last two years. The Kenyan's average annual income is
$600. Some
Africans earn less than $1 a day.
Columnists don't do
praise very well and I suppose it is a particularly bad
look to praise your
own newspaper. Nevertheless, the coverage on Africa over
the weekend in this
paper was the best I have read anywhere. This in itself
is promising and
fills New Zealanders, who have been supporting Africa one
way or another
most of our lives (which, let's face it, is most of us), with
hope.
Sustainable improvement for Africa will be achieved by
understanding rather
than never- ending financial support.
The G8
leaders will double aid from $25 billion to $50 billion by 2010.
Their
pledge falls short of what the pop stars wanted but fortunately most
understand that African tragedies are much more complicated than outright
poverty. Geldof claims that pop music has replaced English as the power
language of the world. Thankfully our world leaders turn their headsets off
periodically.
By all means, Western nations need to get rid of
subsidies and tariffs to
Third World countries. All nations, including New
Zealand, would benefit.
Dare I whisper that George W. is on the right track?
The President wants
free trade and African countries would certainly
benefit.
Of course, France and Germany and some of his own countrymen
won't like the
idea. The very socialism that the pop stars want to export to
Africa is the
fertiliser for the subsidies France and Germany don't want to
give up. And
by the way, "fair trade" _ that darling phrase of the Left _ is
a specious
concept defined only in relation to their notion of wealth
redistribution.
Magnus Linklater, a British writer, is right: "The
slogans of international
socialism have changed little in 40 years and
achieved even less." The
alternative newspapers sold in Edinburgh last week
still mumbled about
Marxism, imperialism and the fascist state as if nothing
had changed since
the 1960s (the significance of the fall of the Berlin wall
was obviously
lost on them).
The imposition of confused compassion
gets in the way of solving the
problem.
Protest can change people's
ideas. It did in the 1960s. But the protest has
to have a strong strain of
realism running through it. If world leaders are
going to be influenced by
the ageing rockers, the rockers' message has to be
real.
By all means
reduce debt and give well-focused aid. The West is rich, not
because it
rides off the back of the Third World but because it still has
something of
the rule of law rooted in a proper moral and constitutional
framework. The
rockers seem to want to throw both away and expect the wealth
to spread.
It's a vain hope.
Islamic Republic News Agency
Iran's Ambassador to Harare meets Zimbabwe's
industries minister
Pretoria, July 12, IRNA
Iran-Zimbabwe-Meet
IRI
Ambassador to Zimbabwe Hamid Mo'ayyer met and conferred Monday with that
country's Minister of Industries and Foreign Trade Minister Obert Empopho in
Harare.
The Iranian envoy during the meeting while congratulating
Minister Empopho
on the occasion of his recent appointment at his
ministerial post described
the two countries economic ties as "developing."
He said, "The annual volume
of two countries annual trade raised from $13
million in 2003 to $25 million
in 2004."
Mo'ayyer added, "Keeping in mind
the reached bilateral agreements during
President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami's
state visit of Zimbabwe it is predicted
that the volume of the two
countries' business and trade transactions would
reach $250 million a
year."
He added, "Iran is ready to cooperate with Zimbabwe in industrial and
trade
fields that require transfer of modern technology and scientific
know-how to
this southeast African country.
Zimbabwe's minister of
Industries and Foreign Trade, too, while
congratulating the Iranian envoy
and nation on the election of IRI's new
president, referring to the Islamic
Republic of Iran as "Zimbabwe's special
trade partner" in Middle
East.
He added, "Zimbabwe would never forget, not ignore Iran's
assistance to this
country."
The Zimbabwean official while emphasizing on
the need to implement all
articles of the economic agreement reached between
the two countries,
announced his readiness to visit Iran before the
convening of the two
countries' joint trade commission in
September.
Moa'yyer had also conferred on Thursday, June 23 with
Zimbabwean Minister of
Science and Technology Olivia Muchena on expansion of
mutual cooperation.
At the meeting, the Zimbabwean minister called for
exchange of information
and experiences in scientific and research fields,
particularly in
electronic industry.
Zimbabwe is now making extensive
efforts to increase the value added of its
products, she pointed
out.
Referring to the significant role of the Iranian ministry of
agriculture
jihad in Zimbabwe, she said such cooperation is considered as a
suitable
pattern of scientific and technical cooperation between the two
countries.
The Iranian ambassador, for his part, highlighted the increase
in the level
of trade exchange between the two countries and said the
Islamic Republic of
Iran has supported Zimbabwe under various
circumstances.
Highlighting Iran's scientific breakthrough in recent
years, he highlighted
the close cooperation in the fields of research and
academic centers as well
as role of Iranian women in scientific
sector.
The two sides agreed to follow up expansion of scientific and
research
cooperation by signing relative MoUs during the fifth meeting of
Iran-Zimbabwe Joint Economic Commission in Tehran.
Mo'ayyer had
earlier on July 2, too, met and conferred with Zimbabwean
Minister of
Foreign Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi in the city of Harare on
matters of
mutual concerns.
During the meeting, Mumbengegwi expressed his gratitude
to Iran for
dispatching a high-ranking delegation to supervise Zimbabwe's
parliamentary
election held on March 31.
The ruling Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won the
election.
The
minister said the election shed light on Zimbabwe's stances toward
democracy, implementation of laws, and human rights against the US and
Britain.
He referred to his country's pressing needs for agricultural
machinery and
land reform policies, calling for expansion of bilateral
ties.
The Iranian envoy, for his part, felicitated Mumbengegwi on the
25th
anniversary of Zimbabwean revolution.
He also praised successful
organization of Zimbabwe's
parliamentary election.
Mo'ayyer said the
Iran-Zimbabwe Joint Commission would meet in August,
calling for cooperation
in new fields.
He urged Zimbabwe to make further efforts to accelerate
the implementation
of Zimbabwean projects Iranian companies are carrying
out.