13 July 2000
In today's issue:
From The Daily News, 12 July
Mugabe’s new Cabinet line-up leaked
Tipped for inclusion is the widely-respected Simba Makoni who saw service in the early years of independence as Minister of Industry and Technology before moving off to Botswana where he became executive secretary of the original Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (Sadcc). On return to Harare, he was appointed chief executive of Zimbabwe Newspapers.
Two Zanu PF heavyweights, Dumiso Dabengwa and Emmerson Mnangagwa, who both lost to the MDC, are said to have been approached but declined to be considered for the Cabinet. Mugabe is said to be seriously considering Minister without Portfolio Eddison Zvobgo for re-appointment to his former post of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. It is Zvobgo who amended the Constitution to give Mugabe the wide powers he wields today. The former Minister of Mines, Environment and Tourism, Simon Khaya Moyo, who was heavily defeated in Bulilimamangwe South is said to be headed for a more powerful post at the Ministry of Finance, now to incorporate the functions of the National Economic Planning Commissioner and to be called Finance, Economic Planning and Development. Mugabe is said to have a soft spot for Moyo, formerly a confidante of the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.
Former Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa is tipped to take over at the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, after a lacklustre performance in his former position. Emerging strongman John Nkomo is said to be headed for Foreign Affairs, presumably on the basis of his spearheading Zanu PF's land campaign abroad in the run-up to last month's election when he visited the United Kingdom and South Africa to market and defend his party's land policy.
Taking over at Local Government is Ignatius Chombo, currently Minister of Higher Education and Technology. Chombo served for a short spell as governor of Mashonaland West and is widely regarded to be one of Mugabe's favourites. Newcomers Chiyangwa, Kasukuwere and Gezi are said to be hot favourites, respectively, for Industry and Commerce, now to incorporate Indigenisation; Information, Posts and Telecommunications and Rural Resources and Water Development, respectively.
War veterans' leader Hunzvi is tipped to take over from Witness Mangwende as Minister of State responsible war veteran affairs. This appointment will obviously be regarded as a reward for Hunzvi's effort in mobilising the war veterans in the invasion of commercial farms since February. Gezi resigned as governor of Mashonaland Central while Kenneth Manyonda resigned as governor of Manicaland after their recent election to Parliament. Manyonda is said to be now headed for the Ministry of National Affairs and Employment Creation.
Shadreck Chipanga, who scored by a very narrow margin in Makoni East, is said to be headed for the Ministry of State Security to be vacated by Sidney Sekeramayi who won by an equally narrow margin in Mashonaland East and is said to be taking over from Dabengwa at Home Affairs. Chipanga is the former director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation.
It is believed Stan Mudenge will be shunted sideways, away from the international limelight to become the Minister of Transport and Energy, the ministry that controls the troubled Noczim, the sole procurement agency for fuel. The only woman likely to be in the cabinet is Joyce Mujuru who is set to retain her current, albeit in an acting capacity, portfolio at Lands and Agriculture. Olivia Muchena is, however, tipped to strongly challenge Mujuru for the post. Swithun Mombeshora, a medical doctor, is likely to take over from Timothy Stamps at Health and Child Welfare although the latter is said to be still interested in his job, banking on being appointed a Non-Constituency MP. Moven Mahachi is the only minister set to retain his post, at Defence.
From Business Day (SA), 13 July
Black labourers bore the brunt of Zimbabwe land invasions
HARARE - Thousands of Zimbabwe's black farm workers bore the brunt of human rights abuses during invasions of white-owned land by militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme, the Commercial Farmers Union said in a report released on Wednesday. At least three farm labourers were killed, 13 were raped, more than 1 000 received death threats while more than 2 000 were assaulted during the invasions of about 1 600 farms, the report said.
More than 3 000 farm workers were subjected to illegal searches of their homes and 329 were abducted by veterans of the country's liberation war and their supporters. President Mugabe based his campaign for last month's parliamentary elections on the land issue, encouraging the occupation of white-owned farms by landless blacks led by war veterans. "Work stoppages by farm labour due to invasions and forced attendance of political rallies cost farmers Z$7m," said the report, which assessed the effect of land invasions. The stoppages, combined with damages and losses to property, along with demands by the land invaders for food, fuel and vehicles cost the country's commercial farmers about Z$430m, according to the report. Farm tourism lost business valued at Z$214m in cancelled safaris and hunts due to the farm invasions.
However, the report was circumspect about attributing declines in agricultural output and capital expenditure cut backs to the land invasions, linking these instead to "economic viability factors". It stated that close to 13 000 workers face retrenchments due to viability problems.
From News24 (SA), 12 JulyZim war vets start moving on Friday
Harare - Zimbabwe said on Wednesday that war veterans who have led a violent land grab since February would begin moving at the end of the week to the first white-owned farms seized under a land acquisition programme. Industry and Commerce Minister Nathan Shamuyarira said in a statement that 160 farms - 20 in each of Zimbabwe's eight provinces - had been acquired so far for black resettlement. War veterans now occupying white-owned farms would begin to move on Friday to farms seized under the acquisition programme started by President Robert Mugabe.
The 160 farms in the first phase of the programme are not currently being used by their owners, officials said. The government published a list last month of 804 white-owned farms it wants to seize for distribution to blacks, and gave farmers 30 days to 3 July to make any appeals. "In all, 804 farms have been designated and all the ex-combatants and peasants who have occupied certain farms will be required to move from those farms to the newly acquired farms, where they will be ... settled permanently," Shamuyarira said in a statement.
Together the 804 farms comprise about 10 percent of the estimated 12 million hectares of prime farm land owned by members of the white minority, who make up about one percent of Zimbabwe's population. Farmers are appealing against the seizure of 500 targeted properties, but are also offering hundreds of others for sale in order to ensure a successful resettlement scheme.
Zimbabwe's ministry of agriculture said on Wednesday the government was still studying the offers and the farmers' appeals. It has begun serving notices of acquisition to farmers who were not contesting the programme. "I understand that while the paperwork is in progress, people will be moved to those farms which are not owner-occupied or are partly being used," a ministry official told Reuters. Under Zimbabwe's land acquisition legislation, white owners will be paid for improvements they have made to their farms but not for the land itself.
The mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) was not immediately available to comment on the plan to begin moving war veterans off some occupied farms. The CFU said last week that veterans of Zimbabwe's war of independence were continuing to wreak havoc on occupied farms, including the destruction of property, theft and threats against farmers and farm workers.
From IRIN (UN), 12 July
South Africa Promises Support
Johannesburg – In continuing steps by South Africa to support its financially-embattled neighbour, the government has announced it will work with Zimbabwe to improve its troubled relationship with the IMF. South African Department of Finance Director-General Maria Ramos reportedly said on Tuesday that Zimbabwe faced significant challenges in getting its economy back on track, but South African officials would work with their Zimbabwean counterparts once a new government was formed following last month's parliamentary elections. Speaking to the British-South African Chamber of Business in Johannesburg, she said Zimbabwe had the potential to be a "vibrant growing economy".
The IMF last year suspended part of a US $193 million balance of payments support programme for Zimbabwe citing the failure of the government to stick to its economic recovery plans. The IMF's new boss Horst Koehler said on South African television at the weekend that Zimbabwe "must show that they are serious about economic recovery" before the IMF resumes assistance. Government policy reversals and a withdrawal of donor financial support has left Zimbabwe's economy badly bruised. Its fiscal targets set in 1999 have been blown off course, with inflation hovering at between 50 and 60 percent, a widening budget deficit, and an overvalued currency that is crippling business. A critical foreign exchange shortage has also forced it to rely on fuel and power supplies from South Africa.
South Africa views stability in Zimbabwe, its main trading partner in Africa, as a regional security issue. "I don't see South Africa wanting to bolster Mugabe but wanting to create the conditions for the emergence of a stable democracy," a researcher at the South African Institute for International Affairs told IRIN. "Positive things aren't going to happen until the economy gets a bit better."
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 13 July
Zimbabwe squatters slaughter wildlife
SWARMING with flies, the rotting carcass was barely recognisable as an elephant. For Roger Whittall, it was more grim evidence of the wave of poaching that has engulfed his ranch since hundreds of squatters invaded the Save Valley Conservancy in south-eastern Zimbabwe. Black rhinos and wild dogs, two of Africa's most endangered species, are threatened by the occupiers who have imposed "no-go areas", assaulted dozens of game scouts and laid thousands of wire snares. Save was singled out for occupation because 21 white farmers, who merged their land to form the world's largest private game reserve in 1990, own its 2,200 square miles of rugged bush and scrub.
Mr Whittall, whose Humani ranch forms part of Save, is appalled by the carnage. Near the dead elephant, groves of acacia and mopane trees that once teemed with antelope are now devoid of game. "This is nothing to do with land, it's a mass slaughter and it goes on every minute of every day," he said. On Humani ranch alone, covering barely 10 per cent of Save, squatters have snared 2,000 impalas, 365 other antelopes, 20 zebras, two cheetahs, two elephants and one wild dog since April. Mr Whittall said: "We just don't know what's happened to the rhino. They might have been snared and we don't know about it. If we can get on top of this now, we can recover quite quickly. But if we let it go on any longer, it will be disastrous."
Collecting snares has become an obsession for Mr Whittall's beleaguered game scouts. Piles of coiled wire surround his farmhouse. Torn from the fences surrounding Save, the wire is made into a simple noose and hung from a tree. Mr Whittall said: "The animals die in absolute agony. You can slaughter unbelievable amounts of game with these things." More than 1,600 snares have been removed on his ranch. During a five-hour sweep through an area occupied by squatters, game scouts from the neighbouring Senuko lodge found a further 1,500, many of them with trapped victims.
The squatters turned to poaching initially to feed themselves as growing crops is impossible in Save's rugged bush country. But evidence has emerged that meat is being sold and commercial poaching has begun. The tusks on the dead elephant had been removed and scouts fear that the next step will be the targeting of rhinos for their horns. Squatters have singled out game scouts for harassment and attack. Using a network of base camps, the invaders have seized control over about 100,000 acres and declared them "liberated areas". Scouts Edward Mashamba and Webster Bhangeni ventured into the no-go region last month and paid a heavy price. A gang of 100 squatters captured them and beat them with sticks and clubs. Mr Bhangeni said: "They shouted, 'You are a traitor, you are working for the whites. We don't want to see the whites in Zimbabwe.' Then they beat us everywhere, just everywhere. On the back, the feet, the buttocks."
Although in recent years there have been outbreaks of elephant poaching in the Zambezi Valley, the problem has generally been kept under control and Zimbabwe has earned praise for its wildlife protection record. But the land invasions and the consequent breakdown of law and order have unleashed a new breed of poacher. Because President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly backed the squatters, police are reluctant to act and the atmosphere of lawlessness encourages anyone to kill animals on occupied white land with impunity. In Save, scouts can no longer carry rifles for fear of provoking the squatters. If they arrest a poacher, even outside the "liberated areas", his comrades will demand his release with threats of violence. Mr Bhangeni said: "If we try to arrest poachers, they will kill us. There is nothing we can do. But we must try to carry on. It hurts me to see all these animals dying, it's terrible."