http://www.nytimes.com/
By CELIA W.
DUGGER
Published: June 10, 2011
JOHANNESBURG — As heads of state
from across southern Africa meet here
Saturday to wrestle yet again with
Zimbabwe’s intractable crisis, the
country’s 87-year-old strongman, Robert
Mugabe, is facing a new reality: a
strong and very public pro-democracy line
from the region’s most powerful
country, South Africa.
The president
of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, laid down the law at a meeting of
regional
leaders in March, saying the violence, intimidation and politically
inspired
arrests must stop and conditions for free elections be met. Lately,
an
adviser to Mr. Zuma has been taking up the theme, bluntly declaring that
it
is time democracy came to Zimbabwe.
“The simple fact is that people are
tired,” Mr. Zuma’s adviser, Lindiwe
Zulu, said in an interview on Wednesday.
“People want to see democracy.
People need their voices to be heard. Those
are the winds that are sweeping
the continent, and people ignore them at
their peril.”
On Saturday, Mr. Zuma’s approach faces a critical test:
will African
leaders, many of whom have cozy relationships with Mr. Mugabe,
back Mr. Zuma’s
insistence on elections free of the violence that Mr.
Mugabe’s party,
Zanu-PF, has used to stay to power for three decades? Will
Mr. Zuma hold
firm?
Long accustomed to being treated with exquisite
deference by South Africa,
Mr. Mugabe is not going quietly. He has said he
is tired of sharing power
with his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, and wants to
run for president again this
year.
And he has lashed out at Mr. Zuma,
chosen by the region as its broker in the
Zimbabwe negotiations. He has
dispatched his key lieutenants — men who human
rights groups say are
implicated in crimes against humanity — to lobby the
leaders assembled here
this weekend.
The state news media he controls have sharply criticized
Mrs. Zulu, Mr. Zuma’s
adviser. Columnists in The Herald have labeled her as,
among other things,
reckless, loquacious, incompetent and dangerously
partisan. One writer
quoted unnamed sources saying, “Mr. Zuma agreed that
indeed ‘the girl’s
wings should be clipped.’ ”
But this barrage has
not silenced Mrs. Zulu, 53, an experienced member of
the governing African
National Congress who studied journalism in Moscow in
the 1980s on an A.N.C.
scholarship, joined its armed wing in exile before
the end of apartheid and
served as a party spokeswoman during the 1994
election that made Nelson
Mandela South Africa’s first black president.
As to the attacks on her in
Zimbabwe’s state news media, Mrs. Zulu said, “It’s
very unfortunate, but we
are not moved.” She ventured that it would take “a
miracle” for Zimbabwe to
be ready for elections this year. Asked about the
possibility that Mr.
Mugabe would call elections without the support of the
Southern African
Development Community, or S.A.D.C., the regional body, she
replied, “I don’t
think the president would like to go against an S.A.D.C.
decision.”
But the task of ensuring free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe is a daunting
one. Mrs. Zulu said the basic institutions that were
supposed to guarantee a
clean election and ensure a free press still needed
strengthening.
The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Mr. Mugabe’s
rival, Mr.
Tsvangirai, has demanded an overhaul of the military and the
police, still
under Mr. Mugabe’s control — a demand Mr. Mugabe recently
dismissed as
“nonsense.”
Human rights monitors have reported that
soldiers have been deployed to the
rural areas in recent months to strike
fear into the hearts of those
considering voting against Zanu-PF.
And
researchers at the South African Institute of Race Relations, a
nonprofit
group based in Johannesburg, said in a report released Monday that
the state
of Zimbabwe’s voter rolls makes fraud virtually inevitable. The
institute
said it obtained a copy of the complete voter rolls from sources
who could
not be named for “the usual Zimbabwean reasons” — that doing so
would put
their physical safety at risk.
It estimated that the current voter roll —
which lists 5.7 million people —
is most likely padded with more than two
million nonexistent voters.
Millions of Zimbabweans have fled the country
over the past decade to escape
repression and a crippled economy. The
institute estimated the current
population at 10 million.
“Such
fictitious votes could be added to totals wherever Zanu-PF was
vulnerable,”
R. W. Johnson, author of the institute’s report, wrote.
The institute
also documented what it described as large numbers of
exceptionally old
people on the voter rolls, especially for a country where
life expectancy
has fallen to age 47. There were 41,119 centenarians
registered.
“This is an impossible figure,” Mr. Johnson
wrote.
He noted that Britain, with a population six times larger than
Zimbabwe’s
and a life expectancy more than 30 years longer than Zimbabwe’s,
had a
quarter as many centenarians as are listed on Zimbabwe’s voter
rolls.
And more astonishing, the report stated, were the 16,828 voters
who were 110
years old and shared a birth date: Jan. 1,
1901.
“However, if one’s credulity is stretched by this extraordinary
number of
110-year-olds,” Mr. Johnson continued, “it is stretched way beyond
the
breaking point when one learns that no less than 1,101 of these
110-year-olds are registered in Mr. Mugabe’s birthplace, Zvimba, presumably
to act as a reserve category capable of producing particularly pleasing
results for Zanu-PF there.”
http://www.radiovop.com
3 hours 54 minutes ago
Johannesburg, June 11, 2011 -
The Sandton Convention Centre here was a hive
of activity as Southern
African Development Community (SADC) heads of states
prepared to meet for a
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(Comesa) meeting which was
also set to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis.
President Robert Mugabe and his
entourage which included Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa was seen
entering the venue of the meeting at 5pm, soon
after the mediator, President
Jacob Zuma. Other heads of states spotted
entering the meeting's venue were
from Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania
and Botswana.
Also present
from Zimbabwe was Welshman Ncube and Priscilla Mushonga
Misihairabwi from
the smaller MDC faction. The smaller faction is in a
crisis following the
refusal of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to
step down following his
ouster as the president of the party early this
year. Mutambara insists he
still heads the party, citing irregularities in
the congress that ousted him
and saw Ncube taking his place. Ncube wants
Mutambara to step down as deputy
prime minister.
The meeting, closed to the media, was set to start at 7
pm.
Earlier on the day supporters of the two MDC formations, Mtwakhazi
Liberation Front (MLF) and Zapu held a chaotic demonstration which was
disrupted due to violence. The Zanu (PF) demonstration which was expected
later on the day did not take place.
The meeting is expected to push
for an election road map in Zimbabwe. Mugabe
has been pushing for an
election this year, a move that is fiercely being
opposed by his rival Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and civic society who
fear election violence.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has already indicated
that the government has
no money to hold elections this year.
http://www.radiovop.com/
8 hours 29 minutes
ago
Johannesburg, June 11, 2011 - Zimbabwe's civic society said on
Saturday they
expect nothing but implementation of the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) resolution on Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is
expected to be discussed on the sidelines of a Common Market of
Eastern and
Southern African (Comesa) meeting underway at the Sandton
Covention Centre.
Zimbabwe's deliberations are exptected to take place
later in the
evening.
Regional co-ordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Dewa
Mavhinga,
told Radio VOP that it was high time SADC put in place systems
that will
ensure real progress is experienced on the ground.
"SADC
should put in place mechanisms that will safeguard the roadmap to
elections,
elections themselves and the environment in the post elections,"
he
said.
Busani Ncube from Bulawayo Agenda added that the problems were more
on
translating what is on paper and what transpires on the ground and urged
SADC to ensure that the road map is water tight to ensure real reforms and
not cosmetic ones.
"SADC should ensure that a clear roadmap is put in
place and should also
ensure that it is followed," said Ncube. He also said
that monitoring
implementation has been the main setback but added that it
had registered
success as far as resolving the Zimbabwean crisis is
concerned.
"SADC has been successful in the past as far as remedying the
Zimbabwean
problems is concerned. The fact that we have an inclusive
government is one
clear sign that attests to SADC's success. The resolution
of the SADC summit
in Livingstone and the calling of this summit shows how
proactive SADC has
been in trying to find a solution to the crisis," Ncube
told Radio VOP.
Madock Chivasa of the National Cosntitutional Assembly
(NCA) said as civil
society they had submitted a clear roadmap to the South
African President
and mediator on their preferred way forward. "We have
submitted a clear
roadmap to the mediator and we believe that our
recommendations will form
part of the resolutions that will come out of this
summit."
Among others, the civic society organisations are calling for
demilitarisation of state corporations and implementation of reforms in the
media, security sector and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that has been
accused of being partisan in the past.
http://www.radiovop.com
8 hours 43 minutes
ago
Johannesburg, June 11, 2011, Political intolerance among Zimbabwe's
pro-democracy parties saw a demonstration against Robert Mugabe by the two
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, Zapu and Mtwakazi
Liberation Front (MLF) disrupted and teargas thrown by the police to
disperse the crowds who had become rowdy.
The demonstration was
disrupted midway after serious tribal and partisan
sentiments started being
echoed against selected speakers who wanted to
address the crowds. The
commotion resulted in the MLF burning an MDC
T-Shirt.
The
demonstration which started with a march, with protesters singing
revolutionary songs, was being held near the venue of the Common Market of
Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trade meeting which will discuss the
Zimbabwe crisis on the sidelines. Deliberations on Zimbabwe were only
expected late in the evening on Saturday.
A group of people dressed
in Zapu regalia protested being addressed by a
Shona person, that resulted
in the proceedings being disrupted. Tribal
jingles were also sung demonising
certain tribes.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), national
spokesperson, Madock
Chivasa, lamented the behaviour as
unfortunate.
"It is unfortunate that we have to witness people in the
pro-democracy
movement fighting among themselves due to tribal and political
differences,"
he told Radio VOP. "We had initially been impressed by the
unity of
Zimbabweans but these disruptions are a clear indication of
behaviour we
have to root out in our broad movement."
When the
demosntration began it had appeared there was unity. David Magagula
of the
MLF told Radio VOP that his party had made a resolution to join
forces with
other Zimbabweans as they shared the common agenda. "We are here
for one
cause as Zimbabweans, we are fighting from one angle and we are all
united
to fight the dictator," he said.
Busani Bhalagwe of Zapu reiterated
similar sentiments saying: "We are all
gathered for the restoration for our
country and that resolution should be
representative and all
inclusive."
The demonstration was organised by the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition in
partnership with other leading civic organisations.
Zanu
(PF) was expected to stage its own demonstration later in the day.
http://www.sabcnews.com
June 11 2011 , 5:45:00
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit meeting taking place
tonight is billed
as a gathering that will test the clout of the regional
body. The Movement
for Democratic Change wants SADC heads of state to
endorse the call for
further reforms in Zimbabwe, proposed by the troika
summit in Livingstone,
Zambia.
The current gathering will test SADC's character to the core.
MDC’s Nelson
Chamisa says: "I hope that this summit is going to endorse a
proper
roadmap - a roadmap that has all the critical reforms as fundamental
ingredients to a legitimate credible election that has to be held in
Zimbabwe."
But Zanu-PF is unlikely to go along with the document
currently on the
table. It accuses the MDC of shifting goalposts by
introducing the issue of
security sector, media and human rights reforms
into the roadmap.
Zanu-PF’s Jonathan Moyo says: "A roadmap which has
benchmarks and signposts
should be one where everything is agreed. Now the
fact is that there is no
such document to be put before the summit which
represents a fully agreed
understanding other than the Global Peace
Agreement."
Human rights and media reforms
However, Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF has accused Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change of attempting to
smuggle
unwarranted calls for security sector, human rights and media
reforms into
the proposed document.
The MDC wants SADC heads of state to endorse the
call for further reforms,
made by the regional body's organ on security,
defence and politics in March
this year.
The SADC troika summit in
Livingstone, Zambia was game changing as SADC's
growing impatience with the
Zimbabwean protagonists became obvious. The
question at the gathering is
whether the full summit will endorse the troika
position or will they back
down and allow a business as usual approach.
In March the regional body's
politics, security and defence structure took a
firm stance on the failure
by the Zimbabwean parties to implement agreed
political reforms. It also
called for a clear roadmap to elections.
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Njabulo Ncube And Levi Mukarati
10 June
2011
ZANU-PF is expected to maintain its hard-line stance at the
extraordinary
summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in
South Africa
on Saturday as tension between parties in the shaky inclusive
government
intensifies ahead of the make-or-break meeting.
ZANU-PF
officials told The Financial Gazette that the party had no reason to
shift
its course, setting the stage for a grueling encounter with South
African
President Jacob Zuma, the SADC-appointed mediator in the Harare
crisis.
Diplomatic sources claimed there was tension within the
regional grouping
ahead of the summit with some SADC leaders expressing
weariness over
Zimbabwe's nagging political squabbling, while others
appeared to be divided
over the issue.
President Robert Mugabe's
ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
formation of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC-T) have both lobbied
heavily in and around the region
as they seek support from regional leaders.
Sources said the situation
has been complicated by accusations and
counter-accusations over the
escalation of political violence in the wake of
the killing of a policeman
and the alleged bombing of the house of Finance
Minister Tendai Biti, the
MDC-T's chief negotiator.
It also emerged on Tuesday that President
Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai
and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
were expected to hold a
principals' meeting possibly on Friday in
Johannesburg before the
extraordinary summit, as a last ditch attempt to
narrow their sharp
differences before the crucial indaba opens.
But
ZANU-PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, told The Financial Gazette on
Tuesday
that there was no reason for the party to change its official
position
stated in its position paper on elections.
He said the party intended
countering alleged misinformation by Prime
Minister Tsvangirai and his party
at the last summit held in Livingstone,
Zambia in March.
"There will
be no shift of our course whatsoever. We do not see any need to
shift
because our position is clear and we will not review it," said Gumbo.
In
its position paper widely circulated at the last SADC summit held in
Windhoek, Namibia, in May, ZANU-PF stated that it wanted elections held this
year with or without a new constitution to bring to an end the shaky
inclusive government.
It blamed the MDC-T for delaying the
constitution-making process. The party
blames delays in coming up with a new
constitution on the donor community
and the Ministry of Finance, which is
under the control of the MDC-T.
It further stated that the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) rem-ained the
only election road-map, adding that
it was totally against the idea of a new
election roadmap "as it means
re-negotiating the GPA instead of implementing
it."
The party also
expects the Johannesburg summit to review the position taken
by the Troika
meeting held in Livingstone and facilitate the implementation
of the GPA,
particularly the holding of elections.
ZANU-PF further stated in its
position paper, which again will be
distributed at the summit, that it was
disturbed that the MDC formations
were not lobbying the West to lift
targeted sanctions.
It also stated categorically that "recent"
intra-party violence bef-ore,
during and after the MDC-T congress held in
Bulawayo in April "proved beyond
doubt that the said party was a violent
organisation."
"The only way forward is for the parties to the GPA to
speedily conclude the
constitution-making process and allow the people of
Zimbabwe to proceed to a
referendum and harmonised elections. The current
delaying tactics employed
by the MDC formations is a recipe for political
and economic instability,"
reads part of the ZANU-PF position
paper.
At the Livingstone SADC troika meeting PM Tsvangirai successfully
convinced
the regional leaders that violence had resur-ged in Zimbabwe and
there was
need for security sector reforms, incencing ZANU-PF, which this
week sent
politburo members to Johannesburg on a lobby mission.
Gumbo
acknowledged the principals and negotiators would meet before the
summit but
asked why ZANU-PF should shift its position "when we have genuine
concerns."
"No, we are not shifting our stance. SADC understands our
explanation after
what happened in Zambia," said Gumbo.
The summit in
Zambia ordered the three parties in the GPA to fully implement
the 24 agreed
issues, among them the rolling out of media reforms, end
political violence,
security sector reform, and appointment of provincial
governors.
Three weeks ago the controversial Broadcasting Authority
of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
invited application for the establishment of two national
commercial radio
bro-adcasting stations but the MDC-T has dismissed the move
as intended to
hoodwink regional leaders ahead of the summit.
The
party claimed that the BAZ board, chaired by Tafataona Mahoso, was
unprocedurally constituted.
Ironically, Mahoso is part of the ZANU-PF
lobby team at the SADC summit
together with former information and publicity
minister, Jonathan Moyo.
Following the death of Inspe-ctor Petros Mutedza
last Sunday and the bombing
of the house of MDC-T secretary general Tendai
Biti, there are indications
the two parties would use these violent
incidents to canvas for support
among regional leaders.
More than 20
supporters of the MDC-T have been arrested for the murder of
Inspector
Mutedza but as of Tuesday no one had been arrested over the
bombing of
Biti's house.
The deputy spokesperson of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube,
Kurauone Chihwayi,
confirmed there would be a meeting of the principals and
GPA negotiators.
Ncube has been invited as the leader of his faction of the
MDC while Deputy
Prime Minister Mutambara would be attending as a
principal.
"I know they will be meeting, but I am not sure about their
agenda," said
Chihwayi.
The MDC deputy spokesperson hinted the
parties were going to the summit
still sharply divided.
"ZANU-PF says
elections this year, we say elections next year, ZANU-PF says
the GPA is
enough for elections we say we want a full roadmap. ZANU-PF says
violence is
being perpetrated by MDC we say the opposite, so I do not see
any tangible
results from the summit. The parties will go there divided as
usual," he
said.
Luke Tamborinyoka, the MDC-T spokesperson, said he was not aware of
the
pre-summit meeting.
"I have not heard about anything, I will
cross check. All I know is that the
principals met on Monday for their
routine meetings," said Tamborinyoka.
The summit will take place on the
sidelines of the Free Trade Area summit
involving SADC, the Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa and the
East African Community.
SADC
has demanded that the three parties in the inclusive government must
present
a unified report, but it seems a major showdown is inevitable.
Zimbabwe's
civil society, which again has made a bee-line to the summit, has
organised
a march and rally at Sandton Convention Centre in South Africa.
http://www.radiovop.com
16 hours 34 minutes ago
Johannesburg, June 11, 2011 - The
president of the Movement for Democratic
Change’s youth assembly led by
Morgan Tsvangirai has called on Southern
Africa’s Development Community
(SADC) regional leaders meeting in Sandton on
Saturday to come up with a
concrete roadmap that speaks of President Mugabe’s
immediate
departure.
Solomon Madzore, the newly elected youth leader accompanied by
his secretary
general, Promise Mkwananzi said the party and his youth wing
expected
nothing less than Mugabe’s immediate exit from SADC summit
resolutions.
Madzore who was addressing an MDC-T meeting, Friday in
Johannesburg said:“We
expect two things from SADC, a clear roadmap on
elections and a clear plan
on Mugabe’s speedy exit”, said Madzore said to an
applause of party
stalwarts.
Mkwananzi speaking on the situation
obtaining currently in Zimbabwe said the
ruling partner Zanu (PF) was
intensifying its repression mechanism with him
and his leader facing a
possible arrest on their immediate return to
Zimbabwe.
“We are
currently facing police harassment, as I am speaking right now
Madzore is in
possession of a request to report to the police station for
inquiry, we have
not reported yet as we are running away from prospect of
torture”, added
Mkwananzi.
Madzore took a swipe on party members who practice violence
saying anyone
who does that automatically disqualifies himself as a member
of his party.
Meanwhile fireworks are expected on Saturday between Zanu
(PF) and MDC-T
parties at the venue where the SADC summit will be taking
place.
Ishmael Kauzani of the Zimbabwe Youth Wing confirmed to Radio VOP
that Zanu
(PF) bussed over 200 people from Zimbabwe to come and cause
problems on the
sidelines of SADC summit.
Madock Chivasa,
spokesperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA)
said behaviour
being exhibited by Zanu (PF) of bussing its hooligans was a
clear sign of
desperation.
“They have run out of ideas, it’s not only hooligans who
have been bussed
but even their propaganda machinery including Jonathan
Moyo, Chris
Mutsvangwa was also transported to come and grace the occasion”,
said
Chivasa.
http://www.radiovop.com/
16 hours 55 minutes
ago
Johannesburg, June 11, 2011 - More than 280 supporters of Prime
Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been
murdered
by supporters of President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party in
two
years, the MDC has said.
In a report entitled Footprints of
Abuse, launched on Friday here ahead of
the Saturday SADC extraordinary
summit on Zimbabwe, the MDC said it had lost
281 of its supporters in eight
of the country’s provinces who succumbed to
death
as a result of
political violence unleashed on them by some Zanu (PF)
supporters and state
security agents between 2008 and 2010.
The MDC said 75 lives were lost in
Mashonaland East province, 64 in
Manicaland province, 49 in Mashonaland
Central province, 32 in Masvingo
Province, 26 in Midland province, 16 in
Mugabe’s home province of
Mashonaland West, 18 in Harare and one in
Matabeleland South province.
In the 67 page report, the MDC fingered some
members of the Zimbabwe
National Army, the youth militia and some Zanu (PF)
supporters of
orchestrating the murder of the party’s supporters.
The
MDC also launched another pictorial magazine exposing the use of
violence
and torture by President Robert Mugabe’s supporters against its
party’s
supporters.
The reports together with a photo exhibition which opened on
Friday in
Sandton close to the venue of the SADC summit are aimed at
countering Zanu
(PF’)s propaganda offensive which blames Tsvangirai’s party
for the upsurge
in violence in the country.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Jun 11, 2011 12:51 PM | By
Reuters
Africa must beware of "new colonialism" as China expands ties
there and
focus instead on partners able to help build economic capacity on
the
continent, says US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
Clinton, asked in a television interview in Zambia about
China’s rising
influence on the continent, said Africans should be wary of
friends who only
deal with elites.
“We don’t want to see a new
colonialism in Africa,” Clinton said in a
television interview in Lusaka,
the first stop on a five-day Africa tour.
“When people come to Africa to
make investments, we want them to do well but
also want them to do good,”
she said. “We don’t want them to undermine good
governance in
Africa.”
Clinton, appearing on the televised “Africa 360” program in
Lusaka on
Saturday, said African states could learn much from Asia on how
governments
can help support economic growth but said she did not see
Beijing as a
political role model.
“We are beginning to see a lot of
problems” in China that will intensify
over the next 10 years, she said,
pointing to friction over Chinese efforts
to control the Internet as one
example. “There are more lessons to learn
from the United States and
democracies,” Clinton said.
Her trip, which also takes her to Tanzania
and Ethiopia, is meant to
highlight the Obama administration’s drive to help
African countries meet
challenges ranging from HIV/AIDS to food security and
speed up often
impressive economic growth.
She has repeatedly drawn
comparisons with China, which pumped almost $10
billion in investment into
Africa in 2009 and has also seen trade soar as
Beijing buys African oil and
other raw materials to fuel its booming
economy.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Tavada
Mafa
Saturday, 11 June 2011 11:33
HARARE - Mavambo Kusile Dawn says
the government should pay civil servants
with funds currently being wasted
on ‘fruitless’ foreign trips and the $98
million it borrowed from China for
the construction of a military academy.
Civil servants have threatened
industrial action soon if government does not
review their salaries. On
average, depending on the grade, civil servants
earn between $240 and $520 a
month.
In April, President Robert Mugabe promised them a salary hike premised
on
the proceeds of the sale of Marange diamonds - but nothing has come to
fruition.
“Zanu (PF), MDC-T and MDC-M/N politicians continue to put their
comfort
first, as shown by the rate at which they are drawing huge
allowances
through endless and unfruitful foreign trips. We do not
understand why a
small country like Zimbabwe would need a twin chamber
Legislature. We have
MPs and Senators drawing monthly salaries from the
country’s fiscus,” the
party’s National Management Committee member Velta
Zumbika said in a
statement.
“The parties in the inclusive government are
always in and out of the
country for endless negotiations of their political
pact, which are failing
to bear fruit. These politicians use thousands of
tax payers’ money during
these trips.
“If Parliament of Zimbabwe can
formally validate a loan deal of $98 million
for a Military and Defence
College, what stops the executive arm of
government from negotiating other
loans to revive the economy, supply
medical, educational and sanitary
services. The IG should stop prioritising
buying of luxurious and expensive
vehicles for themselves, Military, Police
and Intelligence top brass, when a
larger group of Civil Servants is
wallowing in abject poverty,” Zumbika
added.
Last week the Zimbabwean government approved the massive Chinese loan
to
build a special purpose military academy on the outskirts of Harare. The
academy will be funded from proceeds of the country’s diamonds.
The
development has been widely criticised by observers who say there is no
need
for such a facility.
Critics have also accused the Chinese of extending
Mugabe’s dictatorial rule
as the aging leader is known for using the
military to suppress his
opponents.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti has also
come under fire for the loan he signed
the on behalf of the Government of
Zimbabwe.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Chief Reporter
Saturday, 11 June 2011
12:25
Highest sales in a decade
HARARE - The bids of buyers and
sellers echoed loudly across the massive
Tobacco Sales Floor in Willowvale
as 2,800 bales were sold. This has been
widely acclaimed as a 10-year
record. But before the disastrous land
“reform” engineered by Zanu (PF)
using party thugs in a desperate attempt
to stay in power, 18,000 bales were
routinely sold every day.
Tobacco has traditionally been the mainstay of
Zimbabwe's economy and the
largest single export earner. After more than a
decade of chaos that has
seen the often bloody invasion of 4,000 white-owned
farms, tobacco
production had dropped to record lows.
But it is picking
up again, with the latest figures showing that the current
production is
just 20 per cent lower than record high production. The
Tobacco Industry
Marketing Board said this week over 103million kgs of
tobacco worth
$277million has been sold since the auction floors opened on
February 15
this year.
TIMB stats show that the three auction floors, Boka Tobacco Floors
(BTF),
Millenium Tobacco Floors (MTF) and Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) had by
last
Friday sold 48 million kgs of tobacco while 55 million kgs had been
sold
under the contract system.
The board’s CEO, Andrew Matibiri, said
the average price was $2.69, a figure
lower than the $3.01 registered during
the same period last year. He
projected that 170 million kgs of the golden
leaf will be delivered to the
floors under the contract system. That would
be a sharp increase from the
123 million kgs worth $347.8million sold last
year.
Official vandalism
The decline so far, which industry figures
blame on "official vandalism",
represents a loss to the nation of millions
in scarce dollars - disastrous
for a tiny economy like Zimbabwe’s. Although
buyers, sellers and their
valuable produce covered barely one third of the
sales floor, it was a
record-breaking week – the highest in a decade A floor
manager at the
auctions said: "Its beginning to look up. Comparing this with
10 years ago,
we would be fully booked by now. There has been so much
uncertainty about
the future. But it seems the new farmers are filling the
gap, even though
there are issues with the quality of the leaf, hence the
lowering of
prices."
After grabbing the commercial farms, the “new”
tobacco farmers have had to
cope with fuel and currency shortages. One buyer
said: "It's a miracle that
we have a crop at all, given all that has
happened over the past decade."
Perhaps most disastrous of all, many of
Zimbabwe's best tobacco farms were
among the 4,000 properties "compulsorily
acquired" by the government. Once a
farm's ownership is under dispute from
the evicted white farmer, banks will
not provide loans and the new farmers
have struggled to maintain production.
It is believed the majority of the
white farmers who have been kicked out
were mainly tobacco
farmers.
Evicted farmers
Tobacco industry experts say Zimbabwe has
lost a lot of growers to New
Zealand and Australia and the few who remain
grow less with the new farmers
providing the bulk of the crop.
Evicted
farmers who have sought legal redress have argued that the onslaught
on the
tobacco industry is part of President Robert Mugabe's wider attack on
the
white minority. He has pledged to end what he calls "white control" of
the
economy and tobacco - largely grown by white farmers and sold to white
buyers - has always fed his paranoia. By wrecking the formal economy, Mugabe
has reinforced his grip on power by creating a Zimbabwe where everyone was
dependent on government patronage.
One industry figure said: "This is
official vandalism with a political
purpose." But Matibiri says the new
farmers have proved to be competent in
tobacco farming, and said the major
challenge has been congestion at the
auction floors. He said TIMB was
decentralising its operations into the four
main tobacco producing provinces
in Mvurwi (Mash Central), Marondera (Mash
East), Rusape (Manicaland) and
Chinhoyi (Mash West).
"Farmers are now able to get services at these centres
with regards to
registration, submission of production estimates, sales
bookings and general
advice on topical matters in the industry," he said. He
said the new policy
of "deliver today, sell tomorrow" was aimed at improving
efficiency of the
marketing system and providing small scale producers,
which are in the
majority, with as much assistance as possible.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Edward Jones Saturday 11 June
2011
HARARE – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected
that Zimbabwe’s
economy will grow 5.5 percent this year, a decline from the
8 percent last
year as the country’s recovery remains fragile, differing
sharply with the
government which is more upbeat on its growth
prospects.
In a report released at the conclusion of consultative
meetings with Harare
authorities, the IMF said Zimbabwe should return to
cash budgeting and curb
excessive expenditure, stressing that ghost workers
needed to be removed
from the payroll.
“To meet these challenges,
directors highlighted the need for reducing the
wage bill relative to
revenues, tightening the budget constraint on
state-owned enterprises, and
implementing public finance management
reforms,” the IMF said in the
report.
The report came at a time Finance Biti was quoted by
international media
saying the economy could exceed the official forecast of
9.3 percent this
year, driven by higher commodity prices but that politics
continued to weigh
on the southern African nation.
The IMF said
nominal GDP would rise to about $9 billion this year from $7.4
billion in
2010 but that Zimbabwe remained in debt stress, forecasting that
foreign
debt would stand at $9.6 billion by December.
The Bretton Woods
institution also wants Zimbabwe to start an IMF monitored
staff programme,
the first step in the long road towards accessing financial
aid.
International lenders last extended funding to Zimbabwe in 1999
before a
fall-out with President Robert Mugabe, whose policies, including
the
seizures of white-owned commercial farms in 2000 led to an investor
flight.
Zimbabwe’s arrears to foreign lenders now stand at $6.4 billion
and the
country has agreed to clear its debt through debt cancellation and
using
revenues from its minerals to settle part of the money it owes, the
Fund
said.
“Directors urged the authorities to refrain from further
non-concessional
borrowing and to seek better terms for recently contracted
debt,” the IMF
said.
This could be in reference to the $700 million
in loans that Zimbabwe agreed
with China in March.
The troubled
southern African country has increasingly leaned on China after
failing to
secure funding from Western countries opposed to Mugabe’s more
than three
decades rule.
Zimbabwe has failed to attract foreign investors, who have
been rattled by
government plans to force mining companies to sell at least
51 percent of
their local operations to blacks by September 30.
The
indigenisation and empowerment programme has sharply divided the unity
government formed by Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
“To
attract private investment, Directors stressed the need to maintain the
rule
of law, ensure security of land tenure, improve governance,
particularly in
the diamond sector, and increase the flexibility of the
labor market,” the
IMF said. -- ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Vusimuzi Bhebhe
Saturday, 11 June 2011
12:32
HARARE - Western donors have come to the rescue of millions of
urban
Zimbabweans – to rehabilitate the dilapidated water and sanitation
systems
in six towns and cities around the country.
The Minister of
Finance, Tendai Biti, signed a $30 million grant with the
African
Development Bank, the custodian of the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust
Fund set
up in 2010 by Australia, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the
United
Kingdom and the ADB to support the people of Zimbabwe.
The agreement will see
the financing of a massive water supply and
sanitation rehabilitation
project that is set to improve aged infrastructure
in six towns and cities.
The project is expected to improve the state of the
water and sanitation
infrastructure in the capital Harare, Masvingo, Mutare,
Chegutu, Kwekwe and
Chitungwiza, benefiting over four million people living
in these
cities.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Portugal last Friday, Biti said
the
project was an “essential and significant additional step” towards the
restoration of basic services in Zimbabwe. “The project will have real
impact on men and women around the country,” he said.
He also noted the
need for his government to work towards clearing the
country’s bloated
external debt arrears, which currently stand at $8.8
billion, a move he said
would be a significant step towards accelerating the
process of recovery.
The ADB’s Vice President for Operations, Aloysius Ordu,
praised the
Zimbabwean government for its ongoing economic reforms, which he
said had
borne positive results, with inflation restrained to low digits in
2010.
“We wish to thank all the partners contributing to this initiative
and we
look forward to partnering and implementing more projects to help
ensure the
continued and sustained recovery of the infrastructure sector,
and further
contributing to the social and economic development of
Zimbabwe,” he said.
The Zim-Fund was established in May 2010 and formally
launched in Zimbabwe
by the ADB president Donald Kaberuka in March 2011.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by The Zimbabwean
Friday, 10
June 2011 17:13
Refuses to budge on 'unpopular' Levy
HARARE – Twelve
tourism companies in Kariba have been singled out by the
Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority for not paying their levies.
The Zimbabwe Council for Tourism said
the charges were unpopular and
operators are in dispute with ZIMRA over how
they are paid. A senior ZCT
official said: “Because of our ongoing
negotiations with ZIMRA on levies and
tax they have targeted 12 firms in
Kariba who still have not remitted fees
to them.
“ZIMRA has told us that
we must pay our tax as soon as we get paid by
customers, but this is
difficult. We find it easier to pay at the end of the
financial year." He
said the firms targeted were in the hospitality industry
where many foreign
customers pay cash to local operators.
The ZCT official said there were
ongoing discussions with ZIMRA “who
unfortunately, do not understand the way
the tourism industry operates".
"Some of our recommendations are being
thrown out by ZIMRA but continue to
negotiate for better benefits for
members," he said.
Zimbabwe's tourism industry earned approximately 13
percent of the nation's
Gross Domestic Product in 2010. Analysts expected it
to grow by an average
6,9 percent annually over the next decade. According
to the ZTA, tourism
earnings jumped 47 percent last year to $770 million
while the number of
visitors rose 15 percent to 2.3 million.
"The tourism
industry has the potential to be one of the fastest growing
sectors in
Zimbabwe's economy, benefiting from the continued recovery in
both global
and domestic economic activity, and also on the back of targeted
marketing
strategies," an analyst with Imara Edwards Securities (Private)
Limited
said.
"Tourism should be a priority area for Zimbabwe given its attractive
destinations. The sector generates greater employment than many other
industries with relatively low skill levels, thereby spreading the benefits
more evenly." The stockbroker said considerable effort in terms of "planning
and alignment" of priorities was required if Zimbabwe was to "repeat the
successes seen elsewhere and return to prior peak levels".
"The
longer-term potential of the industry remains unquestionably
encouraging as
Zimbabwe has top resorts and the infrastructure is still
relatively intact
and grossly under-utilised," he said. The ZTA says
occupancies for resort
hotels have slowed to about 25 percent from their
previous peak of
approximately 75 percent recorded in 1995.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Radio
VOP
Saturday, 11 June 2011 10:03
Beitbridge - Soldiers patrolling on
the periphery of the BeitBridge border
fence have been accused of sexually
harassing desperate border jumpers
intending to cross to South
Africa.
Zimbabweans living in South Africa who had come to the country
hoping to
acquire travel documents have been forced to leave the country
without
passports due to chaos at the Home Affairs
Department.
Sources who spoke to Radio VOP said women who use
undesignated entry points
into South Africa are subjected to sexual
harassment including rape.
“Soldiers are forcing women, especially young
girls to sleep with them to be
allowed to proceed to South Africa while men
face severe beatings”, said one
transporter who requested not to be named.
The transporters popularly known
as “Omalayitsha” are notoriously known to
ferry passengers without travel
documents.
In the past two weeks the
soldiers and police officers have been on high
alert at the border as they
thwart undocumented Zimbabweans willing to enter
South
Africa.
Zimbabweans have been so daring that they cross the crocodile
infested
Limpopo River as they flee their country which has been hit by
years of
economic demise and political upheaval.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Tony Saxon
Friday, 10 June 2011
08:59
HARARE – A Zimbabwe imbube music and dance ensemble Umdumo Wesiswe
is
looking to twin local schools with those in the United Kingdom in an
exchange programme that will see local pupils benefiting.
“We have
approached a number of schools in the UK and they have indicated
their
willingness to donate thousands of textbooks. We are looking forward
to
distributing the textbooks among Zimbabwean schools, but the problem we
are
facing is on how to bring the books here,” said the group’s lead
vocalist
and director, Mqoqi Nkomo.
“To set the ball rolling, we have twinned
Mabhukudwana Primary School in
Nkulumane with Briggs Primary School in UK.
People in the UK are willing to
assist Zimbabweans. They are attracted by
our culture as evidenced by their
passionate participation when we teach
them our songs during various
workshops,” explained Nkomo.
The group
has engaged the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture on how
they could
formalise the engagement. It also plans to tour Zimbabwe to
popularise its
music.
“When you talk of imbube music, many people are unaware of it and
the youths
perceive that it is old fashioned. Our style incorporates
different sounds
such as Kwaito and RnB. The only difference is that we do
not use
instruments,” Nkomo said.
The group was formed in 1994 and it
has released two albums Oo and Nqiqo. –
Tony Saxon