Fuel prices surge in Zimbabwe
Petrol shortages are a way of life in
Zimbabwe
Massive increases in fuel prices have come into effect in
Zimbabwe, with petrol rising by 74%.
|
New fuel prices (per litre) |
Petrol up 74% to $1.38
Aviation fuel up 82% to $1.03
Diesel up 67% to
$1.20 |
The
increases, announced by the state-run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOZCIM),
are likely to exacerbate problems facing commuters and the transport industry.
Zimbabwe has to import all its petroleum products.
But a dire shortage of foreign exchange has resulted in fuel shortages for
more than a year.
NOZCIM last raised fuel prices in November of last year.
According to the AFP news agency, it says the latest rises are down to three
factors:
- Increases in world fuel prices
- The instability of Zimbabwe's exchange rate
- Increased costs in areas such as freight charges
Walking to work
Transport costs have risen so severely in Zimbabwe in the last 12 months
that, in the capital Harare, many people are forced to walk to work.
Makoni - tried to distance government from the
violence
|
Last month, the country's main fuel supplier, Independent
Petroleum Group of Kuwait, suspended delivery over non-payment of bills.
In March, South African power utility Eskom, which provides 13% of Zimbabwe's
electricity, said Harare would have to pay up-front after defaulting on its debt
in 1999.
The rising fuel prices are the latest symptom of the economic crisis facing
Zimbabwe.
It owes more than $4.5bn to the African Development Bank, the European
Investment Bank, the World Bank and a number of Western countries.
In May, the International Monetary Fund said Zimbabwe was late in its debt
repayments.
More violence feared
The current political unrest has severely undermined international business
confidence.
Perceptions of Zimbabwe will only be changed by action on the
ground not by statements 
|
|
Iraj Abedian
Standard Bank chief economist
|
The country's main
export, tobacco, has been badly affected by President Mugabe's campaign against
tobacco farms owned by white farmers.
Attacks on black businesses run by opposition supporters have further alarmed
investors.
They assume the violence will continue, and may worsen, in the run up to
presidential elections due to be held early next year.
Finance Minister Simba Makoni tried to distance the government from
Zimbabwe's political violence at a major economics conference in South Africa
last week.
But many believe the attempt failed.
"Nobody was fooled for a moment - perceptions of Zimbabwe will only be
changed by action on the ground not by statements," Standard Bank chief
economist Iraj Abedian told Reuters news agency.
Analysts predict the Zimbabwean economy will contract by between 10-20% this
year.
| THURSDAY JUNE 14 2001 |
|
| The facts about Zimbabwe must not be twisted |
|
| R
W JOHNSON |
|
| We must not let Mbeki get away with twisting the facts
about Zimbabwe |
|
| On May 29 The Guardian devoted almost a page to a
dramatic story by Hugo Young, the paper’s senior journalist and chairman of the
Scott Trust which controls The Guardian, suggesting that the Zimbabwean
military had warned South African intelligence that should the impending food
crisis in Zimbabwe cause riots, they would be forced to stage a coup against
President Mugabe. The report carried considerable authority because it ran next
to an interview with President Mbeki of South Africa, also by Young, who had
flown out from London to do it. It hardly took a genius to realise that the coup
story came from an off-the-record leak from Mbeki.
The story was nonsense, as all the local journalists knew. Mugabe is utterly
paranoid and the slightest suspicion that the army is disloyal leads to dire
results — which was why two local journalists were tortured two years ago. Since
then the army has been under such firm political control that, even as Young’s
story appeared, Mugabe was about to leave for Indonesia, something he would
never do if he had any concern about the army’s loyalty.
Moreover, local journalists had heard Young’s story several times before and
it always originated from a rumour in South Africa, never from Zimbabwe. As soon
as the story broke, South Africa’s Foreign Affairs spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa,
denied that Pretoria had ever had such information.
The real story was missed. The week before Young arrived, Colin Powell had
been in South Africa. He is the most successful African-American in US history,
having achieved top positions in military and political spheres. One might have
thought his visit would prompt a great deal of high-profile symbolism and
celebration — meetings with Nelson Mandela, rhetoric from Desmond Tutu, state
banquets, honorary degrees and the like. But Powell did not even meet Mandela.
There were no speeches hailing his achievement, and when he ventured on to Wits
campus, not only was there no honorary degree but he was effectively held
hostage by student radicals in a protest that Mbeki could have prevented if he
had wished. It could hardly have been more obvious that Powell was not welcome.
For Powell had made it clear he would take a strong stand against Mugabe.
This was a serious problem for Mbeki, who has consistently accepted Mugabe’s
view that Zimbabwe’s problems are essentially about land reform. Mbeki has
supplied him with oil and electricity on easy credit and repeatedly appeared in
public holding hands with him. In an attempt to put himself on side, Mbeki had a
statement issued in an attempt to prove that he had always taken a strong stance
in favour of the law and against violence. This fooled only those who had
forgotten how Mbeki had turned a blind eye to last year’s election violence — in
which more than 30 people were killed — and had then rammed a resolution through
the South African Cabinet insisting the poll had been free and fair.
During his visit Powell attacked Mugabe’s “totalitarian methods”, insisted
that he must submit to the will of the people, and said that the US might take
“further measures” if he did not. Powell also made it clear that he saw Zimbabwe
as a pivotal test of democracy and good governance on which African development
depends. He insisted that the country was not just an “economic” problem, as
Mbeki tried to insist, but a political problem caused by Mugabe’s brutal
treatment of his democratic opposition. All of which created a significant
problem for Mbeki, who will accept a Mugabe victory as legitimate, no matter
what happens in the forthcoming presidential poll.
Turning angrily on his critics in Parliament this week, Mbeki again tried to
insist that the Zimbabwe problem was entirely about “a very brutal process of
land dispossession” under colonialism, which Britain must somehow solve. The
fact that Mugabe showed little interest in land reform for 20 years, that last
week he again turned down sweeping land redistribution offered by the farmers,
and that his war veterans’ attacks on urban businesses and political opponents
have nothing to do with land, was as usual, swept under the carpet.
This will hardly do. Mbeki is on a state visit to Britain this week and the
Zimbabwe issue is bound to surface prominently. Accordingly, Mbeki is now trying
hard to depict the Zimbabwe situation as potentially explosive, and one in which
it is vital that he “keep lines open” to Mugabe so that at least some rational
dialogue is going on. In order to dramatise such possibilities Mbeki and his
chief henchman, Essop Pahad, decided it would be a good idea to feed the media
with the notion of a Zimbabwean coup — though the minute Mbeki had fed this idea
in, he danced away and sounded as surprised as anyone by it.
As pressure builds against Mugabe, Mbeki will be increasingly squeezed. He is
chairman of the Commonwealth and thus in a good position to block Commonwealth
action, but he will lose this role at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting in Australia. As the squeeze tightens, one should expect ever
more feverish spin-doctoring — followed by frantic attacks on the media when it
fails to work.
|
| THURSDAY JUNE 14 2001 |
|
| Mugabe faces revolt over fuel price rise |
|
| FROM JAN RAATH IN HARARE |
|
| THE Government of President Mugabe was threatened with a
national strike last night after it increased fuel prices by 70 per cent in a
move almost guaranteed to rouse Zimbabweans to anger.
The national labour movement said the strike would start next week unless it
received some positive indication that the increases would be withdrawn. “We are
being made to pay for corrupt fuel procurement,” Lucia Matibenga, acting
president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said. “People have reached
the ceiling. The situation is likely to ignite.”
Petrol is now the most expensive in southern Africa. A litre of leaded petrol
now costs Zim$76 (£1) and diesel is Zim$66 (87p). Paraffin, the main source of
cooking and heating fuel for urban Zimbabweans, went up 49 per cent to Zim$50
(66p) per litre.
Minibuses that serve most of the capital’s commuters began putting up their
fares by a provisional 25 per cent.
“It is impossible,” Callistus Jongwe, a factory worker, said. “When I am
finished paying for transport to work, I have almost nothing for food, rent and
school fees for my three kids. Mugabe is killing us and people are going to make
a revolution.”
In the chaotic fight for fuel that clogged traffic in the city centre, silent
rage marked the faces of motorists as they peeled off wads of increasingly
worthless Zim$100 notes to pay the price of a full tank.
Prices have risen fourfold in the past 18 months. Fuel now costs three times
as much as in South Africa.
Commentators were astonished that Mr Mugabe should order so high a price rise
in the face of the mood of Zimbabweans after 18 months of severe economic
decline, fuel shortages, lawlessness and political violence wreaked by his
ruling Zanu (PF) party.
“This may be a step too far that people cannot handle,” John Robertson, an
independent economist, said. “Bus fares will nearly double. To pay for the
fares, people will not be able to feed their families properly. Children will be
taken out of school.
“It’s going to become social unrest, economic stress and then political
unrest,” he said.
A spokesman for the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries said the increases
were crippling and he forecast a sharp increase in company closures and staff
cutbacks.
Nicholas Kitikiti, chairman of the state-owned National Oil Company of
Zimbabwe (Noczim), blamed “exorbitant, politically-inspired” procurement costs
for the increase.
Noczim, however, has a reputation for being what even Cabinet ministers have
admitted is “the most corrupt state-owned company”.
Tapiwa Mashakada, the shadow finance minister in the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change, said that the fuel crisis had opened “highly profitable
opportunities for the politically well-connected” by granting fuel distribution
licences to “indigenous” (black) businessmen.
Mr Mugabe’s decision compounds the fears of President Mbeki of South Africa
that food shortages later in the year may cause social unrest.
Observers warn that any sign of unrest is likely to lead to a heavy reaction
from the Government. Ever since the first national food riots in January 1998
the army has been deployed in townships and has behaved brutally, forcing its
way into homes at random and assaulting men, women and children. |
Africa
Zimbabwe Unions Threaten Fuel Hike Protests
VOA
News
14 Jun 2001
00:24 UTC
Zimbabwe trade unions are
threatening mass protests if a huge fuel price hike announced by the Harare
government earlier Tuesday is not withdrawn.
The vice president of the National Congress of Trade Unions, Lucia Matibenga,
warned that the price hike of more than 70 percent has created what she called a
very tense situation in the Zimbabwe capital that is likely to ignite.
The union warning came hours after the government of embattled President
Robert Mugabe announced fuel hikes of 72 percent, pushing prices from $0.78 to a
minimum $1.10 a liter.
The Mugabe government is blaming the price hikes, the largest in 21 years of
Zimbabwe's independence, on what it calls hostile political forces. It says the
country's oil-buying agency has to pay higher than average international finance
charges on oil-buying loans because of negative foreign perceptions of
Zimbabwe's political climate.
For her part, Ms. Matibenga blamed the hikes on corrupt practices inside the
nation's fuel procurement agency.
Zimbabwe already suffers from fuel shortages, with long lines at gasoline
stations a common sight. Hikes in food prices late last year triggered riots and
the government had to call in troops to restore order.
|
Mugabe's mob drives candidate off farm
Harare: A black commercial farmer has had his farm seized and
his livelihood destroyed after he stood as an opposition candidate for
parliament.
Mr Philemon Matibe, 33, was ordered off his farm by an 80-strong mob, led by
the district administrator, Mr Christopher Shumba, and four policemen.
He accused the authorities of ruining him in retaliation for his prominence
in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Mr Matibe unsuccessfully contested the seat of Chegutu for the opposition
last June. He lived on Paar farm in the seat, 120 kilometres west of Harare,
until he was forced to flee with his family last Thursday.
"I've lost everything overnight," he said.
"Everything I worked for all my life has disappeared."
Mr Shumba arrived on Paar farm at the head of a convoy of five vehicles and
ordered the Matibe family to leave "forthwith".
Plots of land were immediately handed out to 40 people, many of them known
supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party.
Mr Matibe has learnt that his homestead will be given to a senior officer in
the air force.
Paar has never been listed for seizure by the Government, and its acquisition
is illegal.
Mr Matibe has been forced to move into temporary accommodation in Chegutu
with his wife, Pearl, their daughter, Phoebe, 8, and son, Mpho, 3.
The 80 people who worked on the farm have also been rendered homeless and
jobless, as have their families. Mr Matibe believes that President Robert Mugabe
is using his land grab to reward supporters and punish opponents.
"Mugabe goes to the outside world and lies to them that land reform is about
helping the landless," he said.
"The message I'm getting is that land is for ZANU-PF supporters, not for
Zimbabweans.
"Mugabe says he is taking land from the whites and giving it to blacks. I'm
as black as he is. Now he is taking land from some blacks and giving it to the
blacks who support him."
About 5 per cent of Zimbabwe's 4,000 commercial farms are owned by
blacks.
Mr Webster Shamu, the ZANU-PF MP for Chegutu, defeated Mr Matibe after a
violent campaign. ZANU-PF mobs imposed no-go areas and were responsible for
numerous assaults. Mr Matibe's wife and mother were both accosted by gangs and
threatened with death and mutilation, as were the families of many opposition
candidates.
But Mr Matibe has challenged his electoral defeat in the High Court, and the
case will be heard in the next fortnight.
'This is why they have taken my farm now," he said. "My problems stem from
the fact that I have refused to withdraw my petition, despite Shamu's demands
that I do so. Shamu is behind all of this."
Asked to comment, Mr Shamu said: "I don't discuss that matter."
The Telegraph, London
11 June 2001
Finding one's feet
again
IT may be happening slowly, and it may
not be happening everywhere, but there are signs that Zimbabweans are finding
their feet again, that they're making their own plans to deal with the absurdity
that surrounds them.
That's good news. It's even better news
that no one is responsible for this other than the people themselves. And it
needs to be said at the outset that events, not people or organisations or
committees, have led to this recent resurgence in confidence. No plans have been
put in place, no dialogue is underway and no promises have been made to make
people feel better.
It is far better that people, and
farmers in particular, have faith in themselves rather than in organisations and
governments.
There's more good news. No one can be
in any doubt as to who caused Zimbabwe's troubles, undoubtedly the worst the
country has ever faced, at least in economic terms. But the pressure is on the
merchants of menace in a way they've not experienced before. Sustaining the last
18 months of mayhem has been difficult for the ruling party - and there are
reasons to believe that the party is now stretched beyond its capacity.
Consider the knocks President Robert
Mugabe, the architect of this madness, has suffered during the last two months.
His party now has three by-elections to fight, which is bad enough, but two of
them were held by men of violence who are now dead. Mugabe relied heavily on
Border Gezi and Dr Hunzvi to win him last year's parliamentary election, then to
win subsequent by-elections like the one so notoriously contested in Marondera -
and with spectacular lack of success, the municipal elections in Masvingo.
Naturally enough, these two men would have been prime movers behind the
intimidation, the beatings and business closures envisaged in the run-up to next
year's presidential election.
So, not only has the president lost his
two trustiest lieutenants, in the process he finds himself in the uncomfortable
position of having to contest their constituencies. In terms of elected seats,
as the entire country points out, the gap is narrowing rather too rapidly for
ZANU - PF's comfort. Including Zanu - Ndonga's seat, the opposition holds 58
constituencies. ZANU - PF held 62, but three of those are now going begging.
Still, despite the ignominious failure
of violent tactics in Masvingo, most political analysts believe that Mugabe will
now be looking for new hardliners to replace Hunzvi and Gezi. Men who're
unafraid of violence or its consequences will be preferred, but not necessarily
easy to find. Of course, there's Joseph Chinotimba, but voluble though he
undoubtedly is, he lacks the leadership qualities of his former bosses. As for
the rest of the party; well the brainier members of ZANU - PF are increasingly
aware that there's madness in Mr Mugabe's method, but not much method in the
madness. As Mr Eddison Zvobgo, surely the brainiest of them all said, you don't
get people to vote for you by beating them.
The party was reeling before Dr
Hunzvi's death. Now it is reeling and desperate - or at least the president's
dwindling faction is. Prior to the extraordinary spate of deaths there'd been
enough to occupy their minds, what with Mr Tsvangirai's case being booted
upstairs to the Supreme Court, Nkosana Moyo's embarrassing resignation and the
impressive loss in Masvingo. Then Colin Powell was more than disparaging about
events in Zimbabwe, causing still more difficulties - and if that wasn't enough,
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki told Robert Mugabe to recognise the Movement for
Democratic Change for what it is: the official opposition party in Zimbabwe.
That radical about turn from the South African president followed a letter he
received from his business sector and the visit from Colin Powell. Speculation
is rife that Powell will loom as large in Mr Mugabe's life as Henry Kissinger
did in Ian Smith's - with much the same result.
It's not far fetched. The US is deeply
concerned about events in Zimbabwe - so when Mugabe complains that the World
Bank and IMF are withholding balance of payments support from Zimbabwe because
of political pressure from Washington, he is almost certainly right. What Mr
Mugabe doesn't see, though, is that there's every justification for withholding
the support because the Bretton Woods organisations have no business rewarding
Zimbabwe's appalling behaviour. In fact, most Zimbabweans would welcome stronger
action from the international community - and America in particular - to bring
an end to their suffering.
That probably won't happen. Direct
intervention is frowned on these days, so Zimbabweans will be left to resolve
their own problems while western democracies squeeze the economy. What is
certain, though, to both Zimbabweans and foreigners alike, is that the days of
madness are numbered. That puts agriculture and industry in a very difficult
position. Farming is severely threatened by a number of factors that go beyond
lawlessness and the absurdity of invasions. The same is true of the rest of the
business sector. Both agriculture and industry believe they must negotiate, if
not an end to their problems, at least a lessening of them - but in doing this
they are alienating themselves from the very people in politics, both in the
opposition and in the moderate faction of ZANU - PF, who will almost certainly
be governing this country in the very near future.
Perhaps alienating is too polite a word.
Angering would be better. And that's why waiting it out is the only sensible
option, because making new enemies to take over from the present ones is hardly
sensible, given that the present ones won't be around for very much longer.
Brian Latham
Editor- The Farmer
Call on government to control price of fertilizer
Zimbabwe lags behind in maize research
Chinhoyi farmer wins Maize Grower of the Year
Warnings of food shortages in Zimbabwe continue
Obituary - Dr Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi
Call on government to
control price of fertilizer
CONCERN about the viability of maize
and the high cost of inputs has led to a suggestion that the price of fertiliser
in Zimbabwe should be controlled. Speaking at the annual Zimbabwe Grain
Producers' Association congress last week, Mr Andrew Meikle said that the
highest variable cost in maize production today was fertiliser.
But Mr Ebb Makonese, chairman of the
Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company (ZFC) said that instead of controlling the price of
fertiliser, he would prefer to see government liberalise the maize market.
In July 2000, Ammonium Nitrate cost
$9000/t. The same tonne cost $21 210 on 1 June this year.
And Compound D, which cost $10 130/t
now costs $21 350/t - an increase of a staggering 111%. The government
controlled price increase for maize amounted to a paltry 36%.
Meikle said against this background, a
36% increase to the maize producer price could not sustain the producer
base.
"With the government's shareholding in
the ZFC and Sable Chemicals, through Zimphos and Chemplex Corporation, we appeal
to government to bring some kind of controls to the price of fertiliser for the
maize production in the face of the controls being placed on the producer
price," Mr Meikle said.
In response Mr Makonese said, "The
price increases are very high. The figures speak for themselves. However, on the
suggestion of price controls I should say that the best way to regulate prices
has to be competition. The best way to improve farmer viability is to improve
the prices of commodities. The best way to do this is to liberalise the
market."
Makonese said fertiliser companies face
a major foreign currency shortage and admitted having to secure inputs at a
black market rate of up to Z$140/US$1. About 30% of the country's ammonium
requirements are imported, he told The Farmer. "The effect of all this is
felt by all fertiliser companies and these difficulties translate in the final
price," he said.
He also said interest rates have gone
down significantly, so the industry might not be under pressure to off load
their current stocks. In the past high interest rate have forced fertiliser
companies to sell their stocks quickly.
On the prospect for the coming season,
Mr Makonese said he did not expect much change from last season. He said there
was a 25% decrease in business last season due to problems on commercial
farms.
Meanwhile ZFC managing director Mr
Richard Masvaire said business is low and "we don't see any changes in from last
year."
Mr Masvaire said they were buying forex
to import raw materials at the "going rate and if you take last year when money
was available at US$1 to Z$55 and this year is at Z$140 and if you look at our
price increases they are very modest."
The ZGPA chairman, Mr Andrew Meikle said the three
farmers' unions have made recommendations to government with the view to
increasing production, viability and marketing system. These were: To increase
producer access to inputs for all producers through well managed input credit
schemes to guarantee production and trade. For the strategic grain reserve to be
de-coupled from the GMB and become a responsibility of government, GMB should
embark on a full commercialisation programme and government should consider
liberalisation of imports and exports of maize."
Zimbabwe lags behind
in maize research
SPEAKING at this year's Maize Grower of
the Year ceremony, last year's winner Mr Brink Bosman told farmers that
liberalisation of the maize market alone will not improve the viability of
maize. This needs to be complemented by the use of more efficient production
methods that increase the average yield per hectare, he said.
One of Zimbabwe's most successful maize
growers, Bosman said even if government liberalises maize, Zimbabwean farmers
would be faced with prices that relate to the world market.
According to Mr Bosman, Zambia is not
competitive despite liberalisation. And while he urged the Zimbabwe Grain
Producers' Association (ZGPA) to lobby for a liberalised market, he said work on
improving efficiency in production was essential.
Bosman said the commercial yield per
hectare in Zimbabwe has remained stagnant for about 20 years while in the US,
the yield per hectare increases every year.
He said the US is increasing maize
yield at three tonnes per hectare a year, while Brazil, with a similar climate
to Zimbabwe, achieved a record yield of 18 tonnes per hectare. Zimbabwe's is 13
tonnes per hectare, and has been for 16 years.
Mr Bosman said improving the yield per
hectare improves growers' viability and helps keep ahead of inflation.
Zimbabwe's average yield on commercial farms is five tonnes per hectare and this
has been the case for many years. In communal farms the average yield per
hectare is 1,2 tonnes.
He also said research and improved
technology were important components in improving yield and viability. However,
he said, for Zimbabwe, research has been lagging behind and not enough money
from government is being directed towards research in maize.
"Thirty years ago Zimbabwe was one of
the leading countries in research and development but now our research has
lagged behind," said Mr Bosman.
While Mr Bosman was encouraging
research, ZGPA chairman Mr Andrew Meikle announced that his association was
reducing its research programme due to a reduced income base.
Mr Meikle said there has been a 48%
cutback in membership's production and therefore a reduced income base. "We
resolved to tighten our belts during the current financial year, which meant
reducing our research programme," he said.
On the GM issue Meikle said there is
mounting pressure on producers to guarantee food safety and Zimbabwe cannot turn
a blind eye to consumer requirements. He said 50% of maize produced in Zimbabwe
goes into stock feed, and GM maize entering this market could imperil the
lucrative EU beef market. GM maize in stock feed is banned in the EU.
He also said Zimbabwe will need to
import maize to avoid food shortages. "Therefore there is a higher chance that
we would land GM infected maize in Zimbabwe," said Mr Meikle.
SADC estimates that Zimbabwe will require about 600
000 tonnes of imported maize this season.
Chinhoyi farmer wins
Maize Grower of the Year
A CHINHOYI farmer, Mr Paul Kuhn of
Glenisla Farm is this year's winner of the Maize Grower of the Year competition.
Mr Kuhn (40) who has been farming on
his own for 14 years grows 100ha of maize. He also grows soya beans, wheat,
cotton, and has 130 head of beef breeding cows.
According to the judges, Kuhn's
outstanding feature was the success of his rotational practice of a
multi-cropping programme in a marginal environment of capping soils, erratic
rainfall and steep topography.
"The practice of conservation tillage
had been well thought out and the farming system he has developed is an ideal
demonstration of sustainable viability," read the judges' comments.
The judges were impressed with the good
plant population, good variety choice and complete absence of weeds at harvest.
They were also impressed by his relationship with his employees, which showed
teamwork in an atmosphere of trust and accountability.
Other areas looked at were machinery,
grain handling and management style.
Mr Kuhn is married to Caryl and they
have two sons.
The first runner up was Mr Janush Negri
(43) of Maryland farm, Macheke. He grows 75ha of maize, 125ha of flue-cured
tobacco and has 600 head of cattle.
The second runner up was Mr Micky Marffy (45) of
Ealing Farm, Mvurwi. He grows 134ha maize, 40ha of flue-cured tobacco and has
130 head of beef breeding cows.
Warnings of food
shortages in Zimbabwe continue
THE Southern African Development
Community's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) representative Mr
Elliot Vhurumuka has warned that Zimbabwe will this year have a maize deficit of
150 000 tonnes hence the need for government to import maize.
Mr Vhurumuka said Zimbabwe is expected
to produce about 1,4 million tonnes though the country requires something in the
region of 2 million tonnes. He said the deficit excluded the 500 000 tonnes of
the Strategic Grain Reserve (SRG) and over 600 000 tonnes would have to be
imported.
This is not the first time that
Zimbabwe has been warned about a looming shortage of maize and wheat, although
Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Joseph Made has on several
occasions said that Zimbabwe would not import maize.
South African press reports have
actually warned of food riots due to shortages.
The looming shortages came from the
crop forecasts carried around the country. But Made is on record saying the
national crop forecasts are flawed, as they did not take into consideration the
maize grown by newly resettled farmers under the current fast track
programme.
Mr Vhurumuka admitted that the crop
forecasts were very subjective and to large extent inaccurate. He said the
forecast does not take into consideration the crop that is grown under urban
agriculture. "Urban agriculture has been ignored for years and the forecasts do
not cover resettlement effectively," said Mr Vhurumuka.
The National Crop Forecasting Committee
includes Agritex, Central Statistic Office, farmers' unions, seed houses, the
National Early Warning Unit and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr Vhurumuka said some of the
subjectivity was due to lack of resources to carry out effective studies. He
urged farmers to provide accurate information on maize stocks they
held.
Dr Made said those on the crop
forecasting committee should cooperate by submitting accurate estimates. "I note
that the crop forecasting committee has not improved despite several workshops
aimed at improving their estimates," said Dr Made.
Made said conflicts in production
figures have made it difficult for his ministry to come up with comprehensive
agriculture policy statements, hence the delay in announcing it.
The Zimbabwe Grain Producers'
Association said the annual agriculture policy statement was being released late
and this was making it difficult for the producers to respond to governments'
production requirements.
The association said the lack of accurate information
on crop estimates creates distortions in a market already fraught with problems.
Obituary
Dr
Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi
DR CHENJERAI Hitler Hunzvi, chairman of
the National Liberation War Veterans' Association and the man responsible for
much of the devastation to Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, is dead. Hunzvi, who
was also the ZANU - PF Member of Parliament for Chikomba, died last week on 4
June in Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital. He was 52.
While the cause of Dr Hunzvi's death
was not disclosed at the time, he died in the Coronary Care Unit. Previous
reports had said the war veterans' leader had been suffering from cerebral
malaria after collapsing in a Bulawayo hotel two weeks earlier.
Married to a Polish woman, Hunzvi's
wife fled Zimbabwe, allegedly with the assistance of the Polish Embassy in
Harare, after accusing her husband of mental and physical abuse. Hunzvi had met
her in Poland while studying to be a doctor, though he also worked there as a
humble farm labourer, picking fruit and vegetables.
Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi rose to
prominence in November 1997 when he forced Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to
dole out $50 000 gratuities to thousands of veterans of Zimbabwe's bush war. The
veterans were also provided with monthly pensions, in a move that sparked the
crash of Zimbabwe's dollar on what became known as "Black Friday".
No stranger to controversy, Hunzvi
allegedly defrauded the war veterans' association of thousands of dollars taken
from the war victims' compensation fund after claiming he was 117% disabled. The
fund had been established to compensate victims of the liberation war.
The case raised still more controversy
after ex-fighters claimed that Hunzvi had never actually seen action during the
war.
But it was the invasions of mainly
white owned commercial farms, which began in February 2000, that really brought
Hunzvi international notoriety. Disturbances throughout Zimbabwe, led by Hunzvi
in support of the ZANU -PF government, left over 30 people dead. Many were
raped, while hundreds were tortured and made homeless by the invasions.
In a controversial move, Robert Mugabe said that
Hunzvi's status as a national hero was a foregone conclusion. The president
thanked him for spearheading the "Third Chimurenga" against colonialism - a
clear indication that Mugabe sees the current crisis in Zimbabwe as a war
against whites.
MDC on Monday 11 June 2001
Massive corruption and underhand
deals
It has come to the attention of the leadership of the MDC that the
present
government and ruling elite is abusing its position and its
present
control over state assets to further its own objectives and to enrich
both
the Zanu PF Party and its cohorts.
In particular, we are
concerned about the numerous business deals that are
being set up to take
over state assets or to establish highly profitable
contracts over the
operations of key infrastructure. Included in these
activities in the past
12 months has been the disposal of property at
knock-down prices to party
functionaries, allocation of farming land, on a
large scale, to supporters on
a patronage basis and the sale of shares in
state-owned companies to foreign
interests under conditions of total
secrecy.
MDC is also concerned
about reports of contracts being negotiated over
assets of the Posts and
Telecommunications Corporation, the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority and
the National Railways of Zimbabwe. In
respect of the latter we have on
several occasions expressed our concern
about the ownership and activities of
the New Limpopo Bridge Company and
the Bulawayo-to-Beitbridge Railway
Company. It is also understood that
assets of the State-run National Oil
Company are being encumbered or
sold-again without any transparency or public
disclosure of the interests
involved.
It is well-known that virtually
all government contracts are being awarded
without any transparency and that
the vast accumulation of wealth that is
so evident in the hands of a few Zanu
PF-connected individuals can only be
explained by the fact that this wealth
is being acquired either by
privileged or corrupt means.
The Movement
for Democratic Change estimates that the cost of this
activity to the people
of Zimbabwe runs into many billions of dollars
annually. There is little
doubt that corruption in its many forms is one
of the major contributors to
the impoverishment of all ordinary
Zimbabweans who do not enjoy privileged
Zanu PF connections. It is also
clear to the MDC that this activity could
not have gone as far as it has
without the active connivance of many
companies-both local and
international as well as foreign governments who
stand to benefit from
this activity.
The MDC wishes to warn these
organisations and governments that when it
comes to power in early 2002, all
of these contracts and deals will be
subjected to the closest scrutiny and if
any evidence of impropriety is
found, the contracts will be nullified and the
assets returned to the
State by the new government. It must be made quite
clear that an MDC
government will not accept that its activities and the
economic recovery
of Zimbabwe should be constrained by corrupt and
ill-advised business
transactions entered into by this Zanu PF-led government
in the last few
years of its administration.
In fact, MDC will go
beyond this and in addition to reversing these
transactions, prosecute the
perpetrators if they are Zimbabwean citizens
and request any foreign
governments to do the same if their nationals or
companies are involved.
- Revolt looms over fuel prices -
N24
- ZCTU threatens national strike -
FinGaz
- Mugabe faces revolt -
Times
- Maize price soars - BDay
- Bulawayo poll to go ahead -
FinGaz
- MDC farmer sues government -
DNews
- Mugabe's AIDS dilemma -
ZWNEWS
From News24 (SA), 14 June
Revolt looms over fuel price hike
Harare - Zimbabwe braced itself for a major
social upheaval and discontent on Wednesday after a whopping rise in fuel prices
whose contagion is expected to push an already soaring cost of living beyond the
reach of its restless population. About 80 percent of Zimbabweans are officially
known to be living far below the acceptable poverty level, analysts said. Pump
prices of the already scarce fuels went up by 70 percent on Wednesday, pushing
the prices of petrol and diesel to R12 and R10 a litre respectively.
The price hikes are set to increase social and
political tension in a country where economists put the poverty datum line at R2
000 against an existing minimum of wage of R500. "The fuel price rise is
certainly going to push the cost of living here to a level that is far beyond
the reach of many," said Wellington Chibebe, the secretary general of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). "It is only a matter of time. Food
riots are definitely coming because 90 percent of the workers are failing to
make ends meet."
Leaded petrol went up by 72.8 percent,
diesel 67.7 percent, unleaded 16.2 Percent and Jet A1 fuel by 82.4 percent. The
price of illuminating paraffin, used as a source of heat and lighting by the
majority, increased by 71.3 percent. A government spokesman warned of further
increases as the national oil procurer, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe
(Noczim), battles to raise foreign exchange and overcome its viability
problems.
The ZCTU said the multiplier effect of the
current wave of price rises, covering tuition, basic commodities, electricity,
housing rents, beef, bread, vegetables and bus fares was likely to trigger
unrest among desperate workers. Noczim has been rocked by a bloated secretariat
and rampant corruption, leading the a critical fuel shortage in the country for
nearly two years. The last increase was in October 2000. These prices only work
when the fuel is available at proper stations. Since October 1999, a thriving
black market for fuel and fuel products was established throughout Zimbabwe,
with prices ranging from R20 to R30 a litre.
Other political commentators predicted a
hidden hand in the wholesale round of price increases. "President Mugabe seems
to be interested in provoking people to go onto the streets as a way for
creating a riotous situation," said Peter Ndoro, an opposition activist. "That
scenario will then give his government an excuse to declare a state of
emergency, dissolve parliament, abandon the Presidential election and rule by
decree." "It is only a matter of time before Zimbabwe begins to burn," said John
Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe lecturer. Kindness Marere, a political
scientist, said the government has abandoned its primary duty of creating an
enabling environment for economic growth. "This means that our import bill has
gone up to an unacceptable level, a recipe for social chaos," he said. "They
hope to benefit from that chaos in order to scuttle the nascent democratic
process which is expected to reach a climax with the presidential election next
year."
In an effort to deal with the fuel
shortages, the government opened up the fuel industry to politically connected
businessmen in a deliberate attempt to break the distribution monopoly of five
multinational oil companies. But as of today, containers and drums of varying
sizes lined up by the roadside are the only and most visible evidence of their
entry into the fuel scarcity fray. The deregulation has worsened the smuggling
and haphazard sales of fuel. Economist John Robertson said the government
deregulated an industry that seriously needed regulation for safety reasons.
There were at least 50 regulations been broken by fuel hawkers, but police were
turning a blind eye. "These are bombs waiting to go off, let alone the problems
of fuel contamination."
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, while
condemning the government for what it called insensitivity to the needs of the
poor working class, has advised workers to form buying co-operatives and pool
their resources together to lessen the impact of the latest round of increases.
The ZCTU said the overall effect of the current wave of price rises would be
felt immediately because fuel was a central commodity to the economic life of
workers. "If the fuel was available, then we could say people could have a
chance to minimise its use. But there is nothing," said the ZCTU. "The transport
and haulage industry, the motor trade and other essential services, like funeral
parlours, are having to retrench thousands of workers in large numbers because
of the fuel shortage."
The opposition MDC party said the fuel rise
was a damning admission of failure by the Zanu-PF government in an attempt to
stop the NOCZIM debt from rising beyond the already unsustainable levels of
around R6 billion. "The government is maintaining control over fuel supplies to
allow the corruption, which is legendary at NOCZIM, to continue unabated," said
Tapiwa Mashakada, the MDC shadow minister of finance. "The shortages have also
opened highly profitable opportunities for the politically well-connected.
Owners of the new fly-by-night oil companies include one of the vice
presidents." Although he did not name the vice president, Simon Muzenda is known
to be involved in the fuel importation business. "Consumers and the poor masses
are by this means being made to bear the burden of Zanu-PF's poor macro-economic
management and the heady cocktail of corruption and inefficiency at NOCZIM," he
said.
From The Financial Gazette, 14
June
ZCTU calls for mass
action
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) will today give
the government 14 days' notice of its intention to launch an indefinite mass
stayaway nationwide to force the authorities to reverse shock fuel price rises
of more than 70 percent announced this week. Collin Gwiyo, the ZCTU's acting
secretary-general, said the decision to call mass action was reached yesterday
at a meeting of the executive of the labour body, which in 1998 spearheaded a
series of stayaways which paralysed Zimbabwe's industry and commerce. "The
executive members resolved that we go on an indefinite stayaway to force the
government to reverse the fuel hike," Gwiyo told the Financial Gazette. "We are
giving 14 days' notice to the government but the strike action will take place
anytime within that period."
He said the ZCTU general council would meet on Saturday to
formally ratify the decision taken by the executive and announce the dates of
the mass action, which would see workers staying away from work until the
government reversed the fuel price hike. "Until and unless the government
reverses the fuel price hike, the stayaway will be indefinite – and this will
cover the whole country," Gwiyo stressed. He said through the fuel price
increase, the government was passing on to consumers the effects of corruption
at the state-run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), which has been
fleeced of billions of dollars by senior managers involved in shady deals. "The
root cause of the fuel problem, apart from foreign currency, is corruption at
NOCZIM, which the government has not bothered to address. We cannot allow them
to pass on the effects of their incompetence to the ordinary man and woman. Some
of the people who were involved in corrupt deals at NOCZIM are actually being
given packages in a retrenchment exercise instead of being prosecuted."…
From The Times (UK), 14
June
Mugabe faces revolt over fuel
price
Harare - The Government of President Mugabe was threatened with
a national strike last night after it increased fuel prices by 70 per cent in a
move almost guaranteed to rouse Zimbabweans to anger. The national labour
movement said the strike would start next week unless it received some positive
indication that the increases would be withdrawn. "We are being made to pay for
corrupt fuel procurement," Lucia Matibenga, acting president of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions, said. "People have reached the ceiling. The situation
is likely to ignite." Petrol is now the most expensive in southern Africa. A
litre of leaded petrol now costs Z$76 and diesel is Z$66. Paraffin, the main
source of cooking and heating fuel for urban Zimbabweans, went up 49 per cent to
Zim$50 per litre.
Minibuses that serve most of the capital’s commuters began
putting up their fares by a provisional 25 per cent. "It is impossible,"
Callistus Jongwe, a factory worker, said. "When I am finished paying for
transport to work, I have almost nothing for food, rent and school fees for my
three kids. Mugabe is killing us and people are going to make a revolution." In
the chaotic fight for fuel that clogged traffic in the city centre, silent rage
marked the faces of motorists as they peeled off wads of increasingly worthless
Zim$100 notes to pay the price of a full tank. Prices have risen fourfold in the
past 18 months. Fuel now costs three times as much as in South Africa.
Commentators were astonished that Mr Mugabe should order so
high a price rise in the face of the mood of Zimbabweans after 18 months of
severe economic decline, fuel shortages, lawlessness and political violence
wreaked by his ruling Zanu (PF) party. "This may be a step too far that people
cannot handle," John Robertson, an independent economist, said. "Bus fares will
nearly double. To pay for the fares, people will not be able to feed their
families properly. Children will be taken out of school. "It’s going to become
social unrest, economic stress and then political unrest," he said.
A spokesman for the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries said
the increases were crippling and he forecast a sharp increase in company
closures and staff cutbacks. Nicholas Kitikiti, chairman of the state-owned
National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), blamed "exorbitant,
politically-inspired" procurement costs for the increase. Noczim, however, has a
reputation for being what even Cabinet ministers have admitted is "the most
corrupt state-owned company". Tapiwa Mashakada, the shadow finance minister in
the opposition MDC, said that the fuel crisis had opened "highly profitable
opportunities for the politically well-connected" by granting fuel distribution
licences to "indigenous" (black) businessmen. Mr Mugabe’s decision compounds the
fears of President Mbeki of South Africa that food shortages later in the year
may cause social unrest. Observers warn that any sign of unrest is likely to
lead to a heavy reaction from the Government. Ever since the first national food
riots in January 1998 the army has been deployed in townships and has behaved
brutally, forcing its way into homes at random and assaulting men, women and
children.
From Business Day (SA), 14
June
Zimbabwe's maize price shoots
up
Zimbabwe’s maize prices had soared due to fears of shortages
and it may have to look to SA, where harvesting had begun, for imports ,
officials said yesterday. But there might not be enough maize to meet demand,
they said. Maize prices on the privately run Zimbabwe Agricultural Commodity
Exchange (Zimace) were firmer, reflecting fears of a shortage later in the
marketing season, the exchange said. "Maize prices have firmed by Z$700 a ton
since the same time last month and have risen by 300 a ton this week alone,"
Zimace said. "This is probably because a larger-than-normal portion of the crop
is below B grade, and the overall production is down. Reports that a large
number of people are already in need of food aid will add to the pressure on
maize, and further price increases are anticipated," it said.
Production was disrupted by veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s
liberation war, who have invaded commercial white-owned farms since early last
year. A foreign currency shortage also led to fuel and fertiliser shortages.
Despite repeated government denials of a shortfall, industry groups estimate
that Zimbabwe may have to import up to 800000 tons of maize, mainly from SA, to
fulfil its domestic requirement of about 1,8-million tons. SA might not have
enough, however. Grain SA, the umbrella body for producers, said it had factored
in exports of 300000 tons of maize to Zimbabwe in its supply and demand
estimates. "There is a feeling they will need more than 300000 tons. If they do
need more, it will leave our kitty very bare indeed," Grain SA's spokesman, Kit
le Clus, said.
Farmers in the east of SA are reporting reduced yields in their
maize harvest, while those in the Free State bread basket have just started
harvesting, and say yields are what they were expecting. SA expects to produce
6,9 million tons of maize this season, down from last year's bumper 10,1-million
tons. There is a carryover stock from the last season of just more than
2-million tons. "Farmers are hard at work on the harvest. The yields in some
areas have disappointed farmers," said At de Lange, a spokesman for OTK , the
large agricultural company which covers the east of the country. Senwes
agricultural company spokesman Marius Killian said the quality was within the
longterm average and the yields were as expected. Free State Co-operative
spokesman At Kruger said: "We expect a little more than our earlier estimate.
Yields are slightly better."
From The Financial Gazette, 14
June
Byo poll to go
ahead
Bulawayo - The High Court here has declared null and void the
government's decision to postpone mayoral and council elections for Bulawayo
city and ordered Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede to announce new dates for the
polls. The provisional order was granted by Bulawayo High Court judge Kennedy
Sibanda after the opposition MDC this week lodged an application with the court
challenging the cancellation of the elections in which its candidate Japhet
Ndabeni-Ncube was to face off against the ruling ZANU PF's George Mlilo. Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who was the first respondent in the MDC's court
application, last week cancelled the Bulawayo polls indefinitely on the grounds
that the voters' roll was in a shambles.
However, Justice Sibanda ordered Mudede to immediately give
notice of election and nomination dates to fill the vacancies in the Bulawayo
city council within the shortest possible time, in accordance with section 103L
of the Electoral Act, Chapter 2:01. Nominations had initially been set for June
8, with the mayoral and seven-ward elections scheduled for June 23 and 24. In
his judgment, Sibanda also asked Chinamasa to show cause within 10 days of
service of the provisional order at his office why he should not be ordered to
personally pay the expenses for reschedulling and re-advertising the nominations
and elections, as well as the costs of the application on a higher scale.
Note : George Mlilo, who was nominated in absentia as the Zanu PF candidate, initially claimed
that he could not stand for the party in the Bulawayo mayoral election. However,
he seems to have agreed to do so "after consulting with his family and
colleagues".
