Govt moves to nationalise all productive land
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
JOHANNESBURG, 8 Jun 2004 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's
controversial land reform
programme took a significant turn this week when
the government announced
its intention to nationalise all productive farmland
in the country.
"In the end all land shall be state land and there will
be no such thing
called private land," the official Herald newspaper quoted
Lands Minister,
John Nkomo, as saying on Tuesday.
Nkomo said plans
were already underway to abolish title deeds and replace
them with
99-year-long leases. "We don't believe that land should be used
for
speculative reasons. Title deeds are no longer issues we can waste our
time
on because the 99-year leases will act as good enough collateral."
He
advised all land owners to come forward for vetting in order to qualify
for
the 99-year lease agreement, citing the "odious and unnecessary" process
of
giving notice of intent to acquire agricultural land under the
government's
fast-track land redistribution programme.
Before land reform began four
years ago, a small group of white commercial
farmers owned almost 70 percent
of Zimbabwe's arable land. Today fewer than
500 remain, owning just three
percent of the country's land, according to a
government land audit
report.
Political observers told IRIN that Nkomo's announcement was
"inevitable"
given the determination of the government to see its version of
land reform
through, despite widespread criticism of the violence and
lawlessness that
often accompanied the land seizures.
"The
announcement is not as dramatic as it sounds, especially since the
government
had already begun a comprehensive programme of expropriating
almost all
privately-held land. It was inevitable that the state would
pursue widespread
nationalisation as it underpins the current land reform
policy," Harare-based
land expert, Sam Moyo, told IRIN.
He highlighted the recent passing of
the controversial Land Acquisition Bill
which empowered the minister of lands
to seize some 11 million hectares of
agricultural land.
"That figure
covers almost all privately-owned farmland in the country.
Nkomo has merely
clarified any uncertainty among white farmers and the
newly-resettled farmers
they may have had over land tenure. It also put to
bed any hope white farmers
may have had about compensation for the land
taken from them," Moyo
added.
The impact of the implementation of the lease agreement on
small-scale
farmers, for whom land reform was ostensibly aimed at supporting,
remains
unclear.
"Unless the state-owned banks such as the Land Bank
and AgriBank accept the
lease agreement as collateral, it will be impossible
for farmers to receive
loans. None of the private banks will provide loans to
the farmers, given
the insecurity of a lease agreement. It would be too
risky," Dennis Nikisi,
director of the Graduate School of Management at the
University of Zimbabwe,
told IRIN.
He pointed out that farmers who
were issued with the lease agreements would
be less inclined to make
improvements to the land.
"Land ownership has been a volatile issue and
landlords are all too familiar
with how quickly land, which originally
belonged to them, can be taken away.
Without the security that title deeds
provide, it is unlikely that we will
see high levels of agricultural
productivity," he said.
But Moyo disagreed, arguing that in some Southern
African countries, for
example Zambia, land owners had farmed successfully
under similar lease
agreements.
"The nationalisation of agricultural
land does not inherently mean that
productivity will fall. However, for it to
work in Zimbabwe, the government
should make a serious commitment to
assisting newly-resettled farmers," Moyo
said.
Black farmers, who
received land under the reform programme, have complained
that not enough was
being done to support them once they received their new
plots, the Herald has
reported.
The government has blamed the lack of foreign currency for its
inability to
meet the demands for additional assistance from the
newly-resettled farmers.
ZIMBABWE: Fears over winter wheat harvest
[ This report does not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
HARARE, 7
Jun 2004 (IRIN) - Delays in disbursing a Zim $50 billion (US $9.4
million)
loan facility to help farmers produce winter wheat may lead to a
significant
reduction in the harvest, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union
(ZCFU) has
warned.
The Agriculture Development Bank of Zimbabwe (ADB-Z) has yet to
disburse the
funds, three weeks after the official start of the cropping
season. ZCFU
director for marketing, Andrew Jiri, said the delay would result
in a
serious drop in the hectarage put under wheat.
"This delay is a
huge setback for our members who wanted to venture into
wheat production this
season. We have already submitted a list of farmers
who want to access the
loan facility, but the bank has not responded. The
winter wheat programme is
supposed to be in full swing, and this delay will
certainly result in yet
another shortfall in the cereal harvest," said Jiri.
ADB-Z managing
director, Sam Malaba, admitted there had been delays in the
processing of
loan applications, but said the bank was already taking
measures to expedite
disbursement to deserving farmers. He said the bank had
come up with a
stringent vetting system which was meant to ensure that it
would be able to
recover all funds loaned to farmers.
The government introduced the Zim
$50 billion facility for cereal farmers in
April this year, in a bid to
revive declining output in a country faced with
serious challenges to its
food security.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on agriculture has
also warned of
setbacks to the winter farming programme that could hit
production. Some of
the committee's concerns included the shortage of
tractors provided by the
Agriculture Rural Development Authority (ARDA), the
slow distribution of
inputs, and dilapidated irrigation schemes.
Due
to the lack of rain during the winter months in southern Africa, wheat
needs
to be grown under irrigation, and ideally on large tracts of
land.
"Finance is just one of the factors, but it's not the only factor,"
said an
expert involved in commercial farming, who asked not to be named.
"The
inputs are not there, the irrigation systems are not there, and the
skills
[to grow wheat among the newly resettled farmers] are not there. I
don't
believe we have the capacity to produce a decent-sized
crop."
But Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Joseph Made has
dismissed
the concerns of a reduced winter harvest due in
September/October.
"We are not anticipating any problems. The
preparations have gone very well
and I am happy to say government has already
released Zim $80 billion [US
$15 million] to ARDA for the procurement of
equipment and the servicing of
what is there but broken down. The government
has also availed Zim $150
billion [US $28 million] to input suppliers and we
expect those to be
distributed through ARDA very soon," Made told
IRIN.
He said the government was forging ahead with the rehabilitation
of
irrigation schemes, with 33,000 hectares of derelict irrigation land
already
prepared. He added that a Zimbabwe-Iran agricultural equipment
supply
agreement was also beginning to bear fruit, just in time to contribute
to a
successful winter season.
"As per the agreement between the two
countries, Iran has already supplied
23 combine harvesters and we expect
these to be at work when the winter
farming season ends. More equipment,
including tractors, are coming in the
next few months," said
Made.
Although he declined to give a projection for this season's
harvest, the
Agriculture Rural Extension Services (AREX) has forecast 100,000
hectares
under wheat with an estimated yield of 420,000 mt.
The
commercial farm expert dismissed the AREX figures as "rubbish". He said
even
in good years, the maximum land under wheat was 60,000 to 65,000
hectares,
which he believed had fallen this season to around 30,000 to
35,000
hectares.
According to independent estimates, winter cereal production in
Zimbabwe
(wheat and barley) has more than halved over the past five years,
from
around 360,000 mt in 1999 to 150,000 mt last year, as a result of
input
scarcities and the impact of the government's controversial
land
redistribution programme.
Economist John Robertson said low wheat
output was unlikely to have an
impact on bread prices as millers were already
importing flour at below the
production costs of local farmers.
"It
seems the government is trying to pursuade the population that all
its
policies have worked, and come elections they should be re-elected, when
all
the evidence is that they have failed," Robertson told
IRIN.
Although the government has forecast a bumper harvest of over two
million mt
for the staple maize due in June/July, other analysts have warned
the crop
is likely to be well below national demand, estimated at 1.8 million
mt.
America Owes Africa - Mugabe
New Vision (Kampala)
June 8,
2004
Posted to the web June 8, 2004
Felix
Osike
Kampala
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe yesterday said
Africa deserves more from
the US than the African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA) under which
selected African countries can export tax and quota-free
items.
Mugabe was speaking at the commissioning of the second Apparels
Tri-Star (U)
Ltd factory at Bugolobi in Kampala. President Yoweri Museveni
commissioned
it.
Tri-Star, which was set up in 2002, exports garments
to the United States of
America.
Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki hailed
the company for pioneering the export of
Ugandan garments to the American
market, saying it was an eye opener to
other countries.
The presidents
arrived at the factory at 1:00pm. The Tri-Star managing
director, Vellipillai
Kananathan, took them around the old and new
factories. The new unit covering
5,000sq. metres, will start production on
Thursday and employ 800
girls.
"I feel delighted to be associated with this project emerging from
the
opportunity presented by AGOA.
But America deserves to do more.
They have a debt to pay us. Most of our
people were taken to America as
slaves. We deserve more than AGOA," said
Mugabe, attracting
applause.
"Let Apparel take advantage of this opportunity to expand a
hundredfold. Let
it fly the flag of Uganda and Africa higher and higher and
demystify the
myth that Africa cannot do anything. We can do it, we are doing
it as
Tri-Star has demonstrated and we have done it," Mugabe
said.
Kananathan said the company plans to set up a state-of-the-art
spinning mill
by January next year.
He said they would open
mini-production units outside Kampala and penetrate
European
markets.
Like President Museveni has said before, Mugabe said the
Tri-Star project
was a pointer to the need for Africa to add value to local
products before
exporting them.
Mugabe said genuine governance is
about transforming society qualitatively.
He said the project would give
farmers a double reward of a high price for
cotton and employment for their
children.
He said Africa had been the leading producer of cotton but it
is countries
like Britain which benefit.
"Do you know whom we sell the
raw materials to?" he asked. "To Mr. Blair of
England, for Mr. Blair to dress
better than I do, spin the cotton, weave and
make suits and we go and buy the
suits from Britain. This must stop," Mugabe
said.
He took a swipe at
the West for what he called retributive sanctions aimed
at crippling his
nation.
"I am happy to say the land reforms we embarked upon are near
completion and
we are beginning to recover our economy and our sovereignty
and put
Zimbabweans on their destiny. Our land, which had all along been
occupied by
foreigners, has finally come back to its owners," he said.
Comment from The Sunday Mirror, 6 June
Who is afraid of John
Nkomo?
Virginia Wolf was the female enfante terrible of western letters
who is an
icon of the female liberation movement in those quarters. Her, A
Room of Her
Own, is a tour de force about the need to accord women their own
space in a
patriarchal world. There is a famous play that plays on the impact
of her
formidable intellects called, Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolf? Now,
Zimbabwe
is a highly patriarchal society in which Wolf would probably not
have been
accorded enough space and a room of her own in which to express
herself. But
John Nkomo, because of his gender, has had ample space to
express himself
and has been accorded a room in which to exercise political
power and
authority. He comes across as a highly intelligent and visionary
man, who
was moulded by the nationalist movement and his closeness to the
Father of
the Nation, Joshua Nkomo. Added to that, President Mugabe seems to
have
great faith and trust in him. Now, that does not go well in certain
circles
within Zanu PF. And perhaps one inspired playwright, perhaps the
banned
writer of Super Patriots and Morons, will one day write, Who is Afraid
of
John Nkomo? For, it is quite obvious that since Zanu sinjonjo, there
are
certain forces that are terrified of the minister and cringe at his
very
sight. This lot might not be characters out of Raisedon Baya's
Super
Patriots and Morons, but in their bid to create jambanja for the
upright but
currently beleaguered man of principle, they have stooped so low
as to
concoct dubious letters calling back white farmers to their
appropriated
land. And they have even gone even lower below the belt by
appropriating
clueless Chinotimba to the camp. The latter, not surprisingly,
took on the
baton and came out raving and ranting in The Herald (which should
be a clue
as to which camp is behind the entire furore). Chinos blindly
played
football in a china shop like a blind elephant, making all sorts
of
accusations which demean the office of a senior party and
government
official. The circus, which had been in town all along, had at
last reached
its climax.
It is quite obvious that there is a worm in
the Zanu PF fruit. Many would
argue that Zanu is the worm in the Zimbabwean
fruit basket, but that is not
our call. Everyone is entitled to their own
opinions but never, of course
their own facts. Yet it is apparent that Zanu
PF is being destroyed from
within and the rot has been eating into the party
on whose shoulders
Zimbabwe was born for a very long time. The works and
words of the worms
reveal who the worms are. They siphon away national money
so that Zimbabwe
is brought down on to her knees. They say and do things that
destroy
Zimbabwe's economic and moral fibre. They espouse policies that
make
Zimbabwe a laughing stock of the world. They speak destructive venom
each
time they open their motormouths. Why, they eat, speak, sleep and even
saved
venomous destruction. But rine manyanga hariputirwe - and the truth
shall
come out eventually. We shall indeed find out who the mercenaries and
who
the true revolutionaries are in due course. As always, time will tell.
Bob
Marley has never been more prophetic! The food statistics war reached
fever
pitch this week following revelations of government's importation of
maize
to beef up national reserves. Well, it is understandable that
public
interest should be so drawn to this disclosure as it evidently
has.
Obviously, based on the experience of the previous season, when the
relevant
authorities dishonestly claimed there was enough food to feed the
nation,
scepticism attended the latest announcement of this year's
official
projected harvest. Last season, agriculture minister Joseph Made
took a
helicopter tour of the country's farming regions and, upon
disembarking,
claimed he had established there was enough for all to munch
through to the
next harvest. Of course, we all know what transpired soon
thereafter. And it
's an experience we all would love to forget very quickly.
Interestingly,
the same optimistic estimates have come back to greet us. Not
that there is
anything inherently wrong with optimistic forecasts. In fact,
nothing would
trigger more national euphoria than the guarantee of unyielding
food
security throughout this and the coming year.
Of course, former
white commercial farmers and their ilk within and beyond
our borders would
love to gloat over negative statistics pointing to a lower
yield this year
and any other year in future in their mistaken belief that
they were the
salvation to this country's food security. It is a fact that
our agrarian
reforms are undergoing a process of consolidation, without
which maximum
optimal food production would not be realisable. Hence it is
neither here nor
there that the country produces a record harvest this
season. The haggling of
government by disgruntled white farmers, NGOs and
their hangers-on over the
food situation in the country is really nothing
more than a function of their
traditional opposition to the fundamental
re-adjustment of land ownership
patterns in the country by the government
through its land reform programme.
It is, therefore, predictable that such
factors should wish unprecedented
famine upon us, if only to prove that the
land reform programme was a
failure.In this regard, therefore, it escapes
our comprehension why
government would, in turn, seek to conceal its noble
efforts to achieve food
security by going the extra mile through grain
importation. That the
detractors of land reform would grasp at this fact as
evidence of failure in
land reform, is a given. Whether we fly to the moon,
Mars and back, this
predisposition on their part would not change, period.
It is our view,
therefore, that their conclusions from our importation of
grain would not
change an iota insofar as their perception of our situation
is concerned. To
them, we are a basket case. We therefore need not worry
about what they
think, vane waya! In this vein, Behind the Words feels there
was no reason
for the government to have kept its responsible approach to
achieving food
security through grain importation such a closely guarded
secret after
all.
From AFP, 8 June
Heavyweights to discuss Zim's future in Dubai
New
Delhi - A select group of cricket heavyweights will meet in Dubai
to
deliberate on Zimbabwe's future as a Test team following the revolt
and
subsequent sacking of 15 top players in the troubled African nation,
sources
said. The cricket chiefs of India, South Africa and Australia will
get a
first-hand report from Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) president Peter
Chingoka
at the extraordinary meeting called by International Cricket Council
(ICC)
boss Ehsan Mani on Thursday. The deliberations will set the stage for
a
final decision on Zimbabwe at the ICC's annual conference in London on
June
27, the sources said. "The big chiefs want to hear Zimbabwe's version
before
they meet up with the rest in London," they said. There was no word
why the
heads of the other six Test-playing nations were excluded from the
Dubai
meeting. Besides the ICC chief, the other administrators at the meeting
will
be Jagmohan Dalmiya of India, Bob Merriman of Australia and Ray Mali
of
South Africa. Zimbabwean cricket was plunged into crisis in April when
15
white players went on strike after captain Heath Streak was sacked
following
his demand that the selection committee be reconstituted. The ZCU
was forced
to field a third-string team for two Tests and five One-dayers
against Sri
Lanka in May, but subsequent Test matches against world champions
Australia
were cancelled. South Africa have already said they don't want to
host a
weakened Zimbabwe side and Cricket Australia (CA) have refused to rule
out
the possibility that it could press for the expulsion of Zimbabwe from
Test
cricket. India, which enjoys close diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe,
has
declined to take sides. But it will go along with the majority at
London,
sources said. There have been growing calls for Zimbabwe's expulsion
from
Test cricket to preserve the standards of the traditional game, while
former
Australian captain Steve Waugh said there was no place for teams
picked on
colour instead of merit. ZCU chief executive Vincent Hogg admitted
last week
that Zimbabwe could be temporarily suspended from Test cricket,
adding that
"there could be a moratorium on Tests for six months or maybe a
year."
Zimbabwe are scheduled to play Test cricket in Pakistan in October and
host
England in November, but both tours remain in doubt pending a final
decision
from the ICC.
8 June 2004
PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI’S TUESDAY MESSAGE TO THE
PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE
In the past five years, Zimbabweans have seen the emergence of two
dominant political visions in the country. We have witnessed these visions clash
for political space, literally in every facet of our lives. In our nation today,
either you stand for the preservation of the status quo or you are committed to
democratic change.
Those who argue for the maintenance of the
status quo say they take their cue from a nationalistic ideology, with roots
embedded in the struggle against colonialism. They believe the leadership of the
liberation struggle, despite its glaring failure to adhere to the ideals of that
national project, has an historical sanction and a permanent veto on the
political administration and management of
Zimbabwe.
To a traditional Zimbabwean nationalist, the argument that a Zanu PF
regime denies essential freedoms to the majority, or shuts out opportunities for
basic sustenance and growth, means nothing. They blame all our misfortunes on
colonialism; they explain their policies and guidelines through history; they
evoke memories of racism, inequality and even slavery to cover up for their own
bungling and lack of good governance. They are always angry, and often raise the
war slogan: Äluta continua!
We accept their presence in our midst on the understanding that they
are a fast-dwindling minority whose thinking feeds on nostalgia, political
opportunism and outright political greed. For that reason, they lack the moral
weight and legitimacy to impose the vision onto the
people.
By pursuing this vision, the group refuses to
accept that the core national grievance in
Zimbabwe today arose from the absence of
essential institutional, cultural and constitutional safeguards necessary to
ensconce the people’s freedoms.
By contrast, the main driving force for change
desires an extension of the gains of Zimbabwe’s independence. The new voices
calling for political reform and change see their agenda as part of broad
struggle for social liberation.
We are fighting for freedom from a parasitic elite, which merely
replaced the colonial administrator and sealed off public offices and public
debates from public control.
Our activists, members and supporters form the
most productive segment of our population. They are young and ready to drive the
agenda for the nation. They do not have an emotional attachment to an outdated
nationalistic philosophy, nor to the liberation struggle. They grew up in an
independent Zimbabwe with no other experience other than
having to deal with growing unemployment, poverty, hopelessness and
despair.
Zimbabwe is a country where the majority
population today is made up of peasants, workers, professionals and executives,
both in government and in the private sector, who were toddlers at
Independence in 1980. They have lived under a
single political creed for 24 years now. They have lived under the single
political leadership of Zanu PF. They know the calibre of that leadership. They
know that the worldview of that leadership is cast in the
past.
Job seekers, aspiring executives and development activists have
watched opportunities slip through their fingers because of a constricted
political climate and have begun to raise critical questions about the future.
They notice the closure of democratic space on a daily basis without
any explanation or justification. They yearn for freedom. Unlike their peers
calling for the struggle to continue in perpetuity, most Zimbabweans know that
peace is possible.
In short, the MDC and the entire democratic movement believe in the
need for change because we have never tasted our full individual liberties. We
have never been able to take for granted our personal safety and
security.
Our struggle to further the ideals of the liberation struggle is
being sabotaged by a nationalistic ruling elite. This group is quick to shout
“colonialism!” and to shoot down anything that moves whenever the people
challenge the Zanu PF regime.
In 2000 and in 2002, we exposed the regime’s weakness. We made
tremendous advances and gave the people the necessary confidence to take on
tyranny. We made a significant dent on the regime’s pillars of support, forcing
Zanu PF to apply every trick in the book to influence the outcome of the
elections.
We gained invaluable experiences in that
struggle. The experiences show us that it is possible to introduce a new
political culture in Zimbabwe.
We tried to invest in political advancement, only to meet brutality
from the state whenever we attempted to assemble or to speak out. Some left the
country in desperation others remained to fight on. We are inspired by our
successes in local government and in
Parliament.
Events in the past week were quite instructive and inspiring. For the
first time since the National Working People’s Convention in 1999, we formally
met as a broad alliance of democratic forces and agreed on the
future.
Representatives from civil society clarified their roles and
responsibilities in the creation of an environment in which the people are able
to decide on critical governance issues through the election of a leadership of
their choice.
Our objective is to see the birth of a legitimate authority to
captain the ship of state, especially after the March 2005 Parliamentary
election.
It is heartening to note that there is a definite movement towards
the final resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis. The people will finally draw a
huge sigh of political relief from the broad consensus that is emerging on the
conduct and administration of the forthcoming Parliamentary
election.
We also welcomed Shakespeare Maya, the former president of the
National Alliance for Good Governance into our ranks.
Maya stated that after intense debates and discussions within his
party, there was a general agreement that the state of Zimbabwean politics
offered no room for a middle ground. Either one supports the movement for
democratic change or one was still stuck in the retreating status quo.
We have an open door policy in the MDC. Welcome
all. If you believe, or if you can see, that
Zimbabwe is on a downward spiral, do not
continue to sit on the fence. The MDC is your home.
I am happy that there has been a surge in our membership, swelled by
new applicants among them previous Zanu PF loyalists, businesspersons,
traditional chiefs, headmen and other community leaders. Our offices and
structures countrywide are processing thousands of applications for membership
of the MDC everyday.
The demise of the nationalistic Zanu PF cabal is
now clear. The party’s leaders are at each other throats. The clashes between
Zanu PF opportunists, reformers and purists from the old school in that party
are evidently paving the way for a new
Zimbabwe. A
similar process took place in South
Africa in dying days of apartheid.
We are near the end of our struggle. Everything
that Zanu PF claimed to stand for is collapsing around Robert Mugabe:
indigenisation, land redistribution, black economic empowerment and food
self-sufficiency. The so-called agrarian revolution has begun to eat its own
initiators and their families.
The chaos in the commercial farms continues. Today
Mugabe is talking of wholesale nationalisation, converting the entire country,
all our land, into dead capital. This is act of recklessness. The Constitution
respects private property rights. Where does he plan to take the country?
Nationalisation is a nationalistic concept that the world abandoned a long time
ago, for obvious reasons.
Today Mugabe is in a cul-de-sac, with nowhere
and no one to turn to for help. The anti-corruption drive has backfired. Mugabe
is failing to deal with corruption in business after realising that there are
sordid details of sleaze at the top echelons of his party. Worse vices and
baseness linger in the former
commercial farms.
Mugabe is scared to investigate senior military and party officials
who seized farms, farm machinery and farm produce worth billions of dollars from
white farmers.
Mugabe is scared to probe the corruption deals
involving his top brass during the Mozambican and
Congo wars where we lost a significant
number of finest military officers on adventures whose benefit to our people
remain a mystery.
Zimbabweans who desire meaningful change, as we witnessed at our
convention with the church, trade unions and other civil society groups last
week, are convinced that the crisis of legitimacy can only disappear if we
conduct a free and fair election under SADC norms and standards. The democratic
space must be free to allow all the players to win or lose in
comfort.
As the main political party spearheading the programme for change,
the MDC believes in the autonomy of civil society. We understand the differences
between specific interest-based organizations and a political party competing
for political power.
Civil society remains a very important tool to
check on political excesses. Civil society must empower the masses to enable
them to tackle selfish political elites. We believe no government can survive
when it is at war with civil society as is the case in
Zimbabwe
today.
We are pleased that a multi-faceted programme of action is now
underway to ensure victory in our campaign for internationally recognized
electoral standards. The implementation of these standards in March next year
would deliver a reclaimed voice of the Zimbabwean
electorate.
On our part as the MDC, we are nearly through with our internal
consultations. A national picture is emerging. There is consensus on what needs
to take place to ensure a successful campaign for fair electoral standards and
for a legitimate election.
We need to free our country from political thuggery, from open
electoral theft, from violence, from fear and from exploitation if we are to
obtain a legitimate result.
We need an open political playground. Campaigns
must take place anywhere.
Zimbabwe
requires a fresh start.
Zimbabwe needs a
new dispensation with a social liberation thrust.
In the current clash of political visions, either
you stay in Zanu PF or you join others in the fight for reason, for democratic
change and for a new
Zimbabwe. The
majority view shall prevail.
Together, we shall
win.
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President.
Beira Rail System in Private Hands As From September
Agencia de
Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
June 8, 2004
Posted to the web June
8, 2004
Maputo
As from 1 September, the entire Beira rail system,
in central Mozambique,
will be under private management, following
consultations last week between
the publicly owned port and rail company,
CFM, and the Indian consortium
that won the tender for operating the
system.
The Beira network consists of the line from Beira to Zimbabwe,
which is
already fully operational, and the Sena line, which runs from Beira
to the
Moatize coal mines in the western province of Tete, with a spur
running into
Malawi. This line was comprehensively sabotaged by the
apartheid-backed
Renamo rebels during the war of destabilisation, and no
trains have run on
it for 20 years.
Rebuilding the Sena line will be
the top priority for the Indian consortium,
consisting of the companies Rites
Ltd and Ircon International Ltd. A start
has already been made by CFM itself:
using its own resources, CFM has been
rebuilding the 90 kilometres between
the towns of Dondo and Muanza.
The Rites/Ircon consortium is to sign two
contracts with CFM on 18 June,
which will also formalise the creation of the
new company that will manage
the system. If the new company follows the
pattern of the leases for other
Mozambican ports and railways, Rites/Ircon
will be the largest shareholder,
and CFM will hold 33 per cent of the
shares.
Representatives of the consortium met in Maputo with CFM
officials, between
27 May and 2 June, to discuss the technical aspects of the
project,
modalities of the disbursement of the funds, and details of the
action plan.
They also met with Transport Minister Tomas Salomao last
Wednesday to
discuss the political aspects of the
undertaking.
According to a CFM press release, over the weekend, the
consortium
representatives visited Beira port to inspect the infrastructures.
They also
visited the Dona Ana bridge over the Zambeze river, and the work
being
undertaken by CFM's Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade on the
Dondo-Muanza
stretch.
The Dona Ana bridge is the longest rail bridge
in Africa.
Two spans were blown up (one on either bank of the river) by
apartheid
saboteurs in 1986. When it was rebuilt in the mid- 1990s, it was
planked
over and is currently operating as a road bridge.
The
reconstruction of the Sena line is budgeted at 175 million US dollars,
of
which 120 million have been provided by the World Bank. The remainder is
to
be raised by the Rites/Ircon consortium.
The new leaseholder must not
only rebuild the line. It must acquire
locomotives and rolling stock, and
install communications systems along the
line.
The Rites/Ircon
consortium will be exempt from the normal fees paid to CFM
by leaseholders
for the first five years, but it must make an initial
payment of two million
dollars immediately after signing the contract.
Independent (UK)
'The consequences are diabolical but we are the last to
be told'
By Cathy Buckle in Zimbabwe
09 June
2004
It would be an understatement to say that it came as an
enormous shock to
hear, thanks to a telephone call from the UK, that all of
Zimbabwe's
farmland is to be nationalised. As usual Zimbabwe's commercial
farmers are
the last people to be told just exactly what our government's
intentions are
when it comes to land that we hold title deeds
for.
Even more surprising was that while the apparent proposed
nationalisation of
Zimbabwe's farmland was making news in Britain, it was not
mentioned on
either the 5 or 6pm news bulletins on state-owned radio in
Zimbabwe. In a
country whose national slogan is "Our Land is Our Prosperity",
it is very
surprising that the nationalisation is not even mentioned in the
news.
As a dispossessed commercial farmer in Zimbabwe I view the
announcement by
Minister Nkomo with a healthy dose of scepticism. For the
past 52 months the
statements, announcements and pronouncements about
farmland have changed
almost every month. What began as the acquisition of
one million hectares of
land soon became five million and then 11
million.
Almost every minister here has made some sort of a statement
about
Zimbabwe's farmland but 52 months later it has become abundantly clear
that
it is only when the announcement is made by President Mugabe himself
that it
carries any weight.
If the words of Mr Nkomo are indeed
accurate then the consequences for
Zimbabwe are diabolical - both for the
dispossessed commercial farmers and
all present and future farmers in this
country. One cannot help but wonder
how many of the people that have been
allocated plots on seized commercial
farms will meet the criteria and be able
to get 99-year leases. One of the
reasons farm production has been so low,
has been the lack of title deeds
since the farms were redistributed. Without
title deeds farmers have had no
collateral to secure bank loans, no capital
to use to put crops in and cope
with inflation at 505 per
cent.
Nationalisation will not change a thing. It will not inspire
confidence, it
will not provide collateral and it will not increase
production or make food
affordable to ordinary Zimbabweans. As a dispossessed
farmer I cannot say I
am surprised that my title deeds are about to be made
worthless but it will
make me begin asking the question that all Zimbabwean
farmers are asking:
"Just who is going to compensate me then?"
Who
will pay for my house that was seized, the fencing, dams, boreholes
and
buildings that I paid for? Who now will help me rebuild my life? The
farm
was not just a piece of land, legally bought and paid for, it was
my
business, my career and my pension.
Cathy Buckle's books on the
Zimbabwean crisis, African Tears and Beyond
Tears, are available from: www.
africabookcentre.com; www.amazon.co.uk
Times of Oman
Ban Zimbabwe, says Streak
LONDON
- Heath Streak, the deposed Zimbabwe captain, has called for
his country to
be banned from all international cricket until the
International Cricket
Council (ICC) investigates allegations of racial
discrimination against the
Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU).
Streak's claims that Zimbabwe's
selectors were discriminating against
white players led to him being sacked
as captain in April and provoked 15
rebels to walk out.
"I don't
think other countries should be playing Test or One-day
cricket against
Zimbabwe until the current crisis has been resolved," he
told the Daily
Telegraph.
"It's a difficult one for the ICC, but they maybe have
to force the
two parties involved to talk and to try to come up with some
sort of
resolution. I hope that things are redeemable and that the damage can
be
repaired."
"But there is increasing polarisation between the
two parties, and the
longer it goes on the more difficult it's going to be to
get an agreement."
Streak, who has decided to move to England to
play for Warwickshire,
insisted his demand for an international ban was based
on cricketing rather
than political reasons.
"Players are being
discriminated against because they are white, which
is the main problem," he
said. "But it isn't a purely black and white thing.
There's also regional
discrimination as well."
Streak had already decided to play county
cricket before falling out
with the ZCU but he now fears his international
career is over.
"I hope that my Zimbabwe career isn't finished.
But, in my heart of
hearts, it's difficult to see how I can play again unless
the ICC get
involved." - AFP