Financial Gazette
Kumbirai
Mafunda,
Senior Business Reporter
Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Minister
Joseph Made’s claims of a bumper maize
harvest this season comes under
scrutiny when some multilateral
organisations conclude a food insecurity and
vulnerability assessment survey
next week. Government and international
relief agency sources told The
Financial Gazette this week that the Zimbabwe
Vulnerability Assessment
Committee (Zimvac), which is a collaborative effort
by United Nations
agencies, the government and donors, had at long last
commenced the
comprehensive food vulnerability assessment. The exercise will
determine the
extent of food insecurity and vulnerable households across the
country and
whether outside assistance is required to close the food gap.
Sources said
the exercise, which is expected to last for 10 days, began last
Saturday
with the collection of crucial data in the country’s 10 provinces.
"The
fieldwork is ongoing now and we are going to determine the number of
people
and areas to focus resources on," said the sources. The vulnerability
and
food security assessment and monitoring has traditionally focused on
rural
areas where teacher unions report that schoolchildren are dropping out
of
school because of starvation. This time around it will also cover the
urban
population in response to concerns about the growing number of poor
households in urban areas.
Despite Made’s claims of a bumper harvest
after the government cancelled a
UN-led crop assessment in April, aid agency
sources say they are determined
to test Made’s claims during their 10-day
survey by gaining a clearer
picture of household vulnerability in the
country’s 10 provinces. They say
with the changing political, economic and
social conditions in Zimbabwe, it
is ever more important to understand and
monitor people’s vulnerability. The
results of the Zimvac assessment, which
are expected to be released in July,
will help in the design of effective
responses or pre-emptive actions to
keep urban populations above a minimum
threshold of food security. Critics
say the Zimvac survey could leave egg on
the face of Made who recently told
a parliamentary portfolio committee on
agriculture that Zimbabwe would this
season harvest 1.8 million metric
tonnes of maize - enough to feed the
citizens of the crisis wrecked country
despite. Independent food monitoring
agencies have however projected another
crop deficit.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and FEWSNET
have jointly
projected that crop output this year is far short of
consumption needs,
putting Zimbabwe’s crop harvest at between 800 000 metric
tonnes and 900 000
tonnes - about half the annual national requirements. In
their preliminary
crop forecasts, food monitoring agencies report that most
districts are
expected to report crop failures caused by poor planning and
the shortages
of critical inputs in the 2005/06 growing season. Food
insecurity has been
exacerbated by the country’s seven-year-old economic
crisis, in which the
minimum wage covers a small percentage of basic
household expenditure.
According to FEWSNET, poor families have so far
survived by "borrowing,
reducing the number and size of meals and skipping
meals on some days".
Sunday Times
Friday May 26, 2006 15:06 -
(SA)
By Donwald Pressly
Ruling African National Congress (ANC)
Members of Parliament on Friday
heckled the official opposition Democratic
Alliance (DA) when it put a
motion to the National Assembly expressing
dismay at South Africa's refusal
this week to grant former Zimbabwean
opposition
Member of Parliament Roy Bennett asylum.
Earlier Radio 702
reported Home Affairs officials as refusing to comment as
to why Bennett was
refused asylum but said the law guided them. Apparently
Bennett was informed
that it would not be unsafe for him to return to his
homeland,
Zimbabwe.
DA chief whip Douglas Gibson said in a motion to the National
Assembly: "All
of those who care about human rights will join me in
expressing complete
dismay at the asylum application refusal in respect of
Roy Bennett."
Gibson's motion was responded to with "aargh" from ANC
benches, which Gibson
noted indicated that this confirmed that they did not
support human rights
in Zimbabwe.
"Bennett was an MP in Zimbabwe. He
represented an overwhelmingly black
constituency in Parliament. His main
crime was that he supported the
opposition MDC (Movement for Democratic
Change) instead of Mr (President
Robert) Mugabe's party. His direct crime
is that he was involved in a
scuffle in Parliament with a minister who
accused him and his forbears of
stealing his land."
Gibson said:
"Honourable members will remember that when the present Deputy
Minister of
Justice (the ANC' Johnny de Lange) and Dr Manie Schoeman (then a
National
Party MP and now in the ANC) were involved in a similar scuffle in
our
Parliament both had to apologise and one was sent out for a day and one
for
a week. In Zimbabwe, Roy Bennett was sent to jail for many months also
covering the election so that he was unable to stand again.
"After
considerable persecution, Mr Bennett and his family sought asylum in
our
country. In a decision which puts us on the wrong side of history, we
have
refused asylum, presumably on the grounds that Zimbabwe is a friend of
the
ANC and therefore a beacon of human rights.
"You should all be ashamed of
yourselves. If any ANC member or SACP member
or Cosatu members opposite
have any courage and any political integrity they
will see to it that this
decision is reversed."
Bennett was released from Chikurubi Prison last
June after serving eight
months of his 12-month sentence in custody for
pushing Zimbabwean Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa to the ground during a
parliamentary debate.
Chinamasa had derided the court orders that Bennett
had been awarded that
should have seen his property returned after it had
been seized by the
State.
The former MP fled to South Africa earlier
this year and 702 reported that
he was "in hiding" in Gauteng but it was
expected that he would hold a press
conference next week.
I-Net
Bridge
Zimbabwe: Where to Speak of Trees is Treason
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
COLUMN
May 24, 2006
Posted to the web May 25, 2006
Gondo
Gushungo
Harare
IN June 1990, celebrated South African writer Nadine
Gordimer spoke of the dangers of writers fearing freedom when censorship is
finally slackened.
This was at a PEN-organised International Writers Day in
London, United Kingdom.
The part of her speech that caught my attention was
when, quoting someone called Brecht, Gordimer spoke of countries where "to speak
of trees is treason". I did not immediately understand or believe what she was
talking about. I would be lying if I said I did.
To me, it was a typical
hyperbole --a speech that uses exaggeration in order to achieve a particular
effect. I tried without success to imagine what kind of a country this could be
where the rulers would stalk every book or newspaper page, television or radio
programme. It could only be imaginary. Even the most despotic governments would
not stoop that low. Or so I thought.
How could I even think about it? Yes,
there were restrictions, limitations, isolated bullying and intimidation of the
media by the government but 10 years after independence Zimbabwe still had a
semblance of a relatively free media. There were no such laws as the widely
condemned Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) or the
Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). Nor had anyone who is part of that crazy
assortment of government appeasers and apologists dreamt of the unnecessary
Interceptions of Communications Act.
But 16 years down the line, I now have
this frightening thought that what was once unthinkable could just be a reality.
Zimbabwe could soon come face to face with the ugly side of what Gordimer was
talking about almost two decades ago.
With the way things are going there is
a justifiable deep sense of trepidation. There is the real danger that Zimbabwe,
where journalists considered politically dangerous have been a target of
unjustified rhetoric, could go the way of Burma. In the south-east Asian nation,
Than Shwe, chairman of the military junta known as the State Peace and
Development Council, has only probably taken off his epaulettes but has not
given up his military habits and he continues to play God. Media censorship has
gone mad. The military ruler's decrees that impose strict censorship on the
media could only be imagined, if they did not exist!
A couple of years ago,
the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation reported that in Burma, information on issues
such as industrial growth, rice production and the literacy rate are treated as
state secrets. Special authorisation is needed to own fax machines, modems and
even photocopiers while possession of an unlicensed computer is punishable by
imprisonment of up to 15 years!
Only a fortnight ago, the New York-based
Committee for the Protection of Journalists reported that Shwe's government owns
all daily newspapers, radio stations and the country's three television
channels. The media dare not hint at, let alone report on anti-government
sentiments. Burma's few privately owned publications must submit content to the
Press Scrutiny Board for approval before publishing. Thus censorship delays mean
that none publishes on a daily basis. And citizens have been arrested for
listening to the BBC or Radio Free Asia in public!
That is not all. The
military government has created what they call a Cyber Warfare Division to
monitor telecommunications, including domestic and international telephone and
facsimile traffic. And that sounds eerily like what the Zimbabwean government is
trying to achieve with the proposed Interceptions of Communications Act. Could
the Zimbabwean government be mimicking the government of Burma? Perish the
thought!
True, the same could be happening in Turkmenistan, North Korea,
Equatorial Guinea and Libya among others, which have made sure that conditions
that promote the free flow of information are non-existent. But why should we
always benchmark ourselves against the worst in the world? Do the powers-that-be
want to turn the media clock to the dark pre-domocracy days of subservience to
the government? God forbid!
Admittedly, Zimbabwe is not in the league of the
world's most censored countries, which have the deepest information void. But
the danger signs are flashing with blinding effect if the latest manoeuvres to
gag the media are anything to go by.
It gives cause for concern that in the
sea of abject poverty, deprivation and disillusionment, it is the introduction
of these devices of censorship that is attracting government's priority
attention. Nothing could be more telling as to how serious government's
misplaced mistrust of the media is. It is so deep-seated so as to threaten
freedom of expression and mankind's most basic need to know upon which the
survival of democracy depends.
It is difficult to understand why the
government, which sermonises the world on how Zimbabwe is a thriving
constitutional democracy, is hell-bent on tightening the screws on the media.
Yet a free media is crucial to the functioning of a free society. It needs not
only reflect the nation's diversity but also to be a mirror reflection of the
reality on the ground, warts and all!
True, government might be happy with
the hype and very little, if any, substance coming from the state-controlled
media about how popular it and the ruling ZANU PF are supposed to be against a
background of stagnation and misery marking Zimbabwe today in stark contrast to
other robust economies in the region (Thus sunshine journalism has been
perfected into an art form).
But it has to realise that its relentless
efforts to muzzle the media are an assault on democracy of which access to
information and the right to free expression are key elements. That is one of
the major reasons Zimbabweans sacrificed life and limb in the liberation
struggle -- the right to express their humanity in all its forms. Why should a
government that claims to have a popular mandate seek to deny them their right
to be heard?
I am not trying to glorify journalists, especially those in
the private media who nonetheless have done a tremendous job under a very
difficult situation. In any case, just like Ada Wilson, I know only too well
that they are the messenger and not the message. But there is no denying that a
free media is a cornerstone of any democratic dispensation. That is why
journalists and other key stakeholders are taking the lead in agitating for the
protection of a free press, not through special interest legislation but as a
fundamental element of democracy. This they are doing in the full knowledge that
it is not too late for Zimbabwe to repeal AIPPA. The widely condemned law is not
written in stone. It was written by politicians and can be re-written by the
same politicians.
It is against this background that government should
understand that the hue and cry raised by its objectionable pieces of
legislation such as AIPPA is a testament to the grave concerns and terrifying
insecurity that lurks at the heart of not only Zimbabwean journalism but also
that of all democratic forces in the country.
Indeed, it is impossible to
excuse government's actions. There is no other reason for them other than the
desire to suppress dissent and stop the free flow of information simply because
the private media happens to publish true but embarrassing reports. Thus it is
deemed unfriendly and hostile. But I am inclined to ask, as did Liam Yi-zheng of
the Hong Kong Economic Journal: Why should we be friendly? We are the
press!
Copyright © 2006 Financial Gazette.
May 26, 2006, 19 hours, 9 minutes and
48 seconds ago.
By ANDnetwork .com
Zimbabwe has dismissed
claims that the jailed alleged mastermind behind a coup plot in Equatorial
Guinea two years ago was set to be extradited soon to the oil-rich central
African country.
Simon Mann was given a seven-year jail term, later
reduced to four years, on charges of breaching firearms legislation.
He and
60 other men were arrested after their plane landed at Harare International
Airport in March 2004.
The planeload of men were allegedly to pick up
weapons that Zimbabwean authorities said were to be used to overthrow President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Malabo.
Equatorial Guinean prosecutor Jose Olo
Obono said that Zimbabwean authorities "have told us that within two months, the
extradition process (for Mann) will be in place".
However, Zimbabwean
attorney general Sobusa Gula Ndebele said that "we signed a broad agreement with
Equatorial Guinea authorities, but I am not aware of the extradition
arrangement".
He was referring to the agreement signed last week by himself
and Obono on behalf of the two countries, which sought to promote co-operation
to promote justice, equality and the fight against crime.
Most of the
suspected mercenaries were released from a Zimbabwean prison last year, but Mann
remained in a Harare jail.
Eight other men were to go on trial in South
Africa on the country's tough anti-mercenary legislation
introduced in 1998
to stamp out mercenary activity and shed the country's reputation as a
springboard for soldiers of fortune in coup-prone Africa.
In Malabo, five of
the eight South Africans convicted over the attempted coup remained in prison,
including their leader Nick du Toit who was serving a 34-year jail term for
attempting to overthrow Obiang, who himself came to power in a coup in 1979.
The case exploded across the world's front pages following the arrest in
Cape Town of Mark Thatcher, the wealthy son of former British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher.
Source : ZNBC
The Herald
(Harare)
May 25, 2006
Posted to the web May 26,
2006
Chinhoyi
CHINHOYI Provincial Hospital has embarked on an ambitious
programme to
privatise one of its wings in a bid to improve revenue inflows
and boost
service delivery.
The programme, which hinges on the support of
strategic partners, has been
earmarked for launch on August 31. Speaking
during a tour of the wards, the
hospital's community liaison officer Mr
Travor Wambe said the institution
was inviting strategic partners to
refurbish and upgrade a wing at the
hospital into a private ward.
The
ward, Mr Wambe said, was expected to cater for people who could afford
to
pay for superior care and access to other ancillary services, which would
make their stay in the hospital comfortable. "We are looking at partners
coming in to assist us improve on the ward so that it has all the necessary
infrastructure for an upmarket ward. This does not mean we will concentrate
on that ward alone, but we feel the ward would have the effect of raising
the standard of service in other wards as well," said Mr Wambe.
The
hospital, he said, needed support in the provision of linen, beds,
television sets and other entertainment facilities, which would be provided
at an extra cost. The development is in line with Government calls for
hospitals to find other means of generating revenue to ensure they operate
efficiently and follows the trend at other referral centres such as
Parirenyatwa Hospital, which have private wards. The wing would have
executive wards, which would house one patient each with the option of
accommodating a spouse upon request. It would also have facilities for
hospitalised company executives to continue doing their work.
Spiralling price rises mean textbook arithmetic doesn’t work, while schoolteachers make their own calculations about how to survive.
By Sibongile Mathuthu in Bulawayo (AR No. 64, 26-May-06)
Zimbabwe's skyrocketing inflation, with annual rates of over 1,000 per cent making it the world’s highest, is having a damaging impact on the education system as well as on other sectors.
The Herald (Harare)
May
25, 2006
Posted to the web May 26, 2006
Harare
ZIMBABWEANS wishing to
visit South Africa may submit their visa applications
through Fedex Express
offices in Harare.
However, they will now be required to pay $100 000 as visa
application fee.
In the past, Zimbabweans applying for a South African visa
did not pay any
fee, but were required to provide evidence that they had at
least 1 000 rand
worth of travellers' cheques. The South African Embassy
also demanded
Zimbabwean nationals failing to meet their requirements for
visas to pay a
surety cash deposit of $300 000 before a visa was issued if
the applicant's
bank statement could not be confirmed by the local mission.
The embassy said
that the move was prompted by an increase in Zimbabwean
travellers to South
Africa using fake documents such as letters of
invitation, proof of
accommodation and passports.
A notice placed in the
Press by the South African Embassy this week stated
that visa applications
could now be submitted in Harare at the Fedex and
Visa Company locations.
South African Embassy counsellor Mr Kingsley Sithole
yesterday said the move
was meant to offer prospective travellers based in
Harare a choice as this
previously applied only to those outside Harare.
"People can still come to
the embassy to apply for visas and they have also
an option to apply through
Fedex," he said. Mr Sithole dismissed perceptions
by the travelling public
that applying for visas through Fedex Express
resulted in a bottleneck. He
said Fedex only provided courier services and
this had no bearing on the
outcome of visa applica- tions. Zimbabweans from
all walks of life, mostly
cross-border traders, travel to South Africa in
their thousands daily mainly
for business purposes. Over the years residents
of the two countries have
called upon their governments to remove the visa
regime that has seen
people, especially those living near the border, being
inconvenienced when
they want to visit relatives living either side of the
colonially demarcated
border. South Africa is Zimbabwe's largest trading
partner, but Zimbabweans
travelling to South Africa have to meet strict visa
appli cation
requirements from a central point in Harare.
South Africans collect their
free visas at the point of entry. Several
Western countries, the United
Kingdom included, have also engaged Fedex for
visa application purposes.
Last November, South Africa imposed transit visas
on those passing through
that country to catch flights to other
destinations. These were, however,
later scraped.
By Business Day
26 May 2006
at 10:20 AM EDT
JOHANNESBURG (Business Day) -- President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe has told
Rio Tinto Diamond [NYSE:RTP] executives seeking
clarification over the
proposed indigenisation of the mining industry that
government was mulling
proposals but had no policy in place yet, the
state-owned Zimbabwe Herald
reported on Friday.
Chief executive of the
mining conglomerate Keith Johnson and Cameroon McRae,
CE of its subsidiary,
Murowa Diamond Mine, called on the president at State
House on Thursday
morning over the matter, the newspaper said.
Officials who attended the
closed meeting said President Mugabe told the
mining giant's officials that
it would be premature to give them a concrete
briefing on the indigenisation
proposals because discussions were in early
stages with the State still to
adopt a policy.
Principle “Must Be Upheld”
However, the officials said Cde
Mugabe made it clear to the Rio Tinto
executives that proposals for the
state or indigenous Zimbabweans to control
a 51 percent stake in mining
firms was a principle that must be upheld, the
Herald added.
The
president reportedly explained that government was “borrowing the
principle”
from other countries such as Botswana and Namibia and emphasised
that
Zimbabwe's policy would recognise “the levels of investment in social
responsibility by mining houses in determining ownership structures.”
The
Rio Tinto officials briefed the president on their firm's social
programmes,
which had seen it build schools, dams and help with resettlement
on some
farms, the newspaper said.
Uproar “Uncalled For”
President Mugabe had
previously said the uproar over the proposed
indigenisation of the mining
sector was “uncalled for” as there was no
policy yet with consultations in
their early stages.
But he has stressed that government would push for the
indigenisation of the
mining industry to ensure Zimbabweans also benefited
from the exploitation
of the country's non-renewable resources, the Herald
noted.
“Whatever natural resources are in Zimbabwe belong to the people of
Zimbabwe
who have the sole right to determine what share foreigners who
invest in the
country may have,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.
National Malawi
Saturday, 27 May 2006
National
by Emmanuel Muwamba, 26 May 2006 - 07:31:44
Police in
Blantyre on Tuesday briefly detained two journalists when they
were taking
pictures of the removed plaque pillar Zimbabwean president
Robert Mugabe
unveiled when he opened the new Midima Road which was named
after
him.
The two—Malawian freelance journalist Isaac Masingati, who is also a
journalism student at the University of Malawi’s Polytechnic and Tsvangirayi
Makwazhi of the Associated Press (AP) in Zimbabwe—were stopped from taking
pictures by two armed police officers.
“My colleague Tsvangirayi came in
the country on Sunday gathering
information on HIV and Aids. He took
advantage of the visit to do a feature
on the Robert Mugabe Highway — which
raised so much debate in Zimbabwe and
here, especially on the news that
police were guarding the plaque,” said
Masingati.
He said when they
arrived at the pillar, there was no-one, “only to be
confronted by two armed
police officers when Makwazhi had released the
shutter once.”
Masingati
said the policemen told them that they received orders that no-one
should
come close to the plaque, let alone take its pictures.
“They then demanded
IDs. We produced, but when they learnt that my colleague
was from Zimbabwe
and his name was Tsvangirayi, they asked him if he was
related to Zimbabwe
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirayi, suspecting he had
been sent.
“We
told them the pictures were taken in good faith but they detained us for
over 30 minutes asking us a number of questions,” said
Masingati.
National Media Institute for Southern Africa Malawi (Namisa)
Information and
Research Officer Innocent Chitosi condemned the
detention.
“The detention is an unfortunate development because the
government says it
is protecting media freedom and the freedom of expression
but police are
detaining journalists when they are accessing a public place.
It is
unfortunate because there has been no public announcement that the
plaque is
a protected place,” said Chitosi.
Deputy Minister of
Information and Tourism John Bande said there is no
directive to police to
stop people from accessing the plaque.
“Maybe it was a matter to do with
security because other people came close
to the plaque looking very innocent
but they had evil intentions of removing
the plaque,” said
Bande.
Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Anna Kachikho said the
duty
of her ministry is to guard and “if people want to take pictures they
better
follow procedures.”
“I thought everybody was there when the plaque
was being unveiled so what is
it that people want? There are better things
to do,” she said.
The Mugabe plaque/pillar has been under guard before and
after unveiling.
Last week 30 unidentified people removed the plaque after
attacking two
police officers who were guarding it.
26 May 2006
18:48:06 GMT
Source: IRIN
JOHANNESBURG, 26 May (IRIN) - Despite its
often prophesised collapse,
Zimbabwe is still standing - but experts have
warned that planning for
economic recovery by the international community is
now critical.
Presenting a paper on the economic, political and security
situation in
Zimbabwe, Tony Hawkins, professor at the Graduate School of
Management of
the University of Zimbabwe, commented: "Eight years into
economic decline
that has cut GDP [gross domestic product] by 40 percent and
halved income
per head, Zimbabwe is still standing - highlighting the
yawning chasm that
separates economic decline and political change in
Africa."
A recent report, 'After Mugabe: Applying post-conflict recovery
lessons to
Zimbabwe', published in the Harvard University Africa Policy
Journal (APJ),
underscores the need for the international community to
"start preliminary
planning now for responses to a transition in Zimbabwe",
given the "war-like
trauma experienced by the country and acute conditions
today".
The report warns that "the southern African country is in a perilous
state
of decline and could face a transition at any time. Waiting until the
day
after the fall of [president] Robert Mugabe could be too
late".
Presenting a wide range of steadily deterioration economic indicators
-
plummeting GDP growth, employment and real wages, and skyrocketing
inflation - Hawkins stressed that "whatever the economic indicator, the
numbers are uniformly dismal".
Until 2002, Zimbabwe was the second
largest economy after South Africa in
the 14-member Southern African
Development Community; now only Malawi and
tiny Swaziland and Lesotho are
worse off.
The government has insisted the fault lies with western
governments,
determined to punish Zimbabwe's violent land reform programme
with
"sanctions". It has launched a series of recovery plans, but without an
agreement with the International Monetary Fund and confidence from
investors, none have managed to halt the slide.
"In political
democracies, prolonged economic decline almost always sparks
political
change, through the ballot box or more radical confrontation on
the
streets," Hawkins remarked. But Mugabe has won every election from
independence, although since 2000 the ballot results have been
disputed.
Political change in Zimbabwe remained elusive, said Hawkins, "there
is no
'tipping point'". The opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
"deeply
split and demoralised", has promised a campaign of protest but
according to
Hawkins, there is "no willingness to lead, let alone follow, a
campaign of
protest" which would be challenged by the security
forces.
Economies eventually "pass the point of no return" and can only get
back on
their feet with "massive outside assistance", but inevitably, "the
donor
community comes to the country's rescue, often in 'too little, too
late'
mode," Hawkins said.
The APJ report thought change in Zimbabwe
would come without much warning,
given the "extremely fragile and ultimately
unstable" situation held
together by "Mugabe himself - [and] he is,
nonetheless, 82 years old".
In a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe "a speedy and
substantial international response
will be necessary". Assuming the next
government was "reform-minded enough"
and donors were "willing to respond",
the international community would have
a "window of opportunity" to make a
difference.
It suggested that the response not be limited to traditional
development
practices "but must be informed by recent post-conflict
experience",
establishing security and the rule of law, fostering political
reconciliation, "legitimate" institutions of government, and encouraging
economic recovery through the normalisation of relations with the
international community.
Although Zimbabwe has not suffered internal
armed conflict since
independence, "the country nonetheless exhibits many
extreme characteristics
of a society in violent conflict", such as the
breakdown of basic services
and the mass flight of people and
capital.
The report maintained that "no donor should provide assistance to
the
government at the present time, since recovery is impossible with the
current leadership. But there is not time to waste in developing a
multilateral framework to respond to the transition that is unavoidably
coming to Harare".
Zimbabwe was fortunate to have South Africa, a large
and relatively wealthy
neighbour with a strong interest in fostering a
rebound. Reportedly already
sheltering an estimated two million Zimbabwean
immigrants, South Africa's
concern was that further deterioration in
Zimbabwe would trigger a larger
exodus.
In an interview with the
Financial Times on Wednesday, South African
President Thabo Mbeki said,
"Zimbabweans have agreed to receive [UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan]. We
all await the outcome of the intervention
with regard to Zimbabwe. You need
to normalise the relations between
Zimbabwe and the rest of the world, so
his [Annan's] interaction with the
Zimbabwean government would be intended
for those outcomes, including
indicating what sort of assistance the UN
would give."
The Zimbabwean authorities were quick to say the invitation had
been
revoked, reportedly fearing Annan's visit might be used to press Mugabe
to
step down.
"This is one of the things that the United Nations wants to
get across: that
assistance is being provided in an impartial way, without
any association
with a political position one way or the other. Our concern
is to ensure
that the most vulnerable, those whose livelihoods are most at
risk for
whatever reason, are being catered for," Chris Kaye, Regional
Representative
of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, told IRIN.
The international community does have planning for
Zimbabwe in place, drawn
up in consultation with the Zimbabwe government,
local NGO's and a number of
UN agencies, to cover contingencies from
epidemic outbreaks to a crack in
the Kariba dam, but not including measures
to rescue Zimbabwe from its
present economic plight.
"The plans are not
really that different from those in neighbouring
countries. What is
important is that we are prepared to deal with the
consequences, whatever
they may be, regardless of what the cause has been,"
Kaye
said.
Transition in Zimbabwe would not be easy, said Hawkins. "Social and
economic
damage is not just long-term but permanent. It will take at least a
dozen
years to regain the living standards of the 1990s, and the price to be
paid
by future generations for the follies of their forefathers will be a
heavy
one."
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
COLUMN
May 24, 2006
Posted to the web May 25, 2006
Gondo
Gushungo
Harare
IN June 1990, celebrated South African writer Nadine
Gordimer spoke of the
dangers of writers fearing freedom when censorship is
finally slackened.
This was at a PEN-organised International Writers Day in
London, United
Kingdom.
The part of her speech that caught my attention
was when, quoting someone
called Brecht, Gordimer spoke of countries where
"to speak of trees is
treason". I did not immediately understand or believe
what she was talking
about. I would be lying if I said I did.
To me, it
was a typical hyperbole --a speech that uses exaggeration in order
to
achieve a particular effect. I tried without success to imagine what kind
of
a country this could be where the rulers would stalk every book or
newspaper
page, television or radio programme. It could only be imaginary.
Even the
most despotic governments would not stoop that low. Or so I
thought.
How
could I even think about it? Yes, there were restrictions, limitations,
isolated bullying and intimidation of the media by the government but 10
years after independence Zimbabwe still had a semblance of a relatively free
media. There were no such laws as the widely condemned Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) or the Broadcasting Services Act
(BSA). Nor had anyone who is part of that crazy assortment of government
appeasers and apologists dreamt of the unnecessary Interceptions of
Communications Act.
But 16 years down the line, I now have this
frightening thought that what
was once unthinkable could just be a reality.
Zimbabwe could soon come face
to face with the ugly side of what Gordimer
was talking about almost two
decades ago.
With the way things are going
there is a justifiable deep sense of
trepidation. There is the real danger
that Zimbabwe, where journalists
considered politically dangerous have been
a target of unjustified rhetoric,
could go the way of Burma. In the
south-east Asian nation, Than Shwe,
chairman of the military junta known as
the State Peace and Development
Council, has only probably taken off his
epaulettes but has not given up his
military habits and he continues to play
God. Media censorship has gone mad.
The military ruler's decrees that impose
strict censorship on the media
could only be imagined, if they did not
exist!
A couple of years ago, the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation reported that
in
Burma, information on issues such as industrial growth, rice production
and
the literacy rate are treated as state secrets. Special authorisation is
needed to own fax machines, modems and even photocopiers while possession of
an unlicensed computer is punishable by imprisonment of up to 15
years!
Only a fortnight ago, the New York-based Committee for the Protection
of
Journalists reported that Shwe's government owns all daily newspapers,
radio
stations and the country's three television channels. The media dare
not
hint at, let alone report on anti-government sentiments. Burma's few
privately owned publications must submit content to the Press Scrutiny Board
for approval before publishing. Thus censorship delays mean that none
publishes on a daily basis. And citizens have been arrested for listening to
the BBC or Radio Free Asia in public!
That is not all. The military
government has created what they call a Cyber
Warfare Division to monitor
telecommunications, including domestic and
international telephone and
facsimile traffic. And that sounds eerily like
what the Zimbabwean
government is trying to achieve with the proposed
Interceptions of
Communications Act. Could the Zimbabwean government be
mimicking the
government of Burma? Perish the thought!
True, the same could be happening in
Turkmenistan, North Korea, Equatorial
Guinea and Libya among others, which
have made sure that conditions that
promote the free flow of information are
non-existent. But why should we
always benchmark ourselves against the worst
in the world? Do the
powers-that-be want to turn the media clock to the dark
pre-domocracy days
of subservience to the government? God
forbid!
Admittedly, Zimbabwe is not in the league of the world's most
censored
countries, which have the deepest information void. But the danger
signs are
flashing with blinding effect if the latest manoeuvres to gag the
media are
anything to go by.
It gives cause for concern that in the sea
of abject poverty, deprivation
and disillusionment, it is the introduction
of these devices of censorship
that is attracting government's priority
attention. Nothing could be more
telling as to how serious government's
misplaced mistrust of the media is.
It is so deep-seated so as to threaten
freedom of expression and mankind's
most basic need to know upon which the
survival of democracy depends.
It is difficult to understand why the
government, which sermonises the world
on how Zimbabwe is a thriving
constitutional democracy, is hell-bent on
tightening the screws on the
media. Yet a free media is crucial to the
functioning of a free society. It
needs not only reflect the nation's
diversity but also to be a mirror
reflection of the reality on the ground,
warts and all!
True, government
might be happy with the hype and very little, if any,
substance coming from
the state-controlled media about how popular it and
the ruling ZANU PF are
supposed to be against a background of stagnation and
misery marking
Zimbabwe today in stark contrast to other robust economies in
the region
(Thus sunshine journalism has been perfected into an art form).
But it has to
realise that its relentless efforts to muzzle the media are an
assault on
democracy of which access to information and the right to free
expression
are key elements. That is one of the major reasons Zimbabweans
sacrificed
life and limb in the liberation struggle -- the right to express
their
humanity in all its forms. Why should a government that claims to have
a
popular mandate seek to deny them their right to be heard?
I am not
trying to glorify journalists, especially those in the private
media who
nonetheless have done a tremendous job under a very difficult
situation. In
any case, just like Ada Wilson, I know only too well that they
are the
messenger and not the message. But there is no denying that a free
media is
a cornerstone of any democratic dispensation. That is why
journalists and
other key stakeholders are taking the lead in agitating for
the protection
of a free press, not through special interest legislation but
as a
fundamental element of democracy. This they are doing in the full
knowledge
that it is not too late for Zimbabwe to repeal AIPPA. The widely
condemned
law is not written in stone. It was written by politicians and can
be
re-written by the same politicians.
It is against this background that
government should understand that the hue
and cry raised by its
objectionable pieces of legislation such as AIPPA is a
testament to the
grave concerns and terrifying insecurity that lurks at the
heart of not only
Zimbabwean journalism but also that of all democratic
forces in the
country.
Indeed, it is impossible to excuse government's actions. There is no
other
reason for them other than the desire to suppress dissent and stop the
free
flow of information simply because the private media happens to publish
true
but embarrassing reports. Thus it is deemed unfriendly and hostile. But
I am
inclined to ask, as did Liam Yi-zheng of the Hong Kong Economic
Journal: Why
should we be friendly? We are the press!
The
Herald (Harare)
May 25, 2006
Posted to the web May 26,
2006
Harare
If the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority insists on Value Added Tax
(VAT) payment
by stockbrokers, that would mean a three-tier tax system for
stock exchange
investors -- stamp duty, withholding tax and VAT.
Or --
assuming the tax collector yields to stockbroker dissent -- that would
mean
no tax for investors and no expanded revenue for Zimra, at least from
the
stock market? And yet, on the money market investors are only taxed
through
a 20 percent withholding tax on guaranteed returns, as opposed to
the triple
taxes on the volatile share market. "Effectively, VAT is being
implemented
on investors because brokers would simply pass on the cost to
them," grieved
one Harare analyst with an asset management company.
"Already, there are
concerns that the ZSE has some of the highest
transactions costs in the
world, and what this would do to broker margins is
anybody's
guess."
Zimra has demanded payment of VAT by stockbrokers since 2004 although
brokers are exempt from this form of taxation as per current VAT Act,
Section 11 (a). But then, the present establishment is all but a cloud of
confusion. On the one hand we have tax experts saying brokers are exempt
from paying VAT because that is provided for in the current statutes. On the
other, Zimra has insisted on payment contrary to standing regulations. What
this suggests is that one of the feuding parties has misinterpreted the VAT
Act, and, as a result, is now making unnecessary and misplaced demands.
Analysts say there is very little or no logic at all in fighting standing
laws unless one was prepared to redefine them, present them to Parliament
prior to remaining steadfast on an awfully wrong position.
Harare
analyst Mr Dzika Danha noted: "The impasse is a disaster. It sends
very bad
signals to the outside world, and for a market as huge as ZSE (by
African
standards) this is a huge mess. "Zimra's motives are dubious. They
are doing
it because there is a lot of money being made on the stock market.
There is
no foundation for the tax collector's actions. "If already you are
charging
stamp duty and withholding tax I do not see how VAT comes in. No
one has
done this anywhere in the world and I don't know w hy we should
start doing
it here.
"The market is certainly not aware on how VAT would be implemented,
whether
on stockbrokers or investors. But this will not make equities crash,
nonetheless." Other sceptics say, the VAT stand-off is a well-calculated
strategy meant to hold up the equities bubble, as stocks ran mad in the last
few weeks. "I suspect the authorities are not too excited by the huge
unproductive funds holding sway on the stock market because that fuels money
supply growth. The tax controversy may, therefore, have been a convenient
strategy to throw spanners into the market to curtail sustained bullish
trends, particularly when rates are this low."
Equities made a surprise
burst in the last three weeks after months of being
in the red, as
short-term deposit rates fell sharply. The key industrial
index shot to
nearly 45 million in a single day's trade from around 30
million. Perhaps,
this would be another case, as last August, where none of
the feuding
entities em erged a winner although the loss was on investors.
Financial Gazette
Personal
Glimpses with Mavis Makuni
AGAINST a backdrop of the burgeoning crises
bedevilling the country, it is
not surprising that the authorities have to
resort to torrents of misleading
propaganda to maintain a climate of tension
and siege in which sacrifices
can be demanded of the long-suffering
populace.
Making endless claims that Zimbabwe's sovereignty is under
threat from
detractors opposed to the land reform programme enables the
powers-that-be
to harangue the hard-pressed men and women on the street to
work harder,
produce more, become inured to hardship and not to slacken in
their
revolutionary zeal to thwart the machinations of external enemies,
mainly
the United States, Britain, the European Union and their
allies.
But as an author once observed at the height of Chairman Mao's orgy
of
denunciation of the West during China's Cultural Revolution, any
effective
programme of persuasion has to mesh media propaganda with
realities. Even
the dark prince of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, once
warned of the
danger of self-indoctrination resulting from believing one's
own propaganda.
In Zimbabwe, officials appear to be now so spellbound by
their own
propaganda that they need large doses of truth telling to jolt
them back
into the real world where problems can only be resolved by
confronting them
honestly. Trying to wish them away by resorting to
buck-passing and blaming
scapegoats will simply not make them go away.
It
is noteworthy that during her current nationwide tour, Vice President
Joice
Mujuru has drawn attention to some unpalatable truths that need to be
faced
if agricultural production is to be restored to optimum levels. She
cited
some of the main factors that have contributed to the collapse of
agriculture and the loss of Zimbabwe's once proud status as the breadbasket
of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). These, she said,
included the fact that vast tracts of arable land are left to lie fallow
while groups of aspiring new farmers fight over a few well-developed
properties. Some of these individuals who "masquerade as farmers" were only
interested in reaping where they did not sow and thus jumped from one farm
to the next to harvest crops made possible by the hard work of
others.
"We are doing ourselves a disservice that way. Why should we allow
people to
benefit from other people's sweat?" the Vice President asked. But
while
Mujuru can put her finger so clearly on some of the causes of the
drastic
decline in agricultural output, the nation has been told a million
unlikely
tales to explain the paralysis within the sector. Every poor
agricultural
season since 2000 when the chaotic seizure of land from white
farmers began
has been glibly attributed to either the drought or
sabotage.
Never mind that it is a fallacy to claim that climatic conditions
that
affect the whole of the SADC region can have the most disastrous impact
only
in Zimbabwe while the other nations remain unscathed. That Zimbabwe is
not
an island in terms of the weather has not stopped our officials from
turning
it into one economically and politically through ill-advised,
self-defeating
isolationist policies.
Figures released recently by the
International Monetary Fund confirm this
country's status as the black sheep
of SADC after its steady descent into
economic stagnation and retrogression
characterised by four-digit inflation
and negative gross domestic product
growth.
This dubious distinction becomes more conspicuous when contrasted
against
the dazzling success stories of Zimbabwe's neighbours, which have
all
recorded positive growth in key economic indicators such as GDP, poverty
reduction and investment. The IMF states, "After more than two decades of
economic stagnation, the Zambian economy has, since 2000, achieved sustained
robust growth." Zimbabwe has recorded sustained economic disintegration over
the same period.
Mujuru said, "We are being laughed at because we are
importing food when at
one time we were food providers. It does not augur
well for us as a nation.
. .” It is true that Zimbabwe is the subject of
derision everywhere because
of its self-inflicted and self-induced problems.
The land reform programme
could have been implemented without jeopardising a
single agricultural
season if it had not been embarked upon in a vindictive
and haphazard
manner. It will probably now take much longer to sort out the
resulting mess
and inculcate a culture of hard work in those 'farmers' who
have so far only
shown a penchant for making a quick buck through disruptive
and corrupt
activities such as acquiring land in order to lease it,
re-selling
subsidised inputs at exorbitant prices, vandalising and stealing
irrigation
infrastructure and equipment.
Despite the vice-president's
candid approach, it is now difficult if not
impossible, to root out the
anything- goes and free-for-all mentality that
officialdom encouraged and
sanctioned during the violent farm invasions by
war veterans that began in
2000. The extent of the problem is demonstrated
by the fact that even high
ranking officials like ministers have been
implicated in violations such as
pillaging equipment from farms, hoarding
more land than they can use
productively, hopping from one farm to the next
to reap the fruits of
others' labour and abusing subsidised inputs to make a
quick buck.
The
culprits have got away with these atrocities for such a long time that
even
as Mujuru tries to tell some hard truths, some of the offenders are
thumping
their noses or engaging in fresh rackets and scandals.
Not long ago, the
vice-president was told about the plunder of equipment
from Kondozi Farm by
senior officials in key ministries that must facilitate
success of the
agricultural sector. If such officials can be allowed to get
away with these
abuses, it is difficult to see how anything they say can be
taken seriously
by ordinary farmers equally determined to make hay while the
sun shines.
Consequently, while VP Mujuru may be well meaning in her candid
comments,
the situation is now too dire to be tackled on an ad hoc basis. A
paradigm
shift is called for and it should begin with the officials
acknowledging
that no amount of rhetoric and propagandistic spinning will
make these all
pervading problems go away. It is time for realism.
Even with medical insurance, few Zimbabweans can afford to pay the cost of a stay in hospital.
By Nonthando Bhebhe in Harare (AR No. 64, 26-May-06)
Recent days have been living hell for my family as we try to raise money for my brother Sibanengi, who needs an urgent life-saving operation. Our family is frightened and perplexed by an inflation rate that has now reached a surreal annual rate of 1,043 per cent.
Anglican priests say their bishop is crushing dissenting voices to serve President Robert Mugabe’s government.
By Trevor Grundy in Canterbury (AR No. 64, 26-May-06)
A group of Zimbabwean priests are planning to ask the Anglican Archbishop of York to mediate between warring factions in a religious drama being played out around Zimbabwe's main Anglican cathedral, St Mary's and All Saints, in the capital Harare.
SABC
May 26, 2006,
18:00
Zimbabwe's parallel market has taken a sharp knock in the last 72
hours.
Crumbling from Z$215 000 for one US$1 to $300 000 for one US dollar
yesterday. Market watchers say things could get worse if the stock market
remains closed and investment rates remain depressed at around 100% in a
country where inflation is over 1 000%.
There was a glimmer of hope
this morning that the stock market could be back
in action soon. Brokers
were meeting to map a way forward amid reports they
have now agreed to pay
value added tax (VAT) on their commissions - the
reason for their stand off
with tax authorities.
Trading on the black market is illegal in Zimbabwe,
but authorities have
turned a blind eye as activity has kept the economy
going. Fuel is now
abundantly available, but it is priced in line with
movements on the black
market.
Zimbabwe consumers feel the
pinch
Shoppers are also feeling the heat of the free fall of the local
currency.
Their plight is a combination of a rapidly deteriorating Zimbabwe
dollar and
the sky-rocketing inflation.
Imara, from a regional
financial services group, said in a commentary this
week that Zimbabwe's
inflation was racing towards 2 000% - maintaining its
unenviable pole
position as the worst inflation rate in the world.
Financial authorities
are keeping a brave face, maintaining discipline in
the economy will bring
back stability. Industry is pinning its hopes on a
freer economy and outside
injection of foreign currency.
May 26 2006 at 03:54PM | |
|
By Angus Shaw
State media pointed out the value of the car "could create employment for hundreds of people roaming the streets," but added that owners of luxury cars insisted they bought them only after creating successful businesses that provided jobs. Chiyangwa, a Harare property developer and former ruling party politician, seemed to revel in the attention drawn by his top of the range German-built Mercedes S600. With all its extras, including navigation, entertainment and telephone and Internet systems, along with import duties, the asking price at a Harare showroom was close to $500 000, dealers said. "The businesses that I have demand such a car. In business, how you present yourself, dress and all that surrounds you, matters," Chiyangwa told reporters earlier this week. Fashion pages in the state media have described the tycoon as one of Zimbabwe's best dressed men, his ties, shoes and accessories colour-coordinated by computer.
The National Water Authority on Tuesday announced water rationing across Harare, blaming shortages of imported spare parts for broken pumping equipment that remained unrepaired. Faucets ran dry in several suburbs last weekend as the price of water was set to increase eight-fold in the crumbling economy. Lengthy power outages, also blamed on hard currency shortages for equipment and imports, occur daily. The Combined Harare Ratepayers Association said new water and power shortages were a further threat to public health in a city already hit by increasing cases of dysentery, deaths from the diarrhoeal disease cholera this year and collapsing medical and garbage collection services. Fungayi Mati, an accountant in the middle class Newlands suburb, said most mornings his family battled amid power and water outages to wash, cook and prepare for school, where fees have more than doubled in the current term. "The strain is becoming unbearable. I would be ashamed to drive a car like that. I'm surprised people are not throwing stones at it," he said of Chiyangwa's new purchase. Day school fees for a 12-week term for his son went up to ZIM$45-million (about R3 000) this year, he said. Some of his son's friends had not been admitted to class on Monday because their parents couldn't pay the fees, he said. "None of it makes any sense to me," he said. - Sapa-AP |