By Michael
Wines The New York Times
TUESDAY, MAY 2,
2006
HARARE, Zimbabwe- How bad is inflation in
Zimbabwe? Well, consider
this: at a supermarket near the center of this
tatterdemalion capital,
toilet paper costs $417.
No, not per
roll. Four hundred seventeen Zimbabwean dollars is the
value of a single
two-ply sheet. A roll costs $145,750 - in American
currency, about 69
cents.
The price of toilet paper, like everything else here, soars
almost
daily, spawning jokes about an impending better use for Zimbabwe's
$500
bill, now the smallest in circulation.
But what is
happening is no laughing matter. For untold numbers of
Zimbabweans, toilet
paper - and bread, margarine, meat, even the once
ubiquitous morning cup of
tea - have become unimaginable luxuries. All are
casualties of the
hyperinflation that is roaring toward 1,000 percent a
year, a rate usually
seen only in war zones.
Zimbabwe has been tormented this entire
decade by both deep recession
and high inflation, but in recent months the
economy seems to have abandoned
whatever moorings it had left. The national
budget for 2006 has already been
largely spent. Government services have
started to crumble.
The purity of Harare's drinking water, siphoned
from a lake downstream
of its sewer outfall, has been unreliable for months,
and dysentery and
cholera swept the city in December and January. The city
suffers rolling
electrical blackouts. Mounds of uncollected garbage pile up
on the streets
of the slums.
Zimbabwe's inflation is hardly
history's worst - in Weimar Germany in
1923, prices quadrupled each month,
compared with doubling about once every
three or four months in Zimbabwe.
That said, experts agree that Zimbabwe's
inflation is currently the world's
highest, and has been for some time.
Public-school fees and other
ever-rising government surcharges have
begun to exceed the monthly incomes
of many urban families lucky enough to
find work. The jobless - officially
70 percent of Zimbabwe's 4.2 million
workers, but widely placed at 80
percent when idle farmers are included -
furtively hawk tomatoes and baggies
of ground corn from roadside tables, an
occupation banned by the police
since last May.
Those with spare cash put it not in banks, which
pay a paltry 4 to 10
percent annual interest on savings, but in gilt-edged
investments like bags
of corn meal and sugar, guaranteed not to lose their
value.
"There's a surrealism here that's hard to get across to
people," Mike
Davies, the chairman of a civic-watchdog group called the
Combined Harare
Residents Association, said in an interview. "If you need
something and have
cash, you buy it. If you have cash you spend it today,
because tomorrow it's
going to be worth 5 percent less.
"Normal
horizons don't exist here. People live hand to mouth."
President
Robert G. Mugabe has responded to the hardship in two ways.
Although there is no credible threat to his 26-year rule, Zimbabwe's
political opposition is calling for mass protests against the economic
situation. So Mr. Mugabe has tightened his grip on power even further,
turning the economy over to a national security council of his closest
allies. In addition, he has seeded the government's civilian ministries this
year with loyal army and intelligence officers who now control key
functions, from food security to tax collection.
At the same
time, Mr. Mugabe's government has printed trillions of new
Zimbabwean
dollars to keep ministries functioning and to shield the salaries
of key
supporters - and potential enemies - against further erosion.
Supplemental
spending proposed early in April would increase the 2006
spending limits
approved last November by fully 40 percent, and more such
emergency spending
measures are all but certain before the year ends.
On Friday, the
government said it would triple the salaries of 190,000
soldiers and
teachers. But even those government workers still badly trail
inflation; the
best of the raises, to as much as $33 million a month,
already are slightly
below the latest poverty line for the average family of
five.
This will only worsen inflation, for printing too many worthless
dollars is
in part what got Zimbabwe into this mess to begin with. Zimbabwe
fell into
hyperinflation after the government began seizing commercial farms
in about
2000. Foreign investors fled, manufacturing ground to a halt, goods
and
foreign currency needed to buy imports fell into short supply and prices
shot up.
Inflation, about 400 percent per year last November,
edged over 600
percent in January, but began to soar after the government
revealed that it
had paid the International Monetary Fund $221 million to
cover an arrears
that threatened Zimbabwe's membership in the
organization.
In February, the government admitted that it had
printed at least $21
trillion in currency - and probably much more, critics
say - to buy the
American dollars with which the debt was paid.
By March, inflation had touched 914 percent a year, at which rate
prices
would rise more than tenfold in 12 months. Experts agree that
quadruple-digit inflation is now a certainty.
In the midst of
this craziness, some Harare enclaves seem
paradoxically normal. North of
downtown, where diplomats and aid workers are
financed with American
dollars, and generators and bottled water are the
norm, the cafes still
serve cappuccino and the markets sell plump roasting
chickens, albeit $1
million chickens.
Everywhere else, the hardship is
inescapable.
In Glen Norah, a dense suburb of thousands of tiny
homes southwest of
the city, 58-year-old Ayina Musoni and her divorced
daughter Regai, 26,
share their five-room house with Regai's two children
and three lodgers. The
lodgers, two security guards and a teacher, pay
monthly rent totaling $3
million, or about $14.25 in American
money.
Ms. Musoni's latest monthly bill for services from the
Harare city
government was $2.4 million. The refrigerator in her closet-size
kitchen is
empty except for a few bottles of boiled water. Christmas dinner
was sadza,
or corn porridge, with hard-boiled eggs. For Easter, there was
nothing.
Mother and daughter make as much as $10 in American money
each week by
selling vegetables, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. But the
profits are being
consumed by rising costs at the farmers' market where they
buy stock. "Like
potatoes," Regai said. "I went last week, and it was
$500,000 for a packet.
And when I went this weekend, it was
$700,000.
Millions of Zimbabweans survive these days on the
kindness of
outsiders - foreigners who donate food or medicine and, more
important,
family members who have fled the nation for better lives
abroad.
As many as three million Zimbabweans now live elsewhere,
usually in
Britain, South Africa or the United States. An economist here,
John
Robertson, estimates that they remit as much as $50 million a month to
their
families - the equivalent of one sixth of the gross domestic
product.
Ms. Musoni's is not a hard-luck story; in Harare, most
people now live
this way, or worse. Indeed, life for many may be better in
the nation's
impoverished rural areas, where subsistence farming is the only
industry and
millions of people are guaranteed free monthly rations from the
United
Nations and other donors. In the cities, little is free.
Unity Motize, 64, lives with her 65-year-old husband, Simeon, in
Highfield,
a middle-class suburb turned slum not far south of town. The
couple occupies
one room of their three-room house. The second sleeps two
sons, their wives
and their two infants, all left homeless last May after
riot police
bulldozed the homes of hundreds of thousands of slum-dwellers. A
23-year-old
son and an unemployed daughter sleep in the living room.
Hyperinflation is a cradle-to-grave experience here. The government
recently
announced that the price of childbirth, now $7 million, would rise
463
percent by October. Funeral costs are to double over the same
period.
In rural areas, said one official of a foreign-based
charity who
declined to be named, fearing consequences from the government,
even the
barest funeral costs at least $6 million, or about $28.50 - well
beyond most
families' means. The dead are buried in open fields at night,
she said.
Recently, she watched one family dismantle their home's cupboard
to
construct a makeshift coffin.
"I'll never forget that," she
said. "The incredible sadness of it
all."
Critics say that
Zimbabwe's rulers are oblivious to such suffering -
last year, Mr. Mugabe
completed his own 25-bedroom mansion in a gated suburb
north of town, close
by the mansions of top ministers and military allies.
But the
government says it has a plan to revive the economy. That
plan, the latest
of perhaps seven in 10 years, would quickly raise billions
of American
dollars to end a chronic foreign currency shortage, cut the
inflation rate
to double digits by year's end and an end to the recession
that has gripped
Zimbabwe, halving its economic output, since 1999.
Mr. Robertson,
the economist, says that is unlikely. Zimbabweans can
and probably will
endure greater hardship, he says. As a whole, the nation
has only now sunk
to standards common elsewhere in Africa. But the
government may have reached
the limit of its ability to do anything about
it. Cutting spending seems
impossible, and raising taxes further is
unthinkable.
That
leaves one option: "much more inflation," he said. "Because this
government
is always going to be printing its way out of its current
difficulty."
VOA
By
Blessing Zulu
Washington
01 May
2006
Military and security officials led by army commander
General Constantine
Chiwenga have taken hold of a number of functions of the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe bearing on monetary policy, such as the
determination of a viable
foreign exchange policy and managing the national
money supply,
marginalizing RBZ Governor Gideon Gono.
Economic policy
has in recent months come into the hands of the Zimbabwe
National Security
Council, assigned overriding powers by President Robert
Mugabe under the
recently launched National Economic Development Priority
Program which
proposed to reverse economic decline so as to achieve positive
1-2% growth
this year.
The National Security Council is dominated by officers from
the army, the
air force, the police, and the feared Central Intelligence
Organization. It
has set up nine task forces to manage all economic sectors
and oversee
foreign exchange and monetary policy.
Gono sits on the
foreign exchange and other task forces, but his influence
is said to be
limited under the new dispensation of a military-led command
economy.
Central bank sources say General Chiwenga ordered Gono to
disband among
other advisory bodies his foreign exchange policy advisory
board of
economists, business executives and labor leaders. The sources aslo
said
Chiwenga ordered the central bank to print Z$60 trillion to fund pay
increases to soldiers and civil servants.
Central bank sources,
speaking on condition of anonymity, also expressed
concern at the domination
of economic policy meetings by state security
agents, saying they feel
intimidated and that their role in decisions has
been significantly
diminished.
Chief Economist Prosper Chitambara of the Labor and Economic
Development
Research Institute, who represented the labor interest on the
central bank's
advisory board and its foreign exchange committee, told
reporter Blessing
Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the advisory
panel has effectively
been dissolved.
For insight on the
constitutional implications of these changes in the
economic policy
framework, reporter Zulu turned to National Constitutional
Assembly Chairman
Lovemore Madhuku, a prominent Zimbabwean constitutional
scholar.
IOL
May 02 2006
at 01:03AM
Harare - At least seven people were arrested Monday as
they marked
Workers' Day in the town of Chitungwiza, a spokesperson for the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) claimed.
"There were
seven of them ... They're being held at Makoni Police
Station (in
Chitungwiza). The police allege they made derogatory statements
about the
president," said ZCTU spokesperson Mlamleli Sibanda in an
interview. The
ZCTU is Zimbabwe's main trade union body.
Sibanda said those
arrested included two members of the ZCTU General
Council namely Vukile Kupe
and Lawrence Mangezi. It was not possible to get
independent confirmation of
the arrests.
The ZCTU held rallies in 20 towns and cities
throughout the country on
Monday. Other rallies were due to be held by a
rival body, the Zimbabwe
Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), which is closely
aligned to President
Robert Mugabe's government.
Workers are
pushing for higher salaries and the stabilisation of
prices amid an economic
crisis marked by inflation of nearly a thousand
percent, high unemployment
and growing levels of poverty.
The government is on edge following
threats of street demonstrations.
In a speech to mark Independence Day last
month Mugabe warned that the law
would "descend mercilessly" on anyone who
dared to "go against the security
and stability of our
country".
Massive pay hikes were awarded to teachers, nurses and
members of the
security forces last week in what critics say is a bid to
placate restless
workers.
Main opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, to whose party the ZCTU is
closely allied, had vowed to lead
mass action against the government within
the next few months.
Promise Mkwananzi, the president of the Zimbabwe National Students
Union
(ZINASU) confirmed in an interview Monday that an official from his
union,
Marvelous Muroyi, was among those arrested in Chitungwiza.
Mkwananzi, who addressed a ZCTU rally in Harare's Gwanzura stadium
earlier
on Monday, accused the police of panicking.
"The police are
panicking. The mood at Gwanzura was revolutionary to
say the least," he
said. -
Sapa-dpa
Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 10:20
am
Press Release: Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand
1 May
2006 ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Press Freedom Day - May 3rd
"On
the eve of World Press Freedom Day, May 3rd, it is time to remember
journalists working beneath some of the world's more repressive regimes",
says Amnesty International New Zealand's Executive Director Ced
Simpson.
World Press Freedom Day could pass unnoticed in New Zealand - a
country
that, according to the international press freedom watch-dog
Reporters
without Borders, enjoys 'an excellent record of press freedom.'
Unfortunately, 'freedom of the press' is a catchcry that is not assured in
many parts of the world.
In 2006 alone, New Zealand members of
Amnesty International have directly
campaigned for the release of 15
representatives of the media ranging from
the Editor of the Independent in
Gambia to the Director of Beehive radio
station in Cambodia. Seven of the 15
media workers have been released in the
weeks following letter writing
actions by Amnesty International members.
"Freedom of expression is
crucial in a democracy because open discussion
allows people to influence
their government's choice of policies", says Ced
Simpson. "For those that
ask whether a basic lack of press freedom equates
to a general absence of
human rights the answer is a resounding 'yes'."
The countries with poor
press freedom records - North Korea, Myanmar,
Eritrea, Zimbabwe and
Turkmenistan - are also home to some of the most
repressive governments and
lowest living standards in the world. In line
with the ever-decreasing
access to freedom of expression, Zimbabwe also
suffers from hyper-inflation
(now topping 900%) and, according to the United
Nations World Health
Organisation, the lowest life expectancy anywhere in
the world (35.5
years).
The Zimbabwean government has launched a final assault on the
country's
remaining independent press. Under the autocratic Presidency of
Robert
Mugabe, fundamental rights, including freedom of assembly and
expression,
the right to information and privacy, the right to property and
the
prohibition against arbitrary detention have been removed.
In the
last 5 years, Zimbabwe's government has enacted absolute control over
who
may operate a media outlet and practice journalism. Laws, with titles
like
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act of 2002 and The
Broadcasting Services Act of 2001, force journalists to register with the
state-run Media and Information Commission or face up to two years in
prison. The Public Order and Security Act of 2002 criminalizes criticism of
the President (whether his person or his office) and prohibits public
gatherings without providing police four days' written
notice.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwean reporters game enough to comment on the
situation
face the revocation of their press licence and prison-time. In a
few
instances, when police have not been able to capture an outspoken
independent journalist, friends and relatives of the journalist have been
detained until he or she surrenders to a police station.
And Zimbabwe
is just one example says Ced Simpson: "Beyond the globally
recognised media
agencies reside hundreds of thousands of media workers who
wonder everyday
whether their latest story will land them in prison or earn
them a death
sentence. World Press Freedom Day is an ideal time to look upon
the
newspaper you hold in your hands, and consider the reality behind each
story
before turning the page."
ENDS
IOL
May 01 2006 at
11:29PM
Blantyre - Malawi human rights and civil society groups
criticised a
government plan to name a road after Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe, who
is due to visit the country this week at President Bingu
wa Mutharika's
invitation.
Malawi said last week it would name
a major highway linking the
country to Mozambique after the Zimbabwean
leader. It said a large
population of Malawians found jobs on Zimbabwe farms
and their nation had an
obligation to thank Zimbabwe in return.
Desmond Kaunda, chairperson of the umbrella group Council for
Non-Governmental Organisations, which comprises more than 300 NGOs and
rights organisations in this southern African country, said honouring Mugabe
would send the wrong message about political governance on the
continent.
"The enjoyment of civil liberties in Zimbabwe is
seriously eroded by
the existence of restrictive legislation... and the
curtailment of civil
liberties," Kaunda said. "Malawi must not be seen to
honour or be associated
with such a record."
Mugabe, in power
since independence in 1981, has clamped down on the
political opposition and
the media. His critics say that his policy of
seizing white-owned farms to
give to landless blacks is one of the main
reasons for an economic decline
that has left millions vulnerable to hunger,
disease and
poverty.
Some rights groups plan to hold protest rallies during
Mugabe's visit.
Last week President wa Mutharika pleaded with the groups to
allow Mugabe a
peaceful 5-day visit that starts on Wednesday.
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Democracy may be spreading, but is the world more stable? In
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