Wednesday May 31, 2006
By
Brian Latham and Antony Sguazzin
HARARE - Vinod Rugnathji charges a
shoebox full of bank notes for a pair of jeans at his general store in Mvurwi,
95km north of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
He gave up counting each note
when the price per pair rose to Z$5 million ($77).
"Five million dollars
fits into a shoebox, so if you know the person you just trust him," said
Rugnathji, 53.
His back office is cluttered with boxes full of cash,
which he sends to the bank twice a day to deposit.
Zimbabwe's inflation
rate surged to 1043 per cent in April on shortages for goods such as bread and
petrol, and John Robertson, an independent economist in Harare, forecasts
inflation will accelerate to 2000 per cent by the end of the year. Wages have
failed to keep pace, worsening poverty and threatening civil unrest.
This month, farm worker representatives and the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions said they might call strikes and protests over pay and, on May 21,
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change reiterated a threat of mass action
over rising prices.
"We're getting to the point where people can't take
any more," said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of lobby group the National
Constitutional Assembly. "It's just a matter of time before inflation sparks
civil disobedience. Poverty and suffering are growing by the day."
President Robert Mugabe, 82, said in February the state would continue
to print money, fuelling inflation, to prevent starvation in an economy that's
in its seventh year of recession.
"The Government has shrunk the economy
without shrinking its commitments," Robertson said. "They are left with the
option of printing money and printing will make more inflation than we have
now."
The International Monetary Fund puts that economic shrinkage at
4.7 per cent for this year. The country has been suffering even more since
Mugabe ordered the seizure of white-owned commercial farms in 2001 for
redistribution to black subsistence farmers. And last week the Government turned
on black farmers, forcing them to rip out vegetable crops in a bizarre drive
that only allows the planting of maize - the country's staple food. Farmers who
refused were beaten badly. They were also told they had to sell most of their
harvest to Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Board for a price yet to be determined -
as the Government wants to sell most of it abroad to garner much-needed foreign
exchange.
Yet despite all the Government's efforts, the harvest is
expected to be only half of that in 2001.
The upheaval in the
countryside has also slashed the tobacco crop to the lowest in 32 years.
Zimbabwe was the world's second-largest exporter of top grade tobacco after
Brazil just six years ago. It is now the fifth largest and is expected to drop
even further.
The resulting foreign currency shortage has led inflation
to outpace the central bank's ability to print money. The Reserve Bank prints
the biggest note of Z$50,000 over old Z$20 notes, which can still be seen under
the ink of the new bill.
"Six years ago, my weekly shopping probably
cost about Z$1000 a week," said Sandy Macdonald, 45, a mother of two who lives
in Harare's affluent Borrowdale suburb and carries a rucksack full of cash to go
shopping. "Now it costs Z$15 million to Z$20 million - but then a jar of coffee
costs a million and we're a lot more frugal nowadays."
Inflation
accelerated from 133 per cent at the start of 2005 following a foreign currency
shortage and after the central bank printed money to help repay debts to the
IMF, which had threatened to expel Zimbabwe.
The central bank says the
Zimbabwe dollar trades at 101,196 to the American dollar but on the black market
it trades at about 220,000.
And Mugabe is adamant the state will keep
printing money.
"Those who say printing money will cause inflation are
suggesting that you just fold your hands and say, 'ah, let the situation
continue and let the people starve'," he said in February. "I will print money
today so that people can survive."
Meikles Africa's TM Supermarkets, the
country's biggest grocery chain, has installed cash-counting machines in a bid
to cut down on queues.
Aphrodite, a Greek restaurant, charges about Z$2
million for a meal for two including a glass of wine. Five years ago, the same
meal cost Z$200.
Wages have failed miserably to keep pace with
inflation.
Farm workers earn Z$1.3 million a month but the Consumer
Council estimates a family of six needs Z$42 million to get by.
A farm
wage is enough to buy five litres of motor fuel on the black market or four
packs of cigarettes in a shop.
"We all just wish this would end," said
John Takawira, 34, a street vendor who sells fruit in Harare's northern suburbs
and can't afford to make the 35km journey home every day.
"Sometimes I
make less than a million a day but, if the police find me sleeping in town, I
can get beaten or arrested and if I go home without money my wife will scold
me."
INFLATION RUNS AWAY
* The inflation rate is running at
1043 per cent.
* It is expected to accelerate to 2000 per cent by the
end of the year.
* The central bank says the Zimbabwe dollar trades at
101,196 to the US dollar.
* But it trades at about 220,000 on the black
market.
COSTLY SHOPPING
* Six years ago, the weekly shop
cost an affluent Zimbabwean about Z$1000.
* Today, it costs between Z$15
million and Z$20 million.
* A loaf of bread costs about Z$45,000 (71c).
* A jar of coffee costs Z$1 million.
* A pair of jeans costs Z$5
million.
- BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
M & G
SA
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=273142
Harare, Zimbabwe
30 May 2006 11:00
President Robert Mugabe’s
government is heightening repression against Zimbabwe’s opposition and critics
of the veteran leader’s long rule, and is seemingly daring the international
community that has in recent weeks kept a keen eye on the country, analysts
say.
Last week, the government published proposed legislation that would
give it the authority to monitor phones and mail -- both conventional and
electronic -- which it says is meant to protect national security and fight
crime.
But Mugabe’s opponents, who brand the 82-year-old president a
classic dictator, say the Bill is part of a government crackdown that has
included tough policing and political intimidation, to muzzle criticism over an
imploding economy that they blame on Mugabe's policies.
Analysts say the
government tactics are meant to entrench Mugabe’s rule in the face of a growing
swell of opposition to the government’s controversial policies.
“This is
a well-calculated move to crush any dissenting views. It is a challenge to all
the democratic forces fighting for democracy in the country,” says Lovemore
Madhuku, who was controversially re-elected to chair the National Constitutional
Assembly civic alliance for a third term.
“Mugabe does not care what the
international community will say; he has a track record of not tolerating
opposing views, and we will see the government continuing to fiddle with the law
to suit its needs,” Madhuku says.
The analysts say the government has
become apprehensive in the face of opposition threats to launch mass protests
against Mugabe.
Mugabe is accused by critics of running down a
once-prosperous nation by pursuing populist but destructive policies such as the
seizing of white-owned farms to resettle blacks and, recently, the demand by
government that 51% of foreign-owned mines be in the hands of the state and
locals.
Two weeks ago, security forces forcefully dispersed civic society
groups and opposition members around the country who were commemorating the
first anniversary of the government’s controversial razing of urban slums, which
a United Nations report says left more than 700 000 people homeless.
Most
of the families are still without shelter and are forced to huddle under the
cold winter nights, a year after they were promised new houses by the
government.
Police have also moved against universities and colleges, by
arresting students in a bid to thwart protests over high fees. Zimbabwean
students have in the past held violent anti-government protests and rallied
behind the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
“Obviously there
will be concern among many people by this piece of legislation which will be
interpreted as an attempt to snoop into the private lives of those opposed to
the government,” says Eldred Masunungure, chairperson of the political science
department at the University of Zimbabwe.
“But this should not be seen in
isolation; it is a broad-based move to keep opponents in check. One can actually
call it intimidation at best,” he added.
Analysts say the Bill is
certain to pass through as Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party commands a huge
majority in both Parliament and the Senate.
If passed by Parliament, it
would give the transport minister unfettered authority to monitor the phones and
mail of anyone suspected of threatening national security or involvement in
criminal activities.
According to the Bill, the government is to set up
a "communication centre to monitor and intercept certain communications in the
course of their transmission through a telecommunication, postal or any other
related service system".
Mugabe has repeatedly threatened to crush
ruthlessly the opposition protests meant to topple him from power, and in the
past security agencies have used brutal force to disperse gatherings.
The
veteran leader has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and
denies charges of repression and mismanagement. He instead accuses local and
Western opponents of demonising him and sabotaging the economy over his
land-seizure drive. -- ZimOnline
CRICINFO
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/zimbabwe/content/story/248848.html
Steven Price
May 30,
2006
Tatenda Taibu: the biggest loss © Getty
Images
Zimbabwe's domestic cricket season is virtually over as
winter is slowly setting in over southern Africa. But the year was one that
could be looked back on with little pleasure.
It was a season that
saw a lot of rancour and little action on the domestic front, with the only
action on the international scene when Zimbabwe played hosts to New Zealand and
India last September. Tatenda Taibu and Heath Streak were the big names then. It
seems a million years ago.
The headlines were dominated by disputes
between players, administrators and the board, and that impacted heavily on
domestic cricket. The player drain robbed the provinces of talent, and bitter
feuding between local and national officials led to clubs ceding from leagues.
The net result was that precious little meaningful domestic cricket took place
at the very time the national side was crying out for new talent.
The selectors picked a squad for series against Kenya based on a
handful of farcical one-day games, and then had nothing more to go on when they
sat down to pick the side for the West Indies trip.
On the home
front, the country's major first-class competition, the Logan Cup, which has
been staged for over a century in Zimbabwe and even survived the fighting in the
1970s, was not played. Board officials continue to insist that it will happen -
the latest claim is that the seasons have been changed so it will now take place
later in the year - but as Zimbabwe now heads into winter, it is hard to see
how. The reasons for its postponement/cancellation (take your pick) are unclear,
but critics claim that it is a combination of the financial problems which dog
ZC and a fear that the standard would be dire.
The result was that young
players had nowhere to test and improve themselves against the best of their
peers. That should have worried the ICC, but as has so often been the case, it
ignored what everyone else could see and entrusted the same people responsible
for causing the mess to sort it out. Another domestic issue for it to brush off.
At least the Faithwear Cup, the inter-provincial one-day
competition, did take place, but it very quickly became apparent that it lacked
quality or credibility. The nadir came when Mashonaland weres forced to field a
side so bad it was sad after their head selector, Bruce Makovah, refused to pick
players from established clubs who he was rowing with. In four matches, only two
Mashonaland players averaged over 10 with the bat (the best was 15.50) and only
one passed 50 runs in all. The net result was that Matabeleland lifted the title
with ease.
It was much the same at the next level down. There was a
newly-structured National League, where the top teams from Mashonaland were set
to play against the top two teams from Matabeleland and one from Midlands,
Masvingo and Manicaland. The move was aimed at strengthening the domestic
structure but the standard was desperately poor.
Established clubs
in Mashonaland pulled out in protest against the leadership of MCA chairman
Cyprian Mandenge, a man many seemed unwilling to trust. Matabeleland clubs
subsequently followed suit when they refused to play in any form of cricket
organised by Zimbabwe Cricket. At the time of writing, the rebel clubs were
mulling over setting up a breakaway league.
In reality, a league of
sorts was cobbled together, a move opponents claimed was little more than a
cosmetic exercise. Few people, however, showed any interest and even the local
media ignored it. At the time of writing, it has just concluded but few have had
anything positive to report about quality or interest. One source said that
those taking part had been promised much, but the reality was that they earned
about ZW$300,000(US$1.50) per match.
Few outside Zimbabwe believe
that the domestic structure is robust, despite the protestations of the board.
As things stand, it is unclear whether there will be any credible local cricket
in 2006-07.
The ZC board cannot afford another season like this one
if the game is to survive in any meaningful form. No competitive cricket means
that more players will be lost, and the pool of talent is so shallow at the
moment, that could be fatal. If it manages nothing else in 2006-07, ZC has to
grab the domestic structure by the scruff of the neck and make it work. That
might mean some pride has to be swallowed by all concerned and some
political/racial/personal scores put to one side. The alternative does not bear
thinking about.
Although Zimbabwe is suspended from Tests, it will
still receive the full allowance of several millions dollars it would as if all
was normal. That money simply has to be used to keep grass-roots cricket alive
and not, as many believe is the case, to fund a bloated administration. That,
and not pursuing an unrealistic goal of returning to the Test arena in 2007, is
what will define the future.
© Cricinfo
Africa News
Dimension
http://www.andnetwork.com/index?service=direct/0/Home/recent.fullStory&sp=l36691
May 30, 2006, 14 hours,
45 minutes and 56 seconds ago.
By ANDnetwork .com
A second
cholera outbreak in Guruve in Zimbabwe has killed three more people and infected
26 others, bringing the cumulative death toll since the first outbreak in the
district two weeks ago to 15.
To date, Guruve has recorded a
total of 56 cases, forcing health official to reconsider their strategy. The
cholera reportedly spread from as far as Mushumbi Pools in Dande communal lands,
Matsvitsi in Chipuriro communal lands and Guruve Centre. In an interview
yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Edwin Muguti,
said 15 of the reported cases had resulted in fatalities and that his ministry
had since deployed health officials to the affected areas to assist in combating
the outbreak. "At least 52 cases have been reported and amongst them 15 were
fatal. The outbreak is still going on and our health team is already in the
area. "However, the solution to the disease lies in water and sanitation
improvement. We have to take up the construction of water and toilet facilities.
‘‘We are also appealing to the local political leadership to assist in the
upgrading of the district because high practices of hygiene need safe water and
proper sanitation," he said. He also advised local communities to observe
hygienic standards when preparing food and to report cases of infected people to
health officials promptly since cholera, an acute intestinal infection, can be
treated by oral rehydration solely if diagnosed early. Mashonaland Central
provincial medical director Dr Clemence Tshuma said health officials in the area
were on active surveillance to detect and curb the further spread of the often
fatal disease. Cholera also broke out recently in Kariba and Chiredzi. Members
of the public have been urged to drink clean water and those who fetch water
from unprotected sources should boil it to make it safe. Urban dwellers have
been warned against consuming water from burst pipes as it is often polluted.
Source : The Herald
IOL
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=qw114893658924B216
May 29 2006 at 11:59PM
Cape Town - South Africa ruled out imposing "smart" sanctions against
neighbouring Zimbabwe on Monday, saying similar measures taken by the European
Union had not brought any results, a top minister said.
South African
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told parliament the issues in Zimbabwe
remained a challenge but reiterated that it was up to the people of that country
to solve its problems.
Asked if South Africa should not take stronger
action, such as targeted sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's
government, she said those imposed by the EU had failed.
"It may not be a
very useful tool to use right now because it doesn't seem to be yielding
results, even in the hands of the most powerful block in the world,"
Dlamini-Zuma said.
'It may not be a very useful tool to use
right now'
The United States and the EU have imposed travel and business
restrictions against Mugabe and other top government
officials.
Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since independence in 1980
has been blamed on the policies of Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF. The
long-standing ruler has also been accused of human rights violations and rigging
elections to stay in power.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader denies
allegations of repression and mismanagement, and in turn accuses domestic and
Western opponents of demonising him and sabotaging the economy over his seizures
of white-owned farms.
Dlamini-Zuma said no one could force Zimbabwe to
change its policies.
"There is a problem, there is a challenge, but I do
not have all the answers about how to solve Zimbabwe. I think equally none of us
has all the answers. The answers do lie in the Zimbabweans' hands," she
said.
'The answers do lie in the Zimbabweans' hands'
"Even if we
wanted Zimbabwe to go this way, I don't think we have a tool of forcing them to
go that way."
Critics say South African President Thabo Mbeki's policy of
"quiet diplomacy" towards Mugabe has failed, and have urged the government to
take stronger measures.
Citizen.co.za
http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=17741,1,22
HARARE – Zimbabwe, which has faced
successive years of poor maize harvests, has declared potatoes a “strategic
crop” to ensure food security, state radio reported Monday.
The declaration
comes despite assurances by the country’s agriculture minister two weeks ago
that the country will this year harvest the national requirement of 1.8 million
tonnes of the staple maize.
“The government has declared the Irish potato a
strategic crop following the realisation that the country cannot continue
depending on maize alone for its food security,” the radio said.
Potatoes are
generally available in Zimbabwe, but are much more expensive than the staple
maize meal. Potatoes cost around 200 000 Zimbabwe dollars (2 US dollars) per
kilogramme, while 10 kilogrammes of maize meal, where available, also costs just
under 200 000 Zimbabwe dollars.
The radio quoted Shadreck Mlambo, the
director of the Department of Agricultural Research and Extension Services as
saying the government wants to see 30 000 hectares of potatoes planted and
harvests undertaken three times a year.
“Dr Mlambo says many resettled
farmers are keen on embarking on Irish potato farming, a development that could
see the country’s food security receiving a major boost,” it said.
Mlambo
said potatoes were suited to farming districts in eastern Zimbabwe.
Aid
agencies have predicted that as many as three million Zimbabweans --around a
quarter of the population -- will need food aid this year.
Last year the
Zimbabwe government spent around 135 million US dollars on imports of maize to
make up for poor harvests, and the country’s central bank governor has warned
the tightly-stretched economy cannot afford such bills.
In an interview in
New York last September, President Robert Mugabe was quoted as saying the
country’s food problems stem from his people’s reliance on maize as a staple,
when there were “heaps of potatoes” and rice available in the country. –
Sapa-dpa.
Africa News
Dimension
http://www.andnetwork.com/index?service=direct/0/Home/recent.titleStory&sp=l36738
May 30, 2006, 7 hours,
35 minutes and 15 seconds ago.
By Tagu Mkwenyani
Harare
(AND) A politically wounded Professor Mutambara embarks on 'meet the people'
tours as his faction loses the battle of numbers in the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe
A week after an embarrassing defeat in
Budiriro, pro-senate leader Arthur Mutambara has stepped up his 'meet the
people' tours, hoping to increase support for his faction.
Critics have
dismissed the faction after a dismal showing in a by-election held in Harare two
weeks ago. Gabriel Chaibva, spokesperson for the Mutambara faction, secured a
paltry 504 votes in a closely watched contest won by Emmanuel Chisvuure, a
supporter of the Morgan Tsvangirai camp.
Chisvuure garnered almost 8 000
votes.
Analysts were quick to say this was evidence that the Mutambara
camp had no grassroots support. However, defiant Mutambara on Saturday addressed
a rally at Cross Dete in Hwange East Constituency.
Officials of his faction
put the figure of those who turned up at about 5000 but this could not be
independently verified. In what could have been designed to show critics the
group was still intact, Mutambara was accompanied by top officials of the
faction. These included Vice President, Gibson Sibanda, National Chairperson,
Jobert Mudzumwe, Secretary General, Professor Welshman Ncube, Treasurer General
Fletcher Dulini Ncube, Deputy Treasurer General, Miriam Mushayi, National
Chairperson for the Women’ s Assembly. Hwange West, Jealousy Sansole, Senator
for Bulawayo Magwegwe, Sibangilizwe Msipa and Senator for Nkulumane, Rita
Ndlovu.
There have been reports that some of the officials were on the
verge of defecting to the Tsvangirai faction. Mutambara promised villagers that
his government would ensure that they would benefit from the natural resources
in the area. Matebeleland North is endowed with natural resources such as coal
at Hwange, tin at Kamativi and the majestic Victoria Falls.
On Sunday,
Mutambara was in Insiza Constituency where he addressed two rallies at Sibasa
and Avoca Business Centres respectively.
Harare Bureau
Guardian
UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1785191,00.html#article_continue
His business
may soon be outlawed, but David Lucas is adamant it helps cut crime
Patrick Barkham
Monday May 29, 2006
The Guardian
Children visit the big barn in Suffolk to buy beautifully crafted
rabbit hutches and bird tables. Their parents pick up pet food or bales of hay.
But in a dark warehouse behind the farm shop more deadly equipment is being
built: David Lucas, on the surface an ordinary farmer, makes and exports gallows
to countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The trade in execution equipment
is legal. While Amnesty International and other human rights groups have
condemned this "appalling" export business, the farmer says he has been
inundated with messages of support from around the world since his extraordinary
example of farm diversification was revealed two weeks ago.
New EU
regulations may ban his business in July, but in the meantime Britain's only
gallows-maker has become a reluctant spokesman for those who want the return of
the death penalty. "The government has condemned me, but people are saying they
need execution and capital punishment. I'm speaking for the people," he said in
his first interview with a national newspaper.
A noose hangs from a gallows
outside the modern buildings at Eldon farm, near Mildenhall. A set of solid oak
stocks stands nearby. A family man and former safety inspector who has worked on
Suffolk farms all his life, Mr Lucas began building gallows when asked by a
foreign businessman.
He works alone, taking a week to construct a
traditional gallows. Mr Lucas will not reveal how many he has supplied, but he
says he only sold them to "law-abiding citizens" in foreign countries - reported
to include Zimbabwe - for some years. A traditional platform gallows he is
currently making alongside the garden benches in his warehouse retails for
£12,000.
He also offered undercover reporters his custom-made
"multi-hanging system", a mobile unit of five or six gallows constructed from an
articulated lorry trailer.
The farmer denies his business is inhumane and
argues that when one person destroys another's life they forfeit their human
rights. "I'm not a horrible person. I believe in law and order. The production
of gallows is for law and order, not for bad people to get hold of it. You can't
pick up a set of gallows and go and shoot someone with it. Gallows can't fall
into the wrong hands like knives or guns."
Mr Lucas says he is standing
up for the pro-capital punishment majority. He is convinced a popular vote or
referendum should be used to bring back the death sentence for
murder.
"It is strange to come from the job I was doing and win the
hearts of so many people," he says. Recent visitors, he claims, include a senior
British police officer and army servicemen, as well as people from America,
Africa, Canada, Denmark and Germany.
All of them, he says, support his
stance. "I've got Americans coming off the [Mildenhall] airbase shaking my hand,
telling me they totally believe in what I'm doing and we need to get law and
order under control."
His work has given him experience of law and order
in other regimes. "You are safer walking down the street in Libya and African
countries than you are here and that's because of capital punishment," he says.
"They are laughing at us in third world countries because we've got no deterrent
against crime. They are the only ones who have got law and order under
control."
A gallows in every market place in Britain could be a powerful
deterrent, he claims. "That isn't to say they are going to use hanging in the
modern world. They may want to use lethal injection. But there is more deterrent
when a person is hanging there and they see that door open and they drop," he
says.
The recent case of Anthony Rice, who served 16 years in prison for
rape but stabbed and strangled Naomi Bryant in Winchester when he was released,
is cited by Mr Lucas. "If that man had been used with my gallows he would never
have killed again," he said. "How many lives have been saved because of people
like me with the gallows?"
Mr Lucas argues that the death penalty should
also be brought back because advances in forensic science have made wrongful
convictions far less likely.
"With modern science and the ability to
trace DNA, the chance of having someone wrongfully arrested is zero," he
says.
According to Amnesty International, 2,148 people were executed last
year, most of them in China (1,770) and a significant number in Iran (94), Saudi
Arabia (86) and the USA (60).
"We were appalled when it came to light
that a British man has apparently been attempting to sell gallows to President
Mugabe's government," said Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty. "There have been
gaping loopholes in the regulations concerning execution equipment for years and
it has made a mockery of the UK's efforts to oppose the death penalty around the
world if right under its nose a British citizen has been sending hanging
equipment abroad."
Mr Lucas's sideline, however, is about to come to an
end. A trade regulation coming into force on July 31 bans export of any form of
torture equipment from any EU country. Amnesty International believes it will
stop the gallows-maker, although a small loophole could still allow the export
of executioners' ropes.
Mr Lucas does not want to associate himself with
any political party or religion, but he feels he has been handed a mission.
"African people wanted some gallows and when the news got out, instead of being
condemned, people believed in me. The people are coming to me because all we've
got in government are a load of fools who won't listen to anybody," he
said.
"There are so many people in the world who believe I am right that
you cannot condemn it."
Mining MX
http://www.miningmx.com/wts/455809.htm
Posted: Tue, 30 May 2006
[miningmx.com] -- ZIMBABWE's gold
production dropped by a third during the first quarter of this year compared to
the same period last year, the chamber of mines said on Monday.
Zimbabwe's mines produced 2 903kg of gold between January and March
of this year compared to 4 268kg for the same period last year Sapa said, citing
David Matyanga, chief economist of the chamber of mines.
"The 32%
decline is attributed to two main factors. One is that surface ore mining has
been exhausted which means many small miners have to resort to hard rock mining,
but many of them do not have the capacity.
"The other reason is that the
skewed exchange rate has seen smaller miners not declaring their production,
although we cannot confirm if the gold is finding its way into the black
market," Sapa said, Citing Matyanga.
Gold miners must sell 60% of their
production at the official foreign exchange rate.
Matyanga added that at
the current level of production, Zimbabwe will produce 11 600kg against a
projected target of 30 000kg for 2006.
Sapa reports that last year, gold
production dropped to 14 000kg, down from 21 300kg in 2004.
Sunday Times (SA), 28 May
In a possible signal of growing militancy, though, a third of
Zimbabweans said it was "sometimes better to ignore the law and solve problems
immediately using other means".
Brendan Boyle
An independent,
multi-national survey confirmed this week what most people suspected —
Zimbabweans don’t like President Robert Mugabe, they don’t trust him and they
think his government is giving them a raw deal. The third round of the
Afrobarometer survey, run jointly by the Institute for Democracy in South
Africa, the Centre for Democratic Development in Ghana and Michigan State
University in the US, shows Zimbabweans to be the most unhappy nation on most
measures. The main exception is corruption, where Zimbabweans report a lower -
though climbing - incidence than many of the 18 African countries surveyed.
Mugabe appears to have squandered a reprieve reflected in the second of three
Afrobarometer surveys in 2002, when his rating was generally up from a low point
in 2000. He began to evict white farmers in 2000, after a referendum showed how
his popularity had plummeted. The first Afrobarometer poll showed that one in
five Zimbabweans thought he was doing a good or very good job in that year. By
the second survey in 2002, many black Zimbabweans were moving on to confiscated
farms with hopes of a new life and Mugabe’s approval rating shot up to
58%.
But in 2005, when the Afrobarometer began its third round of surveys,
the economy was in free fall, inflation was rocketing, it was clear that few
ordinary people would benefit from the land seizures, hunger was rife and
Mugabe’s rating was at 27%. The number who said they trusted their president
rose from one in five in 2000 to almost half in 2002, but was down to 32% in
2005. Only Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was this month denied the
chance to run for a third term in office, fared worse. His approval rating
dropped from 62% to 33% between 2000 and 2005, while his trust rating plunged
from 77% to 26%. In the same period, South African President Thabo Mbeki’s
approval rating climbed from 50% to 77% and his trust rating from 41% to 70%.
Zimbabweans reported the lowest level of satisfaction with the quality of
democracy of all the countries polled with just 14% saying they were fairly or
very satisfied in 2005. Only 3% said their government was doing fairly well on
job creation and 30% - the lowest rating in Africa - said it was doing well in
the fight against crime. Nigerians, who had reported the greatest satisfaction
in Africa with the quality of democracy in 2000, shared second last place with
Zambia and Malawi at 26%.
Zimbabweans remain largely obedient to the rules of
democracy, however. More than eight out of 10 said citizens had to obey a
government that they did not vote for and three quarters said police had to be
obeyed in all circumstances. In a possible signal of growing militancy, though,
a third of Zimbabweans said it was "sometimes better to ignore the law and solve
problems immediately using other means". Three out of 10 South Africans said a
government had a right to ban organisations that "go against its policies" or to
close newspapers that printed false stories. More than four out of five
Zimbabweans said the President should obey the law whether he agreed with it or
not. Questioned under difficult circumstances - several pollsters were picked up
by police and two beaten - only 20% said a government had a right to ban a
newspaper that printed false stories. The survey was conducted between March
2005 and March this year with between 1200 and 2400 people questioned in their
home languages in each country. The Afrobarometer calculates the margin of
possible error at 3%.
The Standard, 28 May
By Gibbs
Dube
Gwanda - There was drama recently at Tod’s Guesthouse in Gwanda South
when a deputy minister allegedly raided the property and instructed the owners
to leave and go back to Britain. The Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour
and Social Welfare, Abednigo Ncube, in the company of two unidentified people,
allegedly terorrised the family owners of the property when he went to the guest
house claiming that he was the new owner. This was apparently in defiance of a
High Court order barring him from visiting the property, located 75 kilometres
south of Gwanda. According to the proprietors of the guest house, Garry and Thea
Akeroyd – who run the property under Kingworthy Investments (Pvt) Limited –
Ncube allegedly cited some provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
Act Number 17 when he attempted to grab the lodge. "Ncube was fuming when he
came here. He told us to pack our belongings and go back to Britain saying he
was the new owner of the guest house. He uttered a lot of unprintable words
stressing repeatedly that we were stupid whites who were resisting Zimbabwe’s
land reform programme," said Thea. "We were terrorised for almost an hour but we
vowed to stay put after indicating to him that we were not running a farm. We
resisted his move because this is the only place that we own in this country."
The minister insisted that no one would stop him from occupying the property as
he was empowered under the new Land Tenure Act to grab a farm or land of his
choice.
"Ncube, who was visibly annoyed by our resistance kept on insulting
us saying that whites who resisted the government’s land reform programme were
supposed to be driven out of their property by force. He said he did not care
about an order, which was granted by the High Court barring him from visiting
our place", Thea said. "To us, this meant that we may be harmed for refusing to
move out of the guest house." The family reported the matter to West Nicholson
and Gwanda Police stations and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) in
the Matabeleland South provincial capital. Thea said Ncube left later but vowed
to return and grab the property. Police and members of the CIO in Gwanda refused
to comment. "I think this is a sensitive issue. I cannot comment on that," said
a senior police officer. Ncube was not answering his mobile phone while
officials at his government office in Harare indicated that he was busy
attending State activities. This is not the first time that the deputy Minister
has allegedly attempted to take over Tod’s Guest House. Documents in possession
of The Standard indicate that he was ordered by the High Court not to set foot
on the property in 2003 after he allegedly attempted to forcibly take-over the
lodge. Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Ndou issued the order when the
family made an application, through their lawyer Nicholas Mathonsi of Coghlan
and Welsh, to block him from entering the eight-roomed guesthouse with 15
employees.
Vancouver Sun (Canada), 25 May
Jonathan Manthorpe
This is not something I am happy to confess, but
I am among a very small group of people who have benefited from their
acquaintance with the monstrously murderous former dictator of Ethiopia,
Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mengistu has been in comfortable exile in Zimbabwe -
where we used to be near neighbours in one of Harare's leafy suburbs - since
fleeing Ethiopia in 1991 just ahead of the storming of the capital Addis Ababa
by a rebel army. And for the past 12 years Mengistu has been on trial in
absentia in Ethiopia for the crimes of his 17-year regime, especially the
1977-78 "Red Terror" when tens of thousands of people whose loyalty was suspect
were slaughtered. There's also the matter of whether Mengistu ordered the murder
of Emperor Haile Selassie, whom he deposed in a 1974 coup. Mengistu's 1984
blocking of international relief aid to famine-stricken northern rebel regions
where at least one million people died can only be called genocide. On Tuesday,
presiding Judge Medhin Kiros heard the last of the evidence against Mengistu and
61 members of his junta, 26 of them also being tried in absentia. Judge Medhin
said there is so much evidence to be considered that it will not be possible to
deliver a judgment before the end of next January.
Not that any of this
matters to Mengistu, who is an honoured guest of Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe and who has been given Zimbabwean residency and a diplomatic passport for
his flying medical visits to South Africa. Mugabe has also rejected numerous
requests by the new government of Ethiopia to extradite Mengistu to face the
charges against him. Mugabe's reluctance to hand over his guest is quite
understandable. The Zimbabwean dictator does not want the idea of butchers
paying for their crimes to catch on. There's already far too much evidence
around of the minority Ndebele villages wiped out in the early 1980s by Mugabe's
North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade in the Gukurahundi (The Wind that Cleanses)
campaign. Mugabe doesn't want to end his days in a courtroom and is therefore a
soft touch for former dictators facing similar predicaments. Many members of the
family of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor are, reportedly, living in
Harare, making it a preferred retirement destination for mass murderers. Mugabe
feels some debt of gratitude towards Mengistu because of the aid the Ethiopian
gave Zimbabwe's so-called liberation forces in the 1970s. But in the early years
of Mengistu's exile, Mugabe seemed wary of his guest. Mengistu was under virtual
house arrest, his villa surrounded by armed Zimbabwean police and his movements
restricted to one visit a week to a nearby tennis court.
I got a first-hand
account of Mengistu's daily life in 1992. I had a call one morning from a friend
at the Canadian International Development Agency, whose offices backed on to
Mengistu's villa. The CIDA staff had come to work that morning to discover
Mengistu's two Ethiopian bodyguards hiding in the garden and pleading for
Canadian political asylum. They told a story of being virtual prisoners with a
man who regularly drank a bottle of whisky before lunch and who was prone to the
most violent rages. Mengistu has a particular hatred for Mikhail Gorbachev, whom
he accuses of destroying the Soviet Union and with it Moscow's life-saving
support for the Addis Ababa junta. Mengistu, or at least the invocation of his
name, came to my aid in late May, 1991. I had entered Ethiopia in what might be
called a clandestine manner to join the rebel army for its final push into Addis
Ababa and the storming of Mengistu's palace. When I left a few weeks later, life
and the administration had returned to normal. This meant that the immigration
officers at the airport were outraged that there was no entry stamp in my
passport. I was detained and threatened with serious prison time. Thankfully a
senior official reviewed the case. "You live in Harare?" he said. Yes, I
replied, adding my house was not far from Mengistu's villa. "Well, you go and
tell him we would like to see him here," he said, and then he waved me through
the door.
SABC
The ANC says the
Alliance partners must refrain from making baseless statements
May 30, 2006,
05:45
The ANC has asked its alliance partners to refrain from what it
says are baseless statements regarding the leadership of President Thabo Mbeki.
Cosatu and the SACP last week launched scathing attacks against Mbeki's
leadership style. Cosatu even suggested that South Africa was on its way to a
Zimbabwe-style dictatorship. Kgalema Motlanthe, the ANC secretary-general, says
the party's national executive commitee will approach its alliance partners with
a view to resolving the matter.
The ANC has admitted that events over the
past few weeks have tested the unity of the party. It says it will not start
nominations or discussions for its next national executive committee earlier
than usual.
This was in reaction to reports that some supporters of Zuma
wanted next year's national conference to be brought forward.
NASDAQ
JOHANNESBURG (AP)--Fugitive Zimbabwean opposition politician Roy
Bennett said Tuesday that South Africa must recognize his country is led by a
tyrant and allow opponents refuge and a place to organize against Robert
Mugabe.
Bennett fled to neighboring South Africa in March when Zimbabwean
state television reported that he was the ringleader of a plot to overthrow
Zimbabwean President Mugabe's government by force. The South African government
last week refused Bennett's asylum request, saying he could get a fair trial in
his homeland. Bennett, who denies the plot charges, is appealing the asylum
decision.
Last year, he served eight months in a maximum security prison for
his role in a scuffle in parliament. Bennett, then a member of parliament, was
sent to jail by a vote of parliament, which is controlled by Mugabe's
party.
"It's high time that the South African government recognized...that
Robert Mugabe and his regime has totalitarian rule, has institutionalized
violence, has institutionalized theft," Bennett said at a news conference, his
first public appearance since he came to Johannesburg. "There's no need to be
embarrassed about this - the man is a tyrant, he is pulling the whole region
down."
Bennett said the message also needs to be made clear to those across
the continent and elsewhere who praise Mugabe for seizing farms, many from white
Zimbabweans like Bennett, saying it's land stolen under U.K. colonialism and
subsequent white minority rule in Rhodesia. Millions of black farm workers have
lost their jobs and homes as a result as the land redistribution campaign and
the agriculture-based economy of a once-rich nation has collapsed.
Bennett
was supported at the news conference by black members of his party and
Zimbabwean human rights activists who noted that he had once been elected to
parliament by Zimbabweans of all colors and is an officer of a nonracial
party.
Dozens of Zimbabweans living in South Africa gathered outside during
the news conference to show support for Bennett, who at one point asked them if
any didn't want to return home. They shouted back a resounding "No!"
Bennett,
a leading member of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
said Mugabe seized land to boost his popularity after his party started losing
parliamentary seats despite massive intimidation and violence to ensure they won
rigged elections. Dozens of opposition politicians have been jailed, tortured or
killed.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki's Zimbabwe policy emphasizes
quiet diplomacy, even though Mugabe has snubbed him many times. Last week, the
Zimbabwean government rejected a South African-backed initiative for U.N.
Secretary-general Kofi Annan to intervene in Zimbabwe's political and economic
crises.
Zimbabwe's troubles directly affect South Africa. The government says
as many as two million Zimbabweans are estimated to be in South Africa, most of
them illegally, as their own country sinks further into economic collapse and
political repression. Millions more have fled to the U.K., the U.S., Canada,
Australia and New Zealand.
Bennett said South Africa could provide a base for
the Zimbabwean opposition to organize.
"We would have freedom to bring people
from Zimbabwe for workshops, to mobilize funding without fear of persecution and
to be able to do what I should be able to do at home without fear or favor
because I believe there is democracy here," Bennett said.
He also said he
would work to unite the fractured Zimbabwean opposition.
BBC
BR>Tuesday May 30,
2006 13:41 - (SA)
Senior Zimbabwean opposition member Roy Bennett
fears persecution from Zimbabwean state agents even while in South Africa
waiting to appeal against his asylum rejection, he said in Johannesburg.
"Yes, I do fear from persecution from the Zimbabwean state agents in South
Africa," he told a Foreign Correspondent Association meeting.
Former
Movement for Democratic Change MP Bennett fled to South Africa in March after
being implicated in an arms find in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
His asylum
application was rejected by the South African Department of Home Affairs on the
grounds he did not face persecution in Zimbabwe.
An extract from his
letter of rejection read: "There is really no evidence indicating that you're
(sic) questioning or prosecution by the authorities would amount to persecution.
Surely the courts in Zimbabwe are impartial and are able to assert the rights of
individuals. (MDC leader) Morgan Tsvangirai's recent trial is the case in point;
on October 2005 he was acquitted of treason."
"Therefore, objectively,
on the fact apparently prevailing there is no real risk of you being persecuted
should you go back to your country of nationality."
Bennett continued:
"The threat of abduction, (being) taken back to Zimbabwe, the threat of
execution, the threat of it looking like a robbery, those are the threats my
family and myself face here in South Africa."
Bennett said that he
denied being involved in the arms find.
"It is absolute rubbish."
He said the South African government needed to recognise the MDC as
the official opposition.
"We can't be pushed aside, we are the
legitimate opposition in Zimbabwe."
He would remain in South Africa
while his appeal was heard.
Sapa
VOA
By Tendai Maphosa
Harare
30 May 2006
Zimbabwe's political and economic crises have
precipitated an unprecedented exodus of its citizens. Some estimates put the
number of those who have left at as high as a quarter of the country's 12
million population. Former colonial master Britain is a favorite
destination.
Prior to the political and economic crises, most Zimbabweans
left the country mostly to study and returned after completing their studies.
Their stay out of the country is now open-ended in most cases and they leave for
a variety of reasons.
Some still go away to study, some professionals leave
after being guaranteed work, while the remainder just go in the hope of finding
a job, any job.
Zimbabwe's collapsing health care system is one of the
sectors hardest hit by the brain drain.
A nurse who has been in Britain
since the mid 1990s spoke to VOA on condition his identity is not exposed,
because he travels to Zimbabwe to see his family every once in a while. He
expressed dismay at the state of the health care situation back home and said
conditions of service and poor pay are driving people out of the country.
He expressed a desire to go back, if and when things change.
"It is my
desire to go back home if things were different," he said. "But I have got
children and an extended family to look after, and if I were to go back home it
would be very difficult to look after the family which is over
there."
Zimbabwe is suffering food, fuel and foreign currency shortages,
inflation of more than 1000%, and unemployment at more than 80 percent. Many
Zimbabweans in the country are surviving from money repatriated by family
members abroad. The economic meltdown has turned many of those who leave into
so-called economic migrants.
There are also the victims of the
political violence that has characterized Zimbabwe since 2000. Eugenia Mauluka
was a photographer for the country's leading newspaper The Daily News, which the
government banned in 2003.
While trying to do her work she was beaten up on
a number of occasions by war veterans and the police. She decided enough was
enough after a particularly brutal beating and being locked up for three days in
2000.
The police accused her and her news crew of starting the violence
at a rally, but she maintains they (the police) were already beating up the
people when she got to the rally. The courts dropped the charges against her
and her colleagues.
Her uncle in London asked her to visit and take a
break. It is then that she decided not to return to Zimbabwe.
"On my arrival
I had bruises all over my body," she recalled. "As I got better gradually, when
I was staying here with my family taking care of me, that is when I started
thinking of what could happen if I go back and start doing the same job. And I
just started fearing for my life and my family."
Mauluka applied and was
granted asylum in the Britain and she hopes to study film. But no matter what
happens she says her heart is in Zimbabwe and she hopes to return when things
have normalized.
"It will never be the same for me until I go back home," she
added. "I cannot wait for that day to come."
Many opposition activists
also end up abroad. Election results in Zimbabwe have always been disputed,
especially since the emergence of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change. Less than a year after its formation, the party came within a whisker
of winning the general election in 2000.
Some Zimbabweans in Britain
remain politically active. They try by whatever means they can to keep the
country's problems under the spotlight. Every Saturday some of them maintain a
four-hour vigil outside the Zimbabwean embassy in downtown London.
Their
spokesperson, a student who declined to be identified, told VOA why they are
mounting the vigil.
"The vigil has come up with a resolution that we will be
outside of the Zimbabwean embassy until there are free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe and our aim is to highlight human-rights abuses in Zimbabwe to the
world so that they see what is happening," he said.
The spokesperson
said Zimbabwean exiles face challenges such as people with high qualifications
having to do menial work, discrimination, and British weather. As a result he
said most of them cannot wait for the day things change back home so they can
return.
But he said some, especially those who are establishing themselves
professionally, may find it difficult to uproot themselves again.
The Independent UK
By Daniel
Howden
Published: 31 May 2006
The true scale of a destructive campaign
waged against Zimbabwe's poorest and most vulnerable citizens by their own
government has been revealed in previously unseen satellite images.
The
pictures show how a community of 30,000 at Porta Farm, outside Harare, was wiped
from the map last year, during President Robert Mugabe's Operation
Murambatsvina, or "Restore Order".
Countrywide, these demolition orders
resulted in up to 700,000 people being made homeless in the midst of a food
crisis.
Kolawole Olaniyan, the Africa programme director at Amnesty
International, who released the images, said: "They are irrefutable evidence -
if further evidence is even needed - that the Zimbabwean government has
obliterated entire communities - completely erased them from the map, as if they
never existed."
During the operation, state security forces were sent in
their thousands into informal settlements, marketplaces and slums to forcibly
evict the urban poor. The campaign was compared by Mr Mugabe's critics to the
tactics of Pol Pot, the head of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, who emptied
entire cities into the countryside.
It was a war launched with a concerted
attack on the country's poorest and weakest people. Hundreds of thousands living
in squatter camps or working in street markets had their homes demolished or
their livelihoods taken away.
Amnesty commissioned the satellite images to
demonstrate the destruction of Porta Farm - a large, informal settlement that
was established 16 years ago and had schools, a children's centre and a mosque.
The organisation also released video footage showing the forced evictions taking
place prior to the demolitions.
The police action, which came early in the
morning on 28 June last year, began with a heavily armed column entering the
community. Pictures show residents watching helplessly as bulldozers and police
officers in riot gear reduced their homes to rubble.
Police officers
reportedly threatened the residents, saying that anyone who resisted eviction
would be beaten. The next day, the police returned to continue with the
demolitions. They also began to forcibly remove people in trucks.
The Mugabe
regime faced international condemnation during the eviction campaign, which led
to a visit by the UN special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who arrived in Zimbabwe in
June. On 29 June, members of the UN team visited Porta Farm and witnessed
demolitions and forced removal of people in police and government trucks. In her
report to the UN, Mrs Tibaijuka said her team was "shocked by the brutality" of
what they witnessed.
Mr Olaniyan said: "The images and footage are a graphic
indictment of the Zimbabwean government's policies. They show the horrifying
transition of an area from a vibrant community to rubble and shrubs - in the
space of just 10 months."
Mr Mugabe defended the campaign as an overdue
"clean-up operation" to restore order and beauty to the cities. His critics
accuse him of waging a vindictive war on those who did not vote for his Zanu-PF
party in the March general election.
More than half a million people were
displaced in a drought-stricken country where conservative estimates say that
four million were in need of food aid.
The true scale of a destructive
campaign waged against Zimbabwe's poorest and most vulnerable citizens by their
own government has been revealed in previously unseen satellite images.
The
pictures show how a community of 30,000 at Porta Farm, outside Harare, was wiped
from the map last year, during President Robert Mugabe's Operation
Murambatsvina, or "Restore Order".
Countrywide, these demolition orders
resulted in up to 700,000 people being made homeless in the midst of a food
crisis.
Kolawole Olaniyan, the Africa programme director at Amnesty
International, who released the images, said: "They are irrefutable evidence -
if further evidence is even needed - that the Zimbabwean government has
obliterated entire communities - completely erased them from the map, as if they
never existed."
During the operation, state security forces were sent in
their thousands into informal settlements, marketplaces and slums to forcibly
evict the urban poor. The campaign was compared by Mr Mugabe's critics to the
tactics of Pol Pot, the head of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, who emptied
entire cities into the countryside.
It was a war launched with a concerted
attack on the country's poorest and weakest people. Hundreds of thousands living
in squatter camps or working in street markets had their homes demolished or
their livelihoods taken away.
Amnesty commissioned the satellite images to
demonstrate the destruction of Porta Farm - a large, informal settlement that
was established 16 years ago and had schools, a children's centre and a mosque.
The organisation also released video footage showing the forced evictions taking
place prior to the demolitions.
The police action, which came early in the
morning on 28 June last year, began with a heavily armed column entering the
community. Pictures show residents watching helplessly as bulldozers and police
officers in riot gear reduced their homes to rubble.
Police officers
reportedly threatened the residents, saying that anyone who resisted eviction
would be beaten. The next day, the police returned to continue with the
demolitions. They also began to forcibly remove people in trucks.
The Mugabe
regime faced international condemnation during the eviction campaign, which led
to a visit by the UN special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, who arrived in Zimbabwe in
June. On 29 June, members of the UN team visited Porta Farm and witnessed
demolitions and forced removal of people in police and government trucks. In her
report to the UN, Mrs Tibaijuka said her team was "shocked by the brutality" of
what they witnessed.
Mr Olaniyan said: "The images and footage are a graphic
indictment of the Zimbabwean government's policies. They show the horrifying
transition of an area from a vibrant community to rubble and shrubs - in the
space of just 10 months."
Mr Mugabe defended the campaign as an overdue
"clean-up operation" to restore order and beauty to the cities. His critics
accuse him of waging a vindictive war on those who did not vote for his Zanu-PF
party in the March general election.
More than half a million people were
displaced in a drought-stricken country where conservative estimates say that
four million were in need of food aid.