New York Times
Zimbabwe at the
Breaking Point
imbabwe, once a
shining star in southern Africa, is collapsing under the
disastrous rule of
Robert Mugabe. This week, a powerful troika of African
presidents from South
Africa, Nigeria and Malawi traveled to Harare, raising
hopes that they were
finally prepared to do something about the political
and economic crisis in
Zimbabwe. Unhappily, their visit failed to persuade
Mr. Mugabe to open
unconditional talks with the opposition.
African leaders, especially
President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, should
take the lead in Zimbabwe. The
chaos there poses the greatest immediate
threat to neighboring South Africa,
and it undermines the laudable effort by
African leaders to promote economic
partnership with the West on the basis
of internal reforms.
Zimbabwe
is a mess. There are drastic shortages of food and fuel, the rates
of
inflation and unemployment are soaring, coercive land reforms have
shrunk
agricultural production, and public frustration is at a breaking
point. Mr.
Mugabe, one of the main leaders of the struggle against white
minority rule,
blames whites, political opponents and Britain for his woes.
But nobody
really questions any longer that the greatest blame lies with Mr.
Mugabe's
inept, corrupt and brutal rule. In national elections last year,
Mr.
Mugabe's victory was so tainted that Zimbabwe was suspended from
the
Commonwealth.
We understand why African leaders are reluctant to
lean on Mr. Mugabe. Mr.
Mbeki shares Mr. Mugabe's roots in a liberation
movement, and the
instability of many African regimes makes their leaders
loath to promote
regime change anywhere. But halfhearted and reluctant
gestures by Mr. Mbeki
and others have achieved nothing in Zimbabwe except to
make the opposition
skeptical about their intentions.
It is imperative
for the presidents - Mr. Mbeki, President Olusegun Obasanjo
of Nigeria and
President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi - to demand that Mr. Mugabe
open immediate
talks with the leading opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change,
on ways to end the crisis and hold free and fair
elections. Zimbabwe cannot
endure five more years of Mr. Mugabe's misrule.
Talk about Talks.
Well they came - in their
presidential jets, the red carpet was rolled out
and they were then
taken in air conditioned luxury to State House for
lunch and three
hours of discussions with Mugabe. Then they went off to the
Sheraton
and there they met with Morgan Tsvangirai for 90 minutes.
The
discussions with Mugabe were with no others present and those with
Morgan
included Welshman Ncube and Gift Chimanikiri.
After
the discussions with Morgan, Obasanjo and Muluzi returned to
State
House to report on their discussions to Mugabe and they then left
for
their respective homes. Mbeki simply left after the talks with
Morgan for
discussions with Kabila in the DRC and then back to
Johannesburg.
What was achieved? Well I listened to the VOA, BBC,
SABC and the ZTV/ZBC
and the spectrum ranged from the SABC which was
quite upbeat - inter party
talks will start soon, and the ZBC/ZTV (the
mouth of Moyo), which simply
restated the propaganda line that is being
followed by the government here.
For
those of you who are not
familiar with the latter it basically runs as
follows:
"The
President (Mugabe) was elected by the majority of Zimbabweans as
state
president for 5 years in 2002, he will complete his term of office.
If
the
MDC (British and American sponsored and inspired) want to talk
about the
situation then we are ready to talk - but they must first
recognise Mugabe
as President."
The international media
was probably more accurate than either the SABC or
the local propaganda
machine - which does not tell the truth at any time.
They said,
progress, but no break through. Then I talked to analysts from
both
South Africa and Zimbabwe. Their view was much the same except for
one
person from a South African think tank who said what was clear was
that
the gap remained, regional leaders were not prepared to force
Mugabe from
office and the next stage was "talk about talks". I think
that just about
summed
it up.
What would these entail?
Obviously the MDC cannot accept that Mugabe heads
a legitimate
government - he clearly does not by any measure. We also will
not
accept any form of unity government, this would be suicide for the
MDC
and
we are bit more savvy than that. So while Mugabe says he
will not talk
until we recognise him and drop the court challenge,
there will be no
talks. No
progress. Since this is simply not
acceptable to all concerned, the only
alternative is "talk about talks"
as suggested by South Africa. I heard
this morning that Muluzi is
inviting the parties here to Malawi for
discussions - perhaps that is
the next move. It would fit with Mbeki not
wanting to be
seen as
being the man in the middle.
Then there is the shadow of the United
States - Kansteiner is in the
region and they will be working in the
background to ensure that matters do
not
rest
there.
Also in play is the economy and we are rapidly running out
of time if we
are going to be able to retrieve anything on this front.
It is now too late
to
get a decent wheat crop into the ground -
another year lost. Preparation
for the 2003/4 tobacco crop should have
been completed last month - if we
have
no significant changes by
June, the next crop will also be in jeopardy.
Summer crop preparations
should start now - early ploughing, procurement
of inputs, we can delay
for perhaps 4 months - but no more. If we have a
repeat of this past
seasons activity then we will face yet another year of
shortages and
hardship. In the past year we grew no more than 25 per cent
of our
needs - how much longer can we realistically expect the rest of
the
world to feed us?
Then the energy situation - we have
very little liquid fuels in the
country, electricity is being
restricted and coal is problematic despite
our huge
reserves because
of the decline in the performance of the railways and a
shortage of
diesel. Inflation is spiraling out of control and life has
become
almost impossible for many - if not the majority. Food shortages
are
endemic - fats, oils, flour, bread, maize meal, cereals, baby foods
are
all in short supply. Prices in informal markets are 4 to 10 times
official
levels. It is understood that we have two weeks wheat supplies
in the
country and then we run out of wheat, bread and flour
altogether.
Exchange rates are on the move again - the Zimbabwe
dollar is now trading
against the Rand at about 180 to 1 (officially
105 to 1) and the prospect
is that rates will soften even further
shortly. Since these rates determine
prices for the majority of the
things we consume, this means higher prices
in the near future.
Economic migration, already at record levels is
accelerating and when
you drive to Beitbridge you can see small groups of
young people
walking to the border - they do not even have the price of a
bus
fare.
So how do we take the situation after the visit by the three
presidents?
Not business as usual, that is for sure, more pressure on
Mugabe - very
much
so.
A break through? No.
This is
deeply disappointing to all concerned. We are running out of time
for
things to be worked out to save the country from a complete
collapse
and things must be speeded up if we are to avoid a real
humanitarian and
economic crisis.
The other thing that has
happened as a consequence of the delay in
securing a start to the
process of return to legitimacy - is that we no
longer have
the time
for any sort of extended period before a legitimate government
can be
formed to tackle the urgent problems of the country. A year ago
we
could have supported a year's transition - today every week is
critical. If
we
settled on a 90-day transition to new elections we
would struggle. There
really is no time to waste at all - its time that
talk about talks got
started or else we will all be swept away by the
tide of time.
Such talks will not have any chance of success if
pressure is not
maintained on the parties to get an agreement. That was true
in the
Lancaster House
process, it was true in the South African
transition. The difference here
is that we are talking on the deck of a
sinking ship.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 7th April
2003.
Toronto Star
Zimbabwe's ugly fin de
régime
GORDON BARTHOS
Job Sikhala has been arrested
20 times. Maybe more.
He's been beaten by the police. Tortured by having
electric shocks applied
to his tongue, genitals and toes. Forced to drink
toxins. Urinated on by his
torturers.
He's an elected Member of
Parliament in Zimbabwe.
Sikhala, who's 30, belongs to opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC). And he's not the
unluckiest MDC supporter.
Nearly 60 have been murdered.
"My horrendous
experience has hardened my resolve," he told the Mail &
Guardian
newspaper, "that it is better to die for the freedom of the
Zimbabwean people
than to remain silent."
Comrade President Robert Mugabe's officials
promise to bring Sikhala's
police torturers to book. But few are betting on
it.
After all, Tsvangirai himself is on trial for plotting to kill
Mugabe, on
dubious evidence, and could be sentenced to death.
Little
wonder if 12 million Zimbabweans despair of seeing Mugabe's
divisive,
increasingly brutal 23-year reign lurch to a close any time
soon.
Still, pressure is building for a negotiated resolution to
Zimbabwe's worst
political and economic crisis since independence in
1980.
U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
are pushing
for "regime change." So is the Commonwealth, which suspended
Zimbabwe in
2002 after Mugabe's supporters narrowly stole the presidential
election from
Tsvangirai through murder, intimidation and
fraud.
Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of
Nigeria and
Bakili Muluzu of Malawi were in Harare this week trying to bring
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai together for talks. They failed. But Obasanjo found "on
both
sides ... earnestness for negotiations to be resumed." Clearly, Mugabe
is
feeling some heat.
Alert to their growing isolation, members of
Mugabe's own ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union - Popular Front (Zanu-PF)
party are reaching out.
Parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa and army
chief Gen. Vitalis
Zvinavashe have approached Tsvangirai to serve in a
post-Mugabe transition
government. Other Zanu-PF figures have also called for
power sharing.
And inside Zimbabwe, trade unions have launched crippling
political strikes
demanding change.
This undermining of Mugabe from
within is an encouraging development.
Zimbabweans shouldn't have to
suffer five more years of autocratic, inept
rule.
Mugabe's coercive
land reform - dispossessing white farmers - has slashed
output by half. Just
a few hundred white farmers remain, from 4,000 two
years ago. Food, power and
fuel are in short supply. Three-quarters of the
population is jobless. Half
are hungry. Every week 2,500 die of AIDS-related
illness.
Yet amid
this suffering, Mugabe spends $500 million on the military.
Zimbabweans
have now lived with three years of state-sanctioned political
violence,
fierce suppression of dissent and harassment of the press.
The only way
forward is for Mugabe to agree to bow out early, so that some
transitional
power-sharing arrangement can be struck between Zanu-PF and the
MDC leading
to early, credible, internationally supervised elections.
But that will
require regional politicians to crank up the pressure,
something they have
been reluctant to do.
Mbeki, whose country supplies much of Zimbabwe's
power on credit, could
unseat Mugabe with a flick of the switch. But Africa's
revolutionary
liberation leaders are notoriously loath to break with their
own.
That is a betrayal not only of Zimbabweans but also of Africans who
are
struggling to reform their governments and economies, hoping to qualify
for
more generous foreign investment, debt relief and aid. It also
encourages
autocrats to hang on.
"The process has begun but I fear
there will be ... more blood spilled
before Mugabe actually steps down," says
John Makumbe of the Zimbabwe in
Crisis Coalition.
That Mugabe, at 79,
is doing such terrible damage is a tragedy. For the
country. For him. Some
still hail Comrade President as one of the nation's
liberators. But their
voices grow fainter with every passing
day.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gord
Barthos writes the Star's editorials on foreign
affairs.
Business
Day
There is hope for Zimbabwe, but only if Mugabe
goes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mbeki
must not flinch from the opportunity to exercise his considerable
strengths
of negotiation and persuasion
THERE are two distinct futures for Zimbabwe.
One is with President Robert
Mugabe remaining in power, a bleak prospect
promising much of the same as in
the past decade: an imploding economy and
worsening human rights. It is no
future at all.
The other is more
promising, and requires a new leadership. Zimbabwe faces
huge economic and
social challenges as a result of Zanu (PF)'s misrule
including 200% inflation
and 75% unemployment.
In the best-case scenario, rebuilding the
Zimbabwean economy will be the
task of a generation and will not attract the
bloated billions pouring into
Iraq and Afghanistan. But at least a new
president and administration would
offer the commodity most Zimbabweans now
crave: hope. Programmatically, it
would also offer the prospect of improved
governance, including the
restoration of the rule of law and an accountable
polity.
For Zimbabweans, a new, credible, popularly elected and
accountable
government would go a long way to restoring their faith in
democracy and
would rekindle national pride, rather than shame and
fear.
Most importantly, a new government, with the backing and support of
the
international community, could set about the immediate task of putting
food
in the bellies of the 6million Zimbabweans currently living on a
knife-edge
of hunger.
The regional dividend of a new and legitimate
government in Harare is
incalculable. It would not only present the Southern
African Development
Community region with a further fillip after the Angolan
and Democratic
Republic of Congo successes, but also turn the political tide
in favour of
the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(Nepad).
These two scenarios should not be breaking news to
anyone.
The real question has, however, been to get from Mugabe's rule to
something
more acceptable, and what new leadership might look like and mean
for Zanu
(PF) without Mugabe.
The latter concern, combined with the
party's own insecurities in
consolidating its rule from liberation movement
to political party and a
visceral fear of being seen to be doing the bidding
of the west, apparently
have been the main reasons behind the reluctance of
the African National
Congress to move publicly and decisively in removing
Mugabe.
It was not as if there were no alternatives between quiet
diplomacy or
invasion, as Pretoria has claimed since 2000. The range of
policy options
from more public pressure, engagement with the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), public and private sanctions, to more martial
responses has
been on public offer for those opting to
investigate.
Yet with talk of Mugabe's departure now imminent, it would
seem Pretoria has
bitten the bullet in finally moving publicly on
Harare.
There are many advantages to doing so, far outweighing the
domestic costs of
being seen to be acting on behalf of the US or UK
governments. Critically,
such action signals the end of the complacency that
has cost Nepad greatly
in terms of negative international
perceptions.
Mugabe's continued misrule has flown in the face of Nepad's
promises about
good governance, democracy and Africa.
Should Mbeki be
successful in devising an acceptable exit strategy for his
Zimbabwean
counterpart, there will also be some dividends in terms of
reducing the
levels of suspicion and mistrust following Pretoria's
utterances on the Iraqi
intervention.
But the principal benefit will be to Zimbabweans themselves
a fact too often
lost on those who have preferred to portray this as a racial
conflict or one
between Zimbabwe and its formal colonial master,
Britain.
Six-million Zimbabweans more than half the population face food
shortages
this year, and many could die as a result. The critical fall in
agricultural
output in the former breadbasket of the region is a direct
result of
Mugabe's so-called land redistribution programme.
The
currency has collapsed, with a wide gap persisting between official
and
unofficial exchange rates. The depth of the fiscal crisis is borne out
by
the fact that this year's deficit is estimated at half of the
$2bn
expenditure budgeted.
In the longer term, Zimbabwe's recovery
will require large-scale
international financial and technical aid. Given the
right conditions of
good governance, democracy and respect for human rights
and the rule of law,
the parlous economic situation could, in time, be
reversed.
In the absence of overwhelming domestic and international
pressure that
would lead to forced regime change, the obstacles to Mugabe's
removal should
not be underestimated.
He is a highly intelligent and
skilled survival politician, and a
redoubtable negotiator. Mugabe will no
doubt attempt to buy time and play
presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun
Obasanjo along while he does so. This
makes drafting and publishing a
Zimbabwe road map and timeline for
transition all the more
important.
SA will also have to rebuild relations with the MDC,
especially the
leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, as such relations have become
defined by
animosity and perceptions that a partisan Pretoria favours Zanu
(PF).
Now is the time for Mbeki to exercise his considerable strengths
of
negotiation and persuasion the type of strengths that spared SA a
frightful
civil war in KwaZulu-Natal in the run-up to the 1994
elections.
Mbeki now has both history and the international community on
his side. It
is not the time to lose nerve and flinch.
There are
simply no downsides perceived or otherwise for Pretoria in
engineering the
removal of Mugabe. Nepad will benefit, and the image of the
continent will
improve.
Most importantly, when Mugabe departs office, it will be a great
day for
Zimbabwe and perhaps the real start of the African
renaissance.
Dr Mills and Hughes are respectively the national director
and the
parliamentary research fellow at the SA Institute of International
Affairs,
based at the University of the
Witwatersrand.
Business
Day
Fuel supplies to Zimbabwe slow down to a mere
trickle
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE's fuel crisis is deepening as the government is
increasingly
failing to pay suppliers due to forex shortages.
Official
sources said yesterday the country was lurching towards its worst
fuel
shortages yet.
The last consignment of fuel of 439000l came two weeks
ago. The country is
surviving on supplies trickling in through efforts of
small-scale dealers.
The consignment two weeks ago was imported for the
justended Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
"We are
facing a completely dry situation now," a source at the National Oil
Company
of Zimbabwe (Noczim) said.
"Maybe we will receive diesel because
government wants to keep industry
running."
The current
tobacco-selling season has not improved foreign currency
supplies and as a
result the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank's external payments
committee cannot
provide sufficient money to critical sectors of the economy
as defined in the
prioritisation of external payments guidelines.
Fuel, electricity, grain
and drugs are the main import priorities for
Zimbabwe.
The country is
also in the grip of a severe electricity crisis. Some
companies have either
scaled back their operations or closed down in the
past month due to power
shortages.
The situation is likely to get worse as the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa) has failed to meet its deadline to pay SA
power utility
Eskom 16m.
Zesa, whose debt to regional suppliers has
now ballooned to an amount of
$150m, introduced load-shedding last month,
after Mozambican and Democratic
Republic of Congo power companies reduced
supplies.
Zimbabwe imports up to 35% of its electricity from Hydro
Cahorra Bassa of
Mozambique, Eskom and Snel of Congo.
Cahorra Bassa
used to supply the country with 450 megawatts of power, Eskom
with 150
megawatts, while Snel supplied it with 100 megawatts.
However, Cahorra
Bassa has cut supplies to 150 megawatts and Snel to
nothing. Eskom has
threatened to cut the power supply if Zesa fails to pay.
To make matters
worse, Zesa has to pay in foreign currency for using Zambian
power lines for
drawing power from Mozambique. Despite its bankruptcy, Zesa
is looking for
1,3bn to increase power-generation capacity at the Hwange and
Kariba stations
to 1000 megawatts. Currently, they are operating at below
half that
capacity.
Zesa is planning to pour 600m into Hwange and 400m into Kariba,
while
transmission and distribution infrastructure would require almost
400m.
As Zimbabwe's fuel situation deteriorates drastically, government
says it is
now moving to import oil from Angola.
Zimbabwe has been
making efforts to get fuel supplies from Iran and Sudan,
but nothing has
materialised due to its low credit rating with
those
countries.
Zimbabwe needs 40m a month for fuel.
Noczim is
currently scrounging for Z60bn to import fuel.
The government recently
tried to reduce Noczim's debt by Z6,7bn to improve
its creditworthiness, but
the debt went up again. It now stands at Z21,6bn.
Kuwait's Independent
Petroleum Group is reluctant to continue supplying
Zimbabwe with the
much-needed fuel because it is owed more than $70m.
Sources said Libyan
company Tamoil has stopped supplying because of
nonpayment.
Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi now considers Zimbabwe "a dangerous credit
risk"
because of its cash flow squeeze and political
uncertainty.
SABC
MDC welcomes Zimbabwe court ruling on harsh media
law
May 08, 2003,
11:15
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition in
Zimbabwe,
has welcomed the country's highest court ruling after it struck
down sections
of the tough media
legislation.
The MDC called the verdict a victory against a law it said was
as
"unconstitutional as it was primitively vindictive", while media groups
said
the entire package must be thrown out. "This was a symbolic victory for
the
media fraternity, but the fight is not over because the punitive nature
of
the whole legislation is frightening," said Andy Moyse, a co-ordinator of
the
watchdog Media Monitoring Project of
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's highest court yesterday struck down sections of tough
media
legislation which had made it an offence to publish "falsehoods",
after the
government conceded the provisions were unconstitutional. The
Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act took effect shortly
after President
Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election in March 2002,
which the opposition
and Western governments said was marred by fraud.
Mugabe accuses independent
local and foreign media of backing the opposition
and driving a Western
propaganda campaign to discredit his seizure of
white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless
blacks.
Several journalists have been detained under the Act, which also
gives the
state power over who can work as a journalist in Zimbabwe. Hours
after the
court ruling, immigration officers swooped on the home of a
foreign
correspondent working for Britain's Guardian newspaper, in what his
lawyer
said appeared to be a renewed attempt to deport
him.
Appeal against deportation
order
Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said Andrew Meldrum, a US reporter, was
not at his
house at the time and had since sought refuge elsewhere. Meldrum
is currently
appealing a deportation order issued after he was acquitted of
reproducing a
false
story.
The media law had made the publication of "falsehoods"
punishable by a heavy
fine or a jail sentence of up to two years, regardless
of the circumstances
of publication. Government lawyers conceded these
provisions violated the
constitutional protection of freedom of expression
and said the law would be
amended to make it an offence to publish
"falsehoods" out of malice or
recklessness.
Zimbabwe is undergoing its worst crisis in more than two
decades, with acute
shortages of food and fuel and soaring unemployment.
Britain and Australia
said yesterday that they would work to put
international pressure on Mugabe
to change the political climate in the
former British colony and that
Zimbabwe would not be allowed back into the
Commonwealth until a return to
democratic rule was under way. The group
suspended the country last year
after observers said Mugabe's re-election
was flawed. -
Reuters
Independent (UK)
Mugabe's
'brutal' police chief lands role at
Interpol
By Basildon Peta Southern
Africa Correspondent
09 May
2003
Zimbabwe's police commissioner,
who is accused of being a driving
force behind President Robert Mugabe's
brutal repression of opponents, has
been appointed honorary vice-president of
Interpol.
Augustine Chihuri is on a list
of close Mugabe associates subject to
sanctions by the European Union and the
United States because of the
regime's human rights abuses. Yet it emerged
yesterday that he has accepted
an invitation from the international police
organisation's President, Jesus
Espigares Mira, to take up the honorary post.
The Zimbabwe Herald, the
state-owned newspaper which is a mouthpiece for the
Mugabe government, said
the appointment was a "show of confidence" in the
Zimbabwean police force by
the international
community.
Interpol's decision to honour
Mr Chihuri comes as repression of the
political opposition and the
privately-run media in Zimbabwe has been
dramatically stepped up. Andrew
Meldrum, the Guardian's Zimbabwe
correspondent, was in hiding yesterday after
state agents, believed to be
immigration officials, raided his home on
Wednesday night.
The Tory foreign affairs
spokesman, Michael Ancram, called on the
Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, to
protest against Mr Chihuri's "staggering"
appointment. In a letter to Mr
Straw, he said: "During the brutalisation and
rape of Zimbabwe, the police
force has stood by and done nothing to uphold
law and order. Indeed, the
police force is cited in many cases of human
rights
abuses.
"[Chihuri] is one of Mugabe's
closest cronies. What kind of message
does this send to the Mugabe regime?
Far from being ostracised, it is
being
honoured."
This is not the first
time that Mr Chihuri's links with Interpol have
come to the attention of
Zimbabwe's critics. Last year he was admitted to
France, despite the EU's
travel ban, for a meeting at the organisation's
Lyon headquarters. Back in
Zimbabwe he has overseen the systematic torture
of thousands of suspected
opposition supporters , including MPs and
activists, in police custody. He
has defied several court orders to stop
illegal seizures of white-owned farms
and to act against any opponents of
the Mugabe
regime.
Using sweeping security powers, Mr
Chihuri has ordered arbitrary
arrests, banned opposition meetings and
generally made it impossible for
civic society to organise and operate freely
in Zimbabwe. In 2000 he broke
the law by declaring his support for Mr
Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. This
violated the Police Act, which requires
the police to be non-partisan.
Since 2000,
Mr Chihuri has allowed Mr Mugabe's militant supporters to
seize farms
violently and murder 14 white farmers and more than 300 black
opposition
supporters in political violence. He also been involved himself
in evicting a
white farmer from a prime property in Mazowe district, which
he has since
permanently occupied.
Farmers and
opposition supporters have given up expecting help from Mr
Chihuri's men.
Several opposition supporters have recently died after being
tortured by the
police.
Mr Chihuri was also linked to a
high-profile corruption case in which
top Zanu-PF officials - including Mr
Mugabe's wife, Grace - looted a state
fund meant to built low-cost houses for
junior civil servants to build
mansions for
themselves.
9 May 2003
06:27
Independent (UK)
Zimbabwe must have 'road-map' to
legitimacy, says US
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa
Correspondent
09 May 2003
The American envoy for Africa called for
a "road-map" to achieve "regime
legitimacy" in Zimbabwe yesterday, which
would inevitably mean the departure
of President Robert Mugabe from
office.
In a telephone interview with The Independent, the Assistant
Secretary of
State, Walter Kansteiner, who is in Botswana, said that
Washington hoped the
latest initiative by African leaders to intervene in the
Zimbabwe crisis
would produce a blueprint for the future. This would shape a
transitional
process leading to a new government which would respond to the
needs of
Zimbabweans.
Mr Kansteiner said "regime change" was not the
phrase he would use to
describe his government's policy on Zimbabwe but
"regime legitimacy".
"Regime legitimacy is what everyone is striving for.
Can and will and how do
the people of Zimbabwe have their voice heard? How do
the governing
institutions in Zimbabwe reflect legitimacy in the eyes of the
Zimbabwe
people," he said.
In an article published in South Africa
yesterday, the widely respected
national director of the South African
Institute of International Affairs,
Greg Mills, said there was no hope for
Zimbabwe unless President Mugabe
goes. He said the departure of Mr Mugabe
could perhaps be the real start of
the so-called African
Renaissance.
Asked whether he agreed with such a sentiment, Mr Kansteiner
said: "I think
the people of Zimbabwe need a government which is responsive
to their needs
and suffering. If that happens, that would be a good day
indeed."
The presidents of South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi, Thabo Mbeki,
Olusegun
Obasanjo and Bakili Muluzi visited Zimbabwe this week for talks with
Mr
Mugabe and his main adversary Morgan Tsvangirai. But their plan to set
the
stage for the retirement of the 79-year-old president hit a snag when
they
failed to broker a dialogue between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, leader
of
the Movement for Democratic Change. Mr Mugabe demanded full recognition
by
Mr Tsvangirai before talking to him. Mr Tsvangirai refused, saying he
would
not recognise someone who "stole" an election.
The three African
leaders, however, vowed to continue with their efforts to
bring the two to
the negotiating table.
Mr Kansteiner said the US government fully backed
their initiative but was
not involved in it. "Our role comes in once the
people of Zimbabwe and the
regional leaders have mapped out a course," he
said.
"Where we can assist is with technical assistance, in preparation
for an
electoral process. We can assist on reconstruction and re-development.
We
have resources not only financial resources but also technical expertise.
I
think that's the big role that we can eventually play," he
said.
However Mr Kansteiner's use of the term "road-map" has parallels
with plans
for peace between Israel and the Palestinians backed by the US,
Russia, the
European Union and the United Nations. The model involves the
successful
sidelining of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in favour of a
new Prime
Minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Independent reported last week
that America, Britain and South Africa
had voiced their preference for the
former Zimbabwean finance minister,
Simba Makoni, as a suitable interim
figure to take over from Mr Mugabe.
On the eve of their arrival in
Zimbabwe, Mr Mbeki and his colleagues were
attacked in President Mugabe's
tightly controlled state media which
suggested they were visiting Zimbabwe as
"agents" of the British and US
governments.
Mr Kansteiner said the
crisis in Zimbabwe was not sustainable: the economic,
humanitarian and civil
liberties crises had all converged into a major
political crisis needing an
urgent solution. He noted that it was important
that the three African
presidents had met both Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai.
The transitional process
required agreement from the two leaders, he said.
Many Zimbabweans have
been quoted as calling for President George Bush to
invade the country and
topple their leader as he did in Iraq. Mr Kansteiner
ruled out such a
prospect.
SABC
Reporter hides from Zimbabwean
authorities
May 08, 2003,
18:45
A US journalist based in Zimbabwe is hiding from immigration
officials who
swooped on his home in a suspected renewed attempt to deport
him, his lawyer
said
today.
Andrew Meldrum, a correspondent for Britain's Guardian newspaper
who has
worked in Zimbabwe for 22 years and has permanent residency, was
away when
officers descended on his home last night, saying they wanted to
speak to
him.
Beatrice Mtetwa, Meldrum's lawyer, says her client will stay
away from
immigration authorities until they spell out why they were looking
for him.
"Until then, he will remain at an undisclosed location. Meldrum
remains
willing to answer questions to bona fide officials providing they
follow
proper legal procedure which requires that they state their enquiry
upfront,"
she
said.
Mtetwa said there was room to suspect that the five officers who
came to
Meldrum's home in five vehicles, including a van with shaded
windows, had a
"foul play"
motive.
Meldrum is currently appealing a deportation order issued after
he was
acquitted of reproducing a false
story.
Zimbabwe's highest court yesterday struck down sections of tough
media
legislation which had made it an offence to publish "falsehoods",
after the
government conceded the provisions were
unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court made the ruling in response to an appeal by
two Zimbabwean
journalists charged last year with publishing a false story
after reporting
that government supporters had beheaded a woman opposition
member in front of
her two
children.
The story, which Meldrum reproduced, proved to be false and the
Daily News,
its originator, said it was misled by a source. Critics say new
media laws
adopted by President Robert Mugabe after his controversial
re-election last
year are designed to stifle press freedom but the
government says they are
meant to bring order to
journalism.
Mugabe accuses private local and foreign media of backing the
opposition and
driving a Western propaganda campaign to discredit his
seizure of white owned
farms for landless blacks. Several journalists have
been detained under the
laws, which give the state power to licence
journalists in Zimbabwe. -
Reuters
SABC
Europe blasts Mbeki's lack of action against
Mugabe
May 08, 2003,
16:00
A South African government proposal that succeeded in blocking
an examination
of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe by the United
Nations Human Rights
Commission (UNHRC) has drawn strong criticism both at
home and
abroad.
Zimbabwe escaped international scrutiny yesterday after 28
mainly African and
Asian countries in the 53 member UNHRC supported a South
African "no action"
motion on a European Union resolution calling for debate
on the
issue.
The draft resolution had expressed deep concern over continuing
abuse by the
Zimbabwean government, including assaults, torture, cases of
rape, arbitrary
arrests and attempts to clamp down on the
country's
judiciary.
Today, the Democratic Alliance said it was "deeply disturbed and
shocked" to
learn South Africa had led such a proposal. "Why would the South
African
government propose that the UNHRC not take a firmer stand on
Zimbabwe? It
boggles the mind," Colin Eglin, DA foreign affairs
spokesperson,
said.
The DA has repeatedly called on the government to intervene in
the Zimbabwean
crisis. "The breakdown in law and order, the botched land
reform programme
and the disregard shown for human rights in Zimbabwe will
not only have a
destructive impact on that country, it will also drag down
the entire
Southern African region. The Mugabe regime is a test of the South
African
government's resolve to protect the best interests of this country
and the
entire region; sadly, we are failing this test," Eglin
said.
Mugabe a 'despotic leader' says European
parliamentarian
Meanwhile, Michael Gahler, a European Parliament MP, a member of
the
parliament's largest political group, said the South African government
had
turned its back on Zimbabwe's people, who were suffering under a
'despotic
leader'.
"The more the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates, the more the
Mugabe regime
apparently can count on the unconditional support from the
'old boys network'
existing between the ANC and Zanu-PF," he said in
a
statement.
Gahler, who headed the European Parliament's observer delegation
to the 2000
parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe, said Mbeki's silent
diplomacy towards
Mugabe had obviously failed, "but open support of an
oppressive regime
prevails".
He said a former liberation movement such as the ANC risked
being labelled
racist "if it legitimately fights a white minority regime,
but later turns
its back to the suffering people under a black
despotic
ruler".
The Department of Foreign Affairs was not immediately for
comment today. -
Sapa
Load Shedding Hits Parts of Harare's CBD
The
Herald (Harare)
May 8, 2003
Posted to the web May 8,
2003
Harare
The power cut that hit business in parts of Harare's
central business
district on Tuesday morning was a result of load
shedding.
The electricity interruption was experienced from 11am but
power resumed
later in the afternoon.
Several office blocks were
unable to use their lifts, a serious problem in
high rise buildings, and
electronic tills became inactive.
Some buildings and companies have
generators or uninterupted power supply
facilities for sensitive computer
equipment.
But others, including many shops, closed for the day. The most
affected were
food outlets, grocery shops and supermarkets.
Load
shedding is seriously affecting production in industrial areas and
the
farming community.
Farmers said their winter crop, which greatly
depends on irrigation, has
been greatly affected while industrial production
has been crippled by these
power cuts.
Zesa introduced load shedding
in March due to the reduction of power imports
from Hydro Cahora Bassa in
Mozambique.
A Zesa official, Mr Daniel Maviva, said load shedding was
also a result of
technical faults being experienced from the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
Zimbabwe imports 60 percent of its power from Eskom in
South Africa, Cabora
Bassa and Snel of the DRC.
The country's economy
is not generating enough foreign currency to enable
Zesa to pay for full
requirements.
"Zesa is making arrangements to improve the current power
situation by going
into negotiations with Zimbabwe's exporting companies to
settle import bills
in foreign currency," said Mr Maviva.
He said the
power company was working flat out to boost local power
production through
the refurbishment of the Hwange and Kariba power
stations.
The
country's peak demand is about 2 000 megawatts. Hwange can, at full
capacity,
generate 920MW and Kariba South 666MW.
SABC
US praises SA peace efforts in
Zimbabwe
May 08, 2003,
15:00
The United States has lauded efforts undertaken by President
Thabo Mbeki and
his Malawian and Nigerian conterparts, in brokering a peace
dialogue between
the Zimbabwean ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement
for Democratic
Change.
Walter Kansteiner, US Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs,
maintained an opposing view to that of British Prime Minister Tony
Blair that
maximum international pressure be exerted on the Harare
administration to
restore democracy and human
rights.
He was speaking in Botswana, at the opening of a trade facility
which will
enable regional states to benefit from expansion of trade
opportunities with
the United States through the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act
(AGOA).
Kansteiner praised the Southern African initiative to deal with
the Zimbabwe
issue, and described it as a regional problem. "We think it's a
strong
indication that the continent and the region are aware of the dire
situation
that's taking place in Zimbabwe, both humanitarian wise as well as
economic.
We are thrilled that they are engaged and we are encouraged by
it," he
said.
The US has also rejected claims that it may be phasing out the
AGOA. In
recent months Washington has embarked on bi-lateral free-trade
talks with
South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Namibia. The act
seeks to
give sub-Saharan African states an increased access to US markets.
This has
led to fears among other African states that they could lose out on
trade
benefits under AGOA. However, Kansteiner hinted that Washington was
keen to
extend the AGOA. "There are some really very good benefits that
come
immediately with AGOA that's why we want that extension," he
explained
VOA
Zimbabwe Government Continues Harassing Journalist
Despite Court Ruling on
Media Law
Peta
Thornycroft
Harare
08 May 2003, 17:34 UTC
Zimbabwe's Supreme
Court has struck down a clause in the country's
restrictive media law that
made it a criminal offense to publish falsehoods.
But while that decision was
praised by defenders of press freedom in
Zimbabwe, hours after it was issued
government officials visited the home of
an American journalist who has for
months been the target of a harassment
campaign led by state
media.
Four men who said they were from the department of immigration
arrived at
Andrew Meldrum's home late Wednesday, but he was not there. The
men told his
wife they wished to interview him and eventually left saying
they would
return with reinforcements.
Mr. Meldrum is an American
citizen with permanent resident status in
Zimbabwe, which under the country's
constitution guarantees him the same
rights as a citizen. Based in Harare, he
is a correspondent for the British
newspaper The Guardian.
Beatrice
Mtetwa, a lawyer for the American journalist, says immigration
officials
refused to reveal why they want to see the journalist.
In an account in
The Guardian, the lawyer says from her experience it
appeared that
immigration officials intended to deport Mr. Meldrum. When
they come in the
night, she is quoted as saying, they want to lock you up
and they can take
you away when no one can see it being done.
Earlier this year, Mr.
Meldrum was served with a deportation order minutes
after the lower court
acquitted him of violating Zimbabwe's media law by
publishing a
falsehood.
But the high court suspended Mr. Meldrum's deportation, and
that suspension,
according to his lawyers, is still in force.
Mr.
Meldrum's acquittal caused official embarrassment, as he was the
first
journalist to be tried and then acquitted for publishing a falsehood -
the
section of the media law that the court struck down Wednesday.
The
government tried Mr. Meldrum for a report he did for the Guardian in
which he
quoted a local newspaper as saying that a woman had been beheaded
in front of
her children by ruling party supporters. The local newspaper
story was false
and the Guardian published a retraction.
Since his acquittal, Mr.
Meldrum, like may other journalists, has not been
granted accreditation by
the government appointed media commission. He is
regularly accused by the
state media of being a spy.
The whereabouts of Mr. Meldrum and his wife
are not known. His lawyer said
they are both safe but
anxious.
News update
Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(WOZA) will walk to express the wishes of mothers
ahead of MOTHER'S
DAY! WOZA is a women's civic action platform formed to
break the silence and
lobby on everyday issues affecting women and their
families.
We will
meet on Saturday 10th May - from 10 to 11:30am
at Bulawayo City Hall Car Park
and at Africa Unity Square, Harare
The Zimbabwe Republic Police were notified
as required under the Public
Order Security Act (POSA) by a single letter
copied to both Stations.
Yesterday, Bulawayo District Office wrote
informing us that they were not
approving the walk.
Harare District Office
wrote approving the walk but requested the organisers
to remain within the
environs of Africa Unity Square. A condition we
accepted.
We would
like to recognise the solidarity shown by the Officer Commanding
Harare, whom
we believe is female for allowing WOZA to conduct its peaceful
procession and
wish our Harare sisters well!
We abhor the insensitivity of the Officer
Commanding Byo District, Chief
Superintendent P Matyatya in refusing allow
the exercising of our
constitutional right of assembly. He obviously needs to
further appreciate
the need for women to lobby for equality.
WOZA
knows that the struggle for women's rights will not be an easy one but
that
Saturday remains another step to be taken for the courageous. We
remain
firmly committed to ensuring the profile of women is elevated even
against
the backdrop of the current crisis. Women make up 56% of the
population and
have a majority right to exercise their voices in saying
ENOUGH IS
ENOUGH!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
The
message we will deliver come hell or high water is ...
The time has come to
put our house (Zimbabwe) in order; we carry our brooms
to symbolize
this!
In happy times we would receive gifts on Mother's Day but times are
tough so
all we ask of our husbands, sons, brothers, bosses, and leaders is
..
To LOVE us, RESPECT US and allow us our DIGNITY as MOTHERS of the
Nation!
Provide FOOD fairly priced and available on the shelves.
Our
families need PEACE - Stop violence, rape, and torture!
Zimbabweans
working together can sweep away the dirt - a clean home is a
healthy
home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
Zimbabweans
learn to LOVE again and say NO to VIOLENCE and YES to LOVE!
TO
PARTICIPATE ON SATURDAY 10 MAY YOU WILL NEED TO:
ATTEND the walk in large
numbers in a spirit of LOVE and TOGETHERNESS.
CARRY a flower to show the
message of LOVE and as an appeal to end the
VIOLENCE or
CARRY your grass
broom to indicate that it is time to sweep away the dirt.
PLEASE follow
instructions of the leaders and marshals at all times.
Contact WOZA (Byo)
Jenni 011 213 885 or (Hre) Getrude 011 411 842
Fuel Supplies to Zimbabwe Slow Down to a Mere
Trickle
Business Day (Johannesburg)
May 8, 2003
Posted
to the web May 8, 2003
Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg
ZIMBABWE's
fuel crisis is deepening as the government is increasingly
failing to pay
suppliers due to forex shortages.
Official sources said yesterday the
country was lurching towards its worst
fuel shortages yet.
The last
consignment of fuel of 439000l came two weeks ago. The country is
surviving
on supplies trickling in through efforts of small-scale dealers.
The
consignment two weeks ago was imported for the justended
Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
"We are facing a
completely dry situation now," a source at the National Oil
Company of
Zimbabwe (Noczim) said.
"Maybe we will receive diesel because government
wants to keep industry
running."
The current tobacco-selling season
has not improved foreign currency
supplies and as a result the Zimbabwean
Reserve Bank's external payments
committee cannot provide sufficient money to
critical sectors of the economy
as defined in the prioritisation of external
payments guidelines.
Fuel, electricity, grain and drugs are the main
import priorities for
Zimbabwe.
The country is also in the grip of a
severe electricity crisis. Some
companies have either scaled back their
operations or closed down in the
past month due to power
shortages.
The situation is likely to get worse as the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa) has failed to meet its deadline to pay SA
power utility
Eskom 16m.
Zesa, whose debt to regional suppliers has
now ballooned to an amount of
$150m, introduced load-shedding last month,
after Mozambican and Democratic
Republic of Congo power companies reduced
supplies.
Zimbabwe imports up to 35% of its electricity from Hydro
Cahorra Bassa of
Mozambique, Eskom and Snel of Congo.
Cahorra Bassa
used to supply the country with 450 megawatts of power, Eskom
with 150
megawatts, while Snel supplied it with 100 megawatts.
However, Cahorra
Bassa has cut supplies to 150 megawatts and Snel to
nothing. Eskom has
threatened to cut the power supply if Zesa fails to pay.
To make matters
worse, Zesa has to pay in foreign currency for using Zambian
power lines for
drawing power from Mozambique. Despite its bankruptcy, Zesa
is looking for
1,3bn to increase power-generation capacity at the Hwange and
Kariba stations
to 1000 megawatts. Currently, they are operating at below
half that
capacity.
Zesa is planning to pour 600m into Hwange and 400m into Kariba,
while
transmission and distribution infrastructure would require almost
400m.
As Zimbabwe's fuel situation deteriorates drastically, government
says it is
now moving to import oil from Angola.
Zimbabwe has been
making efforts to get fuel supplies from Iran and Sudan,
but nothing has
materialised due to its low credit rating with
those
countries.
Zimbabwe needs 40m a month for fuel.
Noczim is
currently scrounging for Z60bn to import fuel.
The government recently
tried to reduce Noczim's debt by Z6,7bn to improve
its creditworthiness, but
the debt went up again. It now stands at Z21,6bn.
Kuwait's Independent
Petroleum Group is reluctant to continue supplying
Zimbabwe with the
much-needed fuel because it is owed more than $70m.
Sources said Libyan
company Tamoil has stopped supplying because of
nonpayment.
Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi now considers Zimbabwe "a dangerous credit
risk"
because of its cash flow squeeze and political
uncertainty.
VOA
Political Analyst Says Zimbabweans Are Cautiously
Optimistic About Their
Future
Ashenafi Abedje
Washington
08
May 2003, 16:27 UTC
Zimbabwean political analyst Brian Raftapolous
says most Zimbabweans are
cautiously optimistic about the outcome of current
regional efforts to
resolve the country's political and economic
crisis.
Professor Raftapolous, who teaches development studies at the
University of
Zimbabwe, says the three leaders spearheading the effort have
baggage of
their own. He says President Robert Mugabe is keenly aware of this
and won't
miss a beat in exploiting it to advance his
advantage.
On the other hand, Professor Raftapolous says the
current efforts represent
an African initiative, lending them more weight on
the continent than if
they were initiated by Americans or Europeans. He says
there is a
differentiated African view of the situation in Zimbabwe, just as
Africans
and Westerners comprehend the reality differently.
The
analyst says what matters most are the views held by Zimbabweans, which
he
maintains are largely critical of President Mugabe and his
policies.
Professor Raftapolous says if the current efforts result in his
stepping
down, it's not yet known who might succeed him. But the analyst says
in the
event a free and open election is organized, opposition leader
Morgan
Tsivangerai may end up succeeding Robert Mugabe.
Professor
Raftapolous says any new government will likely carry out a
thorough audit of
past land policies and try to reengage the international
community on the
basis of a more transparent program for the future.
Professor Raftapolous
spoke from Harare with English to Africa reporter
Ashenafi
Abedje.
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