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WOZA Wins Amnesty International Human Rights Award

http://www.radiovop.com

HARARE, November 15 2008 - Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has been
awarded the fifth Human Rights Award by Amnesty International German
Section. The award will be presented at an award ceremony in Berlin on
Sunday 16th November.

Williams and Mahlangu, who were released on bail from Mlondolozi
Prison on Thursday 6 November, won an application from Bulawayo Magistrate's
Court to be allowed to travel to Germany to receive the award. The pair were
released on bail with strict reporting conditions that include reporting to
their nearest police station twice a week and not beind permitted to travel
outside of a 40 kilometre radius of Bulawayo Post Office without the written
permission of a magistrate.

Williams and Mahlangu appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate's Court on
Monday 11 November for a routine remand hearing where they requested
permission to travel to Germany. Magistrate Maphosa however requested that
the application be made in an open court on Tuesday 12th.

After several delays, the state decided not to oppose the travel
application and reporting conditions were temporarily suspended until
November 26th to allow the activists to travel to Germany. Upon their return
they will resume reporting and remain within a 40 kilometre radius of
Bulawayo until their trial which is scheduled for 2nd December 2008.

The German section of Amnesty International assigns the Human Rights
Award every two years to people that defend and fight for human rights,
especially under harsh circumstances.

"I'm still alive today because the international community has come to
know our organisation thanks to Amnesty International and the media," Jenni
Williams, co-founder and coordinator of the organisation, said.

Jenni Williams, has been arrested  32 times in the last five years.

The German Amnesty section will hand over the price to members of WOZA
during a ceremony in the "Berliner Ensemble", a well-known theatre in the
centre of Berlin, on  16 November 2008. The award statue was designed by the
internationally known sculptor Tony Cragg.

In the past, the prize was given to Turkish advocate Eren Keskin
(2001), human rights defenders from Russia Swetlana Gannuschkina (2003) and
Monira Rahman from Bangladesh (2006).


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Zimbabwe's MDC Sets Tough Conditions for Joining Unity Government

http://www.voanews.com

By Thomas Chiripasi & Blessing Zulu
Harare & Washington
14 November 2008

The dominant wing of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change on
Friday backed MDC founder and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai in
saying that the party would not join a proposed national unity government
unless the constitutional framework is put in place and ministerial
portfolios are equitably distributed.

The statement by the national council of Tsvangirai's MDC formation did not
lay emphasis on the key Home Affairs Ministry which has become a major bone
of contention in power-sharing talks between the MDC and the ZANU-PF party
of President Robert Mugabe. The ministry was the focus of a summit last
Sunday of the Southern African Development Community which recommended that
the MDC and ZANU-PF share control of the police ministry.

A statement issued by the MDC national council suggested that the main
impediment to the formation of a unity government was that a constitutional
amendment creating the offices of prime minister and deputy prime minister,
the latter to be filled by rival MDC leader Arthur Mutambara, has yet to be
passed by parliament and signed by Mr. Mugabe.

Another issue on the table distribution of the governorships of Zimbabwe's
10 provinces, two of which include metropolitan Harare, the capital, and
Bulawayo, the second city.

The MDC national council declared itself "desirous of achieving finality to
the current dispute given the economic meltdown and the massive suffering of
the people of Zimbabwe reflected in entrenched poverty, the collapse of
public health, education, transport, water and (the) energy crisis, monetary
policy dislocation and supersonic inflation."

But it reaffirmed statements by Tsvangirai and Secretary General Tendai Biti
rejecting SADC resolutions in recent days, in particular the resolution
issued by the Nov. 9 summit saying the government should be formed
immediately even in the absence of a constitutional foundation, and
recommending that MDC and ZANU-PF ministers share control of Home Affairs.

The statement argued that the Nov. 9 communique was "unprocedurally arrived
at" because Mr. Mugabe failed to recuse himself from SADC discussions. It
reproached his ZANU-PF for its "lack of sincerity" and failure to embrace
the "paradigm shift" in national politics.

While Mutambara backs Tsvangirai's claim to the Home Affairs Ministry, he
says this should not block urgent formation of a government capable of
addressing the country's deepening humanitarian crisis. Four million
Zimbabweans are now receiving food aid from the United Nations World Food
Program, a number expected to rise to five million in early 2009.

Harare correspondent Thomas Chiripasi of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
reported that Deputy President Thokozani Khupe of the Tsvangirai's MDC told
reporters in Harare following the national council meeting that her party
would not join the proposed government until all outstanding issues have
been addressed, including fair distribution of ministries.

Mutambara told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
Tsvangirai must consider the consequences for the people of failing to put a
government in place.

ZANU-PF Chief Parliamentary Whip Joram Gumbo called Tsvangirai's position
regrettable.


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MDC promises peaceful campaign against new govt

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Wayne Mafaro Saturday 15 November 2008

HARARE - Zimbabwe's opposition MDC said on Friday it will not join a unity
government with President Robert Mugabe's ruling party and promised to wage
a campaign of resistance against any new administration set up by the
veteran leader.

MDC vice-president Thokozani Khupe told journalists in Harare that it had
resolved not to join the unity government until all "unresolved issues"
regarding control of powerful ministerial posts, distribution of
gubernatorial posts, ambassadorships and other top government posts have
been concluded.

The MDC also wanted Zimbabwe's Constitution amended to give legal effect to
a September 15 power-sharing deal with Mugabe's ZANU PF party and a faction
of the opposition led by Arthur Mutambara before it could join the new
government.

But in a sign that Zimbabwe's long-stalled power-sharing deal may be all but
dead, Khupe, who spoke to journalist at the end of a meeting of the MDC's
top leadership, alleged that the opposition party had uncovered a plot to
murder its leaders.

"Neither Robert Mugabe nor ZANU PF has the legitimacy to form a government.
The SADC resolution does not bestow Mugabe with the right to form a
government," said Khupe, party chief in the absence of leader Morgan
Tsvangirai who was said to be away meeting regional leaders on Zimbabwe's
crisis.

"In the event that any illegitimate government is formed the MDC will not be
part to it. It will peacefully and constitutionally and democratically
mobilise and campaign against the illegitimate government," she said.

The MDC second-in-command did not elaborate about who was plotting to
assassinate its leaders only saying the party's "national council notes with
concern . . . the crafting of an assassination plot intended to eliminate
the leadership of the MDC."

The MDC's decision was widely expected after Tsvangirai told reports at the
end of summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders
earlier this week that his party would not abide by the region's ruling that
he joins a unity government with Mugabe.

The SADC leaders at an emergency summit in Johannesburg on Sunday ruled that
the Zimbabwean rivals form a power-sharing government "forthwith" to end a
debilitating political stalemate gripping the country since Mugabe's
controversial re-election last June.

The SADC, which brokered Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal, ruled that the MDC
and ZANU PF co-manage the ministry of home affairs, in charge of the police
and whose control had been a stumbling block to the formation of a unity
government.

Tsvangirai - who insists the MDC be given sole control of home affairs
because Mugabe will control the defence ministry - immediately rejected the
call to co-manage the portfolio with ZANU PF and said his party would not
join the unity government.

The Mutambara-led MDC has said it respects the SADC resolution to form a
unity government but indicated it may not participate in the government if
Tsvangirai stays out.

ZANU PF on Wednesday asked Mugabe to form an inclusive government and to
invite the opposition MDC to join in line with the SADC resolution.

Ruling party insiders say they expect Mugabe to leave slots open in Cabinet
hoping for a change of heart by the MDC but that he would eventually fill up
all positions and move ahead with running the country if the opposition
continued to refuse to join the government.

Such a step by Mugabe would effectively kill what had appeared an historic
power-sharing deal that would have seen the veteran President keep his job
while Tsvangirai became prime minister with Mutambara and Khupe appointed
deputy prime ministers.

Zimbabweans had hoped that a power-sharing government would help ease the
political situation and allow the country to focus on tackling an economic
crisis marked by the world's highest inflation rate of 231 million percent,
severe shortages of food and basic commodities. - ZimOnline


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Mugabe reduces Tsvangirai to Nkomo status

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7316

November 14, 2008

POLITICALLY Morgan Tsvangirai is now reduced to the same level Joshua Nkomo
was reduced to at the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987. Whatever power
Nkomo possessed diminished until at best he was a ceremonial vice president,
which is or was the grand plan of President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai was caught between proverbial rock and a hard place when he
signed that power- sharing deal. Distancing himself from it would have
proved what Mugabe had been saying all along that Tsvangirai was the problem
and not the solution to Zimbabwe's problems.

Tsvangirai had to sign that agreement in good faith for the good of
Zimbabwe. That I agree to. However the problem I have now is the calling for
fresh elections by the Tsvangirai camp. I hope I am not the only one who has
a problem with this as not too long ago Tsvangirai boycotted the run-off
election.

So what does he think will change now? What Tsvangirai needs to do is
distance himself from his 'advisors' who make him appear indecisive and
therefore lacking capability to change the course that Mugabe so stubbornly
insists on steering Zimbabwe along. He needs to stick to the 'master' plan
which I assume was to strip Mugabe of any credibility and eventually push
him out.

This almost happened in the March election and skeptics will most definitely
argue that 'almost doesn't count'. However, in this case it does as it
proves that it is possible and that given the right strategy Mugabe will go.
What Tsvangirai needs to do is to remain focused and 'stick to the plan' as
the economy will be the clincher.

God knows we need a change from this madness.

Charlotte Madondo


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Agreement and Constitution

Herewith relevant extracts from the Agreement and the National Constitution - readers may wish to refresh their memories and study more closely.

Agreement

Constitution


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Zim faces cholera catastrophe

http://www.iol.co.za

    November 15 2008 at 09:19AM

By Stanley Gama

Zimbabwe's capital could be in the throes of a full-blown cholera
epidemic within days. As political leaders fight a cat-and-mouse political
game, Harare's townships resemble war zones as scores perish from cholera.

Medical authorities fear the disease could engulf the capital within
days.

The government is trying to hide the truth, but it is believed that
more than 250 people have died so far.

The spread of the disease has been hastened by the country's economic
implosion. Township dwellers have not had running tap water in more than two
years. There are no chemicals to purify water. Sewer lines are in a state of
disrepair, and raw sewage flows across Harare township streets.

President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF politburo was stunned by a
report this week on the spread of the disease. Details of the report are a
closely guarded secret, but it's believed at least 10 people are dying of
cholera every day.

A doctor at a Harare hospital described the pandemic as "a disaster of
unimaginable proportions".

"People are dying like rats, yet propagandists in the government are
claiming that only 25 people have died. Patients come here every day, and
some of them die without receiving treatment because we don't have even
basic supplies like gloves.

"Patients are being referred to Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital
but hospital staff there have been overwhelmed, to the extent that patients
are sleeping outside on verandas, under trees and everywhere else they might
be able to get attention.

"It's a real scandal that people are dying of an avoidable and
treatable disease like cholera," said the doctor, who cannot be named as he
is not allowed to speak to the press.

Lovemore Munyaka, who had visited a sick relative at Beatrice
hospital, described the scenes at the institution as scandalous. "Every time
you come here you see relatives coming out of this hospital crying because
they will have lost a relative. At times it looks fictitious because people
are dying outside the hospital, on verandas, and in queues waiting to be
attended to.

"Whole families are being wiped out. People without the disease are
not being allowed in because they say it is highly contagious.

"What makes the situation worse is that patients are being forced to
buy their own drips, syringes and gloves. They also have to buy their own
medication," said Munyaka.

On Wednesday, the government newspaper, The Herald carried a picture
of a truck carrying dead bodies for mass burial.

Health Minister David Parirenyatwa refused to speak to the Saturday
Star on Friday.

Meanwhile, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change announced on
Friday night that any government formed by Mugabe next week would be
illegitimate unless all political parties involved in the September
power-sharing deal were involved.

Speaking at a press conference in Harare on Friday after the MDC's
national council meeting, the party's deputy president, Thokhozani Khupe,
said her party would not participate in a new government without the
Constitutional Amendment No 19, which legalises the power-sharing deal
signed between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations.

The constitutional amendment can be passed and effected into law only
if at least 140 members of parliament vote for it. Even if Mugabe goes ahead
and announces a cabinet, it will be impossible to legalise it because his
Zanu-PF party has less than 100 MPs.

The national council meeting met mainly to review the meeting convened
by the Southern African Development Community in Sandton last week, which
failed to resolve the impasse between Mugabe and MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai.

This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on
November 15, 2008


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Cries for help from Zimbabwe

 

“Half the admissions end up in the mortuary.” Doctors in Zimbabwe have sounded an alert that patients are dying unnecessarily because of lack of medical supplies. 

 

“There is no liquid paracetamol, no materials for dressings, no burn cream, no antiseptics, no drips, no surgical gloves, limited antibiotics.  All these are required and need to be purchased by family members that can barely afford to survive on a daily basis.  No sterile burn environment for burn victims, ward curtains are torn, windows are broken, sheets are worn, the food (when available) is supplied but without nourishment (over the last four weeks patients have been fed a small portion of sadza/rice with cabbage boiled in salt water).  Children that are malnourished are being sent home to die as the required protein formula is unavailable.  X-rays are unable as there is no film…there has been no food provided to patients for six days.  Those without families to provide food – go hungry!  Daily the nurses suffer heartache as they watch helplessly as patients, particularly, children, die unnecessarily!  Constant frustration of not being able to put their knowledge into practice due to the lack of medical supplies can only be disheartening….”

 

These are just some of the quotes of  recent  reports received by our mission.  One person writes of: “Deaths, infections, no food, no medicines, no anesthetic, no pain relief,…incredibly traumatic, infections rife and pain unbearable…”

 

“In the hospital we cannot feed the starving children, at least an home they can scrounge for things.  We only keep those that we see won’t make it at home.  We’ve lost the battle before we have fought it…”

 

“Malnutrition is a silent emergency that affects the young children and they die quietly.”

 

Doctors have reported children’s wards filled with tiny patients, their bodies swollen with oedema, lying deathly still.  A common sight is the oversized head and sparse hair, characteristic of kwashiorkor, a malnutrition which usually affects very young children.  One doctor reported kwashiorkor in an eight-year old boy: “that is highly unusual, it is mostly confined to two and three year olds.  That’s an indication of how serious the hunger is.”

 

A doctor in a mission hospital reported that their hospital lacked life-saving protein supplements, and were being forced to use diluted milk.  The children were meant to be fed six times a day, but they only had enough for once a day, and then nothing for the next five days. 

 

One doctor reported a mother dying in childbirth leaving her baby born HIV positive.  The grandmother refused to take the infant home as she could not feed it.  So the baby was left at the hospital.  In despair the doctor declared: “It’s starvation all over, starving, starving, starving!”

 

Since Marxist dictator Robert Mugabe, and his ZANU-PF party, unleashed a wave of destruction and confiscation upon the once productive white commercial farms, starvation was inevitable.  Having destroyed the productive agricultural economy of Zimbabwe, ZANU has achieved the highest unemployment (90%), the highest rate of inflation (231 million percent) and the lowest life expectancy (30 years) in the world today.  Approximately half of the total population of Zimbabwe have fled across the borders.

 

Educational Catastrophe

The national suicide, initiated by the destruction of the productive white farms, has not only led to the economic meltdown and medical crisis, but also an educational catastrophe.  Since January 2008 there has been a total of only 23 days of education for the 4.5 million students in Zimbabwe.  Now the government has cancelled the academic year completely, declaring that their will be no examinations this year.

 

City schools have been handicapped by water and power cuts.  One primary school has had no water for 5 years.  Boarders at hundreds of rural schools have been sent home because there was no food for them. 

 

When teachers went on strike they were attacked by ZANU-PF militia.  Numerous teachers were murdered and thousands were brutally beaten.  Schools were ransacked and used as torture centres.  Many teachers disappeared and others were too afraid to return.  Now that teachers have had their salaries doubled, to less than US$10 per month, they have barely enough to cover their bus fares and food for four days.  In some government schools, students have resorted to sawing up benches for wood. 

 

Zimbabwe’s four leading universities failed to open and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe explained that the university had no water, no electricity and no funds. 

 

Cases of cholera have broken out because of the very poor sewerage system and lack of adequate water supply.  “Our water supply is constantly being cut off.  You never know when it may come back again.  We keep water in every possible container.”

 

Some people in the capital city have reported power cuts lasting for weeks, once for up to 28 days at a time. 

 

The rains are due to start but there is no maize seed or fertilizer available.  5 million people face starvation in Zimbabwe.

 

One medical person writes: “Are we prepared to help fight the battle for our children to be able see in another season, or do we just walk away...?  I firmly believe that even if we make a difference to only one child’s life – we have made a difference!”

 

Serving the Suffering

In the light of the colossal humanitarian catastrophe occurring just north of our border in Zimbabwe, our mission is planning additional field trips to deliver life-saving supplies and medicines to doctors and nurses, pensioners and pastors, widows and orphans - who are praying for the desperately needed materials which we can deliver.  Of course, we cannot help everyone, but we can help some.  It is our earnest prayer that the Lord would use and multiply the inadequate supplies that we can provide as He used the loaves and fishes to feed the thousands.

 

If you have skills and resources which can enable us to serve the suffering in Zimbabwe, please do contact us: info@frontline.org.za

 

Yours for the fulfillment of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Dr. Peter Hammond, Director

Frontline Fellowship

P.O. Box 74

Newlands, 7725

Cape Town, South Africa

Tel: (021) 689-4480

Fax: (021) 685-5884

Email: admin@frontline.org.za

Website: www.frontline.org.za

 


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Zimbabwe police 'stealing' forex from travellers



By Mandisa Mundawarara
15 November 2008

Zimbabwe police are reported to be stopping people on their way to the
airport and taking foreign currency, cellphones and any other valuables in
their possession.

With an inflation rate of 13.2 billion and an economy that is now almost
completely based on the US dollar, Zimbabweans are struggling to survive.
Salaries are still being paid in local currency but shops and businesses are
no longer accepting Zimbabwe dollars as payment. The police appear to have
now taken it upon themselves to find a way of supplementing their salaries.

Our source, who was en-route to South Africa, and wishes to remain
anonymous, was on Saturday morning stopped at a roadblock manned by
uniformed police officers on the Airport Road. Apparently the roadblock had
been in place since about 5 am, and was specifically targeting taxis and
commuter omnibuses on their way to Harare airport.

People were being herded out of the vehicles and searched by the police. Any
foreign currency in their possession was taken, and because the man had very
little money is his wallet, which the police kept, his cellphone was also
taken. He reports that there were two foreigners in his group, a Malawian
and a Nigerian and they lost US$250.00 and ZAR300.00. No reasons were given
by the police for the seizures.

Passengers who raised objections to the thefts by the police were told to go
to Hatfield Police Station and lodge their complaints. As the passengers
were rushing to catch flights most chose not to go to the police station,
and proceeded on to the airport.

SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news


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Botswana issue Zimbabwe warning

http://www.nation.co.ke

By WENE OWINO, NATION CorrespondentPosted Saturday, November 15 2008 at
15:31

GABORONE

Botswana has said it will not recognise President Mugabe's Zimbabwe
government if the power-sharing crisis is not resolved within six months.

If it makes good its threat, Botswana will fail to recognise Mugabe for the
second time.

The Southern African country declined to recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe
president after two rounds of presidential elections in March and June
plunged Zimbabwe into crisis.

It only changed its position after the ruling ZANU-PF and Opposition MDC cut
a power-sharing deal that left Mugabe as president and MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister-designate.

The private daily, Mmegi reported on Friday that Botswana Foreign Affairs
minister, Mr Phandu Skelemani told Parliament that his country will "go back
to square one" if the ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC fail to reach a deal in
the next six months.

The power-sharing deal remains deadlocked after the two sides failed to
agree on how to share cabinet posts.

Elsewhere, Botswana MPs have expressed their displeasure with Mugabe and
said SADC should have told him to his face that he is an embarrassment to
the southern African region.

The MPs were reacting to a briefing about the recent SADC extra-ordinary
summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. They said that Botswana should
consider cutting diplomatic ties with Zimbabwe.


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AI-Senegal urges AU to take over Zimbabwe mediation

http://www.afriquenligne.fr

Dakar, Senegal - The Director of the Senegalese section of Amnesty
International, Mr Seydi Gassama, on Friday urged the African Union (AU) to
take over Zimbabwe's case, because the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) mediation "has reached its limits".

Mr Gassama was speaking in Dakar at the launch of an information campaign on
the human rights situation in Zimbabwe which runs until 20 November.

He said the mediation of SADC "has unfortunately reached its limit", and
called on Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to get involved in the case.

"We ask President Wade to get involved because we know that in the coming
days he is going to be engaged in this mediation," he said, adding that the
mediation should no longer be confined to SADC "which shares the same
history as (Zimbabwean President) Robert Mugabe".

Mr Gassama said President Wade, who is in another African sub-region "can
object ively play a role in that case" and asked African governments,
"inclined to say that Mugabe is the victim of a Western plot", to get
informed about the real situation prevailing in that country.

There is a "disinformation campaign by the regime which presents itself as a
victim of the West, a ploy which unfortunately works in many African
countries."

Mr Gassama said those who are being "tortured are not whites; these are
black Zimbabweans, like Mugabe, and most of them took part in the country's
liberation struggle, just like Mugabe".

He said the sensitization campaign the organization had launched, was simply
aimed at showing Senegalese public opinion that what was going on in
Zimbabwe was neither a decolonisation problem nor a conflict between Mugabe
and the whites who want to cling to colonial privileges.

According to Mr Gassama, Amnesty International sent missions to Zimbabwe and
neighbouring countries, but only of the late Zambian president, Levi
Mwanawassa, accepted to protest against the regime of Mugabe.

Dakar - 14/11/2008

Pana


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MDC unanimously rejected SADC decision

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7329

November 15, 2008

By Eddie Cross

I HAD two disturbing experiences this week. I visited the Head Office of the
Ministry of Education and then went to the Government Pensions office. I was
asking after the pension of a friend who had been retired for two years and
had not received his pension.

The Ministry of Education was a shock - there was no one at work. Floor
after floor was almost deserted.

"Where is the clerk who deals with Bulawayo?" I asked. "She is at the bank"
was the reply. Today I went back to find the office deserted except for a
solitary employee who told me they had not seen the clerk for several days -
did not know when she would be back at work, "try the pensions department"
she said.

I had 30 minutes before my next meeting so I went over to the building where
the pensions department was and again walked in on a department where out of
30 employees there were two in attendance - one the supervisor and the other
a data clerk. They told me they had 300 000 pensioners in their data base
and the supervisor told me without any reluctance that she earned Z$2
million a month - US$4.00 at today's exchange rate.

If this is representative of what is going on in government departments then
the situation is pretty dire. In a recent survey, people were asked if they
had tried to leave the country. A total of 53 per cent responded that they
had tried to leave Zimbabwe in the past year. Do you blame them? Today I was
told that all State hospitals in the capital had closed down and were not
accepting patients.

When I attended a Parliamentary caucus this week I told a fellow legislator
what I had seen in the government offices - he laughed and said, "we are a
dressed up Somalia". I thought that was very apt. Four hours later the
Parliament was closed for a month - there was no money for expenses and no
water in the building. The last time I looked, I was getting Z$50 000 a
month - enough to buy half a loaf of bread.

In my pigeon hole at Parliament was a glossy document - the annual report of
a State controlled institution. The lay out and contents were very
professional - it could easily be taken as an annual report for a big
company. However, when I studied the balance sheet and did some number
crunching, I found that the main customer of the organisation - another
State controlled institution, had not paid its bills for two years and
technically, the organisation was broke - even with money in the bank.

On Friday we finally gathered to hear what had transpired last Sunday at the
SADC summit in Johannesburg. It was both intriguing and disappointing - the
14 States had spent 12 hours debating two regional problems - the conflict
in the eastern Congo and the political crisis in Zimbabwe. In the end they
fudged both. Angola and Zimbabwe both offered troops - the Angolan offer is
unlikely to be taken up, as the Congo does not trust Angola (with good
reason). Our offer was an empty gesture unless Kabila or Angola was going to
pick up the tab of about US$1 million a day.

On Zimbabwe they fudged the whole issue, clearly supporting Zanu-PF and more
particularly, Mugabe. The final communiqué could not have been more
one-sided.

The MDC leadership spent the rest of the week talking to those SADC leaders
who are sympathetic to the MDC and have some democratic credentials. After
those consultations, our leadership met in Harare and finally today, we
called in our National Executive and Council.

After an all day meeting we finally resolved - unanimously, to reject the
SADC decision, reaffirm our commitment to the Global Agreement and clearly
stated what our conditions are for participation in any new inclusive
Government. Our demands are well known to all SADC States and to the
Secretariat in Gaborone. They are: -

We reject the agreement signed on September 15 in front of 23 Heads of State
and with great fanfare supervised by Mr. Mbeki as not representing the
actual agreement negotiated and signed on September 11 in Harare. We insist
that the new inclusive government be based on the original agreement and
that the way it is implemented also be in accord with the earlier version.

We demand the allocation of ministerial portfolios on the basis of equity
between Zanu PF and MDC. By no stretch of the imagination can the
Mugabe/Mbeki allocation be considered as anything but biased and partial.

We demand the recall of all 10 provincial governors, unilaterally appointed
by Mugabe in defiance of the MoU and the Global Agreement and the allocation
of these posts on the basis of the parliamentary majorities in each province
(5 MDC, 4 Zanu PF and 1 Mutambara).

We demand the appointment of all permanent secretaries and ambassadors on
the basis agreed in the original version of the Global Agreement.

We demand full prior agreement between the parties to the constitution and
membership of the National Security Council to which the armed forces and
security service are to be accountable to ensure they are not controlled and
directed on a partisan basis.

We demand full agreement by all parties to a draft version of Constitutional
Amendment Number 19 referred to in the Global Agreement and intended to give
full expression to the agreement in legal terms and on the basis of which it
will be implemented. The Draft Bill to be jointly proposed and supported by
all parties to the agreement when it comes to Parliament and is passed into
law.

Finally, we resolved that since it was obvious that neither Zanu-PF nor
Mugabe can be trusted to act in the interests of either the country or the
agreement, that all these conditions must be met in full and implemented in
clearly defined legal terms before we would participate in any inclusive
government. We further stated that we would not recognise any government
appointed by Zanu-PF in the interim and would continue to hold that no
Ministers currently in office have any legitimacy or legal standing and that
Mr. Mugabe can only become State President by agreement.

That is a big spanner in this particular works - we wait to see what the
region and the regime do in reaction. For the rest of us, it's 'vasbyt'.

The Zanu-PF propaganda machine is working overtime. "MDC agrees to join
inclusive government" was the headline this morning in State newspapers.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Zanu-PF thought that the SADC
decision would put us in an impossible situation with no real options. They
now know better. If they want to see Zimbabwe put back on the road to
recovery, if they want to get out of the hole they are in, then they have to
have our approval and participation. If not, they are going nowhere.


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After failed SADC summit, what next?

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7309

November 14, 2008
Tanonoka Whande

ZIMBABWEANS have suffered for very long.

And as they continue to suffer in their country, they see diplomats come and
go.

Zimbabweans continually witness the apparent immunity to evil surrounding
Africa and SADC's leaders.

While they cry out for help, justice and deserved acceptance into the
democratic family of nations, Zimbabweans helplessly watch as their votes
are rubbished by the same African brothers who declared that there would now
be 'African solutions to African problems'.

As people die and as children and the elderly starve, as our compatriots
with terminal illnesses look up to receive assistance from outsiders, they
find their own government standing between themselves and relief.

Zimbabweans see and find their own government causing them more harm than
they are already in. They cry out to their neighbours in the next house,
village and country but SADC and Africa can only hear Robert Mugabe's
condescending voice.

Mugabe wants more blood and he cries out to his fellow African presidents
who give him the political authority to draw more blood out of the dying
nation and its helpless citizens.

Conversely, as all animals respond to the chilling midnight laughter of the
hyena, SADC and Africa retreat and do not carry out their responsibilities
and mandates in the region when Mugabe stalks the veldt. They look the other
way as the cries of Zimbabweans pierce the African landscape.

Yet SADC and Africa know and can tame the predator.

Oh, yes, African leaders have a keen sense of hearing. They hear giggles and
whispers from faraway Europe; but the screams and yells of agony from right
here in Africa elude them.

Yes, this thing called SADC is not African. It is sinister. It is organized
irresponsibility.

Just who is SADC? Who is behind SADC? Who determines SADC's policies? What
is SADC?

How are SADC policies reached at and who is in attendance when these
"policies" are formulated? Are any Africans in attendance then? Why do they
waste time formulating policies that they themselves do not bother to uphold
or enforce?

So, after the shameful display of political inadequacy and collective
irresponsibility by SADC's heads of state in South Africa a few days ago, I
had no choice but to believe that SADC and the rest of Africa are
fatalistically jealous of the nation of Zimbabwe.

I reached this conclusion after trying and failing to understand how SADC
leaders could seriously reach a decision that literally confirmed Mugabe as
leader at the expense of one who won elections.

That agreement recognises Mugabe as president yet Mugabe, with SADC's
backing, refuses to respect the very document that gives him legitimacy.

But no problem there; this is Africa. SADC just overrode the document that
they themselves played midwife to and gave Mugabe legitimacy. Remember that
Mugabe was not even supposed to be in that summit hall because SADC was
supposedly deliberating on his political fate. His presence there was like a
convicted murderer entering court to pass judgment on himself.

However, in spite of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe is a beautiful country with
beautiful people.

We used to go toe to toe with South Africa as evidenced by the number of
international organizations, businesses and non-governmental organizations
that headquartered themselves in Zimbabwe. Even at the height of our misery
and during Mugabe's irresponsible and murderous rule, Interpol, the
International Police, got busy building their regional headquarters in
Zimbabwe.

I am dismayed when I view footage of ZANU-PF thugs chasing MDC supporters
with machetes, logs and axes as they broke up an MDC rally during the
elections earlier this year.

What amuses me is that you can see MDC supporters, in flight from machete
wielding ZANU-PF militias, dashing past and disappearing behind the Interpol
Regional Headquarters whose construction is now almost complete.

Rhodesia managed to manufacture and export goods to Europe, the Americas and
Australia while it was under real economic sanctions.

It is a tribute to Zimbabweans that Ian Smith could achieve such a feat.

And today, with our currency virtually non-existent, we still provide
booming business to Botswana, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and
even Namibia, Angola and DR Congo.

Underpaid, abused and taken advantage of wherever they are, Zimbabweans
soldier on.

Because of lack of proper immigration documents and mere exploitation, our
qualified teachers are tending cattle in Botswana, our nurses are maids in
South Africa, our engineers are messengers and our pharmacists are cleaners
in many countries.

Robert Mugabe, the man who causes this brain drain, insults our
professionals by saying that they left unemployment in Zimbabwe to go and
wipe white people's behinds in the nursing homes of Britain and Australia.

They did not; but even if they did, there is nothing wrong with that.

A properly paid maid in Botswana can pay Mugabe's salary in Zimbabwe
dollars.

SADC never spent an hour figuring out how Zimbabweans can be saved from
Robert Mugabe.

I watched President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa surrendering without
even throwing a punch.

African solutions to African problems? No, Sir!

SADC leaders came down firmly on the side of Mugabe, a man Zimbabweans
rejected at the polls. Because they are comrades they stick together and
African citizens be damned!

Over the years, Mugabe has abused us. Since independence, Mugabe has killed
our citizens. We have known no other leader apart from this heartless man.
SADC leaders did not care to help us. Instead they ganged up on us.

Africa is a disgrace and SADC is worse, as is being confirmed by Somalia,
Darfur, Zimbabwe and DR Congo. There are no African solutions to African
problems.

How could SADC collectively stand with Mugabe at the expense of the long
abused people of Zimbabwe?

Please, where is COSATU?

COSATU derives its strength from the people, from the workers. And people
and workers are the same everywhere. COSATU must apply some pressure on
their government. I don't care much about South African president Kgalema
Motlanthe.

He is ambitious too and will not give Jacob Zuma the presidency on a
platter.

Motlanthe has his own supporters who are taunting him on why he should later
settle for Number Three, Four, Five or Six when he is Number One right now -
something Jacob Zuma never achieved. So, Motlanthe has already started
campaigning for himself. Zimbabwe is really not his priority.

Be that as it may, Zimbabwe's biggest product is its people, whose
resilience has yet to be matched by any other nation. Zimbabwe has a good
educated population that spends well when times are right and Zimbabwe has
one of the most literate labour forces in the world and, certainly, the most
literate in Africa. That alone is an investor's dream; that is why many
countries are standing by to invest in Zimbabwe.

They'd rather wait than invest elsewhere and that can't possibly be pleasing
to some struggling African countries, can it?

Africa is jealous of Zimbabwe.

Kofi Annan's poisonous political concoction in Kenya is destroying democracy
in Africa.

Zimbabweans have given Mugabe and SADC all the necessary time, but Mugabe
and SADC have shown nothing but contempt.


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Tension sets in



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1047

National Report

Ray Matikinye and Njabulo Ncube Staff Reporters

As police, protestors clash in urban areas

TENSION is rising in major towns and cities after the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) declined to participate in a unified government with
riot police being deployed on the streets to thwart planned demonstrations
over the looming collapse of the September 15 power-sharing agreement.

On Tuesday, police battled protesters in central Harare demanding the
establishment of a transitional authority to run government as advocated by
civic organisations while in Bulawayo police assaulted demonstrators
marching to the main government complex at Mhlahlandhela, on the outskirts
of the city.

But the National Constitutional Assembly, which has been leading calls for a
transitional authority while a new constitution is being worked on,
announced this week it would roll out a sustained series of similar protests
every Tuesday until its demands were met.

The situation in most major cities and towns across the country has remained
tense after the weekend talks in Sandton, South Africa, failed to resolve
the country's political crisis.

Police fear the winding queues at the banks of desperate people struggling
to withdraw cash provide a ready catchment area for those pushing for mass
protests.

Tsvangirai has declined President Robert Mugabe's offer to participate in an
all-inclusive arrangement after a summit of Southern African Development
Community (SADC) heads of state and government ignored his party's
suggestions in allotting ministries and ruled the contentious Home Affairs
Ministry be co-managed.

Despite Tsvangirai's refusal, President Mugabe said he would go ahead to
announce his Cabinet.

Presidential spokesman, George Charamba, said yesterday a government would
be formed with or without Tsvangirai.

"As far as we are concerned government will be formed with or without
Tsvangirai at the end of this week or early next week. There is a country to
be run and services to be provided and we can't wait for people who are
undecided about what to do," said Charamba.

The Zimbabwean leader is however, in a dilemma after Arthur Mutambara,
leader of the smaller faction of the MDC said his party can only join
ZANU-PF in government if the MDC-T agrees to come along.

Yesterday, ZANU-PF's politburo galvanized its leader to implement the SADC
resolution.

The politburo, the decision-making organ of ZANU-PF, met in Harare and
resolved that President Mugabe should "with immediate effect proceed to form
an inclusive government in full compliance with the SADC extraordinary
summit decision".

Tsvangirai's National Executive Council is also expected to meet tomorrow to
discuss SADC's prescription amid revelations MDC supporters are putting
pressure on their leadership to abandon the power-sharing agreement.

MDC-T insiders said the former trade unionist has been at pains to explain
to party supporters that it would be a monumental blunder to pull-out of the
talks as this would be misconstrued by regional leaders and would give
ZANU-PF ammunition to lash-out at the MDC supporters.

The MDC leader has indicated however, that he would take up the dispute with
the African Union (AU) and eventually with the United Nations.

Analysts have however, ruled out Tsvangirai's chances of succeeding at the
AU level.

Priscilla Misihairabwi, the deputy secretary of the MDC formation led by
Mutambara echoed the same sentiments yesterday.

She said: "The AU delegated the responsibility of dealing with the
Zimbabwean issue to the region. I don't see any other route that our
colleagues (MDC-T) can take to put (across) their case".

Tsvangirai this week argued that his dispute with President Mugabe was more
about equitable sharing of power rather than just about who controls the
Home Affairs portfolio.

"Home affairs is not the only issue . . . the issue is about equitable
power-sharing, it is about giving the responsibility to the party that won
an election and has compromised its position to share a government with a
party that lost," he said.

The MDC leader said failure of the SADC summit to acknowledge the only fair
and rational solution with regard to equitable power sharing, places the
Zimbabwean people in a quandary.

"The needless suffering being experienced by millions of Zimbabweans every
day is unprecedented in our country's history," he said. "It is precisely
because of this that we cannot accept any arrangement that does not allow
the MDC to effectively contribute to ending this suffering," Tsvangirai told
SADC leaders.

President Mugabe told regional leaders in South Africa it would be unsafe to
cede the Home Affairs Ministry to the MDC, citing allegations the party was
training bandits in Botswana to destabilise Zimbabwe, charges both Gaborone
and the MDC-T have denied.

Botswana has told SADC leaders there were free to make inspection in that
country.

If President Mugabe goes ahead and names a cabinet as he promised he will
have to contend with 16 vacant ministerial portfolios, which were allotted
to the two MDCs under the September 15 agreement and will have to find ways
to plug that hole.

Charamba however, said those ministries that had been allocated to the MDCs,
incumbent ministers would hold those portfolios until the appointees from
the other parties are ready to join.

If Tsvangirai sticks to his guns and refuses to participate, analysts said
he risks blemishing his political stature in the eyes of the regional body
whose decisions he has rebuffed.

The MDC formation led by Mutambara has already taken a position that it will
not participate in a government without their colleagues in the other
formation.

"We have already taken a position that we cannot participate without our
colleagues in line with the SADC communiqué. We will go along with the
provisions in that document as we are bound by it," Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Misihairabwi said President Mugabe cannot name a cabinet because "the SADC
communiqué was quite prescriptive".

SADC prescribed that the inclusive government be formed forthwith with the
Ministry of Home Affairs being co-managed between the ZANU-PF and MDC-T. It
said the efficacy of co-managing the Ministry should be reviewed after six
months by the parties with the assistance of the guarantors, SADC, AU and
the facilitator, Thabo Mbeki.

To give effect to these decisions and the provisions of the global political
agreement, the parties must, without any further delay, introduce the
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Number 19, it said.

Both President Mugabe and Tsvangirai are saddled with a worrisome dilemma as
pressure for the formation of a cabinet that would deal with a deteriorating
economic crisis mounts.

"Home affairs is not the only issue . . . the issue is about equitable
power-sharing, it is about giving the responsibility to the party that won
an election and has compromised its position to share a government with a
party that lost," he said.

The MDC leader said failure of the SADC summit to acknowledge the only fair
and rational solution with regard to equitable power sharing, places the
Zimbabwean people in a quandary.

"The needless suffering being experienced by millions of Zimbabweans every
day is unprecedented in our country's history," he said. "It is precisely
because of this that we cannot accept any arrangement that does not allow
the MDC to effectively contribute to ending this suffering," Tsvangirai told
SADC leaders.

President Mugabe told regional leaders in South Africa it would be unsafe to
cede the Home Affairs Ministry to the MDC, citing allegations the party was
training bandits in Botswana to destabilise Zimbabwe, charges both Gaborone
and the MDC-T have denied.

Botswana has told SADC leaders they were free to make inspections in that
country.

If President Mugabe goes ahead and names a cabinet as he promised he will
have to contend with 16 vacant ministerial portfolios, which were allotted
to the two MDCs under the September 15 agreement and will have to find ways
to plug that hole. Charamba however, said those ministries that had been
allocated to the MDCs, incumbent ministers would hold those portfolios until
the appointees from the other parties are ready to join in.

If Tsvangirai sticks to his guns and refuses to participate, analysts said
he risks blemishing his political stature in the eyes of the regional body
whose decisions he has rebuffed.

The MDC formation led by Mutambara has already taken a position that it will
not participate in a government without their colleagues in the other
formation.

"We have already taken a position that we cannot participate without our
colleagues in line with the SADC communiqué. We will go along with the
provisions in that document as we are bound by it," said
Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Misihairabwi said President Mugabe cannot name a cabinet because "the SADC
communiqué was quite prescriptive".

SADC prescribed that the inclusive government be formed forthwith with the
Ministry of Home Affairs being co-managed between ZANU-PF and MDC-T.


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Sparks to fly at annual ZANU-PF Congress



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

National Report

Staff Reporter

FIREWORKS are expected at the ZANU-PF annual people's conference next month
as it emerged that there is a strong push from reform-minded party officials
to bring up for discussion the delicate succession issue.

In the past, the ZANU-PF top brass has kept a tight lid on the divisive
succession issue but of late the party's leadership has been warming up to
the topic as the young Turks begin to assert authority more and more.

While the succession issue is not part of the conference agenda, which is
still to be finalised, there have been muffled voices pushing for the
party's renewal following its poor showing at the March 29 synchronised
polls.

At the polls, ZANU-PF lost its majority in the lower house to the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) for the first time since the country gained
independence from Britain in 1980.

The party's reluctance to tackle the succession issue became one of the
reasons cited by former finance minister, Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa,
former ZANU-PF politburo member, for their defection from the party to
spearhead the Dawn/Kusile/Mavambo project ahead of the March elections.

ZANU-PF insiders said the discord during the party's restructuring in some
provinces might be a taste of what could be in store for the party's old
guard at the conference scheduled to run from December 10 to 14 in the
mining and farming town of Bindura.

"The tone of the debates at this year's conference might choke those who
thought the event was all about feasting," said a ZANU-PF source, privy to
the shenanigans ahead of the conference. "The gloves are off and there is no
going back on the succession issue," he added.

He was referring to lavish feasting associated with the party's gatherings.
So far, the conference's organising committee has lined up 124 cattle, 81
goats and 18 pigs for slaughter.

About 5,000 delegates will attend the conference to be held at the Bindura
University of Science Education.

After ZANU-PF's defeat in March, reform-minded members were said to have
openly told their leadership at one of the party's politburo meetings in
April that the rejuvenation of the revolutionary party was long overdue.

It was said then that President Mugabe hinted he would pass on the baton in
two years if he was to win the run-off, later to be boycotted by MDC leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai.

But since then, a series of events have occurred on the political front that
might force the veteran Zimbabwean leader to rethink. ZANU-PF is now locked
in a complex dispute with the MDC over a power-sharing agreement signed on
September 15.

The jostling to succeed President Mugabe has remained split between Vice
President Joice Mujuru, backed by his powerful husband and retired army
general, Solomon Mujuru, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Rural Housing Minister.

After suffering a temporary setback in 2004 when his ambition to fill in the
gap left after the death of Vice President Simon Muzenda, Mnangagwa has
bounced back strongly, buttressing his rising star with his backing of
President Mugabe's June 27 re-election bid.

But party insiders said four weeks is too long a time in the life of a
politician, hinting the Mujuru camp still enjoys tremendous support in the
provinces, which can swing the tide in its favour.

The Mujuru camp is likely to be vicious at the conference in the wake of
what appears to be the purging of ZANU-PF officials linked to it namely Ray
Kaukonde, Ephraim Masawi, Tinaye Chigudu and Willard Chiwewe who were
sidelined as governors for Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Manicaland
and Masvi-ngo respectively.

But whoever is to succeed President Mugabe will need the backing of the
veteran nationalist who is yet to speak out openly on his retirement.

Depending on how President Mugabe manages the succession issue, ZANU-PF
might struggle to recover the lost ground due to internecine infighting.

The government-run Herald last month quoted Masawi, the ZANU-PF deputy
secretary for information and publicity, urging delegates to view the
conference more seriously, saying it was imperative for the party to be more
united than before.


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Bank workers demand forex



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

National Report

Shame Makoshori, Senior Reporter

EMPLOYEES in the financial services sector piled pressure on their employers
this week to pay November salaries in hard currency amid fears that they may
down tools at a time when the sector is virtually under siege from clients
who are unable to access cash.

The Financial Gazette is reliably informed that after intense negotiations,
the Zimbabwe Bank Workers Union (ZIBAWU) and the Bankers Association of
Zimbabwe (BAZ) are deadlocked over the issue.

Negotiators from ZIBAWU and BAZ are expected to meet in Harare today to try
and break the deadlock.

Failure to break the impasse could force the two parties to refer the
dispute for arbitration.

While the bank workers might have a strong morale argument, given that most
goods and services are now retailing in foreign currency, they may fail to
convince an arbitrator because the country's laws criminalise the use of
foreign currency as legal tender.

Only a few companies, licensed by the central bank, are allowed to sell
their goods in foreign currency.

Sources said the bank workers, about 7,000 of them, are demanding not less
than US$ 1,200 per month, a similar amount that teachers are demanding from
government.

BAZ chairman, John Mangudya, said while the negotiations were underway, it
was not possible for banks to pay workers in foreign currency because "all
our earnings are in local currency".

ZIBAWU has however, vowed it will only relent if the BAZ agreed to pay part
of their salaries in foreign currency and the remainder in Zimbabwean
dollars.

"We have a basket of goods in United States dollar terms that we are using,"
a source close to the negotiations said. "The basket cost US$ 300. Assuming
BAZ rejects to pay full salaries in foreign currency then why not just give
us that US$ 300 and we will accept the rest in local currency. Whichever
way, unless we are given the US dollar value of the basket or the actual
hard currency there will be no harmony in the industry," the source added.

Last month, most bank employees took home between $ 15 million and $ 20
million, not enough to buy a single US dollar using the cheque rate. This
has riled ZIBAWU, which claimed this week that the sector has lost more than
3,000 workers to greener pastures in the past 12 months.

ZIBAWU is arguing that the banking industry is discriminating workers by
paying for most of its commitments in foreign currency while denying workers
the same.

But BAZ has previously told workers that banks were charging for services in
the local currency and so it was unviable to pay them in foreign currency.


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Dollarisation puts patients' lives at risk



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

National Report

Synodia Bhasera, Staff Reporter

THE dollarisation of medical services has put the lives of hundreds of
thousands of Zimbabweans in danger as service providers now insist on
payment in hard currency to hedge themselves against soaring inflation.

General practitioners are now charging at least US$ 10 in consultation fees
while specialist surgeons charge double that amount.

Some private maternity hospitals are reportedly demanding US$ 500 or more in
registration fees while gynaecologists have pegged their fees at US$ 400 for
a normal delivery and US$ 500 for caesarean birth.

Zimbabwe, once a shining example of better health delivery in Africa in the
1980s and 1990s, had its health sector down-graded by the World Health
Organisation to one of the worst in the world in 2001.

It even performed worse than other southern African countries such as the
strife-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and
Zambia.

Many Zimbabweans are dying in their homes because they cannot afford the
astronomical health costs.

Some patience, particularly those on HIV treatment, are abandoning the
prohibitive antiretroviral drugs in favour of traditional herbs, such as
Gundamiti.

Some have been ripped off by false prophets who are taking advantage of the
desperate situation in the health sector by battering their livestock.

Douglas Gwatidzo, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights,
said the health sector does not operate in a vacuum and therefore was merely
responding to the adverse economic conditions prevailing in the country,
which have made the local currency worthless.

"For us to continue using the Zimbabwe currency is not viable. Like any
other industry, our services should be based on the stable currency.

"We don't exist in isolation. We are subjected to the same rules and
regulations of the country. We are left with no choice but to respond in a
way that allows us to continue to deliver."

The dollarisation of the economy has left the majority of the rural and
urban poor in a quandary.

Hundreds of renal patients will now have to seek treatment outside the
country because of machine breakdowns and the prohibitive costs.

For example, CIMAS - one of the country's leading medical aid societies -
has hiked charges from US$ 40 to US$ 200 per treatment session at its Harare
Haemodialysis Centre.

As if that was not enough, more than 50 new dialysis machines donated to the
state by the Swedish government four years ago have been lying idle in
storage rooms after the two parties could not agree on how they would be
serviced.

The Zimbabwean government said it does not have the expertise to maintain
the machines nor the foreign currency to buy spares at a time when private
health insurance providers have increased premiums five fold.

A renal patient should have at least three treatment sessions a week, but
due to the harsh economic environment, most patients now opt for two
sessions a week while some are having only one owing to increased costs.

The privately owned Harare Haemodialysis Centre is the only one functioning
in the city.

The few haemodialysis machines that once worked at Parirenyatwa Hospital and
Harare Central Hospital reportedly broke down some time ago.

Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, said government
was revamping machines at Parirenyatwa.

"I am aware that our renal patients are being short-changed.

"We are revamping machines at Parirenyatwa hospital for a start," he said.

Nephrologist, Chiratidzo Ndlovu, said there was no other medication for
kidney failure beside transplant and dialysis.

"Renal patients need transplant or dialysis, there is no any other treatment
beside the two," she said.

The high costs jeopardises the lives of renal patients as consumables for
toxic removal are all imported.

Dialysis chemical solution, which can be manufactured locally, costs US$ 71
at a local chemical and drug manufacturing company.

The chemical removes waste products and excess fluid from the blood stream
while at the same time maintaining a proper chemical balance of the blood.

Doctors said dialysis was extremely expensive and on average, medical costs
for a dialysis patient were five times higher than for an average patient.


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Nation's future remains in limbo



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

National Report

Njabulo Ncube, Political Editor

Experts say AU verdict unlikely to be different from SADC proposition

AFTER Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional leaders backed
President Robert Mugabe's plan for the Home Affairs Ministry, courting the
ire of Morgan Tsvangirai, who has hinted at taking up the issue with the
Africa Union (AU), analysts doubt that the continental body can reverse the
stance taken by the 15-member regional grouping.

Analysts who spoke to The Financial Gazette noted that the AU had
historically endorsed the decisions of SADC and other regional groupings
wherever there were conflicts.

They said it would be a departure from the norm if the AU was to reverse the
decision of SADC regional leaders to impress on President Mugabe to handover
the Home Affairs Ministry to the larger faction of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), led by Tsvangirai.

SADC held more than 12 hours of closed-door talks on Sunday but failed to
find common ground between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

The two rivals signed a power-sharing deal on September 15, calling for
President Mugabe to remain as president while Tsvangirai becomes Prime
Minister.

But they have failed to agree on key cabinet posts, especially the Home
Affairs Ministry, which runs the police.

The summit recommended that the rivals run Home Affairs jointly - a proposal
that Tsvangirai swiftly rejected, saying he was "shocked and saddened" by
the summit's failure to take a stronger stand.

In addition, the SADC leadership stated that Constitutional Amendment 19,
which would provide the legal framework for the agreement, should be drafted
as soon as possible, but only after the new government has been formed.

Tsvangirai accused SADC of lacking "the courage and the decency to look Mr
Mugabe in the eye and tell him that his position was wrong."

Despite Tsvangirai's refusal to accept SADC's proposal, the summit insisted
that the unity government should be formed immediately.

"There is a very slim chance the AU can overturn the SADC decision," said
Eldred Masunungure, a professor of political science at the University of
Zimbabwe.

"SADC as far as it is concerned has finalised the matter. Unfortunately,
Tsvangirai has no option but to play along because if he refuses to join the
government, he risks being seen as another Jonas Savimbi in the making and
life will be very hard for him and MDC-T," said Masunungure.

Savimbi led UNITA, an anti-communist rebel group that fought against the
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in a civil war until his death
in a clash with government troops in 2002.

Useni Sibanda, the national coordinator of Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe,
said taking the issue to the AU could be another way for the MDC-T to
continue piling pressure on President Mugabe.

Sibanda, however, doubted the AU would have influence over the SADC leaders
to rescind their resolution to have the Home Affairs Ministry co-ministered.

"It's the best thing to do. But the AU has limitations in that rarely does
it differ with SADC or other regional bodies. One thing which is abundantly
clear is that SADC has failed to fairly deal with the Zimbabwe crisis," said
Sibanda.

"It's up to the AU to be seen to be firm on the issue. If SADC has erred, it
is up to the AU to correct the mistake but I don't see it doing that," he
said.

Masunungure added that Tsvangirai had been put in a tight corner by the SADC
summit resolution.

"ZANU-PF and MDC Mutambara are celebrating. I see Mugabe going full steam to
form a cabinet but I am not sure if Tsvangirai lost the war. He might have
lost the battle in South Africa and not the war," said Masunungure.

Sibanda said the worst-case scenario would be the staging of fresh
presidential elections in early 2009.

"These elections should be under the supervision of the AU and the United
Nations. The Zimbabwean crisis remains unresolved, there is a real danger
that the country will degenerate into another DRC (Democratic Republic of
Congo)," he said.

President Mugabe told reporters when he left South Africa he was preparing
to form a government "soon."

"The AU is not going to be more powerful and able to resolve something that
SADC is not able to do," said Dirk Kotze of the University of South Africa.

President Mugabe regularly accuses Tsvangirai of acting as a stooge for
western countries, making it politically difficult for him to appeal to the
United Nations to step in.

Some analysts said that Tsvangirai should simply accept the deal as the best
offer he was likely to receive.

"The MDC has very few options, if any. It really has no choice but to
participate under protest, in the larger interest of the nation," said
Masunungure.

SADC is deeply divided over Zimbabwe, and only five of bloc's leaders -
including President Mugabe - showed for the summit.

Neighbouring Botswana has called for a rerun of Zimbabwe's elections under
international supervision.

But other SADC countries like Swaziland - Africa's last absolute monarchy -
don't practice democracy themselves, or have their own political troubles at
home.

Political analysts, Charles Mangongera said SADC's failure to resolve the
crisis would only worsen Zimbabwe's economic crisis, with inflation last
estimated at 231 million percent and half the population needing emergency
food aid.

"The majority of Zimbabweans would suffer because the politicians have
failed to reach an agreement on how to share power," he said.

Tsvangirai has rejected the SADC summit proposal, describing it as
unworkable.

He said in a statement to the media this week the MDC was shocked and
saddened that the SADC Summit had failed to tackle key issues.

"Firstly, is the principle of equity and fairness. It is the MDC's position
that any coalition or cooperative government has to be based on genuine
power sharing of portfolio allocations. In this regard, we had proposed a
formula, which seeks to pair various ministries on the basis of relative
parity. Thus, in our view, to the extent that ZANU-PF had allocated itself
the portfolios of defence and state security, it only made sense that the
Ministry of Home Affairs should go to the MDC," said Tsvangirai.

"Secondly, we had also made it clear that the issue of the enactment of
Constitutional Amendment 19 was a precondition to the formation of any new
government. More importantly, the offices being created in the global
political agreement, such as that of the Prime Minister, could only come
into being with Constitutional Amendment 19.

"Events after the 15th September 2008, in respect of which serious lack of
sincerity has been displayed by ZANU-PF, demonstrated quite clearly that one
could not proceed on the basis of good faith in a government not grounded on
a legal foundation. Thus the question of Constitutional Amendment 19 cannot
be postponed, as it is not a question of procedure but rather an issue of
substance. Furthermore, in a political environment such as ours, poisoned by
lack of a paradigm shift by ZANU PF, lack of sincerity and utter contempt
towards the MDC and the wishes of the people, quite clearly the concept of
co-ministering cannot work," he said.

Tsvangirai questioned the rationality of proposing a co-ministry only in
relation to the Home Affairs portfolio "in total oblivion to Defence and
State Security, which ZANU-PF already holds."

Tsvangirai said it was the MDC view that a great opportunity has been missed
by SADC to bring an end to the Zimbabwean crisis.

"This omission has occurred because SADC approached this summit without any
concrete strategy and did not have the courage and the decency of looking
Mugabe in the eyes and telling him that his position was wrong," he said.

Mangongera said by endorsing the co-sharing of the Home Affairs Ministry,
SADC had tacitly backed President Mugabe.

"For SADC to come up with such a position where they endorse what was
suggested by ZANU-PF ... is disappointing," he said. "What SADC has done
will make people question its capacity to deal with regional crises."

Sydney Musamva of the International Crisis Group said the summit had
highlighted the reluctance of African leaders to pressure President Mugabe,
who is still considered a liberation hero.

"The bottom line (that the summit demonstrated) was to show the
powerlessness of SADC in really leaning on Mugabe," he said.

"Mugabe got what he wanted from SADC. His first prize was to get endorsement
from SADC to go ahead to form a government and he got it," Musamva added.

Fernando Macedo, an Angolan political analyst said most of the SADC leaders
were worse than the leadership in Harare and therefore lacked the authority
to censure Harare.

"SADC is made up of a group of leaders that are friends of President Mugabe.
Many of them have been in power for a long time and do not respect
democratic decisions," said Macedo.

Although regional leaders had given an impression before the summit that
they would adopt a hard stance and apply pressure on the three parties they
balked at forcing the ZANU-PF leader to change his position.

"Mugabe will not listen to anybody at this stage because he is resigned to
fate. He knows nothing will change about the economy even if he continues to
hang onto power because it has already gone down," said Lusaka economist and
political analyst Chibamba Kanyama.

"There was so much hope that there would be change in Zimbabwe and donors
had begun to reposition themselves to bail-out the country, but now
President Mugabe realises that the bail-out will not come quickly because of
the global financial crisis and as such he will hang onto power."

Kanyama said Zimbabweans can expect more of the same - talk of a unity
government, new accusations and counter-accusations, calls for SADC
intervention - while President Mugabe keeps the upper hand.

The United States on Monday said it is "very disappointed by the outcome of
the discussions on Zimbabwe at the SADC summit" in Johannesburg.

State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that a proposal
to co-manage the Home Affairs ministry adopted at the summit only served to
reinforce President Mugabe's grip on power.

"This proposal that was put forth to share the home affairs ministry, to us,
is just another example of the President Mugabe's attempt to subvert the
will of the Zimbabwean people," Wood said.

"This is supposed to be power sharing. This example of trying to share the
home affairs ministry ... doesn't reflect the will of what the Zimbabweans
voted for.

"What we want to see is true, substantive power-sharing negotiations so that
they can agree on a cabinet so that Zimbabweans can feel they have a
 future," Wood added.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed similar disappointment.

"We are disappointed that the SADC meeting hasn't been able to resolve the
deadlock over ministries," Brown's official spokesman said.

"The international community is quite clear that it expects an equitable
agreement on the allocation of ministries between ZANU-PF and the MDC," the
spokesman told reporters.


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Beware the charging bull!



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

National Report

Ray Matikinye, News Editor

. . . as ZAPU revival bid gathers pace

IF you walked around putting on a furry animal skin hat, not many people
would bother to ask who your hatter is. In the sixties, a furry hat was
considered party regalia and symbolised resistance to colonial rule. Furry
hats are now out of political season.

But wear a T-shirt with a charging black bull, with the words: "Lafa elihle"
(It died with all its good attributes) printed on the back and heads will
turn as people wonder with the unmistakable look of curiosity who your
clothier is.

The charging bull is about to cause a stir once again like a Phoenix rising
from the ashes.

And with it, political temperatures are bound to rise if they have not done
so already.

The Unity Accord signed between PF-ZAPU and ZANU-PF two decades ago appears
to be in danger because of discontent from adherents of the party led by the
late Father Zimbabwe and Vice President Joshua Nkomo.

ZAPU revivalists pro-tests the 1987 merger brought about political
disequilibrium in favour of ZANU-PF led by President Robert Mugabe and
little benefits to Matabeleland where the party drew the bulk of its
erstwhile support.

Attempts by Agrippa Ndlela and Paul Siwela to revive ZAPU over the years
floundered owing to incessant disagreements over policies to retail
federalist policies to a cynic electorate.

ZAPU revivalists say the Unity Accord has favoured former independence war
fighters and politicians in the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
(ZANLA) than their Zim-babwe People's Revolu-tionary Army (ZIPRA)
counterparts, although both contributed to the liberation of Zimbabwe from
colonial rule.

President Mugabe, commentators say, is facing new challenges in holding
together a political monolith that has dominated politics in
post-independent Zimbabwe since 1980.

"That unity arrangement is dead and irrelevant," says Femias Chaka-buda,
chairman of Zim-babwe Liberation Plat-form - a political formation of bush
war fighters championing democratic practices and modernist ideology of
tolerance in pursuit of nation building.

The looming schism, underpinned by a further splintering in the Zimbabwe
National Libe-ration War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) led by Jabulani
Sibanda into two groups ahead of ZANU-PF's annual conference in Bindura next
month bodes badly for the accord and the party itself, which is still
battling to deal with intra-party divisions over succession.

"We tried to forewarn our colleagues from ZIPRA when they celebrated the
Unity Accord that they would be in for a rude awakening with the passage of
time but they did not listen. They have belatedly seen the light," Chakabuda
said.

Ray Ncube, a retired army colonel now interim chairman of the Organi-sation
of ZIPRA Veterans spearheading the revival, symbolises bitterness among
members of the splinter group.

"If you want to see a poor veteran, just look around for a former ZIPRA
soldier. He has no land, no formal job, and no money to fend for their
families. To see a former battalion commander, who sacrificed his life to
liberate his country, sustained lifetime injuries during that war, living in
abject poverty is painful. You ask yourself why we went to war in the first
place.

"The main reason we have broken away from ZNLWVA is that our membership of
that organisation has not helped," Ncube said.

John Gazi, the interim secretary of the veterans' group, said another
grievance, was the failure by ZANU-PF to return properties seized from ZIPRA
in the 1980s just before Gukurahundi, a military campaign that claimed more
than 20,000 lives in the Matabeleland and Midla-nds provinces.

Analysts argue that at the core of the Unity Accord was the desire by
President Mugabe to form a one-party state. The plan collapsed after
encountering resistance from Edgar Tekere, the former ZANU-PF
secretary-general, who went on to form his own party, the Zimbabwe Unity
Movement.

The emergence of an even stronger Move-ment for Democratic Change (MDC) has
completely killed off the plan.

But former ZAPU leaders in ZANU-PF have dismissed the revival as a move by
"few disgruntled individuals ignorant of the dynamics in politics".

"There cannot be a revival of ZAPU. It is not feasible because Joshua Nkomo
was ZAPU and no one can take his place. Anyone who tries to assume the
mantle will just expose himself to public ridicule," Absolom Sikhosana, the
ZANU-PF secretary for youth said.

"Not even (Dumiso) Dabengwa can lead the revival after Nkomo left us such a
unifying legacy. Why would one want to revive a dead horse?" he asked.

Dabengwa is former ZANU-PF politburo member. He abandoned the party in the
lead up to the March 29 synchronized elections to join Simba Makoni, former
finance minister in President Mugabe's government.

Dabengwa is now linked to efforts to revive ZAPU.

Sikhosana, who has risen in the ZANU-PF hierarchy, sees his former boss in
the war trenches in Zambia as a spent political force unable to rally people
towards ZAPU revival.

Revivalists think otherwise.

"The mere fact that ZANU-PF formed a commission to look into the issue after
an aborted meeting in Bulawayo, shows the level of alarm the issue has
raised in ruling party circles," says one of the members of the organising
committee who declined to be named but added: "Just give us time".

Presidents Mugabe thinks a revival portends grave dangers for ZANU-PF and
the Unity Accord.

When President Mugabe and other veteran nationalists such as Enos Nkala, the
late Ndabaningi Sithole and Maurice Nyagumbo broke away ZAPU to form ZANU,
Nkomo sent emissaries thrice to President Mugabe, then secretary for
publicity to try to persuade him back into the fold and re-join the party.

President Mugabe rebuffed the offer.

Recent reports say the clock has turned as the President tries to persuade
Dabengwa to rejoin ZANU-PF and save his party the prospects of a formidable
opposition to his rule and possible disintegration.

President Mugabe, fearful of the threat to his power should former PF-ZAPU
officials leave to join Dabengwa, has since assigned Matabeleland South
governor Angeline Masuku to entice Dabengwa to return to ZANU-PF, according
to media reports.

"President Mugabe has told me that his heart is bleeding because Dabengwa is
no longer in ZANU-PF. He has asked me to get people who can convince
Dabengwa to come back to ZANU PF. I am now asking you the leadership of the
Bulawayo province to approach him and win him back," Masuku is said to have
told Matabeleland-based central committee members, at a meeting held on
October 19 at her farm along Plumtree Road on the outskirts of Bulawayo,
media reports say.

President Mugabe fears ZANU-PF will carve in if disgruntled members from
Matabeleland leave him to revive ZAPU when his party is at its lowest point.

And when ZAPU is revived, President Mugabe will not be alone in agonising
over the development.

ZAPU would have to compete for membership with the MDC, which filled in the
representative void left for the people of Matabeleland by the Unity Accord.

The MDC has dominated elections in Matabeleland since the 2000 polls, save
for some constituencies that have remained loyal to the party that unleashed
the North-Korean trained Fifth Brigade in a four-year military campaign
against civilians in the area and parts of the Midlands.


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SADC has lost sight of objective in Zimbabwe



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

Columnists

Mavis Makuni, Own Correspondent

ZANU-PF is said to be determined to cling on to the Ministry of Home Affairs
because those within the establishment, whose hands are not clean are
apprehensive about how the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could use
the portfolio to bring perpetrators of various atrocities to justice.

The apprehensions of those who have guilty consciences are not unfounded.
The party that has ruled in Zimbabwe for almost 30 years has been
persistently accused over its marathon tenure of perpetrating various
horrific acts of violence against the people, ranging from the massacres by
the Fifth Brigade in Matabeleland in the 1980s, to the retributive violence
that followed the March 29 polls, in which ZANU-PF was defeated.

Against this background, the Southern African Development Co-mmunity (SADC)'s
statement after its emergency summit in South Africa last weekend makes
disturbing reading.

The summit was supposed to help break the stalemate over the sharing of
ministries between ZANU-PF and the MDC and the regional bloc should have
been objective or at least erred on the side of safeguarding the interests
of the people of Zimbabwe, who voted overwhelmingly for change in March.

Instead, a statement issued by the SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Salamao
,as reported in the state newspaper, The Herald, suggests that the regional
body is keen to do what is convenient and expedient for itself and the
authorities in Harare regardless of whether or not this serves the interests
of the people of Zimbabwe.

"The SADC was asked to rule and SADC took a decision and that's the position
of SADC. Now, it is up to the parties to implement," said Salamao.

It is not surprising that this sounds like a take-it-or-leave-it proposition
considering that the regional leaders endorsed a hare-brained proposal they
would never implement in their own countries - that a ministerial portfolio
be headed by two people. They recommended the appointment of two ministers
of Home Affairs, one from the ZANU-PF camp and a counterpart from the MDC.

Salamao conveniently neglected to explain the rationale behind SADC's
ambivalent approach wh-en a fairer and more decisive solution would have
been to award the portfolio to the party that won in March and has
persistently complained about police brutality against its leaders and
supporters.

No sane Zimbabwean who has been appalled by the pitting of defenceless
citizens against the full might of the state in the past wants ZANU-PF near
any ministerial portfolio that it can abuse in this manner again.

If ZANU-PF had nothing to fear and hide, ceding security ministries would
have been an opportunity to exonerate itself and to prove its commitment to
the unity implied in the so-called government of national unity advocated by
the African Union.

The SADC summit's stance shows that it regards the apprehensions of the
guilty within ZANU-PF as legitimate concerns, over which the people of
Zimbabwe must be forced through this questionable mediation process to bend
over backwards to indulge the party under whose stewardship unspeakable
horrors were perpetrated against the populace.

It is widely acknowledged that the Zimb-abwean police fo-rce has been
acc-used of political bias, dereliction of duty, various forms of brutality
and selective interpretation and enforcement of the law.

It is bad enough that throughout the period when una-rmed Zimbabw-eans were
battered, abducted, tortured, arbitrarily arrested and killed, SADC
maintained a deafening sil-ence.

It is preposterous that the same regional bloc that did nothing when
opposition politicians and civil society leaders were battered in March last
year and did not say a word when the Zimb-abwean Police Co-mmissioner
General and other service chiefs ma-de menacing th-reats about their
unpreparedness to salute MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as head of state, now
wants to impose this ridiculous and impractical arrangement.

SADC is not only splitting hairs on this matter, it is also evading its duty
and sowing seeds of discord where it is supposed to be promoting unity.

It wants there to exist a section of the police force in Zimbabwe that
salutes the old guard and maintains the status quo in terms of abuses and
selective interpretation and enfo-rcement of the law.

SADC's willingness to endorse the creation of parallel entities within one
ministry for the sole purpose of shielding a party that has much to answer
for is reminiscent of the setting up of Bantustans and homelands in
apart-heid South Africa.

The hype from the apartheid regime was that blacks were happy to run their
own affairs when the real objective of having these parallel sham
administrations was to perpetuate an oppressive system.

It is a cruel irony that a similar attempt to deceive has been made by SADC
under the chairmanship of South Africa.

By swallowing propaganda about the opposition training militias, SADC has
betrayed its readiness to perpetuate ZANU-PF tyranny within a so-called
unity government.

The bloc's stance amounts to tacit endorsement of the existence of parallel
entities within the government, with President Robert Mugabe evidently being
head of state for his party rather than as a national leader serving all
Zimbabweans.

If SADC's fuzzy logic for splitting the Home Affairs Ministry were to be
followed to its natural conclusion, it should follow that even the
presidency and all ministerial portfolios should be shared in the same
manner.

SADC can learn something from the game of soccer. When there is a stalemate
because the teams are drawn, the game goes into extra time and then sudden
death penalty shootouts.

The regional bloc has given ZANU-PF enough extra time to demonstrate
political maturity and goodwill despite it being the losing side. Since the
party persists in wanting to impose its will on the rest of the people, it
is time to proceed to the next stage rather than try to force matters.

SADC must admit that it has failed to resolve the stalemate in Zimbabwe as a
fair arbitrator guided by its principles and protocols on the conduct of
free and fair elections.

It has failed to insist on an outcome that represents as closely as possible
the will of the people of Zimbabwe as expressed in the March elections.

It should now make way for the United Nations to come in and supervise fresh
elections, which, if held in a free, fair and safe environment are the only
way for the people of Zimbabwe to elect leaders of their choice.

lFeedback:

mmakuni@fingaz.co.zw


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Hold on to your forex, don't 'burn' it



The Financial Gazette

2008 11 15

Opinion

Professor N. Chivizhe

THE economic trauma to which those in Zimbabwe have been subjected is so
nerve-wrecking such that even the intelligentsia are being swept by the tide
of money illusion, under the auspices of the so-called "burning" of foreign
currency or purchase of shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE).

I have also monitored media comments and articles by so-called renowned
stock analysts and economists - all eulogising the performance of ZSE in
nominal terms - but without disclosing the performance of the same ZSE in
real terms.

In this article, I will attempt to enlighten Zimbabweans not to waste their
foreign currency and energy by pursuing surreal mirages that are packaged in
the tantalising nominal performance of the stock exchange or the huge
nominal proceeds from selling foreign currency using the so called
cheque/transfer rate.

Both processes are not suitable assets upon which those with foreign
currency can hedge the politico-economic uncertainties currently bedeviling
the country.

The whole transmission mechanism of the money illusory process begins at the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, where one, for instance Murehwa's company is given
an order or contract to supply a given number of items, e.g. ploughs or
scotchcarts for the farm mechanisation programme.

Murehwa's company will request for a down payment to enable it to source the
goods or inputs - say $ 100 quadrillion (revalued). RBZ will simply transfer
the amount into Murehwa's bank account.

Money has now been created. Murehwa's company then goes to the parallel
market to look for foreign currency needed to assemble the ordered farm
mechanisation equipment.

Well, with $ 100 quadrillion in the account, Murehwa will give any rate to
anyone who has foreign currency. The sellers of foreign currency get a
cheque as payment, and then rush to the stock exchange or unit trusts, to
presumably increase their riches (which are non-existent in real terms).

The stockbrokers will be told to buy any share at any price. The stockmarket
then records (nominal) gains, much to the marvel of the gullible investor.
Now, the performance of any stock exchange (as measured by its index) is
determined by the performance of shares trading on that stock exchange.

The price of shares of a company may rise if the profitability of that
company has or is expected to increase. (The reverse is also true). The
increase in profits will increase the value of the share, and so the price
of that share will increase as a reflection of increased value.

Now in the case of ZSE, the unbridled increases in share prices is simply
the operation of Quantity Theory of Money, which is simply rationing the
relentlessly increasing money supply growth in the country.

The Quantity Theory of Money (espoused by Irving Fisher in 1885) is
represented by the equation MV = PT, where M is the stock of money in the
country, V is the velocity of money circulation or the rate at which a
dollar changes hands in the country; P is the average price level of goods
and services in the country; and T is the quantity of tradable goods or
services in the country (or national output).

Now, V is stable over time, and hence may be taken to be constant. T is not
increasing in Zimbabwe as there is no production in industries (and what is
imported is largely sold using foreign currency).

Hence, T is also constant. This leaves us with two variables, M (stock of
money) an independent variable, and P (average price level) a dependant
variable.

Thus as RBZ increases M, P also increases in sympathy. But note that the
country no longer has goods or services where the local currency is
acceptable as means of payment, especially using cheques.

Thus the money in the country (M) is now largely being channeled to buy
shares at the ZSE. Thus the increase in share prices at ZSE is simply a
reflection of the increase in M but otherwise the real value of the shares
is not increasing as these companies are not making real profits.

Hence, I really do not understand the basis of the echoing praise for the
performance of ZSE.

It should be clear to anyone purporting to have done elementary Economics
that what is happening on ZSE is tantamount to a childish game of cooking
sadza using mud by young girls, or molding cattle using mud by young boys.

The so-called bullish trend is simply the upward rationing exercise of
meaningless figures, pressurised into the economy. And yet those figures
will never yield anything tangible let alone being converted to money or
anything of value (unless one has tricky ways of accessing cash).

Fellow Zimbabweans, the simple truth that is not so obvious is that the
definition of money in Zimba-bwe (i.e. the Zim-babwe dollar) has narrowed to
only notes and coins. The amount reflecting on anyone's bank account in
excess of $ 500,000 on any day is no longer money.

Money is a medium of exchange, which is acceptable (to anyone selling goods
or services), stable and withdrawable from the bank on demand, among other
characteristics.

Thus in a normal economy, the definition of money encompasses notes and
coins in circulation, current account balances in commercial banks, as well
as balances in savings account and fixed deposits accounts.

In the Zimbabwean case, money has now been reduced to only notes and coins
as evidenced by the refusal by many sellers to accept cheque payments. Hence
in real terms one can burn US dollars or sell shares/unit trusts and bank
the huge cheque, but all those proceeds are not money as they fail the above
test.

Thus all those tantalising huge amounts reflecting in bank accounts are
simply bubbles of thin air, or a tantalising mirage that will never realise
any tangible value.

The other misconception common with people is this strange belief or hope
that sooner or later things will be ok in Zimbabwe and the huge account
balances will then be money.

The truth is that if the economic environment normalises, all parameters
will move towards their real values. This means the reverse of the so-called
bullish process will happen at the stock exchange as shares move to their
real values. The best option is for those with foreign currency to cling to
their money and not convert it to Zimbabwe dollars at whatever amount of
cheque rate they are offered.


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Zimbabwe Communiqué : Coalition governments anathema to democracy- ICJ

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Saturday, 15 November 2008 06:22
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on 12 November 2008
deplored the emerging concept of coalition governments in Africa as anathema
to democracy and the citizens' right to choose governments of their choice.

In his submissions to the 44th Ordinary Session of the African
Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) underway in Abuja, Nigeria,
ICJ Africa Director, Arnold Tsunga drew the Commission's attention to the
poor human rights situation in Africa and the menace posed to democracy by
coalition governments vis-à-vis the trampling of basic freedoms of
expression, free media, association and assembly during election campaigns.
The judiciary, Tsunga said, was also compromised in playing an independent
role during elections because it has been emasculated.

The Geneva-based ICJ which seeks to implement international law and
principles that advance human rights, noted that elections in Zimbabwe,
Nigeria and Kenya had been marred by widespread violence, extensive
procedural irregularities, lack of transparency and "substantial evidence"
of fraud, voter disenfranchisement, partisan electoral bodies and
intimidation and harassment of citizens, among other flaws.

"The ICJ submits that while the formation of a coalition government
might be a necessary approach to save a nation from total anarchy, the
concept is an anathema to democracy and particularly the fundamental right
of citizens to freely choose their government," said Tsunga.

Urging the Commission to adopt a resolution on democracy and coalition
governments and to insist on the full enfranchisement of the African people
ahead of next year's elections in a number of African countries including
South Africa, Tsunga said:

"Elections held in an environment that suppresses the exercise of free
choice by the electorate invariably lead to contested and discredited
outcomes that threaten national cohesion."

A Zimbabwean government representative from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs attributed the delays in announcement of the March 2008 election
results, and the date for the presidential run-off election, to logistical
constraints.

Addressing the Commission during the slot on statements by state
delegates, the Zimbabwean representative, Mr Nyakochwa said reports of the
army and police assaulting citizens during elections were not 'entirely true'
adding that allegations had been made and that investigations were being
conducted.

On the exclusion of civic society organisations from the ongoing SADC
mediation to resolve Zimbabwe's socio-economic and political crisis, he said
it was a decision that had been made by the political parties themselves. He
hoped that the Global Political Agreement signed by ZANU PF and the two MDC
formations on 15 September 2008 would result in a solution to the political
impasse in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, in its call for a resolution on democracy and coalition
governments, the ICJ said the resolution should urge African governments to:

  1.. Invest sufficient resources and institute electoral systems that
facilitate the peoples of Africa to vote freely and determine their leaders.
  2.. Respect and enforce the human rights articulated in regional
instruments governing the conduct of elections including the 2002 OAU/AU
Declaration on Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, the
Economic Community of West African States' (ECOWAS) Protocol on Democracy
and Good Governance adopted in 2001, and the SADC Guidelines and Principles
Governing the Conduct of Democratic Elections.
  3.. Not allow the emerging trend of negotiated governments of unity
to be an accepted method of determining national leadership and that where a
coalition government is established, this should be a transitional measure
to create an environment for reforms leading to credible elections.
  4.. Ratify, domesticate and adhere to the African Charter on
Democracy, Elections and Governance.
  5.. Respect popular will, exhibit statesmanship and marshal the
dignity to handover power to a new leadership in the event of electoral
defeat.


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Global church groups say cosmetic change in Zimbabwe is not enough

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk

By agency reporter
15 Nov 2008
Six global church organizations have called for an effective protection of
the right to life, dignity and democracy of the people of Zimbabwe and
criticized the stance of the Southern African Development Community on the
political deadlock in the country.

Jointly issued on 14 November by the general secretaries of the World
Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches, the World YWCA, the World Student Christian Federation
and the World Alliance of YMCAs, the statement calls "for an urgent
affirmation and protection of the right to life and dignity for all
Zimbabweans," as well as "for adherence to democratic principles and
processes in the mediation process and a return of the rule of law inside
Zimbabwe".

On 9 November 2008 the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
organized a summit of Southern African heads of state to help the two
Zimbabwean parties - President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - to reach a power
deal.

"We are deeply disappointed and saddened that the SADC leadership and
Zimbabwe's political leaders have once again squandered an opportunity to
take decisive, credible and transformative action" regarding the crisis in
the country, the statement says. "By failing to fully address the growing
humanitarian catastrophe and question of illegitimacy of the current
government, SADC leaders have let down the people of Zimbabwe."

The ecumenical organizations have called for the inclusion of civil society
and churches in future talks sponsored by the SADC and the African Union.
They have also called "on the United Nations, the European Union and
especially the President-elect of the United States of America, Barack Obama
to mobilize and increase direct humanitarian support for the long-suffering
people of Zimbabwe."


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Court jails soldiers hired by minister's wife

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7334

November 15, 2008

By Owen Chikari

MASVINGO - Ten soldiers, who teamed up with former Finance Minister Samuel
Mumbengegwi's wife Perina and assaulted workers on a farm in Gutu, resulting
in the death of one them last year were each sentenced Friday to 18 months
in jail.

The soldiers, based at 41 Infantry Battalion, were convicted on their own
plea of guilt before Gutu resident magistrate Musaiona Shotgame.

The soldiers will, however, serve an effective 12 months after the
magistrate conditionally suspended six months of their sentences.

Mumbengegwi and his wife acquired ownership of Iris Farm through the
government's controversial land reform programme.

The soldiers, who initially faced murder charges, were cleared of the
charges after a post-mortem conducted revealed that one of the victims of
assault died of other causes and not as a result of the assault.

Perina Mumbengegwi, who was supposed to be charged with the soldiers, was
also cleared of the charges after it was established that she did not
participate in the actual assault of the victims.

The court heard that sometime in October 2007 Perina Mumbengegwi alleged
that some farm equipment was missing from her farm.

She then went and made a report to the police but nothing was done.

Angered by the police's inaction, Mumbengegwi went to 42 Infantry Battalion
where she prevailed on the soldiers to indiscriminately assault the workers
at the farm.

The court heard that the soldiers choked their victims with an intoxicating
substance before heavily assaulting them.

After assaulting the workers the soldiers allegedly went to a nearby village
where they assaulted relatives of the dead farm worker for refusing to bury
the body of their relative.

The magistrate dismissed the plea of the accused for a fine to be imposed.
He deplored assaults on innocent civilians by members of the army.

"Under normal circumstances such a case would have attracted a fine but this
one is unique in the sense that soldiers assaulted unarmed members of
society," said the magistrate.

"Members of the army should protect people and not abuse them and in this
case there was no provocation on the part of the accused persons. A
custodial sentence is the only appropriate sentence to deter uniformed
forces from abusing their powers, let alone on elderly people".

In mitigation, the soldiers had told the court that they had also
compensated their victims.

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