From http://gado.co.ke/
http://www.zimonline.co.za
Thursday 27 November
2008
Wednesday November 26, 2008
STATEMENT: The people
of Zimbabwe urgently need the help of the whole world
to stop the impending
famine and plague.
The people of Zimbabwe need their political parties to
commit themselves to
ending the needless suffering they endure every
day.
The humanitarian crisis that is now engulfing all Zimbabweans
represents the
greatest threat ever to face our country.
While
millions face starvation in the coming months, the death toll from
cholera
is now sitting at over 50 people per day and will increase
dramatically now
that the rainy season has begun in earnest.
In this regard, I would like
to take this opportunity to thank former United
Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, former United States President Jimmy
Carter, and Dr Graca Machel
for their commitment to understanding the
Zimbabwean crisis and for trying
to identify solutions to halt the
humanitarian catastrophe that faces the
country.
It was no surprise to anyone that Mr Robert Mugabe denied them
access to the
country, to see firsthand the appalling conditions that
Zimbabweans are
living under as a result of his political and economic
mismanagement.
Mr Mugabe would prefer that the suffering that he and ZANU
PF have caused,
and continue to cause, remains in the dark.
When we
signed the political agreement on September 15, 2008, we believed
that ZANU
PF was willing to work with us to address the challenges facing
the country.
Sadly, their intransigence to date is making that appear
increasingly
unlikely.
Therefore, the MDC must instead work with those Zimbabwean
organisations,
groups and individuals to address the humanitarian
crisis.
In this quest, we look also towards any country, regional or
international,
multi-lateral bodies and NGOs to join with the MDC and the
people of
Zimbabwe in helping us solve the problems of our
country.
Therefore, in the absence of any progress in the talks, the MDC
is now
committing itself to addressing the humanitarian crisis in
Zimbabwe.
The people of the country have mandated us to end their
suffering, to work
towards a New Zimbabwe and a New Beginning.
In the
absence of a legitimate government in Zimbabwe, in the absence of a
government of Zimbabwe that puts the will and welfare of the people first,
the MDC must take on this leadership responsibility.
The people of
Zimbabwe are determined to endure the suffering so long as
there is no
meaningful change in the way that they are governed. That is the
message
that they have given to the MDC and it is the message that the MDC
gives to
the rest of the world.
This does not mean that we are turning our back on
the Global Political
Agreement, nor are we withdrawing from the
talks.
Rather, we are saying that until we see real indications that the
negotiations will end the suffering of all Zimbabweans we cannot allow
ourselves to be distracted from working towards the goal of alleviating the
peoples' suffering.
The tragedy that is Zimbabwe is not caused by the
current political impasse.
Rather, this political impasse and the current
suffering are caused by a
former ruling party refusing to acknowledge both
the will of the people and
the hardships they are causing the
people.
To suggest the current problems facing our country can be solved
by the MDC
becoming a powerless partner in a ZANU PF government, fails to
acknowledge
the truth about the causes of the crisis and the fact that such
a
development would result in the perpetuation of the peoples'
suffering.
The Mugabe team negotiates as though their priority is to
cover up the
problem rather than solve it. Establishing a unity government
dedicated to
covering up the problem would be easy; establishing a unity
government that
can help to solve the problem is very hard.
The most
recent sign of the lack of good faith by ZANU PF is the
reappointment of the
Governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono. This
individual, who has been the
architect of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and
has blatantly plundered the
national treasury to fund ZANU PF and its elite,
has been rewarded with
another five-year term.
Surely, if Mr Mugabe was genuine in his desire to
address the problems
facing the country he would not breach the global
political agreement by
making any senior appointments
unilaterally.
Furthermore, the continued abduction of MDC members that we
have witnessed
in the past few weeks, including confirmed disappearance of
15 of our
members reflects the ongoing disregard for the spirit of
cooperation and
coexistence and demonstrates the lack of good faith on the
part of Mugabe.
Sadly, the negotiations have also been hampered by the
attitude and position
of the facilitator, Mr Thabo Mbeki. He does not appear
to understand how
desperate the problem in Zimbabwe is, and the solutions he
proposes are too
small.
He is not serving to bring the parties
together because he does not
understand what needs to be done.
In
addition, his partisan support of ZANU PF, to the detriment of genuine
dialogue, has made it impossible for the MDC to continue negotiating under
his facilitation.
In this regard, we have written to the Chairman of
SADC, South African
President Kgalema Motlanthe, detailing the irretrievable
state of our
relationship with Mr Mbeki and asking that he recuses
himself.
In the meantime, the MDC is continuing in discussions with no
prejudice on
the outstanding issues with the other political
parties.
I would like to reiterate that the MDC has ready, willing and
able
leadership to bring about the change that Zimbabwe needs from an
inclusive
government.
We have a viable and bankable economic
stabilisation programme and other key
policies, that we want to discuss with
ZANU PF so that we can implement them
together to respond urgently to the
suffering of our people.
That is the mandate we have from the
people.
I thank you
Morgan Tsvangirai
President, Movement
for Democratic Change - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Norest
Musvaba Thursday 27 November 2008
JOHANNESBURG - Former South
African President Thabo Mbeki has accused
Zimbabwe's opposition of being a
spoiler obsessed with criticising President
Robert Mugabe, in an ugly spat
that has overshadowed fresh talks to rescue
the country's troubled
power-sharing deal.
In a surprisingly bad-tempered letter, Mbeki - who is
the regional SADC
grouping's mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis - told the
Morgan Tsvangirai-led
opposition MDC party to get on with the business of
rebuilding Zimbabwe in a
unity government with the ruling ZANU PF
party.
The opposition party did not need to wait for approval from its
"external
supporters" to join the unity government Mbeki said, closely
echoing claims
by Mugabe that the MDC is a puppet of Britain and the
West.
The letter said to have been written by Mbeki in reply to a letter
by MDC
secretary general Tendai Biti complaining about the ex-president's
impartiality as mediator confirms the bad blood known to exist between
Tsvangirai and Mbeki.
However, its tone and thrust seems over the top
coming from one in Mbeki's
position where as mediator he is expected to be
impartial and moderate in
his conduct.
"The MDC-T like the other
Zimbabwe parties, must within an inclusive
government, take responsibility
for the future of Zimbabwe, rather than see
its mission as being a militant
critic of President Mugabe and ZANU PF,"
Mbeki said in the letter, a copy if
which was shown to ZimOnline.
He added: "All that is now required is that
these leaders must remain true
to their word. They must implement the
Agreement they signed.
"In this regard they (MDC-T) have absolutely no
need to refer to their
external supporters for approval, whoever they might
be, and however
powerful they might seem, including any and all South
African formations.
"Realistically, Zimbabwe will never share the same
neighbourhood with the
countries of Western Europe and North America which
have benefited
especially from the migration of skilled and professional
Zimbabweans to the
North."
Mugabe has often labelled the MDC a puppet
party of Western governments
opposed to his leadership and says the
opposition is being used by the West
to undermine Zimbabwe's sovereignty and
sweep him from power. MDC denies the
charges.
Biti, who is the
opposition party's chief representative to talks, was not
immediately
available for comment on the matter while Mbeki's spokesman
Mukoni
Ratshitanga could also not be reached.
Negotiators from ZANU PF, MDC and
a breakaway faction of the opposition led
by Arthur Mutambara have since
Tuesday been meeting with Mbeki to review a
draft constitutional amendment
Bill that would allow Mugabe to form a unity
government outlined under a
September 15 power-sharing agreement.
The power-sharing agreement has
stalled as the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
opposition MDC party and ZANU PF fight
over control of key ministries,
distribution of gubernatorial posts,
ambassadorships and other top
government posts.
Referring to
Tsvangirai as "Sir and dear brother" Mbeki accused the
opposition leader and
his party of contemptuously repudiating serious
decisions made by SADC heads
of states and other regional leaders.
Mbeki wrote: "Because leaders in
our region did not agree with you on some
matter that served on the agenda
of the SADC Extraordinary Summit Meeting,
you have denounced them publicly
as cowards.
"It may be that, for whatever reason, you consider our region
and continent
as being of little consequence to the future of Zimbabwe,
believing that
others further away, in Western Europe and North America, are
of greater
importance."
SADC leaders at an emergency summit in
Johannesburg on 9 November ruled that
Zimbabwe's rival political leaders
form a power-sharing government
"forthwith" to end a debilitating political
stalemate gripping the country
since Mugabe's controversial re-election last
June.
They also ruled that the MDC and ZANU PF co-manage the ministry of
home
affairs, in charge of the police and whose control had been an obstacle
to
the formation of a unity government.
But Tsvangirai - who wants
the MDC to have sole control of home affairs that
oversees the police after
ZANU PF retained control of the army - rejected
the ruling and accused SADC
of siding with Mugabe.
Mbeki added: "All of us will find it strange and
insulting that because we
do not agree with you on a small matter, you
choose to describe us in a
manner that is most offensive in terms of African
culture, and therefore our
sense of dignity as Africans, across our
borders."
Mbeki said because of the delay in forming a new government,
southern Africa
and Zimbabwe's neighbouring countries have an unavoidable
obligation to
carry much of the weight of the burden of the Zimbabwe
crisis.
"You know that among other things, various countries of our
region host
large numbers of economic migrants from Zimbabwe, who impose
particular
burdens on our countries. None of our countries and governments
has spoken
publicly of this burden, fearful that we might incite
xenophobia," he
said. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Mutumwa Mawere
Thursday 27 November 2008
OPINION: On Tuesday, November 25
2008, Zimbabwe's Minister of Finance Samuel
Mumbembegwi, whose status like
all his Cabinet colleagues including
President Robert Mugabe has been
described by South African President
Kgalema Mothlante as illegitimate,
announced the re-appointment of Gideon
Gono as the Governor of the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for another
five-year term.
The legal,
economic and political implications of this critical appointment
still have
to be digested.
If anyone had any doubt as to who is in charge,
notwithstanding the signing
of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and the
subsequent intervention of
the 15-nation Southern African Development
Community (SADC), this
appointment goes a long way towards confirming the
widely held view that
people who voted for change on March 29 had no idea
that such change would
mean Mugabe and Gono on both sides of a worthless
Zimbabwean coin.
Zimbabweans will have to endure another five years of
political manipulation
that Gono has proved to be a master at. During his
term, he has successfully
been able to divert attention from the core source
of the political and
economic crisis by manufacturing enemies of the state.
His tenure has
witnessed the centralisation of executive power and the
emergence of the RBZ
as the super state.
While negotiators for an
inclusive government have been deadlocked on the
allocation of ministries,
the real focus ought to have been on the economy
and the toxic threat
presented by Gono.
He has demonstrated that one does not have to be a
minister of home affairs
to control the police. All the operations that have
been credited for
undermining human and property rights largely have their
origin in the mind
of Gono.
He is a man preoccupied on blaming others
and yet through his own actions
Zimbabwe has had to endure the worst
economic policies and programmes
imaginable.
The re-appointment of
Gono reflects the misplaced and distorted
understanding of the true nature
of the response to the global financial
crisis that has seen the state
intervening through financial support in
developed capitalist
economies.
Gono and Mugabe can claim credit for being the harbingers of
the
nationalisation project and introducing the most efficient money
printing
systems but the truth needs to be told in the national interest
about the
bankruptcy of the kind of policies that Gono has put in place over
the last
five years.
To what extent is Gono culpable for causing the
economic crisis will remain
an issue for countless conversations to come but
what is significant is that
under his watch more zeros have visited the
country notwithstanding his
favourite slogan - "failure is not an
option".
Gono has effectively transformed the government of Zimbabwe into
an agent of
the RBZ and in so doing all the key resource allocation
decisions are no
longer being made by Cabinet but by him.
He has,
therefore, single handedly exposed the futility of the project to
set up an
inclusive government when his approach can hardly be described as
inclusive.
Gono believes in total control and his enemies have been
transformed into
enemies of the state. There is no institution left in
Zimbabwe that is not
under his payroll and control.
The failure of
the contesting political actors to locate the real problem in
Zimbabwe in
its economic dimension may have a lot to do with how Gono
operates.
It would not be surprising if he has not facilitated an
outcome that has
caused the allocation of ministries and not the role of the
RBZ as the
stumbling block to the formation of the national unity
government.
Given the state of the economy and the control Gono wields,
it is unlikely
that members of the opposition are also not beneficiaries of
financial and
other logistical support from Gono.
For anyone to hope
to have a decent living in Zimbabwe, Gono has proved to
be a useful partner
to the extent that his re-appointment may not be as
controversial as who
should control the ministry of home affairs.
Gono has framed the Zimbabwe
crisis as emanating from a combination of the
targeted sanctions and the
actions of criminals and economic saboteurs.
He sees himself as an
economic patriot and above all as an angel while
choosing to describe those
he needs to divert attention from the bankruptcy
of his policies as
demons.
Judging by the way the state media has in the last few weeks been
lobbying
for his re-appointment, one can safely conclude that even his
principal,
Mugabe, may also be a victim of Gono's manipulation.
If
Mugabe was fully informed of Gono's activities, one would not have
expected
him to re-appoint him without consulting his partners - MDC-T and
MDC-M and
also the state media would not have been used for lobbying
purposes.
The appointment of Gono prior to the formation of an
inclusive government
clearly demonstrates the contempt with which Mugabe
holds the former
opposition parties, who now have a combined majority in
parliament.
At the very least, Mugabe should have delayed the appointment
to allow the
GPA to be implemented.
If Mugabe's legitimacy is
conditional on the formation of an inclusive
government, where does this
leave Gono's re-appointment that has been made
on a partisan
basis?
Clearly Mumbengegwi's illegitimacy is not in doubt and yet he is
the bearer
of good news to Gono. Could it be the case that there is
consensus among the
contesting parties about the indispensability of
Gono?
Gono has already given himself a very favourable rating. What
rating would
Zimbabwe give Gono if it had any say in it? Can a functioning
economy thrive
where there are no checks and balances?
The Parliament
of Zimbabwe has been reduced to a spectator in so far as
budgetary
allocations are concerned and oversight of the executive branch of
government that is now in the intensive care unit.
Gono's journey of
discovery and economic random walk began with the monetary
measures that
soon gave way to a series of measures that can hardly be
described as
monetary.
Economic management became just like a sellotape job to patch
up leaks. As
the leaks grew, the economic doctor kept on piling more and
more sellotape
until the economy became a sellotape economy. One can hardly
describe the
economy of Zimbabwe as functional.
Gono knows what his
principal wants to hear and he has been good at
packaging the message for
him. His loyalty is to Mugabe and it would have
been unthinkable for Mugabe
to push for his continued term in the knowledge
that Gono's position was in
dispute.
It is remarkable to the extent that the economy is where the
biggest injury
is that there appears to be no dispute between the MDC and
ZANU PF on what
the country needs to do.
For change to be believable,
there must and should be minimum conditions
that ought to have informed the
negotiators. It is legitimate to ask why
Gono is missing on the agenda.
Clearly for Zimbabwe to move forward someone
must bridge the information
gap.
Any rational economic actor would agree that Gono poses the most
significant
threat to progress and yet he finds himself with a new lease of
life at a
time when the economy is in crisis. Under him, the difference
between
Zimbabwe and the RBZ is the same.
If Gono controls the
police, then perhaps he should be the ideal candidate
to be the minister of
home affairs as it appears that there is no dispute
between the parties
about his conduct and usefulness to Zimbabwe.
It was reported in the
state-run Herald newspaper that: "At the time of his
appointment, Dr Gono
inherited a weakening currency, runaway inflation,
unattractive interest
rates and rampant indiscipline within the financial
services sector. He
managed, within a few months, to briefly stabilise
inflation during the
first half of 2004, returned sanity to the banking
sector and tried to
reform the foreign exchange rate to spur export
performance. Dr Gono has
also played a key role in building broad national
consensus around
formulation and co-operative implementation of monetary,
fiscal and
structural policies, including the inception of a comprehensive
framework to
turn around and privatise public sector enterprises. During his
first term,
the Reserve Bank has been key in funding crucial national
development
programmes, among them the four phases of the Farm Mechanisation
Programme."
Only history will judge if the above is a correct
assessment of Gono's
record. - ZimOnline
http://voanews.com
By Jonga
Kandemiiri
Washington
26 November
2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's reappointment of
Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono for another five year term drew sharp fire
Wednesday from the
main formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.
MDC founder and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said
the
reappointment of the central bank chief in the midst of negotiations on
power sharing between the two groupings of the MDC and Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF
displayed "a lack of good faith."
"This individual, who has been the
architect of Zimbabwe's economic collapse
and has blatantly plundered the
national treasury to fund ZANU-PF and its
elite, has been rewarded with
another five-year term," Tsvangirai declared
in a broad policy
statement.
"Surely, if Mr. Mugabe was genuine in his desire to address
the problems
facing the country he would not breach the global political
agreement (on
power sharing signed Sept. 15) by making any senior
appointments
unilaterally."
Analysts said the economy has been
devastated under Gono's stewardship with
inflation according to one U.S.
monetary expert hitting some 89 sextillion
percent. The last time the
government offered price data it said inflation
ran at 231 million percent
in July.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of Tsvangirai's MDC formation said
Gono's
reappointment violates the power-sharing pact signed
onSept.15.
Economist Prosper Chitambara said Mr. Mugabe reappointed Gono
for short-term
political reasons, but the move has longer-term
consequences.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7932
November 26, 2008
By Raymond
Maingire
HARARE - Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono
says he will
slash Zimbabwe 's inflation to a single digit number by the end
of his new
term of office in 2013.
Gono has also pledged to abandon
his controversial quasi-fiscal policies
that have seen all government
departments and ministries relying on the
central bank to finance their
operations.
The controversial central bank governor however defended his
unorthodox
practices which he said were extraordinary but necessary steps
"deployed as
survival interventions in the national interest".
Gono,
49, was on Tuesday reappointed central bank chief for another five
year term
by President Robert Mugabe.
Speaking while presenting his acceptance
speech in Harare Wednesday, Gono
said in the course of his new tenure, he
will deliver a "low and stable
single-digit inflation, anchoring a table and
predictable business
environment".
Traditionally Reserve Bank
governors have not delivered acceptance speeches
on appointment. They have
quietly settled down to the task in hand.
Currently, Zimbabwe 's
inflation is officially pegged at an all time high of
231 million
percent.
Independent economists believe the official figure could be an
underestimation as inflation could now be running into billions
percent.
When Gono took over the reigns as central bank governor in
December 2003
inflation was still hovering around 600
percent.
Through printing huge quantities of bank notes to finance
extravagant
government expenditure, inflation ballooned to the current
levels.
"With effect from January, 2009, therefore," Gono said, "the
Reserve Bank
will be focusing on the core businesses of inflation control
and financial
sector stability."
Gono said during his new term, all
parastatals, local authorities and all
Government Departments and Ministries
would fund their own operations.
"Under the new thrust," he said, "the
Reserve Bank will soon establish a
stand alone, self-funding and well
capitalized developmental institution
that will manage all the work-in
progress under the previous quasi-fiscal
desks of the bank, as well as
meeting any other developmental programmes as
they would arise in future,
leaving the bank with core functions.
"All the bank's quasi-fiscal
outlays since 1 December, 2003 have been fully
amortized such that there
will be absolutely no penny to be transferred as a
burden on the fiscus, and
hence (on) the tax payers."
Meanwhile, Gono's reappointment has been
greeted with disappointment by many
Zimbabweans who feel he has failed to
reverse the fortunes of the country's
economy.
"Gono has failed in
every aspect required of his job," said a Harare based
businessman majoring
in bank risk control, "By reappointing him to his post,
Mugabe has simply
rewarded failure because not any of Gono's successive
monetary policies has
succeeded."
Elvis Matenda said Gono's re-appointment was obvious from the
outset.
"He was obviously going to be re-appointed," he said. "The
appointment
should be viewed in the context of Mugabe's patronage
system.
"Mugabe does not appoint people on merit but on how loyal they
are to his
rule. His government is brimming with dead wood but he keeps on
rewarding
them with new posts."
From the ZANU-PF mouthpiece
http://www1.herald.co.zw
THE reappointment of Dr Gideon Gono as
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor for
a second five-year term starting next
Monday is testimony to his
indefatigable efforts to the compelling task of
stabilising the economy.
He is starting a new term faced with the
monumental challenge of restoring
confidence in the country's economy,
particularly the financial system.
Indeed, the central bank governor's job is
one of the most challenging, as
he grapples sanctions, galloping inflation,
banking indiscipline, foreign
currency and cash shortages among
others.
Dr Gono faces the unenviable task of beating the illegal sanctions,
which
have seen a German company abruptly stopping the supply of a special
paper
used for printing the local currency.
This has created the cash
crisis the country is currently facing. He also
needs to continue monitoring
the banking sector, where some banks have
developed a propensity to stray
out of their core business and indulge in
fraudulent transactions.
But Dr
Gono is not new to challenges, having weathered several storms during
his
first tenure in office.
He astutely handled the banking crisis, which
exploded soon after he entered
into office in December 2003.
Many will
remember how the crisis left a number of banks closed, while the
banking
sector's sound footing was restored.
The Governor is very much aware of the
fact that we are in a major economic
crisis, one that is largely caused by
the sanctions, and where there is
potential for the crisis to grow in scale
and scope with each day.
But we believe he has proved his mettle.
He is a
smart and effective professional who is now very familiar with the
central
bank's operations and knows how to handle crises of any magnitude.
Dr Gono is
not afraid of taking responsibility.
In the past, he has acknowledged that
his plans to inject billions of
dollars in stimulus spending would drive
inflation higher, but stressed the
long-term benefits of investment in needy
areas, such as agricultural
mechanisation.
However, his biggest challenge
remains that of taming inflation, currently
running into several millions.
He needs to put in place a framework or
systems that recognise early warning
signs of financial crises and be able
to deal with them.
There will be
more perils in Dr Gono's course as he continues to be the
centre of
attention with his interventions aimed at saving the economy.
He certainly
needs the support of all stakeholders of the economy and
politicians in this
endeavour. We are however, quick to warn him that the
risks of being
sabotaged exist and he should not be distracted.
But the bottom line is the
central bank governor's job is at the moment no
place for theorists. The
task at hand has no time for persons who make
reference to book economics
and financial theories.
Since his appointment to the helm of the country's
financial nerve centre in
2003, Dr Gono has not wavered on his belief that
old orthodoxies need
rethinking to confront today's crises.
The fact is,
the country's economic perils are clear and immediate, they
need practical
and circumstantial solutions.
In Dr Gono's own words: "We are in
extraordinary circumstances that require
extraordinary measures. And failure
should not be an option.''
We believe the circumstances we find ourselves in
need the calibre of the
person of Dr Gono, who has a reputation as a
heavy-puncher and banking
discipline hawk.
Dr Gono fits the bill and
deserves a second term. We give him our thumps-up
and wish him well.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7921
November 26, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Zimbabwean labour leaders on Wednesday called for
mass
demonstrations next week against caps on daily withdrawal limits from
bank
accounts imposed by the central bank amid rising poverty and weakening
workers income.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)'s
general council resolved at
its special sitting in Masvingo on Tuesday that
the mass action against
critical cash shortages should take place on
December 3.
"Zimbabweans will be expected to go to their banks on 3
December 2008 to
demand their money," said a ZCTU statement to The Zimbabwe
Times on
Wednesday. "A procession will be made to the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe where
the ZCTU leadership will deliver a petition to the
Governor."
The ZCTU, the country's largest labour federation, has already
written to
RBZ governor Gideon Gono, whose term of office was extended
Monday for
another five years, that he must immediately scrap the limits on
withdrawals
or face mass action.
Just last weekend, Gono scoffed at
protests against him; he said the
demonstrations were the work of his
detractors who wished to see him removed
as central bank chief.
The
RBZ has imposed cash withdrawal limits ostensibly in a bid to stem
illegal
foreign currency trading which the central bank blames for fuelling
Zimbabwe
's supersonic inflation.
Depositors are currently allowed to withdraw a
maximum of Z$500 000 daily.
However, the amount is not even enough to buy
half a loaf of bread.
The daily withdrawal limits have crystallised
public anger against Gono. The
extension of his term of office has sparked
widespread outrage in Harare
Wednesday. The labour leaders addressed a
letter to Gono stating that the
daily caps were hurting ordinary citizens
and described the current maximum
cash withdrawal limit as "a
joke."
ZCTU said the mass protests would also be against high taxation,
rising
poverty and human rights abuses.
Zimbabwe's runaway inflation
estimated at 231 million percent in July, which
is at the centre of the
strike, has rendered the local currency worthless.
The government has
partially dollarised the economy, worsening the plight of
workers.
The ZCTU has also demanded that workers be paid in foreign
currency and has
threatened to lead protests for this.
Once a success
story in Africa, Zimbabwe is now suffering from shortages of
banknotes, fuel
and foreign currency. Political commentators say the
government of President
Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980, is likely
to face resistance in the coming months, because
anger was welling up among
Zimbabweans
"What we are seeing now is a country without a central
administration, where
things simply happen like the current price increases,
the indiscipline on
the stock exchange and so on," said an academic with the
University of
Zimbabwe , who refused to be named.
He said the planned
confrontation with the government would not solve the
problems besieging
Zimbabwe . The government cannot, he said, restore sanity
in the economy
because it has lost control.
The rule of supply and demand would see
things stabilise as consumers and
traders came to a compromise, he
added.
Elias Madzimure, a resident of Glenview, a low-income suburb of
Harare ,
said painful compromises should be made by the politicians at the
talks for
life to return to normal in Zimbabwe .
"Workers in most
urban areas are bearing the worst brunt of this crisis
authored by Gono,"
said Madzimure. "The government seems not to care at all,
and now they have
renewed Gono's term of office despite his shocking
failures as
governor.
"The MDC should annul this appointment once it is in
government. I fully
support the position taken by the ZCTU."
He said
Mugabe should stop "politicking" and address the problems facing
Zimbabwe ,
without pointing fingers at Britain and the opposition, when he
fails to
deliver.
"If the difficulties are due to sanctions (imposed by the
European Union and
the United States ), Mugabe should show his ability as a
leader," said
Madzimure. "Was he just able to rule well with the support of
the former
colonial masters?
"The current economic hardships have
left all recreational places like
drinking places deserted. Prices of
everything have gone wild. So, who is in
control? You can't blame the people
if they protest."
"The government may crush the demonstration, but the
spirit is very high,"
said one labour leader when asked about the risks of
strike action.
The protests were scheduled to begin in Harare , with a
march to the Reserve
Bank along Samora Machel Avenue to hand over a petition
to Gono demanding
the removal of the withdrawal limits.
Another
procession to government offices was expected in Bulawayo .
The
government has threatened unspecified action against the demonstrations,
which, it warned, were illegal under the Public Order and Security
Act.
Miriam Kwashi, a Harare businesswoman, urged the government not to
prevent
people from demonstrating but listen to their problems and find
solutions.
http://www.voanews.com
By Patience
Rusere
Washington
26 November 2008
The
World Health Organization said Wednesday that it will provide some
US$117,000 worth of medical supplies to help Zimbabwe deal with the cholera
epidemic that had claimed 366 lives as of the latest count provided Tuesday
by another United Nations agency.
WHO's South Africa representative,
Stella Nyaguwe, told reporters in
Johannesburg that the amount allocated was
based on requests from medical
relief workers in Zimbabwe.
South
African Health Minister Barbara Hogan offered an assurance that
Zimbabweans
in South Africa needing medical treatment would receive it
whatever their
legal status.
Blessing Chebundo, a member of the health committee of the
formation of
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change led by prime
minister-designate
Morgan Tsvangirai told reporter Patience Rusere that the
assistance is
welcome, but more needs to be done.
http://www.businessday.co.za/
27
November 2008
Tamar
Kahn
Science and Health Editor
CAPE TOWN - The government
would do all it could to assist cholera-stricken
Zimbabweans seeking medical
care in SA, Health Minister Barbara Hogan said
yesterday, warning that any
attempt to turn them away would make the disease
harder to
contain.
"We are facing a humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. Under no
conditions would
we want to stop entry of any person who is ill crossing
from Zimbabwe into
SA. The situation is dire there," Hogan told a briefing
yesterday.
The United Nations has recorded 8887 suspected
cholera cases and 366 deaths
in Zimbabwe, with Harare and Beit Bridge worst
affected. More than half of
Zimbabwe has been affected by cholera. Its
sanitation and water purification
systems have broken down.
The
disease has spread to Botswana and SA, where Limpopo has been hardest
hit,
with 187 cases and three deaths recorded by Monday. Patients suspected
to
have cholera have also been treated in Gauteng, KwaZuluNatal, Mpumalanga
and
Western Cape.
"The o utbreak is Zimbabwe-based. We are not
considering it a crisis in SA
at all," said Hogan. SA was assisting the
World Health Organisation (WHO),
which was co-ordinating humanitarian
efforts to combat the cholera outbreak
in Zimbabwe, she said.
The WHO
estimated it needed $117000 to procure a range of critical supplies,
including body bags, medical equipment and water purification supplies, said
its South African representative, Stella Anyangwe.
The health
department sent a "national outbreak response team" to Musina in
Limpopo,
and ensured extra staff were assigned to the its hospital.
Hogan said
the government was alarmed by the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe,
which
underscored the need for the country to resolve its political issues .
President Robert Mugabe and the leaders of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change agreed to form a unity government on September 15, but are
still deadlocked over the delegation of key positions.
Earlier in
the day, Zimbabwe's Deputy Health Minister, Edwin Maguti, said
the
government would not declare the epidemic a national emergency because
the
cholera was under control, and blamed the outbreak on western
sanctions.
"We now have the situation under control and there is no
need to declare a
national disaster," Maguti said. "Western governments must
like what they
see with the cholera outbreak because it is their illegal
sanctions that
caused it."
On Tuesday, Oxfam called on Mugabe's
government to declare an emergency.
With Bloomberg.
http://www.africasia.com/
HARARE,
Nov 27 (AFP)
Children in the suburbs of Zimbabwe's capital run along a stream of
raw
sewage, jumping between the mountains of garbage that has not been
collected
in months, just steps from an emergency cholera clinic.
The
suburb of Budiriro is the epicentre of a nationwide cholera outbreak
that
has infected nearly 9,000 people and killed 366, according to the
United
Nations -- the latest tragic consequence of Zimbabwe's economic
collapse.
Nearly 100 patients are waiting for treatment at the
clinic, but shortages
of drugs and equipment mean that few will actually
receive any help.
A vehicle from the funeral parlour stands parked
outside.
Inside the clinic, patients lie on the floor to await treatment.
The lucky
ones sleep on beds that have no mattresses.
"Things are
bad," says one patient lying on the floor. "There are no drips,
when they
come it may be too late for some of us."
Cholera causes severe diarrhoea
and vomiting that eventually kills a
patient, but is easily prevented by
washing hands, cleaning foods, and
keeping drinking water away from
sewage.
Those conditions are almost unimaginable luxuries in many parts
of Zimbabwe,
where the crumbling economy means burst sewage lines go
unrepaired, and
utilities can't always treat drinking
water.
Vegetable vendors still sell their wares amid the urban debris,
unconcerned
by the swarms of flies hovering above their uncovered
tables.
"There is no water and toilets are not flushing. We are
struggling," Chipo
Chimwe said across town in the neighbourhood of
Kambuzuma.
"We will die if things remain as they are. They say we have to
boil our
water -- when there is no water and no electricity. We need help
urgently."
Zimbabwe's government insists the outbreak is under control,
but residents
here say they fear many more will die unless sanitation
facilities are
repaired urgently.
Women and children in Kambuzuma
wash their laundry in a shallow well, saying
they dare not use the water in
their taps at home.
"The little water coming from our taps is not
properly treated," Tracy
Mutasa says.
"The drinking water -- it
smells of sewage. Children are suffering from
diarrhoea. We don't know when
things will get back to normal," she sighs.
Victoria Kuronga, another
Kambuzuma resident, accused Zimbabwe's political
leaders of wasting time in
power-sharing talks rather than addressing the
humanitarian
crisis.
"These politicians just think about themselves at our expense,"
she said.
"It would have been better for them to hold these talks in
Kambuzuma where
they can see raw sewage daily. Then maybe they would
appreciate our plight.
We are suffering."
Zimbabwe has ignored
warnings from neighbour South Africa, the United
Nations and aid agencies,
who say the country is facing a humanitarian
crisis.
"The situation
is under control," Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti told
AFP, reacting to
calls for Harare to declare a national health emergency.
The government's
disdain has left Zimbabweans unable even to properly mourn
the dead, some
public health officials quietly lament.
Health experts say if a cholera
patient dies, the body must be buried within
72 hours, meaning Zimbabwe's
lengthy traditional funeral rites cannot be
observed.
"Anyone who
dies of cholera has to be put in plastic and the body is put
into a coffin,"
said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"That person would
have to be buried within three days and unfortunately
there will be no body
viewing, which is a very unpopular and hard decision."
http://www.thetimes.co.za
Published:Nov 27,
2008
WHILE
appreciating the need for a solution to the political situation in
Zimbabwe,
given the humanitarian crisis there, I cannot agree with the blame
being
placed at the door of both Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. - B
Garner,
Bramley
The whole sorry mess is Mugabe's doing. He has
the blood of thousands on his
hands, including those who have died recently
of cholera.
Thabo Mbeki must also shoulder a large portion of the blame.
He tiptoed
around Mugabe for years with his failed "quiet diplomacy" and
then hailed as
a victory the hasty power-sharing deal, which did not include
even how the
important portfolios would be awarded.
With his
experience of Mugabe, and the Zimbabwean leader's deviousness and
desperation to cling to power, Mbeki must surely have realised the deal was
not worth the paper it was written on and that Mugabe was never going to
share power.
The MDC won the elections but the ageing despot
clings desperately to power.
Tsvangirai is expected to compromise and agree
to play second fiddle to
Mugabe. It is just unacceptable.
South
Africa, SADC and the rest of the world should have insisted Mugabe
step
down, or, at the very least, agree to new elections, supervised by
monitors
from foreign countries.
As dire as the situation is, Tsvangirai must
stand firm until Mugabe is made
to give him a meaningful share of power or,
preferably, stands down and lets
the arduous task of getting Zimbabwe and
its people back on their feet
begin. It will take decades, I fear.
The dishonesty, hypocrisy and ignorance emerging from
South Africa in the
past week stabs at the heart of all those working for
democracy in Zimbabwe.
The group of three 'Elders' spent a couple of days
in South Africa talking
about Zimbabwe and say they have been shocked by
what they have learnt.
Where have they been for the past 10 years? Have they
read nothing, heard
nothing?
Even though they were not allowed into
Zimbabwe, they submitted a report to
South Africa's President Motlanthe. He
says he was shocked by the report and
talks about 'quibbling over
ministries'. Where has he been for the past 10
years? Has he read nothing,
heard nothing?
They say the situation is desperate - and so it is - but
it is not helped by
this dishonesty, hypocrisy and ignorance.
They
say the Zimbabwean party leaders must put aside their differences and
join
in a power-sharing government to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe - as if
another short-sighted and deceitful agreement like the one signed in
September will do anything to improve the situation.
Contrary to the
perception emerging from the talks in South Africa, the
crisis in Zimbabwe
is caused by Mugabe alone and is not the result of the
failure to set up a
power-sharing government and may well be worsened by it.
If Zimbabweans see
that their democratic will is again thwarted they may
well be reduced to
violence.
There is no way through for Zimbabwe until there is real
power-sharing and
to treat Tsvangirai as a junior partner when he won the
general election
last March will do nothing to help Zimbabweans. If he joins
the government
as a puppet nothing will change. Is this what the Elders
want? South Africa
clearly does, as is evidenced by the insulting letter
reportedly sent to
Tsvangirai by the mediator Mbeki in which he apparently
complained of his
links with the West. Where does Mbeki think aid and
investment will come
from to revive Zimbabwe? China, North Korea, Burma,
Iran, Libya, Venezuela,
Cuba? The $30million offered by South Africa will
not go far given the
mendacity and greed of the Mugabe regime.
If
there is to be any real pressure for change in Zimbabwe it must be
applied
on the Mugabe regime. The Botswana government sees this clearly
(watch BBC
Hardtalk with Phandu Skelemani, Foreign Minister of Botswana -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fw6yw/HARDtalk_Phandu_Skelemani_Foreign_Minister_of_Botswana/).
The Southern African region must take its advice and isolate the regime. For
our part the Vigil wants to see:
1. No recognition of Mugabe's
illegitimate regime
2. Neighbouring countries to refuse visas to
members of the regime
3. A freeze on the assets of members of the
regime
4. Tighter UN sanctions on the regime
5. The
establishment of refugee camps in countries bordering Zimbabwe
where
desperate Zimbabweans can seek food, medical attention, shelter and
education no longer available at home.
Vigil co-ordinators
The
Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place
every
Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human
rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October
2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections
are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Opinion from the ZANU-PF mouthpiece
http://www1.herald.co.zw
By Tafataona Mahoso
WHILE former
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was dancing with Laurent
Nkunda's war
criminals in the DRC, Zimbabwe was confronted by three other
former
somebodies demanding to come here also.
These were former UN
secretary-general Kofi Annan, ex-US President Jimmy
Carter and former
Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel, who is now married to
Nelson
Mandela.
These three claim to constitute a humanitarian mission or commission
without
saying how they were chosen to constitute such a mission or who
commissioned
them on the basis of what authority and to accomplish what
task!
The very same Anglo-Saxon forces who were behind the so-called UN
Special
Envoys in 2005 are behind the current mission.
People will
remember Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka and Jan Egeland who came here
claiming to
represent Annan's office and turning out to be "CIA jackals" in
the service
of Anglo-American interests.
If humanitarian tragedies are that important,
why don't these "Eminent
Elders" go to Afghanistan where the Anglo-Saxon
powers are fully in charge
and where more than four million Afghan women and
children face a bleak and
severe winter without food or shelter?
If
Afghanistan is too far away, the elders could perhaps go to Somalia where
"regime change" has made it possible for that country to go for 17 years
with no legitimate central Government.
Why do they seek to divide and
destabilise a stable country?
From the point of view of Africa and the Sadc
region, Mrs Machel and Carter
can be forgiven for not knowing what they are
doing or how to do it.
Annan, however, is expected to know better because he
is a well-trained and
experienced diplomat. He is also an experienced
African who by now should
know enough about the tricks of imperialism and
white racism.
Therefore, whether or not the Government of Zimbabwe eventually
allows these
three busybodies to come in, the people need to examine Annan's
score card.
He became secretary-general of the United Nations in 1997 because
one
country alone refused to renew Boutros Boutros-Ghali's second term in
that
post.
The UN Security Council had voted 14 to 1 in favour of renewal
of
Boutros-Ghali's term but the US stopped the renewal because he was viewed
as
too close to the Non-Aligned Movement to allow the UN to be used as a
front
for the dismantling and recolonisation of former Yugoslavia by
Nato.
The same US administration was instrumental in Annan's elevation as Mr
Boutros-Ghali's successor.
The US and Nato got their way at the UN,
proceeded to dismantle Yugoslavia,
waged an air war against Serbia, and
created conditions for the final
secession of Kosovo from Serbia.
In
celebration of this US-Nato colonisation of the UN under Annan, the then
Chairman of the US Foreign Relations Committee Senator Jesse Helms asked to
address the Security Council and was allowed to do so on 20 January
2000.
This was the first time someone from that US Senate office had ever
addressed the UN Security Council.
This is what Senator Helms told the
Security Council on 20 January 2000.
"They (US citizens) know instinctively
that the UN lives and breathes on the
hard-earned money of the American
taxpayers. And yet they have heard
comments here in New York constantly
calling the United States a 'deadbeat'
. . . They see the majority of the UN
members voting against America in the
General Assembly.
"They have read
reports of raucous cheering of UN delegates in Rome, when US
efforts to
amend the International Criminal Court Treaty to protect American
soldiers
were defeated . . . Now, I grant you, the money we (the US) spend
on the UN
is not charity. To the contrary, it is an investment - investment
from which
the American people rightly expect a return.
"They expect a reformed UN that
works more efficiently, and which respects
the sovereignty of the United
States . . . So, as the representatives of the
UN's largest investors, the
American people, we have not only a right, but a
responsibility, to insist
on specific reforms in exchange for their
investment . . . Most Americans do
not regard the United Nations as an end
in and of itself - they see it as
just one part of America's diplomatic
arsenal."
After Yugoslavia, Serbia
and Kosovo, Annan's most spectacular failure was
Iraq.
The
secretary-general failed to use the reports of UN weapons inspectors in
Iraq
to strengthen those powers and organisations who were opposed to the
US-UK
campaign to invade the country.
This failure is clearly documented in the
massive collection of articles by
Media Lens Media Alert, which is entitled
"The Western Media and Iraq:
Selected Articles".
Once Iraq was invaded in
violation of the UN Charter and on the basis of
lies that UN weapons
inspectors and the UN secretary-general knew to be
lies, Annan faced another
spectacular failure.
His own representative in Iraq was killed, when
insurgents against the
illegal occupation of that country accused the UN
mission there of being
indistinguishable from the US-UK occupation
forces.
The insurgents bombed the UN mission headquarters in Iraq.
Under
Annan, UN offices were again attacked by patriots in Cote d'Ivoire and
Lebanon, again for failure by UN representatives there to distinguish
themselves from the imperialist interests of France, the US, the EU (in the
case of Cote d'Ivoire) and the interests of the US and Israel (in the case
of Lebanon).
Zimbabweans of course remember Annan as the UN
secretary-general who, when
he occupied that office, failed to stop the UK,
the US, the EU, Australia
and their white racist allies from imposing
sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans also remember that President Robert
Mugabe has used every UN
forum since 2000 to appeal to the UN to stop the
Anglo-Saxon axis from its
illegal interference in the internal affairs of
Zimbabwe.
We received no help from Annan.
But Annan did far worse than
failing to use his office to mobilise the UN to
protect Zimbabwe.
Annan's
office itself inflicted much damage on Zimbabwe when it agreed to
send
Tibaijuka and Egeland on missions similar to the one which he now wants
to
lead.
The 2005 Zanu-PF National People's Conference in Esigodini condemned
the
behaviour of Annan's so-called special envoys.
The same conference
urged the Government of Zimbabwe in future to be highly
sceptical of any
similar envoys and missions.
The behaviour of the two envoys was shocking
because it did not fit the
manner and style of UN diplomats as Zimbabweans
used to know them during our
Second Chimurenga in the 1970s and during the
best years of the Non-Aligned
Movement.
This new and strange behaviour by
Annan's subordinates fits that of the
people John Perkins calls "CIA
jackals" in his book Confessions of an
Economic Hitman. It fits the
behaviour of the people whom Cuban patriots
call "mules."
Mules are
unsuspected people whose job is to smuggle someone's information
or agenda
through well-guarded doors or borders.
CIA jackals are spies planted in NGOs,
companies and multilateral and
inter-governmental agencies to carry out the
destabilisation missions of
singular countries or blocs of
countries.
They are usually called in at the third stage of imperialist
intervention,
when the first two stages have failed to produce
results.
The whole typology of intervention and destabilisation in pursuit of
regime
change includes five stages, the last of which is direct military
intervention as we see in Iraq today, according to John Perkins.
CIA
jackals are spy-activists whose aim is to cause social, political and
psychological havoc by attacking the public morale and unity of the people
as demonstrated in the last two elections in Zimbabwe.
The language of
Tibaijuka's report and the language that Egeland used on the
BBC after
visiting Zimbabwe was not the language of UN special envoys.
It was the
language of CIA jackals, intended to denigrate, provoke, insult,
demoralise
and divide the people of Zimbabwe.
But besides the language, there was also
real conduct. Both Egeland and
Tibaijuka betrayed their real agendas when
they got to Bulawayo.
This means that the people who sent them believed that
Bulawayo in
particular and Matabeleland in general provide the soft entry
points for
clandestine destabilisation forces.
Bulawayo is the place
where both "envoys" withdrew from the public domain
into backyard and gutter
projects and politics beyond the reach of the media
and beyond the eyes of
the public officials.
This was not accidental.
The NGOs and Embassies who
have sought to sponsor divisive politics in the
last 15 years have also
tended to treat Bulawayo in particular and
Matabeleland in general as if
they were their pet projects and not local
domains of a sovereign
country.
Through Egeland, the British, the EU and America were trying to
influence
the UN to treat Zimbabwe differently from similar cases because
here they
had already gone ahead with Tibaijuka to condemn the urban ghetto
reclamation and reconstruction programmes here as "genocide".
To remain
consistent and in order not to embarrass the NGOs that they
sponsored to
denounce the programmes, these imperialist forces wanted the UN
to install
refugee tents in Zimbabwe's cities.
Such tents would serve as photogenic
propaganda sites for global mass media
and all the imbedded spies and
journalists here.
Crisis Zimbabwe Coalition would get a boost to its reason
to exist, since
Zimbabwe would then appear as a country with a massive and
permanent
internal refugee population.
The NGOs could be paid to induce
ordinary poor people to join the tent
tenants just as many were also induced
to trek to Britain and South Africa
and lie about needing political
asylum.
But such scheming on the part of the US and UK is delusional.
The
overwhelming majority of the people of Zimbabwe are pre-occupied with
land
redistribution, resettlement and the agrarian revolution.
How do we know
this?
We know this from Zanu-PF's 2005 Esigodini National People's Conference
which resolved to condemn the two UN envoys serving as spies for Britain, US
and EU forces against Zimbabwe.
Therefore the Government of Zimbabwe is
to be encouraged to insist that the
UN must not make ridiculous demands on
member states which are not UN
demands but are the bilateral requirements of
a minority of white countries
such as Britain, Australia, America and some
EU countries.
Likewise, unemployed busybodies like Annan, Machel, Desmond
Tutu, Obasanjo
and Carter must stop making absurd demands on African
peoples.
Government must remember that the Anglo-Saxon powers have not yet
declared a
truce in their media terrorism against Zimbabwe, which has been a
critical
feature of their overall propaganda war.
In that war,
humanitarian intervention has been used most frequently. As
Ludo Martens has
warned; "This sort of campaign (which applies psychological
terrorism under
the guise of human rights concerns) is nevertheless nothing
new and should
not come as a surprise to progressive people.
"Military specialists have
written many books and articles about the weapon
of disinformation in Nato
doctrine (for instance). According to those
specialists, disinformation can
be a weapon as powerful as heavy artillery.
"In the words of Colonel
Trinquier, French specialist in anti-communist
warfare: 'Today war is a
whole consisting of actions of all kinds,
political, social, economic,
psychological, armed, and so on, which aim to
overthrow established power in
a country.'
"In every important struggle the facts brought to us by the
imperialist
media are a well-doctored mixture of lies, half-truths and real
facts."
The so-called "Eminent African Elders" have been nominated by
imperialism to
try to reverse the diplomatic achievements of former South
African President
Cde Thabo Mbeki and Sadc in Zimbabwe.
Martens also
cites a CIA specialist in the science of lying who wrote about
how the US
conducted its "black propaganda" against the people of Vietnam.
"Just writing
that communists are bad is cheap. The art is (for the CIA to
get certain
forces) to commit crimes disguised as communists, that is the
way to gain
credibility."
In the Zimbabwean case, the US and UK have lost credibility
over Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and Abu Graib
Prison.
Their forces therefore gravitate toward those institutions, which
still have
some credibility.
The UN has a long relationship with the
leaders of Zimbabwe. Therefore it is
a most attractive target for
infiltration, manipulation and even
intimidation.
In fact, some of the
manipulation is not even made known to UN officials.
For example, in 2005
some embedded journalists were supposed to come to
Zimbabwe under the guise
of covering our Senate elections when in fact their
task was to take
pictures and stage stories which could be manipulated and
sensationalised in
order to scandalise the UN humanitarian coordinator
against us.
Putting
homeless people in make-shift tents, as proposed by Annan's envoy in
2005,
instead of building solid houses in real communities is typical of
what is
notoriously known as the "misery industry" driven by NGOs.
The tents would
provide the symbolic confirmation of the crisis outlined in
Tibaijuka's
report but impossible to justify on the ground where the people's
pre-occupation then and now has always been how to get the inputs needed for
a potentially good farming season.
Therefore, the best these retired
stooges could do for the people of
Zimbabwe is to get the US and the UK to
lift their illegal and racist
sanctions.
However, we have already said
the UN and its volunteers are targeted because
they are more credible that
the British Foreign Office, the US State
Department or the CIA.
The UN
has a relationship with the people of Zimbabwe going back to their
struggles
against UDI and apartheid.
That good track record can be abused by a now
thoroughly compromised UN
system to achieve objectives contrary to those
which the people were
pursuing during earlier struggles.
http://www.mg.co.za
EDITH LEDERER | UNITED NATIONS - Nov 27 2008
07:41
Zimbabwe's growing crisis has seen school attendance plummet from
more than
90% to 20%, major hospitals and clinics close, cholera hit record
levels and
millions of people go to bed hungry, a senior United Nations
humanitarian
official said on Wednesday.
Catherine Braggs, the UN's
deputy emergency relief coordinator, said
Zimbabwe is in the throes of a
humanitarian breakdown across many sectors,
from food production and
healthcare to education. It is the result of a lot
of causes including three
years of failed agricultural harvests, bad
governance, economic policies,
hyperinflation and sanctions, she said.
Braggs echoed UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's plea to donors on Tuesday
to disregard the political
crisis in Zimbabwe and provide money for
critically needed food and other
aid.
At the moment, she said, just less than four million people need
food aid
"and that number is going to rise as we go into the hunger season,
traditionally between January and April".
"The situation is acute and
is expected to worsen by the end of the year,
and probably get even worse in
the beginning of the year," she told a news
conference. "So without massive
assistance this situation is going to get
much, much worse, not just food
insecurity", but across many sectors.
Last year, the UN issued an appeal
for just less than $400-million for
Zimbabwe for 2008, and received 75% of
the request, which is considered a
good response.
Because of the
deteriorating situation in the last few months, the UN asked
donors for an
additional $180-million to $200-million to meet growing
demands this
year.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said earlier this month
international donors had not responded to the appeal for additional funds,
forcing it to start rationing cereal and beans. It warned food aid will run
out by January unless it gets new funds.
In addition to the extra
money for 2008, the UN this week appealed for
$550-million for humanitarian
aid for Zimbabwe in 2009.
Braggs said that compounding the shortage of
food is a breakdown in health
services as well as the education
sector.
"For a country that used to have more than 90% school attendance,
now we're
seeing less than 20%," she said.
This is largely because
"teachers are not being paid or being paid
insufficiently to cover even one
day of transportation to the school, so
they do not show up", Braggs said,
and because students either can't get to
school or can't pay tuition
fees.
The dramatic fall in school attendance is "a real concern for us
because
school is one of the safe environments for children, including
orphans, so
it is both a literacy issue and a safe environment issue", she
said.
In the last few weeks, Braggs said, "there have been closures of
major
hospitals because of the lack of medical personnel".
"They
simply didn't go to work ... again because they don't get payment and
they
just can't afford the transportation cost to be able to go to work,"
she
said. "We also know of severe depletion of medical supplies, which has
led
to the closure of a number of major hospitals and clinics."
Braggs also
cited a major increase in cholera cases, to almost 9 000, with
366 deaths as
of Tuesday. "It's higher than the country has ever seen," she
added.
The number of cholera cases and deaths "is directly traceable
to the fact
that many communities now have depleted their ability to provide
clean water
because of the lack of chemical treatment", Braggs
said.
"So there is an urgent need for water and sanitation. It's also
directly
traceable to the collapse of the health system, where there's
insufficient
health personnel as well as insufficient medical supplies." --
Sapa-AP
http://voanews.com
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.
27 November 2008
The Zimbabwe
government is sharply criticizing Botswana over its call for
neighboring
countries to squeeze embattled President Robert Mugabe out of
power.
Gaborone contends that forcing President Mugabe out of power would
end the
escalating political and economic crises in Zimbabwe. But Harare has
described the Botswana pronouncement as an affront to Zimbabwe's
sovereignty, adding it would not tolerate such impudence. Botswana has also
called on members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to
take a robust stance by isolating President Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF
administration. George Mkwananzi is a Zimbabwean political analyst. He tells
reporter Peter Clottey that Zimbabweans welcome Botswana's uncompromising
stance.
"This is a really practical and realistic approach to the
problem of
Zimbabwe, which is very refreshing coming in the backdrop of
tampering
coming from the likes of Thabo Mbeki and other regional leaders
who have not
been very firmed in their dealings with Robert Mugabe. I think
the approach
must change and it must change radically. And this call by
Botswana is what
the people of Zimbabwe will really welcome," Mkwananzi
noted.
He disagreed with Harare's assertion that Gaborone is infringing
on
Zimbabwe's sovereignty.
"I think this is sheer madness on the part
of Robert Mugabe and members of
his regime to claim that it is interference
on their sovereignty because
that sovereign country is actually squeezing
its own population and is
actually killing its people. The international
community, particularly the
neighbors cannot fold their arms and watch
innocent civilians being murdered
by an irresponsible, illegitimate and
illegal regime. So, it is a
responsibility on their part to save and redeem
the situation in Zimbabwe by
way of intervening in whichever way to ensure
that the crisis does not
continue, "he said
Mkwananzi said there was
need for Zimbabwe's neighbors to support Gaborone's
call for leaders in the
region to isolate the Zimbabwe leadership.
"If they are reasonable, if
they have borne the brunt of Zimbabweans living
in their own country pouring
into other countries like South Africa has
done, then they should see that
there is a need to heed the call from
Botswana," Mkwananzi pointed
out.
He said the crisis in Zimbabwe is specifically having a telling
effect on
neighboring South Africa.
"South Africa in particular has
been receiving hoards of Zimbabweans
crossing the border into South Africa.
And of late, we know that there are
people carrying with them diseases,
which are going to affect the South
African population, and this would not
end there. So, it would surely put
pressure on the South African fiscals
having to take care of unbudgeted
presence of people of Zimbabwe within
their midst. So, South Africa must be
the first country that must take heed
of what the government of Botswana is
suggesting, and then the rest of the
region should back that initiative," he
said.
Mkwananzi said South
Africa has not been tough on President Robert Mugabe's
failure to implement
the recently signed power-sharing agreement with the
opposition.
"It's absolutely true. South Africa has been putting
pressure more on the
opposition to accept an unfair and inequitable deal in
Zimbabwe. Instead of
barking to the correct tree, they are barking at the
wrong tree. They are
allowing Robert Mugabe run Scott free instead of asking
him to allow
meaningful degree of power to go to the opposition," Mkwananzi
noted.
Meanwhile, the leader of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) says there has been no progress in Tuesday's
power-sharing talks with
the ruling ZANU-PF party.
Negotiators from
Mugabe's ZANU-PF, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and a
breakaway MDC
faction began meeting Tuesday with former South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki
who is mediating to try to agree on a draft
constitutional amendment. The
amendment would allow a new unity government
to be formed under the
power-sharing deal with Mugabe as president and
Tsvangirai as prime
minister, but the parties are still arguing over wording
and the allocation
of ministries.
http://news.yahoo.com
TANGIERS, Morocco (AFP) -
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
Wednesday won a pro-democracy
award at a Moroccan political-economic forum
in the Mediterranean, known as
MEDays.
"The 2008 MEDays prize for political dialogue has been awarded to
the head
of Zimbabwe's opposition for his efforts to promote democracy in
his
country," said the vice-president of the Moroccan think-tank that
organised
the forum.
Mekki Lahlou, of the Amadeus Institute, said
Tsvangirai had planned to
receive his award in person Wednesday, but had to
travel to South Africa
instead for a new round of negotiations on Zimbabwe's
political crisis.
Tsvangirai won a first round presidential election in
March, but pulled out
of a run-off accusing President Robert Mugabe's party
of coordinating deadly
attacks against his supporters.
In September
the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) signed a
deal with
Mugabe to form a power-sharing government and become premier, but
negotiations have stalled over the allocation of ministerial
posts.
Guests at the two-day forum in Tangiers that ends Friday include
Spanish,
French and Moroccan ministers. They are expected to discuss
economic
development, the environment and peace in the Mediterranean.
United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI)
Date: 26 Nov
2008
A top United Nations humanitarian
official today appealed for massive
international assistance to help
alleviate the severe humanitarian situation
in Zimbabwe, without which she
warned the situation was going to get much,
much worse.
Addressing a
press conference today at United Nations Headquarters in New
York, Catherine
Bragg, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in the Office for
the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), described the situation in
the
southern African country as "acute" and expected to worsen towards the
end
of the year. Currently, there were slightly less than 4 million people
who
were considered food insecure and in need of food assistance. That
number
was going to rise as the "hunger season" approached, traditionally
between
January and April. Without massive international assistance, the
situation
is going to get much, much worse.
Her appeal came on the heels of
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's statement on
Zimbabwe yesterday and the
launching of the consolidated appeal for that
country earlier in the
week.
She told correspondents that what was prevailing in Zimbabwe today
was not
just a food insecure situation; it was also a multisectoral
humanitarian
situation. There was now an outbreak of cholera in the country,
which had
spilled over into the country's neighbours, as well. The number of
victims
of cholera had now reached almost 9,000 -- the highest the country
had ever
recorded -- and the number of persons who had died of the outbreak
had
reached 366 as of yesterday, which she said was a "very high mortality
rate".
She told correspondents that the number of cholera incidents
at the moment,
as well as the high mortality rate, was directly traceable to
the fact that
many communities now had depleted their ability to provide
clean water,
because of the lack of chemical treatment. Thus, there was now
an urgent
need for water and sanitation. It was also directly traceable to
the
collapse of the health system, due to insufficient health personnel, as
well
as insufficient medical supplies.
Also, she said, at the moment
there was a breakdown both in health services
and in education. There was
now less than 20 per cent school attendance, in
a country that used to have
over 90 per cent attendance. That was largely
because of teachers not being
paid, or being paid insufficiently to cover
even one day of transportation
to the school. So, they simply did not show
up. Further, students sometimes
were unable to attend school because some
schools in the country were
demanding payments in food, which, of course,
the students did not
have.
"So, we're very concerned about this very, very low level of school
attendance at this point", she said, adding that, in light of that dire
situation, this week the United Nations had launched the consolidated appeal
for 2009 for a total of $550 million, the highest appeal ever for Zimbabwe.
Last year's appeal had been just under $400 million and had been "very well
subscribed", and was, at this point, 75 per cent funded. However, that 75
per cent funded was for the original number. OCHA's calculation, because of
the changing circumstances and the fast-deteriorating situation, was that
there would be a shortfall until the end of the year of roughly $2 million,
before getting into what was needed for 2009. About 60 per cent of the $550
million was for food.
Continuing, she appealed to donors for
continued generosity to deal with
what she said was a "very serious
situation" and also assured them that
their aid was going through. "We are
able to reach the 3 million
beneficiaries who were in need of aid at the
moment", she said. "That is not
to say that the operating environment is not
challenging. In fact, it is
very challenging. With hyper-inflation, the
Government is sometimes
accessible, and sometimes it is not; sometimes
cooperative, and sometimes
not."
Responding to a correspondent's
question, Ms. Bragg confirmed the United
Nations had completed a detailed
and comprehensive study of the humanitarian
situation in Zimbabwe and that
was what the consolidated appeal had been
about. The consolidated appeal was
not just a funding appeal, but was
actually a strategic overview of the
situation, as provided by the
participating organizations -- the United
Nations and the non-governmental
organizations. A total of 35 such entities
participated in the consolidated
appeal process in the case of
Zimbabwe.
Asked to elaborate on the general state of the health sector in
the country,
she said, in the last few weeks alone, there had been closures
of major
hospitals, because of the lack of medical personnel. Many of those
personnel
simply did not go to work, either because they did not get paid or
they just
could not afford even the transportation to get to work. There was
also
"quite a brain drain" of health-care workers leaving Zimbabwe itself
and a
severe depletion of medical and health-care supplies.
To a
journalist who wanted to know what was responsible for the depletion of
medical supplies in the country, Ms. Bragg answered: "Because of the
breakdown in the whole economy, the government expenditure is, in fact,
insufficient to support any of the basic social services. And that's just
one of the symptoms of it."
Asked what the United Nations system was
doing on the cholera outbreak, in
light of reports indicating a lack of
chemicals to purify water in the
country's major cities, she said the United
Nations was part of a task force
within Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health set up
to coordinate the response to
the cholera situation. Also, because of the
hyper-inflation now buffeting
the country, the United Nations had recently
managed to negotiate "the
dollarization" of the humanitarian operation,
thereby avoiding the foreign
currency exchange rules of the Zimbabwean
Reserve Bank, which tied all
currency transactions to the local currency.
That somewhat protected against
wild fluctuations in the cost of delivering
aid, she said.
Asked if anyone had indicated readiness to fund the
end-of-the-year funding
gap, she said that many donors were ready to fund
the gap between now and
the end of the year. No actual pledges had been
received for 2009, because
the appeal had only been launched last week, as
part of the global appeal,
and only two days ago, locally, in Harare for
Zimbabwe. With the exception
of China, which pledged a contribution whose
details she did not readily
have, no other donor had done so since the
Harare launch meeting two days
ago.
Given the political situation in
the country, did she think there was "donor
fatigue" within certain
traditional donors to respond to the humanitarian
crisis in Zimbabwe?
another correspondent asked. Ms. Bragg replied: "I would
think that the fact
that the 2008 appeal has been subscribed to 75 per cent,
making it one of
the top three appeals we have globally, indicated that, in
fact, donors are
quite able to distinguish between humanitarian needs and
any political
development and their own political viewpoint. I would imagine
that that
would go forward as well."
She added that OCHA had been talking to many
donors about the funding
situation in 2009, not just for Zimbabwe, but
globally as well, and OCHA's
reading at this point was that the level of
contributions would probably be
maintained, rather than being diminished.
That was largely because, for most
of the donors, their budgets for 2009 had
already been allocated.
http://www.nytimes.com/
Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: November 26,
2008
The Zimbabwean playwright and political satirist Cont Mhlanga has won
the
Freedom to Create Prize, awarded by the artistic philanthropy group
ArtVenture, the organization announced. Mr. Mhlanga has been an outspoken
critic of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and his work has been banned
by that regime. The award was given to Mr. Mhlanga at a ceremony in London
on Wednesday. In a statement ArtVenture said it had created the distinction
"to highlight a forgotten frontline of artists defending their freedom of
expression at great personal sacrifice." It comes with a prize of $50,000,
half of which Mr. Mhlanga has pledged to the Women of Zimbabwe Arise Group,
an equal-rights organization.
http://www.china.org.cn
Eight African
drug smugglers were convicted and sentenced to death
with two-year reprieves
on Tuesday in south China's Guangdong Province,
local official
said.
Another African was jailed for life at the mass
sentencing at
Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, said a court
official.
The four Ugandans, two Benin nationals and three
Zimbabweans were
convicted of involvement in trafficking drugs, ranging in
amount from 654 to
1,986 grams, the official said.
In six
cases, drugs were found in smugglers' bodies. About 1,200 grams
of heroin
was found in a 25-year-old woman named Asaria Mushangwe in June,
the
official said.
The largest amount of heroin, weighing 1,986
grams, was found in
39-year-old Ugandan woman Jean Ndawula Kirunda's luggage
when she arrived at
Guangzhou airport from Bangkok last year, the official
said.
Four of the nine were in their twenties and the youngest
was
22-year-old Taapatsa Lauraine Itayirufaro from
Zimbabwe.
Tugwete Edith, 27, from Zimbabwe, female, was
sentenced to life jail,
the official said.
The other five
were Fagbemi Ismaila Ayinde, 30, from Benin, man; Annet
Namisango, 38, from
Uganda, woman; Charles Candia, 23, from Uganda, man;
Habiba Musa, 29, from
Uganda, woman; and Ismailou Alamou Adechian, 33, from
Benin,
man.
(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)
http://www.chronicle.co.zw
Business
Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Institute of Management has
resorted to reviewing fees on a
weekly basis, a move that has been
criticised by students who feel they
might be forced to drop out.
The
fees have to be paid in cash only or alternatively 60 litres in fuel
coupons.
Last week fees were $18 million and reviewed upwards to $27
million this
week, a move that has brought an outcry from students doing
their courses
with the institution.
"Please note that fees for Strategic
Management module is $18 million cash
instead of $16 million as previously
stated or 3x20 litres fuel coupons per
individual. We accept that this is
inconvenient. Please accept our
apologies," read a letter issued to a
student doing an Executive Diploma in
Business Leadership (DBL), last
week.
The students said they had failed to make payments as their monies were
stuck in the banks as the withdrawal limits were so little that even if they
withdrew daily, they would still fail to pay the fees.
This has resulted
in most students breaching the contract as they attended
lectures without
having paid their fees.
The institution ordered students to make outstanding
payments this week as
next week the fees would be increased.
"Our records
show that you attended the Strategic Management module
presented on 21 to 23
November 2008. However, our records do not reflect
your payment of $18
million fees for the session. Our contract stipulates
that no classes should
be attended before the student has made full payment
for the
module.
"Please settle your debt, which is now $27 million. Students are
aware that
our fees are reviewed every Monday, and students in default of
payment have
to defray their debts by paying the current rate for the week
when payment
is made," read another letter issued this week.
The student
said the fees reviews had strained their studies and called on
the
Government to look into the issue as they feared that they would be
forced
to withdraw from their courses.
One student said it would be much better if
the institution sought a licence
to charge fees in hard currency to avoid
the unnecessary weekly reviews that
posed a threat to their education.
http://www.ft.com
By Tom Burgis in Johannesburg
Published:
November 27 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 27 2008 02:00
Lawyers for
John Bredenkamp said they would seek to challenge a US Treasury
decision to
place the Zimbabwean tycoon on a list of "cronies" of President
Robert
Mugabe's regime subject to sanctions.
A spokesman for Mr Bredenkamp, who
was ranked as one of the richest men in
his adopted home of Britain in 2002
with an estimated fortune of £720m, said
the businessman was "astonished" by
the decision, which "ignored the fact
that he was imprisoned by the Zimbabwe
government for alleged passport
violations in 2006".
A statement from
the US Treasury described the former captain of the
Rhodesia rugby team as
"a well known Mugabe insider involved in business
activities, including
tobacco trading, grey-market arms trading and
trafficking, equity
investments, oil distribution, tourism, sports
management and diamond
extraction".
Blacklisting 20 companies owned or controlled by Mr
Bredenkamp, the Treasury
claimed he has "financially propped up the regime
and provided other support
to a number of its high-ranking officials". It
will henceforth be illegal
for US citizens to do business with Mr Bredenkamp
or his companies, although
his empire is thought to have scant connection
with the US.
Also added to the sanctions list - which the US has been
tightening while Mr
Mugabe has clung to power after March's violent
elections - was Billy
Rautenbach, a former business partner of his fellow
white Zimbabwean.
Mr Rautenbach has a long history of involvement in the
opaque Congolese
mining sector and is wanted in South Africa in connection
with alleged fraud
and theft.
He had supported "large-scale mining
projects in Zimbabwe that benefit a
small number of corrupt senior
officials", the Treasury claimed. The
Treasury, however, gave no details of
how either man had supported the
regime.
Two further people were
placed under sanctions: a Thai businesswoman
acc-used of assisting
"kleptocratic practices" and a Malaysian urologist
des-cribed as one of
the
president's "physicians and business advisers".
* Opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday called for former South
African president
Thabo Mbeki to step down as the mediator in Zimbabwe's
political
crisis.
"He does not appear to understand how desperate the problem in
Zimbabwe is,
and the solutions he proposes are too small," Mr Tsvangirai
said.
Police raid addresses owned by tycoon implicated in controversial sale of aircraft to South Africa
Thursday, 27 November 2008
AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Bredenkamp was once one of the UK's 100 richest people, after making fortunes under Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe
A dramatic raid on addresses in South Africa linked to a controversial international arms dealer yesterday cast fresh doubt on would-be president Jacob Zuma's political future.
South Africa's renowned financial crimes unit, the Scorpions, swooped on properties owned by John Bredenkamp, a businessman, erstwhile political ally of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and a man involved in a controversial arms deal that has already seen Mr Zuma's financial adviser imprisoned.
Mr Bredenkamp is accused of improperly profiting from a deal to sell fighter aircraft to South Africa. Mr Zuma is due to face his country's Supreme Court in the next 48 hours in connection with the same case, the outcome of which could decide the South African presidency.
It is alleged that a British arms manufacturer offered inducements to secure a major contract for its partially owned Swedish partner Saab to supply fighter jets to South Africa.
The controversial raid by an elite police unit used by former South African president Thabo Mbeki in his attempts to discredit Mr Zuma – a unit facing disbandment under a Zuma government – has significantly raised the political stakes in a case that is tipped to determine who leads Africa's largest economy after elections next year. No independent evidence has been produced to support the claims against Mr Zuma.
It also marks the return to centre stage of the colourful and controversial Mr Bredenkamp, who on Tuesday was hit by financial sanctions after being named by the US as a key backer of the Mugabe regime. The former captain of Rhodesia's rugby team is thought to have acquired his first fortune by helping the international pariah regime of Ian Smith evade UN sanctions following its unilateral declaration of independence in 1965. His second fortune was made after independence, when he built up the largest tobacco company outside of the US. He ran his businesses from Harare and had a good relationship with the Mugabe government he had previously worked to prevent taking office.
The South African-born businessman, who has held Zimbabwean and Dutch passports as well as enjoying British citizenship, was once rated among the 100 richest men in the UK. He has since fallen out with Mr Mugabe and is now resident in Britain after having his Zimbabwean passport revoked. Fana Hlongwane, once a senior aide to the late former South African defence minister Joe Modise, was also raided in Johannesburg over the same alleged kick-back scandal yesterday morning.
The raid on Mr Bredenkamp's premises marks the culmination of a long-running investigation into sales of aircraft to South Africa by the British company BAE Systems. It was not clear whether the Scorpions had obtained any information that would help them in the investigations of the activities of Mr Bredenkamp. His lawyer, Ian Small-Smith, confirmed that the raid on his client, who owns a number of properties in Britain and has secured indefinite residency, would not affect his intention to remain in the UK. "It's a long, long story," said Mr Small-Smith, who initially agreed to comment further on the case but was then unavailable to do so.
The Scorpions, who were last year asked by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for help in investigating the suspect arms deal, declined to comment further on the purpose and outcome of the South African raids. The alleged BAE payments to Mr Bredenkamp are said to have been made between 2003 and 2005 by Red Diamond Trading, a BAE subsidiary registered in the British Virgin Islands. The monies moved from a Lloyds TSB account into one owned by Kayswell Services, a company also registered in the British Virgin Islands of which Mr Bredenkamp was listed as a beneficiary. Red Diamond was liquidated on 30 May last year, just before the firm announced that Lord Woolf, a former chief justice, was due to begin an investigation into its observance of anti-corruption rules.
The once-close relationship between Mr Mugabe and Mr Bredenkamp appears to have been broken after the former rugby star was accused of supporting a plot to replace the 83-year-old president with his long-time ally, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The disclosure of the plot saw Mr Bredenkamp jailed in Zimbabwe for four days on charges that he had violated citizenship laws by owning two passports, one Zimbabwean and the other South African.
http://www.thenational.ae
Sebastien Berger, Foreign
Correspondent
a.. Last Updated: November 27. 2008 1:04AM UAE / November
26. 2008 9:04PM
GMT
JOHANNESBURG // When Robert Mugabe's government made
clear that three of the
Elders, the distinguished group of global statesmen,
were not welcome in
Zimbabwe last week, South Africa's leaders tried to
intervene - and failed
utterly.
Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary
general, Jimmy Carter, the former
president of the United States, and Graça
Machel, the wife of Nelson
Mandela, wanted to mount a humanitarian
fact-finding mission to the
benighted country, but were considered
"partisan" by Harare.
"We did make attempts to speak to President Mugabe
about the request of the
Elders to visit Zimbabwe," said Kgalema Motlanthe,
South Africa's president.
"The response was he was out of town and as soon
as he would come back they
would give him the message he should come back to
us.
"He didn't come back to us."
Mr Motlanthe has a dry, formal
manner, and he described events in a
straight, factual way. But the naked
snub he revealed speaks volumes about
Mr Mugabe's attitude towards his
fellow leaders, and the impotence of the
international community when it
comes to Zimbabwe.
Even when faced with as unthreatening a prospect as a
visit by three
respected elders, Zimbabwe's octogenarian leader chose simply
to ignore the
attempted entreaties of his colleagues and within days the
problem -
literally - went away, leaving him as untouched as
ever.
Having been in power for 28 years, Mr Mugabe's longevity - coupled
with his
role in the struggle for independence on a continent where
anti-colonialism
remains a key political consideration - gives him an
unparalleled standing
among his peers. And as one of the last surviving "big
men", he considers
himself senior to the upstart heads of state of nearby
countries who might
dare to criticise him - an outlook epitomised by his
public patronising of
Ian Khama, the president of Botswana, at the signing
ceremony for the
power-sharing deal in September, when he told him what a
good man his father
had been.
Mr Annan himself criticised the
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) for failing to take a tougher
stance on Zimbabwe. "They could have at
various stages taken different
decisions which could have had a different
impact," he said.
Mr
Mugabe has made a remarkable comeback over the months since the first
round
of the elections in March, when his Zanu-PF party lost its
parliamentary
majority for the first time since independence in 1980 and he
was beaten
into second place in the presidential poll by Morgan Tsvangirai,
of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
At the time, some analysts
were predicting he would be gone within 24 hours.
Instead, and despite
widespread western condemnation and even some African
criticism, he remains
president and appears to be in a position to dominate
the unity government,
if and when it is formed. It is a tribute to the
effectiveness of brutality,
intransigence and sheer determination to hold on
to power, whatever the
consequences for others.
As a result, and especially given Zanu-PF's
nature as a power network that
extends across the machinery of the
Zimbabwean state, rather than simply a
tool of one man at the top,
realpolitik has to come into play.
"Anyone who is sensible enough to
analyse the results of the elections will
have to admit that all parties
involved need each other to work," Ms Machel
said.
"We may not like
many things which have happened with that government, but
it has to be
brought on board. There's no possibility of ignoring it.
"As we stand,
the interests of power are in certain hands. We have to work
with those
hands to open and release it. We may not like it, but pragmatism
says that's
the way to go."
It is undoubtedly the most realistic position to take,
but it is fraught
with dangers, given Mr Mugabe's oft-demonstrated bad
faith.
SADC went down the pragmatist route this month when it decreed
that the home
affairs ministry, the subject of a deadlock between Zanu-PF
and the MDC,
should be administered jointly.
The decision left no
part of the state security apparatus in the exclusive
control of the
opposition and Zanu-PF accepted it with alacrity, while the
MDC rejected it.
Effectively, the region had given its imprimatur to Mr
Mugabe's power
grab.
Even if it had been willing to confront him, he had given it no
plausible
alternative if it wanted to keep him in its faltering negotiation
process.
Tony Reeler, a Zimbabwean activist writing for the Institute for
Democracy
in South Africa, said: "There are now exceptionally serious
questions about
whether SADC is an institution with the gravitas to resolve
the crisis, or
is merely a club for all the old 'Liberation boys', who value
each other
more than they value their respective peoples.
"For it is
clear that this most recent decision of SADC has continued the
old game of
placing leaders above people."
sberger@thenational.ae
The Carter Center
Date: 25 Nov 2008
As president, I worked actively with African leaders and the British
to
change the apartheid regime of Rhodesia into a democratic Zimbabwe in
1980.
Eight years later, The Carter Center established one of our first
Global
2000 agriculture projects in Zimbabwe - so successful that we soon
shifted
our emphasis to more needy countries. At that time, Zimbabwe was
known as a
breadbasket for the region and set an example for the rest of
Africa in
economic stability, education, and health care.
Now, after
almost three decades of governmental corruption, mismanagement,
and
oppression, Zimbabwe has become a basket case, an embarrassment to the
region and a focus of international concern and condemnation. From our
earliest days, the Elders have monitored this political and humanitarian
crisis, while realizing that its resolution must come from within Africa.
There is great aversion among even the most enlightened African leaders to
"interference" from former colonial powers and their allies, including the
United States. However, these same leaders have been reluctant to assume
responsibility for the political stalemate and evolving humanitarian
catastrophe.
Since I had played a strong role in the founding of his
nation and worked
closely and harmoniously with President Robert Mugabe
early in his tenure,
the African Elders welcomed my participation in a
mission to assess,
publicize, and help to alleviate the suffering of the
people of Zimbabwe.
I met former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and
Graça Machel, women's
activist and wife of Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg,
South Africa, on
November 21. The Elders' CEO Mabel van Oranje and her staff
had made an
advance visit to Zimbabwe and arranged our itinerary there and
in South
Africa. Their understanding with the Zimbabwe government officials
was that
our visas would be issued when we arrived in Harare, if not
earlier.
However, when we met with former South African president Thabo
Mbeki, the
mediator designated by other Southern African (SADC) leaders to
facilitate
the political dispute in Zimbabwe, he delivered a message from
Harare that
we would not be welcomed and no visas would be
forthcoming.
We had known that this was a possibility, so we proceeded to
learn as much
as possible from a series of delegations that came from
Zimbabwe to meet us
in Johannesburg. We obtained visas and airline tickets
for those who needed
our help. Our discussions were with ambassadors of
major donor nations,
heads of UN agencies, regional managers of CARE, Save
the Children, World
Vision, and Zimbabwean civil society leaders who were
human rights
defenders, business and financial executives, representatives
of teachers,
doctors, nurses, farmers, women, and victims of torture and
AIDS. We also
met with Botswana President Ian Khama, South African President
Kgalema
Motlanthe, ANC party president (and prospective South African
president)
Jacob Zuma, and Zimbabwe's opposition party leaders Morgan
Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara.
In summary, we had a complete and
balanced agenda and more frank discussions
than would have been possible in
the oppressive and restrained environment
of Harare.
The current
political crisis originated with a fraudulent presidential
election in March
2008, with Tsvangirai (MDC) probably winning an actual
majority, but being
awarded 47.9 percent and Mugabe (ZANU-PF) 43.2 percent
of the votes when the
results were finally announced five weeks after
Election Day, forcing a
runoff between the two. Orchestrated violence and
brutal persecution of
Tsvangirai and his supporters forced him to withdraw
from the runoff, and
Mugabe retained his office by default. African
political leaders largely
ignored reports by their election observers, but a
series of negotiations
under SADC auspices finally resulted in a
power-sharing agreement signed by
Mugabe and Tsvangirai on September 15.
President Mugabe has not been
willing to cede any real power to his
opponent, who is supposed to assume
the co-equal role of a strong prime
minister. A constitutional amendment
will be required to establish this
office in the government and to spell out
its legal duties. It is imperative
for this to be accomplished without delay
so that a functioning government
can be formed.
With Tsvangirai in
exile (not being issued a passport), the trend toward a
national tragedy has
accelerated. The official inflation rate is now 231
million per cent (the
actual rate 2,000 times as much), and thousands of
people stand in line each
day to receive an allowance of 500,000 Zin dollars
(about 2˘ U.S.) from
their own bank accounts, not sufficient to buy even
half a loaf of bread.
Teachers receive about one U.S. dollar per month,
which will not pay the
cost of transportation to and from schools, many of
which have closed.
Within the last three months, school attendance has
dropped from 85 percent
to less than 20 percent, with students going mainly
in hopes of obtaining
some food. Teachers report that there are 20 students
for each remaining
textbook.
The manager of a supermarket chain reported that shelves are
empty of
necessities, so some valued workers, as in banks, are compensated
with a few
liters of fuel or a basket of food instead of the worthless
currency (bills
are in denominations of 100s of billions). Meanwhile, top
government
officials and other privileged people can exchange Zim money at a
favorable
rate that is several thousand times more than the official rate
available to
other citizens. They profit greatly from these monetary
transactions and
shop in special stores.
The four major hospitals,
the medical school, and most other hospitals and
emergency clinics no longer
operate, and police have clashed with doctors
and nurses who insist on the
ability to treat their patients. It is reported
that 3,500 AIDS victims are
dying weekly, and there are cholera outbreaks in
all ten provinces because
of uncontrolled sewage and lack of clean water.
More than 600 cases of
cholera were reported on the Zimbabwe side of the
main South Africa border
crossing during the four days prior to our arrival.
The government admits
294 deaths from cholera, and Zimbabwe doctors told us
that there are more
than 6,500 cases, with a death rate ten times greater
than when normal
treatment is available. This outbreak of cholera is
arousing growing
opposition to immigrants in all the neighboring countries.
The exodus
continues; the UN reports an average of 19,000 "mobile and
vulnerable
people" (MVPs) leaving Zimbabwe each month, with 15,000 of them
entering
South Africa and most of the others going to Botswana. It is
estimated that
as many as 4 million people have left Zimbabwe, seeking food,
medical care,
and freedom from abuse. Some of the more privileged move
freely back and
forth across the border, selling purchased goods at a huge
profit when they
return home. The middle class is departing, leaving behind
the extremely
poor and the small elite group around Mugabe who are profiting
from the
economic disaster.
One night we visited Central Methodist church, where
2,000 refugees were
eating and sleeping in the rooms and corridors. Bishop
Paul Verryn was
struggling to raise funds to support this remarkable
humanitarian operation.
Human rights activists reported to us that there has
been a recent increase
in police brutality, especially at the international
borders, and frequently
mentioned Police Superintendent Commander Mabunda as
orchestrating the
oppression.
Almost all of this year's planting
season has been lost because of a lack of
seed and fertilizer, and the World
Food Program estimates that 50 percent of
the population will need food
assistance before April 2009. The next
potential harvest will be in April
2010 - if supplies become available.
Relief agencies report the channeling
of available supplies to ruling party
loyalists and a deliberate starving of
MDC party leaders.
This entire debacle is exacerbated by denials of an
emergency by Mugabe, who
uses the controlled news media to blame the
suffering of his people on
non-existent economic sanctions. His tightly
controlled and well organized
political party, ZANU-PF, has always been a
military organization, with
humanitarian concerns relatively unimportant
compared to remaining in power.
Ambassadors from donor nations and leaders
of major humanitarian
organizations report that there is no substantive
contact permitted between
them and national government
officials.
Without a political solution, the economic and social fabric
of society will
continue its free fall. When it is impossible to pay the
army and the
enormous civil service, the result may be a resort to
internecine violence
in what could become a failed state, similar to
Somalia.
The overriding problem has been reluctance of key African
leaders,
especially in South Africa and neighboring SADC countries, to
confront
Robert Mugabe and force him to accept the result of the March
election and
more recently to comply with negotiated political agreements to
share
governmental authority with Morgan Tsvangirai and the opposition
party. The
result is that human suffering, denied and concealed by the
Mugabe regime,
escalates and the poisonous effects, including a cholera
epidemic, are
spilling over into the entire region.
If action by SADC
leaders continues to be ineffective, it is imperative that
the African Union
and the United Nations take action. A first step, short of
intercession,
could be to send independent fact-finding teams to Zimbabwe to
obtain
information directly from major donors, international relief
agencies,
medical doctors, teachers, farmers, and other citizens who have
described
their experiences to us.
In the meantime, there is a desperate need for
food, medicine, and cash
contributions, which can be made to established
humanitarian agencies
including CARE, World Vision, and Save the Children -
or Bishop Verryn. It
is counterproductive to contribute money that can be
confiscated by the
Zimbabwe government. Additional information will be
posted at
http://www.theelders.org/.
http://www.nehandaradio.com
26 November 2008
By Doreen
Mutemeri
It is frustrating and quite unfair for many Zimbabweans in the
diaspora to
have their lives placed in limbo all because an 84 old geriatric
called
Robert Mugabe behaves like he owns the country. The current state of
power
sharing talks make it clear Mugabe has no interest in genuinely
sharing
power with the opposition.
Reports as I write suggest over
3000 people have died as a result of the
cholera epidemic, a water-bourne
disease that is easily curable. But in a
country where medicines are now
hard to come by and there are no chemicals
to treat water, the password to
survival is 'don't get sick or you die.'
Even as people die the
government refuses to declare the crisis a national
emergency. Instead the
Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti focussed on the
blame game, accusing
so-called western sanctions for the epidemic. Is this
not the same
government that banned NGO's from doing humanitarian work a few
months
ago?
One might argue being in the diaspora is a blessing because you do
not meet
the suffering first hand, but I wish to argue that the trauma of
not knowing
which of your relatives is going to die next is very hard to
deal with.
Every phone call back home is a heart-stopping exercise. Its
almost like
marking the register or conducting a roll call to see who is
still alive and
who has died.
Food shortages, cholera, power cuts,
erratic water supplies all combine to
brew a tragic cocktail of death and
despair. Of course all these miserable
conditions do not visit our wel taken
care of politicians. They live in
plush homes in Borrowdale and have
boreholes and generators that cushion
them from their own mess.
There
is a slim chance Mugabe will read this article but if he ever does, I
want
to ask him how he feels about every single person who has died in
Zimbabwe,
from the Gukurahundi Massacres, political violence, those who have
starved
to death, the white farmers needlessly killed? Is there any
satisfaction in
clinging to power through violent means.
It is not too late for Mugabe to
rejoin the family of God where peace and
love reign supreme. The Zimbabwean
President is a Catholic to the best of my
knowledge and I think a visit to
the Cathedral, which is near his
Munhumutapa Office is long over due. Surely
the divine spirit will intervene
and direct him to Gods path. The people
have suffered enough.
Doreen Mutemeri is a gender activist based in the
United Kingdom.