Zim Online
by Tsungai Murandu Friday 30 November
2007
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi
yesterday presented
a hugely disappointing and populist “People Budget” for
2008, highlighting
the government’s pre-occupation with trying to appease a
disgruntled
electorate while paying little heed to a deepening economic
crisis.
Expenditure for the fiscal year 2008 is projected at $7 600
trillion against
a revised target of $45.6 trillion for 2007, exposing a
government with an
insatiable appetite for spending and an administration
resigned to living
with the scourge of runaway
inflation.
Mumbengegwi, who was presenting his maiden national budget
after taking over
from Herbert Murerwa in a Cabinet reshuffle last February,
projects revenue
collection for 2008 at $6 000 trillion, up from $46.3
trillion budgeted for
this year.
This gives a budget deficit of $1
760 trillion for 2008 or 11 percent of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
compared to a shortfall of $700 billion for
2007.
The minister
allocated $209 trillion to ensure the smooth running of the
watershed 2008
elections during which Zimbabweans will choose a new
president, Members of
Parliament and local government councilors.
“The 2008 budget will cover
funding requirements such as personal costs,
transport costs and other
requirements,” Mumbengegwi said.
He said focus of the 2008 budget would
be on supporting farmers for the
2007/08 season, dubbed the “mother of all
agriculture seasons”.
Indicative of the government’s insensitivity to the
needs of the business
sector, Mumbengegwi’s proposals for 2008 were largely
silent on real issues
of substance necessary to revive the manufacturing
sector and instead
focused more on “community-based programmes” targeting
the ordinary man in
the street and rural communities.
These included
the introduction of an $8 trillion Rural Capital Development
Fund to support
infrastructure projects in rural areas, an $11.7 trillion
allocation to the
Youth Development and Creation Fund and more than $26
trillion allocated to
the Women and Community Development Fund.
He also allocated $21.4
trillion to the Small Enterprises Development
Corporation for on-lending to
small and medium enterprises and another $3.6
trillion for rural water and
sewer reticulation programmes.
Still, Mumbengegwi predicted Zimbabwe's
economy to grow 4.0 percent next
year fueled by agricultural and
manufacturing production, while inflation
would slow down to 1 978 percent.
He did not say quiet how this would be
achieved.
"The 2008 budget is
premised on a real GDP growth of 4 percent due to growth
in agriculture
(and) the industrial sector," he said.
To appease a restive workforce,
the minister widened tax bands so that with
effect from 1 January 2008, the
highest tax bracket of 37.5 percent would
apply to workers earning more than
$500 million a month.
The tax-free income was reviewed upwards from $4
million a month to $30
million a month with effect from January next
year.
He also raised the tax-free component of annual bonuses for workers
to $75
million.
This is expected to exert pressure on the country’s
world record inflation
estimated at nearly 15 000 percent.
Other than
statement of intent on fighting inflation, the budget was silent
on what the
minister was proposing to win the war on prices. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Sebastian Nyamhangambiri Friday 30 November
2007
HARARE - Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations (NGO)
on Thursday
criticised Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade for excluding
civic society
in his initiative to mediate in the southern African country's
political and
economic crisis.
The NGOs said Wade - whose efforts
looked set to flop after President Robert
Mugabe said Harare did not wish to
see a parallel mediation process - was
committing the same mistake as South
African President Thabo Mbeki of not
consulting ordinary Zimbabweans about
the future of the country.
Mbeki is spearheading a Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
initiative to break Zimbabwe's crisis and NGOs
have castigated his effort
for being secretive and exclusive to Mugabe's
ruling ZANU PF party and the
opposition.
"Just like in the Mbeki
talks, everything is left to politicians and
ordinary people are not
consulted and are left to speculate on what is
taking place," said Fambai
Ngirande, the spokesman for the National
Association of NGOs in
Zimbabwe.
The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a political
pressure group
campaigning for a new and democratic constitution for
Zimbabwe, said what
was need was an all inclusive and transparent process to
hammer out
solutions to the country's economic and political
problems.
"We want a democratic process that involves everyone,' said NCA
chairman
Lovemore Madhuku. He added: "Just like the Mbeki process, Wade is
likely to
exclude the civic society and that makes the whole process a waste
of
resources and time."
Wade, who held talks with Mugabe on
Wednesday, proposed the setting up of a
committee of five African heads of
state to try to break Zimbabwe's long
running crisis.
While Mugabe
agreed to Wade's suggestion of talks between Zimbabwe and
Britain to resolve
a diplomatic standoff between the African country and its
former colonial
power, he however appeared to disagree on the need for a
fresh mediation
process, saying Zimbabwe would not "brook unhelpful parallel
initiatives."
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party that has held
several rounds of talks with ZANU PF under Mbeki's
facilitation welcomed
Wade's intervention saying it would be useful if it
particularly focused on
promoting dialogue between Zimbabwe and the
international community.
"Our understanding from the meeting we had with
him (Wade) is that he is on
a mission whose main (objective) is to promote
dialogue between the
government and the international world, especially the
United Kingdom," said
Welshman Ncube, one of the two secretaries general of
the divided MDC.
"As long as he remains within those parameters, we have
no problems with
him. He is not substituting the SADC dialogue which is
almost coming to an
end," added Ncube.
The two MDC factions have one
joint team in negotiations with ZANU PF.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of a
debilitating political and economic crisis that
is highlighted by
hyperinflation, a rapidly contracting GDP, the fastest for
a country not at
war according to the World Bank and shortages of foreign
currency, food and
fuel.
A shortage of local currency has further choked Zimbabweans who are
living
on less that US$1 per day. Four out of five people are out of work,
while a
quarter of the country's 12 million people are in urgent need of
food aid
but Mugabe insists the country will not collapse. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Farisai Gonye Friday 30 November
2007
HARARE - Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF party says it has put
elaborate plans to
ferry more than a million people to Harare to march in
support of President
Robert Mugabe's candidature in next year's presidential
election.
ZANU PF legislator and government Minister of Transport Chris
Mushowe, in
charge of transport and logistics for the march, said that the
party had
contracted state-controlled Zimbabwe United Passenger Company
(ZUPCO) and
the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to ferry marchers to
Harare.
"My task is to ensure that not a single person who wants to
travel for the
march is stranded. There is enough transport for more than
one million
people," said Mushowe when contacted for comment
yesterday.
Veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970's liberation war, hardliner
supporters of
Mugabe, have since last August staged demonstrations in major
cities and
towns to show support for the 83-year old President who was
facing
resistance from some senior ZANU PF politicians led by powerful
former army
general Solomon Mujuru.
The politicians wanted Mugabe
replaced by a younger leader at a party
congress scheduled for next
month.
Controversial war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda said they were
expecting
close to 1.5 million people during the march but sources within
the
transport ministry said about 450 000 were targeted to attend the
march.
"There will be 32 train and 150 bus trips. The logistics are to
ferry plus
or minus 450 000 people," said a source.
ZANU PF last
month said the December congress was being held to merely
endorse Mugabe as
candidate in the presidential poll to be held together
with elections for
Parliament.
Under Mugabe's charge, Zimbabwe has declined from being one
of Africa's most
vibrant economies to being a classical African basket case
surviving on food
handouts from international relief agencies. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Regerai Marwezu Friday 30 November
2007
MASVINGO - Zimbabwe Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa has
ordered Masvingo
provincial governor Willard Chiwewe to halt plans to
resettle villagers in
Nuanetsi Ranch ending a long-running dispute between
the governor and
Vice-President Joseph Msika.
Chiwewe last year
clashed with Msika over plans to resettle villagers in
Nuanetsi Ranch with
the Vice-President arguing that the property should be
spared from
acquisition as it was owned by indigenous black Zimbabweans.
The Masvingo
governor had however insisted that he would go ahead with plans
to resettle
in the ranch as the property was being seriously under-utilised.
Chiwewe
also said there were still hundreds of thousands of landless black
Zimbabweans who were still clamouring for land in the province.
In a
letter dated 26 November 2007, which was addressed to Chiwewe, Mutasa,
who
is also State Security Minister, finally put his foot down ordering the
governor to lay his hands off Nuanetsi Ranch.
The ranch, which lies
in south-western Zimbabwe, is owned by the Development
Trust of Zimbabwe, a
company formed at independence in 1980 by the late PF
ZAPU leader Joshua
Nkomo.
Msika was a senior member of the PF ZAPU party before its merger
with
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party in 1987.
"Following your
request to resettle people in the Nuanetsi ranch, please be
advised that the
property is not earmarked for resettlement," said Mutasa in
the
letter.
"The property is owned by blacks and it is against this spirit
that the farm
should not be acquired. We want to empower blacks and we
cannot take a farm
from the same people that we are fighting to empower,"
said Mutasa.
The Zimbabwean government has since 2000 led a controversial
campaign to
drive out white farmers from farms in a programme Mugabe says
will correct
historical imbalances in land allocation.
The land
reforms have seen just about 400 white farmers remaining on their
properties
out of the estimated 4 000 white farmers who were there before
the land
reforms began seven years ago.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Chiwewe
confirmed receiving the letter from
Mutasa adding that he was disappointed
by the order from the lands minister.
"We wanted to resettle people from
the Gonarezhou (national park) in
Nuanetsi but the government through the
Ministry of Lands has rejected our
request.
"We as a province are not
happy with this decision because that large piece
of land is lying idle,"
said Chiwewe. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
29 November
2007
While presenting next year's budget to the public,
Zimbabwe's finance
minister forecast an 11 percent deficit for 2008 and said
he will bring
inflation below 2,000 percent. For VOA, Peta Thornycroft
reports analysts
say Zimbabwe's economy is so seriously collapsed that few
of the figures the
finance minister presented made much
sense.
Economists say the figures Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwe
presented
were the same, in reality, as last year.
The gross domestic
product is the same as last year. The difference is that
inflation has
eroded the buying power so dramatically that in Zimbabwe
dollars, the
government said it has to spend 170 times more than it did in
2007.
Few people could hear Zimbabwe's annual budget presentation on
radio or
television because there has been a power cut over most of Harare
for the
past four days.
Minister Mumbengegwe said the government
would bring inflation below 2,000
percent in the next year.
Official
inflation is at more than 7,000 percent, but the Central
Statistical Office
said this week it could not release October's figures,
because many items
necessary for its calculations were no longer available
for sale in the
formal market.
The International Monetary Fund predicted earlier this
year that Zimbabwe's
inflation would reach at least 100,000
percent.
Economists say the government continues to officially ignore
differing
exchange rates for the Zimbabwe dollar. On the street, it costs
1.6 million
Zimbabwe dollars to buy $1 U.S. For electronic transfers, it
costs more
than double that.
A year ago, $1 U.S. cost only 2,000
Zimbabwe dollars.
Minister Mumbengegwe predicted Zimbabwe would have,
what he described as,
"the mother of all agricultural seasons," and set
aside large amounts for
farmers to grow crops for the domestic and export
markets. He proposed
about one-third of the budget be spent on capital
equipment largely to
support agriculture.
Dubbing this "The Peoples'
Budget", he said there would be "an increase in
supply, with emphasis on
grassroots economics".
He said nothing about a shortage of bank notes.
Economists say on budget
day banks are only allowing customers to withdraw
the equivalent of one
United States dollar from their accounts. Businesses
were only allowed to
draw $10 U.S.
The finance minister said
inflation is due to the "decline in production,
sanctions, drought, and
speculative activities" among other things.
"The restoration of national
confidence" and greater levels of "economic
patriotism" were required to
force down inflation to a "desirable level" the
minister said.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
29 November
2007
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi
presented his 2008 budget to
parliament on Thursday, optimistically a 4%
expansion of the moribund
economy with inflation slowing to 1,987% from its
current official level of
8,000% - but failed to give a budget total which
some estimated to be
quadrillions of Zimbabwean dollars.
Mumbengegwi
admitted Harare faces massive hurdles, but voiced optimism they
could be
overcome, saying, “The challenges of reducing inflation and
restoring
increased production necessary for economic recovery are enormous,
but
surmountable.”
Mumbengegwi gave no total budget estimate, resulting in
confusion as
politicians and journalists added up line items and wrestled
with large
number theory. The local currency is currently trading at more
than Z$1
million to the U.S. dollar.
Reuters tallied a 2008 budget of
Z$7,840 trillion, or Z$7.84 quadrillion.
Opposition politicians implied the
budget was a fantasy and Secretary
General Tendai Biti of the Movement for
Democratic Change faction led by
Morgan Tsvangirai speaking of "zillions" in
a statement hammering the
government's economic policies.
Mumbengegwi
said spending on food in what he termed a “people budget” will
double next
year to US$405 million from US$178 million this year. His budget
also raised
the threshold under which no income tax is paid to Z$30 million
from Z$4
million.
National Chamber of Commerce President Marah Hativagone told
reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the budget helps
workers
in the short term but disappointed business by failing to envision
an
official exchange rate adjustment.
Biti of the Tsvangirai MDC
formation said Mumbengegwi's budget could not be
called people-oriented as
it was "the most anti-people budget since
independence."
VOA
By Peter Clottey and Chris Gande
Washington
29 November 2007
Close on the heels of Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's rejection of a
bid by Senegalese President
Abdoulaye Wade to mend the diplomatic rift
between Harare and London, the
British government announced Thursday that a
former development secretary
will represent it at the European-African
summit opening Dec.
8.
Downing Street said no cabinet-level official will be present in
Lisbon,
consistent with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's longstanding
threat to
effectively boycott the summit if President Mugabe were to be
invited to
attend. Portugal, summit host by virtue of holding the European
Union
presidency, has invited Mr. Mugabe under pressure from African and
European
leaders who argued for his inclusion.
Britain is to be
represented at the summit by Baroness Valerie Amos, who
served as secretary
of state for international development from May to
October 2003 after Clare
Short resigned over Britain’s involvement in the
invasion and occupation of
Iraq.
The Zimbabwean government, meanwhile, said it is “more than
capable” of
defending itself against criticism at the summit, Foreign
Minister
Simbarashe Mumbengegwe told journalists in Harare after meeting
with African
envoys posted to the capital. He said Zimbabwe has “an
excellent case to
present” in response to any detractors.
Senegalese
President Wade left Harare on Thursday following Mr. Mugabe’s
rejection
Wednesday of his plan to recruit five African leaders to smooth
over
relations between Zimbabwe and Britain. Mr. Mugabe showed little
interest in
such an initiative, referring at a state dinner for Wade to
“unhelpful
parallel initiatives” by unnamed enemies who were bent on
sabotaging the the
South African mediated Zimbabwe crisis talks.
Mr. Mugabe said, though,
that he wouldn't rule out opening a dialogue with
Britain.
University
of Zimbabwe lecturer and political analyst John Makumbe told
VOA's Peter
Clottey that Mr. Mugabe has often declared himself open to
reconciliation
with Britain but has not followed through and in recent
memory rebuffed a
British overture.
Chairman David Nyekorach Matsanga of Africa Strategy, a
London-based
research and public relations firm, told reporter Chris Gande
of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Wade’s initiative to broker a
reconciliation
between Britain and Zimbabwe was a sideshow that could not be
tolerated by
the Mugabe government.
SW Radio Africa (London)
29 November
2007
Posted to the web 29 November 2007
Henry
Makiwa
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has told Robert Mugabe and
the MDC to
engage a broader team of mediators to solve the country's
political crisis.
Although the precise details of Wade's meetings with
both parties have been
wrapped in secrecy, sources in the opposition say the
Senegalese leader has
questioned the impartiality of South African President
Thabo Mbeki as the
mediator of the current talks. Numerous attempts to
contact the MDC on
Thursday were in vain, while a statement by Wade at a
press conference in
Harare avoided mentioning specific
details.
The information blackout once again underlines the
continuing secrecy in the
ongoing talks between the ruling party and the
opposition. Zimbabweans have
been kept in the dark about the details and
denied the right to participate
in a process that will shape their
future.
It is however understood that Wade suggested to both Mugabe and
the MDC that
a five-member heads of state committee should be set up to look
into the
country's political crisis. Wade also proposed that the same group
of
African leaders would help heal Zimbabwe's rift with its former colonial
power, the UK. Wade says efforts to end the country's crisis cannot be left
to Mbeki alone and Africa as a whole must do more to help.
Wade's
assertions reignited the widespread argument that questions the
impartiality
of South African President Thabo Mbeki in the mediation talks.
Although Wade
said Mbeki would be part of the suggested 5 member group, the
South African
leader may view such an arrangement as an attempt to diminish
his influence
in Zimbabwe.
At a press conference in Harare, Wade said: "I am going to
propose the
creation of a committee of five heads of state, which will
include Thabo
Mbeki, of course, to try to resolve relations between England
and Zimbabwe.
I come to Zimbabwe to meet my brother Mugabe because I think
that in Africa
we should help each other. You know that this country has
some problems with
the British and I think all African countries should help
Zimbabwe."
Observers say Wade's bid to broaden mediation efforts in
Zimbabwe, beyond
the ongoing Mbeki process, is unlikely to be supported by
the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) which has mandated the
South African
head of state to end the political impasse in
Harare.
Analyst Brian Kagoro said: "I do not want to sound like one
endorsing the
Mbeki process, but the deadline most people are working
towards, is the
election date. So broadening the mediation team may not
really bring the
desired effects and it can at worst, slow down a process
already in motion."
While Wade was in Harare his opposition at home was
raising it's voice
against him in Dakar. The Senegal-based Pan-African Human
Rights Group
RADDHO criticised Wade for flying off to Zimbabwe while so many
social and
economic problems are unresolved in his own country.
"Wade
has absolutely no business involving himself in this mediation. He's
going
to make a fool of himself. Because no one is better placed than Mbeki
and he
hasn't been able to manage it," RADDHO secretary general Alioune Tine
told a
news conference in the Senegalese capital.
Zimbabwe Today
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Two men die in a crash involving the President's motorcade, in what
security forces believe was an attempted assassination
President
Robert Mugabe's motorcade - notorious for its strict security
procedures and
high-speed travel - came to a sudden halt in Harare today
when a mystery
vehicle evaded outriders and guards before smashing into a
security vehicle.
Both drivers died at the scene.
The incident happened on Harare's Seventh
Street, only a few hundred metres
from the official residence of the
Zimbabwean President. Mugabe was unhurt,
and continued his journey to the
airport, where he left for a diplomatic
visit to Mozambique.
Officers
of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Presidential
Guards,
Mugabe's personal security men, remained at the scene and cordoned
off the
area. Tipped off by a CIO source, I arrived minutes later, and was
able to
see the two body bags and the damaged vehicles.
My source told me that
many CIO operatives are convinced that this was a
deliberate attempt to kill
Mugabe by crashing his vehicle - a method of
assassination not unknown in
Southern Africa.
He pointed out: "No motorist in his right mind would
get mixed up with the
Mugabe motorcade. It has happened in the past, and
each time the driver was
caught and beaten up by our guys. In any case, a
squad of four motorcycle
outriders lead the way, each driving a distance of
30 to 45 seconds apart.
You might miss one, but not all of them. To say
nothing of the wailing
sirens. Then there are three security vehicles before
you get to Mugabe
himself."
The rogue vehicle - a Mazda 323 - evaded
all the riders and the first guard
car, before smashing into the second. The
identity of the dead driver is
being kept a strict secret.
There is
also a black-out on any news here about the incident. When I called
the
Minister of Information, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, he disconnected without a
comment. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga just said: "I don't know
anything about that," before ringing off.
Remarkably, in a country
where road wrecks can lie around on the sides of
the road for weeks, all
evidence that the crash had occurred was removed
from the scene within one
hour.
Posted on Tuesday, 27 November 2007 at 17:43
|
Comments
Now what is mugabe and his angels of doom up to
now? They planned all these
assassination attempts. You can fool most of the
people all of the time but
you cannot fool all the people all of the
time.
Posted by: Chinotimba | Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at
01:52
Keep a watch out mugabe, this is only the beginning. You can sit in
your
ivory, air-conditioned tower with its' one light bulb, at the end of
the
dirt road behind the first mud puddle on the left, but you can't hide
forever. We'll get you buddy. (the forces of good are looking for a way and
itching to get it on!!!) You are evil and the world will be a better place
when one of its poor, downtrodden miserable sods blows your dumbass to
kingdom come AND 'm looking for the line that forms so I can contribute to
what I'm sure is a growing pile of money for the sole purpose of.... Killin'
yo dumb ass!!! Keep up the good work, your are soley responsible for making
the rest of the despotic dumbasses look good!!!
Posted by: Master
Blaster | Wednesday, 28 November 2007 at 02:17
Re: master blaster -
WOW!!! Where is that line?
Posted by: Rain maker | Wednesday, 28 November
2007 at 02:19
Sounds very interesting. But unfortunately its not the
truth, you got it all
wrong and yet went on to publish the false story.
Noone died on the spot. Be
factual and not sway readers with falsehoods.
Maybe you are doing it for....
Posted by: Morgan Danga | Wednesday, 28
November 2007 at 22:13
Please be factual. Don't be dramatic for the
headlines.
Posted by: Cde Nyikayedu | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at
00:56
The people have suffered. If Mugabe's assassination assists with
the way
out, so be it!
Rev Mufaro Stig Hove.
www.zimfinalpush.blogspot.com
Posted
by: Rev Mufaro Stig Hove | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 07:41
Morgan
Danga and Comrade Nyikayedu, you appear to be CIOs. Why is it you
believe
that it was not an assassination attempt. Iwe wakamboonepi munhu
anorovera
ne motorcade? Do you think anyone, including you, has the guts to
drive at
the same time as the motorcade? In Zimbabwe's history, have you
ever heard
of the motorcade being involved in an accident. Something is
amiss, it may
not have been an assassination attempt but it sure as hell was
no freak
accident!
Posted by: Lance Macheka | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at
07:42
Yes I absolutely agree with Macheka. My uncle works in the CIO and
he was
telling me that two cars were involved in an accident and not one car
and a
motorcycle. He says there is plan being hatched and it would not
surprise
him if it turned full circle soon. Mugabe knows how to turn any
situation in
his favour.
Posted by: Josphat Silevhi | Thursday, 29
November 2007 at 07:53
Mugabe, you must go or we will remove you
violently!!!!
Posted by: Morgiza | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at
07:57
please do not lie when you pass information to the people, there
was never
an assasination attempt, it was just a palin accident in which my
young
brother witnessed. this occurred at the corner of baines avenue and
7th
street in the morning around 730am. its is unfortunate that in all our
spitefullness and wanting recognition we have resorted to gutter journalism,
as much as you may not like the president please do not misinform people. l
wish the three man involved in the accident as speedy recovery as there in
critical condition.
Posted by: concerned always | Thursday, 29
November 2007 at 08:37
This story could have been good had it been
reported as it happened. Its a
lie and while we hate Mugabe we do not
appreciate this kind of journalism.
The motorcycle died today according to
the state-owned Herald. Moses Moyo
has lost my confidence. Why report news
before it happens. And there was
nothing on the assasination side of things.
It was a clear accident. Moses
Moyo has failed us
Posted by:
ndozvitaura ini | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 11:30
Whatever happened,
we are still surprised.. How can a motorcycle collide
with a mazda to an
extent that the mazda becomes a mesh..i.e according to
the herald? Lina ma
CIO and zanu pf apologisits lizaze likhulume iqiniso one
day.. we are fed up
with the apologists and sympathisers of the regime in
Zimbabwe. You
ndozvitaura, nyika yedu, morgan and concerned, you are trying
to do your
propogandist job.. One day cows will come home to roost!
Posted by: Uncle
B | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 12:37
Better luck next
time...
Posted by: Ian Olive, France | Thursday, 29 November 2007 at
18:38
Comments made by individuals are meant to share thoughts about
issues
raised. In this regard individuals are also meant to be objective and
show a
level of intellectual maturity by respecting other people's
views.(Unless
comments in this section are supposed to come from a certain
section of
society, a particular political group, tribal grouping or a
certain
intellectual class)
I am pointing this out because I have
discovered that when readers raise
questions or critisises the factual basis
of certain stories in this
publication they are unfortunately viewed as
members of some defined
organisations or political party. This goes to show
how intellectually
bankrupt some readers can be. In this modern world where
we have a variety
of information sources, we should, if we are reasonable
and intelligent
expect the media to be objective, non partisan and provide
us with high
quality information. When they fail to do so and maybe pursue
their own
agenda of mis-iformation we must critisise them so that they do
not take us
for granted. And when one does so he or she should not be
castigated or
viewed in a different light.We are all Zimbabweans, Ndebele,
Shona or what.
It is our right to condemn and critisise those who want to
mis-inform us.
For those who take up everything like a sponge, do it and
do not expect
everyone to behave like empty vessels waiting to be fooled and
fed on
falsehoods when the truth becomes casualty. Comment on the stories
and don't
waste your energies on what other people think, they have the
right to their
thoughts.
Posted by: Sir D.M | Thursday, 29 November
2007 at 23:21
Simon Tisdall
Friday
November 30, 2007
The Guardian
Given the high priority he attached
to African development during his time
as chancellor, Gordon Brown's
personal boycott of next week's 80-country
EU-Africa summit in Lisbon is
raising eyebrows among participants. British
prime ministers frequently
disagree with their European counterparts. But
they usually show up to fight
their corner. And they do not usually hide
from dictators.
Although
Britain will be represented in Lisbon, Brown's vow to stay away
allowed
Robert Mugabe, whose expected presence at the summit caused the row,
to mock
the PM's "timidity". The wily Zimbabwean president, whose
UN-documented
misgovernance and human rights abuses have reduced the former
British colony
to penury, was deliberately echoing David Cameron's Tories.
They regularly
accuse Brown of "bottling" tough choices.
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Brown's
fear of being "ambushed" by Mugabe, as happened to then foreign
secretary
Jack Straw at the UN in 2004, is likely to affect more than his
reputation.
His disdain for the EU, and his lack of networking with other
European
leaders since he took office, came home to roost this week. With
the
possible exception of the Czech Republic, not a single country is
following
his lead.
Germany and France have been unsupportive. Having personally
confronted
China and Russia over human rights, the German chancellor, Angela
Merkel,
has argued that Mugabe's critics should tell him what they think
face-to-face. France, traditional rival for influence in Africa, may be
privately enjoying British discomfort.
The Portuguese EU presidency
and the European commission believe the stakes
are too high to allow Brown's
"local difficulty" with Mugabe to derail the
summit. Officials say it is the
first such meeting for seven years and will
be pivotal in advancing a new
"Europe-Africa strategic partnership". The
partnership eventually aims to
embrace counter-terrorism, good governance,
peacekeeping in places such as
Darfur, trade, debt relief, migration and
climate change - all global issues
highlighted in Brown's recent Mansion
House speech.
Rapidly growing
competition from China for African business is giving added
edge to EU
efforts to calm tempers and strengthen ties. According to the
European
Policy Centre, the EU accounts for 75% of sub-Saharan Africa's
trade. It is
also the biggest aid donor. But European investment, imports
and exports to
Africa are falling.
In contrast, three China-Africa summits have been
held since 2000. Total
two-way trade is expected to be worth $100bn (£48bn)
by 2010, compared with
$39bn in 2005. Africa supplies a third of China's oil
imports and a range of
valuable raw materials. And Beijing is increasing its
advantage by refusing
to join the EU in linking good governance and human
rights to business deals
in places such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Tomaz
Salomão, executive secretary of the Southern African Development
Community,
told the Herald newspaper in Harare this week that African
leaders were also
keen to stop Mugabe hijacking the summit. "The SADC will
not go to Lisbon to
discuss Zimbabwe because the summit is not about
Zimbabwe but about
relations between the EU and Africa," he said.
But at the same time,
speculation is growing that Thabo Mbeki, the South
African president and
SADC mediator, may use the occasion to unveil a
blueprint for cooperation
between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe's main
opposition, the Movement for
Democratic Change. Mbeki, whose policy of
"quiet diplomacy" has been widely
criticised for failing to halt political
repression and economic meltdown,
held talks with Mugabe this week. Mbeki
reportedly urged him to modify tough
security and media censorship laws in
advance of elections due next
year.
Running out of time in his battle to retain leadership of the
African
National Congress, Mbeki needs a political success. Under pressure
from
neighbours and within his own party, Mugabe may also be calculating a
shift
is required if he is to hang on to power.
Speaking this week,
Louis Michel, the European development commissioner,
claimed Mbeki was
making progress. "I really expect President Mbeki to
succeed and I think we
have a duty to help him," he said.
Not everybody thinks Brown is wrong.
Former Labour minister Denis MacShane
says the EU should never have invited
Mugabe. "Instead of showing solidarity
with the victims of his dictatorship,
Europe raises a glass to their
tyrant," he wrote in yesterday's Figaro. But
as Woody Allen once suggested,
80% of success in life comes from "showing
up". Brown may yet regret his
one-man no-show.