PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI’S MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF
The MDC National Council met today in
After intense debate and discussion, whereupon
the guiding question was whether we compromise with or take on the Zanu PF
dictatorship in the ongoing struggle for democratic change, the council resolved
to stay out of the Zanu PF Senate project.
You will recall that when we decided to contest
the Parliamentary election in March this year, we informed the nation that,
notwithstanding our serious reservations, we were going ahead but with a heavy
heart, under protest.
Our reasons were well grounded. Zanu PF had
subverted the spirit of
To this date, nothing has changed. The
electoral management system in
Further, Council noted with dismay that the
Senate project is fundamentally flawed in that it does not attend to the demands
for a comprehensive resolution of the national crisis.
The national crisis is deepening every day,
compounding the humanitarian emergencies in our midst and prolonging the
suffering of the Zimbabwean people, needlessly. The establishment of a Senate
fails to address the people’s basic needs.
The Senate idea is an expensive project we can
ill-afford at a time when millions face starvation; when millions live in a
shrinking economy and a hyper inflationary climate; when millions are out of
work; when millions yearn for support against the HIV/Aids
pandemic.
As a serious political party, we felt that a
compromise at this stage runs against our contract with the people. A compromise
with the dictatorship has the effect of confusing our original promise, our
message to the people. We strongly believe that the nation needs new
Given our experience in the past six years,
Council reaffirmed the party’s new thrust to turn the corner, to draw a line in
the sand and to chart a new direction against the dictatorship. We are engaged
in a full scale organizational programme to build people power and confidence to
take on Zanu PF and the regime.
We shall mount a national crusade against the
Senate election as part of a comprehensive mission and a campaign for a
people-driven, publicly endorsed national Constitution.
Further, our party structures shall soon review
and debate our presence in Parliament, in local government and in future
elections to assess the impact and political necessity of such presence in line
with the new thrust of building democratic resistance.
Morgan Tsvangirai
President.
People's Daily
Zimbabwean Vice President Joseph Msika Wednesday
defended the
country's land redistribution, saying land reforms in Africa
can never be
successfully if conducted on a "willing buyer, willing seller"
basis.
Speaking to journalists after meeting Namibian Minister of
Lands and
Resettlements, Jerry Ekandjo on Wednesday, Msika said the process
had proved
to be a failure where it had been tried.
"My
discovery is that they (Namibia) have realized that the willing
buyer
willing seller is a non starter and they are looking for other ways to
redistribute the land," he said.
Namibia and South Africa have
been conducting land reform under the
"willing buyer, willing seller"
principle, but have been considering other
means lately due to slow
process.
"We have tried it here but it failed and I do not see it
succeeding in
Namibia, South Africa or anywhere in the world," Msika
said.
He said he briefed the Namibian minister on how the
Zimbabwean
government had conducted its land reform program. Zimbabwe's land
reform
have angered western countries such as Britain, and incurred
international
pressure and western sanction.
Although the
country's political and economic situation was different
and not applicable
to Namibia, Msika said, the Namibians could take a cue
from Zimbabwe's
experience.
Meanwhile, Minister Ekandjo said land was central to
every African
society.
Gaining economic independence was
Africa's second struggle after
attaining political independence, and this
could be achieved if land was in
the hands of its rightful owners, he
said.
"Land is a central issue. Every African needs to own a piece
of land,"
he said.
Source: Xinhua
Cape Times
'Aid organisations should hand over to
communities'
October 13, 2005
By Cris Chinaka
Harare: The most
cautious discuss politics in whispers, watching
nervously over their
shoulders.
It is a reflex that has become second nature for many
working with
international non-government organisations in Africa - a way of
surviving in
political environments where they are sometimes seen as the
enemy.
Thousands of NGOs operate across Africa, promoting health,
education
and food provision and tackling an Aids pandemic ravaging the
world's
poorest continent.
Yet some African governments have
accused Western-backed NGOs of being
closely aligned to the governments that
fund them.
" ... some governments regard them as part and parcel of
Western
powers they have problems with," said Andrew Mudehwe of Zimbabwe's
National
Association of NGOs.
"NGOs here are treated with
suspicion," he said. Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe has led an assault on
NGOs with a draft law tightening
registration and barring foreign funding
for NGOs with political and human
rights programmes.
Critics
say the government used the bill as a psychological weapon but
was prevented
from closing some organisations by a deepening economic
crisis.
Mugabe has not signed or implemented the draft law since it was passed
almost a year ago, but activists say it has already crippled many
NGOs.
"The whole drive of having such a law has left a pervasive
sense of
fear and paralysis in some organisations, but there are others who
see the
new environment as a challenge to be overcome," said Professor Brian
Raftopoulos of the University of Zimbabwe's Institute of Development
Studies.
Mugabe says Zimbabwe has been targeted by
foreign
opponents of his nationalistic policies, led by former colonial
ruler
Britain. He says most of Africa is firmly on his side.
He
has accused Western-funded NGOs and charity organisations of siding
with
their home governments and Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) in a drive to oust him.
"Zimbabwean politics is
difficult to follow.
"They want help but they want everything on their
terms," a top
official with a Western aid organisation said.
"The government is paranoid, so fear-ridden that it must watch its own
shadow with great suspicion ... That paranoia has become infectious because
in some of our offices, people discuss Zimbabwean politics in whispers to
avoid feeding the suspicion NGOs are out here to take out the
government."
Zimbabwe has resisted calls to make a formal appeal for
food aid for
an estimated four million people facing shortages, saying it
will rely on
its own efforts despite its failing economy.
Mugabe says those who want to help are welcome, but "we are not going
to
beg".
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is helping to feed some
1.1 million
Zimbabweans.
But in a move illustrating tensions
with the aid community, the UN is
sending a top aid official to Harare to
smooth differences with Mugabe over
a stalled $30 million humanitarian
relief programme it offered after the
government demolished thousands of
shacks and squatter settlements this
year.
Mugabe, whose latest
political battle cry is "Zimbabwe will never be a
colony again" has vowed to
reject any assistance that compromises Zimbabwe's
sovereignty, saying
regularly: "They can keep their 30 pieces of silver."
Zimbabwe is
just one of several African governments which see NGOs as
Trojan horses for
Western governments.
In Sudan's troubled Darfur region foreign aid
agencies have accused
officials of denying access to the hardest hit
areas.
In the past year, Sudan has tried to expel Save The Children
UK's
country director, accusing the British aid agency of breaching Sudanese
law
and interfering in domestic affairs.
It has also sent a
letter of warning to British charity Oxfam and
arrested two Médecins Sans
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) workers over
a report on rape in
Darfur.
Sudan later dropped charges of spying against the pair, but
in August
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir issued a temporary decree that aid
workers
say severely restricts their activities.
"It
essentially undermines everything we've tried to do, it creates a
virtual
state of emergency and gives the government control over everything
we do,"
said Wendy Fenton, former head of Save The Children in Sudan.
Aid
workers say the law reflects the government's fear charities will
uncover
human rights abuses - a view supported by Arnold Tsunga,
co-ordinator of
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
"I don't believe these
organisations are married to their governments,
but African countries tend
to be very sensitive to outside criticism," he
said.
In
Eritrea, the government issued a proclamation in May, requiring
international NGOs to register on an annual basis, have a minimum $2m at
their disposal in Eritrea and pay tax on imports of items for relief aid,
including food.
In July, the government asked the US Agency for
International
Development to stop its operations, saying it was
uncomfortable with the
agency's activities in a country heavily dependent on
food aid.
Tsunga said African governments having problems with
charity
organisations are mostly those accused of human rights
abuses.
- Reuters
The Mercury
October 13,
2005
Johannesburg: Zimbabweans Tatenda Taibu and Andy Blignaut will
play
for South African franchises this season, the United Cricket Board
(UCB)
said yesterday.
Zimbabwe captain Taibu will play for the
Cape Town-based Cobras, while
all-rounder Blignaut will turn out for the
Highveld Lions.
"We don't have any international cricket until we
go to the West
Indies in April next year and we need to play at a decent
level to keep our
skills up where they need to be," Blignaut said from
Harare.
The chief executive of the UCB, Gerald Majola, said his
board was
committed to assisting South Africa's northern neighbours "in this
time of
reformation for Zimbabwe cricket".
Majola said
Blignaut and Taibu would be classified as international
players with their
new SA franchise teams.
Zimbabwe are ranked ninth out of 10 teams
in both Test cricket and
one-day internationals.
They have lost
nine of 10 Test matches and drawn the other one since
many of their
experienced players were fired in a dispute with the board
that started in
April last year.
Several players have returned to the ranks, but
Zimbabwe's results
have remained poor.
- Reuters
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Pamenus Tuso
issue date :2005-Oct-13
JOSTLING for
Senatorial seats has started in earnest in Kadoma constituency
with
aspirants reportedly perfecting their slogans and political skills
ahead of
the November 26 elections.
Highly-placed ruling Zanu PF sources in
Mashonaland West told The Daily
Mirror yesterday that five ambitious
candidates in the constituency have
thrown their names into the
ring.
They said the candidates had already forwarded their CVs to the
provincial
executive committee for consideration.
The sources named the
five aspirants as Kadoma Rural district council
chairperson Shepherd
Makwavarara, National Assembly member Elijah Mangozho,
a Sanyati councillor
only identified as Mai Chaderopa, former Central
Committee member and war
veteran Ishmael Mutema and Jimayi Mudwuuri, who was
the Zanu PF losing
candidate in this year's parliamentary elections.
The candidates have started
vigorous campaigns in a bid to represent the
electorate in the reintroduced
upper House.
John Mafa, Mashonaland West Zanu PF provincial chairperson,
yesterday said
his executive had invited CVs from interested
candidates.
"I have been in Harare since Monday this week, but I think their
CVs and
details are already with our Chinhoyi office because we have invited
them to
send their CVs.
"Better phone the office, they will give you the
details you want," Mafa
said.
A person who said she was secretary in the
ruling party office in Kadoma who
picked up the phone said she was not
allowed to speak to the press.
"Mutema and Mudwuuri had their chance and they
squandered it. These two
gentlemen were rejected by the Kadoma electorate
and there is no way they
can represent the people," a source said.
Mutema
had a short stint in Parliament in 2003 when he beat Editor Matamisa
of the
MDC in a by-election following the death of former constituency
legislator
Austin Mupandawana.
Mutema later lost to Mudwuuri in this year's Zanu PF
primaries to choose
candidates to represent the party in the March 31
general polls.
Jimayi went on to contest the parliamentary elections and lost
to Matamisa.
Yesterday, Mutema confirmed that he had forwarded his papers
alongside those
of Mangozho, Makwavarara and Chaderopa to the provincial
office in Chinhoyi
on Friday.
"CV yangu yakatsvukira shamwari (my CV is
good my friend). I fought for the
liberation of this country and I have
worked in government for years. I hope
I am the best for the party," said
Mutema.
One candidate will represent the province, which is divided into five
senatorial constituencies, in each constituency. The five constituencies
are Kadoma, Chegutu, Chinhoyi, Kariba and Makonde.
Zanu PF national
political commissar Elliot Manyika was recently quoted in
the local press as
saying that the party had broken away with tradition.
Instead of holding
primaries this time around, candidates would be elected
by consensus at
district and provincial levels and the names of winners
submitted to the
national elections directorate.
The politburo has the final say on the cadres
to stand for the party in the
Senate race on November 26.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
From
Nkululeko Sibanda in Bulawayo
issue date :2005-Oct-13
FURTHER evidence
to buttress damning allegations that Insiza legislator
Andrew Langa opened
fire on an MDC supporter during the 2002 by-election was
presented to the
Bulawayo Electoral Court yesterday.
Former MDC Insiza constituency election
manager Charles Mpofu, told the
court that Langa, the deputy minister of
environment and tourism, had
indeed shot the opposition party activist
Darlington Kudenga. Petitioner
Siyabonga Malandu Ncube said this was meant
to prove that the electorate in
the constituency was subjected to threats of
being shot and killed by Langa,
the respondent.
In the petition, Ncube
argues that the people of Insiza voted out of their
conscience as the
legislator had threatened them with bloody violence.
This, Ncube further
claimed, had had a bearing on the outcome of the poll he
lost to Langa in
the March 31 general elections this year.
It is also Ncube's contention that
the violence that characterized the 2002
by-election in the constituency was
similar to that allegedly orchestrated
by Langa during the 2005
elections.
Testifying yesterday, Mpofu concurred with Kudenga that the deputy
minister
opened fire on them while at Filabusi Police Station. They had gone
there to
report that the MDC's election campaign material had been seized at
gunpoint
by suspected Zanu PF supporters. He said that it was after Langa
had arrived
at the police station that there was commotion superseded by the
shooting.
"The incident happened in 2002.
"I cannot remember some
of
the things, but I can remember that the noise that we
heard while in the
police station began after Langa arrived at the station.
We heard some
shouting outside and as we went out to investigate, we saw him
(Langa)
holding the gun and pointing at our direction.
"As we tried to get back into
the charge office, Langa then opened fire on
us, thereby hitting Kudenga on
the back," Mpofu said.
Mpofu, a former deputy mayor of Bulawayo, also said:
"Some of my relatives
ran away from Filabusi during the 2005 elections
because of violence by Zanu
PF supporters.
"It is the same kind of
hooliganism that they experienced in 2002 and by
the same people," Mpofu
added. Langa's lawyer, Masimba Munjanja, argued that
his client had shot at
Kudenga in self-defence after Kudenga and other MDC
supporters tried to
attack the deputy minister at his homestead.
"I put it to you (Mpofu) that
the wound sustained by Kudenga was sustained
during an attack on
the
respondent at his homestead, an incident where you, as the campaign team
manager, was also present. You wanted to attack the respondent during the
night and that is why he had to open fire to defend himself," Munjanja
said.
In response, Mpofu said there was no way they would attack Langa
as
their mission was to campaign for their candidate. "That is rather a blue
lie that you are trying to tell.
"Our main aim of going to Insiza was
mainly to campaign for votes and not to
attack people. The truth of the
matter is that Kudenga was shot at by Langa
at Filabusi police station," a
visibly angry Mpofu retorted.
Munjanja claimed that the MDC campaign team had
not reported the case to the
police because they were the ones who had
wronged and were afraid that they
would be arrested for violence.
"I put
it to you that you did not report the shooting incident to the police
because you were the ones who were wrong in that you attacked the respondent
at night at his homestead," Munjanja said.
"You feared that the police
were going to arrest you for that," he added.
Responding, Mpofu said it was
illogical to report a shooting incident that
took place at the police
station in full view of members of the police.
The petition hearing continues
today with judgment expected before tomorrow
when all election petitions
will be finalised.
Business Day
Posted to the web on: 13 October 2005
Reuters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARARE
- President Robert Mugabe's government will outlaw occupation of
state land
after reports of fresh farm seizures in eastern Zimbabwe, Justice
Minister
Patrick Chinamasa said in remarks broadcast today.
Mugabe signed
constitutional changes into law last month effectively
nationalising all
white-owned farms that had been seized by his government
over the last six
years.
In remarks broadcast on state television, Chinamasa said he would
present a
law in the coming weeks outlawing the occupation of state-owned
farms.
"The constitutional amendment provides that an act of parliament
can provide
for any occupation of state land (to be) a criminal offence, so
the piece of
legislation that I will bring will make that clear," he
said.
Chinamasa was not immediately available to comment on whether the
law would
be extended to privately owned farmland.
There have been
reports in recent weeks of fresh invasions of some remaining
white-owned
farms in the eastern districts of the country.
Central Bank Governor
Gideon Gono has denounced the new invasions, branding
the invaders
"criminals" and warning their actions may hurt Zimbabwe's
already struggling
economy - though it is unclear whether his view
represents that of the
government.
Critics say land expropriations are partly responsible for
waning commercial
agriculture and food shortages since 2001, as new black
farmers battle to
raise production amid a lack of funding, agricultural
inputs and commercial
farming skills.
Mugabe has defended farm
seizures as necessary to correct colonial
imbalances that left 70% of the
richest land in the hands of a few white
farmers.
FinGaz
Felix Njini
10/13/2005 8:34:50 AM (GMT +2)
ZANU PF stalwarts are baying for
government spokesperson George
Charamba's blood as the fall-out from last
week's publication of startling
revelations of the state security agency's
involvement in Operation
Murambatsvina looks set to claim editorial scalps
at the state-controlled
Herald.
Ruling party insiders said a
barrage of allegations have been levelled
against Charamba and senior
editors at The Herald because of an article
published in the daily a
fortnight ago which revealed that the Central
Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) masterminded the widely condemned operation
to forestall a potential
wave of nationwide protests triggered by a
deteriorating economic
environment in the aftermath of yet another disputed
election.
The
article, written by pro-ZANU PF New African editor Baffour Ankomah
for the
London-based magazine's October edition, was reproduced in The
Herald last
week.
Stoking the fires following the spectacular faux pas, former
information minister Jonathan Moyo suggested that the article was "planted"
in The Herald, adding that there was no way the article would have found its
way into the paper without the blessing of the information
ministry.
"It is a shock that the public media could carry such blatant
and
spiteful claims, which are totally unhelpful to our government and
country,"
charged the Voice, the ruling ZANU PF's official weekly.
"No need to say that the article in The Herald was a direct assault on
our
government and our intelligence system, for it gives the impression that
the
operation was nothing but an act of consolidating power.
"This issue
needs serious interrogation for it touches on our raw
nerve, our soul and
our survival as nation . . . It is ludicrous and highly
deceitful that those
tasked with the duty of defending the government are
seen in acts of clear
complicity in denigrating our intelligence and in turn
smear a government
operation aimed at giving decent life to our people,"
thundered the
Voice.
The attack from the ruling party's mouthpiece is yet another
eruption
of a simmering dispute between the ZANU PF information department,
headed by
Nathan Shamuyarira, and Charamba's information ministry.
Sources said Shamuyarira - who oversees the editorial direction of the
Voice
- and Charamba are battling for control of the state media. Both
Charamba
and Shamuyarira have, however, denied reports of a feud, believed
to have
its roots in Moyo's days, when the former department of information
and
publicity frequently humiliated Shamuyarira and the rest of the ZANU PF
old
guard.
Going by the Voice comment, the ZANU PF information department
is
openly agitating for the party and the CIO to mete out instant punishment
to
Charamba and "his sympathisers" at The Herald.
"The time has
come for the party to weed itself (sic) of elements who
shout loudest but
have clearly devious agendas that run opposite to those
that they are
supposed to stand for," charged the Voice.
The paper's editor, Lovemore
Mataire, has previously accused
presidential spokesperson Charamba of being
a "British double agent".
FinGaz
Rangarirai
Mberi
10/13/2005 8:35:26 AM (GMT +2)
ZANU PF summoned
about 40 top business executives to a heated meeting
last week and blamed
them for Zimbabwe's deepening economic crisis, warning
against public
criticism of government policies.
Sources privy to the highly
charged indaba held at Munhumutapa
Building - which also houses President
Robert Mugabe's office - revealed
that Elliot Manyika, the ZANU PF political
commissar, accused the business
sector of sabotaging the economy. He,
however, stopped short of admitting
ZANU PF's mismanagement.
But
after accusing industry of destroying the economy, Manyika stunned
the
executives by pleading with them to "put their shoulders to the wheel"
and
help stop further decline, a source said.
The business leaders,
frantically trying to keep their companies
afloat, however reportedly
responded to Manyika's accusations by blaming
ZANU PF's populist policies
for the state of Zimbabwe's economy, now in its
sixth straight year of
recession.
After running down parastatals, ZANU PF was told, government
was now
threatening the viability of industry through price controls, red
tape and
contradictions on key policy.
The meeting was convened by
Florence Makombe, a director in the
Ministry of Industry and International
Trade. Patison Sithole, president of
the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries and Luxon Zembe, head of the
Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce, led the business executives to the
meeting, our sources
say.
Phineas Chihota, the ZANU PF legislator for Seke and deputy
Industry
and International Trade Minister, and the ministry's permanent
secretary
Christian Katsande, accompanied Manyika.
"Manyika was
told that industry has lost serious money because of
government's constant
blundering," said one source.
The timing of the meeting, held only
weeks ahead of the Senate
elections, raised eyebrows among some sceptical
executives, it is
understood. Industrialists suspect that it might have been
meant to coerce
them to fund ZANU PF's election campaign.
Last
week's meeting once again reveals the rift between government and
business,
which is set to widen as the economy slides further into the abyss
with
little concrete action from government to stop the decline.
ZANU PF has
previously accused industry of giving financial support to
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, and blamed businesses for
hoarding basic
foodstuffs to whip up emotions and cause an uprising against
President
Mugabe's government.
The meeting came as two key companies announced
closures of crucial
operations, developments that are likely to raise
tempers within industry.
Dunlop Tyres, the country's largest tyre
maker, closed down last week,
citing shortages of foreign currency. National
Foods has also raised the red
flag, warning it will shut down its main flour
mills in Harare and Bulawayo
after they ran out of wheat.
At last
week's meeting, Manyika stuck to the ZANU PF refrain that
"detractors" of
the land reform programme were sabotaging the economy.
While declining
debate on land reform, Manyika reportedly asked the
executives to "come up
with ideas on how to improve agricultural
production".
"His message
was basically that the party made enemies from the 1st
Chimurenga to the 3rd
Chimurenga and hence the country was now under siege,"
said the source,
adding Manyika had warned industry against criticising
government policy in
public.
Manyika said with 70 percent of the companies listed on the
Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange now in the hands of blacks through various
empowerment deals,
it was "payback time" for the companies, suggesting they
should now support
government.
FinGaz
Njabulo
Ncube
10/13/2005 8:42:17 AM (GMT +2)
Majority face
starvation as staple maize runs out
A WHOLE age seems to have
passed since President Robert Mugabe told
the world that aid agencies -
mainly from the much-reviled west - should not
"foist food on us," asking:
"do you want us to choke?" as the government
rebuffed the international
community over suggestions the southern African
nation urgently needed food
aid to feed its people.
But with stark indications that the
government needs to urgently step
up efforts to provide relief to more than
2.2 million Zimbabweans - about
one in every five people - and avert a
full-blown crisis, many would envy
the President, if only they could eat his
words in his stead.
The government had initially estimated a bumper
harvest of 2.4 million
tonnes of grain but official statistics indicate he
had been misled by his
bungling officials as the country only harvested
between 500 000 and 800 000
tonnes. Government critics blame the poor
harvest not only on the drought
but poor planning and resource allocation
for agriculture.
This, the critics argue, had further been compounded
by a harsh
economic environment, which this week saw inflation spiralling to
359
percent from 265 percent last month.
The government, alarmed
that the majority of the country's population
of about 12.5 million would
not be able to feed itself in the next eight
months until the next harvest,
has been shocked by the stark realisation it
urgently needed to import about
150 000 tonnes of grain per month to cover a
grain deficit of 1.8 million
tonnes arising from the drought.
Statistics indicate the government has
so far only imported about 480
000 tonnes of maize between April and
September this year, which independent
food security experts say is only
enough to last three months. The experts
say the country would need to
import about 1.2 million tonnes between now
and the next harvest in May to
avert hunger not only in perennially
drought-prone rural areas but also in
towns where supermarket shelves have
been emptied of the staple
maize.
Just last week the government admitted that it urgently needed
to
import 220 000 tonnes of grain to feed at least 2.2 million destitute in
the
books of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare.
Independent food security experts this week spoke of a looming
catastrophe in the country if the government dilly-dallied in mopping up
scarce foreign currency to feed not only the 2.2 million in its books but
about 11 million of the population presently battling to buy maize meal, the
staple diet of the 12.5 million population.
They said the Zimbabwe
dollar, which has fallen off the cliff, would
not help matters in the next
eight months with about US$240 million needed
to import grain.
"With the dollar falling everyday, it is proving difficult for the
regime to
mop up foreign currency to acquire grain, say from South Africa,"
said
Renson Gasela, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman for
agriculture and resettlement. "It is clear to all those who care to listen
that hunger is going to stalk us for a very long time. The figure for people
in need of food assistance now includes almost the whole country. It is now
estimated at 11 million of the total population because the majority of the
people are battling to acquire the staple diet," said Gasela.
He
added: "It costs the country about US$200 to land a tonne of grain
from
South Africa per month. So from now to the next harvest time in May, we
need
to import 1.2 million tonnes for the next eight months to cover the
country's grain deficit. This translates to about US$240 million in simple
mathematics. If the rains fail and there is lack of pasture I predict a
serious further devastation of livestock.
The government seems
unconcerned about livestock which is also
suffering as much as people and in
urgent need of stockfeed."
The government's widely condemned Operation
Murambatsvina/Restore
Order, which the United Nations special envoy's report
revealed had left 700
000 people homeless and 2.4 million without means to
generate income for
their livelihoods, had contributed towards the surge in
the number of people
in need of food relief.
Other independent food
experts said the continued devaluation of the
Zimbabwe dollar against major
currencies, especially the greenback, which
this Monday touched $100 000 on
the parallel market, would see the price of
the staple grain, already short
in supermarkets, being revised upwards
frequently and rendering the
commodity unaffordable to most households.
FinGaz
Charles
Rukuni
10/13/2005 8:43:26 AM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO - The city
council here has blasted two government
ministries, its parent ministry and
that of Water Resources, for sitting on
council proposals while at the same
time accusing the local authority,
through the state media, of failing to
deliver services.
Councillors expressed their disappointment with
the Ministry of Local
Government after the town clerk had revealed that the
ministry had misplaced
the council's application for a review of parking
regulations.
The council resolved to introduce by-laws that would
enable it to
clamp and tow away vehicles that were violating its parking
laws on April 7
last year. The proposed changes were advertised on June 18
and 21 and were
submitted to the ministry on August 13 2004.
According to the latest council minutes, the municipality had made
several
follow-ups on February 4 this year as well as on May 18 but it was
only on
June 16 that it was asked to resubmit its proposals because the
"original
documents could not be located".
Though the council resubmitted the
proposals on August 4 "as a matter
of urgency" nothing has been done up to
now.
The council is proposing an increase in clamping and unclamping
fees
from $20 000 to $1 million. Those who damage the wheel clamps will be
charged $500 000, up from $63 000 while motorists would have to fork out
$1.5 million if their vehicles are towed away. The council will also charge
storage fees of $1 million per day for light vehicles and $2 million a day
for heavy vehicles.
Clr Cornelius Ncengani complained that the
council could not continue
to be castigated for failing to deliver services
when the government itself
was losing documents aimed at earning the council
revenue.
He said to make matters worse the government was not paying
its debt
to the council yet it expected the same council to continue
delivering
services.
Government departments owed the council $76
billion at the end of
June. The current debt was only $13 billion while
$62.9 billion was overdue.
Residents owed the council $134 billion, $62.6
billion of which was current.
The executive mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube,
the main target of the local
daily, said the "whole house" shared Clr
Ncengani's views.
The Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Water
Resources came
under attack for sitting on the council's application to be
declared a water
shortage area. The council made its application in
August.
The declaration of the city as a water shortage area would
enable
council to commandeer all available water in and around the city for
its
use.
Bulawayo introduced water rationing in July but suburbs on
higher
ground have been experiencing intermittent water shortages since then
because they are fed by gravity.
FinGaz
Njabulo Ncube
10/13/2005 8:37:01 AM (GMT +2)
ZIMBABWE'S
teachers unions, under immense pressure from members to
coax the government
to review their salaries and other conditions of
service, are in a quandary
whether to embark on industrial action or not,
amid revelations that the
government is threatening to jail architects of
any strike action in the
public sector.
Representatives of teachers' unions told The
Financial Gazette
yesterday that the government was pushing for the swift
passage of the new
Labour Act which makes it next to impossible for unions
to organise strikes.
Sources said some government officials were in
fact using some clauses
in the Labour Bill to dissuade union leaders in the
public sector from
contemplating industrial action in protest against poor
remuneration and
conditions of service.
The sources said Education,
Sport and Culure minister, Aeneas
Chigwedere at one time threatened union
members with lengthy sentences if
they disrupted classes when they
approached him to review their salaries.
Chigwedere was not available
for comment yesterday as his mobile phone
constantly went on
voicemail.
MacDonald Mangauzani, the national treasurer of the
Progressive
Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) confirmed that teachers were
terrified of
engaging in industrial action after being threatened with
imprisonment by
government officials.
Mangauzani, whose union is
known for its combative approach to
teachers' welfare, said consultative
meetings held over the weekend by his
union in seven provinces of the
country heard of the poor quality of
teachers' lives.
"The
teachers' situation is pathetic but people are afraid to take the
government
head on due to its paranoia when cornered," said Mangauzani.
"People have
been threatened with incarceration but we have devised other
means to put
pressure on the government to improve the salaries of
teachers," he
said.
The lowest paid teacher earns a gross salary of $2.07 million
while
the highest paid grosses $4.325 million. The lowest paid teacher gets
a
transport allowance of $600 000 while the highest paid gets $1.2
million.
Mangauzani said PTUZ union members had agreed at the weekend
that the
present salaries for teachers was enough to allow them to work for
only 35
hours per month while the transport allowance was only enough for 13
days a
month.
"As a measure to put pressure on the employer, we
have resolved that
if the money runs out, they should stop going to work
unless the school
offers them transport," said PTUZ. The union leader said
teachers were
agitating for the government to implement a cost of living
adjustment before
December as well as increase transport
allowances.
"We want the lowest paid teacher to at least gross $15
million. If all
these demands are not met, I can't rule out industrial
action during the
examinations period in November," said Mangauzani.
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi
10/13/2005 8:38:39 AM (GMT +2)
THE RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe has
lifted the bank rate by a record 125
percentage points to 405 percent, in a
robust reaction to depressing new
inflation data released
Monday.
Rates on unsecured lending rose to 415 percent from 290
percent, as
central bank chief Gideon Gono effected his broadest rate hike
since taking
office in 2003. The increase had been expected earlier, but its
size
suggests there might have been some debate at central bank over the
likely
impact it will have on industry and the markets.
Inflation
surged 94.7 percentage points to 359.8 percent in September,
the Central
Statistical Office said this week. Month-on-month inflation came
in at 33.3
percent.
Central bank is now expected to devalue the Zimbabwe dollar at
its
official foreign currency auction today. Most economists had forecast
the
dollar to be devalued from the current $26 003 to around $34 000 on the
US
dollar, the devaluation tracking the month-on-month number. However,
given
yesterday's broader than anticipated hike, the devaluation may also
come in
much bigger that those market forecasts.
The September
inflation figure fell within the 340-380 percent range
of economists'
forecasts reported by The Financial Gazette last week. The
International
Monetary Fund (IMF) said last week it sees inflation ending
the year at 400
percent. But local economists and analysts are even more
pessimistic, with
one telling this paper yesterday that he believes the
January 2004 high of
623 percent may well be exceeded in December.
However, the majority of
forecasts for December range between 550
percent and 600 percent, although
the size of the September jump would
suggest those figures might be
conservative. A leading brokerage is
forecasting October inflation at 445
percent, November at 467 percent and
December at 512 percent.
State
media reported this week that RBZ has revised upwards its
December inflation
target to 260 percent from the previous 80 percent. Gono
also told The
Herald that he plans "a battery" of measures to subdue
inflation when he
presents his next policy statement, whose date is yet to
be
announced.
RBZ has been using rates as its main weapon against surging
inflation,
resulting in the key bank rate rising to current levels from 90
percent in
January. However, economists have cautioned authorities against
over-reliance on rate hikes, arguing that high rates have the double effect
of suppressing speculative borrowing - as intended by central bank - but
also bleeding industry.
The latest move on rates will see bank
lending rising over the coming
weeks to levels last seen in the liquidity
crunch of late 2003 and early
2004. Then, interbank rates approached 1000
percent after central bank cut
banks off from cheap bridging funds.
FinGaz
Mavis
Makuni
10/13/2005 8:40:30 AM (GMT +2)
The Secretary for
Information and Publicity, George Charamba made a
curious statement in the
October 8 issue of The Herald in which he attacked
The Financial Gazette and
another business weekly for a story they had
published a few days earlier
about the government's Operation Restore Order/
Murambatsvina.
The thrust of the story, in which both papers quoted the state daily,
The
Herald, was that the widely condemned clean-up exercise was the
brainchild
of the Central Intelligence Organisation and was hurriedly
embarked on in a
bid to pre-empt a suspected Ukraine-style revolution
following the March 31
parliamentary elections.
The Herald's story, published on October 4,
was a re-print of a piece
by the editor of the London-based New African
Magazine, Baffour Ankomah, who
was in a delegation of foreign journalists
who were recently taken on a
government media facility tour of Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle. When
these media tours were undertaken, the hype was
that these "friendly
journalists" would at last tell the story about the
clean-up exercise
objectively and truthfully.
Charamba's attack on
the two newspapers therefore seems to suggest
that Ankomah has failed to
deliver the goods as expected if his description
of events has ruffled the
permanent secretary's feathers as much as his
fulsome tirade suggests. The
trouble, however, is that Charamba has chosen
to throw the brickbats in the
wrong direction.
"Government finds quite fatuous attempts by some
sections of the media
to read its policies and decisions from an editorial
of a private magazine",
said Charamba, who stressed that Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle was
achieving the twin goals of providing decent
accommodation and ridding urban
centres of criminal elements.
He
went to great lengths to explain that the decision to embark on the
clean-up
exercise had been communicated to all stakeholders and had been
adequately
debated in parliament. "The government of Zimbabwe speaks for
itself as
indeed it did on this matter and does on all other matters,"
Charamba added
rather unnecessarily.
While it can be appreciated that his position as
a government
propagandist obliged him to come up with a diversionary spin
following the
publication of the rather unflattering Ankomah piece, he
misdirected his
rancour by scapegoating The Financial Gazette and the other
business weekly.
In a bid to undertake urgent damage control, Charamba
has unfairly
cast these papers as the culprits responsible for Ankomah's
findings and
conclusions on Murambatsvina and Garikai. He said: "It is
therefore
regrettable that these sections of the media, inspired or
reinforced by this
fringe politician, have vainly sought to damn the
government on such
frivolous grounds."
This statement exposes the
inherent bias government spin doctors seem
to have against private
newspapers. It is a breathtaking example of double
standards for Charamba to
slam the private press for a feature that first
appeared in The Herald. It
is neither fair nor professional for the
permanent secretary to rap the
private papers for a story they followed up
days after its original
publication in the state daily.
Why was The Herald not accused of the
same machinations that are being
attributed to the private papers? Even
Charamba himself cannot deny the
absurdity of describing the publication of
exactly the same story as 'a
clear abuse of journalism' on the part of the
private press while it is OK
for the state media to do so.
To add
insult to injury, Charamba makes the tenuous allegation that
the private
papers have "vainly sought to damn the government on such
frivolous grounds"
because they are under the spell of a "fringe politician"
he did not name.
It is hard to understand why Charamba should go to such
lengths to concoct
unsubstantiated conspiracy theories when the person he
should blast for any
'damning' revelations is the author of the original
story, Baffour
Ankomah.
After his story went into the public domain following its
publication
in New African Magazine and The Herald, there was absolutely
nothing wrong
with other publications using it as long as they gave proper
attribution.
Consequently, there was no need whatsoever for the permanent
secretary to
create such a storm in a tea cup over reference to the story in
the private
papers unless it is a smokescreen for something more serious
behind the
scenes.
An observer can certainly be excused for
detecting an element of
confusing doublespeak in Charamba's outburst. While
attacking the two
weeklies for picking up the New Africa Magazine/Herald
story, he also
acknowledges that news organisations are free to interpret
information at
their disposal as they see fit.
"Equally, decisions
by any editor to rerun any editorial matter from
any source, cannot be a
concern of the government of Zimbabwe, let alone any
sound basis for
incriminating it," Charamba declared.
Now, considering that this is
exactly what the editors of the two
papers being crucified for the Ankomah
story did, the question to ask is
what on earth is Charamba's
problem?
FinGaz
Rangarirai Mberi
10/13/2005 8:41:27 AM (GMT +2)
PRESIDENT
Robert Mugabe's defiant pledge to hand out $6 million each
to liberation war
collaborators has given added weight to the reasons why
the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) thinks the Zimbabwe economy is facing
further
decline.
Government announc-ed last week that those detained and
imprisoned
during the liberation war would each get $6 million grants, and
be given
access to cheap loans and other welfare benefits.
The
payouts are an apparent attempt by President Mugabe to raise new
foot
soldiers among the war collaborators, now that he can no longer rely on
restive and divided war veterans for the same grit they gave to ZANU PF
after they received their own $50 000 gratuities in 1997.
Although
reports suggest the war collaborators and former detainees
number about 6
000, the total to benefit will likely surge following the
announcement. In
1997, the number of people claiming to have fought in the
war swelled
dramatically from around 30 000 to well over 50 000 within weeks
of the
veterans' association successfully wringing cash out of government
through a
series of aggressive public protests.
The payments were not provided
for either in the full year budget or
the supplementary budget announced by
Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa in
August. In that supplementary budget,
Murerwa had in fact shown a resolve to
cut spending by not allocating any
more resources to government ministries.
Last week's report from the
IMF was mostly bleak, but crucially
revealed Zimbabwe in fact still has
friends on the IMF board, who believe
that the fund should resume technical
assistance to the country in order to
nurture it to recovery.
"A
number of directors suggested that the Fund could consider resuming
technical assistance to Zimbabwe to facilitate strengthening of policies and
cooperation with the Fund," the report said.
But because of its
latest act of appeasement, Zimbabwe may fail to
capitalise on what sympathy
remains on the board when its membership next
comes up for review in
March.
Economic consultant John Robertson said the critical IMF report
showed
the Fund was unlikely to reward Zimbabwe for its unexpected
repayments with
fresh financial aid.
"The IMF is still very
critical of our overall performance and with
very good reason, because we
are still behaving badly," Robertson told
Reuters. "The message from the IMF
is that you don't become eligible to
borrow new money - which could be what
the government is trying to do -
simply by making payments that should have
been made five years ago."
The searing IMF report has angered
government supporters, who have
suggested in a flurry of angry news articles
that Zimbabwe never should have
been put up for IMF expulsion because it was
not the worst defaulter. Sudan,
Somalia and Liberia - which owe more than
Zimbabwe does - should have got
similar treatment, the pro-government
commentators say.
But by placing Zimbabwe on the same level with the
three war-ravaged
economies, the pro-government commentators are unwittingly
exposing the
derelict state of the economy, whose 30 percent decline over
the past five
years is unprecedented for a country in peacetime, according
to the World
Bank.
The IMF warned last Tuesday that Zimbabwe's
economic problems would
worsen unless bold measures were taken, including
improved governance, to
restore investor confidence.
"While
welcoming recent measures, (IMF directors) noted that current
policies fall
short of what is needed to address the deteriorating economic
situation.
There is a significant risk that unless strong macroeconomic
policies are
implemented urgently, economic conditions - particularly
inflation - will
deteriorate even further."
The IMF sees negative GDP growth of seven
percent this year, worse
than its estimate of four percent last year and
much weaker than official
forecasts of two percent. The IMF is also
predicting inflation to end the
year at 400 percent, which now looks
conservative after new statistics this
week showed annual inflation rising
to nearly 360 percent in September.
The IMF urged Zimbabwe to initiate
what it called "decisive action"
without delay on a range of issues. These
included further deregulation to
allow market forces to determine the
currency, tougher action against
corruption and civil service reforms, among
other demands.
FinGaz
Charles
Rukuni
10/13/2005 8:42:48 AM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO - If it
were a riddle, it would go something like this. "When
does a person suddenly
become seven people without using any magic wand?"
The answer would be:
"When one wants to withdraw $5 million from an
automatic teller machine
(ATM)."
Though the man who invented the modern-day ATM, Don Wetzel,
came up
with the idea while waiting in line at a Dallas Bank way back in
1968,
queues are the order of the day at most ATMs in Zimbabwe.
While queues are usually unbearable during the last two weeks of the
month,
they now seem to have become routine as the purchasing power of the
local
currency has plummeted, with bread costing $25 000 a loaf and some
people,
including students, coughing up $60 000 a day on transport alone.
To
make matters worse, most commercial banks now insist that people
intending
to withdraw small amounts, which is anything up to $5 million,
should use an
ATM and not bank tellers. If they do, they are charged a
penalty.
While ATMs should normally be faster than human beings since there is
no
chit-chat, most of the machines are down, half the time. Some will only
be
giving account balances but not dispensing cash.
At the few that are
working, the number of people in the queue can be
misleading because if they
all want to withdraw more than $1 million they
have to make multiple
transactions.
And it looks like there is no immediate solution, as the
present crop
of ATMs was obviously not meant for distressed economies like
Zimbabwe.
Frank Read, director of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe,
said the
current crop of ATMs can only dispense 40 notes at a time. With the
highest
denomination being $20 000, one can only withdraw a maximum of $800
000 per
transaction.
While some banks have daily limits of $5
million, one has to make
seven transactions to withdraw that amount. And
they are taken as such,
which means one is charged stamp duty seven
times.
According to Read, however, though charges for ATM transactions
and
over the counter withdrawals differ from bank to bank, it is generally
cheaper to use an ATM.
While the inventors of the ATM wanted to
provide a 24-hour service,
and most notices at local ATMs claim this, very
few dispense cash throughout
the day. This has led to speculation that the
country does not have enough
cash. But Read says there is no cash shortage
in the country.
"There is no cash shortage in Zimbabwe," Read said.
"There is a high
demand for cash transactions in the economy especially at
month-ends. Banks
have responded by restocking the ATMs
frequently."
Demand for local currency has soared because of the rapid
decline in
its value. The highest denomination, $20 000, which in most
currencies
should be able to meet one's daily needs, is not even enough to
buy a loaf
of bread.
According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe,
an average family now
needs $9.7 million a month for its basic needs. This
translates to an
average of $322 000 a day.
Any housewife will,
however, tell you that $300 000 will not take you
anywhere. The CCZ basket
is too conservative. For example, it assumes that a
family of six only has
to consume only 8kg of meat a month and use four
tablets of bath
soap.
Demand for cash is likely to soar as inflation continues to
escalate,
putting more pressure on ATMs. It reached a new high of 360
percent last
month and is likely to rise further because of the falling
dollar,
especially in view of the pending Senate elections which are likely
to see
government pumping out more money than was budgeted for.
The
only limitation to the demand for cash is that most Zimbabweans do
not have
it. Some workers are still earning less than $1 million a month
while the
average wage is reported to be about $3 million a month.
FinGaz
Comment
10/13/2005
9:11:36 AM (GMT +2)
THE near-term prospects for the Zimbabwean
economy, which to all
intents and purposes is gasping for air at the very
deep end, are bleak.
This is the verdict of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), which
once again recently gave Zimbabwe a six-month
reprieve when it decided
against slamming the door on the country.
Inevitably, this observation will stir controversy or worse still,
political
ridicule especially from self-serving politicians in government
who view the
Bretton Woods institution as a self-appointed international
central bank or
a powerful political institution imbued with missionary zeal
for fiscal
rectitude.
Yet all the IMF, whose key members the government accuses of
seeking
regime change in Zimbabwe, is saying is that the danger warning
signs are
flashing. The country is sailing a little too close to the wind as
the
economy faces the spectre of an all-time high contraction of seven
percent.
This means that the government should move with lightning speed to
initiate
a series of reforms to deal with its difficulties and forestall
what seems
an imminent economic collapse. This entails treading a new path
of economic
austerity measures, which of course might not be politically
expedient. In
short, the Fund's message is that there is no alternative to
urgent,
far-reaching reforms to revive the sickly economy crippled by
negative
growth and an unemployment rate of over 70 percent.
We
feel that it would be futile and unwise for government, known for
its
Band-Aid approach to serious national issues, to ignore or dismiss these
observations simply because they are coming from an institution with which
it is embroiled in a long-drawn diplomatic standoff over policy
issues.
The fact is that the international monetarists have pointed out
issues
that must be faced head-on to put a fresh heart into the enfeebled
economy.
The Fund is only alerting Zimbabwe to something over which
government has
chosen to adopt the escapist head-in-the-sand ostrich
mentality - the
classic warning signs of economic collapse. Among other
things, the IMF also
emphasised the need for government to rein in its
profligacy by cutting down
on its wasteful pork-barrel projects used to
ingratiate the ruling ZANU PF
with what it considers to be strategic
political groupings.
Unfortunately, that is all the Fund can do -
forewarn and advise.
Contrary to the erroneous picture painted by the
scapegoating local
politicians who usually object to ideas only when other
people have them,
the IMF does not force economic reforms down the throats
of its members. It
is in no position for example to force a member to spend
more on schools or
hospitals and less on buying military aircraft and
ostentatious German car
models or constructing grandiose ministerial
palaces. The specifics of any
economic reform programme adopted by any
member are the respective members'.
And therein lies the problem
because that set-up does not inspire much
hope for Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean
government is best known for costly policy
reversals. A case in point is the
stop-go implementation of economic reforms
since 1980. Since independence,
the erstwhile regional breadbasket has come
up with no less than six major
economic reform programmes, which translates
to an average of an economic
reform programme every four years! At best
these blueprints were tucked in
piece-meal and at worst they just remained
nothing more than paper reforms
because they never took that giant leap to
implementation. This hurt the
economy.
Zimbabweans also need no reminding of the unfolding tragedy in
the
parastatal sector where the goal posts have been moved too far, too many
times as regards the sell-off of the state assets. Initially there was talk
of full-scale privatisation. Then there was commercialisation. This was
overtaken by a wish for corporatisation - a Chinese halfway house between
rigid state control and private ownership. And before anybody could say
Ziscosteel there was yet another volte-face. The government announced at the
end of last year that it was no longer interested in the partial disposal of
the parastatals, a decision for which it gave hardly convincing
reasons.
All this because the country's leaders have not mustered the
political
will to implement economic reforms to their full expression for
fear of
mainly imagined political backlash. Admittedly the devil with
economic
austerity measures is usually in the implementation process. But
that should
neither be an excuse nor justification for government's
expensive policy
reversals.
Any tough choices made, especially
belt-tightening austerity economic
measures, are bound to spark off
criticism. Be that is it may, criticism
that comes as result of an
unwavering desire to achieve greater good, should
not weaken the
government's resolve to reverse the economy's faltering
fortunes. If
anything, such criticism would have been a litmus test for the
government's
maturity, conviction and commitment to its vision, if only it
had pressed
ahead with the reforms. Unfortunately it failed the test and the
economy
took a turn for the worse. The country is now paying the price.
Which is why
Zimbabweans are sceptical whether government will now bite the
bullet to
soothe the economy's festering sore?
FinGaz
10/13/2005
9:20:51 AM (GMT +2)
Unbelievable!
TWO years ago, CZ was in
Maputo, Mozambique, as one of the many
plenipotentiaries attending the
second Africa Union summit.
And he observed one thing. Their
currency, the Meticais was trading
somewhere in the neighbourhood of 24 000
to the US dollar. Our exchange rate
at that time was 824 to the US dollar.
Fine and dandy.
This week CZ, just a little over two years later, was
in Maputo again.
First and most importantly, to try and wheedle a loan from
these friendly
neighbours of ours in case the British and Americans play
tricks with our
South African loan. Secondly, to finalise the Solidarity
Bash due to take
place in Mutare any day from now.
And he again
observed something. The Mozambican Meticais is now
trading at 25 100 to the
greenback. And our own ZimDollar is exchanging for
anything between 26 000
to 100 000 to the greenback depending on the
seller's level of patriotism.
Can one patriotic mathematician please
calculate for us how much our good
currency has depreciated? From $824 to
$100 000 to the US dollar.
Isn't is high time Tony Blair and George Bush are arraigned before the
International Court of Justice for this obvious crime?
If nothing
can be done, we will ask - through our biras - our good
ancestral spirits to
intervene!
Pazva ndizvo!
SO Cde Simon Pazvakavambwa was right
after all? Otherwise where is the
grain that Joseph Made, Webster Shamu,
Edna Madzongwe, Samuel Muvuti and
such other truth evaders have been saying
is available in large quantities?
Pazvakavambwa recently warned that in
three weeks' time Zimbabwe would
run out of maize, and exactly three week's
later, the country ran out of the
commodity . . . and in between senior
government and ZANU PF heavyweights
have been making a lot of noise about
the abundance of the commodity. Where
is it now?
Last week it took
CZ four days to get a 10 kg bag of maize meal at $84
000, yet some criminals
think they are drawing salaries from Treasury to lie
to the public!
If this country had just half a dozen honest civil servants like
Pazvakavambwa, we would be much better off!
Still on maize, get
this one. Our national brother-in-law, outgoing
Malawian President Bingu wa
Mutharika is in trouble. Big trouble and a half.
This time not about the
impeachment motion or the resignation of ministers
from his cabinet, but
from starving Malawians who are accusing him of taking
their maize and
sending it to Harare. Harare, yes! His opponents at the
weekend accused the
not-so-handsome brother of feeding his in-laws at their
expense. Hopefully
they have palpable evidence to prove this, because every
other ordinary
Zimbo is scouring everywhere for this precious commodity.
Newsy!
LAST week our one and only ZTV were on the moon over the recent
results of a ZAMPS media survey which showed that their viewership had grown
by a miniscule four percent. You never saw such joy . . . like a famished
old, sick and blind tortoise that has bumped on a rotting mushroom. The
ZAMPS results were headline news and the entire newsroom went into a
scrimmage as reporters, including even the chief reporter, tried to outdo
each other in covering this wonderful piece of news. Even Cde George
Charamba, the Great Uncle's spokesperson who also trebles up as the (Mis)
Information ministry perm-sec and a senior Herald columnist, queued up to
have their say on how useful and relevant our one and only broadcaster
is.
Wait until the results by the same ZAMPS people show that the
viewer-ship of the broadcaster has dropped . . . they will be insulted all
the way to hell, and can even be linked to the British and Americans good
and proper!
Curiously, nothing was said about the advantages of
this business
called self-competition.
Not much different from
saying GMB and NOCZIM are the best players in
their respective areas of
business!
Murimi wanhasi, Up the Hill, African Movie (repeat), Heyday
(repeat),
Kabanana (re-repeat), Chimurenga Files (re-re-repeat)! My foot!
May Saint
Donan please save us from this curse!
CZ's most favourite
programmes on the staid public broadcaster include
Toringepi?, Snake World,
and Media Watch among the whole caboodle that
constitute the effective
cocktail of drugs for anyone unlucky to be
suffering from insomnia!
CZ Ministries?
DID you know that one sector that is booming at this
time when all
hope seems to have been lost is the church industry? You
didn't? Now you
know, and don't say you weren't told because if you miss the
gravy train you
will only have yourself and your grandmother to blame. Right
now CZ is
seriously considering the possibility of going into the church
business. Who
is he to resist the temptation of amassing jaw-dropping riches
when everyone
in the whole country is starving?
From the
information he is getting, it seems like he could make good
lucre for
himself and his whole clan within the shortest possible time
imaginable
because this is the sector where all the money has drifted to.
Criminals worse than CZ can ever hope to be in three lifetimes are
making
real money in this industry. Real money. From the market research
that CZ
has punctiliously carried out in Zimbabwe and in the southern
African
region, he has come to the informed conclusion that this business is
a cool
meal ticket for life. One fellow in Malawi is now a proud owner of an
executive jet courtesy of this business. So who is CZ to be left
out?
"Evangelist CZ and Mrs CZ of the God-inspired CZ Ministries
International are inviting you to a prayer and healing meeting at the HICC
this Sunday. Bring the sick, the afflicted, the blind, the deaf, the poor,
the lazy, the dull, the barren and the greedy. They shall all be healed.
Time is 10:00 hours until 16:00 hours. Admission is FREE! Come and be
free!"
Survivors' gala?
CAN someone please confirm this piece
of rumour that is reaching CZ.
CZ is reliably informed that because of the
way things have gone in the
country, the authorities are considering
throwing a gala for those amadoda
sibili who will still be in Harare by year
end. And this one will be called
Survivors' Gala!
cznotebook@yahoo.co.uk
FinGaz
10/13/2005 9:22:48 AM (GMT +2)
SINCE the beginning of this series
responses continue to come from
various quarters of the world and critical
issues continue to be raised.
If I were to respond to all the
issues I will spend the whole of next
month writing about the same topic but
I need to move to other issues
although some said they don't mind even if I
get to part 20! I can surely
exceed that but as a consultant I am learning
to be economical with
information otherwise I will starve! Selfishness? May
be, may be not. Well,
I will consider a bonus of an additional part next
week that is if I manage
to persuade my editor to conspire in my lie that
this was going to be the
final part.
Having said all that I have
said in this series, the then question
arises as to whether present day
South Africa's strategy and tactics on the
Zimbabwean question and,
therefore, for regional hegemony form a seamless
web of diabolically clever
Machiavellian (or Kissingeresque) cunning; a
wandering minstrel show
lurching from one piece of crisis management to
another; or a mass of
internal contradictions and insoluble conflicts among
SA objectives. The
answer is probably none of the above by itself, but some
of each
combined.
An official of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in
South
Africa e-mailed me and expressed concern that I have been "too hard"
on them
by suggesting that present day SA still thrive on merchantilist
strategies
in trade and commerce and that it has got an imperial disposition
in the
region. A working board member from the Southern and East African
Trade
Institute informed me that some of the issues I discussed in this
series
were raised in multilateral trade negotiations with SA two weeks ago
and the
SA representative frothed at the mouth denying issue, with little
success in
convincing other delegates.
Various regional
organisations and institutes, (including officials
from private regional
companies), that deal with trade and commerce, or have
an interest in these
areas, testified that they find SA, especially its
transnationals' "stamina"
in trade negotiations quite quizzical. One
Zimbabwean in the UK, a Mr Dube,
correctly noted that South Africa's
enterprise regional policy is largely
influenced by an economically powerful
white minority, many of whom are the
"remnants of apartheid", and questioned
the ability and capacity of the SA
government (at least at the present
moment), even if it may have the wish
and political will, to restructure the
regional economy in a way that will
benefit all countries. This is exactly
the heart of the matter and these
issues must be conceptualised within
regional economic dynamics.
Until and unless southern Africa as a whole takes serious steps in
restructuring the lopsided inherited political economy, it will always be in
contradiction with itself and with its peoples. That is why President
Mugabe, despite increasing domestic dissent and an increasingly repressive
domestic policy, has been able to carve out a niche of supporters and
sympathisers for himself in the region and beyond, because his controversial
agrarian revolution is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as dismantling an
exploitative regional political economy. That also explains why many African
intellectuals and academics often end up in an uncomfortable position where
they appear like Mugabe apologists when they are dealing with their
counterparts from the west.
The inherited economic and industrial
structure in Zimbabwe was
dominated by transnational corporate entities
designed to meet the demand of
a narrow high-income elite as an extension of
their more basic industrial
plant in SA and/or their home countries. This
bequeathed on southern African
industries a highly dualistic pattern. The
spurt of economic growth in
peripheral Southern Rhodesia after UDI was
severely limited by fundamental
contradictions. Only the handful of white
settlers and transnational
corporate investors benefited significantly.
Transnationals operating from
their South African headquarters continued to
reap profits from their
control of finance and trade. This orientation, and
the dependence on
transnational corporations, led to growing capital
intensity despite high
unemployment.
The greatest weakness in the
"development" fostered by transnational
corporate investment in both
Southern Rhodesia and SA was precisely its
foundation: the exclusion of the
majority of the population, the Africans,
from participation except as
low-cost labor. By the mid-'70s, the
contradictions inherent in this pattern
of growth could no longer be glossed
over. They were aggravated by and
contributed to the general crisis that
spread from the developed capitalist
countries to settle on southern Africa.
For most blacks, excluded from
political power, conditions worsened. Wages,
in real terms, stagnated or
even fell. Overcrowding, hunger and disease
spread.
So, in Zimbabwe
as in South Africa itself and the whole Southern
African region, the white
minority in collaboration with transnational
corporations, employed racism
to mask its use of state power to shape a
regional political economic
structure to squeeze the last penny of profit
out of the vast majority of
the black population. Manufacturing aimed at the
luxury white market, the
military and export, although the hoped-for foreign
markets never opened
up.
In southern Africa and throughout the continent, transnational
trading
corporations controlled foreign and internal wholesale trade. They
fostered
the export of crude materials to associated factories in
"traditional
markets" back home, or in regional bases in SA. They squandered
hard-earned
foreign exchange to import luxuries and semi-luxuries, or
materials for
local assembly for the wealthy few who could afford them.
Transnational
corporate control of the banks and financial institutions
formed a key link
in fostering foreign control of African political
economies.
It fostered monetary and credit policies enhancing the
profitability
of the production of the above goods for the high income
groups. The banks
granted credit primarily for the big mining firms and
agribusiness, the
settler estates and trading firms. They typically turned
down requests by
African peasants, and made few loans to develop the
truncated manufacturing
sector. So, in Africa as a whole, uncontrolled
transnational corporate
investment in industry, designed to maximise short
term profits, led to
production of the wrong goods for the wrong consumers
in the wrong places.
Although significant moves have been made since
independence in the region,
the kind of institutional changes required to
transform the inherited
distorted political economies of Southern Africa are
immensely complex and
difficult.
Clearly, only fundamentally
restructuring inherited politico-economic
institutions can enable southern
African states to meet the pressing needs
of their impoverished populations.
Without this transformation, expanded
transnational corporate investment
will merely reinforce external dependence
and impoverishment. Domestic
investments, too, when not directed to changing
inherited, distorted
resource and institutional patterns, will especially
deepen disproportions
in the national economies, binding them tighter into
relations of unequal
exchange in the world capitalist commercial system.
While major steps
have been taken to address these colonial imbalances
in southern Africa, the
problems encountered in this regard seem to have
shattered the people's
initial impetus and cohesion. As a result, the
evidence is that, in many
countries, a "bureaucratic bourgeois"- civil
servants, managers of state
corporations, the politicians themselves- had
been able to increase their
control of the state machinery and subvert the
process of change to their
own ends.
If the ultimate goal is to "restructure" economies, elements
of the
ruling classes and of basic national economic interests will be
challenged
at some point. At present, Southern Africa is still haunted by
the spectre
of a resurgent racism. Moreover, the spectre of a "second
scramble" for
Africa still hovers over us because southern Africa is still
high on the
list of international shoppers.
To deal with this
situation, SADC will have to make hard choices about
production, not simply
to promote full capacity of existing industries, and
the concept of
sovereignty will have to be progressively eroded in the
region.
As
things stand, certain decisions that have ripple effects to the
whole region
still continue to be taken solely at the national level. For
the region to
ameliorate the vagaries of the international crisis, such
national decisions
should more regularly and fully include coordinated
consideration of the
regional context. If not then SADC will remain quite
vulnerable to outside
forces since it has also not signed an investment code
for the
region.
Until a uniform code is signed, international capital can play
one
economy against the others; but to sign one code would mean far greater
economic congruence than SADC can envisage at present.
You can see
that some are for NEPAD while others are looking east!
There is urgent need
to devise sustainable plans for regional
self-financing. The strategy of
international capital is no longer to divide
and rule, but to re-group and
dominate. One ardent critic of the old SADCC's
dependence on western capital
stated that "SADDC is only coordination of
donors, for donors".
Any
serious efforts to restructure southern African economies for the
benefit of
its peoples can not be dissociated from democracy and good
governance. Real,
democratic participation in and control of national
administration by the
mass of workers and peasants has to be continuously
expanded and deepened.
The education and involvement of the masses of the
people in the complex
process of restructuring critical and national
institutions is an imposing
task. Disengaging those institutions from
domination by transnational
corporate interests to facilitate balanced
development is by no means
simple.
It requires new skills and approaches at all levels, from
involving
workers on the shop floor in decisions to dealing with complex
transnational
corporate managerial issues, technologies and marketing
structures.
Sustained creation of new institutions to ensure growing
popular
participation at all levels of the state structures remains crucial
to avoid
the recurrent emergence of a new political-managerial elite which
can
manipulate state machinery to benefit themselves in cahoots with
transnational corporations.
Only the full participation of an
increasingly educated and
politically conscious working population can
ensure the realisation of
economic plans taking advantage of every potential
opportunity for
self-reliant nationwide development.
The
development and implementation of a regional economic strategy
require
regional cooperation involving major changes to the inherited
regional
political economy which currently enable South Africa and allied
transnational corporations to shape the economic development perspectives of
southern Africa.
lIsaya M. Sithole is a lawyer, independent
political consultant as
well as a human, civil and political rights
activist. He can be contacted
on:
isithole@yahoo.com
FinGaz
10/13/2005 8:53:01 AM (GMT +2)
THE mining sector has been
experiencing difficulties over the past
five years due to foreign currency
shortages, incoherent government policies
and the general lack of
investment.
Felix Njini, The Financial Gazette Chief Business
Reporter, spoke to
Chamber of Mines president Jack Murehwa to get an
overview of the state of
the industry, which is the country's largest
contributor to gross domestic
product and a key foreign exchange
earner.
Financial Gazette (FG): Where does capacity utilisation
stand in the
mining sector?
Jack Murehwa (JM): Capacity utilisation
within the mining sector
varies from mine to mine. In general, however,
capacity utilisation over the
last few months has declined as a result of
shortages of mining inputs,
particularly fuel, imported spares and
chemicals. This has led to increased
plant and equipment downtimes, which
could have been avoided had the inputs
been available. As you are aware,
these inputs have to be imported and
producers cannot access adequate
foreign currency to meet operational
requirements.
FG: Apart from
the widely publicised problems affecting the mining
sector such as foreign
currency shortages and high labour costs, what other
problems are
constraining production in the sector?
JM: The high cost of mining
inputs - whether locally manufactured or
imported - is a major challenge
being faced by the mining industry. As you
may be aware, mineral producers
are price takers; they do not determine the
price of their own
products.
In this regard, producers have to ensure that they produce
minerals at
a cost well below the price of these minerals. Under the current
economic
environment this is proving to be a major challenge. Hence, the
call we
always make to the relevant authorities to work on the fundamentals
that
bring about inflation and to ensure that a viable exchange rate is in
place
at all times. The other challenge being faced is that of attracting
and
retaining skills. Loss of skills to competitors within Zimbabwe is no
longer
the issue.
The skilled personnel are leaving our industry
for opportunities in
the region and abroad. The AIDS problem is also not
helping the situation.
FG: What has been the level of investment, i.e.
in exploration,
capitalisation and research in the sector and has this
impacted on
employment in the mining sector in any way?
JM:
Investment in exploration has been very low over the last few
years.
Investment in exploration requires confidence in the future of the
sector
and competitive returns by companies operating locally.
Unfortunately,
the confidence required has been declining and the
mining industry has been
living from hand to mouth in the recent past,
leaving little or no resources
to plough into exploration and development.
Foreign Direct Investor interest
on the other hand has been low in
exploration.
The same goes for
capitalisation of ongoing projects. Mines need the
funds to re-capitalise
from either equity or facilities arranged with local
and/or foreign banks.
Borrowing locally is difficult with the prohibitive
interests. Sourcing
funds externally is also difficult due to the perceived
high risk. The
benefits of re-capitalisation can be witnessed from the
efforts in coal
mining supported by the central bank, which has seen
increases in the
production of coal.
Then, the existence and the growth of the platinum
and precious stones
sectors, attributable to the ability of the sectors to
raise resources
externally, are other positive examples. We wish to witness
more projects of
this nature throughout the industry so that we can retain
and generate more
employment.
FG: Can you please respond to reports
that the mining industry is
operating on obsolete equipment due to lack of
re-capitalisation?
JM: For most mines, the need to purchase modern
equipment to improve
on productivity is real. Some operations, particularly
non-exporting mines,
desperately need new pieces of equipment. Some mines
have managed with their
meagre resources to purchase or rebuild some
equipment.
FG: Which mining companies have closed during the past five
years and
which ones are threatened with closure and what are the reasons
for closure,
if any?
JM: Several mines have closed since 2000,
mostly gold mines. Some of
the mines managed to re-open albeit at production
levels below that recorded
before the closure.
Marginal and near
marginal operations are challenged by the huge costs
of production. It is
therefore important that issues of inflation and a
viable exchange rate
continue to be carefully thought out to ensure the
continued viability of
these operations.
FG: What are the projected earnings from the mining
sector for 2005?
JM: We would rather not discuss such figures through
the press.
FG: Can you please give us a breakdown of expected output
from the
gold mining sector and earnings?
JM: According to current
production data, the gold mining sector is
projected to produce 14 800kg in
2005 compared to 21 330 kg produced last
year. Realisations to the industry
are a function of the exchange rate and
the gold spot price.
FG: Is
the mining sector going to benefit from the surge in the
international
prices of the precious metals?
JM: The gold mining sector in Zimbabwe
is not benefiting from the
current upsurge in the international gold prices.
In simple terms and by
deduction, the cost of inputs into the sector seems
to be priced at exchange
rates considerably higher than the auction rate.
This goes for fuel, spares
and chemicals. With revenue pegged on the auction
rate, the returns margins
are seriously squeezed.
FG: Please
explain, in percentage terms, the increase in production
costs for gold
producers and how this is impacting on revenue?
JM: Over the last 6 to
9 months the situation has been highly
volatile. The relationship of the
cost centres has been shifting
significantly. We will need to conduct a
survey to be able to provide an
accurate picture of the situation as it
stands now. What is apparent is the
increase in cost of production, which
has been at levels above inflation.
FG: Has the Chamber seen the
proposed new Mines and Minerals Act,
which we understand would be tabled
before Parliament in the coming months?
JM: We are aware that the
government is working on revising the Mines
and Minerals Act and we are in
discussions on the matter. It will not be
proper for the Chamber to comment
on the process before finality.
FG: What is the Chamber's position on
the new mining law, especially
on the hazy empowerment proposal?
JM: As yet, there is no new mining law.
It is unfair to say that the
empowerment proposal is hazy. Such
comments should only come when the
proposals have been put on the table. For
now, all we are aware of is that
the subject is being debated in government
circles.
FinGaz
Chris
Muronzi
10/13/2005 8:44:10 AM (GMT +2)
THE milling
industry is virtually grinding to a halt owing to erratic
wheat supplies,
with the Zimbabwe Stock Excha-nge-listed National Foods
(Natfoods)
threatening to shut down two of its major milling plants whose
wheat
supplies have been exhausted.
In a letter to the Secretary in the
Ministry of Industry and
International Trade, retired Colonel Christian
Katsande, Natfoods painted a
grim picture of the future of its flour milling
plants dotted around the
country.
Industry sources said the entire
flour milling industry might have to
close shop, putting scores of jobs on
the line.
Survival is now pinned on the next harvest at the end of this
month.
Zimbabwe needs 350 000 metric tonnes of wheat each year, but
output
has slumped because of high production costs and the effects of
government's
often chaotic land reform.
"National Foods is
currently milling 400 tonnes of wheat per day, and
we will have run out of
wheat by lunch time on Saturday (8 October 2005). We
have no further sales
orders from GMB (the Grain Marketing Board) and
therefore, both our Harare
and Bulawayo mills will be closed from Monday 10
October 2005 until we
receive further wheat allocations," read part of the
letter signed by John
Pilgrim, Natfoods' finance director, and Mike Yeatman,
the company's sales,
marketing and distribution director.
Colonel Katsande could not be
contacted for comment at the time of
going to print. Sources however, said
the GMB has been directed to attend to
the situation at Natfoods as a matter
of urgency.
As of October 5, the Harare flour mill had 1 090 tonnes of
GMB-supplied wheat in its silos with 379 tonnes still to be collected from
the grain monopoly. The outstanding tonnage only equates to a day's
production.
The Bulawayo mill had been closed for the past three
months.
Zimbabwe is facing an acute shortage of wheat owing to drought
and the
land reform exercise, which was launched in 2000 by veterans of the
war of
independence.
The exercise, which has adversely affected
Zimbabwe's agricultural
production, saw over 5 000 white commercial farmers
being booted off their
farms at the height of the land
seizures.
FinGaz
Audrey
Chitsika
10/13/2005 8:48:48 AM (GMT +2)
COAL producer
Hwange Colliery Company (HCC) has accessed a US$4
million loan from the
central bank to acquire critical spares and guarantee
future
production.
The country's sole producer of coal said the delivery
of the spares
secured under the US$4 million facility has started, adding
that this should
improve equipment availability and production.
"To
mitigate logistical challenges, the company benefited from
interventions
from the RBZ (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) in terms of working
capital
support," HCC said in a statement.
HCC also signed a contract for the
supply of opencast mining
equipment, which should arrive in the country soon
after all the conditions
have been met.
The Zimbabwe Stock
Exchange-listed group is also finalising a loan
agreement for the financing
of the 3 Main Underground Mine and Opencast Mine
while talks are still
underway to consider the recapitalisation of the
company.
HCC is
currently courting major investors to endorse a bumper $2
trillion rights
issue.
After the recapitalisation, the company's production is expected
to
increase to 6 million tonnes per annum, compared to 3.7 million tonnes
achieved last year.
Fuel shortages and lack of funds saw the
company experiencing
challenges on the transportation of coal and coke by
both road and rail to
the market.
HCC said there has been an
increase in coal deliveries to Hwange Power
Station from 878 424 tonnes
recorded last year to 1 038 870 tonnes.
"The increase in deliveries was
due to the production mix that was
geared at supplying adequate coal stocks
for electricity generation," said
the company, adding the demand for coal
and coke products should remain firm
in both the domestic and export
markets.
Recently, HCC and the National Railways of Zimbabwe entered
into a
joint venture aimed at maintaining adequate levels of coal and
coke.
FinGaz
10/13/2005 9:13:02 AM (GMT +2)
ARE there
any circumstances under which it is ever justified for the
leader of a
country to abandon his role as protector of the population and
resort to
torture, mass killings, ethnic cleansing, genocide or some such
other
horrific atrocity against his own people?
I ask the question
because Gift Nyoka of New Marlborough in Harare,
whose letter (which I had
prior sight of) is published on the Readers' Forum
page in this issue of The
Financial Gazette, seems to think so. He takes me
to task for a feature I
wrote in the September 29 to October 5 issue of this
paper about the trial
of deposed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein later this
month.
Nyoka's
views make an interesting study in the phenomenon known as
selective
perception. He censures me for 'accusing' Saddam of abuses such as
the
gassing of the Kurds and the demolition of entire towns and draining of
marshland to suppress a Shiite rebellion when it is crystal clear that I am
not the one making these charges against the deposed tyrant. These are
documented facts in the public domain which any journalist or writer can
quote as background information to amplify an article. It would be a
different matter if the letter writer were arguing that the deposed dictator
was being falsely accused of these crimes and abuses.
The
statement, "Makuni went to town about how Saddam Hussein is going
to face up
to a dozen trials on genocide, crimes against humanity and other
atrocities
committed by his regime . . ." further demonstrates how seriously
Nyoka's
need to defend the indefensible has compromised his ability to look
at facts
objectively. Once again, it is not Mavis Makuni saying from the top
of her
head that Saddam Hussein is facing such a grave situation. That is
the
reality as explained by Laith Kubba, spokesman for the transitional
government in Iraq who I quoted verbatim in my article.
Whether
Nyoka likes it or not, Saddam Hussein committed these terrible
atrocities
against his own people and taking umbrage at anyone who refers to
them is
similar to shooting a messenger because he or she bears bad news.
The Iraqi
issue is so complex that literally, there can be as many angles as
writers
tackling different aspects. The issues he raised, such as the
Iraq/Iran war,
the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, terrorism, US hypocrisy on
nuclear arms
and abuses committed by George Bush are valid, but these were
not the topics
I was looking at. My article was about Saddam's impending
trial and its
impact. Nyoka must accept that the trial is going ahead
despite all the
other issues he raises, which have been exhaustively
analysed in different
media.
The main thrust of Nyoka's complaint seems to be that by being
obliged
to stand trial, Saddam Hussein is getting a raw deal because he was
being
funded by the United States of America when he committed the array of
atrocities he must now answer for. In other words, this correspondent seems
to be suggesting that because he enjoyed American support at some point
during his brutal rule, the former dictator's defence during his forthcoming
trial should be: 'somebody made me do it!' This would hark back to the trial
of Nazi officers at Nuremberg in 1945 when they pleaded: "We were following
orders" about their role in the holocaust during which six million Jews
perished.
The question Nyoka does not seem keen to confront is
whether '
following orders' or succumbing to the divide and rule tactics of
powerful
nations for financial gain is a valid and acceptable defence for
culprits
responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands or millions of
innocent
people?
Saddam Hussein may have received material support
from the US during
the cold war between the West and the former communist
bloc, but no one
ordered him to butcher his own people. And even if he had
been ordered to do
so, I would still ask what kind of leader succumbs to
that kind of pressure.
This definitely is not the calibre of leader needed
in the developing world
or anywhere else.
After Joseph Stalin's
gruesome purges of the 1930s in the former
Soviet Union during which an
estimated 20 million people were killed, the
holocaust in Hitler's Germany
and genocide committed in various countries,
including Rwanda and Sudan in
Africa, it is time for the world to say 'no'
to this kind of brutality. The
only way to get the message across to
ruthless dictators like Saddam Hussein
and other tyrants that their callous
view of human life is abhorrent to the
rest of humanity is to make sure that
they are brought to justice.
The trial of the former Iraqi strongman is therefore important in that
it
will give the people of his country and the world at large an opportunity
to
hear from the horse's mouth the explanation for his unfathomable cruelty
and
lack of compassion for his own people.
Man is a free agent with a
conscience and freedom to choose between
right and wrong. People with hearts
of stone like Saddam Hussein who have no
qualms about torturing, maiming,
killing and pauperising their own people,
cannot be let off the hook for the
reasons suggested by Nyoka.
I find it hard to believe that he wants the
world to feel sorry for
Saddam Hussein for having sold his country and
people out by agreeing to be
used by the US during the cold war. Rather than
being a mitigating factor in
the current situation, this actually increases
his culpability because it
shows a lack of spine and moral fibre.
Through trials like Saddam's, the world must register its rejection of
the
ethos of the expendability of human life which characterises the brutal
rule
of dictators throughout the world. Killing innocent people is
indefensible
under any circumstances and must be rejected by all men and
women of
conscience throughout the world.