http://www.earthtimes.org
Posted :
Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:12:15 GMT
Author : DPA
Johannesburg/Harare - Talks between President Robert Mugabe and
pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai over the share of government
ministries between them were due to resume Friday for the fourth successive
day, with no sign the deadlock could be resolved. Even the usually
optimistic Herald, the daily propaganda newspaper of Mugabe's ZANU(PF)
party, said in a headline, "Cabinet talks hit brick wall" after Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a lesser faction of the MDC,
disbanded late Thursday after eight hours of fruitless
debate.
"They (the MDC) maintain their position, as we do,"
Mugabe said
as he left the conference venue.
Since the
three parties signed a power sharing agreement on
September 15, the
stumbling block is the ministry of home affairs, which
includes control of
the police force.
Mugabe last week unilaterally allocated all
the key ministries
in the proposed "inclusive government" to his ZANU(PF)
party, including the
defence ministry and home affairs, which would give him
total control of the
country's security forces.
Tsvangirai insists that control of the uniformed forces has to
be balanced,
and has conceded the control of the defence ministry to the
84-year-old
Mugabe.
The MDC inflicted on ZANU(PF) its first electoral
defeat in
parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential
ballot in
March.
The second round presidential vote
collapsed in a wave of brutal
attacks launched by Mugabe's military and
police commanders on the MDC.
Sources said that Mugabe on
Thursday night agreed to cede
control of the finance ministry to the
MDC.
Under his control for the last 28 years since
independence, the
country's economy has collapsed with inflation
conservatively put at 231
million per cent, while the currency yesterday
continued its headlong crash,
reaching 50 million Zimbabwe dollars to the US
dollar on Thursday, from 100
Zimbabwe dollars to the US dollar in early
August, when the regime
redenominated its currency by slashing off 10
zeroes.
Tsvangirai last week declared he would walk away from
the
negotiations if the MDC was not allocated the home affairs ministry -
one
department of which is responsible for refusing to issue him with a new
passport.
MDC sources said Friday he had been made an
offer on Thursday
night of a new home affairs ministry with control
revolving between the two.
"Morgan rejected it," said the
source. "He is resolute, and so
is his negotiating team. It's home affairs
or nothing. ZANU(PF) has nothing
new to offer. They are just trying to wear
him down into accepting. Morgan
says he cannot deliver to the people without
home affairs."
The source said that Tsvangirai was happy to
refer the stalemate
to the Southern African Development Community, the
14-nation regional
political alliance which set the talks in motion, for
mediation.
"Let them see if they think it's fair that the
losing party in
the elections should appropriate almost total control of
cabinet posts,"
said the source.
Observers say the
impasse is dramatically aggravating a
humanitarian catastrophe, as famine
begins to claim the lives of hundreds of
starving children whose parents
have no food.
By January almost one in two people will be
dependent on food
aid, although famine relief operations have barely resumed
after a three-
month ban imposed by Mugabe.
Late
Thursday, James McGee, the United States ambassador to
Zimbabwe said aid -
except humanitarian - would not be resumed, nor would
targeted sanctions
against members of Mugabe's power clique be lifted until
there was "evidence
of long-term political and economic reform. "Until then,
it will not
happen," he said.
Reuters
Fri 17 Oct 2008,
12:47 GMT
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition
MDC said on Friday the United
Nations and African Union should step in to
mediate between the country's
rivals if talks aimed at rescuing a
power-sharing deal remain deadlocked
over cabinet posts.
"They (the
U.N. and AU) are the guarantors of the (power-sharing) agreement.
If ZANU-PF
continues to be intransigent, then those institutions should step
in," MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
President Robert Mugabe, MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
of a splinter MDC faction have failed
to agree on forming a cabinet in three
days of talks. Another round of
negotiations started on Friday.
Supporters of Mugabe earlier accused the
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) of "bad faith" and of stalling to try
to bring about U.N. mediation,
while the MDC blamed the delay on ZANU-PF's
"inflexibility".
The power-sharing deal, brokered by former South African
President Thabo
Mbeki a month ago, is seen as Zimbabwe's best hope for
rescuing an economy
where fuel and food are scarce, and inflation stands at
231 million percent,
the world's highest.
Mugabe, in power since
independence from Britain in 1980, seemed relaxed as
he arrived at the talks
venue to negotiate.
When asked whether Friday would be deal day, he said:
"D Day?", and then
joked in the local Shona language.
"It's not D-Day
but a day for striking deals," he said, in street lingo
describing how
people survive by cutting deals.
Tsvangirai threatened to pull out on
Sunday after Mugabe allocated powerful
ministries such as defence, finance
and home affairs -- which controls the
police -- to his ZANU-PF
party.
Chamisa said by telephone that the MDC was ready to compromise,
but "not to
the point of betrayal", and would not settle for being the
junior partner in
a Mugabe-led government.
Asked when he arrived for
talks if he was expecting a breakthrough on
Friday, Tsvangirai told
reporters: "We all have to have hope, don't we?"
"PRAGMATISM"
The
trading of accusations has not relented as optimism mixes with pessimism
before and after each round of talks.
The official Herald newspaper
quoted ZANU-PF sources on Friday as saying
Tsvangirai's Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) -- which it calls MDC-T --
had a hidden
agenda.
"Insiders privy to the discussions told the Herald it appeared as
if the
MDC-T was negotiating in bad faith and angling for a deadlock in the
hope
that the mediation would be taken out of the hands of comrade Mbeki and
assumed by the African Union and the United Nations," it said.
The
paper's sources said Tsvangirai was acting under pressure from the
United
States and Britain, Mugabe's favourite allegation against his
long-time
foe.
The MDC has accused Mbeki in the past of favouring Mugabe. It has
toned down
its criticism since Mbeki brokered the power-sharing deal.
Although Mbeki's
effectiveness was thrown into doubt after South Africa's
ruling party ousted
him.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF party on Friday
accused the
West of trying to scuttle ongoing cabinet talks and elbow out
former South
African president Thabo Mbeki who is mediating in the country's
political
crisis.
The state-run Herald newspaper quoted sources as saying
that the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai was
under pressure from Britain and the United States to
"deliberately force a
deadlock" as they were keen to elbow out Mbeki and
place the facilitation in
the hands of the African Union and the United
Nations.
The sources claimed that the two Western countries have
been lobbying
South Africa and China at the UN Security Council to allow the
UN to send a
mission to Zimbabwe to assess the progress of the talks and see
how the
world body could become involved.
The mission would be
headed by UN assistant secretary general for
political affairs Haile
Menkerios who is part of a "reference group" created
by Mbeki in August to
assist in the Zimbabwe mediation process.
\"They want Mr. Mbeki to
fail so that there is an excuse to involve
the UN and thereby
internationalise the matter and make it easier to pursue
their own agenda in
Zimbabwe," the official daily's source said.
The ZANU PF claim came
as talks between Tsvangirai and President
Robert Mugabe to form a unity
government stalled for the third successive
day on Thursday amid
disagreements over the allocation of cabinet
portfolios.
The
leaders could not agree on the control of key ministries of
finance and home
affairs. The talks continue on Friday.
JN/nm/APA
2008-10-17
http://www.afrol.com
afrol News, 17 October - United
States has today warned that it would
consider launching new sanctions
against Zimbabwean government if
power-sharing deal with opposition proves
futile.
Top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, announced during his
visit to
Japan that she was not optimistic that Zimbabwean president Robert
Mugabe
and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
would break a deadlock in negotiations.
"If it doesn't
work, then we are going to continue pressure that we've put
on government.
We will look at new sanctions against president Mugabe and
his regime,"
Frazer told media in Japanese capital, Tokyo.
She added that, "right now
we're not so optimistic. It doesn't look very
good for
power-sharing."
Ms Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African
affairs, is on a visit
to Japan and China for talks on African hotspots and
cooperation on aid to
continent.
European Union (EU) foreign
ministers at a meeting Monday in Luxembourg also
warned of fresh sanctions
unless Mr Mugabe respected power-sharing deal.
Former South African
leader Thabo Mbeki was brokering talks to salvage
month-old pact, under
which 84-year-old Mr Mugabe would remain president and
his archrival would
take new post of prime minister.
Mr Tsvangirai has reportedly threatened
to pull out of agreement after Mr
Mugabe last weekend announced that he
would award key ministries to his own
party.
"Actions of president
Mugabe are not consistent with any notion of
power-sharing. We will have to
see whether former president Mbeki will be
able to get president Mugabe to
agree to what he had agreed to, which was to
truly share power," Ms Frazer
said.
But Ms Frazer said that African leaders had biggest role to play in
persuading Mr Mugabe to share power with Mr Tsvangirai.
"Ultimately
Mr Mugabe rests and relies on support from his neighbours and I
think that
they have to become stronger and hold him to account," she said.
She
added that, "21 heads of state that witnessed" signing of power-sharing
agreement, they should be ones calling for him to honour
commitments."
Ms Frazer insisted that further sanctions would not hurt
people of Zimbabwe,
where inflation is running at 231 million percent and 80
percent of
population lives in poverty.
"We don't believe that our
sanctions will impact on people's lives. They
will impact on stealing of the
government officials," she said.
She noted that US delivers food and
health assistance to Zimbabwe. Existing
US sanctions include bans on travel
and trade with government leaders.
By staff writer
© afrol
News
SW Radio
Africa (London)
17 October 2008
Posted to the web 17 October
2008
Lance Guma
A call by the MDC for parliament to
investigate this year's political
violence has touched a raw nerve in the
ZANU PF system.
On Wednesday MDC Mutare Central legislator Innocent
Gonese tabled a motion
for a parliamentary Select Committee to investigate
the violence which
rocked the country after the March 29 elections, that
were won by the MDC.
Harare East MP Tendai Biti also tabled another motion
asking parliament to
investigate the 'militarization and politicization of
food distribution.'
ZANU PF Chief Whip Joram Gumbo however sought to have
the two motions
removed from the order paper claiming, 'they were not in the
spirit of the
agreement signed by the three political
parties.'
Speaking to the state owned Herald newspaper on Thursday
Gumbo said he had
already spoken to MP Gonese from the MDC and advised him
of their position.
'We feel that the motions do not serve to sustain the
current political
dispensation of working together. It does not bring any
healing which is the
essence of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by
the three principals
but would open old wounds, that might even create
vengeance in rural areas
and those areas that experienced political
violence.' Gumbo also claimed the
Business Committee of parliament 'did not
sit and currently is not sitting
until a new Cabinet has been put in place.'
This he argued meant proper
procedures were not followed in tabling the
motions.
Newsreel spoke to MDC Chief Whip Innocent Gonese who said it was
not the
business of the House Committee to decide which motions would go on
the
Order Paper. The House Committee is tasked with looking at issues such
as
parliament's calendar, it's sittings and other day to day affairs. He
said
any MP can table a motion in parliament as long as they give the
Speaker
advance notice. Asked whether they had the numbers to push the
motion
through if ZANU PF resisted, Gonese said, 'we prefer not to go down
that
route.' He said he hoped ZANU PF would support the investigation since
they
were going to be working in the same government. He also said
reconciliation
could only come if people owned up to their crimes.
At
the heart of the matter is a desire by ZANU PF to keep a lid on a brutal
campaign of terror which led to the murder of over 130 MDC activists while
tens of thousands of supporters were brutalized and displaced. The notorious
Joint Operations Command deployed over 200 senior army officers countrywide
who coordinated the campaign. Lobengula MDC MP Sam Sipepa Nkomo on Tuesday
told parliament there could be no national healing, as argued by ZANU PF, if
there was no full disclosure of what happened. 'For there to be any
meaningful national healing, there is need for all the crimes of political
violence to be investigated and all the perpetrators brought to book,' he
said.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=6019
October 17, 2008
By Mxolisi
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - Two leaders of a Zimbabwean feminist organisation,
who were
arrested by police in Bulawayo on Thursday, were on Friday remanded
in
custody to Tuesday next week.
Magodonga Mahlangu and Jenni
Williams, co-leaders of the Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA), were arrested in
on Thursday, while demonstrating against the
slow implementation of a
national unity government, which is being vaunted
as a solution to the
country's eight year political and economic crisis.
A statement released
by WOZA said the two leaders appeared at the Bulawayo
Magistrate's Court on
Friday morning, being charged under Section 37 1(a) of
the Criminal Law
(Codification and Reform) Act, for "disturbing the peace,
security or order
of the public".
The organisation said the two were detained after the
state prosecutor had
initially reached an agreement with the defence lawyer,
Kossam Ncube that
the state would not oppose bail, whose amount and
conditions had been
settled before their court appearance.
However,
the situation changed when a new prosecutor was assigned to handle
the
case.
The new prosecutor, identified only as Chifamba, argued that the
two should
be denied bail because they still had an outstanding case
pending, following
their arrest on May 28, again for demonstrating against
the government.
"As the group of 14 had been removed off remand in Harare
Magistrate's Court
on Wednesday 15th, this matter is no longer pending. The
Magistrate,
Maphosa, allowed the state time to verify this fact however,
remanding the
two in custody until Tuesday 21st October. It is clear from
these actions
that the state is determined to deny the two bail, a clear
violation of the
spirit of the power-sharing agreement signed by the
political parties on
15th September," read the WOZA
statement.
Williams and Mahlangu, who were detained at Bulawayo Central
overnight on
Thursday, pending their court appearance, were expected to be
moved to
Bulawayo Remand Prison later Friday afternoon.
The WOZA
members took to the streets of Bulawayo, marching to Mhlahlandlela
Government Complex, where they intended to "declare a national disaster and
demand immediate food aid for all Zimbabweans".
Baton-wielding police
broke up the demonstration, beating the women and
arresting their
co-leaders.
"WOZA continues to demand immediate action regarding the
formation of a new
government that will begin to work on solving urgent
social issues, like
food, electricity and water. Recognising that the
situation in the country
is now a national disaster we also demand that all
Zimbabweans receive
access to food aid and also seed and agricultural
inputs," read the
statement.
WOZA members have had several running
battles with the police in the past,
and some of them have been brutalised
before for demonstrating against the
government of President Robert
Mugabe.
http://www.radiovop.com/
HARARE, October 17 2008 - The army was on Friday
put on high alert
following continued disagreements over the sharing of
cabinet posts between
Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
Sources told RadioVOP that the Director of Military
Intelligence
instructed military police in Harare to round up soldiers in
the city centre
and order them into their respective camps.
"The Director of Military Intelligence ordered the military police to
go
into the city centre and call up all the soldiers roaming in the city
centre
so that they can be on standby in their respective camps around
Harare.
"But there are rumours that some soldiers aligned
to the Morgan
Tsvangirai led MDC might get excited given the ongoing cabinet
sharing
talks," said the source.
The source added that
soldiers were disgruntled with the Zd100 000
salaries awarded to them last
month and were looking to Tsvangirai for
improved working conditions and
better salaries.
"Soldiers were given a Zd100 000 for the whole
month at a time a 10kg
of roller meal is going for Zd150 000. So how does
the government expect
soldiers to survive. Soldiers are just roaming in the
city centre, with some
of them selling recharge cards to augment their
salaries," said the source.
Reuters
Fri 17 Oct
2008, 8:42 GMT
HARARE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Members of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party accused the opposition MDC on Friday of "bad faith"
in talks over a
power-sharing government for Zimbabwe, and secretly aiming
to bring about
U.N. mediation.
Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara of a splinter MDC
faction have failed to reach
agreement on allocating cabinet posts in three
days of talks, and are due to
resume negotiations on Friday.
Former South African president Thabo
Mbeki, who brokered a broad
power-sharing agreement last month, is mediating
again.
The official Herald newspaper quoted ZANU-PF sources on Friday as
saying the
talks were dragging because Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC) -- which it calls MDC-T -- had a hidden
agenda.
"Insiders privy to the discussions told the Herald it appeared as
if the
MDC-T was negotiating in bad faith and angling for a deadlock in the
hope
that the mediation would be taken out of the hands of comrade Mbeki and
assumed by the African Union and the United Nations," it said.
The
paper's sources said Tsvangirai was acting under pressure from the
United
States and Britain.
They accused Tsvangirai of seeking to renegotiate the
allocation of
ministries that had already been agreed, dragging out a
session that was
only meant to focus on the finance and home affairs
portfolios, the Herald
said.
There was no immediate comment from the
MDC, which said on Thursday that the
talks were deadlocked with about 10
ministries still in dispute.
In the past, the MDC has accused Mbeki of
favouring Mugabe. But it has toned
down its criticism since Mbeki brokered
the power-sharing deal.
ZANU-PF has also protested against the
introduction in parliament of two
motions to debate the political violence
that MDC supporters complained of
during this year's election campaign, and
the "militarisation and
politicisation" of food aid.
Mugabe's chief
whip in parliament, where ZANU-PF is now in a minority, told
the Herald the
motions had been introduced improperly, and should be
withdrawn because they
undermined the spirit of the power-sharing agreement.
There was no
immediate comment from the MDC's parliamentary chief whip.
(Editing by Kevin
Liffey)
http://www.sowetan.co.za
17 October 2008
Bill
Saidi
Richard Hall, a great editor I had the privilege of
working under in the
1960s, once described a proposed constitution for what
would be Zambia,
thus: A pit latrine - the more you dig it, the more it
stinks.
At the height of the unravelling of British
imperialism, critics of the
snail's pace bestowal of independence to the
former colonies used brutal
language to scold Whitehall.
A Zambian,
Ali Simbule, was furious with the kith-and-kin procrastination
over ending
Ian Smith's 1965 UDI. He called Harold Wilson's government "a
toothless
bulldog".
I have recently enjoyed this description of Margaret Thatcher's
1991
proposed poll tax:
"fat-headed, bone-headed, dunder-headed,
blunder-headed, mutton-headed".
It translates into "unworkable".
I
find it an appropriate description of the power-sharing mish-mash signed
by
the two MDC formations and Zanu-PF to end the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Thabo
Mbeki flew back to the country this week, lugging a large band-aid to
cover
the gaping wound now crippling the process. Many are inclined to burn
Mbeki
at the stake as the witch who strung along the MDC leaders, while
knowing
Zanu-PF was brewing its old tamba wakachenjera subterfuge.
Most people
who voted against Mugabe and Zanu-PF on March 29 would have come
out into
the streets to protest at the delay in setting up a government that
would
end nearly 30 years of Zanu-PF misery and death.
It has been noted that
Zanu-PF's policy seems to entail starving the people
into such weaklings,
the very thought of demonstrations might give them
collective cardiac
arrest.
It might shock some to know this, but there are citizens
who would not put
it past Zanu-PF to starve the people into giving up all
protest by denying
them the strength to stand up. Always to be remembered is
the impunity with
which Zanu PF unleashed its retribution campaign. There
was, in essence, a
campaign of political cleansing in the high-density
suburbs, the opposition
stronghold.
Once the party apparatchiks
recognised how weak physically most people had
become as a result of the
food and money shortages and the never-ending
queues at the banks, they
realised how effective it would be in emasculating
the
opposition.
Since the March elections, there have hardly been any massive
demonstrations
against Zanu-PF. The trade unions have not mounted any
protest marches
either.
The government media has routinely reported a
rift between the MDC and the
unions over the power-sharing
deal.
There may be a grain of truth in some of the reports, but most
people treat
them with a large dose of scepticism.
There have been
numerous attempts to sow the seeds of hatred between the
unions, which
helped father the MDC and the party. There have been reports
of a Zanu-PF
slush fund to "buy" the loyalty of the unions. In these days,
when those
without access to billions of dollars available to Zanu-PF are
scrounging to
make a living, few would laugh such gift cockerels (Zanu PF
symbol) in the
beak.
The MDC leaders, knowing the capacity for mayhem and murder of the
people
with whom they have been negotiating a "fat-headed, bone-headed,
dunder-headed" power-sharing deal, must know what the real score
is.
Zanu-PF will run rings around them until the only change they can
confirm
will be the stench of a pit latrine. They won't need to dig it to
confirm
how much crap they have been sold.
l Bill Saidi is deputy
editor of The Standard in Zimbabwe.
As talks between Zanu-PF and the MDC near collapse,
protesters outside the
country stake their hopes on change
Jeremy
Kuper
guardian.co.uk,
Friday October 17 2008 09.00 BST
The
power-sharing deal signed last month between President Robert Mugabe's
ruling Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC is on the verge of collapse. The
former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who brokered the agreement,
returned as mediator on Tuesday to try to resurrect the talks which
according to Tsvangirai are deadlocked.
Inflation in Zimbabwe is
running at 231m% and nearly half of the population
will need food aid by
early 2009 according to the UN, which is predicting a
"famine
emergency".
The west is sitting on a £1bn aid package for Zimbabwe which
it will only
release when it receives evidence that Mugabe is no longer in
power. But
there is little sign of that, and reports emerging from the
country last
weekend indicated that several key ministerial jobs have been
allocated
unilaterally to members of his Zanu-PF party.
If Mugabe
does go back on his word, it will not be the first time. He did so
most
notably in his 1987 deal with Joshua Nkomo. So was Tsvangirai naive to
sign
up to this settlement, or just desperate for peace? To many, this whole
process appears to be at best fundamentally flawed, and at worst a complete
sham. Meanwhile, last Saturday the Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition celebrated its
sixth anniversary outside the Zimbabwean embassy in London. It has been
meeting there every week to protest against human rights abuses and to call
for free and fair internationally monitored elections in the country. They
are also asking for the aid package to be withheld until Mugabe is out of
office, fearing that otherwise it will all go to his supporters.
For
these exiled opponents in London, the struggle continues, and they
clearly
think that the old leopard has not changed his spots. I asked them
whether
they believed that this negotiated settlement with Mugabe could ever
bring
peace and democracy in their country.
October 16
2008
The Combined Harare Residents Association
(CHRA) would like to express solidarity with the Zimbabwe National Students
Union (ZINASU) on the demonstration held on the 14th of October at
parliament building during the First session of the Seventh Parliament of
Zimbabwe. State Tertiary institutions have not opened around the country because
of myriad of problems affecting the country. These problems include the
shortages of water and other basic services compounded by absence of a
government. The institutions are a miniature of the city and country as a whole
suffice to say that if
The association stands in solidarity with
ZINASU and other stakeholders who support mass action as a way of expression, we
would like to condemn the harassment of those students by the police. All this
harassment took place before the august house of
Meanwhile, service delivery in
We would like to reiterate our commitment to defending our rights, including the right to express ourselves undeterred by unprofessional state agents. We also would like to remind the ZANU PF principals of our sacrifice and compromise to let the political party deal through; they should not by any chance think that the deal is meant to accommodate the MDC formations, neither does it seek to upstage the people’s verdict on the 29th of March 2008. We also urge Mr Mbeki, the mediator to uphold the urgency, fairness, the spirit with which it was found and other principles contained in the deal, and, in discharging his moral, brotherly and official duty.
CHRA remains committed to demanding quality and accessible service delivery, good governance and social justice. The Association will continue to mobilize residents to express themselves around these and other issues.
Combined
Exploration House, Third Floor
Landline: 00263- 4-
705114
Contacts:
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com
Issue date: 10/17/08
While we're studying
for midterms, Zimbabweans are starving and bleeding.
The anti-colonialist
turned dictator Robert Mugabe has ruled their country
for decades, and the
first serious chance for a transfer of power since his
takeover has
coincided with the worst humanitarian crisis in the country's
recent
history.
Zimbabwe, once one of Africa's foremost food exporters, has been
economically desolate since Mugabe expropriated the land holdings of white
farmers, beginning in 2000. Output has plummeted under erratic management by
members of the ruling Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front
party.
To make matters worse, the government has been wildly
over-printing new
Zimbabwean dollars and exchanging them by the crate for
more stable foreign
currencies.
The result has been a cruel paradox:
mind-boggling hyperinflation (the
government's estimate for the past year
alone is 231 million percent, and
the real figure is probably much higher)
along with a shortage of hard
currency. Banks have imposed strict limits on
daily withdrawals, and many
Zimbabweans have to wait in line for hours just
to get out enough cash for
daily bus fare.
A humanitarian catastrophe
is looming. Half the country's population is near
starvation, and the aid
agency principally responsible for Zimbabwe is
facing a $140 million
shortfall for next year.
This may not sound like much to the citizens of
a country that just
committed to buying up $350 billion in bad stocks and
loans, but compared
with Zimbabwe's surfeit just a few years ago it adds up
to a staggering
tragedy.
This spring, there was a brief glimmer of
hope for responsible governance in
Zimbabwe from the presidential campaign
of opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. Though handicapped by a widespread
ZANU-PF fraud operation, he
won a clear plurality over Mugabe in
presidential elections last March.
But Tsvangirai pulled out of the
runoff after dozens of his supporters were
killed in clashes with Mugabe's
partisans. Thabo Mbeki, then president of
South Africa, intervened to secure
a power-sharing arrangement, but this
past weekend Mugabe put it in jeopardy
by handing the three most crucial
ministries - defense, finance and home
affairs (which includes the police) -
to his own loyalists.
Mbeki has
headed back to Zimbabwe to try to salvage the deal. But without an
official
government post, he can bring little pressure to bear on Mugabe -
certainly
not enough to satisfy Tsvangirai, who wants to put his own allies
in charge
of both the finance and home affairs ministries.
As with Mugabe's past
misdeeds, the West's reaction to the latest setback
has been principally
punitive. But there isn't much left to threaten with.
The European Union
has vowed to apply fresh sanctions if Mugabe doesn't
allow the opposition a
significant role in the government, but the
foreign-held assets of the
regime's key players have already been frozen,
and further sanctions are
likely to be felt most acutely by common
Zimbabweans, not their rulers. The
regime cannot be delegitimized to death.
On the bright side, Mugabe and
his cronies are unabashedly venal, and they
haven't been coy about holding
Zimbabwe for ransom. Lift previously imposed
financial penalties, the
government has said, and it may listen to reason.
This highlights an
attractive alternative to ramping up sanctions: Bribe the
jerks with their
own money. The U.S. and the EU can agree to release assets
stashed within
their jurisdictions once the regime and the opposition hammer
out a mutually
acceptable deal. (Promises to lift economic sanctions and
resume aid are
already on the table.)
Direct material incentives, and the chance for a
symbolic triumph over the
West, may help to convince Mugabe and his fellow
anti-colonial veterans to
loosen their hold.
Even with their palms
greased, they will be reluctant, and Tsvangirai may
have to accept heavy
compromises-legal immunity for high-ranking thugs and
kleptocrats if he gets
the home affairs ministry, or a massive slowdown of
dollar production
instead of control of the finance ministry. But even these
modest gains may
be out of reach without an added bonus for Mugabe and his
closest
minions.
Ideally, it won't be necessary. Perhaps Mbeki's latest
expedition will be
miraculously successful, or the new round of sanctions
will unexpectedly
break the regime's resolve; perhaps the better angels of
Mugabe's nature
will be roused as the people he once claimed to fight for
slide deeper and
deeper into poverty and misery.
Regardless, the West
should be considering its options carefully. Paying off
Mugabe and approving
a deal that might shield thieves and murderers from
prosecution could leave
a bad taste in our mouths. But moral punctiliousness
and thirst for
vicarious revenge are no excuse for allowing continued
suffering.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
Bret Harris | October 18, 2008
DAVID
Pocock is about to make his Wallabies debut, but his heart still beats
to
the rhythms of Africa and bleeds for his native Zimbabwe.
At the end of
the tour of Hong Kong and Europe, the Wallabies will take
European vacations
or return to the surf and sand of an Australian summer
before pre-season
training.
But Pocock will travel to his homeland in southern Africa to
give succour to
members of a village in the politically and economically
bankrupt country,
which he affectionately calls "Zim".
"You can't
forget where you come from," said Pocock, who is only 20 but
carries himself
with the maturity of a 30-year-old.
"That shaped who I am. All my
childhood memories and stuff. I'm very fond of
the place and the
people.
"It's tough to see what's happening. People have no options. They
can't move
to Australia for a better life. They are stuck
there.
"People have been saying since 2000 it is going to get better, but
almost
nine years later it is getting worse. We are looking at helping out a
community over there. It's overwhelming because there are five million
people starving. Who do you help? You think if I help 100, what difference
does that make? You can't think like that. You've just got to do what you
can."
Pocock has the same moral strength as Springboks flanker Luke
Watson, a
champion of black South African players, so it is not surprising
they have
formed a friendship through rugby.
"We meet every time we
are in the same city," Pocock said. "He's a great
bloke."
Pocock's
humanitarian endeavour is an expression of his faith. Along with
Western
Force team-mate Luke Holmes, he established a charitable
organisation called
"Why Generation", which has distributed soccer balls to
an orphanage in
Durban and provided sleeping bags for the homeless in Perth.
Pocock would
be entitled to feel bitter towards Zimbabwe after his family
was forced off
its farm, an 8000-acre spread in the midlands of the country,
during a land
redistribution program.
"In theory it was very good," Pocock said of the
land grab that ended his
idyllic childhood. "Give land to people who used to
own it so they could
farm it.
"Our farm, some police officer lives on
it now. It's not being farmed. It's
such a waste. People are on the brink of
starvation and there's millions of
acres not being farmed. It's such a
shame."
The Pocock family moved to Brisbane in 2002 and young David
brought his
passion for rugby with him to Church of England Grammar
School.
Pocock had always played in the backs in Zimbabwe, but "Churchie"
first XV
coach, former Wallabies number eight Tom Barker, switched him to
openside
flanker and he represented Queensland and Australian Schoolboys in
the No 7
jersey.
On leaving school, Pocock made another big move to
join the Super rugby
expansion franchise, the Force, in Perth, declining an
approach from
Queensland Reds.
"In Year 12, I was talking to both of
them," Pocock said.
"With the Reds I would have been in the academy, but
with the Force I would
have been training with the top squad.
"It was
a massive opportunity to learn in the top squad and Mitch (Force
coach John
Mitchell) made it clear I would be playing in the trials and
getting that
sort of exposure.
"John Mitchell was a massive drawcard and the players
they signed, Brendan
Cannon and Nathan Sharpe, and just being part of
something new. It's the
best decision I've ever made."
Pocock, who
was 17 at the time, played for the Force in a trial match
against the
Cheetahs in Perth, but the ARU stopped him playing any further
games because
of a rule which stated Super rugby players had to be at least
18.
As
a result of the fuss over Pocock not being allowed to play, the rule was
subsequently changed so that players under 18 are judged on a case-by-case
basis.
But Pocock had to wait until the second last round of the 2006
Super 14
series to make his official debut for the Force, against the Sharks
in
Durban.
"It was weird. I was run on. I wasn't even on the bench,"
he said. "There
you go. Do what you can do.
"I remember being so
nervous. We lost, but it was a massive high."
Pocock has been the regular
starter at openside flanker for the Force for
the last two seasons,
competing against George Smith, Phil Waugh, and New
Zealand captain Richie
McCaw.
While he is as physically talented as McCaw, Smith and Waugh,
Pocock
probably lacks their craftiness, which will come with
experience.
"You are always up for those games, playing against guys you
have been
watching since I don't know how old," Pocock said.
"You are
always trying to test yourself and see how far you can push it.
Every time I
play McCaw or George Smith, I always pick up one or two little
things that
they do and you think, 'yeah, maybe I can do that'."
Pocock was
physically and mentally ready to play Test rugby at the start of
this year's
international season in June, but coach Robbie Deans thought he
would
benefit from playing in the under-20 world championship in Wales.
In what
was undoubtedly a pointer to the future, Pocock was named captain of
the
team.
He later led the Force on a five-game tour of the UK. It is not
unreasonable
to speculate that Pocock may not only start for the Wallabies
at the 2011
World Cup in New Zealand, but also be captain.
"It's not
something I actively seek out, but I'm pretty comfortable with
it," Pocock
said of captaincy. "If the coach thinks I can lead the team
well, I'm happy
to do it."
Pocock is one of five rookies in the 34-man squad for the tour
to the
northern hemisphere.
As the third openside flanker behind
Smith and Waugh, Pocock will be
fighting hard for game time.
"I don't
really have any expectations because I know how many blokes go on
the spring
tour and never get on the field," Pocock said.
"My goal is to make the
most of any opportunity I get, try and improve my
game -- and, away from
rugby, see the sights and experience the culture.
"They (Smith and Waugh)
have 150 Tests between them and I've got zero. They
have been by far the
best two opensides in Australia for however long. I'll
grab any opportunity
I get and at training I'll be going my hardest."
Smith, 28, and Waugh,
29, are both veterans and Pocock is sure to be
snapping at their
heels.
Pocock is as skilful as Smith and as hard on the ball as Waugh,
combining
the best features of the two senior flankers.
Once Pocock
makes his Test debut, which will probably be against Italy in
the second
game of the tour, he is likely to wear the gold jersey for a long
time.
While his rugby career comes first at the moment, Pocock is
considering
studying medicine, which will enable him to help people in his
homeland even
more in the future.
"I'm passionate about helping
people and I'm against injustice," Pocock
said. "I've always wanted to do
medicine so I can go over there and help.
It's all very well going over
there, but if you've got no skill, you aren't
much help."