Mugabe and Tsvangirai still at odds on ministries

Reuters

Sat 4 Oct 2008, 14:23 GMT

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai failed to settle differences in talks on Saturday over the
finance and home affairs ministries in a new Zimbabwe government.

A meeting of the two men, also attended by Arthur Mutambara, leader of a
smaller faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was
held to try to break the deadlock over cabinet posts which threatens a
power-sharing deal.

"The president and the two leaders of the MDC formations met this morning in
consultation over the setting up of government but failed to conclude their
consultation," Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba said in a statement.

"However, they decided that there should be further consultation at the
level of their negotiating teams exclusively over the ministries of finance
and home affairs."

Officials said Mugabe and Tsvangirai were expected to meet again early next
week.

"This is an indication that we may get an agreement sooner than we
expected," Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional
Assembly (NCA), a political pressure group, said.

Talks between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC have reached an impasse
over who will control key ministries in a unity government to be established
under the power-sharing deal agreed on September 15.

A senior government official earlier declined to specify when an agreement
was expected or whether there was pressure from former South African
President Thabo Mbeki -- who is mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis -- to form
a government.

"I don't think we should be speculating. An agreement will be reached when
the outstanding issues have been resolved," he said.

The opposition accuses Mugabe's party of trying to assign it a junior role
in government and says only mediation can break a deadlock in talks on
forming a cabinet.

ZANU-PF said it saw no immediate need for mediation and Mugabe had expressed
confidence the cabinet would be named this week. Tsvangirai and his
officials say a deal is not imminent.

Officials from both Tsvangirai's main MDC party and Mutambara's faction
declined to comment on the talks.

A meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on Tuesday failed to produce a
breakthrough, raising fears the deal could break down.

Without a breakthrough, Zimbabwe's economy could worsen still further. The
once-prosperous nation is crumbling under inflation of about 11 million
percent -- the highest in the world -- and chronic food shortages.

Robert Mugabe wants Morgan Tsvangirai's party to win back foreign aid

Robert Mugabe is trying to force the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to take charge of rekindling Zimbabwe's foreign aid and investment while denying it real power, insiders have admitted to The Sunday Telegraph.

 

By Itai Mushekwe and Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg
Last Updated: 6:34PM BST 04 Oct 2008

Zimbabweans line up to withdraw cash outside the Central African Building Society (CABS) bank in Harare Photo: REUTERS

The two sides signed a power-sharing deal last month, but the new government has yet to be formed as they haggle over which party gets which ministries.

An official close to the presidency said the dilution of Mr Mugabe's powers promised in the agreement was "illusory", and described the MDC as merely a "junior partner" whose only role would be "to gain legitimacy and international funds".

His comments appear to justify the fears of Western diplomats who were expressing doubts about the agreement within days of it being signed – and point out that Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, won the first round of the presidential poll in March.

A ministerial post involving kick starting foreign aid is seen by some as a poison chalice for the MDC. If the party were to succeed it would help shore up support for the planned Mugabe-led coalition government, making it harder to oust in future. If it failed, it would be branded incompetent - also undermining its own support.

In negotiations which have dragged on for weeks, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party is sticking to a shopping list of ministries for itself which would include the departments of defence, justice, home affairs, farming and information. It also wants the mines ministry, the last occasionally functioning sector of the economy given the country's wealth of natural resources, which carries huge opportunities for corruption.

The MDC, meanwhile, would be offered the finance ministry, in an effort to persuade donors that real reform was taking place and trigger billions in aid and reconstruction that have been promised.

"It's a tricky situation for the MDC," said the presidential official. "Nonetheless we now have the opposition in government and they have to fix the economy, just as they told the electorate.

"When you look at the events on the ground they have little leverage to drive the political agenda and it's not going to be easy for Britain to own up to its promises because, they are frustrated judging from remarks coming out of Downing Street.

"If it wasn't for the dire economic situation Mugabe would never share power. Frankly speaking, the world might celebrate that his executive powers have been diluted but that is illusionary. The opposition are junior partners and more of ceremonial, but at this point we need them to gain legitimacy and international funds."

A senior member of Zanu-PF's politburo, the party's supreme decision-making body, added: "Tsvangirai boasted prior to the March presidential polls that his Western friends, in this case the British, will give him money and as such could repair the economy in 100 days.

"Zanu-PF will make him walk the talk to deliver economic aid from Britain no matter how slowly it trickle in. Also the MDC will be forced to negotiate the lifting of EU sanctions against government officials which the British led the EU into enacting."

MDC officials are aware of the risk of being manipulated and say they will not sign up to a ministerial division that does not give them real authority.

"It would appear that Zanu-PF does not understand power-sharing," said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa. "We are still poles apart, with them insisting on taking all the key ministries, literally rendering the (opposition) peripheral in government - in fact, a situation where we would be in but out of government."

Western diplomats have long offered the carrot of aid in exchange for deep reforms in the policies that have destroyed the country's economy, and since the deal was agreed have warned that the new government, if and when it is formed, will have to show that it is making a break from the past before aid starts flowing.

"We want to support this, we want to see it work," said one. "Zimbabwe doesn't have any more time." But he warned: "We need some evidence that there has been a political change. We will not fund Zanu, we will not pay them to stay in office, but we will pay for their mistakes. We need to see Tsvangirai deliver change."

Officially Zimbabwean inflation is running at 11.2 million per cent a year, but according to according to US economist Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics and fellow of the Cato Institute in Washington, who uses a special index derived from market-based data, the figure reached a stratospheric 531 billion per cent last month.

Deal on cabinet said to be now imminent

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5221

October 4, 2008

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - The prospects of a breakthrough in the current political impasse
are brighter after the two MDC leaders joined forces in demanding that
President Robert Mugabe let go of the crucial ministries of Finance and Home
Affairs.

Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, the three signatories to the
power-sharing deal signed in Harare on September 15, met for hours at State
House on Saturday. Although no agreement was reached, the deadlock that had
stalled the talks five days earlier was resolved, sources said.

The latest development could see the announcement of a cabinet within the
next few days.

Although he was unwilling to surrender the two ministries to the MDC, now
the majority in Parliament, the 84-year-old leader is said to have admitted
that his inflexibility was causing unnecessary suffering to ordinary
Zimbabweans. He said the deal had to be implemented soon, sources said.

The deal was left hanging in the balance on Tuesday when Mugabe and
Tsvangirai, leader of the mainstream MDC, reached a deadlock over the
allocation of key ministries.

It is understood Mutambara's formation had already been allocated and
accepted the Ministries of Industry and Commerce, International Trade and
Regional Integration as well as the Ministry of Education.

Sources told The Zimbabwe Times Mugabe appeared more cooperative, saying he
wanted to first engage the top leadership of his party on the latest
proposal. It was not clear whether he wanted to consult the Zanu-PF
Politburo in a bid to resolve the issue.

Another source disclosed that Mutambara and Tsvangirai had held a meeting
prior to the meeting with Mugabe in order to confront him from a unified
position. They had agreed that Mugabe had to surrender some of the key
ministries if the deal was to be in any way a genuine power-sharing
arrangement.

Mugabe is said to have insisted on securing the Home Affairs ministry.

"They agreed not to go back to the 27 ministries that have already been
allocated."

Sources said Tsvangirai and Mutambara put their differences aside and
confronted Mugabe with one voice, arguing they were all equal partners.

It is understood all along Mutambara had sided with Mugabe against
Tsvangirai. Mutambara had appeared to agree with Mugabe on every aspect
which Tsvangirai disputed, earning himself praise from the Zanu-PF leader at
one point as "the astute professor".

Asked on the possibility of the inclusive government being constituted any
soon, the source said: "Everything is now working towards that prospect; the
constitution of the new government is likely to follow the induction of
parliamentarians on Monday and Tuesday.

"It seems they will agree this week. We cannot say it is still a deadlock.
The deadlock has been resolved, but the process is continuing, to finalise
the few outstanding issues."

MDC spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said: "There was a meeting but no agreement
was arrived at," he said. "The political leadership has to do justice to the
urgency, anxiety and expectation among the people of Zimbabwe."

A lack of good faith hampers Zim negotiations

http://www.thetimes.co.za

By mcritic Published:Oct 04,
2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no chance of any agrteement being reached as ZANU-PF is not
negotiating in good faith.

They want to retain all power to continue to pilfer everything possible - as
detailed by ZANU-PF sources:-

"A highly placed source within Zanu-PF says that upon his return from New
York on Monday, Mugabe was told by the heads of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces,
the Police and the Air Force that two options were open to him.

"He either had to renege on the agreement to share key ministries with the
MDC or risk being forcibly removed from office."

"Highly placed sources say such a deal is being struck behind the back of
the mainstream MDC led by Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai. It is
an open secret that Mutambara and his faction were the favourites of
negotiation mediator, Thabo Mbeki, who fell from power in South Africa as
the power sharing deal was being signed in Harare.

"It is understood that the Mutambara MDC secretary general, Ncube will be
allocated the Ministry of Trade and Industry, while Priscilla Misihairambwi
M"ushonga will become the Minister of Communications and Moses Mzila-Ndlovu
will become the new Minister of National Integration, Sport and Culture."

The above is straight from the mouths of ZANU-PF factions who have two views
in mibd. The obvious one is to stop the so-called deal from materializing in
practice and keep the dictatorship in place. The second one is to undermine
individual factions in ZANU-PF anhd gain as much as possible for themselves.

There will be no unity government and Tsvangirai cannot now - with the
Herald comments in mind - sell his rights for a pot of soup. He will have to
insist on getting the Home Affairs, Finance and Justice Portfolios -
otherwise he will be blackballed by the community at large as a sell - out.
He cannot count on the support of the Mutambara sell-outs eithe - so he is
ion a coner.

What is also obvious is that the Mugabe - Mbeki - Mutambara alliance is
holding together - but very much weakened, because they cannot count on the
support of the Mutambara factions MP's in Parliament.

Chaos in Zimbabwe

Today I went from one meeting to another using the main streets in Harare ­
it was pure chaos. The City had no electricity, the traffic lights at all
intersections were not working and the traffic was gridlocked. The Police
were nowhere to be seen and even as we sat in the traffic a police car drove
past ­ ramped the pavement and drove though the intersection paying no
attention to what was going on around them.

At the Reserve Bank it was the same. They are printing money and creating
money in other forms so fast that the inflation rate is no longer
calculable. What we do know is that the RTGS rate - that is the rate at
which foreign exchange is exchanged in the open market for money transferred
by electronic means is moving by the hour. At the beginning of August it was
7 to 1 against the US dollar (after we dropped 9 zeros) and yesterday it was
2 000 000 to 1. Quite a change in 8 weeks! At this rate it will be no less
than 10 million to one by next weekend.

Desperate people are queuing for days at the banks and other financial
houses to try and get their money out of the system so that they can spend
it before it literally melts to nothing. In Gweru last week the main street
was almost closed by crowds at ATM¹s and banks. In Harare literally
thousands of people jam every cash outlet. The maximum withdrawal by an
individual is $20 000 a day worth US$ 0,001 cents.

The Reserve Bank, faced with the escalating consequences of their own
ineptitude are now printing money on plain local bond paper with no security
features. The mafia are having a field day and so many counterfeit notes are
circulating that people are refusing the new notes. Instead of adopting a
carefully crafted plan to overcome these problems and to correct the
fundamentals that are driving the system towards collapse, the Governor
today simply closed down the RTGS system and I understand even the inter
bank system; rendering the only alternative window for payments impassable.

It is illegal to trade in hard currency ­ you can go to jail for this if you
try, it is illegal to change money on the street, you cannot charge a market
price for what you sell unless you are willing to risk intervention or
worse. Even today there were reports of the government taking action against
retailers who were ³over charging². Business is unable to pay their staff in
cash, they pay them by bank transfer and then watch as half their work force
is absent all day standing in queues.

Non cash forms of payments are rampant ­ barter is common, the use of fuel
coupons with a face value of about US$30 each is also common tender. The BBC
carried a story this week of an auction in Harare where the bids were all
expressed in coupons. Most firms are now being forced to sell their goods
and services in hard currency ­ Rand or US dollars even though it is
illegal.

Businesses do not bank the money because the Reserve Bank keeps a close
watch on any foreign exchange balances in the Banks and simply expropriates
them. Crediting the owner of these accounts with local currency at a
ridiculous rate of exchange and then using the flow of hard currency to
support the life styles of the small elite that is still in charge. At these
rates of exchange a luxury, top of the range car costs less than the price
of a local cigarette.

Here we are, 4 weeks away from the start of the wet season and we have 2 per
cent of our fertilizer requirements in stock. All other inputs are virtually
unobtainable. The Reserve Bank is handing out expensive farm equipment to
Zanu PF fat cats like sweets to a kindergarden, but they cannot provide fuel
or seed or fertilizer or chemicals. It¹s madness.

Remaining farmers ­ black and white are being evicted from their farms by
Zanu PF heavies such as a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank and what is
left of the once world class tobacco industry is facing extinction. Dairy
farmers, pig farms and fruit estates are all facing illegal invasion and
disruption of activity. The Police simply respond to appeals for help by
saying that they cannot help because ³it is political².

Our retail chains are empty, many stores are closed, the wholesalers are no
longer functional and industry is running at 10 per cent of capacity. Power
supplies are down to about half of demand, fuel is in short supply and spare
parts are unobtainable. All basic foods are virtually only available in the
parallel market at very high prices. Although government schools have opened
their doors and the children have gone to school ­ no teachers are at work.
The universities will not open their doors this term ­ the final term before
vital exams. Business cannot fix prices or salaries ­ their normal
activities are simply frozen in their tracks.

In the midst of this chaos Mugabe went on a 10 day spree to New York to make
a speech. The cost of a 20 minute opportunity to denigrate the leading
nations in the world, the very people who have fed his population for 8
years, was the cost of taking a Boeing 767 to New York and back via Egypt.
The 54 member delegation must have cost at least US$2 million in allowances
and expenses while there.

Then on return he wastes another week with no action on the formation of a
new government ­ now 3 weeks since the SADC facilitated deal with the MDC
was signed. And remember we have not had a proper government since the 29th
March ­ nearly 7 months. Since Parliament was convened several weeks ago, we
have had no government at all. When confronted with the need to make a
decision on the allocation of Ministerial portfolios, Zanu PF has been
frozen in its tracks like a child confronted with a cobra. Simply not
knowing what to do and beginning to realize for the first time that the end
of the road is in sight for them.

Even though Thabo Mbeki is no longer the power broker he was after his
removal from the Presidency in South Africa, they are terrified of his visit
to sort out the impasse because they know that their arguments for a
disproportionate share of Ministerial portfolios are not defensible. They
cannot hold out for much longer and Mbeki is on his way.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 4th October 2008

------ End of Forwarded Message

Gangster State

http://www.cathybuckle.com

Saturday 4th October 2008

Dear Family and Friends,
In the three weeks since a power sharing deal was signed between the winners
and losers of Zimbabwe's election, nothing has happened except arguments. So
many of us had such high hopes but these are fading fast. There is no sign
of leadership, either from the old or the new, and all we hear is bickering
and whining about wanting more mediation when all we really need is action.
No one knows who is in charge, or who is going to be in charge of what and
while this vacuum continues we have virtually turned into a gangster state.

The shortage of bank notes has reached critical lengths. People are queuing
outside banks from as early as 2 am in the morning in order to draw out
their daily limit which is not even enough to buy a single packet of soup.
No shops or businesses are accepting cheques anymore. Electronic transfers -
known as RTGS's - have been stopped by the Reserve bank in the last few days
and so with no cash, no cheques and no transfers, we are grinding to a halt.
For all the people who simply cannot fight their way to the front of bank
queues, which are literally thousands strong , there is real hunger,
suffering and despair. For others, there are vast fortunes being made in a
frenzy of illegal deals.

In a parking bay in the centre of a busy town and with literally thousands
of people milling around, a black market currency deal was being done in
broad daylight on the bonnet of a car. Thick wads of Zimbabwe dollars were
being counted out in exchange for a few US dollars. No attempt was being
made to disguise what was going on or conceal the illegal transaction and in
fact no one seemed to even care. This is a common sight and just one of many
deals going on in plain view of Police in uniform who mill around, stand in
bank queues, lean against walls and trees but do nothing to stop the
lawbreakers.

This week I've met pensioners, hungry because they can't pay for what little
food there is by cheque and can't get cash out of the bank. I've met middle
aged men desperate because they can't get enough money out the bank to buy
food for their families. I've met people from rural areas who say that
despite the propaganda being peddled every day in the State media, no food,
seed or fertilizer has arrived in their villages yet. I've met nurses who
say that despite news reports they still have no drugs for their patients.
I've met shop owners whose businesses are collapsing as their employees are
in queues at the banks, and so are their customers. I've met parents in
total despair as their children are still not in school a month into the
term because teachers are on strike.

The walls are falling down around us very fast now and still we baby-cry
about mediators. Shame on us.
Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com

3rd October 2008

Dear Friends.
On Monday 29th September Robert Mugabe returned, earlier than expected, from
his ego-boosting trip to the UN. It's hard to see what else the expensive
jaunt for himself, his wife and forty of his closest associates was intended
to achieve except to reassure the Old Man that he could still strut his
stuff on the biggest stage in the world. During his absence his friend Thabo
Mbeki had been forced to resign as President of South Africa. Who would
facilitate the talks now we wondered? Some journalists inside the country
declared that he had come back early to stall an attempted coup by the
military, alarmed that they would lose all their ill-gotten gains if he
implemented the deal with the MDC. Whatever the reason, Mugabe declared to
the party faithful, all arrayed in shirts and zambias reflecting the Dear
Leader's image back at him, that there was no deadlock in the talks. He
expected a Unity government to be in place by the end of the week, only four
Ministries remained in contention, Mugabe affirmed, "There is no deadlock"
and later Chinamasa, his erstwhile Minister of Justice declared that the
mediator was not needed. So, despite all Mugabe's praise for Mbeki's
mediation at the UN, the former president is no longer needed. Not
surprising really!

On that same day, Monday 29th, the women and men of WOZA marched in an
entirely peaceful demo through the streets of Bulawayo. 600 people marched,
unimpeded by the police who, according to Jenni Williams, the WOZA
co-ordinator, simply looked the other way. There were no arrests, no
beatings, none of the horrors we have seen before at WOZA demos. Instead,
the women and men were allowed to march in support of their demand for the
immediate installation of a new government. The marchers stopped at all the
major government offices in the city and civil servants rushed out to join
them. Bystanders joined in too and shouted 'Well done, well done, good job'
and greeted the brave women and men of WOZA with broad smiles. Could there
be a more potent demonstration of people's power I thought. What is wrong
with Zimbabweans if they cannot see that they have the power in their own
hands to end their suffering now?

On that same day, Monday the 29th after Gideon Gono had announced the bank
withdrawl maximum was increased to $20.000, there were literally thousands
of people on the streets of all the cities and towns standing in snaking,
sprawling queues to withdraw their money. My friend in Murehwa told me he
got up at 4.30 to get in line outside the bank for his number. 29 it was,
and then rushed home to search for something to eat. When he returned, that
number had risen to 300! Teachers had come all the way down from Uzumba,
about 40 kms away, to collect their salaries, sleeping overnight anywhere
they could lay their heads waiting for the banks to open at 8.0'clock. The
new notes, $10.000 and $20.000, had not reached many of the banks and at
least one building society in Murehwa remained closed because they had no
cash at all. It was the same all over the country. Scenes of unbelievable
chaos as desperate, hungry people waited to withdraw their own money before
the inflation giant swallowed it up. Morgan Tsvangirai visited the queues to
see and hear for himself the people's misery. Not so the Zanu PF fat cats;
they probably knew that they would have heard loud and clear the people's
opinion of them and that was not something they wanted to hear. They live in
their own fantasy world where as Mugabe would have it "Nothing has changed."

We are told that he is under huge pressure from his AU colleagues to
implement the agreement; we are also told that his top generals and police
chief have told him they will resign if he installs Morgan Tsvangirai as
Prime Minister. They will not serve under the 'colonial puppet' they tell
him. All week long, opinionated commentators have argued that the deal is
dead in the water, they have blamed Morgan Tsvangirai for his naivety in
signing the Agreement in the first place. The NCA and ZCTU have both said
they would take to the streets. But where are they? Nowhere to be seen;
words are cheap but what is needed now is action. Why can't they follow
WOZA's example? Those brave women and men have shown the whole country that
there is nothing to fear but fear itself.

The one pressure Mugabe could not withstand is the pressure of thousands of
people telling him to go. If people can take to the city centres to withdraw
their money from the banks then what is stopping them from taking a few more
steps to become an unstoppable tide that would drive out the dictator
forever. They voted against him in March, he knows that, however much he may
claim otherwise. What is needed now is one final push, not by the political
players but by the ordinary people taking to the streets in their thousands
to show the Old Man that we want our country back. 'Now Is the Time' as the
anti-apartheid activists used to say. They did it against a much more
powerful regime, why can't we?

Friday October 3rd as I write this and still no unity government in place;
in fact, no government of any kind for months now. Only when the Zimbabwean
people themselves peacefully demonstrate to the country and the world that
they want change and they want it now can there be any hope for the future.
The situation is too serious to leave to the politicians alone.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle. PH

Why Zanu-PF does not engage real war veterans

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5195

October 3, 2008

By Mafira Kureva

LAST TIME I wrote and stated who we are as war veterans and how we watch
national events with interest and use our political experience and knowledge
to judge situations, calculate when and how to react and measure our support
from the masses.

First, I must say people should wonder why we have to do so, being people
who are supposed to be fearless. One thing is that, as I hinted last time,
it becomes difficult when we have no support of the people at the time we
decided to take action. Second, there is a lot that went on during the war
that we as war veterans know possible consequences of certain actions,
because we have been with the Zanu-PF elites for such a long time. For space
and time I shall just give but a sketch.

From the 1960s to 1975 the guerrilla war was numerically dominated by
semi-literate peasant who inculcated a reign of terror on the educated. That
was still a very small army both for ZIPRA and ZANLA but the situation was
not different. (I was in ZANLA but I interviewed one senior former commander
of the ZIPRA High Command who confirmed this and I have had numerous
personal communications with ZIPRA colleagues).

Anyway, when I mean reign of terror, it is something that you might not
imagine - extreme torture. One friend related to me how a colleague's spine
was ironed with a hot iron (for clothes). He described to me how black eyes
turned blue, how he became mad, paralysed and died, all this, within a few
hours. It is common cause that Badza was buried alive, lashing out venomous
words of protest.

Badza, a field commander for ZANLA at that time, was considered to have
attempted a bloody coup that was foiled. His grievance and that of his
followers - was that the commanders were busy womanising and engaging in all
kinds of leisure activities in Lusaka while fighters were dying at the front
without enough military support. That was Badza's punishment but he was not
the only one. Many died (some put the figure at about 45) despite the fact
that Herbert Chitepo who had presided over the court marshal had decided
that the group had to be handed over to Frelimo for custody until the
liberation of the country.

This brutality and division between the educated cadres and semi-literate to
illiterate cadres in the war continued. Read Bhebhe and Ranger's book,
Soldiers of the Liberation War. When now the nature of the war changed in
1975 after the death of Chitepo and Independence of Mozambique, recruits
(not refugees) flooded Mozambique in their thousands. These were mainly from
Manicaland, and this has so far not been disputed by anyone at least
officially. However, a large number also came from Masvingo and the north
eastern side. I emphasise this point not to praise any ethnic group but to
clearly show the roots of problems bedevilling Zimbabwe which Zimbabweans
should know. I hope the nation does not forget when President Mugabe during
his star rallies of 2008 elections at Marange, asked why it is only
Manicaland that tries to groom an alternative President.

But I will return to this later here or elsewhere.

Scholars and analysts have tried to explain this 1975 exodus in terms of
geographical proximity to Mozambique which is only partially true. Other
reasons that have not been explored are the very political activities that
that region has gone through. Herbert Chitepo himself and a lot of the
leaders in especially in exiled ZANU came from Manicaland. In Chimanimani
that is where, at least according to ZANU official history, the first
political attack by ZANU militants occurred, killing a white farmer.

In the ZANLA song "Ridza gidi rako Chaminuka" there is an allusion to this
incident actually - "vakaribaya [bhunu] nebanga jena, vakariuraya." Sithole
himself, first President of ZANU, people like Mukono, Mataure and others who
led that war from its infancy were from Manicaland and this has implications
in not only Zanu-PF politics but also in the relationship between Zanu-PF
and the war veterans which the nation must be familiar with.

Then there was the role of Chief Rekayi Tangwena. Tangwena was not only one
of the most well known leaders of a peasant movement in the country but he
raised himself and his people to international recognition. By the way the
Tangwena people were just one out of many other groups that resisted
colonial land dispossession with militancy. Some examples are the peasant
movements in Matebeleland where Benjamin Burombo and other urban workers
could not help but get sucked into it in a common alliance against colonial
laws and segregation.

That actually is seen as the roots of nationalism in Zimbabwe. However the
point I am making here is that emphasis on geography of Zimbabwe in
explaining mass exodus of guerrillas in the 1970s is devoid of the political
consciousness and influences on the youth of Manicaland which is clearly a
wrong representation of history. Actually as I shall show later, this is
purposeful distortion mainly propelled by nationalist leaders (who
themselves are tribalists and regionalists) because they want to mislead
people about the truth of that war.

So when recruits flooded Mozambique from 1975 they fell into the hands of
those semi literate who thought that the new wave had come to displace them.
They often said that, "You are coming to join the war after noticing that we
are on the verge of winning it." The cause of this animosity is that being
semi-literate or illiterate, these cadres thought their future was under
threat and they would be relegated in favour of the more educated when it
came to ruling the country. Of course this was not a far-fetched concern as
one can imagine. This became a leverage for those who intended to advance
their heinous and hidden aims using the gullible guerrillas.

Ask anyone who lived at Nyadzonya in 1975 and they tell you who Gutura (I
mention his name because he is late now) was and others whom I shall not
mention because I am not sure whether they are dead already. People who were
genuinely trying to proceed to Tanzania for training after nothing was
forthcoming in Mozambique during detente, were beaten with clubs on the
buttocks until they defaecated, on parade.

This is not a secret, ask anyone who was there. They were made to wear a
pair of white track-suit trousers which was given the name "kandamama"
because only after defaecating would the people beating be told to stop. And
this was lighter punishment by the way. The worst was in the category of
"Mariya Rena", a torture method which involved bundling a person using
strings and logs, which I cannot fully describe here. But if a hot water
complex was not applied soon after you would be paralysed for ever - SELL
OUT! And even if it was applied you still would be a cripple and nurse the
problems till death. When we talk of the need for rehabilitation of
ex-combatants we are not joking and many of the injuries were inflicted by
other comrades.

And if you ask me, these are the things I would first calculate before
taking action about Zanu-PF, Mugabe and the state. I know that it can happen
to me or my family, but even more so it can be inflicted upon the
unsuspecting masses. The calculation is that I weigh the benefits of my
action and see whether this warrants the suffering inflicted on the masses.
And I know that it happens. The attack on the educated therefore took an
ethnic tone because if you were not Korekore or Zezuru then you were out.
Read Charles Samupindi's novel, Bones, and don't take it lightly.

This is a historical novel out of research.

A change came when ZIPA was formed. I was one of those who participated in
ZIPA programmes through Wampoa, as I mentioned last. The idea of ZIPA was to
transform the ZANLA and ZIPRA war machine into a formidable political force
capable of constructing an egalitarian society in Zimbabwe. To show the
determination of ZIPA towards this goal they instituted a college to educate
people in this ideology. But all this was shattered when ZIPA commanders
were jailed by FRELIMO when Mugabe, Tongogara, the jailed High Command and
Dare ReChimurenga members came into the war. FRELIMO supported them and
released two heavily armed companies to force these people on the cadres in
the camps. Resistance was thwarted.

What followed was a reign of terror. I know of about seven Wampoa graduates
from just the first intake (there were only two before disbandment) who were
mentally disturbed from this torture. I know a Wampoa graduate who lost a
baby in prison. I know of a few who were murdered in cold blood in front and
some defected to the Smith regime for their safety. But this was not only
about Wampoa graduates.

In the front, particularly in Chaminuka Sector, where I operated, the
activities of Nhau Dzehondo (not real name) are well known to those who were
there. Mhondoro, an expert motor bomb gunner, a boy who had left St.
Killians Mission (near Rusape) while doing his O Levels, was tied to a tree
for wild animals to prey on in the Ruya Game Reserve. I challenge anyone who
can dispute whatever I am writing here. Mhondoro later died in action.

Have you ever asked yourself why Government has not been interested in
re-burying the remains of all those war veterans being discovered by spirit
mediums in Rushinga today? Why has Government not up till now released the
names of the people who went to war and died or returned? These are issues
at the heart of Manicaland. This explains the voting pattern of that region
and why they need a different president, as Mugabe correctly diagnoses. They
are well aware about international capitalism, about puppets that are used
by that machine but they are also aware of that the blood of their children
was used and continue to be used to water the lush green luxuries of the
Zanu-PF elites.

And by the way, the same feeling is in Matebeleland and also worming itself
into Masvingo and parts of Mashonaland East. Hidden underneath the conflicts
of Zanu-PF and war veterans is a serious ethnic conflict. This is what the
MDC does not realise. They are busy lambasting war vets as they jostle for
power not remembering that they are swimming in our blood. They think they
are so clever and we are so dumb that they can just slam us with stigmatised
labels, working in cahoots with the our very enemies. Really! You think we
are happy with this? Do you ever ask yourself why Mugabe is prepared to work
an agreement with Tsvangirai but never with war veterans?

Or you believe that War Veterans that you see - Chinotimba and Jabulani
Sibanda are the people who fought that war and are capable of forging an
alliance with Zanu- PF on our behalf. How can you reduce us to such shame,
people of Zimbabwe?

Do you forget that we are perhaps the only liberation movement (if ever any
other force has done it) which downed a jet fighter without any missile? Do
you know that the Zimbabwean anti-colonial guerrilla army was the most
educated on the continent (unless anyone can produce evidence to the
contrary)? And do you think we should just have turned into Chinotimba-like
stooges? That defeats all reason. Amongst us are professionals and
intellectuals but you have denied us a chance to contribute to the
development of our country. You have failed us, people of Zimbabwe. What a
nation that denies its own heroes and heroines!

I could go on and on but here I am just trying to hint on some of the very
hidden issues about war veterans which a Clapham Omnibus person would not
know. This must make people start thinking. This is why the war veterans are
so calculative when they act and if the masses are not yet at a mature stage
of appreciating certain things, the war veteran has no choice but to wait
and keep quiet and watch how unfolding events in case an opportunity
presents itself.

You think it does not pain the war veteran when she sees even under such
trying times, money used to send relatives for education outside the country
when we were left to school ourselves after abandoning our education for the
war? You think we are happy now to see the nationalists forge an alliance
with those who teased us about fighting that war or youngsters who speak
about us in derogatory terms?

"If you prick us don't we bleed?" Is this not opening scars?

Only mediation can break deadlock: MDC

SABC

October 04, 2008, 07:00

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC says only mediation can break the deadlock in
talks on forming a cabinet. Former president Thabo Mbeki has agreed to stay
on as mediator in Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks. Mbeki's spokesperson
Mukoni Ratshitanga says the former president will resume his mediation as
soon as is practically possible.

Pressure for Mbeki to return as mediator has grown. This, as Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the MDC have remained far apart over
how to carve up cabinet posts. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party said on Thursday that
in its view, the cabinet allocation was not a matter for the mediator.

Government imposes price controls

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5178

October 3, 2008

By Owen Chikari

MASVINGO - The government has re-introduced price controls, described as
disastrous by the business community, as the country’s economic and
political crisis worsens.

The government, through the National Incomes and Pricing Commission (NIPC),
has ordered all businesses to slash their prices to those of September 26.

In a statement, NIPC chairman Godwills Masimirembwa warned that all
businesses which fail to reduce the prices to those of the announced date
risked being prosecuted.

“All business should reduce their prices to those that existed on September
26″, said Masimirembwa.

“We have discovered that whenever the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduces a
new set of notes, unscrupulous business people increase their prices. We are
warning all those who have increased their prices without our approval that
they risk being prosecuted”.

Prices of basic commodities shot up this week as the deadlock between the
country’s three main political parties over the allocation of cabinet post
continued.

The price of a 2kg packet of sugar has shot up from $1 500 to $10 000, while
a 50 kg bag of maize meal is now pegged at 200 South African Rands

Even villagers in the remotest parts of the country are now forced to pay
for maize in Rands or US dollars.

General dealers’ Shops and pharmacies this week increased prices by high
margins, with some demanding payment in foreign currency.

This is not the first time that the government has arbitrarily imposed price
cuts.

In 2006, the government ordered all business to reduce their prices. This
resulted in all basic commodities disappearing from supermarket shelves as
the public hoarded the goods in large quantities.

However, most shops have not yet recovered from the effects of the exercise
as some are still battling to restock.

Many companies closed down while thousands of jobs were lost as business
people found it difficult to operate under the circumstances.

Zimbabwean businesses told to halve prices

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/

The Zimbabwean government has ordered businesses to roll back prices by more
than half in reaction to widespread increases in the cost of basic goods and
services.

The rises have been sparked by the further fall of the country's currency on
Wednesday after leaders failed to break a deadlock over the allocation of
ministries.

The national incomes and pricing commission (NIPC) warned businesses risk
being fined or having their license revoked if they did not revert to the
prices from before September 26th, as the economic crisis in the southern
African state shows no sign of abating.

Prices of goods and services on Wednesday accelerated beyond reach of
impoverished Zimbabweans after the local currency plunged to new lows, a day
after president Robert Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai
failed to break a deadlock over cabinet portfolios.

"A clampdown has started on all shops that are charging prices that had not
been approved by the NIPC," Godwills Masimirembwa, the NIPC chairman said in
a statement.

"Another serious issue that could see many shops being fined or risk having
their licences revoked is having multiple prices."

Mr Mugabe, who blames businesses of conniving with the west to create a
crisis in a bid to incite Zimbabweans to revolt against him, in 2007 reacted
to ever-rising inflation by launching a crackdown on business to reverse
their prices by more than half.

The controversial price blitz spawned shortages of basic commodities and
left companies reeling on the brisk of collapse as they were left in a
precarious financial position since they were restocking at much higher
prices only to be forced to sell at low prices in line with government's
price cut edict.

The country, once the breadbasket of Africa, is in the grips of a decade
long recession outside a war situation. Hyperinflation has gone wild,
topping 11 million per cent officially and sparking shortages of cash, food,
electricity and water among other basic necessities.
© Adfero Ltd
04 October 2008 03:00 GMT

Hint of economic optimism takes root in Zimbabwe

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

STEPHANIE NOLEN AND SHAKEMAN MUGARI

Globe and Mail Update

October 3, 2008 at 10:05 PM EDT

JOHANNESBURG, HARARE - Augustine Mhende did something recently he had not
done for years. He took his order books out of the refrigerator, which he
had been using as a cabinet in the absence of electricity, and set about
figuring out what he would need to restock the shelves of his general store
in a Harare slum. Current contents: some matches, a few packs of cigarettes
and a couple of boxes of soap.

Then he called up some of the young men who used to work for him; he laid
them off years ago, after government-imposed price controls eliminated his
ability to pay them. He set them to work cleaning up the area at the back of
the store where he had once planned to build a café, before Zimbabwe's
political and economic crisis eviscerated his business.

And then Mr. Mhende, 60, called the bank to discuss a loan, so he can
restock his shelves. The bank, which hadn't taken his calls in a year, told
him to come in for a chat.

"I know it will be difficult to get the products to restock," he said. "But
I think things are looking up."

Across Zimbabwe, the story is much the same. Zimbabwe Sun Ltd. (ZimSun),
Zimbabwe's largest hotel group, says its occupancy rates are rising for the
first time in years, as foreign business people move in to assess
opportunities. Manufacturing had shrunk to just 15 per cent of installed
capacity, but Callisto Jokonya, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industry, said that manufacturers were suddenly receiving orders, and were
talking to international financiers about reopening lines of credit.

All of this has happened since Sept. 15, when President Robert Mugabe signed
a power-sharing deal with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), ceding some of his control of the country for the first time in
nearly 30 years.

Under Mr. Mugabe's increasingly autocratic and violent rule, Zimbabwe's
once-vibrant economy has been demolished. Inflation is officially estimated
at 11 million per cent, but is more likely 40 million; the agricultural,
manufacturing and tourism sectors are moribund; a third of the population
has fled over the borders and half of those who remain are now surviving on
emergency food aid. And the new political setup is far from settled: The two
sides have been locked in bitter talks over how to split up key cabinet
ministries and show little sign of being able to work together amicably.

Nevertheless, the deal they signed has engendered a flowering of optimism in
Zimbabwe, especially among business people chafing to revive an economy
frozen like a fairy-tale heroine. "I'm very optimistic," said Shingi
Munyeza, head of ZimSun. "It's going to take a lot of positive engagement,
but there is now political will, which was absent in the past."

He noted that historically, in other African countries that have turned
around after crises, the key ingredients have been a change of political
direction, physical and institutional infrastructure that is still intact,
good human capital and abundant resources. Zimbabwe, he said, has all of
these: one of the best-educated populations on the continent; still-viable
banking and other institutions; gold, diamonds and platinum, plus great
tourist destinations.

"We have a critical mass of people who can turn us quickly to where we
should be going," Mr. Munyeza said.

Yet the challenges are daunting. How can the new government put a check on
inflation that is so preposterously high and re-inject value into a
now-worthless currency? How can it create an environment that will lure back
investors with their desperately needed capital? And how can foreign
donors - both multilateral and the international financial institutions - be
persuaded to take a chance on Zimbabwe when Mr. Mugabe, who oversaw the
destruction of one of Africa's strongest economies, remains the president?

Economists say the new government must quickly end its squabbling and
immediately stop the Central Bank from printing any more money; at the same
time, the treasury must halt all off-the-books payments for items such as
cars for Mugabe loyalists.

"They will have to restore the credibility and discipline of the Central
Bank and financial sector as a whole - they have to stop the money-printing
madness," said Tony Hawkins, a professor of economics at the University of
Zimbabwe. "It is going to take some time for hyperinflation to come down."

At the same time, the government desperately needs some real money - foreign
exchange - to pay its bills, including the civil service payroll, and to try
to rein in the crazed inflation rate. But the foreign exchange will be
difficult to acquire: The only source is multilateral donors, who, while
cautiously congratulatory about the power-sharing deal, are not rushing into
Zimbabwe with cheque books in hand.

"They will need structures of accountability and to restore good governance;
at the moment the structures are not there at all," Prof. Hawkins said.

The International Monetary Fund is the likely source of balance-of-payments
support, but Zimbabwe has been blacklisted by the IMF since 2000. The
country has a $4-billion (U.S.) international debt, run up through the
crisis, and an abysmal credit rating.

The second step is to start to revive the key, now frozen, sectors of the
economy. Commercial agricultural - primarily the production of wheat and
tobacco - was once Zimbabwe's main source of foreign exchange. The sector
has nearly collapsed since Mr. Mugabe's highly politicized land distribution
program began nearly a decade ago; farms were expropriated from skilled
farmers, usually whites, and given to supposed veterans of the country's war
of independence (but often, in fact, to cabinet ministers), none of whom
knew much about farming. At the same time, the government maintained
Draconian price-and-import controls that destroyed small-scale farming and
left millions of people without food.

Renson Gasela, who for 20 years headed the country's grain marketing board
and later served as the MDC's agriculture critic, shares the buoyant mood,
even though, he said, the damage to the agriculture sector has been massive.
"I'm feeling very, very optimistic indeed," he said.

If the international community steps in to help the new government buy seeds
and fertilizer, he said, small-scale farmers could plant before the rains
begin in six weeks, and potentially be self-sufficient this season, if the
weather is good. Fast action will be needed to get ready for the planting of
a season's worth of commercial crops, he said, but that may be possible.

"The rehabilitation required is massive," he said, and the economy must
stabilize before anyone can start rebuilding. He described, as an example,
how in September, he paid $50,000 Zimbabwe dollars for a small transformer
to operate a bore hole, found it did not have the necessary capacity, and
tried to return it a week later, only to discover that the same model now
cost $1-million.

Many commercial farmers fled Zimbabwe. Some remain but have no capital, he
said, and most of their equipment has been vandalized or destroyed. And none
will take out loans to rebuild until they know their land title is secure.

"There will have to be a land audit to establish who is where, whether
people have multiple farms, what land is not being used - it is a daunting
task." And politically incendiary. The mining sector, one of the few that
has kept operating, though at less than half capacity, is also poised for
growth, if regulatory issues are sorted out, said Jack Murehwa, the chief
operating officer of Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, the country's largest platinum
mine, and former head of the Chamber of Mines. "The slowing down of
production in the mining industry is due mainly to matters related to
monetary policies and the legal framework.

"Once these two aspects are addressed, relatively significant changes should
take place, especially with respect to the production of gold," he said.

Gold production has slumped from 11 tonnes last year to an expected four
tonnes this year.

"It is largely a matter of getting people back to work, and we believe that
once we start working again, some of the skills that left the country will
come back."

None of this is going to happen fast. The United Nations' Development
Programme published a report last month called Comprehensive Economic
Recovery in Zimbabwe, written by five Zimbabwean economists. It concludes
that Zimbabwe needs growth of at least 5-per-cent a year over 12 years for
per capita income levels to reach their 1991 level. And it says that a
minimum of $5.2-billion (U.S.) in foreign aid, including debt relief, will
be needed over the next five years if the government is to plug financing
gaps, revive infrastructure and keep people fed.

But Mr. Munyeza, the tourism mogul, predicted that with a little stability,
international investors, not just donors, will be hurrying back to Zimbabwe.

"A six-month window will dispel the fears of investors," he predicted. "Not
that everything will be hunky-dory, but you will find a very clear picture
of where things are going."

Shakeman Mugari is a freelance journalist based in Zimbabwe

SA company sues Zim tycoon

IOL

    October 04 2008 at 04:41PM

By Peta Thornycroft

John Bredenkamp, 69, the Zimbabwean tycoon who made - and allegedly
squandered - several fortunes and established convenient relationships in
President Robert Mugabe's regime, is being sued by a South African company
in the Harare High Court for allegedly failing to honour a debt of nearly
$4-million (about R35-million).

Bredenkamp is also a South African citizen, and mostly lives in his
luxury home in Knightsbridge, London, as he has recently been refused
permission to renew his Zimbabwean passport, as confirmed this week by his
spokesperson Costa Pafitis.

Bredenkamp's riches grew from selling newly independent Zimbabwe's
Virginia tobacco crop internationally. He then moved into controversial
military deals, sometimes securing products from SA parastatal arms company
Armscor during the apartheid era. His colleagues in this business were
mostly former Rhodesian soldiers and Special Branch policemen.

Bredenkamp was, until recently, on good terms with key Mugabe cronies,
some of whom he assisted financially - in particular top Zanu-PF official
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is tipped to succeed Mugabe.

The two fell out in February 2004. His most recent Zanu-PF contact is
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa.

A South African company, Sahawi International, claims it lent
Bredenkamp $22,272-million in 18 separate tranches, from 2001 onwards, but
only 10 percent has been repaid.

Sahawi, based in Linbro Park, Joburg, filed papers in the Harare High
Court on August 25 claiming Bredenkamp was to have repaid the money after he
had made a fortune in June 2006 by selling a mine he had been given in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.

Eight years ago, Bredenkamp had invested in a mine in Katanga province
given to him by the late Congolese leader Laurent Kabila as spoils of war,
apparently because of his involvement with the Zimbabwean National Army
(ZNA), which helped to put Kabila in power.

Bredenkamp was a major conduit for provisions to the ZNA and
guaranteed DRC payment for Russian helicopters during the conflict.

The tycoon began borrowing money when he took over the Katanga mine,
but rented it to Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach, who is wanted in
SA for fraud.

At the time of the alleged loans, Bredenkamp was in regular trouble
with creditors and started cutting back on his lifestyle, which was costing
him about $750 000 a month to maintain.

At his lowest point, Bredenkamp sold off his DRC assets to Israeli
mining entrepreneur Dan Gertler for $60-million in 2006 - much more than
market value.

Bredenkamp owed a group of senior politicians in the DRC about
$15-million of the sale money, but he had nevertheless made a massive profit
out of the DRC.

Among other assets recently offloaded, he sold his cigarette factory
in Wadeville, Germiston, for R70-million, after having paid only R17-million
for it.

Bredenkamp is one of a handful of white farmers whose land holdings
and farming operations in Zimbabwe remain intact.

His UK offices were raided by British police three years ago in
connection with investigations into the SA arms deal. He was not charged,
and the probe continues.

Pafitis said this week he knew nothing of the claim by Sahawi against
his boss, but said he would pass on questions put to him. - Independent
Foreign Service

This article was originally published on page 5 of Saturday Star on
October 04, 2008

New Dawn Mining To Suspend Gold Production At Zimbabwean Mine

http://www.rttnews.com

10/3/2008 4:45 PM ET
(RTTNews) -  Friday, New Dawn Mining Corp. said it has decided to determined
to suspend gold production at the Turk Mine in Zimbabwe and place the mine
on temporary 'care and maintenance' effective October 3, 2008. The move was
triggered by the continued non-payment of amounts receivable for the sale of
gold to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and high operating costs caused by
unrealistic exchange rates and hyper-inflationary pressures in general.

The company also suspended exploration work on the adjacent Angelus Mine
until economic conditions in Zimbabwe improve. However, the company does not
expect these to cause any immediate layoffs.

by RTT Staff Writer

Refugees still pouring into South Africa

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5191#more-5191

October 3, 2008

By Mxolisi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwean refugees are still pouring into South Africa in a
shocking display of lack of faith in the power-sharing agreement recently
signed by the country's main political leaders.

After painstaking negotiations supervised by the regional SADC organisation,
President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leaders
of the splintered Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) signed an historic
deal in Harare, on September 15 seeking to share power.

The objective of the deal, through which Mugabe was supposed to shed some of
his executive powers to Tsvangirai, was to bring an end to the political and
economic meltdown which has bedevilled Zimbabwe for close to a decade and
led the country to the brink of total collapse.

In the deal, Mugabe retained the presidency, while Tsvangirai became the
Prime Minister-designate, with Mutambara becoming one of his two deputies.

However, continuous haggling over the sharing of some key cabinet posts now
threatens the successful implementation of the terms of the agreement. Many
Zimbabweans are genuinely concerned about the future of their country as a
result.

Disgruntled Zimbabweans, still grappling with an economic meltdown that has
continued unabated, continue to cross into neighbouring Botswana and South
Africa in search of employment and better living conditions.

An immigration official in South Africa reported this week that thousands of
Zimbabweans were still crossing into the more prosperous neighbouring
country.

"We host thousands of Zimbabwean immigrants daily, both legally and
illegally," said the official. "There has been no change in their flow into
this country and I doubt if a change will come any time soon,".

Human traffickers, popularly known as Omalayitsha (human carriers), have not
stopped bringing illegal immigrants in, said the official.

The Home Affairs Department told The Zimbabwe Times that applications for
political asylum submitted by Zimbabweans claiming to be fleeing from
persecution by state authorities in their own country were still piling up
by the day, resulting in an overwhelming workload for the department's
staff.

"There has been no change and on our part, we will continue to receive these
applications because the deal does not mean that things will change
overnight," said Siobhan McCarthy, a departmental spokesperson.

During a Monday visit to Crown Mines, where such applications are being
processed in Johannesburg, a Zimbabwe Times correspondent found hundreds of
Zimbabweans fighting to have their applications received.

"I arrived here on Sunday, after fleeing a fresh wave of violence and will
stay here for some time. Things are still bad back at home," said Trust
Shoko, a former farm worker, who claimed to have been assaulted by war
veterans in Masvingo.

On Monday President Mugabe said a new government would be in place by Friday
after the feuding political parties agreed on the allocation of cabinet
posts. His pronouncement appears to have been based on mere optimism.

It now appears the agreement signed on September 6 does not have the
blessings of a faction of Zanu-PF or of the so-called Joint Operations
Command.

Two new developments which do not augur well for the successful
implementation of the agreement were reported Thursday. One was that Mugabe
had allegedly cut a deal with Mutambara for a coalition behind Tsvangirai
back. The report was that Tsvangirai's mainstream MDC was in the meantime
mulling a withdrawal from the agreement.

Roebuck warns of Zimbabwe move

http://blogs.thetimes.co.za

4 October 2008, 12:46 GMT + 2

Peter Roebuck, the columnist and harsh critic of the Mugabe regime, has
slammed South Africa's new president presumptive from toenadering with
Mugabe acolyte Peter Chingoka.

Mtutuzeli Nyoka is all set to become president of Cricket SA following the
resignation of Norman Arendse and one of his first actions has been to
placate the goons who run the game in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe is cunningly
holding on to power.

"Far from accepting responsibility for Gauteng's pathetic inability to
produce coloured cricketers, he sent out an olive branch to his counterparts
in Zimbabwe, the worst bunch of rogues ever to attain high office in the
game of bat and ball,"wries Roebuck this week in the Witness.

There have been signs that Nyoka will invite Zimbabwe back into the fold
from which Arendse expelled them after another egregious act of violence by
Mugabe against the electorate.

Roebuck urges Nyoka to insist on the immediate release of the official audit
of Zimbabwe Cricket's accounts. It is rumoured that the audit contains
details of theft of money from the International Cricket Council (a
substantial amount paid in US dollars) by the senior Zimbabwe officials.

Roebuck, whose intelligence from Zimbabwe has been impeccable, says that
many of that country's most promising players are leaving "although it is
too dangerous for them to say anything publicly".

Tatenda Taibu has been taking soundings in Melbourne. Hamilton Mazakadza has
been in Sydney, says Roebuck. "More recently, Brendan Taylor signed for a
club in Melbourne, whilst Sean Williams has left for greener pastures in
South Africa. Meanwhile, several committed cricketers attend university in
South Africa, where they are sustained by sincere and appalled outsiders.
"Several teams could be raised from expatriates, none of whom wanted to
leave their country, none of whom trust their former bosses. Whether ZC can
from its remaining resources raise a side capable of holding its own in
anything except a youth tournament is debatable."

Without their top strata of playes, Nyoka apparently wants this team to
compete in South Africa's domestic competitions. If he insists they do, then
how about taking on Claremont Thirds for a start.

Double trouble for Dynamos at State House

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=5239

October 4, 2008

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - Dynamos Football Club players kept President Robert Mugabe waiting
on Friday, after their arrival at State House to meet him was by an hour.

The players were delayed at Rufaro Stadium while preparing a list of their
grievances against team management. They were scheduled to arrive at 10.30
am but the two mini-buses carrying team members only arrived at the State
House gates at around 11.30 am, much to the anger of security aides at State
House.

But there was further trouble for the DeMbare visitors after a dressing down
for "keeping the President waiting" when aides grilled team manager Nyika
Chifamba who had presented them with a DeMbare jersey with the inscription
"R.G Mugabe" at the back and the number 84, Mugabe's age, boldly printed in
front.

Chifamba, who was taken to task right in front of journalists for not
consulting before deciding to print, was asked where the printing had been
done, and who was present when it was being done, and why they had not
consulted State House before undertaking the exercise. Zifa chief executive
officer Henrietta Rushwaya had to be summoned to explain, with club patron
former cabinet Minister Webster Shamu, also coming to the rescue of the
DeMbare manager as he battled to diffuse a situation that was now further
delaying the start of the presentation function.

But adverse conditions at State House did not deter the DeMbare players from
predicting a win in their game against Coton Sport.

"We have reached this far and we would now want to take the trophy itself,"
said team captain Murape Murape, who also reported the team is injury free.
He explained why the team was late in coming to State House.

"We have grievances such as the late payment of bonuses, so we wanted to
appeal to the highest office to intervene. We were printing the list of
grievances at Ximex Mall, that is why we were late," Murape added.

Meanwhile, all is set for an epic clash at Rufaro with Coton Sport coach
Alain Ouombleon confident of beating DeMbare on their own turf.

"We are very happy to be here, and my players feel very good," he said.

Meanwhile, Dynamos Football Club will have to ensure their unpredictable
fans are on their best behaviour on the last straight of the Champions
League campaign, after the Confederation of African Football issued a stern
warning against any errant behaviour ahead of the semi-final first leg
matches of the continent's flagship competition on Sunday.
Caf says it will descend heavily on clubs deemed to have brought the game
into disrepute, with particular emphasis on fans' behaviour whose
celebrations have often spilled onto the pitch in direct violation of
standing football statutes.

Dynamos, it has been learnt, have already been fined US$1000 through the
Zimbabwe Football Association for having a malfunctioning
electronic-substitution board during their mini-league match against Ivorian
giants ASEC Mimosas. The Harare giants have incidentally also been penalised
by Caf for the referee's late submission of a match-assessment report of the
same game.

DeMbare face Cameroonian side Coton Sport at Rufaro Stadium Sunday afternoon
in the semi-final, first leg match of the lucrative tournament with fans
expected to throng the stadium for a potentially explosive showdown against
another surprise packet of the competition.

Caf take particular exception to fans running onto the pitch to mob players
soon after the final whistle, arguing this endangers the lives of both
players, coaches as well as match officials. Caf, according to Zifa, have
warned against a repeat of an incident during Dynamos' last mini-league
match against Zamalek at Rufaro Stadium. Some fans scaled the fence to hug
their heroes who had just stormed into the semis of the lucrative
tournament.

Mugabe Pledges to Bankroll Dynamos Fixtures

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, October 4 2008 - President Robert Mugabe has pledged to foot
Dynamos' travel expenses in the remaining African Champions League fixtures.

Dynamos will host Cameroon's Cotonsport Garoua in the semi-final's
first leg match at Rufaro Sunday. Mugabe hosted a luncheon for the team at
State House on Friday afternoon.

He said Dynamos players should feel motivated by the support they are
getting from government and people of Zimbabwe when they take part in
international matches.

Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), chief executive officer,
Henrietta Rushwaya, presented Mugabe with a blue Dynamos replica jersey
inscribed R. G Mugabe at the back. The Zifa boss also seized the opportunity
to present a host of grievances affecting soccer and Dynamos' campaign.

Chief among the problems is the unavailablility of land to develop
clubhouses and stadiums, the need to waive import duty on goods bought by
players returning from international duty, the unreasonably high levies paid
to service providers at matches and failure to access foreign currency for
international assignments.

Meanwhile Dynamos lost some free mileage on leading sports channel,
Supersport, when club chairman Partson Moyo, cancelled his all-expenses paid
trip to South Africa on Thursday night. He was scheduled to appear on the
programme, Africa Sports at the Supersport studios in Randburg. Moyo told
RadioVOP that he had put the trip to South Africa on ice, following the
invitation by President Mugabe.