• Zimbabwe police shut down private newspaper
• Aid distributions done on basis of need only, UN Coordinator
• Third World rallies around Zim
• Zimbabwe fuel - Backdoor price control
• Zimbabwe Food & Grocery Prices 1981, 1999, 2003
• JAG Legal Communique dated 12 September 2003
• JAG Open Letters Forum No. 143
• Mugabe takes out axe
• UZ exam scripts sent to Zambia for marking
• Displaced farmers head for Nigeria
• UZ lecturers have no moral authority to strike
• A legacy of shame
• Rescue plan for mines on the cards
• Is it normal when a country runs out of its own currency?
• JAG Job Opportunities dated 12 September 2003
• Zimbabwean judge to challenge his arrest
• EU seeks Zimbabwe dialogue
• Players adapt to Mugonomics
• Zim's inflation above 425%
• GDP to Decline By 11,5%
• Concern over plan to import Malaysian seeds
• Zesa to Raise $18 Bn for Rural Electrification
• Standing or sitting, why applaud such a man?
• Conservancy buffalo
• Zvakwana Newsletter #39 - Sept 11, 2003

      Zimbabwe police shut down private newspaper
      Friday, September 12, 2003 Posted: 3:46 PM EDT (1946 GMT)

      HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwean police closed down operations
at the country's only private daily newspaper on Friday night, a day after
the Supreme Court ruled that the newspaper group was operating illegally.

      Francis Mdlongwa, editor-in-chief of the Associated Newspapers of
Zimbabwe (ANZ), said the police descended on the newspaper's offices in
central Harare and ordered staff out.

      The ANZ publishes the Daily News and its sister Daily News Sunday.
Mdlongwa said editor Nqobile Nyathi and the operations manager had been
taken to a police station.

      "The situation is that right now, we have been closed down. This is an
unprecedented attack on press freedom because after the court decision
yesterday, we had made it clear that we were going to comply with the law
and register," said Mdlongwa.

      "We know that Zimbabwe is collapsing and that there's an attack on
independent institutions but we never thought that they would go this far.
This is totally unacceptable," he added.

      Zimbabwe's Supreme Court Thursday rejected a challenge by the ANZ over
a media law seen by critics of President Robert Mugabe as designed to
silence them.

      The Daily News has been operating without a license in defiance of the
law passed in 2002. The ANZ had refused to apply for a license in protest
against the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

      In its ruling, Zimbabwe's highest court said ANZ should have complied
with the law by registering to operate a newspaper before launching its
challenge.

      The government-appointed Media and Information Commission which is
charged with licensing media houses, said Thursday it could by law slap a
fine on ANZ or confiscate its equipment.

      "We are surprised they are doing this because we had no intention
whatsoever to defy the law," Mdlongwa said.

      The newspaper has been in operation for about three years and is
accused by the government of being a mouthpiece of the opposition.

      More than a dozen journalists have been charged under the law, which
was signed soon after Mugabe's controversial re-election last year, among
them several Daily News staffers and the former correspondent for Britain's
Guardian newspaper, who was deported earlier this year.

Aid distributions done on basis of need only, UN Coordinator

Johannesburg - Relief assistance in Zimbabwe will be directed solely by the
needs of the vulnerable, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in
Harare, J Victor Angelo, said in a statement. This follows news reports that
a new government policy could interfere with the distribution of relief food
in the country, where over 5 million people will require food aid this year.
"The government issued, on 14 August 2003, a policy paper on the operations
of NGOs, with the intention to improve on the shortcomings which were
experienced in the humanitarian and recovery programmes in 2002/03. The
government has assured the UN that the new policy will not interfere with
humanitarian operations over the coming year," Angelo said in a statement
released on Wednesday. He pointed out that prior to the new coordinated
appeal for aid in 2003/04, "a defining meeting was held last week between
the government and a UN delegation. Both government and the UN concurred
that the design and the implementation of humanitarian assistance to
Zimbabwe will correspond with internationally accepted and endorsed charters
and conventions, in order to ensure that the assistance is credible,
inclusive and transparent".

With regard to the distribution of aid, priority would be given to the most
vulnerable, and NGOs "in partnership with communities and their local
structures, will be responsible for the selection of beneficiaries". It was
agreed that "all parties will recognise the neutrality and impartiality of
humanitarian assistance". "The government of Zimbabwe is responsible for
creating conditions conducive to the safe and secure implementation of
humanitarian activities and the protection of humanitarian staff throughout
the country. This includes the security of all humanitarian personnel
(national and international), as well as assets belonging to humanitarian
agencies," Angelo stressed. He added that he would continue to have
"consultations on strengthening appropriate monitoring of humanitarian
assistance across the country". "In order to ensure efficient and equitable
distribution of relief items, distributions will be carried out by
humanitarian agencies and organisations, in line with provisions of the
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government and WFP (World Food
Programme), and other relevant MOUs signed with implementing partners,"
Angelo concluded.

Third World rallies around Zim

Harare - Lawmakers from the world's poorest nations have vowed to resist
fresh attempts by the European Union (EU) to bar Zimbabwe from taking part
in a forthcoming meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and EU
nations, a newspaper said Thursday. Parliamentarians from the 15-member EU
and 77-strong ACP are due to meet next month in Italy for routine talks on
issues of cooperation. "We are confident that the meeting in Rome will take
place with all the 77 (ACP) members, and Zimbabwe will be included," Adrien
Houngbedji, Benin's parliamentary speaker and co-president of the ACP-EU
parliamentary assembly was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald
newspaper. The EU last year imposed travel restrictions on 72 of Zimbabwe's
top government and ruling party officials, including President Robert
Mugabe, accusing them of human rights abuses and electoral fraud.

In November last year ACP lawmakers abandoned talks with the EU after
European parliamentarians refused to allow two black-listed Zimbabwean
ministers to enter their Brussels premises. The EU in February postponed a
summit with African leaders which was due to take place in April in Lisbon
because it failed to win a guarantee that Mugabe - who is barred from
entering EU territory - would stay away. Most European countries had said
they would boycott the summit if Mugabe was invited. African nations
meanwhile indicated they would stay away unless Zimbabwe was included.
Portugal wants to host the summit next year. Houngbedji, who is in Zimbabwe
at the head of an ACP delegation seeking to mend relations between the
Zimbabwe and EU, said his team was also in the country to express its suport
for Zimbabwe. The team held talks with Mugabe, ruling Zanu PF officials and
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership.

Zimbabwe fuel - Backdoor price control

By Tony Hawkins

Harare - For the first time in months, fuel - and queues - have returned to
filling stations in Zimbabwe, though for how long is unclear. After
procrastinating for months, the Zimbabwe cabinet finally agreed to partial
deregulation with a multi-tier fuel pricing policy. The state-owned National
Oil Co (NocZim) will continue to sell petrol and diesel at existing, highly
subsidised, prices to "strategic" users, like parastatals and public
transport, including taxis and farmers. Everyone else is expected to buy
fuel from private-sector suppliers - multinationals and indigenous firms -
who will source their own foreign currency and sell fuel at a new "official"
price of Z$1 170/litre for petrol and Z$1 070 for diesel. These new prices,
though 160% above the previous official prices, are well below the black
market level of around Z$1 800/litre.

Fuel importers say their ability to supply at the new price depends on their
being able to source foreign exchange at Z$3 000/US$ - not much more than
half the parallel market rate of Z$5 500-Z$6 000. "We are not party to this
agreement," says one fuel company executive. "It simply does not make
business sense for us to import fuel and sell at a loss." With a parallel
market rate of Z$5 500, fuel importers need a pump price of Z$1 850-Z$1
950/litre. Petroleum Marketers Association chairman Masimba Kambarami says:
"We will be talking to the banks soon to get a reasonable rate of exchange."
But banks say this is out of the question. "We cannot buy forex at Z$550 to
the US dollar and sell it at a lower price," says one banker. All of which
means that government's much-touted deregulation is no more than partial,
since once again the authorities are trying to maintain control over fuel
prices through the back door, this time using foreign currency controls.
Importers warn that the return of fuel to the filling stations could be
short- lived unless the authorities really deregulate the price.

Government's response has been to turn up the heat on the banks in an
attempt to curb the parallel market rate, which has doubled from Z$2 800 to
Z$5 500/US$ in the past six weeks. Last week, National Merchant Bank, listed
on the London and Harare stock markets, lost its foreign currency dealing
licence for a year. It is accused of exchange control violations in its
dealings in the parallel market. Other commercial banks and one merchant
bank are under investigation for similar offences and the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe is obviously hoping that by turning the screws on the banks it will
stabilise and even strengthen the parallel market rate. If it cannot,
government will either have to deregulate the fuel price altogether or see
yet another of its fuel supply schemes collapse.

Meanwhile, efforts by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to
force President Robert Mugabe to the negotiating table received a setback
when the ruling Zanu-PF party used muscle and intimidation to retain control
of local authorities in the smaller towns and rural areas in last week's
local elections. The turnout in both the local elections and the by-election
for the MDC-held Harare Central seat was low. In Harare Central only 11% of
voters cast their ballots, leaving the MDC winners with two-thirds of the
vote. Earlier, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had given the government until
October 1 to resume talks or face new protests. But the low poll turnout and
government's capacity to stifle opposition activity, thereby ensuring that
the MDC has no chance at the polls except in the big cities, once again
underlines the need for Pretoria to force Mugabe to talk. But after last
month's hero's welcome for Mugabe at the Southern African Development
Community summit in Tanzania and the SADC's call for sanctions against
Zimbabwe to be lifted, this seems unlikely.

      In July Mugabe ordered ministers who took more than one farm during
the drive that began three years ago to surrender all but one, but officials
say only a handful of ministers complied.

      Yesterday, after receiving a report from a committee he set up to
review the land reforms, Mugabe rattled his ministers by announcing that he
would implement all the proposals in the document – which called for a
restructuring of the government.

      The report, by an eight-member committee chaired by Mugabe’s former
Cabinet secretary Charles Utete, was not released to the media, but Mugabe
said it contained practical suggestions on how to advance Zimbabwe’s farming
industry.

      "We shall take full cognisance of your findings . . . and of your
recommendations. I want to assure you that government is going to respond
positively," Mugabe said.

      "We will look at it, and we will take urgent action," he said, adding:
"They are also recommending the restructuring of my government."

      Mugabe’s speech fuelled speculation among officials and ministers at
the ceremony that he meant he might fire those ministers who defied his
order to surrender extra farms or transferred them to their relatives.

      "I think anyone who thought he (Mugabe) is not serious must think
again. He has taken out the axe, and some heads might roll very soon," one
minister said.

      In the late 1980s, Mugabe used a judicial inquiry into a vehicle sale
scandal to dismiss several ministers.

      Didymus Mutasa, a member of the Politburo, the ruling ZANU PF’s
supreme decision-making body, said Mugabe had indicated that the report
would be discussed by Cabinet and the Politburo next week.

      He told the Daily News: "The President did not give specific names of
people who got extra land, but he just said there was an opportunity for
those who made mistakes to correct them. He will distribute the reports to
all Cabinet and Politburo members at the next meetings."

      Government officials said this week that some of Mugabe’s ministers
were fighting his war veteran supporters over land seized from white
farmers.

      Mugabe is accused of plunging what could be one of Africa’s richest
countries into a political and economic crisis through controversial
policies that include the compulsory transfer of hundreds of white-owned
farms to landless blacks.

      Critics say that while thousands of peasants have benefited from the
programme, the most productive farms have been seized by government
ministers and senior officials from Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party, sparking
fierce battles with other ruling party supporters.

      Leading war veteran activist Mike Moyo has won a court order barring
Mines Minister Edward Chindori-Chininga from occupying a farm in
northwestern Zimbabwe on the ground that he already owns two other farms.

      There have been several disputes in the past few months between
government officials and their relatives and settlers on formerly
white-owned land.

      Mugabe, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from
Britain in 1980, says his land seizures are meant to correct colonial
imbalances which left 70 percent of the country’s best farmland in the hands
of minority whites.

      Utete yesterday said if adopted, his committee’s short to long-term
proposals had the potential to facilitate the further transformation of the
country’s agricultural sector and the national economy.

      He said the first volume of the committee’s document was the main
report, which captured the committee’s findings and offered recommendations,
while the second volume contained eight special studies undertaken by a team
of researchers led by university professor Sam Moyo.

      – Reuters/Staff Reporter

      Denying during a Labour Court hearing on Wednesday that a strike by UZ
lecturers had delayed the marking of scripts, AUT lawyer Tererai Gunje said
the government had caused the problem by ignoring the plight of UZ staff.

      "The problem is that some of the scripts from the engineering
department were sent to Zambia for marking and some of the examiners were
even called from Tanzania to help set examinations for students in the
faculty of veterinary science," he said.

      "What it means then is that it’s not the lecturers’ problem, but we
blame it on the shortage of lecturers at the university."

      Zimbabwe’s main university is estimated to have only 500 lecturers,
less than half the 1 400 required for its 10 faculties. Most of the
lecturers have left the university to join the private sector in search of
better pay. A large number of Zimbabwean lecturers have also left the
country.

      The remaining lecturers and non-academic staff went on strike to press
the government to increase their salaries and improve their working
conditions.

      Lecturers are demanding a minimum monthly salary of up to $2.13
million, while the non-academic staff want transport and housing allowances
of up to 600 percent.

      The strike, which was declared illegal by the Labour Court on
Wednesday, has been blamed for the inability of a large number of students
to graduate last month because their exam results had not been processed.
The industrial action has also been blamed for the postponement of the
opening of the UZ. The UZ’s first semester was supposed to begin last week
but was delayed.

      But Gunje said the marking of exam scripts had partly been delayed
because some lecturers could not report for duty on some days due to
financial constraints.

      He said it was unfair to blame the lecturers for the postponement of
the UZ opening because they were not responsible for the running of the
college and did not make such decisions. An AUT official who declined to be
named yesterday told The Daily News that it was not the lecturers’
responsibility to look for more people to mark scripts.

      He said it also did not make sense for college officials to send
examination scripts to be marked in Zambia, because the examinations had not
been prepared in that country.

      "The problem is many lecturers left due to frustration and because of
this, the university had to quickly arrange with someone in Zambia who is
inexperienced to mark the scripts, something which is unfair to students,"
the official said.

      It was not possible to secure comment from university spokesman Dennis
Chihombori, who said to be out of his office.

      Staff Reporter

      Kwara’s new Governor Bukola Saraki two weeks ago told Nigerian
reporters his state government had entered into "negotiations with the
British government" over the more than

      2 000 farmers of British origin "displaced by the Zimbabwean
government".

      The main purpose was to "bring in foreign investors" to Kwara state,
according to Saraki.

      In a later statement, the Governor added that "the state stands to
benefit from the huge resources, international finance and high tech
equipment available to the displaced farmers."

      An official delegation of five white South African farmers, who also
represent their Zimbabwean colleagues, on Tuesday arrived in Kwara’s
capital, Ilorin, to meet with Governor Saraki and to get a first-hand
impression of the state.

      They are to stay one week at state expense.

      Zimbabwe’s predominantly white commercial farmers have proven a
popular export product since the Robert Mugabe government started
expropriating their farms.

      In addition to the present Nigerian offensive, also several
neighbouring countries – including Mozambique – have offered lucrative
conditions to attract the skilled and capitalised farmers.

      Kwara state Information Commissioner Malam Abdul Rahim Adedoyin said
the farmers were to hold talks with several "senior government officials"
and inspect potential farming sites in three districts of the state.

      State organs were instructed to welcome the potential investors in the
best possible way.

      The Kwara government further has indicated it considers handing out
land for free to interested Zimbabwean and South African commercial farmers.

      The relatively densely populated region was said to have large tracts
of unexploited but fertile lands.

      In Kwara, however, the question has been raised, whose land Governor
Saraki will be giving away, as many farmers in the state hunger for more
land.

      According to the Kwara governor, however, giving under-exploited land
resources to experienced commercial farmers, willing to invest in new
technology and infrastructure and create jobs and new markets, could only be
to the benefit of all parties.

      Governor Saraki only came to power during the elections earlier this
year, sweeping out long-ruling Governor Mohammed Lawal.

      Saraki has promised to put an end to corruption and to encourage
economic development of the poor state.

      The cornerstones of his administration are defined as being
agriculture, education and water supply. Agriculture remains the main
industry of Kwara state. The principal cash crops in the state are cotton,
cocoa, coffee, kolanut and tobacco.

      Climatic conditions are somewhat more tropical and moist than those
Zimbabweans and South Africans are familiar to.

      Kwara State is located at Nigeria’s cultural boundary between the
predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south. The state, which
was created in 1967, lies in the geographical south-west of Nigeria,
bordering to Benin. It has an estimated population of more than 1.5 million
made up of four main ethnic groups – Yoruba, Nupe, Fulani and Baruba.

      – Afrol News

      My agenda then was to hammer home the point that as the academic organ
of the university, the senate had an obligation – whether it was written
down in the governing Act or not – to protect and foster academic freedom at
the institution.

      The reason for this had been that the then Graham Hill administration
had decided to ban student gatherings that were not sanctioned by the
vice-chancellor’s office and had also decided to stop any political meetings
at the university.

      My logic was that the senate, being made up of learned academics,
would obviously be keen to ensure that there was maximum protection of the
free flow of ideas at Zimbabwe’s premier learning institution.

      I was wrong.

      When my turn to make a contribution in the senate came, I argued about
the need for the chairmen of departments, deans of faculties and professors
to think seriously about what they were doing to the university by being
complacent on the broader issue concerning the academic freedom of the
students and the institution.

      Professor Graham Hill tried to interrupt, but I was brooking none of
it, I needed to have my say in that meeting and call a spade a spade.

      After making my fairly emotional submissions, there was slight silence
and to this day, I am not sure why.

      Maybe it was because there was a feeling of guilt in the senate, or
maybe because the senate had never prioritised its political role of
protecting academic freedom at the university or there was too much risk in
being seen to support a badly dressed, loud-mouthed undergraduate student
leader who had no interest in getting an education and thought that being a
student leader was equal to being a god at the university.

      When the meeting ended, a couple of the senators confided in me that
what I had said was true, but that there was not much they could do.

      They urged the student leadership to carry on with the fight for
academic freedom because their hands were tied.

      I don’t quite know what they meant when they said their hands were
tied, but frankly speaking, I remember feeling downright disgusted by such a
negative attitude from men and women who were teaching young Zimbabweans how
to become medical doctors, sociologists, engineers, chemists, scientists and
lawyers.

      So, when one hears of continual strikes by the lecturers at the
institution, it is easy to be dismissive because, in my blunt view, it is
the lecturers that played a significant role in bringing the institution to
a grinding halt.

      Some of the people teaching at the university have been there for the
last fifteen to twenty years, helping to mould students into useful citizens
while simultaneously watching the UZ fall from grace. It was the lecturers
that helped create the archaic culture of tolerance of corruption, nepotism
and decadence that is now the character of the UZ.

      I remember exhorting some senior lecturers to look at the bigger
picture of the university, telling them that as they were the most stable
section of the university, it was in their interests to see that there is
academic freedom.

      One senior lecturer explained that it had been tried before when the
government passed the University of Zimbabwe Amendment Act in 1991, and the
lecturers staged a protest in the interests of academic freedom.

      But that had come to nought. The bigger picture, the lecturer
continued, is the political set-up of the country and, therefore, until
there is democratic change in the country, there shall be no academic
freedom in the country.

      It is a fairly reasonable argument, but it does not hold water in the
current circumstances. Even where there is political repression within a
country, a university is still a harbinger of ideas, both radical and
conservative, as long as it rejects political interference.

      But the UZ, on the contrary, has become a plaything for the Ministry
of Higher Education, which is constantly interfering in order to stem
student activism, with the comfortable feeling that all those learned
lecturers who are teaching the students are devoid of commitment to academic
freedom and are more worried about their salaries anyway.

      So, when one takes a cursory glance at the strikes that have been
occurring at the UZ over the last year, the lecturers are showing exactly
why they are lecturers: simply for the money.

      Admittedly we all need to eat and survive in Zimbabwe, but these
strikes show the selfish nature of the UZ lecturers. There has never been a
strike by the AUT to protest against the lack of academic freedom and the
welfare of the students. Assuming they get the money that they so badly
need, it is difficult to see them thinking beyond their salaries. I would
hazard to say that the lecturers are not seeing the obvious link that their
salary crisis has with the way the institution has been governed since 1989,
with increasing government infringement on academic freedom making them as
helpless as the students. By Takura Zhangazha

      According to the police, 11 bodies of suspected illegal Zimbabwean
immigrants are lying at a mortuary in Botswana’s second largest city of
Francistown. Some of them have been there for more than a year.

      Last week Gaborone announced that it was burying yet another 12
deceased Zimbabweans in a mass grave because no one had come forward to
claim them.

      If the authorities in Gaborone acted on their word, the 12 Zimbabweans
should by now be lying in some unmarked mass grave somewhere in the backyard
of Botswana.

      God knows how many more unfortunate Zimbabweans could be lying in
unmarked graves in South Africa, Britain, America, New Zealand and many
other places, after fleeing their motherland because of hunger, political
violence and poverty.

      And this – the unmarked graves of Zimbabweans in foreign lands – is
what Mugabe and ZANU PF will be remembered for.

      The government will be remembered, not for its dubious land reforms or
any other imagined achievement, but for its 23-year misrule that has reduced
what was once Africa’s pride to a nation of paupers and beggars.

      That the government does not see it as its duty to repatriate the
bodies from Botswana, just an hour’s flight from Harare, only serves to show
the regrettable "couldn’t-care-less" attitude of the callous elite presiding
over Zimbabwe’s demise.

      Why accuse Botswana of bad neighbourliness for dumping the unclaimed
bodies of Zimbabweans in one large pit if their own government does not seem
remotely concerned about the corpses of its compatriots?

      The government could have, in the case of the 11 bodies at Nyabangwe
Referral Hospital in Francistown, advertised the names of the deceased on
television, radio and other media it controls to alert relatives so they
could come forward to collect their deceased kin.

      But the government is obviously too busy advertising Hondo Yeminda and
such other propaganda meant to ensure its political survival.

      The government could also have collected the bodies from Botswana and
given them decent burials in properly marked graves, in case someone would
one day come forward to claim some of the graves.

      In fact, the government and its police could have done much more to
try and trace the relatives of the deceased Zimbabweans, if only they cared.

      All this would cost a lot of money.

      But it surely would be taxpayers’ dollars well spent than all the
hundreds of millions of dollars being channelled to the government’s
national youth service training programme, blamed by many for converting
young, gullible, but innocent youths, into brutal killers.

      But all this would clearly be too much to ask from a government that
takes its sweet time to ask for help from international food donors, as it
did in 2002 and this year, even though nearly half of the country’s
population could starve to death without food aid from outside.

      The corpses of Zimbabweans piling up in Botswana should be cause for
Mugabe – who as President bears the most responsibility for all our woes –
to pause for some serious introspection.

      Hopefully, he will arrive at the same conclusion that many
Zimbabweans, including some in his own ZANU PF party, reached a long time
ago.

      And that is: Zimbabwe needs to make a fresh start without him and his
government.

      Chamber of Mines chief executive David Murangari told the Business
Daily that the Mines Ministry and the chamber would work out plans to rescue
the troubled sector, whose output has continued to plummet in the last two
years.

      "The chamber is concerned with the closed mines and will soon meet
with the Mines Ministry to set up a committee which will look at the sector’
s specific problems and closed mines to find strategic ways to resuscitate
the sector from total collapse," Murangari said.

      "We as the chamber of mines are interested in the resuscitation of the
closed mines, but we can’t just go to the mines without enough information
on what caused the mines to close and who owns it."

      Zimbabwe’s mining sector is expected to decline by five percent this
year because of the country’s deteriorating economic crisis, after falling
7.1 percent last year.

      The mining sector has been a major foreign currency earner in Zimbabwe
since 1980, contributing significantly to the economy.

      But most major mines have downsized their operations or closed down,
while new projects that have been proposed by the government have failed to
take off.

      The mining sector’s foreign exchange earnings capacity has dropped
from more than 30 percent of total net proceeds to less than 25 percent.

      Minerals that recorded a tremendous decrease in volumes last year
include gold, coal, iron, nickel and chrome.

      Gold production has been the worst affected and is expected to fall by
another 27.6 percent to 11 tonnes this year, reaching its lowest level since
independence.

      Zimbabwe earned nearly $70 billion from the sale of gold and platinum
in the first six months of this year.

      Platinum has recently emerged as a major mineral generating foreign
currency in Zimbabwe.

      Last year, platinum production rose by 344 percent to 2306
kilogrammes, from 519 kilogrammes produced in 2000. In the first six months
of this year, 1 260 kilogrammes were produced, up from 410 kilogrammes in
2002.

      Business Reporter

      Mutasa, is it normal when the country does not have enough of its own
currency ?

      Is it normal when the country is facing a shortage of women’s sanitary
pads ?

      Is it normal when the prices of everything are skyrocketing daily?

      Is it normal when there is a shortage of commodities in the
supermarkets ?

      You say Zimbabweans are "a crazy gang spreading falsehoods"
everywhere?

      Yes, I am certain it is normal for us to think that your brains took
off after the disappearance of your hair.

      Mutasa, fools are sometimes considered wise when they keep quiet. Read
the book of Proverbs and you will become aware of the fate of the authors of
such careless, irresponsible, insensitive and unjustified verbal diarrhoea.
You are insulting everyone’s intelligence by claiming everything is OK.

      In the past, you have had the audacity to compare Mugabe to Jesus. Who
is crazy, tell me?

      Robert Ndlovu

      New York

      USA

Dear Mr Maberly,

I am a farm management specialist with Iowa State University, a land grant
university established in the mid-1800's.  Iowa is an important part of the
US dairy industry, producing just under 3% of the total US milk, number 9
in total milk processed and number 12 in milk produced per cow.

New dairy farmers would find available feed and dairy production
facilities.  Some local crop farmers have also indicated they are ready to
sell land for construction of a dairy facility, sell the dairy producer
feed and use the manure produced on the dairy for crop production.  We have
begun working with some Dutch farmers in moving to the US since they have
limited opportunities there, but for different reasons.

The most difficult part of the process of developing a dairy here is the
immigration process; at this time an exemption has been applied for to the
US government's immigration service that may make immigration easier.
There are some financial investment requirements for one visa type that may
be eased.  There is another visa type that does not put the immigrant on a
citizenship track.  An application for citizenship could take place at some
other time however.

It is possible that we may assist the farmers you are in contact with, but
additional information about there needs, financial resources, skills and
goals than I currently have.  Please respond to this email at your
convenience.  Thank you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

AUSTRALIA
(ad inserted 28 July 2003)

Nurse Relocation and Recruitment Services of Australia is wishing to
discuss nursing opportunites in Regional Australia. Regional communities
are welcoming and supportive of overseas nurses. We have several hospital
that are willing to offer sponsorship/contracts to nurses. There are also
retraining/upgrading opportunites available if you have not nursed for a
while. Please contact the Director, Margaret Gaussen at
timmarg@ansonic.com.au or phone/fax +61 3 55 743 234

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw (updated 12 September 2003)

Friday September 12, 2003 14:42 - (SA)

A constitutional challenge was to be launched in the Zimbabwe Supreme Court
on Tuesday over the arrest, imprisonment and trial of Benjamin Paradza, a
High Court judge of that country, the General Bar Council of South Africa
said today.

Paradza was arrested in his chambers earlier this year after handing down "a
number of orders adverse to the Zimbabwean government", the Bar Council said
in a statement.

Paradza was the second High Court judge to be arrested and charged with
seeking to interfere with the course of justice. Judge Fergus Blackie was
also arrested but in July the State withdrew all charges against him.

The Forum for Barristers and Advocates which comprises the Australian Bar
Association, the Bar of England and Wales, the Irish Bar, the Faculty of
Advocates of Scotland, Hong Kong Bar, Northern Ireland Bar, the General
Council of the Bar of South Africa and the Namibian Bar, has lent its
support to the defence of both judges.

The arrest of the two judges have been widely condemned.

The United Nations' special rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and
Lawyers, Dato'Param Cumuraswamy, expressed concern over the arrests in a
statement issued in Geneva.

The chief justices of Southern Africa earlier this year also expressed
concern, pointing out that the Zimbabwe Constitution provided for alleged
misconduct by a judge to be dealt with by a special judicial tribunal to be
initiated by the Chief Justice.

A South African senior counsel, Jeremy Gauntlett, SC, would lead Paradza's
legal team of Harare attorney Jonathan Samkange and advocate Julia Wood.

Sapa

      Since the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy President Robert Mugabe's
own peculiar brand of economics, Mugonomics, has justifiably had a poor
press internationally. It does, however, resonate well with the Zimbabwe
Stock Exchange, where industrial share prices have risen some 575 per cent
so far this year.

      The fact that this should be happening in a year in which GDP is
forecast to fall between 12 per cent and 15 per cent to an 18-year low, is
largely attributable to one of the key tenets of Mugonomics - that massively
negative real interest rates will boost investment. Inflation, which rose to
400 per cent in July, is 300 percentage points above prime lending rates of
about 90 per cent.

      Seemingly unfazed by this, the 79-year-old president told parliament
recently that "interest rates will have to come down . . . to encourage real
wealth generation as opposed to speculative wealth". Last week, the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe did its master's bidding by cutting its lending rate to
some of the country's overlent and financially fragile banks by 30
percentage points to 70 per cent.

      Unsurprisingly, the government's cheap money policy has had precisely
the opposite effect to that claimed by Mugabe. Far from boosting investment,
output and jobs, it has sparked asset price inflation in the equity, real
estate and foreign currency markets.

      Official figures suggest that capital formation is no more than 7 per
cent of GDP - insufficient to maintain the existing capitalstock, let alone
increase it. Despite this, after doubling in the first five months of this
year, equities have surged a further 200 per cent in the past three months.

      The most obvious explanation is inflation, which has accelerated from
200 per cent at the end of 2002 to 400 per cent in July, and is forecast to
reach 700 per cent to 800 per cent by year-end.

      For many investors, equities are the most convenient inflation hedge
in town. Property might be a better bet, but needs greater resources, while
foreign currency is a risky market.

      Market analysts, however, insist the inflation argument is overdone,
citing "remarkable" profit gains by listed companies. Latest figures for
non-financial quoted companies show pre-tax earnings up 400 per cent in 2003
or some 68 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis.

      Analysts are uncomfortable when asked to explain how profits can be
growing so fast in an economy whose GDP has fallen more than a third since
1999. Four explanations stand out, of which the most important by far is the
increase in margins (pre-tax profits to turnover) from 18 per cent a year
ago, to 32 per cent today.

      This is underpinned by falling real wages, so that although
productivity is down, real wages are declining even faster. With companies
able to borrow at interest rates as low as 5 per cent if they are exporters,
corporate borrowing has exploded, more than trebling in the last 18 months.

      And while this may be good for the bottom line today, some bankers are
increasingly uneasy about the medium-term effect, especially when Mugonomics
eventually gives way to economic realism and interest rates increase
dramatically.

      An estimated 8 per cent of bank loans are classified as bad or
doubtful - a figure which the International Monetary Fund believes seriously
understates the real situation. Reported profits are being boosted too by
creative accounting, especially under-depreciation and the treatment of
stock gains. Surprisingly, few brokers and analysts seem to believe that the
ZSE's inflationary binge will end in tears.

      It is only if and when Mr Mugabe is forced into retirement, that the
rules of the game change. Until then, investors, brokers and analysts will
be content to exploit Mugonomics hyperinflation.

Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)

September 12, 2003
Posted to the web September 12, 2003

ZIMBABWE'S gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to decline by a further
11,5% this year, according to banking statistics.

The statistics released last week show that real GDP declined by 5% in 2000,
7,5% in 2001, and 11,9% in 2002.

They are forecast to decline by a further 11,5% this year.

The major reductions are expected in agriculture (17%), distribution (8,5%),
manufacturing (10%), mining and quarrying (7,4%) and construction (5,5%).

The country's economy is currently facing an extremely difficult period
caused mainly by hyperinflation, various shortages such as fuel,
electricity, consumer items and recently cash.

The bankers said the half-year to June 30 was an extremely challenging
period for Zimbabwe.

They said the main macro-economic challenges during the period were a
decline in GDP, high money supply growth, domestic debt, weak balance of
payments support and foreign currency shortages.

Domestic debt, which stood at $346 billion in December last year, rose
dramatically to $546 billion as at June 30.

The bankers said with Treasury Bills accounting for 96% of the debt,
interest costs would continue to be a burden on the fiscus.

BULAWAYO, 12 Sep 2003 (IRIN) - Agriculture experts have voiced concern over
plans to import seed varieties from Malaysia to address the critical
shortage of farm inputs in Zimbabwe.

They warn that the Malaysian seed may be unsuitable for Zimbabwe's climate.

Reports that President Robert Mugabe had secured a wide range of
agricultural inputs, including various Malaysian crop seed varieties, for
importation into the mostly arid climate of Zimbabwe have also prompted
fears that the untested varieties will be fast-tracked into the local
environment, where they could either fail to adapt, destroy local crop
varieties, or cross with them to produce 'superweeds' or 'superpests' that
could develop resistance to local pesticides and herbicides.

Edward Mkhosi, a former provincial planning officer with the Agriculture
Rural Development Authority (ARDA) confirmed that there were indeed dangers
in the importation of Malaysian seed varities into Zimbabwe, due to the big
variation in the climatic conditions of the two countries.

"Zimbabwe is an arid country whose climatic conditions can only be compared
to those in Australia, if one wants to venture that far into the east.
Malaysia has a typical moonsoon climate, characterised by hot, wet
conditions. Crossing varieties that thrive in such a climate with local
varieties would be tantamount to converting our country into a huge
laboratory for breeding superweeds which no local herbicide or pesticide can
control," he said.

"That can even pose a threat to the plant and animal life in the whole of
Southern Africa ... so anyone who thinks of importing varieties from any
different climatic conditions should carry out intensive and exhaustive
tests for possible threats to local crop seed varieties, pests, diseases,
alterations to soil characteristsics and general effects on the wider
environment," noted Mkhosi.

A specialist with a government agricultural research centre said Zimbabwean
maize seed varieties had never been crossed, or placed in conditions where
they could co-exist with varieties from outside the savanna climatic
environment.

"Our seed varieties have only been crossbred with what we have locally. The
mass importation of moonsoon climate varieties poses the danger of wiping
out our local varieties and remaining with uncontrollable superweeds.
Besides threatening radical and undesirable changes to the local
biodiversity, there is a possiblity of a string of failed agriculutural
seasons and the perpetuation of starvation and poverty, should these
varieties fail to adapt. So, there is no question about the need for
pre-planting tests to see how those varieties behave in our environment, so
that farmers can be given the necessary advice for the crop's management -
if it is suitable at all," said the specialist, who did not wished to be
identified.

A senior official with the Plant Protection and Research Department of the
Agriculture Research and Extension Services (AREX) said the government had
not approached the department about conducting tests on the Malaysian crop
varieties.

"As far as we are concerned, the government has not [given] any indication
[of] the possibility of importing Malaysian seeds. But if that were to
happen, under normal circumstances officials from this department would be
sent to Malaysia to test the varieties selected for export into Zimbabwe, to
determine their suitability to our conditions.

"Testing is mandatory, and there is no question about its necessity," said
the official, who refused to be named.

Efforts to get a comment from lands, agriculture and rural resettlement
minister Joseph Made were unsuccessful.

Government announced last month that Mugabe had secured a wide range of
agricultural machinery and inputs for this year's crop farming season, but
did not say if the seed varieties to be imported had been tested for
suitability to Zimbabwe's climate.

News of the pending importation of seed from Malaysia has also invoked
memories of the far east country's involvement in the failed date palm
venture at the height of the 1992 drought.

Under the project Malaysia was to supply date palms to the Mwenezi
Development Trust, a consortium of farmers in the semi-arid area of Masvingo
province.

Despite the expense incurred in land preparation and transport
infrastructure, the project failed to take off as it turned out that date
palms were not suited to the Zimbabwean climate.

The country is divided into five agro-ecological regions, with varying and
seasonal weather patterns. The most productive are regions one and two - the
eastern highlands and the northeastern part of the country, which generally
experience good rains between November and February, and crops such as
tobacco are farmed intensively. However, these regions are also dry for most
of the year, hence the need for irrigation.

Agro-ecological regions three, four and five - the central, southern and
western areas of the country, which account for the largest area of
Zimbabweans soil - are characterised by dry conditions and might be most
inhospitable to Malaysian varieties.

Any large-scale crop-farming ventures include early-maturing,
drought-resistant varieties.

Commenting on the possibility of Malaysian crop varieties succeeding in the
seasonally wet parts of Zimbabwe, Mkhosi said: "Malaysian varieties cannot
survive, even in the so-called wet areas of the country, because of the
short seasons, [and variance in] weather patterns. Any change of climate in
the lifespan of any crop will ultimately affect productivity."

"So, for a country facing acute food shortages, it would still be a
dangerous gamble to have those seeds approved for tests in regions one and
two, since it is so clear that they simply cannot survive for a day in the
other regions," Mkhosi concluded.

The Daily News (Harare)

September 11, 2003
Posted to the web September 12, 2003

Macdonald Dzirutwe

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) will today approach
financial institutions, pension funds and other institutional investors to
try and raise $18 billion for the parastatal's rural electrification
programme, it emerged yesterday.

Authoritative sources told the Daily News last night that the Jewel Bank was
the lead financial advisor in the deal to raise what ZESA is calling
megawatt bills for the government's expanded rural electrification
programme.

The bills will carry a tenure of 90 days, after which the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) will pay investors on maturity of the bills.

"ZESA needs $18 billion for the expanded rural electrification programme and
will tomorrow (today) float bills to that effect," a source at the
parastatal said last night. "This is part of the government's promise to
expand electrification in the rural areas."

The bills have been granted liquid asset status by the Finance Ministry
which means they can be used as collateral by financial institutions or any
other investor when borrowing.

Banks can also use them for their overnight borrowing from the RBZ, in the
same way they use Treasury bills. Investors who buy the bills will be
exempted from paying tax, a move designed by the government to attract more
investors.

However, the bills come at a time interest rates have started to creep up
again, which could impose a huge interest burden on the perennially troubled
ZESA, should the bills be allotted at current rates.

Although rates plunged to around 70 percent for borrowings of up to 91 days
last week, the rates were yesterday trading above 85 percent and were set to
continue on the upward streak as a result of shortages in the money market.

Only last week, Syfrets Corporate and Merchant Bank rejected all tenders for
its petrofin bills as the bank attempted to raise funds for the National Oil
Company of Zimbabwe to buy hard cash on the black market for fuel imports.
The latest bills come barely two years after the parastatal floated ZESA
bonds valued at $5 billion to which it is still paying interest, which was
then pegged at 45 percent.

The rural electrification programme had eased this year as a result of
insufficient funds from ZESA, but sources say the move will go ahead in a
bid to please the restive rural masses who were promised electricity by the
ruling ZANU PF party during campaigning for last year's presidential
election.

      Of course the South African government will say it is remaining silent
on Zimbabwe so as not to upset the delicate negotiations which are supposed
to be taking place between the Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). Pahad told parliament in the same speech that even
though he was not privy to the state of these talks, he was confident that
they would resolve the Zimbabwean conflict before the end of the year.

      I am not privy to the talks either, but word has it that they are
being held hostage to a power struggle within Zanu-PF about who will succeed
Mugabe. If you want to take the long view, then that in itself is perhaps a
hopeful sign - that at least Zanu-PF believes Mugabe is preparing to depart.
But if he is merely replaced by an anointed successor of the same ilk, it
will hardly solve the country's problem.

      Meanwhile the South African government should be asking whether there
is a price too great to pay for quietly waiting for the Zimbabweans to sort
themselves out.

      Donor governments, otherwise sympathetic to SADC, were horrified at
the SADC summit's applause for Mugabe, sitting or standing. And our
government was tarred with that brush. As it will be by its silence on the
Green Bomber report.

      We need the international credibility that taking a clear, principled
and public stance on Zimbabwe would bring us. It is hard to imagine that it
will make things any worse. And it will help us on other important
diplomatic missions - such as the attempt our trade negotiators are now
making to break the agricultural protectionism of Europe, the US and Japan.

      Even if they do not say it in public, these countries are saying
privately: "Clean out your own backyard before you try to clean out ours."
That's, after all, the essence of the contract implied by the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).

Dear all,

Conservancy buffalo

It has taken many years, and great cost, for dedicated game ranchers to
return some of the great herds of buffalo that were destroyed in the name of
progress during the 70's and early 80's. It has been proved beyond doubt
that the areas that these herds have been reintroduced to are not cropping
or cattle areas, and one has to just see the change that has taken place to
the environment to realize how true this finding was.

As you all probably know by now, our evil illegal ZANU PF government is
looking at culling all the buffalo out of the conservancies because of the
spread of foot and mouth.

It has been an impossible task to stop the spread of foot and mouth during
these times, with the utter lawlessness perpetrated by ZANU PF.   Boundary
fences have been destroyed and tons of poached wildlife meat taken out of
the game ranches and conservancies. It is also a proven fact that buffalo
only pass on the foot and mouth virus when they are stressed, as they most
definitely are now.

This government is 100% guilty of causing the spread of this disease, not
the buffalo.

I don't believe for one minute that this is the true reason, I believe that
this is a combination of sour grapes, " if we cannot have it you cannot have
it," pure greed, and a survival tactic.  ZANU are very aware that the
settlers are running out of wildlife to eat on the farms and cattle ranches,
beef is becoming increasingly scarce and well beyond the means of the
average settler. To add to this, the settlers have now been told that this
year there is no seed or fertilizer for them.

To try and keep the support of the settlers, ZANU have to keep them fed and
busy, already there are many reports of disillusioned settlers leaving the
ranches and farms for their old homes in the communal areas.

We must at all costs prevent this criminal act taking place, and the only
way to do that is to rid ourselves of this government once and for all, do
not despair we are nearly there now.

Our corrupt conniving A2's.

These criminals are at it again, there is nothing they will not stop at,
word has just got to me of the following cases in the lowveld: -

A2 settlers, with the ZANU governments permission have, illegally taken
plots on the cane growers farms and are blatantly cutting and transporting
the cane to the mills. Most of them have no knowledge at all on how to grow
cane, and have put no inputs into the crop and therefore have produced
inferior cane.

When a 6 ton bundle of sugar cane is delivered at a loading zone it has a
tag attached to it, identifying who the owner and the cutter is, it's a
simple task to swap the tag from bad cane with a tag from good cane

Workers at an Mkwasine loading zone have just been caught swapping tags for
some of the A2 settlers.

Workers at Hippo Valley Estates in conjunction with some A2 settlers last
year were caught stealing tons of fertilizer.

Evidence has been uncovered that workers at Hippo Valley Estates may be
altering the weights and the ERC samples of the cane bundles brought in by
some of the A2 settlers. (if stealing the cane in the first place was not
enough!)

The other day I was taken for a drive around a cane farm to see for myself
what was going on. In one field I saw 23 bundles of cane that had been there
for more than a week, of course this cane is US now and would be rejected by
the mills. All the fields had not been fertilized and had not been watered
for many weeks, and the mature cane was dying. It was heart breaking to see
this mess and when I left both the farmer and I were emotionally upset and
angry. Talking to other cane growers, its much the same on all the farms and
this leads me to believe that there will be a sugar shortage soon.

It takes a lot of will power not to go out and beat the living hell out of
these A2's, well done the farmers.

As was predicted, everybody is now affected by what Mugabe and his ZANU PF
party have done, and so we should all join together, put our differences
aside and put every effort into one direction, removing this illegitimate
President.

Regards

Gerry Whitehead

Chairman

Chiredzi Support Group.

September 11, 2003

~~~ Newsletter 038 ~~~
Whatever gets you going

The state of agriculture in Zimbabwe: an unfortunate settler as pictured in Mashonaland North

Inside the Third Chimurenga
This is the title of the training manual being force fed to zanu pf green bomber cadets in militia training camps. It contains many inconsistencies and is propped up by innuendo and propaganda. For example zanu pf was very happy back in time to have the Church be very active in our liberation struggle. But now the manual discusses how the Church is meddling in politics. It discusses the emancipation of peasants when we see in Zimbabwe today thousands of displaced farm workers and thousands of resettled families crying for food while receiving no assistance with inputs. And then there is the use of outrageously outdated statistics and data that zanu pf uses to try to expand upon their very small successes. The militia manual tries to pull wool over the eyes of our young exploited comrades by saying such things like Zimbabwe's health system is very impressive as compared with the rest of Africa.

The Zvakwana web site will be featuring this entire manual soon so you analyse the information for yourself.

National Youth Service - "shaping youth in a truly Zimbabwean manner" - (according to Joseph Msika)

"I had to beat them because they were selling their carvings by the roadside. They were attracting whites by doing this. As a result, they need to be beaten up so that they stop that. It was said that such people that have links with whites are MDC supporters. So they needed a beating so they could be stopped once and for all."
Interview with a member of zanu pf youth militia

In the last two years, Zimbabwe has seen a new national youth service training programme moving rapidly from a supposedly voluntary, small scale training that allegedly aimed at skills enhancement, patriotism and moral education, to what is now intended to be a compulsory, large scale, paramilitary training. The need for national service has to date never been formally debated in Parliament and there is no legislation controlling its implementation. Yet the youth militia training is now referred to by government as compulsory. Furthermore, the government is already implementing a policy that denies school leavers access to tertiary training facilities and civil service posts, including teaching and nursing, without proof of having completed the national service training.

Read the Solidarity Peace Trust Report on the Zvakwana website - www.zvakwana.org/html/prev/2003/030905_yth_mil.shtml. This report has some gruesome photographs as included here. This victim was tortured with burning logs to his feet.

Pamuromo Chete
Yes, it's all just talking about talks. Zvakwana is wondering how many Zimbabweans are seeing that this is all just delaying tactics on the side of zanu pf. While politicians go back and forth pretending to talk about the way forward Zimbabweans are caught up in the harsh realities of everyday life. Talk is cheap in a country where inflation is raging at over 300%. Our expenses are ever increasing while bluster is taken up by full bellied and bellicose politicians. Let us see some evidence of these talks. Some interviews and photographs with all stakeholders in one room together to give us confidence that something is actually happening.

We want something concrete offered to us the people - like removing the offensive POSA and AIPPA. Show us that there are negotiations in good faith. Otherwise it is fiction.

Stand up!
While mugabe jets around the world, musicians like Tuku still like to encourage the people back home. Protest songs may have largely died out in the West after the Vietnam era. But in southern Africa, where music is more than just a soundtrack to people's lives, they still matter. "When I sing, I am raising the Zimbabwean flag," says Mtukudzi. If mugabe, nature and circumstance have brought the nation to its knees, then patriots like these are singing "Stand up!"

We are on a long walk to freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe. Join the Zvakwana crew: get up, stand up.

Are we mastered by apathy?
A recent update of the Zimbabwe Situation published by the Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe makes for interesting reading and is a useful rebuttal of many of zanu pf's assertions about the "acceptable" state of our country.

The statistics of Zimbabwe's economic decline are startling:

• Annualised inflation was officially pegged at 399.5% in August 2003. This, however, is based on officially gazetted prices of many goods, which are not a reflection of reality. Many economists estimate that real inflation is above 500% per year.
• Following an unbudgeted 1000% salary increment for civil servants awarded in July this year, inflation is expected to rise even further.
• Unemployment continues to rise, and it is estimated at over 75%. As businesses close down and owners move away, unable or unwilling to operate in the present climate this rate is expected to rise.
• Over 80% of the population lives under the poverty datum line, and
• 50% of the population lives under the food datum line, unable to secure even the most basic survival without assistance.

Email info@crisis.co.zw to read this very informative report.

Just jump in and help defend: listen to your conscience
We got back from South Africa last night at about 8.30, our twin cab was loaded as I had my folks with me, so we loaded our bags and put Dean and Daniel in the back canopy and locked it. We got to the robots at Coke Corner and 8 or 9 guys smashed the canopy windows, tried to pull Dean and Daniel out the truck but with them kicking and screaming they couldn't get the kids out so the beat them on the legs, not to mention they had cuts all over from the glass. We couldn't get out to help as we were surrounded by the BASTARDS. Eventually with all the screaming they ran away but took all our things. No one helped us and there were many people in front and behind us . . .
A Zvakwana subscriber

** What is the matter with us Zimbabweans? How will we ever combat the evil around us like these youth militia and bad cops when we can't even collectively chase off some thieves. Get active! Get involved and put your courage out there.

Politics without principle
Wealth without work
Commerce without morality
Pleasure without conscience
Education without character
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
~ Gandhi

The continual brain drain is hitting us very hard
A recent survey conducted by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) has this to say:

• 86.5% of the Zimbabweans settled abroad hold a polytechnic qualification or higher.
• Approximately 75% of immigrants are trained professions, including doctors, teachers, nurses, pharmacists, engineers and scientists.

This data indicates that Zimbabwe is losing its most trained citizens to other countries, thus depleting the pool of skilled educated professionals able to provide essential services within the country. A very clear gap is the shortage of doctors in the public health sector.

The situation stinks - just like our cities do.

Enough! Zvakwana! Sokwanele! - They must go!

Harare, the stinking city!

No refuse removal in Harare
It is high time that collective action addresses the fact that there is no longer any refuse collection in Harare. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is currently trying to beckon more tourists to Zimbabwe at regional tourism exhibitions whilst our country succumbs to a pigsty. And then every month we are seeing a charge for non-existant refuse collection in Harare. Is this what they mean by ghost workers? Say No! to this daylight robbery. Join a boycott of this charge until we get some improved service or clarification on the situation. Please email Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) and ask them What's Up! Email chra@ecoweb.co.zw

Report cards for MPs
Your article with the above title really gave me courage to let you know the situation in Chiredzi. Chiredzi is divided into 2 constituencies i.e. Chiredzi south and Chiredzi north. The problem with the two constituencies is that the MDC candidate MPs seem not to know the importance of their public appearance. Please if only the candidate MPs should give themselves time to meet the people who will vote for them, hear their problems and views, that will encourage the electorate. We as party activists try hard to keep party structures intact but people lose heart if their leaders don't show any sign of participation or acknowledging party activities.
Stanley, a Zvakwana subscriber

Woman

Woman,
Where is your voice?
After all these centuries of bearing the burden of the world.
Bearing the male children that would one day turn their backs on you.
You know every scab and cone on your feet, from years of looking down at them to avoid the stare of masculine eyes.
It is taboo you know.

You ask to be corrected with a heavy hand if you displease he who claims you. It is the only way affection is expressed, you tell yourself.
Your back is bent, not with age, but with the constant burdens you carry on it.
Food to feed your children, firewood to warm your home, your husband to please his desires.
Not a word do you speak, not a sound do you utter. It is not your place, you know.

Where is your voice now woman?
When your house is warmed by electricity and your garden tended by hired help.
Your children in school.
Your sons correcting you with their heavy hand.
It is the only way they can show affection, you tell yourself.
The fire is made for you, the food cooked for you.
But your eyes still study your feet when he who claims you walks into the room.
You submit to the hand that shows you affection.
And your back bends again to please his desires.
Not a word did you speak, not a sound did you utter.
It is not your place, you know.

Whisper, woman; no need to shout.
It is enough.
Just whisper.
It is finished.
No more.
Let it be known, it is enough.
The hand may be heavier this time; your back may bend a little more.
But he who claims you will have heard.
Child, raise your beautiful eyes.
Let the other see the strength in your eyes.
It is enough, it is enough.
It is a start.
You have carried the world too long, woman.
It is enough.

~ Muthoni Kiarie

Your Action, Your Country, Your Decision, Things are on the move

Please remember Zvakwana welcomes feedback, ideas and support for actions.

Enough is enough, Zvakwana, Sokwanele.