Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By
Batsirayi Muranje
HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Thursday
told African diplomats in Harare that his Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC) party would participate in elections next year
only if sufficient
progress was made to ensure the polls are free and fair,
ZimOnline has
learnt.
Tsvangirai, who heads the larger faction of the
MDC after the party split
two years ago, was addressing the African
diplomats at his Strathaven home
in Harare, 24 hours after a similar
briefing to European diplomats at the
same venue on Wednesday.
An
African diplomat who spoke to ZimOnline on condition of anonymity said
the
opposition leader said the party's endorsement of a controversial
constitutional amendment did not automatically mean it was going to
participate in next year's combined presidential and parliamentary
elections.
"He was very clear that his party had merely supported
Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment Bill Number 18l as a confidence-building
measure to test
ZANU PF's sincerity in negotiations. Otherwise if there was
no sufficient
evidence on the ground that there would be a free and fair
election in 2008,
his party would boycott the elections," the diplomat
said.
The two factions of the MDC last week supported the controversial
constitutional amendment, which will allow President Robert Mugabe to anoint
a successor. The opposition party's endorsement of the amendment has created
new fissures with its civic alliance partners pushing for wholesale
constitutional reforms as opposed to piecemeal amendments favoured by the
government.
The opposition party has defended its decision to back
the government Bill
as a confidence-building measure meant to give more
impetus to the Southern
African Development Community (SADC)-brokered talks
that are being mediated
by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
The
diplomat said Tsvangirai was unequivocal that if repressive media and
security laws that have hampered his party from campaigning were not
repealed and that if the government refused to allow millions of exiled
Zimbabweans to vote, his party would pull out of the SADC-brokered talks and
the elections.
"Tsvangirai said the Diaspora vote was a
talks-breaking issue as the SADC
guidelines on the conduct of free and fair
elections were clear that every
citizen had to vote regardless of where they
lived," the diplomat said.
The opposition leader, whose MDC was shown
tracking Mugabe's ZANU PF in
opinion polls released earlier this week, is
said to have told diplomats
that it was too early to tell whether dialogue
could ensure democratic polls
especially as the opposition's critical
demands such as political freedoms
and the Diaspora vote were yet to be
discussed.
Zimbabwe holds combined presidential and parliamentary
elections next year
after the MDC and ZANU PF agreed to amend the
Constitution to bring forward
by two years parliamentary elections that were
due in 2010. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By
Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - Zimbabwe army and secret police officers
overseeing food aid
distribution are allegedly denying food to hungry
opposition supporters as
punishment for not backing President Robert Mugabe
and his ruling ZANU PF
party, sources told ZimOnline.
Zimbabwe, which
was once a regional breadbasket but has suffered food
shortages since Mugabe
expelled white commercial farmers, is grappling with
hunger with about five
million out of its 12 million people in dire need of
food
aid.
According to some families and officials of the main opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party, state security agents that were
deployed this
week at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)'s depots countrywide
had taken over
the vetting of beneficiaries with known opposition supporters
denied food
aid.
The state-owned GMB is the only company permitted to
buy maize and wheat -
the country's two main staples - from farmers and
distributes government
food aid.
"Members of the army and the CIO
(Central Intelligence Organiation) began
arriving at GMB depots this week.
They ordered GMB staff not to allow
enemies of the government (MDC
supporters) to access food," said an official
with the state grain utility
who spoke on condition he was not named.
Agriculture Minister Rugare
Gumbo, under whose portfolio the GMB falls,
confirmed the deployment of
state security agents at the grain firm's depots
but said they were there to
protect food stocks. Gumbo flatly denied
soldiers and secret police were
preventing MDC supporters from getting food.
"As you know that our food
reserves are depleted, we need some form of
security and this week we have
increased the number of (security) officers
supervising the distribution of
food," said Gumbo, adding that anyone denied
food because of political
affiliation could approach his office for help.
But some residents from
the southern Masvingo city, a stronghold of the MDC,
told ZimOnline that
soldiers turned them away from a GMB depot in the town.
"I was told to go
and get my food from the MDC when I wanted to buy maize at
the GMB," said
Nesbit Mudzinganyama of Mucheke suburb in the city.
Another resident,
Gabriel Nyaku, said he went to the GMB to get maize-meal
to feed mourners at
a funeral but he was told that he did not qualify to
receive food from the
government company.
"I even carried along a burial order to prove that
the food I wanted was for
mourners but they (soldiers) said I should go and
get food from my party
because I am a known MDC supporter," he
said.
Masvingo, located in arid southern Zimbabwe, is one of the cities
worst hit
by hunger. International relief agencies have warned that some
families from
Masvingo city and surrounding rural areas require urgent food
aid or they
could starve.
Masvingo Central constituency legislator
Tongai Matutu from the MDC on
Thursday told ZimOnline that the opposition
party had received numerous
reports from its supporters who say they were
being denied food because of
their political affiliation.
"The
practice is rampant in rural areas where ZANU PF has teamed up with
traditional chiefs to deny our supporters food ahead of the crucial
elections next year," said Matutu.
ZANU PF spokesman Nathan
Shamuyarira could not be reached for comment on the
matter. However, the
ruling party has in the past denied charges of denying
food aid to MDC
supporters to punish them for backing the opposition party.
Zimbabwe
holds presidential and parliamentary elections next year and the
MDC and
ZANU PF are currently locked in negotiations to ensure the polls are
free
and fair.
However, civic society organizations remain pessimistic about
the polls
saying the government first needs to immediately repeal repressive
media and
security laws and to stop using food aid as a political weapon to
give the
polls a chance of being free and fair. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By Thulani
Munda
HARARE - Zimbabwe posted a trade deficit of US$189 million in the
first six
months of 2007 against China, the price of a costly marriage of
convenience
founded on Harare's quest for friendship and Beijing's search
for cheap raw
materials.
Bilateral trade between the two countries
clocked US$205 million between
January and June, almost 80 percent of the
US$270 million registered during
the whole of 2006.
But out of this
amount, Zimbabwe's exports to China in the first half of
2007 were a paltry
eight percent of total bilateral trade, according to
statistics announced
yesterday by Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Yuan
Nansheng.
"In the
first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached US$205
million
while China's imports from Zimbabwe was US$16 million," Yuan told
guests at
a ceremony marking 58 years of the founding of the People's
Republic of
China in Harare.
He said trade volumes had remained bullish so far in the
second half of the
year and could surpass US$400 million by
year-end.
Zimbabwe has since 2000 strengthened its relations with China
as part of a
"Look East" policy premised on the need to find new trading
partners and
markets following the souring of relations with Western
governments that
protested President Robert Mugabe's violent land-grab
programme.
China becomes the investor with the fastest direct foreign
investment growth
in Zimbabwe, replacing the Western countries.
The
two countries have signed a series of agreements in infrastructure,
tourism,
energy and mining but the cooperation has largely not translated
into an
improved standard of living for ordinary Zimbabweans.
Harare has
literally handed over control of most sectors of the economy to
the Chinese
in return for short-term financial assistance to enable Mugabe's
government
to ride one crisis after another.
Figures from the economic and
commercial counselor's office of the Chinese
embassy in Harare show that
Zimbabwe recently bought more than 100 000
tonnes of fertilizer and
pesticides from China using a US$200 million
buyer's credit loan obtained
from Chinese banks.
The southern African country faces a crippling
shortage of fertilizer after
most local producers closed their factories,
citing lack of raw materials.
Analysts have however criticized Harare for
mortgaging the country for the
sake of short-term benefits.
A senior
Chinese diplomat recently revealed that Beijing had slowed
investment in
Zimbabwe in a sign that it may be heeding Western demands that
it quit
backing regimes considered despotic.
The withdrawal of economic support
from Zimbabwe's largest investor and only
major global backer is a serious
blow to Mugabe, an 83-year-old liberation
hero who has clung to power in
Zimbabwe for nearly three decades.
Chinese officials had dismissed a
British news report in late August that
said China had suspended investment
projects in Zimbabwe.
But Liu Guijin, a former ambassador to Zimbabwe and
South Africa who is the
nation's special envoy to Sudan, this month
acknowledged a slowdown in
investment and cast the issue in terms of
economic turmoil gripping
Zimbabwe.
"China's assistance to Zimbabwe
is mainly humanitarian aid, because in terms
of other development assistance
we still have some difficulties," Liu said
at a press briefing.
"In
the past, China has provided substantial development aid. Now, with the
devaluation of the currency and deterioration of the economic situation, the
outlook for this aid is not very good."
Zimbabwe is in the throes of
an eight-year-old economic crisis marked by
world record inflation of nearly
6 600 percent and acute shortages of
foreign currency to import food,
electricity and fuel. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By
Edith Kaseke
HARARE - Zimbabwe's Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has
revealed that
senior government officials were embarrassed and left with egg
on their face
by a shrewd and self styled traditional spirit medium, who
claimed to have
discovered non-existent diesel in Chinhoyi.
In the
middle of this year, President Robert Mugabe appointed a high-powered
taskforce comprising Mutasa, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and Home
Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, amid state media hype, to work with the
spirit medium on the so-called oil find at Chinhoyi caves and surrounding
areas.
In the government's first official public comments on the
issue, Mutasa left
parliamentarians in stitches when he said the senior
government ministers
were forced to walk in caves without shoes as part of
the fuel-discovering
rituals.
"There was diesel, it was coming from a
mountain, but it had been put there
by somebody," Mutasa said to bursts of
laughter from legislators.
"When we made further investigations, we
realised that it was a hoax and
that there was no diesel in the mountains or
other areas where there was
said to be diesel," Mutasa said, suppressing a
smile.
Zimbabwe is experiencing severe fuel shortages, part of a larger
crisis that
has seen the country experience shortages of food and foreign
currency,
rising unemployment and the world's highest inflation rate of
nearly 7 000
percent.
Fuel shortages have continued to worsen with
some public transporters
pulling their vehicles from the road leaving
commuters stranded and walking
to and from work.
But the fruitless
search for fuel took a comic twist this year and had
exposed government's
desperation but left Zimbabweans wondering whether
their rulers were
serious.
The government is now hunting the spirit medium who gave her
name as Rotina
Mavhunga but who reportedly uses different
names.
Mavhunga had said the fuel was a gift from ancestral spirits "who
saw that
their children were suffering because of the fuel shortages" and at
one time
was pictured in the state-run Sunday Mail holding a hosepipe stuck
into a
rock and purportedly oozing the oil.
"We spent a lot of time
going into caves . . . without shoes yes," Mutasa
said, drawing more howls
from Parliament, dominated by Mugabe's ruling ZANU
PF party.
"We did
that to be satisfied that there was no diesel and now the n'anga
(traditional healer) has disappeared. We are looking for the n'anga," he
said.
Police have arrested nearly 50 of Mavhunga's followers but it
was not clear
whether they had been charged or released while Mavhunga is
said to have
skipped the country after being paid money by the government. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By Hendricks
Chizhanje
HARARE - Zimbabwe has again postponed the launch of an
ambitious economic
blueprint seen extricating the comatose southern African
economy out of an
eight-year-old quagmire.
Launch of the Zimbabwe
Economic Development Strategy (ZEDS) was yesterday
postponed indefinitely,
the third time this has happened in the past two
months.
In August
the government twice postponed the launch of the economic plan
without
giving reasons.
Several journalists and business people gathered
yesterday in Harare for the
launch of the new economic plan were
disappointed when they were told the
blueprint would no longer be
presented.
The national coordinator of the economic blueprint, one G
Nyaguse from the
Ministry of Economic Development, said postponement was
meant to enable
further consultations with the "political
leadership".
"We have been told by the minister that we need to meet the
political
leadership first. So we are meeting provincial governors next week
after
which we can launch," Nyaguse said.
Sylvester Nguni heads the
ministry of economic development.
ZEDS is expected to spearhead the
country's economic revival after nearly a
decade of recession triggered by
the violent removal of former white farmers
from their properties which led
to foreign currency shortages and fuel and
power supply
bottlenecks.
The country's Gross Domestic Product is estimated to have
contracted by
between 30 percent and 40 percent since 2000 while inflation
is still the
highest in the world at nearly 6 600 percent.
Over the
past 17 years Zimbabwe has come up with no less than seven economic
blueprints.
These include the International Monetary Fund-sanctioned
Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme in 1990, Vision 2020, Zimbabwe
Programme For Economic
and Social Transformation in 1998, the Millennium
Economic Recovery Plan in
2001, the National Economic Recovery Plan of 2003
and the 10-Point Plan.
Launched with great excitement in April 2006, the
NEDPP was the latest
blueprint touted by government as the panacea to the
country's economic
crisis.
At the time of the NEDPP launch, the
government claimed that there was
strong private sector participation in the
programme, then seen as the
answer to the problems of hyperinflation,
unstable currency and low foreign
currency generation.
It promised to
turn around the economy within six months by increasing
productivity,
removing price distortions and reducing government
expenditure.
The
ZEDS is a medium-term economic blueprint modelled along the defunct
Vision
2020. -ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
Own
Correspondent
JOHANNESBURG - President Robert Mugabe on Thursday told
President Thabo
Mbeki that he was fully behind talks between his ruling ZANU
PF party and
the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party,
South
African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on
Thursday.
The SABC said Mugabe spoke to Mbeki on the sidelines of the
United Nations
General Assembly in New York. "The two leaders met on the
sidelines of the
UN General Assembly debate in New York yesterday," it
said.
The public broadcaster, which interviewed Mbeki, did not disclose
further
details about what the South African leader discussed with Mugabe
but said
Zimbabwe's governing ZANU PF party planned to send a letter to
Pretoria to
reconfirm its commitment to talks with the
opposition.
Mbeki has since last March been leading a regional push to
secure a
political settlement between the two main Zimbabwean political
parties that
have been locked in an eight-year political
stalemate.
In a surprise development last week, the MDC voted to back a
controversial
constitutional amendment Bill that will allow Mugabe to
handpick his
successor in the event that he fails to finish his
term.
The MDC, which was accused of treachery by its allies in the civic
society,
said it backed the new law in the spirit of the ongoing talks with
ZANU PF.
Mugabe on Thursday also met United Nations secretary general Ban
Ki-moon
telling him that the situation in Zimbabwe was not as dire as
portrayed by
Britain and the United States.
In a speech to the UN
General Assembly, Mugabe attacked US President George
Bush saying the US
leader's hands were dripping with blood after his
controversial invasion of
Iraq and Afghanistan about four years ago.
Mugabe said: "He has much to
atone for and very little to lecture us on the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. He kills in Iraq. He kills in
Afghanistan. And this is
supposed to be our master on human rights?"
Mugabe's sharp comments were
in response to a scathing attack by Bush who
accused him of presiding over a
"tyrannical regime" that had "cracked down
on peaceful calls for reform and
forced millions to flee their homeland."
The US, Britain and major
European countries imposed targeted sanctions on
Mugabe and over 100 of his
lieutenants for failing to uphold democracy and
human rights
violations.
Mugabe denies the charge accusing Western governments of
seeking to oust him
from power after he seized white farms for
redistribution to landless
blacks. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Friday 28 September 2007
By
Tanonoka Joseph Whande
GABORONE - Circus maestros, Barnum and Bailey,
couldn't have dished out
better entertainment. The greatest show on earth
runs in Zimbabwe's politics
and parliament.
Go ahead; count the
skeletons. It's all part of the grotesque act because,
you see, Zimbabwe's
parliamentary circus plays with skulls not balloons.
And these our
parliamentarians, supposed custodians of our democracy, are
the authors of
the current tragicomedy. They appease a dictatorship instead
of clipping his
despotic wings.
Parliamentarians from both sides of the political divide
are on the
Zimbabwean stage and are the ones cheering the audience. They are
mistaking
activity for accomplishments.
Our parliamentarians were
elected to represent the people's views yet, as
has become clear, they just
attend parliament to assure their salary.
Morgan Tsvangirai's mission, as
leader of the opposition, was to topple
Robert Mugabe, albeit
constitutionally, to restore democracy. And the people
gave him the
necessary support.
Several times, Tsvangirai was physically battered for
his efforts. The
so-called 'war veterans' were the first to have a go at
him. With the
intensity of swarming bees, they beat him to a pulp, as he sat
helplessly
behind his desk.
But Zimbabweans were soon to discover
that Tsvangirai had more guts than one
can find on an abattoir's floor.
People almost thanked God.
A lot then happened and some of his supporters
and assistants died horrific
deaths, like being burnt alive inside locked
vehicles.
We remember all too well the farmers who were killed for their
farms and for
showing an interest in the possibility of a change of
government.
We remember much too well the hundreds of citizens who were
beaten up,
abused and killed because of supporting Tsvangirai. Thousands,
both black
and white, lost their homes, their property and
lives.
Dogs were set on our children at colleges, with some disappearing
and others
dying mysteriously. Just about everyone wished for a change of
government.
Tsvangirai soldiered on, making some questionable decisions
along the way.
Although it is now obvious that there were some traitors
waiting for a
chance to rock the party, he must take the blame because he
could have
handled the issue better. Earlier this year, Mugabe's people had
another go
at him again.
Tsvangirai's puffed-up face was plastered on
television screens across the
world. The leader of the opposition was
paraded in front of the world in a
torn shirt and with bleeding scars on his
head.
We were shown the blooded face of Nelson Chamisa, one of our
legally elected
Members of Parliament. He could hardly talk and almost
died.
A Mack truck could not have caused such damage; these were Mugabe's
self-confessed 'degrees in violence' on display. Then a veteran cameraman
was abducted and murdered for allegedly filming these victims.
Very
shameful, indeed.
People continue to be abused. Expensive mediation talks
continue to be
hosted outside Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, the country is gearing up
for
parliamentary and presidential elections.
Whichever way one looks
at it, it is all an effort to give people a chance
to change or renew their
government's mandate. Yet people are still being
abused and starved or
killed for supporting not only an opposition party but
a rival faction
within ZANU-PF itself.
The mediation talks are being held ostensibly to
level the political playing
field. But, truly, it is Tsvangirai, who, more
than anyone else, stands to
benefit from all these efforts.
He is
even the peripheral beneficiary of all this mayhem. Last week I
learned that
Tsvangirai had instructed his party's Members of Parliament to
vote for a
constitutional amendment that allows Mugabe to anoint his own
successor.
To me, it was like reading a book with the last chapter
removed. Tsvangirai
now instructs members of parliament, whom people voted
into parliament, to
acquiesce to a bill that denies the people of Zimbabwe
the right to choose
their own candidate.
Many people were beaten up,
starved and killed for supporting the MDC
parliamentarians from both
factions but managed to support them well enough
to get them into
parliament.
Because I have a curious oppression of spirit, I have
questions that arise
from feelings. To me now, the MDC behaves like a dog
chasing a car and, as
soon as it catches it, does not know what to do with
it.
I am honestly burdened with frank curiosity. Given the current
scenario, can
Mr Tsvangirai please tell me what the split within your party
was all about?
May you enlighten me on why you let many Zimbabweans who
supported both
factions get killed?
Survivors bear physical testimony
as to how far people can go to fetch
democracy. Now the MDC tells the people
it is fine to give Mugabe
parliamentary approval to short circuit democracy
and to let him choose his
own successor.
But the circus is not being
staged in only one part of the city. Across
town, Emerson Mnangagwa's
supporters must be wondering what is going on.
Mnangagwa, a seemingly
stronger choice among the drivel on offer, confuses
his own effort and
chances. He clearly has a better inter-provincial network
than Joice Mujuru,
Simba Makoni and all other hopefuls.
Most of Mnangagwa's supporters have
always believed and were geared up to
campaign and win a presidential
election for him. He has strong, passionate
and deceptively quiet
supporters.
But alas, Mnangagwa is, once again, prepared to retreat into
a corner until
Mugabe finishes gnawing at the weather-beaten bone that is
Zimbabwe.
As Mnangagwa was stepping aside to let Mugabe continue with his
murderous
rule, Tsvangirai was telling supporters that he had just given
Mugabe a
parliamentary OK to choose a successor of his own choice, thus
effectively
robbing Zimbabweans of the right to choose.
Take a little
time and think, Mr Tsvangirai; you are about to become
guiltier than sin.
But meanwhile, as these ringmasters monkey around the
circus-ring, the
'owner' of the circus is doing his funny bit too.
Mugabe is reported to
have demanded, from, of all idiotic quarters, SADC,
immunity from
prosecution, should he choose to retire. Not only that, he
wants a guarantee
that the monetary wealth and personal assets that he
accumulated not be
taken away.
ZANU-PF took over and ruined the country by stealing from the
people but now
Mugabe says, in order for him to leave, he wants more perks
from the very
same people he has been stealing from.
From economic
and political survivors, Mugabe wants immunity from
prosecution for crimes
committed but whose responsibility he does not
acknowledge. It is very easy
to give Mugabe what he is asking for.
All we need to do is calculate how
much he earned during his entire term as
head of state. Then we look at how
much cash he has on hand, and how many
farms and houses he
has.
Should the value of the farms, houses and cash-on-hand exceed the
earlier
calculation, of course, we will obviously want to know where the
money came
from. That spells big trouble in any language!
In other
words, no chance of such guarantees. Anyone who says 'yes' they can
guarantee him this, even if it is his own hand-picked successor, will be
lying, unless, of course, Mugabe chooses Mbeki to succeed him!
And
immunity from prosecution is not possible either. Who is in a position
to
offer Mugabe a guarantee of immunity from prosecution? Only the people
who
were wronged. Not Gordon Brown. Not the EU. Not Mbeki. Not even the
MDC.
It is only the Zimbabwean people. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and company.
The future
is in clay since it can be molded to our intentions.
The
past, our history, is cast in iron and that is why Mugabe is having
trouble
with the phony 'history' he has been trying to feed to our school
children.
As for Mr Tsvangirai, misunderstanding breeds distrust; you
owe people an
explanation and pronto.
As a leader, you are
accountable to the people.
*Tanonoka Joseph Whande is a Botswana-based
Zimbabwean writer.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu, Jonga Kandemiiri and Carole
Gombakomba
Washington and New York
27 September
2007
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said
Thursday that he would
consult Southern African regional leaders beginning
with South African
President Thabo Mbeki to see how the U.N. could help
resolve the Zimbabwean
crisis.
Sources said President Robert Mugabe
told President Mbeki Thursday that his
ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front party would soon
write to Pretoria to confirm its
commitment to talks with the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change which
Mr. Mbeki has been mediating since
March at the behest of regional
leaders.
United Nations sources said Mr. Ban had rejected Mr. Mugabe's
contention
that U.N. assistance was not necessary as the matter was in the
hands of the
Southern African Development Community, a 14-member regional
organization.
Mr. Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba confirmed to the
state-controlled
Herald newspaper that Mr. Ban planned to meet regional
leaders.
U.N. spokesman Yves Sokorobi said Mr. Ban also asked Mr. Mugabe
to show
greater leadership in resolving the crisis in his
country.
Feeling the heat in New York, Mr. Mugabe and his Iranian
counterpart,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced the formation of a"coalition for
peace" in
response to critics. Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright
Matonga
said the idea came up when the two leaders held bilateral talks
Monday on
the assembly sidelines.
Research Director Brian
Rapftopolous of the Solidarity Peace Trust in South
Africa told reporter
Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the
U.N. had acknowledged
the key role SADC could play in resolving the crisis.
In his address to
the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Mugabe lashed out at the
U.S. and Britain for
what he charged was a campaign to effect regime change
in Zimbabwe. Mr.
Mugabe denounced Western "bully" tactics towards African
countries, and said
U.S. President George Bush was in no position to lecture
him on human
rights.
Responding to Mr. Mugabe's comments, the opposition faction
headed by Morgan
Tsvangirai said the president had nothing new to say in his
U.N. speech.
Faction officials said that, as in the past, they expected
Mr. Mugabe to
label Western powers as bullies and accuse them of controlling
the resources
of poor nations.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Eliphas
Mukonoweshuro of the Tsvangirai MDC
faction told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri
of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that
Mr. Mugabe's speeches are like an old
currency - overvalued but of little
use.
Correspondent Carole
Gombakomba reported from U.N. headquarters in New York
that despite Mr.
Mugabe's jeremiad against the Western powers, Southern
African leaders on
the whole seemed to avoid addressing the Zimbabwean
crisis.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
27
September 2007
A political poll released this week by the
Mass Public Opinion Institute of
Zimbabwe found that 33% of Zimbabweans
support the ruling ZANU-PF party over
the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, backed by 21% of poll
respondents.
But the poll takers
acknowledged the survey was conducted mainly in the
rural areas where
support for the ruling party is strongest - as is its
local political
muscle.
The Mass Public Opinion Institute said that of 1,202 voters
polled in April,
33% favored ZANU-PF, 21% backed the MDC faction led by
party founder Morgan
Tsvangirai, and a mere 1% expressed support for the MDC
faction of Arthur
Mutambara.
The remaining 45 percent were undecided
or refused to state their
preference. The institute said all those
interviewed in the survey were 18
years of age or older.
Institute
Director Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the
University
of Zimbabwe, said poll takers did not inquire into the reasons
why voters
supported one party or another, in order not to cause
apprehension among
those surveyed.
Masunungure speculated that voter frustration with the
MDC explained the
tilt toward the ruling party, and that most of those
polled live in rural
areas.
Senior Progams Manager Pedzisai Ruhanya
of the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition
took issue with the findings, telling
reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that voters are
equally frustrated with the ruling
party.
VOA
By Thomas Chiripasi
Harare
27 September
2007
Delegates to a meeting of Zimbabwe's Youth Forum in
Masvingo said a session
in the southeastern provincial capital was broken up
on Thursday by about
100 youth of the ruling ZANU-PF party who allegedly
beat participants and
shattered windows.
Sources in Masvingo said the
attackers, who had been brought to Charles
Austin Hall near the Masvingo
civic center aboard a bus, were dispatched by
Deputy Minister of Water
Resources and Infrastructure Development Walter
Mzembi, who is also the
member of parliament for the Masvingo South
constituency.
Mzembi told
VOA that the allegations he organized the attack were
"baseless."
The
Zimbabwe Republic Police in Masvingo arrested not the attackers but two
of
the organizers of the Youth Forum event, Youth Forum Coordinator
Wellington
Zindove and Edson Hlatswayo, a student leader at Great Zimbabwe
University,
Masvingo.
The violence took place ahead of a celebration on Saturday in
Masvingo of
the eighth anniversary of the founding of the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change.
And with presidential and general
elections on the horizon in March 2008,
Zimbabwe is moving into full
political campaign mode - which often means
more
violence.
Correspondent Thomas Chiripasi reported from Harare.
The Zimbabwean
BY TRUST
MATSILELE
PRETORIA - Over 200 Zimbabwean asylum seekers lost their personal
belongings
last week when the Tshwane Municipality took the belongings at
Marabastad
Refugee Reception Office in Pretoria.
According to a
refugee-rights researcher at the Lawyers for Human Rights,
over 50 Metro
police and municipal officials in five vehicles grabbed
anything on the
ground at the offices.
"All the affected individuals are very worried and
depressed as most of them
lost valuable goods such as educational
certificates and cellphones during
the raid," said a researcher.
Many
Zimbabweans who have fled the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe
are
staying at the Marabastad Refugee Reception Centre seeking asylum
documents
that will enable them to study or work in the country.
Government officials
at the refugee reception offices have also been accused
of seeking bribes
from the asylum seekers in order for them to get the
papers.
Efforts to
get a comment on the confiscation from the Municipality of
Tshwane were
unsuccessful.
The Zimbabwean
(27-09-07)
HARARE:
BLACK market fuel prices shot up this
week from Z$450 000 to Z$700 000 per
litre, a development which has led to
commuter bus operators increasing
fares.
Most public transporters in
Harare and other cities have responded to the
increment by revising fares
upwards.
The official pump price of petrol is Z$65 000 while diesel is
sold at Z$60
000. Because of the shortage of the commodity on the official
market most
public transporters have now resorted to the black
market.
By mid-day both local commuter omnibus operators and long
distance bus
operators had effected the new fare increases.
A snap
survey carried by CAJ News revealed that commuters from some western
suburbs
in Harare were already forking out $150 000 up from $70 000 for a
single
trip while long distance buses were charging $1,8 million for a
single trip
from Bulawayo to Harare. Before this latest increment the route
used to cost
$400 000.
Other commuters are charging $100 000 from $50
000.
Economists have attributed the current shortages of fuel in the
country to
the removal of concessionary exchange rate by government from the
Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority (Zimra) which fuel importers used to
enjoy.
Petroleum companies blame the current fuel shortage on foreign
currency
shortages.
Officially opening the National Oil of Zimbabwe
Company (Noczim) service
station in Bulawayo early this month the minister
of energy and power
development-CAJ News.
The Zimbabwean
HARARE-
ZIMBABWE'S Minister of Economic Development Sylvester Nguni, said
foreign
currency generation in the country had declined significantly from a
high of
US$10,8 billion per year in 2000 to a low of US$1,5 billion.
He said the
shortfall had result to all major sector of the economy failing
to perform
since the turn of the century.
"Zimbabwe need US4,5 billion per annum in
foreign currency to operate
efficiently, the generation of only US1,5
billion has resulted in the
economy performaing at below 30% of capacity,"
said Nguni.
The generation of surplus foreign currency obviously
strengthen the
currency.
"Zimbabwe is facing challenges including a
foreign currency shortfall of
around US$3 billion, leading to many sectors
of the economy performing below
par and the country failing to import fuel,
drugs and basic commodities, let
alone plant and equipment for industry and
commerce," he said- CAJ News.
The Zimbabwean
(27-09-07)
MISA-Zimbabwe is greatly concerned with the leaked hit list
allegedly
targeting several Zimbabwean journalists for strict surveillance
and other
unspecified reprisal actions.
While MISA-Zimbabwe cannot
immediately vouch for the authenticity of the
unlettered hit list document
dated 06/07, the very existence of the list is
cause for great concern as it
reflects the hostile and harsh environment
that Zimbabwean journalists
operate under some of whom have been assaulted,
harassed, arrested, tortured
and detained in terms of the country's
repressive media laws.
The
hit list should not therefore be dismissed off-hand as the work of
mischief-
makers but calls for serious investigations to establish its
authenticity
and origination. The author of the hit list obviously harbours
intense
animosity and hatred against the targeted journalists and should be
brought
to book.
MISA-Zimbabwe calls upon the Minister of Information and
Publicity, the
Minister of Home Affairs and other security agents to
investigate the
origins of the leaked document which bears the Zimbabwean
Crest as well as
assure the shaken journalists of their security and safety
as they conduct
their lawful professional duties.
Business Report
September
28, 2007
Harare - An organisation representing South African businesses
expressed
concern yesterday for local investment in Zimbabwe, after that
country's
parliament passed a bill aimed at giving black Zimbabweans a
majority share
in foreign-owned firms.
"We would hope that the
political framework will become a commercial
political framework that will
allow our companies to continue to do
business," said Business Unity SA
chief executive Jerry Vilakazi.
Zimbabwe's parliament passed a bill on
Wednesday ensuring that "indigenous
Zimbabweans", defined as those
disadvantaged under the British rule ending
in 1980, were given a 51 percent
stake in most businesses.
Impala Platinum and Anglo Platinum are among
the South African companies
deemed likely to be most affected by the bill if
passed.
Legislators from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
walked out of
parliament to protest the bill, which the senate has yet to
pass.
Some analysts have questioned how much Zimbabweans stand to
gain from the
measure given the economy's current poor performance.
Inflation is running
at least 6 600 percent and unemployment at about 80
percent.
The implementation of the bill remains shrouded in
uncertainty.
Indigenisation and economic empowerment minister Paul
Mangwana said: "We
will allow them time to indigenise. We have to look at
each business in its
own right."
But some analysts were sceptical,
noting the suddenness with which farms
were seized by members of the ruling
party and their allies when the
controversial land reform bill was passed in
2000.
The passing of the indigenisation bill, which has been in the
offing for
years, comes in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential
elections set
for March 2008, which President Robert Mugabe is expected to
contest