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Zimbabwe sets up courts to deal with economic crimes
Sun Sep 28, 8:51 AM ETHARARE (AFP) - As the Zimbabwe government
battles with critical banknote
shortages, special courts are to be set up to
deal with "economic and
financial crimes", the state-run Sunday Mail
reported.
President Robert Mugabe's government blames the four-month-old
shortage of
banknotes on hoarders and on the thriving black market for
foreign currency,
which sees vast quantities of notes being swallowed
up.
"The courts will deal with economic crimes and this is expected
to ensure
that cases are handled speedily. They are expected to start
operating soon,"
Michael Santu of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe told the
paper.
Santu said the courts would seek cooperation with neighbouring
countries in
a bid to stamp out the externalisation of the Zimbabwe dollar,
illegal under
Zimbabwe's laws.
"There is still a lot of money out
of the country, especially in Mozambique
and Zambia," Santu
said.
He said Zimbabweans were using the notes to buy foreign
currency abroad
which they then resold on the parallel market at
home.
This week the government introduced new 500 dollar banknotes
and a new form
of currency, bearer cheques, which are only valid until
January.
Although bearer cheques appear to have slightly eased bank
queues,
economists say they have a major drawback: they are easily
forged.
"There is a serious danger because they can easily be
manufactured using
modern machinery such as scanners and photocopiers,"
economist John
Robertson was quoted as saying in Sunday's privately-owned
Standard
newspaper.
Government critics blame the banknote
shortages mainly on Zimbabwe's soaring
inflation rate, currently standing at
more than 426 percent.
Channel 4 News
Inside Zimbabwe
World
Published:
28-Sep-2003
By: Farai Sevenzo
Zimbabwe is increasingly closed
to the outside world. For sometime now, it's
been impossible for journalists
to get into the country to report on what's
been happening
there.
But the news that has filtered out paints a grim picture.
The economy is
said to be in a desperate state, there have been continuous
human rights
abuses and a clamp down on the media.
The
Zimbabwean film-maker, Farai Sevenzo, went back home to Harare for a
holiday
last week. He took a video camera for Channel 4 News to record his
journey.
This is his exclusive report.
It is the first time I have been
home in six months... and the illusion of
normality is everywhere. Harare
seems peaceful, the jacaranda trees are in
full bloom, kids are still going
to school, bands are still playing.
But scratch the surface a
little, and a wholly different picture emerges:
Harare is in a more desperate
state than I've ever seen it before. It feels
as though Zimbabwe, the house
of stone, is crumbling.
It's ten past two in the morning, I see
people sleeping in the open,
queuing. What are they doing here? Why are they
putting themselves through
this? And when day breaks, they are still
here.
There is a way to jump queue - This young man offered me a
visa within the
hour if I paid him 15,000 Zimbabwe dollars, or £1.50. Many of
the people
here haven't got that kind of money.
I could afford
to jump the queue. But for most of these people there's no
choice but to
wait.
Queues are the new order of the day. The cash points stand
idle because the
country has run out of bank notes. That is Zimbabwe's cash
crisis. And
should you make it to the end of the queue, you can only take out
five
thousand Zimbabwean dollars - that is fifty pence…for the
day....
Not so long ago, Zimbabwe was proud to be the breadbasket
of the region.
This is Harare, not Lagos - smart streets, brilliant
infrastructure, things
that work when you need them to. No
longer.
So how do ordinary people survive? The black market, of
course.
These backyard deals were the big surprise for me. The
black market has
become Zimbabwe's lifeline, a tacit admission by those in
charge that they
have failed to deliver.
I decided to stop by
at my friend Matthew's house. Matthew and I were at
school together as
Zimbabwe got her independence. He's stayed in Zim and
seems to have no plans
to move.
Matthew makes a living as a freight agent. But he
admitted that the country
is barely surviving - he calls it suicide
economics.
Another friend of mine is a young photographer, who is
also managing, but
with a few more obstacles.
Being a
photographer in Zimbabwe is dangerous work, my friend has lost track
of the
fines he has had to pay. His picture of our leader tells the stress
of a
nation.
For Zimbabweans, the problems are right there in their
faces, everyday, and
there is a resolute need to carry on as normal, to get
drunk, to dance, to
get married. Is it denial or
acceptance?
The week I was in Harare, the only independent
newspaper called a press
conference. It had been ordered by the government to
shut down.
This paper has had its offices bombed, tear-gased,
printing pressed trashed,
and finally it's been just shut
down.
The opposition party is trying to change things, but its
members seem
gripped by fear. I met an MDC activist at night in my hotel
room. He turned
his back on the camera for fear of being
recognised.
Another opposition supporter was beaten for wearing a
red cap and a red
t-shirt.
One of the opposition's slogans is
"Show Mugabe the red card..." This young
man's choice of clothes was
literally a red rag to a bull.
In the last few days of my
holiday, one of Mr Mugabe's closest allies, Simon
Muzenda, a vice president,
died at the age of 80. He received a state
funeral with all the trimmings and
was laid to rest in our Heroes' acre.
But it’s a very different
picture for ordinary Zimbabweans. Most of them end
up in makeshift
coffins.
Many can't even afford to bury their dead, the morgues
are filling up and
the graveyards are packed.
I have seen
Zimbabweans who have been beaten, imprisoned, I have seen them
queue for
hours for petrol, for cash that is worth so little, I have seen
newspapers
closed and am amazed by people's tolerence. But where is
the
revolution?
Why will things not change? People who live
here have told me it will get
bloodier before it gets better, I hope that
will not be the case.
MSNBC
Pakistan, Zimbabwe still out of Commonwealth group
By
Evelyn Leopold
NEW YORK, Sept. 28 — Foreign ministers from
Commonwealth countries saw
little chance for Zimbabwe to rejoin
decision-making bodies of the alliance
soon but left some hope for Pakistan's
re-admission, a statement said on
Sunday.
Both countries have been
suspended from key councils for their record
on democracy and human rights by
the 54-nation Commonwealth, which in the
main includes Britain and its former
colonies.
At a Saturday meeting, eight ministers from the
Commonwealth's action
group noted that the Pakistani parliament remained
deadlocked over a legal
framework, a key obstacle for a full return to
democracy.
But the ministers said that if negotiations between the
government
and political parties, especially on constitutional issues, were
concluded
successfully, ''Pakistan's suspension from the councils of the
Commonwealth
should be lifted.''
The eight foreign ministers were
from Botswana, Malta, India,
Bangladesh, Bahamas, Samoa, Nigeria and
Australia. All had been attending
the U.N. General Assembly
session.
Pakistan was suspended following a 1999 military coup, led by
Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, now the country's president.
Zimbabwe was
suspended for a year in March 2002 following the
re-election of President
Robert Mugabe that critics said was rigged. The
suspension was extended to
December after no progress was reported on
alleged human rights
abuses.
The action group made no recommendations except to say the
Zimbabwe
controversy would be considered by Commonwealth heads of government
at a
December summit in Abuja, Nigeria.
The group's statement also
said any decisions on Zimbabwe would be
made by the Commonwealth's ''Troika''
composed of Australia, South Africa
and Nigeria.
Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer, who has taken a tough
position on Zimbabwe,
prepared a document showing how the government had
abused its power and
stifled reforms.
''Unless the Mugabe Government embraces reform
quickly and
enthusiastically, the people of Zimbabwe will continue to suffer
economic
hardship, political oppression and humanitarian crises,'' Downer
said.
Zimbabwe is struggling with a severe economic crisis, blamed
by
critics on government mismanagement. Mugabe counters that the
southern
African nation is a victim of economic sabotage by Western powers
opposed to
his seizures of white-owned farms for black resettlement.
Khaleej Times
Zimbabwe hospitals refuse non-emergency ops:
report
(AFP)
28 September 2003
HARARE - As drug
shortages hit Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped medical facilities,
patients with
non-emergency conditions are being refused operations in the
second city of
Bulawayo, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Only “life-threatening”
conditions are being operated upon, the
state-controlled Sunday Mail said,
citing shortages of anaesthetics.
A medical official told the paper the
lack of foreign currency currently
crippling the southern African country
meant that drugs could not be
imported.
“Most of the drugs have to be
imported...Even those that can be found
locally are so expensive that we
cannot afford to buy stocks that can fill
up the pharmacies of the major
hospitals,” the official said.
Zimbabwe’s medical sector, already under
pressure from high rates of
HIV/AIDS infection, has been badly hit by the
economic crisis here.
Thousands of nurses and doctors have left to seek
better-paid jobs abroad.
The country has been battling severe shortages
of foreign currency for the
last three years. Meanwhile the private Standard
newspaper reported that
lives of hundreds of cancer patients around Bulawayo
are at risk because the
only radiotherapy machine has broken down and cannot
be repaired. The paper
said there was no foreign currency to purchase spare
parts for the machine.
Tehran Times
$15m Credit to Expansion of Trade Ties with
Zimbabwe
TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- Iran has allocated a $15
million credit line to
boost trade ties with Zimbabwe as well as exporting
technical and
engineering services to other African countries, Iran's
Cooperatives
Minister Ali Soufi declared here Sunday.
In a meeting
with Zimbabwean Minister for Information and Publicity Jonathan
Moyo, Soufi
added that the export of Iran's technical and engineering
services to
Zimbabwe is aiming at partially supplying their demands.
Iranian head of
Iran-Zimbabwe Joint Commission said that the common policy
of both states on
seeking freedom and independence as well as campaign
against suppression have
provided the grounds for mutual cooperation.
For his part, Moyo declared
the upcoming visit of two technical delegations
from the Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) to Zimbabwe as
specified in the agreements signed by
the two states earlier.
He pointed out that part of the allocated $15
million credit will be
invested for buying agricultural equipment such as
tractor, and restore
agricultural sector.
Dear family, friends,
acquaintances and sympathetic readers,
Introduction
- For those of you who don’t
know me, I am Tony Lee and am the warden, or general manager of the Borradaile
trust Home for the aged, situated in Marondera, 70kms. East of Harare in
Zimbabwe. BT is registered with the Ministry of Social Welfare as a Welfare
Organisation Institution – W/O 236/68, and thus attracts a tax deduction for
donations made to it.
It was built by the Reverend
and Mrs. Borradaile Bell some 51 years ago, and is non-sectarian, non-racial and
non-denominational, albeit having been founded upon Anglican
tradition.
Pen-Picture
- The Trust has a Management
Committee of volunteers, whose chairman is Mr. Michael Hammond, a retired rector
of Peterhouse School for Girls in Marondera.
For those of you who are
familiar with “BT” in addition to 73
cottages for couples and singles who as lessees of their cottages (A-Scheme)
fend for themselves, we have some 60 elderly who live in bed-sit apartments, and
dine-in, in our full-catering dining rooms (B-Scheme), and upwards of 33 who
live in our nursing home frail-care centre, which is fully staffed with
professional nursing staff and nurse aides (C-Scheme). In addition, a
separately-managed private cottage hospital, Borradaile Hospital, is situated in
our grounds, and is complementary to our Home’s facilities. We employ a total of
66 persons in administration, nursing, grounds and maintenance, housekeeping and
security.
Our
Immediate Problem
- I believe it is well-known
now, how Zimbabwe’s inflation and the diminishing availability of essential
commodities have affected our people ! In real terms, inflation has reached
500%. Because of the increasing problem of virtual non-availability of necessary
food ingredients, and the hyper-inflation spiral, which in November brought the
food-alone inflation to 560%, we brought in a professional catering company
which has the ability to procure the necessary food items; this has been a most
successful move. Our problem, however, lies in the fact that our
pensioner-residents’ incomes have been eroded to virtually below the cost of
housing and feeding them. Our policy has been to try and keep our tariffs within
the residents’ means, but we have now reached the situation where our
expenditure is more than our income, and to increase our charges would be to put
them beyond the ability of most dining-in residents to pay
!
Exchange
Rate
- We have been blessed these
past few years by well-wishers who’ve supported us so faithfully through our
U.K. bank account, and we’ve been able to import funds from there at favourable
rates. However, we’re now seeing our withdrawals from this account exceeding our
monthly revenue. We urgently need to arrest this trend, and see an injection
into the fund. Hence the appeal.
Cost
of Maintaining a Resident
- It costs us twenty pounds
sterling per month to fully maintain one B/C-scheme resident (68 pence per
day)
- It costs us 45 pence per day
to feed one B/C-scheme resident (15 pence per meal, on
average)
My
Request To You
7. May I ask you to please
consider making a donation to our cause, to help us to look after our elderly,
our senior citizens, who’ve spent the
best part of their lives contributing to the building and developing of this
wonderful land of ours, which in turn is currently not contributing too well to
the looking after of these dear and precious people !. The times of adversity
are not of their making, and many are bewildered by the plight they find
themselves in.
- Our support base in this
former community of commercial farmers has been totally eroded, and many of our
elderly are now on their own, their
families having to seek lives elsewhere.
Our
Bank Details
- Our U.K. bank is Child and
Company, Bankers, incorporated with the
Royal Bank of Scotland.
Our
Bank Account Details Are
Account Name: The Borradaile
Trust
Address: Child and Co,
Bankers
1 Fleet Street, London,
EC4Y 1BD
Account Details: Branch Sort
Code: 15-80-00
Account No:
63901566
Personality Details
a) President: Mrs. Jenny Mitchell jenmitchell@mango.zw
b) Chairman Michael Hammond petrean@mweb.co.zw
c) Treasurer Colin West, CA (Zim) cwest@samara.co.zw
d) Secretary Mrs. Pru Brooker arhb@zol.co.zw
11. Our postal address:
P.Bag 3795, Marondera, Zimbabwe.
Email address : borradailetrust@earth.co.zw
Phones :
00-263-79-23558
Fax :
00-263-79-21405
New webpage, being
developed: http://www.mweb.co.zw/borradailetrust
Conclusion
12. In thanking you in
anticipation, and most sincerely, may I give thanks to those of you who may have
contributed previously, or are still doing so, and may I encourage you by saying
that your giving is very much appreciated, and may God richly bless you for your
kindness and selflessness. Please pass this message on, with the knowledge that
your help, whatever the amount, will greatly and collectively benefit our
“Oldies” in a wonderful way.
Sincerely, and with
gratitude, on behalf of our elderly residents,
Rev.E.A. (Tony)
Lee,
Warden
Zim Standard
Strike rocks AirZim
By Caiphas
Chimhete
AIR Zimbabwe on Friday tried to hire two Zupco buses to
carry its
passengers from Harare to Bulawayo following a crippling strike by
pilots,
who were demanding monthly salaries of between $15 million to $18
million, a
senior official with the national airline said.
The
pilots and management however reached an agreement later and the
planes were
flying by late Friday. Details of the agreement were
not
available.
The pilots are currently earning about $3 million
a month. The strike,
which started on Thursday last week, also led to the
cancellation and
postponement of several local and regional flights on
Friday.
Flights to Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Lilongwe, Nairobi
and
Johannesburg were all cancelled costing the airline millions of
dollars.
National soccer team supporters’ body – The Warriors’
Trust, who had
chartered a plane with Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) for
yesterday’s
Zimbabwe versus Malawi match and were scheduled to leave Harare
for Blantyre
with the national soccer team on Friday evening, only left the
country
yesterday morning.
Due to the postponement, “The
Warriors” played against Malawi’s
“Flames” the same day they arrived in
Blantyre, Malawi.
“There was confusion at the airport with
passengers milling around
with their luggage. The situation was so bad that
they had to hire two
Marcopolo buses from Zupco to take passengers to
Bulawayo, but others
refused,” said the official, adding that the buses were
supposed to leave
Harare on Friday morning when it was clear that the
Bulawayo flight would
not materialise.
The official said the
pilots turned down the 100 percent increment
they were offered by
management.
Fearing that the strike would also affect the
Harare-London flight,
Air Zimbabwe management on Friday quickly sought the
intervention of the
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and
Communication,
Christian Katsande, who spent the whole day locked up in a
meeting with the
pilots.
“Management was warned by the President
(Robert Mugabe) the last time
engineers went on strike not to let things get
out of control, that is why
they quickly called in Katsande,” said the
official.
Katsande could not be reached for comment but sources
said he promised
to award the pilots the salaries they were
demanding.
Air Zimbabwe spokesperson, David Mwenga, referred The
Standard to Air
Zimbabwe managing director, Rambai Chingwena, saying he did
not have details
of the meeting between Katsande and the pilots.
Asked if the national airline had hired Zupco buses, Mwenga said, “We
meant
to but ultimately we didn’t because we later agreed with the
pilots.”
Chingwena also declined to divulge the details of the
meeting: “It is
confidential, we cannot reveal people’s salaries but I can
assure you, we
reached an agreement with the pilots and things are back to
normal.”
Following the cancellations and postponements of flights,
Air Zimbabwe
issued an apology to its customers and passengers.
The airline said in a statement: “We wish to apologise sincerely to
our
esteemed passengers and customers for cancellations of our flights
to
Lilongwe, Nairobi and Bulawayo yesterday as well as those to
Johannesburg
and Vic Falls today.
“We are glad to inform the
travelling public and our valued customers
that the issue has been resolved
amicably and our pilots are back in full
swing commanding our aircraft to all
destinations.”
The Air Zimbabwe official said at least seven pilots
had resigned
since the beginning of this year.
During the past
few months, Air Zimbabwe has been hit by a spate of
strikes with workers
complaining about poor salaries and working conditions.
Three
months ago, engineers with the airline downed tools demanding
better salaries
virtually grinding all operations to a halt. Air Zimbabwe
had to send its
planes to neighbouring South Africa for servicing, draining
the country of
scarce foreign currency.
Presently, Air Zimbabwe has a debt that is
expected to shoot up from
US$10 million to US$21 million before the end of
the year. It is also
forecast to post heavy loses because its salary bill has
shot up by 300
percent.
That apart, it is feared the parastatal
might sink deeper into
financial problems because most of its debtors are
failing to pay in time.
As of May this year, the government owed
the company more than $526,92
million while LAC, a company from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, owed it
US$400 million.
A recent
report of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and
Communications noted that
the government’s failure to pay its debt
threatened the national airline’s
viability.
Zim Standard
Bulawayo cancer patients in danger after machine
failure
By Wilson Dakwa
THE lives of hundreds of cancer
patients in Matabeleland, Midlands and
Masvingo are under threat following
the breakdown of the only cancer
treatment machine at Mpilo Hospital in
Bulawayo.
The hospital has been forced to stop administering
radiotherapy to
patients affected by cancer after the machine used for the
treatment of
internal cancer – the Linear Accelerator – broke down last
March.
Mpilo Hospital medical superintendent, Dr Juliet
Dube-Ndebele told The
Standard that since the machine broke down five months
ago, it had been
difficult to repair it due to lack of foreign currency
needed to purchase
spare parts outside the country.
“The machine
is normally repaired by an expatriate maintenance
engineer from Harare but
right now he needs spare parts. This has proved a
difficult task due to
scarcity of foreign currency to buy the equipment,”
she said.
The hospital caters for cancer patients in Matabeleland’s two
provinces,
Bulawayo, Masvingo and the Midlands. Dube-Ndebele said they were
now being
forced to refer their patients to Harare for treatment.
“Most of
our patients are poor people who cannot afford the high
transport costs to
Harare,” she said.
There are only two major cancer treatment
centres in Zimbabwe, one at
Parirenyatwa and the other at Mpilo.
Dube-Ndebele said even those referred to Harare were not assured of
instant
treatment as only one machine was working at Parirenyatwa, the
largest
referral hospital in Zimbabwe.
“Some of the patients have been
booked for February next year meaning
that they have to endure six months of
pain without receiving any
treatment,” she said.
A senior
medical doctor at the Radio Therapy Centre, Dr Samukeliso
Vuma said the
situation was worsened by the fact that the institution had
run out of
chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of cancer.
“There are only
three types of drugs left whereas the treatment of
cancer involves a
combination of quite a number of drugs,” said Vuma.
When fully
operational, Vuma said the centre administers radiotherapy
to about 60
patients a day and receives two to three thousand new cases a
year. The
shortage of qualified personnel has also plunged the centre into
further
turmoil.
The centre used to be manned by twelve radiographers but
of these,
only two are left after the rest left for “greener pastures”
abroad.
“Even if all the machines were operational, it would be
quite a task
to operate them since we are severely short staffed,” Vuma
said.
She said the simulator, another machine used for the planning
of
treatment, was also not fully operational.
Zim Standard
Wankie Colliery in $5,6bn loss
From Parker
Graham in Johannesburg
ZIMBABWE and Africa’s largest coal
producers, Wankie Colliery, is
sinking into a serious economic crisis after
recording a huge Z$5,58 billion
recorded loss with current costs of $Z$10,65
billion during the last six
months, StandardBusiness has learnt.
According to the company’s half-year results released in Johannesburg
last
week, Wankie Colliery continued to experience a decline in
economic
activity.
Complicating the company’s operations is the
serious shortage of
foreign currency accompanied by high increase in
borrowing costs, price
control, transport constraints and the continuous
devaluation of the
Zimbabwe dollar against major currencies.
However, taking into account inflation – which has now surpassed the
400
percent mark up from 366 % in June when the figures were presented –
Wankie
could, to some extent, boast of realizing a profit of Z$921,26
million in the
period under review, compared to Z$163,12 million in the
previous
year.
The revenue for the period, using current costs, was Z$12,32
billion,
down from Z$20, 67 billion previously while using historical costs
the
company recorded revenue of $8,92 billion from Z$3,86
billion.
The total coal sales during the half-year fell to 131
million tonnes
from 190 million tonnes in the past year.
Wankie,
which supplies the entire Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
countries including Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and
Mozambique with top
quality coal, is facing serious viability problems
following Zimbabwe’s poor
economic performance.
According to the half-year financial results
in possession of
StandardBusiness, Wankie is grappling with borrowing costs,
transport
constraints, price controls and the devaluation of the local
currency.
“Coke sales decreased by 13 percent from 111 441 tonnes
to a
disappointing 96 702 for the comparative six months period ending June
30
2002 and 2003 respectively.
“Exports for the period were 52
040 tonnes and accounted for 54
percent of coke sales,” reads the financial
year results comments signed by
the company’s secretary identified only as T.
Ncube.
The Wankie Colliery audited accounts were prepared in
compliance with
International Accounting Standard (IAS) 29 of the Financial
Reporting in
Hyperinflation Economics,” the statement reads.
Wankie Colliery is now operating at 50 percent capacity owing to a
number of
problems with most of them emanating from inflation, increased
minimum bank
lending rates, taxation and failure by another government
parastatal Zimbabwe
Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO) to pay its debts.
Complicating
Wankie’s operations was the National Railways of Zimbabwe
(NRZ), which is
failing to provide facilities to transport coal to firms and
companies that
need the product.
This negative situation has cost Wankie foreign
currency from Zambia,
South Africa, Botswana and other regional
countries.
However, Ncube pointed out in the financial statement
that Wankie
Colliery would ensure efficiency in running its operations
following a
US$5,3 million loan facility made available in June
2003.
“This is expected to bring relief in terms of equipment
refurbishment
and production capacity is expected to be restored to the
normal minimum of
80 percent from the current 50 percent,”said Ncube.
Zim Standard
Economists warn of forged bearer cheques
By
Caiphas Chimhete
THE bearer cheques, an unprecedented move by the
Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe (RBZ) last week to deal with a crippling cash
crisis, have
reportedly eased the bank notes shortage but economists warn
these have a
greater chance of being forged.
They said bearer
cheques could easily be reproduced using high-powered
scanners and colour
photocopiers.
Some supermarkets and retail shops have already
established “checking
desks” where bearer cheques are physically inspected
for the security
features before they can be used to purchase
goods.
A shop clerk at Denenga mini-supermarket in Harare said they
started
checking after learning that the bearer cheques could easily be
reproduced.
They have, however, not come across any
counterfeits.
“We haven’t discovered any counterfeits. But we have
to do it for our
safety because we hear they can be reproduced easily,” said
the clerk.
Independent economic analyst John Robertson said
although the bearer
cheques have eased the cash shortage they have a high
chance of being
reproduced into counterfeit notes.
“There is a
serious danger because they can easily be manufactured
using modern machinery
such as scanners and photocopiers,” warned Robertson.
Their
advantage however is that people can not hoard them at home
because they have
an expiry date and as a result, they will keep on
circulating, said
Robertson.
The bearer cheques can only be used until the January 31
next year
when they would expire.
African Banking Corporation
(ABC) chief banking officer, Francis
Dzanya, admitted that there was a risk
of counterfeit bearer cheques
flooding the market with crooks taking
advantage of lack of awareness of
security features among
people.
He said that people in remote parts of the country and
those in busy
trading environments were susceptible to accepting the
counterfeit cheques.
“You can never stop crooks from making
counterfeits, even of the
current notes but if people thoroughly check they
will not fall prey to
unscrupulous dealers,” said Dzanya.
He
urged the central bank to continue with the awareness campaign to
ensure that
people do not lose their hard-earner cash to criminals.
Dzanya
encouraged people to accept the bearer cheques because, “they
are just as
good as cash in their pockets. It is also written pay the bearer
on demand
and printed on bank note paper, so there is no difference.”
There
was no comment from Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ)
whose
vice-president, Jerry Tsodzai, was said to be in a meeting last
week.
Police spokesperson Andrew Phiri said they had not received
any
reports of counterfeit notes since their introduction on Tuesday last
week.
The bearer cheques, which are in denominations of $5 000, $10
000 and
$20 000, are part of the on-going efforts by government to ease the
cash
crisis that has dogged Zimbabwe for the past three months.
Long queues that had become a common sight in the country’s urban
centres for
the past three months as people jostled to withdraw cash from
their banks,
with some financial houses limiting withdrawals to $2000 a day,
are slowly
disappearing.
However, the situation had changed last week with
some commercial
banks allowing withdrawals of up to $200 000, the bulk of it
in bearer
cheques.
Early last week, the central bank released
$8,8 billion worth of
bearer cheques, which are part of the $390 billion the
central bank expects
to release into circulation.
In the
meantime, the RBZ says it will introduce a $1 000 note next
month as part of
its strategy to end the cash shortage once and for all.
Zim Standard
Patients die as drug prices hit the roof
By
Lee Berthiaume
HUNDREDS of Zimbabweans can no longer afford to buy
medicine as
inflation and the high price of importing raw materials to
produce drugs
have doubled and tripled prices over the last two
months.
For most, this has meant having to live with illnesses and
health
problems with no hope for respite. In some cases, ill people are dying
at
home because they cannot afford hospital fees or the drugs
themselves.
At The Centre, an organisation for people living with
HIV/AIDS, at
least 70 per cent of the patients can’t even afford vitamin
supplements, let
alone full-blown drug regimens to help them fight off
diseases, said an
official.
“People are dying,” said Lynde
Francis, The Centre’s executive
director, her voice both angry and sad. “I
have just had one of my long-term
counsellors die on me just because we
couldn’t access the treatment in time.
Every week I’m dealing with people who
don’t have to die.”
A month’s worth of anti-retrovirals cost $192
000 last month. Now they
’re up to $265 000 and this price doesn’t include
the cost of treating any
opportunistic illnesses or even the cost of food and
shelter.
“How people are surviving I don’t know. They’re selling
their cars,
they’re selling their homes, their families are going without. I
have people
in my office every day crying because they are going to die,”
said Francis.
Last November, the government implemented price
controls to help
Zimbabweans buy medicine and drugs at prices that were still
within their
reach. However, the government dropped the controls in May as
pharmaceutical
and food companies suffered significantly and were forced to
slow production
and cut personnel.
After the price controls were
dropped, Jealous Nderere decided to
track the price increases to see what
would happen. It wasn’t long before
the chair of the Retail Pharmacists’
Association (RPA) was overwhelmed.
“We lost track of the number of
price increases,” Nderere said.
“Everyday you replace an order and about 80
per cent of the items have a
price increase. We could never imagine it would
be like this.”
A common antibiotic that cost $3 200 just last month
now costs $6 000
while asthma inhalers have gone up from $20 000 to $27 000.
Even the price
of non-prescription drugs has increased
significantly.
Ten paracetamol tablets have gone up from $400 last
month to $1 000
this month while 20 Pynstop (aspirin) cost $7 260, up from $4
160.
Nderere said he has had many customers walk into his Gweru
pharmacy,
learn how much their medication would cost and walk out because
they cannot
afford it.
“That’s the order of the day,” he
said.
As prices skyrocketed, customers have tried to cope in
various ways;
most shop around for the best price, many on multiple drug
programmes cut
one or more drugs from their treatment and some take the drug
less often
than they are supposed to.
Others buy as much as they
can and then have to wait weeks for the
next payday to continue their
treatment. But pharmacists who were
interviewed said there was very little
they could do.
“You can really only sympathise and suggest cheap
alternatives,”
Nderere said. But even those cheap alternatives aren’t cheap
anymore. The
cheap generics have helped a lot but even they are going out of
reach.”
Doctors are also experiencing problems caused by
outrageously
expensive medication.
According to Harare-based Dr.
Ebrahim Ahmed Adam, who dispenses
medicine from his own practice,
pharmaceutical companies don’t change the
prices on their sheets, they just
add a note beside it that reads: “x2” or
“x3” meaning the prices are actually
double or triple what they’re listed.
Adam has had many patients
return to his practice a week or two after
their initial visit complaining of
the same symptoms.
“People are not complying with their treatments.
They come back and sa
y they are still sick. When I ask if they’ve taken
their medication, they
say they haven’t because they can’t afford it,” he
said.
Adam said many patients opt to spend what money they have on
other
more immediate items like transportation and food. The results,
however, are
terrible.
“I think a lot of people are dying. It’s
a hideous situation,” said
Adam.
Even those Zimbabweans with
medical schemes that cover 80 per cent of
the cost of most medication are
being affected.
“Our contribution rates are skyrocketing,” said
Alban Williams, chief
executive of the Medical Aid Society of Central Africa
(MASCA).
Last year, drugs made up 36 per cent of the total amount
MASCA paid
out for its contributors. This year that number has climbed to 44
per cent.
While the society still pays 80 per cent of drug costs,
it has started
covering only 80 per cent for many services that were
originally fully
covered.
“We think the patient has to be aware
of the cost of these services,”
Williams said.
While MASCA’s
membership has been steady over the past few years,
Williams said many
members are starting to move from private to public
schemes to save
money.
Nderere, the RPA’s chairman, said the only thing to do was
continue
and hope things return to normal. “Your heart bleeds, but you just
soldier
on and do whatever you can to help your community,” he said.
Zim Standard
Daily News closure throws thousands out of
work
Newsfocus By Henry Makiwa
SULLEN-FACED, distraught
and deep in thought, Naison Chitore, sits on
a concrete slab at the corner of
Harare’s Kwame Nkurumah Avenue and Park
Lane with his back to the pavement,
which at this hour is bustling with an
early morning work-bound
crowd.
But to his friend, “Cde Never” (named after somebody noticed
his close
resemblance to the cartoon character in The Daily News), it is
business as
usual.
Vainly, Cde Never tries to solicit
indifferent passers-by to buy a
copy of the heaped Herald newspaper, the
government’s controlled daily
newspaper that is now widely despised by Harare
residents. The Herald was
indeed facing a torrid time on the streets until
recently when The Daily
News was banned.
“By the way, have you
made up your mind about my offer that I hire you
as my house girl now that
you are out of work,” Cde Never chides Chitore,
who has been redundant since
the closure of the independent daily.
The closure of the newspaper,
which was immediately and violently
effected by the police, came after the
Supreme Court had ruled that by not
registering with the State’s Media and
Information Commission (MIC), the
paper was operating illegally.
To Chitore and hundreds of other newspaper vendors employed to sell
The Daily
News and its sister, The Daily News on Sunday, these are difficult
times. The
closure of the two papers has meant the loss of their only source
of
income.
“We were always paid commission on the sales we made each
week. Now
that the paper has been closed, we basically have to live off
other
unconventional means ... and pray that authorities will see sense and
allow
the paper back on the streets,” Chitore said.
About 1 000
other vendors working for Associated Newspapers Zimbabwe
(ANZ), the
publishers of The Daily News and The Daily News On Sunday, are
facing the
same fate.
There are also 300 other employees, and of these are 60
journalists
now wanted by the police for operating without licences, whose
fate also
hangs in the balance because the government has already turned down
ANZ’s
application.
The Daily News, which began publishing in
1999, refused to register
its operations as required by the Access to
Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIIPA), to protest against the
draconian legislation.
Though there have been mixed feelings among
members of the public and
media experts alike over the wisdom of The Daily
News’ refusal to register
with the government-appointed MIC, its clampdown
was predictable, say local
analysts.
The newspaper group is
paying the price for its confrontation with the
ruling Zanu PF party and
senior members of the government since its
inception in 1999.
On
the night of April 22 2000, the paper’s offices were bombed and
the
perpetrators have never been arrested. The bomb exploded directly below
the
office the then Editor-in-Chief of The Daily News’, Geoff
Nyarota.
Barely nine months later, the paper’s printing press in
Harare’s
Lochnivar industrial area was blown to smithereens in a
military-style
operation. Three years on, police investigations have yet to
point at any
suspects in the matter.
In addition, youths loyal
to Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party have placed
informal bans on The Daily News
in many rural areas. They have frequently
beaten up journalists and vendors
working for the newspaper; and destroyed
copies of the paper without the
police taking any action.
The Daily News had, however, overtaken
the century-old Herald in sales
until two weeks ago when, for the first time
since 1999, The Herald once
again regained its dominance as a result of the
September 11 forced closure
of The Daily News.
The Herald
gleefully celebrated the suppression of its privately owned
rival and
increased its cover price from $300 to $500. However, from a
circulation that
once topped 130 000 a day in the 1980s, The Herald is now
down to a mere 40
000 copies.
Analysts have said the closure of the two papers is a
deliberate and
politically motivated move by the government.
Said media analyst Ernest Mudzengi: “Unfortunate as it may be, we may
never
see The Daily News on the face of our streets again because the Zanu
PF
regime will employ all the energy of its pathological fear of criticism
to
ensure that the paper remains shut.
“The battle is however for the
ordinary Zimbabweans to engage in a
sustained fight for public space. Freedom
of expression that is being denied
Zimbabweans by the closure of The Daily
News has far reaching effects
because we have now been robbed of an
alternative daily voice”
Brian Raftopoulos of the Crisis Coalition,
a group of church and civic
organisations, said: “Zanu PF is shutting down
all the democratic space left
within Zimbabwe. The ruling party is doing this
from a political and
financial rationale – they want more money for their
State Press and to shut
all despondent voices.”
The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) has urged advertisers and
readers to boycott the
State media until The Daily News is allowed to
resume
publication.
“The move reaffirms the anti-democratic and
dictatorial inclinations
of the Mugabe regime and provides further evidence
of the regime’s disregard
for human rights and the rule of law,” said party
spokesman Paul Themba
Nyathi.
“Over the last few years, The
Daily News and the other independent
weeklies have played a crucial role in
keeping the flickering flame of
democracy alive in Zimbabwe. The private
newspapers’ honest and courageous
news reports in the face of state
persecution, the incessant arrest of
independent journalists and the banning
of the papers in many parts of
Zimbabwe by militias and rogue war veterans
have endeared them to the long
suffering people of Zimbabwe.
“We
will do everything in our power to ensure that The Daily News is
allowed to
operate again. In the meantime, we call upon all Zimbabweans to
defend their
freedoms of expression and information by starting a consumer
boycott of all
State newspapers such as The Herald, The Sunday Mail, The
Chronicle, and The
Sunday News,” said Nyathi.
Zim Standard
Gold panners threaten major highway
By our
own Staff
BULAWAYO - GOLD panners are now within one metre of
digging out a
100-metre long stretch of the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway, that
runs
opposite Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage, about 25 km south-east out
of
Zimbabwe’s second largest city, threatening a major international
trade
route.
Long-distance haulage trucks heading from South
Africa into Zimbabwe,
Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, make up
more than half of the
daily international traffic that uses the road
link.
The panners, who raid the site from the nearby communal
areas, are
working on the edge of the highway opposite Chipangali Wildlife
Orphanage
about 25-km southeast of Bulawayo. The site is characterised by
serious
environmental destruction, with trees being uprooted while deep,
crater-like
excavations have been dug closer to the highway.
The
panners are reported to be making dusk-to-dawn raids on the site,
digging up
the ore and loading it into bags and carting it for processing in
the safety
of their homes.
A large pit measuring at least 100-metres long and
60-metres wide has
now expanded to the highway, a major trade lifeline for
the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC).
Villagers said
the gold panners started working on the area in April
this year, and have
followed the alluvial seam to the edge of the road. They
also accused the
police of turning a blind eye to the threat posed by
illegal panners to the
international highway.
A police source who refused to be named said
Matabeleland South police
were aware of the gold panning activities
threatening the highway but had no
manpower to put a stop to the
practice.
“I am aware of gold panning activities on the site in
question, but I
do not know of any police activity on the scene,” said the
spokesman. Last
year, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was forced to
suspend both
passenger and goods’ train services between Harare and Bulawayo
after gold
panners dug out a stretch of the railway line in search of
gold.
Efforts to get a comment from the ministry of mines,
environment and
tourism were unsuccessful.
Zim Standard
MISA launches media crusade
By our own
Staff
THE Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is launching an
outreach
campaign on the crisis situation which is facing the media in
Zimbabwe, a
few weeks after the closure of The Daily News and The Daily News
on Sunday.
The campaign will target South Africa, Namibia,
Botswana, Tanzania,
Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique and is aimed at raising
awareness on what is
happening in Zimbabwe and to lobby regional governments
and civil society to
put pressure on the Zimbabwean government to allow the
media to operate
freely.
A number of notable Zimbabwean
journalists are lined to speak to the
media, civil society organisations and
government representatives over the
deteriorating media situation in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, some British citizens and Zimbabweans living
in the UK on
Thursday formed a lobby group, The Friends of The Daily News, to
fight for
the re-opening of The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday,
closed down
by the government early this month.
The executive
director of the Commonwealth Press Union, Lindsay Ross
who is the
spokesperson of the group, told The Standard in a telephone
interview that
they would do everything to lobby for the re-opening of the
two Associated
Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) titles.
l Sam Sipepa Nkomo, the ANZ
chief executive, has refuted reports that
there is a consortium of indigenous
businessmen that has approached him with
the intention of buying the
group.
Zim Standard
Mbare residents forced to attend Muzenda
funeral
By Our Own Staff
MARAUDING gangs of the Zanu PF
vigilante unit, Chipangano, on
Wednesday morning ran amok in Mbare closing
down the Mupedzanhamo flea
market and force-marching residents in the
high-density suburb to attend the
late Vice President Simon Muzenda’s body
viewing at the Stoddart Hall.
Members of the infamous terror group
went on rampage as early as 7 am
assaulting innocent residents, some of them
on their way to work, and
commandeering them to go to Stoddart Hall where
Muzenda’s body was to be
viewed by members of the public.
The
youths halted all operations at Mbare Musika bus terminus and the
nearby
vegetable markets ordering everyone to abandon their business “in
respect of
Muzenda”, even though the State had not declared the day a
public
holiday.
Said a Mbare resident who refused to be named:
“Elderly women were
made to stand by the roadside ululating as the coffin
passed along Ardbernie
Road. It was clear that the women did not belong to
Zanu PF, as they were
not wearing Zanu PF dresses as they normally do at
State functions.”
Chipangano members, clad in their familiar white
T-shirts with
pro-Zanu PF inscriptions emblazoned on their chests, covered
all strategic
entry points into Mbare and barred commuter omnibuses from
ferrying
passengers to work in city centre.
At Mbare Market
vendors were being threatened with permanent closure
of their stalls if they
did not attend the funeral. Most of them complied in
fear.
Elsewhere,war veterans from the Tongogara settlement, some 15 kms out
of the
capital, closed down schools around Norton when they descended on
them and
ordered teachers to board a Heroes’ Acre-bound Zupco bus.
A teacher
at Kumboedza Primary School said: “We were forced to shut
down classes in the
morning and coerced into a bus where the war veterans
forced us to sing
Rambai Makashinga (the commercial by Last Tawengwa, also
known as Tambaoga)
all the way to Harare.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of Zanu PF supporters
travelling from Bulawayo and
Victoria Falls for Muzenda’s funeral, failed to
make it in time to witness
the burial as their train arrived at least four
hours behind schedule.
The train, which was supposed to arrive at 7
am in Harare, only
pitched up at 11 AM, about the same time Muzenda’s casket
was being lowered
into the grave.
Zim Standard
| No apologies
for being white |
|
|
I
AM sick to death of people from certain quarters vilifying white colonialists. I
am sick of hearing how bad my forefathers were and of people trying to make me
feel guilty for being white. |
I am
proud of what those early settlers did, proud of their hard work, proud of the
schools and hospitals they built. Proud of the railways and roads they laid
through harsh, savage and fever-ridden terrain. Proud of the cities and towns
they erected and the highly productive farms they hacked from the virgin bush.
I am proud of the industries and technologies they brought to Africa, of
the cars, telephones, computers, TVs and radios that the indigenous people love
so much. I am proud of the fact that through my forefather’s efforts to stop
infant mortality the Black population in Zimbabwe has grown from less than half
a million in the 1890s to 13 million today.
The likes of Mugabe and Mbeki should be eternally grateful to the Whites
because they may never have been in power today if it were not for the rule of
law and order and equal opportunity never experienced under the old tribal
system. They would have been swiftly despatched with a knobkerrie to the skull
for trying to usurp power from their chiefs. Lets face facts – no country can
say it has never had outside influences to help it develop. Even Britain was
colonised by Rome and benefitted immensely in every department from law to
plumbing. Their Dark Age began when they rejected the Romans and slid back into
primitive life for awhile.
Africa owes an enormous debt of gratitude to the Christian missionaries
who faced almost insurmountable odds to take the Word of God to all His
creation. So – please, let us all live in harmony without criticism and sniping.
Our forefathers did a fantastic job – let’s live up to their standards when
crime was properly punished and integrity was applauded not debased.
“Proud White”
Banket |
|
Zim Standard
Killing The
Daily News won’t stop news flow |
|
|
I
live in a place where The Daily News was not allowed to be sold. A bunch of
semi-literate thugs, the so-called war vets and notorious Green Bombers decided
over two years ago that the people here were not permitted to read ‘that’ paper.
|
This
was a no-go area for the DN we were told; even though the ‘gentlemen in dark
glasses’ were openly reading it as we came through the road blocks to get into
our ghetto. Passengers were pulled off buses and beaten if they were seen
reading it and the offending newspaper was torn to shreds in front of their
eyes.
But we, the people who live in this news ‘desert’ had found ways and
means of getting round the embargo. Anyone going into Harare would bring the DN
back with them (generally stuffed down a trouser leg ... so I christened it the
Trouser Press!) and it would circulate privately. It got pretty tatty after it
had passed through so many hands but when it came it was like manna in the
desert.
Now without even that occasional glimpse of the DN we are suffering acute
withdrawal symptoms ... but this illegitimate and stupid government should
understand something about the people of Zimbabwe, their own people as they
constantly remind us. They can close every independent newspaper in the country
but they will never stop the stories going round.
We all knew the VP had passed away over long before we were officially
told. How did we know ... because someone had a cousin-brother who had a
girl-friend who was a nurse … and you can guess the rest. The fact is that not
even the obnoxious Green Bombers or the CIO will ever stop Zimbabweans from
talking.
Gossip and ‘stories’ are the lifeblood of Shona society – and the same
applies for Ndebele people I would guess. The more important the chef, then the
more interesting the gossip about him will be. And one thing you can be sure of
– there is always a large grain of truth in the story. That’s just the way it is
in Zimbabwe so keep your ear to the ground and you will hear the true voice of
the people. When it happens we will be there!
So while we mourn the death of our beloved Daily News and long for its
speedy resurrection, in the interim we will fill the vacuum with our own
‘stories: the wilder the better! The news may not be well researched but,
believe me, it will spread like wild fire and in the end the flames will consume
the ignoramuses who are so terrified of the truth.
And the ruling party will end up believing what we all know; that they
have made yet another very stupid mistake silencing the true voice of the
people, for that they can never do.
Pauline Henson
“No–go area” |
Zim Standard
Big brother is watching — and spoiling for a
fight
overthetop By Brian Latham
The leader of a troubled
central African country has admitted he is
like Big Brother. The startling
revelation came while he was castigating the
More Drink Coming party for
daring to argue with him.
Instead the More Drink Coming party was
told to argue behind closed
doors.
In a speech that left
thousands of troubled central Africans even more
troubled, the most equal of
all comrades said he wanted unity with the More
Drink Coming party, but unity
that saw him being treated like Big Brother.
The More Drink Coming
party said they did not understand the concept,
but gathered the most equal
of all comrades was offering them some sort of
junior
partnership.
They said this was unacceptable. A More Drink Coming
party spokesman
said there was more than enough Big Brother syndrome in the
troubled central
African Banana republic and they wanted nothing to do with
it.
In fact it was just the sort of thing they wanted to see
abolished in
the troubled central African police state.
As for
uniting with the most equal of all’s Zany Party, they said they
’d seen what
had happened to other political parties that had gone down that
rocky path
and promptly written themselves into the history books.
While they
appreciated the offer, the More Drink Coming party said it
thought it best to
decline.
Besides, they said, it seemed unfortunate that the most
equal of all
comrades had offered to sit down and eat goat offal with them,
rather than
suggesting something nice at a five star restaurant.
And they said his offer to eat sadza with the goat offal was nothing
short of
insensitive. It proved that the most equal of all comrades had
access to
sadza, which was both boastful and unkind because no one in the
More Drink
Coming party has so much as had a whiff of the stuff in months.
Still, they said there were other reasons for not arguing with the
most equal
of all comrades in private. Most importantly, said an anonymous
spokesman,
was the simple fact that arguing in public was so more much fun.
He said the
most equal of all comrades was guaranteed to provide a
stimulating and
amusing over-reaction to any criticism.
But it wasn’t only the More
Drink Coming party that was left stunned
by the speech. Farmers, too, were
interested to learn the astonishing piece
of misinformation accusing them of
urging a boycott of beef.
In his wide-ranging and rambling talk,
the most equal of all comrades
accused farmers of urging the European Union
to stop imports of beef from
the troubled central African basket
case.
The farmers, most of whom are ex-farmers, pointed out that
beef
exports to Europe had been stopped years ago over fears about foot and
mouth
disease. The EU had sensibly pointed out that Zany Party supporters had
long
ago cut fences, causing the deadly illness to spread across
the
disease-ridden central African nation.
Still, not letting
the truth get in the way of good propaganda, the
most equal of all comrades
suggested that these farmers were no longer
welcome and should be shown the
gate. The farmers responded by saying that
they’d already worked out that
they’re not welcome, but said showing them
the gate would be easier said than
done because all the gates have been
stolen – along with the fences, which is
why those terrible Europeans won’t
buy the beef.
Sunday Times (SA)
'MDC is not talking to Zanu (PF)'
Monday September 29, 2003 07:10 - (SA)
The main opposition party in Zimbabwe, the Movement for
Democratic Change, insisted yesterday that no agreement had been reached with
the ruling Zanu (PF).
However, while it has been officially denied by
the MDC there has been secret talks between MDC and Zanu (PF) on a new
constitution aimed at creating a formula for a transitional government and
moving towards fresh presidential elections.
Zanu (PF) has argued that
the Zimbabwean constitution does not permit fresh presidential elections. It has
argued that if the president resigned the vice-president would take over. The
talks between the MDC and Zanu (PF) are understood to have broken off at the end
of July.
Under the church-brokered talks both parties are supposed to
have come up with proposals for constitutional reform, but only the MDC has done
so.
Factions within Zanu (PF) are concerned that should President Robert
Mugabe step down without an annointed successor there could be prolonged faction
fighting in the party.
In addition, those in the party, such as
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who
have been appointed to parliament by Mugabe rather than being elected, are
worried that they could lose out in any succession.
Mugabe's delay over
the appointment of a successor to the late vice-president Simon Muzenda, who
died last week after a long illness, points to the difficult balancing act that
Mugabe is attempting to achieve in paving the way for his own possible stepping
down.
Should Zanu (PF) be able to resume secret talks with the MDC and
should Mugabe make further efforts to demonstrate that he is attempting to
normalise the political situation in Zimbabwe, other African states would be in
a position to argue that Mugabe should be invited to the Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting in Nigerian capital of Abuja in December.
But with
the closure of the independent and outspoken newspaper, the Daily News, earlier
this month, it is unlikely that this argument would carry much weight at the
moment.
There are no imminent signs that interparty talks will be
resumed and the resumption of the treason trial of the MDC leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai late next month could heighten tension.
And in early November
the Zimabwean high court is due to hear the MDC's petition requesting that the
disputed presidential election of last year be declared invalid.
Business Day