MASS DEMONSTRATION - Bulawayo - Saturday 9th
September
***NB. PLEASE MEET AT 0900 HRS.***
Please be advised that there will be a Demonstration is planned for Saturday 9th September, 2000, meeting at the City Hall Car Park. This is an MDC demonstration to:
- protest against the appointment of Obert Mpofu (as Governor of Matabeleland) against the will of the People of Matabeleland, and his approach to the land distribution
- petition for his removal from office
- to protest against the current fuel crisis, and the unprecedented increases of the prices of fuel.
Farmers and Employers are encouraged to supply transport wherever possible, to ensure the maximum success of this event.
Regards
Mike Lander
MDC Support (Southern Region)
Zimbabwe's white farmers are set to hold their annual congress Wednesday, as they struggle to decide whether to resume their legal battle against government plans to take their farms, or to pursue dialogue on the controversial land reforms.
The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) last month withdrew its law suits against the government over its handling of land reform, in the hope of resolving their differences through dialogue.
But according to a letter to the government, cited by the state daily The Herald, CFU president Tim Henwood said not much dialogue had taken place in recent weeks.
He complained that despite the suspension of his union's legal battle, the government still had not provided much information as to which farms were to be acquired for the program.
"As a result we are facing considerable pressure to return to the courts, but I remain reluctant to do so," said Henwood in his letter last week addressed to Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, and copied to Vice President Joseph Msika and three other ministers.
The government plans to seize white-owned farms covering five million hectares (12.5 million acres) for resettlement by poor blacks before the rainy season begins in November.
Since July, 1,952 of the 3,041 mostly white-owned farms expected to be seized have been identified.
In an interview with AFP, Henwood said: "One needs to talk, but at the same time we need to stand up for our members, so if there are no more options left, it's (litigation) something we'll have to consider."
Last month white farmers launched a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court, arguing that the government's plans amounted to racial discrimination.
The farmers charged that land reforms were an "unlawfully discriminatory act against the white farming community because they are white."
They had returned to the high court to seek an order for the government to remove war veterans and landless villagers who have invaded their farms since February.
Police have largely ignored the often-violent farm occupations, despite the killings, beating and other intimidation that have come with them.
Later the union dropped both legal cases.
"The union really would like to clear everything up as soon as possible, because the continued publication of numerous farms for acquisition is likely to lead to the collapse of commercial farming in Zimbabwe," Henwood said in the letter.
The CFU's congress comes one month after the originally scheduled date. The meeting was delayed because it coincided with a national strike protesting the lawlessness on the farms.
Guest speaker at the annual congress is a respected Zimbabwean attorney, advocate Erik Morris.
Asked about the agenda of the congress, Henwood said he was "quite certain that much of what will be discussed is the situation in agriculture."
A CFU spokesperson told AFP the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe was expected to give an overview of the financial situation in the country vis-a-vis the agriculture sector.
Bankers have reportedly decided to withold loans from farmers whose properties were earmarked for acquisition.
The CFU director is also expected to give a paper on the future of farming in Zimbabwe.
About 190 delegates from around the country are expected at the 57th congress of the 4,500-strong body.
Zimbabwe Farmers to Fight No-Pay Farm Seizures
Reuters - Sep 6 2000 12:43PM ET
HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union said Wednesday it would file a Supreme Court challenge against President Robert Mugabe's power to seize white-owned farms with no obligation to pay compensation.
``Massive lists have been published of farms to be acquired for resettlement and banks tell us there will be no finance for affected farmers,'' said CFU President Tim Henwood.
``That is why the CFU has to return to the Supreme Court to represent all farmers affected by the government's decision to acquire compulsorily over 3,000 commercial farms (and) specifically challenge the power to take land from an individual without compensation,'' he told an annual congress of the union.
Since June, Mugabe has served notice to acquire 1,952 of 3,041 white-owned farms he has earmarked to resettle landless blacks. The government has also passed legislation absolving it of responsibility to pay compensation for the land if former colonial power Britain does not provide the funds.
The CFU last month dropped a court challenge to the constitutionality of the land acquisition process, saying it wanted to work with the government.
Zimbabwe's Farmers Resume Legal Action Against State, AFP Says
Bloomberg News - Sep 6 2000 12:25PM
Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's main farmers union said it will resume legal action that it dropped earlier, challenging the government's decision to seize white- owned farms for black resettlement without paying for them, said Agence France-Presse, citing the union.
The decision, which comes as the Commercial Farmers Union holds its annual congress, follows government announcements that it will seize over 3,000 farms, or more than half the country's white-owned farmland. The union had dropped an earlier action in the hope the state would intervene to halt squatter invasions of farms, but the invasions have continued.
``This class action will specifically challenge the power to take land from an individual without compensation,'' said Tim Henwood, the president of the Commercial Farmers Union.
Zimbabwe's commercial farms earn 40 percent of the country's export income and account for 18 percent of gross domestic product.
(Agence France-Presse, 9/6/2000)
There is no justification for the latest huge price increases.
| DIESEL |
USc/l |
%Zimb |
Zimb% |
|
above | |||
| Zimbabwe |
72.80 |
100% |
0% |
| South Africa |
33.31 |
46% |
119% |
| Botswana |
35.14 |
48% |
107% |
| Mozambique |
43.47 |
60% |
67% |
| Zambia |
46.53 |
64% |
56% |
| PETROL |
USc/l |
%Zimb |
Zimb% |
|
above | |||
| Zimbabwe |
77.40 |
100% |
0% |
| South Africa |
40.35 |
52% |
92% |
| Botswana |
36.6 |
47% |
111% |
| Mozambique |
57.89 |
75% |
34% |
| Zambia |
50.08 |
65% |
55% |
| IP (domestic) |
USc/l |
%Zimb |
Zimb% |
|
above | |||
| Zimbabwe |
60.40 |
100% |
0% |
| South Africa |
20.33 |
34% |
197% |
| Botswana |
33.01 |
55% |
83% |
| Mozambique |
24.78 |
41% |
144% |
| Zambia |
24.58 |
41% |
146% |
6 September 2000
In this issue :
From Reuters, 6 September
Zimbabwe must settle differences with UK - Annan
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave Zimbabwe conditional support for its controversial land reform program and said Harare must settle differences over the issue with former colonial power Britain. Annan met Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and three other African leaders - Bakili Muluzi of Malawi, Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa - at the U.N. headquarters in New York where a Millennium Summit is underway. African diplomats at the summit said the talks were called at the request of African leaders seeking to end Zimbabwe's international isolation over the violent land reform policy. "It was an African initiative to try to end Harare's isolation. It was also an initiative to try to get international financial help for land reform in Zimbabwe," a diplomat told Reuters.
At the end of the talks, Annan gave guarded support and urged Mugabe to reopen dialogue with London and other lifeblood Western donors over funding for land redistribution. A U.N. statement said Annan and the African leaders "recognised the urgent need for such land reform as well as the sovereign responsibility of Zimbabwe to implement a credible program." The statement said the five men also "recognised the responsibility of the international community to assist the government." It said Annan would await a Zimbabwe government implementation plan which "could also be shared with the donor community," and the secretary-general instructed the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) to assist Harare.
Diplomats said the talks were a partial coup for Mugabe and gave him a decent way out of a crippling economic and political crisis facing his southern African nation. In an effort to keep the momentum going, Mbeki later took both Mugabe and Prime Minister Tony Blair to dinner with a small selected group of nine other Commonwealth heads of state. It was the first time Mugabe and Blair, who have frosty relations, had met since November last year. Leaders of the 14-nation SADC in August asked Mbeki and Muluzi to spearhead an African campaign to obtain international funding for Zimbabwe's land redistribution program. The presidents, meeting in advance of the U.N. Millennium Summit, the largest gathering of world leaders in history, also reviewed the many-sided war in the Congo. Congolese leader Laurent Kabila was absent.
From The Jerusalem Post Newspaper, 6 September
Congo denies Israeli trainers offered in diamond deal
JERUSALEM - The Congolese government has denied reports it has granted a $700 million diamond export monopoly to IDI Diamonds, run by Israeli diamond merchant Dan Gertler, in exchange for Israeli paramilitary training to stem diamond smuggling. Ntanda Nkingi Nkere, an investment adviser to Congo President Laurent Kabila, said in a press release that "at no point was this contract linked to any training of any Congolese by any Israeli security forces, either from the military, the police, or the secret services." He was reacting to reports by the Associated Press that quoted him saying that the Israeli army would train a Congolese police anti-smuggling unit.
The Paris-based newsletter Africa Energy & Mining said IDI is paying the Congolese authorities $20m. a year for the agreement. The Defense Ministry denied any knowledge of the agreement. IDI spokesman, Chaim Even-Zohar said that the company had been pressuring the Congolese government to step up its security and had suggested some names of security experts, but nothing more than that. He said that "the company does not want conflict diamonds involved in its production, but security is the sole responsibility of the Congolese government." The deal, which was signed on July 31, appointed IDI as the sole purchaser of all of the DRC's uncut diamonds. In the press release, Nkere said the contract was signed as "a result of mutual satisfaction of both parties, and mainly because IDI proved to be a serious and capable company committed to the improvement of the diamond market in the DRC."
At the time of signing, Congolese officials explained that the agreement was a means of guaranteeing that exports would be free of illicit conflict diamonds, as well as a means of maximizing government revenue. Congo is the world's fourth largest diamond producer and its diamond revenues have helped fuel a bitter two-year civil war involving numerous rebel groups and armed forces. Rebel movements in Angola, Sierra Leone, and Congo are financing their forces by the sale of diamonds from mines under their control. International diamond bodies, non-government organizations, and the UN have been pushing for stricter restrictions on diamonds originating from conflict areas. At the end of 1999 diamond giant De Beers closed its operations in Congo in response to the way the diamond industry was conducted and the general business atmosphere.
From News24 (SA), 6 September
MDC walks out on hot-air Hitler
Harare - Lawmakers from the opposition MDC walked out of Parliament on Tuesday as the firebrand leader of Zimbabwe's war veterans gave his first speech. MDC officials said the walkout was not planned, but was a sign of their frustration with Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi's role in the often-violent occupations of 1,600 white-owned farms this year. "People just thought the things he was saying in Parliament were absolute rubbish ... given his role in the violence," said MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe. Tendai Biti, the MDC shadow minister for lands, said: "We didn't even know he was going to speak. It got to a point where we just couldn't stand him," he said. Biti said some lawmakers from the ruling ZAN-PF also walked out, but he could not say how many.
During his speech, Hunzvi, the MP for Sadza, blasted the MDC as a party of traitors, and said the opposition lawmakers walked out because they did not want to discuss the land issue, according to the state-run ZIANA news agency. "You MDC people are not even resisting white occupation of farms," he said. "That is a shame, get out of the house. You have left the house because you are sellouts," Hunzvi told the MDC lawmakers as they left, speaking in a mix of English and Shona, according to ZIANA. The walk-out was a sign of Zimbabwe's changing political culture. The upstart MDC became Zimbabwe's first significant opposition party after winning 57 of the 120 contested parliamentary seats in the June elections. Previous parliaments have rubber-stamped government programs with little debate. Hunzvi is also under siege within his own war veterans association, after a group of members tried to oust him as chairman one week ago. Hunzvi has insisted that he remains in control of the group.
From The Star (SA), 5 SeptemberTalk of Mugabe's health gets Zim in a spin
Harare - Zimbabwean government officials dismissed on Tuesday reports that President Robert Mugabe collapsed in Libya while travelling to a UN general assembly in New York. "Contrary to the rumours flying around, the president is in good health," said a senior official. The independent Daily News quoted presidential spokesperson George Charamba as dispelling speculation on Sunday that Mugabe had collapsed and died in Libya. "That is not true at all. Unfortunately, we seem to have a lot of April fools around. He is well enough to attend the funerals of those April fools," Charamba told the newspaper. Charamba was not available for comment on Tuesday.
Foreign exchange traders said talk of Mugabe's alleged ill-health was swirling around the market, but had not affected the Zimbabwe dollar, whose trading rate against the US dollar has been managed since January 1999. "The talk is there, but it has not had an impact on the dollar which is being managed and at any rate traditionally does not react to politics," a dealer said. A stockbroker said the speculation had not affected the equities market because "no one is really taking it seriously". The official Herald newspaper reported that Mugabe arrived in New York on Monday.
Mugabe, 76, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 and denies charges that his Zanu-PF government has brought a once-vibrant economy to its knees through rampant mismanagement. His controversial plans to seize white-owned commercial farms to resettle black peasants are seen as damaging the key agriculture sector which is already threatened by illegal farm occupations by war veterans enjoying Mugabe's support. Some political analysts say he is likely to retire before his six-year presidential term expires in 2002, but Mugabe has always refused to say what his plans are, or to discuss a possible successor.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 6 September
IMF aid a distant dream
Harare - Hopes of an immediate resumption of aid to Zimbabwe by the IMF are far-fetched because the government remained defiant on "non-negotiable" conditions. The nation's leading opposition party, the MDC, said that following their meeting with the visiting IMF team, it appeared unlikely aid would be resumed soon. The IMF withheld aid from Zimbabwe last year over a burgeoning budget deficit, weak monetary policies, and a slow privatisation programme. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said his party's economic experts presented the IMF team with the party's proposals to create an economic turn-around in Zimbabwe. "There three issues to look at -- one is (the return) to the rule of law, permanent resolution of the land question and the fundamentals on the economy," Tsvangirai said in an interview.
For a solution to be found, Tsvangirai said all was dependent on how Mugabe handled the political situation. "It is critical for the government to accept responsibility for lawlessness and start dealing with that issue before we even start talking about anything," he said. "The problem is not economic. While symptoms are economic, the real problem is the political crisis." Although it was assumed the June elections would end the political crisis in the country, the opposition leader said it appeared the problem was still ongoing. On the matter of the resumption of aid, Tsvangirai said: "Those three conditions are almost non-negotiable issues, and the government seems to be defiant on these issues, so how can we even expect assistance from these guys, or even to give a thumb of approval for other donors to respond to our request."
The IMF team led by Paul Neuhaus met white commercial farmers to gather information on the goings-on in the agricultural sector, where production has been disrupted for most of this year. Commercial Farmers Union director, David Hasluck said they could not provide the IMF with crop projections "because of the current uncertainties of the minister (of lands) saying he's going to acquire 3 041 farms before the rains."
From The Daily News, 5 September
Zanu PF security official calls on Mugabe to resign
Bulawayo - The Zanu PF secretary for security for Bulawayo province, James Mademutsa, has said President Mugabe and some of his ministers should accept responsibility for the current economic problems facing Zimbabwe and resign before the people force them out. In an interview, Mademutsa said the general feeling in the province was that Mugabe had "outlived his relevance to Zimbabwe and it was time to pack and go". "Mugabe should not wait for people to chase him away when he has a respectable option of abdicating power," said Mademutsa. His sentiments come in the wake of increased calls from various Zanu PF structures for the President to go.
In Matabeleland, Zanu PF leaders have been on record as saying that the only way the ruling party can resuscitate its popularity is through the retirement of the old guard. Following the heavy loss by the ruling party in the province in June, there was panic among Zanu PF leaders who immediately set up strategies to revamp the party. A document is expected to be completed next week detailing ways of giving the party a facelift. Analysts have predicted that Mugabe might be thrown out at a Zanu PF extraordinary congress which is expected to be held in November. "The fuel crisis being experienced is a result of mismanagement and massive corruption by Mugabe's ministers," he said. On Sunday, a Zanu PF provincial meeting chaired by Edson Ncube is said to have resolved that the only way the party could win back its support was through a change of fortunes on the economic front. Said Mademutsa: "The country is at a crossroads. If you were to visit another country, you better not tell them you are from Zimbabwe because the country has become such a shame."
Mademutsa becomes the second Zanu PF official to call for Mugabe's resignation. The Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairman, Dzikamai Mavhaire, felt the wrath of the ruling party when he called on Mugabe to step down. He was immediately slapped with a two-year suspension which the politburo was forced to lift before its full term in December last year. Mavhaire proceeded to beat the provincial governor for Masvingo, Josaya Hungwe, in the election for the Zanu PF provincial chairman's post in January. Mavhaire polled 54 votes against Hungwe's humiliating single vote.
Description Unit Symbol
Length5 km Doozi sterek DS
10 km Doozi bichana DB
100 km Kachana K
1,000 km Kachana sterek KS
10,000 km Lapa side LS
Volume/Capacity1 tin Bichana sterek BS
2 bichana sterek 1 fosholl full F
2 foshalls full 1 mbucket BS
4 mbuckets 1 wheel barrow WB
3 wheel barrows 1 Drumu D
20 Drumus 1 ngoro NG
Mass10 kg 1 mbucket mpoop BP
10 mbuckets Maningi M
100 mbuckets 1 hobo H
100 hobos Maningi sterek MS
Velocity1 mph Hamba gashie HG
10 hamba gashle 1 tamanga bichana TB
10 tamanga bichana vuke eewe VI
Temperature0oC Makasa sterek mS
10oC Makasa bichana mB
20oC mushe X
40oC Chisa bichana CB
70oC Chisa sterek CS
100oC & above MYWHEY! !!
StressUnheard of
Power1,000 watts Shova sterek SS
100 watts Shova bichana SB
10 watts Shova s
1 watt 1 ini ?
Force1 newton 1 Donsa P
10 Donsas 1 Donsa sterek Ps
10 Donsa stereks Basopa eewe Be