Zanu PF ecstatic over
Makoni exit By Farai
Mutsaka
THE removal from cabinet of former
finance and economic development minister, Simba Makoni, has sparked joy and
celebration within Zanu PF circles, especially among those who had vigorously
campaigned for Makoni's dismissal.
According to information reaching The Standard, Makoni's departure from
cabinet marks the success of a bitter smear campaign against the
former finance minister by an influential section within the ruling party.
The campaign had seen Makoni being maligned even by the state-owned media-a
rare thing indeed for the pro-Zanu PF
media.
Sources said two camps had emerged
within the party, both determined to have Makoni out and that last week, they
had both been "celebrating" the success of their
mission.
Although united in their
anti-Makoni crusade, the two camps had different reasons for wanting Makoni
out. One of the camps, made up mainly of the old guard, had become insecure
over suggestions that Makoni was the only person fit to succeed Mugabe, while
the other camp, led by Chinhoyi MP Philip Chiyangwa, was dissatisfied with
Makoni's approach to economic matters.
Some members of the anti-Makoni crusade who talked to The Standard, described
his exit as one of 'good riddance to bad
rubbish'.
They dismissed a public outcry
over his departure from cabinet, saying Makoni was a failed presidential
appointee. In explaining Makoni's departure from cabinet, President Mugabe
himself had admitted that there had been differences between Makoni and the
rest of the cabinet over his
economic policies.
Makoni's detractors
within the party said the former finance minister' s track record, both as a
politician and a businessman, had been one
of failure.
Chiyangwa said Makoni's
exit had been long overdue and signified a vote of no confidence from the
ruling party because of his deviation from party
policies.
"This man was appointed by the
president. Although he has been in Zanu PF for a long time he has failed to
command respect, even in village politics. He has been an appointee through
and through-in parliament, in government and in the politburo. His history is
littered with failure since the days of independence when he was the youngest
minister-he was booted out of Sadc and later Zimpapers. His is a history of
demise.
"His actions were tantamount to a
departure from the promises Zanu PF made during the campaign and that is why
he received a vote of no confidence from the party. Immediately after the
elections, the man went for the devaluation of our currency and from then, it
became a priority for him, yet it was not on the Zanu PF agenda. The new
thinking in Zanu PF cannot allow for someone who is so detached from the
people," said Chiyangwa.
A central
committee member who refused to be named echoed Chiyangwa's sentiments: "He
is just one of those people who are protected by his doctor qualifications.
Ndiudzewo paakamborova ndima kuti ndepapi (Tell me one success story he has).
To be a doctor doesn't necessarily mean you are good. When he came in, he was
a presidential appointee and we could not challenge the presidency, but we
knew it was a mistake to appoint such a guy. Now that he is out we can expose
him for what he is. Even if he joins the opposition he will not work
wonders."
Contacted for comment, Makoni
said he was not yet prepared to talk to the
media.
"Call me next week. I will have
made up my mind then on what to say," he
said.
Makoni fell out of favour with the
ruling party after consistently calling for the devaluation of the Zimbabwe
dollar. This led him to being branded a saboteur by
Mugabe.
However, despite his fall out with
Mugabe, Makoni managed to retain public sympathy as most people saw him as
the only level headed cabinet minister, who could help pull Zimbabwe out of
its economic quagmire.
Donors' withdrawal threatens research
stations By Debra
Mazango
MOST research stations dotted
around Zimbabwe are set to close as donors have withdrawn their sponsorship
citing failure by the Mugabe regime to end the unlawful land seizures and
violence rocking the nation.
Investigations by The Standard last week revealed that all was not well at
the once thriving research stations which used to provide many solutions to
agriculture related problems facing the
country.
Work at the stations, where
experiments aimed at improving seed, soil and livestock productivity used to
take place, has almost ground to a halt due to lack of
funding.
Donors, mainly EU countries
alarmed by the chaotic land reform exercise that has disrupted prime
agricultural activities, stopped funding agricultural research stations in
the country some months ago, threatening their
viability.
These countries have also
slapped sanctions on Mugabe and his proteges in a bid to dissuade them from a
dangerous political and economic path that has ruined the once bread basket
of southern Africa.
Said a senior research
officer based at Makoholi Research Station
in Masvingo:
"All was well until farm
invasions started in 1999. We started seeing red as the centre, hard hit by
reduced funding, started to operate below capacity. Things have gone worse
and at the moment we are surviving on residual funds which will take us
nowhere since we need to do more experiments in light of the land reform
programme."
The officer bemoaned the fact
that this was occurring at a time when the centre had to gear up to
challenges presented by the resettlement exercise which saw some with no
agricultural experience taking up pieces of land left by white commercial
farmers.
"We may be forced to close down
unless the government comes to our rescue,'' said the
officer.
The Standard is informed that as
funding has dried up, government has been forced to recruit agricultural
research extension (Arex) officers who do not have the scientific knowledge
that is required to improve productivity on the
lands.
"The commercial farmers had always
come to our rescue as they sourced donations from western countries but since
they were chased away, we do not know how our stations will survive," said a
research officer based in Mutare.
Grasslands Research Station in Marondera which used to be a hive of activity
is now a pale shadow of itself. Without the financial support of the EU
countries and Australia, work has been been badly affected, leaving research
specialists frustrated and with virtually nothing to
do.
A senior research officer for
livestock at the station said: "Australia had offered financial assistance
for crucial experiments as from November, but all this has been shattered
because of Zimbabwe's wayward policies which have reduced this nation to a
pariah state."
The director of Research
snd Specialist Services Mrs Gata, was not available for comment at the time
of going to press.
Agriculture Show: A big
flop By Itai Dzamara and Debra
Mazango
WITH a suppressed grin depicting
shame, veteran journalist WiIf Mbanga described this year's Harare
Agriculture Show in these words:
"There is
no show. If you go around the stands, you will notice that at most stands,
people are displaying goods smuggled from South Africa and Botswana. We are
witnessing a show of little things. We would have expected Zimbabwean
products to be on display. But most sectors are collapsing, hence the absence
of their products."
Mbanga's words
correctly described the show, which was dominated by small scale
entrepreneurs, especially those in the business of selling imported clothing.
Most big companies, which have regularly exhibited at the annual event stayed
away this year as they were still reeling from an acrimonious business
environment created by President Mugabe's warped economic
policies.
Top of the list of the
counter-productive economic policies are meaningless price controls, daily
price rises of basic commodities and the chaotic land reform
programme.
Lever Brothers, the major
manufacturer of cooking oil and detergent did not exhibit at the
show.
"We didn't participate because we
could not afford the costs needed to book a stand as well as meet the other
expenses. The economic environment is very difficult so exhibiting would not
have benefited us in any way," said Noah Matibiri the spokesperson for Lever
Brothers.
Other big companies that were
conspicuous by their absence at the show included National Foods, Colcom,
Olivine industries, Agrifoods and
Colgate Palmolive.
These companies are
among many that have been almost driven out of business by Mugabe's crippling
price controls.
Mary Ndaona, the
spokesperson for Colcom noted that they had decided not to exhibit this year
because of the tough economic environment.
"We decided not to be there because things are tough," said
Ndaona.
Circle Cement, the major producer
of cement, which has also been seriously affected by price controls, is
exhibiting at a very small stand of approximately four square
metres.
When The Standard visited the
stand, no one was receiving visitors and only eight bags of cement were on
display. There was clearly no activity taking place on
Thursday.
The few big companies which
decided to exhibit, such as the Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company and SeedCo, had
to content with criticisms from curious visitors querying the unavailability
of their products on the market. Said one visitor at a SeedCo stand: "You
people, where are your seeds? We are failing to get them on the market. So
what is the use of coming to display them
here?"
The show usually attracts
exhibitors and visitors from other countries of the Sadc region, but this
year they were absent .
Although small
scale entrepreneurs dominated the show, they seemed to record very low
business. Donald Chihota, the marketing manager of Chihota Enterprises which
specialises in textile clothing, said business had been very
low.
"Although people have been visiting
our stand, we have recorded very little in terms of sales. People don't have
money," said Chihota.
According to Oliver
Gawe, the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society, 427 stands had
been booked by exhibitors. An exhibitor occupying a small stand of about four
square meters said that it had cost him $40 000 to secure the
stand.
The show epitomised the destruction
that has befallen the agriculture industry as Mugabe continues with his
catastrophic land reform programme.
A sad
situation prevailed at showgrounds where cattle pens were empty forcing
visitors to miss out on what is usually a popular spectacle. Even the few
stands that exhibited farming products, such as pumpkins, maize, poultry and
piggery, told the same sad story of the prevailing
crisis.
A few tobacco farmers and
companies exhibited in the tobacco hall, which like many other arenas,
resembled a grave yard, as it was devoid of visitors. Victor Musena, who was
sitting idle at the stand occupied by Cut Rag, a tobacco processor, said:
"A-a-a we are doing virtually nothing except watch the roamings around of
school children who are on holiday."
Only
fast food outlets recorded brisk business, but workers from here noted that
customers and sales had declined from last
year.
Just after 5pm on Friday, Stella
Murwira led her four children out of gate one at the Exhibition Park. They
all looked dejected and uncertain, as they embarked on the joyless 15-minute
walk into the city centre.
Farm evictions leave animals
stranded By Trevor
Muhonde
THE Zimbabwe National Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA) says the eviction of white
farmers from their land has caused untold suffering to animals that have been
left at the mercy of marauding war veterans and Zanu PF supporters, some of
them with a strong appetite for meat.
Using Section 8 notices, the government has been forcing about 3 000 farmers
off their productive farmland for the past few weeks, leaving the animals in
the hands of the newly resettled farmers.
Some of these farmers have found ready meat at their doorstep while others
have ventured into the lucrative business of selling
meat.
"We are appealing for sanity to
prevail on the farms. The new farmers should realise that animals should be
treated in a humane manner and their owners should be allowed to move them to
safety," said Meryl Harrison, the national coordinator of the
ZNSPCA.
The society's concern comes amid
reports that some of war veterans and Zanu PF supporters had now ventured
into the lucrative business of selling meat, while others were unnecessarily
being cruel to animals.
Only two weeks
ago, some of the new farmers went on the rampage attacking horses, cattle,
dogs, cats and sables in what was suspected to be a desperate move to
intimidate farmers who were refusing to leave
their farms.
At one farm in Marondera,
unknown assailants inflicted serious injuries on horses' legs in a night
attack.
"They are first attacking our
animals before they come to us. I heard a lot noise at night a fortnight ago
coming from the paddocks. I decided to investigate only to see that some of
the so-called new farmers were cutting my horses with big machetes," a
sobbing farmer from Marondera who refused to vacate his farm told The
Standard on Thursday.
ZNSPCA said it was
receiving many reports about the ill treatment of animals from several
farmers who had been chased off their
land.
"Our organisation is aware of what
is going on and we are urging the new occupants who are now the new owners of
the animals to treat them in a more humanly way," said
Harrison.
The animal society however
applauded a section of evicted farmers who had prepared for the future of
their animals.
"Many adverts that we
posted in the local newspapers have been well received by many evicted
farmers who have made contingency plans for their animals, especially
domestic pets," said Harrison.
I HAVE just read an article in
your paper of 25 August 2002, with a mixture of horror and anger. This
article by one Loughty Dube, would appear to have been scraped from the
depths of evil rather than from any lofty height of journalistic ability. It
is so laced with inaccuracies, and downright
lies.
In the article, it is clearly stated
that both myself, and my father, Max Rosenfels were arrested for remaining on
our farm beyond the August 10 deadline for farmers to vacate their
properties.
This is plainly untrue, and
when Loughty Dube telephoned me last week, I informed him that my father had
been arrested. I was not arrested for this or any other
matter.
Further, Dube states: "The
Rosenfels family raised the government's ire three years ago when it made
public plans that it was organising celebrations commemorating Cecil John
Rhodes' entry into the country." There are so many inaccuracies in this
statement alone that the integrity of the entire article is in
doubt.
The insinuation that we "poured
money into Zanu PF coffers" and "that some farmers who were Zanu PF praise
singers are being given back their farms for their loyalty to President
Mugabe" is where you come closest to libel. I challenge you Mr Editor or your
reporter Loughty Dube to substantiate this in any way. Or expose your
'source', so I can sue him. The less said here the
better.
It might interest you to know that
we applied in December 2000 for delisting on the grounds that this was our
only home, and that having given one farm to 'the cause' we felt we could be
considered to have contributed.
This was
ignored, and our home property has been resettled with 76 families, we have
not been able to keep cattle on our property since June 16th 2000, and we
have only been able to hunt our legally acquired game since 25 July
2002-having lost three full safari seasons. We have heard from other farmers
who happened to attend a meeting of the Bulilimamangwe Land Committee, that a
senior member of that committee brought up the fact that Max Rosenfels Senior
would be left homeless. We can only assume that it was decided there to allow
us to live in our only home, and we are very grateful for that decision. To
insinuate in any way that we have paid money or political tribute to anyone
for this 'favour' is grossly incorrect.
I
demand a retraction of the insinuations contained in the article, and a
public apology.
Tourism body falls victim to land
grab By Kumbirai
Mafunda
AS government gloriously drown
itself in celebrating the 'end' of its suicidal land grab, it has emerged
that the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has become the latest victim of
this controversial programme as it is now experiencing a significant decline
in proceeds from the mandatory 2% levy collected from all tourism
operations.
The ZTA collects a tourism
levy from registered tourism operators and uses the money for marketing the
local tourism industry abroad.
However,
the exercise has affected lodge and safari operators who were served with
Section 5 and 8 notices that compel owners to vacate
their properties.
Investigations by
Standard Business revealed that a couple of lodges across the country had
closed shop as a result of the land grab.
"The whole thing is in turmoil. Quite a number of lodges were served with
notices and have since ceased operations and this will significantly decrease
bed occupancy rates. There are no tourists visiting the country at the moment
and it is highly unlikely that the new settlers will be able to run the
lodges," said sources in the tourism
industry.
The sources said such was the
negative nature of the whole exercise that a prominent tourism operator in
Matabeleland North was served with eviction notices, prompting frantic
negotiations with the ministry of environment and tourism to have the
directives reversed.
In Mhangura and
Chinhoyi, Chichimini Lodge and Doma Safari Lodge respectively, were closed
after their owners were served with
eviction notices.
"There is high
potential that the ZTA has been prejudiced of revenue as a result of the
operators closing down due to declining tourist volumes and those affected by
the fast track land reform," said a source within
ZTA.
The controlling body of the tourism
industry has been reeling under foreign currency shortages to sustain its
international marketing which forms the bulk of its activities. Only
recently, the financially troubled authority ordered all operators in the
tourism industry to remit the levy on foreign receipts in hard currency in a
bid to ease the ever worsening foreign currency
shortages.
Other observers said the
combination of economic and political problems besetting the country was a
contributory factor to some of
the closures.
"Landela has so far
closed four lodges. They are not even on the farms," said a source with the
Zimbabwe Association of Tour and
Safari Operations.
However, an official
with Landela disputed the number of lodges that are not operational saying
there were only two that were not operational at the moment because of low
tourist arrivals.
"Out of our nine lodges,
Gatigati in Kariba and Sekuti in Victoria Falls have no clients occupying
them as tourists are still very jittery and unwilling to come to Zimbabwe,
whilst Chokamella in Hwange has been served with a Section 8 notice. So there
has been no bed levy coming from those lodges," said the
official.
Hospitality Association of
Zimbabwe president, Shingi Munyeza, said at the moment he had no statistics
with regard to lodges affected by the evictions. Efforts to get a comment
from the ZTA were fruitless as the officials refused to
comment.
Tourist receipts in 2001
decreased by 34,7%, falling from US$124,7 million in 2000 to US$81,4
million.
Pedia Moyo, the president of the
Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT) lamented the foreign currency crisis
besetting the country saying it was hindering them from carrying out
promotions in overseas markets.
"Times
have been very hard for us. Travel warnings are still in effect. We have been
visiting embassies where they have been telling us that at the moment we
can't bring tourism to your country, " said
Moyo.
She added: "We are in a difficult
position. Our task forces are visiting embassies telling them that Zimbabwe
isn't a dangerous country for tourists but these embassies are telling us
they are looking after the interests of their citizens. We have also lost a
number of our staff given the prevailing economic
difficulties."
Pre-season forecasts that
next year's tobacco output will drastically plunge below this year's output
were further reinforced this week by revelations that this year's total seed
sales which ended last week, failed to surpass figures realised last year.
This came to light despite claims by indigenous farmers' organisations that
beneficiaries of the land grab will realise a better crop yield than what
commercial farmers were producing.
Duncan
Millar, the president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) told Standard
Business that although his organisation had tried to maximise this year's
seed sales for the dry land crop, total sales had dropped
by 22,7%.
"Although we have actually
maximised the dry land seed sales, total seed sales amounted to 235 kilograms
compared to last year's 304 kilograms. The July-August seed sales have gone
much stronger than last year. We have lost 40 million kilograms on the
irrigated crop because the seed sales could not go on well in June," said
Millar.
Seed sales for the irrigated crop
amounted to 115 kg against 225 kg sold over the same period last year. The
ZTA said this would not only result in a loss in the golden leaf's output,
but would also see Zimbabwe fall from its prime position in the world
market.
On preparations for the coming
season, Millar said some farmers had started tilling their land whilst some
are expected to start transplanting seedlings
soon.
Out of the total sales, small sector
farmers account for 80 kg whilst commercial sector farmers bought 153
kg.
It is feared that tobacco growers who
were last month evicted under a government crackdown on white-owned
commercial farms will lose millions of dollars in undelivered crop as their
efforts to push their crop to the auction floors were affected by the
evictions. As a result, many might be forced effectively to stop every farm
activity.
"Hundreds of millions of US
dollars will be lost because we were still grading our tobacco. It makes no
sense to force farmers off the land before the crops have been delivered and
this jeopardises farmers' ability to pay severance packages and fertiliser
companies are likely to carry bad debts," said one
farmer.
However, Millar said he remained
optimistic that all tobacco will find its way to the auction
floors.
"No tobacco has been lost at the
moment. So far we have only sold 83 kilograms and half the nation's crop is
being graded at the moment. I am positive that no tobacco will be lost as
some farmers have taken their tobacco to commercial graders," Millar
said.
Next year's tobacco output is
projected to decline from last year's 170 million kg as most A2 settlers have
not prepared seedbeds, coupled with the eviction of traditional tobacco
growers under state sanctioned
land seizures.
Zimbabwe tobacco exports
account for about 20% of the world's flue cured tobacco and contributes up to
12% of the gross domestic product.
VEGETABLES will join the growing
list of commodities that are in short supply in the country following
revelations that supplies would be drastically reduced in the next few
weeks.
The impending shortage has been
blamed on the drying up of natural water sources on which small scale farmers
depend on for watering, as well as the eviction of white commercial
farmers.
Many of the small scale farmers
who provide the majority of vegetable supplies to markets in major towns and
cities have already stopped deliveries after the drying up of their water
reservoirs. Some of those still making deliveries told Standard Farming that
they would be stopping within the next two
weeks.
Simon Rufaro of Goromonzi, who
delivered his last batch of tomatoes to Mbare Musika in Harare, said most
farmers in his area had already wound up operations because their water
reservoirs had dried up.
"This is my last
trip here this year; the wells in my garden have dried so we will have to
wait for the onset of the next rains to plant another crop. Most farmers from
my area have already stopped supplies and within the next few weeks, there
will be virtually no deliveries
from there."
Roswita Musunga of
Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe also said most horticulturalists from the area had
stopped operations for the season due to lack of water, adding that the
inhibitive prices of chemicals and pesticides was stifling their
business.
Said Musunga: "Even before our
wells dried up, it had become extremely difficult to remain viable. Prices of
chemicals, pesticides as well as seeds and seedlings are become too
exorbitant."
President Mugabe's land
reform programme is a factor in the vegetable shortage equation. Shimel Ruby,
of Indian origin, who owns a plot in Domboshava producing tomatoes, potatoes
and cabbages, said he was uncertain whether to continue growing the
vegetables under irrigation because of the threats he is getting from
villagers near the plot who intend to take
it over.
"Usually I deliver two
truckloads of tomatoes, cabbages and potatoes to Harare but lately, I have
reduced this to two loads per week because I am not certain of my future at
the plot. Villagers have made several attempts to evict me and they claim
that they have the blessings of government,"
said Ruby.
The Horticultural Promotion
Council said that a significant number its members have been displaced
through the land reform. "Some of our members have lost their plots and
farms. The effect will soon be felt on the market because we are inevitably
headed for biting vegetable shortages," said an official at the council who
preferred anonymity.
A survey by Standard
Farming showed that vegetable prices have been gradually rising over the past
two months as their availability decreased. A box of tomatoes which cost
between $200 and $300 two months ago is now going for up to $500 at Mbare
Musika.
Rainbow nation fails to sell
itself overthetop By Brian
Latham
Millions of dollars have been spent
and millions of miles travelled so that thousands of delegates could meet
last week at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The
purpose was to achieve...nothing except to give the South Africans a warm,
fuzzy feeling and sense of their own (misplaced)
importance.
The summit also gave South
African cops a chance to dust off their truncheons and tear gas canisters,
and let loose on the protesting public. Jubilant South African police said
they were pleased. Since the demise of apartheid, such opportunities came
infrequently, they said, adding that they would express their gratitude to
the South African president just as soon as he realised he was the South
African president.
Meanwhile, attempts to
get the problems besetting a troubled central African country on the agenda
at the World Summit were derailed when the South African president said he
did not want problems in the troubled central African country to derail the
World Summit.
Having confused the hell out
of everybody, Thabo 'Maybe' Mbeki, told his police not to throw tear gas at
thousands of supporters of the troubled central African country's More Drink
Coming party when they decided to hold a protest march at the World Summit
for Sustainable Development in rich western
countries.
The supporters said they were
grateful because it was the first time they'd ever been allowed to hold a
protest march, such events being banned in the troubled central African
country-except for members of the ruling zany party, 12-year-old war veterans
and commuter farmers with large four-wheel drive vehicles, tiny cell phones
and less morality than monkeys on
mbanje.
The More Drink Coming protesters
said that they'd like to return to the troubled central African country, just
as soon as the most equal of all comrades and his evil accomplice, Jomo the
Clown allowed them to hold protest marches there, too. Right now, they said,
marches were possible, though the risk of death, mutilation and a lung full
of military tear gas could be considered a dead
cert.
This rather put them off, especially
since while in South Africa they were earning the Rand which, while not an
important international currency, was certainly worth more than the troubled
central African country's currency which was now more worth less than
lavatory paper.
Still, back to the World
Summit for Western Wealth...Analysts said the only thing missing to complete
the ludicrous pantomime was the presence of that gentleman, currently
languishing in prison, who used to head a South African white supremacist
movement, the inappropriately named All
White Baboons.
Nonetheless, various
curious groups emerged from under rocks, from ghettos and even from trendy
white suburbs (where everyone pretends to be poor) to state their cause to
bored looking people from the northern hemisphere. It was an opportunity for
the so-called 'Rainbow Nation' to sell itself to the world in all its
superficial, touchy-feel glory. Sadly, it failed as it had to, and South
Africans looked less like a Rainbow Nation than a Technicolour Yawn after a
heavy night of bad beer and worse, curry.
Still, newspapers reported that at least one important sector of the South
African economy benefited immensely. Prostitutes and pimps said business was
booming and the inflow of US dollars was such as hadn't been seen since the
previous regime let Nelson Mandela out of prison. No one said what this was
doing to South Africa's Aids problems, said to be among the worst in the
world, although one analyst remarked wryly that at least some of the foreign
dignatories would have something to take home with
them.
THE just-ended
census has clearly shown how the Zimbabwean landscape has changed from the
two previous censuses, in 1982 and 1992. Enumerators received a great deal of
cooperation then. There was an atmosphere of expectation and excitement and
people were eager to be counted; the economy was in fairly good shape and
things were moving well. People understood then that for government to
provide resources to meet the challenges of sustainable development, they
needed to be counted.
The year 2002 is a
different time altogether. The atmosphere was far from being as census upbeat
as it was in 1992. It was as if no census was taking place in Zimbabwe. For
the majority of Zimbabweans, life is a daily struggle and in a situation of
deprivation and scarcity of goods and services, the last thing you want to
see is someone trying to peep into your life asking about the size of your
family etc.
No wonder the cry throughout
the country was food, food and more food-rather than to be counted. Little
wonder also that a number of enumerators were chased away in many rural
districts of Zimbabwe. There is now discontent in the air. The mass food
shortages, the daily rocketing of prices of basic commodities and the
starvation in many parts of the country do cast a dark shadow on the credible
outcome of the whole exercise.
In fact as
official census business came to a close on Tuesday, many families in Harare
had still not been visited by enumerators. If this was the situation in the
capital city, with a well planned residential structure which would give no
one an excuse for missing a single household, what more of rural
areas?
There are a combination of factors
that led to this dog's breakfast of an exercise. First and foremost, the
whole census was poorly planned and therefore doomed from the start. The
people tasked with map reading, which is vital for demarcating areas covered
by enumerators, were either incompetent or downright negligent. This was
amply demonstrated in rural areas where an enumerator expected to cover, say,
130 households in his/her catchment area, suddenly found that the actual
number was at least double that recorded on the
maps.
The resultant effect of this was
that the exercise had to be extended by a day in some areas, but with no
guarantee that this would result in a more accurate reflection of Zimbabwe's
population.
The fallacy and confusion of
the whole exercise could not have been better analysed than by census manager
Washington Mapeta who said that those who had been left out were free to come
forward and be counted. What an uncredibly stupid
statement!
Who, at a time when the economy
is in bad shape, would be prepared to incur transport costs simply to be
counted? Does he think Zimbabweans have nothing better to do than spend time
lining up to be counted?
Of course,
Zimbabwe is a nation of people used to queuing up for virtually
everything-from bread to salt-but Mapeta's optimism about people's patience
was stretching it too far and was clearly
misplaced.
But perhaps more importantly,
the programme was grossly underfunded, resulting in census officials,
particularly the foot soldiers-the enumerators and their supervisors-getting
pathetic allowances for their labour. Whereas previous post-independence
exercises had received generous handouts from the donor community, this time
there was no such benevolence because of the Mugabe regime's growing
isolation by the
international community.
Census
officials, the bulk of whom were teachers, got up to $15 000 for an entire
month's work, a pittance if one takes into consideration the training period.
The least government could have offered the officials was something
equivalent to a month's salary, plus a daily allowance to cater for food and
incidentals.
It was deeply disturbing that
some officials ended up using their own vehicles, after government failed to
provide what it had promised, while there were unnecessary delays in the
counting as enumerators quickly exhausted the books they were using for
recording details. To add insult to injury, the poor fellows were ordered to
return ball point pens, notebooks and bags they had used in the
exercise.
Has the government become so
broke that it has to claim back even ball point pens? This is a powerful
statement of how this country has literally gone to the dogs. How worse can
the situation be allowed to get?
It is
most important to point out that a census is a vital exercise as it helps the
country to plan for the future. We need to know the size of our population,
its composition as per age and sex, its distribution patterns, to name but a
few vital statistics. Knowing the population growth rate in relation to
economic growth is critical to allocation of resources for education, health,
poverty alleviation and unemployment as well as HIV/Aids. It is also central
to the whole question of empowering women as a vehicle for reducing
population growth.
It was therefore
unforgivable that the whole exercise was conducted in such a terrible manner.
The way the whole thing was done leaves a lot to be desired. Not enough
homework was done. Neither were adequate resources allocated to the
exercise.
In the light of all this as well
as the hundreds who have fled Zimbabwe, we strongly believe that the outcome
will not be a true reflection of the population dynamics of this
country.
'We won't be dictated to by kangaroos from Australia,' says
Moyo By
RANJENI
MUNUSAMY
ZIMBABWE has demanded that Western governments stop using the World Summit on
Sustainable Development as a platform to attack
it.
Zimbabwean Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who was reappointed to his
Cabinet post by President Robert Mugabe this week, said Western governments
were giving "strange interpretations" to issues in order to direct attention
to
Zimbabwe.
He said while the summit was dealing with the controversial issue of land
tenure, this was "not a Zimbabwean
issue".
" It is really strange that some people are trying to interpret that
particular provision as dealing with Zimbabwe to direct attention to us,"
Moyo told the Sunday
Times.
In the past two weeks, the British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian
governments have all sought to put more international pressure on Zimbabwe,
and said their leaders would raise the matter at the summit or in talks with
President Thabo Mbeki, who chairs the
summit.
Mugabe this week described his re-appointed ministers as a "war Cabinet" and
vowed to intensify his controversial land redistribution programme despite
growing international pressure. Zimbabwe came in for strong criticism from
many quarters, with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw accusing Mugabe of
"leading his country to
ruin".
US Agency for International Aid official Andrew Natsios warned that "things
are sliding fairly rapidly" as result of "wrong polices", while a less
strident UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for reforms that were subject
to the rule of law if the food crisis was to be
resolved.
Moyo said countries like the US, members of the European Union and Australia
had attempted to settle the land issue in exchange for clauses providing for
good governance and the adherence to the rule of
law.
"We will not allow a fundamental issue like land resolved in accordance with
some amorphous, fuzzy notion of the rule of law as dictated to us by some
kangaroos from Australia . . . It is a very serious matter and has to be
resolved in accordance with national laws and the constitutions of the
countries in question," said
Moyo.
The Zimbabwean government did not, however, object to being discussed on the
main summit
agenda.
"We are happy that they want to talk about us. Zimbabwe is a perfect
illustration of the problems associated with the legacy of colonialism and
how sustainable development is dependent on land," he
said.
But leaders such as Britain's Tony Blair, Canada's Jean Chretien, Australia's
John Howard and New Zealand's Helen Clark were "lying" when they said they
wanted to talk about instability in
Zimbabwe.
"They want to talk about preserving white minority land ownership . . . There
are only concerned about the 4 500 white farmers in Zimbabwe, not the more
than 13 million
blacks."
Land Minister Joseph Made said the acquisition of 10-million hectares of land
over the past two years as part of the land redistribution programme has been
a "major achievement" for the Zimbabwean government. Close to 300 000
families are being relocated onto the land and the government was now ready
to begin the next phase of the
"agrarian revolution".
There would now be major institutional reforms such as directing banks, who
previously supported the 4 000 commercial farmers, to provide financing for
the new settlers. The government's aim was to have the entire agricultural
sector of the economy controlled by indigenous Zimbabweans, said
Made.
Moyo said the commercial farmers had lied by claiming they were producing
food for domestic use before they were evicted. Food for internal consumption
was produced by smallholding and peasant farmers as commercial farmers were
"into exotic farming such as horticulture, tobacco, wildlife and
roses".
Moyo said the government had "an economic war to complete", adding: "This is
why President Mugabe called us the war
Cabinet."
He said the Zimbabwean government had never accepted its "so-called
suspension" from the Commonwealth as the decision by a troika comprising
Howard, Mbeki and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo was
"unprocedural".
"The Commonwealth is a community of nations, not a trio. Who are they and on
what authority is their decision binding on
Zimbabwe?"
Martin Bright Sunday September 1, 2002 The
Observer
Britain has infuriated human rights campaigners by deciding to
begin extradition proceedings against a Zimbabwean opposition figure who says
he was tortured by President Robert Mugabe's secret police. Supporters say
that if Michael Dube is returned to his country, his life will be in danger
and he cannot hope to have a fair trial.
Dube, 29, has described to The
Observer how members of Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation
beat him, kept him awake for days and applied pliers to his testicles. He was
repeatedly urged to inform on fellow opponents of Mugabe's brutal rule but he
refused to do so.
After two weeks of torture Dube's resistance evaporated
and he told his captors he was ready to sign anything. 'I thought I was going
to die,' he said.
Eventually, he signed a confession admitting
involvement in a demonstration against the seizure of a white-owned farm,
which led to clashes with Mugabe's supporters, one of whom
died.
Released on bail, Dube fled Zimbabwe and reached Britain two years
ago. He was forced to leave his wife behind. As a fellow activist with the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), she was also arrested and tortured. She
claims she was raped in front of the couple's two small children.
In a
move that has stunned human rights activists, the British government has
agreed to the Zimbabwe authorities' request to begin the process of returning
Dube. Attacks on opposition figures are common in Zimbabwe, a country
described last week as a pariah state by Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw.
Home Secretary David Blunkett has ordered extradition
proceedings to go ahead and Dube will appear before Bow Street magistrates on
16 September. The authorities in the capital, Harare, have accused him of
stealing more than eight million Zimbabwean dollars (about £96,800) from the
Central Payments Office of the Ministry of Finance where he was a part-time
civil servant.
Dube claims he worked as an MDC youth leader in the
Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe, which saw some of the most violent
attacks on the opposition by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party in 2000.
The MDC in Zimbabwe is working to verify Dube's story. His wife has already
been granted asylum in Britain as a result of her own MDC
activities.
Mugabe's government has not given up the pursuit and last
March the British police arrived at Dube's Sheffield home to tell him he was
being arrested pending extradition on theft charges.
Speaking from
Derby, where the Dubes have now settled, Michael said: 'I have been aston
ished by the attitude of David Blunkett and the Home Office. There seems to
be total confusion. The Government says I have no reason to fear returning to
Zimbabwe when the authorities there are clearly in hot pursuit of
me.'
Britain suspended the deportation of Zimbabwean asylum seekers last
January after The Observer revealed they were being sent back into the hands
of Mugabe's secret police. Dube's lawyers, Bindman and Partners,
say extradition to Zimbabwe from Britain is extremely rare and it may be part
of a new strategy by the Mugabe regime to target opponents abroad by
accusing them of criminal offences.
The Commonwealth Scheme for the
Rendition of Fugitive Offenders allows for the fast-track extradition of
people suspected of serious crimes to Commonwealth countries including
Zimbabwe. But such is the concern about the collapse of the rule of law in
the African country that campaigners believe it would be impossible for Dube
to face a fair trial.
· In response to the famine gripping Zimbabwe, the
MDC this weekend announced the formation of the Feed Zimbabwe Trust to import
maize, the staple food, writes Andrew Meldrum in Harare .
The party
has bought 28 tonnes of maize in South Africa, which was expected to reach
the border yesterday, said the MDC's Shadow Agriculture Minister, Renson
Gasela.
The attempt to import the food is a challenge to the Mugabe
government, which has decreed that only the state-owned Grain Marketing Board
can bring in maize. 'If they refuse to allow it in, they are condemning
people to die of hunger,' Gasela said.
BRITISH Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair is scheduled to
visit Mozambique tomorrow to meet white Zimba-bwean farmers in Beira in the
wake of reports that London was preparing to evacuate British citizens from
Zimbabwe, The Herald learnt last night.
Impeccable diplomatic sources
said Mr Blair would visit Mozambique specifically to meet white farmers, some
media people and opposition elements in Zimbabwe.
There have been
reports that some white farmers whose farms were designated for resettlement
had left for Mozambique and other neighbouring countries.
Yesterday the
British Daily Tele-graph reported that Britain was preparing to evacuate its
citizens from Zimbabwe.
While earlier indications had been that the
British Prime Minister would visit Mozambique after the Earth Summit in South
Africa, Mozambican High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Mr Julio Braga said Mr
Blair's visit was scheduled for tomorrow.
"Yes, it's true he will be
visiting Mozambique a day after tomorrow (today)," Mr Braga told The Herald
last night without elaborating.
A British High Commission spokeswoman
could neither confirm nor deny the visit saying she needed time to check and
would only be in a position to provide an answer today.
Repeated
efforts to get a comment from the Government at the time of going to Press
were fruitless.
The diplomatic sources said the visit had raised eyebrows
within the Southern African Development Community.
"The visit seems
aimed at fuelling tension in the region. Mr Blair is trying to whip up
emotions," the sources said.
The visit comes a week after United States
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Mr Walter Kansteiner publicly
announced that Washington was working with Britain, the European Union and
some independent journalists in Zimbabwe to topple the
Government.
Another diplomat described the visit as a "provocative visit
that will be ignored by the region.
"Tony Blair is making a mistake by
playing his last card in a high stakes game which Britain is certain to
lose," the diplomat said.
The British Prime Minister is one of the 100
heads of state and government expected in Johannesburg this weekend for the
final stages of the Earth Summit to ratify what the working parties would
have agreed on.
In a show of solidarity with Zimbabwe's agricultural
industry Mozambican President Joachim Chissano is expected in Harare today to
officially open the Harare Agricultural Show.
New farmers have made a
mark at this year's Agricultural Show by contributing to its
success.
"It's not clear whether Blair's decision to visit Mozambique
apart from rallying support for whites is expected to checkmate President
Chissano's visit to Harare," a local political analyst observed.
He
also quipped that hopefully Mr Blair was not under the mistaken notion that
Beira was in Zimbabwe because he "could be relying on an old
Portuguese colonial map."
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said on
Thursday Britain's elite SAS commandos have conducted reconnaissance missions
along Zimbabwe's border to get ready for a possible evacuation of British
citizens.
Citing unidentified defence officials, the newspaper said
military planners were finalising road and air evacuation plans for an
estimated 20 000 British citizens, mostly white farmers.
A Foreign
Office official denied the government was moving to implement contingency
plans in Zimbabwe.
The Telegraph said the plan would involve 250
paratroopers who were conducting a two-month training exercise with South
African troops starting in October.
The plan would involve 250
paratroopers. The exercise will include Royal Air Force transport aircraft,
which would be used to fly British citizens from Harare airport, the
officials said.
Evacuations could also be made by road into South Africa,
they said.
The Ministry of Defence dismissed the report, saying the
exercise had "nothing to do" with the situation in Zimbabwe.
"It has
been a long-planned air concentration exercise involving bilateral training
with South Africa," an MOD spokesperson told reporters.
The Zimbabwean
government has been on record saying the British government does not need
special forces to evacuate its citizens from Zimbabwe as they could easily
get on a plane and fly to London at any time.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and South African President Thabo Mbeki will
explore the roots of mankind on Sunday, leaving officials back at the Earth
Summit to bicker over how to save humanity from
itself.
The two leaders will visit South
Africa's famed Sterkfontein Caves, a World Heritage site just north of
Johannesburg known as the cradle of humankind, where ape-man fossils up to
3.5 million years old have
been unearthed.
The trip will be the
first in Annan's four-day visit to the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg where more than 100 world leaders hope to agree a
sweeping United Nations plan to reduce poverty without poisoning the
planet.
Environment ministers were
locked in tense talks late into the night on Saturday, seeking to reconcile
the demands of poor countries, which want more cash and other help, with the
rich world which wants less corruption and more democracy in
return.
There was some progress but
deadlock remained over issues from "green" energy and farm subsidies to
sewers in the Third World, leaving ministers just one more day to clinch a
deal before their leaders arrive on
Monday.
"Now we're down to the crunch
questions," Nitin Desai, conference secretary general, told Reuters late on
Saturday.
States agreed a compromise early
on Sunday on protecting endangered animals and plants, calling for a
significant reduction in the rate of extinction by
2010.
That agreement was weaker than a
biodiversity pact set earlier this year under which countries said they would
halt the rate of biodiversity loss.
"It's watered down," said European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom,
but was pushed through by what she called "the unholy alliance" of the United
States and developing countries.
Green
groups were angered by what they saw as a rollback of the pact to save the
10,000 plant and animal species the United Nations has said were at
risk.
"These same ministers said six
months ago they would halt the rate of loss. This is stunning," said
Greenpeace's Remi Parmentier.
DEFIANT
MUGABE
Among the first foreign leaders to
arrive was Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in a defiant mood about his
policy of taking land from white farmers and giving it to landless
blacks.
South Africa's Mbeki was also in
strident form, telling a rally in a Johannesburg slum that the summit must
put an end to the "global apartheid" which has left millions mired in
poverty.
"There is no reason that the poor
of the world should be poor for ever," he said in a speech at a stadium in
the squalid Alexandra township. "The time has come for
action."
With a flood of foreign
dignitaries due to descend on the wealthy suburb of Sandton where the
conference is being held on Sunday, the police remained on red alert. However
they were relieved the first major protest march passed without
incident.
For all the firebrand slogans
such as "Osama bin Laden! Bomb Sandton" eight hours of rallies ended
peacefully, delighting the hosts of South Africa's biggest international
event since the end of its
apartheid-era isolation.