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Archived News
24th December 2002
Zimbabwe groups call strike over economic crisis
Press statement issued by the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
MDC calls on EU to tighten sanctions
Opposition call for World Cup boycott
Christmas Message to the people of Zimbabwe from MDC President
ANC cheers for Mugabe regime
Wheat imports urgently needed following poor harvest
Warring Congo factions sign peace deal
How the DRC's new ministries will be divided
Now paraffin runs out
Zimbabwe fails to meet Libya's terms
Final judgement handed down
Tsvangirai sees SA worsening crisis
Backlash against Zanu PF youth militia
Bare cupboards and growing bread queues
Fuel crisis makes Zimbabwe dig deep
Deliveries halted as Harare fails to pay cash
Libya sets tougher conditions for fuel
War vets evict 40 families
Zimbabwe/Malaysia deal collapses
Truth is the latest casualty as ICC bends to Mugabe
Zimbabwe fuel crisis looming over holiday season
Govt mulls re-opening bureaux de change
Top Commonwealth officer 'not welcome' in Zim
Dialogue between Zim, C’wealth breaks down
Zim short of banknotes
Fuel trickles into Zim
Traffic building up at Beitbridge Border Post
Student activists arrested
Chiredzi arrest list
Africa's growing hunger
Motorists stuck at Beitbridge
Zimbabwe fuel crisis halts getaway
Journo accused of spying for BBC
Chiredzi reprieve
Mugabe accused of blocking food aid for his foes
To have or have not
Beit Bridge traffic 'manageable'
EU concerned about Zim arrests
Mugabe's land of penury and propaganda
Merry Christmas - at home
'Tis the night before Christmas
Concern over recurring fuel shortages
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From IRIN (UN), 17 December
Concern over recurring fuel shortages
Johannesburg - Zimbabweans were becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of the country's recurring fuel shortages on their daily lives. "The major mediums of transport have been grounded and very few passenger services are operating. Workers in industrial areas are walking to work and have to leave home at 4am to arrive at work on time," President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Lovemore Matombo, told IRIN. "It will affect workers' productivity because they will be very tired. Considering their low income, some people don't even have anything to eat, so the fuel crisis will create unprecedented levels of mental and physical strain," he added. Matombo said fares for the few modes of public transport operating had increased due to demand. Workers with money were paying for the journey into work, then walking home for two to three hours. However, essential services like ambulances and fire engines in the capital, Harare, still had supplies, according to the council's public relations officer Cuthbert Rwazemba. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said many farmers had bulk fuel storage facilities and could survive short-term shortages. "We'll survive in the short term, but in a couple of weeks, the fuel shortages will create major shortages on farms," CFU president Colin Cloete said. Farmers were currently in their crop growth period and so required less fuel but farmers who needed to reap would not be able to get fuel for their operations. Harare-based bus company Kukura Kurerwa said it only had two days of diesel supplies left. "We still have some diesel available but we foresee a worse situation over the next few days. However, we have been promised a delivery," General Manager Batsirai Nyakuvambwa told IRIN.
Country director for the NGO Care International, Phil Christensen, said: "Obviously it is difficult for some transportation but we are managing to cope. NGOs and embassies are able to import their own fuel. We are accustomed to purchasing fuel like everyone else but we use these supplies [imported fuel] when there is a shortage." Christensen added that because of the shortages, Care had to curtail some of its activities as workers in the field were battling to source petrol for their motorcycles. The state-run Herald newspaper on Tuesday reported that, "No fresh supplies were purchased by the sole oil procurer resulting in the fuel situation remaining desperate." It said the US $16 million given to the parastatal National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) by the government had instead been used to pay debtors who refused to send further supplies until arrears were paid. There was also uncertainty over whether a supply deal with Libya's Tamoil would continue. Scarce foreign currency supplies has also made fuel procurement more difficult. At the ruling party's conference over the weekend President Robert Mugabe suggested the possibility of nationalising the facilities of the five multinational oil companies operating in Zimbabwe and allowing only the state to distribute fuel.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 18 December
ANC cheers for Mugabe regime
By Tim Butcher in Stellenbosch
South Africa's ruling African National Congress yesterday effectively gave its backing to President Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, cheering a speech by a Zanu PF loyalist attacking "western imperialists". President Thabo Mbeki hugged Emmerson Mnangagwa after his speech even though the Zanu PF administration secretary was once Mr Mugabe's state security chief and has been accused of gross human rights violations. Mr Mnangagwa described the crisis in Zimbabwe as stemming solely from Mr Mugabe's desire to right one of the wrongs of colonialism: white farmers owning a disproportionate amount of the country's farmland. "We cannot allow colour to be the basis for privilege and wealth," he said. "The 'crime' committed by Comrade Mugabe and Zanu PF is to reclaim and repossess our heritage, land and resources and to unflinchingly uphold our sovereignty. We treasure your advice and counsel and look forward to continued solidarity. Our relation further deepened and consolidated through the trials and tribulations we experienced in Zimbabwe."
His attack on colonialism was well received by ANC delegates on the second day of the party conference in Stellenbosch. Many ANC rank and file regard colonialism as a cause of all the problems in post-apartheid South Africa. But Mr Mnangagwa made no mention of the murder of scores of Mr Mugabe's political opponents, political corruption by the Mugabe regime and economic chaos that has left a once self-sufficient country with more than six million people struggling to feed themselves. At one stage he appeared to become confused over the land invasions in Zimbabwe, saying only 330 families had benefited from the acquisition of millions of acres of land from commercial farmers. Official figures from Mr Mugabe's regime claim that 330,000 families have benefited, but this is disputed by opposition politicians who see little evidence of farms being handed to the needy. Instead, the most lucrative farms are being acquired by cronies of Mr Mugabe.
Mr Mbeki gave at best a muted criticism of Zimbabwe, saying South Africa agreed with the concept of land reform but "disagreed with the manner in which it is being addressed". He said: "We are convinced it is necessary to bring to a close the controversial issues relating to our important neighbour, Zimbabwe. In this regard, we are ready to engage both our ally and fellow liberation movement, Zanu PF, and all others concerned, to help resolve the various issues in a constructive manner."
* Zimbabwe's annual inflation figure has hit 175.5 per cent, a rise of one per cent a day, according to the latest government statistics.
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From IRIN (UN), 16 December
Wheat imports urgently needed following poor harvest
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe would run out of wheat by the end of February unless 240,000 mt of the grain was imported to cover this year's lower-than-expected wheat harvest, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) said in its latest report. And NGOs and relief agencies have to step up efforts to provide relief food to the 6,7 million people in Zimbabwe whose food security is under threat, it warned. FEWS NET researchers found that total maize imports of 748,773 mt by World Food Programme (WFP), NGOs, the private sector and the government had reduced the national food gap to about 600,000 mt. According to official figures, a total of 1.2 million mt of maize had been available in the country since 1 April, and on average the maize available for the seven and a half months of the 2002/03 marketing year was 23 percent greater than the national requirement, estimated to be between 1 million and 1.1 million mt for the period. FEWS NET said if the import figures were correct, then Zimbabwe would have available about 153,000 mt per month, which should have been adequate for nutritional requirements. However, food shortages on the ground did not reflect this analysis.
Reasons put forward for this discrepancy were that the distribution of available maize had been inadequate, or many households did not have money to buy maize even if it was available. Wheat production this year had been 30 percent lower than expected and the country needed imports urgently to avoid running out by February. Some of the country's food shortages are due to disruptions to farming under the controversial land reform programme and analysts have previously warned that wheat shortages could be exacerbated by households turning to the commodity as a substitute for maize. Food aid distributions by WFP and NGOs had increased from 21 to 36 of the country's 57 districts. WFP had planned to reach 3 million by November, 5.5 million people in January 2003 and 5.8 million people in February. However, they were experiencing pipeline problems as some of the food pledged by the United States had not been promptly cleared by government, FEWS NET said. If all went according to plan, 86 percent of the population identified as food insecure in the August assessment would be reached by the end of February, with total coverage by March 2003. This would only be possible though if both WFP and the NGOs received outstanding grain imports of 216,000 mt before January. As of mid-November, WFP had only 50 percent of its required funding and was still waiting to get 98,000 mt of cereals. The current food aid stocks could only feed 3.3 million people at the full ration.
The rainy season finally began late in October and farmers had started planting, but were still constrained by limited seed availability, the report said. They took advantage of the good rains and, using the limited quantities of seed they had, planted most crops but a shortage of maize, sorghum, millet, ground nuts and pulse seed on the market limited the potential area that could have been planted. While maize seed stocks available for the 2002/2003 production season were enough to cover "normal" national demands of 40,000 mt, they were still inadequate following the unprecedented demand set off by last's season's drought and demand for the seed was estimated to be over 50,000 mt. Although a recent televised announcement said the government was considering importing maize seed from South Africa, this may not translate into increased maize seed sales as the government's input programs have, in the past, been too slow to reach the intended beneficiaries on time for planting, FEWS NET said. The fertiliser shortage also continued to be of great concern. Both the government and NGO programmes had not yet delivered the bulk of their seed support to the farmers earmarked for agricultural support, the report said.
However, while the rains started well, predictions were for normal to below normal rainfall until March 2003. As this coincided with the reproductive stages of most of the cereal crop, crop yields were expected to be depressed, researchers warned. Food security in most rural areas was still critical as supply from the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) remained erratic and was not adequate to meet consumption requirements and, just as importantly, many poorer households had run out of cash to buy available grain. In urban areas, inflation rates, currently estimated at 144 percent, continued to rise, increasing the cost of living for the urban poor at a rate which far exceeded their income. Price controls had not helped as affected commodities were not readily available in the formal market and were sold instead on the parallel market where shortages continued to push prices up. One indication of the effect on urban households was that 22.4 percent of households in the capital Harare failed to pay for their water between January and October 2002, FEWS NET said. Low-income households needed to employ all able-bodied members in some kind of informal sector activities such as vending, hawking, gold panning, brick moulding and selling firewood in order to make ends meet and some were even forced to engage in illegal activities such as robbery, prostitution and selling controlled commodities on the parallel market. Poor urban households unable to increase their incomes were forced to reduce the number and size of meals, and sometimes to forego them entirely.
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From The Guardian (UK), 18 December
Warring Congo factions sign peace deal
Kabila to stay on until elections planned for 2005
Rory Carroll, Africa correspondent
The Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace deal with rebels yesterday, ending a four-year civil war which has left two million dead and destabilised central Africa. After marathon talks, negotiators agreed that Joseph Kabila will remain president but share power in an interim government until elections are held in two-and-a-half years. The South African-brokered deal in Pretoria was hailed as a breakthrough for the entire continent although analysts cautioned that many factions had vested interests in perpetuating the war and that the complex deal could unravel. In theory, rebel and militia leaders will form an interim government in January to bring enough peace and stability to allow the first democratic elections since independence from Belgium in 1960. Four new vice-presidents will be drawn from the existing government, the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), the Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo and opposition groups. "We agreed to cease hostilities so there should be no more sounds of guns in the country," said Bene Mpoko, Congo's ambassador to South Africa. "It is the best Christmas present we can give our people."
Negotiators also agreed on sharing key cabinet and ministerial posts, and that each faction leader could take up to 15 bodyguards to the capital, Kinshasa. A new, national police force drawn from warring sides will patrol the capital while the UN will boost its military presence to 8,700 troops. Mediators said the deal was ambitious but workable, since it involved key parties such as the Mayi-Mayi tribe, which is allied to the government. Ugandan-backed rebels ceded the finance ministry to the government in exchange for the presidency of the 500-member national assembly. "The problem with Congolese politics has been how to reach an arrangement that accommodates everyone. This should go a long way in the reunification process," said South African negotiator Sisa Ngombane. Negotiators worked almost round the clock to reach a deal at about 2am yesterday, although it was dawn by the time the last delegation had signed up.
The Congo is the size of western Europe, and its vast mineral reserves, including diamonds, gold, silver and cobalt, fuelled the conflict, as plundering armies from neighbouring states backed various factions. The foreign troops withdrew after a peace deal in July but their proxies continued to fight, perpetuating the hunger and disease which have so far killed 2 million people. Henri Boshoff, a Congo analyst with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, was optimistic that yesterday's agreement would not be another failed initiative. "It is very, very meaningful, a big moment for Africa. All the players are on board ... The pressure is on them now to implement what they have agreed." The Hutu interahamwe militia which prompted the conflict by massacring Rwandan Tutsis and fleeing into what was then Zaire would have the choice of staying in Congo, returning to Rwanda or move elsewhere, he said. But other analysts were less sanguine, cautioning that those who signed the deal did so under intense pressure from South Africa and the west. President Kabila may lack the power base to impose the agreement on allies who stand to lose influence, and peace may also not suit rebels such as the RCD whose muscle was more military than political.
Nine years of conflict
April 1994: Rwanda genocide starts; Hutu extremists flee to Zaire but continue attacks
1996: Rwanda invades Zaire to clear camps used by Hutu extremists. Mobutu's army collapses
1997: Mobutu overthrown. Rwandans install Laurent Kabila as president. Zaire becomes Democratic Republic of Congo
1998: Unhappy at Kabila's failure to deal with Hutu extremists, Rwanda invades again. Conflict draws in Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Uganda and Burundi
1999: Lusaka peace accord signed, fails to end conflict
2001: Kabila assassinated, replaced by his son Joseph
July 2002: Pretoria peace deal: Rwanda withdraws, foreign armies pull out but fighting continues between rebels and government
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From The Star (SA), 17 December
How the DRC's new ministries will be divided
The Democratic Republic of Congo's peace agreement, which was signed early on Tuesday, assigns ministries among the various groups in a government of national unity. They are:
Government
Interior, Finance, Decentralisation, Trade, Press and Information, Energy, Health, Arts and Culture.
Congolese Rally for Democracy (rebel movement supported by Rwanda)
Defence, Demobilisation and Veterans' Affairs, Women and the Family, Economy, State Enterprises, Posts and Telecommunications, Labour, Higher Education.
Congolese Liberation Movement (rebel movement supported by Uganda)
Foreign Affairs, Planning, Budget, Agriculture, Public Works, Primary and Secondary Education, Youth and Sports.
Opposition parties and civil society
Justice, Humanitarian Affairs and Solidarity, Mines, Scientific Research, Transport, Social Affairs, Land Affairs.
Mai-Mai (pro-government militia)
Rural Development and Environment.
RCD-ML (splinter rebel group)
Regional Co-operation and Urbanisation.
RCD-N (splinter rebel group)
Foreign Trade and Tourism.
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From News24 (SA), 18 December
Now paraffin runs out
Cris Chinaka
Harare - The fuel shortage in Zimbabwe has plunged the economy deeper into crisis and heightened political anger against President Robert Mugabe's government, analysts and the opposition said on Wednesday. The two-week shortage has nearly paralysed the southern African country's public transport system and forced many struggling companies to scale down operations at a time when they normally cash in on festive season shoppers. State media reported on Wednesday that diesel and paraffin mainly used by poor urban families for cooking - had run out at many service stations. Motorists are spending nights in queues at the few service stations with fuel. News of the deepening fuel crisis coincided with an official release that Zimbabwe's annual inflation has jumped to a record 175.5% mainly over increases in food prices. "What is emerging all around us in this country is a picture of extreme managerial incompetence and the government must be extremely embarrassed by what we are all seeing here," said private economic consultant John Robertson.
Mugabe's government remained silent on the crisis on Wednesday despite opposition demands for an explanation. But official sources said the president's advisers were huddled in meetings to try to find a solution to the fuel crisis that has left the public seething with anger. "People are very angry with everything going on," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters on Wednesday. "Zimbabwe is now a nation where everything is in short supply except violence, misery, disease and death," he said. On Monday, the official Herald newspaper said Zimbabwe's efforts to salvage a fuel supply deal with a Libyan oil company had failed after a week of talks with the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), the country's sole oil procurement agency. Last week, the Herald also accused NOCZIM officials of corruption and sabotage in their handling of the fuel crisis. NOCZIM and ministry of energy officials have not commented.
Fuel supplies have been erratic since 1999 due to a foreign currency squeeze, which has also left the country short of other basic items such as bread, cooking oil, sugar and salt. Mugabe blames his problems on domestic and foreign opponents whom he says are trying to overthrow him for seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Mugabe has also accused oil foreign firms with retail outlets in Zimbabwe of profiteering at the expense of the state by not importing their own fuel. Zimbabwe is grappling with its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1980, including a severe food shortage that has left nearly half its 14 million people facing starvation.
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From Business Day (SA), 19 December
Zimbabwe fails to meet Libya's terms
Harare - Zimbabwe's energy minister says that a vital fuel deal with Libya includes conditions the fuel-starved Southern African country cannot meet. Speculation has been rife in Zimbabwe that the deal with Libya, which supplies 70% of the country's fuel needs, has collapsed. Over the past two weeks, the fuel situation in the country has become desperate. The admission by Energy Minister Amos Midzi came after President Robert Mugabe at the weekend blamed fuel distribution companies, some of them foreign-owned, for the crisis and threatened to nationalise them. Under the deal with Libya Zimbabwe is permitted to pay for fuel in local currency. In return Libya has been allowed to invest in tourism and banking in Zimbabwe and to obtain agricultural products such as beef, sugar, coffee and tobacco. "In terms of commodity trading, it has been very difficult, as all honourable members are aware that some of the commodities that the Libyans wanted to buy from Zimbabwe are in short supply," Midzi said. Midzi said the shortages had contributed to the country's inability "to clear the outstanding balance", but did not say the deal with Libya had collapsed. Petroleum is now almost unobtainable in the country, while diesel is running out. A controversial land reform programme by the government has been blamed for cutting agricultural output in Zimbabwe, once dubbed "the breadbasket of southern Africa".
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From ZWNEWS, 19 December
Final judgement handed down
Judge Victor Marrero of the US District Court of New York has handed down his final judgement in the case brought against Zanu PF by victims of political violence in the run-up to the June 2000 parliamentary elections. The plaintiffs in the case - Adella Chiminya Tachiona, Efridah Pfebve, Elliot Pfebve, Evelyn Masaiti, and Maria Stevens brought the civil suit against Robert Mugabe, Stan Mudenge, and other senior leaders of Zanu PF, as well as against the party itself, under the Alien Tort Claims Act. This Act allows non-US citizens to seek redress in the US courts for claims originating outside the US. As with his other decisions in the long-running, and ground-breaking, case, Judge Marrero’s final judgement is substantial. His judgement analyses in depth the extent to which the Zimbabwean constitution and laws were violated by Zanu PF, and found that Zanu PF "systematically hounded its political opponents through repeated acts of terror and violence" in the run-up to the 2000 elections. Judge Marrero’s judgement agreed almost entirely with an earlier recommendation of damages submitted by Magistrate Judge Francis. The final damages awarded against the defendants total US$71 250 453, comprising compensatory damages of US$20 250 453, and punitive damages of $51 000 000. This judgment is now final and enforceable. The rules allow private parties 30 days, and the Government 60 days, to file any notice of an appeal.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like a copy of Judge Marrero's judgement, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 200Kb, or approximately 4 times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From Business Day (SA), 19 December
Tsvangirai sees SA worsening crisis
International Affairs Editor
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has "cast serious doubt" on the role of President Thabo Mbeki as an honest broker in the crisis in his country. This comes as Mbeki is preparing to send Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to Harare in an attempt to broker government talks with the MDC. "SA has become part of the Zimbabwe problem because its actions are worsening the crisis," Tsvangirai said in an address to his party's members of parliament yesterday in Harare. Tsvangirai said Britain and SA were working with the ruling party to get him to the negotiating table with President Robert Mugabe about the country's crises. "I am reliably informed that Mugabe is prepared to meet me somewhere outside the country to discuss his problems . Let me state here that the Anglo-SA plan will fail to take off if it remains predicated on the desire to legitimise the illegitimate Mugabe regime," he said.
Zanu PF broke off talks with the MDC in May after the opposition mounted a court challenge to the Zanu PF victory in the March presidential elections. Tsvangirai's words mean that SA cannot draw support from the opposition for what it says are its efforts to engineer talks between the MDC and Zanu PF. Tsvangirai said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had launched a campaign with SA support in an attempt to find room to ease the pressures on Zimbabwe that could be forthcoming at the next meeting of the Commonwealth "troika". The troika of SA President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard would meet in March next year to consider whether or not Zimbabwe should be expelled from the Commonwealth. Tsvangirai's tough criticism of Mbeki comes a day after a close associate of Mugabe, the speaker of the country's parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was cheered by delegates at the African National Congress' conference in Stellenbosch when he said that 11-million hectares of land had been "acquired" by the government.
Tsvangirai said: "We know of attempts to reform Zanu PF and present a rearranged set of faces to the world in an effort to win international legitimacy." Even were Mugabe to step down, nothing would change unless the country's fundamental problems were addressed. Any solution had to tackle "the burning question" of the Zimbabwean government's legitimacy and make free and fair elections a priority, Tsvangirai said. The campaign involved Mugabe's attempt to meet him outside the country, the MDC leader said. Such a meeting would remain "pie in the sky" unless Mugabe stopped the politicisation of food, opened up the country to free political activity and committed himself to dialogue, said Tsvangirai.
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From IRIN (UN), 18 December
Backlash against Zanu PF youth militia
Harare - The "Green Bombers", clad in their trademark green fatigues and red or green berets with the Zimbabwean flag on their shirts, have become a common but fearsome sight, particularly in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. After the arrival of a sugar delivery van, a group of 10 young men wielding whips and batons storm a supermarket in the high-density suburb of Glen Norah. The sight of them causes people queuing outside the shop to flee. They are the Zanu PF militia, popularly known as "Green Bombers". The young men then approach the shop manager, who they accuse of overpricing commodities, and order him to load the sugar into a waiting truck. Police stand and watch as the shop manager is harassed. The truck is then driven to a secluded area near the suburb where the sugar, about 500 kg, is shared out among the youths. This scenario has become all too common in parts of Zimbabwe, say civil society commentators. The militias allegedly sell the looted commodities on the parallel market for more than double the official price.
Graduates of the Border Gezi National Training Centre, in Mashonaland Central's Mount Darwin area, the militias have gained notoriety due to their propensity for violence. Formed in 2002, the youth training programme was the brainchild of the late Border Gezi, who was then the Zanu PF national commissar and Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, the ministry under which the programme falls. Speaking on national television recently, the director of the youth training programme, David Munyoro, said the programme was meant to promote discipline among the youth. Trainees were taught entrepreneurial skills such as carpentry, metal fabrication and building for purposes of self-help, he said. David Chimhini, the director of the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet),has dismissed Munyoro's statement. "What discipline is the government talking about when the products of the training exercise loot, assault and rape?" he asked. The pioneer training centre located in Gezi's home area, Mount Darwin in the northeast, has seen hundreds of youths join the programme. They have been lured by the government's promises of jobs after the six-week training stint, with a certificate of attendance being a prerequisite to join the army or the police. Other training points have since been set up at Kamativi in Matebeleland North, Mushagashe in Masvingo, Guyu in Matabeleland South, with the latest addition being Dadaya in the Midlands. The Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, announced the government's intention to open 35 other training centres countrywide. Some of the graduates of the training centres often go back to their places of origin where they are tasked with the training of other youths.
In Mashonaland Central, the youths from the nearby Border Gezi training centre are reported to be intimidating remaining white farmers in a bid to drive them off their land. A local privately owned daily newspaper reported that one Johan Muller, the owner of Silver Oak farm in Beatrice, 90-km west of Harare, was recently smeared with cow dung and soaked in a muddy pool of water for staying on his farm - which had not been designated for acquisition in the state's land reform programme. The youth brigades have earned themselves notoriety for looting shops under the guise of enforcing the government's price controls, while imposing unofficial curfews in areas perceived to be opposition strongholds. "These youths are further tarnishing the image of the government by engaging in daylight robbery. They are taking advantage of the current economic problems to rob us," said shop owner Joseph Zivanai. He was finding it difficult to operate since the youths regularly accused him of overpricing basic commodities so they could 'confiscate' his goods.
Human rights organisations and analysts have criticised the youth training programme. "The graduates are a notorious symbol of Zanu PF's intimidatory tactics," Chimhini told IRIN. He said the proliferation of the militias across the country had instilled fear in the electorate and believed this could have a negative effect ahead of next year's parliamentary by-elections. The government has also been criticised for spending money on an "extravagant" programme when the country was struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence. Critics argue that the money being used to train the youths could be channelled towards social services instead. "We should not even be toying with the idea of a national youth service programme. Instead, the money that is being used in the project should go to fund health [care] and schools. In any case, what is it that they are being taught there that cannot be taught in schools?" asked Brian Raftopoulous, chairman of civil society group Crisis in Zimbabwe. The budget allocation for the programme was increased from Z$418 million (US $7.7 million at the official rate) last year to more than Z$$2 billion (US $37 million at the official rate) this year. The government proposed the idea of youth national service in 1989, when the economy was still sound, but it was only two years ago during the emergence of real political opposition to Zanu PF, that the plan was implemented.
The ripple effect of violence, commentators say, is already evident in the manner in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has reacted to the beatings and torture allegedly carried out by the militias. "In my constituency, there is a watertight mechanism to counter the Green Bombers. I have a security team of young men and women who have managed to chase the militias away as soon as they are reported in the constituency," said MDC Member of Parliament (MP) for St Mary's in Chitungwiza, Job Sikhala. He also accused the Border Gezi youths of looting and theft. There was an outcry recently, particularly among the independent media, after reports that products of the ruling party's youth service were being given first preference in the enrolment of journalism students at Harare Polytechnic's media school. One recent graduate of the Border Gezi centre recounted his time at the centre. The graduate, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation, has since joined the police force. "There is hardly anything to eat there. In the morning we would be given a large spoon of porridge and an egg, followed by another spoonful of beans in the afternoon. Supper was also comprised of beans and we considered ourselves lucky if we could get sadza [a dry maize porridge] once in a while," he said. He recalled how trainees would be woken up early in the morning and forced to go to newspaper vending points to seize and burn copies of privately owned newspapers critical of the government. Recruits were made to chant revolutionary songs and denounce the MDC as a puppet of the West.
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From The Financial Mail (SA), 13 December
Bare cupboards and growing bread queues
Price freeze, dual interest rates and forex gap point to disaster
By Tony Hawkins, Harare
In the month since finance minister Herbert Murerwa tabled his 2003 budget, the sense of an economy - indeed a country that is on auto-pilot has deepened. Almost to a man, bankers, businessmen and analysts have condemned the budget, largely on the grounds of sheer irrelevance. Murerwa's friends defend him, claiming he is not responsible for the three key elements of government's economic policy: the attempt to close the parallel market for foreign exchange, "dual" interest rates and the price freeze. Arguably, none of the three is working. Though the official media claim that the price freeze has forced retailers to reverse across-the-board price hikes imposed immediately after the budget, shoppers tell a different story. "I am required to sell beef at a loss of Z$250/kg," said one retailer. "As a result, from next week, I won't be selling beef." Bakers say it is no longer practical for them to make bread. Consequently, bread queues are a familiar sight. Retailers are being fined for breaking price-control regulations that force them to sell below the cost of procurement.
Business leaders are adamant that it cannot last. The independent Financial Gazette claims that "at least half" the country's manufacturers will close in the first quarter of 2003. Anthony Mandiwanza, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, says: "A solution must be found before the end of the year. Most companies are in the process of reviewing their operations because of viability problems." Price control is not the only bone of contention. There is still no clarity on exchange-rate management. Bizarrely, when presenting his 2003 monetary policy statement late last month, Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor Leonard Tsumba flatly refused to discuss the exchange rate, confining himself to explaining his two-tier interest rate strategy. Under the new exchange control regulations, exporters are required to sell 50% of their export earnings to the central bank at the official exchange rate of Z$55 to the US dollar. The balance must be held at the Reserve Bank and, if it is not used within 60 days to finance the import of essential inputs, it must be sold at the official rate.
Mining and horticulture exporters have warned that they will no longer be in business if these regulations are implemented. Though most of the foreign currency bureaus have been closed (as ordered in the budget), parallel market dealings are continuing at exchange rates in the region of Z$1 600 to Z$1 750 to the US unit. But there is precious little trade as most exporters are hovering on the sidelines, waiting to see how authorities will respond to the warnings of export closures, including major players such as the ferrochrome industry. One mooted compromise is of a "blend rate" of Z$300/US1, half the Z$600 estimated to be a reasonable purchasing power parity approximation of what the rate should be. The dual interest rate strategy - lending rates of 5% for exporters and 15% for the productive sector - alongside lending rates for consumption set by market forces, are not yet a major issue for industry. The system has, however, been strongly criticised by banks on the grounds that it is unworkable because there will be substantial leakages from the concessional markets to the rest.
Business's real concern is that the attempt to maintain interest rates more than 100 percentage points below inflation can end only in disaster. In the words of one banker: "It does not matter whether we have two or five tiers, the net result will be excessive cheap borrowing and money creation, fuelling hyperinflation." Ticking away in the background is yet another time-bomb - the new labour legislation with stringent measures covering redundancy payments and the enforced conversion of contract workers into permanent staff.None of these policy measures is helping to resolve the crisis, economists say, merely making it worse. The poor start to the 2002-03 farming season (few farmers could plant in November because there was no rain) and growing predictions of an El Nino-driven drought in the first half of 2003, underline the gravity of the situation. Many are convinced that the three Fs - food, forex and fuel - will force a change of policy direction before much longer, but no-one is betting on just what form the eventual, inevitable U-turn will take.
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From BBC News, 19 December
Fuel crisis makes Zimbabwe dig deep
Zimbabwe is spending US$15m (£8.7m) of its desperately scarce foreign currency reserves on fuel imported from Kuwait and South Africa, to alleviate a shortage which has almost brought the country to a standstill. The move was announced in the government-controlled Herald newspaper by Energy and Power Development Minister Amos Midzi, who said the supplies would arrive "in the coming days". For two weeks, a critical lack of fuel has taken public buses off the streets, dealing yet more damage to an economy already in crisis. The embattled government of President Robert Mugabe threatened over the weekend to nationalise privately-held petrol stations owned by foreign oil giants such as BP, Mobil and Caltex. The government has yet to make clear where the foreign currency is going to come from to pay Kuwait's IPG and South Africa's Engen Petroleum. Zimbabwe has had problems obtaining sufficient fuel for several years, not least because it lacks the ability to pay for it. Agriculture has been disrupted by the seizure of most commercial farms for redistribution to landless black farmers. As a result, the export earnings from a country once seen as the breadbasket of Southern Africa have evaporated.
The mismatch between an official exchange rate of Z$55 to the US dollar and a "parallel market" rate now spiralling towards 2,000 means that where possible, businesses keep their foreign earnings out of the country. A fuel deal with Libya which allowed payment in local currency and produce is near collapse because the beef, sugar, coffee and tobacco Harare promised in return is too scarce to send. The deal, intended to deliver 70% of Zimbabwe's fuel needs, is also allowing Libyans access to some of the farmland in theory intended for the landless. And Libya is also keen on taking over pipelines held by state oil company Noczim, as well as other government assets. Mr Midzi is resisting the temptation to raise fuel prices, saying it would hit Zimbabwean consumers already stricken by severe food shortages exacerbated by price controls. He also defended the conduct of Noczim, whose officials have been accused in the Herald of wanting to scrap the Libya deal. Instead, the Herald alleged, they wanted to return to spot deals which would bring them foreign currency to trade on the parallel market. Zimbabwean economists have long accused the government of refusing to devalue in part because of the profits to be made by sustaining the parallel rates while controlling the main source of foreign currency.
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From Business Day (SA), 19 December
Deliveries halted as Harare fails to pay cash
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwe’s fuel crisis, which threatening to bring the economy to a grinding halt, is deepening amid revelations that all main suppliers have stopped deliveries because of government nonpayment. Fuel industry sources said yesterday that the situation had deteriorated rapidly because government was failing to settle its mounting debts and pay for the cash-on-delivery supplies. Official documents at hand show the government owes Tamoil Trading of Libya up to US$20m, the Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait US$65m, BP SA US$17,8m, Engen SA US$12m, Mobil Africa US$1,1m, Caltex US$7,8m, Libya Arab Foreign Bank US$43m and the government of Botswana US$4,4m. Zimbabwe also owes CFM railways US$1,4m and BP Mozambique US$1m for port charges. Sasol has also stopped supplying because of nonpayment. Zimbabwe pays for fuel by short-term credit financing, cash and long-term credit facilities. The Libyan Arab Foreign Bank and the Bank of Negara of Malaysia are the country's major financiers.
Talks with Tamoil officials to save the US$360m deal collapsed on Saturday after Zimbabwe refused to mortgage more state assets to the north Africans for fuel. The failure of the talks also scuttled plans by Zimbabwe's state-run fuel procurement agency, Noczim, to set up a joint venture company with Tamoil to supply and distribute fuel in the country. The new company was to have been called Tamoil-Zimbabwe. After the collapse of the dialogue, the Libyans insisted they would supply fuel only on a cash basis. "There is a ship which has docked at the port of Beira in Mozambique waiting for Zimbabwe to pay for the fuel," a source said. "But the government has no money and the fuel may end up being diverted elsewhere." At the weekend President Robert Mugabe blamed the Libyan deal's collapse on official incompetence and inefficiency. He also said Noczim officials were sabotaging his efforts to resolve the crisis.
Mugabe, who recently complained of "headaches and stomach aches" because of scrounging for fuel day and night, has promised to get involved personally to address the problem. In a bid to absolve the government, the state media have blamed Nozcim for fuel shortages. They claimed US$16m meant for fuel has not been accounted for by Nozcim officials. However, Noczim MD Webster Muriritirwa has said he was unaware of the missing money. The fuel task force involving industry and government said the situation, serious for the past 10 days, was getting worse. "It has been reported touts are selling petrol at vastly inflated prices to motorists in petrol queues," it said. "This is illegal as the petrol and diesel price is strictly controlled by government." Long fuel queues have of late been blocking streets in central Harare and creating confusion in the central business district. Yesterday queues blocked some main roads and disrupted traffic. The Movement for Democratic Change opposition said the crisis had reached "alarming levels" and Mugabe should simply resign.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 20 December
Libya sets tougher conditions for fuel
Dumisani Muleya
Libya’s Tamoil Trading Ltd, which until recently supplied 70% of Zimbabwe's fuel needs, is piling pressure on government to mortgage more state assets before its US$360 million supply deal can be resuscitated, it emerged yesterday. Fuel industry sources yesterday said BP/Shell assets in Harare and Gweru may be forcibly acquired and handed over to keep the Libyans happy. The industry sources said last week's talks between government and Tamoil representatives collapsed after authorities failed to make a firm commitment to cede more state properties. This comes amid revelations that Zimbabwe owes Tamoil US$48,3 million for fuel in addition to US$65 million owed to Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait. Despite paying IPG US$10 million in October, government owes other suppliers and different creditors over US$106 million. These include BP South Africa, Engen South Africa, Mobil Africa, Caltex, Libya Arab Foreign Bank and Bostwana. The Libyan debt in local dollar terms is $22 billion because the exchange rate agreed to between Zimbabwe and the Libyans, despite different official claims, is US$1 to $455,96. Two weeks ago, the Libyans demanded payment of $983,34 million, which is part of the debt, to continue supplying fuel. Zimbabwe was unable to raise the amount.
The Libyans also wanted state fuel procurement agency, Noczim's 50% equity in Petrozim, which is jointly owned by the struggling parastatal and Lonrho. They also intended to negotiate with Lonrho for a complete take-over. But the Libyans were only prepared to fork out US$48 million for the company, valued at US$100 million. In addition, the Libyans intended to acquire government's 51% stake in the vital Oil Blending Enterprises Ltd (Obel), a joint-venture between government and Total. Obel is crucial because it is the major supplier of lubricants. Tamoil officials also want a large chunk of the Industrial Development Corporation. Further, the Libyans want to increase their equity in the Jewel Bank from 11,68% to 24% but government declined because the bank would have ended up under foreign control. South Africa's Absa holds a 25% stake. The whole fuel infrastructure which the Libyans are eyeing is classified by the state as "strategic". "Government is reluctant to release the pipeline and the Msasa depot because, if Tamoil gets that and builds or acquires fuel distribution stations, government automatically loses control and Noczim becomes redundant," a source said. "The Libyans will establish a monopoly because they will become the supplier, wholesaler,and retailer of fuel."
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From Daily News, 19 December
War vets evict 40 families
From Our Correspondent
Nearly 40 families, including 21 children below five years of age, were evicted by the police and war veterans from land they occupied in Cashel in the Chimanimani area, after they were accused of supporting the MDC. They fled to Mutare where they were received by Zimbabwe Human Rights Association officials. They were later accommodated by the Anglican Diocese in Mutare. Another 22 children, aged between two and 11, were separated from their families during the attacks and their whereabouts were unknown as of Tuesday. The gang, allegedly led by the Cashel police officer-in-charge identified only as Inspector Masvongo, descended on the families and slashed a least 10 hectares of maize they had planted on land which they occupied. The attackers then allegedly torched several huts belonging to the victims, stole grain, beans, blankets and cutlery worth thousands of dollars. "War veterans came, led by Inspector Masvongo and Shepherd Kashiri, the chairman of the lands committee, saying our time to leave the constituency was long overdue," said Margaret Mangoba, one of the victims.
Mangoba, 60, said tearfully: "They took away my grain, beans and other property. They destroyed my house. Following the attacks, we approached the district administrator who told us to return to our homes without fear. But as soon as he left, the war veterans vowed to kill us if we dared to return to Cashel." Masvongo could not be reached for comment, although Zacharia Mutize, the deputy police spokesman in Manicaland, said he was unaware of the incident. The families fled their homes and sought refuge in nearby mountains. But the war veterans allegedly followed them into the mountains and beat them up again, insisting they leave the constituency. Nhamo Matsiya, another victim, said the incidents were reported to Roy Bennet, the MP for Chimanimani (MDC), who provided transport to ferry their belongings. Bennet offered part of his Charleswood Estate in Chimanimani to the victims until the matter was resolved. At the church premises on Tuesday, the children were seen playing around the yard while their mothers prepared food donated by well-wishers.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 20 December
Zimbabwe/Malaysia deal collapses
Godfrey Marawanyika
A much-touted bilateral trade agreement with Malaysia has been cancelled following Zimbabwe's failure to service a US$13,8 million debt due to the Far East country. The project was launched amid great fanfare in 2000 as part of government's drive to promote South-South co-operation. The cancellation comes as the country struggles to repay its ballooning foreign debt. Zimbabwe's domestic debt stands at $319 billion whilst foreign debt has shot up to US$491,1 million. Malaysia threw Harare a lifeline as traditional trading nations and donors shunned Zimbabwe after the adoption of damaging economic policies. Ministry of Finance sources said the non-settlement of the US$13,8 million debt led to the collapse, forcing the Malaysians to suspend the whole deal. However, Malaysian sources privately suggest it was not a "signed and sealed" deal in the first place. Failure of local exporters to utilise the facility due to concerns over the applicable exchange rate compounded the problem. The country has continued to accumulate arrears to various multilateral institutions. By June 14 this year, Zimbabwe's debt to the International Monetary Fund stood at US$131,3 million, and shot up to US$173, 6 million by December 6 due to interest accumulation. Conservative figures from the Ministry of Finance show that for the first six months of the year government owed the World Bank US$130,9 million, up from US$92 million in December last year.
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Comment from The Times (UK), 20 December
Truth is the latest casualty as ICC bends to Mugabe
By Simon Barnes, Chief Sports Writer
Yesterday, English cricket threw itself wholeheartedly into a publicity stunt on behalf of the corrupt and ruinous regime of a corrupt and half-ruined country. Yes, England will go to Zimbabwe in full, active and powerful support of Robert Mugabe, President and tyrant of this desperate and lovely place. We have nothing to do with politics, lied the International Cricket Council (ICC) at its press conference yesterday. Pah! Politics and sport have been blood brothers since the first national anthem was played at a sporting event. The cricket World Cup will take place mostly in South Africa, but with six matches taking place in Zimbabwe. There has been no international ban on sporting contacts with Zimbabwe as yet, but that’s not the point. The cricket World Cup is a significant, high-profile event and it will be held at a time that coincides with the escalating disaster of the Mugabe regime. It is Christmas that approaches, not Easter. It seems a little early for the washing of hands, but the ICC delegates did Pilate’s job yesterday. They declared that every issue in the world was outside their agenda except the question of player safety.
They can argue that issues of electoral fraud, murder and starvation are not strictly cricketing issues. That is not an impressive attitude, but it just about stands up if you want to see things that way. They give themselves away over the issue of free speech. They have sought absolutely no guarantees from the Zimbabwean Government about the right of the media to report what they see. "If journalists end up in other parts of the country outside Bulawayo and Harare (where the cricket is taking place), I would say they are going over the line," an ICC source told The Times this week. In other words, the ICC supports the right of the Zimbabwean Government to control the press. Zimbabwe can, if it wishes, inhibit the movements of the press and the subject matter they report. So if, say, I were to visit my old friend, Clive Stockhil, out on the Lowveld and his once-glorious Campfire project, I would deserve everything I got. This is an abnegation of responsibility on a massive scale. It has come about because the ICC is a bunch of provincial-minded small-timers on the global stage of sport. Before Beijing got the Olympic Games of 2008, the International Olympic Committee demanded that the Chinese Government give total freedom to the reporters who cover the event. If I choose to write about infanticide of female children or the plight of the Yangtze river dolphin, I will get no comeback from the Chinese Government.
Malcolm Gray, the ICC President, said: "The ICC and its members are concerned only with cricket-related issues." But freedom of the press is a cricket related-issue, one from which a fleet of other issues hangs. The IOC is concerned about press freedom: why isn’t the ICC? An event such as the cricket World Cup depends on the media. What sound does a cricket tournament make when it takes place in an uninhabited forest? A sporting event works because the world is interested in it; without anything to feed their interest - telly, radio, print - the event does not exist. The media is as much a part of sport as the administrators. This is not journalistic self-importance. It is to point out that freedom of reporting is as much a cricketing issue as the safety of players. The safety of some kinds of truth is also part of the agenda. So why wasn’t this safety sought? Funk, I suppose. The ICC has got itself into a dreadful position. It agreed to the Zimbabwe end of the World Cup in more peaceful times; now, in the escalating emergency that is Zimbabwe, it lacks the courage to pull the plug on the whole business. As a result, it is being exploited in a desperate attempt to demonstrate that the country is happy, prosperous and functioning. Cricket is being used to bolster up three manifest falsehoods. What is more, the press are expected to support those falsehoods by refusing to move out of Harare and Bulawayo and by sticking to the question of whether the white ball will reverse once fielding restrictions have been lifted. It stinks. It stinks of funk on this side and of shameless corruption on the other. Do you know the best gift you can give to a tyrant? Fear. The ICC has given Mugabe exactly what he wants.
And as for me, I love the place. I really do. Last time I was there, I spent two hours watching wild dogs with Stockhil, and another day tracking rhino on foot with a one-eyed black veteran of the Bush War. Got within a cricket pitch of the damn thing. That was living all right. Great people, great place, great beasts. This is one of the most wonderful places on God’s earth. I have applied for a visa and will go if I can and I will go to the cricket and write about what I see. Neville Cardus, the great cricket writer, covered a cricket match on the day that England entered the Second World War. He wrote, not about the way that cloud cover affects the lateral movement of the cricket ball, but the cloud of horror that was gathering over England and the world; the cloud, as seen from a green corner of old England. It is a classic piece of cricket writing. Once again, I ask with the great C. L. R. James: what do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?
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From SABC News, 20 December
Zimbabwe fuel crisis looming over holiday season
Fuel supplies are running out in Zimbabwe, as many residents also face starvation Zimbabwe's fuel crisis looked set to spill into the Christmas holiday season today, further dampening the mood of a nation grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades. A two-week fuel shortage has nearly paralysed public transport and left motorists waiting in long fuel queues, the most graphic evidence yet of an economic meltdown critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's government. Motorists were again lining up at Harare service stations after a government minister yesterday said that the country had ordered fuel worth over $15 million from Kuwait and South Africa to ease the shortage. "My plan was to travel to my village home today, but I cannot go anywhere because I have no fuel," said one motorist at a station which had run dry. "I spent the night here because the fuel pump attendants are saying they are expecting some deliveries but they don't know when it is coming," he added. Airlines have so far not been affected by the fuel crisis. Amos Midzi, Zimbabwe's Energy and Power Development Minister, said the emergency fuel shipments were expected in Zimbabwe over the weekend.
Midzi said a barter fuel deal with Libya had run into problems because Zimbabwe was unable to supply the beef, sugar and tobacco it agreed to pay for Libyan oil imports. The fuel crisis has worsened Zimbabwe's economic woes and sparked public anger against Mugabe's government, in power since independence from Britain in 1980. "What a miserable Christmas this promises to be with chronic fuel and food shortages," Zimbabwe's Independent newspaper said in a letter from the editor, entitled "Running on empty." Zimbabweans are grappling with shortages of many basic consumer goods, including bread, milk, cooking oil and sugar. Nearly half the country's 14 million people are threatened by severe food shortages which Mugabe has blamed on drought but his critics point to the state seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Mugabe denies he has grossly mismanaged the economy and says the country is a victim of sabotage by domestic and foreign opponents opposed to his land reforms.
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From the Zimbabwe Independent, 20 December
Govt mulls re-opening bureaux de change
Barnabas Thondhlana
Government is reportedly considering reversing its decision to close bureaux de change as the flow of hard currency to the central bank has now been reduced to a trickle, analysts have said. Whereas in the past the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had access to foreign currency traded on the bureaux market, the closure has seen even the little inflows disappear, worsening an already serious situation. "The foreign currency parallel market has gone underground," one money market dealer said. "Exporters with foreign currency will henceforth be banking their receipts offshore to avoid remitting 100% to the RBZ," he said. "Even Zimbabweans in the diaspora have now resorted to converting their foreign currency through enterprising Zimbabweans in their adopted countries, with the local currency being banked here." An informal foreign currency market has sprouted which can neither be monitored nor controlled. "It is agreed there were leakages in the bureaux market, but the economy was able to access the foreign currency for use in imports and production," said a bank executive. "Noczim, Zesa, even the central bank dipped into the parallel market to keep the economy afloat and make vital payments, but this is no longer the case," the executive said.
It is an open secret in the financial services sector that leading banks were commissioned by the RBZ to source foreign currency for it from the parallel market. The closure of bureaux was announced in tandem with a new ruling that exporters remit 50% of their receipts to the RBZ and 50% to a pool from which beneficiaries would be allocated currency on a needs basis. This led to the closure of corporate Foreign Currency Accounts. While government was of the view that the closure of FCAs would result in a bonanza as about US$40 million was deposited in FCAs, all it managed to access was a paltry US$4/5 million. Most of the deposited funds had been sold or donated to other exporters to avoid depositing them with the RBZ and reaping a pegged exchange rate. The exchange rate, which at the end of November dipped against the greenback, has crept back to its lofty heights of between $1 500/$1 800 to the United States unit.
The central bank has reportedly issued a directive to banks to limit large withdrawals of money in a bid to nip the foreign currency black market in the bud. Banking sources confirmed that any withdrawals of $5 million and above now required central bank approval and one had to explain what one required the currency for. "Government was hoping closing bureaux would see inflows strengthen to about US$3 million a day, but this has not materialised," said the money market dealer. "Despite hard lobbying for bureaux not to close, government still went ahead and shot itself in the foot. The only option left now is for the re-opening of the bureaux and this is expected to occur sometime early next year." Association of Bureaux de Change Zimbabwe chairman Nesbert Tinarwo said they were still holding talks with government over the closure. "We have not heard anything on re-opening but I can confirm we are holding talks with a view to finding the best way f orward," Tinarwo said.
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From IOL (SA), 20 December
Top Commonwealth officer 'not welcome' in Zim
Harare - Zimbabwe banned the head of the Commonwealth from the country on Friday - the latest diplomatic row between the troubled southern African country and the organisation representing Britain's former colonies. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon had requested a meeting with Zimbabwean authorities to discuss the Commonwealth decision to suspend Zimbabwe from its decision-making councils, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Friday. The decision was made shortly after election observers accused the increasingly unpopular President Robert Mugabe of rigging March presidential elections to extend his 22-year rule. McKinnon's request to visit Zimbabwe was turned down because his "intentions were not legitimate," Willard Chiwewe, a senior foreign ministry official said. Chiwewe also dismissed as "flawed" a committee made up of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa formed by the Commonwealth of Britain and 53 former colonies to co-ordinate actions against Zimbabwe. "It cannot be a legitimate guide for Zimbabwe's relations and status in the Commonwealth," Chiwewe said.
As Zimbabwe teeters on collapse, its diplomatic relations have also suffered. The European Union, the United States and Switzerland have imposed limited travel and investment sanctions against Mugabe's top government officials. More than six and a half million Zimbabweans, almost 50 percent of the population, face hunger in the coming months because of a sharp drop in agricultural production blamed on a drought and the government's controversial seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms. Zimbabwe has been ravaged by nearly three years of political and economic turmoil widely blamed on the ruling party. Last week, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said the Commonwealth had sent election observers to the March presidential vote who were supporters of what he called "a British campaign to tarnish the country's image". In November, Zimbabwe barred British Prime Minister Tony Blair and about 90 British government ministers and European Parliament members from the country.
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From The Financial Gazette, 19 December
Dialogue between Zim, C’wealth breaks down
Staff Reporter
Dialogue between Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth has broken down, with Harare said to be refusing to even return telephone calls or diplomatic notes from Don McKinnon, the secretary-general of the 54-nation club of mainly former British colonies, diplomatic sources told the Financial Gazette this week. McKinnon was tasked by the Commonwealth to initiate dialogue with Zimbabwe, which was booted out of the councils of the organisation over its March presidential poll, which the Commonwealth says President Robert Mugabe won through violence and fraud. The group discusses Zimbabwe again at its heads of state and government meeting in Nigeria in three months time. "Since South Africa and Nigeria blocked tougher action against Mugabe, he has become more defiant against the Commonwealth and will not even respond to McKinnon’s efforts at restarting positive dialogue. There is no progress whatsoever on that issue," a Harare-based diplomat said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge could not be reached for comment on the matter yesterday. However, Mudenge recently announced that the government had finished compiling a comprehensive response to the Commonwealth presidential election observer group’s report, upon whose recommendations Zimbabwe was suspended from the club. Director for information and public affairs at the Commonwealth’s London-based secretariat, Joel Kibazo, told the Financial Gazette by phone: "The secretary-general (McKinnon) has made repeated attempts to have cooperation and dialogue with the Zimbabwe government over the last few months but so far, these attempts have proved fruitless."
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo, who together with Australian Prime Minister John Howard form a special troika on Zimbabwe, blocked tougher sanctions against Harare in September. The African leaders argued that Harare should be allowed another six months to address the concerns of the Commonwealth before the group could take tougher measures. Mbeki and Obasanjo also agreed that McKinnon should reopen dialogue and cooperation with Harare during the half year. Analysts say Commonwealth sanctions against landlocked Zimbabwe would immediately bring down Mugabe and his government because all the landlocked country’s neighbours are members of the group. Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party have been able to defy smart sanctions imposed against them by the European Union, United States of America, Switzerland Australia, New Zealand and Canada only because of the support of its regional neighbours.
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From News24 (SA), 21 December
Zim short of banknotes
Harare - Along with shortages of fuel, water, bread and many other basic commodities, Zimbabweans now have also to contend with a scarcity of banknotes, the state-controlled Herald newspaper said on Saturday. Zimbabwe is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in the country's 22 years of independence from white minority rule, with high unemployment, widespread poverty and inflation at 175.5%. Long winding queues, already a common sight outside supermarkets and petrol stations in the southern African country, have now also sprung up outside banks as shoppers jostle to withdraw money. Banks are running short of cash due to a surge in demand from Christmas shoppers and lack of foreign currency to import the paper to print new notes, the Herald reported. "(Friday) was a nightmare to many people who spent almost the whole day queuing for their money at ATMs (automatic teller machines) and inside banking halls," the paper said.
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From News24 (SA), 21 December
Fuel trickles into Zim
Cris Chinaka
Harare - Emergency fuel imports began trickling into Zimbabwe on Saturday, but industry sources said the amounts were too small to have a major impact on a severe fuel shortage that has crippled the country. A two-week fuel shortage has almost ground the country to a halt, paralysing public transport and leaving motorists in long fuel queues - highlighting an economic meltdown critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's government. The fuel crisis has dampened the Christmas holiday season of a nation already grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades, including serious food shortages. Motorists jammed a few fuel service stations that received some petrol and diesel early on Saturday, but oil industry sources said the supplies expected from the emergency imports would not help much. "The supplies we are seeing so far are too small to make a major difference, and only a few service stations have received some fuel so far," one source said.
Energy and Power Development Minister Amos Midzi said on Thursday the country had ordered fuel worth over $15 million from Kuwait and South Africa to ease the shortage. He expected the shipments to arrive in Zimbabwe on Saturday and Sunday. Midzi said a barter fuel deal with Libya had run into problems because Zimbabwe was unable to supply the beef, sugar and tobacco it had agreed to pay for Libyan oil imports and had no foreign currency for other oil import deals. Midzi and officials from the country's sole oil procurement agency NOCZIM were unavailable for further comment on Saturday. The fuel crisis has worsened Zimbabwe's economic woes and sparked public anger against Mugabe's government, in power since independence from Britain in 1980. Zimbabweans are grappling with shortages of many basic consumers goods, including bread, milk, cooking oil and sugar. Nearly half of the country's 14 million people are threatened by severe food shortages which Mugabe has blamed on drought but his critics point to the state seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
Mugabe (78) denies he has grossly mismanaged the economy and says the country is a victim of sabotage by domestic and foreign opponents opposed to his land reforms. Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper reported on Saturday that besides grappling with the fuel shortage Christmas shoppers had been hit by a cash shortage at automated bank machines. An unprecedented demand for cash had seen some banks running out of bank notes in the past week, especially the highest denominated 500 Zimbabwe dollar bills, it said. The newspaper quoted official sources as saying that the currency shortage was due to the high demand in cash and a shortage of foreign currency to import the special paper used to print money. Zimbabwe's annual inflation hit a record 175.5% in November, and private economists say it might reach 400% by the end of next year.
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From SABC News, 21 December
Traffic building up at Beitbridge Border Post
Traffic has started building up at the Beitbridge Border Post. Elvis Mafhungo, an official at the border post, says the slow clearance process on the Zimbabwean Customs offices is causing a delay on the movement of people. Mafhungo further says the shortage of fuel in Zimbabwe is a major contributory factor as people travel from Zimbabwe to come and fill-up in Musina, and later have to be cleared for a second time on the South African side. Mafhungo says the Customs and Immigration Staff in South Africa are working hand-in-hand to control the situation. Mafhungo says truck movement is currently under control.
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From News24 (SA), 21 December
Student activists arrested
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe arrested at least 10 student activists on charges of assaulting supporters of the ruling party, state radio reported on Saturday. Police spokesperson Bothwell Mugariri confirmed the arrests, which took place on Friday morning at a students' congress. The 10 students were being held on assault charges, but the political affiliation of those who were assaulted could not immediately be confirmed, Mugariri said. But Paul Munjenge, the legal secretary of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) denied the charges, and said up to 14 students were being held without charge in a jail outside Harare. He told reporters that police broke up a congress the union held on Friday that was scheduled to be addressed by opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Munjenge claimed the police also wanted to know personal details about the union's executive members, including their political affiliation. "It looks like the government is now having a clamp-down on students," he said. He said 10 of those arrested were "very strong" opposition activists. Four others were arrested in the low-income suburb of Kuwadzana for having documents relating to the congress, Munjenge claimed, but this has not been confirmed by police.
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From ZWNEWS, 22 December
Chiredzi arrest list
The officer in charge on the Chiredzi police, Inspector Bhebhe, yesterday told the local cane farmers association that he intends to arrest 25 farmers this weekend on charges on remaining on their farms. Due to the Christmas holidays, the courts will not open until Monday 30 December, so anyone arrested will spend the holiday season in custody. This is the latest event in a long campaign of harassment of the Chiredzi cane farmers, who say they have written official permission from the District Administrator, Mr Sanjobo, to remain on their properties.
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From The Washington Times, 19 December
Africa's growing hunger
By Danna Harman
Christian Science Monitor
Boston - The Liberty Grace set sail from Louisiana on a hot, sticky evening in late August. Capt. John Codispoti and his crew steered downriver to the mouth of the Mississippi River, across the Gulf of Mexico, and in the early hours of Sept. 3, reached the open ocean and turned toward Africa. On board, sealed in six cavernous holds, were 50,000 tons of yellow corn kernels - a small part of the U.S. government's donation to an international emergency effort to help 14.5 million men, women and children facing hunger in six southern African countries. In the past few months, the consignment of corn traveled from Midwestern farms to the ports of East Africa, where it was unloaded and bagged. It will be piled high onto trains and trucks, and hauled to warehouses scattered across the region. And it will be balanced on heads and dragged in carts to the huts of the hungry. But along its journey, this corn will encounter many of the continent's problems, both old and new: corruption, Western trade barriers and subsidies, concerns about genetic modification and AIDS. It is these problems, more than just the drought, that are at the heart of Africa's growing hunger. The solutions to the African hunger crisis are as complicated as the problems. The challenge for the six countries - Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland - is not just to get through the immediate food shortage, but also to find ways to keep the problem from happening again next year. "This is not the same old story. There are deep-rooted problems in the region," said Tim Osborne, Malawi country director of CARE, an Atlanta-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) that helps fight global poverty. "Various factors have combined to make the populations so vulnerable that they cannot cope with any new crisis. This is an emergency all right - a long-term emergency."
Moreblessing Tigre stands guard at a small grain warehouse on the outskirts of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, jiggling her ring of keys. She is the senior logistics officer and takes her job very seriously. Back in June, World Vision, another NGO, rented an old handbag factory and transformed it into a warehouse for emergency food aid. Today, the rooms are filled with hundreds of bags of corn from the United States, ready to be put on trucks and sent to distribution centers scattered around these barren plains. Mrs. Tigre is in charge. About 6.7 million Zimbabweans - about half the population - are facing hunger and depending on food aid to get them through the coming months, according to the World Food Program (WFP). When the warehouse is emptied, Mrs. Tigre explains, pushing back her thick glasses and pulling her hair into a bun, new truckloads of corn are supposed to come in. Part of the consignment on board the Liberty Grace will soon make its way here. "I am so busy moving the corn in and out that I really have no idea where it comes from," Mrs. Tigre said. "To be honest, I don't much mind. As long as enough gets here on time. That's good. That's a start." A start, but not an end. Because in Zimbabwe, as in other countries, even when the corn arrives at the warehouses and is sent to distribution centers, there is no guarantee that the neediest will receive it. Here, the problem is government mismanagement and corruption. "There is no doubt that the developing famine in Zimbabwe is rooted in bad governance and corrupt practices," said John Prendergast, Africa director at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank. As elsewhere in the region, there has been a drought in Zimbabwe. But in years past, Zimbabwe was able to sustain itself though similar drought periods, and even continue exporting to its neighbors. This year has been a different story. President Robert Mugabe's land-reform policy - taking land from minority white farmers and giving it to the landless black majority - has crippled the commercial farm sector.
For Mildred Rashal, this has been a good year. Her restaurant, Taks Tenth Avenue, in downtown Bulawayo, is packed every day with the city's bigwigs. "People are moving into new opportunities. There is a lot of money floating around," she said, touching up her lipstick. Outside, a long line of Zimbabweans queue for bread. They have been there since dawn. Mrs. Rashal pays them no attention. Because Mrs. Rashal's father was a politician, she grew up in the suburbs and had more money than most other black girls in town. She was the first nonwhite to attend the neighborhood private school. "I was not accepted," she said matter-of-factly. "Sometimes one of the girls would bring back lollipops from vacation in South Africa. There were 30 of us in the class and she would bring back 29. Nothing for me." Mrs. Rashal leans forward. "That was then - and this is now," she said slowly. "That's the way life goes. It's not about revenge. It's just a cycle. We have reclaimed what is ours." What black Zimbabweans have reclaimed is land. Mr. Mugabe's fast-track land-reform policies were intended to redress the imbalance in land ownership and wealth in Zimbabwe by transferring farms from the minority white commercial farmers - who held vast tracts of fertile land and produced more than 80 percent of the country's food to the majority landless blacks. But in practice, during the past two years, many of these farms were handed over to wealthy Zimbabweans connected to the government, like Mrs. Rashal's family, who have little interest in farming. In other cases, the landless were trucked in to squat on these farms, but were not provided the tools, seeds or know-how needed to tend them properly. The former breadbasket of the region can no longer support even itself. Now, the continuation of bad governmental practices is making it hard for international aid organizations to remedy the food problem. Mr. Mugabe's government banned private food imports late last year. The government-run grain marketing board, which is managed by top military and intelligence officials, was given control over imports, allowing many of them to make a profit from the resale of food at exorbitant prices.
Worse yet, there are charges that food distribution is being politicized, with aid organizations being steered toward certain areas. The government denies these charges, but several aid organization officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirm this takes place. In October, the WFP officially suspended the distribution of relief supplies in a district of southwestern Zimbabwe, charging that Mr. Mugabe's party was interfering with distributions by seizing food aid and intimidating workers. "Relief food distributions are not the place for any kind of political activity," said a WFP statement. "WFP will only distribute its food on the basis of need without regard to partisan affiliation." "This is not a black-white issue, although it is portrayed this way," said Zimbabwean economist Erich Bloch, a vocal critic of the government. "This is about destroying the economy and hurting the poorest of the poor all blacks - for the sake of the rich and powerful. The next six months will be the worst this country has ever seen, and the region will suffer for our suffering as well."
On the old road leading from Dete to Binga, in the northwest part of Zimbabwe, there is a little village with no name. People here are feeling the effects of food politics. Only two children in this village attend school. The rest, barefoot and half naked, hang around all day by the rusting foosball machine, using unripe berries as the game balls when they get up enough energy for a match. This area should be getting food shipments from Bulawayo, but no trucks have come this way. In the town of Binga, the nearest center, an attempt at distributing food a few months ago was stopped when war veterans from a different area came in and claimed the food, according to eyewitnesses. "We all went and voted for [the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change] in the elections, but we did not succeed," said villager Matias Muleya. "So now other regions get aid, but the government doesn't let the food come here." Back at Taks restaurant, Mrs. Rashal rushes so she can pick up her son from cricket practice. One of the World Vision trucks, stacked high with bags of corn, passes. Mrs. Rashal does not seem to notice. "I'm running a business. I don't really care about hunger issues," she said. "I have my connections. I phone this one, that one - get what I need. It's not that I don't care. It's just, well, what could I do to help? I have nothing to do with the weather."
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From SABC News, 23 December
Motorists stuck at Beitbridge
There are still long queues of trucks and other vehicles at the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe outside Musina in the Limpopo province. The border post traffic jam started yesterday morning, and by late afternoon the traffic flow at the border gate was still slow. Custom and immigration officials at the gate complained about uncooperative motorists. They say especially taxi drivers were mainly to blame for the jam. Today trucks and vehicles queued for almost four kilometers from the entrance of the Beitbridge Border Post. The shortage of fuel in Zimbabwe has filling stations at Musina and Beitbridge struggling to keep up with the demand as Zimbabweans cross the border to buy petrol.
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From CNN, 22 December
Zimbabwe fuel crisis halts getaway
Harare - A fuel shortage is hampering the efforts of thousands of Zimbabweans to travel to rural homes for Christmas. Many were left stranded at bus stations across the southern African country on Sunday as a severe fuel crisis crippled public transport. Oil industry sources say emergency fuel imports that began trickling into Zimbabwe on Saturday has had little impact on a fuel shortage that has virtually ground the country to a halt. Zimbabwe's fuel pumps have run dry in the last three weeks, dramatising a deepening economic crisis which many blame on mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's government. Harare's main rural bus station was jammed with travellers on Sunday. Some said they had waited two days. "I have been here since Friday evening, but I have not been able to fight my way into one of the few buses to my home," one woman told Reuters. "If I don't get anything by sunset today, I will have to give up and spend my Christmas here." Zimbabwe state media reported that commuters were stranded in many other cities as lack of fuel choked bus services. The crisis has dampened the holiday season in a nation already grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades, including serious food shortages.
Energy Minister Amos Midzi said on Thursday a barter deal with Libya to supply 70 percent of fuel needs had run into problems as Zimbabwe was unable to supply the beef, sugar and tobacco it pledged in return. He said Zimbabwe had ordered fuel worth over $15 million from Kuwait and South Africa, sparking a run on petrol stations as motorists waited for the emergency imports which were scheduled to begin arriving over the weekend. Oil industry sources said some supplies have been trickling in, but in very small amounts. The fuel crisis has worsened Zimbabwe's economic woes and sparked public anger against Mugabe's government. Zimbabweans are grappling with shortages of many basic consumers goods, including bread, milk, cooking oil and sugar. Nearly half the country's 14 million people are threatened by severe food shortages which Mugabe has blamed on drought but his critics blame the state seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Mugabe, 78, denies claims he has grossly mismanaged the economy and says the country is a victim of sabotage by domestic and international opponents to his land reforms.
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From News24 (SA), 22 December
Journo accused of spying for BBC
Harare - The Zimbabwe government has accused a local journalist of spying for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the state- controlled Sunday Mail reported. The paper, which reflects government views, said Lewis Machipisa, a Zimbabwean correspondent for BBC radio, was being hired by Britain's foreign office to also film and write stories for BBC television. The BBC has been officially banned from the country, but Machipisa, a Zimbabwean national, has been able to continue working here for the broadcaster. A senior BBC official quoted in the Sunday Mail denied the allegations against Machipisa and also said the BBC was not behind an exiled radio station broadcasting into Zimbabwe from London, as the government had suggested. The permanent secretary in Zimbabwe's information ministry, George Charamba told the BBC in a letter quoted in the Sunday Mail that the BBC's denials of these charges were not accepted or believed. The charges against Machipisa come ahead of the December 31 deadline set by the government for all journalists working here to be registered, turned down or de-registered under tough new press laws.
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From ZWNEWS, 23 December
Chiredzi reprieve
The 25 Chirdezi cane farmers who were yesterday threatened with arrest on charges of staying on their farms have been granted a temporary reprieve, a spokesperson for the group said yesterday. The farmers had been notified that they would be arrested last weekend, and would be likely to spend the Chrsitmas holiday period in custody because the courts do not reopen until next Monday. Yesterday police notified the group that they would instead be arrested on 27 December.
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From The South China Morning Post, 21 December
Mugabe accused of blocking food aid for his foes
The Zimbabwean leader has created such a climate of fear that many villagers are afraid to accept help, says an aid agency
Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Harare
The World Food Programme, perhaps Zimbabwe's last bastion of mass food aid for a starving population, has warned of an increasingly deadly control being exercised by President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party over people in famine-hit rural parts of the country. A group of workers from the UN famine-relief agency was registering people to receive food aid in the northern village of Mashambanhaka, where they tried to explain to villagers the food did not come from the government. Like most places in the district of Uzumba-Maranga-Pfungwe, about 150km north of Harare, the village's grain stores have run empty and many were hungry. "But they wouldn't have anything to do with it," said an agency worker. "They thought the food was coming from the opposition [Movement for Democratic Change]. It took a lot of talking to reassure them we have nothing to do with any political parties." Local politicians refer to the district as a ruling party "one-party state". In the flawed presidential elections in March, Mr Mugabe got 93 per cent of the vote in the district, the highest in the country. The turnout of 73 per cent was also the highest. The election was followed by a campaign of violent retribution against anyone suspected of voting for the opposition.
Meanwhile, a surprise find was made at Musanhi, in the Uzumba-Maranga-Pfungwe district. In a classroom at a primary school sacks were found of maize stamped with the words: "Gift of United Kingdom", the country constantly at the receiving end of Mr Mugabe's hate rhetoric. Officials of the UN agency wearing blue T-shirts are distributing maize to about 4,000 people in the village. Heads of families are grouped according to their villages and sit in the shade of trees, patiently waiting their turn for a monthly ration of 12kg. It is surprising that there are no t-shirts printed with Mr Mugabe's face, no war veterans or members of the notorious green-uniformed youth militia, no slogan chanting: no politics at all. It is rare for any gathering of a couple of thousand people in Zimbabwe to form without the control of the ruling party. However, the UN agency has been the world's most important distributor of food aid since 1963, usually in countries run by corrupt or repressive administrations. Out of this experience came the agency's principle that any taint of local politics compromises the principle of giving food to the hungry.
Aid agencies have reported widespread, comprehensive evidence of Mr Mugabe's government excluding even suspected opposition supporters from state famine relief operations. There is constant "low level political interference", said Goodson Murinyi, programme assistant for the agency. "Party people always think they have to benefit first." The agency this month plans to feed a total of 5.9 million people in Zimbabwe, out of about seven million believed at risk from a national population of 14 million. Until last month, the organisation was catering only to the most vulnerable - children, the elderly and the bed-ridden. But now everybody is vulnerable, the UN agency says. "The last two months have been the breaking point," said agency spokesman Luis Clements. "Many people who had some resources have sold them off. They are desperate now, they have no other source of food. We have hit the wall." At Musanhi's primary school, most children fall asleep at break time. "They are not getting enough to eat," said a teacher. "If you wake them up, they will look at you without listening. We leave them to sleep." The key to the agency's system of distribution is its comprehensive list of recipients. They consult the local famine relief authorities' lists, but it's usually inadequate. Earlier this year in Zvimba district, Mr Mugabe's home area, agency workers found that the official famine relief list appeared to leave out a ward. They were told it did not exist any more. The workers went in search of it. They found the missing ward, with several thousand hungry people. Mr Murinyi said: "They told us they were always left out of anything to do with the government. Because they were opposition."
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 23 December
To have or have not
By Michael Hartnack
Few Zimbabweans will celebrate Christmas this year. The country’s festive season is overshadowed by the collapse of commercial agriculture, long fuel queues, struggles to find basic commodities, let alone a Christmas Day chicken, soaring inflation, millions facing starvation, and increasing state-sponsored violence. But there are just a few in celebratory mood - such as the daughter of a prominent Zanu PF establishment figure who is a sixth form pupil at one of Harare’s elite private schools. Before the school broke up for Christmas she proudly invited all her classmates to spend a few days over the holidays "at our new farm." In addition to the mansion-like homestead, with spectacular views of the Enterprise Valley 40 km northeast of Harare, there were wonderful facilities including tennis and squash courts and a swimming pool, she boasted. Sources at the school said the invitation was politely declined by pupils who knew the family recently evicted, at a few hours' notice, from the home four generations had built up over 80 years.
However, despite special credit lines arranged for them by Robert Mugabe’s regime, even the political elite are having difficulty getting soil back into production on the seized farms. And many so-called war veterans and peasants who were allocated or grabbed plots during Mugabe's three year fast track land reform have abandoned them in the search for food relief handouts. "Zimbabwe is now a nation where everything is in short supply except violence, misery, disease and death," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, told reporters at a pre-Christmas news conference. Inflation last week reached 175,5 percent, according to the Central Statistical Office, and the International Monetary Fund predicts it may hit 522,2 percent in a few months. Some firms plan to extend their annual Christmas shut-down well into the New Year since they can neither afford to sustain production in the face of soaring input costs and officially-imposed price controls, nor go into liquidation and pay redundant workers the termination benefits stipulated by law.
Mugabe and his cronies, however, press on real life examples of the observation by award-winning Zimbabwean novelist Chenjerai Hunzwi: "African governments are never bankrupt until the pantry is State house is empty." As Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo feuds with the opposition-controlled Harare City Council, residents wonder whether there will be water in the taps come Christmas Day in addition to the usual shortages of maize meal, bread, sugar, cooking oil, salt, pet food, paraffin, petrol and diesel. The council was finally given the foreign exchange to import it last week. Meat - particularly beef - has become the latest casualty of Mugabe's attempts to force prices down below costs of production. Retail chains have withdrawn beef from their shelves following a state edict that it had to be sold for 30 - 50 percent less than it can be bought from slaughterhouses. Butchery shelves last week displayed a few 500g packets of chicken pieces at Z$750, and similar size packets of imported lamb chops for Z$2 000 - half the entire monthly wage for a domestic worker. In rural areas, people are already dying of starvation, says Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo. In towns, two children were killed in stampedes for maize meal. Maize meal supposed to sell for Zimbabwe Z$380 a 5kg pack fetches Zimbabwe Z$800 for 3kg "under the counter"; cooking oil (controlled price Z$136) is Z$1 000 for 750ml, and sugar (controlled price Z$150 for 2kg) is $700. A 20 litre can of petrol sold for 10 times the Z$74,40/litre official pump price.
Officials at Tongogara Refugee Camp at Chipinge, in the southeast of the country, report starving Zimbabwean women are begging male inmates to marry them so they can get on the ration list. "If I do not show him love, he will kick me out," said one reluctant bride. Families at Midzi, in the northeast, say funerals have become a nightmare with thousands of "mourners" turning up in the hope of customary food handouts from the grieving family. It will be a relief to many rural households if famished urban relatives cannot get transport home for the holidays. Mugabe pledged at his ruling party congress December 14 to tackle the fuel crisis personally, saying without a trace of irony that he didn’t understand why there were fuel shortages, and adding: "There has to be quick action to ensure the holiday spirit is not spoiled." For everyone else the explanation is obvious. Libya, the main supplier, has demanded hard currency or bankable assets up front, and reportedly wants shares in banks, industries, commercial enterprises or tourist facilities if payment cannot be made in US dollars.
Like the sixth form schoolgirl with the new family farm, another Zimbabwean smiling this Christmas will be Zanu PF administration secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa, who doubles as parliamentary speaker and fancies himself as Mugabe's political heir. He sneaked in a quick shopping trip to Cape Town under the guise of representing Mugabe at the ANC party congress. He was loudly cheered by delegate for denouncing the "neo-liberal individualistic and predominantly capitalistic world view which is totally alien to our African people … this view which holds the rights of a few to be supreme over those of the majority." Mnangagwa got an affectionate hug from Mbeki, who studiously ignores Zimbabwe's widening gap between rich and poor, between the political elite and the 12 million ordinary citizens. Next week Mugabe and Mnangagwa may play act the roles of Good King Wenceslas and his page at a few celebrations for the party faithful. However, the sentries with their AK47s and CIO men in dark glasses will ensure no one gets a glimpse behind the high walls and imported South African razor wire to see how they really feast with their families.
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From News24 (SA), 23 December
Beit Bridge traffic 'manageable'
Pretoria - Truck traffic at the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe was backed up for kilometers on end on Monday, but not quite as bad as it was in the past two days, the home affairs department said. "The lines are long, but manageable," spokesperson Leslie Mashokwe said. On the South African side of the border post, trucks were standing still for about 4km at noon. On the other side, the line was "much longer", Mashokwe said. Visitor traffic was also busy but not congested, he added. "We are able to cope." The border post was open from 07:00 to 16:00 for trucks, and 24 hours for visitors both ways. During the past two days, officials were unable to cope and many truck drivers had to spend the night at the border post. Mashokwe said about five additional staff were brought in to help on the South African side to try and relieve the congestion. Also, commando members in the Musina area had volunteered to help and were conducting traffic patrols. Traffic was stopped at certain points and let through a few at a time in an orderly fashion. Mashokwe said the current congestion was not normal, even for the festive season. It had been blamed partly on the petrol and food shortages in Zimbabwe. The delays were worsened by the fact that access control on the Zimbabwean side of the border post was still being done by hand, while South Africa used computers, Mashokwe said.
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From News24 (SA), 23 December
EU concerned about Zim arrests
Copenhagen - The European Union expressed its "profound concern" on Monday over the arrest of 10 trade unionists in Zimbabwe and allegations of mistreatment during their detention. A statement from Denmark, current holder of the EU presidency, said the arrests followed "a number of other acts of intimidation and violence committed against trade unions in recent months. "Free trade unions play a vital part in a normal society. By attempting to intimidate the trade union movement by arresting its leaders, the Zimbabwean police have acted in a partisan manner," it said. The statement recalled that as a member of the International Labour Organisation, the government of Zimbabwe was committed to respecting fundamental principles and rights at work. "The economic crisis in Zimbabwe is intensifying. The European Union urges the government of Zimbabwe to engage in a political dialogue with civil society and to respect the rights of trade unions," the statement added.
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From The Times (UK), 24 December 24
Mugabe's land of penury and propaganda
From Michael Hartnack in Harare
The light of the African dawn breaks through the canopy of umbrella thorns, and a skein of ibis wing overhead. Guinea fowl and Heuglin’s robins call from surrounding gardens. The idyll is dispelled by the sound of radios from the cars queueing for petrol. For the third morning I have arrived at a service station in suburban Harare hoping to find fuel. It is 4.30am and there are 70 vehicles ahead of me. The previous day, 12 hours’ queueing for a turn at the pumps yielded nothing. At 5am the drivers turn down the hymn of hate against whites Chave Chimurenga! (Civil war has come) - Our land is our prosperity!" which state stations are ordered to broadcast every 20 minutes. Some with shortwave switch to the BBC, or to a religious station broadcasting carols about goodwill, humanity, love, compassion, peace. There is no mention on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation news of the threat to eight million Zimbabweans of starvation, the 22 years of corruption and mismanagement that have caused the crisis in what used to be called "Africa’ s breadbasket".
The young mother ahead of me is desperate for petrol to seek presents for her two young sons. "We just haven’t got the money to have a proper Christmas this year," she says, although her husband, a vet, earns enough to stave off the worst deprivation. For many families in the capital’s crowded townships Christmas dinner will be sweet potatoes with peanut butter and spinach followed by mangoes. With inflation officially at 175 per cent, most cannot pay black market prices for maize meal, bread and cooking oil. President Mugabe’s "return to socialism" has now brought the withdrawal of meat from the shops after the state ordered it to be sold at prices 30-50 per cent below cost. Like other scarce goods, including petrol, diesel and paraffin (used for cooking), it is sold under the counter for up to 20 times the controlled price.
After so much queueing the battery in my car has given out and it is necessary to push when, miraculously, a tanker arrives. The attendants start serving at 6.30am, by which time 100 cars are jostling for position behind mine. A 4X4 containing four burly young blacks who are waving beer bottles and evidently drunk tries to push ahead of me, but, encouraged by the drivers behind me, I frantically close the gap. "Hey, white man! You must ******* move your car quicker, you ******* useless old ****!" the four men shout at me. A middle-aged black woman tears them off a strip while an angry knot of motorists, all black. back her up. The would-be queue-jumpers roar off, leaving a powerful feeling of social solidarity that banishes any sense of racial antagonism left by the loudmouths. "They should make Mugabe’s ministers queue like this for petrol and bread," the woman says. "Then they would learn about this country."
We talk about the Kenyan elections which bear an ugly resemblance to our rigged polls, in which the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was cheated of office. "They will go to any length to get power and keep power," a man in his thirties says, "but when they have got it, they aren’t competent to exercise it." He is a doctor finishing a master’s degree in surgery. This Christmas he will be on duty in a government hospital struggling to cope without adequate supplies. Even in Botswana, he could earn 30 times the 60,000 Zimbabwean dollars (£30 at a realistic exchange rate) he takes home each month. The bonds of the extended family keep him here, together with a feeling that he is gaining far more clinical experience than would be available in somewhere like Britain. "You feel needed - your work has value," he says. After three and a half hours we near the front of the queue. Our stomach muscles tighten with fear lest the attendants say the tanks are empty, but our luck holds. It feels like the dissolution of a longstanding comradeship when we leave. We shake hands and wish each other well.
Correction - In yesterday's issue, in the article entitled 'To have or have not', we erroneously referred to the award-winning Zimbabwean novelist as Chenjerai Hunzwi. The award-winning novelist is, of course, Chenjerai Hove. This was an editing, not an authorial, error. Our apologies to all concerned.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Standard, 22 December
Merry Christmas - at home
Over the Top by Brian Latham
Over the Top wishes all its readers in the troubled central African country a wonderfully merry Christmas-at home. It will have to be at home because a petrol shortage has struck the troubled central African country, leaving the population stranded. The fuel crisis that has gripped the troubled central African nation is interesting because it seems to have been everyone's fault-except, of course, members of the Zany party. After years of blaming imperialists, the British, white people and other economic saboteurs, the Zany party has now blamed its own No Oil Company for the lack of fuel. "Like a hungry jackal eating its pups, they've realised there is no one else to blame," said a man who had spent three days queuing for the commodity. Meanwhile economists told OTT that the fuel shortage spelt a bleak Christmas for citizens of the troubled central African country. "So will the bread shortage, the shortage of mealie meal, the lack of cooking oil, the disappearance of sugar, the unavailability of beef, the scarcity of salt, the absence of milk and the non-existence of foreign currency," said one economist who said he would take a drastic step and buy a bicycle, even though he knew it would make him look ridiculous.
Meanwhile fuel queues around the country, some stretching for as long as five kilometres, became impromptu More Diesel Coming (you'll be lucky) party rallies. As tens of thousands of distressed former motorists pushed their aging cars under the blazing sun or through torrential rain, there was consensus that the fuel shortage was not the fault of the No Oil Coming company, nor of white people, British people, the European Union or anyone else on the troubled central African nation's growing "Enemies of the State List". Still, the Enemies of the State List grew mightily last week when the troubled central African country's Zany top cop announced that many businessmen and shop keepers were conspiring with enemies of the state by charging unreasonable prices for their goods. This is because the troubled central African country's industry and finance ministers have decided that any price that brings in a profit is unreasonable, no matter how small the profit.
The economic principles of vanguard socialism dictate that all business should run at a thundering loss. It was this economic system that made places like the former Soviet Union, China, Cuba and North Korea such economic powerhouses, they explained. When it was pointed out that citizens of North Korea live (if they're lucky) on a diet of grass seeds while their insane leader imports Big Mac hamburgers, a spokesman for the troubled central African country's finance ministry dismissed this as western propaganda. Another angry businessman who once made a living by selling beef, said that it seemed curious to emulate Cuba. "The only reason there's anyone left there is because there aren't enough inner tubes to make rafts for the rest of the population to escape," he shouted. This was dismissed as imperialist nonsense by a government spokesman who said he had been to Cuba himself and knew for a fact that there were lots of spare inner tubes. "Most of the cars there have no engines, so the tyres and tubes are used for many things, but it is ludicrous western misinformation to suggest anyone has even tried to escape the socialist paradise of Comrade Castro's Cuba," he said. Later in the week, the troubled central African nation's energy minister said he had been energetic in his efforts to end the fuel crisis. There would be ample petrol in the country soon, he promised. The promise was treated with scepticism by most motorists who were interviewed while they pushed their cars through the streets. They pointed out that it had become traditional for spokesmen to promise fuel "by the weekend", though the promises never resulted in anything.
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From ZWNEWS, with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore
'Tis the night before Christmas
'Tis the night before Christmas, and all through State House not a creature is sleeping, not even my spouse. An intractable problem's defying my might: there's no petrol in Zim and no shipment in sight.
I've spoken to Muscat, Teh |
