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Archived News
22nd July 2003
Message from Roy Bennett MP for MDC
MDC responds to Mbeki's latest remarks
Recent ZIC protest meeting in Sydney
SA insists talks on
'Clear evidence' of tampering in Zim trial
Threat to kick Harare mayor out of official residence
Formal appeal for food aid on the way
Prison deaths raise eyebrows
Quiet diplomacy must not lapse into silent assent
'MDC treason trial must continue'
Inflation in Zimbabwe surges to 365%
Botswana sends 26 000 Zimbabweans back home
Zanu PF politicians besiege Mash farm
Homeland insecurity
Mbeki denies reports on Mugabe's exit
Zimbabwe churches apologize for inaction
Zimbabwe court to rule on opposition treason discharge
Midzi steps up bid for fuel deal
International court to probe abuses in the eastern Congo
DRC deals collapse
ZRP officer in trouble
Zimbabwe in showdown with food producers
Mugabe/Tsvangirai court battle set
Pied piper
Zimbabwe zeroes in on its currency
Economic meltdown leads to innovative banking measures
100 000 may die
Zim morgue workers nabbed
Mugabe's warped definition of ruling
Mugabe postpones lavish reception
MDC fears for safety of Rusape candidates
Cabinet turns to WFP for food aid
Money for nothing
Zimbabwe policeman withdrawn
MDC set to agree ‘safe exit’ for Mugabe
ZDF displays military arsenal
Survey shows Zimbabwe experiencing 'brain drain'
Cash riots feared as Zimbabwe runs out of banknotes
Terrified MDC MP goes into hiding
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From The Daily News, 15 July
SA insists talks on
Staff Reporter
South African President Thabo Mbeki’s office yesterday repeated claims that Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties were in talks to find a solution to the country’s political impasse. Presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo yesterday told the Daily News that negotiations between the two political foes were in progress. He would not say who exactly in Zanu PF or the MDC was involved in the talks or where the talks were taking place. Khumalo said: "Talks between the ruling Zanu PF and the MDC are on that is the position. There is not going to be public pronouncements regarding details on this issue until at an appropriate time and depending on who will choose to do it. That is all I can say at this time. I am not in a position to divulge any further detail except to state this position." Both the MDC and Zanu PF have publicly stated that there are no formal talks going on between them with the opposition party’s leader Morgan Tsvangirai accusing Mbeki of telling "false and mischievous" lies after the South African leader told visiting American President George W Bush that the two Zimbabwean parties were in dialogue to resolve the country ’s crisis. Tsvangirai later softened his position, explaining that there was no formal negotiation between Zanu PF and his MDC party although various emissaries had been shuttling between them trying to restart dialogue. Dialogue between the two political parties collapsed last August after Zanu PF pulled out of the talks to protest Tsvangirai’s decision to challenge its leader and state President Robert Mugabe’s controversial re-election last year. Tsvangirai, who has refused to recognise Mugabe’s presidency, accuses the veteran politician of winning through violence and fraud.
Mbeki’s claims last week that Zanu PF and the MDC were in talks have caused tension and suspicion within the two camps with key players wary they may be left out in a new deal that might possibly include power-sharing between the two parties. Well-placed sources privy to the alleged South African-brokered secret talks yesterday said that there was "politics of exclusion" being played on the two parties with hard-liners from both sides being sidelined from the preparatory discussions. The mystery surrounding the alleged talks deepened yesterday as it emerged that soon after an African troika comprising Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Malawian leader Bakili Muluzi, had left Harare earlier this year, the South Africans approached the MDC with a draft position paper aimed at breaking the impasse and help kick-start dialogue. According to the sources, the draft position entailed in general a "commitment to talks" and a recognition of Mugabe as head of state proclaimed by Zimbabwe’s chief justice in terms of the country ’s Constitution. The South Africans, it is believed, hoped that this position would address both the MDC and Mugabe’s concerns over the sticking issue of legitimacy. The MDC is said to have accepted acknowledging Mugabe on the grounds suggested by the South Africans but insisted on the condition that the opposition party should reserve its right to challenge Mugabe’s re-election. The sources alleged the South Africans presented the same position paper to Zanu PF. But the ruling party’s response to the document could not be immediately established yesterday.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 15 July
'Clear evidence' of tampering in Zim trial
Harare - Lawyers for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday continued their application for treason charges against him to be dropped, claiming the state had tampered with key evidence. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials have been charged with plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe last year. The state's case against the trio hinges on two secret recordings of meetings Tsvangirai held with Canada-based political consultant Ari Ben Menashe in London and Montreal in late 2001. But defence lawyer Chris Andersen said Tuesday there was "clear evidence" the tapes had been tampered with. He said an audiotape of the London meeting submitted as evidence was not the original, while a videotape of the Montreal meeting that has been heard in court contained words not recorded in an original transcript. Andersen said it was "shameful" that evidence should be tampered with for what he said were "obviously political motives". "Somebody in the state machinery has been prepared to tamper with and suppress evidence," he argued before Justice Paddington Garwe. Defence lawyers want the treason charges against all three officials dropped because of lack of credible evidence. A conviction on treason charges carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe. The application to have the charges dropped started Monday and is set to continue this week.
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From Business Day (SA), 16 July
Threat to kick Harare mayor out of official residence
Harare Correspondent
The row between the Zimbabwe government and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over the suspension of opposition Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri escalated yesterday with authorities threatening to use force to evict the mayor from his official residence. President Robert Mugabe's government warned that Mudzuri should vacate the mayoral mansion or risk being kicked out unceremoniously. Local government deputy minister Chief Fortune Charumbira said, "The issue is whether he wants to leave the house ceremoniously or not. The order given to him to leave the house was legal." Mudzuri, popularly elected by an overwhelming majority last year, was suspended in April on allegations of misconduct and defying government directives. Government last week gave the mayor , who was arrested twice for reporting to his offices, a 48-hour ultimatum to vacate the mayoral villa. It also demanded his official vehicle back. However, Mudzuri has defied the order. Charumbira said Mudzuri's complaints that the notice of eviction given to him by government was too short for him to arrange alternative accommodation was immaterial. "If he wanted more time, he could have approached the ministry with a formal request rather than sit there and dream," Charumbira said.
Meanwhile an opposition British MP yesterday accused Prime Minister Tony Blair's government of "catastrophic failure" in tackling Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. Tory legislator for Henley Boris Johnson said London had completely failed to resolve the crisis whose regional collateral damage was disastrous. "The government has oscillated between apathy and the kind of megaphone diplomacy that simply plays into Mugabe's hands," Johnson said. However, junior Foreign Office Minister Chris Mullin said it would be "absolute folly" for the UK to act unilaterally against Zimbabwe. London has always insisted that it had to pursue a multilateral initiative to resolve the crisis. Johnson said that Mugabe had been significantly weakened and was "desperate" for a way out of power. "I don't think it is any longer good enough for the British government to say that it is powerless and that anything it does simply makes matters worse," he said. "It is time for us to re-engage for the good of Zimbabwe and the suffering people of that country."
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From IRIN (UN), 15 July
Formal appeal for food aid on the way
Johannesburg - A disagreement over official crop forecast figures has been identified as the reason why the government of Zimbabwe has delayed making a formal appeal for food aid. The latest crop and food supply assessment mission by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 4.4 million people in rural areas and 1.1 million in urban areas would require food assistance in 2003/04. Zimbabwe is once again the country worst affected by food shortages in Southern Africa. But despite warnings that aid agencies were running out of in-country stocks to feed the millions in need, WFP has been unable to secure funding from donors because there has been no official appeal for aid from the government of Zimbabwe. Lancaster Museka, the permanent secretary in Zimbabwe's social welfare ministry, told IRIN on Tuesday the government would probably be able to make a formal appeal on Wednesday. The delay was due to a disagreement over crop forecasts presented by the central statistical office, but this had now been resolved. The cabinet was sitting on Tuesday and "one of the items on the agenda is the crop forecast ... from which the figures for the appeal will come". By Wednesday "we expect to give them [WFP] the figure, once cabinet has approved it. As of now we don't know what they will come up with, but ... I think we will have a figure [for aid agencies]", Museka said. WFP had stressed that a "formal appeal for specific amounts of food aid" was a requirement for "several major donors", who would otherwise not be able to commit resources to food aid in Zimbabwe.
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From News24 (SA), 15 July
Prison deaths raise eyebrows
Ceaphasi Mutubuki
Harare - An unusually high number of prison deaths has been reported and recorded in Harare's three main prisons from June 28 - July 1, 2003. The deaths were announced on radio two weeks after the fact. Separate incidents have been reported in the private media of relatives being up in arms over delays in announcing the deaths of inmates to their next of kin. A Radio Zimbabwe presenter read out more than 15 names of inmates who had died in Harare's three main prisons,Harare Central, Harare Remand and Chikurubi Maximum. A high number of the dead came from Remand - most died on June 28. Zimbabwe's prisons are reported to be overflowing with inmates owing to a slow penal and judicial system, run on skeleton staff. Most magistrates have resigned here over poor pay and conditions of service, throwing an already fragile situation into total chaos. Most suspects have to wait more than two years to go to trial. Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who spent more than two weeks behind bars talked of overcrowding in the cells. He is reported to have shared one cell with more than 70 inmates. Analysts here suspect that cold conditions in the holding cells may have caused the deaths of most inmates. June and July are Zimbabwe's coldest months. Efforts to get comments from the relevant authorities proved fruitless.
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Comment from Business Day (SA), 10 July
Quiet diplomacy must not lapse into silent assent
Paul Graham and Tony Reeler
Mbeki right to encourage Zimbabweans to solve own problems; wrong to ignore Mugabe's strong-arm tactics
As President Thabo Mbeki continues to implore Zimbabweans and the international community to allow SA to continue its policy of "careful persuasion", he reiterates that the crisis must be solved internally by Zimbabweans. Reference is made to SA's own transition. At face value this all seems reasonable: diplomacy rather than regime change is the progressive model, and it is true that SA produced a homegrown solution. However, this perspective is more than a little dissimulating. In examining the homegrown analogy, it is relevant to ask in what ways the Zimbabwe crisis of 2003 resembles the SA crisis of the 1990s. To some observers the more fitting comparison is the SA of the 1980s. By the 1990s SA was wholly isolated. The Soviet bloc had collapsed, apartheid was a crime against humanity, the economy was stagnating, all internal and external opposition constituencies were united and effective, and there was unanimity in the international community about the need and direction for a change. Not so in the 1980s, when the international community was divided and the violent repression by the SA regime was in full throttle. Despite all the appearance of a stalemate in Zimbabwe, the missing ingredient is the unanimity of the international community and the pressure this brings to bear. Furthermore, the diplomacy of the 1990s was hardly quiet about SA, and the condemnation of apartheid and white minority rule was well-nigh universal. So while the African National Congress and other democratic forces could not easily contemplate a military victory, neither could the National Party see a way out. Moreover, the then SA government could not look to any improvement in the internal situation, while the external climate of opinion against Pretoria could only strengthen. In the SA of the 1990s, coming to the table to talk and producing a homegrown solution was not merely the consequence of internal will; there was a myriad factors at play. It is misleading to suggest otherwise.
However, this is not the end of the story. Mbeki is correct to insist on a homegrown solution and on Zimbabweans getting around the table. The SA government is also sensible to insist on quiet diplomacy with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has never shown any inclination to accept firm counsel from outside. Mbeki is also probably right to resist the calls to turn up the heat by turning off the power. The probabilities of aggravating an already horrible humanitarian crisis are very high. After all, the European Union, the US and the UK continue to provide humanitarian assistance despite the rhetoric and the diplomatic difficulties, so why should SA not continue to ensure that the Zimbabwean state does not collapse? The regional costs of the Zimbabwe crisis are already very high, but what might they be if the state collapsed completely? But this is where the tension between the twin pillars of Mbeki's position emerges with awkward consequences. If ever there was a point of principle that could be made within the confines of "quiet diplomacy", it is surely to insist that peaceful protest and strikes are acceptable methods of expressing opinions, against which it is unacceptable to use force. If we want Zimbabweans to come to the table, then it is not too much to expect that conditions must be created that facilitate discussion, and this means surely that Mugabe's regime should stop the violence and the arresting of the opposition. But more than this, it appears that while Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo push for dialogue and the homegrown solution, they have their own ideas of what that solution should encompass. Take, for example, the attitude to the constitutionally appropriate election petition mounted after the Zimbabwean presidential election. This is argued to be an impediment to talks, and that it should be dropped in order to get dialogue going. Well, Zimbabweans can talk to each other in variety of ways, and one way frequently used in conflicts is to use the arbitrating power of the courts, no matter how unsatisfactory this may appear to be. Legal remedies are there to be used and were often used in SA. As one fundamental aspect of the Zimbabwe crisis is the crisis of legitimacy, one wonders why the two presidents have not reinforced this option rather than criticised it. If the court were encouraged to decide promptly, then the issue of legitimacy would be resolved very quickly.
Like election petitions, peaceful protest is also an appropriate action, recognised internationally as a right and protected by the Zimbabwean constitution. So it is hard to know what to make of the silence that greets the beatings, arrests and abuse of citizens and duly elected members of parliament who have chosen this path to express their disapproval of the government. Pretoria made short shrift of a Zimbabwean request to muzzle the SA press, but a public pointing out of the unacceptability of government actions in Zimbabwe could surely follow. Mbeki is right when he says that Zimbabweans have the solutions: all they need is the support to follow these through. This means outsiders should stop undermining the legitimate and constitutional remedies available to Zimbabweans, insist that the state behaves according to its own laws and ensure that all who are genuinely concerned about Zimbabwe and the region act in a united fashion. While recognising and asserting that Zimbabweans have the right to choose nonviolent legal paths in response to what is a growing crisis of governance that can be resolved only by significant change, it is also clear that the opposition believes in and wants to construct a path out of the crisis in dialogue with Zanu PF. The international community of which SA is a most significant part needs to send a single consistent message to all parties that dialogue between Zimbabweans must occur and can occur, and that distractions and preconditions should not be countenanced. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change and ruling Zanu PF have offered different scenarios out of the present crisis - a transitional authority and a government of national unity. The homegrown solution in SA did not start with consensus - that is the reason dialogue is necessary. It is not for outsiders to prescribe the solution, but to insist the parties talk, to give support to those talks and to respect and protect their outcome.
Graham is the executive director of the Institute for Democracy in SA. Reeler is regional human rights defender.
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From AFP, 17 July
'MDC treason trial must continue'
Harare - Zimbabwean prosecutors urged a Harare court on Wednesday not to dismiss a treason case against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for allegedly ordering an assassination on the country's president. The appeal was made after Tsvangirai's lawyers this week asked the court to halt the trial against him and two senior party officials because the state had not proved its case against them. "For now, there is enough evidence to warrant that the accused persons be placed on their defence," prosecutor Morgen Nemadire told Judge Paddington Garwe. So far the marathon trial has only heard evidence from around a dozen state witnesses. The charges against Tsvangirai and his co-accused hinge on a secretly recorded videotape of a meeting the opposition leader held with Ari Ben Menashe, a Canada-based political consultant, in Montreal in late 2001. It is alleged that during the meeting Tsvangirai requested that Ben Menashe assassinate President Robert Mugabe and arrange a coup for him to take over power. The MDC trio deny the charges, which carry the death penalty.
Defence lawyers have told the court it was highly improbable that Tsvangirai would have approached a complete stranger like Ben Menashe with a request to assassinate Mugabe. However, prosecutors claimed Wednesday that the MDC thought the political consultant could be bought off, and that the party wanted to exploit his contacts in the Zimbabwe government to carry out the coup. "He (Tsvangirai) trusted Menashe," Nemadire said. "There's no improbability here." The defence claim that Ben Menashe was paid by the Zimbabwe government to discredit the opposition party ahead of a crunch presidential poll last year, which Tsvangirai lost to Mugabe. But Nemadire said money paid by the government to Ben Menashe prior to the Montreal meeting was for "expenses" incurred in obtaining the videotaped evidence of the alleged plot. The videotape has proved to be hazy and only 70-80 percent audible. Defence lawyers there is no evidence on it to support the treason charge. The application for discharge was set to continue on Thursday.
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From The Financial Times, 16 July
Inflation in Zimbabwe surges to 365%
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Fresh evidence that Zimbabwe's economic crisis is running out of control came on Wednesday as inflation surged to 365.4 per cent in June from 300 per cent in May. Many economists were surprised at the huge increase in the official figures because it comes before the government had been forced to announce sharply higher prices for food and fuel. Producer prices paid to farmers for wheat and maize were increased in March but these rises have still to be passed on to the consumer."When that happens," said a bank economist, "we will see inflation over 400 per cent and it could reach 750 per cent by Christmas." The inflation figure was disclosed as government officials admitted that they had still not submitted a formal food aid appeal to the World Food Programme. WFP sources say they are providing food aid to 1.5m Zimbabweans, with the figure expected to increase to 1.8m August. But the United Nations agency's Zimbabwe budget will be exhausted by the end of next month. The WFP estimates that 5.5m Zimbabweans - 47 per cent of the population - will require food aid by January 2004. "But we cannot even launch an appeal to donors until we get a formal request from the Zimbabwe government," a WFP official said.
Lancaster Museka, Zimbabwe's secretary for social welfare, said an official appeal would be sent to the WFP this week. The cabinet, which met on Tuesday, was due to agree a figure for the appeal. But against a background of sharp disagreement among ministers over the severity of the shortage, it remains unclear whether a figure was agreed. Some hardline ministers at the forefront of President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land resettlement programme refuse to admit that the maize crop will be only 800,000 tonnes, 1m tonnes short of normal consumption requirements, according to consensus forecasts. Zimbabwe will need to import up to 1.3m tonnes of grain over the next year. As Harare does not have the foreign currency to finance such imports, it will have to rely heavily on the donor community. But western diplomats warn that other countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, are ahead of Zimbabwe in the queue for assistance, while donors' irritation at the government's failure to respond until so late will not help Zimbabwe's case.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 16 July
Botswana sends 26 000 Zimbabweans back home
Gabarone - With the economic crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe deepening, Botswana announced Wednesday it had deported 26 717 Zimbabweans who were illegally living in the country last year. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled over their country's borders into South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana over the last three years to escape chaos in their homeland. Zimbabwe is suffering its worst political and economic crisis ever, with an estimated 70% unemployment, inflation of more than 300% and a simmering hunger crisis. A black market in food and fuel, where inflation is as high as 600%, is thriving. The UN World Food Programme estimates food shortages will leave 5,5-million out of about 12-million Zimbabweans in need of emergency food aid this year. A rash of politically motivated violence has been blamed on ruling party militants loyal to President Robert Mugabe, human rights groups say. The illegal immigrants caught in Botswana and sent home often say they were searching for jobs, said Chief Immigration Officer Roy Sekgororoane. Botswana's authorities routinely conducts border patrols and holds raids throughout the country to find the illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, Sekgororoane said.
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From The Financial Gazette, 17 July
Zanu PF politicians besiege Mash farm
Staff Reporter
A storm is brewing between top government officials and settlers at a farm in Mashonaland East after Zanu PF stalwarts besieged the farm to facilitate occupation by provincial party heavyweights. The settlers, who moved onto the farm in 2000, accused Goromonzi Rural District Council chairman Oliver Juru and a Zanu PF activist only identified as Nkatazo of conniving with the district land distribution committee and senior provincial officials to take over Oribi Farm near Juru Growth Point. Lawrence Meda, the district administrator for Goromonzi, was adamant that the new farmers would be moved from the farm, classified under the A2 model scheme. "I am removing them (settlers), but the only problem I have at the moment is that my trucks do not have fuel, otherwise the evictions should have started same time ago. They will be relocated to other areas that fall under the A1 Model, where they are supposed to continue with their farming activities," he said. Zanu PF heavyweights in Mashonaland East, who attended a meeting to solve the issue two ago, were at pains to put a human face to the eviction, but met with stiff resistance from the settlers. David Karimanzira, the governor for Mashonaland East, Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa, Member of Parliament for Murewa South Joel Biggie Matiza and Mashonaland East provincial chairman Ray Kaukonde attended the meeting. Other high ranking officials present at the meeting included the chairman for Goromonzi Rural District Council and Chris Chingosho, the provincial administrator for Mashonaland East. "There was problem on that farm, but we have resolved it. We should be seeing the settlers relocated within days," said Karimanzira.
The settlers however, maintained that their displacement was being done corruptly to safeguard the interest of a few powerful politicians. "This is corruption at its worst. We have been here since 2000 and have invested a lot here. Now they want to evict us saying we were wrongfully allocated this land. "What do they expect us to do? I wonder whether President Mugabe is aware of what is going on. They want to give the land to senior Zanu PF officials at our expense, but they will meet with more than what they bargained for," said a settler who declined to be named said. Meda, who refused to disclose the names of the prospective new owners, said the government was reconciling resettlements throughout the country by ensuring that farmers are properly settled. "The land district committee allocated Oribi Farm which falls under the A2 Model to settlers under the A1 Model. How this was done baffles me. But we have made great strides in resolving the issue and people should be moving out soon," said a senior Zanu PF official who declined to be named. Oribi is part of the land measuring about 960 hectares compulsorily acquired from Owen Patrick Conner, 69, who was evicted in August last year under the controversial land reform. The land is divided into two sections, namely Stockholm measuring 364 hectares and Oribi, 596 hectares. Conner, 69, the former owner of the farm, said before leaving the property he used to produce 1 400 tonnes of wheat, 540t of wheat seed, 1 000t of maize, 200t of potatoes, 540t of seed maize and boasted of 130 head of cattle for export. The Commercial Farmers’ Union said about 98 percent of commercial farms have been seized by the government under the land grab exercise, while only 220 440 hectares of the 11.02 million hectares under commercial farming prior to the fast track system remains unlisted for compulsory acquisition.
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From The Boston Globe, 17 July
Homeland insecurity
With Africa on the US agenda, journalist Geoff Nyarota speaks out for his native Zimbabwe
By Joseph Williams
Seated in the dining room of his Cambridge flat, Geoff Nyarota seems more like a college professor - salt-and-pepper hair and beard, neatly pressed shirt and slacks, patient, low-key demeanour - than an investigative journalist. But his fierce eyes and the intensity of his words belie his demeanour. Nyarota is a founder of The Daily News, an opposition newspaper in Zimbabwe dedicated to exposing corruption and human rights violations occurring under President Robert Mugabe, who has held power since 1980. Nyarota's work has taken its toll: Mugabe's administration has harassed and jailed him, and The Daily News printing presses were bombed. In the spring, Nyarota and his family slipped into South Africa just ahead of death threats, and he headed for a fellowship at Harvard University. As his country devolves toward civil unrest and violence, other news from Africa - President Bush's visit, civil war in Liberia, the AIDS crisis - has made headlines. Earlier this week, Nyarota, a former schoolteacher, reflected on the turbulence in his homeland, Bush's commitment to African nations, and US views of his homeland.
Q. Are you heartened that President Bush's visit demonstrates interest in Africa?
A. Yes. But not sufficient interest. Bush's visit was a step in the right direction, but unfortunately it was not a giant step. We expected a giant step. [Bush's itinerary] avoided trouble spots. [But] it was significant to some of the world's poorer countries and indicates a serious commitment [to fighting AIDS].
Q. What is your assessment of the news of Bush's visit and how the trip was covered?
A. I think the coverage was comprehensive. That is one of the advantages of the American media. They have access to the news, right up to the top, and they cover it comprehensively. But they can only cover what's happening. They cannot cover what is not happening. The problem was the Iraq war dominates the news. The messenger did a fantastic job of covering it. But the message was lukewarm.
Q. What do you mean?
A. Zimbabwe seems to be of little significance [to the United States]. For example, in March there was growing unrest and a general strike in Zimbabwe [to protest Mugabe and his policies]. There was very little notice in the US. That month, the US invaded Iraq. In comparison to Iraq, maybe [the strike] was a nonevent. It was a nonstarter. Iraq invoked images of terrorism. There is state-sponsored terrorism in Zimbabwe, but it is local.
Q. Given President Mugabe's violent hold on power, what do you think when you hear Bush talk about [Liberian leader] Charles Taylor and his need to step down, but not refer to Mugabe or Zimbabwe at all?
A. I'm disappointed. Maybe not surprised. My lack of surprise comes from a fuller understanding of the American mind. When I listen to President Bush speak about Zimbabwe, I realize he is not fully informed. It is not very clear to him how the 13 million people of Zimbabwe are suffering today.
Q. Since gaining independence, Zimbabwe has become an unstable nation on the brink of civil war. What happened?
A. [President Mugabe] acquired absolute power, [and] absolute power corrupts absolutely. [After a 15-year war for independence] Mugabe was a hero in Zimbabwe. He was a statesman of international stature. Well respected, because he sacrificed personally to bring about independence. Then he embarked on a socialist program which brought much benefit to the population. The slogan was, ''Health for all by the year 2000.'' By the time 2000 arrived, unfortunately, it was health for none. Now, everything is in turmoil. Last week the price of bread went up 400 percent to $1,000 a loaf. The minimum wage is $7 a month. There are shortages of staple food like cornmeal; now there's a shortage of foreign currency. Inflation is rising at 300 percent. Unemployment is 70 percent. There is a serious brain drain: Professionals who can find the money for the tickets are leaving every day for the US and as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, Canada.
Q. The problems in Zimbabwe seem similar to a lot of countries in Africa as a whole.
A. But the situation in Zimbabwe is different in that Zimbabweans ... expected the situation to be different for two or three reasons. [We expected the leadership] would have learned from their proximity to the power bases of those countries [nearby] and would know what mistakes not to make. It was expected that they would learn from the mistakes of others. The leadership was also highly educated. Mugabe himself has nine [college] degrees. His cabinet was all graduates - doctors, professors. And also Zimbabwe had a solid infrastructure: mining, farming, road networks, an airline. It had everything. So there was an expectation that Zimbabwe would be different.
Q. Given that Mugabe was an educated man, and that the country was well developed, why did it fall into the same trap as, say, Liberia, where civil war has been raging for nearly 20 years?
A. Power, power, power. Initially, the view is that Mugabe was not corrupt; the view was that corruption was thrust upon him. Now, he is surrounded [by corruption]. He himself publicly declares that there are corrupt [officials] in his administration. He doesn't say, `I am one of them.'
Q. Does that suggest that the US should move Africa and Zimbabwe up on its international agenda? Should Zimbabwe be an area to which the US pays more attention?
A. It should be. Zimbabwe has so many exportables: mineral, agricultural, we were one of the largest producers of tobacco, we had one of the best tourism infrastructures of the world - Victoria Falls, which nobody comes to see because of the current situation. I have a vested interest here, as an African in the United States. I want to read more [about Africa]. Americans should really be interested in what happens outside of America. I mean, this country is outstanding in one regard: It is an ethnic potpourri. Everybody is here. When you walk down the street in Boston, there is no way of telling from which country is the taxi driver, from which country is the janitor, from which country is the doctor. You cannot tell. Like me, they have an interest in what happens [in the rest of the world]. If [Americans] become interested in the fate of the rest of the world, they could stem the tide of some of these people coming to the shores of America seeking freedom and opportunity. [They] are here not because of some profound love of this country but because they seek freedom and opportunity, both of which are denied them in their own country. If countries like Zimbabwe reverted to normal in terms of development, democratic processes, provisional social services, they will participate in that process of development [at home]. And the Americans will then come as tourists, as partners in development, and as investors.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 17 July
Mbeki denies reports on Mugabe's exit
Harare/Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki has denied telling his United States counterpart George Bush that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would step down in December. "There is no such thing. I don't know where that comes from," he told reporters in Pretoria on Thursday. "There was no discussion at all about anybody stepping down." Weekend reports, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, suggested Mbeki told Bush during his recent South African visit that Mugabe would be out of office by December. South African President Thabo Mbeki had reportedly told Bush that Robert Mugabe will relinquish his leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling party by December, the British Independent newspaper reported last week. Such a move would pave the way for Mugabe's exit as Zimbabwe's president and new elections by June 2004, the daily said, without citing its sources. It added that Mbeki's assurance to Bush that Mugabe will stand aside is believed to be based on a personal promise extracted from the Zimbabwean leader.
Earlier today Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawyers said a top official was arrested on charges of "ridiculing" President Robert Mugabe in cartoons showing the Zimbabwean leader fleeing for his life from an angry crowd. MDC lawyer Innocent Chagonda said Gift Chimanikire, the deputy general secretary of the MDC, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with "ridiculing" Mugabe in cartoon advertisements placed in the independent media in that country. Chimanikire was held at the Harare police station on Wednesday where he was questioned over the advertisement, and charged under the Public Order and Security Act. The legislation gives Mugabe's government powers close to a state of emergency to arrest suspects at will and detain them at length without appearing in court, ban public gatherings and makes it an offence to criticise the state. "The police are alleging that he (Chimanikire) authorised the publication of adverts that insulted the president," said Chagonda. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail. The advertisement was published just before the MDC's five-day pro-democracy national strike in early June which paralysed the country.
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From The Washington Post, 17 July
Zimbabwe churches apologize for inaction
By Angus Shaw, Associated Press
Harare - In a stunning appeal for forgiveness, Zimbabwe's Christian churches apologized Thursday for not doing enough to stop political violence, hunger and the economic collapse of the nation. Western governments and human rights groups blame the chaos embroiling the once-prosperous and stable southern African country on the increasingly autocratic and violent rule of President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches, which represents all Christian denominations in the heavily Christian country, said it had watched passively as poverty worsened, leaving children begging on the streets. The council includes about a dozen denominations comprising more than half the population of more than 12 million people. The council also said it stood by amid the collapse of state health and education services and widening political divisions in the nation. "We have, with our own eyes, watched as violence, rape, intimidation, harassment and various forms of torture have ravaged the nation. Yet some perpetrators have been set free," the council said in a statement. "We have been witness to and buried our people who have starved to death due to food shortages ... while we have continued to pray, we have not been moved to action. We as a council apologize to the people of Zimbabwe for not having done enough at a time when the nation looked to us for guidance," it said.
The church leaders, who released the statement after their annual meeting, said they planned to pressure the government to allow them to import food aid while also lobbying for economic reforms and the resumption of talks between the ruling party and the opposition. The meeting was concluded July 2, but the statement was only released Thursday, after some "soul searching," said a church official who declined to be named. Mugabe, a self-avowed Roman Catholic, has repeatedly criticized churches for meddling in political affairs. Zimbabwe has been locked in a political stalemate since Mugabe was named the victor in last year's disputed presidential elections. Many international monitors and human rights groups said the poll was heavily swayed by the intimidation of ruling party militants and by electoral irregularities. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has refused to recognize the results. In a separate statement Thursday, the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of other Christian groups said they were united in their resolve to pursue "the route of a peaceful, mediated settlement which will bring normalcy to our nation." The council of churches also said it planned to set up a task force to investigate the National Youth Service, widely accused of being used as a ruling party militia engaged in the violent intimidation of Mugabe's opponents.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Official inflation rose last month to 300 percent, though unofficial estimates taking into account new, massive price hikes for food and a thriving black market in scarce food and gasoline put it closer to 600 percent. The U.N. World Food Program estimates food shortages will leave 5.5 million out of about 12 million Zimbabweans in need of emergency food aid this year. Part of the crisis is blamed on a state program that seized thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black settlers. Many prime farms went to politicians and ruling party cronies and were left idle amid a devastating drought. Hard currency earnings from tobacco, tourism and mining have collapsed and investment and foreign aid have dried up in protest of human rights abuses and disputed presidential elections last year.
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From Reuters, 17 July
Zimbabwe court to rule on opposition treason discharge
By Stella Mapenzauswa
Harare - Zimbabwe's High Court will rule on July 28 on an application by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the dismissal of charges that he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe, the judge in the case said on Thursday. Tsvangirai and two senior colleagues in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could face death sentences if convicted of plotting to assassinate Mugabe in 2001 amid Zimbabwe's worst political and economic crisis in decades. All three have pleaded not guilty to treason and their lawyers have asked the High Court to dismiss the charges, saying the state has failed to present a solid case since the trial began in February. "I believe that there is a need to do justice to the submissions...and quite clearly the court will require some time...to deal with this application," High Court Judge Paddington Garwe said on Thursday after a week's submissions from defence lawyers and the prosecution. The state's case hinges on a videotape of a meeting in Montreal between Tsvangirai and political consultant Ari Ben-Menashe which allegedly discussed Mugabe's "elimination". Ben-Menashe admitted he taped the meeting to get evidence for the government -- with which he later signed a political lobbying contract, but denied entrapping Tsvangirai. The defence says the video was doctored to discredit the MDC, the biggest political threat to Mugabe since he led the country to independence from Britain in 1980, and has slammed Ben-Menashe and his assistant Tara Thomas as unreliable witnesses who gave contradictory evidence. "Menashe is a notorious and demonstrable liar. How can your Lordship be asked to close your eyes to these lies, close your ears and put these people on their defence?" chief defence lawyer George Bizos said on Thursday. The state said it had shown sufficient evidence that the MDC defendants discussed seeking the support of the army for a post-Mugabe transitional government, and that on its own amounts to treason. It says the defendants should take the stand to answer the charges against them. The MDC and several Western countries accuse Mugabe of rigging his re-election in 2002 and blame his government for chronic food and fuel shortages and inflation running at 300 percent - one of the highest rates in the world. Mugabe says the MDC is a stooge of Western powers and insists the economy has been sabotaged by his opponents in retaliation of his seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 July
Midzi steps up bid for fuel deal
Dumisani Muleya
Government has stepped up efforts to seal a joint-venture deal with Libya's Tamoil Trading Ltd in a bid to end the four-year fuel crisis. Official sources said yesterday that Energy and Power minister Amos Midzi was pushing the Libyans to agree a deal that has been on the cards since last year. The Libyans have been in the country for the past three weeks to pursue the establishment of a joint fuel concern to be named Tamoil-Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd. The company would be a 50:50 partnership between Tamoil and the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim). The visit to Zimbabwe by the Libyans followed President Robert Mugabe's recent trip to Tripoli where he held talks with Muammar Gaddafi over the fuel crisis. After Mugabe's visit, officials claimed fuel would be coming "as soon as possible". But shortages have persisted.
Midzi said yesterday negotiations over the deal were still going on. "Negotiations on the formation of Tamoil-Zimbabwe are still on," he said. "I don't think it would be fair for me at this time to release any information on that. But you will get to know very soon." However, Midzi told parliament last November that Noczim had already entered a deal with Tamoil. "I would like to take this opportunity to advise the House that Noczim has entered a joint partnership, 50:50 with Tamoil to establish Tamoil-Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd," he said. "This company is to be involved in wholesale procurement and distribution of fuel to retail outlets which will carry the Tamoil brand." Midzi confirmed at the time that Noczim would advance state assets as part of capital outlay in the deal. "As part of its contribution Noczim will put forward some of its existing assets such as storage tanks. The proposed arrangement is not different from the joint venture that existed between Noczim and Total Zimbabwe."
The deadlock over the sale of strategic state assets to the Libyans is at the centre of the current negotiations. The Libyans want to buy the fuel pipeline between Mutare and Harare that supplies fuel that comes through Beira in Mozambique. They also want to acquire storage tanks in Msasa. The Libyans want to achieve this by buying Noczim's 50% equity in Petrozim, which is jointly owned by the heavily-indebted parastatal and Lonrho. Petrozim owns the assets in question. The Libyans also want to acquire government's 51% stake in the Oil Blending Enterprises Ltd (Obel), which is a joint venture between government and Total. Obel is a crucial supplier of lubricants. Government has already sold the country's major storage tanks in Beitbridge. Fuel industry sources said government was contemplating compulsory acquisition of BP/Shell assets in Harare and Gweru - which are also large facilities - to dispose of them to the Libyans who want to establish a stranglehold on the market by becoming the major supplier, wholesaler and retailer of fuel.
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From The Taipei Times, 18 July
International court to probe abuses in the eastern Congo
The newly founded International Criminal Court is likely to open its first case by investigating the leaders most responsible for flagrant abuses against civilians in the current war in the eastern Congo, the court's chief prosecutor announced Wednesday. The official, Louis Moreno Ocampo, who took office one month ago, said he had received detailed information about extensive human rights violations in the region. This includes the massacres of unarmed civilians, "some solely on the basis of their ethnicity," he said, as well as mass rape, torture, kidnappings, mutilations and ritual cannibalism. The UN Security Council, which has sent 8,000 peacekeepers to the region, has corroborated many of the accusations in a recent report, he said. Although the five-year-old war has cost an estimated 3 million lives through violence, starvation and disease, the prosecutor will specifically focus on the region of Ituri in the eastern Congo, where some 5,000 civilians were killed between July last year and early this year. While this represents only a fraction of the reported atrocities, this prosecutor can act only in incidents after July 1, last year when the court's jurisdiction began.
"We selected the situation in the Ituri region as the first case because it's urgent, it's of great gravity, it is under our jurisdiction and the state itself is not certain to act," he said at a news conference. "We may be able to prevent more killing and we will try not to interfere with the peace process." Moreno Ocampo also made it clear on Wednesday that he intends to pursue more than just military or political leaders charged with atrocities. The veteran Argentine prosecutor, who has specialized in business corruption, said he would also investigate the "criminal business" of the Congo war -- money-laundering, gold smuggling and the secret arms trade. He said he had received reports that organized crime groups from Eastern Europe and "some African, European and Middle Eastern companies" could be linked to the atrocities. Doing away with the illicit business of war is vital, he said, because unless it is stopped, atrocities will continue, even if the killers are arrested and prosecuted. "This is a message," he said. "We are now here and will investigate and punish crimes. And companies doing illegal business and financing crimes must now know we will follow them." Even if the prosecutor acts fast, no case is likely to come to trial for at least another year. While the court has sworn in its 18 judges, it is still building up its staff, currently at 80, and construction for a courtroom at the modern headquarters in The Hague has only just begun. The prosecutor is also still searching for his main deputy and chief investigators. - NY Times News Service.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 July
DRC deals collapse
Vincent Kahiya
Zimbabwe has abandoned its military-backed business operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid allegations of continued underhand dealings by army officers, it has been learnt. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces, through its company Operation Sovereign Legitimacy (Osleg), went into a joint venture with a Congolese company during the height of its military engagement in the Great Lakes to form Cosleg. It was reported to be involved in the mining sector. This week Cosleg director-general Retired Brigadier Sibusiso Moyo said his outfit was not involved in any commercial activity in the DRC. "There is no mining (by Cosleg) taking place there," said Moyo. "Since our military withdrawal we are not involved in any military or economic activity. The only activities taking place are those covered by the MOU (memorandum of understanding) like electricity, trade and investment." Asked about charges in United Nations reports that Zimbabwe had mining interests in the DRC, Moyo said: "That's out. It's just people who do not know what they are talking about. Zimbabwe was invited to assist the DRC government to defend its sovereignty, that is all." Mines and Minerals Development minister Edward Chindori Chininga yesterday said his ministry was not involved in any activity in the DRC. "As a ministry we do not have any direct involvement either through ZMDC (Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation) or other institutions," he said.
A UN Security Council resolution of January 24 noted with concern that the plundering of the natural resources in the DRC was one of the main elements fuelling the conflict in the region. The Security Council demanded that all states concerned should take immediate steps to end the illegal activities. The last UN-commissioned report on the plunder of DRC resources last year named Cosleg as one of the companies involved in underhand dealings in the minerals-rich country. The report names as Cosleg frontmen ZDF commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe, Colonel Simpson Sikhulile Nyathi (director of defence policy) and Defence minister Sidney Sekeramayi. Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa was also mentioned in the report as the brains behind the Congo trade. The Security Council resolution stressed the importance of following up the independent findings of the panel of investigators regarding the link between the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the DRC and the continuation of the conflict. Zimbabwe, through a DRC company known as Socebo, was also linked to a logging concession the size of England. The government in 2000 also mooted an ambitious agricultural project involving Arda - the Agricultural Rural Development Authority. This has not taken off the ground. A source in the DRC this week said the ventures had "failed dismally because Zimbabwe tried to do too many things without the requisite expertise".
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From The Daily News, 18 July
ZRP officer in trouble
By Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter
Redress, a leading international anti-torture group, has appealed to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to facilitate the arrest on allegations of torture of a Zimbabwean policeman presently part of a UN mission in Kosovo. The police officer, Henry Dowa, was allegedly involved in the torture of opposition party supporters in police custody while he was still in Harare. Kevin Laue, an official with the London-based Redress an organisation that seeks reparation for survivors of torture told the Daily News from London yesterday that his organisation wrote to Annan earlier this month seeking Dowa’s prosecution. The appeal to Annan followed the refusal by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UMNIC) to prosecute Dowa, citing lack of resources. Redress last month sent UMNIC affidavits of some of Dowa’s alleged torture victims and asked for his prosecution. But, while admitting that charges brought against Dowa were grave, Michael Steiner, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative to Kosovo, said his mission did not have enough resources to prosecute the police officer. Laue told the Daily News that Redress would pursue Dowa until he was prosecuted under international law for his alleged role in torturing and harassing opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party supporters in Zimbabwe. He said: "We are obviously disappointed by the UMNIC’s response, but we are now going to fire it up. We are pursuing the matter further, higher up. We wrote to Annan two weeks ago asking him to do something about Dowa and we will follow other channels as well. We wrote a letter to Annan two weeks ago urging him to do something." Laue said his organisation would also collect any available evidence that could link other government and state security officials to torture and would pursue them if they left Zimbabwe for any other country. "Once we get evidence linking any officials to torture, then we will do our best to make sure that they are prosecuted if they travel out of Zimbabwe," he said. Lawyers said it was possible to prosecute alleged perpetrators of torture anywhere in the world. Observers yesterday said if Annan failed to act, Redress could also seek the help of Western countries for Dowa to be extradited so that he could face prosecution elsewhere.
Dowa, an officer in the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)’s Law and Order section, is part of a UN mission in Kosovo. The ZRP officer has been accused by several opposition party officials and supporters of leading torture sessions that included beatings and electric shock treatments before his posting to Kosovo. He was allegedly one of the most unpopular officers at Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order section. Mbare East Member of Parliament Tichaona Munyanyi, who was arrested and charged with murder last year following the killing of a Mbare ruling Zanu PF activist, says Dowa led his alleged torture in police custody. Munyanyi, who denies the charge, made the allegations in his affidavit at the courts. Dowa is also said to have led a team of police officers who harassed mourners and disrupted proceedings at the funeral wake for MDC MP Learnmore Jongwe, who died in prison last year while on remand for allegedly murdering his wife. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said his party supported Redress’ moves. "Most of the people tortured by this man were MDC supporters and when Redress approached us, we gave them the information they needed so that they could pursue the matter. The move is to stop impunity," he said.
Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba, who alleges he was tortured by the police together with St Mary’s MP Job Sikhala in January this year, said apart from pursuing the matter with Annan, Redress could also ask for Dowa’s extradition to countries such as Belgium or France, where he could be prosecuted. He told the Daily News: "Under international law, torture is a crime that is prosecutable in any country, in any legal jurisdiction and at any time. The other alternative with a modicum of success is to urgently apply for a warrant of arrest in countries that have universal jurisdiction on their statutes - that is Belgium, Britain or France. "It would be embarrassing for any state to refuse to fulfil such a grave obligation in respect of international commitments. Kosovo would then be obliged to extradite him to the prosecuting state." Shumba was speaking from South Africa, where he fled to because of alleged harassment by state security agents. There have been several reports accusing state security agents of the torture of opposition party supporters. But Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa earlier this year denied allegations contained in an American State Department report that the police, army and officials of the spy Central Intelligence Organisation were involved in torture and human rights violations. However, the courts earlier this year ordered an investigation into allegations that Shumba and Sikhala were tortured in police custody, the results of which have not been made public. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights director Arnold Tsunga said Dowa’s case should serve as a reminder to other state security agents that they would not escape prosecution for human rights abuses. He said: "That should serve as an adequate reminder to law enforcement agents who are being implicated in torture that the day of reckoning will come and it can be anywhere in the world. Torture is the worst possible crime that a police officer can commit."
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From Associated Press, 18 July
Zimbabwe in showdown with food producers
Harare - Zimbabwe government inspectors and police ordered bakeries to pay fines Friday for violating price controls, setting up a confrontation with food producers that could drive the collapsing economy deeper into crisis. The government appeared to have abandoned trying to enforce the controls last week when its own grain marketing monopoly increased the price of corn about 2,000 percent from $12 to $256 a ton and wheat about 1,000 percent from $36 to $445 a ton. But on Friday, four main bakeries were fined for increasing the price of regular bread fourfold to $1.25 a loaf, defying the fixed government price of 31 cents, the police and bakers said. Tiny increases in the past have led to food riots, which pushed the government to impose price controls. One such riot was triggered by a 25 percent increase in corn meal prices in 1998. But Armitage Chikwavira, head of the Bakers Association, said bakers will go out of business, worsening the shortages, if they cannot pass on the government increases. ``There is no way the baking industry is going to survive under the current conditions,'' he said, adding his association may go to court to challenge the fines.
The Ministry of Industry also told millers of corn meal, the staple food, in a letter that a 500 percent increase in the price of corn meal this week was illegal. Ronald Madombe, the third ranking ministry official, said offenders may be prosecuted for violating price control laws. Executives at one of the nation's largest food store chains said they would refuse to pay fines and would challenge the price freeze in the Supreme Court, Zimbabwe's highest court. Police spokeswoman Cecilia Churu said the four Harare bakeries were each ordered to pay fines of $6,068 for overcharging. She said the action followed an outcry about consumers about the increases. Official inflation rose last month to 364 percent, according to the state Central Statistical Office, up from 300 percent in May. Unofficial inflation estimates taking into account a wide range of price increases and a thriving black market in food and gasoline put it nearer 600 percent. Black market gasoline and corn already fetch as much as five times fixed prices. Most regular gas stations have been dry for the past month. Part of the deepening economic crisis is blamed on a state program that seized thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black settlers. Hard currency earnings from tobacco, tourism and mining have collapsed. Investment and foreign aid has largely ended in protest of human rights abuses and the disputed presidential elections last year that gave President Robert Mugabe another six-year term in office.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 July
Mugabe/Tsvangirai court battle set
Dumisani Muleya/Blessing Zulu
The High Court has finally set down the hearing date of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai's electoral challenge against President Robert Mugabe's disputed election victory in March last year after nearly 16 months of waiting. MDC Secretary for Legal Affairs David Coltart yesterday said the start of the petition hearing has been slated for November 3. "The Registrar of the High Court has told us that Judge President (Paddington) Garwe has advised that this is the earliest that he can make a judge available," Coltart said. "We are disappointed at this further delay of this very important matter but we have reluctantly accepted the position because at least now a fixed date for the hearing has been set. We trust that the court and the respondents will not seek to delay the hearing of the matter any further."
The initial hearing will be for a consecutive period of five days and will be devoted to what the MDC contends are "serious legal irregularities perpetrated by the authorities before and during the presidential election". This will be followed by proceedings on factual issues involved, including acts of violence and fraudulent conduct of the poll. "Prior to the hearing all parties have to comply with all the court requirements so that the trial can go ahead on the date set," Coltart said. "For instance, it is an essential and very important element of all court trials that the parties involved must make full disclosure of the documents which are in their possession relating to the issues involved." So far Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) have refused to make full disclosure. Mudede has even failed to bring the electoral materials to Harare as stipulated under the Electoral Act. This is despite the fact that court orders have been issued to Mudede and Chinamasa for them to comply with the law. "This can only raise suspicion in the minds of all reasonable people that they have things to hide," Coltart said.
Following the defiance of court orders by Mudede and Chinamasa, MDC lawyers filed an application to have the two struck out as respondents leaving Mugabe as the only defendant. The application was argued before Justice Susan Mavangira on April 14, but judgement has not yet been delivered. A court order was also issued against the ESC, which monitored the poll, to force it to make proper and full disclosure of the documents in its possession but the electoral agency defied it. MDC attorneys reacted by filing another application to have the ESC's defence struck out as well. However, on the day of the hearing, the ESC made an application querying the contents of a previous order issued against it in March. The case was argued before Justice Ann-Marie Gowora on June 6. A ruling has also not yet been handed down. In the meantime, the application to strike out the defence of the ESC, which had been set down before Justice Rita Makarau, has been held in abeyance. Mudede and Chinamasa recently further fuelled confusion by filing a court application to be removed as respondents. Justice Antonia Guvava will hear the case on July 29.
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 19 July
Pied piper
By Michael Hartnack
Lord Renwick, a British ambassador to South Africa in apartheid days, noted in his memoir that the British Foreign Office had a rule against trusting white liberals as sources. He made an exception for Helen Suzman. Last week’ s contradiction in statements from the South African and U.S. presidents, on the one hand, and Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on the other, may have been due to diplomats placing too much reliance on feedback from Zimbabwe's jet-setting business community. Like the old-time white liberals with their now, apparently, laughable faith in basic human decency, Zimbabwe ’s commercial mandarins believe that "economic common sense" must, surely, prevail.
Like the white liberals, they do not appreciate the primacy among many African leaders of the quasi-religious belief that economic and social problems will solve themselves if, first, a political unit is created containing only "loyal, patriots". The line of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party is that anyone, black or white, who fails to see reality as they do has no right to be here. That is what "Fast Track Land Redistribution" is all about, at root. In today's crisis, Zimbabwe's politically ambivalent businessmen go to and fro (hoping to keep their enterprises afloat whichever faction triumphs), much as white liberals used to trudge between the black nationalists in Lusaka and the whites south of the Zambezi. Given hospitality at diplomatic dinners and cocktails, our businessmen bathe second-hand remarks and petty shifts in an optimistic glow. They instinctively "talk up the market’’ - it is in their financial interest and their personal nature to do so. Together with various rather unrealistic churchmen, members of Zimbabwe’s business elite (both in Zimbabwe and South Africa) have been urging a coalition upon Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change. They want its leaders to accept posts (maybe under Simba Makoni or Emmerson Mnangagwa), to grant immunity from prosecution to Mugabe and his defence chiefs, and security for their lavish pension rights and business empires, in which the commercial elite are often shareholders. The MDC say this will merely perpetuate past misgovernance and corruption.
The sequence of events on Wednesday July 9, while Bush was in South Africa, was that at 11.25 a.m. reporters received a fax from Tsvangirai saying claims by South African President Thabo Mbeki on SABCTV the previous evening of dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF were "without foundation.’’ He said there had been "no political engagement" since the aborted talks in April 2002 (when Mugabe demanded the MDC accept his re-election was valid), and claims of dialogue were false, partisan, designed to buy time for Mugabe and "ward off potential genuine brokers." Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa likewise denied talks were taking place. He would be the one to know, he said. At noon on Wednesday, the two presidents gave a press conference at which Mbeki said: "We have urged the (Zimbabwean) government and the opposition to get together. They are indeed discussing all issues. That process is going on." Bush voiced confidence in Mbeki as "the point man" where Zimbabwe was concerned. Many news outlets reported, incorrectly, that Tsvangirai issued his denial in response to Mbeki's press conference remarks. Zimbabwe's state media gleefully declared that Tsvangirai had "called Mbeki a liar" and suffered a snub. In a later statement, intended to mollify, Tsvangirai said there were no formal negotiations with Zanu PF, but that "emissaries from various groups that include churches, civic groups and indeed the South African government" were trying, so far unsuccessfully, to get talks resumed. From here, it seems clear Mbeki was misled by over-optimistic reports, fed to his advisers by those given to minimising problems. We can guess their source. It would also be interesting to know what US diplomats told Bush, and from where they get their information.
However, if diplomats in Southern Africa are not to heed businessmen, to whom should they talk? Academics? Exiles? Professional lobbyists? Something Doris Lessing wrote in "The Grass is Singing" is apt: any group of people should be judged by its failures, it worst elements, as well as its successes, its better products. Diplomats and policy makers should take in the widest range of views. Among these must be semi-articulate voices they don't like to hear, the irrational men of violence, the hate-crazed extremists. As Nicholas Mosley, son of the leader of the British Fascist Movement in the 1930's, Sir Oswald Mosley, wrote after his father’s death: "I clearly see (now), while the right hand dealt with grandiose ideas and glory, the left hand let the rats out of the sewer." South Africa's Nationalist government had to be judged by its death squads and police torture cells as well as by the urbane, persuasive voices of one-time Foreign Minister Pik Botha and his like; the ANC by the perpetrators of necklacings and human rights abuses of the most chilling kind in Quattro, a guerrilla camp in Angola, as well as by its genial Lusaka spokesman, the late Tom Sebina. South Africa needs to admit the rats have emerged triumphant from Zanu PF's sewers. Bush has asked Mbeki to play Pied Piper.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 20 July
Zimbabwe zeroes in on its currency
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Zimbabwe is printing a Z$1 000 note for the first time as the country's economy implodes. And in a related development, economists predict that Zimbabwe's crippling inflation rate could rocket to 1 000% by the end of the year. In a bid to alleviate the shortage of bank notes, government on Friday injected Z12-billion into the dry financial system. This brought the amount of printed money recently introduced into the banking sector to Z$24-billion. Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa on Friday confirmed the move, saying it would stem the worsening shortage of cash in banks. This week some banks were unable to issue paper money to depositors as they had no money. He also said that government would soon introduce the $1 000 bill to reduce the large amounts of money that people need to carry on them to pay for goods and services. The highest currency denomination is currently the $500 note. The printing of bank notes and the accelerated money supply will add fuel to Zimbabwe's galloping inflation.
As business reeled under ever-increasing prices, four bakeries were fined this week for doubling the black market price of bread from $550 to $1 000 without government approval. The government-controlled wholesale price of bread is $225, while a retail loaf is fixed at $250. This dramatic bread price increase was precipitated by a rise of more than 1 000% in the state-run Grain Marketing Board's selling price of wheat. The board increased the wheat price more than twelve times, from $30 000 to 366 584 a ton. This forced millers to increase the price of flour eight-fold, from 102 000 to $870 000 a ton. Bakers responded by almost doubling the unofficial price of bread. Bakers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Armitage Chikwavira said the bread price increases were necessary to ensure the viability of bakeries currently teetering on the brink of collapse. "The problem is that government has kept price controls on bread and other goods," he said. "The bakers have two options . . . the first being to stop production altogether if they can't pass on the increase to their consumers, or continuing to produce and charging higher than the gazetted price."
However, government on Friday reacted by fining four leading bakeries $20-million collectively for flouting the price freezes. Government has also launched clampdowns on retail shops selling basic commodities and other goods at above the official prices. Zimbabwe's inflation rate this week surged to 364.5%. But economists say the real rate of inflation is currently above 400%, because the official one is calculated on the basis of the controlled price index, which does not apply on the informal market, where most goods are found. About 70% of Zimbabweans live below the global poverty line of less than US$1 per day. With inflation skyrocketing, Zimbabwe's current critical shortage of basic foodstuffs is set to worsen.
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From Business Report (SA), 20 July
Economic meltdown leads to innovative banking measures
Kenneth Chikanga
Johannesburg - Bankers in Zimbabwe are seeking urgent reassurances from the government that the economy will not collapse by the end of this year after economists warned inflation would reach 400 percent by the end of the month. Demand for cash has far outstripped supply, and banks have run out of money to keep formal business transactions going. The Zimbabwe Central Statistical Office (CSO) says the official inflation figure is 364.1 percent. The authority, however, admits it is using variables for calculation because the hard reality on the ground is certainly different. Economic analyst Eric Block last week told the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper that by his calculations, inflation was realistically about 380 percent. "Official inflation is always 20 percent less than the real inflation rate because the CSO uses spending patterns of the last quoted prices of controlled goods. But the reality of Zimbabwe today is that most basic commodities are pegged at black market rates," he said. Zimbabwe's economy, the fourth largest in Africa after South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, is facing its worst crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. It is in its fourth year of recession and hundreds of companies have either closed or have been forced to scale down operations, some cutting the number of working days to three. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries compiled a list of 400 manufacturing companies that closed shop over the past two years, forcing more than 70 percent of the workforce on to the streets. Opposition politicians blame President Robert Mugabe's policy of seizing hundreds of white-owned farms for the resettlement of landless black peasants as a cause of the economic meltdown. Mugabe denies this, arguing the economy has been wrecked by enemy forces in Europe and the West, and successive years of drought.
Bankers began urgent talks with government officials this week over the worsening shortage of bank notes, warning that the meltdown would soon reduce the nation to barter trade. Commercial banks desperate for cash have been forced to buy money from retailers and from individual currency sharks who are operating a thriving black market financial industry. Harare banker Goodson Nguni said there was an urgent need to revamp Zimbabwe's banking system. "This hyperinflationary environment calls for banks to implement a host of changes which include reducing charges on cheque transactions and their clearance period. "Banks can also replace charges on cash deposits with commissions as an incentive to deposit and remove or at least reduce bank charges," he said. Calls have been made for financial institutions to intensify the electronic banking system. Nguni said while Zimbabwe was struggling with inflation, on the upside it encouraged bankers to explore other ways of dealing with or replacing cash altogether. Some institutions have taken heed and cellphone operator Telecel recently introduced a billing system for its clients wishing to make payments. A company called Uniswitch is developing a system whereby clients can withdraw cash from any bank's automated teller machines, and pay for fuel at petrol stations using a card. In-store banking is another way of easing the problems where ordinary people are reduced to carrying more cash than the groceries they need. Some banks have already formed partnerships with retail outlets. Kingdom struck a deal with the Thomas Meikles Group, Century is signed up with OK and Bon Marche, Trust with Farm and Country Centre and NMB is dealing with Spar supermarkets. Nguni said bankers would convince the government about the advantages of electronic and in-store banking: customers could shop and bank under one roof; there was no need to move around with large wads of money; and supermarkets could bank daily takings under one roof.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, stung by accusations of indecisiveness and of burying its head in the sand, has said it will release Z$24 billion (R229 million)into the money market by next week. But analysts say increasing the money supply is not the solution and will fuel inflation by creating "too much money chasing too few goods". Economists have dismissed this injection as a non-event as the money would be gobbled up quickly, because demand for cash is so high. Analysts believe the official exchange rate of Z$824 to the US dollar is too low and the central bank should devalue the currency to match the black market rate, where one US dollar fetches up to Z$2 500. This would not only lead to foreign currency inflows into the official market, but also weed out speculation by black market dealers who are holding on to cash. Commercial banks argue that Zimbabwe's problems can only be tackled by the drafting and implementation of long-term solutions to issues like high government recurrent expenditure and high budget deficits; control of money supply through the implementation of realistic and market-related interest rates; and addressing low foreign capital inflows.
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From The Daily News, 19 July
100 000 may die
Staff Reporter
Bulawayo - More than 100 000 people in Tsholotsho and Bulilimamangwe South constituencies in Matabeleland South province could starve to death after food aid organisations cut relief aid to the two areas at the beginning of last month, it was learnt yesterday. The Members of Parliament for the two constituencies told the Daily News in separate interviews that the number of hungry people had risen sharply in their areas since the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) and World Vision started scaling down food relief operations in the two drought-prone areas in May. Bulilimamangwe South MP Edward Mkhosi warned there could soon be "famine-induced deaths" if food relief was not urgently restored for more than 50 000 people in his constituency who had nothing to eat. Mkhosi said: "The situation is fast getting desperate because food relief organisations continue to scale down operations. I do not know how to help the needy people who are still approaching me even as I speak right now. The hunger is more widespread from Brunapeg to as far down as Mphoengs along the border with Botswana. We will soon be reporting famine-induced deaths if no food assistance reaches the people before the end of the month." Tsholotsho legislator Mtoliki Sibanda said the number of people in desperate need of food aid in his constituency had risen to more than 45 000 in the last few weeks. Most were now surviving on wild fruits, the MP said yesterday. "Hunger is so widespread that people have resorted to eating wild fruits to survive. As it is, I have confirmed a report that three children, including a 13-year-old orphan attending Mathuphula Primary School, almost died after eating different kinds of fruit which caused them a serious stomach disorder. They were treated at Jimila Rural Health Centre. But this is not the complete picture as there are several other cases which are never reported."
ORAP and World Vision, which were the main food relief agencies operating in the two areas, could not be reached for comment on the matter by the time of going to print last night. Social Welfare Minister July Moyo could also not be reached for comment on the issue of worsening hunger in the two constituencies. But well-placed sources within the non-governmental organisation (NGO) community told this newspaper that nearly all NGOs had been cutting down on food aid for Zimbabwe after the delay by the government to formally appeal for continued food support. The sources said it would take up to two months before international donors could raise food in response to an appeal for help finally made by the government this week. According to the sources, the government delayed in making the appeal because it could not agree on what quantities of food to ask for from donors. Zimbabwe is grappling with severe food shortages after poor rains last year combined with the government’s chaotic land reforms to cut food production by 60 percent. Only the timely intervention of the World Food Programme and other international food donors saved more than seven million
Zimbabweans about half the country’s population from almost certain starvation last year. The country’s drought-prone southern region is the worst affected by hunger with Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city located in that region, reporting that 179 people, most of them children, died because of malnutrition in the first four months of this year.
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From News24 (SA), 19 July
Zim morgue workers nabbed
Harare - The desperation caused by Zimbabwe's fuel shortages was illustrated on Saturday when a Harare mortician and his assistant lent an infant corpse to a black market fuel dealer so he could claim cheap diesel reserved for the bereaved burying their dead. Police spokesperson Inspector Cecilia Churu confirmed that Knocks Zvakwidza and his assistant, named only as Chikwanha, both of whom worked in the mortuary of a state hospital at Chitungwiza township just south of Harare, had been arrested on Thursday for "violating a dead body" and for corruptly issuing burial orders. An unnamed illegal fuel dealer was also in custody, she said. The scarcity of fuel is so serious now it can be obtained at ordinary service stations almost only with special permits, including burial orders carried by undertakers or grieving relatives. Having a coffin with a body inside ensures prompt attention at the pumps without having to wait in a queue, the state-controlled daily Herald said in a report on Saturday on the incident.
The newspaper said Chikwanha issued a burial order for a month-old child to the fuel dealer on Thursday, and also gave him the use of the corpse in a tiny coffin. The dealer drove to the nearest service station where the production of the burial order and the dead baby got him instant attention. He drove back to the Chitungwiza mortuary to return the coffin and its contents, but was stopped at the hospital gates by security guards whose suspicions were aroused when they saw that the same coffin which was taken away earlier for supposed burial was now re-entering the hospital. "Investigations that we have carried out so far indicate that senior hospital officials were called and the man was quizzed, and he revealed that he was working in cahoots with the mortician and his assistant," the Herald quoted Inspector Churu. The newspaper said Zvakwidza had been suspended from the same job two years ago for allegedly extorting money from poor people who came to collect the bodies of relatives who'd died in hospital but who could not afford to pay the dead person's hospital fees. Kvakwidza would only release the body after the grieving relatives had paid him a bribe, the Herald said.
Economic collapse in the last three years of President Robert Mugabe's rule has dried up fuel imports, to the point where the country's vehicle fleet is kept going by the illegal black market, which carries a high risk of buying fuel contaminated with water. Executives of multinational oil companies, which own most of the country's service stations, say they have not had deliveries for well over a month from the state-run fuel procurement company. So valuable is the black market - most of it said to be run by cronies of Mugabe - that most bus operators park their vehicles outside service stations which get special allocations of fuel meant to keep commuter transport services running. However, police say, the bus operators immediately drain their tanks once they get fuel and sell it on the black market for about Z$2 000, four times the official controlled price.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 July
Mugabe's warped definition of ruling
Chido Makunike
There is the definition of "ruling" in which it is understood that the governing authorities exercise their authority with the happy consent of the population. Those authorities accept that the reason they are given those powers is to improve the conditions of those who entrust them with such powers. They know that the surest way to retain those powers and the associated perks and privileges is to do their utmost to keep the electorate, who are their masters, satisfied and convinced they are doing their best. Another definition of "ruling" is to simply have the wherewithal, usually military, but also possibly economic and psychological, to keep the populace in line. "Ruling" here means being "in power" in the strict controlling, intimidatory sense. This is the only definition of ruling that matters to President Mugabe and his regime. Critics, myself included, who point to all the ways that Mugabe is failing to rule under the first definition are in a way really missing the point.
We are judging an orange by the standard of an apple. Mugabe does not see 300% inflation, 70% unemployment, lack of fuel and bank notes, donor dependency and all the other maladies afflicting Zimbabwe as his failure to rule because his standard and judgement of his success as a ruler are simply that he is still in power! The fact that he has control over the instruments of coercion, such as the police, army, militia, propaganda machinery, is not a means to an end, such as to protect the populace from foreign attack as it would be under the first definition. That control is the end in itself, and because he is still able to exercise it, he is "successful". The only way he could be shown to be unsuccessful is not by pointing out all the things that can be objectively shown not to be working, but by no longer being in power. Let me use some recent examples to show how Mugabe and the rest of his regime speak and act in ways that make it clear what they have in mind when they think of what successful ruling is all about.
Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, one of Mugabe's more lacklustre henchmen, has "succeeded" at ruling more than Elias Mudzuri, the MDC mayor of Harare he recently suspended for dubious reasons. In his short time in office, Mudzuri began to make changes to how council went about its work in ways many residents had begun to appreciate and comment on. This was a dangerous precedent for Mugabe and Co because it showed up their deficiencies over the years. In one of the few high profile positions of real power occupied by an opposition official, it also dangerously suggested to the public that even under very trying conditions, the opposition party could also outperform the long entrenched ruling party in other areas. It didn't help Mudzuri at all that he threatened to unearth two decades of Zanu PF corruption at what had become a cash cow for the ruling party. He had to go, and Chombo rose to the task of ensuring he did. Now that Mudzuri has been pushed aside, all the alleged inadequacies Chombo said he was so worried about on behalf of the residents have not been heard about again. It is better to let the capital city slide backwards in so many ways, as long as all have been shown who is really "in charge," meaning with the instruments to push the other around, not to bring about any positive changes. That's a classical case of Zanu PF showing how it is "ruling".
The president and the whole state propaganda machinery this past week went to town about the "confidence" shown in Zimbabwe by the African Union appointing Mugabe to some vice-chairmanship, one of five routine ones. This "triumph" is apparently more significant than the fact that in the whole southern Africa region, despite Zimbabwe having the second most developed economy, it is shrinking faster than any other, and has the kind of problems that even a banana republic would be ashamed to be experiencing. The mere attendance of the meeting, deliciously crowned by chairing some irrelevant committee, is more a sign of being "in power" than the fact that he is completely helpless to do anything positive for his country with that power. Instead of being embarrassed that he was the only president of a country with no fuel and an insufficient amount of its own bank notes, he actually revels in his mere presence at the meeting, describing the summit as the "best ever", which it seems to be every year that he attends, despite his country being significantly poorer each year.
The state propaganda machinery was particularly delighted that demonstrators in Senegal and South Africa welcomed visiting US president George W Bush with some rude placards. It was completely lost on them that it is a sign of democratic maturity and self-confidence that these two countries did not feel they had to censor the free expression of their citizens' feelings about Bush. The same state machinery that loved free expression in those countries sends its army, armed to the teeth to prevent similar mild protests here at home. The fact that this is contradictory is neither here nor there, the point is that "we are in power and have the ability to force those inconsistencies and double standards on you". The standard of ruling has sunk so low that all that matters, above any sign of failure you may care to point at, is whether the regime is still in control of people, even if it is no longer in control of events. It is useful to keep this in mind when we complain, actually naively believing we will be heard, or when we urge the opposition to simply "put aside their pride for the good of the nation and talk to their tormentors". What a lot of us hope for when we utter these reasonable sweet-sounding nothings, and what the regime has in mind, are two completely different things.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 21 July
Mugabe postpones lavish reception
Harare - President Robert Mugabe on Sunday postponed his usual reception before the opening of parliament this week, an event that some diplomats, civic leaders and opposition politicians had said they would boycott. The government said Mugabe's usual lavish reception that was to take place on Monday was "postponed to a date to be advised." However, military aircraft, horseback police and troops rehearsed for Tuesday's ceremonial opening of the parliament by Mugabe, which hadn't been cancelled. All invitations to Monday's event, including those to foreign diplomats, civic and business leaders and ruling party officials, were cancelled, it said. No reasons were given but opposition lawmakers, some diplomats and civic leaders said they would boycott it. Mugabe's support has plunged to its lowest as Zimbabwe faces its worst economic crisis since he led the nation to independence in 1980. Dwindling crowds have attended his recent ruling Zanu PF party rallies. Lawmakers of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have in the past boycotted Mugabe's opening of parliament party and have walked out of the house when Mugabe began his opening speech. At the annual state opening of the parliament two years ago Mugabe, riding in an open, vintage Rolls Royce used by colonial era British governors, was jeered by protesters. Last year, police prevented demonstrations by sealing off the main square opposite the parliament building.
Zimbabwe is suffering acute shortages of hard currency, imports such as gas, medicines and food. Fuel shortages have crippled industry and transportation. On the thriving black market, fuel and the staple, cornmeal, fetch five times the official price. The official exchange rate is 824 Zimbabwe dollars to the US dollar, but the American dollar buys up to Z$2 700 on the black market. Part of the deepening economic crisis is blamed on the state program that seized thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black settlers. Foreign investment and aid has largely ended in protest of human rights abuses and the disputed presidential elections last year that gave Mugabe another six-year term in office. Zimbabwe's opposition and Britain, the European Union and the United States have refused to recognise the poll results, saying they appeared rigged. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called for Mugabe to step down and end his rule of "tyranny" in Zimbabwe. Mugabe has been critical in return.
According to the independent Daily News on Sunday newspaper, Mugabe surprised even his own supporters and the state media with remarks at a rally before US President George Bush's recent African trip. The newspaper said on Sunday it obtained a recording of Mugabe's speech at the rally in which he criticised pressure on his government by Britain, the former colonial ruler, and the United States. "They will never attempt to do here what they did in Iraq because it is their children who will be the first to die," Mugabe said, according to the newspaper, which translated his speech from the local Shona language. He did not elaborate. The remark was seen as a threat to whites and their children in Zimbabwe which was even suppressed by the state media in its reports of the rally, the paper said.
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From The Daily News, 20 July
MDC fears for safety of Rusape candidates
Own Correspondent
Mutare The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party yesterday said it feared for the safety of its candidates in Rusape for next month’s council elections after suspected Zanu PF youths allegedly threatened some of the opposition candidates with death. MDC spokesman for Manicaland province Pishayi Muchauraya told the Daily News yesterday: "Our candidates are living in fear after they received death threats. We are also very concerned about their safety because of the magnitude of terror in Rusape." Elections to choose new councillors for Rusape are scheduled to be held on 30 and 31 August. Muchauraya said two of his party’s candidates in the council election, Kidwell Gomana and David Mukunda, standing for wards six and two respectively, were on Thursday this week assaulted by Zanu PF supporters and threatened with death if they contested the election on behalf of the MDC. The MDC official said: "We are fielding candidates in all the 10 wards but our candidates have endured door-to-door visits by Zanu PF youths. This cannot be a fair election where our candidates have not been allowed to campaign." Muchauraya said the MDC had at one time contemplated pulling out of the ballot in protest against violence against their candidates and supporters.
The MDC spokesman accused Zanu PF politburo member Didymus Mutasa of encouraging violence and death threats against opposition members and candidates in Rusape. He said: "Mutasa has declared Rusape a no-go area for MDC supporters. He has blessed all this violence and we hold him responsible." Mutasa, who is also the Member of Parliament for Makoni North constituency, dismissed the allegations against him, saying he was not even involved in his own party’s campaign for the ballot. Mutasa said: "It’s very funny because I am not active at all in these council elections. I do not even know who is contesting for Zanu PF so how would I then know MDC candidates?" The Zanu PF legislator and official claimed the MDC was raising allegations of violence in order to cover up for the drubbing it will receive from Zanu PF in the polls next month. He said: "They are afraid of losing. They are cowards. They will lose because nobody will vote for the MDC in Rusape."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 July
Cabinet turns to WFP for food aid
Augustine Mukaro
Cabinet on Tuesday resolved to send a formal appeal for humanitarian assistance to the World Food Programme, the Zimbabwe Independent has heard. Although details of the appeal were not readily available by late yesterday, it is understood that government's appeal is for between 600 000 and 800 000 tonnes. Last year government made an appeal for 705 000 tonnes of food. This year's harvest is slightly better than last year's but the government's capacity to import food has been compromised by forex shortages. A United Nations Development Programme spokesperson in Harare said the government had informed the world body that the appeal logistics were finalised by the cabinet on Tuesday but have not yet been handed over. "We are expecting the formal appeal anytime this week," the spokesperson said.
The formal appeal had been delayed by disagreements over official crop forecasts, government sources said. In the absence of a formal appeal humanitarian agencies had difficulty securing pledges of funds from donors. The Famine Early Warning System Network (Fewsnet) had predicted a harvest of 1,3 million tonnes, the Commercial Farmers Union had put their figures at between 600 000 and 700 000 tonnes, while government had forecast 900 000 million tonnes. The latest crop and food supply assessment mission by the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 4,4 million people in rural areas and 1,1 million in urban areas would require food assistance in 2003/04. Zimbabwe is once again the country worst affected by food shortages in southern Africa. Pubic Service Labour and Social Welfare permanent secretary Lancaster Museka told Irin News agency on Tuesday the government would probably be able to make a formal appeal on Wednesday.
"The delay was due to a disagreement over crop forecasts presented by the Central Statistical Office, but this had now been resolved," Museka told Irin. "The cabinet was sitting on Tuesday and one of the items on the agenda is the crop forecast ... from which the figures for the appeal will come. By Wednesday we expect to give them (WFP) the figure, once cabinet has approved it," he said. Diplomatic sources said the appeal would not get a response in time for the requisite humanitarian assistance. "WFP and its implementing partners will pull out of all their operation areas at the end of August when the carry-over food gets finished," one diplomat said. "We expect to receive food in October because it would take at least three months from the time of the launch of the appeal to the delivery of the food into the country."
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 21 July
Money for nothing
Inflation, as the truism goes, is the result of too much money chasing too few goods. Nothing new in that - Zimbabwe has had that problem for years. It started with a bloated bureaucracy and ministeriat, larger than the country could possibly afford. It got considerably worse with the payment of unaffordable pensions and gratuities to war veterans, and then the exorbitant, and equally unaffordable, cost of the military adventure in the Congo. Inflation was due to too many people being paid to produce nothing, too much money being handed out to keep the government's supporters sweet. But the inflation problem of those days - (can it really be only three years ago?) - seems entirely manageable when seen from the perspective of the current disaster.
The acceleration in inflation over the last three years has been caused by the other side of the equation. For three years, the government has been taking every opportunity to punish those who produce the goods and services that everyone consumes. The previous problem was excess demand. We now have the added dimension of reduced supply. Why are tourists visiting Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique, leaving Zimbabwe a tourist-free zone in the middle of the doughnut? Why is one increasingly likely to find a Zimbabwean doctor or nurse in a British or South African hospital? Why are Zimbabwean teachers fleeing south? Why are Zimbabwean entrepreneurs, including not a few previously vocal government supporters, setting up shop anywhere else except Zimbabwe? Why is there no food?
The government finds a host of culprits for the lack of essential goods on the supermarket shelves and the collapse of essential services. It blames currency speculators, the political opposition, the British, hoarders, the drought - you name them. But can one honestly blame medical staff who prefer to work in hospitals where there is medicine, where the equipment works, and where people injured by the police are not denied treatment? Can one seriously point a finger at a businessman who prefers not to operate in a country where his enterprise is constantly at risk of attack by government thugs? Are the government's usual suspects - foreigners and "unpatriotic" Zimbabweans - really to blame for food scarcity, when the government has made it quite clear that food production can only take place at a subsistence level, if at all. And the simple reality is that tourists won't visit a country where foreigners - and its own citizens - are constantly vilified and attacked.
Much has been made in recent days of the government pumping billions of dollars of cash into the banking system, and its plan to print Z$1000 notes. That will only push inflation higher. And, in the most damning indictment of all, when the government is offered - at no cost - an increase in the supply of food by the international aid agencies, it gets so tied up in covering up its own lies that it cannot get a letter posted in time, with the result that millions are condemned to another season of hunger, and worse. These politicians, who are taking these disastrous decisions for everyone else, are the same people who are so adept at looking after their own personal finances, the same people who can negotiate their own way through the most intricate of financial scams. They know what the solution is. The basic truth is that in Zimbabwe people are paid to destroy, not to produce. The rewards go to the thugs. And until that money-for-nothing culture is done away with, truckloads of Z$1000 notes will make not one iota of difference.
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From BBC News, 21 July
Zimbabwe policeman withdrawn
By Barnaby Phillips
Johannesburg - The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Kosovo says a Zimbabwean police officer serving with it has been withdrawn from public duties because of allegations that he was involved in torture whilst working in Harare. But the United Nations says it cannot take any other action against the officer. The British-based organisation, Redress, which campaigns against torture, says it has evidence that Detective-Inspector Henry Dowa, now serving with the UN in Kosovo, has been involved in human rights abuses. The allegations relate to incidents in Harare involving the use of electric cables and severe beatings. Numerous human rights groups have accused the Zimbabwean police of such practices in recent years. A spokesman for the UN mission in Kosovo told the BBC that in the light of these allegations, Mr Dowa had been withdrawn from duties where he might interact with the public, but he was still doing administrative work. But the spokesman said no further action could be taken against Mr Dowa, because he was not accused of committing any crimes whilst in Kosovo. The spokesman also said the mission did not have the capacity to vet police officers before they travelled to Kosovo. Redress says this is not acceptable, and has written to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying Mr Dowa should be arrested and tried. UN officials in New York told the BBC that a decision on this case is imminent. Redress argues that if Mr Dowa were allowed to return to Zimbabwe, he would be extremely unlikely to face prosecution, given the current political climate. A Zimbabwean police spokesman in Harare refused to comment when contacted by the BBC.
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From The Daily News, 21 July
MDC set to agree ‘safe exit’ for Mugabe
Staff Reporter
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is believed to be considering agreeing to a "dignified and safe exit" from power for President Robert Mugabe in a bid to break the political impasse between the opposition party and the ruling Zanu PF party, the Daily News learnt yesterday. Sources close to the opposition party said a meeting of the MDC’s national executive in Harare last Saturday had resolved among other things that the party should not oppose a safe exit for Mugabe if that would promote dialogue between Zimbabwe’s two main political parties that collapsed last August. "The move not to oppose a dignified exit for Mugabe is being made so that the issue of Mugabe does not become a stumbling block to dialogue to resolve the wider crisis engulfing the nation," said a source, who spoke on condition he was not named. The source said the opposition party’s executive had adopted what it termed a "Road Map to Peace" outlining the party’s proposals on how to end Zimbabwe’s crisis. According to the source, the MDC plan provides for a dignified exit for Mugabe and a transitional mechanism leading to free and fair elections. The opposition party is said to have also assembled a team that would lead talks with Zanu PF when and if they were resumed.
Dialogue broke down between the two political foes when Zanu PF pulled out in protest against the MDC’s decision to challenge at the High Court Mugabe’ s re-election last year. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi yesterday said: "The MDC will do everything in its power to conduct political activities in a spirit and manner conducive to the promotion of dialogue." Nyathi would not be drawn to disclose further details on what his party was doing to resuscitate dialogue with Zanu PF. Unconfirmed reports emanating from government and Zanu PF circles suggest that one of the key issues preventing Mugabe from stepping down was his fear he could be prosecuted for human rights violations that may have been committed during his 23-year rule. South Africa President Thabo Mbeki last week said talks between the MDC and Zanu PF were under way but the two parties denied the development.
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From The Herald, 22 July
ZDF displays military arsenal
From Midlands Bureau
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces showcased its military might at the weekend with a display of what its entire military arsenal in the country is capable of doing in case of war. Featuring the smallest calibre weapon to the recently acquired state-of-the-art supersonic MiG 23 jet fighter, the firepower demonstration at the Zimbabwe National Army’s Lazy Nine training ground in Shurugwi was meant to test military hardware in the country as well as provide students and officers with a practical training exercise. The hardware included an armoured multiple rocket launcher capable of hitting targets 22km away, a wire guided missile system, tanks, a Hawk fighter plane and the Mi35 helicopter. The entire arsenal was fired at selected targets using live fire. The last firepower demonstration was held in 2000. The weekend's demonstration was witnessed by the Minister of Defence, Cde Sydney Sekeramayi, ZDF commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, Zimbabwe National Army commander, Lieutenant General Constantine Chiwenga and his Air Force of Zimbabwe counterpart, Air Marshall Perence Shiri. The commandant of the Zimbabwe Military Academy, Colonel Thomas Moyo, who was the director of the demonstration, said the purpose of firepower was to showcase the magnitude of firepower available to the armed forces and its "devastating effects". "The essence is to remind commanders of the amount of firepower at their disposal that can with good planning be brought to bear on opposing forces. The demonstration also presents a wonderful opportunity for joint training which the two service commanders have always advocated for," he said. The director of army training, Colonel John Chris Mupande, said the firepower exercise had shown that the ZDF was a formidable force capable of defending the country from its enemies. "We are so strong that people may not understand our capabilities," he said. An evaluation on the success of the exercise would be carried out, according to Group Captain Beltim Chingono, director of Operation in the AFZ.
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From VOA News, 21 July
Survey shows Zimbabwe experiencing 'brain drain'
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - As the economic situation worsens in Zimbabwe, more and more people are leaving the country in search of a better life. A survey shows many of those leaving are skilled professionals. A draft copy of the report by a government research institute says Zimbabwe is losing thousands of professionals to other countries every year. The brain drain, the report says, has reached unacceptable heights. Carried out by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Center in Harare, the report says more than 479,000 Zimbabweans are working outside the country, with most of them in four countries, Botswana, South Africa, Britain and the United States. The survey included professionals in various fields, among them engineers, teachers, financiers, and medical professionals. Medical personnel made up the largest percentage of those leaving - almost 25 percent. Those who leave gave reasons for going into exile as economic, historic and in some cases political. Media reports say more than one million Zimbabwean emigrants have left the country in recent years, but exact figures are hard to get. A spokesman for the Central Statistical Office says not everybody leaving Zimbabwe says they are leaving for good. As a result, there are no clear figures distinguishing between emigrants and those who are leaving the country temporarily. Another reason exact statistics are hard to come by is that many Zimbabweans simply leave the country by walking across the border into a neighboring country, with South Africa and Botswana the most popular choices.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 22 July |
