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Archived News
26th August 2003
MDC continues to challenge Mugabe legitimacy
MDC Weekly Briefing Note
Commonwealth members condemn the Zimbabwean government
Mugabe and Zimbabwe's cash crisis
Wellington Chibebe at a recent ZIC function
Roy Bennett’s Newsletter
Mugabe to run food aid distribution
People 'with shoeboxes of cash' held in Harare for 'hoarding'
Zimbabwe inflation hits 400%
Outcry over lavish Mugabe pension
The fog of unreality
Govt directive could hamper relief efforts
Inflation in Zimbabwe borders on 400 per cent
Zimbabwe's residential market booming
Zimbabwe's miners call crisis meeting
More Zvimba settlers ordered to leave farms
Merchants of hunger
Zim to discuss food policy with aid groups
Succession saga could blight talks prospects
Muzenda receiving intensive care
Zimbabwe ups spending by 84% in revised budget
MDC accuses ZANU PF of poll fraud
Road show victim
Zim food aid jeopardised by political interference
Food stocks begin to decline
HIV infection rate drops in Zim
Zim gets nod to sell stake in Petrozim
Zimbabwe's clergy speak out
$1000 note hits snag Government does not have 6m Euros needed for project
Africa ministers urge EU to lift Zimbabwe sanctions
Commission blocks damning Zim report
Think-tank finds talks key to peaceful change
CIO boss faces arrest
Zimbabwe's food production under pressure
Fuel coupons sold on the black market
Who will be Bob's proxy president?
Of ample women, hypocrites and dictators
Devaluation zooms into view
WFP retains control of food distributions
The long and dreary wait for cash in Zimbabwe
Cash crunch may hamper access to govt relief funds
Zim opposition sets crisis talks deadline
Zanu PF in no hurry to dialogue with the MDC - Chinamasa
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From The Guardian (UK), 20 August
Mugabe to run food aid distribution
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
The Zimbabwean government said yesterday that it would take control of the distribution of food aid, provoking suspicion that it will be channelled to supporters of President Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF, to help secure their votes in the forthcoming local elections. The minister of social welfare, July Moyo, reversed the government's previous policy of allowing the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other international charities to give relief directly to the millions of Zimbabweans who are going hungry. In a directive to the UN and the charities, he said that rural government officials and village heads would decide who should get food aid. Currently 3.5 million people are receiving aid, and the government expects the number to rise to 5.5 million by December. Some people are reportedly eating maize meal raw because they are too weak to carry it back home to cook.
Last year more than 7 million of the 13 million population depended on food relief. It was well documented that the government restricted the distribution from its supplies to Zanu PF supporters. Videos showed members of Mr Mugabe's youth militia chasing opposition supporters from the food queues. The WFP, which directed all the food coming in from other countries, found that the government was also interfering in the distribution of donated food. At one point it halted deliveries to one district when Zanu PF officials seized food and handed it to supporters. This year the government has no stocks and is therefore seeking to control donated food. It has flatly denied using food aid as a political weapon, but the first-hand accounts of manipulation and intimidation are so numerous that neither any international agency nor the Zimbabwean public believes that the government's distribution is even-handed.
Earlier this month the government admitted that it would need food relief to continue, asking for 450,000 tonnes of grain between September and June 2004. The fact that Zimbabwe, formerly called "the bread basket of southern Africa", needs another year of aid is cited by many agricultural experts as proof that Mr Mugabe's land seizures have failed dismally and have left rural black Zimbabweans worse off. In private, aid workers and diplomats reacted angrily to the government's new rule, saying the restrictions would make them "accomplices" in starving the opposition. They all said that they were working frantically behind the scenes to persuade the government to drop the measure, and therefore did not want to attack it publicly. A US government spokesman said: "We are satisfied with how aid was distributed last year and we are seeking clarity with our concerned partners in the international community about what these changes will mean." The US was planning to donate 225,000 tonnes of grain, about half the government's total request, according to diplomatic sources. The director of a large aid agency said: "These new restrictions are completely unacceptable to donating governments, and are in disregard of the United Nations mandate to ensure that all food aid is distributed fairly and in a non-partisan manner. I would be surprised if the UN could agree to such conditions."
John Makumbe, chairman of Transparency International Zimbabwe, a German organisation campaigning for accountable government, said the regulation was aimed at influencing the elections to rural and urban councils, due at the end of this month. "The government is desperate to regain lost ground in those councils and will stoop to using food as a weapon against hungry families. But I do not believe the UN or the aid agencies will have any of it." He said the aggressive, antagonistic action might have damaged the delicate negotiations between Mr Mugabe's party and the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "The MDC has gone to great lengths to show it is willing to compromise, but the government has done precious nothing," he said. "This new action has definitely injured the talks, perhaps fatally."
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From The Cape Times (SA), 20 August
People 'with shoeboxes of cash' held in Harare for 'hoarding'
Harare - Four unnamed people allegedly caught with shoeboxes full of cash were arrested here on Monday - the first victims of the government's new ban on "hoarding cash". Police spokesman superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said three men and a women were arrested in Harare after a group of soldiers allegedly spotted them behind a building, dividing up piles of banknotes and stashing them in shoe boxes. Mandipaka said the four were found with Z$13 million, worth about US$2 200 on the black market, which, in the collapsing economy, has become Zimbabwe's almost exclusive source of hard currency. He said the cash was found in shoeboxes. Business sources say the shoebox has almost become a unit of currency on its own, as it is a perfect fit for four bundles of Z$250 000 (Z$1m is about R1 200). On August 8, regulations published under Mugabe's state of emergency-style "presidential powers" outlawed the possession of more than Z$5m in a bid to stamp out the alleged "hoarding" of cash that President Robert Mugabe's regime claims is causing the critical cash shortages. "We strongly believe that these are the very same people who have joined the bandwagon of hoarding cash," said Mandipaka.
For the past three months, queues of hundreds of people have been an almost permanent feature around banks and building societies as people line up in the hope of withdrawing their salaries, but often are allowed no more than Z$5 000 at a time. Often they queue in vain, and frequently riot police have to be called to restore order. Economists say the shortage of banknotes is a result of the soaring cost of living and inability of the state-owned printing press to keep up with demand. Annual inflation was 365% in June, having risen 165% in the past six months - effectively doubling the amount of money needed. The state press admitted yesterday that the regime's bid to end the crisis by issuing traveller's cheques as an alternative to cash had failed. The only denomination traveller's cheque available was Z$100 000, beyond the capacity of the poor.
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From Business Day (SA), 20 August
Zimbabwe inflation hits 400%
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwe's skyrocketing inflation has surged to a record high of 399%, raising fears that it could break the 1000% mark by the end of the year. Latest Central Statistics Office figures show that year-on-year inflation is now 399,5%, a sharp increase from the June rate of 364,5%. Food inflation came in at 480,8%, gaining 46,8% over the June levels, while nonfood inflation settled at 358,4%. Month-on-month inflation, however, slowed down by 4,1% to 17% in July. "We suspect that this could be due to technical factors which we still need to verify once a detailed (statistics) printout is released," a Harare-based analyst said. "We note the conservative upward movement in inflation in July and suspect that most of the accelerated depreciation of the local unit in late July has not been factored into production figures yet." The analyst said the next inflation rate should rise dramatically once current economic dynamics relating to exchange rate and new productions costs were factored in. "There is going to be a steeper month-on-month movement in inflation once these issues are taken into account," the analyst said. "If, for example, the fuel sector is liberalised, the pump price of fuel will increase significantly to at least Z$2000 per litre and this will increase inflation."
Before the latest 399,5% rate, independent economists estimated inflation at 400%, saying the previous 364,5% did not reflect the correct situation as it was calculated on the basis of controlled prices instead of black market ones, which were almost twice as high. The International Monetary Fund says Zimbabwe's inflation would climb to 522% this year, but local economic analysts say it could escalate to 1000% by year-end. Stagflation continuous price rises against a background of falling production has become Zimbabwe's major economic problem. It is eroding real incomes, investment, business confidence, output and employment. Inflation is also eating into national savings, which have fallen to less than 9% because of fiscal deficits as well as declining economic activity. Low interest rates are worsening the situation. The spread between real interest rates and inflation continues to widen, discouraging savings. This has been compounded by a pattern of reckless government borrowing and spending.
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 19 August
Outcry over lavish Mugabe pension
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabweans have expressed outrage over President Robert Mugabe's decision to peg his pension benefits to almost the same level as the salary of a sitting president. The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said it would scrap the decision that Mugabe signed into law at the weekend as soon as it gained power. The MDC said considering the damage Mugabe's policies had done to the Zimbabwean economy, he should have volunteered to forfeit his pension and rely on the wealth that he and his cronies had looted from Zimbabwe and stashed abroad. In a move to guarantee his comfort when he leaves office, Mugabe signed into law legislation that pegs his pension benefits to at least 75 percent of the salary and benefits of any sitting president. Officials in the justice ministry confirmed the pension plan. One said: "The decision... is naturally meant to cushion Mugabe from any fluctuations in the inflation rate." The wording of the new law is such that only Mugabe and his family qualify for the generous pension benefits. It disqualifies his predecessor, Canaan Banana, who served as president until 1987 before Mugabe ousted him and combined the offices of president and prime minister. The move comes after Mugabe awarded himself a series of pay increases amounting to more than 1 000 percent in the past year. The move has re-ignited speculation that Mugabe intends to step down soon but the MDC and civic groups said it rather showed that he, like other African tyrants, only cared for his own comfort. Mugabe's wife Grace and their children will also get generous payments as part of the pension plan.
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 20 August
The fog of unreality
By Michael Hartnack
To comprehend the tragedy that is taking place in Zimbabwe you have to enter the mind of Robert Mugabe a strange fantasy world which, he claims, South African President Thabo Mbeki also inhabits. In his passionate harangue at the Heroes Acre cemetery, outside Harare, on August 11 Mugabe praised Mbeki's "outstanding support" for more than just redistribution of 5 000 white-owned farms. His confidence that Mbeki is a believer appears to end any hope an agreement may be reached soon on an exit plan in talks with the Movement for Democratic Change. "The land reform programme has taken the fight against racism and the disempowerment of our people a step further, and today we are able to speak in convincing terms about the possibility of eradicating poverty, unbalanced development and human suffering," Mugabe boasted. Is anyone convinced? The UN World Food Programme reports that at some relief distribution centres, people have been too weak to carry the food home, and are so desperate for food they have been seen opening and eating uncooked rations on the spot.
Similarly with the cash crisis: a "VIP facility" has been introduced to spare Mugabe and his elite from queuing like everyone else for days on end to draw cash. Meanwhile, many ordinary people could not buy bus tickets, or groceries, because they were unable to get their hands on the ready money demanded by conductors and checkout cashiers. To see deprivation, Mugabe need only take a walk from State House to Harare Remand Prison, where inmates are routinely told it is a "0 - 0 - 1" day. The prison can't afford breakfast or lunch, but warders may give out a small helping of porridge late in the afternoon. Two days before the Heroes Day harangue, Mugabe promulgated his widely ignored ban on hoarding cash. Anyone found with anything that looks like more than Z$5 million may have it summarily impounded by the same thugs who have seized bread, mealie meal, petrol, or anything else they coveted, then loftily declared they had no receipt books. "It is just panic. It is just a farce," said Professor Tony Hawkins, a leading economist. The fact behind the cash shortage is runaway local borrowings. This is rolled over by making pension funds and other financial institutions lend Zimbabweans' savings to the regime at a fifth the official 400 percent official rate of inflation, so accelerating a vicious cycle. Yet in his Heroes' Day speech Mugabe announced more lavish state spending and subsidies to revive agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and exports. Having announced on Oct. 29, 1999 that "The International Monetary Fund should shut its mouth because it is of no benefit to Zimbabwe," Mugabe now says IMF refusal on loans is "sanctions", and responsible for today's economic collapse. He demands "reparations" after destroying Z$75 billion worth of farm infrastructure.
In a broadcast on February 7, 1999, before the start of the present crisis, Mugabe reserved his hottest fury for Zimbabweans who will not join his games of make-believe. Those such the late Mark Chavunduka - an independent journalist - judges, and human rights campaigners "have got to search their consciences and ask themselves whether they belong in Zimbabwe and share the same philosophy, the same sentiments, the same feelings as the rest of our people," Mugabe warned, endorsing the abduction and torture of Chavunduka. Mugabe’s God cannot forgive heretics for refusing to "be together with us, speak the same language with us, act like us, walk alike, and dream alike," he said on August 11 this year. On Heroes' Day, Mugabe also demanded that his critics "repent and re-orientate themselves", or be cast out as "enemies of the people". During the 1982-87 Matabeleland genocide, when up to 20 000 people died, Mugabe used the identical word in an interview with Donald Trelford, then editor of Britain’s Observer newspaper: "The solution is a military one. The people must be re-orientated." The latest demands for repentance were shrieked by a man who publicly applauded the April 2000 murder of farmer and MDC activist David Stevens. Since then, hundreds have died at the hands of Mugabe's state-sponsored militants and youth militia while police stood by.
The mood of paranoia spreads through Mugabe’s elite. Last week the children of Vice President Joshua Nkomo demanded an investigation into the June 4 death of his widow, Johanna, 76, who had been in and out of hospital for weeks. The family believe she was poisoned by members of the ruling Zanu PF women's league who had visited her home to help with housework. At Heroes Acre, Mugabe banged the podium and raged: "Those who would go together with our enemies cannot want to march alongside us as our partners - no, we say no to them. They must repent." His great objection to all commonsense Zimbabweans is that they will not march along behind his fantasies. Opposition politicians, independent journalists and representatives of civil society cling on here, while a fantasy rolls its fog of unreality ever outward.
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From IRIN (UN), 20 August
Govt directive could hamper relief efforts
Johannesburg - Aid groups in Zimbabwe were awaiting clarification of a directive issued by the government that would see the distribution of international food aid shift from relief agencies to local government and village authorities. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday confirmed that the new directive, "Policy on Operations of Non-Governmental Organisations in Humanitarian and Developmental Assistance in Zimbabwe", was issued by the ministry of public service, labour and social welfare last week. According to the local Daily News the directive reads in part: "The beneficiaries of the NGOs food distribution programme will be selected from the ward/village assembly and neighbourhood committee registers." WFP's regional spokesman Richard Huggins told IRIN: "WFP can confirm that it has received this document, and we are seeking clarification with the relevant authorities as to the implications of the new policy directive." World Vision (WV), a WFP implementing partner, added that the issue was "extremely sensitive" and the NGO would reserve comment until the government had responded to a request to clarify its position. WV's Zimbabwe director, Rudo Kwaramba, said: "All those who are likely to be affected by the directive have sat down to discuss the repercussions the regulations may have on our operations. However, distributions have continued as normal and we continuing to manage a very difficult situation." Aid agencies estimate some five million Zimbabweans will require food aid by January 2004. Food shortages have been blamed on erratic weather, the effect of the government's fast-track land reform on commercial agriculture, and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has objected to the directive, saying NGOs were "justified in trying to protect their independence". "In Zimbabwe the only real currency at the moment is food. The implications of this directive are extremely worrying, as it gives the government free rein over who receives food and who does not. The country really does not need this at this juncture, especially since it is the NGOs who are keeping the most vulnerable communities afloat," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi told IRIN. The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, July Moyo, had dismissed concerns that village leaders would be biased in distributing relief aid. The Daily News quoted Moyo as saying: "They (the NGOs) have always been working with the headmen, so nothing has really changed. All we are saying is that the NGOs should use local structures such as chiefs, headmen and councils, because these are the people on the ground. Everything else will remain the same. But no international donor can tell us that the government should not be involved in food distribution when we are the ones who asked for the food in the first place." Nyathi also raised concerns that donors would react negatively to the possibility that the government could seize control of food relief distribution. "International donors may be reluctant to assist the country, should the directive be implemented, especially since there have been incidents where government supporters have been given preferential treatment when it comes to food aid." Human rights groups and the MDC have accused Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF of using food aid as a political weapon against opposition supporters. The government has dismissed the accusations.
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From The Associated Press, 20 August
Inflation in Zimbabwe borders on 400 per cent
Harare - Official inflation in economically battered Zimbabwe has risen to nearly 400 per cent and dealers on Wednesday said that black market trading has pushed unofficial hard currency exchange rates up by one-third. Monthly data from the state Central Statistical Office said that yearly inflation climbed from 364.5 per cent, calculated in June, to 399.5 per cent last month. Currency dealers said that the dollar was trading on the thriving unofficial market for up to 5,800-1, rising from nearly 4,000-1 a week ago. The official exchange rate is 824-1. Illegal black market deals have largely been fuelled by panicked buying of hard currency in the crumbling economy, dealers said. The continuing free fall of the Zimbabwe dollar against the US currency has been caused by acute shortages of basic goods, including food and gasoline, out of control inflation and shortages of local cash. Inflation in neighbouring Zambia is at 21 per cent, compared to 11 per cent in South Africa. Inflation stands at about 2 per cent in Britain and the United States.
The independent Trust Bank said that it calculated current annual food inflation in Zimbabwe at 480 per cent last month. Black market sales of food, gasoline and other scarce essentials at five times the regular price put the rate closer to 700 per cent. Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, blamed partly on President Robert Mugabe's programme to seize thousands of commercial farms from the white minority for redistribution to black settlers. The programme is also blamed for worsening a hunger crisis that threatens nearly half of the population. The UN food agency estimates about 3.3 million Zimbabweans are in urgent need of food aid this month, rising to 5.5 million by the end of the year. The central bank published new laws on Monday giving police the power to seize hoarded cash in a bid to ease local currency shortages.
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From Business Day (SA), 20 August
Zimbabwe's residential market booming
More secure suburbs draw buyers from rural areas, as well as those seeking a shield against the country's soaring inflation
Property Reporter
Zimbabwe is on a knife-edge politically and economically, but surprisingly the residential property market in Harare and the prime areas of Bulawayo is booming. Buyers are moving away from rural areas to more secure urban suburbs, as crime levels increase. Zimbabwean architect Mukwakwame Musikavanhu, who works at South African-based Cre8 Design & Innovation, says another reason for the boom is that the residential property market is seen as a shelter against the country's high inflation. Musikavanhu says some farms close to the metropolitan fringe have also been rezoned and subdivided for residential use. Zimbabweans who have elected to stay in the country, as well as expatriates, are investing in cluster developments and large private residences for resale. Although these returns are in Zimbabwean dollars, he says a lot of people have traded in US dollars without difficulty. "Money is being made. There is a population of very well-schooled people who don't beat about the bush when it comes to being entrepreneurial," he says. "Over the past three years there has been a lot more vigour from people chasing deals."
Musikavanhu says most of the population are now investing in areas, including property, that they would not traditionally have invested in. "There are a lot more residential developments going ahead in Zimbabwe than one would expect considering the market dynamics." Musikavanhu says it is also a lot cheaper to buy residential properties than before, especially if you are earning foreign-based income. He says a lot of young professionals have left Zimbabwe and are working around the world, but there is still a "homing signal" that makes them want to buy their own property back home. Musikavanhu says large properties four to five bedrooms on two acres of land in prime areas like Borrowdale in Harare are fetching prices from R600000 to R1,6m, while homes in the prime areas of Bulawayo are priced from R600000 to R1m. John Spicer, MD of Seeff Property Services in Zimbabwe and one of Seeff's international consultants, says that in terms of the "right type of properties" cluster houses and homes in good condition the market is booming. "For a start we've had people in Zimbabwe buying property as a hedge against inflation." Spicer says that according to official Zimbabwean government statistics, the inflation rate is 385%, but for those working in business the inflation rate is actually more than 600%.
Like Musikavanhu, Spicer says there are a lot of Zimbabweans living in the UK and SA earning hard currency which they are using to buy houses, particularly in the northern suburbs of Harare. "In Harare there is a shortage of secure cluster homes or flats and they are going up more in value than anything else," he says. Until about four years ago, matters of security were not nearly as important as they now are. Using sterling as a guideline, Spicer says Seeff has just sold a cluster house in Harare's northern suburbs for about £135000. Zimbabwean property owner Neil Pentolfe agrees there is a desire for cluster homes because, he says, armed robberies are probably on par with SA. Pentolfe says he knows of Zimbabwean developers buying land on the Borrowdale Brook golf estate and building homes to be sold. He says if a developer builds a middle-of-the-range home on Borrowdale Brook and sells it, he can make a return of 60% to 100% in US dollars. He says that in countries like Zambia and Tanzania, the value of residential property has always increased irrespective of the political climate. Many emerging black businessmen and farmers who have had to leave their farms but are staying in Zimbabwe, are buying homes or vacant plots to develop, he says.
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From Business Day (SA), 21 August
Zimbabwe's miners call crisis meeting
The Zimbabwean government and mining executives have held an emergency meeting in the midst of the current economic crisis in a bid to save the declining mining sector from collapse. Mines Minister Edward Chindori-Chininga met Chamber of Mines officials in Harare on Tuesday to work out a plan to rescue the troubled sector, which has seen rapid deterioration over the past two years. Chamber CEO David Murangari confirmed the meeting was held but would not disclose the details, saying they were confidential. "We met but we made an undertaking not to reveal the details of the meeting. The issues we discussed are sensitive and we won't disclose them," he said. However, sources close to the talks said Chindori-Chininga and mining executives had discussed measures to save the key economic sector from danger. The meeting focused on the government's policies on the mining sector, the exchange rate, the foreign currency crisis, fuel and power shortages and spiralling inflation.
Zimbabwe's mining shrank 7,1% last year, and the situation is expected to get worse this year. A number of mines have either closed down or reduced operations, while new projects have been put on hold. Whereas in 1996 the mining sector contributed 4,5% to the gross domestic product (GDP), the industry's GDP contribution dropped to 3,9% in 2001 and 1,45% last year. Zimbabwe's current GDP is about 3,7bn, two-thirds the size it was in 1998 when it stood at 5,4bn. The economy contracted 11,9% last year and it is expected to contract by 7,2% this year. The sector's foreign-exchange earning capacity has also fallen from more than 30% of the total net proceeds in recent years to 25%. Minerals that recorded decreases in volumes last year include gold, black granite, coal, chromate, cobalt, graphite, iron ore, iron pyrites, lithium minerals, magnesite and nickel. Zimbabwe pro duces base metals, platinum group metals, industrial metal and energy minerals. It has diamond and coal-bed methane reserves. But gold production has been the worst affected due to the support price scheme that always lagged behind operating costs, creating cash-flow problems for producers. The shortage of foreign currency and the inefficiency of the gold pool facility set up to help companies acquire inputs has negatively impacted on production. Gold production is expected to tumble another 27,6% to 11 tons this year and reach its lowest level in 23 years. Problems in the mining sector are a reflection of the broader economic situation.
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From The Daily News, 20 August
More Zvimba settlers ordered to leave farms
Staff Reporter
The government has ordered nearly 5 000 settlers in Zvimba district to vacate 11 farms that it allowed villagers from Chief Nyavira’s area in Mashonaland West to occupy in 2000, the Daily News has established. Representatives of the villagers said they were told on Monday to vacate the properties by 30 August or face arrest. The communication was received barely a day after 1 000 other settlers at Little England Farm in Zvimba were ordered to vacate the property to make way for the widow of President Robert Mugabe’s late nephew, Innocent Mugabe, 68 State House officials and 21 "selected settlers". Representatives of Chief Nyavira’s clan - which lost its chieftainship after the passing of the Land Apportionment Act during the colonial era - yesterday vowed that the settlers would not leave the 11 farms until they were given valid reasons why they should do so. The villagers say they want an explanation from Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, Zanu PF provincial chairman for Mashonaland West Philip Chiyangwa and the province’s governor, Peter Chanetsa. Chanetsa refused to comment on the matter yesterday and switched off his mobile phone. Calls to Chombo’s mobile phone were being diverted to his office, where his secretary said he was not available. There was no comment from the Lands Ministry.
However, Edgar Manyora, a Nyavira clan representative, said a delegation of government officials led by an official from the Lands Ministry only identified as Katone, visited the settlers on Sunday and Monday and ordered them to leave or face arrest. He said: "Chief Nyavira was authorised by government and Zanu PF to return to his ancestral land and live with his people in a traditional set-up," Manyora said. "We allocated each farm a village head to oversee the well-being of in-coming families from Nyavira clan and others from outside Zvimba. We did not know then that the top people who were encouraging us to do that were wolves in sheepskins. They have betrayed the struggle and President Mugabe must send a team to investigate this before Zanu PF loses thousands of votes." He added: "Over 5 000 people will soon have no homes after we had directed our resources to constructing houses on the farms. It’s now three years since we abandoned our communal homes. The President should know that his ministers have made us homeless in our fathers’ land. The world should also know who is wrong between us and the government." The affected settlers occupy Paradise Gwebi, Jonker, Lilfordia, Rayndon, Mede, Audley End, Worselly, Gordonsbury P/L, Gwebi of Sigaro, Sodbury, Sigaro Eastwood and Coker, and two farms under Burney Investments, known as Little England.
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Comment from The Daily News, 20 August
Merchants of hunger
Not content with the hunger and suffering imposed on Zimbabweans by its ruinous land policies, the government is now actively seeking to scuttle efforts by international relief agencies to avert starvation in the country. In total disregard of assurances given last year by none other than President Robert Mugabe himself to World Food Programme director James Morris that the government would not interfere with food aid distribution, the government last week ordered donor groups to surrender all food aid to village headmen. The headmen, most of them known ruling Zanu PF supporters, will, according to a directive issued by Social Welfare Minister July Moyo, be responsible for selecting recipients and giving out food aid. Local government structures will assist the headmen and their committees and food aid distribution will be linked to the government's public works programme, under which food-insecure people perform community work in return for food.
Why the government wants to wrest control over food distribution from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which have been operating without interference from any quarter, only Moyo and his comrades in the government know. But knowing the government's past record, Zimbabweans will be forgiven for cynically concluding that this must be yet another attempt by the ruling Zanu PF to maintain its stranglehold on power. In its strange logic of putting its own political survival before everything else, the government clearly sees food aid only as a political tool with which to buy support or punish opponents. The village and ward heads the government wants to run food aid distribution are mostly powerless peasants who could and will be easily intimidated by Zanu PF thugs into withholding food from perceived opposition Movement for Democratic Change party supporters. Indeed, there have been numerous reports - and reports that have not been disproved by anyone - that the little food relief the state's Grain Marketing Board was giving out was being distributed along partisan lines, with only Zanu PF supporters benefiting. God forbid that all food aid coming into Zimbabwe should be left within reach of the government's filthy hands!
Predictably, NGOs - wary of the possibility that food aid could be manipulated for political gain - have warned that they will not be party to the government's machinations. The NGOs have made it clear that if the government insists on implementing this ill-thought-out policy, international donors will cut off food aid supplies to Zimbabwe, where about 5.5 million people are said to be in need of humanitarian assistance. Zimbabwe needs 700 000 tonnes of food aid between now and the next harvest, in the second quarter of 2004. Food aid the government does not have the capacity to provide, hence its appeal to international donors, whose efforts it is now attempting to frustrate for reasons best known to itself. We can only appeal and hope that sanity will prevail within Zimbabwe's rulers to prevent the death of millions of people, many of who have had to endure untold suffering in the past three years. It will be sheer irresponsibility and downright criminal on the part of the government if a single person dies in the next few months because of a decision taken by a party that seems to have lost its compassion and common sense. History will judge not only the government harshly should this come to pass, but all Zimbabweans if they silently acquiesce to this unacceptable proposal. If Zimbabweans allow themselves to continue to suffer in silence like sheep while their very existence is threatened by the reckless and selfish actions of a power-drunk regime, this will indeed be an indictment against us all.
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From Business Day (SA), 22 August
Zim to discuss food policy with aid groups
Harare - Zimbabwe has agreed to meet international relief agencies to discuss a new law that gives it full control of food distribution, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said. President Robert Mugabe's government last week introduced new regulations that banned the agencies from independently distributing international food aid to millions of famine-threatened people, raising suspicion that the aid was likely to be distributed on partisan grounds. Luis Clemens, WFP spokesman in Zimbabwe said his organisation had held talks with the Minister of Social Welfare July Moyo earlier to "express our concerns about several issues in the policy document". The Minister promised he would hold a meeting with all the donors distributing food aid in Zimbabwe, where it is estimated some 5,5 million people, or half the population, will run out of food before the end of the year. "We also made it clear that several donors had contacted us and pointed out their concerns," Clemens said.
Zimbabwean opposition groups have already accused the government of discriminating against known opposition supporters in the distribution of emergency aid. There have been reports that local authorities have been asking people to produce membership cards for the ruling Zanu PF party in order to receive food. The European Commission said yesterday it was studying the impact of new rules on food aid distribution, and said it would be concerned if they hampered its operations in the country. The new policy directive has not yet been implemented at local level. Meanwhile, Clemens said the identification of beneficiaries and distribution of food aid was continuing to be carried out with full participation of WFP partner organisations on the ground.
Currently some 3,5 million Zimbabweans are receiving food aid, a number forecast to rise sharply as food stocks dwindle towards the end of the year. The government last month launched an appeal for 700,000 tonnes of aid to stave off hunger until next year's harvests in April. Poor rains have devastated crops and grazing in this southern African country, once hailed as the breadbasket of the region. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), international aid agencies and western nations say that a government land reform programme that has redistributed former white-owned commercial farms to new black farmers is also to blame for the food crisis.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 22 August
Succession saga could blight talks prospects
Dumisani Muleya
Zanu PF'S succession struggle has now spilt over into the ongoing inter-party talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Official sources said President Robert Mugabe's succession drama was now playing out in the talks-theatre where Zanu PF officials engaged with the MDC are pushing a takeover agenda for Zanu PF's secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa. This has widened the rift over the issue in the already divided Zanu PF. Ruling party hawks are said to be fiercely resisting dialogue. The division over talks were manifested during the party's recent politburo meeting, the sources said. While Mnangagwa and his allies wanted dialogue, die-hards like Zanu PF deputy spokesman Jonathan Moyo were trying to derail the talks through the state media. Moyo has always advertised his hostility to Mnangagwa and talks through the government-controlled press that now seems ranged against movers of dialogue.
When reports filtered in February that Mnangagwa and Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe wanted to strike a power-sharing deal with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Moyo reacted with anger, insinuating the two were "coup plotters and electoral cowards". Moyo's animosity towards Mnangagwa has a long record. Writing in the Zimbabwe Independent on June 28 1996, Moyo said Mnangagwa should not be allowed to become president because of his involvement in the Matabeleland atrocities in the 1980s. However, Mnangagwa's allies are pushing for talks with the MDC. These include Zanu PF head of delegation to last year's collapsed talks Patrick Chinamasa, secretary for security in the politburo, Nicholas Goche, secretary for the commissariat, Elliot Manyika and MP Saviour Kasukuwere. Goche is seen as Mnangagwa's key ally in the state security apparatus together with Manyika and Kasukuwere who also have intelligence backgrounds.
Mnangagwa, State Security minister during the 1980s, is seen as wielding vast influence in the Central Intelligence Organisation and the army. It is thought he wants to use this clout to launch an assault on power. Justice minister Chinamasa is understood to be Mnangagwa's associate as he worked under him when the former was attorney-general and the latter Justice minister. Chinamasa, Goche, Manyika and Kasukuwere - who all initiated the current talks - are talking to the MDC team led by party secretary-general Welshman Ncube. The MDC group also includes deputy secretary-general Gift Chimanikire, spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi and MP Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga. Sources said the Zanu PF officials were anxious to see a negotiated settlement to facilitate Mnangagwa's take over bid. "Mnangagwa's foot soldiers are pushing hard for talks with the MDC because they think this will lead to a negotiated deal that will propel him to power," a source said. "The idea is that Mnangagwa or his agent will emerge as the head of the transitional authority that will organise new elections and during that period consolidate his grip by recruiting some moderate opposition members into his plans before taking over."
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From The Daily News, 21 August
Muzenda receiving intensive care
Staff Reporters
Ailing Vice-President Simon Muzenda has been transferred to Parirenyatwa Hospital’s coronary care unit (CCU), usually reserved for patients with critical and life-threatening conditions, according to medical experts. Hospital sources told the Daily News that Muzenda, 81, who has been in and out of hospital in the past year, was moved from the hospital’s B6 ward to the CCU on Tuesday night. Efforts to get clarification on Muzenda’s condition from the government and from the ruling Zanu PF party, for which Muzenda is also a vice-president, were unsuccessful yesterday. Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo, who is also Special Affairs Minister in President Robert Mugabe’s office, said he had seen Muzenda in hospital but he would not be drawn to give details on the vice-president’s condition. Nkomo said: "Talking about his condition would be too personal. I suggest you talk to his family members." Muzenda’s daughter, Tsitsi, yesterday said she was unable to comment on her father’s illness because she was "in a meeting". A hospital source, who spoke on condition he was not named, said: "The VP is in serious condition. We transferred him on Tuesday night from the D1 Floor to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) in B6 Ward where he is now."
Muzenda, who has been in and out of the country, mostly to China, to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment, was admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital over the weekend. Patients admitted in the CCU require constant care and should be monitored by at least two nurses at any given time. "Usually, the patient has difficulty in breathing resulting from a problem either in the lungs, the heart or the kidney," said one Harare doctor. Mugabe’s trusted deputy since 1980, Muzenda is widely seen as a crucial power broker in the ruling party. Muzenda is also regarded as a key player in determining who will take over from Mugabe, with Zanu PF insiders saying he prefers Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe. One of the pioneers of Zimbabwe’s bitter struggle for independence, Muzenda is believed to have expressed his wish to retire from active politics in April citing "‘ill health and fatigue", but is said to have been pressured to remain in power by some of his colleagues in government.
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From The Financial Times (UK), 21 August
Zimbabwe ups spending by 84% in revised budget
By Tony Hawkins
Zimbabwe's government is expected to spend 84 per cent more this year than envisaged in the national budget but this will be financed by increased government borrowing with no tax changes, according to Herbert Murerwa, finance minister. Tabling a supplementary budget in the Zimbabwe parliament on Thursday, Dr Murerwa shrugged aside the country’s deepening economic woes. "The major challenges we face arise mainly from high inflation and poor foreign currency generation,"" he said. The minister said state revenue in the fiscal year to December 31 would more than double to Z$1,141bn (US$1.4bn), chiefly due to inflation which reached 399.5 per cent year-on-year in July. Government spending will be Z$672bn more than originally budgeted at Z$1,442bn. The budget deficit at Z$301bn will be 30 per cent higher than the initial budget estimate, but as a proportion of GDP it will fall to 7.3 per cent from 11.5 percent. This is because the government is now forecasting a GDP of Z$4,123bn, almost double the projection made at the time of the 2003 budget last November.
The minister’s statement was almost completely bereft of details of the state of Zimbabwe's economy, though it did reveal that manufacturing output fell 8.6 per cent in the first four months of 2003. No official forecast of the real growth rate of the economy has been issued and on Thursday Dr Murerwa failed to update the government’s official inflation forecast for 2003 of 96 per cent. In the first seven months of this year, consumer inflation averaged over 280 per cent. The finance minister said that agriculture would recover 2.3 per cent this year - in stark contrast to forecasts by farming organisations who predict a 25 to 30 per cent decline. Dr Murerwa conceded that the benefits of February’s 93 per cent devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar had been "short-lived", repeating his promise made at that time to review the "export support rate" - government-speak for the official exchange rate. Government ministries were consulting with stakeholders on the matter, he said, fuelling market speculation that a further substantial devaluation of the official exchange rate is likely soon.
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From The Daily News, 21 August
MDC accuses ZANU PF of poll fraud
Own Correspondent
Kadoma - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party yesterday accused the ruling Zanu PF party of clandestinely registering its members to vote in the Kadoma municipal and mayoral elections almost a month after the registration exercise was officially closed. MDC chairman for Midlands province, under which Kadoma falls, Evans Ruzvidzo, told the Daily News that his party had since last week observed hundreds of suspected Zanu PF supporters registering as voters at the Registrar General’s offices in the mining town. Ruzvidzo said: "On Monday a group of about 300 Zanu PF supporters thronged the district registrar’s offices where they were formally registered as voters in our presence. When we confronted the district registrar, Mr Kazingizi, for clarification, he said the registration was for the forthcoming by-election for Kadoma Central." Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira could not be reached for comment on the matter by the time of going to print last night. The registrar for Kadoma, who would only identify himself as Kazingizi, denied that people were still being registered to vote in the local government elections scheduled for 30 and 31 August. He said: "The voter registration exercise was officially closed on 30 June and has not been extended."
The government’s Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) that is tasked with ensuring that elections are free and fair said voters being registered now were for future elections and not for the forth coming local government elections. ESC spokesman Thomas Bvuma: "Voter registration is a continuous process and people are always registering any time. But for a specific election such as the one in Kadoma, there is a cut-off date. That cut-off date was 10 June 2003 and those who registered after date will certainly not vote in this election but in other future polls." Reporters from this newspaper on Monday this week saw truckloads of suspected Zanu PF supporters disembarking at the Kadoma registration offices. Some of the people, who were being ferried to the offices wore ruling Zanu PF party uniforms and most openly confirmed they had come to register as voters. "We have come here to register and we will vote," one of the suspected Zanu PF supporters told this reporter. Last week the MDC said it had unearthed about 6 000 ghost voters on the Gweru voters’ rolls for the forthcoming council polls. Zanu PF, which has lost nearly every other major election in urban areas to the MDC in the last three years, battles it out in at least nine municipalities where new mayors and councillors will be chosen at the end of the month. But the ruling party has already won at least 30 seats uncontested after suspected Zanu PF militias prevented MDC candidates from submitting names for nomination in Bindura, Marondera and Chegutu towns.
Meanwhile, police in Harare yesterday permitted the MDC to mount a roadshow through Harare’s central business district and affluent suburbs to kick-start its election campaign to retain the vacant Harare Central parliamentary seat. A police vehicle monitored the convoy from close range. Although the police cleared the opposition party to proceed with its roadshow, they did not allow the party to hoot or to address the public. A convoy of more than 20 vehicles left the party’s headquarters at 12 noon yesterday and drove around the streets in central Harare before the convoy drove to major business centres in Harare Central constituency to unveil their bid to reclaim the seat left vacant by MDC legislator Mike Auret who resigned due to ill-health. The MDC’s Murisi Zwizwai battles it out with Zanu PF’s William Nhara for the seat. MDC officials did not address people during the roadshow but could not resist hooting to cheering supporters along the route they were cleared to use by the police. "We wanted to have another roadshow before the election. But the police said they were committed with the agricultural show." Also MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, vice-president Gibson Sibanda and secretary-general Welshman Ncube were last night scheduled to address residents at a Harare hotel. Zvizwai said his party’s campaign would focus on ways of combating crime, political intolerance among Zimbabweans and cultivating relations with business, industry and civic society for the development of the constituency.
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From SW Radio Africa, 21 August
Road show victim
An MDC member says military personnel have been looking for him at the workplace after he participated in an MDC road-show in Harare, Wednesday. The MDC held the road-show to campaign for the Harare Central by-election. It was the first time in three years that the opposition has been allowed to campaign freely in Harare. MDC Parliamentarians and supporters were out in full force campaigning for their candidate. This man says he had been interrogated by the red-bereted soldiers during the road-show but had to run away from his workplace when they allegedly came looking for him today.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 22 August
Zim food aid jeopardised by political interference
Harare - United Nations officials threatened to stop delivering food relief to the hungry in Zimbabwe if the government proceeded with plans to take control of the distribution of food aid, the UN food agency said on Friday. A government directive issued earlier this week ordered international donors to hand food aid over to ruling party-dominated rural committees and local leaders in famine-hit districts, raising fears the government will use the food as a political weapon. The government has denied previous accusations by relief organisations and the opposition that it uses food assistance to peddle political influence. The directive from the government came ahead of next week's rural council and provincial elections. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement to partner charities carrying out emergency feeding operations that it was seeking an agreement from the government to carry on food distribution without interference. Without such an agreement, "distribution itself should be postponed until we have received appropriate clarification," the statement said.
The WFP estimates about 3,3-million Zimbabweans are in urgent need of food aid. By January, ahead of the next harvests, that number is expected to rise to about 5,5-million, nearly half the population. Mass starvation in Zimbabwe - once considered the bread basket of the region - was only averted last year by international aid and food imports. Luis Clemens, a spokesperson for the WFP, said since the government's new directive was issued it appeared not to have been implemented and feeding was continuing unhindered. "We still have not had any incidents of political interference. If we have a problem, we will stop," he said. The WFP insisted on "a zero tolerance policy on political interference in donor-provided food aid", Clemens said.
Rural areas are the traditional stronghold of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, but its support has waned as the country faces its second year of famine and the worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Last month Zimbabwe launched a belated emergency food appeal, asking foreign donors to provide about one-third of the country's food needs. Western donors are still drawing up their emergency humanitarian aid packages for Zimbabwe. The European Union has so far donated $30-million toward the new appeal. Long-term development aid has mostly come to a halt in protest of political violence and abuses of human and democratic rights in the past three years. Erratic rains and violent, state-supported seizures of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black settlers have wrecked the agriculture-based economy. Zimbabwe is suffering acute shortages of basic foods, gasoline, hard currency and local cash. The WFP has appealed to donors for $308-million to feed 6,5-million people in Southern Africa over the next 12 months, at least two-thirds of them in Zimbabwe.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 22 August
Food stocks begin to decline
Ngoni Chanakira
After some improvement of household food stocks in March to May, this year, stocks are now beginning to decline again with worsening situations being experienced in Matabeleland North, South and Manicaland. Donors say food scarcities are thus likely to grow during the coming months and of greater concern is the fact that even if rains are good, unless seed and fertiliser are made available, harvests could continue to be poor. The donors said food scarcities would especially affect the poorest households who could not afford the priced inflation on inputs, and widening income inequality in the rural areas. A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Food Security Network (Fosenet), says in its assessment of the food situation in Zimbabwe for the period ending July that while nearly a quarter of households had more than a month's food supply in May, this had fallen to 14% by July. Fosenet involves 24 NGOs that collectively cover all districts of Zimbabwe and all types of communities. Its members subscribe that food distribution in Zimbabwe must be based on a platform of ethical principles derived from international humanitarian law.
The NGO said the monitoring for July was drawn from 142 monitoring reports from 50 districts from all provinces of Zimbabwe. "The improvement of food availability from local harvests has begun to plateau in July, forewarning future shortages in late 2003," Fosenet said in its report released this week. "Initial indicators suggest that food shortages may cover half of districts in the country. Many districts report that food needs are likely to be severe by October." Zimbabwe is facing an acute food shortage caused by the controversial fast-track land resettlement programme where thousands of peasants were given pieces of land by government in a move meant to try and solve the sensitive land problem in the country. However, some of these individuals have not farmed on their land mainly because they cannot afford inputs, are not trained in agriculture, and in some cases, the land was unsuitable for farming.
Fosenet said after some improvement of household stocks in March to May, stocks were now beginning to decline again. "While nearly a quarter of households had more than one month's food supply in May, this had fallen to 14% by July," the organisation said. "Districts reporting no improvement or worsening situations are clustered in Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Manicaland. These are provinces where chronic food scarcities have been reported since 2002." The organisation said an increasing number of individuals were reported to be moving between districts to secure food. Although movement had become a critical survival strategy, it was also an increasingly costly and time-consuming one, the organisation said, with 86% of districts reporting transport difficulties in July compared to 42% in May this year. "Households currently face severe constraints in accessing seed and fertiliser which will affect 2003 planting if not addressed," the organisation warned. "In five provinces all districts reported that seed was not available and in two provinces all districts reported that fertiliser was not available. Prices of seed and fertiliser have increased since May by over 100% in formal and parallel markets. About a third of households report that they have no access to tillage or draught power. Matabeleland North and South are particularly disadvantaged." The report said while support for these inputs was critical for production in the 2003/4 season, no reports were made of such inputs being organised.
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From AFP, 21 August
HIV infection rate drops in Zim
The incidence of HIV/Aids infection among adults in Zimbabwe has dropped by nearly 10% in three years, according to figures released on Thursday by the government of President Robert Mugabe. The government tally put the percentage of Zimbabwean adults infected with the HIV virus or Aids at 24,9%, down from 33,7% recorded in 2000 by the United Nations agency UNaids. The total number of Zimbabweans with Aids is estimated to be 1,8-million out of a population of nearly 12 million. About 171 000 Zimbabweans are expected to die of Aids-related causes this year. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said the new figures "indicate a lower estimate of national HIV prevalence." He said HIV prevalence in antenatal clinic surveys peaked at 34% in 2000, decreased to 30% in 2001 and further dropped to 25,7% in 2002. The data "seem to indicate a decline in HIV prevalence" and "give me a lot of hope". The minister added: "The target is to reduce the HIV prevalence to a single digit."
UNaids had estimated that about 2,3-million Zimbabweans would be infected by HIV and Aids by this year. Owen Mugurungi, the Aids and tuberculosis coordinator in the health ministry, said UNaids figures and those generated locally differed because the latter used "updated and more accurate" data. The figures unveiled on Thursday were generated using the same software used by UNaids. New HIV infections are expected to hit 166 000 this year alone. There are an estimated 761 000 Aids orphans in the Southern African country. Zimbabwe is one of the countries worst affected by HIV and Aids in the world, with an average of more than 3 000 Aids deaths each week. Morgues are failing to cope with the numbers, amid reports of government mortuaries turning away bodies as they are exceeding their intake capacity by more than threefold. The estimates were produced with the help of technical expertise from the United States-based Centers for Disease Control, the UN World Health Organisation, UNaids, the Imperial College of London and the local university and statistics office.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 22 August
Zim gets nod to sell stake in Petrozim
Vincent Kahiya
Mining giant Lonrho has given Zimbabwe the green light to sell part of its shareholding in the pipeline company, Petrozim, so long as government can pay off directors' fees and loans amounting to US$30 million. Lonrho owns 50% of the Mutare/Harare pipeline and has pre-emptive rights in any proposed change in its shareholding. The government, through the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), controls the other half but would like to sell 50% of that portion (25% of Petrozim) to a Libyan company, Tamoil. Industry sources this week said Lonrho had told government at a recent meeting that it was willing to divest from the pipeline so long as it was paid what was due to it. Noczim, whose creditworthiness has continued to plummet in the face of increased indebtedness, cannot raise the required sum to pay off Lonrho.
Noczim is saddled with huge debts to Libyan Arab Bank (US$43 million), Tamoil (US$67 million), Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait (US$65 million) and Engen of South Africa (US$25 million). Two months ago, the government agreed with a Tamoil delegation to Zimbabwe that the total value of the pipeline was US$60 million. The remaining sticking point in the transfer of 25% of the shareholding to the Libyans was the go-ahead from Lonrho who are divesting from Zimbabwe's mining and manufacturing industries. The sources said if government fails to raise the US$30 million to pay off Lonrho, the Libyans would swoop on the shareholding to gain a controlling stake. Tamoil would like to acquire the shareholding to form a joint venture company, Tamoil-Zimbabwe. It has also been learnt that Lonrho would like the government to clarify the results of multinational company, Engen's bid for part of Noczim's shareholding in Petrozim. The sources said Lonrho could cede its shareholding to Engen who are already established here.
Meanwhile, fuel marketers have started moving fuel from direct imports through the pipeline as government procrastinates on a new fuel policy. The sources said Noczim was handling fuel on behalf of the marketers from Beira in Mozambique to storage tanks at Msasa. Multinational companies are allegedly watching from the sidelines in anticipation of a new energy policy. The pipeline has in the past been used to move fuel imported by government through Noczim. Private players normally use road tankers, which are more expensive. The sources said the use of the pipeline should cut costs for the marketers, which is expected to lower the price of the commodity to consumers. Marketers currently sell fuel at between $1 500 and $2 000 a litre through a coupon system.
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From Mmegi (Botswana), 22 August
Zimbabwe's clergy speak out
Gregory Kelebonye, Staff Writer
Imagine you are a pastor and you are preaching to a church of about a thousand people when suddenly four or five men in black suits and sunglasses slither in. Suddenly there is a hushed silence as the men walk down the aisle to take seats at strategic places inside the church building. Even the "Amens" from the cheerful women at the corner and the raucous old man closer to one of the intruders cease and you suddenly find yourself having to suddenly change your sermon. Just before the men in black walked in, you were talking about the political mayhem in your country and how everybody must love their neighbours and enemies. Now you have to change your sermon and talk about angels and how they spoke to Mary and the other women in the bible. And everyone understands. And you know doing otherwise would mean a stint behind bars or worse still torture and death. This is the situation that the Church in Zimbabwe finds itself in. According to a delegation of Zimbabwean pastors who are in Botswana "to seek solidarity" with their brothers and sisters, President Robert Mugabe's government has become so paranoid that church ministers are monitored on a 24 hour basis by security intelligence. Members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who are identifiable by their smart black suits and dark sunglasses have been intimidating the pastors after they started talking about political issues. Things became worse after a multi-denominational organization of church ministers, the Zimbabwe National Pastors Conference's (ZNPC) decided to start advocating for political changes.
"As the church, we have realised that unless we stand up and speak about the situation in our country, we will only get worse. We therefore need to join hands with the rest of the civil society and call for order. The church is the last available space," a member of the delegation Rev Noah Madzikatire told Batswana clergymen at the Botswana Christian Council's Tshwaragano House on Wednesday. "As the church we long for a time when there will be political and tribal tolerance in Zimbabwe, we long for the respect of the rule of law. We long for good governance and leadership and annulment of repressive laws, and we want to see government working with the church," said Madzikatire. It is especially Mugabe's government's refusal to appreciate the role of the church that is worrisome, he said. The government's lack of appreciation is shown by the arrest and torture of the clergy.
"Twenty three pastors from different denominations were arrested in February while we were on our way to present a petition to the Police Commissioner. As the church, we felt the police have become partisan and needed to be reminded that they are there to serve the nation without regard for party affiliation," he said. The torture and intimidation would however not deter the church in its mission of condemning wickedness, commending goodness, and offering help to those who have been traumatized. "For a long time the church has watched silently as things went the wrong way. But we would not like our country to plunge further into violence which will then be followed by a peace accord some fifteen years later, when many people would have died, so we have decided to take our place as mediators," another Pastor Angelimo Mugayi said.
Already the ZNPC have met with Zimbabwe's main political parties, the ruling Zanu PF and the MDC to lay some groundwork for talks. "The MDC have already submitted their position paper, but the government seems to be buying time," he said. He added that the government needs to be put pressurised to act and that is why they are seeking support from Botswana. "We believe if you people could join hands with us and speak to the Zimbabwean government, there would be a change for the better," said Mugayi. He said the Church in Botswana and the SADC region needed to realise that quite diplomacy has failed Zimbabwe and its people. All who watched in silent diplomacy would also become liable before God, he said. "We expect his fellow Presidents to clearly articulate on issues, to be able to denounce repressive laws. We expect SADC governments to communicate their displeasure to Robert Mugabe, privately and publicly," he said. The ZNPC have already visited other SADC countries including Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 24 August
$1000 note hits snag Government does not have 6m Euros needed for project
By Kumbirai Mafunda
The introduction of the $1 000 note planned for October could be jeopardised following revelations that government is failing to raise six million Euros to pay the German printing firm that will produce the notes. According to government sources, the German firm Giesecke & Devrient has asked for the six million Euro as downpayment to print the notes. The total printing cost is estimated to cost about 30 million Euros. The Zimbabwean government was last month reported to have engaged Giesecke & Devrient to print the new $1 000 note, the highest denomination, as a measure to deal with the current biting cash crisis. The government says it also intends to phase out of circulation the current $500 note, which is too expensive to print, and replace it with a new one.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has already introduced travellers cheques as it battles to deal with the shortage of bank notes that has crippled operations in commerce and industry. Official sources told Standard Business that commercial banks enlisted by the RBZ to hunt for the foreign currency in United States dollars to pay the German firm had only so far raised US$4 million. "They have failed to raise that money. They have only raised US$4 million against US$6 million," said a source. Giesecke & Devrient are a respected money printer and also a leading supplier of banknote paper and banknote ink. Finance and Economic Development Minister Herbert Murerwa referred Standard Business to his permanent secretary and the acting Reserve Bank governor when reached for comment.
Analysts said the government continued to face difficulties to raise hard currency. The foreign currency market has remained tight, with inflows for July amounting to a meagre US$25,3 million compared to outflows of US$27,7 million. The analysts said most of the foreign currency proceeds were going towards meeting Zimbabwe's huge import bill that includes fuel, electricity, salaries for embassy staff and food imports to mitigate starvation affecting up to six million people. "Energy needs have not been satisfied yet and this continues to have a bearing on the limited currency circulating in the official market," said one analyst. Money market sources said government's raid on the parallel market for the American greenback to pay the German firm was behind the firming of the US dollar against the local currency, which last week hit $6 000.
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From Reuters, 23 August
Africa ministers urge EU to lift Zimbabwe sanctions
By Wangui Kanina
Dar es Salaam - Southern Africa's main trade group on Saturday urged Western governments to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe as ministers began debating how to battle conflict and AIDS in the region, officials said. The European Union and Australia imposed "smart sanctions" on Zimbabwe's government over the controversial 2002 re-election of President Robert Mugabe. Earlier this year a planned summit of EU and leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was scrapped over the issue. "Sanctions on Zimbabwe are hurting the people of Zimbabwe and should be lifted," said SADC's executive secretary and CEO Prega Ramsamy, a Mauritian national. SADC, which has often been criticized for doing little to ease political tensions in Zimbabwe, sees a thawing of relations between Mugabe and his main opposition challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, officials said. But there is scant evidence the two sides will return to talks, they added. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said earlier this month it was seeking fresh talks. There was no immediate comment from the EU.
Zimbabwe, as well as the crisis in Swaziland - where the continent's last absolute monarch refuses to allow opposition parties and concerns of human rights violations are rising - will be discussed by SADC ministers on Saturday. Ministers will also debate and try to agree an action plan to tackle AIDS -- which seriously threatens development in the region, where an estimated 14 million people are infected. South Africa has the world's highest caseload with 4.7 million people infected with HIV or AIDS. The disease affects around 40 percent of adults in Swaziland and 35 percent in Botswana. One in five adults in Zimbabwe and Zambia are infected with HIV or have full-blown AIDS. The risk of HIV infection is exacerbated by drug abuse, SADC said, which also increased poverty, and ministers will agree a plan for tackling the region's drug-related problems. "Treatment demand for heroin abuse was particularly high in Mauritius, Mozambique and ... South Africa," SADC said, adding drug abuse in the region spanned cannabis to heroin.
The August 25-26 summit will also see the signing of a Mutual Defense Pact intended to curb civil wars by enshrining the principle of strong regional peace enforcement. A Sunday mini-summit of eastern African leaders expected to approve a peace deal in troubled Burundi was put back because the Bujumbura government and the main rebel CNDD-FDD group had not reached agreement on power-sharing, officials said. The gathering is now planned for later next week. The Southern African leaders will also agree a position ahead of next month's World Trade Organization talks in Mexico. Many fear Washington and Europe will not budge on farm subsidies and say the WTO talks are doomed to fail. SADC comprises South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Malawi.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 22 August
Commission blocks damning Zim report
Vincent Kahiya
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has suppressed publication of the results of its probe on Zimbabwe to protect President Mugabe's regime ahead of the Commonwealth Summit in Abuja, Nigeria in December. The Zimbabwe Independent this week heard the report should have been tabled last month at the African Union heads of state summit in Maputo. It was not tabled because the AU commission is refusing to make it public. The report, which should have been released in October last year, was supposed to be published at the 33rd session of the commission in Niamey, Niger in May this year but the commissioners claimed there was not enough time to consider it. African diplomats close to the commission this week said the report condemns President Mugabe and his regime for human rights abuses.
Reports on Zimbabwe's human rights record from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been rejected by African states who accuse the two of Western bias. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO forum chairman Albert Musarurwa on Wednesday said publication of the report was overdue. "At the moment we doubt if the report will be made public at the 34th session of the commission in Banjul, Gambia in October," said Musarurwa. Diplomats this week said the failure to table the report was part of a wider cover-up strategy by the AU which is lobbying the Commonwealth to re-admit Zimbabwe in the club in Abuja in December. Condemnation by fellow Africans through the commission would bolster the Commonwealth's argument that Zimbabwe should remain suspended from its councils, one diplomat said. The AU fact-finding mission visited Zimbabwe in 2001 to probe human rights abuses and left with huge volumes of evidence mainly from civic society.
Musarurwa said the delay in publishing the report stemmed from the protectionist mode of African heads of state. "The AU has become a trade union of leaders who want to protect each other. This is a cancer that will be with us for a long time," he said. African rights activists are putting pressure on the commission to make public results of the probe ahead of the Abuja Commonwealth meeting in December. An African Civil Society Consultation meeting on Zimbabwe attended by activists from Africa and Europe in Gaborone, Botswana from August 5 to 6 implored the commission to release the report. "The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights should make its report on the fact-finding mission public at its next session in October 2003," activists said in a communiqué after the consultation. "The commission should then consider its mission report together with submissions of civil society organisations and decide in line with Article 58 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights that a situation of serious and massive violations of human rights exists in Zimbabwe and bring this to the attention of the chairperson of the African Union and further, make recommendations on immediate steps to be taken by the Zimbabwean government to end the human rights violations," they said.
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From IRIN (UN), 21 August
Think-tank finds talks key to peaceful change
Johannesburg - In a special report on the Zimbabwean crisis, the United States Institute of Peace said the best means of ensuring a peaceful political transition was a combination of increased international and domestic pressure on the government. The Washington-based institute said that although the idea of a national government of unity fell out of favour following the breakdown of talks between the government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in April 2002, a poll conducted last year showed that the majority of Zimbabweans were in favour of this option as a way out of the political impasse. Since a unilateral solution to the political deadlock was increasingly impracticable, movement towards a transitional government or some form of power sharing has gained ground, the political think-tank found. This scenario could include joint parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as various constitutional amendments curtailing the powers of an executive presidency and changing electoral laws. But while media reports exploring this option have increased, so to have concerns about transparency and stakeholder participation by civil society organisations.
The think-tank remarked that civil society groups were keen to negotiate their role in the transition process, aiming to ensure that they are not left out by the government and MDC initiatives. "Some are arguing that any mediation efforts and transition dialogue must formally include representatives of civil society to ensure the talks move beyond the narrow balance-of-power concerns of Zanu PF and the MDC," the report noted. Human rights groups have also called on the international community and United Nations to investigate reports of rights abuses. News reports on Wednesday said the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum will approach the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to request it to second a special envoy. The institute also questioned the impact of further mass protest action, saying acts of civil disobedience alone were unlikely to result in political change given the government's control of the security apparatus. "While there is still a popular view that mass action may be a necessary condition for continued dialogue, there is perhaps even greater fear of violent government clampdown - particularly against students, who are at the forefront of any such action," the report said.
Change from within Zanu PF was more likely, given overtures last year by the chief of the armed forces General Vitalis Zvinavashe and Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa to the MDC. However, the MDC made public the overture, which controversially involved early retirement for President Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa subsequently denied approaching the MDC. The institute commented that lack of consensus within ZANU-PF could make interparty talks less likely and "until the succession battle is resolved, the anti-Mnangagwa faction has a strong incentive to block talks mediated by South Africa or other regional powers". Should change come from within Zanu PF, ruling party elites would seek protection from investigations into the acquisition of personal wealth, and from potential prosecution for human rights violations, the report stated. Despite recent hints by Mugabe that his party members should discuss the succession, the "lack of expressed interest suggests that Mugabe has not signalled sufficiently to his party members that he will step down any time soon". In the event of a president's resignation or death, the Zimbabwe constitution requires a fresh poll within 90 days.
The study found that change via military involvement seemed to have the support of some within Zanu PF in 2002, and would benefit the current elites in the country, since such a move was unlikely to bring about substantive policy change. However, recent events brought into question whether a military coup would indeed be successful. Deteriorating conditions of service and real wages have affected morale and created some degree of resentment and alienation in the lower levels of the military, but while these conditions were worth considering in view of a possible military coup, the report downplayed the possibility of collective action. "Divisions between the command and rank and file would be expressed in other ways - for example, by lower-ranking soldiers refusing to obey orders to attack unarmed demonstrators, or stop mass actions," the report said. The report concluded that a negotiated or mediated strategy held the strongest prospects for breaking the deadlock between the two parties, and charting non-violent change in Zimbabwe.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like to read the USIP report, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment - approximately twice the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Daily News, 23 August
CIO boss faces arrest
By Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (DNWM) has written to the police to arrest six top police and state Central Intelligence Organisation officers for allegedly stealing game meat poached from opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party legislator Roy Bennet’ s Charleswood Estate farm in Chimanimani district in Manicaland province. Bennet’s lawyer, Arnold Tsunga, has also written to police authorities in Manicaland requesting that they take action against their colleagues. Tsunga told the Daily News yesterday he was also under instruction from his client to pursue a private prosecution against the police and intelligence officers. In a letter to the police officer in charge of crime in Manicaland province, Killian Mandisodza, the DNWM’s senior investigations officer, Felix Matenda, detailed how a police assistant inspector Mupfuriranwa and CIO boss in Chimanimani, Joseph Mwale, and four others allegedly seized from Bennet’s workers game meat that had been poached from Charleswood. The wildlife officer did not specify the date when the incident occurred. The police and intelligence officers allegedly hid the carcasses which could have been used as evidence against the poachers, according to Matenda. The poachers are believed to be suspected ruling Zanu PF party supporters who seized part of the farm during the illegal invasion of white-owned farms last year by pro-government mobs.
Matenda’s letter, written last month, reads in part: "Police disposed of the exhibits to include meat. Not even the skin was preserved for prosecution . . . my opinion, which I would like to put forward (for) your serious consideration, is that your officers committed an offence. Apart from the Police Act that you can apply in punishing them, I would like to suggest that they be charged in a criminal court in terms of Section 4 (a) (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. You could be of better ideas or opinion, but there will be no better options than this." Mandisodza could not be reached for comment yesterday. He was said to have visited Rusape town on business. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena, who was still ascertaining the details pertaining to the matter by the time of going to print last night, could not provide details on what action, if any, the law enforcement agency had taken against the police and intelligence officers. The DNWM’s head in Manicaland province, Henry Charidza, yesterday confirmed that his officers had written to the police but he would not disclose what action had been taken against the police and intelligence officers. Charidza said: "I did not write the letter myself. Look for Matenda because he is the one following up on that one. Anyway, I will need a written directive from my bosses to comment further."
Police sources, however, told this newspaper yesterday that because of political interference no action was likely to be taken against the police and especially Mwale, whom they described as untouchable. Mwale, who is barred from Charleswood Estate by the High Court, has been accused by the MDC on several occasions of committing or aiding violence and human rights abuses against its supporters in Chimanimani. Former High Court judge James Devittie directed the Attorney-General (AG)’s Office two years ago to have Mwale investigated on charges that he and others murdered MDC activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary election. Although the AG’s Office says it has ordered the police to probe Mwale, to date no action has been taken yet against the CIO agent over the MDC’s activists’ deaths. A police officer, who spoke on condition he was not named, told the Daily News: "Matenda’s letter has been gathering dust. Issues surrounding Charleswood Estate are very political and difficult to handle. It seems Mwale and his guys in Chimanimani have full blessings of the chefs to do whatever they want at the farm and this has made the untouchable." In his letter to Manicaland police, Tsunga claimed that Mwale and his colleagues were even heard urging the poachers to kill more animals at Charleswood. '"What surprised our clients is that when the police attended the scene in the company or under the leadership of Joseph Mwale, they allowed the poachers to go scot-free and loaded the meat into CIO operative Mwale’s vehicle," wrote Tsunga. According to Matenda, Mwale and his colleagues threatened to shoot the farm workers for arresting the suspected poachers. Matenda wrote: "I would not imagine a reasonable police officer who would arm himself to go and recover meat from an already disarmed group of poachers. Not only to arm themselves in this case, they even went to threaten the people who had effected a citizens’ arrest by cocking their firearms. "It is very disgraceful for police officers to be seen doing such things in the eyes of the public."
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From Business Day (SA), 25 August
Zimbabwe's food production under pressure
Harare - The chronic food shortages affecting Zimbabwe are likely to continue next year as a result of low agricultural input, a regional food security agency said at the weekend. Although climate conditions point to a better rain season for the coming year than in the past two, Zimbabwe's agricultural production is expected to remain low, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) said in its monthly report, published at the weekend. "Prospects for the 2003-2004 agricultural season are bleak, regardless of agro-climatic conditions because of shortages of fertiliser, crop and livestock chemicals, seeds (and) fuel," the report said. "Consequently, yields for the 2003-2004 cropping season are going to be below normal even if the climactic conditions turn out to be good," it warned.
Zimbabwe has suffered from acute food shortages since 2001, after a severe drought caused a famine in six southern African countries, compounded in Zimbabwe's case by a chaotic land reform programme launched under President Robert Mugabe in early 2000. Under the reforms, land was taken from white farmers and redistributed to landless black people, often with little or no farming experience, causing production levels to plummet. Some of the black farmers allocated land have yet to take possession of their new property. Even with sufficient rainfall, the reduction of total arable land in use, notably for maize cultivation, will damage the harvest, the report said. Other southern African countries affected by the drought have since recovered and do not require food aid, while up to 5.5 million Zimbabweans are expected to require humanitarian aid by year end.
The shortage of foreign currency that have be-devilled the country in recent years, has also led to difficulties in acquiring imported goods vital for the agricultural sector -- from tractors to fertiliser. A shortage of local currency has further undermined the ability of small scale farmers to buy such products. Steep increases in the price of seed and fertilisers - such as the price of some hybrid maize seed, that has risen by 645 percent - will limit the amount of input available to small scale farmers. The beef industry, a major foreign exchange earner, is also under threat from an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in parts of the country. Zimbabwe formerly exported de-boned beef to the European Union and South Africa.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 24 August
Fuel coupons sold on the black market
By Caiphas Chimhete
Fuel coupons which were introduced by the government in June to curb the illegal buying and selling of fuel by unscrupulous commuter omnibus operators, have found their way on the black market where they are being sold at inflated prices as the shortage of fuel persists, The Standard has established. An investigation by this paper shows that omnibus operators whose vehicles failed road fitness tests, were buying fuel coupons on the black market for $10 000 to enable them to buy diesel and $15 000 to buy petrol at designated service stations. A recent government decree stipulates that only vehicles that pass road fitness tests qualify for the fuel coupons. According to sources, the price of the coupons fluctuates depending on the availability of both the coupons and the fuel on that particular day. "The coupon system is not working because the coupons are almost everywhere now. If we are buying bank notes on the black market, why not coupons, fuel and everything else. It just goes to show that black market rules in Zimbabwe," said John Manyika, who plies the City/Kamfinsa route in Harare.
Apart from buying the fuel coupons, the operators are also reportedly paying bribes of up to $10 000 to petrol attendants at service stations to circumvent the coupon system. When all calculations are effected, an operator pays about $47 500 for 50 litres of petrol and about $30 000 for the same quantity of diesel. But operators with coupons and government certified road worthiness certificates pay $22 500 for 50 litres of petrol and about half that amount for the same quantity of diesel. "Buying coupons on the black market is much cheaper than buying the fuel on the black market. At $2 000 a litre of petrol on the black market you would need $100 000 for 50 litres, which is almost half if you buy a coupon on the black market," said another omnibus operator, Tapiwa Dzingeni.
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From The Star (SA), 25 August
Who will be Bob's proxy president?
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabwean Deputy President Simon Muzenda is critically ill and is fighting for his life in a hospital in Harare. The news of Muzenda's ill health was disclosed in the state media by President Robert Mugabe's cabinet secretary, Misheck Sibanda. His probable death will shake Zimbabwe's political landscape as it will force Mugabe - finally - to make known his choice of successor. Whoever is appointed deputy president to replace 82-year-old Muzenda, is likely to be the person who will run the country when, or if, 79-year-old Mugabe retires. Muzenda's expected death is plunging the ruling Zanu PF party into more chaos as factions are preparing the groundwork for the appointment of their candidates to the second most powerful position in Zimbabwean politics. Muzenda is rumoured to be on a life support system. Efforts to confirm his condition were fruitless as hospital officials refused to be interviewed or to put calls through to his ward. But in a sign of Muzenda's serious ill-health, one Sunday newspaper seemed to have ruled out his chances of returning to political life, saying in what read like an obituary: "Muzenda will be remembered for standing by Mugabe even at his darkest hour." Muzenda had wanted to retire on health grounds but Mugabe persuaded him to stay in office, even though he had not been performing his duties regularly. Mugabe may have kept Muzenda on to buy time for the man who is apparently his preferred choice of successor, speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mugabe allegedly sought to improve Mnangagwa's standing in the party before his almost certain appointment to replace Muzenda.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Standard, 24 August
Of ample women, hypocrites and dictators
Sundaytalk with Pius Wakatama
I failed to make the deadline last week because I had taken a seven-day jaunt to the Rainbow Nation and to Swaziland to be the go-between (munyai) for my nephew who fell in love with a Swazi girl he had met while studying at the University of Pretoria. Despite the tiredness from two days of driving from Zimbabwe to Swaziland, I thoroughly enjoyed the lobola negotiations. Unlike the Shona, the Swazis do not have complicated requirements and all manner of petty observances during the lobola proceedings. Their lobola requirements are simple and straightforward. The bride price is 15 head of cattle, full stop. Gifts are not demanded or specified from the groom, but may be given to the older aunts on both sides of the family. My nephew had bought six cows which were delivered to the prospective in-laws' homestead. The negotiations where therefore solely about the cash price to be paid for the remaining nine head of cattle. This was settled without much ado and we managed to pay cash for two. The in-laws were agreeable and consented to the marriage to go ahead. One cow was slaughtered there and then for the celebrations to be held the next day.
The Swazis are a good natured and fun loving people. We fell in love with the people and their hilly kingdom so much that my wife said if things became really bad in Zimbabwe and we were forced into exile, Swaziland would be our first choice for refuge. The celebrations were fabulous. The tables were literally groaning beneath dishes overflowing with food. I don't remember eating so much meat since the price of meat shot up to unaffordable levels in poverty stricken Zimbabwe. The Swazis love their food and it shows on their bodies, especially the women. I am not saying this in a negative or derogatory way at all. To me the Swazi women portray the real beauty of African womanhood, not the skinny scarecrows foisted upon us as models and beauty queens by hypocrites who are mentally colonised by the West. The judges of our beauty pageants, who are mostly men reflect more the values of our former colonisers whom they profess to hate so much. I say they are hypocrites because most of their own wives, if not all, are plump mamas with extra accessories. If they regard women with hardly any flesh on their bones as beautiful, why then did they marry full bodied women? They are hypocrites, I say!
After the celebrations we left for South Africa to visit some friends in Pretoria and Johannesburg. We were lucky to leave Swaziland when we did. The very next day nobody could leave or enter Swaziland by road. All border entries were blockaded by pro-democracy movements and the South African labour movement, COSATU. They were demonstrating against the lack of democracy in Swaziland. However, I must say that even though King Mswati is an absolute monarch, he is not a dictator in the same mould as our own self-proclaimed monarch, King Robert Mugabe I. One hopes that the young Swazi King will soon realise that times are changing and allow for democratic reform. Let us hope that his admiration and close association with our president will not fool him into emulating him. In South Africa we were struck by the people's ignorance of what is happening across the border. Many of them are so ill-informed that they think that President Mugabe is some kind of hero who has put the hated whites into their place and restored stolen land back to the people. The fact that his regime is perpetrating human rights abuses on fellow blacks is not known to them.
They are also ignorant of the extent to which the Zanu PF government has ruined the economy and destroyed agriculture. They, therefore, blindly support President Mbeki's softly, softly approach to the Zimbabwe crisis. They believe that our problems will be short lived and things will be back to normal soon. They point to the impending talks between Zanu PF and the MDC and Mbeki's plans to ask the Commonwealth to lift Zimbabwe's suspension from that body as positive developments. They were, therefore, shocked when I told them that in Zimbabwe the majority of people regard Mbeki as a traitor who has sold us out to a tyrannical dictator. They were dumbfounded when I stated that we regarded COSATU, the Communist Party and the opposition led by Tony Leon as more of our friends than the ANC. In fact, we literally had such a shouting match with our hosts that had we not known each other for so long and had our relationship not been so strong, they would have asked us to leave their house. They are both very active ANC leaders and they hero-warship their President Thabo Mbeki. To them it was unthinkable that his policy on Zimbabwe could be so way off the mark. After a long discussion, our friends conceded and said: "We have known you for so long and we respect your judgement. But, you people must do more to let South Africans know the truth about what is going on in Zimbabwe." Yes, Zimbabwean journalists and pro-democracy movements must target South Africa with the truth. President Mbeki needs pressure from his own people to make him change his stance on Zimbabwe just like he had to change his stance on making HIV/Aids treatment available to all those affected in South Africa. As long as South Africa continues to prop up the Zanu PF regime diplomatically and with unpaid for fuel and electricity, our suffering under the tyranny will be prolonged so much more.
I must say I was encouraged by the activities of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. Their sponsorship of talks, meetings and media exposure and television appearances have done much to conscientise South Africans to the realities of life in Zimbabwe today. While I was there, Eleanor Sisulu, speaking on behalf of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, openly criticised statements by some South African ministers which give the impression that the South African government is taking sides in support of the Zanu PF government. Sisulu, who was born in Zimbabwe, is married to Max, son of the late ANC stalwarts, Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Our independent newspapers are full of articles and commentaries which clearly show the violence, corruption and deceptiveness of the Zanu PF regime. These are, however, now preaching to the converted. Zimbabweans know the situation under which they live from their own day to day painful experiences. Efforts must now be directed at informing our brothers and sisters in the rest of Africa. Most of them are ignorant at about the truth in Zimbabwe for they are being led astray by their presidents who themselves are as undemocratic and cruel as our own. He who has ears to hear, let them hear.
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Comment from The Financial Mail (SA), 15 August
Devaluation zooms into view
Tony Hawkins, Harare
With the Zimbabwe dollar's collapse in the parallel market, beleaguered finance minister Herbert Murerwa is likely to be forced into an official devaluation within weeks. Twice in the past fortnight, small-scale tobacco growers have forced the tobacco auction floors to close, demanding either devaluation or some form of export subsidy, which amounts to the same thing. Since late July, the parallel market rate for the US dollar has ballooned to around Z$5 750 from less than half that (Z$2 700). This means the free market is pricing the Zimbabwe currency at a discount of about 600% on the official rate of $824 to the US dollar. For tobacco growers and exporters, this means imported inputs have to be sourced at an exchange rate seven times more expensive than the rate paid to exporters. No wonder they are unhappy . To make matters worse, government still clings to the belief that small-scale agriculture will turn the economy around. Accordingly, ministers dare not alienate the newly resettled farmers, making devaluation (or an export subsidy) inevitable.
The official rate for the Zimbabwe dollar would have to fall to about $2 000 to the US dollar simply to get back to the same effective rate as that in March, when Murerwa devalued it by 93% . A month ago, tobacco growers were asking for $1 600, but already this looks uneconomic. The export subsidy is a bad idea and the IMF estimates that Zimbabwe's budget deficit this year will surge to 18% of GDP. Half of this will be an indirect currency subsidy provided through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in an effort to keep down the prices of imported food and fuel. The authorities cannot afford an export subsidy as well. The collapse of the exchange rate mirrors the collapse of business confidence, caused by the worsening bank note crisis. It is not just that firms and individuals cannot carry out transactions normally - because bank notes are scarce - it is the sight of a foundering government announcing one panic-stricken measure after another that undermines confidence. These include making it an offence to "hoard cash". It is not clear what constitutes hoarding. Is an industrialist who needs $10m to pay his workers hoarding cash if he is found with such an amount?
This measure was preceded by several other moves. The authorities have promised to withdraw the existing $500 note (the largest in circulation) replacing it with a new one within 60 days. Bankers say this cannot be done and that it will take a year to replace the note issue. They say there is no intention to withdraw notes, merely to try to force people who have them to pay them into the banks. Last week's issue of Zimbabwe dollar travellers' cheques, which can only be used locally in place of cash, has run into problems. Some retailers are refusing to accept them. Others say they won't give cash in exchange for the travellers' cheques, though they will sell goods. This has forced the authorities to threaten to make it an offence to refuse travellers' cheques, which are legal tender. A further threat is to force retailers to make daily returns of how much cash they have taken and where they have banked it. This is to prevent supermarkets from selling cash - in some cases at a premium of 35% - to their suppliers or business associates.
Officials and ministers insist the crisis cannot be blamed on government. They blame the central bank, the business community and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - all of whom they say are guilty of seeking to "sabotage" the economy. The truth is the bank note crisis is the result of inflation - estimated to have doubled in the past seven months. Other factors include the foreign currency drought, which meant the paper and ink needed to print new notes could not be imported, and cabinet's opposition to printing larger denomination notes. A year ago, the RBZ sought permission to print $1 000 notes. The cabinet procrastinated and the notes will not be ready until October, by which time - with inflation of at least 500% - the new notes will have been overtaken by events. Indeed, even optimists expect inflation to hit 800% by Christmas, and that could turn out to be conservative. If there is a silver lining to all this, it is that accelerating economic collapse helps concentrate the minds of the politicians on the need to agree to an exit package for President Robert Mugabe and fresh elections next year. Unfortunately, the gap separating the two sides is huge, with ministers clinging to their demand that new elections should not be held before mid-2005, while the MDC wants a fresh poll by next June. But if official bungling of the bank note issue is any guide, the economic decline can only accelerate, further undermining government's bargaining position.
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From IRIN (UN), 25 August
WFP retains control of food distributions
Johannesburg - The Zimbabwean government has given an assurance that the World Food Programme (WFP) will remain in control of humanitarian food distribution, despite a controversial new policy directive issued by the government this month, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Victor Angelo told IRIN on Monday. "We were told that we can proceed as we did last year ... We will be implementing the [food distribution] programme this month with no operational change at the ground level. The UN will keep monitoring the situation on the ground," Angelo said. The ministry of public service, labour and social welfare had issued a new policy guideline altering the memorandum of understanding with WFP, which authorised the agency and its partners to distribute food aid in the country. The new directive allowed WFP and its partners to deliver food to distribution points, but the government would then be responsible for the selection and physical distribution of the food to beneficiaries through local government structures and village authorities. NGOs would perform only a monitoring role.
The directive, the "Policy on Operations of Non-Governmental Organisations in Humanitarian and Developmental Assistance in Zimbabwe", has been condemned as opening the door to the politicisation of WFP-delivered food. Urban council and mayoral elections are due this weekend. "In Zimbabwe the only real currency at the moment is food. The implications of this directive are extremely worrying, as it gives the government free rein over who receives food and who does not. The country really does not need this at this juncture, especially since it is the NGOs who are keeping the most vulnerable communities afloat," spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, Paul Themba Nyathi, told IRIN. He also alleged that Western donors would be unlikely to fund Zimbabwe's food aid appeal if the selection of beneficiaries and distribution was under the control of the government. An estimated 5.5 million Zimbabweans will be in need of food aid by January 2004.
Explaining the government's position, public service minister July Moyo was quoted as saying: "We appealed for the food aid and we should determine how it is distributed." On Wednesday last week, Angelo and WFP country representative Kevin Farrell met with Moyo "to ask for clarification" on the new policy. Angelo said he was assured that the government's policy guidelines "do not mean that we as the UN will change the way we operate", adding that if there was any political interference by the authorities, the incident would be reported to the government. "The [memorandum of understanding] signed with the UN system is still valid ... The basis of the agreement with the government is that we implement our programmes with total autonomy," Angelo stressed.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 26 August
The long and dreary wait for cash in Zimbabwe
Harare - Four weeks after Zimbabwe introduced a range of measures aimed at ending an unprecedented shortage of local bank notes, the situation has not improved, banking officials said on Monday. Queues at bank counters and cash machines grew even longer as workers tried to cash their pay cheques to pay monthly bills. "The cash situation is still the same, it's still in short supply," said one cashier inside a banking hall crowded with restive clients. "We have even reduced our maximum allowance today to enable everyone to get something from the little cash we have," he said. Zimbabwe is in its fourth month of a local cash crunch attributed to hyperinflationary conditions, a growing foreign exchange parallel market and lack of confidence in the system that have led to higher demand for cash and hoarding. The government has imposed a series of measures in a desperate bid to help ease the shortage.
On July 29 the government tried to persuade individuals and retailers to deposit cash with banks when it announced that it would phase out the current 500 Zimbabwean dollar note in circulation by end of September and replace it with a new one of similar value. A week later, it introduced local travellers' cheques as legal tender, hoping to ease the cash crisis that has gripped the southern African country since April. But the travellers' cheques faced resistance because of their inflexibility, according to banking officials. On Sunday a new law banning the holding of more than five-million Zimbabwean dollars (US$6 250) in local bank notes by institutions and individuals came into effect. But there has not been any marked improvement in the cash crisis. For above-average earners who can operate a chequing account, the cash shortages have forced them to turn to using their cards and cheques - which takes longer than cash transactions.
But the lower-earning majority without chequing accounts are forced to rely on cash for their daily transactions. They are the majority found in cash queues. "It looks as if we are at a political rally," quipped a woman who had been queueing at a cash machine since 6am on Monday. By midday no cash had been dispensed because the bank was waiting for cash deposits to feed notes into the machine. Every street corner where there is a banking hall or a cash machine was crowded with visibly tired people. "I have been coming here every day since last week. My landlord wants his rent and he will not take anything but cash," said Anthony Phiri, a factory worker. Banks are restricting the amount of cash that a client can withdraw in a day, and by Monday some banks had again slashed the maximum limit of 10 000 Zimbabwean dollars by half. A loaf of bread costs about 1 000 Zimbabwe dollars while a kilogramme of meat sells for about 5 000 Zimbabwe dollars.
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