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Archived News
2nd September 2003
Tsvangirai statement on MDC local election win
SADC rallies round Zim
20 000 voters improperly registered, alleges MDC
Zimbabwean opposition fights on
Police torch 1 000 homes
Mugabe's new palace in a land of hunger
Zimbabwe frees oil imports, raises fuel prices
Fuel seized from Mugabe ally
Troops to man polls in Zimbabwe
Chinamasa accuses province of disloyalty
Cash depositors arrested
Zimbabweans drift to neighbours as economy ails
Want to visit SA? That'll be Z$300 000
Democracy - Mugabe-style
Zanu PF accused of vote-buying
Politburo debates Mugabe
Church leaders to reassess involvement in party talks
Gov't Stifles Critical Voices in the Media
Apathy as Zim goes to polls
Opposition: Mugabe's party interfering with election
Opposition denied voters’ rolls
Govt in surprise request for poll funds
Mugabe to retreat to lavish life on a farm?
Drowning in luxury as his people starve
Zim polls marred by violence
Food for votes
Muzenda in a coma
Zim struggles to find printer for banknotes
Price rises hold the key to Zimbabwe's fiscal riddle
Now Oppenheimers fall victim to Mugabe paranoia
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From News24 (SA), 26 August
SADC rallies round Zim
Erika Gibson
Dar-es-Salaam - President Thabo Mbeki and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, held talks late into the night - presumably to discuss the latest developments in Zimbabwe - after the first day of the Southern African Economic Development Community (SADC) leadership summit. SADC leaders officially declared their solidarity with Mugabe on Tuesday, despite a heated debate on the handling of the Zimbabwe issue and the negative impact it could have on the region. At certain times, they were apparently very emotional and divided on the issue. The members of SADC maintained that the United States of America and the European Union should rather enter into constructive debate with Zimbabwe, than institute sanctions. At the end of the second day of the 23rd SADC summit in Tanzania, the leaders agreed that sanctions negatively affected not only the citizens of Zimbabwe, but also the entire region. They stressed that SADC would not be divided by the Zimbabwe issue, which could mean that the countries that voted for reform were in the minority. The SADC leaders expressed their commitment to assist Zimbabwe in finding and implementing solutions. They planned to build on the positive developments ?that are taking place at present? in the search for lasting solutions. These developments probably referred to negotiations between the ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
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From The Daily News, 26 August
20 000 voters improperly registered, alleges MDC
By Precious Shumba, Senior Reporter
Nearly 20 000 people have been improperly registered as voters for this week ’s urban council and parliamentary by-elections, while another 1 700 who voted last year and in 2000 are missing from the voters’ roll, according to figures released by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). MDC director of elections Remus Makuwaza said the 1 700 voters whose names were missing from the voters’ roll were discovered in Harare Central constituency alone. The missing people voted in the June 2000 parliamentary elections and last year’s presidential poll. Among those whose names are missing from the Harare Central roll are Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Harare city councillors and former Harare Central Member of Parliament Mike Auret, who resigned due to ill-health. Polls will be held in the constituency this weekend because of Auret’s resignation. "There has been a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise those voters perceived to be MDC supporters and they have been replaced by ghost voters," Makuwaza alleged. "The major reason why they have removed some names is that the RG (Registrar-General)’s Office wants to maintain the number of registered voters in the respective constituencies by replacing genuine voters with ghost voters. We have copied these irregularities to the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) and to our lawyers."
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede was yesterday unavailable for comment because he was said to be out of the office, but ESC spokesman Thomas Bvuma denied that the organisation had received the MDC’s complaint. "The ESC has not received any such reports and complaints and as such is not in a position to make comments on that," he said. But Makuwaza insisted that the opposition party had communicated with the ESC and had not received a response. He told the Daily News: "We have discovered that about 4 000 people have been improperly registered to vote in the Mutare mayoral election, about 3 000 voters in Gwanda, nearly 7 000 people on the Makonde voters’ roll and about 6 000 ghost voters on the Gweru voters’ roll. This number can rise once we complete our audit, but this is what we have discovered." He said there were several "ghost" voters whose residential addresses were unclear, while others had been placed on voters’ rolls in constituencies and wards outside their residential areas.
Murisi Zwizwai, the MDC candidate for Harare Central, yesterday told the Daily News that the names of prominent people who had previously voted in the constituency were not appearing on the voters’ roll. "It is shocking that the names of people like Mike Auret, the MP who resigned because of ill-health, do not appear on the voters’ roll," he said. "The names of Ward 6 councillor Dale Dore, Susan Tsvangirai and even Michael Laban, the Ward 7 councillor, do not appear on the latest voters’ roll, which I purchased two weeks ago. There are at least 1 754 names of people, who voted in the presidential election whose names have suddenly disappeared for this by-election." He said there were about 2 920 people whose addresses were simply stating that they resided at such places as the Presidential Guard premises, Tomlinson Depot or Harare Prisons Camp barracks, but no specific residential details were provided. Zwizwai said the MDC held a meeting with an official from the RG’s office yesterday and raised these issues with the constituency registrar, identified only as Mhende, but were told that an updated voters’ roll would be released on Wednesday, three days before polling. Mhende could also not be reached for comment last night. Zwizwai said it was strange that Susan Tsvangirai voted on the same day as her husband in the March 2002 presidential election and was filmed by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation doing so, but her name was now missing from the voters’ roll.
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From Radio Netherlands, 26 August
Zimbabwean opposition fights on
By Eric Beauchemin
In Zimbabwe, 1.5 million voters will go to the polls at the weekend in urban council elections. Over 1300 seats are at stake. Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the MDC or Movement for Democratic Change, has decided to take part in the elections despite ample evidence of state-sponsored violence, harassment and padding of the voter rolls. The poll is taking place in a climate of fear, widespread hunger, and economic collapse.
On the surface, Zimbabwe has changed little since I first visited the country four years ago. The streets of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second biggest city, remain fairly busy. There are almost no potholes. The lights work, water flows, and refuse is still collected every week. But the long queues tell another story, and the only fuel available nowadays is on the black market. Some people walk 15-20km to work and many can't afford food. And then there is the fear, the all-pervasive fear of the Zanu PF government, the war veterans, and the state-sponsored youth militia. In Matabeleland North, a stronghold of the Movement for Democratic Change, the fear is palpable. MDC MPs have had their campaigning activities severely limited by death threats, but the Zanu PF government has not stopped there. It has passed legislation to silence them. Under the Public Order and Security Act, a meeting of three people or more requires a police permit. Opposition rallies are never allowed. Zanu PF and its forces are also waging a campaign to turn MDC supporters into pariahs.
Clever is an MDC activist who runs his own business in Matabeleland North. "To tell you the truth, even my friends, they are now afraid to come to my place . . . people are also afraid to associate [with] me in almost everything because once they are seen talking to me or giving me business, they will be associated with MDC. All the people around me, they [have] problems. They have been beaten up. Their property has been destroyed. A lot of things are happening to them and I know in the near future, one of those happenings will actually happen to me." Despite Zanu PF's intimidation and violence, the MDC has continued to advocate peaceful change. The reason lies in its origins as a social democratic movement: it emerged in the late 1990s, as trade unions, churches, and civic organisations reacted to the government's failure to address Zimbabwe's most crucial problems, such as the imploding economy and widespread corruption. This social movement has also been portrayed as a one-issue party, bent only on toppling President Mugabe and his Zanu PF government. But the movement has drawn up policies on a wide variety of issues, including the controversial question of land redistribution. Under President Mugabe, thousands of whites who owned the richest agricultural land were forced off their farms. The government's so-called fast-track land redistribution was designed to redress historical injustices. But most of the land wound up in the hands of Zanu PF officials and now lies fallow. In the meantime, 3 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation. The MDC's social democratic principles and its position as southern Africa's first significant post-nationalist party have not endeared it to the liberation movements who rule in the region. But the time has come for a break with the past, the MDC believes.
The liberation struggle is now over and Zanu PF has failed to make good on its promises: most Zimbabweans are worse off than they were at independence 23 years ago. The ruling party has run the country with impunity, and today, says MDC MP Abednico Bhebhe, what Zimbabweans need more than anything are rule of law and justice and real democracy. "The situation we are seeing in Zimbabwe is a situation whereby one man wants to be the referee, the adjudicator, the player, the coach at the same time. Obviously being a competitor and a referee, he's going to favour himself." Earlier this month, the government announced that it had recruited members of the National Youth Training Service better known among ordinary Zimbabweans as the Taliban or the Green Bombers because of their uniforms to work as polling officers in next week's urban council elections. It is these youth militias who are assaulting and terrorising MDC supporters and activists across the country.
MDC activist Clever says it is essential members of the opposition resist striking back at the aggressors: "Right now we are experiencing problems, violence, and this violence is being done in order to intimidate people. The stance that we are taking right now is we are playing it cool because we cannot assist violence by hitting back because once we do so, even by defending yourself, you are very same person who is picked up by police." Clever's decision to support the MDC has come at a huge cost. He and his family cannot even obtain food because it is distributed by the government-run Grain Marketing Board. His wife, who is a teacher, was recently dismissed because of her husband's political affiliation, and early every morning, the youth militia come to threaten her family. Clever says he has become accustomed to the threats: "They're actually hardening me up. There was a time when I was afraid. Those were the early days. But now I think there's no need to be afraid. So I'm not afraid at all. Even if it means it may cost you your life? Well, right now I am dying . . . I'm having a slow death because as I told you earlier on, I'm getting no food and I'm getting no jobs. That's a death on its own. So I am not afraid to die because I think things will change for the better." Because of the severe restrictions the Zanu PF government places on foreign journalists, Eric Beauchemin travelled undercover to Zimbabwe to prepare this report.
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From The Daily News, 26 August
Police torch 1 000 homes
From Energy Bara and Godfrey Mutimba
Masvingo - The police yesterday torched homes belonging to about 1 000 resettled farmers at Windcrest Farm near Masvingo city, which has allegedly been purchased by a Foreign Affairs employee. Property believed to be worth more than $100 million was destroyed in the pre-dawn raids, which began on Sunday morning. According to government officials and resettled farmers who spoke to the Daily News yesterday, Windcrest Farm was invaded in 2000 at the height of land occupations spearheaded by war veterans and other supporters of the ruling Zanu PF. The occupiers were officially allocated the land in August 2001, when the Masvingo provincial lands committee demarcated individual plots for the new farmers. Government officials said the property, formerly owned by Magid Khan, was acquired by the state and officially demarcated for the settlers. But the resettled farmers said they were told to leave the property last week because it had been bought by a Mr Mukumba, who is believed to be an employee at Zimbabwe’s High Commission in London. When they failed to vacate the property, the police moved in and set fire to huts and other property belonging to the new farmers, including several tonnes of food, furniture and clothing.
When the Daily News visited the farm yesterday, there was a heavy police presence and government trucks were ferrying the villagers from the farm to their original homes. Several dejected settlers sat beside the smouldering remains of their former homes. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday said he was not aware of the evictions. He, however, said when people were evicted from properties, the police’s only role was to assist the provincial land committee. Masvingo provincial administrator Alphonse Chikurira, who is also a member of the provincial lands committee, said the evictions were sanctioned by the government. He said: "According to the land policy, it is illegal to occupy or invade a farm owned by a black man." On why the government was evicting the settlers when it had regularised their settlement, Chikurira would only say: "These people were advised to move out because the farm now belongs to Mr Mukumba. If their homes were torched, then it is unfortunate because we normally do not encourage that. It is our policy that people should be removed peacefully and no property should be burnt." The wife of the new owner, who identified herself only as Mrs Mukumba and who is already occupying the farmhouse, said her family bought the farm "long back" and the resettled farmers could not remain on the property. She insisted: "We did not grab this farm. We bought it and I see no reason why these invaders are crying foul."
Martin Maziofa, one of the affected settlers, who said he had lost property worth millions of dollars and $75 000 in cash, told the Daily News yesterday: "I have nothing to eat since I lost two tonnes of maize when my property was set on fire. We are currently sleeping in the open, but we were allocated these plots by the government. It is surprising to hear that this farm has been bought by a black man when we have stayed here for three years. The government is insensitive to our plight." Another settler, Nelson Mutakayi, said the government had also not given the settlers time to remove their property from the farm. Mutakayi said: "Some of the affected people have already left the farm. We are not happy with the government’s action to evict us and we suspect this could be corruption of the highest order. "We have lost all our property. We took over this farm when it was owned by Mr Khan and the government later gave us these plots. Now we do not know where this Mukumba came from and at what stage he bought the property when we had already occupied it."
Other affected farmers said they were being forced to leave their cattle and other beasts behind because they were not given time to gather them from pastures. A farmer who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "We are not amused by the way we have been treated by these people. It is now clear that we are going to leave our cattle behind because the government has only offered transport to ferry us. As for our domestic animals, we do not know what to do." The government has taken over white-owned land in what it says is part of a programme to redress colonial imbalances. The programme is supposed to benefit landless black peasants and aspiring black commercial farmers. But reports indicate that many of the prime properties taken over under the resettlement programme have been allocated to government and ruling party officials. In some cases, resettled farmers are said to have been turfed out to make way for government officials and their families. Agricultural experts say most landless Zimbabweans have not benefited from the land reform programme, and have remained in areas that are mostly not suitable for farming.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 27 August
Mugabe's new palace in a land of hunger
Harare - Builders are putting the finishing touches to a retirement home for President Robert Mugabe that will rival the most extravagant of African leaders' residences. The project is the latest sign of how his regime is prospering while vast numbers of Zimbabweans are close to starvation. The World Food Programme estimates that 5.5 million people - almost half the population - will need hunger relief by the year's end. Several architects who have seen aerial pictures of Mr Mugabe's new mansion, 16 miles north of Harare, say it looks as large as a medium-sized hotel. Surveyors in Harare estimated the building cost about £3.75 million - a colossal sum in a country where factory workers can earn as little as £6 a month. Final costs, including landscaping, security and interior decoration are expected to push the bill close to £6 million. Contractors are working feverishly on the fittings while two lakes built for Mr Mugabe on the southern boundary have begun to fill.
The residence offers more than three acres of accommodation, mostly on three floors, including two-storey reception rooms, an office suite, and up to 25 bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms and spas. The Chinese-style roof is clad with midnight blue glazed tiles from Shanghai. The ceilings were decorated by Arab craftsmen. Mr Mugabe's mansion is more than three times the size of his present official residence and his offices at State House. Its scale has raised opposition concerns that - if as is widely expected - Mr Mugabe steps down as leader of his ruling Zanu PF at the annual congress in December, or maybe after his 80th birthday in February, real power will move from his official government offices to his new residence. David Coltart, the justice spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said: "It had always been assumed that Mugabe himself has not been corrupt. The size of this house would suggest otherwise and will further complicate the negotiation process as Mugabe seeks to secure a peaceful exit. He must explain to Zimbabweans where he got the money from to build such a mansion."
Since coming to power 23 years ago - first as prime minister and then as executive president - Mr Mugabe has officially earned a total of less than US$1 million (about £625,000), including various allowances. Last month, he increased his annual salary by 1,000 per cent to the equivalent of £23,000. Last year, when America and the European Union slapped sanctions on Mr Mugabe and more than 70 of his political cohorts, Washington also froze their assets. Mr Mugabe challenged investigators to find any personal stash abroad. "They will find nothing," he said. However, his new house is one of the most striking signs that he has spent massively more than he has earned. A mile away from the new mansion is that other architectural testament to Mr Mugabe's rule, the brick house -dubbed Gracelands - which his second wife Grace built using a government building fund set up to assist lowly paid civil servants. That house appears unoccupied. After exposure in the media, Mrs Mugabe sold it, and it ended up in the hands of Libyan diplomats - among the last international backers of the regime. But they have not moved in. It is dwarfed by her husband's retirement home across the valley. Set in 44 acres of heavily wooded land, the property is made up of three separate title deeds - the first two bought in 1987 by the M & S Syndicate Ltd, set up seven years earlier.
This week, staff at the Registrar of Companies in Harare said records of M & S Syndicate were not available, but gave names of directors, including the speaker of parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is tipped to succeed Mr Mugabe as president of Zanu-PF, and the defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi. The third tranche of property was bought three years ago from a farmer who, friends say, was forced to sell because Mr Mugabe wanted to extend the land-holding. When he finally retires as president, he will continue to receive his full presidential salary which is nowhere near enough to maintain the costs of his retirement mansion. At present, the cost of protecting the property is borne by Zimbabwe's taxpayers. At least four uniformed police officers patrol the perimeter 24 hours a day. Security agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation are on hand to apprehend inquisitive drivers or bird-watchers who stop near the fence.
The mansion was built by a former Yugoslavian company, Energoproject, which has had close links with Mr Mugabe. The present site manager, Alexandre Illic, said last week that the building had been completed about a month ago. He said he reported to the ministry of mines and that Mr Mugabe recently visited the site while he was there. Sources in the building industry say landscaping and interior decoration - supervised by Mrs Mugabe, renowned for her expensive tastes - will be carried out by South Africans. The Telegraph faxed questions to Mr Mugabe's Harare office, asking how the residence was paid for, but received no reply. Brian Raftopoulos, professor of development studies at the University of Zimbabwe, said: "Details of his new home are an indicator that the issue of retirement is on the agenda. He will never let go of power. His influence on government will be different, but will remain. One of the issues for the transition is his role in retirement and his continued influence on all sectors. The size of his house indicates that he feels his presence needs to be symbolised by this massive outlay of resources for his retirement."
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From Reuters, 27 August
Zimbabwe frees oil imports, raises fuel prices
By Cris Chinaka
Harare - Zimbabwe's embattled leadership sought to ease fuel shortages that have crippled the economy on Wednesday by scrapping some price controls and relaxing the state monopoly on imports. Business leaders had long urged the move, which the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported would allow private companies to import fuel to meet the country's needs and sell it at market rates. President Robert Mugabe's government is grappling with the country's worst political and economic crisis since independence in 1980, which many critics blame on controversial policies and general mismanagement. The economic squeeze is dramatised for ordinary Zimbabweans by severe fuel, foreign currency and banknote shortages, and by inflation of nearly 400 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. Relaxing the market for fuel will undermine a thriving black market that had been fostered by unrealistically low price controls. Previous efforts to fight the illegal trade had seen the government banning Zimbabweans from carrying fuel in cans without a state permit.
The ZBC reported on Wednesday that Mugabe's government had officially ended the state's monopoly in importing fuel and in setting retail prices. "The government has deregulated the oil industry...which means that registered oil companies will be allowed to import and to sell fuel at market prices," it said. But the ZBC said the government would run a dual system under which its National Oil Company (NOCZIM) would import fuel for state departments and public transporters which would be sold at a discounted price. Private oil companies, including subsidiaries of a number of multinational corporations which have mostly been confined to the retail sector, had already agreed on a new pump price of Z$1,170 a litre for petrol and Z$1,060 for diesel, it said. The new petrol price is about three times the old tariff, which was pegged by the government in April after a rise of about 300 percent to Z$450 for petrol and Z$200 for diesel. Fuel had been commanding much higher prices on the black market.
Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that police had seized fuel from a firm owned by a top member of Mugabe's ruling party, accusing it of selling petrol at seven times above government-set prices. The police move was one of the first to target a senior Zanu PF member with charges of profiteering from the country's economic meltdown. Zimbabwe's fuel woes have worsened since a trade deal with supplier Libya collapsed last November, a visible sign of the country's economic plight. Mugabe, 79 and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, rejects critics' charges he has mismanaged the economy, insisting it has been sabotaged by opponents of his seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
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From BBC News, 27 August
Fuel seized from Mugabe ally
Zimbabwean police have seized petrol and diesel from a company owned by a senior member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. The company has been accused of selling the fuel at prices far above the official level set by the government. The company, Comoil, is owned by Saviour Kasukuwere, a member of the Zanu PF politburo. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Kasukuwere would face charges. The state-owned Herald newspaper said police impounded 35,000 litres of fuel. The Zimbabwean Government increased petrol prices by up to 300% in April, but the commodity still fetches higher prices on the black market. The country's fuel shortage worsened after a trade deal with its main supplier, Libya, collapsed in November 2002. The fuel crisis has forced transport companies to hike their prices and motorists are forced to queue for hours to buy the limited stocks available. Apart from fuel shortages, the country is struggling with a widespread cash shortage, inflation of almost 400% and unemployment of about 70%. Zimbabwe's main opposition party blames President Robert Mugabe for the mismanagement of the economy during his 23 year rule. Mr Mugabe blames international opponents for sabotaging the economy because of his controversial policy of seizing white-owned farms.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 August
Troops to man polls in Zimbabwe
Angus Shaw (AP)
Harare - Zimbabwe's High Court rejected a request by the opposition on Wednesday to block soldiers and policemen and other armed security officials from staffing polling stations at upcoming elections for district council and two parliamentary seats. Judge Tedias Karwi ruled the action was not urgent and could not be heard before the elections scheduled for this weekend, said Bryant Elliot, a lawyer for the Movement for Democratic Change. The opposition asked Karwi on Tuesday to order the state Electoral Supervisory Commission in charge of the elections to stop armed security personnel working for it. Under electoral laws, the state commission should be staffed by civilian government employees, Elliot said. But the commission was "stacked" with agents of from Zimbabwe's secret police force as well as regular policemen and soldiers, he said. There was no immediate comment from the government on the makeup of the commission. Zimbabwe has no independent body to run elections. Independent local monitors are accredited by the state body and in the past have been prevented from carrying out some of their work by commission officials and the police and military.
The weekend elections are for local councils and mayoral posts in 16 districts across the country and two parliamentary seats. One parliamentary seat is for a central area of Harare, an opposition stronghold, and the other for Makonde, a ruling party stronghold in northwestern Zimbabwe. Campaigning has been marred by allegations of political violence by both parties. State election commission spokesman Thomas Bvuma said it had mainly received complaints of violence against opposition supporters. The opposition also reported discrepancies in voter registration lists for the parliamentary seat election in Harare, he said. Opposition director of elections Remus Makuwaza said the names of at least 1 700 voters who cast ballots in the last elections in the district were found to be missing from current lists. Among missing names were Susan Tsvangirai, wife of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Another 20 000 voters were found to have been improperly registered for the weekend polls. "There has been a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise those voters perceived to be (opposition) supporters and they have been replaced by ghost voters," Makuwaza said.
The opposition, meanwhile, reported a gasoline bomb attack early Wednesday on the home of one of its local council candidates in the lakeside town of Kariba in northwestern Zimbabwe. It also reported violence against polling agents and campaigners in the Midlands provincial towns of Gweru, Kwekwe and Kadoma. The ruling party's parliamentary candidate in Harare, William Nhara, reported attacks on his supporters by opposition militants in the run-up to polling. Foreign and independent observers of parliamentary and presidential elections since 2000 say both were swayed by political violence, mostly by ruling party militants, corruption and vote rigging. Zimbabwe is suffering record inflation of 400% and soaring unemployment. There are acute shortages of local currency, hard currency, food, gasoline, medicine and other imports in the worst economic crisis since independence. According to the UN food agency, at least 5,5-million people, nearly half the population, will need emergency food aid by the end of the year to avert famine.
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From The Daily News, 27 August
Chinamasa accuses province of disloyalty
Own Correspondent
Manicaland province has been underdeveloped for the past 23 years because it lacks "patriotism", Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa has told the people of Manicaland. Speaking on Saturday at a public affairs event to garner support for Ellen Gwaradzimba, the Zanu PF candidate for this weekend's Mutare mayoral election, Chinamasa said Manicaland was "full of people opposed to the government". "This province lacks patriotism. Since independence in 1980, all the opposition parties had their leaders from Manicaland," Chinamasa said. He added: "We had Ndabaningi Sithole, Muzorewa, Dongo, Tekere, and now we have Tsvangirai, all from Manicaland province. And these people have been known to be leading actors against the government." The late Sithole was the leader of ZANU (Ndonga), while Abel Muzorewa represented United Parties. Margaret Dongo was the leader of the Zimbabwe Union of Democrats and Edgar Tekere formed the Zimbabwe Unity Movement. Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has posed the most serious challenge to the ruling Zanu PF in the past 23 years.
Chinamasa said: "This is the most fractured province in the country and we pray this will end by your voting for our candidates." He said the province would not develop if such trends of "divergence" were allowed to continue. "We come to you on bent knees so that you may vote wisely by voting for Zanu PF candidates, especially for the position of mayor," Chinamasa said. Gwaradzimba will face Misheck Kagurabadza of the MDC and independent candidate Patrick Matsanga in the mayoral race. The poorly attended meeting to garner support for Gwaradzimba was also attended by Oppah Muchinguri, the provincial governor, and resident minister; Kenneth Manyonda, Industry and International Trade Deputy Minister, as well as Joseph Made, the Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement Minister. Buhera South MP and Zanu PF Politburo member Kumbirai Kangai, Shadreck Chipanga, MP for Makoni, and Munacho Mutezo, the Zanu PF secretary for administration in the province, also attended the meeting.
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From The Daily News, 27 August
Cash depositors arrested
By Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter
A Harare bank manager and a former commercial farmer who helped members of the Cross-border Association of Zimbabwe (CAZ) deposit $20 million into a local bank have been arrested by the police and charged under the notorious Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Daily News has established. Police sources yesterday said Elisha Chidombwe, a manager with Zimbabwe Banking Corporation (Zimbank) in Harare, and Daniel Weidman, a former commercial farmer, were arrested on Friday when they assisted CAZ president Killer Zivhu to deposit $20 million belonging to members of his association. The money, earned from cross-border trading activities, was brought into the country so that it could be re-injected into the banking system, which is facing severe cash shortages. Cross-border traders were given until last Sunday to repatriate their money, as part of measures to alleviate the cash crisis.
The traders, who are said to be hoarding billions of dollars in cash, had been assured that they would not face any prosecution if they deposited their money before the deadline. However, sources said when Weidman made the deposit on behalf of CAZ members before the expiry of the deadline, he and Chidombwe were arrested and charged under Section 6 (1) (a) 3 of POSA. They were charged with economic sabotage and "furthering an insurrection in Zimbabwe by inflicting financial loss upon the government of Zimbabwe", police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday. The two were only released on Monday after the Attorney-General (AG)'s Office refused to prosecute them under POSA. They were subsequently charged under Statutory instrument 171 2003, which was issued early this month. The regulations prohibit traders from holding onto more than $5 million in cash. It also makes it unlawful for financial institutions to charge commission on cash, and empowers the police to seize large amounts of money from individuals and traders.
Sources said the AG's Office had, however, refused to prosecute Chidombwe and Weidman under the new regulations. Weidman yesterday confirmed the arrest, saying: "The actions of the police were unprofessional. How could we be arrested for helping someone deposit money in a bank? It is like a big joke. But you should talk to my lawyer for more in-depth information." His lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, could not be reached for comment before going to press yesterday. Chidombwe also could not be reached for comment yesterday. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was still checking details on the matter by the time of going to print last night. But according to police sources, Weidman had approached Madombwe after Zivhu asked him to assist in depositing into banks cash held by members of CAZ. According to the arrangement, CAZ members would deposit cash into a Zimbank account and receive bank cheques.
Zivhu yesterday told the Daily News that after the arrest of Chidombwe and Weidman, members of his organisation would find it difficult to co-operate with the government to deposit "billions of dollars we are holding into banks because of the government's double standards". Lawyers also questioned how the two could have intended to fan an uprising against the government when they were in fact helping in the repatriation of Zimbabwean currency that had been stashed outside the country. The two, who spent the weekend in holding cells at Southerton Police Station, had also been accused of conniving to disrupt the circulation of currency and, in the process, undermining the Zimbabwean government. But, according to statements given to the police by the two, some of the money deposited by the cross-border traders was already being disbursed to bank clients who were queuing for cash.
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From Reuters AlertNet, 28 August
Zimbabweans drift to neighbours as economy ails
By Stella Mapenzauswa
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean Kenneth Khumalo has worked in South Africa for nearly a decade and says the turmoil at home is unlikely to see him return any time soon. With unemployment hovering above 70 percent, many Zimbabweans have sought work in neighbouring South Africa and Botswana while thousands of others have gone as far as Britain, the United States, and Australia. The Zimbabwean exodus has gathered pace as President Robert Mugabe's government faces its sharpest economic and political crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. While Mugabe and his political opponents wrestle over how to pull the country out of its mess, more and more Zimbabweans are voting with their feet - joining a flow of economic refugees that poses new problems for both Zimbabwe and its neighbours. Khumalo, born Kenneth Sibanda, adopted the more South African surname Khumalo to get "more of a South African feel", an indication he is ready to stay in his adopted country. "I still have friends and relatives in Zimbabwe, but I only see them once a year at Christmas. There is nothing to draw me back home permanently," said Khumalo, who left Zimbabwe's southwestern city of Bulawayo after leaving school in 1992.
Mugabe's critics, led by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say he has mismanaged the country during his more than two decades in power, leading to acute shortages of foreign currency, food, fuel and - increasingly - patience. White-collar Zimbabweans, who once enjoyed one of Africa's most promising economies, have seen their standard of living drop and many are now leaving the country to take up menial jobs abroad working as bus drivers, street cleaners and hotel workers, often illegally. "It is hard sometimes, you never completely get over the homesickness," said Khumalo, who said he was in South Africa legally. The influx of Zimbabweans has raised hackles in South Africa, which has its own serious unemployment problem and where locals increasingly accuse foreigners of taking scarce jobs. Figures from South Africa's latest national census show that 41.6 percent of adult South Africans lacked formal work in 2001. Among majority blacks, one in two people were unemployed. South African statistics say almost 47,000 Zimbabweans were legally resident in the county in 2001, but officials estimate that about one million more are in the country illegally and say between 3,000 and 4,000 are deported each month.
Zimbabwe, too, is struggling to cope with what amounts to a serious brain drain. The country's health and education sectors have been hit particularly hard as salaries for teachers and medical workers fail to keep pace with Zimbabwe's rocketing inflation, currently rated among the highest in the world at nearly 400 percent. Zimbabwe government doctors went on strike in June, complaining that a recent evaluation and pay review of public sector jobs had whittled away their already-unsatisfactory monthly wage. The Harare-based Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Center says more than 479,000 Zimbabweans work outside the country, mainly in South Africa, Botswana, Britain and the United States -- but the opposition and human rights agencies say the hardships at home have driven many more people out. South Africa, which lies just south of the Limpopo River, is the nearest land of opportunity, and has the added advantage of allowing Zimbabweans to visit home regularly and send back essential commodities unavailable there. Work may be better in South Africa, but many Zimbabweans still long to return home and avidly read Zimbabwe's newspapers online to track political and economical developments. "It all looks gloomy at the moment, but I believe one day I will be able to return to a more prosperous Zimbabwe," said Thulani Dube, another Zimbabwean who works at the same hotel as Khumalo in Johannesburg's posh Sandton district. Dube's wife and three children still live in Zimbabwe's Gweru city.
Among those who have sought employment across Zimbabwe's borders are former agricultural labourers left jobless by Mugabe's seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks - a political move that critics say is partly responsible for the country's economic headaches. Industry officials say over one million commercial farm workers had lost their jobs or been displaced by the land reforms by December 2002, and that fewer than 1,000 commercial farms remain operational out of 4,400 when the drive began. A large number of white families have also emigrated to South Africa over the last three years, joining thousands who left Zimbabwe when Mugabe took over in 1980, ending decades of white minority rule in the former Rhodesia. Human rights groups say only about 60,000 thousand whites remain in Zimbabwe from about 100,000 just after independence. Expatriate Zimbabweans and their South African allies have held a number of anti-Mugabe demonstrations in South Africa, and many count themselves as supporters of the MDC, which was formed in 1999 and has emerged as the most potent political opposition. The MDC controls slightly over a third of the 150 parliamentary seats in Zimbabwe after 2000 elections. Its leader Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a legal challenge to Mugabe's victory in last year's presidential elections, condemned as fraudulent by the opposition and several Western countries. Mugabe, who says the MDC is a puppet of Western powers, denies the mismanagement charges levied against him, and in turn accuses local and international opponents of his land seizures of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy. Zimbabweans abroad remain divided about what has brought their homeland so low. Khumalo and Dube agree that whoever is to blame, the road to recovery will be long and hard.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 28 August
Want to visit SA? That'll be Z$300 000
Brian Latham
Harare - The South African government has imposed stiff visa requirements on Zimbabweans wanting to visit South Africa, demanding a deposit of Z$300 000. The South African High Commission also demands that people applying for visas produce a "letter of invitation" from the person they will be staying with in the country and proof of accommodation. The move, which has been criticised by many Zimbabweans, was introduced because the South African government has grown weary of "fake documents" produced by Zimbabweans. An official in the South African High Commission denied that everyone applying for a visa would be made to leave a Z$300 000 deposit. "It's only those who fail to meet the other visa requirements," Kennedy Shisvo said "What we've had is up to 60 or 70 people producing letters inviting them to South Africa, all written by the same person at the same address. That's ridiculous."
Still, one regular business visitor to South Africa complained that he had been told to leave a Z$300 000 bank guaranteed cheque with the High Commission. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared his next application would be refused, he said: "It's all very well, but while you're out of Zim your cheque loses about two percent of its value for each day you're out of the country because of inflation." Shisvo said the main culprits forging documents to enter South Africa were the thousands of cross-border traders who roam between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Many sell goods at Johannesburg flea markets before returning to Zimbabwe with electronic goods and food, both of which are sought after in Harare. Beit Bridge, less than 20km north of Musina, is Africa's busiest border crossing where hundreds of people wait for hours every day under the blistering lowveld sun for their papers to be processed.
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From News24 (SA), 29 August
Democracy - Mugabe-style
Harare - Cities, towns and villages across Zimbabwe were bracing themselves Friday today for what has become a depressingly familiar round of violence, fraud, bribery and corruption - democracy Robert Mugabe-style. His ruling Zanu PF party is facing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change in two parliamentary by-elections and local council and mayoral elections in 16 urban areas over the two-day weekend. A total of 279 seats are being challenged, and Mugabe is leaving nothing to chance, according to political analysts. Already, the ruling party has ensured that there will be no vote for 46 of the seats. The MDC candidates were forcibly stopped from registering or terrorised into withdrawing afterwards, and the ruling party candidates were declared "elected unopposed". "It's the same old thing all over again, brutality and cheating from start to finish," said University of Zimbabwe political science professor Eliphas Mukonoweshuro. "Only this time, they are doing it publicly, and making no effort to hide it. They don't care any more. They've got away with it for so long they know they can do it with impunity."
A major obstacle to the ruling party's aims - the independence of election officials - was dealt by a high court judge on Wednesday this week. He delivered a ruling that gave the regime the nod to appoint army officers, policemen and state intelligence agents to run the elections, in what lawyers said was a blatant violation of electoral laws. Judge Tedias Karwi said that the MDC's application to bar state security officers was "not urgent" and did not need to be heard before the weekend. On Friday, high court judge Ben Hlatshwayo, who openly professes support for the ruling party, sorted out another formality. He dismissed, with costs, an application by the MDC to order election authorities to allow 11 MDC candidates in the town of Chegutu about 10km west of Harare to register for the elections after failing to file their nominations five weeks ago.
The court heard evidence that the 11 arrived at the court and found it surrounded by a mob of ruling party youths. Police refused to break up the mob, so the candidates tried to march in. All but one had their nomination papers torn to shreds and all were assaulted. Four of them had to be treated in hospital for broken limbs and other injuries that medical reports said were caused by bricks and heavy poles. The one who made it inside was able to register, but withdrew the same day. He told the Election Supervisory Commission, the state-run election watchdog, he was "in fear for his life". Police fired shots in the air during the fracas. The commission reported that the atmosphere around the nomination court was "calm and collected".
Difficulties with the voters' roll have also been settled, according to the MDC. The party's elections director, Remus Makuvaza said there was evidence of 20 000 new names on the voters rolls for the constituencies and councils involved who have been "improperly" registered. A check by the MDC showed the new voters either lived outside the areas they were entitled to vote in, were given vague addresses, like military barracks, or could not be traced at all. Makuvaza says there have been a sudden rush of thousands of ruling party supporters into the contested areas. At the same time, in the parliamentary constituency of Harare Central where Zanu PF faces certain defeat - it received a third of the votes won by the MDC in last year's presidential elections - the names of about 1 700 voters have disappeared from the roll. They were mostly whites, as well as Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of the MDC leader, all of whom could be expected to vote for the MDC, said Makuvaza.
Issues like the MDC candidates' campaigns and the attitudes of voters also appear to have been attended to. The MDC reported Friday that its candidate in the parliamentary by-election in the Makonde district in the remote north of the country had been arrested on Thursday and detained for five hours by police when he drove through a village where Zanu PF was having a campaign rally. Police told MDC lawyers that his presence there was "likely to incite violence", said MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi. Party supporters' homes in nearly every contested area have been attacked, and party members have been abducted. On Thursday police in Kariba arrested the MDC mayoral candidate's election agent and his polling agent. Nyathi recalled that during last year's presidential elections, thousands of party polling and election agents, whose job was to scrutinise the voting process on behalf of the MDC, had been arrested the day before elections and released when voting was over. And if that doesn't work, positive persuasion may do the trick. "It all says one thing," said Mukonoweshuro. "Zanu PF is totally unwilling to abide by any democratic principles. This is the political culture in which it intends to continue its rule."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 29 August
Zanu PF accused of vote-buying
Loughty Dube
Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are this weekend poised for a bruising battle for control of urban and rural councils amidst allegations that the ruling party's councillors in Bulawayo have reduced the price of maize in a vote-buying bid. Both parties have vowed they will secure a majority of the seats in elections that begin tomorrow countrywide. The cities of Mutare, Gweru and Kwekwe are holding mayoral and council elections while other towns and centres will only elect councillors. MDC director of elections Remus Makuwaza said his party would win most of the seats if Zanu PF does not intimidate voters. "The MDC can win anywhere in the country," said Makuwaza. "As long as the elections are peaceful we are going to win not only in urban areas but even in the rural areas that people say are Zanu PF strongholds," Makuwaza said.
Meanwhile in Makonde where Zanu and MDC are fielding candidates in a parliamentary by-election, members of the notorious Zanu PF Top Six gang earlier this week attacked the MDC election agent, Joseph Mutsvangwa. They are said to have stolen $34 000 and a bag containing important election-related material. "A report was made to the police, and the culprits were arrested with the assistance of members of the Police Support Unit, but they were later released," the MDC said in a statement. The MDC is fielding Japhet Karemba while Kindness Paradza will represent Zanu PF. In Gweru the MDC has accused Zanu PF of ferrying voters from rural constituencies into the city to vote. Provincial campaign manager Jacob Mlambo said yesterday that DDF trucks were being used to ferry rural voters into Gweru urban. "More than 1 000 voters have already been ferried into Gweru urban for the purpose of rigging," said Mlambo. "The people are staying at Mpumelelo Primary School as well as Gweru Technical College, whilst others are at houses belonging to Zanu PF officials. These people are on a supplementary roll which the MDC doesn't have access to."
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From The Financial Gazette, 28 August
Politburo debates Mugabe
Brian Mangwende Chief Reporter
The ruling Zanu PF party's supreme decision making body, the politburo, will within a fortnight, for the first time since independence from Britain, tackle what has been widely considered a political hot potato -the issue of President Robert Mugabe's succession. Retired Chief Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai, a Zanu PF founder member who belonged to the party's liberation war council, Dare reChimurenga, said the politburo, the chief committee that makes policies and decisions, would meet in a fortnight to tackle the power struggle in the party and discuss the issue of Mugabe's successor. "We are going to discuss the succession issue either at the end of this month or early next month," Tungamirai said. "A number of people have expressed interest in the job, but we'll discuss that when we meet." The move is widely expected to light the fuse for renewed optimism about the resumption of stalled talks between the ruling party and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
It has been suggested but not denied that, even though there was unanimity that a negotiated settlement to the country's crisis would provide a much needed tonic to the battered economy, the emotive issue of President Mugabe's succession was one of the major stumbling blocks holding back the resumption of the talks. President Mugabe, at the helm of Zanu PF since the last half of the 1970's and who many believe is, despite murmurs of a distant departure date, seeing out his last term in office, early this year threw his weight behind debate over his succession, setting the stage for behind-the-scenes acrimonious in-fighting among those jostling for the post. And splits over the issue have since emerged in the ruling party as widely predicted. Following a deeply divisive parliamentary and later presidential elections, there has been pressure on the two major political parties, the MDC and Zanu PF, to bridge what is increasingly becoming a violent political divide. It is however the in-fighting in Zanu PF that has been holding back a move towards a deeper rapprochement with the MDC. Sentiments that of late have been expressed by some senior Zanu PF officials who fear that they could be written out of the script in a new political dispensation have also cast fresh doubts over the ruling party's commitment to the widely supported talks.
Tungamirai could not be drawn to give names of party members who have expressed interest in succeeding President Mugabe. However those known or said to have long coveted the top post include Joseph Msika, the vice president, Didymus Mutasa, the party's secretary for external affairs, Dumiso Dabengwa, a politburo member, Sydney Sekeramayi, the Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament, John Nkomo, the Minister of Special Affairs in the President's Office and former finance minister and politburo member, Simba Makoni. Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to South Africa, Simon Moyo, believed to be the late Joshua Nkomo's close lieutanant, and the Minister of Rural Resources and Water Development Joyce Mujuru, are also among the list of possible contestants. Mujuru, the wife of Zanu PF kingmaker, retired army general Solomon Mujuru, is the only woman since independence to act as Minister of Defence following the death of Moven Mahachi in 2001. "The matter is going to be discussed whenever it is raised," Nkomo said adding, "if there is a vacancy at the top, the process is very clear. Nominations will come from the provinces. Everybody will be involved at all levels. If people want to talk about it they can , but you cannot say that can be conclusive because the process is clear when the matter is being formally discussed. In any case, what the President meant when he opened the door to the succession debate was that you can talk about it if you want, but the position is not yet vacant. He has not said he is stepping down so people can talk as much as they want," Nkomo said.
Zanu PF's spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira could not be contacted for comment, but he has previously said the process to choose a successor would begin in all provinces before filtering into the party's central committee and finally the politburo. The Financial Gazette understands that the politburo meeting will be a precursor to the party process of choosing a new leader. It is however difficult to say whether a change of leadership in Zanu PF will bring with it key policy changes or just changes on emphasis on certain issues. Commenting on the line-up of possible candidates for the top job, a ruling party insider said: "Well, Sekeramayi is very strong in the party, he doesn't have a lot of enemies. Makoni is strong nationally, but has no real support in the party. Mutasa is respected but age may be a disadvantage. No one really knows where Dabengwa stands. Mujuru is the only woman success story in the party. Moyo was like to the late Joshua Nkomo what Mnangagwa is to Mugabe. Msika is too old to continue with such demanding tasks. He may have to play on the sidelines. Nkomo didn't even stand in the 2000 parliamentary election so he is a bit tricky." Mnangagwa, widely viewed as President Mugabe's confidante, has often been touted as the President's favourite and has been tipped as Mugabe's preferred choice for the top position. But Mnangagwa has few backers in the politburo. In 1999, Nkomo defeated Mnangagwa for Zanu PF's national chairmanship and the following year, ruling party Members of Parliament voted the former spy agency chief as Speaker of Parliament after he lost the Kwekwe seat to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the historic 2000 parliamentary election.
Factions along ethnic and tribal lines have already emerged within Zanu PF, with Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation Shuvai Mahofa accusing senior party officials of underhand manoeuvres to discredit President Mugabe and his two lieutenants, Vice-Presidents Simon Muzenda and Msika, in the succession debate. Muzenda is out of the race due to ill health. Insiders said this week Zanu PF risked splitting down the middle if the succession issue was not handled carefully. They said the tribal factors had engulfed preparations for the debate, hinting at guarded positions to save the Zanu PF-PF ZAPU unity accord that brought two rival parties together in 1987. "The unity accord signed between Zanu PF and ZAPU in 1987 may be a thing of the past if the succession issue is not handled delicately," one insider said. "Zanu PF may shoot itself in the foot if they are not careful. Already, cracks have emerged regarding the proposed talks with the opposition with some for and some against the talks. But if they refuse Mugabe's choice then we are probably going to be stuck with Mugabe for some time to come as he would be sceptical of any other choice." Another Zanu PF insider said a split in the party over Mugabe's successor would spell the demise of the party, which has ruthlessly shrugged off stiff opposition from the MDC, whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai is facing high treason charges for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Mugabe.
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From The Daily News, 29 August
Church leaders to reassess involvement in party talks
Staff Reporter
Zimbabwe's church leaders yesterday showed signs of fatigue and disillusionment in their efforts to coax the ruling ZANU PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties into dialogue, saying they were going to reassess their involvement in the search for a negotiated solution to the country’s crisis. A spokesman for the leaders of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC), Trevor Manhanga, said the clergymen would not impose their ideas or themselves on the country’s two biggest political parties. Manhanga was responding to questions about what the church leaders would do given Zanu PF’s apparent unwillingness to accept them as mediators. Manhanga said: "We have not heard anything from Zanu PF in terms of their dismissal of our initiative. We are going to continue to try our efforts to bring the two to the negotiating table but definitely, we will not be forcing ourselves on them. We cannot force ourselves on anybody." Zanu PF, which still has not submitted its position paper on dialogue to the three-man church team, has questioned the church’s impartiality as mediators.
Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo yesterday refused to say when his party would submit its position paper to the church leaders. He only said: "Ask Manhanga and his team that question. I will not answer that." Manhanga and his ZCC and ZCBC colleagues Sebastian Bakare and Patrick Mutume respectively, met Zanu PF and state President Robert Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last month in separate meetings in a bid to revive dialogue between the government and the opposition. Mugabe and Tsvangirai said they were committed to resumption of dialogue but several weeks later there is hardly any progress towards substantive talks because Zanu PF has not submitted in writing its position paper. The MDC submitted its position several weeks ago. Manhanga said: "Our effort was to bring the two parties together and that is still our position. As church leaders we are going to sit down and come up with a position. If we are being rejected, then we will have to sit down and reassess our personal involvement in this initiative.
Meanwhile, Manhanga and Mutume on Wednesday professed ignorance about an advertisement which was flighted in the government-owned newspaper, The Herald, disputing a story carried by The Daily News last week saying Zanu PF had failed to attend a scheduled meeting with the church leaders last Monday. "I was away and I was not aware of the advert. You are telling me about it for the first time. We will meet as a team to discuss it," said Manhanga. Mutume said: "I only read about the advert after your enquiry about it. I was unaware of it. I will ask my colleagues." In the story the Daily News quoted Bakare saying that a meeting that was scheduled between Zanu PF leaders had failed to take place after the ruling party officials did not turn up. Bakare was not available for comment yesterday.
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From IPS, 30 August
Gov't Stifles Critical Voices in the Media
Wilson Johwa
Bulawayo - No sooner had it made its debut in May that musician Leonard Zhakata's latest album disappeared from the airwaves. Entitled 'Hodho' (early shot gun), the album was banned from radio because of its focus on the political gridlock and economic hardships prevailing in Zimbabwe. Thus it joined the list of other creative works which the government has found too critical for comfort. The country's political and economic decline has been well-documented by the small but vibrant independent press. Musicians and other artists, on the other hand, have been less successful in speaking out. The answer partially lies in the lack of alternative radio and television channels. Zimbabwe is just about the only country in Southern Africa with no independent radio or television stations. The state broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), still enjoys a monopoly inherited from the colonial regime at independence 23 years ago. Moreover, since 2000 the ZBC has been on a major restructuring exercise to entrench its monopoly position hence its vision, "the first and permanent media choice for every Zimbabwean." This lack of other outlets has left artists subject to the manipulation of the government.
The fact that by law Zimbabwean radio and television channels are obliged to devote 75 percent of their air time to local productions has given politically-correct musicians exposure which often translates into healthy sales. Critical voices, on the other hand, are shut out and have to endure the consequences of no publicity. Even Cont Mhlanga, the outspoken head of Amakhosi Theatre Productions, the country's biggest and most successful community theatre group, has lately been accused of working with the ruling party, while agreeing to water down some of his productions for airing on ZBC. He maintains, however, that the lack of an independent outlet is what gives audiences the impression that his group is not speaking out against the many ills and hardships in Zimbabwean society. "We are always protesting, we've always been protesting, the difference is just the form of media," says Mhlanga. "Until people come to the theatre, only then will they get access to our work," Mhlanga says. "Every other avenue - TV, radio, everything - is closed."
Since its founding as a township outfit in the early 1980s, Amakhosi's plays have never been popular with the state broadcaster. The most controversial play, which caused a storm back in 1986, was 'Workshop Negative'. The production was the first to critically challenge the government, pointing out double standards in the state's declared Marxist agenda. It exposed the sham of the ideology in Zimbabwe where senior government officials preached socialism while they amassed wealth. Among Amakhosi's major plays, 'Workshop Negative' was followed by 'Cry Sililo' in 1988 which was on the plight of the worker. 'Stitsha', a 1989 production, raised the issue of land and 'Dabulap' in 1990 criticised the government's failure to create employment opportunities for the youth resulting in them trekking to neighbouring countries, where they caused much discomfort. All these plays were not shown on television. The only exception was a production on anti-tribalism since this theme was in line with the government's agenda. Mhlanga, who has been the main playwright at Amakhosi, says he is presently not working on any new plays but is waiting for a new political order before he can pick up his pen again. "Everything that is happening I spoke about 15 years ago in my plays, I've written it," he says. "So what is that I'm going to write now?"
However, one musician who has refused to be silenced is Thomas Mapfumo. Mapfumo is one of Zimbabwe's oldest and most popular musicians. His music blends traditional 'Shona mbira' music with western instruments and a political message replete with traditional metaphors. During the liberation struggle, the characteristic protest streak in his music captured the mood of the times and endeared him to the black masses. Three years before indepe ndence in 1977, Mapfumo was imprisoned for 90 days because of his song 'Hokoyo' (Watch Out). Even after independence Mapfumo has remained consistent, fearlessly speaking his mind. Many of his other songs remain banned from Zimbabwean radio, including his 1988 tune 'Corruption', which ridiculed 'corruption in the society'; and 'Disaster', a 1999 song that similarly railed against graft and corruption. Mapfumo's 'Chimurenga' or 'liberation' music still makes him one of the country's top-selling musicians, although he is now based in the United States from where he emerges in December each year to give a sell-out show. His emigration coincided with the release of his album, 'Chimurenga Explosion' which features several critical songs including the explosive 'Mamvemve' ('Tatters'). Even coming from Mapfumo, this particular track was too direct for the liking of Zimbabwe's political mandarins and hence was banned from the airwaves. Apart from the albums 'Chimurenga Explosion' and 'Chimurenga Rebel', Mapfumo has since had his latest, 'Toyi Toyi' (which means protest) banned. But he cannot be too worried as they are available on the market, even though they enjoy no airplay at all.
Other Zimbabwean performers, though, are not so well-established as to thrive without access to radio or TV. Artists in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, recently joined hands with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe), an advocacy group, in its campaign to lobby government into establishing independent radio stations in the country. Pathisa Nyathi, who heads the artists' interim steering committee, says the idea is to create a platform for artists to look at issues of common concern, including pushing for the liberalisation of the airwaves. But Mhlanga, whose group wanted to set up a culture radio station but was turned down by the government in 1998, says MISA's approach is "shallow". He says there is no point in pushing for alternative channels when the recipients of licences would be controlled by the system -- since they would have no technical capacity of their own. He feels MISA should concentrate on building the capacity of the prospective broadcasters and artists in terms of both the technical aspects and developing content "so that even other channels in the world can show it" and it can make its way back into the country.
Meanwhile, in the city centre, scores of youth crowd the ninth floor lobby of Radio Dialogue for a chance to record their music. This is the only thing they can do since the two-year-old radio station does not yet have a broadcasting license which it hopes to get when the government is ready. However, its officials know they have to wait a long time. Towards the end of 2000 the government announced its desire to open up the airwaves on a three-tier basis that included public service broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and community broadcasting. "We are not very confident of getting a licence at the moment with the situation that is prevailing in this country at the moment," says Radio Dialogue administrator Kudzai Kwangwari. "What we hope is that things will change and when things are different hopefully that's when we'll get a license."
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From News24 (SA), 30 August
Apathy as Zim goes to polls
Harare - Zimbabweans went to the polls Saturday in the first day of weekend municipal elections taking place against a backdrop of an unprecedented economic crisis, with voting marred by widespread apathy and allegations of irregularities. Most polling stations visited by AFP in Harare and the second largest city of Bulawayo saw only handfuls of voters trickling in to vote, in sharp contrast to long queues at banks where people were desperately trying to cash their salary cheques amid an unprecedented shortage of local bank notes. State radio also reported that voting started off peacefully, but was characterised by low voter turnout. The Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) which has deployed hundred of monitors across the country, said turnout was "high" when polling stations opened particularly in the working class suburbs, "but relatively low in low-density suburbs". "As the day progressed, turn-out thinned out," the commission said in a statement.
Elections were also taking place to fill two seats in parliament that were left vacant by the death of one lawmaker from the ruling Zanu PF party and the resignation of an opposition deputy on health grounds. The municipal elections are scheduled five-yearly polls to choose councillors and mayors. The elections are taking place amid worsening economic hardships that critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's policies. Voting on Saturday was marred by allegations of irregularities, violence and intimidation, mainly from the opposition. The ESC said it was concerned by the allegations coming from both the main parties contesting the elections - Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by the president's arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai. It however said "some of the allegations have been exaggerated", and where incidents took place, they were "isolated". "The situation where voting is taking place has been quiet and peaceful," said the commission.
MDC spokesman Paul Temba Nyathi said he had received reports of violence towards the party leadership and widespread intimidation. Cases of opposition supporters being blocked by suspected ruling party militants, from entering polling stations to cast their ballots, were widespread, according to another MDC official, Maxwell Zimuto. The opposition has also complained that it was denied access to the voter register ahead of the Saturday and Sunday polling in at least four of the cities where elections were taking place. An independent election body, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said it had noted with concern that polling stations had not been published ahead of polling. "This means that voters are not aware where they will be voting at in different centres of the country," it said in a statement.
Last week the MDC accused the Zimbabwe government of trying to buy votes ahead of the polls by introducing regulations that will force humanitarian agencies to hand over food aid distribution to village heads and council officials rather than do it themselves. But the new regulations were not implemented. Around half of Zimbabwe's 11.6 million people face famine due to a drought that critics say has been exacerbated by Mugabe's controversial land reforms, under which land has been seized from white commercial farmers and given to landless blacks. A total of 222 council seats and seven mayoral positions will be contested in the various towns and cities. The elections are taking place at a time the country is going through its worst ever economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. Inflation was last month officially running at 399.5% but experts estimate the true rate is at least twice the official figure. Most basic goods as well as fuel, foreign exchange and even local currency have been in short supply.
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From Associated Press, 30 August
Opposition: Mugabe's party interfering with election
Voter intimidation reported in 16 districts, spokesman says
Harare - Zimbabwe's local elections have been marred by reports of violence and intimidation by President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, opposition members said Saturday. In the Harare Central Parliamentary District, voters trickled to polling stations to cast their ballots. "The turnout is generally very low. People are preoccupied with looking for the basic needs of life," opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said as he cast his ballot at a rundown school in Harare. Paul Themba Nyathi, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said party officials in 16 voting districts across the country reported widespread intimidation of voters after polling opened Saturday.
The vehicle of opposition election agent Blessing Chebundo and two candidates in provincial council polls in the central town of Kwekwe was pelted with stones and rocks by ruling party militants, Nyathi said. He said the militants also dragged suspected opposition supporters from voters' lines in Kwekwe. In Norton, 25 miles [40 kilometers] west of Harare, opposition agent Shadrack Moyo was hospitalized Saturday after being assaulted and dumped beside a highway outside the town, Nyathi said. Thomas Bvuma, a spokesman for the state Electoral Supervisory Commission, said voting had begun "quietly," state radio reported. Friday, the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network said the run-up to polling was "by no means peaceful." Across the country and in the parliamentary district of Makonde, northwest of Harare, it said "the environment was so tense no meaningful campaigns by the opposition took place."
The High Court in Harare threw out complaints Friday by 11 prospective opposition candidates that violent ruling party militants prevented them from enrolling to contest the polls. Sheila Jarvis, an attorney for the opposition, said the potential candidates were chased away from the nomination court in Chegutu, 68 miles [110 kilometers] southwest of Harare, on July 21. Nine of them were assaulted by ruling party militants and needed hospital treatment for broken ribs and other fractures, Jarvis said. High Court Judge Ben Hlatshwayo gave no reasons for dismissing their application to run for election. He said his written judgment will be made available later. Three of the 16 district council and mayoral elections are not being contested because opposition candidates were not able to register. Uncontested districts automatically go to the ruling party. Foreign and independent observers of parliamentary and presidential elections since 2000 say both were swayed by political violence, mostly by ruling party militants, corruption and vote rigging. Meanwhile, long lines of people waited outside banks Saturday in hopes of cashing month-end pay checks. Zimbabwe is suffering acute shortages of local cash, hard currency, food, gasoline, medicines and other imports. Polling closes at 7:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Results are expected Monday.
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From The Daily News, 30 August
Opposition denied voters’ rolls
Staff Reporters
The Registrar-General (RG)’s Office had by yesterday evening not provided copies of voters’ rolls to several opposition party and independent candidates for this weekend’s urban council polls and parliamentary by-elections, a development the candidates said could facilitate irregular electoral practices. Copies of the voters’ roll had by last night not been provided to mayoral and council election candidates in Mutare, Kariba, Kadoma and Victoria Falls, with officials of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party saying they had already engaged lawyers to challenge this in court. Officials of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said they were likely to seek an overturn of some of the results of the elections because they had not been given a chance to properly audit the voters’ roll for possible irregularities. Several candidates who are standing as independents in the elections that begin today said the problem with the voters’ roll was not affecting only opposition party officials. Independent candidates in Mutare told the Daily News that the RG’s Office had also denied them copies of the voters’ roll. Independent candidate Virginia Pinto, who is seeking re-election as councillor for ward 12 in Mutare, said several independent candidates in the city had also been denied copies of the voters’ roll. However, their ruling party counterparts are believed to have been given copies of the voters’ roll.
MDC elections director Remus Makuwaza said: "Where else in the world have you seen a candidate going into an election without a copy of the voters’ roll? It is like a boxer going into the ring while being blindfolded. We were denied copies of the voters’ rolls because they knew that we would unearth the ghost voters that have been planted to enable Zanu PF to rig the election." Comment could not be obtained from Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede, who has in the past denied allegations of election rigging levelled against his office. Manicaland provincial registrar Joyce Munamati, who was accused by MDC and independent candidates of frustrating their efforts to obtain copies of the voters’ roll, told a Daily News reporter: "If anyone has a problem, then that person should come to me and not to you. Are you their spokesman? They should come in person to my office if they have problems." MDC elections co-ordinator Nomore Sibanda said his party had instructed its lawyers over the matter. He said the issue was being handled by Ray Moyo, a lawyer with Gill, Godlonton and Gerrans, who could not be reached for comment last night. Sibanda said: "Mudede’s officers have been using delaying tactics to deny our candidates copies of voters’ rolls and then claimed to be too busy to issue out the copies this week. They are now saying we can only get copies after the election. Our lawyer, Ray Moyo, is working on the case."
Meanwhile, opposition party officials said political violence had worsened ahead of this weekend’s polls, accusing ruling Zanu PF activists of waging a campaign of terror against their supporters. The MDC said in Norton, its candidates for wards four, five, six, eight and nine were assaulted and their houses stoned by known ruling party activists from Norton and Zvimba. In Mutare, a group of Zanu PF supporters is alleged to have carried out a door-to-door campaign of violence, seriously injuring three MDC activists. In Kariba, Nathan Makwasha, the MDC candidate for ward four, said he survived a petrol bomb that was hurled into his house on Tuesday morning by known Zanu PF activists driving a vehicle with government number plates. However, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he had not yet received reports on the alleged Norton and Kariba incidents. He told the Daily News: "Our position is very clear as the police force. We will maintain law and order everywhere where elections will be held. We know and appreciate that emotions by certain groups are very high as we approach these elections, and we appeal to leaders of political parties to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner so that they don’t engage in violent activities." Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity Nathan Shamuyarira denied that ruling party supporters were involved in political violence. "I can’t talk of MDC candidates, I will speak about Zanu PF candidates only and we are not violent," he said.
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From The Financial Gazette, 28 August
Govt in surprise request for poll funds
Cyril Zenda
President Robert Mugabe's administration, which stands accused of stealing elections through a flawed electoral process has, in a surprise move, approached the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for financial assistance to organise and run the 2005 general elections. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said last week he was discussing with the UNDP a request for financial assistance to organise the forthcoming general elections although he could not provide figures on how much would required for the purpose. "We have approached Mr (Victor) Angelo (UNDP resident representative in Zimbabwe) for assistance in organising the 2005 elections," Chinamasa said in Kariba last week.
Angelo confirmed that Chinamasa had approached his office for assistance in organising the forthcoming general election, but said details of the requests are yet to be forwarded to his office. "We will certainly look at the request when it comes," Angelo said. "We may have to assist in improving the electoral process in Zimbabwe in order to ensure that no body challenges the quality of the 2005 elections." However both Chinamasa and Angelo could this week not shed more light on the request with Chinamasa saying he would be in a position to do so next week while Angelo was said to be unavailable. The government and the UNDP have for the past three years enjoyed a tempestuous relationship following the United Nations agency's flat refusal to bankroll what it considered to be a chaotic land reform programme. The UNDP could bankroll the polls under its good governance programme, which is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that the United Nations has set out to achieve by 2015. Already the UNDP is funding parliamentary reforms as part of its good governance programme.
Zimbabwe has one of the worst electoral processes in the southern African region, as the country does not meet some basics like having an independent electoral body. In 2005, Zimbabwe will have its sixth general elections and a flawed electoral process could open floodgates of more electoral petitions than those from the 2000 elections in which results from about a third of the country's 120 constituencies were contested. Although the government has blamed a financial tight rope as the major hiccup in organising credible elections, it has turned down a donation of transparent ballot boxes insisting on the use of its wooden boxes which some opposition candidates say make rigging by the ruling Zanu PF easier.
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From The Saturday Star (SA), 30 August
Mugabe to retreat to lavish life on a farm?
Harare - If President Robert Mugabe does retire, as widely speculated, when he hits 80 next year, he will apparently not go into exile or live in retirement as a modest pensioner. Judging by two big property deals, the octogenarian Mugabe will rather live as a gentleman farmer, alternating as a dapper man about town, perhaps pulling the strings of his nominated successor in State House. He is building a fabulous Chinese-style mansion on about 16 hectares of land in Harare's poshest Borrowdale suburb. And he has already bought Zimbabwe's largest dairy, Foyle Farm, through a state agency. Lying in the Mazowe Valley, 30km north-west of Harare, it was until recently the most productive dairy in Zimbabwe and among the top 10 in Africa. But since Mugabe's new management took over fully in May, production has dropped by half. The former owner, Ian Webster, was an internationally recognised dairyman. A former neighbour, who asked not to be named said this week: "Ian was forced to sell because thugs made his life a misery. Then he was told the farm was for someone important, and that that person was prepared to pay for it. He didn't want to go, but he is one of less than 10 white farmers who have been paid."
The Zanu PF government has seized more than 6 000 commercial farms since February 2000, and has finalised compensation for less than 300. Webster, who is now living in Harare waiting for the sale to go through before moving to Australia, refused to discuss the sale of his farm. A well-placed source in the government's District Development Fund, which assists new farmers who cannot afford to plough or drill boreholes on land seized from white farmers, said the fund would drill more than 40 new boreholes on Mugabe's new farm, at taxpayers' expense. Grace Mugabe visits Foyle Farm frequently in her 4x4 with darkened windows. According to former staff at the farm, she plans to replace the two modest houses on the farm with a new executive residence and enormous gardens. Members of the Dairy Producers Association, who asked not to be identified, said Foyle Farm must now be losing money because of the drop in production. Department of Agriculture permanent secretary Norbert Masoka promised earlier in the week to respond to faxed questions, but did not do so.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 31 August
Drowning in luxury as his people starve
Ask not what I can do for my country...
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Since Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe wed his second wife, Grace, at a lavish ceremony about seven years ago, the first couple has been living extravagantly, despite the grinding poverty suffered by their fellow citizens. Mugabe wed Grace, a former secretary in his office, 40 years his junior, on August 17 1996 at a reception at Zvimba, about 100km north of Harare, which was characterised by excessive pomp and fanfare. It marked the beginning of an extravagant lifestyle for the hitherto modest and socialist-leaning Mugabe who, together with his late wife, Sally, had tried to avoid the opulence associated with some post-liberation leaders elsewhere in Africa. The controversial marriage brought forth Zimbabwe's own version of 18th-century French queen Marie Antoinette. The first lady lives large, like royalty.
Whenever she needed new clothes she commandeered an aircraft from Air Zimbabwe to fly her to Europe to shop at glitzy elitist departmental stores such as Harrods in London. But then sanctions put a stop to these trips. She quickly built a reputation for excess and a love of the limelight, from which she has shown no signs of retreating as the country suffers. Bodyguards in tow, Grace would stroll the aisles of Harrods, amassing expensive goods. Afterwards, her waiting cavalcade would ferry her to Heathrow Airport, where a plane from Air Zimbabwe would be on standby to whisk her and her goods back home. The former secretary, who used to wear run-of-the-mill attire, started coveting designer apparel. She can be seen with a diamond-encrusted Rolex on her wrist, pearls around her neck, Christian Dior accessories and Ferragamo shoes.
Not long after her wedding, Grace was accused of helping herself to Z6-million - a lot of money back then - from a fund reserved for low-cost housing for civil servants. She built an imposing mansion in Harare's upmarket Borrowdale suburb. The villa later became known as Gracelands. The palace was, however, sold to the Libyans in 2001 and Grace was eventually ordered to pay back the money. In 1998 she was also linked to another mansion at Chivu, 100km south of Harare, although she has denied owning the house. In 1998 Grace was asked where she got the money to finance her opulent lifestyle. She claimed she made it through sewing clothes - to the disbelief of most Zimbabweans.
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From News24 (SA), 31 August
Zim polls marred by violence
Angus Shaw
Norton - Ruling party militants armed with stones, iron bars and catapults, beat tribal drums as a warning of danger outside polling stations on Sunday, the second day of district elections in this town outside the capital, Harare. Opposition officials said the militants blocked approaches to polling stations in Norton during two days of voting in this farming and light industry center. In elections for 16 local district councils and two parliament seats that began on Saturday, the ruling party Zanu PF faced its strongest challenge yet as Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis undermined the party's support. Opposition members said most of the polls were marred by violence and intimidation. "They (the militants) have been placed at strategic points to stop our electorate using these routes," said Edward Musumbu, a candidate from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the town council polls. Turnout was low on Sunday. "There is fear, and it has been difficult even for us to get around our own areas," Musumbu said.
About 20 militants were camped outside one polling station. Others beat drums, a traditional warning, to scare away voters after several days of violence in this town of 35 000 people, 40km west of Harare, Musumbu said. Opposition polling agent Lowsign Nyarumba, 28, said he was treated for head wounds after being assaulted with an iron bar by militants inside a police camp while reporting a stoning attack on the home of an opposition candidate. Musumbu said the homes of nine opposition campaigners were stoned by militants, many of them trucked in from neighbouring ruling party strongholds, including President Robert Mugabe's home area of Zvimba. Another opposition candidate for one of the town's 12 voting wards, Edwin Madira, said he was evicted from his rented auto parts shop by the owner after militants threatened to torch the building. "This is the kind of intimidation we have had in all wards," Madira said. The ruling party has held control of the 12-member town council.
Officials of the state Electoral Supervisory Commission manning polling stations here refused to talk with reporters or allow them inside polling stations. Thomas Bvuma, a spokesperson for the state election commission, said complaints of intimidation were received from both the opposition and the ruling party on Saturday. "Some of the allegations have been exaggerated ... the occurrence and frequency of the allegations have been isolated," he said. On Friday, the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network said the run-up to polling was "by no means peaceful" across the country and that in the parliamentary district of Makonde northwest of Harare, "the environment was so tense no meaningful campaigns by the opposition took place." The High Court in Harare on Friday threw out complaints by 11 prospective opposition candidates that they were prevented by violent ruling party militants from enrolling to contest the polls. The judgment will only be made available later. Three of the 16 district council and mayoral elections are not being fought because opposition candidates were not able to register to run. The three districts automatically go to the ruling party. Foreign and independent observers of parliamentary and presidential elections since 2000 say both were swayed by political violence, mostly by ruling party militants, and by corruption and vote rigging.
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From ZWNEWS, 1 September
Food for votes
Two weeks ago, the Zimbabwe government issued a new directive to international food aid donors that in future it would be taking control of food distribution in Zimbabwe, using government officials and village heads to decide who is eligible for food aid, and who is not. The directive caused a storm of protest from the World Food Programme (WFP) and other organisations, who feared that such politicisation of food aid would be used to punish the government's political enemies. There were also fears that such a move would be used to influence the outcome of the local government elections held over the last two days. In the event, the WFP reported that the directive had yet to be implemented at the local level, and that discussions with the government were to continuing to "clarify" the new directive. However, the government did indeed use food as a political weapon in last weekend's election - not food aid from the international charities, but using GMB maize stocks.
Late last week, a postmistress in Bulawayo reported that she had seen the Zanu PF candidate for the election in Ward 5 participating in a food hand-out at Sir Henry Low School. He was seen recording the names and ID numbers of those who received food. He was also reported, by another witness, as having been doing the same at Bradfield Shopping centre earlier last week. A third witness, a Bulawayo businessman, reported that army and police officers had tried to commandeer one of his trucks in order to move GMB maize to those areas of Bulawayo where elections were held. Police and army officers were also reported to have attempted to remove maize from National Foods, a private milling company in Bulawayo. At Barham Green School on Saturday, an old woman was seen asking for a "receipt" from an election official at the Ward 6 polling station there, so she could prove she had voted and could therefore receive food in the next few days. In Wards 25 and 26, large stocks of maize were left just outside two polling stations. People there report they were told by Zanu PF election officials that the food would be made available to the public today, "once they had seen how the people had voted". Result of the local elections are expected today.
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From Zimbabwe Standard, 1 September
Muzenda in a coma
By Our Own Staff
Vice President Simon Muzenda has been placed on a life support system in the Intensive Care Unit at Parirenyatwa hospital as his health condition continued to deteriorate, The Standard learnt last night. Muzenda, 81, who recently returned from China where he was being treated for an unspecified illness, was said to be in a coma at the hospital. "The vice president's health took a knock this morning," said a source who requested anonymity yesterday. "The vice-president is in a coma and is currently on a life support system"he said. Official secrecy has shrouded the illness of the Vice President with family members referring inquiries to the Office of the President. Top Zanu PF officials contacted about the condition of Muzenda said last night they had heard nothing new. A person answering the phone at his Gutu Home in Masvingo province became agitated when asked whether she had received any news about his condition. Muzenda, a veteran Masvingo politician, founder member of the governing Zanu PF and a close confidante of President Mugabe, has been in poor health for the past three years appearing in public intermittently. A family friend said the vice-president, who is perhaps the second most powerful person in Zanu PF, has consistently resisted pressure from his family to quit politics and take time to recuperate at home, insisting he would only resign when Mugabe retires.
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From The Star (SA), 1 September
Zim struggles to find printer for banknotes
By Basildon Peta
While President Robert Mugabe is splashing out on a new mansion, a European contractor has withdrawn from negotiations to print money for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. While his people endure extreme hardship, Mugabe is spending millions of rands importing state-of-the-art furnishings from China and the Middle East for his R72-million private home. It is understood that virtually all European firms approached by the Zimbabwe government for help in printing Zimbabwe dollars, which are in serious short supply, have now turned down the proposal because Zimbabwe cannot raise the required deposit. Central bank officials said a German firm that had been showing some sympathy for the Zimbabwean government had opted out last week. The central bank cannot afford to import the special paper and ink needed to print money. Even if these resources were found, the bank's money-printing division, Fidelity Printers, does not have the capacity to print money fast enough to produce the required amounts to ease the shortage.
Meanwhile, the country's cash situation continues to deteriorate daily, with beleaguered Zimbabweans failing to access their paltry wages at banks. Banks have even cut their withdrawal limits further. As of Friday, some banks were allowing companies to withdraw a maximum of Z$20 000 (about R56) and Z$2 500 for individuals. The government introduced a plethora of measures to try to ease the cash shortage recently. These included arresting and imprisoning anyone caught with more than Z$5-million in cash and introducing local traveller's cheques. None of these measures has brought any respite. In fact, several businesses have refused to accept the traveller's cheques. These come in high denominations of Z$100 000 and the businesses have no Zimbabwe dollars to pay change to the holders of the traveller's cheques. Central bank acting governor William Chikaura came under fire at a meeting between central bank officials and representatives of the business sector recently for "partaking in Mugabe's chaotic management of the economy". The country's inflation rate soared to 400 percent in August.
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From Financial Times (UK), 1 September
Price rises hold the key to Zimbabwe's fiscal riddle
By Tony Hawkins
On the face of it, Herbert Murerwa, Zimbabwe's finance minister, should be the envy of his counterparts around the world. How many of them could virtually double public spending without raising taxes, and simultaneously reduce the budget deficit from 11.5 per cent to 7.3 per cent of GDP? The answer to the riddle, however, is that Mr Murerwa's supplementary budget, presented last week, is driven primarily by inflation. The projected fall in the budget deficit as a ratio of GDP was achieved by doubling the GDP forecast for 2003 on the back of expected average inflation of 400 per cent. Real GDP has fallen some 37 per cent from its 1998 peak so that real per capita incomes will be little different from those of mid-1960s. Even optimistic growth projections for a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe suggest that it will take 15-20 years to regain the living standards of the mid-1990s. "The social consequences of the economic collapse are dire," the IMF warned in a recent report on Zimbabwe. Shortages of basic goods, fuel, electricity and foreign exchange are "pervasive". There is little productive investment, two-thirds of the population needed food aid last year and in the months ahead the World Food Programme says 5.5m people (47 per cent of the population) will need food aid.
Amid signs of chaos and collapse - banks without bank notes, let alone foreign currency, filling stations without fuel and supermarkets without basic foods or with supplies at prices that only a minority can afford - the Mugabe government continues to insist that its unorthodox policies will save the day. Mr Mugabe wants banks to cut interest rates, currently 95 per cent - less than a quarter of the inflation rate. Last week's partial relaxation of fuel price controls and import restrictions may help ease shortages and restrict the budgetary cost of subsidising fuel. However, the Murerwa budget excludes such subsidies, described by the IMF as "quasi-fiscal" and forecast by the fund at Z$440bn ($550m, £350m, €503m) this year. If included, that would lift the actual budget deficit to about 18 per cent of GDP. In an effort to recoup something from the controversial land resettlement programme - fewer than 400 commercial farmers are still operating out of the previous 4,500 - the budget includes Z$27bn to provide cheap inputs to the new farmers. But with seed companies announcing maize seed prices up 645 per cent over the year, such subsidies are unlikely to pump-prime the promised agrarian revolution. Indeed, the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, which represents smallholders, says that the government needs to provide Z$600bn in pre-crop finance.
While the finance minister claims that, the 30 per cent collapse in commercial production notwithstanding, agricultural output will increase 2.3 per cent this year, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, an NGO, says prospects for the coming season - planting will start in October - are "bleak", regardless of weather conditions. Ironically, the heavy cost of land resettlement is exposing the government to new economic pressures and forcing it into policies bitterly opposed by Mr Mugabe himself, such as devaluation. The small-scale tobacco growers are leading the charge in demanding the official exchange rate of Z$824 to the US dollar be devalued to at least Z$1,600, if not Z$2,000. The black market rate is at least Z$5,500. Outside the tight circle of Mugabe loyalists and those able to "work the system" - speculating in foreign currency, fuel, food, real estate and bank notes, which trade at a premium of 20 per cent and more over their face value - there is a sense that the economy is nearing "tipping point". In its own way Mr Murerwa's budget validates this view by highlighting not only the degree to which the government depends on inflation to finance public spending, but also the fact that the authorities have run out of options. For all his promises to tackle inflation, the finance minister knows that a serious anti-inflationary stance would bring the whole rickety edifice crashing down. It seems that inflation, which economists expect to reach at least 700 per cent by year end, is a price that the Mugabe government is willing to pay for political survival.
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From Business Report (SA), 1 September
Now Oppenheimers fall victim to Mugabe paranoia
Basildon Peta
Johannesburg - South Africa's Oppenheimer mining dynasty seems to have fallen victim to President Robert Mugabe's paranoia and the family is now set to lose most of its vast landholdings in Zimbabwe despite its efforts to encourage an orderly and sustainable land reform programme. After designating six productive farms owned by the Oppenheimer family for compulsory seizure two weeks back, it is understood Zimbabwe's government has now set its eyes on expropriating more land from the family's 135 000ha Debshan Estates, from which it has already confiscated about 35 000ha. Well-placed sources in Zimbabwe say the Oppenheimer family seems to have lost favour with Mugabe, who regards it with increasing suspicion after it convened a meeting Mugabe erroneously believes was meant to come up with a strategy to "destabilise" or "topple" his government. Held earlier this year at the family's Tswalu Game Reserve to discuss African issues of interest to various local organisations, the routine meeting led to misinterpretations by Mugabe's intelligence officials about "white plots" to aid the opposition.
Gross misrepresentations of the meeting - attended by the Zimbabwe government's arch-enemy, US assistant secretary of state Walter Kansteiner - in Zimbabwe's official and semi-official media seem to have done the Oppenheimers little favours. "The president is seeing shadows everywhere. As long as people like Walter Kansteiner and Jack Straw are in Africa - never mind the main objectives of their visit - in Mugabe's mind they are here to plan his ouster," said an official in the Zimbabwe regime. "His anti-British anti-white rhetoric is not just politicking ... he really believes white people would do anything to get him and his government." The Tswalu meeting was followed by conspiracy theories that Botswana was to be used as a British and US launch pad to invade Zimbabwe. Botswana has issued a statement dissociating itself from any such plan. It has also dismissed Zimbabwe government suggestions that it is host to a US air force base.
The Oppenheimer family offered the Zimbabwe government 40 000ha of land from Debshan when Nicholas Oppenheimer met Mugabe after land seizures began in earnest in 2000. The Oppenheimers offered to kick-start a scheme to help newly resettled black peasants with access to inputs so they could make productive use of their new land holdings. But their efforts did little to soothe the regime. Vice-president Joseph Msika later stormed Debshan Estates in Matabeleland, a productive ranch then reported to have a turnover of more than R15 million, and encouraged illegal settlers to remain on the property. He demarcated plots for them, haphazardly seizing more than 35 000ha of land from the estate. Sources say the government will shortly move to acquire up to 70 000ha from Debshan, which will probably destroy the viability of the estate. The Oppenheimer empire took a heavy knock with the listing for compulsory confiscation of its other six farms, among 146 others, about two weeks ago. The new land seizures are happening despite Mugabe's declaration last year that they had ended.
The government alleges that the Oppenheimers own land the size of Belgium in Zimbabwe. Efforts to establish the exact extent of the family's land holdings and what is left after the latest land seizures failed as family member Jonathan Oppenheimer declined to answer a series of questions e-mailed to him this week. However, it seems the landholdings of the Oppenheimer family in Zimbabwe are often confused with those separately controlled by Anglo American, a company that the Oppenheimers retain interests in but no longer fully control.
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