|
Archived News
21st September 2004
Mugabe ropes in Interpol
James Makamba loses multi-billion property - fined Z$7m for dealing in forex
Police accused of beating up MDC supporters
Mugabe intends to muscle in on Zimbabwe mines
Mawere saga thickens
Red Cross told to cut food aid quantities to orphans
Roaming the country of their birth
Full dams of no use to parched Harare
Mugabe appoints committee to prepare for general election
Zimbabwe to seize British bankers' farms
Mugabe eyes manufacturing sector
Zimbabwe turns back the clock
$200bln windfall for ex-political prisoners
Holding operation till polling day
Zim harvests 'going well'
Roadblocks set up to search for maize
Zim protesters 'want freedom'
The fragile lives and the dictator
Opposition complain over composition of commission
Mugabe's riot police evict farm squatters
Zim evicts black farmers
Strike highlights plight of farm workers
Government grabs giant sugar estate
Zimbabwe 2005 polls 'already manipulated'
Mugabe to push through NGO Bill
IMF has grave concern on Zimbabwe economic crisis
Live bullets used in ZNA show demo - Soldiers injure 15
Net closes in on Mutasa
GMB holding maize for only two months
Harmison boycotts tour
Racism hearing likely to be delayed
Govt rewards Makwavarara with seized Raffingora farm
Lawyer advises NGOs to comply
Mujuru on the rise.as other presidential hopefuls flounder
Harmison first to pull out of Zimbabwe trip
Olonga backs Harmison move
Suspected spy agent takes over the reins at cricket union
Zimbabwe court drops paper case
Zim food supplies dwindle
Verdict promised in Zimbabwe treason case
MDC leaders ask Mbeki for a helping hand
IMF to close Zimbabwe office
Evicted farm settlers still stranded in the open
Top
From News24 (SA), 14 September
Mugabe ropes in Interpol
Harare - Zimbabwe has asked Interpol to help find fugitive Zimbabwean businessmen accused of economic crimes, state radio reported on Tuesday. Senior Zimbabwe police officers investigating several senior bank executives have already been assigned to visit Britain and South Africa in connection with economic cases. The radio said President Robert Mugabe promised that executives accused of crimes, including black market currency deals that hurt the country's economic development, would eventually be brought to justice in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has an extradition treaty with South Africa, but the president acknowledged that Britain, the former colonial power he routinely accuses of campaigning for his ouster, was unlikely to extradite fugitives. "Criminals are criminals. Does it augur well for Britain to keep the criminals?" Mugabe said. None of six of Zimbabwe's best-known banking executives who have fled to Britain this year have been charged with any crime in their absence.
The private National Merchant Bank, which had been accused of transacting hard-currency deals at unofficial exchange rates, said most of the executives had fled from a presidential decree in March that allowed detention of economic crime suspects for up to 28 days without the option of bail. Under law, the option of bail must be given in court within 48 hours of arrest. The fugitives have described Mugabe's decree as a violation of constitutional rights guaranteeing liberty and enabling them to co-operate in investigations, particularly into complex financial affairs. Mugabe opponents say the decree was seen as a way to send some of the most successful businessmen, many critical of the government's economic policies, to filthy and overcrowded prisons. It also would serve as a propaganda ploy to show the government was fighting high-level crime and black-marketeering, opponents say. The drive against executive crime appears to be faltering under pressure from the country's wealthiest and most-powerful political figures, lawyers say. Of three ruling party politicians arrested in connection with economic crimes, two have been freed.
Top
From The Daily Mirror, 15 September
James Makamba loses multi-billion property - fined Z$7m for dealing in forex
Takunda Maodza
Businessman James Makamba has lost his multi-billion-dollar investment at the Mazowe farm he was leasing from the government, following an eviction notice served on him last week. A letter from the Department of Special Affairs in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the President's Office, said Makamba should vacate the farm in Mazowe District with immediate effect. However, he has seven days to contest the decision to contest the withdrawal of the government's offer of the farm to him and he has already done so. Yesterday, he wrote a letter to the government contesting the decision. It never rains but pours for the Zanu PF Central Committee member, who was also slapped with a $7,3 million fine for illegally dealing in foreign currency. The State has since lodged an appeal against Makamba's acquittal on charges of externalising millions of dollars. In a letter dated September 8 and signed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Joseph Made, Makamba was notified of the government's withdrawal of its offer letter for Maryvale Estate to Makamba. Made signed on behalf of the Minister of Special Affairs, John Nkomo, who was said to be on leave. "Pleased be advised that the Ministry of Special Affairs in the President's Office in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement is withdrawing the offer of land made to you in subdivision of Maryvale Estate Farm in Mazoe District in Mashonaland Central. "You are forthwith required to cease all or any operations that you may have commenced thereon and immediately vacate the said piece of land," read Made's letter. It did not give any reasons why the land was being taken away.
Makamba is said to have borrowed $5 billion dollars from the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe when he built the state-of-the-art Blue Ridge Spar Mazowe Supermarket, which was officially opened by Vice President Joseph Msika early this year. The debt has since escalated to more than $9 billion, after his family failed to service it when Makamba was in custody for the better part of this year. Makamba is resisting the order to move and has since made representations to Nkomo's department. He said he had done everything to satisfy the requirements for farmers allocated land under the land reform programme to be allowed to stay on the farm by working productively on it. "We have done more than that," said Makamba, who also contested that he had been allocated another farm in Mashonaland East. Information availed to this paper yesterday indicate that Makamba harvested 394 bales of cotton last year and will be recognised for this achievement at a function to be held soon. He also harvested 17 tonnes of sugar beans, 225 tonnes of seed maize, 180 tonnes of soya beans and 35 tonnes of commercial maize. Makamba still has 50 hectares of wheat about to mature and 10 hectares of cabbages. Preparations to plant soya beans are already under way. Contesting that he had been allocated another farm in Mashonaland East, Makamba's family claimed that the only other property he owned was a plot he bought around 1999 along Mutoko Road, after accessing a loan from the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe. The government had also shown no interest in it. According to the family, the government order to vacate the premises would see 397 farm and shop employees losing their jobs.
Top
From The Daily News Online Edition, 15 September
Police accused of beating up MDC supporters
The MDC has accused the police of working with Zanu PF militia to assault opposition supporters. According to a statement released by the party yesterday, police officers and militia from the national youth service in Harare severely assaulted two University of Zimbabwe (UZ) students for supporting the MDC on Saturday. The students, Jabusile Shumba and Brighton Makunike were detained by the police cells in Kuwadzana, on the outskirts of Harare and assaulted for attending an MDC rally in the area. Shumba is the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) vice president while Makunike is the chairman of the UZ branch. The MDC said trouble for the two started after Makunike was found with opposition regalia by militia youths who then abducted and assaulted him before handing him over to the police. Makunike and Shumba were released on Sunday after paying admission of guilt fines. The two had visited friends in Kuwadzana after attending the MDC 5th Anniversary rally in Highfield on Saturday. While at Kuwadzana 5 bus terminus at about 8.00pm, Makunike dropped an MDC bandana as he tried to take money from his pocket. This attracted the attention of the Zanu PF militia who were milling around the township.
They approached the two and asked for a private discussion with Makunike. "The Zanu PF militia interrogated Makunike and searched him. They found more bandanas in his pockets and started assaulting him. They force-marched the two to a dark spot where they handcuffed them and assaulted them using fists, booted feet, empty bottles and iron bars. They also pulled their private parts. They were tortured for almost eight hours," charged the MDC. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena refused to comment. "The Daily News was closed as far as I know. Now who are you working for and are you registered," he said when contacted for comment. The two were only released at about 11.00pm on Sunday after a sympathizer loaned them some money to pay an admission of guilty fine. The MDC said the use of the police to intimidate and harass opposition supporters was contrary to election rules and guidelines agreed to by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders last month. The MDC has said that it would not participate in all future elections until the government adopts the SADC protocol of free and fair elections signed by regional leaders in Mauritius last month. "It is surprising that while the Mugabe regime misleads the world into believing that they plan to implement the SADC protocol on elections whilst the regime 's law enforcing agents are working with the Zanu PF militia to suppress the democratic will of the people," said the party yesterday.
Top
From Business Day (SA), 15 September
Mugabe intends to muscle in on Zimbabwe mines
Harare Correspondent
President Robert Mugabe said yesterday that his government would soon lay claim to half-ownership of all the country's privately owned mines. Mining is one of Zimbabwe's most vital economic sectors, and one of the few sources of foreign currency left in the midst of an economic crisis following the collapse of the once robust agricultural industry, ironically because of land seizures from white commercial farmers . The state-controlled daily newspaper Herald quoted Mugabe as saying: "We are going to demand that government be given 50% shares in the mines. We cannot recognise absolute ownership of our resources. That must be corrected." Mugabe did not suggest any compensation for the equity. Zimbabwe has a wide range of mineral output and was a major world producer of gold, diamonds, platinum, chrome, asbestos and lithium. However, in the last four years production has plummeted. The country used to be the continent's third largest producer of gold, after SA and Ghana, but output has since dropped from 30 tons a year to 12 tons last year. Gold mining is, however, recovering thanks to a number of incentives introduced by Zimbabwe's central bank and is expected to produce an output of 22 tons this year. The incentives include an increase in the price of gold per kilogram , and the retention by mines of a certain portion of foreign currency earnings, which is badly needed for the importation of equipment and chemicals.
International mining groups have largely withdrawn from the country, with British-based groups Anglo American and Rio Tinto the only foreign companies with any large stake. Other international mining houses still involved in Zimbabwe include: Mzi Khumalo's Mettalon, which owns the Independence Gold Mines. His company owns four mines, including Shamva, the largest single gold operation in Zimbabwe; Implats, which owns platinum producer Zimplats; Anglo American, which has a stake in Zimbabwe Alloys and in the Motapa gold and quarry mine; Angloplat, which has investments in the Unki Platinum findings in the Midlands; and Aquarius, which holds a 50% stake in the Mimosa platinum mine. AngloGold Ashanti is in the process of selling off its only operation, Freda Rebecca Mine, to Mwana Africa, a consortium of investors from SA, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe for $2,26m.
Mugabe's warning that he is about to muscle in on mining comes at a time when government is still working on a new mining bill to change ownership patterns in the sector. The bill, which initially proposed a 49% shareholding for local companies, was leaked to the media earlier this year before it was withdrawn following an outcry from mining houses. Chambers of Mines of Zimbabwe CE Dave Murangari refused to comment on Mugabe's remarks. "I haven't seen the statement, but we are still waiting for the mining bill from government," he said. Chamber president Ian Saunders said the government had been consulting with the industry for months over drafting new mining legislation. "At the moment there is nothing dramatic we are aware of (in new draft)," he said. "Quite how these comments affect the situation, we don't know. But we don't believe there is a fundamental change in a process with which we have been involved."
International mining consultant John Hollaway, however, said that "people didn't take the threats (by Mugabe) seriously about the (whiteowned commercial) farms". "Every time the government gets involved in the mining industry, it loses," said Hollaway. "Nobody foreign wants to own a resource in Zimbabwe any more, for the very reason that the president keeps getting up and saying he wants half." University of Zimbabwe's Graduate School of Business and Management analyst, Prof Tony Hawkins, said Mugabe's remarks were damaging to the economy. "These conflicting statements from government are not helpful to the economy," Hawkins said. "The current glocal trend is that governments are trying to create a favourable environment for attracting foreign investment. But these kinds of statements do not inspire confidence, and are damaging to the economy."
Top
From The Sunday Mirror, 12 September
Mawere saga thickens
Masimba Rushwaya
Recent machinations to take over businessman Mutumwa Mawere's Shabanie Mashava Mines (SMM) and to virtually strip him of all his assets appear to be out of the realms of Zimbabwean law and reveal the abuse of public office. These "goings-on" also took place in what appears to be a well-calculated and intricate plan to repossess the mines from Mawere by a clique of powerful politicians and businessmen whose names have been given to this paper. In the same scheme of things, questions have been raised as to what the whole saga entails for the private sector where the central bank seems to have virtual control over the productive sector through the maintenance of an unrealistic exchange rate that punishes the exporter, whose input costs are not controlled while output prices are capped by the controlled foreign currency auction rate. As a result, most companies, including SMM, have faced operational and viability problems. These companies are given a concessionary "soft landing" through the Productive Sector Fund (PSF) facility, which offers cheap funds. This facility has been seen as a political weapon as the central bank decides who to give credit.
The mines are said to have run into a precarious financial position because most of the foreign currency receipts of SMM were converted at the rate of US$1:Z$824, leaving the mines starved of foreign currency. From December 18 2003 to April 1 2004, the mines received a total of US$9 million but only US$1 million was made available for the purchase of imports. Apparently the mines applied to banks with no positive feedback, amid reports that the central bank had refused to provide SMM with the cheap productive sector funding. Consequently given SMM's cash flow problems, South African suppliers of inputs were breathing down the necks of the company and local suppliers applied for court orders against SMM. This led to SMM being declared to be on the verge of collapse due to alleged externalisation of foreign currency, with eyebrows being raised in relation to this, amid speculation of a deliberate political move to bring the establishment to its knees so as to provide an excuse for a take-over.
"At an unrealistic exchange rate, the central bank has now become the lender of first, rather than last resort. In terms of investment, one also has to question the implications to foreign investors who have been given productive sector fund loans, given what has taken place at SMM," said an economist who spoke on condition of anonymity. It has been revealed that there has been massive politicisation of the PSF loans; while they were given out to other companies as such, in the case of SMM, they were said to be State loans. These "State loans" are reportedly now in the region of $100 billion. With the specification of SMM and Mawere, the Sunday Mirror is reliably informed that those pulling the strings discovered that the appointment of an investigator was not adequate to control the company. A statutory instrument was then passed that would, in effect, lead to the nationalisation of SMM and other companies linked to Mawere. Although Mawere had been specified, the shareholding was still in the hands of Turner and Newell - the original owners of the mines. This led to the peddling of the line that Mawere did not pay anything for the mines, but simply exercised a good piece of financial engineering, where Mawere benefited from a State guarantee to buy SMM.
Mawere argues that he approached Turner and Newell (T&N) - then shareholders of the mines - on the 6th and 17th of September in 1995, by way of letters with respect to the purchase of the mines. Apparently, the approach to T&N was unsolicited and had nothing to do with the government. Contrary to the general conception, the purchase was not financed by the government, through the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe's (MMCZ) guarantee. MMCZ is a government statutory body. MMCZ only approved the guarantee on May 5 1998, two years after the acquisition. The loan for which the guarantee was sought had nothing to do with the purchase, but was meant for working capital purposes. The guarantee was the norm and was not restricted to Mawere's SMM as MMCZ had done the same in the gold mining industry. The government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, was to later approve a loan of US$60 million, through MMCZ, in order to ensure that the mines could restructure their short term debt and provide working capital. The loan was acquired from KBC Bank NV based in Primrose Street, London, England. The guarantee was necessary because KBC Bank wanted an assurance that SMM would use its foreign currency earnings to service the loan. The loan was repaid in 2002 and the guarantee was never called.
Sources revealed that in order to punish Mawere, there was need to do this by either extradition or nationalisation of his assets. Mawere apparently courted the ire of one businessman of Portuguese origin closely connected to a top politician with whom he had business arrangements, when he blew the whistle on the underhand dealings of the two, in relation to the running of controversial Zanu PF companies. For a long time, the ruling party's companies did not have audited accounts, despite repeated calls from members of Zanu PF. The top politician (name supplied) was riled by Mawere's attempts to expose him, subsequently mapping out a plan to bring the shrewd businessman to his knees. It is alleged that the government decided to pursue means to change the company's ownership to the State, and appear to be the aggrieved party as it had provided SMM with State loans. Mawere would then be charged with corruption, a position that would then stick in a court of law. Once arrested, Mawere would then be "fodder" as he could stay in prison for an indefinite period while vindictive strategies to rid him of his business concerns were being worked out. On the other hand, the public would be led to believe that the former champion of indigenisation was a criminal. Legal sources said corruption in a private company and where Mawere was a shareholder would be near-impossible to prove.
They said the procedure that followed was also unlawful, where barely a week after appointing an investigator, an administrator was appointed. Events witnessed show that after a government gazette issued on Friday September 3 2004, the following Monday, an administrator was already in place, raising questions of why the State was in such a big hurry. The company's board of directors was also dissolved without being notified of the pending action. "In a normal due process, it would have been the court's duty to declare a company distressed. Only when the courts have declared the company unfit to continue in business would the State move in. Also it would be normal for the board to exercise its mind and make its determination that liquidation was the only solution. However , this was a State-induced distress. A number of individuals naturally are using the State for their own selfish interests," said another source. Questions have been raised as to the conversion of loan to equity without the valuation of a company, and as to who takes liability for a company that has been unilaterally placed under the control of an administrator and if government can be sued for such in the event of prejudice.
Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional lawyer said the very fact that the government used the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Regulations 2004 showed that there was no law to enable them to do what they did. Madhuku said the powers were in effect an infringement of Section 16 of the Constitution, which protects private property. "There was no urgency in what government did and the acquisition of private property without compensation amounts to the violation of the Constitution. We have always said that there should be a new Constitution because of these loopholes, but many people, especially those in the private sector, thought this was just political. Maybe businessmen will now realise what we meant. Government may have been right when it said there is a need to protect workers, but this must be done legally. In any case, so many workers have been retrenched over the years but what has it (government) done for them and what is so special about SMM workers?" Madhuku added that after the expiry of the Temporary Measures after six months, government would probably push for an Act of Parliament that would legalise the compulsory acquisition of private business - which would again be in violation of the Constitution.
Some people have viewed the latest developments as the commencement of a "Fourth Chimurenga" in the private sector. Madhuku added that if Mawere had a case to answer Government should continue to pursue him and allow the company to run since it was a separate legal entity, anyway. "Do you think the likes of Patrick Chinamasa (part of the ministerial committee appointed to oversee the mines) have better management skills than those that were there. In any case, company law has adequate cover for situations when a company has financial problems as there are directors and shareholders who can make plans as to how to save the company," Madhuku said. However another lawyer, Johannes Tomana disagreed, saying what the government had done was right. "The take-over of the mines is similar to the take-over of distressed banks by the central bank. This is done in the interest of continuity and protection of depositors funds and other interests," he said. Efforts to obtain a comment from the central bank or the Ministry of Mines proved fruitless at the time of going to print.
Top
From Zim Online (SA), 16 September
Red Cross told to cut food aid quantities to orphans
Bulawayo - The Zimbabwe government is understood to have asked the Red Cross to reduce the quantity of food aid distributed to orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS in the country's Matabeleland North and South provinces. The Red Cross, one of the few Non-Governmental Organisations still allowed by Harare to feed hungry people in the region, was handing out a nutritional package of 50 kilogrammes of the staple mealie-meal and other foodstuffs per month to deserving families. Sources told ZimOnline the organisation was now distributing only 10kg of mealie-meal per month to the families following the government's instruction to reduce quantities. Public relations officer for the organisation Varaidzo Dongozi yesterday could neither confirm nor deny that the organisation had reduced aid to HIV/AIDS patients and orphans on government orders. She would only say: "We reduced the package for some factors that affected our operations. I cannot tell you the reasons now." Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mangwana who authorises the Non-Governmental Organisations that feed hungry Zimbabweans could not be reached for comment on the matter. Matabeleland South Governor Angeline Masuku said there were many families in the province without adequate food but said the government was working out ways of feeding them. She said: "We are looking into ways by which we can help them as government. Most of these NGOs are just going to town with these claims because they have been stopped after meddling in politics."
Some of the families now receiving reduced food aid from the Red Cross said they were finding it difficult to survive as they harvested little or nothing last season and were dependent on his organisation for food. 55-year old Njabulo Moyo of Mtshabezi village in Matabeleland province, said: "We did not harvest anything from our fields due to low rainfall last year, how then can we manage to live on only 10kg of mealie-meal without relish? As for me, I have six grandchildren orphaned by Aids who need nutritious food." Another villager Ndumiso Dube said he hoped the government would "change its stance" and allow more food to be given to hungry people in his Halale village in Matobo district, about 60 kilometres south-west of Zimbabwe's second largest city of Bulawayo. Mugabe and his government have told international food aid groups to take their help elsewhere because Zimbabwe harvested enough food last season to feed itself. The government estimates that the country harvested 2.4 million tonnes of the staple maize last season. But the United Nations and other independent food experts say the government at most reaped one million tonnes of maize, which is 800 000 tonnes less than the 1.8 million tonnes required to see the country through to the next harvest.
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 14 September
Roaming the country of their birth
Godwin Gandu
About 100 families have been evicted from Porta Farm, 25km south of the Zimbabwean capital Harare, and their houses have been razed in defiance of a high court order. The farm is located in President Robert Mugabe's constituency of Zvimba. The evictees claim they are paying the price for pressing their parliamentarian - Mugabe's sister Sabina - to build a proper settlement with running water, boreholes and schools. The Mail & Guardian witnessed three truckloads of families being ferried to a location 65km away, where there is no shelter or water. Community leader Khumbulani Khumalo said he doesn't know "what wrong they have done", but many of the evictees believe they have been removed from Zvimba because they are unlikely to vote for Sabina Mugabe. The settlement was established as a "transit camp" after police rounded up vagrants and squatters ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in Harare in 1991. The city had to be "clean" for the visiting officials. During the land invasions that preceded the 2000 elections, farm workers fleeing the war veterans and youth militia also settled on Porta Farm.
Richard Banda is one of those who sought refuge here. He said hundreds of other displaced farm workers fled to rural areas while others tried to survive in Harare. "Some have become thieves, others are genuinely still seeking employment, but the majority has become squatters in Harare." A report released by Refugees International (RI) last month said: "Zimbabwe's land reform programme and [its accompanying] intimidation and harassment have created an internally displaced population of more than 150 000 former farm workers and have also caused thousands to flee their country". It added: "To further compound the issue, authorities have increasingly restricted access to farming areas ... making it difficult for the displaced and other vulnerable groups to access humanitarian assistance. "Many have no access to water, shelter, food, medical care, sanitation services and education ... Authorities are actively closing down any avenues of access [to humanitarian assistance]."
The RI report found that the land reform process has also negatively impacted on the livelihood of some of the beneficiaries, formerly landless people or the so-called "new settlers". They have been unable to fully use their land owing to a lack of essential agricultural inputs such as draught power, quality seeds and fertilizer and funds to pay for labour. They are unable to retain the necessary working force of farm workers, the RI report said. Only a few farm workers have continued to work on a permanent basis, usually on reduced wages. Many workers have stayed on the farms because they have no alternatives. "When the new settlers came, they threatened to evict us if we complained about conditions," one farm worker told RI. Another said: "Our relations with the new settlers are not good." NGOs have been prevented from providing food assistance. "If we have food aid, they tell us we must leave the farm. They know we will not work for them if we are not starving," an "internally trapped" worker told RI.
Female workers are at more risk. Many men left the farms in search of work, leaving their families behind. Women left without income have resorted to sex work or relationships with the new foremen and settlers to guarantee food for their children. Many former farm workers have turned to short-term or seasonal contracts, piecework on other farms or activities such as gold panning and hunting of game for commercial sales. Many skilled farm foremen have followed commercial farmers to their new farms in neighbouring countries. About one-fifth of the former farm workers were descendants of migrant workers from neighbouring Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi. They have no identity documents. They have nowhere to go and to compound their situation they are denied humanitarian and food aid in Zimbabwe. According to RI: "The government refuses to acknowledge that people are being forcibly displaced, claiming that they had a choice to leave or not." The government defines them as "mobile vulnerable populations". The nature of forced displacement in Zimbabwe, according to RI, "corresponds with the internationally recognised legal definition of internal displacement".
Top
From The Cape Argus (SA), 15 September
Full dams of no use to parched Harare
More than half of Harare's four million residents are either chronically short of water or without any at all, two weeks ahead of the hottest month of the year. Hardest hit are the poorest, many of whom now have to endure raw sewage running past their homes. Nowhere in Zimbabwe is the incompetence of the ruling Zanu PF administration more visible than in the crumbling infrastructure in what was once one of Africa's neatest cities. Although dams feeding the city are full, they are polluted by untreated sewage. This week Psychology Chiwanga, the director of works at the Harare Municipality, said water would be cut off every afternoon until the situation improved.He also announced the municipality had borrowed about R48-million from the government to revamp the infrastructure which has been allowed to crumble for the past 24 years. But sources in the water and sewerage department, which falls under Chiwanga, said much more money was needed to revamp Zimbabwe's water purification and distribution system. In fact, they said, there would be no end in sight to Harare's water woes until the government completed the Kunzvi Dam whose construction has not even started despite having been commissioned five years ago.
"We need an alternative source to Lake Chivero (which supplies Harare) and, if resources permitted, a whole new and modern purification and distribution system should be installed at the new alternative source," said one engineer. He said the water purification and distribution infrastructure in Harare had broken down and it had become extremely difficult to treat and maintain pure water till it gets to the end user. The distribution piping was so old and ill-maintained that 35 percent to 40 percent of purified water was lost to underground leakages. Another engineer said: "They should at the very least allocate more resources to enable us to undertake a comprehensive leak detection exercise. Unfortunately all the resources are being spent on debts and water treatment chemicals that are also in short supply." For people in the high density suburbs, that means little, as they have taken the law into their own hands. "People dug a hole in the municipality's pipe under the ground, and we take the water from there. If we don't we will die," said Masimba Chayemba, 17, with a group of about 40 residents in Mabvuku township 20km south-east of the city.
Top
From VOA News, 15 September
Mugabe appoints committee to prepare for general election
Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, has appointed a committee to oversee voting boundaries for the general election next year. The opposition says appointment of the committee, without consultation, is a violation of electoral principles that Mr. Mugabe agreed to at a recent regional summit. Mr. Mugabe has appointed high court Judge George Chiweshe to head a commission to draw up constituency boundaries for the general election next March. Mr. Chiweshe's impartiality has long been questioned by legal analysts and human rights lawyers. Zimbabwe's main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, charged that the Mugabe-appointed commission will not be impartial. The MDC's legal secretary, David Coltart, said Mr. Mugabe had agreed, at the recent Southern African Development Community summit, that next year's election would be overseen by impartial electoral authorities to ensure that it would be free and fair. Creation of the new commission, Mr. Coltart says, goes against what Mr. Mugabe signed on to. In August, the MDC said it had suspended participation in all elections until the government reformed election laws and repeals what it terms repressive media and security laws. The MDC is concerned about the drawing up of voting districts in Zimbabwe. It says establishing voting boundaries is vital to a fair election because most urban dwellers support the opposition, and many rural areas support the ruling Zanu PF. In the disputed presidential elections of 2002, hundreds of thousands of potential urban voters were refused registration or were turned away on polling day. Reginald Matchaba Hove, chairman of the non-governmental organization Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network, said the appointment of the commission, without consultation, was a betrayal of the commitment Mr. Mugabe made at the SADC summit to adhere to its electoral principals.
Top
From Business Report (SA), 14 September
Zimbabwe to seize British bankers' farms
Harare - The Zimbabwe government will take over seven farms belonging to three prominent bankers who fled the country after being accused of funneling huge sums of money abroad, the state-owned Herald newspaper said Tuesday. The properties include Zimbabwe's second biggest tea estate, the Eastern Highlands Plantation in the Honde Valley district which has both British and local shareholders. The three bankers are Julius Makoni and Francis Zimuto, who were directors of National Merchant Bank (NMB) and Nicholas Vingirai of Intermarket Holdings. All three are currently believed to be living in Britain. Makoni is a major local shareholder in the tea plantation, while Zimuto owned three farms and Vingirai had two. The trio slipped out of Zimbabwe in March, shortly after the government launched an ambitious programme to fight corruption and repair Zimbabwe's battered economy. Police had said they wanted to question the men in relation to the alleged transfer of billions of Zimbabwe dollars' worth of foreign currency overseas. The three have said they would not get a fair hearing if they returned home. Their property and bank accounts in Zimbabwe have been frozen. The government has now moved in to take that property, according to the Herald. An official with the Eastern Highlands Plantation - which employs about 1 000 workers - confirmed that the estate had received notice of government's intention to take over the property but would not speculate on the reasons.
Top
From Business Day (SA), 16 September
Mugabe eyes manufacturing sector
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe Wednesday said his government will soon move on to control the manufacturing sector a day after announcing the state would demand half-ownership of the country's mines. "We want to control the mining sector, we want to control the manufacturing sector," Mugabe was quoted as saying by state television. Zimbabwe's manufacturing sector, which had previously contributed significantly to the gross national output, export earnings and employment, has in recent years shrunk due to galloping inflation, shortages foreign exchange, electricity and at times fuel. The manufacturing sector has recorded falling turnovers alongside the mining and agriculture sectors. The Confederation of Zimbabwe industries reported last year that in real terms investment in the sector had dropped by more than half in 2002 compared to the previous year, with several firms closing shop and many jobs lost. Mugabe, whose government has controversially taken over thousands of white-owned farms in the past four years for redistribution to new black farmers, on Monday said Zimbabweans did not yet enjoy "absolute ownership" of natural resources. "We are going to demand that government be given 50% shares in the mines," he was quoted by a state daily.
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 14 September
Zimbabwe turns back the clock
Harare - In this nation that once boasted one of sub-Saharan Africa's most vibrant economies, things have become so bad that people have taken to telling a wry joke: "What did we have before candles?" The answer: "Electricity." Four years of turmoil have turned back the clock here. Ambulances are drawn by oxen. Hand-guided cattle plows have replaced farm machinery. The state railroad uses gunpowder charges on the tracks to warn trains of danger ahead. The often-violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms for reallocation to black Zimbabweans, coupled with erratic rains, has decimated Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy. President Robert Mugabe argues that the land seizures have corrected ownership imbalances from British colonial days that left one-third of the country's farmland in the hands of about 5 000 white farmers. Many seized farms went to Mugabe's cronies and lie fallow. Ownership deeds were abolished, denying most new farmers collateral for loans for equipment and materials. Tobacco production - once the country's biggest hard-currency earner - has dropped by nearly 75% since the seizures began in 2000.
The economic free-fall has been marked by regular power blackouts and acute shortages of fuel, spare parts and new technology. Soaring inflation and a shortage of hard currency have made it impossible to import machinery needed to rebuild the economy. Once-fertile farmland now has the desolate look of a junkyard; farm machines that used to rumble through fields now stand idle, broken down or plundered for components. "Whole irrigation systems are down, farm equipment is at a standstill or in a shocking state of repair," said John Worsely-Worswick, head of a farmers' support group. A formerly white-owned estate that produced a fourth of the nation's wheat has been broken up into small parcels of land for black farmers, bringing intensive, large-scale farming to a halt. The once-mechanised property in the main grain-growing area of Chinhoyi, north-west of Harare, is now mainly tilled by animal-drawn harrows. In an unusual admission of economic weakness, the government recently estimated that at least 35 000 new tractors are needed to revive mechanised agriculture, which began here with the importation of the first tractor in 1911. Foreign investors and aid groups have been withholding support because of alleged government corruption and human-rights violations.
With signals functioning on just 20km of a 300km stretch of track, the state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe has reverted to posting handwritten cards at sidings and stations to advise crews about the movements of trains. Crews use signboards or small gunpowder charges detonated by an oncoming train's front wheels to warn of blockages ahead. A plan to reintroduce steam trains on some routes was abandoned earlier this year because costly and impractical repairs were needed at water-pumping points. The independent Southern African Railways Association has described Zimbabwe's broken railway system as lagging at least 50 years behind present-day standards. Faced with a shortage of ambulances in the crumbling national health system, nine wooden carts hauled by oxen went into service in July to ferry pregnant women, children and other non-emergency cases safely - and slowly - along rural dirt roads to the nearest clinics. The United Nations Children's Fund helped pay for the locally built ambulances - bigger, enclosed versions of the traditional donkey cart, with a red cross emblazoned on their white sides. More are planned, said Tich Chikowore, of the Children's Fund. Abraham Kochi, a house painter from western Harare, said he can no longer find kerosene for his stove and is forced to cook with firewood. "I go to meet the buses coming from the rural areas. They are bringing bundles of wood to sell," he said. This new reliance on firewood by poor families has caused severe deforestation.
As poverty deepens, the Zimbabwe National Association of Traditional Healers has reported a sharp increase in patients consulting herbalists and spiritualists who practise centuries-old rituals that had previously been waning. Their services and potions - such as crushed beetles and roots to treat common fevers and other ailments - cost a fraction of those of Western doctors. Doctors say midwives are now sealing off the umbilical protrusion of newborns with string, and dentists say many of their patients are using salt instead of toothpaste. Unemployment of nearly 80% has forced many skilled workers to eke out a living as street vendors. Disused mine shafts have been unsealed by desperate Zimbabweans searching for the remnants of ore that is then crushed and panned in water using ancient techniques. Much of the ore is found around the pillars that hold up the shafts, said mining expert John Holloway. "Hacking away at the pillars and walls is very dangerous indeed," he said, though there are no records of deaths or injuries among the illegal miners. Panners digging deep into river banks have also caused massive environmental damage, he said. Seasonal rains wash away the banks and dump silt into the rivers and dams. Such practices are effectively encouraged by the government, which increased the price paid by the state bullion exchange for gold after a dramatic fall in legal production last year, blamed on shortages of mining equipment and spare parts. "We have gone back in time," said Worsely-Worswick, of the farmer's support group.
Top
From The Financial Gazette, 16 September
$200bln windfall for ex-political prisoners
Njabulo Ncube
The government could soon lavish a $200 billion compensation windfall on former political prisoners, detainees and restrictees who participated in the 1970s liberation war, seven years after a similar award to former combatants wreaked havoc on the fiscus. Bill paving the way for the compensation of ex-political prisoners, restrictees and detainees of Zimbabwe's war of liberation is likely to be gazetted next Friday, amid revelations the government could fork out $10 million each to a 20 000-strong group of former war victims, among other perks. Impeccable government sources told The Financial Gazette yesterday that the law authorising the payment of gratuities to the ex-political prisoners, restrictees and detainees would certainly be enacted when Zimbabwe's Parliament resumes sitting next month. Parliament officials indicated that the proofs for the Ex-Political Prisoners, Detainees and Restrictees Bill were at the Government Printers while independent sources said the Bill would be gazetted next Friday.
Paul Mangwana, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, also confirmed to this newspaper yesterday that the law was in the offing, adding that the draft Bill had long been considered by the government. Mangwana said through the law, government would award a monthly pension, education and medical allowances. The education and medical allowances would also be availed to dependants of the former political prisoners, restrictees and detainees. Mangwana, however, declined to discuss the financial implications of doling out unbudgeted funds to the former prisoners, restrictees and detainees, a rag-tag grouping considered by President Robert Mugabe's critics as part of the government's shock-troops in the same league with the war veterans.
"Government is giving them (ex-political prisoners, restrictees and detainees) compensation through an Act of Parliament. The Bill should be passed into law when Parliament gets back to business as from October 5, 2004," said Mangwana. "It is not a matter of demands, we are giving them benefits and those that we feel are entitled to gratuities will get them. I cannot give you any figures on the amount of gratuities to be paid because the Act does not provide figures," he said. However, representatives of the Zimbabwe Ex-Political Prisoners, Restrictees and Detainees Association (ZEPPREDA) disclosed that they had demanded a one-off payment of $10 million each, a monthly pension of $5 million each, free education for children, burial assistance and land. They said although between 5 000 and 6 000 members had been vetted, the total figure of likely beneficiaries hovered around 20 000 people that had been registered through out the country's 10 political provinces. They added that the government had indicated it would meet most of their demands, especially the financial aspects.
The group contends it played a key role in the country's liberation, complementing combatants, and has long complained of being disregarded by government in terms of compensation. Zimbabwe's war veterans, led by the late Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, arm-twisted the government in 1997 until the state pumped out about $2.7 billion as compensation. Sources also said payments for those already vetted were likely to be effected before Christmas, barring any complications in the vetting of would-be recipients. "We expect the Bill from the Government Printers anytime. There is a likelihood that it will be gazetted next Friday unless there are delays being experienced at the printers," said a government source. Vetting of the ex-political prisoners, restrictees and detainees is being done through prison records. The sources said it was likely the government would agree to the demands of the grouping, which is a key political organ in the Zanu PF scheme of things, considering that parliamentary elections were less than seven months away.
Top
From The Financial Mail (SA), 10 September
Holding operation till polling day
By Own Correspondent
Though the banner headline in the state-owned Herald newspaper, "Fuel queues resurface", may well prove little more than a hiccup, it does pinpoint an underlying malaise - that many of the official claims of economic recovery are based more on wishful thinking than on real achievements. Claims to have stabilised the exchange rate (true) mean little when at last week's auctions the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was unable to supply more than 18% of foreign currency demand. Even official sources have distanced themselves from earlier claims of a 2,4 Mt grain harvest; they now say it is unlikely to exceed 1 Mt. And with forecast wheat production at 130 000 t, imports of up to 300 000 t will be needed over the next nine months. Business is complaining about growing shortages of imported raw materials, spares and components. When the tobacco sales ended last week, only 64,5m kg of leaf had been sold - less than half the crop in 1990 and 75% down on the record of 237m kg in 2000. The state media report projections of a huge increase in the crop next year, but industry sources say this week's issue of tobacco bills to finance the 2004/2005 crop is too little and too late.
Since taking office last December, Zimbabwe's economic supremo and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has created a sense of economic stabilisation and recovery. But his short-run achievement in slowing year-on-year inflation and maintaining a stable (but uncompetitive) exchange rate are under threat. There has been little if any export response outside the gold mining sector, where the central bank is paying a subsidy equivalent to US$80/oz. The monthly rate of inflation has doubled since April, while the Reserve Bank's lending to the banking sector has risen 20-fold in less than a year to Z$4 trillion or 17% of GDP. The economy urgently requires foreign capital. Gono is hoping that the March 2005 parliamentary elections will reopen access to international capital. He knows that if the elections are ignored by the international community, he will have to rethink many of his policies. In threatening to boycott the polls unless government follows Southern African Development Community election rules, opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has put Harare on the spot. An election boycott would make it impossible for the government to claim a popular mandate. Government says the MDC is simply running scared . Last week, Zanu PF won Seke near Harare in an unopposed by-election, meaning that it is one seat short of the two-thirds majority it needs to amend the constitution. But that would only convince investors that the crisis has deepened.
Top
From News24 (SA), 16 September
Zim harvests 'going well'
Harare - Zimbabwe has well under half of the more than two million tonnes of grain predicted by the government for the season as it passed the halfway mark for harvests, the country's sole grain managing agency said on Wednesday. The southern African country told international donors in May it would not need emergency food aid this year because it expected a bumper harvest of 2.4 million tonnes of maize under its controversial four-year land reform programme. "Currently we have 298,000 tonnes. This is the maize we are holding in our depots," Colonel Samuel Muvuti, chief executive officer at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) told a parliamentary committee. He said a total of 750 000 tonnes were expected to be collected by the season's end in March next year, adding that the rest of produce would be retained by farmers for their own consumption. Muvuti did not explain the deficit or whether the country would import grain to make up the predicted numbers. "It might be too early for me to say there is need to import, and how much," said Muvhuti in response to questions from lawmakers. "I am not saying there would not be any need for importation, but ...we can say we are in a relatively safe position," he added.
President Robert Mugabe insisted in a television interview in May that his country's citizens were not hungry. "Why foist this food upon us? We don't want to be choked," he said. The 2.4 million tonnes predicted for the harvest, which surpasses the national annual requirement of two million tonnes, has been described by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as "absurd" and meant to win votes ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. An aid agency official said the food "situation is more or less going to be as it was last year, but perhaps worse because of inflation. Many people will not afford to buy maize". Asked by members of parliament if GMB had checked on media reports that people have died of hunger in the country's second largest city, Bulawayo, Muvhuti dismissed the claims, saying the city had "more grain stocks than any other town in the country." He said police had investigated the deaths and concluded that no one had died of starvation in Bulawayo. He tried to shift blame on any food shortages to distribution problems.
Top
From IRIN (UN), 16 September
Roadblocks set up to search for maize
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe have set up roadblocks on major roads in a bid to prevent privately acquired maize from reaching urban centres. Farmers are required to sell all their maize stocks to the state's Grain Marketing Board (GMB), which, by law, is the sole purchaser of maize and wheat grown in the country. The GMB also has a monopoly on the distribution of maize. The police, in conjunction with officials from the GMB, began conducting maize searches at roadblocks at the start of the harvest season in the middle of the year. All commuters from rural areas are ordered to disembark and their possessions searched. Any bags of maize confiscated at roadblocks are forfeit to the state. Despite the slow-down in official inflation - the annualised inflation rate stood at 314 percent in August, down from 362 percent in July - prices of basic commodities have not stopped rising. This has prompted urban residents to try to purchase maize from rural areas, rather than pay the higher prices demanded in city shops. However, they must run the gauntlet of police checks. "The police took all my bags of maize. It is expensive to buy mealie-meal [maize-meal] in Harare, and I decided to take maize bags from my rural area," a disgruntled James Shumba told IRIN. Another Harare resident, civil servant John Daudi, said he could not afford to buy maize-meal from the shops. "At the end of every month I visit my village and collect maize from there, but I travel at night to avoid the police," he said. Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka refused to comment on the issue. A GMB official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the GMB had asked the police to set up roadblocks in order catch "illegal marketers" of maize, as this could "sabotage" government efforts to feed the country. The Minister of Social Welfare, Paul Mangwana, told IRIN the government was distributing food in needy areas and would make sure nobody starved.
Top
From News24 (SA), 16 September
Zim protesters 'want freedom'
Midrand - Police pulled a security cordon around the Pan African Parliament (PAP) opening ceremony in Midrand on Thursday morning when protesters arrived to press for democratic reform in Zimbabwe. About 300 protesters carrying placards reading "We need food not violence", "Democracy Now", and "Restore our basic freedom", toyi-toyied outside the hall at Gallagher Estate where delegates and guests attended the opening ceremony. A spokesperson said the group was made up of Zimbabweans who fled their country for South Africa because of bad conditions. They came to plead with the PAP to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to restore the rule of law and human rights in his country, said Jabu Mkwanazi. A petition handed out by the group spoke of a "chronic democratic deficit" in Zimbabwe. "We have been stripped of our basic freedoms: freedoms we fought a liberation war for," the document read. It called for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, saying conditions were currently not conducive to this. "Zimbabwe is our home, we want to go back, but we are prevented from doing so by the criminal failings of a government which has lost touch with the people and abandoned the principals which guided our liberation agenda," the petition read. "We are calling on our fellow Africans to help us move toward a new beginning and create a new Zimbabwe which is a true reflection of the one we envisaged when we were fighting for independence."
Meanwhile, in Harare, about 50 women from the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) demonstrated outside the South African embassy in Harare on Thursday, calling for an end to human rights abuses in the country. Singing protest songs and carrying banners calling for an end to harsh press and public order laws, the women tied red ribbons on the embassy's perimeter fence in "memory of those killed and starved to death by the Zimbabwe regime," said Woza head Jenni Williams. Williams told Sapa the demonstration was timed to coincide with the opening of South Africa's parliament. "We're here to tell (South African President Thabo) Mbeki that we are going to end his quiet diplomacy in this country. We want more fire." The demonstration, which lasted for half an hour, ended peacefully when the women dispersed before police arrived.
Top
From The World Press Review, 16 September
The fragile lives and the dictator
Eugene Soros
Harare - The Zimbabwean National Army moved into the sprawling town of Chitungwiza at dusk. Heavily armored vehicles and soldiers with automatic rifles lumbered through the streets. As they passed through Mavis Chirombe's homestead, a child called out: "Soldiers are coming!" The cry was met with silence from the 50-year-old grandmother. For some Zimbabweans, the coming of the soldiers means a diminished ability to be really happy. For others, it brings recurring nightmares with images of torture lurking in their minds again and again. For everyone involved, the experience greatly reduces one's faith in humanity and raises serious moral questions. In the days that followed the mass protests and stay-aways of last June, bitter memories of previous protests shot up into Mavis Chirombe's life. "I fought death 20 years ago," said Chirombe. "I am still trying to and I still need some pills to put me to sleep. I lost a son in 1982. He was beaten to death. The reason being that we then were supporters of Zimbabwe African People's Union [the late Joshua Nkomo's Zapu PF, the strongest opposition party in 1980 to President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF] of which we were members and weapons of war had been found on its farms." Soon she breaks down, and every word is told in tears. "I do not think things will be the same again," she says with much disdain.
Mugabe's rule has become perilous for women, who are frequently raped, forced into marriage because of food shortages and economic hardships, or subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment. A case in point was when soldiers ordered unknown couples to engage in sexual intercourse at a public nightclub in one of Chitungwiza's shopping centers. Barbara, who says we cannot use her full name, recounted an incident when soldiers were ordered to search her: "They literally touched every part of my body. I felt like screaming, but I was afraid of being beaten-up. I wonder if the armed forces have any women members these days." Julia Muskwe, 39, was forcibly stripped of her shirt at gunpoint before sympathizers jumped to her rescue and questioned why the soldiers were undressing her. Julia now hardly moves away from her home in unit G Chitungwiza. Mavis Tapera's (UMP District) assailants ordered her out of her house at night and used a knife to cut off her petticoat, leaving her clad in only her underwear. Her assailants brutally assaulted her sexually, and ordered her to imitate demeaning sexual maneuvers. Later, her assailants returned her to her home.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a local Member of Parliament (MP) and gender activist said violence over the past two years and the economic situation have left many women vulnerable and homebound: "Even in parliament we have now stopped raising gender issues until we have addressed the issue of bread and butter and the people's security." Amani Trust, a local non-governmental organisation that assists survivors of political violence, revealed that more than a thousand people have sought shelter with them since 2000. A majority of these victims of violence and displacement were women. "Research shows that women are the easiest targets of political violence, but because of their resilience most women remain indoors and rarely report the matters to the police," said Amani Trust Advocacy Officer Joseph Nherera. In rural areas most women who speak to journalists are consciously risking their lives. "Mwanangu! Tinosara thichiona ndondo (we will see fire when you are gone)."
Since coming to power in 1980, Mugabe has made it clear that people who do not subscribe to his ideologies and party, Zanu PF, will be persecuted in one way or another. In 1982, under the guise of a clamp down on rebels, Mugabe sent in a special army brigade trained by the North Koreans. But its real purpose was to deal with the Ndebele opposition Zapu PF. The brigade's activities were secret but 20 years later, human rights investigators reported that more than 20,000 Ndebeles had been slaughtered - some raped, many shot and bayoneted in random public executions. Although some of the victims of Mugabe's whims have fought their cases in court and won, they still live in constant fear and apprehension. "The fact that Mugabe is still at the helm of things in Zimbabwe does not help matters," said Dareni Tomu, an opposition activist and Muskwe's friend. "His thugs are still immune from the full wrath of the law."
Top
From IRIN (UN), 16 September
Opposition complain over composition of commission
Harare - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has criticised President Robert Mugabe's appointment on Tuesday of a four-member Delimitation Commission, charged with redrawing constituency boundaries. The opposition claimed that the commissioners, led by High Court judge George Chiweshe, have strong links to the ruling Zanu PF and alleged they would not be impartial. The MDC accused Chiweshe of having delivered a "questionable" judgement that kept MDC parliamentarian, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, in prison on charges of murdering a Zanu PF official. The parliamentarian was found not guilty by the courts. Another member of the commission, Job Wabhira, is a former permamnent secretary in the Ministry of Defence. In 1999 he reportedly defied several High Court orders to release two journalists from The Standard newspaper, Mark Chavhunduka and Ray Choto, after the army arrested and tortured them because of a report they had written. The other two members of the commission are University of Zimbabwe lecturers. "The appointments to the Delimitation Commission that were announced represent yet another breach of the SADC protocol on elections, and further vindicates the MDC's decision to suspend participation in elections," said MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube. Crisis Coalition, a pro-democracy umbrella NGO, also voiced its concern over the composition of the Delimitation Commission. With rural areas seen as Zanu PF's political stronghold, "the most likely outcome of the Chiweshe commission is the increase of rural constituencies and the reduction of urban ones, with the view of giving Zanu PF leverage," the group said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Parliamentary elections are due in Zimbabwe in March next year.
Top
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 18 September
Mugabe's riot police evict farm squatters
Thousands of supporters of President Robert Mugabe who answered his call to evict whites from their farms four years ago became victims themselves this week when riot police burned down their houses and chased them from the land they had seized. For more than 15 miles, on either side of a wide, tarred road, are the blackened shells of traditional huts built since Mr Mugabe ordered his supporters to kick out about 4,000 white commercial farmers and then claim their land for themselves. Hundreds of gaunt men, women and children were huddled in groups every few miles. They guarded pots and pans tied up in blankets, their chickens trussed into plastic bags, while their thirsty children cried under a fierce sun. An estimated 20,000 have been left homeless this week in the Trelawney district, 30 miles from the capital, Harare. Riot police were still at their work early yesterday as smoke trailed into the sky on the western horizon and people murmured when they heard the crackle of fire licking through the bush.
Gilbert Mushowe, 44, who had left one of Harare's ghettos to become a "new farmer" in September 2000, was sitting on a double bed with his two children. He claimed that Sabina Mugabe, the president's sister, was behind the evictions. "We were told to come here. We did. We built houses, we tried to farm. The police burned everything. They trampled our vegetable garden. I am very, very cross. I have been a long time supporter of [the ruling party] Zanu PF but that makes no difference," he said. "We were told this would be our land forever," said another farmer, Reuben Mashanda, 71. "We came four years ago and helped to chase whites from this farm, Little England. Please, get in touch with the president for us and talk to him. Tell him people in Little England farm have been told to evacuate, their homes were burned and they are now dumped along the road for two days, with no money for transport, no food and no water." Sabina Mugabe, an MP who with other family members has taken over several white-owned farms, yesterday denied that she was behind the evictions. "Those people are just using my name. They are illegal. That is cattle land, not for crops," she said. "You white people are paying them money to talk. If I hear of a white person there again, I will order the police to arrest you." Miss Mugabe said the "illegal settlers" were in her constituency. She said she did not know about any provision for transport for them, nor where they might be "resettled".
Wayne Bvudzijena, a senior police spokesman, confirmed yesterday that the eviction of the peasant farmers had been ordered by the regime. "They did not have permission to be there. We followed orders from the lands ministry." But John Nkomo, the lands minister, said: "Don't talk to me. Talk to the governor of the province." Nelson Samkange, the governor of Mashonaland West province, who last week sent militiamen to force out one of the last two white commercial farmers in the district was not available for comment yesterday. The legal owner of Little England, one of the 10 farms straddling 30,000 acres that have been cleared of settlers, who now lives in Harare, witnessed the brutal clearance. "I saw what was happening. It looks like Vietnam out there with those fires," he said, on condition that he was not identified. "I don't know what is legal or illegal any more. I had a rough time."
Top
From News24 (SA), 17 September
Zim evicts black farmers
Harare - Hundreds of black peasant farmers were this week forcibly evicted from two formerly white-owned farms that they occupied during the 2000 land invasions, witnesses, civic groups and police said on Friday. A witness told AFP he saw scores of huts on fire after riot police had ordered all farmers without official permits to settle on the properties to vacate. Police confirmed they were involved in the exercise to remove the farmers "who had imposed themselves", on the farms situated some 50 kilometres north of the capital. "Yes, we moved in to remove them .(and) some of the houses were burnt in the process," police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said in an interview. He said the farms were for ranching and not suitable for crop growing, yet all of the farmers who had settled on them had planted the land to maize and other food crops. "Hundreds of new farmers and their families are stranded at Little England and Inkomo Farms... after police torched and destroyed their huts following a government order to evict them," said a coalition of human and civic rights organisations, Crisis in Zimbabwe. Police said a series of meetings had earlier been held between government officials and the settlers on the plan to evict them. A witness said the farms were to be re-allocated to large-scale commercial black farmers, while the evictees were not given alternative accommodation. Government embarked in 2000 on land reforms which saw veterans of the liberation war along with pro-government supporters invading white-owned farms. The farms were parcelled into smaller pieces of land and allocated to landless blacks, some of whom had left their crowded communal rural homes to move to the new settlements. Under the land reform program launched in 2000, nearly 4 000 of the country's 4 500 white farmers, who owned 70% of Zimbabwe's most fertile land, lost their property. The controversial land reform plan is cited as one of the reasons for the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, once southern Africa's bread basket.
Top
From IRIN (UN), 15 September
Strike highlights plight of farm workers
Harare - A strike over low wages on a farm earning hard currency, acquired by a government parastatal, has underlined the precarious existence of Zimbabwe's farm workers. The horticultural farm at Kondozi in the eastern province of Manicaland was reportedly seized by armed men in April on behalf of the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA), despite the property being designated an Export Processing Zone and therefore not liable for compulsory acquisition. ARDA slashed the workforce from the 5,000 prior to the occupation to around 150, and reclassified those as basic labourers entitled to a lower wage, according to the General and Allied Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ). "They were initially agro-based workers receiving about Z$130,000 per month because they are involved in processing, but ARDA turned them into general agricultural workers and is paying them Z$72,800 - that's why they had to engage in this industrial action," GAPWUZ official Gift Muti told IRIN. Some 1,500 workers living on the farm were displaced by the farm takeover, and around 3,500 from outlying areas lost their jobs.
According to a report released last month by Refugees International, a pattern of displacement has accompanied the government's controversial land reform programme since it began in 2000, creating a population of more than 150,000 homeless former farm workers. "The government of Zimbabwe refuses to acknowledge that their implementation of the land redistribution programme has caused forced displacement. To further compound the issue, governmental authorities have increasingly restricted access to farming areas by humanitarian agencies and independent analysts, making it difficult for the displaced and other vulnerable groups to access humanitarian assistance," said the report. Displacement has also been due to economic conditions on the redistributed farms, Refugees International noted. It identified five groups: people "internally" trapped, who are unable to leave the farms; people displaced temporarily to forested or uncultivated areas; returnees to communal areas; peri-urban squatters; and refugees and economic migrants.
Some have found employment with the newly resettled farmers, but the relationship has been hit-and-miss, said GAPWUZ. A number of new farmers have been able to afford the minimum wage, with others offering payment in kind. Out-of-work former farm labourers who have stayed in the rural areas have turned to the informal sector, selling produce or panning for gold. Refugees International called on the government to acknowledge the vulnerability of former farm workers and allow humanitarian agencies to provide direct assistance to them. It also recommended the formation of mixed needs assessment teams with local NGOs, investment in skills training and education for those farm workers who have not been retained in the commercial agriculture sector, and to provide them with access to land. The report also called on the government and the United Nations to jointly undertake a comprehensive vulnerability assessment in the commercial farming areas, rural communal lands and informal settlements. IRIN was unable to get a comment from Zimbabwe's ministry of information.
Top
From Zim Online (SA), 17 September
Government grabs giant sugar estate
Harare - The Zimbabwe government has gazetted for acquisition, Mkwasine Estate, which is jointly owned by South Africa's Anglo American Corporation and Tongaat Hullet. The 11 500 hectare sugar estate was issued with a Section 8 order on July 23. The order gives management and staff at the estate 90 days to wind up operations and vacate the property. Mkwasine, which is tucked in Zimbabwe's sugar growing south eastern lowveld, was last month also issued with a Section 7 order, which allows owners of the estate permission to contest in court the government's bid to take over the property. Anglo owns a stake in Mkwasine through its Zimbabwean subsidiary, Hippo Valley Estates, while Tongaat is represented through its local subsidiary, Triangle Ltd. Hippo Valley, which also grows sugar, was already under a Section 5 order, which is a formal notice by the government that it wants to acquire the property under its land redistribution programme. Anglo's chairman in Zimbabwe, Godfrey Gomwe, said in a statement: "Hippo Valley Estates remains listed under Section 5 but representations with the relevant authorities to secure a de-listing of both properties (Hippo and Mkwasine) are ongoing." Gomwe said Anglo was taking appropriate legal action to prevent the government from acquiring its properties. He did not elaborate. No comment on the matter was available from Tongaat. Mkwasine, which at the moment has 4 600 hectares under sugarcane, produces between 475 000 and 500 000 tonnes of cane ever year. The cane is grown under irrigation. Although the government initially said it was not going to seize timber, tea and sugar estates, it appears to have backtracked on the promise with several estates now targeted for acquisition by the state. Agricultural production in Zimbabwe has fallen by 60 percent in the last three years largely because of the government's land reform programme where black peasant farmers were resettled on former white-owned farms with no resources or skills to maintain production.
Top
From afrol News (Norway), 17 September
Zimbabwe 2005 polls 'already manipulated'
Zimbabwe's upcoming March 2005 parliamentary elections are already denounced for not being free and fair. According to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the government is already taking illegal steps to manipulate the polls by toppling the Delimitation Commission, which is to redefine the country's constituency boundaries, thus assuring a majority. According to MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube, the government of Zimbabwe is in breach with a recent Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreement on democratic elections when appointing only its own members to the Delimitation Commission. The government was not following SADC's instructions of "fairness in electoral processes" by its latest decision. President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday appointed several controversial members to the Delimitation Commission - a body tasked with re-drawing constituency boundaries ahead of elections to reflect shifting population patterns. According to Mr Ncube, the majority those appointed have long and close ties to ruling Zanu PF party and "have no history of independence and fairness."
The MDC Secretary-General denounces that many of the commission's members have "close historical and present ties to Zanu PF can be relied upon to do the bidding of Zanu PF." A fair and democratic judgement could not be expected from the commission, the opposition party held. This was "particularly worrying" as the MDC claimed to have "documentary evidence that the process of re-drawing constituency boundaries, ahead of the March 2005 parliamentary elections, has already been carried out, under the instructions and guidance of officers from the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation," according to Mr Ncube. Similarly, the appointments procedure for the new "Independent Electoral Commission", that were gazetted on 10 September, would "ensure that the government retains a controlling hand over its operations and activities," the opposition party holds. The Harare government was trying to "create a smokescreen of 'legitimacy' behind which it can continue its strategy of consolidating its coercive grip on the electoral processes and ensure pre-determined outcomes," Mr Ncube added.
President Mugabe's government at an August summit of SADC in Mauritius signed a protocol on elections, where it guaranteed that the electoral process would be dominated by transparency and fairness. All Southern African countries adopted these principles for forthcoming elections. After several polls, which the MDC and election observers held to be manipulated in favour of Zanu PF, the opposition party has announced it will not partake in any election before the Mugabe government plays by the rules outlined in the SADC protocol. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has repeated that the MDC will not participate in the March 2005 parliamentary elections if pro-democracy reforms are not implemented. SADC must push Mugabe to honour his word, and to do so early enough for us to have our elections in March, Mr Tsvangirai said in a speech celebrating the MDC's fifth anniversary on Monday. "It is a crucial test of sincerity on their part. Mugabe and Zanu PF are holding SADC to ransom, soiling perceptions about the region and delaying SADC's political and economic advancement," the MDC leader added. While Mr Tsvangirai urged SADC leaders to increase pressure on President Mugabe, he further outlined the MDC's demands to review its decision to boycott the March 2005 poll. "They must end violence. They must end intimidation. They must open the space for the MDC on public radio and on television. They must place the running of elections in the hands of an impartial electoral body approved by the whole nation," he demanded.
Top
From Zim Online (SA), 18 September
Mugabe to push through NGO Bill
Harare - President Robert Mugabe is understood to have earlier this week told his ruling Zanu PF party's politburo that the government was not going to back down on proposed new legislation to regulate Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the country. Sources said Mugabe had also told the politburo during its weekly meetings on Wednesday that the government was also going to press ahead with electoral law reforms criticised by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change as superficial and inadequate. "Mugabe told the politburo to mobilise Zanu PF parliamentarians and make sure the NGO and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Bills sail through," said a senior official of the party, who did not want to be named. He added: "Mugabe said the party was facing a critical time and that it risked losing power if it failed to play its cards wisely." Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira yesterday refused to discuss the deliberations of last Wednesday's meeting of the politburo. He however told Zim Online the two draft Bills were meant to enhance democracy in Zimbabwe and that Zanu PF was going to ensure they became law. Shamuyarira said: "We will continue with efforts to implement the principles and believe that we can achieve that through the gazetted amendments," Shamuyarira said.
The NGO Bill will require civic organisations to be registered with a government appointed council before they can operate in Zimbabwe. The Bill also seeks to ban NGOs from receiving external funding to sponsor projects related to governance and human rights issues. A new electoral commission will be the only one permitted to carry out political and voter education work under new regulations proposed by the government. The new commission, whose chairman will be appointed by Mugabe, will supervise polls although the Registrar-General's office will continue to carry out registration of voters as well as being in charge of the actual voting process. The MDC has dismissed the government's proposed electoral reforms as inadequate and way below norms and standards for elections agreed by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders last month. Under the SADC standards, independent commissions must run elections while the electoral process must be sufficiently transparent. The rule of law, human and individual rights must also be upheld during elections.
Top
From Reuters, 17 September
IMF has grave concern on Zimbabwe economic crisis
Washington - The International Monetary Fund on Friday expressed "grave concern" over Zimbabwe's economic crisis and said corruption and lack of rule of law had severely dented confidence and hurt its neighbors. The global lender, which has threatened to expel Zimbabwe over its continuous arrears since February 2001, said worries about governance, the rule of law and human rights, and lack of clarity about land rights had discouraged investment and triggered capital flight and emigration. IMF directors "strongly urged the authorities to adopt a comprehensive policy package aimed at halting the deterioration of the socio-economic situation, restoring confidence and donor support, and restarting growth on a sustainable basis," the IMF said in an annual review of the economy. The southern Africa country has been mired in its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, which domestic and foreign critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's policy of seizing white-owned farmland for black Zimbabweans. Once the bread-basket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe's gross domestic product fell 9.3 percent in 2003, while inflation reached 600 percent during November 2003 to February 2004 from the same period a year earlier.
The IMF said the crisis was mainly caused by poor economic policies, including weak financial management, distorted controls and regulations, and fast-track land reform. It urged the government to address the problem of land reform "in an orderly manner" and to clarify land ownership rights, which is critical for raising agricultural production and access to credit for farmers. The IMF said a cycle of malnourishment and disease had developed, with food shortages looming in the coming year because of a sharp drop in agricultural production. Zimbabwe abruptly canceled a food assessment mission of the World Food Programme in April, saying his country will produce 2.3 million tonnes of maize this year. However, international aid organizations said the country could face a shortfall of up to 900,000 tonnes with a national demand of 1.8 million. The IMF "regretted that this decision leaves Zimbabwe without a basis for a timely appeal for food aid, with serious humanitarian consequences should the crop fall short of the government's ambitious estimates," the IMF report said.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 19 September
Live bullets used in ZNA show demo - Soldiers injure 15
By our own Staff
As many as 15 people were injured, two of them possibly dead, after soldiers taking part in this year's Marondera Agricultural Show apparently used live ammunition during their demonstration. Two of the exhibitors and several parents contacted by The Standard yesterday confirmed the tragedy and said it happened around 3PM when soldiers were performing a mock drill involving "enemies". A school teacher, who accompanied school children, said: ÒI was sitting right at the entrance to the Cold Storage Company stand under a tree, watching the military demonstration. Something exploded and there was a stampede. People were screaming, running in all directions. "I saw a man in khaki trousers. He was injured in the legs. We could see his fractured bones. His wife, who was with him, started crying for help. One woman was injured on the chest. Two military ambulances ferried people. A Marondera Hospital ambulance also carried people." According to the schoolteacher, the soldiers were performing a mock battle and their "enemies" threw a grenade. Two of the soldiers, covered in white cloth, were ferried by an army helicopter. She said: "I'm really scared. Right now I wonder how I managed to escape unharmed," she said after uniting with her husband.
An official at Marondera Hospital, who spoke to The Standard as the injured were being admitted, said they had admitted 10 people with two transferred to Harare because they had sustained serious injuries. He said: "There was a mock battle by soldiers and people were shot. This happened around 3pm. We are admitting people right now. The full details are still unclear." Two of the exhibitors confirmed shooting during the army drill when live ammunition was apparently used triggering off the tragedy. They put the number of the injured at 15. One of the exhibitors said: "It appeared they did not know they were using live ammunition. One of the soldiers ran down to stop them. But already the shooting had unleashed panic, triggering off a stampede." Another exhibitor, who also declined to be identified, said: "Fifteen people were seriously injured. It happened just two hours ago. There are about four young children. The rest are adults. They were taken to Marondera Hospital in an army helicopter, which was waiting to put on a display. The serious cases were rushed to Harare but we do not know where. I was on our stand. I saw the reaction of people. They were running away. Then I saw one of the soldiers running inside to stop the people taking part in the drill. There were many people. The show did not stop despite the incident. It is going ahead but people are apprehensive."
Another man, who was attending the show, said he suspected the injuries were from shrapnel. He said this showed negligence on the part of the army. Several parents whose children were at the show rushed to find out whether their children were safe. They were gathered at the gate and complained that they were not being allowed in to collect their children. Ambulance and fire services say they heard about the incident but they did not have specific details. Their ambulances at the show were already ferrying the injured to the hospital. Harare and Parirenyatwa hospitals said they could only confirm receipt of the injuries from Marondera if they were given the names of the patients admitted. Dr Sydney Sekeramayi, who is the MP for Marondera and Minister of Defence, last night said he had not received a report about the incident.
Top
From The Daily News Online Edition, 18 Septemebr
Net closes in on Mutasa
The political fortunes of veteran Manicaland politician Didymus Mutasa might be waning following damning submissions by traditional leaders, senior policemen and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officers implicating the senior politician in a systematic abuse of authority spanning over the years. Authoritative war veterans and Zanu PF officials in Makoni told The Daily News Online that the seven-member probe team, tasked by President Robert Mugabe to gather all the relevant facts of the circumstances surrounding the violence that engulfed Rusape, Mayo and Headlands around August 21 and 22 was now finalising its final report. The officials said an Inspector Tomukai, the officer in charge crime at Rusape Police Station, who was also beaten up by Mutasa made his submissions, together with Superintendent Mildred Muza, the District Criminal Investigating Officer for Rusape District police. Some members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) were also asked to make their submissions. The investigating team comprises members of the police, the CIO and war veterans and reports to President Mugabe. According to well-placed Zanu PF officials in Manicaland, Mutasa was denounced by some people who had long been considered his allies. "Some of us have been with Mutasa since independence and we know when things are not going well for him," a senior Zanu PF women' s league official said. "When the campaign for the primaries began some time ago, we all thought the chefs would accept challenges from junior members of the party. But when Cde Kaunye challenged chef Mutasa, we all saw the changes. The man became hostile and ruthless. Violence was unleashed on us and several got injured. It was not difficult for us to make detailed submissions of what we saw and what we knew about the violence that erupted here." The official said she told the team that Mutasa had become a threat to their security as Zanu PF supporters.
Another war veteran who also made submissions yesterday said that it was high time the truth was told without fear because Zanu PF faced collapse from within if people of the mould of Mutasa remained unpunished. The war veteran said the information he gave included how Mutasa allegedly rewarded some of the terror gang with land previously allocated to some people, who have since been forcibly evicted. "We told the team that Cde Mutasa was now working against the Third Chimurenga and it was one of the major reasons why he unleashed the Chinyavada hit squad," the war veteran said. "The team was also told of how Mutasa used his power to remove Mrs Lucia Chitura from the Zanu PF district office where she was Zanu PF's district co-ordinator although she remains on the party's payroll. She is barred from going to the office. Her crime was simply to be friends with former Manicaland governor Oppah Muchinguri." But the most critical submissions were made at Chiendambuya and Mayo where traditional leaders, headmen and kraal heads rallied behind Kaunye to highlight Mutasa's alleged abuse of power and violent tactics to retain his constituency. The traditional leaders allegedly outlined how they had been made to fight against each other following the deliberate spread of falsehoods by people backing Mutasa. Violence broke out in Makoni District after Mutasa, the Member of Parliament for Makoni North, the Zanu PF secretary for external affairs and also the Minister of Anti-Corruption and Anti-Monopolies led a five-vehicle convoy to unleash violence on supporters of Retired Major James Kaunye, the aspiring MP for Makoni North. Nathaniel Punish Mhiripiri, the aspiring MP for Makoni East had his wife Florence beaten up and his property destroyed and looted. Kaunye is the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) in Manicaland. During the attack, the terror group left a trail of destruction. They looted and beat up Kaunye, leaving him for dead. The matter is now before the courts with 31 of Mutasa's supporters facing counts of public violence, malicious injury to property and causing grievous bodily harm.
Mutasa yesterday scoffed at suggestions that he was behind the violence that left 70 Zanu PF supporters injured. He lashed out at Kaunye, describing him as a "war veteran of dubious credentials" working together with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Makoni District. "The media associates me with violence," he said. "That committee came to Makoni at my instigation. I requested the Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi to set a committee to investigate the violence. The president knows about it but he is not the one who set it up. They interviewed me and I told them what I know happened. They also interviewed everyone who they thought was involved in the violence. What happened is that this young man called Kaunye, who is a dubious war veteran, started his violence but he was caught in his own trap. He is dubious because real war veterans do not behave like he is doing in Makoni. We think very strongly that he is working with the MDC in Makoni. His supporters are mostly former MDC members and therefore, he must have been told by the MDC to start the violence so that they tarnish my name." Mutasa said on the day of the clashes, Kaunye and his supporters followed him to a meeting at a church in Headlands and attempted to disrupt it. However, members of the Zanu PF youth league present were unhappy and they physically dealt with Kaunye, leaving him and some of his supporters injured.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 19 September
GMB holding maize for only two months
By Valentine Maponga
The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) last week finally came clean on the country' s food situation. Only about 300 000 tonnes - enough for two months' consumption - have been delivered to the parastatal. Answering questions on the food situation, from a parliamentary portfolio committee, the GMB said its depots had so far taken delivery of only 298 000 tonnes of maize, a figure far below estimates by Joseph Made, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Based on last year's maize consumption patterns of 5 000 tonnes a day, the grain delivered so far will be enough for two months only. Made, through his ministry, predicted more than 2,4 million tonnes from this yearÕs harvest, but the GMB, the sole buyer of maize has managed to buy only 274 130 tonnes. Giving out the statistics, GMB chief executive officer, retired Colonel Samuel Muvuti, said they were still expecting more grain to be delivered to the national granaries. "We have 298 000 metric tonnes of maize a figure far much better than the previous two to three seasons. We are expecting around 500 000 and 600 000 tonnes by the end of the buying season," Muvuti said. He said the buying season runs from April 1 up to March 31 the following year. However, the harvesting season runs from April and continues until October. Maize deliveries peak during July/August.
If, however, the maximum anticipated deliveries of 600 000 tonnes is factored in, the GMB will only take delivery of nearly 900 000 tonnes of maize - supplies enough for six months. Crops due for planting under the 2004/2005 agricultural season will only start to mature in March Ñ seven months away. Demand for grain increases between October and February when most households with less food exhaust their own reserves. Muvuti, on a number of occasions failed to answer adequately questions from the parliamentary portfolio committee on Lands and Agriculture on whether there would be need to import additional maize. "It is very difficult for us to say that we need to import more maize since we are still expecting more inflows from local farmers. I am not saying there will be no need to import, but as GMB we ar happy with the progress so far. We are looking forward to a prolonged inflow of grain," he said, adding that they were receiving weekly inflows of around 20 000 tonnes. Responding to a question from Renson Gasela, MP for Gweru Rural (MDC) on how the 2,4 million tonnes estimate was reached, Muvuti said it was not within the jurisdiction of the GMB. However, the GMB chairs the country's crop forecast committee.
During the meeting Mathias Matewu Mlambo MP for Chipinge North revealed that maize was already being distributed on the basis of political affiliation. GMB officials were quick to deny the allegations. Mlambo said people in his constituency were failing to buy food because the GMB officials at Musami Business Centre were selling the much-needed commodity on a partisan basis. Zvidzai Makwenda, the marketing director of the GMB denied the MP's claims. "No, we do not discriminate when selling maize. I am actually very surprised. People who are queuing in Chipinge are doing so because of the cheap GMB products," Makwenda suggested. Some MPS who were in the meeting also revealed to the GMB officials that millers from their constituencies were failing to produce any stockfeeds because of the shortage of maize.
Top
From BBC News, 19 September
Harmison boycotts tour
Steve Harmison will not be going on England's tour of Zimbabwe. The Durham paceman said he informed the England management of his decision after the ICC Champions Trophy win over Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl. But he told the News of the World: "In all honesty, my decision was made in Cape Town over 18 months ago. "England's World Cup squad spent an horrendous four days before finally deciding not to go to Harare. Nothing has changed for me." The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed earlier this month that the team would play five one-day internationals in Zimbabwe, the first on 26 November. Harmison's decision could lead to other players opting out of the tour. In July, the News of the World claimed as many as seven players did not want to make the trip. And the ECB has made it clear that no action will be taken against any player who refuses to tour Zimbabwe. Harmison said he did not want to let captain Michael Vaughan or coach Duncan Fletcher down. But he added: "I don't believe my decision will cause any splits or break up this team. What we've built is special and strong and 10 days in Zimbabwe isn't going to destroy or damage that." Harmison continued: "Being a personal decision, I realise I could be the only player who doesn't go. "I hope nobody questions my commitment. Being part of this team means so much to me." Harmison is not the first player to refuse to play in Zimbabwe - Australian spin bowler Stuart MacGill boycotted a tour earlier this year. MacGill said he could not go there and "maintain a clear conscience".
The situation in Zimbabwe has been making back page headlines since before the 2003 World Cup, which they co-hosted with South Africa and Kenya. Zimbabwe team-mates Henry Olonga and Andy Flower staged a black arm protest at their game against Namibia, a symbolic gesture which they claimed was intended to "mourn the death of democracy" in their country. England, meanwhile, refused to play in Harare during the tournament following lengthy discussions between the ECB, players' union and the International Cricket Council. It prompted then skipper Nasser Hussain to accuse the ICC of letting the players down. Earlier this year, ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said he had received a letter from Foreign secretary Jack Straw which was "tantamount to an instruction" not to tour Zimbabwe in November. But they later accepted the tour would have to go ahead because of the threat of severe financial penalties and a possible ban being imposed by the ICC if they did not fulfil their touring obligations. At the same time, Zimbabwe cricket was torn apart by a dispute between a group of 15 white players and the country's cricket union which followed the sacking of national team captain Heath Streak. Zimbabwe were forced to field a side of inexperienced youngsters, resulting in the ICC restricting them to one-day internationals for the rest of the year to protect the "integrity" of Test cricket. The so-called 'rebel' players accused the ZCU of racism and a three-day hearing into their allegations is due to begin in Harare on 29 September.
Top
From Cricinfo, 19 September
Racism hearing likely to be delayed
The ICC hearing which will investigate claims of racism levelled against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union is set to be delayed after the rebel players complained that they did not have sufficient funds to match those available to the board. Last week, the ICC announced that the hearing would take place between September 29 and October 1. But the rebels subsequently found out that the ZCU apparently appointed Chris Anderson, a leading criminal defence specialist, to represent it, and so they sought their own specialist. A report claims that they asked Adrian de Bourbon, another leading laywer, to represent them but did not have the funds to pay his fees. The rebels have long argued that the resources available to the two parties are far from comparable and that the board, who can indirectly draw on ICC funds it receives to finance their costs, have a distinct advantage. A spokesman for the rebels said that they had asked the ICC to help with legal and travel costs, but added that the ICC had been "tardy about helping us." The rebels' spokesman also indicated that he believed the hearing will last nearer to five days, and as a neutral venue has yet to be identified he added that he envisaged that there could be as much as a fortnight's delay before it actually started.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 20 September
Govt rewards Makwavarara with seized Raffingora farm
By Foster Dongozi
Raffingora - Harare acting mayor, Sekesai Makwavarara has been awarded Tindo Farm, in the prime agricultural area of Raffingora, in what is believed is her reward for wresting control of the capital from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and handing it to Zanu PF. The Standard tracked Makwavarara to her newly acquired farm in Mashonaland West province yesterday and found her relaxing in the huge lounge of the luxurious farmhouse, perched on a hill. She had just arrived accompanied by a male partner and her Toyota Hilux, registration 844-945S was parked outside. The top of range vehicle was loaded with carpets and other household appliances. Raffingora falls under Zvimba North constituency, whose Member of Parliament is Local Government Minister, Ignatiuos Chombo. The minister strenuously resisted attempts by MDC councillors to replace Makwavarara when they started suspecting she had infiltrated the opposition. The owner of the farm, only identified as Henning, was hounded out of the farm on Friday and fled with his family to Harare. He declined to comment, saying he did not want to expose his family to danger.
Dressed in a creme suit and reclining on a sofa, the acting Harare mayor said : "I am the new owner of the place." Her male partner who looked very suspicious did not give The Standard an opportunity to interview Makwavarara further as he herded the news crew out of the luxuriously furnished farm house, complete with a satellite dish. The farm also boasts hundreds of hectares under an almost mature crop of wheat and produces tobacco, maize and paprika. "If you want to know anything about this place, go and ask the workers," Makwavarara's partner said. The workers at the compound said they were distressed about having a new boss. "What does she know about farming? We hope she will not convert the farm into a holiday retreat as has happened with many new farmers," said one worker. Makwavarara, who was elected as a Harare City councillor on an MDC ticket for Mabvuku in 2002, was immediately elected deputy mayor as Elias Mudzuri's understudy. Chombo immediately went on the warpath against the popularly elected Mudzuri, while at the same time frustrating attempts by MDC councillors to replace Makwavarara. Mudzuri was then suspended for alleged mismanagement last year, paving the way for Makwavarara to ease herself into office. The permanent secretary in the ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Simon Pazvakavambwa, could not confirm if Makwavarara had been officially given the farm.
Top
From Zim Online (SA), 20 September
Lawyer advises NGOs to comply
Bulawayo - Local human rights lawyer, Nicholas Mthonsi, told Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) here last Saturday to register with the government once a new law requiring them to do so was enacted. Mthonsi said Zimbabwe's Supreme Court was likely to refuse to protect NGOs if the government wanted to shut them down because they were not registered with the NGO Council to be set up under the proposed new law. "The Bill seeks to ensure that nothing moves or flies in Zimbabwe which is not known in the corridors of state power... NGOs must just toe the line or else," Mthonsi said. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku last year refused to hear an appeal by the Daily News newspaper which had refused to register with the state's Media and Information Commission. Under Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, journalists and newspapers must register with the state-appointed commission before they can be allowed to operate in the country.
The Daily News and its sister publication the Daily News on Sunday had argued that the requirement that they register with the commission for them to be allowed to publish impinged on their constitutional right to free expression. Chidyausiku ruled that the two papers had approached the court "with dirty hands" because they had not complied with the media law requiring them to register with the commission. He refused to hear the case and declared their operations illegal, paving way for Information Minister Jonathan Moyo to shut down the two publications. Mthonsi said: "The Supreme Court will use the precedent of the dirty hands principle that was set in the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (the company that published the two papers) case to deny NGOs the right to be heard." The government is expected to pass into law the NGO Bill when Parliament resumes next month. About 50 representatives of NGOs operating in the country attended the Bulawayo meeting organised by a local NGO, the Post Independence Survivors Trust.
Top
From The Sunday Mirror, 19 September
Mujuru on the rise.as other presidential hopefuls flounder
Staff Writer
Water Resources and Infrastructural Development Minister Joyce Mujuru seems to have realistic chances of landing the post of Zanu PF's co-vice presidency and, by implication, that of the country. Mujuru was proposed at the Women's League national congress that was held three weeks ago under the theme "Total Empowerment of Women in Zimbabwe" to claim the vice presidency, in a move that caught those reportedly eyeing the presidency unawares. After Zanu PF's Women's League supported her more and more people are coming out to support her, emphasising the need for her to be given the position. Former Zanu PF member of Parliament and the first woman to head an opposition political party in Zimbabwe, Margaret Dongo feels Mujuru makes the grade. "It is encouraging that there is talk and lobbying for her to take the position of vice president. There is need to look at Mujuru and assess her on the basis of her past works and what she has done to improve the welfare not only of women but the entire nation. If she has the support of the people, particularly the women, why not give her the position. She was nominated by her fellow women, which means that she has their support. But furthermore, she is one lady who is well-respected across the board. She joined the armed struggle well before most women did, and she participated in the top hierarchy of the party (Zanu PF). She has done a lot at the national level for a long time, having experience as a cabinet minister," said Dongo.
She added that Mujuru was different from many women who tended to rest on her laurels, developing herself academically and in other respects. She said: "This has taken too long to come, but I must underscore the fact that if she succeeds at the end of the day, she does not have to go in there as a window dresser. My hope is that once she is there, she will realise the need to bring in other women, otherwise she will be doomed to fail. In this regard, her ascendancy becomes an issue of the empowerment of women and more balance on political participation". The gender factor in the debate on Mujuru's likely rise to the presidium, as Dongo says, cannot be ignored. There has been an outcry over a long time that Zimbabwean women are marginalised from mainstream politics, mostly deliberately, by the men who control the reigns. As a result, analysts say, the move by the women's league provides a litmus test for the ruling party and the government as it is bound to test their sincerity over the need to empower women politically. The highest a women has gone so far is the position of cabinet minister, but many feel that even then, they have not been given core portfolios.
Women praised President Robert Mugabe, when at one time he made Mujuru the acting Minister of Defence, saying that represented a measure of the realisation that women were as capable as men. That Mujuru has held that position, albeit in an acting capacity, could emerge as a plus for her ahead of the Zanu PF congress in December, when the decision on who will fill the position that was left vacant following the death in September 2003 of co-vice president, Simon Muzenda. Individuals and groups representing women' s interests charge that not enough is being done to give women a 30 percent quota in parliament, in line with SADC stipulations, but President Mugabe has promised to that soon, a development that could also see him agreeing to Mujuru being made co-vice president. Other influential women like Thenjiwe Lesabe, who at one time was touted as the first woman who could take the co-vice presidency, when Joshua Nkomo died, Oppah Muchinguri and the First Lady, Grace Mugabe - outside the Women's League a |
