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Archived News
17th May 2005
Zimbabwe secures loan from SA bank
Tax collectors raid firms in bid to raise cash for food imports
Foreign donors shun Zimbabwe
Mudede summons missionaries over food handouts
Zimbabwe confirms SA mercenaries to be freed today
Dogs of war are going home but when they get there, they'll find it's gone
Tsvangirai in Mauritius
Riot police quell protest in Harare suburb
Makwavarara faces chop
Dollar-starved Zim uses its gold recources to pay debt to Eskom
Obsession with Zimbabwe smacks of racism: Dlamini-Zuma
Paperwork delays release of 62 mercenaries
Bennett moved to maximum security prison
Police threaten to ban launch of protest music album
Mercenaries still stuck in Zimbabwe
Zim inflation 'a nightmare'
Food aid recipients swell to a million
Zim govt may undo wage hikes
Police backtrack on threats to ban protest music album
Laughter, anger as MP lauds Zim poll as model
ZESA swaps tobacco for forex
Land grab to go to arbitration
Armed police raid trade union offices
Mugabe appoints police chief to oversee land redistribution
Zimbabwe annual inflation quickens as economy ails
Alleged mercenaries expected back before Monday: lawyer
Police bar protest album release
Mugabe plans changes to constitution
Governor to testify in graft trial
Chaimiti wins Masvingo mayoral seat unopposed
Zimbabwe 62 could face two more weeks
Zim 62 on their way wife
Under-20 soccer team manager faces axe over visa scam
Mutasa for prime minister?
Zim govt sets new food prices
Zimbabweans cannot quench their thirst
Zim food crisis a boon for some
Buried in piles of own garbage
Mercenaries free in SA for now
Harare holds on to one suspected mercenary
Zimbabwe ready to extradite Simon Mann
Armed police summoned to quell sugar, maize-meal stampede
Food queues resurface
Zanu PF youths chase teachers
Country's airwaves still restricted, says media lobby group
In search of a different type of salvation
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From The Mercury (SA), 11 May
Zimbabwe secures loan from SA bank
Basildon Peta
Johannesburg - South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) has emerged as the knight in shining armour for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime in its battle against fuel and food shortages. A major Zimbabwean bank has announced that it has secured a $15-million (about R91-million) loan from FNB to finance fuel purchases. The deal - announced in state media in Harare by Nyasha Makuvise, the managing director of the Jewel Bank, in which the Zimbabwe government is a shareholder - comes as the Mugabe regime has resorted to raiding hotels and lodges in a desperate attempt to raise foreign currency. Makuvise told the state-owned Herald newspaper that the $15-million "loan facility" had already come into effect and a total of 34 million litres of fuel would be imported under the deal. "It is a revolving facility and we are happy to be playing our part as a bank to assist (Zimbabwe) overcome this challenge," Makuvise said. Asked to comment on his bank's rescue package for Zimbabwe, FNB spokesperson Louis Jordaan, the CEO of the bank's international banking division, said in a carefully worded statement: "FNB has correspondent banking relationships with banks located throughout the world. Furthermore, FNB provides rand account and international banking services to a large number of international banks, some of which are located in Africa, and more specifically in Zimbabwe. These accounts and services enable banks to facilitate payments between exporters and importers of goods and services in South Africa and other countries. . . "In this instance, FNB is facilitating payments for fuel on a no-risk basis on behalf of a Zimbabwean bank . . . These transactions do not take the form of unsecured loans as payments are secured to FNB by means of various risk mitigation methods." The statement did not elaborate on the risk mitigating methods in this deal. As the foreign currency shortage bites harder, officers from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) investigations unit have been reportedly raiding hoteliers for spot checks on their foreign currency earnings, which they have to forward to the central bank as required by law. The hoteliers are accused of not repatriating foreign currency earned during the March elections when more than 7 000 observers and journalists booked into hotels and lodges to observe the controversial poll.
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From Zim Online (SA), 11 May
Tax collectors raid firms in bid to raise cash for food imports
Bulawayo - Government tax collectors have in the last three weeks raided businesses demanding on the spot inspection of their books to see if they were paying tax as the government battles to raise cash for critically needed food imports. A senior official with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), the state’s tax collection arm, said the revenue organ was under pressure from the government and from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to probe all revenue paying businesses to ensure they were paying tax. The official, who spoke on condition he was not named said: "ZIMRA is under fire from the government and the RBZ. The RBZ is under pressure to raise money to import food and fuel. Hopes that tobacco sales would boost our foreign currency coffers have left the country facing a crisis with ZIMRA as the only source of revenue, hence this pressure." As well as inspect tax books, ZIMRA officials were also examining financial records to ensure businesses were not earning money through black-market deals and thus prejudicing the state of revenue, according to the official. An accountant with one of the largest firms in Bulawayo narrated how ZIMRA officials barged into the firm’ s offices demanding all audited statements of accounts, proof of previous tax remittances and all receipts showing current and previous business transactions. "We were not prepared for them (ZIMRA) at all. It is normal practice for them to make appointments before they visit," the accountant said. He added: "The two tax inspectors simply told me they would be working from my office and that I was required to be present throughout the audit."
But Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu denied ZIMRA was under pressure to raise money for food and fuel saying the ongoing inspection by the revenue body was a routine exercise meant to ensure good corporate practice and accountability in the business sector. Mpofu said: "I can confirm that (the) tax inspections are routine, regular exercises. It surprises me that when Zimbabwe government carries out its duties diligently, it faces accusations of (having) foul intentions, yet it is derided as a failure when it does not enforce national regulations." The company raids by ZIMRA comes as the RBZ last week launched a similar raid of hotel and tour operators inspecting their books to ensure they were declaring all foreign currency earnings to the central bank. Zimbabwe, grappling its worst ever foreign currency crisis, must import 1.2 million tonnes of the staple maize after poor harvests this year. Fuel, electricity and essential medical drugs are already in critical short supply in the country because there is no forex to pay foreign suppliers. The government last month diverted Z$5 trillion meant for capital projects to pay for food with ruling Zanu PF party spokesman, Nathan Shamuyarira, declaring at the time that the state was going to do whatever was necessary to raise money to pay for food.
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From Reuters, 11 May
Foreign donors shun Zimbabwe
United Nations - Foreign donors are so discouraged with Zimbabwe that it attracted just $4 in outside aid for every person with AIDS in 2004 compared to $74 on average in the South African region as a whole, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said on Tuesday. Zimbabwe is one of a number of African countries suffering from the triple threat of soaring AIDS cases, drought and "weak or bad governance," Egeland said after briefing the U.N. Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Africa. But a lack of dialogue between the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and potential donors was also to blame for the country's poor showing in AIDS. Danish Ambassador Ellen Loj proposed that council members approve an informal statement expressing concern about the situation in Zimbabwe but that was blocked when China and Algeria objected, diplomats said. The two countries argued that Zimbabwe's problem was a humanitarian crisis that did not belong on the agenda of the Security Council, which deals with international peace and security, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Zimbabwe was once a breadbasket for Africa but its economy has virtually collapsed during the last six years and it now depends heavily on outside aid to feed its people. Critics blame Mugabe, who encouraged the seizure of white-owned commercial farms, severely disrupting Zimbabwe's agricultural sector and scaring off foreign investors. The 81-year-old leader, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, accuses his domestic and foreign foes of trying to sabotage the economy. Egeland urged Zimbabwe's government to cooperate with aid groups and better communicate with potential donors to help address the country's food shortages. The government is not doing enough to facilitate the work of teams sent to assess food needs and humanitarian aid groups, he told reporters.
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From The Daily Mirror, 11 May
Mudede summons missionaries over food handouts
Daily Mirror Reporter
The Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, yesterday summoned two missionaries from their home along Herbert Chitepo Avenue in Harare following reports the pair was providing food to people who queue at the Passport Office and later sell their places to passport seekers. The missionaries, Marth Joan Trevelyan and her son Craig Victor Howard Trevelyan, work for the Central Church of Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) and operate from a house opposite the Passport Offices in the capital. Riot police were also called in to flush out the queue holders, while Mudede warned the Trevelyan family to stop feeding them. Said Mudede: "I am not happy with this family. We are not declaring peace with them. We cannot have a situation where people are being fed and have energy to come and steal from our people, painting a very bad picture on the state of affairs here." He said most of the queue holders who were briefly detained by the police were street kids who also engaged in criminal activities. Speaking to The Daily Mirror, Marth Joan Trevelyan argued they were Christians who had come to Zimbabwe specifically to assist less privileged people. "But God said you should feed the hungry despite who they are and where they are coming from," she said, almost in tears. She said they were also assisting the Department of Social Welfare, which seemed to have many children to look after. The Daily Mirror caught up with Shackie Phiri, who was among the group netted by the police during the operation. Phiri admitted that he would take a place in the queue and later sell it for $20 000 to passport seekers who came late.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 11 May
Zimbabwe confirms SA mercenaries to be freed today
By Beauregard Tromp and Sapa-DPA
Johannesburg: Zimbabwe yesterday confirmed that the 63 mercenaries held in that country would be freed from prison today, state television reported. The families of the 63 spent another anxious night last night waiting for their loved ones' release. "The families are waiting on my call," said Griebenow, who was finalising the men's release along with local attorney Jonathan Samkange. The men were due to be released on March 2 but an appeal by the Zimbabwean attorney-general quashed the hopes of family members gathered at Beit Bridge two months ago. "It's not right, but what can you do," said Marge Pain, wife of jailed pilot Ken Pain. "We're still OK because we try to get on with our lives but I really feel sorry for the guys. This is what they live and hope for every day." The group's lawyer Alwyn Griebenow said the paperwork had been completed and that the men were expected to be handed over to immigration officials before being driven to the Beit Bridge border to be reunited with their families. Pain said she was ready to head off to the border "at the drop of a hat" once she got word of her husband's release. Because of the uncertainty, only a few family members made the trip to Harare. The alleged mercenaries, led by British soldier of fortune Simon Mann, were arrested at Harare Airport in March last year while trying to buy firearms from corrupt defence force officials. The men maintain they were en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard a mine. They were arrested at about the same time as a 15-strong advance party in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Mann is serving a four-year sentence. Under Zimbabwean law, criminals may be released after serving two-thirds of their jail terms on condition of good behaviour.
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From The Times (UK), 11 May 2005
Dogs of war are going home but when they get there, they'll find it's gone
From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg
After more than a year in a Zimbabwean jail 62 black South African mercenaries are due to be released this week, but freedom will be a bittersweet experience. Not for the first time in their lives the mercenaries - seized at Harare airport as they allegedly prepared to mount a coup in Equatorial Guinea - are set to pay for their actions with their homes. Embarrassed by the "cesspool of mercenaries" within its midst, the South African authorities have decreed that the dust-blown former asbestos mining town of Pomfret on the edge of the Kalahari desert must be razed and the inhabitants scattered across the country. Sam Mkhwanzi, a spokesman for the South African Defence Ministry, said: "I can confirm that Pomfret is to be destroyed. This is property belonging to the South African defence forces and on that basis you live there." Most of the mercenaries and their families have lived in Pomfret, in the remote north-western corner of the country, for the past 15 years. They were among 3,000 fighters - mainly Angolans but also other Portuguese-speaking Africans - who fought with South Africa’s apartheid army against fellow blacks seeking liberation in neighbouring Angola, Mozambique and Namibia.
During negotiations in 1990 to end minority rule in South Africa the fighters - who had formed the Battalion 32 known as the Buffalo Squadron and the "Terrible Ones" - were given citizenship and resettled in Pomfret, then empty due to fears of asbestos poisoning, as part of the last apartheid Government’s obligations to its former military allies. But the men and their families were shunned as traitors. Apart from the Portuguese music echoing down its dusty lanes, Pomfret was, on the surface, just like many other South African shanty towns. But whereas life and amenities slowly improved elsewhere, Pomfret - with its 700 lean-to shacks, run-down school and handful of shops - was left to fester as a standing monument to being on the wrong side of history. In 1993, Battalion 32 was finally wound up. A handful moved on, but most of the former soldiers were left jobless and embittered. They become a reservoir of talent for mercenary outfits. Until recently, it was rumoured that a few phone calls to Pomfret were all that was needed to put together an effective mercenary force - talk which infuriated South Africa and led directly to the Government adopting some of the world’s toughest anti-mercenary legislation in 1998.
It was into this ready-made pool of discontented military veterans that Simon Mann, an old Etonian and former SAS officer, dipped while allegedly planning a coup to overthrow the Government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea last year - a plot in which Sir Mark Thatcher, the son of Baroness Thatcher, was also implicated. The plot fell apart when the 64 former Buffalo Squadron fighters - two have since died in detention - were arrested along with Mr Mann and two white South Africans at Harare airport where they had apparently met to pick up weapons. A further 15 alleged coup plotters were arrested at the same time in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. The involvement of the former South African soldiers has infuriated President Thabo Mbeki’s Government. Pretoria was already considering taking action over the large number of white former members of the South African Defence Force who had volunteered to work for private military outfits in Iraq. This convinced the military it was time to do away with Pomfret and its legacy. The official reason for the town’s demolition is asbestos poisoning, but insiders say the timing is a lot more than coincidental. "They made the mistake of fighting on the wrong side yet again," said one government insider. Residents will have to apply for government housing elsewhere, and will be scattered across the country.
The Buffalo Squadron are seen by most South Africans as a brutal force which did the dirty work of a repressive apartheid regime. But they were also taking on Marxist guerilla movements in Angola and Mozambique backed by Havana and Moscow. "This is a sad end for Buffalo Squadron. Whatever the politics and geo-politics of that time, they were a superb fighting force. They spearheaded operations deep into Angola," said one South Africa-based expert on Angola. "There were no saints in those wars." Battalion 32’s most famous military encounter was in 1988 at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola where they fought a combined force of Marxist Angolan guerrillas, Cubans and East Germans, to a draw and prevented that country falling into the orbit of the Soviet Union.
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From Zim Online (SA), 11 May
Tsvangirai in Mauritius
Harare - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is in Mauritius today for talks with Prime Minister Paul Berenger in a new effort to enlist the region to help end Zimbabwe’s crisis, deepening after a disputed election last March. A top official of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party told Zim Online last night that his meeting with Berenger was at the invitation of the Mauritian leader, who is chairman of the Southern Development Community (SADC). "The meeting is at the invitation of Prime Minister Berenger who requested to meet the MDC leadership to discuss the continuing crisis in Zimbabwe," said MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube. MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda and party deputy secretary general, Gift Chimanikire, are travelling with Tsvangirai, according to Ncube. Today's meeting with Berenger is the first between the Zimbabwean opposition leader and any SADC head of state or government since he pulled his MDC party from a South African-driven mediation process aimed at finding a solution to Zimbabwe's political crisis. Tsvangirai and the MDC accuse South African President Thabo Mbeki and his government of taking sides in the Zimbabwe dispute after they endorsed Zanu PF’s election victory despite what the opposition says is clear evidence of rigging by Mugabe and his government.
Zanu PF won 78 of the 120 contested seats with the MDC winning 41 seats and an independent candidate taking the remaining seat. With Mugabe appointing another 30 unelected Members of Parliament, the ruling party now controls two-thirds of Parliament enabling it to unilaterally rewrite Zimbabwe’s constitution. But Zimbabwe’s food and economic crisis rapidly deteriorated just days after Zanu PF’s landslide election victory. Basic commodities vanished from most shops, while in the few shops that still had a few essential commodities in stock, prices more than doubled. A five-year fuel shortage worsened with most garages across the country without petrol and diesel while Harare was plunged into darkness as the generators at the old Kariba hydro power plant packed up due to shortage of spares while power supplies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo were disrupted because of a breakdown there. Water tapes also dried up in most suburbs of Harare because of a shortage of spare parts for water pumps and water treatment chemicals. The staple maize is also fast running out and international food relief agencies are warning of a humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe in the coming months unless up to 1.2 million tonnes of the staple grain are urgently shipped to the country.
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From Zim Online (SA), 12 May
Riot police quell protest in Harare suburb
Harare - Armed police yesterday beat up and forcibly dispersed residents of Harare’s low income suburb of Mabvuku who had taken to the streets after going for three days without water. Member of Parliament for Mabvuku, Timothy Mubhau, told ZimOnline that three people had been arrested by the police for demonstrating against the severe water shortage and that the police were still questioning more residents over the matter yesterday. "Police came in six vehicles and there was pandemonium as people fled in all directions . . . three have been arrested and several residents are being interrogated by the police," Mubhau said. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could however not confirm the Mabvuku arrests saying he had still not been briefed about the morning protests in the suburb. Harare is grappling severe water shortages because there is no foreign currency for spares for broken down water pumps and also to pay for water treatment chemicals. But Mabvuku has been the worst hit by the water shortage with residents there forced to drink sewer and refuse contaminated water from a stream flowing near the suburb. Mubhau, who won the Mabvuku parliamentary seat on an opposition Movement for Democratic Change party ticket, warned of more possible protests in the poor suburb saying residents there were still seething with anger after yesterday's clashes with the police. He said: "People demonstrated in the morning because they have gone for some days without water . . . the protests were quelled by anti-riot police but the anger is still mounting among the people because there is still no water." The shortage of water in Harare is only one in a long list of basic survival commodities increasingly difficult to find in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party wrapped a landslide victory in a controversial poll last March. Fuel, electricity, food and essential medicines have all become scarcer in Zimbabwe chiefly because there is no hard cash to pay foreign suppliers.
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From The Financial Gazette, 12 May
Makwavarara faces chop
Rangarirai Mberi
Hardliners within Zanu PF are demanding that Sekesai Makwavarara, the beleaguered chairperson of the commission running Harare resign or be fired amid frantic eleventh-hour efforts to save the city from imminent collapse. Impeccable Zanu PF sources said pressure was building inside the ruling party - known for its obsession with exerting its influence in the city - for the dismissal of the former Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) councillor. This comes just weeks ahead of the expiry of her term of office on June 9. The move is widely seen as a vote of no-confidence in her ability to turnaround the city’s operations. The sources said it was felt that Makwavarara did not have what it takes to turn around the city and that a new person at the helm could do better than the incumbent. It was believed within the ruling party that her ouster would also be sending a signal that the era of politics of patronage was over. According to the sources, senior ruling party officials, increasingly getting impatient with Makwavarara’s failure to restore order and a new generation of services in Harare, were leaning heavily on Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo not to give the commission another term in office. The Harare City Council (HCC) commission boss - under whose stewardship service delivery in the capital city has virtually collapsed - has of late come under intense pressure from residents who accuse her of plunging the city into an unprecedented crisis.
Although there is a Supreme Court precedence that a commission should only be appointed for a single term, Chombo is said to have indicated that he would renew Makwavarara’s term of office. Zanu PF deputy secretary for information and publicity Ephraim Masawi was quoted after last Friday’s Politburo meeting as saying that the meeting had discussed grievances that urban voters had against Zanu PF, which won only a single urban constituency at the March 31 election. The Financial Gazette has heard that senior Politburo members had insisted at the meeting that opposition to ruling party had remained firm, particularly in Harare, largely due to an evident decline in service delivery under a Commission appointed by the Zanu PF government. "There is a strong feeling that Makwavarara has failed, although there are some who are already rushing to her defence," a senior Zanu PF official said this week. However, Chombo has remained a strong supporter of Makwavarara even in the face of growing opposition to her reappointment from within Zanu PF. Chombo was yesterday unavailable for comment.
The government this week announced it had relieved Makwavarara’s commission of the duty of managing Harare’s bulk water system, handing that responsibility to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). The move has been seen as a sign of waning patience within government over the Commission, and a no-confidence vote for Makwavarara despite her latest promises to restructure the commission and enhance efficiency. A meeting has been scheduled for next week between Chombo and Munacho Mutezo, the new minister of Water Resources and Infrastructural Development, under whose ministry ZINWA falls. According to council sources, the meeting will discuss the transfer of all council staff and assets involved in water supply to ZINWA. The transfer will be at no costs to ZINWA, but the authority urgently needs $350 billion to normalise water supplies in the immediate term. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has said it will lodge a legal challenge against Chombo’s if he follows through on his intention to extend Makwavarara’s stay at Town House. CHRA chairman Mike Davies said the association, which has petitioned council to reverse massive rate hikes of up to 2000 percent, would also call for a full-scale rate boycott if Makwavarara were allowed to stay.
Makwavarara last week announced a plan to end worsening operational inefficiency at Town House by splitting the Harare City Council into seven independent strategic business units, saying "we must transform or we perish". The proposed divisions are Harare Roads and Street Lighting, Harare Waste Management, Communication, Finance, Harare Public Transport and Harare Water and Sanitation. However, Government, in another show of frustration at Makwavarara’s administration, announced it was restructuring the Commission by appointing several more officials to Council "to help the city implement its turnaround strategy". Makwavarara has presided over a sharp deterioration in the standards of service delivery since she was appointed to replace Elias Mudzuri, who was elected in 2002, but sacked a year later by Chombo on charges of incompetence and, oddly, "interfering in the management of city affairs". Makwavarara was Mudzuri’s deputy in the MDC-controlled council, but she defected to Zanu PF upon her appointment as acting mayor. She has since been rewarded with a farm in Chombo’s Mashonaland West province. Since her appointment, Makwavarara has failed to produce audited accounts, involved herself in petty staff wars over office space, and presided over acute water shortages and poor refuse collection.
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From The Star (SA), 12 May
Dollar-starved Zim uses its gold recources to pay debt to Eskom
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabwe, reeling under acute foreign-currency shortages, has been settling its electricity debt to South Africa in gold. In the face of denials by Eskom, impeccable sources in the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), said yesterday an arrangement had been reached for the RBZ to transfer gold bars across the border to South Africa in partial liquidation of its debt to Eskom. This was after persistent hard-currency shortages in Zimbabwe had forced the RBZ to default on its power debt. The arrangement follows a major crackdown on small- and medium-scale miners in Zimbabwe who had been accused of smuggling the commodity out of the country instead of selling it to the RBZ as required by law. The crackdown helped the RBZ to increase its gold intake last year as miners fearing the cancellation of their licences surrendered stocks of gold to the central bank. The arrangement helped Zesa to whittle its debt to Eskom to less than $7-million from more than $25-million. "Though this is not conventional practice, the fact is that we had to find a way of settling the debt. Otherwise it would have kept on accumulating because there is simply no foreign currency here," said a Zimbabwe's central bank official, speaking anonymously.
The officials would not reveal the intricacies of how the system worked once the gold was in South Africa, lest this lead to identification of sources. But they said it had the blessing of all "who should be in the know", including Eskom's bankers. The value of gold transported to South Africa would liquidate an agreed portion of the debt, which was denominated in US dollars, the sources said. Gold production in Zimbabwe last year totalled 21 300kg, markedly less than in previous years due to the closure of large-scale mining companies unhappy with soaring production costs that were not matched by the controlled price set by the RBZ. Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu denied the arrangement existed, saying Zesa was paying in US dollars despite their shortage in Zimbabwe. At first Zulu would merely say: "It's not gold they are using to pay us. I will not enter into a conversation about how they are paying." Shortly afterwards he changed tack and said Zesa was paying in US dollars. The debt was denominated in US dollars and Eskom was paying using this with that currency, insisted Zulu. No gold was being transported across the border, he said, but the sources inside Zimbabwe maintained that was the arrangement. Zimbabwe is mired in serious fuel, food and electricity shortages due to the lack of foreign currency. Power shortages, culminating in blackouts, are frequent despite Zesa's attempts to pay Eskom. Harare has failed to pay other suppliers in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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From SABC News, 12 May
Obsession with Zimbabwe smacks of racism: Dlamini-Zuma
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the foreign minister, says Africa's economic upliftment should not be jeopardized by the perceived problems in Zimbabwe. Dlamini Zuma was speaking yesterday in Dubai. She also said the obsession with Zimbabwe smacked of racism. Addressing media during a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dlamini-Zuma said Nepad should not be associated with just one country. "We resent the idea that if the rest of the world or the West does not like what one country does, then all of Africa must suffer." Why should Africa suffer collective punishment, even if there were problems in Zimbabwe. Does all of the EU suffer because of problems in Northern Ireland?" Being divided only by the Limpopo river, South Africa knew Zimbabwe's problems better than any other country, she said. "Zimbabwe is correcting an historic injustice. We may not agree with the methods but we agree with the correction of an injustice. This whole hullabaloo is about black people are taking land from white people. There is an element of racism," the minister said.
She stressed that South Africa believed in a more orderly way of land redistribution. "In South Africa we are going through a process of buying back land. We believe these things must be done in this orderly fashion." However, South Africa would not police Zimbabwe. "This is not how we conduct our relations. When it rains there is a border between us, when there is no rain there is no border. So we know the problems of Zimbabwe better than anyone," the minister said. She said if Zimbabwe should collapse Britain, the US or the EU would not be affected. "South Africa will be affected. If there is a crisis, even the white people will have to cross over to South Africa to get flights to Britain." She said although Africa would accept the support of the West to see Nepad succeed, it would not stoop to pressure to "police Zimbabwe." "Nepad should not be linked to one country," she said. The minister also said South Africa was hopeful that the UAE would become involved in Nepad through infrastructure development.
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From Zim Online (SA), 12 May
Paperwork delays release of 62 mercenaries
Harare - Zimbabwe authorities have said they will let go 62 South African mercenaries this morning after failing to do so yesterday because of delays in completing immigration formalities. Chief Immigration Officer Elasto Mugwadi said logistical problems as well as security concerns he did not elaborate, had prevented the release of the men jailed at the notorious Chikurubi prison near Harare last year after being convicted of violating Zimbabwe’s security laws. He said: "There are logistical problems that have to be addressed, which include security issues as well . . . once the men are released they would have to be transported out of the country. By tomorrow (today), we would have finished the process and they will be released." The mercenaries led by Briton, Simon Mann, were arrested at Harare International Airport last May while en route to Equatorial Guinea where they were allegedly going to help overthrow that country’s President Theodore Obiang Nguema. They were found guilty of violating Zimbabwe's aviation and immigration laws. A Harare High Court judge earlier this year remitted part of the men’s 12 month jail terms but Zimbabwe Attorney General Sobhuza Gula-Ndebele appealed against the ruling to prevent their early release from prison. Gula-Ndebele’s appeal is still to be heard by the Supreme Court but will now be of academic relevance as the men have already served their full sentences. Mann, whose sentence was slashed on review by the High Court from 10 to seven years, remains in jail.
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From ZWNEWS, 11 May
Bennett moved to maximum security prison
Harare - The Zimbabwean authorities have moved Roy Bennett once again, without notice or justification, this time to the country's maximum security jail, Chikurubi. In the 24 hours since Roy was moved to Chikurubi, his lawyers have been denied access to their client on three separate occasions. His family has no idea why he has been moved or what conditions he is now being kept in. Roy has spent the past six and a half months in prison after being sentenced by the Zanu PF members of parliament to one year in jail after he pushed the Minister of Parliament, Patrick Chinamasa during a parliamentary debate. Although Chinamasa was not hurt, had insulted Roy and his forebears and had dismissed the numerous court orders that Roy had obtained regarding his forcible expulsion from his house and land, the Zanu PF MPs voted for his incarceration. The severity of the sentence in relation to the minor nature of the offence is unprecedented in parliamentary jurisdictions throughout the world and has been condemned by local and international legal associations and human rights organisations. Roy spent his first month in Harare Central Prison before being moved to Mutoko resulting in a five hour round trip for his family when they were allowed to visit him for 30 minutes once every two weeks. Although conditions in Mutoko Prison are far from adequate, Chikurubi is notorious amongst Zimbabwean jails for the harsh treatment of prisoners and the appalling health and sanitary conditions. Diseases such as tuberculosis are rife, the water supply is often contaminated and severe overcrowding assist the spread of infection.
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From Zim Online (SA), 12 May
Police threaten to ban launch of protest music album
Harare - Zimbabwe police have threatened to stop the launch and distribution of a music album produced by local civic society groups calling for democratic and constitutional reforms in the country. The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), bringing together churches, labour unions, political parties and civic rights groups, said the police’s law and order section has demanded to listen to the album first and promised to prevent its release if they deem its content "anti-government." NCA spokeswoman Jessie Manjome yesterday told Zim Online that police officials told the civic coalition that they were worried music on the album might be used to rally Zimbabweans to rise against the government particularly as emotions are still high in the country after last March’s disputed election. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment on the matter. But Majome, a lawyer, vowed that the NCA will press ahead with the launch of the album because the organisation does not require police permission to do so. She said: "The police have no power to stop the launch and distribution of the album. We informed them as a matter of courtesy and we were inviting them the same way we have invited other people to the album launch. There is no need for police permission and we will not ask for it."
Majome said in addition to music calling for constitutional reforms, the NCA has also included on the album protest songs against police brutality and President Robert Mugabe’s dictatorial excesses. She said: "We are using music to protest against police brutality, the use of dictatorial methods to quash forces of democratic reform and the fact that after 25 years of alleged democracy, we still don't have a democratic, people oriented constitution." Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party have ruthlessly clamped down on divergent views and dissension as their hold on power has come under increasing challenge from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party in the last five years. Several songs by national music icon Thomas Mapfumo and a host of other artists remain banned from national radio and television after government officials deemed them too critical of the state. Four newspapers, including the country’s largest non-government-owned daily, the Daily News, remain off the newsstands after they were banned by the government in the last two years.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 13 May
Mercenaries still stuck in Zimbabwe
Amy Musgrave
Musina - It is unclear whether the 62 alleged mercenaries jailed in Zimbabwe will return to South Africa on Friday, their lawyer, Alwyn Griebenow, said from Harare on Thursday. The men were supposed to have been released from Chikurubi maximum-security prison outside Harare when their sentences expired on Tuesday. They have served 12 months for violating Zimbabwe's immigration, aviation, firearms and security laws. The group was then due to be released early on Thursday, but this was delayed due to transport and security concerns by Zimbabwean immigration officials. "We offered to supply a bus to bring them back, but it has been turned down because they say they are a security risk," Griebenow said. The group will be brought to South Africa via the Beitbridge border post by transport organised by immigration officials. Wives and girlfriends of the men said on Thursday they will make their way to the border once the group has been released. "I'm waiting on tenterhooks. As soon as I know when they are coming back, I'm driving up to meet them," said Simon Witherspoon's girlfriend, Anne, from Pietermaritzburg.
Karen Harris, the fiancée of one of the men, from Johannesburg said: "I'm very excited and nervous. But I'm also a bit scared because the time is ticking on; I don't know if they'll be here today [Thursday]." Marge Pain, wife of Kenneth Pain (61), said she is not surprised that her husband is still in prison. "I don't even know why I get shocked sometimes. But it is really not surprising," she said. "This waiting is so soul destroying," she said in Musina near the Beitbridge border post. "I don't know what is going on. I don't know what they [Zimbabwean officials] are trying to prove." She was waiting for her husband's return with her mother, sister, daughter, cousin and eight-year-old grandson, Justin. "And here Justin sits - I even took him out of school again - thinking he is going to see his oupa [grandfather]. They are so close; this is terrible." She said she has organised a pass to meet her husband on Monday in case he is not released before the time.
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the men will not be arrested on their return, but the Scorpions are probing whether they have contravened the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act. If so, they will face prosecution. "We will speak to them when appropriate ... They've been in jail for a year and want to see their families. Their families want to see them," NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said on Thursday. "We have contact with their lawyer and know where to find them. So why would we want to arrest them?" South African ambassador Jerry Ndou said the men will leave Harare after the completion of all their immigration procedures. Zimbabwe's chief immigration officer is personally handling the men's deportation. Their early release in March after a reduction of their sentences was thwarted by an appeal by Zimbabwean Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele. He argued that early releases only applied to Zimbabweans. Leave for the appeal was granted, but it has not been heard yet.
Two of the men due for release on Thursday - Francisco Marcus and Melane Moyodue - are ill with tuberculosis, believed to have been picked up in prison. Accusations of mistreatment of the prisoners have also surfaced, with Griebenow saying their living conditions were "horrible". Their prison food has been a spoon of cabbage and a spoon of porridge a day, they have slept on the floor, and sometimes weeks have gone by without running water, he said. The men were arrested at Harare International airport when they apparently landed to refuel and pick up military equipment. Zimbabwean authorities said they were on their way to join 15 other alleged mercenaries - including eight South Africans - arrested in Equatorial Guinea at about the same time. The men said the equipment found in their possession was to be used to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group in Equatorial Guinea was convicted and given long prison sentences for trying to overthrow the country's long-time dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
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From News24 (SA), 13 May
Zim inflation 'a nightmare'
Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank governor is having "sleepless nights" over how to tame inflation currently running at more than 120%, the Herald newspaper reported on Friday. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono is struggling to contain inflation, which President Robert Mugabe's government considers the "Number 1 enemy". From an all-time high of more than 622% in January 2004, the inflation rate dropped to 123.7% this March, but inflationary pressures are once again high and there are fears it will soar again. Gono, who is due to give a monetary policy review next Thursday, says he has decided upon "resolute measures that we are going to take once and for all". Earlier, Gono had said he wanted inflation to be around 20%-30% by the end of 2005. That may not be possible, independent economists say. Zimbabwe's parallel market for foreign currency is said to be booming once again and there are food shortages, which the government says have been "artificially" created. "We are not new to these challenges. They will be dealt with decisively," Gono, a former leading banker, told the Herald.
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From Zim Online (SA), 13 May
Food aid recipients swell to a million
Bulawayo - The number of school children, orphans and other vulnerable individuals receiving food in Zimbabwe under a special World Food Programme scheme swelled to one million last month as severe hunger spreads across the country. WFP spokeswoman Makena Walker said most of the recipients were from the southern Matabeleland region, traditionally a poor rainfall region and the worst affected by food shortages this year. "In April alone, WFP provided food aid to one million people, mainly school children from Matabeleland region and those that are living with HIV/AIDS," said Walker. Four months ago, about 900 000 people were receiving food under the WFP scheme that is limited to the vulnerable in society. President Robert Mugabe and his government will not allow the WFP or any other donor to feed the starving general populace. Local church leaders, United Nations food experts and other non-governmental organisations have warned of a humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe in the coming months unless the government opened up and allowed unfettered delivery of food aid by international donor groups. But Harare, which admitted Zimbabwe was facing serious food shortages only last March after denying there was hunger in the country and even telling international food agencies last year to take their help elsewhere, insists it has enough resources to ensure no one starves. Zimbabwe would need to import 1.2 billion tonnes of maize costing about US$500 million, money which Mugabe’s government grappling a severe economic crisis for the last five years does not have.
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From News24 (SA), 12 May
Zim govt may undo wage hikes
Harare - The Zimbabwean government is considering reversing massive wage hikes for domestic workers introduced just before parliamentary elections in March, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Thursday. Salaries for gardeners, housekeepers and childminders were hiked nearly 10-fold just days before the elections on March 31. The Daily Mirror claimed President Robert Mugabe's government had "bowed to mounting pressure from the Domestic Workers Union (DWU) to reverse domestic workers' minimum wages gazetted in March, in a last—minute bid to avoid massive job losses." Lancaster Museka, the permanent secretary in the social welfare ministry, said officials had started "redrafting a paper to address" industry and workers' concerns over the hikes. "I admit the issue of domestic wages is a controversial issue. We certainly need to rethink on that area. We've already started redrafting a paper to address your (industry and workers) concerns. I am working flat out on that paper," Museka told the paper, which is privately-run. "Be assured the ministry will submit the recommendations to government for review. So something is afoot," he added. The sudden rise in domestic workers' wages caused an outcry in many circles and there were warnings of massive retrenchments. Housekeepers' salaries were raised from around Z$150 000 per month (R150.69) to Z$1.3m. The Daily Mirror said a "multitude of domestic workers" were facing dismissal because of the wage hikes, which they said could have a knock-on effect on industry, already suffering in Zimbabwe's tightly-stretched economy. The elections were won by Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party.
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From Zim Online (SA), 13 May
Police backtrack on threats to ban protest music album
Harare - Zimbabwe police yesterday backtracked on threats to stop the release of an album of protest music produced by local civic society groups. A spokeswoman of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a coalition of civic bodies that is behind the music album, last night said the album will be launched today after the police officials indicated they would no longer prevent its release to the market. NCA spokeswoman Jessie Majome said: "Our officials went to the police station this morning and a police Assistant Inspector Mhondoro indicated that the police have no problem with us launching the album." Majome did not say why the police relented on their threat to ban the release of the protest music album but said the NCA was prepared to resist any attempts to ban their music. "In any case we were already psyched up to resist any attempt to disrupt the event (launch of album)," she said. Music on the album calls for a new and democratic constitution for Zimbabwe and also criticises police brutality against the government’s political opponents. The police had earlier said they wanted to ban the album for fear the protest music it contains could be used to rally Zimbabweans to rise against the government particularly as emotions were still high in the country after last March’s disputed parliamentary election. State secret agents and the police routinely censure music or publications deemed too critical of President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF. Local music icon Thomas Mapfumo and several other artists have had their songs banned from national airwaves because state official feared they might incite Zimbabweans against the government. Four newspapers including the country’s largest circulating non government-owned daily, the Daily News, have been banned in the last two years by a government too sensitive to criticism amid mounting opposition to its rule.
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From The Star (SA), 13 May
Laughter, anger as MP lauds Zim poll as model
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabwe’s parliamentary elections last month were so "impeccable" that South Africa should seriously consider learning how to run elections from its northern neighbour, ANC member of parliament Nthabiseng Khunou said yesterday. Khunou, who was part of the South African parliament’s observer group to the disputed elections, set off lively discussion at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) yesterday at an election review meeting. Two members of the audience rose and first declared their membership of the ANC before saying Khunou had disgraced the ruling party. But a defiant Khunou stood by her remarks. She said there had been no political violence or repression in Zimbabwe, and the election had been held in peaceful circumstances. "There are so many negative things written about Zimbabwe, but when we went there, we could not get any evidence to support them. The pre-election process was well planned and executed … There was no verifiable evidence to justify food-discrimination claims against MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) supporters," Khunou added. She said the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, used to shut down five newspapers within 18 months, and the Public Order and Security Act, under which the opposition requires police permission to hold political meetings, had been properly implemented "to enforce law and order".
The Democratic Alliance’s Diane Kohler-Barnard, who was part of the South African parliamentary observer mission, said she felt she had attended a different event in a different country. She chronicled a list of developments that she said could not have made the election free and fair. This included the refusal of the mainstream public media to cover MDC events, the denial of police permission for opposition rallies, the selective implementation of draconian laws against opposition supporters, the intimidation of voters, and the running of the elections by partisan electoral bodies. Asked to list elements that she would want South Africa to adopt, Khunou said: "The queueing system at polling stations was very pleasing." When the audience laughed, Khunou launched into a tirade: "I am not here to tell you what you want to hear. I will report on what I saw and not what you think I saw. I did not see any violence in Zimbabwe." An ANC member present said it was unfortunate that a proper critique of Zimbabwe’s elections was coming from the DA instead of the ANC, which had benefited from the comradeship of Zimbabwe’s now suffering masses.
SAIIA researcher Ross Herbert congratulated Khunou for her participation at the meeting in the absence of Department of Foreign Affairs and Zanu-PF representatives despite earlier promises. But he told her: "It would have been better if you had come here to simply declare your support for Mugabe and state that your party would wish that he remains in power. That is quite an acceptable position. What is unacceptable is to make preposterous statements that are contrary to reality." An incensed Elinor Sisulu, daughter-in-law of Walter Sisulu, told Khunou that victims of torture and rape who had fled to South Africa would be seriously hurt by her words. Khunou said she was not aware of such victims. Sisulu countered that Khunou and her party’s "skewed" assessment of the Zimbabwean election was probably the result of observing it from the Sheraton Hotel.
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From The Zimbabwean, 13 May
ZESA swaps tobacco for forex
International firms involved
By Wilf Mbanga
London An international tobacco company, through its subsidiary in Zimbabwe, has teamed up with the energy utility ZESA to fund newly-settled growers on land appropriated from commercial farmers while paying its debts to a Chinese company. Universal Leaf Tobacco, an Amercian-based company, through Zimbabwe leaf Tobacco (ZLT) is paying the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority’s debts with CATEC a Chinese-based supplier of power equipment. Contacted in Harare for comment, the managing director of ZLT, Gary Wallace, confirmed this week that the company was acting as a facilitator for ZESA in the deal. "But make sure that your facts are correct, otherwise we will bring the lawyers in," Wallace warned me. "Don’t publish bullshit which is not the way things are," he added. Outlining the scheme, Wallace said it had been conceived and was administered by ZESA, who vetted the participating growers. The new tobacco farmers, located mainly in the Mashonaland provinces, signed contracts with ZESA who paid them for their crops, he said. ZLT then paid CATEC in return for the tobacco. Wallace denied that the foreign currency provided by his firm had been used to purchase the new K8 jetfighters from China, as alleged by a statement in The Zimbabwean’s possession. Reports from Zimbabwe have suggested that international tobacco companies with local subsidiaries, fighting for their survival, are forward-selling tobacco produced on stolen farms to pay for Mugabe’s Chinese shopping list which includes jetfighters, tanks, personnel carriers, AK-47 rifles and sophisticated bugging technology.
The new farmers could soon find themselves at the centre of international legal disputes as lawyers for the farmers seek compensation. Like many commercial farmers. Who were kicked off their land while their tobacco crops were still in the field, Joe Whaley had his farm taken over by one of Mugabe ’s relatives, Chester Mhende. "Mhende walked on to Joe’s farm two year’s ago, as the tobacco crop was about to be reaped. With the help of the Zanu PF heavies and th epolice, he prevented Joe from taking anything off the farm. The tobacco crop was reaped and sold,"said a friend of Whaley’s this week. He alleged that the crop was bought by ZLT. When asked to comment on this allegation, Wallace told The Zimbabwean "ZLT might have bought Mhende’s crop through the auction floors we don’t know." In addition to having reaped the crop, Mhende has been using the equipment on the farm and has never paid a cent to Whalley who has now secured a high court injunction confirming that he is the rightful owner of the farm and that Mhende has to get off. The police, however, have refused to act saying the matter is political and their hands are tied according to our informant. In what would appear to be a related development, ZESA announced at the weekend that it would clear its debt with Eskom currently US$2.4 million by the end of this month. The parastatal thanked the Reserve Bank for making this possible. Zimbabweans have reported crippling power cuts during the past few weeks.
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From The Zimbabwean, 13 May
Land grab to go to arbitration
By Wilf Mbanga
London - About 1 500 commercial farmers who have had their land forcibly and sometimes violently seized by Robert Mugabe’s government have taken their case to international arbitration. The court case will bring to the world’s attention the stark facts of the tragedy of Zimbabwe’s land ‘reform’ programme without the hype and emotionalism that has clouded the issue for the past five years. The action is also likely to damage NEPAD severely. The expropriation of over US$4 billion in assets in Zimbabwe, without any action being taken by the international community - and without any condemnation from other African governments is not going to encourage investment in Africa. The farmers, most of whom are not settlers (as claimed by the current regime) but who acquired their properties after Zimbabwe's independence, are seeking compensation or a return of their expropriated properties. They fall into three different categories: Zimbabwean nationals; foreign nationals whose countries signed bi-lateral investment treaties ratified by Zimbabwe such as the Dutch- and foreign nationals who countries did not have such agreements. Under the terms of the treaties signed, Zimbabwe agreed to submit to binding international arbitration. In the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) signed with the Netherlands, Zimbabwe promised to pay compensation to Dutch nationals in the event that their property was expropriated. Fifteen Dutch farmers have been notified that their requests for arbitration were registered on April 15 by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) a World Bank dispute resolution forum. Their assets have been valued at US$15 million.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the farmers in the UK, Bishop and Sewell, told The Zimbabwean that they had plans to persuade other governments that had not signed or ratified bilateral investment treaties with Zimbabwe to espouse claims on behalf of their nationals who have had their property expropriated. "Under international law, harm caused by one state to the nationals of another state is a harm to the state itself," explained a spokesman for the legal firm. "Our approach is initially to pursue those actions which offer the greatest chance of success - that is those people who can benefit from bilateral investment treaties. By achieving success in those claims we hope to raise the issue of what has happened in Zimbabwe and to get a clear ruling from an international tribunal that there has been a breach of treaty and customary international law in Zimbabwe," he said. The legal action is intended to send a clear message to anyone who thinks they can go to Zimbabwe and buy expropriated assets for a bargain. The title to expropriated property in customary international law is unclear. Therefore people who buy expropriated assets in Zimbabwe could face legal actions in their home jurisdictions by the true owners of that property. The problem is that many domestic courts (as opposed to international tribunals) will not entertain what they deem to be acts of sovereign states.
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From Zim Online (SA), 14 May
Armed police raid trade union offices
Harare - Armed police yesterday raided the offices of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) seizing documents as the government steps up a crackdown against civic society in the aftermath of last March’s disputed parliamentary election. Police details, who rummaged through ZCTU offices seizing files and computer diskettes, said they wanted the material to prove that the union was illegally dealing in foreign currency. ZCTU leaders immediately dismissed the claim they were illegally dealing in forex as a mere ploy by the government to harass them and intimidate them from fighting for workers’ rights and freedoms. "The police impounded most of our floppy diskettes and some files. They said they were investigating some cases of fraud and of involvement in illegal foreign currency dealings by union officials," ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe said. "This is just a way of trying to intimidate the ZCTU but we will not be deterred. We are now used to these dirty tactics. We will remain focused. We have not been involved in any illegal forex dealings they are talking about," he added. Police officers approached by Zim Online as they searched through ZCTU offices refused to answer questions, while police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment last night.
But sources at police headquarters in Harare said the raid was ordered from high office and that it was part of a plan to destabilise major union and civic society groups aligned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. "The instructions are coming from above . . . the idea is to destabilise the entire labour union and all the organisations which are sympathetic to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The ZCTU still has strong ties with the MDC," said a senior police officer, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation. State security agents including the feared spy Central Intelligence Organisation, last month raided about 14 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) quizzing officials about their operations and sources of income. The government claimed it was probing the NGOs to ensure they were operating within the law and that they were not offloading foreign currency received from outside funders onto the illegal black-market. The National Association of NGOs (NANGOs) said the government inquiry appeared to be more than just meant to ensure civic bodies were operating within the law but appeared to have an ulterior motive. The association said it feared the state could use information gathered during the raids to close down targeted NGOs once the new NGO Bill becomes effective law. Relations between the ZCTU and the government have been hostile since the labour union gave birth to the MDC in 1999. Earlier this year, Zim Online broke a story that the CIO had been tasked to engineer a leadership change at the ZCTU and ensure pro-government leaders take over control of the powerful union.
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From Business Day (SA), 13 May
Mugabe appoints police chief to oversee land redistribution
President Robert Mugabe has appointed Didymus Mutasa, the head of the country's secret police, to oversee Zimbabwe's controversial land redistribution programme. Zimbabwe state radio announced on Friday that Mutasa, head of the Central Intelligence Organisation, would have authority over Flora Buka, who last month was named minister of state for special affairs for lands and resettlement. The land redistribution programme has been dogged by allegations of favoritism and corruption, with ruling Zanu PF party moguls obtaining more than one farm. Alleged scandals have caused deep divisions in a ruling party already riven by factions supporting different candidates to succeed Mugabe, 81, who has indicated he will retire at the end of his current term in 2008. Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary to Mugabe's Cabinet, told state radio that the adjustment of Cabinet responsibilities means Mutasa will work closely with the presidency in overseeing all matters relating to the acquisition, distribution and settlement of land under the programme. He said Buka's role would stress field-based monitoring of land reform related settlement. The plan aims to resettle 240,000 families on former white owned land, covering 17% of the country. Much of the farms have become derelict because many owners failed to take up holdings they were allocated.
Zimbabwe's agricultural production has crashed, leading to food shortages and falling exports of cash crops such as tobacco. Current United Nations estimates suggest 5.5 million people may need food relief to survive until the next harvests in 2006, despite Mugabe's predictions of "bumper harvests." Mugabe last year appointed a commission chaired by former Cabinet Secretary Charles Utete which "expressed concern over multiple farm ownership." Mutasa, 70, was appointed to conduct a shake-up in the Central Intelligence Organisation, Zimbabwe's secret police, after five leading ruling party members were detained on allegations of spying for the South African government. Mutasa's new post will give him control of Mugabe's sole remaining source of patronage in a foundering national economy. Given responsibility in the 1980s for overseeeing Mugabe's abortive plans to introduce a one party state, Mutasa is a veteran Mugabe loyalist from the eastern Manicaland area.
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From Reuters, 13 May
Zimbabwe annual inflation quickens as economy ails
Harare - Zimbabwe's inflation rate edged higher in the year to April, official data showed on Friday, casting a dark cloud on an economy hit by chronic fuel, food and foreign currency shortages. The Central Statistical Office said the consumer price index rose 129.1 percent year-on-year in April, up 5.4 percentage points on the March rate. Month-on-month inflation added 3.2 percentage points to 7.4 percent in April from its March level. "The increase in prices between April 2004 and April 2005 was largely accounted for by increases in the average price of beverages, meat, fruit and vegetables and communications," the department said. Zimbabwe's inflation has slowed sharply from a high of 623 percent in January 2004, but remains among the world's highest and President Robert Mugabe's government has called it the country's number one enemy. The southern African country is caught up in an economic crisis many blame on government mismanagement, with an acute shortage of foreign currency forcing manufacturers to operate well below capacity, leading to a scarcity of basic commodities.
The central Reserve Bank has targeted an inflation range of between 20 and 35 percent by year-end, but economic analysts doubt this will be achieved. Zimbabwe's economic woes have been compounded by the withdrawal of international donor support mainly over Mugabe's controversial drive to forcibly redistribute large tracts of white-owned commercial farmland among blacks, a programme critics say has undermined the key agriculture sector. Mugabe defends the land reforms as necessary to correct ownership imbalances created when Britain colonised the country over a century ago, and says he has adopted a "Look East" policy under which his government seeks economic ties with 'friendly countries' from Africa, Asia and the Muslim world. Mugabe says domestic and Western opponents of his land seizures have deliberately set out to sabotage Zimbabwe's economy through sanctions ostensibly aimed at the ruling elite, but which he argues have hit ordinary Zimbabweans harder.
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From SABC News, 13 May
Alleged mercenaries expected back before Monday: lawyer
The lawyer for the 62 alleged mercenaries in a Zimbabwean prison said today he expected them to be released from prison in Zimbabwe before the end of the weekend. "I'm very disappointed, but I expect they will be back in South Africa before the end of the weekend," Alwyn Griebenow, the lawyer, said. When asked what was holding the process up, he replied: "I wish I knew. The Zimbabwean authorities are very difficult to deal with. They feed you a lot of disinformation." Griebenow flew back from Harare this afternoon and left a colleague in Zimbabwe to inform him of any developments. Immigration officials have changed their minds several times about when the 62 would be released. They have also refused to divulge how and when the group held in Harare's Chikurubi prison will return to South Africa. "They told us we can take our bus and basically f-off," Griebenow said from Harare earlier today. The group were arrested at Harare International Airport when they apparently landed to refuel and pick up military equipment. Zimbabwean authorities said they were on their way to join 15 other alleged mercenaries - including eight South Africans - arrested in Equatorial Guinea around the same time. The men said the equipment found in their possession was to be used to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group in Equatorial Guinea were convicted and given long prison sentences for attempting to overthrow the country's long-time dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
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From Zim Online (SA), 14 May 2005
Police bar protest album release
Harare - Zimbabwean police have used harsh censorship laws to stop local civic organisations from launching and distributing a protest music album calling for a new and democratic constitution and also castigating state brutality against political opponents. A spokeswoman of the National Constitutional Assembly, a coalition of churches, labour, civic rights and opposition political parties that is behind the music album had told her organisation that they could only allow the release of the music after it is approved by the state Censorship Board. She said: "We have no choice but to postpone. The police said we could not go ahead with the launch and distribution of the album until it has been approved by the Censorship Board. We find it unacceptable that music has to be banned in a supposedly democratic country." The launch of the protest music album had been scheduled for last night after the police had on Wednesday appeared to have agreed to its release. The Censorship Board, manned by government ideologues, vets and approves information and publications such as films, music and books before they can be released to the public.
Manjome said: "We are told that the censorship board would only approve the distribution of the album if they find the content to be desirable. So we are not optimistic that our project will be approved because they are likely to be offended by the content. You know in Zimbabwe, the authorities want people to listen to material that pleases the government." Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party have ruthlessly clamped down on divergent voices and dissension as their hold on power has come under increasing challenge from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. Several songs by Zimbabwe’s most popular musician, Thomas Mapfumo and other artists have been banned from radio and national television because they were deemed too critical of the government. Four newspapers, including the country’s largest circulating non government-owned daily, the Daily News, remain off the newsstands after they were banned by the government in the last two years.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 15 May
Mugabe plans changes to constitution
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party is set to amend the constitution to nationalise all land, automatically nullifying court petitions by thousands of white farmers hoping to reclaim their confiscated property. Many of the farmers have refused to surrender their title deeds, arguing they are still the rightful owners of the farms from which they have been forcibly evicted by ruling party militants since 2000. Some of them have won court battles, but most of their applications are still pending in the administrative court. Welshman Ncube, a professor in constitutional law and chairperson of the Zimbabwean parliament's legal committee, said this week that Zanu PF members had signalled to him that as soon as parliament opens next month, they will introduce three constitutional amendments urgently wanted by President Robert Mugabe. These amendments will declare all land to be state owned; abolish the Electoral Supervisory Commission, leaving the recently established Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as the sole body tasked with running elections; and introduce a 40-member upper house, the senate, whose members would be chosen on the basis of the results of last month's disputed elections for parliament, which would remain as the lower house.
Ncube, who is also secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said: "Mugabe has indicated that the senate issue is particularly urgent and he wants to see the body fully established within three months of parliament's opening next month." He said that Zanu PF proposed to establish four senate seats for each of the 10 provinces, allocated on the basis of the outcome of the March 31 elections. This would give the MDC just 12 seats in the senate and Zanu PF the rest. Mugabe has already assured some of his supporters who were defeated in the elections that he would find seats for them in the senate. This should help him heal cracks in the party. Mugabe will have no trouble passing his proposed changes as he has the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to amend the constitution. Zanu PF insiders confirmed that the three amendments mentioned by Ncube had been agreed on by the Zanu PF politburo as the most urgent ones. They said another amendment to hold the parliamentary and presidential elections at the same time would be introduced later. The effect is likely to extend Mugabe's current term from 2008 when the next presidential elections are due, to 2010 when the next parliamentary elections are due. If the constitutional amendment sails through as expected, it would be the final nail in the coffin of the white farmers.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 15 May
Governor to testify in graft trial
Zimbabwe central bank governor Gideon Gono is expected to testify at the corruption trial of the country’s former finance minister, Chris Kuruneri, which starts tomorrow. Officials in the public prosecutions department confirmed that Gono, tasked by President Robert Mugabe in 2003 to spearhead Zimbabwe’s economic recovery, would testify in the high-profile case relating to illegal foreign-currency transactions. "Gono will testify in the case because the Jewel Bank [where he was chief executive] facilitated the transfer of R5.2-million to Kuruneri’s lawyers in SA," a senior official in the attorney-general’s office said. "We have also lined up a number of local and South African witnesses." Although the official refused to release the names of the South African witnesses, officials indicated they were likely to be estate agents, lawyers and property developers who worked with Kuruneri. Kuruneri was arrested in April last year following disclosures by the Sunday Times that he was building a R30-million seaside mansion in Llandudno, Cape Town. However, Kuruneri maintained that the three-storey, eight-bedroomed house was only worth R7-million. Kuruneri, in jail for more than a year now, allegedly transferred R1.2-million, $582611, €30000 and £34471 to pay for properties he acquired in SA in breach of Zimbabwe’s Exchange Control Act. The state alleges Kuruneri, also facing a charge of violating Zimbabwe’s Citizenship Act by illegally holding a Canadian passport, unlawfully transferred R547743 to buy a Mercedes-Benz ML 350. The state alleges that part of the R5.2-million payment was transferred through the Absa-owned Jewel Bank when Gono was still chief executive. It is alleged Kuruneri approached Jewel Bank in 2003 with some US dollars that he wanted to send to his SA lawyers to buy properties. The bank then transferred the equivalent of US dollars to Kuruneri’s attorneys.
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From The Herald, 14 May
Chaimiti wins Masvingo mayoral seat unopposed
From Masvingo Bureau
MDC’s Mr Alois Chaimiti yesterday won the Masvingo mayoral seat unopposed after the Nomination Court rejected the nomination papers of the Zanu PF candidate, but the ruling party immediately said it would challenge the rejection in court. Zanu PF candidate Mr Patson Muzvidziwa had his papers rejected by the Nomination Court - which sat at the Masvingo Civic Centre - on the grounds that there were different names on his Ordinary Level certificate and on his professional qualification certificate. Furthermore, the Nomination Court ruled that Cde Muzvidziwa did not his pass O-Level and therefore, did not qualify to seek election as a mayor. According to the law, prospective mayoral candidates should have passed O-Level, among other requirements, to qualify to contest mayoral elections. Presiding officer Mrs Sithembeni Chitsa had to extend the sitting of the Nomination Court by about two-and-half hours to allow Cde Muzvidziwa to put his papers in order but eventually declared the court closed at 6:30pm by which time Cde Muzvidziwa had not yet put his papers in order. Acting Zanu PF Masvingo provincial chairman Cde Isaiah Shumba said they would seek recourse at the courts over the manner the nomination court handled the process. "They were not supposed to reject Cde Muzvidziwa’s papers because there was an affidavit to support the discrepancy on the names. An affidavit is a legal document and they should have accepted it. We are going to mount a court challenge because we think we have been treated unfairly," said Cde Shumba. Asked why they had not put another candidate to replace Cde Muzvidziwa, Cde Shumba said Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officials refused to accept papers from another candidate and said they could only extend the sitting of the court for Cde Muzvidziwa.
Cde Shumba said Cde Muzvidziwa’s O-Level certificate had the names PM (for Patson Muzvidziwa) Shumba while his professional qualifications had the name P (for Patson) Muzvidziwa. He said the ZEC officials had refused to accept seven and eight grades as passes yet according to the 1965 to 1969 regulations, they were supposed to be passes. Ironically, Cde Taguma Mazarire, a former soldier and war veteran who had been short-listed together with Cde Muzvidziwa as probable Zanu PF candidates, was at the Nomination Court with all his papers in order. After the declaration of Mr Chaimiti as the Masvingo Mayor for the next four years, MDC supporters immediately broke into song and dance in celebration. Mr Chaimiti said he was grateful to the people of Masvingo for supporting and having confidence in him. "I am very happy and I am pleased with the support and faith the people of Masvingo have in me. I want to unite the people of this city. I want to finish the upgrading of the city’s water pumping capacity, repairing our roads and improve our street lighting," said Mr Chaimiti outlining his plans for the city. Mr Chaimiti was first elected Masvingo executive mayor in May 2001 after he defeated Cde Jacob Chademana of Zanu PF. Cde Muzvidziwa is a former Masvingo mayor and occupied the position for a record five times between 1985 and 1990. He had taken over as mayor from Cde Thomas Zawaira, Masvingo’s first black mayor. The Masvingo mayoral election was supposed to have been held on June 11 had more than one candidate successfully submitted their nomination papers.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 15 May
Zimbabwe 62 could face two more weeks
South Africa's 62 alleged mercenaries imprisoned in Zimbabwe's maximum security Chikurubi prison may have to wait another two weeks before their release. That is if the latest rumours are to be believed. "If there has been finality on the travel plans, we have not been informed," Alwyn Griebenow, the men's lawyer, said from Johannesburg yesterday. "I'm of the opinion they will be coming out sometime this weekend," he said. He was, however, quick to emphasise that his colleague, Jonathan Samkange, was still locked in talks with the Zimbabwean authorities. "At this stage there is no confirmation whatsoever of anything," said Griebenow. The men were still being held in Chikurubi Prison, even though their one-year prison terms expired on Tuesday, he said. "Initially we were told the paperwork needed to be finalised. Then we were told that transport was a problem." When the men's legal team offered a bus to transport the men out of the country, the Zimbabwe authorities first turned them down, only to then insist that the vehicle be available at Chikurubi Prison on Friday. The bus cost R16 000 to arrange, but when it arrived, Zimbabwe officials decided not to use it after all. "They have been full of excuses," said Griebenow, who did not know what their reasons for holding the men were anymore. It's quite impossible dealing with them."
Of great concern was the condition of one of the men, Francisco Marques, who had tuberculosis, weighed just 35kg and could not walk without aid. "He is a very sick man," said Griebenow. The legal team had tried to arrange an air ambulance for him, at a cost of R60 000, funds it did not have. But, said Griebenow: "There is no way we can fly him out and even if we [could], the Zimbabwe authorities would have to give the go ahead. They haven't." The legal team had requested Marques' release on humanitarian grounds last month. Griebenow said the latest rumour doing the rounds was that Zimbabwe's immigration authorities had requested a two-week extension of the men's custody to further "punish" them. Anguished wife, Marge Pain, however, had heard talk that her husband Kenneth and the rest of the group of 62 could be out by 5pm yesterday. "I don't see that happening, quite frankly," she told Sapa over the phone from Beitbridge where she has been staying since Wednesday. The 62 were among a group of 70 men arrested in March last year when the Boeing 727 they were travelling on stopped in Harare to pick up weapons Zimbabwe has alleged were to be used to depose Equatorial-Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
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From News24 (SA), 15 May 2004
Zim 62 on their way wife
Johannesburg - The 62 South Africans convicted of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea have been released and are on their way to the Beit Bridge border post, a relative of one said on Sunday. Marge Pain, wife of Kenneth Pain, said she knew "for sure" that the men were on their way. "We were told by a Zimbabwean official that they will be here in about an hour, but that was hours ago," said Pain. She said she and other relatives of the alleged mercenaries have been waiting on the border post from 22:00 on Saturday after hearing of the men's release from Harare's maximum security Chikurubi Prison. Pain said they were told that the men were under "heavy police escort" and probably that was what was causing the delay. The 62 men were among 70 arrested in March last year when their Boeing 727 stopped in Harare to pick up weapons Zimbabwe has alleged were to be used to depose Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The men completed their one-year prison sentence on Tuesday and were formally released on Thursday, but had been forced to stay in the prison compound since then. The men's lawyers said Zimbabwean officials have given a series of excuses - ranging from questions about how the men would be transported to South Africa to the need to buy film for identity pictures - to delay their release.
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From Zim Online (SA), 15 May
Under-20 soccer team manager faces axe over visa scam
Harare - The Zimbabwe national Under-20 football team manager, Simon Makaza is facing the axe from the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) over his alleged role in a visa scam at the British Embassy in Harare on Tuesday. Makaza, who was involved in securing transit visas in the United Kingdom for the Under 20 squad which left Harare on Wednesday for an invitational tournament in the Netherlands, is alleged to have included three of his friends and a younger brother on the list of players and officials. British Embassy officials exposed the racket as the list, which was sent from their hosts in the Netherlands, and the one that was sent by Zifa were different. It turned out that the four had been included through a fraudulent letter from the Zifa offices. The four were denied visas to England. In the letter to the British Embassy, one of them was referred to as a medic, the other one as kit manager while the third was said to be an assistant kit manager. The fourth one was said to be a press officer. Zifa yesterday began investigations into the embarrassing incident and announced that decisive action will be taken against those involved. A Zifa official who spoke to ZimOnline said it has already emerged that Makaza was behind the scam. "We have already established facts to link the team manager with the scam. Among the four who wanted to illegally acquire visas are the team manager's best friend, his younger brother and two other friends. "This is a scandal which needs our urgent attention. We have also established that the team manager went to the Zifa offices to have the fraudulent letter typed which he signed before presentation to the British Embassy. "Luckily, the officials at the embassy were alert and refused to be cheated. Because of the seriousness of the matter, the team manager will appear before a disciplinary hearing when he comes back from Netherlands. From the look of things he will be fired from his position," said the official. Efforts to contact Makaza, who is still in the Netherlands failed.
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From The Sunday Mirror, 15 May
Mutasa for prime minister?
Political Editor
There is speculation that the latest development whereby the Minister of State Security, Didymus Mutasa, was given the extra portfolio of Lands and Resettlement could be an indicator that he is destined for a higher position in government. President Robert Mugabe last week announced that Mutasa, who is also ruling Zanu PF’s influential secretary of administration, was moving to the centre of the ministry, with Flora Buka, who has been at the helm, coming in to assist him. As such, Mutasa takes over the key role previously held by Vice President Joseph Msika. More significantly, Mutasa’s elevation in Cabinet appears to be a kind of ethnic-balancing act already achieved in the Politburo where he is secretary for administration As Minister of State Security, Mutasa’s position was somewhat incongruous with his high poistion in the party and therefore the latest Cabinet "adjustment" appears to have rectified the situation. While the general tone has been that the increased responsibilities placed on the shoulders of Mutasa could over-stretch his capabilities, the possibility is high that he is being given more power in party and national politics, observers have said.
"As President Mugabe and other top government officials have said, there will be significant changes to the constitution. The way things are going, the post of prime minister could be reintroduced, with Mutasa taking the position. In fact, the fact that the president has trusted him with that extra portfolio could mean that he is now a de facto prime minister," said one Zanu PF insider who refused to be named. The speculation that Mutasa is headed for the prime ministership rises out of the talk about reviving the draft constitution of 2002 which had provisions for the post of prime minister. Mutasa had been in virtual political oblivion until early last year when he was recalled to head the Anti-monopolies and Anti-corruption ministry. At the Zanu PF congress in December, he was promoted to the influential position of party secretary for administration, from that of external affairs. Commentators say President Mugabe is increasingly empowering his old time friend partly as an ethnic-balancing act, following years of political marginalisation of Mutasa’s Manicaland province. There has of late been the relatively increased strength of Zanu PF legislators from Manicaland Province in President Mugabe’s new government. Apart from Mutasa, Oppah Muchinguri, Patrick Chinamasa, Christopher Mushohwe, Michael Nyambuya and Joseph Made were appointed to full cabinet status in what President Mugabe dubbed a ‘Development Cabinet’.
This can be juxtaposed against the fact that the much larger province of Masvingo, which is often regarded as the most powerful geo-political region after the three Mashonaland provinces combined, only contributed three legislators to the present Cabinet. Following that, he was appointed minister for State security. In the previous cabinet, he held the portfolio of minister of special affairs responsible for anti-corruption and anti-monopolies. His appointment to that ministry came largely as a shock to people who thought his rise to secretary of administration was as much as he could hope for apart from retaining one of the ‘minor’ cabinet posts. The latest assignment from the President represents a dramatic resurgence of a man many thought was in political decline and has had some people likening him to the Biblical Lazarus. Incidentally, some time back, minister Mutasa was quoted in the State-controlled media saying he did not entertain any presidential ambitions though he would not mind becoming the country’s vice President one day and working as an understudy of President Mugabe. The possibility that the dark horse in the ‘succession race’ could be Zimbabwe’s next president now looms larger than it has ever been before.
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From News24 (SA), 15 May
Zim govt sets new food prices
Harare - Plagued by shortages of basic goods, the Zimbabwe government has fixed new prices on many commodities in a bid to bring the goods back to supermarket shelves, the state-controlled Sunday Mail reported here. New prices have been set for cooking oil, sugar, milk, soft drinks, maize seed and cement, the paper said. "It is also expected their availability on the formal market will improve following the conclusion of the new prices," the Sunday Mail said. But in several cases the price hikes are minimal, and do not match most of the hikes sought by manufacturers and traders. Many traders had last month increased their prices by much more than what has been granted, resulting in some of them being arrested and fined for overcharging and stashing away goods in anticipation of the price rises approval. Supermarket shelves in Zimbabwe have been empty of many essential goods following parliamentary elections at the end of March, which were won by President Robert Mugabe's ruling party. The goods have been readily available on the informal market - but at prices up to three times those set by the authorities. Retailers are not allowed to increase prices on goods like sugar and cooking oil without approval from the government.
The government-approved increases which range between 5 and 58 percent are set to exert more pressure on the three-digit rate of inflation which the southern African country has been grappling with in recent years. The new price for sugar is Z$4 000 per kilogram, up from Z$3 682. Supermarkets are now allowed to charge Z$2 500 for a small bottle of soft drink, up from Z$2 000. Inspectors are to be deployed throughout Zimbabwe to enforce the new prices, Christian Katsande, an official from the industry ministry, told the paper. The Sunday Mail said new prices for bread and flour will be announced soon. The most recent hikes, although controlled and still less than what producers had sought, come just days ahead of the announcement of the central bank's much awaited "post-elections and drought mitigating monetary policy" set for Thursday. Central bank governor Gideon Gono had set his eyes on bringing down inflation which is at just over 129 percent to around 20 percent by year end. Zimbabwe's economy has been on a downturn in the last five years characterised by runaway inflation and perennial shortages of basic commodities. Critics partly blame the crisis on controversial land reforms that have compromised food production and the country's isolation from its traditional trading partners in Europe following the 2002 presidential elections which western observers charged were rigged.
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From Sapa, 15 May
Zimbabweans cannot quench their thirst
Harare - After shortages of cooking oil, maize, milk, toothpaste and soap, Harare has now run out of soft drinks, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Saturday. Cheap sugared drinks are a popular beverage among many city residents. The Herald said most supermarkets and food outlets in the Zimbabwean capital had run out of the drinks. Some shops have gone for two weeks without deliveries from the country's main drinks manufacturer, Delta Beverages, the paper said. An official from Delta Beverages blamed Zimbabwe's critical lack of foreign currency for the shortages, which are also affecting alcoholic drinks. He said the company was unable to import the raw materials needed for production of the drinks. "The country is currently experiencing a shortage of foreign currency and this has had a negative impact on all businesses that require raw materials including ourselves," said the official. Shortages of basic goods like maize, cooking oil and milk resurfaced after parliamentary elections in March, which were won by President Robert Mugabe's ruling party. The government says some of the shortages are artificially created, but manufacturers blame the lack of foreign currency. Zimbabwe's scarce foreign currency reserves are tightly controlled, and importers must bid for their hard currency needs using an auction system. Because there is not enough hard currency to satisfy demand, many importers say they return empty-handed from the auctions. They say they are then forced to buy foreign currency on the parallel market, where prices are three times higher.
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From News24 (SA), 15 May
Zim food crisis a boon for some
Harare - For Harare hawker Kimpton Chimwasa, the shortages that have left many of Zimbabwe's supermarket shelves bare in recent weeks are a boon. Chimwasa, 43, is one of thousands of vendors behind a burgeoning black market - the last port of call for desperate Zimbabweans looking for scarce commodities such as sugar, cornmeal, and cooking oil that have disappeared from stores. "It may sound cruel saying this when things are so tough for many, but this is the best chance for some of us to earn a bit of money to fend for our families," Chimwasa says standing behind a stack of cornmeal bags at a Harare market. The vendors hoard scarce goods when supermarkets get rare deliveries and resell the goods for as much as three times the official prices at open-air stalls and along pavements referred to as "emergency markets". In a car park adjacent to the headquarters of the country's oil procurer, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, business is brisk for touts who run after passing cars selling petrol (gasoline) and diesel. When fuel stations are dry the touts make a killing selling a litre of petrol which costs Z$3 600 for as much as Z$12 000 dollars. "We can no longer call this a black market," says a passerby chuckling at a group of touts scrambling to get the attention of a potential buyer. "This is more like the official market because the police know about this and they are not doing anything about it."
However, police last week arrested 400 vendors and fined 28 supermarkets in Harare in a crackdown - code-named Operation Chipfukuto - to snuff out the black market. The vendors were arrested for selling scarce commodities such as maize meal and cooking oil and sugar at inflated prices, with a 2kg packet of sugar which normally costs Z$7 500 being sold for Z$20 000 (US$3.22) on the black market. The supermarkets were fined for hoarding and overcharging their goods. The ministry of industry and international trade said last month it would introduce tougher penalties for those flouting price controls on basic commodities, in a bid to snuff out a flourishing black market. Zimbabwe's economy has been in a downturn for the last five years characterised by runaway inflation and perennial shortages of foreign currency and basic commodities. The situation has been blamed partly on controversial land reforms that have compromised food production and the country's isolation from its traditional trading partners in Europe, which f ollowed the 2002 presidential election that western observers charged was rigged. The government introduced price controls to fight a flourishing black market for staples three years ago and instituted a fine of Z$1m for violators.
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From Zim Online (SA), 16 May
Buried in piles of own garbage
Harare - Fifty-two-year old Zorodzai Chokudisa of Glen View, a poor working class suburb of Harare, turns the half-burnt heap of garbage with a long handled garden fork. She can hardly bear the pungent smell from the rubbish heap, but she has no option. Slowly, she stokes the smouldering fire in one last attempt to torch the heaps of uncollected garbage which have piled at a small open space near her home. "It has been weeks since we last saw a municipal truck carting away garbage along this street. Things cannot be worse than this. It is a shame on those running the city," lamented Chokudisa. "Soon residents might boycott paying rates if the situation continues like this," she adds, fanning smoke from the smouldering rubbish pile with her hand. Sadly, the uncollected garbage is having an unfortunate knock-on effect down the chain. For 40-year old Tinodaishe Munatsi, also of Glen View, living off the city dumpsite has never been as difficult as it is today. Munatsi is among hundreds of Zimbabweans who eke a living at the dumpsite. The 40-year old father of four re-fashions the plastic and other waste materials he collects at the site into decorative artifacts and hand-made toys for resale in the city. But life is no longer that easy anymore. "Business is bad. We cannot get material for use in our trade. We are lucky to get a truck coming here once a week," he says, throwing his hands in despair.
Harare, a great city which glittered like a jewel in the jungles of Africa, has fallen to great depths. It is a city in a state of advanced decay. Residents say the "revolution", with its promises of political regeneration, appears to be off the rails in Harare. Fuel pumps are dry. The water taps are also dry. Residents of the city have now resorted to digging unprotected wells for their water needs, exposing themselves to disease. Power cuts, due to lack of hard cash to pay foreign suppliers are also a common occurrence here. But much more distressing to the residents are piles of uncollected garbage that lie on the streets for weeks on end without anybody in position of authority raising a finger. With things appearing to veer wickedly out of control in the capital city, residents have now been forced to burn their dirt or dig pits to dispose their garbage. "We have to do it ourselves to save our children from contracting diseases. These rubbish piles are a hazard to our families' health. They breed mosquitoes and flies," says Ishamel Njodzi of Mufakose suburb, one of the oldest in Harare. The crisis facing the city is emblematic of the general decay of Zimbabwe’s economy after five years of a severe recession many blame on President Robert Mugabe ’s wrong policies and downright mismanagement.
But Mugabe, the only ruler Zimbabweans have ever known since independence 25 years ago, denies mismanaging the economy, instead blaming the country’s economic crisis on sabotage by Britain and other Western governments to punish his government for expropriating land from whites. Five years ago, Mugabe presided over the violent seizure of farmland from mostly British-descendent white farmers for redistribution to landless blacks. The chaotic land reform exercise, which Mugabe says was necessary to correct historical imbalances in land ownership, resulted in the ostracisation of Zimbabwe from the international community besides triggering off food shortages in the country as the land seizures disrupted the key agriculture sector. "We are being made to suffer for the ineptness of those at Town House (council offices) who seem to have no clue whatsoever on what to do with the collapsing services," says Caswell Ndira of Warren Park suburb, standing shoulder-deep in a pit he and 15 other men were digging. Mike Davies, the chairman of Combined Harare Ratepayers Association (CHRA), a civic organisation fighting for better governance, says residents are fed up with the city administrators. "We want an elected council that will engage us in plans to turn around the fortunes of this city. The commission is an illegal entity running the city on political patronage," Davies says.
The government fired the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led council in 2003 allegedly for inefficiency and appointed a commission to replace the elected council in what analysts said was an attempt to regain control of the politically vital capital city through the backdoor. The commission dominated by Zanu PF activists is led by Sekesai Makwavarara who defected from the MDC last year to join the ruling party. But the frequent water shortages, mounting refuse, collapsing council infrastructure and facilities eloquently testify how the Makwavarara commission has failed dismally to run the capital and let alone restore Harare residents’ faith in Zanu PF and the government.
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From Business Day (SA), 16 May
Mercenaries free in SA for now
Linda Ensor
Cape Town - The arrival in SA yesterday of 61 men convicted of violating Zimbabwe’s immigration laws does not signal their release from the law’s clutches. They are likely to be prosecuted in SA. The men, who spent more than a year in Harare’s Chikurubi maximum security prison after their convictions, and have been linked to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, were escorted by Zimbabwean police to the Beitbridge border post where they were met by their families yesterday. Despite the strong probability of their prosecution in SA under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, the men were not immediately arrested by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). NPA spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said the NPA had decided against immediate arrest because it was satisfied that it could reach the men if necessary. They had spent a long time in jail in Zimbabwe, and needed to spend time with their families, he said. "However, eventually justice will have to be served," Nkosi said, and prosecution was "fairly certain". The NPA’s investigation into the men’s alleged contraventions of the act was at an advanced stage, with the only outstanding step being to hear the men’s explanations for their activities, Nkosi said. Enough evidence had been accumulated. "We have everything except their side of the story as to what they were doing in Zimbabwe," he said. The 61 men were among 70 arrested in March last year when their chartered Boeing 727 stopped in Harare to pick up weapons Zimbabwe has alleged were to be used to depose Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act - the contravention of which British businessman Sir Mark Thatcher pleaded guilty to in a related case - prohibits South Africans from participating in armed conflict, nationally or internationally, except as provided for in the constitution or national legislation. It covers any action aimed at overthrowing a government or undermining the constitutional order, sovereignty or territorial integrity of a state, and applies to offences committed outside SA.SABC radio news reported that one of the men who arrived at Beitbridge was believed to be critically ill and suffering from tuberculosis. He was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.
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From Zim Online (SA), 16 May
Harare holds on to one suspected mercenary
Harare - Authorities in Harare are holding on to one of the 62 suspected South African mercenaries who they insist is a Zimbabwean citizen. The other 61 alleged "dogs of war" were released from the notorious Chikurubi maximum prison near Harare late on Saturday night almost four days after they were supposed to have been freed from jail Zimbabwean authorities had given a variety of reasons why they could not let go the men including the need to ensure the South Africans, rated a high security risk by Harare, would be securely and safely deported out of the country once they were freed from jail. The alleged mercenaries’ Zimbabwe lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, told ZimOnline yesterday that one of the men, whom he only identified as Moyo, was still being held by the Harare authorities. Samkange said: "The rest of the guys were formally released from the prison premises where they had been held up except for one of the guys, a Moyo . . . they refused to give me an explanation but what is surprising is that he insists that he is a South African and his family is in that country but the Zimbabweans are saying he is theirs. I do not know why they want him (Moyo) but he says he is a South African. Even the embassy (of South Africa in Harare) says he is a South African."
Neither Chief Immigration Officer Elasto Mugwadi, who had personally supervised the deportation of the mercenaries, nor Zimbabwe Prison Service Commissioner, Paradzai Zimondi could be reached for comment on the matter yesterday. But the South African Press Association (SAPA) yesterday quoted Pretoria's envoy in Harare, Jerry Ndou, as having said that Moyo was still being held in Zimbabwe probably because he was "too sick to travel" with rest of his colleagues. The alleged mercenaries, all travelling on South African passports, were arrested at the Harare International Airport last year allegedly on their way to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea. Zimbabwean authorities said the men had touched down at the airport to refuel and illegally pick up weapons from state arms maker, the Zimbabwe Defence Industries. The men were found guilty of breaching Zimbabwe’s immigration and aviation laws and were sentenced to one in jail each. The suspected mercenaries’ leader, Briton, Simon Mann, was sentenced to seven years, which was later reduced to four years and under Zimbabwe’s Prisons Act, Mann will be released towards the end of next year. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of South Africa’s Scorpions police yesterday told the Press that the police were going to investigate the men under that country’s anti-mercenary laws but said "there were no immediate plans to arrest anybody."
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From SABC News, 16 May
Zimbabwe ready to extradite Simon Mann
Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, Zimbabwe's attorney-general, says they are ready to extradite Simon Mann, the alleged coup plot leader, who is wanted in Equatorial Guinea to face high treason charges. At least 61of the 62 alleged mercenaries have been released and were re-united with family members at the Beit Bridge border post yesterday. Those still in jail include a Zimbabwean national, who is reportedly ill and Simon Mann, the suspected coup leader. Mann is serving a four-year jail term. Meanwhile, the lawyer for the alleged South African mercenaries released from Zimbabwe's Chikuribi prison says his clients will be back in court soon. Alwyn Griebenauw says the men will soon appear in court on charges of contravening the South African Foreign Military Assistance Act. Griebenauw says the men will phone him on Wednesday to discuss the details.
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