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Archived News
27th September 2005
Mugabe: Let them eat potatoes
Poverty in Zimbabwe is man-made
Zim needs new land policy to save economy
Mandaza fires board
SAAF air show flies in the face of poverty
Mugabe strikes his final blow against white farmers
Z$9 billion heist at RBZ
IMF says will verify sources of Zimbabwe payment
Annan sticks to conditions for Zim visit
Zimbabwe soccer players missing in London
CIO unleashes terror
New wave of farm evictions sweeps eastern Zimbabwe
Zim fuel crisis worsens
Govt used my money to pay IMF - Mawere
Police operation nets 5 000, rakes in $18m in fines
Vending blitz hurting Zimbabwean hawkers
Zim influx crisis
Zim 'golden goose' threatens shutdown
Mugabe gets wife-battering official off hook
Little to cheer about as Zimbabwe tobacco auction ends
MDC to contest Senate elections
MDC dilemma over Senate poll
Zimbabwean football stars go missing after Bradford
Zim 'has not rejected' SA loan
Harare puts $16m tax squeeze on Implats
Harare eyes Anglo-American in new land reform push
Zimbabwe, SA bank fuel deal hits snag
Zimbabwean oil firm staff stole for black market
Tsvangirai's walks gather momentum
SA fails to keep out illegal Zimbabweans
Zim wants its missing soccer players back
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 18 September
Mugabe: Let them eat potatoes
Michelle Faul
United Nations - The African leader some call a hero and others a destructive despot suggests people in his country aren't hungry, they just can't eat their favourite food. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Friday that his people are "very, very happy", though aid agencies report four million of 11,6-million face famine. "You describe it as if we have a whole cemetery," Mugabe said of a reporter's description of the Southern African nation's dire straits, blaming "continuous years of drought". The problem is reliance on corn, he said, "but it doesn't mean we haven't other things to eat. We have heaps of potatoes but people are not potato eaters ... they have rice but they're not as attracted [to that]." But the cost of potatoes is beyond the pocket of ordinary Zimbabweans. Internationally, Mugabe has become a pariah and looked set for further isolation at the weekend, when the United States government said it was preparing travel sanctions against him, his government and family members, prohibiting them from travelling to the US. That would be punishment for alleged gross human rights abuses, including torture of opponents and theft of elections, most recently in March. Zimbabwe became one of Africa's most vibrant economies under Mugabe, who was elected in landslide 1979 elections after a seven-year guerrilla war forced an end to white minority rule in Rhodesia, once a British colony. He assured nervous white farmers, then fleeing the country, that "there is a place for you in the sun". Zimbabwe became the regional bread basket, with about 5 000 white commercial farmers growing enough to feed the nation and export.
Buyers from all over the world came to Zimbabwe's annual tobacco auction and tourists flocked to the Victoria Falls and wildlife reserves, while its Sandawana emeralds and renowned Shona stone sculpture were widely popular. That changed in the 1990s. Mugabe's rule became increasingly repressive against a growingly vociferous opposition and corruption grew rampant. Mugabe then seized on an issue that long has preoccupied Africans - land ownership. Pointing to a distribution that had a few thousand whites owning tens of thousands of hectares of rich lands, the government began appropriating white farms in a violent campaign in which some white farmers were killed. Tens of thousands of farmworkers lost their jobs and most land was distributed to the family and friends of politically connected Zimbabweans, though some ordinary people got small plots. Last week, the Commercial Farmers' Union said fewer than 1 000 white commercial farmers remain, working a fraction of land they once sowed. A parliamentary committee said there would be no farming season this year, even if the drought breaks, because there are no seeds, no agricultural chemicals because there is no foreign currency, and no fuel to transport products or work tractors. Every day in Zimbabwe, queues more than a kilometre long form for basics such as bread and gasoline.
Zimbabweans also are reeling from what Mugabe calls a "clean-up" campaign, in which hundreds of thousands of poor and working-class urban people lost their homes to bulldozers. Mugabe insisted, though: "We pride ourselves as being top, really, on the African ladder ... We feel that we have actually been advancing rather than going backwards." Yet on September 8, setting out Zimbabwe's aims for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals before heading to the World Summit, he said the number of Zimbabweans who cannot afford one daily balanced meal has risen from 20% in 1995 to 48% in 2003, and that 63% now cannot afford more comprehensive basic needs, including things like school fees. In Africa, his seizure of lands that whites took from natives when they colonised in the 1800s is applauded, and he is seen as a towering hero. Now, he said, his government will take a stake in private mining enterprises to ensure Zimbabweans benefit from their natural resources. He said he expects companies mining there, including the multinational Anglo American, to understand that desire. "What we intend to do is for the state to have a stake in the production of some of our minerals - gold, platinum, diamonds," he said. "We just want to be partners. We are not doing anything unusual, and this is the practice in many countries." Zimbabwe also mines coal, chromium ore, asbestos, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium and tin. Mugabe (81) said he has fulfilled all his ambitions except retirement. He plans to stop being president in 2008, and write and farm, but said he'll remain in politics until he dies. "I can't retire from that unless the Almighty says, 'Enough is enough.'"
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From DPA, 17 September
Poverty in Zimbabwe is man-made
Harare - As farming experts in Zimbabwe predict another dismal agricultural season, the country's vice-president has threatened to take back farms from newly resettled black farmers if they do not fully use the land, a newspaper reported on Saturday. "Vice-President Comrade Joyce Mujuru... said all beneficiaries of land reform found under-utilising their farms are saboteurs who should lose those properties," the state-controlled Herald said. Agricultural production in the country has rapidly declined since the launch five years ago of a controversial land reform programme to resettle white-owned farms with blacks. "If you are not farming properly, this is sabotage at its highest level," Mujuru was quoted as telling farmers in the capital Harare on Friday. "We want farmers who work the land for maximum production, not incompetents and idlers who just sit and do nothing," she added. In 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government began its seizure of white-owned commercial farms, previously seen as the country's economic backbone. But many of the newly-resettled farmers lack the capital or the skills needed to run productive commercial farms. Before the land reform programme, Zimbabwe's commercial farmers produced more than 200 million kilos of tobacco - a key foreign currency earner. But last year production was less than 70 million kilos. The shortage of foreign currency has, along with poor rains, impacted heavily on agricultural production. Mujuru said Zimbabweans had to produce their own food. "We have lost our respect through begging and we must produce our own food. The poverty in Zimbabwe is man-made," she said. Last week farming experts told a parliamentary committee in the capital that Zimbabwe was headed for another gloomy farming season due to acute shortages of hard cash needed to pay for farming inputs such as fuel, fertilizer and seed.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 18 September
Zim needs new land policy to save economy
Abhik Kumar Chanda
Harare - Zimbabwe must radically overhaul its land-reform policy to revive the economy and retain membership in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has given it six months grace from threatened expulsion, analysts say. The Southern African nation, in the throes of economic turmoil, faces a bleak future with inflation hovering at more than 250%, real unemployment pegged at 90% and an acute fuel and food crisis. To add to its woes, the current agricultural season has got off to a sluggish start with prices of seed and fertiliser increasing significantly over those of last year amid poor distribution. "Over the next three months, we have to put the crops into the ground in the face of every disincentive and problem," economist John Robertson said. "There is no fuel to transport the seeds to the farms, there is no fuel to run the tractors and seed and fertiliser stocks are scarce," he said. "Next year's crops will be a massive disappointment." Zimbabwe got a reprieve on September 9 when the IMF put off a decision to expel Harare for debt arrears by six months. This was after Harare - in arrears since 2001 - paid back $120-million of its debt. The remaining debt to the IMF now stands at about $175-million. Minister of Finance Herbert Murerwa has announced that in line with IMF demands to cut public spending, he will aim at confining the budget deficit to within 8,6% of gross domestic product (GDP). Economists say the budget deficit currently stands at between 12% and 14% of GDP. The finance minister has spoken of "restructuring" the civil service to reduce the wage bill, currently 20% of GDP. Murerwa also hinted at lifting price controls - which have led to scarcity and a flourishing black market - and implementing policies to stimulate investment levels from 4% of GDP to 25%.
Eric Bloch, an independent economist who advises the government, said the key lies in reversing Zimbabwe's land reforms under which white-owned farms were seized and redistributed to blacks with no farming expertise. Bloch said the government should return land to farmers to come in line with earlier agreements entered into in Paris and Abuja, stating that white farmers would be allowed to retain one farm each and not in excess of a stipulated size, while the reminder would be sold under a willing-buyer, willing-seller principle. Zimbabwe launched land seizures in 2000 in which 4 500 farmers lost their property, with fewer than 500 remaining. Bloch said "corruption is a major cause of inflation", but stressed that if correctives are put in place, Harare could pay back another $50-million to the IMF in six months. Robertson echoed Bloch in saying that the key to economic revival lies in putting "the land back in the marketplace". He said the new beneficiaries often stripped the farms of equipment and irrigation facilities to make a quick buck and then reverted to subsistence agriculture. Tapiwa Mashakada, shadow finance minister of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, called for a "total paradigm shift". "It's high time that the government restore economic cooperation with multilateral lending institutions and pursue rational policies so that investment comes in," he said. But President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 25 years, shows no signs of relenting even after the IMF move to postpone the decision on expulsion. "The IMF has never been of real assistance to developing countries," he said. "It is wielded by big powers. We have never been friends with the IMF and therefore in future we shall never be friends with the IMF."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 17 September
Mandaza fires board
Dumisani Muleya
As the crisis triggered by the mediagate scandal at the Zimbabwe Mirror Newspapers Group deepens, the publishing concern's CEO and editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza has fired the company's board of directors in a bid to retain control of the company. Sources said Mandaza has dismissed nearly all directors, save for three loyalists, creating an explosive situation at the beleaguered media house. Mandaza two weeks ago dismissed his deputy, Alexander Kanengoni, after he failed to appear for a disciplinary hearing. Kanengoni had been suspended for alleged acts of insubordination and misconduct. Sources said Mandaza was scrambling to gag this paper on mediagate by trying to rope in the Media and Information Commission to act as a "censorship board". The Zimbabwe Independent has reported that the Mirror titles, the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, and the Financial Gazette have been taken over by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) using public funds. This was part of a covert propaganda blitz by the state security agency which also runs news websites and is eyeing other publictions as well. Sources said the CIO also had a presence in other communication agencies, including newsrooms of the state-controlled media. It has been learnt that a major production house could be operating under the direction of the CIO. Sources said Mandaza dismissed most members of the Mirror board led by Jonathan Kadzura. Among those fired are the directors who represented CIO interests at the Mirror, Thomas James Meke, Charm Ndaba Mukuwane, John Marangwanda, and Kanengoni.
Meke is the immediate past CIO administration and finance director and Mukuwane, now managing director and majority shareholder of Creative Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, is one of his predecessors. Marangwanda - affectionately known by his CIO colleagues as "Jofo" - was head of the economic desk. He was once posted to Botswana as a liaison officer before he returned home and later retired. Sources said he was key in brokering the CIO newspaper deal through a shelf company called Unique Investments (Pvt) Ltd. Only Mandaza, Ambassador Buzwani Mothobi, now acting chair, Joyce Kazembe and Amy Tsanga, remain on the Mirror board. Tsanga replaced Tendai Mangezi who resigned. Musi Khumalo also resigned. Kadzura declined to comment, saying he would issue a "comprehensive statement" on the matter. "I will issue a comprehensive statement on the issue in due course. I will advise you on when the statement will be issued. I will invite you when I do that," he said. Asked for an exclusive interview on the unfolding CIO media ownership saga at the Mirror group, Kadzura said: "I will talk to you when I issue the statement."
Sources said the dismissal of the Mirror board would worsen the situation. The sources said the CIO was giving Mandaza a long rope to hang himself by allowing him to act against their interests as major shareholders. It was said Mandaza had mustered enough courage to confront the CIO head-on after he secured the backing of members of the dominant faction of the ruling Zanu PF led by retired army commander, Solomon Mujuru. Sources said Mandaza ensured the Mirror titles backed Vice-President Joice Mujuru in the run-up to the Zanu PF congress last December in her bid to secure her current position. Although the Independent was the first to break the story of the Mujuru vice-presidency bid last year, the Mirror papers gave extensive coverage to the story. Mandaza was said to have approached a local bank looking for money to retain control of the papers and ensure a massive mediagate cover-up but sources said this came too late. The CIO was said to be angered by this.
Sources said the CIO was carefully watching the events as they unfold while it plans how to regain control of the papers. It was said to be tightening the noose around Mandaza through an audit of the finances of the Mirror. There were allegations of abuse of funds at the group. The Mirror reportedly obtained $38 billion from the central bank's productive sector facility although some of the money came from the CIO who at one time paid 83% of the papers' operating expenses. The Mirror papers have a weak economic base, poor advertising and low circulation. It was said they were surviving through the backing of their major shareholder "who has deep pockets and staying power". Sources said a forensic audit report by Ernst & Young was out. It was handed over to Kadzura, as board chair. It is understood on Wednesday Mandaza convened what he termed a board meeting although minus the representatives of the major shareholder. Sources said only Mothobi, Tsanga and Mandaza himself attended the meeting. It was said Mandaza tried to have the audit report handed over to Mothobi but Ernst & Young flatly refused, saying they would only hand it over to the principal who commissioned the audit. Sources said the audit has "interesting details" on the Mirror's finances. The CIO was due to convene a meeting to deal with the crisis. This has set the stage for an explosive showdown at the Mirror.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 18 September
SAAF air show flies in the face of poverty
By Mike Cadman
The South African Air Force (SAAF) last week played a leading role in celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Zimbabwean Air Force, sending no fewer than 14 sophisticated aircraft to an air show held in Harare. The display of South African air power has been criticised by opposition politicians in both countries as being financially extravagant and a direct signal of support for President Robert Mugabe's government. The aircraft included four Cheetah fighter jets, a Boeing 707 used for air-to-air refuelling, a Rooivalk combat helicopter, one Oryx helicopter, a Hercules C-130 heavy transport aircraft, a Casa C212 light transport aircraft, a Cessna Caravan and four Pilatus PC7s used by the Silver Falcons aerobatics team. The air show, described by the state-controlled Herald newspaper in Harare as being "part of national celebrations to mark a Silver Jubilee of excellence by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces" was attended by the chief of the SAAF, Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano, as well as dignitaries from other Southern African Development Co-operation countries. Botswana and Zambia contributed one aircraft each. South Africa paid for the fuel to and from Harare but Zimbabwe supplied the fuel used during the show held at the Charles Prince Airport last Saturday (September 10).
"It is highly objectionable that South Africa should help legitimise the Zimbabwean government in this way," Rafeek Shah, the Democratic Alliance spokesperson on defence, said this week. "Why should we give legitimacy to a country like Zimbabwe that has no money to pay back International Monetary Fund loans, provide adequate food for its own people or upgrade basic infrastructure?" Zimbabwe is currently experiencing the worst fuel shortages in its history and last week the Harare city council admitted that it had bought fuel on the black market in an attempt to keep emergency vehicles running. Paul Themba Nyathi, a spokesperson for the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the air show - and South Africa's participation - was "yet again a reflection of misplaced priorities in a country where people are facing severe food shortages and social deprivation".
Responding to a question from Shah in parliament this week, Mosiuoa Lekota, the minister of defence, said the SAAF's participation in the show was an important way of maintaining good relations in the region and to showcase South African equipment to potential buyers. "It is an established practice that in peacetime, defence forces periodically create shows to give their trainees an opportunity to test their skills against other defence forces," the minister said. "The participation of the air force in the air show in Zimbabwe is critical for this purpose." He added that South African military industries were attracting growing interest from African states and said it was the government's task to "take advantage of every opportunity so that this emerging African market is increasingly attracted to come down south, and spend their rands here". However, of the aircraft sent to Zimbabwe only the Rooivalk helicopter and the Oryx are actively marketed for sale by arms manufacturer Denel. Earlier this year South African military equipment supplier Armscor sold Alouette helicopter spare parts to Zimbabwe. These helicopters, some of which had been grounded due to a lack of spares, were widely used during the destruction of tens of thousands of homes by Zimbabwean police and soldiers in Operation Murambatsvina, which the Zimbabwean government said was aimed at slum clearance.
The Democratic Alliance also said the SAAF's participation was a waste of money. "It is reported that it cost the SAAF R616 000 per flying hour, which is an unaffordable extravagance given the minister's recent admission that the SANDF was struggling to maintain even its core capability," Shah said earlier this week. "The money should rather have been spent on fuel for much needed flying hours for training flights here in South Africa, and on filling the hundreds of vacancies that exist in critical positions within the SAAF." A spokesperson for the SAAF, Lieutenant-Colonel Frans Schoombee, said that the fuel costs and other expenses had already been allocated within the SAAF's budget as part of the standard procedure of "force preparation". "It is vital that our pilots are kept current [in the use of their equipment] and maintain their expertise to ensure that when they are called on they know exactly how to operate," Schoombee said, adding that the trip created the opportunity for pilots and ground crews to gain experience of operating conditions in other parts of the SADC region. He said that important training procedures had been carried out during the mission and noted that the four Cheetahs had not touched down in Harare, having refuelled from the air force's Boeing B707 tanker aircraft in mid-air over Zimbabwe.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 22 September
Mugabe strikes his final blow against white farmers
Harare - After years of resisting President Robert Mugabe's violent campaign to rid Zimbabwe of white farmers David Wilding-Davies believed he had survived the ethnic purge. He was wrong. In what appears to be the start of the final clearance of Zimbabwe's remaining white farmers, Mr Mugabe's security forces launched a dawn raid yesterday, firing automatic weapons against Mr Wilding-Davies, his white farm manager and a neighbour in Chipinge, south-eastern Zimbabwe. he operation followed Mr Mugabe's alteration of the constitution last month, for the 17th time since independence from Britain in 1980. He nationalised all white-owned land and prevented white farmers going to court to challenge seizure of about 22 million acres. Mr Wilding-Davies was attacked by about 15 armed militia when he went to assist his manager, Allan Warner, 53, a South African, who had been knocked to the ground and was being kicked and pummelled. Mr Wilding-Davies said a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation, which operates out of Mr Mugabe's office, led the attackers. "It was an incredibly unpleasant experience. It began suddenly as we were walking to work. We are presently harvesting coffee worth about $300,000 [£166,000] for export to Canada." Both men are still in pain after being treated at the local clinic.
Gideon Mostert, a coffee grower and dairy farmer, was attacked hours earlier, apparently by the same group, but escaped to a local church. "We were warned last week that Chipinge would be soon be cleared of white farmers," said Trevor Gifford, the chairman of the Coffee Growers' Association of Zimbabwe. "There are about 80 of us here, the largest group of white farmers left in Zimbabwe and we were informed another eight more will be done before the weekend." Mr Wilding-Davies, a member of the Canadian equestrian team in the 1988 Olympics, and his wife Amy fell in love with Chipinge's misty hills during a holiday in 1998. He gave up his job as a horse trainer in British Columbia, bought Ashanti farm and a year later had planted 100 acres of coffee. "Zimbabwe was a different country then," he said. "We were welcomed and worked hard." Doug Taylor-Freeme, the Commercial Farmers' Union president, said: "Developments on the ground where farmers are beaten up and evicted indicate that the threat of a final mop-up of remaining white farmers has begun, even though Zimbabwe desperately needs the foreign currency they earn." Police were not available for comment yesterday and Flora Buka, the land and resettlement minister, said she was "in a meeting" and switched off her cell phone.
About 3,500, or 90 per cent, of white commercial farmers have been forced out by Mr Mugabe and his cronies since 2000. Irrigation systems are broken, rich land is fallow, most dairy cattle have been eaten and hundreds of thousands of Africa's most skilled farm workers have fled abroad or are unemployed. Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food but now depends on imports and the United Nations says up to four million people, or a third of the population, need emergency feeding. The economy shrank by a third in five years and inflation will reach at least 400 per cent by the year's end, according to government statistics. There has been no hard currency for fuel for the past month. he government admitted this week that it has no foreign currency to import seed or fertiliser for the summer season, which began on Sept 1, and expects the worst harvests in living memory. Mr Mugabe refused a South African offer of a $500 million (£276 million) loan last month because it contained conditions for political and economic reform. Foreign banks in Harare say that instead he raided exporters' foreign currency accounts to pay the International Monetary Fund $120 million (£66.2 million) to avoid Zimbabwe's immediate expulsion. The best white-owned farms, have been taken by Mr Mugabe's cronies and most of the landless people he claimed would be beneficiaries of the land grabs live in acute poverty and are among those in urgent need of food aid.
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From The Zimbabwean, 23 September
Z$9 billion heist at RBZ
By Mandla Mpofu
Harare - An international syndicate has swindled the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe of Z$9 billion. The team of fraudsters, reported to include Reserve Bank employees working with computer hackers of Chinese and Nigerian nationality, may also have issued counterfeit petrol coupons worth US$10 000. Sources at the central bank revealed that the Z$9 billion which was dispersed through the bank's Fidelity Printers was fraudulently accessed after papers of one the bank's major depositors, an international conglomerate, had been forged. Senior police and CIO officers are reportedly grilling accountants and auditors at the bank as insider involvement is suspected. Investigators have been deployed across the country in a search for the coupons and any leads to the criminals. No arrests have so far been made. "Our every move is being monitored like never before and some members of staff have been given days off to facilitate investigations. The whole thing is just scary," a bank source told The Zimbabwean. "A middle-aged Chinese man walked into the bank on Samora Machel Ave carrying a briefcase. He produced the papers requested by tellers. Fidelity Printers was then told to transfer Z$9 billion into an unnamed commercial bank. But when it was discovered that the papers had been forged, the money had already been withdrawn despite new bank regulations which do not allow anyone to withdraw more than Z$50 million a day," said the source. A considerable amount of Chinese computer equipment and expertise has been brought into the country by the government over the past few years in an attempt to monitor and spy on communications between Zimbabweans and the outside world, and to jam independent, foreign-based radio broadcasts such as SW Radio Africa.
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From Reuters, 23 September
IMF says will verify sources of Zimbabwe payment
Washington - The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it plans to verify the source of a $120 million payment by Zimbabwe to the global lender last month in a bid by the country to pay down its IMF arrears. Our understanding right now is that this was a voluntary submission of proceeds (from export receipts)," Siddharth Tiwari, deputy director in the IMF's Africa Department, told a news conference. "The (IMF) board board has asked us to get back to them to verify the source of the funds. It is something we need to talk to the authorities about," he added.
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From The Financial Gazette, 22 September
Annan sticks to conditions for Zim visit
Rangarirai Mberi
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Koffi Annan has once again told President Robert Mugabe that he will only accept his invitation to visit Harare if the President agrees to a set of conditions, officials at the world body have said.Stephane Dujarric, chief UN spokesman, said this week that Annan had demanded, as a condition for his visit, that the government allows aid groups into the country and gives them unfettered access to feed the hungry. Annan also wants President Mugabe to agree to open dialogue with all parties and civil society groups. Annan's spokesperson, Mary Okabe, said there had been no change in the Secretary-General's earlier position that any visit to Zimbabwe "must be properly prepared" for. The government extended the invitation to Annan as its response to a stinging report prepared in July by the UN chief's envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, on Operation Murambatsvina. The report condemned the government's urban clean-up campaign as a "disastrous venture" that had left up to 700 000 poor people homeless. The government denies the charges, and has suggested Tibaijuka was working for Zimbabwe's Western critics, particularly Britain.
The government says Annan should visit Zimbabwe to "see for himself" the new houses it claims to be building for the homeless under Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, the reconstruction campaign dismissed by critics as an attempt by government to cover up the destruction caused by Operation Murambatsvina. President Mugabe has already rejected international offers of food aid - including from the World Food Programme (WFP) - saying Zimbabwe can afford to import enough grain to feed itself. The President is also strongly opposed to any contact with opposition groups, having repeatedly described the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party as serving the interests of British leader Tony Blair. The official Herald daily, quoting senior government officials who travelled with the President to New York last week, said on Monday that Annan had accepted government's invitation to visit Zimbabwe and that Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and an unnamed senior UN official had been "tasked to work out a programme for the expected visit".
The two officials, The Herald said, would set a date after taking into consideration the looming Senate election and the Zanu PF annual conference in December. But senior UN officials say Annan had in fact repeated earlier demands as a condition for the visit, making it unlikely that the UN boss will make the trip soon. Government has accepted Annan's plan to send his chief coordinator of humanitarian operations to Zimbabwe in the next few weeks to assess the food situation, but rejected his plea to allow non-governmental organisations to come into the country and freely distribute food aid. Information and Publicity Minister Tichaona Jokonya was unavailable for comment yesterday, but earlier this week he said Britain and other Western critics were seeking to "politicise" the Secretary General's visit. Annan was "my good friend", Jokonya said, but he had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of any country.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 24 September
Zimbabwe soccer players missing in London
Harare - Eight Zimbabwean soccer players have gone missing in London following a controversial trip to the United Kingdom to play a match, a newspaper reported in Harare on Saturday. Two soccer officials have also disappeared, the state-controlled Herald reported. The ten men - from top teams Caps United and Highlanders Football Club - were granted visas to travel to the UK for a match last weekend, but were supposed to return to Zimbabwe this week with the rest of their team. However, they have disappeared in what appears to be "one of the biggest crises to hit the country's battered national sporting discipline", the newspaper said. The revelation follows a week of unconfirmed reports and speculation that the players and officials had clandestinely joined hundreds of thousands of other Zimbabweans living and working in the former colonial power.
"It is quite a big blow for us as a club to lose such a huge number of players at once, but we have to quickly sit down and map the way forward," the team manager of Caps United, Farai Jere was quoted as saying. "It is a pity that these players might have decided to destroy their careers by pursuing a new life in England," he said. At least two of the players checked in their luggage at Heathrow International airport but then disappeared into the crowds and did not board their plane home, the Herald said. Others slipped away from camp, the report said. Local newspapers reported this week that the match between the two Zimbabwean club sides had not been sanctioned by the English Football Association. The association is going to report the incident to Fifa, soccer's world governing body, the newspaper said. The match, initially billed as an international friendly, turned out to be a social played between the two sides at a rugby stadium in the northern city of Bradford. It was reported to have been organised by a British-based entertainment company run by Zimbabweans.
In an editorial on Saturday, the Herald lashed out at Zimbabwe's own soccer governing body - the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa). It accused the body of committing an embarrassing diplomatic gaffe. "Imagine the bad blood now between Zifa and the British Embassy who will rightly feel that they were duped by this association that these people were going on a real football trip?" The paper also predicted that the incident "could have a terrible effect on genuine football stars trying to get contracts with English teams". More than a quarter of the country's approximately 12-million people are believed to be living and working outside Zimbabwe in places like South Africa and the United Kingdom.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 25 September
CIO unleashes terror
By Foster Dongozi and Caiphas Chimhete
Barely two weeks after State Security and Land Reform minister, Didymus Mutasa described white commercial farmers as "dirt" which needed to be cleansed, mayhem has broken out in Manicaland. Attacks were reported in Chipinge and Nyazura, where commercial farmers said they now fear for their lives. Mutasa made the chilling threat against whites at a land audit meeting in Masvingo two weeks ago. Police in Chipinge confirmed receiving reports of "disturbances" at some farms in the district. "Assistant Inspector Makota is handling some cases but he has gone out. He is the only person who can talk to you," said an officer when contacted for comment yesterday. In Nyazura two farms - Tsungwezi Source and Tsellandal - were taken from their owners, Jane Herrer and David Banard respectively. In Chipinge, Joseph Chiminya, a senior official with the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) allegedly led a gang which stormed Ashanti Farm on Wednesday morning. Five members of the gang then savaged the farm manager, Allen Warner with hoses and steel pipes while Chiminya stood at a distance. Warner said: "Chiminya, a senior member of the CIO was carrying an Uzi light machine gun and he pointed it at me but when he tried to fire it, the gun jammed which was very lucky for me. When I tried to escape on a motor bike, they descended on me and beat me up." He said the beatings only stopped after David Wilding-Davies, a co-owner of the farm, pleaded with the assailants not to harm him.
The assault on Ashanti Farm is expected to cause a major embarrassment in Zanu PF, as the farm is partly owned by former University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor, Professor Graham Hill. Warner confirmed Hill was a part owner of the farm. Wilding-Davies, who with Hill owns Ashanti Farm, confirmed Chiminya is targeting the farm. The farms export coffee and tea that earn the country much-needed foreign currency. "The acting DA, Kutamahofa came with Joseph Chiminya from the President's Office and told me that they intended to take over the farm. They told me they were coming the following day," Wilding-Davies said. Unconfirmed reports say a senior official based at the Zimbabwe Embassy in London, had 12 police officers in tow when he overran Brackenridge Farm on Tuesday night. Four of them were allegedly brandishing AK 47 automatic rifles. The evictee, Gideon Mostert said the diplomat, accompanied by his wife, instructed him to vacate the farm at night and ordered neighbours and workers not to assist them to pack. An intelligence officer, identified only as Sigauke, is reported to have muscled his way into Destiny Farm and informed workers and management that he would be the new owner of the farm at the end of the month. "Sigauke has been coming here to intimidate the workers despite the fact that he was served with an eviction order in June," said farm manager, Robert Clowes. Chiminya and Sigauke could not be reached for comment.
The latest mayhem comes after President Robert Mugabe assented to the Constitutional Amendment Bill 17, which prohibits people from seeking recourse from the courts on matters relating to farming land. Doug Taylor-Freeme, the president of the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), said the invasions in Chipinge and Nyazura had instilled fear in the hearts of the farming community and would have negative effects on the national agricultural output. Taylor-Freeme said the CFU had appealed to government to intervene and ensure farmers can farm with confidence to ensure the country retains its status as the breadbasket of southern Africa. When informed about the attacks Mutasa yesterday backtracked on his threat and professed ignorance about the mayhem in Chipinge and Nyazura, saying farmers should report any invasions to the nearest police station.
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From Business Day (SA), 23 September
New wave of farm evictions sweeps eastern Zimbabwe
Dumisani Muleya
Johannesburg - A new wave of land seizures has hit Zimbabwe as the government enters the final stage of a campaign to evict the last remaining white commercial farmers from their properties after nationalising the country's land. The latest wave has hit eastern Zimbabwe, especially Chipinge district, where farmers are now being forced out. Gangs of Zanu PF militia backed by police overran at least two farms this week, beating and threatening farmers and managers before chasing them off the land. "All title deeds of the farmers have been cancelled, with the British government having sole responsibility to compensate the evicted farmers," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said on state radio yesterday. Chinamasa said a constitutional amendment that President Robert Mugabe signed on August 30, stripping land owners of their right to appeal against state expropriation, had "finally settled the land question in Zimbabwe". Zimbabwe has accused former colonial power Britain of creating economic and political trouble. Mugabe also has accused white Zimbabweans of orchestrating political opposition.
Farmers interviewed this week said they feared a "mop-up campaign" was under way to flush them out. They said they feared the "final push" could be motivated by "ethnic cleansing" designs. Gideon Mostert and his wife were on Tuesday night forced off their land in New Castle farm in Chipinge after an invasion by a ruling Zanu PF gang and state security officials. Mostert said it was a harrowing experience to be forced off his land under threats of violence. "I was pushed out on Tuesday night by local Zanu PF agents and a Zimbabwean diplomat based in London, Dr Win Mlambo," he said. "I'm now living in a caravan at the backyard of a friend's house. The group phoned me at 8pm on Tuesday and told me to vacate the farm." Mostert said the invaders arrived shortly after 10pm, and forced him to leave immediately. "They came in and threatened to attack us if we didn't leave. We had no choice .... The group, which had about eight security agents and 12 activists, kept on saying: 'Hurry up, hurry up, time is not on your side'."
Canadian coffee-farm owner David Wilding-Davies and his South African manager, Allan Warner, were allowed by doctors to go home yesterday after receiving treatment for injuries they suffered when they were beaten the day before by a gang trying forcing them off Liliesvlei farm. The attack was the first since Didymus Mutasa, head of Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organisation, described remaining white farmers as "filth" and said he would "rid the country of remaining whites". Chipinge Farmers Association chairman Irvine Stone said Wilding-Davies was raided during the night at his Brackenridge farm by an aggressive gang. He said Warner was "severely beaten", and that gun shots were fired over his head during the attack. The Commercial Farmers Union said disturbances were still rampant on the farms. Farmers were still being pushed out or their operations being disrupted. Mugabe ordered the seizure of 4000 mostly white-owned commercial farms starting in February 2000. Until 2000, whites farmed 17% of the country and earned most of its export revenue. Farming was the backbone of an economy now in free fall. Chinamasa said that there was now an appreciation in the SA government that Zimbabwe's land grabs were effective in addressing land inequalities.
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 24 September
Zim fuel crisis worsens
Crippling fuel shortages in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo have brought almost all essential services to a halt, the mayor said this week . Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube said the entire fleet of municipal vehicles was off the road, and burst sewerage and water pipes were left unrepaired. Only five of the city's 12 ambulances were able to run at the moment, and the number of fire engines has also been reduced, the mayor said. "The general services of council are not being carried out," Ndabeni-Ncube said, adding that this was impacting heavily on the welfare of the city's 1.4 million residents. Bulawayo is not the only city to be badly affected by Zimbabwe's current fuel shortages. Last week the capital Harare was reported to have only one fire engine on the road with just a quarter tank of fuel left. Municipal authorities said they were being forced to buy fuel on the black market to keep municipal services operating. Earlier this month the government hiked the price of diesel and petrol by more than 100%, but the measure has not improved availability. The privately owned Daily Mirror earlier reported that the price of bread had increased dramatically, worsening hardships for the poorest. While the government last month set the price of bread at Z$7 500 per loaf, it was now selling for at least Z$13 000. Previously bread sold at Z$4 500 a loaf.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 23 September
Govt used my money to pay IMF - Mawere
Dumisani Muleya
Prominent Zimbabwean tycoon Mutumwa Mawere, now a South African citizen, says part of the money recently used by government to pay the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrears came from his seized companies. Mawere's disclosure reinforces reports that government raided exporters' foreign currency accounts and the auction system to raise the US$120 million it paid to the IMF to reduce its US$295 million debt. The revelations raise questions about the propriety of the sources of the money which Harare paid to the IMF after failing to secure a loan from South Africa to settle its arrears. Harare rejected Pretoria's credit facility conditions. In a letter written last week to the IMF managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, Mawere said government used proceeds from his confiscated firms to pay the IMF. The letter was copied to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and senior IMF officials. Mawere is a former World Bank and International Finance Corporation employee. The payment of part of the IMF debt and a handful of concessions on economic reforms saved Zimbabwe from expulsion. Harare was given another grace period of six months to put its house in order or risk being expelled. "While your executive board has decided to postpone a recommendation to your board of governors with respect to Zimbabwe's compulsory withdrawal from the fund," Mawere said, "I am not sure whether your management and staff are aware of the policy steps that have led to the illegal expropriation of private property rights by the state thereby enhancing its capacity to pay you. I am sure that if your executive board was aware that part of the source of payment from Zimbabwe directly originated from the proceeds of the state's illegal activities, your institutions would have arrived at a different conclusion in your deliberations," he said.
Mawere lost his flagship conglomerate, Shabanie Mashaba Mines (Pvt) Ltd, which he had bought for US$60 million from British company, Turner & Newell plc in 1996, to the state. His mines, together with companies in finance, insurance and agriculture, were seized under the Reconstruction of State Indebted Insolvent Companies Act which came via a presidential decree. Mawere - who now runs his South African company, Africa Heritage at Rivonia in Johannesburg - wrote to Robert Mugabe in the past over the issue of his companies. He has accused government of seizing his firms on political grounds. Mawere was accused of externalising foreign currency and was specified under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was arrested in South Africa last year but freed after Zimbabwe failed in its bid to extradite him. He said he felt compelled to bring the issue to the IMF's attention due to the misrepresentation of facts about Zimbabwe's arrears repayment. Mawere said contrary to Zimbabwe's central bank governor Gideon Gono's claims that the money came from "exporters", "my companies that generate about US$100 million per annum now under state control were used to pay you (IMF)". He has accused Gono of spearheading the campaign to seize his firms and nationalise them. He said this had set a dangerous precedent and was very damaging to the economy. "It is unfortunate that by expropriating my assets, the state has created a window to make good on its obligations to you," Mawere wrote to Rato. "I would like to believe that your institution may not be aware that parts of the funds used to reduce Zimbabwe's obligations to you were a direct result of the dispossession of private property rights by the state."
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From The Sunday Mail, 25 September
Police operation nets 5 000, rakes in $18m in fines
Metro Reporter
Police in Harare have in the past week, raised over $180 million in fines after arresting over 5 000 people for various offences committed under operation code-named Siyapambili. Harare Province police spokesman Inspector Loveless Rupere said 5 084 arrests had been made from September 16 to 22. "We have collected a cumulative revenue of $180 125 000 so far from fines," he said. In Harare Central alone 680 offenders were fined for various offences while there were 376 arrests in Harare suburban districts. In Mbare and Harare South Districts, there were 307 and 678 arrests respectively while Chitungwiza district also saw 355 offenders being fined. The national traffic department recorded a total of 2 287 arrests while the total number of arrests made in all six districts by last Wednesday was 1 071. Inspector Rupere said arrests made were for the various offences, including housebreaking and theft, assault, robberies, theft from motor vehicles, illegal dealings in foreign currency, street vending, gambling and touting. "We have noted with great concern that after Operation Restore Order, most crimes of concern had gone down by a respectable margin. However, we have seen that despite all efforts being made by police, there is now a trend which shows an increase in the crime rate," said Inspector Rupere. He added that the exercise was an ongoing process to curb crime within the city.
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From Associated Press, 20 September
Vending blitz hurting Zimbabwean hawkers
By Michael Hartnack
Harare - A toothless flower-seller rushes up to a well-dressed shopper outside a supermarket, peers around anxiously through watery eyes as though about to offer drugs for sale, and begs her to buy a 20-cent bunch of asters. Suddenly two policemen appear in riot gear. "Ah, you can do nothing!" he exclaims in disgust, jumping on a rickety bicycle with his box of flowers and disappearing down an alley. President Robert Mugabe's crackdown on vendors has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands and criminalized one of the last functioning sectors of Zimbabwe's crumbling economy. Tens of thousands were arrested and had their goods seized in a slum clearance called Operation Murambatsvina - Drive Out Trash - launched May 19. Mugabe's government accused them of sabotaging the economy through black market dealing. For 35 years, the flower dealer - too afraid to give his name - grew asters and roses on a plot at Domboshawa, a rocky tribal area about 20 miles north of the capital. Every day, he peddled down to the city and sold his flowers on a suburban sidewalk. Then, without warning, police arrested him and seized his stock even though he had a vending license from the municipality. The $20 loss represented a huge chunk of his capital savings.
"The informal sector has not recovered from Murambatsvina," said John Robertson, an independent economist. "Individuals are making a living vending vegetables and other things again, but they are still at risk ... At my local shopping center they had all their money taken by police yesterday." There are few other ways to make a living in a country with over 70 percent unemployment. Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy has spiraled out of control since the government began seizing thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks in 2000. Inflation has soared to 265 percent, and there are critical shortages of food and fuel. Harare authorities told Parliament recently that even they had to turn to the black market to buy diesel for their fire engines. Today's vendors include many black farm laborers who lost their jobs when white farmers were forced off their land, Robertson said. Mawere, who gave only one name, worked for a plumbing firm until it went bankrupt and its white owner left the country. He counts himself lucky to have found part-time work as a night watchman. He, too, must flout the law to supplement his $72 monthly pay by crafting birds from twigs and pine cones to sell at the Harare race course. His family, 220 miles from Harare, lost its crop to drought last year so he barely can support himself, his wife and two children. His $32-a-month rented room was demolished in the slum clearance and he sleeps under a makeshift plastic tent or rents bed space indoors for $48. Selling his handiwork is illegal, but "it is the only way I can survive," he said.
Operation Murambatsvina destroyed the homes or livelihoods of 700,000 people and affected some 2.4 million others, according to U.N. estimates. Police torched vast shantytowns and markets and forced many people to tear down their own homes and businesses at gunpoint. Four months later, many of the dispossessed are still sleeping in the open surrounded by their meager belongings. Mugabe's government has said the purpose was to restore order to overcrowded, crime-ridden cities. His opponents say the goal was to break up their strongholds among the urban poor. Mugabe denied that in an interview last week with The Associated Press. "How would the officers distinguish between stalls owned by MDC supporters and Zanu PF supporters?" he asked, referring to the main opposition movement and his ruling party. He said his government is building tidy covered markets for vendors, but there is no visible evidence of such construction. "Some kind of cleanup was needed, but the government again and again is treating the symptoms," said Robertson, the economist. "The real problem is that these are destitute people who have been forced into doing these things by the government's own actions."
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From News24 (SA), 18 September
Zim influx crisis
Shadi Rapitso & Caiphus Kgosana
Johannesburg - The anticipated influx of Zimbabwean economic refugees has already started and rural areas in Limpopo are being overwhelmed by hordes of immigrants seeking work and food. A City Press investigation has revealed that villagers in many parts of the province have opened up their hearts and homes to the refugees, but now fear that they are being swamped. Refugee numbers are a major concern for the security services and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has commissioned an audit to establish the extent of the problem. NIA boss Billy Masetla said the flooding of the Limpopo border by Zimbabwean immigrants was a "huge concern". He said it was difficult to estimate the number of immigrants, a factor which had necessitated the survey. Masetla said instead of a security problem, the influx constituted "a crisis of the human element". Police in the area told City Press that at least 100 immigrants were arrested daily in the Vhembe district alone. At Matangari village, villagers called in the police to move out immigrants after complaints that they were about to outnumber locals. At Tshivhilwi, where we found groups of men living in plastic hovels in bushes near the village, there were concerns that about 200 people had arrived on two consecutive days. Villagers also called a meeting in Madombidzha, near Makhado, where a resolution was taken to expel Zimbabweans. Masetla said he did not believe the immigrants posed a national security risk at the moment although a few did get involved in criminal activities. "We are not facing a situation where you see huge numbers crossing together and wanting refugee status," he said. "These are people looking for piece jobs and you can see they hope to return home when things get better. They actually migrate and the number of trucks, taxis and buses ferrying people here to buy basic things increases daily. We hope the political intervention will give rise to the possibility of halting the economic meltdown." He said the intelligence community reported regularly to home affairs and the police about its observations.
While the problem is not confined to a specific area in Limpopo, Musina and areas closer to Thohoyandou appear to be most affected by the influx. Police spokesperson superintendent Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said the influx was a "very serious problem" in the Thohoyandou area. "On average we arrest about 100 a day," he said, adding that the problem was more serious in Musina. He said illegal immigrants were deported 48 hours after arrest. Residents of Tshivhilwi village, about 30km east of Thohoyandou, said there were about 2 000 Zimbabweans there. Humbulani Rasilingwani, chairperson of water and electricity of the local civic association, said: "It is a crisis.Recently the issue of Zimbabweans was discussed at the headman's kraal. One resident said he saw about 80 of them crossing the river into our village in one instance. A day before, he had seen about the same number. "It appears there are people who are not aware of the seriousness of this matter. It is extremely serious. It is actually threatening." In a bid to legalise the entry of Zimbabweans into South Africa, Lesley Mashokwe, spokespserson for the department of home affairs, said negotiations were under way with Zimbabwe to scrap visa requirements.
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From The Sunday Argus (SA), 25 September
Zim 'golden goose' threatens shutdown
Platinum giant Zimplats is the goose that lays the biggest and shiniest eggs in an otherwise bleak Zimbabwe but President Robert Mugabe's desperate tax collectors nearly killed the goose last week. Hours before the giant corporation prepared to shut off the giant furnace which spews out Zimbabwe's most reliable source of foreign currency, Deputy President Joseph Msika had to step in to stop an extraordinary and unprecedented calamity. So desperate is the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), for income, it hounded Zimplats for about R100 million, most of it in "penalties" for taxes on imported capital goods from which it is supposed to be exempt, and also a new tax which is not yet law. Zimplats executives in Zimbabwe and Keith Rumble, CEO of its South African holding company, Implats, wrote to Msika last week - after a letter previously delivered to the Ministry of Mines was ignored - to warn that unless Zimra dropped its demands, the furnace would be turned off. Rumble sent an urgent letter hand-delivered to Msika's office to say: "This action runs contrary to the signed agreement and to all the assurances given by your government to date."
"Zimplats didn't want to do this, but felt they had no option and had the courage to stand their ground," said economist John Robertson who has monitored the development of platinum in Zimbabwe. Zimplats' R1.5 billion furnace at Selous, 88km south west of Harare, is the largest industrial plant in Zimbabwe and runs 24 hours a day, every day. If switched off it would have stalled R60m of scarce monthly foreign currency earnings for Zimbabwe. It would have taken at least four months to restart, according to Robertson. He said molten metals would have solidified on cooling in the furnace and it would have taken at least four months to drill out and reline before it could be used again. Few of the 2 000 personnel employed by Zimplats knew of the close call last Friday. Company executives in Zimbabwe and South Africa took the decision, according to Robertson, because they had no option as they believed Zimplats's bank account would be emptied if it was forced to meet Zimra's demands and there would be no funds left for production costs. Joseph Msika was informed that Zimra had ignored his order of a few days previously to leave the mining giant alone and he had to intervene formally at the last minute.
"Zimra is desperate for revenue as the economy has shrunk by 50% in six years, but in addition, Zimra officials are paid incentives and have become bounty hunters at a time when the economy is moving towards anarchy," Robertson said. Zimplats executives were not available for comment this week and were reportedly in South Africa. The company's massive expansion due to begin a year ago was stalled because of investor uncertainties over the international agreement signed with the Zimbabwe government 18 years ago regarding mining houses retaining foreign exchange to finance necessary imports. On Friday the Reserve Bank published a notice listing about 1 000 companies it accuses of failing to surrender foreign currency earnings to the bank within 90 days. The notice, published in the press, said that R1.2bn was outstanding and half of that was owed by "delinquent" companies now facing criminal charges. Some of the companies listed closed down several years ago.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 25 September
Mugabe gets wife-battering official off hook
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe had wife- battering charges against his spokesman George Charamba thrown out to avoid damaging his office's reputation, it has emerged. Government officials said Mugabe's office covered up charges that Charamba had allegedly assaulted his wife, Rudo, during a row over a missing gun on February 24 last year. The incident allegedly took place at the couple's Mandara home in Harare. Charamba is said to have a black belt in karate. The officials said the case was dropped against the will of police commissioner Augustine Chihuri after Mugabe intervened. He allegedly merely summoned Charamba and warned him about his actions. "Charamba beat up his wife severely on February 24 last year, after he had returned from a foreign trip with Mugabe. He assaulted her badly and she was taken to a local hospital bleeding profusely. The issue was brought to Chihuri's attention and he wanted to have Charamba prosecuted, but when it went to Mugabe he did not want to create a messy affair and the issue was suppressed," a source said.
The claims first surfaced two weeks ago in Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF newspaper, The Voice, in a column written by the paper's editor Lovemore Mataire. Charamba had recently attacked Mataire in the government-controlled Herald, calling him a "failed and incompetent editor". He had also accused Mataire of hobnobbing with opposition politicians and moonlighting for the Voice of America's Studio 7. He claimed that Mataire had gone on a jaunt with a girlfriend and caused a car crash, which cost her an eye. In return, Mataire accused Charamba of "spousal abuse and other immoral activities". He described Mugabe's press secretary as a liar who gushed "stinking effluent". Charamba refused to comment on the allegations, referring queries to his lawyer Johannes Tomana. Tomana said: "There was that matter by the police but the case was withdrawn. Check that with the wife." Sources said the case was reported at Borrowdale Police Station, after Rudo's relatives and friends intervened. One of Rudo's friends, who helped her, told the Sunday Times he had taken away her bloody clothes and was keeping them as an exhibit.
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From Business Report (SA), 26 September
Little to cheer about as Zimbabwe tobacco auction ends
Harare - The tobacco selling season has ended in Zimbabwe with only 72 million kilograms sold, the state-controlled Herald reported on Monday. The total quantity of tobacco sold this year is a marginal increase over the 68.9 million kilograms sold in 2004. But in 2000, shortly before the launch of a controversial land reform programme commercial farmers produced well over 200 million kilograms of tobacco. The value of this year's crop decreased to $117 million from the $137 million last year, the Herald said. Zimbabwe's tobacco crop is sold between April and September at auctions in Harare. Tobacco used to account for 40 percent of the country's foreign currency receipts, but production has fallen sharply since the launch of the land reform programme five years ago. Thousands of former white-owned tobacco farms have been seized by President Robert Mugabe's government for redistribution to new black farmers.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 25 September
MDC to contest Senate elections
By Valentine Maponga
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it will take part in the Senate polls due to be held before the end of the year, The Standard can reveal. Professor Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general told The Standard that there were differences between circumstances leading to the Senate elections and the 31 March Parliamentary elections. "There are fundamental differences between the March Parliamentary elections and the position we are in right now. It is very clear that the national council lifted the suspension on election participation and that position has not changed. The operative resolution of the council is that we are in the elections," Ncube said. Ncube dismissed claims of divisions within the opposition party adding that having different views over certain issues does not mean that people are divided. "It is very democratic to have differing views so that we debate and try and convince those with contrary views why we think the other view is better and important. Right now we are encouraging the people to go and register," he said.
By participating in the elections other opposition MPs fear that they might be legitimising the ruling Zanu PF and its policies. Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC spokesperson said: "There are a lot of things that we do that have been misconstrued as legitimising the government, yet it is not true. Anyone is entitled to arrive at his or her conclusion but the ultimate decision on whether the party should participate or not must come from within the party structures." MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese said they needed to be satisfied first on the merits and demerits of participating in the Senate race as a party and thus the need to consult. "We need to satisfy ourselves first that we are making the right decision by participating in those elections and that is why we are going through the consultation process. But you should always know that our party is always prepared for any elections that may come our way," Gonese said. But analysts told The Standard that failure by the MDC to make an early announcement on their participation in major elections showed lack of a clear political strategy. They warned that the delay could act in Zanu PF's favour in the forthcoming Senate elections, because the ruling party had intensified its campaign. Elections for the 66-member Senate are scheduled to be held before the end of the year.
John Makumbe, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said: "They shouldn't have participated in the 31 March elections but now that they are in Parliament, it would not make sense for them to ignore the coming elections. The Senate will be part of them since the two houses would supposedly work together in the business of making laws, for as long as they sit in Parliament." Eldred Masunungure, another lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said the delay by the MDC in reaching a decision was going to cost them a number of seats should they decide to participate. "If the MDC decides not to participate, it would be a giant step backwards. The opposition needs to learn from past experiences and it is very evident that they lost a number of seats during the March Parliamentary elections because of the late announcement that they would contest the elections," Masunungure said. Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, last week confirmed that the Senate elections would be held before the end of the year. "Democracy is an expensive process and there is no ideal time for it to happen. We are going to conduct Senate elections by mid- December and those who can't make decisions now have themselves to blame," Chinamasa said.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Standard, 25 September
MDC dilemma over Senate poll
Sunday Opinion with Itai M Zimunya
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is under serious pressure to save the people of Zimbabwe from the jaws of misgovernance and plunder. In this quest, the MDC leadership was reported to have made a serious blunder in not coming up with a clear position in time for the 31 March elections. Their last minute and rushed decision to contest the parliamentary elections was noted as a factor that worked against them. At present, we witness a repetition as the country braces for Senate elections. The dominant issue, of course, is: should the MDC participate or boycott the Senate elections? The answer to this question is part of the solution proposed in this paper. While the issue seems to confuse many; it is really quite simple and straightforward. However, for people to understand the argument, they need to appreciate basic descriptions of a political party and its mandate. The MDC is defined by the people/ masses and not by its members of parliament or national council, though the national council has constitutional powers to make decisions between congresses.
Specifically, the MDC was formed for many reasons, the major of which is: to return Zimbabwe to the path of good governance. This process was to be done in non-violent ways, one of which is elections. Zanu PF was observed and recorded to have failed to govern, and thus the people demanded that President Robert Mugabe must go, symbolized by the red card. Therefore, any decision by whosoever to argue for or against the MDC's participation in the Senate must be based on the key objective of the MDC- returning Zimbabwe to the path of good governance. It is reported that some people say the MDC should contest the Senate election so as not to give Zanu PF power to control the urban areas and Matabelaland on a silver platter. Most of the proponents of this view are those that have a real chance of making it into the Senate and hope to benefit from the 4x4's, allowances and the prestige that comes with the office. The other group says the MDC should boycott the election on the basis of principle. These have several heads of arguments. These include, that: The party does not agree with the amendment that gave birth to the Senate issue. The Senate does not in any way return Zimbabwe to the path of democratic governance. In fact, the Senate seeks to further drain the already dry government coffers and silence the political opponents both within the ruling party and in the opposition. The Senate will be the old people's home or the resting-place of tired Zanu PF politicians, which gives them little reason to complain of being sidelined in the party's power structures.
Based on this background, they argue that the MDC should not contest the Senate election. This argument invokes a further question that: what sense is it for the MDC not to contest the Senate elections when they are in Parliament? The answer is, as stated earlier, fairly simple but radical in scope. It is time the MDC puts its energy on achieving the main objective of power and get the chance to turn around the country socio-economically and politically. The MDC could remain in Parliament and boycott the Senate. The hidden logic is that the Senate issue has a chance of disappointing people by raising so much expectations that perhaps the Senate will increase salaries, reduce the price of bread or bring fuel. The parliamentary issue is a constant that holds no more shocks for the people of Zimbabwe. The people voted for the members of Parliament hoping that at least Zanu PF could be sensible and patriotic to realize that the MDC, despite their desire to remove Zanu PF from power, were a national partner in rebuilding the socio-economic potential of Zimbabwe. In fact, the elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005 must serve as enough historical record of the Zanu PF government's illegitimacy. The MDC must not make it a habit of celebrating small gains of today, which block bigger gains of tomorrow.
However, the Senate must not just be boycotted and the rest left to fate. The MDC and every other patriotic citizen have to be involved in a viable political project designed to make Zimbabwe great again - one that is progressive and looks beyond the current crisis, because if we, as a nation, bank so much on discontent, we risk getting into the Guinness book of political records as the worst cowards on earth. Similarly, arguments that the people in the rural areas, have suffered and thus the MDC will shock Zanu PF is puerile kindergarten talk. Zanu PF is a Zimbabwean political party with a history of war; successful wars for that matter. This is despite the fact that one war was just and legitimate and the rest were counter-revolutionary. The liberation struggle was legitimate and just, but Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina and Hondo yeMinda were all counter-revolutionary. Yes, the people might hate Zanu PF for bringing the country down to where it is today, but note needs to be taken of Brian Raftopoulos when he says in dealing with Mugabe, people need to remember that he initially did not believe in talks as a means to win the liberation struggle.
It is also important to note that, with the Senate issue, Zanu PF is setting a trap for the MDC. Hunters bait their target by offering what their target likes most. To catch mice, you use nuts because mice love nuts. Zanu PF knows that some MDC elements love power and prestige and not national recovery, thus they dangle 19 seats in the Senate for the MDC to scramble for. The baits are the gains that come or accrue to the few senators likely to be elected on the MDC ticket (say 14 in Matabelaland and five in Harare). These 19 will destroy the immense work that Zimbabweans have done to lobby Africa on the Zimbabwean question. Being in the Senate will provide Zanu PF an answer to presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo that have been calling for dialogue, as they can say that they are talking with the MDC in the Senate. This would, of course, be a lie! It is well known that Zanu PF is dictatorial and does not listen to what the people say. So why should the MDC participate and legitimise Zanu PF pretentions?
It is important to show why we argue that the Senate is a Zanu PF power project. There is immense division and discontent within Zanu PF. The Mashonaland provinces dominate in government while other provinces like Masvingo, the three provinces of Matabeleland and Manicaland are out of the matrix. The merchants of Dinyane bebacle (Tsholotsho Declaration) had won six provinces out of 10 in Zanu PF, and these six were clear that Mugabe had to go. Herein lies the Senate interest. The Senate is the carrot to silence those that feel sidelined. With the possible 19 MDC seats, the same carrots will close the mouths of the MDC leaders. Is it not shocking that there is a clearer message within Zanu PF that Mugabe must go than from the opposition and other quarters? Six Zanu PF provinces said it loud and clear that Mugabe must go and the MDC is saying they need to talk to him. It is part of the making of Zimbabwe's history post-2000, just like Chief Jeremiah Chirau and Bishop Abel Muzorewa did with Ian Smith. Sekesai Makwavarara did it and she is truly enjoying the benefits of "mercenarism," though it could be short-lived. The MDC should take notes from Zanu PF. Why did Zanu PF and PF-Zapu boycott the 1978-9 internal settlement? Because, the main objective of the struggle was one-person one vote and land. They boycotted the process because it was a compromise of these demands. Cleverly so, the Muzorewa government collapsed and lost the election in 1980. People were and are not fools.
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From The Guardian (UK), 26 September
Zimbabwean football stars go missing after Bradford
Sophie Kirkham
Six of Zimbabwe's star footballers were on the run in Britain yesterday after failing to turn up for their flight home after a promotional match in Yorkshire last week. Organisers of the unofficial tour have hired private investigators to track them down, and have also asked for help from the Zimbabwean community. Immigration officials are also searching for the players. As household names in Zimbabwe, the players were given leave to visit family and friends in Britain after the match at Bradford's Odsal stadium last weekend, despite fears they might abscond. Although team managers confiscated passports and travel documents, there were no restrictions on the players travelling alone in Britain. It is understood visas were granted to the 50-strong group on the understanding that the friendly fixture was sanctioned by the England Football Association. But the FA has said it was unaware of the fixture, between Zimbabwe's league champions, Caps United, and arch rivals Highlanders FC, and added that it would tell the Zimbabwean Football Association (Zifa) and the sport's international governing body, Fifa, of its concerns over the match arrangements.
The tour, to promote Africa and showcase young talent, was organised by ZimEvents, a British company specialising in sporting events for expats. Taru Simbi, one of its directors, predicted it would only be a matter of days before the missing footballers were found. "The Zimbabwean community is fairly small, and does not want to be associated with people not going back home like this. I think the players will realise that all that glitters is not gold when they realise that in England you have to work hard for your money and you don't just dig gold from the streets. We were strict on security, but you can't chain people to the walls 24 hours a day." Those still missing include Caps' vice-captain, Artwell Mabhiza, and players Silent Katumba, Elton Chimedza and Tichaona Nyenda. Highlanders reserve goalie Luckson Mutanga and defender Dalisizwe Dhlamini have contacted their club to say they intend to start new lives in Britain. Caps managers Joe Makuvire and Valentine Gwaze, who stayed behind to try to locate the missing players, and international player Raymond Undi were due to fly home last night. Caps player David Sengu was understood also to be planning to return. "It is quite a big blow for us as a club to lose such a huge number of players at once," the Caps team manager, Farai Jere, told Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper. "It is a pity these players might have decided to destroy their careers by pursuing a new life in England." A Home Office spokesman said yesterday that steps were being taken to identify, locate and remove any players who had breached visas.
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From News24 (SA), 27 September
Zim 'has not rejected' SA loan
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe has not rejected loan assistance from South Africa, the country's Herald Online reported on Tuesday. It quoted Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono as saying talks on the matter between the two countries were continuing. "As the central bank, we are looking forward to the conclusion of the negotiations that will replenish our coffers accordingly," Gono said. "The assistance from South Africa is in the form of a loan which will have to be repaid at some stage in the future from our mineral, agricultural, tourism and manufacturing exports." Gono revealed that most of its payment of US$120m (R768m) to International Monetary Fund (IMF) came from banks in New York and London. The funds had been sourced from export proceeds, free funds and foreign currency liquidations, he said. The revelation comes after reports that the IMF intended to verify the source of the money in response to allegations that the money may have been expropriated. Gono gave details of the sources of the funds to IMF directors in Washington on the eve of the September 9 executive board meeting to decide on Zimbabwe's fate. Of the funds, $90m (R576m) was paid through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with the balance being transacted through Absa Bank of South Africa. Zimbabwe reduced its arrears with the IMF to $175m (R1.1bn) after the payment last month. This swayed the majority of the IMF's executive directors to vote against its expulsion. As a result, Zimbabwe earned a six-month reprieve. Gono said it was unfortunate that some quarters felt offended by Zimbabwe's ability to pay part of its arrears from its own resources. "The fact that we surprised everyone with the payment should not in itself cast doubt on our creativity and ability as the central bank and, indeed, the nation's resolve to take sacrificial measures in the wake of threats to national interests." Gono made an undertaking to clear the arrears by November next year.
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From Business Day (SA), 27 September
Harare puts $16m tax squeeze on Implats
Harare Correspondent
In a dramatic standoff expected to have major implications for government's proposed bilateral investment protection agreement with Zimbabwe, platinum miner Zimplats is locked in a tax dispute with the Harare government. The cash-squeezed Zimbabwean government claims Zimplats, owned by SA's Implats, owes it US$16,6m in unpaid taxes. Zimplats, one of the significant contributors to Implats's bottom line, maintains it was granted tax concessions by the government in an original mining agreement and through subsequent assurances by the mines ministry. The dispute, triggered by demands from Zimbabwe's revenue authorities, Zimra, has brought into sharp focus SA's continuing attempts to sign a bilateral investor protection agreement to safeguard its vast commercial interests in Zimbabwe. The protection agreement is also understood to be one of the critical conditions for the loan agreement, which has still to be concluded between the two countries. It also highlights the growing political risk associated with investing in Zimbabwe, where the economy has dramatically contracted 30% over the past five years. Among South African-owned or controlled companies in Zimbabwe are Anglo American, Old Mutual, Hippo Valley, Jewel Bank and Zimplats.
Zimplats CEO Greg Sebborn wrote to mines permanent secretary Thabani Ndlovu on September 15, complaining about the claim on unpaid taxes, and warned about a possible shutdown of the company if the dispute continued. The company, however, said yesterday it would not close down. Implats CEO Keith Rumble met Zimbabwean Vice-President Joseph Msika on September 14 to discuss the matter. The following day, Rumble wrote to Msika saying: "I appeal for your intervention in order to ensure that this issue is dealt with sensibly and practically. The effect of the unspecified action to force the company to comply with Zimra demands would be to shut down the operations since the costs would not be met," Rumble said. Zimplats is mining in Zimbabwe in terms of an agreement, signed between the government and parties to the Hartley platinum project, BHP and Zimplats, via its subsidiary, Hartley Management Company, five years ago. Implats came into the deal and invested in the project after BHP withdrew in 2000. The agreement was specifically crafted to attract large-scale investment. It stipulated that investors would not be penalised for investing large sums of foreign capital in new assets, especially in view of long-term risks and payback periods associated with mining assets.
Some of the clauses included an exemption from sales tax on new capital to ensure capital costs were competitive on a worldwide scale and also an exemption from tax on dividends to ensure equity funding costs were not unduly inflated. The government undertook to amend the legislation to ensure the agreement was enforceable, but it has not yet done so. Successive mines ministers, including the incumbent, Amos Midzi, have promised in writing that the agreement would be honoured. He said yesterday the agreement was clear, and would have to be followed. Zimra has threatened to take unspecified action if Zimplats does not comply. Sebborn said: "Zimplats now finds itself in a situation where it is under pressure from Zimra to meet obligations from which it had been explicitly exempted in both the original mining agreement with the government and subsequent assurances from the ministry of mines." This was damaging to Zimplats and to investor perceptions.
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From VOA News, 26 September
Harare eyes Anglo-American in new land reform push
By Blessing Zulu
Zimbabwe's ruling party is internally divided over the latest round of nationalizations in the land reform process which has been under way since the start of the decade, say sources in Zanu PF. A number of properties targeted for acquisition are owned by global commodities giant Anglo-American Corporation, based in South Africa, raising the stakes given the risk of more seriously alienating international investors, economists and analysts say. Documents obtained by VOA indicate that Justice Minister Patrick Chinimasa and State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa - also heading land reform - want the state to take over timber, tea and sugar plantations in Manicaland and the Lowveld region. Mr. Chinimasa states in the cabinet document that this will be a "mopping up exercise with those farms which (earlier) escaped the net being accounted for and gazetted for acquisition" by the state. The Anglo-American properties fall into this category. Anglo-American recently sent a notice to shareholders saying its Hippo Valley Estates, a large sugar plantation in the southeast of Zimbabwe near Mozambique, continue to be listed for state acquisition despite corporate legal objections to the listing. First Vice President Joseph Msika and Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, fearing the economic consequences of expropriating corporate property, are said to have asked President Robert Mugabe to veto the Hippo Valley acquisition. Anglo-American's Triangle Sugar Estates and Mkwasine Estate are similarly listed for compulsory acquisition by the state. The three plantations produce all of Zimbabwe's sugar output, which in 2004 totaled 236,000 metric tons worth some $91 million, much exported to neighboring countries and an important source of foreign exchange.
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From Zim Online (SA), 27 September
Zimbabwe, SA bank fuel deal hits snag
Harare - Negotiations between the Zimbabwe government and South Africa's Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) for a fuel supply credit facility have hit a snag because Harare has failed to provide security for the loan, according to sources. The exact requirements tabled by RMB could not be easily ascertained but sources said the merchant bank was keen on firm guarantees Harare will pay back money loaned to it. "RMB is keen on Zimbabwe providing surety but unfortunately what Zimbabwe offered could not satisfy the bank's requirements," an impeccable source said. "Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) officials are likely to visit South Africa soon to try to revive the deal but it's not looking bright," he said. RBZ and RMB officials have been in talks for the past month as Zimbabwe steps up efforts to raise scarce foreign currency. The facility was expected to finance the importation of petroleum products and grain. RBZ governor Gideon Gono was said to be locked up in meetings yesterday while Energy and Power Development Minister Mike Nyambuya said he was in a meeting when contacted for comment. Nyambuya had predicted that the fuel situation would have improved by Tuesday last week but Zimbabwe remains dry of diesel and petrol. RMB could not be immediately contacted for comment. The South African bank and RBZ officials confirmed earlier this month that they were in discussions over the fuel facility but did not divulge details.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 26 September
Zimbabwean oil firm staff stole for black market
Harare - Seventeen employees of Zimbabwe's state-run oil procurement company have been suspended following investigations into the theft of tens of thousands of litres of fuel, the Sunday Mail has reported. The state-run newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said 38 000 litres of petrol and diesel had disappeared on one day recently and that millions of litres could have been stolen since the beginning of the year. The oil depot has had to cancel night shifts in an attempt to prevent theft. The stolen fuel had supplied the black market, where it sold for prices way above those set by the government, the newspaper said. It had also been smuggled into neighbouring countries. "The thefts were perpetrated by the very persons entrusted with safeguarding the fuel, in conjunction with some truck drivers and greedy business people in the community," the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe was quoted as saying in a statement. The report said money made from the sale of the looted fuel had been used to import luxury vehicles from the United Arab Emirates. The report comes as Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst fuel crisis yet. Filling stations have not had deliveries in several months and there are long queues at the handful that require payment for fuel to be made in hard currency. Zimbabwe has had erratic fuel supplies since 1999 because of acute shortages of foreign currency.
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From Business Day (SA), 27 September
Tsvangirai's walks gather momentum
Business Day Correspondent
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a campaign to draw international attention to the plight of his countrymen who are forced to walk to work every day because of rocketing transport costs. Tsvangirai, who started walking to work two weeks ago to show solidarity with millions of suffering Zimbabweans, said at the time that "nobody can afford the extortionate price" his countrymen are forced to pay for fuel. The number of protesting pedestrians joining his morning commute has swelled to about 50. They walk from his house in Strathaven, a suburb of Harare, to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headquarters in Nelson Mandela Avenue, in the city. Fellow MPs and shadow MPs, as well as party officials walking with him included Murisi Zwizwai, MP for Harare Central, and Trudy Stevenson, MP for Harare North. Yesterday they were joined by members of civic society.
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From SABC News, 27 September
SA fails to keep out illegal Zimbabweans
South Africa is failing in its attempt to keep Zimbabweans from entering the country illegally. More and more of them cross the border into Limpopo daily in search of jobs and a better life. The fencing to keep illegals out is constantly being damaged. A six-month visa costs R1 500 - something most Zimbabweans can't afford. An illegal Zimbabwean, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the new fence on the Zimbabwean side is not much of a deterrent. "Most of the time some of us decide to use foot from Diti right up till here, by foot because of the shortage of money," he says. The South African Defence Force (SANDF) regularly arrests those trying to enter South Africa illegally. But still the influx continues. "The situation in Zimbabwe is worsening a lot. There's no food and there's no work, so the people have to come (here)... it's a matter of survival," said Otto Gerner of the SANDF's Operational Commando, which is patrolling the border.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 26 September
Zim wants its missing soccer players back
Harare - Zimbabwean soccer officials on Monday appealed to eight club players who went missing after a tour in Britain to return home, saying their careers could end if they fail to comply. "We want these boys back as soon as possible. The sooner they come back, the sooner we can find out what their position is," said Rafik Khan, president of the Zimbabwe Football Association. Zimbabwean football went into crisis over the weekend after six players from Harare-based Caps United and two players from Highlanders in Bulawayo failed to catch a flight from London back to Zimbabwe after an exhibition tour. Football insiders say the men may have stayed behind in Britain to flee economic and political hardships in their home country, hit by hyper-inflation and chronic shortages of food and fuel. "Maybe they have family there, maybe they wanted to stay for a bit longer ... But they should have asked permission anyway. All of them have six-month visas," Khan said, adding that the association has written to world body Fifa on the matter.
Although Zimbabwe is not planning to take steps against the men until their side has been heard, Khan said he is nonetheless "miffed that they did this to us". "If they stay in the United Kingdom, it will be the end of their playing careers," he said. "They have to get sanction from us even to play at the amateur level," said Khan, admitting that the loss of players might influence Zimbabwe's preparations for the African Cup of Nations next year. The state-owned Herald earlier named the missing Caps United players as vice-captain Artwell Mabhiza, Silent Katumba, David Sengu, Raymond Undi, Elton Chimedza and Tichaona Nyenda. Two Highlander players, reserve goalkeeper Luckson Mutanga and defender Dalisizwe Dhlamini, have also disappeared. Two Caps United officials, general manager Joe Makuvire and Valentine Gwaze, have returned to Zimbabwe, Caps United boss Twine Phiri said. A soccer player who did not want to be named earlier said "some players went to Britain and then start to think what exactly it is that they are going back to in Zimbabwe". Zimbabwe has in recent years seen at least four leading soccer players leave the crisis-hit country for Britain.
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