MDC Congress Update No.1

MDC PRESS
4 January 2006


Fellow Zimbabweans,

We wish to clarify false impressions being created by a group of former MDC senior officials, led by Welshman Ncube, Sibanda, Chimanikire and their associates, that there is a competitive parallel political process taking place within the MDC. The impressions arise from a series of small meetings the groups have been holding in various places under the name of the MDC and purporting to form party committees.

At its meeting of the 29th of May 2005, the MDC National Council outlined a road map to the February Congress. A notice was duly issued by Welshman Ncube on the 2nd of June stating inter alia the following: Branch congresses were to be completed by the end of June; ward congresses done by end of July; Constitutional amendments to be with the Legal Committee by end of September; district congresses were to be through by the end of September; provinces were to be completed by end of December, together with suggestions for a Congress theme.

Thereafter, and in terms of the Constitution, a mandatory two-month notice for the main Congress was to be given in January by the same national council. Most of the work was already complete by the time of the leadership fall-out on the 12th of October 2005. The structures on the ground, up to the district level were done, with new leadership and constitutional proposals ready.

There were some initial problems over the implementation of the process during the first two weeks after the Secretary General's memorandum of the 2nd of June, prompting the National Chairman to clear the confusion.

The chairman sent out a circular, dated 26 June 2005, explaining that it was the duty of the ward executives to conduct branch elections, with supervision from the district. Districts conducted the ward elections, with supervision from the provinces and all provincial elections were to be conducted by the National Chairman, assisted by the chairpersons of women and youth assemblies.

Esaph Mdlongwa, the national organising secretary issued another circular in September urging provinces to speed up the process when he realised that some structures seemed to be behind schedule with the implementation process. Nothing was ever issued reversing that trend, that process and all the three guidelines to this date. What this means is that any politician in the MDC who fails to recognise this process, which was in motion way before the fall out of 12 October 2005 is not worth listening to. They shall be overtaken by events, through their own dishonesty.

After the 12th October fall-out over the Senate story, the districts and the provinces decided to proceed with the process in order to save the party from possible collapse.

The congresses began in Harare, then Chitungwiza, Mash East, Manicaland, Masvingo, Mash Central, Midlands South and Midlands North. It was not possible to complete the process in the four remaining provinces because of logistic and financial constraints. In addition, the December holidays interfered with the implementation of the process, and a desire to complete the congresses as per the suggested deadline of end of December.

The delegates coming to these congresses are the party. A register is being kept and is open for verification. They are the same people who shall come to the main Congress. Harare had 814, Mashonaland East, 647, Mashonaland Central, 532, Manicaland, 915, Masvingo, 740, Midlands South, 635 and Midlands North, 728, Chitungwiza, 726, and Mashonaland West, 640.

These congresses were conducted by the National Chairman, in terms of our Constitution. There is an allegation that only anti-Senate executives, so-called pro-Tsvangirai officials are getting into positions. Far from the truth: look at Manicaland, the Midlands, Mashonaland Central and Masvingo. The new leadership includes both previously pro-and anti- Senate politicians. The Senate issue is now a matter of history. The party is now focussing on evolving a robust and dynamic leadership to realise the emergency of a new Zimbabwe.
 
When the Ncube/Chimanikire/Sibanda group realised that the process was already in motion, they set out to hold their own so-called provincial congresses, with their own sympathisers. All they are doing is to capture disgruntled elements within the MDC and giving them various posts. Many of these elements were suspended, fired or rejected by the people, in their areas. The group included in their new ranks the likes of Silas Mangono in Masvingo, Shake Maya in Chitungwiza, Alois Mudzingwa in Mashonaland East, Canciwell Nziramasanga in Mashonaland West, Edwin Mushoriwa, Mbuya Trudy Stevenson and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga in Harare, Lyson Mlambo in the Midlands and Isaac Muzimba in Kwekwe. They call these groups the new provinces.

I was part of the chairman's delegation in Shamva, conducting the provincial congress just before Christmas. One of the candidates in the contest for the post of provincial chairman was Henry Chimbiri. He received a single vote out of 10. He was very bitter and alleged that the provinces had been influenced to hate him. A week later, he crossed the floor and was selected, by the Sibanda/Chimanikire/Ncube group at their Mt Pleasant meeting as the new so-called chairman for Mashonaland Central!

The so -called new chairman for Chitungwiza, Goodrich Chimbaira, stood for a district executive post at Harvest House before a Congress that brought about a new Chiitungwiza province. He lost, and trekked back to the Ncube group where there were no elections. He was merely selected for the post. I spoke to him at length at Harvest House during the genuine Chiitungwiza congress. He was bitter and intimated that he would rather look for other options than respect the will of the people. He has done just that!

Edwin Mushoriwa was elected ward chairman for a ward in Dzivaresekwa in September during the authentic MDC congress process. He tried his luck in the Dzivaresekwa district in October, before October 12, 2005 and lost. He then decided to switch sides, and is now the so-called new provincial chairman under the parallel group. This information is freely available and can be verified independently by any serious political watcher on Zimbabwean affairs.

Mangono stood as an independent candidate in March 2005 and thus expelled himself from the party. Maya cannot stand for a party position because the Constitution stipulates that new members have to be in the party for at least two years before they can assume an executive post. Maya has not yet been in the party for more than two years.
 
At the Mt Pleasant Hall meeting in Harare there were about 280 people, all drawn from four provinces: Mash East, Mash West, Mash Central and Harare. The group calls that a provincial assembly and a provincial congress. Those from Harare who attended these meetings were given between $1,3 million and $1,7 million for transport and food. More money flowed out to those from the other provinces. Their organizers are being paid $8m each to set up parallel structures.

The National Chairman was not invited to preside over these meetings, as is required by the Constitution. In addition, there were no ward structure representatives, no districts and no branch chairpersons at the meeting. We are aware that the group wants to come up with a meeting which they shall call a national congress, based on these false structures. The people of Zimbabwe shall reject some diversionary tactics in their struggle and wait for a legitimate Congress of the MDC.

What has happened so far in the eight provinces is in line with the 2nd of June circular from the Secretary General, supported by a supplementary clarifier dated 26 June from the National chairman. The people taking part in the congress process are the real representatives from the original structures of the party, endorsed and accepted as legitimate, before the 12th of October 2005 fall out over the Senate issue. The people, not the leadership are the real owners of the MDC and reserve the right to shape their organisation in their own eyes.
 
Sibanda and Company claim to have expelled Morgan Tsvangirai from the MDC. If this is real, the people of Zimbabwe deserve to be told who is acting as a leader of the MDC in Tsvangirai’s absence. Nothing has been said about that. Why are they scared to come out in the open? They also say, in statements carried by dubious Internet blogs, they have expelled Isaac Matongo, the national chairman. Who did they appoint to chair the party now? Who is now supposed to preside over the congress process in the absence of a chairman as required by the Constitution? Why are they silent on these matters, if they are strict adherents of the Constitution as they always claim? Further, the disciplinary committee as a committee of the party, in terms of the Constitution, merely recommends its decisions to the national council for ratification. Where these expulsions ratified by anyone? And where?
 
At a meeting they held at Mandel Training Centre on the 14th of December 2005, 30 persons attended. Out of this number, only 19 were genuine members of the National Council (out of 72). Others, like Shacky Matake of Masvingo was expelled from the MDC in April for signing Mangono’s nomination papers to stand as an independent in the March election. He has since joined UPM. Frank Chamunorwa was also there. He has never been a member of the national council. Abednigo Bhebe, the Mat North vice provincial chairman, is not a member of the national council, yet he attended the meeting.

We shall complete the provincial congresses countrywide within the next few days. The National Council is meeting on Saturday to examine the state of the party and give notice to the people of Zimbabwe of our national Congress.

We are ready to provide the leadership and to take the struggle for democratic change to new heights.

Nelson Chamisa, MP
Spokesperson for the MDC.

Zimbabwe develops herb on bilharzia

China People's Daily
      


The National Institute of Health Research in Zimbabwe, formerly known as the Blair Research, has developed a hybrid of an indigenous plant that can be used to kill snails that carry bilharzia (schistosomiasis) worms, an official said on Wednesday.
The research technician in charge of schistosomiasis, Anderson Munatsi said the plant, known as Endod in English and Gopo in Shona, was first discovered in Ethiopia.
It was later discovered that the plant also grew in certain areas in Zimbabwe.
Munatsi said a pilot project was launched in 1994 to assist the community in Guruve to develop gardens for the plant.
"We now want to transfer the plant to all the other districts of the country," said Munatsi.
Advantages of using the plant were that it was cheap and involved the local communities instead of Institute staff, who would not be able to cover the whole country, he said.
Very small concentrations of the powder were also used to kill the snails.
In the past, the institute has been using chemical and biological methods to control the snails.
Chemical control involved applying synthetic chemicals into water bodies while biological control involved introducing predators such as fish and ducks to feed on the snails.
The plant produces berries, which when dried, are ground into powder and applied into the water bodies where the snails breed.
Munatsi said the research would this year carry out a national survey to determine the prevalence of bilharzia and other soil transmitted helminths in the country.
Other soil-transmitted helminths include round, tape, hook and weep worms.
He said the last national survey was carried in 1992 and a number of developments had taken place since then.
"We do not know what has happened since then," he said.
The study, which is linked to the national control program, is expected to commence in May, he said.
Munatsi said the resettlement of people that has occurred over the years could have resulted in the introduction of the snails in areas where they were not previously found while the construction of dams had seen an increase in the amount of water bodies.
Human beings were the primary host of the worms that cause bilharzia.
Inside the human body, the worms pair and lay eggs, which are passed out together with blood stained urine or stools into the water where they hatch and enter the snails, thus completing the cycle.
The worms can lay up to 300 eggs daily.
Bilharzia is common in rural areas among children aged between seven and 15, as they like to play in water.
Recent studies have linked the disease with other diseases such as kidney failure, liver scerhorsis, renal failure and its effects are severe when compounded with malaria.
Source: Xinhua

Zimbabwe Misses WHO's 3 By 5 Target Of Providing 120,000 People With Antiretrovirals In 2005

Medical News TOday

Category: HIV/AIDS News
Article Date: 05 Jan 2006


Zimbabwe in 2005 missed the World Health Organization's target of providing
120,000 HIV/AIDS patients with antiretroviral drugs under the organization's
3 by 5 Initiative, Xinhua News Agency reports (Xinhua News Agency, 1/3). The
initiative aims to have three million HIV-positive people in developing
countries on antiretrovirals by the end of 2005. According to a report
released in November 2005 by a coalition of HIV/AIDS treatment advocates,
WHO missed the target because of a lack of cooperation and coordination
internationally and a lack of national leadership (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 11/29/05). According to Zimbabwe's Daily Mirror, inadequate foreign
funding for Zimbabwe's only drug maker Varichem Pharmaceuticals hindered
efforts to provide widespread access to antiretrovirals at no cost. In
addition, a reluctance to undergo voluntary HIV testing among people living
in the country hampered efforts to reach 3 by 5's treatment target, Owen
Mugurungi, head of the tuberculosis and AIDS unit in the country's Ministry
of Health and Child Welfare, said. He added that 17,500 people were
receiving antiretrovirals as of August 2005. The ministry had expected
22,500 people to be on antiretrovirals by Dec. 31, 2005, Xinhua News Agency
reports (Xinhua News Agency, 1/3).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view
the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign
up for email delivery at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily
Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and
Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Harare dismisses human rights abuse report as fiction

Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of plotting to decimate opposition

South Africa denies scrapping transit visas for Zimbabweans

Anthrax kills one in Zimbabwe

Zifa, fund-raising committee clash over Warriors

Cremer named in Zimbabwe squad for Under 19 Cricket World Cup

Zimbabwe strike threat

Pompey land Zimbabwe striker

	The BBC reports that Portsmouth have broken the club transfer record in securing the services of Zimbabwe international Benjani Mwaruwari, subject to a medical. On the same day as Pompey confirmed a deal for Polish international striker Emmanuel Olisadebe, Harry Redknapp's side are believed to have agreed a Stg4.1m deal for the 27-year-old Auxerre striker. Mwaruwari has been named in the Zimbabwean squad for the upcoming African Nations Cup.

African Union Slams Zimbabwe Human Rights Record

Doctors Fees Up by 100 Percent in Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE: Children endure the hardships of prison life

IRIN
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]


BULAWAYO, 5 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - Annastasia, 12 months old, her hair plaited with red and white ribbons to match her flowery dress, conjures the ideal image of a cute toddler, a perfect contender for a baby pageant.

The only discordant note is her surroundings - four high white walls make up Annastasia's world, and she will only discover what lies beyond them in six months' time, when her grandmother fetches her to live with her four siblings.

Prison Fellowship of Zimbabwe (PFZ), the local charter of an international Christian alliance for rehabilitating and assisting former inmates, estimates that over 200 children are in the country's jails with their detained mothers.

At Mlondolozi Prison, a mental facility on the outskirts of the southern city of Bulawayo where female prisoners are held pending psychiatric review, 14 toddlers are serving sentences with their mothers.

Among them is Annastasia's mother, Sibusisiwe Nkala, who is serving a 10-year sentence for culpable homicide after killing her husband who was allegedly abusing her.

Mlondolozi Prison is the only home Annastasia has known. A small corner of the courtyard has been converted into a playground where female prisoners take turns watching over the toddlers. The youngest is just three weeks old, and the oldest is aged two.

"I had no clothes for my baby," said Thenjiwe Ncube, the mother of the three-week-old. Sympathetic prison officers chipped in and donated what they could, because "there are no provisions for baby clothes here".

Zimbabwe's prison regulations stipulate that children be released into the custody of relatives or the Department of Social Welfare once they reach the age of two.

"The extended family concept is dead, as people struggle to obtain the basic necessities to feed their families," said PFZ's Emmanuael Nyakasikana, noting that the Department of Social Welfare's homes have been stretched to the limit by the influx of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Fiona Mandiziva, mother of a 16-month-old boy, is serving four years for housebreaking. She says that given the option, she would prefer serving a community sentence and watching her child grow, as "I can't impose my child on relatives, because I understand that things are not that rosy out there."

In the past the prisons department used to provide mothers with extra rations of soap and food, mainly peanut butter and milk, to meet the needs of their children. But soap has become one of the most expensive necessities in Zimbabwe, with peanut butter and milk fast disappearing from most shops, including the prison department's stores.

Zimbabwe's prison system is over-stretched, with more than 30,000 prisoners crammed into 11 jails designed for 16,000 inmates. While women account for only three percent of the prison population, at Mlondolozi there are 11 inmates in cells designed for four, according to the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation, an NGO running rehabilitation programmes.

There are no separate sleeping arrangements for babies, and during winter both mothers and their children are forced to cuddle together for warmth under the few threadbare blankets provided by the system.

"It would be ideal if the children could sleep in cots separately from us," lamented one inmate.

ZIMBABWE: Shortage of farm labour could impact on harvest

Farmers Cry Foul Over Loans

The Herald (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Tsitsi Matope
Harare
GOVERNMENT should intervene to ease the strict criteria commercial banks are using to grant loans to farmers as the majority of newly resettled farmers were being turned away by the banking institutions, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union said yesterday.
Speaking in an interview, ZCFU president Mr Davison Mugabe said commercial banks were not giving newly resettled farmers a chance. That included those who in the last two years had proved they were serious about farming by posting significant profits.
"Some commercial banks are giving priority only to farmers they know or have known for more than 10 years while the rest of the farmers are finding it a mammoth task to fully utilise the land given to them by the Government owing to lack of resources," Mr Mugabe said.
He said the selective financial support to few commercial farmers has seen other farms flourishing while most newly resettled farmers were facing an uphill struggle.
"We understand their need to ensure they cater for those they have dealt with for many years, but can we let the country's essential sector falter because there is this unfair practice and feeling that black farmers cannot do it.
"Many of us with limited resources have demonstrated that we are responsible farmers who can be trusted and have attended various agricultural training courses because we want to do our best for the country."
Mr Mugabe said there was not enough financial support from the Agricultural Development Bank (Agribank), which was the only bank servicing the needs of new farmers.
"The Agricultural Bank should be a developmental entity that not only gives top priority to new farmers reeling under stress but should holistically be strengthened by the Government and make it sensitive to the plight of the new farmers," he said.
It would be cruel for the banks to be selective when tobacco farmers needed coal to cure their produce and others were having sleepless nights because they could not purchase top dressing sold on the black market at highly inflated prices, he said.
"We were told coal was in transit from Hwange Colliery last week and it still has not reached the farmers who are now wondering how they are going to produce for the nation this season."
Commercial farmers, in particular those who failed to access any funding from banking institutions, are currently having a torrid time trying to meet labour costs, which have skyrocketed to nearly $2 million per month for every worker.
Most farmers last week argued that they were trying to find a way around labour costs as their production costs exceeded their earnings.
It is against this background that some farmers have formed co-operatives for the purposes of planting and weeding while farm workers have abandoned employers who were failing to pay them salaries recommended by the labour unions.
Agriculture Minister Dr Joseph Made said newly resettled farmers had complained through his ministry that they were not accessing loans from banks hence they could not pay the stipulated wages let alone meet other production costs.
He said Zimbabwe's farming sector was in its developmental stages, which mainly the white commercial farmers successfully went through because of the support they received from both the government of the day and commercial banks.
"If it was not for this immense support and sensitive criteria used then to get funding from the banking sector, farming in Zimbabwe would not have been sustainable."
Dr Made said there is now a tendency by commercial banks and other financial institutions to turn a deaf ear to calls for the relaxation of loan criteria to boost the agricultural sector.
"We are trying diplomacy but what should the Government do if it speaks on the same challenges for years without anyone taking cognisance of the importance we place on farming. Farmers are being let down by those who are undermining calls by the Government," Dr Made said.
Dr Made said it is unheard of that Government's efforts to empower its people by giving them land could trigger so many challenges because the banking sector did not have confidence in newly resettled farmers.
"In other words, there is a consensus that responsibility to build the country should be given to other people other than Zimbabweans. It means Zimbabweans do not deserve to get rich from farming their land, yet they have been farming and producing enough for them to eat in the last 100 years."
Acting Agribank chief executive officer Mr Zivanai Hove stressed his bank did not discriminate against farmers but only considered their productivity.
"Productivity is one of our requirements before we approve farmers' loan applications. It is also a requirement that is mandatory in the Reserve Bank's ASPEF loan facility. Farmers that are under-utilising land cannot be considered under any loan facility, even the ones we get directly from the Government," Mr Hove said.

He said so far under the RBZ facility, which is accessible through commercial banks, Agribank had disbursed $600 billion to worthy commercial farmers for the current farming season.
"The ASPEF facility is still available and so far loan application forms we have received are worth over $1 trillion and we are quickly making our investigations before we make any approvals."

RBZ's Move Restores Confidence in Banking Sector

The Herald (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Harare
THIS week's lifting of curatorship on Intermarket Banking Corporation and the discount house, the first in Zimbabwe's banking crisis over the last two years, marks a watershed in this industry.
It is a major step in restoring confidence in a sector that had been suffering from a "crisis of confidence" in the last two years.
Economic experts say the uplifting of curatorship on Intermarket's two subsidiaries could signal the return of prudent business practices, given some banks had learnt the hard way that cutting corners, like crime, does not pay.
Stanbic economist Mr Morciad Chaparira described the Intermarket experience as a defining period in Zimbabwe's banking sector, and its history. He said: "The most obvious factor is that it sends a positive signal that the financial sector is now on a sound footing.
"The development is a confidence booster, and could show that 2006 is likely to be a good year for the banking industry although concerns would be raised on new minimum capital levels."
The Reserve Bank wants commercial banks to have a minimum capital of $100 billion by September 2006, and building societies $75 billion. This has seen firms adopting stricter policies to minimise costs while at the same time bolstering revenue in readiness for the minimum capital requirements.
Intermarket Bank and the discount house emerged from nearly two years of curatorship last week when the central bank lifted the shroud. In announcing its decision, the central bank said: "The upliftment follows a determination that the institutions had been resuscitated, (are) now in a sound financial condition and operating profitably."
With that announcement, curator Mr Ngoni Kudenga's contract came to an end. The running of the commercial bank and discount house is now effectively in the hands of the newly appointed board of directors and management.
On the other side of town, CFX Bank appears to be sailing out of the stormy waters of curatorship. Indications are that the bank will resume operations by end of the month, bringing another wiff of fresh air in this beleaguered sector.
"I view the lifting of curatorship on Intermarket as a positive step in the development of the financial industry because its sustains employment," explained Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group economist Mr David Mupamhadzi.
"It also cushions depositors whose funds were locked in the bank."
The Intermarket recovery plan appears to have always been the best option as opposed to liquidation.
Mr Mupamhadzi said: "It saved the bank from going under the hammer. I see a solid and viable banking industry this year giving a platform from which recovery of the economy could revolve.
"Besides, it has always been critical for us to have a stable banking sector because it plays a critical role in the economic development of this country."
In 2005, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe described the banking sector as generally "financially sound and stable" but announced new statutory requirements on capitalisation levels that could squeeze some of them out of business.
There was a lot of rationale business behaviour in the financial industry last year as opposed to 2004. Banks stuck to their core business and became active agents in the economic turnaround process.
The departure from their shady practices of 2004 is probably explained by the emergency of a "radical" central bank governor, Dr Gideon Gono, whose tenure has brought with it a whole new definition of banking.
Although Barbican, Time and Royal remain under lock and key, at least until February 28, 2006 seems to have started on a promising note.
After the troubles in 2004, consolidation in 2005, 2006 could be a period of refocus and further consolidation.

An Appeal to MDC members in the UK

Dear MDC Members,
 
It is with great sadness that I have to send this note to you all. Options are very limited. We have to rescue our party here in the UK before its too late. Time is not on our side.
 
First Problem
We all know that the leadership at home is divided but not the party structures. We were told the division was about the senate elections. These have come and gone but the top leadership is still divided. The “real” reasons for the split are anecdotal speculation. How some of us are reacting to this scenario leads us to our next problem.
 
Second Problem
The MDC UK leadership is now failing to properly handle the divisions back home. They are now creating divisions here where there were no divisions - forcing us to choose which faction to follow. The basis for this boggles my mind. MDC’s vision and policies have not changed and those are the things that attracted most of us to the party. Leaders come and go but parties remain. The forthcoming congress will determine the leadership of the party in Zimbabwe. The UK District is not even party to this process. I wonder why we should allow the UK District Executive to divide us in this way.
 
Our Demands
We, as members of the MDC UK, mandated the District Executive to lead us in a struggle to rid Zimbabwe of an evil dictatorship. The focus is now lost. We are now left hang to dry. The Executive has to account for this. They owe it to us. In the first instance we should demand that the Branch Chairs summon all members of the MDC UK Executive to an Assembly meeting and should they fail to turn up, then the District Assembly should elect a Caretaker Committee that will oversee the functions of the party.
 
Secondly, I suggest that we demand that all factional based meetings stop forthwith. We do not want to be divided. We are MDC members. The whole world knows that Mr. Tsvangirai is the president of MDC and Mr. Sibanda is his deputy until such time that the congress in Zimbabwe chooses a new leadership. The politicking in Zimbabwe should not cause us to lose focus.
  
My Appeal to you
Please put the people of Zimbabwe first before our trivial personal and often tribal differences. Let us learn from our past mistakes and grow up.
 
Together we will free Zimbabwe from the clutches of a murderous dictatorship.
 
John Huruva
Former Organising Secretary
MDC UK.
07958015610

Zim Loses Out On New IMF Debt Relief Programme

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Ruramai Mutizwa Staff Reporter
Harare
ZIMBABWE has been excluded from the first phase of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt relief programme worth US$3.3 billion.
The IMF announced the first group of countries eligible for relief under its Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), designed to help indebted countries reduce spending on debt repayments and redirect the savings towards economic growth and poverty reduction.
Nineteen countries, 13 of them African, will get the debt relief this year, the IMF said in a statement.
IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato announced that relief would be granted to the countries to enhance growth, helping them to speed up progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
"I am delighted to announce that the IMF will grant 100 percent debt relief to 19 countries under the MDRI amounting to SDR 2.3 billion (about US$3.3 billion). This is an historic moment, which will allow these countries to increase spending in priority areas to reduce poverty, promote growth, and to make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals," de Rato said.
The countries that have been granted debt relief are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The debt relief programme was first proposed in June last year.
"There are other countries that are also eligible, and at various stages on the road to qualification for MDRI relief. As they continue to make progress -- and it is my hope that their progress will be rapid -- we look forward to assisting them in joining those that we considered at this board meeting."

Zimbabwe was on the brink of expulsion from the IMF last September, but a last minute effort to settle its debt saved the country. However, the repayments failed to make a major impression on the IMF, which later warned that Zimbabwe's economic crisis would worsen unless there were extensive economic reforms.
Zimbabwe's foreign debt stands at US$4.5 billion, but analysts say it is unlikely to win debt relief because of its policies.

Trends On Bourse Defy Economic Performance

The Herald (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Harare
In normal circumstances, the performance of the stock market serves as a barometer to the overall performance of the economy.
But, the sustained upside trends on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange during the past year-and-a-half betray the economic fundamentals currently obtaining in Zimbabwe's economy.
What explanation is there for this apparent disregard for key economic factors?
Economic commentator Mr David Mupamhadzi of the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) attributes the incongruous performance of the share market to distortions in the economy.
He explains that the absence of an alternative and attractive mode of investment continues and will persist to play up the equities.
"There is no incentive for investing in areas such as the money market in the current economic environment," Mr Mupamhadzi said.
"The money market has failed to yield any positive real returns on investments owing to high inflation, and this can only but raise a case for equities."
During 2005, the stock market recorded a sparkling performance despite failing to grow ahead of inflation in the preceding five years.
The mainstream industrial index rose by over 1 200 percent while the mining index achieved a phenomenal growth of over 2 800 percent last year.
Yearly inflation, was running at 502 percent as at November 30, meaning both the indices posted above inflation growth during the period under review.
However, on average, money market returns continued to wallow in the negative. They were simply not real. Interest rates remained flat and continued to yield sub-inflationary returns.
A Harare investment analyst, who refused to be named, remarked: "In our economy, the stock market is quite sophisticated when compared to other African countries such as Zambia, Namibia, etc.
"Investors on the ZSE appear to be really aggressive, and are now keen on investing in assets as a hedge against inflation. And the only assets that have remained attractive are stocks. This is why the stock market has continued racing vis-a- vis a contracting economy."

Zimbabwe's economic performance has declined by over 30 percent in the last five years, and by 7 percent last year. But this has not had a contagion effect on the stock market that remained bullish for the greater part of last year.
Perhaps, re-alignment, analysts suggested, of the stock market is now necessary, and this could be done by matching money market interest rates with inflation.

Zanu PF Steps Up Bid to Gag Dissension

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Nelson Banya News Editor
Harare
FAR from solving a festering internal succession conundrum, the ruling ZANU PF, which has actively sought to clamp down on every avenue of democratic expression, has deployed its arsenal to silence dissenting voices in the opposition, civic society and labour movement.
Local councils under the administration of the opposition have also been targeted, with Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo virtually taking over the jurisdiction of previously MDC-run municipalities.
With 2008, President Robert Mugabe's retirement date, fast approaching -- and with it, a possible decisive split in a party that has thus far managed to paper over sharp differences -- recent moves by the ZANU PF government to inoculate all external threats are expected to head-off opponents under whose pressure a weakened ruling party would certainly buckle.
Although news that the government had instituted a probe into the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), whose leaders have been turned into serial jailbirds following several run-ins with government, came as no surprise, the move further illustrated ZANU PF's desire to cow its opponents.
In announcing the appointment of an investigator to probe 'financial irregularities' within the ZCTU, Labour Minister Nicholas Goche said he was acting on "various allegations by affiliates." ZCTU leaders have long charged that the government had sought to infiltrate and weaken the body using some pliable affiliates allied to the ruling party.
Indeed, previous efforts to indict the leadership by a handful of affiliates has been stymied by the majority of unions, who have thrown their weight behind ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo, secretary general Wellington Chibebe and national executive member Lucia Matibenga, all of whom have been the target of high-handed police action.
Although Goche claimed to have emphasised the need for the investigator to do a "professional" job, it is not difficult to imagine the outcome -- a ZCTU shorn of its militant leadership.
Meanwhile, government has also managed to drive non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the country into a bureaucratic cul de sac.
Government accuses NGOs -- mostly funded by western donor countries Zimbabwe has fallen out with -- of working with the opposition to undermine its rule.
Although President Mugabe declined to assent to a controversial Bill that sought to legally hobble the NGO sector, players in the community say the proposed legislation has had the effect of crippling NGOs' operations in the country.
Even in the absence of enabling legislation, NGOs have been kept busy through frequent releases of "guidelines" detailing how they should operate, the latest being the new requirement for NGOs to register with provincial governors in the respective provinces where they undertake their work.
The government's quest to consolidate its control has not, however, been limited to institutions that have challenged its authority.
The power, secured through yet another controversial constitutional amendment, to restrict the movement of persons deemed to be working against the "state's economic interests" and an undefined "national interest" poses a threat to all government critics, despite the setback government suffered when the High Court compelled it to return a passport confiscated from newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube late last year.
The extent to which ZANU PF will go to entrench itself is perhaps best exemplified by last year's precipitous action taken to evict hundreds of thousands of people from "informal settlements" under Operation Murambatsvina, apparently as pre-emptive action at the behest of panicky intelligence and security agents.
Although government claimed, at the time, that the demolition campaign -- which left approximately 700 000 people homeless and an estimated 2.4 million without sources of income -- was taken to deal with encroaching lawlessness and squalor, a recent expose in the sympathetic New African magazine suggested otherwise.

Magazine editor Bafour Ankomah, who had visited the country as a guest of the Zimbabwean government, claimed that senior officials had told him that the Central Intelligence Oganistion (CIO) had suggested a pre-emptive strike against the masses as a way of heading off a Ukraine-style popular uprising in the aftermath of the March 2005 Parliamentary election in which ZANU PF controversially secured its technical two-thirds majority.
While it is clearly paradoxical that a ruling party in such a seemingly strong position would display the kind of costly paranoia witnessed last year, it remains unclear if any reprieve is in the offing as long suffering citizens trudge into the year 2006.

Exporters Abuse New Rules

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Kumbirai Mafunda Senior Business Reporter
Harare
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono has expressed concern over the actions of some exporters, who are allegedly abusing the recently relaxed exchange control regulations.
Sources who attended a meeting, held towards the end of last year in Harare between the central bank and exporting firms said the RBZ boss voiced his disapproval of the conduct of some expor-ters, whom he reportedly criticised for delaying the remittance of hard currency.
In October, Gono, who has been at the head of current attempts to end Zimbabwe's seven-year-old economic crisis, took his first step towards a managed floating exchange rate system by reintroducing the interbank trading system to determine the exchange rate for the free-falling local dollar.
Under the new foreign currency regulations, exporters now retain 70 percent of their external earnings in their foreign currency accounts, and the funds can be changed at the ruling interbank rate, while the balance of 30 percent of their earnings will be sold at the auction rate.
Gono said the move would help attract scarce foreign currency.
Prior to this adjustment, exporters had to sell all their foreign currency at the central bank's controlled auctions.
But sources said some exporters had begun undermining the central bank's efforts by defaulting on payments.
"He (Gono) poured his heart out, saying 'help me to help you' by repatriating export proceeds in time," a source said.
The exporters reportedly agreed to back Gono's reforms and pledged to cooperate.
"We need to support the RBZ so that the authorities appreciate his reforms," said a leading exporter who attended the meeting. "We are beginning to see the new rate yielding some positive results."
The sources said the exporters asked the central bank boss to allow them to move the 30 percent they are currently retaining at the auction rate to the interbank rate.
But Gono is reported to have said: "We need to do these things slowly."
Zimbabwe's economy is in recession for a seventh straight year, a crisis characterised by an acute foreign currency squeeze, hyperinflation and rampant poverty for ordinary Zimbabweans.

The shortage of hard currency on the formal market has created a parallel foreign currency market which the government has unsuccessfully tried to destroy in the past five years.
The Zimbabwe dollar is quoted at $78 000 to the United States greenback, but is fetching $95 000 on the black market.

Parallel Market Rates Come Down

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Felix Njini Chief Business Reporter
Harare
A TRADITIONAL foreign currency deluge over the holiday season brought parallel market rates down and narrowed the gap with the interbank exchange rate, but analysts expect the gap to widen as companies open for business in the coming weeks.
The official exchange rate steadily moved up to around Z$86 000 against the United States dollar, narrowing the gap with the parallel market rate, which is hovering around Z$96 000.
Analysts ruled out a convergence of the two rates, saying the market would soon succumb to the market dictates of insufficient supply as soon as industry opens for business in January and February. The analysts also said there was no hope for a rate convergence in the first quarter of the year as biting foreign currency shortages take their toll on Zimbabwe's ailing economy.
In the last week of 2005, the Zimbabwean dollar fell sharply against major currencies and has been trading at around Z$86 000 against the US$, Z$144 000 against the British pound and around $13 000 against the South African rand. Foreign currency dealers said the official rate could be steadily moving up to Z$90 000 against the US$ and $14 000 against the rand.
Rates on the thriving parallel market appear to have stagnated during the festive season owing to an influx of foreign currency from Zimbabweans based abroad who were in the country for the festive holidays.
"The foreign currency gap appears to have narrowed, but it is because of the time of the month. Nobody is importing right now and there has been a drop in demand for foreign currency but it will pick up as industry opens for business," said economic commentator Eric Bloch.
Zimbabwe is battling severe foreign currency shortages, which have impacted on the country's capacity to beef up its food stocks. The persistent foreign currency shortages have also resulted in industry, reportedly operating at below 25 percent of capacity, failing to procure critical raw materials.
"There will always be some businesses which will buy foreign currency on the parallel market and this will keep the rate above the official interbank rate," said Bloch.
Bloch said he expects the gap between the parallel and the official rate to narrow by mid-year.
"Greater expectations of foreign currency generation from the manufacturing and the mining sectors will help narrow the gap but not close it," said Bloch.
Economist David Mupamhadzi said foreign currency demand in the first quarter of 2006 was likely to push the official rate to around $100 000 against the US$ and Z$120 000 against the US$ on the black market.
"There has been an artificial improvement in foreign currency inflows but by February we might see more pressure because of increased demand as companies reopen for business," warned Mupamhadzi.

Analysts also warn that industrial output could further plummet in 2006 despite government projections of a 3.5 overall economic growth.
Economists cite high inflation (520 percent), excessive growth in money supply, depleted industrial output and the export sector's loss of competitive edge and the overall decline in investment as some of the factors, which might dent government's hopes of an economic recovery.

Tourist Arrivals Plunge 27%

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Stanley Kwenda Own Correspondent
Harare
DESPITE numerous marketing attempts to revive tourism, which showed a lot of potential prior to the chaotic land reforms in 2000, the industry is yet to find a firm footing owing to years of economic and political instability.
Recent figures released by the country's main tourism body, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), show a marked decline of 27 percent in arrivals during the last quarter of 2005.
According to the quasi-state body set up to promote tourism in Zimbabwe, the trend is likely to spill into the new year, a frightening scenario for a country so much in need of foreign currency.
"The continuous shrinking of this market is a major concern for the tourism industry as this is a high spending market, which contributes a large proportion to the foreign receipts," said the ZTA report.
A total of 336 971 tourists visited Zimbabwe during the period under review compared to 463 471 in the comparative period in 2004.
Tourist figures measured in terms of hotel occupancy in Victoria Falls were, however, encouraging in the just-ended festive period compared to 2004 figures.

Most hotels and lodges in the resort town recorded a 50 percent occupancy rate, with hospitality group Zimsun Leisure's flagship Elephant Hills Hotel recording slightly higher.
"It is not the rate that we would have desired, but I must say that tourism is picking up because we had not recorded these rates in a long time and we hope things will improve as from this year," said Elephant Hills general manager Tich Hwingwiri.

Ex-Zanu PF Man Denied US Visa

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Njabulo Ncube Chief Political Reporter
Harare
THE United States (US) has denied suspended former ZANU PF Matabeleland North provincial chairman Jacob Mudenda a visa to attend a high-profile safari trade fair in Nevada amid revelations Washington is mooting a ban on trophy hunting in Zimbabwe by its citizens.
Sources said the American refusal to grant Mudenda a visa was part of efforts to fully implement targeted travel and financial sanctions slapped on President Robert Mugabe and officials in his party and government after he controversially won the 2002 presidential elections against Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change.
The US, which regards Zimbabwe as a rogue state and "an outpost of tyranny", has put in place stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans seeking to enter that country.
Mudenda, suspended by the ZANU PF presidium together with five other provincial chairpersons in 2004 after the ill-fated Tsholotsho meeting, and who is the newly elected chairman of the amalgamated Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, is on the US travel sanctions list.
The list includes President Mugabe, his family and a majority of his Cabinet ministers.
Sources told The Financial Gazette that Mudenda intended to fly to the US with other stakeholders in the country's lucrative safari sector to attend the annual hunting and safari showpiece in Nevada.
Efforts to contact Mudenda yesterday proved fruitless. A secretary at his Bulawayo law firm said he was still on holiday.
It has emerged that indigenous safari and hunting concession operators unaffected by the sanctions were duly issued with visas and are due to attend the trade fair as well as exhibit and sell some of their wares in the US. Most of the safari operators will leave Zimbabwe on January 15.
Players in the safari sector expressed concern over the looming ban the US wants to impose on its citizens, considered cash cows by the country's wildlife industry.
According to the industry players, US citizens comprise between 80 and 90 percent of the people who visit Zimbabwe for trophy hunting.
"Although there is talk of shifting focus to Russia, the Russian hunters consist of a few elitists, while the Americans have created a large market of middle-class hunters with a lot of cash to spend on trophies," said a hunting expert.

The proposals to ban trophy hunting in Zimbabwe by US citizens come barely two months after the US widened sanctions against President Mugabe's ruling clique by including spouses and children of government and ruling party officials. US President George Bush issued an executive order last November to extend the economic sanctions net against Zimbabwean officials and froze more assets allegedly owned by President Mugabe's cronies.
The executive order also allows the US authorities to "block the property of additional persons undermining democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe, their immediate family members and any persons assisting them".

ZimLoses Out On New IMF Debt Relief Programme

Financial Gazette (Harare)
January 5, 2006
Posted to the web January 5, 2006
Ruramai Mutizwa Staff Reporter
Harare
ZIMBABWE has been excluded from the first phase of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt relief programme worth US$3.3 billion.
The IMF announced the first group of countries eligible for relief under its Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), designed to help indebted countries reduce spending on debt repayments and redirect the savings towards economic growth and poverty reduction.
Nineteen countries, 13 of them African, will get the debt relief this year, the IMF said in a statement.
IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato announced that relief would be granted to the countries to enhance growth, helping them to speed up progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
"I am delighted to announce that the IMF will grant 100 percent debt relief to 19 countries under the MDRI amounting to SDR 2.3 billion (about US$3.3 billion). This is an historic moment, which will allow these countries to increase spending in priority areas to reduce poverty, promote growth, and to make progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals," de Rato said.
The countries that have been granted debt relief are Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The debt relief programme was first proposed in June last year.
"There are other countries that are also eligible, and at various stages on the road to qualification for MDRI relief. As they continue to make progress -- and it is my hope that their progress will be rapid -- we look forward to assisting them in joining those that we considered at this board meeting."

Zimbabwe was on the brink of expulsion from the IMF last September, but a last minute effort to settle its debt saved the country. However, the repayments failed to make a major impression on the IMF, which later warned that Zimbabwe's economic crisis would worsen unless there were extensive economic reforms.
Zimbabwe's foreign debt stands at US$4.5 billion, but analysts say it is unlikely to win debt relief because of its policies.