Zim Online
Tue 18 July 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa has ordered
Attorney General (AG) Sobuza Gula-Ndebele to
drop charges of political
violence against ruling ZANU PF party supporters
and state security agents,
authoritative sources told ZimOnline on
Monday.
Chinamasa issued the directive last month, telling
Gula-Ndebele that
he (Chinamasa) was acting on direct instruction from
President Robert Mugabe
and that there would be "serious consequences" for
the AG if he failed to
comply.
But the sources said
Gula-Ndebele had rejected Chinamasa's directive,
instructing prosecutors
across the country to speed up work on all cases of
political violence,
including those involving security forces and ZANU PF
party supporters,
committed during the 2000 and 2002 elections.
"Barring direct
intervention by Mugabe (to stop prosecution) the AG's
office will soon be
writing to the police to finalise investigations into
some of the cases
while several cases that are ready for trial will be
brought to court," said
a senior official at Gula-Ndebele's office.
The
official, who did not want his name published because he is not
authorised
to disclose such details to the Press, said Gula-Ndebele wanted
all cases of
political violence committed during the two elections, both
controversially
won by Mugabe and ZANU PF, concluded.
Gula-Ndebele - who has
constitutional powers to independently
determine what cases to prosecute -
refused to discuss the matter when
contacted by ZimOnline. "No comment," was
all he would say before switching
off his mobile phone.
Chinamasa also refused to discuss the matter, switching off his phone
but
not before accusing ZimOnline of "always wanting to write negative
stories"
about the government.
It was not possible to immediately establish
from Mugabe's spokesman,
George Charamba, whether the President had indeed
directed Chinamasa to tell
Gula-Ndebele to drop political violence charges
against ZANU PF supporters
and members of the security forces.
A wave of politically-motivated violence, assault, torture and murder
of
opposition supporters hit Zimbabwe during and after a general election in
2000 and a presidential poll in 2002.
The two violence-marred
polls were the first in which Mugabe and ZANU
PF had ever faced a real
danger of losing power to a hugely popular
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party.
Mugabe and his party won the
elections but the MDC, Western countries
and international observers refused
to endorse the polls as democratic,
accusing the government of using
violence and outright fraud to achieve
victory.
The
Commonwealth suspended Zimbabwe from the club while the United
States, the
European Union, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand imposed
visa and
financial sanctions on Mugabe and his top officials as punishment
for
stealing elections and for human rights violations.
But Mugabe and
ZANU PF deny violating human rights or stealing
elections.
According to our sources, Chinamasa told Gula-Ndebele that if he were
to
prosecute large numbers of ZANU PF supporters for political violence,
then
this would in a way confirm claims by the MDC and human rights groups
of
rampant violence and victimisation of the opposition.
The Justice
Minister is also said to have expressed fears that
prosecuting members of
the army, police and secret service accused of
political violence would in
the end portray the state security forces as
agents of the ruling party that
are used to intimidate and harass the
opposition.
Meanwhile, a
magistrate's court in the farming town of Rusape on
Monday issued a warrant
of arrest against Chinamasa after the Justice
Minister failed to turn up at
court to answer charges of trying to obstruct
the course of justice in a
case of political violence committed in the
run-up to the last March's
general election.
Chinamasa is accused of having tried to influence
state witnesses to
withdraw from a case in which State Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa and
others were accused of having incited some youths to
attack their political
rivals.
Withdrawal of state witnesses
would have weakened the case against
Mutasa, who incidentally was later
cleared of inciting political violence
while his co-accused were put on
trial.
The Justice Minister allegedly committed the offence
sometime in
December last year and in January this year. Chinamasa is being
charged with
five others who were present at court and were remanded to
August 1. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 July
2006
MASVINGO - A ruling ZANU PF legislator, Selina Pote, has
kicked out
several black farmers from an irrigation scheme in Chiredzi
district in
southern Zimbabwe saying no opposition supporter should benefit
from
President Robert Mugabe's land reforms.
The farmers were
evicted about two weeks ago after they attended a
rally in Chiredzi town
which was addressed by the leader of the main faction
of the splintered
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party,
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The chairman of the irrigation scheme, Alfred
Chirilele, told
ZimOnline yesterday that trouble began last month after Pote
compiled a list
of farmers who had attended Tsvangirai's rally in the
town.
"The MP (Member of Parliament) Ms Pote came and compiled a
list of
people whom she suspected of having attended the MDC rally. "Those
suspected of having links with the opposition were later evicted by the MP,"
said Chirilele.
Masvingo provincial governor, Willard Chiwewe,
who toured the
irrigation scheme on Monday, promised to investigate the
evictions that have
brought production at the 360-hectare scheme to a
halt.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Pote defended her actions
saying no
opposition supporter should benefit from Mugabe's land
reforms.
"I am sure you are aware that the MDC has been very
critical of the
government's land reform programme and we are saying they
should go and get
land from their party while our supporters from ZANU PF
should come to us
for land.
"I am going to make sure that those
evicted will not be allowed back
into the scheme," said Pote.
This is not the first time ZANU PF has been accused of victimising
opposition supporters in the country.
The MDC and Western
governments often accuse the Harare authorities of
carrying out a highly
partisan land reform exercise that has only benefited
ZANU PF
supporters.
But Mugabe denies the charge insisting every
Zimbabwean, in spite of
political affiliation, can benefit from his land
reforms that saw thousands
of white-owned farms being redistributed to
landless blacks during the past
six years. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 July
2006
HARARE - Junior doctors at the two biggest hospitals in
Zimbabwe's
second largest city of Bulawayo downed tools on Monday as a
strike by
doctors that began in Harare last Friday spread to other major
centres.
Junior doctors at Zimbabwe's biggest referral hospital,
Parirenyatwa
and at Harare hospital went on strike to press for better
salaries and
working conditions.
Their colleagues at Mpilo
hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals had
restricted their services to
attending to emergency cases only before the
Monday decision to stop working
altogether.
The junior doctors - who effectively run Zimbabwe's
public hospitals
with senior specialist doctors spending most of their time
at their private
clinics - also want the government to improve supplies of
medicines and
equipment at hospitals, saying they cannot continue watching
patients die of
treatable illnesses simply because there are no
medicines.
Hospital Doctors Association president Kuda Nyamutukwa
told ZimOnline
that doctors would not heed calls at the weekend by Health
Minister David
Parirenyatwa to return to work, saying the strike would be
called off only
when their grievances had been met.
"It depends
on the government but we are tired of promises from the
government which
have never been honoured," said Nyamutukwa said.
"No hypertension
drugs, no TB drugs and no diabetic drugs. The
country's sole radio-therapy
machine has been down for the past five months.
Bulawayo's radio-therapy
machine broke down three years ago," said
Nyamutukwa, illustrating the
ordeal that doctors and nurses have to face
every day trying to help
patients.
Zimbabwe's public health sector, once the envy of many
developing
nations, has virtually crumbled after years of under-funding and
mismanagement. Equipment is largely derelict in the state hospitals many of
which do not have essential drugs, because of a critical shortage of foreign
currency to import supplies.
A massive brain drain as doctors
and nurses seek better paying jobs
abroad has only helped exacerbate the
situation at state hospitals, which
remain the only source of health
services for more than 80 percent of
Zimbabweans. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 July
2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe High Court Judge Feliciah Chatukuta on
Monday
ordered immigration officials to return the passport of an opposition
official they seized last Sunday.
Prominent human rights lawyer
Beatrice Mtetwa, who represented
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
organising secretary Elias
Mudzuri in the matter, said the judge ruled that
there was no legal basis
for the immigration department or the
Registrar-General's office that issues
passports to seize the travel
document.
Even if the government had grounds to withdraw the
passport, it first
had to give reasonable notice to Mudzuri before taking
away the document,
ruled the court.
"I will serve the concerned
(parties) with the order first thing
tomorrow morning," Mtetwa told
ZimOnline.
Mudzuri, who is a also former mayor of Harare and
belongs to the
larger faction of the splintered MDC led by Morgan
Tsvangirai, was bundled
out of a London-bound British Airways plane by
immigration officials who
went to take away his passport, saying they were
acting on instructions from
the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The
government last amended the constitution to allow it to seize
passports and
other travel documents of its critics, in a move human rights
groups
criticized as not only unjust but also a breach of the Bill of Rights
that
guarantees freedom of movement.
The government did not follow up
the constitutional amendment with an
enabling Act of Parliament and was last
year forced to return the passports
of another MDC official Paul Themba
Nyathi, trade unionist Raymond Majongwe
and private newspaper publisher
Trevor Ncube.
The immigration department returned the passports
after advice from
Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele that the
constitutional amendment did
not empower the department to withdraw a
citizen's travel documents without
a specific Act of Parliament stipulating
the exact conditions and offences
for which such documents can be seized by
the state. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 July
2006
HARARE - Police in Zimbabwe's eastern city of Mutare on Monday
released 10 activists of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) civic
alliance who were arrested last Wednesday for demonstrating over worsening
economic conditions in the country.
Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer
representing the NCA, told ZimOnline
yesterday that his clients, who were
released on Z$500 000 bail each, will
appear in court on
Thursday.
Muchadehama said it was still not clear yesterday what
charges the
police will prefer against his clients.
"We will
apply for a refusal of remand because we have not been
furnished with
concrete details of what charges they (NCA members) are
facing.
"In fact, we had vehemently refused to pay fines which the police had
suggested. We're now working on court action on the treatment of my clients
when they were in the cells," said Muchadehama.
In Harare, 128
NCA demonstrators were also set free last Saturday on
free bail after they
refused to pay admission of guilt fines.
The NCA demonstrators were
arrested last Wednesday after they marched
in Zimbabwe's five major cities
demanding that President Robert Mugabe's
government address the worsening
economic conditions in the country.
Under Zimbabwe's Public Order
and Security Act (POSA), it is an
offence punishable by a two-year jail term
to demonstrate without first
seeking permission from the police. But the NCA
has often ignored the law
which they say is undemocratic. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tue 18 July 2006
HARARE - A serious financial crisis has
forced Zimbabwe to break with
convention by sending three instead of five
members to Greece for a crucial
Davis Cup encounter this
weekend.
Zimbabwe's Davis Cup team left for Europe on Sunday
without
non-playing captain Claudio Murape as well as a fourth
player.
Tennis Zimbabwe could only afford to send players Genius
Chidzikwe,
Gwinyai Tongoona and Pfungwa Mahefu to the Euro-Africa Zone Group
Two
relegation playoff.
If Zimbabwe lose, as is widely feared,
they will be relegated to the
Africa Zone.
A senior Tennis
Zimbabwe official confirmed the association could not
send the traditional
five-man team due to lack of funds. He said the
association was unable to
raise enough money to purchase foreign currency on
the illegal but thriving
foreign currency black-market.
Tennis Zimbabwe has been struggling
to find sponsorship since
allegations of money embezzlement during the days
of former association
president Paul Chingoka surfaced last
year.
The economic crisis in the country, where inflation is over 1
000
percent, has made Tennis Zimbabwe's plight worse.
Zimbabwe's Davis Cup side lost their last Davis Cup tie 4-1 at home to
Norway in February.
The southern African country has since the
Black brothers, Byron and
Wayne, as well as Kevin Ullyett quit the national
team. The trio sometimes
used their personal resources to represent the
country. - ZimOnline
Business Day
Dianna
Games
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY
TAXI driver in Harare clearly has no faith in the mission by former
Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa to mediate in Zimbabwe's
problems.
"Only God can save us now - everyone else has failed," he said
while driving
me through the city's industrial sites where many factories
have closed or
are operating at below half capacity.
Taxi drivers
are a repository of sometimes questionable independent wisdom
but, in fact,
the president himself seemed to convey the same sentiment
recently during a
day of prayer calling for divine intervention to save the
country's
shattered economy.
But in the meantime President Robert Mugabe seems
happy enough to settle for
his old friend Mkapa.
After all, Mkapa
was the friend who defended him against criticism of one of
the Zimbabwe
government's most unpopular moves to date - last year's
so-called "clean-up"
campaign, Operation Murambatsvina, which has caused
more suffering among
ordinary people than all the economic policies that
preceded it have done.
And Mkapa defended it in no less a public gathering
than the World Economic
Forum Africa Summit in Cape Town.
Mkapa has been a loyal ally in
deflecting any censure from the region - not
a particularly difficult job,
it has to be said, given that any criticism
was rather muted and confined to
the corridors of regional summit meetings
anyway.
He also
appeared to see no contradiction in introducing policies to make his
own
country a success story while supporting another government that was
running
a country into the ground.
So where does all this leave his mediation
mission?
The state-owned press in Zimbabwe, always a good test of
what the government
wants people to believe, last week praised Mkapa
repeatedly, saying he at
least understood that Zimbabwe's problems were
unrelated to untrue
allegations of governance and bad policies, but were
simply a bilateral
problem with Britain over land.
Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had his "Africanness" questioned
in the
state media after he supported voices critical of Zimbabwe, appeared
in The
Herald in a "rogues' gallery" of photographs alongside SA's Thabo
Mbeki and
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan under the headline
"Prophets of
doom shamed".
Whatever propaganda the state might be churning out,
the fact remains that
the Zimbabwe economy is in a mess, as a brief visit to
the country
highlighted more starkly than the many column inches in
newspapers dedicated
to the subject can.
This is a country where
a loaf of bread (Z$140000) costs more than the
highest denomination note
(Z$100000) and where bakers sometimes get arrested
for selling it at above
the government-controlled price.
Much has been written about the
weird world of Zimbabwe's galloping
inflation but I was still unprepared for
a bill of a million dollars for a
hamburger or Z$400000 for a lemonade. A
basket of groceries can set you back
Z$5m. That is a lot of notes. People
spend as much time counting money as
they do spending it.
The
currency is again in freefall. In one week the black market rate dropped
from Z$420000 to nearly Z$500000 to the US dollar against the official rate
of Z$100000. It is difficult to get hard currency through official channels,
and if companies are forced to do so, it can take weeks or even
months.
So the parallel market has effectively become the official
market. Everyone
uses it, out of necessity.
The money market is
the main game in town, I was told. Companies are buying
up 91-day treasury
bills offering an interest rate of 510% rather than
ploughing profits back
into producing for a dwindling consumer market. In
any case, inflation is
making domestic products less and less viable,
particularly as local inputs
are becoming harder to find and imported inputs
are pushing up
prices.
Arbitrage is another money spinning pursuit. For example, the
government
subsidises fuel to farmers, selling to them at Z$23000 a litre,
while the
prevailing market prices is Z$500000. Good margins there. Why
would one want
to actually plant anything?
This is the real world
of Zimbabwe where the problem is actually bad
governance and poor policy,
despite the determination of the government's
propaganda machine to paint a
different picture.
Mkapa has a tough time ahead, particularly if he
does not subscribe to the
realities of the situation. He is no longer a head
of state who has
relevance automatically conferred on him. He needs to find
his place in the
world.
He is a key player in the recently
launched African Investment Climate
Facility, and where better to start in
his new job than to deal with the
economic mess in a neighbouring
state.
But does he really have the stomach to do what needs to be
done?
Games is director of Africa @ Work, a
research and publishing company.
The Telegraph
By
Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 17/07/2006)
President Robert Mugabe has ridiculed followers for consulting witch
doctors
to choose his successor, dismissing the suggestion that he is going
to step
down.
Shaking his fist, Mr Mugabe, 82, told Zanu PF leaders and
party elders
at a weekend "consultative" rally in the country's capital,
Harare, that
they should not rely on witchcraft to choose Zimbabwe's next
president.
Mr Mugabe, who drew cheers and laughter from the crowd,
told them:
"The things we hear about succession, succession, succession. We
hear lots
of unbelievable stories about succession. We hear some people are
consulting
witch doctors, but the biggest witch doctor is the people of
Zimbabwe. There
is no need to consult witch doctors."
Nobody is
sure whether Mr Mugabe, who has been in power since
independence from
Britain 26 years ago, will retire when his term of office
expires in March
2008, or if he will fight another election.
There is intense
lobbying and tension within Zanu PF over who will
succeed him.
Jonathan Moyo, the former information minister who is now an
independent MP
and a political analyst, said yesterday: "He was trying to
deal with an
important matter in a frivolous way, but showed he is extremely
agitated and
knows he is cornered. He was also telling front-runners in Zanu
PF that they
should not kill each other for his position as president, as he
is not going
to leave office any time soon."
Mr Mugabe also accused party
colleagues of corruption and of cheating
on their wives. He told colleagues,
including the vice-president, Joyce
Mujuru, that they should stick to "one
man, one wife".
He said: "Some men have several children and wives
all over the place.
If you get married at the magistrate's court it's one
man, one wife. If you
don't want that then do it the traditional
way."
Mr Mugabe had two children with his present wife Grace, while
still
married to his first wife Sally, who died in 1992
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
17 July 2006
11:37
Zimbabwe's health minister has ordered striking junior
doctors
back to work, accusing them of "biting the hand that feeds" them,
reports
said on Monday.
The doctors, based at two major
hospitals in Harare, have been
on strike since last week, ever since they
were informed they were going to
be deployed to district hospitals for a
year, said the state- controlled
Herald newspaper.
District hospitals are unpopular with local medical staff
because there are
severe shortages of drugs and medical equipment, as well
as sub-standard
accommodation facilities.
"How can I talk to people who are
not at work?" said Health
Minister David Parirenyatwa.
"If they are serious then they should go to work, then we will
talk."
He said the junior doctors had an "obligation" to
serve their
country.
After completing five years of
medical studies, Zimbabwe's
junior doctors are supposed to undergo two years
of training at what are
known as central hospitals, such as the two in
Harare.
But last week the doctors were informed that they
were being
deployed out to the countryside to district
hospitals.
"They are refusing to go," said the CEO of
Harare's Parirenyatwa
Hospital, Thomas Zigora.
So
unwilling are Zimbabwean doctors to work in district
hospitals that many now
rely on expatriate doctors from the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Cuba.
But this has proved problematic because of the
language
barrier.
Junior doctors are also reported to be dissatisfied
with their
current salaries, which stand at Z$60-million (US$600 at the
official rate,
but less than a quarter of that at the widely used parallel
market rate) per
month.
"These people are trained
courtesy of the public's money, but
now they do not want to give back to the
same people that trained them. Talk
about biting the hand that feeds you,"
Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying. --
Sapa-dpa
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
17 July 06
Last Friday the state controlled
paper The Herald admitted that the
country's new farmers have failed to meet
the targets set for wheat
production this season. The Herald report said the
farmers are expected to
produce even less than last year. The paper has been
used consistently by
the government to contradict any reports that show the
failure of the
chaotic land reform programme. So last Friday's admission
that the farmers
had failed dismally is important as a sign that the truth
about agriculture
can no longer be kept secret.
The government
has been boasting that its initiatives will bring about
a bumper wheat
harvest this year, but according to the Herald farmers expect
to harvest
only 218 046 tonnes. And Zimbabwe needs a minimum of 400 000.
Economic
Development Minister Rugare Gumbo was quoted saying: "This implies
a deficit
of 168 954 tonnes which the country has to import." Given the
critical
shortage of foreign currency, the government will struggle to
import that
much wheat not to mention the required tonnes of maize.
Wheat is
not the only crop that has fallen victim to the government's
illegal
eviction of white commercial farmers which began in 2000. This
chaotic land
grab brought in a slew of new farmers with no experience, no
fertiliser, no
seeds, no irrigation equipment and other resources. As a
result the
production of many other crops that used to bring in major
amounts of
foreign currency has decreased significantly.
Chiredzi farmer Gerry
Whitehead told us that sugar production in the
lowveld area has decreased
30-40% since 2000. He said sugar has become even
more difficult to get in
Zimbabwe because of greedy individuals who buy it
from the mills and take it
across the borders, particularly into Mozambique.
But Whitehead said the
government's desire for foreign currency is
contributing to sugar shortages
to an even greater extent. He said sugar is
being exported to raise the
crucial forex needed to service debts and buy
fuel and maize.
The Herald also reported that Robert Mugabe is determined to see
agricultural production revived again and is enjoying a measure of success
in his own farming ventures. Whitehead dismissed this as a joke. He said
white farmers are still under enormous pressure to leave from the so-called
A2 settlers who were given land on commercial properties by the government.
And Mugabe has done nothing to stop this illegal interference with
agriculture. As for Mugabe's success Whitehead said he cannot be compared to
ordinary farmers because he is first in line for all the resources he needs.
He said Mugabe has all the government's resources at his disposal. But
despite this obvious advantage, the acting head of the GMB, ex-military
official Samuel Muvuti praised the Mugabe family. The Herald quoted him
saying: "They are actually models and this should compel other farmers to
take farming seriously." There was laughter at this point and Whitehead felt
no further comment was necessary.
SW Radio Africa
Zimbabwe news
Business in Africa
Morris
Mkwate
Posted Mon, 17 Jul 2006
Harare - Just after Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono announced last year
that the bank planned to introduce
a new currency before the end of 2006, a
wave of excitement swept across the
country as people anticipated the coming
of new banknotes which, many hoped,
would have a stronger purchasing power.
But a year on, the question
remains: When will the new currency come on
board? What measures could be
taken in the interim to enhance convenient
money handling?
Initially,
the central bank had enunciated the introduction of a new note,
but later
interventions pointed to the coming on board of a completely new
currency.
Most consumers had become weary of carrying around huge
sums of money with
which they could only purchase a few goods.
A new
currency was, therefore, imagined to offer convenience. But after a
year,
mixed feelings over monetary policy have emerged once again.
Finance
Minister Herbert Murerwa recently announced the extension of the
lifespan of
bearer cheques by another six months.
Bearer cheques that were already in
circulation at the time the $100 000
denomination was introduced should have
been phased out late last month.
However, the extension of their expiry
date to December 31 effectively means
plans to introduce the enunciated
currency were now on hold.
Inflation
According to economic
experts, this year was not an opportune period to
unveil a new currency.
Inflation levels were still very high and such an
environment would not give
the currency a safe landing.
Implementing the measure now would mean
constantly adjusting the new
denominations owing to the country's unstable
economic environment.
In a typical case of too much money chasing too few
goods, the purchasing
power of the Zimbabwe dollar has continued to fall
against the high prices
of most basic goods and services.
Essential
commodity prices continue to soar almost after every fortnight, a
situation
that directly stems from the country's high inflation rate.
While a
numerical representation pins the rate at over 1 000 percent, the
life form
of hyperinflation has manifested itself through an accelerated
increase in
the cost of products and service provision.
This, in essence, means one
requires a substantial amount of dollar bills to
purchase some of the
smallest products on the market.
In turn, this has also meant huge sums
of varied denominations exchanging
hands at market places, supermarkets,
department stores, schools, hospitals,
clinics and council offices, among an
array of alternative transaction
points.
"To introduce a new
currency, inflation should be under control. This is
done for economic
reasons, macro-economic fundamentals, because a new
currency would not work
now given the economic situation in the country,"
said Andy Hodges, a Harare
economist.
Secretary for Finance Willard Manungo said a key condition of
introducing
the currency was achieving price stability.
Although he
would not be drawn to reveal measures and successes scored on
this front,
Manungo said the forthcoming fiscal and monetary review
statements would
deal with the issue in depth.
Transition
Bearer cheques were
introduced at the peak of Zimbabwe's cash crisis in
2003. Although they have
worked as an efficient medium of exchange, the
cheques were meant to be a
temporary measure to address monetary challenges.
Traditionally, the
country's currency comprised coins and notes. But with
changes in the local
socio-economic outlook, the introduction of higher note
denominations saw
the coins being phased out gradually between 2001 and
2003.
Still,
the value of the local dollar continued to diminish against major
currencies, ultimately resulting in the cash crisis and the subsequent
circulation of bearer cheques.
It remains undisputed that the cheques
have proved to be an effective medium
of exchange. The reason for their
continued circulation was based on this
fact, which was also meant to give
authorities ample time to design and
print new notes.
Indeed, ample
time was required, but a new currency ought to be circulated
only when all
things are equal.
Manungo said the cheques should continue to provide
temporary reprieve while
moves were being made to stabilise
inflation.
Hodges seemed to concur, saying if the economy was
rationalised, only then
could the country implement new measures. He spoke
of redenominating the
dollar by dropping zeros on local denominations. This
entails having lower
denominations that carry equivalent value of the
present currency.
For instance, if authorities were to decide to drop
five zeros from the
local currency, this means $100 000 would be equivalent
to $1 in the new
currency.
Turkey and Mozambique were examples of
countries that have undertaken such
moves. However, to implement such
sweeping measures, a country's economy
should be stable first.
The
Turkish Experience
For years, Turkey was faced with hyperinflation, which
led to the expression
of some economic values in terms of billions,
trillions and quadrillions.
This meant cash demand in the economy had to
be met by the introduction of
new banknotes in larger denominations after
every two years, a situation
that saw the highest denomination rising to 20
million lira.
Subsequently, the currency's credibility was negatively
affected while
figures with multiple zeroes led to problems in accounting
and statistical
records, data processing software and payment systems. This
made it
imperative to redenominate the lira, a move that has breathed a new
lease of
life into the currency.
On the other hand, Mozambique
introduced this measure on July 1. The
benefits of this measure were still
to be fully realised, but authorities in
that country were optimistic
inconveniences would be done away with.
Experts say removing zeros from a
denomination settles technical and
operational problems stemming from using
figures with multiple zeros. This
not only restores confidence in a
currency, but also makes moves to bring
down inflation to lower levels more
realistic.
The habit of using coins also develops, experts argue, which
creates an
environment were people feel more secure in the value of their
money. -AND
New Zimbabwe
By Trudy Stevenson, MP
Last updated: 07/17/2006
07:48:08
IT IS indeed a sad day when I have to write a sequel to my report on
the MDC
meeting of 12 October last year, but there is nothing else for
it.
Many people from all over the world - of various political
persuasions and
none - have sent their sympathy and good wishes for a speedy
recovery to the
three of us who were injured in Mabvuku.
I have been
pursuaded to give an eye witness acount of the attack. Here is
my own
recollection.
Five of us travelled in my car - which I had borrowed from
my new
"in-laws" -- to Mabvuku to make a follow-up on a small house-meeting
we had
held the previous Tuesday afternoon 29th June.
The reason we
did not return to that same house on Sunday 2 July was because
when we left
the house that Tuesday, we spotted a certain Munyaradzi
supposedly in a
building gang just next door.
This Munyaradzi had caused Simangele
Manyere (Treasurer, Harare Province)
and myself considerable grief before
and during the Senate election last
year, when he showed himself to be very
plainly on the Tsvangirai side,
despite having been identified by Harare
Province as our point person in
Mabvuku.
Manyere immediately
recognized him, as did both Cllr Linos Mushonga
(Provincial Organising
Secretary) and Mr Karimatsenga (Provincial Secretary
for Security), all of
whom spoke to him as we were leaving. We then decided
it would be unwise to
return to the same house for the follow-up, as
Munyaradzi was likely to
disrupt our visit, at the very least.
We therefore tasked our young
Mabvuku member, Luckson Mudachira, to arrange
a meeting point elsewhere, and
we agreed that we would then proceed from
that point with key members of the
Mabvuku structures to the Province
offices in Hillside.
I was out of
touch with the team for the next few days, as I attended the
ZNCC Congress
in Victoria Falls. Indeed, had I kept to my original itinerary
I would only
have returned Monday evening, but I managed to get onto a
Saturday flight -
luckily in some ways, unluckily in others! On my return, I
arranged to drive
with Manyere to Hillside to collect Luckson, Mushonga and
Karimatsenga to go
to the 2 o'clock rendez-vous.
Manyere complained bitterly en route that
arrangements for another trip to
Kuwadzana had failed when she had waited
more than two hours for the driver
and then abandoned the trip. Karimatsenga
was not at Hillside when we
arrived, and after waiting some time we decided
we should proceed to Mabvuku
without him, as we were already late. Tawanda
Udzerema (Youth Deputy
Organising Secretary) accompanied us
instead.
When we reached Msasa, Karimatsenga called Mushonga and wanted
me to go back
and fetch him, but I asked him to simply follow us and find us
in Mabvuku,
as we were already late. In Mabvuku, Luckson directed us past
the Circle
Cement factory, and pointed to three youths running to meet us as
we drove
past the gate. We took the dirt road on the left just past the
factory, and
drove into the compound where two or three youths were waiting
for us. They
said we were not going to any house, but should just go to the
open ground
behind us. I backed the car a short way down a path opposite the
big water
tank, and the five of us got out, to be joined by the youths from
the
compound. Soon another three or four members joined us, and then a
member on
a bike who had come from the house where we had met on the
Tuesday.
Mushonga, Manyere and I explained that we were also waiting for
the women's
representatives, but meanwhile they should "huddle" to select
their
chairpersons who would be accompanying us to Harare Province to link
with
other structures. This they did - and meanwhile a big Caterpillar-type
digger appeared from behind the long grass, surprisingly. It turned as
though to come down the path, so I went towards the car to move out of the
way, but it simply went onto the space nearby and stopped. The driver waved
at me, so I waved back.
The group started introducing their
chairpersons when suddenly one of the
youths said: "Here come Tvsangirai's
guys."
I looked up towards the compound, where I saw about ten people
spread out
quite widely advancing towards us, carrying something (not
identified at
that stage) in their hands.
I asked: "Shall we talk to
them?" but the youth said: "No, we should move
away from this place." Then I
saw the advancing crowd start running.
Mushonga said "Give me the keys. I'll
drive" but I knew he would not be able
to for two reasons, so I said: "No,
I'll have to drive, let's go!" and I
unlocked the passenger door, slid over
to the driver's seat, and Mushonga
got in the passenger seat. They were
calling my name, "Trudy! Trudy! You've
gone against
Tsvangirai!"
That's when I realized it was me they were after. I tried to
release the
anti-theft immobilizer, but I couldn't manage before the rocks -
and I think
bricks - started hitting the bonnet. I kept shouting "It's not
my car! It's
not my car! Please don't damage the car!" By now, they were all
around and
rocks were coming through the windscreen and the door windows.
Mushonga was
no longer in the passenger seat. They shouted "Trudy, get out
of the car!
Trudy, get out of the car!" and then I knew that I must stay in
the car to
stay alive.
The rocks were hitting my head all over.
Someone tried to pull me out of the
car through the broken driver's window -
that's how my arm was broken. They
shouted: "Give us the keys! Give us the
keys!" and at first I wouldn't, but
then I realized that if I didn't, they
would pull my arm off trying to pull
me through the window, so I let go of
the keys. At this point a woman
standing at the driver's door (she's one who
hit my head with a big rock)
spotted the cord holding my mobile phone which
was hidden under my jersey,
so she grabbed it and pulled and twisted it
until it broke off and she
retreated with the mobile. Another person - or
maybe it was her also- ran
off carrying my briefcase. Now I realized that
they were all running off. I
don't know what made them retreat so
suddenly.
My head was bleeding profusely and I knew my arm was broken, it
was just
hanging. I managed to get out of the car and Mushonga appeared from
somewhere. He said they had fled in a get-away car which was waiting for
them. I looked back down the path for the others. The only one I saw was
Manyere lying beside the path a little way off, groaning. She told us she
had managed to crawl under the car to get away from the rocks - we had not
had time to unlock the back door for her before the attack began. But then
they had spotted her, pulled her out and kicked her all over. She was
complaining her head was hurting, and she was sore all over. They had tried
to pull her wedding rings off but they had just got her clip-on earrings and
twisted another ring. Again I asked: "Where are the others? They should come
and help us." But no-one else appeared.
Suddenly we saw an old blue
car driving in along the dirt road, so Mushonga
ran towards it and managed
to stop the driver. I also approached it, and we
asked the driver to please
go to the police for help and to phone my husband
to alert him to come and
find me there. Indeed this kind driver did exactly
that, as I later
discovered from my husband.
I then had to lie down because I was feeling
sick and faint, so I lay down
next to the car. Mrs Manyere stayed with me.
Mushonga went off to the main
Arcturus Road to try and get help. About 20
minutes later a police
Landcruiser drove up, with Mushonga inside. At first
I heard: "We've got to
get all the details" but then when the off-duty
police officer saw the
situation and our condition, he kindly agreed to
drive Manyere and myself
straight to hospital.
I asked Mushonga to
stay with the car until help arrived, because the
windows were broken and it
would be easy to steal the car or bits of it.
Mushonga stayed with the car
until a friend went out much later with spare
keys to drive it back to the
city - to my new in-laws' house! What a way to
start a new family
relationship!
At the hospital we were attended to very quickly. Manyere
was released after
x-rays etc. with medication. I got my head stitched and
x-rayed but had to
stay in with my broken bones. Mushonga had broken fingers
which were also
attended to when he arrived later, and I think he had a head
x-ray. He had
lost consciousness at one stage during the attack, which was
when they stole
his shoes and other items.
To all my family, friends
and colleagues who have suffered because of this
attack, may I say how sorry
I am this happened, and sorry also for your
losses, your pain, your worry
and your considerable inconvenience.
To all my family, friends and
colleagues and the many complete strangers who
have assisted us in any way
and who have expressed their sorrow and sympathy
over this Mabvuku attack -
A VERY BIG THANK-YOU. All you people are the
reason I will not give up. I
love you all dearly, and I still believe most
Zimbabweans are the very
nicest and kindest people on this earth. Your
fantastic reaction to this
attack merely reinforces my belief in you!
My prayer is that something
really positive will come out of all this, most
especially that it shocks
those still in denial into the realization that we
simply MUST deal with the
issue of violence WITHIN some groups who call
themselves MDC, as well as in
its more traditional locus, Zanu PF.
We need to concentrate our efforts
on sorting out our national problems, not
killing each other. It is a
tragedy that this Mabvuku attack has enabled
Zanu PF to point fingers at the
MDC. Let it not happen again, ever.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
LONDON - FORMER Harare
Mayor, Elias Mudzuri, who was expected in the
United Kingdom yesterday to
help with the restructuring of the MDC UK
province and related issues,
failed to travel because the Zimbabwean
authorities have seized his
passport.
Immigration officials at Harare International Airport
stopped Mudzuri,
the main MDC's organising secretary and confiscated his
passport in the same
way they took travelling documents belonging to
publisher Trevor Ncube,
activist Raymond Majongwe and the MDC's Paul Themba
Nyathi last year.
MDC officials in London told
zimbabwejournalists.com they did not have
much detail but had been told by
Harare that Mudzuri would not be arriving
on board British Airways flight
that left Harare in the morning because his
passport had been confiscated at
the airport.
Mudzuri himself said immigration officials followed
him onto the plane
and bundled him out of the London-bound British Airways
plane despite having
gone through all the formalities. They then seized his
travel documents and
told him they were acting on the instructions of the
Home Affairs Ministry,
which we failed to get a comment from.
"The whole thing is a circus really - the immigration officer came and
said
he was acting on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He
said
the government urgently needed my passport to verify certain
information and
I do not know what information that can be," said Mudzuri.
Mudzuri
said his lawyers were working flat out to ensure his passport
is returned to
allow him to travel.
The Engineer was in 2004 forcibly removed by
the government as
Harare's first opposition mayor and was replaced by the
inept Sekesayi
Makwavarara commission.
Mudzuri was coming to
the UK to help the new province put together
strong structures right from
cell level to the provincial executive. He was
also expected to supervise
elections to replace the Washington Ali-led
executive in the UK. Campaigning
for positions has reached full throttle
with smearing campaigns already
becoming the order of the day.
"We hope the Mayor will soon be
given back his travelling documents so
we can work on our planned programmes
as the party here in the UK with his
help," said an official with the MDC
executive in London.
The Zimbabwe government was condemned last
year for amending the
Constitution to allow it to seize travel documents
from its critics. A list
of critics was said to have been drafted and on it
were journalists, human
rights activists, opposition leaders and
others.
In the case of Ncube, Majongwe and Nyathi, the Immigration
Department
was forced to return the passports on the advice of Attorney
General Sobuza
Gula-Ndebele. It is not yet clear whether the government of
Zimbabwe is
embarking on a new campaign to seize passports and travelling
documents from
its critics once again, especially now when the opposition
and the labour
unions are planning massive street protests against the
ruling Zanu PF
government's policies and poor wages.
The Herald (Harare)
July 15,
2006
Posted to the web July 17, 2006
Harare
ZIMBABWE and South
Africa are still holding talks about scrapping visa
requirements, a senior
Zanu-PF official has said.
Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Cde
Didymus Mutasa said relevant
Government ministries were holding discussions
on the issue and were
expected to report soon.
Cde Mutasa, who is
also the Minister of State for National Security, Lands,
Land Reform and
Resettlement, was responding to questions from journalists
at the Harare
International Airport on Thursday, where he was bidding
farewell to African
National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Mr Kgalema
Montlanthe, who had
been in the country for a two-day exchange visit.
He said Zimbabwe
regarded South Africa as a dependable ally judging from
their relations,
which dates back to the liberation struggle.
South Africa and Mozambique
are the two Zimbabwe's neighbouring countries
that require visas to enter
while there is no visa required to go to Zambia,
Botswana or
Namibia.
"The friendship between our two countries have been of benefit
to us because
we trade with South Africa and we are one people," he
said.
He accused Britain of regarding itself as the international
community
disregarding other continents.
"We even joked with our
South African counterparts that our detractors here
were mischievously
saying French skipper Zinedine Zidane reacted furiously
to Marco Materrazzi
because he had been accused of being a member of
Zanu-PF," he
said.
"Britain thinks it constitutes the international community. It
disregards
the Arab world and Africans."
Deputy Speaker of the House
of Assembly, Cde Kumbirai Kangai said their
discussion with ANC chief was
open and frank.
"Our discussions were frank and candid and it reflects
the good relations we
have with South Africa," he said.
Mr
Montlanthe, who was in the country on an exchange visit with Zanu-PF,
threw
his weight behind the mediation of former Tanzanian president Mr
Benjamin
Mkapa between Zimbabwe and Britain.
By Stanford Mukasa
17 July
06
The renewed hostilities in the Middle East will come as a mixed
blessing for Mugabe and ZANUPF in as far as appeals for international
intervention in Zimbabwe are concerned. Nobody knows when the conflict in
the Middle East will end, let alone subside. This latest event is an
indication of how volatile the international geopolitical environment is and
how the Zimbabwean tragedy can easily fade into the background each time a
crisis breaks out around the world. This perhaps partly explains how the
Mugabe regime has escaped or has been spared of the potential for harsh
international action. Mugabe's continuing stubbornness and heartless
obduracy in any serious efforts at seeking a solution to the crisis he has
created for Zimbabweans is a direct consequence of ineffectual international
action and near zero responses so far from the Zimbabweans
themselves.
The ball is now fully and squarely at the feet of the
Zimbabweans
themselves.
We can all shout until our voices are
hoarse for international
intervention. The reality of the situation is the
spotlight is now on
Zimbabweans to decide what they are going to do with
Mugabe and ZANUPF.
Historically the masses do not spontaneously start
revolutions, although
there is evidence of this in mass protests in Haiti,
Togo, Kyrgyzstan,
Ukraine and also during the Soweto uprising back in 1976
and the age of the
mass democratic movement in the years leading to
independence for South
Africa.
Be that as it may, there was
some organizational structure in which
the mass protests were given
inspiration and direction by the civil society
leadership. In the case of
Zimbabwe the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai is
slowly waking up to the reality
that the leadership must take a more
proactive and assertive action in
confronting Mugabe and ZANUPF. The
leadership is taking its time in
spearheading the push against Mugabe. Such
popular mobilization is long
overdue. However, judging by the political
cancer of apathy that has
incurably afflicted many Zimbabweans there is an
understandable precaution
by the leadership to avoid another flop in mass
action.
Mass
action is the only option left for the opposition movement in
Zimbabwe. The
Zimbabwean response to Mugabe's tyranny now rests on mass
action or civil
disobedience.
Mugabe's actions speak volumes as to where he stands
about
negotiating with the MDC. He has cherry-picked his political split
image,
Benjamin Mkapa, to do his dirty work in "negotiating" with Britain
for the
"normalization" of relations between Mugabe and Tony Blair. Mugabe
has
narrowly defined the dispute as between Zimbabwe and Britain which,
according to Mugabe, did not meet its promised financial obligations in
efforts to purchase land from whites for resettlement. Mkapa has been
Mugabe's
John the Baptist in this narrow and selfish definition of the root
causes of
the problems in Zimbabwe. Mkapa's record in his fanatical
hero-worship and
utter admiration of Mugabe stands out like a sore thumb. As
far as Mkapa is
concerned Mugabe and ZANUPF did not do any wrong and have
become "dedicated
revolutionaries" in defending the rights of the people to
their land "which
was stolen by the whites during
colonialism."
Mkapa has selective amnesia about the sordid record
of Mugabe's rule
in Zimbabwe, namely the killing of thousands of people in
Matabeleland and
the fact that ZANUPF thugs have in the past few years
murdered in cold blood
over 400 opposition supporters. Neither has Mkapa
commented nor reprimanded
Mugabe for the gross human rights violations and
the mismanagement of the
country leading to the subhuman Stone Age
conditions that prevail in
Zimbabwe today.
It should by now be
obvious to Zimbabweans that Mugabe has no desire
or inclination to negotiate
with the opposition leaders and in good faith.
It is, therefore, a futile
exercise to keep on talking about negotiations
with Mugabe or ZANUPF as
some members in the opposition movement appear to
be suggesting. Time has
come for the leadership in the opposition movement
to make difficult
decisions if they are to be relevant in the struggle. Back
in 1961, and in
the aftermath of the Soweto massacre in which Africans who
were staging a
peaceful protest were gunned down by the apartheid police,
Nelson Mandela
declared that time had come for the black leaders to
reconsider their
strategy. Mandela noted that African leaders continued to
preach peace and
nonviolence at a time when the apartheid government reacted
with brute force
as in the case of the Sharpeville massacre.
Today, the opposition
movement in Zimbabwe is faced with the same
question of how to more
effectively confront Mugabe and ZANUPF. The two
"factions" of the MDC have
taken different strategies. MDC under the
leadership of Tsvangirai, while
expressing interest in talks, has resolved
to stage mass demonstrations and
is now in the process of organizing such
protest.
The faction
led by Mutambara has disavowed any mass demonstration,
preferring to either
increase their appeal to the international community to
intervene or to try
to increase voter participation in the next election in
the hope that if the
election process is manned by people who are against
rigging there is a
chance that the elections may not be rigged!
This strategy was
summarized by Mutambara's party secretary general
Welshman Ncube who was
once quoted as saying his supporters must participate
even if the elections
were for a janitor! No other strategy was offered
except for a promise of
some undefined plans A, B, C ad nauseam.
A consortium of clergy
have met with Mugabe in the hope of convincing
him to change. Indeed some
clergy were reported to have shared jokes with
Mugabe, laughed their lungs
out, reflecting the circus nature of their
so -called mediation efforts,
especially since nothing serious came out of
this encounter.
The reality of the Zimbabwean situation is that without mass action or
an
organized strategy for civil disobedience Zimbabweans are doomed to
suffer
exponentially until Mugabe drops dead of old age while clinging to
power.
Leadership for the Zimbabwean opposition movement is about taking
very
difficult decisions and attempting what may be impossible
initially.
Nationalist movements in southern Africa in the 1950s
and 1960s
appeared doomed. But it quickly dawned on the nationalist
leadership that
they must prepare themselves for a long drawn struggle.
Amilcar Cabral, the
liberation hero in Guinea Bissau which was then under
Portuguese
colonialism, stated that opposition leaders should not expect
quick or easy
victories. He also warned that people must expect to rely on
their resources
in any revolutionary struggle, a point that was echoed by
the late
Ndabaningi Sithole. Although Cabral's guidelines to confronting
the enemy
were in reference to a situation under somewhat different
conditions from
those prevailing in Zimbabwe there is a lesson to be learnt
from this.
In the first place, the civil society leadership in
Zimbabwe has not
publicly announced a strategy that reflects a long-term
program of
resistance to Mugabe. The only exception is Lovemore Madhuku's
National
Constituency Assembly ongoing hit and run demonstrations which
reflect in
some ways what Cabral may have had in mind.
It is
noteworthy that the NCA has added a new dimension to the
ongoing
demonstration, namely, some of its supporters are now refusing to
pay
admission of guilt fines. This was Martin Luther King's strategy as well
when he said "Let us all fill those jails."
What many people
do not know is that admission of guilt fines levied
by the police are aimed
at not only enriching but saving the police the
headaches of managing large
numbers of arrests. It is one thing to arrest
4oo people and release them as
soon as they pay the fines. It is a
logistical nightmare to arrest a
similar number every day and having to
cater for them for several days! As
long as the NCA supporters are held in
custody other Zimbabweans also
arrested would solidify this passive
resistance by considering not to
readily pay the admission of guilt fines.
It is, of course, very difficult
and almost inhumane to encourage people not
pay the fines as the animal
conditions in Mugabe's jails are among the worst
in the world. Being jailed
in Zimbabwe can be tantamount to a death
sentence. But confronting Mugabe
entails a certain level of risk. If the
NCA strategy could be replicated at
a larger and more national scale
Zimbabweans will be halfway towards
reclaiming their birthright from Mugabe
and ZANUPF.
The NCA
groups whose supporters have been demonstrating consistently
have shown that
mass actions are not impossible in Zimbabwe. What is
particularly
interesting about the NCA demonstrations is they are not
announced in
advance and they mushroom anywhere anytime. Surprise is a very
important
element in any civil disobedience campaign. Many people are quick
to write
the NCA demonstrations off as inconsequential and incapable of
significantly
impacting on Mugabe. The same thing was said about the WOZA
women. But
recent reports show a steady increase in the number of
supporters who are
participating or are now ready and willing to take part
in the
demonstrations.
It is a fact of history that major liberation
movements start small.
But they gain more membership as their strategies and
objectives are
understood and supported by the masses. Tsvangirai and his
MDC may want to
start by some well defined acts of civil disobedience and
then as they
become more popularly accepted, MDC must expand and extend
their strategies
as well.
What is needed as a prelude to mass
actions are brush fires of
individual or group acts of civil disobediences.
In 1950s America the civil
rights struggle started when one woman refused to
sit at the back of the bus
which at those times had been reserved for blacks
and the front for the
whites. That single act of defiance or civil
disobedience launched mass
protests that saw Blacks win many concessions
from the segregated South.
Once the acts of civil disobedience
begin and the mass action gets
into full gear the Zimbabwean opposition
movement will have shown to the
people and to the world that this is our
war and while international
intervention is appealed for, Zimbabweans must
take the primary
responsibility for fighting it
out.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Extinction fears for a scavenger
vital to preserving ecosystems
Robin McKie, science Editor
Sunday July
16, 2006
The Observer
South Africa's national lottery is claiming
an unlikely victim: vultures.
Local people - convinced these birds' superb
eyesight gives them the gift to
see the future - are eating vulture meat to
acquire the power of
clairvoyance.
And they are not alone. In
neighbouring Zimbabwe, voters fearful of
supporting the losing side in
recent elections ate vulture meat, mainly
heads, talons, eyes and hearts,
believing this would enable them to pick the
winning party. Then there has
been the rise of traditional medicines, for
which vulture parts are highly
valued, as well as soaring cases of poisoning
and shootings by starving
farmers in East and West Africa.
In addition, in south Asia over the past
five years, the use of the
painkiller diclofenac in cattle has wiped out
three species of vulture and
reduced the remaining two species to a few
dozen pairs of breeding birds.
The drug, it was discovered recently,
destroys the birds' kidneys.
In short, the vulture - the ultimate
scavenger, for ever associated with
pitiless opportunism - has been sent
spiralling towards extinction, say
ornithologists. 'Something very, very bad
is happening to the vulture,' said
Guy Rondeau, of Afrique Nature
International. 'There has been an almost
total collapse in numbers in many
parts of the world.'
The consequence of this dramatic decline is not
merely an issue that should
concern wildlife enthusiasts, add scientists.
Vultures' ability to pinpoint
corpses as they circle hundreds of feet in the
air, combined with their
power to strip carcasses clean of their flesh in
minutes, mean they are
vital in limiting the spread of diseases in
livestock. With vultures around,
corpses don't get a chance to rot and act
as reservoirs for disease.
This problem has reached the level of a major
ecological issue in Asia, as
ornithologist Mark Anderson, based in South
Africa, points out. 'In India
the cow is sacred and cannot be eaten. So it
was traditionally left to
vultures to eat their corpses. Without vultures,
packs of feral dogs have
taken over.'
These packs are 'destroying
livestock and wildlife, harassing people and
sometimes spreading rabies and
other diseases,' added Chris Bowden, a
vulture expert with the Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds.
In addition, the Parsees of India, who leave
their dead on 'towers of
silence' to be picked clean by vultures, have had
to develop alternatives.
In Mumbai, one group bought six 'solar
concentrators' - mirrors - to cremate
corpses using sun power. 'It is only
in the West that we look at the vulture
with revulsion,' said Rondeau. 'In
many countries they are venerated.' The
ancient Egyptians worshipped the
vulture, while shamans in hunter-gatherer
tribes attributed the powers of
clairvoyance to them. Many countries,
including Mali, have vultures as their
national emblem, although the bird
has all but disappeared from its skies.
'Vultures have completely deserted
the colonies on the cliffs around our
village,' said Diomande, a hunter from
the Bafing region of south-west Mali.
'We don't see any today. We think they
are angry at the way we treat the
land.'
A measure of this loss is provided by recent surveys which
indicate that
vulture numbers have dropped by 95 per cent in West Africa.
'It also appears
there has been a similar, drastic reduction in East
Africa,' added Anderson.
'The situation is catastrophic,' said Francis
Lauginie, of Afrique Nature
International. 'Conservation efforts have to be
urgently introduced. This
could have irreversible consequences for regional
ecosystems and
communities.'
The exact causes of the disappearance of
the vulture in Africa are unclear.
'In Asia, diclofenac was responsible,'
said Rondeau. 'But that is not the
case in Africa. It is hardly used there.
There seems to be a number of
causes. The need for vulture flesh to satisfy
markets for traditional
medicines, their links with clairvoyance, hunting,
and deliberate poisoning
are probably all involved.' The result has been
plummeting numbers of a
species that may look unpleasant but which has some
heart-warming qualities:
vultures mate for life while mothers and fathers
share nest duties. 'They
are phenomenal parents,' says South African
wildlife expert Kerry Wolter, in
an article in the journal
Science
There is one encouraging piece of news. Vultures have started to
prosper in
Europe. Conservation programmes in Spain and France have been so
successful
that wild vultures have been spotted even in the Netherlands and
Scandinavia. The vulture may be dying out in Asia and Africa, but it could
soon appear in Britain, it seems.
Rich pickings
Although
ungainly on the ground, vultures can soar with astonishing grace
and to
remarkable heights. One jet collided with a vulture at 10,000m (six
miles).
The Beatles were originally to play the four vultures in Walt
Disney's
Jungle Book but had to drop out because of sched-ule difficulties.
Other
actors took over and the vultures were portrayed as a homage to the
Beatles.
One of the most unlikely uses of the species's name was by John
McEnroe, who
denounced Wimbledon umpires for being 'the pits of the world -
vultures!'
Prometheus was punished for stealing fire from the gods by
having a vulture
eat his liver for eternity.
The main impact of the collapse of the Zimbabwe economy has of course been
on
its own people. However, sight should not be lost of the wider impact
and
here I personally feel that studies conducted some three years ago
were
somewhat limited in their scope and, in my personal view, underestimated
the
impact.
To give any impact study real meaning, we should start by
estimating where
the Zimbabwe economy might have been if this implosion had
not taken place.
That would then suggest levels of regional trade and the
multiplier effects
that could be used to assess the possible impact of such
growth and
stability on the other countries of the region.
Zimbabwe
sits astride regional power and transport systems and at one time
had the
most advanced and developed financial and industrial sectors after
South
Africa, in the region. At one stage it was the largest trade partner
of South
Africa, Zambia, and Malawi on the continent and was also a major
trading and
services partner for Botswana and the Congo with a lesser
position in
Namibia, Mozambique and Angola. After South Africa we also had
the largest
tourism industry in the region.
Another factor that I think is
understated is the impact of contagion and
perception. There is no doubt that
we are all tarred with the same brush
when it comes to fighting for a place
in the sun as far as trade, investment
and tourism is concerned. These are
all elements in the development business
that are very sensitive to
perceptions and public understanding. They are
also very shy when it comes to
any sort of conflict or instability. Capital
flight from areas or countries
suffering from instability and conflict are a
sensitive and critical
barometer of their situation and its implications.
I took as a base line
1996/97 as the last year when the Zimbabwe economy was
still functioning on a
"normal" basis and expostulated the social, economic
and trade situation to
2006 over a period of 10 years. The results were very
interesting:
-
Factor 1996/97 2005/06 (Estimated) 2005/06 (Actual)
GDP (US$
billions) 8,4 12.9 4.4
Tourism (visitors) 1 200 000 2 500 000 280
000
Exports (US$ billions) 3,4 5.78 1,4
Foreign Aid (US$ million) 800 1200
350
Imports (US$ billion) 4.2 7.4 1.8
Agric Output (US$ b) 1.554 2.564
500
Mining Output (US$ m) 672 1176 780
Employment 1 400 000 2 030 000
850
Population 12 500 000 14 790 000 10 500 000
When you look as these
figures, the effect of the implosion over the past 10
years can clearly be
seen. The assumed rates of growth in these numbers is
modest - 4 per cent per
annum in GDP, more in exports driven by rising
export receipts in mining and
agriculture as well as tourism. It should be
noted that the tourism industry
in South Africa has doubled in size since
1995 and I think tourism here would
have increased faster than that under
normal conditions. There were no major
droughts in this decade.
The regional impact is obvious - in 1996 we were
the largest trading partner
for South Africa in Africa - trade in both
directions at about R1 billion a
month with imports from South Africa growing
rapidly. By my estimates South
Africa could have been exporting goods to
Zimbabwe to the value of at least
US$2,5 billion a year by 2006 perhaps even
higher. All these exports would
have been in the form of manufactured
products with high multiplier and
employment effects in the South African
economy. This element alone points
to a loss of potential exports to Zimbabwe
by South Africa of something
approaching US$10 billion in ten
years.
If the region had not suffered from the effects of the Zimbabwe
crisis
internationally there can be little doubt that tourism would have
risen
faster than it has - by how much is difficult to estimate. Some of
this
potential has found its way to Botswana and Zambia but most of it has
been
lost - perhaps to the extent of 3 million potential visitors to the
region
in 2006. In the form of jobs this is equal to 375 000 jobs in the
tourism
sector alone.
In terms of capital flight, it is estimated that
Zimbabwe has been loosing
up to US$500 million a year in capital stock to
capital flight. In South
Africa the net loss of capital is in the order of a
billion Rand a month -
about three times the level of capital flight from
Zimbabwe. The difference
is that Zimbabwe is in a deep political and economic
crisis with damaging
and negative economic policies. South Africa on the
other hand has pursued
conservative economic policies and has made a
remarkable transition from
what it was before. Other SADC States all have
positive net capital
inflows - but resource based rather than based on either
the investment
climate or confidence in those countries as a developing
services or
industrial economy.
Without the negative impact of the
Zimbabwe crisis it is possible that South
Africa might have experienced
perhaps 2 per cent more real growth in GDP per
annum than it has actually
achieved since 1994. This is equal to US$2,6
billion a year in additional GDP
growth. Combined with capital flight of
about half this figure this
represents a loss of potential economic activity
of US$4,3 billion a year. No
developing country, especially a country like
South Africa, with 40 per cent
unemployment, millions homeless and extreme
rural and urban poverty, can
ignore such a loss of economic potential
without running the grave risk of
instability in the longer term. That is
exactly the price that South Africans
are paying for Mugabe's delinquency
and bad government.
If you lift
Zimbabwe out of the SADC economy and study what is left, the
picture is
pretty good. Angola, Mozambique and Botswana are all headed for
growth above
8 per cent; Zambia is not far behind while South Africa's
economy, boosted by
the massive surge in mineral and precious metal prices
is also likely to grow
strongly. That leaves the minnows of Malawi,
Swaziland and Lesotho - all
showing growth but at lower levels. If you then
had Zimbabwe also recovering
and perhaps growing strongly, its economy
fuelled by tourism, mining and
agriculture, you would see stronger regional
growth overall - perhaps of the
order of 1 to 2 per cent. That's the
difference between making an impact on
poverty and unemployment and not.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 16th July 2006
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Deprose T. Muchena
HARARE -
AT a recent Democracy and Governance review conference in
Pretoria, attended
by researchers and policy analysts from Southern Africa,
one issue that
dominated the discussions of all presenters was the new role
of China in
Africa.
Examples were generally drawn from the very visible role of
China in
Africa's economy.
In the region, several examples were
drawn from DRC, Angola,
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa,
Tanzania, and Zambia. This
discussion is relevant because only in January
2006, China announced its
desire to increase co-operation with African
countries by issuing China's
African Policy, a paper intended to guide
relations with the continent by
continuing what it calls a "non
interventionist and non ideological
strategy."
This expression
of co-operation is premised on a growing relationship
between the continent
and the gigantic Asian country. It is a relationship
rooted in the history
of anti -colonial and anti-imperialist liberation
movements waged by African
countries as they struggled for national
independence.
In the
case of Southern Africa, the liberation movement was spurred by
support from
Soviet Union and China and in many instances a lot of the post
colonial
leaders were militarily trained in China and the Soviet Union.
Africa is good environment for Chinese investment, because it's not
too
competitive. With the steadily growing number of failed and failing
states
on the continent, China is treading in areas where even Libya has
not.
The Chinese are the new pioneers in Africa, and -
seemingly unnoticed
by aid planners and foreign ministers in Europe - they
are changing the face
of the continent. In the 1970s, Chinese interests in
Africa were
ideological. In the 1980s, as an emblem of solidarity, China
built stadiums
for football matches, and political rallies in most African
countries which
declared themselves socialist.
But in 2000, the
first China-Africa Forum, held in Beijing, signalled
the renewed interests
in Africa. This time round the interest was more
economic than ideological.
Now, the Chinese are the most voracious
capitalists on the continent and
trade between China and Africa is doubling
every year.
It is
not a secret that China is the fastest growing economy in the
world with a
huge appetite for natural resources, raw materials and in
search of markets
for its growing industry and enterprises. In Southern
Africa, and in fact in
most parts of Africa, China is either viewed or
perceived by governments as
the new "economic messiah", a new investor and
new friend in a world where
there is growing uneasiness over growing or
rather what African governments
perceive to be patronising attitudes of the
West. China is actually taking
great advantage of this growing resentment of
the North and is presenting
itself as an alternative.
China is finding willing partners on the
continent who are praising
its role. Chris Mutsvangwa, Zimbabwe's ambassador
to China gave glowing
remarks to China in a recent interview with Beijing
Review reporter Ni
Yashuo.
Mutsvangwa placed China on a higher
pedestal. "I can safely say
Zimbabwe's chosen path of economic development
now faces a much brighter
prospect of success.. That is so because the
stranglehold of once
omnipotent - vested interests is loosening and a more
open and competitive
business environment is taking centre stage in world
economic affairs," he
opined.
"China is transforming into one
of the top economic and commercial
powers of the world. This has ushered in
so much economic hopes.."
That China is the fastest growing economy
is without doubt. For
example, in 2004, China overtook Italy and in 2005 it
passed France and then
the UK as fourth largest economy in the world. From
1993 to 2004 China's
annual GDP growth averaged a staggering 9,9 percent
over 12 years!
Keith Bradsher recently reported in the New York
Times that China will
soon release statistics showing it has surpassed Japan
as "the biggest
holder of foreign currency the world has ever seen", with
reserves that will
reach US$1 trillion this year.
With lots of
foreign currency to invest and a need for new markets and
raw materials,
China is coming to Africa.
Jean Christophe Servant reports in Le
Monde Diplomatique that 674
Chinese state companies have invested more ham
$900 million in over 800
joint projects in Africa. According to the BBC, in
the first 10 months of
2005 trade between China and Africa rose by 39
percent to over $48 billion,
largely fuelled by imports of African
oil.
According to the world Economic Forum, which this year had a
panel on
Chinese trade with Africa, China is about to become Africa's third
largest
trading partner. These statistics reveal much more than the numbers.
An
economic relationship is being constructed which in many instances is not
as
evenly balanced as governments are telling us.
Extraction
and continuation of centre-periphery dichotomy?
The question is: what
is driving this Chinese incursion into the
continent? And is this new
relationship messianic in the sense the
Zimbabwean ambassador Mutsvangwa
portrays it? Or is it perpetuating the very
imbalance African leaders are
running away from?
Stephen Marks recently wrote in Pambazuka News
that this is a legacy
of China's Cold War posture. China's foreign policy
and its "no questions
asked" approach have always appealed to African
leaders threatened with
internal dissent ad external pressure to reform.
There is no better example
for the Chinese soft power foreign policy than
Robert Mugabe who presides
over the ZANU-PF authoritarian
government.
Speaking at the Syno-Africa conference in September
2003, at which
most senior African leaders gave glowing accounts of their
various countries'
experience with China, Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe
launched a tirade
against Britain and the USA, calling on African Leaders to
turn their backs
on western countries, and focus on better relations with
China, which he
said respected African countries. Since that time, Zimbabwe
has been sliding
down on major indices of economic development and good
governance and such
other important indices as the competitiveness index,
political stability,
the Transparency International (TI) corruption
perception index and recently
the US based Fund for Peace's Failed States
Index.
Cameroon's president echoed Mugabe's September 2003 remarks
as well,
and we know what is happening to that country. Zimbabwe's "Look
East Policy"
rhetorically emphasises the contrast between China, once itself
an object of
European imperialism, and the "suspect motives of former
colonial powers."
But Marks concludes that the fact is China is in "pursuit
of economic self
interest in the form of access to raw materials. the goals
of any classical
imperialist."
China keeps some of these
countries happy by blocking international
consensus for reform, giving moral
support even as these countries pursue
questionable domestic policies and in
return, China gets preferential access
to markets and raw materials among
other things that China is extracting for
Africa in general and Southern
Africa in particular.
If the country is reasonably developed and
well-governed like South
Africa, China uses the "south-south" rhetoric,
something more likely to
impress the ANC-led government and its south
focussed policies and
ideological grounding on global affairs. But the net
effect is the same.
In many respects, the center-periphery
dichotomy, that both crude and
refined African political leaders proclaim as
the reason for twinning with
China are therefore often-times reproduced in
these new celebrated
relationships. Clearly, the lopsided nature of the
Chinese African
relationship is evident. China is benefiting through getting
greater access
to raw materials and new markets for its goods at the expense
of African
economies. It is like China is the new patron and Southern
African states
are the clients.
Writing in the Los Angeles
Times, Raymond W Copson, a recently retired
US Congressional Research
Services Officer, argues that Beijing's aggressive
courting of African
states is a direct challenge to US interests. He also
notes that the Chinese
have been important actors on the continent since the
1960s, but the scale
of their current involvement is unprecedented.
All across Africa
today, according to a Council on Foreign Relations
report in January 2006,
"China is acquiring control of natural resource
assets, outbidding Western
contractors on major infrastructure projects and
providing soft loans and
other incentives to bolster its competitive
advantage."
China's
trade with Africa is soaring up; well over a third in the
first 11 months of
2005 alone. Chinese businesspeople are seen everywhere,
and in country after
country, Africans are riding Chinese motorcycles, and
wearing Chinese
manufactured jeans and jewellery. A Zimbabwe weekly
privately owned
newspaper, the
Zimbabwe Independent of 12 May 2006 confirmed this
presence of Chinese
business people "everywhere."
Under the
headline "Chinese team sets sights on uranium", the paper
reported that a
team of Chinese had set up camp in Makuti in the Zambezi
Valley in what
could be the beginning of uranium exploration in the country.
Never in the
history of Makuti Hotel; this fairly unknown hotel, had a
Chinese delegation
that large checked into the hotel for three weeks.
President Mugabe
announced last year, that Zimbabwe had uranium, which the
country wanted to
explore. Chinese explorers are already at work!
The main driver in
the relationship is China's insatiable need for
energy. Its oil imports are
surging and African oil now accounts for nearly
30 percent of the
total.
The China National Petroleum Corporation has invested
billions of
dollars to take control of Sudan's oil production, estimated at
150 000
barrels per day and growing. In fact, 60 percent of Sudanese oil
goes to
China; 12 percent of China's oil comes from Sudan.7 No wonder the
Sudanese
government is untroubled by the oil sanctions which prevent
American
investment. Another Chinese oil company agreed in January 2006 to
pay $2.3
billion for a major stake in a Nigerian oil field.
Africa is certainly benefiting. China's demand for resources has
driven up
prices, propelling significant GDP gains in many countries. China
has
educated thousand of African university students, and it sends Africa
hundreds of doctors and advisors each year. Chinese firms are building
roads, rehabilitating infrastructure and bringing cellphone services to
places that landlines never reached. The Chinese policy is certainly
seductive.
In 2000, a new China-Africa co-operation forum
agreed a joint economic
and social programme, one that is grounded on the
developmentally defined
doctrine, the "five principles of peaceful
coexistence", namely "win-win",
"non-interference", "respect for diversity",
"economic development" and
"sovereignty." African leaders love these
slogans. At the second
Syno-African Conference in December 2003, and well in
advance of the G8
summit, China cancelled $10 billion of the debt owed by
African countries.
In so doing, China offered debt relief to 31
countries, as well as
opening the prospect for trade.
But, is
there a downside to this rosy picture?
A lot has been said about
this new Chinese interest on the continent.
In Zimbabwe, for example, there
is a real challenge in balancing the suspect
motives of China, particularly
in view of the so-called "Look East Policy"
by Robert Mugabe's government
and its emphasis on painting the west as an
enemy of Zimbabwe.
Most Zimbabweans are suspicious of any government or group that is
supportive of the Zimbabwe government in general and ZANU-PF in particular.
They view with suspicion, the role that China is playing in aiding and
supporting what some believe is an undemocratic regime. This suspicion is
premised on the belief that the support has postponed the quest for
democratic transition - a fundamental step towards real social and economic
transition.
Africans must be more vigilant in protecting their
future, their
natural resources particularly if their states are entering
into
partnerships and agreements that are getting the best out of Africa in
terms
of resources, and giving nothing tangible in terms of sustainable
development.
In order to do that, further research and critical
evaluation of the
role of both the West in general and China in particular,
as well as the
implications of their policies on our resources, our
economies and societies
must be carried out, country by country and region
by region, in order to
protect this continent from yet another scramble for
Africa!
At this present moment, Africa requires diversified
economies
supported by more responsive and accountable governments to help
its
citizens out of poverty. The West is realising that aid is needed but
that
it must be applied intelligently and in collaboration with a democratic
leadership in the client State, if it is to lead to poverty reduction and
prevent destabilising emergence of failed States.
The West
itself has a long history of complicity with corrupt rulers
but as its
democracies have matured, governments have become more
accountable to a
better-informed citizenry regarding interaction with other
nations.
Not so for China. As Alexander points out, China is an
autocratic
state with limited democratic freedoms and most of its citizenry
is still
too poor to worry about the normal assessment of Chinese
involvement with
their nation. He cautions Africa to tread with caution
before becoming too
involved with China.
China needs Africa's
natural resources and diplomatic support whereas
the improved economic
status of Africa's poor is not a strategic priority,
nor is it a practical
goal for a nation like China that has widespread
poverty of its own. He
concludes by arguing that Africans must be vigilant
in ensuring that all
future partnerships are structured so as to preserve
our economic integrity.
Certainly this warning is falling on deaf ears, as
far as African Heads of
State are concerned!
Deprose T Muchena is a research and policy
analyst based in Harare.
This exploratory article was first published for
the journal, "Open Space",
produced by University of Botswana/Open Society
Initiative for Southern
Africa (OSISA).