Knives out for Zimbabwe central bank governor

Zim Online

Tue 28 March 2006

      HARARE - The knives are out for Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor Gideon Gono with Energy Minister Mike Nyambuya the latest among a
growing list of senior government officials to criticise the reformist RBZ
chief and to call for his wide-ranging powers to be clipped.

      Nyambuya - clearly peeved at Gono after the governor blocked his
proposals for huge increases in power tariffs - attacked Gono during a
meeting of President Robert Mugabe and his Cabinet two weeks ago, accusing
the RBZ chief of breaking "legal statutes" to usurp the powers of the
Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission (ZERC).

      The ZERC, which falls under Nyambuya and regulates energy tariffs, had
last month successfully appealed to the government to be allowed to hike
tariffs by 770 percent spread over a nine-month period.

      The Cabinet however virtually rescinded the decision, allowing
relatively lower tariff increases after Gono told Mugabe's executive
committee that the huge tariff hikes proposed by Nyambuya and ZERC would
fuel inflation and derail attempts to revive Zimbabwe's collapsed economy.

      But Nyambuya in a document submitted to Cabinet on March, 7 2006,
heavily criticised Gono, accusing him of overstepping his mandate and said
the central bank governor was stalling the development of the energy sector
in his bid to keep inflation figures down.

      Nyambuya's document, a copy of which was shown to ZimOnline reads in
part: "The above points to clear interference by the RBZ in its quest to
meet its own inflation targets at the expense of the electricity supply
industry requirements to sustain operations.

      "With the appointment of the Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory
Commission (ZERC) June 2005 there is need for role clarity given the
continued usurping of ZERC powers by the RBZ even in the existence of legal
statutes."

      The Energy Minister charged that apart from interfering with the
tariff regulation, Gono was also stalling plans to expand Zimbabwe's
electricity generation capacity by delaying releasing financing for a joint
Zimbabwe/Iran project to expand the Kariba Hydro Power Station.

      "The Kariba expansion project has already been forestalled even after
the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between RBZ and EDBI of Iran
on 19 January 2005.

      "The following issues are still outstanding from the RBZ; financing
terms, 15 percent down payment or US$30 million, loan financing agreement
and financing of 40 percent civil works," Nyambuya's document states.

      Both Nyambuya and Gono were not available for comment on the matter.

      But the disclosure of Nyambuya's strong criticism of Gono comes amid
reports in the local Press last week that the RBZ governor - tasked by
Mugabe to fix the limping economy - had also clashed with Finance Minister
Herbert Murerwa over the economic direction of the country.

      Murerwa, who has overall responsibility over economic policy, is said
to have accused Gono of acting without consulting him and of overstepping
his role as monetary policy chief to undertake quasi-fiscal activities.

      Several other senior government officials are also said to have
criticised Gono accusing him of behaving like a "Prime Minister". The Press
reports however quote Gono denying Murerwa's charges and insisting that he
has always acted after consulting the presidency, Cabinet, relevant
parliamentary committees and other key stakeholders.

      An affable character, Gono - seen as among the few doves in a
hardliner government - was appointed RBZ governor in 2003 with the task to
chart Zimbabwe's economic revival path.

      He has been praised for bringing discipline back to Zimbabwe's banking
sector and has won plaudits for saving the country from expulsion by the
International Monetary Fund by paying off outstanding debts.

      But Gono's inflation fighting measures have been a huge flop with the
key rate now above 700 percent and still rising. - ZimOnline

Police arrest two Zimbabwean university student leaders

Zim Online

Tue 28 March 2006

      BULAWAYO - Police arrested two student leaders at Zimbabwe's National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) and prevented hundreds more
students from entering the campus for non-payment of fees.

      NUST student union president Beloved Chiweshe told ZimOnline that two
members of the union, Clever Bere and Themba Maphenduke were picked up by
the police for addressing hundreds of students who had gathered outside the
university.

      Chiweshe vowed students would not pay the new fees which the
government says are necessary to keep the university running.

      He said: "The police have arrested two student leaders and the
majority of students have been turned away for not paying the fees. As we
talk, there is nothing happening at the university. As students we have
resolved not to pay these ridiculous fees."

      Last month, thousands of students in universities and tertiary
colleges staged demonstrations across the country protesting against plans
by the government to hike fees by more than 100 percent.

      The students also said they were not happy over their low payouts and
falling standards at state universities and other tertiary institutions.

      Protests by students at Zimbabwe's universities and technical colleges
have become routine because the government, which is also battling a severe
six-year old economic crisis, does not have money to run the institutions. -
ZimOnline

Bodyguard who was suspended for indecently assaulting Mugabe's wife dies

Zim Online

Tue 28 March 2006

      HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's personal bodyguard, Senior
Assistant Commissioner Winston Changara has died.

      Changara, who was reinstated to his post two months ago after he had
been suspended from his position sometime last year for allegedly indecently
assaulting Mugabe's wife, Grace, died in Harare yesterday after a short
illness.

      Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed
that Changara had died but said he was unable to shed more light on the
circumstances leading to the death.

      "Yes, he has died but I cannot tell you more at the moment. We are
going to make a special announcement on his death later," said Bvudzijena.

      But sources in the Police Protection Unit which he led told ZimOnline
that Changara looked "stressed out after the problems" he encountered last
year.

      "You could tell that he was no longer his former self since his
suspension was lifted two months ago. He had become too defensive.

       "Before his death, he had also tried to tender his resignation from
the force but was persuaded to continue by some senior officers who felt
that resigning would have been an indirect admission that he had committed
the crime," said a senior officer who refused to be named.

      Changara was last October demoted and banished to the Police
Commissioner's pool, an internal police facility to punish and frustrate
errant senior officers after Mugabe's wife Grace complained to the President
that the officer had indecently assaulted her.

      But Changara told an internal team probing him that Mugabe's wife had
fabricated the charge in a bid to cover up her extra-marital affairs. The
senior police officer was reinstated to his position two months ago after a
committee set up to probe him found him not guilty. - ZimOnline

Zimbabweans plead hunger in court

Zim Online

Tue 28 March 2006

      MASVINGO - Twenty hungry Zimbabwe villagers on Monday admitted in
court to stealing maize, telling the magistrate they would have starved to
death if they had not stolen the staple food.

      Masvingo magistrate Andrew Hamandishe admonished the mostly elderly
villagers for stealing but still accepted their plea, sentencing them to
18-months in jail each, all suspended.

      The magistrate suspended 12 months of the jail terms on condition the
villagers paid Z$15 million to Aftranz Transport, the haulage company that
was transporting the maize when it was stolen from one of its trucks that
had broken down along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.

      The other six months were suspended on condition the villagers do not
commit a similar offence for the next five years.

      The villagers from Chivi district, about 80 kilometres south of
Masvingo town, looted 240 bags of maize from the truck which was abandoned
by the roadside.

      "We were very hungry your worship. That is why we stole the maize.
Some of us had spent days without having a decent meal and we could not die
while food was just a few metres away from us. For us to stand before you
today it is because of that maize," the villagers told the court.

      But the magistrate said the court could not condone people stealing
simply because they were hungry.

      "If we allow hungry people to loot whatever they come across, then
there will be chaos in the country. You are elderly people who should have
realised that stealing does not pay," said the magistrate.

      Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages after President Robert Mugabe
seized large commercial farmland from whites for redistribution to landless
blacks six years ago.

      The farm seizures slashed food production by at least 60 percent
leaving Zimbabweans to depend on food handouts from international aid groups
for survival. - ZimOnline

Governor accused of grabbing farm from widow

Zim Online

Tue 28 March 2006

      MASVINGO - Masvingo provincial governor Willard Chiwewe is embroiled
in a bitter farm ownership dispute with a widow after he grabbed the
property owned by the woman near Lake Mutirikwi about 20 kilometers east of
Masvingo town.

      Chiwewe, who chairs the provincial land committee in charge of farm
allocations in the province, last month took over the property from the
Ganyani family and is said to be planning to build lodges on the property.

      The Zimbabwe government listed the property for acquisition under the
country's land reform laws arguing the property  was being under-utilised.
The farm has since been offered to Chiwewe to take over.

      On Monday, the widow Cecilia Ganyani whose husband died about 10 years
ago, expressed disappointment over Chiwewe's farm take-over.

      "My late husband's farm is being taken over by these powerful
politicians. I am a widow and could not fully utilize the property because
of financial difficulties. But this is my property, if I had money I would
take the governor to court," she  said.

      But Chiwewe defended the farm take-over saying the property was
severely under-utilised. He also said the whole deal was done above board.

      "I am actually planning to build lodges on the farm and start farming
seriously. I have an offer letter from the responsible ministry and to say I
am grabbing the farm is very wrong," said Chiwewe.

      Several government ministers and senior civil servants have been
accused in the past by civic groups of grabbing farms from mainly former
white owners under the government's chaotic land reforms over the past six
years.

      The farm seizures have slashed food production by at least 60 percent
leaving once-food sufficient Zimbabwe depending on handouts from
international aid groups for survival. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe drafts new anti-terrorism laws

Mail and Guardian

      Harare, Zimbabwe

      27 March 2006 01:49

            Weeks after police in Zimbabwe announced they had discovered an
arms cache in eastern Zimbabwe, the authorities in Harare say they are
introducing new laws to combat terrorism, according to reports on Monday.

            Under the recently-gazetted Suppression of Foreign and
International Terrorism Bill, anyone who undergoes training for terrorism,
recruits people to undergo terrorist training or who possesses weapons for
the purposes of terrorism could face life imprisonment, the Herald newspaper
said.

            News of the proposed legislation comes just weeks after police
in the eastern city of Mutare announced they had arrested a group of people
in the east of the country who were bent on causing acts of "terrorism".

            The nine men, who included four members of Zimbabwe's opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, were arrested after weapons were
found at the Mutare home of a white security expert Michael Hitschmann.

            Hitschmann -- who is a registered arms dealer -- is still in
custody facing charges of conspiracy to possess weapons for insurgency.

            The MDC said the case against its members was trumped up, and
state prosecutors later dropped terrorism charges against them and four
ex-policemen. That development appears to have annoyed at least one of
Zimbabwe's top cabinet ministers.

            National Security Minister Didymus Mutasa this weekend accused
police of "bungling" their investigations into the case.

            Under the proposed new laws, the Zimbabwe government will be
able to designate any organisation it believes is a "foreign or
international terrorist organisation" and declare it unlawful, the paper
said.

            There will be penalties for people who the government considers
to have supplied information to terrorist organisations.

            "Any person who collects or supplies information for purposes of
foreign or international terrorist activity shall be guilty of an offence
and liable to a hefty fine or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or
both," the Herald said. - Sapa-DPA

Zimbabwe Food Security Remains Precarious Ahead of Harvest

VOA

      By Peta Thornycroft
      Harare
      27 March 2006

USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network, FEWSNET, has listed Zimbabwe
as a food emergency country in its latest assessment. FEWSNET says 52
percent of the rural population survived the first months of 2006 because of
international food aid.

Zimbabwe's food situation in both urban and rural areas remained precarious
in 2006. FEWSNET said the availability of the staple food, corn meal, was
erratic and grossly inadequate throughout the country.

The shortages continue despite imports of more than 800,000 tons of corn
from neighboring South Africa in the past year.

Except for one or two districts most of Zimbabwe has had adequate rain this
season.

But small-scale and new farmers struggled to get seed and fertilizer, which
was in short supply, and many planted their corn too late for good results,
according to the Commercial Farmers Union.

Nevertheless, latest crop estimates show that Zimbabwe may have grown
substantially more corn than the previous season, and it may only be short
about one-third of the corn it needs for human consumption.

International donors say they are not sure of the exact size of the corn
harvest, but early indications are that they may have to feed far less than
the approximately four million people now receiving their help.

Distribution of emergency food aid always drops off during harvest, which
begins within weeks. Donors say they hope to feed a maximum of two million
people until the next harvest in 2007.

Zimbabwe's agricultural production collapsed after President Robert Mugabe
began confiscating white-owned commercial farms in 2000. These farms
produced more than 40 percent of Zimbabwe's export earnings, and now the
country is critically short of foreign currency.

Until the seizures began, Zimbabwe had been self sufficient in food for
decades.

FEWSNET says that the high price of corn meal means many people are unable
to afford it. Zimbabwe's inflation is now 782 percent per year. FEWSNET
reports independent economists say as the economy continues to falter,
inflation is unlikely to slow in the near future.

ZCTF Report - delivery of Landrover Spares

                                                                                                                  

New MDC national executive and portfolio secretaries