Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 13 Oct 2009:

Posted by ZDN on October 14, 2009

Business

South Africa’s largest food retailer, Shoprite, said it is no longer pursuing investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, citing political and economic “uncertainty.” Shoprite/Checkers planned to buy OK Bazaars, Zimbabwe’s second largest supermarket chain, despite the recent designation of the Meikles/TM supermarkets Group by Zimbabwe government interests.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe froze two of Nestlé’s bank accounts after the Swiss multinational bowed to global pressure last week and said it would stop sourcing milk from a farm owned by Grace Mugabe, President Robert Mugabe’s wife. The company’s accounts were later freed, but some see it as a warning shot to the company by Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Gideon Gono.

President Mugabe stated that Government has cherry-picked two investors to take over the exploitation of the controversial Chiadzwa Diamond Fields in a ‘joint venture’ with the Ministry of Mines. Meanwhile Justice Charles Hungwe two weeks ago delivered a landmark judgement confirming Africa Consolidated Resources (ACR)’s right to claims in the mining area.

Barclays bank introduced ATM withdrawals for owners of Visa credit cards. The facility will assist tourists.

Government

Zimbabwe is still one of the worst governed countries in Africa, according to a report by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The 2009 Ibrahim Index of Governance ranked Zimbabwe 51 out of all the 53 African countries, beating only Chad and Somalia respectively. The rankings are based on the 2007/2008 period, prior to the formation of the unity government.

Wildlife conservancies are at risk after the government adopted a new, controversial, land ‘reform’ policy aimed at ‘resettling’ the wildlife sector, as the countrywide rush to grab any remaining commercially viable land continues.

Economy

Zimbabwe’s finance minister Tendai Biti said on Monday that he would quit if he were asked to reinstate the local dollar, which he scuttled in order to halt hyper-inflation. He said talks on the possible return of the Zimbabwe dollar should only start at the end of next year.

The finance minister also said that he will not authorise the use of $500 million in IMF funds until the after the national budget is finalised, presented and approved in November.

Sanctions

The US and the UK showed skepticism last week following Mugabe’s overture for better relations, stating that he first needs to honour the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Mugabe said at the opening of parliament that he was prepared to re-engage the West, calling an end to sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Education

Around 8000 teachers who fled election violence last year and only returned to work in 2009 have gone months without pay as punishment for their alleged support of the MDC. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Secretary General Raymond Majonwe said in an interview last week that he believed the aim was to frustrate the teachers and show up the MDC minister of education, sport and culture David Coltart. “It’s political,” said Majongwe. “We are aggrieved because 5 000 of the 8 000 teachers who have not been paid are our members. This is why they are being victimized.”

Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) workers went on strike last week demanding that the lowest paid employee’s salary be increased from US$115 to US$400. With the public examinations looming, Zimsec is urging the government to address the workers’ concerns.

A recent survey by PTUZ revealed that up to 75 percent of the 300,000 children who could sit their O and A Level examinations in November had failed to register because of the exam fees. Students learning in rural areas and on farm schools are the worst affected, with those coming from poor urban areas accounting for a substantial amount of the victims, The number of students who could not afford to write their examinations this year was “the highest in the history of the country” said a PTUZ statement.

Ten Zimbabwean students at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa have been kicked out of a (taxpayer-funded) Presidential Scholarship programme, for allegedly supporting the MDC. Robert Mugabe gained a BA degree, specializing in education, from Fort Hare in 1951.

Legal

Several top officials and Mugabe loyalists being sued for torture will not receive legal assistance from the state. The officials are being sued by seventeen human rights activists, including Jestina Mukoko. All were acquitted of terrorism charges after being abducted, tortured and incarcerated for months. The defendants who include the police chief and security and defense ministers, will face the charges (worth $500 million in damages) on their own. It seems even the party can see their actions are indefensible.

Two important cases will commence this week in Mutare and Harare. Deputy Agriculture Minister Designate Roy Bennett, who was arrested in February as he prepared to leave for a holiday in South Africa, faces trial for allegedly being in illegal possession of weapons and for allegedly contravening immigration laws. The state seems to have no evidence but is trying to further delay proceedings by indicting Bennett for trial in the High Court. Meanwhile in Harare, leading human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama is standing trial on Wednesday for alleged contempt of court.

Cholera Warning

Health experts and aid agencies have repeated warnings of a possible cholera resurgence in Zimbabwe, blaming the current water and sanitation problems in the country. “The circumstances that led to the cholera outbreak [last year] are still there today,” said Farid Abdulkadir, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) disaster management coordinator, at a meeting on regional water integration held in Randburg, South Africa. Nine new confirmed cases of the disease were reported last week in Musikavanhi district of the Manicaland province.

Commercial Farming Sector

The European Union is providing 15.4 million euros to aid small-scale Zimbabwean farmers. The aid, in the form of seed and fertiliser, aims to boost grain production and is set to benefit 176,000 households. “This programme is part of a wider EC policy aiming at moving this country from food aid to food security,” said Xavier Marchal, head of the European Commission in Zimbabwe. The aid is part of a $74 million fund created by donors, which include the World Bank and Britain’s Department for International Development. The fund is expected to help produce about 450,000 tons of the staple maize crop and meet a quarter of Zimbabwe’s annual requirements.

The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding a halt to the grab of white farmer Charles Lock’s farm by Brigadier Mujaji. The German embassy warned that the grab of the property, Karori farm was illegal as the property is protected a German-Zimbabwean Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement.

Ben Freeth, a white Zimbabwean whose farm was burnt down in August, traveled to Washington D.C. last week to urge the Obama administration to put pressure on the Zimbabwe government to stop the seizure of the last remaining white farms. “The United States is the biggest bilateral donor to Zimbabwe and it’s really important that they put pressure on the government to ensure the court judgment is respected,” he said. In November last year the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal ordered the Government of Zimbabwe to allow 75 white commercial farmers to stay on their land but the seizure of protected farms and ongoing harassment has continued.

The European Union (EU) has offered to fund the proposed Land Audit.

Media

Mugabe’s Information Minister Webster Shamu appointed eight former senior military officials to six boards of government-controlled media organizations, a move that the Media Institute of Southern Africa has condemned as the “militarization of the media.” Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said that the new boards would have to be revised, as he and his deputy, Arthur Mutambara, had not been consulted.

While it stalls the appointment of the Media Commission as the new licensing body, government warned Trevor Ncube, owner of the Mail and Guardian and the Zimbabwe Independent, not to launch his new Zimbabwean daily newspaper, Newsday, without a license. The government recently launched two new publications without licenses.

Robert Mugabe and a large entourage turned up in Geneva to attend an International Telecommunications Union showcase and mystified delegates with a speech condemning the use of radio as a channel for ‘obnoxious regime change agendas’.

Politics

Party leader and Prime Minister in the GPA, Morgan Tsvangirai, embarked on a series of ‘public consultations’ regarding whether the people wanted the party to stay in the GPA. No feedback has yet emerged; Tsvangirai instead telling rallies to expect ‘free and fair elections’ in two years’ time.

The Vice-Presidential succession is not yet settled but the Zanu-PF Matabeleland caucus nominated one of their own: ZanuPF party chairman John Nkomo, to take over the late Joseph Mskika’s slot at the top. Nkomo is a former member of ZAPU in Matabeleland, as was Msika. But the Mashonaland caucus is said to be backing Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa for the job. As the Minister of the Interior in the eighties, Mnangagwa was the mastermind of the Matabeleland Gukurahundi killings in which over 20 000 people are estimated to have died.

A damning audit of the country’s voter’s roll was issued by the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU). The report revealed that around 75 000 people over 100 years of age were still registered, and many duplications existed. Worse, in some constituencies, the number of votes cast in the 2008 elections were more than double the number of registered voters. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has refused to release the detailed results of these polls.

The MDC has dropped from its constitution a clause limiting the party president’s terms in office, thus extending Morgan Tsvangirai’s possible tenure to beyond 2011.