Zimbabwe Weekly update Week ending Tuesday 20 April 2010

Posted by ZDN on April 20, 2010

Politics

Zimbabwe marked its 30th anniversary of Independence this week on Sunday 18 April. For the first time, parties other than Zanu-PF were involved in the celebrations. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was cheered each time his image appeared on the live video monitor at the national stadium.

The Chinese embassy in Harare made a significant financial contribution to the celebrations and activities in collaboration with Saviour Kasukuwere’s Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, as part of a drive to strengthen diplomatic and business ties. The National Art Gallery exhibited a 30-year collection of photos featuring China-Zimbabwe diplomatic and business relations.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe disagreed on the progress of the South African-mediated talks on implementation of the GPA. SA President Jacob Zuma promised impartiality in his government’s mediation efforts after the ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, had promised ‘undying support’ for Mugabe.

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara was invited to the USA by Congress’s Black Caucus to report on progress in the GPA that might warrant the lifting of targeted sanctions against top Zanu-PF officials and their businesses.

Zimbabwean prosecutors have withdrawn charges of ‘illegally keeping maize’ against Senator and MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett, a former commercial farmer who is still awaiting a ruling on his recent terrorism trial.

Governance

A new multiple-entry Emergency Travel Document was introduced by the Registrar General’s office. The document, which has a 6-month validity, has several security features to prevent counterfeit copying.

The (MDC-dominated) Harare city council has proof that billionaire Philip Chiyangwa, a relative of Mugabe, and the Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo, have fraudulently acquired municipal land. So far the police response has been to interrogate journalists reporting the story, and arrest and ‘caution’ eight city councillors for ‘leaking’ the report. The affair is being seen as a test of the GPA, which states police should be impartial in their duty to bring charges against any criminal.

Phillip Chiyangwa has announced he will sue the Harare City Council and local newspaper The Standard for US$ 900 million (R6,5 billion) for defamation over allegations that he illegally acquired city land.

Zimbabwe prison services have advertised urgently for the services of a hangman. The number of prisoners on death row has been increasing since 2005 when the previous hangman quit. Humanitarian and church organisations are meanwhile pressing for the abolition of the death sentence.

Zimbabwe’s Law Society has called for the appointment of a new Anti-Corruption Commission as specified in the GPA. Members of the previous commission were appointed in 2006 by the Zanu-PF-led government and have done did nothing during their term of office except draw salaries. The Law Society points out that the existing commission is now operating illegally.

The Ministry of Finance will move in to deal with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s debt and protect it from writs of execution, an initiative aimed at halting the stripping of the bank’s assets by creditors.

Zimbabwe’s dilapidated weather stations and meteorological equipment need upgrading, but government does not have the US$7 million required to modernise the department.

Economy

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has announced that the 2010 economic growth forecast could be cut from 7.7 percent to 4.8 percent due to political uncertainty and the country’s failure to attract foreign donor support. Biti said donors had so far provided only US$2.9 million to finance a US$810 million budget deficit, a shortfall which analysts say is due to the non-implementation of reforms under the GPA.

The Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), a Danish development financial institution, is prepared to invest in Zimbabwe’s tourism sector among others but is holding out until there is political and economic certainty.

Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 3.5 percent year-on-year in March. Finance minister Tendai Biti accused local businesses of stoking inflation, saying speculative price increases were creating inflationary pressure. “On analysis, the increase in the inflation figures has largely been food-driven,” he said. Month-on-month inflation rose to 1% in February from 0,7% in January.

Dysfunctional parastatal, the National Railways of Zimbabwe, has contracted to purchase rolling stock from China while many of its employees have gone without salaries for months. 29 new coaches are due to be delivered in June.

A peaceful demonstration outside electricity utility ZESA Thursday to protest the price and lack of electricity supply led to the arrest of around 60 members of WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise). Most were held overnight and released but four leaders remained in custody over the weekend, including leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, who were honoured last year by President Obama. WOZA is a community based social movement with 70,000 members countrywide.

Business

Tsvangirai and Mugabe have publicly contradicted each other over the status of the empowerment law which would give black Zimbabweans a 51% interest in white and foreign owned companies.

According to legal monitor Veritas, the Indigenisation Regulations [Statutory Instrument 21/2010] have not been suspended. They continue in force in the form in which they were gazetted on January 29. One amendment is expected to be gazetted in the near future to accommodate the views of the Parliamentary Legal Committee. There are still ongoing consultations which may result in further amendments but until these are gazetted – and there is not sign of this yet – the present regulations hold good.

US investment fund African Century has bought a 25 percent stake in NMB bank. The fund’s CEO says that “..Investment will in the long term help the continent (Africa) more than any amounts of aid have.”

South African fixed-line telephone provider Telkom is in discussions to sign a contract with Zimbabwe’s TelOne to provide the state-owned entity with a wide range of management services such as engineering expertise.

Agriculture

A ban on beef imports from South Africa has been imposed to prevent the spread of Rift Valley fever. A beef shortage looms as Zimbabwean commercial beef production has plummeted following 10 years of de-stocking by white commercial farmers forced off their land and with no access to grazing.

Co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi (Zanu-PF) is believed to be behind the invasion of Denlynian Game Ranch, a South African-owned wildlife conservancy near Beitbridge. This latest invasion violates the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) signed between South Africa and Zimbabwe in November last year which protects South African-owned property in Zimbabwe. The invasion is a threat to tourism business in the area.

On Friday, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Tourism, Walter Mzembi, told his South African counterpart that Zimbabwe would like to intensify tourism co-operation and secure at last 30 percent of all tourists who visit South Africa.

Mining/Diamonds

The blocking of a fact-finding parliamentary committee to the Marange (Chiadzwa district) diamond fields at the end of March has been described as a delaying tactic to provide more time to conceal the military presence and show the pretence of a normal diamond mining operation. On Wednesday the visit finally went ahead and Public Works Minister Theresa Makone announced that all was well and the diamonds were being mined according to international requirements.

This contradicts the findings of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme monitor for Zimbabwe, Abbey Chikane of South Africa, who noted in a report on his March fact-finding mission that the presence of too many state entities increased the risk of diamond leakages and the absence of paper trails made the situation worse. He said most state workers lacked specialised training.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has admitted that his department did not follow proper procedure when it allowed the two firms, Mbada Investments and Canadile Miners, to work the Chiadzwa claims.

If managed correctly, economists say the diamond wealth of Zimbabwe could fund the entire rebuilding of the country.

Gold production in the first quarter reached 1.667 tonnes, compared to zero tonnes during the first quarter of 2009, but mines are still being hampered by intermittent electricity supply, according to a Chamber of Mines report.

Four Zanu-PF officials have reportedly started fighting over which of them should be given ‘empowerment’ shares in the country’s largest lithium mine, Bikita Minerals. Board member and Zanu PF politburo member Dzikamai Mavhaire has already announced he wants 51% of the shares on the grounds that “giving me shares will not affect the viability of the company.”

New Constitution

Zanu-PF has launched ‘Operation Hapana Anotaura‘ (Nobody Speaks) to silence rural people during the constitutional outreach programme to be undertaken by the Parliamentary Select Committee. The Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ), an NGO working with traumatised communities, has expressed concern at this latest development.

Victims fleeing political violence in Matabeleland Central province told reporters they were warned that “only selected Zanu-PF officials, youths and war veterans would be allowed to speak at outreach meetings. Anybody who spoke without permission would be beaten up after the constitutional outreach teams had left.”

Political Violence

Zimbabwe’s civil society organisations are calling for the coalition government to temporarily postpone the re-introduction of the National Youth Service programme since the scheme had been prone to sexual and physical abuse and has been used as a political tool to maim or kill Zanu-PF perceived opponents.

A Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agent, Innocent Makamure, who went missing after denouncing President Mugabe and saying he felt used by the government for taking part in the torture and harassment of innocent MDC members, has been found dead. His body was discovered floating in the Mwerahari River – foul play is suspected.

In Masvingo, more than 100 informal traders, mostly women, had their wares looted and were brutally beaten on Saturday morning by a group of war veterans and Zanu PF youths who had demanded at least US$2 from each trader to pay for ‘independence celebrations’ on Sunday 18. Over 20 traders had to be taken to Masvingo General Hospital for treatment.

Zanu-PF youth militia yielding iron bars and machetes descended on Dandare Primary School in Murewa and frog marched the school’s headmaster, John Chananda, out of the building after accusing him of being an agent of the MDC-T.

Elections

President Mugabe has told his supporters they should prepare for general elections next year but commentators say it is doubtful whether this could be feasible before a new constitution is adopted.

Reports from the rural areas indicate that Zanu-PF has stepped up youth militia deployment in most areas. Traditional chiefs, who have been used consistently to force villagers into voting for Zanu-PF, are reported to be receiving 100 percent salary increases.

Villagers in Mutoko have reported seeing soldiers and war veterans brandishing brand new AK47 and FN assault rifles as well as Uzi sub-machine guns. There is growing concern that arms have been purchased by Zanu PF from China with money generated by Marange diamonds.

Humanitarian

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Zimbabwe government have said the measles outbreak has now spread to 48 districts in the country, with 200 confirmed deaths and at least 3,285 suspected cases since the outbreak was first announced in September last year.

Human rights group Amnesty International marked Zimbabwe’s 30th Independence Day celebrations by releasing ‘a series of exclusively commissioned photographs which show the effects today on those evicted en masse in 2005 under Operation Murambatsvina’. More than 700 000 people were rendered homeless or jobless and at least 2,4 million poor people were affected.

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) announced a contribution of US$5.5 million to support the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, to be channelled to targeted UN-approved organisations.

Media

The work of the new Media Commission is being hampered by lack of funds. The task of drafting new regulations for licensing newspapers has been handed to the discredited Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana. This latest move has sparked outrage among media players who fear that Tomana may use his influence to block or delay registration of media houses seen as critical of Zanu-PF.

First in line for licensing is the Daily News, banned by the previous Zanu-PF-appointed Media and Information Commission. In preparation, the Zimbabwe Times website masthead was last month replaced by that of the Daily News. Zimbabwe’s only privately owned daily newspaper, the Daily News was forced to shut down seven years ago and its printing presses were bombed.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA Regional Office) announced Wednesday that the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) is to launch a second television channel on May 1.

Education

The Zimbabwe National Students’ Union (ZINASU) faction which backs the parliamentary-led constitutional revision process has informed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that since January one student has been abducted, 51 have been arrested and 13 have been expelled.

Diaspora

Gabriel Shumba, the Director of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum in South Africa, Irene Petras (the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights) and Lovemore Matombo (the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions) ware holding the first in a series of workshops in London this week, aimed at garnering input and opinions from Zimbabweans in the Diaspora on transitional justice options.

Sport

The Zimbabwe cricket team went to the West Indies to participate in the World 20Twenty tournament, with a new coach and former Zimbabwean greats, Grant Flower and Heath Streak, as specialist coaches.

The Good News

US-based charity Operation of Hope started its seventh programme of surgical corrections for cleft-palate children referred from all over Zimbabwe, with 70 operations planned.

The award-winning Dangamvura Old Students Association (DOSA) choir from Mutare has been selected to compete in the 6th World Choral Games in China in July.