Zimbabwe Weekly update – week ending 3 August 2010

Posted by ZDN on August 5, 2010

Politics

South African President Jacob Zuma dispatched a top envoy to Zimbabwe last week in yet another attempt to kick-start the stalled talks. Former Transport Minister Mac Maharaj arrived Tuesday and met separately with the three party principals.

A political storm is said to be gathering on whether Zimbabwe should be on the agenda of the SADC Summit in Namibia on 16/17 August. South Africa reportedly wants to bridge the divide between Zanu PF and its partners ahead of the summit.

Following recent talks with a delegation of Zimbabwean officials, the European Union has proposed a mechanism to allow individuals and companies under EU travel and financial sanctions to approach Brussels on an individual basis and present documentation as to why their names should be taken off the list.

Civil society organisations were outraged by the Zimbabwe cabinet’s decision to deny National Healing Minister Sekai Holland permission to address a transitional justice workshop in Johannesburg last Monday.

Diplomatic

During President Mugabe’s address at the funeral of his sister Sabina, he lashed out at Western powers over sanctions imposed on Zanu PF, saying the European Union and United States were simply bent on driving him out of power.

On Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Mumbengegwi, summoned the German, European Union and United States envoys to berate them for leaving early from the burial in protest at the president’s speech.

Economy

Iran has extended a 40-million-euro line of credit to Zimbabwe to finance energy, banking and industrial projects, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Kitikiti, said Wednesday.

Industry Minister Welshman Ncube (MDC-M) said constant and erratic power cuts by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) were suffocating efforts to revive industry by damaging new and expensive industrial equipment “sometimes beyond repair”. He said industry was operating at around 10 percent of capacity.

Zimbabwean State Enterprises Minister Gorden Moyo said Monday the government will commission independent audits of floundering state enterprises to assess the value of their assets and to determine the extent of corrupt activities in the country’s parastatals, many of which are on the verge of collapse.

At least seven banks have failed to meet the prescribed minimum capital requirements set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last year and have been directed to raise cash from shareholders or bring in new partners.

RBZ Governor Gideon Gono said the central bank would intervene to force banks to slash “punitive” lending rates of as high as 50 percent.

Gono was reported last week to be resisting an International Monetary Fund (IMF) audit of the bank’s finances, following revelations it was looted by senior Zanu PF officials.

More than 1,000 RBZ workers have been receiving Zimbabwe dollar salaries despite the rest of the country converting to foreign currency transactions in March last year. Arbitrator George Nasho Wilson ruled Wednesday that the central bank should start paying the affected workers in foreign currency.

Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told Zanu PF youths in Matabeleland last Wednesday to identify businesses, especially mines that are under performing or closed, and to reclaim them.

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said Thursday that political meddling has delayed the naming of a foreign investor needed to help resuscitate the state controlled Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO Steel) which is close to collapse due to mismanagement and excessive government interference.

National Railways of Zimbabwe workers have threatened to down tools in protest over late salary payments which are also two thirds less than the prevailing poverty datum line, estimated at US$480.

Business

The RBZ reported that trade on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has contracted 19 percent since December, while market capitalisation shrunk to US$3.19 billion in June from nearly US$4 billion at the beginning of the year.

The ZSE has asked government to back down on indigenisation regulations compelling foreign-owned companies that include listed concerns to dispose of a controlling interest to cash-strapped local investors.

Vice President Joice Mujuru said Saturday that firms would now be privatised or commercialised to make Zimbabwe great once again. She said senior ministers were trying to block top projects instead of helping the nation’s indigenisation and privatisation programme and stressed that her door was open to all investors who felt they were being sidelined.

Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) has reduced the approval period of investment projects to 10 days from over seven weeks as it moves to implement structural reforms aimed at encouraging investment into the country.

Foreign direct investment in 2009 totalled US$60 million, an increase of US$8 million from the US$52 million recorded the previous year, according to the World Investment Report released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

Barclays Bank has entered into a £1,5 million (about US$2,3 million) three-year partnership with Junior Achievement (JA) worldwide as one of the ways to tackle the issue of youth unemployment in Zimbabwe. The bank is also developing innovative computer-based technology to reach rural areas.

Mining/Diamonds

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said last week that, at the very least, the system where the country gets only royalties from foreign mining firms needs to be reviewed.

During his address at the funeral of his sister Sabina, President Mugabe said the newfound diamond wealth must benefit the nation not just individuals and urged greedy politicians to blunt their appetite for individual wealth.

Police have come up with fresh charges against Centre for Research and Development director Farai Maguwu. Maguwu was arrested following allegations he passed on false information on human rights violations in the Chiadzwa district where the Marange alluvial diamond field is located. He was eventually released on bail mid July. The police now claim he will be arrested and charged with possession of a stolen Mercedes Benz vehicle.

The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has welcomed the agreement reached by the Kimberley Process (KP) that will enable the renewal of rough diamond exports from Marange.

Land/Agribusiness

The European Union has ruled out supporting newly resettled farmers until the Zimbabwe government carries out a long-delayed audit agreed to by the coalition government to eliminate multiple farm owners.

Zimbabwe will need about US$264 million to import about 800,000 tonnes of maize and 339,000 tonnes of wheat to meet the annual national requirement, the Commercial Farmers’ Union said Wednesday.

Top EU officials have told a ministerial delegation from Zimbabwe to first pay compensation to Dutch farmers whose land was expropriated under the land grab before development aid can start flowing to Harare.

Three farmers whose farms were seized by the Zimbabwean government will apply for a special order to recover legal costs in the Pretoria High Court, their attorney Willie Spies from AfriForum said Monday. He said although the government brought the action against the farmers, the auctions of the Cape Town properties were in fact organised by German banking group KFW Bankengruppe to collect a judgment debt of €40m (about R400m).

Following threats by Germany to withdraw aid, the Mugabe government ordered an armed gang off three agricultural plantations in eastern Zimbabwe belonging to German national Heinrich von Pezold.

The Cotton Ginners Association of Zimbabwe has taken steps to stop a Chinese firm, Sino-Zimbabwe Holdings, from using political muscle to clandestinely purchase cotton from farmers already contracted by local industry.

Humanitarian

A senior United Nations Development Programme officer in Harare announced the launch Tuesday of a revised US$500 million appeal for humanitarian aid (previously US$370 million) to cater for the remainder of the year.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates more than 1.3 million people in the rural areas will require food assistance in early 2011.

Last week the Minister for Regional Integration and International Cooperation, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, told ambassadors from donor countries they must keep government informed of their activities. This includes the total funding brought into the country and the names of NGOs they are partnered with.

UNICEF reports that Zimbabwe has over 50,000 child-headed families and that an average of 100,000 children are living without parental care.

The Zimbabwe Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation, an NGO dealing with prisoner welfare, estimates there are more than 300 children in the country’s notorious prisons, the majority whom are less than two-years-old.

The Solidarity Peace Trust has released a report titled ‘A fractured nation: Operation Murambatsvina five years on’. It assesses the effects of the operation during which more than 700,000 people were left homeless and an estimated 2.4 million lost their livelihoods. To access the report: www.solidaritypeacetrust.com

New Constitution

The MDC-T has accused Zanu PF of launching “Operation Vhara Muromo” (“Operation Close Your Mouth”), to stifle public comment on the revision of the constitution.

MDC sources warn that state security agents, soldiers and Zanu PF militia members are attending outreach meetings and systematically intimidating members of the public to ensure only approved Zanu PF views are expressed.

The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe has charged that a new wave of violence is rising against teachers, intended to suppress non-Zanu PF views on constitutional revision.

Elections

South African mediators must press for the de-militarisation of Zimbabwean state institutions before the country goes to next elections, the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), a leading South African think-tank, said last week.

Fresh elections should take place only after all measures to ensure free and fair polls, including compilation of a new and accurate voters’ roll are complete, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said Thursday.

Addressing a rally in Makokoba, Bulawayo on Sunday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told about 10,000 MDC supporters that Mugabe and his party have no power to set fresh elections dates without consulting him.

The harassment of MDC members is continuing across the country amid widespread fears that Zanu PF has started an early election campaign.

Political Violence

In June alone, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) recorded 1,174 victims of human rights violations. Most of the violations were directly linked to the constitution-making process outreach programme.

Since 2008, the ZPP said that 43,933 human rights violations have been recorded while the cumulative toll of violations on the distribution of food and other forms of aid since January 2008 has risen to 10,986.

At least 22,000 victims of the 2008 political violence have so far sought treatment for injuries and trauma at a counselling and rehabilitation centre in Harare, which says it is still recording fresh cases. Of these, only 10,200 received “proper physical and psychological treatment”.

Legal

The postponing of MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett’s acquittal case “indefinitely” by the Supreme Court last Wednesday has ensured that Bennett will not be sworn in to his post as Deputy Agriculture Minister in the near future.

At the weekend, an international lawyers’ group released a report titled “A place in the sun; A report on the state of the rule of law in Zimbabwe after the Global Political Agreement”. It noted that the culture of impunity on the part of the police and the state security forces remains unchanged, while “the majority of the senior judiciary remains fundamentally compromised by state patronage, grants of land and other gifts given to them by the former government.”

The lawyers’ report also noted that incidents of extra-judicial killings, kidnapping, torture and other serious human rights abuses continue to occur, and that they “remain un-investigated by the authorities.”

Concern is being raised over the South African government’s intention to seek a legal opinion on the legal reach of SADC over Zimbabwe’s refusal to honour the SADC Treaty.

Health

According to the latest Zimbabwe Food and National Nutrition Survey, launched Friday, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition is now at 33.8 percent.

Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda warned at the weekend that there is a serious water crisis and that Harare is once again facing a major cholera threat. The UNDP estimates that 6 million Zimbabweans lack access to safe water.

A cholera outbreak in villages in and around the Marange diamond field has left 80 people hospitalized and led authorities to set up emergency treatment centres. Entering the military controlled zone to provide emergency aid remains difficult.

A malaria outbreak has resulted in 117,038 cases and 183 deaths since the beginning of the year.

The Ministry of Health has announced plans to do away with hospital and clinic fees for pregnant women in a bid to reduce maternal deaths, particularly in rural communities. It will look to international donors for funding.

Media

Zimbabwe’s media regulator said Friday it had granted licences to four new media houses: two news agencies – Cable News Agency and the African Open Media Initiative, as well as a sports magazine and a lifestyle publication. This brings to eight the number of new players registered.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) expressed concern that the infamous Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), “two pieces of legislation have presided over the shrinkage of media space within our country” are still in place.

The Good News

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a €15 million (US$19, 4 million) aid package for Zimbabwe to address the ongoing humanitarian needs. The money will be deployed towards the re-establishment of essential health and water supply services and to provide food assistance, short-term food security and livelihood support.

The ambitious Bulawayo Water and Sanitation Emergency Response (BOWSER), announced by the Australian government in July, is now supporting a 4.6 million Australian dollar (US$4 million) programme to unblock more than 200 kilometres of choked sewerage pipes, rehabilitate water treatment plants and repair pipeline leaks.

The United States and Canadian embassies on Thursday officially handed over a grinding mill and various water and sanitation facilities to Tose Respite Care Home, a center for mentally and physically handicapped people based in Harare.

Source: Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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