• The MDC has formally protested the recent spate of arrests of its MPs and officers by Zanu PF-partisan forces. At least 6 MDC legislators have been incarcerated on flimsy charges in the last week. South African President Jacob Zuma, the regional mediator in Harare’s power-sharing arrangement, is expected to respond to the complaints.

• The three principals in the Inclusive Government finally met to ‘discuss outstanding issues’ and examine the GPA negotiators’ report on progress, which President Zuma has to present to the SADC Summit in August. The political leaders reportedly declared a deadlock after their four-hour meeting and agreed to refer the issue to President Zuma to mediate in the power-sharing dispute that has dodged the shaky coalition government since its formation over a year ago.

• President Zuma’s facilitation team was due in Harare on Monday 14 June in a follow up to the principals’ meeting. The continuing deadlock will have to be reported formally to President Zuma and then to the SADC Organ Troika with a view to a SADC Summit. No reports had been received at time of closing this week’s summary.

• The South African government was ordered by its High Court this week to release a report that was kept under wraps on Zimbabwe’s disputed 2002 elections, after a successful court bid by South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper.

• Former President Thabo Mbeki commissioned two South African judges, Deputy Chief Justice  and Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe, to make the report but has suppressed its results. The 2002 elections were marred by vote rigging, intimidation, violence and fraud by the Mugabe government, but Mbeki’s administration officially recognised the election as ‘free and fair’.

• Information Minister Webster Shamu (Zanu PF) has blocked the building of a much-needed clinic in the Chegutu East district by an independent Namibian-based businessman, Charlton Hwende. Hwende claims that since Zanu PF operates on the patronage system, he is not being allowed to make improvements in his home area. He was also been prevented recently from repairing a communal cattle dipping tank and supplying the necessary chemicals, again by Shamu who is the local MP.

Governance

• Government’s ‘commercialised’ vehicle supply parastatal, CMED (known unofficially for decades as the Crashed Mercedes Exchange Department), is being audited but as a result of ‘poor record-keeping’, 19 vehicles have ‘vanished without a trace’ in Harare province alone. The Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report says that CMED (Pvt) Ltd. does not even have an assets register, while the financial statements show that 50 percent of the company’s stated assets consist of moneys owed (debtors).

• Over-zealous policemen opened fire on a commuter omnibus in Harare city centre, shooting out the back tyres as the targeted vehicle, which was being apprehended for not having a valid licence, sped off. Police are conducting an ‘anti-congestion’ drive but taxi drivers complain that the everyday fines are simply an ongoing means of fundraising for traffic police. Harare ratepayers’ associations are calling the police ‘a public danger instead of public protectors’.

• Harare City Councillors have revealed that municipal land has been sold to Chinese and other foreign nationals in contravention of city regulations and apparently on the orders of Zanu PF Minister of Local Government and Urban Development, Ignatius Chombo.

Diplomatic

• A Foreign Affairs row unfolded this week as President Mugabe, who has unilaterally made military, trade and investment protection deals with North Korea, has unilaterally overturned a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement which was signed recently by Prime Minister Tsvangirai with South Korea.

• The new Tory government in the UK has stated that there will no change of policy on Zimbabwe (and on the issue of targeted sanctions) despite President Mugabe inferring that he would find it easier to deal with the Conservative party than the former Labour administration.

• President Mugabe arrived at the FIFA World Cup official opening in Johannesburg with an entourage of over 50 officials, family members and hangers-on. All were uninvited except the Presidential couple and Foreign Affairs Minister Mumbengegwe, and were turned away by match officials.

New Constitution

• The MDC has accused Zanu PF MPs of attempting to stall the start of the Constitutional Outreach programme next week by demanding increased daily allowances. This comes after Zanu PF-instigated violent disturbances in the countryside, where villagers are being coerced to stay silent during the outreach program. The party also noted that the state-controlled media has deliberately ignored publicizing the outreach exercise.

Agriculture

• The South African government is being urged to immediately intervene in ongoing attacks against South African farmers in Zimbabwe, where at least 16 people, including five South African citizens, have faced aggressive land seizures in the past week. South African interests are meant to be protected by a signed and recently ratified bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) between the two countries.

• The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) has predicted its lowest ever winter wheat output of about 10 000 tonnes this year, due to lack of funding and continued upheavals on commercial farms. The amount represents just one week’s supply for Zimbabwe which may have to import up to 400 000 tonnes of wheat to meet consumption demands.  In 2000, wheat production was 250 000 tonnes.

• Zimbabwe’s annual national maize requirement is 1,8 to 2 million tonnes, with only 700 000 – 800 000 tonnes produced this year. In 2000, maize production was 2 043 200 tonnes.  Food aid organisations estimate that over 2 million Zimbabweans will soon face starvation.

• Zimbabwe has earned US$199.26 million from the sale of 65.3 million kg of flue-cured tobacco since the season began in mid-February, according to a story in The Herald.

• Trevor Gifford, a former president of the CFU, was forced off his farm in the Chipinge district on Sunday evening by Zanu PF thugs and was forced to sign over the rest of the contents of his house and the farm to the ‘new owners’.

• The revived Zapu party has joined hands with war veterans in Bubi-Mguza, Matabeleland North, to form resistance groups and block attempts by senior Zanu PF and army officers to evict the remaining white commercial farmers in that area, reports Zimbabwe’s newly launched, independent daily, NewsDay.

• Huge resentment against Zanu PF is building in the Masvingo area, where starving villagers are being denied food aid on the grounds of being “MDC sellouts”, while unscrupulous businessmen are forcing the desperate villagers to trade their cattle, at ruinous rates. A live beast, worth between US$200 and US$300, is swapped for a US$40 bag of meal.

Diamonds/Mining

• South African diamond executive Abbey Chikane, the Kimberley Process monitor in Zimbabwe, said that “Zimbabwe has satisfied minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) for the trade in rough diamonds.”

• Watchdog group Global Witness, which is a member of the Kimberley Process Group, rejected Chikane’s claim that Zimbabwe’s diamonds are clean and said state-sponsored violence and human rights abuses are still taking place in the Marange diamond fields, located in the Chiadzwa district of Eastern Zimbabwe. They said that Chikane’s recommendation could still be reversed as a decision has not yet been taken.

• The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) warned its Sightholders that any purchase of goods from Zimbabwe’s Marange fields “will be deemed in contravention of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme,” until they are approved by KP Working Group on Monitoring (WGM) which will meet in Tel Aviv on 21 June.

• Diamond researcher and human rights defender Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Research and Development in Mutare, and who has been behind bars for a week, was denied bail in Harare on Thursday and remains in custody. Maguwu was arrested shortly after giving evidence to KP monitor Abbey Chikane about the irregular situation in Marange. Maguwu’s lawyer has applied to the High Court to challenge the magistrate’s ruling and obtain bail. Maguwu is due to travel to Tel Aviv to present his findings on Chiadzwa.

• On Friday evening, Maguwu was illegally taken from Harare Remand Prison to a known torture centre, on the orders of Detective Henry Dowa. Nicole Fritz of the Southern African Litigation Centre pointed out in a strongly worded statement that if Zimbabwe is trying to show that there are no more human rights abuses around Chiadzwa, they have just proved the opposite.

• Gold and platinum exports have been the main drivers of mineral exports valued at over US$1 billion for the period January to May 2010.

In The Courts

• Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, who owns several large buildings in Bulawayo city, is evicting his tenants, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and Time Bank, for non-payment of rentals.

• In a victory for women’s rights, a landmark Supreme Court ruling has allowed that a Zimbabwean mother has the right to seek a passport for a minor child without involving the father. Former independent MP Margaret Dongo, with the help of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers’ Association, filed an application with the Supreme Court in 2006.

Wildlife

• Ivory poachers have slaughtered 10 elephants in the Gonarezhou (“Place of the Elephants”) National Park. FN rifle cartridges were found at the scene. Tusks were removed and the carcasses left to rot. Zimbabwe’s National Parks Department is meanwhile sitting on stocks of 34 tonnes of raw ivory. Conservation groups have offered a reward of US$1 000 for information leading to the arrest of the poachers.

The Good News

• Zimbabwe will return to Test Cricket in 2011, having implemented the recommendations of an ICC task force which visited Zimbabwe in November 2008.

• Zimbabwean farmer and human rights activist Ben Freeth was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire award) in the Queen’s birthday honours list “For services to the farming community in Zimbabwe”. British-born Freeth initiated a successful lawsuit against the Mugabe government through the SADC Tribunal, an international court located in Windhoek, Namibia.

• NGOs Mercy Corps and CADEC are operating a successful Food for Work programme in Chinhoyi whereby women and unemployed youths embark on municipal clean-up operations in exchange for grocery vouchers.

• Discussions on the critical South African negotiators’ report aimed at moving Zimbabwe out of the current political deadlock were again put on the backburner pending Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s return from Ghana.

• Mediation by the South African facilitation team under President Jacob Zuma’s leadership is dependent on the principals discussing their negotiators’ report, compiled in April.

• Police arrived at the home of Iain Kay, Marondera Central MP with a search warrant for items including cocaine, smuggled goods and unlicenced firearms, as well as unregistered and expired drugs. The medicines in his possession were confiscated and he was detained at Harare Central Police station, although the church which donated the medicines has all the necessary clearance and documentation. Kay, who has previously been held on trumped up charges, was granted bail of US$500 Tuesday and had to surrender his passport.

• Zimbabwe’s political climate has not changed significantly for the international community to remove targeted sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party top brass, the Zimbabwe Europe Network (ZEN) has said.

Governance

• The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is being investigated by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) for allegedly importing 75 vehicles without paying duty. Some of the unmarked vehicles, imported through Imperial Motors, were allegedly used in Zanu PF’s terror campaign during the 2008 elections.

• Imperial Motors is a supplier of vehicles to government departments including State House, the President’s Office, the army, police and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Media

• NewsDay, the first independent daily newspaper to hit the streets since authorities forced the Daily News to close in 2003, was officially launched Monday by Alpha Media. This milestone was marred Friday when police detained staff, vendors and a truck laden with promotional copies. They were released three hours later.

• Workers at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) are said to be threatening strike action after accusing management of looting licence fees and splashing out on luxury cars, while failing to pay salaries on time.

Economy

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is considering introducing a staff-monitored programme (MTP) for Zimbabwe as it warns of “debt distress”. Zimbabwe is burdened with arrears of more than US$4.5 billion.

• The MDC expressed concern regarding the continued power cuts that have virtually brought business to a standstill across the country. It said the disruptions by ZESA were a threat to industry and that the load-shedding schedules were shambolic.

Business

• Indigenisation and property rights issues have become the centre of Zimbabwe and Botswana’s Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) negotiations that are supposed to result in a deal by year-end. Negotiations between the two countries stalled seven years ago following concern over Zimbabwe’s land reform programme. The Botswana government and investors are seeking clarity on the controversial indigenisation regulations.

• Attorney-General Johannes Tomana said last week that Zimbabwe’s top business moguls, Mutumwa Mawere, James Makamba and John Moxon, could still faced arrest upon returning home even after they were despecified by authorities. He said the despecification did not absolve them of charges that could still arise from allegations of externalisation of foreign currency and defrauding government.

• Kingdom Bank founder Nigel Chanakira has failed to pay US$22,5 million to Meikles Ltd in order to finalise the demerger of Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd, prolonging one of the most bitterly fought corporate fights, a top Meikles Ltd official last week. As a result, KFHL would remain a “subsidiary” of Meikles Ltd.

• Zambezi Airlines have introduced an airline in Zimbabwe to fly the Harare- Johannesburg route, the airline said Friday.

Mining/Diamonds

• Kimberley Process (KP) Civil Society Coalition and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) on Friday demanded the release of diamond activist, Farai Magawu, director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), who was forced into hiding and then arrested by police Thursday.

• The groups also demanded that KP monitor for Zimbabwe Abbey Chikane suspend all monitoring activities in the country until the government can re-assure diamond activists that their work will be carried out without any hindrance.

• Chikane told journalists in Harare after meeting Parliamentarians on 27 May: “Zimbabwe is on track to meet the KP requirements. I am yet to produce my report to the KP in which I will make the recommendations for it (Zimbabwe) to start trading in rough diamonds.”

• The police raid on CRD’s office followed Farai Maguwu’s meeting with Chikane, and CRD’s announcement that 2 000 carats per day were being smuggled from the Marange fields.

• A leaked document compiled by the police for Joint Operations Command (JOC) is also said to be behind the crackdown on the CRD, the most important civil society organisation monitoring human rights abuses at the diamond fields.

• On Monday, a Mutare Magistrate freed Maguwu’s younger brother, Lisben, on US$20 bail. Lisben had been charged with obstructing the course of justice after he allegedly tried to prevent the police from arresting his brother. Lisben was remanded out of custody to June 14.

• Rio Tinto’s diamond unit in Zimbabwe says it has begun work on a US$300m expansion programme to raise output six-fold. Neils Kristensen, head of Murowa, the 300,000-carat-per-year diamond mine in southern Zimbabwe, said at a weekend mining conference the firm had begun preparatory work for the planned expansion.

• President Robert Mugabe told the conference Friday his government would not expropriate mines and said he realised the need to promote the industry’s growth when applying the law.

• Murowa is also talking to government about the state’s decision last week to ban diamond sales, including from Murowa, until diamonds from the controversial Marange fields are certified by global industry regulators.

• Aim-listed resources investment company Sable Mining said Tuesday it would acquire an 80 percent interest in Monaf Investments, which holds the Lubu coal concession in the Bulawayo mining district.

• Parliamentary mines committee member Moses Mare said workers at Shabanie Mashaba Mines have not been paid in more than a year although managers receive hefty salaries while the mining operation – seized several years ago from businessman Mutumwa Mawere – grinds to a halt.

• Reports indicate some of the mine shafts have been flooded with water, submerging machinery worth billions. Zimbabwe’s formal mining sector employs some 45,000, contributes around 50 percent of exports, and comprises nearly 20 percent of GDP.

Land/Agribusiness

• Charles Taffs, the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) Vice President said last week that the eviction of white farmers and their workers had intensified over the past 10 days, further threatening Zimbabwe’s fragile food security.

• He warned that Zimbabwe will produce less than 10,000 tonnes of wheat –a third of national requirements — because of lack of security of tenure caused by evictions and electricity blackouts.

• Aid agency officials report that Zimbabwe is appealing for about a million tons of food aid this year.

• Last week in Matabeleland North, police went to Felton farm, broke into the house where Inyathi farmer Mike Huckle’s staff live and told them they had one hour to vacate the farm. Huckle, a South African resident, is theoretically protected by the recently ratified bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA).

• Also last week, police and four impatient beneficiaries switched off the electricity on Highfields Farm in the Nyamandhlovu district, cutting off water for thousands of chickens, hundreds of head of cattle and sheep in pens, the vast majority of them belonging to settlers. Additionally 35 settler homesteads were also rendered waterless. The SPCA was called in to assist.

• Evicted Shamva farmers Gary and Jane Sharp won a court case Wednesday allowing them to return to their farm to collect their belongings. However, as Mrs Sharp walked out of the court she was forced into a police van and held at Shamva police station overnight.

• Last week a group of between 30 and 50 Zanu PF youths spent the day trashing and looting the homestead of Mrs Helen Newmarch, a widow who owns a small farm close to Marondera.

• The SADC Tribunal in Windhoek sat again on Tuesday 1 June to consider an application to hold the Government of Zimbabwe in contempt of the SADC Tribunal and to obtain an order to refer the “matter” urgently to the SADC Summit. The Zimbabwean government boycotted the hearing and judgement was reserved.

• The power-sharing government has delayed an audit of the country’s controversial land reforms due to funding problems, Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa said Thursday.

• Zimbabwe’s sugar output fell 13 percent to 259,000 tonnes during the season ended March 2010 due to low cane yields caused by the limited and delayed application of fertilisers and herbicides. Sugar production has remained below 300,000 tonnes for the past decade following the disruption of commercial agriculture.

New Constitution

• Reports have been received country-wide that Zanu PF has stepped up its intimidation tactics ahead of the constitution making process scheduled for next month.

• Last week a high-level undercover delegation was sent into Epworth, a Harare shantytown, by the Union for Sustainable Democracy. The delegation was shocked by repeated accounts of how Zanu PF thugs are threatening to mete out violence on anyone who defies their formula for the constitution-making process.

Elections

• President Mugabe has lost the confidence of women, according to a recent poll that projects he will win only 9 per cent of their votes in a future election.

• The poll, conducted by the International Centre for Transitional Justice, IDASA, the Research and Advocacy Unit and the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, predicts that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would win 51 percent and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara just 3 percent.

• Speaking in the Ghanaian capital Accra where he was attending a Ghana-Zimbabwe business summit, Mutambara said his country would not rush into holding fresh elections, contradicting indications by his coalition partners that the next ballot would be held in 2011.

• Interviewed last week, Tsvangirai said elections would be held after the constitutional reform process. “You cannot talk about a date for the elections when the constitutional reform process has not been carried out,” he stressed.

• The MDC-T MP for Mabvuku/Tafara, Shepherd Madamombe, has died, bringing to 15 the number of vacant Senate and House of Assembly seats. The constitution requires that a by-election be held within 90 days of a parliamentary seat falling vacant, but shortages of money and a gentlemen’s agreement by coalition government parties have resulted in a moratorium on by-elections.

Political Violence

• UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston last week said countries with a track record of election violence should draw up plans for dealing with future violence, including creating non-partisan taskforces to probe murders and other poll-related crimes. Zimbabwe was one of eight countries named.

• Human rights violations rose five percent in April, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reports: 959 cases were recorded compared to the 908 for March. The abuses included assault, intimidation, unlawful detention, harassment, torture and murder.

• Female Zanu PF youths who were trained to terrorise suspected MDC supporters in the run up to 2008 presidential elections are once again threatening MDC supporters and activists who survived their brutal beatings.

• Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe reports that outbreaks of violence targeted against vulnerable victims of political violence across the country has reached intolerable levels. ROHR has expressed outrage at attempts by the Ministry of Home Affairs to ban peaceful protests calling for an end to Zanu PF led violence.

• The MDC has published additional names of perpetrators of violence on their ‘roll of shame’ list, including a colonel in the army who is accused of leading Zanu PF youths in murdering and raping MDC activists in the Buhera district.

Legal

• One of Africa’s largest banks, Standard Bank, was right to close the accounts of John Bredenkamp, one of Zimbabwe’s richest businessmen, because of his links to President Mugabe, South Africa’s Supreme Court has ruled.

• Freelance journalist Stanley Gama last week appeared in court, together with four other journalists from The Standard newspaper, as state witnesses in the criminal defamation case against the Harare Mayor and eight councillors. The Mayor and councillors are alleged to have defamed businessman Philip Chiyangwa when a 54-page report compiled by the council accused Chiyangwa of corruption.

• Former legislator Abednico Bhebhe has dragged the country’s co-Home Affairs Ministers to court after police in Nkayi district barred him from holding a campaign rally in his former constituency Wednesday.

Health

• By the end of Day 7 of the World Health Organisation’s Measles Immunisation and Child Health Days Campaign for 2010, a total of 3,580,441 children had received measles vaccination and 1,219,419 had been given vitamin supplements.

• Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr Henry Madzorera has dismissed reports that health institutions are dispensing expired malaria drugs and rapid diagnostic kits.

Education

• Tensions between students and college authorities countrywide are running high over exorbitant tuition and exam fees, which students say they cannot afford to pay. With those too poor blocked from writing exams, clashes are being reported at different colleges and universities.

Wildlife

• As Lake Kariba rises after record seasonal rains in central Africa, animals are being stranded on an island that has shrunk to about one-third of its original size.

• At least 200 animals are in immediate danger of starvation and funds are being raised by conservationists, including the SAVE Foundation of Australia, to take hay bales and food blocks to those which remain on the island.

Sport

• More than 50,000 jubilant fans packed the National Sports stadium in Harare Wednesday to watch five times world champions Brazil take on the Warriors. Brazil beat Zimbabwe 3-0 in this warm-up match ahead of the World Cup which begins in South Africa on June 11.

• Cara Black was knocked out in the third round of the women’s doubles at the French Tennis Open, the first time the Zimbabwean has failed to make into the quarter finals of the grand slam event since 2005.

The Good News

• Operation Hope, a solution to combat one of the major causes of climate change, has been named the winner of the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. At its core the organisation’s winning strategy transforms parched and degraded Zimbabwe grasslands and savannahs into lush pastures with ponds and flowing streams, even during periods of drought. Operation Hope was awarded US$100,000 to further develop its work at a ceremony last week in Washington DC.

• Zanu PF is turning to the Communist Party of China as preparations for a possible election in Zimbabwe gain impetus.  As a result of the memorandum of understanding signed, the Communist Party of China will help train Zanu PF leaders in party building, rejuvenation and mass mobilization, as well as information and communication management.

• Australia has taken a tough stance on Zimbabwe, demanding that President Robert Mugabe must “move off the stage” before the international community can bankroll the country’s reconstruction and revival.

• Dumiso Dabengwa, leader of the re-formed ZAPU, announced his party is suing the government for the return of properties confiscated shortly after independence in 1980 by Zanu PF.

• A survey by the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) and the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe found that 85 percent of the 2,000 women polled did not think that the government represented them, as women were not consulted during the negotiations leading to the formation of the GPA.

• A faction of the Apostolic church in Mutare reported that one of their prophets and outspoken MDC member exiled in Mozambique has been abducted by Zanu PF operatives. It is not clear what the motivation could be apart from intimidation of the sect.

• Two student leaders from the Zimbabwe National Student’s Union (ZINASU) were hospitalised on Friday after they were abducted before addressing a student’s gathering in Masvingo. The pair was severely assaulted by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives.

Governance

• The Zimbabwe government has revoked the specification of prominent businessmen Matumwa Mawere and James Makamba. The de-specification clears the way for former Schweppes, First Bank and Shabanie Mashaba Mines boss Mawere, and former Telecel chief Makamba, to return to Zimbabwe and reclaim their confiscated assets. Maware says he will have to fight the state in court to recover his.

• Zimbabwean MP Willas Madzimure, who is also the chairman of the Zimbabwe chapter of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption, has urged the legislature to adopt measures that will force all MPs, judges and senior state officials to declare their assets. He said his constituency believes that some politicians have corruptly amassed wealth outside of the public scrutiny.

• The City of Harare’s Finance Director, Cosmos Zvikaramba, has resigned amid reports of his involvement in corrupt deals during his tenure of office. Zvikaramba was infamous for taking directives from Local Government Minister Chombo instead of being accountable to his superiors at Town House.

Diplomatic

• Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the USA gave in to an insulting outburst at an Africa Day event in Washington, heckling from the floor and calling Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson a ‘house slave’. He also accused America of trying to colonise Zimbabwe, before leaving the room.

• Australia’s Foreign Affairs minister has stated that there will be no increase aid or lifting of sanctions against Zanu PF human rights abusers until Mugabe has stepped aside and genuine reform is implemented in Zimbabwe. “The coalition government has failed to implement the global political agreement in full because of Mugabe. He should move off the stage if the country is to re-engage with the international community,” he said.

• Meeting in South Africa, the Group of Elders, which includes former US President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Graca Machel, voiced their great concern Monday at the slow pace of implementation of the GPA, and warned that it would be premature to hold elections in Zimbabwe without electoral reform.

Mining / Diamonds

• Abbey Chikane, the Kimberley Process (KP) monitor is in Zimbabwe on his second visit to assess whether operations at Marange comply with KP standards.Chikane has made sensational revelations about how state security agents managed to open his bag without his consent and photocopy some correspondence, which was later publicised through the state media.

• Mines Minister Obert Mpofu told the state-owned Herald newspaper that he had “suspended all diamond exports from Zimbabwe with immediate effect until the issue of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) has been sorted out.” Meanwhile the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) in Mutare published a report saying that up to 2,000 carats of diamonds extracted in Marange are being smuggled out of the country each day, a significant proportion to the Gulf region.

• Police then raided the CRD offices in Mutare to arrest the director Farai Maguwu. Failing to find him, they visited his home and in his absence arrested his younger brother on charges of ‘obstructing justice’. Lisben Maguwu was released on bail on Monday, while Farai Maguwu is assumed to be in hiding.

• A man from Zimbabwe’s eastern Mutare city has pressed charges against the police after he was allegedly brutally assaulted by a group of officers who mistook him for an illegal diamond miner.

• Over 1,700 families have been ordered to vacate their villages in Chiadzwa by next Tuesday, apparently to pave the way for more controversial diamond mining in the area.

• President Mugabe told the Chamber of Mines’ annual Congress in Victoria Falls that the Government would not expropriate or nationalize mines, but said that “The implementation of the empowerment initiative will take cognisance of the need to promote growth.”

• Mining company RioZim, which announced plans to build a US$3 billion coal-fired power station in Zimbabwe, has also announced a rights issue which aims to raise US$40 million to restart its gold, nickel, and coal mining operations and commence chrome mining.

Legal

• Two workers at the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) have been charged with an additional crime: ‘undermining President Robert Mugabe’. The GALZ members, Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, were arrested last Friday when police stormed the organisation’s Harare offices claiming they were looking for dangerous drugs and pornographic material. They were released on bail after a week in jail. Homosexuals have also been victimized recently in Uganda and Malawi.

• MDC Senator Morgan Komichi has also been charged with ‘insulting President Mugabe’, by singing a song at a rally in Bindura in January. The song contains a line which translates as “”Grace’s husband reminds me of my donkey which died a long, long time ago”.

• The Commercial Farmers’ Union has announced it will sue the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for millions of dollars in export earnings which were looted from their foreign currency accounts before the formation of the inclusive government in 2009.

• MDC parliamentarian, Pishai Muchauraya of Makoni South has been summoned to appear in court to face unspecified charges. “Most of the many cases brought against MDC MPs have been thrown out by the courts, but Zanu PF wants to revive them in the belief there would be convictions this time around,” said Muchauraya. Mugabe has just appointed one of his most pliable loyalists, George Chiweshe, as Judge President of the High Court.

Economy

• The chief executive officer for the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) said that Zimbabwe has not entered into an agreement with Eskom to export electricity to South Africa during the World Cup. Zimbabwe would only play the role of being a transporter of power from other countries to South Africa, he said.

• Zimbabwe is enduring an acute energy deficit, with only two operational generators at Hwange thermal power station producing just 70Mw instead of its capacity 750Mw.

• The International Monetary Fund has recommended that Zimbabwe should stick with its current use of mixed hard currencies including the U.S. dollar and South African Rand until the country has instituted sound fiscal policies and reformed its central bank.

• Finance Minister Tendai Biti, speaking at the African Development Bank annual assembly in Ivory Coast on Tuesday, has revised upwards the country’s 2010 economic growth forecast to about 7 percent citing improved foreign investment inflows and increased donor assistance.  However, accumulated interest is pushing up public debt and currently totals around US$6.2 billion, higher than previous estimates.  The current account deficit is estimated at US$ 1.9 billion.

• Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has told foreign banks operating in Zimbabwe that if they are not willing to provide working capital to businesses they should leave the country. In an apparent attempt to regain credibility with workers, he has blamed the banks for failing to rescue firms which have collapsed or have been laying off workers to survive. He boasted that banks may ‘be nationalized’ if they do not fund failing businesses.

• The state-run Herald newspaper reported in its business section that cash shortages were taking a heavy toll on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in a surge of profit taking. Liquidity shortages are placing strain on the banking sector and causing interest rates to rise to as high as 40 percent.

Business

• Chinese firm Sinosteel Corp which owns Sinosteel Zimbabwe Chrome (formerly ZIMASCO) says all furnaces are now operating at full capacity and the company is working on expanding output of the smelting plant by about 30 percent to 50,000 tons of ferrochrome per annum.

• Air Zimbabwe is facing a Parliamentary investigation for gross mismanagement and possibly corruption. The inquiry has been prompted by complaints from workers who face retrenchment.

Media

• Zimbabwe’s Media Commission has finally granted licenses to four private daily newspapers, including the previously banned and bombed Daily News and the Daily Gazette, which ceased publication in 1995. New titles are the Mail, a Zanu PF Youth League paper, and NewsDay a newcomer which promises ‘balanced’ reporting. No new broadcasters have yet been licensed.

Agriculture

• The inclusive government has abandoned Operation Maguta/Inala as it moves ahead to implement short-to-long-term drought mitigation strategies following crop assessments by three ministries revealing that over 205,000 households face starvation this year. President Mugabe in 2005 launched the command agriculture operation under the military arguing that the move was aimed at ensuring food security and a surplus for export.

• Illegal evictions of commercial farmers took place in the district of Inyathi (Matabeleland North) with convoys of armed police arriving at farms without warning and evicting the owners at gunpoint. Oscardale Farm, Riverbank and Felton farms were all targeted during the weekend of 25 May.

• At Cedor Park farm in Nyamandhlovu near Bulawayo, the owner James Taylor was arrested at the weekend and charged with ‘occupying State Land without a permit’. Taylor is diabetic and was refused medication by the acting Officer in Charge. Taylor’s son who went to the police station to assist his father was also detained. Both men were released on Monday.

• Two similar incidents occurred the same weekend in the Shamva North constituency in Mashonaland, this time with so-called ‘war veterans’ accompanied by Zanu PF youth militias carrying out the attacks.

Health/Humanitarian

• Amnesty International and the Coalition Against Forced Evictions this week called on the Zimbabwean government to provide adequate alternative accommodation or compensation to those left homeless and jobless after Operation Murambatsvina.  The programme of mass forced evictions five years ago left more than 700,000 people homeless or jobless, or both.

• The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is seeking an estimated US$17 million in humanitarian aid for Zimbabwe, which the group said this week is still ‘fragile’. The country is facing current acute emergencies on several fronts, including ongoing measles (5 million children at risk), cholera (23 districts) and typhoid outbreaks, the silent but devastating HIV and AIDS epidemic, vulnerable children and the plight of displaced persons.

• The World Health Organisation reports that 2.9 million children were vaccinated in the national immunisation against measles campaign last week.

• Incessant power cuts have impacted heavily on the operations of Chinhoyi provincial hospital, which recently was forced to throw away stocks of food, blood and critical drugs that had gone bad when refrigeration units were cut off. Bodies in the mortuary are also decomposing.

Diaspora

• Diaspora groups in the UK have joined together in order to combine their views and recommendations via the Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group (ZDFG) which will present a united voice when engaging with the UK Government.

The Good News

• While on a three-day state visit to South Korea, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was conferred with an honorary doctorate in law by Pai Chai university in recognition of his contribution to the development of Zimbabwe.

• The Zimbabwe national cricket side trounced India’s junior national side with 10 balls and six wickets to spare in the first of two matches in a Tri-nations which includes Sri Lanka.

• Tourism has picked up with a surge in bookings by South Africans who apparently intend to holiday away from the crowds during the FIFA World Cup in June/July.

• Zimbabwean athlete Stephen Muzhingi won the world-famous South African Comrades Marathon, held in KwaZulu-Natal, for the second year in a row.

Source:  Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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• Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has commended President Mugabe for resisting alleged political interference by the Western powers, pledging Tehran’s continued support for Zimbabwe.

• Dr Simba Makoni, interim leader of the newly launched Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn political movement, has called for massive demonstrations similar to the Red Shirt protests in Thailand against the inclusive government, which he says has failed.

• The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called for fresh elections to choose the country’s next leader, citing “lack of progress” in the inclusive government.

• Job Sikhala, who on May 8 launched a new political party, the MDC-99, was arrested Friday by heavily armed police. He is to be charged under Section 20 of the discredited Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

• Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch, a document which monitors violations of the GPA and is published by the Sokwanele website, reported that from April 2010:In cases of violence, intimidation, hate speech and abductions, Zanu PF was accountable for 90.9 percent.  In cases of subversion of legal processes and of harassment through the courts of MDC supporters and politicians, Zanu PF was accountable for 100 percent of the breaches.

• The MDC-T leadership addressed thousands of supporters at more than 30 “Real Change” rallies held across the country to update the nation on key national issues.

• The MDC-T said that moving its deputy Minister of Agriculture (Designate) Roy Bennett to another ministry would be a serious breach of the GPA. Under the GPA neither the President nor his party can veto Bennett’s appointment.

• The MDC-T has expelled five youths, allegedly behind the assault of MDC Director General Toendepi Shonhe at its Harvest House headquarters in Harare.

Governance

• The Norwegian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Gunnar Foreland, has criticized the three leaders for delaying full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

• The GPA provides for an anti-corruption commission, but 15 months down the line the commission has still not been formed and the ruthless plundering of the country’s resources by President Mugabe’s inner circle continues.

Economy

• ZESA currently cannot meet domestic power needs with industry and commerce almost crippled by inadequate electricity supplies. The state-run utility is producing 1,100 megawatts compared with a national requirement of 2,000 megawatts and is obliged to import electricity from Mozambique and Zambia.

• Mining company RioZim, which is sitting on 1.3 billion tonnes of coal reserves, said Tuesday it had teamed up with South African investors to build a US$3 billion thermal power station in central Zimbabwe. The proposed power station would have a capacity of 1,400 megawatts, sufficient to meet Zimbabwe’s electricity demand.

• State-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), now operating at 30 percent capacity and laying off thousands of workers, is planning to sell a 49 percent share stake in an effort to raise capital to pay US$270 million in debt.

• NOCZIM is also negotiating with the government to retain a controlling 51 percent stake in the enterprise after raising equity capital.

• The Development Bank of Southern Africa on Tuesday availed a US$500,000 grant to the Zimbabwean government to fund a feasibility study of the Harare-Chirundu highway dualisation. Carrying the bulk of traffic between South Africa and countries to the north of Zimbabwe, it is set to cost an estimated US$1.3 billion.

• Prime Minister Tsvangirai has urged SADC water ministers meeting in Bulawayo to expedite signature and ratification of the Zambezi Commission protocol so the region can tap the potential of the Zambezi river for the benefit of all.

• Tsvangirai travelled to Seoul this week on a three-day official visit. It is expected that the high-level meetings will result in the signing of a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA).

• The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has raided a car dealership in Harare and stopped the auction of 75 cars as part of investigations into alleged tax evasion by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Business

• Zimbabwe has finally ratified a BIPPA signed with South Africa last November.

• Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has extended to end June the deadline by which all businesses must submit plans on increasing black ownership.

• The business community and the MDC have proposed that the requirement for a 51 percent indigenous stake in all companies be replaced with a level of participation determined on a sector-by-sector basis.

• Zimbabwe’s hotel group Meikles Africa will spend $53 million by end-March 2011 to revamp its hotels and supermarkets, the company’s chairman said Wednesday.

Mining/Diamonds

• Mines and Mining Development permanent secretary Thankful Musukutwa has asked the Finance ministry to slash the pre-exploration levy for new mining projects as the US$100 000 charged for Exclusive Prospective Orders (EPO) is inhibiting new investment in mining, especially under-capitalised local miners.

• The Chamber of Mines on Wednesday proposed a compromise in the government’s drive to force foreign firms to give 51 percent stakes to locals, saying 15 percent local shareholding for mines was enough.

• Although power cuts and lack of funding slowed down recovery of the country’s mines – most of which closed in 2008 at the height of the economic crisis – the chamber says gold output will be significantly higher than last year’s 4.2 tonnes. At its peak, Zimbabwe produced about 29 tonnes of gold annually.

• Impala Platinum’s Zimbabwe unit, Zimplats Holdings, is considering setting up the country’s first metals refinery, where its plans a US$500 million mine expansion.

• The government is illegally exporting Chiadzwa diamonds through the back door to Dubai in violation of a Supreme Court ruling.

• Government and controversial diamond firm Canadile Miners have established a joint venture for the construction of a multimillion-dollar Diamond Technology Centre for processing of the gems in Zimbabwe.

• African Consolidated Resources (ACR)’s prospecting programme is yielding positive results. CEO Andrew Cranswick says gold, diamond and base metals prospecting is ongoing.

• Jonathan Samkange, the lawyer representing Africa Consolidated Resources CEO Andrew Cranswick, was briefly arrested by police in Harare on Monday, in a move he says is continuing harassment by the police.

• ACR official Ian Harris is still out on bail after being arrested for allegedly fraudulently acquiring the Chiadzwa diamond claim, through an ACR subsidiary.

Land/Agribusiness

• The loss-making state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has no money to pay farmers who delivered their produce during the just-ended season. Furthermore, seed and fertiliser stocks at depots countrywide are inadequate for the crucial winter cropping season.

• The Zimbabwean Government will have to pay out at least US$70 million should a renewed claim by three applicants against President Mugabe’s government and its “unlawful land-reform programme” succeed in the SADC Tribunal.

Tourism

• The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is processing requests for loans amounting to over US$30 million from local tourism operators.

New Constitution / Political Violence

• Security for the outreach process has become a major concern amid reports from various provinces that alleged Zanu PF supporters are intimidating and assaulting those who may resist adoption of the Mugabe-backed Kariba draft constitution.

• Members of the Zimbabwe National Army are leading a campaign of violence and intimidation in the Manicaland province. Soldiers, with the help of war veterans and Zanu PF supporters, are using threats and physical violence ahead of the delayed constitutional outreach exercise.

• Members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and Zanu PF top brass are instructing local traditional leaders to bar constitutional reform process meetings organised by civic society and non Governmental Organisations in Mashonaland Central Province, traditional leaders have reported.

• The government will provide US$350,000 to the partisan Zimbabwe Republic Police to fund “security arrangements” for the outreach phase of the constitutional  revision process now scheduled to begin June 15.

• The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) said on Thursday it is considering pulling out of the country’s constitutional making process because politicians have taken over the process.

• Dozens of people in Epworth near Harare have been savagely beaten, many raped and others forced to flee their homes in a tide of low-key violence perpetrated by Zanu PF supporters against the MDC.

Elections

• In Johannesburg, a legal case regarding the release of a report by two of South Africa’s top judges on the fairness of the 2002 presidential election in Zimbabwe is underway. The Mail & Guardian newspaper has applied for access to the report.

• The financially crippled Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), sworn in on March 31, has resolved to source funding from international donors.

Health/Humanitarian

• Norway is to increase its humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe in 2010 by NOK 10 million, to NOK 30 million since up to 2.5 million people will need food aid in 2010.

• Zanu PF officials and war veterans in Mberengwa district in the Midlands province are blocking food aid to HIV/AIDS orphans demanding that they should first join the party’s youth league.

• The government supported by Hellen Keller International, World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF on Monday launched a nationwide measles vaccination campaign. More than US$8 million has been spent to on vaccines and logistics to ensure the campaign reaches remote populations. Immunisation points have been set up at all hospitals, clinics, community centres, churches and schools.

• May 18 marked the fifth anniversary of Operation Murambatsvina when the Zanu PF government began demolishing informal settlements across the country, leaving more than 700 000 people without homes or livelihoods, or both. Five years on, the victims are still struggling to survive in plastic shacks or tents without basic essentials.

Legal

• President Mugabe has unilaterally appointed three High Court judges, including controversial former elections chief George Chiweshe, who presided over the flawed 2008 elections, to head the country’s High Court.  As this violates the GPA, Prime Minister Tsvangirai has protested strongly and wants a meeting with Mugabe this week.

• According to legal monitor Veritas, the law allows the State to appeal to the Supreme Court against Roy Bennett’s acquittal, but only if given permission to do so by a Supreme Court judge. The hearing is likely to be held during the next few weeks.

• Lawyers for Bennett are planning to sue former information minister Jonathan Moyo  and state media journalists for allegedly peddling falsehoods against him.

• A Harare court has ordered an investigation into the alleged torture of two former soldiers accused of stealing weapons at Pomona Barracks last year.

• The Deputy Sheriff of Cape Town will proceed to auction Zimbabwe government properties after Harare failed to defend a R400 million lawsuit by German development bank KFW Bankgruppe.

Media

• Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said he would this week summon the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to ascertain why it hasn’t issued a single licence since it was appointed nearly three months ago.

• Donors are said to be refusing to financially back the newly created Zimbabwe Media Commission due to the appointment of Zanu PF sympathiser and media hangman Tafataona Mahoso as CEO.

• Concern has been expressed over the increasing range of the state broadcaster after new transmitters were installed last week.

• Police in Gweru have clamped down on a community radio station by denying them clearance to hold a road show this weekend.

Education

• UNICEF has provided over US$50 million to improve the pupil-textbook ratio.

Environment / Wildlife

• A six-nation wildlife crime crackdown across southern Africa, and including Zimbabwe, has resulted in the seizure of nearly 400 kilos (882 pounds) of elephant ivory and rhino horn with a market value of more than US$1 million, the location and closure of an illegal ivory factory, and the arrests of 41 people.

• Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said at the weekend that the export of six animal species, including two infant elephants, to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was a “purely business” transaction.  An international campaign to save the elephants has been launched by Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and Elephant Voices.

Sport

• North Korea will not be preparing for the World Cup finals with a visit to Zimbabwe, ending fears over a potentially controversial trip.

• The International Football Federation (FIFA) says it is preparing to bus Zimbabweans into South Africa next month to fill up empty seats in the new Polokwane, Nelspruit and Port Elizabeth stadiums during World Cup.

The Good News

• The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) handed over 693 housing units on May 13 to nearly 700 families, all victims of the 2008 floods in the eastern Chipinge district.  The homes were built in partnership with government’s Civil Protection Unit.

• A Zimbabwean wine maker has scored a first by making two of the three official World Cup wines. Tariro Masayiti, 37, works for Paarl-based wine-maker Nederburg.

Source:  Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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• The three principals in the Harare coalition government have still to meet to discuss the final report on the GPA submitted by South Africa’s SADC-mandated facilitation team last month. Team leader Lindiwe Zulu said, “It is our hope that they meet soon to accept our final report, work on the recommendations of the report and indicate what they intend to do on the outstanding issues (in the GPA).”

• After an emergency council meeting at the weekend, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called for an immediate SADC summit to resolve outstanding issues and the stalling by Zanu PF on the GPA, together with a “road map to an election and guarantees to the legitimacy of this election.”

• The European Union and South African ministers’ dialogue meeting in Brussels issued an appeal to Zimbabwe’s political leaders to fully implement the GPA and resolve the disagreements holding back democratic reform in the country.

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Tsvangirai on Monday to discuss ways of aiding Zimbabwe and fostering democratic reform.

• Tsvangirai reiterated his party would not change its position on appointing Bennett to the cabinet.

• On Thursday, Zanu PF ministers boycotted the bi-weekly Council of Ministers, chaired by Tsvangirai and convened to assess implementation of cabinet decisions.

• MDC founding member Job Sikhala’s new party is to be controversially called the MDC-99, after the year the MDC was formed, bringing the number of MDC groupings to three. Sikhala’s platform is to ensure that perpetrators of political violence face justice.

• Zanu PF party mouthpiece Jonathan Moyo startled readers of the Sunday Mail by claiming that ‘compelling developments in our body politic point to the real possibility that even God may also be Zanu PF’.

Governance

• Finance Minister Tendai Biti stated that he will put a halt to excessive or unauthorised foreign travel by government ministers, which has drained the fiscus of some US$30 million over the last 6 months. He also indicated that the civil service audit to uncover ‘ghost’ workers was complete and would be released soon.

• President Mugabe left on a five-day trip to Teheran at the invitation of controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The G15 developing countries summit will also be attended by the Presidents of Algeria, Brazil, Senegal, Venezuela and Sri Lanka.

• Thousands of former National Youth Training Service recruits and Zanu PF youths, who were improperly recruited into the public service, thronged several banks in Harare this week demanding their salaries. The youths, who are illegally employed by the Ministry of Youth as Zanu PF ward, district or provincial youth officers, brought business to a virtual halt at some banks and nearby shops as they violently demanded their salaries.

• Zimbabwe will conduct its fourth population census in August 2012, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) has said. Commentators observe that this may reveal the true number of economic emigrants and younger citizens without ID documents inside Zimbabwe.

Economy

• According to the Reserve Bank, Zimbabwe’s total national debt as at March 31 was US$5,84 billion, up from US5,7 billion in January. US$5,3 billion is external while US$513 million represents domestic liabilities.

• Finance Minister Tendai Biti proposes that Zimbabwe should adopt Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief, so that resources can be spent on health, education and other social services. Zanu PF ministers say they will oppose the initiative.

• Zimbabwe’s Central Statistical Office reports that year-on-year inflation rose from 3.5 percent in March to 4.8 percent in April, although food prices showed signs of easing.

• The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is considering a deal to sell some of its already inadequate capacity to its largest creditor, Eskom of South Africa, which needs extra supplies for winter heating during the Soccer World Cup period. 

• At a recent government briefing it was revealed that 99 percent of the National Railways of Zimbabwe’s rolling stock, track and equipment is past its design lifespan. The parastatal needs US$150 million to rehabilitate its commuter and freight services.

Business

• Telecel International will sell a 20 percent stake in its mobile subsidiary Telecel Zimbabwe to locals to comply with the country’s telecommunications regulations. Several Zanu PF party billionnaires, including Leo Mugabe, are vying for the shares.

• AGRIBANK has announced it will cut its branch network by 25 percent, closing ten branches and shedding jobs in a move to lower costs. CEO Sam Malaba said that the bank suffers from under-capitalisation.

• Delta Beverages attracted investors’ attention after publishing an impressive set of financials which showed volumes increasing 99.7 percent.  However, shortages of power and water are resulting in frequent shortages of beer and dry pubs around the country.

• Business interests in Matabeleland North have pledged support in terms of vehicles, fuel and funds to police in their province. The local police commissioner said that his force will be targeting thieves who steal unguarded national infrastructure such as copper telephone cables, electrical supply cables and National Railways of Zimbabwe cables and equipment.

• Software piracy is an epidemic in Zimbabwe, according to a report released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Zimbabwe is ranked second worst offender worldwide with a score of 92% after Georgia (95%).  Unemployment in Zimbabwe is above 90 percent.

• The Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) is almost bankrupt, with potential liabilities of more than US$12 million due to alleged mismanagement of depositors’ funds and lavish spending on management perks.

Mining/Diamonds

• Chinese nationals with military links are being issued with permits by Zimbabwe National Army Commander Constantine Chiwenga to mine diamonds in Marange. In exchange, China is supplying the ZNA with military hardware like vehicles, guns and bomb materials.

• Mutare-based Centre for Research and Development (CRD) warns that around 2000 carats a day of Chiadzwa diamonds find their way to local and foreign illegal buyers, contravening the Kimberley Process.

• The Reserve Bank estimates that Chiadzwa diamonds ‘should provide over US$1 billion per month in revenue.’ If diamond revenue sales were harnessed for the benefit of the whole economy, GDP could jump from the 2008 level of US$3.2 billion to at least US$16.7 billion.

• Zimplats Holdings, the largest platinum producer, has put on hold a US$445 million expansion programme pending finalisation of the controversial black empowerment regulations. The proposed project includes development of an underground mine, construction of a 35 000 megalitre dam, 1 125 employee houses and creation of 1 000 jobs.

• Mineworkers have called off a strike, a union official said Monday, ending a protest that paralysed the country’s gold mines which are battling to recover from a decade-long economic crisis.

Land / Agribusiness

• ZIMSTAT will conduct surveys in the agricultural sector where production has shrunk by more than 60 percent due to the violent land grab.

• Since the formation of the GNU in February 2009, commercial farmers’ organisations say invaders have raided at least 150 of the 300 remaining white-owned commercial farms.

• The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) has presented a comprehensive document to 50 Embassies, the World Bank, Southern African Development Community and GNU seeking a way forward for resolving conflict and restoring the agricultural sector.

• Zanu PF has unilaterally decided that only ten white commercial farmers should be allowed to remain in Mashonaland Central province, according to reports from the CFU.

• An increasing number of violent robberies has been recorded on commercial farms – sixteen cases over the last few weeks, mainly in the Midlands area. It is believed that the attacks form another tactic in the Zanu PF campaign to force farmers off their properties.

• Zanu PF sympathizer Wilfred Chagwedera has been ordered by High Court judge Justice Joseph Musakwa to vacate Friedenthal farm near Beatrice, which belongs to the family of CFU president Deon Theron.

New Constitution / Violence

• Campaigns of intimidation are taking place in Manicaland, with war veterans’ association leader Jabulani Sibanda forcing villagers to attend ‘educational’ meetings on the controversial ‘Kariba’ draft constitution, which seeks to retain an all-powerful Presidency.  The villagers have been warned it is a matter of ‘life or death’ for Zanu PF.

• Youth militia continue to terrorise rural people in Mudzi and Muzarabani while campaigning for the ‘Kariba’ draft constitution.  Lists of people attending meetings on civic education, or those organized by NGOs, are being compiled, with threats of expulsion from their villages or death if they speak during the (constitutional) outreach meetings.

• Former Irish President and past United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson says that international observers must be deployed to Zimbabwe to monitor the constitution-making process. This is in response to reports of growing violence and threats by President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, aided by the military.

Elections

• Tsvangirai told reporters Monday he hoped the country’s constitutional revision process would be completed by year-end so that a new round of elections can be held in 2011.

• Mugabe and Zanu PF have reportedly developed cold feet over holding early elections after a recent poll showed that Tsvangirai would win by a massive 88 percent.

• Zimbabwe’s Restoration for Human Rights (ROHR) organisation has expressed fears that with or without a new constitution the likelihood of election violence is very high since the infrastructure of violence is still intact across the country.

• ZAPU chairman Dumiso Dabengwa has called for fresh elections, saying that “The inclusive government has failed totally.”

Legal

• The Roy Bennett saga: On Monday, Attorney-General Tomana said he would not appeal the dismissal of treason charges against MDC senator and party treasurer Roy Bennett.
• On Tuesday, Bennett said that if he were appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture, he would be “able to expose a lot of the lies, deceit and theft that is taking place in Zimbabwe.”
• On Wednesday, Tomana’s office applied for permission to appeal the High Court Judge’s decision in the Supreme Court. Bennett attempted to retrieve his confiscated passport but found it had been taken by one of the prosecutors, without permission from the court.  Bennett’s lawyers submitted papers opposing the application to the Supreme Court and calling for an investigation into Attorney-General Tomana’s behaviour.
• On Thursday, South African President Jacob Zuma’s team of facilitators said they would engage Zanu PF over the Justice Minister’s decision to challenge Bennett’s acquittal.
• On Friday, Bennett’s lawyers filed a charge of theft against the Attorney-General’s office over the senator’s missing passport.

• George Chiweshe, the man accused of organising the rigging of the 2008 presidential election and thus forcing a run-off, is to be appointed Judge President of the High Court, according to high-level government sources. If the appointment by President Mugabe goes ahead, it will be in contravention of the GPA as the MDC has not been consulted.

• A civic group of taxpayers has filed a lawsuit against the Inclusive Government over the ‘illegal’ appointment of ten government ministers, posts which were not part of the GPA and therefore are constitutionally ‘null and void’. Controversial Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere is one of these extra ministers.

• Another ‘quasi fiscal’ enterprise by the Reserve Bank under Gideon Gono has had its assets attached by creditors. The bank’s transport company owns one hundred buses which are being seized in part payment for a US$1.5 million debt to a South African seed company.

• Irregularly-retrenched employees of Air Zimbabwe have engaged lawyers to attach the airline’s assets as compensation for almost US$5 million in unpaid salaries and allowances.

• KFW Bank, a German development bank, has attached Zimbabwe government-owned property in South Africa over a €59 million loan to Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company. The bank will cooperate with AfriForum, which has already attached four Cape Town houses.

Health/Humanitarian

• Zimbabwe is facing a cereals deficit of 459 000 metric tones, the World Food Program (WFP) said in a new report released Monday.

• Last year the United States funded over US$300 million in humanitarian aid and health assistance for Zimbabwe.

• UNICEF is currently supplying water treatment chemicals to over 20 local authorities, spending over US$3 million each month on the service.

• The Zimbabwean Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the WHO and UNICEF, will launch a 10-day national immunization campaign from May 24 through June 2, aiming to vaccinate 5 million children against a range of diseases, including deadly measles.

Education

• Education Sports and Culture Minister, David Coltart is working to introduce civic education into the country’s curriculum which will see children being taught tolerance and respect for human and property rights.

Media

• The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) last week postponed a crucial workshop to expedite the licensing of new newspapers, due to financial problems. It still has not received its 2010 National budget allocation of US$ 47 000 and has yet to license new media houses since it was officially appointed in February.

Diaspora

• The Legal Resources Centre has threatened to take legal action against South African authorities over the expulsion of over 500 refugees from a safety camp in De Doorns, Western Cape. The refugees were displaced after violent xenophobic attacks in November last year. Breede Valley Mayor Charles Ntsomi said the municipality needed to close the camp ‘before the Soccer World Cup’.

• Foreign migrants and refugees in South Africa have been warned to prepare for a wave of xenophobic attacks immediately after the World Cup, a consortium of leading migration organisations said this week.

• A shocking report released by Medecins Sans Frontieres reveals that destitute and desperate illegal immigrants crossing the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa are being ambushed, robbed and sexually abused by organised HIV-positive gangs on the South African side. Rape victims include men, women and children.

• MSF says as many as 300 Zimbabweans are arriving in South Africa each day to apply for asylum at Musina, close to the Beitbridge border post.

• A UNDP working paper on diasporan remittances recommended that Zimbabwe should allow dual citizenship and postal voting to incentivise foreign currency remittances and direct investment from Zimbabweans living outside the country.

Wildlife

• Conservationists are protesting the export of wild animals, including elephants, from Hwange National Park to North Korea. Animal welfare experts warn that many of the animals being removed from the park will not survive the shock of capture, sedation and air transportation, let alone the conditions at North Korean zoos, which do not meet international standards.

• Conservation groups estimate that half a million wild animals have been lost to poaching in the country’s national parks over the past decade, with local communities and the army being the main offenders.

The Good News

• The National Democratic Institute (NDI), a US pro-democracy group, presented one of its highest honours, the Averell Harriman Democracy Award, to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday.

• Prominent Zimbabwe human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has been awarded the 2010 International Human Rights Award by the American Bar Association (ABA).

• Internet money transfer company Mukuru.com has launched a project to aid disadvantaged musicians in Zimbabwe by helping to sell their music online and paying them 80 percent of the proceeds every month via the company’s SMS-Cash system.

• Hotel occupancy at Victoria Falls has increased to 85 percent ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June. Ten years ago, Zimbabwe drew 1.4 million tourists who generated US$400 million for the economy. Last year, only 223 000 tourists came, generating just US$ 29.1 million.

Source:   Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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• African leaders at the World Economic Forum on Africa criticised the formation of coalition governments on the continent following flawed or disputed elections. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said he blamed the African Union of failing to instil democracy in its 53 member states.

• South African President Jacob Zuma defended Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA), but said lack of implementation was undermining it.

• SADC chairperson President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo sent an envoy Wednesday to Harare to press for implementation of the GPA and to resolve outstanding issues.

• Political commentator John Makumbe noted Wednesday that fewer than 20 percent of the GPA provisions have so far been implemented.

• Higher and Tertiary Education Minister and President Robert Mugabe’s adviser, Stan Mudenge, said his Zanu (PF) party was the one ruling Zimbabwe while the inclusive government was just administrative.

• The MDC-T has reacted to calls by African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Ms Baleka Mbete for Tsvangirai to actively call for the lifting of sanctions. Mbete was speaking in Zimbabwe at the victory celebration of newly appointed Zanu PF chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo.

• Spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said Mbete’s calls were misplaced and South Africa should stay neutral if President Zuma’s mediation was to be successful.

• President Zuma is understood to be planning to visit Zimbabwe to make a final push to achieve an agreement after which he will brief the SADC’s troika on politics, defence and security.

• Tsvangirai said last Monday that efforts had been made to resolve the outstanding issues since Zuma’s visit to Harare in April, but the main sticking points remained. These included the swearing in of deputy Minister of Agriculture (designate) Roy Bennett.

• On the following Monday, Zimbabwean High Court judge acquitted Bennett of terrorism charges and the MDC has called for his immediate swearing in.

• Tsvangirai and his party secretary general, Minister of Finance Tendai Biti, have both denied reports of a power dispute between them.

• A preliminary report from the commission of enquiry established to probe the causes of internal party violence – which led assaults on party director-general Toendepi Shonhe and security director Chris Dhlamini – has been submitted to Tsvangirai.

• A bill to review the targeted sanctions imposed on members of the Mugabe regime (the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act) has been tabled in the US Congress to try to encourage democratic reforms.

• Firebrand politician and a founding member of Tsvangirai’s MDC party, Job Sikhala, has formed a new political party.

Governance

• Moves to trim the powers of the Attorney General and institute reforms to the operations of his office are at an advanced stage, cabinet members said this week. The post is held by Zanu-PF political appointee Johannes Tomana.

• The cash-strapped prison service are still short of fuel to transport inmates from remand cells and victims of crime are forced to drive the perpetrators to court.

Economy

• President Mugabe and President Jacob Zuma attended the 20th annual World Economic Forum on Africa in Dar es Salaam this week.

• Controversial Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono has kept the top post in a new central bank board named in a bid to restore the institution’s credibility.

• The National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) has blamed huge financial losses incurred over the past six years on a directive from President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF government to sell fuel at a loss for six years.

• Air Zimbabwe, which is facing serious financial problems, has failed to pay 409 of its workers after a bid to retrench them fell through.

• The cost of living for April has dropped marginally as a result of improved supply of local products on the market.

• Building societies and savings and loan institutions have resumed making mortgage loans available for the purchase of houses and building plots.

• War veterans Thursday confronted Finance Minister Tendai Biti demanding the government resume paying monthly allowances terminated last year.

Business

• Trading in shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) fell by 21 percent last month after indigenisation regulations unnerved already wary investors.

• Zimbabwe has rejected bids for the take-over of state steel maker ZISCO from ArcelorMittal’s South Africa and India’s Jindal Steel and Power Ltd in a move that could slow a drive to attract foreign investment.

• MTN Group of South Africa, which seeks a controlling stake in Telecel Zimbabwe, has reportedly hit a wall with the Harare government signalling it will only be allowed to acquire up to 40 percent of the mobile provider.

• Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile phone operator, spent over US$160 million on network upgrades and expansion in the year to February and will spend US$300 million this year to expand voice and data services.

• Zimbabwe company Solar Solutions Africa has launched distribution of solar-powered mobile phones in the country’s fast-growing telecoms sector, tapping consumer frustration with chronic power outages.

• The head of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) said Wednesday that while the economy has mended since the GNU was formed in 2009, neither companies nor government can afford to increase worker pay.

Mining / Diamonds

• Zimbabwe’s largest platinum producer Zimplats Holdings said commencement of a US$445 million project to ramp up production to nearly 300 000 ounces annually was dependent on finalisation of “compliance issues” regarding controversial black economic empowerment laws.

• The US’s new Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act calls on the Obama administration to address ‘illegal diamond activities that are undermining democratic processes and institutions by pressing for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process and exploring new targeted sanctions related to such activities’.

• Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu on Friday invited the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to submit an application for a mining licence to his ministry and benefit from the lucrative Marange diamond fields at Chiadzwa.

• African Consolidated Resources (ACR)’s Financial Officer Ian Harris, who was abducted Thursday from the company’s offices by members of Mines Minister Obert Mpofu’s private police, the CID Mineral Squad, was subsequently taken into police custody. Harris is being charged with fraud and accused of operating an ACR subsidiary in Chiadzwa, without registration.

• Mining companies are being forced to consider alternative power supplies as the country’s electricity utility (ZESA) struggles to meet demand.

Land / Agribusiness

• Famine Early Warning System (Fewsnet), reports that Zimbabwe has a shortfall of 800,000 tonnes of the staple maize this year.

• Zimbabwe needs to import wheat worth over US$128,8 million to meet an expected shortfall of 339 000 tonnes, which bakers say could cripple operations.

• Zimbabwe has generated US$117,4 million from the sale of 37,9 million kilograms of flue-cured tobacco in both contract and auction systems since the 2010 tobacco marketing season commenced in February.

• In a latest twist to the land scandal in Harare, President Mugabe has used his Presidential Powers to acquire part of the land that is in dispute between his nephew, Philip Chiyangwa, and the city of Harare.

New Constitution

• The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs heard evidence Tuesday from the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs and a police Deputy Commissioner on the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s need for additional resources and funding to provide security to the constitution outreach process [US$ 3 million].

• Civil society groups report that Zanu PF is re-training its militias in rural areas to force villagers to push for provisions made in the Kariba draft constitution.

• Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga says the country will have a new constitution by April next year.

Elections

• Tsvangirai said Monday that an election in 2011 remains a possibility.  However, a growing band of politicians and civic groups say early elections would disturb the recovering economy, current political stability and plunge the country into crisis.

• Retired members of the partisan Zimbabwe Republic police are being recruited in order to get the numbers up from 22 000 to 50 000 by the end of this year in preparation for a possible general election next year.

• The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said democratic elections could only be held after widespread electoral reforms and the writing of a new constitution was complete.

• Zanu-PF MPs expressed deep divisions Sunday over the issue of dual citizenship after registrar-general Tobaiwa Mudede said the party should not allow this. The major challenger was senior party member Jonathan Moyo.

Political Violence

• Threats that MDC supporters and officials will be killed after the Soccer World Cup – hosted by South Africa next month – are escalating. Militia bases are reported to be reopening for the training of Zanu PF youth militia.

• Violence resurfaced in the Bikita district when known Zanu-PF supporters who terrorised people in the 2008 elections moved in, boasting that they committed politically-motivated crimes during that period and were never arrested.

Health / Humanitarian

• Food aid partners led by WFP have been providing emergency food relief to about 1.6 million people during the period January to March 2010.

• Some 5 million children will receive urgently needed protection from a growing spread of measles (6 200 cumulative cases) thanks to US$5.6 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
• Africa Fighting Malaria says Zimbabwe’s excellent pre-2000 malaria control programme is now almost at zero.  This poses a possible threat to the country’s neighbours since people travel with the parasite.

• The National Health Trust, a brainchild of Econet, has produced information, education and communication (IEC) material to help raise awareness on typhoid. At least eight people died of the disease in Harare’s Mabvuku and Tafara high-density suburbs this year, while 439 cases have been reported.

• Despite efforts by humanitarian organisations, shortages of food, medical supplies and cleaning materials are causing some of the country’s 15,000 prison inmates to starve in filthy and overcrowded cells.

• The Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) is barring relatives of inmates at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison from bringing food from outside, sparking fears of a repeat of the hunger-related mass deaths that occurred in the prisons last year.

Media

• Police in Masvingo and Bulawayo barred journalists from holding peaceful marches organised to mark World Press Freedom Day

• Fourteen months after the GNU was formed, harassment, arbitrary arrest and the intimidation of journalists remain common. Repressive laws, notably the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, have yet to be repealed.

• Minister of Information Webster Shamu said the long-awaited privately owned daily newspapers, The Daily News and NewsDay, can be expected to be published in June. However, there is still no change to Zanu PF’s monopoly over radio and television.

Legal

• More than 500 MDC-T youths demonstrated in Bulawayo on Friday, demanding the prosecution of individuals behind the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s, as well as election-related violence and murder.

• The trial of Harare mayor Muchadei Masunda and eight councillors on allegations of criminally defaming wealthy businessman Phillip Chiyangwa failed to commence Wednesday.  The case has been deferred to May 26.

Education

• The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe said Monday that government has two weeks to raise salaries (currently less than US200 a month) or face a possible strike.

• At the start of the second school term, scores of students were turned away from government institutions for failing to pay tuition fees and levies.

• Education Minister David Coltart said the education system was still in “free fall”, and most schools were still in a “profoundly shocking” state despite various interventions.

Diaspora

• South African authorities plan to clear the De Doorns refugee camp in the Western Cape before the soccer World Cup starts next month.

The Good News

• Mary Robinson and a distinguished team of African Sisters visited Zimbabwe as guests of both the Gender Ministry and the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration.

• Thirty-five teenagers, all victims or perpetrators of political violence, combined their talents on-stage in one of the unexpected triumphs of the annual Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA).

• The Solidarity Peace Trust, in partnership with the Central Methodist Church (Johannesburg), has organised an interactive exhibition highlighting the plight of Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children who have fled the political turmoil.

Source:   Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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• U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. has referred to the U.S. Treasury the question of whether prospective National Basketball Association team owner Mikhail Prokhorov has had dealings in Zimbabwe with a business tied to individuals under targeted sanctions

• Former Finance Minister and now leader of the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MDKD) party, Simba Makoni, said Tuesday that the people surrounding Mugabe, including himself, should have persuaded him to undertake land reform in a way that would have empowered the people. He said the failing coalition arrangement was not the only solution and genuine engagement of citizens across sectors was required.

• Political tension is intensifying in Mashonaland Central between MDC and Zanu-PF supporters, resulting in two provincial leaders from the MDC-T being arrested Tuesday. They are accused of being disrespectful by not standing up when the governor arrived for independence celebrations in Bindura.

• A splinter group of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, has started a “Heal Our Wounds Campaign”, directed at forcing the British government to give them more compensation for taking part in the liberation struggle.

• The use of child ‘cadet’ soldiers in Zimbabwe’s 30th Independence anniversary celebrations on April 18 has been described as detestable and having no place in a society that is currently engulfed in a low-intensity conflict.

Economy

• Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that conflicting messages from the coalition government have fuelled uncertainty about Zimbabwe’s economic direction and discouraged investors. Zimbabwe stock exchange Chief Executive Emmanuel Munyukwi confirmed this on Wednesday.

• Russia has expressed interest in investing in Zimbabwe’s mining sector as it moves to enhance diplomatic ties. Russia’s ambassador in Harare, accompanied by a delegation from his country, described Zimbabwe as a safe investment destination.

• The Zimbabwe government has denied a report that it has entered a deal with Iran to mine uranium in the country in exchange for oil. Mugabe has expressed support of Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

• Zimbabwe is still struggling to repay an outstanding loan of 15 million Euros provided by Iran in 2005.

• The government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sino Hydro of China to focus on the expansion of the Kariba South Bank extension through Chinese financial institutions.

• Road accidents claimed the lives of four senior politicians from both Zanu-PF and the MDC-M during the weekend, raising more questions about the state of the roads.

Business

• The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) opened in Bulawayo Tuesday with most of the exhibition space taken by 40 Iranian companies. The fair was opened Friday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

• Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara shocked delegates at the ZITF Business Conference in Bulawayo on Wednesday when he said bad governance, violation of human rights and democracy do not affect investment or the growth of Zimbabwe’s economy.

• Sources said Friday the 2007 Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act will apply to companies with assets of at least US$3 million dollars rather than US$500,000 as specified under regulations published last month.

• The deadline for companies to declare their shareholdings had been extended to May 15. Faced with the threat of the termination of their licences, more than 400 white-owned and foreign companies have submitted black economic empowerment (BEE) plans.

• UTC, a transport company linked to Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, has been taken to court for failing to pay its workers since last year.

• Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week Friday released over US$6 million for the laying of a fibre optic cable, connecting the country to the Beira under-sea cable in a project that will dramatically boost internet speeds.

• Biti said Tuesday national labour laws must be reviewed urgently so they are in step with economic realities. He said existing laws put businesses in a precarious position because it is difficult for them to lay off workers, resulting in bankruptcies.

• The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has ordered the suspension of the ?controversial US$90 million project to dualise the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport Express Road in Harare over the non payment of environment impact assessment fees of US$500 000 by the contractor. The project was corruptly awarded to a joint Ukraine/Zimbabwe company linked to Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo.

• Econet Wireless, the country’s largest mobile operator, has launched a free phone service in a major investment into communities.

Diamonds / Mining

• Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said Tuesday ?that the government ‘unanimously’ agreed that the first target of the indigenisation programme will be the mining sector. The world’s two largest platinum miners, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum, have multi-million dollar investments in Zimbabwe, while Rio Tinto has gold and diamond interests.

• The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has urged that the armed forces leave Marange, but observers say there is still a significant military presence in the district and that diamond smuggling continues.

• Political tension over Zimbabwe’s controversial Marange diamond field surged ?Wednesday as officers of the police’s law and order section tried to serve a summons on parliamentary mines committee member Moses Mare, MDC legislator for Chiredzi South, in connection with a Marange probe.

• A soldier who shot and killed an illegal diamond miner in the Chiadzwa diamond fields before turning his gun on a police constable who tried to disarm him has appeared in court.  The constable is still battling for his life in hospital.

Agriculture

• The China Development Bank (CDB) has offered a US$30 million line of credit to assist in the rebuilding of Zimbabwe’s collapsed agriculture sector in a deal that may see the Chinese institution getting a stake in the Infrastructural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ).

• Ongoing farm seizures in Zimbabwe pose one of the greatest threats to the hopes of a better life by the thousands of people displaced by the country’s political crisis, according to the World Food Programme.

• President Robert Mugabe is one of the biggest landowners in Zimbabwe. A newspaper investigation has found that he and his family own at least 10 farms through Gushungo Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Mugabe’s clan name.

• Dairy farmers here who have been supplying milk to the country have said Zimbabwe’s national dairy herd is down to just 22,000 cows from 192,000 in 2000.

• A Chipinge magistrate had to flee for his life after a group of illegal settlers led by Zanu-PF officials besieged the court building threatening to assault him for ordering their eviction from an estate they invaded eight years ago.

Law

• Harare mayor and eight councillors who carried out an investigation into a municipal land scandal appeared before the magistrate’s court Tuesday facing criminal defamation charges. The report named Local Government and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo and businessman Phillip Chiyangwa among the top government officials who had illegally acquired vast pieces of land in Harare.

• Police have also summoned four journalists from The Standard, a local private weekly newspaper, to testify as state witnesses in the councillors trial which is set for May 6.

• Almost 300 MDC activists in Manicaland province are still to stand trial, a year after police charged them with trying to reclaim their livestock looted by Zanu PF supporters during the election violence in 2008.

• The four Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) who were arrested last week during anti-ZESA protests at the electricity supplier’s headquarters in Harare were finally released on Tuesday, after spending five nights in custody in appalling conditions. They plan to sue the police for wrongful arrest and detention.

• Amnesty International has urged the Zimbabwe police to end their intimidation of activists and stop preventing them from exercising their right to peaceful assembly.

• The Marondera Residents’ Association has dragged the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Ignatius Chombo to court over his controversial appointment of ‘special interest’ councillors.

Political Violence

• Zimbabwe has sworn in its first human rights commission, led by and comprised mainly of academics – at a time when academic freedoms continue to be violated.

• Zanu-PF thugs armed with machetes and barbed wire clubs have gone from home to home terrorising villagers in the Marambapfungwe district of Mashonaland East. MDC supporters have been told that immediately after the South African hosted FIFA World Cup of Soccer, MDC supporters will be killed and their bodies thrown into the Mazowe river or down mine shafts.

• A 25-year old female informal trader, who was among 100 traders brutally beaten last week by war veterans and Zanu PF members for failing to contribute money towards independence celebrations held Sunday, has died.  Five others were seriously injured.

New Constitution

• The European Union has pledged an estimated eight million dollars to the constitutional reform programme’s outreach phase which has stalled due to lack of funds. It is now scheduled to start early May and is expected to take 65 days.

• Lawyers for the three unity government parties have finished drafting talking points or questions that will be posed by constitutional outreach teams in engaging the people on their wishes for a revised basic document.

• Zanu-PF is using soldiers in Masvingo Province to campaign for the adoption of the controversial Kariba draft constitution. Villagers in the Mushandike Resettlement Scheme were threatened with death by soldiers in full military gear if they rejected the Kariba Draft. Four Brigade commander confirmed the presence of the soldiers there but said they were ‘on a training exercise’.

Humanitarian

• With measles continuing to spread across rural parts of Zimbabwe and claim lives, authorities have started to set up emergency clinics. Some 3,000 cases of measles have occurred in 55 of the country’s 62 districts since March, killing more than 200, most of them children.

• Since Independence in 1980, Britain has given Zimbabwe over US$1 billion in aid and ordinary Zimbabweans have expressed their appreciation.  “Despite every provocation and insult from the Zimbabwean government, and because of Mugabe’s utter disregard for his own people, the British government has given Zimbabwe over US$100 million in humanitarian assistance last year: from healthcare and education to providing water, food aid, seed and fertilisers to the poorest households,” wrote an activist representing “The Voice of Democracy” in Zimbabwe.

Media

• Human Rights Watch reports that the unity government still has not implemented promised media reforms and that Zanu-PF still controls most levers of government. Media laws that criminalize any criticism of government are still in place and credentials for international journalists are heavily restricted. At least 15 journalists have been harassed, arbitrarily arrested or assaulted by security forces since the GPA was signed.

• Reporters Without Borders says it’s time for the government of national unity to demonstrate its will to reform press legislation and liberate the country’s media. Zimbabwe is ranked 136th out of 175 countries in its press freedom index.

• Zanu -PF has revived its long forgotten propaganda newspaper, The People’s Voice, a sign that the party might be starting to prepare for a possible election next year.

Education

• Hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children in Manicaland province have been forced to drop out of school following President Mugabe’s decision to bar non-governmental organisations from offering direct assistance with fees. Nearly a quarter of all Zimbabwean children are orphans.

Diaspora

• Humanitarian organization Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is scheduled to formally announce a US$ 1.5 million funding to help returned migrant Zimbabweans to resettle. Funding will be channelled through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Zimbabwe.

• Scores of Zimbabweans were stranded at the Beitbridge Border Post after South African immigration officials refused to accept Zimbabwe’s new Temporary Travelling Document, saying they had not been officially notified.

• The Zimbabwean Consulate has fleeced its South African-based citizens of over R10 million since it began issuing them with Emergency Travel Documents (ETDs) mid last year.

• The Prime Minister’s office said Monday that government is in the process of coming up with a national migration management and Diaspora policy which seeks to comprehensively address the country’s migration and development challenges.

• London-based remittance company Mukuru.com has won South African Reserve Bank approval to assist Zimbabweans in South Africa in tandem with local partner Inter Africa to send financial support to struggling families at home.

The Good News

• Zimbabwe has received a US$13,3 million grant for education and health from Japan that will be disbursed through five United Nations agencies.

• The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has embarked on a US$ 24 million solar energy project to encourage rural people to start income generating projects.

• The SABC’s investigative news programme, Special Assignment, won the Amnesty International Award for Human Rights for a documentary titled ‘Hell Hole’, which lifted the lid on Zimbabwe’s appalling prison conditions and the deaths due to starvation, filth and depravation.

Source:   Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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• A consolidated report by the three principal parties in the GPA has been forwarded to South African President Jacob Zuma. The parties failed to agree on all outstanding issues and now await SADC’s recommendations. It will be viewed by President Zuma before being forwarded  to Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, the SADC chairman on defence politics and security.

• MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the party would not accept deputy agriculture minister (designate) Roy Bennett being given anything less than a junior agriculture portfolio. Bennett is still waiting a ruling on his treason trial.

• Zanu-PF and MDC negotiators have agreed on a raft of electoral reforms designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 presidential election fiasco. The proposed new amendments to the Electoral Act outline strict procedures on how the poll is to be conducted and results announced. They are also calculated to stem systematic rigging.

• An MDC delegation, reportedly to be led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, will travel to Brussels later this month to campaign for the removal of targeted sanctions still in place on Zanu-PF elite in the MDC’s latest concession to the party.

• US Congressman Donald M. Payne concluded a two-day trip to Zimbabwe on April 9. He met with Tsvangirai and leaders of civil society in order to assess political and economic progress since the signing of the GPA. He was unable to meet with President Robert Mugabe, despite a US Embassy request made two weeks before the visit.

• President Mugabe last week jointly swore in commissioners of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in line with constitutional provisions.

• At a news conference in Durban on Saturday, South African President Jacob Zuma said ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema’s conduct was “alien to the ANC”.  He rebuked Malema for meddling in the talks on Zimbabwe and for continuing to sing the “shoot the boer (farmer)” apartheid era song.

• Retired Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who played a brief but historic role as the prime minister of the short-lived state of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in 1979, died Thursday at his Harare home at the age of 85.  Politically moderate, Muzorewa opposed the armed struggle that ultimately led to majority black rule.

Economy

• Zimbabwe will face serious power shortages in the next six weeks as the country’s power utility ZESA carries out maintenance at Kariba power station. This comes at a time when all but one of the generators at Hwange Power Station are inoperable.

• The joint venture project between ZESA and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) to revive Bulawayo’s thermal power station is hanging in the balance due to bureaucracy within the Harare company, which is stalling progress.

• Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkzemi discussed energy ties with Zimbabwean Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Didymus Mutasa, on Tuesday. Based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2006, Iran agreed to take part in the Feruka refinery renovation project.

• The Competition and Tariff Commission will next week conclude investigations into allegations that ZESA is abusing its monopoly by charging excessive tariffs and over the arbitrary disconnection of supplies. The commission’s assistant director said they would set a hearing for the power utility to respond, compile a report and recommend action.

• Zimbabwe’s cash strapped Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will next month begin retrenching about half of its bloated staff as it embarks on an exercise to realign its structures.

Business

• Tsvangirai on Thursday promised business leaders new and “more progressive” empowerment laws, as the government continues to give conflicting signals over its controversial new indigenisation regulations.

• In direct conflict with Minister of Youth and Economic Empowerment Saviour Kasukuwere, his deputy, Thamusanqa Mlangu, said the government is seriously considering revising the controversial indigenisation law. He said the ministry does not want to repeat the land ‘reform’ error that was done in a chaotic manner and only benefited a few people, most of them with links to Zanu (PF).

• Kasukuwere has dismissed an offer from Zimplats to set aside 10 percent of shares for black Zimbabweans, saying he would rather do away with all foreign-owned mining firms than accept anything less than a 51 percent stake.

• Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono last Monday maintained that the new indigenisation laws are susceptible to abuse by senior officials. He and Kasukuwere have openly clashed over the controversial empowerment regulations.

• A New Jersey congressman said he would demand a government inquiry into a possible deal by Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, to buy the New Jersey Nets in a US$200 million team deal, for his extensive business dealings in Zimbabwe. Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. is questioning whether Prokhorov’s companies in Zimbabwe violate US sanctions against Mugabe and his cronies.

• Mugabe has invited controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to officially open this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo on April 23. Local human rights and journalist organisations have condemned the decision to invite the dictator.

Diamonds

• The Kimberley Process (KP) monitor for Zimbabwe, Abbey Chikane, has slammed the involvement of too many government agencies in the handling of rough diamonds from Chiadzwa. He said this “poses the danger of diamonds being swapped or stolen in the process.” The report notes that between October 2006 and February 2010, the Marange fields have produced 4,4 million carats.

• A week before Chikane’s visit, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy was banned from touring the diamond fields and holding meetings with different stakeholders.

• The government is considering auctioning parts of the Chiadzwa diamond field to firms that have applied to mine in the area, but this could prove problematic because not all of Chiadzwa has been surveyed to establish the value or size of deposits.

• Villagers in Chiadzwa are demanding the immediate withdrawal of soldiers from the area, whom they accuse of demanding national identity cards and assaulting those found without cards.

Agriculture

• Zimbabwe has so far earned US$45,3 million from 13,39 million kgs of tobacco since the auction floors opened last month, the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) said last week. Seventy-seven million kgs of tobacco are expected to be sold this year, up from 42 million kgs last season.Tobacco is the country’s second largest foreign currency earner after mining.

• Zimbabwe’s ailing dairy industry is on the verge of collapse, with the national dairy herd down to just 22,000 cows from 192,000 in 2000 when the land grabs began.  Deliveries have plunged to 38 million litres a year from 138 million litres of milk. The state-controlled Dairibord is being supplied by just 60 dairy farmers compared with 215 providers in 2000.

• A multi-million dollar dairy plant, built for President Mugabe and his wife Grace by a South African-based German firm, Guth SA, is reportedly finished and ready to be transported to Zimbabwe. Payment for the plant, believed to be about US$13.5 million, is understood to have been channeled through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

• White Zimbabwean commercial farmers who lost their farms under the land reform programme have asked the SADC tribunal in Namibia to find the Zimbabwean government in contempt for ignoring a 2008 judgment by the tribunal saying farm seizures were illegal and discriminatory.The farmers also plan to refer the matter to SADC, whose next summit is likely to be held later this year.

• Civil rights group AfriForum, which last month helped commercial farmers attach a Cape Town property belonging to the Zimbabwean government to cover outstanding legal costs, said it will wait to hear from the government if there are plans to compensate the farmers before selling it. AfriForum also said it will wait before going ahead to attach three others properties in the city.

Education

• Education Minister David Coltart said his ministry has hired a German-based chartered accountant to help rehabilitate the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC), which has for years faced allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

• Lecturers at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) have gone on strike over unpaid allowances. Meanwhile, the state has renewed its crackdown on students over demonstrations staged on 29 March in protest against continuing deterioration of university standards.

Law

• 210 rapporteurs for the public outreach phase of the constitutional revision process on Friday completed two days of training in Harare. But the outreach programme has been delayed due to donors only disbursing US$2,1 million of the total US$14 million they were promised for the constitution-making process. The donors are allegedly still consulting their home countries regarding various aspects of concern.

• The High Court will next month make a ruling in a case in which a senior official at the Ministry of Mines is suing Mines Minister Obert Mpofu for US$30 000 as damages for criminal defamation. Mpofu allegedly accused Manyenge and other commissioners of corruption.

Violence

• Human rights groups are urging the newly constituted Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) to ensure that Zimbabwe takes immediate steps to ratify the UN Convention Against Torture. Zimbabwe is one of the few SADC countries that have not signed this convention.

• Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition says the unity government should give a high priority to the prosecution of human rights violators and perpetrators of political violence.

• A Zanu-PF deputy minister, Hubert Nyanhongo, was on Wednesday named in the MDC’s roll of shame as one of the masterminds of the political violence during the 2008 elections.

• A member of Mugabe’s Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), who recently publicly apologised to villagers in his home area for being used by Mugabe to torture MDC party members, has gone missing, according to relatives.

• Police on Thursday barred MDC youths from holding a peaceful demonstration on transitional justice, saying it would cause anarchy in the country.

• An annual report by the US State Department on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe has warned of a rise in trafficking in persons through Zimbabwe.  It has also revealed that ‘corrective rape’ against gay men and lesbians is on the increase.

• Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights) director Okay Machisa has said the organisation will not be intimidated by police in their quest to showcase pictures of the victims of political violence and will soon be taking its photo exhibition to rural areas.

• The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR)’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has urged the Zimbabwean government to compensate three Banket residents who were abducted by state security agents two years ago and held incommunicado for several months.

• Scores of war veterans who refused to beat up people in the violence-ridden 2008 Presidential Election run-off have had their benefits withdrawn.

Humanitarian

• An estimated 78 percent of Zimbabweans are “absolutely poor,” with 55 percent of the population living below the food poverty line, a UNICEF report said Wednesday. The report said a burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed many breadwinners leaving large numbers of child-headed families. Zimbabwe currently has an estimated 1.6 million AIDS orphans.

• A report by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) said although most households in rural areas have come through the peak hunger season, adverse agricultural conditions are affecting Masvingo, Matabeleland South and Manicaland provinces, among others. More than three million people needed food aid between January and March.

• Hundreds of villagers from the drought-perched Benzi communal lands in Zaka, Masvingo Province, staged a six hour sit-in Monday at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), demanding urgent food relief to avert possible starvation of their families. About 100 000 villagers are reported to be vulnerable.

Media

• The US State Department’s annual report on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe has identified media freedoms as an area where there has been little progress over the past 13 months.

• A Beitbridge correspondent for the state-owned Chronicle Newspaper has been arrested as the ongoing clampdown on the media continues. The incident comes in the wake of the arrest of four journalists who were detained after exposing the Philip Chiyangwa land scandal. MISA, the Media Institute of Southern Africa, has expressed concern.

• Despite having a propaganda monopoly on the public media, Zanu-PF has launched two newsletters, The Insider, and The Zimbabwe Today, which are circulated free of charge in rural areas, and are being seen as an attempt to counter successful MDC publications.

Sport

• China has handed over a revamped national football stadium to Zimbabwe after refurbishments costing US$10 million. China first built the 60,000-seat stadium in 1987, but it has been closed for renovations for the past three years.

• North Korea will train in Zimbabwe before heading to South Africa for this year’s World Cup in June. Zimbabwe approached five countries playing in the tournament to set up their training bases in the country, but only North Korea has confirmed it will come.

The Good News

• The Zimbabwean government has allocated US$2 million through the Ministry of Tourism to provide free access in rural areas to transmissions of the FIFA World Cup, while corporate sponsors are funding public viewing stations allowing urban residents to watch the games.

By Abbey Chikane, KP Monitor for Marange, Zimbabwe

21 March 2010

Introduction

The author prepared this report to confirm the understanding of the mandate of the KP Monitor for Zimbabwe. The report is written with a view to ensuring that the KP Monitor’s approach to the implementation of the Joint work plan is consistent with Kimberley Process, Working Group on Monitoring expectations. The terms of reference and joint work plan incorporate in this report provide further details of the KP Monitor’s respective responsibilities and; the fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe facilitated an on-the-spot assessment of the situation. Further, the fact-finding-visit has enabled him to determine his approach to the assignment and confirmed his operational requirements.

The fact-finding-mission occurred from 1-3 March, 2010.

Background

Appointment of the KP Monitor

Abbey Chikane, founder chairman of the Kimberley Process was nominated KP Monitor for Marange, Zimbabwe by the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring, in consultation with the current chairman of the Kimberley Process. Following communication between Mr. Chardon, chairman of the Working Group on Monitoring, and the Honourable Obert Mpofu, Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Chikane was accepted by the government of Zimbabwe.

Understanding the Mandate

The Seventh Annual Plenary of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme met from 2 – 5 November, 2009 in Swakopmund, Namibia. At this meeting, the Plenary adopted an Administrative Decision on a joint work plan aimed at bringing Zimbabwe’s diamond trade into full compliance with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process. This follows acknowledgement by Zimbabwean government representatives that there have been certain challenges in complying with the minimum standards of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. The government noted its commitment to urgently addressing issues identified in the reports of the Working Group on Monitoring (WGM), Working Group on Statistics and the report of the Kimberley Process Review Mission to Zimbabwe that took place from 30 June to 4 July 2009.

The joint work plan was developed by Zimbabwe and the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to implement recommendations of the Review Mission (2009). The joint work plan is expected to be supported by technical assistance from Participants and Observers in the Kimberley Process. Plenary also urged Kimberley Process Participants and Observers to promote regional cooperation and outreach in support of this plan. The implementation and progress of the plan will be reviewed by the Intersessional and Plenary of the Kimberley Process in 2010.

To oversee and support the implementation of the joint work plan, Plenary resolved that a Kimberley Process Monitor for Zimbabwe (KP Monitor) be appointed. As stated in the Joint work plan, the role of a KP Monitor is to examine and supervise shipments of rough diamonds from the Marange area. The Joint work plan provides for a supervision of export mechanism under which exports of Marange diamonds are subject to Kimberley Process verification and confirmation that those rough diamonds were handled in full compliance with the minimum standards of the Kimberley Process. The Administrative Decision also provides for a review mission to assess progress in the implementation the joint work plan.

Although the terms of reference and joint work plan eloquently explained the task, the KP Monitor would like to restate his understanding of the assignment. The main objective of the KP Monitor is to support the implementation of the Swakopmund Plenary Administrative Decision and Joint work plan and work with the Zimbabwean authorities towards full compliance with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

The main activities of the KP Monitor involve monitoring the implementation of the Joint work plan and reporting on a regular basis, with the frequency of such reporting still to be mutually agreed, to the chairman of the Working Group on Monitoring with copies to the Kimberley Process chair and the

Minister of Mines and Mining Development of Zimbabwe. The Kimberley Process and the government of Zimbabwe have agreed that the KP Monitor will have full and unhindered access to all relevant diamond production and processing sites as well as to all stakeholders from the point of mining to the point of export, including representatives of government, industry and civil society.

On request, the KP Monitor will prepare an Interim Progress report for the Kimberley Process Intersessional meeting, to be held in June 2010 and/or for the preparation of the Kimberley Process Review Mission which will be conducted in terms of the Joint work plan, as well as a Final report for the Plenary which is scheduled to convene in November 2010. The calendar for submitting regular progress reports will be provided to the KP Monitor for consideration by the Chair of the working group on monitoring.

In addition, prior to each export, the KP Monitor will examine, at the request of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, diamonds shipment from any producing areas in the Marange diamond fields to confirm whether diamonds selected for shipment meet Kimberley Process minimum requirements and confirm their certification for export.

The KP Monitor will conduct a thorough examination of individual shipments and their chain of custody to confirm their compliance with Kimberley Process requirements, according to the following procedure:

- When the KP Monitor assesses that an export shipment has been produced and prepared in accordance with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum requirements, the KP Monitor is required to confirm this on the relevant Kimberley Process Certificate with his signature and stamp, and will digitally photograph the certificate and shipment. A specimen of the KP Monitor signature and stamp will be provided to the Kimberley Process Chair for prior distribution to Kimberley Process Participants.

- When the KP Monitor assesses that an export shipment has not been produced and prepared in accordance with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum requirements, the KP Monitor will provide to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development specific written indications as to the reason(s), including any possible means of remediation. Any such proposed export will be held until the necessary remedial action is completed, after which the KP Monitor will reexamine the export and, if fully Kimberley Process Certification Scheme compliant, certify the shipment and sign the Kimberley Process Certificate.

After each examination, the KP Monitor is required to prepare a specific KP ‘export examination report’, providing summary conclusions on exports that have been reviewed against specific Kimberley Process Certification Scheme requirements. Such KP ‘export examination reports’ are to be submitted within one week of the certification examination to the chair of the Working Group on Monitoring, with a copy to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development of Zimbabwe. Pictures of certificates and shipments must be attached to the ‘KP export examination reports’. Finally, the KP Monitor will perform his tasks under the aegis and supervision of the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring, and will refer any related issues to this working group. The KP Monitor may be invited to take part in the meetings or teleconferences of the working group, at the discretion of the chair of the working group.

KP Monitor Meetings in Zimbabwe

Courtesy visit to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development

On 1 March 2010, the KP Monitor arrived in Harare on a three-day visit to begin the fact-finding mission. He met Mr. Thankful Musukutwa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. At this meeting the Permanent Secretary proposed a three day programme, including logistics and resources allocated for the success of the visit. The meeting was followed by a courtesy visit to the office of the Honourable Obert Mpofu, Minister of Mines and Mining Development. The Minister assured the KP Monitor that he would have full access to all relevant government representatives, relevant diamond production and processing sites as well as to all relevant stakeholders from mine to the point of export. He reiterated his government’s desire and commitment to comply fully with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Meeting with KP Joint work plan stakeholders

The KP Monitor then met with officials of numerous state-owned entities and departments. These included representatives of the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development (MMMD), Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), the Ministry of Finance represented by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), Minerals Unit, and Zimbabwe Republic Police. In addition, industry representatives of several private companies were present, including Marange Resources, Mbada Diamonds, Canadile Miners and Global Diamond Valuators, Namibia.

At this meeting, the Permanent Secretary of Mines and Mining Development introduced the KP Monitor and requested all present to introduce themselves. He then requested the KP Monitor to present himself to elaborate on the purpose of his visit. The KP Monitor explained that this was a fact-finding-mission to Zimbabwe to make preliminary assessments on operations at the Marange diamond field and to determine his requirements for technical support in fulfilling his mandate.

Visit to Mbada Diamonds sorting facility

The KP Monitor visited the Mbada Diamonds sorting and valuation facility housed in a hangar at Harare Airport (referred to as the hangar). The KP Monitor was received by Dr. Mhlanga, chairman of Mbada Diamonds, chief executive officer, Mr. Rhuhwaya, and Mr. Dave Kassel, chairman of Reclam, a company associated with Mbada Diamonds. The Monitor was also received by a contingent of government department representatives most of whom are responsible for the monitoring and implementation of the Kimberley Process Joint work plan.

At Mbada Diamonds, the line management team demonstrated the process of the movement of diamonds from Marange diamond fields to the Harare sorting and valuation facility. The team also explained security and control systems at the facility, chain of custody, as well as policies and procedures for handling diamonds in and around the ‘hangar’. Mbada Diamonds operational policies and procedures were designed and implemented by Global Diamond Valuators of Namibia, a consulting firm retained by Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners. Most importantly, management explained and demonstrated company production pipeline procedures, audit processes, administrative and document handling procedures.

Findings:

(i) Policies, processes and procedures applied at Mbada Diamonds are world class on paper and the company needs to build the necessary capacity to implement them. The company also needs to inculcate a culture of full compliance with Kimberley Process minimum requirements.

(ii) At the ‘hangar’ there is an area of the sorting and valuation facility without cameras. This creates ‘blind-spots’ and risks breaking the chain of warrantees. It also creates an opportunity for rough diamonds to be removed from the security and monitoring control system. The KP Monitor believes this situation compromises the audit process;

(iii) There is inadequate security around the helicopter landing pad. While the heli pad is in a secured area, it is also close to a standard fence that could be ripped apart;

(iv) Representatives of state security agencies present at the ‘hangar’ do not seem to be adequately trained or experienced enough to ensure that the manner in which rough diamonds are handled is fully compliant with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum requirements;

(v) There is no visible paper trail to track the movement of rough diamonds from the safe to cubicles. Management of Mbada Diamonds would like to believe that the current paper trail is adequate; however the KP Monitor believes the system can and should be improved.

(vi) The sorting and valuation site requires a senior well-trained and experienced Diamond Auditor. At present the company has entrusted this responsibility to a person who does not qualify for the job. However, management promised they will employ a qualified person to take full responsibility for implementation of audit policies, processes and procedures.

Meeting with Global Diamond Valuators

At the end of the Mbada Diamonds visit the KP Monitor requested a presentation by Global Diamond Valuators Namibia to explain its role and the nature of contractual relationships between the firm and its clients. Representatives explained they are retained by Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners as technical advisors to establish policies, processes and procedure to meet Kimberley Process minimum requirements, particularly the industry chain of warrantees. In addition, the KP Monitor requested soft and hard copies of manuals, policies and procedures recommended to Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners. These were provided and are in the custody of the KP Monitor.

Findings;

(i) Methodologies and tools used by Global Diamond Valuators are consistent with international best practice, however, there is a possibility that Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners management may receive all the required knowledge and information but fail to implement systems due to lack of capacity.

(ii) The duration of the contractual involvement of Global Diamond Valuator is not certain. This poses a concern on the implementation and sustainability of the systems.

Meeting with the diplomatic community

The KP Monitor was invited by the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Zimbabwe, His Excellency, Ambassador Xavier Marchal who hosted a dinner at his residence for the Heads of the Missions accredited to Zimbabwe from countries or entities that are Participants in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Ambassador Marchal advised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe through a note verbale that he had invited Heads of the Missions accredited to Zimbabwe to the dinner. About 20 representatives of participating states and regional economic integration organisations attended.

In his speech, the KP Monitor explained that he was on a fact-finding-mission to assess operations at Marange diamond fields and to determine his staff requirements. In response, members of the diplomatic community raised a number of issues, including press statements by both Honourable President Robert Mugabe and Minister Mpofu that the government of Zimbabwe still had an option to trade diamonds outside the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. However, members emphatically shared their commitment and support for the implementation of the Joint work plan and that revenue generated from the sale of rough diamonds should be used to rebuild the Zimbabwean economy and improve the livelihood of its people, particularly children.

Findings;

Most member countries represented at the dinner fully supported the implementation of the Joint work plan with some expressing concerns on the political uncertainty in Zimbabwe.

Visit to Chiadzwa, Marange

On 2 March 2010, the KP Monitor visited the Chiadzwa, Marange diamond fields for first hand information on mining operations in that area before touring Forbes, a border post between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The visit to Forbes followed claims that diamonds from Chiadzwa were being smuggled through the borders between the two countries. Chiadzwa, Marange is a group of diamondiferous, largely alluvial gravel properties in the province of Manicaland, Zimbabwe. Mining takes place on surfacial alluvial and alluvial blocks, with open pits hardly reaching three metres depth.

The ground is broken with excavators, loaded into dump trucks using a backhoe excavator and hauled to the ore bin or stockpile at the plant.

Geologists explain that the ore consists of sands, gravels and pebbles with minor portions of boulders of conglomerates. All material from the mining block is processed as discrete batch and thus results can be compared with the sampling forecast for the block to check the efficiency of the recovery process. It is estimated that an area of 66 648 hectares (ha) held under 4 special grants that belong to ZMDC. The special grants are identified as follows:

SPECIAL GRANT NO. AREA COVERED (ha) % OF REA

SG 4718 600 0.90

SG 4719 400 0.60

SG 4720 2100 3.15

SG 4765 63 548 95.35

TOTAL 66 648 100.00

Based on the geological exploration carried out by ZMDC, 11 889 hectares or 18% of the total concession is prospective for diamonds. The remaining 54 759 hectares show low prospects, and further exploration is underway in this area. The prospective concession area has been demarcated and issued to two investors with some demarcated but not issued yet.

SPECIAL GRANT NO. AREA COVERED (ha) STATUS

SG 4718 600 Demarcated, not issued

SG 4719 400 Demarcated, not issued

SG 4720 1 100 Issued to Mbada Diamonds

SG 4720 1 000 Issued to Canadile Miners

SG 4765 8 789 Demarcated, not issued

TOTAL 11 889

Aside from the visit to Forbes border post, the KP Monitor’s objective was to (a) identify the total area under the control of ZMDC in Chiadzwa, Marange, (b) subdivision of resources into manageable areas and (c) assess mining operation at both Mbada and Canadile mining sites.

Visit to Canadile Miners sorting site

The KP Monitor visited the Canadile Miners sorting and valuation site in Mutare, Manicaland province.

At the site, the delegation was received by line management and shareholders of the company. Overall, the sorting and valuation site appeared non compliant with the Kimberley Process minimum requirements, largely because their security and monitoring control systems were in-adequate, and diamond audit systems were equally not up to standard. Understandably, the offices were only recently occupied and some if not most of their staff had been recently employed. When the KP Monitor randomly selected an employee, who happens to be an employee of the MMCZ, for questioning, it became apparent that he had no idea of activities at the sorting and valuation site, despite his role as the representative of a state owned entity.

Findings;

(i) Canadile Miners sorting and evaluation site does not meet a voluntary system of industry self-regulation aimed at facilitating the full traceability of rough diamond transactions by government authorities;

(ii) Policies, processes and procedures applied at Canadile Miners are world class in theory and therefore need the company to build the necessary capacity to implement them. The company also needs to inculcate a culture of full compliance with Kimberley Process minimum requirements;

(iii) At the sorting and valuation site there is an area without cameras. This creates ‘blind-spots’ and risks breaking the chain of warrantees. It also creates an opportunity for rough diamonds to be removed from the security and monitoring control system. The KP Monitor believes this compromises the audit process;

(iv) There is inadequate security around the premises;

(v) Representatives of state security agencies on site are not adequately trained or experienced enough to ensure that the manner in which rough diamonds are handled is fully compliant with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum requirements;

(vi) There is no visible paper trail to track the movement of rough diamonds from the safe to cubicles. Management of Canadile Miners believes the current paper trail is adequate; the KP Monitor believes the system can be improved;

(vii) The sorting and valuation site requires a senior well trained and experienced Diamond Auditor;

(viii) Back-up of footage from the electronic security system is inadequate;

(ix) Roles and responsibilities of shareholders, management and staff are blurred and confusing. The KP Monitor was unable to identify the public office or accounting officer, even though the Managing Director was present at the meeting;

(x) The KP Monitor deducted, without conclusive evidence, that Canadile Miners may be encountering financial difficulties. This conclusion, if correct, contradicts the assertion that the company had committed US$100 million to develop its operation in Marange.

Visit to Mbada Diamonds mining site

The KP Monitor visited the Mbada Diamonds mining site where a relatively new, but highly mechanised, mining operation was established. The KP Monitor was received by the same team that met him at the sorting facility; Dr. Mhlanga, Mr. Rhuhwaya, and Mr. Dave Kassel. The KP Monitor was also received by representatives of government. At the mine Mbada Diamonds demonstrated the process of the

movement of diamonds from the mine site to screening, weighbridge, surge bins, sort boxes, all the way to the lock boxes. The company also demonstrated health and safety procedures, operational procedure and process flows. An elaborate security and monitoring control system was demonstrated. All machines and equipment found at Mbada Diamonds mine site are relatively new; this includes all mining machinery and equipment. The KP Monitor concluded that Mbada Diamonds, especially when compared to Canadile Miners, appears to be funded heavily by a large and established financial institution.

Findings:

(i) Mbada Diamonds mine is highly geared;

(ii) The company has been mining in the Marange area since late 2009 and has, stock-piled diamonds;

(iii) Comparing like with like, Mbada Diamonds mine is equipped on par with medium to large mining operations in Botswana and Namibia. Management believes the company has built a ‘hands-free’ mining operation;

(iv) During the visit, security arrangements in and around the mine were elaborate and highly visible (see section on security situation below);

(v) Operational and geological staff demonstrated knowledge of their mining operation;

(xi) Representatives of state security agencies present at the mine are not adequately trained or experienced enough to ensure that the manner in which rough diamonds are handled meets a voluntary system of industry self-regulation aimed at facilitating the full traceability of rough diamond transactions by government authorities;

(vi) The Mbada team (shareholders and management) is intimately involved in running the business.

Visit to Canadile Miners mine site

The KP Monitor visited the Canadile Miners mining site where a mechanised mining operation was established. The KP Monitor was received by management team under a tree where he was briefed about the programme and activities of the day. Apart from government and parastatal officials, present at the mine were directors and management of the company. These included, Mr. Rob van der Merwe, Marco Chioppi, Adrian Taylor, chief executive office, Z Ncube, Deputy chief executive officer and Gwiba, office Manager. This is the same team that the KP Monitor had met at the sorting offices.

At the mine Canadile demonstrated the value chain and the process of the movement of diamonds from mine site to the sorting and valuation office in Mutare. Canadile machines and equipment at the mine site are ‘work in progress. The splitting of diamonds and non-diamonds is done in a container. Whilst the KP Monitor was at the mine site, there was construction underway. The Canadile staff appeared to be working hard to meet Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum standards before the next visit by the KP Monitor. The Canadile Miners management team has also undertaken to engage the services of Global Diamond Valuators to expedite implementation of minimum requirements before the next visit of the KP Monitors and that of Kimberley Process Review Mission.

Findings:

(vii) Canadile Miners may be experiencing financial challenges;

(viii) The company has been mining in the Marange area since late 2009 and has stock-piled diamonds;

(ix) Comparing like with like, Canadile Miners mine is currently the size of a small-scale miner with machinery and equipment that can be moved from one site to another without much difficulty. ;

(x) During the KP Monitor’s visit security arrangements in and around the mine were sufficient to prevent intrusion;

(xi) The operational and geological staff demonstrated knowledge of their mining operation;

(xii) Representatives of state security agencies present at the mine are not adequately trained or experienced enough to ensure that the manner in which rough diamonds are handled meets a voluntary system of industry self-regulation aimed at facilitating the full traceability of rough diamond transactions by government authorities;

(xii) The Canadile miners managing director did not demonstrate active involvement in running the business. Although he was present, he never participated in company briefings.

Security at the plant

MBADA

Screened concentrate weighed with truck on a weigh bridge

Weight of concentrate from head feed is captured Weight-o-meters used to weigh concentrate

Process at DMS double-locked by security and mine management

Process in recovery up to vault is also double locked

Glove boxes have cameras inside to monitor the sorting operation

Sorting operations are hands free

Exporting boxes use self-locking mechanism

Exporting boxes locked with two locks

Access to all diamond areas are controlled by centralised access control system

Exit from mining area is via an X-ray machine

CANADILE

Count number of scoops from tipper into head feed

Weight concentrate from surge bin recorded again Security personnel on horses doing rounds

DMS plant is hands free

Conveyor belts screened off with wire mesh

Recovery up to vault is double locked

Glove boxes have cameras inside to monitor the sorting operation

Sorting operations are hands free

Exporting boxes use self-locking mechanism

Export boxes locked with three locks

Access to all diamond areas controlled by centralised access control system

Exit from mining area is via a thorough physical search

Security at the mine

MBADA

Entrances and security exits manned 24 hours

Static security space at 100m intervals

Motorbike units conduct rounds every hour

Dog unit right around the fence area

Control towers Watch towers at corners of the perimeter

CANADILE

Entrances and security exits manned 24 hours

Static security at 100m intervals

Security personnel doing rounds on horses

Night vision cameras along the fence and mining are- linked to central control tower

Visit to Forbes border post

En route to Harare, the KP Monitor toured the Forbes Border Post. At the border the delegation was able to briefly meet the head of Zimbabwe Revenue Agency who explained that she was not authorised to speak on behalf of her organisation.

Findings:

(i) The government of Zimbabwe has designated Harare International Airport as the country’s official point of export for diamonds and that no border gate or other exit point was equipped and/or authorised to facilitate the export of rough diamonds;

(ii) Rough diamonds exported from a border gate or any other domestic airport is deemed illegal;

(3) On the other hand, the KP Monitor was unable to obtain regulations or legislation that supports this desired situation. It appears that if a diamond trader met Kimberley Process minimum requirements and obtained the Kimberley Process Certificate, he/she could apply for permission to use a border of his/her choice.

Workshops with Stakeholders in Harare

On 3 March 2010 the KP Monitor arranged one-hour long workshops with individual key stakeholders at the offices of the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. The purpose was to outline individual implementation plans to prepare templates. The workshop also provided further clarification for the implementation of the Joint work plan.

Meeting with the Reserve Bank

In a separate meeting with officials of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Reserve Bank), two representatives of the bank, Messrs. Manase and Chiremba explained that as part of the court order, the Reserve Bank was requested to provide custody for the diamonds in question during the dispute period. The bank received all the diamonds referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of the High court order in judgment no. HC 6411/07 for safekeeping pending determination of the appeal noted against the judgment. In fulfilling this request, the Reserve Bank established a monitoring committee comprising representatives of the following institutions:

1. Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

2. Minerals and Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe

3. Ministry of Mines and Mining Development

4. Office of the President

5. Zimbabwe Republic Police

6. Deputy Sheriff

7. African Consolidated Resources (legal representative)

The Reserve Bank further appointed Mr. Jamal Joseph Ahmed, a diamond valuator from Premier Diamonds, a company registered in Belgium with offices in Antwerp. Premier Diamonds was assigned to confirm the weight and value of the diamonds. members of the monitoring committee were invited to witness the valuation and sealing of the diamonds. The diamonds were placed in a trunk and one key was kept by the deputy sheriff and another by African Consolidated Resources legal representatives. The deputy sheriff also issued a receipt presented to African Consolidated Resources. The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has informed the KP Monitor that its team is currently seeking legal interpretation of the court order and the implications.

Meeting with cabinet task force on Marange production

The KP Monitor met with the Zimbabwean cabinet task force on Marange production. The Task Force was established by government, to monitor developments in Marange, among other issues. The committee comprises Honourable Mpofu, Chairman of the Committee and Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Honourable Biti, Minister of Finance, Honourable Ncube, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Honourable Mnangangwa, Minister of Defence, and Honourable Mangoma, Minister of Economic Development and Investment Promotions.

At this meeting, the KP Monitor briefed the Task force on his activities in Zimbabwe as part of his factfinding mission. He assured them that Zimbabwe has the capability and potential to meet Kimberley Process minimum requirements.

Second meeting with the Minister of Mines and Mining Development

The KP Monitor met the minister at the end of his fact-finding mission. At this meeting, the KP Monitor informed the Minister that his fact-finding mission was successful and that he was able to visit every site possible and met all relevant stakeholders in the time frame provided. The KP Monitor also informed the minister that he would be preparing a report on his findings and that a copy would be sent to the minister.

Media Briefing

At the end of the visit, the KP Monitor met members of the media at the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. He informed the media that his mission was accomplished and that he would be reporting to Mr. Stephane Chardon, chairman of the Working Group on Monitoring who, in turn, would report to the chairman of the Kimberley Process and the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Honourable Obert Mpofu. The KP Monitor ended his fact-finding mission and returned to South Africa.

Agencies and companies actively involved in mining Marange diamonds

Mining in Zimbabwe is administered and managed by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. Among other issues, the ministry is responsible for granting mining rights by issuing certificates of registering mining claims, special grants, mining leases exclusive prospecting orders etc. The ministry discharges some of its functions through state owned entities such as the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), a company created by act of parliament.

Another wholly-owned state entity is the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ). Its mandate is to sell and coordinate the export of minerals, for which it receives a commission of (0.875%). It also purchases rough diamonds from the local market and sell them to diamond manufacturers and dealers. MMCZ is Zimbabwe’s Kimberley Process Certification Scheme exporting authority. The MMCZ authority is required to keep diamond production statistics and other related production and export information.

The ZMDC is mandated to invest in the mining industry of Zimbabwe on behalf of the state. ZMDC operates 26 separate mining companies in Zimbabwe. Some of its operations include four special grants in the mining area of Chiadzwa, which are held directly by ZMDC. Together, the company owns approximately 125 000 hectares of diamondiferous area.

Initially, ZMDC attempted to produce and sell rough diamonds without partnering with commercial entities. This attempt, which produced 1 366 872 carats over less than three years, was later reconsidered and it was concluded that joint ventures were the preferred way to grow its technical and financial capabilities. As at October 2008, the company was allowed to sell rough diamonds in the open market. An estimated 876 000 carats valued at US$8,3 million were sold to the open market and a balance of 490 000 carats were kept in stock. Of the US$8,3 million, US$837 000 was paid to the national fiscus.

Formation of Joint Ventures

Following the Kimberley Process Review Mission, 2009, a report outlining levels of non-compliance, including the security situation around the Chiadzwa and Marange diamond fields, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and ZMDC resolved to revise their mining business model. A decision was taken to consider partnering with commercial mining companies. According to representatives of the Zimbabwean government, unsolicited expressions of interest from the mining fraternity were received from various local and international operators and a file was opened for applications.

When the government revised its business model, the need arose to select potential partners. The simplified version of the selection process can be summarised as follows; prospective investors were selected by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, which was preceded by establishing “a special purpose vehicle” that represented ZMDC commercial interests. This company was later named Marange Resources Private Limited (Marange Resources), a wholly owned subsidiary of ZMDC.

Marange Resources although wholly owned by ZMDC is a private company registered under Zimbabwe’s Companies Act Chapter 24:03. The company was originally registered as Block Wood Mining and later the name was changed to Marange Resources.

In July 2009, two companies, namely Core Mining, registered in South Africa and Grandwell Holdings, registered in Mauritius were considered for joints ventures with Marange Resources. ZMDC would hold its interests in the joint venture through Marange Resources. According to a report based on ZMDC oral evidence to the parliamentary committee on mines and energy, on 8 February 2010, Core Mining Resources is a diamond mining company operating in Kimberley, South Africa and Grandwell Holdings is a company involved in the reclamation business with strong a financial and administrative capacity to put in place a fully fledged mining operation.

Due diligence was conducted on both companies and subsequently the ZMDC signed a suspensive Memorandum of Understanding with Core Mining and Grandwell respectively. The report states that the Memorandum of Understanding with both companies was superseded by the shareholders agreements signed on 13 and 14 August 2009. The joint venture for Grandwell was signed on 13 and Core Mining on 14 August 2009.

Issuing special grants

ZMDC then released special grants named 4720 measuring 2100 hectares to Core Mining and Grandwell Holdings. The special grants were divided in two almost equal parts. The companies pledged US$100 million investment in the form of equipment and machinery that would be used for building physical, processing, water, road and security infrastructure. The agreement also undertakes to relocate communities within and around the mining fields. An inter ministerial committee was established to oversee the relocation programme. This committee included the ministries of local government, public works, mines and environment.

These joint ventures have resulted in the formation and incorporation of two distinct companies in which ZMDC (through Marange Resources) has 50% shares. Grandwell and Marange Resources hold their 50/50 shares in a joint venture company called Condurango, trading as Mbada Diamonds. Condurango has entered into a management agreement with joint venture partners, with the understanding that Condurango will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the mining operation.

For Core Mining Resources, a new company called Canadile Miners Private Limited was formed. Unlike Condurango, Canadile Miners partners have agreed to jointly manage their operations. Both joint ventures have board of directors. Condurango has ten seats, while ZMDC is allocated five directors and Grandwell five directors. The chairmanship of the board rotates after two years. The same arrangement applies to Canadile Miners.

Relocation of affected villagers

A total of 4,207 households have been identified for resettlement to pave the way for diamond mining operations. Total costs of resettlement have been calculated by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing at $11,791,644 (Table 1). The investors currently have committed to share the cost equally. New investors in the area will share the cost on pro-rata. The government has already identified ARDA Transau farm for resettlement of affected households. The first phase of the resettlement exercise will see 1,800 households being moved to ARDA Transau farm where each household will get one hectare for a homestead and half a hectare for crop farming.

The investors have so far built two sample houses at ARDA Transau and sunk 10 boreholes. The existing school and clinic have been renovated. The investors will install irrigation infrastructure for the settlers.

Small scale miners

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is drafting policy and procedures on handling small scale mining. Among other issues, the ministry is investigating the roles of each government department and other relevant key institutions. It is also looking at the definition of small scale miner, particularly size. To date, no small miner has been licensed to mine. The ministry indicated that a framework document will be completed by June 2010. However, mining operations by small miners will begin at a much later stage.

Country internal controls

Mining titles are issued by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development (MMMD) after evaluation of the application and due diligence on the investor. The MMMD carries out periodic mine audits and inspections. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Minerals Unit also monitors the movement of diamonds from the mining stage up to the export stage. MMMD and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) are responsible for authorising exports of diamonds after satisfying themselves that the diamonds comply with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme requirements. No diamonds can be exported without the KP certificate.

At the port of exit ZIMRA insists on Kimberley Process certificates being produced before diamonds can be exported. The diamonds must be sealed and accompanied by a commercial invoice with the seal number and number of carats being exported. There is a statutory instrument in place which makes it mandatory for all diamond producers to comply with minimum Kimberley Process requirements.

Marange production and sales statistics

For the period October 2006 to 28 February 2010, a production and sales account of the Marange diamond field is obtainable from the activities of a number of players as summarised in the table below.

Marange Diamond Field Production Summary, October 2006 to 28 February 2010

Source

Product

volume

(carats) Sales volume (carats) Stock (carats)

Marange

Resources 1,363,566.55 1,083,840.36 279,726.19

Mbada 2,005,298.44 0 2,005,298.44

Canadile 346,551.92 0 346,551.92

MMCZ mop-up 531,222.01 525,167.76 6,054.25

Police/MMMD 25,932.88 25,932.88 472.87

ACR 129,031.87 0 129,031.87

TOTAL 4,401,603.67 1,634,941.00 2,767,135.54

Source:MMMD (2010)

Marange Resources annual production volume, 2007 – 2009

Production Period Diamond recovery (carats)

2007 494,181.95

2008 460,017.20

2009 409,367.40

Total Production 1,363,566.55

Source: MMMD (2010)

Marange Resources Sales Summary, 2008 -2010

Sales Carats

Tender 1 01-Oct-08 101,550.00

Tender 2 01-Mar-09 87,307.09

3,706.63

328,305.01

Tender 3 16-Jun-09 64,305.44

2,445.32

104,260.86

2,005.31

61,028.61

Tender 4 20-Aug-09 17,930.11

30,263.06

73,221.52

Tender 5 27-Jan-10 2,753.73

3,678.18

10,387.95

17,445.83

81,056.81

63,297.66

28,891.24

Total sales 1,083,840.36

Closing stock at 28

February 2010 279,726.19

Source: (2010)

Marange Resources only started sales in October 2008. The slow issuance of CD1 (currency declaration) forms by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe slowed the export process causing the accumulation of product/stock pile. A paper trail is available for all transactions entered by Marange Resources. The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, through the comptroller and auditor general is engaging a forensic auditor to reconcile production and sales figures for Marange diamonds as stipulated in the Joint work plan, Strategic Issue 8. The exercise will include reconciliation of all diamonds bought by MMCZ and those from police seizures.

National Production Statistics, 2009

Marange

Resources Mbada Canadile Murrow River Ranch TOTAL

409,367.40 302,115.08 57,537.00 121,863.19 72,617.23 963,499.90

In 2009, Mbada and Canadile only started production in December 2009.

Cooperation and Transparency

In 2009, cabinet set up an inter ministerial task force to oversee Kimberley Process compliance issues on Marange diamonds, to include investment in the Marange diamond field and relocation of affected households. The three political parties to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) are represented in the inter-ministerial task force whose members include:

Hon O.M. Mpofu (MP) – Minister of Mines and Mining Development, (chair) Hon T. Biti (MP) – Ministry of Finance

Hon E.D. Mnangagwa (MP) – Ministry of Defence

Hon Professor W. Ncube (MP) – Ministry of Industry and Commerce

Hon E. Mangoma (MP) – Ministry of Economic Development and Investment Promotion.

In addition, there is the parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and energy which monitors compliance with best practices. It also monitors the implementation of relevant legislation and corporate governance by all players in the diamond industry. A steering committee chaired by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, monitors implementation of the Joint work plan agreed to with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Other members of the committee include MMCZ, ZMDC, ZIMRA and ZRP – Minerals Unit. There is also a committee on border control made up of the ZRP – Border Control and Minerals Unit, ZIMRA and immigration officials who work with their counterparts in Mozambique.

A provincial committee chaired by the Ministry of Local Government has been set up to deal with the relocation process for affected households.

The Committee is made up of officials from:

· Ministry of Local Government

· Ministry of Lands

· Ministry of Public Construction

· Department of Irrigation

· Department of Physical Planning

· District Development Fund

· Environmental Management Agency

· Mutare Rural District Council

· Ministry of Agriculture

· Ministry of Mines and Mining Development

· Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation

The committee reports to the provincial governor for Manicaland.

Security situation in Marange

Demilitarisation of Marange diamond field appears to be ongoing, in accordance with the Kimberley Process Administrative Decision and Joint work plan. As resource areas are demarcated and allocated to joint venture companies, investors take full responsibility of their areas and are compelled to secure their areas and operate on hands free auditable systems. The KP Monitor was informed that there is now complete demilitarisation of areas under Mbada and Canadile’s operations. Both Mbada and Canadile have secured their areas of operation through physical security barriers (fences etc) and electronic means.

Industry voluntary self-regulation

The global diamond industry has undertaken to implement a voluntary system of self-regulation by ensuring an effective internal control system of diamonds based on the international certification scheme for rough diamonds. This system includes a chain of warrantees underpinned through verification by independent auditors of individual companies and supported by penalties set by industry, which helps facilitate the full traceability of rough diamond transactions by government authorities. The KP Monitor attempted to establish levels of compliance by mining companies at Marange diamonds fields. The results were as follows:

Security situation at Sorting and Valuation facilities

MBADA CANADILE

· Screened concentrate weighed with truck on a weigh bridge

· Count number of scoops from the tipper into head feed

· Weight of concentrate from head feed is captured

· Weight-o-meters used to weigh concentrate

· Weight concentrate from surge bin recorded again

· Security personnel on horses doing rounds

· Process at DMS double-locked by security and mine management

· DMS plant is hand free

· Process in recovery up to vault is also double locked

· Conveyor belts screened off with wire mesh

· Recovery up to vault is double locked

· Glove boxes have cameras inside to monitor the sorting operation

· Glove boxes have cameras inside to monitor the sorting operation

· Sorting operations are hands free

· Sorting operations are hands free

· Exporting boxes use self-locking mechanism

· Exporting boxes use self-locking mechanism

· Export boxes secured with 3 locks

· Exporting boxes are secured with 2 locks

· Access to all diamond areas controlled by centralised access control system

· Access to all diamond areas controlled by centralised access control system

· Exit from the mining area is via X-ray machine

· Exit from the mining area is via thorough physical search

Security at the mine

MBADA CANADILE

· Entrances and security exits manned 24 hours

· Entrances and security exits manned 24 hours

· Static security at 100m intervals · Static security at 100m intervals

· Motorbike units conducts rounds every hour

· Security personnel doing rounds on horses

· Dog unit right around the fence area

· Control towers

· Watch towers at corners of the perimeter

· Night-vision cameras along fence and mining area- linked to central control tower

Landing air strip and security control tower

The KP Monitor visited the well-publicised air strip that is being built in the area. The mine management team informed the KP Monitor that the airstrip will be used to transport rough diamonds from the mine to the sorting and valuation facility in Harare. The KP Monitor was also taken to the security control tower. The tower is being built on the highest point in the Marange area.

Matter between Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and African Consolidated Resources

The KP Monitor was informed by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development that African Consolidated Resources Plc, a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has over the past several years, declared a dispute on mining claims in the Marange diamond fields with the ministry and its associated institutions. The dispute between the parties culminated into a High Court ruling in September 2009 with a court order stating the following (as paraphrased):

· The African Consolidated Resources claims issued to Dashaloo Investments, Possession Investments, Heavy Staff Investments and Olebile Investments, which are within the area previously covered by Exclusive Prospecting order 1523 held by Kimberlit Searches are valid and have remained valid since the date they were originally pegged, and the right granted to a company that is associated with African Consolidated Resources, shall not apply in respect of the African Consolidated Resources claims as indicated on Annexure ‘B’ (of the application). In that regard it is hereby ordered that Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation cease its prospecting and diamond mining activities in the said area.

· The Court Order further instructs that 129 400 carats of diamonds seized from African Consolidated Resources offices in Harare January 2007 be returned to African Consolidated Resources, and the Police be directed to cease interfering with the African Consolidated Resources prospecting and mining activities. And that the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and/or its associate institutions pay African Consolidated Resources lost on a legal practitioner and client scale, the one paying the other to be absolved.

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development advised that this matter is sub judice and therefore cannot be discussed in detail until a legal opinion is obtained from its advisors.

The matter between the ministry of Mines and Mining Development and African Consolidated Resources is of serious concern. Indications are that the African Consolidates Resources may file an urgent application to stop shipment of rough diamonds that were mined from Marange diamond fields. This action may require Kimberley Process participants and observers to apply their minds on the matter.

The KP Monitor is of the opinion that the Kimberley Process is mandated by its participants and observers to ensure that Zimbabwe complies fully with minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. And that the matter between the ministry of Mines and Mining Development and African Consolidated Resources is a subject of Zimbabwe’s national laws and court decisions. An attempt to handle the matter outside the courts could easily draw Kimberley Process participants and observers into a political and diplomatic disagreement.

The KP Monitor recommends that Kimberley Process should focus on the implementation of the joint work plan, as envisaged, to ensure that Zimbabwe is in full compliance with Kimberley Process minimum requirements. In the event of an urgent application by African Consolidated Resources, Kimberley Process actions should be guided by a court decision on the matter.

The Way Forward

The following challenges and recommendations are not listed in any particular order, but focus on issues that may have a negative impact on the implementation of the joint work plan, directly or indirectly. In listing these challenges and recommendations, an attempt is made to list only those that address issues covered in the joint work plan, and relevant to Kimberley Process minimum requirements.

Challenges Recommendations

· Government agencies have recently deployed civil servants to monitor and report on the diamond production exports and imports, however, most of these individuals are not adequately trained or inducted into this new responsibility

· Ongoing onsite training and coaching be provided to civil servants. Among other issues, the focus should be on system leakage and audit processes and procedures. Others may be trained as diamond sorters and valuators.

· Too many government agencies are involved in monitoring and handling rough diamonds. This poses the danger of diamonds being swapped or stolen in the process.

· Only the MMCZ, ZIMRA and ZRP should handle rough diamonds. Even with these three agencies, movement of rough diamonds should be subjected to a monitoring and security mechanism that can detect the loss or of diamonds.

· ZMDC has issued some special grants and is issuing more such grants.

· ZMDC should accelerate the process of issuing special grants in the Chiadzwa area since illegal miners may seek to occupy unfenced areas.

· ZRP is permitted by legislation to hold confiscated rough diamonds as exhibit. The legislation allows ZRP to transport rough diamonds to court as required.

· Legislation be amended to reduce the risk of diamond swap or loss. In the event that legislation need not be amended, government may consider the safe-keeping of rough diamonds at MMCZ (on confiscation and during court proceedings) and only release them when necessary.

· Zimbabwe Reserve Bank currently holds rough diamonds for safekeeping pending the court order and Appeal of the court order by the government of Zimbabwe.

· Zimbabwean Reserve Bank be encouraged to keep rough diamonds only under extraordinary circumstances, otherwise be discouraged from handling rough diamonds.

· Mbada Diamonds and Canadile need to increase the chances of providing accurate rough diamond statistics from production to sorting and valuation.

· These companies be encouraged to install Torex and counting machines at the mines.

· Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners do not have adequate diamond audit systems.

· These companies need to employ, a full time qualified diamond audit to increase their chances of complying fully with industry self-regulating mechanism as agreed by the global diamond industry and Kimberley Process participants.

· Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners have not been able to demonstrate that their sorting and valuation centres have no blind-spots.

· These companies need to put cameras all around their sorting and valuation facilities.

· Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners claim their sorting and valuation facilities are fully secured and insured.

· Both companies are requested to submit insurance report from a current insurer of the sorting and valuation facility stating that the facilities are fully insured at a value equivalent to the value of its production

· Mbada Diamonds and Canadile Miners claim their electronic surveillance systems are fully fraud-proof and they guarantee an off-site back-up.

· Both companies are requested to submit an assurance letter certifying that the electronic security system installed at their sorting and valuation facilities cover all areas in the facilities and that on request from the Kimberley Process, they can provide footage of at least three years of coverage, assuming that their operations continue for such a period.

Other Challenges and Recommendations

In addition, the following additional related challenges and recommendations should be taken into consideration.

Challenges Recommendations

· Marange diamonds field is a resource-rich region on the one hand but a politically and economically charged piece of land on the other. The political and economic leadership in and outside government faces the challenge of ensuring that revenue generated from the sale of rough diamonds is used to reconstruct and develop the economy. The challenge is for all parties

involved to communicate clearly the strategic direction the country would like to take in exploiting diamond resources in the interest of all people of Zimbabwe.

The KP Monitor recommends that the Cabinet Task Force on Marange production must lead an economic strategy aimed at developing and growing the diamond mining industry in Zimbabwe to create a significant source of revenue for the state. The strategy will have to be communicated clearly at all levels of government and industry to solicit the buy in of all key players in the industry.

The communication of clear messages to communities and other relevant stakeholders in and around Marange needs to be led by the Cabinet Task Force and/or its representative bodies.

· Communities in Chiadzwa, Marange are not connected to the mining activities in the area. They have seen a fence being erected around the diamond fields, an air strip being constructed, and trucks and bulldozers working. And they have been informed that they will be relocated. The national, provincial and local government representatives and their implementing authorities need to develop an inclusive and well-coordinated relocation strategy aimed at building consensus on the way in which relocation should be implemented.

Such relocation of the community may require a well thought out and well orchestrated plan with involves the participation of all stakeholders, particularly the local communities and their representatives. It might also help to remember that the decision to relocate was taken at the height of the diamond rush and that the circumstances have since changed following the end of diamond rush.

A national and regional communication strategy and plan is required to educate and inform the community and all relevant stakeholders on the rationale, goals and objectives of the relocation.

There must be room for new ideas on the nature of the relocation since this decision was taken during or around the diamond rush period. New ideas may include; classification of communities that need to be relocated and categories of communities such as (a) those members of the community who would like to secure jobs at the mine (b) those who may want to be paid cash and start a new life elsewhere; and (c) those who are ready to relocate to a designated area.

· The government and its associate institutions face a financial crisis, as a result certain fundamentals are not in place to develop and grow diamond production in Marange. It might be relevant to consider development institutions in Africa and the world at large that are mandated to provide developmental assistance of all types.

The government needs to appoint a team that will research development institutions such as the African Development Bank, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Industrial Development Corporation and the European Community, etc. This takes into account that there are sanctions imposed on government and government officials.

· The selection of joint venture partners to invest and mine diamonds in the Marange diamond fields has received much criticism from several quarters. Numerous documents suggest prospective investors normally apply for grants and these applications accumulate over time. At a later stage relevant government institutions process these applications and select some.

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development may want to consider a more transparent, credible and predictable system that will enable the ministry to select applicants for consideration. Such a system will ensure credibility and accountability in a more transparent and predictable manner.

· The certification and shipment of Zimbabwe’s rough diamonds is certainly going to create a revenue base for the government. The communities where diamonds are mined are most likely to expect return on the diamond resources.

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development may want to consider releasing statistics on the royalties and company taxes paid to government as well as dividends declared by the MMCZ annually to demonstrate how the diamond industry is contributing to the national fiscus. The ministry may also want to demonstrate how mining in the area is contributing to the development of infrastructure, job creation, wealth, health and educational development.

· The development of small scale mining is a daunting task for government due to its complexity and magnitude. The programme that the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and other stakeholders have embarked on is commendable.

The ministry of Mines and Mining Development may want to conduct a benchmark study on small-scale mining in countries that have similar economic and mining circumstances. These include Ghana, Sierra Leon and Angola.

· The implementation of the joint work plan Government needs to expedite the process of requires technical and financial support from participants. Apparently, that the government has written letters to countries such as South Africa to solicit technical support engaging these countries to support speedy implementation of the joint work plan. South Africa and European Community may be ready to assist government with immediate effect. The government should direct specific requests for assistance to those countries that have offered technical assistance, in order to ensure that areas of greatest need are addressed as a matter of priority.

· Experience has shown that illicit trade in Zimbabwe is most likely to spill over to its neighbouring countries. There is need for regional cooperation as recommended by the Working Group on Monitoring and as foreseen in the joint work plan. Such co-operation may include internal monitoring controls, security, technology, and coaching and or training. The DRC as the Vice Chair of the Kimberley Process may wish to consider championing efforts to promote strengthened regional co-operation, in consultation with the government of Zimbabwe, in order to ensure that such regional co-operation is designed to address specific challenges being faced by Zimbabwe in meeting the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

Support for the KP Monitor

· Following the fact-finding-mission, the KP Monitor was able to establish the magnitude of the tasks ahead and has concluded that to fulfill his mandate in a professional and diligent manner he needs secretarial and technical expertise. It would be unrealistic to expect him to fulfill this task without secretarial and technical support.

Recommendations on the Secretarial and Technical support

· The secretarial support that is required includes the facilitation of constant communication with all key stakeholders; planning and coordination of KP Monitor visits to Zimbabwe; compilation of supporting documentation in preparation for writing periodic reports; monitoring media coverage of the Marange diamond fields and general administration of the activities of the KP Monitor. The envisaged secretarial support will ensure that the collection and, verification of data, as well as certification of information provided by the Zimbabwean government and industry is accurate. It will also ensure that periodic reports written by the KP Monitor are prepared professionally. Additional information may reach the KP Monitor through sources such as KP Participants, Observers and the Zimbabwean government.

· The following recommendations are made to expedite the task of the KP Monitor. The individuals who are recommended are highly competent and are known professionally to the KP Monitor and with whom the KP Monitor feels comfortable working. The fact that they are based in the region helps to keep costs down and makes the co-ordination of regular visits to Zimbabwe by the KP Monitor easy to co-ordinate, especially in the area of technical support on site in Marange.

Secretarial

· The KP Monitor recommends Ms. Thuli Magubane, an experienced and professional project coordinator, be engaged to provide the envisaged. For the past seven years, she has served the corporate world as an administrator and coordinator. Her strengths are in establishing programme management offices (PMOs) designed to administer and coordinate large projects. She has implemented PMOs in the financial and property industries in South Africa. Thuli has attended various training courses in programme management office, project management methodologies and project coordination. For more information, please consult the resume, which accompanies this report.

Technical

· The KP Monitor recommends Ms. Jennifer Posthumus, an experienced diamond expert, be engaged to provide the envisaged. With over 20 years of experience in the diamond industry, Jennifer has sorted and valued large quantities of rough diamonds into various assortments for optimum yield. In the past six years, she acquired experience in negotiations with buyers and sellers in the open market. Jennifer attended various training programmes in South Africa, Antwerp, London and Israel. She has worked for the De Beers, group of Companies, including Diamdel, South Africa. Currently, she works for Degas’ Love a rough diamond trading company. Her professional integrity and ethical standards are beyond reproach. For more information, please consult the resume which accompanies this report.

Next visit to Zimbabwe

· The KP Monitor is available to visit Zimbabwe from 6 -8 April 2010, subject to confirmation with chair of the working group on monitoring and the government of Zimbabwe. The purpose of the visit is to conduct a thorough examination of individual shipments from any producing area in Marange and their chain of custody to confirm whether rough diamonds selected for shipment were produced and prepared in accordance with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme minimum requirements.

· If compliant, the KP Monitor is required to confirm the certification on the relevant Kimberley Process Certificate with his signature and stamp, and will digitally photograph the certificate and shipment. If not compliant, the KP Monitor will provide to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development of Zimbabwe written indications as to the reasons, including any possible means of remediation. During this period, the shipment will be held until remedial action is completed, after which the KP Monitor will reexamine the export and, if fully compliant, certify it and sign the certificate, as provided in the joint work plan.

· The KP Monitor would like to be accompanied by a diamond expert and a project coordinator when he visits Zimbabwe.

Conclusion

· The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme remains the only international system that has successfully responded to conflict resource issues worldwide. The scheme has successfully and drastically reduced resource issues on the continent and has contributed to the political and economic stability of fragile states such as Zimbabwe. The scheme is known for imposing extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict free’ and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate global trade.

· Under the terms of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, participating states must meet minimum requirements and must put in place national legislation and institutions; export, import and internal controls; and also commit to transparency and exchange of statistical data. Participants can only legally trade with other participants who have also met minimum requirements of the scheme, and international shipments of rough diamonds must be accompanied by a Kimberley Process Certificate guaranteeing they are conflict free.

· The implementation of the joint work plan is critical for meeting these minimum requirements.

• President Jacob Zuma has both visited and sent negotiating delegations to Zimbabwe over the last few weeks, but the South African leader is being tested by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party: reported agreements reached on implementation of the GPA were rebutted by Mugabe as soon as the South Africans went home.  The coalition partners failed to meet the March 31 deadline set by Pretoria to complete negotiations.

• The stand-off continued all this week while SADC, guarantor of the GPA, has neither commented on or condemned the situation publicly. President Zuma is due to present a report to the SADC organ on security, defence and politics, which may then call a plenary meeting to discuss the situation.

• Solidarity Peace Trust director Brian Raftopoulos told journalists at the launch of a new report in Johannesburg Wednesday that President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party is determined to remain in power at any cost.  “ Be very clear this is a struggle for the state. Any struggle for the state is intense, it is violent, it is problematic, especially when you are fighting a party whose very future is invested in control of the state.”

• The Zimbabwean judiciary has once more postponed the final ruling in the Roy Bennett case which has been adjourned to May 10.  On the same day police served the MDC senator with a new summons on charges of ‘hoarding’ maize he had grown on his farm nine years previously.

• France, which is in charge of granting Belgian visas to Zimbabweans, has declined to issue a visa to discredited Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as part of a delegation from Zimbabwe to discuss re-engagement plans. However, Chinamasa, who is on the EU travel-ban list, could apply direct to the Belgian Embassy in South Africa.

• Minority partner in the GPA and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara angered his supporters in a speech at a Women’s Day event, when he heaped praise on Robert Mugabe, describing him as “a consistent leader with organizational capacity and strategic vision.”

• South Africa’s ANC Youth League president, Julius Malema, visited Zimbabwe to “learn about Zimbabwe’s revolutionary empowerment programmes” from Zanu-PF Youth Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere. Also a controversial figure, Kasukuwere admitted last year that Zanu-PF deployed youth militias to spearhead its violent 2008 pre- and post-election campaign. Malema created controversy by declaring the ANC would start confiscating white-owned farms and nationalising mines in South Africa.

• In-fighting within the re-formed ZAPU party has surfaced, with several suspended officials seeking to sue the party’s chairman, Dumiso Dabengwa over their outstanding grievances.

• Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators (ZILIWACO) members who took to the streets in Masvingo Wednesday claimed sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West had caused the deaths of half a million people through cholera and malnutrition. The demonstration was called to pressurize Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to push for the removal of sanctions.

Governance

• After a year of delay, two key reform commissions were finally sworn in – the Human Rights Commission and the Electoral Commission. But analysts at legal monitor Veritas say the new electoral commission cannot reform the deeply flawed electoral laws without the consent of Zanu-PF Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa.

• Harare City Council has adopted a report exposing illicit municipal land deals by Mugabe relative Philip Chiyangwa and Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo. A local newspaper which covered the leaked report was raided by the police and journalists were interrogated.

• Bulawayo city council has announced plans to purchase six luxury vehicles for its top managers, while the city’s water reticulation system, street lighting, and roads are all in serious disrepair through lack of finances.

• The new constitution-making process became marred in controversy after reports emerged that the committees and MPs involved in the process were paying themselves hefty allowances during the training period. The UNDP and other donors therefore announced they would only fund the 70% of the public consultation programme which deals with the actual constitution-making process. The Zimbabwe government is to fund the remaining 30% of costs.

Business

• The German African Business Association (GABA) cancelled a visit to Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe has become a “no go area” for foreign investors following promulgation of the empowerment laws that give foreign-controlled business up to 2015 to sell a majority stake to indigenous Zimbabweans or face punitive levies and taxes from the government. Norway recently announced that it was putting on hold a US$1,5 million project to assist Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector because of the indigenisation law.

• State electricity utility Zesa is battling to find investors to pay for new generators at Hwange power station, while other generation projects remain unfunded, including the proposed Batoka Hydro Power station, the Gokwe North Power station and a raft of mini hydro power stations across the country.

• Lack of electricity has forced thousands of residents to use wood fuel for cooking, causing massive deforestation as entrepreneurs cut down trees in the countryside to transport to the cities. Environmentalists have warned that 20 percent of forests have been lost to firewood vendors since 1990, and that losses are accelerating by an alarming 16 percent each year.

• Hwange Colliery Company Ltd (HCCL) has resorted to barter trade. It will pay two South African companies with processed coal (coke) to the value of US$4 million, in exchange for repairing its 32-coke oven battery.

• State telecoms regulator Telco has switched off the internet accounts of 200 of ISP Zimbabwe Online’s customers. The Zol account holders have refused to supply their personal details as demanded by the much-maligned Interception of Communications Act. The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) enforces compliance with the Act.

• A shortage of over-the-counter drugs has been caused by the forced closure of pharmaceutical manufacturer Caps Holdings’ factory by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe.  This was reportedly due to the production of drugs from the newly-refurbished plant before it had been inspected.

• Taxi bus operators have appealed to Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to stop his police officers forcing the operators to ‘donate’ a routine US$5 bribe at roadblocks in and around Harare and outlying towns.

• Ecoweb, the wholly-owned ISP subsidiary of Zimbabwe’s largest cellular network operator, Econet Wireless, has started implementing a project to install the country’s first mobile WiMAX network.  The new network will be capable of carrying mobile, nomadic and fixed services ranging from individual netbooks to large corporate networks.

Elections

• The Zimbabwe Republic Police has ordered all officers-in-charge to eliminate ‘unpatriotic’ officers from the force as the country prepares for a possible fresh election.  Last week senior police personnel warned officers at Police General Headquarters that anyone who was suspected of supporting any other party than Zanu-PF would be dismissed from the force.

• Hundreds of thousands of ‘invisible’ and ‘forgotten’ Zimbabweans inside the country, disenfranchised by the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2001 and denied many rights, including the right to vote, are lobbying for dual citizenship.  This constituency comprises an estimated two million second and third generation Zimbabweans, many of Zambian and Malawian descent.

Agricultural Sector

• The SADC Tribunal in Windhoek has postponed the hearing of a contempt of court case brought by the Commercial Farmers’ Union against the Zimbabwe government after Mugabe refused to accept the Tribunal judgment outlawing the country’s land reforms. The Tribunal ruled that the “reforms” were “discriminatory, racist and illegal under the SADC Treaty”. The commercial farmers want the Tribunal to grant an enforcement order urging SADC leaders to take measures that might include the suspension or expulsion of Zimbabwe from the regional bloc.

• Lawyers for civil rights group AfriForum seized a luxury property in Cape Town belonging to the Zimbabwe government, in what is a significant step towards gaining compensation for Zimbabwean farmers who lost their land in President Mugabe’s unlawful land reform programme. Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa had no comment on the action, but returned to Harare to ‘consult’.

• South African foreign affairs official Kgomotso Molobi announced that the South African Government would appeal the court ruling in favour of AfriForum.

Political Violence

• On Wednesday the pressure group Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) reported that Zanu-PF mobs had attacked villages in Mashonaland East, burning houses and a church in Muzarabani district and forcing 16 families to flee. Certain MDC officials have denied that there is organised violence in the area.

• Demonstrations by Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) members were violently disrupted and several student leaders were arrested in Harare and Masvingo. The students were demanding the ‘full implementation of the GPA’ as well as protesting against ‘deteriorating conditions in education’.

• The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) released its report on election violence, rape and sexual abuse, entitled “Fighting for a New Constitution: Human Rights Violations Experienced by Female Members of the National Constitutional Assembly”. The report detailed serial abuse of women by Zanu-PF youth militias, ‘war veteran’ groups and police.

• A grouping of NGOs under the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition say they are seeking an audience with South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma over the rising levels of violence and harassment in Zimbabwe.

The Arts

• An exhibition of paintings at Bulawayo’s National Gallery was closed and the artist, Owen Maseko, arrested and charged with ‘inciting violence’. The exhibition theme was the political violence and the Gukurahundi massacres which took place in Matabeleland in the 1980s. Last week in Harare’s Delta Gallery, a photographic exhibition by ZimRights, featuring pictures of the 2008 political violence, was also shut down by police.

Mining

• Mining Minister Obert Mpofu is under scrutiny after a personal multi-million US dollar cash spending spree on property in Victoria Falls.

• Minister Mpofu admitted to the parliamentary committee probing mining activities in Chiadzwa that he had issued licences to two diamond mining firms in Chiadzwa in which it is believed he may have an interest. Although the firms are more than 50 percent owned by the Government, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said there had as yet been no income from the two firms.

• The Parliamentary Committee on Mines’s fact-finding mission to the Marange/Chiadzwa diamond diggings was refused entry to the diamond fields and to the premises of the two firms exploiting the diamond fields. The group of lawmakers and journalists were barred by police on the orders of the Zanu-PF Provincial Governor, the Police Commissioner and Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu.

• The Kimberley Process monitor for Zimbabwe, Abbey Chikane, said no diamonds from Marange have as yet been certified for sale, but he has submitted a detailed report to the Kimberley Process working committee on monitoring.

• Illegal gold panners have descended on two farms near Masvingo, causing massive land degradation and trampling crops. Police have arrested 80 people but the gold rush is attracting hundreds of men, women and schoolchildren every day.

• The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Indigenization under which foreign-owned mining companies would set aside 10 percent of their equity shares for indigenous blacks under the indigenization program. The proposal noted that bodies such as the IMF could fund the purchase of shares for ordinary Zimbabweans who would otherwise not be able to afford them. The proposal was rejected by Indigenisation Minister Kasukuwere.

• The 5 000 workers at Zimbabwe’s massive Shabanie and Mashava asbestos mines have not been paid for 18 months, and are now being assisted by the World Food Programme. The mines were confiscated from businessman Matuma Mawere by the Zanu-PF government and are no longer operating.

Health/Humanitarian

• UNICEF director in Harare, Dr Peter Salama, has called for international aid to restart the measles immunisation program in Zimbabwe, where 183 deaths have occurred in the last few months and fears of an epidemic are rising. Health Minister Henry Madzorera (MDC) said US$ 8.4 million would be required for a countrywide measles vaccination program.

• Thousands of Bulawayo residents who have not paid their water bills are being disconnected by the Bulawayo city council, prompting fears of another cholera outbreak.

Diaspora

• Solidarity Peace Trust has released a new report titled:  “Desperate lives, twilight worlds – how a million Zimbabweans live without sanction or sanctuary in South Africa”.  It details the dire reality facing Zimbabwean immigrants who fled their country seeking safety and work in South Africa, a trend that is still continuing. It also notes that more Zimbabweans have fled their country in the past 10 years than those who fled Mozambique at the height of its long and bloody civil war.  Click here to access the report.

Good News

• The United States government officially handed over a new, upgraded bio-safety, level-two-plus laboratory to the Minister of Health, Dr. Henry Madzorera. The facility at Harare hospital will enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to offer clinical and diagnostic testing as well as research on indigenous/exotic agents which may cause serious disease after inhalation, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) ,typhoid (Salmonella Typhi),anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) and the H1N1 virus.

• US-based media development organisation Internews Network plans to launch a project to use local media, video and civic networks to promote understanding of Zimbabwe’s national healing and reconciliation agenda. There are no transitional justice mechanisms sponsored by government in spite of the organ on national healing having been set up under the GPA.

• An ex-member of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Office (CIO) has publicly apologised for violence and torture campaigns in which he participated during and after the 2008 elections, saying there were many more in the CIO who felt guilt and shame.