Posted on 12/16/2002 4:47:06 AM PST by Clive
Chinhoyi - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe closed his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party's annual conference on a high and defiant note even as he acknowledged that the country was in dire economic straits.
"Problems are always there, they should not detract from who we are, they should not cause us to deny our heritage; in sickness and poverty we are Zimbabweans," Mugabe told about 3 000 faithfuls who had converged on the farming town 115km north of Harare.
Food
Among the draft resolutions passed, was the need to step up efforts to ensure that nearly eight million Zimbabweans (more than two thirds of the population) who face food shortages caused by drought and which aid agencies blame on the southern African county's chaotic land reform exercise launched in early 2000, have food.
The party acknowledged that all the country's maize - the staple food - was being imported and that continued imports would be difficult to sustain given the acute foreign currency shortage facing the country.
The shortage was blamed on transfer pricing and the thriving foreign currency black market where the dollar fetches as much as 1 500 Zimbabwe dollars. The government has for the past two years pegged the rate of exchange of the American unit at 55 Zimbabwe dollars.
The party urged government to cancel licences of banks involved in parallel market foreign currency deals, send their directors and employees to jail and forfeit profits from the illegal transactions.
Fuel
Addressing the current fuel shortage, the worst since erratic oil supplies started causing intermittent shortages more than two years ago, Mugabe threatened to nationalise oil distribution firms, many of them foreign, to end the crippling fuel shortage in the country.
He said his government had been "foolish" for too long by importing fuel and giving it to the distribution firms to sell and make profits while the government gets nothing but headaches out of the exercise.
"The government can acquire these (distribution) points and compensate them.., and distribute the fuel," he said.
Among the foreign oil distributors operating here are Mobil, Total and BP Shell.
Almost all service stations in the country were without petrol on Saturday and those that had stocks were besieged by queues of cars that snaked for kilometres.
Delegates to the conference were spared the inconvenience however as they could, on production of an authorisation note from the party, obtain fuel at a service station in Chinhoyi.
For the first time Mugabe acknowledged that his controversial land reforms are facing problems and promised an land audit that he would personally lead.
Britain, MDC
As has become customary Mugabe aimed more vitriol towards Britain, its western allies and "their local puppets", the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which he dismissed as "chaff".
"MDC is now the chaff, they are the chaff, the chaff in our midst, look at their actions," he said.
"They are on their way out, whatever (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair says about it, or does about it, it's out and out and out," Mugabe said, referring to the British government which he says bankrolls the MDC.
"But don't forget that when there are dying horses like that, they may just have a fatal kick, used to killing as they are. They are planning killings and killings."
Mugabe condemned white Zimbabweans most of whom he accused of believing they were still in Rhodesia. "The Rhodesians should go to Rhodesia. I don't know where it is, Blair will show them where Rhodesia is."
In the face of what he called western hostility he called for a strengthening of relations with other developing countries.
I take this as an allusion to the Gukurahundi in which the notorious 5th Brigade massacred 20,000 Ndebele.
("gukurahundi" - "wind that sweeps away the chaff")
Oh no. One guess what he's planning....
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