Posted on 12/17/2002 9:26:17 AM PST by backhoe
From The Natal Mercury (SA), 17 December
Broke Zim's hopes of fuel lifeline dashed
Harare - Zimbabwe's acute and chaotic petrol shortages seemed destined to get worse after state media reported on Monday that talks with Libya, the main fuel supplier, had collapsed. Long lines of cars, taxis and buses coiled around city blocks and suburban streets. Some drivers, in lines that hadn't moved for hours, went off in search of food or coffee. By noon, the line still hadn't moved. Some lines disappeared after petrol station managers said they had no assurances of deliveries from the state oil procurement monopoly, the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim). For several days, scuffles have broken out in the lines. Riot police have been called to stop queue jumping. The state Herald newspaper reported that Libyan oil company officials had left the country on Saturday after aborting talks to restore regular fuel supplies. It said neither the ministry of energy nor Noczim had commented on the breakdown of the talks with the Libyan-controlled Tamoil company.
Libya has been the main supplier of petrol this year, but a monthly $30-million (R280-million) deal with Zimbabwe has floundered over payment arrears, oil industry executives say. Zimbabwe is suffering acute hard currency shortages. Petrol first dried up in late 1999 after Kuwait shut off supplies to demand arrears. President Robert Mugabe, addressing a ruling party conference on Saturday, accused state officials of "dragging their feet" over fuel imports. "I don't understand why there are fuel problems in the country. I spoke to Colonel (Muammar) Gaddafi, who ordered the Libyans to supply us" in return for investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, Mugabe said. He said Libya intended to use payments in local currency to invest in joint ventures with Zimbabwean businesses. "They said you should quickly assist us in these areas. But to our side, we dragged our feet," he said. Libya had then asked for hard currency payments.
On Friday, the state media criticised government-appointed executives at Noczim it said were searching for alternative suppliers to provide petrol in cash rather than contract deals. It accused them and officials of the central bank and the ministry of finance of profiteering on one-off deals that also risked jeopardising the security of long-term contracts. But Noczim is so heavily indebted it can no longer get long-term credit, industry executives say. The government has refused to allow petrol stations to raise prices at the pumps for fear of hiking the already record inflation of 144 percent and crippling commuter and rural bus services. Regular petrol sells for Z$74,4 (about R11.80)a litre, the cheapest in the region and less than a quarter of the price of milk or beer. International oil companies say they are willing to import their own fuel, but only if they are able to deal at market-related exchange rates.
From The Wall Street Journal, 16 December
US envoy denounces world leaders who deny people food
Rome (AP)- World leaders who deny their people food should stand trial, the U.S. envoy to U.N. food agencies said Monday, in a briefing on looming famines in Africa. Ambassador Tony Hall, speaking after a trip to southern Africa, didn't identify any government allegedly denying its people food. He is the U.S. envoy to the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program. He said two countries - Zimbabwe and Zambia - were the "main problem" facing U.N. food relief efforts in southern Africa, where millions could face famine. In Zimbabwe, aid agencies have partly blamed a hunger crisis on the government's program to seize thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to black settlers. The country's opposition has accused President Robert Mugabe of denying food to regions opposed to his government. Zambia controversially rejected U.S. food donations because they may have been genetically modified.
"Anybody who uses food as a weapon or denies food to people who then die of hunger should be tried," Hall said. Asked if he was referring to Zimbabwe or Zambia, he said the remark was only a "general principle." Hall also said the European Union - which has banned genetically modified crops for its member nations, but has urged southern African states to accept them as aid - should do more, given the gravity of the crisis. "It's now a moral problem not an intellectual debate" about genetically modified food, Hall said. "If Europe still has some doubts on genetically modified foods, then they shouldn't talk about it but get their own food and money down there," he said. Hall, a former Ohio congressman, travelled in October to southern Africa where droughts and floods have left millions of people facing starvation.
In Zambia, an estimated 2.9 million people - nearly 30% of the population - are in danger of starvation. In October, the government rejected a large U.S. corn donation. The World Food Program is in the process of replacing it with corn that hasn't been genetically modified. The replacement could arrive too late, Hall said. In Zimbabwe, tens of thousands of U.S. crop donations sit undistributed in depots or have not been allowed into the country because of government red tape, Hall said. Also Monday, the World Food Program officially launched a previously announced aid campaign against famines in Africa, saying 38 million people are endangered there. The agency, which has relied mainly on government donations, was appealing for the first time to non-government groups.
From The Daily News, 16 December
Top Zanu PF officials in maize scam
From Energy Bara in Masvingo
A maize scam in which known top Zanu PF officials are allegedly purchasing the scarce staple grain in large quantities for resale at exorbitant prices on the black market has hit Gutu district. Three Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officers at Gutu Mupandawana growth point who were allegedly acting in concert with the politicians are under probe following the revelations that they were part of the scam. Villagers have since called on the government to institute thorough investigations into the matter as hunger continues to tighten its grip on rural communities. Some Zanu PF heavyweights, including politburo members, are allegedly taking advantage of the maize shortage to hoard large stocks of the staple food from the GMB using their influence. They later resell the grain at exorbitant prices to hungry villagers on the open market. An official at the GMB depot at Gutu who refused to be named for fear of victimisation yesterday said: "Currently three of our officers are under investigation because of the maize scandal. The three employees were working hand-in-hand with well-known politicians to deprive people of food. After having used their influence to purchase maize at the depot, the politicians would establish illegal selling points on the open market where a 50-kilogram pack of maize would be sold for $6 500."
The GMB retail price of a 50kg pack is less than $1 000. The police in Masvingo yesterday said they were investigating a number of cases in which the distribution and purchase of maize from the GMB depot in the province was not done properly. The Masvingo police spokesman, Learn Ncube, said: "Of late the distribution of maize has been going on well, save for a few cases where the exercise was not properly done. We will continue to investigate those cases and we have so far arrested a Central Mechanical Equipment Department driver and a GMB salesman who were found dealing in maize." Meanwhile, villagers in Gutu district have called on President Mugabe to intervene and discipline members of his party who are involved in the maize scandal. A spokesman for the villagers, Norbert Manyango, said they were shocked to learn that senior members of the party were using their influence to deprive people of food. Manyango said: "We can name the people who are involved in the maize scandal. It’s shocking that senior members of our party, Zanu PF, want hungry villagers to starve to death. We are calling on Mugabe to intervene otherwise people will die of hunger." Starvation has reached critical levels in Masvingo province where the entire population is in desperate need of food aid.
From the Daily Telegraph (UK), 17 December
Mugabe's men drown cattle as thousands go hungry
Harare - Zimbabwe's commercial farmers have fallen victim to a renewed campaign of mindless violence with the killing of hundreds of cattle by workers egged on by supporters of President Robert Mugabe. On one farm several hundred head of cattle were recently driven into a dam to drown while others were penned into paddocks, in searing heat, to starve to death. Cattle were sent to their excruciating end by a group of about hysterical 20 farm workers, encouraged by government supporters, at Forrester Estates, in the Mvurwi district about 60 miles north-east of Harare. "It was terrible," said Fanie Ferreira, 43, who recently quit as a sub-manager on the estate. "The noise they made was…you can't describe it. It was frightening. It took about an hour for the last one to die. Some just drowned, some slipped on the mud and then couldn't get up. The next day we pulled the corpses out of the dam and burned them." Days earlier cattle were locked into pens and the crazed gang refused to allow management to feed or water the animals at a time of extreme heat in a dry spell late last month.
Forrester Estates is owned by Heinrich von Pezold, a German, and has had a measure of protection from a trade agreement between the Zimbabwe and German governments following the seizure of more than 90 per cent of white-owned farmland since early 2000. Despite court orders setting aside all seizure notices, two sections of the 20,000-acre estate were closed down by Mugabe supporters. Police were unable to say if anyone was arrested in connection with the cattle deaths at a time when a beef shortage is imminent and almost half the population is on the brink of starvation. A spokesman for the Commercial Farmers' Union said farmers were still being prevented from growing crops, or were being chased off their properties. Fewer than 600 commercial farmers are either living on their farms, or trying to grow crops from about 4,500 before Mr Mugabe launched his violent seizures of white-owned farms. The World Food Programme, which is now feeding more than two million Zimbabweans, said last week the worst is still to come and that, in mid to late January, Zimbabwe could be staring famine in the face for the first time in its history. Drought last year caused some of the food deficit but the WFP largely blames the disruption of commercial agriculture.
From News24 (SA), 16 December
Mugabe arrives at conference
Cape Town - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has arrived at the ANC's national conference in Stellenbosch on Monday morning flanked by a big convoy of motorcycles and cars, amid tight security. The attendance of Mugabe will be a surprise to the ANC. At a news conference on the eve of the conference, ANC deputy secretary-general Thenjiwe Mtintso said Mugabe's party - Zanu PF - had been invited, not the president as such. Beeld's Jan-Jan Joubert told News24 that Mugabe arrived at 08:30 amid tight security. "His convey of about 12 cars was accompanied by six motorcycles. The bridge over Eerste River was closed to public traffic as the president passed through. Once through the venue gates, the president moved inside and access to the building was off limits to the media." Other parties invited to the conference included Namibia's Swapo, Frelimo from Mozambique, the Chinese Communist Party and the Cuban Communist Party. Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was also invited, but there had been no confirmation on whether he would attend. Of the local parties, the Democratic Alliance and the Pan Africanist Congress were not invited. ANC president Thabo Mbeki will open the conference on Monday.
Comment from ZWNEWS, 17 December
I don’t understand…
"I don’t understand why there are fuel problems in the country," Mugabe said when closing his party conference in Chinhoyi. "Why offend the Libyans by buying fuel from other suppliers?," he added, blaming his own fuel procurement agency, and finishing with a threat to nationalise the country’s filling stations. How is it that he doesn’t know why, when the whole world – including everyone in Zimbabwe – knows why?
The reason why there is no fuel is that fuel costs hard currency - and Zimbabwe isn’t earning any. The Libyans may have originally agreed to accept local currency, and expropriated farms and businesses, in payment, but that was when the Z$ and the farms and companies were worth multiples of what they are worth now, and many more multiples of what they will be worth next year. The reason why fuel was sought from other suppliers is also very simple. You run up an account with the Libyans of more than US$360 million, and they stop supplying. You then scratch together a bit of hard currency, and you have two choices – give it to the Libyans, who will then expunge a bit of that outstanding debt, or use it to buy a little fuel – cash on the nail – from someone else. Less debt, or petrol. The choice is, as they say, a no-brainer.
The whole world knows that the Libyans have strategic interests elsewhere in the world. It is no secret that the EU has been using these interests to put pressure on Libya to stop propping up Zanu PF. It is also no secret that Libya (or anyone else) does not like to be made a fool of. And that is just what has happened. Libya, and its state oil company Tamoil, have come to realise that they have joined the long list of countries and companies that have fallen for a well-practised Zanu PF sales-pitch. Eskom, Sasol, the Port of Beira, the government of Botswana, the lessors of Air Zimbabwe’s aircraft, the entire populations of Zimbabwe and the DRC; the list goes on. All have ended up with Zanu PF on their bad debtors' list. Why offend the Libyans? They were already offended. Why threaten the nation’s filling stations? A last offer to the recently-departed Libyan delegation to persuade them to part with a few more barrels, perhaps? Why blame NOCZIM and the banks? The whole world knows that NOCZIM and the Zanu PF banks are corrupt and inept, and have been for years. That is nothing new.
Mugabe knows perfectly well why there is no fuel. The whole world knows why there is no fuel. He knows the whole world knows. The whole world knows he knows. But there is one big reason (apart from the Libyans) to feign innocence. You can bet the presidential petrol tank that yesterday in Cape Town Mugabe was trying to persuade President Mbeki to give him credit for fuel. One more prospective punter - one more prospective confidence trick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.