Posted on 12/19/2002 9:38:20 AM PST by backhoe
From News24 (SA), 18 December
Now paraffin runs out
Cris Chinaka
Harare - The fuel shortage in Zimbabwe has plunged the economy deeper into crisis and heightened political anger against President Robert Mugabe's government, analysts and the opposition said on Wednesday. The two-week shortage has nearly paralysed the southern African country's public transport system and forced many struggling companies to scale down operations at a time when they normally cash in on festive season shoppers. State media reported on Wednesday that diesel and paraffin – mainly used by poor urban families for cooking - had run out at many service stations. Motorists are spending nights in queues at the few service stations with fuel. News of the deepening fuel crisis coincided with an official release that Zimbabwe's annual inflation has jumped to a record 175.5% mainly over increases in food prices. "What is emerging all around us in this country is a picture of extreme managerial incompetence and the government must be extremely embarrassed by what we are all seeing here," said private economic consultant John Robertson.
Mugabe's government remained silent on the crisis on Wednesday despite opposition demands for an explanation. But official sources said the president's advisers were huddled in meetings to try to find a solution to the fuel crisis that has left the public seething with anger. "People are very angry with everything going on," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters on Wednesday. "Zimbabwe is now a nation where everything is in short supply except violence, misery, disease and death," he said. On Monday, the official Herald newspaper said Zimbabwe's efforts to salvage a fuel supply deal with a Libyan oil company had failed after a week of talks with the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), the country's sole oil procurement agency. Last week, the Herald also accused NOCZIM officials of corruption and sabotage in their handling of the fuel crisis. NOCZIM and ministry of energy officials have not commented.
Fuel supplies have been erratic since 1999 due to a foreign currency squeeze, which has also left the country short of other basic items such as bread, cooking oil, sugar and salt. Mugabe blames his problems on domestic and foreign opponents whom he says are trying to overthrow him for seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Mugabe has also accused oil foreign firms with retail outlets in Zimbabwe of profiteering at the expense of the state by not importing their own fuel. Zimbabwe is grappling with its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1980, including a severe food shortage that has left nearly half its 14 million people facing starvation.
From Business Day (SA), 19 December
Zimbabwe fails to meet Libya's terms
Harare - Zimbabwe's energy minister says that a vital fuel deal with Libya includes conditions the fuel-starved Southern African country cannot meet. Speculation has been rife in Zimbabwe that the deal with Libya, which supplies 70% of the country's fuel needs, has collapsed. Over the past two weeks, the fuel situation in the country has become desperate. The admission by Energy Minister Amos Midzi came after President Robert Mugabe at the weekend blamed fuel distribution companies, some of them foreign-owned, for the crisis and threatened to nationalise them. Under the deal with Libya Zimbabwe is permitted to pay for fuel in local currency. In return Libya has been allowed to invest in tourism and banking in Zimbabwe and to obtain agricultural products such as beef, sugar, coffee and tobacco. "In terms of commodity trading, it has been very difficult, as all honourable members are aware that some of the commodities that the Libyans wanted to buy from Zimbabwe are in short supply," Midzi said. Midzi said the shortages had contributed to the country's inability "to clear the outstanding balance", but did not say the deal with Libya had collapsed. Petroleum is now almost unobtainable in the country, while diesel is running out. A controversial land reform programme by the government has been blamed for cutting agricultural output in Zimbabwe, once dubbed "the breadbasket of southern Africa".
From ZWNEWS, 19 December
Final judgement handed down
Judge Victor Marrero of the US District Court of New York has handed down his final judgement in the case brought against Zanu PF by victims of political violence in the run-up to the June 2000 parliamentary elections. The plaintiffs in the case - Adella Chiminya Tachiona, Efridah Pfebve, Elliot Pfebve, Evelyn Masaiti, and Maria Stevens – brought the civil suit against Robert Mugabe, Stan Mudenge, and other senior leaders of Zanu PF, as well as against the party itself, under the Alien Tort Claims Act. This Act allows non-US citizens to seek redress in the US courts for claims originating outside the US. As with his other decisions in the long-running, and ground-breaking, case, Judge Marrero’s final judgement is substantial. His judgement analyses in depth the extent to which the Zimbabwean constitution and laws were violated by Zanu PF, and found that Zanu PF "systematically hounded its political opponents through repeated acts of terror and violence" in the run-up to the 2000 elections. Judge Marrero’s judgement agreed almost entirely with an earlier recommendation of damages submitted by Magistrate Judge Francis. The final damages awarded against the defendants total US$71 250 453, comprising compensatory damages of US$20 250 453, and punitive damages of $51 000 000. This judgment is now final and enforceable. The rules allow private parties 30 days, and the Government 60 days, to file any notice of an appeal.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like a copy of Judge Marrero's judgement, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 200Kb, or approximately 4 times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
From Business Day (SA), 19 December
Tsvangirai sees SA worsening crisis
International Affairs Editor
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has "cast serious doubt" on the role of President Thabo Mbeki as an honest broker in the crisis in his country. This comes as Mbeki is preparing to send Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to Harare in an attempt to broker government talks with the MDC. "SA has become part of the Zimbabwe problem because its actions are worsening the crisis," Tsvangirai said in an address to his party's members of parliament yesterday in Harare. Tsvangirai said Britain and SA were working with the ruling party to get him to the negotiating table with President Robert Mugabe about the country's crises. "I am reliably informed that Mugabe is prepared to meet me somewhere outside the country to discuss his problems . Let me state here that the Anglo-SA plan will fail to take off if it remains predicated on the desire to legitimise the illegitimate Mugabe regime," he said.
Zanu PF broke off talks with the MDC in May after the opposition mounted a court challenge to the Zanu PF victory in the March presidential elections. Tsvangirai's words mean that SA cannot draw support from the opposition for what it says are its efforts to engineer talks between the MDC and Zanu PF. Tsvangirai said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had launched a campaign with SA support in an attempt to find room to ease the pressures on Zimbabwe that could be forthcoming at the next meeting of the Commonwealth "troika". The troika of SA President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard would meet in March next year to consider whether or not Zimbabwe should be expelled from the Commonwealth. Tsvangirai's tough criticism of Mbeki comes a day after a close associate of Mugabe, the speaker of the country's parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was cheered by delegates at the African National Congress' conference in Stellenbosch when he said that 11-million hectares of land had been "acquired" by the government.
Tsvangirai said: "We know of attempts to reform Zanu PF and present a rearranged set of faces to the world in an effort to win international legitimacy." Even were Mugabe to step down, nothing would change unless the country's fundamental problems were addressed. Any solution had to tackle "the burning question" of the Zimbabwean government's legitimacy and make free and fair elections a priority, Tsvangirai said. The campaign involved Mugabe's attempt to meet him outside the country, the MDC leader said. Such a meeting would remain "pie in the sky" unless Mugabe stopped the politicisation of food, opened up the country to free political activity and committed himself to dialogue, said Tsvangirai.
From IRIN (UN), 18 December
Backlash against Zanu PF youth militia
Harare - The "Green Bombers", clad in their trademark green fatigues and red or green berets with the Zimbabwean flag on their shirts, have become a common but fearsome sight, particularly in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. After the arrival of a sugar delivery van, a group of 10 young men wielding whips and batons storm a supermarket in the high-density suburb of Glen Norah. The sight of them causes people queuing outside the shop to flee. They are the Zanu PF militia, popularly known as "Green Bombers". The young men then approach the shop manager, who they accuse of overpricing commodities, and order him to load the sugar into a waiting truck. Police stand and watch as the shop manager is harassed. The truck is then driven to a secluded area near the suburb where the sugar, about 500 kg, is shared out among the youths. This scenario has become all too common in parts of Zimbabwe, say civil society commentators. The militias allegedly sell the looted commodities on the parallel market for more than double the official price.
Graduates of the Border Gezi National Training Centre, in Mashonaland Central's Mount Darwin area, the militias have gained notoriety due to their propensity for violence. Formed in 2002, the youth training programme was the brainchild of the late Border Gezi, who was then the Zanu PF national commissar and Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, the ministry under which the programme falls. Speaking on national television recently, the director of the youth training programme, David Munyoro, said the programme was meant to promote discipline among the youth. Trainees were taught entrepreneurial skills such as carpentry, metal fabrication and building for purposes of self-help, he said. David Chimhini, the director of the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (Zimcet),has dismissed Munyoro's statement. "What discipline is the government talking about when the products of the training exercise loot, assault and rape?" he asked. The pioneer training centre located in Gezi's home area, Mount Darwin in the northeast, has seen hundreds of youths join the programme. They have been lured by the government's promises of jobs after the six-week training stint, with a certificate of attendance being a prerequisite to join the army or the police. Other training points have since been set up at Kamativi in Matebeleland North, Mushagashe in Masvingo, Guyu in Matabeleland South, with the latest addition being Dadaya in the Midlands. The Minister of Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, announced the government's intention to open 35 other training centres countrywide. Some of the graduates of the training centres often go back to their places of origin where they are tasked with the training of other youths.
In Mashonaland Central, the youths from the nearby Border Gezi training centre are reported to be intimidating remaining white farmers in a bid to drive them off their land. A local privately owned daily newspaper reported that one Johan Muller, the owner of Silver Oak farm in Beatrice, 90-km west of Harare, was recently smeared with cow dung and soaked in a muddy pool of water for staying on his farm - which had not been designated for acquisition in the state's land reform programme. The youth brigades have earned themselves notoriety for looting shops under the guise of enforcing the government's price controls, while imposing unofficial curfews in areas perceived to be opposition strongholds. "These youths are further tarnishing the image of the government by engaging in daylight robbery. They are taking advantage of the current economic problems to rob us," said shop owner Joseph Zivanai. He was finding it difficult to operate since the youths regularly accused him of overpricing basic commodities so they could 'confiscate' his goods.
Human rights organisations and analysts have criticised the youth training programme. "The graduates are a notorious symbol of Zanu PF's intimidatory tactics," Chimhini told IRIN. He said the proliferation of the militias across the country had instilled fear in the electorate and believed this could have a negative effect ahead of next year's parliamentary by-elections. The government has also been criticised for spending money on an "extravagant" programme when the country was struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence. Critics argue that the money being used to train the youths could be channelled towards social services instead. "We should not even be toying with the idea of a national youth service programme. Instead, the money that is being used in the project should go to fund health [care] and schools. In any case, what is it that they are being taught there that cannot be taught in schools?" asked Brian Raftopoulous, chairman of civil society group Crisis in Zimbabwe. The budget allocation for the programme was increased from Z$418 million (US $7.7 million at the official rate) last year to more than Z$$2 billion (US $37 million at the official rate) this year. The government proposed the idea of youth national service in 1989, when the economy was still sound, but it was only two years ago during the emergence of real political opposition to Zanu PF, that the plan was implemented.
The ripple effect of violence, commentators say, is already evident in the manner in which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has reacted to the beatings and torture allegedly carried out by the militias. "In my constituency, there is a watertight mechanism to counter the Green Bombers. I have a security team of young men and women who have managed to chase the militias away as soon as they are reported in the constituency," said MDC Member of Parliament (MP) for St Mary's in Chitungwiza, Job Sikhala. He also accused the Border Gezi youths of looting and theft. There was an outcry recently, particularly among the independent media, after reports that products of the ruling party's youth service were being given first preference in the enrolment of journalism students at Harare Polytechnic's media school. One recent graduate of the Border Gezi centre recounted his time at the centre. The graduate, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation, has since joined the police force. "There is hardly anything to eat there. In the morning we would be given a large spoon of porridge and an egg, followed by another spoonful of beans in the afternoon. Supper was also comprised of beans and we considered ourselves lucky if we could get sadza [a dry maize porridge] once in a while," he said. He recalled how trainees would be woken up early in the morning and forced to go to newspaper vending points to seize and burn copies of privately owned newspapers critical of the government. Recruits were made to chant revolutionary songs and denounce the MDC as a puppet of the West.
From The Financial Mail (SA), 13 December
Bare cupboards and growing bread queues
Price freeze, dual interest rates and forex gap point to disaster
By Tony Hawkins, Harare
In the month since finance minister Herbert Murerwa tabled his 2003 budget, the sense of an economy - indeed a country – that is on auto-pilot has deepened. Almost to a man, bankers, businessmen and analysts have condemned the budget, largely on the grounds of sheer irrelevance. Murerwa's friends defend him, claiming he is not responsible for the three key elements of government's economic policy: the attempt to close the parallel market for foreign exchange, "dual" interest rates and the price freeze. Arguably, none of the three is working. Though the official media claim that the price freeze has forced retailers to reverse across-the-board price hikes imposed immediately after the budget, shoppers tell a different story. "I am required to sell beef at a loss of Z$250/kg," said one retailer. "As a result, from next week, I won't be selling beef." Bakers say it is no longer practical for them to make bread. Consequently, bread queues are a familiar sight. Retailers are being fined for breaking price-control regulations that force them to sell below the cost of procurement.
Business leaders are adamant that it cannot last. The independent Financial Gazette claims that "at least half" the country's manufacturers will close in the first quarter of 2003. Anthony Mandiwanza, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, says: "A solution must be found before the end of the year. Most companies are in the process of reviewing their operations because of viability problems." Price control is not the only bone of contention. There is still no clarity on exchange-rate management. Bizarrely, when presenting his 2003 monetary policy statement late last month, Zimbabwe Reserve Bank governor Leonard Tsumba flatly refused to discuss the exchange rate, confining himself to explaining his two-tier interest rate strategy. Under the new exchange control regulations, exporters are required to sell 50% of their export earnings to the central bank at the official exchange rate of Z$55 to the US dollar. The balance must be held at the Reserve Bank and, if it is not used within 60 days to finance the import of essential inputs, it must be sold – at the official rate.
Mining and horticulture exporters have warned that they will no longer be in business if these regulations are implemented. Though most of the foreign currency bureaus have been closed (as ordered in the budget), parallel market dealings are continuing at exchange rates in the region of Z$1 600 to Z$1 750 to the US unit. But there is precious little trade as most exporters are hovering on the sidelines, waiting to see how authorities will respond to the warnings of export closures, including major players such as the ferrochrome industry. One mooted compromise is of a "blend rate" of Z$300/US1, half the Z$600 estimated to be a reasonable purchasing power parity approximation of what the rate should be. The dual interest rate strategy - lending rates of 5% for exporters and 15% for the productive sector - alongside lending rates for consumption set by market forces, are not yet a major issue for industry. The system has, however, been strongly criticised by banks on the grounds that it is unworkable because there will be substantial leakages from the concessional markets to the rest.
Business's real concern is that the attempt to maintain interest rates more than 100 percentage points below inflation can end only in disaster. In the words of one banker: "It does not matter whether we have two or five tiers, the net result will be excessive cheap borrowing and money creation, fuelling hyperinflation." Ticking away in the background is yet another time-bomb - the new labour legislation with stringent measures covering redundancy payments and the enforced conversion of contract workers into permanent staff.None of these policy measures is helping to resolve the crisis, economists say, merely making it worse. The poor start to the 2002-03 farming season (few farmers could plant in November because there was no rain) and growing predictions of an El Nino-driven drought in the first half of 2003, underline the gravity of the situation. Many are convinced that the three Fs - food, forex and fuel - will force a change of policy direction before much longer, but no-one is betting on just what form the eventual, inevitable U-turn will take.
No kidding... this is like Ethiopia shipping corn our of its ports while its people starved way back when....
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.