Mudslides kill gold panners

Harare - At least seven illegal gold panners have died near Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique in the past week, following heavy rains in the area, reports from eastern Zimbabwe said on Friday.

There are fears the final casualty figure could be much higher.

Hospitals in Zimbabwe's Chimanimani and Chipinge districts are preparing for an influx of bodies amid fears that up to 50 panners may have died, according to one newspaper.

"People are dying and there are bodies everywhere," Ananias Mupondi, an illegal panner, told the official Manica Post on his return to Chimanimani.

Heavy rains, which began last Friday, brought chaos to Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique, flooding caves where the illegal panners live and swelling rivers.

Some of the dead are believed to have been swept away by the rivers, while others may have died of malaria and pneumonia, according to the Manica Post, in the city of Mutare.
-----------------

As a result, the gov't plans to outline gold panning...LINK

Mining laws might affect the economy

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's central bank chief has warned President Robert Mugabe's government against draft mining laws that he said could hurt the country's economy, according to the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono was quoted saying draft amendments which could allow the state to take a majority share in foreign-owned mines should respect private property rights, adding the proposed laws were a "hot issue" at a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) board meeting.

The Mines Ministry has said cabinet approved amendments to the mining law "to indigenise 51 percent in some instances of all foreign owned companies", raising concerns on future foreign investment in a country facing foreign currency shortages.

"This issue took much of our time as we had to explain to the IMF executive board government's policy on the matter. It was a hot issue," Gono said.

"For the ... sustainable integration of Zimbabwe into the competitive global space for investment attraction, this process has to be done in accordance with strict observance and respect for private property rights, as well as through market-friendly principles of fair value exchanges," he told the newspaper.

"Without this, the country's investment landscape will forever be damaged, much to the detriment of the country's turnaround programme and its ideals."

Wheat, maize supplies dwindle

JOHANNESBURG, 8 March (IRIN) - Zimbabwe missed an opportunity to produce sufficient crops to meet national consumption requirements this season due to inadequate inputs and uncertainty about land rights, says an agricultural expert.The country has experienced food shortages over the last four years, mainly due to erratic weather conditions, the impact of the chaotic fast-track land reform programme on the agricultural sector and a lack of foreign currency to import inputs, such as fuel and fertiliser.Wheat stocks have dwindled to the point where millers have warned that supplies would only cover a few more weeks, while the crop forecast for the maize harvest this year points to another deficit in production.The agricultural expert, who did not wish to be named, told IRIN that Zimbabwe "had a very small wheat crop last year", and the current low supply was a result of "imports not keeping pace with consumption".In terms of maize, "we're looking at a similar crop to last year, between 700,000 mt and 850,000 mt, so we're probably looking at a shortfall of between 500,000 mt and 600,000 mt".The lack of wheat was critical because bread played an important role in the national diet as a substitute for the staple maize-meal porridge."The biggest problem is that the maize-meal price has gone up because the current crop is not yet ready for harvest - it's probably in peak demand right now - and the price has shot up to Zim $500,000 [about US $5] per 20 kg of milled maize," the expert noted. The official Herald newspaper reported that a 10 kg bag of maize meal was selling for up to Zim $600,000 (about $6) on the parallel market.As a result, the staple was priced beyond the reach of a large proportion of the population. "If there's no maize meal around, or people cannot afford it, they will consume bread - it is an important part of the local diet - but, again because of the shortages of wheat, the price has gone up to Zim $70,000 [$0.70 cents] for a loaf. It used to be around Zim $35,000 [$0.35 cents]," the expert explained.Although bread was available in shops, it too had become relatively unaffordable to the millions of Zimbabweans struggling to make ends meet as the country's economic meltdown continues."We are struggling; we missed an opportunity this [planting] season to become self-sufficient. We could have produced well in excess of our [consumption] requirements had there been the inputs available for farmers to plant, as we had a very good season in terms of rain," he commented.The agricultural expert noted that banks were loath to lend money to farmers, given the uncertainty over security of tenure, so that "financing, fuel, electricity, fertiliser and chemicals are all limitations. Anything that has a foreign currency component, that we have to import, is in short supply".

US State Dept blasts Zim's civil rights record

The United States Department of State has listed Zimbabwe among the worst dictatorships in the world that trample on human rights and whose rulers are accountable to no one.

In its 2005 Human Rights Country Report, made available to ZimOnline on Thursday, the department grouped Zimbabwe among some of the world's most notorious dictatorships, such as the reclusive communist state of North Korea, Burma, Iran, Cuba, Belarus and China.

LINK2

No more softdrinks

A serious shortage of soft drinks is looming Zimbabwe. Delta Beverages Limited’s non-alcoholic plant faces closure because it is failing to raise foreign currency needed to purchase raw materials.

UN: International Woman's Day

I'm not into Feminism as an issue (I am old enough to predate the present round of feminism...my medical school had 5% women in my class, to give an example...and most of my life concentrated on fighting disease, not politics)...

But Zimpundit has an interesting article about this and African women.

Mugabe's NGO bill

ARARE - Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa on Monday told ZimOnline that the government was just "polishing up" its Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) Bill before the controversial law that will impose severe restrictions on civic bodies is brought back to Parliament for enactment.

Chinamasa, who said the Bill would become law this year but did not give specific dates, said Harare was convinced it needed the controversial law to deal with some NGOs that he claimed were working with foreign powers to topple the government.

He said: "There are still some organisations purporting to be NGOs when their interests are to topple the government with foreign backing. These are the NGOs which the Bill will be aiming to deal with. Otherwise those NGOs involved in humanitarian aid will not be affected."

President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party accuse some NGOs they have not named of using charity work as a pretext to support the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and to incite Zimbabweans to rise against the government.

But Mugabe last May refused to sign the NGO Bill which Parliament had passed in December 2004 after marathon debate and fierce opposition from the MDC.

Mugabe, whose signature is necessary for Bills passed by Parliament to become effective law, did not say why he refused to assent to the draft law, with speculation strong that he wanted the law tightened further.

Chinamasa, who is also ZANU PF legal affairs secretary, said after the NGO Bill was rejected by Mugabe it was put on the backburner as the ruling party focused on pushing through Constitutional Amendment Number 17, which recreated the House of Senate and also virtually nationalised all farmland.

The ruling party and the government were now finalising changes to the NGO Bill, Chinamasa said. He would not say what these changes were.

In its original form the NGO Bill among other things proposed to ban all civic bodies from carrying out voter education while those focusing on governance or human rights-related work were to be prohibited from receiving foreign funding.

The Bill also provided for the appointment by the government of an NGO council that would register NGOs and monitor their activities. The council would have powers to deregister and ban NGOs it deemed were not toeing the line.

NGO experts say if the law is eventually enacted, it could force at least 60 percent of civic and aid groups to wind up operations, a development that would affect the monitoring of human rights violations in the country as well as humanitarian work such as HIV/AIDS prevention.

Student leaders arrested

As many as 25 students could have been arrested as they attempted to march through the city
Bulawayo - Zimbabwe police yesterday arrested several student leaders in the city of Bulawayo to thwart plans by students at a state university and three other institutions in the city to stage street protests against the government's decision to hike fees at state tertiary colleges. ZimOnline was unable to confirm the exact number of students that were being held by the police by late last night but other sources indicated as many as 25 students could have been arrested as they attempted to march through the city.

Human rights not guaranteed in "democracies"

It singled out Zimbabwe for maintaining "a steady assault on human dignity and basic freedoms, tightening its hold on civil society and human-rights NGOs and manipulating the March parliamentary elections."

State controlled media in Zim: Opposition arm cache seized

The report said the cache was comprised of an AK-47 rifle, four FN rifles, seven Uzis, four 303 rifles with telescopic sights, 11 shotguns, six CZ pistols, two long-range pistols, four revolvers, and radio communication systems. In addition to 15 tear smoke canisters and 20 flares, thousands rounds of ammunition were also allegedly recovered by the police....


In Texas, this would be a normal gun collection...

Mugabe's policy will probably close private schools

Private schools plan to challenge the constitutionality of the Education Amendment Bill that gives the government powers to determine school fees, once President Robert Mugabe signs it into law.

The Association of Trust Schools, that represents privately-owned schools, said in a statement that the new law lacked ‘rational economic thinking’ and would create chaos in non-government schools that were run with fees paid by students, reports ZimOnline. The controversial new law will now require all schools to first seek approval from the Education Minister before hiking fees....

The ATS and ACES-run schools are the only sources of a good and reliable education for young Zimbabweans as the country's once highly regarded public schools crumble due to years of under-funding and mismanagement.

But Mugabe's government accuses the schools of taking advantage of their good reputation to extort money from parents by charging exorbitant fees and levies, which the government says is used to fund lavish lifestyles for school executives.

The government last year forced several privately-run schools to close and threatened to jail authorities there for refusing to lower fees. When the matter was refereed to the High Court, it ruled that the government had no right to set fees at private schools. ..

The controversial new law will now require all schools whether state owned or not to first seek approval from the secretary of education before hiking fees. The law also sets stringent conditions under which school authorities may be allowed to increase fees or levies.

For example, under the new law, fee hikes should not exceed "the percentage increase in the cost of living from the beginning to the end of the preceding term as indicated by the Consumer Price Index published by the Central Statistics Office".

The ATS says this and other requirements before fee hikes can be approved under the new law are arbitrary and do not make economic sense because "the cost structures of the more than 500 non-government schools are not the same depending with location and type of boarding facilities offered at each school." ...

Now let me see:
600 percent inflation...so you increase your "fees" not to increase profit but merely to cover the devaluation of the Zim dollar...but you aren't allowed to increase the fee without the Government's permission...

So you end up not being able to afford to pay teachers or keep the school going...so you close.

Ah, socialism at work...

Corruption, stable government and prosperity

“A nation or continent that simply consumes what others create, further burdened by a select few who use their privilege to loot money and live in obscenely wealthy conditions, without generating wealth themselves, faces a serious challenge in the quest for development and growth.”

For this reason, it is of great importance to develop an entrepreneurial class on the continent and ensure that they are armed with all the tools that are required within the framework of modern enterprise, he says.

“A lot of emphasis has to be placed on improving systems, using effective technology and creative ways of doing business. The reality is that with the ‘global’ village being a reality, the only way to achieve survival at a continental and national level is ensuring that we keep up with international trends.”

Grooming effective “interpreneurial leadership” is going to be a critical component of the thrust towards developing the continent. This means developing a strong small-to medium business base and ensuring that these have the capacity to create employment and wealth.

Ade says it is on this basis that he will be speaking on the dynamics of starting and growing a business through good leadership.

“I believe that there are a lot of people who have the potential to start and develop businesses, but they are always waiting until they have enough money, until the right opportunity comes along or until they are in the right frame of mind to start. This is the wrong way of going about it. Business entails a great deal of risk. Of course, this has to be within reasonable levels. But it is important to emphasise that at some stage, starting a business entails taking the plunge.”

LINK

Another lecture on Black empowerment, by a South African Entrepeneur says...

While he believes the South African government has taken a bold stance on Black Economic Empowerment, creating valuable opportunities for black people to enter the economic mainstream, these opportunities will not be exploited fully.

“There is a common perception that empowerment deals have come to be the privilege of a few black people. There is a lot of truth in this. Partly, this trajectory came about because there are only a certain number of black business people who have access to the fi nance, the skills pool and the deals themselves.” The answer? “Widen the poo l of black empowerment participants by identifying suitable candidates and taking them into the pool by the hand. Put simply, people would feel comfortable with giving me an empowerment deal because they believe I have the track record, the access to fi nance and the skills to make a success of it. By bringing in a young executive to run the business, I am giving that person an opportunity to become a big player in the marketplace.”

For Mashaba, Black Economic Empowerment is crucial to the success of South Africa as a country that offers equitable opportunity. The challenge lies in the fact that while at a political level, one can come up with policy and legislation to drive things in a chosen direction, this is not the case in business. Issues such as capacity, development of governance, the attitude of the fi nancial markets and other factors can play a major role in turning a good concept into a huge failure.

Good rains, but where is the harvest?

World Food Program officials have called a meeting with authorities in Harare to take a closer look at the outlook for food supplies amid forecasts that shortages of maize and wheat are unlikely to be significantly relieved by the upcoming harvest.

The WFP had previously said it intended to scale back food distribution in the country as recent heavy rains prompted expectations of a good harvest, but its spokesman for Southern Africa, Mike Huggins, said plans could change based on findings.

The Food Security Early Warning System of the Southern African Development Community warns that Zimbabwe could experience a maize supply shortfall of more than 1.3 million tonnes in the current market season. Wheat is scarce too: the head of the Zimbabwe Millers Association said reserves could run out in a few weeks.

The Commercial Farmers Union says the winter wheat harvest shortly to begin will be disappointing, forecasting a total yield this year of just 95,000 tonnes compared with the 450,000 tonnes the country needs to reap to meet its annual requirements.

Mine grab take three

For its part, the spirit of the empowerment ethic is something industry accepts, fully. For decades black Zimbabweans were denied ownership rights in a racially skewed ownership structure. Gradual changes occurred when Zimbabwe became independent and prohibitive legislation was lifted.

But the challenge has always been access to mineral rights in an industry monopolised by a handful of foreign companies and which requires mammoth capital outlays in exploration activities and equity stakes.

So it comes as no surprise that while the industry has supported the underlying objectives of the legislation – to address the racial and economic inequities of the past – mining houses have some grave reservations about the absence of a sensible funding proposition for 'indigenisation'.

"We are happy to ‘indigenise’ as soon as we know what the rules are," says Greg Hunter, Chief Executive Officer of Metallon Gold.

For the past three years, mining companies have struggled to find a suitable partner for meaningful ‘indigenisation’. Metallon Gold is one of South Africa's giant mining companies that have set base in Zimbabwe but is struggling to put together an empowerment deal. The group owns five gold mines in the country, How Mine in Bulawayo, Redwing in Manicaland, Shamva, Arcturus and Mazowe in the north with a production of 180 000 ounces per year.

"We currently have an agreement with a consortium called Manyame Consortium. But the reality behind that is that we are in the process of unwinding that agreement," says Hunter.

Manyame, comprising businessmen John Mkushi, Albert Nhau and banker Mthuli Ncube acquired a 30 percent stake in Metallon Gold Zimbabwe in 2003. Reports indicate that Metallon had offered the consortium $3mn to end their interest in the company, an offer the empowerment group rejected. But Hunter says the marriage cannot continue.

"As a company we absolutely remain committed to ‘indigenisation’. That (30) percentage has been set aside for an ‘indigenous’ partner and we will do something but we think it would be best for both parties that we move in our own different directions," he says.

"The truth of the matter is that they haven't paid for their stake. They paid for an initial tranche of a $1mn and they were going to pay for the rest through payment of dividends."

As things stand, the state has discretionary powers to enforce the concession of shares to black empowerment entities without a right to appeal to the courts and with the potential to undermine property rights.

Mugabe plans to grab mines: India, South Africa involved

...Zimbabwean sources stated that Zimbabwean Minister of Mines Amos Midzi had revealed that a draft had been approved by cabinet that would force mining companies to give up 51 percent of their assets to government. Only 26 percent of the stake would be paid for.

Midzi added that in cases where external shareholders did not co-operate, foreign investors who would would be asked to take up the remaining equities. It was not made clear whether new investors would have to pay the government or the ousted investors in this scenario.

India's Global Infrastructures, who has recently signed a 20-year deal to sort out Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, would not comment on whether the plans would make it rethink the venture....

mugabe intends to grab mines, wreck those industries too....

JOHANNESBURG, 7 March (IRIN) - Mining company Implats says the Zimbabwe government's plan to take a 51 percent controlling interest in mining operations in the country "is not in the best interests of developing the platinum industry in Zimbabwe".Newspapers in South Africa and Zimbabwe have devoted many column inches to the news that the government planned to become the majority shareholder in the country's estimated US $20 billion mining sector.According to South Africa's Business Day, Zimbabwean Minister of Mines Amos Midzi told the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines last week that the cabinet had approved draft proposals requiring mining companies to surrender 51 percent of their assets to the government and/or indigenous groups, depending on the commodity. The government would pay only for 26 percent and the remainder would be a "free carry".Midzi reportedly warned that alternative foreign investors had been identified to take over equity in mines if the current external shareholders did not co-operate...

The proposal was thus intended to ensure that Zimbabwe "benefits from its own resources".The "free carry" part of the scheme was based on the belief that the government would warehouse those shares for eventual purchase by indigenous groups.But, he cautioned, "we must be very careful - already Zimbabwe is perceived as a lawless country, and as people who do not respect international agreements." Taking a fast-track land restitution approach to reforming the ownership structure of the mining sector could mirror the effects of farm invasions on agriculture."This [mining sector reform] must be executed in a manner that is beneficial to mining companies as well as government, particularly at this delicate stage where we want to be perceived as willing to be part and parcel of the global community," Nikisi said. ..

Sounds good on paper: Let the locals take over the mines and reap profit.
Ah, but what that means is that the government will force out foreign investment and let locals (read corrupt politicians and their friends) buy the shares with useless money.
Since outside investment is stopped, the mines won't be upgraded, since equipment costs money...and who is going to invest money into a business that won't reap profit?

5 billion dollars could end hunger

LONDON (Reuters) - Hunger and starvation among African children could be eliminated for $5 billion (2.9 billion pounds), the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after a trip to drought-hit eastern Africa, WFP executive director James Morris said getting children fed and into schools was the most powerful investment Africa could make for its future.

"We could eliminate hunger among children in Africa for $5 billion," said Morris....
Tens of billions of dollars of aid has been poured into Africa in the past 45 years but the continent remains the poorest on the planet. The bottom 24 countries in the U.N.'s human development index last year were all in Africa.

Western countries blame poor governance and corruption for the lack of improvement in living standards in Africa, despite the huge sums of aid.

Morris, battling with rival agencies to raise money from donor nations to fund WFP campaigns, said the only way to transform Africa was to transform the people there....

Facing increased competition for aid money, WFP has said in the past donors should adopt a "food first" policy, fighting hunger and malnutrition before putting development aid into infrastructure projects such a roads and ports.

Fistulas

Gates of Vienna has a post on vaginal vesicle fistulas.

Ironically, I never saw a case, because most are due to long obstructed labour, and in certain parts of Africa, this is more common due to female circumcision.

Female circumcision is not done in the tribes of Zimbabwe, although some groups do circumcize boys at puberty...but I did see a few cases when I worked in Liberia

Printing paper money leads to hyperinflation

The actual headline is that the IMF contributed to Zim's high inflation rate...

But if you read the whole article, you find it's because , instead of generating true revenue, Mugabe merely had them print worthless money, and sold it to suckers as foreign exchange to pay the IMF...

Hunting brings money to Zim

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Foreign big game hunters bid $1.5 million US to shoot leopards, lions, elephants and buffaloes in Zimbabwe this year, the state media reported Sunday.

In an annual state auction for hunting trophy "bags" on Friday, 64 local agents and foreign hunters, including bidders from Austria, Germany, Russia, Spain and the United States, paid a fixed fee of $40 US for a license to kill a lion, the state Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

How to write about Africa

Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. ...

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Africans (unless a death is involved), references to African writers or intellectuals, mention of school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation....

Your African characters may include naked warriors, loyal servants, diviners and seers, ancient wise men living in hermitic splendour. Or corrupt politicians, inept polygamous travel-guides, and prostitutes you have slept with. The Loyal Servant always behaves like a seven-year-old and needs a firm hand; he is scared of snakes, good with children, and always involving you in his complex domestic dramas. The Ancient Wise Man always comes from a noble tribe (not the money-grubbing tribes like the Gikuyu, the Igbo or the Shona). He has rheumy eyes and is close to the Earth. The Modern African is a fat man who steals and works in the visa office, refusing to give work permits to qualified Westerners who really care about Africa. He is an enemy of development, always using his government job to make it difficult for pragmatic and good-hearted expats to set up NGOs or Legal Conservation Areas....

Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances. Have them illuminate something about Europe or America in Africa. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life—but empty inside,...Animals, on the other hand, must be treated as well rounded, complex characters....

Elephants may attack people's property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant.

I laughed so hard at this, because it is true...

You know the only US movie/tv show that showed ordinary Africans? It was the mini series Roots...and that was quite awhile ago...

Food aid not only way to stop malnutrition

Article points out the obvious: Free food ends up in the black market, being sold for profit...and feeding school age kids won't stop most malnutrition deaths and physical/intellectual damage which is caused by malnutrition in the womb and early childhood...

LACK of food is not usually the main cause of malnutrition among children in poor countries, the World Bank says. And large, politically popular programs to feed them are the wrong way to tackle the problem, it says....

The focus should be on teaching mothers to properly feed and care for babies and toddlers, it says.

The bank's recommendations will be controversial at a time when the world is pushing to halve poverty in the next decade and school feeding programs are often seen as part of the solution ...

Nutritionists at the bank say programs should emphasise changing the behaviour of mothers - for example, to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months and to seek quick treatment for their children's diarrhoea and other common childhood illnesses, rather than directly providing food.

This is what we did with our "under fives" clinics....
You see, except when there is actual food shortage, often young children cannot digest adult food...
They need breast milk for two years...so get rid of all those "feed baby( expensive imported) baby formula...and insist on breast milk.
Since if mom gets pregnant, her milk decreases, encourage supplementing the traditional sexual abstinence of breast feeding women with birth control....the pill decreases breast milk but Depo Provera actually increases it...
Most people in Zim eat maize based sadza. Encourage more easily digested grains for the kids.
These grains also are great to grow when the rains are not enough for maize...but the yield is not as good, so are planted less...
Import baby chicks and teach classes in caring for them...most chickens are free range in villages, and the eggs get lost. Teach them to make chicken coops...so they will have eggs for dad and the chickens
(in African culture, the man gets the best food...this is not cruel, since if he dies, everyone dies...but if you get a half dozen chickens you will have more than one egg, and everyone can get nutrition).
We also had a "rabbit raising" class for our school kids.
Finally, we had village health workers, to screen for malnutrition and to treat diarrhea with cheap, effective WHO rehydrating solution.
Have baby clinics to give out shots.
And have a "nutrition" center, for moms to live as outpatients while we feed up the "at risk" kids...you see, if you wait until he has kwashiorkor or marasmus, and he gets sick, you'll spend a fortune on medicine and he'll probably die anyway...

Oh yes: When there is actual famine, have the churches and NGO's give food personally...not the governments.

Here's an example from a Malawi web page LINK

Yes, No, maybe

US extends sanctions against Zim's government
The decision renews his executive orders of March 2003 and November 2005, which freeze the assets of more than 100 people and 30 entities considered to be opposing reforms in Zimbabwe.

India business deal invests in Zim

HARARE (Reuters) - India's Global Steel Holdings said on Wednesday it would invest $400 million to rehabilitate Zimbabwe's ailing government-owned iron and steel works in a deal expected to boost output by more than 17 times.

The state-owned Zimbabwe and Steel Company (Ziscosteel), a key foreign currency earner before independence in 1980, has been plagued for more than a decade by a lack of capital to re-equip its plant.

"Ziscosteel has entered into a management contract with Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL) ... whereby GSHL would inject foreign currency for rehabilitation of Ziscosteel plant components," Zimbabwe central bank Governor Gideon Gono told a briefing attended by the Zimbabwe government and Global Steel officials in Harare.

The deal gives Global Steel a 20-year management contract for the plant, which will remain government-owned. The agreement marks one of the biggest foreign investments seen in recent years in Zimbabwe, which is struggling in the sixth year of a deep economic and political crisis.

EU Gives Zim 12 million Euros in Aid

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03/01 - The European Commission (EC), an arm of the European Union, Tuesday announced it had given Zimbabwe 12 million euros for humanitarian relief for the poor.

The donation follows another, of 19 million euros, the EC gave to Zimbabwe last week to cover the health sector for three years.

The EC said the humanitarian aid would cover areas such as food assistance and provision of clean water.

"The Commission`s objectives are to reinforce immediate food security needs and linking them with long-term recovery programmes."

They are also meant "to increase access to safe water sources and basic sanitation facilities and to contribute towards meeting the emergency needs of internally displaced persons and other venerable groups by providing them with food and non-food items," the EC said in a press release.

The European Union, citing alleged human rights violations and poor governance, has cut all aid to Zimbabwe except humanitarian assistance.

Hmmm...the investment by the Indian company is TEN TIMES the aid of the entire European Union...sorry, but 12 million Euros is not a lot of money...

I'll give a comparison: Amazon, the internet bookseller, raised 3.8 million dollars for tsunami victims...and that doesn't include the corporations and private gifts.

eight more students arrested

Police in Zimbabwe Monday arrested another eight university students amid escalating protests over massive fee hikes, a lawyer said.


The students, from the University of Zimbabwe, are being detained at Matapi Police Station in the high-density suburb of Mbare, said Otto Saki of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
A student representative, Promise Mkwananzi, said that his colleagues addressed a student meeting on Monday morning and then were "urged to march to the vice-chancellor's office." "The police barricaded the way" and arrested the eight students, said Mkwananzi.
One of the detained is Washington Katema, the president of the Zimbabwe National Students' Union (ZINASU).
Lawyer Saki said ZLHR had lodged a High Court application to secure the release of the detained students.
Protests have been mounting over shock fee hikes announced earlier this month for many institutions of higher learning in Zimbabwe. In some cases the new fees - which were reportedly approved by the government - were ten times more than those for last year.
At least 21 students were arrested earlier this month for staging a violent protest against fee hikes at the NationalUniversity of Science and Technology in the country's second city of Bulawayo.
Students complain that with the new fees education will become a preserve only of the very rich.

Zim battles to hold down food prices

HARARE — The price of bread rose more than 30% as shops opened for business yesterday, the latest blow to consumers in Zimbabwe’s teetering economy.
A regular loaf went up to Z$60000 ($0,60), from the government-controlled price of Z$44000.
Bakers said price increases in uncontrolled ingredients such as sugar and yeast threatened the viability of their businesses, even though they received subsidies for flour in a bid by the government to keep prices down.
The private Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries said that if bakers were prosecuted under state price-fixing regulations, current shortages of bread, a staple food, would worsen, leaving many shelves empty...

Mugabe's homophobia

The problems of pedophilia by employers/leaders and how homosexual behavior in male worker's dormatories is something rarely mentioned in the Western press...

Nevertheless, Mugabe is a true homophobe...

Wonder if it has to do with his medical history, i.e. a certain cancer...

Eddie Cross on the IMF, money, and the west ignoring Zim

Read the whole thing.

What is bad is the note about someone dying of TB...

TB is a disease of malnutrition...most docs in the US, until HIV appeared, had seen few cases....(I had seen many in Africa and when I worked in the US in the Indian Health Service)...

And TB is easily treated.

My husband's father died of TB, and more recently, his sister died of pneumonia related to her TB exacerbating from old age (she was in her 80's)...My husband also had it after the war...his father died during the depression, and there was a lot of malnutrition in the Philippines during World War II...so after the war, he developed TB while going to medical school...

But he had friends who arranged for him to get Streptomycin...and he injected himself for 18 months...as a result, he has a hearing loss (streptomycin can affect the auditory nerve) but he is alive....

Nowadays, we usually use two or three antibiotics, and TB resistance is common with HIV, where it is harder to treat...but essentially it is a disease of poverty.

Mugabe losing touch with reality?

...

Now to return a verdict on Mugabe's interview: it provided the clearest sign yet that he is rapidly losing his grip on reality. His detachment from events on the ground and the situation around him shocked many.

Mugabe appeared off message and handcuffed to the past, thus confirming he is beyond his sell-by date as a leader.

His analysis of the current political and economic crisis was based on a flawed premise, and was, in the end, neither interesting nor convincing. Due to the lack of structured analysis, Mugabe was found wanting and exposed on real issues, especially to do with the economy. He struggled to articulate fundamental political, policy and institutional issues underlying the prevailing crisis.

Eventually, Mugabe - assisted by a rather apologetic interviewer - just turned the show into a platform for a blame game now typical of his regime's head-in-the-sand politics.

While denying he was an autocrat, Mugabe managed to prove he was not only a political dictator but also an intellectual one as well by refusing to listen to other people's ideas.

Describing others as intellectual slaves, he also failed to realise that, in fact, he himself is a prisoner of shibboleths of the past. This is made worse by his tendency to reason by conclusion on issues.

However, Mugabe's interview provided interesting insights into his make-believe world. It showed he is rigidly opposed to reform. It also indicated what he thinks about African leaders, including Mbeki: that they are not revolutionaries, but cowards.

The interview also exposed his threadbare grasp of modern economics and his struggle to get to grips with global dynamics. It helped to confirm the wholesale abdication of reason and a complete breakdown of common sense in government.

Mugabe avoided certain telling issues, including the fact that currently state institutions and government departments - a vast swathe of the bureaucracy - have collapsed due to leadership and policy failures. This explains why the functions of a number of ministries are now performed by the central bank which has assumed a quasi-fiscal instead of a monetary policy role.

Mugabe could also not explain why government has lost capacity for effective policy formulation and implementation, something at the heart of the current system's virtual collapse....

Zim opposition faction chooses new leader

A breakaway faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has chosen an ex-student leader as its president.

Arthur Mutambara was elected unopposed at a meeting of 3,000 of the faction's supporters in the city of Bulawayo.

Mr Mutambara led student protests against state corruption in the 1980s. He returned to Zimbabwe recently after being in South Africa for 15 years.

The MDC split has weakened opposition to President Mugabe, observers say.....

He is a member of the majority Shona ethnic group - seen by many analysts as essential for any party leader.

Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC faction will hold its own party leadership congress in mid-March.

Student riots

Johannesburg (AND) The government has deployed state security agents, heavily armed anti-riot police at universities and tertiary institutions in response to student demonstrations that have rocked the country from last week

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) is leading protests against the 1000 % increase intuition fees resulting in some faculties rising to $90million up from $3 million a semester.The militant stance has seen the students’ body close down government universities and tertiary institutionscountrywide in protests to the new tuition fees ZINASU secretary general, Promise Nkhwananzi, said thedeployment of the police would not cow them to abandon the demonstrations. "We will remain resolute and the protests will soonspill into society. We are prepared to make this country ungovernable....the sooner the fees they arereviewed the better.The student movement is prepared and geared to fight the government," Mkhwananzi told AND Authorities at university and tertiary institutionssay the police are defending public property. NUST Director of Information and Publicity, Felix Moyo said: "We have a duty to take measures that we feel would properly protect public property...". National University of Science and Technology Students (NUST) in Bulawayo last Tuesday destroyed property worth several billions of dollars in demonstrations. Twenty-two of the students were arrested and charged for public violence when they appeared in court.On Tuesday, 15 Masvingo Polytechnic students were arrested but later released for taking part in demonstrations. Students at government institutions have also boycotted lessons in response to the ZINASU calls to lodge all forms of resistance against the new fees. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe said they are fully behind the protests saying, "Labour, lecturersand other bodies need to fight with the students to force the government to review the fees". Christian Alliance convener, Bishop Levee Kadenge called on the government to engage in talks to solve the crises. "...We call upon the government to embrace a new culture of listening to the students...," said Bishop Kadenge. A.N.D. could not obtain a comment from Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education officials and the police at the time of going to press.

EATHQUAKE

A magnitude-7.5 earthquake that hit central Mozambique early Today was felt in parts of neighbouring Zimbabwe, particularly in the east of Zimbabwe. The state radio has reported.

In the central city of Gweru, terrified people ran out of their houses during the tremors that lasted for about a minute, the radio said. In the eastern border city of Mutare, the tremor rattled windows and crockery and shook walls. Aftershocks were felt at least two hours later. In some areas of the capital Harare, the tremor set off car alarms and set dogs to barking. The radio said there were no reports of serious damage in Zimbabwe. The earthquake was centred about 530 kilometres north of Mozambique's capital, Maputo, and struck at 12:19 a.m. (22:19 GMT Wednesday), the US Geological Survey said.

World food aid delibered to Zim

Trucks loaded with maize and emblazoned with stickers belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) were yesterday seen passing through the provincial capital of the Matabeleland South province en-route to Bulawayo where the aid was reportedly being assembled for distribution to various parts of the country.

Drivers interviewed said they had transported the maize from South Africa and were on their way to Bulawayo where they would deliver the maize to either the Grain Marketing Board depots or the National Foods milling plant in the city.

“There are several other trucks on their way. We have been directed to deliver the maize to the GMB and we will be on our way back to South Africa after delivery,” said one of the drivers. Recently, the Zimbabwe’s minister of National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement was quoted in the public media as saying that there were plans by the government to import more maize from South Africa to beef up the current stocks.

China donating Maize to Zim

China has donated 3,000 tons of maize to Zimbabwe, where hopes of a good harvest this year are fading fast, state radio reported today.


China's expanding economy is seeking friends in Africa...partly to get oil etc. and partly to get markets to sell their goods.

The bad news is that this will undercut the local manufacturing markets, the same way as cheap Chinese goods have discouraged local Philippino factories.
The good news is that they are filling a vacuum left by the departure of European and Indian businesses...


This is, of course, Neocolonialism....but I don't consider that a dirty word..

Fogotten wars in Africa

I posted some links about other African wars on my main blog...and I'm too lazy to repost here. But the link will get you there...

Zim police arrest 43 protesters

Police in the Zimbabwean capital Harare arrested 43 demonstrators who tried to march to President Robert Mugabe's offices on his birthday to demand a new Constitution, local reports said.

The 43, all members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), were late on Tuesday being detained at Harare Central police station, said lawyer Alec Muchadehama.

All but one of the detained are women, he said.

"They [the police] have not advised them what charges they are likely to face," Muchadehama told Deutsche Presse-Agentur in a telephone interview. It would appear that the police are alleging that they were demonstrating illegally.

Mugabe celebrated his 82nd birthday on Tuesday amid worsening economic hardships in Zimbabwe.

In a statement, the NCA alleged that some of the demonstrators were beaten.

The NCA has regularly staged anti-government marches in recent years, earning the group the wrath of the police and the authorities. Under tough security laws, all organisers of demonstrations are supposed to seek police clearance several days
in advance.

Tobacco production slumps in Zim

A top agriculture official in Zimbabwe said on Monday that the output of the country`s main export, tobacco, will drop by 30 percent this year to 50 million kg owing to production difficulties farmers have faced during the growing season....

Tobacco production in Zimbabwe, dominated by white farmers, has dropped from a peak of over 250 million kg five years ago after the government drove off whites from the farms to pave way for the resettlement of landless black peasants.

As a result, the country has suffered chronic shortages of foreign currency, the bulk of which was earned from tobacco sales...

Mango story

Just a nice story about monkeys, mangoes and potatoe peelers...

Mugabe and friends eat cake while nation starves

////Today Mr Mugabe, who has been in power for 26 years, will be the guest of honour in the eastern city of Mutare, where residents have been ordered to spruce up dilapidated buildings to give the best impression during the few hours that he will be in town. Enock Porusingayi, a ruling party youth leader in Mutare, hopes to raise about £550,000 “to mark our President’s birthday with dignity”.

Nobody wants to displease the President amid growing signs of his isolation, and anxiety as Zimbabwe’s crumbling economy takes its toll.

In the exclusive Borrowdale Brook suburb of Harare, construction of Mr Mugabe’s retirement mansion continues. Last month neighbours were told that they would have to sell their houses because the area is “a security zone”. In the meantime, they must brick up their windows that face the mansion.////

In interviews given to mark his birthday, he said: “One cannot ignore the call of the people because the people are the ones who make the final decision.” Yesterday Mr Mugabe remained defiant, criticising African leaders for failing to stand up to the West, and the International Monetary Fund for allowing itself to be bullied by countries such as Britain. “Our erstwhile coloniser still wants to control us by remote control,” he said.

Even some ministers are expressing concern. Last week Kembo Mohadi, the Home Affairs Minister, made the first official admission that the country was seriously short of food. “There is no grain whatsoever. Our people are actually starving,” he said on state radio....

Ex tyrant of Ethiopia suggested that Mugabe clean out the slums

Exiled Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was the brains behind last year's brutal clean-up campaign in Zimbabwe that left nearly a million people homeless, the independent news service ZimOnline has established.

Authoritative sources within Zimbabwe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) told ZimOnline at the weekend that Mengistu, who fled to Harare in 1991 and now acts as President Robert Mugabe's security adviser, warned the Zimbabwean leader that the swelling slum and backyard population in Zimbabwe was creating a fertile ground for a mass uprising.

With the Zimbabwean economic situation ever deteriorating and a discontented population growing in numbers, Mengistu advised Mugabe that the only way to pre-empt a mass revolt -- or any other form of mass action -- in Zimbabwe was by depopulating its cities via the brutal slum-clearance exercise.

Dubbed Operation Murambatsvina, the controversial home-demolition exercise left at least 700 000 people homeless and affected another 2,4-million people, according to a report by United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka.

"His idea was that reducing the urban population through such an operation would greatly diminish the chances of an uprising," said one senior intelligence official.

According to the intelligence official, who spoke on condition he was not named, the former Ethiopian dictator was of the view that spontaneous riots, worse than food riots that erupted in Harare and other cities in 1998, could happen at any time because of the deteriorating economic situation in Zimbabwe. Urgent pre-emptive action was hence necessary, he told Mugabe....

Bleak harvest predicted

If you throw out the most efficient farmers, and then provide land to people with little expertise, why should one wonder when they aren't as good as raising food? Terrible famines occurred when Stalin removed the kulaks, when he confiscated land and food from the Ukraine, and similarly, China's Great Leap Forward, where peasants were told what and how to plant by people with no agricultural experience, led to millions of deaths that were never reported, and still is a poorly known story..

A senior Zimbabwean politician has blamed fertiliser shortages and technical ignorance among black farmers for a predicted bleak harvest this year.

The deputy agriculture minister, Sylvester Nguni, in a rare admission of failures in the nation's land redistribution programme, said in a state-run newspaper that many new farmers who received formerly white-owned land lacked the expertise to produce crops on what he called a "commercial and even subsistence level"....


Robert Mugabe, the president, has insisted his land redistribution programme, begun in 2000, was intended to correct imbalances in ownership dating from the colonial era.

Critics say, however, that prime farms were allocated to ruling party members, judges, city business owners, government supporters and law-enforcement officials with no farming experience...

So you end up with a shortage of maize in the major cities LINK

THE maize meal shortage in Zimbabwe has reached crisis proportions as the scarce commodity is being sold in smaller quantities, where it is available.

In Bulawayo, for example, two small teacups command $35 000 while in Harare, 500g cost $50 000. Maize meal joins a plethora of other basic commodities such as fuel, electricity, sugar, salt, tape water and cooking oil which are not readily available.

Nearly five million Zimbabweans are expected to face food shortages this year...

Short of cash? Print Money

Mugabe is supposed to have a PhD in economics, but he shows his cluelessness in economic matters again...

Mr Mugabe said his Government would print money to help it ride out its economic problems -- including food, fuel and foreign currency shortages and a 613per cent inflation rate, which he blames on Western sanctions and intermittent droughts.

"Those who say printing money will cause inflation are suggesting that you just fold your hands and say, 'Ah, let the situation continue and let the people starve'," he said.

"The good lord up there has given you a brain and the brain must function, not in a stereotyped manner but in a flexible manner ... so I will print money today so that people can survive."

Mr Mugabe, who last week suggested he was ready to repair relations with Britain, which he regularly accuses of seeking to recolonise Zimbabwe, again said his country's major problems were largely caused by London....

Mr Mugabe's pledge to print money echoed sentiments by Zimbabwe's central bank governor Gideon Gono, who said the bank had printed money to buy foreign currency to pay the IMF....

Presidential succession still wide open

Contradicting assumptions that he has already chosen his heir apparent, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe said in a televised interview that his ruling ZANU-PF party should decide who will take his place if and when he steps down in 2008.

Political analysts said the speech was significant because it signaled that Mr. Mugabe is preparing the ruling party and the country for his exit after 26 years in power....

He warned party leaders about secret compacts – a clear reference to a meeting held in the western town of Tsholotsho in late 2004 to organize opposition to the selection of Mujuru as vice president, and led to the downfall of several prominent members of the ruling party, including then-information minister Jonathan Moyo.

“Sure, we will always rely on the leadership that is elected at congress, and not from clandestine meetings – they will never win, never,” Mr. Mugabe declared...

(He also blasted the west and the IMF for being devils...)

Hunting safaris bring in money

"This is a positive move towards the right direction and the minister has indicated that Zimbabwe will take this opportunity to resuscitate relations with America since it was our biggest client before deciding to ostracise the current administration over various issues such as the 2000 land reform exercise and disregard of the rule of law by the state."

The safari operators were among thousands of participants from 50 countries who converged in Reno, Nevada for the International Hunters' Convention.

Need Money? Just print it

Harare, Zimbabwe, 02/19 - Zimbabwe`s central bank said Friday it printed a staggering ZWD21 trillion (ZWD100,000 = 1 USD) last year to buy foreign currency to pay off longstanding debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had threatened to revoke the country`s membership.

Philippine relocates 40,000 families: a comparison

Although this Blog is about Mugabe, I often put policy articles or articles about other African countries on it, so that it is not merely an "Ain't it awful" blog about Mugabe, but there is some perspective about what is happening.

Mugabe tore down slums to resettle people...he did it indiscriminately, quickly, and without proper plans to relocate the huge number of people.

Now, as a background/comparison project, I am posting a link to a Philippine investigative website that has a report about a nearby clearance of families to build a much needed railway project.

Unlike "cleanout the trash", this is being done a little at a time, and unlike Zim, there is a long tradition of NGO and churches and local rich people helping people in needd...So, ten Thousand are already moved...but are finding it difficult to resettle...and more will be dislocated in the near future...

The main point is that the government underestimated the funds needed, and that by breaking up communities, people lost friends, jobs, and family resources that enable poor people to survive.

Affected families and NGO workers interviewed for this report say that the North Rail relocation is plagued by the absence of a comprehensive relocation action plan and a lack of transparency on the part of project authorities. They say information is provided to the affected families only on a piecemeal and need-to-know basis.

The families are also being herded to resettlement sites that lack basic facilities such as water supply, electricity, drainage and sewage systems, and health centers and schools. They are uprooted from their sources of income without the alternate jobs being provided.

For this reason, the relocated families have found it difficult to pay for the high monthly amortization of their lots in the resettlement sites, which cost between P100,000 and P125,000, payable within 25-30 years at a six-percent interest.

In not a few cases, evicted families moved out of their relocation sites to settle elsewhere in search of jobs, even as many have now taken to selling the construction materials allotted to them to build their houses just to feed their hungry families. Children have also been getting sick especially with the onset of the rainy season.

So far, 7,297 families from Metro Manila and 1,401 families from Bulacan have already been relocated. It is expected that the clearing of Bulacan up to Malolos of some 11,477 families will be completed before the end of October.

All these families are affected by the first section of Phase I of the Project — the construction of the 32-kilometer double-track, narrow-gauge rail line from Caloocan to Malolos. Another 20,000 families in Pampanga will have to be relocated when the construction of the line to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport inside the Clark Special Economic Zone gets underway. ,,,

Today, NGOs working in the relocation sites say that all the resettled families are appealing for are jobs and livelihood assistance. "May pabahay nga kami rito, wala naman kaming hanapbuhay? Paano kami mabuhay? (It's true we have houses here, but what good are these if we don't have jobs? How do we survive?)" asks Nelina Rendora, 43, a mother of four who has chosen to be relocated at the Towerville resettlement site in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan.

In addition, unscrupulous private individuals and public officials have been milking the relocation for every opportunity to engage in corruption. Residents say kickbacks and payoffs are extracted at almost every stage of the resettlement project. They point to the purchase by the NHA of overvalued real estate used for the relocation sites. This, they say, allowed well-connected property owners to make a killing with the connivance of NHA bureaucrats.

Evicted families say they have also been forced to use the assistance money they had been provided to buy overpriced construction materials from suppliers favored by the NHA. In addition, contractors and land developers in the good graces of local government officials have been awarded fat contracts to develop relocation sites```....

Aiding corruption?

Should rich countries and the IMF write off debts from African countries that are corrupt?
Not mentioned: All the money in Swiss bank accounts.

Bush suggests Nato stop Dafur Genocide

....Administration officials said Mr. Bush's comments reflected discussions between the United States and its allies calling for a broader interim role for NATO in Darfur until a larger, United Nations peacekeeping operation can be established.

Fighting between rebel groups and government-backed militias has destroyed entire villages, killing more than 200,000 and displacing about 2 million people. Both the United States and the United Nations have been criticized for responding too slowly to evidence that the African Union peacekeepers were having little effect.

Evangelical Christians have been particularly outspoken in their calls for a more active American role, and Mr. Bush's remarks, in a question-and-answer session in Tampa, appeared to focus increased attention on the issue.

NATO has played a small logistical role in Sudan thus far, primarily airlifting African troops. Until recently, government officials had said NATO might do more, but all the discussion has been about providing equipment, communications and other logistical support....

The bad news, of course, is that NATO, i.e. Europe, couldn't even stop the genocide in Bosnia until Clinton decided to step in...and China, who is aiming for Sudan's oil, is sure to veto any meaningful NATO or UN involvement...

Pol Pot's brother explains I saw nothing

Tyrants responsible for the deaths of millions continue to kill...

In this interview, one complains first, he saw nothing, second, it was America's fault...

Not mentioned: The roll of a MSM that ignores tyrants...

Zim is rarely mentioned in the US press...let alone mention of the million deaths in Central African civil wars, although a small group of Christians is protesting the deliberate genocide in Dafur...

And CNN managed to ignore the genocides of Sadam Hussein (Easton Jordan admitted that if they publicized it, they would have had reporters removed from that country) just like CNN ignores present day massacres: ignores the thousands killed by the Mullahs in Iran, the 100 000 killed in the Algerian civil war, the 1 million displaced in Colombia because of Marxist terrorists fueled by drug money, the 60 000 killed by maoists in Peru, the ongoing civil war in Nepal, the 60,000 Kurds killed by the Turkish government, the Chechnyan genocide by Russia, etc...

Three year old photos from AbuGrab, whose perpetrators are already in jail, are more important than these things, because it's more important to bash evilbush than to notice the real monsters are still out there...

beeb on food crisis

More horror in Zim

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- The corpses of at least 20 newborn babies and fetuses are found each week in the sewers of Zimbabwe's capital, some having been flushed down toilets, Harare city authorities said, according to state media Friday.

Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya said the babies' remains were found among a wide variety of waste and garbage cleared by city council workers unblocking sewers and drains in Harare.

"Apart from upsetting the normal flow of waste, it is not right from a moral standpoint. Some of the things that are happening now are shocking," the state Herald, a government mouthpiece, reported Chideya as saying.

Africa: Millions more will stave

BBC has a series on the starvation in various African countries...
Of course, they still complain that " Ten pre-school children die every minute from malnutrition and this number has not changed since the early 1980s despite global promises."...

What's wrong with this statement?
Well, first of all since the numbers haven't increased but the population has increased since 1980, that means the rate of children dying has gone down.
Second, it ignores wars and tyrants and corrupt governments are behind malnutrition deaths
Third, it implies these deaths are "despite global promises", i.e. the assumption that Big Brother UN is the answer...

Here is another quote: "For instance, east Kenya last year faced a famine. In the west of the country there was an excess of corn, but this was shipped to Europe because neither the means nor the money was available to get the corn to those starving in the east."

Ah, but why was the corn shipped out? The corn had to go EAST to be shipped, so obviously there were roads.

And the statement "because neither the means nor the money" implies no roads...but there are roads and paths...ox carts can carry grain across small paths, and rivers can be used to ship grain...and there is money, indeed, one suspects much of the foreign aid was siphoned off by corrupt officials LINK

And the food shipped out? Notice that they say there was no "money" available? Yes, it's probably in swiss bank accounts of the elites...

In Ireland, the British shipped corn out of that country while a million starved because the main food, potatoes, had been destroyed in a famine...

Like in today's Kenya, the REAL story is that there is no WILL to feed these people, or to spend aid money on improving the infrastructure or farms...

Africa food crisis bbc take two

Why are so many people still going hungry?

The basic problem is poverty.

Most Africans live in rural areas, where many are subsistence farmers, dependent on a good harvest to get enough food to eat.

There are hardly any irrigation systems, so people rely on the rains.

If one rainy season fails, people have very few savings - in either food or cash - to see them through.

Even in good years, there is a "hungry season", when last year's harvests have run out and the next crops are not yet ripe.

While people were starving in parts of Niger last year, shops in the capital, Niamey, were full of food but many could not afford to buy it.

In both the Horn of Africa and Niger, some of the most vulnerable were pastoralists, whose animals quickly succumbed when there was nothing left to graze.

When the animals die, their owners have no other way of getting enough food to eat.

Some say that the pastoralist lifestyle is no longer sustainable.

What are the other reasons?

Many farmers say that rains have become less reliable in recent years, which could be the result of global warming.

The Sahara desert is certainly expanding to the south, making life increasingly difficult for farmers and pastoralists in places like Niger.

Also, rising populations have led people to farm on increasingly marginal land, even more at risk from even a slight decline in rainfall.

Southern Africa has the world's highest rates of HIV/Aids and this is a major factor in that region's food crisis.

Some of those who should be the most productive farmers - young men and women - are either sick or have died, so their fields are being left untended, while their children go hungry.

What about the role of governments?

Nobel prize winning economist Amartya Sen said that no democracy has ever suffered from a famine and Africa's political problems have certainly contributed to the hunger of its people.

Some three million people are going hungry in Zimbabwe, which used to be the region's bread basket. Most donors say the government's seizure of productive, white-owned farms has worsened the effects of poor rains.

The government has also been accused of only delivering food aid to its own supporters and punishing areas which vote for the opposition.

Conflict obviously makes farming difficult, as people either run away from their fields or are too afraid to venture too far from their homes.

Farmers and pastoralists in countries such as Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo face constant harassment by armed men.

BLogicus blog

High Inflation

Blogicus has a report on Mugabe's inflation and his laying off of 10,000 soldiers with links to local bloggers...

women protesters arrested

this article says they were "released"... but if you read the article, they mean some protesters...

Harare - More than 180 women arrested during a protest march this week in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo were released on Wednesday but 250 others remained in custody in Harare, a lawyer said.

The marchers from the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group were demanding "roses and dignity" during the marches held in Bulawayo on Monday and Harare on Tuesday.

"Some 141 people including 14 children who were arrested... were released on Wednesday in Bulawayo after being charged with engaging in a march without police clearance and obstructing traffic," said lawyer Sarah Chishiri.

"About 252 arrested in Harare on Tuesday are still in police cells. We are still negotiating to secure their release," Chishiri of Zimbabwe's Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) told AFP.

Mugabe lays off 10,000 soldiers

ZIMBABWE says a lack of enemies is behind its decision to fire 10,000 soldiers, or a quarter of its army, but insiders say fear of a coup by junior officers is behind the bloodletting.

The private Zimbabwean weekly Financial Gazette, a publication generally favourable to the Government, reported in its latest edition that 10,000 troops had been let go in the past year.

A health catastrophe also looms in Zimbabwe as other government services such as garbage collection fall apart, causing a wave of cholera.

The outbreak of disease follows President Robert Mugabe's notorious "Operation Sweep Out The Filth" in June, in which police destroy up to 700,000 shantytown homes along with drainage systems and drinking wells.

The effect of such changes, the overloading of sewerage systems and a chronic shortage of fuel for refuse carts is now being felt, with cholera, previously rare in Zimbabwe, sweeping the country.

The West can't save Africa

.....Economic development in Africa will depend -- as it has elsewhere and throughout the history of the modern world -- on the success of private-sector entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and African political reformers. It will not depend on the activities of patronizing, bureaucratic, unaccountable and poorly informed outsiders.

Development everywhere is homegrown. As G-8 ministers and rock stars fussed about a few billion dollars here or there for African governments, the citizens of India and China (where foreign aid is a microscopic share of income) were busy increasing their own incomes by $715 billion in 2005.

This is not to say that all Western aid efforts in Africa are condemned to fail. Aid groups could search for achievable tasks with high potential for poor individuals to help themselves. To do so, they would have to subject themselves to independent evaluation and be accountable to the intended beneficiaries for the results. Such an approach would contrast with the prevailing norm of never holding anyone individually accountable for the results of traditional government-to-government aid programs aimed at feeding the hubristic fantasies of outside transformation of whole societies.

An example of such achievable and accountable programs can be found in western Kenya, where work by nongovernmental aid organizations to get meals and textbooks to schoolchildren raised attendance and test scores, according to careful subsequent evaluation. Perhaps these well-nourished and well-educated children will be tomorrow's leaders and entrepreneurs. Aid could also be used to support the efforts of promising local social and business entrepreneurs who already have a successful track record, people like Awuah, Keter and Maddy -- letting locals take the lead with their superior motivation and inside knowledge.

Dare one hope that in 2006, it will finally be understood that Africa's true saviors are the people of Africa....

John Bradburne

I was posting a comment on a blog concerning sainthood, and found this link to Bradburne...

When I worked in Zim, quite a few missionaries and local church workers were martyred...some were merely killed, but most of the deaths would be considered martyrdom, i.e. deliberate killing of someone because they were a witness to truth (i.e. because they represented the Christian church, or because they worked as doctors or nurses in local hospitals or clinics that were church or government funded... or because they saw atrocities and were killed so they would not report the truth)...

Ironically, although many were holy people, and had done quite useful work, the only person that the local people revered as a saint and a martyr was John Bradburne....

Now, I had never met or heard about the guy when I worked there...most of those I knew were doctors or nurses and we were all busy doing our thing in public health...and a few of my friends got killed trying to help out...(I wasn't in the preaching area of "missionary work")

In Western eyes, we like to praise those who do big things...start hospitals, preach, make converts, you name it...we are achievement oriented...

But Bradburne was a failure: A shell shocked soldier who hung around missions trying to be helpful, but not really doing anything really useful...

I was amused, since this is how God always seems to work: The person who in the world makes a big splash is not necessarily the holiest one (too often those like myself who are big at doing works are also big in the Pride department)...

Zimbabwe: a sad state

StragegyPage has analyses of various world hot spots, and their analysis on Mugabe's "perfect police state" is worth reading...

Here is an excerpt:

The destruction of Zimbabwe's productive agricultural sector wrought by dictator Robert Mugabe's policies removed a key source of foreign currency (ie, exported food and agricultural products) has reduced most of the population to poverty.

Now Zimbabwe has no hard currency to pay for essential imports, like oil. African and western sources report that in Zimbabwe gasoline cannot be bought legally by private citizens-- it is only available on the black market. One estimate of annual inflation (December 2004 to November 2005) in Zimbabwe was 500 percent.

Two-thirds of the adult working age population is unemployed. It is hard to arrive at an accurate figure for inflation since the Zimbabwean currency is regarded as worthless and much of the economy is based on barter.

One of the saddest stories of 2005 --and it received very little coverage, other than a few stories in June 2005 and a handful in December-- was Mugabe's attack on "illegal houses" (alleged squatters). The houses Mugabe's supporters removed were for the most part located in areas where the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is strong. The "counter-squatter" operation had the name "Operation Murambatsvina" (a Shona phrase, one translation is "drive out the trash"-- an opposition website translates it as "clean out the filth."), It’s estimated that 700,000 people were left homeless. (One source said that ultimately 2.4 million people suffered from the "operation.")

The MDC and other opposition groups claim that several hundred thousand small businesses were also destroyed. That's a huge claim, but in sub-Saharan Africa many businesses in urban areas are "mom and pop" stands selling food, crafts, and various supplies in front of the family home or shanty.

The ZImbabwean government subsequently began a "reconstruction program" called "Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle." The government source said this is Shona and Ndebele for "live well," and claimed that 5000 new houses have been built.

But few of the displaced have the cash to pay for them. Apparently the program requires the family pay a "deposit" for the new home-- the requirements aren't quite clear. Very few of the destroyed houses have been replaced, though the government says more houses will be built. Still, this looks like a political ploy --an attempt to quiet critics in the "international community."

Mugabe fails to return home from annual leave

Government sources told New Zimbabwe.com Friday that Mugabe's failure to return to work was "sending diplomatic tongues wagging".

Constitutional law expert Dr Lovemore Madhuku told SW Radio Africa last night that it appeared Mugabe was slowly scaling down, handing over work to Mujuru.

Madhuku said the recent signing of the draconian General Laws Amendment Act (GLAA) into law by Mujuru was significant in that Mugabe rarely gives that power and authority to anyone but himself. The law expert believes Mugabe is actually grooming Mujuru.

Mujuru signed the Act, which advocates for the imprisonment of journalists who write falsehoods, people who insults the president and bans unauthorised gatherings, on Friday last week.

Madhuku told SW Radio: “I believe Mugabe keeps postponing his return to work by a day… and so he is acting against the natural order of things (retiring) when he says he wants to go back to work.

“Mujuru is very very far from the kind of person that would lead our country. This country has enormous problems and from what we have seen of Mujuru, and this has nothing to do with gender, is that she has no capacity. She is just empty.”

Government sources told New Zimbabwe.com last night that rather than scaling down, Mugabe who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, was "unwell"....

Muddle in farm offers

The fate of Zimbabwe's dispossessed white farmers was uncertain yesterday after the regime publicly contradicted private assurances that some landowners would be allowed back to their properties.

Ministers close to President Robert Mugabe are considering a partial reversal of the land grab. Assurances have been given that some farmers will be allowed to lease back their holdings.

After this was disclosed in The Daily Telegraph, Didymus Mutasa, the security minister also responsible for land reform, denied any U-turn. "We are not going to change our land policy and we are not going to surrender any land that has been given to our people," he told state television.

A constitutional amendment passed last year made every acre of agricultural land the property of the state.

Mr Mutasa pointed out that the last handful of about 250 surviving white farmers need official leases to stay on their properties.

"To my knowledge there are not many, if any, white commercial farmers who have the permission, so most of them who are farming now are doing so illegally," he said.

Senior figures in the regime have told farmers that, as a first stage, the surviving 250 will be given leases allowing them to stay on their holdings. Then a limited number of displaced landowners will be given leases allowing them to return.

The thinking behind this policy is that it will ease pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which has threatened to expel Zimbabwe for failing to pay its dues.

But Joseph Made, the agriculture minister, told the state press that white farmers were "irrelevant". He added: "The country's land policies are very sound and will not be frozen or set aside."

Zim continues with land grab

Harare - Zimbabwean authorities have vowed to forge ahead with land seizures from white farmers who have remained on their properties after the country's controversial land reforms.

"We are still hungry and we want all our land back and all our land to be used by our own people," land minister Didymus Mutasa said, dismissing speculation that President Robert Mugabe's government could give in to widespread criticism and stop farm invasions which started six years ago.

"We are not going to change our land policy and we are not going to surrender any land that has been given to our people," Mutasa said in an interview aired on state television on Thursday night.

Mutasa said following constitutional reforms passed by parliament last year "there is not any white farmer now who is farming legally" and urged white farmers to seek permission from government to continue operating.

"(Constitutional) Amendment number 17 gave all land, all agricultural land to the state and by that stroke or event nobody is allowed to farm unless he has permission from the minister of lands," Mutasa said.

Overview of Human Rights in Zimbabwe

Kubatan Archive has a human rights report

he continuing erosion of human rights in Zimbabwe was highlighted in 2005 by Operation Murambatsvina, the government’s program of mass evictions and demolitions which began in May, and, which, according to the United Nations, deprived 700,000 men, women and children of their homes, their livelihoods, or both throughout the country. The evictions and demolitions occurred against a background of general dissatisfaction in many of Zimbabwe’s urban areas over the political and economic situation in the country. The country is currently spiraling into a huge economic and political crisis.

The government continues to introduce repressive laws that suppress criticism of its political and economic policies. In August, parliament passed the Constitutional Amendment Act, which gives the government the right to expropriate land and property without the possibility of judicial appeal, and to withdraw passports from those it deems a threat to national security.

Download Human Rights Watch world Report HERE

New Paradigm needed for Zim

In order to run any country, one needs a solid middle class which understands the implications of rising interest rates and the attendant pitfalls of a depreciating currency.

My beloved brothers in government are so ignorant of the simplest things in life. They read about German inflation, a woman carrying a wheelbarrow full of German marks in order to buy groceries. Such people are either intentionally wicked when they allow the central bank to charge minimum interest rates of 540 percent, or they are plain childishly naïve.

Do they know that the great companies like Walmart and K-Mart in the US are lucky to make a six percent profit on their merchandise? These brothers have no understanding when they depreciate money by 18 000 percent. If one owed $100 and the money was devalued by 18 000 times, one would owe $1 800 000.

Apart from their economic ignorance, my brothers are deliciously naïve. This naivety, I believe is embedded in the African ethos as well. Look at the childish naivety in their welcoming the World Bank representatives. The World Bank does not care about Zimbabweans, or the Zimbabwean veterans. It wants us to pay our loans to western lenders. Dr Nyerere asked this question: "Shall we starve our children in order to pay you?" The answer is YES, STUPID. Look at their naivety in believing that Britain and the US will come to their aid? The World Bank is an American bank. It is not going to do anything against US policy -- and US policy requires that formerly white-owned land be returned to its titled owners or there be adequate compensation.

Unless there is a new generation of rulers who appreciate the realities of the modern world, are not naïve in believing that the western world is out to save us from ourselves, who understand that if you build a presidential house in a neighbourhood, one's neighbours too have mortgages to pay. Whispers of confiscation can squash property values, and thus the life savings of one's neighbours.

Now you will say: "Ken, but surely these brothers can learn this new paradigm." I did not learn this new paradigm at school. I learned it by running a real estate business. The smallest whispers, say, that the police are hanging around your restaurant looking for drug dealers, can cause a shutdown of the business, and a man's lifetime savings goes down the drain.

I don't think the brothers have the slightest idea of what they are doing. My sister had a life insurance for $240 000 for which she contributed for 25 years. When she died, it was not enough to buy her daughter's uniforms. My nephew, a newspaper editor, had a good pension of $5 000 a month in the year 2000. He cannot buy one banana with it now.

It is the economy stupid! Mr Blair and Mr Bush are laughing their lungs out till hell freezes over.

IMF "impressed" with Zim

Or maybe not LINK

Zim power cuts get worse

Power cuts already blighting Zimbabwe are set to get worse because of a lack of coal supplies for electricity generators, state-run media reports.

The state electricity provider is also reported to be unable to pay its debts to suppliers and transport companies.

Coal-fired stations in the capital, Harare, and in the second city, Bulawayo, have already been shut down.

Zimbabwe's main external power provider South Africa says it has temporarily halted supplies for maintenance work.

"I would like to bring to the attention of all consumers that the current load shedding due to supply shortfall is set to worsen," head of the power regulatory commission, Mavis Chidzonga, was quoted in Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail as saying.

'Precarious'

She warned that electricity production at the Hwange facility servicing north-west Zimbabwe may also have to be reduced due to the shortages.

She said the recent coal shortages had been made worse by the state electricity provider's inability to pay its debts to suppliers and transporters....

New Cholera Cases

Who will help? Take Two

As we enter our seventh year of political turmoil, most Zimbabweans are desperate, despondent, and disempowered. In the face of a total onslaught by their own government, they feel helpless, and many have been made homeless. The economy is stuttering to a halt as social breakdown escalates. Government actions are erratic and oppressive and incapable of solving the chaos they have created. It is hardly surprising that the popular mood has shifted during the past ten months from a guarded expectation of change to a numbing hopelessness.

Six years ago, when the ZANU PF government was rejected by the people in a constitutional referendum and began its war on Zimbabweans, people believed that a democratic electoral process and a respected independent-minded judiciary would eventually rid them of an oppressive, increasingly irrational government. A popular opposition party was in the ascendancy and waiting in the wings.

But after six years of election campaigning and legal challenges, it is clear that the institutions of democracy are so completely subverted that they cannot support the will of the people or resurrect the rule of law. ...

READ THE WHOLE THING

ZANU PF probes senior party officials over missing Z$1 billion

MASVINGO – Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU PF party is probing several senior members of the party in Masvingo province for allegedly misappropriating about Z$1 billion during last year’s parliamentary election.

According to ZANU PF officials in Masvingo, the funds which can no longer be accounted for, were raised through the sale of party cards in the run-up to the controversial election won by President Mugabe’s ZANU PF party.

Among those under probe are former Masvingo provincial chairman Daniel Shumba and another senior party official in the province, Clemence Makwarimba. The two have however strongly denied the allegation.

ACTUALLY THIS IS NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS, SINCE THE LATEST EXCHANGE RATE IS:1 US Dollar = 98,457.1 Zimbabwe Dollar....

WILL ANYONE HELP?

mbeki says no..

President Thabo Mbeki has reiterated that Zimbabweans must find a solution to their own problems. Speaking during an interview with the SABC, Mbeki said he was initially optimistic that the ruling Zanu(PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would work jointly on a new constitution after they agreed to that.

IMF worries about decline in economic activity

.....The IMF team said bringing the fiscal deficit under control would be crucial to restoring macro-economic stability, and acknowledged the limited progress achieved in 2005 to reduce the fiscal deficit, but noted that the targeted reduction in non-interest expenditure had not been achieved. They said most of the budgetary savings were attributable to a decline in interest outlays due to the forced restructuring of the government's domestic debt. "A loose monetary policy has aggravated economic imbalances and fuelled inflation, and has increased the vulnerability of the banking system," the team is said to have told the fiscal and monetary authorities. "They also said authorities should take immediate corrective measures to mop up excess liquidity, allow interest rates to become positive in real terms and dismantle the distortionary subsidised credit facilities. (There is) need to ensure the health of the banking system by dealing promptly with non-viable institutions, and to fully enforce prudential regulations and capital adequacy requirements."....

Harare General Hospital runs out of anesthesia

Harare Central Hospital has suspended carrying out surgeries due to an acute shortage of anaesthetics and anti-oxidants, Zimdaily can reveal. Hospital Doctors Association president Takunda Chinyoka confirmed that the State institution was reeling from an acute shortage of anaesthetics and had suspended operating patients until the situation improves. "The hospital has been referring critical cases to Parirenyatwa but the referral hospital has also been failing to cope. What is in short supply are anti-oxidants and sedatives," Chinyoka told Zimdaily.

Patients were observed writhing in pain at the hospital's outpatients department without being attended to. James Mushoriwa, whose leg injuries were turning septic told Zimdaily that he had been held at the hospital for the past one week without any treatment, adding that he could not afford to seek medical attention at private hospitals because of the prohibitive health costs there. Health minister David Parirenyatwa yesterday refuted reports that the hospital had run out of anaesthetics.

"That is not true at all," Parirenyatwa said. "The reason why the intensive care is not working is because there are renovations taking place there. Dont try to politicise this issue," he said. Health and Child Welfare is listed at number 16 of the 21 ‘vote appropriations’ in Zimbabwe’s national budget. Over 40% of the health budget goes to salaries, but there is little money for salary increases, doctors’ on-call allowances and home nursing visits......